40 Bags and a Date

This 40 Bags in 40 Days update should actually be called Not Quite 40 Bags in Over 40 Days.  Completing this task was a little harder than I expected having our house on the market.  I couldn't really start to pull out and leave messes knowing that our house could be shown.  Once we signed a contract, I hated to start pulling out when I *hoped* we'd be packing up soon.

Aside from all that, I'd say we've gotten about 10 bags out of the house.  I stated in my initial post that I didn't think we'd get rid of 40 bags.  Usually if it's left in this house, it's because I actually want to keep it.  Ned has been in charge of our garage and storage room, and I know he's done some throwing out but I'm not aware of the total.  We still have a few areas that need some purging, and we're getting to those as we wrap our heads around this move.  I'm quite sure that Ned has not done any work in his closet or chest of drawers, and there has to be some polos, shorts, and t-shirts that can go.

One part of the goal that I did not accomplish was donating items to charity thrift stores and yard sales.  With our house on the market, I just couldn't have piles of things sitting around waiting to be delivered.  I did have one bag of items from my closet that I could sell on eBay or a Facebook group I'm a part of.  I've posted a few of them and have hopefully made close to $100 on two purses and a mirror already.  We have also sold some of our furniture and our washer and dryer and will hopefully sell a few more pieces of furniture.  I'd say that's a few bags there.  I definately plan on making this a yearly event, whether I get out 5 bags or 45.  Maybe I'll throw in some good spring cleaning next year also if we're in our house.

Ned and I took a little break last night from cleaning, throwing out, and going crazy.  We sent Avery to Lolli and Poppa's, had dinner at Olive Garden, and saw Water for Elephants. 

I thought the movie was very good and was quite surprised when Ned said the same.  Reese Witherspoon may have had something to do with that.  I didn't think it was quite as good as the book, but movies rarely are.  It was different in several ways, so although I had read the book, I was left guessing and in suspense a few times.

We hadn't been to the movies since I was pregnant, so we went all out with snacks even though we were stuffed from dinner.  Our grand total for tickets and snacks was $40.  I should add that we didn't purchase the whole concessions area.  We shared a popcorn, each had a drink, and I had a box of Reese's Pieces.  We both wondered what we'll do when we have several children who are all movie age.  We sat and munched on our million dollar snacks and caught a few of the First Looks they show for movies and TV shows.  I was so happy to see one for The Help.  I think I'm even more excited to see that in August.  I better start saving my pennies now!

21 Months

Dear Avery,

You turned 21 months on Saturday!  I know that as quickly as these months are flying by, you'll be two before I can blink.  You keep us on our toes and laughing all day long.

You seem to have gotten a little heavier this month, but we don't have an official weight.  The nurse at the ENT seemed to think you would fall apart if she got too close to the scale.  You seemed about 32 inches tall there, but again, the nurse wouldn't measure exactly.  You are still fitting into 12-18 month and 18 month clothing, which means you should be able to wear some of your things from last summer.  You've done all your growing in the height department.  Your foot measures 5.5 but a 5 still fits better.  You are still in size 3 up&up diapers but I've decided we're going to 4s when these are used up.  You still will use the potty for Jen-Jen but have yet to do it at home.  We may try harder this summer, or we may not.  Right now, I don't take you regularly at all.  I think it was a fun game at first and you needed to be on the potty 500 times a day.

You still go to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm and wake between 6:30 and 7 am.  Sometimes you sleep longer, and you are usually happy in your bed for about 30 more minutes.  Daddy wants to let you stay up later this summer, but that rarely results in you sleeping later, and you need your rest.  You've had 2 short naps in the car in the last week and have gotten right back on schedule at home.  You love to prove Mama's crazy sleeping worries wrong.  This month you've had a few nights where you talked before going to sleep, and you 've had some mornings when you've been up early.  I hope the early waking is due to the teeth that cause all sorts of things to be crammed in your mouth all day long.  Speaking of teeth, you have 10 completely in, and you have 3 canine teeth slowly coming in.  You are still missing the teeth beside your top front teeth, but Dr. Applewhite says not to worry.

You are doing well with your eating most of the time.  Supper is usually the meal that can be hit or miss, but I don't run a buffet.  You would eat a caca (Pop Tart) for every meal and snack.  We are ready for the Farmer's Market to have lots of fruit, because you are loving strawberries, watermelon, and pineapple in addition to your other fruits.

