"point" of grace

you know those neighbors with the annoying kids who always come over and raid the cabinets and mess up your house.

well, we're those neighbors.

here is ben in our neighbor's pantry... an almost daily ritual. thankfully they seem to think our kids are cute...and they are more than gracious with their snacks and wii.

and, because i love dropping names, this is our neighbor (who will be mad at me for posting this picture)...she is one of the singers in Point of Grace - duh, the whole reason i was clever in my blog title.

please excuse the overzealous double blog posting today. i am not trying to compete with "those other blogs"...you know, the ones that are all 'deep and meaningful' - posting stuff that is relevant today's culture and spiritual renewal blah, blah, blah. (no offense rob...)

static cling

need i say more....?

all of the above

so, when your kid does something they are not supposed to do....do you:

a. give them 'that look' and shake your finger
b. yell 'nooooo' as you run toward them frantically assessing the situation
c. stop, reassess the ordeal, laugh
d. let your mind wander to the 'what could have been' zone
e. run back inside, grab your camera and take a picture
f. all of the above

ok. so most multiple choice questions don't have this many choices but....fortunately, i do.

like sooooo many days, i tell ben it's time to go and we head out the door. and, like sooooo many times, i forget something so i head back inside. this day i just forgot my bag on the steps by the back door so it was a very quick grab and go. ben was occupying himself in our garage (which is easy to do considering the unbelievable amount of stuff that keeps accumulating....i'll save that for another post).

anyway, i run in and run out...because i was running late for something (no surprise there) and sure enough, the car is also running. hmmmmm. funny. it wasn't running before. hmmmmmm. funny. ben is in the front seat. hmmmmmm. not so funny.

ok. so i'm thinking he's pretty stinkin' smart to get the right key in the right spot.

not supposed to be thinking that, right? well, whatever. cup half full my friend.

you see, caleb starts the car for us when it's cold in the mornings because he's always ready first and needs something to do besides follow sarah around yelling "hurry, we're going to be late!"

caleb has asked me before which key starts the car....i've told him more than once, "the big one." i'm thinking ben was listening (finally, my children listen to me and this is what happens.)

well, i did all of the above. talk about multi-tasking.

now on top of saving for college and therapy i'll have to add car insurance to the list.

ipod ... imac ... iwait

as most of you know we headed to see our new nephew this weekend. it wasn't the homecoming we expected - luke is still in the newborn icu as we wait to see what each day holds.

the kids, however, also waited and waited and waited VERY patiently as family visited. seriously, they were better than most adults i've witnessed recently - having to wait to get their oil changed (oh, that was me...). thanks to gadgets and gizmos...ipods and psp games it made those hours go by a little easier.

anyone who knows me KNOWS i'm not a cook or cleaner (stop laughing)...so what do i do when someone needs help? easy. we take the kids and run them enough that by the end of the night they are tired and full. it's the only thing i know how to do....eat out and run like crazy. i hope it helped.

luke is little but he has made a HUGE impact on all of the kids...i know they would wait in those chairs all night if they knew it would bring him home sooner!

if you want to see pictures of luke and read updates on him their blog is listed under my links. (susan & eric)

beanbag-1 :: ben-0

ben is trying to give up his afternoon nap (not exactly with my approval) so today "we" agreed to watch tv on the beanbag for rest time. he made it halfway through the movie and the beanbag won.

by the way, he's finally growing...if you can tell by the pants / capris. no, i didn't pose him...he did the hands behind the head thing all by himself.

bingo!

Things You’ll Need:

• Large Styrofoam Balls With Hanger
• Colored Light Bulbs
• Flood Lighting
• Glue Guns
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Cutting Boards
• Scissors
• X-Acto Knives
• Straightedges Ruler
• thin, strong ropes

Step 1:
Cut up old CDs into 1/2-inch or 1-centimeter squares.

Step 2:
Glue them to the outside of some kind of ball or spherical object.

Step 3:
Put a string through the spherical object and hang it from the rafters.

Step 4:
Shine lights (ideally multicolored) onto the ball.

