Happy Birthday David

Seven years ago today, I was staring into the face of a beautiful little boy for the first time. It was probably pretty close to the exact time that I am typing out this post. This morning after the birthday boy had been served breakfast in bed and was getting ready for school, Brian turned to look at me and said, "I can't believe it has been seven years!" The funny thing is that I was thinking the exact same thing.

David is a sweet boy. He cares about people's feelings and is a bit of a people pleaser. Now, I will admit that this does not keep him from talking excessively during school or telling people that they are wrong, but he genuinely does care about other people. For example, I was taking cupcakes to school today for his class, and he asked if I could get both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes because there were several in the class that don't like to eat chocolate. He also wanted to make sure that the girls got something different than the boys because they might not like boy decorated cupcakes. So, he can be pretty sweet sometimes.

Today we had a family birthday celebration time, and on Tuesday of next week, he will have a party with his friends. He wanted an Indiana Jones party, so we are going on a search for a lost treasure, and there is going to be a big boulder in some form or fashion because everyone knows that you can't have an Indiana Jones adventure without a boulder...or so I have been told.

It has been a fun day for David, and Brian and I have enjoyed getting to spend the day talking about all the little things we remember about the day he was born and each of the days we have been blessed to have with this special boy.

David's BIG Day

No, it was not his birthday. He is eagerly awaiting THAT day which is only a week away. However, this past Friday probably ranks up there of top days of his life in his sweet little heart and mind.

On Friday, David received Wildcat Mail Call in chapel. Every Friday, the teachers will write notes to the students who have shown Christ and they are given the notes in chapel. Just so you understand, these notes are not handed out in a quiet fashion. They count out how many notes there are by slamming them down on the podium and all the kids scream out the number.

ONE --- TWO --- THREE --- FOUR --- FIVE ---
SIX --- SEVEN --- EIGHT --- NINE --- TEN --- ELEVEN.

Then, the principal steps up to the podium, and in a voice befitting a basketball game announcer, begins to call out the kids' names. "From our Kindergarten classes, let's here it foooor....." and then he gives the name of the kid. Then the rest of the kids go crazy. Everyone starts jumping up and down screaming for this kid. It is the most incredible thing to watch. You have all these kids that are truly excited that someone else has gotten a wildcat mail call card.

I don't think I will ever forget the look on David's face when his name was called. He heard his name and then jumped up and ran to the front. He was so excited. He then stood there and was ever so serious about reading what his teacher had written.

To top the whole experience off, David's big buddy, Greyson, did the devotional that morning in chapel and talked about how God blesses us and is so powerful. He then shared how God had blessed him with a great little buddy and talked about David's impact on him. All I can say is that I truly love Greyson and the impact he has had on my son. He has been a great example and a great friend to David. I am so impressed with this sixth grader who has an incredible heart for God. I am thankful that he is David's big buddy and mentor.

Friday was a very special day at our house. Brian and I were reminded and once again in awe of the depth of feelings you can experience when you watch your child experience something truly phenomenal in his life. It is moments like these that I hope to carry with me forever.

Asking Questions in Heaven

Yesterday, David said, "I sure hope I see George Washington in heaven because I have some questions to ask him." I asked him who else he would like to see in heaven, and he said, "Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush and whoever the next president will be."

Today, after I asked him to repeat his list to his dad, I asked him what he wanted to ask them. He responded with, "I want to ask them how old they lived to be and how their life went."

This started a conversation about presidents, and now Brian is teaching David the names of each of the presidents. I think David and his dad are pretty excited about this little project. I have a feeling that we have a little guy at our house that will dream of being president someday! :)

We are still here...

It has been awhile since I have posted. The boys and I were on Spring Break last week, and we were busy cleaning out closets and making lots and lots of messes! We also spent the week in awe at the change in the weather. We went from beautiful weather in the upper 70's to thunderstorms and rain to snow. It snowed twice during spring break, and the boys had a blast playing in it. Now we are back to beautiful weather and are hoping it stays this way for awhile.

