Hello?

Hello? Anyone still reading?

Gosh, where to start? Well, I'm posting this from our new living room! Okay, so we finally sold the house. Like for real sold it and closed on it and bought another one. It took 136 showings, 3 contracts, and 5 extensions on the closing date, but it got done! It was a serious roller coaster. We got the contract in February and were supposed to close March 24. We actually ended up closing April 22. There were so many crazy things to happen. All of the delays were the fault of either our buyer or his loan company. It actually caused us 3 days delay on the scheduled closing of our new house. 

Speaking of the new house, we love it. We really, really, really love it. Before we found it, during the mad rush to find a home once our old one sold (which turned out to be not such a mad rush after all), we found another home that we fell head over heels in love with. It was crazy how perfect it was for us. It's like it was actually custom built for us. But we lost the bid on it, and we were devastated. After that it seemed like nothing we saw was appealing at all, and we looked at A LOT of houses. In fact, we actually signed a contract on one at one point that we didn't just love, simply because it would technically work for us, and we were running out of time. Fortunately the inspection on it came back with some minor issues that allowed us to back out of the contract. I'm so very glad now that we didn't buy that house, but at the time it seemed like we were out of options. 

Then when our realtor showed me this one (I went without Nick the first time), I said to him, "This is the first one I've liked since we lost (the other house we wanted)." Nick liked it too, although it took him a little bit more time to get fully on board with it. But once we got our hearts wrapped around the fact that we really were not going to be able to buy our first pick, this one was the obvious choice.

Let me be clear, I know that God had a reason for us to not get that other home. Yes, it certainly was everything we wanted, but it was also a very long commute to Nick's job, and the neighborhood was not as nice as the one we now live in. And I just have to trust that there may have been other issues that would have come up down the line.

But anyway, here we are. The kids all have their own room, Nick and I have a massive bedroom and a ridiculously large closet, his commute to work had been cut in half, and.....there's a craft room! Actually it's technically a den, but for me it's an awesome craft room, and it's all mine! I'm still working on getting it all put together, but I'll get there. I'm mostly done. And the back yard is big and flat and fenced in for the kids and the dogs, and a walking trail runs right behind it. Earlier I made blackberry cobbler from the blackberries we picked along the path back there.

We celebrated our 18th anniversary last Sunday. Actually we celebrated it the Friday before with an awesome kid-free trip to an amusement park, but Sunday was the actual day. The whole weekend was wonderful, but we especially had fun on our date Friday.

I finally got Jack potty trained. And yes, he's four, but between all the chaos of having the house on the market for almost a year with nearly daily showings and the four weeks we lived with my parents it was just an impossible task until we got settled. 

Oh, I didn't mention we lived with my parents for a while? We moved out of the old house March 26. At that point there had been one extension and we were due to close on the 29th, so we cleared out so the buyer could do his final walk through. Then of course we ended up not closing for almost another month. My parents were really awesome, but it was an extremely stressful month with all five of us sharing two bedrooms and one bathroom, on top of the daily roller coaster of trying to get the sale of the house to closing. 

Morgan and Daisy will be going to new schools. Morgan really wants to go to her old high school, which could technically happen because she has an approved transfer, but she ended up failing two classes last year for a myriad of reasons, and Nick is understandably unwilling to have me drive 20 minutes to the old school and back twice a day when she's not been doing the things she's supposed to. She lost her phone privileges months ago for doing some inappropriate things with it, and she's still not managed to earn it back. I don't want to give the impression that she's turned into some kind of teenage reprobate - a lot of her issues stem from some struggles with anxiety and depression that she really battles, but some of it is just her being an irresponsible kid. We're hopeful that a new school will be a fresh start for her, and we really love the school district we've moved to.

Domestic discipline has been very much on the back burner, which I hate, but I don't know how to fix it. I've tried bringing it up a couple of times, and Nick seems more or less willing to keep it on the table. Unfortunately that's easy to say without really doing anything to make that a reality. And I'm working hard to try to keep the house much cleaner than it was when we lived in the old house (before we were showing it 42 times a day), so maybe there's just nothing for him to come down on, but that doesn't mean the need for boundaries and discipline isn't still very much there for me. It's been seven months, and the lack of it is making itself felt. Meh. Same old story.

Let's see, what else? Right before we moved, a lady at our church gave us a brand new condition couch, chair, and recliner. She had bought them for her living room about a year ago and decided they were too big for her space, so she just gave them to us. She is an older widowed lady who lives alone in a pet free home, so they were immaculate, and it was just a crazy out of the blue blessing.

Last month we HAD to put tires on my car. It had gotten to the point that Nick wasn't comfortable with me even driving it, and something had to be done. So my dear sweet unselfish husband sold his custom bicycle that Will and Kate got him for Christmas a few years ago. It hurt my heart for him to give it up, but it was sold and gone before he ever told me about it.

Nick's great aunt passed away earlier this week, and we will be going to her funeral this evening. She was a lovely lady, and we hated to lose her. Unfortunately she had been struggling with dementia for the last few months, so it was a relief too in a way. 

Morgan turned 15 in April, so sometime in the next few weeks we plan to let her go get her learners permit, and just when exactly did I give permission for my children to grow up?

We went to church camp at the beginning of June, and it was a blessing as always. We had 16 kids get saved, including Daisy, who had made a profession when she was 4, but realized she hadn't really had a clear understanding of what it meant at the time. She wants to get baptized in the next few weeks.

God has really been so very good to us, showering us with all kind of blessings!

Holiday fun

Hi, guys! Just popping in for a minute. Thanksgiving was wonderful! The food was wonderful, and it was such a sweet time with family! I'm actually just about done with Christmas gifts, if you can believe it. I was able to do some careful shopping, and I was able to get some really great buys, so I'm having to make very little this year. 

God has been taking care of us as always. Sunday on the way into church, we were discussing in the car how we were going to be able to make it through the pay period since Nick had just gotten paid two days earlier, and we were already at the end of our money just with bills and both needed gas in our vehicles, not to mention groceries. We just prayed about it, and when we got to church, our head deacon handed Nick an envelope with his name on it. Inside was an unprecedented, VERY much unexpected check for $750. The church had decided to give a one time Christmas gift (of varying amounts I think) to several of the people who serve in our church, including our piano player and her bass player husband, our youth pastor, and Nick, who runs our sound booth for every service and creates all the CDs and DVDs for our media ministry. This is not necessarily going to be an every year kind of thing, but it was such an incredible blessing this year!

I've also gotten several photo shoots recently, and just tonight Nick got a job for some mechanic side work. God is so very good to us, and I need to get back to posting regularly so that I can share (and later remember!) just how very much He blesses us!

Tonight was Nick's work Christmas party, and while it wasn't the best year by any means, it was still really nice to have a few hours out kid free with him.

Last night I went up to bed a bit early because I had to get up early today for our Ladies Craft Meeting at church. I was still awake though a little while later when Nick came up, and I was pleasantly surprised to feel him curl  around me and began to explore. Next thing I knew, he had flipped me onto my stomach and was giving me a very hot spanking, followed by equally hot sex. Good night indeed. :)

I'm off to bed for now. Have a great night, all!

The past couple of weeks...

