Those days you never want to repeat again!

Yesterday was one of the craziest days of my life. Seriously crazy.

It began at a time of day when nothing should be beginning because I should be asleep! Around 3 o'clock in the am Luke comes in our room and says, "Mommy, I need a snack." Seriously. He made it sound like it was the most common request in the world - at 3 am! That child is something. My initial thoughts were, "Wow, at least he isn't screaming from his bed and waking everyone up" followed by, "It surprises me that he walked all the way through the dark house by himself" and then, "well, he did eat dinner at 4 pm" ending with, "what in the world? it's 3 am!" Apparently my children haven't figured out that I really like sleep.

So Joseph gets up, gives him some cheerios in a baggy and puts him to bed. He comes back to bed, we get comfortable and I begin to fall asleep... and then Luke starts screaming. Joseph gets up to go see what the problem is and 5 minutes later comes back with Luke. And as irritated I am that Luke is climbing in bed with us, I am hopeful that I still might get some sleep. After 10 minutes of him thrashing around, I tell him that he needs to go back in his bed. So that he isn't scared I tell him that Titan the Dog can come sleep in his bed with him. He loves that idea!

Back to bed he goes with Titan reluctantly (very reluctantly) following behind. Joseph lays with Titan and Luke (I love picturing all 3 of them in Luke's little bed!) for a little while before coming to bed. Lovey was in bed for just a few minutes when Luke starts crying - again. Now, he is throwing up. And proceeded to throw up every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours. Poor Luke and I got no sleep.

The crummy part of all this is that we are supposed to be leaving for my mom's house at 8 am. And we all really wanted to go. I called my mom, told her the situation and we made the decision to still try to go. By the time I hopped in the shower at 7 am, Luke was feeling much, much better.

I was only out of the shower about 3 minutes when the door bell rang. We all (the boys, Joseph and I) head to the door. A neighbor of mine is at the front door and says, "Hi, I'm ____ your neighbor down the street, we got our car broken into and I think that you did as well."

Talk about words you never want to hear! UGH!

Sure enough, we walk outside and someone broke the window to our van - the sliding door window!! - and they stole my purse.

Let's pause here to get the BIG question answered that I'm sure is running around in your head. Why the heck was your purse in your car? First of all, I'm really not in the habit of leaving my van out of the garage and while I have been known to leave my purse in the car it's only because my van is usually in the garage. AND I have a false sense of security living in a gated subdivision. I have learned my lesson. The way I learn all my lessons - the difficult way.

Back to the story...We called the bank to cancel my credit cards and the bad guys had already made 5 gas charges on my debit card and 8 on my credit card. All at the same gas station!! I was so sad. My purse was new and so was my wallet (and it was oh, so cute and spunky just in time for summer. And I had gotten this really cute hot pink wallet! Hot pink! Scandalously cute, I tell you. I don't usually - oh, never mind. I digress!). My super cute wallet had everything in it. 4 very fun gift cards, my zoo pass, our Seaworld season passes, Joseph's and my social security cards, my drivers license, my military ID - all of these things (minus the gift cards) are replaceable, but are a pain to replace! Some cash, my planner, KOHLS cash, very cute pictures of my kids... the list goes on. SO SAD.

I call the police to file are report. As I am outside waiting for them, I notice papers strewn all over the neighborhood. I go over to pick them up and notice they all belong to the same lady. Hmmm, I wonder. I start walking down the street and find a purse in between our neighbor's house with all the contents dumped out next to it. I knew my purse was probably somewhere in the same condition. Sure enough after a little looking we found it (and our diaper bag) and almost all the contents minus my credit & debit cards. I was so happy and not as mad at the bad guys as I initially was!

4 cars in our neighborhood got broken into and the police think it was some of the neighborhood kids. Lucky for us, they weren't interested in identity theft, but just wanted some fast cash. These bad guys are not the smartest and should really concentrate on their school work and not petty theft. They left my cash, but took my cards.

It's actually interesting what they left. They left our brand new DVD players that were in the car and (I'm embarrassed to admit this one!) my car keys. They had the keys to both our cars and OUR HOUSE!! Isn't that crazy! Thankfully our house alarm is on every night and even if they used the keys to open the door, the alarm would have still sounded!

What a day. And it wasn't even 8 am.

Thankfully, we were able to get someone to come out and put a new window in within a couple of hours. And since our accounts were frozen and we had no way to access cash, I was so thankful that I had 2 checks that I hadn't cashed yet that we were able to use to pay the man that fixed our window.

We were able to get on the road by 1 pm! And while we were on the road, I was reminded of how blessed we are in spite of all this drama.

While we were driving here, we saw all these buses, police and even ambulance at our favorite place to stop when we go to or from my mom's house. We realized that it was those same kids from Laredo! Now that, is really sad and breaks my heart. Despite my drama, I still have my babies and my family. Even if the bad guys had taken all my stuff, our cars, or all our worldly belongings - I still have the things that are most important to me, my family. Some moms don't.

I don't know if what CPS in Texas did was right or wrong, but I do know that those moms are in pain without their children. And my heart hurts for those children that have been taken from them. So sad.

Let's not end this on a sad note. Good news - we still got to go to Nana's house, and Luke never got sick again!

The police believe that all this started at 3 am... isn't that weird that that is when Luke first woke up?... Hmmmm........................

I think that I have written more than enough for today, but tomorrow I have to discuss my boys reaction to all this.

So much to say, so little time

I have had all these little witty blogging posts running around in my head, but so little time to pull them out of the abyss and onto the computer. I have a feeling that is going to be the case for the next month or so.

Have you ever had the feeling that the chaos around you is building and at any moment you will lose control? That is the way I feel these days. I am overwhelmed with all the things that there are to do in the next month. I am holding on for dear life, but at any moment the chaos tornado will leave my grasp and... I have no idea what will happen. I've never gotten to that point, but this time I may. There are so many big life changes that it is really hard to process them all.

Last night it occurred to me that today is Lovey's last day of work as a medical student. This has been the most wonderful month yet! He has had 3 three-day-weekends! And is home by 3pm at the very latest. (Why can't he find a job like that?!) It has been delicious. But this is SO not reality and his schedule will never be this good again.

Next year is "the hardest year" according to everyone. Next year he begins his 3 years of residency. And for some reason I keep thinking that after residency, then his schedule will be so great. But I was hit with reality last night that it won't. He hasn't been eligible to deploy over the past 4 years and still won't be for the next 3, but after that... And Emergency Medicine Doctors are among the most deployed. And that is reality.

But, I knew that going into all this. It just seemed like a long time away. But so did the end of med school and it is now here.

