The Whirlwind is Almost Over!

So, here is where we are right now...

We just finished helping coordinate, feed, and photograph my sister-in-law's wedding in NC. We left on Thursday evening for NC around 5pm. We arrived at my parents house at 2:30am on Friday. The boys were up at 7am! We did some finishing touches on our leftover stuff back in NC from our move. We leave tomorrow morning around 7am in order to be back in FL for the 6pm service and dinner.

I was able to get a job in Tampa (the next county over). I drive around 30min. one way to get there, but it is not bad. I teach all 3 grade levels in Reading. Most of my classes are students who did not achieve well on the FCAT (similar to EOGs). I have enjoyed it thus far. I was hired on a Monday afternoon (teacher's first day) and was a work the next day. I was "official" on Wednesday. Students began on Tuesday, the next week.

The boys LOVE their daycare, which is at the church where Daniel works. Malachi is in VPK (pre-kindergarten). He is enjoying learning. Ezekiel was put in the 3 year old room since he is advanced. He loves it, too.

We accepted an offer on our house of Monday this week. We should close in September 20-something. We now have 2 months left to find a house in the Z-hills area. We are happy for the temporary housing with no lease but ready for a house with room for all of us and our stuff. We will be looking at some homes next week.

The boys were ringbearers in the wedding today. We bought them suits. Ezekiel called it his "soup." When he says bathing suit, it is "baby soup." He was so exhausted from today's festivities and no nap and little sleep that he was in bed by 7:30pm and should sleep until we wake him up in the morning.

We don't have internet or cable/satellite at our temporary house, so I will try to do better about updating later. That's why these are a little far and few between.

Pictures!!!

Last week we were at General Council in Orlando. We had a great time.

Bibleman (Malachi)

My friends Tigger & Pooh (Downtown Disney)

Rainforest Cafe - very scary for the boys - in Downtown Disney

Playing outside at the house

More Playing outside

Maw-Maw Carol (plus Grammy & Grandpa) came down with us to help us move. This is from a recliner in our furnished temporary house.

We're "settled" in.

We arrived with our U-haul with car-in-tow and Durango at our "rental" temporary housing (for 3 months max) on Thursday morning around 1:30AM. We had planned to leave NC around 6am, but we didn't get to leave until 1:30pm. I love how plans work out :) Anyways, we would have made it sooner, except we were stuck on a stretch on I-95 in SC for about an hour. A tractor trailor must have jack-knifed in the rain, so we got to STOP! It was nice to take Ezekiel pee on the side of the road and share mom's snack of friendship bread with Daniel, Maw-maw Carol, and Malachi (while stopped). We also inched along interstate 95 to 295 as Jacksonville decided to route all traffic for 95 & 295 into ONE LANE! How wonderful!

Well, we made it without any excitement on our part that day. We were able to sleep until 8 or 9am. Then, we began to sweat more than any human should ever have to sweat! The humidity is horrible. Thankfully, we got some help to unload most of the stuff into a storage unit (our rental is furnished). The head pastor and great man, J, came out to assist while Maw-maw and Grammy watched the boys nap and unpack kitchen boxes.

Friday, Daniel went into work for a few hours. I took the boys to the local spraygrounds/splashpad. Malachi wanted Ezekiel to play, but Z would have none of it. It ended in a double meltdown. I'm glad I had to other "mothers" along that day. Malachi had a "talk" with Ezekiel about being his buddy next time and playing. It is so funny how Malachi is a splashpad man, and Ezekiel is a swimming boy. Z hates the splashpad, and Malachi is finally warming up to the pool. He used to be terrified of water.

Saturday, we went out to breakfast, toured Lakeland and saw Southeastern, then ended the day with CiCi's and swimming at the pool at Grammy & Grandpa's hotel.