So just a quick post to catch up on the couple of weeks. Let's see...Kelly's baby shower was the 9th of this month. I had planned all kinds of things to make for her. Unfortunately for my timeline (but not for our church), we had revival at church the week before, which kind of killed any crafting time I had. The revival was over Friday, but I had some errands to run Saturday and Nick was also working, so I didn't get any real time at the sewing machine until that night after the kids were asleep. One thing Kelly had actually requested was one of these:

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I made one for both Faith and Melanie a few months ago, and they loved them, so I did one for Kelly too. Then I started on some burp cloths. A few months ago my trusty iron that I got for my wedding quit on me. I was going to go buy one, but my mom, frequenter of estate auctions, had several, so she just gave me one of her extras. It had been working great, so when I plugged it up that night I was expecting no trouble. But when I took my fabric to the ironing board several minutes later, it was stone cold. No amount of turning it off and on or cord wiggling or new outlet trying could coax the least bit of heat from it. So I found myself heading to Wal-mart at 1 AM to buy a replacement. I went back and forth and finally decided on one of the least expensive models. When I got back home and opened it, I was most irritated to find that the whole tip of the iron plate was broken off! I couldn't see myself making another trip, so I just used it as it was and decided to return it the next day.

I did the carrier handle cushion, two burp cloths, and three skirts. Nick, who had fallen asleep on the couch, woke up about 4:30, just after I finished the first skirt. I told him my whole iron saga, and he didn't seem terribly upset that I was still up. He headed up to bed, and I told him I would be up shortly. Unfortunately, shortly turned into 6:30. 

The next day at lunch Nick asked me what time I'd come to bed, and he wasn't happy with the answer, especially since we had all ended up oversleeping and missed church that morning. (Not entirely my fault I don't think. It was Daylight Saving Time change weekend, and he overslept too!) But I didn't realize I was in trouble until that evening.

Nick runs the sound booth during our church services, so it's rare for us to get to sit together. Occasionally we will shoot each other short texts (generally not during the preaching). This was the conversation we had:

(Me) So sleepy...

(Him) Maybe if you went to bed at 2 instead of 6:30...

(Me) Possibly

(Him) Probably

(Me) I'm unconvinced.

(Him) Later I'll show you.

(Me) Nah, I'm good.

(Him) Too bad. It's already been earned.

(Me) You're no fun.

He didn't get a chance to do it for a couple of days, but finally Wednesday night at bedtime he had me come up with him. There was some lecturing, and I did plenty of assuring him that I was sorry and that I understood why I have a bedtime and why it doesn't work for the family for me to stay up all night, but there was no real question that I would be getting a spanking. He got a new tactical belt for Christmas, and he decided to try it out. It was the first time I've ever been spanked with a nylon belt, but it was very thick and stiff, and every bit as painful as leather. It was also very loud. I don't know how many licks I got, but enough to make me very glad when it was over. 

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The good news is that Kelly loved all her stuff. I was also able to make her a few of the other things on my list (before bedtime!) and take them to her at church Wednesday. All the pictures of the stuff I gave her at her shower include her in them, so I can't post them here, but I did think to snap a picture of the items I made later: another skirt, two pairs of shoes, a nursing scarf (the gray fabric) and a diaper clutch (to keep a few diapers and a small case of wipes in for quick changes on the go).

Friday I got to go to Melanie's house along with Kelly and one of her friends, and Melanie taught us the basics of crochet. It's something I've wanted to learn for ages, and it was a lot of fun having some girl time. 

On Saturday Morgan had her first soccer game. They lost, but only by one point, and her team is quite good this season. Afterwards we went to McDonald's and let the kids play on the play equipment. Jack and Daisy had a blast, and of course Morgan was too cool to play on it, but was gracious enough to climb up in there to keep an eye on Jack for us. Morgan has been struggling lately with some teen angst issues, and they've been manifesting themselves in some unhealthy ways. She's started doing a bit better, but I would really appreciate your prayers for her (and us as we parent her!). 

Saturday afternoon I did three month pictures for Brandon and Melanie's baby boy J, and it was exhausting! Fortunately my sweet husband fixed dinner for me. :)

Sunday night there was huge drama. Daisy...cut her hair! And I don't mean a little bit. She basically butchered it. Nick flipped out. He was furious! I wasn't thrilled about it either, but well, it's kind of something a lot of three and four year olds do at one time or another. I called Nick's stepmom (who does our hair), and she agreed to come and try to fix it the next day. When she saw it, she was kind of taken aback, but I told her we knew it was going to have to be pretty short, so she waded in. There were spots that were less than an inch long, so she ended up with a pixie cut, almost exactly like Maggie Gyllenhaal here, but a little shorter around the ears:

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Guys, I wish I could post a picture here, because she looks so freaking CUTE! I was resigned to it because it was better than the cut she gave herself - I didn't expect to love it! She has these big huge Disney Princess eyes like Katy Perry, so she still looks very girly, and with her dimples she looks like a mischievous woodland sprite, or a miniature Audrey Hepburn (although Audrey didn't have those dimples)! I'm sure we'll let it grow back out, but for now I'm glad we were forced into a cut we would've never had the nerve to get on our own!

Today Elizabeth came over for a while. She had laundry she needed to do and no money to do it (they use a laundromat), and I needed help unburying my kitchen table (which is going to get me spanked again if it's not done by Friday). So I let her use our washer and dryer, and she helped me clean. 

I've got so much stuff to do in the next few weeks! A list:

Skirts (2) for craft exchange

Shoes for craft exchange

Ring for craft exchange

Pillow Cover for craft exchange

Acorn Pillow for craft exchange

Pack gnome figurine and ribbon for craft exchange

10 xl pom poms for cupcake liners/garland

Make cupcake garland

Make 15 makeup bags

String washers for washer necklaces

Make 15 Rosettes for necklaces

String Rosettes

Make 15 Leather Bow Barrettes

Make brush pouch for nail brushes

Make pillowcase shirt for Morgan

Finish J's pictures

Easter bunnies for Logan, A, and J

Make shirts into short sleeves for Maddox

Leather envelope, Knot Bracelet and leather barrette and bracelet for Kit

Mail Easter stuff for Maddox and Kit

Make Daisy's Easter dress

Mother's Day gifts - stitch markers, dish cloths (crocheted)

Order of three pillow covers for Faith.

Anyway, I'm off to bed so I can get some rest and got some of this stuff done!

Sweet weekend

Well, I didn't post last night, because I actually put myself to bed early for once! I'm usually fighting not to doze off during the morning church service on Sundays, not because I'm not interested, but because I've not gotten enough sleep. So I decided to listen to my body for once and turn in early. I went up about 9:00 to finish my book before going to sleep. Of course Jack and Daisy stood at the door calling for me for a while before Nick heard them and called them off lol. Eventually, my book done, Daisy tried again, and I couldn't resist her "I just want to snuggle you, Mommy!" so I let her in. By the time it was all said and done it was 11:00 before I actually got to go to sleep, and even then she fell asleep in bed with me, but it was still earlier than normal for me, and with the time change I was pretty well rested this morning.

Faith's baby shower was yesterday, and they got so much stuff! I was so happy for them, and the shower was darling!

Today we finally got to go to the corn maze, and the kids had a blast! They had these big slides made out of big drainage pipes, and Jack going down them all by himself was the cutest thing ever! We ran into some friends of mine - actually James's best friend and his wife and kids, so it was nice to have some other parents to socialize with while the kids played.

Tomorrow I'm doing Faith's maternity pictures, and Saturday I'm doing Melanie's. I can't wait till these babies get here!

So many sweet blessings in my life lately!

Scattered.

I've been stretching myself a little thin lately. Last month, besides going to the gym and taking Morgan to soccer practice and games, I've had three doctor's visits for the kids, one dentist appointment, a couple of Etsy orders, some mending for a girl at church, birthday gifts to make for Robert, Kelly, and Will, Trick or Treat bags to make for Kit and Maddox, a Halloween wreath to make for Kate (I needed the last three done so early so I could mail them all together with Will's birthday gift to Texas), sewing for Daisy's birthday, mending for Nick (broken zipper on his gym bag), and three photo shoots for the same couple - one engagement, one rehearsal dinner, and one wedding, and we're talking over 2600 shots that needed to be culled, edited, and converted from RAW format. I'm still working my way through those since the rehearsal dinner and wedding were just this last weekend.

