"Elder-Berry" Pie Toss!!

Leave it to Granny to come up with this wonderful idea...and creative pun to go along with it! The missions team that is headed to Mexico has been sponsoring many events in hopes to help raise money. Thanks to Granny's hard work with the initial ideas and a great deal of the legwork there have been quite a few super fun fund raisers. Along side of "Souper Sunday" and the "New and Improved Valentines Dinner"...our missions team hosted the first annual "Winter Picnic". There was a nice summer themed afternoon after the services on Sunday that included the usual BBQ food, games and the much anticipated "Elder-Berry Pie Toss"! (The Elders of our church were forced graciously volunteered to sit still while people pay to throw pies at them).

This event lived up to its anticipated fun, plus some. A large group gathered around and paid many a dollar to throw pies at the Elders...the Elders have been dreadinglooking forward to this all month! It turned out to be a very entertaining way to earn some cash..and also proved to be a worth while use of $2 as many many pies were thrown. Yes. It was a mess!

I'm not sure if its a good thing or not..but Josh seemed to be one of the most favored target:) I would say that everyone got their fair share though!

I have probably 25 minutes of video of this..so this is a 2 minute clip of random moments during the event. You will see what they looked like at the beginning..and then at the very end. It was most definitely a fun time!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Rumor has it that it will be the Elders wives in this position at some point to raise money for the bathroom project. We'll see about that!

...might as well.

I am noticing a similar theme among some of my blogger friends...so I figured I might as well join in with them. It wasn't until last night when I was taking pics off my camera when I really FULLY realized it. I knew it was happening but I didn't think it was THAT bad. I mean, it happened to my dad very early and my brother as well.

Yup. I'm going GRAY.


It was made quite clear to me when I saw this picture that Jessalyn took of me while I was having fun with Scott and Stephanie's camera. I can tell by looking in the mirror but there's nothing like having a picture of that side of my head. You can see how nice and brown my pony tail is..and how cruddy colored the rest of my hair is. I guess its time I go see Shara to have this problem fixed!

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in this feeling of getting old. You can go to The Life of D, A and S or even go to The Mommy Chronicles to see some of my other friends who are coming to this same realization. Then there are those who should be complaining about how old they...like that REALLY old guy over at Faded Cap. tee hee hee hee

Well, I suppose it could be worse. Yes...I'm getting old and gray but for the most part I still have my health and I can be very thankful for that! I can still run, do hip hop class, play guitar hero with the best of them (right Amy??!!)...so whether my hair turns gray or not I can still be "young at heart" right??

And for the record...what is the correct spelling of the word "gray"? Grey? Gray? hmmmmm........

Oh, and I had to add this too. This is the picture that I was taking when Jessalyn took the picture of my gray (grey?) head...


No matter how gray I am..I will still be taking pictures. (hopefully one day I won't be borrowing that awesome camera though...I will actually own it!)

Memories.

Its fun to think back to this time last year. I was just about to my due date with Owen and, although I don't remember it, I was pretty miserable. Its so funny how I forget this part. I look back at the pictures...and think "oh, how exciting that was. I just love having that big belly". Josh quickly slaps me across the face (not really) and tells me "YOU DON'T REMEMBER!". For some reason, he remembers everything about me being pregnant.

Not only am I being reminiscent about this time in my life because of Owens impending birthday...but I am also reminded of these times by the birth of Kim and Chris's baby (they welcomed baby Caleb on Tuesday...a month early weighing 7 lbs 13 ozs!) and the soon to be birth of Nate and Megan's baby!

Its funny how Josh and I can have completely different feelings when we hear of a new baby being born. Josh is happy for them of course...but has that "I'm so glad its not me" feeling. At this point he has no desire to be back there with a laboring wife and then a newborn baby.

But then me on the other hand...I get all sad, wondering if that will ever be me again! Then I am quickly reminded during weeks like this past one..with sick kids and that feeling of being overwhelmed and I start to second guess my thoughts of baby #5. The problem is that 95% of the time I don't feel overwhelmed..and I think "whats another baby?". ha ha ha.

Anyway..this was not supposed to be another one of these posts where I whine about this subject:) I was just gonna post a picture of what I looked like at this time last year.

This picture was taken on March 26, 2007.



I suppose I am glad that instead of looking like that I will be a hip hop class today:)

What to write? What to write?

By the title of this post you might think that I have come up blank on what to write about when in reality, its just the opposite. I have several ideas in my mind and can't really decide on what I should post about next. I have stories from months ago that I thought would be appropriate here..but just haven't had the time to post them with everything else going on. I suppose this is a good thing.

For now I will leave you with yet another amusing (or maybe its only amusing to me??) story. I think those of you who have husbands who are completely oblivious while they are sleeping will appreciate this story. (I will say..that there are many things that my husband is wonderful about. He cooks..he cleans, he takes care of me well...but when he's asleep..he's asleep, and there is no changing that.)

During the time that Owen was sick he spent the nights in our bed..and this wasn't just nice snuggly cozy sleepy time..this was sleep for 10 minutes then fuss. Sleep for 10 more minutes then sit up...then use the wrecking ball (otherwise known as his head) to crack my nose as he flings himself back down into bed. It wasn't fun..but the poor guy was so sick that we had to feel bad for him.

