I Must Have Forgotten To Mention That

Mom: Fletcher, are you picking your nose?
Fletcher: No, I'm just trying to stick this booger back in there.
Mom: Well, buddy, pretty much once it comes out, it's out.

Thankful Thursday

I am in sunny, warm Florida celebrating Thanksgiving with Kevin's side of our family.

Today I am thankful for family. My little family that consists of Kevin, Fletcher, Luke, Sadie and me. My "in-law" family in Florida with Kevin's parents, his sister and her family. My family in Louisiana and Texas with my parents, siblings, their spouses and nieces and nephews. I have been blessed with a great family. I have warm, fond memories of holidays spent with family. Food, football, laughter. The where isn't important. It's the who that counts. Seeing people we haven't seen in quite awhile. Catching up. Relaxing. Watching cousins play together. Holiday movies that make you laugh. Family is worth it.

Thankful that we are all basically healthy. Thankful that we have the resources to go visit family and get in touch with ones we won't see. Thankful that we are genuinely excited to see one another. Thankful that despite hardships and life's challenges, we are there for one another. Thankful that we love and serve an amazing God who provides for our every need.

I hope you've spent time with your family today.

That's Gonna Leave A Mark

Luke got his stitches out yesterday. Let's just say he was less than thrilled. It took the doctor quite some time to get them out. The doc said they were harder to take out, but he didn't put them in. Since I was there for both, I'd say that neither was easy and I hope we don't have to do that again. He still has to wear a band-aid until it heals completely.

Monday night I walked in our bedroom to go to bed (Kevin was already asleep). I turned off the little TV that sits on our dresser so it was completely dark. I guess I misjudged the position of our solid wood four poster king size bed. I managed to walk directly into the post whacking my forehead so hard that it knocked me down. Ouch! For the first time in my life, I really did see stars. I thought I broke my glasses. I now have a lovely goose egg above my left eye. Just in time for the family Thanksgiving picture. I just hope the swelling goes down. Now I wish my hair stylist didn't cut my bangs.

I'll warn you in advance --- if I do have time to send out Christmas cards and photos this year, given the number of facial injuries we've had around here, chances are they ain't gonna be pretty!

Be My Guest

We are getting fancy here at Snickelfritz Lane. I have a guest writing today's post. Everyone welcome my very handsome husband, Kevin.

(Hi, Kevin)
--------------------------
We have some news!

We are preparing for the next big leg of life’s journey. As many of you know, I work in the real estate industry. It’s no secret that real estate has been extremely difficult for the past several years. We are blessed that I am still employed and that God continues to faithfully provide for us. Recently, I was asked to consider an opportunity in another community that my company is developing. The project is just south of the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area (let's hope our kids like college basketball). This will be a great opportunity for me professionally.

My company (like every other real estate company) has been working hard to weather the economy. I believe that this company has positioned themselves to make it through this difficult period, but part of that requires us to be flexible. As is typical with most transitions, it is impossible to know all the details up front. However, I believe my company has confidence in my abilities and this opportunity appears to be the door that God is opening. In faith we are walking through it. One of my favorite scripture passages is found in Proverbs 16:9. It says “In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps”. I get up early in the morning to “plan my course”, confident that God is determining our steps.

As you might expect, this is a bit overwhelming. We spent the past weekend up in the Chapel Hill area looking for a rental home. We drove over 500 miles this past weekend with two kids in tow. They were champs… We are completely worn out!

Certainly we will keep you all informed as the next chapter of life on Snickelfritz Lane unfolds.

Here's a shout out to Aunt Peanut. Happy Birthday! We love you and we hope you have a great day. We will see you at Christmas!

Busy Week

We just got back from a little out of town trip. More on that later. We leave Tuesday night for our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving with Kevin's family. Postings on Snickelfritz Lane may be few and far between this week.

Sharp Dressed Man

Fletcher had his little Thanksgiving program Wednesday night at his preschool. We did videotape it, but I have to edit it down to a more manageable file size before I post it. Here are a few pictures from the evening. I can't believe he is almost 5!

Thankful Thursday

This one may sound a little bit corny, but today I am thankful for modern day conveniences like electricity, hot running water, and the microwave. Last Saturday our power went out at about 1:30 pm. Not a huge deal since we have lots of windows and the kids were playing outside anyway. But the power stayed off and it started getting dark. Kevin was bathing the boys by candlelight because their bathroom doesn't have a window. Open flame + boys = potential disaster. I couldn't cook anything for dinner because my electric stove didn't work. Luke started getting fussy because it was dark in the house and he couldn't see his toys or see to walk around. We couldn't find most of our flashlights and we didn't have batteries for the flashlights we could find. Can we say unprepared? We ended up ordering pizza and right as we got home, the electricity came back on (of course).

