Disney Dreamin'

Bounce woke me up last night as I was in the middle of a disney dream. I dreamed I was shooting brightly colored sour cream containers with my Buzz Lightyear gun. I almost told him to hold on and let me finish my game, but sanity took over and I realized my dream is showing how my mind is moving from Disneyland - the happiest place on earth- to home - the normalcy of life. So in my dream I combined Bounce's favorite ride with my grocery list for today. Now if grocery shopping were really that fun, I would have no trouble getting the kids to come along and behave better.

Here's a few lessons from Disney:
1.) Wear very comfortable walking shoes and start training for all the walking at least a month beforehand. My thighs were cramping as I walked down Tarzan's treehouse for the 2nd time in a row.
2.) Do not go in the summer if at all possible. I cannot imagine having to wait in line for hours with young kids in tow. We were blessed to be able to go when most kids are in school. We literally walked onto rides like Buzz-astro blasters and Pirates of the Carribean. I remember waiting for hours for Star Tours as a kid and was thrilled to know we only waited 10 minutes for that ride.
3.) Take strollers or set aside a large chunk of change to rent them there. We didn't do this until the 2nd day and it saved us a big headache from kids whining about sore feet and wanting to be carried everywhere.
4.) Most importantly, spend more time looking at your kids' happy faces than at the rides themselves. I got such a kick seeing Ketchup squeal in delight on Star Tours and Mulholland Madness. She is my new rollercoaster buddy. Bounce starts off with fear and by the end is laughing and smiling and wanting to ride again.

Here are a few of the over 500 pictures we took.


Both kids had some one on one time with one of their favorite characters. Buzz and Bounce showed each other their muscles and Ketchup and Minnie went for a little walk. Ketchup couldn't believe she was just walking off with Minnie.

The lights everywhere in the park were amazing. This is right in front of "It's a small world."

The kids squeals and screams at the fireworks were one of my highlights.


Thanks Mickey Mouse for wonderful fun and memories!!

Happy Birthday Ketchup!

Six years ago today, little Ketchup was born. She was a beautiful little baby and I was amazed as I held her that this tiny person was my child that I was responsible for. Reality hit the second night in the hospital when she screamed the entire night. There were many times that night that I wished I could have given her back, but six years later, I am so thankful that God has blessed our family with her. She is caring and sincere and has a laugh that is so contagious. Her is a walk down memory lane....

"Finally"

Bounce has been a little perturbed at the attention given to Christmas despite not even celebrating Thanksgiving. Today we were setting up our Christmas tree and the characters on the kids show he was watching were talking about Thanksgiving to which he excitedly yelled out "Finally, somebody is celebrating Thanksgiving instead of just Christmas."
We are thankful for many things this year and since we'll probably be out of touch for the next couple weeks (Thanksgiving in AZ and our Disneyland trip!!), I thought I would focus on Thanksgiving for this post- before I start stringing the lights on the Christmas tree!

We are especially thankful for God blessing us with the sale of our house and purchase of our current house. We feel so at home in our new house. We have so much more time to enjoy instead of spending it in traffic and feel so less rushed as we are much closer to everything (except God :-)).
We are also thankful for God's blessings despite the economy. When you see so many people hurting and struggling, we are so grateful for all that we have been blessed with.
We are thankful for our healthy kids, fantastic family and friends and the freedom to learn about God and His world as we homeschool.
We are thankful for Christ for "of Him and through Him" are all things!!

Off the wall

We celebrated Bounce's birthday by going to one of those big pizza/game places. As Ketchup and I were crashing into each other on the bumper cars, Daddy and Bounce were losing money fast on all the games. Then they got to the "Big Bass" game and Bounce pulled the lever. An alarm sounded, Bounce won the grand prize - 1,000 tickets!!!
Daddy said people gathered around in amazement at the mass of tickets spitting out of the game. At the end of the night, we had totaled about 1200 tickets. The kids were excited because they finally were able to pick out a prize "off the wall" instead of just the cheap ones in the case right in front.

Here's a link to a pic of the big win!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2999288051_d2311404f5.jpg?v=0

Happy Birthday Bounce!

Four years ago today it was election day and we were able to watch all the news as we held our new little baby "bounce" in our arms. He was a little baby (6lbs. 5oz.), but very happy. We had no idea how much personality our little boy would have. He is so much fun and has so much energy. He can talk your ears off and remember everything you said even when you think he's not listening.
We look forward to many more fun years with him. Here a short walk down memory lane.

3 more things

I had wanted to post about 3 things but hadn't had time until now.

1.) Ketchup's Tata left sweet notes for Nana at our house since they stayed with us at different times, so Ketchup was inspired to leave "I love you" notes under all of our pillows on several nights. She left a big heart for Benjamin under his pillow the night before his surgery.

