Something to think about

Here is a little something to chew on this Christmas season.

My husband and I have always done a very simple Christmas for our kids, and I cannot say that I am ready to give the gifts up as my sister and her family have done, but her post is very good and really something to think about this Christmas.

5

My sweet baby Cooper turns five today. I can hardly believe it. Just a few days ago I pulled him into my lap and asked him to stop growing older. To not turn five. To just be four forever. He would have nothing to do with that, probably because turning five means he gets to take four friends to play at Jungle Playland and to have lunch at his favorite little golden arched bistro.

Dear Cooper,

I can truly hardly believe that this day has come. Five is so big. What a sweet blessing you are to our family. You are such a cuddle bug. Hugs, kisses and snuggling are your thing, and as long as there is peace, love and snuggles, you feel safe. There is nothing that makes this mom so happy as when you want to snuggle with me on the couch and have 'face'.

This year has been a year of big boy adventures for you. You learned to ride a two wheeler like a pro,you climbed a humongous tree with your BFF Kaleb without us moms knowing (until Kaleb fell out of the tree), you went solo into the big pool while mom sat on the edge, you came down the water slide without anyone there to catch you, you rode your bike to the park down the road with your big brother, you started preschool and played on a soccer team.

I cherish the 30 minutes that we have in the car three days a week after dropping Dutter off at school but before your school starts. I love that you want me to drive straight to your school and every time you tell me to slow down so that I don't miss the driveway. You then climb into the front seat with me and we sing at the top of our lungs to the High School Musical Soundtrack. You sing all the boy parts and tell me I can only sing the girl parts. It makes me laugh every time! Some mornings we just sit there in the preschool parking lot and chat. You have become quite the conversationalist and I love it when you throw a big boy word or two into the conversation.

The very best part of this year Cooper, was the day that I listened from the drivers seat as your brother prayed with you to ask Jesus into your heart! Hearing that made it nearly impossible to drive because I could not see through the tears and just tonight you made me cry again when your bed time prayer included the words "I hope I be a bwessing to my fwiends tomowwow".

It makes mommy sad to see that you are hardly my baby anymore, but it also makes me so happy to see you growing up to be such a sweet little boy.

Cooper, you are a blessing everyday.

Love you more than you know,

Mommy

Answers to some of the deep and meaningful questions ya'all asked me

Alright, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Right? You've all been waiting on pins and needles for this moment in time when I answer all your burning questions about my life.

Here we go:

Elena asks: How did you meet LeeAnn?

Well, Elena, LeeAnn and I met at church. Or more likely in a small group Bible Study. We had a mutual friend that invited me to join their group that LeeAnn was already a part of. That group disbanded, but we still go to the same church and see each other there. We don't get to hang out together, mostly because we live across town from each other and our paths don't cross much, but she is one of those people that I am always happy to see and I feel completely at ease talking to when we do get a chance to talk. But look, I do have this picture of LeeAnn, our friend Lisa and I from five years ago. (Sorry LeeAnn, I'm not sure why my scanner scanned you in so gray!) So Elena, how do YOU know LeeAnn?

Gina says: Tell me about how we met.....

Well, Gina, you always have been a smart aleck, but I'll explain it for the rest. It goes like this. Our parents brought you home from the hospital around my 28th month of life. I'm pretty sure I asked them to take you back, but they insisted on keeping you and probably tried to convince me that you were 'my' baby. I wasn't buyin it. So in short, I've known you all your life. I knew you when you chewed your toenails. I knew you when you still sucked your thumb at 13. I knew you when you drank beer with your friends behind the garage at 14. I knew you when you drove white Geo Metro with a license plate frame that said "a princess doesn't do dishes". Baby, I have known you all your live long years and I can honestly say that I am glad they didn't give you back.

Hot Tub Lizzy asks:

What television show from your childhood do you have the fondest memories about?

Without a doubt it would be The Cosby Show. We didn't have tv for a lot of my childhood, but when we finally did get one I remember my family gathering every Thursday night to watch Heathcliff and Claire Huxtable raise their family. I love to watch the reruns with my kids now!

What's your favorite breakfast food?

