Miss Lori

This is my friend, Lori. We met while I was a social worker with the Pre-K program in Georgia. We quickly became friends. She is the sweetest, kindest, most southern girl in the world. If she met you, you would feel like you had known her your whole life.

We quickly bonded over our dogs and went on long walks together. We took our dogs to puppy training classes. The stories from those classes are hilarious. We had a blast. Her dog, Zoey, was a star student. Willie got uhhh....most improved.

She recently met her Prince Charming. I haven't met him yet and I hate that. But everyone that met him thinks he's perfect for her.

She asked me to be in her wedding March. I can't wait and I'm so honored. She knows everyone in Troup County, so it's a big deal for me to be included in the wedding.

I'm so happy for her. Her fiance is such a lucky guy.

Morning breath

(this is an older picture of them, but it's still cute)

My kids love to snuggle in the morning. Patrick, Maggie and Steven were all snuggled up in bed and they were pretending to be asleep, which is one of Patrick's favorite "jokes". He snores and giggles.

This game involved snoring, giggling, squealing and starting all over again.

Patrick had a serious case of morning, milk breath.

Steven said, "Patrick has stinky morning breath." They all giggled.

Maggie repeated it, "Patrick has stinky morning breath." Silence.

Patrick piped up, "no, Maggie".

He was offended that Maggie thought he had stinky breath and blamed it on Maggie's breath instead.

I think they all needed a breath mint.

On the menu this week....

I don't think this will really interest anyone, but I thought this would be the best place for me to plan out menus with website links. My mom and Mr. Tom are going on vacation this week, so I actually have to cook and plan menus. So here's my ideas for the week:

Monday: Tomato Basil Soup

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/rich-and-creamy-tomato-basil-soup/detail.aspx

Tuesday: Green Beans and Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf --I will put them in a cupcake pan for individual meatloafs. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/bacon-cheeseburger-meatloaf-recipe/index.html

Wednesday: Taco Salad

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/taco_salad.html

Thursday: No noodle Lasagna

http://www.dashingdish.com/2011/01/no-noodles-about-it-the-best-low-carb-lasagna/

Friday: Grilled Hamburgers and Roasted Broccoli

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

The final reasons....

30. He made all of our family's Halloween costumes last year. He sewed them and designed the iron on patches. Then, he created a trunk for our trunk or treat contest at church.

31. He can go anywhere and find someone that he knows. Or someone that he has a connection to. It is kinda of weird. I mean, we will be in the middle of nowhere and he can find a connection to the person next to us.

32. He is passionate about his job and ministry. One time I asked him what he would do with his free time if he won the lottery. He said that he would still be a pastor, but just wouldn't take a salary.

33. He has an extreme love for hair metal bands. We always play a game where I try to guess what band it is if we hear a hair metal band song. My guess is always "white snake". Unbelieveably, I get it right a lot of the time.

34. If we see a car with an out of state license, one of us says "I guess they are a long way away from home." The other person says "or maybe they are just borrowing a friend's car". It's an old joke that we started when we were dating. It's not really funny. We just say it out of habit now and laugh cause we are dorks.

35. When I was pregnant, he would paint my toenails for me. He even learned how to do a french manicure on them.

36. I haven't loaded up luggage into our car for a trip in over 11 years. I lay out the clothes and stuff I want to pack and he puts it in the suitcases and then loads it up. Then, when we are leaving, he does the same thing. He also checks the hotel about 4 or 5 times to make sure we haven't left anything behind and checks under the bed there.

37. He made a playhouse in the backyard for the kids.

38. From Maggie: He gives us a lot of kisses and hugs.

39. He loves Jesus. He leads our family to love Jesus, too.

Happy birthday, Steven. I love you.

I love him some more

25. He knew my brother first. He was the new youth minister at the church that Jonathan attended. Jonathan brought him over to our house on Sunday afternoon. My computer was acting up and he tried to fix it for me. He is still fixing my computer and phone for me 11 years later.

