Actions speak louder than words.

What are my actions speaking about me lately?

That's the question I'm setting out to answer.

Which is why I'm taking a little (much needed) blogging break. Don't despair my readers!(NOT that you were:))...all 3,000 10 of you. I'm not giving this up, I'm just taking the rest of this week and the weekend to evaluate or re-evaluate, not what my priorities are or should be (I already know that), but whether my activities and actions (attitude too.) are portraying them. And maybe setting some ground rules for myself as well. Apparently it's not just my kids that need these boundaries. I don't ever want anything (blogging, couponing, keeping a clean house, exercise ha!) to interfere with what I should be spending most of my precious time doing, which is having a real relationship with the Lord, loving on and serving my hubby, my kids, and then others. This reflection time is something that I've had to do every so often throughout this life of mine, because as a sinful human being it's so easy to let things that don't really matter start to matter way too much.

Sorry to get all serious on ya. But conviction and the Holy Spirit are serious things. And I definitely wouldn't want to not take them seriously. That's a lot of seriousness.

So? I challenge you as well (if you so choose to be challenged), what are your activities and actions saying about you?


Disclaimer: I am NOT saying that "activities" are in and of themselves BAD. They can be very good. But we CAN do too much or do certain things for the wrong reasons or motivations, and they can start to take away from What and what's really important. And, unfortunately, can become a slow fade into "idol" worship sometimes as well. There just needs to be a good balance. Just clarifying.

Until next week....you'll find me looking at myself in the mirror. Not literally peeps. Sheesh. You know what I mean.

Freebies!!

I know. I know. I've yet to start that frugal blog that I've been talking up. (embarrassed look) I'm still trying to figure out that whole time thing. You know, like, "when in the world will I have time to keep up on another blog?!" thing.

BUT...I didn't want to not tell you about a couple of freebies I came across. Who doesn't love a little somethin' for nothin', right?

Just a little side note: If you're uncomfortable using your regular email address for these things, create a free email account with gmail or yahoo or something like that to use when you need to enter an email account.:)

TOMORROW, FEB. 24TH, ONLY!! --- Go here and print out the coupon for 2 FREE TACOS AT JACK IN THE BOX. No purchase is necessary! 1 coupon per guest, per visit.

FREE QUIZNOS SUB ---They're giving away 1 million subs. Go here, to receive a coupon for a free sub emailed to you. You will need photo I.D. and the printed out coupon to redeem.

FREE KASHI FROZEN ENTREE --- Receive a coupon good for 1 free Kashi frozen entree (valued up to $3.99) when you go here and enter your info. It will be mailed to you.

Oh and what the heck! Why not throw in a free 1 night movie rental at the Redbox! If you've yet to discover the joy of never paying for a movie rental...wake up! Just kidding:) But seriously, go to redbox.com and sign up to receive a code texted to your cellphone good for 1 free night movie rental ($1 for each addition night you decide to keep it) and first timers who give their email will get a code emailed to them. When you go to your Redbox location to use your code there's a little box on the bottom left of screen that says rent w/ promo code. Use that. This happens EVERY MONDAY. Yes, that's 1 free movie rental a week!

Enjoy those free lunches out!! ...I know I will.

Not Me! Monday

OK, I KNOW MckMama, the creator of this blog carnival, and I are not the only ones in need of admitting to a few things this past week. So fess up and join in over at My Charming Kids...

I absolutely would never not care if this doesn't turn out to be overly creative or funny just because my head feels like it's going to explode, the sinuses are pounding, and the cough is starting. Nope. Not me.

I did not while changing a poopy diaper, after last week being grossed out by it, decide that it was a good idea to THIS time simply pick up with my fingers the piece that "rolled" off his bottom onto the carpet. That would be disgusting, so I definitely would not do that.

I did not while doing Jillian Michael's (from The Biggest Loser) 30 day Shred find myself literally GASPING for air a short 5 minutes into it. And even if I did, I would never admit to the blogging world that I am THAT out of shape. Seriously, I could BE Jillian. That's what I'm talkin' about.

...and a couple days later I did not find myself so sore that I could barely lower myself to the floor to change Lincoln's diapers and clothes...oh, who are we kidding, I could barely lower myself to the toilet...I loathe lunges.

