BFF

The truth is, halfway through writing this post I seemed to remember writing one similar a while back. But I dont lable my posts so I cant seem to find it. So if this is nothing new to you well then Oh well just stop reading and we will chalk this one up to post partum brain.

A few years ago I was attending ladies bible study at church. I had already attended a fall and spring course with this "facilitator" (as Ann calls herself) and now we were back together for another 12 week study. On the first day we all get our books and are introduced to how an inductive study goes and are encouraged to talk each week and share what you learned through your study homework and be very open and real with eachother. I have been taking Anns class for about 6 courses now and this particular time was the only time she said that she wanted to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and share something about yourself that you wish was different, that you wanted to change.
I can remember thinking to myself that there was a lot about myself that I didn't like but it all seemed silly and superficial and I was going to share the silly and superficial things however when it got to be my turn someone elses words were coming out of my mouth. I don't know if it was the process of listening to the women or what but I found myself sharing the fact that I lacked a good friend and I felt it was because I was too selfish to invest in someone elses life enough to be a friend.
I have my sisters and we are all very close, I think I have used that excuse in my adulthood for the reason I don't have a "BFF". But I felted convicted, I felt selfish and prideful in my lonely existence. I shared that I didn't know if I needed a best friend or if I just needed to be a better friend to those I had. I didn't plan on saying these things so I pretty much was just talking out loud. There was an awkward moment a while later as a girl was sharing about being new in town and not knowing anyone and not having any friends yet and Ann suggested the girl and I be best friends. I can remember thinking "no thanks" but to this day I can't tell you who that girl was ;o)
Then God
He worked on my heart through the next year or so of attending that bible study. He deepened our relationship. He made me a better person, a less superficial person, a better wife, mother, sister, and He in his perfection has seen it fit to send me a friend.
I had forgotten about sharing about needing a friend although never lost the feeling that I was lacking that person in my life that I could share things with and wouldn't you know that He provided me with a friend that I got to know in Ann's bible study last fall.
Jess, Oh my sweet friend Jess. I knew who she was because their family attend our church and Joe and I would welcome their boys Troy & Bear into nursery each week. Then week after week as the nursery workers could not console the screaming toddler Joe would take Bear out into the vestibule and play with him every sunday so his parents could stay in the worship service. No one ever asked Joe to do it, he just liked Bear and chose to.
Then Jess started attending womens bible study and she would talk and share deeeeeeep things about her life. And she would answer deeeeeeep questions with amazing loving truth about what Christ has taught her. And I was in awe of her faith and relationship with Christ.
Eventually we swapped numbers and got together for a playdate and that was an amazing opportunity to get to talk with her one on one and be challenged by the way she lived out her daily life. And I loved it, I thrived on it, I was better because of it. And I still am. Jess and I have a saying "its fun to do life with you" because when we get together we attempt to talk and have mommy time, but the truth is we just end up parenting and in between the discipline and refereeing we have a chance to say wonderful words of encouragement and love & understanding with eachother and over the summer I declared her my "BFF".

"Boys"

I saw a little girl last week who had what I considered to be the ultimate haircut when I was about 9 years old. It was SHORT, I can remember talking my Aunt GG into cutting my hair super short that summer so I could shake it out in the pool like the boys and although my dad didn't remember my hair ever being so short I have a picture somewhere to prove it and I LOVED it!

On another somewhat related note when my sisters and I were little I have happy memories of older gentlemen out in public calling us "Boys". Our school bus driver/farmer-neighbor called to us out his window every morning "howdy boys!" as we came running down the front walk. Friends of my Grampas at the corner stop would call me "son" or "sonny" and it always got the toothless grin & laughter they were going for and made me feel special, like I belonged in the corner stop that smelled like motor oil, with all the old men in their overalls, suspenders and Pioneer hats drinking coffee with the weather radar in the background, surrounded by tiny bins of nuts and bolts :o) Sometimes I can remember when feeling particularly boyish (in my jeans and plaid shirt with SUPER short hair) that maybe they really thought I was a boy. When I got my ears pierced I always thought to myself "don't they see the pretty heart earrings in my ears?" :o) I guess you could say I was the perfect amount of tomboy, no dresses, jeans please, short hair & sparkly pink earrings because I am not a boy and I don't want to be a boy, I'm just not "girly" because they are lame :o)

All these thoughts and memories came back to me this morning as I paid over $200 for a plumber and his elderly assistant to snake my sewage line while they called my girls "boy" and it made me smile.