So yeah, I'm sad about that and then very stressed out about this trip. Seriously people, 3 days in a car with 4 kids... Not to mention the amount of "stuff" that we need for those aforementioned 4 kids, for 3 weeks of traveling!!! It makes my head spin! And I'm typically NOT an anxious person!! Why am I having all this anxiety?! I'll tell you why. We rode in the car yesterday for 35 minutes (in traffic) with my four sweet babies and by the time that we arrived to our destination, I was exhausted. I seriously believe that my boys are the loudest children on earth. And they are teaching the girls their skills.

The other things that have me all melancholy are the Beauties first birthday and Caleb starting kindergarten. On my way home from the doctors yesterday, I was thinking about the first day that I drop Caleb off at school and started crying. I am so excited for him and feel like our decision about sending him to school is the right one for our family. I think he is going to love it. I'm just sick of everyone growing up. Caleb and I danced in the living room together and he is so big that I didn't carry him while we danced - he actually put one arm around my waist and the other in my hand. Those stinkin' tears are coming again...

Oh, mercy. I've got to get a grip here.

The good news is that I have been dreaming that 1 of my teeth continues to fall out. This is good news because I typically dream that all my teeth are falling out. I heard that when you dream about your teeth falling out it means that you feel like you are losing control. For a control freak, that is not a good feeling.

Maybe I should give up control and then it won't bother me when I lose it...hmmmmm...nah.

Have y'all missed me?....

...or did you even notice I was gone?

Life around here has been b-u-s-y. I mean, it's always busy (helllooo - as if that's not obvious) but this is abnormally busy.

We had a great weekend! I was super productive, and that my friends is what I call a great weekend. Love, on the other hand, does NOT call productivity on the weekend - a good weekend. But he was happy for me.

We are having a garage sale in 2 weeks and I wanted to have everything ready for it now. Especially since the girlie's big birthday bash is the night before the garage sale. I got everything out and priced and ready to sell. And my mama is coming in town and bringing stuff for the garage sale too. We love garage sales!

I had a dentist appt. today and have a cavity. YUCK! I try not to think about that and just concentrate on the fact that my teeth feel all smooth and look shiny. I like denial. It's easy to forget about that yucky cavity when my teeth are so purty!

Luke got bit by a wasp today and although it was traumatizing for the boy, I think it was more traumatizing for Caleb. Caleb was SO upset for his brother. He felt terrible for Luke and sobbed and sobbed. Seeing how much he loves his baby brother actually brought tears to my eyes. Luke is over it (getting a new light saber certainly helped) and Caleb was still tearing up at prayer time tonight. I never knew how compassionate my Caleb was!

And my last bit of random news is very exciting and also a prayer request. I have been asked to be coordinator of a brand new Military MOPS group here at one of the local bases. I am SOOO excited and nervous at the same time. In Minot I was part of a Military MOPS group and since then have been involved with various other groups. I love MOPS and really believe in their ministry. Starting a new group is daunting to say the least. VERY DAUNTING... Please pray.

Our Little Beauties are 11 months old!

In 1 very short month my sweet babies will be 1 year old. I am holding so tightly to them. I am really not ready for them to grow up and when I think about them not being babies anymore, I want to cry. My biggest struggle is learning to appreciate today and not hold so tight that I can't enjoy it. That's hard. I'm trying.

Let just not talk about all that and get down to talking about the Twinkies!

• Ella is crawling and getting really good at it! This is when we work really hard at teaching boundaries!
• Lily Kate can throw down some food! She ate more than her brothers at dinner the other night. Seriously, I made Joseph stop feeding her because I was afraid she was going to get sick from over eating!
• Both girls would prefer to eat what we are eating for dinner instead of baby food. They love table food. Love it!
• They both eat pretty much anything that you put in front of them, but especially love chicken.
• They have finally gotten rid of that early evening nap. They take 2 long naps and then go to bed sometime between 6:30 and 7 pm. They have been waking up later, around 8, lately.
• Lily is so fragile and particular these days. If she doesn't want the particular food you give her or is all done eating, she throws her food on the floor.
• Ella laughs with this great belly laugh, while Lily giggles. So cute!
• Lily Kate gets very, very, very upset if Ella takes a toy from her. Ella doesn't seem to care if one gets taken from her.
• They both respond to their name.
• Caleb can always tell them apart. Luke still can't.
• Ella is getting to be quite a handful when it comes to changing her diaper. She thrashes, wiggles and fusses until you let her go. Drives me crazy!
• They both baby babble quite a bit and there is definitely a different sound to their voices.
• They watch each other a lot these days and will laugh if the other one is getting tickled. or if she hears her sister laugh.
• The only time they seem to get jealous is if one gets the bottle before the other or if one gets picked up out of the crib before the other.
• They love music and Ella tries to sing. You just don't know cute until you have see that!
• Both are getting over their strong dislike of strangers.

People say to me, "Ugh, I would never want twins" or look at the twins and say, "Better you than me" and other silly things, but I was thinking the other day that it is so much fun to have twins! I would never have guessed (or believed it to be true) but it really is a blast! Watching them play together and look for each other and climb over one another and even when they 'tiff over toys - it's so adorable! And those little girlies have brought more joy into our lives than any of us could have realized.

Our little family is so blessed!

Oh, Happy Day!

What a great day it has been! Just one of those days that you want to repeat over and over again because you don't want it to end.

It began the best way - the way that I wish all my days would begin. With Lovey announcing my 6 all time favorite words..."I'm taking the day off today." Whooo-hoooo!! How could my day be bad after that great start?

I had already planned to take the kids to Sea World today and Love offered to keep the babies while I took the boys. It is such a treat for me to get to do something with just the boys. And we had a really good time with our friends and I even got to ride the little Shamu roller coaster with the boys. They enjoyed the treat of getting to hang out with Mommy, doing "big boy" things and most importantly - getting to ride in the stroller and not having to walk.

We came home, had lunch and had a little rest before we were off for our next adventure...a family bike ride! And it was our first one as a family of 6!! Joseph pulled the girls and Luke in the bike trailer and Caleb rode his bike along with me. We rode from our house to a park near our house and then around the trail there. It was so much fun. The girls and Luke just chilled while Caleb talked non-stop to me. Oh, and asked 1,000 questions. How could I forget that?

Saddest part of the ride: Joseph pulled over and told me to come look. I looked inside the bike trailer and saw that the kids (mostly Luke) were covered with mud splatter! Joseph was going off road and riding in the muddy water. Poor kiddo's, got splattered in the process. They didn't even seem to notice or care. I sure did!

