A River Runs Through It

Grab your rain boots, get the canoe and oars, cause we are about to float away down the river of dreams that is currently flooding our yard.



If you have live in America, and you ever watch the news or the weather, you know that the southeast is getting pounded by severe storms right now. So I thought I would give you a little peek at how much rain we have gotten so far this morning. The above pics were our backyard. This is the front


All that nastiness is cut grass floating on top of water. The picture does not do it justice - they never do! Here's a peek at the road. This ditch is easily 8 feet deep


And across the street, they may really need a boat because it looks like their driveway is going to get washed away



Now the weather is saying we can expect 4-5 inches of snow tomorrow - SAY WHAT? Donny is at the store buying 50 loaves of bread and 20 gallons of milk. That should hold us over until Tuesday when the sun starts shining again, and the world is sure that the South has survived!

And no, Mom, the basement is not leaking! But can you tell how much of the back we have cleared? Looking good, right!

To Pray or Not to Pray

That is the question here today. Is there such a thing as too much prayer? Or too long of a prayer? Or what about praying in public? Why the prayer questions? Let me set it up for you. By now, if you know me, or read my blog regularly, you know that I work full-time. Not by choice, my heart is at home, but I try to make the best of the situation. I actually really do like my job. Good thing, since I spend so much time here. I have been at this job for 8 months now, and in that time I have learned a lot about the people who work here. But there is one person in particular that stands out from the rest. Let me tell you about him.

I knew the first time I met the guy he had to be a good person. He has the last name version of my youngest, and his initials are PP (hee hee)but I will call him P Philips. P Philips is one of our maintenance men here. Need a bullentin board hung up outside your office? He's your guy. Is your office too cold? He's your guy. Want to win the tree decorating contest at Christmas? He's your guy! A true "johnny on the spot" except his name is P, so I guess you could say he's "P on the spot". But that's another post. Back to my story.

I am a master at the sport, if you will call it that, of people watching. People are crazy! They do crazy things, they wear crazy things, and they say even crazier things. So my first few weeks here provided me with numerous opportunities to perfect my sport. You can learn a lot about people by watching them interact with others. So there I was, in the breakroom at work, the first time I noticed P Philips. What is that he is doing? Praying? over his lunch? Good guy, way to stand out! More power to you brother! But as the days turned to weeks, weeks to months, I quickly realized that P Philips was no ordinary pray-er. Every morning, I see P Philips in the break room where he is about to eat a lovely breakfast that a most loving wife prepares for him each morning before he leaves for work. We're talking eggs, toast, grits, sausage, bacon, the works! Every morning! That loving wife has to get up pretty early in the morning to prepare such a breakfast feast for P Philips. And I watch as he sits down to his bounty, laces his fingers and bows his head into those fingers and begins to pray. Now it really is a sight to see, and one cannot help but watch to see -

1 minute, still praying,

2 minutes, still praying - For goodness sake, man, you only get a 15-minute break, and your lovely breakfast is getting cold.

3 minutes - still praying.

Finally somewhere around the 4-5 minute mark, he says his amens, slowly raises his head, unlaces those fingers, and begins to devour his food.

Okay, so the man likes to pray. What's so wrong with that? I see P Philips pray every morning over his breakfast, I see P Philips pray every day over his lunch. I have even seen P Philips pray while our little heaven on earth of a breakroom is filled with people eating what they think is the best catered lunch in the world from Golden's on the Square (really people, the food is NOT that good - can we please try something different next time?) and everyone is so loud and crazy acting (nothing like free over-priced not so good food to get the natives going)but there in the mist is P Philips, hands laced, head bowed, offering up his gratitude to our loving Heavenly Father. Always with a 4-5 minute prayer. My curiousity is going to get the best of me one day, and I will have to ask this pecular man what he could possibly be praying for for sooo long in a crowded room of non-believers. But people accept him for who is his. They know P Philips will not consume one bite of food until he has adequately blessed it. Good man - yes, I think so. A little crazy - maybe - read on!

