Grrrrr!

I'm sure most of you know how I feel about bone head comments when it comes to whether or not I will ever be having any more children.  For those of you who do not feel like "listening" to me rant, feel free to skip this post.

When anyone asks me if I Joe and I are going to have any more children, I try my best to answer as honestly as possible.  I am not a fortune teller, so I can't answer with 100% accuracy, but I do my best.  My standard answer is that I would love to have another child but we are waiting until Micah gets a little older before deciding if we are going to take that step.  Sometimes people accept that answer and move on, but others look at me in horror and say, "You mean you want another one?"

That question does not bother me in the least.  I realize that the decisions that we have made for our family are not right for everyone. For that question, I have a standard answer as well.  I believe that if you don't know that you are done, then you can't say that you are done...and I don't know that we are done. 

Last night I came across someone who asked me both questions, and I gave both answers.  To which said person replied, "Huh, if you had them babies naturally you would know that you were done!"

Grrrr!!!!!  Does that rub anyone else the wrong way, or is it just me?

A Chicken Story...The End

So six months ago we entered the world of chicken farming (much to my dismay) with five chickens.  Soon the boys were gathering eggs every day and I was getting used to the squawking going on in my back yard.  The birds turned out to be an adventure for us all.  Jonah learned when NOT to put his hand in the nest, and I learned that snakes like to eat eggs.
We did not have any luck hatching out eggs, so our neighbor gave us her biddies to raise.  That turned into a disaster...so we decided that we would just keep gathering our eggs for our own consumption and be satisfied with the five little chickens we had.
Today when Joe went out to take care of the chickens, he found that something had killed all five of them.  He thinks it was another snake.  I think I am ready to move.

I Hate To Alarm You, But...

There are some conversation starters that really make you want to run for the hills.  My husband is the master at them.  He usually says things like "Well, do you want the good news first or the bad news first?"
With words like that I'll take no news!
Today was even worse than usual.  Joe got home a few minutes before I came in with the boys.  As I struggled into the house (out of the pouring rain) carrying two children and a bag, he greeted me by saying, "I hate to alarm you...but I need you to look in the red bag outside the back door."   I glanced out the door and saw my onion bag sitting on the back steps.  Before I could ask why my onion bag was outside, it moved!
Joe's next words were, "Now don't get upset."

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DON'T GET UPSET????

I'm telling you, he really is not good at breaking bad news.  Turns out there was a three foot long SNAKE in the bag.  Unfortunately that was not the part that Joe hated to alarm me about.  The alarming part was that he had caught the snake IN MY BATHROOM!!!  Seriously? 

Now that I think about it, I guess there is not really a good way to break the news to your wife that you just caught a snake in her bathroom....

Use Your Words

I love to hear my kids talk.  It is a good thing too, because they can talk, and talk, and talk, and talk!
Since they were very little we have always encouraged them to use their words to express what they wanted rather than pointing, grunting, or screaming.  You will often hear me telling my kids to use their words or do without whatever it is that they want.
Micah is just learning to talk and it is so cute to hear him say uce peas (juice please) and hay hue (thank you).  Noah mastered using his words ages ago and never stops talking.  Seriously, the boy wakes up talking and keeps at it until he hits the bed at night...sometimes even then he talks in his sleep.
Jonah is between the two.  He is just now realizing how much attention talking brings him and can be heard saying, "Hush Noah, it is my turn to talk!"
Just last week, I had to applaud Jonah for using his words quite nicely (after I stopped laughing).  Noah was doing what brothers do (annoying Jonah in the backseat)  when Jonah spoke up and said, "Noah, stop playing with me, I not a toy, I a Jonah."
Now that is what I call using your words!

Put Put

A few weeks ago in the midst of our car hunt, we found ourselves in Savannah on a Saturday evening.  We all of a sudden realized that we had been spending so much time taking care of business that we had not taken the time to take care of the business of our family.
It was apparent from the snapping at each other and the whining going on that it was time to take a step back and re-evaluate our priorities.  We just so happened to drive past a fun park that had a sign up advertising an early bird special.  I pulled in to the parking lot and we spent $20 for the entire family to have several hours of more fun than we have had in quite some time.
We started off on the go-cart track.  The two younger boys were too little to ride, but that did not stop Noah and I from having a blast!  From there we went to the playground equipment, the indoor arcade, and put-put golf.

This was the first time that our kids had ever played put-put and I think it was the first time for Joe and I since my college days.

Believe it or not, Jonah beat all of us at put-put!  Micah was by far the worst as he kept throwing his ball, but Joe was not far behind him!

We all left with smiles on our faces and memories of good times in our hearts.  I am so thankful for my boys and for a husband who realizes the importance of family togetherness.

Minivan Momma

This is what I now drive...not this one exactly...but one nearly like it.  Except a different color, and a different year model, and mine does not have tinted windows.

I would post a picture of the real thing except that I don't have the energy to go outside just for a stinkin picture.  My doctor says that I have Mono...I think that someone has tied invisible weights to every appendage I have.  As if carrying my weight plus sixty pounds of children around was not enough.

