The Mommy Interviews (The last one)

Well, here is the last of my mommy interviews...this one comes right from the mouth of my youngest...the baby, although he is not a baby any longer :)


1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
I love you (I love that all my boys gave this response to this question)

2. What makes Mommy happy?
Kissing (really???)

3. What makes Mommy sad?
Fighting

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
Tickling

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
A girl (I like this answer :)

6. How old is Mommy?
39, am I right?

7. How tall is Mommy?
(puts his hand on my head and says “Big”)

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Work

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Teach your kids

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Beautiful ( I love this answer too)

11. What is Mommy really good at?
Teaching

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Playing (maybe he was referring to my Wii skills)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
Teach

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Broccoli

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Kissing (not sure where this is coming from)

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Spongebob

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
Play

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
Eyes

19. How are you and Mommy different?
Hair

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Because you kiss me (what is with this kissing theme??)

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
Store

The Mommy Interviews (Part 2)

This second interview is from my oldest son...He is almost 12 :)

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
I love you

2. What makes Mommy happy?
Being with my family

3. What makes Mommy sad?
Leaving my family

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
By telling jokes

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
You were a little girl (makes sense to me :)

6. How old is Mommy?
40 (Dang...all my kids know my real age...)

7. How tall is Mommy?
I believe you are over 6 feet

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Read your Bible (I want this to be true...)

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Go to school and teach

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Be for memorizing the Bible (my favorite answer of all)

11. What is Mommy really good at?
Teaching

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Eating healthy (ouch..this is the second time this answer came around... in my defense, I have been talking about this a lot lately...)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
Teach preschoolers

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Spaghetti

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Being with you

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Candace from Phineas and Ferb

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
Eat dinner with each other

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
We are in the same family

19. How are you and Mommy different?
Well, “I’m a boy and mom’s a woman (good observation Moose)

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Because you love me with all your heart

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
Your school

The Mommy Interviews

I saw this interview on another blog and decided to copy it because it looked fun. Plus, I wanted to see what my kids think about me. I think this interview is geared toward younger children, but I thought it would still work with my kids. I will post all 3 of my children's responses to this interview over the next couple of days...

This is from my darling middle child-9 years old (I don't think he was totally in the mood to do this interview, but he did complete it) On some questions I wrote my own comments in parentheses...


1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
I love you.

2. What makes Mommy happy?
Being together with family

3. What makes Mommy sad?
Being alone

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
By staring at me

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
I don’t know, I was not born yet

6. How old is Mommy?
40 ( I wish he didn't know this answer :)

7. How tall is Mommy?
11.5

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Watch TV (Ouch)

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Wash and clean the floor

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don’t know what that means

11. What is Mommy really good at?
Writing

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Trying to stay healthy (double ouch...actually I have been talking about this lately to the kids...I promise I am not justifying myself :)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
Teach class

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Doughnuts (totally not true)

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Doing the laundry

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
I don’t know

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
Math

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
We both love each other

19. How are you and Mommy different?
We have different hobbies

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Because you help me out

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
Smokey Bones

First Day of School

Back to School 2010... Moose, Snake and the Terminator

My Boys

These are pictures taken in 2005... Today all my boys go back to school. My mother told me that they would grow up fast, and she was right :)

Here is "Moose". He will be in 6th grade this year.

Here is my little "Terminator". He will be a first grader this year.

Here is my precious little "Snake" :) He will be a third grader this year.

The joy of having boys : )

Expressing Himself

My oldest son, "Moose" is going through a stage where he posts notes on his door. Normally these little notes come when he has been disciplined by his dad or myself. Other times the notes show up when he is mad at his brothers. Click on the picture to read what they say...

My favorite note (I didn't take a picture of it) of Moose's read, "KEEP OUT... Due to Bible reading "

Those words just don't quite go together, do they???

Wise Words from my Middle Child

I know if I don't write this down, I will forget it and I want this memory to stick with me...

This past week, the boys and I were in the car and my oldest asked why people today do not live as long as people in Biblical times. I told him that after the flood God numbered the days of man and they would not live as long as people did at the beginning of creation. I then said something about Heaven, and if we truly realized how awesome Heaven was that we would not really want to be here on earth anymore. (I was talking with a friend about man's days and I said that after the flood God numbered man's days... well, I don't know exactly that that is right, but I found this verse in Psalms that made me think that is what happened...Psalm 90:10 (New International Version) The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span [a] is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Sometimes I pass information along that I have heard, but I must always make sure that I go to the source (Bible) to confirm its truth. So for the record, I maybe 100% wrong about God numbering man's days directly after the flood. I am not completely sure about the timing...