So yesterday, I was leaving work, and making the long trek across the parking lot to my beloved Martha. Now by the time I leave everyday, Martha sits alone in an empty parking lot because all of her friends have already left for the day. But yesterday, she wasn't alone. There to my wondering eye, a few parks away, sat a tan truck. Go Martha, I thought. Making new friends! Martha may be 60 now, but she is still a hottie! But the closer I get, the more I can see the tan truck is not empty. There inside, sat P Philips, fingers laced, head bowed, man praying. Holy moly, man! Are you kidding me? You can't even drive home without praying first? All this praying is beginning to seem a little odd to me. Seriously, who prays THAT much? Has P Philips never heard of keeping a prayer in your heart? That does me just fine as I make my way through the day. I have decided he must be extremely over-zealous with his beliefs, or he has done something really bad that weighs his conscious down, and feels the need to constantly relieve himself of said guilt.

So I ask you to think and respond - How much do you pray? Do you think P Philips is overkilling the prayer? Is that possible? And what do you think about praying in a very public, irreverant place? Seriously, how much prayer is too much prayer?

Philip's 4th

What a day - What a celebration! Philip had a great 4th birthday. He has been anxiously awaiting this day for a while, and so we spent the whole day celebrating him.

He couldn't wait to open his presents - literally, he would not wait. As soon as he saw them, he started ripping into them and would not stop, even though no one was ready. But he was, and to him, that was all that mattered. I somehow managed to get him to stop long enough to pose for me.




And the present he has been waiting for most


The MONSTER Truck. I'll have to share the story of the monster truck another time. It is the perfect example of the type of mom I am. Just wait for it!

After all the presents were revealed, we surprised Philip and took him to the circus. Can you believe that Philip's Arena was packed out just for my boy, on his special day, and that the Greatest Show on Earth was put on just for him! Thanks Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey for making Philip's birthday so memorable!







Philip's favorite part was the elephants, oh, and the cotton candy.


I loved the sugar lips he got from eating all that cotton candy. How cute is that kid!!


After all the hoopla, we made our way just in time to finish the day off with some birthday cake. Philip picked out the tractor cake, and he was so excited to blow out the candles and have a big piece of tire!




I wonder what a four-year old wishes for when he blows out candles. Whatever it was, I hope all your wishes come true, Philip! Happy Birthday Boy! I love you!

Bling Bling

Madilyn has been waiting for Philip's birthday just as much as Philip has. Why you ask? Remember the dramatic ear piercing - well, Philip's birthday marked the six-week date of that happening. And that means - time to change the earrings! A quick trip to Claire's, and Madilyn is hooked up with some new bling.



Enjoy the bling, girl. And keep those ears clean!

A 50, 2 20s, and a 10

equals 4 bills to celebrate a very special boy turning 4 years old tomorrow. And for the life of her, Memaw can't figure out why no one cares about the card, only what is inside. Go figure!



And thanks, Aunt Jacqueline and Uncle Stephen for the "golfing"


Just I wanted, more balls flying around my house.

The WB

Here in Coweta county we have this crazy thing called "Winter Break". While I agree by mid-February, we all do indeed need a break from winter, I have yet to understand why the school system feels that children need a week off from school. My children certainly didn't, in fact they need extra overtime hours of school, but unfortunately they do not offer such a thing, at least not for free. So for us unfortunate full-time working parents, we are left with the dreaded question that plagues my existence right now - What do we do with the kids while they are out of school?

My kids are lucky, by all standards, they are lucky children. They don't want for much, and have everything children could ever need. Included in that list are two sets of great grandparents who love the life from them. One grandmother, aka Memaw, aka Donny's mom, came to our house this whole week to stay with her pleasant grandchildren. Now my children look forward to such visits because they know they will get spoiled rotten while she is here. But since they don't want for much, spoiling them even more rotten can be a difficult thing to accomplish. But try 4 trips to McDonalds and one trip to Burger King in one week on for size, and that pretty much equals 3 very much spoiled children (and one memaw whose pants are probably a little tighter after all that fast food). Even the giant dog got spoiled by Memaw with a big bone, after we, Donny and I, were chastised by her, Memaw, for not ever giving our dog treats. For shame!