Cereal. I would eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I didn't have mine or my families nutritional needs to worry about. And not healthy cereal either. Sugar cereal. Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Sugar Puffs, just not chocolate cereal; it's gross.

What would your dream job be? What's a job you would NEVER want to do?

Right now I think my dream job would be as an Labor & Delivery nurse. There is TWO fundamental problems with that dream though. First of all I could NEVER pass an Anatomy & Physiology class in college, so I quit taking them and secondly, I don't do blood or body fluids. Seriously, I have been known to pass out at the sight of blood and my gag reflexes are awful. So what good would I be. However, I LOVE the miracle of life.

I guess my job that I would NEVER want to do would be a Phlebotomist. You know, a person who draws another persons blood for lab work. Yah, probably not my gig. I also would NEVER want to do anything related to sewage or septic. Blech.

Someone is giving you a $100 gift certificate for Christmas. What store would you want it to be from?

Ooooh, yay! $100 just for me? Well, the completely impractical part of me wants it from Title Nine. Specifically to help pay for this:However, the practical side of me would say Target. I do love my Red BullsEye.

Alright, that's all I'm giving you for now. Thank you all who have played along so nicely. This is fun! I promise to get to the rest of your questions very soon.

Still want to play along? Well, feel free to leave your burning questions in the comments.

Another Weekend Winner Giveaway

Don't forget Kat at Sunshine & Lemonade is doing her Weekend Giveaways! I REALLY want to win this one because I WANT a favicon.

Bad.

Not a bad favicon.

Just a favicon that I want badly.

Whatever.


So click on over, enter yourself and if you win feel free to donate the prize to me.

And don't forget that I'm taking questions here.

I'm gonna start answering them on Monday.

I know ya'all can hardly wait, huh.

And yes, I will post my "review" of The Shack. That won't happen until later in the week though because it's going to be all scholarly, so it will take me a while to come up with some big words to include in the post. Give me time folks.

Until then, please go add your questions for me here. Remember I'll answer anything.

ANYTHING!

Whad'ya wanna know?

I've got bloggers block again. I just don't know what you want to read about so allow me to throw a few things out there:



Do you want to know about how I went to my friend Meredith's house on Wednesday morning and just hung out? Really, I did nothing but sit on her comfy leather couch and talk with her. For three hours. She worked on a counted cross-stitch, but I just sat like a bump on a log. She is seriously one of the easiest people to talk to and I love that about her. It was a great morning!



Or maybe you want to know about how my friend Vanessa and I are going to see Twilight at 10:45am on Friday morning. Seriously. We are going to the movies at 10:45 AM on a Friday morning. Who does that? Well apparently I do. We both really want to see the movie, but neither of us are such die hards that we want to venture out at midnight the night before and we don't want to mess with the pubescent crowd on Friday night, so we are going to the 10:45 AM showing. It'll be fun to see what other mothers sneak off to the movies while their kids are in school!



I know, you really want to know about how frustrated I am with my wardrobe, right? I'm basically a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. Most days that is what you will find me in. Jeans, long sleeve t-shirt, and my black Dansko clogs. It's my uniform. I love my uniform, especially when I add my black Columbia Sportswear jacket or my red Eddie Bauer puffy vest. It's what I feel most comfortable in. It's me. However, I wish I was a little more daring. I want to walk into a store and pick up something not in my uniform and wear it. Maybe I should start with these:

or these:


I'm sure you are all dying to know about how I called my mom last night and dumped a huge guilt trip on her about how she never comes to visit me, right? Well I did. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fair of me either. I called her back tonight and apologized. The great thing about my mom is that she forgives me. She forgave me before I even called to apologize. I love that about her.

Speaking of my mom, I know that you all want to read about my moms trip to Africa. Well, she hasn't shared much of the details yet. I think she is still processing a lot of it, but I also know that she is easing us into the tough stuff. At any rate she has two posts about her trip so far, go read them here and here.

