Monday, August 30, 2010

Hey Second Grader!

Acilia started second grade last Wednesday. Her first day was a half day and I stayed for the first hour as the kids attended chapel. She loved it! She thinks her teacher is so nice and she met a new friend.



The second day was a little harder. It was the first "full day" and Acilia said she didn't feel ready to stay all day. Good bye was tough, she was near tears and she "leeched onto me" when I hugged her good bye.

I decided to come packed with a punch the next day. We played a board game before bed and I had the brilliant idea to have a "secret good bye" with Acilia to ease her into saying good bye me and hello to her day in a smooth way. We talked about ideas that would work, we settled on doing a quick game of thumb war at the door and then giving each other a high five and then a kiss and a hug and a "have a good day, I love you!"

The third day of school came, she was excited to try our new "secret good bye" it worked like a charm! She said good bye and with a smile on her face, she went inside her class :)

My sweet little girl!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

You capture! Outside

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I had high hopes for this week's You Capture!! My husband and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on Friday and I took my camera on our "row boat adventure" I caught some great shots, but you won't be seeing them, due to the fact that the computer I hold my pictures on is not cooperating. Boo!
The good news is, I have two great shots I would like to share, one of them infact IS from our "row boat adventure" that I happened to use as my Facebook profile pic and the other is my screen saver. So luckily I have these on my laptop to share with you!
Enjoy!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Home tour

I enjoy decorating, and I love homes; so I find it suitable to post a "home tour" in my blog. What I am surprised by is that it took a comment on my
You Capture! In the Kitchen post from 3 Sun Kissed Boys to actually urge me to do this! It should have been done ages ago!!! So, without further adieu here is my home:
*FYI: Most of the pictures were NOT taken by me, we had the house up for sale a few years ago and we had a photographer come in and take the pics to put on the listing. Hence the cool "fish eye" effect* Due to the economy it didn't sell and we are still here.


The home was built in the 1850's. It's way older than we thought when we purchased and the way we found this out was when we were renovating the kitchen, we discovered newspaper clippings inside the wall from the 1850's. We purchased it 6 years ago, and then spent 14 months renovating before we officially moved in. The woodwork was hand sanded and refinished, the ceilings upstairs were all turned from "drop ceilings" to vaulted ceilings. We added crown molding to the rooms, refinished the fireplace, painted our little hearts out and at the end of the adventure we had a great place to call our "First Home".













Our front porch covers two sides of our house. I love it!












This is our entry from the back, goes into the kitchen. I wanted a "Tuscan indoor/outdoor feel"

















My husband remodeled the kitchen when we bought the house. We kept the historic tin ceiling; everything else was gutted.










This bathroom used to have a shower in it. We took it out and finished the bathroom. Much more spacious!









Dining Room, we purchased the furniture with the home. We just felt it "went" with the charm of the old home.











Family room














We had the hardest time figuring out what to do with this fireplace!! We *just* finished it this spring!











Master bedroom
This room is painted completely different from when this picture was taken. It now has red stripes and the yellow wall by the window is a deep blue. I went with a "All American transporation theme" Complete with little tin airplanes hanging from the light. There is a cherry wood crib in their now and a train table too :)
This is our daughter's room. I caught a lot of grief for this color choice!! When we first painted; with no furniture in the room we used to joke you needed sunglasses to enter the room!! It has since been toned down by being decorated. I had a vision and I am glad I took the risk with bright paint!
The butterfly mural I painted to serve as the headboard for my daughter's bed

That concludes the tour, thanks for looking!

