A Moment...

As parents we make a million little decisions for our kids every single day. And sometimes it's tiring trying to do the right thing or figure out what the right thing is. Sometimes it's easier to go with the flow and give in to their relentless pull on the reigns that we hold. Other times something rises up inside us to say "no, that is absolutely not going to happen" or "yes, you are doing that and that's the end of it". But you never really know how it's working out, do you? Even good kids have attitudes that are less than stellar at times and it's frustrating to figure out how much space to give them and how much freedom and which decisions are going to be left up to them. Because there are decisions that we have to let them make.

Until your grown kid thanks you wholeheartedly for the way you raised them. When they express gratitude that you made them open a savings account and that you trust them to drive and that you encourage them to prayerfully take risks and you taught them to be an adult. Then you know that you did ok and that all those hours of prayers and tears and tough love and well, just regular love too, brought about the result you were working for all along. Not that it's over. I'll never stop being her mom but in time I'll step into more of an advisor and friend role rather than the raising her role. In some ways I wish we could go back. There are things I wish I did better but I'm also very thankful for the husband God gave me. And the dad he gave Amanda. He's raised her for more than half her life now. And I know she wouldn't be who she is without the father role he filled in her life. And I'm just very thankful and very, very blessed.

Stuff...

Apparently painting for fun agrees with me. I've felt so inspired lately and I even finished a painting. And I am completely happy with how it turned out. I might do some minor tweaking but other than that I'm signing it varnishing it and I'm done. I might even do a pear series or something. They're fun to paint, it hardly takes any time at all, and they're *green* so it's a win-win-win. Except I did buy a red pear once that I intended to paint so maybe I'll do a red one too. And in other things artsy related- drumroll please....Amanda has been invited to attend The New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts. Um, yeah, wow! IN NYC!!! The thought right now is for her to attend their summer session next summer. So my kid could be spending a month next summer in NYC! I'm so excited for her. She'll be spending about the same amount of money as she did for AMTC but it covers her room and it's in a fabulous city. So, nothing is set in stone right now but she is applying.

And I wanted to add this just because it's funny. Apparently the antibiotics I'm taking are causing me to have very vivid and extremely weird dreams. Let's see- one night I dreamed I had a moustache. The next night I dreamed about talking, biting trout and whitewater rapids. The next night the dream was so bizarre that I won't even type it out- but it concerned people that I went to high school with. And the next night I dreamed that all of the Buttons were in a communist country and were trying to run away. But it was comical, like a musical, and there were car chases and we eventually got out of the country by stowing away on a cruise ship. Because cruise ships often depart from communist countries. But it's keeping me from sleeping well. There's lots of running in all my dreams...so I'm hoping that everything will be back to normal soon.

Stuff...

Whew! The stomach virus is behind us and thankfully nobody else got it. Although I've been fighting a sinus infection all week. It's amazing how things go from 0-60 as soon as school starts. So here's the incredible rundown.

Monday- Chloe didn't go to school because she was really, really weak and looked like a zombie. And I kind of laid around all day because I had a fever and Amanda and I watched a Gilmore girl marathon. I heard the "la-la's" in my head when I went to bed that night- alone because Travis (and Eric) is working on a huge project at work. He got home really late and he might as well have been the tooth fairy because I was out.

Tuesday- I woke Chloe up for school and she promptly started bawling- and bawling and bawling and bawling. I get her up 30 minutes before school starts, which is plenty of time except for the bawling. "I will miss you mommy. I want to stay with you mommy. I don't want to go to school". But we were running out of time so I ended up barking orders at her and we pulled out of the driveway 10 minutes later than I wanted to. We were still on time though and when I opened the van door I hugged her really tight and she fell into me and just started bawling. It's the same feeling I used to have when I worked, although I think I was the one that felt like crying everyday while she ran off to play. Later that morning, Halle and I ran 5 errands and made it back home in time to toss all of the Costco groceries at Amanda to put away while I went to get Chloe. And after I picked Chloe up and Travis got home from work we ran around to 3 more places to look for shoes and to grab Little Caesar's pizza. The big (and only real) downside to starting school in July is that there are very few school supplies out and the selection of running shoes is beyond pathetic. Chloe has worn shoes that are a bit too small all week because we can't find a pair that I feel comfortable with her running in. Tisra suggested Shoe Carnival and while I don't want to spend big $$$ on running shoes I'm going to have to if I can't find some others by this weekend. Chloe's school will be doing a mile run again at the beginning of the year and they'll train for another mile run for the end of the year so she needs some that are functional and not just cute. I was tired. We ate pizza. We went to bed.

