Trick Or Treat

The kids had a great time Trick Or Treating tonight. All 8 kids from our cul-de-sac went together, and it was really fun! I will post more about it tomorrow... tonight I am a tired Mama! For now, here are a few pictures...



Allie The PJ Girl

Jack The Army Man

Cooper... aka Woody

My Allie

Today was my girl's 11th birthday. Eleventh! On this day 11 years ago I remember waking up at 2am to the reality that my baby would most probably be born that day. My water broke, and I instantly started shaking with the most intense excitment and fear that I have ever felt. I had wanted to be a mommy my entire life, and now I was about to live all of my dreams... if I could just get her here. At 6:18 that night, after a dramatic delivery, my precious baby girl was born. I did not realize at the time that she was blue, but I did realize after a few seconds that she was not crying. I did not even get to look at her before she was wisked away. The nurses rushed her to the warmer and worked with her for a few minutes to get her to breathe well. It was the most scared and the most elated that I had ever been. What a mix of emotion! Once she started crying, she did it well. Very well. ... Until they laid her in my arms, and I began to talk to her. At that moment, she stopped and looked at me with eyes that seemed to know and understand much more than they logically should. She got calm, and everything else in the room melted away. I know that she knew me. And I knew her on a deeper level than I could ever have imagined. Those eyes are still a part of my everyday life. My Allie is a deep thinker, mature, and very intuitive. She always has been. In this stage of being somewhere between little girl-hood and adolescence, I can sense her frustration with herself sometimes and see the turmoil that it brings her. But usually, when it is just me and her, and I can speak softly to her, and she can look into my eyes, we both experience an amazing calm. Just like 11 years ago.

So today, because of that amazing day eleven years ago, we celebrated Allie!

Today started with a cuddle on the couch as we watched a show together before the boys woke up (a favorite activity for Allie). Once everyone was awake, she opened part of her gifts. One of her gifts was a game called Cosmic Catch, and we all played it together. It was great fun! After that, we worked on a bit of homework. (It had to be done. Birthday or not.) By the time we were finished with that, she opened the rest of her gifts, and we went to lunch (her choice: Potbelly). After that, we went to a movie that she has been dying to see (The Game Plan). After the show, we finished up getting our costumes together for tonight and came home to get ready for Trick Or Treat which we did with the cul-de-sac neighbors and had a blast! (More on that to come.) After taking a good, long look at her candy, a bit more homework, and some time alone with Mommy, she was off to bed.
My big girl. My eleven year old. My baby.

GIfts Galore!
Allie was so excited to receive some of the things on her wish list! She got a shirt that she had really wanted, a game or two, and a gift card. She also got a couple of sentimental things. Each year on her birthday I give her a charm for her charm bracelet. This year I gave her a little tiara becasue she is my princess. Also, Corey and I gave her her first "real" Bible.

ELEVEN!

Well, Allie's birthday is underway. I cannot believe that my baby is eleven! Truly. I cannot.

Birthdays are a big deal in our family! As special as we can make them. This morning has already been filled with gifts, phone calls, game playing, and cuddling. We have big plans for this afternoon and evening that I will post about later, but for now, I just wanted to say, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE!" and post a few pictures of the birthday girl that I took this morning.

"Code Yellow"

