Croakin' Frog?

Oh ya'll. I think one of the frogs is seriously croaking!

Like kicking the little froggy bucket. Like he's going to meet his little froggy maker... seriously.

He's floating near the top and then he gets a little kick in his step and sort of swims... sort of. And then he sort of floats again. Like near the top... with his little froggy feet hanging behind him.

I fed them (there's two... I would link you back to my post about us getting the little guys, but I don't know how!! Sorry!) and he tried to get some food, but he missed... and missed... and missed again.

He would be no good at catching flies. He would starve to death he's such a bad aim!

Then once I saw the other little froggy (they don't have names either. Bless their hearts. That's why he's dying! He's having an identity crisis. I keep calling them "Him"s but they might be hers! SEE? poor guys... or girls) tried to get under the floaty one and nudge him. Bless it!! I feel sorry for the little guys.

Are frogs social creatures? Like if this one dies will the other one die too of a broken heart or something?

NOT to mention that Caroline doesn't know yet. I am going to give it a little while before I mention it. Don't you think?

Maybe he's just tired today and wants to float. I would like to float sometimes. Especially when I am tired.

Hey! Here's Some Randomness for YA!

How are all 5 of you? I am good today thanks! I just came from Wal-Mart(s), and the bargains? Well, they are just amazing at the Wal-Mart(s), ya know? I got some cute closed-toed brown shoes for $13. I think that's pretty good. (Is it closed toe? closed toed? oh, who cares!)

I also got some fabric so that Caroline can be a Bible character for school on Friday. I REALLY hope this works out. She has been hilarious about who she wants to be and all.

"Why can't I just be a butterfly?" she asked.
"Uh, well. That's not a Bible character!?"
"Well, I know about Adam and Eve. You know, they ate the apple, they lied to God and they listened to the serpent." (yes, she said serpent!)
"Yes, you could do that!"
"Well, I don't have a boy."
"Huh? You don't have a boy?"
"NOOO! Mom! It's ADAM AND EVE! You have to have a boy."
"Oh, that's a problem then, huh?"
"Yea. I will just be Noah."
"But HE'S a boy."
"Oh. Yea."

Oh goodness.

So we kept talking and discussing and trying to think of girls in the Bible. We have decided on Lydia. She sold purple cloth and Caroline has the sweetest Bible story in one of her Bibles about Lydia coming to Jesus. I am sure there will be pictures to come! We shall see!

We are off to Occupational Therapy today and I am looking forward to discussing Caroline's upcoming Neurology appointment with them. They have scheduled the doctor to come to OT one day in November and he will observe and meet us there before we move on to other possible appointments. I am really excited about this because Caroline is VERY nervous (like more than your average bear) about doctors. At OT they will play with Caroline while the MD talks to me and my husband and then we will move on from there. I hope he doesn't think we all need an MRI! HA! You just never know!

Well, off to clean and do laundry! The laundry... seriously.. I am JUST OVER IT! I mean it is SO time consuming and NEVER ENDING! It's a little cold to be naked though. Although... going commando has crossed my mind. NO! I am not going to do that!! I just thought it...

Hence, the possible MRI!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

This past weekend we went to a Sunday school social at a pumpkin patch/corn maze/bonfire place. I guess otherwise known as a farm. There were tractors and hay bails and animals to pet and all... AND it was really fun!

Here are the kids (and some adults) waiting to get on the trailer that took us to the fun!

They had this ride that they had put together where they used barrels to make little cows. The cows were all attached and they pulled them behind a 4 wheeler. The kids would get into the cows and they would pull them all over the place. The kids had a ball and every time they would come back saying "that's bouncy!"

Here's Caroline and Rebecca rarin' to go! YEE HA!

We had lots of fun going through the corn maze, but it sure was muddy! I wore boots that are OLD and they are slick on the bottom. I had to work hard not to bust it several times while trying to make my way through the maze. Oh and my friends WOULD have laughed. Oh yes they would!



