Grateful...

I win the mom of the week award for leaving Eden and Carter at Vacation Bible School a half an hour past pick up time! My brain told me it was over at 12:30pm instead of noon. Embarrassing!

The theme is Power Lab: Discovering Jesus’ Miraculous Power. It is at St. John’s Lutheran Church and they pulled out all the stops today. All of the leaders were wearing goggles, white lab coats and gloves, and when we came in there were several on the stage jamming to some Power Lab tunes.

Eden and Carter learned about how Jesus gives us the power to be thankful and came home with one suggestion on how to remember to show gratitude that I have never heard:

Think of something you do every day- like tie your shoes,

take a drink, or brush your teeth.

Plan to thank God for

something every time

you do that activity.

I am going to give it a shot, no pun intended...

I have so

much to be grateful for!

Today I am grateful that:

Landon is playing on the sewer and not in it.

Chaos ruled our house with 10 healthy kids running around.

Landon loves me so much that he wanted to be held all day.

Home Sweet Home

I can’t describe the feeling I had when I opened my eyes…it was light and I could see familiar surroundings! Damian had some kind of super power to drive all night long and I am filled with guilt and gratitude because of it.

We did it…3,000 miles, 8 states, $600 in gas, and 46 driving hours in the car with 2 kids and Landon whose lung capacity blows my mind! I lost count of how many times I heard “bum bum,” “smarker face,” and “young man” at a decibel level I am positive has permanently damaged all of our hearing. The boy loves his books though and would not share even the one he was using as a headrest. Nevertheless, everyone is still alive and we all arrived tired but relatively happy. This is nothing less than a small miracle!

Some of our travel tricks:

- separating the kids so they can only hand each other things

- new children’s books on CD

- individual snacks with enough for everyone to have the same

- suckers for when I feel too guilty using ear plugs

- flashlights for nighttime shadow puppets and entertainment

- kids songs to help the kids settle down

- tiny travel pillows and blankets for all (thanks Ann!)

- rolling down the windows when sanity is at stake

- flicks for screaming

- hand sanitizer in the mouth for potty talk

- using movies as rewards and taking turns choosing

- an empty bottle for just in case

- stickers and surprises up front to pass out when car fever strikes

- maps with the states to follow along and the license plate game (We saw plates from 38 states!)

- nap mats on the floor for mom crawling back and forth

- family stretches and relays during gas and potty breaks

It’s great to be home and I must have gotten some sleep last night because I had everything unpacked and put away within a couple of hours of getting home. There is no feeling like walking into your own house and sleeping in your own bed. Ahhhhhhh

daddy's girl

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Anyone who knows me well knows I am my Daddy’s girl!

We have always had a special relationship and I was thrilled

when I realized that I got to be with him on his birthday!

I feel so blessed to have this incredible man as my father and one of my heroes. He has taught me practicality like how to fix things around the house, spirituality by reminding me what is most important, and how to be a friend by showing me unconditional love, support and encouragement throughout my life.

As I listened to his cell phone ring though out the day with people calling with birthday greetings I realized that he has touched so many lives, but he still makes me feel like I am the most important person in the world to him, besides my mom of course!

At 65 the

silver fox

can still dunk!

I love you Daddy-O!

Thank you so much for all you do for me!!!

uNcLE diRt

We were grateful for the shelter of Oddy (the name of our Honda Odyssey courtesy of Becky) as it poured on the way to see Kevin. He has been training just outside of DC since January, and the kids have been talking about seeing him since he left. The closer we got the more anxious they got! They were ready for wrestling and bull rides and of course Uncle Dirt didn’t let them down!

We filled up with biscuits and fried apples at Cracker Barrel and then went back to the hotel to torture everyone else staying there as they listened to the kids screech, laugh and scream as they each took a turn getting bull rides and wrestling Uncle Dirt! It was so great to see him, but made us miss him even more! We are still recovering from Megan and Kevin moving to Colorado. It was such a blessing to have them living so close while they were here! We were so spoiled, but I foresee some road trips to Colorado in our future...

Eden and Carter had fun duken' it out and we had even more fun watching!

Washington DC

I grew up outside of Atlanta, and of all the times we drove

from there to my grandparents house in Virginia

I somehow missed DC.

I fell in love with the city in 2 hours,

and we only skimmed the surface!

I can’t wait to go back someday when I have more time

(my real camera and a stroller) to see everything!

Pennsylvania Avenue

Lincoln Memorial

Reeses Man that the boys were scared of in front of the
Lincoln Memorial. I know what you are thinking, my kids
should know better than to be scared of chocolate!

Washington Memorial

Eden is crying because she is tired of walking.
The sad part is this is the first thing we walked to!


The clouds were moving, so we all got dizzy as we looked up
to the top. Dizzy or...


like it was falling over!
Landon started to cry because he thought we were toast.


Me trying to reassure him we were safe, still just bread.
(At least Eden laughed at my joke.)

View of the Capitol Building from the
Washington Monument-
not bad for a point and shoot camera!


Our lunch break at one of the many hot dog stands that line the streets. My dad gave each of the kids a dollar before we left and all their pockets were burning holes. I lost count of how many times we had to tell them all to put their money back!

I am so proud to live in the good ol’ US of A and to have a history rich with honorable men and women who have contributed so much to our freedom! We covered as much as we could in the few hours we had, but my favorite was the WWII memorial. I couldn’t deny the feelings of awe and gratitude I felt as I walked through it and tried to understand the symbolism of everything. I love the Harry Truman quote that was on a pillar inside the memorial.

I do feel immeasurably indebted. I will never forget!