Twas Blind But Now I see

Yesterday I went under the laser knife with 20/400 vision and came out 20/25. This morning I was 20/15. It really is amazing, and I have annoyed Stacey to no end reading far-away signs with small print out loud, and singing a modified version of "I can see clearly now the rain is gone". I also have a new-found freedom to call glasses-wearing friends "4 eyes".

Latest bribe...

So yesterday "it" finally happened. "IT" being poopy on the potty! Levi had been trying to go all day...running back and forth to the bathroom...only to come back and say "not yet", when I asked him if "IT" happened.
He loves to look at toy magazines that come in the mail and make out his wish lists. This week it just so happens to be "kitchen stuff" that he is obsessed with. Hence, the latest bribe. So I told him that if he did "it" on the potty, we would go to Toys-r-us and get kitchen stuff. Sure enough it worked!
Needless to say, we have been playing kitchen all day! He and Abby even set up a little table in her room (with blankets as tablecloths) and had music playing (from her Gameboy). All the essentials...pizza, chocolate chip cookies, limes and donuts!

Cravings...

I am a woman of cravings...just ask my husband. Sometimes I crave sweet things...sometimes savory things, but frequently I crave something! I came across an article a few weeks back in our Miami Herald about Todd Wilbur. He is the author of Top Secret Restuarant Recipes. He has discovered the secret ingredients for the Olive Garden Salad Dressing, Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits...this list goes on and on. Anyway, if you are craving a little something and don't want to go out, you can check out his website at www.topsecretrecipes.com
(Some of the recipes are free, while others you can download for 79 cents a recipe) On Mondays he posts a brand-new recipe for FREE.

Making Progress

When we first started this potty training process, Levi wanted to pretend that his dinosaurs had a place to swim...we are making progress though!



Now as long as I keep a long shirt on him and no bottoms (yes, nudey pitooty) he will not have an accident and based on this picture...finds some extra reading time while he does his thing. We also bribe. Yes, bribe! We have a potty chart and after a certain number of stickers you get to pick a Hot Wheels car and if you have collected 25 stickers you get a lollipop as big as your head! Now we just have to start introducing pants in public...





We are also making progress with organizing all of our crap...I mean stuff. The Dymo LetraTag label maker has changed my life! How fun it is to organize and then make a fancy label for it! It's like a little reward for all your hard labor of purging!



I'll close with a picture that Abby recently painted...a reminder that there is always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...NO...wrong message...instead a reminder that God is always faithful to His people and He will always provide a way...whether you are struggling to potty train your little one, or move across the ocean...He is FAITHFUL!

Time in Texas

We had a great time in San Antonio! My Aunt Karen and Uncle Ron are great hosts and we enjoyed meeting many of their friends and eating Aunt Karen's delicious desserts. We also saw a few sites on the Riverwalk (where we took a boatride) and the Alamo. The Women of Faith Conference was a great time of worship, powerful testimonies and hilarious stories. We even saw Brad's longtime love...Sandi Patty:) We laughed, cried and then laughed some more. It was some much needed girls' time away!

I'll leave you with my Aunt Karen's recipe for Almond Poppy Seed Bread:

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cups oil
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups flour

Glaze frosting
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Prehaet oven to 325. Mix together sugar, vanilla, oil, poppy seeds, eggs, milk and almond extract. Add the salt,baking powder and flour. Pour into greased pans. Bake for about 1 hour. Let cool for 30 minutes.
Stir glaze ingredients briskly and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Drizzle over loaves.

Makes 2 big or 4 small loaves.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Our little girl is 6! Check out some photos from a little party we had before Stacey's trip, from her school party, a beach party with Brad's college roommate Johnny Fish and his fiancee Maija, and then some fun with cousins Elisabeth, Ben, and Michael.

The Great Escape

A big huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been praying for our family...especially that I wouldn't get sick. Miraculously, I escaped the wrath of this flu and I am leaving for some girls' time in Texas with my aunt (who lives in San Antonio), my mom and Brad's mom. Brad and Abby are finally up and about and Luke and Levi are currently without fevers...just hacking coughs now.

So last Saturday we were supposed to have Abby's 6th birthday party, but the DR. recommended that we cancel it. Smart move. Instead, we had a little family celebration "Hawaiian style". Abby requested a "hula girl" cake with homemade vanilla frosting. My mom made matching outfits for Abby and Kit...complete with grass skirts and shell necklaces. Too cute.

Today the "early" birthday celebrations continued, this time for Daddy. One of his college roommates was in town on vacation (with his soon-to-be wifey-poo) and they came by for snacks and Brad's favorite birthday treat...lemon bars. Tonight the three of them are going to a Heat game (while I stay home with the sick children and finish packing).

If you get a chance...wish my sweet hubby a Happy Birthday on Thursday! Abby and my mom's birthdays are on Friday!

Another one bites the dust...

Another one bites the dust...and another one down, another one down...another one bites the dust!

It's Luke's turn! Yeah! That means the only one left is ME...will she get it? Stay tuned...

"It's probably just the flu"

"It's probably just the flu" were not the words I wanted the Dr. to say to me after being at the ER for 4 and a half hours. I am thankful that it is nothing too serious, like pneumonia (which they ruled out with a chest x-ray) but this is why I always second guess myself...should I take them to the ER or not?

This was my scenerio...Abby has been running a fever for 6 days now...all day she stayed in bed, ate nothing except 1 package of fruit snacks (which I gave her to take away the awful taste of her nasty cough medicine), coughed and hacked all day long and even threw up late in the afternoon. I tried to get through to the dr's office only to be put on hold forever. I certainly did not want her to get dehydrated and thought that something must be more seriously wrong if she still had a fever after 6 days...

