4th of July fun

Ok...so it was really the 3rd of July...but it was in CELEBRATION of the 4th....and it was the holiday weekend....so enjoy the photo story with some explanations thrown in for good measure.

Both Tatum and Kellen were amazed at the juggler...Tatum even helped when he 'dropped' his pins. I'm not quite sure that Kellen could figure out how he was that tall....

Then Tatum thoroughly enjoyed the musical entertainment...you may not be able to tell from the picture, but she's dancing to the drum and fife - and did so EVERY time she heard this. She was so sweet to clap for them every time their numbers were over...She has music in her future somewhere.

We were handed flags upon entering, and Tatum had great fun in waving her flag to the beat - either heard or in her own little mind!

Kellen, on the other hand, had woken up from an unplanned nap (in his defense, we HAD just finished with 2-3 hours at the pool) and seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the nap mat...or carseat...unlike his sister, he took a little while to get warmed up to the festivities.

Here is our Hapes clan during one of the songs.....

Kellen was quite entertained with the fans handed out at entry as well...there is a small see-through area that enthralled him...apparently, when you look through it, the world becomes rainbow-like. No wonder he was entranced!

And well past Tatum-tot's bedtime, she was fighting for all she was worth to stay awake...

In case you're wondering why you're going blind with this next photo, it's actually the canon going off...They used live canons for the 1812 Overture.







And here is Tatum NOT LIKING the canons, and Kellen trying desperately to console his sister. He later turned to where the canons were located and remarked, "I don't like you! You scared my baby sister!"

Tatum still recovering from the canons....


Houston Sympony at The Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion in The Woodlands....

And then they ended the night with a fireworks show....Kellen loved it, and Tatum....well, let's just say that she was really tired and hadn't gotten over being scared of the canons. So fireworks weren't really high on her likable list. But the rest of the gang enjoyed them!

And for the ACTUAL 4th of July, we spent another several hours at the pool, which is pretty much Kellen and Tatum's favorite past time....then had hotdogs and they C-R-A-S-H-E-D after the late night from Friday, and an early morning Saturday morning. Sooooo, that meant no fireworks display on the actual 4th for us...but we had a fabulous weekend, full of family fun, which is really what was important!

Banged up...

After our memory making Thursday night, Kellen went off to daycamp on Friday, ready to round out the week full of good behavior. So I was a little nervous when I received a phone call, then a voicemail, from the number I recognized as the daycamp cell phone. Only when I listened to the message, it had nothing to do with his behavior. It was one of those, 'Ms. Hapes, Kellen had an accident at the bowling alley. He's ok, but you may want to come and get him a little early today.'

When I returned the phone call to find out what happened, I was told that, 'We've stopped the bleeding, but some of the counselors think he might need stitches.'

On my way out of the office, I put in a phone call to the pedi's office, checking to see if I could bring him in after I picked him up from camp. I left a message with the nurse and she was slated to call me back.

I walked in to the bowling alley, went over the Kellen, and checked out the cut. It was a pretty good one, but not stitch-worthy. As I'm making this determination, Tatum decides she wants to call and talk to me ('cause she's spending a few days with Maw Maw and Paw Paw), so I have to break her heart and tell Maw Maw that I just couldn't talk right then. Then I get the return call from the pedi's office telling me that I could bring him in for the stitches that I had decided he didn't really need. So I let them know that it wasn't necessary. Then Matt calls to tell me to take a picture of said wound and send it to him.

One at a time people. One at a time. I'm in the middle of trying to actually handle this perceived crisis here...Because of course, my phone is ringing while the poor counselors are trying to talk to me about what actually happened with Kellen, and he's trying to tell me what happened, and they're trying to get me to sign paperwork.

It was quite the chaotic sight, I'm sure!

I told the head counselor that I had been expecting a phone call of this nature, and then gave Kellen the option to either stay or come home with me (by this time, it was shortly after 3 PM). Needless to say, he wanted to come home with me!

So after a quick stop by Whataburger to pick up a consolatory milkshake, we headed home. Milkshakes make almost anything better, don't they?

Sorry you missed it...

If a house is clean and no one is there to see it, was it ever really clean?

I'm beginning to wonder. Because you can't really tell I did all that much work last week. *sigh*

Such is life with kids and a crazy, full schedule. At least one when you don't work your fingers to the bone and are trying not to put too much pressure on yourself, huh?

I got up this morning, looked around, and lamented that my hard work and effort hadn't stayed visible for longer than it did. Then you know what I did about it tonight when Kellen and I got home?









Nothing.


We ate cereal (his dinner request), changed clothes, and went to the pool. We had a BLAST, came home, played a game of Investigate (AKA Go Fish), read a book, then I tucked him in bed.

So, if you happen to stop by my house, it was clean last week - sorry you missed it!

The verdict...

Yes, Matt was COMPLETELY shocked, amazed, thrilled, and wondered HOW and WHEN I managed to get the project done.

Oh, and he also wondered WHAT POSESSED me to get ORANGE rugs and towels for the bathroom. (How well do I know my husband??)

I actually beat him home on Friday, so had a chance to do a few of those things that I had run out of time on (take out the kitchen trash, tidy up a bit more with some of the toys that inevitably had managed to spill out of their 'homes', you know...just some general stuff). No, in case you're wondering, I still didn't get the bedrooms done.

He walked in as I was putting Tatum to bed with a sleeping Kellen on his shoulders and the first words out of his mouth were, "The house looks GREAT!"

My response, "I'm SO GLAD that's the first thing you said to me!"

