She looks like me!

This is my oldest daughter Sara. Beautiful, isn't she. This picture was taken in December after she had just lost a tooth--it was where the hole is.

This, of course, is me. It was taken in December also right after the haircut. See the resemblance? It's okay; I don't either. Ever since she was born I've been searching for some kind of physical symbol that she is my kid. Up until yesterday the only thing that has surfaced is the freckles--we've both got them. Yesterday though it became obvious that she is, in fact, in a physical way my kid. She's missing a tooth. You are probably thinking "of course she is, she's 7 and that's what happens to baby teeth. They fall out." Well, I'm not talking about baby teeth. I'm talking about permanent teeth. If you don't know me real well, you may not be aware that I am missing two permanent teeth in the front. They are the two on either side of my top two front teeth. I have a bridge on each size. It's genetic and yesterday at the orthodontist we discovered that Sara is missing one of the same teeth that I am. (I should also tell you at the this point that Joe's sister happens to be missing the same two teeth that I am, but I claim the fact that Sara is missing hers. I'm her mother!). Anyway, that was the bad news. The good news is that she also got her dad's small mouth so they think they can correct it without implants or bridges. Yeah! Unfortunately that also means that we are starting down the road of expanders, braces, retainers, etc. Ashley had all her teeth but there is no where in her mouth for them. So she is going to have baby teeth pulled, expander, night gear, retainers, etc. If we didn't do this for her I think she would literally have three rows of teeth on the top and on the bottom. I literally gasped at the bill and found at least 10 more gray hairs on my head when I got home. I was feeling blessed that I still had my hair--I thought for sure it was going to fall out from the shock!

Sleeping like a baby (or maybe better than a baby)

My husband works very, very hard for our family. It is one of many reasons that I respect him. He is also a night owl. I am not. I am a morning bird. So I am almost always up before he is--unless it is deer or duck season then he is totally a morning bird and gets up before I do which is really, really early. It's not deer or duck season right now, so he's in his night owl routine. I usually let him sleep in because, like I said before, he works really hard and he deserves some sleep. I usually try very hard to keep the house quiet for him, but he is a hard sleeper in the morning which helps. In fact, he's still sleeping right now which is extremely amazing considering what he has had to sleep through this morning:

• I fell over the pillows on the floor in our room on the way to the bathroom this morning. I didn't want to turn the lights on.
• Nathan hollering from his room (which is right next to ours): Can I get up now?
• Me, as I was on my way to tell him that no, you can't get up yet, stepping on the Spiderman sit and spin and it shouting out "WOOHOO! Let's go!" and then playing rock music. In my panic I grabbed it and actually went into our bedroom only to say "I'm sorry" and ran back out again. Not sure what I was thinking on that.
• Me whisper shouting from our bathroom across our bedroom into the boys room "No, you can't get up until I get out of the shower!"
• The hairdryer--need I say more on that one.
• The boys running from their room to the office so they could watch Bugs Bunny
• Me briefly waking Joe up and asking him if he remembered where he put the living room TV remote the night before
• Me turning on a small light in our bedroom searching for the remote
• Me pounding on the office door whisper shouting that they (the boys) needed to unlock the office door or else
• Me very sternly telling Nathan "NO!" as he unlocks the office door and hands me the living room remote
• FoxNews playing in the living room with the volume up way too high (not sure how I slept through Joe's hunting shows last night with it that loud).

I'm just thankful that Joe probably won't remember any of that.

It's a heat wave!

It's 25 degrees outside with a wind chill of 11 and it feels like spring! I didn't even wear my gloves and I swear I heard some birds sing. Ahhh, it is suppose to be below 20 again tomorrow, but it does give me hope that maybe next week we'll maybe make it into the 30s! I may need to get my shorts out...

