Updates: Answer to those burning question you may or may not have.

I'm currently dealing with a self diagnoised sinus infection. I'm too cheap and lazy to go to the doctor so I'm hoping it goes awau on its own. I basically feel like I'm underwater. (This is not me by the way but I took it on an underwater sub in Maui.) My nose and ears are very plugged and I'm really draggin. Underwater is also a good metaphor for how I'm feeling about life. Its been akinda weird week and I can't seem to get my head above water with the house and everything else going on. The fact that the two feelings are somehow realated is not lost on me.Now for some good news. Sydney and her crazy, intense attachment issues are doing lots better. She stayed at my friends house yesterday without incident, went to nursey for the first time in months Sunday, and deals with me leaving like a champ. I have high hopes for the future. Now if I could just stop getting her sister to pull her hair we'd be in good shape.
Remember the Mystery of the slippers? Well I found them. Of all places under my computer desk. I was looking under a nearby couch for something when I spotted them. No, the dog diddn't eat them or Nate didn't through them away. It's still strange the way they dissapeared at the same time I bought me new ones. So I wear both, I actually like my old ones better they stay on my feet better. So sorry Nate now he has two pairs of gross slippers laying around the house to look at. Isn't love grand?

Payback

For most of her young but meaningful life Sydney has been the target of his older sisters agreesion. Hitting, hair pulling, and worst of all bitting. To her credit Sydney has refused to become a party to this behavior and instead choosing the turn the other cheek. Until now...Yes, that is bite mark on AUBREY'S cheek. For whatever reason, I wasn't home at the time, Sydney had enough. Unfortunately this has become a new trend, no more biting luckily but more agressive lately. And Aubrey, well until recently she'd given up the biting but in order to step up her game has also brought that back.

In a twist of irony the same day Sydney bit it in the driveway and scraped up her face. You know what they say about payback. So both the girls were looking pretty rough for a couple days, luckily their outer wounds heal quickly as for the inner damage only time will tell.

Tender Mercies: The Story of the Rainbow.

I'm thinking this may be another ongoing series. I 'm not sure why but I like those, and I love the idea of recognizing Tender Mercies in my life. They are numerous and its all about an Attitude of GrattitudeFirst of all I apologize for repeating the same pic as my header but its the only rainbow one I could find.

So a couple weeks ago I was thinking it's been a really long time since I'd seen a rainbow.

So The next couple times I was out driving and it was rainy and sunny I kept my eye out.

And then it happened.

Last Tuesday. I'd just dropped the kids off at Grandmas and was on my way to a camp meeting when there it was....The most perfect rainbow ever.

By that I mean a full one, ya know it went side to side, the colors were so vibrant. The only thing that could make it better was that it was a DOUBLE!!! Thats right there was two and they looked amazing against the dark ,cloudy sky.

Now thats what I call a Tender Mercy.

I'm not self-centered enough to think the rainbow was created just for me, but maybe just maybe it was and it really doesn't matter because it make me REALLY HAPPY!

Today's my birthday but I'm giving this story as a gift to you! I don't know what it is this birthday but I found myself evaluating my last year, what I've accomplished, if I've grown (I don't mean my butt). It's kinda depressing because I'm hard on myself. So I'll try to stop!

In the meantime have a good Kelly's birthday, here's to turning 33!

The Final Hunt

By now your probably as tired as I am hearing (reading) about our endless Easter Egg Hunts. So this is the last post about it...promise. In the past I've tried to do the Egg Hunts on Saturday and keep a more spiritual focus on Sunday but with Saturday being so busy and all we frankly didn't have time to do one at home, until Sunday after church. Each child has their own color eggs to find, painstackingly filled by the easter bunny with treats and coins. They also get a basket of goodies. I'm beginning to think my parents were onto something when as I child we just hunted for assorted jelly beans. None of this plastic egg stuff. Less work and more challenging to find, ecspecially when your inside!

Yes, Kelsey is in her jammies. She puts them on every Sunday after church even though we went to my dads later and she just had to change anyway. Whatever!

