Thursday, July 31, 2008

Top Ten: Your feet might be swollen if ...

10. There are no recognizable bones in them.

9. You are nervous about walking across the stiff grass because anything too sharp might just make them pop.

8. They resemble baby feet--taller than they are wide.

7. You laugh at high heels and wonder why any woman would subject herself to such torture.

6. Your toes look more like "Lil' Smokies" sausages than actual human digits.

5. They retain impression marks better than memory foam.

4. You look back at the floor where you have just walked and are thankful that there are not puddles of water than have squished out of your feet like a wet sponge.

3. The vericose veins on your ankles actually improve due to the extra support of the swelling of your feet.

2. You rest your foot on the floor and your toes do not touch the floor.

1. Your CROCS are tight.


Any others I've forgotten?

Oh, I would've posted a picture of my feet, but I would've had to wash the dirt off of them first, and that is just not worth the effort right now.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

When email is down ...

I've been without email since 10 am yesterday, and I had no idea how crippling it would be! People have called and fussed at me for not returning their emails, or called to make sure I was okay. Two people even told me that they thought I had gone into labor since I hadn't returned their emails!

So, if you're one of those people who has sent an email since 10 am yesterday, don't panic. I'm right here and I'm fine and I'm not purposefully ignoring you. As my email company says, "Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused!"

What did we do without email?!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Austin

John went to the National Worship Leaders Conference in Austin this past week and the kids and I got to go just for fun! One of the biggest reasons for John going was to meet with the VP of CCLI to discuss some copyright issues regarding the reformatting and displaying of notes on a screen in a worship service setting. The meeting went better than we could've imagined and was worth the whole trip!

Meanwhile, the kids and I did whatever we wanted. We swam in the hotel pool, went to the Austin Children's Museum, watched the famous thousands of Austin bats make their nightly departure from under the Congress bridge, walked all over downtown, and of course got some good shopping in as well! It was so nice to be able to spend that time with Johnathan and Kalleigh before Jonas arrives with no "to-do" list weighing me down as it would have had we stayed home. I actually just got to enjoy my children for a while! They're really sweet kids!

On Tuesday evening we ate dinner with my aunt and uncle, Shawn and Britney, and their two beautiful little girls. Addie and Kalleigh especially had fun playing together. We ate some yummy steak and enjoyed catching up with them.

We're really home now until Jonas is born. I was so sad to miss our Curtis family reunion that was this weekend in Searcy, but since I'm officially 36 weeks (and 2 days, but who's counting?), I'm really not supposed to travel more than an hour away from home. Thanks to those who have continued to pray for my Papaw. I talked to Mom on Friday who said that he's doing pretty well and planned on being there for part of the reunion! Yea! I'm eager to read my cousins' blogs about how everything went and hopefully see some good pictures! (Hint, hint, Deb, Liz, Tiff & Rach!)

Now life is all about waiting for Jonas ... tick, tick, tick, tick ....

Monday, July 21, 2008

What happens on a typical drive anywhere over an hour away:



Events the past two (well, now three) weeks, Part 3: our stay in AR

The short version is that we had a great time in AR. You can scan the pictures below or if you really want all the details, feel free to keep reading!

Sunday morning after the concert we went to early service at Woodmont (with the 26 other people who go to early service!) and then hit the road back to AR where I was going to stay the following week while John, Danny and Stefanie headed on home.

When we got to Searcy, we all went over to the hospital and sang a few songs for Mamaw and Papaw, which was really special. Thanks again, to John, Danny and Stef for delaying your trip home another 30 minutes!

Sunday night, Mom and I went to see "Star Spangled Girl" put on by the Searcy Summer Dinner Theater and directed by Craig Jones. It was a fun show, and even more fun to see my cousin, Logan, perform so well in it!

The kids were still at John's mother's house, so Mom just took me over there after the show to spend the night. It was so good to see the kids again! Mom took the whole week off, so she came to pick us up the next morning, since John had our van! The rest of the day was basically spent recovering from the crazy trip, and I was so thankful for the rest. I did get to spend a little time with Papaw, too, which was so good.


