We did yard work today. I am becoming more pleased with the flower beds. They are becoming mine, instead of the former owners.

A while ago we had some of our youth come over as hired workers - they are raising money for their mission trip this summer. There was brick standing on end as an edge for the flower beds. They removed the brick and relaid it long ways slightly lower than the sidewalk. And they moved the one end of the garden, also lined with brick, in two feet. They worked hard.

So, today I dug out plants I didn't want in those beds, took out two bushes, and edged the flower bed with stones. It looks much better. I'll add photos later.

G weeded, mowed and edged. Our yard is lookin' good. My friend P has always said how satisfying a nicely manicured yard is.

E just came to me nearly in tears and on the verge of a breakdown because she couldn't put her hood up. She said, "My hood's not working!"

Like I said, my visit to my friend's was quite an experience:


My daughter got her hand stuck to a sticky mouse trap, and trying to get it off was an effort.

The bed rail came off while I was on the bed getting ready to nurse my son. Got around to fixing it a while later.

Instead of outpatient, P ended up being inpatient.

I turned on the oven to bake something, pizza left there burned, dripped, set off the smoke alarms, alerted the security company and the fire department. I got to speak with a real, live fireman.

Visited my friend while managing a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old, driving back and forth for naps and not having a needed schedule, resulting in cranky children and haggard mother.

I did some laundry, went to dry it, found a not so clean rug in a dirty dryer. Lugged the broken vacuum down, and wrestled with it to vacuum out the dirt.

My children didn't sleep very well (though that's not unusual) and robbed me of sleep.

My husband came to give me relief from children. (Another reason I love him.)

Argued with Kashi about going upstairs or coming down, going outside or coming in.

Became increasingly disgusted with the treatment P received from that hospital. And I thought she'd be safer there. What a misconception that was.

P and I got to see our favorite movie, "Independence Day," and played a few games of Phase Ten Dice.

I was there to be with P and give her support. And it was worth it. I'd do it all again. Except I'd bring my own vacuum.

My son felt the need to eat at midnight, the exact time I decided to go to bed. I don't really like to be interrupted from my plans for slumber. And really not by a crying baby, who has quite a piercing cry.

So, I gave in and fed him, and then I got to go to sleep.

This trip to my friend P's house has not been a typical trip. It wasn't suppose to be. I came to be a support for her during surgery. No plans for movies, games, or our normal fun.

It started out at 11:30 pm last night. I had a Get Together and left after it was over. It was a late drive. I wasn't sure how it would go, but I made it. I had a book on tape, but it didn't really help me to stay wake. I had to stop twice to take a break.

When I got to her house last night at 2:30 pm, the children were both awake. They believed it to be time to stay awake. After nursing my son a bonus feeding, he proceeded to cry and carry on when I put him in the travel crib. I ended up going out to my car to get the bouncy seat. J loves it. He finally quit crying. E still had wide eyes. She fussed and didn't want to go to sleep. I gave her two books and told her she didn't have to go to sleep, but she needed to stay in bed. I, however, felt quite strongly about sleeping and closed my eyes and was out. A while later, I roused to see both children sleeping. Since they had finally succumbed to sleep, I continued on in my slumber.

The children were gracious enough to sleep until 8:30. Then while I was getting ready to nurse J on the bed, the bed rail came off and the mattress and box spring fell to the floor. I pried myself off the crooked bed and proceeded with nursing my son on the other bed. Just as I was finishing up with my son, I noticed my daughter fooling around with something. She took it to the bathroom, and I heard rustling. When she came to where I was - upon my request, I saw she had a pest trap stuck to her hand. After I wrestled the thing off, I had to go figure out how to get the sticky stuff off her hand. It was quite coated. Four cleaners later - soap, alcohol, nail polish remover, and mineral spirits - her hand was glue free, and she was admonished to not touch things she finds on the floor.

Some time that morning, I hefted the mattress and box spring off the frame, reattached the side rail, and hefted it all back together.

I wanted to have us all ready to leave by 10:00. I got E some Cheerios and milk to start her off, while I began gathering everything we would need. I put together a bag for E and a bag for J and a bag for me. I made E oatmeal and fed it to her, so I didn't have the big clean up job as when she eats on her own. I had put off getting my own oatmeal and had to shovel it down my throat so we could get going.

We made it to the P's house with time for my daughter to become acclimated before I left her there. She really wouldn't do well at sitting in a waiting room for a couple of hours. So, she got to play while I got to sit.

I was there for support for my friend, as this surgery was very hard for her to allow. But she made it there. She walked through those doors and stayed.