I would love to use this post to tell you some great, funny stories, but I honestly have nothing for you. We have had some fun moments since I last posted and have laughed a lot. However, my brain has been busy with other things, and I have forgotten all those cute things the kids have done and said in the past week.

One thing I do think is kind of funny and would like to share has nothing to do with the boys. I have a site meter on this blog that tells me how many people look at the blog each day, where these people are located, and even tells me how they got to my blog. Many of those hits come from google searches, and I have found that a large number of people are ending up here because of the following searches:

1. Humpty dumpty costumes;
2. Bathroom stories; and
3. Diaper stories.

Now I will admit that I did a search about Humpty Dumpty costumes when I was trying to figure out how to make Nathan's costume, but I am a little curious as to why people are searching for bathroom stories and diaper stories. :)

I hope each of you have a great week! I am sorry that there is not much to this post, but I did want you to know that we are still alive and kicking. I promise the next post will be a lot more fun!

David's Prayer and the Yellow Card

Here is a part of David's prayer tonight:

Thank You for the Bible and that every story in the Bible is true and that it is Holy. Help me to obey the Bible every day of my life....and probably every month too.

I love listening to the boys pray and talk about the Bible stories that they have learned in school and in Bible class. Sometimes I have to laugh at some of the assumptions that they make though. Tonight, Nathan told me they were learning about Paul and he asked if I knew that his name used to be Saul....King Saul! It took a little bit of explaining to get that cleared up.

Besides learning about Paul today, Nathan had a bit of an exciting day. He received a yellow card, which is a warning that he was not obeying the rules. He was issued this yellow card because he was climbing a tree on the playground. To add insult to injury, not only did he climb the tree but he got stuck in the tree and had to get some help to get down. When I asked him why he did it, he told me that he was climbing the tree in order to get on the roof of the barn (a shed that looks like a barn). When Brian and I told him that it was dangerous, he said, "No it is not. A squirrel was on top of the barn and he was safe."

All I can do is shake my head!

Questions for God

The other day, David said that he hoped he could ride a roller coaster in Heaven. He said he also hoped there was a Disney World in Heaven because he would like to go in the huge golf ball that was closed when we went to Epcot. I told David he reminded me of his daddy because Brian always says that he hopes there is a movie room in Heaven with videos of all the amazing things like the red sea parting and the miracles of Jesus.

David thought for a minute and then said, "When I go to Heaven, I want to ask God if he and Jesus play Twister." Without missing a beat, Nathan said, "I bet God wins that game."

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

WAIT! That's not how the story goes!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Humpty Dumpty jumped up and shouted "AMEN!

God can put me together again."

Today, the pre-k classes performed in chapel for the elementary, junior high and high school kids. As you can see from the picture, Nathan was Humpty Dumpty, and he did great. He did everything he was supposed to do and even hammed it up a little for the crowd. I am trying my best to get the video uploaded in a format that I can post on here, so hopefully, you can see it for yourself soon.

Once again I found myself making a costume during a crazy week. As homeroom mom, I was responsible for planning Nathan's class party for Valentine's day. I made phone calls, picked up pizza, put together goody bags, made sugar cookies and all the stuff that has to be done for a party for 23 four and five year olds. I also had to make chocolate covered strawberries for David's class party. We had a service night in place of home Bible study, and I made a bunch of cookies for that too. Add in work and some family time, and it was already a pretty busy week.

To top it all off, I am not much of a seamstress, and I was scared to death of what Humpty Dumpty was going to look like. I sort of worked out a pattern on newspaper using a shirt and a pair of pants and then started cutting out Humpty. I can't sew real straight, and Humpty is not the most symmetrical egg. If you look too close, you will see MANY mistakes, but it worked and made Nathan happy.

Even though I am not the best at sewing, I will admit that I have really enjoyed being able to make the Humpty Dumpty costume for Nathan and the indian costume for David. The costumes had a lot of flaws, but both boys have been so grateful that I took the time to make something for them. They proudly wore their costumes and told everyone that their mom made it for them. I am realistic enough to know that they won't always want me involved in everything in their lives and that at some point, they will be embarassed by their mom's "sewing" skills. So, for now, I will cherish every moment where I can see that excitement and pride in their lives.

