Lovin' Black Friday

Up at 4:18a.m. when the alarm went off, I felt like I'd just gone to sleep. Brushed teeth, put on makeup, ran hands through hair, tossed on clothes and was out the door by 4:45.

Made it to Kohl's, got the things I needed and got out - ran into Esther and Becky. Cool, two other sisters who shop together on Black Friday. Found my sister, stood in line with her and our day together officially began. Christmas for my girls is officially taken care of. As are Annie's and Elizabeth's birthdays. Yay! I can do the rest online if I wanted. That's always nice.

Now, I'm exhausted and will go to bed.

When God opens a womb, He really opens it!

Since I started having children, I've never made it more than 10 months without being pregnant again which is absolutely amazing when you consider that for almost 10 years I couldn't get pregnant. I got pregnant with Katherine when Elizabeth was 7½ months old. I got pregnant when Katherine was 10 months old, miscarried and got pregnant again (with Annie) when she was 11 months old. Annie is now eleven months, one day old. I. Am. Not. Pregnant. And amazingly, I'm content. Not because I don't want more children, but because I don't want more children at this time. And since my husband says "We. Are. DONE. DONE. DONE!" I need to continue to be content in my unpregnant state. My OB says if we do it again, we can only do it once - my body bears the scars, literally, of three previous deliveries (c-sections). And with twins apparently being in the water at our church all of a sudden (three sets due within five months of one another) well, the idea of getting pregnant is scary! While I am overjoyed for these families, I would be so intimidated if I were to get pregnant with twins, especially right now. And Brad, well, he'd just flat have a heart attack right then and there. But how cool for Jessica, Deidra and Judy - to be able to go through this together.

More Miscellany

So I ended up on the phone with the cable company today over my internet connection when it said it was going to take over 26 hours to download an 80MB file. Um, I don't think so. Apparently over 36% of the packets dropped between him and me when he pinged me - no wonder I'm running slower than flipping dial-up.

Did a few digital scrapbook layouts today. Kits used are from Amanda Rockwell's Back in Black collection at Sweet Shoppe Designs. It's amazing how "pretty" c-section photos are when they're run through a black&white filter, isn't it?

What's down in the well comes up in the bucket

Oh we've had a drama-filled morning and it's not even 9:00 yet. E asked, "Do I have school today?" No, sweetie, it's Tuesday and you don't have school on Tuesdays. "Oh, dammit" Elizabeth Jane! That is not a nice thing to say, those are ugly words and we should not use them. When Mommy or Daddy says that, they shouldn't and we have set a bad example for you. Please forgive me for that, but you do NOT say those words. Great, nothing like having your uncontrolled tongue come flying out of your kid's mouth. At least she wasn't in Sunday School when she did it.

We're doing housework today and then will finish our turkey for the front door and will work on our pilgrims and Indians for the Thanksgiving Day table at Boop's house.

I'm having huge issues with my Bloglines notifier. It has decided there's "no connection" all the time despite the fact that I have a broadband connection. I've googled "bloglines notifier"+"no connection" and had no luck resolving the issue so I've given up and emailed bloglines.com before I completely throw in the towel and uninstall it. I loved my bloglines notifier and I'm ticked that it doesn't work any more!

And, to all my friends who have blogs, you do have your RSS feeds enabled, right? I know of one person who doesn't but everyone else I stalk read does.

Daddies and their Daughters, II

Elizabeth came out of her room and into the family room. "Mommy, I want to sleep with you tonight." I wasn't ready to lay down yet, so I told her she could either go to bed and wait on me or she could sit in the rocker with her Daddy. About that time Brad emerges from the kitchen with a bowl of Boy Scout popcorn (yummo!). Elizabeth happily climbs into the chair with him to munch on popcorn (she's loved popcorn since we was a bitty bug - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree since her daddy and her PawPaw love it as well and I'm reminded, did I ever show off the popcorn bowl we made Brad for Father's Day? Will later). Brad is watching some icko deep-sea fishing show on some icko channel. E is engrossed in it with him and they start talking about going out on a boat to fish. Then they get quiet as they watch the man struggle to land this huge yellow fin tuna. I turn around to say something to him and she is snuggled into his chest, holding tight to BehBear, sound asleep.

But, she did the same thing with me last night after Care Group when she climbed into bed with me to watch The Wizard of Oz. She kept asking me "What is her name?" about the Wicked Witch of the West. I had to keep telling myself that it is not Elphaba - that's another Oz (Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West). "She's just the Wicked Witch" but my head was saying, "She's Elphie." What was kind of funny, she thought the Scarecrow came down from a cross. At least I know she's paying attention in Sunday School, AWANA and preschool chapel, huh?