Mom giving Johnathan his b-day present: An Indiana Jones Hat and whip! So cool!

Tuesday we headed to Mt. View where "the girls" and their families were there with Grammie and Papaw at Jack's. If you know "Jack's" you know what I'm talking about. If not, don't worry about it. :) We spent the day shopping and finding wonderful treasures and things we liked "a lot!" My children even did relatively well with lots of help from Mom, Grammie, Aunt Karla, Aunt Jina, Claire, Alissa and Rebekah! We ate at the "Drug Store," and I had their fresh lemonade with my lunch. Mmm, mmm ... there's just nothin' better!


Aunt Karla and "The Hat."

I had a chance to visit with Aunt Jina more about her water birth experience with Rebekah (her fourth), since that's what I'm leaning toward with Jonas. The most compelling thing she said was that she would've had all her other children that way if she had known how wonderful it was! Mostly, I was grateful for her listening ear and encouragement as I get closer to my due date!

Before we left to head back to Searcy, Aunt Karla and Aunt Jina gave me a distressed antique white wagon wheel wall decoration for the nursery, since I'm doing a cowboy theme. It is so cute! I have already painted Jonas's letters red and attached them to the wheel and have it hanging in the nursery! I'll put up pictures of that in a later post.

Wednesday, we met Mamaw for lunch at Mazzio's. It just wouldn't be a true Searcy visit without Mazzio's! After lunch, I spent about 4 hours up at the hospital while Mom put the kids down for a nap. Yea, Mom! Mamaw and I had some good conversation, and Papaw joined in from time to time. It also was good to see familiar faces that came to visit Papaw!


Story time with Nana--always a favorite!

That evening was Home Bible Study that Mom has been hosting in the summers for 15 years now! I'm so thankful for that wonderful group and what it has meant to Mom through the years.

Thursday Daisha and her two sweet children came over for a playdate. Johnathan and Gideon and fun being boys, Kalleigh had fun trying to keep up with the boys, and Naomi just smiled most of the time! I'm so glad Daisha and I just happened to be in Searcy the same week and that we got to catch up for a little bit!


Gideon and Johnathan doing their best to hold their little sisters!


Could Naomi be any cuter? I don't think so.

Thursday afternoon we shopped Searcy! Mom got some fun jewelry for my birthday, and I am now cool because of it. :) I found a diaper bag for Jonas and got Mom a "Nana" bracelet that has the birthstones of her grandchildren on it! I went ahead and got an August stone for Jonas, so he had better wait until then! My due date is the 22nd, so surely that won't be an issue.

Friday morning, we stopped back by the hospital to see Mamaw and Papaw once more before we left town. Papaw was having a good day and was sitting up in a chair when we got there! Kalleigh had her beloved bear with her when she came in, and decided to share it with Papaw! It was if she could sense that Papaw needed some comfort, and knowing that her bear gave her a lot of comfort, she thought Papaw might want to hold her bear for a while, too! Saying goodbye is always hard, especially since I'm not going to be able to make it for for the reunion this cmoing weekend, but I promised Papaw that after Jonas Dean is born that I would bring him up to meet his namesake!

From there we headed down to Little Rock and shopped a little more, ate at Pei Wei (YUM) and met John around 2:30. We loaded up in our own van and headed back to Tyler while Mom stayed in LR a little longer and I believe did a bit more damage.

All in all, a wonderful week in AR. Time for Mom to spend with two grandkids before there are three, and time for me to put my feet up a little! Good time spent with Mamaw and Papaw. But it's always good to be home again, especially with John!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Events the past two weeks, Part 2: The Real Group

It started Friday evening, July 4th, when Clearly Vocal (well, 4 out of 5--Our bass is the director out at Camp Deer Run, so he couldn't be there) sang for a party at a local country club. From there, all four of us picked up our children and drove to Searcy where we dropped the kids off at John's mother's house and picked up my mom. This was about 3:30 am!