Box Car Derby

I am really late with this post, but I am desperately trying to get caught up on my to-do list this week. A couple of weeks ago, the Kindergarten classes at David's school had a box car derby. I had never been to a box car derby, so I only had David's word on what was an "acceptable" car. We did get a note from school that suggested the cars be small in size because the kids had to run four laps wearing the box.

In the time leading up to the derby, I had a hard time getting David to decide what kind of car he wanted. I was thinking a simple car decorated like a race car or something like that. I imagined Brian, David, and I working together to make a fun little car. Welllllllll......enter Dad into the picture. I am not sure what it is about Dads, but they tend to have grander ideas when it involves a car in any form or fashion. He started throwing out suggestions for different types of cars (like a corvette), but his very last idea sparked an interest in this naive little kindergartener. My dear, dear husband suggested that David have a Star Wars landspeeder. From that point on, my idea of simple flew out the window.

To make matters worse, because of a very crazy schedule, we were unable to begin the landspeeder until the afternoon before the box car derby. We went into the garage in search of a good box to use and Brian pointed out one that he thought would work. I mentioned that it might be too big and he said, "No, that will work great." So, we emptied out the box and got to work. We cut. We molded. We painted....well, I spray painted it outside in the FREEZING cold. We duct taped. We created a masterpiece....a HUGE masterpiece.

I must say that I protested the landspeeder the whole time we were making it. I am just a simple girl, and I didn't see the whole fascination. By the time it was done, Brian admitted that it was large, and I think he was also a little concerned that it might be too heavy. I made Brian walk in with David, so that he could tell the teacher that it was not my idea and I participated in making it under protest.

While I thought it might be a bit overboard, I was pleased that David was so proud of it. As he and Brian walked down the hall with it, other kids were talking about how cool it was. David's teacher thought it was pretty neat too. The funniest thing was that several dads came up to David after the derby was over to tell him how neat his landspeeder was. (I think they wished their wives had not talked them out of their idea for a great vehicle for the derby.) One guy even offered to buy it, but David told him no.

The car derby was pretty neat. They had a parade of cars where all the kids walked around the track single file and showed off their cars. David's smile was great during that part. Then they put them in groups of three to actually race. They would run a lap around the "track" and then stop to get their windshield washed. (Some six grade girls sprayed water on their face and wiped it off.) They ran another lap and then walked through tire inner tubes. They ran another lap and then stopped for a pit stop (glass of water), and then ran one more lap to finish the race.

David started out strong, but tragedy struck as he rounded the first curve. He was busy smiling at the crowd cheering for him and he lost control of his landspeeder. The landspeeder was a bit front heavy, and he fell and flipped over just like you would see on a cartoon. It was tragic and extremely funny all at once. The crowd gasped. I looked at Brian and I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing. David's sweet little heart tends to get embarrassed very easily, and we were both afraid that he wouldn't want to finish the race. However, that determined little boy got right back up and kept running as hard as he could. He made up some serious ground, but one more fall on the back side of the track and a heavy box slowing him down keeping him from regaining first place.

After it was all over, I told David how proud of him that I was. I told him that it is hard to keep going when we fall down but that he did the right thing by getting back up and continuing the race. I told him how doing that was the mark of a true man. Nathan came up to David a little later and asked him if he won the race. David said, "I came in second, but I fell down and got back up and kept racing. That is all that matters."

You know, people can tell me all they want about how it is better to have a small car so the kid has a better shot at winning. Honestly, I agree with them. I was the one who was totally against the landspeeder. However, I would not trade the lesson David learned for anything in the world. As he gets older, life is sometimes going to be a little "heavy". He might take his eyes off of what he is supposed to be doing and looking around at the crowd. He is going to fall down. When he does, I hope he remembers a day in January of 2008 when he fell down in front of a lot of people and then got back off and ran the race of his life.