I did not walk into the bathroom while darling daughter was going, to find her sucking a finger, most assuredly the one and the same that she had just used while wiping her potty. ...because that might reflect poor parenting, so that definitely did not happen to me.

And if you could have snuck a peek into my kitchen this last week, you most definitely would not have seen me warming my hands over the toaster while it toasted my english muffin for breakfast. I would not be so desperate to be warm (because we are definitely not keeping the heat lower than we ever have before just to save each month on our heating bill), that I would do that. Not me.

I absolutely would never in a million years grab my camera to snap pictures of Lincs while he was crying 'cause he looked so cute doing it, and then have him start laughing while I was doing it.

Also, this past week my Babes did NOT turn 5. Absolutely not. My "baby" and I did not spend some time down at Not-So Urgent Care, and I did not contract Babyitis. Nope. And to find out more about those things, I am absolutely not giving you the links instead of writing it all out here...um, actually yeah I am, because I must.rest.head.

I am not now calling this post "good enough" for this week, since thinking is putting too much added pressure on my head....but at the same time I'm not a little irritated cause I know that there are things that I definitely didn't do this week that I am definitely not remembering....

I'll catch ya on the flip side.

Got a baby I can borrow??

I've been having a really hard time lately, realizing that I'm moving out of the baby stage of life. Seriously, a really hard time. And I have NO idea why. Other than the fact that my Babes just turned 5 (and I felt the need to look through every picture of her from the last 5 years), and, of course, that Lincs just got his first stitches. (notice I said "first", because it's almost a guarantee that there will be more with this one.) At the most random times you might even find me with "wet" eyes. And I feel like wrenching out my hubby's vocal chords any time the words "pacifier needs to be gone by his 2nd birthday" or "we should move him out of his crib to the bottom bunk".

Should I seek professional help?

I know I'm not alone in this Babyitis. And I knew this day would come. But does it have to wallop me over the head? C'mon now! Cut a Mama a break!

So, inevitably, it's in this season that I start getting that baby itch. But I'm pretty sure that it's an itch the hubs is not going to want to scratch. (!!!!! can I say that?!) Not that it's his fault, because I guess we had agreed that we were done, our family complete.(unless, of course, God has other plans.) Did I really agree to that? I think my memory is failing me...........

But the reality is having another baby is not going to alleviate this feeling that I'm having, it would just delay it, prolong it and multiply it, because that feeling eventually comes at some point with every.single.one of your "babies". It comes when, one day you look at your 7 year old and see him playing sports, laying on his bed reading a book, getting his own food, tying his own shoes. It comes when, one day you look at your just turned 5 year old and she brushes her own teeth, buckles herself in the car, stops saying "pupcakes", and (with supervision) can look both ways and cross the street. It comes when, one day you look at your "baby" and he's about ready to turn 2, he tells you when he has poo-poo, he uses more real words, and he doesn't want help anymore going down the slide. It's life. Non of us stop growing. And, truly, I wouldn't want that...but could it just slow down a little!

So, I know it's time for me to embrace it. I don't want to be mourning these baby days so much that I miss out on the wonderful things about the stage we're in. I don't want to hold them back from growing and maturing. I want and need to enjoy them at exactly the age they're at.

So, in the mean time, if anyone could help me out by gettin' me some baby lovin', I would appreciate it. I especially wouldn't mind hugging on this little dude. (probably not going to happen, though. Rats!)

And when you see us next, and Lincs is 6 and still has that pacifier, if you would kindly not tell his daddy and keep your laughter to yourself, no one will get hurt....

Not So Urgent Care

In my last post I mentioned that life happened. You all know what I mean, right?


Here's me with my day all planned out, pluggin' along on my To Do List and then life happens. Change of course. 180 degree turn. Bump in the road. And the worst part about it? It involved my baby getting hurt. OK. OK. It could have been a lot worse, but still, it required a couple of stitches. My hubs and I kept saying it was only a matter of time before we ended up down at the hospital with this one. Well, it wasn't the hospital, but it was Urgent Care, because I figured he wasn't gushing blood, he was calm, I was calm (amazing, right?), and I thought it would be a quicker in and out then going to the emergency room with it's life or death situations in priority ahead of us (understandably, of course).