Wednesday- School. No crying because we had Life Group but it involved friends and swimming. She got up with an almost smile. She still doesn't hurry though and I have found her lying on the bathroom floor more than once. I was still busy because I had to run Amanda to work, make two key lime pies and a tub o' baked beans for the party that night. We really had fun but I didn't swim- I conveniently had a sinus infection. I really do and I feel crummy but it was also the "dreaded-church-swimsuit thing". I should probably buy a "mom-kini". You know, all the mom's have them. Cute little tops with a skirt bottom. I wear a FL bikini, not because I look fabulous in it but because I don't want to have a white stomach. So, anyway, I didn't swim.

Oh and you should insert driving Amanda to work and switching cars with her etc. on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Gaaa!

Today- I took Amanda to work but we left early so that we could go to the mall (awww). She found a pair of jeans that fit her perfectly and she'd been thinking about them for over a week so she knew that she must have them. She also scored a dress that was $80 (maybe) for $7 at Express- she was really, really happy. Then I picked up Chloe from school, brought the girls home and took a 15 minute nap- but I kept waking myself up snoring. Then I went *back* to Cool Springs to pick up Travis so he could leave his car for Amanda to drive herself home. And he took Chloe to orientation so I can fix dinner. I feel like I'm in a race or something.

The really nice thing about Chloe being in school so early is that I'm up earlier and have time to do lots more stuff in the morning like water my plants and run errands. But wow! This is kind of hectic.

I Found It!

I finally found the fabric I was lookin for at the quilting shop in downtown Franklin. I picked up some at JoAnn but it wasn't what I had envisioned. And it was pink and orange and not at all the shabby chic style that Angie is going for. This won't be a perfect match but hopefully it will go with the "spirit" of the room. The quilting store was great. I've never been in one before but they had tons of fabric in every imaginable pattern. They definitely had a better selection for what I wanted. I'd show you a pic of what I picked up originally but my camera is completely dead and it took way too long for me to figure how to post a pic using Amanda's camera and software, etc. but lets just say I won't be keeping it. Looking at it now I'm wondering what I was thinking since I don't even like it.

Halle has battled the flu and won this week. She had a high fever for 3 days and so I took her to the Dr. because that is very unusual for her. But the Dr. said it was the flu and that she was on the other side of it and that there was nothing they could do about it. Which was fine with me because I don't want her to be on antibiotics anyway. It's actually been almost a year since the whole tragic mouth incident when she was on antibiotics. She also has quite the scar on the roof of her mouth. I didn't realize that you could have a scar there. But she's much better health wise and I'm happy because she.was.miserable.

And I got a haircut this week! At a super-awesome salon no less. When I lived in Hendersonville the property manager of the apartment complex that I worked at recommended that I go to Fantastic Sam's because a girl that worked there used to do hair at a department store. It's the one that was Proffit's then Hecht's then Macy's- whatever store it was before Proffits which was before my time. Anyway, I've gone there ever since but since we moved to AL and came back I started letting another girl cut my hair. She's nice and my hair always looks fine but there are always spots that she misses. Plus I was tired of driving an hour and a half round trip to get my hair done- and gas being over $3 a gallon sort of pushed me over the edge. I was hesitant to call them because I got my hair done at Micheline's in Lakeland a couple of times and they were super snooty. When I moved back to Lakeland from PC I called them because just before our wedding I decided to highlight my hair with a cap and hook and ended up bleaching a quarter size spot in the middle of my head. So I called and said I needed to have my hair colored, blah, blah, blah and the not so nice guy on the other end said that they'd have to look at my hair and then decide if they'd color it or not. Seriously? So it was a huge relief when I called and they were really nice. I even asked for an internist (cheaper haircut) and she was excited and said they had an appointment available in 20 minutes. It was totally my lucky day- blessed day, whatever, I was happy. Then I colored and highlighted it (with some help from Amanda) and it looks pretty good. I'm looking forward to the day when I can afford to have someone else color my hair. It is such a chore and I hate it. Amanda had her hair done the same day by a guy that had cut her hair when she went to get it done for free during the apprentice class that they have. He had to cut quite a bit off because a lot of it was breaking from all of the bleaching she's done to it. All in all I think we're both pretty happy.

