Tuesday - What a Title

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. No excuses other than being too busy.


Our weekend was another busy one. I worked Friday and Saturday nights and was pretty much useless on Sunday. We got Brady off to band camp for the week and Bo and Ashton played golf Sunday afternoon while Emma and I napped. Bo really enjoyed the game and managed to beat Ashton by one stroke. Ashton has started golf practice this week with his new school team and seems to be enjoying it.


Bo and I had a "date" yesterday. Our date included me having a mammogram and him waiting in the lobby. Already an exciting day! We ran to CVS so I could get in on some of the good deals for the week. We had lunch together and went to 2 Goodwill stores and Publix. We returned to his parents house and had dinner with them, retrieved Ashton and Emma and headed home. Bo, Ashton, and Ryan went to see the new Harry Potter movie and Emma and I stayed home. Can you say full day?


Emma is scheduled for her first real haircut at 2:15 today and I'm hoping that she does okay. Tisha (my hair stylist) is looking so forward to cutting it and I'm not. I just don't want to cut it but it's all over her face and she is constantly pushing it out of her eyes. It should be interesting. Stay tuned for pictures of the haircut!


My good CVS deals this week!

• 4 packs paper
• 3 boxes of Kashi cereal
• 1 tube Colgate
• 2 Olay Regenerist moisturizers
• 2 packs of Bic pens
• 2 packs of Bic mechanical pencils
• 1 pack sticky notes
• 2 packs erasers
• 2 composition books
• 2 packs of Pilot pens

Total before coupons and ECBs - $101.69

I had $24.96 in ECBs to spend and $8.00 in coupons.

Total after coupons and ECBs $68.73 plus tax.

Earned $33.93 in ECBs and will also turn in for a $20 rebate from Olay, making my total for my CVS spending spree - $14.80.

Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with my transaction and the clerk was very impressed and kept talking about how much I had saved and how many ECBs I had earned. Not a bad day.

This is how I found Emma on Sunday after church while she waiting on lunch. She was a tired little girl!

Stay tuned for the hair cut pics.

Yeah, Yeah, Living in the Moment.....

Not doing so well in the living in the moment thing. I will get back to you on that one when I master it!

Emma has begun to realize when she needs to poop and then after she does it she has begun to back up to me and try to hold my hand so I will take her upstairs and change her diaper. It's pretty funny to watch her. She makes the cutest faces and is so coy about it. She has been sitting on the potty some but she just thinks that is fun and wants to pull the toilet paper off and flush the commode. She cracks me up.

Watching the Wiggles with her princess house shoes on. I just thought this was the cutest picture and so rare that she is entertaining herself for a moment. Thanks Wiggles!

Another caught in the action moment. Please change me mom, I smell horrible:)

Helping me vacuum while wearing her huge shoes without the orthotics in. She loves to clomp around in the shoes.

So the week is almost behind me and I have been in a constant rush. So much for the living in the moment theme of the week.

Brady didn't pass his permit test. Big surprise. I quizzed him on the way and was pretty sure that he wasn't going to make it. He can retake it in a week but he will be away at band camp. I suppose that leaves the week before school starts. I hope the poor kid learned a valuable lesson - you might want to study prior to taking the test! When I asked him what he missed, he said nothing really big. "How many people die each year from DUI accidents - how was I supposed to know that?" DUH. "Another question was about turning lanes, so what's the big deal about that." I know that you are all feeling safer that he didn't pass the test!

Emma has done well at therapy this week. I overheard her with Mrs. Jane yesterday and she wanted to take her shoes and socks off. I heard Mrs. Jane telling her "sure sweetie, let's take them off so you can play". Then I heard Emma and knew she was attempting to take her clothes off. I overheard Mrs. Jane telling her "no sweetie, we have to leave our clothes on." Too funny. She also did well at O.T. yesterday and went back without me. Of course she was kicking and screaming but it was short lived.

Bo is off next week and poor guy has a honey do list that is a mile long. I am hopeful that we can get some of it accomplished. Not much of a vacation!

2 more weeks before school starts. Hello, where did the summer go.

Weekend Wrap Up and Global Warming

WOW. Another busy weekend has come and gone. It was fun but very busy.


I attempted to sleep for a few hours after getting home from work Saturday morning. I was so tired and my mind didn't seem to want to shut down. I managed to nap for a few hours and then got up and got busy with the tasks at hand.


First of all, the weather this weekend in our area has been nothing short of fabulous. Highs in the 70's during the day and in the 50's at night. My kind of weather! Global warming can continue as far as I'm concerned if this is the type of weather we are going to have in July. If you see Al Gore, tell him I said thanks.


