They are watching me!

This morning I was still in our room, enjoying my soft purple sheets on my sleep number bed and trying to forget that my ravenous 3 children were running around my house doing (and eating) who knows what, when Deacon announced to me that it was going to be nice out today.

I asked him how he knew that. He said "don't worry mom, I checked the weather for you. It will be sunny today and the next one. Then it will be rainy and then it will be sunny for 2 more days. It will be in the 80s this week." I was curious. Not curious to pull myself out of bed right that minute and go look at the computer, but curious enough that when I did pull myself out of bed I did go downstairs to check out the weather.

Sure enough, Deacon's forcast was right on, but the computer had been off when I got to the office. He said no one was using it so after he had checked the weather he had shut her down.

Somehow the child who can't read had managed to get to the local news website (not on favorites!) and then had successfully navigated to the weather page and looked at the pictures and the numbers to figure out the 5 day forcast. I think that might be his new job.

He also managed to get some toys into Noah's amazon shopping cart the other day... maybe it is time to put the computer off limits without supervision...but then how would he check the weather for me so that I can lay in bed longer?

Reality

I told the Bible Stories for VBS this year. I dressed in character. The first day was Moses. After VBS I asked Deacon if he had fun. He said, "yes, but we didn't have a Bible story."

I said, "sure you did. I told it. Remember, it was about Moses!"

"No, mom, that was your story."

"Dekes, mom was pretending to be Moses. That was a story from the Bible."

"But you said the story happened to you."

"Yes, but I said I was pretending to be Moses."

"Your story sure is a lot like the story of Moses."

I am not sure if we ever completely got it cleared up... he still thinks Grandma Pam placed me in a basket boat in the nile river...

VBS is Over!

Yeah! Now onto working, cleaning the house and doing laundry...

My blogging rules

1. I can only blog once a day. I keep a list by my computer of "bloggable" stories so that I don't forget them if they happen to us on a day that already has an entry. (I think I would appear to be starved for adult interaction if I posted more than once a day).

2. If I have too many things I have to blog about in one day, I am allowed to just stick them all in one post under a generic subject line.

3. I am allowed to change the dates and times on my entries, but only for the greater good.

4. No last names on the blog

5. Nothing that is mean. The blog is on the internet, and I never know who will stumble across my site!

6. Lastly, I have to make time to make comments on the blogs that I read. On my site generally the only people who comment are people who have blogs- and that is because us bloggers know how fun it is to get comments! (by the way, my blog does allow non gmail comments...just in case you didn't know :)

Brothers

Why doesn't everything stop during VBS week?

It is amazing that though MY whole focus is related to VBS, not everyone elses is...



Why do my children still think they should eat? (notice I didn't say my husband. He has no such expectations...)


Why does my grass still insist on growing?


Why do people keep getting their clothes dirty and adding them to the ever increasing pile of laundry?


Why do things still get thrown/fall on the floor?

Why are library books still due? (no late fees! I got them there, a day early!)

Why do my flowers still crave water?


Why do the diapers, milk and peanut butter still run out?

And why, oh why, did the people who wrote the triathlon training schedule not know that I would need a break about now?

All that aside, I am so thankful that...

*Noah took Monday off to experience (and help with!) VBS. He has taken care of the boys and has done tons of other jobs to free me up to concentrate on pirates for preschoolers.

*a friend of mine made us a surprise supper today

*my sister came over and read with the boys tonight

*my mom hung out with us this afternoon. Just having an extra adult around relieves stress!

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

The boys are WAY into pirates right now- specifically Veggie Tale pirates. They pretend to be "Capitan EL E UT", "Mr. Lint" and the other one that they can't remember his name. They try to save me, Princess Eloise, and they refer to Lincoln as "Pa Grape".

(Incidently, it is VBS week with a pirate theme. That is why I haven't been posting much)

Roman and I were at Michaels the other day. There were some cutsy garden flags hanging from the ceiling. Roman spotted them and got all excited and exclaimed, "Look Mom, they have Pirate signs!" I felt guilty that apparently all my son knows about flags is from observing them on pirate ships ?!

