Walgging, Mom's Meatloaf, and Daddy's Day

Two weeks ago, I did something I never thought I could do.  It's not a big deal, but I started jogging.  Well actually, I am not sure if "jogging" is the correct description for what I am doing.  It is just one or two steps quicker than my fast walking.  I just call it "walgging".  Last year I tried jogging.  I made it 1/2 mile in all.  I believe I would jog the distance of three houses and then walk three or four houses.  It was not pretty.  As I said before, there was jiggling.  There was heavy, not attractive panting and I thought my heart was going to burst from my chest.  It was not fun either.  I didn't understand why anyone enjoys this activity.  I think that was pretty much the extent of my jogging for the year.  

Fast forward a year.  Sometimes, I just decide to try something.  I have worked up to walking 5 1/2 miles a day (except Sundays).  I had plateaued on my weight loss.  I had lost 40 pounds, but kept messing around with the same five pounds.  I wanted to change things up and incorporate something new.  I wondered if jogging would still be as difficult as it had been last year.  

So I just did it.  The first day I jogged almost 1/2 mile without stopping.  I couldn't believe it.  I wasn't panting.  My heart wasn't bursting out of my chest.  There was still jiggle.  :)  However, I couldn't believe I had made it so far on my first attempt.  

So I did it again and again with breaks in between laps.  This is where I am at now:  walk 1/2 mile warm-up, jog 1 mile with no breaks, walk 1/2 mile, jog 1 mile, walk 1/2 mile, jog 1 mile, then walk 1 mile.  I keeping my time, but not really trying to beat a certain time.  Right now my goal is to make the walks between the jogs shorter and the jogs longer.  After I can get that down, I will focus on jogging faster.  I am having to get up earlier and earlier though because although it's still beautiful outside for June it's getting warmer and warmer.  I am not sure how much I'll enjoy running when it's really hot.  

My goal is to run a 5k in the fall.  I know some people can do a 5k in their sleep.  However back when I started walking, I secretly wanted to run a 5k, but when I tried running and despised, I put that out of my mind.  I didn't think there was any way I could do it.  But I see a light at the end of the tunnel.  I think I can do it.  I'm putting it out there on my blog to voice my goal and make it real.  So there is it.  Another goal for my 40s.  Rocking these 40s.  :)

Last Friday, my nieces turned 15.  I can't believe they are that old already.  My mom surprised my niece, Abbie, with a tea party at Inspirations Tea Room.  My mom, my sister, Abbie, me and my daughter came along to celebrate.  I didn't get a picture on my phone of my niece, but it was a nice luncheon. 

 

Friday evening, the officer and I were going to a Sunday School mystery dinner.  I had to sign up to bring a food item without knowing what I was bringing before I signed up.  I signed the officer up for a non-cooked vegetable.  There was no one signed up for meat.  I was hoping I would get "roast".  I could flip a roast in a pan and cook it for four hours.  No problem.  Nope.  I got "meatloaf". 

Surely you know what I did.  I called my mom.  She's my meatloaf guru.  I asked her if she could "help" me out.  Of course, she said "yes".  I purchased all the ingredients.  She took me through step-by-step on how to make it.  Of course, my mom is one of those people who say, "Just use a little of this and a little of that until you get it the way you like it."  I'm not one of those people.  I like it exactly how my mom makes it.  So I was exact measurements of exactly what she uses.  She used a very big fork to mix it.  She even had a smile on her face while she did it.  I thought, "Okay I can probably try use a fork to stir the meat too."  The squishy sound was still there.....

And then she put it in the pan.  With her hands.  Thank you for making the meatloaf mom!  It was so good! 

 

While the officer and I were at the mystery dinner, my friend, Mrs. Courtney took my kids to a baseball game with her family.  There's a reason why Courtney and I get along so well.  She sent me this text during dinner.

That is a $1 bill sticking out of the garage door holder.  In the end all four kids were quiet so they were all given .25.

The officer had to work on Father's Day.  I thought he may be able to get off of work a couple hours early.  The kids and I wen to Sunday School and then came home.  We worked like madmen finishing cleaning the house, cleaning up the backyard and decorating for the officer.  Right in the middle of cleaning, the officer walks through the door.  We were all surprised.  We didn't expect the officer for another hour and the officer didn't expect us to be home. 

The officer changed clothes and did what he enjoys doing.  He washed his police motorcycle and both our cars.  :)  Tonight he and the kids put together his Father Day's gift.  A LEGO Back To The Future set. 

The officer has worked tirelessly these past three weeks on our backyard fence.  His dad and brother-in-law have both come down to help him but the majority of it was done by the officer.  My daughter did get outside and help the officer stir and shovel concrete.  And now it's finished.  Of course, our daughter is very excited because the next step is a p-u-p-p-y.  

I asked my daughter to take a picture on my phone of the fence.  When I look though my pictures, this is what I saw.

I had to clarify exactly what kind of picture I needed.  Ta-da!  Our new fence. 

Our daughter has already figured out when adoption day is at PetSmart.  The puppy wall has grown.  She is ready.  We'll have a new K-9 family member in about three weeks.  

