It has been four years since I posted on the blog.  I can not believe it is still here.  I came back to the blog to delete it but after reading over the stories I don't have the heart to get rid of it.  Oh well, I guess I will keep it and I will start using it again.  LOL

Kids are so funny....

Megan is in first grade (soon to be second). You would never guess it though. Her and her little girl friends are always on the phone planning sleep overs and play dates. They act like miniature teenagers. The cutest thing to hear is when one of her friends leave a message. It is always about five minutes long, they rarely say who they are calling for and they do not identify themselves. Last weekend we were very busy and we were hardly home at all. One of Megans friends kept trying to call her. She left about five messages asking Megan to please call her back. Well I guess when Megan didn't call back the little girl figured she had the wrong number because her last message said this;

"Hey Megan I am trying to call you. I don't know if this is the right number. If its not please call me and tell me the right one so you can come over my house"

Guess what this is...

Take a guess at what this is. Unless your a doctor or nurse you probably will never figure it out. It is Debra's appendix! Don't ask me why the doctor thought we would want a picture of this but apparently when you have something removed these days you get a picture of it. EWWWW GROSS!

Poor Debra. She started having stomach pains on Sunday. By Monday morning her stomach hurt so badly that she could hardly walk. I took her to the emergency room and within hours they were wheeling her off to have emergency surgery. They said she would have to stay in the hospital overnight but she would be fine in a few days.

Now anybody who knows Debra knows what a little scared head she is. Before surgery she was very worried, but she wasn't worried about the surgery. She was worried that her Father and I were going to make her spend the night in the hospital alone! That girl is so silly. Her Dad stayed with her and he took really good care of her. Almost too good care of her. Can you believe that he spoon fed her? I understand her stomach hurt after surgery, but as far as I know her hands were just fine.

Debra is home now and she is doing fine. She is going to be a sad little thing when Dale goes back to work though, because I am not going to give her the care her Dad has....

Just a little side story;

When Ashley was five she had to have her appendix removed. Her stomach started hurting on the same day that I had volunteered to go on a field trip with her kindergarten class. I gave her some pepto bismol and figured she would forget all about her tummy ache once we got to the museum. Well long story short, I drug her around Washington D.C. all day long and the next morning I had to rush her to the ER to have surgery....

So very gracious...

Gracious; 1.having or showing kindness, courtesy, charm etc. 2.compassionate 3.polite to supposed inferiors


Yesterday Jessicas sixth grade class celebrated the end of testing with a trip to the local park. I went along and I am extremely glad that I did. I saw something yesterday that really awed me. It was a simple gesture made out of pure selflessness and words can not express how proud I am of my daughter.

As everyone knows sixth grade girls can be brutal. One day the girls are friends. The next day they back stab, spread rumors and treat each other with utter disrespect. Then the day after that they are friends again. It is an especially hard time for Jessica who is super sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others. Well this year has been particularly hard on Jessica. She has this friend/enemy who has gone out of her way to make Jessica miserable. After months of friendship and abuse Jessica finally decided that she was no longer going to deal with this girl. Jessica was not going to be this girls friend or enemy any longer. Jessica was determined to detach herself from the situation. Of course this frienemy did not like that. The girl spread rumors, told lies and was just plain mean. It really hurt Jessica, but she ignored it.

Yesterday we were at the picnic. Everyone was sitting at the picnic tables eating lunch. Jessica's frienemy ended up all alone. She was standing by the swing set looking pretty miserable. I thought it was her just desserts. Maybe next time this girl would think twice before she was mean to someone. After a few minutes Jessica noticed the girl. I don't know what I expected Jessica to do, but her actions definitely surprised me. Jessica said nobody should feel left out and alone and she invited the girl to sit at our table.

I think that must of been the most gracious gesture I have ever seen. I would love to say I taught her that, but we all know I would of left miss frienemy standing there. I am so proud of Jessica. She honestly has the sweetest spirit in this world.

