Had a bad week!

Do you ever have one of those weeks where EVERYTHING goes wrong? Yes I said, week and yes I mean EVERYTHING! Let me take you back a bit....

Last Thursday November 5th
Before I begin this story I need to give a little background. Alexis is our youngest, she is 7 years old and full of energy! Last year she took gymnastics and LOVED it. She was asked to be part of their team that competes but we opted not to do it because I did not want to commit to gymnastics over the summer time. I promised that we would start recreational gymnastics just as soon as school started and we were more into routine again. So school started in August and last Thursday, November 5th was Lexi's first day back to gymnastics. So I was a little off with the dates but, none the less, she was going back!
So, Thursday afternoon Lexi comes home, puts on her leotard and starts checking the clock. 3 hours to gymnastics. Go eat a snack and play outside, 2 and a half hours until gymnastics. Run around a bit, 2 hours 20min until gymnastics. I mean literally this girl was soooo excited. So, the time finally came and we were ready to go. Lexi and I, along with Ethan hop into the car and start off. Literally 2min away from the gym and our Suburban dies. I mean dead, dead, not going anywhere for a while. Could not get it started so I called a friend to come get us and take us back home. Lexi walks in the door at home, runs to Stephanie and starts bawling! Poor baby, I could have cared less about the stupid truck, Lexi was sooo disappointed. All that build up and then she had to miss gymnastics! Bummer!

Friday November 6
Got all the kids to school via some sweet sweet friends of mine and resigned to staying in for the day. What else is a mom to do but get some laundry done. Got one load done and into the drier, throw in the next load. After the first load was done and dry I emptied it out onto the floor and transferred the wet clothes into the drier. I then sat down to begin sorting and folding the clean clothes. I get to the bottom of the pile of the dry clothes and two of the tops are wet. Hmmm, that is odd, I thought to myself, but maybe I just dropped something as I was transferring the wet clothes into the drier. Throw those clothes into the drier and start to work on socks. All of a sudden my pants start feeling wet, this is when I thought, "what on earth is going on in here". Then I looked behind me and noticed the pool of water coming from underneath my washer machine! GREAT! Quick call to the hubby and all water is shut off to the washer. Have to call my sweet friend and ask if I can finish my laundry at her house!

Midnight November 6/7
Pickup Jason at the airport! Poor guy has to fix the truck and the washer machine over the weekend but he can do it! ;-)

Saturday November 7
Get up and fix breakfast then do the dishes. Go under the kitchen sink to get some detergent and low and behold the pipes are leaking under the sink! For crying out loud! I was starting to freak out at this point.
Next Stephanie goes outside to feed the dogs and our Black dog is not moving. She is breathing but stiff as a board! GREAT, not the dog is dieing too!
Grrrrr!

~ Now, to make a long story short let me sum up some of these disasters for you.

1)Kitchen sink just had a pipe that needed to be tightened, Jason got that done EASY

2)The weather got warm and the black dog started moving again. We have diagnosed our own dog and think she is getting old and might have arthritis. We now give the dog Glucosamine pills every day and so far she is doing better.

3) There was broken hose on the back of the washer so Jason and Ethan ran to Lowe's and got new hoses. Ran a load of laundry, all looked fixed. Then, one load later we notice water again! OYE! Jason looks into repairing it but knowing that he still has a truck to fix too. Decides we need to go Washer Machine shopping.

4) Jason spends all day and night on the Green Suburban. Decides to change his ticket to Tuesday and spend more day trying to get the truck back together. Can't get the truck figured out in time but decides the kids and I can make it with the Blue Mercedes for the week and he will come back home the next weekend to get the truck fixed!

So, now we are to Tuesday morning November 10
Jason and I get up at 4 in the morning to take him to the airport. We are both tired but get up and head out. Half way to the airport I realize that I forgot to grab my purse. Dang it, no license on me. What can we do now, oh well. Get to the airport and go to the back of the car to hug and kiss goodbye. Just as we meet at the back of the car Jason notices that the tail lights are not working on the Mercedes at all. Jason kicks the tail lights, still nothing! Poor guy is so freaking frustrated at this point. Tells me to try the brakes, those lights work but still no tail lights. I assure Jason I can get back home, we will be fine but now he is just upset! He tells me to wait in the car and goes into the airport. He cancels his flight and tells me he is driving me home! Hubby can't go back to AR and work leaving me and 4 kids with no reliable vehicle!

