The Extra Stocking

Today was crazy around here like most days. School...house work ...the usual. But today lil Hynlee was just having a rough day. She hasn't had any accidents in weeks until today. She had three total and still not sure why. But it could have a lot to do with her disappearing meme's aka pacifier. Every time we turned around today she had lost one. She would take it out for a drink and poof it was gone. Or after lunch another one just vanished. I couldn't figure out where in the world they were going. And if you know Hynlee at all you know she is HOOKED on her meme. It wasn't until after lunch when I was picking up the living room when I noticed an extra stocking under the tree. The girls had a Christmas party this past weekend and had received small stockings as gifts. But what shocked me was it was crammed full of paci's and hot wheels. You see Callee wanted to give Hynlee something special. Something she new she would love and something just from her. So she knew there is nothing she loves more than her meme and Callee's very own favorite hot wheel. I had tears when I found it. My baby girl could teach us all a lesson. It's not about how big the gift or much it cost. It's about the thought, it's about giving from your heart.

I explained to Callee that we had to give them back before we all went crazy but I promise we will find the most perfect gift for both her sisters just from her!! And that was all good until bedtime when I couldn't find another one. But this time I knew just where to look. Sure enough in that little red stocking was one hot wheel and two meme's!

So this Christmas morning if I wake to find nothing under the tree for me, I will be just fine. For I have the greatest gift of all....the gift of being a mother!

Worst blogger ever!

Ok so I admit it! I am the worst blogger ever! It's been months since my last post an their is NO excuse for that! Things have been going full force around here. I debated on starting a entirely new blog since we are so far behind! But I don't want to loose everything. So here is a short recap of the last few months. Derick went back to Trainor. Yes he hates it and wishes he was some where else. Hopefully that will change very shortly! Please pray he gets the job he has always wanted! He also turned thirty! Yep the big....NO HUGE 30!! We took him camping. We loved it. This was our first camping trip ever. I had no idea what to expect but it turned out really well! Next the girls are doing so good in school! They are both improving so much. And I couldn't be happier! For Halloween y'all had a ball! Hynlee you were the cutiest skunk ever. Grace you were a beautiful butterfly and Callee bug you were a crazy lil monkey for the second year! Hynlee is now fully potted trained! She nursed until 19 months and potty trained herself at 21 months old. Your such a big girl now. Callee girl lost her first tooth yesterday! She so cute! And Gracie just turned 7 two weeks ago. You lost a another tooth on your birthday and one more today! So now you can really say all you want for Christmas is your two front teeth:)
I know this is scattered and short but I promise you girls mommy is going to get better at writing this down for you.

Hynlee's Paint Job

This was after she did it. And from the look on her face she was happy about it.....

Well school has started and boy is it hard this year. Grace and Callee are doing wonderfully, it's little miss prissy! She is into EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME!! I love teaching the girls, sharing every minute possible with them, and keeping them from the things they don't need to learn. But it's very difficult this year. Hynlee is wide open all day. Never slowing down and sitting still. She likes to do exactly what the girls are doing. Today when school was over and I was busy grading and filing papers, she decided to paint her nails. I'm still not sure how she got into the child-proof drawer....she may have had a little help if you know what I mean! But anyways she got out some paint and painted the tile floor, the wood floor, the couch, her arms, fingers and feet hot pink! Keep in mind this was all within about a minute. She came walking by my desk and all was fine. Then a short 60 seconds later I get the strongest scent of nail polish. I didn't think to take a picture before I cleaned up the floors but here is her job of a pedicure

Answered Prayer

Have you ever worried about something for so long and then when you finally give it all to the Lord, it just seems like you couldn't even see that the problem was gone and you were still stressing over it. My Callee girl has had a rough couple months. She went from being physically sick to having weird dreams. She was even thinking she was hearing voices. And maybe she was but here I was thinking the worst. I was thinking oh my she has some psychotic problems .Who am I to say who and what she heard. My mom reminded me of the story of Samuel in the Bible. I'm not saying it was the Lord but she is growing and changing everyday. Yes she is only five and that is very young, but maybe she is reaching the age of accountability? She is more aware of death now than ever before. Now at night time she wants to pray a lot. Not just once like normal but its like she can't stop, she can't get it all out. It's so humbling to hear a child with that faith. Her prayer today went like this...