The next day we were having an arguement about Roman going potty (basically whether or not he was going to do it). I said, "I bet Captain Elliot uses the potty!" Roman chortles his little Roman chortle and says, "no mom. He doesn't have a penis!" He had me there. I guess it should be fairly obvious considering that cucumbers don't wear pants...

Rehearsal Pictures

More wedding pictures

My parents.


Kristel, Emily and Carissa

My mom and my sister Erica

Kissing. I am afraid my son started most of the glass clinking...

Mother of the Bride with the nephew of the Bride

Wedding Pictures!

Mr. and Mrs. Deimel!



We were standing in the back of the sanctuary and Becki's sis in law said, "there is a man over there taking a picture of us! Do you know him?!" I had to admit it was my husband so she wouldn't be too weirded out.


Cutting the cake


He had finished his cake and punch. He had done what he came for. Now it was time to go.

2 things

Today was Noah's Wednesday off. We spent the day biking and hanging out at the beach with the boys and the youth group. We had a great time!



Noah and I saw this highschool "couple". I commented how sad it was that the poor girl was thin and looked amazing but her boyfriend was still skinnier then her! I guess she digs skinny white guys! (I love that tee shirt!) Noah says that is why you shouldn't date in high school...



One of my failures as a mom is not being able to convince Deacon that he needs to wear underwear every day. He will wear it occasionally. Generally though, even if he starts the day with it on, within a couple of hours it will have mysteriously disappeared. So it was funny when he ran into the water that I noticed he was wearing underwear! Of course they were under his swim trunks...the only place society does not demand that he wear them!



I don't think he quite gets the concept.

Inventions that shouldn't be needed

I am officially violating one of my blogging rules. Can you guess what it is? I will be blogging about them later this week...

I saw an ad in my parenting magazine for some special milk strips. Yes, you can buy these strips at your local store and test your breastmilk for alcohol! Then you can rest easy knowing that your breastfeeding baby is not going to get a buzz from the Martini you sipped earlier in the evening... or if it comes out positive you can pump and dump until the coast is clear.

Seriously, has it come to this? Is it so hard, so terrible, to quit drinking while we are breastfeeding that we have to find a way to do both?

No Work for 2 weeks

I took 2 weeks off at the beginning of this month, just to evaluate how I felt. Now, after my first night back, this is what I learned.

1. I was not any less tired
2. I got to spend more time with Noah
3. Noah liked it
4. It was easier to fit in triathlon training
5. I missed my job somewhat
6. Taking care of adults who demonstrate the same behaviors as your two year old is not fun. (as an aside: I used to be complemented by my coworkers about how incredibly patient I was with the overdose, psych patients and those with dementia. Now I have a lot harder time with my patience due to the fact that I am telling these people all night the same things I say all day! Stay in bed! don't kick or hit! Don't pull at stuff! You are going to get hurt! Don't leave with out asking! You have to keep your clothes on!)
7. I was with the kids A LOT!

Conclusion? I don't really have one. I am not ready to quit, but I might look into a job transition. Maybe an environment where I actually get to take my breaks?! I can't be constantly moving 24 hours a day and legally we are entitled to our breaks... but I will never consistently get them at this job...

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Noah,

Thanks for loving babies as much as I do. Thanks for helping Deacon write his name when I am too frusterated to continue. Thanks for keeping them quiet when I am trying to sleep after a long night at work. Thanks for Saturday morning sleep-ins. Thanks for supporting my goals. Thanks for helping with children's church and the nursery whenever you are needed. Thanks for changing diapers and getting kids dressed. Thanks for taking your turn helping Roman with the potty training. Thanks for reading lots of stories. Thanks for your trips to legoland for presents. Thanks for cleaning up messes. Thanks for phone calls during the day just to see how it is going. Thanks for installing the fence. Thank you for spending your days off with us. Thanks for allowing me time away when I need it. Thanks for chipotle, chocolate and icecream. Thanks for coaching tee ball. Thanks for all the pictures you take. Thanks for sharing cute things you see the boys do. Thanks for all the trips to the Y. Thanks for taking them on rides when someone needs to. Thanks for being a man our boys can look up to.