The Hot Momma

I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since my last blog post.  I look through the photos on my phone (over 700 photos) and remember all the things I wanted to blog about, but for some reason I just haven't.  I have a perfect story to transition myself back into the process of blogging.

The officer has an iPhone.  Since he rides a motorcycle at work, he has Bluetooth on his helmet so he can call without using his hands.  He just says, "Call Treasure" and Siri answers with, "Calling Treasure."  About a month ago, I was just messing around with his phone.  I changed my contact name in his phone from "Treasure" to "Treasure - The Hot Momma!"  So the next time the officer called me, Siri said, "Calling Treasure, The Hot Momma!"  He got a chuckle from it.  I occasionally sneak into his phone and change my contact name.  I won't share the other names I've put in there.  

Fast forward to today just before "big church".  The kids and I are sitting toward the back because we have to leave the service early.  We are sitting behind my good friend, Mrs. C and her family.  I had brought doughnuts for our Sunday school class and had some left over.

I had given Mrs. C's two sons each a doughnut.  They were small doughnuts.  Mrs. C's oldest son held out his hand for another doughnut.  I said, "Oh you have to say, "Oh Great Treasure, may I have another doughnut!"  Without skipping a beat, my daughter pipes up and says, "No, you have say "The Hot Momma!"  I quickly turned to her and said, "No, that is just for daddy!"  Not before everyone heard it though.  This is what I get for trying to be funny with the officer and letting my kids in on the joke.  Also, I'm sorry Mrs. C if you had to explain that to your 6 year old son.
 

All Fool's Day

Oh what a wonderful day.  It has been a lot of fun.

My son has told me before that April Fool's Day is his third most favorite holiday.  "After Christmas when Jesus was born and Easter when Jesus was raised from the dead, April Fool's is my third most favorite holiday!"

I decided this year we would have a lot of fun with it.  I started looking up harmless, fun tricks we could play our children on Pinterest.  I am not a practical joker. I like jokes, but I don't often pull practical jokes on people.  Unlike my mother.  When I was younger, I never thought she had a sense of humor.  Which is why it's so funny when she pulls a practical joke on people.  Like the time when she make me think she had a jar of frog eyeballs.  My brother-in-law was even in on it with her and he ate a big spoon of whatever it was. I was screaming with my hands over my eyes, gagging.

Anywho, I collaborated with the officer last night.  Here's what we did - nothing over the top, just some small harmless fun.

1.  The officer Saran-wrapped the toilet.  I have to say it looked pretty good.  I almost used their bathroom before I went to bed.

2.  I put lotion on the underside of the doorknob in their bathroom.

3.  The officer marked on their faces with washable markers.  When the officer started to grab a marker, he went for the Sharpies.  I yelled, "NO!  We have church in the morning!!!"  My son is a hard sleeper so he had more marks on his face than my daughter did.

He wrote a little note on their mirror for when they woke up.

4.  We toilet papered their rooms.  We purchased the very cheap kind at Crest.  .79 for a 4 roll pack.  My son could not believe we "wasted all that toilet paper". 

5.  We put Saran wrap under the lid of their toothpaste.  When my son tried to put toothpaste on his toothbrush, he could not get it out.  He squeezed very, very hard and then only a tiny little bit came through a hole.  

6.  The officer called three times this morning before we left for church.  Each time the kids would answer the phone, he would hang up.  The last time he called, he yelled, "Happy April Fool's Day!"  

7.  I put a piece of tape on the over the faucet.  When my daughter turned it on to brush her teeth, the water sprayed her.

8. I tried to tape down her light switch, but it didn't work.  I guess I didn't use enough tape.

9.  I also tried to tape over the sensor on the remote control, but it didn't work either.  I think my tape wasn't opaque enough.

My kids were having a blast with this morning.  My son wasted no time in getting into the spirit of things.

He woke up at 6:40 a.m. and promptly used the restroom.  After he cleaned the bathroom from the Saran wrapped toilet mishap, he got busy.  At 6:50 a.m., I hear a knock on the front door.  The officer had to be at work by 6 a.m. this morning. My daughter had crawled into bed with my before the officer left.   I groggily pulled myself out of bed and went to check the door. I thought perhaps the officer had left his phone here and apparently his garage door opener and couldn't get back into the house.  I looked through the peep hole and I didn't see anything.  I looked again because I was half asleep and thought maybe I missed something.  Nothing.  No one.  

I noticed the kid's bathroom light was on and went to check it.  Everything looked normal, but my son wasn't in his bed.  As I walked back to my room to see if he was sleeping in my bed too, he jumped out and yelled "APRIL FOOL'S DAY!"  Okay, we are off and running.  

He was talking a mile a minute about all the things that had happened to him.  He still had all the marks on his face, but he wouldn't let me take a picture.  We had to eat breakfast and get ready for church.  My son had another idea.  He said, "Let's call daddy and tell him I have a very bad attitude about everything and when he comes home because of it, we will tell him April Fool's Day!"  He wanted the officer to come all the way home from work.  I don't think the officer would think that was too funny so we settled for a phone call.  