Here are some pics of the big event:

A very proud boy sporting his landspeeder.

And they are off!

A determined (but a little weary) David coming out of one of the pit stops.

David booking it around the track.

David with Mrs. Kiihnl at the pit stop.

David coming through the finish line.

David's Proverbs & Nathan's too!

My friend Cindy forwarded me an email listing out the beginning of well known proverbs that were completed by first graders. For example, it said, "It's always darkest before" and the first grader filled in "before daylight savings time." It was pretty funny so I decided to have David complete the list too. Here are his proverbs. A few don't make much sense, but some of the others are pretty good.

Strike while the……clock ????

It’s always darkest….at night time

Never underestimate the power of……the devil

You can lead a horse to water but……not lead it to badness

Don’t bite the hand that…..is God’s

No news is……..newer than God

A miss is as good as a ……………. Bad catch

You can’t teach an old dog new ……things

If you lie down with dogs, you’ll…… be warm

Love all, trust…….in the Lord

The pen is mightier than the……devil

An idle mind is …….. lazy

Where there is smoke there’s …….a fire alarm

Happy the bride who……is with their husband

A penny saved is ……..one cent

Two is company, but three is…….not

Don’t put off until tomorrow what…….you need

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and…….you are pouting

There are none so blind as ………the devil

Children should be seen and not…….be mean

If at first you don’t succeed……..read

You get out of something what you……can get stuck in it

when the blind lead the blind…..that means sin

A bird in the hand is ……. Food

Better late than …..night

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I added Nathan's proverbs too. All I can say is "Oh my!" He needed some help understanding what I was asking so my explanations may have confused him on some.

Strike while the…… force is with you

It’s always darkest….when the lights are turned off

Never underestimate the power of……the force

You can lead a horse to water but……you can’t feed him to much

Don’t bite the hand that…..hurts

No news is……..not exciting

A miss is as good as a ……………. ball

You can’t teach an old dog new ……tricks

If you lie down with dogs, you’ll…… be eight

Love all, trust…….me

The pen is mightier than the……pencil

An idle mind is …….. nothing

Where there is smoke there’s …….fire

Happy the bride who……gets married

A penny saved is …….. for the Senior girls to go to Africa (his class is collecting coins to help the senior girls go on a mission trip.)

Two is company, but three is…….nothing

Don’t put off until tomorrow what…….clothes you need

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and…….you get a shot

There are none so blind as ………us

Children should be seen and not…….get a lot of toys out

If at first you don’t succeed……..you should burp

You get out of something what you……put in the sack

when the blind lead the blind…..that is not staying home

A bird in the hand is ……. A robin

Better late than …..staying out

T Week

This week is T week in David's class, and it seems very fitting to talk about the things I am thankful for during T week. So here are some of the things that I am extremely thankful for today.

1. I am thankful for my new nephew, Trevyn Zane. I still haven't seen a picture, but I have heard that he is a cutie and a sweet little guy. I am thankful that he is doing well and that my sister-in-law sounded phenomenal on the phone yesterday, even with sleep deprivation and being the mom of 4 sweet kiddos.
2. I am thankful that Brian is home from a leadership conference with some of the teens in the youth group. I love my husband immensely and miss him a lot when he is gone. We have a joke that every time Brian leaves, things fall apart. I would love to say that we made it this weekend without a hitch, but I will have to say that we ALMOST made it without a hitch. Sunday afternoon the boys were playing and Nathan fell and hit his head on the corner of his bed. So now, between his eyebrows he has a little bump (much smaller than on Sunday) and a nasty scrape.
3. I am thankful for good friends with medical experience who don't judge you when you call and ask exactly what type of head wound warrants a trip to the ER.
4. I am thankful for a very sweet David. David has his moments where he can be a bit.....ummmm, shall we say, stubborn and argumentative, but there are so many more times where he is such a deep thinker and loving. On Saturday night, David asked that if either Brian or I were to die if the one that was living would remarry. I was caught off guard because it was out of the blue. So, we talked a little about how sad something like that would makes us and more. I tried to find out why he was asking the question, but never really got a clear answer on that. At the end of our conversation, he said, "Well, if somebody has to die first, I hope it is dad because I want you to live forever." Gee, thanks....I think.
5. I am thankful for a very sweet little Nathan. I don't know how a child can get into so much stuff but still keep you laughing. His new request is that we call him Mr. Nathan. He said he was baby Nathan when he was a baby. Then he became Nathan Andrew when he was 3 and 4. Now that he is 5, he is Mr. Nathan.
6. I am of course very thankful for good friends and all of my family. Words cannot even begin to express how much all of my family and friends impact my life on a daily basis, so I won't even try. :)
7. Most of all, I am thankful to my great God for blessing my life and for sending His precious son to die for my sins.

