Turkeys and birthday

We've been in the thick of it here and really it's all good. Thanksgiving seems like ages ago! We had our first ever fried turkey courtesy Allen and Ed Cox (Come to think of it, it was our first ever Thanksgiving, period. We've never hosted before!). They took care of it in our driveway. They needed some extra stuff added to their Cokes so they could keep warm outside if you know what I mean! There were no accidents, burnings or fires and the turkey was delish. George's godmother, Sally, also brought a roasted turkey for those who prefer the more traditional flavor. We hosted 23 people at our house and temporarily turned it into Bistro 6336. All I can say from the group photo is that we desperately need to get something on our walls. Ack. What boring, plain walls we have. I need to get to the next Nashville Art Crawl asap.









































Thanksgiving was immediately followed by our sweet boy's second birthday. Yes, he's two. I can't stand it and I still treat him like the baby that he is. He still sort of talks like one although he's trying so hard each day to say words. Many of them sound the same but he is trying and the immediate family can translate so that counts for something. He's the sweetest boy on the planet I am sure. He loves him "mama" and adores his "dada." He is becoming well versed on who has a "pee pee" and who doesn't. We go over each person's genitalia each time he gets his diaper changed. I use the correct anatomical name for each part and he asks if Meg has one and so on down the line of all the members of our family. He is very happy to be hanging around the house but also enjoys going in the "ca." He really loves looking at "cuckcucks" (trucks) and choo choos. He could stand around doing that all day. He also LOVES playing hide and seek and will sit still and unusually quiet for long periods of time waiting to be found. Once he's found, he says, "mo, mo." His biggest sister is like his other mommy and Meg loves him dearly but also drives him bananas. Go figure. We are so thankful that God gave him to us and can't imagine not having his around to keep us on our toes.

I know this post is really late and Christmas has already occurred. I will work on that next. Enjoy this for now!

Share International, Inc.

I wanted to share some information about an organization that my friend has started. It is a Christian organization that provides sponsorship for children and adults for educational purposes in Turkanaland, Kenya.

http://www.shareinternationalinc.com/SICoK.html

That is the mission in a nutshell but they also sponsor foster children and offer micro-loans to parents of children in their sponsorship program. My friend Emily has been there many times and is such an inspiration. We have sponsored several children for a few years and I often feel like this is one of the best places to spend money that could possibly exist. You receive letters and photographs about the children and also have the opportunity to send a "care package" each year. I thought it would be nice to mention this especially this time of year when we are often thinking about others and what we can do for them.

If you're not interested in sponsoring a child, the photographs alone are amazing.



Peace!

Was it?

Dear Tiger,
Was it worth it?

Sincerely,
Jamie

On my honor

I was going to the bathroom this evening and could overhear Olivia in the other room practicing the Girl Scout Promise. It was possibly the cutest thing I had heard all day. And trust me, I had my fair share of opportunities to hear kids say cute things. We ran a mini-daycare today at our house, helping out some friends today who needed help with kid watching.

Olivia has joined the Girl Scouts. She is officially a "Daisy," which is what you are if you're in kindergarten or first grade. She begged and begged to do this. I admit, I was very reluctant and not too jazzed about the idea. If you know me, I don't like to be too scheduled or committed, especially if it involves time driving around in a car after school. I prefer for my kids to be playing outside after school doing whatever they heck they feel like doing. But I couldn't ignore the repeated requests to join and since they'll meet only once a month on a Sunday after church, it really isn't a big ordeal (right?). So far, it's been great. She is really excited and takes it so seriously. I mentioned to her that I was a Girl Scout once. I don't remember how long I was one or when but I was. I told her I probably had the sash still with by badges and pins. She begged me to find it and I did! That was a trip.

October has flown by. The highlight of course was my sister and Max's delightful wedding. So beautiful and sweet. The photos just make me smile for so many reasons. Hopefully, there will be more photos up soon from the "official" photographer. You can never have enough pictures!

We also celebrated Halloween in true Adams style with a gigantic party the night before the real holiday. It was new and improved this year since we moved it to our church's fellowship hall in anticipation of serious rain and we were wise to do so! It rained like crazy.

