If...

If my house is always about 20 minutes from being company-ready... why don't I just keep it always company-ready? Hmmm...

I find myself doing the 20 minute clean up just before I know that someone is coming over, or just before Rob gets home from work. Our house is never dirty, but it's never usually all picked up either. But it's never more than a few minutes from picked up. I generally just need to put stuff from the living room back into it's proper room, do a quick sweep of Leeann's floor for her toys, pick clothes and towels up off of bathroom floors and do a few dishes and a quick counter swipe. Maybe take a few minutes to make the beds. Not more than 20 minutes worth of work, so why don't I just keep it done all of the time? It's a question worth pondering...

Trying so hard...

Titus is trying so hard to roll over, he just can't quite manage though! He was upstairs in his room playing with a toy and I was sure he was going to make it, but no such luck! That boy smiles like crazy, it's so sweet.

Leeann is watching Blue's Clues... again. I think it's becoming an obsession! I think it's because Steve looks like her dad :0) I'm already planning a Blue's Clues Birthday party and she won't be three until July! Okay, I'm not planning it, I'm just thinking about how to make her special cake. I'll probably order a Blue's Clues cake pan on-line, they are pretty cute. I have a goal to make my kid's Birthday cakes as long as they'll let me. Titus already has a John Deere Tractor pan waiting for his 1st Birthday. I've only made a couple of cakes, but I enjoy doing it a lot, and I even got some special tips for my birthday this year.

I got one more box unpacked today. That felt nice. We only have a couple of them left, but they are boxes that have contents inside that don't have a specific home and that makes me have little motivation to unpack them!

I'm reading a book called "Cure for the Common Life... living in your sweet spot". It's a good book so far, I recommend it! Eroica and I are going through it trying to best figure out what our roles in the business should be. It'll be fun!

Well, I should probably do something. Anything really, I'll write more when there's more to write!

Leeann's New Friends

I have the feeling we're in for it! My daughter is so incredibly social it's almost funny!

Today I went to take thank you notes to some neighbors who had dropped cookies by the other day (I was sad, I wasn't home). So I got to meet to neat young moms in the neighborhood along with some of their children. Well Miss Leeann made some new friends and didn't want to leave, she was having WAY too much fun. So I let her stay and play for a little while and when Miss Jodi brought her home she was just crying and crying when I opened the door. She didn't want to come home, she just wanted to stay and play!

Hopefully when Titus gets old enough to play with Leeann, she'll be more inclined to like being home :0) She loves people a lot... if you've met her you know what I'm talking about! She's got to be the sweetest little girl I ever did meet, I'm so glad God trusted her to us!

SPA DAY!!!

Wait, I do have something good to write about...

The ladies in my church pitch in every year to purchase a gift, usually a gift certificate of some sort, to give to the Pastor's wives on their Birthday. We typically get together for breakfast or dinner somewhere and have a ladies get-together/party. Well, this year it was a little late (yesterday... over a month after my actual Birthday, but who's counting!) and we had breakfast at Elmer's. Strawberry crepes with ice cream on top... yummy! Anyway, I got a $150 gift certificate to a local day spa. Hello, can we say COOLEST GIFT IN THE WHOLE WORLD?!?!? I'm SOOOO excited! I can get a massage, facial, manicure and a cosmetic touch up. I'm not sure what a cosmetic touch up is... but that's okay!

Bottom line is that it's a gift I would never think to get get myself, but I'm grateful that somebody else did! I can't wait to spend the day at the spa, I've always wondered what that would be like, and soon--I will find out!

Daddy's Little Girl

I think every little girl ought to be a "daddy's girl". Maybe I think that because I was a daddy's girl too. Leeann loves her daddy. She very obviously adores him, and he adores her more than I ever could have imagined. Rob just took her out in the yard and they picked me some fresh daffodils to adorn my kitchen table! There's just something about pretty flowers that brighten my day! Now they are on a walk, which they also love to do together. Leeann started loving to be 'working' in the yard with daddy because she would get strawberries for her payment. Now our strawberries belong to somebody else though *tear*. We'll have to get some more. We loved to pick strawberries and put them on top of our homemade ice cream all smothered with chocolate syrup. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Titus seems to get bigger and bigger everyday. He'll be four months old soon, that's hard to imagine! It really seems like just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting his arrival. He likes to play in his excer-saucer and he smiles ALL THE TIME! I think he's going to be an optomistic little guy. His eyes are still blue, but they still have a fleck of brown in them so I'm curious if they will change color just yet. We'll see. He still drools and spits up a lot, that's to be expected!

I'm beginning to start working on Vacation Bible School for this year. I'm excited about it, but I know I'm going to have to be diligent with the time that I have to make sure that I'm getting everything done that needs to be done. I have my hands in several pots right now--it just always seems to happen that way. Truthfully though, I enjoy being busy. As I write all of this I feel like I'm repeating myself. Something tells me that if I look back at my last couple of posts, much of this might be in there. Oh well. I guess I don't have much to write about! And with that... I'm out...