Tuesday November 10, Afternoon
Decided to go car shopping. Did not find much in our little town so Jason comes back home to work on the truck. While he is working on the truck he tells me to start searching for new vehicles online. I find a GREAT deal on a Suburban at a dealership about 45min away. Decide that we need to go look at it and get things taken car of so we can make the drive. Long story short...we bought a new Suburban! Jason changes his flight AGAIN and decides not to head back until Thursday the 12.

Tuesday evening
Fun times begin again! Kids LOVE the new truck and all the new little bells and whistles that the old 1999 Suburban just didn't have.
Do a few loads in the new washer that also has a "glass" top and the kids are sooo entertained I'm thinking about canceling the cable!

Wednesday
Took the kids to school and spent a day at home with the hubby, not worrying about anything. New Washer, New Vehicle, a dog that is mending, and a sink that has no leaks! Life is back to good....at least until Thursday morning when I had to take my baby back to the airport! At least my baby doesn't have to worry about us now! Oh and guess what?
Lexi made it to gymnastics on Thursday the 12th and she absolutely LOVED IT! :-)

Dinners

Every Sunday night or Monday morning I sit down and ponder what I am going to make for dinner this week. I always make a list and I always write it out according to the days. What that means is, I write out Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, ect...and then put a meal under it with all sides. I once thought I could keep these little papers and reuse them another time but when I started doing that I found that it never worked out because I wasn't in the mood for the same things come another particular week. So, I just make new ones every week and I am fine with that. Here is what I am planning for this week:
Monday: Sloppy Joes and Fruit Cocktail
Tuesday: BBQ chicken, baked beans, and Peas
Wednesday: Hamburgers in Puff Pastry, Salad, and Jello
Thursday: Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes, and Carrotts
Friday: ALWAYS PIZZA AND A MOVIE NIGHT! :-)
Saturday: Chicken Marsala, Wild Rice, and some sort of squash (to be determined in the produce aisle)
Sunday: Shish-Kabobs with meat, veggies and then served with Saffron Rice
Should be a good dinner week and the only meal I think the kids will complain about is my Salisbury steak but that's only because the little ones don't like mushrooms. They can just pick them off and I'm sure they will be happy!
What are you making this week?

Happy Halloween

Every year I type the same thing at Halloween...I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I haven't always LOVED it the way I do now but I swear we have the best neighborhood EVER! This year I bought 100 glow in the dark necklaces along with 4 bags of candy. About 8pm, I was completely out! I couldn't believe I had run out, I've never run out before. I ended up going into the house and giving away rice krispy treats because I hated turning out my light when there were still kiddos out there! We get over 100 kids each year and that is what makes it so much fun! A lot of the kids I know from being up the school so much and I just love seeing them all dressed up and excited to be getting candy!
This year my teenager Stephanie deserted her post as candy helper and went to friends house instead. Such is the life when you are a teenager! Friends are more important than mom, go figure! Oh well, we still had a great year and Jason was home to take the younger three trick or treating this year too!
Here are a few photos from carving pumpkins and the kids all dressed up and ready to go out trick or treating! :-)

Why

Why oh why is it so hard to keep updated on this blog? When I first started I couldn't wait to sit down and post little tidbits and "glimpses into our lives" (as I so tagged in my profile). Now I think about blogging but never take the time to sit down and write it out.
Yet, I still LOVE to check my friends blogs and see what they are up to! Just the other day my sister asked me, "are you ever going to update your blog again?" I guess that means I have been slacking. But in my defense I have been a very busy person since my last post on September 2 of 2009. Here are just a few highlights:

September 12: Nicholas had an accident that landed him in the ER
The next week he stayed home from school and I got to play mommy/nurse

October 4: Jasons 29th Birthday :-)

October 11: Nicholas's 9th Birthday

October 21: Drove up to Chicago all by myself with 4 kiddos

October 24: My older sister Kim got married! Yay!