Step 5:
Bingo! Disco ball.

regular tuesday...

this is the closest i'll ever get to being political.

ok. i admit it...i love reading cards. i'm that person standing in the store aisle laughing out loud...alone.

i stumbled across the shoebox blog - the link has now been added to my list so enjoy.

no need to send me the $3.49 that it would cost you to buy the card (well, unless you really want to).

lucky number 7

sarah wanted a 'red carpet' party... just music, a disco ball and a red carpet. i can handle that...but, well, what do you do with the big brother at an "all girl" birthday party...? here's your answer...SECURITY! caleb thoroughly enjoyed his role....he stood at the door and checked the party list as the guests arrived. sarah thought that was cool. i hope those days of sarah thinking her brother is cool will last a LONG time.....and i hope caleb will always be 'security' for sarah.

i will admit i was a little worried when sarah said she wanted her party at the house this year. last time we tried that - it was the coldest winter in nashville in 100 years, it snowed and yes, it was an outside party for caleb's 5th birthday in April.

i had hoped the kids would be ok with not being AT a party destination....bowling, movie, pizza place, rock climbing, gym, jump zone - but it seemed to be a success as far as the 7 year old girls were concerned. "it rocked!"

it wasn't me....trust me. i am no party wizard or martha stewart. we tried a few games but the girls just wanted cupcakes, disco lights and loud music. ahhhh, the simple pleasures. honestly, i think the disco ball was hypnotic once they had all that sugar.

of course, cupcakes always make me happy.

valentine's serenade...

sarah is plugging along with her violin...we've been watching violinists on youtube so she thought it would be cool to be a virtual player! (we're actually doing this to kiss up to her teacher ... but don't tell anyone).

I also thought it would be a good shout out to the grandparents for valentine's day!

a snow day...imagine that

being from texas i get it...any glimpse of snow and everything shuts down. well today was our snow day. this is the first year i passed on the puffy coats - the ones the kids won't wear because it's never cold enough and they don't like the way they feel. it figures.

and, yes, the kids went sledding (sliding/scooting...whatever means necessary to get down the slope in our backyard). the morning was topped off by a trip to chuck e. cheese. i figured it would have been totally crowded but i guess everyone was concerned about the road conditions - i type that with sarcasm.

sarah saved her tickets from our last trip and wound up with a great tye-dyed chuck e. shirt (the kind that looks like it should glow in dark and you should be scared to wash with anything else).

ben completely grasped the token + ticket concept and had his pockets full of crumpled tickets from the skeeball and soccer game. and, of course, caleb rationed his tokens (rob would be so proud).

all in all, i think i like these unexpected days off more than anybody. as i sit here at almost midnight once again making a list that is way too long i am glad we stopped to play in the snow (all half an inch of it).

7 lbs. of fluff

(i know mom....enough about the dog already...just one more post)

ben and i gave millie a bath today. she's only 7 lbs. so you can see there's not much to her when she's soaking wet.

as for the rest of the family...i'm gearing up for the spring...birthdays for sarah and caleb. i'm ready for warmer weather, baseball season and running. yes, i said running. i'm not signing up for any races but i'm going to train like i am. this winter weather has made me 'blah' and i feel like i have my own 7 lbs. of fluff i could easily do without. the kids are signed up for the music city marathon again this year so i'm hoping that will jump start all of us into some sort of workout schedule. rob is hoping to hike in colorado this fall so he's realizing hiking when he was 20 something is VERY different than hiking now....when he's old.

maybe he can carry our laundry up and down our stairs for exercise....hmmmmm. i wonder if he'll fall for that.

i resemble that remark...

so rob gave up and gave in and started his own blog (after a week long worship and arts conference that encouraged them to journal, blog, connect with each other...to feed their creativity...blah blah blah)

to kick off his site he mentions me and our closet. thanks. and to top it off he beat me to it and posted pictures of millie! don't worry, that won't stop me from posting MORE pictures. millie is probably exhausted from all the excitement and attention but i'm pretty sure she can already tell how much she is loved. she's more than great!

back to our closet...it'll be clean one day. really clean - when the kids are gone. until then, i'll keep moving piles from room to room to garage. i'm definitely not worried about it. i'll have to see what costs more....maid or therapy.

oh, and in case you are curious...i've included a link to rob's blog.

Millie

ok. so we'll try and post pictures of our kids and our "real" life but get used to this folks...we're getting our new puppy this saturday and they just e-mailed us the final photo. adorable...just adorable.

i'll try to limit my puppy postings but it will be hard. after all, i think she's the cutest one in the family, she'll definitely be the easiest to potty train and we don't have to pay for her college.

yep, she's definitely my favorite already.

here comes trouble...

my friend and i flip flop Bible studies...this time i'm headed to her church for a Mom to Mom group. it's great since ben really loves hanging out with her kids. here they are headed off to the kid care before Bible study... heaven help the nursery workers!!!

no school

seriously...the phone rang at 5:53 am and sure enough - they closed school due to freezing rain. i'm not sure if you can see the 4 drops of rain on our car window or the "hazardous" road conditions. whew. good thing we all stayed home.

i do admit - i enjoyed the extra pajama day...