You are steadily learning new words.  They are not always clear, but that's perfectly normal.  You also have some multi-purpose words for 2 or three objects.  The fluid on your ears could have muffled some of your hearing while it was there, but your ears look great and we'll take care of that fluid if it comes back.  I know speech isn't a sign of intelligence and the ENT doctor reminded me of that.  We think you're just as smart as you need to be!  Some new words this month include Mimi, Poppa (to call them) boat (bow), brush (bow) tractor (caca), baby, boo boo, swing (see), Bob, Croc (Coc), Dee Dee (Jen-Jen), star (ca), duck, moon (boo), push (puff), ticka ticka ticka (tickle) and pup pup.  I'm sure there are some I've missed, and this may be the last month I can record them.  You are now saying "Hi Mama," "Hi bu (bus)," etc.  You carry on full-blown conversations with us now, although we can't understand them.  In the car, you call Dada and talk to him, then call Mama and do the same.  We can't wait to hear all you have to say.  Your "whas sa?" is unrelenting until you get an answer.  You are a curious, observant little girl.

You entertain yourself so well and stay so busy.  You still have no interest in TV other than a few bits of Mickey.  We all agree that it's no surprise that your mood greatly improved when you became mobile.  You haven't been still since!  You have enjoyed your house again this month, still love taking care of your babies, and you love to pretend to read and write on books and paper.  You like to stick your treasures in nooks and crannies all over the house.  Luckily, when I realize something is missing, you usually know right where you put it.  You love to be outside and will cry to go out and then cry when it's time to come in.  You love to swing, see Dixie, play with your car, and move and investigate.  We will be moving soon, and although our yard will be smaller, it will be flat and I won't have to worry about you tumbling down a hill or set of brick steps.

You imitate the things you see, and you have a fantastic memory.  You try to put on deodorant, know just what to do with lotion, throw a bag over your shoulder like a purse, and cross your arms across you chest.  When you cross your arms, you want Mama and Daddy to do the same.  You also know what to do with the thermometer, but it usually ends up in your belly button.  I guess that's better than another alternative.  You have our route to Jen-Jen's and Lolli and Poppa's memorized and know just where you should see buses, boats, pup pups, horses, tractors, and some wierd trailer you like.  You don't quite understand why the bus isn't there if we're running early or late, or why it was missing on Easter Sunday.

You remain so loving and full of hugs and kisses.  I love when you stop playing for a kiss hug and when you push my legs down to sit on my lap.  You remain (for the time being) very easy-going.  You do get frustrated if you aren't able to do something, like move something because it's stuck.  We are working on trying hard and not getting frustrated.  Right now you often just stand there and cry.  Sometimes I have to repeat my directions or commands, but you don't often get upset because I tell you not to do something.  When you know you're not supposed to do something, you move in slow motion.  You SLOWLY reach for my glasses with a precious look on your face.

I say it every month, but I know there are 1,000 more things that I want to record and never forget.  Each age and stage just keep getting better and better.  I can hardly wait for summer and all the fun we will have together.  This month will be a big month for you as we get ready to move into a new house.  I know you'll do just fine and will love having a new place to explore and new people to see.  We love you so much and love how incredible the last 21 months have been with you.

We didn't get any pictures on Saturday, but here are some of my favorites from the week.

Here you are on Easter Sunday last year.  You were 8.5 months old.

You looked like such a big girl at Easter this year!

A Very Busy Easter

Avery was ready to get Easter started at 6:00 a.m. this morning.  That's pretty unlikely for her these days, and she seemed pretty unhappy to be awake in her crib since she was fussing instead of talking.  We finally got her up a little before 7 and found that the Easter Bunny had been.

The Easter Bunny decided a Little Tykes table was the perfect size for Avery since all the wooden chairs seemed to tall.  The Easter Bunny also left a new basket since the small version was all PBK had left last year.  In her basket were 2 new books, flashcards, a Mikey CD, Easter Little People, a new bathing suit and hat, sunglasses, and bows.

She wasted no time checking it all out.

Easter Pop Tarts were served at the new table, and it won't happen again for awhile.  She wanted to be up and down, leading to Pop Tart squished on the floor.

Since we started the day early, it was not a mad rush to get to Lolli and Poppa's church.  They don't have little ones so there is no nursery.  Avery did so well and made it through the whole service.  The bulletin and inserts provided the most entertainment along with some books.  She did get a little talkative and participated in the response to the Word but nothing to have to be taken out for.  After church she hunted eggs for the first time.

