the back door

my parents are celebrating 47 years together today!! amazing isn't it? the best part is they are still very much in love! we still see them holding hands while driving or sitting next to each other. they hold hands while they take walks. they still dance in the kitchen to "their" music. they travel together, they eat together, they work together...the love each other! they raised 4 of us kids plus the many others that we brought home. they took us on memory making vacations and taught us how to work. i'm sure my siblings will say i didn't have to learn that last one, but i did. i'm thankful that they are still healthy and active. still showing so many others what marriage looks like, and enjoying this life that God gave them. happy anniversary to my favorite couple!!!

so this is my 10 year college reunion!! i find it hard to believe that i have gotten that old, but it appears i have. i spent some time the other day thinking about college days and decided it was worth a top 10 list here at my back door! so here are my 10 favorite (or atleast quite memorable) things from my life at the 'Ville. oh - i guess most of you would have no clue what the ville is....it is this quaint little baptist college in southern ohio - Cedarville University. 1. New Dorms as a freshman! 2. Life long friends 3. Tennis team - i could come up with 10 things alone about this one. 4. Grilled steak and chicken strip night at Chuck's 5. Campus security and fighting them in student court for my best friend! 6. sneaking back in to our dorm room after hours. 7. Christ is All I need, Oh Cedarville your call fulfill, I woke up this morning....hmmm, I guess i really do still think about chapel every day at 10:00 8. Hutch and Screamo at his house!! 9. 6 different ...

golly....it has been a doozy of a week!!!! enough said

do you remember my blog on our current technology here at our house? if not...scroll down and check it out. (sorry, i haven't figured out how to link to specific entry-read the entry!) anyways...our ancient computer just keeps kicking...atleast until this week. all of a sudden it would freeze and give me a warning that i'm dangerously low on resources! hm? wonder what that means? well, if i shut it down and turned it back on it would work again. atleast it did until friday. then it wouldn't even shut down. the really odd thing....i can run internet just fine! but no way will this machine let me run windows. i don't get it - but what i am getting is a new computer!!!

my little mazda is still plugging along just fine! it was the car my daddy bought me when i graduated college and i love it! it has a sun roof and is just a lot of fun to zoom around in. however, with the 2 kiddos we purchased an old explorer that i now drive while hubby gets the car. it has been having some troubles lately and we were planning to take it to the shop this next month. well, monday morning hubby headed off to work. in a few minutes he was back and not happy. you know - the slam the keys on the counter and kinda huffy breathing. well, the car would not start. so he took mine and headed in to work. homebound and obviously it was going to rain all week, i decided to deal with the car so i could have transportation. i head out to try again in a few hours. i notice there is no gas in the car. so i call hubby and suggest we put some gas in. he says the light just came on and that is not the problem. well, okay, dear! so i call my 2nd dad up, (he runs a full-servic...

wednesday evening we are all snuggled up reading on the couch when he decided that he needed to see who it was walking by our house. now, he usually has to comment on the variety of people that walk by, but for whatever reason this time it seemed quite urgent. hubby and i gasped and tried to stop him, but it was too late. as he jumped his leg smacked against the coffee table. there was a small yelp, a look of pain, and then a sudden need to just sit. i think he was stunned a little. we finished our books and headed up stairs. of course he needed help up the stairs but got settled okay in bed. the next morning there was as lot of moaning while getting out of bed. now, he usually offers a serious of moans and grumps, but this was more than the norm. we noticed that he was favoring his leg. we usually tell them not to jump off the couch so i'm sure he didn't want to complain too much b/c he knows the rules. anyways - hubby loaded him up and took him to the doctor (we w...

