i heart san francisco

so i guess you could say i left part of my heart in san francisco. i love that city...it's really beautiful and so many fun things to do and see. but i mostly enjoyed just being with my friends...and that is where i left some of my heart! katie and wendi are 2 of my best friends from college and i miss them tremendously. it never seems like there is enough time when i get to see them.

a photo wrap up of my time:
i spent wednesday with my friend wendi (who lives in the city) and she
took me to fisherman's wharf

and we at lunch at one of the many open air restaurants with fresh seafood

we shopped at Pier 39 and i bought the kids some fun prizes

i got to see the cute but obnoxious sea lions at the pier

i drove down the crookedest street (Lombard) and saw the famous "Painted Ladies"

we ate at a fantastic peruvian restaurant with karl & wendi and
talked, laughed, and reminisced for hours...great times!!!

and lastly, i got to spend a couple days with katie who delivered her 4th child on wednesday. i got to hold and snuggle baby elliot and enjoyed just sitting by katie's side...talking, watching american idol, and even sitting in silence while she slept. i'm so happy about my time with her.

rusty enjoyed his conference. and we got to go to dinner with our friends shane and ursula who also live out there. (we met them while r attended northwestern 6 years ago.) shane also works in prosthetics...and its always fun to see them and catch up. they treated us to a wonderful steak dinner! saturday r and i did a little shopping in the city before we had to leave. our hotel was right in the middle of tons of stores (yipee for me)...it was probably a good thing that i didn't have more time to shop! we were happy to see the kids when we picked them up at r's parents house. its just so fun to love on them and gaze into their sweet little eyes and just soak them up and try to make up for lost time. they did fantastic for both sets of grandparents....and we are super thankful we have wonderful parents who we can trust and depend on to help us out during times like this!! so long vacation. back to reality...got to go finish unpacking!

goin' back to cali....again!

i'm sure certain friends of mine (this one and this one to be specific) will give me a hard time for travelling yet again! but when your hubby is heading to san francisco for a conference and his company is footing the bill and when i have enough miles to fly for free as well AND two of my very best friends live there....WHY NOT!? it seemed like a no brainer. and this time we are going childless. my mom/dad and rusty's mom/dad are helping out with the kids while we are away.

can i tell you how excited i am!? first to be able to get away just rusty and i. i know he will be busy during the day with his conference...but we have a 5 hour flight together and nights to just hang out together and with our dear friends. and my friend kate is about to have her 4th baby any day now (i'm hoping today!!)...so i'm thrilled to get to meet her new baby boy! and i will be a free woman while i'm there....i can sleep in if i want to....go shopping in union square (where our hotel is)....go visit my friends, etc! i can't wait!! we're off tomorrow!

this is what happens when i'm avoiding housework

i found this from a new blogging friend (who happens to have the same name as me) and i thought it was fun. while not entirely accurate, there were some things that were true about me. overall, it was just another thing to keep me from doing the things i need to be doing around here! so go make your own visual DNA and leave me a comment if you post it on your blog.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

another fun thing i found from my photojojo email newsletter is george lange's photo book. i'm a big photography fan and i loved looking at the cool shots he captured. go check it out.

new look for spring

i've been so over my last blog template but just haven't gotten around to changing it until now. so this is going to have to do until i can figure out how to make my own header. i like the change...anything new is better in my opinion. in fact, after i dropped ella off at preschool this morning, evan and i headed to the mall. i walked in many stores where i saw so many fun, new, cute spring clothes. i think i'm just loving the styles right now and there was so much i wanted to buy. but i refrained (it's a miracle, huh rusty?). i'm itching for spring to arrive and stay. and whoever decided to start daylight savings time 3 weeks earlier this year deserves a huge...um...hug....or high five!? i love having longer days...it makes me a happier girl. here's to spring!

all about my boy

i've been meaning to write down some things about evan before i forget them. at 2 years and 4 months...this little boy still has a strong hold of my heart. he is certainly a momma's boy and i don't mind that at all!

the other morning i woke up hearing him through the monitor as usual...although he wasn't saying his usual "mommeeee...mommeeee..." over and over. instead he was saying something else that i couldn't quite understand. i got up quickly as normal because i didn't want him to wake up ella and went into his room. i found him standing in his crib with is arm stretched out toward the window and palm of his hand up as if he were saying "stop". and he was. he proceeded to say to the window "stop it birdies...stop it birdies..." and then i heard the little birdies chirping. i guess he just wasn't in the mood to hear the happy birdies that morning! i got a big kick out of that!