5 HOURS LATER....we were on our way home.

Let's review the definition of "urgent", shall we?
URGENT: Immediate or speedy action or attention

I think you might know where I'm going with this.....


Urgent Care in this household has been dubbed "Not-So Urgent Care". Because if you're in need of urgent care, do NOT go there.

Picture me and Lincs sitting in a waiting room, surrounded by people with the flu, sucking in every imaginable germ while we waited for 2 hours and 20 minutes to be seen. The "Hallelujah Chorus" was audible when, at last, our name was called. But it soon became a distant memory when we then went on to wait in our room for 1 hour before we ever saw hide or hair of a doctor. Then the rest of the "procedure" took another hour+ to be finished. BUT the nurses were really nice. That should make up for it, right? Well, it probably did save me from completely lashing out in frustration. Oh, and did I mention that my phone died 30 minutes into this grand adventure? My bad. (A special shout out, by the way, to my friend, Rhonda, who picked Emma up from preschool and watched her for the next 3 1/2 hours and to the hubs for leaving work to then go get Will from school and pick up Emma.)

On a positive note, it wasn't a horrible injury, he's not in pain, and Lincoln was so good and a pretty tough guy all around. Even if he was exhausted after our day....

And our hope, is that he might have learned his lesson about playing around on the dining room chairs....

(Skip ahead to the following day.)

Nope. He sure didn't. Apparently, he's still boy.

And I feel a cold coming on (thanks to the lobby phone, I'm sure).:)

Happy Birthday Babes!

**This is coming to you a little delayed. Because sometimes life just happens. Which, of course, will be what my next post is about. But until then...

*********************************************

Babes wakes up.

Babes sports a huge grin.

Babes announces, "I'm 5 today! See...1 (pointing to her feet), 2 (pointing to her knees), 3 (pointing to her thighs), 4 (pointing to her chest), 5 (pointing to her head)!"

I totally see. I'm just having a hard time believing that it's already happened. Yes, my Babes is 5. Where have the years gone?

It all began, February 17, 2004...

And

it's

never

slowed

down.

And actually
has been

increasing

in

speed

ever
since
it
began.

Which

has
brought

us
to...

TODAY.




Daddy and Mama's deepest wish and desire for you, our Babes, is that you would grow to accept Jesus as your own personal savior, grow to serve Him with your life, and grow to understand your worth as a princess. Not princess as the world would use the term, but a little princess to God, our King. And that your heart would forever sing this simple truth:

Jesus loves me, this I know.

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong.

They are weak, but HE is strong.

...because, really, we are all weak little ones who belong to and are loved by the Strong One, no matter how big of a 5, 35, 55, 85 year old we are!

Happy Birthday, Emma Grace!

We love you so much, our giggling, spinning, dancing, singing, "pretty" wearin', pupcake bakin', pit-ture drawin', scooter ridin', joy bringing, pretending, praying, baby loving, organizing little blessing.

Thank you, Lord, for entrusting your child to us...

Not Me! Monday

Is it Monday already?! Well then, I better tell you about all the things I absolutely did not do this week, along with MckMama, the creator of this blog carnival. Join us, won't you, over at My Charming Kids ...and live to tell about it.

A couple of days ago, I did not get poop on my hand while changing Lincoln's diaper and proceed to get grossed out by it (like it's never happened before!) and then later start to question whether or not I had remembered to wash my hands after the diaper change. No worries. I'm positive that no food was prepared or handled before my hands were poop free. ...I think....

I did not have to resist the urge to go "check" the bathroom after my hubby so lovingly helped me out by cleaning it the day of Emma's party. I would never assume that his "clean" is not the same as my "clean". I would absolutely never be that anal! Definitely not me.

One day this week, I did not come real close to setting a new record for not realizing that my morning cup of joe was MIA. I did not find it sitting in the microwave pretty-as-you-please at 3:45pm, in the exact spot that I abandoned it for the 20th time that day. I did not then heat it up for the 21st time and gulp it down creamer and all, because I wasn't about to waste a perfectly good cup of caffeine. Nope. Not me!