After we got home we all had a potty break and then jumped in the car to go to a park we hadn't been to in a long while, where Joseph, the girls and I had dinner while the boys played. Caleb ran into his best buddy from school and was so excited to get to play with him.

Joseph and I came home, put the kids to bed and had a movie night. It was a delicious day!

Run over...

to Shannon's!!! She is giving away $1,000!! I kid you not. $1,000 smack-a-roo's.

You can eliminate me as competition due to my very pathetic haiku writing skills. I'm not much of a writer in general, but my haiku/poetry skills are very, very dismal. Very dismal.

If you happen to win that $1000 bucks you better remember who sent you over there and share the love! In case you need some ideas: I like pretty, bauble-y things that are very sparkly and go bling-bling...

Caped Crusader's

Check out Batman and Robin!! Caleb woke up this morning and decided that he wanted to be - da-nananana-da-nananana-Batman! So, he put his costume on and ran around the house saving the girls and I from...? Then Luke wanted to be Batman too. Well, I couldn't find his Batman costume and he did NOT want to be Robin. Nobody ever wants to be Robin.

I tried all my Mommy manipulations to no avail, both boys wanted to be Batman and the Robin costume barely fit Luke so surely wouldn't fit Caleb. I had to resort to bribing Luke to be Robin. But once he had that Robin costume on, SHABAM! he was looking for the Batmobile! And kept that costume on - for bible study, around the neighborhood and even when we went out for dinner!

When we were at the restaurant tonight, I heard Caleb tell Luke, "Everybody is looking at you because they think you are the real Robin!" Luke got the biggest smile on his face! Those brothers are the cutest, dynamic duo!

Can I get an AMEN?!

(I got this from my friend Susanna today in an email and it made me laugh out loud...a lot! It is so true!! Susanna is AMAZING! She is pregnant with her 7th child, and her oldest is maybe 9? I highlighted her comments in green.)

BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN

1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
6th baby: You can't remember the last time you didn't wear a nursing a bra.
_____________________________________________________
Preparing for the Birth:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.
6th baby: You go ahead and sign up for a private room for baby number 7 before you take the baby home.
______________________________________________________
The Layette:
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?
6th baby: You mean you have to dress a baby?
______________________________________________________
Worries:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.
6th baby: The baby cries for a hour before you realize what that noise is.
______________________________________________________
Pacifier:
1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
6th baby: You just pop it back in.
______________________________________________________
Diapering:
1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
6th baby: You get the older ones to change it when they come tell you it's leaking or it fell off.
_______________________________________________________
Activities:
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, Baby Zoo, Baby Movies and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.
6th baby: You stay home as much as possible because it takes an hour to answer everyone who comments on how many kids you have.
______________________________________________________
Going Out:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.
6th baby: You tell them to call only if death is involved.
______________________________________________________
At Home:
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children
6th baby: You threaten the children with death if they dare disturb you during nap/quiet time.
______________________________________________________
Swallowing Coins (a favorite):
1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays
2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!
6th baby: There are no coins to swallow because they all got spent on groceries!
______________________________________________________
Illness and Accidents:
1st baby: You call the doctor at the first sign of any temp over 98.6. You call your nurse friend immediately if any blood is visible.
2nd baby: You call if the fever lasts more than a day or if there is major blood involved.
3rd baby: You call if the fever last for a week or if the blood won't stop after an hour.
6th baby: You call if the baby passes out. You pull a 2 1/2 inch piece of spaghetti out of the baby's nose from dinner the night before and, after praising God she didn't get it in her lungs and end up with pneumonia because then you'd have to go to the doctor) you call your husband to tell him how cool/gross it was! (This really happened this morning)

It has been a super busy day today! I steam cleaned my carpet, made a grocery list, cleaned out the fridge, did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the boys room and mopped the kitchen floor. And that was all by noon!!

This afternoon a Early Childhood Intervention Specialist came to the house so that I could get all the paperwork filled out for their "play assessment" appointment next week. She was really nice and I'm excited to have them come and watch both girls play. Initially I was put-out by this lady after the following conversation:

ECIS: "So, we'll have a play assessment with the girls and it will take about 3 hours. When would be a good time to come to your house and do this with them?"
ME: "Well, it would be nice to do this while my boys aren't here and they are gone in school on Tuesdays and Thursday. And the girls nap in the morning and afternoon, so maybe some time mid-morning?"
ECIS: "Okay, let me check our schedule and I will call you back."
she calls back and says: "Alright, I have you down for Monday at 1pm."

So much for what would work for me! I was annoyed. But am over it now. And ready for them to give me some ideas to start working with Miss Silly Lily Kate. She is the one that we are worried about. Ella seems just fine to me. But as long as they are here, they might as well watch her too.

What else...

Oh, I was actually surprised that I got as much accomplished this am, as I did since I was up way later than normal last night. I got home late from my Girl's Night Out! We were actually going to have a movie night, but ended up eating ice cream and chatting the night away. I have this amazing group of friends here and I love spending time with them. I'm definitely blessed!!

I woke up this am suddenly realizing that in a little over a month Lovey will be graduating from medical school. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! I can't believe it! We are actually all going to DC for his graduation and are making a vacation out of it. We will be gone for over 3 weeks. That, my friends, is a long time with kids! And what will shock you more is that we are driving!!! I know, we are nuts!

Yeah, we are driving from here to DC (3 days), then to the beach with our amazing friends, then to Sesame Place (Oh, SO much fun!), then to St. Louis, then home. All six of us. In the car. Together. With all the junk that you need to cart 4 kids around with. My stomach is starting to hurt...

I was thinking that we could just rent a UHAUL, and put all our junk and the kids in the back. Oh, you're right...it would be mean to put them back there. I volunteer myself to ride back there. It would be quiet. Hot, but quiet.

First Bike Ride

We had an absolutely fabulous Saturday. I got to do my most second most favorite activity (after scrapbooking) and most of you will never guess what it is...steam cleaning the carpets!! I love it, love it, love it!! If you want me to, I will come over and clean your carpets. I'm not kidding. It would be my pleasure!

While I did the carpets, Joseph worked out and worked on the yard while the boys played with the neighbor kids - all day! Joseph also took the girfriends for their first ever bike ride!!

Look at the little best friends! Aren't they yummy?!

When Joseph got home I asked him if the girls had fun and he said, "They were silent with blank looks one their faces, but they didn't fuss, so I'll take that as a good sign."

And here is what Luke did when he saw what his baby sisters were getting to do:
I love it! He's trying to jump on board!

And look how happy this little boys is when he finallly gets on:

And then this is what he did when his Daddy asked him to go and get his bike helmet on:

D-R-A-M-A!!