another funny thing is his vocabulary. i'm quite amazed at what this boy can say. i really never thought he would be talking this much since i heard boys are slower at talking and especially 2nd borns. but he can say just about anything...i may not understand him all the time...but he tries. the funniest thing is that he makes one syllable words into 2 syllable words. examples are:
dog is "dah-wog"
car is "caw-wer"
there is "der-rer"
man is "ma-yan"
etc etc....i guess his southern roots are coming out strong. i never correct him because i think it sounds too cute. in fact...i start talking like him sometimes.

the other night the kids were playing outside in the backyard for a few minutes while i was finishing dinner. when it was time to come in and eat...we told the kids to come in. and showing his new (well not really new) stubborn side, he started crying and yelling "i don't want to!" we continued to tell him to come in and he refused. we usually give in and go get him because he will not move unless we do. this time, we let him stand there outside and cry and continue yelling "i don't want to" with tears streaming down his face. as i was getting our glasses filled with water at the kitchen sink, i looked out the window above the sink to see our neighbor outside on his deck waving his arms at us and pointing to our son with a concerned look on his face! did he really think that we couldn't hear him!? i graciously waved and nodded and mouthed "i know! thank you!". i think our neighbor was about to call defax on us or something! so....we ended up rescuing evan since we were evidently disturbing our neighbors! very funny moment.

one last thing....his favorite song to sing lately is "Old MacDonald". the other day he sang "and on that farm he had a chicken finger". he is constantly making us smile.

and this is why i'm thankful for blogging....i would probably forget stories like these otherwise.

recovering

whew...today i feel like i can take a deep breathe and say it's done! our women's retreat was friday and saturday and all our hard work is done. it was such a terrific weekend. i've heard some encouraging feedback about the retreat and i'm so pleased to hear how these women's hearts were full after our time together. our speaker, a lady from our church, was wonderful. through her amazing stories and through looking at a few passages about Jesus....she helped us to be able to see Him through our fear (our theme was "from Fear to Faith"). we had a fun spa night and some fun free time....great worship and great food. and my hubby surprised me with a spa treatment while i was there! i also left with a full heart and i feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing women from my church.

so this week is recovery week. i actually still need to recover from our vacation...i still haven't totally unpacked my suitcase from our disney cruise!! my house is a wreck and so now is time to recover from all the busyness of my past couple weeks. so i'm off to wash clothes, clean the kitchen, sweep the week old crumbs off the floor, vaccuum, oh...and enjoy the WARM weather we are going to have the next few days!!

9 years!

today is my 9th anniversary. wow...i really can't believe i've been married that long! rusty and i met our freshman year of college. which means we've known each other for about 14 years or so.

i've been thinking back to those college days lately and trying to remember our dating years. it was often fun but we definitely had our rocky moments. but i remember how i felt about him when i finally "came around" (he had been chasing me for a while and i wasn't interested!). i always wanted to be with him. i wanted to spend time with him at any chance i got. if i saw him in the dining hall, i got excited. we would hang out at mountain campus or go to frost chapel just to talk. we would go for drives off campus...one place in particular was this mountain close by where you could see for miles and miles. fun times.

and now i get to be with him all the time. and i know i'm just not as grateful for that as i should be. we have come far in our marriage....our journey together has been far from perfect and it never will be. we are both still learning so much about each other....how to meet each other's needs, how to put the other one first, how to love each other, how to forgive and give grace to each other. i'm happy that we have many more years to learn more about these things. it keeps marriage exciting.

so to my hubby....happy anniversary! i can't put into words just how grateful i am to have you as a husband....God has truly used you in my life to show me HUGE things. your unconditional love for me has been a great example of my Father's love for me. i feel i never have to doubt that you love me....you are so good at it :) and i know i can be a complainer...but really, you are a fantastic husband and father. the good far outweighs the bad. and every argument or fight that we have...only tends to draw us to the gospel. i know God is working on both of us and teaching us more about repentance. i just need to constantly remind myself of what a blessing this is....to have a husband who is willing to admit his faults and come to me for forgiveness. thank you for modeling this for me. i can only pray that i will do this more and that God will humble me. so....THANK YOU....you are an amazing man and i'm privileged to call you my husband of 9 years. thank you for the wonderful memories and i look forward to the years to come. i love you.

