Fa La La La La....

...the ER stinks.

In so many ways.

I should know... I spent most of Monday night there with Mallory. She developed the croup very suddenly while spending the night with my parents. My parents are so wonderful and my mom is so "on top" of things that she didn't even hesitate to call when she heard the barking. I met them at the emergency room about 30 minutes later and the four of us made that stinky place our home until sunrise. BUT the great part of that was that the donut shops were just opening up on our way home, so we got some right out of the oven.

YUM!

Mal's sick and I'm worried. Please pray for her. The croup is a big deal for her. She's battled it countless times in her short 7 years. It can go from bad to critical in such a short time....and that's usually overnight while we're sleeping. So, I probably won't sleep this week. We are going to attempt to proceed with our Christmas as planned, but I'm taking with me a big box filled with all of her medicines and breathing machine.

If I had gotten to mail out Christmas cards this year, then this is what they would have looked like. I designed them on time, ordered them on time, but then Kodak only shipped me 1.

One.

Who orders ONE Christmas card? Kodak says that I did, even though I'm pretty sure I typed in 50. Oh well. Those of you who are used to seeing my adorable kids' faces on your mantel each year will just have to settle for the computer screen instead.

Hope you all have a very Merry and good smelling Christmas!

My pride overflows

These kids are so talented...it's embarassing.

In case you couldn't understand this high quality video, they are singing

Awesome Underwear and Good Garbage

with Will's new underwear on their heads

Yep. I am so proud.

Just 3 new

I'm working at lightning speed trying to create a special scrapbook for someone else. It's fun, but it means less time for my own pages. I probably won't be able to post any new layouts until after Christmas. Hopefully, this will tide you all over until then. :)

Super small journaling reads:

Will has a slight obsession with cars. He will play with them all day as long as he has someone else willing to play with him. There is a very specific way, though, in which he wants to play cars. Each person chooses a car (he always gets Lightning McQueen) then proceeds to “talk” for them. Conversations always go like this:
“Hi. How are you? I Lightning Queen. I fast.” (pause while the other car responds)
Then he says the exact samething all over again. About 50 times per day.
“Hi. How are you? I Lightning Queen. I fast.”
Don’t even try to vary the conversation. It won’t work. Trust me.

Mallory knows this routine better than any of us...which led to this recentconversation with Daddy. After reading about Josiah the 8 year old king.
Mallory: How can an 8 year old be a king?
Daddy:Well, that’s how it works. His dad died, so Josiah had to take over. If I were king and then I died, Will would become king
Mallory: Will would not make a very good king(in her best Will voice ‘Okay, everybody play cars. That’s the law!’)pretends to have two little cars in her hand: ‘Hi!’

Super small journaling reads:

Jeremy reads the newspaper almost every Sunday. He usually spreads it out across the living room floor and patiently tries to read while the kids run, jump and laugh all around him. This Sunday was different. This Sunday Will sat down right next to his Daddy, picked up his own section and started “reading” too. After about a minute, Will looked at Jeremy and said, “Just like you Daddy.” Then, Jeremy’s heart melted.



I'm not that impressed with this layout, but it's a year overdue, and those stitched letters took me forever. So, I'm posting it:)

Super small journaling reads:
On the night that your Kindergarten class was performing Handel’s Messiah, you were forced tostay home sick. I wanted to make sure you were still able to have a special evening, so we put
together a Christmas Tea. We set the table with our Christmas china, lit holiday candles, & made some of your favorite treats. You created placecards for each of us and even added your own special touch to the paper napkins.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

I really do love my family. I know they are a blessing from God. Of course, there are many, many more people that I'm thankful for. At some point, I would run out of circles, though!

Right now Mal and Will are in the backyard preparing a feast for anyone who would like to come. My old rug will serve as the table and tablecloth and our porch chairs have been turned upside down for plates. It consists mostly of pinecones and pineneedles. The food may be...umm...tough? But the company is sure to delight! Be sure to say
"Happy Shanks-Yous-Gibbing" so Will knows what your talking about :)

Some things don't change

Did you forget about me? It's been a while since I've posted. Several people have asked Jeremy and myself to post some recent pictures. However, every time I sit down to write an update it seems like we get to go through another crisis. Then the update is outdated. I just can't keep up. We've been on such an emotional rollercoaster that I'm starting to feel a little numb. Do you ever get that way?