The kids did a great job of helping us find the posts and at each post we had to answer a question. If we got the answer right we were told to go one way, but if we got it wrong... well, we were pretty sure we got it right since we took the kid version along with us. ha! I mean one question was "What do chickens lay?" Come on now! Here they are ready to answer the question so we can move on!!




Check out these little cuties! They are twins, but no one would ever know!! They are our friends, Brandon and Emily's, little guys..

Brady

And Cooper!

I can hardly stand the cuteness!

So we saw bunnies and horses and played in a big box of corn... ate s'mores and roasted marshmallows and sang happy birthday to our friend Danny... we let the kids swing and slide and we just had a grand ol' time!

By the end of the night we were all exhausted. Everyone was ready to get on the trailer and head back to our cars. We were tired, muddy and smelled like smoke, but we had had a great time celebrating fall!

Caroline and our sweet friend Emma! We love our friends!

Pop Panic!

See that? THAT my friends is a Pucker Pop. Personally I don't think that version of the Pucker Pop is so cute, HOWEVER when they put a monogram or personalize it for you with something super cute... well, NOW we are talkin'! They are super fun and if you are interested in personalizing some for yourself or your business I would love to hear from you! They would make SUPER Christmas gifts from a company or for a school!!

Well, my daughter's school is a k-12 school which means that when the high school kids have a ball game, pep rally or special event, even the kindergartners get in on the act. It's pretty fun!

So some of the football moms found out that I sell these Pucker Pops and that they could get our school logo printed on them. They were so excited and so was I!! They decided that they wanted some to sell at Homecoming as a neat concession momento, and I decided THAT was a grand idea!

We placed the order in plenty of time. The company called and sent me the image that looked something like this....

That's the logo printed directly on the candy! It is really cool and they taste great!

So... I approved it and we waited and waited. This company is usually great about shipping in a timely manner so I didn't worry. UNTIL... the week of Homecoming they had still not arrived on my doorstep via my friendly little UPS man.

I e-mailed. They responded with "we will let you know tomorrow about the status of your shipment." Ok, I had e-mailed towards the end of the day. That's fair.

Soo.. we waited... I e-mailed again and I got a message back from the owner's Blackberry. Bless their hearts... their company had lost power and were unable to get the order shipped until 2 days before Homecoming!!

WHAT WAS I TO DO?? Oh, I just prayed that it would be an exceptionally good UPS day and that they would drive those little brown trucks quickly to my door!

The next day the weather man was calling for a cold Friday with a fair amount of rain. I really didn't think much about it since I was so worried about the suckers. My phone rang that Thursday and it was my friend Susan. "GIRRRL. You are gonna die! They have postponed the Homecoming game until next week due to the RAIN!"

SERIOUSLY?? Who cancels Homecoming?? Due to all that they had planned the school decided that Homecoming court would have pneumonia and that the parents would not want to sit in the freezing rain so there would be no fans. So they seriously cancelled Homecoming!

The suckers arrived the NIGHT of the original Homecoming date and we lived happily ever after.

The end.

Lots to Tell You!

But not a lot of time because I am so dang tired! (say that last word as suthern as you can... Tiiired... yea, that's it. THAT's how I feel. Not tired. TIIIRED.)

There was the luncheon that I was gonna have that I didn't have because my kid got sick.

Then there was the hayride that was fun and full of friends that we haven't hung out with in a while. It included a corn maze and everything! And Smores! YUM!

AND there's the story of the suckers that I ordered for our school that didn't come on time for Homecoming, but who cares now because they postponed it! The homecoming that is... so yay God! He is amazing!


So I have pictures and funny things to say to all 5 of you so when I rest and can put a thought together I will have things to share! I know you are on the edge of your seat. Yes, you are!

Night night! Can't wait to read about YOUR adventures too! :)
Happy Fall ya'll!

AND Wouldn't You KNOW...

He waited in line for an hour for the BBQ and they RAN OUT!

That's what we get for arguing.

