House of Emotional Rollercoasters

2006-09-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

We have a new blog!

Click here to view.

Pictures...

2006-02-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

The horse is NC. The girls always look forward to when Daddy comes home from work. "Mommy's clean; Daddy's play!"

Twiggy and Daisy love to help me in the kitchen. They'll make great wives someday. : )

Don't let the halo fool you!

...just a few recent misc. pictures of the fam....

Arrrrggghh!!!

2006-02-16T07:03:00.001-08:00

I sometimes wish I would follow in my sissy's footsteps and get high speed internet access. I can't get my pictures downloaded!!!

Anyways...I want to wish a happy 13th birthday to Gracie Lou (you know who you are : )).

Also...congratulations to my wonderful older brother and his fiance on their engagement. I'm proud of you, brother!

To those and the rest of you, as Chris Rice sings, "Run the Earth and Watch the Sky"!!

Have a blessed day!!!

I Love This Girl!

2006-02-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a great talk with my former youth pastor and his wife. They are at a church about an hour away and are doing great. I had a good time catching up with them. When I got off the phone, Twiggy asked me, " Mommy, who were you talking to?"

"My youth pastor and his wife," I replied

"Oh...What is your youth pastor's name?"

"His name is Pastor Dennis."

Scrunching up her nose she asked, "He was your youth pastor and your dentist?"

I'm back (I think)!

2006-02-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to try blogging again, if anyone still checks my blog (hee, hee).

Everyone's A Critic!

2005-12-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

My family knows, along with anyone who has sung with me before, my frustration of always having to sing the soprano part even though I cannot reach many high notes. Well, I was told last night that you can train your voice to sing even the highest notes on the keyboard just by singing scales. I thought it would be worth a try so this morning I put the girls in the tub and proceeded to sing scales as I was washing breakfast dishes. Not that far into my "voice lesson" I hear Twiggy call from the bathroom, "Mommy, is everything okay out there?"

Did I ever mention that that girl talks too much?

Sickness, Soup and (Skin)

2005-12-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

After gloating to NC that I seldom get sick, my Creator saw fit that I get the flu that has been working it's way around the area (sorry father and fannie). I not only got the flu, but it hit me the hardest of anyone in this house. I ended up staying home from work and slept pretty much from 2:30 in the afternoon until 7:30 this morning (thanks to my sweet man who ran the house for the evening).

I love seeing the Lord's hand at work, even in the little areas that, I'm ashamed to admit, I haven't consistantly given Him credit for. Yesterday the doorbell rang and it's ringer was an elderly man from our church with a smile on his face and a crock pot of chicken noodle soup in his hands. " Are you sick?" he asked, and walked back to his van where his wife was smiling and waving. All I could do was thank our Father, Who was the only One that knew we were ALL sick. I am overwhelmed with His goodness to me of little faith. He consistanly meets our needs and beyond! It's easy for me to grumble about what's not going right in my life--those trifling things like what mommy mentioned in her recent post--and yet He still provides. Thank you Heavenly Father!

(Although this is not related to the rest of the post, I couldn't leave it out. Daisy is getting to the point where she is going potty on her own, however, she doesn't just pull down her pants and go, she takes off all of her clothes and then doesn't put them back on. Yesterday, I was in on the computer just after Daisy had done this, so she's running around the house with not a stitch on. Then I hear Twiggy ask, "Daisy can you please not put your nakedness on me?" I had to chuckle.)

Daddy and Rocky

2005-12-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

My favorite men.

Rocky just loves NC and really tunes in when he hears daddy talking. NC is anxiously awaiting Rocky's first golf excursion with him. Judging by his fingers, I think Rocky is going to have to take up piano lessons like Uncle Piano. I'm not sure that he will be able to sit still through a half-hour lesson, but I suppose things could change!

Do Real Men Blog?

2005-12-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

This is my first blog and I must say that things have changed quite a bit. How did we get from the time that guys did not journal period, to a time when everyone posts their journal for all the world to see?