She was suppose to come home today, yet I sit at home while she is still there. She made it through the surgery just fine, but it was the waking up and recovery that was the problem. It took her longer than normal to come around and understand where she was and why she was there. She also had trouble staying awake, even if she in the middle of a conversation. She ended up staying over night. As much as she might want to come home, she just might be safer at the hospital.

After I thought my friend was good hands, I collected my children from their caregivers and headed back to P's house. It was past dinner time and we still needed to eat. McDonald's it was. And finally the kids were in bed, and I could take a moment for myself.

This is it. If I can't get $500 worth of sales for Creative Memories by the end of April, I am deactivated. I have two Get Togethers scheduled. I hopefully will have enough sales. If my sales don't get to $500, I think I may end up making up the difference myself. I don't want to be deactivated.

I am having trouble getting beck into since my son was born. It's been 5 months. I didn't anticiapte in taking this long. But I am not giving up.

We bought our "new" car. It's a 2003 Honda CR-V. I like it very much. I went shopping today and had no trouble fitting everything in the back. Getting the kids in and out is a snap, too.

Now G needs to sell his Del sol. He is rather heart broken over that. He likes his little two seater. But it is an unpracticle family car.

I have traveled to North Carolina. My aunt lives there, and since my sister had off the week before Easter, we decided to head on down and see her. We also took a jaunt of to Wilmington to see my cousin.

We had a long drive down and back. The visit was nice. We went to two parks. The weather was nice (80s) for two of the days and then grew a bit colder.

J rolled over (back to front) for the first time. I have some video footage (which unfortunately was over top part of my daughter nursing her baby.) Yes, I forgot to check where the video tape was until I already started taping.

My aunt had hidden several plastic eggs for E to find. In the eggs were coins. E made a good bit of money for a 2 and a half year old. Especially when she found the change in my aunt's car, which she helped herself to.

While at the second park we rode a carousel and a miniature train. We walked through a mini zoo. E got to see snakes, turtles, deer, bear, foxes, a donkey, chickens. She also spent some hard earned cash (collected from my aunt's change in the car) on a very small piece of python skin.

We also fed some ducks and geese. We didn't care much for the geese. They tend to be a bit too aggressive for youngsters. I had a duck eat out of my hand.

On Wednesday, we went to visit our cousin. My sister got a speeding ticket. We walked on the beach, and J got to touch the ocean for the first time. He cried - it was cold. Once accustomed to the sand, E had a blast. She ran to and fro, not venturing much into the surf. Like I said, it was cold. But if the water moving back and forth wasn't a bit daunting to her, I think she may have gotten wetter. She did manage to acquire a seashell from a lady and had a conversation with some mothers laying on the beach just within reach of the surf. She tried to join them, but I stopped her. We didn't have a change of clothes. I missed capturing all of this, because when we left S's apartment, I thought to myself, we are only going to lunch, I won't need my camera. Lesson learned? A mother shouldn't go anywhere on vacation without her camera.

Heading back to my aunt's at 11:45 PM was foolish. I was driving, while everybody else slept. I had a very hard time staying awake. Very hard. My eyes were only half open sometimes. A dangerous way to travel. But we did make it back with no incidents.

All in all, it was a good visit.

E and I play the "Who loves E?" game. She has a grand time with it. She answers with Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, Mommom, Poppop, and has included Jesus now.

As a Christian parent, I want my children to become Christians. To hear my child say that Jesus loves her and lives in her heart is a beautiful thing. I know that she doesn't really know what it means to have Jesus live in her heart, but as she grows we will teach her.

Again E told me that Jesus loves her. This week she has also told me that Jesus lives in her heart. I have told her the Easter story and that Jesus wants to live in her heart like he lives in Mommy and Daddy's hearts. I didn't realize she was actually absorbing everything I said. She is always amazing me.

That she would keep this knowledge with her in her heart and hold to it throughout her life.

This morning my daughter was keeping herself occupied. (She does quite well at this.) After a bit, she called to me, "Mommy, look me." Once she had my attention, she said "Jesus loves me," while pointing to herself. I immediately got up and went to where she was. She had found my Bible on the coffee table, opened it, and was "reading" it. I gave her a big hug and confirmed that Jesus did indeed love her.

She is connecting what we have been teaching her about Jesus. She knows that Jesus and God wrote the Bible and that Jesus lives in Mommy's heart and Daddy's heart. I also told her that someday maybe she would let Jesus live in her heart, too.

