It is Cold

It is definitely winter in the Great Smokey Mountains!!! last night it was 14 degrees!!!!! and we didn't even get any snow with it! There were snow flurries all day yesterday teasing us but nothing lasting!! We were in SC for Thanksgiving but we didn't get to see many people because of the short visit and Christmas will be even shorter. Dan is making plans to move here finally even though it is a slow process...we are thinking of just renting our house in SC house...but the business is the main thing....hopefully it will all work out soon! Zach and Joseph are doing well although they fight alot now (most of them are started by Zach)!!!! Of course they can be mean to each other but no one else better hurt one of them! Joseph is always quick to rescue Zach when he gets in trouble. That's about all that is going on in Sevierville, TN! We are adjusted and like it very much....everyone remember to come and visit!

Zorro and the Bee

After MUCH coaxing we finally got Zachary into a costume!!! I had originally bought him a Mickey Mouse outfit that was very cute but everytime I even mentioned it he would scream "NO!" and take off running. In order to get him into the bee I had to threaten to leave him at home when we went out to our Fall Festival at church! telling him that he could not go unless he put on the bee worked really well. He wore it the whole night and I must say that he was the cutest bee that I have ever seen. Thankfully Joseph was easy to deal with...once we ruled out all of the gross, scary and somewhat questionable costumes (several times) he decided on Zorro and was content to be the masked hero! We had fun and got alot of candy which is great for the kids but very bad for me!

Nothing Imparticular

I'm really not sure if I spelled imparticular right, but....I probably will not be participating in any spelling bees any time soon!! I am finding that the older I get the more I have to use spell check! Does anyone else have this problem? I'm not sure if it is because I am forgetting how to spell or that I am trying to use words beyond my vocabulary (HA!!). This blog is a little less serious than my last post....(good thing, huh?)...My kids are doing great! Joseph made straight A's on his first TN report card...he has always been on the A/B Honor Roll but has never gotten straight A's! I am very proud of him...he does, however, have a small problem with talking...he got an S in "Talks Excessively"....I can only hope that his talking habits are the only problem that he ever has with school! Zachary is Zachary!!!! He is so cute and I think that he knows it....if there was ever a child that tested limits it is Zach!!!! I jokingly say that Dr. James Dobson is going to have to write a book titled, "Zachary, The Strong Willed Child"!! His favorite thing lately is not going to bed...I will put him to bed and he will climb out of bed until he sees me coming for him at which time he jumps back into bed like he is going to go to sleep! And he can never make up his mind with whom he wants to sleep with so there is alot of bedroom hopping!! We start getting ready for bed pretty early so that by the time I actually get him to stay in bed it is not too late! Work is going great and we have been able to do some good things for our owners which means job security for me....as for the other things going on in my life, I do know that God is in control...I do still wish that it was as easy to keep believing and trusting as it is to say that He is in control! Please keep praying for me....Other than those things life is pretty normal (whatever that is)!

Baseball Zach

It seems that Zachary will follow in Joseph's baseball footsteps! I have tried to get rid of Joseph's old cleats for sometime but Zachary for some reason has taken to wearing them. It is so funny to see him come walking through the house with those old shoes on that are about 5 sizes too big! He also loves to wear the hat and play with the glove! I think that he is going to be a pitcher! He will throw his little arm back like he is going to send the ball flying (it actually only goes a couple of feet). Too bad we won't be in SC for him to be an Angel!!! Joseph will be playing ball here in the spring, but it won't be the same! I definitely will miss laughing at Stacy when she really wants to jump out of the bleachers on to the field!!!! I know that there are more memories to be made, but to all of my Baseball Mom friends, thanks for 3 great years and I miss you already!!!

New Hope Church

We have visited New Hope Church for 2 Wedensday night Bible Studies and 1 Sunday morning Worship Service and so far we like it. Joseph is really enjoying their Children's ministries and I think that Zachary gets accustomed to the nursery (well, after much crying and screaming when I drop him off) even though Sunday we knocked the gate over when I was trying to put him inside the door!!!! Yikes! we both almost landed flat on our faces. That's a pretty embarrassing thing to do on your first Sunday visit, but what can you do...things happen! And Zach had a pretty good grip around my neck!!! On Wednesday nights they have a meal before service and we went to that. It was really good. The Pastor is a good teacher and I enjoy listening to him, and the praise and worship is great. They have a great music team, too. This last Sunday was "Friend Day" which was appropriate (I thought) for our first Sunday. They had food after service, games for the kids and prizes. Joseph and Zach both won things! I think that we will keep going there. I do miss my church family in SC, though, and am a little sad as I walk through the church buildings and no familiar faces speak to me or call my name. I know that will come in time, but I hope all you in SC know how much I truely love and miss you!

