Twirls 'n Curls

It's Monday - that means I have thought all morning about 5 random tidbits of our lives you might find amusing.  Here goes: 1)  I have always had (minor) self-esteem issues, especially when it comes to my peers.  When I was in elementary school,  I was convinced that my parents paid some nice girls to be my friends.  Just when I was starting to pull out of this (around college), I broke up with a guy I had been seeing during my freshman year.  In disgust at having been dumped, the guy spat out, "Well, Dr. R. (our college V.P.) told me to ask you out anyway!"  Fast forward to the next year...said V.P. told me after class one day to come to his office and he would help me find someone suitable to date.  Even though I was his secretary, I managed to avoid his office for the next 3 weeks, during which I met Tom, my husband.  When we started talking, it took me a full month to work up the courage to ask him if Dr. R. had told him to date me....

My mama cheers when I'm on top of the world... And she helps me up when I fall down. My mama doesn't mind cleaning faces, as long as they're smiling ones. My mama doesn't even mind a little mess... As long as we're all having fun. In fact, mamas seem to like cleaning the same things over and over... and over again. Mamas are always there when you need them... And even sometimes when you wish they weren't. My mama wouldn't trade her job for anything, even though I know I'm a stinker sometimes, Because every day, she gets to teach me the most important lesson I can ever learn - Unconditional love. I love you, Natalie!  I'm so glad God made me your mama! Happy first birthday!!

   I knew it was gonna be "one of those days" when at precisely midnight, while lying in bed with a sore back, I heard two of my three kids crying.  Getting all of us settled took until well after 1am, and when my alarm went off at 7:15 so I could "Walk Away the Pounds" with Leslie Sansone on DVD, I politely declined.  I just lay in bed for awhile, then finally I got up and (thankfully) read my Bible, and I thought about what I had taught on last night at Bible study - having a cheerful attitude when things go wrong, and that's when it started.  My husband bellowed from the girls' room that I needed to get in there...fast.  There was...err...an explosion of some biological sort in the crib of which I will spare you the details.      Today was errand day, which is always long and tedious because we live about an hour from the nearest city.  Add a mom with little sleep taking three kids under 6 alone to a doctor's appointment and Wal...

    It's here again!  Miscellany Monday.  These are so much fun, I spent way too much time thinking about what I'd write during the week (and not enough time jotting them down, my mind is blank!!)  Here are a few randoms... 1.  My husband and I love used book sales.  I was at a small yard sale recently and checked out their books.  They had, like, 12 books - not a great selection.  But I did manage to score a great 50-cent copy of The Purpose Driven Life and, ironically, right next to it was The Purse-Driven Life: It Really Is All About Me , also 50 cents.  It's by a Christian comedian, and it's hilarious!!  (Guess which one I'm reading first?!?) 2.  Confession:  I've been getting back into exercising a lot lately, and I'm trying hard not to eat much sugar.  But I'm scared to go back on SlimFast, though it works well for me, because the last two times I have, I've gotten pregnant almost immediately!  I think...

Contrary to what I usually post, we do have moments of peace and quiet at our house.  Usually we're all gone.  Or we're all sleeping.  But once in awhile, there will be sweet calmness, followed by something really funny that gets posted here :) Such was the case last night.  We were all deep in thought as we played "Go Fish."  Hannah, 3, was on my team and kept falling off my lap, as she is prone to do.  Finally, we were settled and quiet as we were waiting for Linsey to take her turn.  Then, Hannah grinded her teeth and started giggling hysterically.  She finally got a breath and gasped, "My teeth made a tootie!!" (This, of course, was followed by like 5 more teeth tooties, each one losing a measure of humor.) Then about an hour later, I came in the office and saw my husband holding Linsey on his lap and praying with her before she went to bed, her arms around his neck... "And please help our Linsey to grow up into a godly young lady, and be...

My husband's parents and two youngest siblings just spent 11 days in our home with us.  We had such a good time!!  Being the youngest by 6 years in my family and spending WAY too much time with my imaginary friends, I love having lots of people around.  There was always someone to play a game with, to keep the kids entertained, even to do the dishes!  Here are a few highlights: We went to a really cool mini-zoo called a Feline Conservatory, only about 45 minutes from here.  Locals, if you haven't been, click here to check it out!  Hannah especially enjoyed "roaring" at the cats up close. We also went out to eat. A lot.  Natalie was a constant source of entertainment wherever we went, and she loved every minute of it. Hannah seemed to be the perfect fit for Grandma's lap.  Nevermind the fact that she is still recovering from leg surgery, the two were inseparable. We also went to a u-pick fruit farm (funny story on that later), sightsee...

