I'm 34, and?

Here are 34 things you DID NOT KNOW about me: 1. I only eat vegetables because I'm supposed to but do not like them and you will rarely find them on our dinner table. I did recently read that raw vegetables are good for weight loss (although I don't think this is proven research) because your body uses lots of energy to break them down--this and this alone is the reason I may eat more vegetables. Yuck! 2. I won Outstanding 7th Grade girl at Bowling Green Junior High. I wore the most hideous Benetton outfit EVER. Picture this: a melon colored, button up, short sleeved sweater with multi colored stripes on the sleeve. A turquoise sweater skirt with the same matching stripes at the bottom. I was stylin' back then. 3. I was dared to pull the school fire alarm on the last day of school when I was in 5th grade and DID IT. Thanks Amy Pearson for being such a great influence. 4. I had a birthmark removed from my back at a young age because of the risk of cancer. 5. All four of my grandparents are still living--awesome! 6. I once received a lower letter grade in college from a professor who told me I did MORE work than was necessary on my ad design project. What? 7. I wore brightly colored lipstick A LOT in high school. If you see any of my sports photos, you'll surely see it. 8. My car was once bird seeded by the group of guys, me and my posse hung out with in high school. They spread lard all over my super cool, white Mitsubishi Galant (equipped with the automatic seat belts attached to the door thingie) and sprinkled bird seed all over it. My dad was livid and slept on the living room couch for a while waiting for their return. I, on the other hand, hopped in the car, rolled the window down, stuck my head out and drove to my tanning bed appointment that morning. Oh the priorities we set in high school =). 9. I have been on many mission trips visiting places like Frontera & Moclova, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Belize. I would love to take my children to Central America so they can learn to appreciate the luxuries (like running water and paved roads) we take for granted here in the states. 10. My absolute FAVORITE Christmas gift EVER was a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses just like the one's Tom Cruise wore in Top Gun. 11. Speaking of Top Gun, I believe I have that entire movie along with Grease and Goonies memorized. Cocktail was my first rate R movie =). 12. I played with Barbies until I was in 7th grade. 13. I could not choke down a glass of sweet tea up until Matt and I lived in Georgia when we got married. Apparently, there is NO other drink worth having in the deep south. I can't imagine a day without sweet tea now. 14. I broke my nose in 6th grade and knocked out my front tooth which is FAKE. Matt, ironically, has the exact same FAKE front tooth--destiny. 15. I got my very first pedicure about two years ago, what took me so long? They are awesome! 16. I have ZERO interest in playing on the iPad, iPhone or any iRelated applications or games. I would much rather sit down with someone and play an actual game than do something on a device. 17. I could eat a Cinnamon Crunch bagel from Panera everyday for the rest of my life. 18. I named my daughter Karson after the main character in the movie Shag which I saw in 5th grade with my friend Shannon Oliver. I have LOVED that name for quite a long time. 19. My favorite place to vacation is Destin, Florida. I can't imagine a prettier place on earth. 20. I have always worn clothes that are usually way to big for me. I have issues with tightly fitting anything. I did, however, purchase my first pair of skinny jeans this winter. They are growing on me--literally. 21. My nickname in high school was Chicken mainly because I was lanky, bony and thin and partially scared of everything. 22. I have five ear piercings in my left ear and three in the other. I went through a weird piercing phase in college. Do you all remember Jane Child? I think she inspired me? 23. I love the People's Court and feel like I could definitely fulfill that role if Marilyn Milian ever left. 24. On my 16th birthday, my mom hosted a big party for me and all my friends. She had them all buy me charms for a charm bracelette she purchased me. It was a very cool birthday. And while on the subject of my 16th bday, I stressed about taking that stinkin' drivers examine. Simply put, I DO NOT TEST WELL especially on anything that counts. I am a wonderful student and make mostly A's but testing is HARD for me. Well, my birthday is on March 30 and I wasn't able to take the drivers exam until the next day and barely passed. On April 1, I received a phone call stating that a cheat sheet had been found in the testing area and that all testers would have to come back in a re-take the test. I was a mess and started crying and panicking. Little did I know or make the connection that it was April Fool's Day and that my dear ol' dad had set the whole thing up. My mom had him call almost immediately to me that it was a joke--a NOT SO FUNNY one I must admit. 25. When we were little, my sister and I used to dress up in my mother's old dress clothes (dress up clothes must not have existed when I was a child or I don't remember them) and we would do multiple musical performances on our fireplace/hearth stage. Our most memorable performance was to Pink Cadillac by Natalie Cole...rose velvet seats, riding in the back, crusing down the street....yeah I still know all the words. 26. I got to go to Hawaii in 4th grade and was able to visit Pearl Harbor, but that CERTAINLY was not the highlight of the trip. One day when we were out shopping, a store clerk told us that Blair (from the Facts of Life) had JUST left. Shannon and I raced out searching for her with NO luck =(. 27. The last book I "read" was 127 Hours but was not able to finish it because I knew what was going to happen and simply could not read about it. I did, however, watch the movie at Paul and Shannon's one night. YIKES! 28. I was sports editor of my high school newspaper the Purple Gem. 29. Outlet Malls are my favorite places to shop mainly for the deals but partly because I love looking at the poor schlubs (men) that are drug there by their wives and children. They are always SO miserable. BTW, I could people watch ALL day long. 30. I absolutely love high school basketball especially when the district teams play each other--LOVE IT! 31. I, like my children, loved writing books as a kid. I had a series collection called "The Blue Moon" books. 32. I could be bare foot at all times. Shoes (and winter jackets) are just a nuisance all together. 33. I gained 50+ pounds with each one of my pregnancies. And while on the subject of pregnancy, I was induced with ALL three kids on a Tuesday (thus the title of my blog). Tuesday child is full of grace--I can think of no better slogan for three kids with a dad as a minister. 34. Matt and I have been together 15 years. While we were dating, we would "daydream" about our future. We never thought it would be this wonderful. Words simply cannot express how happy we are =). Life is good.

