the back door

if you don't read hoosierhappenings you are missing out. but i just have to say.....what dear hubby wrote on love....wow!!!!! i'm most definitely blessed:) do you remember that giddy feeling? oh yeah...we still got it!

for those of you who read this you know that i have "complained" frequently about the many days we have not had school this winter. between flood days, snow days, teacher in service days, fog days, sick days, etc...i have not had what i consider to be a normal week since thanksgiving. that is quite a long time!!! for our town, last week proved to return to normal but i was blessed to have mapboy home 2 days with an ear infection. so, as i anticipated this being the week our house returns to normal, God quickly decided to bless me yet again...with a snow storm on monday night!! we woke up to about 8-10 inches of snow and sure enough - no school!! well, i have so many other things to do than come up with more entertainment. but after a brief discussion with God in the shower, i was reminded to enjoy these times with my kids - it may have something to do with the book the preschool teacher read at mom's day on monday as well. the book about all the lasts we have with

my best friend that i wrote about a few weeks ago just celebrated her birthday! it was a few days ago, but friend, i hope it was great. it may sound silly, but i have to share about one of her most memorable birthdays... we were seniors in college and both christian ed majors. that really means we played a lot of games and most of our tests were youth activities. needless to say, we had a blast almost every day. she had commented a few weeks before her birthday that she had never had a surprise party. well that put me in motion. she happened to work the night of her birthday. she called prospective students with a group of about 25 other people. a friend and i had spent the afternoon at a prof's house making cupcakes and had invited about 20 of our closest friends to hang out with us that night at the student hangout. i had also arranged for 3 of our closest guy friends to "kidnap" her that night. remember how i said we were christian ed majors. all i told them

some of you may have wondered where i am! i know most of you could care less and most of you already know, but my computer is visiting with the good computer doc this week. i have to confess....i feel lost without it!!

okay, by the time i joined our family my dad had a rule about NO PETS!!! at first i didn't mind, but at some point i really wanted a pet. i would often tie my jump rope on my stuffed clifford and drag him around because i wanted a pet so bad. but i digress... like i said we had a no pet rule. i'm not sure why we didn't seem to honor that rule, but my brother came home from work one day with a giant dog!! i was about 4 at the time and he worked at the local holiday inn. my details might be fuzzy, like i said i was 4, but they are what are deep in my mind. he drove in with this giant red great dane dog!!!! he had brought home clifford!!!! i think it was the pet of someone staying there and he felt bad for it so decided we could lodge it at our house - not sure on that one. i remember my dad not really being all that thrilled...but wow!! i had my very own clifford. that was cool. and since it was temporary:) then there was this cat named mitz that i think was my s

this morning we all woke up - hubby was leaving a little later to day so we shared coffee on the couch before the munchkins headed downstairs. it was wonderful!!! then mapboy headed off to school and i hit the grocery quick before hubby left. then - are you all ready for this - then it was a NORMAL FRIDAY!!!!!!! oh yeah! princess just plays, i get some work done, it is nice and peaceful! oh what a joy!!!

it has been almost a week since i posted. and since so many of you want to know the play by play of my life i'm offering a recap today. last friday - well....you read that for yourself! great day! saturday - i won a jousting contest, rode a bull for 13 seconds, lost my race in the obstacle course, and rocked at laser tag! did i mention i was at a children's ministry event????? sunday - left the family at home and went to church alone. sent the good doc over to see hubby, picked up prescriptions and lunch, came home and started to crash myself. couldn't even make it up to watch pride and prejudice!! monday - sent everyone to school and work and felt myself slowly go down hill. wait, by bedtime i was a mess!! tuesday - had a fever, princess had an earache, mapboy went to school. princess and i got prescriptions and slept. okay, i slept, she played. then i mustered energy to go to a church meeting - bad idea!! wednesday - mapboy screams at 2 am his ear is hurting - wa

oh yeah..it's friday... hubby is on the couch - still mapboy is on the floor - although just a bad cough so far princess is on the other chair - high fever, cough, not really moving oh yeah...it's a friday!!!!

i'm sure you all have that friend out there that no matter how far apart you are and how little you see each other there is always a connection!?!?!? today was my day to see my best friend from college. i still refer to her as my best friend even though we see each other once a year now. she lives in sunny california but travels to lafayette every february to a conference at my sisters church. it has become tradition for me to venture south for a long lunch with her! after rearranging child care i don't know how many times and forgetting the ice cream for preschool today, i finally headed out. i visited my sister for about an hour and then drove to the church to get my bf! we sat at a cracker barrel and talked for over 3 hours! just a great time of chatting and catching up and laughing about our pasts! it is always a joy to be around her....she once thought i was nuts and i once thought she was too girly perfect, but once we looked beyond those we found life long friends

i love winter...i often say it is my favorite season! well, i'm done!! i'm tired of this winter...flood, ice, snow, flood, snow, ice, sickness!! almost everyone i love is sick...okay not quite everyone but too many. hubby is out of it sick. and i'm sick too - just sick of winter and praying that the sickness won't find it's way to the rest of the family! oh where is spring????

