Enough Money?!?

Here's a cute, quick story . . . D lost his first tooth the day before his birthday (he just pulled it out while he was watching TV that afternoon). He put it under his pillow that night and the Tooth Fairy brought him a silver dollar. Yesterday, he pulls out the 2nd loose tooth and the Tooth Fairy brought him a shiny new quarter. This morning at breakfast E announced that D didn't need anymore money. When we asked her why, she simply said "He got a silver dollar and a quarter. I think that's enough money." The real kicker was when she said, "Sometimes big girls just know when boys have enough money." I can just imagine what her teen/dating years are going to be like. The boys better start saving their money now.

Fun Names

OK, so I'm one of the frequent visitors to Life at the Mauldin House. This is something she found on another blog; I thought it'd be fun to see everyone's answers as well. Here's how mine turned out ...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Sam Windstar
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Moosetracks Sneakers
3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Kitten
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Kay Decatur
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Harma
6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Green Tea
7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): James Paul
8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Davis Denver
9. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Autumn Peace Rose
10. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Banana Shorts
11. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Pancake Magnolia

3 Birthdays, 1 Holiday and 1 Funeral

OK, here's the short version of what's happened around our home since the last post . . .

June 21 - Daniel gets a buzzcut
June 23-27 - VBS at MPUMC
June 26 - Emma's 4th birthday
July 4 - Fireworks
July 5 - Linda & her girls come to visit for a couple of weeks
July 8-11 - Day Camp for D, E & Rachel
July 9 - wake up to a having a brick thrown through the back window of our van
July 13 - D's grandmother died (quick trip to Indiana 7/16 - 7/19 for the funeral)
July 14-18 - VBS at LFBC
July 20 - Abigail's 10th birthday (Linda's oldest)
July 22 - Daniel pulls his first tooth (tooth fairy brings him 1 silver dollar)
July 23 - Daniel's 6th birthday

Here are a few pictures of the events:

One week down, one to go!!!

We took the kids to my sister's house in SC last weekend to stay for a couple of weeks. I've had mixed emotions about it all week. I know they are being well cared for, but I don't like the reason that they're there. My sister is helping me by keeping them so I don't have to pay for a sitter here. She's coming down here for a couple of weeks in July to watch them here as well. It will be nice to have her here, but I won't be able to do much with them since I'm working full time now.

While we were there last weekend, we took the kids to go see Uncle Michael at his "other job" - to take a ride on a bulldozer. The kids loved getting up into the bulldozer and were so excited about taking a ride, until . . .

Michael turned the key. D's face suddenly changed from excited to very concerned. The total ride ended up being about 10 seconds and consisted of barely getting the bulldozer turned before D convinced Michael he wanted to get off. E seemed to like it just fine, but I think she was glad to get down as well (afterall, it was pretty big!!)

Abigail and Rachel got to take a turn as well. Obviously, they had no problem being in there with their Daddy.

I've tried not to call too much because I know they're fine. Besides, I'm sure Linda would call me if there were a problem. It's been kinda weird not having the kids around, but it has made it a little easier to get some things done in getting the house ready to sell. D's been over at the house painting every night this week (just about finished). I've been over there some, trying to determine what to keep out of what's left over there. If you no anyone looking for a house in the Parkview school district, send them our way - we have just what they need (3 bed/2 bath) and at a great price. We're only asking $149,000, hoping to get it sold quickly.

Mother's Day Tea at Preschool

Emma's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea today for all the mommies today. We had Orange Cranberry Scones (one of the teachers made these herself and they were yummy!), Blueberry Muffins, Hot Tea, Coffee, Lemonade, Water. I think everyone had a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from our fun time.

The 'blooms' in the flowerpots on the tables were made from each child's handprint - they are so cute. The placemats were a great idea too. They had the mom's trace their handprints and send them in about a week or so ago. They took them and had the kids put their handprints on top of their mom's handprints. Here's the finished product. It reads:

Happy Mother's Day
Hand in hand we will be
Forever together,
You and me!

Emma
2008

Back to Work

OK, so it's finally happened - I've officially gone back to work full time. I started working a little over a month ago for a company called Cypress Care. I am processing Worker's Compensation claims; coordinating whatever is determined necessary for someone's recovery from an injury sustained at work - ordering things like walkers, wheelchairs, muscle stimulators, etc and then making sure the patient receives the item(s). It's been OK, quite different from being a stay-at-home mom. I'm still able to get D on the school bus in the mornings and drop E off at school on the days she goes. I have a friend who keeps E for me on the days she doesn't have school. She also picks her up and keeps her after school until either my mom or Darrell can pick her up on their way home from work. D just comes home on the bus and stays with my dad in the afternoon. So far, things seem to be working out well with our arrangements. The most difficult thing has been not being able to be with my family during the afternoon/evening time. I work from 11am to 8pm, so the kids are usually in bed by the time I get home after work. This summer will be real interesting - the kids will go to my sister's house for at least a couple of weeks, they'll be going to VBS at 2 or 3 different churches and they'll be going to camp again like they did last year. In addition to these activities, we have several people who are going to help out with childcare. Thankfully, I won't have to use a daycare center.