For me, it's gotten to the point that every time the phone rings I get tense. Before I've even reached the phone to answer it I've already prayed that everyone is safe. Trying to sum up everything that has happened lately seems a little overwhelming. Instead, I thought I'd write about what hasn't changed since the last time I posted. Because I'm the girly, need-to-make-it-look-pretty person that I am, I scrapbooked about it too :)

Journaling reads:
Our love for God and our desire to live for Him hasn’t changed. In fact, I’m certain our faith has grown because of the trials. Our studyof His word has increased & our prayer life has improved. Hmm..makes me wonder why I’m so afraid of trials if these are the results!
Jeremy is the same loving husband & adoring father that he has always been. He works so hard at providing for us and at keeping our focus on God.
Mallory is as sweet and thoughtful as ever...probably more so. She still loves her brother and has an unbelievable amount of patience with him. She still loves her school and works very hard at pleasing her teacher, her parents and God.
I am still in love with Jeremy (going on 8 years) and my precious kids. I still love staying at home with Will and volunteering at Mal's school as much as I can. I love God's word and I try to learn more from Him with each passing day.
Okay, so Will actually has changed a lot lately. BUT, he is still the same cute, fun-loving,active, death-defying, hilarious boy that we’vealways adored.
We still cherish our little family and crave getting to be together as much as possible.



Maybe someday I'll get around to writing about all the emotional highs and lows we've been through, but for now I'm going to just skip it. :)Jerry Seinfeld style. Now on to what you really came here to see: pics of the kids. Here are a few layouts that I finally finished.


Have I ever mentioned how SWEET my kids are? :)

Journaling reads:

Last night I caved to Mallory's pleas and allowed both kids to sleep on the floor of our room last night. Jeremy wasn't thrilled about the idea since it has never really worked well before and he had to get up early for work. My response was that Will is older now and I'm sure he'll be fine. My mistake.
Will was up every two hours crying because he wanted to sleep in bed with us. Jeremy absolutely won't allow that. He just can't stand to be kicked in his back while he is trying to sleep. So, I got up every two hours as well to put Will back on his mat and sing him back to sleep. By about 4:00 am I had pretty much had it. Will climbed into bed and snuggled up close to me. I let him. I just didn't want to get out of bed again. Then, I felt the sweetest little kisses on my shoulder. Will must have kissed me 20 times before he rested his head on my shoulder and fell asleep. (sigh) Maybe he was trying to say thank you for letting him stay there, or maybe he was just saying I love you. Either way, I will gladly forfeit 8 hours of sleep for 30 seconds of unsolicited Will-kisses ANY night! He's so sweet.

When I woke up that morning I noticed that Mallory wasn't on her mat anymore. She wasn't even in the room. I got worried about her, so I went on a Mal-hunt. I found her in the kitchen cleaning off the table and wiping it down. "Mom!", she gasped, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be sleeping! Can you please go back to bed?" I quickly replied, "Uhh...yep. I sure can." About 30 minutes later I got up again and found a breakfast buffet laid out on the table for the three of us. Mallory used paper coffee liners and filled them with various things for breakfast. Then, she said, "Ok, you sit down and just tell me what you would like on your plate!" She's so sweet.

Mallory was Tinkerbell for Halloween:

Will was Bob the Builder:Now that Will is almost 2 1/2, I've finished his 2 year old layout:

Journaling reads:
Games:"aypay" where Daddythrows you around &flips you. you beg him to play every day. Monster chase where you, Mallory & I take turns roaring likelike a monster & chasing eachother aroundthe house. You prefer for me to be "it".
Toys: You have a slight obsession with cars. Not a day goes by that Idon't see you driving them around on the walls or windowsills.
Shoes: you have been obsessed with these shoes from the moment that you saw them! You want to wear them everywhere including your bed and the bath tub!
Books: I'm so glad that you love to read! The two books that you insist on reading at least once per day are Snug House Bug House and Cooking with the Cat.

