Tornado Warning

The Little Tornado. That's Carter's nickname and has been since he started crawling around 9 months old. That being said, you can imagine what my house looks like some days. I've said many times that it's a good thing he's so darn cute...

These are looks he's given himself in the last few days. I laughed so hard when I found him in the first look that Britney thought I had lost my mind. Then he rolled his eyes when he saw Carter in his favorite purple hat (it's Ashlyn's) and the pink princess slippers.

The second picture was after Carter somehow came across a Sharpie that had been left out on the counter and decided he needed some tattooing. It's times like this that I hold onto the first picture - to remind me why I shouldn't kill him.

By the way - my son does have clothes. This is a phase we're going through called potty training and his favorite part is taking off ALL his clothes to go to the bathroom. Somehow, they never seem to make it all back on when he's finished.

My Friend

I met my friend April my freshman year at Berry. She showed me how to lock my door the first day we were there. (I was not having a blonde moment; the locks were on the side of the door and none of us could figure it out). Anyway, it was the start of a friendship that is still going strong 13 years later! We were roommates the second half of our freshman year, and after that April felt she needed to go to school near her home in Columbus. I can honestly say that Berry was not the same without her.

April is one of those friends who no matter how much times goes by between visits, it always feels like it was just yesterday the last time we saw each other. She ALWAYS remembers my birthday and the kids' birthdays. I really appreciate that about her.

I knew that April had learned to knit a few years ago, and she's mentioned it a couple of times in our phone conversations. I mentioned in our last phone call that I would love a scarf since I didn't have one to endure the long Minnesota winters. Well, Saturday I went out on the porch and found a large box that the mail carrier had left. The return address was April's, so I ran inside expecting to find a scarf that she had said she would knit.

I was completely surprised and amazed when I opened the box and found not one scarf that she had made, but FOUR beautiful scarves that she had made just for me! The picture doesn't really show how beautiful they all are.

April - thank you so much for your friendship over the years and for the beautiful scarves. I can't wait to wear them, and I will always cherish them (and you!).

I hope you all have the chance to have a friend in your lives like April. You'd be truly lucky to.

It's My Birthday

Yesterday was the big 31 for me. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with it being my first one living in Minnesota away from my family, but Britney came through and did a great job! Saturday he and Ashlyn baked me a cake (his first one ever!) and it turned out pretty well! I like any kind of yellow cake with chocolate frosting, so it was relatively simple :) He bought me a new comforter set that I had been eyeing for awhile and some new tennis shoes from the kids. Just exactly what I wanted!

If you think about it today, please pray for Britney's Grandma Tracy. She's in the hospital with some kind of bacterial infection. There is an infectious disease doctor coming today to run some more tests and see if they can figure out what it is. We went to see her yesterday and she seemed to be in pretty good spirits.

Well, that's our weekend! I hope you had a great one too!

Wallpaper Should Be Illegal

I HATE wallpaper. I'm not sure where my pure hated of it comes from, but it's alive and well. I HATE wallpaper.

I'm in the middle of taking the wallpaper off the walls and ceiling of Ashlyn's room. It has taken a full week to get just the ceiling done and it's not really all the way finished. You see, the previous owner's (one of whom was an interior designer), patched the cracks in the plaster but then didn't prime or paint over them. So, I basically have wallpaper glued to raw sheetrock mud. Fun.

If you know of ANY tips that will help this whole horrible process go more quickly and more easily, please let me know. My parents are coming to visit the first week of September and I need to have Ashlyn out of the guest room and back in her room before that. Until then, I'll be cursing the man (because I'm sure it was a man) who invented wallpaper.

Oh yeah - and did I mention I have MANY MANY MANY more feet of walls with wallpaper on them??????? I may go insane!

Changes

If you know me AT ALL, you know I like change. I'll change my mind forty times before I finally decide what color to paint a room. And clothes? Britney just rolls his eyes at the number of times I change my clothes on Sunday mornings. Why only Sunday? Why not the rest of the week? I don't know, but I digress...Living with me can be a nightmare!

Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed that I changed my template. I'm not the tech-savvy one in the family. He's on vacation. So, until I can sit down long enough to figure out how to customize some things, you'll probably have to endure several changes through the standard templates through Blogger. Hope you don't mind!

How about you? Do you like change? If so, why and what do you like the most about it? If not, why not? Leave me a comment and explain yourselves!!

And the tree came tumbling down...

So, I knew it wouldn't be long before we experienced small town life again. Before I tell this story, let me just say that I LOVE living here! I don't know why but the novelty of it and the simpleness of it just must be what I need right now. I don't know that I'll always say that, but for now, I'm perfectly content to live in a town that is the same size as our neighborhood was in Georgia.

Anyway, this afternoon the kids and I were out taking a walk around the block. We made it as far as our neighbor's driveway. Our next door neighbor and the one next to them and the one across the street were all coming out of their houses because a big boom truck had just parked on the street. You see, our neighbors one house over have a dead tree in their front yard and apparently today was the day it was to come down.

