Back in a few...

Between birthdays and beach trips and basic life right now, we are piled sky high! I will be back to posting in a few days...

I Know You're Lazy

Last week I posted lyrics to the song "Undo" by Rusho of Fools. I told you people to go find it on Itunes and listen to it but I know most of you didnt! So, because I think it is such a powerful song and really wanted to share it with you...I found it on YouTube and am posting it today. Click. Listen. Send a comment and let me know what the song means to you. Don't leave me hanging here people...I know I'm not the only one out there that needs to sing this prayer.

Chick Lit for the Beach Trip

We just got back from the library. Tuesday morning is preschool story time and today was PACKED!~ Just as I was about to say, "sorry kids- no parking places," a man walked to his car to leave. Darn. I admit the library isn't my favorite place to go but I am trying to fake it with the kids...and it seems to be working. They actually like to go. After we served our time in the story room, I browsed for my beach books. I just finished PS- I Love You (this blog won't underline) by Cecelia Ahern. It was good...the basic premise is Holly, a young woman in her late 20s, is widowed when her husband dies of cancer. (The book picks up after his death) Holly finds a package he prepared for her before his death and inside are envelopes for each reaminaing month in the year. Each month Holly opens a new letter from her husband and reads what he wants her to accomplish that month. Some are silly. Some are thoughtful and some are life changing. Although it really wasn't written to be sad, there were parts that made you just ache for this character. I've heard it is being made into a movie. There is some bad language in it but no worse than you'd hear on cable televison. All in all, I enjoyed it and I am not easily entertained by books.

Scan my picture up there and let me know if you have read any of those books. I am basically one of those that DOES judge a book by the cover and I liked these covers. I also got another one of Cecelia's books...and the Sharon Osbourne autobiography because I expect it to be VERY interesting...

Cute..mostly true too!

In the South: --If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for. (and they'll probably invite you to church too!)

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.... do not buy food at this store. (I actually haven't even seen at bait store here yet...)

Remember, "Y'all" is singular, "all y'all" is plural, and "all y'all's" is plural possessive

Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

Be advised that "He needed killin." is a valid defense here.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all watch this," you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.

Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.

I added these....

Ordering "tea" at a restaurant means you'll get sweet tea with enough sugar in it to make your spoon stand up on it's own. YUM!

Anything can and should be fried.

"Fixin to" is a perfectly acceptalbe way to describe where you are fixin on goin and what you are fixin to do there.

Weird Weather

Today's weather has been really strange. I took this picture during a bunch of thunder and lightning...but doesn't the sky look bright and clear? It is the kind of weather that would make you turn on the news if you were in Oklahoma. Here, no big deal. But there...well my mom would be calling to say "get your shoes on." Growing up I always had to have shoes on when it was storming outside. I believe the explanation was that if there were a tornado and the house blew away- at least you would have shoes on your feet. I do miss those April storms in tornado alley. The excitement. The sounds. I miss getting to know our meteorologists. I don't know the name of a single weather guy in Charlotte. We don't watch the weather here. It's always the same. I'm NOT complaining about that by any means but I do miss the way we sat in front of the tv for an hour as Travis or Frank (aw, my Frankie...) would keep us briefed on the tornados and where they were touching ground- complete with video. That's how you make connections with those guys. That's when you build trust and loyalty with one particular station or another. I admit I do laugh at people around here. I laughed when our principal came over the intercom and gave us an excessive heat warning. (It was 90!!) She was thinking those kids were going to pass out during recess!! I also laughed about our mulitple tornado drills that they take VERY seriously here. It's great to plan...really is...but the way those kids were lined down the hallway sure looked like we were just creating a horrific wind tunnel if we actually did have a tornado. In my 4 years at Justus, we never had a tornado drill. Why would we? We had those Pryor hills to protect us...oh and that old Indian legend. What more could we ask for?

I did it!!!

I was just playing around to see if I could get a video on here...and I got it!!! A little Michael Buble...love it. Enjoy.

Remember these?

We had a great time tonight. We celebrated Aaron's birthday with the Hummel's. After dinner at 5 Guys we came back here for some Slip and Slide Fun! Remember these things? Children of the 80s may know them as "wet bananas." They used to always be yellow and have that little banana shaped sprinkler on them. I don't think there was even a nice little pool to land in back in the day. You just knew you were done when you got a mouthful of grass. I personally can count on 1 finger how many times I played on a slip and slide growing up. My mother said they were a "broken arm waiting to happen." We certainly didn't own one and I only got to use it at a friends once. No broken bones. Anyway, I wish my camera hadn't died because it was the funniest thing to watch. They all tried their best to slide fast and hard to reach the pool at the end. All but Andy that is. Andy would walk- like an old man- slow as molasses from one end to the other. The couple times he did actually fall and slide he wasn't too fond of it. Must be the Grandmama in him. What a great night.

