Cute things your children say

Wednesday my girlfriend Dawn agreed to watch my girls, so Bill & I could go Christmas shopping. We stayed out way later than I planned, but part of that is we got such a late start on our day. Went to leave and couldn't locate the gift cards we had been given for Christmas shopping. They weren't lost, only temporarily misplaced; in fact they were right where I always put gift cards we have. Then when we finally got everyone in the van, it wouldn't start. Ended up having to jump it and got the battery replaced the next day. So, I had originally told Dawn we'd be there about 10:30 but it was closer to 11 by the time we made it.
I tell her to give the girls quiet time on the couch, if they fall asleep great, if not that's okay. Well, Rachel still getting over her laryngitis falls asleep for about 1/2 hour until she slumps over and Emily starts yelling at her to get out of her space. Great! Now Rachel is awake. Again, not the end of the world, but the nap would have been good for her.
So we're driving home after picking up the girls and I ask Emily about above story. She says she didn't wake her sister up, Rachel says she did and the did not, did too's start! I quickly stop this and say it isn't a big deal, but from the back seat I hear Rachel say, "But, God knows." It was kind of said under her breathe, but loud enough that I could hear it. OH MY GOODNESS! It was all I could do to not bust out laughing.

Good news, bad news

So, thinking just maybe Rae, doesn't really have an ear ? infection, but it's just a little clogged; we administer said anti-inflammatory, the girls play a little play doh & then she lays on daddy with the heating pad. All per the on-call triage nurse. (okay, not the play doh part) Sunday dawns and we decide not to say anything about above incident, figuring, if she really is in pain, she'll say something. Not a peep out of her.
However, today we are sitting at the table at lunch & notice Emily's ear inside, but not down in the canal, is bright red. I need to back track a bit here. A week or so ago, she had scratched her ear so hard she made it bleed. We started monitoring it & putting a bit of neosporin in it to keep it soft & help it heal. Great, all gone! But she keeps asking for the medicine in her ear. Even last night(Sun.); so Bill puts a dab of my face moisturizer on it and to sleep she goes. I call the nurse to get her opinion, as I'm not one of these people who likes to bring their child(ren) in for every little sniffle and sneeze. And as I've posted before, we are a relatively healthy family, in terms of illnesses. Lo and behold, they see her this afternoon. At some point, either from when she scratched it or before that, Emily got an infection in there. So she is now on topical & oral antibiotics.

On a different front; some of my "doing life together" ladies & I got together for an afternoon out. Trader Joe's just opened here in RI, so we decided to go check it out, do lunch, and a few other stores, after church yesterday. We had a lovely time, thanks to all the hubbies for watching the children while we did this. But the best part was reading about what Bo Hunkmeister did. I'm only mildly envious, because my first b-day we were together, my husband put 37 helium balloons in my apartment with 3x5 index cards attached with 37 reasons/things he loves about me. (I happened to be out of town for said b-day & came home to this.)

GO BO! Hold that bar up high for the rest of the men!

A trip to mecca aka IKEA

So, a little while back (the exact time frame escapes me)my good friend, Maria sent me a link to enter a contest through IKEA. I'm all for entering contests if I'm not going to get more junk snail mail or spam e-mail. So I enter said contest & get a notification back that I won one of their instant $20.00 gift cards. Give them all my info & a few days later, in the snail mail WA LA(is this how you really spell that? Noah Webster must be turning over in his grave!), said gift card arrives. It has been hanging around for a while now as mecca IKEA is about a 45 minute drive heading towards Boston, from where we live. Now, not being a "true" New Englander, this doesn't really bother me. But especially with gas prices as they were(we are down close to $2.00, here), this is not a trip you make any old time or every day. So I say to the hubby after his bible study this morning; "Honey, do you feel like going to IKEA today?" His response? "Why absolutely, oh beautiful love of my life!" Okay, so he wasn't really that sickeningly sweet. But he did agree to load the girls up & head out with us. He had never been to mecca IKEA.
We get there, walk around for a while, then went & had an early dinner. As we sit down, Rachel says, "my ear hurts." Bill asks her if she wants him to pray for the pain & she in her pitiful voice says, "uh, huh." As Bill walks around the table to pray for Rae, we hear Emily say, "In Jesus' name, AMEN!" and then promptly inform Daddy that she just prayed for Rach. (as she has recently taken to calling her.) So she feels no one else needs to pray for her. Then, on the way home I called the peds office to see what I should do, as my girls don't generally get sick. Give her some ibuprofen & a heating pad when we get home & call them in the am to bring her in. Emily, again informs us that she/we already prayed for Rachel & she doesn't need any medicine, but "mommy, can I have some too?" So we tried to explain that we can all pray for Rachel's ear pain & that sometimes God wants us to use medicine to help us get better. We will have to see how she is when she gets up, in the am. I'm just praying it isn't an ear infection or strep.