cruise continued

here's our boat, the "disney wonder". this is when we were on the disney island "castaway cay". notice the pirate ship on the left...it's the "Flying Dutchman" from Pirates of the Carribean! evan loved seeing that!

here are the 3 big girls doing the "ella dance"! she sticks her thumbs in the air and shakes her hips. i guess they decided sticking their tongues out would make the dance even funnier!

ella couldn't get enough of her cousins lane and grace...they all had a blast together!

i made this sign for my parents door

this is our last night at dinner in the "Animator's Palette" dining room. this was my favorite dining room...throughout the night the whole room changed from all black and white (notice the animated disney sketches on the wall along with the tv screen) to all color by the end of dinner. it was very cool and the kids loved it!

these are our servers, Beam from South Africa and Ramsey from India...they were great with our kids. Ramsey would do magic tricks for them every night at dinner. on this last night, many servers sang for my parents for their anniversary. happy 40th mom & dad!!

great memories...i can't believe it's already said and done! vacations just don't last long enough.

disney wonder

we're back and getting used to having to do everything for ourselves. no one to cook for me here, no one to make my bed every day, no one to clean my bathroom, no place to drop of my kids for some playtime.....bummer.

we had a great but exhausting week. rusty and i have learned over the years that vacationing with young children is just not quite as relaxing as we always hope it will be! the cruise was filled with tons to do....quite over-stimulating for my kids. it took them the first 2 days to adjust to it all. evan was quite clingy and always wanted to be held. ella was quite moody and fearful of it all. the first time she saw one of the disney characters, she cried and started shaking! she was scared of goofy and every other character for that matter!! each day she got better and after she saw one of the princesses....that made her super happy! to have her picture taken with cinderella was the highlight of her week! the kids loved the kiddie pool and probably would've stayed there the whole time if we would let them. overall, i would definitely recommend the disney cruise....but would recommend it for older kids. my niece, lane, who is 7....was a perfect age for all of it. my kids were just a little harder to manage with naps, and staying up late for the shows, and dropping them off at the children's area (ella freaked out), etc. if they were a few years older, i think it would've have been more fun. but don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable vacation!

it's a little hard to narrow down the 381 photos that i took last week. i'll post some now and then some more later.

here's evan, lane, ella & grace goofing off as we waited to get on the ship.

here are all the kids watching cartoons as we waited to get onboard. notice the girls all have on the same cinderella shirts and the 2 boys have on "cars" shirts....they were so cute!

evan, grant & rose....the finger sucker and thumb suckers!

the dance party as we set sail to the bahamas

more of the dance party. notice evan at the bottom pointing to mickey...he was so excited!

ella's DREAM! so i guess you can see her dreams really did come true! :)

the girls in the mickey pool

evan really wanted to meet minnie and mickey....but he wouldn't smile for the camera. he pretty much looked like that for most of the cruise...fingers in mouth! (notice who is missing in the family photo!!)

another highlight of ella's week...getting dessert every night after dinner! here she is eating chocolate pudding. another favorite was the mickey mouse ice cream bar!

one of the animal towels left in our room at night. this elephant was our favorite!

sailin' with mickey

well the time has come! we are leaving tomorrow to head for Port Canaveral where we will board the Disney Wonder! as you can imagine, ella is beside herself. this morning she was saying "mommy, mommy, one more week! one more week!!" and i said, "no, sweetie, one more DAY!" she then went running down the hall jumping up and down yelling, "one more day! one more day!" i think i'm more excited just to see my kid's reactions to the ship and everything they are going to experience in the next week!

this week has been crazy with my computer failing on me again for 3 days, wrapping up things for our women's retreat, washing clothes, packing, packing and more packing, etc etc! it's great to know that after a year of planning...the time has finally come. and i still can't believe that my dad is treating all of us to such a fantastic vacation! i feel so blessed and i'm so grateful.

i will be back after a week with many photos and stories to tell i'm sure!

