A Little of This and That...

On the way home Monday afternoon, Ayden was singing to the top of his lungs...like always.  He always makes up his own songs, and it is the sweetest thing in the world.
Here are lyrics from his song Monday (just imagine very loud and very high pitched and holding out the last word of every line haha!):
I love Jesus, always pray for Jessssuuuusssss,
Jesus died on Calvaryyyyyyyyy,
That's where He died on the cross for meeeeeeeee,
I got a bow and arrow for my biiiiirrrrttthhhddayyyyyyyy!
Jesus died on Calvaryyyyyyy,
I want to eat lunch at Gracelyn's schoooooooooooollllllllll,
Oh yes, Jesus died on Calvaryyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That went on for quite a while.  It was SO sweet.  As much as he loves to sing, you would think he'd sing in church, but he and Gracelyn are both scared to death!  Ayden said he will sing when just "one people" is at church, and Gracelyn turns ghost white if you even mention it to her! Maybe one day...

We had Ayden's birthday party Saturday.  He turned four on Jan. 13th, but I just did not have time after Christmas to get it planned...and I didn't have the energy, either!!  He had a "Deer Huntin'" themed party.  When he first said that was the kind of party he wanted, I didn't have any idea what we could do with that.  The Internet didn't have very many ideas, either!  So I used a few things I did find on the Internet, and thankfully at the last minute a lot of different things came together, and the party turned out to be precious!!  That morning, around 10, Ayden was watching TV and all of the sudden asked, "The people are taking way too long!"  I asked him what people he was talking about.  He said, "The people coming to my party! They need to hurry up and get here!"  Bless his heart...the party didn't start until 3, but he was ready for everyone to get there! LOL

Gracelyn's little friend (and third cousin), Presley, also had a party Saturday at 2.  So, Gracelyn got to go to her house that morning and play then stay for the party for just a little while.  She had so much fun.  I think she felt like a "big girl" staying at a birthday party without Mommy!

Gracelyn was sick last week and had to stay home from school one day.  I guess I had it yesterday because I felt terrible!  This morning I woke up with no voice.  So that was fun trying to teach when no one could even hear me!  I had to take Ayden for a speech/hearing test this afternoon at the elementary school.  My poor baby is going to have to take speech.  He was so sweet during the test.  I told him we were going there because they wanted to see how smart he is.  Well, he was so proud of himself because he knew all the answers to their questions, and he couldn't stop smiling.  It was so sweet.  I love the way he says some of his words, but he is definitely not talking like he should at four years old.  Instead of banana, he says bwanna, and for Gracelyn he says Dwaydwyn.  It's pitiful though, sometimes when we can't understand what he says - he gets so frustrated.  Sometimes I'm even scared to ask him what he said because he gets so aggravated!  So I just hope my answer will satisfy him...and if it doesn't,  I better look out!! LOL

After his speech test, we went to Gracelyn's classroom to get her because I had a doctor's appointment right afterwards.  She was sound asleep during nap time when we walked in her room, and when she opened her eyes and saw us in there, she got so excited!  Her and Ayden were both very excited about going to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Michael had to work and wasn't able to go :( 
In four weeks, we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!  I cannot believe I went the whole nine months with both Gracelyn and Ayden without knowing if they were a boy or a girl.  It was so fun not knowing what they were until the very second they were born, but I am so ready to find out what this one is I barely feel like I can wait four more weeks!

After we left the doctor's office, we went to an indoor inflatable jumping place.  Today is Jayden's second birthday, so we met Kortney, Josh, Jayden, and Steven, CoCo, and Kaylee there for the kids to play.  I would have had more fun watching them if I had been able to keep my eyes open ;)  They had a lot of fun.  I know Michael would've loved to have been there.  He has more fun in those things than the kids do!

We went to eat at O'Charley's after the kids played.  And now I am finally in the place I've dreamed about since my alarm went off this morning...my bed.  And it feels wonderful. It's not even 10 o'clock yet, but I don't feel the least bit guilty.  Sleep is something I haven't started enjoying until the last couple of years, and especially the last few weeks.  This little baby makes me sooooo tired that I can barely make it through the day!  But it is so worth it :)

Hopefully Michael will be home soon so I can completely relax.  I never can fall into a deep sleep until I know he's home safely.  I think I'll just lay back, relax, and watch King of Queens until he gets here.  Good night :)

2012...and another baby on the way!!!

