God's Faithfulness is Never Ending

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

5th Wedding Anniversary!

No you can't get all excited yet. We haven't made it there yet. But we are planning on making it to our fifth wedding anniversary in a few months...provided we don't kill one another (and please no one take that literally). Anywho, I thought I would post so hopefully someone could give me some nifty ideas for celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. We could renew vows but thats out. There were no toasts to reminisc over, no people in attendance at our wedding (except for the pastor and his wife), so ideas are a little limited. I am having my fabulous cousin do a photo shoot of us, but besides that I have no ideas. Can anyone give us some advice? Much appreciated, thanks!

Memorial Day Weekend

Oh my goodness, may I just start out saying how much I love our little family and all of the time that we get to spend together. We had such a fabulous long weekend together. Saturday Jaime and I hit the Old2Gold sale at Notre Dame which was incredible! We arrived at 6:10, the gates opened at 7 and we were wrapped around so we were standing on the other side of the stadium. I had such a great time with her, she got a bike, I got clothes, and I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long.
When I got home we started planting. We got all of our plants in the ground and also got some seeds planted. I don't have high hopes for the seeds, but Emma loved planting them. Maybe she will finish her dinner if she knows where it all came from...um, yeah right, that's a long stretch!
That night I was singing and bouncing Cal around and he started laughing. Not just laughing but belly laughing...the cutest noise in all the land. Nick and I were just in awe! He has such a low cute voice too and he was just having the time of his life...man I love that kid!
The only truly awful part about the weekend was that I got hit with a massive cold...the same cold that Nicholas has been battling and is continuing to battle (on a sidenote, Nick is one of those weird wussy people that is always sick...for like months on end with the same cold. I guess it isn't weird as he doesn't take anything to get better, no medicine, no vitamins, just a lot of whining...just teasing about the whining...kind of). Anyway because of the illnesses inflicted upon us we skipped church Sunday but then headed out to the park. If my mom were reading this she would say if we were well enough to go to the park we were well enough to go to church...kind of but it is a lot easier to blow your nose in the park than it is in the church sanctuary. The pictures above are of the park and right as we were leaving for the park and oh my gosh how I love that picture of her. She was all dressed for tennis, which we tried but she was much too involved in the new contraption, the tire swing, to care...maybe next time.
After the park I decided it was just too beautiful out to spend the day cooped up, so we went home for clothes and diaper changes and then headed to Fernwood Botanical Gardens...what a perfect day. Emma had a blast and we all had a blast just hanging out and being together in God's beauty.
Monday we did a whole lot of nothing which was spectacular! Monday evening we had a cookout at my Gram's. Had to post this pic of Cal and Maime in the swing...you know you love me! By the way I wish mine would sometime act like a UB but the element of caring is just gone...insiders on the inside know...ha! So that's my weekend in a nutshell "help I'm a weekend stuck in here in this shell"...how was yours?

Firsts Around Here

Emma got her first tricycle for her Birthday and this past weekend she took it outside and took it for a spin...she did pretty good and was so excited and proud of herself. It was just too cute!
Another first this past week was that Calvin began eating cereal! He didn't seem to like it very much at first but has since seemed to warm up to it more as the week has progressed. He is just so cute! Emma didn't like the idea of Cal sitting in her high chair until...We introduced her to her new booster seat! Check out the pink! She is doing so good in it and really seems to enjoy eating at the actual table. Another first this past weekend was that I got my sink shiny as the flylady plan suggests. As you can see I am such a dork that my pink kitchen does in fact have pink dish soap and pink hand soap...I know, I know, I'm pathetic!

Dell Should Give Me Royalties...or something!

