Why are people hatin' on me at the pool?

What is up with the bitter moms at the pool lately? I mean is it the heat getting to them or something? Last night I get to the pool with Morgan & Ryanne and I sit down on a bench in between my friend and some lady I do not know. Now it is like 100 degress still and I had been out all day with my aunt trying to find a bathing suit for the summer. I was hot, tired and after small talk and just laughing a bit at the kids I had pretty much gone to my happy place and zoned out. Let me set the scene for you: Ryanne is sitting on her towel at my feet playing with her friend and waiting for her class time. With as much excitement that a 3 year old can muster up she exclaims,"WE ARE GOING TO LEGO LAND FOR BIRTHDAY IN JULY!"

grumpy lady: "I HATE that place!!"
me: "hate? really?"
grumpy lady: "yes HATE! Have you ever been there?"
me: "uummm no not yet."
grumpy lady: "Oh I HATE it!" (again with the hate) "All there is to do is walk around and look at Legos EVERYWHERE!"
me: (thinking to myself of course) henc the name Lego Land"Well, our entire family adores Legos so we should have fun."
grumpy lady: staring at me as if I had two heads.
me: uummmm.......(akward silence) yes we play legos all the time and the girls will sit for hours together creating things.
grumpy lady: "well then, you will like it I guess."

Flash back a week with me if you will. Morgan has been complaining about this older boy on her team who has been calling her stupid names and picking on her. I told her to ignore him cause boys will do that when they want your attention. I said,"it wont be the last time a boy thinks you are cute and calls you names. Its twisted sister but get used to it!"

ok, flash back forward to last night. Still sitting by the grumpy lady who I do not know. but is bent on being negative to me for whatever reason.

Morgan: "mom, you know that boy I keep telling you about?" he kept kicking my gear away from the edge of the pool so I couldnt reach it and calling me baby etc.

grumpy lady: "oh, you mean that boy right there?"

Morgan: "yeesssss"
(you see where this is going right? If not let me help you, it's her FREAKIN' kid!)

Morgan: not putting the two together says,"well, so anyway mom he keeps moving my gear and calling me names and I am trying to ignore him like you said."

Me: uncomfortable movement on the bench wanting the night to be over. "it's ok Morgan just let it go ok?"

grumpy lady: "Morgan, do you know why he keeps calling you baby and beef jerky?"

Morgan: "uummmmm, no"

grumpy lady: "because you called him a jerk the other night so at least he is being nice to you!"

Me: ok, now you've crossed the line lady, so I am going to step in cause Morgan looks at me like what the heck? "Morgan, did you call him a jerk?"

Morgan: no mommy I didnt. I swear.

Me: good enough. I believe your word. Glare at the women for not being mature enough to ask if Morgan did that as apposed to accusing her.

A side note. The kid is coming right up to Morgan in front of his mom and picking on her still! HEEELLOOOOOOO! The kid is in like 6th grade. Morgan is 7! I mean give me a break. Oh and his little sister walks up and starts picking on Morgans friend. So my friend and I finally say" no more, knock it off!"

I have a little tip for grumpy lady and all you other parents who want to blame others for your kids behavior (oh and no I dont think my kids are perfect by any measure, read previous posts.) But I do believe I know their character and when they tell me they didnt do something I believe them unless I have reason not to . Back to the future jail birds. Now is the time to teach your kids that they are responsible for their own behavior. They cant go throug life pointing fingers at other kids for the reason they did something. Because if they do F.Y.I the judge will be pointing his finger at them someday and at you and saying "you really should have nipped this in the butt sooner!" There, all my parenting wisdom rolled into one post. Run with it if you will.

Last but not least. I wanted to update you on Ryanne and her swimming. She is doing so much better. She was made to apologize last week to each coach and instructor and tell them why she was sorry and that her behavior was not ok. She has been very obedient since then and also VERY proud of herself and what she is accomplishing. Honestly I think more proud of her behavior than she is of her attempts at swimming. :) Have a good one and today parent with intention.

