Adventure

Well, if you are reading this hopefully I've made it safely to the Big Apple by now. As I'm writing this it is actually Tuesday night. I'm packed for my trip and I think most everything is in order. But I'm so keyed up right now I can't sleep. And what do you do when you can't sleep? Blog of course.

I don't do things like this. I hardly ever go anywhere without my husband and kids. I hate leaving them behind. However, they will not be going with me on this trip. And I'm terrified. I don't feel like I'm "grown up" enough to be doing this on my own.

I hate being paralyzed by fear, yet that's almost what I am right now. I don't like to fly. Not at all. Oh, sure, I know it beats driving for countless hours and statistically it is much safer than riding in a car and so on and so on. It doesn't make me less scared. But I'm going anyway. I'm going to suck it up and be a big girl. I'm not going to let paralyzing fear stand in the way of a trip of a lifetime. I'm leaving knowing that I've kissed my boys, squeezed them tight and assured them of how much I love them. I'm leaving my husband with warm fuzzy thoughts of a wonderfully simple and satisfying life I have with him. Everyone knows how much I love them and how much I will miss them. Truthfully, something could just as easily happen to me or Brandon or one of my boys here as it could if I'm somewhere else. So, I'm not letting my fear paralyze me. I'm going to fulfill a lifelong dream! Since I was a little girl I've always wanted to stand in front of that gigantic Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and feel like a Whoville person because of it's sheer size! I get to make that dream a reality in just two days.

I get to be a grown up. I get to take my purse that will be full of grown up things and no baby/kid things. There will be no diapers in my purse (for the first time in around 6 years!) There will be no toys or crumbled up Goldfish snacks at the bottom. I won't have to dig for 10 minutes to find my wallet or chap stick. I'm going to wear big ear rings since I won't have to fear them being ripped from my ear lobes. I'm going to wear lipstick since I won't have to worry about it rubbing off on my boys' faces from kissing them. I'm going to eat my meal while it's still hot and not cut up anyone's food before eating my own. (Sorry girls! If you wanted you food cut up, you're out of luck! Ha.) Yep, I'm gonna be a grown up.

I'm going to be a grown up--who's missing those things she's getting away from. A grown up who will be more than ready to go back to her everyday average life when this adventure is over. Ready to kiss those sweet faces, take off the ear rings and fill the purse back up with Goldfish. :) Ready to see my husband's smiling face and feel his arms hug me tight. (At least I hope he's still smiling when I get back after being left with three boys for three days!)

I'm excited. But still scared.

Conversation

Below is the conversation on the way home tonight:

Jagger: Why does Rhett get to stay in the kitchen while Lawson does homework and I don't?

Me: Because Rhett is a baby and he won't try to distract Lawson.

Jagger: I wish I was a baby again!

Me: Why? Then you wouldn't get to go on security rounds with Grandaddy. Rhett doesn't get to do that because he's a baby.

Jagger: You know what I need? I need a machine and you can push the button to change me from a big boy to a baby when I tell you to.

Lawson: No, you need a mad scientist for that!

Jagger: Can't I just have a good scientist?

Weird conversations, I know. But hey, that's my life. And I love every one of these moments!

Who you gonna call?

Rhett loves the Ghostbusters song. He's started dancing to it and it cracks us all up! Of course as soon as the camera comes on he gets stage fright. But I did manage to catch a little of it a couple of days ago. He danced for a few seconds before demanding more food. Ha. For your viewing pleasure here is a clip. Enjoy!

Our little turkey

Jagger's pre-school class made these little turkey hats for Thanksgiving. I thought he looked adorable. I think my mom said it best when she said, "That's the cutest little turkey I've ever seen. And I've seen A LOT of turkeys!" Ha.

A great report

Lawson came home with his second report card last week. All pluses again! We are so thrilled that he likes school so well. Great job Lawson! Hope you keep up that great work!

