Time really has gotten away!!

Wow, time really does get away!  I haven't blogged in well over a month.  Wow, that's okay, I'm a very busy Mommy, wife, teacher, etc....   I've had alot to transpire over the past month.  My sweet Annagrace turned 9 on March 5th, which was the last time I blogged.   Since then we were able to go to Panama City and celebrate Granny's 80th birthday on March 12.  That was a nice, but quick trip.  We've also remodeled, well we are STILL remodeling our kitchen.  I was without a usable kitchen for about 2 weeks or so, and yes that can be trying, especially when you're home for ALL 3 meals everyday.  The remodel has been going good.  We've actually taken down a wall, added new cabinets and put down new flooring, painted etc.  Still need to do trim work and finish up some painting, add some door trim, and some crown molding.... That's yet to be done..... Hmmmm, I'm sure we'll get around to it sooner or later.  LOL!! 
We took a break from all the kitchen and house stuff and went on a short vacation.  We went to Pigeon Forge, with our friends, the Whitakers.  We had a great time.  Nothing high pressure, just a lot of fun for the kids.  We had an indoor water park at the place we stayed, so that was quite a treat for the kids!  We enjoyed ourselves too!!  Just nice to get away and relax!! 
We also celebrated Nathan's 2nd birthday, although he turned 2, on April 6th, we officially celebrated with family and a few friends last weekend!  I cannot believe that he's 2!!!  Time really does fly... He's talking sooo much now, his newest thing is to lay down on the floor and reach up to you and say "help me, help me".  Truly life is never boring with him around.  He's so busy and curious, he doesn't miss a thing, he mimics everything that he sees!  Potty training is going good too, he's been wearing "big boy" undies during the day while we are home.  I'm trying to keep the alarm set for every 30-45 mins.  Works well, except when big brother tries to scare him and tell him a bug's gonna get him, well the past 2 days it's kind of back-fired on Will.  He's picked Nathan up an told him "Nathan there's a bug!", well it scares Nathan, what do you think happens.... Yep, he has the "pee" scared out of him, so he's literally peed on Will twice.  I told Will, that's what he gets for trying to scare the baby!!  Lol!!
Just a quick update on our sweet little family..   We are so blessed.. God has given us 3 beautiful healthy children, awesome friends and family and a wonderful church family! 
Looking forward to celebrating our RISEN KING, this Easter Sunday!!!

Happy Birthday Annagrace!

Today my sweet little Annagrace turned 9 years old today!  Where does the time go?  It just seems like yesterday she was bouncing around with her blonde ringlets all over the place.  Now she's running around holding Nathan on her hip!  She is such a great helper to me.  She loves to help take care of her baby brother.  I just can't believe how time flies.  Watching her flourish into an almost preteen, is sad, but happy.  I'm thankful for such a sweet and healthy young lady.  Just watching her grow up is bittersweet.  We started her birthday celebration last weekend, because we were having a yard sale this weekend.  Annagrace and 4 of her friends enjoyed a night at "Le Andrews Spalon".  We had a blast, I think I more fun than the girls did!  We turned our living room into a spa!  I turned off the lights and lit candles, had soft instrumental music playing.  The girls all took turns at the different stations in the salon.  Each girl recieved a manicure, pedicure, facial and all painted a picture while visiting the spa.  As the girls were recieving their spa treatments they indulged in chocolates and drank "spalicious" from a wine glass!  These girls were pampered and recieved the ultimate spa treatment.  They were all so sweet, once they had all there spa treatments, they all insisted that I recieve the spa treatment too!   It was wonderful.  I figured out how to get a room full of girls quite and settled down for the night.  The spa treatments lasted over 2 hours and the girls were all asleep by 10:30!! We had a wonderful time!  We will finish off the birthday celebration tomorrow with cake and ice cream with family and friends!! 

To Maw Maw's House we go!