Happy Father's Day Dan

Dan worked this weekend but we baked his crew an apple pie and delivered it after church. I was thinking at 6:30 am this morning that I hoped I had not missed any ingredients or anything trying to throw together a pie that early. Word has it that all the guys loved it and nobody has gotten sick from it yet. ;)

Below you will see a list of reasons why Dan is an amazing Dad. Now I know you all think your husband is the best dad in the world and that is good; we can share the title but dont go and copy my list, make your own! :)

1. He is patient and kind when I am not.

2. He plays barbies and dress up with the girls.

3. After barbie and eating fake tea party food he teaches them how to hit a baseball & drive a go kart.

4. He is consistant in his rules and discipline.

5. the nights he is home he sits in the girls rooms and prays with them individually.

6. he cooks (oh I threw that one in for me) :)

7. He leaves work at home.

8. he takes the girls on "dates" to show them how they should be treated.

9. he laughs that big belly laugh till' you cry at himself so the girls know its ok to laugh at yourself.

10. He LOVES the Lord and loves truth. He admits when he is wrong. He is humble. He is constant and he is faithful to his family.

Now the reasons I am thankful for my heavenly father:

1. He is the one constant in my life that I never have to worry about letting me down.

2. He is so great that when I deserve to be punished he often shows me mercy.

3. When I do need to be corrected he loves me enough to show me the right way.

4. He loves me uncondtionally. He loves me the way he created me but desires me to grow in him and be so much more to glorify him.

5. I can do nothing apart from hm.

6. He gives life abundtly.

7. My God has given me a great example of what earthly fathers are to work toward with their children.

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there, may you be blessed and feel loved. You have a great responsibilty to love on, pray over, and encrouage your kids in this crazy world. God has already laid out the foundation and given you the blueprints in his word.

We stopped on this amazing shady hill with lots of tress and had a great time of food and sweet fellowship. There was this old rock thingy that was perfect for climbing and playing on. OK, I am no photographer and have this cheap little digital camera; but this is an amazing shot of Ryanne. I don't know why but I love it.
We just walked around and enjoyed the 78 degree sunshine and cool breeze. When we were laying under the trees Morgan looked up and said,"thank you tree for your shade, and oxygen too!" So cute.
Dan tried to take a picture of us all laying on the blanket together. I decided right then and there through our giggles and making fun of the man who has the longest monkey arms in the world and still couldn't get us all in the shot that this is what life and family are really all about.
The girls LOVE Jeepin' and bug us all year to take the hard top off. So yesterday marked the beginning of our family summer fun. Dan took the top of and we BEGGED Ryanne to keep hers on. ;)

Random Stuff....................................

Morgan's class had their end of the year swim party on Tuesday. Yup' 22 kids all in one backyard pool. It was fun though and we had the most amazing weather. We were asked to bring cupcakes so we made 24 cupcakes. Morgan put shark sprinkles on the yellow ones and turtles on the pink ones. I think they were a hit. :) sad that someday they will think putting sprinkles on cupcakes with mom is lame huh? Here is her last class picture for the year. Mrs. Witt and Mrs. De Ward were amazing. And Morgan just fell in love with them. Her class had tons of energy and character. Fun memories for the year.
I took every ones advice and went with the gift cards. I found out each teacher had a wish list of personal likes that they kept in the Scrips office. So I went in there and bought them gift cards to their favorite places. Below is the box I made for my friend and carpool buddy. She likes these cookies I made so that is what it is filled with.
OK, so for weeks Christy P. my fellow blogger friend and firefighters wife has been braggin' about her saving at the grocery store. Every fiber in my little competitive self wants to play along and see if I can beat her. But since I don't grocery shop at regular stores and Trader Joe's and Clark's does not do double coupons I had to find a way to get in on this with her. :) I swear some people NEVER grow up. :) So any-who, this past Sunday I got the Michael's add in the paper and they were having this huge sale on paper, paint, stickers, ribbon etc. You name it and it was on sale for a $1. Well, I don't scrapbook but I have two little girls that love to cut, paste, color and create so with a full summer ahead of us I figured I would stock up on a few things.
30- pieces of scrapbook paper

6-bottles of paint

2-paint brushes

2-bags of colored beads/marbles

2-sketch notebooks

2-ceramic figures (for the girls to paint)

6-rolls of ribbon

2-packs of cute napkins (for me)

1-box of photo corners

2-packs of puff stickers

1-Suduko book (for Dan for his fathers day bag)

All for the grand total of $40! Now I am not as patient as Christy so I am not going to sit and do all the math to tell you how much I saved so you will just have to take my word that at .25 a sheet for paper and $1 for ribbon I saved big and the girls will be thrilled. Of course I came home and hid everything so that when those precious words that American children should be ashamed they even utter come out; "mommy, I'm bored!!!" I can pull things out.