Some kids would say, "Sure dad!" And then get their helmet on. Not Luke these days. I have no idea what is going on with that little boy, but his ability to be dramatic is reaching new levels lately. He's been quite difficult. The good news is that he is so adorable and he is super funny kid. And that, my friends, is a very good thing for him these days!

Philanthropy at it's most fascinating...

Click here if you want to be amazed...

I'm glad today is almost over!

At 8:26am this morning, I was exhausted. It is now 1:18pm and I am stick-a-fork-in-me DONE! Even as I am typing, 3 of my 4 children are crying at the same time. *SIGH* I'll be back...

And I'm back. It is now 8:02pm and all is finally quiet at the Mad house. The kids were on a roll today. It didn't help that I woke up feeling crummy. What a day.

Let's just move past today and hope for a happier tomorrow in the Mad house. Let's also discuss a few thing that have been happening around this zoo.

Did I mention that my Mother's of Multiples group had their spring sale last weekend? For the first time I was a seller and I had no idea what to expect. I made $200 and didn't even sell half of the things that I brought. Apparently that is common and the veterans of the sale recommend putting it in a bin and bringing it back next spring. Sounds good to me. We did end up getting a lot of very cute clothes for the girlie's summer wardrobe. (My mom came in town to purchase the kids summer clothes - what a blessing!) They will be stinkin' a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e!!! I can hardly stand it! Their closet is stuffed with the cutest clothes I've ever seen. It seriously is SO much fun shopping for them. There are lots of awesome things about having boys, but shopping for clothing for them is not one of those things.

Caleb had his first lemonade stand today! And he made some serious cash. He was charging $.50 a cup with free refills. Free refills - isn't that cute?!



Here the boys are with their neighbor friend.

Ella is officially all over the place. She's crawling, pulling herself up and getting into naughtiness. I really have to keep my eyes on her. One of her favorite activities is pulling herself up at the back door and talking to Titan. She laughs, squeals, and complains to him.


She also likes to look at her reflection in the glass. That little girls is so cute!

Sweet Lily Kate still isn't rolling over (from her back to stomach) and isn't crawling. Easter Seals is coming out next week and the week after to evaluate her. I am hoping that they will send a pediatric OT who will be able to give me some practical exercises to do with her. Other than her gross motor skills she is fine in every other way. And super cute!

Well, I am tired and off to bed...

Heavenly Perspective

Joseph and I watched Primetime last night and they were telling the story of Randy Pausch. Have you heard of him? I hadn't until recently when I started receiving forwards with a YouTube attachment containing his last lecture. (That last link has the recording of his full hour long lecture.)

Cliff notes: Randy Pausch is a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is married with three small children and in August of 2007, found out that he had 6 months to live due to terminal pancreatic cancer. In September of 2007 he gave his last lecture entitled, "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" that was video taped and has since been seen by millions of people.

Primetime has apparently been following him around for some time and last night aired an hour long special entitled, The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life. It was really amazing to see someone handle their impeding death with such wisdom, grace and humor. Pausch was also very transparent when talking about how hard this is because of his family. Particularly because he has small children. He has such a great perspective on living life to the fullest and appreciating the smallest things in life. His lecture (which is now turned into a book) has affected many people in positive ways and has changed so many people's perspectives on their life.



While watching him last night, I was reminded once again how precious and fragile our life really is. The story was moving, thought provoking and after watching it I was so sad. For many reasons. I was sad for his kids, his wife and for him.

While Pausch had some really amazing insights and words of wisdom (my favorite was when he said that the best advice he had ever received was from a flight attendant: when dealing with your children, put the oxygen mask on your face first) the one thing that he didn't want to comment on was religion. He wanted to keep that private. And that made me sad as well.

I don't know if he has a belief in God and in no way want to judge the man. I have no idea what he and his family are going through and pray that I will never have to find out. I do know that if he does believe in God and has found hope in Christ, then he missed a great opportunity to give that hope to someone else - an eternal hope that will never fail. And if he doesn't believe in God, then all these amazing drops of wisdom are meaningless without faith.

I was reminded that all I do and am, and all that I will be remembered for, is meaningless unless it glorifies God.

If you have a chance to watch his lecture, please do so. It opened up great discussion between Lovey and I. I am thankful that I watched it and prayed specifically for him and his family.

I shouldn't watch the news...

First, let me start this post off by saying that I typically do not have an anxiety problem. As a mama, there are many things that I could worry about, but I find worrying to be futile. I don't have time to do it and if I let my mind worry, I know I would become consumed. I already have enough vices, so I leave worrying to my mom. I do not like to worry!

With that said, I watched the Today Show yesterday and saw a segment that has since had me very worried!! It was on plastics and the different ones that are hazardous to our kids health (and ours too, but I'm not too concerned about mine - just the kids!) Some of you probably already know about this because you are good consumers and pay attention to health warnings. I, on the other hand, truly believe that ignorance is bliss. The less I know, the better because of the whole worrying thingy.



So, after watching this I go to my cupboards to see if we are consuming food or beverage out of the BAD plastics. I was shocked to see that my drinking bottles that I use daily are the BAD #7 and the girls bottles are #7 too!!!! And some of the Luke's sippy cups are too! And all the Tupperware!! This is the point where I panic!



Well, when things are brought to my attention (and this was at the forefront!) I must investigate them. First step (and usually last step) is to...ask Joseph. Normally when I bring these things up to him he says, "Brina, that study was based on a.............(there is all these big words and scientific mumbo jumbo).............. (and them some more cited studies)........(I'm falling asleep at this point)................... (and some more scientific junk)....(trying hard to pay attention)..... so you see, there is nothing to worry about."



This time, however, Joseph says, "Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. There isn't enough scientific evidence yet. If you want to throw it all away, then go ahead." WHAT?! Where is the reassurance that the media is blowing this out of proportion? Now I was very, very worried!



I guess the Today Show had lots of response to their segment yesterday because they ran another one today. Here it is below if you want to watch it. (It's only about 5 min. long)




After watching this one I went to the cupboards and threw all plastics numbered 3, 6, or 7 in the recycle bin. And then I did some research. I was so thankful to find out that the girl's bottles are safe! And we are off tonight to find some replacement BPA-free drinking bottles for Lovey and I.



This is going to be expensive, but worth it so that there will be no more worrying!

We like to save on water

So the results are in!! I'm not sure who you every night bathers are, but I would love to know how many kids you have. Just curious. And Joseph "loves" (his word and strong for him) you people that only bathe your kids when they are dirty. He'd like to see more of you out there! His kind of people.