Oh, and Mother...don't worry...it's the Hummel's slip and slide. We would never own such a contraption...it's an accident waiting to happen!

My Man Aaron

Middle man turns 8 today. I sat here late last night (never drink coffee after 8 pm) and im'd with my friend Julia in California. I reminded her that exactly 8 years ago we were sitting in front of our computers iming about my contractions and timing them to see if I was in labor. Somewhere around 2 am we decided I was not and it was time to head to bed. I woke up early the next morning full of energy with big plans to go to the grocery store and cook meals to freeze. I even arranged for Maci to stay with friends while I shopped.

However, as I was getting out of the shower I felt that familiar thud- the same thud that happened only 2 hours before Maci was born. My water broke. I quickly finished getting ready- I would not go to the hospital without makeup or dry hair! I made 4 calls.

#1- to the doctors office. I wanted to know if they wanted me to come to the office or the hospital. She kept arguing with me- not believing that my water had broken because I was too collected. The conversation ended rather unpleasant with me deciding I would skip the office and go straight to the hospital.

#2- to my mom. I needed her to drive me the 20 minutes to the hospital. She was a little (alot) flustered about the situation because my dad wasn't home to drive us and she just knew her Cadillac could not make the trip. We'd just have to go by my Grandmamas to pick up her newer Cadillac. Whatever. Be here in 10 minutes.

#3- to my friend that was going to keep Maci....still need you to keep her but I'm not going shopping anymore...

#4- to Brad. This is it. Meet me in L&D at 9:30....do you hear me Brad? Be there at 9:30. Will you meet me there? He assured me he would.

Mother came to get me and we dropped off Maci, traded cars with Grandmama, and almost stopped at the church to beg for someone to drive for her. She isn't big on driving in traffic, in the rain, or under pressure. Today she would have to deal with all three. So when she tried to stop at the church, I told her "NO! We would be fine!" I'm sure I said it nicely though.

About halfway to the hospital, the ride became very very unpleasant. That pain I had forgotten quickly came back to memory. At least I knew Brad would be meeting me there- at 9:30.

As we got close to the hospital I started giving Mother instructions- "Don't leave me. Just let someone park the car for you. This is an emergency. They can park for you. Please don't leave me." She told me she wouldn't.

We pulled up to the ER entrance. A man stuck his head in the car window, saw our apparent emergency, and opened the door for me and told her where to park. She nodded and drove off- leaving me on the curb with a stranger and a wheelchair. The stranger wheeled me up to labor and delivery without a word. At this time I couldn't speak either. All the way up the elevator I kept thinking how Brad would be right there to meet me. Right on the other side of those elevator doors. It was 9:30. The doors opened. Brad wasn't there.

The wheelchair man parked me at the nurses station and left. The nurses looked at me without even getting up. They were waiting on me to speak. I was not able to. When the contraction ended I gave my name and told them my water had broken. They didn't seem to believe me. Why did noone believe me? One nurse informed me I was on the schedule to be induced the following day- I informed her that I would not make that appointment.

Then the best nurse in the world...the charge nurse...looked at me and said, "I'll take her. I bet she goes quick." I nodded- unable to talk again. When I could I told her I delivered my first less than an hour after getting to the hospital and I thought this one would be the same. She nodded in agreement. After getting settled in the room Mother joined us. I had her call Brad for me. He hadn't left work yet. To this day I do not understand WHY! I got on the phone and very politely asked if he would kindly get himself to the hospital. I forget my exact words but I'm sure I was very pleasant about it.

By now my dad had tried to call home several times and then tried my house to realize we must be headed to the hospital. He turned the car around and apparently drove rather quickly because he wasn't far behind us. Between my mom being mad at my dad for not having his cell phone on and me being mad at Brad for not being there, I'm sure the nurse must have thought we were quite a dysfunctional group.

At 10:00 the doctor arrived and the nurse asked me if we were going to try to wait for Brad. Was she kidding? There was no waiting. Right then, Brad came FLYING into the room and my parents went FLYING out. At exactly 10:07 am Aaron Scott Mullins was born. Weighing 6 lbs 13 ounces with just the right amount of strawberry blonde hair...he was perfect.

All in all it went well...we all arrived safely to the hospital...some of us earlier than others...but I don't ever use it against Brad. Really. I rarely remind him of the day he almost missed his first born son's birth. That just wouldn't be right.

