Playing Hooky

Me and Eli are playing hooky today. We took Brynne to school this morning and then had to take Kyndal to the orthodontist for a tightening and then the dentist for some cavities. I hadn't brought his backpack or lunch and we didn't get home until after noon which didn't leave us very much time to eat and head back to town. Then I'd have and hour and a half until I had to pick up Brynne and I just don't feel like scrapbooking today during that time. I'm still beat from last week! Eli is a homebody and really didn't want to leave the house this morning. So, I made a decision to let him skip today. He had a little bit of a stuffy nose so it doesn't hurt him to stay in today. And we all know how sick he always gets from now until about March. Our really good doctor is out of the office "for a while" which makes me nervous. She knows Eli well and treats him aggressively when he picks up something, or even gets me prepared for treating him when Brynne comes down with something. Our other doctor in the office treats everything as a "virus", so basically does nothing, which then leads to something. Anyway, we're just staying home today. So there! Morgan and Makenna didn't come yesterday because they had a stomach virus, which is also going around. And Dawson skipped scouts last night. We're all just wiped out. This starts to happen to us this time of year. We just don't want to do much, yet have so much to do! Really we'd just like to hibernate! We have a busy weekend coming up, so I'm just going to veg as much as possible until then.

What a Week!

Wow! What a week! The Just Between Friends (JBF) sale was awesome, but exhausting! I think we had a great sale, although since this is my first time to actually work at it full-time I don't really have anything to compare it to. I think we sold a lot, but we had SO MUCH! Sorting was a nightmare, and a little irritating! So many consignors requested to pick up their remaining items and then didn't show to get them. So, we spent all that time sorting to just end up stuffing them into garbage bags. They were donated to Standing in the Gap, which is a huge blessing, but I just wish we wouldn't have had to sort it all into specific consignor numbers before we donated. HUGE waste of time! Working for Donna was great, and I have had some ideas swirling in my head since the sale that I hope will help us in the future. We're all just too tired to discuss those ideas right not. We thankfully have several months until the next sale, so plenty of time.

Rick was so great during the week, really helping me out and making it easy to be away. But, by Saturday morning I think everyone had had enough of me being away. Friday night Dawson was crying and Saturday morning Eli was. They were SO happy when I didn't have to "go to work" on Sunday. I feel so incredibly blessed, and I know they do too, that I don't have to work full time all the time. I felt such sadness at leaving them just for this week, I am so glad I don't have to do it all the time. I know that me not having income puts a strain on our finances, so I am so thankful that Rick loves our family enough to take on that burden completely by himself and allow me to take care of the needs of our family at home.

I was so glad to be home yesterday! We even skipped church .. something we NEVER do! I was just too exhausted, and the little guys just wanted to be with me. I didn't want to leave them in Sunday school for 3 hours. So I got caught up on my housework and it felt GREAT! I got all of my laundry caught up .. including folded and put away! We finally got our clean socks out of the laundry baskets, sorted and put away. I vacuumed, swept and mopped the floors and cleaned the kitchen. I got caught up on all of my DVR'd shows! I feel a sense of completion! Today it feels so great to have all of that done! It's raining so we have nowhere to go and I am loving that! I don't care if I don't leave the house at all this week other than to run kids where they need to go. The week revs back up at the end with trips to the pumpkin patch and Dawson's birthday party on Friday. Hopefully by then I'll be ready to leave the house!

One More Year

Happy Birthday, Dad!! My dad is 59 years old today ... only one more to the big 6-0!! See you in two weeks, dad! The kids cant' wait to see you! They really enjoyed talking to you on the phone today, too! Have a great week!