And that's a wrap.

OK, It's Just Cold

It could be that we've been spoiled these last few years of mild winter weather but I'm cold. Even the first year we were here and it was really, really cold (highs in the 20's in the daytime) I was OK. Of course I was probably OK because we had lots of snow. But yesterday it was sunny and I have no idea what the temperature was but I was freezing. I took the girls to the park since the poor things haven't been able to go out lately and the mulch was frozen. It wasn't iced over but just frozen together so that it was hard when you walked on it. They didn't seem to mind but I only let them play for about 20 minutes- because I minded.

So what are the Buttons up to lately?

Amanda seems to be up to a lot. I have forgotten to tell pretty much everybody but she was interviewed on the radio last week. Yep. I didn't hear the phone ring when she called so I missed it- drat. But apparently Franklin has a "hometown" radio station and Amanda and an exchange student (that she says speaks 6 languages) were chosen to be interviewed and to tell what they like about their school. Amanda was *supposed* to have been interviewed about Gov. School but apparently the interviewer forgot. *And* she also has the highest GPA at her school which is pretty cool, even though her school is very small. It opens some doors for scholarships that should cover her first year at community college- if that's where she decides to go. She's also made some friends at church *gasp*! Last week Travis made her go to the college group service. She hadn't made any real connections and did not want to go but she went and made a handful of friends, stayed out late that night and went to a concert with them on Tuesday night. It's amazing how quickly things happen sometimes. I'm really glad to see it.

I met with my mentor (for the class I'm taking at church) a couple of nights ago and it was pretty cool. It turns out that she and I have similar life experiences. It's pretty cool how God puts people together. I'm really looking forward to this time of learning and growth.

And since I'm out two nights a week that means Travis is *in* two nights a week. Just he and two little girls that need baths and food and homework help. And it was stressful. He said at one point they were both crying for me and wouldn't get out of the bathtub. It's nice to be loved and it's also nice to have my husband home because I was doing everything- every night- by myself. Did I say that it's nice to be out two nights for a couple of hours all.by.myself? Well, I should have.

Happy Weekend- End

Hmmm, could it be that I totally forgot to blog about taking the girls to see The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything? How could I? It is a super huge deal since Travis and I hadn't taken the girls to see a movie since Pooh's Heffalump movie came out when Halle was just a month or two old. Anyway, Travis had the day off because he was going to do an acting thing that didn't pan out so he had the whole day free. Tisra was kind enough to babysit Halle and Travis and I had a few hours to ourselves. As per usual we had too many things to do here and dropped Halle off about an hour after we planned to. And as per usual we tried to cram too many things into the day so we only had about tow hours together but hey that's two more hours than we've had in a while and we appreciated it so much.

We decided we definitely needed to see a matinee because it costs *a lot* to see a movie these days. So we checked Chloe out of school in time for the 3:15 showing. And just in case you ever want to know the matinee prices are good until 5:59 PM. The movie was very good. The animation was fantastic-amazing-wonderful. I got a little bored at times, but I got a little bored during Ratatouille. But Chloe was plastered to her seat. She declared it the bestest movie ever and was able to get a free movie poster which she personally hung on her wall as soon as we got home. It was a great family time and I was really glad to be able to support Big Idea.

And speaking of movies, Amanda went to see Cloverfield tonight with a friend. I was unsure about her seeing it since she cries like a baby anytime she gets scared- no seriously. She actually ran out of a screening of a film that was done by some of her Gov. School friends. But Travis read the review by Plugged in Mag and was OK with it and said she could go. But I told her she's not allowed to sleep in our room if she gets scared :)

And it seems that my precious Chloe has passed along her illness to me. I was on a really good streak of not getting sick too, so that's a little frustrating. I thought I'd be better by today but no dice, maybe tomorrow. *But* I think I may have ruled out wheat as an allergen or at least an aggravator to my health and well being. I haven't had any bread in at least two weeks and I'm still constantly having sinus issues so I guess I'm allergic to something else- maybe it's my house. Or my cat. I know I'm allergic to my cat. Or maybe it is wheat but I'm allergic to my cat too so I'm not noticing a difference from not eating wheat. So maybe I should go see an allergist and quit bugging you guys about it.

