One Strike, Three Spares and Countless Gutter Balls

I know there is no way you could tell from the title, but I took the kids bowling. Actually it was my friend A's idea. Hubs was working, so it was my friend, her brother and his wife, their son and his girlfriend and me and my motley crew. We all got set up and I realize, due to the crying in the background, that Daniel really doesn't have anything to do. He can't carry the balls, he can't run down the alley's and so began the evening with wailing. UGH!! Finally my friends brother remembers a soccer ball in their car and brings it in. He calms the yelling and we start our games. The people who might actually play for real, using a real alley have their own lane. My friend A and I are on the bumper lane (and without that bumper lane I would probably have scored a 24 instead of the whoppin' 99 I did score) with the kiddos. Somehow even with the bumpers I still got some zero's. Sam and Makiah were so excited I thought their heads were going to explode. Sam actually got a strike and Makiah got three spares!


Daniel and the soccer ball. I don't think I was ever so grateful to see a soccer ball in my life.

We did this:




Daniel did a lot of this:






And then after one game, that's right, only one game we were wore out. Between one of the adults keeping Daniel from rolling his ball down the alley and actually bowling (which did I mention I hadn't been bowling since middle school) we were ready to eat. And so Mexican is the only obvious choice to eat after bowling.

We went and ate our weight in tortilla chips and white cheese (or ketchup if you are my kids) and drank sweet tea (all of which are not on my diet plan) and did a lot of laughing.

All in all it was a fabulously fun night out. Only thing missing was Hubs. Next time he can go and Daniel gets to stay with Grams. ~Smile~

**Because mama forgot her real camera, these pictures are courtesy of my iPhone, which for a phone aren't bad pics.

Someone Flipped the Calendar and I Didn't Realize It!

A week, a whole week has just flown past me!! No wonder I am not getting everything done, we are apparently speeding through life on double time!!

This weekend, one of my closest friends is getting married. I'd put a link in for her blog, but she doesn't have one. ~~Hint, hint~~ I think a newlywed blog would be great, but she may not agree. She will have so much spare time, because now she won't have to text him all night. What else does she have to do, except fill us all in on newlywed life and adjusting. ~~Smile, love you C~~ Anyway, Makiah is the flower girl/attendant and so we are off to St. Louis again. So we get to do a wedding and visit my dear, dear framily (my own word for friends that are more like family). It's going to be an action packed weekend, in more ways than one. ~Smile~ I still haven't found anything to wear, so I am considering my pj's. Hey, I like to be comfortable and they are navy. Perfect!

Tomorrow I have to finish up trip laundry, pack up the decorations that I have to take, pick some odds and ends for the trip and start packing. I also want to have all the cleaning done. I would rather not come home to a mess! Thursday afternoon, we hit the road!

So, with three kids, diapers, underoos for the new potty champ, tons of extra clothes for same potty champ, Makiah's clothes and wedding clothes, decorations, shoes for all occasions, hair stuff (oh the hair stuff), an umbrella stroller, a cooler and snacks. . . I am not sure Hubs and I can go. . . no room in the van.

OH! And I need to add duct tape to my list!! ~~BIG Smile~~

Of Friends, Camp and Diapers

It's a mixed bag to day friends.

Our holiday weekend was great!!! We had some of our peeps come and visit us. Fiona, Jonathan and Daniel came over on Saturday and left (practically had to be kicked out) Monday evening. They could have stayed longer, but you know that pesky thing called work beckoned them home. We had good food, good fellowship and relaxation!! What a grand way to spend the weekend.

Makiah left for church camp Monday morning. She is two and a half hours away from me. A couple of times yesterday I wondered if we had completely lost our minds!! Last night I got a call from our Pastor who is down there with Makiah and 20 other members of the church. When I answered I wasn't sure if it was a check in call or Makiah was going to be crying on the other end for me to come and pick her up. Makiah got on the phone and told me that she had received the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38 for those who want an explanation) in church last night!!! I was thrilled!! How great is that??!?

I can't have a post without telling you all about a fabulous giveaway!! You all know that I am a HUGE fan of cloth diapers and Kelly's Closet is my favorite retailer. Fluff Fridays giveaway for this week is up and I have to say it's a good 'un!! The prize package this week is (drumroll please):

1-BabyBeehinds One Size Fitted Diaper (Winner choose either hemp or bamboo)
1-Thirsties Diaper Cover
12-Kissaluvs Premium Print Wipes

Pop on over there and enter to win and check out the other blog posts too. I enjoy the posts and always come away having learned something!!

