TURTLE POWER!! (as the boys would say)
Intoducing.....Leonardo (Ian) and Michelanglo (Caleb)- the Toddler and Preschool Ninja Turtles!!
We have Trunk-or-Treat tomorrow at Otter Creek, so I will put up more pictures after that. I will try to put up some of the Halloween Trick-or-Treating experience in what will be our new neighborhood.
Now I realize that the title of this post sounds like I am fishing for a compliment, but I'm not. I had the neatest opportunity to hear Angela Thomas speak on the above title. She was filming a DVD study based on her book "Do You Think I Am Beautiful?" here in Nashville. Somehow my mother in law was a very lucky duck, and received an invitation to the event and got them to let me come too! It was an amazing 3 nights that I will not soon forget. If you have never heard her speak I would suggest trying to attend one of her engagements if there is one in your area. Basically the book and study talk about the longing of every woman to feel beautiful. One example she used was with the story Cinderella. Do you place yourself in Cinderella's place (the belle of the ball) or in that of a maid of the town (the wall flower hoping to catch the prince's eye). To this day I still tend place my self in a maids position. I don't think I will ever be the "Cinderella" of the ball, and that is OK with me. I know I am not stunningly beautiful and have usually been "one of the guys" instead of the most wanted girl for dating, But my God thinks I am the most beautiful woman- inside and out. He created me to be just as I am- his beautiful child. He made me unique as he did every one of us. If we were in a crowded room standing against the wall (being a wallflower), just waiting for someone to ask us to dance, our God would be yelling across the room "HEY....Are you ready to dance the dance of you life in my arms?" And you feel like the most wanted woman in the room...because you are. We are wanted by our God, who loves us unconditionally. He cares about our inner appearance- the only one that truly matters. Before each session (2 each night), Bethany Dillon led us in worship. It was an amazing time with 75+ women, none of which I knew. We all were worshiping our amazing Lord, offering our best to Him. Bethany Dillon has a song entitled "Beautiful" that is based off of the book. It brought tears to my eyes as it spoke the truth of my teenage years. I wish each one of you my girl friends could have experienced this with me...
****I feel I should add a little note here. After re-reading this, it may seem that no one makes me feel beautiful. That is beside the truth. I have a loving husband, who thinks I am absolutly beautiful (and lets me know it) no matter how i look after 3 children and hectic days. I have 3 wonderful children who never fail to show their love for me. In the above post, I am stating in general the feelings that I have about myself at times. There are days I feel like a super mom and others where I do not. So to my hubby if you read this- Thanks for making me feel like a million bucks even when I don't see it myself and for loving me unconditionally with all your heart!*****
If you are leaving for a trip at night and your child has not taken an after noon nap- chances are that she will sleep on the way. Then if you stop at a hotel to get some sleep half way, chances are she will not want to wake up, so you put her back to bed. Now after you fall into a deep sleep, chances are that she will wake up at 2 am (since she has been asleep since 6pm) and will be ready to go whether you are or not. Even though you try to get her to go back to sleep till 4:30 am- she refuses, so you check out of the hotel and start driving the rest of your trip. Chances are she will fall fast asleep the moment you hit the hwy.
Ok...so Garrett is a very healthy baby boy! He and Riley are about the same size. ( But I think he is really a little bigger. ) The age difference you ask? Garrett is 7 months and Riley is 11 months. She thought he was the coolest toy there. She talked to him and patted him on the head ever so gently ;)
and just loved on him as much as he would let her. We got to play at Marti's house on Friday before we left and it was so nice. The kids wandered around while we caught up and just chilled.
