Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Mom Ever!
I was able to spend the weekend with my parents and grandfather. It was good to be with them. I hate that we don't live closer. I am fortunate to have wonderful parents. I am so glad that we have always had a close relationship. I couldn't have been blessed any more than being born into my family!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!
The kids are having a great day. They slept in the living room last night just in case Santa was real and not pretend like we have told them. They were very excited and enjoyed opening their presents. I have spent the day opening boxes, trying to actually get toys out of the packages and putting them together.
Julia got a digital camera. Not sure if that was a great idea after all. She has managed to take at least ten shots of my rear end. Those will not be posted on my blog. Perhaps she will have to start a blog of her own.
Hope everyone has a great holiday. I miss everyone and hope to see you soon!

Happy Birthday Paul!

Happy Birthday to my husband and best friend.
I am so glad he was born.

Miss Suzie Homemaker I am not!

If you want to know what I have been doing the past two days....
I have been making Truffles for the first and last time. Everyone online talked about how easy these were to make. I don't know where they got their definition of easy! I also made Chocolate Cherry Cookies, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies, and Ginger Cookies.
I think I have had my fill of baking for awhile. Fortunately, I don't even feel like eating any of them. Hope everyone else enjoys them!!!

Harrison's first program

Harrison had his first program at school this week. He did a great job with all the hand motions and dancing, but forgot to sing!
He is in a very rotten stage. He is in destruction mode. He writes "H" on anything he can. Refuses to potty train. But he flashes that smile and says "I love you!" He is an Eddie Haskell in the making for sure. The last photo is of him taking a bow at the end of the show.

You are Mine

I am completely obsessed with this song, well Mute Math in general.
Their lyrics are amazing.
It makes me really think about what my "prized possession" is.
I don't think I have been this moved by an album since U2 Joshua Tree.

You Are Mine Lyrics
Artist(Band):Mute Math

Everyone has their obsession
Consuming thoughts, consuming time
They hold high their prized possession
That defines the meaning of their lives

You are mine
You are mine
You are mine, all mine
You are mine

There are objects of affection
That can mesmerize the soul
There is always one addiction
That just cannot be controlled

You are mine
You are mine
You are mine, all mine
You are mine

Everyone has their obsession
Consuming thoughts, consuming time
They hold high their prized possession
They hold high their prized possession

"You say it's your Birthday...."

Yes, it is my Birthday!
Sometimes I get nervous that I am going to be disappointed with my birthday. It is funny how I still look forward to them (even though the candles are multiplying). I think it starts as a child making such a big deal out of the day. It makes you feel like it is the one day that you are special. You get to set the rules for the day and according to Julia "get the first piece of cake."
It has been a really nice day. I was able to get up and go the the Y to workout while Paul took the kids out.
Lorie and I went and had coffee, and a stroll around Target. (thanks for the pants!)
When I got home Paul and the kids brought me cards, gifts and a cake!
Harrison actually took a nap, (so Paul and I did too!)
Tonight we are planning on going out for Mexican with some friends.
So, I would call that a successful birthday! (and I am not disappointed!)

I do feel special and loved today. I am blessed to have wonderful people in my life.

Relationships

I just got off the phone with a good friend and realized how blessed I am. I have so many wonderful relationships in my life. I know I am not the easiest person to deal with these days. I am thankful for each person in my life that loves me despite all my craziness!

Happy Birthday Lor-Lee

Happy Birthday to my sweet Lorie!
Thanks for letting us celebrate your special day together.
I love you!

Halloween a little late

I know I am only a little over a month late posting these, but they just got off my camera today!
We had a great Halloween party with our friends from church.
Steve was the winner of the pumpkin carving contest! (I won the costume contest, but no picture of me!)

