An Elevated Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there! Tim and I are both so grateful to celebrate our wonderful dads as well. They are so wonderful that they are spending their weekends on the beach! And they totally deserve it! We know how rare it is for both of us to have been raised by such loving, God honoring, strong men. I am a lucky wife and our kids are lucky because Tim is setting a huge stage for our own children and role modeling out what it is like to follow after God, no matter what.

Happy Father's Day sweetheart! I love your passion and boldness.
I actually kept a surprise. I never do that. Whenever I am excited about something, I normally explode. On April 11, I bought a groupon (of course I did) for Elevation Chophouse at McCollum Airport here in Kennesaw. We have passed it several times and commented how fun it would be to eat there and the kids would go bananas.
And it was worth the surprise! Tim even played 20 questions on the way, and lost might I add. He never guessed it. And he loved it. And the food was amazing, way too huge portions, but so good. And David was seriously glued to the window the entire evening. Mackenzie thought it was fun but kept yelling at the planes to not fly over her.
Anyway, the nice flight boy outside let us walk around the run-way area, okay that sounds un-safe but it was not the actual run-way. The kids ran around the planes, played airplane and ran around likes planes, and we were quite the little welcoming committee when the planes actually pulled in and came out!
It was a really fun day. This is probably super weird, but Tim and I are not really "gift" people. Whenever there is a holiday, birthday, whatever... we like to spend the money on a destination or date instead of buying a gift. We did this even when we dated in college. It was just always more fun to us to go somewhere together and do something fun! I like that we have been doing this with our kids too because I think they'll be the same way.
Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Not Me Monday!

If you've ever read the My Charming Kids blog, the mother always posts about her terrible Mondays and calls it, Not Me!!! Monday!

Our day had the best of intentions and was so well planned out. Didn't matter today...

Let me just start off by telling you how I tried so hard to be the Really-On-Top-Of-It-Prepared-Mommy....

I cleaned my car out last night and got it ready for the week. Vacuumed, cup holders cleaned out, car seats, trash, blah... it looked fantastic.

I set my morning schedule. This is a busier week than normal b/c David is going to Vacation Bible School on the square. So our schedule was as follows:
730-830- wake up, eat, get dressed, leave for VBS
900- drop David off, take a quick tour, show Mackenzie around b/c she wanted to see where Dave was going to be. She missed the cut off b/c it starts for 3 years old and up.
1000- Arrive at the YMCA, i have been doing Cardio 3 times a week there, about 2 to 3 miles. This just started last week b/c I had some bloodwork done (HbA1C) and Tim and I both had borderline sugar levels. Our dr. said to cut out sugar if we are eating a lot or just do some cardio b/c that is what burns bloodsugar. Since we really don't eat a lot of sugar, I added in some cardio and took out a few things in our diet. I realized sadly that even though I am a very active person, that doesnt compensate for doing regular cardio and getting your heartrate up. Shame on us.
1100- leave the ymca with Mackenzie and head to the grocery store. Forgot my towel so I am sad about getting my sweaty self into my clean car. Drive, go in, finish the grocery store.
1130- start to head out and Mackenzie doesnt want to leave
1135- plead with her that we have to get out of the cart and into the car. She melts. Doesn't want to get out of the buggy ride. I set her out and she crumples into a ball on the sidewalk. I put our 2 bags into the car only to turn around and she her get mad and grab the cart with force towards herself. It starts moving and she curls her legs up and in 1 second the back wheels go off the sidewalk and drops the 4 inch curb. She holds onto the cart and bites her tongue as it lands. I get her right as it lands. She shrieks. Blood comes pouring out of her mouth.
1145- Blood is pouring out of her mouth. I grab a stash of napkins and try to dry it up to see what has happened. She has biten her tougue, but both front teeth went into it creating a gash the length of her 2 teeth. I freak out. I compress more napkins in her mouth, buckle her up, and decide we have to start either driving to the doctor or er b/c the grocery store isnt going to help.
1150- Realize we have to pick up David in 10 minutes from VBS and we are 10 min away.
As I drive I call the dr, they say that mouth wounds bleed the most, but heal the quickest. They also tell me that no office or hospital will not be able to help me except Scottish Rite downtown. They are the only ones that handle pediatric mouth wounds. Excellent.
1155- I start getting hot, really hot. My a/c is full blast. Between my low sugar breakfast, 2.5 miles on the cardio machine, and now blood all over my daughter...... I start blacking out.
The closest place I see is the Psychic and Tarot Card Store and I pull in and open the door. I black out and then start puking all over their parking lot.
1157- Start crying b/c I need to pull it together. Check on Mackenzie and she is just watching me silently wondering what the heck is going on and seems to be in no pain at all.
1205- We arrive to VBS, me white as a ghost, still sweaty, and bloody Mackenzie with rags coming out of her mouth.
1210- David comes out and I think is just scared. He is very quiet and by this time several people are around me and they page a doctor that is at the church that day. For the first time, I felt hope!
1220- Doctor shows up and looks in her mouth. He said her teeth went through the first layer of tongue but not the second. He said even if I take her to Scottish Rite, they wouldn't stitch it. And really.... Can you imagine me trying to get me 2 year olds tongue stitched?
It had stopped bleeding, just oozing a little and she appeared to be fine...
1230- We head home after I drank some water and finally asked Dave about VBS.
He was so upset Mackenzie was hurt, it was really sad!
1245- We stopped and got her some medicine and came home and had lunch. M was not excited about eating at all.... so I put both of them on the couch and just let her nap with me.