There are so many more things that I am thankful for, but those are the highlights. I hope you have a very thankful T week too!

It's a Boy!

Noooo...I am not pregnant! :)

I got the call this morning that I have another sweet little nephew! I wish I could make a quick trip to Nebraska to see him, but unfortunately, it is a little too far away. So for now, I am waiting for pictures!

My brother told me that our new little guy weighs 8 pounds, and we are not sure how long because they had not measured him yet. When I asked him what his name is, my brother told me to call back tomorrow because they were still in negotiations about that. (My nephew, Tyler, thinks his name should either be Mack or DJ from the Cars movie!) I talked to my mom after she took my two nephews and niece up to meet their baby brother. She said he has a ton of red hair just like Tyler and looks a lot like Tyler. Maybe he should get to name him then! :)

For right now, it sounds like everyone is doing well....tired, but well. I will post a picture as soon as I get one if it is okay with my brother and sister-in-law.

Building Birdhouses

The boys started back to school today, and I must admit that a quiet house was kind of nice...for awhile. However, I sort of started missing them and the noise they create in our house.

I knew they would be kind of tired when they got home after a long school day, but I wanted the whole family to spend some time together since it was Brian's day off. After we picked the boys up from school and made a quick trip to Wal-Mart, Brian and I sat down with the boys to put together some birdhouse kits that the boys got for Christmas from Grandma Barbara.

Our family project began with the boys trying to tear open the boxes while I tried to convince them that we needed to do it carefully so that the pieces would not break or get lost. Let's just say that we met somewhere in the middle. Once the boxes were open, we started looking at and following the directions. It took Brian and me about 2 minutes to determine the instructions were worthless, and we branched out on our own.

We glued. We nailed. I was helping Nathan, and at one point in the building phase, he said, "This is man's work!" Unfortunately, when you see the picture, you might agree.

It was all going great until it came time to put the roof on the birdhouse. Somehow, the sides of Nathan's birdhouse were a little too high for the roof to lay flat. (Hmmmm...I wonder how that happened?) Needless to say, Nathan and I had to use a seriously huge amount of glue to get the roof on his birdhouse.

Now, I try to be a cool "boy" mom by doing "boy things" with them, but this event did not do much to build my credibility. In addition to Nathan's "man work" comment, David kept telling me that I was not real good at hammering or building. My sweet husband did stand up for me though by saying, "She might not be a builder but she does know how to fix a car."

I guess from now on we will skip the family building projects and will spend our family time giving the car a tune-up.
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I will have to add the pictures later. The camera battery is dead, and I can't take a picture. Once it is recharged, I will add a picture of the architecturally challenged birdhouse.

Happy New Year!

Why is it that we always have to start the new year out so tired? I desperately wanted to go to bed about 9:00pm last night; however, an unnamed father told his six year old son about the ball dropping and the six year old decided that he REALLY wanted to see this happen. Since the unnamed daddy was at a lock-in with the youth group, this tired old mom forgot about being tired and watch movies with her two little boys!

Nathan, unfortunately, conked out at about 9:15 pm. So, I carried him to bed. David made it until about 10:40. I turned the TV to an east coast station and woke him up right before 11:00 so he could see the ball drop. He watched it and immediately fell back asleep, so I carried him to bed. This morning he woke me up early and asked why I didn't wake him up so that he could see the ball drop. So, if anyone taped the ball dropping, we could use a copy of it here at our house!

