Kyle's Birthday Party

Was really fun. Katie's best friend family came over. Mrs. Y was sick so she couldn't make it, but Mr. Y and the kids came. We ate burgers and chips, then did the cake (it is a Wiggles theme cake) and Kyle actually tried to blow out the candle. It was cute. He really loved the cake; he kept saying wiggles..wiggles. It had the big red car and he played with that for awhile. He didn't want to stop playing with it to open the other presents but he finally wanted after about 30 min. My friend S. and her son A. (from a mommy group I'm in) sent him a CARS racetrack that he really likes and a Wiggles video. Mr Y. and family got him two Wiggles video. My friend S. and her daughter C. got him a $15 gift card to Target. Mommy and Daddy bought Kyle the Little People Farmhouse and a Thomas the Tank train set. He loved everything. He wanted to watch the Wiggles movie while playing with the other toys but guess what. Yup. The DVD player is broken so we made a trip to Best Buy and bought a Samsung DVD. It actually plays better than the old one (we watched Ladder 49..good movie). So he will get to watch the Wiggles in the morning. All in all I'd say he had a good birthday party. Tommorrow I plan on taking him to the park and just making his day special. He wants to wear his Superman costume all day and I said that's fine. He is the birthday boy...although I'm not sure he fully understands what that means.
I can't post pics yet because we don't have a HUB and my husband says we can't download them until we get one. We will find one this weekend. The old HUB has disappeared into I don't know land.

This Weekend

YMCA Festival
I haven't uploaded the pics yet but the kids went in their halloween costumes. They all looked so cute. It wasn't as much fun this year as it was last year. There were only about 8 games that the kids could play and get candy from. We were good and only took one piece of candy. They had a tractor train ride which Kyle loved; Lauren wouldn't go on it. Katherine sat with Kyle and when they passed me and they waved hi. You could hear Kyle yelling hi. Katherine got to ride on a horse..not a pony but a big brown and white horse. She was so excited. Now she wants one and she insists we can keep it on the porch or in the garage; we've been through this and thought this was over with. This year they had a mini carnival; the rides were for the teens and adults. They also were selling food and water; last year they had water stations and you could just get water; this year you had to pay for it. We didn't do the haunted house as Katherine was too scared from last year...plus the line was too long. Katherine did do the rock wall and actually made it half way. Not too bad. By the time 8.00 (we got there at 6.15) rolled around the babies were really tired and ready for bed. They went to sleep right when we put them down.
Grace Presbyterian
celebrated its 8th birthday on Sunday. Yippee. We didn't do the fajita luncheon because Katie's dad picked her up at 1 for lunch. We did bid on some items-people donated home made items to auction off to help raise money for our annual trip to mexico. We placed a bid on a doll; not sure if we won yet.
Birthday Party
We went to a friend's daugther's birthday party. She is turning one on halloween and they decided to throw the party on Saturday. No one was there that we knew; well actually two people from church but I don't know them that well. My friend I didn't get to really talk to all that much. There was another couple with a 10 month old, a couple that 3 kids and one on the way, the grandparents and the two people from church. Anyways, my friend has a son also and what made me mention the party is that people got gifts not just for the baby but for the son also. I thought that was strange. Has anyone heard of this being done?
Well I hope to post pics soon.

Part Time Job/Acceptance

I have been doing a part time job now for about 2 weeks. It hasn't turned out as easy as I thought it would. Somehow I thought it would be easier; but its actually turning out to be quite difficult. I'm not sure how to go about it anymore. I know my hubby could probably do it twice as better as I do. He's real good at selling things. In fact that is what he does in life. Oh well. Maybe I can try something else. I think I will stick with it for another couple of weeks.
Why is it human have a hard time accepting people as they are; especially Christians? Didn't Jesus come down to earth and preach about Love, Faith, and Forgiveness? Why is it when someone is different or has different beliefs we forget those teachings? As a christian, it can be frustrating being around others who believe in God but yet have a hard time accepting another person because of their actions, beliefs, or how they live their life. I just don't understand it. I know for a parent its hard to accept a child who has decided to not live or believe the same as you do; that is a struggle. I'm not denying that it can be a heartbreak. But aren't we supposed to forgive and love and accept anyways? Maybe I will understand as my chidlren get older.

