EBay

Last night I entered my first ever bid and won my first ever product on Ebay. It was quite exciting. I did it the "risky" way. My highest bid was not much higher than the current bid, so I waited until there was less than a minute left, entered my bid, and won:-)

I won this OK, ok...you can't tell what it is. Well, I'll tell you. It is a 5 pack of Leapfrog DVDs that teach letter recognition (Nicole already knows her letter and sounds and learned it mostly from that video), beginning and advanced reading and phonics, beginning math, and even reading comprehension. They are super and I've been looking for the 5 pack, which they no longer make. I don't think they'll be delivered by her birthday, but that's ok. It was pretty fun watching how this whole ebay thing works. Now I just hope my payment works so I get a good rating from the seller.

Sweet Hannah

Tonight, I had Hannah all to myself from about 5:00 onward. Nicole was with grammy and gramps celebrating her upcoming birthday next week (they'll be out of town) and Jeremy was working late.

I enjoyed every moment with her. It's not often that I get Hannah all to myself, especially for that long of time. I had fun laughing and playing with her. I wish I could describe everything we did, but they all were probably silly to anyone else watching. But, I think to us both...they were precious. I loved watching her play alone in the bathtub. I loved the squeal of me squirting her with water. I loved snuggling and tickling on the floor. I love it when she found a pair of to big for her shoes, brought them to me, and then kicked her feet while yelling. Clearly she was telling me to put them on her. I loved watching her try to walk around the house (holding my hands of course) with huge clunky, heavy shoes. I loved smooshing faces with her at dinner. And holding her before bed. It was a sweet couple of hours.

I get a lot of play time with my girls, but rarely alone. It's fun to just have one for a little while. I can't wait for Nicole's turn next time:-)

Dance Class

This afternoon I took Nicole to her very first dance class. She has been asking about going every day for almost a week now. A friend of mine, Ashley takes her daughter Isa who is about the same age as Nicole. AND....our friend Anna from the college ministry at church is one of the instructors. The class is free (can you believe it?) and it's a children's worship class. It was adorable. The kids did "Father Abraham" "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and some other fun preschool style dances.

So....do you want to know how the class went? If you were to ask Nicole, "What was your favorite part of dance class?" she would say (and has said) "Sitting next to mommy". Yep...she ended up sitting next to me for about 90% of the class. She stood in line well, but when the kids started marching into the room, she started crying and saying she wanted her mommy. They brought me into the room (moms are usually suppose to stay in a different room and watch through a window) and Nicole, Hannah and I sat on a bench and watched. Nicole would not budge and looked as if she would cry for the first few minutes. However....by the end of the class she was smiling and having fun watching the kids. Then, they did a song that required bean bags, and the teachers asked Nicole if she wanted to (come across the room) and get a bean bag. The first song with the bean bags, Nicole just stood there, but during the second song she started jumping up and down and dancing along.

There are only 2 more classes left :-( didn't know that or else I would have just waited till the fall) But, I think it will be really good for her to be in a class with lots of other kids and some structure. We are hoping to get her into gymnastics also. One thing Nicole misses out on by me staying home is a very structured time of learning with other children her age. So...I'm hoping after a few weeks of gymnastics or dance she will be confident enough to be away from me and begin to learn how to follow instructions from other adults and follow class rules. I think it will be really good for her, and I'm excited about it.

So...the first class seemed to be a bomb, but she watched, and maybe next week she'll get up and dance a bit more.

Crash

It's happened. It was inevitable. Only a matter of time. Our time came. Our hard drive - CRASHED. Wednesday night it fried. The sad part, for us, is....we can't even remember the last time we backed up our pictures or our music.

ALL of our pictures and ALL of our music was on our computer. We don't buy CDs anymore, we just buy a song here or there. We haven't printed pictures since August. Jeremy is at our friend's house right now who is pro at all things computers. He said we have a less than 10% chance of getting anything back. It has made us both sick.

To make matters worse, I believe it was Tuesday that I was talking to Greg and Valerie and I said, "I don't think we've backed our pictures up in almost year. I better do that soon". The next day....CRASH.

