Back again

Sorry for the long absence, but I haven't been around a computer for several days now.

We went to Georgia for the weekend to visit Jody's family. We were able to visit his 94 year old grandmother in the nursing home. We had a great time at Colson's 6th birthday party. (He is Jody's nephew) Uncle Roman taught Silas a bunch of baseball skills. Silas was very proud of himself!

Then Sunday when we were getting in the car for church, the car wouldn't start up! Long story short, its a fuel pump or fuel filter problem. I think my dad got it all fixed today. He changed the filter. Yay dad!

Monday we all went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Aunt Joy's 25th birthday. Everyone had a wonderful time. Luke had a HARD time getting off of the ride where you are lifted up and go around the clock.

Joy is spending the next 2 nights with me, Jody's gone and I am glad for the company. Gotta run, she's waiting to use the computer!

PICTURES!

I finally just borrowed my parents' camera today. I just had to post some pictures, it was getting boring on this blog without pictures!

Notice Silas's new haircut. Hattie got one also, although its just a trim. Luke sports curls everyday now, with this humidity its unavoidable. Not that I want to avoid them, they are pretty cute. I've also noticed a significant change in the kids' skin. No more dry patches or scaly feeling skin. Humidity, I 'm telling you!

You can also see some of the inside of our cute little house in the background of the pictures. Maybe I'll use the camera to get some more.

Poison Ivy

How could I forget to mention this?

A couple weeks ago Jody went hunting (for turkey) with my dad. A couple days later he noticed a rash on his cheek...and a spot on each leg. So, he assumed it was chiggers. He had me lathers each little dot with my clear nail polish. We did this for like 3 days. But the rash was spreading, and the paint was peeling. LOL.

Then we tried cortisone cream. That relieved the itching some, but again, still spreading.

We are pretty sure its poison ivy now.

I bought some cal-gel.

It seems to be helping. But he's still itching a lot and it seems to still be spreading.

Here are a couple of questions I have for you all:

1. What are the chances of the rest of us catching this from him? I feel like its slim to none, but he's been reluctant to get to close to any of us.
2. Is there anything we can do to make this stop spreading? Any ideas?

My dad thinks this is all very funny by the way. He killed a turkey, didn't get poison ivy and Jody didn't even SEE a turkey and has an infectious disease.

Home and Gardens Man

This is something you may or may not know about my husband. He LOVES HG tv, decorating advice, improving your home value tips, etc. He is ALWAYS looking at real estate on the internet. Its just funny. It not like he's feminine AT ALL. He also loves football, hunting, golf, and any sports...

So today we were rearranging furniture and setting up the living room. I'm not much help in this area for 2 reasons.

1. I don't care! I don't care where the furniture is, how much of it is in a certain room, how it looks next to this or that. I just don't care.
2. I get very bored as he's trying to arrange and rearrange, I just move on to something else.

Jody will ask my opinion and proceed to do the exact opposite. I say, oh, I like it here. He'll say, mmmmmm, no, I think its better over here. He will expend much effort moving something in a room just to take it back out.

But I shouldn't complain, right? I don't have to worry about it. What he ends up doing looks nice. I just get to sit back and enjoy.

Now, if he comes in the kitchen and starts giving suggestions, then I will bristle up and fight!

One Gorgeous Day

We went to church last night, so the kids got to bed a little later than usual. (Lights out are usually by 7:30, if not before) So everyone actually slept in a little bit too.

We woke up to beautiful weather! And the kids were raring to go. I mean, they were just filled with energy. So, after I had my second load of laundry going, we got in the car. I had a couple stops to make, but then went to Herdklotz park. Its a great park in Greenville.

Side note: We are friends with some of the Herdklotz. Check out Judith's blog. But I heard some ladies at the park saying, "Did you see the name of this park? What does that mean??"

So, the kids ran around and climbed up and down and by nap time, everyone was ready to rest. Whew. I LOVE that!

Now, one more thing. BIRDS.