October 26: Drove back to Savannah with all 4 kiddos

So when I write it out it doesn't look like much but between all those things were the normal, Dr. Apptointments, Dentist Appointments, cleaning, packing. laundry, dinner, homework, phone calls with Jason, Celebrations for the Birthdays, Wedding planning, Bedtimes, Baths to be had, Teacher conferences, grocery shopping, and snuggle time/tucking kids into bed each night! Phew! So you see, I have been busy. But I have loved every single minute of it! Even the 4 days in the car with 4 kids...they were AWESOME!
Okay, now I will post a few pics to update everyone and then I will TRY to be more faithful! Thanks for checking in on me! :-)

Easily Entertained...

We live in the South

While waiting to drop off Stephanie at High School today I noticed this truck in the parking lot (see left)

Notice the two big antenas from the back of the truck? Then we have the lovely rebel flag (sort of crumpled but it was still there) If you look really close there are two bumper stickers on the back of the truck those also have the rebel flag on them. Finally we have the mud all over the base of the truck because apparently this person has gone mud bogging (as we call it here in these parts).
Yeah, I would say that about sums it up!
Southern truck in the Southern state of GA! Wouldn't see this one up in Chicago! Ha-ha!

I got an idea...with a little help from Ethan's Drama class! :-)

Ethan came home from school today and I noticed a paper plate in his bag. I asked him why there was a plate in his bag and he said, "oh it's for drama". Upon taking a closer look at this plate I noticed that there were things written all over it. Things like:
I like your necklace, awesome!
You are nice!
You are funny!
You are cool!
You are funny and smart!
You are a special person!
Some of these get repeated a couple times on the plate but each one is written by a different person, in different ink, and that persons own unique handwriting. I haven't taken the time to find out the principle behind this plate but it did make me stop and think that words of affirmation is something we all need to hear more of!
With four children in the house I hear words like, stupid, idiot, retarded, meanie, brat, baby, and you get the idea! It is so easy to spout off words of ridicule and humiliation without even batting an eyelash but words of praise? For a sibling to say, "Hey, you are really smart!" OR "You know what that necklace is pretty cool little brother!". I just don't think there is enough of that or we could could ever hear too much!
Friday nights are family night. We ALWAYS have pizza and a movie and this is the one night pop is aloud to be their drink with dinner. I look forward to a night off of cooking but I also look forward to just spending time together as a family. Watching a funny movie and sharing the time together! When I was little we did the same thing in my family except we were always watching The Dukes of Hazard on TV that night! :-) Ha-ha! Anyway...I am getting away from my point, which is this. This Friday night I am going to add on to our Friday night tradition and tell the kids that before the pizza, pop, and movie we are going to take a few minutes to go around and tell one thing positive each sibling has done or said in the past week, including mommy and maybe even an e-mail to dad!! :-)
I don't want my kids to feel foolish for praising other people and I want my children to be able to take a compliment. Maybe one night we can make a plate and write it all down, or put it on a piece of paper, something to remind each child that they are important, have value, and even when we don't always say it, each one is loved by the other!

Alexis school work

I love when the kids have to do an assignment and write things at school.
This is what Alexis brought home today (complete with 2nd grade spelling):

I like Ice Cream
I like Candy
I love my dogs.
I love GOD!!
I am 7 yers old.
My dogs name is Zoe and blackey.
I love my dogs a lot.
I like school
I have a DSI.

I LOVE MY LEXI! :-)

Just so you know....we are still alive!

Summer is here! We are fully enjoying the hot, muggy weather down here in Savannah! Some will complain and even though there are days I hate the sweat dripping from my brow I honestly would not have it any other way! I love the south, I love the heat, and I love being warm and sweaty versus bitter and cold! So, since I haven't had made much time to tend to my blog here is a short list of things we are enjoying so far this summer:
1) Swimming in the backyard Pool
2) Going to the beach
3) A trip to Little Rock
4) Grilling steaks with daddy at home
5) White little bottoms under sun kissed bathing suit tans!
6) Fresh Watermelon and Cherries
7) Corn on the cob
8) Friends sharing the bounty of their garden vegetables!
9) Ice Cream
10) Summer Reading programs at the library
11) Movies
12) Getting ready for out of town visitors
13) Have no routine or real need to care
14) Green hair from so much swimming
15) Cold beer on a hot Savannah evening!
It has been a great summer so far and sadly, I feel the summer slipping away already!

