Trials

Since the last time I posted something, another month has successfully passed us by! The time sure does go by much more quickly now that I am older. We have been renting my cousin's house from him since last Aug. and we have been trying to do some small things to fix it up and make it feel "more like home". One of those things included painting the walls in the living room, kitchen and dining room. Ben spent about a week painting the walls and giving the house a make-over. We were very pleased with the results, only to find out a week later that we aren't really going to get to enjoy the fruit of that labor. God has other plans for us, and for my cousin's family, because they will be the ones to enjoy it (or change it). We are having to move in the next 6 weeks, so we have made some steps to see where it is that God is going to move us. Of course, I have my own ideas about where I think it should be, but I have lived long enough following God to know that my ideas are never as awesome as His, so instead of telling Him what I think He should do, I am asking Him to show us what He has for us. I know that God has something wonderful in store for my family, even if I am pretty stressed out about the whole thing---hey, I am still human, and a mom with three kids' educations to consider! We have spoken with the mortgage lady and everything is looking good so far-of course dependent on how much of a down payment we can come up with--but we are hoping to look at some houses today. YAY!!!

Two days after we found out we are having to move, we found out Annalisa has an abcessed tooth and 3 cavities to boot! WOW! She had been complaining intermittently about her cheek hurting, and I figured she had just bitten it. Then on a Sunday morning she woke up screaming, "It's not my cheek, it's my tooth!" So, I took a look and it seems that part of her tooth is missing. She must have gotten some food stuck in there and it got infected, thus leading to her mouth being so swollen by that night that she looked like she was playing Chubby Bunny--and was winning--with about 15 marshmallows stuffed in her mouth!!! She was in serious pain, so we doped her up with Motrin and Orajel until we could get her in to the dentist Monday morning. The dentist gave me the fatal news---the tooth must go to the tooth fairy. This, of course, was a bit exciting for Annalisa who hasn't had any teeth go to the tooth fairy yet....so she sees $$$$. She will be fitted for a spacer (it is a jaw tooth on the bottom) so that she will be less likely to need braces later. There is another jaw tooth on the other bottom side that will get a Princess Crown--wow, this dentist was really talking it up to Annalisa--and she will have to breath "bubble gum air" for the procedure. Annalisa went in terrified and came out smiling, telling Ben "and I will feel like I am walking on clouds!" (kicking her leg in the air for effect). This will not be cheap mind you, so all I am thinking is, "Why is my 5 year old's mouth going to cost more than my flat screen TV?" We go in this Monday (May 5) to start the whole process, so I took the day off of work! I always like days off!!
The last thing is--apparently Spring in Colorado is NOT the same as Spring in Texas!! May 1 it snowed 7 hours non-stop! At least the sun is out again today and warming things up again--I LOVE the sun!!! In the words of Sheryl Crow "I wanna soak up the sun".....but lately I am changing that to be "I wanna soak up the SON"!

March 2008

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

This month has been a pretty busy month and it isn't even over yet! Annalisa learned how to stand up while riding her bike....because she is definitely NOT going to let "her boys" do something that she can't do. She now rides her bike on the ramps as well. She is definitely not scared to try something new. Jacob was in his first play-- "Rumpus In the Rainforest"--and he had a little solo. It was a good play and after it was over we went to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. Cole started the month taking the CSAP'S which are the Colorado Achievement tests. It lasted 2 weeks for him. He was very tired after all of the testing. It is all timed, but he said it was pretty easy. The only part that he was worried about was the writing because he doesn't like to be timed while trying to write something! Ben and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary and had a really good weekend together. I got a new comforter for my bed, which I have been wanting for a couple of years now, and we have had a lot of good weather lately. My friend Cathy from Washington came to Colorado to visit some friends and also came to see us. She brought her daughter Anneka with her, and Annalisa and Anneka had a blast playing together. Ben has been umpiring high school baseball games 3-4 days a week (every Saturday) and he is really enjoying that. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and we will have 2 services at church for the first time. We are looking forward to seeing how that will turn out. Cole had baseball tryouts a few weeks ago, and after a lot of crying and whining we realized he didn't want to try out because he didn't know any of the boys. It wasn't something that had crossed my mind---Cole has always played with the same boys in Kilgore. They were a very good team and worked well together. He was scared to be with boys he didn't know, but being the mean mom that I am, I forced him to try out and when it was over he came and gave me a big hug and thanked me for making him do it. He did really well and they will call us around the beginning of next month to let us know which team he will be on. Jacob and Annalisa will also be playing baseball this year, so the next few months will be very busy for us! We love baseball season, though!

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New Things!

One day a couple of weeks ago Annalisa decided she was going to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels. And she did! Usually once they make up their mind to learn, that is all it takes...one day. She decided she was tired of everyone else on the block riding without them, and she doesn't like to be outdone, so one day with Daddy outside and she was riding like a pro. Her favorite thing to do is make an 8. She feels like that is a safe thing to do. That same week she also learned how to tie her shoes all by herself. I was very proud of her because that is less work for me now!

