Date Night

Jeff and I had such a good date last night. Linda Mom came over and babysat, and Gabey was so good for her. They had a great time together.

Jeffie and I went to Vhoodah's for dinner, because my friend had told me they had sweet potato fries. We got there, and they had DISCONTINUED them! WAHHH. The food was great, I had a burger, asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. The interior looked so cool, there was an arched fish tank that you could walk through! The walls were recreating the Mayan chamber where they found out about the Mayan god of the feast, Voodah. They had faux stone cut walls, with really neat designs.

After dinner, we headed to the Playhouse, and saw "Funny Face" on the big screen!!
I got pictures of the playhouse, it's so palatial!

My sweetie is so handsome!


Our car mascot, Gizmo (he's been in all of Jeff's cars for years)


Playhouse Square


Inside the theatre....

Cricket Hunters

Chrissy came over yesterday afternoon, and Gabey and I were in the back yard, hunting crickets!

She helped me, and we collected 6 crickets and 1 ladybug for Gabey.
He played with them around his neck all day, and took them for a ride in his car. LOL.

Hole in the Street

So, they're not totally done with the street. The first water crew actually forgot to tighten the pieces when they put them in, and it was still leaking over the weekend. The crazy water inspector actually asked if my neighbor was watering the gravel pile!! lol.

Well, so the second crew had to dig out the pipe again, and just had to tighten the first groups mistake. Now there's a huge hole, and a metal cover over it. My poor neighbor has to drive over it to get out her driveway.

Here is one group cutting the cement, and their digger. Gabey loved seeing Scoop in front of his house!

Homeschooling for a while

(copied from my message board)



i looked at the A Beka curriculum for homeschooling K4, and it's just like the one i taught in the school with!!

i LOVE it.

it costs quite a bit, for everything i want. (but it's still not even close to the tuition i would pay if i were able to send him to school), so that helps justify it.

i'm thinking i'll have us start homeschool after the first of the year.

he's a boy, and turns 4 in november, so that will give him some time after the treatments, and he'll be a little more ready to start it. i may do k4 and kindergarted for him, just to get him through his chemo treatment, which will probably end when he's 6... then he can just start in 1st grade and be caught up with everyone else.

Van Woes

(copied from message board Thursday)

i had a problem with the caravan on wednesday. i've been wanting the brakes looked at for a while, and it finally went really bad on wed.

my back right brake just froze up. i was upset and stubborn, and well, dumb, lol, and i thought i could loosen it up by driving it, eeek.

i made skid marks up and down the driveway, and then if that weren't a clue, i kept going out the driveway and down the street. i stopped when i smelled burning rubber, and i pulled into a driveway.

my sweet old neighor actually chased me down, and ordered me out of the car. yikes. he's sweet, but very demanding. i was so embarrassed, and bugged at the situation, i was pretty curt with him. i pulled the van out to the curb, and left it. later, when i had calmed down, i went and hugged my neighbor, and told himi wasn't upset with him, and i was sorry for the way i acted.

we're going to get it fixed saturday, jeffie has 1/2 day.

Weedy Fun

(copied from my message board from thursday)



gabey and i spent a ton of time in the backyard for the first time in over a week, i would say.
he had a blast. we were out there all afternoon.

we have a ton of weeds, lol, but the cool thing about that, is the awesome flowers that go with them. ha ha.

he spent half an hour just hunting down these tiny little yellow flowers in the clovers. they're the size of a nail head, and he was like a little explorer. it was so cute. he'd pick one, and bring it to me... i had a handful of these tiny little things... and he'd gasp when he'd find another one.

then we played with these little cat tail type grass weeds... they're fuzzy and look like little green caterpillars, lol. i took the seeds off some of them, but we mostly just played with them. lol.

yesterday, we got to go across the street so he could play with his little friend Eli, and the day before my friend, Angi saved the day for us, and picked us up and Gabey got to play with Justine. it's been a good week.

Newest Update on Nikki

I got this Beautiful news in my inbox this morning!! God is SOOO Good!

"Dear Ones,

Yesterday, Friday, August 10, was a red-letter day. In the morning of yesterday Nikki was released from the hospital, and the very blessed young mother returned home to her husband Brandon and baby Anna.

