Angie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This was my absolute FAVORITE book growing up. I have very vivid memories of my mom reading this to me and if given the choice I would almost always choose to read this book...I don't know what that says about me as a child:) Anyway, from the moment he wakes up with gum in his hair, things just do not go Alexander's way. At breakfast, Alexander's brothers Nick and Anthony reach into their cereal boxes and pull out amazing prizes, while all Alexander ends up with is . . . cereal. The situation does not get any better at school, in fact it gets worse. No wonder Alexander wants to move to Australia! In Australia, everything is upside down, so he thinks that this would be the perfect place for him to live. Well I have had a couple of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days around here too. Let me backtrack..last month Mark and I finally became debt free, after years of living in debt it was honestly the most liberating feeling besides childbirth that I have ever experienced. Many, many months of prayer, and sacrifice allowed us to achieve this goal. I would highly recommend Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover to anyone facing the same challenge. Since then, Mark and I have really been under attack. We both just feel like now that the financial obstacle has been removed...(Praise the Lord!!) there are now 10 more to face. Can anyone relate??? Today was just the topper on a bad weekend. My IDENTITY WAS STOLEN!!!! Someone in Arizona has all my bank account information, address, phone number....everything. And I have to be honest, it's a really weird feeling that there's someone out there pretending to me!!!! Fortunately my bank will be refunding all the money, and they seem to know exactly who is stealing from us but it has been a giant struggle today. It's soooo funny how our Lord works. This morning I started a great study, Believing God, by Beth Moore, and just today I was given a five statement pledge of faith:

1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what what He says he can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
5. God's work is alive and active in me.

Satan wasted no time in testing whether or not I believe these words to be true. After re-reading what I wrote down this morning I know that our promised lands are places of great victory over our enemy. I know God is constantly at work in our lives but I feel it...I mean I really feel like I can't breathe sometimes because of what He is trying to teach me. My prayer is that I will get it this time!!!! If you get a chance to read Alexander's book I promise it will make you smile:) After I found it on Ryan's shelf this afternoon my day seemed a lot lighter!

Round 2

This time I got to go to the BU game with the kids and my parents...we had a great time:)

Ryan is loving that Daddy is taking these pictures whiles he's making the scary ghost noises from Scooby-Doo...

Looking cool my man

Ally has to have her "gasses" too, and of course my purse.

We tried to stay cool with a snow cone that was melting faster than they could eat it!

GP's binoculars added lots of entertainment for Ally

Thanks again Honey and GP, we had a great time!!!

Ryan and the Radio

Ok , so I admit that I am never going to be one of those moms that has it all together all the time...you know the ones who always look perfect and trendy, freshly showered with perfect make-up and a clean house, the ones who cook organic meals, and hand make Halloween costumes...I am just doing good to make it through the day some days. Like today, I barely woke up in time to see Ryan off to preschool, had a terrible headache, and left the house in my usual work-out clothes, ponytail and no make-up:) Ally and I headed to the gym and when we left I was feeling great. The weather is so nice today and we were having a great time listening to the radio. We went to pick up Ryan, and a great song came on, so I immediately turned it up, and started singing. To which Ryan shouted, "MOMMY IT'S TOO LOUD". It was loud, but definitely not too loud. I turned it down a little and Ally and I continued our joyous singing! Ryan said again,"mom turn it down that's too loud!" I did and I kept thinking what's the big deal? Now, Ryan is almost in tears screaming that it's too loud with his hands covering his ears. I have this instant flashback to High School and I'm driving my baby blue and white full sized Bronco with the windows down and the radio blaring. That was loud, this was not. I start wondering why he's freaking so much and I made the mistake of asking him. We pulled into our driveway, and I asked him why the radio was too loud for him, and he said with a straight face. "Mommy, you're too old to listen to music that loud"...Silence. Too old, really!?!? I know that I'm 32 and I know that I'm getting older, but this child of mine has totally put me in my place. I never in a million years want to embarrass my children, so I just say, "well I'll work on that for you" and start laughing hysterically. What's a mom to do????