conversations with a four year old

one of my new favorite things is when ella will crawl in bed with me in the mornings and we chat. this morning she crawled in and acted scared. this is how it went:
her: mommy, the rain...it makes me worried!
me: why sweetie? why are you worried?
her: it just makes me all worried.
me: but the rain comes from God...he is watering the grass and trees for us and that's not scary. so why are you worried?
her: monsters mommy!

for some reason she associates rain with monsters.
the conversation went on...

her: mommy, why can't we get snow every day?
me: because it's not cold enough where we live.
her: but mommy, it is cold outside!
me: but it's not quite cold enough.
her: but mommy, i really want it to snow!

that shows her argumentative side.
and then this happened...its a continued conversation that we started the other day...

her: mommy, i just really don't want to get bigger.
me: sweetie, i don't want you to get bigger either. will you just stay little for me?
her: but i can't stay little. i will get bigger.
me: but you will always be my little girl.
her: but i just really don't want to get bigger. ew, mommy, what's that stinky smell? it smells like your bad breath!

ha ha ha....i was wondering when i would ever hear her first comment about stinky morning breath!! of course, i had to argue with her and tell her that her breath didn't smell that great either when she wakes up!!

i love these conversations...i wish i could remember them word for word. i know i will quickly forget how sweet her little voice is and how cute it is when she gets words mixed up....like calling marshmallows mushrooms. she is precious.

first haircut

a couple of weeks ago i decided that it was time to cut evan's hair....the very little hair that he has! so i don't even know if what we did would qualify as a hair cut. for those of you who know our little bud, you know he doesn't have much hair. but the little bit that he has grown over the past 2 years was starting to grow over his little ears. so it literally lasted, oh, about 1 minute, maybe less. a snip snip on one side and then the other. whaalaa...done. i'm not even going to post the pictures we took because you would probably look at them and say "huh?" (ok, grammar problem, i don't know whether to put a . there or not?! oh well.) you really couldn't even tell it was cut. but mommy knew and i need to document this monumental occasion!

valentine's and cowboys

at around 6:30 last night i was hurrying to walmart to buy the kiddos some valentine's prizes. nothing like waiting til the last minute. but they enjoyed their little valentine monster that sings and dances and lights up. so it was worth the trip to the store filled with madness.

my hubby made me a mixed cd of fun songs for valentine's. very sweet and thoughtful, huh? all he got was a card from me. and he is in bed sick right now. so a super exciting valentine's day around here.

and last night the kids were playing dress up with some new dress up clothes that a friend passed on to us. evan finally has some non-princess clothes to wear! he looks so cute in this cowboy vest and hat. and you can't be a cowboy or cowgirl without boots...even if they are rain boots!

counting down the days

4 more days of torturing my children with eye drops. that already seems like way too long. they both have pink eye. 2 drops in each eye 3 times a day. lovely. evan is manageable...he is small enough to hold him down and only one of his eyes are infected. ella on the other hand is a nightmare. i had to give her the drops yesterday by myself. i went from sweet, understanding, loving mommy to mean, angry, forceful mommy in a matter of 30 seconds. she was uncontrollable...it might even be worse than her fear of shots. we even picked out yummy mini-sized candy bars for a special treat if she did a good job. by the way she responds to the drops, you would think that we were torturing her. it is awful. so 4 more days of this just sounds delightful. ha.

and we are also counting down the days til our disney cruise. actually, ella is probably the most excited out of any of us. EVERY day since before christmas she has been asking me when february is coming so we can go on the disney cruise. and now that february is here, the excitement is rising! she was all worried about having pink eye because she thought she wouldn't be able to go. i hope all the sickies will be gone by the time the 24th comes around!! 16 more days til vacation!! now THAT IS delightful!

