The things we do for our kids...

Picture a 31 year old (that's right, I'm not 32 yet), mother of 4, with her 6 year old son in his booster seat driving around town jamming out to the bass thumping sound of a DJ Magic Mike Pandora mix.

Yep, that was us today. You see, Micah likes to dance. And I love to see him smile. We had all the necessary components fall into place today to make that happen. I got to spend the day with just him while we went on a field trip to the Jacksonville zoo. We had Chris' car and consequently access to a nice sound system. Add that all together and we needed some B-A-S-S.

Let's just say.. I got some head turns in the parking lot of Chick-Fil-A while getting breakfast. I'm not sure if it was because of the car rattling bass or the 31 year old mom's car it was coming from. Either way, well worth the looks!

Can I blame it on the kids? Please?

Wow, just where in the world did 2 1/2 years go? I can't believe that was the last time I posted on my blog. I'm going to blame it on the kids and I will stand with pride and say that. I wouldn't have wanted to have spent my time any other way.


I have missed blogging though. I doubt anyone reads it, but it's at least a good way to get my thoughts out. It's also fun to read my old posts that are a snapshot in time. Presidential elections, economy woes, iPhone buzz, life with only 2 kids. It is so encouraging to see clearly in hindsight how God has been working.


So, let's see if we can get this thing going again....

Time for a geeky post..

So, I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and got myself the iPhone. I must say, it's pretty impressive. There are a lot of really cool things that have already made my life a little easier. Perhaps the best part is just having internet access wherever I go. If I'm away from the house and need to look something up - bam! There it is. But, there are definitely a few bugs that still need to be worked out.

One of the most annoying ones is the add on installed apps. I run into this problem almost daily. I'll go to launch one of the apps and it just flashes and returns to the home screen. The only solution I've found is to delete the app and reinstall it by going back to the App Store or synching the phone. This is particularly annoying when I'm trying to scramble out of the house to go running and I try to launch my app to track my run and it crashes. Arrgh! Does it not realize I only have a few minutes before I need to get back and cook dinner?! Apparently this is a widely known issue. Most blog posts I read reported it would be taken care of with the new OS release. But, that came out a couple days ago and the problem almost seems worse now.

The next one isn't a bug as something I'm stumped over. I'm struggling to find a good way to stream live radio from local stations. You'd think I could just go to the stations site and listen, but Safari doesn't support the formats. There are various apps you can install for some of the most popular stations on the country. But, some of the stations I want to listen to don't end up on those apps. In particular, I want to listen to the Dave Ramsey show live (I normally do this on AM 1530 if I'm home) and Air1 (a national station that brodcasts locally on FM 89.5). If anyone has a solution to this - PLEASE let me know.

Yuck!

With kids, some days are better than others. Today has been one of those not so good days. I've literally been cleaning up bodily fluids since this morning. It started with Amy Jo. She has had poop go up her entire back and all over clothes twice today. And the day isn't over yet! But, I'm used to that.. so no big deal.

But, then Micah started throwing up. And throwing up. And throwing up some more. It started this morning when we went to get in the van. Just as he got in, he spewed all over the seat and the floor. He quickly jumped out (smart boy!) and continued to throw up all over the concrete. Bleh! When he finished he was so exhausted he could hardly keep his eyes open. So, I put him in the bed and went outside to wash out the van. Just as I was finishing up, he came running outside crying saying he had thrown up all over his bed. Ahhh! So, I cleaned up him up, sat him on the couch and went to clean up the bedroom. Not two minutes after I finished that, he threw up on the couch. We cleaned that up and now we've been laying on the couch for a few hours. We've got our system down. He will motion to me to pick up the garbage can, he'll spew, and we'll keep watching movies. It seems to have slowed down, so I'm hoping the worst might be over. But, I feel totally gross. Hopefully Chris will be home soon and I can shower up. I'm hoping it's just some sort of food poisoning since he doesn't have a fever.

Katie seems to thrive off of the opportunities to show compassion. She keeps checking on Micah and rubbing his head and says "Are you okay, buddy?" Cute stuff.

Okay, back to watching Cars with Micah...

Hi-yah!

