Wednesday, February 27, 2008
10 random things about me!!
so ..... i've been tagged by my sweet friend, heather. my assignment is to tell all the wonderful people who read my blog 10 random things about myself. for the first time in a loooooooong time, instead of thinking/talking about my husband or my girls, i will be thinking/talking all about me for a minute! enjoy! by the way, part of the deal is that i tag 2 more people, so at the end i will do just that. will it be YOU??!! :0) here goes nothing ........
1. i am a pack rat ..... mainly with decorating stuff (ok, ok. its not only limited to decorating stuff). for those of you who know me well and visit my home regularly, you recognize this! i can't help it and and as hard as i try to rid myself of this horrible habit, i haven't been able to yet. i guess in part, i can thank my granny! she was the same way.
2. i over ananlyze things. i'm MUCH better than i used to be. now it seems i waaaaaay over analyze things when mattie and/or grace is sick. they could have a slight fever and some way, some how, i automatically turn their sickness into a terminally ill condition. i must quit doing this before i drive myself, geoff, my sister, my mom, and anyone else who will listen, crazy!
3. i long for the day i can go on a missions trip. i think, unless the Lord has a different idea, i will probably wait atleast a couple of more years until the girls are a little older.
4. i'm well on my way to accomplishing my new years resolution of getting organized. kudos to me, right?! ha! i'm actually very excited!
5. i love to help/encourage people anonymously. it does my soul so good!
6. i 'm not a shy person whatsoever, but i absolutely do not like speaking in front of large crowds.
7. up until the age of 10 or 11 (? i think) i was a major tomboy. i lived in a relatively small neighborhood. us girls (3 of us) were way outnumbered by the boys. hence the reason i was a tomboy?
8. i'm easily spooked. i don't like to stay at home overnight by myself. as well, spiders and snakes scare the you know what out of me. as a matter of fact, every time before i put my shoes on, i shake them to make sure there isn't a spider in them.
9. i tend to get a little angry when people are driving slow in the left hand lane. actually i get a lot angry!
10. i started this blog thing a little over a year ago and honestly didn't know how well i would like it or how often i would update it. turns out i do like it, and as you can see, of late, i've really been trying hard to update it frequently. its sort of a diary for me too, so i hope i never give TMI (ha!) or offend anyone! thats never my intent!
ahhh! that was actually a little harder than i thought it would be. i'm sure when i'm not under pressure, i'll think of more randomness. if i do, i'll post it as it comes to me.
for my "tag your it", i'm going to bend the rules and choose more than 2 people. i tag my sister, laura; my best friend, bonnie; my husband, geoff; my cousin, julie hedden; and my friend christy - thats you mcnew! c. lauderdale i'd love to hear your list of random things too if you want to do this as well! for those of you i just tagged, if you don't have a blog, email me your list and i'll copy and paste it on my blog. if i didn't tag you and you want to give it a whirl, go for it.
have fun making your list :0)
love to all of you this night!
julie
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
ugh!!!
you ever just have one of those days?????!!!!! i'm having one today. up until 30 minutes ago, the girls had been wonderful all day ..... in fact, i didn't have to use the no no spoon at all, which is a rare occurence around here these days! let me give you a brief outline of how our day has gone ..... only a few incidents, i know, but each one has taken up enough time to to keep me quite busy from the time their little feet hit the floor running this morning.
first of all, " the storm" wakes me up in somewhat of a panic early this morning. i watch the news/weather pretty regularly. totally missed this forcast i guess. i lay in bed listening to the wind howling, at what seemed to be 100 mph, in fear that our roof was going to blow right off the top of our house or that a tree was going to come toppling down on us at any given moment. neither of those are good thoughts when you have babies one room over, or when you have your house on the market! we weathered the storm and an hour and a half later, the girls got up in a great mood! yeah for me! since the weather is yucky, we obviously won't be getting out today, so a good mood is imperative on days like today. otherwise, i'm in rare form/have cabin fever come noon time! so, we have breakfast, then we play with puzzles, our babies ("baby cohen" as they call them now! :0), etc. suddenly we feel the living room upstairs isn't good enough .... we want to go downstairs. ok, fine with me. afterall, it is a change of scenery, and that is good for me too once in a while! so downstairs we go. we're playing, dancing, singing, having a grand ole time when i decide to go up and get them a snack. i go bouncing up the stairs (excited that they're still in a good mood and its now 10am), get to the top, turn the handle only to find that the DOOR IS LOCKED!! oh no!! the door has an actual lock that requires a key - theres no credit card or license thats going to get this baby unlocked! thank goodness i had brought a phone down. i called geoff and again, thank goodness, he was relatively close to the house. he came home and freed us! so that never happens again, he hung a key beside the door so that we have one just incase!