**update: thanks to my friend, katie, i tried giving ella the drops with her eyes closed and letting the drops roll in when she blinks and it worked! she didn't even cry! i was so proud...and she was too! (and thanks, tiina, for letting me know the same tip! i had already tried it when i saw your comment!)

more asparagus

daddy cooked dinner last night because mommy has a cold and her energy had run out long before it was even time to think about what to make for dinner! he added a new twist to dinner last night. asparagus. i've never cooked it because i'm not a huge fan. i tend to do that...not cook things i don't like! which means we have broccoli A LOT around here and definitely no green beans. anyway, at first ella was very hesitant to eat it. but then i reminded her that oobi likes it. it was the FIRST thing she ate on her plate. no, not the second or third or last thing she ate...but the FIRST. freakin amazing! and to top it off...when she ate the asparagus on her plate, she said "more asparagus, more asparagus!!" i was thinking i needed to clean out my ears...was i hearing her right? so...way to go daddy....kickin it up a notch in the walker kitchen with a new veggie!

do everything without complaining?

for real? i find myself often getting upset with ella for complaining and get so frustrated at how much she does it. funny thing is that i do it just as much if not MORE. after 12 days of being computerless, i'm back. and honestly, i am struggling with getting back in the blogging groove. i got a little used to the break and haven't felt very inspired to write. although i was struggling without my lifeline, i now seem to be struggling with it as well! how ironic. the past couple weeks have helped me to see even more of how i hate when things don't go my way! there was MUCH grumbling and complaining in this heart of mine when i was having to spend hours (literally) on the phone with my internet provider...only then to find out that it was still my computer that was giving me trouble. and there was much complaining when i had to take 5 trips back and forth to the apple service provider to get it worked on. and i was so discontent not having my calendar, address book, etc that i rely on day in and day out. i felt so lost. anyway, i am thankful to have it back...but now my internet is not working as fast and my mouse is acting all funky. so here i go complaining again!! is my heart ever satisfied?

all this helps me to really see, just by using this silly example of my computer woes, how unsatisfied and discontent i can be. life would be more simple without all the stuff that fills our lives. stuff that seems like a must but really is not necessary. stuff that makes life easier and more convenient. so God has used this scenario in my life to show me, yet again, my sin. my love for other things. and he has reminded me where my satisfaction needs to be. in Him who gives me everything i need. the things that last.

on a more fun note, we had a walker family superbowl party tonight. we usually have friends over, but not tonight. we had a spread of food on the coffee table and the kids loved it. daddy made his annual rotel cheese dip with sausage and we made pigs in a blanket and made cream cheese apple dip with apples and grapes. i think evan ate about 10 pigs in a blanket. they loved watching the commercials and at times were on the floor laughing. ella kept asking us to let her see them again (she knows our DVR capabilities!). and when i was putting ella to bed, she was all sad that she didn't get to see the end of the game. i told her i would let her know who wins. she said, "mommy, will they get ribbons?" and i told her they would get a big trophy and superbowl rings. she said "maybe the rings will have a bowl on them and the trophy will have a bowl on it!" well i guess that would be a great idea and it makes sense to me too since it is the superBOWL!

no computer = dazed & confused

i've been mac-less for 6 days now. i think i have been walking around in this confused, aimless, pouting manner all week. i feel lost without my mac! it has been in the shop this week because we were having a little issue with it powering down at random times. so i finally got it back home yesterday only to discover 2 new issues. 1. my internet would not work 2. now my computer won't even turn on!! AAAAHHHHHHH!! i'm close to losing it. ok, obviously my computer is an idol in my life! but it's my lifeline to the world. i rely on the internet for so much...i guess i just didn't realize it until this week.

i did, however, get a lot done in the house this week! ha! i actually have a somewhat clean house right now. and i can actually see the surface of my desk! it took me an hour and a half to clean it up and its so nice to have work space now.

as a result of my week, i haven't been blogging. and the only way i'm doing it now is because i'm using my old iMac which has a smaller screen and is a bit blurry so i don't think i'll be doing this again. i wish the little Apple fairies would come fix my machine overnight for me. but i'm sure God has some more lessons to teach me first!

weighing in

i'm mainly writing this post because i'm tired of seeing "jack is back" every time i look at my home page. i don't have much to say, really. the week has actually gone by rather quickly. i've been wasting away on the couch every night now that most of my shows are back on! american idol being one of those shows...and i'm just wondering what the deal is with all the publicity this season about the judges being mean. seriously? if i recall, this has always been an issue...why is it such a big deal now? these crazies that audition really are just asking for it. you have to wonder how many of them are for real or not. i know many of them are...and you see their spirits being crushed on tv...and i do feel bad for them. they don't know they are tone deaf. but can't someone else tell them before they get on national television? it does seem that randy has been more harsh so far....but it also seems that they have seen some really horrible auditions too. i guess what i'm saying is, sometimes i don't blame them for speaking the truth. and seeing them laugh during someone's auditions may seem rude....but we are doing the same thing at home! aren't we? ok, those are my thoughts for what they're worth. and they're not worth much!

