Spirit Filled Sunday Morning

My head is pounding and I can't help but feel jealous of our neighbor who is currently sitting pool side on this beautiful Sunday morning with a book and no screaming children.  

Our kitchen window faces his BEAUTIFUL in ground pool so all summer I have had the luxury of watching people dive off of the diving board into cool crisp water while I scrub the scum from my kitchen sink.

Such is life!

My Sunday morning has been anything BUT spiritual.  

I've used a FEW spirit filled WORDS but that's about it.

Last night was a NIGHTMARE.   

SERIOUSLY.  

Paul kept getting up every 15 minutes claiming that a bug was biting him. We finally changed his bed sheets at 1am only to be woke up AGAIN by Paul saying "I think someone hit me in the head with a broom."   

In between fighting with Paul, Anna was up and down as well.  Her poor ear was hurting her and there was very little we could do. 

So, in between the "excuse me i think there is a bug in my bed" from Paul and the "AAAAHHHH MY EAR HURTS WELLY WELLY WELLY BAD!" from Anna, Roger and I got very little sleep.

You'd think that since the kids didn't get any sleep last night that they would SLEEP IN this morning wouldn't you. But oh no that totally DID NOT happen. 

 Paul woke me up at the butt crack of dawn declaring "can we get my birthday toys out of the car and put them together."  

(side note: we had his birthday party at my parent's house saturday evening.)

Anna followed shortly after demanding any and EVERYTHING of me. 

The child ENJOYS sucking the life blood from me.

However, when we walked outside to GET the toys out of the car Paul had a MAJOR MELTDOWN when  we discovered that Roger had already left to work more on his sermon, taking the car with the toys in it.  

PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!

In the end we finally got ahold of Roger who brought the toys back, emptied them into the living room floor and headed on back to the church. 

So there I was with two cranky children, me completely EXHAUSTED still in my jammies and faced with the pain staking task of opening toys and putting batteries in them.  

YAY!  

Paul and Anna have fought ALL MORNING LONG.  The screws on the backs of the toys have been a PAIN IN THE A$$ to unscrew and Anna has ALREADY broken one of Paul's new toys.

At one point, after 3 hours of nonstop screaming, battery changing and putting toys together, I  franticly grabbed this............

went into my room and LOCKED THE DOOR.    

When the kids started banging on my bedroom door I simply walked out the back door in our bedroom that leads to our back deck, shut the door and listened to the birds chirp.

Yes, the mint chocolate cupcake was FABULOUS!

Some photos of Paul's 6th birthday party at Mom and Dad's

6 candles on a cupcake is a LOT

so excited to swim under the water

Anna and My little 4year old cousin Luke

the after party

A Hand Plus a Finger

Can you believe that our little boy turned 6 years old yesterday?

He is a hand plus a finger....... in kid terms.

I can hardly believe that Roger and I have been parents for 6 whole years because we STILL haven't figured out how to do the whole parent thing.

We just do our best and pray that it works in the long run.

Paul Calvin has many obsessions....

The Beatles

The Monkeys

Storm Chasers

Strange Creatures

God

And CAVES.

Yesterday morning after declaring HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him Paul McCartney style...

(I told him Paul sent him a message then played this for him. His eyes got MASSIVE)

 .........I announced our plans to venture into Mammoth Cave after dinner.

In true Paul fashion he quickly ran to his room to prepare for his first caving adventure.

Shortly after, he appeared before me wearing ONLY his underwear and a camping back pack.

"Mom, I'm ready to go caving. I've got my back pack, my magnifying glass just in case we see a small creature, my rock climbing clip because you never know, my flash light since it will be dark and my sleeping bag just in case."

I tried VERY hard to keep from laughing as I said, 

"well, buddy boy, are you missing something?"

He looked down.

"Oh yeah. I guess cavers need pants since they have to sometimes crawl around"

I added, 

"and  possibly a shirt?"

When we pulled into the parking lot of the National Park Paul said in such a awe struck voice,

"I can't believe I am here. we are really going to go into a REAL cave!"

We had dinner at the park hotel before heading into the cave.

Roger cracked the whole place up by announcing, 

"WOW it is like a Cleaver Family vacation in here," 

as we walked in the door.

It was REALLY old school wood paneling, and old chairs.

That place is in DESPERATE need of a face lift.

It was HILARIOUS.

