Sweet times...

I don't know about you other moms out there, but one of the sweetest things about being a mom is getting to watch my little one interact with his grandparents. For the past few times that Stone's been around my parents, he has really started to bond with them, mostly because he's old enough to remember who they are now. We are blessed to be near Kevin's parents, so he has naturally bonded with them, so it's always a treat when we get to visit with my folks, since they live in a far-off land called West Virginia! Ha!

Thought I'd share a few pics from my parent's visit last week and their time spent together. They also went on an adventure to Chic-Fil-A one day for lunch, in keeping things "normal" while I was away! (HA! It's no secret that I frequent Chic-Fil-A a lot!)

Thanks mom and dad for making the journey down here to keep Stone during the day while I was in FL! I appreciate and love you! Glad you had a great time entertaining Stone (or was it him who entertained you guys?!)

A great group picture... which was harder to get than you think, since Stone loves to be the one taking pictures now (just like his mom!) and doesn't like to pose for them much anymore. (See below, as he's taking a picture of my dad, taking a picture of him and my mom!)


Here's a picture that Stone took with my dad's camera... pretty good!


Two West Virginians....


Hanging on the couch....

and hanging on my train...


...playing some instruments..



yep, even preaching a sermon!!


and of course, jumping on the bed, a new favorite past-time..


Grand parents are so much fun!!! One fun memory I have with my grandparents is when I visited with them, a "big treat" was when my grandpa took us on the public bus transport to the local McDonald's for lunch and play time on their playground. That was a big deal getting to ride the bus, because my grandparents didn't drive, and we never rode a public bus in the town where I grew up (I don't even think we had public buses!). Another one was him walking us to the 7-Eleven and buying us treats. I remember going to church with them, riding my bike between their house and my great aunt's house, finding Easter eggs in their back yard at Easter, and one time, taking a hike in the woods where I thought we were lost, but turns out, my grandpa knew where we were going the whole time. Of course, those might not seem that big of a deal, but 1) it was WV for crying out loud!! not many exciting things to do anyway! and 2) anything you do as a kid always seems exciting until you grow up and realize that it wasn't that big of a deal, just a big deal at the time! Plus, those memories were always good quality-times which I cherish now as an adult.

What's a fun/fond memory you have with your grandparents as a kid? Post and share!

How to contain a 2 year old....

So this is how my parents made sure they didn't lose Stone the whole time they kept him while I was gone and Kevin was at work... they kept him in his crib! Ha! Just kidding! More pics to come soon.....

Back from Florida....

....and still sick! That's how my trip started out and so far, how it has ended and continued on and on.. here's the details of what supposed to be a hassle-free, sickness-free, good time, learning new things and hanging with old friends. The reality was this:

• Tuesday afternoon, I started feeling a cold coming on... but I didn't think it was anything bad. (Was I wrong!) I remember waking up in the middle of the night with my throat a bit sore and sinus pressure. I thought, there's no way I can go on this trip, since I'm flying. But I had to go because everything was paid for and I didn't want to waste the money.
• Wednesday morning comes.. the day I'm supposed to fly out. Right after I left my house to go to the airport, I get a call from the airlines saying my flight was CANCELLED! I'm guessing due to the heavy fog. I call and get on another flight, just an hour later than my previous flight. No problem. THEN, just about 15 minutes later, I get another call and that flight is also cancelled! I call back and the only flight left takes me first to Washington, DC, then to Orlando! Can you believe this? AND, I now don't get in until 5:30pm.. which frustrated me greatly because the conference started with dinner at 6:30. I knew I'd be late, since there was no way I could get from the airport to the hotel in an hour in Orlando. Plus, I was taking a shuttle, which I knew would take even more time.
  
• So, I get to D.C. and on the plane, and after all 100+ people board, we sit on the plane on the tarmac for an HOUR before we even take off! Why? Who knows, but it starts somewhere with there being a weight imbalance, then that was okay, and then we had to wait in line to take off, but we didn't even leave the loading area for an hour... not sure what that was about, but let me tell you, FRUSTRATING, especially when you're sick, and late for your conference!
• I finally get there, miss dinner, but get to eat later that night, and visit with friends (the only redeeming thing of the day!) Thursday morning, I wake up and feel like a train has hit me and miss the first workshop because I'm a zombie. I make it to the next 2 workshops and lunch, and then had to go back and lay down for a while cause I had zero energy and my head was in a fog. I miss most of the rest of the day (I did make it to a few other things, but went to bed early again.)
• Friday comes and I feel much better, but still drained. I make it to most of the stuff and again, get to enjoy some sweet fellowship with friends.
  