2.) We surprised the kids by telling them we are going to celebrate their birthdays in Disneyland this year. They were so excited and Ketchup started to well up tears of happiness. She's going to be a crier like her mommy I'm afraid, but now they both understand what it means to cry when you're happy; they just didn't get that before.

3.) After Bounce's surgery, he was in pain. He told me his tummy hurt, but he didn't want me to tell the doctor. It didn't make sense to him that he felt fine before the surgery, then after the surgery that we explained would fix something in his tummy, he actually felt worse. How could he be hurting if he was supposed to be "fixed?"
It made me think of how God has to prune us of things in our lives. We feel fine; life is good. We are perfectly comfortable, but God knows that there is something in our life that needs to go; it is keeping us from being "better." So God has to fix us by doing surgery, or pruning us of that thing or person that is not His perfect will for us. After the pruning, we are in pain. We hurt and it doesn't make sense to us how this is supposed to be better. Only He knows and can see the perfect, completed picture of our lives. I'm glad He knows best even if I have to be painfully pruned, but you'll have to remind me of that the next time I get cut by His scalpel.

Time to Catch up

Here are some pictures to fill you in on our fast flying month of October.

After studying frogs and giraffes, we had a fun day at the zoo with some close friends. It was neat to see the animals we had been studying up close.

My parents have had to come in town this month at different times in order to help out with Benjamin after his surgery. Ketchup and Bounce enjoyed their Tata while he was in town at the beginning of the month. They were able to wrestle and wrestle some more and my dad proved to be here at the right time to use his post hole digging expertise to help us put up a new fence.


This is a picture of our new backyard. We are enjoying the big, established trees and have completed the fence (just needs stain). I also put my "farming" skills to the test by getting the yard ready and then laying grass seed. We now have the beginning of a green lawn, but it took me about 3 weeks to recover from those 3 days of physical labor.

Bounce had his hernia surgery on Oct. 16th. He did really well. He was nervous at first, but relaxed and that "goofy juice" worked like a charm. My mom came in town to help me with the near impossible task of keeping him from bouncing or running or anything active for 10 days after. We have a countdown going and he has 2 more days to go. Here is a picture of my mom helping him figure out the DS that his cousin lent him to keep him on the couch. I think I can safely bet that a DS will be on Bounce's Christmas list.


Doesn't seem like that much when I put this all together, but it's amazing how much time has passed since I last posted. Life is busy but good!

Things heard around our house this week

During school:
1. A song about metamorphosis that I made up so the kids could remember the word.
2. Lots and lots of frog stories (The Frog and Toad books are their favorite).
3. Weird facts about frogs like only the males make noise and the females have smaller ears.


During chore time: On sheet day (the day I wash the sheets on the beds), Bounce and Ketchup ran up to me and he asked, "Can we serve you by doing your bed?"
What a sweet kids to know they are serving and not just doing to do things.

During meal time: We watch the squirrels every day as we're eating and on Friday two squirrels began to mate. I nervously waited to see what would be said or what would happen next. Ketchup said, "Look, it's a piggyback ride." Then the female squirrel would have none of it and they started wrestling. Bounce after watching them for a few minutes rolling around and wrestling said "I wish I was a squirrel."

Our First Week of School

We finished our first week of school on Friday. In theory, Ketchup is in kindergarten and Bounce is in preschool. We studied clocks to start off the year with the theme of using time wisely. We had fun making our own sundial and pendulum and I had great pictures to show off, but I can't find the usb connector for the camera. I thought I had checked everything off the I haven't found it yet list. Oh well.
The kids enjoyed their first week. Ketchup had her first spelling test and aced it. Bounce will have his first letter test this coming week, so he has that to look forward to.
We also had our first soccer games of the season. We pretty much picked up where we left off last season. Ketchup scored 5 goals and Bounce was good to want to play in the second half since most of the boys were tired (it was hot). His poor little team just becomes timid on field although they pretty much matched up in size with their opponent. He said he had fun though, so it was a success for him.
The kids were disappointed we couldn't do school this weekend as they're excited to learn about frogs as our next theme. I better go get my plans for the week ready. Hopefully I'll have some fun frog facts in the next post (and some clock pictures as well).

We're IN!!!!!

I wanted to title this post - Moving in - AKA - world record number of Walmart trips in one week topped off with another trip to Lowe's/Home Depot.
Finally I have a chance to update the blog. We are in our new house and the picture of Kailee from the previous post is how I feel today. I have about 5 more boxes to unpack- hooray! It is starting to feel like home and I even was able to put up a few things on the wall yesterday.

Highlights of our new home:
Seeing the kids squeal with delight as we watched a squirrel during breakfast.
Playing hide and seek and finding really cool hiding spots.
Kids taking a "short-cut" to get to other rooms of the house. Our old house was like a box with one hallway; this house has options.
Bella, the dog, chasing squirrels in the backyard.
Being able to cook and eat dinner last night after soccer practice because our drive home took 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes!

