Aldridge Gardens

Well, it is officially summer here in Alabama. I cannot even imagine how hot the summer months will be considering how hot it already is here.

Today, we went to Aldridge Gardens. The kids loved seeing the geese, fish, turtles, and even the snakes. We've already seen five snakes this year - all alive. I personally prefer the dead kind. This is a record for me, as I managed not to see any last year, and I am not excited to see any more snakes, seeing how the season just started. We saw two of the five today. The first snake we saw near the area where the kids were posed by the frog. The second snake we saw near the bridge after we took the family photo below, and both of them were swimming.


In the photos below, Princess was trying to be as still as possible in hopes that the beautiful butterfly would land on her head, but he never did.

After we left the Gardens, we headed over to the food court at the Galleria for lunch and a carousel ride. Then we came home for naptime. Tonight we are going to Grandmaw and Papaw's house to see cousin A, who is staying the weekend there so his mommy and daddy can get their home ready for his upcoming baby brother or sister.

The Raccoon Wars

So we have a raccoon living in the roof of our back porch, AND it likes to come down at night (when it's active of course) to visit our trash can next to our garage. It has succeeded to get into the trash can a few times to the point where our trash can handles have been broken off, and Hubs as rigged up some new handles using some rope. He even found a way to close it shut with some bungy cords, which kept the raccoon out for a while. However, as of late, that old raccoon has figured it out how to knock the can over and get in anyway. This has infuriated Hubby! Because who gets to clean up the lovely garbage mess Old Raccoon leaves? Yes, Hubby does. (I am glad that it is him and not me.)

So he's been fighting the raccoon wars, trying to invent new ways to defeat Old Raccoon.

Yesterday, Daniel bought a raccoon trap. In it, he put ham and some marshmallow fluff. While I was in the shower this morning, he says, "That old raccoon got the ham, AND he got out of the trap." Say what?

These are Daniel's words exactly, "That raccoon has defeated me at every turn!" I was laughing externally and internally, because how could I not blog about this now. Hubby has a plan to put the ham in the trap in such a way that the raccoon cannot leave. We will see what happens tomorrow morning.

Then Sings My Soul Saturdays

This is a song that I heard for the first time today, by Brandon Heath, called "Wait and See." He is my new favorite artist right now because so many of his songs speak right to me. Incidentally, he won 3 Dove awards last night too. Don't forget to press pause on my playlist to the right. Enjoy!

Night on the Town

Daniel was given a gift card to Outback, so tonight we went to Outback for dinner just the two of us. We were going to use it to go on a double date with some friends of ours, but we are too impatient when it comes to using gift cards and/or coupons and went by ourselves. Surprisingly, we ended up at SnoBiz of all places for our dessert. I wasn't planning to participate in the SnoCone, but the nice lady at the window shaved some ice for me too, so I felt obligated to order one too - only $1 each. Now we are about to watch the Office (DVR).

The kids are spending the night at Nana's house. When Princess realized that I too was not going to go home with Nana, she said, "But Mommy, I am going to miss you SO much!" And, I, though I do enjoy a break, simply cannot imagine being away from them for very long either.

Oven Mitt or Alligator?

My kids like to pretend quite a lot. Last night when we got home from church, Pea got our oven mitt and pretended that it was an alligator or a dinosaur. He was taking it and going "ROAR!" and letting it "eat" him. It was so cute, I just had to take a picture. He's a toy kid, meaning he loves to play with toys (as opposed to Princess who just doesn't really care about them), but yet he can make anything into a toy.

Another Thought

Today was one of those days - if you're a mom of toddlers, you know what I'm talking about - a day when you thank the Good Lord for nap time! Whew - thank you, Jesus, for nap time!