Oh, and another little thing that I forgot to post about is that our Life Group leader called and asked if I was ready to lead worship at Life Group yet. She'd asked me late last year and I told her that I just didn't feel released to do that yet. But the beginning of the year brought some new freedom for me and that includes leading worship. So I'll be leading worship (with Travis) the first Life Group in Feb. I'm excited but I haven't done it in such a long time that I'm not sure I remember how. But since this is a new season for us my hope is that I'll lead worship in a new way as well. I'm also considering playing the piano for one song that I want to do so I'll really need prayer for that. I can play the piano but I don't play as well as some other people *and* I get crazy, crazy nervous. When I was a minister of music I practiced all-the-time. Mostly because in a church of 250 with a choir of 13 there isn't a whole lot to do. But the pianist and organist kept encouraging me to play for a worship service, which I never did. So I think that this intimate setting might be better suited for me to see how it goes. Um, except that we have professional musicians and a manager for a huge Christian band in our group. Hmmm, maybe they won't be there that night? Or maybe I will just practice like crazy and do this for the Lord and trust him to help me.

And for huge, huge news- drum roll please- Halle went to the three year old class today! As you know, she started going to the potty just days before her third birthday. We've had our ups and downs since then; mostly ups. But she had to be completely potty trained before she went to the three's class. So she's been in the two's for at least three weeks in panties and hasn't had a single accident and Travis decided to take her to the three's class today. I was worried that she might be overwhelmed with pottying and a new class but she did completely fine. Actually, she did even better than she has done in the two's class because her new class does projects and other fun stuff. She even told me about Zaccheus climbing the tree tonight and that she had "so much fun" in her new class. With the trouble I've had getting her to go to her class and her all around clingy-ness, her newfound independence has happened pretty quickly. She's a bit mommy-clingy during the day at home but all in all she's doing so much better.

And tonight was Trav's last night at HD. I'm more excited than I though I would be and I'm not nervous- which I thought I would be. Absolutely everything is in God's hands and I am very excited about what He has for us.

And I guess that pretty much sums it up. And now I'm going to crash because I don't feel well. But at least I had a small respite from sitting on the couch watching TV.

So Christmas Was...

Great. After all my thoughts on what Christmas should be about it was really a nice- if not incredibly emotional- holiday. But God provided and our kids got lots of great stuff. We had a nice dinner with the highlight being crab stuffed mushrooms, which only Travis and I will eat. The recipe for the mushrooms turned out a little bland and while I didn't follow the recipe exactly (I didn't have any white wine and Travis won't eat onions so I substituted fresh garlic and cooked them in mojo.) the substitutions should have been enough to flavor them nicely but wasn't. Some salt and lemon juice made them tasty enough. I think that the recipe is a good starting point though. Maybe a stronger cheese would help. Asiago perhaps? I'll work on it.

Travis was home for 3 whole days although we were so busy it didn't feel like it. The majority of Christmas Eve was spent with us trying to figure out what to get the girls. We always get them practical things with a couple of toys thrown in. But God was really putting it on my heart to get them what they wanted instead of what they needed. So we bought toys. And it was really fun because we never do that. During the year I sometimes I buy a Color Wonder book and markers for them and maybe for their birthday but not during the rest of the year. It's partly out of necessity and partly because they don't need any toys. So it was really a blessing for Travis and I to see how much enjoyment they were getting out of their new toys. And as an added bonus Target had already put a lot of their toys on clearance. I was very surprised but we got a robot dog for Chloe that was half price. And it was officially declared her favorite toy of the day! She also got an easel which is chalk board on one side and white board on the other with clips that you can attach a large piece of paper to for painting. It has survived the initial excitement (unlike the robot dog) and she and Halle play with it every day. We were planning on getting a bigger ticket item for Amanda but in talking to her she declared all of our ideas impractical (seriously) and said she just wanted clothes. And all the clothes I picked out for her were promptly taken back to the store. Just wait ladies, it's coming. I miss the days when my style was Amanda's style.

