Snakes Alive

We finally had a spring-like day. It was so nice. The kids wanted to go outside and ride bikes. As soon as I got home from picking them up from school, we got out the bikes, wagon, scooter, etc.

The yard needed some attention. There were a lot of sticks and leaves scattered about. I actually like yard work and love the sense of satisfaction I get when it looks nice. All three kids helped me clean up the piles of leaves and sticks.

There is a landscaped area directly in front of the house that is probably 5 feet by 10 feet. The owners covered it with dry pine needles which I guess is the thing to do around here because I have seen it a lot. To me it looks a little messy and it is hard to rake out dead leaves without raking up all the pine needles. I took the rake and got the edges pretty well and pulled out a few weeds. There is some kind of weed that is spreading across much of the area so I thought I would hit it heavily with weed killer today and then pull it out later.

As I was standing pretty much in the middle of the area and spraying weed killer on spots something moved. Before I even saw it, I jumped out of said area. I knew what it was without even looking.

Snake. It was actually more like, "SNAAAKKKE!" When I decided to do yard work the thought that there could be snakes around on this beautiful day did cross my mind. I even looked over the landscaped area before I started raking and pulling leaves. I can't believe I didn't see it. The weeds really aren't that high or thick.

And then the snake started to move...

...and stretch out.

The area it was in is between the front door and the garage door. The garage door was open so I had the kids start putting everything away as quickly as possible. I had no idea what we were going to do if it crawled in there. We eventually closed the garage door which evidently made him crawl toward the front door.

Aaron has been asking for a pet snake since last summer. He thought he had hit the jackpot. Wrong!

I didn't crop this picture because it is important to the story. If you look closely, you can see the snake crawling toward the bottom of the gutter. To the left of the gutter you can see a phone sitting on the step that leads into the front door. See the smile on Aaron's face? He really wanted to get closer, but his mommy said, "Uh? No way!"

The snake crawled to the step. I thought it was going to crawl up on top of it, but it stopped. There is a small hole between the step and the house. I didn't know this prior to today. The snake must live there. Yeah us! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it crawling into the hole because I stopped to video. Walking in and out of the front door will never be the same. I should go see if it has crawled back out. How many more live around here?

P.K. called to let me know he is on his way home. I just told him I have a surprise for him and we will reveal it via video. He asked if it is a good or bad surprise. I told him it depends on who you ask which is true after listening to my son declare this the best day ever.

By the way, I would love for someone to identify this snake for me. I think it is a black rat snake.

A Few Things

Hannah and I watched Inauguration 2009 today. I was still feeling a little bitter because my guy didn't win and wasn't sure if I was going to watch or not. The Lord has brought me to this verse several times since the election:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." Romans 13:1.

The new president was not my choice, but God is in control. I was a bit convicted of my attitude and decided to watch. I was thrilled to hear Rick Warren pray in Jesus' name. As he was praying, I was praying he would stand firm, but wasn't sure if he would succumb to the pressures of political correctness. I decided that I will no longer complain about our new president. That does not mean I won't express my opinion from time to time. Please hold me accountable on this one. Instead, I am going to lift him up in prayer more than I did our now former president. I am thrilled to see our country come to a point where an African American man can hold the office. Amazing. I know prejudice and racism still exist in our country. I've seen and heard it first hand. My kids amaze me. As they talked about Martin Luther King Jr. last week at school, they were appalled to learn that people were denied rights and privileges based on the color of their skin. Obviously, not accepting people because of a difference of skin color would be as unnatural to them as not breathing. I pray that everyone in our country will eventually feel the same way.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have joined a challenge issued by Beth Moore on her blog and have committed to memorize two new scriptures each month. The Lord has greatly blessed this endeavour. It has been so easy to memorize the scriptures I have chosen. Here is the one I chose to begin learning on January 15:

I remember my affliction and my wandering the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lam. 3-19-24 (NIV).