I have friends and family who have gone weeks without electricity and potable water because of the recent hurricanes. They make do with generators, candles, and lots of canned tuna, I suppose. My friend who lives in Africa says her electricity goes off all the time for no apparent reason. And she has no idea when it might come back on.

So that is what I am thankful for today. How about you?

Tough Guy

More Conversations With The First Born

Kevin and Fletcher are talking about Christmas.
F: Remember the wise men came and brought Jesus gifts?
K: That's right. Do you remember what they brought?
F: Merchandise, frankincense and myrrh

--------
Fletcher and mom talking about rhyming words
F: What rhymes with dad?
M: Sad, bad, fad
F: Fad sounds like fatty
M: Sort of. But you know that it isn't nice to call someone a fatty. That could hurt their feelings. God makes people in all different shapes.
F: Well, some ladies look kind of fat because they have those things sticking out from their chest.

--------
Fletcher found an old picture of me.
F: Mom, look at this picture of you.
M: Yeah, that picture was taken a long time ago when I was in college.
F: You know Jesus was born a long time ago too.
M: Well, it's not like I was there for that.

--------
This wasn't really a conversation. Fletcher has two teachers in his preschool class. His lead teacher NEVER walks kids out to carpool line. The other day the normal carpool teachers are out there but when it was Fletcher's turn, his lead teacher brought him to the car. I thought, "This can't be good." She told me that they were making necklaces and Fletcher stuck a bead up his nose and it got stuck. He got upset and panicked. He wouldn't let her look at his nose. But he finally got to crying so hard and sneezed and it came out. Thank the Lord! I think it scared him enough that he won't do it again. At least I hope not.

And So It Begins

5:00 pm

Sunday evening.

I walk out of the kitchen to print out a recipe to cook for dinner.

I hear Luke playing by the stairs, then a noise, then crying.

I go back into the room and scoop him up to comfort him.

Blood. Where is it coming from and why is there so much?

His forehead. Above his left eye.

Kevin is outside. I run to the door and yell.

We apply pressure and the bleeding stops but there's a y-shaped gash that looks bigger than a normal scrape.

Off to Urgent Care we go.

Two and a half hours later.

One very upset, very stubborn, very tired, very mad 15 month old.

Kevin was holding Luke's head, I was holding his hands and the nurse was holding his feet. Three adults holding down a 26 lb. baby. The nurse said, "Wow, he's strong."

I was singing every song I could think of in his ear to calm him down.

Four stitches.

Doctor said there will be a tiny scar.

Just lovely for the family Thanksgiving photo.

For those of you that know I get very faint/queasy with the whole hospital/doctor/blood thing -- you will be happy to know that I did fine. I couldn't look when they gave him the shot to numb the cut. I kept telling myself while she was stitching that he could not feel anything. But it was really hard to see him so upset. As soon as they were done, he was fine.

The BandAid has to stay on for 24 hours. Maybe we'll try to get a picture after that.

Throwback Thursday/Thankful Thursday

The management at Snickelfritz Lane has decided to temporarily suspend Throwback Thursdays until we get our new computer set up and hopefully, possibly (Hint, Hint- Kevin) get one of those cool scanner/copier/fax machines so I can scan some of my older pictures. Have you seen the wireless scanners? Fancy!

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming in December. (Because I know I have some great Christmas throwback photos around here somewhere.)

Since Thanksgiving is in November, Thursdays this month will be Thankful Thursdays.

Today I am thankful for two birthmothers who chose to give life to my sons. And then they chose to let me adopt them and be their mom. I just got back from the playground with Fletcher and Luke. Watching them run, jump, climb, play, laugh and just live makes me so happy. I just can't put into words how honored and thankful I am to the young ladies who gave me this opportunity to live out my dream of being a mom.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Dee!

Today is my big sister Denise's birthday. All of the nieces and nephews affectionately call her Aunt Dee. Fletcher loves his Aunt Dee. Loves to visit her. Loves to get messages from her on the phone. Loves to call her. Loves to talk about her whiny dog Tucker. Loves to get packages in the mail from her. And the list goes on and on. She is a wonderful person - always kind and thoughtful. She loves having our whole family togther at her house for holidays or crawfish boils or just because. Quite frankly I think she's the glue that holds our family together (not that we are falling apart or anything. . .).