Dress up diva

Ally has really had a hard time with her "Rynan" going to preschool every morning, so we are having a lot of girl time just the two of us. One thing that always helps the waterworks stop is playing dress up. She has started asking for her tu-tu almost every day, which cracks me up because she knows exactly what to do with it, and I've never even shown her how to wear it...where do they learn this stuff?? Anyway, she comes up with some very creative outfits and this is her latest creation. Simply Priceless. I promise this was all her doing, all I did was help put on the goggles:) I could just eat her up sometimes!!!

Since she was all dressed up we had to have a tea party:).

Mark brought Ryan home and he joined in the fun

Visitor

We had an unexpected guest this weekend...BATMAN!!!

He enjoyed Christopher's 5th birthday party

He Got in some great workout time

And then, that's right:) off to church this morning...we had a wonderful, hilarious visit with Batman this weekend!

Batman's sister thinks he's pretty funny...she's ready to go with her silky, her "Back-back" book, and her Batman!

Sidenote: I had to take these pictures with my PHONE beacuse my camera totally broke on Thursday. It was 5 years old and the lady at HP told me that's like 30 years in camera technology...who knew:) If anyone has any suggestions for a great reasonably priced camera, I could use the help!

thanks:)

Batman's mom

And so it begins...

Well it's official, football season is here. Although my heart belongs to Texas Tech, living in Waco we have become Baylor fans. My parents have had season tickets to BU football for the last couple of years but this year they bought 4 tickets so Mark and Ryan can enjoy some live football action as well. (Thanks Honey and GP!!!) I remember praying when I found out that we were having a little boy that he would really bond with his dad, and the Lord answered my cry in ways that I could not imagine. Ryan has always been a Daddy's boy. They LOVE spending time together, and they especially enjoy watching sports. The very first night that Ryan was born, they watched a Texas Ranger Baseball game in the hospital, and from that night on, his love of sports was born. He has definitely had his favorites over the last 4 years. It started with baseball. He could name almost all the Texas Rangers players and their numbers when he was 2!!! It was something to see, this little tike walking around telling all our friends about baseball:). Then he fell in love the the Disney Cars movie...and he was immediately fascinated with NASCAR. In fact, Mark and I had never really watched a race, but before long he again knew all the drivers, numbers and their sponsors. Last year Ryan really started to get into football. He has these little football helmets that he gets out for games. He lines them up perfectly so we all know who's playing who each week. As a mom, I just really appreciate the fact that my two boys have so much in common...most of the time:) Here's some pictures of the gang headed to the game last night. Ryan had a blast and can't wait to go again. He came home with this HUGE Big Red mustache that did not come off in the bath last night, or this morning...lovely for school!

We love our Granny Liz

Yesterday we got a great treat my grandmother, Granny Liz, came to town for the day. She had to see the doctor and then we got to eat lunch and enjoy a pedicure, which we both really look forward to!! I absolutely adore this woman she is 85 (almost 86 if you ask her) and smart, strong, generous, great story teller, an amazing cook, and she loves each of us with all her heart. She has battled cancer for 3 years now, so she's also a fighter! She lives in Kingsland Texas and since I can remember her house has been my favorite place to go in the summer. She literally lives on Lake LBJ, and growing up we spent a lot of time at the Purdys' house. Granny Liz taught us all about the stars and she has this AMAZING closet of dress up clothes that even in High School we would spend hours laughing and coming up with some very creative outfits:). She has helped teach a lot of water skiers in her day and every summer I got to go spend a week with her and my grandad (PP). I have some of the most amazing memories as a child looking up at the stars, sleeping on the dock, skiing, playing with my friend Stacey, and having an absolute blast. I looked forward to that week every year. It is so neat that now my children get to go to the lake and experience all the wonderful things that I did growing up. Ryan is always asking me when we're going to go to the lake and Ally loves seeing her "GLiz". We had a wonderful visit yesterday, and it saddens me that I don't get to see her more often. Granny Liz I love you! See you soon:)