Moaning Monday: Permit me to be trite...the HEAT

For LANDS SAKES (I don't know why thats an expletive substitute but I'm rolling with it) its so miserably hot and humid.
Yesterday got up to 100+ ACTUAL I refused to check out the heat index. 

I thought briefly about trying to fry an egg but didn't because I'd hate to have rotting egg out there if it didn't work. 

It is too hot to swim because all the pools are as warm as hot tubs right now.

It is too hot to play outside for longer than 15 minutes.  The kids are feeling the side effects of that.

It is too hot outside to leave windows open...I miss the sun but its heating up my home!

It is too hot outside to bake.  We've been eating meals that don't need the oven. 

Our air conditioner is like 5 years old, something like that.  Its young.  And its still being challenged right now. 

BAHHHHH.  Thats my response.  BAHHHHH. 

On a positive note we have VBS so updates on that will be coming since its the toddlers first year of being old enough for it!

Sweet Shot Tuesday: The Beach

I FINALLY got beach pictures uploaded, so here are some of my favorite ones :)

I love this one very much:



My husbands wedding ring on the wrong finger because he's lost weight.



A flag and a beach, can't really beat that :)
 



sun on the water


the clothespins that are supposed to hold our towels...they didn't work :P



pelican on the warf...just sittin there :)



my girl joyful about the beach.


an old pier plank in the sand...I was obsessed with taking pictures of this thing.



My little boy doing his best David Hasselhoff



I love it when water shots catch the splash like this!



I love sweet shot Tuesday!  Its so neat to see what everyone 'captures' so check everyone out here:

Wonderful Thursday...this week gets a bonus

I have a pretty amazing and powerful story to tell everyone. Hubby and I took the kids to a local japanese/hibachi/american food buffett. They have fish to feed and sushi for hubby and I love their hibachi grill teriyaki sauce. We were seated near this elderly couple...mid 60's early 70's ish. The entire time they were next to us they were looking and over and whispering about us.

Our kids were mostly behaving but we wondered if maybe they were talking about The Toddler getting up and being put back in his seat. Maybe they were just commenting because we have four kids. Who knew.

Towards the end of their meal, just before they asked for their check, the elderly man asked Hubby if he could ask him a question, though he didn't want to 'be forward.'

Hubby said sure.

The old man said "Could I offer to pay for your meal?" 

He told the man thank you but that's okay, we're fine.

The man then tells Hubby "no God is moving us to pay for your meal and we want to listen to the word of God" (or something like that it was a loud restaurant). Hubby, not wanting to question how God moves people told the gentleman that he understood and if he'd like to pay than he could feel free.

They did so and the lady told me that they had just felt called to do so and that they had never done anything like this before. They complimented us on our children several times and asked us a few questions and graciously answered some of ours.

When they left they told us they would pray for us and for our children and we told them that we would do the same and thank you.

They also gave us a card with a scripture about finding Christs forgiveness ("Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" II Corinthian 5:17 NIV)

Its a jaded, cynical world we live in, well do I know (I am the Queen of Sarcasm and Cynicism) but this was such a shining example of people who walk in Christ reaching out to others and sharing the love that Christ has shown them that I HAD to share it, HAD to.

Wonderful Wednesday: Being home

We had a fantastic week long beach vacation, which I will share if I can ever get the pictures to upload :P But for now...well, I'm reveling in being home. 

The vacation was wonderful, swimming all the time, the beach, mini adventures...family was even nice to have around.

BUT...it wasn't our house.  It was someone else's house.  A lovely home, but not mine just the same.  It wasn't set up for my kids.  My 3 year old was a mini terror at times, he shared the room (and for a portion of each night our lovely king sized bed) each night with us because if he woke up and got out of the kids bedroom by himself there is no doubt in my mind that he either would have gotten out on the balcony by himself (that had stairs leading down to the pool) or used the elevator that didn't lock to get outside (he loved pushing the buttons and you only needed a code to go up, not down).  Or at a minimum he would've broken something. 

So in our room he was and while it was 'livable' it was not fun. 

It made me appreciate the set up we have at the house that lets us allow our kids to play as they will and lets mommy and daddy not have to jump up every few minutes to redirect the little ones.

So it is very nice indeed to be home after a lovely vacation.  Siiggghhhhh (of contentment)

Moaning Monday: Pottytraining...even successful potty training

Shocker.  A parent that doesn't enjoy potty training.  I SWEAR its the one thing I would wish away if I could wish away a part of child-rearing.  Its messy, irritating, frustrating, defeating, and just not pleasant. 

That said, my 3 year old is doing fantastic.  He's pretty much 'done'.  Overnight, nap times, car rides, out of the house, finished.

Fabu.  Abso-fickin-loutely fabu...right? 

Yeah...except that he has developed the need to see EVERY BATHROOM ANYWHERE WE GO and if he gets bored at the table or in church or at a friends house then boom "I have to go potty".  And while 2 out of 3 declarations of the need to use the facilities winds up with him sitting on the potty saying 'i can't go' and us walking back out that 1 out of 3 chances that this time he actually HAS to go has me acquiescing to his demands each time. 

What if he really does have to go again?  Its happened that he's gone and 5 minutes later gone again, who am I to deny him the trip to the bathroom because he might not need to go?  Do I want to be responsible for an accident?

No...no I don't.  So onward we go and go again.

That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it though.  No...no I don't. 

I will TRY to be thankful that potty training him has been so easy and so quick.  I will TRY to be happy to have only one left in diapers.

But I cannot help whining since I know next time we pass a gas station in the car he will say "I need to go potty at the gas station" (because that's apparently the equivalent of a trip to Disney World to the boy)

Sigh....