Baby Joel's Surgery

Baby Joel had open-heart surgery on the 17th of March and he's doing very well. He is 4.5 months old and from all appearances the surgery seems to have been a success. I am excited for Toby and Stephanie to be able to move ahead in their lives with confidence--there have been a lot of unknowns up to this point. Joel is a fighter though, and I'm convinced that God has big plans for his life! Toby and Steph would still appreciate your prayers as he heals and recovers. I'll keep you updated.

Not Much Going on Here

I haven't posted in a while mainly because there's not a whole lot to post about! That's unusual for our crazy lives, but kind of nice!

Titus is trying hard to roll-over but he just can't make it yet. He's doing a really good job of sitting up when someone's holding him and he has really good head control. Everyone wants their kid to hit all of the major mile-stones early (rolling-over, crawling, walking, talking etc.) but I'm kind of hoping Titus is a little late on getting going. I like the fact that when I set him somewhere, he stays there--it makes my life easier! I know I don't have much longer to enjoy the freedom of this stage though, but I'll milk it for all it's worth! And I don't really hope that he's late, it would just make my job significantly easier though, and who doesn't want the easy way? Titus is sleeping well through the night on most nights, typically waking up somewhere between 7 and 9, but sometimes even 10! He's stopped fighting the swaddle, so that seems to be helping a bit. I had a random 3 am wake-up call the other day and I felt like I had been cheated or something!

Leeann is as gorgeous and gorgeous can be! She's so precious and she loves her little brother so much. She smoothers him with hugs and kisses and sometimes puts things near him so he can 'play' with her. She talks to him as if he understands her and I think that's precious. I stuck him in the bath with her the other day and she thought that was the greatest thing in the whole world! She's talking up a storm these days and will randomly belt out her numbers (1-10) or start singing Jesus Loves Me, or start yelling "No tickle daddy, no tickle", which of course means "tickle me daddy, tickle me!" Those two can run around the house chasing each other and teasing each other for a good hour on some days. She's definately a daddy's girl, she loves him so much and the feelings are most definately returned! It's fun to watch them play...

I'm still enjoying working with Precious Portraits and I look forward to learning more and more about photography. I'm anxious to get my own camera, but haven't figured out which one to buy yet--I'll have to do some more research.

I am directing this year's Vacation Bible School again at our church. I really need to sit down and just diligently put some time into getting it off the ground for the year. I'm hoping it will be far easier to plan this year since I already have a year of planning under my belt. This is one of my favorite times of the year, VBS is so exciting for the kids and workers, and for our church as a whole!

Well, my dear sweet Leeann is 'all done' with her cereal so I must be signing off now. I hope your Monday is fantastic and I'll try to post more short snippets of fun soon!

Robyn

Good Stuff

I've been listening to a CD set over the last couple of days titled Purpose Driven Children's Ministry Conference on CD. It's so inspiring! It's the Saddleback Children's Ministry Conference in its entirety on CD and it's GOOD!!! It challenges the way I think about church, how we do church, why we do church and what church looks like through the eyes of kids. There's so much information it's hard to process it all. There are hours and hours worth of the conference, and I think I could listen to it 10 times and still only grasp the tip of what they do. I won't bore you with details because I'm guessing you're not all that interested... but if you are involved in children's ministry I would like to challenge you to get ahold of this cd set and listen to it. If you go to my church by all means ask me for it and I'll let you borrow it!

That has little to do with what's in my nest, other than the fact that because I have been listening to it so have my kids :0)

Titus is drooling a lot. A whole lot! It's kind of gross... but I love him anyway! He's growing by leaps and bounds and he's doing a really good job of sitting up with just a little bit of support. He smiles all day every day and he's just a happy little camper.

Leeann is learning to have her own will more and more. I'm happy about that, but it makes my life a bit more difficult! She's testing the line of obedience more frequently... just seeing what she can get away with. I have to be on my toes because I know I need to let her express herself and learn by testing us, but I also need to be consistent so that she knows that even though she's 'growing up' that she still has rules that she needs to obey and that she still needs to be kind. She's started kind of yelling when she talks. I doubt she's intending to be rude, but it comes across that way so we're trying to encourage her to speak kindly. She's a sweet little girl and she really is growing up so fast. I can't imagine how quickly their childhood is going to fly by. I like the stage that my family is at right now, this is a good place to be!

My Sweet Little Children

He did it mommy... No, mommy, she did it!

My mommy thinks I'm the best looking kid in town!

My mommy says I'm a princess... can't you tell?

I Need Marriage Advice...

