Weekend Recap and Other Awesomeness

Ugh, I am SO unmotivated today! Mainly because I can't take a decent breath. I don't know if I've pulled a muscle from all my coughing spells over the past 10 days, or if I have pleurisy (which I get all the dang time, so you'd think I'd know), or bronchitis, but my right lung/chest HURTS when I breathe. I'm still coughing, though not as frequently as I was last week. I can now breathe through my nose, though I still have to blow it quite a bit. I guess not being able to breathe deeply makes you tired, cause I have no energy today.

Yesterday afternoon, I ran around in the yard with C, kicking balls. It was fun, but man did it wear me out! Am I goin to the doctor?  Nah, probably not. If I thought I had a sinus infection I'd be there to get some drugs, but I don't think they can do anything for this right now. So unless I get a whole lot worse, I'll just complain about it. :P (Just kidding, complaining will cease now!)

We had a great weekend. Saturday morning, me and C headed to town to find some tap shoes. On Friday during my lunch break, I went to the consignment store and bought her some tap shoes, but they ended up being too small. I also got a few leotards and skirts, which thankfully fit just fine - yay for consignment! I found some ballet slippers at Target, and they were too small as well.

Of course, Once Upon A Child (consignment) didn't have any tap shoes in C's size, but luckily I got a full refund. Next, we hit up Michael's, where I scored some ribbon on clearance for $1. I made a beautiful hair bow for her, and forgot to take a picture (haha). I'll try to get on that (and a bow tutorial) soon! We exchanged the ballet slippers at Target for a larger brand, then went on a search for tap shoes.

Luckily, we hit pay dirt at Payless. C is totally in love with her shoes and wants to wear them all the time. And I have to say, she's pretty much a natural at tapping. ( :

Hopefully that video will play! If not, here's a still:

She tapped all over the house for me, and after her long nap (in her CRIB!!), we went to my mama's house, where she tapped for her, my cousin, and my grandma. I love that kid. ( :

Yesterday, she was alternating between the tap shoes and the ballet slippers to dance for her daddy - so cute.

After church yesterday, we headed to my aunt's for a birthday lunch for my cousin. We had a good time, and got to eat some of my aunt's delicious chocolate pound cake with cream cheese icing! Yum. Of course, we stayed over there through nap time, and when we got home, C wasn't about taking a nap. So her and I played outside while DH worked on the chicken and rabbit pens.

C and I had so much fun playing outside. We played with the balls, she rode her tricycle, we swung on the swingset, and she had a blast on the slide. I cherish times like that. Then one of DH's friends stopped by to show us what he bought at the livestock sale that morning, and somehow we ended up with 6 guinea keets! When they get big enough, we'll turn them loose so they can eat bugs around the farm. Our farm will never be quiet again! If you're not familiar with guineas, they are LOUD - like, obnoxiously loud.

Anyway, after we got over our new bird excitement (note my sarcasm), C and I hopped on Sunshine bareback. Then C kicked me off so she could ride by herself, haha. I didn't feel up to giving her a "lesson," so I just walked around with her. She didn't care! I'm so glad she loves horses already. ( :

Speaking of birds, our baby ducks are still going strong! Well, 8 of them are. We lost 1, but that was expected cause he was very weak. I'm happy. Mama duck is doing a great job at protecting them. They hang out in the pond a lot, but have also been hanging out around the chicken pens - which is pretty farm from the pond, so they must be strong babies.

All in all, it was an excellent weekend. The only thing that would have made it better if is I had felt better. But I can't complain, since it was a drastic improvement from the previous weekend, when I couldn't do anything but hack and blow my nose.

At church yesterday, my pastor preached on Psalm 121. This is my favorite Psalm, and probably my favorite Bible verses. I'd never heard a sermon on it, and I was impressed.

This Psalm has gotten me through some tough times in my life. It reminds me that God is always there for me. My pastor's message was about much more than that fact, though.