I usually am aware enough to know that when the nuky (his pacifier) falls out of his mouth that I need to grab it or else it will be lost forever in the crevices of our bed. I think sometimes I do this without even knowing it and will wake up with it tucked nicely in my hand.

This particular instance it wasn't in my hand. Owen wakes up..and instead of his usual routine, fussing and then demolishing my nose, he was crying. It was all out crying and I couldn't get him to stop. I also couldn't find that stinking pacifier. At this point I had gotten completely out of bed with Owen screaming in my arms and I was desperately searching the bed for the Nuky. I looked under pillows, I shook the sheets, I looked everywhere and it wasn't to be found.

Meanwhile..Josh is snoozing away..completely unaware of my frustration and unaware of the screaming baby in his ear. He's all nicely snuggled up on his side of the bed. I decided that if he could sleep through that then I would just turn on the light..which wasn't pleasant for any of us. I still couldn't find it. I then decide that maybe it feel off the bed..between the wall and our heads. With Owen in my arms and Josh still in bed I start moving the bed around to see if it was down there.

FINALLY...after probably a good 10 minutes of this Josh rolls over and looks at me with the most annoyed look...like "what the heck are you doing? Why are the lights on?". I looked at him thinking "don't even DARE say a word" and then tell him that I can't find the STUPID NUKY and Owen has been crying (and yes, I did have an attitude at this point). Josh then..still without saying a word...reaches out his arm and opens his hand and hands over the nuky! Oh my goodness. I am both relieved..and TICKED at him at the same time.

I then said "Did you have this the whole time?" (probably with a bit of a raised voice and even more of an attitude) and he mumbles.."I don't know".

Yeah..its funny now.

So then, the next morning Josh wakes me up after his shower and the first thing he says to me is "I don't appreciate being yelled at in the middle of the night". (He wasn't being serious..just giving me a hard time). I was instantly steaming again..and then he made me laugh by making it clear that I should never ever turn the lights "on and off" and "shake the bed all over the place" in the middle of the night....because he was convinced the world was coming to an end.

Yeah, well everybody's world is going to end soon if this Mama doesn't start getting some sleep!!!! So there.

Well it makes for a good story. I think of a story that was told by Kann (over at The Life of D, A, and S). Long story short...one of her kids threw up all over her husbands back in the middle of the night. He didn't move..she cleaned him up and rolled him over and he didn't have a clue! Man, I wish I could sleep that soundly!

Our Easter....in the ER.

Ahhh yes, never a dull moment around here. In between rehearsals and performances for One Voice Luke and Owen seemed to be 'coming down with something'. I brought them in on Friday morning..just to be safe and it turned out that Luke has strep throat and that Owen appeared to have some sort of virus. As soon as Luke started taking the ABX he was fine...but poor Owen just wasn't kicking whatever he had.

After four straight sleepless nights...and a very fussy, sleepy boy...I decided to take him to the ER on Sunday after church. The ham was in the oven..and the fam was over, but it was the general consensus that I should bring him in.

Our family friend (someone who snuggled with Josh as a baby) came along with me and Owen to the ER...and I'm glad she did because we spent quite a long time there. Fortunately, we got right in when we arrived and I was glad they were taking such good care of Owen.

The first thing was to take an rectal temp...with read 102.7. They swabbed his throat to test for strep, and his nose to test for RSV. (They had me plug his nose to get him to open his mouth for the strep test...THAT was hard and felt so unnatural for me to be doing to him!).

After both of those test came back negative the docs were concerned. He was "the epitome of lethargic" as the nurses said and was definitely a sick little guy. They spent lots of time listening to his lungs, watching his chest...all the while he just laid there sometimes sleeping, sometimes just laying there. He didn't even have the energy to show that he didn't want to be there. Poor guy. They also did the oxygen saturation test thing and fortunately, that was fine too.

From there they decided to draw blood..and do a chest x-ray...both of these are not fun to do on an almost one year old! I had to hold him down while they drew his blood. He did not like that at all..and mustered the energy to fight us on that one! The next thing was to do the x-ray. For those of you who have never had to have one of these done on your baby...this is what it looks like...(this is a pic I got online..not Owen..)



Again..poor guy! I can tell you that Owen was MUCH less happy than the baby in the picture above! After 3 rectal temps and a blood draw...this was not what he was hoping for. Fortunately, it was quick and the x-ray tech was super nice.

So after all that it is determined that his blood work is fine (thank you Lord), his lungs look fine...and well, he just has a virus! Ugh. Its almost easier when there is actually something that you can treat. I was happy that even after being told that it looks to be a virus that they were going to treat him with some zithromax just in case. I know...the whole thing with unnecessary use of antibiotics and all that...but for me it was good news. He has now had two treatments of this ABX and he is definitely getting better. Who knows if its a virus that is just wearing off (it is day 6 of this whole sickness thing) or if its the medicine...but whatever is making my baby feel better is making me happy!