Psychic

I found this interesting. The woman whom I walk with at the mall informed me that she is psychic. She does Tarot cards, angel cards, unicorn cards, healing/medicine cards and generally had a very good sense/intuition about people. No she doesn't advertise and the only reason why I found out was because I asked her what online communities she is involved in. At this she smiled and told me about the group (psychic group) she was in.
Being a Christian you would think I would no longer walk with her. Ah, but I am an open minded person and I don't condemn people for their beliefs. I may not believe in it but I know there are people out there who do. No, I am not going to ask for a reading, although my husband seems very interested. He claims that people who are psychic don't get a good feel/reading from him. Apparently his ex-wife was into that kind of stuff. No, I don't think its devil work or evil. Just another belief system out there. She is a nice lady and I enjoy walking with her. I value our time/friendship that we seem to be developing. I just thought it interesting.

Cold Weather

We had our first official cold day yesterday. It was in the 60s and at night dropped into the 40s. The wind was blowing pretty strong. Today it is sunny and windy..but still pretty cool. Its in the 70s. I am going to take the kids to the park when they wake up from their nap. Do some jogging and then let them play on the slides and swings. Lauren loves to swing. Its her favorite thing to do at the park. That and the slide.
I don't actually have any warm clothes for them to wear...Kyle had some footsie pjs from last year that fit so he's been wearing that yesterday and today. I'm just going to put Lauren in his jacket. We'll probably go this weekend and get them some warm stuff.

Tantrum

No for once I am not talking about my little ones. This time it was by my 10 1/2 yr old. Yes you heard me. It started at about 7 am. She spilt her milk so she slowly takes her time getting a towel to clean the table with. Then she looks at her plate and their are little drops of milk on her pancakes. "I can't eat them with milk on them." I'm frustrated with her over taking her time with the cleanup so I let out a sigh and said fine; have my plate. She starts crying. I have no idea why. She thinks we are mad at her. I calmly tell we are not mad. She just starts throwing a fit. She doesn't want to eat her food and is just sitting there saying how unfair her life is. So I tell her that if she doesn't stop crying then she won't be able to go out to eat with her dad (he is supposed to pick her up at 10.30 for brunch and now that she is throwing this fit he will have to come over and just play with her in her room). She starts screaming at me. I tell her to go to bed. So she goes to her room and I call her father and leave a message with him. Mind you, he and I do not get along nor does he care for the way I am raising Katherine. After 30 min. I go in and talk to her. She throws the book at me..how I don't love her, life is unfair...etc. I am very proud of myself for not crying in front of her and for being calm, of course after I leave her room I am in tears. I know she is just trying to get to me; she knows that in the past she could guilt me into giving in to what she wanted. Now its different. I'm trying to teach her consequences to her actions..something she should have learned a while ago. Once she figured out I wasn't going to cave..she started calming down. I told her she is grounded for the day; she helped to clean her room and the kitchen. She did her reading and her math assignments I give her to do on the weekends. She did this without complaining so we said she could still go to her soccer game (she loves soccer). We had to cancel her spending the night at her b/f house; her dad wouldn't come over and see her. That's another story. (BTW her team won..4-3). She handled her grounding very well. She would ask to do something and we told her she couldn't and she would get sad but she didn't pout and she didn't whine. At the end of the day I told her how proud I was of her for being so good about being grounded. She told me she loves me..and I said i love you too. She said I know mama. Well worth it. I hope that she learns I am trying to be a better parent. Like my husband says..kids need to know they have boundaries. I guess so.

Guilt

I was at bible study this morning (we are doing a Beth Moore one) talking about being the light of the world and bearing fruit. This depresses me. Why? Well as a mother I have made many mistakes...especially with Katherine. Her young years (meaning birth until now) have been a roller coaster ride. I wasn't exactly perfect and I didn't know anything about raising a kid; especially at 19. I didn't have family around. I wasn't in the right emotional frame of mind. I didn't have a great upbringing. I have made huge, major mistakes. Although I have prayed and asked for forgiveness, I can't seem to get rid of the guilt I have nor forgive myself. How does one shed that cloak? Even with the birth of my two younger ones I have made some mistakes already. I'm a yeller; I yell alot. I am trying to break this habit. I really am. During discussion one of the ladies mentioned that sometimes sin is the easier path..we don't do what's right because that takes time and effort; its just easier to judge, lie, or be in whatever sin you are in instead of turning away from it. I think this is true with raising kids. Its easier to ignore them at times and let them run wild then to always correct them or even to play with them. Its easier to yell at them than to be calm and rational and patient and tell them and redirect them to good behavior. So as I continue to strive to not yell (which has good days and bad days) how am I affecting my older child? She is old enough to remember all the past and now and how will she raise her children. Will she yell? I hope not. I hope that I can stop that behavior and be more patient with her as I tend to yell at her more than anyone. Maybe its the age. But seriously, how does one shed that cloak of guilt, shame, and yelling? Prayer just doesn't seem to be working. I want to let go of this...I really do. I just don't know how..even after prayer. Maybe I'm praying the wrong thing. Anyone have any advice?