26. Last year, he lost 60 pounds. It took a lot of work and breaking addictions to overeating. This was an amazing accomplishment. I'm so proud of him. He looks great and he did it so that he can be around a long time for our family.

27. He has run 2 marathons.

28. Now, he is helping me to train to walk a half marathon. We get up early every morning before the kids get going and walk together. I love spending this time with him and I get in some exercise.

29. He hasn't cut me off of his Amazon account yet. He just rolls his eyes when I order cases of peanut butter. I keep expecting him to change the password on me.

A few more reasons

20. He coached Maggie's soccer team. It was a group of 5 and 6 year old little girls. The team was called the puppies. I don't think he really enjoyed this very much, but he did it.

21. This one is courtesy of Maggie. She said that her favorite thing about Steven is his scratchy moustache.

22. He has taught himself how to play the piano. He just sat down earlier this year and taught himself how to play.

23. Almost every night, I leave the living room and go to bed. I say, "hey, don't you want to come to bed?". He will say, "yeah, I'll be there in just a minute" and then he comes to bed like at 4 a.m. This scene replays almost every night. It used to bother me when we first got married. Now, I just think it's funny that we do this every night and expect different results. He wants to just do "one more thing" before he comes to bed.

24. I like the way that he gets down on the floor and wrestles and plays with Maggie and Patrick.

9 more reasons

10. He will fix anything. He likes to fix things on his own. It is very rare for us to pay for someone to fix something. He loves to work on stuff.

11. He is fine with my parents living with us. Enough said. :)

12. He loves history. He loves to hear stories about the past and his favorite channel is the History channel.

13. He is completely addicted to pistachios. It reminds me of my dad. My dad used to eat them a lot, too. His were dyed this red color. Steven eats the natural ones and we need to buy them in bulk.

14. He understands my need to be somewhere early or at least on time. From a man who was chronically late, this is a big deal. This caused a lot of our early marriage fights. But, now, he doesn't get mad that I want to be somewhere on time. He has actually adapted to more of an early person.

15. He values how flexible my job schedule is and encourages me to keep with it. I could make a lot more money with a full time job, but he sees the value in me being at home and being there for our family.

16.He is extremely loyal. If you are his friend, you are his friend for life.

17. He is a really good golfer. I wish he more time and money to play more often.

18. (facebook just sent me a reminder about what I wrote in 2010 and this popped up. thanks, facebook lol) We are watching top 100 songs of the 90s and we are singing along to Beck and Weezer. Celine Dion's "my heart will go on" comes on and we both groan and reach for the remote!

19. He left for a trip last weekend and had to leave super early. Before he left, he cleaned up the living room. It reduced my stress level tremendously!

39

Steven Cole is turning 39 on August 27th. I've decided to spend the days before his birthday listing 39 things that I love about him.

So here are 39 reasons that I love Steven Cole:

1.He puts up with my pets. Willie and the cats appreciate that.

2.He turns the tv to Paula Deen when I am upset. It does make me feel better.

3. He wears boots every day. Every single day. I'm surprised he didn't wear them on the beach. Because of this, Patrick thinks that boots are awesome and calls all shoes "boots". His boots are Cars crocs, so they are his "ca chow ca chow boots". You need an interpreter around here.

4. He is the only male on Maggie's school's community club. It puts up with a lot of hormones and craziness. I think it says a lot about him to put up with that much estrogen in order to help out at Maggie's school.

5. He is passionate about Aggie football. Even though we are far, far away tv coverage of it. If there's ever a Cowboys' game on tv, he is totally immersed in the game. I love watching him watch a game. He is instense!

6. He will watch Sponge Bob over and over and over again with the kids. And laugh at it.

7. He has a little following of old guys that he has met at McDonald's. He goes to work on his computer at the local McDonald's. He has started talking to some of the old men who drink coffee there. They love talking to him every morning.

