Saturday, March 26, 2011

We are Salvation Army Strong

Oh, and our future brother-in-law Zac just completed a large milestone and graduated his boot camp with the Salvation Army. Beatle thinks that he's in the Salvation Army!!! A man in uniform has always caught Suzanne's eye, do you think a red vest counts? I bet his wrist is super sore from ringing that bell for 10 weeks!!!

Serious note, even though I'm still giggling to myself, we're really proud of him and Suz. I know it's been hard on both of them. Wish we could have been there but I feel like I was from her stories. Can't believe she's going to be an Army Wife...don't think that's what anyone, including her, imagined.

Goose Eggs Galore!

Where does this story begin? I don't even know!!! We've got some friends here in Hot Springs that are just good ol' folks. You know the kind...homeschool their kids, the man works with his hands, they have several American flag t-shirts (and even button-downs for nice occasions), and real conservative. They've done so much for us and God has really been working in their lives the last year. Somehow, they attained goose eggs...real goose eggs!!! And somehow they approached Beatle about them. Again, I don't know how this came into fruition but next thing I know, Beatle is jazzed about getting these eggs and they are wanting to link up with us about said eggs. I meet them after church in the parking lot, where they pull a foil covered platter out of the ice chest in their Astro van. The boy that's Beatle's age starts joking that she should sit on them if she wants them to hatch and then I'm drug into a rather awkward conversation about the birds and the...ahem, birds with the dad. While flustered, I'm groping for the appropriate word to call male and female geese and then I sputter, "I don't know many foul words." He diffused the situation by cleverly remarking that as a pastor's wife, I shouldn't know foul words. Whew! That was funny and then we were off. I had to get home and get these ginormous eggs in the fridge before we left town on our trip. On the way home, I realized that Beatle really thought she could hatch these eggs from watching "Fly Away Home" several snowdays ago on Netflix. Oh no! I break it to her that from the conversation I could have done without, I learned that there's no way that these can be baby geese. She's still rubbing them, asking if "you are a boy or girl in there?". Then, she starts rubbing them on her cheek and I warn her that it would bother some people to know that they just came out of a goose's po-po! And I'm one of those people. We get home and put them in the fridge and are off on our trip. Meanwhile, Beatle is telling EVERYONE she sees that she has goose eggs. Nobody knows what the heck she is talking about. Nobody really thinks that she has REAL goose eggs.

We start talking to family in OK about these eggs and asking if anyone has ever tried them and then we get on the subject of farm fresh chicken eggs and how I don't think I've ever had them. Next thing I know, my uncle tells me that on our way back to AR, to stop by and he'll have some farm fresh eggs for us. What do you know? When we see my parents, my uncle had dropped off 2 dozen eggs for us to precariously transport back to Arkansas.

I'm getting nervous and my throat gets tight when I get home and start thinking about eating all of these wild eggs. Give me hormone injected, "weaker" tasting eggs anyday...at least I don't get cold sweats thinking about them. I get wiggy about chicken and eggs, in general anyways. But I woman up and make eggs for breakfast but I WILL NOT eat the goose eggs. Beatle is chipper to cook her giant goose egg by herself. The yolk is friggin' huge when she cracks it!! I start yakking and have to step outside under the guise of "sneezing" for Beatle's sake. I love that she's an adventurous eater, I just couldn't be a part of it that morning. The consistency was totally different. She tried it but reluctantly admitted later that day that "it wasn't fabulous". And, after all of the egg endeavors, BR and I couldn't even muster up the courage to eat the chicken eggs...we just stuck with our toast. The babies ate them up though. We've resolved that we're going to use up all of the chicken eggs in things. As for the other two goose eggs, I haven't dealt with them yet. They may wind up in the compost pile.

Birdie fell down a step (or two...) while I was farting with my new phone and has quite a bruised goose egg on her forehead. Bad mommy! If I've accidentally called you and hung up, don't blame me. I didn't get my honeymoon period with my new touchscreen yet.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Had to go to San Diego!

We're back from our WONDERFUL trip in San Diego where we learned a lot at the Children's Pastors' Conference and then, when we didn't have to be there, we were total beach bums. I even learned how to surf and had an awesome time!!! I can see how it would become a total addiction--something I MUST do more of in the future. I think I was supposed to live in San Diego. The weather is perfect! Not all hot and humid but wonderfully warm and slightly breezy.