As today is Wednesday, the one day of the week that I actually leave my house to work.  I work the other days at home between chores and homeschooling.  Which usually happens early in the morning before my little darlings crawl out of the bed, or late at night while they are sleeping or playing with daddy.  Anyway, my WONDERFUL, AWESOME, AMAZING, GREAT..( I can't put it in words) Mama, she keeps them every Wednesday and homeschools them for me!  The kids LOVE going to Maw Maw's house.  My mom lives out in the country, so as soon as they get their school work for the day done, they are outside!  Will is always tinkering with Popa, right now they are still working on their treehouse/clubhouse.  Will was excited, they got the floor in today!  Annagrace likes to help Maw Maw cook, she loves making biscuits, her favorite is eating the raw biscuit dough!  Lol!  Nathan just lights up when he knows he is getting to visit with Maw Maw!  I am very blessed to have such a wonderful and willing Mother to help us out!  We have decided to let the kids spend the night at Maw Maw's house on Tuesday's.  Not every Tuesday, but maybe once or twice a month.  It gives Mark and I some quite alone time, we actually get to have a conversation without interruption! As I have said before, Will would move in with my Mom if we'd let him.  Annagrace on the other hand, she LOVES Maw Maw, but needless to say, she doesn't LOVE being away from home!  She does not like to be away from me overnight at all!  She just prefers being at home in her own bed.  So we've had to deal with the issue of her staying overnight at Maw Maw's house, not very pleasant at all.  She gets VERY upset.  Last night as she pulled out of the driveway with my Mom, crying her little eyes out, I looked at Mark and said this is like work! 
As I was thinking about all this today, it made me think about how God must feel about me.  I mean just think, Annagrace does not want to be away from me.  She wants to be with me all the time.  Just imagine if we as Christians had that kind of feelings about God.  You know, wanting so much time with God, and not wanting anything else?  If I had that kind of passion about God, man....  What a challenge.  Not wanting anything or anyone, even if it is "Grandma" and it's really GREAT, but the greatness of God is sooooo much better than anything else.  Just like with Annagrace, my Mom, becomes her substitute for me, to help her feel better and safe and secure.  What am I allowing in my life to take that place, am I allowing something or someone else take that place that God should have in my life?  My prayer, Father help me not to put anyone or anything in YOUR place, help me to really want and desire to be with You!!!

A sticky situation...

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day with my family.  We started our morning out with homemade pancakes and bacon!  Yummy..... a family favorite around my house.  After finishing breakfast, we clear the table, all except two items.  We began our school day as normal.   Annagrace is in the den, working on her Math.  Will is in his room beginning his Math.  Nathan is busy sitting on the floor playing with his blocks.  Will has a question about his Math and comes to the den for help.  I help him, and he goes back to his room.  Nathan follows Will out of the room.  I thought Nathan went with Will to his room.  Will likes to take Nathan to his room and play with him from time to time.  After a minute or so I hear a clanking sound.... What was that?  Oh No!  Nathan is NOT in the room with Will.  Yep, you guessed it.... he's standing in a chair at the table. Remember I said we left two items on the table?  Syrup and a glass of tea!!   Well, we have syrup ALL over the table, Nathan has taken the syrup and poured it all over the table and taken both hands and smeared it round and round!  Not only has he smeared the syrup all over the table, but he has dripped it in and out of the glass of tea!  Yes, I'd say I had a sticky situation.  I immediately call for help!  Annagrace begins the bath water, and Will holds Nathan still while I start the clean up process!!  We have syrup dripping from the table and chair, not to mention all the syrup Nathan has all over his face, where he's tried to eat it!!  I didn't get upset or angry, I just called for back up.  I really wanted to get a picture, but things where just to messy to stop and get the picture.  Well we managed to get the kitchen and Nathan all cleaned up!  We then enjoyed the rest of our day!  I don't think we had any more events to tell of!!
As I was telling this story to a friend today, I thought about myself.  How many times have I gotten myself into a sticky situation?   Many times, just like with the syrup, it looks so good, and tastes absolutely divine!  Only to find out what a mess I've made.  You know just making decisions quick and in a hurry, not really thinking about the outcome.  I'm sure as Nathan pulled up his chair all he could think about was how much fun it would be to smear that syrup around and watch it drip from the bottle, and the taste yummy!  I think back on some decisions I've made, they seemed to great, and oh how wonderful it would be, only in the end to find I'd really put myself in a sticky situation.  I prayed today and asked God to help me not to get into any sticky situations, to help me see what a mess I'd be making.  Help me to see the entire process through, not just the what seems to be so good right now! 

Pickled Deer Anyone?

Well, I've used my children's mishaps and funnies along the way.  As you would know I have a confession of my own!  Yesterday I had my meal plan for the day ready.  I began thawing my meat for the evening meal (cube deer steak, hats off to my Will for the meat for our freezer) early in the morning.  By lunch time the meat was fairly thawed. At lunch I took the meat and put it in the refridgerator in a covered bowl.  I heard that vinegar would take the "wild" taste from the meat.  I set out to make my meal plan come together, so I soaked my meat in vinegar while in the fridge.  I put the vinegar covered meat in the fridge around noon.  After coming home from our homeschool group meeting I began cooking my meal for the evening!  I took my time and made sure everything looked just right!  I battered the meat and fried to a beautiful golden brown.  The meal was completed with green beans and rice.  The supper table was set, we were ready to begin our meal.  Will, my hearty little lover of food picks up his cubed steak and takes a HUGE bite!  I hear, "Mama, something's wrong with the meat!  It's sour or something." (The look on his face was priceless).  Well it hit me, and I began to snicker.  Mark says, "What did you do to the meat?".  I said, "I heard if you soaked it in vinegar it would take the wild taste out".  Well, I took a bite, my best description.... take a sponge soak it in vinegar and fry it!  The meat tasted just like vinegar!  It was HORIBBLE.  I can honestly say in all my years of cooking, this was by far my worse ever!  Well, the rice and green beans were good.  I was upset that I had taken so much time and energy to prepare this meal for my family and it turned out to be fried pickled deer!  Needless to say, I've learned my lesson about deer meat and vinegar!