Today the boys and I were in Target finishing up some birthday shopping for Allie and getting some things for dinner. We had perused the aisles, found a few treasures, and Jack had just shown me the world's largest lemon in the produce section. I continued my shopping for veggies and suddenly realized that Jack was not with me... and he was no where to be seen. The produce section in Target is right next to the front door, so I instantly scanned that area to make sure that he was not exiting. He was not. I made a circle or two around the produce department. No Jack. I looked on the next aisle. No Jack. Now, I have been a mom for 11 years. I have had kids get lost in a store before. This was different. He was no where near me. I could feel it. I started having a "DO NOT PANIC!" conversation with myself as I began looking for a Target employee. I saw a man in a red shirt with a walkie talkie. He looked busy and on a mission. The thought crossed my mind that I shouldn't bother him, then reality hit me again. My boy was missing! I grabbed him, and I told him that my son was missing. He asked me how old he is, and I said 7. He instantly got on his walkie and said, "Code Yellow". He directed someone to cover the "Green Door" and directed me to the "Red Door" where we stood together. No one was getting out of the store. He got a description - purple shirt, kaki pants - and repeated it over and over on the radio. People were talking back to him asking for the description again and updating him that Jack was not in this department or that. He instructed someone to check the restrooms. Still no Jack. Shoppers were coming up to me saying, "Did you lose a child? What does he look like? I'll go look right now." Even a little boy - about 10 years old - offered to look for him. My heart was literally beating so hard that my ears hurt! I kept thinking of a line of the movie Deep End of the Ocean where a boy is kidnapped while he is with his mom, and when she sees her husband he screams at her... "Kids don't just get lost. People lose them!" I was so far beyond tears that I just stood there, my mind racing, my heart pumping. Several Target employees were congregating around me. I said, "Tell them to check the toys." He did. I kept saying, "He was just right here. Right beside me. We were right here in produce. Right here by the exit of the store!" Minutes were passing. My heart rate was increasing. A few minutes later, I heard the radio say something I could not understand. The man said, "Please confirm." And I heard someone on the other end say, "We found him." I cannot tell you how relieved I was! When I saw Jack, he was walking with that little 10 year old boy and a Target employee. He looked a bit like a deer in the headlights. They had found him near the back of the store. I wanted to rush to him and hug him until tomorrow and yell "What were you thinking!" all at the same time. I did the first. We finished our shopping trip with him "helping" me push the cart and apologizing over and over. I really was not mad at him for more than half a second, but I was very, very shaken up. If Allie's birthday had not been in a matter of hours, I would have left my basket of goodies right then and there just to come home and cry and hold my babies. Several minutes later he said, "I wish that you would get over this Mommy. You are so stressed, and it is making me feel lonely." Okay... some perspective.

When we were talking later about where he had been he said, "I looked for you in the produce department, but I couldn't find you. Then, I looked for you in the make up department becasue you are a girl, and you like make up. And I looked for you in the bedding department because you always look back there. Then, I saw some Bionicles, and I looked at them for just a little while."

I am so very thankful that he was safe! And even though I hope that I NEVER have to relive moments like those 10 or 15 again, I am thankful for the perspective that I gained in them. I treasured Jack before he was lost, but having such a potential tragedy flash before my eyes makes me value him and my other children even more.

My Favorite Halloween Costume Ever!

This homemade pea pod is the greatest idea for these little ones... and so cute!

These are quadruplets that I don't know... but feel like I do. I have been reading their mom's blog since she was pregnant with them. They are almost 3 months old now, and I still check her blog regularly... although the updates are few and far between since the babies came home. You can look at it too, if you would like. http://thelifeofsuz.blogspot.com/

My Name

I got this fun, bloggy game from my friend, The Green Giraffe. (Keep reading... you'll understand in a minute.) I think that she has better sounding names than me, but some of these are pretty funny. Feel free to lift this to your blog too. I'd love to see how fly your gangsta name is... (Do I sound cool, or what?)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father's middle name)
Jeanne Lee (sounds like a bad action-movie actor to me)

9. NASCAR NAME: (name of your mother's dad, fathers dad)
Max Glennon

8. STARWARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, any 2 letters of your first name)
Powma

7. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, fav animal)
Red Dolphin

6. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Jeanne Lubbock

5. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav alcohol drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Green Daiquiri

4. FLY GIRL/GUY NAME: (1st letter of 1st name, 1st 3 letters of your last)
A-Pow (Kaboom!)

3. GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Mocha Chocolate Chip... I don't think that that one works, but it does make me hungry. :)

2. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pets name, current street name)
Milly Park View

1. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Amarige Snickers

Poor Scavenging Baby and The Realities Of A Homeschool Day With 3 Kids

... one of them being a two year old.

This afternoon I was helping Allie with her homework in the dining room. She had been patiently (kind of) waiting for my help all day, and I was finally able to give her my attention (kind of). Jack had finished his school work and was happily playing Wii (No, not very educational, but he was working on his hand-eye coordination. Yeah... we'll say that.), and I heard the stool being scooted around in the kitchen and knew that Coop was probably looking for a snack. I checked on him and saw that he had pushed the stool up to the counter and was having a leftover donut from this morning. Not the best snack in the world... but whatever! It bought me a few more minutes to help Allie.

I went back to work with Allie, and the next time that I saw Cooper he was running to me, proudly announcing that he was eating a piece of pizza. I quickly scanned my memory... " Where did he get that?!? When did we last eat pizza?!? Oh no!!! We ate pizza 2 nights ago! That pizza has been sitting in a pizza box in a trash pile for 2 days! Yuuuuck!" When I took him back to the kitchen to try to redirect him to a different snack, this is what I saw...