So....I'm thankful for the blog, because I do tend to post my favorites. I did make slide show of Hannah's first year and it's on a DVD. And, both my dad and my father-in-law have a ridiculous amount of pictures on their computers. I'm a little bummed I deleted my facebook account right now, because I also had a ton of pictures on there I could have gotten back. Our vacation to Disney World, the Lowry Park Zoo, and the MOSI museum are gone, because no grandparents were with us. Our fun little trips to the park on Sundays are gone. Foolish, Foolish for not backing up.

We will be buying an external back up hard drive for next time.

So, I am working off my laptap until we have time to rebuild our computer (thankfully it will only be $100-200 because we just need to buy the hard drive) but the price of our memories and music is far beyond that.

No pictures of the girls for a little while because I don't think I can load them onto my laptop. My laptop is pretty old, but it does the job I need of e-mail and blogging, so I'm happy to have it.

OK....go back up your computer, right now.

Girl's Night and a Refreshing Morning

Last night I had a few girlfriends over, some have been friends for a long time, and some were pretty new. It was a blast. We cooked a Chicken Curry dinner, each girl brought a couple different ingredients and had a job in the dinner. We had a really yummy and entertaining flowering tea in Valerie's glass tea pot. And we had yummy chocolate fondue for dessert. It was so fun to get to sit and talk with everyone without having to worry about little one's potty breaks, picking up thrown food, wiping spilled milk or kissing boo boo knees (although in all honesty...I love doing each of those things, even potty breaks). But, it's always fun to get away for a few hours and talk with other women. We had a really cool group of women with different interests and concerns which made for fun conversation. It was fun and I'm happy each one could come.

Then, I got the morning off:-) This I did not realize how badly I needed!!! Nicole and Hannah ended up spending the night at Greg & Valerie's. So...I got to sleep in!!! Although I did wake up to put Jeremy's already made lunch in his lunch box and see him off to work. I went back to bed and slept a bit longer (until woken up by a cell phone). Then I laid in bed for about 20 minutes and read. It was delightful! I woke up in the middle of night in need of my own potty break and realized I was HUNGRY!!! I got this crazy idea that I wanted First Watch, but obviously had to wait because they were closed. So...once I got up and going, I called my friend Alison and she went to First Watch with me. We really have only known each other a couple of weeks, so I'm sure she was a bit surprised to watch me take down a HUGE Belgian waffle, a couple of scrambled eggs and a couple pieces of toast, hahaha. I am eating for two right? And breakfast IS the MOST important part of my day, right? Ya, that's what I thought. So...after breakfast I went to Publix excited because I had a zillion coupons to use. I spent $65 and saved over $90. I was pretty happy with that. I even bought a few things without a sale or coupon but they were needed. One day I'm going to go just to buy sale/coupon items and see how I do:-)

Sooooo...all of that to say...I feel refreshed. I am happy and content and so desperately needed a break. I was excited to see the girls when they got home and I think they were even excited to see me:-)

Thank you to my girlfriends for your friendship, support and encouragement. I enjoyed having some over last night. And Thank you to Valerie (and Greg) for watching the girls and giving me a much needed and appreciated break:-)

To the Dentist we go

Today was Nicole's first trip to the dentist office. We decided not to talk about it until this morning. Last time she was at the Dr. (about a month ago) the Dr. wanted to look in her mouth and it took about 10 minutes of bribery for her to open her mouth, so I was not expecting much today. In fact, I had all sorts of bribes and distractions prepared (*note: I don't generally bribe my kids, and I'm glad I didn't have to today)

HOWEVER....she was a gem...a star....a perfect little patient. The hygentist was wonderful with her. She showed her all of her cool equipment and Nicole did everything she asked. She was so good, that when an opening came up to move my appointment ahead, I felt comfortable leaving her in the room so they could start on my teeth. After she was done, they let her pick out a couple of toys from the toy box. I was so please, and proud.