Staph/Homeschooling

Well as you all probably have heard there is a bad case of Staph infection going around infecting people. Being in Texas, I don't know why, but there are some people that are blaming it on the illegal immigrants. I think this is absurd. Why can't people just let go of that issue?
Anyways, with it starting to hit the schools (although i haven't heard of it being in any schools in the RRISD area) it made me think about home schooling. I know my daughter would be difficult to do..plus she really does like going to school and being apart of all the events they do. Plus I'm not real good with math so since she is starting middle school next year I don't think I would have the patience to deal with her. Although it would be nice having her home. I was thinking about my younger ones. They are so good with each other...most of the time. I would just have to really focus my days with them and I'm not sure about controlling Kyle when he gets older...plus I like the idea of having a break with them. They can be so hyper; rambunctious. This will take some praying I think..and discussion with hubby.
Its not just about the staph infections. It's also about people who don't vaccinate their children. Its the education system. I don't like the Texas public education...I don't think its really helped my child. Sometimes I wonder if we could do better here at home. Katie fights me alot when I tell her to do something but I think after a while she would be okay. I just don't know. I don't usually let things get to me but this time I feel like I need to protect my kids and I should just keep them at home. I know you all are probably saying, "She's totally freaking out over nothing." Maybe I am. This world can be so scary sometimes.

Garage

Well I finally cleaned our garage up. Since my brother in law/ex boyfriend moved in the garage was a mess. We put alot of his stuff out there and some of our stuff too. So I finally got it all arranged neatly...or as neatly as a garage can look anyway. I was getting a bit tired of the mess. Now to try to clean up my home after my two tornados have been through it this morning.

Halloween Costumes

I have been searching for a way to save money on halloween costumes this year and my husband found an ad on craigslist selling costumes for $5-10. So I gave him a call and guess what? He lives out in Lakeway (for those not familiar with Austin/Round Rock..all of Austin is broken into divisions...Lake Austin, Lakeway Austin, The Lakes, North Austin...etc..you get the idea). Anyway, I asked him if he had size 3T-4 and 12-18 months. He said yes. I told him I live in Round Rock (30 minute drive without traffic..emphasis on the without here). So you would think he would be absolutely sure. Nope. I drive out there after my olderst daughter gets home from school. Guess what....only one outfit to fit Lauren and nothing for Kyle. Plus all of his stuff is real thick/heavy and all are from Walmart. Hello..I could have just drove down the road to view Walmart's stuff instead of driving all the way out there; couldn't just tell me over the phone. Plus can't wear the heavy stuff here...the kids would get heat stroke. Maybe this year we might get in the low 80s or high 70s but most years its closer to the upper 80s and humid. Basically it was a waste of my time. We did buy the witch costume for Lauren..she looks really cute in it and it was only $6. Reality wise it cost me $20 for the gas it took to drive out there and back.
On the plus side, it was a beautiful drive. We got to see Mansfield Dam and parts of Lake Travis. The scenery was wonderful; the colors, just how everything looked was truly a wonder to see. We got to view it for a long time because it took me an hour to get home because of traffic. Thank goodness for the new toll road because after sitting on 620 for about 50 minutes I jumped on the toll road and it took 10 minutes to get home; if I hand't taken the toll it would have taken another hour and a half to get home. Ah well.
Speaking of Halloween, we helped our church unload pumpkins tonight. We are selling pumpkins to help with our next mission trip. Basically my oldest helped and I played with the little ones and got to hold a baby for awhile (kyle held him too...it was real cute seeing my 2 1/2 yr old holding a 1 yr old). It took about an hour and there were lots of people that came out to help. I will be helping to sell the pumpkins on Thursday evening and Monday afternoon. I love halloween. I hope you do to.