Isaac the Gr8

In the event this book doesn't make it into publication (or gets trashed at some point), I had to dedicate a post to Isaac's newest book, "Isaac's Theme Song Book". Isaac is one creative child. His brain goes 90 miles an hour morning, noon and night. Lately some of his school papers look like this:

I'm fairly certain we've told him on more than one occasion that his middle name has TWO T's in it, but it hasn't sunk in or he's created a new version. I think the dashes in-between give it a little something extra, don't ya think?

Isaac says some of the craziest things and is always making up some elaborate book or movie. He has videos on youtube--don't ask me where but Matt has loaded a couple of them for him (per HIS request). His has "release dates" for his books. He JUST told me, "Mom, "Crazy Post Mason 2" comes out on June 1 which also horsey's birthday"--his stuffed horse.

"Crazy Post Mason"--the 1st edition comes out on April 2. There is a poster on his door to prove it. I said, "Mason?" He said, "yeah but not my friend Mason (Mason DeVries is the only friend named Mason that I know of). It's another friend, Mason Cornea." I hear stuff like this ALL DAY LONG. There is way to much information (and funniness) to keep track of it all.

On to the book....Isaac told me a couple of days ago he needed to write his theme song book. Who doesn't have one of these, right? I DID NOT help him with any of the spelling which is awesome (that might be obvious based on the spelling of some words). When he writes, he simply sits down and does it all himself.

He does love the Beatles. If I hear the song "All You Need is Love" anymore, I will most likely not be so loving. He wants to be a dartist when he grows up--a doctor/artist. He only wants to be a doctor because they have stairs in their house. He has told us countless times he wishes daddy was a doctor like Uncle Paul so we can have stairs in our house. Not sure that having stairs in your house makes you a doctor, but it does to our son. Does not like that much food--his diet is very limited. He survives on yogurt, chicken, chocolate milk, fingernails and boogers most days. He loves Bruno Mars and Maroon 5--segue into a funny story--Isaac and I recently went on a date to Fazoli's. It was during the Girls Basketball Sweet 16 tournament (which takes place at WKU) and the entire Louisville Manual basketball team was there with us. As we were sitting there enjoying dinner, the song "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars came on. When it got to the chrous, when I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change, cause you're amazing--Isaac belted out in his loudest soprano voice JUST THE WAY YOU ARE. The entire basketball team looked at him, giggled and thought that he was the cutest thing ever (it was pretty cute). He got beet red and was so embarrassed.

The rest of the book speaks for itself. My quirky, creative kid. I may have him write a theme song book about me just to see what he comes up with. I love my super talented 6 year old.