Please Lord watch over me tonight. Please Lord take care of me tomorrow. I know you will. You always have. I love you Jesus. And thank you for making me your special project.

Then she insisted that she sleep holding her Bible close to her.

She may not be all better, the voices could come back tomorrow. But for now they are gone and I thank God for that. She is acting like her old self again. I'm so blessed to be her mother. So I ask you when you pray say a prayer for her. That she may continue to improve and one day she will accept the Lord as her Savior. And that goes for Gracie and Hynlee too!

My Angel...My Love...My World!

Well, last night Derick and I watched Ladder 49. He had been begging me for weeks to watch it with him. Amanda had warned me not to, but last night I caved and did. Now I wish I would have listened. Derick is very close, we pray to getting on with the fire department. And now all I can do is worry. I know if he went back to Atlanta today he could get hurt there or be in a wreck or get cut again. But now I'm not so sure about the fire thing. I was awake all last night weighing the cons and pros in my head.
*Like this is his dream

*he would LOVE getting up and going to work

*he would have a lot more off days and at home with us

*BUT I don't think I need to state the most obvious con!

*Plus the money is half of what he is use to.

I know he would love it and I'm being 100% selfish. I know! I understand it. But last night I cried my self to sleep on his chest. I know me. I know I could never function without him. We have our problems but at the end of the day he is my best friend, the love of my life, the father of my babies.

As I laid there last night and imagined all the terrible things that could happen it made me realize two very important things

First. I love Derick more than life itself. I put all my trust in him. I depend 100% on him each day. I believe, no I know I need to take and put that much trust in the Lord. That no matter if Derick gets this job or another, that he will be there taking care of him. That I learn to depend on the Lord more. My faith is weak. I want to get to where I need to be.

Second. How much time we spend arguing about the little things. So many times I let little crazy things blow up into huge crazy things. I let my ocd control me and then I get ill about the house or this or that and then it comes between Derick and me. I make this promise to myself. That from right now I'm going to enjoy this life I have been given. I'm going to laugh and love. I'm going to just love being his wife. That's all I wanted years ago and now I take it for granted. I have been blessed with the most loving sweet husband who has helped create the most precious girls and I want to never forget how blessed I truly am!

One more angel in Heaven

One week ago today Heaven got a little bigger. Derick's cousin, Morgan lost her baby boy, Zaidyn Jayce. He was only 3 months old.

We got a call early that morning that he had quit breathing. I never thought this, something so final. I guess I was thinking he was choked or something. Derick went to their house to check on them. I stayed home because I had been sick all morning. He had been gone for a while and I called. Derick talked a minute and then said he would see me in a few minutes. Never in his voice did he give it away. I assumed all was fine. Then he came home with the news. I only thought I felt sick that morning. No sooner than he said the words I ran to the bathroom. I'm the type of person who DOES NOT handle death well. No matter if it's a close relative, stranger, pet. I can't wrap my mind around it.

My heart hurt so bad. That baby was gone. What was Morgan thinking, how was Sandy, and what about Aunt Jimmie? I knew what I felt at that moment and I couldn't imagine being in their shoes. I know you aren't supposed to ask why? But in a way you can't help it. He was so young.

The funeral was heart breaking. There are no words to describe a baby's funeral. That was my first and I hope and pray that I never have to sit through that again.

Then there was telling the girls. Of course with Papa the girls knew older people pass away. But I never wanted to have to tell them that could happen to a baby. They took it a lot better than what I thought. I still don't think they understand it all.

But the main reason I wanted to post this was because of the money issue. Zaidyn like many children had no life insurance. The funeral home was so very gracious enough to offer their complete services free. All they wanted was the restocking fee of the casket which was $150.00.

But the burial was the problem. It was going to cost $1400.00 to bury that precious baby.

As I sat there and thought about this situation. I wanted to help anyway I could. I watched Morgan and Sandy and couldn't even speak a word. My heart was broken for them and it seemed as if my mouth was sealed shut. I would think about what to say to them but as soon as I got around them, I froze.

What could I say?

I don't know what they are going through!