I struggle with my value often. It is just a struggle I have that I place regularly at the feet of Jesus. I had a realization through reading the book I'm going to review and just because - God. I'm not the kind of person who is likely to affect the masses or claim quick popularity. No, I am a one-on-one kinda girl. I miss having one to one relationships with other women, with being able to disciple and teach and mentor. Despite that, someone very close to me recently told me that she hopes she can grow up to be just like me. Considering she is older, I find that to be the highest praise. And, in places that I am not looking, I AM discipling and teaching and even mentoring. I just needed a new perspective. Keep your eye out for a new perspective at all times, folks. You indeed are valuable and precious to me, my sweet readers of this blog!

Turn it Up!

Princess has started learning the songs on my iPod, which are varied, but I have a few that are my favorites that we listen to many mornings during breakfast. After the kids eat, a lot of times they get down from the table and we all dance for a few minutes. Today, we listened to kid music during breakfast and praise music during lunch. It was during lunch that I realized how many words Princess knows to most of my praise music. So tonight, after dinner, we all went to Costco. On the way home, I heard my favorite song on, and I turned it up. Daniel was totally shocked and surprised and cracked up at how many of the words Princess knew and how many words she tried to know. They were both cracking me up.

Book Reviews

So I've become a book review blogger, and I am actually reading. I will post my first review next Monday, BEFORE the book comes out!

You can become a book review blogger too at Thomas Nelson. You get books for free, and you have something to blog about. Happy Reading!

Wearing it Again!

It is a rarity that Princess is able to wear anything two years in a row, but here is one such dress:

Aug. 17, 2008

April 19, 2009

She is showing that she has a matching doll dress, with Gracie her favorite doll.

The Sick Attire

When you are throwing up sick in our home, there is a uniform you must wear. It looks like this:

It is one of daddy's T-shirts. It is Princess's standard attire for when she gets sick. In fact, she used to get worried if we tried to put a regular t-shirt on her for fear that she was sick and didn't know it. Anyhow, a girl does have to dress things up a bit, despite being sick - so she added the feather boa to give it some style.

A Million Times to the Zoo?

We have a membership to the Birmingham Zoo. Although I have not blogged about each trip, we have been to the zoo three times this year already. the first time was on March 7, and this was the first time we used Pea's "monkey" leash. And, it was the first time we have taken Pea since he was big enough to really enjoy the animals, and he was amazed and loved it. We have found that he loves the llama. On that trip, the tiger came right up to him, and he had no fear! Here is a collage of the first trip:


The second trip was on March 21. This was our first time to ride the train in all of the times that we've been to the zoo. The kids loved it. And, both of the kids used some of "their" money to buy themselves a pet snake. Here's a collage of that trip:

Our third trip to the zoo was yesterday. Frankly, I was not excited about going to the zoo again. We thought about a couple of different things to do, but ultimately Princess was excited about going to the zoo, so that's what we did. The kids got to dig for dinosaurs this time, and we saw a zoo show, which we've never done before. We got to see certain featured animals, like a snake, a lizard, a ferret, and a cool little falcon bird. Before we went to the show, we made a stop to see the tiger, and as I said before, I wasn't too excited about the zoo yesterday. I kinda felt like I had seen everything and what could really be so interesting. However, we heard a great loud "ROAR." We wondered if it could be the lion or if it was coming from a speaker, but we hurried over to see the lion. He was ROARing up a storm, and it was magnificent. He was so loud and put on a show for us. Normally he is quiet and sleepy. Oh, but yesterday, He was KING of the Jungle (at the Birmingham Zoo). I was so glad I heard him, and of course, the kids thought it was spectacular too. Here's pics from yesterday:

Overheard Just Now

"I kiss everybody's boo-boos, but I don't kiss throw-up." ~ Princess

I Will Lift My Eyes

This is my 200th post! Woo-Hoo!

I decided to participate in Then Sings My Soul Saturdays over at Signs, Miracles, and Wonders.

Here is "I Will Lift My Eyes" by Bebo Norman.