Birthday Pops

My dear old dad celebrated 61 years yesterday. I wouldn't classify my dad as "hard to buy for", I would classify almost EVERY guy as pretty hard to buy for. I can think of a million things to get for my mom, MIL, Shannon and girlfriends, but when it comes to buying for a MAN, I must admit, it's quite tough. My dad isn't a reader, so books are out. He's not a "techie" kind of guy, so anything iTunes or computer related is out. He's not a fashion statement, so if you buy clothes, you have to stick to the basics--socks, underwear and t-shirts---boring. His hobbies are barbershop singing, fishing and messing with his chainsaws--all of which I know very little about. Birthdays and Father's Day are always tough for me because I want to get him something thoughtful, affordable and something I know he would like--is there such a gift out there? Humph? I believe I found the perfect gift for him this year. It just so happened that South Warren High School's theater group was running their musical the weekend of my dad's birthday. The performance was:

I told my mom that I really wanted to get him tickets for the show and all of our family to go together (sans kids). She told me to GO FOR IT but to check with Matt on all of the basketball games. We would HATE for the guys to miss any of the important games =). Friday night was out because UK was playing so that left Saturday night. We met at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Those of you that keep up with my sister know what she's going through but for those of you that don't, Shannon recently tore her ACL while skiing in Colorado. Her surgery was on Thursday in Nashville, and she has been couped up at home most of the weekend. Her nerve block started wearing off on Friday night, and she's been in quite a bit of pain since. Shannon has a very sensitive stomach especially when it comes to strong medicines like pain killers so she has to be incredibly careful when taking them and they usually make her feel nauseous. She and Paul were able to come out and eat with us last night but weren't able to go to the play with us =(.

I bought some mini cupcakes at Walmart that morning just to have something celebratory at the table (plus, I thought the kids may come and eat with us, but they simply weren't feeling it--so we left them behind with Pap Colvin). Shannon had given dad his birthday gift the night before which was AWESOME. She went to Sam's got him some Simply Caramel Milky Ways along with a pack of legal pads and gel pens. He loved it--easy to please, but it definitely requires some thought and Shannon hit the motherload of loot my dad likes. I decided to get him the 2011 Grammy nominees CD. My dad and I have always shared a passion for today's hottest hits. We love music, and I thought he would enjoy that. He told me this morning at church how much he has LOVED listening to it--yessssss! I also wanted to treat he and my mom to the play. It didn't begin until 7 p.m. in SWHS's super cool auditorium. We had such a fun evening hanging out and enjoying each other. It felt like WINTER when we left the show at 9:45--burrr. I am SO looking forward to more of that spring weather SOON!

I made an acrostic about the things I love about him.

L-oves orange Tic Tacs as much as me and usually gives me a package of them every Sunday at church.

I-s always willing to lend a hand and has kept Miles (solo) for me when I've needed a break and Meme wasn't available. That's a pretty big deal =). He also helped me coach my basketball team and is helping Shannon coach her softball team.

N-oisy =). Everyone who knows my dad knows he is loud. What can I say, our whole family is pretty loud--AND we like to talk A LOT. I think that's a good trait and one that has worn off in a good way with Karson. I receive notes that say Karson is proactive in class and is able to speak in front of her peers and even help assist them (and, most of her peers are 3d graders). I LOVE that she is confident and not shy about public speaking--we don't do SHY in our family =).

D-ependable. No need to ever ask dad to do something twice. He has a great memory and is someone you can count on. He recently went with the kids to an event at Plano called Donuts for Dads. Matt couldn't attend because he has to work so dad stepped up to the plate. I think it's cool that dad can fill these roles when necessary and is always willing to do so.

L-oopidy, loo if you've ever seen my dad's handwriting, you would think you were looking at a letter written by a Southern Belle in the deep south. It's very curly and (really) hard to read. I think this is funny considering he is covered in greasy gas and oil from chainsaws and filling out tickets with fluffy handwriting.

E-njoys his family. My dad is simply a wonderful dad, and we are thankful for him daily

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD/POPS! We sure had a great time celebrating with you last night.

Catch Up with Miles

March is always a special month for me mainly because the winter season is closing out. I'm thankful Punxsutawney Phil and the Farmer's Almanac predicted this early spring. Miles has been asking if he can get in the sprinkler since DECEMBER so we were actually able to break it out on Friday when the weather almost reached 80 degrees. He was in heaven.

CATCH UP WITH MILES: these days Miles mainly talks about Mia our neighbor (who is Isaac's age and in kindergarten). He's always wondering what she's up to? if she's at home? when she will get home? if she's outside? if she's thinking of him (hah, not really)? He is smitten with an older woman. Funny thing is, is that she has a sister Laila who is his age but I'm not sure if he's ever met her (or knows she exists). Mia has his heart.

We love our neighbors. We had Mia's family over on Thursday night for a cook out. It happened to be Dave's birthday so we were able to celebrate with them. Jennie and I have been planning arranged marriages between our children--I believe Miles will be okay with that.

