My Prayer on Mother's Day

Today I prayed for women around the world, the women to whom children have been granted, the women who have held and lost a child (or more), the women who have never held a child but lost one (or more), and the women who long to have a child (or more).  God answered my prayer for children after five years of infertility and the loss of my first pregnancy, but I remember the pain.  I have begged God today to comfort the mothers who have loved and lost and the hoping-to-be-mothers who haven't had a child to love yet.


I wish you a peace-filled day!

September 11th

I haven't forgotten. September 11, 2001, will never be far from my thoughts. I pray for the loved ones of those lost. I pray for the governmental officials leading us. I pray for our soldiers fighting for freedom. I pray for our country. I give thanks for everyone working to make our country better. God bless America!

Pictures of the kids, for real!

At long last, here are "school pictures" of my kids, taken their first day of school. Both are enjoying school (well, all except the work, of course).

Our gorgeous Sweet Pea, smiling beautifully for the camera. Don't be fooled, though, there were lots of crazy-face shots interspersed with the good ones. I'm thrilled with this one, though. I tinkered with it in PhotoShop Elements, taking out a lot of the color as the shade of the tree she's in was putting a lot of green tint on her face.

Our handsome Junior Bug, practicing his girls-are-just-gonna-love-me looks. I didn't tinker too much with this one, though I tried to warm up the colors it was shot in the cool morning shade. "Bug", as I've taken to calling him as a nickname, is a better subject than his sister when I'm taking pictures, though I'm sure he'll get tired of his shutterbug mama some day.

What, no pictures???

Nope. No pictures right now. I've got other things on me mind. Other things, such as why in the world would I make my dog vomit today? Why would I take the turkey baster from my kitchen, fill it with hydrogen peroxide, and then force the hydrogen peroxide down my dog's throat? Why would I repeat the process three times and wait anxiously for said dog to vomit? Why, you ask? Because Jamie didn't eat the raisins. Nope, the dog's name is Jasper. Jamie is our 4-year-old son, as I'm sure you know. Jamie didn't eat the raisins. But, the raisins were gone. Now, recently I'd heard that raisins (and grapes) can be toxic to a dog. I thought I was being careful with the raisins, but today a couple of factors came together and equaled missing raisins.

After doing some research on the Internet, not wanting to spend a lot of time not taking action, I called my veterinarian brother-in-law Dave and mentioned what I supposed had happened. He said it was idiosyncratic, that some dogs get sick and some don't, but supposing that 30-40 raisins had been ingested, the wise thing to do was induce vomiting. As you've gathered from above, that's what I proceeded to do.

So, what did I find? Of course I had to search through the emesis to find out if I had done the right thing (even though it was a responsible action). Thankfully water from the hose helped clear things up. Yup. Lots of raisins gave testament to the necessity of my actions. Has the dog forgiven me yet? Not sure. He sure jumped fast when I scolded him for being in our kids' bedroom after dinner. (Heather had stashed some cat food in her tea cups for an apparent tea party. Jasper was just helping himself. I suppose his tummy's better.)

That said, I think I'll make an effort to get some new pix up soon. I'm sure those would be far more interesting to you than a post about making a dog vomit. Perhaps they'll help put a nicer image in your mind!

Happy Birthday Heather! ...and other stuff

THE PARTY WITH FRIENDS

Here is the patriotic cupcake design I used to make 60+ cupcakes for Heather's co-birthday party with a schoolmate. The white stars are fondant. The icing is homemade buttercream with tons of icing color added (the whole bottle for the red icing). The cake is Pillsbury Funfetti. (Sorry it's upside down. The shadow doesn't look right when I rotate the picture. Silly photographer!)

Heather's a real go-getter on lots of things, especially the huge inflatable slide at Party ExtraordinAIR.

It's more fun when you slide with friends!






The birthday girls.

Would someone please come play air hockey with me???

Maybe I'll try and try and try basketball.

HANGING OUT AT HOME

All packed and ready to go to Grandma's. Mama and Daddy are getting up way too early the next day to time the Fourth of July race in Mt. Shasta. Grandma bets I won't sleep in either!

THE FAMILY PARTY

It may be Heather's birthday hat, but Jamie thinks he looks best in it.

A patriotic birthday shirt for the patriotic birthday girl.

Not Me! Monday

Let's confess. Doesn't your week sound something like mine? Read all about what I did NOT do, and remember, confession is good for the soul!

I did NOT say “turn off the piano” to my son. I know perfectly well that an upright piano cannot be turned off. My mind was NOT somewhere else. I CAN multitask with the best.

I did NOT stay up until 2 a.m. Sunday morning so I could finish a book. Nope. I treasure my beauty sleep more than I treasure reading a good book. It was NOT Liz Curtis Higgs’ “Fair is the Rose”.

I did NOT bemoan the fact that my husband’s mercies are not new every morning, quite contrary to God’s, when he nagged me once again to do something. It so does NOT take me weeks to clean up one messy pile (of many) in our room.

I did NOT really miss my 4-year-old son last night when I pushed a loaded grocery cart over the yellow rumble strip when leaving the grocery store. He does NOT absolutely love jiggling in the cart as it bumps over the rumble strip.

I did NOT come unglued when I got home from said grocery store and found my daughter wearing an angora sweater (that I’d just washed after it was worn outside in the muddy backyard), trying to clean white glue off her hands and general self. I did NOT go completely ballistic and ask hubby what in the world he was thinking, letting her have things she could make a mess with, especially since she was wearing said angora and is known for her ability to create a mess out of nothing, not to mention having full access to glue and glue sticks and pens, etc. Remember, I do NOT have problems whatsoever keeping my house spotless and keeping control of my tongue and my children’s behavior, and I do NOT feel completely overwhelmed with the slightest extra mess I have to clean up pronto else it becomes permanent. Nope. I’m one calm, cool, collected, and multitasking mother with perfect children and a perfect husband, not to mention a perfectly ordered and cleaned house. Ahem.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to my Not Me! Monday post. It's MckMama's idea about how good confession is for us, so here's what I DIDN'T do this past week.



I did NOT actually sit on my hands one day this week to avoid slapping my child’s face as I was being sassed. I’m perfectly in control of my kids’ emotions and attitudes, not to mention my own, dontcha know!?!

I am NOT currently in a self-imposed time-out because I have a bad attitude (from being around those perfectly behaved children, dontcha know). Remember, I’m perfectly in control of my emotions and attitude… sigh...

I am also NOT once again desperately trying to win MckMama’s prize for this week’s Not Me! Monday posts as the stamped-disk necklace is NOT absolutely adorable and right up my “love-this-stuff” alley. Nope, NOT me!

I am NOT letting my 5-year-old play outside in the rain and mud (in 52-degree temps) just because we're all sick and tired of (but oh so grateful for) the rain and because she didn't burn off enough energy earlier at the mall's play place.


Finally, I have NOT signed completely out of blogger and then signed back in at least five now six times as I have reviewed this post and decided to change something or add another did NOT statement. Nope. That would mean I have too much time on my hands. (And I'm NOT totally disgusted with why I can't always get blank lines to stay between some of these statements. Guess I'll have to use some of this extra time on my hands to research that!)


Blessings!