This month promises to be just as busy. Friday we have a youth event at church that Nick and I will be helping with, Saturday is Daisy's birthday (fourth!) which entails a small family party and for which I still have a few skirts to sew (her special birthday request), Sunday is our church's homecoming, the 10th is Logan's first birthday and party (have to make him a gift), the 12th I have Faith's maternity shoot, the 13th is Melanie's baby shower (for which I have yet to make a gift), the 16th is James' birthday (gotta make a gift) the 17th is my birthday, although I don't have any plans for it, the 19th is the church picnic, the 26th is Faith's baby shower (and yes, I still need to make her a gift). And of course Halloween is 5 days later, and I'm going to have to come up with 3 costumes somewhere, although Daisy is making it easy for me by insisting on going as a "girl ghost" (white sheet with eye holes and a pink bow on top, and done!).

All of that is to say that I've let some things around here go. Like everything. The house has truly gotten to an atrocious state, and my car was the same. Saturday I had to leave for the wedding earlier than Nick. He was actually running the sound system for the ceremony, but I had to get there early to start photographing the bride getting ready. I took his truck so that he could have the car to drop the kids and car seats off at his parents' house since they were going to bring them to the wedding and watch them so we could work. Many exhausting hours later we switched cars back after the wedding, and I got in mine to find it absolutely spotless. When I got home, the living room was immaculate.

Now obviously I really appreciate Nick doing all of that for me (with Morgan's help). It took a huge load off of me, but it also made me feel really, really guilty. He'd mentioned the car and the house, the living room especially a few times over the last few weeks, and I knew I was dropping the ball. So when all of a sudden something I'm supposed to do gets taken off my plate, I feel like there's bound to be a cost to that, and that maybe there should be. So when I apologized that he'd had to do it himself that night, he informed me that he was going to deal with it later, which in our house means a spanking.

And I was...relieved. Not that I wanted to get spanked, just that I felt like I probably deserved to, and that the universe would be back in balance so to speak once it happened. The truth is, I've not been handling my time wisely, and when I let things get too crazy, I really do need him to come down hard on me. I hate it at the time, but it refocuses me, and it reminds me that there are consequences to my actions. 

Even with the kids in bed at a reasonable hour these days, it's rare for a punishment to happen the same night it's brought up, so I wasn't surprised that he went to bed without handling it that night. But the next day I was fairly sure he was going to do it after the kids were in bed. To my surprise, he went to be without mentioning it again, and by that point I had reached the stage where I genuinely dread and fear what's coming, so I decided that was a positive thing. When I went up a couple of hours later and he snuggled up behind me with sweeter things on his mind I was pleasantly surprised and more than willing. 

"This is a nice surprise," I murmured. "I though I was getting a spanking tonight."

"Mmm..you need one," he answered. But then he wasn't interested in talking anymore, and by the time we were done he had decided to let it go. 

The next morning he told me he wanted me to work on the house and concentrate on the kitchen. But the day was crazy, and I spent it editing pictures, chasing kids, and keeping the living room as clean as he'd had it, and somehow the kitchen didn't get done.

Today he came home early from work, sick to his stomach and battling a headache. I gave him something for the pain and put him to bed, and he slept a good 4 or 5 hours. I worked on the kitchen some, but I also did a lot of child wrangling and picture editing, and it still isn't done. Tonight when he went to bed he told me that he wants me to have it done tomorrow, and I plan to do just that. But I feel like I've gotten away with something I shouldn't have, like I ran over him by not focusing on what he asked me to do, and I don't like it. 

Getting to bed on time.

So first of all, I brought the blog back public. I think it's been long enough for the nonsense to die down enough that it's likely that anyone who finds it via a search is doing so because they have a genuine interest in DD as opposed to a morbid curiosity.

Nick took notice of my increasingly lax attitude about my 2 AM bedtime and came down pretty hard on me Saturday night/Sunday morning. Saturday I was taking the kids to my friend Elizabeth's daughter's 5th birthday party. I made her an I Spy bag (that link is an example only and is in no way affiliated with me or this blog). It took longer than I thought it would, so I ended up working on it till about 3 AM Saturday morning. After I finished, I sat down on the couch to check my email for a minute, and pretty soon it was almost 4:00.

Nick had fallen asleep on the couch hours earlier, and he had to work Saturday, so I woke him up to get in bed, thinking I had a pretty good excuse for being up so late. Turns out he didn't think so. 

Saturday night/Sunday morning we watched TV late, both of us also playing online. I looked up and noticed it was a little after 2:00, so I got up, put in a last load of laundry, and told Nick I was going upstairs to read. A short time later he came up too, and immediately opened up the chest at the end of the bed. When I peeked around the edge of my book, I saw that he had pulled out the Jokari paddle, something that hasn't seen any use in a couple of years. Once upon a time it was his go to paddle for punishments, and it's always been a serious implement, so I gulped a bit when I saw it there on the bed. He lectured me a bit, then made me turn over. He let me keep my jeans and panties up, mostly I think because I was on my period still, and I was grateful for the reprieve. He spanked harder than usual, and longer too, 50 rather slow, hard, measured swats, then 50 just as hard but much faster swats. Then he took another few minutes to reiterate why he was spanking me. He asked me what time it was, and I had to admit that it was 2:37, and that it had indeed been after 2:00 when I'd come up for the night, despite knowing that I was already getting punished for staying up late. He told me that I was getting 37 more. I stayed quite still for the whole thing, so I didn't earn any extra for moving. 

After he spanked me, he got up and took a shower, then came back to cuddle with me a bit. He asked me if I understood why he'd had to do it, and I assured him that I did. The thing is, if I had just woken him up at 2:00 that night and asked him if I could stay up late to finish my project, he would have absolutely said yes. It was only because I was trying the whole "get forgiveness later rather than permission now" thing that I got in trouble. The fact that I've been kind of slacking off about some of the chore lately didn't do me any good either though.

Sex was out because of my period, but I spent some time showing him what a very good girl I could be, and we both went to sleep quite happy.

Please be in prayer for our finances this week. I just straight up don't have the money for the electric bill. But we've certainly been in this position before, and God has always provided, so I know that He will make a way.

Today (or yesterday now) was the first day of VBS at our church, which went well. I always forget what a whirlwind it is to do crafts, and the night flew by. Tonight we did Shrinky Dinks (not an affiliate link) and glass stone magnets for the bigger kids, and caterpillar clothespins for the youngest class. Tomorrow we're going to attempt stamped washer necklaces and painting birdhouses. 

But right now it's 1:57 AM, and I'm going to bed!

Cranky Pants

A little personal information: historically, I've not had terribly long or intense monthly cycles. For years I was on Seasonale, which let me have just 4 periods a year, usually lasting 3-4 days, and sometimes I skipped even those (with my doctor's blessing). Then when we decided to start trying for Daisy (when Morgan was 5), I went off birth control entirely. That was 7 years ago, and I've not been back on it since. Around 5 years ago my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome kicked in, and my body would sometimes go 2-3 months between cycles, and when they did show up, they were short. Then I had Daisy, and it was like the pregnancy reset things, and suddenly I was super regular, and only lasting 2-3 days. 