On Friday Feb. 9th Cole was in the district Spelling Bee. He was one of the youngest there since it was 4th-8th grade. I was disappointed that they grouped 4th graders with 8th graders, but there wasn't much I could do about that. There were about 110 kids there, and they had to take a written exam first. They called out 50 words, and the kids had to write them down. They then picked 32 (I think) of those kids to go on to the oral round. It seemed that all of the kids that made it to the oral round were 6th grade and up (most of them looked like 8th graders!). Cole said he didn't know any of the words-- "they were all Latin and French"--and parents weren't allowed to stay for that portion of the Spelling Bee. The only word he remembered was "surveillance" which is a really tough word. Anyway, we told him how proud we were of him just for making it that far, and he is already looking forward to next year!
On Saturday Feb. 10th Jacob had his 8 year old birthday party. We had about 15 kids here, and it is the first party I have hosted with people other than family. It was a dinosaur party and we played Pin the Tail on the Dinosaur, Toss the ball in the Dinosaur's Mouth, and had a Dinosaur Pinata as well as Dinosaur Skeleton Rubbings the kids could make. Overall it was a lot of fun, and Jacob got a lot of transformers, which he LOVES!
On Saturday night after Jacob's party Ben and I got to go to a couple's Valentine's Dinner, and we played the newlywed game. There were 4 other couples besides us...they had been married 23, 22 and 8 years (2 couples were 23 years). Ben and I will be married 12 years next month, so anyway none of us were actually newlyweds, but it was still fun, and after a HORRIBLE first round (because Ben didn't answer anything correctly!), we ended up winning the game! It was a lot of fun, and we got to hear a lot of funny stories.
On Sunday Feb. 17th we will be flying back to Texas for Susan and Juan's wedding. We are all excited about the trip and we can't wait for a week of warmer weather!!

Is That Ironic?

A couple of nights ago Jacob woke me up at about 3 a.m. to tell me that he had a nightmare. First of all let me tell you that my children are pretty scared to wake me up in the middle of the night, because I am not nice when I have been woken up. Cole says that he never tells me when he has a nightmare because, "I know you don't care," he says. I do care, but it is hard for me to muster up mercy and caring when I have just been awakened from a deep sleep. So, Jacob must have been pretty scared to come wake me up. I told him he could bring his pillow and blanket in our room and sleep on our floor. I have NO PROBLEM going back to sleep after having been awakened, so I was already asleep again before he even got back in our room. About 5 minutes later he tapped my arm to ask me if he could use the bathroom. Getting a little more irritated, I told him that of course he could go to the bathroom. I fell asleep again before he got done and came back to the room. About 10 minutes later he tapped my arm again to let me know that my floor was hard and it was hurting his arm. Even more irritated, I tried to talk nicely and tell him to just go back to bed then. He said that he couldn't do that because he would be scared in there.....I was thinking, "if you wake me up again you will be scared in here," but I didn't voice that to my son. I told him to go back to sleep and not wake me up again. I had already lost a good 20 minutes of sleep, and I didn't want to lose anymore. Thankfully I was able to sleep the rest of the night without being awakened by him.

When I got up in the morning, I went to the bathroom to find a present for me in the toilet. I then remembered that Jacob had gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so I questioned him as to whether or not he had left that surprise for me. He looked at me bewildered and told me that the reason he didn't flush was because (now this was very thoughtful of him)...... HE DIDN'T WANT TO WAKE ME UP!

Christmas 2007

This year when I asked the kids to write their letters to Santa listing what they wanted, my ulterior motive was to have a list to give to Peepaw and Granma. It proved helpful with Cole and Annalisa's lists, but my Jacob does have a great imagination! He not only asked for the Lamborghini that he could drive, but as I mentioned in an earlier blog, he was also dead-set on Super Powers! He didn't care which ones, he just wanted Super Powers! Sadly, that is not something that Santa delivered to our house on Christmas Eve, but I honestly don't think he even noticed because the only thing he mentioned that he didn't get was a bike---you know, one of the "last minute, 3 days before Christmas" add-ons to the Christmas list! We got to spend the days leading up to Christmas with Peepaw and Granma, and the kids really enjoyed the time with them. It snowed and the wind was FREEZING, but still we went out and enjoyed the town. On Christmas Eve we had a special service at our church, and aside from me allowing my kids to hold those tiny candles and get wax dripped on their little hands, thus burning them during the singing of Silent Night (it wasn't silent anymore!) it was very good! Hey, at least they didn't catch their hair on fire while their Grandaddy was praying---Jeffrey!!! On Christmas Eve Ben and I were sleeping on a cot and the couch in the living room (because we were nice enough to give up our bed to our poor old parents) and Annalisa informed us that if Santa came down the chimney we were not to talk to him or acknowledge him in any way or else she wouldn't get presents. Man, that was difficult since I have been waiting all my life to see the guy in action, but I kept my eyes closed and slept! Before we went to bed, Cole wrote a message in the snow that said "Santa, stop here!" and I think Annalisa put her name in the snow too so Santa would know who he was stopping for! Now, when we were kids we woke up early and counted the minutes until 6:00 a.m. which was when mom and dad would wake up.....but my kids have never done that. They have slept as late as 8:00 on Christmas morning, and even though I am sometimes up before that I have never had a problem going back to sleep so they can rest. But this year, Dad and Lynn were up around 5 getting their showers and stuff, and at 5:45 I went to check on the kids, who were still sleeping soundly. I said to myself that I had a good hour and half to 2 hours before they would get up, and went back to sleep. Exactly 15 minutes later they were ALL by the tree with Peepaw and Granma looking at everything and still trying to wake up--they had a little extra help getting up so early! We did the birthday cake for Jesus and then opened presents. During the opening of presents we realized that it was SNOWING! I knew we would have a white Christmas because there was already snow on the ground, but we had an ACTUAL "it's snowing!" white Christmas!! It was beautiful! We took Dad and Lynn back to the airport after lunch and said our good-byes, and all of the kids were asleep in the car before we got there!