Follow up to the bat story

Well, it's been two days since our last bat incident. Thankfully there have been no more bats. The last night we had a bat, the capturer suggested we tape the closet doors shut. We had suspected the bats were coming in the chimney and then squeezing through little holes in our daughter's closet, then sneaking under the door into the bedroom. (Bat fact: Bats can squeeze in through a hole the size of a dime. Our house is over 150 years old, I have no doubts we have plenty of holes or gaps that are atleast that small.) Since taping the closet doors shut, we have been successful in achieving peace in the house at night. Though my radar goes up when night falls, I find myself stopping at "intersections" in the house and looking both ways for "BAT CROSSINGS" LOL! I wonder how long it will take me to get over that paranoia!
Another follow up: the skunk trap did indeed catch a skunk. It was taken off our property and just to be sure we set it up again the following night. This time no skunk. Instead an opossum. Poor thing! Was scared and they are pretty harmless, so I took it upon myself to release it from the trap. Most wildlife I don't mind sharing my home with, as long as they aren't getting inside and they don't smell :)
As I type this, I have a few guys here working diligently with my hubby to seal up the cracks on the outside of the house. I am hoping they make it in here soon to get into my kid's closets and seal those up. I have visions of opening my daughter's closet which has been taped for two days now, and having bats swarm out! I hope and pray that's not the case, that there is not even ONE bat inside of that closet or I will have some sanitizing to do to all of my kid's clothes including the fall wardrobe I just picked up last week!

Friday, August 20, 2010

You may now call me "Bat Lady"

Two nights ago, we all went to sleep peacefully as previous nights. My son woke up at about 2:30 am. I went into his room, tucked him back in and then moved in the direction of my daughter's room to check on her. I was stopped in the hallway by what looked like a flying shadow near the ceiling in her room. I stepped closer to take a better look, and to ensure my sleepy eyes weren't deceiving me...sure enough I saw it again! I knew EXACTLY what it was, and I went into my bedroom to wake my husband "Albert!" "What?" "I think; I mean I KNOW! There is a bat flying in Acilia's room!" "A what?" "A BAT!!!!!!!" We went into survival mode. Between our fear and hesistation we *knew* our kids needed to be removed from their beds and hussled into our bedroom! My husband turned into the Knight in shining armor and went into our son's room first. He picked him up and ran back into our room. Shew! One down, one to go! We opened the door and there it was again! The bat was by our door then swooped back into our daughter's room! "Ah, ok, my turn, I'm going in! I'm the mom!" I left my bedroom and started walking to my daughter's room! SWOOP! The bat was in the bathroom and then flew back into our dauther's room! My husband took a turn, he went into our daughter's room and the bat was resting on the drape. "Please Lord, don't let that thing move" Al grabbed Acilia and as he turned to walk out with her, the bat started to fly. He picked up the pace and got safely into our room. Door shut! Now what?!
I did what any rational sane almost 30 year old with a family would do; I picked up the phone and called my parents :) They suggested we call the police non emergency number. I hung up and did just that. We were told there was nothing they could do, and then they gave us numbers for Wildlife Rescue. Read: Free public safety that's paid for by our taxes can't do anything for us; we will transfer you to a company that is going to bill you for an emergency call in the middle of the night! Fabulous! Sign us up! :)
Two and a half hours and $350 later, we had a captured bat that was on it's way to be tested for rabies (you may or may not know but if you share your house with a bat while sleeping, they could potentially have bitten you in your sleep therefore it is lawful for you to have to get a round of Rabies vaccinations. Unles you capture the bat and have it tested). It was hard but we managed to fall back asleep at 5 am.
The following day, the company sent someone to inspect our home inside and out for a bat roost (A bat roost is where they "hang"). The inspector left with great news! It seemed to have been an isolated incident! We were thankful and set on getting a good night's rest.
That night, the kids were tucked into bed, I had just come out of the shower and as I put my towel away I saw something fly past my door. I had been jumpy all day and "seeing" things so I was unsure and truly HOPING it wasn't what I thought it was. I went over to my bed and told Al I thought I saw another bat in the house. He was in denial. I was too. Hoping praying....it flew past again! Ok, pretty sure I actually saw that....flies past again....YES. ANOTHER. BAT! Al and I tag teamed this time! The bat was in our son's room, Al had a towel; he walked toward the bat with it, as I walked toward my son who was now awake telling us there was a bat in his room. Bless his heart. We got our son out of there and closed the door behind us. The bat was trapped in our son's room. We immediately got on the phone with the company and had them send someone out. New tech, this one came in captured the bat and then proceeded to the roof to check things out. My husband followed him to help and they befreinded each other. We now have our own personal bat capturer. He told us we could call him at anytime to come and take care of the bats in the house; he is also going to be by this weekend to help my husband "bat proof" the house.
Our night ended at 2 am and we are hoping and praying tonight is a restful night.
Side note: While my husband was outside, he saw a huge skunk in the yard. Skunk made eye contact with my husband then waddled it's way UNDER OUR PORCH! Our bat capturer friend is also a skunk rescuer, so he did us the favor of placing a trap for the skunk. This morning, we had a trapped skunk which has now been removed from the property!
Feels like animal kindgdom here! Or as my mom has put it "A creepy Halloween Horror movie!"