3 as I see it

I had a revelation today about Princess and her state of mind and development. Just due to the general nature of things that have gone on with her, I have read a lot about the age 3 and what is proper development for that particular age, from a book my pediatrician recommended, "Your 3 Year Old: Friend or Enemy" by Ames & Ilg to generalities on BabyCenter. What I found out is that 3 year olds often go through a period of a return to babyhood followed by a period of strong willed outbursts. It is perfectly normal for a 3 year old not to have the strong-willed outbursts, but it is also perfectly natural for particularly strong children to have this period of development. During this phase of babyhood, kids often regress in their potty training behaviors and begin to pee and poop in their pants, stop wanting to dress themselves, and generally stop complying with activities that they have learned to do but could not do in babyhood. Usually the baby phase is a state of equilibrium and happiness, while 3 1/2, the tough phase, is a state of disequilibrium and testing boundaries.

So here's 3 as I see it for Princess. She has had no clearly defined baby phase or strong-willed phase. They have been intermingled, thus a lot of disequilibrium and testing. Three as I see it is like 12 or 13 is to adolescence. She is insecure and uncertain of wanting to move ahead as a kid. She's hoping she can go back to babyhood. This has been very tough for me to watch, because my Princess, until now, has been mostly confident of herself and her abilities. All of the sudden she needs me to take care of her again, and that's okay, but until I had this revelation, it did not seem okay. It was stressful and worrisome, not to mention my parenting confidence went way down. Growing up is hard to do! So if you have a 3 year old and he or she seems more distant than before, and he or she has started regressing or needing more attention, it is normal AND hang in there, baby him or her while you can, because they grow up fast, AND things WILL change.

Okay, so maybe this post is just a pep talk for myself...

Candy Monger

We got, as usual, too much candy for Easter. I gathered up a big bag of it and conveniently left on our dinning room table, where Pea proceeded to help himself to a piece of it after breakfast every day until Wednesday, when I finally got a clue that I should move it. I found him on the table Wed morning and quickly moved it. He had climbed up on the table, had managed to maneuver around the flower arrangement and to the candy bag, and was feasting on sweet-tarts. To my credit, however, I was very sick all day Tuesday with a tummy virus. It appears that Princess may have the virus now too.

My Little Artist

I have failed to mention it, but Princess has developed into quite the little artist. She is very good at coloring, and she can draw quite well too. She can also look at something and copy it when she draws. I thought I would share some examples of her latest artwork with you. Most of them are bunnies that she drew on her own or by looking at a bunny picture. Currently, artistry is one of her favorite activities. I guess she gets her talents from my mom or Daniel's mom, because they are both artists as well.

A Phone Conversation

Aunt Jen: I'll take you to the aquarium.
Princess: But I don't know where one is.
Aunt Jen: But I do.
Princess: But I don't. It must be very far away.
Aunt Jen: I can take you. I know how to get there.
Princess: But I don't. I'm only 3. I don't know how to drive yet.

the phone dies....

Princess: The phone just decided to hang up. I don't know what's wrong with it.
Aunt Jen: Tell mommy and daddy to buy a new phone.
Princess: okay
Aunt Jen: Have you been going to the potty good?
Princess: not really. I poo-pooed in my panties.
Aunt Jen: You have to go as soon as you get the urge so you won't have accidents.
Princess: okay, I gotta go right now.
Aunt Jen: okay, bye.
Princess: bye.
Mommy: bye. Okay, let's go to the potty.
Princess: but I don't have to go, I just had to get off the phone.

Old Mother Hen

I would have to say that sleep is high on my list of priorities, but last night I got very little of it. I had trouble going to sleep due to some family stuff, and then a few hours later I awoke to what sounded like the roof blowing off and trees hitting the house. Hubby told me to go back to sleep. Considering the conversation we had a couple of days ago, I found this strange. I said I valued sleep oh the most in college, and he said that he valued people more in college meaning he stayed up if he wanted to. I guess I was boring, but I really love to sleep.