After we got the kids down, I asked him to tell me all of the things that he noticed that I did. With a deer-in-the-headlights look, he pointed out a few things, then just begged me to tell him the rest. As I rambled through the litany of things I had managed to get done throughout the week, his mouth continued to drop in amazement.

'WHEN did you get all of that done?'

I then had him then close his eyes and walked him to the bathroom. He reacted just as I thought he would....'Orange? Why did you get orange? Orange? Really?' And the rest of his comment was something along the lines of, 'You HAD to know I wasn't going to like that, didn't you?'

Instead of getting upset, I just laughed, and told him it was the KIDS bathroom. I reminded him that he had wanted a FUN bathroom for the KIDS, and that the orange was the PERFECT accent.

Then I told him about the project, WHY I had done it, and had him read the blog. And then laughed when he got to the part where I knew he was going to flip over the orange.

All-in-all, it was a perfect reaction and he LOVED it!!

And it's confirmed...

I have been wondering about Kellen's insane ability to hoarde large quantities of food and eat nonstop for large periods of time - hours, really. I was going through various options in my head...tapeworm, hollow leg, growth spurt, you know...all of the "normal" things, right?

Well, it's been officially diagnosed and confirmed. Growth spurt it is!

Matt had measured him on the 3rd of June and then again this week and he's grown a 1/4 inch in that amount of time. Yes, a quarter inch in a span of barely two weeks.

Goodness gracious!

He and I just went through all of his t-shirts and weeded out the ones that are too small for him. Luckily, I hit a sale not too long ago and stocked up on shirts in what is currently his size (who knows how long that will last). If you are a mom, you know the sale drill, right? One shirt of each color in the appropriate size. I bought 10 shirts. So perhaps we'll be set through the summer at least.

Final project status

Just in case you're wondering...the bedrooms didn't get finished. But, everything else on the list was completed.

WHEW!

I did a little "sprucing" before I left the house this morning, ran the dishwasher, and since Matt will most likely beat me home, he should be pleasantly surprised.

Might have been nice if I would have remembered to take out the trash, but hey...it's good enough, right?

My project reflections:
What really struck me throughout this project though, is how much pressure I put on myself. Yes, I gave myself a large project (for what I think is good reason - a nice gift for a reasonably small pocket-book price...a labor of love, a gift that cost time and effort, not $$$). But even as I reached completion of parts of the project, instead of feeling satisfied, I continually found things that I thought would be good to add to the list. WHAT's THAT ABOUT???

Instead of looking around and enjoying what I had done and accomplished, I looked around and thought, 'Well, the next to-do list I make should include the top of the TV, and I should really tackle cleaning out the closets, and....'

How did the perfectionism get so ingrained? And how long will it take for me to un-train and re-train myself to finish something and then REST, while waiting on direction from the Lord for HIS next project for me?

I might be overthinking things here, but hey...these are just my musings anyway...

Day 3 project update

Well, I'm officially running out of steam. It was bound to happen, considering the magnitude of the project goals.

This morning I managed to get the baseboards, trim, walls and vents done in the master bathroom and unload/load/run the dishwasher (yeah, no real big feat there).

I added a "side" project to the list, and while dinner was cooking tonight, Tatum "helped" me clean the kids bathroom (she cleans REALLY well with a wipee, let me tell you, and did a GREAT job on the decorative wooden fish that sometimes serves as a doorstop in the bathroom), in preparation for the new decorations that are now in place in there. She did that while I attacked the baseboards, walls, trim, swept and mopped, and cleaned the mirrors (how is it that I always look at them, but rarely think about cleaning them? anyone else?) then she then opened the new shower curtain hooks and helped me string the new shower curtain (BRIGHT fish theme) onto the hooks. I then hung it up while she named all of the various marine creatures on the shower curtain.

It was great!

After the floor dried, I layed out the new, bright orange floor mats down. Yes, orange. Pick yourself up off of the floor. They aren't in any way, shape or form burnt orange. They are BRIGHT orange and match the bottom of the shower curtain, therefore staying with the theme. They also match the set of towels that I got for the room.

Matt is gonna flip that I got orange and the kids are gonna LOVE it. Tatum was already laying down on the new mats saying they were "hers" and feeling of them.

It's amazing the difference in new versus old mats...even cheap ones, 'cause hey...it IS the kids bath, and we know what's going to happen to those rugs, right? And lets face it, the old ones were O-L-D...they were from my college days and predated Matt. You do the math.

So now that I've established that anything having to do with Tatum's room is off the list, basically, I still need to do the baseboards/trim/walls in the master bedroom and Kellen's room, mop the kitchen/entry and master bathroom and then vacuum the master bedroom and Kellen's room. Oh, and put away all of the clean laundry that is now piled on the couch, loveseat and the green chair. Have I mentioned my tendency for piling clean laundry?

I've just Febreezed the curtains that can't be laundered and "spritzed" them up, and now that I've written out the remaining "to-do" list, it doesn't actually seem that bad. I think I can do it, but if it doesn't get done, the house is in better shape than in was on Sunday. And that's pretty much what I was going for. Matt should still be surprised and I think he'll appreciate the effort.

Substitute

I have to share this absolutely adorable thing that Tatum has been doing this week....Kellen is attending a sports camp at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's and his sister misses him terribly. So, her substitute is the Baby Jamz video that he is a part of, and we watch this over and over and over and over and over and...well, you get the idea.

"I watch Kellen on there (pointing to the computer)," and "More Kellen song," are two phrases that I have become increasingly familiar with these past few days.