Miles had his first official birthday party invite this month. He was invited to a Star Wars party by some twin boys in his preschool class Johnathan and Tyler. He loved getting to go to their house and spending time playing with his peers. Speaking of birthdays, he has already planned out his 5th birthday which will take place at Meme's. The theme is Superman (I'm not sure I've EVER heard him talk about Superman). He's already made the guest list and I'm invited.

Miles had a playdate with another classmate Luke who came over to our house last Wednesday. They had the best time. I love how innocent children are. Luke and Miles were jumping on the trampoline and Miles was sticking his behind up in the air and Luke was pinching it and the cackling began. Funny things like that just make my day. His conversations with Luke were funny too. I heard him ask "Luke, do you like to eat food?" and "Luke do you snore?" to which Luke replied no and Miles proceeded with "well what do you do at night?" I love how he communicates with his buddies and am lucky that I get to witness his conversations at school. He says the funniest things like "Thanks Trapper for sitting next to me at snack."

On the school front, Miles is different from my other two kids in the fact that he seems to understand that preschool is a part of his life--he never complains about going and has never asked to be in my class at school. He seems to enjoy being there. However, (it may be un-parentlike to say this) he isn't my most academic kid at this point. The other two kids picked up on all the skill sets so quickly. I don't remember working HARD with them on learning numbers, opposites, counting, alphabet, etc. They just absorbed these things. Miles hasn't or he's fooling me. I have no doubt that he is capable and may very well KNOW these things but WILL NOT tell me. SO, I'm forced to resort to bribery. Yeah, yeah, you know we ALL do it.

Miles loves playing Mortal Kombat on the ol' Nintendo 64 which normally resides in our attic. A couple weeks ago, he asked if we could get it down so he could play it. I admit I LOVED playing Mortal Kombat as a kid and maybe it's not the BEST game for a 4 year old, but he loves it. Back to the bribe...I told Miles we could get it down when he told me his numbers 1-10. You would think I was asking him to recite the states, their capitals and all the presidents. But, I'm happy to say, we have periodically worked on these over the course of a couple of weeks. I've made flashcards, purchased iPad apps., etc. Like I said, I don't know if he simply doesn't get it or simply isn't interested (I'm guessing the latter). At any rate, he now knows 1-10. I would love to start on the alphabet but am really dreading it. I may have to make him watch the Letter Factory in the van over and over.

It has been a blessing spending 1 on 1 time with my baby. I know he's grown up much quicker than the other two kids--he's had to adjust to many, many things. And, most of the time, he handles it with the best attitude. This spring he is signed up to play tee ball, and the other two kids decided they didn't want to play. I have to admit I'm happy about that. I'm excited that he has something that is ALL his. And, they can go to his games and cheer him on for a change. I'll be posting some pictures of his ball experience on here soon!

Not the Only Girl at Her Table

Karson will no longer be the "outcast" at her table at school. Let me back up and explain, a couple of weeks ago, Karson and I were in the van coming home from a birthday party one afternoon when she made the following statement. "Mom, I want to ask you something but know you're going to say 'no'." Needling her I said, "What, you want to go and get your ears pierced? Why, sure, we can do that." **I've asked Karson periodically throughout her life if she's wanted to do this and she NEVER has and has been pretty adamant about it, even stating one time that she will NOT get them pierced until she is 10. ** Back to the conversation...she said, "Well, yes I want to get my ears pierced but that's not what I was asking." She was wanting to go over to MeMe's house and spend the night =). This opened the door for me to ask her about the ear piercing which led to a story about how she's the only girl at her table at school who doesn't have her ears pierced, etc.--peer pressure, such a wonderful thing (actually, there is ONE other little girl that doesn't have them done--guess she'll be flying solo now). I explained to her that we probably needed to wait until basketball was over since she would have to wait six weeks to remove the earrings and you cannot wear earrings (unless covered up) playing basketball. She was cool with that, and it gave her some time to build her confidence up. Well, the basketball season ended last week and today was the BIG day. Fortunately, Lisa G. hooked us up with some prescription ear numbing cream that she and my sister have used on their little girls ear piercings. This stuff must be miraculous because it numbs the ear and piercing is a snap.

We met MeMe at Clarie's around 11 and so it began. There was a little baby in front us (let the wailing begin) and then it was our turn. We decided to go with Karson's birthstone which is light pink. I was shocked to get a smile out of Karson when she sat in the chair--I know she was nervous and so was I. BUT, I am happy to report that the piercing went wonderfully and she's sporting some beautiful sparklers.