Here is a great picture of my beloved worn in, shaggy lookin' flip flops. This is really a tribute of sorts to them. Yesterday morning my friend next door and I were standing at the fence talking. Soooooooo Lucy and Ethal. Anyway, she mentioned that she had just heard this study on the radio about flip flops being the second worst shoe for your foot right after heels. She said,"maybe you should consider that with your arthritis and bad knees. I think the look on my face (which I don't make much effort to hide anyway) was probably enough to kill someone. I mean I know she meant well (if your reading this I love you my dearest friend) but come on! I mean not the flip flops! If you know me then talking bad about flip flops is just well; I don't know sinful. I LOVE my flip flops. I wear them all year round. I don't think I ask for much in this life. A smile here and there, polite kids, decent food occasionally, for my husband to take the trash out and for flip flops to reign free throughout my house. I tried to explain to her that sometimes cute itself is just a factor and it's hard to be sporting cute feet all year long but someone has to do it and I don't mind taking one for the team. My final argument that I stand by in going to old lady shoes just because my knees are giving out (ghee's you'd think I was dying or something) is this; I have given up dairy, wheat, gluten and pretty much as much refined sugar and caffeine you can without being dead. I can manage that. In fact I embrace it. I quit dreaming about pizza, I no longer crave real ice cream and have learned to love salads without ranch. But nobody, not no how messes with the flop. Capishe?

The 11th Plague

I was kind of thinking how cool it would have been if God needed an 11th plague to send on to Pharaoh and he came to me for advice. It would go something like this:
God: hey, Christy (ya' were on a first name basis) ;)
Me: ya' God?
God: Hey, this guy Pharaoh is really a tough one. I have sent frogs, Fleas, boils, hail and all kinds of other horrible things to his land and people and the guy still isn't budging. So you have any ideas on how to really get to him so he will turn and serve me? You know, really put the fear of God in him. No pun intended of course! (see God has a sense of humor as well)
Me: Oh ya' I've got something for you. But I really wish you had come to me sooner. I mean I really think we could have nipped this in the butt from the beginning and saved you all those other plagues and extra work.
God: Really? I'm listening.
Me: just send in a nation size number of disobedient, disrespectful three year old. And I give the man a day, MAX! In fact you really could only send one and I bet he lets your people go and then some!
God: thanks Christy!
Me: oh sure, let me know if I can help solve any other problems.

Do you see where this is going yet? I know you sick blogger people out there live for my Ryanne stories. So to not keep you waiting I have yet another. Yesterday Morgan woke up a little run down and with a small cold (remember freezing pool Saturday?) Ya' so I mentioned to her that she was not going to swim practice because we needed her healthy for her last week of school and for her out of town swim meet this Saturday. Instead I said,"you can sit at the tables while Ryanne swims and write your end of the year cards for your teachers. Well, thinking I had come up with a pretty good plan to get Ryanne where she needed to be and keep Morgan on the path to getting her stuff done for Thursday I was feeling pretty good. (oh and yes Dan is gone)
Ryanne gets wind of the fact that sissy is not swimming and explains to me how she too is sick and in fact possible dying from a headache. The walls were closing in it was horrible the amount of drama that went into this performance. Screaming, crying, running through the house yelling about her headache when in reality the only ones who had headaches from her screaming were myself and Morgan. I gently explain that she needs to swim because she missed 2 days last week, I have to go to the pool because our tuition was due a week ago (ya' I'm crazy behind on my "to-do" list this month) and faking being sick is not a way to get out of things.
Side note: unless you are an adult and don't want to clean or cook you are exempt from not being able to use this. cough*-cough*
We get to swimming where the coach tells me to just "drop" her in the pool and they will deal. I LOVE this coach! Ryanne screams, kicks, yells, cries, you name it. As I am walking past the rows of parents to hide and pretend she is not mine for half an hour a mother whom I do not know says oh so boldly, "your just going to make here sick."
Me: excuse me?
Mother with only a small baby in a stroller cause she is there with a friend and has no clue what she is talking about cause her kid is like 4 months old and has never been naughty in public yet says: She's scared. Your just going to make her sick.
Me: Shes not scared! Shes been swimming for like 4 weeks now. She is mad because I am not letting her fake sick! Oh and by the way so what if she gets sick, drinks to much pool water and throws up in the pool; that's what chlorine is for!