It's really adorable, and it's a good thing that I can handle the songs. Really.

Project update

Just in case you're wondering how the project is going this evening...

I've gotten two additional fans cleaned, leaving a lone fan left (again, not counting the one in the living room). Since it's the one in Tatum's room and she's asleep, there is a very good possibility that it's just not getting done. Oh well!

The kitchen curtain is in the washing machine as we speak, awaiting an empty dryer. Thankfully, I was warned to check the capabilities for laundering on my curtains PRIOR to actually washing them, and am unable to launder the living and dining room curtains myself, so they'll just get dusted/vacuumed off. (Thank you, Maw Maw!!)

And completely OFF of the to-do list is polishing the wooden cabinets dispersed throughout the house. I've done the kitchen cabinets, the wet bar, both bathrooms, including the hanging storage. You know what I'm talking about, right, the cabinets above the toilet... I completely forgot about them until I was looking into the spare bathroom in wonder and amazement at the difference a little furniture polish can do and realized they were wooden cabinets too! When I finished it off, it seemed like it was a completely different bathroom!

I guess the wood was thirsty. Who knew?

Realistically, I'll get the mopping done in the kitchen and possibly the bathrooms, but will probably not get all of the baseboards/trim/walls done in all three bedrooms and in the master bath by the end of the week. The master bath stuff is a maybe. I can't do ANYTHING in Tatum's room, really, considering that very shortly after we get home, she's going to bed. So scratch anything having to do with her room off of any list.

The laundry will most likely get done, but really and truly, is laundry EVER really done? I'll say I accomplished my goal on this one (at least the washing part of the goal), since the majority of the sorting baskets in the laundry area of the garage are empty, and all of the baskets inside the house are empty. You can't wash a load with one item by itself, now can you?

Now, if I can just get it all put away.....where did I put that easy button? Oh wait...we're going for excellence, NOT perfection, and good enough is ok, right?

Great, then I'm taking a break. Blue Bell is calling.

My project...

6/16 - AM UPDATE: I feel the need to explain WHY I'm doing this project...It's actually part of Matt's fathers day present, hence the "shhh" part of the original post.

So far, I've gotten all of the baseboards and walls wiped down in the entire house, save for the 3 bedrooms and the spare bathroom (but I JUST did that when the toilet EXPLODED a couple of weeks ago with Kellen - and I was thorough, at least with the baseboards).

I've also cleaned both hallway fans, and the fan in the kitchen. I still need to do to the ones in the bedrooms, and I'm skipping the one in the living room because it's too high.

I vacuumed the front hallway, dining room and living room, but didn't do the hallway between the bedrooms or any of the bedrooms since Tatum was already asleep when I was vacuuming (I'm not COMPLETELY crazy!).

I cleaned both of the bathroom toilets and scrubbed both of the bathtubs and got two (I think) loads of laundry done and put away. I put another load in this morning before I left to take Tatum to school and come to work.

I feel like I'm on a roll...


Shhhh...don't tell Matt. (I can post this on here because he really doesn't read this blog...)

I know I just ranted about the fact that I don't clean, right? And about the fact that I'm working toward excellence and "good enough." So here's my project for the week...

I want to see just how much of the house I can get REALLY CLEAN to surprise Matt. And I'm not talking "picked up" kind of clean, I'm talking spring cleaning kind of clean.

My primary goals:

• wipe down all baseboards and walls (include tops of trim & doors)
• clean all fan blades (exluding the living room, since there's no way I can reach it unless I got the ladder out, and I think he might have my head if I did that)
• launder all curtains & rehang
• polish all the cabinet doors (kitchen, wetbar, bathrooms)
• all laundry done and put away
• general cleaning (bathrooms, vacuum, mop, etc)

If I have time:

• go through kids clothes that they've outgrown and package for give-a-way

So whatcha' think? Will I be able to get this done in three nights?

Pursuit of perfection

I have come to the realization that the pursuit of perfection is paralyzing. Or at least I'm trying to remind myself of this as I make a mental shift from pursuing perfection to striving for excellence.

• In the pursuit of perfection, nothing is good enough...I overanalyze to find the "perfect" way to do something. The "good enough" way is just fine and still gets the job done. For the most part, the only one that's going to know the difference between the two is me.
• In the pursuit of perfection, I constantly compare myself with others who I think have it more "together" than I do, and then feel inferior and/or guilty that I can't do what they do, how they do it. God didn't make me THEM, he made me ME. I'm not SUPPOSED to do things the way they do them per se, or live their lives the way they live it. I'm supposed to live mine the way HE WANTS ME TO, to the BEST OF MY ABILITY, allowing HIM to shine through me, ESPECIALLY in the areas of my deficiencies, so that HE is glorified.
• In the pursuit of perfection, we mask our true selves. We don't necessarily allow others to get to know us, warts and all. How can we grow, or allow ourselves to be used in others lives if we don't walk with them...through both the good and the bad? How do we know that our bad times aren't being sent for the purpose of helping a brother or sister in Christ? If we pursue perfection and mask our pain, our difficulties, our deficiencies, don't let others know what we're experiencing, how can those experiences help them?

I really think this is the area that God is working on me with right now...striving for excellence, not perfection and just doing the best that I can do without stretching myself to the point of breaking.

I'm ready to be really real. I have a full life. A really full life. I am a wife, a mom to two kids, a full-time employee (read: mom to another 300 or so students). My husband has had a crazy schedule for our entire marriage that has rarely involved working in the same town. Cleaning is a low priority. News flash...if you drop in on me, my house is probably messy, there are probably clothes on the couch. They're most likely clean and laid out, waiting to be put away, but they're there.