Yeah, I thought that would get you reading further! Rob and I are doing pre-marriage counseling for a young couple starting tonight and I was wondering if you (again, whoever YOU are?) could give me your top piece of marital advice? You could maybe even throw in a funny story of what NOT to do in a marriage? I only have one marriage worth of experience to share, so I think it would be fun to maybe pass along other tid-bits of marital advice that you have found helpful.

Click on the comments link beneath this post and it will bring a page by which you can comment on. If you are not a blogger you can sign in under 'other' and leave your message. I hope to hear from you!

My Little Ones

Leeann seems to be feeling much better and she has kept down all of her food for the last 24 hours. We've only given her little bits, but she seems to be in a much better mood today.

My kids slept from 11-9. THE WHOLE TIME! I finally went up to check on them because I was a little worried. That's about twice as long as Titus normally sleeps without waking up to eat. I didn't mind too much, I enjoyed the extra sleep myself!

Titus moved up to 3-6 month clothes finally! I went 'shopping' in his closet and pulled out a whole new wardrobe thanks to aunt Suzy who passed along her boys' clothes. THANKS AUNT SUZY! I found some very, very cute new clothes for Titus! I am going to miss some of the old favorites however, but I guess that's part of life eh?

I've been a little worried about Leeann being afraid to go upstairs by herself. So today I left her up there and put on a Veggie Tales CD for her to listen to and I came downstairs to do some work in the kitchen. I was hoping she'd stay up there for a while. I got a little worried when I couldn't hear her music anymore. I went up there and noticed she had shut the door, which I was really surprised about. When I opened the door I saw that she was 'feeding' her baby. Of course she needs privacy when doing such a thing! I'm glad she feels comfortable up there by herself, but I hope she doesn't continue to nurse her babies forever. Hopefully we'll start all of our 'babies' on solid foods before too long? Hopefully her babies will grow out of nursing when Titus does!

Well, there's still lot's to do around here, including figure out what to do with memory lane. Rob walked in last night and Titus was in his swing surrounded by wadded up newspaper. He brilliantly said to me, "So, Titus has been reading the paper eh"? Yup, it's our attempt at trying to make our kids smart!

A Giant Trip Down Memory Lane

Three boxes marked 'fragile' somehow made it into our foyer during the move. They were boxes that I had packed up from my aunt's house where I was living, just before Rob and I got married. These boxes contain many great memories for me... but what on earth do you do with it all?

You'll laugh at some of these trinkets from my pre-college life:

Snow Globes--several of them. I love snow globes, they have lovely music. I realize now that the ones that I have collected are somewhat cheap, because they didn't survive being wrapped in newspaper very well. They aren't quite as colorful as they once were!

Ceramics--lots and lots of ceramics. I found my 'early' ceramics that were made without a wheel. They appear to be from my 8th grade crafts class. I have some from my junior or senior year that show far more skill. I have some bowls and cups. Nothing worth noting really, just random trinket holders.

Graduation Box--ah, the memories! In it I found my announcements, the program, my honors medal, two sets of cords, and my cap. I found a box of graduation cards that people had sent me. Most included cash at one point, ah, it would be nice to retrieve some of that now! I also found a really neat plaque that is titled "Louie Abrams Award". This was presented to me for being the most inspirational senior girl at St. Helens High School. I will always treasure that one. It's funny how big of a day graduation seemed, and now it just seems like silly ole memories--no big deal. Oh, how I remember it being a big deal though!

Cheerleading Uniform--I'm not even going to humor myself by trying it on! Yes, there was a short stint of time in which I was a cheerleader. It only lasted a season and I wasn't any good anyway. Please refrain from teasing me for this!

Tiarra's--from the Port O Fun. I know, the port o fun sounds silly, and it is. It's a carnival and parade that comes to town every year. I was Port O Fun queen my sophomore year. I have a princess tiarra, a queen tiarra and a sceptor too. I got to do the little princess wave from the back of a really nice car, loads of fun. Again, a big deal back then, but something almost worth laughing about now!

Trophy's--one from 1993. It was a cheetah trophy from my early soccer years. We were the cheetah's, loads of fun, so many memories! I also have a 2nd place speed for the AWANA grand prix and a trophy from when I was in a beauty pageant when I was 8. I know, gag me with another spoon! Hey, I was 4th runner up, that's gotta say something right? Looking back at the pictures of the 5 winners it really doesn't mean much. Really. Maybe you can contribute that to being in the late 80's or early 90's, but I'm guessing the judging wasn't solely on looks!

Random Things--lot's of glass items. I found a china tea cup and saucer, an antique jewelry box, and some other crazy things I couldn't describe if I tried!

So, there you have it, my trip down memory lane. Now I have to figure out what to do with it all! Is it worth boxing back up so that I can get some time down memory lane next time we move? It seems silly. I don't want to throw it away though. We'll see. For now, I've got to go deal with the pile of newspaper that's knee high in my living room now!