Freedom

I cannot even begin to describe what God is doing in my life. It is huge!
I have found myself being stripped of every ounce of control I have in my life.
This is a very tough thing for me being the control freak that I am.
I have allowed my heart over the last oh almost 33 years to be hardened. I realized in telling my "story" in small group that God has always been a big part of my life, but I have been legalistic and self-righteous. I have followed all the "rules" in life not out of my love for Christ, but out of rule following to be the perfect person so that others would be impressed by my perfection. Ouch!
God has found me lying in the mud eating dirt. He has through some tough stuff that is going on showed me that I am not perfect. He showed me the dirt that I am settling for. He found me at the well and he has given me water to drink.
My heart feels a freedom that I have never felt before. It is good and it is scary at the same time. I am afraid of feeling prideful and falling in the dirt again.
I know that temptation will come my way and I will snack on a morsel of dirt every now and again. But I feel like I now know how to get to the water again.
I feel this love from Christ that I have not had before. I knew he loved me, but I had never felt this intimacy before.

Guilt and other little nuggets of my brain

It has been a rough two weeks for me. I don't know what on earth is going on. Hormonal perhaps, but I think there may be more. Possibly God is trying to get my attention. Thankfully I have been trying to listen in the midst of several emotional melt downs. (I am not the easiest person to live with at the moment I am sure!)
Anyway, I just finished a great book by Dr. Leslie Parrott "You matter more than you think." It is a wonderful book about making a difference. It helped me to see that even though I am not professionally our helping people and making a difference, I do make a difference to the people around me. I am making a difference in my kids lives (hopefully!)my husband (hopefully again!) and the people around me. I don't have to go to India or China or wherever to impact the world. I can do it right in my home.
The other thing that I feel God revealed to me last night (again in a sobbing melt down) is that I live in a sea of guilt. Guilt over everything and nothing. I realized that I apologize for everything. Things that don't need apologized for. I feel guilt pretty much all the time and it is not healthy. I think a lot of that is
in that need to feel perfect. I feel guilt for not being perfect. When you say it out loud it sounds ridiculous and I would counsel someone about how crazy that is...yet, that is where I am. I think being aware of it today has helped. I have tried to battle it and not give into the feelings. It will probably be a life long battle, but one I feel like God is trying to work on with me.

There were lots of quotes from this book I wanted to share, but this one has really stuck with me the most...a bit silly, but very true.

"There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud." Carl Sandburg

Grandma and G-Pops house

The kids and I went to my parent's house a few weeks ago. This was in the car when we were leaving and one of Harrison when we got home. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the kids with their grandparents.

Hat Swapping

Papa (age 99) and Harrison swapped hats. Surprisingly their hats fit each other!
I am so glad my kids are able to have time with their great-grandfather.

Happy Birthday Harrison! (25 days late!)

My baby boy turned 3! We had a great swimming party after church. He had a wonderful time and got some great gifts. Here is his "bat-o-wheel."

First day of school (2 months late)

Here are the kids on their first day of school. They are both doing great in school. Julia is starting to read and Harrison actually took a nap today at school - the teacher sent home a certificate she was so excited!

100th Post

This is my 100th post on my blog...wish it were more exciting!
I have many things I have been planning to post, but no time.
Many things have happened since my last post almost 2 months ago - UGH!
School has started! Julia and I are on our adventure of homeschooling. I have coined our name St.Arbucks Academy since we spend our Tuesday sitting in Starbucks reading all her books. School has been positive for the most part and I think she is learning a few things. Harrison also started school (parent's day out) and turned 3 and got rid of his 'pappy.' Big mile stones, if we could only get him potty trained he would be good to go!
My active life of working out 6 days a week has come to a screeching halt. I have injured my back, knee and ankle. This has been very difficult for me to deal with. I am finding myself more and more depressed due to the lack of activity and frustration with not knowing how to make this thing better.
Other than those few things not much else going on. I have lots of pictures I want to get posted if I ever get them off my camera.
Hopefully post 200 will be more exciting.