It was then that night that I talked with Derick and said we have to do something to help. Derick went the next day and started a fund at Suntrust in Zaidyn's name. We wanted to help but wasn't sure what we could accomplish. Derick also went to the funeral home and talked with them. It was then that they gave us a total on what they thought we would need to have his services.

Then we prayed. It's sad to say that it took this for me to pray that hard. But I never remember praying for something so hard and long. It's almost like I prayed constantly Thursday and Friday. We had the account but people couldn't deposit anything until Friday morning. So we thought we would have all day Friday and Saturday to raise the money. Late Thursday we got the call that all money had to paid by 1:00 Friday.

How were we going to do this? Well all I can say is we didn't! The Lord really worked some miracles! At 8:00 Friday morning we had $85! We called everyone we could think of and then they called people they knew and the chain started rolling. I'm not sure who gave and where the money came from. But the Lord knows! By 1:00 that day we were able to give the family $1130 of the $1400 needed.

When also found out that someone had paid for the funeral home's small fee. But the people weren't done giving yet. The account kept getting deposits all weekend and still is. We were able to get over $3200 for the family. So I want to thank you if you gave money, or cooked food for the funeral, or just prayed a prayer. I hope I never have to face a situation like this, but I'm so glad and thankful that we still have so many loving, caring, helpful people out there!

Life's many blessings

Wow so much has happen since my last post. I often think..oh my blog I need to update that thing and I sit down and either one of two things happen. I start checking my mail or facebook OR one the girls either are begging me to let them play on Disney.com or Hynlee is pushing me out of the chair because she wants to sit here. So when I do have time to actually sit and start working on it I hardly ever get anything accomplished.

Let's see with my girls what's new?

Hynlee turned 18 months old today! I know I can't believe it. I still feel like she is it. She completes our family so my last baby is now approaching 2!! She can pee and poop in the potty. She loves M&Ms and will just about do anything for some! She is growing out of the biting stage, but has started pinching!! She still so little and skinny. She barely weighs 21lbs. But she makes up for her size in her attitude!

Callee, well is just being Callee. Still running, climbing, wild as always. She still worries me though. She has started complaining of hearing things. Like she will come through the house and want to know what we want because she thought she heard us calling her. At times she says the voices are making fun of her. This scares me for two reasons. One just because its weird. And two because she is my little girl. If someone was being mean or hurting her I can stop that. But if it's inside her head? How do I stop that? I feel totally helpless. I took her to her doctor and he wants her to be seen by another Dr. We are still waiting on that appointment. Just please say a prayer for her, that it will turn out to be nothing more than her WILD, NEVER-ENDING imagination! She will be starting Kindergarten in just a few weeks.

And Grace. Grace is the most kind, giving child ever. She always just wants to help. But lately this child has turned into a couch potato. I promise it's driving me crazy. She runs to the TV first thing in the morning before her sisters get up. She gets mad if you turn it while she goes in another room. And has even started hiding the remote. We have tried setting limits and that didn't work. Now I have to say she knows exactly which shows we allow and which ones we don't approve of. Even we aren't in the room and one starts coming on I can hear her turning it. But we have really consider turning off our cable. There are so much more to life than that crazy thing. We Derick and I first married we didn't have TV. And I thought we were missing out. Man was I wrong. I think about the family nights, and outdoor activities or just cuddling together we could be doing.

And lastly Derick. He has almost(fingers-crossed) got the job, we pray. He has always wanted to go back to firefighting. This has taken months of work and test and preparations but here goes the main things

Taken the first test...passed

Application.....approved

Fitness test....passed with flying colors

Last interview....next week
So please remember him also when you pray.

I feel sometimes like we have the craziest hectic life ever. But you know what.....maybe we do ....maybe we don't. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. I have been blessed more than I deserve.

Day 9 Going home turns into Day 10!

Sorry..I posted the pictures before the story again! Scroll down and read and then you will understand why we all look so bad, tired, stressed, nasty.......

Letting the kids play with the cameras to occupy themselves!

Making friends at the rest stop..while his daddy helps our daddy!

