random rants & ramblings

Well, after not blogging for a couple of weeks I'm getting flak from my DH. So this is long overdue, will probably be WAAAYYY too long & rambling. I finally got him to help me fix some things on the blog. The picture in the top is from Sept. '06 when the family & my mom went to Cooperstown. It was part of the hubby's b-day present so we tried to let him do whatever he wanted while my mom & I kept the girls entertained. (they were only about 18 mo. at that point.) Hubby & I haven't changed, just the girls & you can see other pix of them on my blog(keep reading) or over at the hubby's photography blog- raephoto.blogspot.com.

Belated birthday shout-outs- my dear friend Dawn@ the-domestic-goddess.blogspot.com. Holy week ended as they pulled out of the driveway on her special day to head to OK. via RV. (she calls it holy week, as it starts w/mother's day & ends w/her b-day. No irreverence intended towards Our Lord Jesus Christ.)
And my wonderful nephew, Ryan's b-day was 2 days ago on the 29th.

Update on my other nephew, Adam, (sorry this didn't come sooner)his surgery went okay, not as good as they hoped. They removed a baseball sized tumor, about 14" of his colon & a little bit of his bladder where the tumor had perforated the colon & adhered to the bladder. His recovery seems to be going as well as can be expected. I guess he gets tired pretty easily right now, partially due to the surgery & I think a lot due to the fact of all the blood he lost before his surgery.(he was pretty anemic) My s-i-l & he flew home this am from AK to western NY, where he has an appt. w/the oncologist in Rochester on 6/6. Not 100% definite yet whether he'll be medically discharged from the military or what is going on on that front. Thank you to those who have been praying for him. His heart's desire is to remain in the military, preferably working on airplanes. Please pray he is able to continue to do this. Please pray for my s-i-l's sanity as she was an empty nester for a VERY short time. She now has 3 adult children, 6 cats & 1 dog(still a puppy)living with her & she does in-home daycare with her sister.

HAPPY BELATED MEMORIAL DAY to all who serve or have served this great nation. My family & I greatly appreciate the freedoms that we have every day. Also to their families for the sacrifices they have had to make.

Red Sox- yes, I realize it is still early in the season, but the Sox are in the lead!!!! Manny hit homerun #500 tonight!!! We could've been at that game! Ah, well, another time & another place.(isn't there a song about that?) GO SOX!

exercising & the children- last weekend & this weekend we took the girls for a bicycle ride. We have a cart that attaches to the bike, so last weekend we took the girls for a ride. We rode about 4 miles, give or take a bit. Today it was supposed to have a chance of showers this afternoon, so after the hubby let me sleep in this am(he usually isn't home in the am so I don't get to do this)& a late breakfast of french toast he said "let's load up the bikes & go for a ride before the rain gets here." (the rain didn't come, at all, okay 1 tiny sprinkle) Today we rode about 6+ miles. I pulled the girls for about 1/3-1/2 of the trip.(I say about 1/2, the DH says about 1/3.) So on the return trip back to the van, DH has the girls behind him & they are talking about mixing, mixing, mixing a mess & as I come along side I see Em twirling her arms(like the wheels on the bus motion). They seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. We were all beat when we got home & took lovely naps!
(insert pic here of cherubs w/helmets on in bike cart- oh wait, we didn't take that picture. I wanted to, though. It was just too late when I remembered.)
So instead of above mentioned picture here is one of their 3 yr. pix.



Well, that is about all I have to say, except, I am thoroughly enjoying this age minus the temper tantrums & getting into things they shouldn't be.

comedy of horrors

So, yesterday was awesome. Except, we went out to dinner & since I handle all the finances, I usually pay when we go out to restaurants. Last night I didn't, I let the husband pay. So what? You say, well, because of that I didn't get my purse off the back of the chair & walked out without it. I did NOT even realize this until I got up this am. Looked around the house, in the van & realized where it was. Surprisingly I did not go into panic mode. No big deal you say, call the restaurant & go get it. Right. Except on Mondays, I have 2 additional children for a total of 4 children all 3 or under. Oh, & might I add, when I contacted the restaurant, they are closed on Mon. & the owner/manager is only there for about 1 -1 1/2 hrs. to order food? So I need to go upstairs to get 1 car seat & open the garage to get the other car seat. As we are coming back down stairs Emily slips & takes a tumble down the stairs. You know how you lay sideways on a hill & roll down it? She looked kind of like that. I think it scared me more than her, but I called the ped, just in case. They said to keep an eye on her & watch for any unusual behaviors, vomiting, etc. So I get everyone loaded up, & off we go; I get my purse, check to make sure all contents are there, which they are, & off we go again. Only this time putting girls in the van, some one started playing with buttons. I throw my keys on the front seat & next thing I know I hear ALL the doors locking. GREAT, because now all the girls are strapped in & I'm on the outside & none of them can reach the lock on the door. Ok, most of the girls, Rachel was about half way buckled in. So again keeping my calm I get Rachel to squirm out of her seat & unlock the door. THANK GOODNESS! Who knows how long I'd have been sitting there if I hadn't got her to do that. We finally made it home without any further mishaps. WHEW!

