All About Rhett

This past weekend was all about Rhett. He had his first football scrimmage on Saturday as well as his 6th birthday party!

Here he is before his game.

It rained for 3/4 of the game. The game lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. I'm praying that all the games of the season won't be that long!

We had his party at Fun City Pizza. He was so excited! I made the cake, but waited until the last minute and didn't start until that morning. Turned out pretty good considering I did it in just a few hours, I guess.


















It was a fun birthday party! We are thankful for the friends and family that came to celebrate with us and for those who sent gifts to Rhettster. He is a very loved little boy!

Silly Girl

These pics were taken by Jason a few night ago. It was right about bedtime and we told Gracie to go take her clothes off and get her jammies on. We know she can't really do it all by herself, but every now and then we like to try. It's fun to see what she does get accomplished before asking for assistance.
This particular night, she got her clothes off and put them back on. Except she put the pants on her head, and the shirt on as a skirt. What fashion sense she has!!!

Say a little prayer...

Warning: This is a fairly long post of my feelings and ramblings. If you don't want to hear what may sound like whining and is certainly very "emotional female" in character, just close it down now and come back for the next post, in which I'll try to be more cheery.

I'm not sure if any of this will even make sense and I don't have time to edit, but just indulge me...here goes.

Ok, here's the deal. There's a family interested in our house. Hallelujah! But, I'm not jumping and shouting songs of joy yet... Obtaining the financing is the hurdle, once again. We have agreed to do a rent to own agreement with them if the financing falls through IF we can go ahead and obtain financing for a house here. We're just playing the waiting game with the bank right now, they've had all of our info since Monday.
Say a little prayer for all of us. We only want what's best. Even if that means this falls through. I'm trusting God. He has brought us to and through SO many other situations in the past 5 years since we've been self-employed and really began the "krazy" part of the journey. I can't even tell you what kinds of kraziness He's brought us through. I've often thought "yes, this one will be the death of me..." but then that situation is somehow resolved and we move on to the next crisis. Seriously, they happen pretty often around here...
So, we've been living every single day in total faith that God would provide for our needs. That we would have wisdom to run our business, despite the fact that we're still just two kids who don't have a clue. We've sure learned MANY lessons the HARD way, but we are getting pretty close to thinking that we've made about all the mistakes that could possibly be made and surely things are going to start looking up for us. We still have faith.
Timing hasn't been on our side in pretty much every situation we've gotten ourselves into. Not by any fault of our own, but it just seems like by the time we jump onto a bandwagon, the flame is going out and we lose our tails.
Regarding the house... a year ago, we thought we'd live in that house at least another 7 years. We spend a large amount of money, out of our pocket, on adding on and remodeling. You all know the story by now-that we up and moved pretty suddenly. We don't regret that decision and still know that for some reason yet to be completely revealed that we did the right thing. Problem is, we all know what has happened to the housing market in the past several months. And dontcha know that the bottom fell out and we all realized just how bad it was about a month after we already moved and had the kids in school. I guess in hindsight, I'm glad. If we'd have known how bad it was, we probably would've been too scared to move and try to sell the house right then and would've stayed when we were supposed to leave.
But, now it's next to impossible to sell a house. If you are fortunate enough to find a serious buyer, they can't get the financing. The rules are tougher than they've ever been and I don't get all those tv commercials that boast in the fact that there is still plenty of money available for home loans.... and that we need to stimulate the economy and keep things going to bring the market back up... Well, some of us are trying, but aren't getting very far so far. And poor suckers like us are stuck with our empty pockets hanging out after socking a ton of money into a house that we're lucky if it's worth what it was 3 years ago BEFORE we put all that money into it... much less getting our money out of it.
We've agreed on a selling price with this interested family and we could make our investment back....if the appraisal is by some miracle good enough...if only it would all work out.
There is only 1 house here that we are interested in buying. Only 1 for sale that is big enough, in our school district and at least close to the right price. We talked to the realtor yesterday and she is encouraging us to try to go ahead and get a contract on it contingent upon the financing. So, we're going to try to meet with her today to try to start the process of making an offer on the house. Who knows if we'll be able to agree on the price. Like I said, it's close to the right price...if not, the whole deal's off anyway.
I'm just sitting here wondering when it's going to be our chance to have a little bit of the "good luck". I believe that it's all still worth it if we continue to get more of the "bad luck" our way. For some reason, it's all what is supposed to happen and I will find a way to be ok with it.
I still totally believe God can do a miracle and work this all out and get us out of this (what feels like a) pit.
Thanks for letting me vent today. It's been a while since I've been so "transparent" and I just needed it today. I feel better already!Just say a little prayer for us today.

