A Good Report

At a year old, Kalyn was diagnosed with an eye disorder called exotropia, which meant that her eyes drifted away from what she was trying to focus on (it's similar to lazy eye). In December of 2004, she had double eye surgery to strengthen the muscles in her eyes. Since then, we've seen very, very little of the drifting, which is a huge praise. Every six months, we visit the eye doctor to make sure that everything is developing smoothly and we aren't having a recurrence of the exotropia (30% of the people who have the eye surgery need a second).

Today was her checkup. I loaded up Kalyn and Xander, brought along their breakfast to eat in the car and sat in traffic. I knew there was a reason that even when I did work, I did not work in Atlanta. It took about 20 minutes to get to the main toll road that takes us to Atlanta to her eye doctor - we're less than 5 miles from it!! But, we calmly sat in traffic, watching the time tick away until our appointment.

I have to give kudos to Thomas Pediatric Eye Care - We checked in at 9:08 (3 minutes late for our appointment) and were leaving the office at 9:38. That's impressive. In fact, we didn't even have time to take the picture of her in the eye examination chair until it was time for us to leave.

We met with an eye muscle specialist first and then the doctor who performed her eye surgery, Dr. Lipsky. Both were very thorough. The first one thought she could see a little bit of drifting - but only when Kalyn was trying to focus on something far away and she put her hand in front of one eye (in other words, she could manipulate the situation to create the drifting). However, Kalyn was very quick to blink her eyes and bring both right into focus. Dr. Lipsky said that her eye sight was perfect and didn't see any problems. Either way, both are very good reports. It's just something that we'll have to watch to see if we can notice any regression as we're with her every day.

Another One Gone

Sunday afternoon, we got home from church and began making lunch for the kids. Craig and I sat them down at the dining room table and began to debate what we were going to have. After a few moments, we heard Trinity making some type of noise from her seat. (Sometimes she likes to play this "game" where she pretends she can't talk and can just grunt and point. I'm not a big fan of this game.) Thinking she was playing, I told her that if she needed something, she needed to use words (we all know that she has plenty of them in her vocabulary). Well, as she came into the kitchen, Craig noticed that her mouth was bleeding. Apparently, she had tried to take a bite of her lunch with her front top tooth - which was loose. That didn't work. About a minute later, the tooth was out. Now we have an adorable toothless grinning girl. She's now having quite fun with her lisp, trying to say as many "S" words as she can.

Weekend Warrior

I have to say it - out loud and for the record, I have a wonderful husband. He works so hard for our family. He puts our family as a top priority. He is a great spiritual leader. He's fun. I love him greatly.

These past two weekends, I have had the opportunity to go out of town with some girlfriends. I had no worries leaving Craig with the kids. I know that all will go smoothly and what doesn't will all work out in the end. It is such a blessing to be able to go away for some time with great friends and not have to worry about how Craig's doing at home. This past weekend, I had another fun time, but we pretty much just relaxed and chatted. The real fun was back at home!

A few weeks ago, Trinity came home with a flyer for her school's Fun Run - a one-mile run/walk around the track at her school to promote fitness and exercise. I thought it would be a fun thing for Trinity and I to do, so I signed us up. I knew it was early (check in was at 7:45) and so I though we could do it, just the two of us. Well, a couple of weeks later, I went to write it on the calendar and realized that it fell when I was out of town - I felt so bad! I talked to Craig and let him know that I could cancel it, or he would need to take all three kids to this event at Trinity's school. He calmly said that he could do it and they'd all go. And go they did. Not only did he do the walk, but he even dressed the two little kids in yellow to match the "official" Fun Run shirt and took pictures along the way!!

Ready to go

Kalyn and Trinity are off

But Xander was a little late on the start

(Craig was smart and started at the back of the pack)

so, he got a little pick-me-up (literally)

Trinity found a friend from her class and began walking with him, but here's three of them at the 3/4 mile marker

At the end of the walk, there were complementary popsicles - given by a neighborhood dentist (yes, you can laugh with me at that irony!)

That afternoon, the kids got their bikes out and rode around our street for a while. I am still amazed at how strong and confident Trinity and Kalyn are getting on their bikes. Xander is still at the point where he really like the idea of riding a bike, only to be completely done with the action of riding a bike about two minutes after starting.

I even came home to a house that had been washed off on the outside and a cleaned car!! Talk about going over and beyond! I tell you I have a wonderful hubby!!!