You may be wondering when that unnamed daddy told that six year old about the ball dropping, right? (Okay, probably not, but I was trying to transition into a discussion about their trip to the Independence Bowl!) Brian and David got home yesterday afternoon after cheering Alabama on to victory over Colorado. This was not only David's first Bowl game, but it was also his first Alabama game.



If you have read this blog for very long, you will remember that David got sick and was not able to go to Alabama's game versus Arkansas a year ago. He became pretty bitter about the fact that he didn't get to go to the game and decided he liked Arkansas more than Alabama which broke Brian's heart. However, when boys at school started saying that Alabama was a bad team, our competitive little guy realized that crimson runs through his blood and now he is a die-hard Bama fan.

When Brian asked for tickets to the Bowl game for Christmas, I asked him if it would be okay if he just took David and left Nathan and me home to spend time hanging out with each other. Nathan and I both like football, but Nathan's attention span would have gotten us through the first quarter (maybe) and then I would have been wrestling with him the rest of the game. So Sunday, David and Brian set off on their dream of a life-time, and from the reports they have given, they had a really good time.

I asked David what his favorite thing about the game was and he told me two things:

1. Alabama won.
2. Colorado's buffalo running on to the field.

He then told me, "Daddy said I was never supposed to say this, but there was a crazy man saying really bad stuff that God doesn't want us to say. And the bathroom was just filthy! It had words written on the bathroom walls and dad said that you don't read in the bathroom. Don't say anything about it because I am never supposed to talk about this stuff with anyone and I cannot repeat a word of it!"

Oh my!

Wrapping up 2007

It is the last day of 2007, and I am doing what I do best: catching up! I must say that this year has been a growing year for our family. Some pretty big things happened in our family during 2007:

• David's first day of Kindergarten


• Nathan's first day of Pre-K


• David lost his first tooth


• I drank my first cup of coffee ever (and liked it!)


• I graduated with my MBA in December


• A fun trip to Disney World


• We bought a used Ford Taurus (something we thought we would NEVER do, but now we fight over who gets to drive it)


• Brian and David went to their first Bowl game together to root on Alabama to a win over Colorado

We have experienced a whole lot more than that, but those are a few of the fun things we experienced. I am now finishing up 2007 by getting organized and getting rid of a lot of stuff we really don't need. I must say that it feels really good to pass on old toys and "stuff" to others who will hopefully get more use out of it.

I am excited about the new things that 2008 will bring. I am sure there will be many firsts and big events, but I am even more excited about the little things that make life with my two boys so much fun. I am not the hugest fan of New Year's resolutions because mine usually only last until mid-February, but I am setting some goals for 2008. I won't bore you with all of them, but I will share one. I plan to be a whole lot better about blogging during this year. We will just have to see how that goes! :)

I wish all of you the best in the new year. May God shower blessings over each of you and may He provide wonderful opportunities in your lives in 2008!

Our Christmas Adventures

I must say that our boys are at such a fun age when we celebrate holidays, and Christmas was no exception to that. It was so fun to see their eyes light up when they open presents and how excited they were to give presents to others.

Christmas Eve was a laid back day at our house. Brian had to work so that a minister could be at the office, so I spent some of the day baking and getting stuff ready for our Christmas lunch. The boys helped decorate some reindeer cookies for Santa and played with all of Nathan’s birthday toys. I also ran a few last minute errands without the boys since Brian’s mom was there to watch them for me.

David decorating cookies in his pajamas.

(Yes, we were THAT lazy on Christmas Eve!)

Nathan showing that he used a lot of brawn to decorate his cookies.

One of the finished products.

Another finished product.

The night before Christmas the boys watched some Christmas shows in their pajamas after supper. Then we had some special carolers come by the house and sing for us. The Adams family came and sang for us, and Savannah and Lauren sang a special song for the boys. It was wonderful and made our Christmas Eve complete!

