sevenchicks

consider yourselves warned

All super heros beware. There's a new kid in town and he's tough, blond and can zap you with one quick glare from his goggles.  It's Aqua Man.............

I'm serious.  He doesn't play......

dear john and kate

by socialchick~ Monday night Mr. Social and I sat and watched the season premiere of John and Kate plus 8 and were deeply disturbed. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. Yes I have heard the rumors and saw the pictures but I didn't think it had come to the way they were acting. It seemed like John was trying to justify getting a divorce and Kate was wanting to stay in the marriage and doing nothing to make it better. I was so upset when I it was over. As me and Mr. Social went to bed he told me how much he appreciated me and told me some things that he loves and appreciates about me. The show also upset him.

Last night I was in bed and had this idea of writing them a letter and what I would want to say to them. I don't know if I will ever send them the letter but here is what I would say. Please feel free to write what you think about the letter and if there is anything that you would like to add to the letter. Who knows maybe I will send it and maybe God will speak through the letter and restore their marriage.

Dear John and Kate,

I have been a big fan for many years. Although I have never written you a letter or email, I have sat and watched your show for several seasons now. I have never looked at you a celebrity family, but as a family that goes through challenges and hurdles together. Many nights I have sat in front of the T.V. after a long hard day and watched your challenge as a family and thought to myself, "stop complaining Kate and John are doing it with 8". You see I am a stay at home mom of two and there are many nights that show has given me an attitude adjustment and for this I thank you very much.

As I sat down Monday night to watch the season premiere a sense of sadness fell on me and my husband. Here I sat watching a family being split because of lies, rumors, and poor judgment, which we have all made at one time or another. By no means am I casting the first stone because I have messed up many times.

I am writing this letter to simply ask that as believers of Christ to please work through your problems and let Him lead and guide you. I know it is simple for me to ask this because I don’t know all that is going on in your family, but if you will put God as the center of your relationship He can restore your marriage and family. No matter who is right or wrong God knows the truth and the truth is that you took a vow twice to stay married to each other through good times and bad. Stop trying to justify divorce and start trying to make your marriage the best that it has ever been. Some one once told me that they didn’t get married to become a statistic of divorce. This has stuck with me through the hard times in my marriage. I don’t want to be part of a negative statistic, but part of a statistic that is rare in the world that we live in today. The world is especially looking at the Christian families in America to see how we are handling our problems.

One of you said on the season premiere that the marriage rate of multiple kids isn’t very high, well rise above that and make a new statistic. I know that this sounds random coming from a random viewer and fan but for some reason I have felt compelled to write this letter and tell you that I’m praying for you and the family.

no excuse

by babychick~I have no excuse as to why I haven't been blogging lately. I just really have nothing interesting to say and the fact that I am totally exhausted does not help the fact. So I am going to give you some randoms.

-My child is crawling all over the place, putting everything little thing he finds in his mouth, and opening every cabinet door he can find. If I didn't love him so much I would put him in a little pin.(lol)

-Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!! I like the rain, we always need the rain, but could we please get it in moderation??

-Is it bad to say that I am jealous of my husband? Right now he gets to stay home with super tiny 4 days a week. He doesn't mind staying home with him but he would really love to be out doing something, and trust me I would trade with him any day of the week.

-Myspace is out, Facebook is in. I like getting on Facebook like I liked getting on Myspace when it first came out. And after a while it all gets kinda boring, so whats the point. You find the same people, same pictures, same personal info, just a different layout.

-I talked my husband into rearranging our living room this past weekend. And I totally love how we did it, it feels like a new house.

-Ok thats it, I've got nothing else.

books: thrift store finds

by photochick~A few weeks ago we headed to Destin for a family day out (you might remember the photos HERE). We really had no plans except to hang out together and maybe do a little shopping so when we passed by the really big Goodwill we had to stop and look around. I'm the last one to every find anything at these stores (I guess I just can't see the possibilities as easily as some), but I I always want to so badly.

On this particular trip Punkin and I ended up in the really large children's book section where we hit the motherload. Even the fact that the books were only 99 cent did not keep me from picking out soooo many that I had to go back through and purge many from our "purchase" pile. After an hour of happy perusing, Punkin and I headed to the checkout with 5 carefully chosen books. It could have easily been 20, I promise. Here's a few of our picks . . .