No Egg Hunt at my dad's but Nate's parents did a little one for them the following Tuesday. Please help me get rid of all this candy and I don't mean eatting it because I know how to do that.

My sister buys back her kids candy, a nickle a piece, she does it at halloween too. It ends up being about 3$ per kids (3 kids). They go for it everytime. Yes, she's brillant.

Zoo Hunt

For years Nate's wanted to take the kids to the zoo for their Easter Eggs Hunts. Its not really my thing, battling the crowds and all so this year after our morning hunt he went with his buddy. I couldn't post without a picture of the new baby elephant, it is soooo cute. Speaking of cute after they got home the twins would tell you all about the animals they saw, including a panda and giraffe, which they didn't see.
The fish were a big hit, this thing is pretty cool considering how close they can get. The little boy with the hat is our friends son, not some random stanger. Yes, Sydney does look like she's gonna kiss him.
Aubrey's looking a little tired in the photo. She never slept in the car on the way there or home. Kelsey had an Easter party at a friends house that afternoon. She was bummed she didn't get to go. Unfortunately I had to stay home and take her. Is it wrong to say how glourious it was to be home alone for a few hours. Because it was!!!!!!!! Thank you Nate!

They did Easter Egg Hunts every 20 minutes until 3:00. The whole grassy area was in different sections for the age groups. The kids went twice and came home with more candy than Halloween. Nate said it actually wasn't that busy. By now your thinking enough with the Easter Egg hunts but alas there will be more to come. Stay tuned as they say.

This is Aubrey but on a sidenote Sydney was very upset being separated from me initially but it ended up to be a very positive thing. She transferred her attachment to her Dad temporarily through Sunday. By Monday it was back on mommy. I left her yesterday for volunteering and last night at grandmas for a meeting, and while still hysterical when I left, she does seem to be making progress. I'm hoping to clean today without her in my arms or stuck to my side!

The Hunt

We were busy bees this last weekend, so get ready for lots of pictures!For the 8th year in a row we went to Meinig Park for the Easter Egg Hunt. This was the first year Kelsey was too old, and it was pretty sad. She handeled it like a trooper and later that day she went to a fun Easter party at a friends, but next year we may have to break with tradition and go somewhere she can participate.

Sydney was her usual freakishly attached self but she managed to do a little hunting. Both girls ate so much candy Saturday and Sunday than they'd eaten their whole life.

If you look closely in the background you'll she the Tippetts, cheering on their little girl. Thats one of the fun things about the hunt, getting to see friends. We got a dry day and it wasn't even that cold.

You may recognize the Elmo bucket from Halloween. I figured might as well get more use out of it. I felt better when I saw other kids with pumpkin buckets. Noah ran around his area like crazy cleaning up all the candy. He didn't find a golden egg and was dissapointed, but I wasn't, after 8 years we have enough stuffed bunnies! As you'll see in my next post this was merely a warm up to more easter egg hunts to come!

Am I Weird? Part 2

This is Part 2 in an ongoing series of posts where I ponder my level of sanity, here is Part 1 Do you ever begin filling up your cereal bowl only to discover that there isn't enough to fill the whole bowl. What do you do? I'll tell you what I do I make what I like to call a breakfast cassarole. The definition is two or more kinds of cereal in one bowl. I've never done more than three at a time.
There is a science to these combinations. Cereals like, rice crispies, corn pockets (cheap chex) , pops or honeycombs can be added to just about anything. Where you have to be careful is mixing something like cinnamen toast crunch and coco pebbles. Sometimes when I'm feeling wild I'll do things like this and the outcome can be an unexpected surprise.

This breakfast cassarole also works with combining sausage, eggs and pancakes. But thats another post. Anyway the cereal thing can come in handy when you have a bunch of little bits left that you don't wanna waste and you know your kids won't eat them so it falls upon the mother to sacrifice his potential for a flat stomach and eat this stuff. Because as my mother used to tell me, "there are starving kids in Ethiopia."

So that leads me to my original question. Am I weird? Eccentirc, frugul, creative or just plain adventerous with my breakfast?

Have a Great Weekend and A Very Happy Easter!