Vengence is Mine sayeth the Lord!

Lovin' Fall and Some Randomness!

Hey Blogland! Have you guys registered for that AWESOME tote on Faith's blog yet? You seriously need to! It's an awesome thing!! About 5 people read this blog so I don't know if I am helping her effort, but if you have not registered head on over! She'd love to have ya!

And are you lovin' fall? It's so fun when the weather changes and the leaves are just beautiful! Oh, I love it! AND last night we all ran upstairs to get our SOCKS on! We love to get into our cozy PJ's and get our socks when it's cold outside. Caroline was a little sad because she couldn't reach her sock drawer!

Pumpkins and leaves and colors galore! It's really amazing that the Lord can do all that He does simply in nature! Not to mention in our hearts!! What a mighty God we serve!


Today is SUPER HERO CARTOON CHARACTER day at school.



What. in. the. world??



Has anyone ever heard of such randomness? It's really spirit week and yesterday was tacky day so I guess we can wear capes to school today, huh? I just imagine ninja children terrorizing one another! AND today's chapel! Maybe the ninjas with give their hearts to Jesus. It's possible!



Our first grader is not into the super hero scene, but she likes the Disney princess stuff so she wore her Tinkerbell shirt and a tutu ...with a matching hair bow, I might add! At least we are trying to participate! I can hear the boys now, "THAT'S NOT A SUPER HERO!"



I told her to ignore the boys.



AND tonight is a big BBQ in our neck of the woods! Every year this church puts on a HUGE BBQ and they rope off the street and have police directing traffic and all of the local politicians are there with their signs and the food is DELISH! We always argue about who's going to sit in line to get our share.



Him- "You know! It's the big BBQ! 4th Thursday of every October!"
Me- "Yea! Now you can not leave at 6:30, get in line and be home for us to eat so I can leave and go to accountability by 7."
Him- "Oh, I can't? Well, I was hoping YOU would go get it after school."
Me- "Oh! Well, it's on YOUR way home from work!"
Him- "I guess we will just talk this afternoon and decide!"
Me- "I guess we will!"


Sad, people. We are sad!



Well, I hope you have a nice fall day! Enjoy the views and eat a little BBQ! Would love to hear how you celebrate fall! All 5 of you! :)

A Possible Math Miracle?

Oh. My. Word. I am almost beside myself!

Last night I was online for a while looking for things to help us with our math difficulties in first grade. I wanted to find SOMETHING that would give us a practical visual that Caroline could use in the classroom when no visual is given. Like sometimes they use blocks to count with, but sometimes the don't! When they don't... girlfriend is totally in the dark! Even when they DO she still struggles.

So... this summer she was in math camp. (I know. Bless her heart. Other kids were in some amazing camp where they rode on zip lines, splashed happily into the water and swam until their heart's content. My kid? Math camp.) But in math camp they did Touch Math one day. I taught it a little when I taught first grade, but I sorta forgot about it. WELL! TO MY DELIGHT! There is an entire program using Touch Math!

(Now I bet you are thinking," YOU taught first grade and you are struggling THIS much with your own kid? Trust me. It's much harder when it's your own kid. TRUST ME!)

What you do is assign dots to each number and that gives the kids a visual to help them add! Number one gets one dot. Number two gets two dots...etc! It's SO cool! AND you can use a FREE tutorial video for teachers and parents!! Oh my word!

We used it a little this morning and she actually seemed to do pretty well. OH! Please pray that this clicks with her and that math begins to pick up! We are so wanting this to be fun for her and with 11 years of school ahead of us... starting to hate it NOW would just make all involved want to jump off a bridge... or something.

It Started OUT Fun and End Fun, But the In Between?

Well, we started the week with a choir recording session two nights in a row (and that's really fun to me) lunch with friends and my mother-in-law spending time with my little one one afternoon. All of that was REALLY good and fun and all... then Wednesday afternoon came and it got a little hard for me.

