Love notes

Our girls have gotten pretty sweet about writing us little notes and leaving them for either me or Louis.  Last night, Louis was gone with a church member and as we were getting into bed, Abigail wrote him a note, "For you Dad", and another one, "I love you" and left it next to a big glass of sweet tea for him.  She turned on the porch light for him, left the door unlocked, and I turned out the main kitchen light (we always leave on the low stove light).
She pleaded we leave it on, "So Daddy can find his tea when he gets home". 

This morning, Anna has this waiting for me:

Oats, butter, cinnamon, and later we added the brown sugar to the countertop mix, which was new and wasn't where we normally keep it so she couldn't find it to set it out.  Do you see the little sticky note attached to the oatmeal container?  It says, "Please Mommy".

Doesn't her face and folded hands look like a convincing request is being made?

So then she asked that I sit down on the couch, as she got everything started (I could get used to this).  I showed her how to figure out which burner to turn on, and it's getting ready as I type! 

On Valentine's Day, Louis wrote me a note with dry erase marker
on our bathroom mirror. 

It was sweeter than chocolate.

I'm loving these love notes. 

Dead battery

Well, another thing Louis would do is jump off a car battery.  The Lord is teaching me to be more independent, I just KNOW it!  The propane guy came to haul away the tank today, and asked me to move the blue van so he could get his truck in there.  Sure!  I go out to start it, and nothing.  DEAD!

So I think, "When's the last time I drove it?"

Oh. it was last Friday...

...when I moved it from the driveway to the water hose so we could wash both vehicles.  I parked it back on the driveway just in time for it to get rained on.

So I am the last one who used it...and I probably didn't get the door closed all the way.  Just another one of my contributions to making Louis feel like he's needed.  See, I did it for him.  

In my defense, my brain probably wasn't functioning completely at the time I didn't get the door sealed shut.  Afterall, Louis reminds me that while pregnant, my brain shrinks 3-5%.  That's love.  He's really just reminding me that it's not all my fault. 

Now this:

it's what happened while I was caring for our patient the DAY BEFORE we washed the vehicles. 
Yes, our little zebra used a big, fat, permanent marker. 

So in my mad dash to park the vans back, before the rain came, and to BE SURE no one was getting into mischief while I was doing so...I didn't seal the door completely.

 Now see- that changes everything, doesn't it?

There's this guy...

...who does a lot more around here than I realize, like: 

• mowing the lawn.
• taking out the trash.
• hauling off the garbage to the dump.
• making sure all the lights are always turned off in rooms we aren't in.
• going around and checking all the doors to be sure they are locked before bedtime.
• killing a spider crawling on the ceiling.
• catching a toddler from falling off the barstool, and then lifting her back up to sit again.
• getting glue traps disposed of when they have 2 salamanders stuck to them in the basement (I have allowed a mouse to have free reign because I can't even bring myself to set out a glue trap to catch the crazy thing.  WHO WOULD THROW THAT LIVE SQUIRMY MOUSE STUCK TO A GLUE TRAP AWAY?  "Not I", said the scaredy cat. 
• tickling, and letting the girls climb all over him right before bedtime, which always seems to make sleep come sooner!
• making his own bowls of cereal and getting his own drinks.  You'll never believe how many times I've checked on this poor guy and offered to fix him something then got distracted by one of the girls needing something, and forgot all about what I was supposed to do for our patient. 
• unloading all the groceries from the car.    
• filling up the gas tank.  I guess I'm just spoiled, but Louis ALWAYS pumps the gas.
• driving out to pick up whatever is needed if I'm in my pjs (which is 75% of the time).
• driving out to get dinner if there's a hankering for something specific (like the cheeseburgers tonight).
• running downstairs to check on crying (sister mediation v. an accident). 
• just being an extra set of hands, feet, eyes, muscles, etc.

These are just things I've discovered in the past 5 days!

To those who don't know, Louis had back surgery Wednesday.  He can't drive, do steps, reach too high, twist his back, lift more than a gallon of milk, and can't really get in and out of bed on his own without feeling pain.  Most importantly though, he can't bend down to pick up a glue trap to throw it out for me. 

We really need you around here, Louis...despite what you may think.  I couldn't run this household without you.  I know that now.

February meet Snow.

I love this springtime weather!  I feel the Lord blesses us daily with all kinds of sweet surprises, and this Spring weather is no different.  These beautiful days have had our windows open for two days now. 

February, this is Snow.  Snow- meet February.  Here's to getting aquainted:  

And here's to all the fun we could have once your relationship is established:

Yes, those are icicles Anna collected.