Why do I even bother

Incident #1
Yesterday Stephie had a Dentist appointment. I signed her out about an hour early and off we went. I remembered to get an excuse note from the Dr. (which I often forget to do) and gave it right to Stephanie. I told her to put it in her purse but she just placed it in her little "Dental goody bag". This morning I told her not to forget the note and then got everyone ready. On the way to school, I asked Stephanie if she had her excuse note from the Dr. and guess what she said? "No, I forgot it." I started to turn around when she freaked out and said, "Mom, just go I can turn it in tomorrow!" Well excuse me! If someone had actually put it in her purse when I told her to, we wouldn't even have to discuss this today!

Incident #2
Since I took the kids to the Dentist yesterday I decided to take us out for dinner. By the time we left it was already 5 and then to go home and make dinner....yeah no. So we went out and Ethan got his usual, half rack of ribs! He may only be 11 but do not come between that boy and his ribs. He wasn't able to eat them all last night so we brought them home. I told him I would put them in his lunch today. So, I got his lunch ready, included 2 napkins and then left him to actually put it in his lunch sack and get it ready. After the kids went to school, I came home to find his 2 napkins still laying on the counter. He is having ribs for lunch...why would he need those two napkins I left for him?!

Incident #3
Another lunch issue is the spoon. I give my kids the individual applesauce in their lunch as the fruit part of their healthy made at home lunch! I include a plastic spoon every single time so that they can eat it. A certain 11 year old of mine leaves than dang spoon on the counter every single time. Why does he think it is okay to slurp his applesauce out of the container every day or why does he want to? I have a bag of 100 spoons here at home.

So, no matter how hard I try to be a good mom. To give my kids the things they need. Try to make them responsible. You know all those things that a mom is supposed to do...they still do whatever they want anyway. So, why do I even bother?!

All About Mom by Alexis Granstrom

Mom's Favorite Food is: Lasagna
~Truthfully I HATE lasagna. I NEVER make it for my kids! She had it the other day at a friends house and found out that she loves it! Ha-ha! :-)

Mom's Favorite Color is: Brown
~I do wear a lot of brown! Good job Lexi

Mom's favorite place to eat: Paula Deen's
~ I guess that is what happens when you take every out of towner to Paula Deen's

Mom's favorite TV show: Paula Deen's

Mom's favorite thing to do is: Play on the computer
~Hmmmm, I wonder how she came up with this one. Ha-ha

If mom could go anywhere in the world it would be: Paula Deen's TV show
~That is cute! She just saw the episode where Jason and I were on her show. Must think we need to do it again! :-)

If mom could have any present she would want it to be: A new TV
~ I think she got me confused with daddy.

Lexi's favorite thing to do with mom is: Play with me!
~Yay! I love to play with my Lexi too! :-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! :-)

Having a moment

I got a text today from one of Stephie’s friends today that said, “come get Steph and Meg now!” That was it. I had no idea who it was from and it was only 2:45 in the afternoon (they don’t get out until 3:30). Me being the totally rational person that I am started having a melt down in the video store. I mean you want to talk about adrenaline…I could have moved a freaking truck if I had to. I have never gotten at text like that and after that NY thing today, I was thinking guns, killing, my daughter is in trouble! I tried calling the number back but it just rang and rang. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. My legs were feeling weak, I was ready to start crying and shaking. I mean seriously. I finally called the school front office and every time it rang, I was like, PICK UP, PICK UP, PICK UP!!! Someone FINALLY answered. I asked if everything was okay and told her what had happened. She sort of laughed and said the kids were having free time and my daughter was probably bored! Yeah, I am the dorky freak mom! DUH!
Next my phone rang and it was one of Stephie’s friends saying that Steph was bored and wanted to come home. I told her Steph would have to wait and hung up the phone. I literally had to breath in and out to get my heart back to normal! Dang kids!