As an aside, she also found my gel pen and inked her clothing and some pages in my Bible. She received a clean shirt.

We were asked today at MOPS if we have ever felt hopeless. I thought on that for a bit and came to the conclusion that I have never felt truly hopeless. I know that things aren't hopeless. They may be hard, and I might not like the situation I am in, but God is always there to bring me through. He has always been faithful, and I know he always will be. There is no reason for me to be or feel hopeless.

What did give me pause was this passage from Romans 5:3-5: (and try as I might, when looking in the concordance, I will never find Romans in the S's, or patience when I am looking up Romans) "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

We go through our suffering and come out on the other side with patience or perseverance, character and hope. And the Holy Spirit is right there with us, helping us along. Jesus never promised us we would have it easy. In fact, he promised us we would have it hard. Sin does that. What he did promise was to be there with us.

As we drifted off to sleep, we rested with the knowledge that the dining room light was working using the switch. Yeah for G and my dad!

It was a frustrating road of hit and miss. Using an older home improvement book, G and my dad mapped out the wiring and figured out what was going on with the mess in the wall and ceiling. It really was a mess. The switch, as it turned out, was a three way switch, with one being at the bottom of the stairs and one in the upstairs hallway. When we moved in, we had no idea what the one switch upstairs worked. Nothing happened when we flipped it. We discovered, when talking to our neighbor, that it is suppose to work the dining room light. When we moved in the dining room light was attached to a ceiling fan that you worked by pulling the chain - no switches. In fact the place where the switch was suppose to be, didn't even have a switch, just a hole. The wires are still cloth covered, and it was very hard to tell what was what.

However, after 3 more hours, G and my dad finally got it working. And what's funny is that while the light worked before all the wires were put back into the wall, after G taped them and shoved them back in, when he flipped the circuit breaker and came up to try the light, it didn't work. There were so many wires in that little space that when he was shoving them back in, some came apart. He pulled them out, retaped them, and while gently pushed them back in, different lights (not involved in the project) went out. Frustrated and sick of electricity, he had to figure out which wires were now being affected. He did however discover the error, and ever so gently coaxed the stupid wires back in and flipped the breaker. Ta da! All lights worked, no sparks flying. He was done.

Well, here we are again. Sunday with sick children. Yes, E got my cold. Maybe she got J's cold, not mine.

G stayed home with the kiddos, while I went to church. With the time change and staying up too late (a problem of ours that has yet to be corrected,) we decided not to get up for the first service, and only one of us would go to the second.

In the afternoon, we had a lovely family time celebrating my sister's birthday. My mom did the cooking.

My dad and G worked to get the light working, to no avail, yet. An aside: G starting working on the dining room light project yesterday around 10:30. Hanging the thing was not the issue. Using the light switch to turn it on and off was. Previous to the light was a ceiling fan. Since we had central air installed we decided to do away with a ceiling fan in the dining room. Problem was the light switch didn't work. I'd say G worked on the project over 9 hours on Saturday by himself and maybe 4 hours with my dad today. Still no light at the end of the tunnel. (Ha ha.)

G is quite frustrated but not ready to give up. My dad is coming over tomorrow night to work on it again.

I think I am on the mend, but I still am blowing my nose more frequently than I'd like. J is still snuffly, E has now caught the cold, but G is putting up a good fight. Today, I went to our early service, and G went to the later one, while the kiddos stayed home. E was a bit upset about that. She wanted to go to church. Instead, she had a big tantrum.

G has a big project due at work and has been working long hours, so he really cares not to get sick just now. Though with his lack of sleep, he is more prone. The project's due on Tuesday, so you know he'll wake up Wednesday unable to breath, with a sore throat. He's at work now, and I should be in bed. But I have the chance to write, so I am.

I forgot to mention that last night G and I had a chance to actually sit, play a game, and have a meaningful conversation. It was really nice. It has not happened in a while, and I assuredly miss it. Sometimes I feel unconnected with him, like we co-habitat, but our relationship is hiding from us. Caring for kids drains energy and time. Our marriage and our parenting needs to be in balance.

Today was a yummy day. The K Family decided to join the B parents for a pancake breakfast at John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove. Little did we know that we would be tasters of pure maple syrup on our pancakes and privy to three ways of gathering maple sap - Native American, Colonial, and modern. I vote for modern.

In fact, we have a maple tree, and we bought a tap. This is the maple sap season, so we are going to give it a whirl. I believe to get 1 litre of syrup, one needs to gather around 40 litres of sap (sorry the site I looked at is in metric.) And a mature maple tree produces about 40 litres of sap in a season. It will definitely only be a hobby, probably a short one.

