Leaving My Babies

I'm leaving early in the morning for our Mary Kay Seminar in Dallas. I'll be gone until Saturday night. I have never left Porter overnight and I'm really anxious about it. Mike will be here with the kids and I know, next to mommy, that Daddy is the best person to take care of the kids, but still. Porter is so easy and I know he'll be fine, but it's me I'm worried about. I left Rachel with Mike overnight when she was a year old and then went to Seminar that same summer when she was just about 17 months old. She had a blast and that is a time that Mamaw will always remember, I know. This time will be great as well and I know it will be special for Daddy to get that bonding time, but my heart is aching knowing that it's going to be four full days away from my sweet baby boy whom I've never been away from at all. I sat for the longest time holding him and rocking him before laying him in bed tonight. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something. He'll probably have a tooth break through or he'll finally figure out that he can actually go somewhere on his hands and knees without scooting on his belly. I know I'm going to have a great time, as I always do when I go to anything Mary Kay. I just have to focus on that, focus on learning everything I can, get in some good "me" time with no responsibilities, and look forward to lots of hugs and kisses on Saturday. Just pray that I can keep my composure when I get overwhelmed with missing the kids. :)

Mice - God's Most Loathsome Creature

There is a mouse in our house right now. I can't even begin to express how much I HATE mice!!!!!!! I mean, loathe probably isn't even a strong enough word. Mike saw it last night about 10:00 run behind the TV from the kitchen. Needless to say, I got on top of a chair in what could be considered stealth speed. We didn't have any traps, so I left within about 3 minutes and headed to the store to get traps. I brought home 8 traps. We set four of them around the TV because Mike said it hadn't moved from there. I told Mike to try and scare it out from there so it would run into one of those traps. That little varmint passed every one of those traps and ran under the couch. From there, he ran behind the computer. Then he came out of there and now I have no idea where he is. When he came out from under the TV, we let Kramer into the house, but he's no hunting dog, that's for sure, and the most he did was sniff around and get mildly curious. All three of the dogs are in here right now and two traps are still set. I'm in shoes because I can't stand the thought of walking in bare feet when there's a possibility of a mouse running around here. Know of anyone who enjoys hunting mice?

Off to Reunion

We're heading out tomorrow for Mike's family reunion. I'm so excited to go!! I've been looking forward to this for weeks. Now that all the prep is mostly done and we're leaving tomorrow morning, there's nothing on the agenda for the next 4 days! Gosh, I love it. Nothing to do except hang out with family and enjoy catching up with some folks we haven't seen in two years. We'll play cards, probably some Hold 'Em, maybe some Risk, we'll eat a lot, we'll take a nap here and there, and do a lot of just relaxing. Man, I seriously cannot wait!!!!!

We'll have lots of pictures when we come home, so I'll post those when we return. Everyone have a super weekend.

Sparkler Bomb

Last I heard, the 4th of July was supposed to be about celebrating our nation's independance. It's a day where friends and family get together, eat some traditional American cuisine (i.e. burgers and dogs and the fixins), and shoot off fireworks in celebration. Somehow, my husband and our dear friend Jeremy have decided that it's a day to make their own explosives, Arkansas style. Thus we have...... the Sparkler Bomb.

The beginnings.... 600 sparklers.

The assembly..... duct tape.

The getaway....

we're waiting....

And we have the explosion....

Trying to put out the fire....

Had I known exactly how high those flames would have gone, I'd have backed my camera up so that I could have gotten the full effect. Jeremy took some video of the spectacle and after watching the replay, we're pretty sure the flames and sparks reached at least 30 feet in the air. We're going to see about getting it on youtube, so if that happens, I'll be sure to post the link.

Otherwise, we had a very safe 4th and really enjoyed our time with the Thompsons and my mom who got to be here for the weekend. I'll post more pictures of the non-explosive fun later.

New Camera

We got a new camera last Saturday.....and I've already taken over 700 pictures..... yeah. Sad, isn't it? I love love LOVE my camera!! I'll download pictures soon.