Older picture, new layout:

This routine is old (goes back to when Mal was a toddler), but the layout and journaling are new:

Older picture, new layout:

Ok, these will have to do until I find some more scrapbooking time. I just bought a bunch of new stuff, though, and I'm dying to play with it all. So, the layouts will be coming more frequently (one can dream:)

Mary

You know who I think about a lot?
Mary.

I mean this with the utmost respect and reverence. Mary is one of my heroes.
I know the popular phrase is "What would Jesus do?"
But personally, I often think, "What would Mary do?"

I wonder what kind of mother she was to Jesus when he was young. Was he a typical boy when he was two years old? How did she discipline him? Was she confident in her ways or did she ever doubt whether she was a good mother or not? Did she ever cry from "mommy guilt"? Did she ever get frustrated or frazzled? Did she ever long for "me" time?

When I reach the end of my rope, I think, "What would Mary have done with little Jesus in this situation?" Sometimes, I wish Mary had penned the second "Guide to Parenting". I know God wrote the first, but sometimes I wish I knew more about the practical ways Mary raised Jesus.

Raising a boy is clearly way out of my league. 80% of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. The other 20%...I'm so busy cleaning up after his messes (physical, mental and emotional) that I'm not thinking at all. Just praying for strength.
I don't want you to think that Will is a bad kid. In fact, most people think he's fairly well behaved and sweet. But I'm his mother, and I am with him all of the time...not just when he's on his best behavior.

Take this morning for instance. Everything was going pretty smoothly. Breakfast was fed and the kids were playing. I was trying to write some emails when Will walked up to me and I noticed that horrible smell.

Me: Will, do you have poop?
W: Uh-huh
Me: Ok, lay down. (As I unbuttoned his little short overalls I noticed that they were soaking wet. Oh, and there was NO DIAPER on him) Will! Where is your diaper????!!!??
W: ummm...
I wiped what was left off of him and went looking for the bomb. I found a little trail of poopoo leading back to where he and Mallory were playing. (then my blood pressure started climbing)Me: You've got to be kidding me!

There were little poops all over the kitchen floor and carpet. I also found a yellow wet spot on the carpet where Will had been playing. Oh, and I found the poop filled diaper. My morning went from peaceful to stressful in about 1 minute. I started barking out orders to both kids to bring me various cleaning tools, chemicals and trash bags. My schedule for the day suddenly included mopping the kitchen floor and scrubbing the carpet. Neither of which did I have a very happy heart about. I ordered the kids to go upstairs and leave me alone so I could clean up the disgusting mess.

In the middle of my cleaning I began to think about Mary. Did anything like this every happen to her? What would she have said? Would she have freaked out and gotten angry like I did? Would she have yelled at Jesus? Would she have spanked him? I wish I knew. I wish I had her on the phone to calm me down and say something to the effect of, "He will turn out wonderfully. Despite the daily, or even hourly, chaos he will grow up to love God."

Then, I started thinking silly things. Like, is Mary watching me now? Is she giggling at my obsession with the moment? After all, she has perspective that I don't have. Is she thinking, "Well, if you had dirt floors, you probably wouldn't have gotten so upset." I can't wait to meet her someday. And, honestly, that is what keeps me going a lot of the time. I can't give up and give in to the devil's temptations. I have to control my temper and force myself to be at peace. I have to force my thoughts to focus on God and what he wants of me instead of dwelling on the tyranny of the moment.

I want to get to heaven someday, for a lot of reasons, one of which is to talk to Mary. And hug her.

He's lucky that he's just so irresistibly cute!


A rare moment of peace

Just two new

Two new layouts, but I can really only take credit for the first one.

This one was created by someone else, and I just added pictures and words.

Sweet Sunshine Black & Blue

New layouts. That's all.