I took Caroline to therapy and while we were there we discussed her school work (which was good for the most part. Math is killing her right now) and the inconsistencies that she's experiencing in behaviors from one day to another. I JUST asked if meds might need to come into play was all!! Then as they were doing some therapy on her stomach, Caroline's legs started this twitching thing that she has done since she was a baby. This was the first time that her OT had noticed it and it REALLY bothered her.

So, the possibilities of meds and the leg thing brought on ...."and maybe we just need to schedule an appointment with a neurologist."
My stomach sank.
It just made me so scared of what they might find and what we might have to go through with Caroline. It bothered me that she gets SO anxious about going to the doctor anyway, and then to add ANOTHER visit sometimes sends her over the edge.

Then there is the thought of ANOTHER way that I need to come to terms with the fact that my kid isn't normal. I know!! I know! Who knows what normal is??? Well, I can tell you what it isn't!! It ISN'T going to OT every other week. It isn't being pulled for help with school work 4 out of 5 days and it isn't going to be tested psychologically OR NEUROLOGICALLY!

She's so sweet, funny and smart in so many ways. She's improving and growing and doing pretty well, but this just made me sad!! I cried on the way home from OT and Thursday I was a wreck! I cried several times and each time I talked with family or friends it just brought on the water works! I just felt very scared, alone and tired of this never ending road.

SO today we had her fall party at school. She had such a good time! She played with her friends and my mom even came to help out. You gotta love it when your mom comes! I think it was God's way of saying, "I am here. It's ok. We will walk this road together."

Lord, THANK YOU for being with me through my sweet husband, family and friends. The hard times grow a little easier when You allow them to come along side me. I pray for Caroline, Lord. Help us to know how to teach her math. Help them to show us what is going on with her in more detail so that she might improve all around. Lord, You are in control! Help me to rest in that.

Love Came Gently

Today we are in the middle of recording a CD at our church for our upcoming Christmas musical. It's really pretty exciting and I love to sing so it's a lot of fun too! We had to be there last night for our first night of recording and everyone seemed to be pretty pumped to do this. The Praise Teams were there first so we had to wait for a little while 'til they wrapped things up. Then we headed into the choir suite and sang our little hearts out for about three hours!

Today, for some reason there is this one line from one of the songs that I just keep singing in my head over and over again. The song is called "Love Came Gently" and the lyrics explain how Jesus was born in a lowly manger... and how "only the shepherds and the 'wisest' found Him beneath the star so bright.."

But at the end of the song this statement is the one that gets me every time....

"And for those who trust in the Savior
Love comes gently still today."

It makes me tear up just typing it! And if you could hear the music and how beautifully this line is sung... well, it would bring tears to your eyes too!

There are many things that my family, friends and I are facing right now. So many around us are dealing with uncertain futures and how we will cope with the economy. Uncertainties about finances and jobs.

And yet, this past Sunday night our pastor preached about "those who trust in the Savior." He reminded us that the Bible predicts (in Revelation) that these types of hardships will come, and yet those who trust in the Savior can find peace because He's still in control.

It is not by running a big presidential campaign claiming all that he might do when He becomes president.

It's not by standing in the middle of Wall Street and proclaiming His power.

It's not by any trickery or claim that if you invest in this area or take that job that your security will be guaranteed.

No. The song also says "choosing instead a humble birth." Jesus didn't come in fanfare then and He doesn't come in fanfare now!

What it IS is a gentle reminder that His love and His sustaining grace holds us through it all.

My heart breaks for those who don't know our Savior. I just wonder how they make it through the day without the assurance that everything holds together in Him!? (Colossians 1:17) I know that those of us who DO know Him still feel that sense of panic at times. We are human and we do know worry and concern and a real longing for direction, but we also know that we can call on the Name of Jesus and He can comfort us beyond those fears.

I just pray that we are sharing Him with others. I pray that we are trusting Him with our own lives and that we are realizing His gentle love as we walk through these days. He's still here. He's still in control, and He's still on His throne.