It inspired me to be better about my Bible reading and studies. Well, I should say it inspired me to DO it again. Sadly, I've really gotten off track with that. At the beginning of this year, I was reading the Bible daily with my Bible In One Year app, plus I was doing other random studies through books I found. I also read several books about building a closer relationship to God. I'm not sure what happened, but I stopped doing all that gradually. Its just easier to read "fun" things, like trashy romance novels, I guess. But you know what? Lately, I've been feeling not quite myself, almost depressed at times. I was just thinking on Friday how I needed to get back into the Word, cause when I was deep within it, I didn't feel this way. And then I heard this sermon yesterday - coincidence? I think not. My God is just awesome like that. ( :

So, I'm jumping back in. I'm gonna pick up where I left off with my "The Excellent Wife Day by Day" devotional, the BIOY app, and a couple of other books I recently purchased. Fill myself with spiritual goodness, reconnect with my Maker, have peace again. Who's with me? ( :

VBS - Take Two

This week C and I attended Vacation Bible School at my mama's church. I was a little reluctant to go since they started at 6. I had to rush like crazy to get there on time, but we made it all 3 nights.

The first night, C's teacher shut the door in my face when the kids headed to their classrooms. I had followed them in there and had planned to just sit and watch. C has been extremely clingy for about a week now, and I knew she wanted me there. Well, her teacher said she'd be fine and told me to get out, then shut the door! Of course that did not sit well with me, but I didn't want to start an argument, so I just sat in the sanctuary. 30 minutes later, the assistant brought C to me crying. She said she missed me. So I stayed with her the rest of the time.

That night, they played a fun game that taught them the story of Daniel in the lion's den. They took turns being Daniel, the angel, and the lions. C loved being a lion, naturally.

Music time was, of course, her favorite time! That kid loves to dance.

Tuesday night, C's teacher again didn't want me to stay with her, but this time C only lasted about 5 minutes before she had a break down. I didn't leave her side the rest of the night, and promised her that I'd stay with her the entire time the next night. Also on Tuesday night, her teacher wouldn't let the kids get up and dance during music time. She kept telling them to sit on the pews and sing. Um, hello, they don't know the words and can't read. Dancing is all they can do. C was the youngest in her class (its really for 3-5 year olds), and she doesn't go to daycare like the other kids, so she had a hard time with the rigidity this teacher expected. I was frustrated. I made my child behave, but I also know there's a time to let her be a kid. She wasn't being wild or disruptive, she just wanted to dance. I didn't see the problem.

Her teacher asked me that night if C went to Children's Church during the sermon, and I told her no, that C knows how to behave during church and that we're always getting compliments on how quiet and behaved she is. Its true. At our pool party last weekend, our church family was shocked to see how talkative and active C really is!

Wednesday night, I stayed with C the whole time. No tears! I could tell her teacher wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I didn't care. That night, the teacher wasn't planning on letting the kids go to music time at all. At 8:15 I said "aren't we supposed to go to music at 8:15?" And the teacher just nodded and made no move to get up and go. I slipped out of the room and vented to my mother and aunt (who were in charge of music). Finally, the teacher brought the class in there (when there was only 5 minutes of VBS left). But it wasn't fun cause she kept scolding the kids every time they started to dance. :/

I know someone out there will side with the teacher and say you shouldn't dance in church or whatever. But you know what? It doesn't bother me at all. I'd MUCH rather see my kid dancing to a JESUS song than some rap song about booties or whatever. And after being still for 2 hours, toddlers need to get out some energy. Dancing is perfect.

Another thing that kinda bothered me about this VBS was the preacher's puppet skits. Each night, he did a little skit with a monkey puppet that the kids loved. The first night all I could think about was how this guy looks and sounds like Christopher Walken (who freaks me out for some reason). The second night, the preacher came out dressed as a CLOWN and the puppet had a devil mask on. Have I ever mentioned I'm extremely afraid of clowns?! Yeah. C was kinda worried about all the masks, but she did well. That was just weird to me.

I am glad I took C to this VBS, though. I'm not sure she actually learned anything, but they tried, at least. Remember in our church's VBS, we didn't even attempt to do a lesson with our class? Having some older kids in this class made it possible to teach them a little. At any rate, its good for C to interact with other kids and adults! And being in a church setting is always good. ( :

Playing Pro

Once we made it through VBS last week, I expected the weekend to be relaxed and carefree. Well, now that its over I can't quite say that was the case, but it was fun nevertheless!

