Thankful Thursday

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." - Woody Allen

I've had kind of a frustrating day.

Maybe not quite frustrating, just crazy busy.

Ok, a little frustrating too! =)

I've decided, though, to focus on the good things and not worry about the not so good things.

So, I was thinking about all of the things that I'm thankful. 

Obviously the list of the things I'm thankful for would be way too long to put on here, but I thought I'd share some of them with you.

I'm thankful for....

*sunny days

*little boys kisses

*whispered i love yous at bedtime

*singing in the car

*telling seriously lame jokes to Sammy who happens to think they're hilarious!

*winter time when I don't have to shave my legs 

(tmi, sorry!!) =)

*biting into a pepperoncini and the spicy juice squirting up my nose 

(ok, maybe not so much, but it made me laugh!)

*putting clean, folded laundry away that was just worn the day before 

(that's an awesome feeling!!)

*looking around my house and wishing it were cleaner/neater/more organized, 

but knowing that my kids are loved and they know it!!

*skipping with Sammy 

(and then being told by his father that I'm not allowed to teach 

him that because he's a boy!) =)

*looking at our needs and wondering how they'll be met and knowing that God ALWAYS provides!

*dreaming of spring!

*being a mommy!

*God's grace and peace when things are a little crazy in our lives!

my amazing/wise/hard-working/loving/God fearing husband!!!!!!!!

There are so many, many more!!

Maybe I'll try and make it a weekly thing to post a few things that I'm thankful for. 

I need it to keep me grounded! =)

Poor Misled Child

I like the Veggie Tales. I think they can be cute and silly. 

But they're misleading my child. 

Poor Sammy thinks that there was really a worm (caterpillar!) 

named Carlisle with Jonah 

and that he must have disobeyed God too 

because he was also swallowed by the whale. 

(yes, I think it was a whale, not a big fish. No nasty letters, please)

Shock and Awe!!!

So apparently not all mortgage company's are completely corrupt these days.

 I know you don't believe me. I wouldn't have before today either. 

But we just got a refund check in the mail from our previous mortgage company because after their audit they found that we had been overcharged for something. It's a substantial little check too! Sweeet! 

It makes my heart sing to get unexpected money! I don't even care that it technically was our money given back to us. 

Same with tax refunds. I love that hearty check at the end of the year!

Now if only we could get a loan to do the construction on the house we've been waiting 2 years for! (and finally have permits for! woohoo!!)

They can put a man on the moon....

I was watching Brian Regan the other day {hysterical!} and he was saying how people blame things on the men who walked on the moon by saying stuff like "they can put a man on the moon, but they can't...you fill in the blank..."

So, I got to thinking what kind of things I blame on the poor innocent astronauts. And, by the way, I'm obviously no scientist, but why is so much money spent on going to the moon anyway? Is there really much benefit to it??

They can put a man on the moon, but they can't....

... make a quiet lawn mower (because, seriously, they always run them during toddler nap time!)

... make a re-sealable package for bacon (that really bothers me!!)

... provide our country with alternate energy sources for homes, cars, etc (ok, so they've made progress on this, but it's taken forever and it hasn't helped enough people yet so I'm still blaming the astronauts!)

... find Osama!

I'm sure there's more, but I gave myself a vacation day today and that involved any type of thinking! My family has gotten fed all day and that's about the extent of what I've accomplished. 

Relax..I'm back!

I must apologize to everyone (ok, just my impatient sister!) who have asked me to update my blog. We've had some issues with uploading pictures and what with my boys being so adorable I didn't think these posts were worthy without them.

And just to confuse everyone (ok, again, just my impatient sister!) I've changed the dates so the world will never know that my blogging is quite delayed. Tricky! Scroll down to see the good stuff!

Silly

Sammy and I were doing laundry this morning (which in itself is awesome. He loves doing it so much that I get tons of loads done because he's constantly asking to go put more in!) and he said to me "Mommy, we don't get in the dryer. That wouldn't be very good...because I'll get trapped and someone will cook me!" Huh! How's he know he'll get cooked if he climbs in there? I'm not gonna fight it though! Maybe he'll never try it...wait, he's a boy! Regardless of what he knows about dangerous things he'll still try them won't he?! Oh well! I tried it when I was a kid and didn't "get cooked"!

Ponderings... **EDITED TO ADD MORE "WISDOM"**

1. As soon as you feel you have your house in order and clean - turn around...surely there's another mess happening already somewhere!
2. The calmer Mommy stays the calmer the child stays - the same is true with how upset and frustrated Mommy gets!
3. I take the small things in life - especially with my kids - for granted no fewer than 3,469 times each day! (To my shame!!)
4. The longer you wait for something the harder it gets to wait patiently (ok, so this one is not new to mankind, but waiting for an architect's plans is getting unbearable!)
5. A baby learns very early to whine and cry so his older brother will get yelled at!
6. The more i want to loose weight the more depressed it makes me and the more I eat! (absurd I say!!)
7. Regardless of the number of times you go to the grocery store there will always be days when you can't find anything to make for dinner!
8. Hammer pants are one thing that I pray daily will never come back into style! (that was random!)
9. When you're not looking toys breed!