Thanks Craig - I love you!

Friends and Family

Last week was a pretty laid back week in our house. Our biggest happening was all the preparation that went into Trinity's poster for her "star student" status this week. She got to make a huge poster telling all kinds of things about her. As we emerge into this age of school projects, I have become a huge proponent of letting Trinity do her own projects. I must admit that at times it is a little tough to let go of what I think would look good or be the easiest way to do it and let her do her project. I realize that it might not be the best in the class, but I want it to be hers. So, we sat down over a number of days for her to decide what she wanted on her poster and what pictures she wanted to put up. It took a while, but she finished it in time to take for her star student week on Monday morning.

(Now, here would be a great spot to show you a picture of her completed poster, but I completely forgot, but trust us it was cute.)

We did get to spend a few days with our friends, which was a blast. Xander's buddy, Asher, came over on Tuesday and Wednesday and it was perfect weather to play outside. The boys are so cute to watch play together. At one point, I had three kids (Xander, Asher and Kalyn) on three different swings each crying, "push me higher. push me higher." It was a bit of a juggling act, but they each got into the action.

Thursday, Kalyn, Xander and I got to enjoy a picnic lunch with Craig. That's one great thing about his job! We met him at the house he was working at and got to enjoy and relaxing lunch by their pool. No, we didn't swim, but it was a beautiful scenery. Kalyn was so sweet, because she wanted to bring Craig a chocolate. So she packed up two bite size candies - one for her and one for Daddy. She was so proud of her ability to bring a special treat for him, "since he works so hard."

Friday, Xander and I met our friends at the park after my workout at LifeTime Fitness. A nearby church has an amazing playground and Ivey, Gavin and he had a great time running around. Poor Xander wanted to do everything Gavin did, but Gavin moves a little faster than Xander. As Jennifer and I sat by the only exit spot of the playground, every once in a while, we'd have one come up to us and ask, "Where's Gavin?" or "Where's Xander?" Then about 30 seconds later, whoever was "missing" would turn back up. They had a blast together!!

I'll say it once more - I love our friends (and their kids)!!

Transparency Time

During my post about my scrapbooking weekend, I make a reference to my awesome God weekend above and beyond the great time I had with my college friends. Well, I'm still trying to wrap my mind completely around where to begin and how my time in Scripture will be infiltrated into my daily life. So, let's begin - here's the story.

For the past few months, I have been in this spiritual battle of sorts. I have been reading my Bible, going to church and trying to seek out what direction God has for me. However, over those past few months, I have felt as though there was something big I was missing. I couldn't hear His words of guidance or direction. I simply had no idea what that big thing was. But I kept going. I felt as though I was saying, "God, I want to follow You, I want to do what You want me to do. I just have no idea what You want me to do or where You want me to go." I felt as though there was something really big, very obvious right in front of my face and I was looking right through it. It got a bit frustrating after a while. Had I missed something? Was there some huge act of disobedience I was engaged in? What was it?!?!?

So jump forward to this past weekend. Insert many hours of wide open conversation with friends that I have known for 14 years. I was great to hear that I was not alone in my struggles, one of my other friends had been wrestling with a similar thing. It was a great time of encouragement to hear her "rest of the story". After our talks, I felt better, but still was looking to find out what I was missing.

On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 (which was pretty annoying since it was after 2 AM by the time I had gotten to sleep). I kept willing myself to go back to sleep. By 7, I realized that it was hopeless. I also decided that if I wanted to have my quiet time, just me, my Bible, my journals and God that it would have to be before the other girls woke up. So, I gathered my things and went and sat just outside the bathroom, with the door cracked just enough to give me enough light to read. I had just finished reading through 3 John and turned my Bible to read Jude 1. The first half of the scripture read,

"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, a brother of James"

I know what your thinking - "Wow!!! That is so deep, so meaningful, so full of passion. I can see how you got so much out of it." Or, more likely something like, "And . . . . . so . . . . ."

Well, let me share with you what I was taught that morning in that hotel room outside the bathroom door.