Easter 2009

Happy Easter! We celebrate that our Lord has RISEN! He is ALIVE! I am so thankful for that and that I have a relationship with Him. Oh my, where would I be without Him today... Do not even want to think about that! I am a different person because of Him. I pray that you will have that relationship with him too!

We have had a whole bunch of fun stuff going on this Easter weekend to celebrate and have family time.

Saturday, we dyed eggs.




Then, Daddy went outside and hid 67 eggs for the kids! We added some plastic ones filled with coins and some with candy for fun.




After we found all the eggs, we all sat in the grass for a while and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL day! The kids went through their eggs and we got their piggy banks out so they could put in all their new coins.




After church, we came home and made Resurrection Cookies. I have never heard of this before last week, so I was so excited to do this!
I've put the recipe at the end of the post.
Here's the kids in front of the oven after we taped it shut before heading to bed.

The last thing before bed, was the ceremonial hanging of Rhett's letter to the Easter bunny... This makes the 3rd year that we've done this. The idea of the Easter bunny just freaks him out. So, he asks if he can hang a letter on the front door and ask him to just leave the baskets in the garage and NOT come in the house... of course, we obliged once again!


Here they are this morning- after we broke most of them open to check them out.

Here's a close up of one that had a good hollow spot in it. Very cool!

And after we finished the Resurrection story and tried out our little "tombs", the kids got to see their Easter Bunny baskets.

All Braden really wanted was a BIG chocolate bunny. He was not disappointed!!


Here's Gracie in her new bunny jewelry and pony tail holder. She kept saying, "Look what I got!"

Resurrection Cookie Recipe

Easter Story Cookies

You need:
1 cup whole pecans Ziploc bag
1 tsp. vinegar Wooden spoon
3 egg whites Tape
Pinch of salt Bible
1 cup of sugar 1 ½ tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (This is a necessary first step for the recipe to work.)

Place pecans in Ziploc bag and let children break them into pieces with a wooden spoon.
Read John 19:1-3 and explain to them that Jesus was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

Let each child smell the vinegar, before you put 1 tsp. of it into mixing bowl.
Read John 19:28-30 and explain that when Jesus was thirsty He was given vinegar to drink.

Add egg whites.
Read John 10:10-11 and explain how eggs represent life, and Jesus came to give us life.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and then brush the rest into the bowl.
Read Luke 23:26-27 and explain how tears are salty, and Jesus’ followers cried. Also how
we might cry over our own sin.

Tell them that so far, the ingredients are not going to taste very good. Add one cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp. vanilla.
Read John 3:16 and explain that the “sweet” part of the story is that the reason Jesus died was
because he loves us so much.

Beat with mixer on high for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and tell them the color white is like snow, pure and holy. Explain to them that
even though we have sinned, God sees us like we’re white as snow.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet.
Read 27:57-60 and explain that each mound is like the rocky tomb where Jesus body was laid.

Put the cookies in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.
Read Matthew 27:65-66 and explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Give each child a piece of tape
so they can seal the oven shut.

Go to bed.
Read John 16:20 and 22 and tell them they may be sad to leave the cookies in the oven
over night, but Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Open the oven and hand out the cookies.
Read Matthew 28:1-9 and let them break open or bite into the cookies. Show them how the
cookies are hollow and empty on the inside, just like Jesus’ tomb.

Update

Man, is time flying. Seriously, I can't believe it's been so many days since I've updated the blog. It seems like I just blinked!