Sunday was church. Malachi did great, once we got to church. I had to wrestle his clothes on him at home, then throw him in the car. Once there, he calmed and actually sat in his seat the whole time! I was so proud of him. Ezekiel did fine in nursery, too. Grandpa, Grammy, and Maw-maw headed for home right after church. We went to a little Italian/Greek restaurant and home for naps. Church at 6pm, then warm-up the taco meat we bought in the microwave b/c the oven pilot hasn't been lit yet.

Monday, I did laundry and clipped coupons. Afternoon we ate lunch at the house then went to a local bank to start a new account. Then, we ran home and packed, so we could get in the car to head to Orlando for General Council.

We've had a fun time at the Liki Tiki resort in Orlando and a great time at General Council.

We hope to sell our house soon. It was viewed on its 2nd day on the market. Then, we can seriously buy a house. I'm looking forward to more space than a hotel and little 2 bedroom can provide. It's been a whirlwind.

Please pray that I can find a job. School starts in a few weeks. I am believing and praying that God would provide that.

Love ya.

Welcome Summer Michelle!

Today, my big brother became a DAD for the very first time! He has "adopted" Jasmine as his own, and he is a wonderful father to her. It was so neat to see my brother, David, smile from ear to ear with the birth of his daughter, Summer Michelle. Michelle, his wife, did an excellent job and was thrilled that no extra surgery was necessary. It was blissful to see the proud parents.

She was born at 7:43am, weighing in at 8 lbs., 10 oz, and 21 in. long! She has blue-gray eyes and a head full of thick, dark brown hair. More pictures to come!

Congratulations, David, Michelle, and Jasmine on the birth of this beautiful bundle of joy!!!

We are moving to Florida!!!

In 2 weeks, we will be moving to Florida. Daniel has been offered and accepted a full-time children's pastor position in a small town outside of Tampa.


We are sad to leave our friends and family but excited about the opportunity that God has given us. He has given Daniel a wonderful job at a wonderful church and even provided cheap housing for us before we even had a chance to look for an apartment.

God has performed 2 incredible miracles thus far. Now we are praying and believing for our house to sell and a job for me. Praise the Lord!

Anticipation

I'm literally giddy with anticipation over what is happening in our lives right now. I can't share right now and ask that those who do, only share with those who will pray. I have spent hours upon hours crying out to the Lord for help, and he has answered the cry.

Now, I am spending hours and hours praying that He would continue to do the miraculous in our lives.

You see, CFA, our church, has been in the "Pursuit of the Miraculous." About 2-3 months ago, it moved to "Receiving the Miraculous." That is where we are. I hope that in the next few days we can fully divulge all our "secrets." It's not meant to be secretive but the timing has to be right.

I can't wait to share!

What a Blast!

Malachi's Green B'day Party Luau was great! We had a TON of people in our tiny little house. Malachi got some great presents, but most of all, had a great time with friends and family. Daniel had told Malachi he would make him a green Mickey Mouse cake similar to Ezekiel's cake, but he just ran out of time to make it. So, the day before I was at Target and ordered a Mickey Mouse cake. It was great for our theme, and Malachi got some figurines out of it to play with.

Malachi's Green Luau

We had some things pop up that made us decide to have his 4th birthday party THIS Saturday at noon. Malachi will be having a green luau party at our house. If you can come, please let us know. Presents are NOT required! We have plenty, but if you must bring something, Malachi likes Cars, Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny and just about anything green. We hope to see you there!

More on the day...aaarrrgggghhhh!!!

So, I had to wake Ezekiel up from his nap early today to go to the hospital to get Malachi and see their newest cousin, Ivey. She was born at 3:09pm, weighing over 9 lbs., and longer than 22 in. Malachi was the only one to actually see her before we left for church. Tomorrow, we'll visit again.

Ezekiel was cranky for over an hour. When we sat down to dinner, Malachi went to the bathroom at church and didn't return for awhile. We found him in the bathroom with green poop all over his leg, shoe, back, etc. Church starts at 6:45. We left for home to bathe at 6:30. Malachi wanted to do it all himself (for the first time ever, only this time, the clock was not on our side). I got to church late (7:00). My pager went off at 7:30, which is supposed to mean Ezekiel, but it was Malachi with runny poop (in church). I was so blessed to have a man who adores our children and is a wonderful father, hanging with him until I could figure something out.