After the Adams left, the boys sprinkled their reindeer food on the front yard and then headed to bed. At one point, Brian dropped his keys on the floor and both boys exclaimed, “Santa is here! Santa is here!”

Christmas finally arrived (at 5:15 in the morning!). Presents were opened, and the playing began. Well, the art of removing toys from packages began. [A note to all of you toy packagers out there….It should not take me an hour to remove the toy from the package. If you have any mercy at all, please do not put so many twist ties in the packages!] Once the packages were opened, boys started playing and I started cooking. The rest of the day was spent being lazy and enjoying each other.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed time with family!

Nathan Turns FIVE!

Wow! My baby is now 5 years old. It is amazing how fast time flies. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital for the first time. He was such a little guy and made such a dramatic entrance. Since then he has been a little ball of fire always on the go. He keeps us laughing without even trying and never ceases to amaze us with his ability to destroy things or cause close to a natural disaster.

Since his birthday was on Sunday the 23rd, our original plan was to let him have one present before church and then open the rest after lunch with cake. However, Nathan's dear sweet brother woke him up before 6:00am to tell Nathan that he was 5. So, plans changed and he opened his presents before church.

At church, Nathan walked around telling everyone it was his birthday. He received a lot of birthday wishes and even had some pretty girls sing for him! :) He said he wanted to eat lunch at Chili's, so his wish was our command. After lunch, we came home for a piece of Darth Vader cake and ice cream. Then he and David played with his new toys all afternoon.

After church Sunday night, we went to the park and rode in a carriage with Santa. I am not a big fan of malls, and Christmas time magnifies that dislike. So, for the past three years, we have gone to one of our local parks where Santa gives carriage rides. It does cost to ride, but the boys love it and get Santa's undivided attention during the ride, and Brian and I get to enjoy watching them and hearing all that they have to say to Santa.

So, Nathan's birthday was a good one. People always feel bad for him because his birthday is so close to Christmas, but right now he doesn't really mind. At some point, we may start celebrating a half birthday in June to let him have a little more attention on him. For this year, it was perfect just as it was though.

Nathan with his new workbench

David and Nathan with the Darth Vader cake.

Nathan blowing out five candles.

My Sweet Husband

On Tuesday, my husband walked in the door with 2 dozen roses for me. Before we got married, he used to send me flowers every month (if not more). I loved it, but I always felt kind of guilty that he spent his hard earned money on something that would die and was kind of frivolous. Although I am a pretty practical person, I must admit that I still love it every time he walks in the door carrying flowers for me.

I will be honest with you though. As great as the roses are, he gave me an even better gift eight years ago. On December 11, 1999, he gave me his name and made me a promise that he would hang out with me forever. The journey has been kind of crazy at times. We have had some ups and we have had some downs. However, we have done it all together, and that has made the road of life a whole lot easier to travel.

Brian is my best friend, and the one that makes me laugh in spite of whatever is going on around us. I love to watch him read to our boys, defend himself during a light saber attack from two little Jedi's in training, joke around with the teens, and just be a great dad, youth minister and husband. I couldn't ask for better and would say yes all over again if he asked.

Pictures from Disney World

Nathan was chosen to drive a boat during one of the rides.

He took the task very seriously! :)

Michael, Tyler and Kylie listening to David read a Bible story.

Such a tired little boy and such a sweet big brother!

Almost all of the Tucker family! (Steve, Rachel, Michael and Tyler)

Grandma Sandy with Nathan and David

Grandma Sandy with Nathan, Kylie, Tyler and David as we rode

the ferry on our first day at Disney World.

The four youngest grandkid on the first day at Magic Kingdom

Nathan and David with Mickey Mouse

Thanksgiving Wishes

I am slow posting this because I have been trying to add pictures, but blogger has not been cooperative. I am going to go ahead and post it and try to add pictures later.

For Thanksgiving, we were blessed to get to go to Disney World! My mom had promised my oldest nephew that she would take all the grandkids to Disney World when he turned 12. Well, he is only 11, but my sister in law is expecting a baby and thought it would be much easier to go to Disney World pregnant rather than with a baby. So, we got a wonderful early Christmas present.