  

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Well, it all started with free tickets to the movies.  We thought we'd go Saturday night so I made our older 3 daughters lists to help around the house Saturday morning.  And their reward?  Their own bag/bucket/box of popcorn when we went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.  {insert their screams here}.

As we worked, I was just super proud.  We were working together, gonna get out together for super cheap, and all was wonderful.  We anxiously plugged through the day.  We got baths early, dressed, got our chore lists done, school completed,  fixed 3 heads of their hair, fixed an early supper, cleaned up, and bounced into the van to go.  We made good time, arriving in Jamestown 30 minutes before the movie would start to hear the dreaded words, "SOLD OUT".  Whaaaaat? 

I walked back to the van to meet my crew who had dropped me at the ticket window just minutes before.  What in the world do you do for your super helpful kiddos who you promised their OWN BAG OF POPCORN to? 

Louis and I quickly strategized (I'm thinking we must have looked like coaches, laying out a quick plan for the team).  We were loud enough that one caught the details of what happened, whined about it, and then spread the horrible rumor through the whole van.  They all were whining in their best girly voices of their disappointment.  We were then quiet enough to plan the "official play" that hopefully would save the night and we'd come out winning afterall. 

$100 later, we walked out of Wal-Mart with 3 movies, chips & the makings for Mexican cheese dip, and other necessities, like light bulbs.  We got to the van, and waited for all to buckle up.  A woman walked over to the driver's side, and Louis rolled down the window.  "Would you like a free puppy?"  I'm thinking, "She didn't just say that loud enough for all to hear!!"  Then the little "Yeahs, and Please, can we have a puppy?" pleads filtered up from the back of the van.  Louis politely apologized we couldn 't take it right now.  Then he went to roll the window up.  It didn't budge.  The button didn't even make a sound like it usually does.  Dead.  And it's cold.  And we're in Jamestown (always a 35 or longer drive home with all the windy, curvy roads).   

We pulled through the Long John Silvers drive-thru and ordered their $15 Family Pack.  If we're gonna be cold on the drive home, it's better that the girls are distracted.  The more they had in their mouth, the less they could complain of being cold, and my theory was correct!    Louis did do a hero number and shut the door over his coat which broke the wind a lot.  The sound we heard all the way home was of whipping coat and snaps slapping the window behind the driver's side.   

We got home, unloaded the van and all got into their jammies ready to watch, "Dolphin Tale".  What a night. 

We went with free movie tickets.  We returned with $115 (+tax) less money, and a costly car repair to make.  Hmm, the statement Dad used to tell me in high school rings true, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  Thanks Dad, for always being right. 

Our Christmas Tradition

When I was little, our Christmas Eve tradition was to eat mac n' cheese and hot dogs, go to a Christmas Eve Service at a local church, and drive around and look at Christmas lights.  One of my favorite parts of the night was pulling up in our driveway afterwards to see all the lights on our house (Dad was a pro at decorating) and knowing I was that much closer to going to bed and then waking in the wee hours of the night at a reasonable hour to open gifts.  As a parent, I realize how difficult it is to develop a tradition and keep it up annually, especially since we are in ministry and we never know when something may come up.  But here is the ONE thing we always do:  

Yep, cuz it's just not Christmastime if we don't go!  It's something Louis and I have done since our dating days back in 1995, well actually since 1997 when I was old enough to go out on dates! 

Some other traditions we do around our house at Christmastime:

•  Wait until the last possible minute to Go Christmas Shopping
• Make cookies with Christmas cookie cutters, and Halloween, Easter, and every other cutter they just "have" to try.
• Go Christmas caroling at the nursing home
• Help with the Angel Tree that our church hosts
• Lead the Christmas Eve service at church
• Stress about the lack of time we have (even though it always falls on the same day, EVERY YEAR
• Talk about and celebrate the birth of Christ, which really is the most perfect and only important gift there is!

For the first time since Abigail was a baby, we got out a wedding present.  Not a set of china, or crystal...but our Nativity Set.  We got it from my grandparents as a wedding gift in May 2000 and at the time of our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs., we didn't have any other Christmas things to our name.  It was VERY special to us.  This year, it was so special to get it out (now that we have room for it) to share it with our girls.  It's ceramic and delicate, two factors that make it kid-friendly (NOT).  But it's large and so the girls were able to see it very well on the table we stored it on all of Christmas.  The girls never messed with it.  However...I'm not too sure how the Barrel of Monkeys monkeys were dangling from the roof one day.   I know who did it....her name begins with "A".