It quickly became very obvious to me that I was way out of order. The way I thought of myself was not the way it should have been. That in turn, was impacting my view upon the things around me. You see, whenever I think of myself, if someone were to ask me "Who are you?" I would answer something like this - I am a wife to Craig, a mother to Trinity, Kalyn and Xander, I volunteer with the youth group at my church, I play handbells in a couple of choirs, I am an active member of my MOPS group, and probably a few other things. It hit me that Jude first and foremost described himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. Before anything else. Above any earthly relationships, titles or description. His relationship with, his devotion to and his servanthood toward Jesus was his top priority. Mine had not. My Christian walk, my spiritual standing would come last in a self-description, if it was even said at all.

I very clearly understood that if I was going to see God's work in my life, if I was going to be able to recognize His voice, I was going to be able to see where He was leading, my own view of my spiritual identity needed to be first, atop all other things.

Then, I heard it. Was it an audible voice? No. But it was clear as day, no question about it. God said, "That's it." That's what I had been missing, what I had been looking right past. Now it was obvious. Now I could see it. And I was right - it was big. This idea that above everything else, I am a child of God, a servant of Christ, a follower of Jesus. It's been resonating in my mind ever since.

Part two of this continues. How do I infuse this big, huge, holy God into my simple, mundane, everyday life? How do I truly live as a servant of God as I do laundry, cook dinner, run errands? I'm still working on that. Let me know what's worked for you.

Kalyn's Post

Our precious middle child is quite a character. I have often said that Kalyn lives in her own world and it's a fun place to be. I'm sure that it must be interesting being in between the first child and the first boy, but she makes it a wild place to be. Over the past few weeks, she has had some memorable comments come out of her mouth and I just have to share them. I have been meaning to blog about them, but I just haven't made the time. Well, the time has come. Welcome to my daily life.


First, some just cute things -
* she calls spaghetti, "skapetti"
* she calls hamburger helper, "hangaburger helper"


Now some wild stories -

* One morning, she woke up and asked if she could "read". (That means can she get up and play her books on CD while she looks at the pictures along with the reading.) I said that she could, as long as she kept quiet. Well, the CD player was turned up a little too loud, so I went in to turn it down. From there, we had tears and sorrowful wails. Therefore, she lost the "reading time" all around and was sent back to bed until breakfast. At that point, in all seriousness with all the sadness and pain she could muster she cries, "You've broken my heart."

* Occasionally while we out, we get to enjoy a "car picnic" - which means picking up fast food and eating it in a parking lot in our car (it's easier than trying to juggle three kids and food with only one adult). Well, one night on our way to church, we decided to have a car picnic - Craig had to be at church early and we didn't want to take two cars. In our attempt to save money (what I am saying, we're just cheap), we always take our kids drinks whenever we go out, so we did the same for this meal. Kalyn was not happy at all with the cup she was given (even though it was the same cup that she had drank out of many times before). Again, there were many tears and sorrowful wails. So, she lost the cup completely. (Do you sense a theme? I think Kalyn still hasn't quite picked up on it.) To this, she responds, "You just don't love me. You don't want me in your family. I want to go live with another family." When I asked which one, she said (through her tears), "Ivey's. I want to go live with Ivey."

(And just for the record, when I told Ivey's dad about Kalyn's request, he quickly told me that they were full.)

I thought these comments were supposed to come closer to the preteen/teenage years, not just out of the toddler years. Oh dear, that light at the end of the tunnel of this parenting things sometimes appears to be getting further and further away.


Now a funny one -

*This morning I was working on getting my things together to go run errands while Kalyn and Xander were playing in Xander's room. All of a sudden I hear some great tears and cries coming from Xander. (I could tell it was more sad and angry than hurt, so I stayed where I was, certain that one or two set of small feet would soon be in to fill me in on the details.) Sure enough, 30 seconds later, Kalyn came in and I asked what had happened. Here's what she said, "Well, Xander and I were both trying to win and I won, so Xander didn't win and now he's just cryin' the blues." Yep, cryin' the blues. Where does she hear this stuff??

Who know what tomorrow will bring?!?

What A Weekend

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go away with four of my college buddies. About four years ago, three of us took a girls' weekend to Myrtle Beach, SC. We had such a great time reconnecting, chatting and simply spending time together. During that trip, someone mentioned that we should have brought our scrapbooking stuff and there brought our idea for our next getaway.

I love my college buddies. There's just something about the time we spent together that truly bonded us together. So, anytime that we have together is truly a treasure. Our plan was for Frances and I to meet our friend Brooke on Thursday night. Then on Friday, we would head over and check into the hotel. We were looking forward to some great scrapbooking.