Stay At Home Mom

Okay being a stay at home mom is great. I love the fact that if I'm tired during the day I can nap when the kids are napping. I can run errands, go grocery shopping, check my email, clean (sometimes) and do whatever else throughout the day. I love the fact I can play with my kids and go for walks with them. On the other hand, when money is tight, I have a hard time with not working. I feel like I waste my days...that I'm not doing much to contribute to this family. My husband says otherwise. Alas, this week I have felt like a lazy bum. I know the stress my husband is under considering all the medical bills we have and rent and food and clothes. Its not easy being the breadwinner of the family. I can't help but feel like maybe I should be doing something to help out.
I'm not good at selling stuff and we don't have the equipment for alot of those work from home jobs (plus hubby goes out of town about 2 days a week or works late) so having an evening job is out. I could get a weekend job but then I would never see my husband. I don't know. Guess I just wanted to get that off my chest.

A little of Everything

Isn't there just something wonderful about morning sex? I woke up this morning next to my wonderful husband. And for the next 5 minutes enjoyed a good morning wake up (hey we do have little ones after all..gotta squeeze in what you can). It just puts a smile on our faces and helps us stay in a good mood ready to face the day.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful time walking around Lakeline Mall with a woman (B) I met on Sparkpeople.com. She has allergies like I do and can't walk outside, so now on Tuesdays and Wednesday we are meeting in the mornings (9 am) to walk around the mall. It takes about an hour and I believe we do 1.5 miles. She is a very nice lady.
Okay, now for something I don't like admitting to because it is a habit that I sometimes fall into when I'm nervous and talking to people in person. I am much better as a computer friend than in person because sometimes I just don't know how to be around people. Yesterday afternoon I went over to an online friend's house (A) and met with two other women from the online group we are in. We all had some very nice conversations. The problem is that I told a few little white lies...embellishments on some things we talked about. So if you were there and are reading this blog I apoloze whole heartedly for telling the little white lies. I know that in God's eyes a lie is a lie so saying a little white lie is the same thing as a big lie. Just wanted to say sorry. I don't really realize I am doing it until I am through the situation...I don't even think about it. I could come up with a 1000's of excuses as to why I do this..but the bottomline is I chose to do that, I did it and I am taking full responsibility for it.
Moving on. Last night was a new episode of Boston Legal. In case you didn't get to watch it or aren't a fan they had a very interesting case. A 15 yr old wanted to sue her school because they teach abstinence only and she contracted HIV because she didn't know about using a condom when she had sex. They won the case. But it made me think if that was an actual case. As most of you know..I believe in educating our children when it comes to sex. I believe they should know how to protect themselves, what toys and condems are, what STDs and AIDS is, know about birth control and the consequences of sex. I don't think it should be made to be bad or wrong but to be careful about it. So I am all for sex education and not the abstinence only program. I could give you a ton of reasons why...but I'll let my experience answer it. I grew up not knowing much about sex from my parents but alot from my friends. By the time I was in 4th grade I knew the terminology, I had seen a boy naked, and I knew about pregnancy and AIDS. In junior high..they passed out condoms because our school had a high teen pregnancy rate..(yes we had girls that were pregnant at 12 and 13). They taught us about sex, about condoms, about STDs and the such. If it wasn't for this education I wouldn't know how to protect myself when I started having sex at 15. No, I didn't have sex b/c of what I was being taught. I had my own demons (came from an abusive background..not to mention my parents didn't care for me). It took me a long time to realize why I was doing the things I was and I'm still not perfect. Being in high school, I only knew of 2 people who were virgins by the time we graduated. I'm sure there were more but the majority of the people I knew had had sex. Kids are having sex now at younger ages. They need to be aware of what is going on. You can get an STD from giving a blowjob, you can get pregnant from the first time, things like that. If we continue to keep our children in the dark about sex then we are not giving them a bright future. Wake up people. Your kids will be put in that position time and again when they are older..don't you want them to be informed so they can take proper safety measures if they decide to have sex? Okay I'm off my soapbox now.

Something Fun

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Not that I know of

2. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yes...3

3. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Probably..although I would be telling myself everything I'm doing wrong

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Never..yep..seriously..never

5. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Ya know I don't know..I have no clue.

6. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Only if someone was threatening to kill me if I didn't.

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I'd have to say Special K chocolate delight and Life cereal.

8. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No I usually just kick them off and leave them anywhere like my 10 yr old does

9. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I suppose so..i lift a 33 lb kid and a 23 lb kid all day..sometimes a kid who weighs 68 lbs.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chocolate and Neopolitian

11. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
If they have anything strange or abnormal about them..tats or piercings or hair color or scars..things like that. Also the way they dress.