We met up with Brother Danny and Mrs. Kaye (our former pastor and "first lady") and one of their daughters and her family on Saturday night for dinner. There were at least 21 of us at the restaurant if my calculations are correct. It was so good to see old friends and visit even if it was a bit crowded. They are such a special family to us and we were thrilled to see them. They fell in love with Emma and couldn't believe the size of my boys. The boys were just little guys when they left.


Mrs. Kay with her former Sunday School students. They are slightly taller than her now:)
Kelly and Emma. Kelly is a little girl at our church and Emma just loves her. Emma is all about the "big" girls at church. Kelly is the little sister of Christian who I have mentioned and requested prayer for in the past. He is an amazing kid and now a cancer survivor and is doing so well. It was also his 17th birthday on Saturday and we all enjoyed having the waiters lead us in Happy Birthday to celebrate. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him:(

Emma is seriously loving her sucker. Not too bad for one finger!

My handsome guys and girl along with my oldest "adopted" daughter, Beth, also called cool daughter. She is our former babysitter and home invader and we love her dearly. She taught my boys a few tricks during their younger years.

Mrs. Kay and Emma.

Brooklyn (Beth and Jeremy's daughter) and Emma. Brooklyn sang the entire time. She was thrilled when we sang happy birthday to Christian. She certainly has a future in music.

Emma is helping me clean the doors. She is very helpful and loves to set the table, throw things in the trash, empty the dishwasher. I have decided to let her start helping at a young age and then maybe she will still be helpful in her teenage years. That is one of the benefits of having a little one and teenagers. I see a lot of mistakes that I have made with the boys and I am trying to do better with her. She may not thank me or them later on! Please notice, she is only in her diaper. The child is killing me and doesn't want to wear any clothes at all!

So another busy week ahead. Brady went to rookie camp today and will take his permit test tomorrow. Emma has her usual appointments and gymnastics tonight. Ashton has to get registered for school tomorrow. I have not mentioned that, but he is planning on changing schools this year. This will hopefully give him the opportunity to play basketball with the guys he played AAU ball with. This is going to be huge change for him and I am proud of him for making the decision.

Our message yesterday was about living in the moment and enjoying each stage of life. I have a really hard time with living in the moment and most days feel like I'm bailing water and just trying to survive. The message really touched a nerve for me and I'm hoping to work hard this week toward improving that. I get so caught up in all the things that are going on around me that I feel like I'm just trying to survive. I think that's how many moms and dads are. Life is just too busy sometimes. So for today, I am going to really try to live in the moment. Those moments are getting fewer all the time and I don't want to look back and realize that I didn't enjoy them as much as I should have.

Have a great day and LIVE IN THE MOMENT.

Look at that Face

Know why she is crying? My child has suddenly decided that the only way she is happy is when she is running through the house NAKED. She doesn't even want to wear her diaper but we all know where that leads! Clean up everywhere.

Yesterday was spent with speech and then shopping. Ashton and I headed to Target to snag a few really good deals and then to the mall. He was in need of new shoes for school and we also managed to find a few good deals at American Eagle. I bought my boy a size 10.5 shoe. How can that be? He's taller than me and so thin. I hope he bulks up soon and with a diet of a gallon of milk every 2 days and anything else that he can find to eat he really should be putting on some weight. Let me warn all of you mothers of little boys - plan ahead. Your grocery budget will hit the roof at about 11 and when they reach 13 you really should have a second job lined up!

We have another busy weekend ahead. I work tonight and Ashton is "going out" with his some of his friends. This will be the first time he goes to see a movie with a girl so that's big news. There are 4 of them going to see a movie and of course it's killing me. Tomorrow he has a birthday party and then we are having dinner with a former pastor and his family. I am so excited to see them and can't wait for them to meet Emma and see how big the boys have gotten. They are so dear to our family! Sunday is church and we are having our connection group (small group) at our house Sunday evening. So needless to say, I have a lot of cleaning to do.

So that about wraps it up. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Washing My Mouth out with Soap

I'm pretty sure my husband wants to wash my mouth out with soap because of the bad language I used in my post yesterday. He was quick to point out that I shouldn't have used a particular word and I'm sure that he is right. However, I also think he has forgotten about Brady's fifth grade year and how AWFUL it was and how I thought I might lose my ever loving mind. So sorry if I offended anybody but the last time I checked I'm human and that just happened to be the word that popped into my mind. I'll be honest, you can't be an ER nurse and not let a bad word slip on occasion. So there, I confess. Throw my to the lions, off with my head, hang me at sundown.