"And for all who TRUST in the Savior... Love comes gently... STILL today."

When The Toothfairy Forgets!

Just before we left for Disney on Ice... let's see... that was... OH! Thursday night... Caroline lost a tooth!

Now, let me just clarify here. We have not just had a normal tooth growing and losing history.

When she was three months old... yes, I said THREE months... girlfriend got her first TWO teeth! From that point on she has had teeth galore! She started losing teeth at FOUR! She has swallowed teeth. She has gotten quarters for teeth and then swallowed one of those!! She has thrown teeth in the big trash can at church and we had to dig through old lunches to try to find it!! OH! The tooth drama at this house!

I am kind of over it.

SO... we lost another tooth. Well, of course she was so excited that the toothfairy would come, and she had the tooth on the counter in the kitchen in a paper towel so we would not forget! We got home late that night so naturally? We forgot.

The next day she put it under her pillow early so that we would be ALL ready for the MONEY! I mean, toothfairy. She took a nap that day and was up looking under her pillow to see if the fairy functions during the day. No such luck.

That night we went to bed... talking about the toothfairy... ready to get up the next day (this is Saturday by now) but apparently the toothfairy went to sleep earlier than she usually does and again, she forgot!

Last night, we were all safely tucked in our beds when it hit me!

"Honey, did the toothfairy come?"
"Uh, I don't know! Did SHE?"
"Oh, PLEASE go downstairs and get a dollar out of your wallet! YOU do it this time!"
Tip toeing down stairs, then back up, then a little creeeek of her door. Then VOICES! YIKES! She woke up!
He comes in... "She was staring me in the face! I asked if she was ok and she just turned over and went back to sleep!"
"Do you think she knew??"
"No! But what if we've forgotten all of these nights only to RUIN it for her tonight!"

Well, toothfairy! I guess that's what we get!

A Disney Surprise

This week Disney on Ice is here in Charlotte. My husband and I had talked about taking Caroline, but I have been sick. Yesterday we just decided to do it! She didn't have school today so she (and I!) could sleep in some soooo... why not!?

We did not tell her what we were doing so when my husband got home from work we told her to get a jacket. "Why do I need a jacket?" She kept asking over and over again! She kept asking where we were going and we said, "Somewhere fun! Just trust us!" So then she wanted "secrets" about where we were going. "You mean CLUES?" we asked!

We told her we were going somewhere fun, cold and it started with a "D".

Her guess... "We are going to the doctor?" HA!

When we arrived the scene with Ariel from The Little Mermaid was on the ice.

Under Da Sea

Ursala and Ariel

The Prince!

Next the ice and scenes changed to the safari and out came The Lion King!

Acuna Matada

If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see Simba lying on a leaf.

At times the set was quite elaborate! I thought they did a really great job!

After The Lion King they had intermission and we were off to the potty! Well, you know that means SUPER expensive souvenirs that light up and just call out "BUY ME!" to the little kids!

A snowcone was $11!! OH MY WORD! We settled for some cotton candy that had a fairy hat attached. It was the most reasonable and we could all share the candy! Here she is with her new fairy hat!

After intermission the entire last scene was about Tinker Bell. It was a little long because we weren't familiar with how Tink got her wings. It was really cute though...

Here's the queen of the fairies talking to Tink about her gifts.

(Check out that dress!)

Here's Tink after she's sprinkled with pixie dust and gets her wings.

And a snazzy new outfit!

Here's Donald Duck and Goofy celebrating spring after all of the fairies bring it to earth.

(Not exactly Biblically based, ya think!?)

On the way home she talked and talked about all of the things she saw. It was a fun night! Here she is with her new Cinderella doll that she begged for as a keepsake from her night at Disney!

Uneventful Eventful Week

I have been reading about everyone else's life today because, frankly, my life has consisted of the "cough, cough, sneeze, cough again monster" for going on two weeks now. Yes, it's a great thrill when you have bronchitis. The blessing in it all has been that my sweet husband has stayed at home with me and helped me with our daughter every single night. He cancelled two different sets of plans to come home to help me. I just love him!! God has really blessed me with a super husband and I am so grateful!

