You Might Be Wondering...Or Maybe Not

Apparently some of you have been wondering where we have been since I haven't posted in awhile. The sad truth is that we've been been around, I've just been a bad blogger. We've just been hanging out lately, enjoying the fact that there is virtually nothing on our weekend calendar (until this weekend anyway). Earl has been on vacation this week so that meant a welcome change to our routine. I was able to work in a few extra hours at the hospital, the kids got to stay home a few extra days this week and Earl and I got to spend some time together on Wednesday (minus the kids). We wasted the day shopping for dining room furniture and end tables. And when I say 'wasted', I mean WASTED! We're honestly not that picky and yet we continue to come up empty handed in the furniture department. If anyone out there has any suggestions PLEASE send them this way! We came home from a day of shopping with $40.00 worth of kids books. Not exactly what we set out to do when we left the house that morning. However, I am happy to report that we have now moved on from Brown Bear, Brown Bear to Polar Bear, Polar Bear.

On a more positive note, I want to thank all of you who prayed over the requests I had posted on Monday. Earl's MRI turned out pretty good. A few 'protruding' discs that will hopefully resolve with some rest and being more careful when he's lifting things. I'm sure our move in October did nothing for his back. The request for my friend...another prayer answered. I'll have to keep you updated on that one. And though the family from the hospital that I mentioned still continues to struggle after the death of their little boy, I am glad to say that they will be surrounded by many of the baby's nurses at Sunday's memorial service.

Thanks again for catching up with us and for the prayer this week. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

A Couple Quick Requests

Hey everyone, I'm hoping that you'll help me out tonight with a few prayer requests. First for Earl, who has recently been having some trouble with his back. He had an MRI and they called with the results tonight...only we weren't home. So now we have to wait until tomorrow and I know he is nervous.
Second for a family of a little boy I knew from work. The little guy was Cooper's age and he passed away from cancer on Saturday. Please pray for God to give them peace during this time.
And finally an unspoken request for a friend.

Thanks so much everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. Here's to an even better week.

"Parenting the Way God Parents"

Just a quick to note: If you are going to be reading the "Parenting the Way God Parents" book, and would like to participate in a little "discussion" group please leave a comment to let me know. I am in the process of making a new blogspot just for that purpose. However, I think I'm going to make it a password protected site. Therefore I will need to know who to give access to.
I have read the first two chapters of the book and am enjoying it. There are a few of us who would love to have you read with us.

As Promised

"CHEESE!!!!!"

Today was one of those days that, as a mom, we are sometimes blessed with. One of those days that makes you stop, thank God for all the wonderful things that surround you and feel nothing but love in your heart. There was really nothing monumental about today. But, today was special to us. Today was a day that even though we woke up early, we were filled with energy and lots of giggles. The kids and I spent a little time lying around watching cartoons but it wasn't long before Cooper was signing "eat please". After breakfast we played with the new toys we picked up yesterday and then got dressed for the day.

We met Mom-Mom and Pappy and Mimi and Pappy for lunch. Our original destination was Country Cupboard. However, throw together two hungry kids and one bus and what do you get...lunch at a different restaurant. Ultimately we ended up at the Towne Tavern which was a nice change. We were happy that Pappy Richard felt good enough to get out of the house and join us. It took a moment to figure out how he was going to manage a huge cheese steak with only one hand...but he made out just fine. I was so proud of how the kids behaved at lunch. Cooper only wanted to get down once or twice because he wanted to go to the window and look for the "choo-choo".

We returned home from lunch in time to take naps...all three of us. Cooper went down easily and McKenna decided that she wanted to lie down with me. It's not often I can get her to willingly take a nap anymore, let alone with me. As we snuggled up under a blanket I told her how she used to sleep with me when Daddy was away at school. It brought back so many memories. It was just the two of us back then and we literally did everything together. Even though it was sometimes difficult to do things on my own, I would never trade those years and the time we spent together.

After naps we were off to gymnastics. We were all excited because Mom-Mom and Pappy Landis were coming to gymnastics tonight. And as we were walking in we saw Mimi and Pappy drive up also. I thought McKenna was going to jump out of her skin with excitement. What a special treat to have so many people who care about her enough to come watch her gymnastics practice.