Trick or treating was the best as always. Will had no idea what was going on at first but played along with the costume idea since everyone else was doing it. Then when he realized what was happening at every doorstep, he quickly got on board. He couldn't run fast enough to get up there and try to take piles of candy from the friendly neighbors. (And I mean he couldn't run fast enough. He kept falling flat on his face in the grass.) He loves candy and loved getting it for no apparent reason. Most of you know he's not a boy who talks a lot but did he ever learn how to say "candy." Enjoy a few shots of our big night.

Overload

All the time I think about things that would go well on my blog. That is how far they go. They remain in my head or, well, in my brain and then right on out of my brain. I am sure there is a supplement I should be taking to improve this situation but I haven't gotten on that bandwagon yet either. I seem to have too much on my mind lately. It has resulted in less sleep. This all became abundantly clear when I returned from vacation and resumed my insomnia. I didn't watch any tv and I hardly ever (BARELY!) used the computer while we were away. I was on vacation and apparently when I am living my normal, day to day life I contribute to global warming by using a lot of mental energy. I am certain that the electronic things are largely to blame for my insomnia. There are others as well but I think the electronic entertainment should really bear the brunt of the blame. Then there are things like grocery items we need, what in the @#!$@** should I make for dinner, does Olivia have clean uniforms for school tomorrow, how many more shoes will I find scattered about the house, I have to get to the gym to run, I should probably invest in some gold like yesterday and what will the dollar be worth when my poor children reach adulthood (if there is any USA left by then), and finally, where can I get some cotton pickin' chocolate now that I have some peace and quiet.

All kidding aside, the computer and the television are such wonderful forms of entertainment and education (provided I use the correct avenue). There is so much going on in our country right now. I am very compelled to correspond with my lame ass congresspeople on a myriad of subject. It's the least I can do. I like to read and educate myself about what is going on with our economy and I don't mean just is the dow up or down. And you can't trust just a single source for good information (i.e., it is time consuming to really educate yourself).

I just lost my momentum because I was interrupted by two girls who won't stay in their beds and I am about to blow a gasket. Geez.

Oh, and I am supposed to tell you that Olivia lost a tooth last night. That was quite memorable, actually. She performed her first official act of dentistry by pulling out her own tooth. I couldn't even stand to watch. I will hopefully get a picture of the new smile posted soon. Don't hold me to it, though.

While I type, "Oh the Lord is good to me. And so I thank the Lord. For giving me, the things I need, the sun, the rain and the ..." is coming down the stairwell as Meg sings it loudly from her bed.

Ya know, that pretty much sums it up. The Lord is good to me. Amen.

PS Gina and Max, enjoy your honeymoon!

No no no

Tonight I was lucky to draw the "put Will to bed" straw. His nightly routine involves rocking and singing. I don't usually do this duty. Usually George does this duty and I have the girls. Well tonight was my turn. Something happened to me tonight that has never happened to me before. He told me to stop singing certain songs. What's worse...I thought he was pretty much asleep when he told me to stop singing certain songs. Unbelievable. I tried some of the standards like "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children" but both of these got booed. "This Little Light of Mine" was acceptable and so was my HORRIBLE rendition of "Amazing Grace." I even got away with "Tomorrow" from Annie. I tried going back to the old standards but again they were rebuked. I don't know what that means exactly but it was hilarious and I almost couldn't keep myself from laughing hysterically. Afterward, I came downstairs and asked George if the same thing had ever happened to him and he said no. Hmmmm. Then I asked him what he sings and he said whatever he could remember the words to. He went on to list a few classic rock songs that he likes. No wonder I got shushed.

Lovin' It

This could have been me.





Oh. And if you need some goosebumps, read Katie's Blog

I am cool

We went a little crazy today and took off to Bowling Green to a water and amusement park. I am on a total high right now from this little adventure since we aren't typically spontaneous people. I will tell more about that in another post since I simply have to include photos with it. (Picture redneck heaven but so great.) In the meantime, I wanted to share these two little funnies with you that came tonight over dinner after we left the amusement park.

George and I were discussing a good friend of mine who just got a new phone. She got a Blackberry. This is a big deal at our house where we don't text and we don't have a plan for very many minutes. I am secretly wanting to text people and send Tweets (but not necessarily to have 17,000 followers like MckMama) to family and friends with wonderfully fun photos of me and my kids "in the moment" and to be "kind of cool like that." So immediately after I told George this, Olivia SERIOUSLY reached out to pat me lovingly on the back and said, "But Mom, you already are really cool." I can't stop chuckling.