The boys continued their conversation, and I heard my oldest talk about how he accepted Jesus so he would go to Heaven one day... the conversation continued just a little more, and then I heard my middle boy say to his older brother something like this..."Moose" you also have to follow Jesus to go to heaven. That's not how it works, you can't just accept Jesus, you have to follow Him too to go to Heaven." Again, I don't know that I got all his words right, but the point is there.

I grew up where there was a big emphasis on accepting Jesus into your heart, but not a lot on what it meant to follow Jesus. Following Jesus, is more than accepting Him. I think many people believe in Jesus and would even say they have accepted Him, but yet they do not change their lives and follow Him. I am just now learning that truly following Him is about denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Him.

Do I follow Jesus everyday, every minute of my life? No, not always, but I am aware of when I am choosing my own way, and in that moment I have to pray that my will will succumb to God's will for my life, even when it is hard. I have learned so much the last year about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and it is changing my life. The Lord is doing a work in me that I can't explain, and I am realizing now how much I need the Holy Spirit in my life to empower me to follow hard after God.

With God all things are possible...for me that means God can help me stay on the "narrow way" that leads to Him, no matter how many times I jump off that way to enjoy the broad way for a time. He will always lead me back... I pray that my children will learn this lesson as well.

Dogs Eat Meat

This video was inspired by my middle child "Snake"... He started chanting "Dogs Eat Meat"... We had been travelling for 3 days, hysteria might have set in. Then my other sons chimed in... Snake is terrified of dogs, so I ask him how he knew dogs eat meat... He won't get close enough to one to find out. He replied, "In my dreams, dogs eat meat.." Sounds perfectly logical to me.

Oh, please ignore the loud annoying cackle from myself... My hubby drove over a deep bump in the road and it surprised me :)

Photo session gone BAD...

Again, these are some older pictures that I scanned not too long ago... I only had 2 children at this point. I was trying to do this awesome photo shoot on my lawn, and you can see that it easily turned sour, but I still think the pictures are so cute... Look at Moose's face on the last shot... I love it....

Time Flies

This picture was taken in January 2005

This picture was taken on Easter of this year (2009)...

It is so much fun to watch my kids get older, but I do at times when they were babies and toddlers...My mother always warned me that time flies, and she was right :)

The Boys...

This past weekend my hubby had a company "family" picnic. At the picnic, there was a clown that did face painting. The clown's daughter made balloon animals (I missed that picture opportunity because I was eating). I always want my kids to get their faces painted. Sometimes they do not want too, but this time they all did.

At first, I went over to the table and I was looking at the sign of all the paintings the clown would do. I tried to talk my boys into what I thought would look cute on them, but soon realized they all wanted to make their own decisions (does this have to start now? :)

The paintings they chose to go on their faces really represented who they are...

Moose- My oldest. He is a happy kid... He is sweet to the core. The Rainbow was something beautiful to him, and he wanted it on his face, even though mom thought the octopus was cuter.
I love that boy!!

Snake- My middle, my thinker, and at 6 he is one that is already attune to spiritual things. I was sure that he was going to pick something really ruggedly boyish (he chose the sword as his balloon figure), but as soon as he saw the crosses, he knew that was what he wanted. I love that boy!!

Terminator- My baby, my jokester, my ball of energy. It was no surprise that he chose the T-Rex. After all, his nickname is the Terminator... When I went to take his picture he was posing like T-Rex, and he was making guttural noises. I love that boy!!

Something as simple as face painting at a picnic gave me insight into the personalities of my boys.. Now, I think that is cool!!

Time Travel Tuesday

OK, Today's Topic is "We're Having A Baby". Tell about the childbirth experience... Well, I have had three babies. One by natural delivery, and the other two by C-Section. I really should have had all three by C-Section, my boys are cursed with the "BIG HEAD SYNDROME"... All three have pretty big heads... especially my first two. So big, that their pediatricians wanted to run some tests when they were younger... All to find out, that my hubby's head is extra big, and I think, my own head maybe a little bigger than the average adult size head. Boy, the facts that you can learn at the doctors :)

Today, I will just highlight some moments from my first baby's (Moose) delivery. I think I labored for about a full day. The funny thing is I thought I was going to have the baby when I was in the car driving to the hospital. I had only been in labor a couple of hours, but I was sure the baby was coming right then. I think I scared my hubby. The baby actually arrived about 13 hours later.

Also, before birth... I had this list of things I was never going to do.. 1. I will not get into any weird positions to have my baby. 2. Only my hubby and mom can be in the delivery room with me. I am a very super modest person. I still keep the door locked in my bedroom when I am getting dressed :) I wanted as few people as possible to see me having the baby. 3. I would try to have the baby all natural (no drugs).

Well, number 3, was ruined only a few hours into my labor... I love drugs, when it comes to labor and delivery :) Number 1, I blew when I was in my third hour of pushing. I will save you the mental image by not describing the weird position. I was willing to do anything to get my baby out. Number 2, didn't matter to me very much after a full day of laboring.. Pain makes you forget many of the things that you wanted at the beginning of your experience. I had my hubby, mom, and sisters in the room. Not to mention a nice staff of nurses and doctors.