Then we had a movie and video picked out. We brought the case up instead of the game so the kids went and got the game. But, Nicholas still has the case and set it down on the candy thing. The girl behind the counter kept asking for it and was like, “don’t leave it there.” Lexi grabbed it to take it back but the girl came around the front of the counter looking for the damn case. I looked at her and said, we got it taken care of. She was like, “well I saw him set it down and I didn’t want it left there” HELLO! Do I look like a mom who doesn’t care, go back on your side of the counter and take care of ME, I will handle my kids. Then my neighbor called asking if I could get her son after school today. I’m trying to tell her that Steph has a ride already and so I hand the lady behind the counter my debit card since it has my name on it so she can look up my account. She then procedes to ask for an ID! What? I just gave you my debit card with my name on it, it matches the account there and you need an ID too?! I got mad and said forget it and just left! Ugh!

Lions and Tigers and.....LIZARDS?! Oh my!

Tuesday night was pretty un-eventful up until 9pm. The younger three had gone off to bed and Stephie and I were up chatting. Finally 9pm hit and I told her to go get into bed. I kissed her goodnight and sent her off to bed. It was only about 2 minutes later when I heard the scream! This was not a normal, my brother scared me scream, this was an all out fearful scream! Stephie ran to her bedroom door, turned the light on and was laughing/shaking/unsure....I went down the hall and asked her what was wrong. Her reply?
Steph: "There is a lizard in my bed!"
Doutbing mama said, "there is no lizard in your bed, what are you talking about?"
Steph: "I got into bed, felt something cold by my feet, went to move it, and it ran away!! Waaaa!"
Mama: "Okay, where is it now?"
Steph: "I think it is under my blankets"
Mama then VERY cautionsly pulls back the covers and gosh darn it....a little blue tailed skink goes running to the end of her bed! YIKES!
So now what?!
I like the little lizards that run around our yard. They are cute, green, blue tailed, and sometimes brick colored. They don't bother me and I actually enjoy watching them sometimes. I know they are more scared of me than I am of them so we live in harmony outside my house. But, in MY house a lizard is no longer cute, it is a pest that moves way to fast and I am the one scared of him!
My boys have never been ones to care much about the lizards and have never been interested in tormenting or catching these outside creatures. GREAT! So, my husband wasn't home, Steph and Lexi had QUICKLY migrated to my room and Ethan and Nicholas just wanted to see...but not touch! Now what?! I am not going to bed knowing there is a lizard in the house. So, I call the neighbor. :-)
Long story short....after emptying out from under Stephie's bed, and the whole floor of their closet, my neighbor got the little guy into a shoe box. She promptly placed the lid on top and we took him outside! After chasing him for what seemed like HOURS(probably more like 20min) we got him outside to run free and then the little thing didn't even scurry away! Oh sure, now he is tired!
What an adventure! I mean really, how did that thing get in there, and under her covers of all places? The fun thought is, how long had he been there. Hehehe! :-) But the best part of this to me is. When we lived in Little Rock a lizard got into our house one day and I found it in the girls room. My husband wasn't home, lizards were new to us and I had to get it out! What did I do that day? Called my trusty neighbor! On that day, we cleaned out from under the girls bed and their closet and finally caught and released that lizard too!
So to sum up....where ever I move next, if you are my neighbor...be prepared because obviously, one day there will be a lizard in my girls room, my husband won't be home, and I will need your help to come capture and release it! And to my trusty neighbors, Misty and Julie...YOU ROCK!

Nicholas

Nicholas made this in school and brought it home today:

Nicholas
Funny, smart, cool, fast
Son of Bekah and Jason
Lover of Alexis, house, candy
Who feels special, happy, important
Who needs sleep, tree, God
Who fears the planet Pluto, strangers, under my bed
Who wonders when God was born
Resident of Georgia
Granstrom