She gets what she asks for

Today we went to The Cracker Barrel for lunch with Grammy and Gramps. When the waitress came to take the orders, Nicole said, "I want white milk and one pancake". She knows what she wants. Well, after a while the rest of us ordered and we were on our way to a nice lunch. About 5 minutes later the watress brought out a plate full of cornbread and biscuits. Nicole became concerned and said, "No, no, I want pancakes". After being reassured this was not her lunch she was satisfied to continue coloring.

About 5 or 10 minutes after that the manager came walking around and stopped at our table. She asked if we needed anything and Nicole said, "I want my pancake!" She was polite, but you could hear the slight attitude of demand in her voice. The manager went straight back to the kitchen, and a minute later brough Nicole her pancake! hahaha. We all got a good laugh. I wish I would have asked for my chicken tenders too:-)

Last week we were at lunch with just grammy and we decided to be mean to Hannah and offer her a lemon (sorry Hannah). She happily obliged (if you know one thing about Hannah, she never turns down food, at least not at first). I wish I would have gotten the first several reactions on video. But, here are the last two. They were taken from my camera phone so the quality isn't great and they are short. Enjoy

Compassion

Last night I had nursery duty and was excited to be in Nicole's class. Usually, I get put with the babies, so it's a treat when I'm with Nicole. I got to serve with my friends, Jennifer and David. I think I was very little help to them, probably even a bit of a nuisance since I was just wanting to chat with Jennifer. Jennifer teaches the class every other week. Since I'm not in there often, it's so nice to see how teacher like her, and Tanya, love on the children. Children's ministry is NOT my forte. I get annoyed and frustrated to easily with other's kids (sorry:-( I don't think I could do it every week. I am happy to volunteer when needed because I so greatly appreciate the time, effort, and love these ladies (and their husbands) put into the classes.

It was fun for me to be in there last night because I got to see Nicole play with an interact with the other kids. She seems to be getting better. For a while I was worried about her because she was sort of a loner and wouldn't play with or interact with the other kids. I think it was just her age. This time around, she was pretending with other little girls and playing ball with the group. Yay!

Here's what I Really wanted to post about though. A situation arose where a little girl took off her big play jewelry ring and threw it. I picked the ring up and Jennifer (the teacher) told me to put the ring in the little girl's bag. Well, the little girl was none to happy and threw a big fit. Bless her heart. She was crying and begging me not to put it away. We assured her she would get it back and it was in her bag, but this did not help. She went over by herself and cried for a while. I went back and sat down with the group and looked at Nicole. She looked at me, very concerned, and then back at the little girl, then back at me again. Her eyes got a little watery and she even poked her lip out a bit. Then, she went back to playing roll the ball again. About 1 or 2 minutes later, Nicole got up from the group and went over to the little girl (who was no longer crying, just moping). Nicole bent over, put her hands on her knees and said, " Little girl, why you crying?" (She was incredibly sympathetic) The little girl told her what happened, and Nicole stood there shaking her head as the little girl spoke. Then girl looked at her and said, "It'll be alright" then came back over to the group again. She looked at me one more time and smiled.

It was precious because you could see that she was concerned that this little girl was crying. She was upset that somebody was so sad. I loved seeing her compassion this way. It was adorable. And...I'm thankful Nicole didn't get mad at me and think I was a "bad guy" I told her later what a good thing she did and that I was proud of her.

So sweet....

In Loving Memory of Rick Holt

This morning just after 6:00am, the Lord called our friend Rick home. Rick is the father of my brother's girlfriend. We have had the opportunity to get to know him and his family a bit over the past few years. Just before the new year, Rick went into the ER with some strange symptoms, the next day he was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer. Shocking to an otherwise healthy looking man. He was not given long to live, but he fought it anyway. His testimony has been amazing as I watched he and his wife walk this seemly long, road over the past few months. Just Sunday, his wife surprised him with a group of his motorcycle buddies showing up at his house. He went out, sat down in the driveway and again told his testimony of God's amazing grace in his life. He told them that he was not afraid to die, he knew where he was going and that he would soon be with the Lord. What he was afraid of was that some of his friends didn't know what would happen to them when their time came. He presented the gospel, yet again to a group of close friends, many of whom are/were not saved. The next day, Rick's health drastically took a turn for the worse. It was the last gospel message he would proclaim.