Well, I've got to get E over to the babysitter's house early today - they are going to pick strawberries this morning out at Washington Farms. YUM!!

Happy Easter 2008

We have had a very busy time these past couple of weeks - Easter egg hunts, St Patrick's Day parties and celebrating Easter. Here are just a few pictures from the past several days - enjoy!

Snowbabies

Here's a picture of the snowbabies that Emma & Rachel made yesterday. I thought they made one but they actually made two and put them between the snowmommy and snowdaddy.

Good job girls!!

We LOVE snow!!!!

Linda, Michael and the girls came down last night to spend the long weekend with us. Today, we were hoping to wake up to a snow covered ground. Although it did not snow overnight, it started snowing during breakfast and didn't stopped until sometime after supper. Here are just a few pictures from the day. If you want to see more, just go to the family photo gallery.

Needless to say, the kids have LOVED playing in the snow! They started with making and throwing snowballs at each other (& us) in the backyard this morning.

A little later, the kids went to the front yard with Michael & Darrell and built a snowman and a snowlady. Later, Emma and Rachel went back outside and built a snowbaby between the two. We didn't get a picture yet, though. If it's still there tomorrow morning, we'll get a picture of it then.

Merry Christmas!!

We didn't get a book read every day, but we came pretty close. The past several days have been very busy for us...we went to Pigeon Forge for a couple of days just before Christmas. We were able to spend some time with D's mom, an aunt & uncle, some cousins and their families. We stayed at the Middlecreek Valley Chalets in Pigeon Forge TN. If you're looking for a nice place to spend a few days in the mountains, this is a place you should seriously consider. After the Christmas Eve service at Smoke Rise Baptist Church, we went to MK's aunt & uncle's house in Decatur GA for our annual family & friends Christmas Eve dinner - I think someone told me there were about 35 people there. Linda, Michael and the girls came in on Christmas Eve and stayed until about 6:30pm Christmas night. Tom, Camille and the kids came in for Christmas Dinner. All in all, we had a good Christmas! It was so nice to be able to visit with family.

We hope that you all had a truly blessed Christmas! We look forward to hearing from each of you in 2008!

Christmas Reading - Day 18

We read 3 books last night - although they were mainly for Emma since Daniel fell asleep in D's lap during the first one.

I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown! by Charles Schulz

Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner

Snowy's Special Secret by Guido Van Genechten

Christmas Reading - Day 17

Once again, no reading tonight. We went to a Dessert Drop-In and got home way too late to read before bed. We'll make up for it later I'm sure.

In the meantime, here are some cute pictures from the other day. Daniel came in with one of Hunter's diapers, saying that his bear needed his diaper changed. So, here are the kids with the bear after they put the diaper on by themselves (they actually did a great job!).

Check out Daniel's outfit! These are some baseball pants that they put on him at school whenever he has an accident. Last week, he had an accident just about every day. Finally, I sent him to school with the baseball pants on, hoping that he would keep them dry since he likes them so much. It actually worked; we haven't had an accident now for about a week!

Christmas Reading - Day 16

I went to the library today to see if I could find some additional Christmas books for our readings. Today's reading selection was My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel.

I'm sure you all know how literal toddlers and preschoolers take everything you say. Well, this book is about a little boy who learns to be very specific when he tells Santa what he wants for Christmas. If you're looking for a fun book to buy for your little one this year (or a fun book to read to your child), this is a good, fun book to read. Happy reading!!

Christmas Reading - Day 15

Today's selections are A Child Was Born by Grace Maccarone.

and Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson. This one is definitely the kids' favorite one.

Christmas Reading - Day 14

Today's selections included Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell.

and Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson.

Christmas Reading - Day 13

Last night's selection was God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergren.

It's a cute story about a little polar bear cub whose Mama teaches her about how and why God gave us Christmas.

Christmas Reading - Day 12

The kids received Christmas gifts from their Awana/Cubbies teachers tonight. One of the gifts is a book entitled Solomon and Friends Learn About Christmas.

It's a cute little story that teaches what Christmas is really all about. Throughout the story, there are what they call "Wonder Paws" that have a question for the reader to answer. For example, the first one reads: "Why is Christmas so special?" I like the fact that the story not only teaches about the true meaning of Christmas, but it also helps you to make sure your child is paying attention and learning the lessons that are being taught.

Christmas Reading - Day 11

Ok, so we don't really have a reading for Day 11. We had a great visit with a friend last night. After dinner, the kids fell asleep before we had a chance to read a story. So, I guess we'll have to make up for it tonight. Instead, here are a couple of pictures of our little angel in the Christmas program at her school this morning.

Christmas Reading - Day 10

Tonight's story was The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

I almost had to have D finish reading the book because I got very choked up a few times. It's a story about trusting in God, knowing that He has a plan especially for you, and knowing that you are never alone.

Christmas Reading - Day 9

2 books again Sunday night - looks like there may be a pattern developing here...

Jesus and The Very Best Birthday

by Sunny Griffin

AND The 12 Bugs of Christmas

by Troy Schmidt

(based on the characters from

Max Lucado's Hermie: A Common Caterpillar)