Once we were in the car on the way to church, I called the officer and said, "You need to talk to your son.  Once I told him we had to stop the jokes and get ready for church, he started in with bad attitude, complaining, and disobedience.  Can you please talk to him?"  The officer was very surprised at this.  I handed the phone to my son who was playing his part perfectly.  He sounded whiny and sad.  The officer was talking to him and my son was replying with very whiny, "Yes, sir"s.  After a few "yes sirs", my son yelled, "April Fool's Day!"  We got him.  The officer thought that was a good one.

Now we've been home most of the afternoon, thinking of ways to get the officer.  He has to work late and won't be home until 8:30 p.m., so we have plenty of time to pull some jokes on him.  I won't tell you what we do to him because he might read this before he comes home.  I'll come back and post what jokes we did and how he reacted tomorrow.  Check back here for the update! :) (the update is below)

We called my mom because the kids wanted to tell her all the jokes that had happened.  They were each on a phone excitedly telling talking to her.  My son yelled out, "Grandma you need to tell your daughter to behave because she's being naughty today!"  It was funny.

It's been fun and I haven't seen my kids giggle so much throughout the day in a long time.  It's good to have these days come around - especially good April Fool's Day (or as my daughter has been calling it "All Fool's Day") only comes once a year.  

 Oh.  My.  Goodness.  The officer arrived home about 8:20 p.m.  This is past the kid's bedtime, but I let them get up when we heard him drive up.  We were all sitting on the couch "acting casual".  As soon as he walked in the door, the officer said, "I will give you each a quarter if you don't pull any April Fool's jokes on me.  Daddy is tired!!!"  My son quickly replied, "Make it $20 and you've got a deal."  No dice, but good try.


We did pranks we knew he would probably run into tonight.  Here's a list:


1.  We re-arranged all our drawers in our dresser.  So the officer's underwear/sock drawer was not where it was supposed to be.  


2.  We hid it shower scrubber.


3.  We hid all his gym shorts he likes to change into when he gets home.


4.  We hid all the toilet paper in the house.  We only left one roll on the roll in the bathroom.  It was un-tearable toilet paper.


5.  We taped his deodorant and cologne so when he tries to spray them, they won't work.  

6.  We Saran-wrapped his toothpaste too.


7.  We took the batteries out of all the remotes (tv, dvd, and X-box).

He went straight into the room to take a shower.  Couldn't find his clothes to change into after shower.  Couldn't find his shower scrubber.  Couldn't find the toilet paper (we just heard him yelling, "I NEED TOILET PAPER?  WHAT'S THIS STUFF IN HERE?"  Couldn't get his deodorant to spray out after three attempts.  He just went into the linen closet into the stockpile and got another can, so that didn't work as well.  However, it was funny watching him try to get it out.  He couldn't see the tape we used, so it worked perfectly.  The officer ran to the store, but I'm sure before the night is over he will run into the other pranks too.


It's been fantastic.  A lot of giggles from me too.  Happy All Fools Day.

a little quality time

wednesday the officer and i split up the kids for a little quality time. i took my son and the officer took my daughter.

i took my son to our homeschool group. we played legos with some other kids for a couple of hours. our homeschool group has a co-op classes going on, but we opted to not do the co-op classes this semester. we decided to just go up there and check the lego play time. we had a lot of fun playing legos with a couple of the other boys. i think my son enjoyed finding other boys who were as crazy about legos as he is. after the homeschool group, we had to take something to my mother so we headed to her house. we spent the afternoon looking at (you guessed it) more legos at walmart. there's a certain walmart that is the only store that has any indiana jones legos left. i decided to treat my son to peachwave. it's a frozen yogurt place where you can put all kinds of deliciousness on top. yummy! after peachwave, we came home and put together bionicles for 2 hours. my son said, "this is the greatest day ever!" i would say that's good quality time! :)

the officer took my daughter with him for the day. he had to go winterize his boat. he wanted to take it out on the lake for a bit and fish. he packed a lunch and bought some worms. the officer said my daughter wanted to help do everything.

they had a great time out on the lake fishing. she caught 3 little perches. nothing big, but you know that doesn't matter to a 5 year old girl. she loved it!

i think she loved the worms more. the officer said she had two "pet" worms that she was letting crawl all over her. (insert shivering and gagging here). however, she wasn't overly attached to them because the officer said she had no problem with tearing them in half to bait the hooks (insert more gagging here too). i don't think she has my raw meat thing.

overall it was a great day to be able to spend one-on-one day with each of our kids. they don't happen as often as we'd like, but we like to take advantage of them when they do.

what's wrong with this picture.....

hello all! it's tuesday and so far the week is going great.

yesterday was the officer's birthday. he had to work so we went out to eat for his birthday on saturday. however, we skipped all scheduled things yesterday (tae kwon do and gymnastics) and hung out with him. i made boneless bbq short ribs (in the crockpot), twice baked potatoes (so glad mrs. k. taught me how to make them), corn and rolls. we always make cupcakes for actual birthdays on the island. we had a good time spending the evening together.

we gave the officer his birthday presents on saturday. one of the presents i gave him was body wash from bath and body works. no not, sweet pea. it's called oak. when i got in the shower this morning, i was glad to see he was using it. it meant he thought it smelled good (so did i) and he liked it.