I love you,
Julie

Ponies vs Barbies

I pulled out my old Barbies and Ponies for use at Becki's shower. Deacon and Roman have had so much fun trying to put shoes and scuba equipment on the Barbies and they love all of the baby stuff for the baby ponies. Their favorite thing about playing with the "girlie" stuff is all of the "little pieces".

At the shower the pony wedding scene won first prize!

Well, today is over. The wedding was beautiful, my friend Dana's anniversary party for her parents went great, and the weather was gorgeous! My hair is still firmly hairsprayed to my head. It is going to take a lot of work to get it out.

Deacon went to the wedding. He told me he would go for 2 reasons: cake and punch. After he got those most of his interest was gone. It was cute though, when he saw me after the wedding he came up, kissed my hand and told me I looked "pretty". Noah swears he didn't instruct him on that. Mom and Dad???!!!

Last day of 27

Yes, folks. This is the last day of me being 27. It is a sad thing for me - every birthday gets harder. I envision myself as being young, but reality is really starting to set in... and we also are coming up on our 8th wedding anniversary! That is very shocking in to my emotional system as well...

When I was little I had "My Little Pony" birthday parties. I remember having an animal party when I was in elementary school. I spent a couple of my birthdays on the Jr. High tri with my youth group. On my 16th birthday I got my first roses from Noah. I think it was my 17th birthday that some friends pulled me out of bed and took me to breakfast. I spent my 18th birthday driving back from Iowa with Noah after we had visited some friends there. Noah planned a surprise party for one of my birthdays in Indiana. More recently I have had small family birthday parties. Deacon asked what we were doing this year. I told him that we weren't doing anything special. He said, "I want to plan a pony party for you. We will get your ponies out and we will have a game where it is a race to see who can get the ponies clothes on first."

So I don't know. Maybe we will have a pony dressing contest. Maybe the boys and I will go to Dairy Queen. Maybe I will do my 42 minute swim at the Y... maybe I will finish my rocks or clean my house. Maybe I will spend all day with my screaming 1 year old firmly attached to my leg...

I know this post is somewhat depressing, (or maybe just for me?!) So I thought I would give you the titles for the posts for the next few days, just to keep you reading :) This week with the three22nds we will be discussing "Reflections on the year", "mean mom week", "Julie's blogging rules", "no work for 2 week experiment", "Ponies vs. Barbies" and of course there will be pictures of me in a bridesmaid dress and of the boys covered in mud, and hopefully, if I can get it done, my latest parody.

Lincoln and His Telephone

Who says you can't go home? That would be Mommy.

I saw this picture of Roman. He really wanted to go home. He loves home. It reminded me of a song. I added the link for your listening/viewing pleasure. The video cracked me up too, but the point is to listen to it and think of poor Roman sitting in the grass and having everyone telling him that he can't go home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uFR70ZLhOo

Oh, and just because I am on Youtube, I will include the link to the homeschool family song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc

Another page of the notebook...

My friend Becki's personal shower/bachelorette party was today. We had fun games, which everyone wholeheartedly participated in, and she got some lovely lingerie, which hopefully will not end up in her bottom drawer too soon :)

Thanks to Jenni, Erica, Liz, Bethany and Rachel who helped bring food, set up and decorated! Jenni made this fun (albeit slightly disturbing) cake for the occasion!

I will post some more pictures soon! My computer is not cooperating...
By the way, here are some questions I asked Becki and Matt...
They are ones you can answer in the comments section!

