Detour

We were on our way to Atlanta to see our newest cousin, my niece...when 30 minutes into our trip, we hear a little girl in the back seat throwing up! I know, TMI--but poor little thing. We take the next exit and clean her up. Luckily, since we were on a trip, we had a change of clothes. We start to head back the other way, back home. The boys are bummed. They were so excited to spend the night with their Uncle Steven, see Meme and Pop, and all their cousins. Matt and I decide I will stay at home with Kate and Gray (who is not fully recovered from the throw up bug from last week) , and he will head back over to Atlanta with the boys.
I am glad we made the decision, as Kate has had about 6 more rounds of throw up! Please Lord, let this be it! She is sleeping. Please let her sleep this off. I have towels laid out, the trash can by the bed, the bathroom light on to lead the way. Gray is sleeping too! I am all alone, watching SuperManny--yes...Super-MANNY~ hilarious!
It is shows like these that make me feel like I am actually doing a pretty good job with my kids. So, thank you very much to the producers of SuperManny, who give me quite a ego boost whenever I catch the show. I think I may actually be doing something right here.

A Great Purchase!

Dear Entryway System (this is what pottery barn calls you),
Thank you for coming into my life. You have made me so happy over the past 3 months. Every time I pass by you in my garage, walking from my car to the door leading inside, I give thanks for the special piece of furniture you are turning out to be. My life is easier because I have you in it. Now, each child's shoes have a special place just for them, as do their jackets, sports equipment, and all the many other things that have no place to call home. I love your cute little hooks inside each cubby. Backpacks stay quite nicely on them! Please excuse us if we treat you too rough. Sometimes we stand on you to reach your amazing top shelf, (that holds our hats), but we don't mean any disrespect. You serve your purpose quite well and we are forever grateful for the order you bring to our lives. There have been many, okay lots, of occasions when our shoes don't quite make the baskets, but we are practicing and trying the best that we can! Please remember we are young and, should I say it?, sometimes.....a little lazy! We do hope that you hold up for many years to come and we are forever grateful to our Aunt Mandi and Uncle Zach who introduced us in the first place.
Your Friends,
The Carrington Family

p.s. If you want one, my brother in law sells them--just like pottery barns--but A WHOLE LOT cheaper! Let me know!

Everyone Loves Nachos?!!

Today I ventured to Wills school to eat lunch with him. He is always asking me to come, and I have been up to the school quite a few times, but I am convinced he would like me to come everyday if possible. I think he is wondering what I could possibly be doing all day with him gone? Sitting on the couch watching TV, I guess. Because I knew I was going to surprise him today, I purposely did not pack his lunch. I usually pack his lunch because he is a picky eater, but I saw on the lunch calendar NACHOS, and thought, "Everyone loves nachos".
Lesson learned: Pack his lunch on "nacho day". There were a total of 3 chips underneath a pile of questionable meat and cheese sauce. I am not a stickler when it comes to eating a balanced meal 3 times a day, but when your child eats 3 plain chips and then his cookie, I take notice.
I did not say anything to him because 1. the sweet boy did put some iceberg lettuce on his plate, and 2. because I want him to enjoy me coming to eat lunch at school. I sat back and listened to him talk with his friends and grin ear to ear that I was there! So Sweet! I love him so much.
Today was hat day and Wills whipped out the craziest hat he could find. It was so cute to see him walking down the halls with so much pride wearing that thing. His class is very diverse, which I love and it made me miss my teaching days....(just a little) . The kids are so sweet. One little Hispanic girl told me my hair was just beautiful, which is funny because it was really not looking beautiful at all! Another boy told me my baby (that would be Gray) was pretty!?
I was able to help half of the kids open there juice boxes, and one boy open up his milk carton (after he attempted many times with his MOUTH). Wills' teacher informed me that when an adult comes to eat lunch, all the kids are attracted to him/her like a magnet.
I loved it! I love to see children from all cultures and backgrounds all together, and Kindergartners are so sweet. I loved seeing how Wills interacts with everyone. He is truly a kind-hearted kid. I have been so pleased with our public school experience this far. His teacher is a believer and I know God's hand was on that! He is succeeding too! In fact, his reading has really taken off. I am so proud of him.
Forgive me for a long "brag on my kid" post", but I am so thankful for how God has blessed me, I just have to share it somehow!
This last picture cracks me up. The teacher tells the kids to "catch a bubble" in your mouth when she wants them to be quiet. So, here is Wills catching the biggest bubble he can possibly hold. I thought he was going to pass out...I mean, I had to remind him to breathe! He really really wanted me to see him catching his bubble!