Once we started heading down into the cave, feeling the cool breeze on our faces, listening to sound of water dropping around us, Paul could NOT contain his excitement. You could see it ALL OVER his face. With every step down his smile got bigger and bigger until he screamed out,

"Mom, I can't believe I am actually INSIDE the earth."

We chose the Mammoth Passage tour that was only 1 1/2 hours long because we took little Anna with us and weren't quite sure how she would handle the wet darkness of the cave.

She ended up LOVING it!

However, we did have to take turns carrying her.

But it really wasn't that bad.

In fact, I was quite surprised by how carrying around over 30 pounds through a dark cave didn't faze me much.  I am so happy when it comes to caves so there's not much that can annoy me when I'm exploring!

On the way to Mammoth Cave I was SHOCKED when my husband looked over to me with excited eyes similar to Paul's and declared that he had 

"never been to a cave before in his life."

I smiled REALLY big and said with a smirk 

"well, well, Mr Jasper. There are things that I am getting to introduce YOU too! I've taken you to eagle falls, yahoo falls and now Mammoth Cave. It seems as if I am helping to make you a more rounded individual as well!" 

He just rolled his eyes at me in a playful way.

It was so wonderful to be able to spend Paul's birthday exploring the caves!

At the beginning of the summer Paul asked if we could "learn about something together."

Together we have learned about 

storm chasers 

mummies

cavers

caves 

and bats.

Paul and I have spent all summer reading books and watching National Geographic shows about all of those interesting things listed.

That has been our Mommy/Paul time!

The above picture is of us in front of a cage that they close to protect the bats from humans.

This cage allows the bats to go in and out of the caves while keeping the humans out!

We were both jumping up and down with excitement when we saw it so we had to take a picture in front of it TOGETHER!

Paul with a sign about all the different species of Bat that can be found in the caves.

Before heading back home we took a small drive through the National Park.

Look what we found on our drive!

I noticed this deer off in the woods, stopped the car to show the kids and the sweet little thing walked all the way up to our car.  Roger tried to offer the little one a peace offering.

I threw out an old peanut butter and jelly sandwich (yep all moms have an old PB&J in the car somewhere right?) and it ate it.

We had a wonderful afternoon celebrating the birth of our first born son, Paul Calvin!

Our big six year old kindergartener!

Ps: make sure Roger doesn't put me to rest in THIS cemetery because for the record I DO have a LOT of HOPE

Preschool Years

Children are tricky little things.

Once you have them figured out they CHANGE

Developmentally, Physically and Emotionally

They CHANGE.

First night with baby Paul I began to panic.

"what am I suppose to do?"

Being the good psychology student I was, I asked many of my professors questions, especially my Development Psychology Professor Dr. Bell.  I would run into her office between class BEGGING for a quick solution to my child rearing woes.

The book Positive Discipline: The First Three Years was introduced to me.

In between class, studying, and work I  read that book from cover to cover, underlining and noting the pages.

 I was DETERMINED to figure out this child that I was responsible for raising.

IT REALLY HELPED me understand the Zero to Three stage of life and how to go about teaching Paul age appropriate behavior.

"Positive Discipline is based on a different premise: that children (and adults) do better when they feel better. Positive Discipline is about teaching, understanding, encouraging, and communicating-- not about punishing."

"Punishment may seem to work in the short term. But over time, it creates rebellion, resistance, or children who just don't believe in their own worth."

"In fact, most young children's misbehavior is a sort of code designed to let you know that they don't feel a sense of belonging and need your attention, connection, time and teaching."

SAVED MY LIFE, that book did!

Shortly after Anna was born I read through the book again.

On occasion I have ran to the book during moments of panic to read my side notes and underlines

Being a Stay at home mother is my career path at the moment and like any career or job you have to be in a constant state of professional development. 

Things change and you need to learn how deal with that change.

With that said. 

Today I picked up a new book

Positive Discipline: Preschool Years

 For the past couple of weeks I have begun to feel HELPLESS.

Paul and Anna are great kids but are seriously getting harder and harder to handle.

I had NO IDEA it got this hard.

As I was sitting at the dinner table, having yet another major argument with Anna and Paul about their attitudes, I looked to Roger, who happened to be red in the face, about to explode, and said aloud "I have figured it out. It's not the kids. It's us!"

I immediately went to the book store to pick up the second Positive Discipline book.

I have only read 23 pages thus far but it has ALREADY saved our Sunday afternoon.