OK I didn't say the last part but I thought it. But wait, it gets better. As I am defending myself and my amazing parenting skills someone says,"wheres Ryanne?" What? What do you mean wheres Ryanne? I look in the most obvious place of course, the bottom of the pool. Nope.
I look up in time to see Ryanne ALL THE WAY across the pool running out of the gate and through the parking lot for the baseball field. Wait, wait, not only is she running she has teenagers from the team chasing her at full speed. I did the obvious thing and stood there frozen. I mean I could not move. I bet the look on my face was priceless. One girl finally caught her and it took TWO of them to get her back to the pool. The coach walks over and says,"shes really fast and strong. You should put her in track some day!"
I turn around as they are depositing Ryanne back into the pool and yup' the entire bleachers of parents are just staring at me shaking their heads. I wanted to DIE!!! I could feel the one mother with the perfect baby to be in the stroller just glaring at me. Luckily for me my friend Melissa came over and sat with me. It was like she entered enemy territory cause no other of the moms wanted to be my friend at that moment. They thought I was being to harsh. Melissa sat and encouraged me and told me I was doing the right thing bye not giving in. The head coach even gave me a thumbs up.

You know after seeing this story in writing and re living all the painful details I have one thing to say; "God send the frogs. Send the hail. Send the flies and the boils I can deal with that!" But seriously I was in the fetal position last night rocking myself. I was like,"self, get it together. Ya' she might turn out to be a delinquent or torture small animals. Heck she may even be a naked track star! But don't quit on me now self. We can do this. We can survive the three year old. Snap out of it and start fresh tomorrow. Let the anger and frustration wash away. Come on self, stop the rocking and drooling and gazing into nowhere."

Please pray for me today. I woke up at 4am dreading the day. I am not a patient person. On my own I have no grace, wisdom or forgiveness. I love, love, love this kid but I gotta' tell you I am pretty sure God is trying to teach me something here through her and I am just not getting it! I SO want to get it God! Really I do! WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pools, more pies, nudity and plauges......

We were at Costco about a week ago and decided to pick up this little 18' pool for our kids to play in this summer when its to stinkin' hot to do anything else and we dont want them in the house anymore. Seriously, it's either gas for the SUV or air conditioning people. We have gone back and forth for years about whether or not to have a "real" pool put in and even had plans drawn up. But neither of us could stomach having the debt of what it would cost to put in a pool so we opted to have peace about a $500 pool that we could pay for out right! :) Dan put it together and I did what any good wife does and I watched. Oh, oh and I brought him iced tea. ;)
The kids; Just know when I say the "kids" I also mean our adopted children from next door. :) The kids got to finally christen the pool on Sat. It was freezing cold still and their lips were blue but they didnt care. We have this amazing view from every angle of our backyard so I am just waiting for the water to be warmer so I can lock the kids in their rooms, lay on a raft with a cold drink and............oh wait this is for the kids right? ;) Ok, now on to pies; we had such a great response to our pie the other night that when our friends next door offered to BBQ for us Saturday night we decided to make another. It was even better I think. The girls and I have gotten a bit confident and have decided that this week we will be going up the hill to the farm to pick blackberries. Then on Fathers Day while Dan is working we will surprise he and his crew with fresh blackberry pie and homemade apple pie. We are taking orders if anyone is interested. :)
So on to nudity, I wont be including a photo for obvious reasons. Although I did put one of her above to remind you of her cuteness which I am always telling you is a disguise. Friday night Dan had an OT so the the girls and I went to our friends house to let the kids play before she moves and so I could go through some papers I needed to see; long story short, Ryanne decides to take her clothes off in front of the little boys and show him her privates! Now you might be thinking,"well, kids do that kind of stuff right?" Ok yes, but this is like the 4th time! The kid has a serious issue with flaunting her stuff. She has even done it in sunday school where lets just say they were a little less than thrilled. I meanshe DOES NOT get this from me. It has to me her dad. She will do anything for a laugh. So when the boys laughed she took off more. Can anyone say "pole dancing?" Scary thought. I mean I am sure I am the only mother who has to stop her kid before they go into church and say something like,"Honey, if oyu take your clothes off in here or give the kids a class on anatomy you are soooooo dead when we get home are we clear?" Ya' welcome to my life!