Fueled with adrenaline, we drove on to Nashville and enjoyed a big breakfast at Crackel Barrel. Then we went to see if our hotel rooms were available in Franklin--a long shot, I know, since check-in wasn't until 3pm. Thankfully, one was, so we (which is now Mom, Stefanie, Danny, John and I) all piled in and crashed for a while, taking turns getting cleaned up. We were still in our performance outfits from the night before!

Around noon we headed downtown to grab a bite before the concert. "What concert?" you might ask. Oh. THE concert. We had driven overnight so we could see The Real Group in concert in the United States for the first time in around 10 years! So, after lunch at Panera, we were finally headed to the concert. For the rest of the story, read what John wrote!

Truly a dream come true!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Events the past two weeks, Part 1: Birthday

I don't know about you, but when a lot of exciting things happen all at once and I don't have time to blog about them, I tend to put if off and then do it all at once. So, here's part one of three of my last two weeks.

My birthday was fabulous. John made pancakes from scratch (not even Bisquick!) for breakfast. He made a giant pancake for me and put a candle in the center. When I finally crawled out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, there was a Bed, Bath, & Beyond gift bag on the table. In it was a giant bath towel (that I had asked for!) as well as a super sweet card. Two points for John!

Then I was off to get a pedicure! These are especially nice these days since I can no longer do it myself.

After lunch, we took the kids to see Wall-E, which was cute! Johnathan loved it and did great. Kalleigh did great for about an hour, and John spent the rest of the movie letting Kalleigh run around in the entrance to the theater. She escaped to the very front only once, shrieking with glee at her victory. :)

We took the kids home and then I ran to get my hair trimmed, probably the last trim before Jonas arrives. I LOVE letting someone else fix my hair!

We dropped the kids off with our wonderful friends', the Deans, and we hit another movie! This time we saw Hancock, the superhero movie with Will Smith. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but it turned out to be really good!

Then John took me to one of the nicest restaurants in Smith County, Kiepersol! Neither of us had been there before, but people had raved about it. I had the filet mignon, which just melted in my mouth. I had ordered a spinach salad, but since they forgot to bring it out, they gave us a free desssert--their famous chocolate cake. It was served with vanilla ice cream and the middle of the cake gushed with chocolate. Oh my.

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and beautiful children for making the day so memorable!

Update 7-16: This is the cake that our friend Danny (tenor in Clearly Vocal) got for Stefanie (soprano in Clearly Vocal) and me since our birthdays are just a couple of days apart. He said he got a good deal on the cake since "Bill" never showed up to pick up his cake. :)

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Time passer for those prone to procrastinate ... like me.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

1. Demonstrating toe touches at cheerleading camp in Denver.

2. Getting ready to run the sports at pre-teen camp in Buena Vista, CO.

3. Working part-time for my friends at the tennis center in Colorado Springs.

4. Living with those same friends while waiting to close on our 2nd house.

5. Unaware that I was pregnant and that I would miscarry.

What are 5 things on your To-Do list today?

1. Take John to work -- check.

2. Take kids to Discovery Science Place -- check.

3. Eat lunch with John and kids at Double Dave's -- check.

4. Shower while kids are napping -- right after I finish this.

5. Apply temporary tattoos at church Celebration of Freedom tonight.

What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

1. Oreos

2. Chocolate Chip Pop Tarts

3. Chex Mix

4. Cashews

5. Snickers protein bars -- seriously, they're good for you!

What are 5 things you'd do if you were a Billionaire?

1. Owe nothing

2. Give to my favorite non-profits

3. Set aside money for kids' college

4. Hire a housekeeper

5. Own a working ranch and ride a good horse everyday

What are 5 of your bad habits?

1. procrastinating (big surprise)

2. short cutting to "make things do," as in, "That'll do."

3. loosing my temper

4. staying up too late playing the Wii or watching tv (but at least John and I do it together!)

5. not being open to a change of my plans

What are 5 jobs that you've had?

1. Harding Admissions office slave

2. Historical house tour guide

3. Preschool teacher

4. Basketball and cheerleading coach

5. Mommy

Name 5 places where you have lived.

1. Ft. Worth, TX

2. Memphis, TN

3. Searcy, AR

4. Colorado Springs, CO

5. Tyler, TX