He had eaten the icing off of the donut, left the rest, and moved on to the trash pile. It made me laugh outloud!

Poor baby! Scavenging for his snack!

A family's got to do what a family's got to do.

Playing With Pictures

I was looking through the 132 pictures that I took over the last 2 days and noticed some faces on my kids in group shots that I love! I got to playing with the photos and came up with this...

Warning: Plagiarism Ahead

The following post is 100%, totally lifted from my friend's blog. I think that it is my favorite entry ever! She is amazingly insightful. When I have gone through sorrowful situations in my life I have felt so isolated, different, alone... but to read these powerful words from the Book that I try to live my life by and by some noteworthy authors - and realize the truth in them - I feel comfort like I cannot explain.

Thank you for your post Bea. And thank you for the insight that you have brought into my brokeness because of yours. Thank you for being real and full of faith and hope at the same time. I love you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is not a day more dismal than any other.
Regardless, these words are truth
and are a soothing balm to my aching soul.
_____________________________________

"Laughter can conceal a heavy heart,
but when the laughter ends, the grief remains."
-Proverbs 14:13

"Don’t think I am a wicked woman!
For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”
-I Samuel 1:16

"Sorrow is better than laughter,
for sadness has a refining influence on us."
-Ecclesiastes 7:3

"Grief is not he opposite of faith. Mourning is not the opposite of hope. I believe that well meaning Christians can try to hurry us out of our mourning because we make them uncomfortable. The Bible does not say to cheer up the bereaved, but rather to 'mourn with those who mourn.' Christ does not say we grieve because we are deficient in faith, but rather 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted [not rushed].' (Matthew 5:4)."
-Jennifer Saake (Hannah's Hope)

"Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief..."
-Romans 9:2

"Job stood up and tore his robe in grief.
Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship."
-Job 1:20

"God's Word never said we were not to grieve our losses.
It says we are not to grieve as those who have no hope
(I Thess. 4:13).
Big difference."
-Beth Moore

"But my heart is heavy with grief.
Weep for me, for I wither away."
-Isaiah 24:16

"You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book."
-Psalm 56:8

"She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts."
-George Eliot

"I weep with sorrow;
encourage me by your word."
-Psalm 119:28

"Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love."
-Joel 2:13

"How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?"
-Psalm 13:2

"...You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy."
-John 16:20

"For the Lord has called you back from your grief..."
-Isaiah 54:6

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
-John 16:33

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
All these things are gone forever.”
-Revelation 21:4

Third Time's the Charm

... actually all of our trips to the pumpkin patch this year have been great. (There was even one more that I didn't post about because it was a no-camera-just-for-play visit to the patch.) Today's visit was really wonderful though. We went early to try to beat the crowds. It worked, and we got to do the hay ride, the train (a few times), lots of bouncing, sliding, merry-go-rounding, climbing, winding through hay mazes, eating, and horse, pig, donkey, & turtle watching. The weather was cool and the sky was bright and sunny. Really, it was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch! And my Skyler... Oh! I love her SO much!

Hay Riding ~
I loved this tractor driver! He looked like the all-american farmer!






Playing At The Patch ~
Cooper had so much fun jumping in the huge pumpkin with his daddy.




Picking Pumpkins ~

Horse Watching ~




Playing Peek-A-Boo ~


Train Riding ~
My brother's legs hanging over the side of the train car was hilarious!


Coby's Family ~

My Kiddos ~


Me & My Pumpkins

Woody, Jessie, & a Baseball Player

This weekend my brother's family came to visit so we could enjoy watching our kids do fall activities together. The first thing that we did was take the kids to a festival/ trunk or treating at FBC Lewisville. Cooper & Skyler (aka - Woody & Jessie... Could they be more adorable?!?) really "got it" this year... you dress up, look cute, hold your bag open, smile, and you GET CANDY!!! Jack had just had a baseball game, so he came up with the idea of going to the festival as a baseball player (pretty good idea!). He would hold out his baseball glove to get candy. :) The kids also enjoyed playing a few games, a hay ride, petting some animals, a bounce house, and climbing in a firetruck.













On a sad note... You may have noticed that Allie was not in any pictures. She had a pre-teen moment as we were getting ready to go to the festival and decided not to go. Sad but true. Yes, the hormone-years are upon us.