A few moments later when we had finished eating and were having some ice cream. Olivia was just at the end of her dish. She had managed to stay clean up until this point. George and I got annoyed with her because she ALWAYS spills on herself (we secretly call her Pig Pen after the Charlie Brown character). Meg chimes in, "You need to take an eating class." What?

Good night. More fabulous details of our trip to Beech Bend hopefully tomorrow. Let me just tease you by saying that this place purchased the "Sea Dragon" from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch two years ago. It just can't get any cooler.

The day after

I started thinking today about how people choose to spend the "day after vacation." Of course I mean a real, long vacation not like a long weekend or something. If you're fortunate enough to plan (have time for) an extra day back at home before you go back to work, how do you usually spend it and what does that say about you? I don't really have all the answers about this but it is just something I was thinking about.

Today was our "day after vacation" and we didn't really have a plan, per se, about how we'd spend our day. Other than going to church, we hadn't really discussed an agenda. We slept in until 9am thanks to Pacific time ruling our bodies for another day or two. Somehow made it to church and then home for lunch. After that, it was yard work, naps (for Will), and playing (gotta love slip-n-slide). Oh, and laundry. Funny side story, I had so much sand in my washer and dryer I had to run an empty load just to clean it all out! Love that sand. I am sure I will find some in my bed tonight.

Now, what do you think of this? Are we lame for not making it a final fun day? Or are we responsible for taking care of our overgrown front yard? I can't decide.

Another subject I was thinking about...are you a messy cook? I am a messy cook. I wish I wasn't a messy cook but I am. What does that say about a person? Does it say anything at all? Those Food Network chefs make it look so easy. I just wonder how many times they practice a meal before they actually tape the show. Silly.

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A few Meg and Olivia quotes that should keep you laughing:

While discussing what she wanted for lunch on the last day at the beach, I asked Meg if she wanted a hot dog. We were going to walk to Sara's Mexican and Gabbiano's but I didn't know if she would just prefer a hot dog (nitrite free of course). She said, "Yes, I want a hot dog but I will walk with you to the places and when I get there I will change my mind." And she did.

Tonight, while discussing "an incident" we had today with some neighbor kids Olivia is describing how things went down. And at one point she says to me, "That's when you're supposed to say, 'Oh, really, that's very interesting.'"


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I am going to whisper this part. George has started reading a blog. How great is that? It's BASKETBAWFUL. (And it has a lot of sex in it.) I am sure he'll give me an update tonight. I love it.


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This is too deep to go into tonight but I am heartsick for my favorite blogger MckMama. Her precious one, Stellan, is having major heart trouble and is in the hospital. This boy is special. Their family is special and she is an amazing mother. Prayers or being said for them all over the world tonight and that is no exaggeration. That is just the tip of the iceberg on how special they are. God is truly at the center of their lives and they are such a remarkable witness to Him even in times of great fear. This is where it gets really difficult, I think, because it would be so very easy to be discouraged and faithless. That's not to say they aren't human. I said it was too much to go into now (it's late) but here I go. Anyway, please join me and so many others in praying for their sweet, sweet Stellan. God does perform miracles. You only have to read the Bible to know it is true.

Ok, I AM sad Michael Jackson is gone

So you can't watch the footage from his rehearsal two days before he died and not think that guy was amazing. Absolutely genius. I heard this interview on XM yesterday with a guy who photographed Michael Jackson throughout the years. It was interesting and you can see many of his images here!

It's all purely selfish, of course. I won't get to see that guy on stage ever. Now, on to the media circus that will be his memorial.

A great day

Today was fantastic. We started with blackberry banana pancakes in anticipation of The Mission's famous ones. We all went to church which makes my heart smile. The gospel was about Jesus healing a young girl who had died. The homily was about evil. It was good, good stuff to think about. One woman in the congregation said that evil was "Godlessness." He (the priest) defined it as the absence/lack of good or love. He also stated that evil doesn't really exist as it's own entity because God didn't create evil. God created good. It was hopeful, I think. Anyway, I digress.