but...... what's wrong with this picture????


this is what i found in my shower. mind you, they were not all lined up like this, i did that. i am determined to not throw away the empty body washes. i'm leaving that up to the officer. it was never like this before i couponed. :) before i couponed, i would find that last little sliver of soap (sometimes the last 1/4 of a bar of soap) in the soap dish. the officer doesn't like fiddling with the last little bit of soap, so he would get a new one. no big deal. i didn't care, so i would use it up or if i'm being real honest, it may fall to the shower floor and eventual dissolve. however, since i've started couponing and getting all the men's body wash for free, our shower has started to look like that picture.

i'm hoping with all them lined up, it might send a subtle hint. i might even have to make use of our dry erase markers and write him a sweet little message.

okay that's all i'm going to say about that. was that too much?

we are going to my mom's today, so she can do a writing class with the kids. we are going after her flying lesson. did you read that - her flying lesson? papa bill is a pilot and i guess my mom has decided she needs to learn enough about flying to be able to land the plane if she needs too. if you had asked me 10 years ago (or even last year) if my mom would be learning how to fly a plane, i would have said no! she has papa bill for that. i'm proud of her though. she is having to get over the fear and learn something very technical. not an easy task for anyone. she has been writing about her lessons and when she decides to post them on her blog i will give you the link because it is great.

alrighty off to my mother's. have a great rest of the week!!

have i told you lately.....

have i told you lately that i love the officer? have i told you lately how blessed i am to have him in my life? have i told you lately that he is awesome? have i told you lately how thankful i am to God that He set him aside for me? have i told you lately how well God knows me and He gives me things i need through the officer? things i don't even know i need at the time?

well i do love the officer. i am blessed to have him in my life. he is completely awesome. i cannot even begin to fathom all the way God takes care of me.

the first thing is....

i told you about my family reunion last week. i completely forgot to tell you a little back story to it. this is all God's timing and absolutely no doing of our own.

through some confusion, all to my credit, i thought the family reunion was the last weekend in july. that's what we had planned. no problem because it fell on the officer's set of days off so we not have to use any vacation time. (did you know he works 8 days on, 6 days off, 10 hour shifts - fantastic!)

about a week before the family reunion we realized it was actually a week earlier and on the officer's set of days on. i just thought, "well i'll go by myself. i have plenty of family members who would help me set up the tent and help out. no problem." of course i would have loved for the officer to go with us, but i wasn't going to cancel the trip. the officer said, "i'll just take all the days off." yeah!!! however, we realized that week of the family reunion the officer would have to train a new motor officer. he would not be able to go. boo. he was really looking forward to training the new motor officer, but he was disappointed he would not be able to go camping. when he got to work and started training the new motor officer, the new motor officer told him that he would not be at work from July 15-18 because he had planned a family vacation many months ago. this fell on the exact dates of our family reunion. so you know the end, the officer was able to go! see God not only takes care of our needs, but He takes care of our wants and desires even before we know we want them sometimes.

the last thing is....

as you know we are a single income, homeschool family. there are sacrifices that are made to be a single income family, but it's not anything we would change. a couple of weeks ago my air conditioner in my car started going out. we took it to the mechanic and they could not duplicate the problem to diagnosis it. we got the car back. one day when the officer was driving it around, the a/c went out again. he drove it straight to the mechanics and they told us we would need a new compressor. $800 thank you very much. OY! i also need new rear struts, new tires, and a wheel alignment. although we do financially plan for these things, it's still just not a lot of fun. however, this car is paid off and we plan on keeping it for a lot longer. it's been a great car.

the officer told me, he thought he could do all the repairs, saving us hundreds of dollars in labor costs. all right. he started saturday night. have i mentioned it's been a balmy 98 degrees here? here's some pictures.

i have no idea what this is or what it does. that's why the officer takes care of these things.

he replaced the air compressor saturday night.

do-hickeys all lined up so he doesn't lose them.

you have to take out the backseat in order to get to the rear struts.

the rear struts

God knew just what we would need. he knew back when the officer was younger that having a knowledge and know-how about cars would benefit him and his family later on.

we are still in the midst of fixing the car. we don't know if the a/c will work (we are just going off the diagnosis of the mechanic so hopefully that's actually what was wrong with it); however, i love/appreciate/am thankful for the officer that he gets out there and tries to do these things. these are the ways he says he loves our family. these are the way he cares about his family. these are the ways he takes care of our family. these are the way God tells me He loves me. these are the ways God tells me He cares about my family. these are the ways God takes care of my family.

this week on the island

hello there on this fine july morning! there's been a lot going on around here. what have you been up to? it's summer and things have not slowed down here.

here's the randomness!

i painted my daughter's fingernails and toenails last week for church. she wanted them red. the fingernail paint is starting to chip off her fingers. it's the kind that drys in 60 seconds so it doesn't usually stay on that long. this morning she came to me and said, "mommy! my fingers are starting to come off." meaning the fingernail paint.