8. He drinks unsweet tea like nobody's business. We always say that the "only" reason we got married was because we were the only two people in the south who like unsweet tea.

9. He has owned 2 trucks his whole entire life. He blames me for getting rid of his first love cause I didn't want my babies riding in his truck. He is still a little bitter about that. I can't imagine him driving anything else but a truck.

2 years ago

Two years ago on the way home from Back to School night, I got a phone call that changed my life.

Our social worker called and asked if we were interested in fostering a little boy with "blondish red hair".

YES!

And it was the best decision for us!

two choices

Tonight, Patrick was not being very nice. I told him that he had two choices. He could either go to the living room or he could go to his room.

He looked thoughtful and said, "hmmmmmm.....cookies?".

Like that was an even better option than what I was offering.

I had a hard time not laughing at him.

Follow that bird

The other night, Maggie and I were trying to find something to watch on Netflix. I saw "Follow that bird" and decided to share this part of my childhood with her. Luckily, she was willing to endulge me.

We were watching it and I loved the trip down memory lane. Then, this song came on the movie.



What's shocking about this song is that I started singing along word for word. I haven't seen this movie since 1985 and it wasn't one that I watched over and over again. But, somewhere in my brain, the words to this song were stuck in my head.

It is just amazing to me. I wonder what else is lodged in my brain.

Anyone else have something like this happen to them? Something from your childhood that you didn't even realize was there?

I mean, really?

How stinkin' cute is this baby? This was from February 2010. He is 8 months old here. I saw this picture tonight and I just had to post it. I just wanted to share it with ya'll since I couldn't share it at the time that I took the picture. I'm so glad that I can post his pictures now. I mean, everyone should see this right?

This was a picture that I took on a day trip that our family took to Santa Cruz. We walked along the beach and then went to on a small walk in a nearby forest. It was such a fun day. He was such a sweet and easy going baby and had a fun day.

I love this guy.

Ice, ice baby

This is one of Patrick's favorite things. Ice.

When I drive through Starbucks to appease my own addiction, he starts yelling "ice" from his car seat. He gets a cup of ice. And it makes him very, very happy.

Maybe some day, he will eat food. Right now, he's a very cheap date.

winner, winner...chicken dinner

(not really, just a redbox code)

The winner is Greg. Greg send me an email or facebook me with your email address so I can send you the redbox code!

The answer was:


$723.86

That's right, folks. Our church made $723.86 selling used potties and Christmas ornaments. It was amazing. That's a lot of money for a bunch of people's old junk. And it's going to ministry!

The money's going to ministry, I mean. The junk went to people's houses that will be featured on hoarder's soon.

Yard Sale

This weekend, our church had a yard sale. In the past, our garage sales have been massive. Tons and tons of stuff. Good stuff. And we made tons of money. Ilda said that one year, the church made 1300 dollars. That is a lot of money for selling a bunch of stuff that people want to get out of their house.

This year's yard sale seemed a bit rough to me. I didn't think there was a lot of stuff. We did have a ton of Christmas decorations, oddly enough. Oh and a lot of toilets. Cause everyone wants to buy a used toilet right?

We met some really interesting people during our time. My mom said that she didn't feel right encouraging these hoarding tendencies in people. It was obvious that some people were hoarders. You could just tell. Were we enabling them?

We sold a ton of stuff. It was not a lot of stuff, but we sold a lot of it. I had a junk seller come up to get the majority of our left overs so we didn't have to haul it all away.

Guess how much money we made on this garage sale? The closest guess will get a free redbox code. Oh wait, the closest guess from a person who wasn't at the garage sale and knows the answer cause they asked Ilda wins a free redbox code. Don't be a cheater.

The contest ends tomorrow night at midnight PST.

BFFs start the 2nd grade

Maggie and Katelyn met on in August of 2009. We were both at meet the Teacher night at their schools. I remember looking around the class and saying to Maggie,"Hey, look over there. That little girl looks nice." They met that night and were fast friends.

