A Milestone

Ben, our youngest, is doing something tonight for the very first time. He is spending the night with our friends....without Ethan or Sarah. I actually can't remember a time that he spent the night anywhere except Grandma's and Grandpa's house, and he has never stayed by himself.

I have to say that there were just a few huge, monstrous, alligator tears but he wiped them away and put on a smile before they left.

I know that he is having a ball, but when they look at you with those great big eyes and say, "But I want to go with you, mommy", it melts your heart just a little.

I have since talk to my friend and she said that he is just fine. I knew he would be because he loves it there and he loves them!

In the meantime, our house is exploding with 6th grade boy energy and we are having so much fun. We spent the last two hours at the Y and I got my run in (whew). Ethan has two friends over and they are ready for a night of pizza, chips and the wii!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Allow me to introduce you....

...to the worst picture of 2009, thus far! I don't know that I have ever been involved in a worse picture.
Well, there was one of me sleeping with my head back, mouth hanging open, and my laptop on my lap, but it mysteriously disappeared. Hmmmm.... ;)

Anyway, our church held it's annual Friendship Banquet last weekend and we had a great time being with friends and family. My parents and two sisters and their husbands were all there, so it was a unique night for us.

HOWEVER... this picture will probably go down as one of the most memorable moments. As you can see, only two of the six of us were even remotely ready for this shot. What am I doing? Oh yeah, moving the flowers... for apparently no reason at all! My husband is thinking, "NOW what is she doing?" and then we have the classic closed eyes look going on in the front.

Oh.my.word. All I can do is laugh because it is SO bad!

Here is a much more "picture perfect" table. This is my mom and dad, my two sisters (both in black) and their husbands, and my sister's pastor and his wife. Isn't it a lovely picture?

I obviously didn't inherit the "readiness" skills that my sisters did. Oh well... you win some, you lose some.

A friend of ours snapped this one on the way out the door. I am so glad that she did because it turned out to be such a good picture. In case you can't tell in this shot my sister, Michelle, is due to have a little boy in June. #5 -Can't wait!!

AND I have redeemed my picture readiness skills--yipee!! :)

On Sunday, Ethan received the ribbons that he earned at FABA on Friday. FABA means something about Fine Arts, and yeah...that's all I know about that!

Anyway, the 4th and 6th graders from our school competed in several categories and did very well. We were proud of all of them. Ethan competed in 4 areas; Piano Solo, Bible Knowledge (NT), Tone Chimes, and Spelling Bee. He received First place overall in his piano solo and in Bible knowledge and received an excellent rating in piano and superior in Bible knowledge. The whole group received First place in Tone Chimes and he came in 16th in the Spelling Bee. His dad and I were very pleased with how he did. His hard work over the last few weeks showed. Great Job, Buddy!

So that's life around these parts, as of late. We're doing better than we deserve and are so very thankful for it. Our God is good...all the time!

To the Parents of....

When I picked the two little ones up from school today, I noticed that Ben was not his happy self. I waited a few minutes and then asked him if something was wrong. The look on his face was that of deep concern...as deep as a six year old gets anyway!

After a few seconds, he pulled an envelope out of his backpack that was addressed:

"To the Parents of Benjamin"

He was SO nervous that he was in some kind of trouble. It was kind of funny because I knew as soon as I saw the envelope that it was probably from the nurse who does the hearing tests.

The look on his face was priceless though! The poor kid was a mess!! I probably could have played that up a little bit, but I couldn't handle doing that to him. He handed me the envelope and just stared at me, waiting....

It was, in fact, a note from his hearing test saying that he has an infection in his right ear. I guess that means antibiotics, which was good news to Ben! I guess he will take medicine over being in trouble any day!

Seriously, does this look like the face of a trouble-maker? ;)

Has Anyone Seen My Multi-Tasking Mind?

Sometimes, I concern myself.

For example, in the last three weeks I have ran the washer through a whole cycle with only one pair of socks in it, opened up the dryer and found that I ran in for 70 minutes...empty, and today I was starting the washer and put a dryer sheet in instead of detergent.

The fact that these are all laundry-related incidents proves nothing except that I do LOTS of laundry!

I think the bigger issue is that I am getting older, and apparently am losing my mind.
I have to say that the one that got me the most was the empty dryer. I walked back to check the back door before I went to get the kids from school and saw that the dryer still said 70 minutes. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I must have forgotten to turn it on." I then proceeded to do so and then left.

The thought to LOOK in it never even crossed my mind.

When I got home with the kids, I went back to the laundry room to fold "the clothes". I opened the door and...

...empty. Seriously? (sigh)

I think I'm losing my multi-tasking edge. Are there vitamins for that? I am a mom of three, I have to have my multi-tasking mind in peak condition so that I can stay one step ahead of 'em!

Hope you have a happy evening. I'm off to fold the dishes, clean supper and cook the clothes..;)

It's Confession Time....

I have not been a good steward of this body of mine as of late....ok, fine....as of the last 6 months.
And the laziness is starting to show itself. Maybe not so much outwardly, but I feel like junk on the inside.

Good grief, I think I might have even pulled a muscle putting my hair in this ponytail! I know you think I'm kidding....well, maybe I am..;)

What I'm not kidding about is that I took the kids sledding on Friday and I still have sore arms and a sore back. I was winded just running up the hill a few times.... Not a good thing for me.

SO-- I'm headed back to the Y tonight to start in on the running and working out again. What I will have to be careful of is trying to pick up where I left off 6 months ago. I will pay dearly for that mistake, so I will have to keep that in mind! I know this because I've been there before.

See, I'm learning from my past mistakes!!

I'll have to let all 2 of you know how it went when I get back. Cheer me on from your prospective states, if you would! Thanks!!