Whenever I see a Dell commercial I think I should be getting some type of compensation from them! Errr! My senior year of college, one of the MANY exit projects I had to do was an analysis of a top company and make recommendations. Believe it or not but this two-hour presentation was one of the easier ones considering I had to give an investment portfolio restructuring recommendation to the CFO of one of the State's largest hospitals...yikes! (Now your silly exit papers don't look so hard, do they college kids?) Anywho, this was back in the day when, if you wanted a Dell computer you called Dell or went to their website. One of the recommendations was to make Dell computers available in stores. And are they available in stores now? Why yes they are! Another recommendation? Have a Dell representative there for a more personalized buying experience. And do they have Dell reps? Why yes they do. Here's another one: Dell should start making printers as that was the only thing they were outsourcing in their bundles. And do they make printers now? Of course because I'm a genius! Normally I would think that Dell is just clairvoyant and somehow knew the ideas, except our professor mailed them the project including a tape of the presentation. Do you think they thought "geesh, these people are geniuses?" I have this idea that maybe some grunt in the mailroom at Dell stumbled upon the package, opened it and decided to make the ideas his own. He probably changed the names on the presentation and walked up to the ivory tower with all of these ideas. Maybe he is some bigwig now. But I am sure it didn't happen like that. I am just sure they came up with those ideas all by themselves...right!

Big People, Little World

I love this photograph I captured last night while Emma and Daddy played. She was making food for him; she kept giving him soup and he kept saying "soup is nice but I want some real food!" so she gave him more soup. What kind of soup you ask? "Pink soup" was Emma's answer...apparently the girl likes to serve borsht to her guests. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to be such a terrific Daddy for our children.

Random Thoughts during my Day off...

The following are random things I have thought of during the day...geesh I am silly:

Is it pronounced Eether or IIIther?
I am wondering why we have 8 spoons for Calvin when they come in packs of 5?
Do you know the muffin man?
Will I ever stop finding shredded cheese under our kitchen table?
Do you have our two missing spoons?
Do you often times find your nose running but cannot blow anything out so only a kleenex shoved up your nose works?
Are you grossed out now?
Calvin had his first poo today!
Now you should be grossed out.
I would give $50.00 right now to just be able to go take an uninterrupted shower...$100.00 if I could shave my legs
Do you ever wonder if ants have boyfriends? Do they date? "Hey I've heard good things about this new crumb pile...wanna go check it out?"
Now you are grossed out and affirmed that I am weird.
I love Nick...I love knowing that he was the one for me.
I think Nick is the normal one of the family...his family that is
Thats some weird normal
Why don't they make the sink stoppers easier to clean out?
When you are losing weight do you go to buy clothes or do you just wait?
How long do you wait?
My pants fell off...maybe nows the time to shop.
I used to hate zucchini
Now its okay
Nick still hates zucchini
I can't frenchbraid hair
Everyone thinks I look like Kimora

First Boyfriends

My sisters (you can read it as My sista’s if you so choose) were over yesterday and little Kelsey brought her new boyfriend. This is basically the iconic first boyfriend for her and I couldn’t help but wax a little sentimental when she had left. Do you remember your first boyfriend? Remember the butterflys you got in your tummy when he was around or all of the minute details of actually asking you out that seemed so important at the time? Remember how you would talk to your little girlfriends about it and all of the questions “did he touch your hand like this or like this?” First boyfriends are instrumental in your life: they allow you to dream, and imagine, and create moments in your mind. They allow you to relish moments and feelings within yourself and keep thoughts and key events locked in your memory so you’ll never forget. First boyfriends are also a good lesson for that one day when you have a husband. You learn to understand body language and when to lay off and when to nag, when it is worth it to fight and when to just drop it, and etc. Who was your first boyfriend? What do you remember? What sticks out in your mind? My first boyfriend was a guy named Ryan. He was about 2-3 years older than me and I remember talking to him on the phone for hours at a time. Hours. And I remember the way he smelled like dryer sheets. So anyway, now you just HAVE to comment to tell me all about your first beau.

Just a little Thank you God, Thank you God!

