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!

Celebrating and grieving

Today is Jamie's fourth birthday. We celebrated with a party at a park yesterday, with family and six classmates in attendance. Jamie enjoyed it very much, especially the fact that all the presents he opened got to come home with us. I enjoyed the fact that my little boy enjoyed his party.

Why then, tonight, are there tears in my eyes, occasionally slipping down my cheeks? Why tonight did I remember my first baby, the one in heaven, the one I carried for eight weeks after four years of infertility before having to let go of the little scrap of a body that couldn't live on earth for some reason? Perhaps it's in the celebration of my youngest's birthday that I miss the birthdays of the one I haven't been allowed to celebrate, at least not in person.

Grieving at times is good and appropriate, and I don't often grieve like this, but tonight I miss my first baby. Perhaps today's struggles of an imperfect parent trying to raise godly but imperfect children have brought extra emotion to the evening. But I won't try to excuse the tears, only explain them.

On a happier note, Heather sat in "big" church with me this morning as she has been barking like a seal coughing badly. As we made our way into the sanctuary, I saw the communion serviceware set up and knew I needed to do some explaining. Back on July 19, 2008, Heather asked God to forgive her sins and live in her heart. I didn't want to deny her communion, but I wanted to know that she understood it before she observed it. Thankfully she agreed to talk about it later. After church in the car as we talked, she related to me knowing about the last supper and that the juice "stands for Jesus' blood" and the cracker "stands for Jesus' body". She talked about the whip used to flay Jesus' back the day before he was crucified and other things that showed me she's heard it and understands. What a delightful thing for this mother praying for her children daily, beseeching God to grant them spiritual wisdom and understanding and hearts open to Him.

Okay, okay, I need to update this thing more frequently and certainly include more pix. Gotcha. Right after I clean my room.

Not Me! Monday

Leaving the gym one morning, I did NOT walk up to my truck and think (in a rather pleased manner) that it didn’t look as dirty as I thought it was, nor was the front passenger seat as cluttered as I thought it was. That said, it also WASN’T me who clicked the button to unlock the door, tried the door to find it still locked, hit the unlock button again, and then finally heard my actual truck unlock two spaces behind me. Of course it was NOT as dirty and cluttered as I’d thought. That said, I DIDN’T approach the same truck a few days later, walking right by my own truck, and try in vain to get the door to unlock. That would mean I didn’t learn my lesson the first time, which of course I did.

I HAVEN’T been avoiding being a good mother while catching up on the “prayer-request blogs” I frequent. I mean, what good mother would let their kids have the run of the house (i.e., pantry) just so they could spend time reading blogs? NOT me!

I also am NOT thinking of how very boring my Not Me! Monday post is just because I’m desperately hoping to be a winner on MckMama’s NMM contest and don’t have much funny stuff to write about.

Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day!

Since confession is supposedly good for the soul, here's what I did NOT do recently:

I did NOT save up several “Not me!” incidents from the last few weeks to share all in one fell swoop today; that would be cheating, which I DON’T do.

On Christmas Eve, desperate to get a good meal on the table after a day of errands, I did NOT find Indian Meal Moth caterpillars in my Tupperware rice container. I did NOT then rinse a cup of the infested rice at least five times and put it in the rice cooker. I also did NOT eat the rice and enjoy it immensely. Perhaps that little extra flavor was the reason - NOT!!! But I am certainly NOT not letting my husband buy rice again...

Also on Christmas Eve, I did NOT wait until 9:30 p.m. to begin wrapping gifts. That would mean I’m unorganized, which I’m NOT.

I did NOT yell down the hall, “Grammy has Cooties”, when trying to explain to my husband how my daughter knows how to play the Cooties game.

I did NOT laugh hysterically at my 3-year-old son in a sporting goods store when he turned on a treadmill while standing on it and got dumped off the back end at a high rate of speed. First off, I would NEVER let my child disobey me so far as to stand on the belt and get the machine turned on in the first place. Then, I would NEVER laugh at someone else’s misfortune.

I did NOT keep cutting my daughter’s long hair all the way to chin length after the shoulder-length attempt at the nape of her neck was crooked and needed fixing. At least I didn’t need to get the clippers out and just give her a buzz cut!

I did NOT nap twice already this week when there was laundry to be put away and dinner to be made. That would mean I’m not a perfect Proverbs 31 woman, which of course I AM.

And finally, I did NOT just nearly boil dry on the stove a greasy pan full of soapy water in an attempt to make its cleaning easier, just so I could get my “Not Me!” entry done before midnight, especially while heating a frozen entree in the microwave since I napped too long to make the home-cooked meal I’d planned for tonight. Nope, NOT me!