Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Drivin' Through the Car Wash

I can't believe that I'm writing this post. I feel like such a country girl. Please don't make fun of me too much.
This weekend I drove on some gravel roads and my van got terribly dusty. (I don't understand how my mom stood the dust since it was a constant on our cars when I was growing up.) To add to the mess, some of the teens from church put their hand-prints all over my van. I decided to make a trip to the car wash this morning.
*As a side note, Asa is at school. I'm staying home with Judah because he's sick.
After we took Asa to school, we went to the car wash. I don't really go to the car wash very often and when I do, it's usually the self wash. As I drive, I wonder if I have enough money for the car wash and wonder if they take credit cards. Hmm. Really, I'm so behind the times.
I pull in and there's a nice attendant at a little window like McDonald's. I give her my money (they also accept 4 credit cards) and tell her what wash I want. I proceed to drive into the little building. Well this is where it gets crazy. At least for my little country self. There's a guy inside directing me how far to pull in and there's this weird track thing. Am I supposed to drive my tire into that? I guess so. Then, get this! You put the car in neutral and just sit there! Really? This is awesome!
OK so I'm a total goof. I've never been to a real car wash. Let's hear your jesting now. Meanwhile Judah is wondering what is going on. He has a scared look on his face and is pointing out the window. Luckily he doesn't cry. His least favorite part was probably the loud dryers at the end. I'm with him. I thought my wipers were going to be blown off!
Anyhow, as I drove away I reeled in the amazing technology at the car wash. I highly recommend that you visit your local fancy car wash today. It's fun!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Warning: Blog Reactivation in 3....2....1.....

I'm really trying to keep my blog going. Really, I am trying. It's just not that easy these days. I do have a lot of things to say. I just can't remember them. I dedicate this blog to my favorite things right now.
1. Family craft night.
2. Judah's little giggle.
3. Checking on my boys after they fall asleep. Every night my heart melts when I see them sleeping.
4. Cuddling with the boys on chilly mornings.
5. Iced tea.
6. Hot Chocolate.
7. Listening to Judah sing.
8. Feeling my littlest guy rolling around in my stomach.
9. Chatting with friends while our kids play together.
10. Cuddling on the couch with my sweet husband.

More posts to come....I hope!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Serve Week

One week this summer I was luck enough to serve with the teenagers from our church. Every morning we made sack lunches, one for myself, two to share. Every day we had a different project. Monday (July 5th) we picked up trash at a park in Kansas City. You can imagine what we found at Swope Park on the day after the 4th of July! The best thing I found was a couple walking down the street. They were collecting cans. We looked through my bag of trash and picked out all the cans. As we were digging, the lady told me that they can get $1 a pound for cans. She also asked if I had an extra pair of gloves. As we were walking to my car to get the gloves, I told her that we had packed extra lunches and water that day and asked if she was interested. She was. I gave her two lunches and two bottles of cold water and two pair of gloves. We said goodbye and God bless. Then I thought. $1 for a pound of cans? One Dollar? One pound? That's a lot of cans. And what does one dollar buy you? This was the first of many humbling experiences during the week. I thanked God in that moment for a house and a job and a family. We are so blessed.
After we picked up trash, we ate our lunches and talked about all the gross stuff we picked up. Then we headed out for downtown to hand out some lunches. It was really simple. We drove around and looked for people that we thought needed a lunch. We did this for 3 days. We gave out about 60 lunches. Some people took the paper bag and walked away. Some stopped to tell us their story. Many were very grateful. One man giggled, he was so happy! We drove in our cars silently, humbled by the situation.

Tuesday we worked in two groups. One group sanded and painted a lady's porch. The other group picked up trash in her neighborhood. Someone stopped as we were picking up trash and asked why we were there. We just answered that we were doing what we could for the people in the neighborhood. The lady whose porch was painted was very touched by our work. I was told that she said "thank-you" a million times and was moved to tears at the end of the day.

Wednesday we worked at a food pantry in Kansas City. We sorted bread and packaged cereal. We all got to wear sweet hairnets! In the afternoon we did some yard work for a special lady. Her husband had just passed away and she was preparing to host people at her house around the time of the funeral. It was raining and we were doing yard work. Mainly we were pulling weeds and bagging up grass. Heavy, dirty work.