-Gail

HAPPY MOM'S DAY!

To all you Mom's out there who happen to read this: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I never knew how wonderful & hard motherhood could be. I am so blessed to be the mom to 2 of the most beautiful girls around. (No, not your's, although I'm sure your's are as beautiful as mine.) I remember after I gave birth, in the delivery room, nursing my girls, then when they transfered me to my room, my husband wanted me to hold them. I WAS DONE! I had carried these 2 beauties for the past 9 months, just gone through about 17 hours of labor after having 2 sleepless nights. I wanted no part of them. I remember he said, "Don't you want to hold one of them?" I honestly said, "nope, I just held them for the last 9 months honey, it's okay, you can hold them for awhile." Let me just tell you, he suckered me into holding one after that comment. There have been times in the 1st year that I often felt almost an indifference in being a mom, but now I can honestly say, I CAN NOT IMAGINE MY LIFE WITH OUT THESE TWO WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRLS!!!!! (insert adorable picture here, that I can't find on computer.) :)
Almost everyday these days I see more & more of their beauty & wonderment at being 3 years old in this world. Tonight after taking my m-i-l out to dinner with some of the other family, I heard my girls singing "the itsy, bitsy spider". This was how it went: the itsy, bitsy spider, spout, rain WASHED spider out, sun dried up, itsy, bitsy spider. Start over. But, what really gets me- is when they sing along with the worship songs or even at church, they may not know the words, but will hum along with us. Yep, gets me every time.
They loved on me today, A LOT! But when they wanted to hang all over dad, I didn't mind. He kept apologizing, but it really was okay!
I absolutely had THE MOST WONDERFUL mother's day. I pretty much got to do whatever I wanted. We went to my favorite park, Colt State Park. This park sits right on the ocean & has the most beautiful "orchard" of lilacs & wisteria. We had a picnic lunch & hung out & played today.
Thanks honey for helping me to have an absolutely wonderful mother's day, allowing me to be your wife & the mother to your two beautiful baby girls.
My prayer is that my children will grow up to be Godly children. (see link on the side- praying for my children)

blessings & a prayer request

My daughters are three now. WOW!!!! I'm not sure where the last 3 years went, but they went somewhere! The first couple of years were a blur. Now I'm starting to enjoy them. Have the temper tantrums started? OH YEAH!!!! They actually started a few months ago, but seem to have been getting worse of late.(is that redundant?)
I have to back up. I'm an addict, a blog addict that is. I may have previously mentioned this in another post.(I'm too lazy to go back & look) I read many blogs, most of them other Christians, but not all of them. There is one where a mom lost her 4 year old son to cancer this past January. There are a couple of people who are dealing with cancer now or have an infant they were told to abort, because he wouldn't live more than a couple of hours(btw, he's 2 mo. old now) or an infant who died just hours after being born. MOST of the blogs I read though are for fun, make me laugh & uplift me. But let me tell you what I've learned. That somewhere in this crazy place we call the world, blog-o-land, some one may be having a worse day(week, month, year, life) than me; but they are still muddling through. Through whatever their trials & tribulations may be they are still praising Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the risen one. They know that he is their rock & their strength; doesn't make the particular situation any easier, just able to bear it all up.
So let me get back to my title: blessings! I have come to realize that when my daughters aren't throwing their tantrums they are an absolute wonderful blessing. (The picture btw is their 2 1/2 yr pic/Christmas pic. I'm not especially computer savvy, so while their 3 yr pic is somewhere on the computer I couldn't find it. I will either edit this post & change the pic or you can pop over to the hubby's blog to see my darlings. Okay, I tried adding his link, but with no luck so I'll just type out the address: lifeofpictures.blogspot.com) I love hearing them talk, either to me or to each other or their friends.(or even their baby dolls or stuffed animals) One of my BFF's who'll remain nameless has told me she loves to smell her children after they come in from outside on a spring day. I love to smell my children just about any time. One of my favorite times to do this is when I wake them up in the middle of the night to go potty. They are (marginally)still small enough that I pick them up out of bed & carry them into the bathroom, then carry them back to bed. I kiss on them, tell them how beautiful they are, how much I love them & sniff the heck out of them. Some days I could just eat them alive. (good thing I'm not a cannibal) :)
So all of this brings me to the second part of my title: a prayer request.
My nephew, AJ, is 24, serving our country in the military, would like to make a lifelong career out of it, but was just diagnosed with colon cancer. This comes on the tail of the 1st anniversary of my mother's death. Right now the docs have told him the prognosis is good, but it will be a long road ahead of him.
I'm not one to post prayer requests on here at least until now; but while I haven't always been the best aunt in the world I love my nephew. Above is a pic of AJ holding his nephew(my great nephew). This is from 2005, but it is the most recent pic I have of him. I guess my prayer request is for peace for the family & proper treatment/diagnosis of his illness. Thanks!

Lord, whatever things this life may bring my way, help me to count it all joy. Help me to remember you know the beginning from the end & you knew ALL of my circumstances before they came to pass. May I be able to be like Job who said, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth." Job 19:25 and my paraphrase of Job 1:21 "yet will I praise him."

Hope you have a blessed rest of the week. -Gail