"Crying" Virgin Mary?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051127/ap_on_re_us/statue_s_tears_2 I'm not sure I believe these kinds of stories...obviously, I'm not a member of the Roman Catholic Church....but, I have to wonder about these kinds of things. What do you think?

What's the worst....

Some answers to "What's the worst..." questions, today!

What's the worst.....

Name you've been called? Answer : snob

Movie you've ever seen? Answer : "Manos, Hands of Fate"

Food you've eaten? Answer : anything with curry in it blech.

Thing you've drunk? Answer : The medicine they gave me before my c-sections to neutralize the stomach acids

TV show on TV right now? Answer : Fear Factor

TV show EVER? Answer : Temptation Island. I found it degrading, pathetic, and I was shocked that it was even on TV. I guess it runs a close second to that reality Bachelorette knock-off where she had to choose a guy and he might or might not be gay....I think it got cancelled after the second episode so we never knew if she made the right choice or not...

Decision you made yesterday? Answer : not to do the dishes, because they are still there today.

Cartoon ever? Answer : Pokemon or Yugioh. I cannot stand those Japanime cartoons.

Sport to have to watch? Answer : competitive badminton. For real? I cannot stand watching soccer. I'm so sorry, but I just don't GET it!

Sport to have to play? Answer : Dodgeball. I HATE dodgeball, and I always lose. Either that or "butts up!" Do you remember that game? You played it with a tennis ball and it was sort of like dodge ball but if you got hit with the ball you had to stand with your hands against the wall while the person who originally threw the tennis ball got to peg you with it. But you could only hit the person below the belt. What a stupid game.

Website you've ever visited? Answer : too many to list here! Top on the list is the blog I clicked on the other day....I cannot believe it's legal to have blogs like that :(

Anyone have more to share?

How many.....

Here are some interesting answers to "how many..." questions :

How many.......

Times do you have to hit "next blog" to reach a VERY inappropriate blog? Answer : 3

Toys does Daniel have? Answer : 4 boxes full

Days did we eat leftovers from Thanksgiving this year? 4

Times a day do we watch "The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh?" Answer : 3-4

Letters/thank yous to be mailed? 45....eek.

Birth announcements to be mailed? 40....double eek

Stamps I currently have? 0

Times I go to Target each week? 6-9! I'm a Target addict.. But I can't shop at Wal-Mart unless its NECESSARY....I HATE Wal-Mart, but that's another story for another time....

Kiddo type movies we own? Answer : close to 30

Kiddo type moves we owned BEFORE we had kids? Answer : 20 (I'm a bigger movie nut than my son is!)

Times Zoe eats a day? Answer : 10 or more!

Times Daniel eats a day? Answer : MAYBE twice!

Times we OFFER Daniel food a day? Answer : 4-5

Glasses of milk Daniel drinks in a day? Answer : 5-6!

More times the nurse at our Pedi's office gets to treat me like I'm a child myself before we switch Doctors? Answer : 0

Licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? Answer : if I knew, I'd be rich. I'm a biter, myself.

Anyone have any to share?

Baby Showers.......

It's amazing to feel so loved. It's overwhelming that people love us enough to give us a baby shower. It's exciting to have pretty new things for Zoe that weren't Daniel's first. I have no words but "thank you."

Believe....

Santa says "ho ho ho." Pumpkins are "bumpies." Snowmen are "nonies." The Suzuki Grand Vitara commercial where the man hang glides to his car...."WHEEEEEEEEE!" Animatronic (or still) light-up reindeer are "roos." Christmas trees make his face light up.

Having a toddler allows me to believe again.

Christmas....YEAH!!

I LOVE Christmas. I love the Spiritual aspect (obviously), but I also love the secular aspect -- Santa, his reindeer, the whole nine yards. I love decorating for Christmas. I love the radio stations that play nothing but Christmas carols for a whole month. (Yay KVIL and KLTY and KTCK online!) I especially loved the fact that stores were putting out Christmas things at Halloween! The problem was, we hosted Thanksgiving, and I couldn't find any Thanksgiving items for our table!

I'm going to have to be careful with the decorating....it's very easy to go overboard, and with a nearly 2 year old egging me on...well, let's just say we could end up with 14 trees!

Now, if it would just get and stay cold....and maybe if we could have a little snow, too? Is that too much to ask? Because I'd settle for lows in the 20s and highs in the 50s.....now, I KNOW that's not too much to ask!

Being Thankful....

I look at this picture and it speaks volumes to me. First, look how tightly Daniel is holding Zoe. He's protective of her already!

He loves her and it is evident to me that his love is unconditional. I am so thankful for that.

I am thankful for my kids, for my husband, for my Memaw & my Mom. My family is so important to me. I want to always hold them as close to me as Daniel is holding Zoe.

Post baby bodies....huh, what are they good for?

They say "Treat well the body of your youth, so that when you are old it will treat you well." OK, so I totally made that up (if it catches on, I want credit!) but it's true.

Nobody tells you, though, that the "body of your youth" doesn't come back once you've said adios to it by means of having children. I guess that's not fair, exactly....I haven't had much chance for it to come back since I've been pregnant or nursing for THREE STRAIGHT YEARS. This time, I'm not being lazy....I'm hitting the gym right away.

Tomorrow.

My 100th Post....Trying to be relevant is harder than it sounds

What I mean is : we try so hard to fit in with one group or another. All our lives, we run around as though life is one big popularity contest. In actuality, all that should really matter is : being relevant. We should not strive to simply "fit in," we should strive to matter. We should attempt to leave a mark. We should be what our generation, our family, our friends NEED us to be. We should be what we were CREATED to be.