We headed home for a quick dinner, baths and then bedtime. All this with no whining, crying, screaming or objections. It was amazing! That is why today was honestly the best. I never thought I could have so much fun with my kids, but they make me laugh more and more every day. I love to see how they interact together and how they have learned to care for one anothers feelings.

I hope you enjoy some pictures from our day. And I hope the joy from today is enough to get me through those not-so-great days that creep up once in awhile!

We're Still Around

I can't believe that I haven't posted in almost a week. That must be some kind of record for me. I've noticed that there are a lot of bloggers who have been absent lately. It seems funny that we've seemed to hit a dry spell in the middle of February when honestly, what else is there to do? I can't say that I've been particularly busy lately, but maybe preoccupied. The week started out with Cooper feeling a little under the weather and ended with me feeling a little yucky. That on top of adjusting to some role changes at work, my dads shoulder surgery and two active kids has just kept me knee deep in other things. I've been spending a lot of my extra time diving into some new books, scrapbooking, cooking and just doing the usual things around the house. I've started to attend Sunday School again and so that combined with church takes pretty much our whole morning.

The kids are doing well, besides the little touch of stomach bug. I'm thankful that so far we have managed to escape the full illness. We spent a quiet weekend at home with the exception of stopping by to see Mimi and Pappy on Saturday. Today after church and naptime we took a quick trip to Toys R Us for a couple of things to help with everyone's cabin fever. McKenna is glued to her Leapster game as we speak. I never thought we would have to put a time limit on the Leapster, but it might be coming to that. Cooper is the proud new owner of a fire truck tent, a great suggestion from Megan and Joshua.

Tomorrow the kids are off school and that means I am off work!! Yeah!! Mom-Mom and Pappy Landis are going to meet us for lunch and we're hoping my mom and dad will feel up to coming along. Mom-mom and Pappy are also staying to go see McKenna at gymnastics. Everyone is looking forward to a nice day.

Here are some recent pictures that will hopefully redeem me for the week. The first one is of McKenna heading to her Valentine's Day party at school. The second one is Cooper sharing his snack with Tucker. At least he's learning to share, right?

Happy belated Valentine's Day to everyone. I hope every day is filled with love.

Monday...already?

I have to be honest that I wasn't even thinking of Not Me Monday today...mostly because it didn't occur to me that it was Monday until just a minute ago. I'm not sure what day I thought it was, but the Monday thing caught me off guard. Anyway, at least I realized it in time to get McKenna off to gymnastics (with her dad again! How cool is that!?!)

So, I haven't been very faithful with my blogging lately because of another diversion I've recently discovered, Facebook! If any of you have not ventured there I will warn you that it is addicting, just like everyone says. If you're an instant gratification kind of person like me, then Facebook is most certainly for you (well maybe). Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Luckily, I haven't been neglecting my kids in an attempt to catch up with old friends. Yesterday was a great day to be outside and we took advantage of it. We are finally enjoying our neighborhood a little bit and remembering just why we chose this development. The kids rode their bikes in the cul-de-sac and played ball with the dog. Later I shot some video of Cooper and his delicious little laugh. I can't get enough of the sound of his giggle. We are thankful that he continues to add new words to his vocabulary every day. He is now able to verbalize "no" and to be honest it makes us laugh. We are fully aware that it's going to get us in trouble eventually, but it's so darn cute right now.

In our spare moments you will find us continuing to try to make our house feel like home. We got a few new pictures up on the wall on Sunday and finally got our old couch out of the garage and into the computer room. So, it's only taken us three and a half months, but things are slowly coming together. I now understand what people mean when they say that it's time to move again as soon as you get everything else done. Let's hope that's not the case.

Our extended family continues to adapt to life without Jax. It's sad to walk in my parents house and actually be able to open the door the entire way because Jax is no longer lying in the way. I'm sure that it's very quiet also, as Jax had a bad habit of incessant barking over the last six months or so.

Please keep my dad in your prayers this week as he has surgery Thursday on his shoulder.

I hope Cooper's video makes you smile just a bit. We all can use a little of that at the end of a Monday. Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the screen.

