...just another manic monday.....

My garage sale was a success :) Lots of customers, lots of shoppers, lots of lookers, lots of sunshine, and plenty of wind to boot! We sold a crib, rocker, love seat, baby clothes, tons and tons of toys, shoes, computer, dvd's, dresser, workout machine, nursery bedding (2) and tons more. I was exhausted every night. Slept like a baby.

Now.....on to the rest of my week. This week I will be getting the house back "in order". I have let the housework, dishes, laundry ect slide while in the garage getting the sale in order. But in the end, we made a decent amount of money that I am happy with. Ok.....so maybe not quite enough for my repaint job AND my hot tub.......but 3 or 4 more garage sales and I might be there! ;)

I have lunch plans with my mom today. She has been gone all last week to Branson, so we are back to our weekly lunches :) Not sure, but I have a hunch the cuisine will be mexican today! And then I am really getting back to my diet. No, seriously. I am.

Randomness

* My son is STILL driving me crazy. Today, is the "ING" problem. Hitting, throwing, pinching, spitting, screaming, kicking, slamming (doors).......yup, all those fun action words. :/ He's in his room for his 1,000,000,000 time out. Seriously, can I just run away and come back when he's 18?!




* We are knee deep in garage sale hoopla over here. Currently we have 10+ tables set up in the garage and 2 hanging racks full of stuff. (Granted, it is not all mine....my mom, my sister, my cousin and my sister-in-law are all participating as well, and have added their stuff. ) Lots and lots of treasures. :) Our "opening day" is tomorrow. :) Wish me luck. I'm hoping to get enough to pay for us to repaint our living room/kitchen/entry area. And with what's left over after that, I was thinking about looking in to buying a hot tub for our patio outside, or possibly putting the kids through christian school. Or maybe even putting a down payment on a mini van. :) Hey, it could happen, right? (it really and truly would be a miracle though, since the most expensive thing I am selling is only $30!)

* Some great thoughts to ponder......

...........why does a round pizza come in a square box?





............why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

............if corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

...........did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride; he sticks his head out the window?

...........why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Things that make you go HMMMMMM.......

April 20, 1974

Today marks 35 years for my parents! Happy Anniversary mom and dad! They are spending a much needed weeks vacation in Branson. :)

Today is also the beginning of an extra busy week for me. We are in the process of getting ready for our garage sale this coming weekend. come on out and shop.....we got LOTS of good stuff! :)

Tough Love

After doing my last blog, someone sent me an email they had found about discipline, and the controversy over spanking. I found it interesting, and thought I'd share it with you all. Let me know your thoughts. :)

Tough Love vs. Spanking - Good Argument

Most of the American populace thinks it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of 'those moments.' One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.

Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

Sincerely,

Your Friend

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Thursdays Thoughts

I was really looking forward to this week for some reason, and it hasn't quite gone as planned. Isn't that always the way it is though? I mentioned to Jer this evening that it seems like this week is just dragging by. It's taking forever for the weekend to get here! And he reminded me that it was actually a shorter week for us, since he was off work on Monday. oh yea. Well, it is finally Thursday, and I am soooooo ready for the weekend. Just a rough week with the kids. Nothing real unusal. Isaiah seems to be even more cranky, more whiny and more high-strung this week than usual. But on the upside, it has brought me more on my knees this week!


