Monthly Archives: April 2013

Blessed

I am just crawling in to bed at 10:30 pm. This is my typical bedtime. After the kids go to bed I like to stay up, watch Downton Abbey, and enjoy some “Becca time”.

As usual, miller fell asleep first. Then, about fifty percent of the time Tom falls asleep while putting wilson to bed….Which happened tonight. So faith watched Downton with me until 9:00. We had crackers and talked about the show and life. It is a clean show and she loves the castle. She thinks they are all princesses. I then put her to bed on the floor in Miller’s room. She is still sleeping in his room. For the last two nights she has slept behind Millers chair in a blanket fort that she made. So cute. She wants me to move a bed in there but I don’t think there is room. We did get her my Thermarest to sleep in for now.

After my tv show I always check on Miller and Faith. Tonight I went in and held sweet Miller’s hand while he slept. I prayed that God would protect him and give him a long life. God gave me that precious little boy for a reason and I cherish him.

Then I went and crawled into my bed to join the other two men in my life: Tom and wilson. Yes, wilson is still sleeping with us. It is very unconventional but sometimes life calls for drastic measures. This last month of sleeping with wilson has been worth it. He is a very different boy than he was prior. He is happier, funnier, more independent, more secure, more compliment, and overall more of a joy to to around.

We are talking to him about moving back into his own room next week. He may move on to our floor and then gradually work his way back out, but that is fine with me too. It is cute. some nights I wake up with his head laying on my chest. Tonight he rolled over and put his arm around Tom. It is sweet and he is benefitting from feeling special for eight hours a night. I have to admit that I enjoy the time as well.

I am a blessed woman. I have three beautiful and healthy children. I have a husband that loves me and the kids.

Thank you Lord.

Good night

Plaza Fiesta

Plaza Fiesta is a small mall just over the border into South Carolina. Charlotte borders SC so the mall is really only 20 minutes from our house. It isn’t much of a mall. It is actually more like a giant food court with Latin American stores and a three story play area for kids.

We used to meet Tom for lunch Plaza Fiesta when he worked across the street at Muzak. Today we took our three kids and Bobby and Sidney’s two children to Plaza Fiesta to play. Bobby and Sidney were looking for houses to rent so we offered to watch their kids. And of course, Doug was there with his two. It was awesome!!

The play area is three stories tall, has more than four slides, is fenced in, suitable for all ages, and only $5 per kid. What more could you ask for! Oh yes, and there is a food court right outside the fenced in area so that you can feed the kids half way through the day. Today we were there from 10:30 – 2:00. We were all exhausted by the time we left….that is always a sign of a good day.

I wish I could have taken more pictures, but I am turning into that mom that always has to stop the fun so that I can get a picture. Today I would have taken pictures of Wilson and Miller going down the bumpy slide together. It was so cute! Tom and Miller went down together and laughed the whole time. Miller was also holding on to the zip line bar and gliding across the 8 foot line and back by himself. I was there to catch him of course, but he rarely needed it. Faith continued to try to swing like a monkey across the ropes…even after falling numerous times and getting hurt. She was determined!

Here is Miller and me in the play area.  Now you may be wondering why I have so many more photos of Miller.  It is because he is usually my assigned child due to the fact that he cries when I leave him….and doesn’t have much of a say in the matter of pictures.  He is so used to having his picture taken that he typically smiles on cue.

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This is the play area.  Awesome, right?

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Jesse on the rock climbing wall…

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White Water Center

Yesterday after church we went out to the US National White Water Center which is just south of town. It’s supposed to be the national training ground for kayakers. It is actually much more than that. There are mountain bike trails, a climbing wall, concerts, a restaurant, a zip line, and an obstacle course for kids. Personally, I don’t think the white water rafting is all that difficult-seeing as how it is a giant man made loop. The main draw is the mountain biking rails and the concerts. Today there was a band and a duck race for charity.

We arrived this afternoon with the kids, snacks, a stroller, and three bikes. We can’t go anywhere easily. In the end, I was very glad that Tom brought the kids’ bikes. They rode them all over the place. Wilson, specifically, was in his element. He was riding his balance bike quickly and confidently on the sidewalk and through the crowds. Both kids did a great job, but wilson really enjoyed himself. The kids found an obstacle course with a ten foot high rope wall that went up and then back down. Wilson’s rocked it! He wasn’t scared at all. We had to slow him down so he wouldnt pass the scared kids ahead of him. Faith loved the zip line. She did that numerous times.

It was great to get out as a family and do something different together. It made me realize that i need to find more outdoor, adventurous things for Wilson to do. He loves a challenge and it needs to involve climbing and hands on activities. He is all boy and I have got to find things that he likes to do. My brain doesn’t work that way, but I need to take more time to fulfill him in that way. I was very proud of both of them today.

