Top 5 and Bottom 5

Best moments of the day:

• Getting Mason to school on time despite a crazy morning
• Carter wearing his fireman's helmet to take Mason to school
• Getting my calendar, bills, writing schedule, and bookmarks organized
• Having fun at a baby shower that I dreaded all day
• Bedtime hugs from chubby little arms

"Not so best" moments of the day:

• Running late again with my morning routine
• Carter throwing his shoes and fireman's helmet at me on the way home from school (luckily he has really bad aim)
• Getting behind on my writing by spending too much time organizing
• Cleaning pencil marks off the wall (Carter) and attempting to tape my broken glasses back together (Carter)
• Mason's drama/complaining/whining about being sent to his room (for throwing slices of bread at the top of the refrigerator, trying to knock down a toy that I had taken from him, for throwing it across the room, after I told him not to....there's more to the story, but my blog space is limited)

Portrait of a President

I'm watching Diane Sawyer's interviews with McCain and Obama, and they're very interesting. Putting my political views aside (for once) I'm intrigued by the life stories of these two men. I almost cried when I saw the picture of 10-year-old Barak clinging to his father's hand the one and only time his father visited him. And I loved the story of John McCain standing up for the Filipino cafeteria worker when an upperclassman harassed the guy. And, of course, his POW experience was incredible...especially the fact that he had a chance to be released before he was tortured, and he refused because it wasn't his turn. Above all, though, I think they both need to be thankful that their mothers chose to carry them to term and give them the gift of life. I pray that Obama will have a change of heart about the live-birth abortions he supports, and I hope McCain will learn a lesson about the sanctity of life from his running mate. (Did I say political views aside? Oops!)

I wrote this!

Here are some of the writing projects I'm most proud of. It's fun to see my words on professional websites.

New York Dog Tours - I felt like I was a New Yorker for a week, researching and writing about Manhattan.

Childcare E-Book - You have to pay to read the whole book, but some of the paragraphs are on this intro page. I probably won't do another e-book. This was a TON of work, even with my own home daycare experience and a file box full of childcare manuals and state documents at my fingertips.

Art Pottery - I'm learning to love the history and culture of art pottery as I write for this blog.

Womb to Bloom - This site hasn't launched yet, but I loved writing "girlfriend to girlfriend" articles about maternity and newborn topics.

Real Estate - I now know more than I ever wanted to know about Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, and 21 other states, thanks to this project.

A Big Night

We finally made it to the Big Truck Event that Mason's school has every year. It was BIG fun!

Highlights of Mason's night: "Driving" the ski boat and getting M&Ms from the ambulance.

Highlights of Carter's night: Getting up in the fire truck 15 times and "riding"the school bus.

Highlight of my night: Talking to Mason's teacher about how sweet he is in class. You never know how your kids act when they're away, so I was thrilled to hear her gush about him. She also told me that he started a small prayer group in the library the other day. He was waiting with a few other kids in the library while the rest of the class went to the restroom. One of the kids said, "Well, what do we do now?" and Mason answered, "We could pray." So they all bowed their heads and prayed for their friends and family. We may have to change his name to Mason Graham :)

OH...and I got roped into attending my first PTA meeting after the Big Truck Event. It was a little scary, but I survived. I thought I might get trampled by the parents of the kindergartners when the kids sang at the end. People rushed to the front, some even standing on chairs and tables, to get their cameras and video recorders in a prime location for the perfect shot. I'll find out if kids are performing before I attend another meeting!

Experiencing God

Jas is going through the new version of the Experiencing God Bible study, and our discussions are reminding me of how much I loved that study in college. "Seeing God at work and joining in..." is the message in a nutshell. It's given me a new appreciation for people who consistently share God's Word with everyone they meet...that takes such a love for people and a dedication to stop thinking about yourself and minister to others. SO much easier said than done.

Case in point: I saw a local news story last week about the old Lucent building in OKC that was "being prepared" for hurricane evacuees. I didn't know until this weekend that it was the Oklahoma Baptist volunteers running the operation - giving their time, energy, and money to fill a need in people's lives. There are Southern Baptist groups that are first responders to major emergencies across the country, but you never hear their names in the news. One name in this story I recognized - Chris Wall - the husband of a friend from OBU. It's so good to see familiar faces, as well as faces I don't recognize, of faithful people who just want to share God's love with people who need it. They inspire me to look for ways that I can do that on a daily basis.

Tiny Backseat Driver

Carter has decided that he should be the navigator when we're in the car. I'm not sure how he makes his decisions about where we should go, but it's usually the opposite direction of where we're actually going. Every time I stop at a light or stop sign, he points and says, "Dat way...NOOO....DAAAAT WAAAY!!!" and then breaks out his famous, ear-piercing scream when I turn the other way. Sometimes I can convince him that I'm going towards the train tracks, which makes him happy. But he doesn't fall for that much anymore. My friend, Wanda, reminded me that Mason went through this phase, too, and he got over it at some point. Of course, he replaced it with another phase of some kind, I'm sure, but at least I know that I'll be able to drive in peace again one of these days.

Too tired to blog

The entire house showing/selling/moving process has completely eaten my lunch...I haven't been this tired since...well, I'm too tired to remember the last time I was this tired. Maybe I need some iron...or some caffeine...or some ginko biloba (whatever that is). Anyway, we're all moved in and living out of boxes, which is tiring in itself. Every time I need something, I have to go on a scavenger hunt. And every time anyone else needs something, they ask me, and I have to go on a scavenger hunt. You'd think that would be motivation to get things unpacked more quickly. Not so. I'm hoping to have everything put away by Christmas.

On another note, Mason is doing great in the 1st grade. He seems to really like school this year, although he complains about getting up and going some mornings. The other day, he was getting out of the van in the school parking lot when he looked at me and said, "Mom, I've been going to school for three whole weeks now. I think that's enough, don't you?" This is also the first year that he's been interested in playing sports. He plays football everyday at recess, and every conversation we have usually ends up being about football. When I ask him how his day was, he answers "good" or "bad" based on how many touchdowns he made...or didn't make. I was hoping to make it a few more years without joining the dreaded little league routine that every other family on the planet seems to be a part of. But Mason is already begging to join a football team next year. I'd better enjoy my free weekends while I still can.

In Search of a Fabulous Tablecloth

I've been looking for a cute, waterproof tablecloth for years. I used to be able to leave my antique mahogany table uncovered and just use place mats...and then I had kids. Now I have to cover it with waterproof tablecloth, and I've found that they just don't make cute vinyl tablecloths. I've seen the same ugly ones on the market since I started looking four or five years ago. They make everything else in really great, trendy designs...why not vinyl tablecloths?

Anyway, I decided to look for laminated fabric or oilcloth on the internet and just make a tablecloth (because I'm such an accomplished seamstress :0). Instead, I found the cutest oilcloth products sold by two different stores on Etsy, Chalkydoodles and Modern June. I didn't really want to spend $69 on a tablecloth, but Chalkydoodles lets you choose your own design by mixing and matching their fabrics. I may have to break my out of my cheapo-depot shell for once and get one of these.

Moving...

...really stinks :( After the first day of taking boxes of stuff from one house to the other, I've decided that we're never moving again. Maybe someday when the boys are old enough to help carry furniture - then I might move again. But trying to pack and move with a 2-year-old around is not something I ever want to do ever again. Ever. Again.