Yesterday I took the family food and got to spend a few minutes with Debbie, Rick's wife as we looked over his bed and talked to him. Although he was sedated, he smiled a couple of times and raised his eyebrows. Just before taking his last breath this morning, he opened his eyes and looked at his dear, loving, precious wife.

Please pray for this family as they walk through one of the hardest days in their lives today. Pray for Erica as she mourns the loss of her father. Her sister Mary who was able to come down and support her mother. His wife, Debbie as she has lost her dear husband. Pray for my brother, Justin as he steps in and ministers to his girlfriend and her family. Pray that the Peace that passes ALL understanding would wrap them today.

Here are a few pictures in memory of Rick.

I thought I had a really great pictures from January with him next to his motorcycle, but I can't find it:-( I think it's on my dad's computer. I'll have to share later.

For anyone intersted I've found a couple interesting articles on death.

John Piper- What happens at Death?
Afraid? Of What? - a poem

I really AM pregnant!!!

OK, I now that title may seem weird, but since I have not had an ultra sound or heard the baby's heart beat, I still was afraid maybe it was a dream. I mean, the test came back positive, right? Well, today I KNOW for sure. I had an appointment with my midwife and Nicole even came along. It was fun having her. We both got to hear the baby's heart beat (150s), and Nicole even got to hold a life size replica of what the baby looks like and how heavy it is. She started sweetly rocking the baby back and forth. It was precious. I think she really liked being there. My midwife said it would be great if she could come to more appointments. Since she's so well behaved, I think I may start to bring her.

So...where I am? I am 13weeks and 2 days. And for those of you who must know, I've gained 2 pounds. I'm pretty sure that's the last time I'll tell you how much I gained, haha. Courtesy of Pregnancy.org, here are some stats on the baby and his/her development (amazing by the way!)

*Your infant is about 2.91 inches (7.4cm) and weighs around 0.81 ounce (23gm) - This is about the same weight as 4 quarters.
*If you could peek in again you may spot your baby as he begins to practice inhaling and exhaling movements
*Eyes and ears continue to move and develop
*Baby's neck is getting longer, and the chin no longer is resting on his chest
*Her hands are becoming more functional - Your baby may find it comforting to start playing with her fist.
*At this point all nourishment is received from the placenta

Look at those legs and arms...the toes and finger. You can see the eyes, nose and ears (although not in this picture). There's NO denying that is a baby, I don't care who you are.

I think I'll try to do pregnancy posts more. With Nicole, I always knew how far along I was and what the development of the baby was like. With Hannah, I had a hard time keeping track, and with this one, I'm pretty much clueless unless I'm with my midwife. If you all don't mind these types of ultrasound pictures...I think I'll let you know how the baby is developing every once in a while.

Hmmm...I thought I had something else I wanted to blog about, but I don't remember what it was. So, you'll have to wait until next time. Oh, by the way, if you know of anyone that is going to sell their Honda Odyssey minivan (year 05 or higher), let me know. We *may* be interested (more interested in a few months though).

Here's a pic of the girls from a couple weeks ago, just for fun.

Morning Fun...and CVS

It's not even 9:00 yet and we've already got a handful of pictures. I couldn't resist this morning. Grandma bought Hannah a little outfit before she left and I put it on her this morning. It came with a matching doo-rag (how do you spell that?) A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!
So, of course I had to share....

Nicole was spinning in her pretty skirt

While I wait for these photos to upload, I better tell you about CVS this week. BIG week for CVS around here. My buddy Teri and I took off Sunday night after the kids went down to do most of our deals, because we had a $5/30 that was expiring. The big deal this week is that the Bayer Contour Blood Glucose Monitor is on sale with $5ecbs. Why do I need a glucose monitor? I don't, but it's FREE and I get money back, so I'll purchase them and then donate them. There is also a pretty good deal on Colgate toothbrushes, Schick Razors, and Bayer Quick Release crystals. So...here's the deal I did with my friend Allison last night, who is learning the ropes.