so one of the many thoughts that i have had flooding my mind lately is schooling for ella in the fall. we already attended an informational meeting at the school she is currently attending about their kindergarten. it went well...i would feel fine sending her there...but nothing really stood out to us. then last night, we attended another meeting at a school we have been thinking about. it is a christian classical school and their first school year started last fall. everything about what we heard sounds ideal. i have been contemplating whether i really want to homeschool or not. and i'm always leaning towards the "not". this school is in session 3 days a week. T/Th are days for the children to be at home. the teachers will send all the work home for the parent(s) to work on with them. so it is basically partly homeschooling. i love this idea. i also love that my child will receive a Christ-centered education...not one where she will just hear a bible story and memorize a bible verse...but an education where she will learn that God is the center for all learning. she will learn that math and science are beautiful because God created them. it is a trivium-based education which we fully believe in and think is effective. so i'm excited...we are still thinking and praying through the decision...but it honestly seems like a no-brainer for us.

so, american idol to classical school. no similarities...just my random thoughts again.

jack is back!

so who watched last night? r and i were all giddy yesterday leading up to the new season premiere. and we weren't disappointed (b/c jack didn't die, of course!). this trailer makes my pulse increase just a tad bit. so we'll see what happens tonight!!

**update: i was sitting here with evan in my lap and started watching that video clip (i stopped it before all the violence!...) right when evan saw kiefer, he said "DADDY!". i immediately called rusty and he was pleased to think his son thinks he's as cool as jack and that he looks like him (a little!?!) wouldn't any dad?

last day of De-Lurking Week

i was over here and saw that it was International De-Lurking Week. and oh no, today is the last day! so i'm going to take this opportunity to find out who my lurkers are....those of you who are visiting my blog frequently but never leave any comments...you know who you are! and i would love to hear from you...out of mere curiosity mostly but also so i can say "thanks for visiting and even slightly caring about the often boring things i write about".

so...de-lurk! please!? (i'm on my knees! i'm so curious! even if its only 3 of you!)

i need a nap.

i always seem to think that once christmas is over, life will slow down. so far, it's not happening. i feel like i am constantly thinking about everything. and there is a lot of "everything" going on right now. every time i sit down to the computer, i'm trying to think of the gazillion things i need to work on. if it's not the women's retreat that i am in charge of (which consumes many of my thoughts)...then its the design work i'm doing for a friend who is starting a church. and then i have started frantically thinking about where we are going to send ella to kindergarten in the fall. oh and also the publicity i have to work on for an upcoming event at church and our plans for community group for the next few months. and then i'm thinking about fun things like our upcoming disney cruise in february and i'm already thinking about how much i'm going to have to pack (no stress there...i don't mind thinking about that!). and i really need to schedule dentist appointments for all of us (i am dreading the first appointment for ella!). and a lot has been going on at r's work...so that is on my mind as well. and in the midst of all that, i've been thinking about how in the heck can i come up with some sort of exercise plan....i'm still clueless on that one. it's not something that i really love doing, so i have never made it a priority. but i do see the great need for it.

so yes, december is always crazy...why is january feeling the same? i'm always in hope that life will somehow slow down. and i guess there are seasons where it feels that way. those seasons never last very long.

funny thing is...as i'm thinking about all the things i need to do, the thing i want to do most is take a nap! cuz then i can escape my list and not have to think about everything. i'm not ashamed to admit it!

for right now, he'll just be a princess

yes, that is my bare naked christmas tree still up in the living room! we finally got it put away last night!

a couple of my nieces came over for 2 nights last week. their days were consumed with dressing up as ballerina princesses, dancing, and all things girl. evan didn't stand a chance. maybe some day he'll realize its not cool for boys to be princesses and he'll want to be their knight in shining armor. but for now, he is completely content to dress up in a skirt...it brings lots of laughter for the rest of us!

nothing will stop him from sucking those 2 fingers...not even ballet!