Today was terrible..yes it could have gone worse but our patience was definitely tried today. I figured I would list the things instead of writing it out. It would take forever and a day to explain everything so here we go:

1. No available carts to take our luggage down 7 floors
2.Wake Callee..she wasn't feeling good. Went back to bed

3. Derick carries ALL our luggage down....Yes he is amazing!!

4. Find Callee in bed and she had gotten sick all over herself

5. All she wants to do is lie in the tub

6. Leave to get gas...Callee gets sick on the way

7. Stop by CVS to get a bucket for her to hold

8. Get a call from Mom and their battery is dead?!

9. Go back to help them and the battery is now fine..now the transmission seems to be going out!

10. Go by Disney's lost and found and get Gracie's blanket

11. Talk with Callee's pediatrician.. she wants her seen now. Think she might me diabetic

12. I cry

13. Mom finds a urgent care and meets us there.

14. Crazy doctor didn't know what he was doing!

15. Stop by Walgreens and pick up her antibiotic for her UTI...that she didn't really have!!

16. Start home
17. Make it to Gainesville, FL rest stop

18. Derick gets out without putting it in park.

19. I wake up to us rolling back with NO driver!!

20. Slam it in park just as we about hit a Lexus!

21. Get out..completely freaked out!

22. Load back up and guess what? My Tahoe won't crank!

23. Sit there for hours trying to find out whats wrong
24. Finally call tow truck and tow us to hotel
25. Derick stays outside most of the night trying to figure out whats wrong with it.

Well I guess I will continue my list through the next day also. Keep in mind this is Memorial Day so all dealership and car rental places are closed! And we find out that to rent a truck and trailer to haul my car home will be over $400.00

26. Drive...yes I said drive my car to auto store and they can't run a test on it

27. Drive it to another pay them $100 just to look at it and they drive it and look some more and they say nothing is wrong

28. About to leave there and it starts it again!

29. They then say it will be $300 to fix it

30. Derick buys the $50 part and has it fixed in less than 15 minutes!

31. Get lunch and head home once again
32. The van has basically a blow out and have to stop for a new tire!

33. Finally made it home on Day 10 at 10:00pm

Day 8 Papa George's House

Day 8 of vacation..Papa George's house. I know we should have went sooner. But as much as I was excited about seeing him and him meeting Hynlee for the first time. I was dreading it. This wouldn't just be Hynlee's first time, but our first time without Nana. The first with out her silly jokes, the first with her chair sitting there empty, the first of what we have to expect from now on. It went better than I thought. Papa is amazing! At his age he rides his bike five miles a day. And I complain that I don't feel like going for a walk!

Hynlee did ok for the first part of the trip there. Playing peek a boo! Then when she got tired she made me lay over on her. I couldn't move or she would scream. So finally I feel asleep like this...

My neck was killing me by the time we got there. But it was so worth it!

Lane and his baby blues!

Jonah

How funny is this? This is Jonah! Hard to believe I know! He will probably kill me one day for these photos. But I promise he did it all on his on!

Jonah trying to smother me!

Derick being goofy! There is not a day this guy doesn't make me laugh!

Papa George with all the kiddos

Hopefully soon we will be headed back. This time to pack him up and move him back to Georgia!

Day 7 Beach!!

Sorry for the picture overload!

Callee Bug
Cute Cousins

T and me

Hynlee girl

Kendall Brooke:)

My babies

Feeling the water on her toes

My Love

My precious family...so blessed!

My whole world!

Day 7 plans...BEACH! We always go to the beach but this year was extra special! Tammy and her family joined us. The girls loved it like always but Hynlee surprised us all. She absolutely loved it! Grace and Callee never cared about it when they were that small. But she couldn't get enough of it. The sand, the water, the waves..she loved them all! She was way to cute giggling each time the waves hit her. And as for me, well ever since I have had kids I don't like getting way out in the water. But this year Derick kept pulling me until we were way to far. But we had fun, more fun that we have had in a long time. We needed this!

Day 6

KK and Jonah

My little love bug!

Chip and Dale

She is so beautiful...and doesn't even know it:)

Two of my loves..

Princess Callee, Jasmine, and Grace...I know Daddy wishes he would have went now!! He has a secret thing for Jasmine!

Mommy's favorite Princess
Callee and her Princess Wand!

Cinderella

Magic Kingdom! This is the one place that keeps bringing us back to Disney! This year we had an extra special treat! We have tried on numerous occasions to get reservations at The Royal Table inside Cinderella's castle. It's so hard to get one but this year Nana Kris and Papa Tim went above and beyond! They treated all us girls to a day in the castle!! Grace and Callee were so excited. This is all they had talked about for months!