Thursday we sorted clothes at a local clothes closet. Easy work compared to the previous afternoon! Later that morning we did some work at another food pantry.

In this entire week, I never heard one person complain about the work, the heat, the trash. We served with open hearts an I think everyone left having been changed.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Judah, Our Two-Year-Old

Judah turned 2 on July 1st. To celebrate, we put him in the car for 4 hours! I'll get to that. We tried to make a big deal about his birthday even though it was a crazy day. Since February I have wanted to get Judah a big stuffed Thomas that I saw at Target. A few days before his birthday we were in the store and found that they still had the coveted (by myself) Thomas. That was his special present from our family.
Since it had been months since we were in Iowa, we decided to go for a visit. We had to make a few stops before we left town. James had an interview for a job in Kansas City (more on that later) so we all drove to that. While he was interviewing I took the boys to Crown Center. We had a bagel at Panera and then went to the Clifford exhibit. The boys had fun, although I wasn't really impressed.
The drive to my mom's house was uneventful. We went to the city band concert on the square that evening. Most of the time the boys were clueless that there was a concert going on.
Saturday of that week my sisters came and we had a birthday party for Judah. He seemed to be afraid of the candles but loved his cupcake and ice cream!

Judah loves:
running around...yelling (He either says "ready, go" or "to infinity and beyond" before he runs.)
cars, trucks, trains
books
babies
animals

Judah is 34 inches tall and weighs 26 pounds.

Oh, by the way. It's a boy! Our third baby...is a boy!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

My Birthday

Here you go. I know you've been wondering about me. I'm still alive, just not motivated. We've had lots of exciting moments this summer...it all starts with my birthday.

Let me say that I have the best husband. The day before my birthday, James took the boys out shopping. That's not necessarily fun on your own, especially since Asa wanted to stay home with me. On the morning of my birthday, James had picked up breakfast (from Wendy's, my favorite) and put it on a nice tray for me. Breakfast in bed! Then there was a series of clues all over the house to lead me to my present. He had printed some new pics of our family for our living room and also got "The Sound of Music" for me. Asa and I watched that instead of cartoons! Judah joined when he finally woke up. We went to McCallister's Deli for lunch that day. Yummy! I was showered with treats from my friends all day. That evening we had a picnic with the staff from church. It wasn't in my honor but it was a lot of fun! We played some sand volleyball after eating. Then on the way home, I hit a deer. Good news is that it just knocked out the headlight which James eventually fixed. (That's another story...he ordered the light and it didn't fit so he had to return it and order another one...long story.)
So my birthday was a great day! I felt very loved and lucky to have the family and friends that I have.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Friday, Friday, Friday's Here

I just asked Judah for a kiss and he shielded his face.
Excuse me, I am your mother.
I will kiss you.
Whenever I want.
Even after you get married!

Today we went to the church building to help clean out what is referred to as the "Teacher's Resource Room." It's just a room with millions of books, crayons, puppets...you name it. I really didn't help much. I had my kids there. They were eating breakfast. I was eating breakfast. But I did see a lot of books & stuff! A lot! After an hour, I left. I hope the other ladies accomplished their goals. If not, we'll try again next week.

We had to leave the church because a group of people (also from church) were going to open gym at this gymnastics place. The kids love it. They run around and jump on things and scream. What could be better? Asa crawled up the huge inflatable slide and went down. Twice! He's never done that before. He looked a little scared halfway down the slide. It's like he wondered if he was going to fall off. But he was very proud of himself. And I was proud of him. Judah especially loved the trampolines! Until he decided he needed a drink and tried to run away.

Oh, before I went to the gym, I stopped by the ATM to get some money. And guess what? I COULD NOT remember my PIN!
Really?
REALLY?
I tried twice. No luck. What's up with that? I know, I'm pregnant. But I couldn't remember my PIN! So I drove over to the bank drive through to get my money. Lame.

After gymnastics we went to Wendy's for lunch. Judah managed to beg a fry away from a grandma as we were waiting in line to order. Judah also fell off his chair right after Asa spilled my Dr. Pepper on the floor! Then the worst thing happened. Asa was on the floor under the table. I was just looking over to tell him to get back on his chair when I saw him LICK THE FLOOR! Gross! I guess he spilled some of his dip and was trying to clean it up. He's such a great kid!
Why did he lick the floor? He doesn't even lick the floor at home! We'll have to have a talk about that.