I thought the year 2000-the year I graduated high school- would never, ever get here.  But now it is 12 years later?!  I can't believe it!  The Lord blessed us through another great year...and now He is blessing us with another baby!  Baby #3 is due July 25, 2012.  We went for my first doctor's visit yesterday and saw the baby on the ultrasound.  At only 11 weeks, it is already an active little thing!  It (I hate saying "it" LOL) was squriming all over the place, kicking its little legs like crazy! It was so precious!
Gracelyn and Ayden were just amazed and stood staring at the screen with their mouths dropped open.  Gracelyn has been telling me "Mommy, there's not really a baby in your tummy!"  So maybe after seeing the ultrasound, she will be more willing to believe it! ha!  I guess it's just hard for a little kid to comprehend that there is a little person growing inside their mommy's tummy!  And Ayden thought we were going to the doctor yesterday to actually get the baby out!  LOL  They are so funny!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and like always it was over before we knew it.  Gracelyn, however, is still in Christmas mode.  She has been going upstairs to their playroom and finding random toys and wrapping them up to give us as Christmas presents.  She wraps the "presents" in blankets, paper, or whatever she can find!  She has probably used three rolls of tape in the last week! ha!  She "wrapped" Michael about seven different things a few nights ago and put them under the tree and couldn't wait for him to get home from work to open them!  Ayden had to get in on the fun, too and colored a few sheets of computer paper and then tore them up in a million pieces and put them under the tree for Michael's presents.  LOL As soon as Michael walked in the door that night, he got to live Christmas morning all over again with all the presents he got to open!! :)

Talkin' About Heaven...

Last night, on the way home from church there was a beautiful full, glowing moon.  Gracelyn and Ayden were sitting in the back of the car, talking about how pretty it was.  Then Gracelyn asked, "Mommy, does Jesus live on the moon?" And then started one of the sweetest conversations I have ever had in my life...

"No, Gracelyn, Jesus doesn't live on the moon.  He lives in Heaven," I told her. 
"Well, is Heaven in the sky?"  asked Ayden.
"No," I replied, "Heaven is past the sky.  We can't even see it," I told him.
"Well, how come we never go there?" asked Gracelyn.
"Yeah," said Ayden, "Let's go to Heaven!"
I had to think a minute before I could respond to this.  What exactly could I say?
"We can't go to Heaven yet.  That's where we'll go when we die," I told them. 
"Well, I don't want to do that!" Gracelyn exclaimed.
"You don't want to do what?" I asked.  "You don't want to go to Heaven?"
"I want to go to Heaven, but I don't want to die!" said Gracelyn. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Five Question Friday

This is the first time I've ever joined a blog hop!  I always love reading other bloggers' posts, so I thought I would give it a try myself!

1. Do you close the bathroom door when you are home alone?

LOL Funny question...Well, I am never home alone...ever.  But, I still don't close the bathroom door.  LOL I don't even close it at my parents house! ha!  If I hear someone coming I might try to close it real quick, or sometimes I just scream that I am using the bathroom and tell them not to look! :)

2. You have to walk around with a word on your forehead. That word describes you. One word. What is it?

I'm having to sit a minute and think about this one.  I think it would have to be BLESSED.  Because that is so true about my life.  Every person God has placed in my life is amazing, and I never want to take that for granted!


3. What store do you refuse to shop at and why?

Hot Topic. Hands down.  I am probably the furthest person from gothic, and that store just freaks me out. 

4. If you participated in arranged marriages for your child(ren), who would you choose for your child(ren)?

I have absolutely no idea who I would choose fo rmy children.  I have thought about them getting married, but that is soooo far away, and I don't even want to think about that yet!
I just want them to marry someone who will love them, treat them right, and make sure they are always happy.


5. If you could pick how and when you would die, would you?

I really don't want to know when I will die.  Because that day would always be in the back of my mind.  I want to enjoy my life up until the very last minute.  As far as choosing how I would die?  Of course I would rather die peacefully than in some tragic way! 
But I am so thankful that no matter how, and no matter when my life ends, I will be spending eternity with Jesus.
. 

Ready for Some Sleep!!