Here are some pictures of our fun filled day….

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Sinus infection and tea party

My fever finally went away on Tuesday but the stuffiness in my head has been lingering. I kept wondering if I had a sinus infection but because I have never had one before I wasn’t sure. Last night I finally researched a sinus infection and determined that I definitely had one. One symptom is that I am unable to smell. I can inhale but can’t smell anything. Tom even stuck one of his dirty shirts in my nose and I couldn’t smell it. That was a red flag for sure! It has actually been kind of nice…. No stinky diapers, trash, or armpits. :)

Tom will be glad to have me breathing again. It is hard to sleep at night when you can’t breathe. Last night when I laid down in bed my nose was making so many offensive noises that I got the giggles. I was laughing so hard that the bed was shaking. I thought it was hilarious! That was when I decided a trip to get a prescription was definitely needed.

After Bible study this morning, I braved it and took myself and all three kids to the Minute Clinic at CVS. The nurse checked me out and gave me a prescription. I think she was going on my self diagnosis more than anything else, but she was very nice and it got the job done. I hope to be smelling and sleeping again soon.

This morning we went to our last CBS class for the year. I loved my small group this year. It was also a little sad because faith won’t be returning to Bible study next year because she will be in school. She has been there five years. She won’t see Tyler each week either. Time marches on…

We came home and pulled out my grandmothers old tea set from when she was a little girl. This means that the set is over 75 years old. Needless to say, we were very careful. We put lemonade in the tea pot and drank out of the cups. It was fun to use something that had such neat memories attached to it.
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Sick and tired

We have been dealing with fevers over the last week. Wilson had it first, miller second, and faith and I had it over the weekend. It is a high fever that last about 36 hrs. Of course the kids rebounded amazingly well. They can be sick one minute and then outside playing the next. Oh to be young again.

Unfortunatly, it has taken longer for me to get better. Mine has been more like a three day fever that turn into a major allergy sneeze fest. I was completely out if commission all day Sunday and half of Saturday. All I could do was sleep. Luckily it was Sunday so I could send everyone to church and be left home with no one to take care of. Today is Monday so the kids are at moms all day which gives me one more day to rest. I have already taken a nap. The only good thing about getting sick is that I don’t have to do anything. No dishes, no laundry, no cooking. We ordered pizza and the dishes are still piled in the sink.

After three days of being ill I am ready to be healthy again. It is no fun feeling bad and being unable to do anything. I typically get sick once a year….I hope that this is it.

Family Pictures Project

 

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We all know how I love a good project! I found this one on Pinterest a while back.  I loved the idea of dressing up some family photos.  We really don’t have many pictures of us around the house.  I am not sure why.  I love pictures.  I just can’t seem the right way to display them and small ones on the wall just never seemed to fit.  This large frame with little frames in it interested me.

To start with, I found a terribly tacky, latch hook rug picture of a boat at the thrift store for $10, but I really liked the giant frame.  Then I bought six cheap frames from the dollar store.  I took them all home and painted the frames the colors that I wanted them.  Then I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of particle board and had them cut it to size.  I also found some fabric at Walmart that I liked for the background.  All together, this project only cost me $25.  Not bad, huh?

I used fabric spray to attach the fabric to the back of the boarding.  It had to be pulled very tightly so that it wouldn’t sag when the pictures were attached.  I even used the fabric spray to attach the picture frames to the fabric on the front of the board.  The cheap picture frames are light enough to stick with simple fabric spray/glue.  I used pictures that were more impromptu rather than posed.

The yellow piece on top says “You are my Sunshine”.  This is a song that I sing to the kids and they sing back.  I found it at Marshalls.

All in all, I love it.

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White lake sprint

Today my friend Michaleh and I did the white lake sprint triathlon. We had decided yesterday that we would do the cold swim…good thing we did because today it was mandatory. Of course yesterday eight people were taken to the hospital with hypothermia.

I was in the age group ahead of Michaleh (since she is ten years younger). It was freezing! Only 56 degrees. I had on toms full wetsuit which worked amazingly well but it was still cold. I couldn’t feel my feet almost immediately. The water was very calm but I still did terribly. I am not a strong swimmer because I don’t enjoy swimming at all. I basically side stroked and back stroked the whole time because I didn’t like putting my face in the cold water. I truly didn’t know if i would make it. My swim time was pretty good in spite of my floundering the whole time.

Overall, I am proud of my times and glad that I did it. I did great for having three young kids and not training very much. I hope to do more sprints. This was a great way to spend time together as a family. We cheered each other on and encouraged one another. We could all get excited about the same topic and compare notes afterward. A very fun weekend!

Here are my times. It was a half mile swim, 15 mile bike and a 3 mile run.

Swim. 18:05
T1 6:51
Bike 54:14
T2 2:29
Run 27:55

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