"Thou shalt not steal"

Tonight on our way home from our night out, I decided that it would be a good idea to stop and get some more butter. Hero piped up that she would like to go in too. I answered, "No, Mommy is just going to run in, grab the butter, and run back out." My daughter was quick to remind me, "Mommy, you have to buy it first."

Lost...Found

Couldn't find the Country Crock today. Looked in the fridge. Looked in the freezer. Found it in the cupboard.

Relaxation

Well, we were able to have a relaxing break from the kids. (Thank you to Grandma for watching them.) The weather was not so bad only 104 on Wednesday. The place that we stayed at was beautiful and comfortable. I would like to say that the trip was perfect...well, almost. Early this morning I woke up to hear a woman crying. Since I had to go to the bathroom anyway, I got up and being nosy, looked through the peep hole. Right outside our door were two women, one crying hysterically, and a police officer. I then overheard something about a coroner and an investigation. Of course now fully alert, I go and tell my husband this information. Now that he is awake he can fight off any murderers that might be lurking about. After a brief attempt at getting regaining sleepiness, I am back at the peep hole. It turns out that husband one of the lady's passed away from a seizure of some sort. This occurred in the room right next store to us. There were only two other couples besides us in the inn, so imagine the chances of this! Finally, after getting to the bottom of his mystery we both fell back to sleep. We were given one last scare when someone attempted to open our door at 4:30 am. Guess they had the wrong room. In the end, our mini-vacation was not exactly restful but definitely exciting.

Escape

Tomorrow my husband and I are going to get away for a much needed break. Of course since it has been so hot down here lately you would think that our destination would be a cool one. Well, not exactly. We are headed to Palm Springs. At least it shouldn't be too crowded, right? It is only supposed to be in the 120's.

Discipline

Today my kids were the worst that they have ever been. The worst part was that we had just reached the front of the line at the post office when they decided to display their sinful nature. Even after pointing out that they were sinning and giving them a smack on the behind their behavior did not change. In fact, it escalated. Now, if I had thought it through I would have realized that I needed to leave, front of the line or not. Of course, I was frazzled and not thinking clearly now that my kids were obviously out of control. When we did reach the counter the kids were screaming and crying. It seemed like the transaction was taking forever. (Do they really have to ask you if you need stamps when they see you practically every other day?)
When we were done I carried them out the door and informed that they would be disciplined when we got home. I cried all the way home. I now realize that I had better just leave next time before things get out of control.

Seeker Sensitive

This is an issue that I have wanted to blog about for a while. The problem is that I have never been able to express my opinion on the matter in a simple and concise way. Tonight, however, one of our pastors addressed this fad so well. In essence the words were always readily available to me. I just wasn't looking were I should have been looking. (Ironically, I think this is one of the major problems with the seeker sensitive movement.)
Romans 3:10-11 "As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;'"
The main problem with the seeker sensitive church is that there are really no seekers. But you say, there are some people that are looking for God. Really, who is doing the seeking? Seeker sensitive church members need to put down their copy of the Purpose Driven Life and pick up a reliable copy of the Word of God.

No Electricity

Yes, you read that right. We had no electricity today. Thankfully we were notified that this event was going to take place so I had my whole day planned around not being home. We first went to see a free movie at the theater with about 200 other kids who wanted to do the same thing. At least there was air conditioning. We then had a nutritional lunch at Burger King were Jericho was accidentally given a double cheeseburger. Our next stop was the Library were they apparently misplaced Jericho's reading card. Although they didn't find it they still gave him his prize for the week anyway, thank goodness. The kids, amazingly, had been behaving quite well throughout the day. Of course our final stop was to visit Daddy at the store. They were getting rather antsy, but thankfully we at least made it out of the store without any discipline issues.
Well, the kids had a fun filled day and we (hopefully) saved some money on our electric bill. Did I mention that I am tired?

VBS

Okay, so it is 6PM and the temp outside is still 107.
This week we had Vacation Bible School. I got to teach the 2nd grade kids. We had a great group. I hope that the kids were able to understand and retain the gospel message that they received. Tomorrow night the VBS kids are going to sing the songs that they learned this week for the evening church service. Hopefully the parents that are able to attend will stay for the whole thing and get a good serving of the gospel.

Hummingbird Bully

This evening while I was fixing dinner I glanced out my window to admire the hummingbirds taking in their evening meal. I watched as a hummingbird zoomed in and stopped to rest on the chimes that are next to the feeder. I was quite intrigued since I have never seen one do this before. To my dismay, the hummingbird did not fly over and eat. Instead it sat there until another hummingbird came close then dive bombed the poor thing. The pint sized bully continued this until finally, I had had enough. I went out the door to scare it away, but it just sat there. Eventually, when I came too close for it's comfort, it alighted. Instead of flying off however, it just hovered next to the feeder. I came in closer, trying to scare it off. It soared off near the tree. But it didn't hide in the tree like most of them do, it circled around and seemed to come after me. I must admit that I was a little taken aback. I didn't run, but I did put my hands up to try and block my face. Well, apparently that was enough to make it run, but not too far. He hid up in the tree while I stood on the ground yelling and clapping my hands at it. As soon as I was back inside it went back to guarding the feeder. Alas, I was forced to spend my dinner and the rest of the evening watching the hummingbird bully pick on his fellow species.


(This is not actually the real bully. I was too scared to take a picture of it. This is from a few nights ago. Justin took it and he did a much better job than I have ever done.) 

Mom's Site

For those of you that this pertains to, all two of you, I have finally updated the Mothers Helping Mothers' site.

Everything tastes better with...

...ketchup. Yes, Jericho is finally acquiring a taste for the pureed tomato condiment. Tonight he even dipped his raw carrots in the stuff.
Besides the carrots in ketchup thing, he has been acting very silly all day. He is talking so much now but it is still hard to tell what he is saying sometimes. One thing that I did make out while he was coloring today was, "Mommy, you crash car. You crash in the water." I am hoping that this is just an idea that he got from reading one of his Thomas the Train stories and not prophetic.

Fifth Month Checkup

Today at my doctor's appointment I asked my doctor about having a birth plan. Not because I am too concerned about the delivery itself, more because of the duration of time that my child will be away from me afterwards. Unlike Oregon, where all measurements and tests are done in the same room as you, the hospitals here will actually whisk the baby away from you to have all this done in the nursery.
Anyway, when I mentioned birth plan, my doctor immediately launched into telling me what must be required (IV, Monitor, etc.) She then proceded to tell me that they try hard to accomodate my wishes. This was nice to know since last time I had no idea of what to expect down here. Apparently she thought that I was some sort of conservative nut (well, I may be to some degree, but not where giving birth is concerned.) It was almost as if she believed I was going to try to have this child on my own and she was considered back up. Needless to say, she seemed quite relieved when I mentioned that I was more concerned about what would happen to the baby after it had been born. Well, the best part about all this is that this has been the longest conversation I have had with my doctor so far. She even sat down while she was giving me all this information. So, other than finding out that I had gained three pounds, it was actually a fairly good check up.

July 4th Pool Party

Jericho smiles for the camera.

Hero gets ready to go down the slide...

Splash! She made it.

Pretending to be a mermaid. 

More Pool Pics

The kids had fun playing with cousins Michael and Mitchell.

Hero and Michael ride the alligator.

Jericho rides the wave cruiser while Mitchell gets pulled along.

At least she stopped long enough to wave.

Big Adventure

Today we are off to brave the Wild Walmart Supercenter. It is either this or make 4 different stops all around town. If I fail to post a new blog within a couple of days, you better send out a search party.