April Fools!

~I walked up this morning to my recently "fixed" husband, and told him I'd been feeling nautious in the mornings and wondering if I might be pregnant. He dropped what he was doing, and turned and looked at me with a pale face. I couldn't keep it going long, so I said, "April fools!" He said, "that's not even funny.... don't even joke about that.... I'm not even hungry anymore..."
I feel bad...

~My kids liked my April fools joke to them though, I said we were having eggs and french fries for breakfast. Instead it was cut up biscuits, fried, sprinkled with sugar and a side of strawberry jam to resemble the ketchup. For the eggs I took a peach half and surrounded it in whip cream, where my husband hid a plastic bug. The rest of the day we got April fooled by our boys. Plastic bugs in our shirts, and they said things like, "there's a crocodile on your back! April Fools!" Fun day....

What did you do for April fools?

No guns/ no knives

I was walking into a store today, and on the door was a sticker of a picture of a "no knives or guns" symbol. I found this funny for a few reasons. First of all it was out of the ordinary, I am used to seeing the "no food allowed" or the "no shoes, no shirt no service" signs, but no knives or guns? Secondly this was funny to me because this was a brand new building in a really nice area. Why would a person who would carry around knives or guns not have a purpose to why they are carrying them around? If they had an intention to use those instruments, would a picture with a slash through it really convince them to turn around and change their minds? "Oh I guess I can't rob these people, they have a sticker on their door." Am I wrong?

Examples in creation

"In the grasslands of southern Africa are two strange friends. One is the redbilled oxpecker, a brown and yellow bird with a bright red bill. It's best friend is the rhinoceros! If you look closely at rhinos you will often see oxpeckers riding along on their backs or climbing on their heads. The rhino likes to give the little bird a ride, because the oxpecker keeps the huge animal healthy and clean by eating pesky flies, ticks, fleas, and dead skin. Another way the bird helps the rhino is by making a sharp call when it sees danger. This helps the rhino becaue he doesn't see very well." ~five minute devotions. Pamela kennedy

To me this is a beautiful example of what the body of Christ should be for one another. Helping each other, warning each other, and simply being a companion to one another.

Were you talking to me?

I had a rough day yesturday with my oldest. He's had a hard time listening, and yesturday that defiance nearly got him hit by a car. I struggled with him all day, and went to bed feeling defeated. I woke up early this morning, and prayed and prayed and prayed for the day. I realized how important it is for me as a mom, to keep the bigger picture in mind. Without that, what is the point? Without keeping the bigger picture in mind, the tv becomes the babysitter and relief for a few minutes. Without the bigger picture I feel swallowed by the day.
I love that show super nanny, because she's always so calm and collected and in control of the situation, (either that or the show is well edited) and I have been asking myself, "what would the super nanny do in this situation?" I even felt at one point in the day that I should speak in a british accent to my son to get him to listen to me.
My son is a unique and wonderful child. I love his personality, and he can make me laugh harder than anyone else. I love his strong will, yet it is what I struggle with the most.
What ways do you encourage listening in your kids? (or Boots, being teachers and all, any suggestions?)

How to know when you are uncoordinated

The other day I was doing a kick boxing workout video with my 4 year old, (we actually made it all the way through without the other two waking up) and toward the end I was getting worn out. My arms began flailing instead of punching the air, my jumping got much slower, and my mind began to drift off. I was quickly snapped back into the present moment when I felt something smack me in the face. I looked around the room in shock to figure out if my son had thrown something at me, when he told me through giggles, "mama you just punched yourself in the face!"

The Weirdo down the street

~The other day my friend (whose husband was out of town) was taking her kids outside to play. She lifted up the garage door and there stood a man, who said, Oh I was about to go and ring your doorbell."
She asked him what he needed, and he started to ask her some questions that didn't make much sense, like "you had goals to get where you are right?" She said she was waiting to see if he was going to sell her something, but didn't notice anything on him and he never got that far into the conversation. A few minutes later a police car pulled up to the base of her driveway, the man turned around and said, "Oh no," walked down to the police car, the cop cuffed him and took him away. She was left standing there wondering to whom she had just been talking to.
Last night my friends and I got together for our weekly bible study, and my other friend started telling about a similar sounding man who had approached her husband in their neighborhood two times, earlier that same day (five miles away ish) asking for money, saying he had Aids, and wanting to go inside his house. My friend's husband went in his house and got his dog, and let this man use his cell phone. The guy called a pizza place.
After the man left, these friends started asking neighbors, and found out that this man was staying with some family in that neighborhood, because he'd recently been let out of rehab.
Here's my theory, (mostly just to make myself feel a little more safe) Since this guy was recently let out of rehab, its possible that he was on some sort of house arrest. He was probally looking to get some money from my friends, and when he saw the cop car, maybe he had realized that he had gone too far away from home. It frustrates me that the police never talked to my friend, nor followed up when her husband called to find out what had happened. We live in a safe kid friendly neighborhood, so it rocks our boats when a man gets arrested in it, and even more so if it had been the man that you were talking to.

"Mom my ride"

Motivation

This is for Kat... you have only a little time left before you are going to be holding your cute new little baby boy!

This is for Levi and Jessie, soon your little one is going to be smiling, and things are going to start getting easier!

For everyone else, isn't he adorable?

