Beth Moore Conference

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a Beth Moore (Christian author) conference in Jacksonville, Florida with some good friends!!! I put together a montage because again there were so many pictures!!! We had a great time getting away from the busyness of life. . .but we were glad to be home! There are a lot of pictures of our plane trip back because we barely made our flight, there was a mix up with what airport we were flying out of, and security was stricter at this little 2 gate airport than at RDU!!! We also flew up the coast over the water, the view was awesome!

Easter Weekend

Just added pictures of both our family easter egg hunt and our church easter egg hunts this past weekend. I put them in a montage because there were so many of them!! Send us a link to your familiy photos so we can see you too!!!

Check out our friends (Corey & Amy Pass) blog for a video of our girls singing at church Sunday. . .we don't have a video camera and they were able to catch them!! Here is the link to their blog http://pass-family.blogspot.com/

Family Update. . .

Looking at other blogs, I decided to give a family update (we're the most interesting people?)

Jody is coming up on 6 years (April 1st) at Stony Hill!! We love our church and know we are where God wants us! He is also driving a bus for the YMCA part-time, not his ideal job, but it has flexible hours! His most recent passion is working on his 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, and is looking forward to a Volkswagen Show the first weekend in April near Winston-Salem! He bought the VW a little over a year ago with the intention of fixing it up the way he wants it! The girls love riding in it, although he can only take them 2 at a time!

Sarah is busy at home. . .recent project has been the girls rooms, a huge undertaking! Next project is our bedroom and the garage. . .lots of stuff to get rid of!!! I am nearing the end of my Daniel bible study and am anxious to begin a new study in the fall! I'm attending the Living Proof Minisitries conference next weekend in Jacksonville, FL with my good friends Jessica who lives in Venice, FL and Katie who lives in Wilmington!!! Excited to get away for the weekend, but I know I'll be crying on the phone talking to my girls while I'm away!

Emma turned 5 in January! For the past 2 years she's been able to go to preschool, but this year we weren't able to pay for her to go :-( She's very much like me and likes to stay busy. She loves activity books with numbers, letters & colors, she's been working on addition this week, so cute to see her try to understand math! She is a great big sister to both Anna & Lizzy and has really become a good helper to mommy! She is in her second year of AWANA Cubbies and is looking forward to joining me in Sparks next year!

Anna, 29 months, is our little (don't call her small) laid back girl. Lately she has become very sassy, but we're working on nipping it! She just hangs out and does (almost) whatever big sister Emma says! She was potty trained for good (this is our 2nd shot) a few months ago! She has recently figured out she is a big sister to Lizzy and tries to help guide her along. . .pretty funny since there is only a couple of inches height difference and a couple of pounds difference! Anna loves going to AWANA and is looking forward to next year where she will actually be in an AWANA class instead of nursery (which she thinks is her class anyway).

Lizzy, 18 months, is our stubborn trouble maker. She loves to get into everything and climbs everywhere! Not scared of anything, knows what she wants and goes and gets it (no matter who has it or in her way). She is our biter, hitter, yeller, etc. She is a tough cookie, but shy around those she doesn't know very well. She is obsessed with shoes these days and is constantly asking me to put "dooshes" on, especially ours!

The girls absolute favorite thing to do is play outside in the backyard or on their bikes & scoooters. Weather permitting they are out there almost every day. I can't wait for the warmer weather to get here and stay. . .I know I'll be saying the opposite in a few months!!! We are gearing up for a busy summer. . .

The Great Room Switcheroo

This is day. . .4 of the great room switcheroo ! We decided a few weeks ago to switch the girls rooms around to better suit them. Anna & Lizzy were in the same room and Emma had her own room. We decided to get bunk beds and put Emma & Anna together and Lizzy by herself. We came to this conclusion because neither Lizzy or Anna were taking their naps and they would keep each other awake and wake each other up during naptime :-( Plus, bunk beds take up less space in an already small bedroom! I decided to paint the older girls room first (green) before we got the bunk beds. I am a perfectionist and taped the entire room, washed the walls, patched the holes, etc. Both Emma & Anna are obsessed with pink and purple and I knew one day they would be sick of it, so it was perfect when I found the paint color!!! I am a bargain shopper and often look in the "wrong color" section of Lowes or Home Depot. So far I've found 3 gallons of paint that we are going to use to paint rooms in our house! You do have to be patient and look, but I got each gallon for $5! I've had bedding for Lizzy's room for a while, Emma didn't like it when we moved her into her big girl bed, so now it is Lizzy's new bedding (too small for an opinion)! Lizzy is now in a twin size bed, as you can guess it's been a rough 2 days for the Lizzy. We took away her sleeping buddy, put her in a new room and she is now in a huge bed!!! We bought new bedspreads for Emma & Anna's room that matched, of course I found them on clearance! We've bought shelves, new racks to hang things on and used other pieces of furniture in the garage (our storage room) to create their new room! Their rooms are currently still works in progress and I'll get pics up here as soon as they are finished, plus a breakdown on costs. . .I am so excited I was able to redo their rooms for such a reasonable price! So far, we've really only worked on Emma & Anna's room, today is Lizzy's turn while Jody is at work all day. My job has become cleaning out all the old toys (and junk) and Jody uses his tools to hang things, put things together, move furniture, etc.! Jody works all day today (7:00am-5:30pm) so I will work on cleaning out all the old stuff & putting it in storage in between breakfast, nap, lunch, nap & dinnertime :-( I'll be glad when all this is finished!

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Check out the top of my blog to see pictures of the rooms!!! I haven't finished them yet, had to take a break for Easter Weekend!