Friday- The boys were both invited to a sleepover at a friend's house in our neighborhood. They were so excited! And we were too because we would be down to 1 child on the night of our little 13 year dating anniversary that I wrote about. Woo Hoo! We dropped off the boys and headed to Jose's for some yummy Mexican food. (May I just interject here just how stinkin' cheap it is to eat out when you just have 1 child. Oh my... I had totally forgotten that it was possible to go out to eat with your family without dropping an entire $50 bill!) It was super duper yummy. I ate way less than usual since I'm back on my diet. I still left full and happy. We rented a Redbox movie and took it home to watch it. Gracie didn't get a nap that day because we were at school for Braden's student of the week presentation during nap time. So, she was asleep by the time we got home. We watched Marley and Me. Was that not a great movie?! We loved it. And we both cried. Do not ever tell Jason I just wrote that on here-- He will kill me! (Whatever! Honey, I know you'll read this, but I just couldn't resist... I'm proud of my manly man who is still in touch with his sensitive side!) Just as the movie was over and we were getting ready to go to bed at 11pm, there was a knock at the door. It was their friend's dad bringing them home. Rhett had already fallen asleep, but Braden all of a sudden got scared and wanted to come home and they figured if Rhett woke up in the middle of the night and Braden was gone that he might be scared, so he scooped him up in his sleeping bag and drove him home too.

Here's Braden at his Student of the Week presentation. This was a substitute teacher he had this day, showing one of his pictures that he brought.

Saturday, it was our off week from teaching at church, so we went to the 5:00 service and then came straight home to meet our wonderful babysitter who sat with the kids until 12:30am when we rolled in from our date. We ate at PF Changs. It was Jason's first time to eat there and he ordered the Hot Fish. It will now be what I order every time. It was SO good!!! Then we went to see Duplicity at the theater. It was a cute movie. Pretty long, though. I think it was right at 2 hrs long.

Sunday, we got up and headed to BV to show the house. Jason had a little work he wanted to do around there and it was FREEZING that day, so me, Rhett and Gracie headed to Nanny and Poppy's house so we could get in a good visit with them. It was nice to see them and to get to spend some time with my niece and nephew. It's crazy that they are growing as fast as my kids are! :-)

Monday, Got on the scales and I lost 1 lb! Not much, but it's a start. Probably was due to the Jose's, PF Changs and movie theater popcorn I had over the weekend... But even if I lost only 1 lb a week for the next 10 wks before our trip, that's still 10 lbs! And then I'd be even closer to my goal, so I wouldn't complain.

Tuesday, Got up super early and made pancakes for breakfast for the boys. They are taking standardized tests this week. Made enough pancakes to put in the fridge and reheat later so I didn't have to get up quite so early today. I'm just not good with mornings... Football practice from 6-7:30 for both boys made for a later bedtime than the kids needed. And again, what's up with the crazy weather, because me and Gracie almost froze to death at practice!!

Here's Gracie and Rhett hangin' out on one of the tacking dummies Jason bought for the team. This was before practice and before Gracie and I realized that the arctic wind that was blowing would chill us to the bone after an hour and 1/2...
And a picture of Braden before practice. He's Bad to the Bone!


Now it's Wednesday and Praise Jesus, my Mamma is coming to see me today! I get so lonely sometimes and I so look forward to her visit days. Today we are going to "Me-Mart" what Gracie calls Wal-Mart to buy her a Barbie. MeMe promised her that when she was going to the potty good she would buy her a new Barbie. She has been doing incredibly well with the potty thing- has been 3 days since she's had an accident!! I'm SO proud of her! And SO glad that I will soon exit the twilight zone of changing diapers, which I've been swirling around in for the past almost 9 years.

A Sight for Sore Eyes!

I'll leave you with this great shot of Rhett at his first football practice which was last week. The boy is all about it. Braden is also doing well and loving it, but I didn't get any pics of him b/c he practices in a different part of the park and his daddy is helping to coach his team, so I have to stay with Rhett at his practices...



Oh, and I must say, as I was doing this post, I was having this:

I will also be getting 500 more containers of this at "Me-Mart" today. Best yogurt I've ever had!

13 years ago today

13 years ago today, my phone rang. It was the gorgeous boy with the blonde curls and muscles to die for that I had been out on a couple dates with.
He said something like this, "Hey, everybody at school's sayin' we're like goin' out. So, ya wanna make it official?"
Of course, I thought it was the sweetest, most eloquent and romantic thing I'd ever heard. To me, he might as well have quoted me Shakespeare, cause I was already in love with him.
I can't remember what I said, but I'm pretty sure I remember giggling alot. And smiling alot.
The rest, as they say, is history.
We have been together every day since. Still in love. I'd say more today than ever. Man, did I get a good one. If I don't receive another blessing in all my life, seriously, I couldn't complain. He is more than I deserve.
Come to find out, he was calling me from the phone in the meat department at Price Cutter, where he worked as a stock boy/checker. It was the only place there was a phone that was halfway private in that building. My parents had strict rules and phone rules were pretty harsh. He knew if he was going to accomplish this mission that night, he'd better call me before he got off work and got back home! We talked for quite a while and by the time we got off the phone, he was probably about to turn into an ice cube since the meat room was cold! Trust me, he didn't care one bit!
He always did and still does love me like krazy!
I'm so glad he got up the nerve to call me that day!!!!!