Tuesday was just a rough day all around. I had my usual Tuesday morning bible study, in which I took Isaiah to, and dropped him off in the nursery. (Lilly was at school, of course). Well it doesn't help that Brandi, or whoever is working in childcare is always telling me that "Isaiah is so good in nursery......and he just entertains himself......and he's not a problem at all......." blah blah blah. Well, what I want to know is: THEN WHO IS THIS BOY I TAKE HOME WITH ME????? Seriously. Why are kids so good for others, in nursery or whereever, but they can't be even half that good for their mama at home?!?! Ok, so I'm not totally mean, I do appreciate that Isaiah is good for the nursery workers. I'd much rather him be good than to always have the "problem child" that nursery workers run away from! And yes, there are some of those too. However, what is it about when he sees his mom coming to pick him up, that he suddenly wants to start crying, whining, screaming for something ect.? He won't put his coat on. He wants to go out the other door. He runs down the hall away from me. He stops in the hall and won't follow me. He refuses to hold my hand when walking across the parking lot. you get the idea. Just little, annoying stuff like that. Well, he has just been like that so much lately. I can handle a little, but when he is like that constantly......I just want to scream and pull my hair out! I am constantly embarrased and just plain humiliated. Other people pass by in the hall, or in the store, and give me that sad smile like, "oh, you poor thing....." Or, even better, (sense the sarcasm) when I get those dirty looks from people, like I got the other day at Hy Vee. Isaiah was screaming about something, wanting to ride the horse thing I think, and I was telling him no and threatening to spank, and some lady walked out and gave me a nasty look. Well excuse me for interupting your peace!!! And of course, there's no calm, discreet way to handle that, in the middle of the foyer at church or at the store or wherever. I pick him up to take him to the bathroom to whoop his hiney, and he's kicking his legs, screaming the whole way there. Yea, that's discreet. Gee, I wonder if anyone knows what I'm going to do in the bathroom? And I'm scared to spank him in public anymore.....I'd have social services at my door in no time. Um, yes, I do spank my children.

Ok, I got a little off track. I started typing and got mad all over again and started typing faster and faster with fury. lol. Back to Tuesday, I was trying to control Isaiah in the hall at church, before we left, and he was pulling on me, screaming he wanted some gum. I told him 'no' . About that time our childrens pastors wife came walking around the corner and saw me struggling with him. She was trying to help and said 'Isaiah we don't talk to your mommy that way'. What's my brave-stong-willed-stubborn little one do? He yells "NO" at her! I think it took her by surprise. Don't think she's seen this side of him before. So she tried to talk to him again, and again he yells NO at her. As I was getting on to him, she slipped away telling me she would pray for me, and to hang in there. I won't go into details of the rest of the day. It wasn't pretty. The next day, I received this note from Jan, the childrens pastors wife, on my facebook page, and it encouraged me. Wanted to share it with you.





I prayed for you this morning! Be strong Momma!! You are bigger than little Isaiah's strong will! YOU are the perfect Mom for him!!! God knew exactly what He was doing! Remember, strong willed children can grow up to be great leaders! Call me if you ever need to be "talked off the roof".

There are many many days where I need to be "talked off the roof". I think just about any mother of a preschooler could vouch for that. So if you are a mother of a preschooler, I want to encourage you today. You are doing a GREAT JOB! Kids are tough. Nobody ever said parenting is easy. And if they did, then they were dead WRONG. Like Jan said, God knew what He was doing, when He chose you to be your son/daughters mother. YOU are the perfect mom for him/her!! Pray for your children daily. Just like nobody will ever pray FOR your husband like you will, nobody will pray for your KIDS like you will!! Pray for them, encourage them, and love them. Even when you really don't feel like it. And we've all had those days. Because Satan will try to come in and tell you that you are not doing a good job, or your children are bad, and you are a failure as a mother. I know. Because I've heard that from Satan this week. But don't believe it!! Not even for a second! They are just lies from the devil. Daily (actually, this week it's been more like 'hourly' for me), give your day, your problems, hurts, anger, your children, everything over to God. And trust me, I am speaking loudly to myself as I am typing this. This is as just for me (if not more) as it is for anyone. I think us moms like to be told every now and then that we ARE doing a good job. AND YOU ARE.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" Psalm 91:1

"Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Easter Slideshow

Enjoy!!!

Weekend Wrap Up

We had a wonderful Easter, at church and at home with family. Saturday we celebrated Easter with my parents and sister and her family, and Sunday afternoon with Jer's family. Here are a few photo highlights:

Saturday:

After MeMa and PaPa gave the kids their baskets full of goodies and they checked them out, then we all headed outside

Easter weekend

I love Easter time. One of my favorite holidays. We get to celebrate our Saviour, and Him dying for us on the cross......and three days later, He rose again!!! He is Alive! I absolutely cannot wait until Sunday. The celebration of Christs' resurrection. What an awesome day in God's house we will have!

