Random pictures that are special to me....

My little boy at 2 years of age putting Mommy's glasses on. What a ham!

Camryn at 9 months --



Gabe newborn with Daddy in bed in Colorado



Gabe at 2 1/2

Gabe got a big wheel for his birthday and Camryn likes it better :-)
Christmas 2005 -- The Crooked Tree


Above right: Camryn at Easter at Chad's parents house, Bottom two: Gabe lovin' on Sis and below Gabe is sharing with Camryn some of his favorite snacks.

Your Man

I have a question for you ladies out there! How do you all prepare for your husbands arrival at home? I know that there have been many times Chad has come home without calling me first (how dare he!) and I am shocked when he comes home because I haven't "prepared" for his arrival. He says that he doesn't care at all when he comes home and the house is absolutely, well...just plain old trashed. Ha! I know that I don't like to come home to a messy home, so I try and give him a nice greeting from us and from the home when he arrives. I ask him to call because it really makes me happy to bless him and to let him come home to a comfortable home. With small children and every day life it's very hard to keep your house always welcoming and sane, so a phone call helps out tremendously.

I try to do the following:

• have a full glass of his favorite drink ready (dinner being ready is sometimes out of the question for me)
• the toys picked up
• the children's diapers changed
• a decent outfit on (not my pj's -- even if that means changing out of them 30 mins before he comes home!)
• make up on or at least something that doesn't resemble a morning face! (I love Laurie's story on that one!)

The children and I make a game out of it called "getting ready for daddy" and they love it. Not only are they being taught to pick up their toys but they are so excited as they get ready to see their daddy. This teaches them how to be respectful and submissive to their mommy's and daddy's.

These are the things that I can do (although little) that I know will reduce stress for him when he comes home.

What about you all?

Happy Anniversary Lovey!

Chad and I recently celebrated our 7th anniversary. We took a trip (without the babies!) to West Palm Beach Florida. We were there from early Friday morning to the afternoon on Monday. It was the perfect, restful get a way. Our day started with my cousin picking us up from the airport and taking us to see Donald Trump's resort mansion "Mar A Lago". We met Donald's head butler and he took us through a private tour of the home. I have tons of great pictures and will send them to whoever wants to see. I even saw the bedroom where Ivanka Trump grew up in. It was strange to see family photo's of Donald and his kids in their frames. I was like "ok, this is Donald Trump holding his child...AND he's wearing a suit". In all of his pictures he was wearing a suit. Anyway, that was pretty neat. I saw Jimmy Buffet's home, Vera Wang's home, the man who owns Tampa Bay, the man who started Netscape and the chic that invented the Nexxus hair product line. I didn't realize that wealthy people loved West Palm! It is absolutely gorgeous and the water is blue! We had a nice time just relaxing and hanging out with my family, hanging out by the pool and taking a day trip to Del Ray beach on Sunday. Beautiful. This picture is actually from the morning that we were leaving. We had breakfast on the beach at a great place called "Benny's". We were more than excited to see our babies when we got back. It was such a wonderful time!

Sick as a dog...

Man, yesterday was a horrible day for me! I woke up feeling really groggy and tired (I had 8 hours of sleep). I fixed breakfast and moped around the house with the kids. Around 10 am I started to feel really nauseous and also very sick to my stomach. This lasted 12 full hours. It took me back to the days when I was very sick while pregnant with Camryn. This was actually much worse. I called my mom and she was in Annaplolis and talked with Chad at work but he couldn't leave either. He probably could have, but it would have been hard for him to. So, I just did what I could do (not much!) My day mostly consisted of having the kids bring me books on the sofa, me dragging my body over to the floor to play trucks --while laying there moaning to my poor son -- all the while saying "it's ok, honey, mommy's just sick. Poor guy didn't understand why mommy was such a wreck. Oh, we also watched a lot of the Wiggles! I was so sick that I couldn't even hold a conversation. Finally after lunch, it was time for the kids to go down for a nap. Camryn went down like a charm (as usual) and Gabe said that he wanted to lay with me which was fine. We both fell asleep around 12:30. The phone rings at 1:30 waking us both up...for good. So, I'm still so sick and Gabe is up and reading to go...Camryn is still asleep (thank the Lord!) I practically crawl downstairs and continue to try and potty train him but I have to give up. I put Pull-ups on him because I can't stand to walk him to the bathroom every 20 mins that's how sick I was. Poor Gabe. My sister calls and says that she'll be over at 4:30 to pick the kids up and take them to the park. She also offers to take them to my parents house for dinner and bring them back at bed time! Hallelujah! But wait, how am I going to make it for another 3 hours? Lord, I need you! I kept praying and praying. I realized that through all of my suffering (funny how I call it suffering, it so wasn't) I still needed to glorify God. I still needed to put aside my own desires of wanting to lay on the sofa and bark orders to my children. I needed to still be kind, to love, to be patient and to still discipline my children. I felt very convicted about Jesus's sufferings on the Cross. How in the midst of all of the torturing and suffering He didn't choose to give up. He chose to suffer and die. He did this for us so that we may have eternal life. How amazing. I can not relate whatsoever to Christ's suffering but I can take my little peon sufferings and grow. Thanks be to the Lord for giving us trials and sufferings to be reminded and always bring us back to Him and the Cross.

I feel good this morning!!!!