There is a discussion that we have often in this house and it goes something like this:

The Bath Advocate: "The kids need a bath tonight."
The Bath Opponent: "We just gave them a bath last night."
The Bath Advocate: "No, we gave them a bath 3 nights ago."
The Bath Opponent: "And you think they need one tonight?"

People, he says this in all seriousness! Never mind that Ella has food stuck in her hair, Lily Kate's fingers are stuck together with who-knows-what and the boys have all but rolled in the mud!

Now, you may be thinking, "Well, if she wants them to have a bath, then why doesn't she give them one?" And I am sure that Hubba thinks that every night. Every night. The truth of the matter is that bath time is not my thing. Never has been.

When Caleb was born, Joseph gave baths and I'm not sure how we decided that, but that was just the way it was. And Caleb got a bath every night. Once Luke was born, Joseph decided that it was better for their skin to give them a bath every other night. Actually it started out "I'm going to give him a bath every night, but use soap every other night." Somewhere that morphed into a bath every other night. Then somewhere along the line (maybe when the girls were born) it became that they got a bath when "they were dirty".

They are boys...they are always dirty!

I love that Hubba gives the baths at night. This is SO sad to admit, but last year when Joseph left for 6 weeks, was the first time I had given Luke a bath and I could count on one hand how many baths I had given Caleb up until that point! I had to call Joseph to ask him how he does the hair washing with Luke. Caleb was 4 and Luke was 2!! The bath has always been his job. And I guess that I should be thankful that he does it. No matter how (in)frequently.

Joseph and I have had the "discussion" many times as to how often people bathe their kids. Haven't y'all ever been curious? Well, I thank all y'all for participating in my little 'ole poll. You have definitely helped to settle a "discussion" that Hubba and I were having on bath time. Who would have known that this blog could be as good as marriage counseling for the Love and I?!

Works for Me Wednesday

There are many times in a mom's life where she just needs "5 minutes" to get something done. I always find myself saying, "Just give me 5 more minutes and then I will..." Meanwhile that sweet child follows me around driving me crazy begging me to do...whatever. Or how about those days that you need to clean, write a note to a friend, make a phone call, change the sheets on a bed, clean out the fridge, make a grocery list or just go to the bathroom - and the natives are wanting attention because they are bored. Well, do I have an idea for you!!!

I have this kids craft bin:

...and in it are all sorts of fun, crafty things for the kids that keep them busy for hours. When I am at Walmart, Michael's, or (my most favorite store in the whole wide world!!!) Hobby Lobby I always check out their clearance section in the craft department and find all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. Googly eyes, feathers, stickers, paper, pens/markers, craft kits, beads, you name it and the kids love it. Love it! I put all my finds in their craft bin and on the days that I need them to be occupied, I put a plastic table cloth on the table and let them go wild. They are allowed to use anything they want, in whatever manner they want, in that particular bin. (Side note: I do not have paint in their craft bin. They are still too little and need supervision, so that is kept in another bin in our craft closet...oh, yes - you heard correctly CRAFT CLOSET!) It stays fresh and new to them since I am always adding (and trashing) things on a regular basis.

Seriously, this keeps my kids busy for hours. And I love it because I can get something done and don't have to park my kids in front of the TV or feel bad for ignoring them for a few minutes! You can make your bins age appropriate and even have different bins for each kid if you wanted to. That would just be one more thing for mine to fight over and then there would go that peaceful time I need for getting things done.

Works for me, Baby! For more ideas, head on over to Rocks in my Dryer!

A little inspiration

I needed a little pick-me-up while I was running on the treadmill today and found just what I needed on my ipod...



I was even able to muster up the energy to sing this song while running! Titan Dog Mad didn't appreciate my singing interrupting his slumber... Lazy dog!

(oh yeah, and to hear it you will have to pause my music on the right)

It's my special day!

Today is my adoption birthday! 31 years ago today my mom and dad picked me up from an orphanage and brought me home. I was a little less then 3 months old, so don't remember anything other than the stories that my mom and dad still tell me.

I never remember being told that I was adopted, I just always knew. One of my earliest memories is being told that I was special because I was born into my mom's heart (told to me by my mama with lots of tears and adoration - and still is told to me often by her!). Another early memory I have, of the whole adoption thing, is a book that they used to read to me about a little girl who was adopted and how much her parents love her. She was cute, went to the zoo and got ice cream. Seemed good to me! My adoption has always been a positive thing and I thank my parents for handling it so well and giving me nothing but good memories about it.

Every year, from as far back as I can remember, we have celebrated my "Adoption Birthday" the same as if it were my actual birthday. That was super cool as a kid to have 2 birthday's and get gifts twice.

I have never been bothered by the fact that I am the only one in my family that is adopted. We never made it a secret, but I wasn't ever treated any less by anyone in my family or made to feel like I wasn't any more important than my siblings. I thought it was cool that I was adopted. And that was really the only thoughts that I have had about it until I got pregnant with Caleb.

I distinctly remember the first time that I felt him move. Prior to that I'm not sure that the pregnancy felt real. But once he kicked me, I immediately fell in love with that child. He was real, mine and I loved him so much. After feeling those thoughts, my next thought was about my birth mom. How amazing she must have been to carry me in her belly, feel me move and love me enough to want something more for me. Joseph held me that night as I cried tears for my birth mom. You can't carry someone in your womb and not become attached to that little being. And then to have to part ways with them and never know what happened - I just can't imagine anything more difficult. And that broke my heart for her. It was the first time I had thought about it from her point of view and the first time I had considered how hard that must have been for her.

I don't know anything about her and have never tried to find any information. Occasionally I think about it, but you just never know about those kind of things. She may have moved on and doesn't want to go back to that place in her life. Maybe she's married and her new husband knows nothing about the adoption. It's funny, when I was little I would sometimes think about it and wonder if maybe she was a queen somewhere and lived in a palace. Maybe... But probably not.

The one thing about my adoption that bothers me is that I don't know much about my nationality or any hereditary issues. And when I was a kid, although people always said I looked like my mom or brother, I always wanted to have someone that was blood related to me and looked like me. And after I had Luke, I saw lots of me (from my baby pictures) in that kid. That was super fun! To finally have people in my life that were blood related to me was an interesting feeling. An exciting feeling. A 'full circle' moment.