I actually started working on it a couple days early because I thought it was a bit long. After I memorized my first verse, I decided to not start another one until the next start date (always the first and fifteenth of each month). I've decided to go ahead and add another one before the next post date. I will have to play this plan by ear. If I am close to a start date, then I will just wait because I want to start one each time the "group" does. So I started a new one this morning:

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1: 19-22 (NIV)

We had a great three day weekend. Our friends Charlie, Pam and Alex came for a visit. The grown ups enjoyed visiting and the kids played hard and had lots of fun. We found a new mall which is always nice. It was a bit of a hike, but we enjoyed exploring. As usual, I hated for the kids to go back to school after an extended break.

I am quickly approaching my 100th blog post. This is a big deal in bloggyland. I've been trying to come up with a special post for that occasion. I've seen other bloggers do a list of "100 Things About Me" and I thought that would be fun. However, I have a list of about twenty things and was starting to bore myself. If you have a good idea for my 100th post, please leave your idea in a comment. I'm not promising to use it, so please don't be offended if I don't take your advice.

This afternoon while the kids were having an after school snack, I glanced out the kitchen window to see a robin sitting in a tree. Then I saw another and another and another.

Does this mean we are getting closer to Spring? A girl can dream...

For the Fans

I received an email from one of my many (o.k...3) blog fans this morning requesting that I update the blog. So for that fan, you know who you are, here is what has been going on.

I have been avoiding strangers at all costs. Before the incident with the lady at the pizza place and the lady looking for the Atlantins on Mars, I never realized how many people I don't know feel the need to talk to me. This past week there was the lady at WalMart looking for a new toaster oven. I was at least 8 feet down the aisle from her and she started asking me questions as if I was wearing a button that said, "World's Foremost Authority on Toaster Ovens." I told her I don't have one and high tailed it out of there. Then there was the lady at the track who stopped me to ask me if the track was "one of those squishy ones." Apparently lady in the high heels on the side of the track, you are not here to walk or run, so please excuse me if I don't break my pace for you. If you read the comments in my previous post (welcome to my Uncle Dennis and my cousin Crystal...they left their first comment), you have figured out that attracting the oddities of society is a family curse. Great! That and straight hair, too. Are there any other family curses I should know about?

Rachel is learning how to play the recorder in music class at school. Her teacher uses a program called "Recorder Karate." At each level the students are given an opportunity to learn the next color belt, just like in karate. Rachel earned her first belt last week. Her Uncle Dan taught her how to play Amazing Grace over Christmas. That is the brown belt song. Anyone who was in the house over Christmas knows she has mastered that one. She is enjoying playing and I am excited to see what instrument she will choose after she masters the recorder. The piano would be nice since we have one.

Well before Christmas P.K. and I kept hearing something rattling around in the attic. Thankfully our landlord pays for an exterminator to come every three months to do preventive spraying and if we see or hear anything he will come take care of it. His name is Patrick and you can imagine that I greatly appreciate him. He went up into the attic to check things out. He said he didn't see evidence of anything (no droppings). Upon examination of the attic, we decided that what we heard was probably on the roof and not inside. Patrick set some RAT traps as a precaution. We hadn't heard anything for a while. I came in the front door on Sunday and noticed an unpleasant smell. I thought it was a gas leak. PK went up in the attic to check the furnace and noticed that we had indeed caught a critter. A squirrel. Yuck. Since removal of all creatures (dead or alive) is a blue job, PK removed it.

My cousin, Melissa, got engaged. It has been fun to read her engagement story and I am looking forward to hearing more details. It has been reported that there will be personalized M&M's at the reception.

For those of you who may not have heard of Beth Moore, she is a Bible teacher. I have taken several of her studies and had the privilege of hearing her speak in D.C. a couple years ago. She has a blog on her ministry's website. As a New Year's challenge, she encouraged her readers to memorize two scriptures a month for the entire year. On the first and fifteenth of each month, we post the verses we have chosen to memorize. My first verse was, "I rise before dawn and cry for help. I have put my hope in your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promises." Psalm 119:147-148. Today is the day we are to post our next verses. I started working on mine two days ago because it is long and I had my first one down. I will post it once I can do the entire thing from memory. I know you will all be sitting on pins and needles just waiting. :) Seriously, I really enjoy my quiet time with the Lord and love learning more about His word. I'm excited about this challenge and love that a couple of my friends are along for the ride.