Dave and I get up after she is sleeping. Poor guy, Dave looked so tired but he just kept staring at her sleeping the whole time. He would lean over and kiss her!

We go outside to open my van with sweaty seats, vomit, and bloody rags inside. Awesome.

Anyway, please pray for my little angel. I am so sad. I should have just strapped her in her seat while she was having the tantrum instead of letting her throw it on the sidewalk. Sometimes its so hard to fight them!

You gotta love the unpredictable-ness of kids, I thank the Lord for watching over us... because as always it could have been much worse!

Home

Home sweet home it has been. My super awesome mini van got a bad diagnosis this week that I needed 2 new bearings/hubs. Dealer was gonna be $1100, but good ole Timmy ordered the parts online and is doing it this weekend for $250. I love my handy man.

Here is a shout out to Tim. People often ask how and when I have time to blog. Well, it's 11pm on Thursday night and my husband isn't home from work. So.... I like to see him! So i stay up and do crazy things.

Tim has full force poured his passion into his career and I am so happy for him. He is so good at it. And I am proud. He truly is fulfilling his God given talent.

Needless to say, we have been spending lots of time at home. We can't drive until Tim fixes my van this weekend so we have been here a lot. At first I was dreading it, but now I am just so thankful and really appreciate our home. Don't get me started on this soapbox, but I think it's so good for your kids to be content at home when you are there. And I also think you have to train yourself to be at home. It takes me a lot of planning and preparing, but home has become a safe haven and a content peaceful place to be. My kids feel peace here and they go about their little lives here! How can your kids be content at home when you are not, ya know?

They still get into trouble..... their poor kitchen got a full bottle of Epson salt dumped on it because they got a little carried away with "cooking"

Tim would be majorly ticked I put this pic up, but we buzzed everyone this weekend. The dog, David, and then David did Tim, lol!!! And Mackenzie is just naked because.... well, I'm not sure. She saw Tim and Davids shirts off while they were getting their haircut, so she decided to up it a notch.

We have been having fun snacks. Our garden has made the kids excited about fresh fruit and veggies so it has been a great lesson about how food is fuel for your body and what is good fuel to put in it!

Summer if officially here, we saw lightening bugs. The kids were speechless about them! I am so excited about my summer with these 2 babies!

Here fishy fishy

Tim's mom, our Momo, was given some Aquarium tickets and she was so sweet to give them to us because she knew the kids would LOVE it! And love it they did. They really thought it was the greatest thing in the world and it is definitely something we want to try and do once a year because they were so interested in it!