If you could pick any last name for the sheer sound of it, what would it be?
What is your favorite mountain?
If you had $10 right now that you had to spend, what would you buy?
Rancher or a Farmer?

Confession: I lose things

These are pictures of the 3 things I haven't lost: My children. Aren't they cute?

I have always lost stuff. It used to be my keys, now it is usually my cell phone or my check book. The nice thing is that now it is not always my fault, although I am still the one that has to do the looking. Last week I was ready to leave somewhere and went to grab my keys. They were gone. Now, I remembered hanging them on their designated hook, so I couldn't figure out what had happened. I looked around at other surfaces I may have thrown them on and pockets where I could have left them. But they weren't there.

I asked Noah. He hadn't seen them. I saw Deacon fly by pretending to be a super hero and on a whim said, "Dekes, have you seen my keys?" "Yeah". He answered. He proceeded to inform me that he had been trying to lock the van doors with them, but couldn't seem to do it. So he just threw them in the van and shut the door. Unfortunantly, unbeknownst to him, he had locked the door. Also unfortunantly, both sets of keys were now inside. I had visions of calling a locksmith to unlock the car parked in our garage...not pretty visions...

Thankfully, I had left the driver's side window open a 1/2 inch- just enough space for Noah to carefully unlock it with an extended wire clothes hanger. I am running out of those...I have used too many lately fishing things out of the drain and unlocking doors...

The Nightmare that was the Baby Dedication

I think that I mentioned before Mother's Day that Lincoln was going to be dedicated. I never talked about the event afterward because I have been trying to block it from my mind. But I haven't been able to.

You can tell a few things from the picture. See that look on his face. That look says, "Yeah, I showed them. I am too old to be dedicated. They should have suckered me into that when I was only 2 months." And then there is me. Walking up the sidewalk at Elise and Peter's after the dedication, wearing a sweatshirt over my totally cute new dress and looking down as I made a grim resolve never to dedicate a child over the age of 2 weeks again, and NEVER, EVER, EVER to let the 2 year old come in to the service to watch the proceedings!

Let's just say that one child kept trying to stick his hand up my dress. That same child then took off down the aisle and started loudly pushing a toy school bus around. The baby screamed at the top of his lungs as soon as the pastor took him, and then when Noah took him back, he started making lunges toward me.

Hopefully it caused the prayer warriors in the congregation to add us to their list!

They are making me play!

When Home and Work Collide

As you know, I am a RN in a Medical Intensive Care Unit. One of the best things our residents do for us is insert Central lines into patients. A central line allows fluids, blood products and medications to be infused quickly and with less irritation to the vessels. Also we can draw blood from the central line, thus saving the patients a poke. CL's also allow us to check their Central Venous Pressures (CVP) which is a number that helps us figure out how dehydrated or overloaded they are. Obviously, the drawback is that Central lines are a LOT more invasive then peripheral IVs and come with a host of potential complications. But they are pretty safe. Anyway, that is not really the point of my post.

The residents don't insert a lot of these at night wile I am working, but I have been a nurse for 7 years, so I have assisted in enough CL placements to know how it works. After the guidewire is inserted, they then thread the plastic catheter over it.

So a couple of weeks again when I lost the little straw for the capri sun juice bag I knew that a drastic procedure was in order. I decided I needed to get one of my larger straws in there, but of course the big straws don't have a pointy end. i remembered the residents, and quickly inserted a toothpick into the hole. then I threaded the big straw over it. I had some juice splatter (better then blood splatter) and I wished that I had some sharp little blade to cut the skin with to make it go in better, but all in all it turned into an uncomplicated line insertion. And for a brief moment, I wished that I had become a Doctor.

Falling Asleep

Deacon called to me the other day and asked me to come downstairs. He was so proud because Roman had fallen asleep on his lap. It was so cute! Of course it didn't last long. About 3 minutes into the experience Deacon decided he had sat on the couch long enough and not so gently extracted himself from under his brother. Roman did stay asleep though and had a long and rewarding nap.