Mallory hearts Will

Two layouts to share:and I'm happy to report that Will did not create another masterpiece while I worked on mine :)

Sledding is awesome!

You'll have to forgive how far apart my Colorado posts are and will continue to be. I'm getting them up as fast as I can, but I took about 400 pictures, so that will take a while.

On our first full day in Colorado we decided to go hunting for snow. We were all raised in Houston, so we rarely even see snow, let alone get to play in it. The house we stayed in just happened to have a small sled parked in the garage. We loaded it in the car just in case we found a place to use it. It didn't take long:) Our first stop was Loveland Pass.

Here we are just after getting out of the car. Thankfully, we all threw our coats in the back of the car because at this elevation it's COLD! I was struck by how quiet it was up there. All I you could really hear was the wind blowing. At first, we just played around in the snow. Snow is such a novelty to us that just touching it and walking in it was fun! We had a little picnic in the most beautiful setting you can imagine with some of our most favorite people in the world (Adam & Casey). So far, the day was perfect.
Then, we got the idea to try out sledding here. The mountain was secluded and looked safe, so the guys went back to the car to get the sled. Adam went first to try and figure out how a sled works. (None of us had ever ridden one before:) Here he is falling off:


The first patch of snow we slid down was pretty small. This picture gives you some idea of the size. If you look just past the third patch of land you can see where the mountain we were standing on drops off. Since there was a clear stopping point (the bare ground) there was little chance of sliding off the mountain. After Adam and Jeremy tried it out we let the kids have a bunch of turns. They LOVED it, of course.

Each video only lasts about 30 seconds. They're not great quality, since they were taken with my camera and not our video camera, but priceless nonetheless.
Will's ride:

The trek back to the starting point was difficult for the kids. The snow was about 4 feet deep and we weren't exactly prepared with snow shoes. Mallory did her best to help Will, but he usually ended up falling.

Here he is yelling, "Help!"
The hill wasn't that steep. However, the sled worked up a pretty good speed for Mallory which made her a little nervous. Listen to her scream at the end.
Mallory's ride:


I think she liked it!
Next, Casey decides to give it a go. I'm not sure you could actually call this a ride, though ;)
Casey's...uh...ride:


After we all got our fill of sledding down the small hill Adam announced that he wanted to try out the neighboring slope. We all thought he was joking. I forgot to take a picture of the whole slope, although it was so big I'm not sure I could have anyway. This picture was taken with me looking down towards the bottom of the slope. You can see from the way Casey is climbing up just how steep it is. If the picture continued to the left you would see that the slope continues pretty much straight up.It was MASSIVE, very steep and didn't appear to have an easy stopping point. Death was definitely an option. Or even falling off the side of the mountain. Adam was determined, though, so we all just sat and prayed...oh, and videoed.

Adam's death defying Ride



Once Adam proved that it could be done without serious injury, Jeremy just HAD to do it himself. It should be noted that it took a good 20 minutes just to climb up to the starting point of this hill. There wasn't a clear path, so we had to climb over s bunch of big boulders..with the sled dragging behind. Since we were at 12,000 feet breathing also became a little difficult. This picture gives you some idea of how difficult the climb was. Jeremy's just getting started here as he has to walk up to the far right corner of the picture and beyond.
Jeremy's ride:


Not to be outdone by my brother and husband, I got the urge to try it myself. I can't explain how exciting those 30 seconds were. I kind of felt like I was flying, albeit out of control :) If it hadn't taken so much to get to the top, I would have done it all day. Note: I was the first person to make it down without falling off.
Megan's ride:

Casey can ride after all ;) She goes the furthest and doesn't fall off either.

Casey's ride:


Casey's well deserved victory pose

It was exhausting to make that hike to the top and then out of the bottom of the snow bowl. We also had a good size walk back to the car to face. So, after a couple of times sliding down, we were ready to go home. Everyone agreed that it had been an awesome experience, though, and that we would definitely have to do again one day.

Always something

I scrapbooked tonight for the first time in months.

I was having a lot of fun until I saw Will. Then, I realized just how much that fun had cost me.