The trip began with a great drive. Frances and I had about 2 & 1/2 hours to talk. Then we met up with Brooke and we spent a few more hours talking. We finally went to sleep then woke up the next morning and talked some more. We stopped talking to have our individual Bible study times and shower. I realized that the freedom was in that we had no time constrictions, no families waiting for us at home, no other places to be, complete openness. It was wonderful!!

Friday was a beautiful day, so Brooke, Frances and I grabbed some sandwiches for lunch and headed out to a lovely park for a picnic. It was great!! We spent just under two hours talking and eating and talking some more. Unfortunately, my arms got completely burned during that time, but it was worth it. On the way out we got this great picture of the three of us in a field of wildflowers.

Finally, we made it to the hotel and the work began. After a little while, Meredith and Wendy joined us and our room was filled. The one bad thing about the weekend is that we were limited on space, so we couldn't invite everyone. We all had so much fun sharing stories, talking through various struggles and enjoying each other's company. It was an amazing weekend, but not for just the fellowship and the scrapbook I finished, but more importantly the time I had with God while I was there. But that's for it's own post!

I have to say how thankful I am to Craig for allowing me to go, not in the way of giving me permission, but working his schedule out to take care of the kids while I went away. Craig is a great husband and a wonderful daddy. He even "got" to take Xander to work with him on Friday. I'm sure that added something extra to his workday. Xander may be little, but he can still pick up sticks and pine straw in people's yards. All of us were very appreciative of our hubbies for helping this weekend take place!!!

Easter Weekend 2009

Due to our wild family schedule, our Easter celebration has extended a bit past the actual Easter Sunday. I was waiting until we were completely done, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen, so I'm posting anyway. So that's why this post is so late.

The Friday before Easter, Craig's parents asked if they could take the kids for the day before Easter and we would pick them up when we came down to celebrate Easter. There was a bit of discussion - the debate of it would be wonderful for a night of just Craig and I verses the idea of waking up Easter morning and not being together as a family. However, we decided that we would let them go and enjoy a free night out. However, before they left, we did dress the kids up in their Easter outfits and took some pictures. Aren't they cute?

Craig had some work to do Saturday afternoon, but he came home with a great idea for our free night. Our neighbor is the house musician for a tavern in Atlanta. We have been saying for years that we would like to go down and hear him play. Well, finally we had the opportunity and it was a great night! We enjoyed the performance, the food and the time together!!

Easter morning Craig and I headed to church and then drove over to Craig's parents' home for Easter dinner, egg hunts and time with family. It was a good chance to relax and catch up with some of Craig's cousins. The food was absolutely delicious. It was such a blessing to celebrate their first Easter in their new home.

After lunch, we headed out for a number of Easter egg hunts. Trinity was doing pretty well on her own as Lindsey and Amberly (Craig's cousins) teamed up with Kalyn and Xander to hunt for their eggs. I think the adults had just as much fun hiding the eggs as the kids did searching, actually probably more. We realized that there had been a little trend - Craig's uncle Barry hid the eggs really well for Craig when he was little. A few years later, Craig was old enough and hid the eggs really well for Amberly and Lindsey (Lindsey, who is Barry's daughter). Now the "payback" continues as Amberly and Lindsey hide for Craig's kids. Occassionally we had to remind them that two of the kids were only 2 & 4. We had about 70 eggs (real and plastic) spread out over a 5 acre yard. Luckily for our kids, though, the hiding space was limited to smaller areas. Oh what fun was had!!

Getting ready to let loose the egg-hunters!

The hunt is on

Aunt Donna helps Xander reach the high up egg (well, high up for him)

Uncle Barry makes sure that Kalyn doesn't miss one



Lindsey helps out Trinity with the tricky eggs

The results of the first round of the hunt

Unfortunately, we got back too late to give the kids their Easter baskets that night and we're still awaiting a good night to enjoy the basket giving as a family. I guess that will be a later post!

It's A Zoo

I know that a house with three crazy kids can become a zoo very quickly, but last week, we actually got to go to a place that is designed to house wild animals in confined areas. Our friend Cacee invited three of us to join her and her son Asher at the zoo for the morning. She has season tickets that allow her to bring one other adult. Xander is still free and this month allows all season pass holders to bring one additional person. All that to say, that the trip was free. An added bonus is that our zoo permits you to bring food into the park, which meant that we brought our picnic lunch and the whole thing only cost us the gas to get down there. What a great experience. Unfortunately, Trinity was in school and Craig was hard at work (but, we would have had to pay for them anyway, so it was probably a really good thing). It had been a wile since we had been to the zoo, so we were really looking forward to it!