Friends

 
 

I am so blessed to have many wonderful friends in my life. It is amazing how God has blessed me with special friendships at every stage of my life. I had a great opportunity to go visit two of those wonderful friends while I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Brittany (picture with me with long hair), we were friends growing up in school 4th grade through high school. We have a long history together and have kept in touch via email, but really had not spent any time together for about 15 years. We had a wonderful visit and it was amazing how the time didn't make a difference - it was like we had never been apart!
Julie (picture with me with short hair-taken 2 days after first picture), we worked together at my first job. Julie was a God-send for sure. It was great to have such a wonderful friend and co-worker. She was also my crafty buddy. We loved to do crafts and took cake class together. She is doing much better than I am keeping up with those hobbies.
We also had a great visit.
It was fun to get to meet both of them again as mothers. I have not seen either of them since they both had two children. They are wonderful women and fantastic mothers.

Locks of Love

Today I donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love - an organization that makes wigs for underprivileged children who have medical conditions that cause them to have permanent hair loss.
It was a hard decision to cut it off, but I feel good about it. It is neat to think that a child will be wearing my hair!
Here are a couple of pictures.
I feel like a new me!

Our first family Vacation

If you haven't read on Paul's blog by now we have been to Disney! What a blessing!
It was a great vacation for us. It was wonderful to get away and enjoy such a great creation. For the full tour of photos please go to Paul's blog. I am going to post a few of my favorites. They are my favorites because of the incredible people in them.

Everybody else is doing it!

Your Score: Matt Parkman

You scored 79 Idealism, 29 Nonconformity, 20 Nerdiness

I don't want to be a chump.
Congratulations, you're Matt Parkman! You're a great person: caring, hard-working, and honest. You might not have the best of luck, but you do your best in all areas of life. Your kind and responsible nature is rare, and you should be proud of it.

Your best quality: Heart
Your worst quality: You may take more abuse than you deserve

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Beautiful Boy

Here are the pictures I mentioned in my last post. Isn't he just the best looking boy you have ever seen! He has the greatest smile - not to mention perfect teeth.
He loves his "Queen" bike and also his car. If he isn't riding them in the street he is riding them in the house or sneaking into the garage to get into them. He also manages to get into our cars and turn all the knobs and gages.
He gets away with murder because he is so darn cute!

Growing up

Just thought I would share a few new photos. Julia and Harrison are growing so fast. Julia is becoming such a young lady. She has so many wonderful qualities. She is loving and cares about people. She is using vocabulary that cracks me up. She is so expressive with words. For example, when I ask her to do something now she says "Of course I will." She loves to make up stories...she has a very big imagination. (gets that from Paul)
Harrison is a joy. He has such a sweet heart. He is starting to tell you all the time "I wove you." It absolutely melts your heart. He is also ALL boy! He always has a car in his hand or shooting his imaginary gun. His new toy is a long rubber snake that he tortured Julia with the first day until she accepted the fact that it was fake.
They are both into music and love to play all the instruments in the house. Harrison is quite taken with the song "Hey Jude" he loves to watch the video on my MySpace. You can even catch him singing it throughout the day.
Their new favorite thing to do is ride their bikes in the cul-de-sac. I will have to post pictures of Harrison on his bike separate, there wasn't enough room.
We are staying very busy these days. Paul is working more late days/evenings. Julia is still in school until the end of May (on Tues/Thurs). I am working at Salem on Mondays and am subbing at Julia's school for the remainder of the year. I have been attending a fun new class at the Y two nights a week - Zumba (Latin/funk cardio dance). It is a lot of fun when you go with friends. This week I ended up going by myself, not so fun when you don't know anybody.
We had a great time at our garage sale last weekend. My parent's came up to help me. Paul's mom took the kids and we managed to sell just about everything in my basement and garage. It was amazing. We even made pretty good money. My dad has quite a calling for pushing junk on people! (I love you both so much - I couldn't do life without you!!!)
Life is good. We have great family and friends - what more could you ask for??? (maybe a latte!)