Back to Corners

Back to corners...this is a messy corner by the fridge. I brought home all those books from school with good intentions to get a head start on next years planning. Well...you know what road those intentions paved... But since this picture was taken I have cleaned up the corner a little and filled out those Southern Living party invitations sitting on top. I am a sucker for those parties. Every time I do one I say never again because by the time I buy the food and plates and napkins I would have been better off just paying full price for the junk I wanted to get for free by spending 3 times the amount in paper goods! But this time will be different....

Sad for Rosie

I've been reading Rosie's blog- Rosie ODonnel. You know I can't help but like her. If you put aside her personal life and her political views, you have to admit she is a very talented actress and comedian. Her personality on the Rosie Show was fantastic. Do you think she was happy then or was that just really great acting. She isn't acting anymore.

Today's Rosie is full of anger and sadness and just a general sense of being lost. So when I go to her blog and watch those videos she makes and read her entries written in some almost primal poetry form, I can't help but feel for her. She is literally screaming for help and no one helps her. Is there no one in her life that can point her in the right direction? How do you get so rich and so famous that no one will tell you the truth any longer? Surely, someone in her circle must know she is on the verge of self destruction. Actually, it could be argued that she is already self destructing. I know she is lost. I think she may even know she is lost. I just pray for her eyes to be opened.

The link

I know I have reached my quota on preachy posts this week. This is the last one...here is the link for the sermon I was talking about last Sunday. It's a video- yes I know our pastor is young. Yes, he is very young. Take a minute to get over it and then watch this.

Worth your time

I've already linked you to Pastor Furtick's online messages at Elevation and today I want to link you to Blaine Bartels messages. They are also free. Pastor Blaine is the lead pastor for Northstar Church in Frisco, Texas. Before the launch of Northstar, Blaine was the associate pastor at Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK. He also was the founding youth pastor of 180 at COTM. He has written several books- Anyway, there are VERY few (3!) preachers I will listen to online or on CD and Blaine is one of them. If you are a parent you must listen to "5 Absolutes to Pray Over Your Kids." Good stuff.

Happy Fathers Day!

My Daddy

In honor of fathers day, here are some little known

and not so little known facts about my daddy-

1-My daddy is a strong man.

2-He is smart- the kind of smart that people see right away and respect.

3-He is loyal and honest.

4-He is fair but he is just and if you are in the wrong, he'll let you know.

5-He can act really silly- some of you wouldn't believe how silly he can be!

6-He loves his kids. He loves his grandkids.

7-Most of all he loves his wife!

8-He worries more than he lets on.

9-When he checks into a hotel it is almost impossible to find him because you never know what form of his initials and name he used this time- "just for funnies."

10-He is stubborn- very stubborn- and sometimes that can be a very good thing!

11-He passed his stubborness on to all 3 of his kids...some more than others...I think I got the smallest amount of this trait. ;)

12-Every morning he makes breakfast for my mom.

13-He eats cereal late at night.

14-When I was a little girl and would ask for a glass of water at night, he would bring it in, shake the glass gently and call it "cooly."

15-To this day I sleep better when I know he is still up watching TV.

16-Of all the people who exasperate me, I love him the most!!!

Happy Fathers Day Daddy! I love you.

PS- He can fix ANYTHING! (my daddy reminded me that I forgot that one!)

Corners Part 3

Julia says post more corners so here are more! This is a corner in my bathroom- right above the tub. I love this corner for many reasons...

1- My bathroom is really big. That wasn't a requirement by any means when we were house hunting but it has turned out to be one of those blessings I didn't even know to ask for. The 5 of us can be in there getting ready (which usually happens on Sunday mornings!) and still have plenty of room.

2- The tub is a big garden tub with jets. I thought I would use it nightly...I don't...but still...I could!

3- The color of this room is RED. I think it is fantastic!!! With the white trim and the black/white floor it really looks good. Besides the fact that we still need to touch up trim...but it's been 16 months and it hasn't happened yet.

4- The pictures on the wall are from a beach trip to Florida several years ago. I love them but I need to replace them with pics from Sunset this summer. I want to get one of all 3 kids running on the beach since this one was taken preAndy era. I like to have vacation pictures hanging where we see them often. They just take you back.

5- There are french doors leading to the bathroom-which ties in my red comforter with the red bathroom. Red is such a fun color.

6- Because its on the 2nd floor and we have woods behind us, you can leave the blinds open and from the tub you can watch it rain...or snow...except it really doesn't snow here that often...

Julia- are you regretting the request yet??? I hope not because I like sharing my little corners!

Corners of my house part 2

Another corner I am getting ready to use quite a bit is the coffee corner! Somehow at school this year I got addicted to my morning cup of coffee- 2 creams (the vanilla kind!) and 2 sugars. Now that school is out I will be making my own java here at the house. The canister there was Grandmama's. She used it for coffee but I have my sugar in it. I love seeing it on the counter- always reminds me of "Sunday Morning Coffee" there with the family. My mom, dad, aunts, uncle, and a various assortment of cousins would meet at Grandmamas every Sunday morning to drink coffee, read the paper, and most importantly to visit. What a neat tradition. We didn't go every week but there was comfort in knowing that it was going on and we were always invited.