Ultimately I was so happy with how much they did for him. I'm sure there are people out there who would think that now he may have had unnecessary ABX, and unnecessary radiation...but for me it was a sense of relief for them to rule out all of that stuff so I at least didn't have to worry when I got home with him. They treated him very well there (Speare Memorial in Plymouth by the way).

After all was said and done..we got home to have our ham dinner that was still warm..and a relaxing night with the family. The fact that I have been pretty sick throughout the last two days would have to be another post in itself..so I won't even go there!).

Despite the sickies..I still HAD to dress Owen in his Easter outfit. I felt a bit guilty putting a tie on him when he felt so sick, but the pics are priceless!





The boys with Nana. (Jessalyn was down at the sunrise service with Daddy at this point)



"Rock, paper, scissors...SHOOT!"...



Luke, hiding with his Easter candy..

It was AWESOME!

The One Voice performance that is. It went off really well...a couple of hiccups here and there but nothing majorly noticeable. Thats what happens when you only do one show (instead of the three that they are used to doing!).

Anyway...in light of Jessalyn's understanding of why she is up there on stage I can't help but add the fact that..

SHE IS AWESOME!!! (ha ha ha)

Ok, now is time for Mommy bragging so brace yourself.

She did lots of dancing and singing...but there was one particular song that I thought she did REALLY well with. It was more of a hip hop kind of song...for the adults, but she made the cut and the front row:)

No matter what performance she is in I get so many people coming up to me telling me that she "stole the show". She really does...there is just something about her stage presence that is just natural for her. She had so much fun with this particular song.

She was happy because they got to do it twice...a second time as a reprise of sorts. I took some pics during dress rehearsal and then I video taped the actual performance. The first time through I taped the group as a whole...and then knowing they were doing it twice I just did a close up on her for the whole second time. I think its worth the 4 minutes it will take to watch both of them:)

Ok..back to the show as a whole (rather than the Mommy bragging)...

It was really really good. Mac was amazing as usual and the entire show flowed perfectly with what he was doing. It really was great. There were very few empty seats. All in all it was an amazing night!

A couple of pics of Jessalyn...









Unfortunately I realized after viewing this post that for some weird reason the videos uploaded weird. You still get the idea..but starts to speed up and slow down randomly. I promise, the actual performance wasn't like that!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

A funny, yet insightful conversation.

Jessalyn has been preparing with One Voice to perform an amazing Easter performance along side Emmy award winning actor Mac MacConnel.

(The performance is tomorrow night..Friday, March 21st at 7pm. For more info go HERE. Let me know if you want to go...I have extra tickets!)

Anyway. In preparing for this, we were searching for "Biblical Sandals" to go along with the Biblical outfit that she needs to wear during a couple of the numbers. This has proven to be quite the task for me. You see..for me, its not like I can just take an afternoon and run in and out of a handful of stores to find the perfect shoes..for the perfect prices. That would result in a ton of buckling/unbuckling of car seats...and dragging of children...and well, its just NOT fun. For me these situations are the kind where I choose three places that I might find what I need and go there...and eventually probably pay way more than I want on a particular item. Josh will testify..."if it saves her sanity than its OK" (usually!).

After spending more time than I wanted on this endeavor I finally settled on a cute pair of $27 shoes and justified it by the fact that she can definitely continue to wear them outside of her Biblical costume.

Jessalyn was super happy and excited with her new shoes and as she was putting them on she noticed the box said $27 on them. She was instantly concerned (being way more money conscious than I would like) and felt bad that I had spent that much money on her shoes. She then proved that she inherited her dads "justification skills" and IMMEDIATELY said..

"Well, I mean...we ARE telling the Gospel to HUNDREDS of people...so its ok"

I had to laugh. Funny that she is justifying the purchase of these shoes by the fact that in her wearing them she will be spreading the Gospel! Yet..she is SO right!

I am happy to know that she "gets" this concept. There are so many Christian families who have a hard time going out on a limb for different ministries. So many families who feel like the extra time it takes is just too much. Ministries like these really take a decent amount of sacrifice and so many people just feel like its too much. I am thankful for all of those who have been involved..and have taken alot of time out of their already busy schedules and have committed themselves to making One Voice happen.

Its not only One Voice either. We have had a crazy week..between Palm Sunday, Good Friday, One Voice, and Easter Sunday our family has given up a lot of our normal routine. (I mean really...we missed American Idol and Survivor last night..ha ha ha) Its just that..for us we try to see the big picture and if our kids have to get to bed a bit late a few nights of this busy season its going to be OK.

If you had asked me earlier in the week I would have questioned it myself. I would have wondered if we were doing the right thing by putting so much into ministry this week that it seemed like our family was a bit out of whack. It wasn't until Jessalyn pointed out that it was OK for us to spend a little extra money on shoes to spread the Gospel when I realized that it IS OK! We DON'T do this every week. A majority of our weeks are spent with a normal routine, normal bedtimes...even within our normal "ministry work".

I was relieved to know that during weeks that are a bit out of the ordinary that our kids are 'getting' the picture of what we are doing...and feel as though they are a part of it.

Sometimes its fun to learn these types of lessons from a 7 year old!