Sigh. What's a girl to do except take pictures and scrapbook about it!

It's permanent marker and I'm still working on getting it off.. Any ideas?

Ask

Will has a lot more initiative than he needs at his age. This leads to quite a few disasters each day. Occasionally, it leads to a really cute moment. This morning I caught Will climbing up (way too high) to get his hands on a box of cereal.

Me: Will get down from there! What are you doing?!?
Will: eat
Me: Do you want to eat the cereal?
Will: (shakes head yes)
Me: Well, you can't just go and get the cereal. You have to ask first. Ok?
Will: Oh (long pause)
Will: ask

Bad News: We're going to have to move

Earlier this afternoon, I told Mallory to go and turn the backyard sprinkler off. She's only done this about 100 times since we've lived here, so I let her go unsupervised. About a minute later she walks calmly back inside. I could see the sprinkler still going, so I asked her what happened?

Mallory(in a perfectly composed voice): We have a snake

Me(thinking that Mal is messing with me): Oh really? Where?

Mallory: See that thing that looks like a big stick? (she points through the window)

Me: Yeah (it looked just like a big stick had fallen off one of our trees)

Mallory: It's not a stick

(my heart dropped and a wave a nausea passed over me as I saw the stick slither toward the water faucet...it was a HUGE snake, not one of those minor, skinny things...it's the kind of snake that nightmares are made of)

Me: KAARRREEENNNN!!!!!!! (my mother in law just happened to be over painting my bedroom) There's a snake in the backyard!!!! What do we do??!!!??!! What do we do???!!!!????

Karen (in a calm voice, which is clearly where Mal gets it from): Umm, do you have a shovel? (then she calmly starts to put her shoes on)

Me: I can't believe this is happening. This is one of my recurring nightmares come true. I hate snakes so much. I can't deal with this. (second wave of nausea hits me) I think I'm going to throw up. (I'm so ridiculously scared of snakes that my whole body started to feel weak.)

Karen: Is the shovel in the garage?

Me: Oh yeah...I'll go get it (I honestly thought I was going to throw up, but I was trying hard not to because I had to get the shovel and if we did chop up that big snake then we would have ENOUGH of a mess to clean up without having to clean up vomit as well.)

I returned and followed Karen outside with the shovel. I handed it to her since I was certain that I would not have any arm strength in me once I saw the snake again. When we got to the area where the snake was, the grass was empty. A new panic struck me as I realized that the snake could now be ANYWHERE! Karen suggested we start looking for it. I was more tempted to call 911. How thrilling would it be to be featured on the evening news for dialing 911 over a snake!

We hunted for that monster for half an hour, lifting up every toy and playstructure in the yard. We circled the house twice while I fought nausea and chills the whole time. No snake. I didn't know whether to feel relieved or not. On one hand, I didn't have to witness the butchering of a large, thick snake which was sure to force me to finally throw up. On the other hand, the snake is still out there, which means we have to move.

Jeremy is out of town, so I haven't told him about any of this yet. I'm sure he'll understand, though, that I just cannot share a home with a snake that large. One of us will have to go. It's all so sad since I really like our house.

Fives

Tagged
I was tagged by Chandra

What were you doing 5 years ago?
Hmmm...Mallory was almost 2, so I was pretty much doing the exact same things I'm doing now except with a different kid. Playing, teaching, cleaning, taking pictures, hugging, etc...Ok, so I don't paint Will's nails, but you get the idea.