This weekend Riley and I headed to Little Rock, AR to meet Marti, Emma and Garrett Welch and Kellie and Isaac Rine so we could head to Texarkana, AR to walk with Marti's mom, Cheryl. This was a special time since I have not seen my friends since our move in May. The car ride was a blast as we were all cramed into the van. When we got to Granny and Big Daddys house it was a get your energy off time before bed. Saturday morning we got up to walk in the race. We had the crew from LR plus LuLu (aka: Laura) and Tanya (Marti's sisters) and Laurie, LuLu's friend. Cheryl was the lead off walker for the non-competetive part of the race. We had a lot of fun. Garrett slept through half of it and Riley was waving like a beauty queen. Isaac and Emma rode in style, while Kellie and I worked our muscles out. :) After the race we watched as they did the closing ceremonies. I have never stayed that long at the LR race so it was neat to watch. Cheryl got to go up on stage and draw the winner for a pair of New Balance tennis shoes. She said she tried to pick one of us, but somehow none of us got them!
After the race we headed to the mall to let the kids burn some energy on the play place there. Then it was home for a nap (for all of us). Riley had so much fun playing at Grannys house. She thought she was cool stuff. Then on Sunday we went to church and then to Tanya's Bridal Shower. Let me tell you- Texarkana knows how to throw a shower! During the time we were there for every gift she opened there were 2 more brought in. It was a great time and Tan got some really neat stuff.
After dropping off the kiddos and their mommies in LR, Riley and I headed home to Nashville. It is actually only about a 5 hour drive-not 6. I am use to heading off the interstate to get to mom and dads so that adds an extra hour. Riley was way happy to see her Daddy, and Caleb was pretty supprised to see Mommy in the bed at 4 this morning!
Wow....so much has happened just over the weekend. Friday evening Matt's parents came down to watch the kids for us on Saturday while we went house hunting (thanks Lee and Linda!) We saw around 6 houses in the Mt. Juliet area, and found one that we absolutely wanted. When we walked in we felt like this was home. It had an open floor plan, room for improvements, and had plenty of room for our family of 5. So we prayed about it and considered placing an offer on it. Well, on Sunday we made an offer around 1 pm. It was accepted by 9:30 pm! So we will be home owners around the end of November. We close on our house in Maumelle today (well she closes and then we get the paperwork faxed, ect..) We were so surprised. The house is in a great family neighborhood and has a TON of updates so we figured someone else would offer more and with there being an open house on Sunday, a bidding war. So when we got it , after the shock wore off we praised God because we feel this is where he wants us. It is about the same distance for our families to drive as it is for them to get to the apartment. Mt. Juliet is on the east side of Nashville, near Hermitage (I believe). At the bottom of the post is the web page that has some photos of it. Please understand that she has it decorated SO nicely, We love the decorations and furniture...if only they could leave it! :)
Also this weekend...we had a laundry mishap. If you are going to let your older children help you load clothing into the dryer- please make sure they do not stick anything into the dryers among the clothing. 95% of Riley's winter clothing now have lovely black spots all over them (only about 8 things salvageable). While Ian was being a wonderful helper he placed an ink pad, still in the plastic wrapper, into the dryer while loading the clothes. As frustrating as it was, I am thankful for his help and now Riley gets new clothes! That is one thing the boys love to do- help me. From making dinner to cleaning and doing the laundry, they want to do it to. And I am more than happy to accommodate them! So check your dryers before adding clothing (or better yet check your kids!)
Matt's grandma and cousins are coming down for the day tomorrow. We haven't seen them in long time. We have been up to IN plenty but have not made it over to the KY family at all. We will have to do better about getting over there since L&L don't live there anymore. We are excited to get to spend a little time with them
Please pray for safe travels as Riley and I are heading to AR this weekend for the Race for the Cure in Texarkana. We are meeting up with Marti, Emma, Garrett and Kellie and Isaac Rhine to go walk with Marti's family for Cheryl. Matt is taking the boys to the family camping trip in east TN for the weekend. They should have a ton of fun and I am looking forward to spending time with friends.
http://listings.realtracs.com/MediaDisplay.aspx?ListingID=948201
Well this weekend we are going house hunting. We have so far been blessed that everything has gone smoothly on our home in AR. We are set to close on October 23! Yea!! So we have met with a realtor here and looked through countless pages of homes and picked out several in Mt. Juliet and in Spring Hill. So here begins the quest for a place for us to plant roots in TN. We are pretty excited. Please pray that we are able to find a house that suites our needs but also is a good price. I have had to get use to the fact that houses that would have been under 200k in AR are closer to 300k here in Nashville. Talk about sticker shock!!
