A day with the kiddos

Carrie Beth and Brad had to close on their house they sold near Savannah and pack the remaining items being stored in the garage of that house on Tuesday to take back to Jacksonville where they're now living, so I kept the two boys along with my two kids. That makes four, if you're not a good counter. FOUR. Yes, I know my mom did it somehow, but it is quite something to experience. David is 5 1/2, Jonathan is almost 2, and then Olivia almost 4 and Benjamin almost 1. Almost stairsteps. It was really a good day, and miraculously, I got Benjamin and Jonathan to take afternoon naps almost simultaneously! Praise the Lord! I have wonderful nephews! David is so smart! He can count to 100 all by himself, and he is reading like you wouldn't believe (Sorry Carrie Beth, I guess it's time to stop wearing those t-shirts that say stuff like Miller Lite is Alright!--just kidding, of course my sister would never wear such a thing, nor would I, but if we did, David would read it immediately outloud and have a million questions about what that means!). Jonathan is coming into his own personality lately, and he cracks me up with the faces he makes and how tickled he'll get when you make faces at him. I had a couple of hair raising moments when I had to leap across a room to keep Jonathan from putting the choke hold on Benjamin--very innocently of course. He thought that was how he could pick him up. :) Be still my beating heart. We had fun, and I hope to host them all again sometime. I can't imagine what it will be like when all these boys get to be middleschool and highschool age--they'll be eating us out of house and home when we all get together! :)What fun! I'm so grateful for family!

A New Christmas Tradition

OK, so I know that February 25th is a little late to be announcing a new Christmas Tradition, but something happened recently that reminded me that I hadn't blogged about this. My dear bestie from the westie, Kristin, was sharing on her blog about a neat Christmas tradition that she and her Moon Dog (dad) share each year. They choose a Christmas greeting for the season, and this year it was "Streams of street lights", so when one of them rings the other on the phone, they pick up the phone and cheerily greet the other with "Streams of street lights!" She said in years past they've used phrases such as Christmas Crunchies, God Rest Ye, and Chestnuts Roasting. I thought this was a really fun tradition that they've enjoyed for going on two decades now, and so I mentioned it to my extended Adams family while visiting during the Christmas holidays. We never came up with a Christmas greeting, but something else did surface. We've decided to have an annual "Christmas Curse Word". Now before you go getting your panties in a wad or reaching for your smelling salts, don't fret. We're talking G rated curse words--the more contrived and original, the better. Now this year's word may not sound G rated, but it is. I assure you. The Adams Family Christmas Curse Word for 2007 was "Nutballs!" This came about, because back sometime before Christmas, I got into a discussion with Mom and Dad about how I remember as a middle school language arts teacher I once said, "Oh you little nutballs!" to the kids, and I quickly realized that had not been the best choice of words in a room full of children who think that potty talk is hysterical, but I had said it quite innocently. In fact, I said to Mom and Dad, I thought I had learned it from them. Dad said, "You didn't learn that from us; you learned craze-balls from us." I do remember Mom and Dad calling us "Craze-balls", so I thought to myself, "Maybe I did contrive "nutballs" in my head some how." However, I caught my older sister, Carrie Beth, using the term nutballs when I was talking with her on the phone sometime before Christmas (she hadn't been in on the prior discussion with Mom and Dad), and I said, "See!!! We did learn that from somebody in this family!" Anyway, there is still a question as to the origin of this mildly crass term, but it has been in our lexicon for some time now. We were having a rather comical discussion about this during our time together as a family over Christmas, and I believe it was my mother who pointed out that it could work as an explitive, and somehow the "Christmas Curse Word Tradition" was born. So all during our visit together, we enjoyed seeing how we could work it into conversations (i.e. "Oh, nutballs, Benjamin just had a blow-out!") All of this recently resurfaced when I was shopping in a new home decor store in our town when I saw something that cracked me up. They had these big bins full of interesting little circular items, and the sign poking out of the bin read, "Nutballs 10$ each". I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it with my camera phone and sending it to my family. If I can ever figure out how to get pictures from my phone to the computer, I'll load it to this post for you to see and enjoy a laugh with me!

More Giggling with Benjamin

A personal pet peeve

Does it frustrate anyone else when a movie is labeled as "comedy" when its real label should read "comedy-drama". Stan and I recently rented No Reservations, and while I enjoyed it overall, I was not expecting to be brought to tears two different times in this supposed "comedy". Sometimes I feel like someone is trying to pull one over on the viewer when they do this sort of thing. They know more folks are likely to pick up a "comedy" than a "comedy drama". When I see the comedy label, I'm not expecting to have to see a child lose her mother in a car accident. OK, so I know you all are saying, "Adrienne, try reading the back of the movie box." Stan rented this one off of iTunes, and I didn't take the time to read much about it--so now I know better than to trust a label such as "comedy" if I'm just wanting a movie devoid of stressful moments like seeing a child wake up in the middle of the night to watch home movies of her mother after she died.