soon enough its time for lunch, which today, was PB &J complete with dorritos. don't know why i do that to myself (the dorritos). you can't cheat a child out of dorritos, but man they always end up covered in sticky cheesy dorrito seasoning from head to toe! complete with orange stained fingers, we get cleaned up and play some more. i wanted to call bonnie to see how her night was last night, so i thought, perfect. they're bellies are full, they're content. i'll call her now. wouldn't you know as soon as i get on the phone they start their screaming, fighting, look at me, all out fits. mind you, they were being fine up until i got on the phone. i go upstairs for just a minute to grab a pair of panties for grace (she had an "as'dent") to come back down and find them soaking wet!!! oh, was i mad! they had gotten josie's water bowl and attempted to get her some more water - shes not even here today - shes with geoff - they evidently thought she needed some water though. the sink is way out of their reach, and the bowl was FULL of water already, so water ended up ALL over the floor, ALL over them. did i happen to mention i was pretty upset???!!!! so, one roll of paper towels later and a change of clothes for the 2 of them, we're back in business. little did they know this time, business is a nap! its beddy bye time! time for a little shut eye! see ya in a couple of hours (hopefully!) p.s. as i sit here typing this, nearly one hour after putting them down, they're still up there playing, talking, doing God knows what else! i'm scared to find out!
so, thats my day so far in a nutshell. just a day in the life of a mom with 2 two year olds! isn't life grand! actually it is! and as i've had a minute to sit here and unwind, i remind myself of this ...... from psalm 127 ... "children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him."
thank you, Lord for my children! even though they do make me angry at times, i love them with every ounce of my being and will care for them as you have entrusted me to do!
so, i have to ask, whats going on in your life today?? whatever it might be, i hope you are having a FABULOUS tuesday as well! :0)
love to all!
julie
first of all, " the storm" wakes me up in somewhat of a panic early this morning. i watch the news/weather pretty regularly. totally missed this forcast i guess. i lay in bed listening to the wind howling, at what seemed to be 100 mph, in fear that our roof was going to blow right off the top of our house or that a tree was going to come toppling down on us at any given moment. neither of those are good thoughts when you have babies one room over, or when you have your house on the market! we weathered the storm and an hour and a half later, the girls got up in a great mood! yeah for me! since the weather is yucky, we obviously won't be getting out today, so a good mood is imperative on days like today. otherwise, i'm in rare form/have cabin fever come noon time! so, we have breakfast, then we play with puzzles, our babies ("baby cohen" as they call them now! :0), etc. suddenly we feel the living room upstairs isn't good enough .... we want to go downstairs. ok, fine with me. afterall, it is a change of scenery, and that is good for me too once in a while! so downstairs we go. we're playing, dancing, singing, having a grand ole time when i decide to go up and get them a snack. i go bouncing up the stairs (excited that they're still in a good mood and its now 10am), get to the top, turn the handle only to find that the DOOR IS LOCKED!! oh no!! the door has an actual lock that requires a key - theres no credit card or license thats going to get this baby unlocked! thank goodness i had brought a phone down. i called geoff and again, thank goodness, he was relatively close to the house. he came home and freed us! so that never happens again, he hung a key beside the door so that we have one just incase!
soon enough its time for lunch, which today, was PB &J complete with dorritos. don't know why i do that to myself (the dorritos). you can't cheat a child out of dorritos, but man they always end up covered in sticky cheesy dorrito seasoning from head to toe! complete with orange stained fingers, we get cleaned up and play some more. i wanted to call bonnie to see how her night was last night, so i thought, perfect. they're bellies are full, they're content. i'll call her now. wouldn't you know as soon as i get on the phone they start their screaming, fighting, look at me, all out fits. mind you, they were being fine up until i got on the phone. i go upstairs for just a minute to grab a pair of panties for grace (she had an "as'dent") to come back down and find them soaking wet!!! oh, was i mad! they had gotten josie's water bowl and attempted to get her some more water - shes not even here today - shes with geoff - they evidently thought she needed some water though. the sink is way out of their reach, and the bowl was FULL of water already, so water ended up ALL over the floor, ALL over them. did i happen to mention i was pretty upset???!!!! so, one roll of paper towels later and a change of clothes for the 2 of them, we're back in business. little did they know this time, business is a nap! its beddy bye time! time for a little shut eye! see ya in a couple of hours (hopefully!) p.s. as i sit here typing this, nearly one hour after putting them down, they're still up there playing, talking, doing God knows what else! i'm scared to find out!