It is CRAZY how quickly you forget how to properly talk to children and how to respond to them.

For example: this afternoon I caught Anna attempting to ride her bicycle down a flight of brick stairs.

Before reading the 23 pages I would have yelled 

"NO ANNA NO. Now you get off of that NOW. NO"

After reading the 23 pages I was able to respond more productively, without shaming her.

"Anna, what do you think will happen if you ride your bike down the brick stairs?"

anna said  after a while of thinking "I would hurt myself REALLY bad."

"yep, you sure would. do you still want to ride your bike down the steps?"

Anna smiled "no mommy. that would be a bad idea."

SEE!!!!!   I taught her to STOP AND THINK as well as EMPOWERED her!

YAY

The other thing I learned is that when I want the kids to pick up their toys I shouldn't declare 

"TIME TO PICK UP"

Instead I should say 

"paul, Anna, it's time for you two to pick up so would you like me to help you or would you like to do it by yourself?"

tried it tonight and it worked like a CHARM

In fact, Anna said she wanted to try picking up ALL BY HERSELF and smiled the ENTIRE time.

  I would HIGHLY recommend these books to other parents. 

They aren't tell all instructions.

Those kind of book annoy me.

Every child is different and so is every parent.

Instead, this book is a wonderful resource about the developmental, emotional and physical stages of childhood and packed full of information on the different psychological studies done in regards to interacting with children.

It is a WONDERFULLY intriguing read!

My FAVORITE sentence so far has been this one:

"Preschoolers are physically active and energetic; researchers tell us that human beings have more physical energy at the age of three than at any other time in their life span."

I laughed out loud at that one "YEAH. TELL ME ABOUT IT."

Most importantly, the book gives you the since that you aren't alone in the world.

That we are all trying our BEST to figure out how to properly raise these little beings that have taken over our worlds. 

Family Update

Boy oh Boy has it been an adventures summer or what!?!?

Man Alive, we have been traveling NON STOP.

It's been GREAT since all four of us LOVE to travel but I am so ready for NORMAL.

This summer we have been to...

 Lancaster, PA to see the Amish

Gettysburg to see the battle field

Hancock, MA to see the mountains

New York State to see Niagara Falls

Tampa, Fl for the Cooperative Baptist General Assembly

AND

Jekyll Island, Georgia to enjoy the beach and beach house with my side of the family.

WOW

CRAZY

But so much fun!

Our first day back to NORMAL was Sunday after we got home from the Island on Saturday night.

We had church (Roger preacher the sermon he wrote in the car on the drive back), met a church member for lunch, Roger had a meeting at the church, then we had fellowship dinner and a business meeting.  

By the end of our first NORMAL day back we were all four EXHAUSTED.

But then MONDAY came and Mr Paul started kindercamp.

Tuesday was full of doctors appointments to get him READY for kindergarten.

The rest of the week has been a blur.

Currently the dish washer is going, the laundry is sorted, Paul is playing in the bathroom (don't ask), Anna and Roger are at the grocery store.

My husband is a BRAVE man to take that little BOMB of a child grocery shopping with him.

Anna has been CRAZY this week.

She is either REALLY happy and sweet or a MAJOR pain in the butt.

Her mood changes with a snap of the finger.

THAT fast.

It is so exhausting.

I'm thinking she is going to need another set of ear tubes.

She was like this for the first year and a half of life.

CONSTANT SCREAMING

I thought she was a colic baby.

I cried with her.

Between taking care of the two year old Paul and the SCREAMING Anna, my life was a living HELL.

Then we had ear tubes put in little miss Anna and VUALA, she was a HAPPY child.

With that said, Anna's ear tube in her left ear has fallen out.

She has had an ear infection for the past 3 months that no amount of meds have been able to kick.

My life is BACK to the living HELL.

She SCREAMS that come from that child are deafening.

I feel so bad for her but I also feel VERY bad for myself.

"Roger, I just want to run away. I can't handle the screaming ALL OF THE TIME. I just can't do it."

He took "the bomb" grocery shopping with him to give me a break.

LOVE HIM!

Speaking of Roger.

He has been partaking in the most romantic thing he has ever done for me.

Not only is he reading one of the books that I love by Wendell Berry but he has also taken to getting up early in the morning for a run!

He says he wants to LOVE exercising like I do and get in shape for me.

HOW SWEET IS THAT?!?!?!