So, thanks Memaw, for spoiling our children even more. And no, we will not be taking them to McDonald's for happy meals and ice cream every day next week as you instructed us to do. We don't want our children to start thinking that we love them as much as you do. Then what we do with them?

So, Spring Break is in 6 weeks. Any takers for my kids that week? Let me know, I will gladly share them with you!

10 10's

You may remember this very special birthday Madilyn had not too long ago. Being that we live hours from all family, we rely heavily on our trusted US postal system to deliver special packages and letters for any and all special occasions. So as Madilyn's birthday was approaching, we checked the mail everyday for anything other than junk or bills. One day, a special package from Nana, aka my mom, arrives. Good job Mom, way to get it delivered! So, then we were just waiting on one more package from the other grandmother, aka Memaw.

Wednesday, nothing.
Thursday, nothing.
Friday, nothing.
Saturday, nothing - WHAT?
BUT TODAY IS HER SPECIAL DAY. WHERE COULD THE LETTER BE?

Another week goes by, nothing.
Then another, nothing.
And another, nothing.

Have you caught on yet? Nothing!

Now we, meaning Madilyn, know exactly what comes in a birthday card from Memaw - $100. And $100 can buy a fresh little 10-year old most anything her little heart desires. So knowing that she has been robbed by someone in a post office somewhere between Linden, AL and Sharpsburg, GA - well, that is just wrong. But Madilyn is well aware of the fact that Memaw delights in spoiling her grandchildren rotten, and will not disappoint her, and that she, Madilyn will in fact she that $100 one way or another. And of course, she was right. Finally, hand delivered to her by her Memaw, 10 10's - just what she wanted!


Now can we go shopping?

Please People - Get Some Sense

I get into work this morning and I have an email sent out to everyone in the building by the Systems manager, warning us of a phone scam going on where prisoners from the Fulton County jail will call and ask you to call someone for them because they can't. They would give the caller the number to call and tell them to press #72 before they dialed the number. By doing this, the prisoner could then charge calls to this person's phone. Over 100 people in the Atlanta area have fallen for this scam, and the prisoners have run up over $5000 in phone charges. Three people at my DC have reported receiving similar phone calls here at work.

I am all about spreading the word about a scam going around, warning people what to watch out for, but seriously - HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO FALL FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT? What, the prisoner can call you, but he can't call his loved one? Are you freaking kidding me? And what kind of idiot would actually still do this even after they tell you to dial #72 first - is that not your first clue that this is a scam? Since when would you have to dial a secret code to call someone from your own phone? Come on, people, get some sense!!! Use your brains - God gave them to you for a reason.

This reminds me of a story of my dear best friend Jen (she is going to love me for sharing this!). Jen is this amazing person, super friendly, super nice. So a few years ago when we were still living in Memphis, or affectionately referred by us often as the "good ole days", Jen gets a knock on her door. In the area where we lived, it was very common to get door-to-door salesmen, so you didn't think much about a stranger knocking on your door. Except this day, this was no ordinary stranger. This was a guy looking for a sucker! And he found one - right there at Jen's house! He tells Jen that his car is broke down around the corner, and he is short $8 to pay the tow truck, and wanted to know if she had $8 for him to borrow. Now Jen being Jen, I'm sure was as polite as any super friendly, super nice person would be in this situation. I would have told to guy to get lost. But not sweet Jen. This was a man in need, and it was only $8, so he must be telling the truth. She made him promise he would come back as soon as he could and pay her back, and of course he told her he would, and of course, she believed him. Sweet Jen, so gullible. I told her she needed to call the police and tell them what was going on. Here is this guy going around knocking on doors, asking for money. Once you open the door, he discovers three very important things about you.

1. You are a super hot Mom.
2. There is no sign of a man at home to protect you.
and
3. You are gullible.

Three things are predator is always looking for! Leave it up to me to freak Jen out. Needless to say, Jen never saw her $8 again, and luckily never saw this guy again. Hopefully she learned a lesson from all this - but yes, she is still super friendly and super nice. Good ole Jen!