That isn't how I envision my house in my head. I WANT it to look like a picture out of a magazine. I WANT it to smell like the "correct" scent for whatever season it is. I WANT to have all the ingredients for homemade cookies all of the time so that I can just "pop" them in on a whim. I WANT to always have the stuff for the cutsie crafts for me and my kids to do.

But hey, that doesn't happen.

I make cupcakes from the box. We colors in coloring books. We use sidewalk chalk. Matt buys whatever scent candles he wants, because somewhere, I have a wonderful wickless candle and warmer set that hasn't been plugged back in since the move (yes, almost a year). Kids craft magazines come to my house with wonderful ideas for me, and *someday* I'll get the stuff for them and we'll do them some weekend.

Let's just get real.

Misbehavin'

Well, Kellen rounded out last week with two days of misbehaving. Arg.

Thursday he decided to reconnect with his friend from the afterschool Kids Klub. You may remember her...she's the one that the counselors had to continually separate him from and, oh yes, the very same one that professed her love for him at the beginning of the school year. Oy. Those two. The two of them got into a variety of michevious trouble...nothing too terrible, but enough that it was brought to my attention in addition to the other items to be mentioned (I informed the lead counselor that things might be better if the two of them were simply split up, if possible). He also talked another boy into holding down the flush valve on the toilet in the bathroom and creating a waterfall. Yup. That's my boy. (They did make him clean it up, which he thought was gross.) But the icing on the cake was when they told me that he ran away from the rest of the kids and the counselors. Um...no. That's a safety issue and completely NOT ok with us.

Don't get me wrong, the other issues aren't ok with us, but they're to be expected from an almost 6 year old. Safety issues; however, are in no way, shape or form tolerated in this house.

So he was greeted with, "I guess you made some pretty bad choices today and we aren't going to the pool after all." And we had a stern talk-to at the house.

I apparently didn't work, as I get a phone call on Friday from Matt, who is on his way home with Kellen after he's picked him up. Kellen, the aforementioned girl, and another unnamed girl tried to sneak out of the gym.

WHAT??

So Matt dealt with him primarily Friday night, and I made a point of asking Tatum if she wanted to go to the pool near him and she and I got ready for the pool in the living room, so he could be reminded of what he was missing (again) because of his poor choices. And then Tatum and I proceeded to have a wonderful time at the pool.

I'm trying to figure out the root cause of it, and I really think that it might be a lack of quality time with both Mommy and Daddy...dunno...we'll test that theory a little to see if things get better.

Spaghetti, anyone?

I had forgotten just how much the kids like spaghetti...As I type, Kellen is on his 4th plate and Tatum is on her 5th plate of spaghetti.

Seriously...where are they PUTTING this food?

Tatum has abandonded her fork in liu of her hands in order to shovel the food in quicker. When she gets through with a plate, she asks for more and then calmly tells me that her, "...hands are yucky, Mommy."

Ya, think, dearie?

They are both piling on the parmesan cheese as well, and I'm rapidly running out of that commodity. I truly thought I made enough pasta to have leftovers for them for tomorrow night, and now I'm not so sure about that.

Growth spurts, perhaps? Hollow legs was suggested as another alternative for food storage. Hmmm...Pictures would prove that I don't starve them, but I think the camera might be covered in sauce at this point in time.

Weekend bliss...

Saturday...
Full of outside playing, naps, then to the movies to watch UP in 3-D. If you haven't seen it, take your tissues. I was bawling like a baby, but it was SO GOOD!!

Sunday...
Unfortunately, both Mommy and Daddy were a little under the weather to start the day off, so we both slept in and missed church. We recovered, had some more outside time, naps, then headed to the pool (FINALLY!!) for a while. We had to cut our pool trip a little early due to an *incident* that luckily, neither of my kids caused - the pool had to be closed for 24 hours. On the bright side, that resulted in rain checks - so it was basically a free trip to the pool! YAY!

I have a sunburn today to show for all of the weekend fun, but I did it to myself! It's not that bad, so I'm hopeful that it was tan rather than peel.

As for today, Kellen started his daycamp here in town and really seemed to like it...he has three of the same counselors, which I like very much! He was happy to see them, too! He came home just talking about all of the games that they played, and thought it was really fun that they just played all day long!

Lucky him! Tomorrow they go on their field trip for the week.

And to finish off the day, Chick-fil-A reinstated their Milkshake Mondays for June and July, so we're putting THAT back into the mix for our Monday night dinners! I mistakenly thought that 3 'milkshakes' (for each milkshake you purchase, you get a free 8 piece nugget) would be sufficient for all 4 of us, but I was sorely mistaken. I think Tatum ate 12 nuggets on her own. Uh huh. We DID share the milkshakes, but I made Daddy a few sandwiches for dinner, which he never seems to mind anyway...

Kellen's summer begins

from Maw Maw:

'Three days and nights at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's. Chocolate Chip Cookies for breakfast (but a good breakfast of some combination of toast, cereal, fruit, etc. in addition), hot dogs, two trips to the park including a great deal of squirrel chasing, snacks in the park, an Astros game, CiCi's, sword fighting, playing on the deck with dinos and zoo animals, Hungry, Hungry Hippos with Daddy and PawPaw, coloring, play doh, The Chipmunks meet Wolfman, Tarzan - whew!