Some of you may remember when I told P.K. that he is not allowed to go out of town until I have at least one friend. Well, he didn't take me seriously and will be gone for training the last week in January. I'm not looking forward to that. It just so happens that is conference week at the kids' school so they get out at 12:30 every day. That will only serve to make the days longer. I'm not sad about not making any connections here. I haven't really put forth much of an effort. But I would like to have one person to call in case of emergency. You know if one of the kids is going to spike a high fever in the middle of the night or experience some other unexpected accident it will happen the day my Navy hubby leaves for training and I will end up sitting in the ER with all the kids. I will just being praying for healthy and safe kids a little more often that week.

Aaron wants to do his own web show. P.K. taped an episode and when he gets a chance we will probably post it on the blog. I still don't know how to post videos. Stay tuned.

Hannah is watching cartoons right now and I promised to look at her I Spy book with her.

My biggest dilemmas today (I hope) will be whether or not I should bother taking a shower and getting out of the sweats I threw on to take the kids to school and what to fix for dinner.

Now my dear fans, you are caught up on life in our world.

I'm Innocent I Tell Ya, Innocent!

It has been a long week here. Today the kids and I took down all of the Christmas decorations. We finally finished off the rest of the leftovers from our company. Since we have been inside for a couple days and it has been cold and rainy, I decided when PK called to say he was on his way home I would suggest we go out for dinner. We have been putting forth a great effort to spend less money and have only been eating out about once a month. PK was game and told me to decide where I wanted to go. I called him back and told him I thought Cici's pizza was a good idea. For those of you who have never heard of Cici's, it is a buffet and inexpensive. The whole family likes it and the kids always eat really well there.

We were enjoying our time at the restaurant and the kids were being very well behaved. P.K. had a plate of salad first and when he was ready to go back for pizza, Hannah was ready for more. He took her with him and when they returned, she needed to go potty. I took her. There were two stalls in the bathroom and they were both occupied. It was a mom and daughter. I figured this out because the girl in the first stall was talking to her mom in the second and called her "Mom" and the lady responded. Hindsight, I so wish I could remember what they were talking about.

The woman came out of the stall first. She had been using the handicap stall and if you have ever had to take a child potty you know that the handicap stall is easier because it is roomy. I took Hannah in and she did her business. I remember the lady's cell phone rang and by the time we came out the lady and the girl were gone. We both washed our hands. (Thoroughly, I might add because I detest public bathrooms.)

We went back to our seats. A few moments later I saw the same lady from the bathroom rushing back toward the bathroom and talking on her cell phone. She came out and walked over to our table. She asked if I had just taken my daughter to the bathroom when she was in there. I told her I did. She asked if I found...I think she said glasses case...I told her I didn't find anything in the bathroom. She paused for an awkward amount of time and looked over our table as if she was looking for whatever it was she had asked me if I found. She walked off. We were sitting at the back of the restaurant and I noticed her toward the front. I thought she kept watching us, but I thought I was just being paranoid. We were probably at the restaurant about 15 minutes after the conversation. We all finished up and headed out the door. When we walked out of the restaurant she was standing out front. When I was buckling Hannah in the car, the lady walked behind my car. That was a bit of a red flag and made me feel uncomfortable so I was trying to quickly buckle Hannah.

About the time I started to get in the car, a police car pulled up behind me and the officer asked if I had called for the police. I said, "no" and got in the car.

I started to back out and had to wait for a car to drive by. Once the car had passed and I looked in my side mirror to back out the police officer was on his radio and calling in my license plate number. I stopped and he started shining his flashlight in my back seat. I put the car in park and rolled down my window. In their defense, both officers were very polite.

Officer: (speaking to me at my window) So, what's going on?

Me: Uhm? We just finished having pizza and I am taking my family home? (Yes, it was kind of stated as a question because I figured he was looking for more. By this point, I was realizing the woman thought I had taken whatever she left in the bathroom and had called the police.)

Officer: Have you had interaction with this woman? (Points to the woman standing on the sidewalk in front of the car.)

Me: I took my daughter to the restroom and she was in there. She came to my table later and asked if I took, I think she said her glasses case. I told her no. That was it until just now.

Officer: O.K. Do you have any id on you?

Me: Yes. (I get my wallet and as I am pulling out my driver's license I decide it might me a good idea to hand him my military id as well.)