so, thats my day so far in a nutshell. just a day in the life of a mom with 2 two year olds! isn't life grand! actually it is! and as i've had a minute to sit here and unwind, i remind myself of this ...... from psalm 127 ... "children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him."
thank you, Lord for my children! even though they do make me angry at times, i love them with every ounce of my being and will care for them as you have entrusted me to do!
so, i have to ask, whats going on in your life today?? whatever it might be, i hope you are having a FABULOUS tuesday as well! :0)
love to all!
julie
Sunday, February 24, 2008
sunday, sunday
as the weekend is winding down, i think of all the things i have to be thankful for ..... especially the gift of family! we hosted an engagement party for our niece and her fiance, matt, here at our house last night. i'm glad to say it went off without a hitch (atleast i thought so!) we probably had close to 30 people here to show their love and support of the union that will take place august 16th between carol and matt. his parents, who live in ohio, came in for the party and the evening was just complete! there wasn't much we could have done to make it better.
the highlight of the evening though came when everyone had left .... carol asked not only mattie and grace to be flower girls, but also asked me to be a bridesmaid. flattered, honored and teary eyed, i said, "of course i'll stand up for you"! ....... thank you carol! it means the world to me that you asked!
we said goodbye to everyone this morning and we have just been lounging around since. going non-stop since friday morning, it kind of feels good to still have my pj's on at noon!
--------------------------------------------------
father, thank you for the gift of family, as this weekend has been ALL about family..... from the precious child you blessed us with on friday, cohen william, to celebrating the two families that will be brought together on august 16th with carol and matt's unity. i pray blessings over them. as well, father, i pray blessings over bonnie, bo and cohen as they start life together as a family. shower them with your indescribable love! thank you ..... you are truly amazing!
the highlight of the evening though came when everyone had left .... carol asked not only mattie and grace to be flower girls, but also asked me to be a bridesmaid. flattered, honored and teary eyed, i said, "of course i'll stand up for you"! ....... thank you carol! it means the world to me that you asked!
we said goodbye to everyone this morning and we have just been lounging around since. going non-stop since friday morning, it kind of feels good to still have my pj's on at noon!
--------------------------------------------------
father, thank you for the gift of family, as this weekend has been ALL about family..... from the precious child you blessed us with on friday, cohen william, to celebrating the two families that will be brought together on august 16th with carol and matt's unity. i pray blessings over them. as well, father, i pray blessings over bonnie, bo and cohen as they start life together as a family. shower them with your indescribable love! thank you ..... you are truly amazing!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
a baby is born!!
thats right! yesterday at 1:02 pm bonnie delivered cohen william. he was 7# 2oz, 18 inches long. he is soooooooo precious! they are both doing great! she had such an awesome delivery (and pregnancy for that matter) ...... so awesome she will be the envy of every expectant mommy!
i love you bonnie! i'm so proud for you and bo!
Psalm 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
i love you bonnie! i'm so proud for you and bo!
Psalm 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!
wow! how times flies. i haven't posted since november!! so much has happened since then ..... how in the world will i get everyone caught up??!! here goes .........