Take me, for example : I am a talker. I can't help it. Ask me a question, and it's like someone turned my chat switch to "on." I've always been this way. As a child, I needed to be the center of attention. That really hasn't changed, because it is who I was created to be. In our society, however, that's not really acceptable. It's not "ok" for a grown woman to be the center of attention. I try so hard NOT to be who I was created to be, sometimes, that it hurts.

I'm a leader. I was born that way. In fact, I was probably President of Kindergarten (in my own mind, at least). I know I was Valentine Day Queen and Rusty was the King when I was in 2nd grade...don't ask me how I remember that.

I look at my son, and I wonder what he'll grow up to be. We joke (sort of) and say he'll be a left handed MLB pitcher (halfway there....looks like he'll be a southpaw), or maybe he'll discover a cure for some dread disease. Really all I care about is that he's happy. I don't want him giving up on his own dreams. I want to do everything in my power to ensure that he achieves his highest desires. I want him to strive to be who he was created to be. I want him to be relevant in his time.

Is it worth it and does it work?

The annoying ad banners on top of this site and Zoe's blog.....they pay me when people click on them. Yes, I am shamelessly asking you to do a favor and click on those ads at least once a day, from every computer you own (I believe they are tracked via IP addresses). I have a theory that one day I might actually receive a paycheck from them. They're run by Google, so I imagine they are legit.

BTW, there are ads on top of Zoe's blog too, so if you'd be a pal and click there too we'd all appreciate it! :)

This is all part of my grand experiment : DOES IT WORK and IS IT WORTH IT? Or does it all fall under the category of "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE..."

RENT Countdown : 32 hours

Friday

I took the children to Target. By myself. I feel so proud. And I was exhausted. Zoe doesn't add much weight to her infant carrier, but what weight she does add.....it gets sort of tiring carrying her around. But that's what I had to do : Daniel in the cart seat and Zoe in her carrier ---> me carrying her around the store (alternating from my arms to my hands). I don't know that we'll be attempting that again anytime soon.

We had some of Michael's students over for a thank you dinner....I made too much fun, they played video games, Daniel was in hog heaven having people over. It was great. We'll be doing that again.

Went to the late night showing of "Harry Potter 4 : The Goblet of Fire" afterwards. The movie started at 10:20 pm and we left the theatre at 1:00 am. The movie was long, so that was satisfying (for me, the Potter fan). The movie is fabulous...there are some directorial decisions I questioned ("Why is Draco in a tree?" for one example) and I wondered about the cutting of what I thought was a key plotline....oh well. Still a wonderful movie and I'll DEFINITELY buy it on DVD. I can't wait for the next movie!

Next movies on the agenda : "Rent" (we're going to see it at midnight on Tuesday) and "King Kong," which opens December 14. We'll be there shortly after it opens, if not the very day. It looks AWESOME.

This child amazes me....5 weeks and she's had head & neck control for 3 weeks!

Nostalgia....and a trip to Target??

This is a picture of Daniel at his first Thanksgiving....we were trying to get a picture that we could use for his Christmas cards. This is how we discovered that he loves pumpkin pie! This year, he is obsessed with "bumpies" which is what he calls pumpkins. I can't believe how much he's grown....

This is Daniel with baby Zoe....he has TONS of teeth, now....and he had very few (4, I think) in the picture from this time last year....

Now, to Target....we're off for the first time with just me to corral them both. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, becaue I have to get groceries for our party tonight.....this should be fun. I'll definitely let you know how it goes!

No More Naps????

So, here is Daniel.....he is 21 months old. And guess what, he's trying to wean himself off of naps! I can't believe it. He usually crashes out from sheer exhaustion around 3:45 (and he wakes up at 8) and sleeps for maybe 45 minutes. What happened to my 2 hour napper???? I NEED those two hours!! Today I decided to try something : I took him with us to get Zoe's pictures made and it took FOREVER. He got hungry. He got sleepy. He REFUSED to take a picture with Zoe. He was much better after eating, and he stubbornly insisted that he was not sleepy (yeah, right). Guess what....he fell asleep in the car at 3:42. He slept until we got home at 4:20. That was his nap. He went to bed at 7:57 and fell asleep at 8:15. WHAT am I going to do???

First Program....

Daniel had his very first School program Monday night at ARK School. He LOVED it (as you can tell from the photo)!! He's such a little ham, and I have NO idea where he got it!

The cute little girl to his right (your left) is Moriah, she's his "girlfriend." In fact, he gave her a big smooch right in the middle of the program! That's our boy, a little ladies man.

I wonder if everyone feels like I felt that night....bewildered, wondering how in the world I had a son who was in a PROGRAM! How is he old enough to be in a School program? And he had his first School portraits made. I guess it really is true what they say, kids grow up too fast.

If a picture paints a thousand words.....

Proof of just how much Daniel loves Zoe.

Bit O Honey

Does anyone actually eat them? OR are they merely adding to the waste piling up in our Nation's landfills? Seriously. Have you ever bitten into one? I did, once....about 18 years ago. Just to see what they tasted like. One word? Nasty. I saw a package of them at the store around Halloween time. WHY do people buy them? Even better : WHY are they still manufactured? SOMEONE must eat them, right? YICK.

Oh and by the way, Zoe's blog has been updated :) Look for some more pictures later!

Toytastrophe.....

I bet nobody else's living room looks like this....

I'll post an after picture later...once it's cleaned up :)

"Sho-shee"

So, Daniel has started saying Zoe. It comes out "sho-shee" which is way too cute for words. Also, he grunts like a hippo when she makes her grunty hungry sounds. He loves her so much, and it thrills me to know that, and to see him interact with his baby. He gets so excited to see her, especially when he first wakes up. He waves at her and says "hi baby!" And he loves to give her kisses. I am so lucky!

Tigger