After taco night round 2, I absolutely did not slosh an entire pan of leftover shell frying oil ALL OVER THE KITCHEN FLOOR, because I stupidly grabbed the pan without looking at it so I could wipe up the little spatters of oil on the stove. And I most definitely did NOT have to bite.my.tongue. so as not to yell out in some inappropriate way. And even after it was MOPPED up from the wood floor, we did not find our youngest the next morning repeatedly perplexed that he all of a sudden couldn't stay on his feet while walking through the still present oil slick kitchen.

I, also, would never admit that on my "Unplugged...until later tonight" day I actually wasn't completely unplugged and did, in fact, get on the computer. And I would never justify it by saying that I actually couldn't avoid it because we had to email our tax guy about something. I most definitely did not also "peek" at a few other things while I was at it. Nope. Not me.

My hubby did not have me completely convinced that he had nothing planned for Valentine's Day, because Valentines Day came and went, with him playing it totally cool. And he did not then surprise me with a date after church the next day, having already arranged to have the kids taken care of. We absolutely did not laugh at the irony of it all, when we then proceeded to waste entirely too much time driving aimlessly around trying to figure out what we would do with all our time and then when we did decide did not find that most all of those places were closed because it was Sunday! But if all this had actually happened it definitely would have ended up being totally OK because we would have not completely enjoyed ourselves as we simply strolled hand in hand through downtown sipping on a Starbucks...

My hubs and I did not almost double over in laughter when Emma during her bedtime prayers says her prayer and at the end says, "in Jesus name, Amen. (looks up at Daddy) High five, dude!"....with NO pause in between.

And my friend and I, while taking a late night run to Target and Walmart, did not literally shove a donut in our mouths while we talked about lunges and exercise and then laugh at ourselves for shoving donuts in our mouths while talking about lunges and exercise...at 10 o'clock at night. I definitely did NOT participate in that madness:) And when purchasing those donuts at Walmart we absolutely would never have talked the cashier into giving us a discount on them, since, after all, it WAS 10 o'clock at night. And he definitely did not then proceed to give us other discounts that we're not sure he was supposed to give, but may have because he was ready for those crazy, fast-talkin', hyper kid-less Mamas to be on their way. Nope. That definitely did not happen to us.

And last but not least....I most definitely do NOT, I tell you, do NOT have a hard time looking into these eyes and being as consistent with this 3rd child of mine as I've tried to be with the older 2, because, you know, I'm the perfect mom in every way. Ahem. And I do not remind myself constantly that I will pay for it later if I don't, but then still struggle to do it. Nope. Not me.

No Leftovers Here! Just a happy pupcake totin' princess.

The day, the party...a success.


I received that energy and got the house (mostly) spic and span, with help from my sweet hubby. He cleaned the bathroom, people. Now that's love.


I received that grace and extended it (mostly). I have to admit, the whole getting the kids ready in the morning and out the door, clothed, fed, bundled, lunch bags and back packs in hand, on time, while keeping my cool is often a struggle for me. I'm working on this one.


I received that patience and truly had a blast decorating the pupcakes with my babes. How could I not when I hear her say, "Girls have so much fun cooking with their mamas!" I need to do it more.
I did NOT receive that inspiration to get that unpacking done. But I'm really OK with that.

I did NOT receive that faster metabolism. It was really just wishful thinking. Just hope too much damage wasn't done, because I DID indulge.
What is it about seeing my hubs cookin' in the kitchen? ...even if it IS the fattening oil-fried goodness we call Billy's taco shells.

I received that healing touch. Kink in the neck...gone. Headache...gone. Feel of a cold coming on...gone.

I received that motivation to keep going. I was NOT exhausted at the end of the day!

The birthday girl loved presenting her mouse pupcakes to her guests. She loved having playtime. She loved her gifts. We loved our adult coffee/talk time with Papa and Mimi (my parents) and the Blairs, who we've been friends with for years. It was the most relaxed, peaceful, fun, enjoyable, non-stressful "kid" birthday party we've had...ever. I think her smile says it all!
Not really sure what Lincoln's doing...or did?
Oh, and I did have oil-free, clean hair...

And we still have her actual birthday to look forward to next week!


So now, I will leave you with one more parting shot of the festivities...our guests...the mice.