I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday! Today was an exhausting day...I had work, of course, then as soon as I left there I went straight to Gracelyn's school for open house...then tonight I had to go back to my school for a meeting. I am so glad to be sitting on the couch right now, and in just a few minutes I will be laying in my bed!
Gracelyn and Ayden stayed with my mom while I was at school tonight, and thankfully she gave them a bath and fed them for me!! They both fell asleep on the way home so I put them straight in bed. I am hoping they let me sleep a little later than 6:30 AM this Saturday...last Saturday morning they were wide awake before the sun came up! LOL!
I want to write about something funny that happened yesterday morning because I don't ever want to forget this...my iron is messed up so I had to iron Gracelyn's school clothes at Mama's yesterday morning. I went ahead and fixed her hair and put on her shoes before we left our house, but I left her in the t-shirt she had slept in. She had a hard time waking up yesterday morning, and when I put her in the car I said, "Gracelyn! Are you really wearing that to school??!!" She looked down and saw she was in just a t-shirt and panties and the look on her face was priceless!! Her eyes popped open and her mouth dropped, and she said, "Mommy! Are you kidding me?! Everybody's going to see my panties!" It was hilarious! How scary it must've been for a minute for her to think she was actually wearing that to school. I've had nightmares about things like that! LOL She was a funny looking sight, though with her hair fixed wtih a big pink bow, her cute little shoes...and then her panties and a t-shirt!! haha!
Well, it has come time for me to crawl in bed and snuggle close to Michael :)
This is definitely one thing that will make me smile at the end of the day...

There's not a night that goes by that I don't kiss their little sleeping faces over and over, praying the Lord will keep them safe and save their souls as soon as they are old enough to understand how.

It's Monday Again!

I can't believe it's already Monday already! Why does this weekend always fly by so fast?! I love, love, love Friday afternoons because I know the next two days are MINE! But before I know it, it's 5:00 AM Monday morning, and I am being awoken by the annoying sound of my alarm. I always hope that I'm just dreaming that I hear the alarm going off. I love when I wake up and look at the clock to see it's only 1:30 or 2 in the morning, but when I wake up and see that's it's 4:30 or anything close to 5, I literally want to cry! LOL

Saturday night we went shopping so I could buy some work clothes. I am sooo picky when it comes to buying clothes, and I was so excited that I actually found quite a few things I liked!

I wore one of the outfits to church yesterday and after church Ayden ran up and hugged me when he came out of the nursrery....I sat down and bent over to hug him, and my skirt got caught underneath me and ripped down the side. I was so upset :(

Then I started this morning off by trying to iron my brand new shirt...I really wish I had read the tag that said DO NOT IRON first...I pretty much burned a whole through the entire sleeve. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't ripped my skirt yesterday. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I was so upset. Michael asked me what was wrong, and I just started sobbing. He was so sweet because he just stood there and hugged me until I stopped crying. This was after he only got about four hours of sleep because he worked three wrecks last night, one of which was a fatality, and was called out at 6 this morning for another wreck. But, I'm glad he still found the time to hold me tight and let me cry because of my streak of bad luck with putting holes in my clothes! ha!

This afternoon Gracelyn had to decorate a "flip-flop" for homework. I had bought her some glitter, sequins, and stick-on flowers, so we went outside on the front porch and started glamming up her flip-flop! Of course Ayden wanted in on it, so I drew him a smiley face and let him sprinkle glitter on it. They had so much fun, and so did I :)
Even Paws tried to get in on the fun!

Such a bittersweet day...

Today was the day I knew would be hard ever since I first held my baby girl on May 24, 2006. Gracelyn started kindergarten. We went to Meet the Teacher last night, and Gracelyn was so excited to see her new classroom. But, this morning, when I kissed her bye and knew I was leaving my little girl at a big school with so many people without me there to take care of her...it just broke my heart...into a million pieces. I'm still supposed to be feeding her a bottle and looking into her eyes as she stares at me and makes those sweet little baby noises. I'm still supposed to be rocking her and singing her to sleep every night. I'm not supposed to be leaving her by herself all day, every day! I need to be there to take care of her if she gets hurt, take up for her if someone is mean to her, tickle her to get her in a good mood when she's upset, wipe her tears when she cries. I was so proud of her, though. When I left her in her classroom this morning, I left in tears...and when I got in my car, the tears kept flowing...and throughout the day, every time I thought about her eating her lunch in the cafetera or playing at recess, the tears would start again...and as I am typing about it, replaying it al in my mind, I sit here with tears rolling down my cheeks again.

Yes, I may be a bit emotional about it, but this is MY baby. I never want to see her hurt or see her heart broken.

I am so thankful, though, that Gracelyn has the absolute sweetest teacher and teacher's assistant in the world. They are so loving and caring, and I know she is taken care of..it just hurts that I'm not the one taking care of her while she's at school. The teacher gave all the mommys a little note today that was sooo sweet (and of course, made me cry more), but it was so thoughtful of her to think about us and what we were going through.