"I'm Lovin it!"

This is the kind of day that makes me so happy~ It is January 19, yet sunny! Warm! 65 Degrees! I love it! It has been awhile since the last post and it is simply because I am just in survival mode. Last week was miserable cold, as was the week before, and I just don't do good with cold weather. It is so hard for me to stay inside! I don't want to bundle up the kids and myself to go play in the yard. I want to send them out in flip flops and shorts and feel the sun on our faces.
January has long been my least favorite month of the year. Falling right after the high of Christmas, always cold, we are usually sick, and it is a long month on top of that. Not meaning to be Debby Downer here, but just saying it as it is! I am tired of our playroom, tired of trying to find something to do (inside) that doesn't cost money! Whah Whah Whah!
Alright....pity party over because Praise God when He blesses us with days such as this! We have spent almost all of our waking hours outdoors, enjoying the warmth of what is to come....Spring! Please come fast, Please Please Please!

'For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
'The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
'The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!' "
Song 2:11-13 (NASB)

32 days and counting....

Until we are here!
I still cannot believe we are really making it happen! My kids have no idea what they are in for...I mean, they think the Galleria Mall is Disney World!
Matt and I (well, I am a little more on board than Matt) are taking the kids to D.W. for our 10 year anniversary. Yes, in our minds we long for, and have dreamed about sitting on the beaches of Costa Rica getting a little R & R, but doing both Disney and an exotic get-a-way is not an option, so we are taking the plunge!
BTW--a trip to the happiest place on earth isn't really happy on your pocketbook--ouch!
Disney is not for everybody! It is for people who are using college funds and retirement funds to give their kids a fun vacation.
In all honesty, we have saved for this and it is finally here!
I am so excited I can hardly stand it. You see, the kids have no idea we are going. It would be really cruel to tell them right now because they have absolutely NO concept of time. To tell them would actually be cruel punishment inflicted on us, as they would ask constantly how many more days until we go. So, we will keep it hush hush hush and quietly plan plan plan.
I cannot wait to see their faces when we pick them up from school in 32 days and let the big news out of the bag!
Mickey, Ariel, Goofy, Here we come!! I hope you are ready for us!

A Big Yellow Nightmare

Everywhere I go, this is who I see staring back at me.

I know I did it to myself. I bought it at a garage sale for 50 cents and after washing it numerous amount of times, let Santa leave it for a little boy on Christmas morning.
Now, I have nothing against "the sponge"! In fact, I think the show is pretty hilarious! I could do without the potty words, but it makes for teachable moments, right? Well, I knew if I made a big deal about NOT watching it, that my strong willed child, would only want to see it even more. A little reverse psychology on my part. We try not to watch too much TV anyway, so I am not going to waste my time worrying about it. Anyway, back to Spongy!
Owen loves this precious little, no wait.... BIG gift from Santa. We do not leave toys all over the house! Most are kept upstairs where the kid's rooms are, but somehow,

Spongebob Squarepants is omnipresent.

The guy is everywhere! I cannot get away from him. It doesn't matter if I pick him up and take him back upstairs. He finds his way back down. I wonder if this is some cruel punishment for buying it or is Owen using a little reverse Psychology on me?

SNOWWHERE!

We worked with what we had! No, we didn't wake up a blanket of snow on the ground, but we DID get a few flakes steadily falling around 11:00. Once they started to fall, we were ready! We got bundled up and headed outside. Remember the days of waking up in the morning to find that it had snowed all night? The fact that you did not have to watch it fall, is the key here. The boys were ready to sled and throw snowballs the minute the first snowflake fell from the sky.
Wills was drilling me with questions on why isn't it snowing harder? when would the snow start to stick? and when would the hill be ready to sled down? I have had to explain to him, on many occasions, that I am not God! I am not all-knowing! It is so sweet that, at this point in his life, he truly thinks I know all the answers, that surely somehow, in my bag of tricks, I can control the weather? I hated to see the disappointment on his face as he realized our fun "play in the snow all day" snow day, was going to be more of a "play in the snowflakes and hang out inside day". We did make the most of it. We watched movies, pulled out every game in the playroom, played with stuffed animals more than I would like to have, and even got out of the house to get the kids a special cookie from Starbucks, uh-hum....and me, a very large coffee!

