Happy Birthday Todd

My children LOVE birthdays and birthday parties. We aren't party goers except for birthday parties and they think EVERYONE, no matter how old you are, should have a party. So, when I told them last weekend that Uncle Todd's birthday was yesterday, they wanted to know where his party was. Since he is working in Verona now, my mom decided we should meet for lunch. When I picked Carson up from school, we went to Creative Cakes and bought cupcakes for his party and then met he, his wife Marilynn, and two of their three children, Jack and Mari-Todd, along with my mom at Harvey's. My mom carries her camera everywhere, so she had to get a birthday picture of Uncle Todd and his birthday guest. Here we are:)

Thank You God......(the teeth are out)

Well the teeth, yes two of them, are finally out! Vince decided Tuesday night that it was time for the teeth to come out. He had tied a piece of dental floss around one of them the previous two nights to get Carson adjusted to string hanging from his tooth. Since I had already made it clear that I did not want to be the one who had to be responsible for pulling teeth, I let him do his deal. Anyway, when the actual tooth pulling was to occur on Tuesday, things did not go as smoothly. I tried really hard to stay out of the way but have any of you mothers ever tried to do this when your child is BEGGING you to intervene???? It's AWFUL. So, finally after I had suggested Vince and Carson pray themselves up for this and they had, I had to step in. I have to say, things did not get any better. I think it all started when Vince gave the string a yank and it came off the tooth, with the tooth still in the mouth. By now, Carson is PARANOID! like I have never seen him. All I could think was, this cannot be the FIRST of TWENTY!!! and we've messed it up already. I have to say by the time we did get to bed, Carson was crying, I was crying b/c he was crying, Emilia was crying b/c I was crying and Vince was just mad. Needless to say, we went to bed without pulling any teeth.
So, Wednesday rolled around, and as the day ticked on, I kept thinking to myself, I've got to get these two loose teeth out before Vince has a chance to do anything else to them, to save Carson :):) I tried to call his pediatric dentist to see what I needed to do, pull up, pull out, or come have them pulled. His office was closed. So I decided to call a friend of mine who is a dental hygienist and is married to a dentist. (how convenient) well, she wasn't home but he was (thank goodness) After explaining the whole ordeal and him thinking we are complete teeth idiots I'm sure, he suggested that I just bring Carson to his office that afternoon and have the teeth pulled. So, without explaining much to Carson and without telling Vince, we went. And with a very few tears shed, some tender words from the dental assistant and Mr. Sam, the teeth were pulled!!! And Carson thinks he'd like to have the other18 done the same way :):) When we got back home, he sat down at the door to take his shoes off and he said, "THANK YOU GOD!" he was so happy he had been such a big boy, had been praying about these teeth prior to the pulling, and was just so thankful they were finally out without anymore trauma from his parents trying to get them out.

Is the mess related to the fun?

O.K. for all you who know me well, know I try to stay organized. One thing I have to work on, now that I have children is that things aren't always where they should be and now b/c of them, "THEY SHOULDN'T BE". I say this to say that before kids, things had their places and that's where they stayed, now with kids, things still have their places but they don't always have to be there. What fun would they have if things couldn't be out of place/order?
Today, Carson had a friend over after school, who he had been asking when SHE could come for several weeks now. You may have seen pictures of Madelyn previously on the blog, she is a little girl who we are good friends with her mom and dad and that Carson is in Sunday School as well as kindergarten with. Since Vince left for snow skiing on Saturday (and is coming home today by-the-way) I told Carson that she could come over on Wednesday, the day daddy would be coming home and he has looked so forward to it. You will see some pictures I have posted with the mess.... a grateful mess that is, b/c I'm thankful my children have friends, are able to play, able to have toys, and able to have a good time. And I'm even thankful when I clean up the messes so that all the "things" are properly put back in there tubs, bins, buckets, etc. where they are suppose to be until the next time they are taken out!!! I just wondered if the messes had any reflection on the fun they had while playing with that particular thing. I kind of think they do :):)