We returned from church and the girls quickly ran out the door with our neighbor to go get a Wii game. They went to Target with strict instructions (and my AMEX card) to get bleach and a new slip 'n' slide. They did pretty well. Olivia managed to talk the neighbor into a new school bag (which she really did need) and Meg got a $3.48 toy that was on clearance. Not too bad. I got to run some errands alone while George held down the fort. I love going out by myself. It's no secret. I wasn't as successful as I had hoped but it was still nice to be out on my own. We headed to the pool afterward for dinner and swimming. Olivia practiced her bellyflopping diving, Meg just swam and burped and swam and burped and Will wandered around as usual. We only made one trip to stare and point at the vending machine.

After dinner, we ran down the road to the fireworks tent to load up for the coming weekend. I was explaining to Meg what sparklers were. She kept forgetting what they're called so she called them Lite Brites. Even though we've corrected her, the name has stuck and now she keeps asking for the Lite Brites. I waited in the car with Will while the girls shopped with George. I won't tell you what the grand total was for the large sack of Lite Brites. George's inner child and the salesman's great descriptions of the fireworks were a force to be reckoned with.

And, of course, we had to go to sonic across the street for an ice cream afterward. Oh what a night. (By the way, they have something there on the menu that cracked me up. It's called a CroisSonic.)

Oh, and does anyone beside my mom read my blog? Just curious.

Don't stop til you get enough?

I can't resist the urge to blog about the media circus that is Michael Jackson's death. While I am saddened by his passing (mainly because I ALWAYS said I would LOVE to see him live on stage and now will never get the chance), I can hardly believe my eyes and ears. The coverage is crazy. Weird. Bizarre. Embarrassing. I took the kids to lunch today only to look up at a tv in front of me mounted high on the wall with a shot of the presumably dead or almost dead MJ on a stretcher. It was a zoomed in photo of him intubated or something. Gross. Give the freak man a break.

I LOVED his music. I was the first to always defend the guy when conversation turned to how strange and nasty he was. He was amazingly talented. "One of a kind" is an understatement. But seriously, he wasn't a world leader, Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, or Mother Theresa. Holy cow. This stuff is driving me crazy. Our country is going to hell in a hand basket and this is all we have to talk about?

Summer

It's going by too fast and also not fast enough (only because we're excited to go here! And here! And here!)


It's already June 24th. We are knee deep in swim team, summer "camp" and ice pops. There's never enough time for reading books. Ticks seem to like our yard this summer and there's also no shortage of sunshine. "You're really tan, Meg," said Mrs. Brooks today. "Wait til you see me when I get back from San Diego," Meg replied. How does she know that? Tonight she was also describing something one of the helpers did at school as "really hateful." All I could figure was that she (the helper) was trying to limit the amount of craziness that was going on in the giant inflatable obstacle course. It was too much.

For some reason I feel like I am really out of sync even though we theoretically have less scheduling than we do during the school year. For the most part I think that is true but that also means there are three kiddos home all day with less time for me to collect my thoughts! Today, both girls announced they couldn't find any clean undies. Well, I guess that means we need to do some laundry.

We had a crazy insane fun visit with the Gignoux family. They came through town and bunked with us for three nights. My girls love it when they come. Aside from trying to make sure Olivia doesn't abandon Christianity in favor of "Annie Worship," they seem to have fun together. They get utterly exhausted and someone ends up crying or freaking out each night. They eventually settle down and get some sleep.

Will is usually along for the ride these days. He loves being out and about but absolutely hates getting in the carseat. He tries to talk and seems extra attached to me right now. It's cute but also makes me kind of sad. Of course, I eat it up because he's probably our last little one so he gets spoiled more I think.

Here's a taste of the fun we've been having. Thank you, Lord, for summer.

Happy Birthday

Olivia turned seven on Wednesday. My daugter chose to bring homemade chocolate covered strawberries for her classmates. Gotta love it. It was an extra special day because it was also "Muffins for Mom" day for her class. They sang to us and read little tidbits about their moms into a microphone. It was so awesome. No tears were shed (ha ha). I also ate lunch with her at school. That was fun and surprisingly not as loud as usual. But really the lunch visit mostly consisted of us parading all around school handing out the strawberries to all her teachers and the administration. She loved it. Happy birthday, Olivia!!!

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Meg says to George the other day, "Is four a lot?"