President's Day at the Rogowskis'

Well, it wasn't a thrilling day, but we surely did enjoy having Daddy home for Presidents' Day yesterday, and inspite of the yucky weather, we were still able to have a little fun outside. Stan sweetly did my weekly grocery trip for me yesterday, and I was immensely grateful. Ladies, you know how nice it is to have a break from that once and a while, right? At breakfast, Stan was holding Benjamin, and they were both so cute I couldn't resist snapping some photos of them, and then after b-fast, he and Olivia were cuddling on the couch as you see. We all managed to get good afternoon naps--sweet! Thank you, Lord for a fun day.

Never had that happen before

OK, guys this may not be a post for you, but I just had a funny little moment and I thought you ladies might appreciate it--especially you moms who have nursed your babies.  I was just nursing Benjamin, and he was obviously coming to the end, losing interest, when suddenly he decided to give me a zerbert (some people call it a raspberry) before he finished up!  That was one of the craziest little moments I've had in a while.  It was given with much gusto, and after he did it he just looked up and smiled, like he knew he had done something funny.  Gotta love these little unexpected surprises of mommy-dom.

No list=No Shopping

This is generally my rule for grocery shopping--no list=no shopping.  I've had two instances in the last several days where I've had to go pick up somethings midweek, and I've stupidly gone without a list.  You guys know how these trips go--lots of meandering without purpose, wasted time, and if you have kids in the buggy, oh me!  Today I thought I could trust my memory for the four items I needed to get without writing them down.  Wrong.  As usual, I got in there and got distracted by the "BYGO" offers, bought items I didn't truly need, and as the cart filled, I thought to myself, "I think this is everything."  And it wasn't until I got Benjamin in his carseat out in the parking lot that I had the lightbulb moment.  By that time, it was about half an hour past his afternoon nap time, and there was no going back for the two forgotten items, but I wanted to whack myself in the head.  When it comes to grocery shopping, I am slightly ADD.  I've gotten into the habit of shopping in the 45 minute window of time I have after I drop Olivia off for dance on Monday afternoons.  I've been lamenting this internally, because it is kind of stressful to get the shopping done for the entire week in that little window of time and then get back to the dance studio before Olivia's class ends.  However, I've just recently realized that it is probably a really good thing that I have been having to shop within a small amount of time, because it helps me stay focused, and I always go prepared with my list and coupons, and I'm like a Nascar driver wheelin' that buggy around Wal-Mart on two wheels trying to get back in time!  Benjamin doesn't even have an opportunity to start to fuss, because I'm going so fast.  In fact, one week when I was speeding through the aisles, I heard a gentleman trying to warn his wife who was down  the aisle further from him, as I blazed in her direction, "Look out, honey!"  So if you see a silver streak burnin' up the aisles in Wal-Mart leaving a trail of Cheerios, forgive me for not stopping to chat.  I'm simply trying to break the sound barrier and get back in time to pick up my little ballerina.

Lenten Devos

I'm enjoying Walter Wangerin's Lenten Devotional book entitled Reliving the Passion.  It is excellent.  If you're looking for a thought provoking, convicting, focusing devotional for this special season of the Christian's year, I imagine you would find this to be as enjoyable as I have so far.  I haven't read the entire book, but what I have read so far has been excellent.  As Stan says, "Every day so far has been a homerun." If you have other devo faves, pass the info along!

We just got back from choir practice, so I need to get two kiddos to bed pronto. I was just checking e-mo (Olivia's term for e-mail), and thought I'd post this message really quickly while it was on my mind.  

Can I just say...

I am so intrigued by the people of this world who feel compelled to have things like "I'm Bringin' Sexy Back" painted on the top of their car windshield.  I mean, it's not like it was an impulsive decision to make that happen.  They really had to work to make that happen.  They had to find a business establishment that provided such a service, go to this business, choose the phrase they wanted painted on their vehicle, choose the font and color in which it would be painted, and here's the kicker--pay money to have it done.  And while all of this is very difficult for me to understand, I suppose I would be disappointed if these rare, colorful people didn't act on their impulses.  Because, come on, its fun to see these cars riding down the road with things like "PLAYA" and "Big & Beautiful" and "Cindy's Toy" and "Betta Be Prayed Up" painted on their automobiles.  So if you could choose your catch phrase for your own vehicle's windshield, what would it be?  I think mine would have to be something like, "Too Blessed to be Stressed!" although the "I'm Bringin' Sexy Back" is equally tempting. (wink, wink).