That's about it for my Friday. So far. We'll see what the evening brings.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things:

Whenever I use my hair dryer, Judah runs over to the bathroom door. I point the hair dryer at his head, he giggles and runs away. In a minute he runs back and waits for me to blow it on him again. This continues the whole time I'm drying my hair!

Sometimes the kids will be playing in the basement and James and I will be in the living room watching TV or something. If we hear someone coming up the steps, I say, "Pretend you're asleep." We both close our eyes and lay really still. A few times Asa came in and just looked at us. He thought we were asleep and went back downstairs. Now he just runs and jumps on us, giggling.

James is the #1 griller in the whole world! His chicken is perfect every time!

Yesterday in church I sat with one of my many friends with a brand new baby. Babies are my favorite! I got to hold little Baby C and tried to feed him a bottle but he wasn't interested. Anyhow, this little baby was so sweet! He laid there and made the cutest little faces. It made me very excited to hold another little Light baby in a few months! Oh yeah, did I mention that we're having another baby? It will be our little Christmas present in December!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. My boys were sick and stayed home from church with James. It was weird going to church by myself. James made breakfast and lunch. What a treat! I wish every day was Mother's Day.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Return of the Goal-Of-The-Week

My goal this week is to de-clutter the main floor of my house.
Next week's goal is to de-clutter the basement.
Week three is to de-clutter the garage.

I've already gone through a basket-full of papers and organized them into piles. That's a big accomplishment.

Here are a few highlights:
From the back seat I hear Asa exclaim: Look! A bus school!

Asa often requests something for dinner. In the morning.

That's all I've got. Maybe there will be more blogs soon! Maybe.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Lent

This year during Lent I've been doing something a little different. A good friend gave me a little packet with weekly suggestions. I thought this would go along great with my weekly goals. (They do still exist and I'm going to write a book about how it changes your life. I will be famous.) Each of the last three and a half weeks I have given up something. The first week was sweets, second week: meat, third week was media: TV & the radio.
Pause. You're wondering why I'm doing this. You're asking, "Is she Catholic?" No. I'm not. Then why observe Lent? Well, I think it's a good time to restart. To focus. To examine myself. If I'm supposed to be living like Christ, how am I doing? Not so great. Time to realize my priorities. Time to figure out what is really taking up my time. I want these 40 days to be a journey. I want to come out different than I entered.
How am I doing?
I was tempted most with week one. It wasn't just sweets. It was sweets, treats & self indulgences. Buy nothing for yourself. Nothing you don't need. That was pretty hard. What did I learn? I'm pretty selfish. Many times during the week I said to myself, "Nope. You're not allowed to buy that. Stop looking at it."
Anyhow, week two was tricky. I was supposed to pick a food category or a meal to fast for the week. I chose meat. That makes it hard to plan meals, especially when the husband doesn't eat veggies! It wasn't really a craving, just something I had to work around.
Week 3 was mostly difficult when I was driving by myself to the grocery store or something. No radio. Just sit and think. Pray. Watch out for other drivers! It also was a nuisance for James. No TV to unwind at the end of the day! We played a game one night. Rummikub.
This week is a fast from the internet and social networking. HOLY COW! That is hard. I will have to use the internet some because of some church communications that can't be ignored for a week! I think this week will be my biggest challenge yet.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Saturday Breakfast

I made apple muffins for breakfast this morning. Delicious! You can get the recipe here.

After breakfast, Asa asked to paint. He got his wish.

Here are his finished products:
Judah also wanted to paint.

These are Judah's creations:

This evening James and I went on a date. It was pretty romantic. We first took James' first trip to Cargo Largo. He wasn't exactly impressed. Then we ate at Joe's Crab Shack. We've been there before but I don't remember so much dancing by the wait staff. It was entertaining! One waiter near us seemed to not have so much fun dancing. I wonder if he knew about that when he applied for the job. After the seafood, we went to a new Christian bookstore just down the street. We had a good time just being together without screaming children!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Asa is Three!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Asa's third birthday. I saw a recipe in Family Circle for cute monkey cupcakes so we decided to go with a monkey theme. I invited too many people for a little boy's third birthday party, but we had a lot of fun!