After Jack though, I had a copper IUD put in. My doctor warned me that I might have heavier periods for a while with it. Look people, he's 18 months old (!!!) now, and my last period was TEN DAYS and really, really awful! All of this to say that I just started again, and I'm feeling all kinds of weepy and out of sorts, and I don't like it at all! I know many, many women have struggled for years with heavy flow and terrible cramps and all kinds of other things that are making Nick wish he didn't get auto-emailed my posts (stick with me, honey - I'm about to change the subject), but this is new ground for me, and I'm kind of unhappy about it! But whatever, I know this will (eventually) pass, so please excuse my whining.

Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend? Nick was off for four whole days, which was really nice. We spent the 4th at Grant and Kelly's house with the whole family (all in-state siblings and spouses, my parents and Nick's). It's done nothing but rain here for days now, so fireworks were out, but we still had fun visiting. 

My mom had her knee surgery this morning (well, I guess technically yesterday morning, since we're into Tuesday now). It was done arthroscopically, and it went well (thank you for your prayers). She had a large cartilage tear and a free floating piece, all of which had to be cut out (don't you need your knee cartilage? Will it grow back? No? Yes? I don't know.). There also turned out to be less arthritis in it than they had previously thought, so that's good news. Her doctor is optimistic that this will really improve things for her, although she's in tremendous pain post op, so please continue to pray for her pain management.

Next week is Vacation Bible School at our church. I'm in charge of the crafts this year, which I'm excited about. I usually assist my mom, but she'll be home recovering, so she turned the reins over to me. Kelly will be helping me out, along with a college girl from our church. We've got tons of stuff planned, and I'm supposed to go to Kelly's house tomorrow (today?) to help get it all organized and ready.

The week after VBS, Kate and the kids (and possibly Will? I'm not sure) are coming in for a few days. I'm excited to see them, especially since financially, our annual Texas trip is looking kind of iffy. That's certainly not to say that God can't provide. I know that He can and am praying that He does, but this is a want more than a need, and I'm trying to be prepared for the possibility that His answer may be no on this one. Either way, it will be great to spend some time with them while they're here. 

God has been providing what we need when we need it, and I know that He is good to us, all the time!

Anyway, I'm off to take my unreasonably teary and emotional self off to bed on time for once!

Busy weekend, busier week

You guys left me such sweet comments on my last post - it really lifted my heart! Thank you!

We did indeed go to the lake on Friday. We weren't sure we would get to as the weather forecast looked pretty rainy. But we had a really lovely few hours, and by the time it started turning cloudy the littles were ready to head home anyway. 

Friday night our church held an all night prayer meeting for the upcoming youth camp. They asked people to sign up to come and pray for 15 minute shifts. Nick and I hadn't signed up, mainly because we weren't sure what to do with the kids that late. But as the day wore on we really felt like we should try to go in and do our part. Nick texted Robert to ask what shifts were still open, and he texted back that they needed people for 4:45, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, and 6:15. Sigh. But honestly, we're young and healthy, and there was really no good reason to skip it. Robert and Faith, along with Brandon and Melanie were there all night to fill in where there was no one signed up. So I asked Nick if I could stay up and edit pictures from the lake while he napped on the couch for a while. He agreed, and I woke him at 4:00 in the morning for his shift. 

He went in and did his turn, and he got back about 5:45 and stayed with the kids so could go. I got there about 6:10, and my sweet parents were there at the alter, heads bowed. I went up and began to pray. I heard my dad get up about 6:15, but when I finished at 6:30, my mom was still praying. But she was near the back of the church, stopping at each pew to pray for by name the families who sat in each different pew every week. I'm so very blessed with my parents. We've not always gotten along (namely those years when I knew it all lol), but my heart just fills up with how much they love me and my little family.

Saturday we naturally slept late, and it was nice to snuggle up with my husband for longer than usual. After a while we got up and headed up to the cabin for the June birthday party. It's always a sweet time up there, although to be honest Jack was ALL OVER the place, which stressed Nick's grandmother out, which stressed Nick out, which stressed ME out. Plus Daisy was down on the dock fishing with Grant, and she fell in. Thank God Grant dove in after her and got her out in a flash! It was very scary though, and I was just about at the end of my rope.

Eventually I stuck Jack in the car and just took off for a little while. The cabin is close to a very quaint, very old town, so I drove around a bit until Jack fell asleep, then went back to the cabin. Once back, I took him to a spare bedroom to try to prolong the nap, and ended up falling asleep with him. By the time I woke up it was nearly time to leave, and I was ready to be home myself by them. 

Sunday morning I was exhausted, so I sent Nick to church without me. I skipped the evening service as well because I was still packing everything for camp. I don't like to miss church, but I'm about to head into a week of twice a day services, and I really did have to get everything put together. 

Camp starts in about 12 hours, and there's no internet service out there, even on my phone, so I'll be out of contact until Saturday evening. We covet your prayers this week as we work to minister to young hearts.

Love you guys!

100 Random Facts

I've done a post like a couple of times before, but I had fun with it, so I thought I'd do it again, and see if I can come up with 100 all new ones. I'm not all that interesting myself, so they won't all be about me. :)

1. Jack is addicted to Yo Gabba Gabba.

2. I can't decide if I really like the show or am totally creeped out by it.

3. I think 2 of the characters look like sex toys.

4. And that DJ Lance Rock guy looks like a French tickler.

5. My Macbook came about a week and a half ago and I loooove it.
6. My mom and dad watched Jack and Daisy for me Thursday while Morgan was at school.
7. Because of this, I was able to finish cleaning Jack and Daisy's room.
8. This was a huge relief for me, because if I hadn't finished it by today I was going to get a serious spanking.
9. I love to read, but I hadn't been to the library since 2001.
10. We went and took the kids for their first time yesterday.
11. Nick found out why I hadn't been in so long when he had to pay my outstanding late fees (from 12 years ago!)
12. He was less than happy about it.
13. He's planning to spank me for it, but we've not had kid free time to deal with it as of yet.
14. In the meme I did like this last April I mentioned a house we'd love to be able to someday buy. The owner's son called Nick yesterday and told him it looks like his mom has decided to put it on the market.
15. There are a number of obstacles standing in the way of us buying it.
16. First we would have to sell our house.
17. The house we want is also worth more than ours, so our house payment would increase.
18. Despite all this, I know that if this is the house God has for us, He will make a way.
19. We would really appreciate your prayers that His will be done in this situation, and that we are faithful in praising Him even if His plan doesn't include this house for us.
20. When I got the Macbook from Kate, there were a bunch of pictures on there they didn't realize were still on there, and when I installed Picasa, it pulled them all up.
21. None of them were questionable, but they did include some scans of paperwork from when they bought their house, including the details of Will's monthly income.
22. The figures left me a little lightheaded.
23. I don't feel so bad about the amount of money they spend on us for Christmas anymore!
24. My best friend Ann, who was diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia 6 years ago, had to quit her job and apply for disability benefits a little over a week ago. Her doctor also ordered her a wheelchair as her cane is no longer sufficient.
25. I'm heartbroken that it's already reached this point for her, but grateful that she has a supportive husband and will be able to spend this time home with her kids.
26. I'm also, selfishly, glad that she will have time free for us to visit each other.
27. She lives about an hour away, and I've only seen her a couple of times since Jack was born, so I'm really excited that she plans on coming to visit me this week. (Before anyone thinks I'm too awful, I offered to go to her house, but she wanted to come here).
28. I'm planning on taking Jack and Daisy up to church camp with Nick and Morgan this summer and staying all week.
29. When Ann called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me she was quitting her job, I shared this plan with her.
30. She told me she was possibly planning to come and stay with me all week.
31. I might have screamed like a preteen girl at a One Direction concert at this news.
32. I get excited every time I think about it, and it's going to take some serious getting over for me if it doesn't happen.
33. Ann and I practically lived at each other's houses in our late teens, and we were each other's maid/matron of honor.
34. I've had a number of close girlfriends over the years, but none like her.
35. Daisy has pretty much mastered potty training now.
36. As she turned 3 five months ago, it seemed like we were never going to get there.
37. The one (very important) thing she still needs to conquer is using a regular toilet.
38. Right now she's convinced she'll fall in, even with a child size seat attached, so we're kind of dependent on the "small potty" right now.
39. Jack slept in his own bed all night last night!
40. Unfortunately he took a long Sunday afternoon (into evening) nap with me, so there was no putting him down at his regular bedtime tonight.
41. Daisy was super excited to go to the "lye-berry", especially when she saw that they had a giant stuffed bear in the children's section and two Llama Llama books she'd never seen.
42. Jack was more interested in exploring.