well, christmas was grand!! the girls really had fun this year. they had truly fallen in love with "san claus" by the end of the christmas season. in fact, they were so mesmerized by him, i just knew the trip to see santa would be a breeze, in fact, quite enjoyable. ha! think again! ends up that i procrastinated until late, not the last possible minute, but pretty close. so, with that being said, laura and i decided to go one morning - a kind of spur of the moment decision..... a.k.a. catastrophe in the making :0) we get to the mall and the line is, of course, extremely long. the worker elves came around to update us every once in a while and not too long after we started standing in line, we were told the wait was an hour to an hour and a half. oh boy! so, the waiting began! well, much to our surprise, the kids were GREAT! they honestly were. they got a little restless in the end, but overall, they were wonderful. the "sitting in santas lap" part was not so enjoyable. recall, i did say we waited in line for an hour to an hour and a half, all for what??!! all for our kiddos to act as if someone was chasing them around with a huge ax. they were absolutely terrified of "san" (aka santa). my girls wouldn't let me even think about putting them down, much less put them down and walk 5 ft away so the elves could snap a quick picture. even "san" was saying, " oh my!" i should also add that during the entire waiting period of an hour and a half, not one time did we see a child act the way ours did. i'm sure we were the butt of many jokes! good times! ....... so, for our precious daughters 3rd visit with santa, the picture is complete with mommy sitting on santas lap and mattie and grace sitting/laying on me. quite humorous! still gotta love it! its framed of course and i'm sure laura and i will have great memories of that day for years to come.
christmas was here and gone in a flash! we fought some sickness between thanksgiving and christmas, which was no fun. by christmas they were good to go and so we were able to join the arnolds family gathering late christmas eve after lunch with my family earlier in the day. this is something we started a few years back before we had the girls and i was so glad to be able to pick it back up this year. we go over after they get home from christmas eve service. despite it being late, the girls had a great time playing with nani grace. we got to visit with miss katherine - sweet little thing! she looks amazing!!! shes doing very well! and i am thanking our God for his graciousness everyday. she walks in faith knowing that this is just a season. she enjoyed the girls, and i enjoyed her enjoying he girls. shes just so sweet! :0)
next, we rang in new year and from there time has just flown by! today is february 14th - valentines day - and i can hardly believe we are already
well on our way to being a quarter of the way through this year. geoff continues to plug away at selling brick. as we all know, the housing market is pretty much horrible right now, but God has blessed us with new business leads nearly everyday! he is soooooooo good! we continue to press forward, taking one day at a time and try not to listen too much to the gloom and doom the media has to offer. we're just holding on!
we attempted potty training back in january and i'm pleased to announce that one of the 2 took to it very well! ya hoo! i took advice from my friend christy, and tackled "3 day potty training". basically you put them in big girl panties, make a HUGE deal about that, and continuously give them liquids so that they have to go potty. needless to say, i had to be just as ready to do this as them because first of all, it is/was very exhausting, and second of all, you must stay at home for THREE WHOLE DAYS!!!(unless, of course, you want to be cleaning up p p and poopy in the middle of target - no thank you!) i spent the first 2 days on my hands and knees with paper towels and a bottle of clorox anywhere .... literally, i probably spent more time on my knees cleaning up pee pee than i did doing anything else. i was warned though that it would be that way. by saturday, grace pretty much had it, while accident by accident, mattie was getting a little bit more rebelious! by monday grace was potty trained and mattie was back in diapers :0( shes obviously not ready and i've been told by many people not to push her; she'll do it in her "own time". mattie tends to do a lot of things in her own time (whatever that means! ha!) she is my bull-headed one, although i must say, grace is catching up rather quickly. so, to bring you up to date, grace is doing well. she does have an accident here and there, but overall shes doing great! mattie is still in diapers but showing more and more interest in going potty. we shall see!
other happenings include our niece, carol, getting engaged :0)!! and one of my very best friends, bonnie, expecting her sweet little baby boy any day now! can't wait to see baby cohen!
well, lets see .... i think thats it, atleast all i can think of now. its late, very late for me, and i think i'll hit the hay. i just wanted to blog and bring everyone up to speed because its been so long. i might add more tomorrow morning when i have a clear mind, but until then, good night and thanks for checking on us!
we love each and everyone of you reading this blog!
the truan's
-------------------------------------------------
my God! my God! thank you for being so constant in a day in time and market that is not so constant. thank you for loving us and meeting our every need and more. please help me to remember that you are the market. not the numbers, not the projections, not the media, but YOU! thank you for the soft reminders and the many people you have used as vessels in my life in the past couple of months. i will bless your name forevermore! i ask that you bless every single person who reads this blog as we are all in need of something. amen.