But here I was awake worrying about my babies who were sleeping upstairs closer to the trees while I was downstairs with hubs. It is just times like these when I am very glad that Hubby and I sleep in a king size bed. I got up to watch the weather to see that we were under a high wind advisory. No kidding! I went back to bed, but I just could not stand it. Hubby finally told me to bring the babies down, so I did immediately carrying each one totally asleep and putting both in the bed with us. Too bad for me that they both took up all the space and that I had like an inch left. :) It seemed that as soon as I placed them in the bed, the wind died away, and they continued to snore away. Eventually, I picked each one up and toted them back to their own beds, though I was so relieved to have them in the bed with me during the storm.

No, they are not afraid of storms, and generally, I am not either. However, with them being upstairs, they felt like an eternity away from me if something were to happen like a sudden tornado. Call me silly, but I have to protect my sweet babies. I couldn't help but thinking about the old mother hen story I learned in a past Beth Moore study. The hen covered her chicks with her protective wing while she died in a fire, but the chicks kept tightly under her wing survived. I felt like that old protective hen last night. Luckily the circumstances were hardly as dire.

Snuggle Creme

Lately I have been contacted by several companies about advertising their product on my page. I haven't made any decisions about most of these products yet, but I may give some of them a try. I don't think I have the readership to sustain ads enough to make it worth anyone's while, but we shall see. Maybe more people read than I think.

At any rate, Snuggle contacted me about a new product they have out called "Snuggle Creme." You can buy this fabric softener in liquid or sheets, and it comes in Sweet Almond or Jojoba Essence. I have not tried it yet, but if you are interested in trying this product, you can click the Snuggle widget to the right for a $2 coupon. This coupon will only be available until the end of the month, but it is redeemable up to 60 days after you print it.

Easter update

This first pic shows Princess and Pea watching Bambi during Family Movie Night on Friday. We have gotten into the habit of doing a movie almost every Friday night. Pea is now at the age where he can sit still and watch for about 40 minutes, sometimes longer. I consider this an accomplishment. The second pic is of Princess and Pea in the bounce house at the Easter Festival we went to yesterday at Christ Church United Methodist. We took Aunt Julie and Cousin A and hunted eggs, bounced, decorated cookies, made crafts, and had free hot dogs, drinks and chips, while Daddy and Uncle Eric raced in Talladega.

The collage is of pictures from today, Easter. We had Easter dinner at my house. I thought that it was the best planned most organized event I've had at my house. We went to Easter service, and we had a written testimony on the screen about a man who said that the resurrection was all a lie, but at the end he accepted Christ, and everything was turned around. So the same testimony was then read backwards and it revealed the precious beauty of Christ's redemption. I was reminded of my Esther story. I am reminded of it almost daily and about how Christ almost always offers a reversal. I found a link to the video, so I am including it here:

Upside Down Easter Story from Dave Bookhout on Vimeo.

Anyhow, then we came home and got to cooking and organizing. Mom has joined my church, and she stayed to help with the nursery in the second service. We had mom, Jenn, Tanner, Eric, Julie, A, us, Robby, Sherri, Robby, and the Farrs from Michigan. We had a ton of food - ham, potatoes, green beans, corn, carrots, baked beans, deviled eggs, chicken, rolls, Easter cookies that Princess and I made, and strawberries and cream. After we ate, we hid eggs and hunted them in our yard. We ended up hiding too many and the boys were not very interested in finding the eggs yet. Princess and Aunt Jenn dyed eggs last night, so Princess only wanted to find the dyed eggs, but overall, great fun was had by all (I think).

It was such a great pretty day today - a day in which the Lord rose. He is risen. He is risen indeed! Oh, thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of You.

I invite everyone to come visit Valleydale Church. We are doing a series on Mythbusters - who is God really. It started today, and we have 4 more weeks of it. I think it will be really interesting.

Hope your Easter was awesome.

I did not explode any dishes this year. Last year I did.

Firefox

I don't know what kind of internet browser you use, but we have had a ton of trouble with our internet, with it slowing the computer down using all of the computer memory at once, which has made it very difficult to do anything on the computer at times, including blogging and downloading/uploading pictures. So, I downloaded Firefox. So far, I highly recommend it, though only time will tell the real story. However, I did see immediate results once I downloaded and started using it. If you are interested in downloading it, you can do so here.