Okay, now that I have apologized to the 10 readers that I have, let's get on with the day.


My girl is loving her orthotics. I have not gotten any pictures of her in them yet. She wears them a few hours each day and screams at me and fights like a cat when it's time to take them off and check her feet. So far things are going well. She is getting some redness on the outer aspect of her left foot. I would have thought it would have been on the other side. It's very interesting how her left orthotic is made. It has a prosthetic material made into the short side to cushion the area where she is missing all of her toes. They did a great job making them and she loves wearing them. We have not worn them at all today because she turned her little chair over this morning and it hit her foot and left a huge knot on it. Poor little thing. She also has another one of those horrendous bug bites on her shoulder that I'm sure will end up popping open and draining. She is having some really weird reactions to our crazy American bugs.


She also managed to open a container of cream eyeshadow this morning and paint her chin a lovely silver. She was quite proud of herself.


Emma had a good day at speech and a satisfactory day at O.T. Her speech therapist was very happy with her results today. Her regular O.T. was out of town today so she saw someone else. It wasn't that great of a visit and to be honest I could have done the same things at home. Oh well.


So that about wraps up my exciting day. How was yours?

My Future Gymnist

Brady went camping with the youth group last Monday and this is what he looked like on Tuesday afternoon after I picked him up. Ashton didn't look much better but he managed to stay away from the camera. They had a blast and Ashton is driving me nuts asking for a paint ball gun now. He was bruised all over but thinks it was so much fun. Guys are such weird creatures.

Emma has been doing so well feeding herself with one certain fork. Of course I can't find this utensil anywhere in the store so we are holding on to it for dear life. Mashed potatoes! Yummy..

I have my pictures out of order, but this little ladybug stamp was her reward from gymnastics yesterday. We decided to give the mommy and me class a try and she loved it. I apologize for the quality of the pictures that BO took, but you can tell by the look on her face that she is enjoying herself.

She really liked going in circles an followed directions very well.

She still doesn't understand how to jump. We have been working on that at home and she doesn't use her legs to jump she just bounces up and down with her body. When we came home from the class we practiced doing tucks, pikes, and stradles. She was cracking me up!

I called last week to check with the local gymnastics class and see if they had anything for Emma's age. They did and we went yesterday evening. She blended right in and seemed to really like it. Another little girl from our church was also there so that was nice. The other girls had their shoes and socks off and were ready to start. I had taken Emma's shoes off but left her socks on. She couldn't stand it! She kept putting her foot up to me and saying "Off". I'll be very honest, I didn't want to take her shoes off. I am not ashamed of her feet. They are beautiful in my eyes but I know that others don't see it that way. I just want to protect her from stares and from all of the attention that I know she will get when people look at her feet. Well, we threw caution to the wind and took off those socks and she was thrilled. One of the little girls in her class (who was also 2) looked at her feet and told her mom "Boo boo." I said, yes she does have a little boo boo.

So you see, the foot thing is really about me. Again, it's not that I'm ashamed or embarrassed. I just want to protect her. It's hard enough when you have only 2 fingers and people are looking at you. Then to reveal that you only have 3 toes, it just adds more to the situation. But I realize that how I react to her situation is how she will learn to react. So next week when we go to gymnastics, the shoes and socks are coming off immediately so she can be just like the other girls. I never want her to think that she's not just like everyone else and if I try to protect her too much in the end I may be doing more harm than good.

It's tough. As a mother I don't want my kids to have to suffer from anything but that isn't realistic. I have felt the enormous pain that goes along with seeing my boys hurting, physically and emotionally. Let's face it, middle school is a b**ch. Pardon my French. Kids are cruel and hurtful and sometimes adults are not a lot better. So when I see someone staring at Emma and whispering, the momma bear in my wants to rip them to shreds, but I can't always protect her. My job is to build in her the strongest self esteem possible and pray, pray, pray. That's my job with all 3 of my kids.

My other job is to help my kids see that not everyone is alike. I have seen an amazing change in my boys since they have a sister that is "different." They have a deeper compassion for people. I watched Ashton play with a little boy last week at our OT appointment and he was so sweet to the little boy. I've heard Brady talk about how he would protect Emma if he heard anyone talking about her. This is the same kid who doesn't believe in fighting and wears a John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance" t-shirt. I hope that my kids and even their friends who hang out here have a wider world view and realize that not everyone is "perfect" by man's standards but God doesn't make mistakes and those kids who might not look "normal" are perfect in His eyes.