What a full, wild day! Stan is helping host/manage, etc the middleschool band clinic and the highschool jazz band clinic that is at our highschool this weekend, so for the next few days, it's gonna be the Mom & kiddos show". Today we had fun making these two little "buildings" out of our Graco carseat boxes. Olivia was so funny when I first started "constructing" them; she could not stop giggling. She was so excited about it. I remember when I was in preschool when our teacher brought in a gigantic refrigerator box, and we made it into a post office. That was truly my reason for going to preschool for a long time. I couldn't wait to play in that thing, so I was hoping Olivia would enjoy this, even though it's on a much smaller scale than a refrigerator box! :) Benjamin had his share of fun today too. Stan hurried home for dinner before rushing back for a long evening, and we had fun capturing Benjamin's embouchure training moments on video. We think he'll make a great brass player some day! Tonight after dinner Olivia helped me by sweeping, and I complimented her on what a marvelous job she was doing, and she said, "I want to be a smart girl and do what's right, Momma." Can you tell she'd been in timeout twice earlier in the day and had been given a short lecture a time or so? How many times have I said, "I know you are such a smart, good girl, Olivia. You just need to choose to do what is right, and that will bring a smile to the Lord's face and to mine, too!":) Maybe some of it is getting through!!!

Epworth fun

We enjoyed a beautiful day on St. Simons yesterday.  The weather was absolutely glorious.  We went over there, because my mom and dad were there on church business, and we always love an excuse to go to Epworth.  We played on the playground, ate lunch at "Old McDonalds", then chilled out in their hotel room for a bit, and then enjoyed a lovely walk by the marsh before going home.  Mom and I enjoyed catching up a bit while Benjamin and Olivia played around their hotel room.  Olivia jumped gleefully on the beds while Benjamin had fun checking himself out in the mirror and feeling the air blow on his face from the air conditioning unit.  It was surprisingly warm yesterday, even for southern standards at this time of year.  

A Fun Read

If you're a Jan Karon fan (of the Mitford series), you must read her latest book Home to Holly Springs.  I was hesitant honestly to read this one, because I thought to myself, "What could she possibly write about for a whole book about Father Tim as a kid?"  Now that I'm done I have one response to that question, "A heck of a lot more than I ever imagined!"  I enjoyed reading this so much, and its 350 pages or so seemed to fly.  The book begins with him returning to his home town of Holly Springs and he's going because he got an unsigned, cryptic postcard with these two words on it, "Come home."  The book chronicles his week-long stay in his home town that he hasn't seen in 38 years, and you get to meet lots of interesting characters, some of whom were living there when he was a child, and others who are new residents.  I've always loved Karon's characters from her Mitford books, and something she is particularly adept at is writing with a dialect.  She amazes me how she can help you get such a feel for a character by clearly writing with such a real and yet readable dialect.  There is quite a build-up to the discovery of who has lured him home with that simple postcard, and the wait becomes well worth it, because the story behind that postcard is amazing.  When he finally meets with the postcard sender, you find yourself becoming as emotionally exhausted by the story that unfolds as Father Tim becomes, but it is fascinating.  My only word of criticism is that this story is almost too perfect. I mean, Karon ties up nearly every possible issue in neat, tidy, amazingly coincidental ways (or God ordained ways--"Godincidences"), and while my husband will be the first to tell you that I love a tidy story, even I became a little overwhelmed with the multitude of these "Godincidences" where he encounters people from crucial points in his past at crucial moments in the present.  Even so, I loved this read.  I mean, who doesn't love a tidily-told story with colorful characters?  She always manages to bring the message of salvation through her stories, and I so appreciate that and admire it.  And of course, there are plenty of marvelous quotes to enjoy sprinkled throughout from Father Tim's favorite authors as well as the favored authors of some of the new characters. My personal favorite quote from this book was found in chapter 29 when he quotes an English preacher, Jeremy Taylor, saying, "Nothing is intolerable that is necessary.  Now God has bound thy trouble upon thee, with a design to try thee, and with purposes to reward and crown thee.  These cords thou canst not break; and therefore like thou down gently, and suffer the hand of God to do what he pleases." ---with purposes to reward and crown thee--that sounds pretty good.  

The front cover reads "The First of the Father Tim Novels" at the bottom, and I'm thrilled that this is only the first, and I'm eager to see what is to come after his return to Holly Springs.