We had a great visit with Mike's folks in KC this past weekend. We got up there on Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday morning. We got lots of stuff in over the few days we were there. Amazingly enough, I got pictures of all that, too. :) I'll post those later as well.

And just a side note, I love watching Barefoot Contessa. Not that I would ever make anything that she makes, but for whatever reason, she's just the most calming person. I get so relaxed just watching her and listening to her talk about whatever gourmet thing she's making.

Tonight is the final four of the Bachelorette. It's hometown dates tonight. I've got my favorites and I'm going to go ahead, just by what few previews I've seen for tonight's episode, and say that Graham is who she's sending packing. She's got major physical chemistry with him, but I think she's gonna see that she needs more than what he can give her emotionally. Just my guess. We'll find out for sure in a few hours. Be sure to check out Lincee's recap tomorrow at www.ihategreenbeans.com. Absolutely freakin' hysterical!!!

I watched Fool's Gold on Friday night and Juno last night. Fool's Gold was ok. Of course it has my Matthew in it and he's just eye candy for any girl. Juno was surprisingly good. I found myself getting really caught up in the story. Mike watched it with me just because he likes the music of the movie. I'm pretty sure he hated the movie, though. Oh well. I had to sit through most of Meet the Spartans with him until I just literally was bored to sleep. I've got more movies on my list of things I need to see and since I have the house to myself (except of course for the little people running around here), I'm going to get in a movie or two before my other half returns and reclaims the TV.

More later, Peeps.

....It's Pouring.....

That old cliche, when it rains it pours - yeah, well - welcome to my world right now.

Saturday night after I downloaded all my pictures from our hike, I had my camera sitting on the arm of my chair...... yeah, you know what's coming. It fell. I'm not sure what happened to it, but it no longer works. I get a "zoom error" message when I try to turn it on. I'm going to have to take it to the camera shop here in town to see if they can fix it. I'm hoping it's something simple, but I'm sick about it.

Yesterday, I locked my keys in my car. That would be the THIRD time I've done that since I've had this van. The first was 4 years ago about this same time and Rachel was in the car. The second time was last year about this time and Rachel, again, was in the car. Yesterday, because God decided to take it easy on me, Rachel (nor any of my other children) were locked in my car along with my keys and cell phone. I was at Wendy's with some friends I'd brought with me. We were getting lunch for my girls and a couple other ladies. I used Wendy's handy dandy cordless to call Tanner's mom (who works at the police department, which has been a helpful tidbit more than once) and beg for her to send a nice officer to my rescue. Said officer was apparently the only one on duty then who had the tools for unlocking vehicles of idiots who'd locked their keys in their car - and he was clear up in Bentonville getting a prisoner. So, I got to spend a little extra time in the Wendy's parking lot doing some serious people watching. I do have to say that a college age girl was the only one that offered any help. She asked if I needed a ride and said she noticed I'd been there for quite a while. There are still nice people in the world and this day it came in the form of a young girl. Oh, and another thing that makes this even better is I called up to the church to see if someone could come get my other passengers so they could get back to VBS preparations and so my girls could get their lunch and after 15 minutes had passed, I again used Wendy's handy dandy cordless to call back up to see if they'd sent anyone yet. They had........ to the other Wendy's in town. As I was on the phone figuring out what to do, another one of our teachers walked in the door and saved the day for my passengers. Thanks to Julie, the lunches weren't frigid when they were delivered to the hungry people back at church. The nice officer arrived after I'd been enjoying Wendy's for about an hour or so (should have gone back inside to get a refill on my Diet Coke now that I think about it) and went straight to work on trying to get my car unlocked. He tried his first tool and worked with it for a few minutes and seemed to be having quite a time getting it to do anything and about a minute into him working with the lock he got a call from I'm assuming his wife. They had a discussion for a bit and once he ended the call, I realized that little tool was stuck in my door. He left it in there and said I could work on it if I wanted to and that he'd come back to get it out later. He was supposed to come by my house last night, but didn't. Was supposed to come by my house today..... didn't. Shelly (Tanner's mom) had to find another officer on duty tonight to come by the ball fields where Tanner was playing to get the gadget out of the door. He was successful, and we all said Hallelujah! I no longer have to drive with a Slim Jim sticking out of the driver's side window. Thank you Shelly for all you did to help! Don't know what I would have done without you!! Yeah, I do - I would have had to call a lock smith and dealt with all that crap. Ugh. SOOOO glad I didn't have to do that. Plus, the Slim Jim sure was a conversation starter and a fun story to be able to tell now.

