Surprises!

The girls and I have really enjoyed reading about life in the Solomon Islands at The Choate Family blog. The Bible translator whose wife writes the blog is the son of a friend of my mom's. (Follow that?) Anyway, I signed up for a give-away on her blog and lost...but she sent us a package anyway!!! Look at all this wonderful stuff!!!

Coffee beans, coconut oil soap (just the thing for my dry skin, right Kelli?), woven bookmark, and a salad set (I LOVE MY SALAD SET!!)

Bracelets made from shells and sea urchin spines for the girls!

I love this hair accessory, too. :)

And it was all packaged in the local paper, which fascinated Mom and me.

It was so much fun. :) Be sure to visit their blog, and even more sure to pray for them. Thank you, Joanna!!

"Slow down!"

That's what I keep telling myself, and I'm trying to figure out a way to do it!
It's been another crazy week. Last Saturday the girls and I went to a "pumpkin patch" in El Dorado, which was actually a bunch of pumpkins at a church under a tree, but they did have a hay ride, tire swing, face painting, crafts, etc., so it was a lot of fun.

That night we had a Sunday School class party--cooking hot dogs & s'mores over a bonfire (the burn ban was lifted just in time!) and another hayride.
Sunday Mike left for our state convention in Jonesboro, so I was single-parenting for a few days. Jessica and the rest of the jr. high girls at our church got to participate with a signing/dance/drama-type group at our church (I obviously don't know quite how to describe it) that morning, and it was so beautiful. They did "Wonderful," by Pocket Full of Rocks, and I video recorded it, but can't get it to upload. It made me teary. :) That night the youth choir did their musical at a church in Smackover, and Mikayla and I drove over to see it.

In a place I'd never been before. With no gps. And I left my phone at home. I missed one turn on the way there and almost ended up in Mt. Holly, but I figured it out and we still got there on time! The way home was even scarier because of the dark and fog and tornado watch, but we made it just fine.
Tuesday night was a costume party at the BCM, and even I dressed up! We had fun.

Wednesday night was our church's harvest festival, which I always love. I marvelled at how Rebecca has changed in a year. Last year she clung to me, and we did all the booths together. This year, I lost her before we even got into the building! Jessica worked a booth, which means she still got to dress up, and I was glad. :)
Yesterday was the craziest. The girls all had dentist appointments in the morning. We went from there to get our flu shots (side note: I promised them Sonic treats after their shots. They ended up getting the mist, so I said they didn't need treats, right? They disagreed. We went to Sonic. Mostly because I needed/wanted a Java Chiller.). After lunch we had our library home school hour Halloween party, then got home in time for piano lessons.

That night my college Bible study girls and I cooked supper for our cooking and teaching leaders. We had chicken spaghetti, green beans, salad, French bread, and a yummy cinnamon sugar cream cheese dessert (The recipe called it "sopapilla," but it was like no sopapilla I've ever had. But it sure was good! Mmmmm.)

I got home around 8:15 and collapsed into my recliner to watch the Great Pumpkin with the fam. Aaaah.

Today my big brother and his wife drove my Mom down to see us (and to drive back her truck, which Mike borrowed the week-end we got stranded in Conway). We ate lunch at the Flying Burger, the best hamburger and catfish place in town!! And did a little antiquing. The rest of my day I'm saving for another post. :)

Fall Fun

I'm so glad my kids still think raking leaves is fun!

I'm pretty sure she took this one herself...

We watched our friends' little boy for a little while...there's just something about little boys and puppies!

Polly likes the leaves, too.

Pumpkin cut-out cookies!!

I love that girl!

Tuesday night the girls and I left BCM after the worship music, which had me feeling all full peace and love and joy. :) So before we prayed at bedtime, I said, "Before we pray tonight, let's go around the room and say words that describe God--who He is, what He's like."
Mikayla said, "Okay! I'll go first."
She stood up.
She went around the room.
And she said, "Holy," as she sat back down.
I love that girl!!