Do you ever look at your life and think, how did I get here? That’s the way I felt this weekend. I know that I have done it before, with the forethought being, how did I get so old? Why do I live here? What was I thinking when I thought I could pull off this mom charade? But this weekend, the thought was more along the lines of “I can’t believe all of the wonderful things/animals/furniture/transportation/basic bodily functions/rooms in our home that God has blessed me with.” Do you ever have those moments? I just look around in wonderment…God has taken such good care of me, in spite of everything. In spite of my horrid, horrid, wicked sins, God has forgiven me and blessed me beyond measure. That is what Grace is all about. There’s an acronym for Grace: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. Isn’t that just so true? The pastor preached on joy yesterday in the sermon, and oddly enough we learned about the same thing in Sunday School; we talked about how Christians shouldn’t be downer people. You know what kind of downer people I am talking about: the kind of people that complain about every thing, that always have something wrong in their lives, that bring the whole room down when they are there, and that just drain the emotional life out of people they are around. I don’t want to be one of those people. We should be so full of Joy! At everything that God has done in our lives and the forgiveness he has bestowed upon us! I want to be a joyful person!!! I am so blessed, we just can’t understand why he loves us so much! Help me to be one of those people, PLEASE! When I am whiny, or complainy that my amazing husband did one thing stupid (well, stupid to me at least) once in his life, just smack me upside the head and say something gospel-like, such as “be filled with the Lord Jesus Sista!” You have to, its required. Because like the song says I’ve got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus, down in my heart!

I'm Pretty Fly

So I was reading blogs yesterday as I tend to do every day and I stumbled upon this one website called FlyLady. The website starts you out on Baby steps to getting your house clean and decluttered. I think that clean isn't so much my problem as cluttered. My confession is that I think I had run across this one before but thought, "who doesn't have time to clean their house?" Well the answer is now me. I really need to follow a schedule. And as much as I love my new schedule it would be nice to be told when I should be cleaning certain things in the house...like sheets. How often are you supposed to change your sheets? Anyone? So my question is, does anyone else belong to Fly Lady? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I JUST signed up so I will be shining my sink as the instructions suggest. I am hoping a shiny sink will be the start to a shiny weekend!

Family Dinners

I love the idea of having Sunday Dinner after church. You can read all about it here. The gal that wrote this blog is from South Carolina. Which is weird because when I saw Sunday dinner I immediately thought about my own family in South Carolina. When we were down visiting them I became enamored by their ritual of Sunday dinner. Everyone comes from everywhere, the church and inland from the beach mainly, and they all sit down around my Aunt Patsie's table for Supper. She always makes chicken and rice and there is always gravy on everything. There is always a cobbler on the side table. I want my family to know the stability and love wrapped up in this family tradition. Plus I love the thought that there is so much food so guests are always welcome. How homey! So go on now and plan yourself a nice supper for after church this Sunday.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Okay so this is not an attractive picture of me (hence I am the ugly one!). But I thought this was the funniest picture so I just had to post it. I guess I am humble or something. In Youth Group we used to say that you can't have fun unless you are humble; and thatis true, isn't it?

Anyway, Emma is the Good with her princessy fairy wand, granting Mommy all of her wishes. Poof, stop being ugly! And then there's Calvin. I love the Devil baby glare he's giving the camera, all swaddled in red. So uncharacteristic of him and yet it was captured at the same time as Emma looking angelic. I just HAD to share as I thought it was hilarious.

Thursday Schedule Update

So I will have to let you know how my new cool schedule works tomorrow. This morning my alarm didn't go off so I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at work...yikes! Plus we have a doctor's appointment for Calvin this afternoon and then errands to run so I won't be home this afternoon for chores during naptime. After that we are going down to the Witwer Manor for dinner and then my 7-8 cleaning time will be dispelled as well. So I will let you know how it runs tomorrow...sorry!

My Wednesday was Wonderful...kind of

So today we went to Shipshie, which for those of you who don't know is actually pretty far away from my house. We set out this morning and were supposed to meet my Gram and Aunt Jan there at 10 but ended up not leaving our house until about that time. Jaime came over to ride with me and thank the Lord that she did, she was such a big help! I think she was about to lose her mind though with all it takes to get two kids out the door with extra outfits and snacks and cups and at the last minute Calvin needed fed before we left. Exhausting. Then, probably about 3/4 of the way there, poor Emma gets car sick and pukes Oatmeal all over herself. You know who your best friend is when they are on the side of the road with you peeling puke clothes off of your kid. Thank you so much Maime! Back into the car, cleaned up and ready to go. By the way thanks to the EverGreen guy who stopped to see if he could help as he was the ONLY person to stop to see if two women with two kids needed assistance...what has our world come to? At Shipshie it was raining like none other so we only shopped the Mercantile which was so much fun! I decided to splurge and buy new sunglasses...they are more expensive than I spend on anything but Happy Mother's Day to me, right? You can see them here: I think I like them the best on Calvin but that's just because he reminds me of that old bald guy that used to dance on the Great America commercials...do you know who I am talking about?