So, it's a new day with a new president. Not quite the outcome I had hoped for, but it is what it is. I'm thankful I have a God who is ultimately in control. He knew long before today that Barak Obama would be president and I'm glad He knows better than me what is best for His people. I was encouraged this morning as I got together with a group of friends and we studied some of the Psalms. Particularly, Psalm 8 helps put some perspective on all of this..


When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
If God cares for us individually that much, this little thing called the election just doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

Annywhooo... Enough about politics. Moving on.

Micah started taking Karate last week. Let's just say.. that didn't last long. He told me last night he didn't want to do it anymore. In his words "All that running makes me tired". (The instructor makes the kids run about 1/4 of a mile each class). Hmm. Normally I don't think I'd let my kid quit that easily. But, considering it was going to cost about $700 for 6 months worth of classes (that was the cheapest I could find), I think I'm gonna let my kid be a quitter. :)

And I promised some pics... Here we go!

No, the sky is not falling...

I went up to the Town Center this afternoon and saw something very interesting. Lots and LOTS of people. People everywhere, walking around with their shopping bags and their lattes from Starbucks. If it weren't for the news telling me otherwise, I would never have known we were in the midst of "the worst time since the Great Depression". Seeing that today leaves me with two possible explanations - either people are in denial OR maybe things really aren't that bad. Hmm.

Lest I sound insenstive, I know there are a lot of people out there struggling right now. Just last week, several people we know lost their jobs and I'm sure we'll see more in the weeks to come. I'm not suggesting that things are peachy keen. It's just that I think a lot of what we're hearing is a little blown out of proportion. Yes, the stock market it had it's worst one month decline in it's history (14% loss). But, it's ONE MONTH people! It's not the end of the world! The news has a difficult time reporting anything but the hear and now. They fail to put things into perspective most of the time. So, here's one nuggest for some perspective - Did you know that since 1994, the stock market is up nearly 57%? And that's as of the close of our "worst month ever".

All this to say... Based on what I saw today at the mall and the basic numbers I mentioned above, I don't think we're anywhere close to being able to compare this to the Great Depression. But, hey, it makes for some great political soap box's for our Presidential candidates.

Anywhoooo... I doubt anyone cares about my rants on the economy. So, I promise -next post will be back to "A Day in the Life of a Mom" and some new family pics!

Quick, let's get out of here!

News Flash: My kids have very different personalities!

This was made very apparent today in a situation we encountered at Chick-fil-a when I took Katie and Micah to the bathroom. As Katie was in the midst of doing her business, the electronic sensored paper towel dispenser suddenly started dispensing all by itself. Katie's reaction was "wow, cool!" and she laughed very excitedly. Micah's reaction was complete opposite. He got very nervous and tried to get Katie to hurry up so we could get out. I tried to tell him it was okay as I got Katie's pants pulled up, but I looked over to find his lip quivering. I asked him why he was getting upset and he hesitantly asked me "Is the whole bathroom going to fill up??". It was kind of funny, but I knew it was very distressing for him. I couldn't help but hurry us all out of the bathroom to relieve his fears.

My friend recently lent me a book called Nurture by Nature which goes through the Myers-Briggs personality types and helps you identify the personality type of your kids. I'm finding this extremely helpful in parenting them. I hate to say it this way, but Micah has been much easier for me to interact with than Katie so far. After reading the personaility profiles, I now realize that it's because we are very close to the same personality types. Micah is ISTJ and I'm INTJ, but I think the N is boarderline S for me. It's always easy to understand someone who is just like you! :) Katie on the other hand... I've had a hard time figuring out what makes her tick. But, after reading the book, I've determined her to be INFP. INFP's can be pretty emotional - An emotional INFP doesn't always fit well with a level headed INTJ. But, there are SO many positive things in her personality profile as well. Now that I know what to be looking for, it has been so fun to focus on her strengths and see how it makes her light up with delight when she gets that praise. She is certainly very loving and concerned for other people's well being. And I think slowly but surely, she will teach me how to lighten up a bit and enjoy the little things as much as she does.

So, 2 kids down. 1 to go! And, after today, I doubt Micah will want to use the Chick-fil-a bathroom anymroe.