it's thursday but it feels like monday. the officer started back to work today so it feels like the beginning of our week. the officer gets to do something a little exciting for him this month. there is a new motor officer coming over to the unit today. my officer gets to train the new motor officer for the first month. it's his first time and he was sort of nervous. i prayed a little extra for him last night and this morning. it's a little dangerous (as riding a motorcycle in and of itself wasn't enough) to be training a new motor officer. when you ride with a partner in the motor unit you ride very close to each other. you could easily reach out and touch them. from my understanding, the officer on the left is the lead. when they are riding, he decides when to change lanes, how they will get where they are going, and any last second decisions. the rider on the right's only job is to do whatever the rider on the left does. the rider on the right is not suppose to check the lanes for oncoming traffic, that is the lead's job. the new motor officer has experience riding motorcycles so that is helpful, but he's new to partner riding. if you remember, say a little prayer for protection for my officer this month. :)

on sunday night, we spent the evening with some special people, my friend becky and her family. i met becky about 3 years ago. she's very sweet and hilarious!!! she has a servant's heart. they are leaving today :( to go to romania as missionaries :) for three years. she gave me lots of hugs that night. i've enjoyed getting to know her these past 3 years and i so look forward to what God has in store for them as they are obedient to His calling.

monday we had to take my car into the shop bright and early! the air conditioner has been going on and off lately. in this heat, that's not a lot of fun! they had the car for 3 days and could not duplicate the problem. so we picked it up yesterday and the air conditioner has been working fine. they just said when it happens again, drive straight here so we can diagnose it. okay no problem.

tuesday i was supposed to go bowling with my friend, shirley. have you heard about the 2 free bowling games a day (that's right i said 2 FREE bowling games A DAY)? you can do that here. anyway, due to a daycare with 50 kids there, there were no lanes available. we'll try to bowl again even though it will be our third attempt to go bowling. third time's a charm, right?

tuesday night i went to crest. i know you may not think a grocery store is worthy of mentioning in a blog post but they are opening a new store across town. since they are opening it, all the crest grocery stores are having some fantastic sales. the great thing is crest just started to take internet coupons (under $3 and no coupons for free items) so this really helps with their sales. with coupons, i got free glade fabric & air odor eliminator spray, free cheez its, .25 cheeto zingers, .22 16 oz. sour creams, $1.25 hormel meatloaf, and .25 ziplock containers and baggies.

when i came home, the officer and my kids were outside along with several neighbors. i brought the groceries in and in my attempt to be more neighborly and social, i went right outside and spent the evening chatting and getting to know my neighbors a little better. it was a lot of fun.

wednesday, my sister-in-law came down and we took our kids to a local spray park. even though it was pretty crowded all the kids did great and had a good time. this particular spray park is in the middle of a neighborhood and has a small playground and basketball court right beside it. i think that helped with the amount of kids there.

last night i also went to my mom's for a birthday dinner. she gave me a very cool gift. this past year in school she has done a writing class with my kids. she brings books over to read to them. she talks about plots, characters, story lines, and helps them make up stories. i'm usually not in the room when she does this. for my birthday, she had all the stories my kids made up made into a book. she got the book from shutterfly. so the book has all the stories, pictures of my kids she has taken, and some pictures my kids have drawn. i LOVE it.

here's one of my son's stories:

If I Had A Cow

if i had a cow
i'd paint her legs pink
and the rest of her blue
i'd splash a bright green
on to her face
and feed her on pumpkins
until halloween.
yeah, that's what i'd do.

here's one of my daughter's stories:

The Little Dog

the little dog,
black and white,
didn't want to be a dog.
he wanted to be a people
because he didn't like how
his ears is sticking up.
he liked people ears.
another dog told
the little black and white dog,
told him to go
to a dog wishing pond
like at the neighbors
one mile away.
he would have to look at himself
in the water and
stick his ears up one at a time.
he changed to a people dog!
he didn't like being a people dog
because his mommy and daddy
didn't know him.
he changed back
to a black and white doggie
then he grew and
he liked being a big dog.

can't beat that story with a stick people!

thanks mom! she came up with the perfect gift that the kids and i love!

so that's only half our week so far but like i said it feels like monday. this weekend is my birthday and i think the officer and i are going to go to a movie and then take the kids out to eat. looking forward to it! what do you have going on for this 4th of july weekend?

jesse

jesse

jesse & hobbs

it was a sad day on the island yesterday. we had to put one of our dogs to sleep. we noticed a couple of weeks ago he was limping. he had done this before a long time ago. he had jumped out of the back of the officer's truck and landed on his shoulder (crazy dog). it turned out his shoulder was just inflamed. they gave him a shot and medicine and that seemed to work.

this time we made an appointment with the vet. by the time the appointment came around, jesse could hardly walk. we had to bring him his food. however, he never seemed like he was in pain and he never became grumpy or mean toward the kids.

the officer and the kids took him to the vet. when the vet checked him out, he noticed a large tumor on jesse's shoulder. he decided to take x-rays and do some tests. it turned out jesse had a tumor on his shoulder, in his lungs and somewhere else. he had a bacterial infection in his blood and all his lymph nodes were enlarged. the officer asked if there was anything we could do and the vet said, "if you had a million dollars you could extend his life for a couple more months, but that's it."