Remembering Man's Best Friend

Late last week I decided to take an extra day off this week because I had worked extra on Saturday. Initially I was going to be off Monday, then changed my mind when I heard about the possibility of snow. You might have noticed that we did not get snow today, but instead were blessed with a gorgeous warm, sunny day. But that's not why I'm glad that I was off today. I'm glad that today I was able to spend a few last hours with our families dog, Jax. Jax went to heaven tonight after 12 years with our family.

Jax came to our family during my freshman year of college. For those of you who were close to me at the time, you might remember that my freshman year was not exactly my finest. I missed home so much and was thrilled when my parents agreed to a dog. I'll never forget going to pick out one of the pups. I, of course, wanted the only female puppy. But she was shy and not very playful and my mom didn't think she would be a good fit for a family with two young boys. So, we picked the 'runt' of the litter. A few weeks later when the pups were old enough, we went back to pick up our pup. We bought Jax from an Amish family and I remember them searching through the cage of pups for the one 'marked' for us. I'm still not sure we go the runt. And any of you who knew Jax would probably agree he was no runt.

Jax grew into a huge dog full of energy, spunk and sometimes down right misbehavior. If any of you have read the book or seen the movie, think Marlee and Me. That was our Jax. Jax has been known to eat underwear, eat entire pizzas, steal just about anything from a counter, open a can with his teeth, drag garbage all across the front yard, and tear screens from the windows. He went to obedience school - twice, and I'm not sure they did much good.

But Jax was a great dog and part of so many memories. He certainly got me through that rough first year of college and many years after that. He loved to ride in the car and go for ice cream. He liked to swim in my parents pool and in his latter years when he could no longer swim he would sit on the steps acting as our lifeguard. He loved to run and chase Tucker and see who could eat the most garbage. They used to lay together at my parents house, each with a bone for hours.

Everyone has a favorite Jax story. Earl remembers the night that Jax got into an aluminum pan and began to devour whatever was inside AND the pan. His gums were bloodied but that didn't stop him from leading Earl and my dad around the yard at midnight in six plus inches of snow. But my most memorable story has to be the day I got married. My mom and I dressed for the wedding at my parents house. It was just the two of us...and Jax. The limo was parked in the driveway ready to take us to the church. There was just one problem that we didn't consider. Getting out of the house without Jax getting out also. My mom barricaded him in a room while I snuck out the front door in my wedding gown. Once in the limo I waited for what seemed like hours for my mom. I began to get worried, but I couldn't go back in. It was only after the wedding that I learned what had happened. In her efforts to sneak out without Jax, my mom used the back laundry room door. While she was trying to get herself out and keep Jax in, she fell down the steps and into the grass---in her gown. The amazing thing is that she didn't have spot on her.

Jax was always great with the kids, too. That's no small task for a 155 pound dog. Sure, he was known to knock them over and steal food from their hands; chew binkies, bottles, and diapers. But he was never far away when they were in their bouncy seats or saucers or just out in the yard. He tolerated them jumping and laying on him and even playing in his food and water bowls.

It's true that Jax was not the most well behaved dog, and sometimes (okay lots of times) he drove us a little nutty. But like any dog, he loved us all unconditionally...and really sometimes we didn't deserve that. It's hard when our pets die and maybe that's the reason. They are such innocent beings who only really understand joy and affection --and in Jax's case food.

When I look back I can hardly remember a time when he was not there, if even just in the background. He was there for all of us through many difficult times and many joyful ones too. It will feel strange to not hear him barking or to not stash the diaper bag somewhere high where he can't steal the kids' snacks. It will be sad to open the pool knowing that we won't have our 'life guard' sitting on the steps watching over us. I guess we will have to settle for our 'Angel Puppy' as McKenna has re-named him, to watch over us from afar.

My Mom, Dad and I got to be there tonight as Jax took his final breaths. He was so peaceful and I'm sure relieved to no longer be in pain. On the short drive from the vets office to my house I heard a praise song with these words : You'll meet me someday running with the angels on streets made of gold. That is where I picture my Jax tonight, running free on streets of gold.

Jax meeting Cooper for the first time.