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Summer breeze

As I let my dogs out tonight the breeze caught me off guard. It smelled like summer and it felt so good. I wanted to bottle it up. Truth be told, I wait all year for summer and when it concludes I could tear up.
Summer is almost over, we have one more week of freedom before school starts and the hustle & bustle of the year and all of it's busyness comes full force. I feel my days getting shorter as the darkness falls upon us at 8PM when it was 9PM a few short weeks ago.
It feels like yesterday that we were frantically searching for our plan as summer began. Here we are; ready to start a new year.
One week from today my daughter will be blissfully asleep (11:30 pm) having the first day at her new school behind her.
She doesn't like school, the poor girl. I told her if it weren't for school she wouldn't know how to read. Something she truly enjoys. She can have her nose in a book for hours each day and still seem to enjoy picking up a new book when the first one is complete. It's exciting to think of what changes will come with this next school year. What maturities will be met, the path our life will take. It's going to be a big year. I can feel it.
For now, I will soak up the summer breeze and it's scented Heaven!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Cute story

Disclaimer: I hope this story does not offend anyone. The innocence of a child at the age of 7 is quite apparent.

I went to a resale tonight. My 7 year old little girl came with me. It was a girls night out for us. We met up with one of my friends and we got our shop on for Fall/Winter clothes for the kids. Fun night!! I happened to notice on the way in the location it was held at a Synagogue. I guess the name of the place could have given it away "Beth Shalom" IF I was observant. But what I did notice were Yamakas in baskets on a table over to the side in the lobby. We went in did our shopping, we were there for a few hours. Acilia was great and I believe she got a little slap happy towards the end. She came to me and said "Look at me!" She was wearing an adorable little satin pink YAMAKA on her head. Yes, my little dear was quickly giggled at (she looked pretty cute) and then I asked her to go put it back where she found it, because we were to show respect for things that were not our's. :)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

You Capture!- In the Kitchen

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This week's assignment was more fun than I anticipated!

Here's my kitchen. I tried to be creative with the angles :) ENJOY!



One of the coolest parts of having a home that was built in the 1850's is having the original tin ceiling in the kitchen.








The "necessities. Bible, Computer, plant, remote, magazine :)














Good excuse to photograph your butter ;)












My little boy enjoying a cup of (DECAF!) coffee :)
















Mother's Day gift one year. My mom made pics of my kids into "flowers" :)

His perfect love

It's Sunday and I sit here pondering the love that God has for me. He loves me so much that he is never mad at me or disappointed in me. He wants the best for me and treats me with grace. No judgement, no punishment, he loves me. He made me who I am, his plan for me has yet to unfold but he guides me and he makes me feel safe and loved always. Seeking that from a human, I just don't think it's possible. That kind of perfect love. God knows my every move, he designed my every move. He is not surprised at my actions, he has special plans for each of my actions. He is all I need to survive, I want deep in my heart to hear his requests for my life and for him to show me the path to what's in store.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Appreciating my kids

The last 24 hours have brought forth some sweet moments for me :)
Acilia stayed at her best friend Maddie's house last night. It left Miles and I to have some one on one time. Something that has been rare since summer began. Miles was a little bummed that we couldn't stay at Maddie's house too. He has a little friend Nate there and he wanted to play with Nate. I asked Miles if he would like to go to the mall to ride the "Choo choo" there. Of course he agreed; he's 2 and he loves trains. We got to the mall, the train wasn't running, he adjusted to the idea of not getting a ride very well. He impresses me! We went into the candy store and he picked some chocolate covered raisins. We then walked around he played in a treehouse play area and of course got a kick out of going up and down the escalators :) It was a fun night. I sat and watched Miles and just adored him. He plays so cute. This morning Miles was in bed with us bright and early. Playing and jumping on us like usual. Acilia later came home and Miles and her were so sweet together. I adore the little conversations I overhear between them. Miles missed his big sister. He gave her a big hug when he saw her. So sweet! Tonight when it was bedtime, we all piled on my bed and the kids were playing with a new toy Miles got last night. Then Miles climbed on the bed and sat next to me while saying "I sit next to my mommy" he wiggled his way between me and the toy and wiggled his chunky little feet with content. Precious.
Miles went to bed, Acilia wanted to cuddle with me. She's 7, I wonder when the day will come that she will be too "cool" to cuddle. I hope never. She went to bed, asked if she could read. I went into her room to tuck her in and she was sleeping so peacefully. Face by her books, Christmas books. She was reading Christmas books in August :) So cute!