Which might explain why he almost feel asleep at CiCi's tonight and was gone before we made it to Walgreens a few blocks down the road. Yes, at about 7:00 p.m.! He is in bed and hopefully will stay asleep until morning.'

****************

And she neglected to indicate that he threw up last night because, in his words, he "ate too much junk." Now, I have NO idea if that is accurate or not, but it was an interesting way to start off my morning as I was driving to work and trying to get the play-by-play of the 'Stros game.

He is, according to him, missing his sister, as he wanted me to pass the phone to her so that he could talk with her, and then when I couldn't do that (I WAS driving, after all), he accepted speakerphone so that he could talk with her. He also passed a hug through the phone to me for her.

Now isn't that just precious?

Happy Birthday!

...Cute things Tatum has done today...I need to tell the Happy Birthday story...

Today is Grandma Gerren's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!!!), so on the way home, I told Tatum that we needed to call and sing Happy Birthday to Grandma. Well, she proceeded to do so the ENTIRE way home. I actually lost count of how many times she sang the song, and we don't live that far away from where I pick her up AND the college students aren't here, meaning the traffic isn't that bad...

And as soon as we walked in the door she was crying to call Grandma so that she could sing to her on the phone. So we called, we get Grandma on the phone and she proceeds to sing the Happy Birthday song to her grandma, and yes, it's every bit as precious as it sounds.

Well, Grandpa gets on the phone and she gets excited, says hi, but then oh-so-clearly makes sure that he knows it's 'not your happy birthday, grandpa...it's happy birthday grandma, not grandpa, oookkkaayy?'

But then she clearly followed that up with "I love you's" all the way around, just to make sure no one got their feelings hurt because it wasn't their birthday.

What a precious and sweet little girl. I am so blessed to get to spend some one-on-one time with her this week and am just enjoying it tremendously!

Hmmm....

Interesting fact about Tatum.

She has reserved Eskimo kisses SOLELY for her Daddy. Yup. They're HIS and HIS alone.

I made the mistake of trying to give her some tonight before bed and boy-oh-boy...did I get a look.

(And I should know the look...I frequently give a much perfected, similar one, myself).

Then she ever so clearly corrected me by stating that, "Eskimo kisses are Daddy. NOT Mommy. Not yours. OoooKaaaayyyy?"

'Yes Dear. Thank you. I understand.'

Growth spurt, anyone?

I'm wondering exactly how much food that Kellen can actually consume.....he's really going to town over here! For the past couple of weeks, he's eaten nonstop for dinner from about 6-8 PM. And I pretty much mean nonstop.

Take tonight for instance...

We got home and he was hungry, so while I was getting things warmed up, he ate a banana. I finished warming dinner up and he ate dinner (about half of a VERY LARGE sausage dog, corn and green beans). He and Tatum got a bath, then he told me he was still hungry. So he ate an apple, then another banana, then another apple. He's now eating a bowl of grapes.

So he's pretty much been eating continuously since 6 or so, save for the short time he was in the bath. And this has been our pattern for the last two or so weeks.

Whoa, buddy! I'm just waiting for him to shoot out and up. Really. I'm expecting to go into his room one morning and to have him have sprouted overnight. At least I'm trying to prepare for it, anyway.

New 'do

While I'm updating...(and going in reverse order) I should make a note about my haircut.


I got my haircut last Wednesday. Really cut.


As in really short.


Really.


Way shorter than the picture I took as the 'model' for Valerie. I think she was just overly excited because it was obvious my normal rules were out of the window. And this is what I ended up with after she was through.







This is the original picture of the 'model' that was to be used for the cut...Slight difference, don't you think? (Julie, the link is just for you!)


I fix it a little differently, but since everyone (but Kellen) seems to like it, we'll call it a success. And since Matt thinks it's the best haircut he's EVER seen on me, and he's known me since '96 and his opinion should be the one that matters most (other than mine, of course), I think that's a pretty good sign, don't you?


Kellen originally told me that he liked me, but not my hair. When I asked him why, he indicated that it was because it stuck out and was spikey. He's now changing his tune and told me this morning that he liked it. I guess he's gotten used to it.


Unfortunately, I seem to be the one that it taking the most time to get used to it! And I'm immensely frustrated that I cannot find my pommade that I like anywhere...I've had the stuff for, like, 5 years or so now (probably longer, truth be told), and NOW...when I really need it for styling, I can't find it anywhere. Grrr....

My birthday weekend

Considering the weekend I had, I have to entitle this my birthday weekend rather than my birthday...simply because the celebration lasted all weekend long!

It was such a wonderfully full, but relaxing weekend!

Friday night started with Kellen's last t-ball game of the season (*sniff*), then my parents and brother came over for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, my dad's birthday and my mom's birthday.

Saturday my dad cooked breakfast (YUMMY!) and I took my mom and Kellen to get me a birthday present, then I had a baby shower to go to, and when I got back, we hung out a little and Matt cooked steaks on the grill (oh my..so VERY YUMMY!!! I could eat steaks like that so very often, but it would be oh-so-bad if I did)

Sunday Matt and I went to church, and came back to my parents and brother cleaning up the house as a surprise for me...my brother vacuumed, they cleaned up all their stuff, made all of the beds, cleaned both of the kids rooms (which, of course, only stay clean for about five minutes), cleaned the kitchen, you name it...then Matt cooked sausage dogs on the grill and we had lunch, cake and ice cream and our birthday celebration. Then they had to leave...the kids went down for their nap and then I went down for mine. And my Maw Maw was on her way over.