I got up early Saturday morning and did a ton of cleaning. My house had been basically neglected all week last week, so I had a lot of catching up to do. C helped me (or kept me company, haha) with most of the chores, but thank goodness for Sesame Street on Netflix when it was time for me to vacuum and mop!

We ate an early lunch and played outside some more. C had been acting tired all morning, so I decided to put her down for a nap early. By 1:15 she was out on my bed, and I was able to get up and leave her there! This is such a big deal to me. Remember for months now she has to be held for the entire nap. I prefer her to nap in her crib (so I can change my sheets if need be), but I'll take what I can get at this point. While C napped, I scrubbed the bathrooms and finished up the laundry, then I settled down on the couch to transfer videos from the Flip camera to the computer and flash drive. Of course, then I got wrapped up watching old videos, like C's birth and some of her "firsts" moments. Bittersweet!!

After C had been asleep about 2 hours, she woke up and called me. I told her I was on the couch, so she walked in there and climbed up into my lap and laid her head against my chest. I thought she was watching videos with me, but when I looked at her again, she was sound asleep! I held her until I was done transferring the videos, then I eased her down onto the couch, and she did not wake up. It was amazing (lol). She slept about another hour there. I wasn't being quiet at all, but I didn't want to wake her up because I knew she'd be ill if I did that. So she slept a total of 3 hours Saturday! Which of course meant she stayed up way too late that night.

Saturday evening, I left C with her daddy and I headed to the local college to take my niece's senior pictures. That was so much fun! I shot almost entirely in Manual mode, and I was so proud of myself. My sister helped me with poses and props, and she did a great job. My niece was crowned homecoming queen and prom queen, plus she's a very talented soccer player (she got a scholarship to play soccer this fall!), so we had an interesting array of props to work with. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home, but it was worth it. I haven't had a chance to edit any of the pictures yet. Most of them I will be able to leave as-is, but some need some lighting work. If I had one of those light bouncer things or an external flash, things would have been a little easier...! But I'll save up for photography accessories. ( :

is she beautiful or what??

I was also having a weird problem with my camera that was really slowing me down. I'd get the exposure settings just right, take a gorgeous picture, and then the settings would get out of wack. There has got to be a way to lock the settings until I move them again, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet. :/ And I've asked 2 professional photographers that I know, and neither one knew how to fix my problem. So the quest continues.

Anyway, late that night, I posted some sneak peaks of the session to facebook and got a lot of compliments. My sister and niece were really happy with what they saw. I just hope they like the rest of the shots as much!


Yesterday was of course Father's Day. I gave DH his present Saturday nice since I knew Sunday would be busy. We gave him a nice electric razor and he loved it. Men are so hard to buy for, so I am thrilled when I actually get him something he likes! haha

We went to Sunday School, and C went to the nursery class by herself for the first time. It was weird (but nice) not to have her in our class, distracting us. She enjoyed her class and the teacher said she was very well-behaved. We left after that because we had a family reunion to attend. The reunion was fun and we ate some really good food there. And C made friends with one of her cousins, who she nicknamed Pecan for some reason. It was hilarious! (By the way, around here, we say "Pecan" like PEE-can, not pe-CAHN.)

C's inner demon escaped when we got home, haha. She napped part of the way home, and I had hoped she'd go back to sleep on my bed, but that didn't happen. She was wide awake, and of course DH and I were exhausted and just wanted a quick nap. C was overtired so she was being kinda bad and driving us insane. We can laugh about it now, but yesterday afternoon we definitely were not laughing!!

Finally, I decided to play Just Dace on the Wii with C. That made her stop whining and she had fun. Plus I got in a good workout. ( :  After that, we headed to my other sister's house for a Father's Day cookout. We don't see my sisters and their kids often, but I always enjoy spending time with them. My other niece is pregnant with her first child, so its an exciting time. And I'll be doing her maternity pictures and her newborn session, so I'm looking forward to those challenges!