She had some sweet helpers who showed her just what to do and made sure she got some treats.  Unfortunately, she won't be getting any of them, and she didn't get anything I wanted to eat.  Avery is always stuffing treasures into bags, so this was right up her alley.

We left church and went out to eat with Lolli and Poppa.  We spotted these guys from the window and had to check them out when we were done.  Goose poop looks good on white shoes.

Lolli and Poppa gave Avery a turtle beach towel to use this summer.

I think I was talking in this picture, but at Avery's age you use what you can get with her looking at the camera.

Avery's nap lasted a little longer than it did last Thursday in the car but still far from our normal 2-3 hours.  I usually don't go out for lunch because of this but am trying to relax on the schedule/napping a bit.  I put her in her bed when we got home, but I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep.  I went to the grocery store, and Avery and Ned enjoyed the hot weather.  We took a walk and played outside a little more before dinner.  Avery's busy day started to catch up with her, and she was ready for an early bedtime.  Being precious all day is hard work!

He's Alive, He's Alive!

Here are two more songs I've been enjoying over the last few weeks.  They may be really old to everyone else, but coming from a very traditional church, they were new to me when I happened to catch them on The Message.

Avery loves to bob her head to this one.  I can't wait to teach her the meaning.





And if you missed Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill singing How Great Thou Art Friday night, be sure to check it out too.  I was not watching and was so glad people shared it on Facebook and blogs.  It is one of my favorite hymns from childhood, and it gave me chills.  I remember listening to the Statler Brothers version while riding around with my daddy while he was farming.  I hope songs like all of these will be just as familiar to Avery as nursery rhymes and pop music.

Happy Easter from our family to yours.

Week in Review ~ 4/23

What a busy week!  We headed to church for Palm Sunday and stayed for preaching since we would not be there for Easter.  Avery is doing great when we leave her in her Sunday School class.  She has a wonderful teacher and teacher's helper, and she participated in the whole lesson for the first time instead of excusing herself to go play.

We were late getting home but had to speak to Bob, who is still hanging out.

After nap we strolled to the pond, threw the dummy for Dixie, then played outside at home.

We ate dinner at Mimi and Grandaddy's since they will be leaving for their cruise on Easter Sunday.  We took a stroll around the block, which will soon be our new neighborhood.

The school week consisted of maintaining order and sanity, but it actually wasn't too bad.  We had a program to get everyone excited for the upcoming SOLs which meant a late night for me on Tuesday.

Thursday was our big trip to see the ENT.  I didn't mention in the previous post that we stopped to look at furniture on the way home since Avery wasn't sleeping.  She loves little pieces of paper, and new furniture has lots of fun tags hanging all over it.

Avery stayed with Lolli on Friday since she was still running fever Thursday afternoon.  We hoped to make it to the egg hunt at Jen-Jen's, but Avery slept for three hours and I was not about to wake her up.  Lolli was ready to check on her at the 2-hour mark, but I managed to hold her back.  We stopped at Jen-Jen's on the way home to leave her check and got a few eggs.  We went out to dinner, and Avery went to bed easily even after her long nap.

On Saturday I went shopping with Lolli while Avery spent the day with Ned.  They delivered the Ranger to Poppa who will be keeping it for us while we're without a garage.  I'm not sure that Ned will ever get it back.  I had a productive day of spending and actually came home with things for myself.  I'm still in desperate need of shoes, though.  Avery took another long nap this afternoon, then she and Ned went to see Mimi before they left, giving me a few quiet minutes alone.  We strolled and played outside after dinner.  Avery was fascinated by the beach chair I plopped down in the middle of the front yard.

Ned has just come in from delivering his fishing poles to his parents.  Judging by the amount of time he was gone, I'd say some fishing also took place.  The Easter Bunny filled the basket while he was gone, and Ned just brought in her bigger item.  I think the bunny used good restraint, but Ned asked if he was making up for last year.  I think she's going to be so excited.

Avery is 21 months today, so I'll soon be doing that post plus telling about our Easter and spring break adventures.  That's right...spring break finally arrived!  We'll be spending lots of time together and waiting for the packing fairy to arrive.

Avery Ears and Bunny Ears

Yesterday was full of ears!  We set out early for our ENT appointment since we would be heading into Norfolk at a busy time.  Avery had a day of firsts yesterday, starting off with her very first food in the car.  I do believe that her Cheerios were probably more delicious than the biscuit I had from McDonalds.  Avery did so well in the car, especially considering that with traffic we rode close to 2 hours.