My random 25

Just as a warning, if you're on facebook and my friend you've probably already read this. (If you're on facebook and not my friend you definitely need to ask!). I know somewhere I got tagged for this in the blogging world as well, so I thought I'd post it here as well. So here are my Random 25:


1. Between facebook and my blog, I figure it isn't too polite to ignore being tagged on my random 25 anymore. I think I've been tagged 25 times.
2. I have never colored my hair and am trying to figure out what I am going to do when it starts going gray.
3. I like Bon Jovi--1980s Bon Jovi--not the 2000s Bon Jovi.
4. I am much more of a sports fanatic than my husband. I prefer college basketball and NFL, but will pretty much what whatever is on TV.
5. It drives me CRAZY when our living room couch in front of the picture window gets pushed up against the curtains. Since we have tile and our couch moves very easily, I fix this at least 20 times a day.
6. My husband recently freaked me out by asking me what I thought our "dating policy" should be in regards to our girls. I mean, Sara is 7 & 11 months! But I guess it is always better to decide before it actually is an issue.
7. I have visited all the lower 48 states and hope to go to Alaska and Hawaii someday.
8. I like to mow the grass and trim the edges.
9. I am not a good housekeeper and I hate mopping the floor.
10. Spagetti is my favorite food.
11. I have no idea what my love language is and am convinced that it changes pretty much everyday.
12. After our kids are grown I would love to go hunting with my husband. With practice, I think I could shoot better than him.
13. I never filled out my youngest child's baby book. (Cut me some slack...Sara was 4 when he was born!)
14. I like rodeos and bull riding. (viewing not participating!)
15. One of the biggest blessings I received when I moved was my five bedroom house. I never thought I would ever get to have a five bedroom house and I never even told anyone that I wanted one. It was God's way of saying that He knew the desire of my heart.
16. I don't like to sew. My mom is a wonderful seamstress and made my wedding gown. It didn't rub off on me.
17. I do not like to do jigsaw puzzles. I find them very, very boring.
18. My husband has a better eye for interior decorating than I do. It has taken me years to admit this.
19. I liked the idea of living in Texas a lot more than the reality.
20. I would love to get my master's degree in something someday--probably not business or accounting.
21. I like action movies so much more than romantic comedies.
22. I'm a political junky.
23. As I have gotten older, I have become more of an introvert.
24. I never, ever thought that I would be a pastor's wife. Even before we were married and I knew Joe was going to seminary, I didn't think it. He was going to teach. So much for that...
25. I'm on an Asian food cooking kick. (try saying that ten times fast)

Question of the morning

This is what I was pondering this morning: what is it about getting dressed that children hate? I think I say about a million times (okay, maybe more like 20) every morning "Go get your clothes on!". So I decided to take a poll to see if I could get to the root of the issue. The poll question "Why don't you like getting dressed?" Here were the poll results:

Sara (the eldest whom always (well, most of the time) desires to please): But I always like to get dressed mom.

Ashley (who was having difficulty eating her breakfast and obviously let that bias her answer): Oh, I want to get dressed. Can I get up and get dressed?

John (who happen to already be dressed and was completely confused by the question): But I'm already dressed mom. Mom (trying again): Well, when you aren't dressed, why don't you like to get dressed. John (looking at me like I'm an idiot and sounding very exasperated): I don't know!

Nathan (who always tends to have his finger on the pulse of the children of the house): Because you told me to.

Girl Scout Cookies

My girls are selling Girl Scout cookies. So if you absolutely love or even just like them and want to support a troup (#4408) that you know the girls, here's an opportunity. Here are the cookie options for this year:

Carmel deLites
Peanut Butter Patties
Shortbread
Thin Mints
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Thanks-A-Lot
Lemonades
Reduced Fat Daisy Go Rounds

They are $3.50/box and we need your order by January 31 (iowahorns@hotmail.com). They will arrive March 3 and I can mail them to you.

Happy Birthday John-John!

My eldest son turned 5 last Saturday. Wow! Doesn't he look old?We had a pretty low key day on his actual birthday. On Monday we all went to Chuck E Cheese. (On the way there everyone got into a big debate as to whether his name was "Chuckie" or "Chuck E". Then we had to discuss all the possible names that E stands for) And I can actually say that we had a really good time. We were there when they opened at 9am so that probably helped. John's favorite game at Chuck E Cheese was a video game he played with Daddy where they shot giant spiders and other gross bugs with machine guns. His cake of choice was a rainbow cake with white icing and sprinkles. And his supper of choice was Chinese BBQ ribs--I must say the boy has good taste. He did choose to have a mild version of them, but then decided later that he wished he had picked the spicy version. (He loves stuff with lots of flavor and is the only child I have who will request to have salad and raw onions. He LOVES raw onion.)