well, christmas was grand!! the girls really had fun this year. they had truly fallen in love with "san claus" by the end of the christmas season. in fact, they were so mesmerized by him, i just knew the trip to see santa would be a breeze, in fact, quite enjoyable. ha! think again! ends up that i procrastinated until late, not the last possible minute, but pretty close. so, with that being said, laura and i decided to go one morning - a kind of spur of the moment decision..... a.k.a. catastrophe in the making :0) we get to the mall and the line is, of course, extremely long. the worker elves came around to update us every once in a while and not too long after we started standing in line, we were told the wait was an hour to an hour and a half. oh boy! so, the waiting began! well, much to our surprise, the kids were GREAT! they honestly were. they got a little restless in the end, but overall, they were wonderful. the "sitting in santas lap" part was not so enjoyable. recall, i did say we waited in line for an hour to an hour and a half, all for what??!! all for our kiddos to act as if someone was chasing them around with a huge ax. they were absolutely terrified of "san" (aka santa). my girls wouldn't let me even think about putting them down, much less put them down and walk 5 ft away so the elves could snap a quick picture. even "san" was saying, " oh my!" i should also add that during the entire waiting period of an hour and a half, not one time did we see a child act the way ours did. i'm sure we were the butt of many jokes! good times! ....... so, for our precious daughters 3rd visit with santa, the picture is complete with mommy sitting on santas lap and mattie and grace sitting/laying on me. quite humorous! still gotta love it! its framed of course and i'm sure laura and i will have great memories of that day for years to come.
christmas was here and gone in a flash! we fought some sickness between thanksgiving and christmas, which was no fun. by christmas they were good to go and so we were able to join the arnolds family gathering late christmas eve after lunch with my family earlier in the day. this is something we started a few years back before we had the girls and i was so glad to be able to pick it back up this year. we go over after they get home from christmas eve service. despite it being late, the girls had a great time playing with nani grace. we got to visit with miss katherine - sweet little thing! she looks amazing!!! shes doing very well! and i am thanking our God for his graciousness everyday. she walks in faith knowing that this is just a season. she enjoyed the girls, and i enjoyed her enjoying he girls. shes just so sweet! :0)
next, we rang in new year and from there time has just flown by! today is february 14th - valentines day - and i can hardly believe we are already
well on our way to being a quarter of the way through this year. geoff continues to plug away at selling brick. as we all know, the housing market is pretty much horrible right now, but God has blessed us with new business leads nearly everyday! he is soooooooo good! we continue to press forward, taking one day at a time and try not to listen too much to the gloom and doom the media has to offer. we're just holding on!
we attempted potty training back in january and i'm pleased to announce that one of the 2 took to it very well! ya hoo! i took advice from my friend christy, and tackled "3 day potty training". basically you put them in big girl panties, make a HUGE deal about that, and continuously give them liquids so that they have to go potty. needless to say, i had to be just as ready to do this as them because first of all, it is/was very exhausting, and second of all, you must stay at home for THREE WHOLE DAYS!!!(unless, of course, you want to be cleaning up p p and poopy in the middle of target - no thank you!) i spent the first 2 days on my hands and knees with paper towels and a bottle of clorox anywhere .... literally, i probably spent more time on my knees cleaning up pee pee than i did doing anything else. i was warned though that it would be that way. by saturday, grace pretty much had it, while accident by accident, mattie was getting a little bit more rebelious! by monday grace was potty trained and mattie was back in diapers :0( shes obviously not ready and i've been told by many people not to push her; she'll do it in her "own time". mattie tends to do a lot of things in her own time (whatever that means! ha!) she is my bull-headed one, although i must say, grace is catching up rather quickly. so, to bring you up to date, grace is doing well. she does have an accident here and there, but overall shes doing great! mattie is still in diapers but showing more and more interest in going potty. we shall see!
other happenings include our niece, carol, getting engaged :0)!! and one of my very best friends, bonnie, expecting her sweet little baby boy any day now! can't wait to see baby cohen!
well, lets see .... i think thats it, atleast all i can think of now. its late, very late for me, and i think i'll hit the hay. i just wanted to blog and bring everyone up to speed because its been so long. i might add more tomorrow morning when i have a clear mind, but until then, good night and thanks for checking on us!
we love each and everyone of you reading this blog!
the truan's
-------------------------------------------------
my God! my God! thank you for being so constant in a day in time and market that is not so constant. thank you for loving us and meeting our every need and more. please help me to remember that you are the market. not the numbers, not the projections, not the media, but YOU! thank you for the soft reminders and the many people you have used as vessels in my life in the past couple of months. i will bless your name forevermore! i ask that you bless every single person who reads this blog as we are all in need of something. amen.
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