6AM Muffins and Coffee

Last night, around 10:00, when I was cleaning out my fridge (shocking I know!) I decided that I didn't want the quart of blueberries to go to waste. So, I decided to look up recipes. Kevin happened to be in the living room and made the comment that fresh blueberry muffins would be great before school in the morning. THIS made me laugh! He has to leave for school at 7:15. Anyone who knows me knows that I AM NOT a morning person!

So...

This morning, at 6 AM, I got up to make homemade blueberry muffins. Ted graciously made coffee to go along with them. And these are the results:

I'm glad I did it. It made my son happy and that made getting up at 6AM worth it.

College and Testosterone

Last week, at this time, I was headed to Searcy to drop my youngest daughter off at college for the first time. I foolishly thought packing up her room and the van was going to be the hardest part. I was wrong! Moving her into her dorm was (almost) the hardest part. It was a challenge though!

First, we couldn't find her dorm. We drove all over campus trying, to no avail. There wasn't a sign visible from the parking lot, so we got out and walked all around the school. Once again, no dorm! We finally asked someone who looked like they might know and were pointed in the right direction. "Just go through this little alley and when you come out the other side turn left and go down the sidewalk about 30 feet (which felt like 5 miles at this point) and then it'll be on your right..." YEA! We finally found it. Turns out we were parked in the right spot the first time, we just didn't know it was down the alley... You would think we would of thought of that. (Note the sarcasm.)

Second, we had to move her in...up 5 flights of stairs to the 3rd floor. Yes I said 5 flights. Have you ever tried to carry a years worth of teenage girl stuff up 5 flights?! I don't recommend it at all! I have just one question: Why 5 flights to a 3rd floor room?! Maybe it just goes along with the alley to get to the dorm. But we finally got her moved in. Mostly...

Then, it was off to WalMart to get the things we didn't have room to put in the van. And we thought paying for tuition was going to be the most expensive part...silly us!

Unfortunately, we had to carry all that up to her room too. I'd just like to know what happened to all those boys that were supposed to be helping us move her in?! I think they saw all her things and ran away screaming! I wanted to. But we finally got her moved in and settled.

Lastly, we had to say goodbye. I can tell you that throughout the whole process of packing, driving to Searcy, hunting for her dorm, and finally moving her in, and unpacking I did well. I was proud of myself. I didn't cry at all. I even managed to laugh a time or two.

I didn't cry at all... that is until I turned around to see Zach, our youngest son, bawling like a baby. That is when I lost it. I wept. I realized that I was saying "goodbye" to my nightly walking partner, my sappy movie co-hort, my own personal comedian, my confidant, my best friend, my daughter. It was hard. But beyond that I am so proud of her! I am proud of her for following through on her dreams, for overcoming her own fears, and for seeking God's will for her life. She is an amazing young woman and I love her! I miss her! But I know that I have done all that I could do to prepare her to walk her own path now. And, despite the fact that I miss our nightly walks, her hugs, and beautiful smile, I am excited to see the woman she will become.

I just have one complaint...

I am now the only woman in my household. I am surronded by 4 boys. There is way too much testosterone and not enough estrogen and quite frankly my house is begining to smell! For the first time I am outnumbered. I'm thinking about getting a girl dog just to up my odds a bit. What do you think?!

Thank You's & Friendship

"True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value." ~ Ben Jonson ~

I know I don't say it often enough but, Thank you! To my dearest friends who have been there for me recently, Thank You! I love you and know that I couldn't get through this time without you all.

Surrendering Anger & My Boys

For our 40 days of surrender my family has decided to give up anger...

an·ger [ áng gər ]
noun
Definition:
displeasure: a strong feeling of grievance and displeasure; an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage. (Note: my boys)
anger - The Bible describes the anger or wrath of God as being his abiding reaction to human sin and an expression of his justice; it is not a sudden or passionate upsurge of emotion. He is ‘slow to anger’ (Ps. 103: 8). (Note: NOT my boys)

How's it going? Well lets just say that the boys who, by the way, are the ones who came up with the idea of giving up anger, are failing miserably. It seems that they have no concept of what it means to give up.

For example, today they hadn't been in the car together for more than 5 seconds, and no I am not exaggerating, they started in on each other. Zach got mad at Kevin for who knows what and Kevin responded in anger. This is typical of my boys. Every time they have responded in anger to each other I have reminded them, sometimes gently and others not so gently, that they are not doing a good job of surrendering. To which they usually reply, "Well he started it!" Which sets off another round of fighting. Sigh! Up until this point I can keep MY anger under control. Then I get angry. Then Ted gets angry with the boys for making me angry. To which Tori responds by yelling in anger, "Will you all just shut-up!".