We got home after 8 and we had to feed the animals, so it was close to 9 by the time we were getting our baths and getting ready for bed. I could tell C was exhausted but she was holding up well. She was out in her crib before 10, which was wonderful. Then DH went to bed because he had a headache. I should have gone to bed, too, but I stayed up doing research for our upcoming trip to the Outer Banks of NC. By the time I decided to call it quits for the night, I still had to wash my face and all, and after that I was wide awake, so I read for a while in bed. Like until 1am. (Bad Nikki!!) Not long after I finally drifted off to sleep, C woke up crying. I brought her to bed with us and she kept us up pretty much the rest of the night. I think she was just overtired and couldn't sleep well because of that. Toddlers are so finicky!! So I feel like I've been hit by a truck this morning. Hopefully tonight I can get to bed earlier. And hopefully C will sleep better, in her own bed!

DH's cousin is bringing her newborn baby down to visit everyone today, so I'll finally get to meet that baby. I'm excited about that, even though I know its gonna send my baby fever into overdrive, haha. Everyone keeps asking me and DH when we're gonna have #2, and its hard to know what to say. We want another child, but we're not sure when. Both of us are pretty much just open to God's timing, though. That's how we were when we conceived C. We were cool with having a baby right away or having to wait a while. We'll see what happens. ( :


This is random, but I don't want to forget: Saturday morning me and C had been in and out of the house a lot. I was hanging out clothes on the line and she'd go with me, then we'd play on the swing set for a while before coming back in so I could get more cleaning done. At point point she asked me if we could go back outside, and I told her we could in a little while. She said, "but Jesus is outside!" I love that kid. <3

VBS Night 5

Well, we made it through a week of Bible School! Thankfully, nothing major happened and we have a nice, peaceful end to the week. C had quite a fan club show up: DH, my parents, DH's parents, and one of his sisters. Which of course made C really ham it up during the program. ( :

After the program, we went over to the fellowship hall for hot dogs. I love spending time with my parents and DH's at the same time. I don't know why, it just feels complete to have everyone there, I guess. We had a good time, anyway.

When we got back home from Bible School, we went home and had a relaxing evening, just the 3 of us. Actually, me and C played my new Wii game, Just Dance 4. I've been wanting that game for years, and I finally decided to treat myself. I'm so glad I did! We danced to 4 or 5 songs and let me tell you, that is a work out!! I was sweaty and out of breath by the time we were done. It was so much fun though. I am a terrible dancer, but I love to let loose when its just us at home, so this was perfect for me. We played it again yesterday afternoon. I don't know if this'll help me get in shape, but it can't hurt!

VBS Days 3-4

Didn't get a chance to blog yesterday. This week has been insane!! And normally Fridays are my chill days at work, but not today. But its cool. Crazy makes the day go by faster. ( :

First up, I got my ring back from the jeweler's yesterday! DH picked it up for me. I had dropped it off last Saturday to be sized down. Now I can wear my set on the correct finger!!

It feels so weird to have rings on that finger again. Its been over 2 years!! And actually, its still too big. I only had my engagement band sized, thinking it could hold down the wedding band. That way, if I go through another pregnancy and my fingers swell, I will be able to wear at least one of my rings. I had the engagement ring sized down to a 6. (I used to be a 7, woah!) And its still kinda floppy on my finger, and it doesn't take much effort at all to get it off. I'm gonna try it for a while before I decide if I need to get it sized down some more. I'm waitin for my fingers to swell like they normally do in the heat, but for some reason this week they haven't. Go figure - when I want my fingers to swell, they don't!

And that picture made me realize how weird-lookin my fingers are. What is up with those 2 that kind of twist in??! haha


So, VBS. Night 3 was uneventful. I didn't get any pictures because C was running around the church during music time instead of standing up front with the other kids. For some reason, she decided it was a really grand idea to take all the hymn books out of the shelves and place them onto the pews. I had to go behind her and put them all back up. Fun times.

I've still been unsatisfied with the lack of Jesus-teachin goin on durin VBS, but I keep remindin myself that we are in the nursery class, so teaching them anything is a challenge. A friend told me that the kids were probably picking up things during craft times, but our class is not doing anything related to Jesus or the Bible. Every night, we decorate a different object with stickers. We've done a hat, a bag, and a bucket. I guess I was just expecting at least crosses or fish symbols or "J is for Jesus" or something. But oh well. C is havin a blast, and I like that she's around other kids and in a church setting. So its all good. Next year she'll be in the preschool class, I hope, so maybe she'll learn somethin.