Our tongues did smile this day. E got to run around and release some pent up energy. She had a grand time. It was a beautiful day for an outing, even an impromptu one. And we thought all we were doing was getting pancakes.

We also took a 2 and a 1/2 year old's attention span tour of the Audubon house. I perused the museum shop, purchasing three booklets - Bird Finder, Flower Finder, and Berry Finder to help me keep up on my environmental prowess. I am set for my outdoor expedition. Really, what I want to do is teach my young one about God's awesome creation. I already have some other "Finder" booklets. Happy identifying.

My cold has not relented. I have passed it on to my son. My husband and daughter have not, as of yet, taken ill.

No new upsets from the cat, though I fear for the plant my friend P gave to me. I do like seeing its green fullness gracing the floor of our dining room. But my cat has practically no wits about her. I had it up on the radiator to keep it safer, but really with Patches there is no safe spot. She likes to sit on the radiator to view the outside world through the window. So, I figured the plant would look better on the floor, and I put it there.

I am still sick, by the way and have managed to pass on my germs to my son. E and G have yet to show signs. Tylenol Cold works great at night for a good night sleep, but their daytime version was not worth the many pennies spent. My nose is quite sore, and I would have done better to buy Puffs Plus with Aloe instead of that daytime elixir.

Does anyone want a cat? We have one that I would pay someone to take. I am quite tired of her going to the bathroom else wheres than in her litter box. And while I was gone, she took to throwing up. Six times on our bed, twice in the living room, and twice in the upstairs hallway. Both cats are banned from bedrooms for a while.

I am afraid to say it, but I wonder if she might benefit from some of the techniques used on children. I don't really feel like giving her the time of day, but I don't really want to be cleaning up any more messes.

What does she need that we aren't giving her? I don't really want to find out. I'd rather get a dog.

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Today at MOPS a man spoke about anger, and he opened my eyes to my anger issues.

Why am I so angry at my daughter sometimes? And why does it seem to burst out of me? He said that some people have simmering anger. I don't want to admit it, but I think that's me. He also posed this question - What might be the issues that lead you to have simmering anger as a default setting? I still can't answer it. But I need to.

Another question to think about - Do I have a good reason to be angry? During his talk he spoke about Jonah. Jonah was angry with God and never really settled that. He didn't want God to forgive the people of Nineveh, and so he ran away. And after being spat upon the sand, he drug his feet all the way to Nineveh to tell them about God's impending wrath if there was no repentance, and Jonah continued to be angry when God forgave them. Jonah did not have a good reason to be angry.

I need to understand my anger to rid myself of it.

In my visit with my friend P, she has helped me see how I can better handle my daughter's fits and tantrums. Realizing what her personality is and working with it, instead of forcing my will on her will go a long way. E wants a measure of control, which I can give her. Of course she can not be in total control, because that would just make for an unsafe and destructive environment.

An example, is binkies at nap and bed time. I'd like her to only have one, but does the world come crashing down if she has two? [P started that, by the way. She was fine with one before our visit. But what are aunts for, but spoiling and such?] And I will definitely take my cue from P about eating. E has lately gone hungry at many meals, because she simply won't eat or would sit there all night before she finished. Try one bite, P says. Than, try another bite. And bite by bite her meal is gone or close to it. I have recently also implemented another method where you tell your child to eat a certain number of bites, like you need to eat three more bites of green beans and two more bites of ham. This number method works much better than just saying you need to eat more green beans and ham. They want concrete not arbitrary. I need to remember this in other areas.

I have said how E is a little helper. An example of this is how she felt that J needed his diaper changed. She dragged him over to where she had set up the changing pad. She took his pants and socks off, unsnapped his onesie, and took off his diaper. She got out the wipes and a clean diaper. She wiped off his little parts, than lovingly used that same wipe to dry his tears (much to my dismay, but I let her go, thinking it wouldn't really hurt him.) I did tell her that she shouldn't use a wipe on his eyes, because it might hurt them. Well, little brain that she is, tested the wipe on her own eyes and feeling no pain continued to wipe J's eyes. Again I told her, and again she tested. I had to take the wipe from her. Then she put on a clean diaper and snapped his onesie. In the process of snapping, she felt he had a poopy, so she undid the snaps and wanted to change his diaper again. I told her he was still clean, and we got him back together again. All the while, P is video taping.

I am so thankful for P's insight into the whys of my daughter. Now, if she could only help me with the issues of our cat.