George: "Well, that depends. If you have four ice cream cones, well that's a lot. But if you have four blueberries, that's not very many."

Meg: "I couldn't have four ice cream cones. I would need two more hands. Unless I was an octopus."

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We're getting to move back in our house next Friday. I am excited on so many levels. I am incredibly excited to live in this amazing "new" place. I am also incredibly excited to:

1. stop schlepping groceries, trash, recycling, baby junk, children up two flights of stairs.

2. stop cooking in a tiny kitchen

3. stop sleeping in the rental bed we have which I believe has caused me MAJOR back pain.

4. stop answering the kids when they ask which house I am talking about. OUR REAL HOUSE!!!

This list really could go on and on. There are a few things I will miss. The nice maintenance manager downstairs (and his wife and daughter) are expecting a baby in July. The mother's water broke too early and she's in the hospital. I don't know them well but I will have a hard time not knowing what the outcome is. I will have to stop by the office at some point to check in on them. In the meantime, I will just have to pray for them. I will also wonder about that the kids we've met who live here. There a quite a few of them. They are nice kids and have played well with mine over the last few months. It's just sort of weird walking away but I've never really met their parents and my kids haven't become such good friends with these kiddos that we'd really arrange play dates.

We've made it through. It wasn't that hard, really. It was only in the last few weeks that I have become a bit grouchy with the whole situation. But now it's almost over and the excitement is overwhelming.

Bugs

People keep telling me to put bricks on Olivia's head. She is getting so tall. I am having a really hard time with her upcoming birthday. She turns seven on May 6th. SEVEN?? How is that possible? Really? Just yesterday, she looked like this.




Now she is big. But not exactly. Tonight when it was teeth brushing time - a time of day when I am usually thinking, "How quickly can I get these kids in bed?" - she stops and emerges in the bathroom with a bowl. She fills it with water and places a growing bug in it. In that moment, I really didn't think much about it except why was she choosing to fuss with that thing right now when I am trying to check "Brush Teeth" off the list. She left it there for the night. I think most of this went down without any commentary from her.

Meg was next in line. She noticed the bug and wondered what it was. I told her that Olivia was growing a bug/caterpillar thing. She said, "Oh. Into a butterfly." I told her it wasn't going to grow into a butterfly because it was a toy but that this one would just grow big in water. Again, I didn't think much of it in the moment.

It's quiet now and I am doing what I do most evenings as I wait for them to fall asleep. I am catching up on all the blogs I read each day. Most of these blogs are other moms chronicling their days with children (one, multiple, healthy, sick, etc.) They are more eloquent than I am but we still share lots in common which is obviously why I love reading them so much. As I was reflecting on some of their posts, it occurred to me that maybe Olivia is going to be seven soon but she's still so young. (Right??!!) She still loves silly toys and silly stories and Three Stooges-style antics. She still will find excitement in a growy bug from the toy bin at George's office and you bet I will be trying to figure out a way to keep that up for as long as I can.



The whole thing just really struck me because she is on the verge of being bigger but not being bigger. She acts like a little diva listening and dancing to Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, etc. but then she also loves learning the cute little kiddie songs in music class and performing them for me. I think she could definitely stand to have a cupful of innocence poured down her throat while she's asleep but since that's not possible I guess I will have to settle for a growy bug in my bathroom.

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Update:
I just got done cleaning the kitchen. I found the plastic wrapper and instructions for the Gro Insect.

Take out of water and it will shrink to original size. It can be used over and over.

If only.

Mr. John

It's no secret I love Trader Joe's. It opened here in Nashville last November. Shopping at Trader Joe's puts me in a good mood. Pure and simple. My most favorite thing is shopping at Trader Joe's all by myself. Not only is it great to be alone so I can think clearly but it's also extra nice to be able to look at all the products since they get new stuff all the time. But tonight was a real treat - a surprising treat. I took Meg and Olivia because I was already on that side of town. As we entered the store, Meg dropped her new toy that she just received an hour earlier at a birthday party. It rolled under a big display piece and was unreachable. We asked a nice "Crew Member" to help us with a broomstick or something. He willingly obliged (as you would expect from a Trader Joe's Crew Member). He got down on his hands and knees and fished out that toy. This toy, by the way, was some wacky whistle which I will mention more about later. He got up from the floor and handed Meg the whistle. She said thank you and he said glad to help. Then she said to me, "Mom, that man was really handsome." I was cracking up.