Sweet Brooke

Dana Indiana

 

Population 600

 

Houses the Most Amazing Chocolate Ever

 

http://brookescandyco.com/

 

In a home my Great Grandma Nellie once resided in, by the way

 

Who knew that a town small enough to list every ones birthday & anniversary on their calendar would hold a world renowned chocolatier (ok maybe not world... but it should be)

 

An individual truffle costs over $1 each. No child in our family has ever had the privilege of tasting anything made by Sweet Brooke. Until now.

On my last visit to Brooke's Annie came along for the ride, when she found out there were samples on the counter she wiggled in line until she could reach. She wanted to eat all of them, I had to restrain her... until she saw this...

Oh the sweet pink chocolate swirls of the dark chocolate raspberry truffle that sang to that little 3 year old girl. She had to have it... so I let her :o)

We sat outside on that huge country porch, a tiny little blond baby in a big Adirondack chair until there was raspberry plastered to her cheeks and dripping off her fingers. She declared it "so yummy" and offered me a slobbery bite (of which I politely accepted). When she was done she kindly asked for a napkin of which I had none so I urged her to lick every bit of sticky ooey goodness off her fingers, which she did, after which she jumped up and proceeded to dance down Main Street (don't call CPS, the streets were closed for the festival).

 

And that my friends is one of the many reasons we love Brooke!

Lately

I started doing some preschool with Annie, we did some workbooks last year that I got for mere pennies when a bookstore closed. This year the only real difference is that I make her sit in her chair instead of stand, I make her use a pencil and hold it correctly and she has to follow the directions that I give her. After that I am trying to remain calm and let her be 3 (...almost 4!) I will also work with her on it every morning that we don't have something else planned which she will love and to try to incorporate what she is learning throughout the day. I like the books because they give us time to go slow, we will be working on the letter "f" for the next 2 weeks! (don't ask me how they choose the random letter to start with cuz I don't know!)

Joe has an interview with Duke on Wednesday!!! PRAY!!! Specifically that it doesn't take a month to hear back from them.

Although Joe is ready to be done with his serving job and I am ready for him to have a more normal schedule we have enjoyed having him here 4 days a week. I have been able to go grocery shopping by myself or just with Carly every time! I have also had 3 lunch dates with Girlfriends, gotten my hair done and such all without needing a babysitter! Yay!

I went back to work monday. They started using a new computer system while I was gone and so I had 4 hours of shadowing & training and then worked 4 hours on the floor and it was o.k. We were fairly slow in Triage and so I was able to do a couple of admissions and a few other things so I now at least know how it should go, I decided to pick up 4 more hours tomorrow morning so I can try to do it all again before next monday when I am thrown out into who knows what and am expected to chart it! I hate feeling like I don't know what I am doing. I just wish I could take care of a patient and not worry about charting it but they won't go for that. :o)

As mentioned before Annie will be turning 4 next month and I am amazed. Joe and I were at Target last night (yes we did wander around Target for 45 min on our first date out since Carly) and I felt a little sorry for the guy after we spent 20 min in the barbie and princess isles and when we turned the corner to the next isle he said "oh that's boy stuff". I will say he was very into which princess toys Annie would like the very best, however he also picked up a WWF stuffed figurine and suggested we get her that also... the thing was frightening looking!
She has requested Pretty Pretty Princess Game and a horse for her doll "Cowboy" which they do make but its more expensive than the doll herself! :o(

Carly is getting super fat and is smiling at everything these days. She is such a good baby and is sleeping anywhere from 5-9 hours at night although 5 is normal. I can handle getting up once a night just fine :o)

Mia has started climbing out of her crib and every time we say the word "bed" or "bedtime" around her she says "I get up". Im not sure if she is rubbing it in or just stating fact because she is proud of herself but she gets spanked for it every time! I started putting her in a sleep sack but that only lasted 3 days until she realized she knows how to unzip it. :o( She's still crazy as ever, this morning she woke me up saying "Hi Uncle Ben... haha I say Hi Uncle Ben to you..... and Kawa, Elly, Porter Man, Kicholas, Baggie Jo, DonDon, Wauren and Kiki" These are the types of statements I get before my eyes are open... she is so weird :o)