Trans 1

2 Blood Glucose meters $14.99 each

- $14.99 Q

= FREE

Received $10 ECB

Trans 2

4 Colgate toothbrushes $2.99

-2 $1/1 Q (wish I had 2 more for her)

=$10

Used $10 ECB

$0.00 oop

Received $5 ECB

Trans 3

1 Schick Razor $8.99

2 Colgate toothpaste (BOGO) $2.79(?)

=$12 and change

-$4.00 Schick Q

- 2 $1/1 toothpaste Q

=$6 and change

Used 5 ECB

Paid $1 and change oop

Received 4 ECB

Trans 4

1 Schick Razor $8.99

1 Bayer Crystals $2.00

=$11 and change

-4 Razor Q

-1 Bayer Q

Used 4 ECB

Paid $2 and change oop

Received 6 ECB

Trans 5

1 Schick Razor $8.99

-4 Razor Q

=$5 and change

Used 4 ECB

Paid $1 and change oop

Received 4 ECB.

She walked out with 6 ECB, paid between $4 and $5 for 3 Razors, 4 toothbrushes, 2 toothpastes, 1 Bayer Crystals, 2 blood glucose meters.

Way to go...it was fun teaching a newbie how to do this...and a great week to teach. So...if you have the coupons...go to CVS today:-)

K-Mart doubles and triples

Today was my first experience, ever with doubling and tripling coupons. K Mart was tripling coupons that were $.75 and less and doubling coupons up to $2.00. So....here's what I got.

2 softsoap bottles ($1.50 each) with 2 $.35 (x3)

$.45 for one $.90 for 2

1 Johnson's Lotion ($5.29) with $2.00 (x2)

$1.29 (this was a splurge!)

4 Colgate kids toothpaste (1.29) with 4 $.75 (x3)

$.04 for one!!! $.16 for all four

4 Skintimate shave gel $2.89 with 4 $.75 (x3)

$.64 for one $2.56 for all four

1 Oral B toothbrush $2.19 with $.75 (x3)

Free (wish there were more)

4 Huggies wipes $2.50 with 4 $.75 (x3)

$.25 for one $1.00 for all four

1 Cottonelle moist wipes $ 4.19 with $.75 (x3)

$1.94 (this was a mistake. I thought the wipes were $3.00, if I would have paid attention to

the scanner, I would have voided this)

2 Clorox Anywhere spray $2.79 with 2 $.75 (x3)

$ .54 for one $1.08 for both (this was also a mistake. I got the kind you spray on furniture.

Anyone want to swap for one with a Clorox Anywhere?)

2 Bisquick $3.69 with $.60 (x3)

$1.89 for one $3.78 for both (I go through bisquick pretty fast and they aren't BOGO at

Publix very often, so this was a decent deal for me)

3 Sparkle Paper towels (3 pack) $2.99 with $.50 (x3)

$ 1.49 for one $4.47 for 3

My merchandise total was $74.93

I used $57.44 in coupons (and doubles and triples)

Paid $17.49 out of pocket.

I didn't have the $5/$50 Coupon :-( or else my total would have went down to $12.49. If I wouldn't have bought the lotion and cottonelle wipes, I would have been below $10. Not to shabby. I was pretty excited. It was fun doubling and tripling coupons.

btw....Jeremy and the girls went with me. Jeremy was extremely patient and watched the girls while I bargained shopped. We did have one mishap. They were in the garden section when Nicole slipped (again) on a puddle and got completely wet and muddy. So we had to impulse by a new outfit and undies (the undies were on sale though $4.00 for a 9 pack). I made him ring those up separately so it wouldn't affect my bargain shopping receipts, haha. Nicole was fine and just suffered a wet bottom for a few minutes. I was extremely grateful for Jeremy's help. He's the best!

Sound of the Week

Nicole and I have been going in a little bit of a different direction with her learning lately. For a while, I was doing unit studies using a particular book or topic. Remember our beach study and Mouse Paint? I sort of stopped doing any "on purpose" learning/teaching for a few months. I don't know. I guess I lost my motivation for some reason. Recently however, we have jumped back on the learning bandwagon and it's been great.