Froggy Learns to Swim- We picked this one because warm weather was right around the corner and it's about time Punkin starts to learn how to swim.

The Rain Came Down- Our day trip was not long after the monsoon rains so this title jumped out at us. I love the really bright and colorful illustraitons (yes, I'm a sucker for illustrations) and the story is cute.

Doing the Animal Bop- A fun, fun, get up and dance book. Here's an excerpt, "Jive and jiggle, just don't stop! Jump and Wiggle to the monkey bop." It continues with the chicken, and duck, and elephant and every other animal jiving to the beat.

new hair

by plannerchick ~ Okay, everyone has been hearing me talk about it for days now. Today I finally got my hair done, and I LOVE it. I was ready for something drastic and new, and I got it. My only worry is that I hope that I can style it the way she did today. Bossy chick is the only person who has seen it so far and she loved it. My hubby is at work so he won't be able to see it until later. I posted the before and afters below!

 

 

 

end of the year baseball

by sassychick ~ Saturday was our end of the year baseball party.  Another regular season down, 4 million to go.  WOOHOO! 

It rained.  All day.  Which was aggravating because it was a GRILLOUT and a POOL PARTY.  But, Sassy Rooster weathered the rain, umbrella and all and grilled enough hamburgers and hotdogs to feed a small army.  I think the kids couldnt have cared less it was raining, then swam their hearts out. 

As a side note, I want to give a shout out to Sassy Rooster.  Not just for his CRAZY AWESOME storm grillin skills, but because he is an amazing man.  He gives his whole heart to the kids every year (sometimes multiple times a year) when he coaches.  He encourages, prays for, teaches, cheers for, and in a small way adopts these kids for a season.  He does this gladly.  Never complains, always MORE than excited to do it.  God has blessed him with an incredible ability to pass life lessons on to kids through sports and I couldnt be more proud of him.  

So, GO TEAM.  On to Allstars....

And another AMAZING cake from singerchick.....

for all the morons, myself included

by photochick~ We had a busy, busy (did I say BUSY?) Memorial weekend working on the baby's room. Saturday was the day in the process where it gets worse before it gets better. It seriously looked like a bomb went off around here. By Monday afternoon things started to come together. The extra bed was picked up, decorations were hung, clothes were folded and put up.

I sat in the rocker this afternoon all by myself and looked around at the only half complete room and still felt complete serenity. There's just something about a baby's newly created room with everything organized and in order that makes the world slow down for a few minutes.

Yesterday I spent some time brainstorming for the "little things" that I may have forgotten. Like a second tube of petroleum jelly for the diaper bag. Paint for a few projects. A couple more gowns since Punkin was apparently rough on his. The list goes on.

Somewhere in this process I remembered that I need to get a clock to go beside the rocker where I will likely spend lots of hours nursing this new baby. If you're a die-hard nursing fan, keep your stones. It's not that I want to time exactly how long the baby is allowed to nurse, but rather keeping up with what time I nursed last and how long he actually did nurse on each side, etc. You know, for when you inevitably have to call the pediatrician in those first few days because you're pretty sure you're starving the kid to death despite the fact that you are walking around looking like a watermelon field.

In that moment, the doctor forgets that you are sleep deprived and have generally lost all sense of time. They somehow think you should remember exactly on what hours and for how long the baby nursed in the past 24-48 hours. Ummm, yeah. That's not happening without some serious effort. With Punkin I spent more than my fair share of time counting up on my fingers (yes, I said on my fingers) hours from feeding to feeding. My mom kept laughing at me, but I really felt like I was incapable of counting to 3 without the assistance of my digits.

All that to say, I was poking around on the computer and thought I'd google to see if there is a "nursing clock" or some such thing that has a timer on it so you don't have to remember to write down the starting and ending time. No such luck.

Then I found THIS CLOCK at Ace Hardware that does have a timer. I figured it would work fine for what I needed, but forgot to stop today and pick one up.

Fast forward to tonight, I'm sitting here poking around the computer with a cash gift from my grandmother burning a hole in my pocket. I check out Target one more time and as if by providence come across this little magical jewel:

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

It has several timers for keeping up with feedings, how long the baby has been awake/asleep, how long since the last medication was given and even a left and right breast indicator so you don't forget which side you nursed on last.