First we ate pizza:

Next we had some cake:

Asa loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He screamed in excitement!
Blow out your candles:

Craft time:

Presents:

And finally a little video. We had chocolate chip pancakes the morning of Asa's birthday:

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Phoenix Sun

I hesitate to write about our stay in Arizona. It wasn't exactly a happy reason for a visit. However, it is always great to see family, especially when the distance is so great.
James' grandmother passed away Monday evening. James was with her along with his sisters, mom and grandpa. I'm sure grandma felt very loved. The next few days were busy with making arrangements. However, there were also lots of stories. Stories of young love and hard times during World War II. It's amazing to think of how different life was just a few decades ago. At the funeral, James did the eulogy; his sister sang and I played the piano for her. She sang "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin. She was telling us that someone had asked him to write a song to be sung at funerals to comfort families and that is the song that was produced. It was the perfect song to sing for Grandma.
In difficult times, the love of our family and friends gets us through. Although we were hundreds of miles away from my family and our friends, we felt loved. We appreciate the encouraging words and prayers so many offered.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Our Latest Adventure

Written 2/6/10:
James Grandma & Grandpa Stephenson live in Phoenix. It’s always great to visit them in warm, sunny Phoenix. Grandma hasn’t been doing very well recently and it’s become evident that we need to make the trip out to visit her. As I write, we’re loaded up in our van, driving through Oklahoma. It’s always a stress to get out of the house, but I felt like this time was one of the best. Our house is fairly clean, except for the living room and basement where the kids have destroyed everything! All the dishes are clean, all the laundry is done. It’s a nice feeling.
Written 2/8/10
Parts of the drive were very foggy. So foggy that west of Amarillo we couldn't see the lights of the wind turbines. The fog caused ice to form on the van's antenna. It was flopping back and forth like crazy as we drove. Texas has a night speed limit of 65. I rejoiced as we crossed into New Mexico and the speed limit went up to 75!
We've seen James' grandmother and it's sad to see her so frail. She has talked to us and was happy to see us. We had a great night of sleep last night. I slept for about ten hours. James and the boys slept for 12 or more hours! We're about ready to go visit Grandma & Grandpa again.

Monday, February 1, 2010

A Trifold Week

I have three goals for this week. The first encompasses the others.
1. Be productive- In general I need to do this every week. I struggle with laziness.
2. File our taxes- Cha ching!
3. Send out thank-you notes- It is sad how behind I am in this category. And Asa just had a birthday party so the list grows!

Oh, I'll add one more: blog about Asa's birthday party. It was a blast!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Week 3 Goal

I did not reach success with my goal last week. At all. But that's why I have a goal each week. This week's goal is simple. Exercise four days. I do jumping jacks, pilates and run up and down the stairs a few times. Great workout. (Insert sarcasm.) But it's better than nothing.

Tonight I had a coffee date with a friend. Refreshing. I was tipped off that Starbucks can actually make peppermint mochas (my favorite) all year long. That's what I ordered. Delicious! My friend is expecting and so we talked about babies. I'm certain that I cleared up all of her concerns. Well, mostly certain. We had a great time talking. If you haven't gotten away from your family in a while, go get a cup of coffee with a friend and talk. It will make your week!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Observations Made (Mostly) During the Ten-O'Clock News

There's a new law in Missouri that you have to have your headlights on when driving in any "bad" weather: snow, rain, fog... Do you really need someone to tell you to turn on your lights when it's darkish because of the weather? I turn my lights so that people can see me and not hit me while I'm driving. Guess what happens if you don't have your lights on? Ten dollar ticket. That's right ten bucks!

Judah is 19 months old. He has curly hair. He's never had a hair cut. His hair is pretty long. He's often called a "she" when we're in public. I always dress him in something blue and sporty when we're out. Just so there's no question. It doesn't work. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to cut his hair to preserve the curls. I think we might give him a mullet.