Nicole is very solid in her knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds. She started sounding words out while we were reading a few months ago. So, I have switched, for right now, from unit studies to a knew curriculum using Sound of the Week. We have almost completed week two. Week one was the letter combination (Amanda...help me, what it is called?) "ck" We looked at all kinds of words that have the "ck" combination, such as clock, truck, duck, etc. Clock was our main theme word. Most of the books and activities we did surrounded the word clock.

This past week has been the letter combo "ee" as in week, sleep, bee, sheep. I chose to use the word week as our theme word and we've been working, a little, on the days of the week. We have also been reading a lot about trees. I really like this sound of the week idea because I see that it's already helping her with sounding words out. Instead of sounding out the word duck as "d-u-c-k" She knows the "ck" is one sound, not two.

With this, we have also been practicing our handwriting. We have not put a lot of effort into this yet. I found some cool pre-handwriting worksheets at this site. (btw...that site is cool for my other mommas out there. There are all sorts of planning sheets for your home, great handwriting practice, math, science and more).

Nicole did ok writing her "c" and "k" last week, but she has rocked the paper and marker this week with the letter "e". Yesterday we were practicing and she said, "Mommy, I want to write my "e" all by myself. I didn't write and example of a dotted "e" for her to follow at all. Check it out.

We also put up a Learning Tree. Each week we learn a new sound, we'll put that sound on a leaf or an apple and stick it to the tree. Last night at dinner, Nicole told her daddy about the tree and said we have "ee" and "ck" up there right now. She seems pretty proud of it.

I realize some of this maybe a little advanced sounding and pushy. I sort of figure that even if she forgets all of this and has to re-learn it, it should be easier the second time around because her brain has already seen these things. In the meantime, I might as well teach her while she enjoys learning. We do our learning time during Hannah's first nap. We have a few minutes of handwriting and sound practice, read a couple books, and do a little craft. I think we both treasure that time together.

Before the Throne of God

I like to post lyrics every once in a while to songs that make an impact on me. I first heard this song on a Selah CD. Then, several years ago, we were visiting Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and had the chance to go to chapel. One of the professors of the undergrad school, Jim Orrick preached, and he used the lyrics to this song. It is one of my "go to" songs when I'm having hard day, a great day, I need encouragement or I just want to praise God. So....I thought I'd share. I don't think we've ever sung this song at our church. I wish we would...it's so great. Here is a video I found (just wanted you to heard Selah) and the lyrics are below.



Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,

One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

I was reading Colossians today and as I listened to this song, it reminded me of a great verse I read. Colossians 1:13: "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

A conversation with Yaya

Nicole, talking to Yaya (my mom) on the phone this morning.

Yaya...Hi Nicole, How are you?
Nicole....Good
Y: I'm coming over soon, do you want me to bring you anything?
N: Well, yes.
Y: What?
N. A present!
Y:What kind of present? I have cake, M&Ms, crackers...what do you want?
N: Well...I want a cookie.

Hannah's Birthday, Take 2

We celebrated Hannah's birthday on Wednesday with a family dinner. It just so happened that my Aunt Julie and Uncle George were down for a vacation and flew in that day. So, we had the pleasure of having them join us for birthday dinner. Of course we had Yaya & Papa, Grammy & Gramps, Uncle Justin a & Erica, and the girl's Great-Grandma Mimi. It was a fun evening. Hannah was in good spirits and didn't even cry. She got some fun birthday presents and money to buy books. Here are a few pictures from the night. If you haven't seen the video yet of her eating (or should I say NOT eating) her cake, scroll to the next post and watch it there.

I saw this cupcake cake on the back of a cake box and thought I'd give it a try. I'm not the most artistic person in the world, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Hannah's birthday, take 1

OK, I've been trying to find time to post pictures, but haven't. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure. Hannah was not sure what to think about the cake. She made some very funny faces. Hopefully more pictures and stories will be coming soon. Until then....enjoy....