Presence / Present

~Tonight I was praying with my boys before bed, and I asked God to fill His presence in the room. After I was done, my 4 year old asked, "what kind of presents is God going to fill our room with?" I laughed, and went on to explain how I was in his presence right then, and if I was out of his room I wasn't anymore. He just looked at me confused and said, "You are going to be inside my present?"

New Excersises

Because I have 3 kids, I can't seem to ever get through a workout video without being interupted, and can't find much time to go out walking without all 3 of them. So I've named my new workouts:

Instead of "power walking", I do "power mopping". I do a couple of "laps" around the kitchen, after the dog and boys run across it.
I do "laundry squats" and "stir fry leg lifts," I "kick box" away the bad guys with spiderman, superman or batman.
I do the "dirty diaper dash" and "screaming child sprint" out of church services, along with the "tantrum tamer" out of stores. (which is an advanced move, and requires great mental strength.)
I do the "ants in my pants dances," because my kids think it's fun to put plastic bugs down my shirt or pants!
The favorite of last night was the bannana fanna fo fanna song plus dance with every name we could think of. (on a side note, if you ever do that song be careful what you ryhme, you may accidently curse)

Nonetheless with spring approaching, I have the desire to lose some weight and am trying to fit in excersises anywhere I can! My husband and I joke about if there were hidden cameras all through the house, how weird we'd look. He laughs when I spontaneously start stretching, or doing lundges while were talking. I have always loved to do aerobics, and especially work out videos. When my friend and I were in 8th grade we made our own workout video. The highlights are when we lay back to kick our legs in the air, I've got a massive run in my black stockings going all the way up my leg. At the end, we say that "next week" we are going to be working out our lower half, including our thyroid. (smart girls)

How do you fit In excersise?

Don't need Anything

"I've got gardens growing,
got quiet days,
clothes on my back,
food on my plate,
got friends to help me if I call for them,
I don't need anything that I don't have
Got eyes to see this beautiful land,
feet to take me where I want to stand,
If theres work to be done, there's these two strong hands
Well I don't need anything that I don't have"

~Glen Phillips~"Don't need Anything"

It's fun to make a mess!

Yesturday I walked over to our neighbors house and discovered that the kids had filled their entire porch with dirt about a half inch thick. Then went into their garage where they had torn up boxes and styrofoam to create a house. Today my 2 year old son dumped a bag of rice all over the kitchen table and scooped and dumped. Tonight I sprayed shaving cream all over the tub walls and let them paint themselves. The kids love to make messes, and I actually had fun too.

Waking up early

I am not a morning person, I never ever have been. But my kids are, so I decided that I should wake up at least a half an hour before them each morning, to pray, and drink coffee and wake up, so I am not a morning monster to them all. My husband thinks our kids have radar, because it doesn't matter what time I get up, they wake up about 5 minutes after. It could be 5am, it could be 6:30am or it could be 7:30. It doesn't matter, they are up.

Celebrities

Some of my favorite shows are Saturday night live, Mad Tv., and Best Week Ever, because I really love to laugh. The other night I was watching one of those shows, and they had an actress portraying the newly shaved headed Britney Spears, in a straight jacket. Although I laughed when she showed her new tattoo of the nutrition label from a cheetos bag, I had to turn the TV off afterward and pray for her. I'm not a fan of Britney Spears or her music, but I am aching for her, and her two babies at home. She is obviously going through a hard time in life and making crazy choices, but she is still a person, and doesn't need her mistakes slandered all over magazine covers.
Some may say that she put herself in the spotlight and deserves the ridicule and negative attention, but I am just not sure what that would do to a person. Do you think we should care so much about who is doing what where, or should we recognize celebrities humanity and leave them alone?

The voice of a princess

Today I was privledged to have a little 3 year old girl grace the presence of my testosterone filled home. She came dressed in pink, with sparkly sandles on. She told me how our dog, (who is a boy) and her dog, (who is a girl) are in love. She said, "isn't that romantic?" She twirled around in the kitchen as she sung to herself, and walked on her tippy toes as she played "mother" to my sons. She sat quietly while we ate lunch, and chewed with her mouth closed. She colored in the puppy dog coloring book, (the one that usually only I color in) and presented her dad with a picture when he arrived to pick her up. As we watched her skip home, I said to my son, "Girls are different than boys aren't they?" to which he replied, "Yeah they have different parts."

Congratulations Benkerts!

I am absolutely thrilled for my friends that were just able to adopt a one month old little girl, out of the foster care system. It is such a wonderful blessing for their family, but also for this little girl. It's awesome that she gets to start her life in a stable home with a family that will love her greatly. Congratulations,Jessie, and all your family!

They found the casket of Jesus!

Some funny remarks disproving that claim....
(from an e mail my brother sent me)

~They claim they have proof that Jesus had a baby. We can’t even determine the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby. (Jay Leno)

~If you were going to hide a casket, would you put it in Jerusalem and label it "Jesus"?

~Wow! You trust this film more than the Bible? Now that’s faith.

Kids and honesty.

*I let my 4 year old son stay up a little late the other night to wait for his daddy to get home. We were watching tennis, (the only thing I could find suitablefor children on) when a diet pill commercial came on. It showed the before and after pictures of this woman, to which my son commented, "You need those mommy!" ......yeah, thanks.......

Bill Cosby used to have a show called "Kid's say the darndest things." I think my son could be on that show, he makes us laugh, cringe, and blush quite a bit with his honesty.

What have your kids said, or shouldn't have said that is just pure honesty?