And for the first time in several years we were at home for Christmas. I have said that I don't want to travel for the holidays, that I want to establish our own traditions for our kids, that it's too stressful, etc. But I'm not completely sure about that now. Because Lakeland holds a lot of Christmas traditions and memories for Travis, Amanda and I. I know some families travel every Christmas and some rarely do and we've been the "every Christmas" family but maybe there's some happy medium there. Or maybe we should just go to FL for Christmas (especially if my parents end up moving back there because we could be with all of our family for Christmas) and that would leave the other times of the year for us to vacation somewhere else. It was nice but I did miss our families.

I have painted quite a bit lately since my present from my parents was an easel. I'll post some pictures later. This is a new computer though and I haven't taken the time to set everything up for picture posting. Two of the paintings are for people and one person hasn't seen hers yet so I can't post that one- which I hate because I'm really liking all three that I've painted lately. Thankfully one is not intended for anybody so I get to keep it! I just have a teensy bit of touch up left so I'm going to try to post that one soon.

OK, I'm done typing now.

I Probably Shouldn't Post When I'm Grouchy

But today I'm not grouchy so hopefully this post will be more cheerful than the last. I woke up this morning with the girls, letting Travis sleep because he was up a couple of times last night for work related things. I was so tired though, my legs felt like lead and I was freezing. Apparently I've come down with something. I refuse to stress out about it though. I'm doing what I can to stay healthy but I've had 3 sick kids in the house this week so I'm not blaming myself this time.

As I said in my last post, Chloe hates school. I suppose I should have said that she intermittently hates school. She has begged me to take her temperature and she jumped up and down and shouted when we found out that she did, in fact, have a temperature. But after she missed Thursday she woke up without a fever on Friday and I was going to take her but I called the school office and they said I should probably keep her out one more day. She was happy and we spent a little time at the park with friends and had a great day. I've been praying about the school situation since before Chloe started saying she wanted to stay home with me and I have definitely felt that God has something different for her. But without any open doors there really isn't anything I can do. I think I would like for her to do the academy at church. It seems like the perfect blend of school time and at home time but I think that God would have to do some changing in me to make me the home school mom I should be- not to mention the finances. It really breaks my heart to see her struggling so much with something she thrived at last year. Our house is an emotional one these days.

Amanda is struggling with her first big breakup and is moping around the house quite a bit. They're still friends but it is not the same- apparently. It's kind of tough for me too because you get attached to "the boyfriend" too and then they're not around, ugh. It's not like I wanted them to stay exclusive forever because Amanda has some big decisions to make in the near future that need to not include a boyfriend but I hate to see them hurting so much. I didn't' like dating when I did it and I really don't like it for her.

So, with this wonderful weather we're having I have been dying to get out of town. At the very least we're going to go to B'ham to visit my parents but I'd love to take an actual vacation. Travis wants to go to the beach since he hasn't been in years, 3 1/2 to be precise but I'm doubtful that we'll be able to. But it did make me think of a place I used to go with my parents. Every year from the time I was born until I was in college we used to visit each set of grandparents in the summer. One week in B'ham, one week in Booneville, AR. No really, it was much more fun than it sounds ;) But one year a guy from my Dad's work told him about a little cabin he'd bought in Franklin, NC, that he planned to retire there but he'd rent it to my Dad for $35 a night- or something like that, it was cheap anyway. The cabin wasn't spectacular but it was clean and had a two story porch that overlooked a great stream. You could sit on the porch in the morning in July and it would be in the 50's. It was surrounded by a national park and felt very secluded. There were waterfalls and hiking trails, kayaking and white water rafting. The little road leading to the cabin seemed treacherous with a gorge 200 feet below the road. But the town was relaxing and not too tourist-y. Of course, there are gem mining outposts promising the "big one" but there aren't tacky T-Shirt shops everywhere. A bit farther up the mountain road is the beautiful resort town of Highlands. It is a charming mountain town that is quite a bit pricier accommodations-wise than Franklin but is an easy drive and is something you wouldn't want to miss. So if you'd like a vacation in the mountains that is centered on outdoors-y type stuff I highly recommend the area and here are some more links: recreation- I've been down the Nantahala and it was tons of fun BUT the kids have to be at least 60 pounds to go so you'd need to vacation with family or close friends and swap the kids off. Vacationing here is actually what made me determined to live in the mountains after I graduated from college- you didn't know that did you? Accommodations Highlands- I've seen Harrah's Cherokee advertised a few times and in my opinion you'd be better off skipping it altogether. It's not that close to the area and unless you love tacky tourist traps and gross exploitation of Native Americans I wouldn't waste the time. Accommodations Franklin- unfortunately I don't have any written info on the place we used to stay. I could find it again but that would require driving there and the guy that owns it has since retired there so it's not an option. I'm pretty sure I'd be disappointed if we didn't stay in the same area. This one looks similar though and is surrounded by the national park which makes me think it is in the same area. And so ends my informative post on something most of you weren't even thinking about but I got some of my own research done and blogged at the same time so I feel productive.