Things went well with the doctor, and he assessed Avery's ears in about three seconds.  I may have been a little skeptical about him looking so quickly, but several people have reminded me that he's probably seen a lot of ears.  Basically he said that Avery is kind of on the fence as far as needing tubes.  Luckily, her ears were clear, no damage has been done from infections/fluid, and we're hopefully heading into a less-germy summer.  Based on those things, he recommended holding off on tubes and said that's what he would do if it were his child.  Music to my ears.  We go back in 6 weeks to make sure the fluid hasn't reappeared.  As long as we stay infection-free, that gets us through moving and testing time at school.

Avery ran fever Wednesday night but seemed fine on Thursday.  We headed to the mall after her appointment and got there before the stores opened.  This was Avery's first shopping mall experience, aside from a quick trip to a rinky dink mall near us.  Maybe that's depriving her, but I can't see driving an hour plus to give Avery a mall visit.  It certainly wouldn't be my ideal shopping experience.  With that said, she did really well as long as the stroller moved.  She got measured at Stride Rite and loved all the shoes.  She did not appreciate the amount of time I spent in Gymboree, though, so she and Ned ventured out.

We decided to try the Easter Bunny since we were there.  Do you feel her excitement?

Needless to say, she was happy to wave to the bunny, touched his hand, and thought it was funny that he petted Mama (which Mama loved) but wanted no parts of sitting with him or sitting with Mama beside him.  So, we thanked the bunny and went to lunch.  I'll be glad when she can say "no thanks" to the bunny before the 15 minute wait.

California Pizza Kitchen was fun and delicious.  Avery got so involved in her work that her bib flipped around like a cape.

We got in the car right around naptime, and Avery was asleep quickly.  Unfortunately, she was also up a quick 30 minutes later.  I had hoped to have some fun pictures of her with her buddies at the Easter egg hunt at the sitter's today, but she was still running fever when we got home yesterday, so she had a big morning with Lolli today.  The Easter Bunny is still planning to visit even after their rocky meeting, and the bunny and Walmart managed to resolve their shipping issues today!

To Hippity Hop or Not

Tomorrow Avery has her ENT appointment, and since it's early, early, early I'm pacifying myself with a trip to the mall and lunch after we're done.  And so we're faced with a decision...do we visit the Easter Bunny or not?  I have issues with the bunny.

This is the one we can see tomorrow, and for an abnormally large rabbit I guess he looks ok.

But when I envision the Easter Bunny, I see something like this.  This is just not natural.  I don't know what I thought was bringing me those big baskets wrapped in plastic when I was a child, but it was NOT this.

I didn't visit the Easter Bunny as a child and don't remember wanting to.  We were at least an hour from a mall though, so maybe I didn't go to malls at Easter?  I'm not sure, but last year I was very caught off guard when other parents started taking their children to see the bunny.  I felt like I needed to, but I didn't want to, and we were a little short on time.  We didn't go.  Now I hate to start a tradition when we didn't go for her first Easter.  I also hate to think we might capture the next baby's first Easter and didn't get Avery's.  Yes, I am that mother, that woman, that crazy nut.

Who knows what we'll decide tomorrow, but I won't be hardcore like I am for Santa.  If there are tears there will be no visit.  If Avery knew that the Easter Bunny is having issues with Walmart shipping, she may stomp his foot.  She was running a fever tonight, so I won't be subjecting her to this large creature while she's under the weather.  So, the bunny decision is still up in the air, but shopping and California Pizza Kitchen are not.

Week in Review ~ 4/16

I'm hoping that this new Blogger is going to be a big improvement, because I've been having trouble lately.  However, it was only letting upload one picture at a time tonight and moving at the speed of a snail.  Hopefully I'll get more up when I find a little more patience.

 

I also must say that I'm having to include some other updates in addition to our regular weekly business because well, my weeks are running together.  I'm going to have to start doing a little each day because I have a hard time remembering between Monday morning and Friday at 3:15.

Ned was fishing Sunday so Avery and I spent the day together.  We went to the store in the morning and got groceries.  I think she's really been struggling with her teeth coming in because she'll have moments where she will just fall apart.  I gave her some medicine before lunch and she took a good, long nap.  That was much appreciated since I was doing things on my own.  My hat goes off to single parents and parents whose spouses travel frequently.  I have a good little girl, but it is still tough on your own.