What are 5 things on your To-Do list today?
1. get up way too early to go and let the carpet man into my parents house
2. go to the grocery store and buy healthy food (I just got this new cookbook and I'm dying to try out some of the recipes)
3. try to take the kids to the library since Ronald McDonald is making
a special appearance
4. clean the house for dinner guests tomorrow night
5. finish making a gazillion shower invitations


What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
1. sweet tea and any kind of cracker
2. sweet tea and Mega Thin tortilla chips
3. sweet tea and carrots with ranch dip
4. sweet tea and goldfish crackers
5. Actually, I don't really care what I have to eat as long as I have a pitcher full of sweet tea

What are 5 things you'd do if you were a billionaire?
1. play "secret Santa Claus" and send money to people who really need it just to surprise them
2. build a house in the mountains...right along a rippling creek with plenty of woods to explore
3. build an amazing tree house in those woods (I've wanted one since I first saw Swiss Family Robinson as a kid)
4. spend our summers traveling the world to help out missionaries wherever we were needed
5. hire a full time maid :) hmmm..that's a really selfish one:)


What are 5 of your bad habits?
1. getting up in the middle of the night to eat dessert
2. biting my nails
3. interrupting people while they are talking...I promise I am working on it :)
4. popping my fingers, my neck, my back, my knees, whatever there is to pop
5. grinding my teeth

Name 5 places where you have lived?
1.Houston
2.Temple Terrace, FL
3.College Station, TX
4. Spring, TX although that probably still counts as Houston...I'm doing my best to come up with five!

We must have been crazy

Jeremy and I both love whitewater rafting. Living in Houston, however, means that we don't have many opportunities to go. So, when we found out we were going to get to vacation in Colorado, Jeremy immediately started researching places to raft. He booked a trip out of Idaho Springs, which was about an hour from where we were staying. When we first arrived in Colorado it was pretty hot. The temperature got up to about 80 degrees in the middle of the day, so we thought we would be fine to go rafting.
A cold front blew in, though, the morning of our trip and temperatures dropped to the low 40s. It was drizzling rain as well. The whole drive to the launch place I kept thinking that there was NO WAY I wanted to go rafting in this weather. I must have told Jeremy 7 times, "Babe, I think we might freeze to death. Seriously." He just smiled and said we'd be fine. By the time we arrived in Idaho Springs, though, he had changed his mind. He begged the manager for a refund of our money for the trip. Jeremy tried explaining to them that we were from Houston and not used to even being outside when it was 40 degrees, let alone getting wet in that kind of weather. No luck. No refund. The man assured us that we wouldn't freeze to death. He was from Ireland, not Houston.
So, we suited up and prepared to get soaking wet with water that had been snow just 10 hours prior to our ride. That means the water was about 40 degrees as well. My teeth were already chattering when we climbed into the boat. I kept thinking, "We must be crazy. Why are we doing this? Why did I think this would be fun?"
In the first picture our guide is telling us all the different ways to survive when we get thrown into the water. There's one way if you are the only one thrown out, another if everyone is thrown out, another if the boat flips and you get trapped underneath, etc...Then he told us we had 7 minutes to get out of the water before hypothermia set in. 7 minutes. I'm not sure my brain could even think fast enough to remember which rule to follow before my 7 minutes was up. Again, "I must be crazy. This is so stupid. This guy is talking about swimming in melted snow when it's 40 degrees outside and drizzling rain."
Reluctantly, we launched and I prayed. I think we were all a little nervous about going overboard, especially when we got to our first class 3 rapid. Maybe we should have signed up for the beginner's ride!
All of the other rafting trips I've been on have been pretty family oriented. So, the guide and maybe one or two other men did all the work. But this ride was for intermediate riders and we all had to work very hard the whole trip. Forward 1! Back 2! Lean left, lean right, all paddle! It was a workout.
After 30 minutes of class 3 rapids, our guide told us that the fun was just beginning. He wasn't kidding. See one of the class 4 rapids:
Where did we go? We all managed to stay in the boat, but emerged soaking wet. At this point of the trip my left foot began to lose all feeling. It was buried in the side under water so that I wouldn't fall out. It was taking it for "team body" :) More class 4 rapids:

Then, the "float" to the end. I call it a float because it was nothing compared to what we had just come through, but this is actually where the "beginner ride" takes place.

All in all, it was a blast! A freezing, exhausting, foot numbing blast :) I'm really proud that we rode so well and didn't fall out. I'm glad I did it. Next time we go rafting, though, it's going to have to be somewhere out east or in the dead heat of Colorado summer. Because this ride was just crazy!