Riding the Four Wheeler

Riding on the 4-wheeler is about all that my boys have in common (well, other than the fact that they are boys)! I always heard that your second child would be completely different than the first, and that made me a little nervous because Joseph was the baby of every mother's dream! He slept all night pretty much from the time he got here, he never cried and didn't need constant attention! As he got older, he entertained himself, didn't open cabinets and get into things...he even left the stairs alone! Of course Zachary proved that the saying was true! He is a child who demands constant attention! He woke every two hours for the first year of his life, wanted to be held, and gets into absolutely everything! One thing is for sure, life is definitely not boring with him! He keeps us all on our toes!!!! Now that he is almost two he has gotten more confident! He thinks that he can beat up Joseph and will often run and jump on him and push him over in the floor. Poor Joseph doesn't stand a chance. Joseph must have had a preminition about Zach because when I was pregnant he laid alot of ground rules for Zachary (of course none of them held up). He wasn't going to let the baby play with his toys, cuddle with Mommy or Daddy and he certainly wasn't going to like him. He actually sold him to my parents for $100. I'm not sure if Joseph decided that he liked Zach and tossed the rules or if Zach just took over and did whatever he wanted. I think that it has been a combination of the two! Even with all of thier differences I love them dearly and they have certainly made my life more enjoyable and interesting!

My Birthday

My birthday was Sunday (9/10) and I was a little sad that no one I knew (and that cared about it being my birthday) was here to help me celebrate. I cried to my friend Sonya that I was mad at my husband because he didn't come up that day! Our kids were in SC with him and I was meeting him in Franklin to pick them up. I know that he has had a lot on him lately....it is hard to support two households and a business (I don't get my first paycheck until 9/20!) But still it was my birthday...don't I have a right to feel a little sulky???? So after I cried to Sonya and then felt sorry for myself all the way to Franklin, Dan surprised me with three cards. One from him that was really sweet, one from my boys (Joseph and Zach) and one from my friends at church. He had bought a card and then took it to church and had my friends sign it. Any of you that know him will know that that took a lot of effort for him. Needless to say I felt bad about being upset after that. It was a reminder that I should try to be more thankful and to not always think the worst (like he forgot my birthday). Then my friend Rhonda "sang" Happy Birthday to me through an email. She said for me to imagine her singing it! I am so blessed to have so many friends and people that care about me. I am going to try to start celebrating everyday more instead of saving it all for the special occasions. I may put a stop to birthdays soon anyway! What is the age that we stop celebrating???? Sometime before 40 for sure. Maybe I will just embrace getting older although sometimes while I'm driving around I feel like I should be just running errands for my mom and have a curfew!!!

First Day on the Job

I feel at ease with my new job. Some things are coming naturally but others I have to rack my brain about! It actually is nice to be back to doing what I enjoy. Not that I didn't LOVE the time I got to spend with my children, it's just that I had become a bit out of sorts. I didn't realize until I went back to work how much I had missed it. Of course there will be times when I wonder what I was thinking but over all I feel like it's a good thing. As always, God knows what He has in store for each of us and I believe He has some good things planned for this stage of my life.

Our New Home

We have been in our new home for almost a week, and I have finally unpacked everything! One thing that I have learned (I actually have always known it but have been in denial) is that my children have entirely too many toys!!! Maybe I should have spent more money buying stock in ToysRus and Wal-Mart, and less money in the actual stores. Our move was pretty uneventfull. Well, other than our dryer being hooked up wrong and me getting a good shock when I touched it and the breaker box at the same time! So I called our friend, Kent, who came over and fixed it. I miss my friends and family. It's alot different than having them right down the street. I know God has alot more friends for me to find and that they will be, in a sense, my family, too. There is a church that we are going to visit Sunday. It's called New Hope Church. I met some of the people from the church at their thrift store where I was looking for a micorwave. They were really nice. I did find a microwave, although I think it must be one of the first ones ever made because it is HUGE! But it was only $20 and works great. Maybe I will decide to go retro with my decorating theme so my microwave won't look out of place!