The kids have discovered me (see it's easy to get lost in this house) and are now asking for things; gotta go for now!

What's going on....

I thought I'd fill you in since I posted last

The Olympics - the kids and I have enjoyed watching the Olympics. They now recognize Michael Phelps and enthusiastically cheer him on. They were awed by all the gymnasts could do and attempted to perform their own gymnastic feats on our couch. I let Ketchup stay up late 2 nights and watch the women's gymnastics. She almost made it to the end both nights, but not quite.

We also quickly made the transition from keeping the house in a near to perfection showing state to an anything goes, see how many messes the kids can make at once state. While we were still showing the house and I was cleaning all the time, I wondered if how easily I would transition to a real-life looking house. Well here is the answer (the kids tent in the living room).

And I'm letting them fingerpaint as I blog, so I must have made the transition a little too well!

We also have seen God use our mission trip to Guatemala to help Bounce. A while back I asked Ozzie if it was OK for Bounce to have one testicle larger than the other one. He told me that was normal, so I didn't think any more about it. In Guatemala, Ozzie translated for a man who had the same problem but on a larger scale for 15 years. The man was treated and left the clinic healed and pain free. Upon returning home, Ozzie thought it would be best to have the doctor check Bounce just in case. Well, he does have a hernia and will have surgery mid-October. Who knows how long it would've taken us to realize something was wrong if God hadn't brought our attention to it in Guatemala. I even was able to witness a hernia surgery there, so I have a better idea of what the doctors will be doing. It is amazing to see how God is always working even when we don't realize it.

We are moving next week, so I don't know when I'll be able to post next. We are excited about our new house. It will be closer to Ozzie's work and the church. Originally, the kids weren't too thrilled about moving from our neighborhood, so I explained how many things we would be closer too. They quickly came to the conclusion that we would be closer to everything. This was the kids conversation about it the other day...

Bounce: Will Preston (their cousin) be able to spend the night again?
Me: In our new house, yes.
Ketchup: We'll be closer to Preston in our new house. Don't you remember we'll be closer to everything!
Bounce: Except God.

So I guess we're moving closer to everything, except God, but hopefully we are continuing to draw closer to Him as we trust in Him for the kids' health and all the details that go with closing and moving. He has been so faithful and we are excited for the next season of our journey with Him!

If....

Conversation overheard today while the kids were coloring:

Bounce : If you weren't my sister, I would want to be your friend.

Ketchup: If you weren't my family, I would like being the only child. It would be quiet around here and mommy wouldn't have so much work and it would be really quiet during quiet time.

Bounce: But I am your brother

Ketchup: I'm just saying IF.

Bounce: (still questioning and confused)

Ketchup: It's OK because if you weren't my family, you would be my friend or my cousin and we could still play together.

Bounce: (content with her answer moved on to the more important superhero conversation).

By Request

This post is only here because of Ozzie's request (you'll understand why in a minute).

We were eating lunch today with the kids and Bounce started talking about Wall-E. He first mentioned how it was so funny when Wall-E was trying to play the Wii without a TV. Then he said it was so funny when Wall-E couldn't see because he had covered his eyes with "that thing." We asked him what he was talking about since we didn't know what "that thing" meant. So Bounce stood up and walked over to me and pointed to my chest area and said "You know that thing that covers this big thing and this big thing (as he patted each one)." Bounce then learned that the original "thing" he was referring to was called a bra.

Daddy's new favorite phrase now is "that big thing." See why I would've rather not posted!

Totally Awesome!

Last night Ketchup and Bounce's cousin spent the night and we all were wowed by the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Ozzie and I enjoyed the show and seeing the kids' reactions to everything. It was neat to hear their comments, so I thought I would share.
Just imagine 3 kids screaming the following:
"Totally awesome"
"That is so cool"
"Amazing"
I think Bounce wins the commentary award for his comment "That is unbelievable!"
Definitely a memorable night for all.

On/Off Switch

My mind has a very touchy on/off switch. This is why I'm awake before 5am this morning. If the kids get up during the night, my mind will usually remain off and I can quickly go back to sleep. Tonight Ketchup's nightlight went out. Thought was required to find a new bulb and replace the burnt out bulb (note to self: never again buy light bulbs at the dollar store), so my mind quickly switched on to accomplish the task.
However, switching it back off is a different story. It's as if I am pulling on the switch, hanging from it, trying to get it into the off position, but it just won't budge. So I lay in bed thinking about what I should be doing instead of just lying there in the dark.
Turning off my mind is typically difficult to do without the help of Tylenol PM or Nyquil and I'm afraid Ketchup has this disorder, too. It takes that little girl a LONG time to fall asleep. Bounce, on the other hand, is just like his daddy, within 30 seconds he is out like a light.
So, here I am blogging instead of sleeping - plotting how many cups of coffee I'll need later this afternoon!