Why Oh Why...

am I up so late blogging? Well, because my husband is working late (again) and Chloe has a sore throat and fever which means I will not be up at the crack of dawn to take her to school and so I don't have to go to bed early. Of course, Halle will not sleep any later and I'll still have to get up with her but I don't sleep well if Travis isn't here anyway so I might as well stay up.

I suppose I don't have that much to write about. It isn't that stuff isn't going on here it's just not stuff that I want to take a long time to blog about. For instance, Amanda broke up with her first "real" boyfriend. She's sad, he's crushed. It's just not that feel good stuff that everyone wants to hear about. Chloe hates school and is begging to home school. Travis works a lot. I'm babysitting again- he's a super-cutie and his Mom and I are becoming friends. That's kind of exciting. I guess the only "real excitement" I have is watching Design Star. I voted for Kim. She wasn't the best designer on the show but she was the best out of the final two. I actually dreamed I was in the final two on Design Star- it was the best dream I've had in quite some time. It definitely beats out the "teeth falling out" dream that I had a couple of nights before that. I really should get a life.

But I thought I'd share a recipe I love, love, love. It's basic buttermilk pancakes with several variations. I have only made the orange chocolate chip variety and they are amazing! The recipe calls for grated orange rind but I haven't had oranges on hand and Travis hates the bitterness whenever I put rind into anything (I know it's bitter if you get to the white pith but I'm not talking about that) he complains of the bitterness so I put a couple of capfuls of orange extract into the mix (two capfuls for a doubled recipe it's probably close to a tsp. but you could certainly add less or more depending on your taste) and it tastes very much like a chocolate orange; the kind you buy at the store that's wrapped in foil that you whack on the counter. They're super-rich but very, very yummy. I highly recommend them for a Saturday morning with the family.

She's In!!!

Well, Amanda was just accepted to a different High School today. She only has to take two classes for the rest of the semester instead of 8 (obviously she didn't need all of them). So today is her last day at FHS. I'm sure there will be dancing in the streets this evening. Her new school has a completely different philosophy of education and is much more laid back. She can also do dual-enrollment at the local community college but we need to hurry if we're going to make that happen. So if you read this before 2:30 you'll know before she does!

Are You So Desperate You Have To Pose Behind Muffins?!?...

Asked Travis to Amanda, an incredulous tone in his voice. And I laughed, hard.

I made these yummy cherry muffins last night from this recipe. It calls for blueberries but since I'd pitted about 3 pounds of cherries I wanted to put them in something. And since my sweet little (fever-running) Halle asked in a pitiful little voice for muffins I decided it would be muffins. I must confess though that I've never actually made muffins from scratch before. When I was in High School I made the Martha White paper package ones with the blueberry "pellets", which are made from figs- who knew? And then I graduated to the boxed kind with the "real Maine Blueberries" in a can. I do make a lot of things from scratch, actually a lot more than when Travis and I first got married but I mostly rely on boxed cakes and muffins. Which is probably because I don't bake that often and the kids always scarf them up within a couple of hours. But I was box-less last night and I wanted to use some of the fresh cherries. My only issue with the recipe is the struesel. The muffins don't necessarily need it but if you're going to have struesel my feeling is that it should be substantial. I added a handful of oatmeal to the mix which helped but if you really want a struesel muffin you should double what the recipe calls for in addition to the oatmeal. I won't go so far to say that I'll never make boxed ones again because they work in a pinch but this is a great recipe.