Daddy decided that this would be the perfect birthday to introduce John to Legos--pirate Legos to be exact. And he LOVES them! Especially the canon that shoots out canon balls.

When he was born, we were determined not to call him "Johnny". We have been fairly successful, except that Nathan wasn't really aware of that and has decided that is his favorite name for him. (Or, knowing Nathan, it is very possible that he is aware of it and that is why he calls him Johnny.) We have, however, taken to calling him "John-John" because, of course, everyone must have two syllables in their name! Anyway, Happy Birthday John-John--we love you!

Our Together Time

Between strep throat and record breaking cold last week, we had a lot of together time in our house--if it is possible we may have had too much together time--well, too much together time inside these four walls! But for the most part we had a blast (when we weren't vomiting or shaking from the chills from our fever!). I thought you'd enjoy some shots of what the kids did.

Joe's parents came out the beginning of the week so John got to open some of his birthday presents early and enjoy them while he was sick. He got the expanded pack of Lincoln Logs and turned into mister engineer. It is pretty much impossible to convince him to get creative and not follow the instructions included. Note the plans laying out on the counter.

This is Sara getting started on her paint by number. She actually got a lot done on it last week since between being sick and snow days she didn't go to school at all. She has a lot more patience than I do!
And Webkinz, of course! I must say I can see how this can become very addicting. It looks like a lot of fun--so much so that I may ask for one for my birthday! It certainly easier to take your pet outside in Webkinz world than it is in real life! (We also played a lot of Tinker Toys. You can see them in the background.) And, I almost forgot! We finished reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Then Joe watched the movie with the older ones. Great Fun! I love introducing classic literature to the kids! I'm trying to decide what to read next. In the meantime, we've been hanging out with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle in the evening.

our new toy

Well we took the plunge last week. We got satellite TV. I never, ever thought I'd have satellite TV. When I think of satellite TV I think of the absolutely huge, massive dishes sitting in someone's backyard. It has certainly changed. Now it is just a little thing that sits on my roof. And, I think, it used to be very expensive. Now, at least in our area, it is significantly cheaper than cable. Anyway, we got tired of our 5 channels and I'm sure if we tried we would have been able to find a strong enough antenna for the "big digital change" coming in February, but, frankly we wanted to watch Food Network, Fox News and The Outdoor Channel. And it has been wonderful! We also got a DVR so I'm sure our children will be clueless as to how TV really works. I can hear them at someone else's house "why can't you pause the TV while I go to the bathroom?" We pretty much record anything we want to watch and then fast forward through the commercials. And, with ours, you really can pause live TV which comes in handy at bedtime. So our viewing pleasure lately has pretty much consisted of hunting, 30 minute meals, hunting, Diners-Drive-ins & Dives, hunting, NICK, and did I mention hunting? You know you've watch a lot of hunting when Joe says "I'm starting to get picky about what I watch on the hunting shows." Here's a shot of Joe introducing Nathan to the art of bowhunting:

my new appreciation

Do you ever have one of those days where you think "ugh, I must be in the lead for worst mother ever award"? I'm having one of those days. And the thing that makes this one really bad, at least in my mind, is that I was trying very, very hard to do the right thing. I prayed about it, sought counsel, and really tried hard to do the right thing. And then two hours later it became very apparent that I had, in fact, made a bad decision and the guilt started setting in. It wasn't an immoral decision or sin; it was just a bad decision that had consequences with one of my kids. As I was mulling this over in my kitchen, I gained a new appreciation for my Heavenly Father. He is all knowing and filled with wisdom. Every decision He makes is just and right. I don't have to worry about facing consequences of a bad decision that He made in regards to something in my life. Every single decision, no matter how big or how tiny, that He makes is right. And when you really think about it and ponder it, that fact is awesome and amazing. I am also hugely grateful for a child who trusts her mom and is so extremely quick to forgive when I mess up and don't trust her. Proving once again that sometimes it takes stumbles to really have an appreciation for my Savior.