Almost Done!

Good news! Nanny just called and said she had just gotten through taking Ann Catherine to the doctor. He said her arm is healing really well and he took off the cast and put her in soft splint! She still has to be careful not to play on anything dangerous on the playground (which is pretty much everything!). But at least we're at the end of this second broken arm journey and she'll be OK to have her bouncy birthday next month. And, of course, that means that Mommy and Daddy should be getting the bill for all of this just in time to start buying Christmas presents! Whoo Hoo!

Help! I'm Raising a 7 Year Old Teenager!

Don't get me wrong - I love my daughter! She's kind, sweet, loveable and so helpful to me with Will and around the house. But lately, she seems to have TOTALLY hit teenagehood! And it scares me to death. I remember what I was like as a teenager and I'm not sure that I can raise one of those! She has started to become moody and angry and sometimes has a hard time controlling her emotions. She screams at the top of lungs when she's mad, goes stomping off to her room, slams the door, throws things around. She cries at the drop of a hat.

You know what scares me the most about this? It means we're quickly headed towards.....puberty. AAAHHHH! Just saying that word creeps me out. But honestly, when I think back to when I started getting all the "privileges" of becoming a woman, I wasn't too far from her age. Most major changes starting appearing when I was 8 and 9. So, with the fact that her 8th birthday is right around the corner, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised.

Honestly, though, more than anything it makes me sad. It makes my heart break just a little bit. When did my baby grow into a little girl to further develop into a really big girl? Worse yet, when did she start teetering on the fence towards pre-adolescence? I'm not ready! There's a reason I never could teach kids this age at church - I didn't like them! They talked back too much! I couldn't figure out how to deal with them! Maybe I need to start buying books on loving your adolescent. Maybe I need to start finding books on the five love languages to children you just really would love to strangle at times (not that I really would).

And maybe I need to start begging for my mother's forgiveness. Watching Ann Catherine change makes me heartbroken to think of what I put my mother through! No wonder she hid in her bedroom and cried so much when I hit adolescence!

Suspense

I hate suspense! It makes my stomach turn into knots. I suddenly get this overwhelming panic come over me and my skin starts to crawl. I start to have a hard time breathing and the suspense bugs me so much I can't concentrate on what's causing it! I can't wait to get to the end! It's this way with books, movies, sports games, etc. Anything where I'm sitting on the edge of my seat. To prevent this desperate feeling, of course, everyone knows I go ahead and read the last paragraph of every book I pick up. If I'm not sure how a movie is going to end, I'll scan movie reviews and talk to people who have seen the movie before I'll actually watch it. (Only with movies where I'll actually care how it ends, of course. Who cares how a Jackie Chan or Adam Sandler movie ends?)

But not today. I'm determined to let the suspense eat at me today. One of my favorite authors, Karen Kingsbury, just released the final book in a series of 14 books I've read over the past five years or so. I got hooked on these books when I was working at the church and I've been wrapped up in it ever since, waiting impatiently for each new book in the series. I've cried over lost/hurt children and the loss of a parent. My heart has broken as I "watched" a mom lose her baby after delivering her only hours before. I've rejoiced over loves found and marriages built. I'm mourned over Satan tearing apart these same marriages or even tearing at the members of the family individually. I can honestly say that I have become a part of the Baxter family. I've even contemplated moving to Bloomington, Indiana! (You'd love that, wouldn't you Mom!) One year, I even started looking for a job for Brian in the area and actually found a copyright job at the University there. I never could convince him to apply.

The suspense has grown with each book, but I've always surrendered and read the last few paragraphs to help keep it from eating at me. Yesterday, though, when I bought the last book and knew what it was going to mean to me emotionally to read it, I made a decision. I am going to let the suspense eat me alive and I am going to do everything in my power to NOT read the end of the book. I'm going to cry and rejoice and go through this book and not have a clue how it's going to end. Ultimately, that's how the whole series has been to me. Even though I've helped ease the awful feeling of suspense by draining it a little by glancing at the end of each book, it never really helped fully because I knew the "true" ending was still out there.