We are so blessed - Guatemala trip

Last week we were blessed to be able to leave the kids at home and travel to Guatemala. We had the intention of blessing others with medical and dental care, but I think we were the ones ultimately blessed. I have listened to people return from mission trips and say how blessed we are here in America. I now understand what they mean. It is hard to describe the poverty that we saw in Guatemala. Yet despite their lack of wealth, the people (especially the children) seemed so happy.
We had planned a VBS for 70 kids (which we thought was overplanning) and we had 225 kids come. Needless to say, we had to improvise. Each kid was given only one crayon and some type of paper to color as there was not enough of anything for each child, yet they were excited to have their one crayon and paper.

The children there didn't complain about not having the color they wanted or the same thing as another kid; they were just happy to have something. It's hard not to keep saying to Ketchup and Benjamin when they start to whine or complain about something since we've been back, "You know the kids in Guatemala had nothing and they didn't complain."
I also experienced the joy of serving. Selfishly, I didn't want to spend our money (we also had a lot of generous friends and family give their money to help us pay for the trip - thank you!) to go and work in a clinic and sleep in a bunk bed all week. I would've rather used the money for new furniture or a "real" vacation to Disneyland. But it was more fulfilling and enjoyable than I can describe to you to allow God to use Ozzie and I.

It really was the best vacation I have ever experienced. I totally understand now how God has created us to serve others and when we do that, He blesses us with true joy that is indescribable. When I take my focus off myself, I am able to be truly happy.

Now the transition back to the overindulgent North Dallas area begins. It is hard to go from what we experienced in Guatemala to looking for a new house and making plans for that. Selfishly I want to make plans for new furniture and decorating rooms, but I remember the dirt floors, sheet metal walls, and homes with no furniture at all.

As we go back and forth this week on negotiations for the home we want to buy, it all seems so small. I have seen that joy is not in what we think we have or own, but it is in serving and giving to others.

When God speaks....

This week has been an eventful one. We received an offer on our house and have been in SLOW negotiations all week. We are also planning to leave on our mission trip to Guatemala. I had so many worries and wonders running through my mind this last week. I knew I just needed to sit down and be still before God. My Bible study assignment was to FLAP (facts, lessons, application, prayer) John 14. So I started with verse one. Do you know what God said directly to me? "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me." Thank you God for saying just what I needed to hear.
It looks like we'll reach an agreement with the buyer this weekend, so we're off tomorrow to look at potential houses since we'll be homeless in a little over a month. That's a good thing though!!
I'll have lots to blog about when we return from Guatemala - be prepared for some reading!

Why can't we go to the dentist now?

This was Bounce's question to me this morning before we began to get ready for the kids dental check up. I thought his question meant he was finally eager to go and it would not turn into the meltdown like last time. I was hopeful, all was going well as we entered the little room that they took us into. (They reserve a little room for him with a door to try and muffle his screams so he won't frighten the other kids there.) He was excited to see the Spiderman movie he had picked out to watch. He was smiling and happy UNTIL the dentist walked in the room. The smile turned to a face full of fear. Then she asked if he could wear the special "watch" to take his blood pressure and the meltdown began. The dentist was reassuring that there was progress over last time because the screams were much less intense and they actually completed 4 x-rays (that room had a door too, but occassionally I could hear him cry out). Poor little guy! The good news is that both kids are in the "No Cavity Club."
We also had our first Friday Family Movie Night tonight. We watched "Underdog." It was a cute movie and we all had fun. Daddy wanted to be extra nice tonight since we're leaving next weekend for our mission trip, so he let the kids watch Ratatouille in our room and then sleep in there all night. Bounce said he wished every night was this fun. I don't agree because it's already tomorrow and I'm still awake. I really like it when every one is in their own beds, but at least it makes for good memories which I'm awake for every last one.

Where do I begin?

Since I posted last, we have had an eventful week. Depending on how many interruptions I get, I'll try to catch you up in one post.

Part 1 - Expect the Unexpected
Last week Daddy's parents and sister and her son were in town for a visit. His sister wanted us to plan a camping trip. This would be a great opportunity to use the new tent that we gave Daddy for Father's Day, so despite our reservations about camping in the July heat, we agreed to plan and participate. The day of our camping trip arrived and Daddy's sister decided to return home early leaving us and his parents and other sister. His parents and other sister were not thrilled about spending all night out in the wild woods, but our children were thrilled to go camping, so we ended up going (for most of the time as they came for the first few hours) by ourselves.