So we're shopping through the store and she's blowing that silly whistle ... it's more like a whirring, whizzing whistle than a traditional whistle. And people (really just the other Crew Members in the store) are making great comments. One pair of Crew Members were debating whether or not it was a kazoo or a whistle. The man said to the woman, "No. It's a party whistle not a kazoo. With a kazoo you use your voice to hum."

We're close to being done with our shopping and Meg somehow tears the top of her yogurt container. She keeps saying that we needed to go see "that man" to get some tape to tape it. So when we approach the check out area, he's helping another customer but she goes right on up to talk to him, inspecting his shelves for tape. I tell her she needs to leave him alone while he's helping another customer. A different cashier comes us and says she can help us at another station. I tell her my daughter has a thing for "Mr. John" and so we'd wait for him. The cashier says she'll help him bag our groceries then. The carnival begins.

I tell Meg that his name is "Mr. John." Meg says, "Oh." And immediately begins singing John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt and "Mr. John" says seriously back to her, "His name is my name, too." She is stunned! It was so funny and now we have the previous customer, the other cashier and who knows who else enjoying the fun. Olivia is doing the scanning for him and he gets the eggs out of our cart. He says, "Have you ever juggled eggs?" I said no, but I really have been wanting to learn to juggle. (This is for real.) So he juggles the eggs for a bit and then tries to show us something fancy and he drops one. It was hilarious. Then he takes off running to get us a new container. He tosses a cantaloupe into the air. We talk about watermelon tossing and other fun things. We all comment on how fun it is to shop at Trader Joe's.

Thanks, Mr. John, for helping us out tonight. Maybe I should bring my kids along to Trader Joe's more often.

Vocabulary

Mama mama mama mama (Mommy)

Shhhz (shoes)

Schshcshc (snake sound)

Pppupp (poop)

NaNa NaNa (every other word)


This is Will's vocabulary right now.

He's also really into this lately, too.




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Been keeping busy with all things child and house remodel related. Oddly enough, God has decided to inspire me using blogs (and the families these blogs are about). Who would have thought that is how it would work but He always has a plan. I have often thought about how transformational technology has been during my lifetime but now it's Transformational. Ha. These blogs and some things I am doing differently as a result of more prayer and more prayer and more prayer are proving quite fruitful for me (hopefully my family would say the same thing!).

This is a great song!

Check it out.

Chicken

Meg (in a grouchy tone with a grouchy face): What are we having for dinner?

Mom: Yummy chicken.

Meg: Does that chicken go with honey mustard or ketchup?

Unbelievable.

Chirp chirp

We were going down the stairs to get into the car to go to the aiport to get George. (Is that a run on sentence or what?) The children were all in their pajamas since we rolled out of bed and had to go get dad coming home from Haiti. The birds were all chirping really loudly.

I said, "Do you guys hear the birds chirping this morning?"

Meg said, "Yes, one of them just said, 'Look at that girl going in her pajamas.'"

Where does she get this stuff?

YEAH! George is home safely. His beard is already gone. Thank goodness. There are 500 photos and three hours of video we'll hopefully share soon. He has never taken a video camera with him before.

Striving

This sweet note came home from school on Friday.



She was so proud and so am I! She is striving to help out so much while George is off in Haiti. I know she really wants to do a good job. Sometimes I feel bad asking her to help me all the time but she is such a good helper! Have I also mentioned she's hilarious? She is so funny. I really wish she would get the acting bug or maybe she'll be a writer. Who knows but her humor is so clever.

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These "professional" bloggers that I read blow me away. They are amazing to read and certainly inspire me to be a better mother/woman/Christian. What changes they have brought about it the everyday world. AMAZING. Some of my favs are on the right of my blog. Check them out when you have a moment. The latest addition is seriously beyond belief. I am still not completely sure that this is for real and not some person coming up with this stuff in a dark room somewhere. I keep waiting to see the headlines about her, "Fake story fools people out of thousands of dollars" or a Snopes posting. But she is the real deal (or at least that's what my friend says who has met her.) She is 20 years old. No joke. Do you ever encounter that certain someone and think they must have a direct line to heaven? I have met a few people like that in my life and although I haven't met this particular gal, I think she must be one of them also. Wow. All I can say is Uganda, 20 years old, mother to many orphans. Unbelievable. It makes me think I need to do more for others in this life.