VBS Night 4 was pretty interesting. We had some storms roll through last night, and we lost power very early during bible school. VBS starts at 6:30, and sometime around then the lights went out and came back on a few times. We were eating in the fellowship hall at that point. Around 6:45, the power to the fellowship hall went out and didn't come back on. They checked the church and the front half of it had power but the back (where the classrooms are) was out. Us adults voted to just stay, since a lot of kids had been dropped off and their parents were already gone.

So we finished supper in the half dark, then headed to the church. The storm hadn't even hit at that point. It was really windy and was raining a little, but nothing major. We started our songs and not long into the first one, the power went out. We sang it a capela - luckily we've sang that song enough this week that we all know it by heart! Then we proceeded to go through our normal routine. The youngest kids (including our class) were dismissed to crafts, and that was interesting. The fellowship was getting pretty dark by then. Me and another mama in our class had flashlight apps on our iPhones, so we held those up so our kids could see their stickers.

Next, we went to our regular classroom. It wasn't too dark since there's a window in there and the room is pretty small. We tried to tell the kids a bible story, but they were more interested in playing, as usual. At that point, my phone died since I'd been using the flashlight so much. It normally doesn't bother me not to have a phone on me, but I felt extremely weird not havin one when the power was out and the weather was bad. Anyway, last we went to another classroom that had extra windows to sing a few more songs. We played them on a laptop but the volume wasn't able to be as loud as the little kids liked, so they weren't into it. Oh well.

Me and C came home to a dark house. DH had called me earlier to say the power was out. Even though the storm never really got bad around our house (thank God!), a transformer went out up the road and knocked us all out. DH's brother works for the power company, and he was texting back and forth all night letting us know it would be longer than they thought. DH got out all our oil lamps so we weren't in the dark at all. C wasn't too sure about it, though! She kept askin us to turn the TV on so we could see, haha.

Luckily, I have a car charger for my phone, so I plugged that in so I could look at the radar. All day yesterday we had been told to watch out, that the storms were severe and could spawn tornadoes. We kept waitin for it to get bad, but it never did. At 10pm one more storm rolled through, but it wasn't close to us. It just sounded that way since we didn't have power!

It was uncomfortable not havin A/C last night, but not unbearable. We set up a battery-powered fan to blow on me and C as I rocked her to sleep. Instead of watching TV like I normally do while I rock her, I read a book by candlelight (well, oil lamp light, but that doesn't sound as good!). I kinda liked that. When I got into our hot bed (we closed all the windows just in case it rained some more, so it got stuffy fast), I read some more by the light. That soft light hurt my eyes a lot less than regular lamps do, that's for sure!

At 2:15am I awoke to some strange noises in the house - the power had come back on so everything was humming again, plus the TV had came on. I was so grateful for those guys who worked half the night to get power to us again!!

So far, its been a pretty eventful week overall at VBS. No power last night, DH got struck by lightening earlier this week...jeez. Makes me wonder what will happen tonight??! Will tonight be calm and anti-climactic, or will we end VBS with a bang? I vote for calm and low key. ( :


In other news, I went to my eye doctor yesterday. It was my yearly appointment, but I told him I've been having some major eye issues lately. They hurt all the time and I can't wear contacts anymore. Which makes me extremely sad/angry. I think I've already blogged about this. Anyway, he told me I have severely dry eyes. Huh. They feel dry with my contacts on, but they don't feel dry with my glasses, though they always hurt no matter what. And wearing contacts makes them really red, too. He gave me a different brand of contacts to try and gave me some eye drops to use every hour liberally. Well, at first I loved the contacts, but after an hour they were feelin dry, so I put some drops in my eyes. And then my vision was blurry for 5-10 minutes after. Wonderful. It cleared up, so I figured I just had to get used to all the new stuff. Next hour, same thing, but worse. It finally got the point I couldn't take it anymore and just threw the contact out and put my glasses back on. I told the dr and stopped by after work to get a different brand of contacts to try. But my eyes hurt this morning so I haven't put them in yet. Gonna try them tomorrow. I hope they feel better to me! He said I'll probably end up on a prescription eye drop. Yay. I just hope I can get to where I can wear contacts again!!