The kids and I finished our walk - quickly so as not to miss the excitement. Then we came home, grabbed a quick supper and went across the street to watch. Oh yeah - did I mention that watching the tree come down was the entertainment for the block for the night? Our next door neighbors were there as well as some neighbors from down the street. They came prepared to stay awhile with small coolers full of their choice beverage even.

I was laughing to myself for the whole TWO HOURS that the kids and I sat there - visiting and watching this giant of a man cut a tree down all by himself. It really was quite amazing, but I've never heard so many comments about the amount of sweat in my life! I just kept thinking - I live somewhere that it's OK to be nosy!

And there you have it - life in a small town - where it only takes a little to entertain a lot!

Random Thoughts Tonight

Britney is out of town until Sunday, so I am sitting here trying not to fall asleep at 8:45! I should be cleaning out toys and cleaning up the kitchen, but I just don't feel like it right now. The kids and I worked together to clean out the playroom this afternoon. Ashlyn did a pretty good job of getting rid of some of the toys she doesn't play with anymore. Carter was right behind us pulling things out of the "yard sale" pile. Oh well - at least all of the yard sale toys are on the same side of the room now!

My mom called me yesterday that the results from her scans on Monday were GREAT! There is no sign of cancer anywhere! Praise the Lord! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for her. I know some of you don't even know my mom, so it really means a lot to me. Please continue to pray that the cancer stays gone! Oh yeah and they finally got tickets to come visit in early September!

Yesterday and today the kids and I saw crop dusters flying over some of the fields. The one yesterday was flying over a field behind our house, so he'd go dust the crops and circle around again, coming right over our house and the school. We went out and got some pictures of it (coming soon) and then the kids played on the playground until he was done. They were so excited to watch him circle and circle and circle and...

We saw another one today after we dropped Britney off at the farm. He was flying so low that I could look out the window of the car and I was looking eye-level at him. I've never seen one that up-close before. It was so neat! Until he circled right above us and started diving toward the field and I had all kinds of horrible visions going through my head :) We didn't stick around much longer after that!

One more thing - sorry for all of the horribly hot days in Atlanta this week. From what I've seen, it's almost unbearable! Try to stay cool! I don't miss this part of the summer in the South!

Hmmm...anything else out of the ordinary? Not that I can think of, but I'm sure it won't be long until there's something else we encounter that we never did in the city!

My Kids Are Awesome

The Lord has been teaching me lately that I need to build and encourage my children. Sometimes I get so caught up in what they're NOT doing that I forget all of the smiles they've brought to my face and what good kids they can be. Walking through a house that is cluttered with toys in EVERY room and constantly having to pick up or clean up something that is spilled gets to me. So, I'm trying to overlook that and come up with creative ways to show them how to take better care of their toys and to appreciate them. I've also been trying to be more encouraging and less nagging :)

Today I just have to share a little bit about what great kids I have. I'm in the middle of stripping the wallpaper in Ashlyn's room. There was even wallpaper on the ceiling - YUCK! So, when I started, Ashlyn decided that she wanted to help me. The little trooper has been in there almost as much as her mom and has made pretty good progress on the walls - at least as far up as she can reach. Yesterday she even told me that she was having FUN! She's also been doing a great job at helping Carter lately. She'll get things for him and tries to be a second mommy in more ways than just bossing him. It's so neat to see the friendship developing between the two of them.

Carter is the one who can make me laugh when I just really don't feel like it. He's also the one who can make me so mad I want to throw him through the wall. Teaching him to clean up or to use the potty takes all the patience I've got most days. But then there's days like today. He was watching VeggieTales and when the silly song with Larry came on, I walked in the room and he was standing in front of the TV dancing his little heart out to the Bellybutton Song. He always asks to hear The Way I Was Made by Chris Tomlin whenever I'm working in the kitchen and have my music on. Once again the dancing shoes come out and he really gets down. But, I love that he wants to listen to that song because it's my prayer for both of my kids. The words are below. I hope you enjoy them as much as Carter does!

Caught in the half-light, I’m caught alone Waking up to the sunrise and the radio Feels like I’m tied-up, what’s holding me? Just praying today will be the day I go free

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow I want to dance like no one’s around I want to sing like nobody’s listening Before I lay my body down I want to give like I have plenty I want to love like I’m not afraid I want to be the man I was meant to be I want to be the way I was made

Made in Your likeness, made with Your hands Made to discover who You are and who I am All I’ve forgotten help me to find All that You’ve promised let it be in my life

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow I want to dance like no one’s around I want to sing like nobody’s listening Before I lay my body down I want to give like I have plenty I want to love like I’m not afraid I want to be the man I was meant to be I want to be the way I was made

ohhhhh The way I was made Ohhhh I want to live like there’s no tomorrow I want to dance like no one’s around I want to sing like nobody’s listening Before I lay my body down I want to give like I have plenty I want to love like I’m not afraid I want to be the man I was meant to be I want to be the way I was made I want to be the way I was made I want to be the way I was made