The week really seems like a blur.  We were busy and nothing major was going on.  I still had no cooktop since it mysteriously stopped working after our inspection.  Three eyes actually will work, but the power light stays on so we have to flip the braker before and afer using it and are trying not to do that so much.  The inspector said it was working just fine when he used it, of course.  Someone came and looked at it Friday and it should be a simple fix, so I doubt we will try to butt heads with the inspector.

On Thursday, Lolli picked up Avery while I got my hair done.  I picked up dinner and we ate at Lolli and Poppa's so they could get in a visit with Avery before their weekend away.  Ned had already gone to drill when we got home so after Avery went to bed I had a quiet evening.  We are missing new Grey's Anatomy, since it's absence leaves room for things like Swamp People, Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Mounted in Alaska.

Friday did not get off to a pleasant start at school for me so I requested Mexican for dinner.  Our good, good friends David and Alison met us.  It had been too long since we had been out.  Avery quickly befriended David when she realized he would give her chips and dip-dip.  I downloaded  The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and read a little before falling asleep.

Avery slept until 7:30 Saturday morning, which was a nice treat since Ned had gone turkey hunting.  He got home while she was sleeping and I think we both fell alseep.  The weather reports were looking bad but I really wanted to get to the grocery store.  Ned assured me that I had a good hour and a half, so I took off.  He texted me to tell me what was going on in Raleigh, and by then I was almost done.  We kept the TV on the weather but had a hard time finding a station that would show us and what was on the way.  We realized that what had gone through Raleigh was coming our way, and the weatherman said he didn't like the looks of it.  I got some blankets and pillows and put them in the hallway in the basement and locked the cat up down there.  Ned brought Dixie into the garage and we went and watched TV downstairs.  The storm just missed us and the tornado warning was lifted as it approached.  Luckily, Avery was so happy to be downstairs and sliding that she didn't notice dinner was late.  I am SO afraid of tornadoes but I kept it together pretty well.  Ned even said he was proud of me.  Had I known what the storms had already done and what they would continue to do here in Virginia, it would have been a different story.  We had a tornado 20 miles south of us, but there was none in the storm when it reached up.  They picked up again though and did terrible damage.  We are so, so fortunate.  I stayed up late and finished reading my book.  I thought it was really good and an easy read.  My only complaint is that if left me wanting to know more about her life after the book ended, so I guess I need to start following her blog.

The theme this week is "I think I can, I think I can..."  I only have 3.5 days of school since we take Avery to the ENT Thursday.  The moon is as full as it gets, though, and that is never good in the classroom.  We also need to do some major packing since our goal is to move in three weeks and the only thing we've done to prepare is complain about having to pack.

Through the Rain

It's no secret that I've done some grumbling lately. And I've wondered how that has been received. I'm not asking for pity, I don't need judgement, and I'm not proclaiming to have anything Earth-shattering going on. I do appreciate the encouraging comments, no matter what you've been thinking. It's pretty rare that I put problems out there, but a year from now, when life has either calmed down or is on its ear because of something else, I want to remember these days. The living, remember?

Maybe because I've been teaching the water cycle, I've been comparing the latest events in our life to rain. We are certainly far from a flood, but days and days and drizzle will eventually wear you down.

Avery stayed home with Ned today, and in a quiet moment on the way to school, I heard this song.



Then twice today, I've seen references to this song.



Because of their similarities and the way they crossed my path, I thought I would share in case anyone else needed to hear.

Today I embraced my drizzle.

Cheese Without the Whine

As you can see, Avery had a good weekend, and her "cheese" is way better than any of my whine. Shoes and a lunchbox that doubles as a purse can always make a girl smile. And as you can see, she double checked the Stride Rite invoice to make sure I hadn't been overcharged. It also seems as if she's learned an important mommy lesson: a baby and a bag can be quite a handful!

Aside from the sickness and craziness of life, we had some good things happen over the weekend and today and I thought I better share them before you worried I was about to jump off...something!

**Ned returned home safely from his fishing trip with lots of tuna.

**We have a place to live, and it's our first choice. Now, I feel like I can get a bettter idea of the house, what I'll need to decorate, how much space I'll have, and what we'll have to store. Those decisions will be a challenge but at least we have a place to go. I still fear that packing will jinx everything but I know I'm going to have to get started soon.