So, you can see how well our 40 days of surrendering anger is going. Or, in our case, not going. I wonder if we wired the boys mouths shut for the next 3 weeks we could win the war on anger? Probably, but that would miss the point of surrendering. So we will forge on and hope for the best tomorrow.

Quotes, Mis-spoken Words, & Silly Sayings

If you know my kids, you know that they are FUNNY! They say funny things all the time. Some just being silly, some because they are trying to be funny, and some just because they didn't stop to think before they spoke. I have been compiling them for a while now and decided they just had to be shared! So here are the funniest of the funny:


Tori-isims:

"But mommy they don't sell Mango smoothies at Walmart."
"Did that sign back there just say Man Ham?" (Said 16 hours into a 21 hour trip. Think she was tired?)

Kevin-isims: Obviously he is the one who speaks before he thinks...

"Don't worry mom, I have my pants in my backpack!" (words every mother wants to hear!)
"What's Won ton endangerment" "Umm, don't you mean wanton endangerment Kevin? What? Are you trying to scare a noodle?" (Ted said laughing hysterically)
"What do you put in a wine cabinet?" "Typically people put wine in a wine cabinet Kevin." (Tori said sarcastically)
"Hey look! They have local ranch." "Kevin, that's lo cal ranch!" ( said Tori)
"How do you say Fiesta in Spanish?" (Are you serious?!)

Zach-isims:

"That just sounds de-appetizing mom." "Don't you mean unappetizing?" "No, de-appetizing." "That's not a word Zach." Well I'm declaring it a word!" (discussion between Zach and I)
"I brought two spoons because I thought you might get generous?!"
"I will joust you!" (Said to Kevin Reynolds)
"Every time we walk by this house they have it on the fish channel."
"Are you serious? Zach! That's their aquarium!" (Tori said with a look of disbelief on her face.)

As long as my kids continue to say silly things I will continue to blog about them. Oh the joys of being a mother! And if you will note, Victoria was the one coming back with most of the sarcastic and incredulous retorts to the funny things her brothers said. She gets that from her father you know?!

4 Princesses and a Party!

I'll have to say that I haven't had this much fun in a long time! These girls were so precious all dressed up and sporting their tiara's. Between decorating cookies, eating 8 (yes I said 8) bags of popcorn, and watching the Little Mermaid this was an event to remember. It made me miss when my girls were younger and we played dress up. Of course with Amanda it was Ninja Turtles we dressed up as but hey, it was still fun.
I hope to continue this practice of having Princess Party's every 6 months or so. Although I'm sure Tori will protest. Maybe I can get her to dress up next time?!

Science, Tongue Rolling, and Dominant Genes!

Picture this:

2 kids doing a science experiment about inherited genes. The question comes up about tongue rolling, and can they do it? They both can. Their teacher, my good friend Reigh Anne, tells them that tongue rolling is only a dominant gene and you can't do it unless one or both of your parents can.

My reaction:

"WHAT?! Neither my husband nor I can roll our tongues! Are you telling me they aren't our kids? "

Her reaction:

"That's not possible!", she says with a note of unbelief in her voice. "You're telling me that neither one of you can roll your tongue?

"No!" I reply a bit miffed, "I can't and neither can Ted."

"But that's unheard of!", she says.

"Well hmmm!", I said. As if that would explain why we can't roll our tongues. This I'm going to have to check up on... stupid dominant genes!

Fast forward 3 days to a conversation with Stephanie, Kevin, and Mikey:

Me: "Hey did you know that the ability to roll your tongue is a dominate gene? Did you also know that all 4 of my kids can roll their tongues but Ted and I can not? What do you make of that?"

Stephanie: "See,I can roll my tongue", she said as she proceeded to show me. "But really? You can't? Show me." So I do... and let me say I'm so glad that no one brought out their camera to capture the moment! Me, who cannot roll her tongue trying to. It was hilarious I'm sure!

Mikey: "See so can I."

Kevin: "You're just weird Christina! Even I can roll my tongue."

Me: "Well good for you all!", I remarked snidely.

So, my question once again:

"What does it mean if my husband nor I can roll our tongues but our children can?"

"Does it count that my mom, dad sister, and brother can roll theirs?"

Does this mean that I'm a freak of nature? Maybe it's just that they are wrong about the whole tongue rolling being a dominant gene! I'll bet that's it...