June Carter & Johnny Cash

Last night, one of Carson's most favorite movies was on, Walk the Line. I can't even remember when he first saw it but I think it was right after Emilia was born and a friend of mine (Angel) let me borrow it b/c I had been wanting to see it. Anyway, he is really good at imitating whatever is on tv that he is watching, so he immediately goes and gets his guitar and starts playing with Johnny and soon after learns "portions" of Get rhythm... when you get the blues... and has sung it since. Last week his letter of the week for school was "G" and on Fridays they take a show and tell that starts with that letter. Of course, he took his guitar and even played!!! I was there for the 100th day of school party and it was hilarious. I asked him to share with the class his favorite guitar player, they all thought it would be Elvis, (did Elvis play the guitar?) but he quickly told them, no, Johnny Cash.
So last night, Walk the Line was on tv and of course, he was glued with guitar in hand. So when it got to the scene where he and June were singing together, I asked him if he wanted to pretend we were June and Johnny and he told me NO!! So, Emilia being right in the middle of everything, as she always is, ran to get a microphone, and although she hasn't learned all the Johnny Cash songs yet, she pretended to know them while Carson played. They crack me up!!

The Tooth Fairy is coming to our house!!!

First let me say, I just posted several pictures to the right and they are not in exact order, some from Christmas that I wanted to include and then a couple from tonight.
First ~ Christmas. Vince's sister, Rhonda sent Carson & Emilia these Santa bags for Christmas this year and just so happens, we let them open these gifts on Christmas Eve, so Santa was able to leave their gifts in them on Christmas morning and it was the neatest thing. They had a good time getting in them the night they opened them though.
Then there is the picture of Nannie & Papa's five grandchildren - of course, my two, Carson 5, Emilia 3, then Todd's three, Pressly 12, Mari-Todd 8 (now 9) and Jack 5.
Then our news for the night. Carson really likes corn-on-the-cob and has been asking for me to cook it for a while now. Emilia had gymnastics this afternoon and Carson stayed home with Vince. I had put pork chops in the crock pot earlier and had put sweet potatoes in the oven before I left. After gymnastics I decided to go ahead and go to the grocery store and get groceries then rather than tomorrow when I'd have no help putting them up and have two kids with me. When we passed the corn I got a pack for Carson to have with our supper. I got home, made sausage cheese cornbread, and put the corn in a pot to cook. I then went for a short jog and when I got home it was all ready. So we sat at the table to eat. Carson kept complaining that "his teeth hurt" I kept telling him it was probably due to his sinuses since he has been sneezing a good bit the past few days and has a runny nose. After several attempts he still couldn't eat his corn, so I offered to cut it off and he accepted. After we were finished he and Vince went to watch T.V. and Emilia and I were still in the kitchen when Vince called me to say, "This boy has a loose tooth!!!" I ran to see, it's the bottom left, and oh me, he is NOT excited. I can't say I am either, I know I'm a trauma nurse and see lots of gross things but my goodness, I can't hardly stand the thought of pulling a tooth!! If Vince can't do it and Papa's not available to do it, I guess he'll have to go to the dentist!!! Anyway, he has teared up and is asking a TON of questions, like how did papa pull my teeth, did it hurt, when does the tooth fairy come, what does she bring, how long will it be before it comes out..... I had found tooth pillows when Emilia was just a baby that I thought were so cute, and knowing we'd need them one day, went ahead and bought both of them one. So, to try to make things more exciting I went and got both of their pillows out and that is what you see them holding in the pictures. I'll let you know how the tooth pulling goes!!!

Thankful for My Friends...