Things to make your eyes glaze over

You've been warned. ;)

Friday was pajama day at school. Brad went to school with Elizabeth and wore his pajamas. I told you I would have evidence photos for you and so as not to disappoint - please look to your left. He ended up wearing the flannel night shirt and shorts because it was 80-degrees (F) on Friday. A little warm to be in flannel head-to-toe. How cute are they?



Elizabeth had to take Cubbie Bear back on Wednesday. And there was a specific little girl she hoped would take Cubbie home that night. When I asked her Thursday morning who got to take Cubbie home, she very excitedly reported that AW (child's full name because that's how she refers to the child...like her first and last name are all one word) got to take him home. "Hooray!" She was very excited for AW. But before Cubbie went home with AW, he and Elizabeth had their photo taken together.

And as to not slight the other two children. Here are obligatory photos of Katherine and Annie. Katherine was being silly the same day we did photos of E and Cubbie. Annie was practicing for her spot on Top Chef 50 ;)

Another one for the baby books

Today as I was changing Annie after her nap I saw it. A top incisor has broken through the gum. Hooray! At 10½ months Anne Lancaster has a grand total of three teeth! What a hoot. Nin was a slow teether, too. Elizabeth had six by the time she was 9-months old - she was my fast teether.

Elizabeth was in the room as I was changing Annie and when I said, "Hooray! Annie has a new tooth!" Elizabeth asked where it was. I told her it was on the top and she said, "YAY! Annie can eat PIZZA now!!!" Um...E, honey, Annie already eats pizza! And loves it.

And, typical Egg child - Annie was eating her daddy's SALSA when I left the house this evening. Yes, really.

The Refiner's Fire

Today was parent-baby dedication at church and beyond having to adjust the slide show once we loaded it on the computer in the A/V booth (the .png files somehow got converted to .bmp files between my computer and the church - that was NOT pretty), it went well. Walked past one of the daddies in the lobby and he said, "Baby dedication today!" "Yes..." and I noticed he was sans wife and baby, which is very unusual. "We have sickies today and [wife] isn't feeling well either. I know she completely forgot because I forgot until I saw you!" Not a problem, I can delete you guys out of the slide show and no one will be the wiser. One couple sang a song the daddy had written for their baby girl. Mommy held the baby while they sang and the baby was just as cute as she could be - babbling and waving and grinning. It was absolutely precious and the song the daddy had written was sweet and tender and beautiful. I cried, of course, because I'm such a sap!

My sister sent me an email the other day and it was one of those things that really hit home, especially with all that has gone on in my life of late. I've tried to research copyright info, but was unable to find anything. If you know where this originated, please let me know so I can credit the original source. :) Thanks.

There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three they came across verse three which says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep His hand on you and watch over you until He sees His image in you.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Oh my achin' back!

I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday trying to help Brad load the old entertainment center into his truck. The sucker is solid oak and, needless to say, heavy! I didn't understand what he was wanting to do and the more I asked him to explain, the less patient he got until finally I just stopped asking and started trying to figure it out as we went along. When you're lifting a behemoth like that, not knowing what to do next isn't exactly good for the back.

So my lower back is killing me. After soaking in the tub last night I ended up with a massive case of the hives that was so bad I had to take a Benadryl (not exactly good for the milk production, what little there is). Brad got up to get Annie a bit later - changed her poopy diaper, brought her to me, then took her back to her bed at some point (I was out of it!). Sometime later, Elizabeth ended up in bed with us and when all the kids got up this morning, he let me sleep. :) Love him when he does that. But oh, my achin' back! I'll be hitting the muscle relaxers later today. Have to get the parent-baby dedication slideshow ready for church tomorrow before I pop anything more than IB.

Daddies and Daughters

What is it with men and their daughters? Someone please, please, please explain this to me.

Next Friday is pajama day at E's preschool. Brad is off work and so he's going to school with her. He wants to observe her in class and with her friends. I told a friend of mine, who has never met Brad, that I knew he wouldn't wear his pajamas. She said, "I bet he will if Elizabeth asked him." I still maintained that he wouldn't.

Last night Elizabeth said, "Daddy, will you wear your be-jamas to school with me next Friday?" And Brad proceeded to go into the bedroom and dig through the drawer until he found his big flannel nightshirt and his flannel PJ pants. He said, "Which one should I wear? Or should I wear them together? Can I wear my Crocs or do I need to wear my slippers?" Elizabeth giggled and said, "Daaa-addy! Those pants don't match your gown and you have to wear shoes for the playground, so you have to wear your tennis shoes." I was dying laughing over the "your gown" comment. He said, "This is not a gown, it's a night shirt." "No, Daddy, THAT is a gown"

I stood there shocked. Rebecca knows Brad better than I do and I've been with the man for almost 21 years! I just knew he wouldn't do it. Scary at how well I *don't* know him, isn't it?

Of course you know photos will be forthcoming next Friday. :)