Monday, August 9, 2010

My heart aches

I knew back when God was pushing us to find a new school for Acilia to attend that we should follow His wishes. I am so glad we did. Turns out St. John Wheaton; is closing the doors to grades 1-8. Acilia would have been without a school a mere two weeks before school was to start and I would have been freaking out, trying to figure out what to do next!
My heart aches for the teachers who are losing their jobs, the students that were promised a good education in a loving environment and most of all I ache for the legacy in which St. John had worked 55 years to build. I will never forget the days we spent at St. John. I adored that school. Acilia did well at that school. From the moment we stepped foot in the doors when we went to tour before Acilia began Kindergarten I felt it was a home we could get used to and a family we could love. St. John was more than "just a school" there was true support and kindness and Jesus love every where you turned. The halls were comfort, the classrooms were comfort, the teachers were comfort. It's just a shame. I am not going to question the paths God bestows upon us, He truly is the only one that knows what's in store for the future.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

New Counselor

I am going to meet a new counselor tomorrow. I have so many things in my mind that I need to work through and I feel like I have no one to talk to about it that can give me the objective point of view that I am so desperately seeking! I felt bad tonight, I was discussing with hubby how I will be seeing a new counselor tomorrow and he asked why I couldn't just talk to him about things. I told him I often feel judged by him for the way I feel, the way I think, the way I act. I am really hoping tomorrow marks the beginning of some serenity in my mind. It's what I desire so deeply so I can thoroughly enjoy the life I have been blessed with!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Zoloft and it's "post" life

I have been on Zoloft for about 6-7 years. I began taking it to tame anxiety and after all that time on it, I did a lot of soul searching and healing and finally a few months ago, I felt I was ready emotionally, spriritually and physically to wean off. Most of the side effects have subsided, the nausea, the dizzies, and the other odd things that occur when you stop taking something your body is used to.
I'm feeling depressed lately and to admit here (publicly) that I have a sneaking suspicion that it's related to weaning off Zoloft is rather disheartening. I would like to think it's just life circumstances and that it's a coincidence that this depressed feeling is a new "symptom" of my life. I guess all I can do right now is pay attention to the way I feel and assess at a later time. I have such a hard time just relaxing and not adding notions to what's going on! It's brain torture!

Sanctus Real makes me Cry

There is a song that's been coming on the radio by Sanctus Real called "Lead Me". It's a song that I always start out singing, but then can't finish because I am crying. There always seems to be a "theme song" that I can hear on the radio and feel as though it was written about me. This song does that for me right now. Too bad it's in a depressing way. The song itself is so awesome!! It's about a family looking up to the father of the house asking him to care for them and "Lead them" then towards the end, the song turns to the father of the house asking our Heavenly Father to lead him so he can do those things for his family.
The chorus is what gets me the most...it's exactly how I feel most of the time! :(
"Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”

Sunday, August 1, 2010

SO excited

I am THRILLED, ECSTATIC, GIDDY with excitement with the news that my childhood/lifelong friend Nena is pregnant with her first child!!
I grew up with a few close friends, I was the first of my "group" to have children. Needless to say, I've been waiting patiently for one of them to announce they are joining the "parenting club"!! I am so happy for her and her husband John, they have been married for 2 years, they will make fabulous parents and I am so very happy for them! God Bless!



Me and my closest friends in a picture from long ago as high school seniors :) (10 years ago!) Me, Nena and Brooke, we were the best of friends in high school and we continue to adore one another and root for one another as we go through life! :)