10 Year Anniversary!

Wow - today is our 10 year wedding anniversary. Yeah!! We seem to be too busy with little kids to do much to celebrate. I did get Lance some candy yesterday, and tonight we're going to watch a Netflix movie together after the kids are asleep. The day wasn't too special, as I pretty much just kept up with Connor, Noelle, and April (she spent the day here). But, there are many couples who cannot be together on their anniversary, so I am very thankful that we are together today.

There was a little excitement, though. While I was upstairs nursing Noelle, Connor came bursting in (he knows he's not supposed to do that, but I guess he couldn't restrain himself) to tell me I got flowers! After I got Noelle down for her nap (yeah!!!), I came downstairs expecting to see these flowers I heard about, but there weren't any. I asked Lance about it, and told him what Connor said, but Lance said that there were flowers delivered to our neighbor and Connor saw them out the window. (Lance was very convincing, because although it is our anniversary, I believed him.) But, poor Lance, April didn't quite understand what he was trying to do, and she started asking him, right there in front of me, "can't we show them to her now?" Lance was like, "what?" trying to act confused, because there weren't any flowers in our house, you know. But April persisted, so Lance gave in and had me close my eyes while he led me to my computer desk where he had the flowers waiting for me. There was the little note on the bouquet that said "Happy 10th Anniversary!" and a very sweet card from Lance that started "For the Love Of My Life..."

Poor Lance. The one time during the day I was unable to come to the door was exactly when the flowers were delivered, so that part didn't go as he planned. But, you know what? I will probably remember it better the way it actually happened.

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. He is gentle, loving, and strong in a way that is perfect for me. He always lifts me up. He is a great father. He also keeps me laughing. I could go on, but I'll leave it at that. I hope for many, many more years with him.

Wordless Wednesday

Innovative Definitions

I received an email with these cleverly made-up definitions, and thought I would share the humor with you all:

"New" Words:

Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic fit: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Caterpallor: The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


Alternate meanings for common words:

coffee: the person upon whom one coughs.

flabbergasted: appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

abdicate: to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

esplanade: to attempt an explanation while drunk.

willy-nilly: impotent.

negligent: absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

lymph: to walk with a lisp.

gargoyle: olive-flavored mouthwash.

flatulence: emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

balderdash: a rapidly receding hairline.

testicle: a humorous question on an exam.

rectitude: the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

pokemon: a Rastafarian proctologist.

oyster: a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

Frisbeetarianism: the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

circumvent: an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

Mary B's Parker House Rolls

I must blog about the showdown we had on Thanksgiving Day -

Sister Schubert's vs Mary B's Parker House style yeast rolls.

I thought they were both delicious, but everyone else voted for Mary B's. Cody observed that Mary B's had more of a buttery taste that caused him to choose hers. So, I thought I would share with you, just in case you are shopping for some frozen yeast rolls and wonder if Mary B's can compete with Sister Schubert's.

I went searching the web for a photo of Mary B's, but couldn't find one. I did find a blog post where someone was raving about Mary B's Dumplings. I might have to try those next!

Christmas Giveaway

There's a nifty Christmas giveaway contest going on, but hurry & enter because the deadline is tonight at 10 pm EST.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a nice Thanksgiving we had this year. My mom went by herself to Memphis to visit her parents, April stayed with us, and Cody & Nick stayed home. I had Cody, Nick, & Andrew over for dinner on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday! My mom was back in time to join us on Friday, and we finished off all the leftovers from Thursday.

Here's what I fixed for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday:
Turkey
Ham
Dressing
Mashed potatoes
Turkey gravy
Green beans
Shells & cheese
Parker house yeast rolls
Grapes & oranges
Celery with cream cheese
Cinnamon baked apples
Vanilla ice cream
Pumpkin pie (Mom's homemade from homegrown pumpkin!)
Brownies with fudge icing

It was delicious! Andrew brought the ice cream, and he also rented some movies for us to watch after dinner - Spiderman 3 for all, and Ocean's 13 for the over 16 crowd. Friday after dinner, we all played charades - something Cody, April, & Connor had never played before. It was fun having the family time.

It was good that we experienced this holiday in a slightly unusual way, so it wouldn't be so obvious that my dad was gone. My mom needed a break and a chance to visit with her parents. With all the kids here, I didn't have a chance to think about much else besides kids, food, & cleaning up.

I need what???

Wednesday I went to the dentist. I really like my dentist (Dr Mary Beth Peaks), and the visit was going very well until the hygienist told me we really should schedule the root canal I need. WHAT??? I was in shock, and told her so. The hygienist I normally see has never mentioned this to me, nor has the dentist. I asked which tooth, and she showed me. I asked her to describe exactly what needed to be done, and she showed me, using the Xrays and a little model. Oh my, I was trying very hard not to cry. I couldn't believe I let my teeth get so bad. I always had great teeth, but with each baby, I end up skipping the occasional morning or nightly flossing and sometimes even brushing! I really couldn't understand why I was scheduled next for some surface treatment that included that tooth. Why bother if I was going to have this other thing done.

So, I said go ahead and remove what's currently scheduled and let's make an appointment for the root canal. The way she described it, the longer I waited, the more painful it was going to be. She kept trying to do the rescheduling, but the computer wouldn't let her. I sat and watched her try again and again. Finally, she nonchalantly said, "oh, you're right. I was looking at the wrong Xrays."

"What??" I wanted to make sure I understood what just happened correctly. "You mean you were looking at the wrong Xrays and I do NOT need a root canal after all????"

"That's right," she said. "You don't need it at all. I was looking at someone else's Xrays."

I wasn't the least bit angry with her. I was VERY happy that the computer had some sort of checks built in and wouldn't let her schedule the root canal needed on one Xray for another person. I also felt like I had been given another chance to save my tooth!

I floss and brush with renewed energy now. And I've added an extra little thank you into my prayers.

Wordless Wednesday

Bath Time Fun

Connor & Noelle love to take a bath.

On a side note...

Noelle is doing very well going to bed now. My new routine with Noelle flows like this: dinner, bath, PJs, dark room, soft music, nursing, crib. She is doing so much better falling asleep. I think all kids are different and you have to find what works best for your baby (and family). Connor did okay with co-sleeping, and I thought I would never be a cry-it-out mom. Noelle was simply not getting enough sleep when co-sleeping with me, and neither was I. I somehow survived the week and a half of long cry-it-out nights. I learned that going in periodically to lay her down or pat her back just prolonged the agony. Every time I left she got mad again. So, for us, leaving and not coming back is the only thing that worked. She is now doing very well going to sleep. Tonight she had 20 minutes of crying, but most nights she cries less than a minute before falling asleep. Yea!

Now, back to my bath time topic...

Tonight, Connor was having fun in the bathtub serving us his make-believe refreshments. He loves to make up his own names for the pretend drinks he was serving us. Our favorite was something called "chance-a-ray" and we said no-thank-you to something called "bum-chocolate."

Happy Halloween everyone!

Connor went trick-or-treating dressed as the original Spiderman. Here are a couple of photos of before & after.

Noelle was still a little congested, so she stayed home, helped to hand out some candy, and was asleep by 7:30. Poor Trevor was sick in bed all afternoon and evening.

We didn't have as many trick-or-treaters as we thought we would have, which means we have a little too much candy left over. Mmmm... frozen Reese's cups...