The reviews are mixed citing some issues with the display, but overall most people seem to like it.

One particular negative review is titled "Only a Moron Would Need It" and goes on to say, "If you are nursing a baby and you can't figure out which side you need to use next, then you have no right nursing. What a load of crap."

Well, I happen to fall into that moron category of Summa Cum Laude college graduates (twice, actually) who when sleep deprived can't remember if I ate or peed, much less which side I might have fed a baby on three hours earlier. Apparently I manged by writing it down last time since I nursed for nine months, but I'm a technology lover so this little device might just be perfect for me. That and I like to prove people wrong. I'm just hard headed like that.

So for all of my fellow morons out there, I think I'm going to have to try this one for myself. (I just wish it had a tiny hard drive that kept a record of all those times . . . maybe there's an iphone app for that too?)

i apologize in advance to my mom

by sassychick ~ I had to blog this.  Sorry mom. 

As most of you aware, my mom and I have interesting conversation.  She's "organic" and "careful about what she says" and "loves to give advice."  Let me start by saying, she's wonderful and I love her.  Beyond that, she's hilarious.

Sassy's Mom: So Bray is headed to a friends house today?

Me:Yes.  That's the plan.

Sassy's Mom:  Bray, remember to not eat the last piece of chicken.

Bray: What?

Sassy's Mom:  If she serves chicken, don't take the last piece.

Bray:  Are we eating chicken there? 

Sassy's Mom:I don't know if you're having chicken, but if you do, and there is one piece left, DON'T EAT THE LAST PIECE.  SASSY - HAVE YOU NEVER TAUGHT HIM GOOD MANNERS?

Me:Eating the last piece of chicken wasn't a top priority.  But thanks for covering that.

So to the moms of all the boys Bray has gone home with, if he has ever eaten the last piece of chicken, it is a direct result of my lack of parenting and I apologize. It has now been addressed.  Thanks Mom.

i've been outted

by sassychick ~ My son made a special project in his K-5 class full of recipes by 6 year olds. 

I was so excited when I found it in his bag.  I was hoping he would use the imaginative side he is so good at and make me look realllyyyy good.  

I mean I STILL get up EVERY morning and COOK breakfast.  

Well, here is the recipe submitted by my son.  Notice the red arrow.

And to add insult to injury, check out little miss braggy braggy, Ive got an awesome mom who makes waffles FROM SCRATCH.  Top left corner.  Ugh. 

randoms on a wednesday

by plannerchick ~ I started this randoms blog a week and a half ago and never finished it, so I figured I should go ahead and do that since it was halfway done and all!

My little bit has become such a ham, he is constantly talking to people, laughing and flashing them a big smile. So when we're out a lot of folks stop and talk to him (which I don't ever mind unless we are in a hurry). So last Saturday morning in Walmart a man stops to talk to him, he chit chats for a second, tells me he needs a football b/c he's so big he will surely be a football player, then tells me with his chubby legs and broad shoulders I will need a bungee to hold him back when he's 2. The last thing he says to us as he walks away is, thats a fat kid. Now I no longer get offended (like I used to) when people tell me he's a chunk, I know he is perfectly healthy and in no way overfed (as many insinuate). But this particular man made me laugh, most people will say whatever the heck they think without a second thought.

Last week I was in the drive through at Chick Fil A. I had just ordered my food and was waiting to pull up to the window when a man walks in front of me pushing a cart. I looked to see where he was coming from when I saw it, the Chick Fil A delivery truck, yes it was the mothership. It was right there in front of me in all of its chicken glory. Don't think I didn't consider if they would notice if some food was to "fall off of the truck". I maintained myself however.

I am going to make fun of myself a little here. Obviously I am notorious for planning things. You may mistake that for thinking I always plan events and such. While I do enjoy planning out big things, I am way bad about planning out little things. I am getting my hair cut on Tuesday (this fact will come in handy in about 2 sentences). Today I purchased a shirt while shopping. I was on the phone with Social a bit later and told here about the shirt, and then told her that I had taken into consideration that I would have different hair by the time I wore this shirt, and how the new cut would look with the shirt. She started to make fun of me saying, "I wonder how my hair will look when I brush my teeth", and "I wonder how my hair will look when I answer the phone". I responded to her "I wonder how my hair will look when I slap social in the teeth"! lol

Thats all I've got!