Linsey peeled her first apple for this pie! I love having help in the kitchen. This one only took about 45 minutes too. The second apple only took about 15 minutes :) I joined a recipe hop with my friend today. I have NO luck with roll out pie crusts. Zero. Zilch. They fall apart, they don't fit, whatever. But this "No Roll Pie Crust" has become my best friend. I got the recipe for it from my husband's grandma, and it's a cinch to make. (You can use a regular crust too, if you're talented). The apple pie is so yummy, we went to a u-pick farm in Tehachapi last week, so we used those apples. No Roll Pie Crust 1 1/2 c. flour 1 T. sugar 1/2 t. salt 1/2 c oil 3 T milk Mix with a fork until well blended. Put in pie pan and push up sides of the pan to form a nice edge, then fill in the bottom. Prick crust. If desired, bake at 375 for 15-17 minutes before filling. Then we made the apple pie filling: 1/3-2/3 c. sugar 1/4 c flour 1/2 t ground cinnamon 1/2 t...

Contrary to the pic above, Linsey is my thinker. She has to know what we're doing tomorrow, and the day after that, so she can think of random questions to get out of bed and ask. This drives my husband absolutely crazy. At 10 pm, after shooing her back to bed, he'll turn to me, "Why did you even tell her we're going to do that?" She's starting to read now, so every sign, table of contents, and menu is up for scrutiny. The other day I was wearing my old college t-shirt, and she was looking at my chest very intently (no, this story does not go there!) Finally she smiled, "Mommy! Your shirt says 'west'! Did you know that?" (she thinks she's the only one that can read sometimes) "Good job! But yes, I knew that." She immediately scrunched up her face and went back to scrutinizing. Finally she spoke, "What's a WecBec?" "A what?" I ask, puzzled. "A wecbec. You know, the word in the middle of you...

So, in honor of my random mood, I'm hopping on board with some blogger friends and writing 5 miscellaneous tidbits for Monday: 1) Mondays are totally random in our house anyway. As a pastor's wife with three little girls, it takes about 24 hours to recover from Sunday (our not-so-day-of-rest). This morning, for instance, we shipped off my in-laws back to Ohio after a 10 day visit (more on that later), I spent half an hour playing Kung Fu Barbie, Monsters and Aliens is playing in the background, and we are on our way to the library for pre-school story hour. Later we will have a t-ball game, do our nails, and jump on the trampoline. 2) My older two girls have just dismantled the bed behind me and are sliding down the mattress into the closet. Great fun. It's amazing the stuff I will let happen in order to get a few minutes to blog!! 3) I don't mind washing and drying, but I hate to fold and put away laundry. Whenever I get it all out to sort and fold, I...

Hannah is my monkey, no doubt about it.  She loves bananas.  Her favorite game is a monkey preschool game on the Ipad.  She is always running, climbing, or wiggling.  At least one part of her has to be moving at all times, even when she's asleep.  (I've tested this theory, it's true.)  She's fallen out of her bed on top of her aunt, who is staying with us in Hannah's room, at least 3 times this week.  Several times a day I hear, "Mom, help, I'm stuck!"  On top of the fireplace, between the wall and the bed, behind the couch.  These are normal places to look.  Twice she has fallen backwards into the tub and got tangled in the shower curtain.  Monkey also falls out of her seat at every meal.  It's just a part of mealtime at our house.  At a very nice restaurant in Lancaster the other day, instead of falling, she somehow got her legs wedged in the hole between the seat back and the place where you sit.  That was the ...

2 posts in one day, to make up for my bloglessness lately.  Here are some pictures from our nature walk the other day.  It's been crazy windy and the girls REALLY needed to get out of the house.  So did their mother.  So we went about 2 blocks in an hour and a half - not the exercise I was hoping for, but it was so nice just to walk and not hurry them along, trying to get somewhere.  I'm guilty of that far too often! Totally amazed me to see all the neat stuff God has made, from their eyes.  Made me wonder what else I miss as I am hurrying along, that God has put in my life for me to enjoy - as my dad would say, That'll preach!  I took a ton of pics, here are a couple of cute ones:

I distinctly remember having a big imagination as a child.  I could entertain myself for hours by entertaining my imaginary friends, Make-up (my sisters were teens then and I loved their make-up) and Jacob (who, in my 4 year old mind, rhymed with make-up).    I'm a good 6 years behind my sisters, so the imaginary friends kept me company more times than I'd care to admit, and for more years than...nevermind.  I also had 20+ Cabbage Patch dolls who all had first and middle names, and dozens of stuffed animals.  Every night they ALL wound up on my bed...er....the boat/orphanage that would save them from evil Jacob.  Not to mention the booby traps I set up in case Jacob tried to climb aboard my boat. I know these booby traps were effective, because  I shared the room with my dad's closet and desk, and he often came in to get something off the desk after I was in bed...he never knew what hit him, literally.  Anyway, I guess it shouldn'...