• Saturday, I had to leave early to catch the bus back to the airport so I wouldn't miss my plane. I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to my friends, but that's sometimes how it goes. I get back home (very thankful to see my hubs, stone, and my parents), but still very sick... all this "junk" is now in my lungs. So, I figuring bronchitis/sinus infection. I then start preparing to go to church on Sunday to do my job and Kevin wants me to stay home and rest. However, I don't really have a back up for me on Sunday mornings, so I go anyway. I thankfully can go to the doctor on Sunday afternoon and Kevin goes with me (as he's gotten all this junk as well, even though we apart) and get good drugs.
• Monday, I take the day off, even though my parents are here to help with Stone since Gini was out of town. I just needed to rest! I felt a little better, but today (Tuesday) I still feel really bad. I didn't work today either, but took Stone to school and saw my parents off as they traveled back home today. My MIL was really sweet and offered to watch stone after school today so I could continue resting so he got to spend time with his other grandmother along with his fav. cuz. Mercy and Aunt Gini. And here it is tonight, and I STILL feel bad! I hope this goes away SOON! I'm still coughing pretty badly, even though I have lethal cough syrup, decongestant and antibiotics! Seriously, to all my pregnant friends out there who read this blog, I honestly really feel bad for you if you get sick cause I know you can't take anything good to help. I hope you ALL can stay well!!!

Here's a pic of the "old gang" from back in the day at GBC..... and a new friend!

Off to Florida...

.... for a few days to enjoy a Children's Pastor's Conference. I leave in the morning (Wed.) and will be back Saturday. I am looking forward to this (although I will miss my hubby and Stone)... time by myself, being in sunny FL at D*isney, hopefully learning new things about preschool ministry, and best of all, getting to spend some time with some former co-workers who are great friends and will also be attending the conference. So, pray for a safe journey tomorrow (I am flying, so I guess pray for the pilots and the weather!) and for my parents who will be taking care of Stone during the day while Kevin is at work. Thanks!

It's Official....

My poor baby!!! We took him to the allergy doc this morning and as we suspected, poor Stone is allergic to almost everything they tested him for! :( We pretty much knew that he was allergic to peanuts, eggs, and dogs, but we discovered that also wheat, cows milk, trees, mold, dust mites and who knows what else. For now, we are putting him on some meds and the doc and nurses advised that we try our best to change our environment and his diet as much as possible to help treat the allergies, and that hopefully, this will help him "out grow" them in the future. Changing his environment means that I have to become a much better housewife in the area of cleaning!! I'm afraid I'm much too negligent when it comes to really cleaning, and I hate dusting, which is what we are going to have to constantly do, as well as change his sheets 2 times a week (recommended) and make sure books and clothes and other "items that easily collect dust" aren't just hanging out in his bedroom. Not to mention, we will probably have to buy some mattress pads and pillow covers that will help deflect dust. Oh well... this will make me clean more and be more aware of how we don't need the extra dust hanging about!

As far as diet, there won't be a whole lot of changes, as Stone doesn't eat a big variety of foods as it is. We'll probably switch to soy milk and see if that helps him some and try to avoid wheat as much as possible as well.

Even though I feel bad for Stone (especially after the torture we put him through this morning with the skin tests), I'm glad to know this now, so we can help him feel better presently and hopefully help in out in the long run. I just hate that he's allergic to peanuts, most of all! Both Kevin and I love anything with peanuts/peanutbutter and there's just so much GOOD stuff out there to enjoy eating! Maybe, just maybe, he'll grow out of it some day!!

And thus, there is proof....