The nice thing about MeMe's is the spoiling that comes with big events. MeMe got her all kinds of goodies to get her collection started. I thought Karson's earring choices were funny: a pair of hot dogs, robots and chocolate dipped strawberries. I do LOVE her earring caddy--C-UTE!

A nice way to spend a rainy morning. We went to Fazoli's for lunch and Culver's for ice cream. I love spending "girl time" with my girl. It's great having a daughter!!!

The Mis-Adventures of Dr. Seuss

Unless you're from another planet (or don't have a child in school), this week is all about honoring Dr. Seuss and his quirky children's books. I believe Wednesday was Read Across America Day and the actual birthday. Plano along with many other schools (or so I've seen via facebook pictures) are having Dr. Seuss week. Plano's week consisted of: Monday - crazy sock day, Tuesday - hat day, Wednesday - WACKY, Thursday - pajama day and today is the costume parade.

Karson enjoyed WACKY Wednesday more this year than she has in the past.

Complete with Snuggie Blankie, funky make-up and mismatched clothes....

hair straight on one side and wavy on the other

and mismatched shoes.
Shoot, I feel like I look like this most days =).

When she got on the van Wednesday after school, I said "Karson, did many kids in your class dress up?" To which she replied, "No." I guess that's 3rd grade for ya--to cool for wackiness.


The challenge began on Wednesday afternoon when Karson decided what she wanted to be in the costume parade. In kindergarten, she was Thing 2, in 1st grade, the Grinch and this year she decided to be a Star Bellied Sneetch. I'm sure for the average "crafty" mom, this costume would be a cinch. But, considering I got a 'C' in 8th grade home economics for sewing my apron strap to my clothes and for confusing baking soda with baking powder, this task took A LOT of brainstorming.



I knew we would need bright yellow clothes which, of course, we don't have. And, I didn't figure yellow clothes would be easy to find so I knew we'd have to find white clothes to dye. We sure did luck out at Wal-Mart and found a solid white sweatshirt on clearance for $2 and a pair of white leggings. However, they were out of Goldenrod Rit dye which meant Karson and I would need to go to Hobby Lobby. BTW, I didn't mention that we were pressed for time in all this running around.



(Side note: Isaac hasn't been feeling since last Saturday. He's been complaining of a belly ache. I picked him up early from school on Tuesday because they called and said he had a fever, but when I got him home and took his temperature on two different digital thermometers, nada. I took his temp. throughout the day and never got a fever reading. Weird. I assumed it could be something viral because besides complaining of stomach stuff and a mild cough and runny nose, he hasn't had any real significant. I decided to keep him out of school on Wednesday and take him to the doctor. Dr. Chris checked and even tested him for strep but nothing. Again, pretty sure he has something viral. He didn't go to church that night and fell asleep at 6:40 and slept until 7 a.m. the next morning. I figured it would be okay to send him to school as he got plenty of rest but emailed his teacher to let her know to call me if he started feeling bad. And, she did, around 11 and said she could tell he wasn't feeling well. She said she was concerned because the little girl who sits next to him had been out for a couple days with a stomach virus and the #2's. Yikes. I picked him up and kept him home yesterday but decided to send him today. Got a phone call at 10 from the school saying that Isaac had a mild temp and had been in the bathroom a couple of times this morning. Needless to say, my mind hasn't been on Seussical stuff this week.)






My point in that side note is that I haven't had a whole lot of free time this week. I was counting on helping Karson come up with a costume on Thursday afternoon but Matt had a meeting after school and a meeting that evening which only left about an hour and half to run around and get supplies. We really lucked out with all of our finds. I was able to get the rest of my supplies (dye, felt, glue) at Hobby Lobby. When we finally got back home and started dying the clothes, I quickly realized that we didn't have ENOUGH dye =(. And, Matt was leaving for his meeting which meant a trip BACK in town with ALL THREE kids. The boys were in no mood for an errand which made it extra fun. Oh, the things we do for our kids.


When we FINALLY got back home, got the outfit dyed, washed, dried, got felt cut out and glued, viola...the final product. I must say I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out. If we'd had more time to plan, I could've probably done a cool head piece, but the cool yellow boa gave it some girlish features.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!


Had to post this picture and found a way to tie it into my blog. I've decided this little squirrel could be one of the pets in "Oh, the Pets You Can Get." OR, since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has made a big come back in our house, maybe it's one of the trained squirrels from the movie. Either way, I thought it was a very cute picture--glad it used our swing to enjoy breakfast.