Unplanned vacation

So....we're still in Conway.
We got in our van Saturday night and couldn't get the ignition to turn. We've been having trouble with it for weeks, and had an appointment on Monday in El Dorado, but ended up having to have it towed to the Honda place. Mike drove Mom's truck home Sunday, and the girls and I have been hanging out with my mom. It's very relaxing, and I'm trying to remember that we're not "behind" in home school, because we don't have to be done at any certain time. It will all be okay.
In the meantime, I got some more fun pictures!

Rebecca took this picture--there are a bunch of deer under the golden tree on the right.

Those are Jessica's shoes!

They took Rosie, Samantha, and Felicity for a wagon ride.

Just as I snapped the picture, the swing (holding Rosie) hit Rebecca in the eye. OUCH!

10 on the Tenth

This month I'm joining Meredith's 10 on the Tenth (which also happens to be 10/10/10!) with unsolicited words of advice for random new or soon-to-be moms, with no-one in particular in mind, who may or may not be having a baby this month. These are things I either learned the hard way or am still figuring out, NOT things I have mastered and perfected. So maybe, if I have any readers in that category, this will help them avoid some of my mistakes.
1. Pick and choose. Let me explain: read parenting magazines/books/blog posts, but don't feel like you have to do everything they say. You and your husband know yourselves and what you want your family to look like. Take the advice you think will work for you, and smile politely and forget the rest. And remember that your baby has a mind of his/her own, and they didn't read the magazine/book/blog post!
2. (And I know you've heard this a lot) Sleep when you can. And don't feel guilty for it. On the day when you sit down during baby's afternoon nap with your Bible and prayer list and the next thing you know you've both been asleep for an hour and a half, thank your Father for letting you take a nap on His lap. One day you'll be a Bible scholar again.
3. Pray as you go. And as much as you can. Keeping above advice in mind, this is no time to let your relationship with God slide. Pray as you feed and rock that precious one. Pray as you fold those tiny clothes. Get in the habit of praying out loud. Sing praise songs. Since you don't have time for in-depth Bible study, pick a verse that meets a current need and meditate on it throughout the day or week or however long you need.  Put it all over the house to remind you.
4. Survive the first few weeks. Hopefully your baby was/will be an angel baby who smells sweet, nurses perfectly from the beginning, falls asleep on their own and stays asleep for hours or even all! night! long! But mine weren't. (Although Mikayla was close.) (She's making up for it now.) (Just kidding.) (Sort of.) When Jessica was born, Mike and I had lofty goals of doing exactly what our Babywise book said, from day one. Now, Babywise is a great book with great advice which I definitely recommend (see #1) but day one was no place to start. At least for us. I so wish that we had just enjoyed her tiny-ness and her needy-ness, and yes, even her sleeplessness, somehow. Sleep training and routine setting can start a few weeks into life without completely inverting the funnel.
5. Accept help. We were so stupid. My parents came to help when Jessica was born, and when she wouldn't stop crying in the middle of the night, they were so willing to help, and we were saying, "Well, it'll just be us when you leave, so we might as well get used to it." What were we thinking??? We should have said, "Well, it'll just be us when you leave, so we might as well SLEEP!"
6. It's okay to leave your child with a good sitter/nursery worker. Maybe better than okay! Not only do you need me-time and couple-time, but it also teaches your little one that when you leave...you come back! No worries!
7. Assume they understand what you're saying. They will soon, anyway, and it'll help you get in the habit of not saying things you shouldn't in front of them. Along the same lines, pretend you understand what they're saying. It'll help you get in the habit of listening to them. Eventually they'll have some pretty amazing things to say. Which you better share with your friends in blogworld!
8. Take a break. If/when they're crying and crying and crying and you've tried everything and you don't know what to do and you feel like screaming back at the baby---put.the.baby.down. He/she can cry quite safely in their crib or bassinet. Ask hubby to help if he's available and calmer than you are, or just go outside and take a few deep breaths or do jumping jacks or whatever helps you release steam (#3) before you go back to baby.
9. Breast is best, but some good moms DO have to/choose to use formula. If you do, avoid Carnation at all costs! It may be cheaper, but the stinky poo isn't worth it! Trust me on this one.
And last but not least...
10. Throw perfectionism out the window. You aren't perfect. Your spouse isn't perfect. Your child(ren) aren't perfect. You will all mess up. That's why we all need Jesus. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed words I learned from my friend Kim: Lord, please protect them from my mistakes. Sometimes I'm trying so hard to do everything right, get everything done, be all things to all people, that I forget to just enjoy my family and my life and LIVE. Focus on my kids, not my agenda. Listen and laugh and be affectionate. Live the moment.
There's so much more I could say. So much I wish I could do over. You have started/are about to start an amazing journey. It's going to be great.
Readers, anything to add?