Lovey dislikes my adoption birthday. Okay, he doesn't dislike - he's jealous. Very jealous. He wants presents. Too bad, so sad, I tell him. You are not adopted! And after 7 years, one would think that he would remember when it is, but they would be wrong. He never remembers. This year was no exception. And instead of knowing that he would forget, then waiting all day (knowing that he has forgotten!) and then being mad because he forgot my special day - I just decided not to play the game this year and I reminded him last night. Yeah, I figure year 7 is the year that we I stop playing those games. (Lovey will be thrilled to read that!) Of course last night when I told him, he had forgotten and was glad that I reminded him.

Today he got off work before noon and came home with a very fun surprise:

It is the ring that I have been wanting for a long time!! It's called the 'Mother's Love Ring' and it is made by my favorite jeweler! In my little world, this gift makes up for the last 6 years of forgetting.

Lovey also had the boys sign my card and it was fun talking to them about my adoption. Caleb knows I'm adopted and I have explained what that means to him. Today, though, I also reminded him that he is adopted too! I asked him if he knew how to be adopted in God's family. It opened up a great dialogue for Joseph and I to have with Caleb about God's love for him. Then Luke was so cute - he said he wanted to be adopted by God too!! Love it!!

Our big theological moment was abruptly ended when the boys decided it was time to play "Goldfish" (Go Fish)! A great ending to my special day!


Side note: When I was a kid, my brother used to try to make me mad by telling me that mom and dad weren't my real mom and dad and that nobody wanted me and that's why they gave me away. I would retort back, that at least mom got to choose me...she got stuck with him. Oh, brothers...

It's poll time!

I am exhausted. And I'll tell y'all all about it later. For now I want to discuss something. I need some honesty from you people and since I know many of you like to stay covert while reading my blog I am allowing you to be honest under the umbrella of anonymity.



Take a peek at my poll and please participate. We will discuss the reason why I am asking, as well as the results, when I have a coherent thought.

Oh, the things people say

I love the expression on some people's face when they see my and my little lovies coming. I have seen it all...shock, joy, humor, disgust, annoyance and much more. I've also heard all the little quips...

• "2 sets of twins?" (nope, the boy that is a head taller is five and the other one is 3)
• "You sure have your hands full!" (my hands are full and so is my heart!)
• "Are they twins?" (oh, you mean the 2 babies that are dressed exactly alike, have matching car seats and look alike - yeah, they're twins)
• "2 boys and 2 girls, now you're done." (thank you for that determination.)

But my favorite and I mean absolute favorite is... "Are they all yours?" This one is my favorite because it is usually said when the boys are running circles around me or disobeying. Case in point: I had to go to Walmart this morning before I took the boys to school...

(Before I start that story, I must clarify something first. I am not a morning person. I mean, I am happy in the morning, but unless I went to bed at 8pm, don't wake me up at 5 am and expect me to start my day. I require roughly 9 hours and 1 minute of sleep. Please do not awaken me until I have had that 9 hours and 1 minute. For both our sakes. Also I am rarely out of the house before 10am unless it is to take the boys to school. It is too hard to get all of us moving!)

...I didn't want to go, but had to go. So I tell the boys that we are going to be fast and since there wouldn't be that many people in Walmart, they could run ahead of me. And because they are obedient, run they did. Through the whole store with gusto, speed and noise. So by the time we get to the checkout counter, they are excited (translated: wild). The checkout lady glances up when she hears us coming, then does a double take and stares at us until we are in front of her.

And then says (oh, this is my favorite!!!!) "Wow, are they all yours?" Seriously. Are you serious? Why in the world would I want to bring 4 children, some not mine, to the store at 8 am?

The best was when this lady asked me that twice in Office Max. Luke was totally out of hand and all I was trying to do was buy some paper and ink for the printer. As the boys are fighting, girls fussing and Luke laying on the floor she says, "Are they all yours?" "No, I called a couple of my friends and asked them if their kids were really wild and disobedient because I wanted to take them to Office Max if they were."

Joseph says that I take these things way too seriously and should just ignore the comments. Smile and be gracious...2 more things that I'm not that good at. Good thing God is giving me lots of practice.

Color me Crazy!

So I was at my neighbors house the other day and she was asking me all these questions about Joseph and I. She began the questions with, "I can't imagine you and Joseph dating. What was that like? And how did he propose? And how did you end up together in the first place?"

You see, she finds my husband to be an enigma of sorts. She can't quite figure him out. Most people can't. And she can't quite figure out how we ended up together because we are SO different. I have told you before, but please allow me to reiterate:

• He has never met a rule that he didn't love. Loves them. He's Mister Rule follower, safety first, the-law-was-put-there-for-a-reason-and-even-though-I-don't-know-the-reason-I-must-obey. I have met very few rules that, I thought, should not be broken.
• I hate silence. _____(pause)______ Okay, yeah, that drives me crazy. I especially hate awkward silence. The Love thinks silence really is golden. Poor man doesn't get much gold living with me!
• Back to the whole safety first/ loves rules thing, Joseph slows down if he anticipates that a light will turn yellow. Yellow, not red! I have the pedal to the metal hoping that I don't have to make any yellow light decisions. Oh, and Joseph never speeds. I'm always in a hurry.
• When I hang a picture in my house, I grab a hammer and nail, take a look around, eyeball the distance and put a hole in the wall. Joseph grabs a leveler, does some mathematical equations, checks earth's gravitational pull, finds a pencil, makes a mark and puts a hole in the wall.
• I have a flair for drama. Joseph thinks drama should be kept on a stage.
• Joseph is an eternal optimist and looks for the best in everyone. He always has a full glass, given to him by a good person. My glass is not only empty, I am looking for the person that drank that last drop.
• Joseph likes to consider himself like a waffle. Compartmentalized, coherent, methodical, systematic, orderly - when he speaks/thinks it is done methodically and with intent. He considers me to be spaghetti - there is no beginning or end in my thoughts, they are all jumbled together and it takes a long time for him to sort out what I am talking about.

Yeah, I could give you about 100 pages worth on how different Love and I are, but I won't. (There is another one! Joseph gets to the point and I, on the other hand, take the long route.) And there have been more than a few people that have wondered how we ended up together. But here is the secret about us. Joseph cracks me up! (I told this to my neighbor and she skeptically said, "Does he mean to be funny?" That made me laugh!) But he really can be quite funny and makes me laugh. Never mind that it is usually because he is making fun of me...

In any case, I am thankful that my man and I did end up together and even that we are so different. It spices things up a bit. Lovey didn't have a lot of spice in his life before me and now he's got more than he knows what to do with! He's sweet. He always says, "Before I met you my life was so black and white. You add the color." This is the point where we all say, "Awwwwwwwww!"

Light at the end of the tunnel

Bad news - the breast are full. Full of...I have no idea what but whatever it is, it's painful!! If you seriously cannot stand to read another word about this melodrama I don't blame you please move on....