Part 2 - What else did we forget
I knew we had packed quickly, so I assumed we would forget something, but you never know how much you need things until you don't have them. Daddy forgot his sandals and walked around in my fashionable pink flip-flops for some of the time. Mommy forgot to bring sausage and tortillas to make Daddy's eggs extra yummy. I also forgot the bug spray which will lead us to part 3 in just a minute.
Overall, we had a lot of fun camping. The kids loved swimming in the lake and riding their bikes in the street instead of on the sidewalk. The highlight had to have been seeing our first live armadillo. We have seen them upside down on the side of the road, but not up and walking around in the wild. We were just about to go to sleep when our dog started barking and we heard rustling in the bushed behind us. I thought it was a raccoon, but it was a dumb armadillo who just kept waddling over to our campsite despite a barking dog and our flashlights right on him.
We enjoyed more camping fun and headed home about noon the next day. Just the right amount of camping for me.

Part 3 - I thought camping was cheap.
When we got home, I kept complaining about all my mosquito bites. Then on Sunday, Daddy had some bites and the kids had a few as well. By that time, I looked like someone had painted red polka dots all my stomach. We had to go to the doctor anyways that afternoon to get our shots before we leave for our mission trip, so we asked the doctor about our bites. She thought they might be chiggers or bed bugs, so after buying new pillows and prescription creams and anti-itch medicine, Daddy wanted to know how camping was supposed to be cheap and fun after all this. Wal-mart definitely makes money when the "P" family goes camping!

Another shout out....

Actually this is another thank you, but not a sarcastic one this time and it goes to Jon and Kate Plus 8. The kids and I like to watch this show and it has inspired not only conversations, but cleaning tips. Since we're almost constantly cleaning around here (yes, the house is still on the market), we saw some little brooms and dust pans that each Gosselin kid had
to use to clean up their own crumbs and messes. We bought something similar at Wal-mart. It was well worth the $2 each. The kids love their "sweepers" as Bounce says and they have a contest to see who can sweep up the most dirt. Competition is productive!!
Just an update, that we have returned to our normal sleeping in schedule - hallelujah!

Thank You VBS (sense my sarcasm?)

Last week was VBS at our church. The kids had a blast with all the crafts and stories and friends. I was working and had to be there at 7:30 each morning, so I would wake the kids up about 6:50 each morning to give me just enough time to get them dressed and in the van. After only 4 days of this schedule (Ketchup was sick on Friday so we stayed home), they have been waking up at 6:50 each morning since (even on our sick day). I'm hoping they revert back to our nice schedule of waking up around 8:00 am. Here's for hoping I guess.

Bounce's new outfit

I finally found the perfect outfit for our little Bounce....


Instead of the riddler, Bounce's name will be The Questioner!
I need to attempt to count how many questions this little boy asks me in one day. Even as I type this he is asking me, "what is a blog?" Last week the question of the week was "How do you make a car?" I know he asked me this at least once a day. And you know how it goes, one answer just leads to another question.
His brain must be on hyper-speed when we get into the van because as soon as we get buckled the question start flying out of his mouth. And in between questions, he asks me to turn up the music just to have me turn it down again 3 seconds later so I can hear his next question.
When I met a friend for coffee the other day, she vented about something and apologized. I told her no apology needed because there was not one question I had to answer - I just had to listen. So if you see me and I don't answer your question, it's because I'm all answered out.

Our Latest Headlines

** Pull-ups Free! **
Bounce has graduated from wearing pull-ups at night. We have been all undies all the time for about a week and no wet beds in the morning. Can you hear me singing "Hallelujah, Hallelujah"?


** Mystery Solved **

Ketchup had lost her little blankie a few months ago. It just disappeared. Even after packing and cleaning to put the house on the market, I still couldn't find it. She hadn't really missed it, but I wanted to keep it for memories. About the last week, she had been asking for it and we made another fruitless search. She was in her room whining (not a big surprise there) one afternoon and pulled her jewelry box down from a small decorative shelf on the wall. Surprise - blankie was tucked inside! It was right above our noses the whole time.

** Little Fish **

After finally feeling better (what wonders antibiotics and rest can do!), I was able to join my family at the pool. In just the week and a half I was sick, my kids turned into fish. The last time I had taken them to the pool they wouldn't even put their face in the water to blow bubbles. Sunday afternoon they were both jumping into the water by themselves and would go under and come right back up. Bounce has a floatie suit that lets him swim around all by himself. Ketchup is the hit of the pool with her little barbell float. It was neat to see so much progress in such little time.

** Little Hips **

Ketchup is a hula-hoop master at age 5. This little girl has got talented hips. She can keep it spinning for a good minute. I just sit back and laugh in amazement. She reminds us that she is the only one in the whole family that can hula hoop. She can even spin it around her neck. And then she gracefully brings it off her leg. She stopped traffic the other day when she was doing it in the front yard.