Sights of the Season

We're in Pickles Gap visiting my Mom this weekend (and watching Arkansas vs. A & M). It's a gorgeous fall day, so I took some pictures with my tropical and southern hemisphere friends in mind...Angie, Joanna, and Joanna, these are for you! I wish I could send you the sound and smell of the leaves crunching under my feet.

The bucket was being used to play "wood girls," my favorite game they play.

She's pulling up moss to season the wood girls food.

Somewhere in this house is a picture of me at this age leaning on this tree, but I haven't found it.

Can you find the butterfly?

In the dry creekbed

Mike raised the rope swing so Jessica can still swing.

Near Cat-astrophe. And Dog-astrophe.

This has been a week of excitement with our little pets. And I do mean little.
It started a week ago when Mike, Rebecca, and I took Polly, our 1-year-old miniature dachshund/jack russell for a walk. We were just a block from home when out of nowhere this bigger dog that looked chowish came running silently towards us...or should I say towards Polly. Made a beeline for her. It's that time-of-year for her, if you know what I mean, so Mike was scrambling trying to pick her up real fast and couldn't get her up in time so he started hauling her up by the leash and kicking the bad dog as the bad dog chomped onto her leg and Rebecca burst into tears. It finally went away, and Polly was fine, but Rebecca was so traumatized she was still talking about it at bedtime. I'm just glad it didn't happen when Jessica and I were walking her a few days earlier!
Then a few days later I sent the girls outside to play at our 10:00 break time, and one of them told me that Princess, our 5-month-old fluffy white kitten, was stuck in a tree. I blew them off, saying, "Oh, cats do that. She'll figure it out." But Jessica said, "No, Mom, she's really stuck." I went to look, and that poor kitty was hanging upside-down by her back leg which was tangled in some twine about 13 feet up in the air! Yowling for dear life. I grabbed Mike's ladder, climbed it and the tree as high as I dared, and I could reach her but not free her. So I ran over to our neighbor who has an extension ladder, but her wasn't home. So I called Mike, but as I was talking to him, Jessica hollered, "Mom! I got her!" She climbed higher than I'd felt good about climbing, with scissors in her hand, and freed the cat. My hero. Princess wouldn't put weight on that leg, but was purring, so we decided to just keep an eye on her. Until she went NUTS. After about 5 minutes she started yowling and thrashing around, and when I picked her up she started biting and scratching me--so I threw her in a carrier and took her to the vet.
Now I'm not entirely hard-hearted, but as a general rule, we don't believe in spending a bunch of money on animals. (i.e. we're not going to let them do knee-replacement surgery or anything like that). I tried to let the receptionist know that without upsetting Mikayla and Rebecca, who went with me, and then we had to wait about 30 minutes to see the vet. I was pretty shook up, between seeing her in pain and getting bit and imagining telling my 3 princesses why we had to put their Princess to sleep. But being Magnolia, we saw people we knew in the waiting room, plus met a really nice cowboy with his working shepherd who assured us cats really do have 9 lives. And sure enough, she's fine! Nothing broken, just a bad sprain. Gave her a cortisone shot, said to keep her away from our jealous older cat (which means we had to keep her inside. I don't care for indoor pets. But she is awfully fluffy.) and sent us on our way! She looked pretty pathetic for the first few days, but is doing great now.

The princesses

See what our pets put up with?