while i think i might be looking at the 21st snowfall of the season and while it seems that monday's 2 hour delay was atleast the 21st of the school year, and even though i was the 21st person in line at the license branch today that is not what this post is about! monk and eagle have had a song out for several months now called 21st time. what a song!! when i first heard it, i had been doing a lot of soul searching about my role in the community. what really struck me is how often i disregard people. i don't really even look at the grocery clerk in the eye when i'm paying. for awhile i was really challenged to see people how Christ did and to try and show them Christ each time i saw them. it sure does change your attitude. when i wanted to be hurried i had to slow down and smile. when i wanted to be frustrated with unruly children, i had to remember what a blessing they were and how to handle them with respect. all of these things made me, i think, a better person

in honor of my bat post, don't make us stop this car has begun an animal antics friday. so, of course, i feel the need to join in this week. when i was a little kid, my parents traveled a lot. my siblings had all moved out on their own so usually a high school student/family friend would come to my house and stay with me. there were always memorable moments, but this one time the girl and i spotted a mouse in our kitchen. we both screamed and jumped on the counter. it squeaked and ran to the bathroom. we very quickly shut the door. we did notice that like most doors there was about 4 inches of space. most definitely small enough for a mouse. because we were smart girls we got a towel from the other bathroom and stuffed it under the door. after being sure that all cracks were stuffed we went to bed. we were so proud of ourselves. my parents would be home in a couple of days and they could catch the mouse we had trapped in the bathroom. we didn't pay much attention to

do you remember that movie? the guy keeps waking up reliving the same day??? i can't possibly be in the movie? can i? i think i woke up to the same friday as last friday!!! yes, folks, no school again. i'm still not sure why! i heard the administration thought there might be too much traffic? this is really beyond just having my kids home (although having had a sleepless night myself has not made for a great day) - this is getting out of hand. i know we are flooded but goodness.... so for any of you out side my little corner of the world...how many days off of school do you all take? i don't know that i've ever heard of cancelling school because of traffic, but we have seen it all here in p-town!

for the past 2 days i've tried to figure out if i have anything exciting to say. i realized i don't. there just isn't much going on around here. school, grocery shopping, running errands, meetings, etc... oh wait - did i mention we had some snow? just a little, about 6 inches or so. that was nice. on monday, princess made a little snow family on our sidewalk. each snowman had a carrot nose and looked quite impressive. we headed to my mom's birthday party and on our return the snowmen had melted!! did i mention the temperature climbed to near 50, rained, and we had the craziest fog ever!!! so guess what....mapboy comes home from school today announcing they have already called a delay for tomorrow. huh?!? oh yeah..you know that rain that started on monday? well, it hasn't stopped so now we are once again living in a flood!! oh wait...now it is snowing! or is it ice, or sleet, or rain, no wait, it's snow!??? i just don't get it...this isn't a

i have to chuckle about mapboy! he cracks me up quite a bit. last night we had gotten some snow, but woke up to clear roads. he came down all dressed and was really cute. i turned the radio on and they started listing some school delays. mapboy was quite attentive to this and ran to the tv. he knows which station lists his school so he sat in great anticipation. he noticed a neighboring town was on delay and he was getting really antsy. but to his great disappointment there was no delay. this is part of what cracks me up....he now has a tummy ache, ear ache, sore throat, hurting jaw and most definitely can't eat. hmm..... after coaxing some warm cider down him and a piece of toast i gave him some tylenol to help the ouchy jaw(he has complained a few days about this one - most likely a new molar!) and off he went. we kind of trudged to the bus stop and had a nice conversation about fog, rain, and snow. i kindly told him he did not need to visit the nurse today and sent hi

last week i mentioned we had been out car shopping. well, on friday we took the plunge and bought a car! it was the second one we test drove and i had fallen for it right away. sounds silly doesn't it? but oh so true! i have had a great disdain for the mini-van. the summer i lived in wheaton, il everywhere i looked there was a mini-van loaded with kids and sports decals. i just couldn't deal with. i called my mom and said, "i will never own one of those!" as our kids grew older, and thanks to indiana law, have needed to remain in carseats for eternity it was impossible to car pool or invite a friend along. we could only fit our family in either of our vehicles. much to my disliking, i heard myself mention a mini-van to hubby! i know every mom always loves them, but well, i just wasn't quite there yet. however, we needed more space and those giant suv's were not in our budget. but God is so good, (i mean this because i believe He loves to delight

that is how i usually feel this time of the week. and this week is no exception. friday's for me mean spending most of the day at home with princess. i usually plan to have nowhere to go and do the cleaning in the house. princess loves to just play and does so rather quietly. we cuddle and read from time to time and she offers to help around the house! this past week has been filled with lots of running around. more than normal. our church is remodeling and this is the week the bids are due. since it is a project for children's ministry i'm the one answering questions and pretending to know what i'm talking about to these contractors! i've spent a lot of time at the church doing just that. we have also decided to do some car shopping. so we've been test driving cars, which means picking one up and switching seats around then taking it back swithcing seats around again. all very exciting, but just more running around. so yesterday all i could do was s