They stuck together through Kindergarten and begged to have play dates every day after school or to go have lunch together. It was such a blessing for Maggie to have such a sweet friend to help her have a great first year. I met her parents and talked to her mom every day during pick up time.

Last year, they were in the same class together again. The year was a tough learning curve for Maggie and she was so thankful to have her BFF by her side as she navigated the new school year. They again begged for playdates after school or to go to McDonald's together.

This year, they are in the same class again. I was really nervous. I didn't tell Maggie, but I was so scared that they wouldn't be together again. They had a playdate on the day that the class lists came out. We met Katelyn's mom at school at 5:00 to see the class lists. Before we got out of the car, I prayed with the girls that no matter what, they would have a great year.

I was so stinking nervous. I was trying not to let them see how nervous I was about this. I mean, they would still be friends, but it would be so nice for them to have each other in class one more year.

We walked over to the list posted outside the school office. We scanned the lists and couldn't find their names. Where were they?

Then, we saw it. They were in the same class together for the third year in a row. There was cheering and high fives.

So, they are together for one more year. Yes! Maggie is so much more confident this year about school. She and Katelyn know the ropes, but still have each other to lean on.

As an added bonus, I have become friends with Kirsten, her mom. We have a lot in common and it's nice to have someone to navigate school and parenting with her. We even met for coffee this morning without the girls to just catch up with each other.

As we left school today, they begged for playdates at each other's houses. I hope they have playdates for many years to come.

Ba Ba

My kids have strange attachment issues to these sippy cups. Maggie called it a "ba-boo". She kept it for a long time.

Patrick now loves the same ones. His happy spot is in the rocking chair with "ba-ba" and a blanket.

I guess Ba-ba wanted to take a first day of school picture too.

First day of school pictures

I took these pictures in the backyard on the first day of school. Patrick couldn't be left out. As soon as he saw the camera, he started yelling, "CHEESE".

Stylish new bookbag ready for the 2nd grade.

She is unbelievably excited about 2nd grade. I hope it lasts past the first week!

CHEESE!

She looks like she is not quite sure about Patrick here.

She won these squinky ninjas at Boomer's the day before school started. They wanted to take a picture too.

Could he have more CARS on his body? Yes, cause even his shoes have CARS on them.

Family Fun Day

On Tuesday, we went to play putt putt at Boomer's in Modesto. Steven had just gotten back from Colorado the night before, but he wanted to spend the day with us before Maggie started school on Wednesday.

Little did we know the skills that our family has when it comes to putt putt. Maggie is on her way to becoming a pro. Do colleges give scholarships for putt putt?

Patrick was in heaven. I mean, come on...he had a golf club and a little ball. What could be better? He loved swinging the club and placing the ball in the hole with his hands. His favorite holes were the ones where you put the ball in a hole and it would go down a tunnel and come out on the other side of the hole.

Yes, I am a really good putt putt player!

Doesn't he make it look natural?

It was a fun last day of summer fun!

Maggie's first day sof school

Today was a super easy morning. You could tell she felt confident about going. She quickly dismissed Daddy on the playground. She said she was going to make lots of new friends. She is in her classroom from last year with the same teacher and her BFF, Katelyn.

She was still annoyed that I was trying to take her picture in the front yard. You can tell that this year's picture was quickily snapped in the front yard so no one would see her as they walked to school.

Thankfully, she let me take a lot more pictures in the backyard.

I am hopeful about this school year. I love her teacher and I think she is going to have a great year. I am so proud of Maggie.

Goodbye, Summer

This has been an amazing summer. I really, really don't want it to end.

I asked Maggie to tell me about this summer. She summed it up in one word: TRIPS.

We took some amazing trips this summer. I love to travel, so it was perfect. I don't know that it was so much fun for Patrick. He likes his routine, like most 2 year olds do, but he did fairly well.