We are having Easter dinner at our house this year. This will be the first holiday without our dear Grandma. She was such a pillar of our family, it is tough getting together, knowing she won't be there, and remembering how much she loved having all her family together. BUT......even better, she gets to spend this Easter with JESUS!!!!

So I know she'll be having her own special party up there with Him!

Our Easter holiday got started bright and early this morning, as day one of our 4 day weekend began. Jer was off work today for Good Friday. We got to spend the day with him, which is always an extra special treat for the kiddos (and me, of course!) :) We spent the day together, and now he is off doing his 'guy thing' with some guys from our church. Went to Dave & Busters. (I've never been there, but it's been explained to me as a Chucky Cheese, for adults. Adult arcade games, basically).

Tomorow we have a crazy/busy day planned. Early morning choir practice for Jer, and I am working childcare for it, and then an Easter lunch with my family at my moms house, followed by (of course) the Easter egg hunt, then tomorrow night we're off to my friend (Brandi's) house to help celebrate her daughter who turns 5 tomorrow. Shew. I'm tired just typing it all out.

And of course Sunday is the big Easter dinner with Jeremy's family at our house, followed by another egg hunt. Should be lotsa fun!

I did have a few pics to share with ya'll tonight. Mom's been asking me about theses.....so here ya go. :)

The first ones are of the kiddos, on Thursday night, while Jer and I attempted to help the kids color Easter eggs. oh Lord, give us patience. lol

They thought coloring Easter eggs was pretty cool stuff =)

Ta-Da!!!!

And then, earlier today, we went up to Wal Mart, and guess who was there? Why, the Easter bunny of course! So we, attempted to get a picture of the kids with the Easter bunny. Somehow, we ended up in it as well. go figure. Both kids were clinging to us like a bunny to a carrot. (lol.....get it?) hm, so I guess our kids aren't big Easter bunny fans? (although I must admit, the Easter bunny did look a little, um, rough....)

Happy Good Friday ya'll! And hang on...........Sunday's comin'!!!!!!

It's been a pretty busy week this week, thus explains the lack of blogging. Blogging has been on the back burner. wow, try to say that 10 times fast. Anyways, since I got back from my MPact Leadership Conference in Springfield last weekend, I have spent most of this week just getting back in the groove of things, doing laundry, trying to get into my routine of doing my work-outs, cleaning up the house....yada yada.....and I was only gone Friday and Saturday! Think if I was gone a week at a time.....it would take me a month to get back to "normal"!! lol.

*Kids had their spring musical at church on Sunday. Fantastic job, by the way. I love love love their performances and musicals.

*I'm babysitting my nephew, Braden today. We've had quite a noisy day over here....of running, playing, fighting, watching tv and fighting naptime. Braden has stayed in bed for naptime pretty good. It's those "other two" kids that are giving me fits. go figure.

*I am sooooo glad it is April, and spring and Easter is just around the corner. Now.....if we can only get those spring-like temps, we'd be good to go!

*I went the other day and got cute little Easter outfits for the kiddos. Realized today that I don't have anything for myself to wear. Nothing new anyways. I could always wear the dress I wore for Easter last year. No one really remembers that stuff, right? Until we pull out the scrapbooks at least.....

I'm being paged by my 3 year old. Gotta jet.

Our trek to Springfield

I'm baaa-aaack!!! You missed me? I missed you too! ;) I wanted to get on here the end of last week, and seems like everytime I thought about it, I was busy, or a kid needed me or something always came up. Anyways, then I left on Friday morning, with a group of 8 ladies from my church and we went to an MPact Leadership Conference in Springfield. Had a service there Fri night, and hung out with the girlies, and was in different classes from 9-3 on Saturday, then, after stopping by Lamberts (for a 3 hour dinner) we headed back home. My weekend in a nutshell :) Posted lots of pics on my facebook page, and since I think most of you are "friends" with me on there, I will only post a couple pics here, and you can check out my FB page to see them all. :)

Julieta, Melissa and Me-- Prims teachers :)

The gang....stopping by Osceola Cheese on the way to Springfield :)

Brandi and Melissa....on the way to the service Fri night

Eating at Lamberts on the way back home. We were all sooo tired. can you tell?

So that was my weekend. :) How was yours?