Happy Birthday Dick!!

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday Dick!!! Hope you have a great birthday!! We love you!!!

I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!

I am sooo excited I could just scream!!! I found the blogs for both Beth Moore and Jean Stockdale. YEAH!! Yes, Beth Moore as in the phenomenal bible study leader who has written a ton of awesome bible studies that bring you to the feet of God!! I saw in a LifeWay Christian Bookstore e-mail that Beth has a new bible study on the life of Esther that should be coming out soon. I can't wait!!!

Jean Stockdale has written a couple of bible studies and attends Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. (Their pastor, Dr. Steve Gaines, is my step-mom's cousin.) I am doing one of Jean's bible studies on Proverbs through our Mom2Mom group at church. Even though we are only on Week Two, it has been a real eye-opener. If you ever get a chance to do a bible study by one of these awesome women, I would highly recommend it.

The links to both of their blogs are listed here on my blog along with other blogs and websites I like to frequent when I have a chance. Feel free to browse.

Andrew's First Day of MDO

Yesterday, September 9th, was Andrew's first day of Mother's Day Out. He is going to the same school Will attended last year and that Hannah attended when she was four. He will be going two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Andrew's teachers are really nice. They are Mrs. Valerie and Mrs. Kim. They both said he did really well. When I first dropped him off, he started crying. I gave him his blanket and he settled down a little. Kim said Andrew fussed a little after I left but calmed down when they took the class to the indoor playground. After that, he was fine. When Kim tried to take his blanket away when they went to play, Andrew let her know really quick that it was not acceptable. He ate all of his lunch and sat in his chair like a big boy. At nap time, he didn't want to stay on his mat. After a couple of times, Andrew finally laid there long enough and fell asleep. He was snoozing good when it was time to get him. He didn't want to wake up.

Most of the day, I felt lost not having Andrew with me. But, I kept myself busy running errands and attending a Board Meeting at church. This year I can finally go to lunch with Hannah and Will and even get a little involved in their classes. They don't allow younger siblings to come with you so I haven't been able to do anything special for the kids while they were at school. Now I can. YEAH!!

Changing the subject, for the first time I think ever, I am excited about this year's presidential campaign. I love Sarah Palin!! She is the shot in the arm this country needs. A few months ago, Mike and I heard her on the Glenn Beck program on CNN talking about drilling for oil in Alaska. She and the state of Alaska were going to start a law suit suing the United States for the right to drill for oil in their own backyard. Even then, I knew there was something special about her. I caught part of her speech during the Republican Convention and just loved it. She said everything that I have been wanting to say but didn't know how to put it into words. Sarah Palin is a phenomenal woman. She seems to be a strong Christian who is not afraid of the big machines in DC. She knows Who goes before her and Who gives her the strength she needs. GO SARAH!!!

Pictures

Andrew on his first day of Mother's Day Out

Isn't he a ham?
(He started smiling big and saying "CHEESE!!" when I pulled my camera out.)

Hannah's green legs
(notice how the green starts where her shorts end)

She had been in the backyard playing after Mike mowed the backyard.
I don't know what she was doing for her legs to look like this.
Will's legs were just dirty, not green.

It may just be a sign of the Incredible Hulk coming out.

Later this evening I'll post more about Andrew's first day of Mother's Day Out, which was yesterday, and what we have been doing lately. The kids are wanting my attention right now.

Mean Mama

Boy, I am such a mean mama!! The other day, Hannah was told not to do something (what, I don't remember now). She decided to press the issue and continue doing it. Since nothing else worked, I had her sit in time-out while I finished the dishes. Afterwards, I made her write "I will listen to my mother" 50 times. When she was done, she said her hand her and she was going to start listening.

Tonight while I was getting dinner on the table, I told the kids it was time to eat. It was the usual drama: they wanted to continue to watch t.v. instead. Next thing I know, the kids are outside playing in the backyard. They told Mike, not me, that they weren't hungry and wanted to play instead. Since they didn't do what they were told, I decided they could not eat until they complied with their punishment: writing "I will listen to my mother" 25 times for Hannah and "Listen to mama" five times for Will or they could not eat.

I know, HOW COULD I DO THAT AND BE SO MEAN?! They have to learn to do what they are told or they will be face the consequences. Unfortunately, it is a battle Mike and I face all the time with them. Since other punishments haven't worked (time-out, grounding, taking toys away, spankings, etc), I decided to come up with having them write.

We will see how this goes. Right now, Will keeps telling me that it is boring and he doesn't want to write. Oh well. Please pray for us!!!

Big OOPS!!!

Tuesday was Mike's birthday. The kids and I got him a small cake, a pair of slacks, a pullover shirt and a pair of dress shoes. The big oops is from not posting anything on my blog about his birthday. Lately, if I know a birthday or anniversary is coming up, I'll write a post for the blog and have it posted on here at a later date (like the actual day). This works great because I am not always able to get on the computer due to the kids' and Mike's schedules. I could have swore I wrote one for Mike. Boy, was I surprised when I checked my blog and there was nothing on it mentioning Mike's birthday. So, even though it is late, here it is:


Happy birthday to my dear sweet husband!!! It has been great getting to share and celebrate the last ten birthdays with you and hope do so for at least seventy more!!! I love you!!!!

Back Home

We finally were able to get away from home and go to the cabin for the long weekend. Mom and Nathan went with us while Melanie stayed here to take care of our dogs and her cats. Dick and Daphne, Mike's dad and step-mom, came up late Saturday night are are planning to head back home either Tuesday night or Wednesday. My Great-Aunt Joy and Uncle Bob came over to visit Saturday. Aunt Joy was my late grandfather's baby sister. She and her husband live in Farragut, which is just west of Knoxville. Mom went home with them Saturday afternoon and we picked her up on our way out of town. They had a great visit.

The trip up to Pigeon Forge was a long one. We actually left here early; we got on the road about 6:30 p.m. and hoped to be at the cabin around 2:30 Eastern time. There was a bad accident on the interstate past Carthage so we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic that barely crawled. We went about two or three miles in two hours. The trip home wasn't much better. There was an accident at mile marker 335. Traffic was backed up past m. m. 338. It took us about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get through that one. We left the cabin about 11:45 ET and arrived home at about 9:45 CT. The kids were getting restless so we ate dinner at Cracker Barrel on the trip home. We all were excited to see the house!!!

Since it is late, I am going to get off the computer. The kids have school tomorrow and I have a few things to do before going to bed. I'll try to post more about our trip tomorrow.