**I got a bag of stuff out of my closet to throw away and a bag of things to sell. If I could pay someone to take pictures and list the items I'd be set. Next is Ned's closet. I gave him the happy reminder that we may be sharing a closet while we rent, so he's going to have to condense.

**Our house passed insepection with only a few things to fix. My handy dandy husband should be able to take care of those (or at least make it look good for a minute). A basement tub is only going to drain so fast. The inspector was a bit rough with the house and did not close doors, pick up messes, etc. When I went to use our cooktop last night I realized that he/she likely broke one of the knobs. Now an eye does not work properly and the power light stays on even when it's off. We're kind of afraid it could turn on so we've cut the power, which leaves me with no cooktop. I was looking forward to pasta salad tomorrow, but at least this is a problem that we aren't responsible for.

**Finally, we took a stroll in the fantastic weather tonight. We ventured over to our lot, saw the ducks, and spotted the moon, which means a successful adventure in Avery's eyes. It's exciting to think that next year this time we could be permanent residents.

Week in Review ~ 4/9

What a week! I feel like I am definately earning every minute of my spring break. And with two weeks to go, I'm just hoping I make it.

Ned and Avery went to Sunday School on Sunday. I just wasn't feeling like it so I stayed home. Avery slept late and didn't seem herself, although she did well at church. Poppa came for a visit before lunch since Lolli was at the beach. Averyw was very quiet and slow but wasn't running any fever. After Avery's nap we rode by a few possiblilities for rentals and went to the grocery store. We are still waiting to hear about our first choice, and I am anxious to know where we'll be. I also need to get a feel of the house so that I'll know what we're taking and what we're storing. We did some playing outside also and the pretty night made us realize we're going to miss our house and neighborhood.

Avery seemed better on Monday but Jennifer reported she did a lot of coughing and was a little fussy. She got a terrible sunburn on her arms that I am embarrassed to admit even though I wasn't with her. Our sitter usually does sunscreen, but she said she didn't realize it was Avery's first day of short sleeves this season. Those things are hard on a working mama.

Ned took her to the doctor on Tuesday, and surprise surprise, her right ear was infected. Our pediatrician felt it was time to see an ENT, and we have an appointment scheduled for the week before Easter. We are so fortunate to have the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters close to us and feel confident in them for all of our "big" needs. That's where Avery saw the cardiologist at 5 days old. Now that we need to go back, Anthem has decided that they will be out-of-network starting June 1. So, we're hoping to get anything done for Avery before that time in case a new agreement is not reached. Ned got on the sofa when he got home and was feeling sick on his stomach. I started feeling the same way after dinner and began to wonder if Avery's messy diapers had been more than teething.

Ned was feeling better Wednesday morning but I was not. I did get sick once so I just didn't eat much at school and prayed to get through the day. Please note: These stomach viruses are not code for being pregnant!

Thursday was one of those days where not much seemed to go right. I hit on a lot of it in my last post so I won't stretch out that whine any more. That afternoon, Ned called to say he would be late leaving work, so when the fire siren went off I assumed he was busy at work and would not be going to the call. Two hours later, I couldn't find Ned. Even for my glass half empty, hear a funny noise and start sniffing the air because I think the house is on fire self, it was silly to worry. But, I don't like him being at work by himself when people may think that they money they have taken in during the day is still there with him. He wasn't answering his phone and his mom was in her exercise class so she couldn't tell me if he had stayed at work or not. I finally texted our friend Lucas because they were posssibly going somewhere for dinner. He hadn't heard from him but knew there had been a terrible accident involving a timber chipper that had exploded, badly burning four. Ned finally called and informed me he had been landing helicopters and was waiting for his shoes, phone, and keys to return to town on another truck.

Needless to say, we were happy to see Friday arrive. We went out for pizza after dinner, and then Ned and I watched Life as We Know It. The movie was cute but I thought it was kind of slow.

I got to sleep in Saturday morning which was a nice end to the week. Avery had been waking up before she needed to get up each morning during the week and was even awake at 5:30 am one day. I'm hoping it's some terrible teething issues she's dealing with. Ned left at lunchtime to travel to the Outer Banks to go deep sea fishing on Sunday. Lolli and Poppa came for dinner and Avery did her best to entertain everyone. She has discovered it's fun to fall down, especially when people laugh, then she laughs, and we all laugh some more. I enjoyed watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding instead of the TV show Swamp People and did a little snoozing on the couch before bed.