Potty Talk

2005-11-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

Daisy hit a milestone today; she stayed dry all day (yes, she did go potty in the potty chair)!

Move Over Baba...

2005-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

...there's another comedian in the house!!

Twiggy has been on a joke kick today so just to give you a window into the mind of my 41/2 year old:

"Mom, why did the chicken cross the road?"

"I don't know, Twiggy, why?"

"BECAUSE HE HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!!! (haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!)"

"Mom, why did the turtle jump into the pond?"

"Hmmm, did he have to go to the bathroom too?"

"No. He had to get his book."

Her imagination brings back haunting memories of a poem I once...ehem...heard.

Little red chair
Why are you there?
Why aren't you here?
What must you do?
Come out and play.
We miss you today!

Why Are You Here?

2005-10-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

I'm very amazed at how I can read a passage of scripture many times and know what it says, but not think much of it until the LORD decides to place it on my heart. A while ago I was reading in Esther, where Mardechai says to Esther, "Who knows but that the LORD has brought you to the kingdom for such a time as this." The LORD has constantly been bringing that passage to my mind, and it came up again today as I was listening to one of the girls' Bible song CDs.

The song says, "For such a time as this, God brought us here to sing..." and it hit me again; everything I do is because God ordained it. The reason I was born in the 1970s is because God chose that time for me, for some reason. The reason we are living in Chetek is because God placed us here and we will remain here until God chooses to take us somewhere else. I don't say this to mean that I can do anything I want and it's okay, or that it's specific to me, because every one of us is ordained by God. It's awesome to think that God has my entire life planned out already and that while I think that I'm making this decision and that decision, He knew it all along.

I am reminded that my life is not my own, that I am bought with a price. I am looking forward to the day when I will just naturally glorify Him.

Do you ever wonder why God has placed us here, in the year 2005, for such a time as this?

The Polls Are Now Open...

2005-10-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Which Daisy do you prefer?

Family Picture

2005-10-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here is our family picture taken by Froggy Portrait Studios (hee, hee). You should give her a try sometime; you don't have to go to her studio, she'll come to you (tee, hee, hee)! Anyways, I was very happy with the pictures for the most part--I thought Froggy did a swell job, but she forgot to make me beautiful, as I requested.

(Rocky looks like he would rather be anywhere else right now.)

By the way, in case it says otherwise, this is Poppy writing this blog, not NC. He doesn't care if he's beautiful. I am not very with computers and blogs and messed something up while I was in the process of "fixing" something else. Help!!!

Like Auntie, Like Niece

2005-10-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know my eldest sister well, you may know that when she was a little girl, she ripped one of those plastic bibs at McDonald's and was terrified, thinking that the police were going to come and take her away. Dare I say Twiggy was cut from the same mold...

Twiggy was tickling Daisy the other day when Daisy jerked her head back and hit it on the knob of a dresser. It bled quite a bit, as head injuries do, and we decided to take Daisy to the ER to get her checked out (a whole story in and of itself...bleh) Meanwhile Twiggy went into hiding.

Daisy and I left and NC went to find Twiggy, who was sobbing behind the recliner. NC proceeded to tell her that Daisy would be fine and that she didn't have to worry about her sister, although it was good of her to care so much for Daisy. Well, come to find out, while Twiggy was somewhat concerned for her sister, she was worried the police were going to arrest her for tickling her sister when the accident occured.

Here's a thought...

"Twiggy, you eat your salad this instant or I am going to call the police!"

For anyone...

2005-09-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Please keep my friend, Sarah, and her husband in your prayers today. A year ago today she lost her son to group B strep. He was just minutes old.

The Meaning of Words

2005-08-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

My sister told me about this game you can play with little kids where you give them a word that they are familiar with and ask them to give you a definition. We asked Twiggy what a graduation was and this was her response:

Twiggy: A graduation is something people do when they want to get married.

Me: Why is that?

Twiggy: Well, you can't get married until you graduate.

Me: Oh...What do you do at a graduation?