Last but not least, our pastor has been working through the book of Exodus and we are talking about the plagues that God sent to Pharaoh and his people. I got really cocky last week thinking,"hello, I mean how stupid do you have to be?" God would have had me at the flies and frogs. But the boils? EEWWW no. But then I was talking to my friend Yvonne and I was telling her that I realized I am Pharaoh in that how many times does God have to tell me to soften my heart and let him have control? He doesnt send plagues per say (three year old naked) but what I am getting at is God wanted Pharaoh to obey, to see that God was powerful and in control of all things. Do I have a healthy fear of the Lord and if so how do I live that out daily? Good question huh? Serioulsy though, you can keep your frogs, flies and baseball sized hail I AM listening! :)

Country Cherry Pie

Our friends had us over for dinner last night which by the way is no easy task since I cant eat wheat, dairy or gluten. It was so yummy and healthy and good! I had seconds! It was sweet, she even bought me organic lemonade. :) Thanks for the wonderful food and fellowship James and Andrea. And to the rest of the Kidd family for entertaining the girls and wearing them out. ;) Our friends next door have a bunch of cherry trees so the girls and I decided to make a cherry pie to take for dessert last night. It was a hit and the girls were very proud that not a bite was left.Ryanne helped measure and pour..................
Morgan had the job of pitting and mixing the cherries..........
Look everyone, here is the before.............
And here is our creation all hot and bubbly from the oven yummy!
Oh and here is Dan. I asked him to help pit the cherries because we were running late and he stomped in the kitchen like a 3 year old. Soooooo I told him I was going to take a picture of his attitude and post it on my blog. His response;"Honey, you better not put that picture on your blog!" Ok, I won't. ;) he,heeeeee! Is nothing sacrid anymore I mean really. And can I just point out the angle of the picture? He is so much taller than me that I always get these "looking up your nose shots!" See honey, don't mess with the "BLOGGER" next time when I ask you to help come in smiling and with a cheerful heart and I wont think it is worthy of my blog time! ;)

YUMMY and 21 again.......

Last night I decided to try this recipe that my friend Jessica posted a few days back on her blog. It's called Orange Rosemary Chicken. At first the ingredients that were being mixed threw me and I wasn't sure about what the glaze would taste like. But when someone posts something that includes ALL ingredients I can have (except the 2 tbls of butter which I just subbed soy butter for) I get really excited to try something new. So if you get a chance to click on her blog she is always posting fun, yummy recipes and this one for sure is a keeper. I served it with some jasmine rice and sauted up some organic veggies in olive oil. Oh ya' so making this one again. Thanks Jess! :) Now for a moment of vein bragging. I had to run to trader Joes yesterday to get the herbs and white wine I needed for this dish. I think this was like only the second time I have ever bought alcohol since I always send Dan to buy wine for anything I need. He knows what he is doing and I prefer to keep that dumb blonde look (sorry friends) for really important things like not being able to figure out where I parked my car at Target or how to get the TV to work. You know really important things. Anyways, went to Trader Joes, stood in the wine isle FOREVER trying to decided what dry white wine was. I found the most expensive and the cheapest and picked somewhere in the middle. Hey, I wonder if that is how Dan picked me? Food for thought. So as I am checking out the checker says:

Checker: I am goign to need to see your I.D

Me: I.D?