Well, the end is here and I'm determined not to cheat. I'm going to be a big girl for once and cry like a baby at the end. So, if you call me this weekend and I'm sobbing when I answer the phone, don't worry too much. Just reassure me that, yes, I can eventually move to Bloomington, Indiana.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Well, actually, it's not rain that I want to go away. It's a hurricane!!! There's another pesky one churning and heading for the Gulf. And I want it to go away! Brian and I have been keeping a wary eye on the weather reports and now we're worried about our chosen anniversary trip location. Since it's on an island off Mobile and has had more than its fair share of hurricanes, we're a little nervous. Luckily, we haven't put any money down on it yet so we aren't out any money if this place is damaged or blown away. But that also puts it at risk for someone else reserving it! And then we're back to square one of looking for a nice place to stay. So please join us in praying that this hurricane (and all others following behind it over the next couple months) will just go away!!!

Pick-Me-Ups After A Vacation Let-Down

Well, Disney is done and now we're settling into our daily grind and routine. It's weird coming home and not having anything left to plan for or get excited over! I bought surprises and packed my bags months before vacation and now I'm just left with suitcases full of dirty laundry and brochures and pictures from all the days of fun. How sad. I guess this is what they call the post-vacation blues. (Well, I'm not sure anyone actually calls it that. I may have just invented it myself!!)

So, to avoid the dreariness of returning to my real life, I've found two ways to find some more excitement and joy in my life. One, I've made the monumental decision to put together a Disney scrapbook. I've never been a scrapbooking person. Not only does it require a lot of free time that I never have, but it also requires some creativity that I think God forgot to bless me with. Everything I try to get creative with always ends up looking like an elementary-school project that someone rushed through the night before it was due (not something I've ever done, of course!). But, after being so Disney-obsessed, it's kind of a let-down not to have Disney in my life anymore. So that's how I came up with the idea to get brave and dig up some minuscule creativity I'm sure is deeply buried down in me somewhere and try to put together a Disney scrapbook. I'm going to go through the 300 pictures we have, buy some scrapbooking stuff and create this book of memories. And, of course, it will probably take me 10 years to complete but that will be OK since I'm sure it'll be another 10 years before we get to go again!! :-)

My other avenue of creating excitement is to plan our 10-year wedding anniversary trip. It's our second honeymoon! We have located our beach condo in Dauphin Island, AL and have found the funds to cover the expense. So now I get to do lots of planning and making packing lists to prepare for this trip to the beach! In a way, I'm even more excited about this trip! (Well, kind of. It still doesn't have the Disney magic.) My favorite part of planning for this vacation so far? Making my list of what Brian and I can do during our four kid-free days. And we plan on doing everything we haven't been able to do in the past almost-8 years! We're going to sleep in late! We're going to antique stores! We're going to play games that require small pieces (YEAH MONOPOLY!!!)! We're going to watch movies with bad language and adult situations! (OK - I'm not talking trash here people, so you can wipe the concerned look off your face Mom. I'm just talking the R-rated decent movies that we enjoy but can't watch with kids around because it has a little too much language or a scene or two I'm not comfortable letting the kids watch.) Anyone have any other (clean) suggestions for us to add to our list?

Disney Mania!

We're finally home from Disney. Actually, we've been home for a few days now but we've both been too exhausted to get on the blog and update it until tonight.

The trip was wonderful and I've included some pictures below. We managed to take over 300 of them!!! I'll spare you from the majority but thought I'd share some of our favorites. Even though we had a nervous 7 year old and a fidgety 2 year old, we all managed to love our trip and even the several days we had alone as a family. Even though I absolutely adore "the rest" of my family, it was so nice to have a few days where it was just the four of us. I don't think we've ever done that before and it really made for some sweet memories.

Way Too Excited!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I am SOOOOO ready to go. I'm so excited that I'm shaking. How silly is that? I feel like a little kid myself getting ready to visit the most exciting place in the world!

Oh a side note, one reason for my excitement honestly is because of what today is. Would you believe that 10 years ago today, my sweet hubby and I were walking down the aisle together? He told his mom this morning that I deserved a medal for putting up with him so long. I personally think he should get a medal, trophy and one of those HUGE grand prize checks that people get on TV and you wonder how in the world they're going to get it to the bank to cash it (and would a bank really take one of those?) for putting up with me so long!!!

So, to my sweet and very precious husband who I don't tell nearly enough that I love him dearly (and who will probably not read this blog before the end of the vacation),
"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, HONEY!"