Dominoes with Mia

This morning I played a matching game with picture Dominoes with Mia for the first time. I laid some out on the ground for her to choose from then put one out and said "can you find one that matches the ice skater?" Her reply without a pause was "Nope, Go Fish!" So I showed her that there was an ice skater and how to match it. The next picture was a lion "can you match the lion?" Her reply "Roar!" Haha, she did however get the game and play very well after that, with an occasional "nope go fish!" thrown in here and there, I guess we know what game she prefers :o)

Now they are in the dining room singing "Hillbilly Will" Thanks for teaching my girls Kid Friendly
love songs Aunt Kara :o)

DIY Finger Paint Review

I tried another wonderful Pintrest idea today. Annie wanted to paint and normally my rule is no painting while Mia is awake. I know, mean mommy right?
But today when she asked I remembered that I had seen this DIY finger paint and that I couldn't wait forever, someday I had to let Mia paint also. It was pretty cool and I learned a lot from my first timer experiences.
1. Wait till baby is napping, you need all hands on deck and she will just scream the entire time you leave her in the bouncy seat :o(
2. Put in small jars like the baby food jars on the web site. The muffin tin made it way to easy for them to put their whole hand in and Mia especially wanted to just play with it in her hands... which I did let her do (to a certain degree)
3. Put them outside. I started to put them outside on the picnik table and then ended up in the kitchen because Carly was awake. Because I want it to be fun for mom also I need a more controlled environment. I will put them in the yard, have all the paper pre cut (we have a big roll of butcher paper that the girls use for art work) have the hose running and give them both rags. They liked to get it all over their hands which is fun, however they kept wanting to wash their hands to get new colors and color combinations and we went through millions of paper towels. Mia ended up painting her face and stomach (they were both clothesless for this activity) and I threw them in the bathtub afterwards which was fine but hosing off would be easier.
I don't know how well it stores because I threw out what was left.
It was fun to practice their colors.
Making it was quite the science experiment it went from liquid to solid in a millisecond!
After letting it cool each one was a little translucent muffin that when I stirred and smushed it went into a paste again.
Mia just wanted to lick her fingers clean. After cooking it and using only food products I didn't worry about it too much. Im sure it tasted fairly good with the sugar in it!
All in all it was a hit! I will definitely do this one again!

There are no pictures of the girlies as they were semi nakey for this project :o)

Vacation

Ohhh vacation, you have come and gone and treated us well yet again! Our family has been vacationing at Lake Barkley for over 15 years now, no wonder it feels like a second home to us! We haven't changed our ways either except where necessary and for improvements.
Things like adding 11 children in 7 years makes you adjust your personal tanning and sleeping time quite a lot. I used to get up early because it was nice and quiet and watch the fishermen and then after second breakfast (what, you dont have two breakfast's on your vacations? Lame!) head down to the lake for prime sun time between 10 and 12 when we would head up for lunch and a game of cards or nap then head back down to the lake for more prime sun from 2 till about 4 when you would shower and play some more games until dinner unless its your turn to cook, after dinner play more games until you crash into bed just to get up and repeat it all again for 7 days in a row! Throw in some random Jet Skiing, a boat outing and a trip to "Sweet Miss Patty's" and you have the Glenn family vacation summed up. Now I get up because I have hungry babies who want to watch cartoons or take nature walks and then they are hungry again and you find its 2:00 before you make it down to the lake where you gloriously float for a few hours while they nap. Our evenings are filled with a rousing game of "whack a mole" where you put one kid to bed while two pop back up for a drink or potty and just when you think they are all quiet one more starts screaming and your game of speed scrabble has been delayed an extra 45 min or you play with a sleepy baby on your lap which is just a major handicap :o)
In the good old days there was a family restaurant called Miss Patty's that served family style buffet complete with chicken n dumplins, pickled watermelon rind, church lady pies and soft serve ice cream. It has sadly burned down ............................................................................................
..............................................a moment of silence for Sweet Miss Patty's.............................................
and now we are left to search far and wide for something half as good for our annual night out.

Because I am at a time in my life where I can't finish a task let alone a thought I will leave this post ending awkwardly as I started it 24 hours ago and my brain can no longer seem to form full thoughts or sentences.