We had a ball! Except for the fact that I forgot Hynlee's blankie in the stroller outside. So she had a melt down just about the entire time! No blankie, no cover-up so I had to use a napkin...yes a little square napkin to cover up nursing in the middle of the dining room. It was either that or let her scream for the rest of the time!! Then it came time to order and Mom has to announce my allergy to nuts. So what does this mean? It means the Chef..yes the actual chef has to come out and discuss my dining options. What else did I expect? We are one big, crazy family! Did I really think we could have a dinner with out any mishaps?? But we did make memories to last forever!! Thanks again Nana and Papa:)

The rest of the day was how do you say it? HOT!

The girls didn't let that stop them. They rode Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. They liked all of them and rode most of them twice. We finally decided not to waste time standing in lines to meet characters with Hynlee. She wasn't going to have her picture made!

Chef Mickey's Day 5

Today had been planned out for months. Every year we do a character meal, Nana Kris and Papa had asked if they could take all the kids to this one. We didn't have a problem with that..except that Hynlee has never been left. I guess with her being the baby its just been harder leaving her. But we had agreed she could go but that was before her head injury. Well let me start at the beginning. Hynlee still doesn't sleep through the night. So when she woke up early that morning I just left her in the bed with us. I was careful and placed two pillows beside her and then the pack and play was beside the bed so I thought it was all good. Well once again I was wrong. Sometime around seven she rolled over on top of the pillows and fell off the bed. As if that wasn't enough she hit her head on the corner of the night stand. I woke up as soon as she hit the floor. She was lying face down on the floor. When I picked her up there was blood everywhere!! It took us forever to get it stop bleeding. I first thought we needed stitches but she was fine. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to let her leave me now. But she did and I'm sure she did better than I did. The only problem was they were going for breakfast. They left our room at 9:00 and didn't return until 2:00! What kind of breakfast they had I'm not sure, but I sure was missing my babies!! Poor Hynlee didn't like the characters at all. And looking back at the pictures and how bad she looks, I wish I would have just kept her with me. On the upside of things Grace, Callee, Lane, and Jonah had a blast.

Hollywood Studio's Day 4

One of the soldiers from Toy Story

Look how much taller Callee is than Grace!

The kiddos waiting in line for the new Toy Story ride. They loved it, well everyone but Hynlee. We had to wait in line twice for them to ride it again.

My favorite..and guess what? I took it! I guess maybe I can take a decent picture!!

This was Hynlee's first characters. And she did pretty good. She even reached out and touched one. Can you tell that June is the girls favorite??


My Callee Girl!

Grace and Callee found out they were tall enough to ride Tower of Terror because I opened my big mouth. I never ever thought they would want to ride it. Well, maybe Callee but most defiantly not Gracie. Boy was I wrong. Derick and I will both ride any ride, any time. But neither of us was ready for our girls to take this BIG step. I don't know who was scared more, Derick and me for them, or them. We..or I tried my very best to talk them out of it the entire time we were in line. And I thought I had Gracie. She would say no I don't want to and then Callee would start teasing her and she would decide again that she would try it. I just had a very long and serious talk with them, about how once we were on it there was nothing Mommy or Daddy could do. If you sat down and buckled up then you had to ride it. They both said they understood. So we did it. I was so scared and nervous and excited all at once. But they did good..no they did wonderful! They loved it! But as soon as we got off Grace said I have to go to the bathroom now! And this is big for Grace, cause she DOES NOT use public bathrooms! I guess she was so scared she really about peed her pants! But as soon as she went we rode it again. This time with Lane and I think we have permanently scared him for life. He didn't cry but he didn't like it at all. I wanted so bad to buy a souvenir picture but they were too short and couldn't be seen!

Hynlee loved the Mickey Ice cream head!

This would be my lovely mother, who just about passed out after walking all the way to the top of the stadium for the stunt show. She seriously had to remove her socks and shoes and kick back and catch her breath. How taking off her shoes helped, not sure! But Derick doesn't miss this show. It's his favorite thing at Hollywood Studios. Jonah loved it. He leaned over to me and said,"Now that's what I'm talking about!"