Officer: (Looks at my id. Sees he has a military id in his hand. Chuckles.) OK. We'll get this straightened out.

Now, PK and I are just in total disbelief. At least one person who checks my blog regularly only knows me through bloggy land, so I feel that I should mention at this point that I have never even had a speeding ticket.

About this time a second officer who looks about 12 years old shows up at my window and asks me what is going on. I go through the same story, again. At this point I think it prudent to tell him what PK does for a living. He says, "It's ok. We'll get this worked out. It isn't personal. She has filed a complaint and we have to follow up." PK asks if he can get out of the car and the officer says he better stay put. I have realized at this point that the lady may not be playing with a full deck and I told PK it may not be safe to get out of the car.

The second officer walks over to the first officer and the lady. He comes back and asks me if I found anything in the bathroom. He asked if it were possible that my child picked something up. Hello! It was a public bathroom. I don't even let them touch the walls, let alone pick up a foreign object and carry it away.

The lady is trying to convince the first officer to search me because I heard him say, "I can't just search her. I don't have probable cause to do that."

He then tells the lady to keep her hands out of her pockets. By this point, I have figured out that the police realize I didn't do anything and the lady is trying to place blame for misplacing whatever she lost on someone.

He eventually brought me my id back and apologized for holding us up and interrupting our evening.

As we were backing out, both officers walked past PK's window so he rolled down his window and asked if we needed to do anything else. They said, "No. We don't know what is going on." Then they both rolled their eyes.

A few things you should know. This restaurant is about 2 miles down on the same highway where I ran into the lady who thinks the Atlantins are on Mars. I am taking my business to another part of town. Thankfully, I don't think the kids were scared. I was really worried that they were going to be terrified. When a police officer comes to the window of my car, my kids will remain deadly quiet. All the crazies live near me. I made sure she did not follow us home.

When we were finally out of the parking lot and on the road Rachel asked, "Mom, was that a blog worthy moment?"

Let's Go Fly A Kite

New Year's Eve was a sunny day here. It was cold (by the standards of this area)but windy so we decided to go fly a kite. I had bought one for P.K. years ago. I think it has been in the package since we lived in California. We had a blast.

The kids thought it was as much fun to chase the kite as it was to fly the kite.

Rachel's turn.

Hannah's turn.

Mamaw Nise (Denise) and Papaw Roger helped Aaron become a champion kite flier.

P.K.'s turn.

Because I took a lot of grief over leaving myself out of the family Christmas card, I give you a picture of me in all of my silliness. This is a picture of Rachel and me doing the dance we made up. It is called the Kite. You roll your hands as if you are letting out the kite string and shuffle backwards.

We went home and had corned beef and cabbage with black-eyed peas for New Year's Eve dinner. My dad is convinced he will not have a good year if he doesn't eat this particular meal for New Years. It was yummy even if I felt bad that my company cooked all day (well, not really all day). My entire family liked it, so since it really is a dish you put in a pot and leave to cook all day, we will probably revisit it at some point. It is difficult to find something we all like.

Our college friends, Pam and Charlie, stopped by on their way home from visiting their families. It was so nice to visit with them. The kids had a great time playing with their son, Alex. The only picture I took of Pam and Charlie was them kissing at midnight and I said I wouldn't post it.

I did get this picture of Aaron teaching Alex how to play a racing game on his DS. Sorry, Pam. I hope we aren't the ones who introduced your son to video games.

We entertained Dad and Denise with college folklore. Charlie swears he is just aware of the time my car was parked in the middle of the campus by unknown assailants even though he caught himself saying, "I was involved (pause), I mean, I remember that." Hmmm?

We all made it to midnight and then crashed. We got up on New Year's Day and had breakfast before everyone had to head home. I'm getting too old for late nights and I had two this past week. That left me taking a nap on the couch yesterday afternoon. It felt so good. I think my new tradition will to be to take a nap every New Year's Day.

So This Is Christmas

Last night we attended the Christmas Eve service at our church. The church is rather large and crowded. I think when the present building was planned, the leadership had no idea how quickly the congregation would grow. Currently there are two Sunday morning services and each one is also broadcast into a separate venue at the church. Beginning in January, an identical evening service will be added in an attempt to ease the overcrowding. The pastor said that a debt is still owed on the current property and he doesn't think it is prudent to add further debt on a building project with the current economy. Being Christmas Eve, it was a little more crowded.