Last day of Esther

Today was the last day of my Esther bible study. I loved every bit of my Esther study. I would like to share more, but I don't want to give away everything, because then you might not need to buy a book, and I am sure Beth Moore and Living Proof Ministries might not like that, but I hope to make all of the index cards to have handy when I am struggling with any one of the seven "it's tough to be a woman" scenarios that we talked about in bible study. I have to say that for me personally it is one of the best, perhaps even most life changing, studies I've ever done. I had no idea that I could and would be able to relate to Beth Moore so much, and I've done several of her studies, but this one was "for such a time as this" for me. I highly recommend it. You will not regret it!

A New Phone

I got a new cell phone. Mine was very antiquated, but I went for the gusto choosing one that I do not really need, but hoping that it would still be frugal choice after we make some internet changes.




I am the proud owner of a blackberry curve. And I've got to say it is really nifty having the internet on your phone. Now I can check my blog updates right on my phone at any time. There is even free software to download to your phone to make it easier to do. It is kinda handy since we don't have wireless internet. The downside and plus side is that I have spent less time on the computer. That's a down side because I have not been pushed to blog, but it is plus side because it gives me back some time that was taken by sitting down to check facebook. Now, I can just glance at facebook for important updates throughout the day on my phone without getting sucked into the unnecessary parts of facebook. And I am actually keeping up with current events. And, I'm sorry, but I rarely know what's going on in the world, so it is nice to just to get a one line sentence on your phone telling you just enough to keep up. It also has a calendar, which was my favorite organizing device when I worked, so maybe I will be a better organized mommy too. One can hope. iPods and blackberrys - what crazy alien has taken over me?


Anyway....I think it is very cool. I will not let it stop me from blogging, and hopefully we can frugalize this way, although I think I may have to change my email address eventually. :(

Spring is Here!!

I love spring. I love planting new plants and watching for the old ones to come out of the earth like a brand new surprise. I love the dogwoods and how they are hidden in the woods everywhere, but you never know until spring when you see their beautiful white (and sometimes pink) flowers popping out in the midst of the woodsy areas - just a little surprise for all of us to enjoy. Luckily I live on a cul-de-sac, and out our back door is the woods. It reminds me of being in the country, instead of the city, where we really are. We often see deer, rabbits, and sometimes groundhogs, and all the usual suspects for the woods, including snakes - yuck. I am not the best gardener in the world, but I kinda love my little plants and flowers.

This pic shows my impatiens that Sarah gave me as a gift for allowing her to borrow some toys. She's my married-without-kids friend who occasionally keeps her good friend's little girl and borrows toys from her friends-with-kids, which I am one of. You can visit her hubby's blog here. The big bush underneath is in our big beautiful azalea in the front yard. The little red ones to the right are also azaleas that we planted last year. To the right of that are our mailbox flowers - bachelor buttons, vincas, and more. Above that one is my little rose bush that I love and planted last year. I got it from the Botanical Gardens sale, and it is like a little treasure that I dote over. It sits near the big azalea in our yard. It is supposed to get very big as well, so I like to see it grow. To the left of that is our viburnum. Above the viburnum is another azalea that is located on the driveway. The tulips are Princess's. She and Daniel planted them together. That location is her flower bed alone so we plant all kinds of fun things in there for her. Above the tulips are the new gerber daisies I bought this year. Now I will have 7. I am collecting more and more each year to put in the bed in front of the house. I love daisies. Last year I planted a different variety but they have not flowered yet. Beside the daisies are our lenten roses planted in the shady backyard.
This collage is of my closeups of the flowers in bloom right now and the new growth coming up out of the ground from things we planted last year - hostas, azaleas, bachelor buttons, tulips, daffodils, roses, carnations, astilbe, ferns, gerber daisies, and blueberries.