I'm not a big wine and chocolates kinda gal. 

And I don't care much for getting flowers unless they have been picked from the field. 

But I am moved to tears by the mere fact that my husband is reading Jayber Crow and running in the morning.  

I can't keep my hands off of him it is so darn sweet.

That is like the BEST anniversary gift ever!

Maybe one day, when the kids are old enough to watch themselves, Roger and I can go for runs together.

That is if my heart doesn't tucker out on me by that time.

On Monday, Aug 1st, Paul has his open house at his new elementary school!

I am so excited for him.

Kindercamp was such a wonderful experience for him and he is so excited about starting Kindergarten.

On the second to last day of kindercamp my shy little Paul Calvin stood up in front of his whole class, with the teachers permission, and sang the song Help by The Beatles (he LOVES the beatles).  

Everyone clapped.

His teacher was quite impressed.

I was SHOCKED that he was comfortable enough to do that.

His only complaint so far has been that he has to share a table with kids.

He would prefer to have his own desk because he says "the kids at his table wont listen to the teacher and be quiet so he can hear her instructions."

I want to pat him on the back "son, I feel your pain. Welcome to the world!"

He is sooooooooo excited about learning to read.

I am so excited about him learning the art of productive communication and interpersonal skills!

That is something I can't teach him at home but that he NEEDS in order to make it in the REAL world.

You have to learn how to work with people that are different than you or the world is a VERY VERY VERY depressing place.

With that said, life is about to get a bit crazy.

Paul starts Kindergarten on Aug 3rd and Roger starts back to Seminary shortly after.

Roger has already sat me down to inform me that this semester is going to be CRAZY.

He'll be gone most of the week days and afternoons and the afternoons and days that he will be home will be full of studying, paper writing and reading.

Basically, I'll see my husband as we pass through the hall on the way to and from.

I'm trying to prepare myself for this drastic change but at times the semesters can be frustrating and lonely.

Just one more year. He has just one more year before he graduates.

ONE MORE YEAR

We can do it!!!!!!

WE CAN DO IT!

Life, at the moment is HARD but FUN.

The kids are driving us CRAZY but they are such a joy to have.

The nonstop chitter chatter of a 6 year old and 3 year old leaves Roger and I little time to talk but we sure do enjoy sharing a giggle off to the side whenever the kids say something absolutely HILARIOUS.

We've also started having mini dates with coffee on the front porch after we put the kids to bed or early in the morning after his run.

It is crazy how hard you have to work to keep a good relationship with your spouse once you have kiddos isn't it?

But it is oh so worth it!

Anna's Heart Murmur

It's probably nothing to worry about but I can't stop worrying about it.

I can't stop chewing on my lip (something I do when I'm nervous).

I can't stop sending up little prayers every 15 min.

This morning I took the kids in for their yearly checkup.

As the pediatrician was listening to Anna she noticed a "pretty good little heart murmur." 

My own heart dropped into my stomach

WHAT?

I know for most people learning that their child has a heart murmur is like not THAT big of a deal but for me, someone who HAS a congenital heart defect, I just about fell over in tears.

The thought of my children having anything wrong with their hearts TERRIFIES me.

I KNOW how it is to live day in and day out struggling with a heart condition.

I don't want my children to EVER go through what I go through on a daily bases. 

The pediatrician did her best to calm me down by saying over and over again that it probably wasn't anything to worry about and that some children have heart murmurs off and on. That it doesn't mean anything is wrong necessarily.  

However, because of my heart history, she went ahead and set Anna up to see a pediatric cardiologist. 

Funny thing is, is that I am currently the patient of the cardiologist that Anna is set up to see.

So we just went ahead and set the appointment up on the day that I am set to see my pediatric cardiologist.

Dr. Keller will be taking care of my heart AND checking on what the murmur is all about in my 3 year old daughter's heart.

Hopefully it will turn out to be absolutely NOTHING.

But it really hard not to think about the WHAT IFS.

Paul's First Day of Kinder-Camp

It has happened!

Paul Calvin is at school.

Kindergarten will not be starting until Aug 3rd but he is partaking in a week long introduction called Kindercamp.  It is every morning this week from 8am to 11am.

I am thrilled!

I can not stop smiling!

I'm so excited about this new chapter in our lives as parents.

The elementary school years! 

Paul is more than ready for school... "Mom I just can't believe this is happening. That I am actually going to school to learn to read!"