Checker: yes your drivers license.

Me: for what?

checker: the wine you bought.

Me: you want to see my I.D? seriously? because you think I look to young or are you just hitting on me? cause I am married you know.

(Ok, I didnt really say that but you gotta' watch those trader joes guys)

checker: your I.D.

Me: oh ya' my I.D. here you go. I just want to say how I love that you just carded me. I mean seriously made my day. I used to get all annoyed when I was 21 and got carded for just cutting through a casino in vegas on the way to my room. But wow! This is just great because as you can see from my I.D. I am 34. So wow! Thanks again buddy! Do you think it was the fact that I dont have any make-up on or that I am dressed in old drawstring work out pants and a sweatshirt with my hair un brushed and just in a sloppy ponytail that screams I just crawled out of bed and went to math 101? Cause if it is I am so going with this look everyday. Cause you know I have a 7 year old and 3 year old. I know can you hardly believe "I" have two kids that old? Amazing really when you think about it. What's my secret you ask? Oh gosh so funny that you should ask........................

checker: SECURITY ON ISLE 1!!!!

So now I think my photo is on the wall at Trader Joes and I may have to wear a cap and glasses to return. Something about them having to shove me through the door on my way out cause my head was so big!! He,heeee! Just kidding.

Picture this.............................

Ok now, you have to close your eyes and picture this ok? I am walking in the door after being gone most of the day running kids around from school, errands and swim practice. I walk in the door and low and behold the cleaning crew has come and spent the entire afternoon cleaing me house. I go from room to room looking at the floor boards, checking the blinds and windows. In each room the warm fuzzies grow bigger and bigger. I look behind the toilets. I check under the rugs. Its spotless I tell you spotless and to think I was feeling badly about getting help. Let me just say that is a fleeting moment. Now I am singing and dancing through each room and in each room I am saying,"thank you God!" I am sure that if my kids didn't think I had lost my mind they are convinced it was God himself who deep cleaned our house. ;) So yes, I am glad I caved in and got help. I think life will be more managable and I will be less annoyed by the things I can't do that need to be done. Anyone for eating off my bathroom floor? What? You could! Yee-haw!!!! :)

Ok on to more important things than my house being spotless. See, I had to say it again. In my quiet time this morning I read from Psalm 103 So good!

I will share just a portion that minsitered to me then you go read the rest for yourself,

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy
name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all the benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and
compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

It goes on to talk about how god does not repay us for our iniquities or treat us as our sin deserves. I love that we are to model that. What a good reminder of the grace we are to show others. Have a great day and a blessed rest of the week.

A desire to be.........

For the last few months in my quiet time I have been working through the new testament one chapter of each book at a time. Very slowly dissecting it through a bible study that lays out the Book, chapter and then gives you things to relate to in the end in the "responding to prayer" section. I am currently done with the new testament but at the end you are to work through Psalm. Oh how I was dreading this very long book that I thought I may not fully grasp. "But its SOOOO long God, are you sure I need to keep going?" Well I am starting into the 100th chapter and loving every minute of my time here with God. This has been a very good book for me at the most perfect time in my life. I can relate to so many things and also see things more clearly I could not grasp before. Any way all that was to just share a little snip-it of what I read this morning.

Psalm 99:1-3

The Lord reigns,

let the nations tremble;

he sits enthroned between the cherubim,

let the earth shake.

Great is the Lord in Zion;

he is exalted over all nations.

Let the praise your great and awesome name-

he is holy.

Then in the responding in prayer the author says this: Let the awe of knowing this Holy God sink in. Pray for a desire to be and do the things that characterize this holy God.

I loved that. Let the awe of knowing this Holy God sink in. To desire what he desires. To desire the things that makes him up. That characterizes not the things that make the world happy or my own selfish response to living in this crazy world but to long after and seek out his desire. Oh how I long for that to just be my nature. My first response. I long for that to be where I run. Not in my will but his be done. Especially in this time of recession if you stand very still and watch the things going on around you it is very easy to see where peoples treasures lie. God make me aware of how blessed I am and let me stand in awe of the mere fact that I get to see even of a glimpse of your glory. Love it!