Maybe Letterman is in her future - maybe not since we would never let her out of the house in that outfit.

Does Daddy Know He's in Charge?

I've been feeling sick for almost a week now and it's all thanks to allergies. I thought it might be strep throat, but who knew that allergies could be so yucky. It's raining today, so maybe that will clear some things up along with the new meds I'm on.
Needless to say, the kids have had a lot of Daddy time over the past several days. They learned the first night he came home to sick mommy that I was happily relinquishing my role of keeper of the house and kids.
Ketchup: "Mommy, can I have some juice."
Mommy: "Daddy is in charge now. Go ask him."
Ketchup: "Does Daddy know he's in charge?"
Mommy: "I don't know. Go ask him." (Anyone noticing a theme here?)
Ketchup: runs off to ask Daddy and all too quickly returns, "Daddy wants to know what he is in charge of?"
Mommy: "Daddy is in charge of you and your brother, so go ask him for juice."
Ketchup: "OK"
and she leaves finally getting the point and I guess Daddy got it too because I got to rest in peace and quiet.

Daddy did a great job keeping up with the kids and thanks to their daily trips to the community pool, I think they may be expert swimmers by now.
For the few times when I did have to entertain them by myself, I learned a few couch-friendly
tricks: blowing bubbles with my gum, hitting a balloon up in the air to them, asking them lots of questions and of course a lot of TV (thank you Jon & Kate Plus 8 for entertaining my kids).
And then last night I had moved to my bed and Ketchup and I repeated history. We watched my favorite movie from when I was a kid together - E.T. She held on to my E.T. lunchbox and asked about a million questions, but she really seemed to like it. She also liked that she was able to stay up late with me because Bounce was a little scared and tired and had already gone to bed.
Despite Mommy being sick, the kids had a great time with Daddy in charge. Thank you to the best Daddy in the whole world!!

Ketchup's new trick & AI Finale

Ketchup stopped me today and said "look, I can make the number one with a different finger." Well, you can probably guess which finger it was and no I didn't teach her this trick. Maybe she learned it from Daddy after his encounter with Misty.
I tried to keep a straight face and tell her "Yeah, I see, but the best finger to make a one is still your pointer finger." She seemed to go right along with it.
Speaking of right along with it....she was singing right along with all the songs on American Idol tonight. Although I think our (I brainwashed her) favorite David Cook will probably lose, it was a good show.
Ketchup was excited that the winner would make a CD. She also wanted to know why the stage looked smaller-that was a sign she's been paying too much attention! She also was concerned that once the show was over would it ever come on again and was relieved when I told her they would start all over next year. She'll probably be counting down the days.

Top 10 Highlights of our Vacation

Last week we were blessed to be on vacation in beautiful Arizona. Here are our top 10 highlights
10. It was a break from cleaning our house
9. Enjoying the yummy Tucson food (eegee's and Lucky Wishbone)
8. We all attempted to catch the 6 fish in the pond at my parent's house. Attempt is the key word.
7. Ketchup had her hair braided for the first time and has now discovered a new hair-do. In fact she has a hair full of braids tonight, so she can have that crimped look in the morning.
6. Bounce wrestled his little heart out.
5. Riding the quad and learning (or confirming as we already assumed) that Mommy is faster.

4. The kids learned to cross the pond all on their own despite the super cold water. They would tell you they swam across because they paddled their hands as they walked.

3. Bella, our dog, learned to swim and now hates our small fenced in yard compared to 40 acres.

2. Daddy survived a vicious dog attack - we will never name our dog Misty. (Misty might have been small but those super sharp teeth packed a mean bite).

1. Spending a wonderful, relaxing time with family.

Sing it like a singer

When I get tired of the kid songs, I like to play upbeat Christian music in the van. The kids have a new favorite CD, Addison Road, and they request their favorite songs and are quickly learning the words to sing a long. Bounce asks what every word means. I don't know how he understands each word, but he repeats the word he hears and wants to know what it means. Good thing it's Christian music!
Ketchup is the singer. She sings her little heart out. Then Bounce asked her to sing it like a real singer and that brought out all the serious facial expressions. I think I have American Idol to thank for her serious singer faces. Too bad I don't have a video camera hooked up to the rearview mirror to share these songs.
Here is the band's website if you want to sing along, just remember to sing it like a singer!
http://www.addisonroad.com/home.htm

The Jacket

It was a little cool this weekend, so being the good mom that I am (or so I thought) I took jackets for the kids to church. Well, by the time we hiked all the way to the van after church, I realized I had forgotten both jackets. My wonderful husband and the kids march all the way back to retrieve them. What seemed like 15 minutes later they return empty-handed. Both jackets were gone. Here's the funny part. Bounce's jacket was new or new to us as is practically everything else we have. I had bought it last Saturday at a children's consignment sale. It was a nice tan Ralph Lauren jacket but I only paid $2 for it. However, I did not write his name in it (note to self - do that next time).
When Bounce's teacher saw the jacket on the counter and saw that it was a Ralph Lauren jacket, she did not assume it was Bounce's because why would a nursery worker's son have such an expensive jacket she thought. So both she and another teacher thought it was Pastor Graham's grandson's jacket because it was Ralph Lauren it had to be his, and since his Grandma picked him up, she didn't know if it was his or not. She probably thought well it's Ralph Lauren it has to be his, too.
So about every hour Bounce wants to know when he'll get his jacket back since he never even wore it. His teacher and I had a good laugh about the "expensive" jacket. We'll have to see if we get it back.