Twiggy: Well, everyone dresses up in purple dresses and hats...and...they dress up in purple dresses and hats.

NC: Do the boys dress up in purple dresses and hats?

Twiggy: No Daddy! Boys wear purple pants, purple shirts and purple hats.

Me: Why do they wear purple?

Twiggy: Uhhh!!! I cannot take a guess (sigh).

Me: So, what do you do at a gradution?

Twiggy: Mommy! They make their cakes at home and then they go to a buiding and have a graduation, then they go to the store and buy lots of food and then they go home and eat it (you should know this, Mommy).

Ahh...vacation!!!

2005-08-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Guess where we're going? Yep, our tasks to this point are complete and tomorrow we are going...ON VACATION!!!!!!! I am starving for some time with my family without frosting a wedding cake or folding laundry once...or even twice (right, second oldest sis of mine--hee, hee). I can't wait!!!

Here is a picture of our three babies. I'm loving being able to put pictures on our blog now, especially with in-laws that live in the south and aren't able to see the children as much as they'd like. Enjoy!

By the way, Daisy just turned two on Monday and had a great time doing it! She went around the house singing, Happy Birthday to You as good as she could and loved the party with family. When everyone went home she gathered up as many of her gifts as she could fit in her chubby little arms and tried to take then upstairs with her so she could sleep with them all. We wish Uncle could have been here --they share the same birthday.

Pitter Patter

2005-08-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some more recent pictures of little Rocky:

Couldn't you just gobble him up?

Hello??

2005-07-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

Has it really been coming up on three months since I last posted a blog? Wow, time flys! Besides being busy with baby Rocky, our computer has been sick and just recovered about a week ago, much thanks to Matt. I am glad to have the computer back and catching up on others' blogs.

We're doing well here. Rocky was born on May 9th after 2 false alarms, 3 weeks of spiratic contractions, and finally 4 ounces of caster oil (need I say more?). I have to admit that I didn't think that I could love a boy as much as I love Twiggy and Daisy, but am finding out that little boys have a way of pulling at a mother's heartstrings. NC says that I am smitten...he's right; but can't you see why...

The girls are equally smitten with the little fella and I often joke that he has three mommys. The girls are more than willing to give him his pacifier the moment it drops from his mouth, attempt to calm him down when he is crying, or inform me promptly that it must be time for him to eat.

I think NC also adores the little man, but is mostly anxious for the day when Rocky can golf with him. He is already talking of buying litttle golf clubs for him.

Mary Poppins and Babies

2005-05-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Twiggy has been big into Mary Poppins lately. In fact, Mimi let us borrow her copy of the movie and Twiggy and I enjoyed watching it this afternoon. She spent much of the movie trying to master the choreography of the chimney sweeps. Twiggy was somewhat disappointed that when she snapped her fingers her toys would not go to where they belonged like they do in the movie. Mommy was disappointed, too!

Well, still no sign of little Rocky, as I'm sure most of you have figured out by now. The hard part is that life seems to be so much on hold right now. UNC was hoping to go to North Carolina to his brother's graduation, but as of now we aren't sure that that's going to happen. I know UNC is looking forward to going and it would mean a lot to his family if he were there, so it's been hard. As trite as this sounds, however, I know that the Lord will bring the little one at just the right time, and we are looking forward to that day.

Rocky's Hearing Screening

2005-04-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Who needs to have a hearing screening with UNC around (it's with his permission that I tell this story)?

Last night we were all sleeping soundly when UNC let out a big, bellowing laugh (he was also sleeping). It startled me a little bit, but Rocky jumped almost up to my throat he was so startled! It took him a while to settle down, but Mommy enjoyed watching him kick around.

Who Want's a Makeover?

2005-04-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Daisy finished coloring on her paper and thought she'd freshen up with a little lipstick.

Who Needs a Puppy?

2005-04-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, because Daisy is so quiet, I forget how much she really knows.