One more thing: I've been researching natural remedies for allergies, since C's have been so bad this week. She takes Children's Claritin every day, and Nasonex nose spray. This week, I added Children's Zyrtec at night, and after a few days that really helped. Now she's much better. But I hate her havin to be on so many medications. I'm gonna try to get us some local honey (for us both to eat, since my allergies get worse every year now), and then I read up on essential oils. Apparently a combination of lavender, lemon, and peppermint is great for allergies. I got all three yesterday but didn't get a chance to try them out with all the drama last night. I'm hoping tonight to try them on myself first, just to make sure nothing crazy happens, then on C tomorrow. Either way, I'll blog about it after I try it! If nothing else, I'm gonna get a diffuser and use some of these in the house - that lemon oil smells so good to me!! ( :

All the EOs said to use a carrier oil when applying directly to skin, so I got this Almond oil to mix in. We'll see how it works out!

VBS Day 2

Last night at Vacation Bible School went much more smoothly than the first night did! And nothing major happened to DH while C and I were gone, either, so that was a plus!

I felt much more relaxed after work yesterday, since I knew I didn't have to fix supper before leaving. C and I got to church a little bit early, so I was able to get her started eating before too many other kids arrived. Which was nice since they served spaghetti! I even managed to eat a small bowl.

During craft time, the kids were supposed to make fish picture frames that will have magnets added to the back for use on the fridge. The fish were foam and the kids were supposed to glue all the stripes and eyes on the fish. Of course, they had a pattern for us to follow. All the other helpers/mothers in our class helped their kids put the stripes in the right places, but I decided to let C be creative and do it her way. Her fish doesn't look like anyone else's, that's for sure! I forgot to take a pic. But they had someone going around taking pictures of all the kinds, and hopefully they will print out the pictures and put them into their frames by Friday. That'll be a nice keepsake.

Classroom time was a little better last night. Our class' teacher tried her best to tell the kids the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, but I don't think any of the toddlers were listening. One funny thing: the teacher asked all the tots to say "Peter" and of course some of them couldn't do it. I asked C if she could say it and her response was, "sure I can!" I said "well, let's hear it!" And then she started saying "Peter-Peter-Peter-Peter-Peter...!" It was hilarious. (I guess you had to be there, haha.)

So we let all the toddlers play for the remainder of our class. Even though I'm pretty sure C is not learning Bible stories like I had hoped, she is getting valuable time with children close to her age. She's learning how to share and cooperate, and help clean up even when she didn't make all the mess. Its good for her!

Music time was a hit again. C loosened up a little more and danced some. Still not like she does at home, but I bet by Friday she'll get there!

Not entirely sure what C was doing when I got that picture...haha. Everyone else was dancing, and she just got down on the step like that and looked at me. I was cracking up. As long as she's not being destructive or causing any harm to anyone else, I try to let her just be herself. If she wants to lay on the church steps instead of standing up and dancing, so be it. Creative freedom, I guess. ( :

Speaking of that, C is more and more starting to voice an opinion on things like her clothes and hair. She never used to care about stuff like that, but lately, she will protest if she doesn't want her hair in a ponytail, or tell me she wants it in "2 ponytails" (pigtails). And Lord help me if I pick out the wrong shirt for her in the morning! Just today I picked out a perfectly nice yellow shirt with fish on it. "I don't want to wear that shirt!!" she screamed at me. She wanted to wear the same pink shirt she wore to VBS last night. Whatever. It wasn't dirty, so I just let her. She's also been very vocal about which shoes she wears with which outfits. I had no idea this type of thing started so early! (And actually, she's been picking out her shoes for several months now, I just hadn't thought about it much.)

VBS - Day 1

Last night was the first night of Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. Man, was it chaotic!

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who thought that. Let's hope that tonight things go a little smoother.

Yesterday I rushed after work and made it home with C by 5:30. We immediately jumped into the bath tub, then I got ready while she splashed around some more. I had planned to heat up a frozen dinner and fix some mashed potatoes for supper, but I realized I'd never have time for that. So I fixed C a PB&J sandwich and I ate a few handfuls of chips (healthy, I know!), and then we were out the door. We got there at exactly 6:30 and were pretty much the last ones to arrive. Everyone else was already in the fellowship hall eating supper! No one had told me that food would be provided. I figured they'd have snacks, but not a meal. C of course wasn't hungry so I ate her bowl of chicken and rice.