San Diego is special to Brent and I because when he lived in Arizona, we went there on a lovely trip (a last-ditch effort on my part) and I was just sure he was going to tell me he loved me or ask me to marry him but, alas, he did neither really (sure, he hemmed and hawed but never came out and said either) and I hopped a plane home afterward and started moving on with my life. But, of course, now we know, he came home and got the girl but besides the disappointment on my part after it was over, we had the best time when we were there exactly a year before we were married. So, it was really fun to revisit the city now being married and much more secure in our relationship. We had a lot of laughs and "Remember when?" moments.

Beatle had a terrific birthday party. The weather was such a critical factor and it was just perfect. I don't know what my plan was but I can't believe I'm a mom to a 6-year-old!!

Been meaning to post this about Beatle--you know how she's so proud she's Native American? Well, she keeps getting it confused with Indians with a dot, not the feather. In her mind, they are the same. Then, that got us on the conversation of how some people are darker and some are lighter. She kept saying that we were more Indian than White and I was telling her, "No...you see, we're not very dark. We just have a little Indian in us." I was grasping for ways to explain this to her and then she suggested, "Is it like a cake? When you put in the vanilla, it's dark but you just put in a little and the cake still stays light?" "Yes! That's exactly it!" I love that girl. She has a way with words and food! A woman after my own heart! :)

Beatle had to miss school last week so we could go to San Diego and this week is her school's Spring Break so that lucky girl's had two weeks off. We'll see how she goes back. Hopefully, she'll be ready and we'll have had enough together time to put her heart at rest. I can't even tell you how much I love her being off school; maybe by the end of summer, I'll be ready for her to go back but we have had the best time during the day--crafts, kite flying, cooking, playing in the sprinkler, working in flower beds, etc. It may not seem like it but there's a grind that school puts on moms too--getting everyone out the door, lunch, forms, homework, and pick up. It's been fun to ditch that schedule this week.

We plan to go camping tomorrow for the first time since Birdie. (We took last summer off.) And definitely not since Baby. It shall be interesting!! We're not doing anything too serious--just 30 min away, hot dogs at night, donuts in the morning--that sort of thing.

Gotta go meet BR to get a new phone...mine's totally jacked up. Oh, and Baby's first birthday is next weekend!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Frickin' Ow!

Baby has been enrolled into Daycare. I feel a little chump about it but on the other hand, I feel so thankful. There are only a handful of people who can watch her due to the fact that she's a "ward of the State" and most of those people aren't available to help during the day (including my dear husband). So, it has been super nice to be able to have an opportunity to bond with Birdie, get some things done, etc; all the while, know she's being cared for. Plus, it gives me time to miss her and you know what they say about distance...(in unison) it makes the heart grow fonder.

Beatle's birthday is Saturday. Yay for 6! She's admitted that it feels like she's been 5 forever. :) We've got an exciting barnyard birthday party planned for Saturday morning. And then on Sunday after church, we're leaving town so there's quite a few loose ends to tie up this week but I think it will be fun work--getting ready for a party and for a trip.

Our gift to Beatle was to take her on a date, just the three of us, eat at the restaurant of her choice, get her haircut at a "salon" (not by mom on the back porch anymore), and get her ears pierced. You see, this plan can work and be affordable when they are 6. She wants to get her haircut at Walmart (just like mom!) and the restaurant that she chose was actually the Subway IN Walmart. We have yet to do our date but those are her big plans for us. haha! (you can see that we don't get out much.) However, BR did take all of us to the mall on Saturday night (which was a horrifying experience in itself--the mall crowd on a Saturday night was, shall we say, much different than the Branson, rainbows and sunshine crowd we typically run with. It made us come home and PRAY for our children and the boys they will date and the men they will marry. yikesville!) Anywhoo, we were going to check out Claire's with Brendle to get her excited for next weekend's date and to test the waters to see if she REALLY wanted to go through with her ear piercing. She watched intently as an 8-year-old got her ears pierced and they turned around, announcing that she was ready to do it. We went ahead and let her do it. Why not? It saves us a trip to the mall later. She was brave but jittery too. When they were pierced she said "Ow! Frickin' Ow!" but no tears. Her smile was wide when she peeked in the mirror afterwards. All day on Sunday, she'd have moments where she'd pontificate aloud, "I can't believe I got my ears pierced!" I was proud of her. She looks as cute as a bug. I walked up on Beatle having a conversation with a lady at church and the lady caught me up and said, "She told me she got her ears pierced and I told her that I thought she was way too young but her momma didn't ask me, now did she?" Nope. We don't take church wide votes for things like that. Sorry if that lets you down a little but watch American Idol and you can cast a vote there. Ahh, oh well. Can't please everyone. But we made one soon-to-be 6-year-old very happy without doing anything immoral or illegal. Happy Birthday Week, Beatle! You are beautiful on the inside and the out!