And then today, I was working on some bill paying. I'd been using a trial version of Microsoft Money to see if I liked it. I'd had another version, but it was on our old computer that we gave to my mom. I didn't have one on our new computer, so I had to download something or buy something to retrieve all my files from our previous version. The trial expired yesterday, so I went online today to download the actual product so I could continue with my finances. I hadn't used the particular version to the extent I thought necessary to spend that much money, so I decided to buy the most basic version. Only now none of my files from the trial version will download to the basic!! UGH!!!! So, I can't get to any of my files right now. I've gone online to cancel that request to use the basic and will go back and buy the fancier version.

I guess you could say I've had better days or series of days. I'm hoping that things will start to work themselves back out. I'm tired. I'm drained mentally. Things definitely could be worse, but gosh, I hope I don't have to go there.

Looks like Obama clinched the Democratic nom. Apparently things are still pouring.........

Here are a few pictures from our hike to Devil's Den today...

Porter rode in his little backpack behind Daddy and did a GREAT job!

Rachel climed up on this rock and when she turned around and saw my camera, this is what she did. You think that kid's had her picture taken a time or two?

And let me just say that this 12 year old little diva thought she was all that and then some getting to walk ahead of the rest of us. She attempted to go in a couple caves, but didn't make it very far partly because of fear of the dark and unknown and then also because of the mud. And this was the only picture I could get of her that wasn't from the backside. She was not about to stay put for too long or, God forbid, walk with the rest of us. Oh, no, dear friends. It's all about being 12 and being "mature" enough to walk ahead of the pack to "check things out".

And then before too long, Daddy says, "I've got a head down here - a head down..." The little man had seen his last tree for the afternoon.

Also we had a garage sale here this morning. In total, we did really well. It was a nice time visiting with girlfriends while getting rid of a TON of junk. Although you know what they say about one man's trash being another's treasure. That sure was the case today. You see ALL kinds of people at garage sales. For as much as I enjoy people watching, it was total pleasure for me to see and visit with all the various people that came by to take a gander at our offerings.

So with the garage sale and getting up early for that and then leaving shortly after all the leftovers were packed up and donated to the Salvation Army to go hiking a Devil's Den for a couple hours, Mommy is one tired lady right now. I'm watching "13 Going On 30" on TV and am about to hit the bathtub for a little relaxation. Tomorrow will definitely be the day of rest for this chick!

It's All Good

Had a blast at Worlds of Fun this last Saturday. Dancing with the Stars and Idol have HUGE finales this week and there wasn't any lag time between the Bachelor and the Bachelorette!! Life is good people!!

For incredibly fabulous/witty recaps from the Bachelorette, check out Lincee's blog at www.ihategreenbeans.com. She's AWESOME!!!!! But don't read it with a drink nearby. There is a danger of it getting spewed!

Mother's Day Blessings

We've had a great Mother's Day weekend around the Langham house. Yesterday, my mom and Mike's mom came over and got to spend the weekend with us. I got to go out shopping, sans children, with my mom yesterday afternoon which was such a treat! We just went to a couple stores, but it was nice to look around without having to watch which rack my kids were crawling under!

We decided to go ahead and give the grandmas their gifts yesterday because we just couldn't wait any longer...

They loved their plates. Tanner and Rachel decorated these and had a great time doing it. Tanner is with her mom this weekend enjoying Mother's Day as well. We hope you guys have had a super day!!!

