Let the Countdown Begin

Since Christian is already asleep for the night, we officially only have two more sleeps until the cousins arrive. I can't wait, He can't wait, and I'm sure McKenna would feel the same way if she had a clue what was going on.
This is going to sound terrible, but Christian has been driving me crazy with all the playing I've been having to do with him. He needs his buddies to come back and spend some time with him. I just can't make any more forts or chairs or rocket ships out of Mega Blocks. And enough already with the massive train tracks we create everyday and the crafts and coloring we HAVE to do together. He even comes and sits on the floor and talks to me the entire time I try to do something on the computer (hence, the lack of blogging). The cousins can't come fast enough....I need a little breathing room!

Wordless Wednesday

Worship

Um...Isn't that such a great verse! I love it! Have you worshiped God yet today? You know that God created you to WORSHIP him, the Bible is clear about it. If you ever feel like you don't have purpose in life or you're feeling depressed or you don't know which direction to go....WORSHIP! Get your eyes off yourself and onto the one who made you. Worship doesn't have to take place sitting in a pew singing hymns. There are so many different ways to WORSHIP God! King David would play his harp and sing. Miriam danced before the Lord while playing her tambourine. Mary (the one with Martha, not the Mother of Jesus) worshiped by sitting at the feet of Jesus and just listening to him. The Wise Men worshiped by bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. But what about today? What about 2009?

So let's talk about this...how do you worship God? Do you do it everyday, rarely, just on Sundays? And how?

P.S. I'll leave the first comment to get us started!

Survey - Leave a Comment

My dishwasher is dying. It's sad but true. Last night I put Christian to bed with his fan on and his door shut and then went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. A few minutes later I turned on the dishwasher and within a few seconds Christian came bounding down the stairs wanting to know what that loud noise was. "No sweetie, it's not a train that's going to crash into the house. You can go back to bed. Yes, I promise it's just the dishwasher."

Our dishwasher has been on it's last leg for about 2 years now, but lately it's been getting much worse. Of course, we continue to try to hang on to it because replacing it just opens up a whole new can of worms. Our house is on the market, so the appliances need to match, but I don't want to buy another almond colored appliance. I mean, what if we end up staying here? If I knew we were going to stay we would begin to slowly replace everything with stainless steel. So I don't know what to do. We're going to continue to put up with the noise for now, but in the meantime I need to do a little research in case we need to start replacing things and that's where you come in.

We currently have all GE appliances and since our house is 10 years old that means our appliances are too. I guess that's not too bad.

Here are my questions for you:
What brand of appliances do you have in your house? Specifically the dishwasher?
How old is it? (Because most appliances work fine for 5 years. I care about it lasting a lot longer than that).
Have you had any problems with them?
Would you recommend what you have?

Thanks

"i da too"

That means "I love you" in McKenna language! Oh melt my heart, that girl told me she loved me. Okay, so I told her to say it. But she did and then snuggled right up to me!

"It's a BEE day again"

As I've mentioned before HERE, Christian is very cautious. He follows all the safety rules and if I deem something unsafe he has no interest in trying to defy me. He wears his bike helmet religiously and that's why you find the occasional picture of him wearing his helmet when it's not even necessary.

But something sad happened last week. Christian and PopPop were hiking in the woods at my parent's house and Christian got stung twice by yellow jackets. Just in case you don't know, Yellow Jackets hurt bad! Honey bees don't have much of a sting, but yellow jackets, hornets and wasps don't mess around.

This is a picture of a Yellow Jacket (you can see how it gets it's name) and Christian got stung on his knee and right on the corner of his mouth. PopPop had to carry him, as he screamed his head off, all the way to the house. He pretty much cried for the next hour as I held ice packs and cool cloths on his bee stings.

And now we have a new problem. Our backyard has clover all over it, which bees love. So every day Christian walks outside, spots a bee and comes running back into the house saying "It's a bee day again. I guess I have to stay in. I'm not going outside with those bees."

He will NOT go outside if he sees any bees. He's terrified of them and I guess I don't blame him, but we've got to get over this at some point. So we're keeping the grass/clover mowed really short and I'm hoping the memory of what happened will fade.

"Nice to meet you."

So have you ever wondered how I'm connected to the different people who's blogs are linked to mine? Well, let me introduce you to them and I'll put everyone in different categories according to how I know them.



FAMILY:

Amy is my older sister by almost 2 years! She is also the mommy of Emma, Abby and Nate.

Julie and Zac are our cousins on Ryan's side of the family. Ryan and Zac were born just two months apart and grew up living within a mile of each other. So they're really more like brothers than cousins. They are also famously known as Olivia's mom and dad, a title I'm sure they love :)

CHURCH FRIENDS:

Millicent & Ben are friends from church with three kiddos! Millicent was one of the first bloggers I knew of and she is also the one who is responsible for turning me into a couponing mom!