jesse was about 13 years old i think. the officer and i got him from second chance. we went to wal-mart one afternoon, and second chance had their adopt-a-thon going on. it was a 72 hour event. they stayed in a field by wal-mart for the whole 72 hours so people could play with and adopt the dogs. we went just to see what it was and left with jesse.

we think jesse may have been abused by a man with a stick of some sort at some point in his puppy life because he would freak out any time he saw a man (other than the officer) with a stick. jesse was a watch dog. in our first house, we lived close by a school that had a huge field. jesse loved running in that field. mostly he loved just hanging out with the officer. jesse hated thunderstorms. when we lived in our old house, the officer was in the shed working on his motorcycle. it was raining and the thunder clapped so loud it shook our house. it sounded like an explosion. ever since then jesse has not liked thunderstorms or thunder. he knows not to come in the house, but when it rained, he would try to see if we'd let him in. when our kids came along, he kind of just tolerated them. he didn't know what to make of these small humans. however, i am sure my daughter won his heart over. even after he bit her when she grabbed his rawhide, she still loved him. this past week jesse would just wag his tail and lay down when the kids came over to love on him. my daughter took the picture at the top of the post of jesse last week.

we'll miss you jesse.

the officer saves the day - for our dog at least

so if you are wondering if the strawberry shortcake stamp you get in the mcdonalds happy meal can get stuck in your dogs teeth and the officer will have to come home from work to get it off - it can and he will.

my daughter went out to play this morning. she took her stamp outside. when she dropped it, our dog, jesse, picked it up probably thinking it was possible food. when he bit down on it, it got stuck on his teeth. my daughter ran in and told me jesse had the stamp in his mouth. when i looked in jesse's mouth, i realized his teeth had gone through the stamp and was stuck. i tried to pry it off, but i couldn't get it. i generally don't like to stick my hands in their mouths. jesse is old and he doesn't trust anyone completely except the officer.



i called he officer - interrupted his breakfast panera bread - and advised him of the situation. he came right home. he just put his thumb between the top of jesse's mouth and the stamp and popped it off. yeah for the officer! jesse is fine, except for maybe a new dislike for strawberries.

the officer, hobbs (left) and jesse (right)

fall festivities and daddy/daughter date nights

today has been a good day. the kids slept in - always a good thing. i took my son to tae kwon do. we came home and cleaned house. always nice to have a clean house.

we had all planned to attend a fall festival at a local church. however, my brother in law called me and told me about a daddy/daughter date night at chick-fil-a. you had to call and make reservations. i made a reservation for them at 5:30 p.m. they had missed their ice cream date on the officer's last days off so this would be perfect. they were both very excited about it.

my daughter wore a cute little pink and brown striped dress. the officer and my daughter arrived promptly at 5:30 p.m. there was a little mix-up in the reservation time, but it was worked out. when they arrived, they were greeted by two men in tuxedos - yes tuxedos! they were shown to their table. there was a section of the restaurant closed off for all the daddy & daughters. their section was under a big red and white balloon arch. the tables had tables clothes. they were given menus and their orders brought to their tables. on their tables were mats. the mats had a poem about daddies being their daughter's heros, questions for the dads & daughters to ask each other, and tic tac toe games. as they waited for their food, a magician came around to the table and performed a couple of tricks for them and gave my daughter a balloon dog. they put their food away and were brought ice cream sundaes. as they left, they gave my daughter a chick-fil-a cow and a rose. so sweet!

















meanwhile, my son and i attended the fall festival. i don't get to hang out with my son all by myself that often. we were able to go around to all the games and activities they had and do whatever we wanted. they had hayrides every 15 minutes that took us to a local park, where they had smores. my son saw the trucks and hayride trailers get onto the actual street. he asked me, "do they had seatbelts on those hayrides because they are the street!" he was very nervous while we drove down the street. however, the park was a nice break from the loud crowds at the festival. my son made sure he won some prizes for his sister. even though she got a balloon dog from chick-fil-a, he got her a balloon monkey climbing a tree.

the officer and my daughter were finished by 6 p.m. so they joined us at the festival. it was nice to wind down the evening with them.

riding the dirt bike

the officer took my son to the lake to ride their dirt bike trails. i was nervous for both of them. of course my son cannot shift gears so he stays in first and goes pretty slow. however, this was his first time on a dirt track. he had a great time spending the day with his dad. there's a video at the bottom of this post - you can see how slow he goes. ricky carmichael in the making. :)

he's pretty excited - can you tell? he's unloading his bike.

10 year anniversary

today marks my 10 year anniversary with the officer. it has just flown by. we can't quite remember what we did before we had children. i guess that's the way it goes for everyone with kids.

i've been so amazed at what all God has done in our lives. how He has blessed, protected, and provided for us.

you can read about how i met the officer here, and this year's valentine's day post about the officer here, and this year's father's day post about the officer here.

i was trying to remember some of the old days stories about when we were dating or married and before kids but it's hard to remember all that stuff. here's what i came up with so far. only a few are before marriage and kids. i was trying to come up with 10 since it's our 10 year anniversary. we'll see what i can come up with.