All bundled up and SNOWWHERE to go!

Poor guy, wouldn't keep on mittens... I know his hands were so cold, but not cold enough to keep him from eating his snack...ain't nothing going to stop that!

I think Kate played outside for maybe a good 5 minutes!!?? She is an inside kind of girl!

We had BIG plans to slide down the hills in our pool floats. We blew them all up and everything!

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalms 51:7

We are prepared!

Snow Day Tomorrow? Only time will tell. School has been called off due to the possible Winter Wonderland that we might wake up to! I really hope to wake up to some snow, as the kids are so excited at the thought of playing in it tomorrow. We had a great snow last February and our family had so much fun. Growing up in the South, I have had my share of big snow news forecasted and school called off, only to wake up to just another cold day....we will see.
In preparation for the "blizzard of 2010" we got some hot chocolate, milk, bread, and some other basic staples. I have my Art Box ready to go, some DVD's rented, and earlier today, the kids and I made some brownies (see above) and muffins for the big day. I hope to post some pictures of us playing in the snow tomorrow, but don't be too surprised if I post pictures of us watching videos instead.

It will make you Smile

Where the Wild Things really are....

I am still amazed that my boys manage to fall asleep upon the large masses of stuffed animals that call their beds, home!

Here is what I find every morning! The picture really doesn't even do it justice...there are about 20 small webkins/beanie babies hidden under Nemo, Tiger, Spongebob blanket and the Scooby Doo pillow. The other day, Owen told me he wanted a new stuffed animal, so could he go to a garage sale to get one?! Ha!

welcome 2010!

Matt and I were not too exciting on New Year's Eve 2009....we got a sitter, went to dinner and a movie and we were in bed by 10:30....not asleep though~our neighbors decided to shoot off fireworks for an hour and a half! So, while Matt snored away through the entire light show, I lay in bed, all worked up because I was SOOOO tired, but the loud booms outside my window kept me from falling asleep.
I have come to the realization that I am officially "old". I am in bed at 10:30 on NYE, frustrated that fireworks are going off. I was tempted to head over to the neighbors at 5:50 this morning (my wake up call from Gray) and start a fireworks show until 7:00.
On a lighter note, we spent the first day of 2010 hanging out as a family. We watched the Auburn game, played, cleaned out rooms, and ended it with a very cold walk at the park and then a family meal. It was a wonderful day!
I am so excited to see what God has planned for our family this year. There are a few "things" I am praying passionately about. I look forward to sharing them with you...God willing!
God has been so good to our family and we pray that our focus will be more on Him everyday.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:3-5

Little huntin' man

Skinny boy in big coat!

I dread the day I see these 2 drive out of the driveway!

Our newest battle wound. Check out the bruise on her forehead.

Happy 2010!

It's About Time

Look who is sitting at the table now!

He has been waiting for a long time to be out of his high chair!

What's Happening?

First off, it has been a few days between posts....we have been busy busy busy here in the Carrington Family! Owen's dog bite is healing nicely! We got his stitches out last Sunday and everything looked normal and he is doing great. He is a little Skiddish with dogs, but that is expected!
Over the past week before Christmas, we did a lot of hanging around, preparing for the "big day". I love all the fun things we get to do in preparing for Christmas. It brings out the kids in me! I always love getting to hang out with my boys! Sometimes, I have to remind them that you don't run and jump on mommy's back unexpectedly--they can get pretty rough...that's boys!
We traveled to Atlanta on Monday to spend the week with my family! The kids had a great time and got to make a special birthday cake for Jesus with their Meme!