Lori & Doug are friends from church with a little boy the same age as Christian. Lori is also an amazing photographer.


Holly & Steve are friends we know from church with two cute little red headed girls that I think are absolutely adorable.


Heidi & Adam used to go to our church and we became fast friends because they have two boys close in age to Christian. They also have a little girl named Addie now who is quickly becoming one of McKenna's special buddies.



COLLEGE FRIENDS:

Katy & David are friends from college. I remember the night the two of them met and then just a short time later I had the honor of being in their wedding! Katy is about to have her 4th child any day now! So exciting! That's why I love blogging, because she better blog all about it when it happens :)

Jamie & Daniel Jamie was one of my roommates in college and she and her husband are the amazing couple that is heading to Malawi Africa very, very soon. Do I know some awesome people or what!

Christy & Luis - Christy and I lived on the same hall in college. She's a new mommy now and a teacher so we have lots in common. Most of the time her blog posts are hysterical, so be sure to check it out the next time she updates.



HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS:
Sarah & Warren. Sarah was one of my absolute best friends in high school, although we didn't go to high school together. We met at our church youth group and have been friends for over a decade now!

Heather & Marcus - Heather actually dated my little brother in High School but we've all moved on from that and we've stayed friend through the years since we both went to Liberty and since she was one of the first ones to tell me that she thought I would marry Ryan :) She has a little girl now who is McKenna's age and such a cutie pie! And she's a 911 operator, so she's always got a good story to tell.


FRIENDS:
Wendy & Paul - Wendy is one of the sweet gals I've meet through blogging. We figured out that she lives really close to my parents where I grew up. Are you ready for this....Wendy is cousins with Kristen. Kristen is one of Julie's (as in Zac and Julie) friends and we'll you know how I know Julie. Did you catch all that?

April & David - April and I used to work together when I was a teacher in Chesapeake, Va. You have got to check out some of the amazing birthday parties she has planned. I think I would be mortified to invite her to some of the parties we've had here, because she is super creative and throws amazing parties!

Laurie & Friends - Laurie actually went to church with Amy in Massachusetts, but has remained a huge part of our lives. Laurie has been an amazingly faithful friend to both Amy and I in the past couple of years. She loves our kids, comes to visit, showers us with clothes and toys for the kids and is overall just a huge encouragement to us. And her small group at church started a blog and they're all so fun and amazing!

Caitlin - Caitlin is Laurie's daughter (see above). She's was attending a college pretty close to our house so we got to see her through out the year. She started a blog when she went overseas to spend a semester in Italy. I'm hoping that she'll update it soon because it's been so fun to read about all her travels and adventure while I'm sitting at home vacuuming and changing diapers :)

Jenn is another friend that I acquired from Massachusetts. I love it that all of Amy's friends became mine too when she moved here :) Anyway, Jenn has visited us often and is so sweet with the kids. They adore her because she plays and plays and plays :)

Melissa is my neighbor and the newest blog that I've added to my blog roll. She lives right next door and it's been so fun getting to know her and her family over the past several years. She definitely makes me feel like I don't want to move after all. You may not remember this but if you've been following my blog for a year or more, you've probably prayed for Melissa. Her little sister unexpectedly passed away a little over a year ago and my heart was so broken. I asked you guys to lift up their family in prayer several times and I know that some of you did.

Jamie & Jim are technically Ryan's friends. Jim and Ryan were roommates for awhile when Ryan lived in Florida and they both work for the same company. They started their blog to chronicle their adventures in adopting three sweet siblings from Columbia! They are now the cutest family ever of five :)

Jessica is another Massachusetts friend that I've gotten to know a little bit over the last few years.

Alisha & Paul - Alisha is another girl from Massachusetts that I've gotten to know. She married Paul who is actually from the town we live in right now (is it a small world or what?) so we get to visit whenever she is in town visiting her in laws. She just moved back to Massachusetts with her little one year old Sophie.

Christine is another sweet friend from Massachusetts that I've gotten to know through her blog.

Eddie is another friend acquired from Massachusetts but he is actually going to college in Pa. Are you starting to wonder about all these Mass. friends? Well, most of them were a part of Amy's youth group at her church in Massachusetts. They're all grown up now and either in college or in the working world, but they've been true and faithful friends to Amy in the past several years.

So that wraps it up! Did I miss anyone? Let me know if you find a link that's not working. I didn't check them all. So now you know how I know all those people on my blog roll!

Uncle John

My Uncle John passed away last night after battling cancer for a few months. He was 88 years old and will be greatly missed by our family.