Those were Paul's words as we headed out the door this morning.

After I dropped him off for his small 3 hours away from me I said to myself "All I have at home to deal with is Anna!"

I believe I said that too lightly.

At 3 years of age Anna Catherine is a handful.

The child has the combination of a BIG personality and a hard head.

My day is CONSUMED with redirecting Anna, calming Anna down, putting Anna in time out, cleaning up after Anna and chasing her through the neighborhood.

Just to give you a taste of Anna's personality..... the other day I was explaining to her that when I get a little stressed out it calms me to sit in my room alone to read a book or write in my journal. 

After looking at me really funny she said "When I get stressed out I go in my room alone and throw stuff and try to break it. It makes me feel better."

Already this morning she has, in the hour that we have been home after dropping Paul off, emptied all the dish soap into the sink, used the sink sprayer to cover the entire kitchen floor with water and ripped the morning paper into a million pieces all over the living room.

She does these things SO FAST.

I told Roger that since I am going to have a lot more time alone with Anna that this is the year that I am going to REFORM her.

The child needs to learn to behave.

This is the year that all my energy during the day is going towards teaching Anna what is and is not acceptable in our home.

Lord help us all!

I took a few pictures of Anna's first morning without her big brother.

She was a busy little chick!

Like I said in the above writing, from 8 until around 9am she ripped the house apart.

From 9am to a little before 11am she.......

Made her hand print in Plaster.

Painted a pretty picture outside on her picnic table.

Got into the refrigerator without asking.

Took a bike ride through the neighborhood.

Played on her swing set. 

and wrote a few songs on her guitar.

By the time I headed out the door to pick Paul up from kindercamp I was so tired I wanted to cry.

Now that my children are 3 and 6  I completely understand when a mother that I was complaining to when the kids were babies, looked right at me and said "honey, enjoy when they are this little because it only gets harder."

At the time I was SOOOOO MAD at her "how could it get harder then THIS. I am covered in baby VOMIT and I haven't gotten any sleep in DAYS."

But she was being honest. 

They grow up, form their own little personalities and you STILL have to feed them, bathe them and rock them back to sleep after spending ALL THE LIVE LONG day trying to keep up with them. 

I swear I am going to slap the next person that tells me that being a stay at home parent is NOT a real job.

BUZZ OFF

When I picked Paul up from his first day of kindercamp he DID NOT look happy.

"I HATE name tags. They MADE ME wear a name tag. I HATE pancakes. They had pancakes for breakfast this morning. I REFUSED to eat it. I'm going to HATE kindergarten."

Oh Boy.

So THIS is the elementary school stage of parenting?

And it isn't even 1:30pm yet.

Dear Lord, thank you for gifting me with this amazing since of humor because I don't think I would be able to make it through most days without it. - love Jessica

Doing Summer Southern Style

We just got back from a glorious 7 days at the beach with family.

Mom and Dad rented a beach house on Jekyll Island in Georgia for us all to stay in.

I was a bit nervous when she first mentioned the idea.

I haven't lived in the same house as my brothers and parents for over 7 years and now my brothers have wives and dogs while I have a husband and two easily excitable children.

I was prepared for some head butting to go on.

The clashing of too many strong personalities was what I was expecting.

"Lord help us all!" is what I silently said to myself as we began our 12 hour journey at 4am on Saturday.

But I am happy to say that the head butting never really happened and the clashing of personalities was taken light heartedly.

There was, however, the one time while we were in Savannah, Georgia waiting to get a seat at a restaurant that the personalities began to clash. But I blame that on the horrible combination of the HOT Georgia sun, the screaming three year old, the tired Granny and the sick uncle.  

WOW what a HOT day in Savannah.

I'm just glad no one passed out from a heat stroke.

IT WAS HOT!

Other than that one day we all enjoyed a week full of beach front real-estate. 

We rode bikes together.

Got ice cream together.

Jumped the waves together.

Ran from the sharks together (no joke... there were several sharks in the water and one actually followed us up to shore.... SCAREY)

And talked until late in the evening on the porch together.

On the last day, which happened to be raining, both of my brothers, their wives, my husband and me all went together to watch the LAST Harry Potter movie.

We left the kids and the dogs with Mom and Dad and piled into their van.

As we were all sitting there enjoying the popcorn before the movie began I couldn't help but think about how fitting it was that we were, on our last day of vacation, watching the last Harry Potter movie TOGETHER.  