We left our house in plenty of time had it been a Sunday morning, but I didn't factor in Wednesday afternoon traffic. We arrived in the parking lot less than 5 minutes before the start of the service. Once we entered the sanctuary an usher asked me how many seats we needed. The best he could do were the back two rows. Three seats in the very back and two in the next row up. Aaron, Hannah and I sat in the back and P.K. and Rachel sat in front of us. My first thought was how inconvenient and unfair it was that on the rare occasion we are able to attend church as a family (since P.K. works on Sundays) we couldn't even sit together. There was no room. I began to wonder why the two people next to me didn't offer to switch with P.K. so we could all sit together. Then the Lord reminded me why I was there. Because over 2000 years ago a baby was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. It was such a tender object lesson. He refocused my heart and my minor inconvenience no longer mattered.

On a lighter note, I want to post some pictures of Christmas around our house (in no particular order). This is our nativity set. We set it up in stages this year. We would read scripture at dinner and then place a piece. Next year we are going to just read the "Christmas story" through at one time and set it up all at once.

We started making St. Nicholas cookies as a family when Aaron was about a year and a half. We make them around the beginning of December.

First we make the dough, refrigerate it over night and


then use these molds to shape each cookie. I didn't take pictures of the finished product. Not sure how that happened. It could be that these don't last long.

These next three pictures are of our Christmas tree skirt. It is very simple and I love it.

These are the kids' handprints this year.

We started making it in 2002.

Hannah made her appearance in 2003 and was not a very cooperative 3 month old when she got her first turn to leave her handprint. It was more of a hand smudge.

We did some more baking this past weekend. In an attempt to save money, I have been using a lot of coupons and combining them with store sales to stock up on items. I have a shelf in the basement where I keep all of my overflow. After Halloween, I got out all of my favorite holiday recipes and made a grocery list and started picking things up as they were on sale and I had coupons. When we got ready to bake last week, I gave each of the kids a grocery list and sent them to shop in the basement. They thought this was a lot of fun. Without any prompting from me, they went to find a shopping basket.

Here they are with their lists in front of the shelf.


Hannah needed chocolate chips.

Aaron needed powdered sugar.

Rachel had a gymnastics show so she still has on her leotard.

Rachel's Christmas chorus performance at school.

I picked these up at Target this year. In the past we have just used regular plates, but the kids and I thought these were cute.

I don't remember for sure when Aaron painted this candle, but he lights it each year and puts it by Santa's plate so he will know where to look for his goodies.

After church last night we opened our gifts to each other and the kids opened their gifts from my mom.

Hannah made this angel from a flower pot at school for P.K. and me. Love it!!

Each of the kids has a stocking that my grandmother made for them.

Hannah's

Rachel's

Aaron's

The kids waiting at the top of the stairs to see if Santa came.

Much to my surprise, they didn't head straight for the tree. They wanted to see if Santa ate his treats and fed the reindeer their carrots. Santa left a note thanking them for the goodies and thanking Aaron for lighting the candle.

Then they wanted to see what was in their stockings before they even looked to see if there was anything under the tree.

P.K.'s dad arrived in town tonight and we had a huge Christmas dinner complete with the first ham I have ever prepared. It was so good. My mom and Jim were suppose to have arrived yesterday, but my mom has been under the weather so they had to cancel. Needless to say, a huge meal minus two adults means lots of leftovers for tomorrow and probably Saturday. The rest of P.K.'s family will arrive in a couple days. My dad and his wife will be here next week followed by a couple of our college friends and their son. We have had such a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to celebrating a little more. I hope your Christmas day was as blessed as ours.

Do You Believe In Magic

P.K. and I are in the dining room talking when Hannah walks in with her princess wand pretending it is a magic wand.

Hannah: (Pointing the wand at P.K.) Abracadabra. Make daddy say, "Hola."
P.K.: Hola
Hannah: See. It really works.
Mommy: Let me try. (Takes the wand and points it at Hannah.) Abracadabra. Make Hannah go clean her room.
Hannah: It doesn't work on me.