Productive...but now I'm tired

Here is what this stay at home got done today:
Woke up got shower
Woke kids up, got them fed dressed and out the door to school
Went to the Post Office
Made spaghetti sauce for dinner Saturday
Made Meatballs for dinner on Saturday
Found Ad Valorum tax stuff online
Finished taxes and filed! Yippee!
Ran out to middle school to take middle schooler forgotten lunch
Ate leftover steak and potatoes for lunch. Yummy!
Cleaned up boys room
Did one load of laundry
Cleaned up girls room
Took out the trash
Picked up kids from school
Did homework with them, listened to their reading and got them into play clothes.
Tonight I still have to:
Pick up middle schooler from school
Bring home middle schooler and pick up 2 kids to go to gymnastics
Pray that older 2 get vacuuming and mopping done while I'm at gymnastics
Come home and feed everyone dinner
Get them into pajamas
Tuck them into bed
Get dishes into dish washer clean up for the day
Put self into bed and sleep!
What a productive day but man I am feeling tired! :-)

One spoiled lady

So Jason is home for the weekend and he is making sure to spoil me! After being together for over 14 years, who really wants to go out on Valentines and fight the crowds of people trying to go out for Valentines dinner too? NOT ME!
So, last night as Jason was waiting for his flight in Charleston he walked by a wine store and decided to bring me home 3 bottles of wine! YUMMY! (score number 1 for hubby)
Then today on Valentines day, while I took Lexi to gymnastics, Jason ran to the store and brought me home a basket full of flowers (score number 2 for hubby)
Then tonight, since we are not going out, we are doing fondue at home, his idea. The reason he thought to do fondue is because our very first Valentines together I had him over to my parents house and made him fondue in the living room. Awwww, what a great guy huh? (score number 3 for hubby)
So, here's hoping your Valentines is as great as my hubby made mine! I am one spoiled lady!
And oh yeah.....all these things will make sure Jason is one spoiled man in return! (score number 4 for hubby) :-)

Teenage Daughter

I love having a teenager in the house, I really do. With Jason out of town a lot, she can be a great source of conversation. I can actually talk to her about things other than cartoons.

In fact, this weekend as Stephanie was doing chores, Jason said to her:
Jason: Keep up the good work Stephanie, this just ups your stock in the family
Stephanie: Okay, as long as I don't have a Black Tuesday any time soon.
Hahaha! That was a quick little remark on her part. I don't think I even would have said that one! She admitted that she had just learned about stocks but still, shows her growing up and understanding more than the little kid stuff.

All that said, there is one thing I do not like about having a teenager in the house, it's called shopping! I remember the day when if Stephanie needed a dress, I could go into the store, pick out the cutest little pink dress I could find. Put it on her and ta-da, cute as a button and EASY PEASY! Just look! Cute little girl, cute little pink dress, looks adorable, EASY!

Fast forward 9 years and dress shopping just got a lot more complicated. Stepanie is going to be in a play in 2 weeks, she needs a dress for the play PLUS her spring concert is coming up so she needs a dress for that. I have already seen swim suits everywhere so I figure it won't be hard to find a Spring/Easter dress. Yeah, well I thought wrong! First of all we have to follow school dress code which says no sleevless or spaghetti straps. Then we have to make sure it is Spring dress which means no black, brown, or red. Then add to the fact that Stephanie hates all florals, most prints, and just about anything that isn't a plane color. Can you see what I'm up against?! We just knocked out 99% of the dresses in any store! Oh my word!

Dress shopping yesterday was not fun! We found one dress, it was like a limey forest green color. Looked very cute on her but it was a spaghetti strap. Thought we would do some looking and see if we could find a little shrug to wear with it. Simple right? Wrong! Oh we found some shrugs but they were $25 or MORE! The dress was $99 and if you add the shrug.....are you kidding me? I love my daughter but $130 for a dress she will probably wear twice! NO!

I finally ordered a dress online and if that one doesn't work....I'm ready to tell the school that if they want a dress with sleaves and in a spring color by tomorrow...they can take Stephanie shopping because I am done! Grrrr! When did shopping get to be so difficult? I have obviously fallen off the fashion wagon because anything I like, she doesn't. Or the comment is, "that would be fine for you mom but not for me." Thanks! I try to tell her that I was just her age a short 19 years ago and that a lot of her friends moms are more like 30 years from remembering being 13 and that she is lucky......ok, who am I kidding....I'm still old and 13 was a long time ago and even when I was 13, my mom knew nothing about fashion. I guess this is one time I am inclined to believe in Kharma! What goes around comes around, huh? Sorry mom!