Corners of my house

Today I have been swapping out knick knacks and moving furniture to spice things up a little. I have some unfinished corners...collections that need to be finished, projects that need touched up, and some like nooks I really adore. Here is one of the little corners I love. It's just my kitchen window- but here I have a picture of my sweetie and me, my favorite family picture taken at Sunset beach, a bell that we got at the auction held at our Claremore house before we moved in (sentimental value), and a really neat little working mom figurine Brad's mom gave me when Andy was born...perfection with the little girl and 2 boys in it. Just a simple little area but so much meaning and so many memories. These are the corners that make a house a home.

Time to close up shop

DISCLAIMER!!!! Todays post is a little shop talk so if you have no interest in the ins and outs of kindergarten teaching/class dividing, you will want to just skip todays blog and try again tomorrow.

In going over the calendar today I discovered that I don't have Kindergartners until September 4th- that is the Tuesday AFTER Labor Day!!! Wonderful News! Today we divided up all this years kiddos into 8 classes for the 1st grade team. We try to separate discipline problems and make sure each class has an equal number of highs, mediums, and lows. Of course we also want the boy/girl ratio to be good. This really seems like a great way to do it. We do the same thing with our Kindergarten kids before classes start in the fall...we get the kids in groups of 50 for our staggered days. Each student is assessed and also watched for behavior issues. Cards are written up on each student. After we have seen them all we take the cards and do the same type of piles that we did today for the 1st grade team. When we have made 7 classes that we are each happy with, we leave the room and our Principal assigns a teacher to the class. How acurate are our first day observations---VERY! I kept the cards and went back through at the end of the year to see who we had marked as high, med, low and who we starred for possible behavior issues. With the exception of 2 kids, we were RIGHT ON!

One last thing, keep all this info on the DL- these cards...they are top secret. If you ask me about them in public, I will probably deny their existance. ;)

Undo

Todays favorite worship song is "Undo" by Rush of Fools. I'm listening to it right now and it goes along very well with Pastor's sermon this morning. He was preaching about disobedience. Jonah 1:1-6 was the text. Go watch it for yourself from the Elevation website. My disobedience is usually tied to fear or worrying. Although we might consider those things "normal or not 'that bad'- it's all the same to God and it's all wrong. Lack of faith can certainly result in lack of action. Lack of action can and usually does lead to disobedience. What action has God called you to that you haven't dove into? Maybe you did dive in but are still trying to hold on to the side- gotta tread water on your own --just in case God lets go. I think that's me. I'm sure God knows what He's doing but I still have this desire to control as much as possible. That may not look like disobedience at first glance- but it is! These are the lyrics to "Undo" and my prayer...

"I've been here before. Now here I am again. Standing at the door, praying you'll let me back in. To label me a prodigal would be only scracthing the surface of who I've been known to be.

Turn me around. Pick me up. Undo what I've become. Bring me back to the place of forgiveness and grace. I need You. I need Your help. I can't do this myself. You're the only one who can undo what I've become.

Focused on the score that I can never win. Trying to ignore a life of hiding my sin. To label me a hypocrite would be only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be.

Turn me around. Pick me up. Undo what I've become. Bring me back to the place of forgiveness and grace. I need You. I need Your help. I can't do this myself. You're the only one who can undo what I've become. Make every step lead me back to the soverign way.

Turn me around. Pick me up. Undo what I've become. Bring me back to the place of forgiveness and grace. I need You. I need Your help. I can't do this myself. You're the only one who can undo what I've become.

Itunes & Lincoln Brewster

I spent a good portion of the morning on Itunes looking for songs. Lincoln Brewster has some fantastic worship music out there. Alot of what we sang at COTM was Lincoln Brewster- with a good mix of Chris Tomlin and Hillsong as well. So, if you have an ipod...or even if you don't...go to itunes and download a little Lincoln Brewster. My favorites of the day are You Are Good and Amazed. Check them out.

New Found Fun!

I just posted Andy's Mickey Mouse toddler bed on the Charlotte Craigslist. No, this isn't a sappy post about Andy growing up. It is about a possible new addiction- that Craigslist could be very very fun! It's sorta like ebay without the hassle of shipping.....a garage sale without the nasty early morning hours......goodwill without the tax write off......guess that one isn't such a great comparison. Anyway......What else could I get rid of? With summer JUST around the corner and my new found *spare time* the kids better hang on tight to their toys. Something tells me things could start "disappearing" around here......