This week started out really busy for me, I am fortunate that I am able to make my own work schedule around everything else that goes on in my family, trying not to miss things that are important. I try to work about 24 hours each week and if I get a few extra that's fine too, although it's not always my goal. When Carson started Kindergarten, in order to take him and pick him up each day, I decided that I would try going back to nights. I knew I once could do them, but those were the days I could come home and sleep all day the following day. I hadn't tried it with kids yet. Anyway, I decided that if I didn't schedule two in a row, I thought I'd make it and I have. I normally find something to do to keep me busy, whether it's going to the church to visit with Lisa and work on that coming Sunday's Sunday School stuff or visit with another friend. And normally as long as I'm busy I'm fine until I pick Carson up at 1130 and we come home, eat lunch and take a 2 hour nap and I'm good then until after supper and time for bed. Well, this week, I don't know what I was thinking but I worked 12 hours Monday night and then was scheduled for 8 more on Tuesday night, which wasn't too bad but it was like working two in row. So, Tuesday morning, did my normal routine after working, took a shower, woke up the kids, ate breakfast, and we were off to school. I came back home and did some picking up and then I layed on the couch for about45 minutes, while Emilia played, with a timer set as well as the phone. She is so sweet when I need a nap like this after being up all night. Then I went to get Carson, we did the usual, ate, played a little and actually this day we went for a walk in the neighborhood b/c the weather was so nice, before our most recent cold front. Then we layed down around 2:15, read our books and didn't wake up until 5. Needless to say I was about 15 minutes late for work, but oh well.
Anyway, my friend Angie, called and invited me over on Wednesday morning with a couple of other ladies we go to church with for breakfast. I stopped at McDonalds and got me a latte, with my free coupon I might add, and went right on over. While there, we visited and ate and before I left, Angie said, "I have you something" she had made lasagna the night before and made some extra for my family. Ready to go, just needed heated up, because she knew that I would be so tired and after a nap on Wednesday would be back at church that night.
After saying all this, I realize I have to work some for financial reasons, but I'm so thankful that I don't have to put my children in daycare everyday all year long and that I'm fortunate enough to be able to take my little man to school each day and pick him up. I realize this isn't the best plan for all moms but I wouldn't trade anything for it. Anyway, I made the decision after talking with Vince and praying to work the nights, for several reasons, I'm with my children all day during the day and their waking hours and leave just before supper, baths and bedtime on the nights I work (after I make them supper most of the time). So, I'm really not gone from them but about 6-8 hours a week that they are awake. I also make a little more money working nights and that makes me not have to work as much. So, I feel like I can't really complain or whine and I try not too but it's so nice when someone else notices that I'm so tired and they do something sweet for me and my family to help me out. THANK YOU ANGIE!!! You're a great friend and I love you!!!

Disney Reservations Complete!!!

Yeah!!!! I think our Disney Reservations are complete..... For those of you who knew we were planning a trip, I am really a planner, as much as I think I can be. I started planning this trip this past August, as soon as I found out we were going. We are going with another family from New Albany that I grew up with and then when my parents found out, they asked if they could go too. And of course, we'd love to have two more sets of eyes helping to watch the four kids.
Since, I have been on-line, gotten a Disney planning book and kept up with special offers. Not every plan has fallen into place as planned but it's all worked out. I have been to Disney several times in the past but not with children of my own. I think that I can say I'm more excited about this trip than I've ever been and I want them to get as much of Disney as we can in seven days!!!!
We intended to stay in a "cheaper" resort but when I called back in November to make reservations there were only two available that had three different rooms close together and so we ended up at a little nicer place than we had intended. We will be staying at the Wilderness Lodge, which now, I am excited about. I've heard that it's similar to the Old Faithful Lodge at Yellowstone which I have also visited and it's beautiful. Anyway, when we found the deal of buy 4 nights get 3 free, we jumped on that. We were also able to get plane tickets for what I think was a very good deal. We will be flying out of Memphis, stopping in Atlanta and then to Orlando. I know that other people drive with smaller kids and more kids than I have but I am really glad that we aren't doing that. We take several trips a year to visit my grandmother in East TN which takes about 8-9 hours with bathroom breaks and then various other places and goodness, flying on this particular trip will just be a break for me!! and Vince. Anyway, the only reservations that hadn't been made were those for our meals through the meal plan. A couple of months ago I asked them what the FIRST day I could do this was and it was January 22, so I marked it on every calendar so I wouldn't forget. I was able to get a live person pretty quickly and make our dinner/breakfast reservations. I'm really excited and hope that we enjoy each one of them. Our first will be the morning after we arrive at Chef Mickey's YUMMY.
We're all looking forward to this and of course I'll post more after our trip. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions of things we MUST not miss, please send them to me. I also made the two older girls appointments at Bippidy Boppity Boutique. So they can look like a real princess all day one day:)