Back to the minivan.  I balked at the idea of a minivan for a LONG time.  I was convinced that I wanted another Expedition exactly like the one that I already had, just with about 300,000 less miles on it.  Alas, it was not to be.  The kids and Joe (yes I said Joe) fell in love with this minivan.  I have to admit, after driving it for a week, I am falling in love as well.  It is so much easier to get everyone all buckled in and we actually have a lot more room to move around.  The best part...it still has enough seating left for two more kids!

...After the mono passes...and I convince Joe....

My Baby...

...is not such a baby anymore!  When did this happen?  Where did this toddler come from?

***Please excuse the lack of sound, I think I had the video on mute.

Car Rant

We are in the market for another vehicle.  I am so frustrated with the process that I could just scream...actually I think I have a couple of times already.  We have been looking for far longer than I ever imagined and right now I think I would rather walk everywhere the rest of my life than to go into another dealership!  Here are just a FEW of my issues.

• Why can't a salesman simply tell you how much a vehicle costs?  Joe and I saved up a certain amount of money to purchase a vehicle with and we know that we do not want to go over that amount.  If a salesman knows my price limit from the time I walk in the door, why on earth would they show me a vehicle that is worth twice what I am willing to spend?  If I ask how much a vehicle costs, I do not want to hear "Just take her for a drive and see how you like it...we will work something out."  If I hear that one more time I just may punch someone in the face.  It may not be very Christian of me, but that is where I am right now!
• Why do salesmen look straight past me but greet my husband with a handshake and a smile?  Especially when I am the one carrying the purse with the checkbook.
• Since when did salesmen turn into bankers and car lots turn into credit agencies?  I can't even tell you the number of times we have heard a salesman ask us to use the money that we have saved as a down payment and just finance the rest of the ridiculously overpriced vehicle.  When we refuse, they are quick to assure us that they finance everyone, and it does not matter even if we have horrible credit, that they will find a way to get us in that vehicle.  HELLO!!! We have fine credit, and we have it because we have avoided financing things that we know we can not pay for!
• What is up with all of the car lots with signs that read "Buy here, Pay here"?  I just don't get it.  If I am going to purchase something then I think it would only be appropriate if I paid for the item at the same location.
• Why do salesmen feel the need to lie?  I am no good at telling when someone is shooting me a line, but even I can tell that some of these salesmen are lying though their teeth.  Especially when they contradict themselves in the same sentence.
• What makes a vehicle that has had only one owner any better than a vehicle that has had two?  Why is it that all used vehicles have been recently traded in by a little old lady who only drove it back and forth to church?
• And last but not least, why is it that men love to go shopping for vehicles?  I am pulling my hair out and Joe is having the time of his life. 

So there you have it, my car rant.  Believe it or not, I actually feel a little better.  I may not need to punch that salesman in the face after all.

Sorry I'm Late

I can't seem to get anywhere on time anymore!  I start out on time or even early and then something happens (usually involving a bodily function of some kind) to throw a kink in my plans.  Take yesterday for instance.  I got everyone up and ready to go to the sitter's house so that I could go to work.  We were actually very early, so I told the kids they could play while I loaded the car with the eighteen thousand things that it takes in order for us to leave the house.
When I came back into the house I heard Noah sobbing in the bathroom.  I walked in to find him sitting on the bathroom floor, crying into a toilet bowl of what can only be described as "oatmeal consistency" poop, and using MY HAIR COMB to fish around in it to try and get out his favorite hot wheels car.
He was hysterical and begging me to please help him get his car out.  My first instinct was to throw out the comb, flush the hot wheel, and sanitize Noah's hands. Then I remembered the time my Aunt Jeanine flushed her phone and it took three days for the plumber to get it out.  So I called Joe (who was back at the shop) and told him that Noah had dropped a hot wheel into a toilet of poop and asked if it would be okay to just flush it away.
Those of you who know my husband know his obsession with toys and it will be no surprise to you that his first question was, "Which car is it?"  Clearly the man has issues.  Upon talking with Noah they determined that this was a toy that could not be sacrificed, so Joe came back up to the house armed with some crazy contraption and fished the hot wheel out of the poopy water.
Noah and Joe were elated, the hot wheel was sanitized, my comb was thrown out, and we walked out of the door five minutes late.  So the next time I arrive somewhere a few minutes late...please keep this in mind and make sure that you really want to know what the hold-up was before you ask!

Journey

I have been thinking a lot lately about my Christian walk.  Specifically where it is at now compared to where it was in the past and where I want it to be in the future.  I think that life is a series of twists and turns, mountains, and valleys.  My Christian walk has been the same way, a mixture of good and not so good with little surprises thrown in along the way.
I recently started a new blog called Journey to chronicle my own path.  It is a blog for my revelations about life, God, and myself. 
If you attend Women's Devotions with me at church or are in my Sunday school class, the themes may seem familiar.  Hopefully in the future I will be able to get myself in gear so that I can post to the blog before we have our devotions, and you will be able to prepare for the discussion ahead of time.