At least now I know that the rest of the week I don't have to rush to fix supper. As long as C gets a good meal, I will feel fine. Me and DH will just wing it for ourselves this week.

After everyone ate, we headed to the church for the real start to VBS. It was extremely loud! We sang some songs, recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible, then there was a short puppet act, which no one could hear because the kids were so loud. C was pretty overwhelmed and didn't know what to think for a while. This was the point where I discovered I had been designated a teacher of C's class, the toddlers. Luckily, the other teacher actually knew about her role beforehand and was somewhat prepared!

It was so crazy in there that all the kids were running around and being wild. This is my child. Who knows why she was doing that! lol

Next, we took the 7 toddlers in our class back to the fellowship hall for craft time. They loved that. They made little owl masks and decorated hats with stickers. C covered every square inch of her hat with fish stickers, and as soon as we got home, she promptly removed every single one! Next up was lesson time. Which did not happen.

Our classroom was the church nursery, which is where people take their babies and toddlers during church so they can play. So they're all used to just playing in that room. And what did they want to do as soon as we walked through the door? PLAY! We managed to get 3 of them (C included) to sit down at the table, but none of them payed attention to the lesson. I don't even think the other teacher finished reading it; she saw how pointless it was. Eventually we both gave up and decided to let the kids do whatever they wanted.

After what seemed like an eternity (this was after 8pm, which is almost bedtime for most toddlers, so they were getting cranky...), it was finally our time for music. We went back to the church sanctuary and they cranked up the music and we sang and danced for a while. The babies loved that. I kept waitin for C to bust out her dance moves like she does at home to her VBS CD, but she held back, haha.

DH texted me while we were doing our craft time and said that he and our dog, Roscoe, had been struck by lightening!! I of course freaked out until I got him on the phone and was assured that they were both okay. He told me later that the lightening didn't actually strike him or Roscoe, but something nearby and they felt it. It knocked the power out to our house, though it came right back on. DH said he was putting out the last pile of hay for the horses and had the pitchfork in his hand when it hit. He said he couldn't let go of the pitchfork and poor Roscoe didn't know what to think! When it was over, Roscoe ran to the house and it took DH a while to calm him down. DH felt bad the rest of the night, and this morning he said his arms felt weak. I was just grateful that he was okay!!

Exciting start to VBS week, huh? I pray that the rest of the week is uneventful!!

Weekend Recap

We have been having some seriously great weekends lately! We've had places to be and things to do but nothing too stressful. Mostly I've just tried to really enjoy spending time with C. I've really loosened up on my house cleaning obsession, haha. Not that I've ever had a spic-n-span house, but I have finally learned that a little dust on the furniture is okay. As long as the bathrooms are cleaned, floors are swept, dishes are washed, and we have clean clothes, I'm good.

The floors being swept are kinda my issue, though. I'm a little obsessed with it! Well, my husband would probably say I'm extremely obsessed, lol. I sweep at least 2 times a day. I hate dirt on my floor!!! Luckily our house is not very big so sweeping doesn't take long at all. ( :

Anyway! Like I said, this weekend was pretty great. Very relaxing, and I didn't get anything done that I planned. But that's okay. Me and C had some fun!

Saturday morning we went to my brother's house. His girlfriend has a 3 year old boy (K), and C likes playing with him. They played inside for a while, then jumped on the trampoline outside. C loved that. We may have to purchase one in the near future...haha. After that, we headed to the jewelry store. I am finally having my ring sized down. Turns out my finger is a lot smaller than I thought! I'm only getting my engagement band sized down. The wedding band will still be loose, but it'll be held in place by the other ring. I wanted to make sure I could at least wear one of my rings if I go through another pregnancy! We also dropped off a bracelet that my husband bought for C on her birthday last year. Yes, it was in December, and yes, its taken me 6 months to get it sized. Whoops. Its a silver charm bracelet and he got her a beautiful charm with a "C" on it to start.