This morning I was getting Twiggy dressed after the girls' bath. Daisy was crawling around the floor in just her diaper. I asked Daisy if she was a puppy. It was then that she decided that she was and began crawling around, panting, and barking (either she's a puppy or she's in labor...hmmm...what's on my mind). She's been a puppy all morning and having a grand old time. I have to say she's the most well-behaved puppy we've had so far (as a certain uncle from Kentucky can attest to after dog-sitting for good ol' Bonnie) so I don't think we'll be getting rid of this one. Maybe this uncle from KY would like to dog-sit for Daisy the puppy. She's awfully cute!

False Alarm

2005-04-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I was taking pizza out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I brought Twiggy and Daisy into their house and then went back out to the van to get the pizza and diaper bag. I grabbed the diaper bag and flug it over my shoulder and when I went to grab the pizza I felt something wet on my leg. When I looked down there was a puddle right underneath me. I thought, "Oh no! My water broke," and my heart sank to my stomach. Then I looked at the diaper bag and noticed that the lid of Daisy's sippy cup had come off and water was leaking out of it, down my leg, and onto the ground. Needless to say, I was relieved.

Daisy's Pacifier Withdrawl

2005-04-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today has been a hard day for little Daisy. We are working on weening her off the pacifier and I think the only word she has said all day through gallons of tears is, "Beek (her word for pacifier)!" She wore a little outfit today that was quite fitting for the occasion. It said, "Hand over the pacifier and no one will get hurt!" I'm probably making it sound a lot worse than it is. She did manage to get her mind off the pacifier when we had songs playing in the van. Then she would clap her hands and squeal with delight. I guess this is just one step closer to becoming a "big girl" when Rocky (the new baby) gets here.

Today UNC put a beach ball up his shirt to immitate Mommy for the girls. Daisy pointed her chubby little finger at his big belly and shouted, "Baby!" The poor girl is really going to be confused when she learns that men don't carry babies in their tummies. She'll someday exclaim in Bible Buddies, "Well, my daddy had a baby in his tummy!"

Spring!!! Yay!!!

2005-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Twiggy and Daisy are LOVING the warmer weather. They've been spending most of their days outdoors. I wish I had a digital camera to post some pictures because Daisy is quite the little dirt collector. I don't know if it's because she's so low to the ground, but if there's dirt, she will find it and it will be all over her face, hands, clothes, mouth, etc. . . . I think we're going to get a lot of use out of the bathtub this summer.

Today it's wet outside so the girls are reluctantly managing to keep themselves occupied indoors (we might have to sneek out for a walk later). Mommy hasn't been feeling real well today so I sent the girls to their room to play while I "rested" a while. Twiggy asked me what was wrong and I told her I needed to rest a little while. The little smarty pants then exclaimed, "Maybe you're getting old." I couldn't help but chuckle--because we all know that's not true, right?

The Faith of a Child

2005-03-29T07:02:00.000-08:00

Last night after supper, Twiggy started complaining that her right ear hurt. By about an hour later she was crying because it hurt so bad. She said she didn't poke it or put anything in it. It looked pretty normal from what I could see. Not really knowing what to do, I put her to bed and decided that I could quickly run up to Wal-Mart and see if they had any ear drops that would help her at least through the night. Before I left, I went up to check on Twiggy. She was holding her right ear and crying. I asked her if she was feeling any better and she said to me, "Mommy, I need you to pray for my ear." Though I shouldn't have been, I was a little shocked that she knew that we needed to pray. I was ashamed that praying for her was not the first thing I had done. So I picked her up and we cuddled in the rocking chair and prayed that the Lord would heal her ear, if that would be the best thing, and that He would give Mommy and Daddy wisdom to know what to do, and that He would forgive Mommy for not bringing it to Him first. I put her back to bed and she was still holding her ear and crying, but she had calmed down some. By the time I got back from Wal-Mart, Twiggy said to me that her ear's Mommy had told him to go to bed and he wasn't hurting her anymore. Needless to say, the Lord sure rebuked me last night!

She's At It Again!