The significance of this is seen when we think that a mere six days before many of the staff of her hospital were privately giving Nikki little, if any, hope of living through this ordeal. Seven days ago Nikki was seriously weakened from many days of unrelenting pain, fever, pneumonia, concern about blood clots, and a pancreas badly inflamed with infection.

You prayed -- God heard -- and He chose to raise Nikki up. We praise His holy name. Her gall-bladder surgery is likely weeks away.

God bless you.

Jim"

Good News for Nikki!

The doctors are so happy. Nikki is feeling better, and was able to go off oxygen, and got to eat jello! :):) (she hadn't had anything for 2 days)

They still are working on when to do the gall bladder surgery, but it looks like God is taking the infections away. After her being so bad, it's definitely a miracle that she's doing better. The specialists didn't think she would survive, and one of the specialists even prayed all weekend for her.

Thank you soo much Lord!!!

Bad to Worse

Nikki needs extreme prayer. She's now in ICU, and has pneumonia on top of all her other health issues. She's such a sweet girl, and a devout Christian. Pray that God does a miracle on her.

Please Pray

My friend, Nikki, just had a wonderful little baby, only a month ago. She and her husband have been married only a few years. She's in the hospital with extreme problems. Her gall bladder needs to be removed, but it looks like she has pancreatitis, and her enzymes are way too high to have surgery. :( She's in so much pain, and the whole family is so stressed. She's young, and a new mom. Pray that God will heal her up, so she can go home to her husband and tiny baby.

Playing in the Water

Here are some cute photos of Gabey yesterday. We went outside, and I washed his toys, and he played in the water. We got really wet. He loved the "rain" from the hose, and kept asking for more.

Glitter Graphics

I was goofing off online for a while, and found a really cool site that had a million glitter graphics. :)

This was Gabey's favorite, of course!


This one is for my hubbie!


This is for Chrissy!


This is for Taffy, Chrissy's bird.


This is for my mom.


This is for Daddy and Patty


This is for Bobby.


This is for Shelly.



Have a Great Day and....

Visit to the office, and Water line break

Friday, we were bored, so we headed up to Chrissy's office. I love going there, and Gabey could stay there all day. That's where Shelly is! That's his bestest friend.
He cracks us up. He heads to Shelly's cubicle, and then pushes us out! HAHA.
He tells Chrissy, "Go over by Mommy!" He wants Shelly all to himself. I love it.







When we got home, it turns out there had been a water line break in front of our neighbors house, and the water was off. I'm so thankful the Lord kept us away, with Gabey's counts being down, I wouldn't have wanted him to accidentally have bad water.
We headed right out again, and spent the evening with Chrissy at her apartment.

Fun at Safety Town

Jeffie and I drove around trying to find a nice place for gabey to ride on his tricycle, and I remembered the Saftey Town by our house!! It was so fun! It had mini streets, and houses, plus a stop sign, and stop light!






Running is still his favorite thing to do. :)

Goofy Head

I can't look at this fun face, and not get happy!!

I was trying to get a pic of his new haircut. It looks the same, LOL, but it's been cut with clippers. My big boy!!

28 Week Belly

Some Cool Bible Drills, and Poems

BIBLE DRILL

http://www.teachingtruth.org/bibleDrill/A/drill.cgi

This is a fun Bible Drill my sister sent me. It's a new drill each time. I'm sure you'll do great!!

She also sent me a sweet poem about not giving up....

The Fern and the Bamboo.....
One day I decided to quit....
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. ....
I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me...
"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds,I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water.The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor.
Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo".He said.
"In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.
In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed.

I would not quit."He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.
But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots.Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."He said to me.
"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling,you have actually been growing roots?
I would not quit on the bamboo.I will never quit on you.
Don't compare yourself to others."He said.
"The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful."
"Your time will come, "God said to me.
" You will rise high!"
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned.
"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

Still No Sign

There's still no sign of the kittens, I do think the mom brought them home with her. I'm glad.

Gabey has grown up so much this summer

(i copied this from my message board, so there are no capitals, lol.)

so many things that gabey was afraid of before, he's fine with now. i'm so happy to see it.

he used to freak out in the tub, every time. it had become just something to get through...
a while ago, i changed my tactic, and instead of pouring water on his head, i just rinse him with the washcloth, he's got such short hair anyway. i promised him that i would not pour water on his head, and it changed everything.
well, now, he has a blast in there, and stays in forever.