We also spend the day before Christmas with all of the cousins. We did Christmas crafts and opened "Cousin gifts". My kids always love spending time with the cousins---all 12 of them together!
Kate Loved her my little pony from Hannah and Caroline!
I was extra excited this year, because my little sister (next to me in the picture), got home from serving as a missionary in Venezuela! We are all so happy she is home and excited for her to continue her ministry here!
From Left to Right....Me, Morgan, Megan (due in less that 4 weeks!!!), McKenzie, and Mandi!
We drove home Christmas Eve and went to the awesome service at our church! It was amazing! Here is Gray enjoying the ride on the way home!
We woke up Christmas morning to lots of presents and lots of fun! We played.....
and played! What a wonderful Christmas!

On a sad note, Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed, I took our sweet dog Sadie to the Vet to be put to sleep. After arriving back home from Atlanta, she had taken a turn for the worse. She was in bad bad shape. Sadie and I spent some quality time in the car as we drove to the vet and I let her go be with Jesus on His birthday. The kids said their good byes and understood that she would not be here in the morning. It was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do. I know it was what needed to be done because she was suffering so much, but it was hard for me. She was a wonderful dog and we will miss her so much---I will miss her very much.

Watch out!

Here you find 3 very sweet, innocent children, embarking on a joyous afternoon of Christmas cookie decorating. Mommy is snapping pictures, with Christmas music playing in the background! Mommy heads upstairs to tend to the baby whom has just woken up from a peaceful slumber. Much to my surprise, baby has had an explosion, so she is upstairs a little longer than planned.
Upon my return, I find these beautiful cookies waiting for me! This is an example of what unsupervised children are capable of when it comes to cookie decorating. Don't these look scrumptious? I know Santa will love finding these cookies waiting for him!

All I want for Christmas is....

A Mustache! Yes, you read right! My darling Owen has changed his #1 wish to his very own mustache. I tried to tell him that he told Santa something different, but he says "Santa knows everything" and he wants a silky soft stache that he can stick on. So now I am on the hunt to find a stick on mustache that Owen can enjoy for hours and hours on Christmas morning!

My First Baby

What a fun day! Owen and Kate had their Christmas Program at school and then their parties after. My parents were here to watch the program and they did so good!
Owen was a sheep in the play and had a blast at his class party!

Kate, in her P.J.'s, was one of the children listening to the Christmas Story in the program.
These pajamas I bought are so cute and feel so soft, and the best part....$9 at Wal-mart!

After the parties, I was able to go and help with crafts at Wills school. My parents were here to watch the kids, so it was a treat that I got to go help. I loved it. It brought back memories of teaching and how hard it is to be a teacher!! I did love it, but feel so blessed to be a stay at home mommy for now.

On a sad note, my dog Sadie is not doing too well. She has a malignant tumor on her leg that is getting larger daily and is prone to infection, which causes it to smell horrendous. She is on antibiotics right now, but is looking pretty weak and very thin these days. I am trying to feed her more. She will only eat canned food now, but that is fine with me, I am just happy to see her eating. I can tell that her spirits are down though. I am worried that we do not have much longer with her. She was my first baby, so it will be hard. Now that the smell of the tumor is not that bad, we can let her back in the house to rest on her dog bed and I know she loves that. The kids are so tender with her, even Gray! They were petting her so gently on her head and loving on her tonight. I am trying to prepare them that she might be going to Doggie Heaven real soon. We have read the book Dog Heaven, by Cynthia Rylant and it is a great book to read to kids about when dogs die. It is real sweet and actually was comforting to me too.
If you read Isaiah 65:25 it says this about animals in heaven...
Wolves and lambs will feed together, lions will eat straw like oxen, and dust will be food for snakes. "They will not hurt or destroy anyone anywhere on my holy mountain," says the LORD.
Wow! What an awesome God we have! If He spared His son in order for us to experience eternal happiness, you can be rest assured that He knows what He is doing. God cares for all His creation!

Bad Dog

I didn't get a picture until after it was bandaged up--I am not that quick with the camera. These are the 3 area that required stitches.