2005-03-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

Twiggy and Daisy were dancing to some music this afternoon when they bumped heads and both fell to the floor. While Daddy was consoling Daisy, Mommy was tending to Twiggy and she says to me through her sobs, "Mom, I just feel like I'm in deep water!"

Twiggy's Passion

2005-03-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

Today we were coming indoors after running some errands and Twiggy was sharing with me her passion for bubble gum (we had also been at Mimi and Papa's where she received some pink gum from Papa).

Twiggy says (please read the following with the expressiveness that Twiggy might use), "Mom, pink bubble gum is just...just...oh it's just beautiful to my heart!"

While Mommy had a good chuckle about this one, I couldn't help but hope that someday she will be as passionate about broccoli-cauliflower salad (hee, hee).

I notice, too, that I haven't blogged a lot about little Daisy these days. Sometimes she gets overshadowed by her sister's clever sayings, but I honestly don't love her any less. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds over these last few weeks. She will attempt to say any word you ask her to and she, too, is quite expressive in her vocabulary. She loves to go for rides in the car (much like good ol' Trixie) and when she realizes that we are going to go somewhere she will bring all of our shoes to us, as if to hurry us up a bit, and shout, "Go!" with her eyes wide and a big smile on her face. Right now, as I am typing she is bringing my some of her treasures she is finding around the house: a sh0e, a cup, Uh-oh, the telephone....

What's wrong with the color pink?

2005-03-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

I had to change our background because for some odd reason UNC doesn't like the color pink. I thought it fit well with the theme, but I guess I should take into account that a male lives here too (that's male, not mail, hee hee).

The Mind of a Child

2005-03-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

Twiggy and I were on our way home from dropping off her friend and we were listening to a Bible story CD in the car. We were listening to the creation of the world and the child who was reading the account was talking about how God created mankind, "He created male and female."

Twiggy says to me, "Mom, what's male and female?" So I explained that boys are male and girls are female; Mommy, Twiggy and Daisy are female and Daddy is male. At this point Twiggy got really quiet and I could tell that the wheels were a turnin'.

Finally, as serious as can be, she said, "Mommy, we can't really put Daddy in an envelope and send him away, can we?"

Daughters

2005-03-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

We love our daughters, Twiggy and Daisy very much. I'm not yet sure what it's like to have a raise a son, but raising daughters is anything but boring. I'm often reminded of something my mom repeated to me over and over again while I was growing up and find myself repeating it to my girls, "Don't let your emotions control you!"

Twiggy, almost four, has a friend over tonight and they have had a great time dressing up like and pretending they are princesses (this is Twiggy's first sleepover with someone that isn't with a cousin and its been quite an adventure). Every once in a while I would hear a howl and I would have to run up to the castle tower and rescue a Damsel in Distress. What was wrong? One wouldn't play with the other or one wouldn't do what the other wanted her to do. And while they have had a great time together, I've had to have more than one "emotion" talk with Twiggy.
P.S. It's easy to forget what it is like being a little girl, but it was neat to see the girls interact with eachother and feed off eachother. A lot of the evening while we were at home was spent squealing and giggling and whispering secrets in eachother's ear (although, as Papa can attest to, everything Twiggy says is a "secret"). They also had a blast making necklaces with the kit that Auntie Froggy gave Twiggy for Christmas. I am wondering: do girls really have to go to the bathroom four times after "lights out" or is that just an excuse to come downstairs (hee hee)?

Daisy had quite a day, too. She was very tired from her late night last night so she was either very squirrely or the tears were flowing. She would walk aimlessly around the house crying for "Uh Oh" (her beloved blankie) and then when she found it she would start giggling, flop down on top of it, and just lay there for awhile. Her day was complete when she found out we were going to Papa and Mimi's for supper. As soon as we got home she was in bed and fast asleep.

As you can imagine, with three emotional women in the house, being the only man can get pretty tough. Sometimes I wonder how UNC stays so calm. Every once in a while he is able to escape. Tonight he went to watch so NCAA basketball at a friend's house. While he does extremely well with the girls, I think he's pretty excited that this next one is a boy!