Of course once we were taken back into a room and the Motrin they gave her in triage had kicked in, she was happy as a lark. Drawing rainbows, excited that she was getting to watch TV shows that were on past her bedtime, and even getting a little "saucy" at times...wanting to stand out in the hallway to see the action, instead of staying in her room. Ugh! Why did we come to the ER again...oh yeah, she's had a fever for SIX days now, she isn't eating anything and she's been taking 2 naps a day! It never fails that once you decide to take your kid to the Dr., they will magically get better!

I do want to thank you for all of your prayers and phone calls. I really am thankful that it is nothing too serious...just the flippin flu. I also want to thank our dear friend, Jessica who works as a nurse at Joe DiMaggio. Not only did she have a Dr. that she knew call down to the ER to try to get us in quicker, she also held a room for us just in case we were admitted and if that weren't enough, she stayed with us until 10pm, after getting off of her 12 hour shift! What a friend! We love you and appreciate all that you did for us!

The bummer in all of this is that the Dr. said that Abby is too sick to have her birthday party this weekend..really no big deal, we can reschedule...but I hope that the park where we reserved the shelter let's us cancel and get our money back! :)

P.S. Levi's rash is basically all gone now and he has just had a low grade fever today.

P.S.S. It's Friday morning now...Abby still has a fever, and Brad has been the next victim:(
but the park where the party was supposed to be graciously is refunding all of our money! Please keep Abby and now Brad in your prayers!

Please pray for our sick kids

Abby has had a fever now for 5 days. Levi developed a strange rash on his stomach and back and now has also developed a fever. We spent the morning at the doctor and both were tested for strep. The results were negative for strep, but he really couldn't say what they might have. He does want to see them again in 2 days if the fevers persist. Abby is not wanting to eat or drink and took 2 naps today...you know she is sick! Please pray that tomorrow they both would start feeling better.

One of our Favorite Places

Last week before everyone got sick, we had a chance to go to one of our most favorite places... Hollywood Beach. It has one of our most favorite restaurants, ANGELOS. If you like really thin cheese pizza, then you'll love this! We also love that we can get it to go and then eat under the shelter while the kids play in the sand!

The beach is something we are really going to miss. Thankfully we'll have a great place to come back on vacation! :)

Who does this make you think of?

This was Levi's fabulous playdoh creation today...who does it make you think of?

Sweet Sunday

Yesterday was filled with baseball games, swimming with friends, planning for Abby's 6th birthday party next weekend and running lots of errands! Today started much slower when Abby woke up with a fever.

It was great to have her crawl into our bed and snuggle with me, as she told about her dreams last night. She had dreamt that some of her best friends (the Courics) had moved next door into the Richardson's house and that we were having to help take care of the Couric's goats..(must of been the Motrin I gave her last night!:) Then Levi joined us and we all sang "Where oh Where did my Levi go...Oh where oh where can he be?" as he hid under his blue blankets...all of our feet tangled together. From the bed, we all moved onto the couch.

As we have been purging and packing to get ready for our move, it has forced us to get more organized. (Imagine that!) Brad has been taking all of our family videos and been transferring them to DVD's. We had great fun laying/lying ( I can never remember the correct one and Brad isn't here to ask!) on the couch watching Luke sing his ABC's at
2 1/2 and Abby as a baby, giggle as we tickled the rolls around her chubby little neck.

From there we moved into the kitchen for a big Sunday breakfast...complete with cinnamon rolls, pancakes and eggs. The boys then went off to church and Abby went back to bed...which is why I am finding a moment to write this. I think while all is quiet, I will go make some of Shar's famous chocolate chip/oatmeal cookies and even add pecans...

Hope all who are reading this is also having a sweet Sunday!

The Blessings of 4734 Jefferson

This is the view from my kitchen window. It is a rose bush that originally came from the funeral of Brad's grandfather-it is attached to a trellis that Brad had built for me. I'm going to miss this view and all of the memories we made in this house...

-watching Brad splash around in the pool with the kids
-Abby and Levi's first steps
-Luke losing his first tooth
-entertaining family and friends in a spacious dining room, complete with a built in buffet
-holiday celebrations
-Levi running down our LONG hallway to greet me with a hug...over and over until my back hurts from throwing him up too many times
-the "butler's" pantry
-frequent visits from out of town guests
-preparing for hurricanes (probably won't miss this one!)
-having both moms live with us for a period of time
-being 4 minutes from church
-laughing as Abby does "cheerleader jumps" on the trampoline
-asking Missy for brown sugar instead of going to the grocery store
-birthday balloons from the Richardsons
-LOTS of great babysitters in walking distace
-unending supply of bananas from our backyard

The list could go on and on and I could grow weary and sad thinking about all of the things we are leaving behind in this house...

But after this morning's women's bible study on "The Art of Authentic Praise", I was convicted to praise God even when I don't really feel like it- instead of the pity party, today I will choose to praise Him for who He is- and for what He has done in blessing us with this house on Jefferson St. And I look forward to praising Him in Vienna when He provides just the right place for us to live and minister in and just the right neighbors-and it will all be in His perfect timing!

Join me in Praising God-even if your circumstances are overwhelming you today! Here are some of the references we used in our Beth Moore study, "A Heart Like His"...all taken from the Psalms

9:1
103:1-5
42
34:1
63:1-4
52:9
144:1-4
40
22:3