Giveaway

Go check out Meredith's giveaway for a neat baby product. You better hurry though....

Full

Today I had one of those days where my heart was just so full I just felt like I could explode any minute and I mean that in a good way. Like on "Hope Floats" where the Grandma says, "My cup runneth over." I love that line. Nothing spectacular happenned, just a lot of good little things.

First off, I had my Mom to Mom group today. It was my group's turn to hostess so I asked Jeremy if he would help me make some biscuits this morning because he makes some great homemade biscuits. Knowing how rushed I am to get out the door by 8:30 he pretty much made the biscuits by himself and I'm telling you, they were wonderful. I bragged to all of the ladies that my husband got up and made them for me. We had a great group time today and talked about love and marriage.

After that I met my mom and went with her to get her haircut really fast and got to see my old hairdresser. She had never met Gracie so that was fun. Then we went to see my Grandma at the nursing home. My Grandma moved to the nursing home last Friday. She seems to really like it so far. She likes to talk and socialize so I think she really likes being around so many people all day. She worked at this nursing home for 32 years so she knows some of the people there and has some friends that are also residents. Grandma is in much better health than most of the people there. She is not in a wheelchair and still gets around really well. I think that she realizes that a lot of people there are "worse off" than she is. We passed this one lady in the lobby who didn't look quite with it and Grandma said, "She eats at my table for dinner and gave the lady a pat on the shoulder." It was too cute. I took her for a little walk outside since the weather was so nice. It is hard to get in and out of there very fast because everyone wants me to stop so they can see Gracie. She is a real hit there and Grandma enjoys telling everyone that Gracie is her great-granddaughter. My Grandma has early Alzheimer's and she repeats herself a lot. I asked her what she had for lunch and she couldn't remember but she told me in detail about the day her daddy died when he was 38 years old. Honestly, I don't remember what I had for lunch some days so I don't think that's so bad. I am thankful that she still remembers us and knows our names. Here is a picture of Grandma and Gracie on Christmas.

Well I'm not sure how many people really thought that was interesting to read about my happenings at the nursing home but I know my sister will enjoy reading it at least.

After I got home we went to the park to enjoy the nice weather before the storm came our way. Gracie loves the swings and the slides but she is not quite sure about the sand yet. We ran to the car as it started pouring on us and laughed at everyone else also running for shelter, especially the little kid who thought he could hide from the rain by standing under the tree.

We ended the outing by a trip to Sonic where I got one of the candy sundaes on the $1 menu. Is anyone else enjoying their new $1 menu? My couch change will no longer be safe.

I hope everyone has a blessed evening and stays safe from this crazy weather.

Before 9 and After 9

I promise this isn't a post about Gracie being 9 months old so read on if you get bored with my baby stories...

My stepdad has a rule that you shouldn't call someone before 9 in the morning or after 9 in the morning unless it is an absolute emergency. Personally, I think this is a great rule of thumb. This doesn't mean that I am always in bed by 9 or still asleep before 9 am but usually after I put Gracie to bed that is my time to unwind a little and talk to my husband and if you know me you know that I am not a morning person so I really don't feel like talking too much first thing in the morning. Honestly it's hard to find a good time to call when someone has a baby because chances are the baby is either asleep or you are trying to catch a quick nap yourself.

Oh how I wish that my husband could follow this rule. If you are married to a youth minister you know what I am talking about here. There has been many times that I have been woken up by him answering his cell phone in bed late at night by a teenager who has been in a fight with a parent and is bawling or in the morning before they go to school wanting to know who knows what about the next upcoming trip.

Anyways, all of this to say that last night at 10:45 I was laying on the couch half asleep watching TV trying to convince myself to get up and go to bed when my cell phone rings. Jeremy is out of town on a men's camping retreat and I have not talked to him since Wed. night. My heart skips a beat thinking maybe he found some reception somewhere and was able to call me, but no I look at the caller ID to see the name of one of our church members. I thought there must have been some kind of emergency and they forgot Jeremy was out of town or something. Um, no, they wanted to know if Jeremy had already ordered these hearing amplification thingies for the church because they found a better deal online on them. I'm thinking, "Really? At 10:45 at night this is really that important?" Once he realized I was only about half awake he was apologizing but said that they thought that I was awake still because I had updated my facebook status 30 min. or so earlier. Yes, I had done that, but hello, does that really make it ok to call so late????!!!!!

Well, there is my rant. I don't think (er, hope) that anyone from church reads this but please, try to have a little decency in what time you call.
Does anyone else have any rules like this?

Snow Days

So, snow days aren't what they used to be. When I was a kid I would remember staying up late watching TV just praying for our school name to be flashed across the bottom so that I could sleep in the next morning. When I was working we did not get very many snow days but there were a few lucky days here and there. They would tell us to try to make it in if we could but if it we didn't have to use our leave time then I would pretend that it was just too bad for me to make the 6 block trek to work. Pathetic, I know.

When you are a stay at home mom snow days aren't really that much different than any other day, except you can't get out of the house as much. Today was the first time that I have been out of the house since Sunday night. The three of us went to Wal-Mart together. We could have made it another day or so until we ran out of diapers but it was so nice to get out of the house. We also made a quick stop at Movie Gallery to cash in on our free rental. That place is great-they call us about once a month and tell us we have a free rental on our account. I guess they figure people will come in and get a few more rentals to go along with their free one-but no, not us-we're cheap, just the free one for us.

We had to let Gracie experience her first snow:

She kind of liked it until she started crawling off the blanket and realized how cold it was. Yes, she is now crawling as of about a week and a half ago. I have been a slacker blogger because my time has been taken up by trying to keep her out of everything! We even re-arranged the living room today in hopes of keeping her out of the cords in the living room. I hope that everyone else is enjoying the weather and avoiding the inevitable cabin fever!

P.S. I am wearing a black hat-my hair really does not look like a brown football helmet-props to whomever knows what movie that is from!

Standing Up and New Toys

Look Mom, I found the remote!

playing with her Christmas gift from Mommy and Daddy

playing the drum takes concentration!

who needs toys when you have a laundry basket? (she really put this on herself)

Update

We went and saw my dad this afternoon. He is doing better but they are still not for sure what is going on with him. They have now ruled out a stroke. His headache has gotten better but his left side is still "off." His MRI came back good and the neurologist will be going over his brain scans soon. He may get to go home tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers.

Please Pray

Dear friends, please say a quick prayer for my dad today. My stepmom took him to the hospital last night because he has been having numbness and tingling in his left side and has been very dizzy the last few days. My dad has numerous health problems right now that would take too long to list and he has been unable to work for over a year. He is having an MRI right now and his doctor will be consulting with a neurologist hopefully today. The only guesses they have right now for what is going on is a "mini stroke." Please pray that they would be able to find out what is going on and help him with the pain. His name is Clinton and he is only 46 years old. Thank you.