It's not possible for things to slow down now, so I'm hoping for good health and tons of patience for all the upcoming adventures. Only 8.5 work days stand in between me and a week off!

(Pictures to come soon. Ned isn't home and I'm afraid that if I go downstairs to load pictures I will encourage Dixie to bark, and I'm not feeling going outside in the dark.)

Change of Heart

I thought this week that maybe a post that got all my troubles off my shoulders and into your blogland ears would make me feel better. But then I remembered that I am blessed not to know the problems that so many face. The stress of finding a place to live, packing our house, wondering if the government shutdown will affect our buyer's loan, and a zillion other decisions will one day result in a new home. Tubes in Avery's ears, if needed, will be hard for the few minutes she's being operated on but should provide relief for those tiny ears. And school, well, I can't spin the students absolutely losing their brains right here before testing into anything positve, but school can't go on forever. I also refused to admit that we were struck with the stomach virus yet AGAIN this week.

So today when I woke up and did not throw up, I thought maybe the tides had turned. Then I got to school, realized I had lost/thrown away something (and I never do that) and bam, the stress was back again. You understand I'm sure how happy I was to see this face this afternoon and get out and enjoy a beautiful evening with her. Yes, it is like herding cats to get her back into the house, but I love her dearly.


So again, I thought the day was turning around, until I misplaced my husband for a good hour and a half...

Tomorrow is Friday, jeans day, and I have one dozen Krispy Kremes being delivered with my name on them. Those three things have got to be good for something.

Week in Review ~ 4/3

Welcome April! I learned this week that when you rejoice in a month moving by quickly, the last week will surely drag on so long you think you're about to go backwards. But if you just kick back...

...and enjoy some potato fun...

...it will be alright!

We headed to church Sunday morning after missing two weeks due to sickness and Avery spending the night with my parents. She had a great time in Sunday School, then I had nursery duty for preaching. I coughed the whole time and was pretty disappointed because I thought I was on the road to recovery.

It was a regular week for all of us. Ned and I celebrated our third anniversary on Tuesday. He sent me these beautiful flowers to school.

The flowers should have stayed at school, because Felix is quite attracted to floral arrangements, and the flowers had to stay locked up in my bathroom. The three of us went to dinner Tuesday night. We did not have our usual cup of Cheerios for Avery to tide her over, and she found the fruit I brought unacceptable. She really wasn't bad, but I am not in favor of any whining or fussing when we're out to eat.

I started with a cold Wednesday night. I know you are all thinking that I need some vitamins or a good disinfectant. I'm thinking the same thing. I expect a few colds a year with teaching and Avery, but I am over being sick. Plus, a cold on top of my remaining bronchitis cough is a little over the top. I'm really not a sickly person, but I've taken more sick days this school year for myself and Avery than ever before.

Avery kept a pretty bad cough all week. When I went in Friday morning she had thrown up in her bed, and I assumed (and hoped) it was from coughing. Our house showed again Friday afternoon to someone who had been twice before. We had not been able to agree on a price, and she needed to sell her home. She got a contract on her house this week, and while we were eating at the Mexican restaurant we got another offer from her. After some discussion we decided to accept the offer. I haven't shared a lot of house news for fear of jinxing anything, but the house showed several times aside from this person once we put it on the market, and we had one other offer.

Our agent came over Saturday morning for Ned to sign the contract. This was Ned's house before we got married, so I haven't had too much to do other than share in the decision making. If all goes well, we should close mid-May. We hope to move into our agent's house and rent that until our house is ready, but have lined up some other options also.

I also met my friend Courtney for lunch. We hadn't seen each other in a year, so a visit was long overdue. It's a quick ride for me, so I hope to do it more often...hint, hint. I had big plans for making the most of my day out, but I was not feeling the best after lunch so I stopped at Target and then headed home. Avery was just waking from her nap when I got home, but she stayed in her bed for awhile. I finished Sing You Home while Avery played. There were some heavy issues in the book but I thought it was good. We had steaks for dinner then took a little ride to get out and about before Avery went to bed. Her stomach seemed upset this weekend and she hasn't had much appetite this week.

I must also add that three years ago this week I was here:

I mourned for a good month when we returned from our honeymoon. I may have mourned it a little this week with all the cold and rain. We hope to get back one day and may need to go sooner than later so that we don't have more children than Lolli and Poppa can handle.

We are hoping for warm April temperatures and good health this week.