43. At 14 months, he weighs 18 pounds and is officially too tall for 6 month sleepers.
44. I just got him these shoes for Easter at Target, and the cuteness is killing me!

45. Daisy has this toy monkey she named "Mr. Bananners", and I challenge anyone to hear her say his name without smiling.
46. I have a craft show coming up in less than two weeks.
47. I'm hoping that my in-laws will take the two littles for the day again so I can work on adding to my inventory.
48. I've been making lots of wire wrapped glass pearl rings and ribbon hair bows, as well as rings, headbands, brooches, necklaces, and bracelets using leather pieces.
49. If we were to get that house, I would have an actual craft room.
50. I don't let myself think about that too much, because I don't want to get too attached to the idea in case it never happens.
51. I worry a little about how we would transport our giant chest full of paddles, straps, canes, etc. if we move. Last time we moved was 12 years ago, and our collection was considerably smaller.
52. We have a Pack N Play we used with Daisy that we put on Craigslist the other day. It's been packed away in our garage for about a year. It was clean when I put it away, so when a lady wanted to buy it, I encouraged her to open it up and inspect it.
53. I was horrified and embarrassed to find that there had apparently been something spilled on the garage floor that had soaked through the storage bag and badly stained the webbing on the sides.
54. The lady (understandably) passed on it.
55. I'm going to try to clean off whatever is on it with bleach, but that's the last time I assume anything has stayed clean while in storage!
56. A few days ago when I was cleaning Jack and Daisy's room I came across an audio book I got in the free bin at my favorite used bookstore. I nearly tossed it because I've had it for years and I'm never in the car long enough at one time to make listening to it enjoyable.
57. Nick happened to pick it up and pop the first CD in one morning on his way to work.
58. He'd never tried audio books before, but now he's on his 3rd one, and he just checked 4 more out at the library.
59. He said it's made his commute (about 45 minutes there and about an hour back) much better.
60. When my Macbook came the other day, the box also included not only Jack's car seat, but also Daisy's birthday present, which included 3 outfits, a headband, and a swimsuit (her birthday's not till October, but Kate said she already had it, so she just sent it), a toy truck for Jack, and a couple of life jackets that had been at their lake house before they sold it.
61. I'm really grateful they shipped all of that to us, because the box probably weighed 60 pounds.
62. I was super excited to find out that I can check out books from the library using my Kindle.
63. Morgan is currently grounded for her grades.
64. She's really smart, but she's pretty lazy about school.
65. She gets that from her dad. ;)
66. To be fair, she gets her tendency toward a messy room from me.
67. Her dad grew up to be one of the hardest working people I know, so I'm holding out hope for her.
68. I talked to Kate the other day, and she's going through the exact same thing with Kit, which makes me feel a little better.
69. A guy at Nick's job just quit, which means one less person to split the team's earnings with.
70. Nick hated to see the guy go, but he was happy to have what was in effect, a pay raise. We really hope they don't hire anyone to replace him.
71. Randomly enough, Nick's boss hired a masseuse to come in to work and give everyone a 15 minute massage. He had his a couple of weeks ago.
72. I follow a lot of craft bloggers.
73. Recently, a bunch of them started truncating their posts due to site scrapers (people who steal blog content to take advantage of your search engine hits). This means that you only get the first few sentences in your RSS reader, and you have to go to the actual blog to read the rest of the post.
74. I understand where they're coming from (I've been a victim myself in the past), but I really, really hate it.
75. I have several hundred blogs in my RSS reader, and I don't have the time or the desire to click through on every single post, so I've unfollowed most of the blogs that do this.
76. I may have had to add word verification back on, but I promise to continue to give you full access to each post via RSS.
77. I can NOT seem to get in bed on time.
78. Every other Friday Nick, Jack, Daisy, and I attend our church's Senior Saints meeting. This is a ministry geared toward the senior crowd, but about 20% of the people there are under 40. There's a message followed by a meal, and we always enjoy both.
79. Three years ago I could not have imagined my husband volunteering to attend a non-Sunday church service on his day off.
80. For that matter, I could not have imagined me doing it either.
81. God has grown Nick's heart in such an amazing way in the last few years, and I'm overwhelmingly blessed by him as my husband every day.
82. Nick regularly runs the sound booth at church, drives the church van, and helps with youth events. He's also the first to jump up and help clean up after a meal in the life center.
83. I try to make it a point to tell him how much I appreciate all he does, but I wanted to say it here too.
84. After my post the other day mentioning his broken closet door, Nick went to the hardware store and bought a new latch. He fixed it yesterday.
85. This morning we got to church and realized we had forgotten to bring a bottle for Jack. I ran to Target to pick him one up along with some milk and got distracted by the huge wall of hilarious greeting cards they now carry. I couldn't tarry too long, but I spotted quite a few lightly kinky ones, so I bet if you had the time you could find a few spanky ones in there.
86. Two years ago I bought Nick a spanking themed Valentine's card, but I lost my nerve and never gave it to him. It's still in a drawer upstairs. Maybe next year.
87. This is the first year we've watched The Biggest Loser, and we're really into it.
88. I've not, however, watched any of Downton Abbey, although I feel like I should have.
89. I would like for you guys to pray for something (else) for me. We tithe on a regular basis, but it seems like we rarely have anything extra to give to others. My prayer is that God will provide us both means and opportunity, as well as the wisdom and the right heart to help someone in the coming weeks. It may be something small, but it sure would do my heart good!
90. I'm going to give myself a couple of weeks, till I'm past my craft show before I start, but my tentative plan is to cut out tea/sodas on weekdays. I did that just before I got pregnant with Daisy and lost 10 pound in a couple of months without putting any real effort into it.
91. Daisy has a fabulous imagination, and I love watching her play. She has an imaginary friend named "Pretend Layla Friend". A few weeks ago she used her iPad to take a picture of a wall at church. She showed me the shot later and told me it was a picture she had taken of Pretend Layla Friend. The next shot in the gallery was Daisy standing against the same wall with her arm draped convincingly around thin air. This one was a picture of her with Pretend Layla Friend. :)
92. Morgan got her contacts last week, and she's getting better every day at putting them in and taking them out.
93. This is a good thing, because she missed the bus twice last week because it took her so long to get them in.
94. Morgan has started eating healthier and going on walks to get in better shape.
95. This leaves me as the lone couch potato, but I want to change that. As soon as it warms up just a little, I want to start going on walks again.
96. When I was 19 I used to walk 7 miles a day up and down hills.
97. I lost almost 70 pounds doing this.
98. 70 pounds was too much to lose, but at some point I lost my perspective.
99. Looking back on pictures of me then, I think I looked ill. After we got married I gained about 20 pounds and looked much better.
100. I'd like to get back to what I weighed in the first year of our marriage.

Just checking in...