"I Love It!"

Those were Ketchup's exact words as she went across the monkey bars for the first time today all by herself. Once she had it down, she did it several more times. Who wants to bet she won't be able to lift her arms tomorrow?
So if the showing today doesn't amount to much, at least it gave her time to learn a fantastic new life skill!

Finally - Spiderman!

We've been renting the Best of the Electric Company on DVD with the hopes that on each disk we would see Spiderman. The kids have been disappointed up until now. Today they finally saw him on disc three - third time is the charm I guess.
Despite not being able to see the superhero, they have enjoyed the shows and have been learning too, so I guess the wait has been well worth it. Despite being an "old" show, it can really hold their attention and I tell myself that it's good for them too.
It's funny to go back and look at shows I watched as a kid. I don't remember the skits, but I remember some of the songs. Bounce asks me after each skit, "did you watch that when you were little?" He is amazed at what we used to do and watch when we were kids. He loves the song "Stop in the name of Love" because that is what his Nana and Tata used to listen to.
The good old days - how f------ un f---- un f--- un f-un fun!

Lesson learned (I hope)

(this may be a long read, sorry)
So I've kept the house pretty spotless for the few weeks it has been on the market. Everything ahs been pretty much under control. But we have had only one showing so far. Our open house was today, so yesterday I was cleaning even more so things would look extra perfect. I had just started cleaning the ceiling around the airvents. This made a mess as the little white specks of popcorn ceiling fell to the floor below. I knew this would happen so I had even moved the furniture out of the way so it wouldn't get messy. I thought I had it all planned out - under control.
Then the phone rang. I listened to the message stating that we had a showing scheduled from 1:30 - 2:00 pm. I looked at my watch and it was 1:45 pm. Panic mode set in. I was not in control. I started to run out the front door to tell Daddy, who was mowing, that we had people coming over. As I stepped out I saw the realtor's car out in front of the house. I'm sure they could see the look of disgust and panic on my face. Oh well. They came in and saw our house far from the "near perfect" condition that it is described as being in.
After they left I thought about how God knew they were coming. Why didn't He just give me a feeling to wait just 20 minutes before I started? Why didn't He distract me with something else so I wouldn't have had the house looking so out of sorts.
Well, I resorted to press on. I took control again and poured all my energy into cleaning. I was up until midnight and then up at 6am this morning to make things just right.
Then as I drove out of the neighborhood, I noticed a police car parked next to a fence off the main road through our neighborhood. In the biggest yellow letters possible there was a profane word spraypainted on the fence. Our neighborhood has never had graffiti until today. I wanted to cry. I had tried to make everything perfect, but I could not control everything.
Again I began to question God as to why today, why that. I continued driving and the CD in the car continued to play. Then I heard the following words in the song...

Even before there was a drop in the ocean even before there was a star in the sky even before
the world was put in motion You were on Your throne You were on Your throne.

[chorus]
You reign glory in the highest You reign let creation testify by Your name every knee will bow
and every tongue proclaim that Jesus reigns.

And you know that even before I had made such a mess of the house and another "bad guy" made such a mess of that fence - Jesus was seated on His throne. He reigns. He is in control.
I hope I get it now that I'm not in control and can't expect to control everything. In fact in spite of everything, not one single person came to the open house today. But you know what only one single person matters in this whole thing - that is Jesus Christ. He is in control and it is His power that holds everything together (Col. 1:17). That was the subject of our sermon at church last night. So do you think that God is shouting to me or what?
And since He is holding it (everything, the sale of our house, our car, our trip to Guatemala) together, I can stand steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, not shifting from the HOPE in the Gospel (Col 1:23) (not in the hope of the sale of our house or the hope of a bigger, better house).
I hope that you have hope in the right thing too!

The winner (by a mile) is.... & the return of normalcy

Good ol' buzz has gone on to greener pastures. Last week Daddy called our insurance agent to add our new car and adjust the insurance since we wouldn't really be keeping Buzz much longer. Well, the receptionist asked a lot of questions about Buzz. To make a long story short, her nephew who has just returned from the war in Iraq needed a car for college. The great news is that he is now driving the car and we were able to help out a young man who fought for our country.