I woke up from my nap...



wait for it...





4 hours later!!!!

to an empty house.

15 or so minutes later, I heard them all pull up, then saw Matt running to the backyard with something in his hands. My MIL and the kids came in, and a few minutes later Matt came in and found a reason to ask me to go out to the backyard, where he had put together a HAMMOCK STAND for me!!!!! We've had a hammock for years, but I've never had it up....and I have it now!! I'm thrilled beyond belief!!

I, of course, immediately went and laid on it, and then had two munchkins join me, and Matt pulled another HUGE box from the side of the house....it was another present from Maw Maw and Paw Paw...a storage unit/seat bench for the deck...and he started putting it together. So, now all of the kids toys have a place to go on the deck, AND it can double as seating! I LOVE IT!

Maw Maw wanted to take us out to eat, but I said I would rather have her watch the kids and let Matt and I go on a date...so we went and watched Wolverine! It was GREAT!

Then today my office had a small party for me this afternoon (cake and ice cream)...so I feel totally spoiled right now!!

But...today is Daddy's day......sooooooooooo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

It finally happened...

I'll update on my wonderful birthday later, but for now...some grossness...

It finally happened...After almost 4 months to the date from my half marathon...one of my toenails fell off today. And surprisingly, it came off all in one piece. Odd.

Another interesting fact...it had already grown 1/3 or so of the way back underneath the other (dead) toenail. And there's a thin psuedo nail covering the rest of what should be my nail...so I was actually able to paint my toenail to disguise the ugliness that now is my toe.

Hahaha

Details about my lovely birthday to come...I must go eat some of the left-over steak...YUMMY!!

Why is it...

...that chaos ensues in this house when Daddy is gone? Now this isn't necessarily to say that chaoes doesn't occur when he's here, 'cause, hey...it's Daddy we're talking about. The walking embodiement of Murphy's Law.

But really...

Last night:
How many times can a toilet explode in one night? And at the EXACT moment when I'm trying to put Tatum to bed? And try as I might, neither my Wonder Woman bracelets, nor my Super Woman cape saved me from the mess that my slow response time created. And let me remind some of you that I was a sprinter in high school (i.e., I don't have THAT slow of a response time). However, in the amount of time it takes for Kellen to yell for me, and the amount of time it takes for me to realize that he's screaming for me because the toilet is exploding, for me to run in there, get him out of the way (which wasn't too hard considering he was trying his darnest to get to the highest point possible so as not to get ANY liquid on him), and to reach around the aforementioned exploding toilet to turn the valve OFF, it had managed to overflow (it types out much longer than it actually was). And wow, it overflows quickly, just in case you were wondering.

But, last night was a cleaning night for me, and it simply added to my to-do list. And now the bathroom is REALLY clean...nice clean floors, clean baseboards, clean toilet, the works...'cause if I was cleaning up after that I might as well make it worth it, right?

And as if last night wasn't enough, here's tonight:
Kellen was cleaning his room, after Caleb and he had a wonderful time playing in there (it wasn't nice and orderly before they played, and was in dire need of a picking up and cleaning anyway). So I decided to have him clean up his room and treat him when he was through to a 'special' night...our code for movie night. A short while later he runs out crying, holding his hand to me, asking for a band-aid. He had apparently burned his hand on his lightbulb in his lamp on his nightstand...and he burned a little smaller than a dime size area on his thumb. And he was HURTING!

So I had him run to the bathroom and run cool water over it while I called Matt to see if we had any burn ointment in the house, which we didn't have. So I loaded both the kids up and off to Walgreens we went for burn ointment and 'cool' band-aids. (We ended up getting camo!) The line was long, and he was in so much pain that I put the medicine on him in line. Here's the even sadder part...he was worried about me getting in trouble because I opened up the medicine and band-aids before I paid for them to put them on him! Oh my goodness what a sweetie I have in that little boy!

And back to the house we went...for what I am determined to make into a relaxing night. He asked for cereal for dinner. I obliged. And he and Tatum are now watching Wall-E.

As promised...

Here are some pictures of the Mommy Make-over. They are the fruits of Kellen's labor, the after shots of his make up efforts. I didn't think to take a picture of my manicure and pretty purple nails, and didn't get any shots of him during the process, since I was unable to take pictures of myself and all of the other adults were in the middle of their make-overs as well.





This was such a cute idea and Kellen was still talking about how glad he was that I came to his school at various points in time today!

Mommy Make-over

Kellen's class had a Mommy Make-over today...and I walked into his room, which had been transformed into a spa. This morning, before I left for work, I asked him what he wanted me to bring for the make-over.

My list was as follows: make-up, fingernail polish in red, green and blue (yes, he specified those colors), and lotion. My ACTUAL items taken included my make-up, fingernail polish in light purple (sorry, I just didn't have all of the specified colors), fingernail polish remover, cotton balls, lotion, and a LARGE junk towel.

I walked in, was greeted enthusiastically by Kellen, given a bottle of water and offered a cookie, then escorted to my seat. He proceeded to paint my nails, then gave me an arm massage with lotion (which, is actually VERY nice...have one of your kids try this at home). He then went to work on my make-up, and did a nice job! I have pictures to prove it and will post later. He ended my pamper session with a back rub and scratching, which I absolutely adore! We had to cut that short for our parade.

Yes, we had a parade through the school to show off our kiddos efforts. Picture a bunch of kindergarden mommies walking through the school wearing the fruit of their kids efforts, to the theme song of Pretty Woman, no less. We were the highlight of the day!