I got Z's pull-up. He was still wearing underwear! Malachi was, again, wearing a 2t pull-up while his little brother was wearing underwear. Poor Malachi!

When I got home, Ezekiel pooped in his underwear and then in his bedtime pull-up!

I am so tired of poop and running to the potty to pee with Ezekiel. I don't know if I want to see tomorrow. At least, I think, someone is giving me a phone, and I will be reconnected.

I am soooooo grateful that I was not working today. I ended the day with many laughs and smiles. Any other workday would have killed my nerves and driven me totally crazy. I'm thankful my child was sick like that while I was not at work, but this ALWAYS happens. Every summer break this happens (and sometimes other breaks as well).

I'M DONE!!!

Interesting Day (to say the least)

Just so you know, Malachi's runs ended after his nap that day(of course, he was in Daddy's care then, so he didn't have to clean up all that I did).

Today, we took our time getting ready and then went to the hospital to see Felicia & Nathan. She went in at 6am to have labor induced. They also have a little girl that is 2 weeks younger than Ezekiel but a little bit bigger than Malachi. Funny, huh? Anywho, the boys love their little girl cousin and jumped at the chance to hang with her (wherever they were). Ezekiel has been potty training since Saturday. Yesterday, he stayed pretty much dry all day. Today, I didn't even put him in a pull-up when we left the house. We ran to the bathroom about 12 times (literally) in the 2-3 hours that we were there. On one of the trips, Z had just peed 5 minutes before but insisted that "Ize pee-pee in da potty." As we opened the door, Daniel called me. I was leaning over him (Ezekiel) while talking on the phone to help Z get his pants down, and guess what?

Down, went my phone!!! It was submerged in water literally for about 1.3 seconds (if that). It began to malfunction and now does not work. I think I might have slipped and said, "crap," in front of both my boys. No parent of the year award for me! There are much worse things, though, and I never say anything close to that normally. As long as Ezekiel doesn't start saying it like, "hush-yu-mouff" (hush your mouth), then it's not so bad---which, for the record, Daniel and I did NOT teach him that.

Now, I'm in a real dilemma. We are in the process of canceling our home phone. It should have already gone into effect but hasn't yet (thankfully). We didn't get insurance on my phone, so I'm trying to figure out a cheap way to get a phone back quickly. I think one of our friends from church will be giving me her old one, and I am so ok with that. As long as I can call and text people, I'm good. I should be back with a phone by tomorrow afternoon at the latest! What a great day :)

YUCK!

So, Saturday, a small part of Sunday and today, Ezekiel has been in the process of potty training. He's doing pretty well---much better than Malachi in the first few days. He's only had one puddle on the floor thus far. We went to Target on Saturday and bought all 3 boys new underwear. Ezekiel got Diego. Malachi got boxer briefs of Transformers, and Daniel got well, not tidy whities.

Today, Malachi has had the diarrhea. He hasn't complained of a stomach ache, but he hasn't been able to make it to the potty in time. I've been cleaning up the runs all day. Now, I think they are sleeping. I'm tired of poop!

Ironically, my almost-4-year-old has been wearing a pull-up today, and my 2 year old has been wearing underwear. It has been a fun, first day off for me :)

I hope it gets better after nap!

Woo-hoo!!!

Tomorrow is my last day of school! I'm ready to spend the summer with my children. My boys need some discipline, and Ezekiel is ready to be potty-trained.

Daniel is itching a lot right now. He got bitten by one black ant on Tuesday. He went to the doctor on Wednesday. After the doctor looked at the 6 in. diameter swelled area on his arm and his swollen knees (previous problem), he was given 4 prescriptions. One was an antibiotic, another was a steroid, another was strong advil to use after the steroid, and then 2 epi-pens (just in case). He's doing much better, and I'm glad we didn't have to make an emergency room visit, but it stinks that he is so allergic to something like that.