We Have How Long?

I was checking out SEU's website yesterday and happened to look at the FAQ's and found out that Amanda's application has to be submitted by November 1! That's-only-5-months-away! I actually broke down and started crying when I saw that. Why haven't we looked at this stuff sooner? What was I thinking?!? Of course you have to turn that stuff in early. You need to plan- the school needs to set aside your dorm room. You have to make sure the money is there-they have to make sure the money is there. Wow. This time next year we will (most likely) be getting my baby girl ready for her first year of college. I really though that since Nashville is a college town surely we'd find one close by and she could just live here and commute and I suppose that isn't out of the question. But now I feel behind and I hate to have to play catch-up on something like this. Sigh.

Catching Up

There really is a lot of stuff going on here and I just haven't taken the time to post about it so here it goes all at once:

Amanda is done with school for the year and is officially a senior! She has 18 days at home (I think) before she heads off to Governor's School. She is also in a fashion show this week at Centennial Park. If you'd like to go just let me know- I know she'd love to have as many friends and "family" there as possible.

Chloe's last day of school is tomorrow and is a "half day". Can you consider 2 hours of school a half day? It's kind of annoying to drop her off and then come right back and pick her up but at least the school is only a few minutes away. She had her last field trip yesterday at Pinkerton Park- 5 hours of unstructured playtime- wow! I really think it would have been better if they'd planned games and things because I was there for a while and the kids were sitting in the shade, sweating, and looking miserable. Chloe had a great time though and was super-excited to have gone on her first bus ride. And I don't know what plans you other Mom's have for the summer but I know that some area movie theaters have free movie days (I don't know about the one here) and maybe we could plan to go together sometime. I'm also hoping for a few library days and Pinkerton Park is fairly shaded to if we go early it might be cool enough. I'm all for wearing the tikes out in the morning so I can have a couple of hours to myself in the afternoon. I hate to say it but having all of the girls at home during the day is going to be a bit of an adjustment but I'm looking forward to having a great time with them.

So I finally finished one fan blade and have started on the second. It really doesn't take long and the last two blades will be really easy because I'm just painting the flowers on them but it's difficult to get to because Halle is constantly trying to stick her fingers in the paint. Then if I do it at night Chloe wants to help but I definitely want to get it finished in the next week. I'm also working on painting the living room. I've had a little bit of luck finding some $5 oops paint at Lowe's so I'm tackling the living room and the kitchen and Tisra gave me some leftover paint from Lael's room so I need to do the girls room as well. The difficulty is clearing the room and spackling and sanding. When we clear the room there is hardly a space to put things and every time I think I'm done with spackling and sanding I find more termite damage. I found a good bit to the right of the front door frame that had been covered with scotch tape and paint! Seriously- SCOTCH TAPE! I find it very difficult at times to not resent the former owners. So anyway, the living room color is called "angel" but I have no idea if they messed up on it or if the people that bought it just didn't like it. But even though I'd planned on going with a slate blue color I really like the stone/sage-y color that it is. I hope it's not too dark. I plan on lightening it up with floor to ceiling light blue curtains (that my Mom and I are working on next week!) and silver accents. And I really think it hardly matters what the color is as long as we paint it something. Our house doesn't feel comfortable at all and it's very stressful so I think a coat of paint will make a huge difference.

I've wanted to post this week but it seems like I'm just too busy to get to it. And now that I've gotten to it I smell that Halle has a diaper issue- it's just been like that this week.

My parents came in this past weekend for Amanda's birthday (which is actually today) and we had a nice visit- except for Halle. She was sick and really just acted- well really bad. There were fits and tantrums and crying and fits....gaaa! Halle has a strong personality, there's no denying that but this was so incredibly out of character for her. I've never seen her act like this before. On Monday she seemed better but after she got up from her nap she screamed and screamed and screamed (50 minutes-no joke!). I held her- or tried to- I sang to her, cradled her and took her outside. Taking her outside always works but this time she just screamed, "go inside, go inside!". I finally distracted her with some flowers and we played outside for about an hour and the end of the evening was pleasant. Yesterday she seemed better but she complained a couple of times about her ear hurting. I thought that the ear drops I've been using must not be working and that I'd probably have to take her to the doctor. So last night after her bath I asked Travis to put her ear drops in and a few minutes later he called for me to come into the bedroom to look at her ear. It turns out she had a piece of cotton jammed into her ear canal. She had pushed it so far into it that you had to use a flashlight to actually see it. Wow, that explained some things! So I held her down while Travis used a tiny pair of tweezers to fish it out. She was crying and saying "Ow, ow!" and "thank you Daddy!". I-felt-awful. After that she was laughing and playing and jumping around the room- my sweet-feisty little girl was back! She was just the same this morning and I am so thankful.