So last night was the worst. For the past 4 days I have been in agony. Painful agony. I have tried cabbage, multiple sports bras (at the same time!), ice, pumping, hot showers, not facing the water in hot showers and nothing is working.

Lovey keeps telling me that I am just engorged and it will go away on it's own. I remind him that he has never had engorged breasts, so he has no idea how it feels. And I need sympathy...not a flippant "Oh, you're fine." Humph.... Besides all that, out of the (almost) 7 years that we have been married I have nursed a baby (or 2!) for close to 3 of them and I know what engorged feels like. This is way worse than that!! Way worse.

So I awoke him at midnight crying and in pain. And after we had a few "words" (okay, maybe I was the one having words while he was looking sleepy, dazed and confused) he decided to give me lots of sympathy and some antibiotics. I told you he was a smart man!

And today I feel better. And while this has been painful for me, I'm sure hearing about it has been painful for you!! Don't worry, I have a feeling this might soon be over for all of us!!

What do you think?!

What do you think of the new look? Isn't it fabulous!!

Sarah, over at Real Life Design, gave my little 'ole blog some pizazz! Didn't she do an awesome job?! I have been wanting (and desperately needing) a new look and for Valentine's Day Joseph told me that he wanted to get me a new design. It took me a while to get it together and I'm not sure how, but I stumbled upon Sarah's blog and loved her designs. And now you see why!

My bloggy has a makeover and now I feel like I need one to go with it!

I can't figure out why anyone reads this blog!

So something funny happened to me the other day...

I have been thinking about this friend (that I hadn't spoken with in a long time) quite a bit over the past couple of years but had lost touch with her and had no idea how to find her. After some super, stealth-like, sleuth techniques (that have since made me think that I should become a detective, but then I remembered that I would have to bring my 4 baby lovies and they are anything BUT stealth!) I found her! After some chatting she confessed that she has been reading my blog for some time now and just didn't know how to get in touch with me!!!

I was shocked! People that I know, but I don't know that they are reading my blog, are reading my blog. Shocked I tell you!! So, I decided that I need to add a little "contact" button or something so that those of you that know me, but are lurking around can come out in the light! I first have to figure out how to add that button. Which brings me to my next point...

Something very exciting is happening at ROofO. Very exciting. But I can't tell you yet. Soon, very soon.

And something super exciting is happening right now, even as I type... My house is being cleaned by our new house cleaners!!! They did their initial cleaning two weeks ago and I was super happy with the job they did. And I am hard to please. Very hard. We have actually gone through 2 other cleaning crews before I found these guys. And they passed the test with flying colors!

So here I am, blogging away while my girlies are napping, my boys are in school and someone is cleaning my toilets! The only thing that would make this better is if I was a size 6 and could eat anything I wanted a venti-iced-decaf-2%-xvanilla-xcaramel-blended-Caramel Macchiato!

Not so typical day

Hey there, Sabrina, what are you doing today?

Oh, thanks for asking. Actually it's kinda a lazy, rainy day with sick kids. I think I'm going to lounge around all day, with my 2 sports bras on that are stuffed with cabbage, and maybe watch some Lifetime. Kinda a boring day... what are you up to?

Show me your glory

I love being a mama. It's funny, I was telling a friend a couple of weeks ago that I never had dreams of getting married and becoming a mom. I have friends, who from the time they could remember, dreamed of what their wedding would look like, how many kids they would have and loved the whole idea of growing up to fulfill those dreams.

That was not the case with me. I never really thought about having kids and definitely had no plans on marrying. I wanted to be a missionary and travel the world. Kids & marriage were not in the plans. Full time ministry was.

But, isn't it funny how God's plan for our life can be so different from the ones that we have? Never in a million years would I have believed that I would have 4 gorgeous kids and an awesome, loving husband in the military. This amazing life that I lead now is more surprising than anything I could have dreamed! More surprising and so much more incredible.

And while I love my life and feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with my babies, I still have dreams of ministry. Today I finished my training at a local crisis pregnancy center and am now qualified to be a volunteer counselor. Teen pregnancy is something that is very close to my heart and being a counselor at a crisis pregnancy center is something that I have been wanting to do for years.

I'm not really sure how this is going to fit into my life right now. While Lovey is graduating from med. school in less than 2 months, his hours are not going to be getting any better. In fact, his first year of residency will be the worst hours yet. With that said, I feel like God was calling me to this training and I stepped out in faith and did it. And now I have no idea what will come of it.

Last week, at our church's Easter egg hunt, my Pastor approached me about starting up a MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) group at our church. Again, MOPS is another ministry that is super close to my heart and one that I have been involved with for the past 5 years. I would love to see more MOPS groups in our area, but once again I have no idea how I would fit that in my life. But, I'm willing to step out in faith if God calls me.

Many moms believe that while our children are young they are our main ministry. And while I agree with that, for me personally, I also feel called to other ministry outside of my family. But I'm also very aware that I need to be realistic in how much I can do without stressing us all out and without missing these sweet moments in my babies lives.

Joseph is incredible supportive of all of this. I left for my training this morning at 9am and didn't get home until after 5pm. When I got home he had the house looking immaculate, the kids were all happy, the table was set and dinner was in the oven. He always says that he feels like one of the ways that he serves God is by helping me with all my different ministries. We have a ladies bible study at our house every other week and the night before our study Joseph helps me get ready, straightens up the house and has even been known to clean the bathroom for the ladies coming over. He's excited for the opportunities I have to love on others and is willing to support me in whatever way he can.

There are lots of good things, but what I need to figure out is what is God's best for my life? Our Pastor recently encouraged us to pray Exodus 33:18 for our lives. I did. And I can't wait to see what happens!



"Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.'"
Exodus 33:18

Who's On First..

I had this conversation with Luke yesterday and every time I think about it I laugh!

L: Mama, what does 'what' mean?
M: It means, 'what, I didn't hear you?'
L: Um, Mama, what does 'what' mean?
M: It's like, 'what did you say?'
L: What does 'what' mean?
M: Luke, it's like 'what did you say?'
L: What does 'what' mean?
M: Luke, what means, 'huh?'
L: Oh. (and proceeds to give me a big kiss, then walks away)

While we are on the subject of boobies...

Oh, we weren't? Well we are now...

I was under the assumption that by now my nursing drama would be a thing of the past by now. How wrong was I! While I am over the worst part, I am still very tender and somewhat engorged and (drum roll please) still leaking! What the heck?! It has been over a week and a half! I didn't nurse on demand, I nursed on a pretty strict schedule, so it's not like I was producing mass amounts 24/7. The worst part is that I still can't sleep on my stomach - my position of preference.