I still can't believe how Ezekiel talks as well as he does. He will name just about any character, "Hammy Hammy" (Handy Manny) is still one of his favorites. The "wu-pets" (wonder pets) are also a personal favorite.

Malachi is gearing up for school in August. He still needs a pull-up to sleep at night, but I guess we'll tackle that one this summer, too. I'm not quite sure how to handle it all, but most of it will get done (as it does each summer).

Truly, though, my heart is at home with the boys. I would like to have more children, but it is hard that I can't totally control how they are raised. I want them to only take the right things and be spared (for awhile) from the bad. I'm just trusting the Lord that change will come. I would love to be a SAHM. Maybe in a couple of years we will be able to work that out. I'm praying for change.

Malachi's Party Plans

Malachi's birthday is July 9th. I have a little time, but I also have 2 weeks of school left and an anniversary on June 22nd. So, I was talking with Malachi about what his "theme" should be. As it stands today...

"Green" party!

His favorite color! He doesn't want a Cars party, again. He doesn't really want a Mickey Mouse party like Ezekiel; however, he does want a Mickey Mouse cake. So, it looks like we'll have green drink, green (Mickey Mouse) cake, green plates, green cups, green decorations...you get the idea. I am kind of stoked about this. It saves $$$$$!!!! Generic stuff is so much cheaper than any Disney or Nickelodeon theme. I was worried he would chose Diego or Handy Manny. I think he may stick with that decision.

Not to mention, we can call it "going green" and people will think we are helping the environment (ha, ha, ha). I also like the idea of not endorsing a character but just having a good time. Malachi will be wearing green, I'm sure.

We'll see how it ends up :)

A few Malachi-isms for the road...

• "ress" - just
• "ever-one" - another one
• Handy ManDy - sometimes instead of Handy Manny
  

A Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo today. It was nice to take the boys out, but it was stressful. Malachi enjoyed the giraffes the most. Ezekiel LOVED the elephants. We got some good pictures of animals but not many of people. I'm glad we went. the boys learned a lot, and it was fun to see them look at all the differences.

Pictures to come.

Let's go racin' boys - Part 2

So, today we headed to the track again with little hopes of seeing a whole race, but Malachi went and sat for hours last night with nothing to show for it. He never saw any cars race.

We made it to about lap 180 after stopping for about 1 1/2 hours for rain and the drying of the track. We decided that after the 3 o'clock stop to honor those veterans who died that if it began raining again, we would leave. Malachi wasn't as well-behaved as the night before, but I felt so bad for him. He got jipped.

His Paw-Paw Phil went with us to the track yesterday and today. He was thoughtful enough to bring us rain coats. Malachi got a special Lightning McQueen poncho. Today we took lots of food and snacks.

Now that they just called the race and David Reutimann was the winner, it was time to post. We only missed about 40 laps or less, so I don't regret leaving when we did. I couldn't take anymore at the racetrack. I enjoyed it but if rain had not been an issue, it would have been different.

Here are some pics...

Let's go racin' boys!

So, we tried to go to the race last night. We sat in the rain for 2-3 hours until they called the race for noon today. Malachi was so well-behaved, but I hate it for him. He wanted to see cars go around the track.

The worse thing was, we live like 4 miles from the track and had to drive over our shoulders just to get to our butt. In other words, it took us an hour and a half to get home and lots of state troopers.

I hope the race today is better and we don't have to pay to park again. Please rain, stay away!

Still Sick

So, Monday night I was up every 1-2 hours with Ezekiel screaming b/c it hurt to breathe! Poor thing. The only thing that would calm him down was a breathing treatment and laying in my arms. Needless to say, I got no sleep in my bed and had to work hard in between all those hours to help the poor thing sleep.