Thank you again Momo for the fun memories our family made =)

We have been really relishing our time together as a family. It has been good for my heart to just love on them! Tim is slammed with work, which praise God for that. After being through what we have, I am accutely aware that my husband loving and working lots of hours is a blessing. He really has his priorities straight so even though he is gone a lot, when he is here... he is HERE. If that makes sense.

We are starting another smallgroup with our church this week and I'm really looking forward to it. Our other one just finished. It is so important to us to be plugged into a believing community and I can tell in my flesh when I am not surrounded by it.

My pottery classes start next week and go until mid August. My mom is doing them with me. I am really excited for this little outlet during the week. Tim and I have prayerfully decided to try for another baby this summer. Most people don't share that, but would my surrounding friends pray for us? After all we've been through with babies, the games are over for us. We tell people what we are doing and we would appreciate prayers. We believe God is with us. If the door closes again, then it does. I feel like we are supposed to try again despite my fears. I won't lie that as we move closer to this decision, anxiety tries to attack me.

I heard the perfect sermon this past sunday. It was just about roles people try to play with God.

Some people out there feel:

Entitled- because I am such a good christian, because I am a nice wife/friend/employee... blah, blah. And because I have X amount of money, a big enough house, and I am such a good person... God will bless me b/c I am a blessing to others. To those people: Your righteous acts are like filthy rags to God. I hope to never ever be in this category. We don't deserve jack and shouldn't act like we do. Can you tell entitlement drives me nuts?! I'm hammering it out of my kids!

Victims- i can struggle with this one. Because I have been through loss, suffering, hardship, tough times... God will give me this. I specifically remember one person telling me at Christmas when I was pregnant, "Jennifer, you have been through so much with pregnancies. God has given you enough suffering so you know this baby will work out." I miscarried 2 weeks later. Though I knew what she was saying wasn't right.... we WANT to believe that. That we've paid our dues and it's done. But God doesn't work like that. He is not transactional and keeping checks and balances. We live in a fallen world and fallen things are going to happen to everyone that lives. We should just be grateful not only has God chosen to give us life, but sent His son for us to walk with daily.

Pray against feeling entitled and a victim. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Paint the best picture of our Christ to others you can. Don't show them a counterfiet picture, just be real.

Memorial Day

We spent 4 days down in Savannah for Memorial Day weekend with my sister! They moved there 1 year ago for Pauls, my brother in law, job. Needless to say, they are doing great, really happy, have a super cute house, and are on Wilmington Island. They are about 10 min from Tybee Island where it is perfect to go to the beach. We swapped weekend nights of babysitting so that we could all have a date night. As always, we ended up at a pizza place b/c we are 5 year olds. Vinnie Van Go Gos is downtown if you are ever there.

It is amazing watching these little cousins grow up together. At first, it was just complete pandamonium when they were all 4 together. They are all 12 months apart. But, their ages range from 2-5 now and they are adorable together. They have actually learned to play together. That sounds silly, but kids have to learn to play (and play nicely) might i add together. They were so well behaved and the beach wore their little tails out. This picture is funny b/c they thought the jellyfish were mesmerizing. We didn't tell them they were dead. Dead ones don't sting though =)

This little hole in the wall was like something out of a Jerry Seinfield episode, specifically the Soup Nazi. It is called, the Breakfast Club on Tybee Island. It is only open from 7am to 1pm. You have to wait in a line outside until your party is sat and can only come inside then. If your children are misbehaved, they will ask you to leave. It is a celebrity hot spot, but the FOOD is AMAZING. It's worth the wait and worth bribing your kids, works lika charm.

Since Miss Mackenzie Sassy Pants is the only girl on both sides of our family, my sister loves buying her clothes! Thanks Aunt B for her Savannah outfit =) And yes, I chopped her hair off for the summer!

We had a blast and were sad to leave. Here is a pic of both of the kids when we left Savannah. This is always a good sign that they had fun, ha!