One scary thing that happened to me was my blood pressure started to go up... They had to give me oxygen, and some medicine to keep me from the possibility of going into seizures... That was kind of scary, but I think I was in to much pain to really process that whole ordeal.

OK, I am going to share something quite personal right now. We definitely wanted to film the birth. In my mind, I was thinking something like "A Baby Story on TLC" version.. You know, the kind that is PG, maybe even G. To my surprise, a certain section of my birth video is more like "The Discovery Channel's" Version... with a R rating. What a nice surprise I get, when I decide to relive my birth experience by watching the video only to see a zoomed in shot of my "birth area" (you can probably figure out what I am talking about). I really never wanted to see that side of me :) I think my sister was the culprit, I don't think she knew how to operate our camera. Thankfully, that section of the video only lasted a short time.

Well, I pushed for about 3 hours, and with the assistance of a vacuum (not a Hoover) my little Moose came out. I remember looking at him, and seeing my face. He was all covered with stuff, and had a little cone head, but I could see that my baby looked like me.

My hubby beamed with joy, and probably was scared to death. I think we both were... We were parents, and kind of clueless. Thank goodness, parenting is kind of on the job training. Even better, my hubby and I had our Heavenly Father that would teach us to become the parents that Moose and all of our kids needed :)

Thank you Father for allowing 3 of your blessings to enter our life. We are richer and better people because of our blessings (Moose, Snake, and Terminator).

(I had an experience after Moose was born with God that was amazing... This experience was used to help lead my Grandma to Christ... I will make sure to share at a different time)

Blessings...

Reality Hits...

If you read my post last week An Outing to the Grocery Store you would have read about my wonderful experience at my local Grocery Store. Well, today my utopia turned into my regular nightmare (I am being a bit dramatic). I had to go back to Meijers today, but first had to make a stop at one of my favorite places, Walmart. That was probably my big mistake. Behaviorally speaking, my boys can pretty much only handle one store in a single outing.

Moose, my oldest, was really the main culprit day. Moose is autistic, and I say this not as an excuse for his behavior, but to help explain some of the WHY, he acts the way he does. First of all, he had in his mind (from our last trip to Meijers) that he was going to sit in the shopping cart. Well, Walmart doesn't have the big shopping cart with the bench attached, so he had to walk with me. Oh no, no, no, he did not like that, so he started whining about it before he even got out of the car. I reminded him that his Strawberry Milk (his treat at the end of our outing) was at stake... He calmed for a second, but started up again before we made it to the door of Walmart. At this point, I should have turned around and went back home, but I have become a seasoned veteran at tuning out my kids, and ignoring the stares of shopping onlookers. So, I kept going, and Moose kept walking. However, he stopped at the entrance and told me he was going to stay right there, but he eventually started moving again.

He calmed, but soon began a very loud speech about how hungry he was... That pretty much carried on through several isles. Even though I didn't want to do this, I told Moose that he had lost his Strawberry Milk for good. That move alone was going to make my next few minutes in the store harder, but it had to be done. He tried to bargain with me several times about earning it back. You see, Moose could care less about what anyone around him is thinking... so he acts like he wants... If he wants to get emotional (like a 3 year old), he will. Thank goodness, he did not have the 3 year old tantrum.

Surprisingly, I was very calm... I only lost it one time, when I told Moose to shut up. We don't use the words shut up... Those words just seem to carry such a negative vibe... Snake, nicely reminded me of that rule of our household. I tried to justify myself to Snake, by telling him that Moose really was acting up, that he needed the strong warning. I know, not my best moment, but I regrouped, and finished my business at Walmart.

Once we got back to our Van, I nixed our second store idea. No, Meijers today... There was no way, I could have made it through that store with Moose knowing that he wasn't able to earn his Strawberry Milk back. As I left the Walmart parking lot, I remembered my last trip to the Grocery Store and how wonderful it was... But, at least for now, that is not my real life. My life consists of a lot of challenges (Parenting-Wise)...,but only through the challenges do I really grow... Grow in every area. Marriage, Parenting, My Spiritual Walk... I normally don't change so much when life is smooth sailing. Plus, I remember back 5 years ago, when a day like today could have pushed me overboard, and today I remained calm (minus the use of the SHUT UP phrase:)

I know all Praise goes to you, Jesus... Without, you I would be a total mess in every area of my life. Thank you for continually pursuing me, and challenging me to change... I love YOU!!!

PS. In the car ride home, and the first few minutes coming back in the house, Snake started crying because I didn't help him the way he wanted me to, and Terminator said that he did not like or even love me anymore (I didn't let him eat Cereal for dinner) :)