Hey, guys. Not a whole lot going on here - just checking in. We're getting settled into the new year. Morgan went back to school today. It was a busy Christmas break; her best friend next door spent the night 4 or 5 times, and she spent the night over there once. Also, her best friend from her old school spent the night here on Friday, and she and Daisy spent the night with my parents one night last week. 

Jack's first birthday was last Wednesday. I really wanted to do a party for him, like I did for Morgan's and Daisy's first birthdays, but it just wasn't in the budget this year. But my mom got him a cake and bought some ice cream, and we had that after church that night, so that was nice.

It's my intention to establish some better eating/exercising habits this year. I'd love to join a gym; Nick belongs to one and goes almost every day on his lunch break. Unfortunately we've not had the money to add me as of yet. 

I'm also trying (without great success) to get myself in bed earlier. In fact, I'm supposed to be spanked for ignoring my curfew a couple of nights last week, although it hasn't happened yet. I thought he was actually going to let it slide, but he says he still plans to do it. He got a new belt for Christmas, and I think he plans to take the opportunity to break it in. Jack has gotten his days and nights flipped, so that's made it difficult to find time alone.

I had a photo shoot yesterday, which helped tremendously money-wise. It wasn't a huge payout for the sitting fee, but it did get us diapers and gas, which were our two most urgent needs.

Anyway, I'm off to work on the house - Happy New Year!

Priorities

Sorry for the radio silence the last couple of weeks. I've been busy crafting for a trade show I was in tonight. I'd say it was a decent success, even though I only made $68.00. Not that $68.00 is anything to sneeze at - it put gas in my car and will pay for diapers and lunch money, our main concerns this week! I had a number of sales, but mostly of hair accessories and pins, which were pretty small ticket items. Still, I sold about 20 things, which I'm proud of, and I learned a lot for the next show, which will be in the spring.

About a month ago, right after the last time I got spanked in fact, Nick warned me that he didn't want me letting the house go in order to work on Christmas gifts and crafts this year, something that definitely happened before I went into the hospital last year. I did pretty well for a while, but in the last couple of weeks, as the show got closer and closer, I started letting things go. A few days ago he brought it to my attention and told me he was going to spank me for it. It's a rare occasion that a spanking happens on the same night, so I wasn't surprised or offended when it didn't happen right away. Yesterday morning however, I got a text from Nick:

"You're going to get it when I get home...be prepared."

Now that's the first time that's ever happened, and I have to say, it had me nervous and thinking about it all day. If that's what he meant by "be prepared", mission accomplished. What I was not prepared for, however, was the fact that he walked in the door nearly an hour early, right at the time he normally leaves work. There was a church youth group function that he was helping with, and I had kind of assumed that "when I get home" meant when he got home from that. Morgan was across the street at the neighbor's as she usually is around that time, so I said I would call over to let her and her friend know they needed to get ready for the youth event. I reached for the phone, but he stopped me and said, "First we need to go upstairs." Oh. "I thought you meant when you got home after the youth thing tonight..."

"What did I say?" he answered in that no nonsense tone of voice I know better than to argue with. "Yes, sir. May I go get Daisy settled in?" He nodded permission, and I got her occupied in her room with SpongeBob. I trudged upstairs to meet my fate, which came swiftly. He made me bend over the bed and pulled down my jeans and panties. "Please don't," I whimpered, but down they stayed. He opened the lid to the chest and pulled out the Cane-IAC Jr paddle. 

I don't know what my problem was, because I could tell he wasn't actually swinging that hard, but my bottom was instantly on fire. I honestly do try to stay still when I'm getting spanked, but I was dancing and howling from the first swat. So much so that he stopped after the first 11 and pulled out the doggin bat instead, but that lit me up almost as bad. After a few with that he got out a crop, which I was sure was cutting me in two. Next up was the AngelBrat paddle, which I think is what he finished with. I think I got 60 licks in all. 

After he finished he lay back on the bed and let me show him just how sorry I was and what a good girl I could be.

Tonight he's out of town for work, so it's just me and the kids. He'll only be gone until tomorrow night, but I miss him already.

First of all, let me issue a warm if slightly late welcome to all the wonderful people who commented on LOL Day. I do apologize for not having a chance to respond sooner, but I appreciate each and every comment, from old friends and new. And I'm sorry about the CAPTCHA. I went without it for a long time, but the flood of spam comments in my email box was getting to be ridiculous.

It's been a busy and blessed weekend. Nick was off on Friday. He went to the doctor that morning, which went well. After he got home he took our trash off and picked up a free Papa John's pizza I won in their recent sweepstakes. He also picked Morgan up from school because she had a stomachache. Of course it got better suspiciously fast once she got home lol. While he was gone my parents stopped by to bring us some food from church. Every Friday our senior ministry has a service and a big meal, and a lot of times there's food left to share with those who couldn't make it. They take a lot of meals to shut ins, and sometimes they bring us some too. That evening my dad and James came over to drop off James' car so that Nick could do some work on it.

I mentioned a few days ago that I got our bedroom mostly clean. Unfortunately I got distracted before I got it finished, and Nick had a thing or two to say about that. We were getting ready for bed, and he was pretty worn out, so he told me he was going to spank me, but he would wake me up early the next day to deal with it. I did, however, manage to keep him awake long enough to have some um, face time with a certain part of his anatomy. He returned the favor, and we both slept very well. 

So well in fact that we didn't get up till the kids were awake, so that kind of put the kibosh on any morning discipline. We both had a busy day ahead. He had not only James' car to work on, but also my aunt's as well as another lady's. This was SUCH a blessing from God, because this week has been especially tight. I had TWO photo shoots scheduled, which was awesome, because I've not done a whole lot of work since Jack was born, and one shoot that I've had scheduled for months was canceled because the event I was supposed to shoot was canceled. My mom called early in the day and offered to watch the kids if we needed her to, which turned out to be a good thing. Nick had to leave to do some of the work he needed to do on the equipment at his job, so I took the kids out to my parents' house. 

Both shoots went well, although my first client was very late, which could have caused a real problem. Fortunately my second client was very cool about giving them a few extra minutes. I did, however, still have to cut it a little short with the first client, but they were willing to hang around and let me shoot a bit more after I finished with client number two. After I finished, I called Nick and let him know I was on my way home. He was at the parts store when I got there, but he got home after a few minutes and directed me upstairs. In the bedroom he pulled out the Leather Thorn AngelBrat paddle and had me bend over the bed.

Conventional wisdom would say that leather is a lot more forgiving, and I suppose it is in a way. It certainly doesn't bruise as easily as wood, and any redness it leaves fades a lot faster. But Nick tends to spank a lot harder with leather, I guess for those very reasons. Leather Thorn pieces are very nice, and this one is quite heavy. It's about 16 inches long, and on impact it wraps across my bottom and kind of sears everything it hits. I've actually not had all that many punishments with this particular paddle, but every one has been memorable. I have no idea how many swats I got, but if I had to guess I would say it was probably somewhere around 40-50.

By the way, those are not affiliate links - I just really like their products. Er, most of the time...

After he finished spanking me he hugged me a bit, then went back down to work on my brother's car some more. I got myself together and went to pick up the kids. By the time I got home he was done with his work and starving. He sent me to Taco Bell with some of his earnings. When I got to the drive through I found that I was $3 short. It wasn't a big deal - I had ordered a few extra things, and I was just going to tell the girl to take them off, but instead she gave me a senior discount, which put the total down below what I had. :) I spent most of the evening filling an order for my Etsy shop, another blessing.

Today we went to church. There was appropriate recognition of the veterans in the congregation, and I want to say thank you to all of you out there who have served, in whatever country you may be! 

