Last night while driving home from work, I listened to my favorite talk program, “Christian Family Life with Dennis Rainey”. They were talking about how to improve your family’s time together by simply taking a TV fast for 1 month. August I guess is the month to do it too because NFL games haven’t started yet, the new sitcoms aren’t up and going yet, and the kids are starting back to school anyways. That really got me thinking at how much TV my kids and myself actually watch. Since I don’t know if I can go cold turkey for a month, and I know the kids would go into shock over the loss of their beloved television, I decided I’d attempt a fast of my own. So as of tomorrow, August 1st, I am going on a computer fast. I am addicted to being on the computer. I check my email every 5 minutes in hopes that someone will email me. I check my comments on this blog a few times a day in hopes someone new read it and commented. But I’m realizing that it’s taking over my day and I’m wasting valuable time. So next week, I’ll check in and post an update on how the week went. If you need me then you are going to have to call the house. If this goes well, then I may end up doing it for longer and may even tackle the TV fast, whether there are NFL games, American Idol auditions, or new episodes of all my favorite shows. That’s what DVR is all about.
On another note, Aerosmith and Motley Crue are coming to the Pavillion on Nov 19! I love Aerosmith (even if they aren’t a Christian band) and I hope that I can get tickets to see Steven Taylor live in concert!
Kids start school in 2 weeks from today! I still have to take each of them separately to Old Navy to pick out something cute for the first day. I’m worried about how Braden is going to react to being left at home for the first time. He hates it when I go get the mail without him or when one of the kids goes to the neighbors to play and he has to stay inside. Last night I was looking at Avery running around the house in his underwear after his shower and realize that he has really grown this summer. I think he’s filled out a little, he’s growing out his hair (yes, he has an opinion about his hair these days-wants to look like a surfer), and he’s even gained a few inches heightwise. Jaelyn’s still growing out her bangs. I’m very tempted to cut her hair so it’s all one length because she never combs her hair unless I threaten her. She is definitely growing too. Not gaining weight but adding inches. She’s so tall and thin and then there are these great big feet. Poor girl! Braden looks like a 3 year old he’s so big. He’s eating everything in sight these days too. I know he’s teething, getting in his 2 year molars.
These last few weeks have been very stressful for me, especially after being denied for my surgery and having to go through the appeal process and also after an incident at work with a physician that I can’t talk about on here. I am just going what I have to do to get through every day. Some days better than others. Right now, I just really feel Satan attacking me. I need some major prayer coverage just to rest my mind and refuel my spirit. Also while at it, if we can throw up some prayers for patience and sensitivity when dealing with my daughter, I’ll take them.
Have a good week and you’ll hear from me in a week.
Check out Braden in this photo! The title is GodzillaBaby!
We took the kids to the pool today after everyone pitched in on yard work. Braden has no fear at all when it comes to water. He jumps in, goes under, gets water up his nose, and asks to do it again and again. During adult swim today, Erik and I were the only adults there and so we were going off the diving board. We asked Braden if he wanted to go too. He of course did. So he jumped off the board all by himself into mine or Erik’s arms, whichever was there at that moment. He did it like 7-8 times too. In fact, when the pool opened for the kids to come swim, he thought he could go off the board himself. Of course, we didnt’ let him. I wish we had our camera because it was priceless to watch my 2 year old doing big kid things! Earlier when we were there, one of the other dads there found a frog in the pool, alive. So he rescued it and all the kids thought it was cool. Jaelyn even touched it several times. Braden on the other hand is petrified of frogs for some reason. I saw another frog in the filter basket and so Erik went to take it out and there were 7 dead frogs in there! GROSS! Braden about lost it! Erik threw them in the garbage for the lifeguards and we went about our swim. Well, Braden was eating chips at the pool and went to throw away the bag when he was done. Frogs get me! Frogs get me!” He even did the cutest little “ew” body movement, complete with the twitching of his whole body. It was funny! The rest of the day, he went the long way around that garbage can. Too cute! Hopefully tomorrow we can get him to jump off the board again and capture it on film. I could have kicked myself for not having the camera with me.
Tonight we asked some people from our group over for a backyard BBQ. I’ve been in a funk and needed to be surrounded by happy people. I hope that it helps. We are planning on playing some games after the BBQ while the kids play upstairs or outside. Everyone is bringing a side dish to share and their own meat to grill. (or to put on the pit as they say in Texas)
This summer is flying by and when I step back and recall what we did, I can’t really come up with much. We left for Iowa the day after school let out in May and were there for over 2 weeks. Now all we have been doing is working, going to the pool on my days off but that’s it. We were going to goto San Antonio to SeaWorld but our friends from Iowa cancelled and so we are going to hold off going until later in the year, or even next summer. We’ve officially been Texans now for 1 year. July 16th, 2005 we drove into my mother in law’s driveway where we stayed for 5 days waiting for our slow mortgage company to get things in order. We moved into this house on July 21st. Being a Texan now for a year I have to say that nothing really is that different down here than in Iowa as far as everyday life goes. We still goto work. We still goto church. We still don’t have many date nights. We still have bills. The weather is different but I love it. I still have a friend from back home that asks me everytime I call if I am sick of Texas yet and am moving back. We love our home and life down here, but I do miss friends and family, and always will. There are more opportunities for us here overall and that is what I like about it here. In the last year, we have met some great people and our jobs have been good to us. We’ll see what this next year brings for us. I’m anxious to see where we will be 1 year from now. I know we will be here but I’m anxious to see how our lives have changed.
Kids go back to school already on August 14. Avery into 2nd grade and Jaelyn into Kindergarten. She will go from 8-1:50 and Avery will go from 8-3:20. Poor Braden will be all alone with Mommy. He isn’t going to like that one bit since he’s always with one of the kids. I’m ready because I’m sick of the “I’m bored” comments. Or “Mommy, he’s_____” tattle-tailing. I’m ready!