AND.....
jeff was cutting his own hair with the clippers, and gabey was watching him, and all of a sudden, he said...
"me too!" so jeff was able to cut his hair with the clippers, and gabey just stood there, grinning, and talking about the funny sound, and how it tickled. i was just dumbfounded. i told jeffie, we should have tried this a long time ago. lol. he used to be deathly afraid of the clippers, and i had stopped using them on him.

he looks so handsome. i wanted to take pictures so bad, but my camera isn't working, i think i need better batteries. it's not too much shorter, but it looks so cute.

All Parent's Birthday Picnic

This is just such a great tradition we have. My mom, and stepdad, dad and stepmom, all have birthdays in July, can you believe it? So last night, Chrissy organized the yearly picnic. Gabey's counts were down again. Jeffie was awesome and stayed home to watch him, so I could go.

I can't believe how good of a time I had. We laughed so hard the whole night.
The food was awesome! We had footlong hotdogs, and Chrissy's awesome macaroni salad, and my Grandma's potato salad (with vinegar, onions, and lettuce). Daddy made a yummy cucumber salad. Plus, Bobby brought watermelon which was a highlight of the evening. It was so juicy, and we were laughing so hard at the chorus of slurps we all were making.

We talked about the Lord, and had some wonderful conversations about our favorite Bible passages, and just had a blast with it.

Chrissy made the most awesome cake! It was a checkered table cloth with a plate of edible hamburgers piled on top, and a line of little M&M ants trailing up to the food!

I had such a great time, my heart was just so full. Thank you, my family! I feel so blessed to have such a tight knit family, and such wonderful times like these.

Found a Shelter

There is a no kill shelter by my sister's that takes kittens and stuff for free.
I just want them to have a chance. :):)

Because they're wild though, I'm not sure how I would trap them. It would be really hard to get them while they're hiding in the garage, because there's so much stuff in it. So I'm kind of waiting a little.

The mom seems really healthy like she has a home. She comes from the same direction every morning. I'm hoping she'll parade her babies back home with her. I haven't seen them since yesterday morning. Who knows.

I think they've been a mixed blessing. I'm sure they've taken care of our moles. ROTFL.

Turmoil

I don't know what the right thing to do is. The warden came, but couldn't find them, (our garage is pretty packed, i'm sure he didn't want to climb over stuff to look) and I was thankful to see him leave. I know they're there. Some people have said if the warden does take them, they'll just be put to sleep right away. That breaks my heart.

I looked it up at the APL, and they would charge 60.00 for us to bring them in. (which would also mean, us figuring out how to catch them.)
I can't have cats. We have a child who can't be around sickness or infections! We haven't been able to go in our backyard. I don't want to surrender them over to be killed by the warden.

He also was pointing out all these things in the yard that are building code violations, and that attract rats and things. I have enough to worry about. He was very nice, and wasn't trying to be mean. He was telling me these things for our safety. It's just been a long evening. Pray for the best, please.

Daddy Cat

The daddy cat showed up today. I didn't think that we'd ever see him. What a pickle.

Our Drive Yesterday

Gabey and I went for a drive yesterday through the park, and we stopped to see the waterfall. I only got one picture before my camera ran out of batteries. I'm so glad it turned out so well. LOL.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, to my mom, my dad, my step mom, and step dad! Can you believe it? They were all born in July!

I love you guys, I hope this is a fabulous year for all of you!

Family in our Garage

I took some video of a cat family that ended up in our garage. We had to call animal control to come get them. I'm not sure when they'll come. I want to make sure they take the mom and babies all together.

I'm enjoying looking at them while I can. :):) The mom is black, and the babies are one black, two smokey grey, and one with grey and brown. The mom must have just wandered in and had them, and we never noticed, LOL.

Getting Potty Trained (finally)

So many people just said for me not to worry about Gabey not wanting to be potty trained. He was being so stubborn about it that I thought he'd be 4 and still in diapers. Last week he came to me and just asked to go on the potty, and has been doing so well for days! I'm so proud of him. He has a way to go (still hides to poop), but he consistantly stays dry and goes on the potty.

Can every day be like this?

I want to bottle up this day! The weather has been absolutely paradise! I don't like hot weather, and today was breezy and cool, and sunny. WOW.

Gabey has been so hyper lately, so we went outside a few times today so he could have the run of the yard, instead of tearing around the house. lol.