Xander and Asher are the tightest buds, which made the trip that much more fun. One of the tricks was trying to point out all the animals hiding in the furthest corners of their habitats to Xander, but he seemed to enjoy the ones he could see very clearly.

There was a new exhibit called the Parakeet Adventure. We all walked into a huge bird cage and were surrounded by parakeets. We didn't purchase the $1 feed sticks, but we were given some as other patrons left the area. After a while we attracted a bird to our sticks (with three kids, I have no idea what could have been pushing the birds away). They had a blast!!

Kalyn enjoyed watching the giraffes

Xander checked out the kangaroos

Kalyn and Xander outside the elephant exhibit with the elephant baby statue

We all had a great time!! Thanks Cacee for your generous invitation!!

Spring Break Camping

We love camping. I love the opportunity to get out of the daily grind, away from all the stuff that keeps us hooked in to so much. This year, we took our second annual Chattanooga trip. It works out well! My parents meet us there and take the girls for a few days and we have some big 1-on-1 time with Xander. We're always on the lookout for a new campsite and this year was no differently.

We stayed at a campsite that we knew was near the interstate, but we didn't realize it was on the interstate. Seriously, we walked outside of our camper and about 30 yards away was I-24. After a day or so, we got pretty used to the roar of the cars and trucks. The good thing is that we were also right on the lake and the kids had plenty of room to play. We got to go fishing and take plenty of walks. The kids got lots of opportunities to ride their bikes, which was a huge joy for them. It was great to see how much the girls have improved since last summer! Saturday morning, Craig and the kids were digging for fishing worms along the fence. All of a sudden, they are greeted by a donkey from the other side of the fence. A little bit later, they came across a horse. The kids had a blast feeding both of them with some nearby grass. Gotta love the sudden petting farm. One day, we held a couple of egg huts for the kids. It was cold, so we kept them in the camper most of the day, however we did get them out for a bit of time.

We also got to experience all the seasons in those 5 days. It was in the high 70's on Saturday, raining on Monday, snow flurries on Tuesday and a perfect spring day on Wednesday. We had a great vacation! Enjoy our slide show of the trip!

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Our New Widget

Isn't Grant the cutest?!?

Check out our newest link on the side of our blog. It's a link to our next 5K event - Run for a Cure. I truly enjoyed my last 5K and was looking forward to finding my next one. Then I got a link from one of my college friends. I've blogged about her before. Brad and Amy have a precious little 18-month old boy named Grant. Last September, he was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, a genetic disease that causes tumors to form in various organs, primarily the brain, eyes, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs.

In May, there will be a local 5K run to raise research funds to find a cure for this disease. Craig and I will both be running in this event, along with a few other college friends. We are looking forward to being a part of something much bigger than one simple event. We'd love your support, whether though a word of encouragement or if you'd like to donate to the cause. Thank you in advance!!

Kalyn's Spring Sing

It was quiet around here for a little while. Nothing too major. We were able to have a great visit with my sister, Ashley, and her husband, Jeff. Jeff had a personal trainer conference down in Atlanta, so they stayed with us one night, then we got to hang out with Ashley during the day while Jeff was learning lots of worthwhile things. It was so great to visit with her. Since we both have crazy and busy schedules, any time with them is a treasure!!

Last Wednesday, we got to share in Kalyn's preschool Spring Sing. It's a wonderful and amusing chance to watch a group of truly adorable 2, 3 and 4 year old perform their little hearts out. The two three-year old classes sang together and Kalyn did a great time. This time, she spent much more of the performance facing forward and she sang much more of the words. There was one child behind her that was was truly singing his heart out - with each song bringing more and more volume from him. By the second song, Kalyn kept looking back at him with the look of, "What are you doing? You are singing a little too loud for the rest of us." It was priceless!

Unfortunately, the annual Easter egg hunt on the front lawn of the church had to be postponed due to rain. It was not going to be a pretty sight watching tons of kids run around on slippery grass picking up candy filled eggs. Kalyn's class got to have a personal egg hunt in their class on Friday.