After that we ate at Essenhaus which was fabulous as always! I got a chef salad with ham and soup, which was originally for Emma but she wouldn't eat it. Supper was followed by Peanut Butter pie and a cup of coffee...yum! Another Giada moment!

It was wonderful to spend the day with the girls! I am so happy my Aunt is back in town and it was fun with Jaime driving with me...we had such a blast!

One of the things I saw I really wanted to buy when I was out and about were candles. But I didn't buy any. I have a million and two candles at home and just about that many candle holders that makes it just seem silly to buy more. I love the way candles look and the way it changes the environment within the home. Whenever we go to Bean's house she always has tons of candles going and it always looks so nice. So I am going to try to light candles every night before dinner. Here are the candles I lit last night to disburse through the house:

I think it will create a relaxed atmosphere which I should be creating for Nick to come home to after a busy day.

SAHMs

Photo courtesy of Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Why do I get so jealous of stay at home moms? For some reason when I hear that someone is a stay at home mom, something inside of me bubbles up and I get so irritated, it is just unbelievable. I feel almost as a child when they want something that is simply unattainable, "but I want to be a Stay at Home Mom too!" And yet when I stop to think of it, I don’t want to be a stay at home mom. I tried it once and went out of my cotton-freaking mind! I am definitely not cut out to be stay at home mom. I need my day to have structure and I need to interact with other adults about things other than the number of bowel movements in a day and the latest rice cereal on the market. I also became incredibly depressed and anxious when I was at home with the kids full time. Now I only work part time and I must admit that I love what I do. I am not married to my job or anything but I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when I leave work. I wonder if I am jealous of the stay at home mom’s financial position; that they can stay at home, because honestly we couldn’t afford for me to stay home all of the time. But on the other hand, I don’t truly know the financial position of these stay at home mom’s. Maybe no one in the house can afford to eat meat or dairy products because she stays home. Maybe they are charging everything to their credit cards so they can look affluent. I am not trying to be mean, but it does help to sometimes remind myself that things are not always as they appear on the surface.

Vacationing without Going Broke

This is a good article about going on a vacation this year and saving some money. You can read it here. I know we are looking for ways to save money on our vacation this year. One way is we buy a valued visitor card or an Entertainment book. There are coupons for free gifts, 2 for 1 meals and percentage off at certain stores and hotels. Every little bit helps I guess.

Sleep Deprived Mama

So Nick and I were talking this weekend and as we are talking he made me realize that I have been surviving the last few months on only 3 hours of sleep a night. 3 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT! A light went off in my head when I realized this: this would explain why I am so grumpy, and unmotivated, and unorganized, and... Not only am I stumbling through the day but I think my brain is just shutting down at certain points of the day. So I am making a declaration and saying no more! I am going to get more sleep (I'm making the drastic change to 4 hours of sleep a night) and I am going to have a schedule for myself so that I am no longer found in the kitchen staring blankly at the counter...just standing and staring. Here is my schedule for myself:

4:30-5:00 Swiffer house and mop
5:00-5:45 Get ready for work, do devotions, pump (breast milk, not iron, teehee!)
6:00-1:00 Work, work, work!
1:00-2:00 Eat lunch and play with kids
2:00-3:00 Naps for the children, cleaning and household chores for me
3:00-3:30 If children still napping, downtime for me!
4:00-5:00 Play with kids, prepare dinner
5:00-6:00 Prepare and eat dinner
6:00-7:00 Open for playing, relaxing, whatnot
7:00-8:00 Cleaning!
8:00-8:18 Storytime with Emma before bed
8:18-9:00 Alone time with Nick
9:00-9:30 Shower or take bubble bath
9:30-10:00 Get ready for bed, get outfit ready for next day, set coffee maker, etc.
10:00 bed time!