This morning, as I was in my kitchen, kinda laughing at myself for my mishap last night, I felt like I really knew what this was all about.  The deer meat kind of reminded me of myself.  You see, we can sit and soak up all the "vinegar" that comes our way during the day, and no matter how much time we try and make things "look" good on the outside.  Just like I took all the time to batter all the deer meat and fry it to what looked to be perfection, all I wound up with was just fried pickled deer.  I said all that to say, sometimes I allow things to soak into me, anger or bitterness, and try really hard to cover it up and when it comes down to it, I'm just pickled deer!  Even though I started with a good peice of meat, after exposing it to the vinegar it turned out to be pretty yucky in the end.  Sometimes I know that I've allowed things to soak in to me that shouldn't be, so as I was thinking about this today, my prayer was Lord cleanse me, get me out of the bowl of vinegar!  I don't want the nasty yucky stuff coming out, I only want the goodness of the Lord!  My challenge to myself today, think about what the "vinegar" in my life is and ask God to help me remove it!

I saved $86.29

I just returned a little while ago from a shopping trip to Walgreen's.  They have some really good deals this week!  I spent $45.45 and saved $86.29.  I have been working so hard to try and figure out how to really become a smart shopper by using coupons.  This has been my best shopping trip so far!  I was so excited to come home and show Mark all the FREE stuff I got and how I only paid 33 cents for hair color that usually sales for $7.99 a box!  I'm working very hard at trying to save money and become more frugal.  We are working towards being debt FREE!  I'm looking forward to the day that I post my DEBT FREE blog!  I know with God's help and strength we can do it! 

We've had a busy week, Annagrace had a dental appointment on Thursday in Montgomery.  She had to add rubber bands to her mouth appliance.  I can already see a shift in her teeth!  She had an appointment on Friday with the podiatrist, to have her plantars warts shaved off.  After 2 treatments hopefully they are gone and won't come back.  Will has not enjoyed the back and forth to the appointments, Nathan really could care less, he's just happy wherever he is or whatever he's doing.  Will and Annagrace enjoyed the weekend with friends over.  Never a dull moment around here!  I got a wild hair and started painting a tree in Nathan's bedroom.  I'm going to paint a mural on his wall of animals!  I got the tree trunk and branches painted yesterday, and the leaves added today!  I'll post some pics soon. 

I had a great time in Children's Church this morning at church!  We talked about keeping a "pure mind". This was our theme this morning..."Don't let bad thoughts hang around-cause if you do, they'll take you down!"  How that spoke me!  Our ears and eyes are like doors to our minds... What are we letting in? 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Phil 4:8

Feed me I'm hungry!

Well of course it's another Nathan story!  I promise these stories are real, I am not making them up!  If you've ever spent some time with my sweetie you'll know that for a fact.  This morning, just like every other Sunday morning in our house, we are making a mad dash to get ready for church!  I've had my shower, clothes on, getting Annagrace and her friend Maryssa out of the bed.  Of course we are all going in 10 different directions, and yes Nathan is awake and happy!  Mark comes out of the bedroom, and asks "Where is Nathan?", I reply, "Um, I don't know, I think he's in his room". Well as you would know of course he's NOT in his bedroom.  Mark makes his way into the living room and kitchen.  I hear, "Annette, you've got to come see this!"  I walk into the kitchen, Nathan has pulled a chair from the kitchen table and climbed into it.  Mark left the cereal on the table the night before.  Nathan has preceded to open the cereal, and take some out with his hands! Of course it's Fruity Pebbles, so they are small pieces.  He has found one of his little bitty small play bowls and a play spoon and is filling his bowl with cereal and trying to eat it!  What a sight!  My soon to be 22 month old has figured out how to fix his own breakfast!!  I guess it was his way of saying, "Feed me I'm hungry."
As I was sweeping my floor this afternoon, I was thinking about me being a child of God.  I hear quite often from fellow followers of Christ.  I'm just so hungry for more of God and more of what He has for me.  I was thinking about my own life and relationship with Him.  I think this was an object lesson for me.  Maybe God wanted me to see.  If you're hungry, do something about it! Don't just sit back and wait on Him to serve me my spiritual food, I felt like He was saying, if you want more of me, you have to get out your own bowl and spoon and fix yourself something to eat!  I know God can fill my spiritual hunger in many ways, but I know I have to do some things for myself.  I need to spend more time in prayer and reading the Word!  I've got to get my bowl fixed so I can eat and get full!  I don't see God as an automatic ice cream machine that I can turn on and stick my head under eat until I'm full!  I think I'm gonna get my a bowl and spoon and see what God has for me!