So now we just need to sell the house although it's starting to feel like that will be much more of a marathon. Our open house is this Sunday, so we'll see how that goes. We watched a show last night where no one came to their open house, so we wonder if that was a warning. We'll keep you posted!

Life is getting back to normal. Who knew that a normal routine would be so welcome. We resumed school this week and I've had time to exercise rather than just clean and complete a house project.

I've gotta run now because there is a meltdown occurring in Ketchup's room because Spiderman won't marry Barbie - see we're back to normal!

Bye-bye buzz - hello whitey!

Well, it was totally a God thing and Daddy now has a nice "new" car to drive. It's a white Camry, super clean and super quiet! I can actually hear Daddy now on his cell when he's driving.
So that means that our little "buzz" has to go; we are not only selling our house but our car as well. We'll have to see which sells first. Maybe they can race each other to the selling line.

Ketchup also had a fantastic soccer game last night. It was her team's most competitive game and it was fun to watch. Ketchup sported a serious game face a couple times when she was determined not to let her opponent beat her to the ball. She scored one of their three goals in a tight 3-2 win. She had fun and we have fun watching her.

Likely story (bad guys part 2)

Since we've been busy getting the house ready to list, Daddy hasn't had a chance to repair our stylin' car w/ keyless entry and keyless startup. That means I had my first "thief" tutorial this weekend so that I could start the car w/ our handy screwdriver and drive to work Sunday.
I was assured since I was a quick learner (maybe I'm not as innocent as I seem :-)) that I would be fine and have no problems.
Well, I was off and running early Sunday morning. I had even remembered my IPOD since our radio is now a big black hole in the dash. I was jammin to "You are God Alone" singing along that God is on His throne through the good times and bad (good thing because I was just about to get to the bad part) and I stopped at a red light at a major intersection. I was the first car in the center lane and then the engine died. I'm thinking "don't panic," so I pulled out the screwdriver to turn the car off and try to start it up again. That didn't work. I am in the worst place possible so I turn on the hazards and call 911. What seemed like half an hour later (more like a super long 10 min.), I see the wonderful flashing lights behind me. This is maybe the only time I've been glad to see those bright lights in my rearview mirror.
My next dilemma is about to begin as the cop walks up and I have to try to explain why I'm driving a car w/ no ignition and using a screwdriver for a key.
Despite my worry, he was very kind and I must have either looked innocent or too scared to have actually been the "bad guy" and he laughed about my having to drive that way.
Long story short, our little "buzz" is in the shop again and we went to look at a "new to us" car yesterday.

Bad Guys

Today I answered the phone to hear the words ...."This is 'so and so' with the Dallas Police Department...." Those are never good words to hear. Well, the bad guys struck and broke into Daddy's car at work. They broke the ignition and stole the radio. They drove the car from the first floor of the garage to the sixth floor.
We are ready to get rid of the car anyways, so I wonder why they just didn't take it. Come to think of it the car is so LOUD (Ketchup and I unaffectionately call it Buzz because it sounds like a giant bee), they couldn't have snuck away with it so they gave up.

Daddy just told me that another good thing is that the cd I had just given him for Easter was not in the car because I took it out to put it on Itunes. The other cd's in the car were sermons on the holiness of God. Too bad they didn't take those; they could have used them.

The dreaded words....

We went at lunch today at McDonalds (our normal Wed. routine), and I asked Ketchup if she played on the playground outside or inside at church. I was not prepared for the words I heard next.
"Me and a boy played boyfriend and girlfriend on the outside playground."
Oh, I can feel the knife in my heart as I type this. Boyfriend & Girlfriend- eeck!
I tried to calmly find out more about this "game" as my mind started racing to her wedding day (ok, I'm exaggerating a little:-)) She said she doesn't remember his name (oh, no!), but can remember what he looks like. He has blond hair and the last time he was there, he wanted to play this game with her. I asked if there were other "girlfriends" and she said she was the only one. She said today she planted flowers for his birthday. I guess that can't be all bad.

If I'm not posting as often (like I did anyway), it's because we're putting our house on the market. We would love to be closer to daddy's work and our church. Less time in the car equals less money on gas and tolls. God willing, we can sell quickly and get back to a normal life. Until then, we have to have a clean and clutterfree house. Needless to say, I'll be busy around the house for a while.

This is a picture of what the kids were doing as I blogged. They're going to hate it when I have to pack up some of their toys. Now they have proof of which ones they might be missing.

Meet our new family members!

SnowKetchup and SnowBounce. They joined our family yesterday, but have just about melted completely now. We had lots of fun in the snow. We got about 4 inches of really nice thick snow. Winter isn't bad when you just have it for about a day and a half. I can't imagine having to bundle kids up like that every day for a few months.