He was having a very 'exclusive' day, as many of his friends wanted to assist him in his make-over efforts with me, and he was having none of it. I did finally move him from saying something along the lines of 'go away!' to 'I want to be the only person helping my mommy, please go away.'

I took him home with me, and on the way to the car, he told me how much he enjoyed me coming to his school and spending time with him. I'm pretty sure his main love language is quality time.

Things I've learned...

Things I've learned since becoming a Mommy...(watch out, these are really random, and in no apparent order!)

1. Poop can defy gravity...and go all the way UP a baby's back while they're sitting upright. Don't ask me how, but I know it's true. And if you're reading this and you're a parent, you know I'm right.

2. Bodily fluids can go a L-O-N-G way coming from a baby...pee, poo, spit up, throw up. It's amazing how far some of those things can travel. There should be an Olympic sport, and it could be judged on both distance and force. My kids would, at the very least, medal.

3. Girls can projectile pee too. Seriously, this one threw me for a loop. I didn't know it was physically possible, but it is.

4. The person who invented the saying, "Don't cry over spilled milk" didn't breastfeed their child. They would understand the value of that stuff and cry if it got spilled, too!

5. 12 pounds was heavy when I was in my 20's and working out with it...another rep sometimes seemed impossible. Now, "more" is sometimes the phrase of the moment and my kids weigh MUCH more than 12 pounds. I should cut myself some slack on the 'official' part of working out and simply play with them more often.

6. Sometimes a kiss and a hug really DOES fix everything.

7. Boo boo ice solves mystery illnesses, random bumps, and other assorted owies.

8. Love buckets need to be filled the most when those that need the filling seem the least lovable.

9. Taking a deep breath is good. Taking five or ten is better.

10. 'I help you' - Letting your kids help can actually be productive, so long as you don't expect them to live up to unrealistic expectations, and don't set them for yourself either. (I'm still trying to live this one out, especially the last part of this one...)

Back on...

So I went for my first jog since the half today. Here are my thoughts...

1. It's been too long since I have run and I've missed it.
2. It's been too long since I have run and my body can tell. :)
3. Even a quick (my words, not actually quick by anyone's standards) 2 mile jog can feel GREAT and hurt at the same time. Interesting.
4. I should probably run in the mornings, because running at 8:30 PM has given me a slight energy burst, but I actually need to go to bed.

From Purpose Driven Connection, Daily Devotional...


Margin Comes From Managing Your Time
by Rick Warren

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:

"Then Jesus said, 'Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest.' There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn't even have time to eat" (Mark 6:31 NLT).

Jesus experienced enormous stress and pressure, yet it didn't seem to disturb His peace of mind. In spite of opposition, constant demands, and little privacy, His life reflected a calm sense of balance.

What was His secret?

1. Identification: Know who you are (John 8:12). Eighteen times Jesus publicly defined Himself. There was no doubt in His mind as to who He was. If you are unsure of your identity, you'll allow others to pressure you into their molds. Trying to be someone you're not causes stress!

2. Dedication: Know who you want to please (John 5:30). You can't please everyone. Even God can't! Just about the time you get "Crowd A" happy, "Crowd B" will be upset with you. Jesus never let the fear of rejection manipulate Him. No one can pressure you without your permission.

3. Organization: Set clear goals (John 8:14). Jesus said, "I know where I came from and where I am going." Preparation prevents pressure but procrastination produces it. You work by either priorities or pressures.

4. Concentration: Focus on one thing at a time (Luke 4:42-44). You can't chase two rabbits at the same time! Jesus knew how to handle interruptions without being distracted from His primary goal.

5. Delegation: Don't try to do everything yourself (Mark 3:14). We get tense when we feel it all depends on us. Jesus enlisted twelve disciples. Don't allow the fear that others may not do as good a job as you, or that they may do a better job than you, to keep you from asking for help.

6. Meditation: Make a habit of prayer (Mark 1:35). No matter how busy Jesus got, He found time to get alone to pray every day. A daily quiet time is a great stress decompression chamber. Use this time to talk to God about your pressures and problems, evaluate your priorities, and discover the rules for successful living by reading the Bible.

7. Relaxation: Take time to enjoy life (Mark 6:30-31). Balance is the key to stress management. Work must be balanced with fun and worship.

********************************
I keep seeing things about 'margin' and it reminds me to STOP, THINK and PRAY about things and opportunities before I immediately say, "Yes," which is my natural tendency. Why is "No" such a hard word to say when we're adults? Is it the fear of disappointing someone? And if so, shouldn't we fear more disappointing God by not doing what HE wants us to do?

Just my musings for the morning...

Catchin' a break...

Not that I'm getting one yet, but I'm hopeful that soon we'll be catchin' a break around here. We've been 'sick city' for what seems like ages...but it's actually been a month and a half or two months. Really. One of us will get something, then it makes its round, and just when we think it's gone, BLAM!, there's another something waiting in the wings to attack.

Enough is enough. Really.

Tatum and I are still coughing are heads off, and my brief (although longer than either Matt or Kellen, thankfully) bout with a stomach something this weekend hit her today after nap. Bless her heart...the teachers at school tried to clean her up as much as possible, but she was in dire need of a bath when we got home. Ug.

And the washing machine is once again on overdrive.

However, two highlights of my day were picking up the kids, respectively. Nothing makes you feel loved like having a two year old run to you from across the room with her arms up, yelling, "Mommy...come on, Mommy!" OR having a 5 1/2 year old run at you full blast from Kids Klub, give you a HUGE hug, and say, "I missed you all day today, Mommy!"