The girls are doing great with the whole thing. They have their last bottle at 6:30pm, go down for bed at 6:45 and sleep until 7:45am. They haven't seemed to really care about the bottle.

And, I have to admit that the whole bottle thing is WAY easier (aside from making sure that there are enough clean bottles) When I am short on time, I can put them in their little chairs and run all over the house like a tornado getting things done. It really has opened up my time significantly.

Now I just wish that I could go back to my old bra's without the muffin top...

Who do you follow?

Two quick confessions to get out of the way:

1. Joseph thinks that Oprah is the Antichrist. He has said it time and time again, and I'm pretty sure that there have been many times that he has said it and not been in jest.
2. Oprah is a show that I occasionally watch. With that said, I am not faithful about watching every show. I am actually quite picky about which shows I watch. But, I have to admit - she is on my DVR.

Alrighty, now that we have that out of the way, I am quite perturbed about her newest...endeavor. She is hosting a live webinar on Monday nights for the latest book in her book club entitled, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Here is the Reader's Digest version: Written by Eckhart Tolle, a New Age, spiritual teacher, who writes about a need for heightened awareness of the present and asserts that we must abandon ego as a means to that awakened state of living. A New Earth, unapologetically, gets its title from the verse in Revelation referring to the coming of “a new heaven and a new earth.” But (the plot thickens!), according to Tolle, there is a twist. For Tolle, “heaven” is merely the awakened state that will bring about “a new earth” in the outer world, which he calls, the world of form. Get it? Me either.

Oprah is known for her New Age-y, spiritual, all-roads-lead-to-heaven, we-are-all-good-people, there-are-many-ways-but-the-same-God, rhetoric. So why does this bother you, you ask? Because now she is not just endorsing, she is discipling. That, makes me nervous. Very nervous.

I think there are so many...good Christians. They love God, they're good people, they try to live by the Golden Rule and treat people how they would want to be treated. I don't say this mockingly, but sadly. I am sad that they don't know the Truth. And because they haven't encountered Him, they blindly follow and drink Kool Aid. Yep, that makes me sad.

So, what do I do? Boycott? That seems to be the course of action for Christians when they don't like something - Starbucks, The Golden Compass, Disney...the list goes on. Or whine about it on my blog (check) or... I don't know. What I do know is that the report on Oprah’s website was that 500,000 people were logged in simultaneously, making it the largest single event in the history of the Internet. Oprah has reported on her show that people from 139 countries had registered for the course. I know that's a lot of people drinking Kool Aid. And I know that I need to be educated and know why I believe what I believe.

What do you know?

ps. I found this website...interesting.

Works for Me - Free Rice

From 1pm-3pm every day is 'Sabrina Time' here in the Mad House. The girls are in nap time, Luke is in nap/rest time and Caleb is in quiet time. This has been the case for almost 6 years now and will be the case for many to come. I adore my children, but need some time during the day to relax, rejuvenate and refresh...oh yeah and do housework, clean, scrapbook, fold laundry, watch my DVR shows, talk on the phone, blog, surf the net...the list goes on. And now I have a new source of entertainment to add that already-out-of-control list.

A friend of mine recently told me about this website called Free Rice. It's this cool website where for every vocabulary question you answer right, 20 grains of rice is donated and then distributed by the United Nations World Food Program. It's a pretty cool site!

My friend is a homeschool mom and uses it as a vocab tool for her kids and says that they love vocab now! They, apparently, get very excited to watch their bowl of rice accumulate. I must agree, it is fun and I'm addicted!

Ending poverty Works for Me. For more ideas head over to Shannon's.

For the love of Lego's!

Joseph's mom is amazing. That woman has kept so many great memento's from his childhood. We got 2 boxes of Lego's in the mail the other day. Getting the Lego's was exciting because the boys love Lego's and we don't have very many since they are so expensive. But the most exciting part was that they were the Lego's that Joseph played with when he was a boy! Isn't that so fun! The kids actually have lots of toys that belonged to their Daddy when he was a boy. That's just so cool to me...



Above is a picture of Caleb, thrilled with all his Lego's and a picture that Caleb took of the spaceship he built.

Love and I have both been quite surprised at how much Luke loves Lego's. For some reason it doesn't seem like a wild enough activity to entertain that wild child. But he really likes them. A lot. And he's driving me crazy with them. He is still too little, so can't maneuver them as well as he would like and gets so frustrated that he throws the Lego's against the wall. At 6:45 am. UGH! He really is driving me crazy with the Lego's. Very, very crazy. If this continues, I may have to ban him from them...I'm already crazy and don't need to be driven further into the abyss!

He is Risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

Caleb loved saying that yesterday. And I loved hearing it from his little mouth!

We made Resurrection Eggs together last year and I was shocked, when we got them out this year, at how much Caleb remembered. It was really amazing to open each egg with the boys and hear Caleb explain, by memory, the meaning of each item inside the egg. I think Joseph and I were both impressed with how much Caleb remembers and has learned over the past year. We talk through lots of things to the kids, read the bible with them and try to use the opportunities that arise to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And I love how it is reinforced at their little school and at our church. They are learning about Jesus love for them and I love it!

My favorite thing that Caleb said, when explaining what the Ritz cracker represented was, "the bread is for his body and the wine is for his blood that he gave for our sins." Joseph and I were both just shocked and excited that he put all that together!

He is risen indeed!!

At church yesterday we sang, The Wonderful Cross by Chris Tomlin and I cried as I sang the words to that beautiful song. It's an adaptation from When I Survey the Wondrous Cross which was originally written by Issac Watts. The original hymn is gorgeous and Chris Tomlin does a great job too. Check out the powerful words to this song...

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did ever such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross

Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross

All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!!

EGGstravaganza

These are some pictures of the Easter EGGstravaganza that we had at our house yesterday. We had some friends over for dinner, a hunt and some easter egg dying. We had a fabulous time!

Caleb and Luke love their friend, Rayna!

All the kids eating. This was an odd event for our group. Normally the kids outnumber the adults, but this time there were only 6 kids. 5 of them are 3 or under.
The Daddy's hid the eggs while the Mama's kept the kids inside. Lovey got a little creative for Caleb!
Luke showing off all his eggs.

Another tricky one for Caleb to find!

Nate and Lauren!

The little Queen!

The Lee Family...another one is one the way!

The "best buddies" eating their loot!!

All the kids with their loot

This is what the girls did during the easter egg dying!

Ella is ever-so-lady-like!

I love the flirty eyes that Lily Kate is making Nate!