Have You Seen It?

My brain? I seem to have lost it. Keep your eyes peeled! It has to be around here somewhere!

Today I got gas in my van. I swiped the gift card (yes, I do buy the gift cards just to get the .03 cents off per gallon!) and it told me what my card balance was. Then, nothing. I figured it was done. I stood there for a second then got in my van to drive off. All of a sudden there was some lady knocking on my window. I felt like I was gonna throw up! She was very nice though. She said the machine just hadn't been working right and she needed to swipe it in the store.

I felt terrible that I almost stole that gas! I can see the headlines now "Mother of 2 arrested today for stealing gas in her mini van", oh dear! Needless to say, I did pay for the gas. I also apologized about 100 times. You would think I was having a terrible day! Oh how looks can be deceiving!

Sometimes you just don't have it together, no matter how good of a day it is. My kiddos have both been amazing today. I even got to take a shower, dry my hair and put on make up. Yep, a great day indeed! I have been hugged countless times, kissed repeatedly and gazed at with some sweet little eyes. My devotional was great, our morning Bible time was excellent and our play time has been so fun. I am so glad that our good days outweigh our bad. Hearing Jayce laughing and Lula Mae saying "I love you Mom" just make all the bad days drift far, far away. I have so much to be thankful for!

So, if you see my brain, tell it to come home!

Letters Of Intent

Happy Friday everyone! What a week it has been, and what a weekend we have ahead of us! It's going to be a long one for us! Lets get the weekend kicked off right with some Letters of Intent! Be sure to visit Julie's blog for more great letters!



Dear Body,

Thank you for your cooperation with the whole loosing weight thing. We aren't quite there yet, but we are closer than we were, so I'm happy. One quick thing. Is there any way you could learn to live off of less sleep? It would really help me out if you could. I would be able to get so much more done if you did. I think it would eliminate this whole feeling exhausted thing. So not cool. Plus, when you are tired, could you just fall asleep? If you are that tired why do you feel it necessary to toss and turn? You are killing me! You have two choices really. Learn to live off of 4 hours of sleep, or quit with the whole insomnia thing! Really, I'm sick of looking like I have two black eyes. Work with me here!

Love,

Your Owner Who Can Hardly Hold Her Eyes Open

*************************************************************

Dear House,

I'm sorry I have neglected you. I know you need to be vacuumed, trust me I do. The vacuum kicked the bucket this week. Trust me, next month a vacuum is top of the list in the necessities budget. I promise! This month, however, I am going to beg and borrow. I am sure someone will lend me a vacuum so that I can get you looking to your old self again. Plus, I know you need dusting. I can't tell you the duster broke.... becaue I am still in working condition. All I can say is.... I"M TIRED! Plus my OCD will not allow me to dust before I vacuum. I just can't! I tried, I really did...... but I started to feel nauseous thinking about how the vacuum was just going to make it all dusty again!!!!! *breath* Sorry.... It is as hard on me as it is on you, okay? So cut me a little slack. I just took 4 bags of stuff to Salvation Army. That should make you happy. Just know that I love you and will resume my normal Hitler cleaning as soon as I can.

Love,

Your OCD Owner Who Is Screaming On The Inside Because Your Carpet Is Not Fluffy!!!!

House Rules

After our last behavior incident, I decided it was time to post some house rules. I know, we should have had them posted long ago, but I'm a slacker. Ok, I'm really not a slacker. I just haven't sat down long enough to think out what rules were "postable" for Lula Mae's age. You try to sit down and think of just a few simple rules, that a child can understand and cover all the basis. It's tougher than I thought! So, after about 45 minuets of brainstorming, I came up with these:

Bell House Rules

1. Listen and obey Mommy and Daddy, and other adults
2. Play nicely, share and treat others the way you want to be treated.
3. Keep your things neat and clean.
4. Be helpful to others. Always be joyful about serving others.
5. Always use your manners and be respectful of others and their belongings.
6. Never argue, complain, or blame. Do all things with a smile on your face and joy in your heart.
7. Never hit, kick, throw, bite, yell, whine or fight. Always try to be like Christ.
8. Ask God to help you follow His rules and our family rules every day.

Always practice JOY… Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.

Originally I wanted to keep it to 5 rules. That was impossible. I just couldn't get all of that in 5 rules. So we have 8. We actually have more, but I consider those "guidelines". We will keep our rules posted in the playroom for all to see. I will also be posting a bible verse with each of them (maybe not #3.... unless someone can find me a verse about being clean! That would be fabulous!). Our "guidelines will be printed out and framed. They will probably be hung in the living room or kitchen area, somewhere that we will all see them daily.

What do you think about our rules? Do you and your family have rules? Are they posted? How do you enforce them? I would love to know! I love to hear how other Christan parents deal with discipline!

True Story Tuesday

Let's go back...... way back....... back to spring of this year.....

It was a nice day outside so Charlie and I decided to take Lula Mae out and about. There is a neat place in our town that has a train you can ride, animals you can feed, swings, a slide, fields you can roam. It's always quiet, always nice. (Heather I can almost feel you getting excited at the story I am about to tell.... you're laughing already and I haven't even started!)