Well, today I got BOTH of those. All in the same afternoon. What a day...

AWESOME!!

So on Wednesday after Kellen's t-ball game (where he did GREAT and paid attention and everything - no playing in the dirt, horsing around, etc), he tells us that he was named the Student of the Day during taekwondo.

Way to go!

As if that didn't make us proud enough, he told us today that he was named Student of the Week for Kids Klub!!

Considering ALL of the times that I've been told, 'Wait here just a second, one of the counselors needs to talk with you about Kellen,' this year, I cannot BEGIN to tell you how thrilled I am with him!

I am just so over-the-moon proud of him!

What a WONDERFUL week!!

So, despite us having a slight issue with him obeying tonight, he is enjoying some ice cream before bedtime as a treat...and we're having to figure out what BIG treat we'll do tomorrow night to REALLY celebrate...since the movie night at the school has been cancelled (stinker!).

YAY Kellen!!

Happy Easter!

I think this next picture is just priceless. The look on Kellen's face as he's looking at his sister just absolutely melts my heart. And I was uploading the pictures this afternoon onto the computer and Kellen saw them and remarked, 'I like looking at my Tatum.' Man, I love how much he adores her!



We actually did Easter baskets after we got home from church and had naps...the kids had fun with them...

Kellen's basket....

Tatum's basket...

John 20

He is alive!

He's not young anymore...

but he's having a hard time remembering it!

Matt and Kellen were trimming some more limbs this afternoon, and Daddy decided to show off by jumping from the ladder to the limb. Well, he forgot that he wasn't 20 anymore.

He attempted to Tarzan leap from the tree. Somewhere between leaving the ladder, grabbing the tree and hitting the ground, his shoulder came out of socket. Well, let me get more specific...his shoulder came out of socket when he grabbed the tree limb, which assisted the crash to the ground quite a bit.

OUCH!

(Now, for those of you who don't know, this isn't the first time this has happened to Matt. Luckily for us (or unluckily for him) it's happened so often that he's able to put it back in himself, which meant we didn't have to go to the ER to have them put it back in place for us.)

Poor guy...he had to put it back into socket with minimal wincing and verbal complaints, because both the kids were outside watching his 'show' and were intensely concerned about him. Tatum kissed his shoulder and wanted to get him 'bo bo ice' to make him better, and Kellen was just all over upset and couldn't bear to watch him at all. Of course, Kellen was over it immediately as soon as Daddy said he was ok, and exclaimed,

"When you flew through the air that was SUPER AWESOME!"

Boys!

It was just a quick errand!

I went to pick up Tatum at school today...wasn't gone too long, and came home to find this. I REALLY wasn't even gone that long. Really.

Um...what is it about boys and destruction? He was supposed to do some small trimming. I think we need the same dictionary.

Of course, once Tatum saw her Daddy up in the tree, she wanted to go up there, too...

Spring Break, Part 1

Yes, I know it's been almost a month, but hey...at least I'm trying, right?


So after I got off of work during spring break, we went to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's (well, Tatum and I joined the males of the family, who were already there). On Thursday, we HAD planned to go to the zoo, but considering they had every entrance blocked off becuause it was so busy (we must not have timed it well and arrived too late), we switched gears and reversed our initial plan.


Downtown Aquarium it was.


And the kids had a BLAST! It was Tatum's first time there, but Kellen had been there a few times. He acted like he didn't remember it when we were discussing it, but I think he remembered it once we arrived there.




This particular exhibit was fairly close to the eels, which Tatum absolutely did NOT like. It was interesting to see her intense reaction to certain things, both at the aquarium and at the zoo (stay tuned for Spring Break, Part 2). I wonder what causes a child, with no prior history with an animal, to have an intense reaction to it - one way or another, really?


At any rate, she wanted NOTHING at all to do with the eels. And made it well known to anyone within ear shot.



Petting the sting rays at the discovery zone. For some reason, Kellen was a little nervous this time. Tatum was excited about seeing them, but wasn't sure about actually petting them. She wanted to get her hands in the water, but was wary about actually touching them.







We timed it just right to be able to watch the tiger show, which was really the changing out of the tigers...They took one back, cleaned up the area, brought out some 'entertainment' in the way of some food for the next one, then brought the next one out. During the cleaning portion, one of the workers did an educational bit on the tigers, their interaction, etc. It was really interesting. Kellen and Tatum were enthralled. While the first tiger was still inside, Tatum and I were next to the glass, but she's pretty quick at backpedaling, and did so when the tiger got up and ran past the glass. Bless her heart, that frightened her and she wanted to be NO WHERE near that glass! Yet, she was still fascinated and wanted to get close again once the tiger was a little further away.




We also took the train ride to see the sharks...I am just in utter amazement of those creatures! None of the pictures turned out, so you don't get any of those...sorry!




And luckily for us, the weather was WONDERFUL for the splash pad. I had packed the swimsuits and towels already in preparation for the day, so we were adequately prepared.

Kellen loves the splash pad. Tatum, on the other hand, has to be convinced to play...she does NOT like to get splashed in the face without warning and well, it's a splash pad. Needless to say, she was slightly less enthusiastic in her playing than her brother, but she still enjoyed herself!

And as we were walking out, we decided to get a picture here on the bench. Kellen decided he was going to be monkey-man and started climbing on the shark, and I'm sure it wasn't the first time that had happened, so I just let him go. You can see the exhaustion on both of their faces!