Jason,
Thank you for being my best friend. I can't imagine my life without you.
I LOVE you FOREVER!!!

This is us at a Halloween costume party in 2007. I'm so glad we have so much fun together!!

Boys Q & A

I asked the boys the following questions. I asked them separately so their answers wouldn't influence each other. And there was absolutely no prompting, even if they asked!

1. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Braden- Play with us
Rhett- Do Laundry(wow, he must not read my blog!You all know how I HATE laundry!)

2. Where is Mommy's favorite place to eat?
Braden- Chick-fil-A
Rhett- at home

3. What does Mommy do best?
Braden- Work on the computer
Rhett- Clean the house

4. What does Mommy do worst?
Braden- play dodgeball (Pretty sure he's never seen be play dodgeball before...but I'm sure I would stink at it!)
Rhett-Make us do laundry.(Not sure if he understood the question. I think he said that because I do make them do laundry. I make them put up their own clothes about 50% of the time, anyway.)

5. What drives Mommy crazy?
Braden- us making a mess (Amen, son. Amen.)
Rhett- Silly Shows

6. How old is Mommy?
Braden- 28 (the boy pays attention!)
Rhett- 29 (Almost!)

7. What does Mommy not like?
Braden- Boogers
Rhett- Changing Gracie's diapers

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to eat for Breakfast?
Braden- Cereal Bar
Rhett- Meatloaf? Salad? Cereal.

9. How long did Mommy go to school?
Braden- 14 years (Again, the boy pays attention!)
Rhett- Until 12th grade. (Don't forget about that whole year of college, son!)

10. What did they teach Mommy in school?
Braden- Addition, Subtraction, Times, Multiplication. (Well, they tried anyway. Math was my WORST subject. I'm not telling him that just yet, though!)
Rhett- 1st President and 16th President

11. Is Mommy very smart?
Braden- Yeah. Because your job is on the computer
Rhett- Uh-huh. Because you're a grownup

12. Is Mommy a good mommy?
Braden- Yeah. Because she's the best Mommy in the world. (Awww!)
Rhett- Uh-huh. Because you don't make us do things. (He must have selective memory. Because that's pretty much all I do!)

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

1. What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
Braden- Play with us
Rhett- Wrestle

2. Where is Daddy's favorite place to eat?
Braden- at MeMe's house
Rhett- at home

3. What does Daddy do best?
Braden- work
Rhett- make money

4. What does Daddy do worst?
Braden- sit ups (What?!?! Where did he come up with that? Actually, my husband does perfectly amazing sit-ups.....he just doesn't do them that often anymore!)
Rhett- Clean up the house (hehe! Actually, when asked, he will do anything!)

5. What drives Daddy crazy?
Braden- Me and Rhett being mean to each other. (Right on the money.)
Rhett- Silly Shows

6. How old is Daddy?
Braden- 30 (Again, paying attention!)
Rhett- 30 (Good job, Rhett!)

7. What does Daddy not like?
Braden- Mustard (along with many other things...!)
Rhett- Changing Gracie's diapers (are we seeing a pattern here?!)

8. What is Daddy's favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Braden- pancakes with sausage and eggs (Yes, please!)
Rhett- cereal

9. How long did Daddy go to school?
Braden- 13 years
Rhett- Until 12th grade

10. What did they teach Daddy in school?
Braden- How to be a worker.
Rhett- 1st and 16th President

11. Is Daddy very smart?
Braden- Yes. Because he does a lot of work ont he computer.
Rhett- Yes. Because he's a grown-up.

12. Is Daddy a good daddy?
Braden- Yes. He's the best Daddy in the world. (So sweet!)
Rhett- Yes. Because he makes money and I love him.