the past two saturdays have been spent at weddings. they were quite different from each other, but both celebrated the love the couple shared and a future together. i laugh because i used to highly emotional, until i had children. now i have a hard time getting emotional at things but this time around i was moved. at each one i snuggled just a little closer to my hubby. it seems like so many marriages are in trouble these days. or maybe i should say that they aren't very happy. so many just kind of function side by side during their day. which isn't bad - but they might be missing out on the great love they once shared. i have always felt blessed with a great husband and wonderful marriage, but these past 2 weddings have reminded me just how blessed i am. we are going on 9 years this fall and have had highs and lows. every couple does, but God has been so good to us and hubby is always so patient. well, not always, but when needed he is! anyways - we have such a deep ...

following is the conversation i heard going on in the backseat this afternoon... child 1: get over here... child 2: no, you get over here!! (they were playing with their toys) child 1: i'm gonna take your arm off child 2: oh yeah...not if i take your leg off first child 1: i'm not scared child 2: me either... child 1: maybe i'll just cut your head off child 2: (makes the toy cry) ha!! you think i'm scared now...wait till i get you child 1: i've got a sword child 2: i've got a sword that is bigger child 1: off with your head... child 2: AHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!!! giggles erupt from the back seat.... yes, you all, giggles, from the 2 little girls playing with their toy puppies in the back seat!! talk about a sweet girls day out.....

august 17 is such a special day in our house....it was the grand entrance of our little princess!!! it all began on the 14th....i had my weekly check-up at 34 weeks. my doc was on vacation so i was seeing his partner who is also a friend of ours. knowing this doctor like i do, i mentioned to hubby that i expected him to admit me to the hospital for high blood pressure. i had been experiencing this before pregnancy and had made it to 34 weeks before it started to climb. you know when you have those feelings...well i just knew. hubby dismissed it and said i'll see you at lunch!! mapboy heads off to grandma's and i head to the doctor...it took all of about 10 minutes before i know my feelings were right. a wheelchair was brought in along with a phone to call hubby to meet me over at the hospital. i headed over a little panicked but not too bad. i was checked in and hooked up to all sorts of monitors. hubby arrives and the doctor explains that he is going to order a 30 mi...

this morning was day 2 of school! we had a great first day - mapboy got off the bus just as happy as when he got on the bus. he was up and ready again in plenty of time this morning...so we headed out the door. we walk 1 block to our bus stop. not far, but far enough that i always walk along. so this morning we sauntered down the street. as we turned i thought it seemed eerily quiet out. we live on a pretty popular short cut around town. (if you live in my town you understand...for those who live in a city...well even small towns have shortcuts!) so anyways...i noticed the 2 other boys weren't out waiting. hmm...but not too strange..they sometimes didn't ride last year. we were there for a few minutes when i noticed the girl who waits at the next block wasn't there either. now i'm starting to think....i know we left a little early, but hmmm???? i take a look around - i don't see any fog, although on occasion it has been quite foggy in the country and i ...

this morning we had a test run at our house!! tomorrow is the first day of 1st grade for mapboy!!!! we all very excited about this new phase in our house. he will be gone all day for the first time. last night was meet the teacher night at school. we got to see our room, talk with the teacher, pick out a desk and put our supplies in it! as we walked the desks, my beloved son chose to sit in the front of the room almost completely surrounded by GIRLS!!!!! there are 2 new students to his school that he sits by so he can help show them around. he loved playing in his room and seeing all the cool things he will be doing! we have a great teacher and i'm so excited for this year. princess is excited too!! she will have all day with mommy!! of course she will be doing preschool, but her whole life has been dominated by big brother. i'm sure polly world will see a lot less trauma, babies will most likely not be launched down the stairs, and chick flicks will be more frequen...

over the course of this summer i've had some big moments!! it started in may when my cousin, don't make us stop this car , gently persuaded me into the world of blogging!! this was quite a step for me!! after our may trip i came home needing to find internet for the first time in my life! you see, i'm the baby in the family so i still enjoyed some of the benefits even in my 30's. we had dialed into my parents company for internet use. i know it was dial up, but hey it is free!!! and for a budget conscience person like me i could deal with it!!! so i hunted around and just couldn't believe the cost of it all - so i decided to be internet free. that decision lasted about 3 days before i settled on the cheap $9.95/month netzero dial-up!! so far so good, slow, but faithful!!! then, it was time for cell phone. yes, another benefit of being the baby, my parents still covered our cell phone. now, you should know it is the exact same phone i had in 1996. not jus...