Oh yeah, as we are pulling out of the parking lot, I could sense he wasn't impressed with wasting his afternoon his visit to IKEA. So in my ever observant & un-filtered way of saying things, I stupidly ask him what he thought. He says, "It reminds me of a high-end Job Lots." (I think he might have meant bldg. 19, but I could be wrong)

In the meantime my friend, Dawn, aka "the domestic goddess" & martha stewart, jr. calls me, ME!!! to ask me a recipe question. Okay, so it was on a recipe that I had given her, but still. I'll have to get it back from her to post on recipeasy. I got it from the owner of my local meat market, but since my family wasn't crazy about it, I just gave her the entire recipe.

btw- thanks Maria, for hooking me up with the IKEA give away!

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

blogging & music

I enjoy blogging, but am not a good writer. I don't feel that I'm witty & humorous like some of the blogs I read, and my use of the written English language is okay at best. I hated writing papers in college & it was somewhat of my demise. I'm also not very computer literate. If you show me how to do things I can usually master it, but there are many things I'd like to do with my blog, that I just don't know how to do. (Thanks to Karen of snakes, snails & puppy dog tails for showing/telling me how to go about adding a blog roll. Which someday will be much longer, but it is time consuming to add.) So I guess I said the above to say if I was better I'd blog more.
So Karen had in her music likes "Go fish," since I don't listen to mainstream music any more I didn't really know who/what they were. Well, let me just tell you who they are. They are a group of guys who cater to children AND adults with their music. It is rawking music geared to toddlers on up, but has disclaimers on the cd "great music for Kids that won't drive parents BONKERS!" They aren't kidding. This is Christian music; talking about all of the books of the bible, the ten commandments & their version of Jesus loves me is great! Apparently they were featured on Focus on the Family. I look forward to catching a lot more of these guys.
Today was absolutely beautiful here- thank you Jesus! I took the girls outside to play & run around. We had a good time. Have you ever listened to a three year olds' vocabulary? THEY CRACK ME UP!!! One of them said something to the other about "Actually we have to do this or that..." REALLY? Oh my goodness. I think it is because they are repeating their mother! One of them told my husband the other day, "Just a minute, I'm in the process of doing something." I say this to them all the time when they want me to drop whatever project I happen to be in the middle of so I can wait on them. Or they expect me to be their personal slave; get this, get that. So I'll ask them, "What, are your legs/arms broken?" My oldest has taken to fussing at me when I don't get whatever for her & telling me, "Yes you do, because my legs are broken." It is really hard not to laugh in her face.
I had some other things I wanted to say, but due to the hour I think they've ran out of my mind.

the children & the Red Sox

Well, as I type this post it is a little after 11pm here in New England. Tonight is the 1st night of the world series & we are halfway through the 6th inning. The Sox are winning by a commanding lead of 13-1. Please note several things here. I did not say they have this game in the bag & have won, because any one who is a New England sports fan knows that the game is NEVER over until it's over. Unfortunately I've seen bigger leads blown. Let me also note that while IMOPO I believe that the Sox DO have this game in the bag; I do not want to gloat & say yeah! Sox are on their way to winning the world series. Again, I've seen N.E. teams doing really well & then it seems they relax their game face, let their defense down & next thing you know forget it they're going home without the trophy!
SO I WILL JUST SAY LET'S GO RED SOX!