The grandmas also got recruited to make brownies. They were delicious!! And notice Porter was in on the action, too. :)

This morning, Mike got up and made breakfast for us all (with just a bit of help from Rachel). We had banana pancakes and bacon. Delicious, Babe!! Great job! Then we went to church for Porter's dedication. We have Baby Dedication twice a year at our church, Thanksgiving weekend and Mother's Day. It's always a special time. I've gotten to dedicate both my babies on Mother's Day and it's been such a wonderful blessing.

And for my gift, Mike allowed me to hire someone to come clean my house last Thursday and then he and Rachel detailed my car today. I'm the type of person that if someone cleans for me, that means as much or more than getting an tangible present. It was the most wonderful feeling to walk into my house on Thursday and just smell the clean and look at my house and know that someone had come in to clean all the things that take me forever to do with a 4 year old and a 7 month old running around all the time. Knowing that I didn't have to clean anything to get ready for my guests this weekend was more of a blessing than I can even begin to express! I was elated!!

I've had the privilege to spend time with my moms (mine and Mike's) this weekend, had a girls movie night last night with them, see my baby boy be dedicated to the Lord this morning, and now, I'm sitting here this afternoon, just being lazy, enjoying my children and my husband. I'm blessed beyond measure and thank God every minute for the joy of being a mom.

Dang Fireworks....

Are the Naturals going to shoot off fireworks every time they win a home game no matter what night it is?! Oh my gosh!! It sounds like we're under attack over here! It's worse than the 4th of July!!!!!!! I mean, COME ON!!!!!!!! I have dogs in the house that are going nuts and my kids are both asleep! UGH!!!!

In other news, the Bachelor just said, "I desperately want to kiss you..." Every woman needs to teach that line to her husband. Wow. And the picks tonight - no surprise. The prank that Amanda pulled on Matt.....absolutely "brilliant"!

Screaming Legs and Other Things

I. HATE. SQUATS. Hate 'em. I think I hate lunges more. I'm not sure. Maybe I loathe them equally. Either way, my legs hate ME right now and therefore have gone on strike from supporting my body. This all comes after I decided to endure Body Pump tonight at the gym. I haven't been in that class since before I was pregnant with Porter, aka a long freakin' time! And to add to the loveliness of that experience tonight was the way-too-chipper instructor. I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood to whoop and holler as I'm doing a clean and press. "Power!" she tells us to yell. Seriously? Yeah, no. But I had to remind myself the whole time I was doing it that I was burning calories and that my butt sure as heck better look more toned after I do this a few times. My hubby said today that back when I was going to class frequently, my legs looked really good. Hmm. I've never known my legs to look really good. Maybe it's not completely in vain after all.

I got up this morning about 30 minutes earlier than normal thinking I would have plenty of time to get done everything I wanted to get done. I'd already gotten as much stuff ready last night as I could and even got to spend a bit of extra time on my Bible study this morning thinking that my day would run smoother as it usually does when I get to spend quality time with God in the mornings. Well, apparently the devil was all too keen on my idea and wanted to spoil all that right off the bat. I ended up running a few minutes behind schedule, not late, but behind what I wanted to be. I was very snippy with Rachel, whom I had to apologize to - and bless her sweet heart, she said, "It's ok Mommy. I forgive you." Talk about breaking a mother's heart! Geez. Then just some other stuff came through my day that just kept me off kilter. The day just didn't turn out quite as lovely as I'd hoped.

But I do have to say that my day turned around at the last minute when Matt the Bachelor sent Marshana and Robin packin'. I could have done a bit of a jig! Finally this boy picks who I think he should pick. I've been quite surprised by him thus far keeping some of these chiquitas. He did me proud tonight, though. And next week promises to bring a brilliant recap from my favorite Bachelor commentator, Lincee. Holy Lord, if you watch this show (or even if you don't) and haven't read this girl's recaps, you simply must do it! She makes me cackle! In fact, I'm pretty sure I've snorted a time or two while reading her writings.

And can I just add that I would LOVE to dance with Jason Taylor on Dancing With The Stars. I mean, seriously. I'm sure I look like a drooling fool when I watch him dance. Good heavens.

Totally!!

The other day, Rachel was watching some dancing horses on YouTube. One of the little girls I baby-sit said, "That horse can dance!" To which Rachel replied, "Totally, she can." Huh? Where'd she get that?