Would you please pray for my Aunt Betty today, she's the one all the way on the right. She and Uncle John share an anniversary with Ryan and I. They were married for 55 years the day we got married. I know she is going to miss him terribly but I am also confident that all the days of her life are ordained by God and that He is not done with her yet. He continues to have plans to prosper her (Jeremiah 29:11). Please just pray for her, especially today and for their three boys; Johnny, Bill and Aaron.

Fever Girl and the Diarrhea Drama

Did I actually just use the word diarrhea in the title to this post? Hmmm...about four years ago I would have been horrified by the thought (before I was a mommy), but I'm over it now. McKenna has had diarrhea issues 6-10 times a day for the last eight days. It's been awful. She even wakes up at night with issues. We've tried changing her diet, but it did no good. So yesterday we finally gave a little sample (now that was gross) to the hospital to find out what's going on. She's been running a low grade fever with it and has a sore bottom, although it could be much worse. I've got quite the concoction of stuff I've been smearing on those tiny cheeks of hers too (let me know if you ever need my "recipe" Even my pediatrician was impressed with how good her bottom actually looked...all things considered and she like my "recipe"). We should get some preliminary results from our "sample" this afternoon, but we won't really know anything until Monday. I'm just hoping and praying that by Monday it won't even matter because she'll be better already. I have a feeling they're just going to tell me it's a virus and she'll get over it with time. But I've been thinking she'll get over it for 8 days now. And just so you know... Sand and swim diapers and diarrhea are NOT a good mix. Enough said!

P.S. I promise I will never use the "D" word in the title of a post again :)

Dolphin Encounter

My favorite part of our trip to the aquarium was the dolphin show!

And Christian LOVED it too! Just look at that smile on his face.

He thought this trick was amazing!

And this one too!

After the show was over was had the most incredible experience. We waited until most of the crowd was gone and then we stood right next to the dolphin tank just hoping they would come over so we could get some pictures. I was not disappointed!

Christian loved watching them play.

And right about the time I took this picture one of those cute little dolphins flipped up his tail and got us completely soaked! It totally caught me off guard. Thankfully my camera can survive a little water.

Doesn't that just look like an amazing experience for a little four year old boy?

Waving goodbye!

Off to the Aquarium

And now I will shamelessly put a plug in for the Baltimore Aquarium. I'm telling you, if you live within two hours of the place and have children...you must go! But don't go during the summer, for Heaven's sake it was crowded. Go in the fall or winter. But seriously, you have got to go. It's a bit expensive. It was $46 for just Christian and I, but that was with tickets to the dolphin show, which you MUST see.
Christian learned so much and had so much fun doing it. I know that he learned things that he'll have with him for the rest of his life. He loved every single display. We were NOT allowed to skip one thing. And he asked so many questions that I had to read pretty much every sign.

So I learned a ton too!

Did you know that sperm whales can dive up to a mile to find the squid that they need to eat?

What an amazing creature!

Over and over we talked about how incredible and creative God is to be able to make so many different and beautiful creatures.

What a view!

We saw monkeys in the jungle!

Notice the Nurse shark right down by Christian's hand. It was sleeping and there's another one in the background sleeping too!

The kids play area was just the break we needed after three hours of walking around. I loved it that they had staff there ready to play with the kids!

We ended the day with a visit to the Australia exhibit and we were not disappointed.

Downtown Baltimore Inner Harbor

It was so fun to have a special day with just Christian. I can't really remember the last time we did this!

For those of you who don't know this, I grew up right outside of Baltimore. So Baltimore feels like coming home to me. Baltimore has so much to offer. I could seriously spend a week there doing something different everyday and love every minute of it!

Our big plan was to go to the aquarium, but when we got there it was so crowded already (at 10am) that they wouldn't let us in until 1:15pm.

So we had some time to kill.

Thankfully there's a million things to explore in Baltimore, so we did a pretty good job killing time.

Christian loved the view of the harbor.

Can you spot Christian?

Christian was actually pretty tired by the time we got to the aquarium.

So much to see.

Fun around every turn.

That's the biggest Popsicle Christian has ever had. I won't even mention how much it cost and the fact that he only ate the red part. I guess it's all part of the experience!

{CaRNivAL}

Remember how sick Christian was last week? Well, you can definitely see evidence of it in this picture! His sweet little face was so gaunt and he had dark circles under his eyes like I've never seen. But we headed to the carnival on Friday night anyway because he had been looking forward to it all week.
And it was worth it just to see him smile again!

My favorite picture of the night! Look at Christian looking up at his daddy!

Ryan was enjoying the ride just as much as Christian was.

We paid way too much for that Dora, but McKenna was thrilled.

And she was not about to be left out!!!!!!!!

McKenna loved the rides!