After church we met a girl I went to school with who gave me TWELVE cans of baby formula, plus a bunch of jars of baby food! She has a baby boy a month younger than Jack. He was also born at the same point in the pregnancy as Jack (38 days early), but unfortunately, unlike Jack, he has had a number of health problems as a result. His mom also has a huge number of food allergies that she has passed on to him. Because of this their insurance provides them with about 3 cans a week of a formula that is made to  give the needed nutrients without triggering his many allergies. However, he strongly prefers breastfeeding, so she had a huge stockpile of extra formula that needed to be used up, so she passed part of it on to me. I'm going to double check with his doctor tomorrow to make sure that it will be okay for him, but from everything I've researched on this particular brand, it looks like it will be fine.

Kelly also brought me a couple of cans she got in the hospital since she's solely breastfeeding. After we picked up the formula we had a quick lunch at a pizza buffet with Kelly, Grant, Logan, Robert, Faith, Brandon, and Melanie. The plan was to then take advantage of free day at the zoo. We went last year and it was crowded, but not crazy so. This year traffic was crazy, and when we turned onto the road into the zoo, a girl on her way out rolled down her window and told us not to bother, that it was so crowded you couldn't even get close enough to the animals to see. We decided to take her advice since by this time it was only about an hour and a half before closing time anyway. 

The girls were disappointed, but I remembered something that happened when I was a kid. A trip to the circus unexpectedly fell through, so my parents gave James and me (this was before Robert was born) each $5 and took us to a department store to spend it on whatever we wanted. I still remember picking out a soft purple stuffed rabbit in a white basket. So we took the girls to Target and gave them $10 each ($5 doesn't buy what it did almost 30 years ago). Morgan picked out a pair of One Direction headphones, and Daisy chose a toy hairdresser set, which I thought was adorable since her Nana (my MIL) is a hairdresser. They recently opened a craft store right next to our Target, so after we left, Nick stayed in the car with the kids and let me just explore the new store a bit.

When we got back to church Melanie, who is amazing with crochet hooks, had brought Jack the most adorable gift. It was a hat/beard combo, a lot like this:

Source Obviously this one isn't his. His is green, and of course didn't come from this shop. Anyway, she made Logan one too, so I'm hoping we can take their pictures in them together.

Anyway, that's been our weekend - how was yours?

Resolutions

Yesterday was nice. Jack ended up pushing through tooth number five in the wee hours of the morning, so I was up pretty late, but I got to sleep in to a decent hour. We went to the craft fair/car show like we had planned. It was pretty small, but neat nonetheless, and it was good to just get out and do something. Afterwards we had lunch, then we did end up going to Grant and Kelly's house. 

It was okay. Nothing was said about the photographer or anything else, so I'm just going to put it behind me. It was sweet to hold little Logan though. :)

Ever since we had Jack (or really since we had Daisy) we've been really pressed for space. When we bought our house Morgan was 6 months old, and three bedrooms was more than enough. When Daisy came along we had to give up our den/family room and move everything in there into the living room. With Jack on board, Daisy had to move in with Morgan, so Jack could have her room, although, to be cringing-ly honest, it's still not been properly set up and is currently still home to a lot of Daisy's stuff, as well as some of my crafting and photography things.

Speaking of crafting and photography, since I became a stay at home mom and started doing both of those things to supplement our income, we've had to find room to store all of the things that go with all of that, which hasn't helped our space issue at all.

We've been praying for some time for a bigger home, but several months ago God really spoke to me about it. I realized that we can't really expect to be blessed with a bigger home if we aren't showing appreciation and taking care of the one He's already blessed us with. I really have been making an effort to get things in order, but honestly it's been hard to do by myself. Not that Nick doesn't sometimes help, but we just have too much of everything for the space that we have. And with 3 kids who all make messes and only one really big enough to help without making a bigger mess out of it, things get crazy pretty quickly.

This morning while we were getting ready for church, out of the blue Nick told me that God had spoken to him about it too, and that he really wanted to get things pared down and organized. When we got home Morgan helped some with the kitchen while I made lunch, and Nick cleaned the living room. After lunch we took a quick nap (a cherished Sunday tradition). Unfortunately we overslept, and it was time to leave for church by the time we woke up. Nick had just lay down on the couch to sleep, so he was already ready, but the rest of us were not, so he went ahead and went without us.

While he was gone I went through our bathroom upstairs. I spent probably a couple of hours on it. It's about as small a room as you can get and still have a full bath, but I threw away a full garbage bag full of stuff (expired makeup, old skin care products, a broken wire shelf, etc.) and passed a few things on to Morgan. 

Anyway, it was good to get something done on the house, and I really do want to stay focused on it. We're hoping Kate, Will, Kit, and Maddox will get to come  in sometime around Thanksgiving, and I would love to be able to have them over.

Sunny days and shopping

I know I missed posting yesterday - I went to bed early for once. It was a wonderful day! Our church picnic started with breakfast near the lake at 8:00AM. This is a favorite spot of our family, and we very much enjoyed spending time with all the people there. The picnic continued through lunch and ended around 2:30. 

After the picnic we went to the mall to get Nick and Daisy both some new pants. Daisy has gone through a growth spurt, and Nick has lost enough weight to make wearing his old ones a risky prospect. :) We got her a pair of jeans, and him a couple of pairs of jeans and a pair of khakis. We also stopped at Gymboree so I could spend a gift card I'd had for a while. I got Jack a winter coat and this ridiculously adorable hat:

I was pretty exhausted by the time we finally got home, so I was thrilled when Morgan offered to make dinner. It was just hot dogs, but I didn't have to move off the couch, so that was fine with me! 

I went to bed before 10:00, which is pretty much unheard of for me. I did wake up around 3 AM and had a hard time getting back to sleep. But I used the opportunity to load the dishwasher and do a little reading, and I was back snoozing away before too long.

Today was church, which was very nice, and I got my birthday gift from my in-laws. They got me some supplies I needed for my embroidery machine. Then we had lunch with Robert, Faith, and another couple we're all friends with, then home again. On the way home I stopped and picked up a couple of free 8x10 photos I got free with a coupon at Walgreens. I had them print up a couple of shots of Grant, Kelly, and Logan, one for each grandmother. We had church again tonight, then some fellowship time with coffee and cake afterwards. Now I'm back home, and to be honest, I'm ready to hit the sack again!

35

Today was my birthday. To be honest, it didn't start out that great. Historically it tends not to, although I usually have a great day the day after. Jack took an out of the ordinary nap late yesterday evening, woke up around midnight, and was up and very active until almost 6:00 this morning. Of course Daisy got up with Morgan at 7:00 and came up to snuggle and wish me happy birthday, very sweet of course, but I was barely conscious. Fortunately Jack was well asleep by then, so after getting Daisy some breakfast, I was able to get her settled in bed with Jack and me watching TV, and I was able to doze off and on for a few hours between random, half asleep conversations with her.

Now before anyone votes me worst mother of the year, she was perfectly safe and happy watching educational preschool programs right beside me, and I was very easily woken if she needed me. I also had the bedroom door locked so there was no danger of her wandering the house, and it was very easy to unlock from the outside in case of an emergency.

Anyway, that was my morning and part of my afternoon. After I got up I did some laundry and worked some on the house. Morgan got a little pissed at me because I wouldn't let her invite all her friends in to throw me an impromptu birthday party. But frankly I felt like crap from lack of sleep, and I didn't feel like spending my birthday entertaining a bunch of 11 year old girls, although the way I worded it was that I just wasn't feeling up to having company right then.