On that note, here is a great song that I have been listening to over and over lately. I just love it and it really touches me right now. I hope you enjoy it, too.
http://www.myspace.com/tenthavenuenorth

Click on 2. "By Your Side" in the music box. You can listen to the track for free.

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Last night I went out to see a friend's son who is 11 and sings with such passion. He's such a cutie - got some great Italian family genes. I don't know where he's headed but I am so thankful I had the chance to go out to hear him. He is into contemporary Christian but last night he just rocked the house with some Lenny Kravitz and "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. So cute. There was another singer there who covered John Mayer. Awesome. I wish I had caught his name. This music thing has given this boy a new lease. He was really struggling at school. Then his grandmother discovered his hidden talent and it's been a complete 180 degrees for him. No more bullying at school and a drive that hadn't been seen before. Love it. Did I mention he's also got some strong Italian genes?

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We miss George but the weekend went well. Thankfully, our friends and family have been so helpful in offering to carpool, hang out, etc. Yeah friends. I haven't heard directly from George but one woman said her husband called and they arrived safely. He purchased some kind of international satellite phone or something. I'll let you know if I hear more.

Saw Rock City

It's high time I got rid of the cheesy Chuck E. Cheese post. So much has happened since then. Meg turned FOUR! We took a family vacation to Chattanooga. Our construction continues full speed ahead. Blah blah blah.

Meg turned four on Feb. 7th. She decided to ring in the fours with increased attitude particularly at school. This note came home last week.



While I am worried about this, I also think it will be funny to look back and see this someday (right?!!?). She is learning a lot from her sister (YIKES!). And as I told someone recently, never fought with her in the "terrible twos" and very little in the threes. She is now starting to figure out what she can and can't get away with. This girl is smart. She had a fabulous birthday. She was just a bit disappointed that they didn't have any free time at the gym. She had breakfast in bed,


fun in the foam block pit and hanging with all of her buddies.





Our trip to Chattanooga was fantastic. Getting away from laundry, cooking, taxi service is a real treat. We really enjoyed ourselves and Chattanooga is a great family town. For those of you who've traveled the open road and seen the See Rock City signs all over the place you'll know what I am talking about. We made it there on our third day in Chattanooga. It was cute, fairly commercial and OUTDOORS (mostly). We were lucky in that it wasn't very crowded. I think if the crowds had been there, the charm would have disappeared completely. Olivia wanted to do it again after we were finished and Meg's favorite part was the nursery rhymes and fairy tales at the end. Will just loved running around like a mad man (as usual).






George is heading to Haiti tomorrow. It should be an interesting nine days. I love that he goes to Haiti. I am completely on board with this being part of our family life. However, I won't lie and say that this next nine days will be a party at our house! I constantly pray for patience at the end of each day and I so look forward to him walking through the door each night even if it's just for an hour or two before he heads off to tennis or a meeting. I have told many people that I am so thankful he doesn't travel for work because I wouldn't be a very good mom if that was the case. Wives who do that week in and week out are truly amazing to me. If there is some magic formula to keeping your cool after 5pm until bedtime, please email me ASAP! The other bummer about this trip is that apparently the satellite is down in the mountains of Gobert, Haiti so we most likely won't be receiving our nightly emails from the comedian himself. There is usually an email to our family and then a group email (written by George) is sent out and is usually shared with our church. That, I think, will make it a little more difficult than usual. Of course, I have always been completely shocked that we could even get an email from him while he's there seeing as it usually requires a generator and some kind of satellite to make it all happen. We had joked about possibly Skyping this year but I guess that is out of the question. Please pray for him and all the people he travels with. Pray for the pilots of their airplanes. Please pray for the people of Gobert who have so very little but fortunately for them, a very strong faith. Let them feel the care and love of the people in the U.S. who support this trip.

Chuck E. Cheese

My big revelation for the week came at Chuck E Cheese Thursday night. We were there for a birthday party. You must know that I am a big fan of the place. I have always liked it. It is a great place to take the kids to blow off steam and have fun. The thing we like best about it is that children of many ages can have an equally good time. We also really like the salad bar - which is a rare find in the "meat and three" loving South.