I just heard this on the news:
They studied some number (I can't remember) of women in Australia for ten years. In that period of ten years:
women who had no mate gained 11 pounds (Actually, I don't remember this category for sure. It could have been women living with someone but not married. Not sure)
women who had a husband gained 15 pounds
women who had a child gained 20 pounds
Clearly if you have a baby you're going to gain weight. That's a given. I'd rather gain 4 extra pounds in 10 years and be married than not be married and weigh 4 pounds less at the end of ten years. Can't you lose 4 pounds in like one day? My grandma always would tell me that she "lost three pounds yesterday." Really, what was the point of this study? Sounds like a waist of time. (Pun intended.)

I also just saw the 7-day forecast: Rain Tuesday-Thursday. Mostly cloudy Friday. Rain Saturday. Mostly cloudy Sunday. Rain Monday.

Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash is the best! Try it. Today.


*Please don't share the facts that I've shared with you. They're not real facts because I have a bad memory.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Goal-Of-The-Week

I decided that this year I'm going to have a goal each week.
Last week the goal was to read something every day. (not including children's books)
I read every day. I just have today and Sunday left.
Next week I will with-drawl to lonely places to pray each day.

The Remainder of the Christmas Vacation

Since we've been home from vacation for weeks, I must push through and finish blogging about the trip?
Early Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of the fire alarms going off. We evacuated while the guys tried to figure out if anything was wrong. Imagine if you will, being up with all the kids in your extended family in the middle of the night. Not so much fun! Most of the kids got in my mom's van where it was warm. After about an hour the alarms were turned off and I went back to bed with Judah. I think everyone else was up for a bit longer.
Sunday morning we were a little slow getting around. We didn't go to church as we had originally planned. I think we went to the pool that day. Not real sure. Also, I think that was the night that James and I went on a date. We went to the Pelican Cafe in Stuart. We sat on the dock and had a great dinner. It wouldn't be a date unless we went to Target! That seems to be our typical destination. We also picked up some groceries at the Winn Dixie!
Monday is the day we went to Palm Beach. Oh, it was beautiful! The sky and water were both an incredible color of blue. What an amazing creation! The whole family went to the beach and we had a blast. Judah enjoyed playing in the sand and chasing the birds. The boys also crawled into some holes Daddy dug in the sand. They watched as sand castles were built and then happily destroyed them!

There were millions of shells at this beach. The waves were great but unpredictable. They would randomly come in much higher. The current as the waves went out was also very strong. James tried to take me out further from the shore. I nearly drowned. It was pretty fun to stand out there and jump in the waves but when a huge wave came, I was doomed! Not a pretty sight. Melinda talked me into going out with her. Again, lots of fun until big waves came! Mom even got her toes in the ocean!
Tuesday we didn't do much. The kids played on the playground and we made gingerbread houses. That's about the extent of the fun.

Wednesday Margee's family again went to Sea World. (Shamu!) The rest of us also drove up to Orlando and went to the Citrus Parade. I think it was almost as cool as the Rose Bowl Parade (not). We did enjoy seeing some good bands (one from Olathe, KS and a bagpipe band), old cars, a few floats with oranges that all looked the same and some crazy Shriners. On our way out of Orlando we had lunch at Zaxby's, a new fast food chicken joint for all of us!

Thursday we went with the Stonebrakers to a local aquarium. It was actually a marine ecosystems exhibit. Not all that cool. But it entertained the children for a while. Later we went swimming. Judah almost had fun. Almost. Asa had a blast. He spent part of his pool time hanging onto a tube and could float around on his own. For New Year's Eve, we watched football and had numerous snacks. It was also a time of packing and cleaning out the house since we were planning to leave first thing in the morning.

Friday morning we said goodbye to sunny Florida. We knew that the longer we drove, the colder it would get. James and I stopped in Chattanooga, TN to have dinner with our friend Jenna. It was a nice break along our long trip. We tried to stop at a Jack in the Box (James' favorite) in St. Louis early Saturday morning. No luck. The first one was updating their computers and the second was not yet open. We saw a White Castle and got an early breakfast. We got home at about 8:30 Saturday morning.

Now the question is this: Did you have fun? Would you go again?
Yes, we had a blast. There were a few stressful moments but you'll have that when sharing a house with 13 other people. We would definitely go again. Warmth in the middle of winter is great! And we love the beach!