I still have my post about my closet adventure and a kiddo post for fun. The boys and I are going to try to get in some fun in the sun, but the sun is going to have to cooperate and come back out.

Happy Tuesday bloggity friends!!

Birthday BBQ

No, I am not 830, though there are days I feel like it.

While in St. Louis we had a birthday BBQ for Makiah. Little did I know, that I was included in the birthday celebrations! Makiah got presents and money, I got money. Money is always the right size and color.

The food was awesome, the socializing was great, Makiah and Sam played with friends and puppies--a good time was had by all. Speaking of food, we indulged on grilled burgers with Linton's Special Sauce, grilled hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, chips and dip, oatmeal scotchies (yummy cookies that are fabulous) and of course, ice cream cake!

I have to take a moment and tell you all that Linton's burgers are the best. The sauce he makes to go on them is fabulous! I would give you the recipe, but there isn't one. He just pours certain ingredients together in whatever amount he thinks and cooks it on the stove. Then to complete the burger you top it with a grilled slice of fresh pineapple! YUM! Caribbean burgers is what they have been dubbed in our house.

Enough talk about food, it's making me hungry. ~Smile~

Also, thank you for all the kind comments on Monday's post, either on facebook or here.

Rockin' The Walk

It was amazing. At one point, I just stood there and watched all the people. Hundreds and hundreds. All walked for a different reason, but all were walking to benefit education, research and family support for the American Heart Association. I was dumbfounded by electricity of it all.


(I know it's blurry, we were walking inside at Busch Stadium and it was packed!)

Linton, Makiah and I walked. I pushed Samuel and Daniel in big double (term lovingly given to the double stroller), Fiona and Cara also walked with us (THANKS). Linton is behind the camera and I do my best to stay off camera.



We passed people in red shirts, green shirts, yellow shirts, purple shirts, blue and white shirts. Teams were everywhere. Hospital teams, company teams, teams walking in memory of someone or in honor of a survivor. I think the purple shirts are the ones that stick out the most in my mind. All of them, and there must have been 25-30, wore a laminated sheet with a picture of a small child attached to the back of their shirt, all the kiddos had a stroke in utero. Survivors, before they were even born. I had never considered a baby having a stroke in utero.



I thought of all the mommies and daddies walking in honor of a child that had survived, or one that hadn't. Even though I didn't know them or them me, we knew each other. At one point a lady bumped into me, which wasn't hard to do and she looked up to apologize I read her shirt. There was a picture of a little boy with her and on it was written my baby and the dates of his life. As we met eyes to apologize there it was--the pain I recognized as my own. A pain that is carefully layered behind life moving on. She smiled and apologized and I could tell that she could see the same thing I saw. We both moved on--both in the walk and everyday.





Some don't understand why I walked, and that's okay. They don't need to understand. It is a productive way to honor my baby. Nathaniel will always be a part of me, of us. I will never stop missing him and all the milestones never achieved. But I can honestly say, I'm still walkin'.

STL Weekend At-a-Glance

I think that Linton and I have the BEST friends EVER.

Last weekend we went to St. Louis for the Heart Walk and fun with friends, who are actually more like family. I don't think it will matter how far away we roam, in many ways St. Louis will always be home. So today is the first installment of our trip!

Friday we arrived and we relaxed for a few minutes and then went to church. Bible study was great. Pastor Blash started a series on the One God doctrine. After church and much chatting, we left and headed to Cara's (the one who's getting married and deserting the posse), for wonderfully tasty Indian food and of course, more fellowship. It was really great to sit around relaxing, talking and debating various Biblical topics. You know, just the typical, save the world stuff! I guess we felt we had to squeeze in as much time as possible into Friday and we stayed up until 2:30 Saturday morning!

Needless to say, Saturday morning was the Heart Walk and 6:15 a.m. never came so early! We got ourselves dragging around, and we finally got ourselves to the Heart Walk. I will devote an entire post to the Heart Walk, but all sum it up right now by saying it was great! I know, I am a whiz with adjectives. Heart Walk post will be up tomorrow.