The 2 topics are not related tonight. Emily has been sick as I posted the other day. Let me just tell you it was a very sleepless night last night. Tonight it seems her fever broke & hopefully she's turned the corner & will be getting better quickly! However, I don't know if she had a nightmare or what tonite, but it took me a few minutes to get her calmed down. Then Rachel woke up & now they're both laying on the couch with daddy. (NOT SLEEPING I might add!) Ahhh, comes the chore of trying to get them back into their beds. Wish me luck!

how cute are children?!

So my girls love to sing & dance. I've been singing Jesus Loves Me to them since they were in-utero. So that is definitely one of their favorite songs; in fact we have a children's cd in the van that they ask me to play Jesus loves me. Another of their favorites is Twinklestar, for those of us not versed in two year old language that would be twinkle, twinkle little star. Daddy has taught them to sing "Take me out to the ball game" - now that is cute when they sing it! 1,2,3 strikes your out! Just visualize little fingers trying to do 1,2,3. And certainly not last or least is Happy birthday.

We eat honey boats at our house. You might eat them at yours too. This is what us adults would call "honey bunches of oats". I love my children, especially when they're sleeping. :) No, I love my children all the time, but sometimes they just really try my patience.

I hope you have a blessed day.

Red Sox, my husband & 2 year olds growing up

So, I started this post yesterday & must've hit the back button, 'cuz I lost EVERYTHING! At that point I was just too tired to try to put it all back together again so I went to bed. (Good thing the king's men weren't too tired or humpty dumpty would've never made it!)

Last nite the hubby showed me how to add pix to my blog- look out!
So this is him & me after the Red Sox win against the A's Wednesday nite.
This was my first ever Red Sox game, at the legendary Fenway park. While I enjoyed myself, I did tell the hubby that we could've just as easily watched this game in the air conditioned comfort of our very own living room for a lot less money!(and sweat) Wednesday was a beautiful day, but it was a bit of the new england humid. I did learn something at the game though. The cardboard drink trays make excellent fans to fan yourself with. It didn't help that our seats were directly behind home plate underneath the overhang. What I'm trying to say is we had excellent seats, but air does not circulate under the overhang! This was a belated Father's day present for the hubby- he enjoyed it & I guess that's all that matters! (He hadn't been to a sox game since before we got married, so like 4 years or so.)

Wednesday was a bit crazy though, I got the call early in the am saying that I had tix available to me. Well the girls were officially 2 & 1/2 on Wed. & I had scheduled their Christmas pix for that morning. Can I just tell you how stinking cute & good they were for the pix?! Oh my goodness, I could've spent a small fortune on the pix. So by the time we got home, fed them lunch & packed everything up it was time to get on the road to head to the game- it was a 5pm game. Well, as we dropped the girls off at our friend's house I clocked the hubby in the head w/the hatch to the van. Obviously not on purpose. Thankfully he has a hard head so you can't even tell I hit him.

The girls are getting so big & grown up it just kills me. I told Emily to stop growing the other day- in typical 2 year old fashion she said "Okay, momma." She has no clue! I feel somewhat sorry for this child as she is such a mini me. It took her over 1/2 hour to eat 1/4 of a hamburger the other day + I had to bribe/threaten her with ice cream.
Aahhh, the joys of parent hood.