Today, she and I were painting our toenails. I said, "Rachel, that sure is a pretty color isn't it?" Her reply..... "Totally, it is."

Yeah, totally. Flashback to the 80's anyone?

Which Roller Coasters Should We Ride?

We're planning a weekend trip in May and are trying to decide where exactly to go. We've decided that we want to go to a theme park within a few hours driving distance. Our options are now Six Flags in Arlington, Six Flags in St. Louis, and Worlds of Fun in KC. We've never been to St. Louis, so that would be fun. We could see some sights there that we haven't seen. We could also go to Arlington which has a lot of fun looking rides and the tickets are about $15 per person cheaper if purchased online. Both these places would require us to go as a family of 5 and tote Porter around with us, stroller, diaper bag, and all. Then there's Worlds of Fun. There are a few big benefits to going here. We would be able to leave Porter with one of the grandparents that live there which would free us up to be able to ride some of the rides all together. We would be able to stay with family rather than at a hotel, which to me isn't that big of a deal since I don't travel a lot and don't get to do the hotel thing. It's old hat to Mike, so I'm sure a couple nights without a hotel wouldn't hurt his feelings. Also, we are planning on going back to WoF later in the summer with friends. We could buy season passes and use them again during that trip and also any subsequent trips we would take to KC throughout the rest of the year. But then again, we did want a little "family" getaway and WoF wouldn't be really "getting away" too much, but would be pretty convenient. We're still very open to one of the Six Flags parks, though. I don't know. I need some other opinions. What do you all think?

On a side note, I'm watching Criminal Minds and that show has a way of spookin' me. Why in the world am I watching this crazy thing in this house, at night, when my husband isn't here? I'm a glutton!

A Case of Mistaken Minnies

Today is our little friend Katie’s birthday and I told the kids we were going to make cupcakes this morning to celebrate. When I told that to Rachel, she said, “What are cupcakes?” (of course she knows, but she just had to ask because it was a question and we have about a million of those every day). I told her that cupcakes are like mini cakes. She said, “Oh Mommy! I want a Minnie Cake! And I want a Mickey Mouse cake too!”

Classic.

Precious Moments

Tonight, I was asking Rachel what she wanted for dinner and giving her a few suggestions. Usually on Sunday nights, we "snack" on whatever we can pull together. So, tonight she said, "You know, I didn't like those potatoes and I didn't like the green beans (from last night's dinner), so I think I should just eat "N a Mim's" for dinner! (all with a big grin on her face). Nice try, Kid. We didn't end up having M&M's. She had yogurt, a banana, and some strawberries - a bit more healthy than N a Mim's, wouldn't you say? :)

Then after dinner we were sitting in the floor after she got her PJ's on and we were stretching like she does for dance class - which that needs to be a whole 'nother blog on why I love that she's in her dance class at our church. Anyway, we were stretching and she was being the "teacher" and telling me what I needed to do. Then she showed me some of the moves. It was pretty cute to listen to her spout off dance/ballet terms and actually do them correctly. I love it! So then after we danced, she decided she wanted to play school. She was the teacher and her name was Bella. I don't think I had a name. Oh, I forgot, while we were stretching, she was talking to the supposed other kids in our class there on the living room floor and their names were Emily and Chester. I was informed Chester was a girl. Chester is probably bitter at her mom for naming her that, but I guess that's neither here nor there. On to playing school. She pretended to have a board behind her and the subject for the day was dolphins. "Ok", she said, "do the dolphins jump or swim?" I answered, "they swim". Apparently that isn't correct because she said, "noooooo" in such a way that she was fishing for the other answer. So I said, "They jump?" And that answer got a big grin and a hearty "That's RIGHT!" Then she proceeded to ask me several other questions about the dolphin and she also asked our imaginary friends Ella and Tyler about the dolphins. That little child has an amazing imagination and I love playing with her. She is so entertaining.