Have you ever noticed that when a family has a baby they all start using words that no one has ever heard before? Our baby Faith is two and a half. She is a very verbal baby and I thought I would translate just a few of our new family words...

food or eat = yummies (when ever she is hungry she asks for yummies).

Love = lub

blip blops = flip flops (even my Dad says blip blops now)

ga-raw = straw (it took forever to figure that one out)

ninny = pacifier

jecca = jessica

gum- gum = gum

t-bee = t.v.

kissies = kisses

So if you come to our house we will immediatly ask you to take your blip-blops off. Jecca will offer you some yummies and a drink with a ga-raw in it. We will probably need you to help us find the ninny. After that we will all sit down chew some gum-gum and watch t-bee. At the end of the night we will give you kissies good bye and tell you how much we lub you.

Poor Daddy....

The other day Dale was walking through the living room when out of nowhere a little baby voice said; "I lub you Daddy!" His chest just puffed up. He was so happy. He replied; "I love you baby!" Then she said "I lub Mommy more!"

Too young to be that smart....

The other day Megan came home from school with an eraser. I asked her where she got the eraser and she told me Conner gave it to her. I asked why Conner gave her the eraser and she just calmly replied "because I told him to and boys always do what I tell them to."

I made her return the eraser....

Its true...

A few months ago my eleven year old daughter shouted "The only way to get attention in this house is if your bad"! I immediatly denied her words and even gave her a lecture on being a little selfish and self absorbed.

As time went on that little sentence would not leave my mind. I told myself not to let it get to me. She was just being dramatic. I am a good parent. I always praise my children. I spend time with them. I take them places. I teach them things. God knows I have read a hundred parenting books to keep on top of things. What she said could not possibly be true. Then why was it bugging me so much?

I have five children. Ashley (18) was (and still is) pure hell as a teenager. We went through so much with her. Debra (13) is your typical teenage girl. She'll do it if she can. I just have to make sure she can't. Jessica (the 11 year old we are talking about) has always been the sweetest thing in the world. She does the right thing because she can't stand for someone to get mad at her. Megan (7) is the mouthiest child I have ever met. She is strongwilled and single minded. If she sets her mind to something; then consider it done. Then we have Faith (2). She is our spoiled, funny handful of a baby.

Now just in writing that parpgaraph I have proven Jessicas point. With so many strong agressive personalities swirling around her Jessica is often left out. Now don't get me wrong; I don't forget to feed her or anything. I just sometimes forget that just because she is not screaming for attention she still needs and deserves it.

It is such a hurtful feeling as a parent to know that you have been treating your child unfairly. I am glad (and sad) she finally got mad enough to say something. I know there is nothing I can do to change the past and sitting around feeling guilty is not going to fix anything. I will take this experience and learn from it. I will make sure to spend a little time each day talking to and appreciating her.

From now on I will make sure that being good gets atleast as much attention as being bad....

So ridiculous....

Debra loves and I do mean loves, loves, loves big hoop ear rings. This is a pair that she got for Easter. She wears them all the time. She can take this ear ring off and it will fit completely up her arm. Mom and I always laugh at her because her big hoop ear rings are so ridiculous. While Debra is very happy with these ear rings she is on the look out for a bigger pair......

caterpillars

Summer is almost here. At our house we can tell the season from the bugs that are outside (and a lot of times inside). Spring brings lady bugs, summer brings caterpillars and fall brings gnats because we live by a bean field. Its really gross.

We were outside yesterday and the kids were of course playing with the caterpillars. We all remembered the funniest caterpillar story ever and I thought I would share it with you guys.

When Debra was seven and Jessica was five they found a caterpillar. It was a very hot day and they decided to cool the caterpillar off. They got a squirt bottle filled with water and sprayed the caterpillar. Well they accidentally killed the poor thing by spraying too much water. They were both so upset that they cried all day. They both kept saying "Caterpillar why did you have to die?"