blogging for dummies

there is a new site designed to help blogging idiots like me and thought i might share with you other idiots...i mean friends. i found it through one of my favorite blogs i read daily....she co-created the site. they intend to continue adding new tips and information about blogging basics. so go check it out if you are a naive blogger like me and need all the help you can get!

the most random of all posts

i just got back from the grocery store. i spent an hour and a half roaming around the isles, enjoying the peace and quiet. no children with me begging for a cookie, fighting with their sibling, asking for me to buy random things. just me, my grocery cart, my list, and my thoughts. and boy did i have some random thoughts.

much of my thoughts were sadly on all the weight i have gained over the holidays. i put my big butt on the scale the other night and gasped. literally...i couldn't believe my eyes! SO, my solution tonight was to bring my weight watchers tracker thingy and figure out how many points every snack food had that i put in my cart. kinda fun in a weird kind of way. so i actually ended up with a ton of 2 pointer snack foods. from south beach diet cereal bars, to snackwell's cookies, to weight watchers ice cream bars (they are buy one get one free at kroger by the way! whohoo!). and i kept thinking how ridiculous it seems to be buying every kind of sweet thing i can find with low points to try and lose weight. i really don't know what's wrong with me lately...i have been craving sugar. i think having m & m's sitting out for the past month has not helped me. at. all. you think?

on to more random thoughts. i started taking down all of our christmas decorations tonight. since we were in nashville over the weekend, i am just now getting a chance to do it. and i never like the way my house looks when i'm done. it just looks boring and bland. no pretty twinkling lights to stare at. everything just looks blah. its kinda weird how we spend so much energy decorating and undecorating our homes for christmas. why does this only happen at christmas? isn't easter just as important? but we don't have a tree with twinkling lights and eggs hanging on it....and we don't decorate the outside of our home with pastel lights everywhere. interesting. how did this happen?

speaking of easter....ella has been very sad that christmas is over. she already can't wait til it comes again. but she is moving on to the next holiday. she asked me what was next and i told her valentine's day. and then easter. she was very excited about easter and proceeded to tell evan all about how jesus died on the cross and they put him in a cave and some women came and found that the big stone had rolled away and then we hunt for easter eggs. hmmm....she failed to mention that jesus rose again. a key point in the story. i reminded her....and she said, "oh, i forgot."

another funny thing she said tonight when i was kissing her goodnight....she said "mommy, my eyes will stay open for a little while and then they will close. ok? that is the good news of my eyes." funny girl.

she also said this morning, "my brother is sooo cute. he is the cutest little brother i ever had." :)

and i also find it funny that my son can spot a cracker barrel from a mile away. he yell's "cacker bear mommy!" whenever he sees the sign.

i told you this was random.

reunited in nashville

we just got back from nashville for our 3rd annual new year's eve with our friends, the walters. although it was a little different not celebrating in good 'ole brandon acres subdivision (they used to be our neighbors)...we still had a great time!

our trip started with a stop in chattanooga to see our friends jon & lisa (who also moved away recently). we enjoyed our short time with them and the kids had fun playing with abigail (baby ava just slept, pooped, cried, and ate...like a good baby).

then we arrived in nashville...and all of a sudden both of my children arose from their sleep with tremendous energy! they were excited to be reunited with abby and andrew and excited to see their new house. as we pulled in the driveway, evan woke from a sound sleep...he got out of the car with great excitement and jumped right into marty's arms, yelling "marty!"

the weekend was filled with lots of play. we went to abby's "boat park" (as they call it) and played on the playground. we went to the opryland hotel and walked around and ate dinner. my kids loved seeing all the lights and loved seeing the boats go down the river inside the hotel. we (the adults) played games...the boys (as in marty and rusty) painted the master bedroom and also created a new garage band...we went to church (a 1/2 hour late...oops)...we celebrated new year's...ate lots of good food...it was a good time!!

when i put evan to bed tonight, the last thing he said was "abby andrew house?" i had to reassure him that we would go back again soon.