My Darling Husband & crappy starting days

So let's start with the crappy starting days. Literally. My daughters are potty trained during the day- well at least the pee part. They get diapers at naps & bedtime. Apparently they've figured out how to hold their poop until that time. Now if you've known me since my girls were born I am glad they are pooping on a daily basis. Both of my daughters have had constipation issues, pretty much since they were born. Well, now it seems we've gone to the other extreme. Not only are they pooping pretty much on a daily basis, they are blowing out their diapers. This is not fun for various reasons: a)it stinks! b)depending on the extent of the blowout I am now changing their sheets at least once a day c)also along with the sheets is of course either the outfit or pajamas. There was one day I had to change Emily's sheets twice. I've always been a huggies girl since they were first born(yes, I've tried just about every other brand out there), but thought maybe they were getting too big for the huggies so let's try pampers. No better. Well, maybe a tiny bit, but I think it is because the amount of poop has changed, not because I changed the diaper brand.
I am at a loss as to what to do. I must say I did feel a tiny bit better when I called my friend Dawn & we commiserated together. Her 16 mo. old son pooped on the floor, trampled it into the carpet, then onto the vacuum cleaner(he climbed on it) & in between the ridges of the accordion hose. By the time she managed to get a hold of him & put him in the bathtub with his 8 yr. old sister, well he pooped in the tub too. She got out faster than you could shake a stick at it & then he apparently trampled all of this into small bits while waiting for the tub to drain. Oh my! I guess I'll change poopy sheets any day of the week than have to clean up that mess. (Sorry, Dawn.)
The 8 year old sister- this child is the greatest! Not perfect, but a good kid! She is my mother's helper. My daughters worship her. I can use her name as bribery.(guess that isn't necessarily a good thing is it?)
My darling husband. God has been teaching me a lot of things about him- all good, mind you. Like yesterday, I was running wicked late trying to get dinner done. He wanted to ride the motorcycle over to his mom's to let the dog out. But after I asked him (hopefully)very nicely to please take the girls with him, he graciously gave up his ride, loaded the girls into the van & went to his mom's. (I made it up to him later!) There have been a couple blow out days where we've just had to stick the girls in the tub & wash them off that way. One day as I was doing that he changed the crib sheets for me. I didn't even have to ask him to, he just did it. This afternoon, he came home & offered to make dinner. Nothing spectacular, but let me see, he's going to the store to pick up any missing ingredients & then cook dinner. I don't care if I like it or not, I'll manage to choke it down if that's the case.
I'm learning that even though he doesn't do things exactly the way I do them, it's okay as long as it gets done. This is very hard for me to do as I can be very anal retentive about these types of things.
I'm realizing what a wonderful treasure God has given me in this man. Do we see eye to eye on everything? Heck no!!! But God has been teaching me a lot & I've realized that some of the times I thought the husband was wrong, I was the one that was wrong/acting like an __________(fill in the blank).
Thanks honey for loving me in spite of my faults & for forgiving me for acting like an _____.

Two two year olds and other random rantings

Two year olds. We've all been one once in our lifetime. I have identical twin girls, who for the most part are pretty well behaved children. But some days they just work my last nerve. I think it is in direct proportion to how much sleep or lack thereof that I got the previous night. Combined with the fact that they are simply 2 year olds. They are definitely into the independent stage. I do, I do, I do. I help??
They think they can appropriately dress themselves. Although with a little guidance they don't do bad. Usually if I tell them they have the shoe on the wrong foot they understand they need to switch it. They love to help mommy cook & clean up. Most days I have the patience for it, but every once in awhile I just want to get it done! Their latest thing is wiping the table with a sponge, or trying to sweep up a mess on the floor. Then they have to touch & get into everything they aren't suppose to, like the liquid soap in the bathroom. My husband doesn't understand why I put it on top of the vanity, up by the lights. Little hands can't reach it up there; then I don't have to worry about them slathering & spilling it everywhere.

Motorcycles. I love motorcycles. I've been riding since I was about 15 years old. So in 2001 I got my motorcycle license. But I didn't have a motorcycle until the fall of 2002 when my mother so kindly gave me her 400. I rode it that fall & the next spring until the registration expired in April '03, by then my now husband & I were spending time together so I didn't do anything about getting it registered. Fast forward since we've been married I've been after the husband to get his license & he said he wanted to. Even went so far as to ask me to sign him up for the safety course. We talked about it, but never got around to it; well finally this summer he did it & he is loving it! I am so happy. Now we just need to find another bike so we can go riding together.

Dinner tonite. We had steak, baked potato & corn. We really enjoyed it, but if my husband liked vegetables he'd be a vegetarian. Instead I call him a pastatarian. The man would eat pasta 7 days a week if I let him. I personally got burned out on pasta when I went to Bible college.

Please pray for the country of Haiti. Our church is in the process of helping them bring the Willow Creek(Bill Hybels)leadership summit to that country. It is a time for great change in this country & God has really been moving. If you want to see more of what I'm talking about check out the church's web site @ communitycovenant.org, go to Sunday messages, scroll down to the end & you'll find a link to the beginnings of what we are trying to help accomplish in this impoverished nation.

Well enough rambling & ranting- I should go to bed so I get plenty of sleep for my yahoos. :)