Out of the group, Brian was the only one who had ever been to Disney World before. My mom had been to Disneyland, but it is quite a bit different. The trip was fun and very tiring! The best part was just getting to see family and watch the kids enjoy the different parts of the parks. I must confess that we traumatized all of the younger ones by taking them to a frightening Bug's Life 3-D movie and a few other "dark" rides (and I am not talking about lighting), but there was a lot of stuff they enjoyed too.

As soon as I can, I will add some pictures of some pretty cute kids!

Not a Princess!

This past week, the boys have been extremely tired and seem to whine at the least little thing. Since I teach on Thursday nights, I knew that yesterday evening was going to be a bit trying for Brian, especially since it was the end of the school week. So, on the way home from school, the boys and I stopped and rented a couple of movies for the afternoon and evening in hopes that everyone would kick back and relax a little bit.

On the way home, David asked me what my favorite movie is. I pondered for a little bit and said I liked Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Then the favorite one hit me: Anastasia! David did not know about Anastasia, so I started to fill him in about Russia and my love for that country after my trip there. I also tried to explain how the name Stacey comes from Anastasia. Well, he didn't really get that. So, I said, "David, it is about a girl that doesn't know she is a princess, but she really is. Just think, maybe I am really a princess and just don't know it. Wouldn't that be great?! Do you think I could really be a princess?"

I looked at him in the rear-view mirror, and he had a very serious expression on his face. He started shaking his head and said, "Mom, you are definitely NOT a real princess!"

Gee thanks son! :)

I also told you I would fill you in on the fruit tray story. The day that Brian left for the conference, he called and told me that he forgot to pass on a message that someone had called about the shower. So, I called the person organizing the shower and explained that I could still bring something but that Nathan was sick and Brian was out of town which would keep my from being able to actually be at the shower. She said that was fine and asked me to bring a fruit tray with apples and kiwi. We usually have apples, because Nathan really likes them, but I generally do not have kiwi in my fridge. (Okay, I pretty much NEVER have kiwi at my house.) Ironically though, this time I actually had kiwi in my fridge, which definitely was going to make my life much easier.

Unfortunately, I soon realized that I only had 3 kiwi, so I knew I would have to get more. As the weekend progressed, Nathan started acting like he was feeling much better and quit running a fever. On Sunday, I actually thought we would be able to go to church....until he threw up that is. This left me trying to figure out exactly how I was going to make this fruit tray because I did not want to take a chance of him throwing up in multiple aisles of the grocery store but I knew I really needed more kiwi. So, I decided to improvise.

At this point in the story, my husband is just shaking his head because I have a tendency to improvise in the kitchen on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes it turns out great, and other times it turns out...well, we just won't go there.

So, I cut up my apples into slices, soaked them in lemon juice so they would not turn brown, and then put them on my tray. Then I cut up my three, little kiwi, and they just looked kind of sad on the tray. I still had a huge gap that I needed to fill. So, I found a jar of cut pineapple in my fridge, and added that to the tray. My fruit tray still looked kind of sad, so I decided that I needed to make a fruit dip. The only problem is that I didn't have all the ingredients for any of the recipes I could find online.

That only left me with one choice; I had to make up my own recipe. So I got out some cream cheese, added some powdered sugar, a tiny bit of brown sugar, some real butter, a tad of vanilla and a couple big globs of cool-whip. I didn't measure a single ingredient. It might sound a bit scary, but it was pretty good. I will admit that it was a take-off of a Chocolate Chip Cheesecake ball recipe that I have and really like, but I did add to it and take away from it (partly because I was stuck only using the ingredients I had on hand and partly because I needed it to be a bit different consistency for the fruit).

I know that it would have been much easier to just go to the store and take the chance that Nathan would not throw up. However, it is in those moments of improvising that I have come up with some of our favorite recipes. Granted, I can't always make them the same because I don't measure stuff like I should, but the concept of a great recipe is there.