1. when we first started dating, i was doing my student teaching. it was at my alma mater so it was all the way across town. on my first day of student teaching, i came home to my little condo i shared with my sister. there were a dozen red roses on the kitchen table wrapped in plastic. i saw them, but did "look" at them because i thought they were for my sister. she had a very serious boyfriend (or they were engaged - can't remember at this point), so i thought they were for her. it wasn't until my sister got home and she looked at the flower that we realized they were for me from the officer. he just sent them to wish me a "happy first day of student teaching".

2. on valentine's day that same year, i was still student teaching at the same school. he sent up a huge (and when i say huge i mean one of those 2ft. by 1 1/2 ft. cards) card, 3 red roses, and an orange crush with a note attached that said "i have a "crush" on you".

3. i had used to have an husky/mix dog named tate. we wanted to get another dog for tate to play with. right by our house was a wal-mart. every year second chance would set up their adopt-a-thon in the field by the wal-mart. we went down there to just "look" at the dogs. we came home with jesse, our 12 year old dog. we realized the next year, we could not go to wal-mart while the adopt-a-thon was going one because we would go down there and we would adopt another dog.

4. when i had my son 7 weeks early, the officer was able to stay home with me. with the way his work schedule is set up, 8 days on and 6 days off, he was able to take two sets off. he was home with me a whole month after i had our son. since our son was in the nicu we were able to make trips up to the hospital every day several times a day. the officer's favorite time to go feed our son was at night. we were so blessed with meals from our sunday school class for most of that time. we were so excited to start our family. by the time my son was able to come home (only two weeks after delivery) i was feeling physically great and well-rested.

5. when i was pregnant with my daughter, i craved braums peanut butter cup ice cream. have you had it? it's the best but very rich! however, when i was pregnant, i couldn't get enough of it. i asked him one night to go get me some ice cream and he went to 3 different braums to find me some. okay this is the crazy part, i was on a waiting list at braums for the peanut butter cup ice cream. i know! i went in there once to purchase the ice cream and they were out. the lady said, "we have a waiting list for the peanut butter ice cream you know. when it comes in, we will call everyone on the waiting list. if someone says they want it, we will put back a carton for you." what? are you kidding - yeah put me on that waiting list. in case you are wondering, i'm not still on the list. after i had my daughter, the ice cream tasted different to me. it's still wonderful, but i can't handle all that richness/sugar anymore.

6. the officer deals with all the burnt, not quite right, something's funky, down right disastrous meals i have made. he puts up with taco salad (used to be once a week - now once every 2 - 2 1/2 weeks).

7. as i said before i am amazing God saved him for me. i was put on the steps of a police department when i was two days old half way around the world and God saved another police officer in the united states to take care of me for the rest of my life.
and i always said i would never marry a military man or police officer. he was in the national guard when i met him and a police officer when i married him. tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor. He says, "not your plans, my plans" and what do you know, they always work out for the best.

8. i have the greatest pleasure of being able to stay at home and homeschool my children. i realize this is a blessing. i realize not everyone who would like to do this is in the position to be able to do this. the officer works very hard, so i can stay home. when we first started dating, i mentioned "homeschooling". the officer was leery, but open. as time went by, he knew it was the best for our family. i am so happy he had an open heart and that God softened it. we make certain sacrifices (and i kind of hate to use that word because we would make the same choice every time) to live on one income. God has provided beyond measure for us. every time we need something financially, God provides. not every want, but every need. it's taken care of. i may shop the clearance racks, garage sales, consignment sales, and use coupons but for those of you who also do you know this is fun. it's so awesome when you find a great deal.

9. our families are the greatest. both our families. i love my in-laws. the officer brought a great family into my life. his parents have been married 37 years. i knew i would marry someone who's parents had stayed married. i was always drawn to that. the way the officer is with our kids (which is amazing) is an extension of how his family is. they would give you the shirt off their back. they are the most generous people - with everything. the officer's parents have completely embraced grandparenthood (is that a word?). my family is the best also, but i had always known that. both our families are big "family" people. we enjoy spending time with each other. we are both close to our families. we both enjoy spending time with the other's families. i wanted our kids to grow up with their cousins, and having a ton of memories with their grandparents. i have fond memories of spending time with my grandmothers. one of my grandmas always had pink stick gum in her purse. i can't remember the brand, but she always had some and she always gave us a piece of it. silly stuff like that - i want my kids to have a ton of those. so when i met the officer and i saw how close he was with his family i was immediately drawn toward him. i hope we are showing our children how valuable family is.

10. i made it to 10. i am not sure of what else to say though. it's been 10 years. we've had 2 kids and 1 lost baby. we've had 4 fish, 1 turtle, and 3 dogs. we've had 2 houses, 6 cars, 3 dirtbikes, and 1 boat. we've had great health. i don't know what God has in store for us in the next 50 years, but i can't wait to find out.

EEK - there's a mouse in the house!!!

i was sitting in a recliner in my front room a couple of nights ago. you can see into my kitchen from where i was sitting. out of the corner of my eye, i see movement. i turn, but there's nothing there. no big deal. about 30 minutes later, the same thing. movement - nothing there. i think it could be a spider. we get those. so i go into the kitchen to look, but i don't see anything. again, about 30 minutes later, i actually see a little brown/grey mouse run across my floor!!!