Today was an uneventful day until.....we took a walk up to the bus stop.
Backing up to earlier in the day, my parents had just arrived in town. Kate had a ballet recital tonight and the kids have their Christmas program tomorrow, so they came in to see the kids. We walked up the street to see Wills off the bus and on our way back home, Owen decided to play in the leaves in our neighbors yard. He was on his hands and knees, playing in the leaves when their dog (A Rottweiler mix), attacked him. I mean, this dog grabbed hold of his leg and didn't let go. It all happened so fast, but in slow motion at the same time! We got the dog off, but Owen was hysterical and he had some deep bite marks on his leg.
I called our pediatrician and she advised me to take him to the Emergency room. To be honest, I was not about to take Owen down to Children's for many reasons--one being it would cost $150.00 and another, we would be there for who knows how long.
We opted to go to American Family Care (our families new favorite spot) and they took good care of him. He ended up with stitches in 3 of the bites.
The whole experience was difficult for us both. Me, holding him down so they could give Owen the shots and then the stitches and Owen screaming at the top of his lungs and fighting me and the other 2 nurses that were helping to hold him down!
In the end, he is doing fine and is happy that he walked away with 4 balloons and some brand new blue latex gloves! The dog is quarantined at the vet for 3 days and we will have to see what happens next with that.
I am so thankful to God that the dog did not attack Owen on his torso or worse, his face. This could have been a very bad situation and I know God's hand and protection is upon our family because, although it was very scary, it ended up to be okay!

Cough in your elbow please....

I have heard myself say that at least 50 times over the last week. We began our weekend off to a sick start. Owen began his hacking cough last week, and as the week continued, it got worse. By Saturday, Kate and Gray began to have the same chesty cough and nighttime sleep became pretty non-existent for Gray and I on Saturday night! So, Sunday morning, going on little sleep, we ALL got in the car and were the first to arrive at American Family Care. To make a long story short, all 4 kids have bronchitis and Owen also has an ear infection. I am thankful that we went, but realize that for cost of living purposes...4 kids is just about all we can handle right now! Grateful for insurance, but am still feeling the punch of 4 co- pays and the enormously large drug bill! I had to make a dose/drug chart to make sure that I don't OD anyone~
Please take a look at this ridiculous display of medicine! A breathing machine, inhaler, 4 antibiotics, a steroid, cough medicine and eczema lotion. I am trying to look on the positive side; thankful that we all got the same thing at the same time, instead of dragging it out over the course of 4 weeks.
This brings me to our outing today---if you visited Bass Pro Shop today, please use your hand sanitizer....we just can't stay inside all day long--really, we'd go crazy! The kids were high on their cough medicine, so the excitement was through the roof, but at least the germs were not being spread through their cough (and if they did cough, you know what I said--see above title)! BTW--Bass Pro Shop is truly an awesome place to visit. My boys were in heaven. Kate went to the ballet with Nana, so it was just the boys being boys at the coolest store on earth. Here we have Wills and Owen getting some sugar from the bear.

We'll call this
SCARY

SCARIER

SCARIEST!

Just Another Day

My little man is getting so big! It makes me sad to think this is my baby. I really really love this age. It might be my favorite. He is so much fun right now and doing so many new things. He is very independent and is starting to try to say a few things that make sense. I think it is funny that one word he can say is "gum". You see, my kids LOVE to chew gum and he has learned to say "gum" every time the kids ask for it. His favorite time of day is by far, after his bath. He loves when I put lotion on him and he loves being naked...typical boy--the naked part.

Now, when you have a older sister, who really needs a younger sister, this is what happens. Kate just got a new nightgown and she decided Gray needed a little something special too.

She is so proud of her beautiful baby brother.

On a more serious note, nothing frustrates me more than having all this space in our house and outside of our house, and 4 little ones constantly at my feet. I love my kids more than anything, but sometimes I need some personal space...I mean not to do anything luxurious, just to maybe pay bills, use the bathroom, cook dinner, unload the dishwasher, etc. We have a playroom filled with more toys than we need and for some reason, my constant presence is more fun. Tonight after dinner, I was cleaning up the kitchen and we had about 20 minutes before I start our nightly "before bed" video, and I made them all go upstairs to play. I made it clear that if they came downstairs they would not watch the video tonight. All kids nodded in agreement, (although I am not sure Gray understood what was going on)!
As I was washing dishes, I hear "Mommy, look at this", "Mommy watch this", "Hey Mommy...Hey Mommy" "MOMMY!!"
Of course, I am a tad annoyed, so I round the corner to make my way upstairs, and here is what I see......
Yes, they are, in fact, upstairs, but still as close as they possibly can be to me, without disobeying. They were all sitting at the top of the stairs, just hanging out, waiting for their horrible 20 minutes of isolation to be over.