Just Between Friends

You may not hear much from me this week because I am working at the Just Between Friends sale. I got to bed at midnight last night and now I'm up at 6:15 just to get things ready enough for the full day ahead. It will be another REALLY late night, and another REALLY early morning tomorrow. I'm not used to this kind of work, not in addition to taking care of my normal stuff. It's so exhilirating though. Just know that we are so busy this week. I'll have some postings at the end of the week because we celebrated our 1 year anniversary in our house on Sunday and the homecoming parade is Thursday. Dawson got into some poison sumac on his campout this weekend, so he had to go to Urgent Care yesterday. It's really bad. He got an antibiotic (because at least one is infected) and oral steroids. Hopefully he will be feeling better today. Rick and I did the unthinkable and actually CAUGHT Dawson a tarantula ... actually Rick caught it and I screamed from the driveway. He was going to take it to one of his teachers that collects that kind of stuff, but I think he's just going to let it go today. Well, that's all I can get my brain to recall this morning. I'll post later in the week!

Fireproof

Wow .. we went to see Fireproof last night. Very powerful! Every non-married and married person should see this movie! In fact, Kyndal is going to see it today. It has something extremely powerful for anyone who sees it. Applying the principles of the movie would not only change marriages today but may prevent the destruction of marriages in the future.

Interruptions

Today's posting is not about something cute one of the kids did. It's one of those "deep" and "inspirational" posts. I follow a blog called GirlTalk that is the ramblings of four Christian women. Yesterday's post was about the frustrations of interruptions in your day. You know me, as I sat yesterday with WAY more things on my To Do List than humanly possible .. it really caught my attention. It said that on days like that we should pause and consider three things: 1. What would my husband want done most out of the list of things I have to do? 2. What needs do my kids have today (not wants, but needs?) 3. Remember that only God completes his To Do List everyday in the perfect timing. I am prideful to think that I can too. I guess what really caught me was looking at your husband's perspective FIRST! How often do we do for our kids, for ourselves, for others, and our husbands are left on the back burner. If your husband could really care less that the whole house is dusted, but it really means a lot to him that when he gets home the house is calm and relaxed, then work on those things to make that happen instead of neglecting those things to get the dusting done that nobody cares about anyway. Now, this is not to say that you should neglect the things you have to do for the day. For instance, at some point this weekend I have to tag my items for JBF. Something might have to give in order for that to happen. I'm simply out of time. But, I think Rick would want me to get that done. He's not selfish or insensitive. He knows I have things that are important to me, too. And sometimes that's what he wants most. Just a thought to consider.

Tonight we are going to see the movie Fireproof and going out to dinner with Matt and Steph. We are really looking forward to it!

Eli's Preschool

Last night was a crazy night! Brynne and I took Kyndal to meet Lisa to go to the Rascal Flatts concert. Then we raced to the 8th grade center for Kyndal's open house. Brynne slept the whole time we were in the car. So, she was a little cranky at the open house. When Kyndal's was over we went straight to Eli's open house. Rick and Eli met us there. WOW .. was Eli excited! It was so awesome to see him in that environment! He showed us everything and started playing in the kitchen. He had me sit down so he could make me a cake. Then he went to the books. I never knew he liked books so much! Him and Rick read almost the whole time we were there, while Brynne did every puzzle. Eli had one book memorized! Here's a picture of him with it.



The thing I couldn't get over, though, was how he interacted with everyone! He said, "Hi Trinity." And, "Mommy, say 'hi' to Hunter!" He said, "Mrs. Dunkerson, say 'hi' to mommy." He was engaging and affectionate and you can just tell that he LOVES preschool! He loved having us there in his class with him. He was very proud of his classroom! And Mrs. Dunkerson is wonderful. He really enjoys her and I think she really enjoys him too. She talked about all of his hugs and smiles. We are very proud of him! He sure has come a long way in two years! He is having speech now, two days a week for 30 minutes, and I can really tell how much better he is using his words and pronouncing them. I really couldn't be happier! And, apparently, neither can he!



Kyndal had a really great time at the concert! Rick went to Tulsa and picked her up at about 11:30, so it was a late night for her. Other than that the concert was really great, the only other thing she really commented on was how hoochy all of the women dressed.