I have recently made an effort to read more. It is something that I enjoy immensley but have found that since having kids real close together, is not something I get to do often. I bought some "raising Godly boys" books and have been looking at some "raising Godly girls" books as well. I also have gotten several books as far as helping me find "my purpose" outside of just being a wife and mommy and some about men and women of the Bible. I am going to try and read a Liz Curtis Higgs book, which I have been told are very good. Now it is just a matter of arranging my time to actually read them. If anyone has good ones to read (any genre is good for me) leave a comment. I'm always looking for some good ones.
We are heading to Ar on the 19 of October for the Race for the Cure in Texarkana and to see our friends. So hopefuly we can get to see all the new babies born since our move and everyone else in our short time there. And remember anyone is welcome to stay with us when they pass through Nashville!
Weird title for a post, but that is because I am feeling overly guilty right now! We had a great time at the art show in Louisville and the kids had a blast with Pawpaw. On our last day there Caleb was complaining that his ear hurt. I figured he had another ear infection so decided to take him to the dr on Monday. Now Caleb had tubes placed in his ears when he was 11 months old and they have just recently fallen out (March 06). Well his ears started draining on Sunday which basically told me that he had a double ear infection. On monday we went to Bible study and about half way through they came and got me. He was crying and pretty upset. So I called and got an earlier apt and we headed to Vandy. The dr there told us that he had perfereated both eardrums and we started the strongest antibiotic and ear drops. Now I was already feeling bad because I just assumed that the holes were not quite healed from the tubes falling out. But to find out that I didn't notice that he had an ear infection till a few days ago made me feel terrible. Then Ian came down with a fever. That was the only symptom he had for 2 days. Then he started complaining about his ear and throat hurting. So off to the dr we go (again). Ian also has an ear infection and if he didn't have a perferated eardrum also. So now I feel like I am a terrible mom. I probably should have had them check Riley too, Although she seems to be fine. So as they are healing I am trying to cope with dropping the ball on my kids health. I can't think of a time I have not noticed little things that would indicate there was an issue. So if we suddenly become kidless, it is only because I have handed my kids over to the state since my mommy skills have gone down the drain!! ;)
The kids and I will be leaving for Indiana tomorrow. We are heading up to my in-laws for a few days so I can experience the St. James Art Show. I have always wanted to go but couldn't justify it when we lived in AR. But now that we are only 3-4 hours away I can spend some time with Heather and Linda (Sis-in-law and mom-in-law) while Paw paw gets to watch the kids! Matt is staying here, but going to the Louisville vs. MTSU game on Friday evening with a friend. I am sure he will have a blast there and having a few nights to himself. While we are in IN we are going to head to Hubers Farm so the kids can expend some energy and enjoy the petting zoo and hayrides that they offer. It will be a lot of fun is some wonderful fall weather. I will post some pictures when we get home on Saturday. Hope everyone have wonderful weather to enjoy and a beautiful weekend!
We would appreciate it if you would keep Matts mom and my mom in your prayers. Linda has come down with Strep Throat and my mom has Shingles. They are both feeling pretty down and out of sorts. Also please continue to pray that we will close soon. We found out that we do not need to make any repairs to the house so we have cleared that hurdle. We appreciate all the friends and prayer warriors we have out there. Have a wonderful day!
One bottle Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo: $2.98
One pink butterfly hooded towel: $6.99
One beautiful girl with crazy hair and bright blue eyes: Priceless