I've worked on the sunflowers some more and am almost finished. I just need to fill in a little bit more and seal it, I'm actually ready to be done with it and move on to something else. I did have to fix a bit of a mishap though. Halle got some of the leftover paint when I wasn't looking and painted a huge patch of white, yellow and green on the canvas. Thankfully I was able to wipe some of it off and paint over it in the ultramarine that I used as the base color. It made the blue darker than I wanted it but it still looks OK.

So tonight will be another birthday dinner and cake for Amanda and we'll be grilling out for the very first time- fun, fun, fun! OK, now I'm off to fix that diaper issue of Halle's....

"Oh, oooohhhh my eaw huwts, help meeee!" That is the pitiful little cry I heard from the back seat this morning after Halle and I dropped Chloe off for school. She's been sick since Saturday and I've not taken her to the Dr. because she just got off antibiotics and I wanted to wait it out. And now since I know that she has an ear infection I'm more determined to wait it out. Last summer I got some ear drops from the health food store for Chloe and put those in her ear 4 times a day and made sure to give her some Ibuprofen every 6 hours for the pain and she was over it in two days. Halle is watching "de-de-Dowa" (that's how she asks for Dora) right now and has had ear drops and Ibuprofen and seems to be content-yay.

I am REALLY feeling better today. I feel better than I have in close to a month so there are tons of things I want to get done and none of them include watching TV. It's been very frustrating to be sick so often but I know that God is bringing healing and restoration to our house and even though it hasn't manifested itself yet I know it's happening. So, I'd like to vacuum and wash the van. It's so big that I usually take it through the car wash but since the weather is warmer I think it could use a good hand washing. I'd like to work on Chloe's fan blades some more, the problem is that it's not something that I can rush if I run out of time and I hate having to stop painting if I'm on a roll. I think if I was able to have my paints out all the time I would just always be painting. It's like blogging though- if I don't do it regularly I lose inspiration and am not willing to just paint anything.

Amanda really liked the fan blade I did for the girls and I'm thinking of painting something for her birthday. I just don't know if I have the ability to paint what's in my head. I'd like to do and abstract of her- black hair/wild eyeshadow. I haven't begun to tackle faces yet and while it wouldn't look like a photograph of her (abstract you know) I would like for it to not look like a blob. My other idea is crazy simple and would match her bedroom- so I'll fool around with both things and see what I can come up with. There is also tons of cleaning that needs to be done- since I've only done what we absolutely needed to survive lately. I don't want my parents to think they're in a dump. And I need to try to tack down the 15 or so tiles that are popping up on the floor. Bargain tiles aren't always a bargain. Sooo, I'm afraid I shall have to make a list. I don't like living by lists because I don't like to be told what to do- even by myself- so pathetic and I really need to get over that. But I watched a show the other night about a lady that had a set of twins and then had a set of sextuplets! So she has 8 small children to take care of. Now if that was me our house would be in utter chaos. But she had lists and schedules and was so organized. It was truly amazing. I think that I will have to take baby steps toward something like that though.

So for today I will make a list of the most important things that I feel like I can get done today. As it is right now I look at everything that needs to be done and I start doing it all at once. I don't finish one thing before I start in on another thing that catches my eye and forget about the first thing, then I remember the first thing while in the middle of the second or third thing, and the kids are yelling and getting into things and I feel the stress right in the middle of my chest. I actually feel more stressed at times here than I did at my last job. I don't think that's healthy or necessary so I'm going to have to change- change is hard.

I'd also like to get a Pilates session in today because my muscles feel very stiff and it's relaxing. A walk would be nice too....I should get to that list.