After the Heart Walk, we headed back to Cara's and Linton and I cleaned up and went to lunch with Pastor Blash. We left all three kiddos with Cara and Fiona (I am telling you the best friends a girl could have), and they all took a nap. Wimps! ~Smile~ Only kidding of course. If we hadn't been at lunch we would have napped too.

Later that afternoon the people began to gather for the BBQ. Linton was prepping the food (yes, no way was he getting out of grilling) and making the sauce. We ate and laughed, ate some more, talked, ate and laughed into the night. The rest of the BBQ/party details you will have to wait on, that's for another post, complete with pics!! After all that walking and partying you would think we would head to bed early, but because we are absolutely crazy we stayed up Saturday night until 2:30 AGAIN!

Sunday morning, brought about more dragging around. We finally got moving and went to church. Sunday School was another great lesson and Linton preached second service, which was good. Then after service was a pot luck! It was really wondreful to be able to hang out with all of Fresh Anointing UPC after service. The food was fabulous and the fellowship was even better than the food. Then, I am not sure who thought of it, but someone decided to have gospel karaoke. It was great. We got to hear people sing who never sing in church, for one reason or another. We laughed and sang the afternoon away.

When we finally got back to Cara's house we were all beat, but none of us cared. We talked and laughed some more and then we started a Phase Ten game. Because we were all starting to fade, we made it a Phase 5 game. After trying to stay awake, I finally called it quits at 1 a.m. and went to bed.

On Monday, we slept in!! ~~I hear the angel choir singing Hallelujah~~ We hung around Cara's house and then late morning headed to Whole Foods. Picked up a couple of snacks for the road later and then on to Elephant Bar Restaurant. GREAT FOOD!! Then it was time to bid Jonathan (who went with us) and St. Louis farewell and head home.

It was a great trip and I will be posting more specifics of some of it over the next couple of days. St. Louis family WE LOVE YOU and thanks for a great weekend!!

If I Had A Witty Title, It Would Be Here

It's been crazy around here. On Sunday we took a day trip to St. Louis to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the church most dear to us. Fresh Anointing UPC is where I spent the first 9 years of my marriage. Where 3 of my 4 kids were born. Where we lost a precious child. Where we learned about ministry, marriage and the true meaning of "church family". So we went and we had great church and then visited with precious friends (really they are family) and laughed a lot. And then cried, again, when we drove away. Well, Makiah cried, I teared up and Linton just sighed (he's way to manly to cry about something like that). I guess you could say, we sorta miss them. And love them, a lot! ~~Sniff~~

Anyhoo, onto things that don't make me sniff.

Sam is doing really well with potty training. I know I keep telling you, but, I guess I am just so shocked and thrilled, that I have to keep saying it. As if saying it over and over will make it more believable. He gets so excited at his accomplishment, so excited that he shares it with random strangers. We were in Borders last week and everyone that passed us, on our way to the children's section, he proudly announced "I pee pee in the potty" and "I big boy, I go pee and tooter in the potty". Yeah, it's wonderful. Fortunately most strangers just smile.

Makiah is losing an upper, front tooth and Daniel is cutting an upper front tooth. I find that interesting. Maybe I'm the only one.

Daniel is finally sitting up independently for long stretches of time. YAY!!! Sitting up alone is one of his goals in physical therapy. Not only is he sitting, but playing with toys, while sitting independently. I am so happy. He is making great progress. He is also holding his own bottle. I love watching them at this age, because everyday they learn something new. Every stage is exciting, but the first year just amazes me.

While we were in St. Louis (yeah back to the first topic), they gave the kids Christmas gifts. Makiah got a new Wii game, which she wants to play non-stop and a Hello Kitty Hut (a pop up tent thingy). Sam got a suit of armor and Mickey Mouse toys and game. Daniel got a basketball goal to sit and play with. He loves it! So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures.






Look closely at the bottom of the pink hut. Yes, that is a baby foot. Makiah and Sam decided that they should all play in the hut. So Daniel and his basketball goal, Sam and Makiah were inside and I look around (I was on the computer, they were behind me), and what do I behold--a sweet little foot poking out.

Well, I think that properly catches everyone up on our lives around here. I am also catching up on blog reading. But first, must go marinate my steaks so I can get them into the crock pot by noon. No real flow to this post, but it served it's purpose.

Have a happy Tuesday!!