So I am usually really vigilant about the token distribution only allotting so many tokens to each child at a time so as not to "lose" very many. For a variety of reasons, I wasn't able to control the token and ticket situation on Thursday like I wanted to. This caused me lots of anxiety as the night went on and I found myself obsessing about it as I wandered around looking in on the kiddos and keeping up with Will when it was my turn. What I realized was that that's part of the kid fun atmosphere of the place. The hunt. The great find. The big score when some poor sucker left his four tickets hanging out of the skeeball machine. Finding that one last token under the machine when you bend over to pull out your winnings from the ticket dispenser. It's all good!

I am so glad to be free of that pressure. It's liberating. And it made me feel like a kid again.


On another note, I have to admit that I am obsessed with a blog. I truly LOVE it and am addicted to it. I check it throughout the day because not only does this blogger blog, she also Twitters so I HAVE to keep up with that, too. I must confess I secretly hope to meet this woman someday (not in a weird way) but simply because I feel like she is a close friend. What a treat! Smiles and laughs abound when I read her blog and I find myself showing it to my kids and even George (who harasses me for being so into it). He still doesn't get it. Anyway, it's fabulous and I am glad to admit it.

Here are a few photos of what we've been up to. Have a great week. Meg's parent-teacher conference is tomorrow. That should be good for some laughs!

Meg brought home Nutbrown Hare from school.



Olivia lost another tooth. She is learning to talk and eat with no front teeth.



This is how Will feels about baths.

Update on Meg

Meg asked me last night when we were going to have another baby. This was after asking me to recount the story of when each of them was born starting with Will. This morning, she said she was praying to God to help her get married and have a baby. I asked her later what God said. She said He wasn't listening. He didn't answer. He was busy listening to someone else.

Gigi

These are Meg's hands (no, she is not 92 or related to Benjamin Button). She took a really really long bath.




I promised a photo of our 92 year old Great Grandmother Catherine. Here she is. Happy new year!

Lonely?

Yesterday was Will's first day of "school." He is a mama's boy and so I was apprehensive about how it would go. George got sick and couldn't drop him off (yes, I am that chicken) so I had to be the one to do it. I wasn't sure I could do it if it was ugly. I didn't really have anything I had to do and sort of feel weird about the whole thing anyway. He did great! He enjoyed himself as soon as he got there. He kept coming over to me to hug me and then would run off again and check out some other item in the room. Meg went with me to drop him off before she went to her room. She was insistent on going to "baby school" to drop him off. After we got in the room, she proceeded to tell the teachers EVERYTHING about him. What to do when he gets hurt, what not to do, how to change his diapers, what he eats, what he doesn't eat...EVERYTHING! They were cracking up (one of them didn't know Meg at all). He slept for two hours and played and threw his food all over the place. He was just like he was at home! The first thing they said to me when I walked through the door was, "He's not a crier (sp?), he's a screamer." So they really got to see my Will at his finest. I warned them diaper changes are not easy and neither is going to sleep. But some lucky teacher (actually it was my dear Angela) got to rock the boy (a.k.a. The Prince) to sleep.


While Will was at his first day of school, Meg and I got to have a little mother-daughter time. This was not such a big deal to her (like it is to Olivia who is used to this concept and expects it) but it was nice nonetheless. We went to lunch and while we were at lunch a boy from her class came in with his mom. Meg was so funny and kept flirting with him and wandering over to his table to ask him questions or tell him stuff. I asked her if Jackson had any brothers and sisters. She said she didn't know but she would go ask him. She went over and came back with the answer, "No, he doesn't have any brothers or sisters." I said, "Ok then, it's just Jackson." Meg paused a moment and said, "It must be lonely not to have any brothers or sisters." Mom: "Well, Meg. He has his mommy and daddy and that's what his family is made of." Meg: "Well I think it is still lonely." Hmmm. I was so shocked by this statement. It was not coerced and I don't think I led her to it. It really seemed sincere. It also made me laugh. Meg is certainly one to talk about being lonely. She is the life of the party these days (interrupting everyone and everything). And it was also sort of ironic. She was all alone with me...certainly a rare occasion.