We attend Wednesday night praise services at our church, so I got us all ready and out the door, and we were actually on time for once. Church was good, my mom and dad gave me a card with $50, and after the service Nick took me out to dinner with the kids. Robert and Faith joined us. One blessing was that I had a great coupon that let the kids eat free, so even though we got dessert (yay chocolate molten cake!), it was about $15 cheaper than we could usually eat there.

As far as gifts, I got the $50 from my parents, a bottle of lotion from Nick's grandmother a couple of weeks ago, and the Hobby Lobby gift card from Kate last week. Morgan also gave me a collage she had made from pictures she cut out of magazines. I do think my in-laws and possibly James and Grant got me something, although I've not seen any of them. And Nick will bring me home a birthday gift tomorrow. He did buy me a frozen coke on the way home from church. :)

At church a lady who just loves Daisy and Jack brought Daisy a stuffed unicorn (that she immediately fell in love with) for her birthday and Jack a stuffed monkey toy to attach to the car seat handle just because.

Another neat thing was that my aunt and cousin visited my parents today and gave them several large boxes and bags of baby clothes and craft supplies for me. Some of it I'll pass on, but there were some very cool things in there, including lots of elastic (something I use a lot of) and tons of vintage trim and lace. As far as the baby clothes, my cousin's son and Jack are a season apart birth-wise, but because Jack is so small for his age (at almost 10 months, he's still in 0-3 months onesies and 3-6 months in almost everything else), most of it will still work. There were a lot of 12 month/12-18 month items that will fit him next summer, fall, and winter.

I did ask for a birthday spanking, but we got home from dinner pretty late, so maybe tomorrow. Either way, I'm loved and blessed.

Church, family, and missing puppy

Today was another lovely day at church. After the service we enjoyed a great lunch with family and friends at a favorite sushi place.

From there we stopped by the animal shelter. Sadly our much loved dog Pancho has been missing for a couple of days, and we were seeing if perhaps animal control had picked him up. He wasn't there, which was actually somewhat of a relief, because getting him back would have involved some expense if he had been. Honestly, he's done this a couple of times before, and both times there was a girlfriend involved, so I'm pretty sure he's off getting his doggy groove on somewhere. That said, we would really appreciate your prayers that he comes home soon. Morgan especially is worried sick.

After we got home Nick and I took a quick nap with Jack, then we all headed back to church. Nick has been running the sound booth for the church for a couple of months now. One of the ministries at our church is that they provide for free as many CD and/or DVD copies of each service as you request. There are a number of members who pass them out to friends/family members/shut-ins. With the revival just ended there were a ton of requests to get caught up on, so after the service I helped him get them all packaged and separated.

From there he went home and the kids and I went to Wal-Mart for toilet paper, shave gel, etc.

Nick had planned on spanking me tonight, but Jack was a live wire and Morgan was having problems getting to sleep for worrying about the dog. So it's been put off for another day at least, but he does very much mean to get to it.

It's just over 10 weeks till Christmas, so I'm ratcheting up my gift making planning. My main concern is Will, Kate's husband. I always find him hardest to  get for just because he has everything already, and he's so far out of our league financially that I feel like most things I can come up with that I can make or afford would be kind of cheesy or pointless. Last year I got him some coasters, and I made him some etched glass steins with mustaches on them. But his very favorite gift was a bucket full of candy bars, so I plan on repeating that this year. He has a huge sweet tooth, so I'm going to make some peanut brittle too, but beyond that I'm not terribly sure. I'm toying with the idea of making matching father/son bow ties for him and Maddox, but I'm not sure how he feels about bow ties, or matching your kid for that matter. I do plan on making a bow tie and matching bow tie onesie for Grant and Logan, who got to come home from the hospital yesterday, by the way.

Anyway, that was today, blessings and just life in general.

Have a great night!

Busy Friday

Today was a busy day, but it was nice. Nick was off, so we ran some errands. To start with, Morgan missed the bus this morning - grrrr!. But the good news was that since Nick was home I didn't have to drag Daisy and Jack out with us when I had to drive her in. 

She was supposed to have 2 boxes of sugar cubes for a school project today. She mentioned this Tuesday, and I went to Wal-Mart to find her some. Unfortunately they were sold out, and with Logan's birth the next day, I didn't give it another thought until she brought it up at 11:30 last night. This was frustrating, but we'd all been distracted, so I told Nick I would try to go find some, then promptly forgot about it. I got Jack to sleep and was getting ready to turn in myself a couple of hours later when I remembered. I REALLY didn't want to go out then, but I also didn't want her to fail the project, so I dragged myself to the car. Unfortunately 2 stores and a phone call to a third later it became apparent that pretty much every place nearby was sold out.

Anyway, when I drove her in this morning I stopped at a store that was closed when I went out last night, and we found one lone box. I bought it for her, which apparently saved the day.

When I got home Nick had to leave to go get his hair cut, then he had some scrap metal to take off. He made about $170.00 from the scrap metal, which was a HUGE blessing. When he got back from the scrap yard he took all the trash off to the dump, then he, Jack, Daisy, and I went for lunch.

We had Mexican, which was awesome, right up until Daisy got a chip caught in her throat. In the process of us trying to dislodge it, she threw up right on my shirt and jeans. So. Gross. But she could've seriously choked, and she didn't, and Nick generously gave me his shirt (he was wearing a t-shirt underneath), so it was definitely not as bad as it could have been.

After lunch we went home to meet Morgan coming home from school (and so I could change!), then headed to the hospital to see the new baby and take some hospital pictures.

From there we went to church for the last night of revival, where my parents unexpectedly offered to take both girls home overnight. Normally I'd jump all over a night alone, but he'd been fussing at me about my car off and on all day and had made a point of telling me I was still on the hook for a spanking, so it made me understandably nervous to have the house basically to ourselves. But both girls were super excited about it, so I let them go.

After church, Nick agreed to do some much needed grocery shopping with me. By the time we got home and I got something for him to eat and got all the groceries put away, he was mostly asleep on the couch (which is where he is right now). So anyway, it seems I got a pass for the night. I'm off to try to wake him up enough to get him up the stairs and into bed. 

Day 11

Today was nice. I got to spend a little bit of time editing photos, and I found at least one really gorgeous shot each of Morgan, Daisy, and Jack.

Daisy seems to be showing interest in her potty seat on her own, although we've only had one successful "landing" to date.

Revival continued at our church, and I was especially blessed by the service this evening.

After the service we stopped by the hospital to see Kelly, Grant, and Logan, which was very sweet.

As an added bonus, an old friend from high school gave birth there also yesterday, so I got to stop by and see her and hold her precious, tiny baby girl.

While I was in her room, I saw who was probably my very favorite nurse during my 16 days in the hospital with Jack. She remembered me, and I sent her to Kelly's room to see Jack. When I was there yesterday, I also took him by the nurses station and then down to the NICU to see a couple of the nurses he had when he was born. They remembered him and were thrilled to see him. :)

I also got to spend a few minutes texting a friend I met via my blog, and it looks like we might get to meet in person in a few months.

There's still been no spanking, although we have been busy. Nick's off tomorrow, but we have a number of errands to run, so I'm not really expecting it to happen then, or necessarily even at all at this point.

On a random note, tonight I took Daisy to the bathroom at the hospital to change her diaper. I reached down to pick her up, and she jumped up at the same moment, driving her head into my right cheekbone. It was painful enough that I just stood there with my face in my hands trying to slow breathe through the pain for a minute. Daisy said, "It's okay, Mommy! I'm your best friend!" which, I'm not going to lie, made it feel a little better. :) Anyway, I'm sporting a nice bruise on my cheek, so I'm anticipating a few "Who punched you in the face?" queries. Ah, motherhood.