**EDIT** (PLEASE DISREGARD IF YOU ARE PREGNANT (I KNOW WHAT THE "PREGGIE QUEASIES" CAN DO TO A GIRL!), JUST PLAIN HAVE A WEAK STOMACH OR HAVE NO CHILDREN (OR YOU MAY DECIDE TO NEVER HAVE ANY!!)
10. When your child is sick try to stay far, far away and do yourself and other children a favor and keep them far away too or they will have a much closer encounter with said sick child than anyone ever wants to experience (ie vomit in their mouth!!) and you may loose your lunch in the process!! Not to mention you now have multiple children to console, bathe and wash their mouths out with soap (just kidding! i remember what that was like and vow never to subject my kids to that!!)
11. When vomit is present in your house, no amount of scrubbing, bathing, laundry, etc will totally remove the smell. I swear it's not that it's still in my house, but in either my nose or brain and I can't escape it! I now have the cleanest floors on the block since they have been scrubbed more times in the last 24 hours than in the past month. Although maybe that's just saying something about my housework or lack thereof! =)
12. Life is full of essential decisions. One of them being, when you have sick children you need to take a moral stand on how to dress their beds (and yours too if they're the sharing type and allow you the joy of vomit in your sheets as well!) The question is whether to put a mattress pad on in hopes of sparing your mattress or leave it off in hopes of having less laundry which in some cases will be pointless since after a night full of puke you'll have multiple loads to do anyway!!

Oh, and lest I appear to be a totally heartless friend I must offer the following....
13. Take a good grammar class so as not to have run-on sentences like me in #'s 10 and 12!!

Tag! You're it!

I've been tagged. Your turn!

What was I doing ten years ago:
I was in the second month of classes in my first year of Bible School at the Word of Life Bible Institute in Argentina and I had just met my husband!

Five things on my "to do" list:
Laundry
Plant veggies
Straighten the house from kid clutter!
Cut and color my hair
Enjoy my iced coffee that my wonderful hubby brought me!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Finally put a 2nd floor on our house with all new furniture (no more hand-me-downs!!!!!!!!)
Save for college for the kiddos
Go on a cruise or something with my husband because he's amazing and deserves it!!
Go to Italy
Give to our church and missions

Three of my bad habits:
Procrastination
Lack of Exercise
Not being consistent 100% of the time in discipline

Five places I have lived:
Audubon, NJ
Merchantville, NJ
Runnemede, NJ
Mt Ephraim, NJ
San Miguel del Monte, Argentina

Five jobs I have held:
JC Penney (Men's Dpt)
American Express Financial Advisors
Perry Videx (bilingual secty/translator)
Stay at Home Mom (the best in the world!!!!!)
(I realize there are only 4 here, but I haven't had any others)

The Mom Song

I found this song today and had to share it! (sorry, I can't figure out how to get it to display here so I had to put the link)


http://seehere.blogspot.com/2007/10/mom-song.html

I'm on a roll with posts today!!!

I was trying to catch a few cute pictures of the boys this morning. I seem to pull out the camera whenever they're together like this....poor Caleb, the only pictures we're going to have of the poor child is ones with both of them!

Anyway, Sammy was holding Caleb and he gently put his hand on Caleb's head and then layed his head down. I quick snapped the picture before they moved...or so I thought! Wouldn't you know Caleb spits up! And when have you ever seen spit-up caught in mid air like this?? Lunacy!

Labor Day....From a Mom's Point of View!!

From Wikipedia:
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man".
hmmmmm..........how about the working stay at home mom??!!
I remember like it was yesterday the first time I realized that moms don't get a day off. Sammy was just a few weeks old and I woke up in the morning sick as a dog. I remember thinking, "wait...I don't ever get a day off. No sick days, no personal days, nothing!" On call 24/7! That's a mommy's life. Moms know the real meaning of labor day...we do it every day! We don't even get weekends off and they created a special holiday for themselves! Silly!
Sometimes when I don't feel good or didn't sleep well because of a newborn waking during the night I'll say to my wonderful husband in the morning "I'm calling out sick today". He lovingly rolls his eyes and says "yeah! right!"
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE being a mommy. I truly never imagined that I would get married, let alone have these two beautiful boys! Growing up I always had the recurring dream that I was the single jet-setting aunt who dropped in on my sister and her beautiful home with kids running everywhere. I would give them gifts and snicker as she made them all dinner. Then I would leave and that was the end of the dream. Now I find myself doing what I never imagined, but always wanted!
There's no better job than being at home with my boys. I have no desire to ever go back to work! I love being with them!
I guess they can have their Labor Day, but I'm throwing a stink next Mother's Day if I don't at least get to take a nice nap!! =)
Happy Labor Day!

Soccer....

I have a love/hate relationship with soccer! I love it because it means Tote is seeing men come to the Lord when he coaches/plays with Saints and because it's a good oulet for ministering to teens when he's coaching at BHS, but I hate it because everytime he's involved in it he's away from us for too long! Sammy's at the age now where he notices that Daddy should be home, but isn't and he gets very 'daddy lonely'! I must be very selfish, but it's hard when he's working days, coaching nights and traveling on Saturdays. Throw in church and youth group and we don't see too much of each other!
** End Venting Session! =) **

Ladies and Gentlemen ... we've finally arrived!!

Can you believe we've finally kind of caught up to "advanced" technology and have our own blog?! I mean really, it was just a few months ago that I learned what a blog is!! =) Well, here we are and we hope to keep you all updated on our lives. I really wish we had done this when Sammy was born because now I'm so torn as to what to do. Do I start from this point on or do I try and go back and post pictures of him since he was born and rack my brain to remember details??? I still don't know. I'm sure what will happen, to begin with anyway, is that I'll search through pictures and post the best ones (no matter the age) and tell you about them the best I can. Time does go by so fast!! It's already hard to remember what our first months were like with him...and it feels like he's always been with us! It's good to have you visiting us and please leave comments so I don't feel like I'm putting work into this and noone is noticing!! =)