For some reason my mom, my sister Holly and myself have this aversion to birds. I LOATH chickens. During or village stay in Kenya when Silas was about 7months old, our hosts' hen laid eggs on our little bed daily. Freaked me out.

My dad shot a turkey the other day and my mom could NOT let it go. Where is the carcase going to be discarded? Where are you going to clean it ? Am I going to see any feathers? Etc.

Holly discovered a dead baby bird had fallen out of her front door display this week. Steven found an entire nest of babies there.

Today, a bird flew right into our big living room window. Feathers flew everywhere. But its what's going on right now that making me nauseas...Jody's at the school, the kids are asleep and I hear birds making noises in the chimney. I'm so afraid they are going to fly in the house. I'm going to scream, wake up the kids and be terrified to come out u ntil Jody comes home. I'm not even going to enjoy TV for worrying about the dumb birds.

I guess the birds realized its spring now.

PS: As I've been sitting here worrying that birds were going to fly through the chimney and I was going to relive the movie THE BIRDS (which always freaked me out!), Jody came to my rescue. Just as he was on his way to go with a team to a homeless shelter in downtown Greenville (I think) he came and checked the flu. Its closed, and I am relieved!

Next Top Model?

For those who know me, you are probably going to laugh at what I'm about to tell you.

This Saturday, I am MODELING. Ha! The Women's Auxiliary of North Greenville University is having a brunch and my mom and I (along with 5 or so other ladies) are modeling in the show. This is so not me. My mom and I went up to Brevard, NC today to pick out our outfits. We had to have 3 outfits; spring, evening and model's choice.

I have to admit that I had more fun than I thought I was going to have. I like the outfits I picked out. My mom did a great job with hers too. But I really hate trying on clothes. Very unlike my sister Holly or even my husband, Jody...I put an outfit on and don't change it.

Anyways. I'll have to let you know about the BIG SHOW on Saturday.

Thanks for the well wishes, I'm feeling MUCH better. Although pregnancy-wise, I'm still exhausted and I'm looking forward to the energy surge in the second trimester...in about 5-6 weeks!

Out of commission

I have been out of commission because I have been SICK.

Thursday night it kind of came on. I thought, uh-oh, this is morning sickness in the evening. Or maybe it was what I ate. I think I ate too much. But then I got worse.

All day Friday I felt like I just could not muster any strength to get off the couch, eat anything or even pay any attention to the kids. Don't ask me what they did on Friday. JOdy was working. We did watch a movie. But they pretty much fended for themselves.

Silas had a fever around supper time. Hattie threw-up at bed time. Luke writhed in pain for like 2 hours starting close to midnight. I think it was confirmed that my illness was not pregnancy related or food related.

Saturday was better. And today we went to church.

I hope that is OVER.

Contest

This seems pretty exciting...enter and win. If you win, you have to tell!!

Lost and Found

I could not find my can opener. Its not like I have a bunch of stuff still sitting around in boxes, where had I put the thing?? I ended up opening the 2 cans I was using with a KNIFE. Don't ask me how I did it. The whole time I was getting flashed of myself bleeding. Jody was going to KILL me.

But I survived.

The next day, I just bought another can opener.

Lo and behold, while fixing dinner, I found my original can opener with the spices. WHAT??

Now, the other thing I am missing is the charger for my camera. I can't find it anywhere. So I can't take pictures because the camera is dead. I need that! But I know that as soon as I buy a new one, the old one will turn up. Right?

Ugh!

Bibbity Bobbity Boo

We are pretty obsessed with Cinderella around here.

Today we were outside playing (the weather was GORGEOUS!!). Hattie was of course in her Cinderella dress. I had a conversation with LUke that went something like this:
Luke :I cin-rella.
Me : Why don't you be prince charming? That's what boys are usually.
Luke: No, I cin-rella

So I was thinking, wouldn't it be awesome to have fairy godmother sometimes? Of course it would. Last night I was wishing I could be snapped up and immediately find myself in my bed with my teeth already brushed. Ha!

Or what about the dishes? Man, I shouldn't even think about this anymore. Its not healthy.