Look What I Can Do When Mom Isn't Paying Attention

Emma was being her usual stubborn self yesterday afternoon and wanting a bottle. I refused and offered her a cup which she politely declined. I sat the cup on her little table and started working in the kitchen and looked up to find her just drinking away and looking at me grinning and clapping her little fingers together. She is a rat!

Today has been one of those days that I really wish I could just clone myself so that I could accomplish so much more. We started our day with an orthodontic appointment at 9:30 on one side of town. Emma had Speech at 10:30 on the other side of town. I ended up leaving Ashton at the Orthodontist while I jetted across town for speech. We finished speech and headed back across town to get Ashton and then to O.T. at 11:30. During all of that the Orthotist office called and we scheduled an appointment for 3:30 to get her orthotics this afternoon. At present, Emma is taking a quick, much needed nap. Way too much going on today!!!

Ashton is tentatively scheduled to get his braces off in September. Can I get an AMEN! We have had braces since third grade. I am so ready for it and I know he is.

Playing Catch Up

We spent the July 4th Holiday as we always to with my mother's family. It has been a tradition for over 50 years and one that my boys always look so forward to. Unfortunately I had to work Friday night and didn't get to enjoy some of the fun but I was able to be there on Saturday and see some of my family. Emma loved it all and took it all in. This is a picture of my Aunt Francis and Emma. She is my mother's oldest sister.
Emma loved the 4 wheeler. Her face doesn't really show it but she liked it a lot.

This is my Uncle Floyd with Emma. He has always been the one the kids love to tease. He is not in good health now but was doing well over the holiday and had not had the chance to see Emma yet. She loved him.

Lily and Emma. Quite the contrast in hair and eye colors:)

Crossing her leg. She has gotten into a habit of crossing them and looks so cute.

Uncle Harvey and Emma.

Playing a sunglasses routine with my cousin Todd. She would move hers up and so would he and they had quite the little game going.

Chip in mouth. The child is hooked on chips.

I have numerous pictures of my nephews and my boys on the way home after the 4th. I thought this was adorable.

So I am at the grocery store and Ashton calls me to tell me that there is a snake crawling up the office window. Of course I tell him to stay inside but what does he do....goes outside to take a picture. By the way, we don't know exactly where the reptile is now. I suspect under the front porch and I am NOT looking forward to a surprise meeting.

Bragging rights. My husband did the Publix run for me yesterday on his way home from work. I had given him the list and the coupons and he did a great job. All of this was only $6.90 after coupons. I am so proud of my man!

So I've been playing Susie Homemaker the last few days making pickles. I made squash pickles first and they all sealed and look so yummy. I made bread and butter pickles yesterday and 2 jars didn't seal and today 2 jars have unsealed. What's the deal? They taste delicious!

More Trip Pics

Playing football with Ashton while we wait on Dad and Brady to finish a ride. He actually won her the football at one of the games. Ashton has really become the sweetest big brother and Emma is loving him so much. Not bad for a kid who didn't want to adopt a sister.
When the sun is really bad you have to wear 2 pairs of shades.

Have a great 4th!!

Road Trip

No, our family has not dropped off the face of the Earth. We just took a quick road trip for a few days and are now back home. There is no place like home, although we enjoyed Holiday World and the beautiful country side of Indiana. We also made a brief stop at Mammoth Cave today and enjoyed a tour. Emma did surprisingly well and seemed to be fascinated with the cave.


This picture was an attempt to show Emma's hair after we take it out of pigtails. It looks hilarious.
Her favorite ride may have been the luggage cart.

Her favorite ride was certainly not the canoe ride. She screamed the entire time.

She loved playing in the splash area. It took her a while to build up the courage to run through the fountains but once she found her courage she loved it.

"I know there must be a way to catch this water."

The boys rode most of the rides and didn't realize that we caught them riding a "little kid" ride. They were so cute sitting together and actually sharing a kind moment with one another.

Carousels are the most fun of all when you ride with your favorite guy.

I really love my daddy.

Trucking with my dad.

We had the opportunity to hook up with Angel and her gang and Mason and Emma were just too cute together. Mason was loving wearing Emma's hat but she wasn't so sure.

Mason and Emma having a little moment together.

Santa Clause was a hit with Emma. Let's wait and see what December holds.

Sniffing and then eating popcorn. She has started smelling everything before she puts it in her mouth.

A moment with Mom.

When too much fun has been had!!!

We made a "quick" trip to an Amish Village that had a flea market in one of the buildings. Emma found a wagon and she is now the proud owner. I attempted to tempt her with a .50 cent doll and thought that I had her persuaded. She took the doll and immediately placed it in the wagon and away she went. We bought both items and she insisted on pulling the wagon all the way to the car. This girl is STUBBORN.