12. RED OR PINK?
Neither..I'm a blue girl

13. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
I miss my sanity

14. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Nobody sent this to me...I copied it off somebody's blog and thought it'd be fun to do

15. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Blue pants (excercise) and no shoes...just socks

16. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE ?
PB&J sandwhich, Lays potato chips, nectarine, motts fruit pack and a glass of water

17. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The quiet and stillness of my household as some sort of miracle occurred and both my children are now napping.

18. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Anything blue

19. FAVORITE SMELLS?
New Baby
The smell of a clean house (bleach and pine sol)
Roses/Flowers
Cakes/Breads Baking
Lavender

20. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My husband

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Football

22. HAIR COLOR?
Brown

23. EYE COLOR?
Blue

24. FAVORITE FOOD?
That's a tough one-chocolate, italian, mexican, ice cream, brownies, nectarines/plums, salads, strawberries, blueberry pancakes

25. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Scary Movie

26. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Night at the Museum...my daughter loved it..I thought it was cute for Ben stiller. Usually his movies really stink.

27. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
White

28. SUMMER OR WINTER?
I live in Texas..we have no winter. We have semi hot, hot, very hot, and hot and humid. Take your pick.

29. HUGS OR KISSES?
Both..I don't prefer one over the other

30. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Cheesecake (strawberry or white chocolate or chocolate)

31. WHAT BOOK( s) ARE YOU READING NOW?
A book about the Caravan Beastiliaty Book and After a Women's Heart by Beth Moore
and another book called Divergence (actually I just finished that one)

32. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Its just purple...we are pretty plain people

33. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Pinky and the Brain, How I met your mother and The Big Bang Theory (funny show)

34. FAVORITE SOUND?
My kids laughing

35. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Neither...how about Plain White Tees or Snow Patrol or Red Jumpsuit Apprateus (yes my spelling is awful)

36. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Haven't been too far from home...I guess Beeville when we go see my inlaws and my family around the holidays

37. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Yes. Watching, playing and teaching my kids while picking up after them, catering to their needs, doing laundry, cleaning house and kitchen, and managing to get dinner on the table while finding time to check email, read, and do this blog.

Lauren's Checkup/Spider Web

Today was Lauren's 15 month old checkup. She weighs 23.7 lbs and is 29 inches long. She is in the 20th percentile for heigth and 50th percentile for weight. At least this time when they gave her the shots she didn't pass out and the nurse wasn't required to do CPR. So that's a good thing. Kyle was a trooper. When she started crying from the shots he said,"Baby crying..Baby has owie..baby has owie." He even gave her a hug when we got home. She was screaming so loud that when we went up front to pay the person goes, "Why don't I just bill you." Nice. In other words, take that kid out so we don't have to listen to her. No, seriously...i know they were just being nice.

On another topic...

We went walking tonight and saw a huge spider web. It was very long..I'd never seen a spider web that big before. It was 6 feet long and about 5 feet wide. The brown spider was pregnant and she was pretty big for a spider. Hubby didn't know what type it was. She already had one egg sac in the web. My ten year old thought it was amazing. She was kinda scared of the spider though. I hope its there tomorrow night so we can see if she has another egg sac. I bet the lawn care people for our apartment complex will knock it down though. We will try to remember to bring the camera so I can post a pic of it.

Zombies

Okay I know werid topic but there it is. Why is I can barely remember any given number of books I've read over my lifetime but I can remember every zombie book and movie I've ever seen? Not that any of them were any good or anything..just something about zombies. Like how is it possible that although we are brain dead our body is able to continue moving? You need electricity in your body (basically the brain to function) in order for your body to move. Now this has been explained in various ways..mostly by a virus affecting mankind (and in some books the animal kingdom also). In other books I've read zombies begin to have intelligence. So does that mean that the soul of the person isn't dead..that they continue in the zombie body only not awake? Speaking of the soul..if the body is moving what happened to the soul? We die the soul leaves, but with a zombie is the soul trapped or is it released to meet judgement? In one book it was demons that took over the body...basically God got tired of mankind and let the demons have the earth. All souls went to hell. Guess that is one way to look at it. The only sad thing about this whole zombie business is that usually books/movies focus on the adults. Um hello there are children in this world. Sadly, a book I just read recently discussed about a mom eating her child, about children attacking people. What a sad, bleak outlook. Just a reminder, if the world is ending by zombies..i'll take a bullet to the brain first because in every book/movie out there that is the only way to kill a zombie. I prefer to die with some dignity and not turn into a zombie eating the flesh off of someone else. I think God would understand if I shot my family and then myself to prevent them from turning into something like that..don't ya think?