Great recipe

So, I rarely share recipes because I'm usually snagging recipes from all you who have your own blogs. :) However, I do want to share one quick recipe that was given to me by one of my best friends. It is perfect for a cold rainy night (like tonight) which is what made me think to post it.

It is Tortellini Soup. Here's the recipe:

1 large jar of Salsa

2 cans chicken broth

1 can stewed tomatoes

1-1 1/2 lb. ground beef

1 bag tortellini noodles

Brown ground beef and mix with salsa, broth and tomatoes on high until boiling. Add tortellini noodles and cook until noodles are done.

Super easy and fairly quick! We eat ours with Parmesan cheese on top and serve with either corn bread or cheese bread (depending on how much time I have.) The noodles can sometimes be hard to find (I usually can't find them here in town at the supermarkets but they do have them at Wal-Mart Supercenter--frozen foods over by the frozen bread if you shop at South Wal-Mart).

This was perfect for the cold rainy night tonight and definitely hit the spot. Enjoy!

Exhausted...

Yesterday was just that--an exhausting day. To start out, I didn't sleep very well the night before therefore waking up not very well rested. Never a good way to start the day off.

But never-the-less, the day must begin. So we began getting dressed and ready for church. After a few episodes of "I don't want to wear this" and "I don't want to eat that" mixed in with Rhett's own language of grunting and squealing I was short on patience before we even made it to the car! Deep breath though. I can do this.

Upon arriving at church we sit down. A quick glance down the pew to make sure we had all made it there fully clothed and, check! Mission accomplished. And we were even on time. About two songs into the service I realized that I had left the iron plugged in. Great. Super. Fantastic. Sheepishly: "Honey, I forgot to unplug the iron. Will you pleeeeeease run back home and unplug it?" No problem except that it caused my other half to miss the entire church sermon. Well, actually it caused us both to miss the entire sermon because I don't think I heard one word in-between wrestling my year old wiggle worm and taking the bigger one to the potty with the aforementioned one year old in tow. I turned around to make sure the biggie was following behind me to the restroom to notice that he was walking all the way down the isle, literally holding "it". (I'm sure we often look quite comical! Boys; you've gotta love them!)

After church services were over we headed to our respective bible classes where Rhett screamed and cried and attached himself to my chest like a koala bear. Normally cute and sweet in an "oh he loves me and doesn't want to be away from me" kind of way except...I'm exhausted.

But, after prying him off of me and running for cover I head over to my 2 year old class that I'm teaching this quarter with the help of my mom. Teaching (entertaining) two year olds. Enough said. Exhausting. And it's only 10:00 in the morning.

After church we headed to Cracker Barrel with my parents for an early lunch. Three small boys; restaurant full of people; keeping food on the table rather than the floor (but a very good meal!) but I'm exhausted.

Home. Home to a house waiting with dishes to be washed (rather, loaded into the dishwasher--thank goodness for those!), clothes to be washed, folded, put away, and ready for evening services at church and I'm still exhausted. Evening services at church are spent trying to keep my one year old from throwing a fit, climbing over the pews, dumping the container of animal crackers into the floor and throwing the sippy cup four rows in front of us. He wiggles, he squirms, he jabbers, he's up, he's down, he wants a book, no, not that book, the other book and then...there it is. He looks up at me and grins that squinty-eyed grin and I melt. I'm not aggravated anymore. But still exhausted.

After church came the dreadful trip to the place that so many love--Wal-Mart. Sorry. I don't share the same enthusiasm for that place as many. We always stay too long, spend too much and, yep, you got it! Walk out exhausted.

We get home and there are groceries to put away, kids to get ready for bed, clothes to lay out for school the next morning back-packs to sit by the door and where did the day (*ahem* weekend!) go?? I'M EXHAUSTED!!!

Finally, everyone's pajamas are on and we are all ready for bed but take a few minutes to all pile on the bed and enjoy a little snuggle time. Below is a picture of me surrounded by my very special men in my life. Below is the reason I keep going even when I'm exhausted. I'm still exhausted--but happy. And I know I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing. :)