Where was Dawson in all of this? Laying on the couch watching t.v. He wasn't feeling very good last night .. just worn out I think. He was in bed early.

SYATP

Last night was See You at the Party, following yesterday's See You at the Pole. Embarrassing to say, we did not make it to the pole yesterday morning. Rick needed to be at work to welcome new customers and I just couldn't swing it with E and B (and Morgan and Makenna). The party at the football stadium was great, though, roughly 1,000 kids. It's great to see all of the local churches come together, wearing the same t-shirts, cheering on our kids to victory. We had a huge dodge ball game on the field that was entertaining! Tim Bach spoke and many kids responded for prayer. It was a beautiful night, so very awesome!

Today will be a whirlwind of activity! Three of the four are at school, Eli soon to follow. While he's at school I'll be placing JBF signs and running errands. I'm taking Kyndal to Tulsa at 5:15 to meet up with someone to go to the Rascal Flatts/Taylor Swift concert. She is so excited! She doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to let her off a week early from her "no-texting" grounding. She'll be texting by 3:15 p.m., which is 12 second after she gets off the bus. Then I'm off to Kyndal's open house at the 8th grade center and then off to Eli's open house at the pre-k wing. I'm supposed to go to a friend's jewelry party between 6 and 8 and somewhere in there we need dinner. Hhhhmmm .. I'll figure that one out later. My "planned" meal is not going to work .. not enough time. I think we'll have beef stroganoff instead. I can throw that in the crock pot.

Not Nice

At preschool yesterday Brynne was sleeping on her rest mat .. apparently like a log. A little girl on the other side of the bookshelf kicked it and all of the books fell on Brynne. She never flinched!

Kyndal broke up with her boyfriend last night. Just Monday he was the greatest thing in the world. She's still as fickle as ever about boys. This time, though, she was emotional. He is a really nice guy. Why don't girls ever want the nice guys??? Dawson was mad. He liked him. It took me back to when Tim would get all attached to our boyfriends and then we'd break up with him. He had to survive lots more breakups between Krissi and I. I kindof understand how he felt. You get all emotionally involved and then they're gone. I'm sure this won't be the last time this happens.

Felt balls

Goodness Gracious .. so much for "Humdrum"! It has been crazy! Things have kicked into high gear with my JBF job, on top of preparing my clothes to sell in the sale. I have marked, so far, 184 items to sell! It will take me all of my spare time in the next week to get the items hung on hangers and tagged. But it is so worth it when the check comes in! Kyndal cheers at two games this week, Dawson had Boy Scouts last night and is going on a campout this weekend. Tomorrow is SYATP (See You at the Pole) .. prayer at the flag poles at school first thing in the morning. Then tomorrow night we have our "See You at the Party" event at the high school, so it will be a late night again. On Thursday, I'm taking Kyndal into Tulsa to meet someone to go to the Taylor Swift/Rascal Flatts concert, then coming back to her open house at 5:40 and then Eli's open house at 7:30. I have a jewelry party to try to fit in there somewhere. SO FAR, Friday is calm. I hope it stays that way because that may be the only night I have to prep my clothes for JBF. On Saturday Rick and I are going to see the movie "Fireproof" with Matt and Steph and then out to dinner .. CAN'T WAIT! It's just a crazy week!

Yesterday Brynne had "homework". She had to decorate a family tree. I smeared glue all over it and gave her silk leaves and flowers and some fuzzy balls and some little, tiny felt balls to stick all over it. She did such a great job! But, about an hour later she came up crying and said, "I have a ball with glue in my nose!" Yes, she did it! She stuck one of those felt balls up into her nose. It was making her sneeze and I tried to get her to blow, but she just kept blowing out of her mouth. While I was gone last night Rick said she sneezed in the kitchen and said she blew it out. There was a pink ball on the floor and she swears that was it. But, there were a few still on the floor from doing her project, so I can't be sure. What is the fascination with sticking things up your nose? Comment back if you have had an experience with this. It should be funny!