And then Porter decided that right before I got all his clothes off to change him into his PJ's, it would be an ever so lovely idea to vomit all over his floor mat. Nice. That was pretty gross, but he was grinning so big that he must've thought it was great! Thankfully it was on something we could throw in the washer.

I'm watching a show right now on Lifetime called "Your Mama Don't Dance". It's a show where mothers and sons are in a dance competition against other mothers and sons. I must say that all the sons I've seen so far are a little less than masculine.

Time for bed. This time change junk is for the birds!!

And the winner is.....

David Archuleta - winning it all on American Idol!! I'm telling you right now, this kid is amazing!!! I'm going to be watching AI via DVR for the rest of the season and fast forwarding to David Archuleta's songs. Oh my granny.

Here is a video link of him singing "Oh Holy Night". The video quality isn't that great, but the singing is fantastic. LOVE HIM!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIg5D7aAtic

On the baby front, I have new pictures, but not much time to download and post them. Hopefully in the next few days, I'll get a good update on here. We just went to the doctor yesterday, though, and he's a big ol' boy. He's in the 75 percentile for his weight and all the way up in the 90th for his height. Long and lean my boy is. Cutie patootie. He still hasn't giggled for me. I keep waiting anxiously every day for him to do that, but he hasn't humored me yet.... or maybe I'm not humoring him. Could be why he's not laughing yet. Ha.

Remembering...

I haven't posted an update since my last entry about my step-dad, Richard. He went home to be with Jesus on December 21st and we had his funeral Christmas Eve.

This is Poppy with Rachel a couple years ago. This is one of my favorite pictures of them. Rachel was certainly "Poppy's Girl". He would always have some kind of treat in his shirt pocket for her every time we saw him. It was "their thing".

It's so hard to believe he's not with us anymore. In a sense, I'm happy for him that he's in heaven with Jesus. That's what he's longed for for years. But, on the flip side, I'm so sad that he's not still here, still being corny and joking, still there to be a partner to my mom. I think the hardest thing is knowing my mom will be lonely. She and Rich were about joined at the hip. They were always together. They were great friends above all and loved just having conversations about everything in the world. My heart aches for her that she's lost her best friend. I can't even begin to imagine how that must feel.

2007 has certainly been a trying year. We lost a dear friend of ours in May, my husband's stepdad passed away in July, and then Rich left us just over a week ago. I would have never imagined all that would take place during this past year....

We found out we were pregnant at the beginning of 2007 and having a precious new life enter our world in October was the biggest blessing and definitely a sunny side to all the dark days of the past year.

We are totally in love with our baby boy! He's our angel.

I'm hoping 2008 will be a year of joy. I feel like, literally, we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death in 2007. I'm praying for a few green pastures in 2008...

Pity Party

Do you ever have days where you think if one more thing goes wrong, you might just crawl under a rock and never come back out? Yeah, well, today is one of those days. I would seriously depress everyone if I went into ALL that is not right around these parts, but let me just say in the way of a prayer request that my dad and step-dad are both in the hospital right now. My step-dad is having some bleeding in his stomach and we're not yet sure what's causing it. He's not well at all. My dad totaled his semi truck yesterday and is in a hospital somewhere in Kentucky. I found these things out within two hours of each other today. Not a good way to start a day.

Here's a picture update for everyone.

This is Poppy meeting Porter for the first time. He thought Porter was pretty cool.




Rachel and Tanner decided to play in the leaves that Daddy raked up. They had a ball!!!




Rachel loves holding her brother! He really enjoys watching her and listening to her.



Rachel had her first dance recital at church last night. It was so stinking precious seeing all those girls dancing for Jesus!! It was enough to bring a tear to your eye. Rachel has rhythm, too, let me just tell you! She may not stick with ballet, but that little toot will be able to dance!



This is my little poser after the recital. We didn't bring any flowers with us for her since it was just a mini recital, but our friend Peggy had some that she shared with Rachel. That was so precious of her to do that and as you can tell, Rachel loved her flowers very much. About as much as she loves posing for the camera.

Wisdom Beyond His Years

I just got an email today with this on there. I thought it was so precious that I just had to share.

http://www.valenciahills.com/Logan