I really am having a hard time even remembering all of the trips that we took.

We went to the Grand Canyon with the Monroes. That was an amazing time. I hope we continue to travel with them and let our kids have fun together. Steven and his guys are going back next summer to hike the Grand Canyon for his 40th birthday.

Then, we went to Ashland, Ohio for National Conference. It was really a great growing time and confirming that the ministry we are doing here is what we are supposed to be doing. This year, the kids got to go with us and had a blast too.

From there, we went to Destin to meet my family at the beach. WHoo hoo! I loved it. We went to the beach and swam every day. Maggie taught herself how to swim this summer. She is a determined little girl. We went on an amazing yacht and had a great time just hanging out.

Steven went on two trips during the past two weeks that we didn't go on, but we had fun at home. Maggie went to the zoo with Memaw and Nah Nah. And we went to the Jelly Belly factory with some of Steven's college friends.

So, school starts tomorrow.

I am going to miss our ability to go on a whim. But, Maggie is beyond excited about school starting. She is with her BFF and has the same teacher that she had last year.

Next summer, maybe we should stay home and relax.

Nah....we have more places to see.

Names

When I was growing up, my name was Jonna-Beth. It's a combination of Jonathan and Beth. I always thought it was kinda weird. I mean, obviously, I am a girl and my brother is a boy and we are 5 years apart from each other. Very different kids.

But, totally adorable, right?

Now, I am a mom. I totally get it. You are frantic most of the time and you are lucky to just remember part of your kids' names. You might think you know where this is going. That I call them Mag-Pat or Pat-Moo or something, right?

Nope. That would actually be a step up. I usually call Maggie the right name.

I mix up Patrick and Willie (the dog).

They get called Pat-Willie most of the time.

I hope he doesn't need therapy when he gets grown. I think Willie will be able to get over it though.

Granted, they are best buddies. Patrick gets so excited when he sees Willie after we have been gone for a while. He always kisses Willie's head when he leaves and yells, "bye woo-w00" at Willie when he leaves. He calls Willie "woo-woo". It's his name for most dogs. I guess because it sounds like woof woof.

So, yeah, there's my mothering confession for the day. I can't remember the names of the 2 of my kids.

Pat Pat

As soon as Patrick came to our house, we started calling him "pat pat". I think I started the nickname, but Maggie really loved it.

It has really become his name, kind of like how Maggie was "Maggie Moo" when she was a baby. It always catches me off guard when I hear someone call him that who is outside our family.

Like last year when we were walking to pick up Maggie and Miss Corrine said, "hey, Pat Pat" to Patrick.

Or the kids who met him at kids camp at National Conference. We would pass them while we were walking around and they would say, "hey, Pat Pat". It just sounds funny to me to hear other people say it.

So, Pat Pat has been his nickname for a while. One afternoon, while Maggie was in Kindergarten, we drove to Sonic for Happy Hour. While we were waiting for our Route 66 Unsweet Iced Teas, a yucky smell filled the car.

Maggie:EWWWW....What is that?

Me: I think Poo Poo Patted.

Maggie started laughing and couldn't stop. I had mixed up my words.

She still laughs and says it sometimes when he has a dirty diaper.

Poo Poo Patted.

I've been on a roll..

I've been really blogging a lot lately. It almost seems like the more I blog, the easier it is to think of more blogs.

I was driving to Modesto today and thinking of blog ideas. They were just coming to me like crazy.

I thought of some really awesome blog ideas today.

Guess what? I can't think of any of those great ideas now.

I thought maybe if I just started writing some of those ideas would come back to me.

Hmmm.....

How about if we revisit the awesome deal I got on green beans from Amazon?



I reguarly read blogs about saving money. My favorite ones highlight deals on Amazon.

Recently, there was a post about a great deal on green beans. It was 12 cans of green beans for $7.67. Shipped to your house. That's a pretty good deal.