well.....we woke up this morning and found our resident critter was not to be found!! does that mean he moved out, does it mean he ate something toxic on my stove top, maybe that snake was hungry, who knows....i don't really care!! he was gone this morning!!!!!!!!

over the 8 years of living in our old house we have had our share of nightly visitors. you know...the ones that invite themselves inside, munch on your food, and leave a trail behind them! well, we had survived most of the summer until this last weekend. a new friend has come to visit. i'm not sure why he has chosen our humble abode. i mean the neighbors cat pretty much lives around our house, we have acquired a snake in our back yard, and our dog definitely keeps some rodents away. maybe this is all the cause of him taking up residence in our house. all i know is i can't stand to have critters sharing my space!!!! usually we find him enjoying something leftover from dinner on our stove and then a trail over to visit our toaster and back....i got smart and moved our toaster up a level so he can't find it. and he hasn't. although he still must feast away on my stove top. i have scoured that top, bleached the top, and used lysol...but the little guy just won...

last friday night hubby decided to try a campout in our backyard with the kids. we have set the tent up to play in but thought we'd give it a try again this summer! we had a great time...we made smores over our little camp stove, hunted crickets, read some books in the tent, played with the lantern, and watched a bat fly around! what great fun we had...but the four of us no longer fit in a 2 man tent, the mosquitos were crazy, oscar(the dog) must be able to hear the bat at a different decibel and therefore moaned, hubby and i were exhausted, and princess did not like that bat...so at 10:00 we came inside. the kids had a sleepover in princess's room and we slept nicely on our comfy bed!! i often wonder why my parents always took us camping in a van and tent. it couldn't have been that much fun!! i don't think my family will be experiencing the joy of camping any time soon!!!!

so for a few weeks now i've been meaning to put some pictures up of my precious kiddos!! but for whatever reason, my computer is not allowing me to add pictures!! i can't stand technology. i click on the icon and absolulely nothing happens!!! FRUSTRATION to the max... oh well...maybe another time

does anyone else out there start monday off with being highly organized, motivated, and ahead of the game only to find that on friday you really haven't accomplished much of anything, lack the motivation, and just can't get enough dark chocolate?? just curious!

in 2 weeks mapboy will be in first grade. this means that for the first time i will be packing school lunch !! part of me is so excited to stick in little fun notes for him to find and make cute little surprises.. okay, who am i really kidding? that will last what, maybe 10 days before the novelty wears off! anyways - the reality is that i have a child who basically eats pbj every day for lunch! does anyone out there have any creative lunch box tips? you know, the behind the scenes look at the refridgerator and cabinets a few minutes before the bus comes when you are frantically throwing together an incredibly "healthy" lunch. i mean how many times a week can a kid eat pbj and a granola bar before the school opens up an investigation on the nutritional health of our family????????? my solution is to make him buy his lunch, but who am i kidding there? i didn't eat the food when i was in school and who really wants plastic pizza with a side of cooked spinach?!!? i ...

mapboy left last night to spend some time with grandma and his boy cousin! so this morning princess and i did a few things around the house and then took off for an afternoon of shopping!! i was curious how this event would go. she LOVES clothes, but at the age of 4 (okay almost 5) i wasn't sure how long she would last. i have always bought her garage sale clothes or hand-me-downs. i hated those growing up, of course most of mine came from my cousins who were in esssence a decade ahead of me style wise. anways....most of her collection is mismatched items but she wears them proudly. we decided this year she could get a few brand new outfits for school. so off to target we go....she must have picked out 20 different things to try on. i figured when we got to the dressing room she would get bored with trying them on. oh no....she tried each item on and twirled in front of the mirror. it was so much fun to watch my little girl be so precious. some she said she didn't like, some di...