so to marty, robyn, abby & andrew...just know that you are already greatly missed!! and it started in the car pulling out of your driveway! we loved our time there this weekend, but more than that...we love our friendship with each of you :)

the 4 kids in front of the giant christmas tree at opryland hotel

here's the giant christmas tree

the disco ball headband on evan (the headband brought lots of laughs)

andrew's disco ball head

the girls with their "happy new year" headbands

the girls toasting to the new year with their yummy drinks

my christmas top eleven

1. having all my wrapping done before christmas eve (a first for me!)
2. rusty hanging up christmas lights on the house (after ella begged us!) for the first time, only to find that they didn't work....AND the lights had a recall on them so r had to take them down and return them to the store. there will definitely have to be some more begging next year to get him to do that again!
3. having our friends marty, robyn, abby and andrew come visit us for a few days
   
4. watching ella sing in her school program
   
5. hearing evan ask for "mickey mouse merry christmas" every single morning over and over and over again (it's the mickey mouse twice upon a christmas movie that my kids have literally seen a 100 times at least the past couple weeks)
6. celebrating christmas with my extended family at my sister's house. there were 21 adults and 19 kids!! full house!
   
7. almost starting a fire at our church's christmas eve service! during the end of the service, we all held candles and ella's started melting on her hands. she threw her candle down and started freaking out over the hot wax! (while daddy was trying not to be distracted on the stage as he was playing guitar and singing for the service!)
   
8. my twin niece and nephew crying and fighting over the (one) vaccuum we got them for christmas!! mental note: never buy them a joint gift...even if it comes in 2 parts (a dust buster and vaccuum that i thought they could share!) see video below!! it was hilarious!!
   
9. evan talking to grandpa on the phone on christmas morning...and he was showing grandpa his new scooter that he got. evan got on the scooter and rode over to the phone and said "watch me grandpa". it was so sweet....and grandpa had a good laugh.
   
10. ella telling me that she thinks santa bought her new ballerina dress and princess DVD at toys 'r us because they have all the toys!
    
11. driving around for 45 minutes on christmas night trying to find somewhere to eat dinner! we tried TGI Friday's but there was a 45 minute wait! and the only other place open was a chinese restaurant having a seafood buffet...and it smelled kinda gross inside! so we ended up at one of the many waffle houses we drove by that actually had an open table available. it was a fun dining experience...and a cultural one!

i'm so thankful for the many memories we made this christmas....here are some pictures and make sure you don't miss the video of the twins at the bottom!!

a merry christmas

after all the hustle and bustle, i feel like i have been able to take a deep breathe today and actually relax. it has been a joyful day today...filled with lots of smiles, laughter and thankfulness. i can only pray that through all the unwrapping of gifts, the toys galore, the family get togethers, lots of food and sweets, christmas trees, christmas lights and santa claus...that my children will be able to really get what this day is all about. i can only pray that they will see Jesus through it all. that they will be able to experience his amazing love, hope, peace and mercy. and may you all experience Him throughout the coming year of 2007! merry christmas!

another birthday for my hubby

today is my husband's 33rd birthday. yes, he always got gipped (sp?) on his birthday. i usually try to separate his birthday and christmas...although today i had to pull a present that was under the tree to give to him. i honestly meant to wrap it in birthday paper...and just forgot (sorry honey :)!)

i told him in his card that i wouldn't want to grow old with anyone else. i'm so thankful for having such a loving husband who is wonderful to me...and to our family. i can't imagine life without him...so here's to another 33 years...and more! happy birthday rusty!!

(if you know rusty personally...maybe you could leave a comment for him and send your happy birthday wishes...and have a little pity on him since his birthday often gets overlooked!! poor thing) :)

songs of an angel

ella had her preschool christmas program yesterday morning. i was one proud mama! she has been SOO excited for this day to come...to get to sing on stage and have mommy and daddy watch! she has been practicing her songs every day for us. she has the sweetest little voice...so high and soft.

but for this song (in the video below)...it wasn't too angelic-like! this was her favorite song to sing (or shout!). notice her mouth on the last word she sang, "born"...so funny!

there was another song that was slower and softer and was absolutely precious. she even did sign language to the words. i started crying! it was just so sweet to see my baby girl look all grown up singing her songs that she was so excited to sing for us. this is one of the true joys of parenting.

what is up?

what is going on with blogger? i haven't been able to comment on some of my favorite blogs the past few days. is anyone else having this problem? i think its those who have switched to beta blogger. its so frustrating. i have yet to switch over...i'm not really sure what the benefits are to using it. anyway, sorry to my friends who i haven't left comments on your recent posts. i've tried!