"OFFICER - THERE'S A MOUSE IN OUR KITCHEN!!! it ran under the stove!!!!!!!!!"

the officer comes into the kitchen and checks under the stove and refrigerator, but sees nothing. oh and now that he's pulled the refrigerator and stove out we have to clean both appliances and under them. not how i was planning on spending my evening.

when i was in college and lived in a much older house, i had mice. my roommate, j, took care of them for me as i was sitting on the arm of the couch screaming. yes - i'm not typically very girly, but i will scream high and shrill when i see a mouse. j didn't particularly like taking care of the mice, but she would do it. i wasn't above letting her.

anyhow, when we had mice back then, we would see mouse droppings on the floor and chewed up corners of boxes. i had seen none of this, so i had no evidence that we had a mouse or that it had been in the house for long. although with a 6 and 4 year old, it's not unusual for food to be on the floor. i didn't think the mouse had been in the house for more than a day. i have been up late maybe 3 of the last 5 nights and had seen nothing. then in one night i see the mouse scurrying across my floor 3 times.

well neither the officer, nor i, wanted to head to wal-mart at 10:30 p.m., so we decided to wait until tomorrow to set traps. i'm sure the nice, sweet, non-rabid mouse went into it's little mouse house until 5 a.m. when our house started stirring. it probably didn't eat the crushed up goldfish crackers on the carpet.

the officer got up, got ready, and left for work. the kids wake up at 6:30 a.m. i wake up at 6:30 a.m. i go into my bathroom and the mouse runs from behind my toilet and dashes across the floor. the mouse is slipping as it is trying to get away from the big asian giant screaming like a girl. he is trying to get away from me but his little feet can't move fast enough. since i am frozen, screaming, he has time to get into the linen closet. i am not sure who was more scared: the woman who found a mouse in her bathroom or the mouse listening to the big asian woman screaming! yes - i screamed like a girl, but i was not distracted. i moved like lightening to grab a towel and stuffed it under the opening of the closet door. the mouse is trapped until the officer gets home to catch it.

when the officer comes home, he prepares to catch the mouse. he gets his big blue trash can, some pieces of sheet rock, and a broom. i ask him if we can all watch him catch the mouse. he said he doesn't care. my son gets his plastic shotgun so he can shoot it if it gets away. i stuff towels under the bathroom and the officer's closet door so the mouse can't escape into the rest of the house or the maze that is my husband's closet. me and my two kids are perched up on the bathroom cabinets watching the officer set his trap.


the officer puts the trash can at the opening of the linen closet door with the pieces of sheetrock on the sides. he's hoping the mouse will just run right into the blue trashcan. the officer pulls open the door and nothing happens. i do see tufts of green on the floor. tufts of green where the mouse has spent it's day trying to chew through the green towel i had put under the door opening! if i had know the mouse could have chewed through the towel i would have much more freaked out waiting for the officer to get home!

we have air mattresses, sleeping bags, blankets, sheets, and LINEN things in our linen closet. the officer sees some mouse droppings on top a pile of blankets. he realizes we are going to have to go through all the blankets. he take out each sleeping bag (2), each air mattress (4), each comforter (1), each blanket (2), and starts on the sets of sheets.

the first set of sheets that he shakes out, the mouse falls out. we all scream (which is echoing very loudly with all the doors shut), the officer drops the sheet, and the mouse is running around like crazy in the linen closet. the officer takes his broom and guides him into the blue trashcan. he lifts the trashcan up and we all take a look. the mouse is actually kind of cute. however, the mouse is jumping up the side of the trashcan about 18 inches. i didn't know they could jump that high. my son runs out to the shed the to get the lid for the trashcan.

the officer and my kids take the mouse to the field by our house (the same field where we released our turtle), and released the mouse. now i am washing all the blankets and the sheets the mouse could have been on.

oh the fun we have on our little island!

daddy/daughter day

as i mentioned yesterday, it was a long day. however, today is a new day. i see the sun peeking through my blinds - which as you know has been a rarity these days.

my son is still asleep - i guess he's pretty exhausted from yesterday also. it was a very, very long day for him. i don't think he went to sleep until about 10 p.m., which is very late for him.

the officer and my daughter are having a daddy/daughter day. they are going to eat breakfast at the cracker barrel and the head to the officer's parent's lake place. they are going to do a little fishing. i think it's too cold to swim. the officer is going to winterize the boat. she has been waiting and waiting for this. when papa was working on the lake place, the officer and my son went down there for the day. the officer also took my son to grandma's place to ride dirtbikes one day. so my daughter has not let the officer forget it's her turn to spend the day with daddy. i love it how the officer makes the time to spend with the kids. there are a ton of other things he could do, but he tries really hard to make sure he spends time with them when he is not working.

so it's just me and my son today. if you are wondering, i did tell him he has to do school today also. we'll see how it goes. since he's so tired, it really could go either way. he's yet to wake up.

i'm going to choose good thoughts today. i'm thanking the Lord everyone came out relatively unscathed yesterday. i'm thanking the Lord the officer gave me a quick break to go get the vanilla coke from sonic - yes that's worth thanking the Lord.