Cable whoopsie

So we have our internet back, but you probably didn't know we didn't have it did you?! Jody borrowed his mom's laptop for our high school lock-in last friday (and still has it :-) So Tuesday night, he of course wanted to go on the internet with her computer because we have a regular old desktop (ancient to most of you). He unplugged the DSL cable that Time Warner specifically said "do not unplug, call us if you have to move this computer" and all went downhill from there! We realized Wednesday morning that our phone wasn't working along with the internet! We finally got it fixed late last night (early this AM), apparently one of our firewalls detected that we weren't on our computer and it messed everything up, technology. . .I have some updates from this past weekend and earlier this week, we've been a busy bunch! I'll get them up here soon. . .

Lizzy's 2nd Trip. . .

to the ER was Sunday night, the same day as her first! She ended up running a fever all day (didn't get below 103) even with the Tylenol and Motrin. At 8:30pm when she ran a fever of 104.9 and she became really confused (asking for her blanket when she had it and her cup when it was right in front of her) I called her pediatrician. After talking to the emergerncy nurse and then her pediatrician they advised us to bring her back in. When we got there she was still running a high fever (despite medicine taken just an hour earlier) and they went ahead and gave her more Tylenol to get her fever down, talk about drugged up! Her fever finally came down, they tested her for the flu (which was negative) and they said the same thing the morning docs said, it was probably a virus and we needed to make sure we kept her fever under control (which we had not been able to do) and keep her hydrated. They sent us home around 12:30am with directions to make an appointment Monday with her pediatrician for a follow-up. We got home around 1:00am, put the girls to bed and Lizzy in bed with us, because we were worried the fever would go back up. Monday we made an appointment with her pediatrician and the fever was gone! Sometime in between 6:30am and 10:10am her fever broke! She was really grumpy and very stubborn yesterday, not letting me put her down all day and fighting everything we tried to do. When I got home from bible study last night (around 9:30pm) Jody was rocking her. . .apparently she would fall asleep but wake up and start "screaming bloody murder", then wake Anna up. She finally went to sleep around 10:00pm and didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning! No fever too! I think we're out of the woods with Lizzy. However Emma woke up this morning with a 100.0 temperature, not wanting to eat breakfast and laying around. . . let's hope if it is the same virus we can keep her fever under control and if Anna is going to get it, she gets it now! That's what happens when you have kids, they get sick! Mommy to the rescue. . .

Lizzy's First Trip. . .

to the ER was this morning! She woke up around 4:00am burning up and restless, I gave her some motrin and some anbesol because she's been teething, she fell right back asleep. She woke up again at 7:15 still really warm and shivering uncontrollably. We noticed her lips were blue as well as her hands and feet! Took her temp at it was 103.7(even with the motrin in her system!) We decided not to wait and call her pediatrician who opened at 8:30am and left for the ER. When we got there they did some tests, monitored her oxygen levels (because of the skin discoloration), checked her ears, throat and lungs. They suspected a urinary tract infection and used a catheter for a urine sample. After being there a couple of hours they couldn't find a cause for her fever and sent us home after getting it under control (99 when we left). We left with directions to watch her closely for more symptoms to develop, to make sure she got enough liquids, keep her fever under control and to watch for wet diapers so she wouldn't get any more dehydrated. She is also to see her pediatrician in the next day or so. As of now she has continued to run a high fever all day even though she is alternating tylenol and motrin every 4 hours! We hope this is a simple virus, we are able to get her fever to stay down and able to keep her comfortable, she is a momma's girl and has been attached to me all day!

Beach Party!

Last nights AWANA theme was beach party night! Jody and I usually really dress up for this night, with our typical froggie & duckie floaties, cool hats, sandals, sunglasses and cool shirts! This year however, we weren't able to :-( We did get our chaco sandals out and wore our sunglasses. . .a low-key beach party! The girls looked cute in their beachy outfits (it was too cold to wear swimsuits and cover ups!!!) sunglasses, hats and sandals. I snapped a few pictures in the car before AWANA began. The girls were acting silly, they won't ever just smile in pictures now!!! In the next picture Lizzy was acting shy. . .playing with her hands and inspecting them closely as if she had something on them! She hated the hat I brought for her which is unusual because she loves to wear all hats especially daddy's baseball hats! She would not keep the sunglasses on either??? She fell asleep in the car on the way to church and was grumpy, what else is new :-(

Not exactly what I prayed for. . .

So I have to tell you all 4 times that I have been pregnant I selfishly prayed for a curly blonde-haired blue-eyed little boy! I knew the chances were pretty good since Jody has blonde hair and blue eyes, Jody's brother has blonde hair and blue eyes and both my brothers have blue eyes and lighter hair (remember back to biology with the dominate/recessive genes?)! Each time God showed me how selfish I was. . .the first pregnancy I got a curly blonde-haired brown-eyed little girl, check 2 off my list. The second pregnancy we lost early on so we don't know? The third pregnancy I got a straight blonde-haired brown-eyed little girl, check 1. And the fourth pregnancy I got a curly blonde-haired, blue eyed little girl, check 3! Almost, but not quite what I prayed for. If you combine all my requests, I've almost gotten all my selfish requests. . .maybe we'll be lucky enough the next time to at least get a boy. Here are some pictures of our little Lizzy, right after bathtime last night! No one believes me that she has curly hair unless you see her right after bathtime!

I don't give my girls baths every single day (trying to conserve water right?) but every other day, usually at night or early morning, so it's rare people see them right after they are squeaky clean! We are hoping her hair will stay light, a real blonde is hard to come by these days! My hair was wavy when I was little and got curlier the older I got. . .hopefully she'll stay my curly blonde-haird girl!! Not that my other two are beautiful in their own ways too!!! I had to put this picture of Emma on here, it really shows her curly hair too! This picture was taken around Easter when she was 2! I believe she had just gotten up from a nap where she was all sweaty, yuk!!!