I was roughly 8 months pregnant, perhaps a little less. Needless to say, I was bag. Quite round with lovely swollen ankles. We all walked down to the little pier to see the fish. Lula Mae was really enjoying herself. She though the fish were neat. Then she saw the ducks.

How exciting! We love ducks!

Oh look they are swimming our way! They are honking like crazy! Why are they flapping their wings like that?

Hey look, they are gonna come and see us on the pier!

Wait.... why are they running? Why are they honking?

(Charlie quickly picks Lula Mae up and begins to get away from the pier)

Get away duck! Ouch! (I begin running) It's biting my ankle. Ouch! Stop! Babe get it! Make it stop chasing me!

(Picture me, big and pregnant, running up a hill, screaming like a little girl, trying to get away from two evil ducks.... all while Charlie is laughing his head off.)

Finally I got up to the covered picnic area (still being chased, by the way), rushed into the bathroom and locked the door. ('cause the ducks are gonna try and open the door and all!).

As I stood there, out of breath, terrified.... I could still here them right outside the door. I waited a few seconds. I peaked out the door. Oh good, they are walking away.

Here come Charlie, holding Lula Mae, laughing hysterically. He literally was standing like 3 feet away from the ducks the whole time. They cared nothing about him. They were after me.

Why? I have no clue. Why we didn't have a video camera is the real question! That was our $10,000 video folks, and we missed it. Geeze! I can tell you one thing, duck meat tastes pretty good. No, I didn't eat those ducks, but I have had duck before. And I did kinda want those ducks dead..... sorry ducks, but it isn't nice to chase pregnant women!


Be sure to head over to Once Upon A Miracle for more True Story Tuesday!

5 Months And Counting

Today Jayce is 5 months old. I feel as though I just delivered him and brought him home from the hospital. Does his face in this picture not say "Who me?". He is a cutie pie! Although I may be a little bit biased ;-)

Hesitation... Count To Ten.... Take A Deep Breath... Pray

I am very hesitant to share this with you all. I feel as though I do not share about Lula Mae's good days, only the bad ones. Bad is a harsh word.... her tough days. So this post is very hard to write. It is hard because I know how good Lula Mae can be and it hurts to see her disobey and make poor choices.

Our parenting strategy is - praise 90% of the time and discipline 10% of the time. We believe that praising a child, even for little things, builds them up. We want to build our children up, not break them down with constant discipline. it is important for your children to feel as though you notice the good things they do, and not just the bad. If you always react to their bad behavior, you can rest assure that they will notice. They will begin to behave negatively simply because they know you will notice and react. If you react to their good behavior they will also notice and their behavior will react in much the same way. Although we don't want to break our children down with discipline, there are moments when discipline is necessary.

Last night it was necessary.

This is Lula Mae's shelf... empty. The only things left are her Bible lessons, word cards and books.

This is her toy box... empty. Not a single toy. Where are all of her toys you ask?


Right here, in the closet. Yep, every single toy she has is in the closet. This is where they will stay for today. Perhaps tomorrow. It just depends on her.


I asked her nicely to clean up before bed last night. I asked twice. Nothing. Then I asked her one last time. She began to whine and tell me to clean it up. My blood pressure began to rise. I popped her. She cried and whined more. I sat with her and asked her to please clean up. She continued to disobey. Our dance continued for a few minutes. Might I add that we had company over watching this lovely display of parenting. Yep, rub a little salt in that wound. Then she swat at me. My blood pressure spiked to the point that I am pretty sure smoke was coming out of my ears. I then began to put all of her toys in the closet. Every last one of them. I told her that when she learned how to clean up she could have some toys back. She cried. Bedtime was tough due to this fabulous display. Folks, it's gonna be a long day.

How is it that a little girl who is so loving, smart, joyful, kind hearted and appreciative behave like this? I feel as though sometimes she is a stranger in our house.

I don't know that I handled the situation the best, but it is in the past now and there really is nothing I can do about it. Just ask Rafiki...

Yes I did just link a very serious parenting post to a Lion King scene. Don't you realize I have Disney running through my veins? Where do you think Lula Mae gets it? Anyhoo....

Many times I think Lula Mae's moods change with the weather. like Rafiki said, change is good. Change means she is growing, learning and developing. However, like Simba said, change isn't easy. Especially not toddler changes. I know that dealing with Lula Mae's tough day's is not exactly like being whacked in the head with a stick by a monkey, but it sure does feel like it sometimes. I hope that with every whack of the stick, I learn. I want to learn how to be a better parent. I want to be sure to parent the way that God wants me to. God is trusting my husband and I to raise Lula Mae and Jayce for Him. That's just a little bit of pressure to never give up and do the right thing, not the easy thing. The right way is never the easy way. I love my children so much. I have to say, our good days with Lula Mae far outweigh the bad, and although I enjoy the good days, I appreciate the bad ones. They remind me how much I need Him. I hope I never feel so confident in my parenting that I forget that I need Him to help me every singe day.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. -Colossians 3:20

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. -Proverbs 23:13-14