Oh, oh, I know. How about I teach you all the most popular game at our house these days. I know you are all dying to know how to play

"Happy it's not your birthday"

So it goes like this. The game can ONLY be played immediately following dinner and ONLY on nights when daddy is home (yep, I made up those rules). So we go around the table and one person at a time closes their eyes while the other three very quickly run through the house and grab random objects to give to the other person for their NOT birthday. Once everyone has gathered back at the table the gift receiver opens their eyes while we sing "happy it's not your birthday to you" and is then presented with their gifts and a tall tale of why that gift is suitable for their NOT birthday. The recipient then gushes over the thoughtfulness of the gifts and we laugh at the silliness of it all. We then proceed to let everyone in the family take a turn at being the recipient of the completely random household objects. It is hilarious! Cooper made up this game a few months ago and wants to play it every night, that is why I added my two rules to the game.

Well, that's all I got. For now. I better save some of my randomocity for another time, especially since I just don't feel my blogging mo-jo coming back.

Why don't you all help a girl out here and ask me some questions.

What do ya want to know?

Any question.


C'mon, you know there's something you really want to know about me.
About my sister?
My feelings on Obama?
Or the Shack?
About the ozone layer?

Just ask, I'll answer.

Talk about Publicity Stunts

I cannot believe I am going here because I usually avoid controversy.

I thought we were done with this, but apparantly not because it is in the news again. So here I go:

I'm sure you all heard the news last spring that Oprah (blech) heralded as miraculous? You know about the "pregnant man"?

Well apparantly "he" is pregnant again.

This is NOT miraculous because "he" is not a man. He is really a she. She was born female and grew up female and as an adult decided that she wanted to pursue living as a man instead.

She is a female, and the only miracle in all of this is that by God's design women were made to have babies. That is miraculous.

The fact that a woman, who has decided to live her life as a man, is pregnant is not newsworthy. I am so tired of Oprah (blech again) and Barbara Walters (who has lost any credibility as a news anchor as far as I'm concerned) touting this as news.

The media needs to quit playing into these peoples incessant need for the limelight and send them back to their quiet little Bend subdivision.

Please let this go away!

I didn't mean for this to happen..........

I'm sorry, truly sorry. I cannot believe that this has happened to me. Honestly, I swore it never would. I have even warned others about safeguarding themselves from this exact thing. And now it has happened to me. I'd like to blame it on her because if she hadn't contacted me about "the friendship" I would have been able to just let it remain what it was; a monogamous relationship. Instead, now I foray back and forth. I have made contact with so many others from the past that it is just inevitable that I would fall in love. Oh, I do know that nothing can replace my first love, but I would like to work out an agreement in order to keep them both. Is that to much to ask? I mean at least I'm being honest and not stringing either of them along.

So tell me, can a girl love her blog and Facebook at the same time?




PS.........

I didn't win the Wicked Soundtrack and book from Kat.

I'm sad.

The good news is that she is doing another Weekend Giveaway.






And this one involves the tata's.............

(i've always wanted to type that on my blog!!)

tata's

tata's

tata's

tata's

It's another giveaway!!

My friend Michelle is doing another giveaway of her fun products.

Go check out her blog and get in on the fun!

Isaiah 46:9-10

Remember the former things long past,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will
accomplish all My good pleasure.'

Ten Weeks of Winners

It's another giveaway..............




From my friend Kat at Sunshine & Lemonade. She is doing TEN weekends of giveaways, and if the first one is an example of the rest of the prizes then you all best just stay away, because I want to win them all!!

If you must go visit her, be sure to TURN UP the volume because she plays great theme songs to each of her posts!!

The future of the free world is at hand.......

You all thought I was going there, except I'm not.

I will say this though:

No matter what happens on Tuesday, God is in control.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog fodder:

Ever since the day this kid started talking

my husband and I been in complete agreement about his future.

This child is destined to be a Lawyer, a Politician or a Con Artist

(and yes, we do realize they are all very closely related if not one in the same).

Take this conversation tonight at the dinner table tonight:

Ben: "I'm thinking about getting baptized."

Me: "Oh really, why?"

Ben "Well, it's just one more step in me getting to heaven."

Me: "Actually, Ben, you do not have to be baptized to get into heaven, remember all you need to do to get into heaven is to believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and ask him to be your Savior."

Ben: "Well, what is baptism for then?"

Me: "It is a public decleration of your faith in Jesus Christ."

Ben: "or it could just be my Publicity Stunt"