So if I were to go to bed at 10:00 I would get 6 hours of sleep (actually 5 with 2 feedings with Calvin through the night). However I am realistically going into this knowing it is going to be more like 11:00 before I get to sleep most nights, but a girl can try! I know this is a pretty strict schedule but I don't have to follow it to a t, its just a guideline for me. There are so many things to do that I don't know WHAT to do...does that make sense? So I will let you know later on in the week how my new schedule is going.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommy's out there! Nick brought me breakfast in bed and now I am spending some time alone, which is what I asked for. I thought I would post a picture of the kids so I can relish how lucky I really am to be a mother. There are so many hardships that come with being a mother: having absolutely no time to ones self (practically), not having any time to get ready, being puked on, being pooped on, the tantrums, the sleepless nights. But all of the good outweighs all of the bads. Not only am I lucky to be a mother, but I am a mother with Nick as my children's father. I don't think there is anything better that I could have asked for. He is such a great husband and daddy. He is my support that is always there for me and always reassures me when I am convinced that I am not good at this whole Mom thing. I am so lucky to be celebrating Mother's Day with the people I am with right this very moment!

Have You Wondered Where I've Been?

I appologize for being so aloof lately. Life has pretty taken over life if, that makes sense. But I think I now have a clear view of things again. I have been so busy and so stressed over nothing. I have been so mean to my family and husband because I have felt like the world is crashing in on me. I haven't had time to put lotion on or get dishes done. I have gotten a huge boost of confidence and energy though.

Sunday Nick left for a conference in Detroit. I missed him so much but wasn't my usual whiny selfish self that I usually am...a definite sign of maturity on my part. But while he was gone I realized just how much I love him and how much I miss him when he is away. I also realized I am to have him...I have no idea how single mom's do it!

Tuesday I left via train to meet Nick in Detroit. I felt very Anne of Green Gables as I stood on the platform of the 1892 train station, waving to Peg, Emma, and Cal. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming; it was a warm spring day with a gentle breeze in the air. I boarded the train and found I was facing backwards...instantly petrified of motion sickness I downed a couple Dramamine. And surprise, they worked beautifully! I was even able to read on the train...and dream, and sleep, and sightsee!

When I arrived in Detroit it was like living out a fairy tale with Nick waiting for me. He was so happy to see me and he scooped me up and kissed me. How romantic! A definite change from the two of us nagging one another all of the time at home.

On the way to the hotel we stopped at a gourmet market for some shopping and then onto the hotel. Once freshened up we hit the street in search of fun things. We first stopped at Hard Rock for drinks and an appetizer. Next we went to Cyprus, a greek restaurant featured in the Rachael Ray mag (thanks Aunt Jan!) for some of the best greek food. We trested ourselves to drinks and the flaming cheese. Opa! Next we went to the Greektown Casino and gambled $1.00 away on slots. I won a few times which was fun. Nick said it was cute to watch me win. Seriously though I had such sensory overload I thought I was going to start rocking myself in a corner. After that we went back to the hotel to relax. After American Idol and watching the polls we headed down to Sweet Lorraine's and got drinks and dinner...we split an entree. Afterwards we went hot tubbing and were very pleased to see that we were the only ones there. How romantic!

When we awoke the next morning it was 8:00 am, a long time after I normally wake up at 4! It was so refreshing! Nick went out for coffee and I lounged which was heavenly. When he got back with my cappuccino, he kissed me and then headed out for his conference and leaving me to my own devices. I sat there with my cup of coffee and very slowly savored a couple pastries we had purchased the night before. They were the most delicious things I have ever eaten. They were from Astoria, a bakery voted best bakery, one of the best in the nation! I closed my mouth and savored every morsel, very Giada of me!

After my breakfast I took a long bath with some bath salts I had bought myself. I worked my way through a couple of magazines I had been trying to get through. After that I slowly got ready and actually took time to go through my routine. My routine which over the last two years has slowly dwindled from an hour long pampering affair to maybe 10 minutes of doing the musts. And during this time of me getting ready it hit me: putting lotion on should not be an extravagance. I should have enough time for myself to put lotion on.

So now we are back home and I am so refreshed and relaxed! I just need to make this feeling last. I need to stay silly and still treat Nicholas like we are still in love, because we are. Madly and deeply in love. He helped me see that. I feel like my old self again, not a wash maid or a beer wench, or a mom, or a wife, or a nosy neighbor. I feel like me, and I like that.