When and IF we find a dress, I will be sure to post a lovely photo here, until then...say a prayer for me and if you happen to be going out shopping with your teenage daughter anytime soon....I'm sorry!

Boys

Friday nights are always pizza and a movie night. It is my night not to worry about cooking and the one night we eat in the living room watching TV. The other little treat that goes along with movie night is that we let the kids have some pop with their pizza.
Tonight when I told the kids to get ready for bed and brush their teeth Nicholas asked if he could quick finish his can of pop. He said there wasn't much left so I said ok. After he was done drinking his pop, he said, "Mom, listen to this" and then started shaking his belly all around. Much to my surprise I could really hear all the pop sloshing around in his belly. (I know that you can hear liquid in your belly when you drink a lot but I was surprised how loud it sounded)
So because I have a blog and haven't posted in a while, I decided to record it for all of you to hear too. Turn up your volume and listen closely. Sorry if the video is a little shakey, I was laughing the whole time I was recording!
Ahhhhh boys! Gotta love 'em!

Another hole in her head.........

Still smiling at the end! :-)
Stephie got her second holes punched into her ears about a week ago. She used her own Christmas money and dad said she could do it.
After the trauma she doesn't remember when I took her to get them done for the first time at the age of two......a smile afterwords was a HUGE improvement! :-)
Now lets hope she doesn't do anything crazy like her mama and get her nose pierced next! Ha-ha!

And the winners are.......

After placing 5 names onto equal sized pieces of paper and tossing them into a hat. My birthday girl Alexis picked the three winning names for my give away. And the winners are.....
1) Sarah
2) Trish
3) Sylvia
I will be sending out your gift cards via mail sometime this week and will be looking forward to your posts and seeing how you choose to "Pay it Forward"!

Pay It Forward

I recently won a pay-it-forward giveaway from a college friend of mine, Jen. Thanks so much friend! I got a Starbucks gift card, yummy! Since I won, I get to bless three of my readers with something now...in order to pay it forward! :-)
Since a lot of you live far away, I thought I would offer up some gift cards that can be used just about anywhere! One of my favorite things to do when I get a moment is to sit and read. I love getting lost in a good book and just becoming part of that world for the short time I am there. So, I will give a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card to three people. All you need to do it leave me a comment by Monday, January 19th of what your favorite book is and agree to keep this going. You don't need to spend a lot of money to keep it going. It can be anything. Be creative if you want. Just agree to bless three of your readers!
I look forward to hearing from you!

My boy in the paper!

Here is a copy of an article Ethan wrote for his 5th grade Newspaper assignment! Yes, I am a proud mama! :-)

Jesus is my hero

By Ethan Granstrom

Who comes to mind when you think about heroes? Is it Spider-Man, Superman, The Hulk, or could it be Jesus? Do you know who Jesus is? Jesus can be a hero for many reasons. One reason he can be a hero is because he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Secondly, Jesus is the Savior of the whole world, and lastly because he is perfect.

An earthly hero never actually takes over the world. So, even though a hero never does take over the world, truthfully Jesus can. Pastor Bob Rogers of First Baptist Church of Rincon pointed out in Scripture where it tells us this very fact. In Revelation 19, the Bible tells us how Jesus is King of King and Lord of Lords. That means he rules over the universe and there is nothing that can rule over him.

Next, he is Savior of the world. This means he is the one who dies and then rose again three days after his death. When he dies on the cross all the sins of the world were forgiven. This means that if you believe that he died and rose again you will have eternal life with him in heaven. This is talking about in the Bible also in Colossians 1:15-20.

If being King of Kings and Lord of Lords and being Savior of the world is not enough to make someone your hero, how about a hero that is perfect? Jesus has never lied or done anything bad or wrong. He is perfect. Jesus has even been tempted with sin but has remained sinless. Pastor Rogers pointed out a verse in Hebrews 4:15 that shows how Jesus was tempted.

Even though Spider-Man can swing from building to building, Superman can fly, and The Hulk is super strong, can those heroes stand up to the "real hero"? Only Jesus can be everything a real hero needs to be.

Jesus can be your everything (Colossians 1:15-20).