Steven gets all emails every time I order something from Amazon. He calls me and says things like, "why do we need 12 cans of green beans?".

I respond with good answers like, "duh, cause it was a great deal."

When the green beans arrived,a couple of them were dented. So, I emailed amazon and they shipped 12 more cans to me. So, I got 24 cans of green beans for $7.67.

That's awesome, right? I think it's like 31 cents per can.

Yes, these are the things that make me happy now.

It makes Steven roll his eyes. Especially when he gets emails from Amazon regarding my good deals.

Tonight, I ordered 6 glue sticks for a dollar from amazon.

The best part of this deal is Steven's in Colorado and can't check his email.

Our doorbell

I keep a sign on our doorbell that says:

Please KNOCK.

Baby is sleeping.

I have had one up for about a year now. I honestly, put it up because I order A LOT of stuff from Amazon.

I just can't resist their deals.

Remind me to tell you sometime about the time I got 24 cans of green beans for 7 dollars.

It. was. AWESOME.

Anyway, I get a lot of deliveries. There's also random people stopping by who don't know how to get in touch with Steven and will come by the house to try to find him.

Patrick naps from 1-3:30 everyday, so I keep the sign on the doorbell. I tape it next to the key basket (that Karen Freeman gave us when we got married) when he wakes up.

I had gotten away from the habit until last week when someone came by looking for Steven and rang the doorbell 3 or 4 times in a row until my mom got to the door. Patrick woke up early from his nap because of it and the rest of the day wasn't very pleasant. So, my mom made a new sign and even put a picture of a baby on it, in case the person at the door couldn't read.

Since then, two funny things have happened with the doorbell.

1. On Sunday night, the pastor who uses our church brings money by to Steven. He came by around 8:30 that night and rang the doorbell. Patrick was already asleep. When Steven got to the door, the pastor said, "Hey, there's a sign on your doorbell. I moved it so I could ring the doorbell."

2. On Monday, I was getting the kids inside the house after we ran some errands. I was about to put Patrick down for his nap when I heard a knock at the door. There was a couple at the door who were looking for Steven. The lady looked at Patrick and said, "he's not asleep. There's a sign on your door that says he's asleep."

Nice. I think I'll just leave the sign up permanently to avoid answering the door. UGH.

Maggie overheard me talking about these incidences to my mom.

She came up with some great alternatives since no one reads the sign. Or thinks it's an odd sign.

Her ideas:

1. Disconnect the doorbell.
2. Write a note that says "doorbell broken, please knock".

I like the way that girl thinks.

Packing

Steven is going to Colorado on Thursday.

Tonight, I am sitting in the living room as he plans and makes lists and lays out the stuff he is planning to bring on his trip.

I asked him what day he was going on the trip. Maybe I was confused and he's leaving tomorrow. I mean, Steven has NEVER purposefully packed for a trip a day before he leaves. He's more of a midnight-the-night-before-a-trip-packing-kinda guy.

He confirmed that he was leaving on Thursday, but he had a lot going on tomorrow. He's also trying to pack for 5 days camping, but not check his bag. And packing camping stuff on an airplane is not the easiest thing to do.

Then, he said (sweet words to my ears), "I think that you are also rubbing off on me in this area."

WHAT?!

Ten years of being married and I feel a lot of joy from this conversation. My list making ways have finally rubbed off on him.

Just think....maybe ten more years and we'll start wearing matching outfits on Sunday mornings.

Unibrow

Maggie was talking to me tonight. Here's the conversation:

Maggie: Mom, I think I'm getting a unibrow.

Me: What are you talking about? You barely even have eyebrows. You have light red eyebrows that you can hardly see.

Maggie: Oh yea, I forgot. (laughing)

Me: Where did you hear the word unibrow?

Maggie: Spongebob. Squidward has one.

Me: Oh yea, I forgot. (laughing)

End scene