After lunch (which we ate on a beach towel in the living room - C thought that idea was genius!), me, C, and my mama headed to my sister's house for my niece's graduation party. We got there before most of the younger people, so we went swimming in the pool. C had a blast! She has absolutely no fear of the water. I can't decide if that's good or bad! I didn't have a float for her, so I was just holding her while she kicked her little feet (so cute!), and she kept sayin "let me go, Mama!" Uh, yeah, that didn't happen! Then she wanted to climb up the ladder and jump into the pool. She was having so much fun but it was kinda stressful for me. I was so worried that she'd slip through my hands or something. I am definitely getting her some of those little arm floats. I can see a lot of pool time in our future this summer!

Yesterday was my husband's family reunion. He and his dad were in charge of cooking the pig this year, so DH was out of the house by 3am to get it started. So C and I went to Sunday School alone. Before it started, C told one of the women in our church that I wouldn't give her any Cheerios (she has turned into a tattler lately, lol), and the woman said "well, if you come to our class today you can have Goldfish!" That was all it took for C to want to go, haha. She normally comes to our class during Sunday School. She eats Cheerios and is actually very good about being quiet, so we've never taken her to the toddler class. But she liked it! I stayed the whole time just to make sure she'd be okay. Hopefully next week I can just leave her in there and go on up to my class.

(This reminds me: last Sunday during church, C walked down the aisle to the front all by herself for Children's Moment! She is growing up way too fast!!!)

The reunion went well. We had it in the church fellowship hall this year, which was wonderful because of the A/C! (We normally have it outside at my in-laws' house.) The food was delicious, C went to the potty several times (yay!!), and everyone had a good time. It made my baby fever intensify, though! There were a few pregnant women there (one of which went into labor last night and had her baby earlier today!), and a few new babies. Made my uterus ache, lol.

After the reunion, C passed out on our bed. And for the first time in months, she napped without being held!!! It was glorious to be able to get up while she was sleeping and do stuff. I did cheat, though: I nursed her to sleep, then eased off the bed. Hey, whatever works, right? This was huge. I can't remember the last time she took a nap without being held. If you try to lay her down for a nap she wakes up screaming. So we've all just been going with it. Its hard to complain when she sleeps so well at night.

During her nap, DH and I actually had whole conversations. Doesn't sound impressive, I know, but it is hard to have a real conversation with him when C is around! She's good as gold when we go out, but at home she likes the spotlight to be on her, haha. (She comes by it naturally, me and DH are both kinda like that!) And she's so stinkin cute its hard not to let her have the spotlight! I'm hoping that this nap-by-herself thing is gonna become the norm.

I also made her shirts for Bible School while she was asleep yesterday. Bible School starts tonight, and I am so excited! This will be C's first one, and I think she'll love it. I'll be staying with her, but it'll give me a chance to hang out with one of my friends, since her little boy will be in C's class. It'll be a fun week, but a rushed one. Bible School starts at 6:30. I usually get home between 5:30-5:45, so that doesn't give us much time to get cleaned up and get some supper in us. I told DH we'd probably be eating a lot of sandwiches and microwave dinners this week. (I should have prepared by making some freezer meals for this week. Hindsight is 20/20!) I'm going to the grocery store later to stock up on things that are super quick to cook/prepare.

Wish us luck this week as we rush around to get to church every night! It will be a busy week all around for me. I've got an eye doctor appointment later this week, and I'm curious to see what he says about my eyes. I've been having a lot of pain in them for a while now, and I can no longer wear my contacts, which makes me super sad. I despise wearing glasses. I'm also going back to the chiropractor again this week. He's been working on my TMJ, and he thinks that's what caused my trigeminal neuralgia a few weeks ago (did I blog about that? I can't remember!).

This coming Saturday I'm shooting my niece's senior pictures. That should be fun. I've got a ton of ideas for her. Oh, and that reminds me! Last week I purchased a tripod for my camera! I'm super excited about that. I've been wanting one for a while now. This baby goes up to 5', maybe a little more. I didn't use it much this weekend, but I did snap a quick picture of me and C with it...

Sunday is Father's Day, which will be another busy day. After that, our weekends should calm down a little. Let's hope so, cause I need a beach day STAT!! ( :