It is a shame that we live in a world where you don't feel like you can trust strangers anymore and that as a mother so many things send off warning bells in my head where my children and their activities are concerned. I could easily sit here and name off 10 scams that I have heard about just in the past week or two, but I won't bore you with such a list. However, I do need to say, because obviously this has not been said enough, that the IRS will never send you an email. Should you ever receive an email from someone claiming to be the IRS, know that it is a scam and delete the email. Do not open the email, respond to the email and include all of your personal information that obviously the IRS needs to verify you are who you say you are. Again, how stupid do you have to be to fall for such a scam?

If you have learned nothing from all these stupid people (except Jen, she is not stupid, she is just too nice and friendly) in the world who obviously still have not learned to use their god-given good sense, then learn this - always err on the side of caution. Use your common sense, even if you have to dig really deep to find any. Please people - get some sense! and then USE IT!

A Monday Memory

President's Day 2005 aka Philip's unexpected Birth day. Unexpected because I have a body that has betrayed me as a woman and only allows my children to be born by c-section, therefore allowing us to know the exact day, even moment our child will enter this lone and dreary world. So to start the day off as any other, and end it with a baby in tow, now that is unexpected. We weren't "expecting" Philip for two more weeks, but in an effort to make up for its' cruel betrayal, my body gave me the gift of extraordinarily high blood pressure this particular day, resulting in a doctor visit of every 9 month pregnant woman's dream - Go straight to the hospital. It looks like we are having a baby today! Sweet mother, there is a God, and he does hear my whining! So at 5:11 pm, on the day we celebrate Presidents, my third and final child entered this world weighing in at a perfect 8 pounds.


It didn't take long for the troops to arrive to welcome this new little soldier. Who can resist a freshly scooped out baby boy, all rosey and plump, fresh from the waters of my uterus.




My mother will hate me for posting this picture, but I just had to do it. I told you he was an unexpected delivery. These are the pictures that result from unexpected deliveries!


And Colin, poor Colin, he was recovering from an allergic reaction to penicilian.


How is that I am the one who just gave birth, yet am the best looking one is all these pictures? Except for the new boy, nothing compares to that kind of beauty.



This Saturday we will celebrate Philip's 4th birthday. Does the ache of your baby growing up right before your eyes ever end? Someone tell me this, please!

Leaf Jumping

We spent more time outside in the yard, raking. Donny raked a pile a leaves into about 4 feet deep and 12 feet long, and what kid could resist jumping into that?


The cute blonde is Madilyn's friend Danielle. They had so much fun jumping and playing


These two girls are great friends. And believe it or not, Madilyn is only six months younger than Danielle. Yes, my daughter is a shrimp. She is the smallest kid in the 4th grade! But also the cutest!



Colin and Philip had fun letting Donny bury them in the leaves.





Another weekend down, not many more to go before spring is officially here! Hopefully we will be ready! I warned Donny when we bought this house with this giant yard that it would take a lot of work to keep it up. I wonder, if after our 3rd winter here, he believes me yet?

Funny Philip

Philip is definitely a funny kid. We love all the crazy things he says and does. If you are one of those people that don't really think other people's kids are funny and you just don't get why they think something is cute, then don't watch this video. But me and Donny laughed our heads off at Philip when we watched this video, and so I wanted to share it with those who do think kids are funny. Philip has been running around the house saying his mouth is burning hot - don't know why or where he got that from. But that's not what is so fuuny, it's what he does at the end that we couldn't stop laughing at. Hope you enjoy!

Cupid has arrived

Just a few pics of Valentine's. Nothing special happened at our house. Donny and I spent the morning cleaning, getting ready for Donny's mom to come into town on Sunday. Notice that you will not see any pictures of Colin - he was quarantined upstairs with a stomach bug. Then by about two o'clock it hit me like a freight train, so I spent the rest of the day in bed. Nothing like love to make you sick. Now that I think about, we all had strep throat on Valentine's day last year. What is it about this holiday that makes me sick? But Madilyn and Philip spent the day with their first true love - CANDY!




And of course, Madilyn's second true love - PETS, and not just any pets, special Valentine pets, covered with hearts and symbolds of Love!


Maybe Cupid will cut me some slack next year and I can get through this holiday without needing antibiotics or gatorade!