....that I'm not crazy after all. I don't think I ever really liked clowns, but the older I got, the more I really disliked them. Now, this bit of information isn't that popular amongst most other people because they can't understand why I don't like clowns. In addition, parents and co-workers (from the past) couldn't understand this either, especially since I've been a Children's Minister for a long time and work with kids. They were like: "How can you not like clowns, puppets and ventriloquists and you're a Children's Minister at the same time?" I don't know... all I do know is that I'm not fond of people in big, dress-up costumes, not a fan of Halloween costumes where your face is covered up, nor a fan of faces being painted in general either. Don't even get me started on how creepy ventriloquists are and I put up with most puppets cause for the most part, they're cute.. but I still don't like them that much. So, I came across the following article from Yahoo! News the other day and it proves that I'm apparently not the only one who feels this way about the so-called child-friendly, funny clowns.....

Don't send in the clowns

Wed Jan 16, 8:32 AM ET

Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.

The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Winter Wonderland

For a few hours at least, it was a beautiful winter wonderland here today. Here's just a few pics.

Prayer needed

This afternoon has been a sobering dose of reality, and a reminder that life is indeed too short and never expected to end before we think it should. Please pray for a mom I barely know through the Bible study I do on Wednesday mornings at Mom2Mom. Even though we are not close friends, my heart and soul has grieved for this mom all afternoon. She was with us in our study this morning and went home to discover that her 8 month old son had somehow died of SIDS after her husband had put him down for a nap. I can only imagine the devastation and pain she and her husband are going through. As you read this, please lift them up to the Father as they need our prayers. They also have a daughter who is about 3 or 4 years old. Pray for them as they grieve and as they have to explain to their daughter this tragic situation.

Pregnant Mama in Action!

Take a look at this folks! My SIL is an AWESOME mom (well, we all knew that anyway), but I love these pictures and the time we had at MJ's last Wednesday morning. Here she is about 17 weeks pregnant and climbing through a crazy obstacle course with her 2 year old and sliding down tall slides. I just had to capture it on film. Priceless!!




Now here, I will interject a few things. Stone has been here a few times before, but really didn't like it. A few weeks before this documented trip, we went and Stone actually enjoyed getting into a couple of the blow-ups. That was his first time ever! This past trip, he not only did the same things as last time, AND he braved this gigantic slide! I was so proud of him! He went down with Gini and M the first 2 times, and then with me and M about 3 times. Then he didn't want to quit! However, being that it was so steep (going up and down) I knew he needed help getting up to the top, but both Gini and I were exhausted! Anyway, it was a fun trip and glad he's warming up to this place.

Toothpaste in the Toilet...the rest of the story

Okay.. so my poll about whether or not you'd continue using a tube of toothpaste after it fell into the toilet results are extremely interesting. I'd thought for sure there would be more "no's" than "yes's" but it seems there is a tie. So, thought I'd share this little bit of information with you.. check out this website to see just where bacteria/germs lurk in your household and what the #1 spot for them are... yep, you guessed it... the toilet! I mean, we're talking 3.2 million bacteria per square inch!!!! Did you know that? I didn't know there was that much bacteria/germs, but really didn't need to know that to make the decision that I wouldn't reuse the tube of toothpaste, even if the lid of the toothpaste was closed (which it was) and even if there wasn't any current "waste" in the toilet when it fell in (which there wasn't). So, here's the rest of the story....

The night this happened, I had brushed my teeth, placed the tube of toothpaste in the medicine cabinet which hangs above the toilet and then went to bed. A couple of minutes later, I hear this noise but couldn't figure out what it was. So, I go back into the bathroom to discover the toothpaste in the toilet. I first though it was no big deal, got it out, dried it off, and then wiped GermX all over it, thinking that would probably take care of disinfecting it. Then I got to thinking.. 'Hmmm, there are lots of germs/bacteria in that toilet and who knows when the last time I had actually really cleaned it, so probably not a good idea to reuse it. Plus, water could have seeped into the flip-top lid, so on second though, yuck.' So, I put it in the trashcan and go to sleep, knowing that there was still a little bit of toothpaste left in another tube so Kevin would have something to use in the morning.

Next morning... (Kevin gets up and leaves for work before I even get out of bed).. I notice in the bathroom that the toothpaste is not in the trashcan, but sitting on the back of the toilet! Surely not (I'm thinking to myself).. Kevin wouldn't have taken this toothpaste out of the trashcan and used it (which I'm sure was equally as germy, since there was a DIAPER (just wet, not poopy) in there. Surely not!! But then I see the other tube sitting on the sink. I then decided to call K and ask him... here's how that conversation went:

Me: "Hey Kevin. I was wondering if you happened to use the toothpaste that was in the trash can this morning?"