Our day

Hattie woke up and immediately changed from her pajamas to her Cinderella dress and new Snow White crown. She is obsessed, rarely seen without her crown.

A big cockroach showed up in our doorway. My kids have never seen cockroaches, so they were mesmerized. I spoiled the party when I smashed it with a shoe. Silas was VERY upset with me. But I told him we were not taking care of roaches!

Luke completely unrolled a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom and when I reacted, he said, "Wha happen mama?" You know what I did? I re-rolled the toilet paper back on the thing. As I was doing that, I was laughing that I was saving a roll of toilet paper.

I did get the living cleared of boxes. We had a meeting at our house for the students who are interested in going to Hoima, Uganda in December. While doing so, I found our rabbit ears. So, Jody is watching the basketball game and I will be able to watch Survivor

Big News

Without beating around the bush...

I'm PREGNANT!

I was exhausted, as I've said in the last several posts. And I just thought, hmmm, I remember this feeling.

Sure enough, baby #4 was an obvious positive on the little test. I am due late November. Hattie is SURE its a sister and Silas thinks its twins. I hope the latter is false for sure.

Other than been incredibly exhausted, I'm feeling fine. We are all very excited. Jody wants a big family. Our familes are very excited and supportive (although there are a few...ahem....who say 4 is enough. I say, we take it one at a time.) Knowing that God already knows this little human makes it even more wonderful to think about His plans for our family!

And the beat goes on...

Well, first of all, after Jody read my post, he INSISTED that I sit and watch my movie. (Which by the way I have watch several times, but I was just in the mood). It was so sweet of him. I throughly enjoyed it!!

I had a time getting Hattie in to see a doctor today. I finally did. I was pretty late for the appointment. I had to take all 3 kids, but they were very very good. The verdict? Hand-Foot-Mouth. Ugh.

Nothing to do about it. No way to avoid the other guys getting it. If they are going to get it, they just will. Poor girl. The sores are spreading, but the Dr said that she should be getting better. We'll see about that.

As for the dishwasher, one good thing about living near a university campus is that we can enjoy the meals there occasionally. So tonight we did. It was SO nice to come home and not have dinner dishes at all. Plus the food there is delicious and there are lots of choices, so everyone is happy. The boys ate fish sticks (YUCK!), Hattie ate Jello (remember her throat is sore) and Jody and I had Gyros and Greek Salads.

Tomorrow is Joyful Sound's 30yr reunion. That's a group Jody and I both sang in while we were here at college. Its going to be fun to see some old friends...can't wait.

The Movie in my Purse

As I've been trying to unpack and take care of normal stuff, I have been pretty overwhelmed.

We don't have TV reception. I know that's no big deal. But I really enjoy watching TV in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed. I usually let the kids watch a show after nap time too.

I don't have a dishwasher, so there's a lot of extra washing after each meal.

The kids are fighting a lot! I've been dishing out a lot of spankings and nose-in-corner times.

So here's my point. I love good old chick flicks. I had decided to watch Pride and Prejudice the other day and I didn't get around to it. ( I don't subject Jody to movies like that since he hates them, and we do like to watch things we mutually agree on). So I stuck it in my purse. I was thinking that maybe I'd watch it when I took the kids to my parents the other day. Then I walked around with it in my purse today at the grocery store. Why? Wishful thinking I guess.

Then I walked into Blockbuster to buy The Water Horse for Silas for his birthday (belated) and I made the sensor go off as soon as I walked in. The guy looked at me and I said, "I'm carrying a movie of my own in my purse." He didn't say anything back. And the Water Horse doesn't come out until next week. Then I made the sensor go off as I walked out.

I'm delirious. And crazy. I know.

Sick Hattie

Don't you just hate a pitiful sick kid? Hattie is the MOST pitiful. I think its because she's so little (at 3 yrs old she is weighing 24lbs!). Her body just becomes limp. Yesterday we came back from feeding my mom's cats and Hattie got out of the car and laid on the welcome mat until I came to open the front door.

She's feeling better as of bed time.

Luke's new sentence: Jesus love ME!!!