We all three grew up with the Harry Potter books and there we were together with our spouses watching the end.

How poetic!! 

Some highlights of the trip:

Getting to have a romantic date with my husband at Latitude 31 followed by a lovely walk through the historic part of the island with ice cream cones in hand.

Swimming in the ocean in the late evening with my two brothers, my husband and Dad.

Finishing up a VERY LONG bike ride with my brother Jacob and his wife Shannon by enjoying an ice cream cone together under a big Georgia tree.

Living in a house for 7 whole days with my ENTIRE family.

Watching Jacob get bit by a crab.

Being chased by a shark.

Learning how to hunt for live sand dollars at the bottom of the ocean.

Standing on the beach with my entire family watching a mommy dolphin and her baby swim closer and closer to shore.

Walking on drift wood beach with Jacob, Shannon and Roger before dinner.

Drinking Margaritas and Wine with Mom!

Watching Anna and Paul discover the Ocean with their Granny and Grandpa.

Watching the guy right beside us pull several sharks out of the ocean RIGHT BEFORE Shelbie was going to swim out into the ocean for the first time.  She is TERRIFIED of sharks.

Sitting on the couch with my brother as Paul walked through the house singing the first part of the song Toes by the Zac Brown Band.  Boy did we laugh VERY hard before letting Paul know he shouldn't sing songs like that.

Starting and finishing a book!

Watching Anna "take care" of my brothers' dogs.

The BEST of all was getting to know my family all over again. We have changed so much in the years that we have been apart.  What better place to do that then on a little Island in the South!

And to think that i didn't even manage to get any of them good ol' Georgia Peaches.

Such a shame.

We must go back!

Strawberry Wine

Heard this song on Pandora today.  

I haven't heard it in FOREVER.

I grew up LOVING thins song.

You know those songs you sing to the top of your lungs alone in your bedroom when you are like 12.

You know that I mean?

Yep

This song was one of those.

It was so nice to be reminded of what a hopeless romantic I was and still am.

However, this video is like crazy looking and quite hilarious to watch.

Lions and Tigers and Kids.... OH MY

What a fabulous day we have had!

One of the BEST things about being a stay at home mom is the fact that at any point in time we can pack up and go on an adventure with friends.

Today we made a glorious trip to the Zoo with my friend, and fellow stay at home mommy, Mrs Joanna and her sweet little Myra.

the kids nice and snug in the back seat

Have I ever mentioned Mrs Joanna in a blog before?

If not, let me introduce you to her.

She is a stay at home mother to 4 year old Myra.

She is a singer/song writer with her husband Matt.

She teaches cello to local kids.

She is an Usborne Book consultant.

AND she teaches kinder music every other week at a local preschool.

She is WONDER WOMAN!!  

And the sweetest, most patient person....... IN THE WORLD.

Seriously, she is like so calming to be around.

If life is a bit crazy have Joanna come sit beside you and you are instantly at peace.

Totally NOT joking about that.

Any who....

We all went to the ZOO.

HAD A BLAST!

Myra keeping us cool

Paul attempting to "water bend." 

anna cooling off at the zoo

Our children were AWESOME the majority of the time and when they started showing signs of the hyper-tired Joanna and I did the mommy tag team.  It worked out VERY well.  

row, row, row your boat

Like the time Joanna made a mad dash through the double doors, leaving the kids behind with me, after a bird started flying towards her head.  

Turns out she is TERRIFIED of birds.

It was rather amusing to watch!

Ya see?  We tag team well!

just two girls enjoying some cotton candy

classic Zoo picture

checking out the snakes

After the zoo closed (yes we stayed until closing) we made our way to FOOD.

"I'm starving! do you need to get back for anything?"

"Nope. Roger is working at the church. What about you?"

"Nope. Matt is at a meeting until late."

"LET'S HAVE DINNER!"

We found the closest Wendy's and treated the kids to an oh so healthy fast food dinner followed by frosties!

Frosties for EVERYONE

YUMMMMMMYYY!! 

That hamburger was like the BEST hamburger I have had in a long time.

Joanna and I shared lots of laughs at Wendy's over spilt milk and our crazy hyper children.

hyper silly kids

What a wonderful blessing friends are!

They help make the cRaZy of parenting absolutely HILARIOUS!

I couldn't type out a post about Joanna without adding a link to their music now could I!?!?
Check it out!