Then our friend Jennifer had her car broken into this week. Someone broke her window (in our church parking lot, no less!) and took her purse!! It shook her up SO bad (as it would anyone!) and it just made us SO mad that someone would do that to another person!! I know that crime goes on all the time and that I would probably be disgusted if I really knew all that went on, but when it hits close to home like that it just makes ME MAD! Praise the Lord, she's ok and she was able to get things cancelled in time. God protected her and He will continue to do so.

So... it has been a little uneventful for me... and yet eventful for those that I love... so that makes it an uneventful eventful week... wouldn't you say?

Have I mentioned before that we don't have cable? Have you ever been sick and had to stay home for days on end with nothing but Divorce Court, the news, PBS cartoons, soap operas and Reading Rainbow to entertain you? Pure bliss, I tell ya! Wow!

Have a good day! Stay away from the germs!! They are terrible!!

Sniff, Sniff... Cough... Those Kids!

So... has it hit you yet? I keep hearing sniff... sniff... sniffs all around me lately! Somethings going on and it ain't even cold outside yet.

All of those school kids get together and share their germs and then they bring them home!! That's it! Blame it on the kids!

Oh well. This too shall pass. Just rest and drink lots of fluids.

On a lighter note... and kind of sweet one too... last week at Occupational Therapy the events unfolded like this.

Therapist- "Hey (insert little girl's name), what's your school teacher's name?"

Little girl with some serious medical conditions was silent. They have been working on getting her to respond because she suffers from some communication difficulties.

Therapist to my daughter- "Hey, Caroline, that little girl can't always talk. Do you think you could ask her what her teacher's name is for me? She likes you."

Caroline- "Sure!" Walks over to the girl... "Hey, I'm Caroline! What's your teacher's name?"

Little girl- smiles and whispers, "Mrs. Nicole."

I know that Caroline can't always process information and that she is a confusing kid to those around her sometimes.

I also think that she does not process that other kids might have disabilities so she treats them like NORMAL kids and they respond to her.

Somehow... in this difficult time that we experience with her... school work is hard, she's hard to get focused, she's not always appropriate, etc... there's a blessing in it too. I wonder if she will grow up to be an OT who helps kids get through their struggles?

Hippity Hop

It's official! We have our first pets. Well, Caroline has HER first pets.

Yes, p-e-t-s...insinuates plural which means that we have TWO!

My dad works at a pet store and they were here visiting this weekend. Dad has been dying to bring a dog or something, but we have no fence and have balked at the idea for a while now.

So today he brought her a little aquarium type thingy with two little frogs in it. They are really little and they just swim around in this little aquarium thingy... with a bamboo branch and a snail that keeps things clean (so they say). I guess we shall see.

They also came with a pack of food that you feed them twice a week and it is suppose to sustain these little webbed feet creatures for a solid year!

I wish I could survive on a little pellet of food twice a week for a year. Imagine how skinny I would be! I mean they are so skinny you can't even see them in this picture... and when I tried to take a picture of them it was just a blurry water shot.

We haven't named them yet, but Caroline seems quite excited about her new little aquatic friends.

Wonder what she could name 'em? Any ideas??

25 Random Things That Make Me Happy

Boomama inspired me to write this. I loved her #11, 20 and 24 and it got me a thinkin'. So... here's mine(s).

1.taking a hot bath
2. reading
3. a clean house
4. clean sheets
5. the beach
6. the mountains
7. hearing a new word from God
8. time with my hubby
9. my funny little girl
10. friends who stick around even though I'm weird
11. a clean car
12. talking to my mom
13. worship
14. seeing a student catch on for the first time
15. eating out
16. warm desserts
17. comfy jeans
18. cool shoes!
19. road trips
20. laughing
21. shopping
22. fall
23. spring
24. taking a nap
25. singing

What about you?