K: "No... I used the other one, but wondered why it was in there."

Me: "Whew... good! Well, it had dropped into the toilet last night, so I took it out and thought it probably wasn't a good idea to keep using it so I threw it in the toilet. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that this morning before you left."

K: "No problem. But we could have kept using it... it already fell in the toilet once before."

Me: "WHAT?!?!?!? You mean the same tube?????"

K: "Yeah, why? It's like soap.. no big deal."

Me: "No, it's NOT like soap and you put it in your mouth! Gross!! I can't believe you let me use toothpaste that had been in our toilet!!! AHAHAHAHAH!"

End of that story. Of course, K can't believe I'm even blogging about this, much less taking a poll on it. But, I guess the good thing is that it hasn't killed us YET!!!

And to my dear hubby's defense, he has been getting on me ever since we got married that we really should keep the toilet lid closed after we use it and I have a bad habit of not closing the lid. So, in the end, it's my fault the toothpaste ended up in the toilet (the 2nd time at least) since I didn't close the lid. Lesson learned well!! (By the way, did you know that if you don't close the toilet lid when you flush it, that all that waste matter gets all over the rest of your bathroom anyway, including your toothbrushes???? ICK! I have since closed the lid EVERY time!!!!)

Thanks for participating in my little poll. If you'd like to share which way you voted, I'd LOVE to know!!

Updates....

I've realized that sometimes I've blogged about certain prayer requests and sometimes I've emailed, so I can't remember when/how I last updated, so here goes...

• Kevin's job interview, which happened right before Christmas... turned out to not be a "go." Which is okay, but disappointing. We continue to pray that God will open the right door in this area. He had another lead this week, however, the pay was not as much as he's making now and if we could have afforded to take the chance on this job, we would have. Again, disappointing, but we know it's all in God's timing, not ours.
• My test results from the endoscopy I had on Christmas Eve..... they took a biopsy of my small intestine cause it looked irritated. The results came back to say there was no cancer (praise!) and the Dr. said before we left that there weren't any ulcers (also a praise), but leaves me wondering what in the world has been causing all the pain I had in there? Hmmm... I have a follow up with the GI dr. in Feb. so maybe I can find some answers then. Thanks to who who have prayed!
• Finally, we are still looking for a place to live-- please pray that God will lead us to the right place that is in our budget. We are not looking to buy at this point, so renting options make it much more difficult to find something in our price range, as well as well-taken-care of and in a decent part of town. We appreciate your prayers on this!
• And one more thing... not really an update, but something we definitively discovered while traveling back from WV over Christmas and then again confirmed just yesterday... (how many of you thought I was going to say I'm pregnant here, since everyone else I know is?? But that's not the news!!) Poor little Stone is apparently allergic to dogs! :( I put a frowny face here because he loves dogs (so do I) and it's going to be difficult to try to explain to him why he can't pet them or let them lick him. So sad... maybe he'll grow out of it!! But for now, we are going to have to keep him away from the friendly little animals. For the past few times he's encountered them, he starts sneezing, coughing, and his eyes get puffy and his face (or wherever he had contact with dog saliva) will start breaking out in hives. Not fun for him, nor for me to watch.
  

That's it for now... will get back to the toothpaste poll soon... it's been very interesting to see the votes!

Go Tigers!

Congrats to my hubby on his "win" as the LSU Tigers took the National Championship tonight!

Toothpaste in the Toilet

Okay, had to blog about this, but first, I thought I'd make it fun and include my first-ever poll. So, all you lurkers out there who never COMMENT on my blog, please cast your vote! After I receive several votes, I'll then do another post to explain why I am blogging about this... although I'm sure you can probably guess from the title..... :)

(The poll is directly to the RIGHT of this post.)

Fiesta Bowl Winners!

(this little post is dedicated to my folks and friends who are WVU fans as well as the small handful of West Virginians who live in SC now...) Go Mountaineers!! They won the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma tonight!


Sorry to all you Clemson or SCU fans... You just can't take the WV out of a girl! Next bowl... LSU!! (Kevin's team)....

And more Christmas Celebrations

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Christmas Celebrations....

Make a slideshow - it's easy!