Aunt Dee - we hope you have an awesome day. We wish we could be there to celebrate. We hope to see you very soon.

We love you!

P.S. I'm not telling her age today, but I do hope I look this good in 9 years.

Climb Every Mountain

Just as I thought, Luke is about to embark on what some parents fondly refer to as "the climbing stage". He has figured out how to pull himself onto the kitchen chairs. The only problem is that he likes to hang his head over and look down at the floor. If you remember anything from biology class or Jerry Maguire, a baby's head weighs something like 3 times the rest of his body. Saying that he is a little "top heavy" is putting it mildly.

His toes can grip vertical surfaces better than Spiderman. It really is amazing to watch. He was trying to scale the front of our refrigerator the other day by holding the handles and walking up the front very similar to what you might see a ROCK CLIMBER doing!!! But he was doing it without shoes on a slick surface. And no safety harness either.

He has almost mastered climbing up onto our king size bed. Our dog Sadie is sweating bullets. For you see, the middle of the king sized bed is the only place she can go where she is absolutely, positively certain that Luke can't poke her, pat her, grab her or otherwise annoy her. Once he masters the bed, it is all over for that poor dog. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Now here's my dilemma: do I grab the camera and take pictures of his climbing antics to put on the blog or do I hover over him 24/7 to make sure he doesn't hurt himself?

As you can see, I've recently chosen the "hover" option since no pictures accompany this post.

Fall pictures

Our backyard is gorgeous right now with the variety of trees and the amazing fall color. We tried to get some pictures of the boys one morning. Kevin is still editing some of them, but I thought I'd let you see a sneak peek this Monday morning.

"They are going to make you take pictures like this for the rest of your life. Hundreds of them."

"What? Who me? I didn't say anything."

QVC

Even though the elections are over, this video still made me smile. Have a great weekend!

(I would have embedded the video, but I was having trouble with this little blog and this little computer so you'll just have to click on the link instead. )

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mccain-qvc-open/805381/

Throwback Thursday

The date: November, 2000

The place: Somewhere in Costa Rica

The mood: They were having a blast. This is Kevin and our friend Scott from Jacksonville. We went to Costa Rica together right after the Presidential election in 2000 when all the mess happened in Florida. Remember the "hanging chads" and the whole election debacle? We would see other Americans there and they would ask us where we were from. We were embarassed to tell them we lived in Florida! Even with all that, we had an AMAZING vacation. This place let you ride 4 wheelers on a filthy, dirty, muddy track with little hills and ramps. The guys were loving it.

"I'm coming, Elizabeth"

Remember this? From Sanford & Son? (Yeah, I know. I'm old)
Fred would grab his heart and act like he is dying. He would call out his dead wife's name. He would tell his son Lamont, "This is the Big One."

I think I heard our computer say the same thing tonight.

Seriously, our poor computer is on its last leg.

(Moment of silence please.)

I don't know how much longer he will last. He is only 5 yrs old, but the life expectancy of these guys is pretty short.

So, if you don't see any postings on Snickelfritz Lane in the next few days its because our computer felt "The Big One."

Election Day

Well, this is the day. Kevin and I both voted early to avoid the rush today.

Politics drive me crazy. I try to be informed and wade through the mudslinging to see what the real issues and proposed solutions are, but I get so sick of it all.

I ran across an article by Christian pastor and author John Piper that helped me put today and this election into perspective. The entire article is here. This is an excerpt of the article based on this verse:

"The appointed time has grown very short. From now on . . . those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away."

1 Corinthians 7:29, 31

We deal with the system. We deal with the news. We deal with the candidates. We deal with the issues. But we deal with it all as if not dealing with it. It does not have our fullest attention. It is not the great thing in our lives. Christ is. And Christ will be ruling over his people with perfect supremacy no matter who is elected and no matter what government stands or falls. So we vote as though not voting.

By all means vote. But remember:

“The world is passing away along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

1 John 2:17.

I want candy!

The boys had a great time going trick or treating. We only went to the houses on our street and a couple of other ones in the neighborhood and they got a TON of candy. Luke really likes the mini-M&M's.

Here are some pics. In case you are wondering, Fletcher is wearing fake "boot" that are supposed to cover his real shoes, but they kept moving around all night. Oh well. . .

Fletcher was Woody from the Disney movie Toy Story. Luke was a cow.

Our neighbors Noah (Spiderman) and Ella (Butterfly) also came with us.

This first one was taken several weeks before Halloween. Fletcher got his costume that day and wanted to wear it until Kevin got home.