He was doing better, but today he started to get a puffy, itchy eye. I finally broke down and took him to the doctor. The dr. gave him an antibiotic (shot). He was really whiny and cried about the shot for awhile, but after it had time to kick in and he got some dinner, he was a new boy. Praise the Lord!

I hope we are finished with the big mess and will be able to recover now. I've missed my workouts all week :(

Sick

Last night (and especially this morning) both the boys had a snotty nose. Ezekiel's was much worse than Malachi's. Poor thing woke up last night, crying, because he couldn't breathe. He also seemed to have a slight fever. He got two doses of Advil today and his first breathing treatment in a month and a half.

I am so thankful that it just seems to be a cold and that Ezekiel has been healthy for about 2 months. It has been such a blessing to not have to worry about him everyday and whether he was feeling all right.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us the past 2 months. Please, heal him now and keep him healthy.

Updates

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I had a few moments of deja-vu as I purposely put Ezekiel in the red & blue plaid shorts that Malachi wore on my first Mother's Day as a mom of 2. Ezekiel was 3 months old and wore blue plaid shorts that were similar but not matching.

Our lives have changed a lot since then. My very first Mother's Day as a mom came with my friend, Lesli. Malachi was 10 months, his buddy, Kyla was 3 months. Now Lesli had her first Mother's Day as a mom of 2. We've shared a lot together.

Malachi is doing well. He is talking more and more clearly. I think that he is pretty articulate for an almost-4-year-old. His speech has dramatically improved. He has fallen in love with Veggie cheese. We tried it over a year ago, and he just didn't care for it. Now, he loves having his "own cheese," and it is much better for him than cow's cheese. That is what I am somewhat glad for. Dairy really is not that good for you. It seems to have been a blessing in disguise that Malachi (& Ezekiel) drink soy milk, and don't have much dairy. I believe they are healthier for it. We're trying to cut some of that dairy out of our meals, too.

Daniel is on a mission to lose weight. I'm trying to join him. I have been gaining weight instead of losing it lately. I would ideally like to lose about 30 lbs. Yes, I can lose that much and be in great shape (like I was in high school). I would be happy with losing 15-20 lbs. Thankfully, I do carry my weight well, but I don't want to do that. I know that my body may not be the "same" after kids, but I would sure like to not use that as an excuse.

Ezekiel TALKS a lot!!! He will say things that I didn't know he could. He accidentally busted Malachi's lip tonight. He came running in the kitchen saying, "I sorry, Na-ky. I nnt mean to. I sorry, Na-ky." He can use some pronouns correctly. Lately, he will catch me at a quiet moment and say, "Momma, Momma, Momma," until I answer, "yes, Ezekiel," Z: "Mommy, I luff you!" You can understand what he says 90% of the time, and he is a sponge. I know that he talks much better than Malachi did at that stage.

There are only 21 days left of school!!! Now I need to find a part-time job to help make ends meet. We're planning on taking Malachi to the race, and taking both of them to the zoo. We're trying to keep the funds under control but still do a few nice things for the boys. I've been wanting to take them to the zoo for awhile.

One last thing...Ezekiel is HEALTHY!!!! How awesome is our God. He hasn't had a breathing treatment since the end of March, and we haven't heard any croop-y sounding coughs. Hallelujah!!!

Alligator Wrastelin'

When we go places, we try NOT to do "touristy" things. We like to try restaurants off the beaten path and take in new experiences. Well, on the gulf coast, most of thos restaurants are seafood, and since I don't want to take my husband to the emergency room again, we tried a "touristy" place. The boys had a great time. There was live music, hula hoops, beach balls, a kid play area, food, and LIVE ALLIGATORS. Malachi was too scared to touch it at first. Ezekiel boldly went to "pet" the aaa-gay-der. After dinner, Malachi wanted to hold and get his picture with the al-gator, so we did. It was a little pricey, but it scanned pretty well. So, thank you to Fudpucker's in Destin. We had a great evening!