All Moved In

HOUSE

So, we're officially all moved in. Not unpacked, but all moved in! We LOVE our new house, we are both very very happy with our purchase. It already is such a blessing! I would change a few cosmetic things, but I can't think of a single floor-plan thing that I would change as of yet. We really do love it! The floors are in and beautiful. We've decided that we will sand or strip and restain the foyer instead of replacing it. And since we have left over laminate now, we may do our bedroom at some point. The floors are GORGEOUS!

SICK

Leeann has been throwing up for the last 30 hours or so. It makes me sad to see her sick. She's just been laying on the couch watching movies and hanging out. So far she's thrown up on the kitchen floor, on her Pooh blanket, in the middle of Burgerville (all over her, the bench, the floor, then some came off of her clothes into the bathroom), on the towel protecting the couch, and a couple of times in the garbage can thanks to mommy or daddy catching on to an episode about to take place! Hopefully she'll get better soon. I've been doing lots of throw up laundry. I can't imagine what Rebekah's (see my links) mommy and daddy have been going through for the last year. Rebekah often needs clothing changes and sheet changes in the middle of the night... but hopefully that part of their life is now over!

BABIES

Well, two of my friends, Jennifer and Becky are in the hospital about to have babies. Or maybe they've already had them and I just haven't gotten word yet. I'm anxious to hear how they and their babies are doing. I'm so excited for both of them. It's funny because I feel like I can't sympathize with them. I knew exactly when my baby would be born and I knew it would take about 30 minutes from first cut to sew-up and I knew I wouldn't feel pain. They've just been waiting and agonizing and curious (Is today the day? What will the pain feel like? Can I handle it?) I'll never be able to fully understand!

Well, I should be going, just wanted to leave my curious readers with a little update!

Almost Done... Kind Of

We are almost done with the flooring. I say that as if I'm helping, when I'm just 'she who delivers food'! However, we are only almost done with the flooring in the living room and dining room. We are considering leaving the current foyer/bathroom floor which is hard wood and sanding and varnishing it to match the pergo. It would save a great deal of hassle if that's a possibility. If we do that however, we will have probably a good $200-$300 worth of flooring that we can't take back because we opened it to dry it out. Oh well, maybe we'll find something else to do with it!

Approximately 18 hours til the church moving crew comes in and hauls everything out of here. I look around and there's still so much last minute stuff to pack. Tomorrow's going to be a full-full day for me. I just realized a few minutes ago that we are almost out of boxes. First thing on the list tomorrow... get some more! It's so hard to do what needs to get done with kids everywhere. This might sound kind of silly but I dread going anywhere because getting the kids in and out of the van is somewhat painful. Titus is heavy in his carseat and cumbersome to carry for such a little gal like me. Such is life though, such is life!

I'm so excited to get moved into our new house. I still can't imagine in my head where everything will go but I guess we'll see tomorrow. Wow, this is our last night in this house. I really have far more things that I ought to be doing than blogging to who knows who? I really have no idea who reads my blog... but hello whoever you are! I hope your day is great and hey, maybe I'll see some of you tomorrow to help us move? My current house, 6:00! If your really bored, you might even help me clean up this place after everything's moved out? I'm really dreading that part, but I know it's important to leave it in great shape... I'd want that done for me. So, with that being said, I'm off to bed--or packing--or something!

Flooring Snafoo's

My daddy and Tasha and my little brother and sister came down last night to redo the flooring in my new foyer and living room/dining room. Right now he's trying to trouble shoot some issues... of course things can't go off without a hitch!

Currently the carpet is ripped up, but it needs some Kilz painted over some spots where dog's have marked their territory in the living room. No big deal, but a little money and a little time.

The flooring that is now exposed in the living room is far lower than the kitchen or foyer (which has the 1/2 bath and laundry off of it). So do we bite the bullet, pay some money and put boards down on the living room and dining room floor to raise it? Then what about the fireplace that'll sit lower than the flooring? Or do you just have little steps up into the kitchen and foyer or bathroom depending on where we tear that floor up at. If we tear the foyer up before laying the new stuff down then we have to tear up the bathroom but then the toilet is slightly exposed. I don't really understand much of this, I'm just relaying the little I know.

Rob and I made a big mistake. We picked up the flooring from Costco on Monday night and loaded it in the rain and then left it in our friends truck, which is covered. But apparently there was a lot of moisture on the flooring which caused some of them to warp, potentially all of them (which would be a LOT of wasted money!) We dried them out the best we could, but we won't know what kind of damage was done until my dad starts laying th floor. That could have been a very expensive mistake on our part! It's okay, our new house has a money tree in the back right?

Well, I need to get ready for my day and go help my daddy deal with more flooring snafoos!