At my HUSBAND'S request...

Clarification dear friends:

We won't be living IN a trailor park, per say. It is more like our house is at the entrance of a bunch of retiree trailor living quarters.



=)

First week of vacation

We started it off with a road trip to M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I!

Yes, that is what we did.

We took Memaw to visit her son (the amazing Uncle Jack, Aunt Kathy, and Cousin....Cousin I don't remember his name - but he is hilaaaaarious!)

A rather uneventful, chatty trip.

We made it to MS without any detours, delays (except a lot of potty breaks), or flat tires.

Monday we spent FIVE hours driving around and saw two prospective rentals.

Did I mention this was a house shopping road trip?

It was!

We very successfully discovered where we didn't want to live.

We drove to the state park and just chilled for a bit.

I had been uncomfortable all day and it was not getting better.

"Stephen, I need to go to the hotel."

Being a gentleman, he took me back and let me rest while he went to search out more information.

We had contacted four realtors with no success.

He wasn't gone 10-15 minutes and I called him back.

What happened?

A trip to the ER, some not fun moments, a CAT scan:

"Ma'am? Have you ever had a kidney stone?"

HA! Some of you thought something else, nope!

I had my first Kidney stone.

Two more days of frustrating searching and we were told about a home in a trailor park. We shuddered. There is a certain thought/feeling/what have you when you hear those words. A fabulous (absolutely LOVE this woman) realtor had scraped up several possible homes on the Natchez side of the river. She recommended that we check out the trailor park house. It sat at the entrance of the trailor park, was rumored to be a nicer house, and rumored to have a bit of room as well. The neighborhood was also said to be safe.

We drove out there again. Two elderly people happened to be outside and we stopped to talk with them. We asked about the neighborhood, crime rate, the people in the house, etc. You name it, we asked about it. I will be there without Stephen every other week.

If it isn't safe, there is no way I would stay there!

They said in 23 years there have been 2 issues and both of those happened more than 10 years ago.

We went in to the house. The lady that lives there was sweet and showed us everything.

In short, we are meeting with the landlord to work out the lease later today!

Which is wonderful because Stephen was irritable and stressed Tuesday.

I was irritable Wednesday.

We argued about absolutely NOTHING both days.

Did I mention that "Dorie" doesn't communicate well with Logical-Black&White thinkers?

I'm abstract!

Why can't he follow my abstract thinking?

Lol

We had a lot of laughs about how dumb it was. =)

I love this man SO much!

There is more, I will share it later.

PRAISE! God supplied a home in the best school district. There is a big need for substitute teachers. We have some pretty amazing people living near by!



Tis the End

This is it.

The last day.

It feels so weird.

I look forward to Christmas break, but I don't believe it will hit me until January when next semester begins.

Our search for a house begins in earnest on Sunday.

Here is a picture of my home for the past year and a half...

No offense, but it's the best.

Best building.

Best people.

Best coworkers.

Best administration.

They will be sorely missed...

Ah ha moments

I know you never have those moments, but I do. I had a big one - shockingly large, you might say. It was even rather "Dorie-like."

Christmas is only 2 weeks away!

What the beans!?! I need to finish shopping! We do have a tree put up, and SOME shopping done. Much more to do though. Five days until the kids natural mother picks them up, one week until we go house shopping in MS. We leave on the 18th and get back on the 23rd. There's a slight chance I am pressed for time. In that same amount of time, I need to finish packing up my classroom, help go through the garage, and have energy.

Today? I pooped out. Therefore, there are no pictures.

Abby had her first sleep over with three of her little friends from school They were up all hours of the night giggling and talking - a very dear friend housed the party. Kyle went to Meme's with his cousin. They had a bonfire with their Poppa and from what I understand they just straight out had a blast! Stephen & I got to go to the Christmas party for my work. I was afraid he wouldn't have any fun, but he hit it off with several guys and talked all night!

Today was FABULOUS! ... ok let me fix that statement. This morning in church was FABULOUS! The LORD's presence filled the place and it was SO refreshing! You always know God is everywhere you are, you know He knows everything, and you know there is nothing that escapes Him. However when the LORD'S presence fills His house that is already full of His people - there are not words to fully express it! We needed it! We spent the afternoon with our family and everyone just had a lot of fun...or so I'm told. Believe it or not, I went to lay down shortly after getting there and didn't get up until shortly before we left. I missed all the fun! The kids made Christmas cookies with Meme, Uncle Jake, Aunt Kelly, and Luke.  Meme was in heaven! =) Which is good, because she deserves it! Now I'm trying to figure out how to do that for the Indiana family!

Do you realize next year is only 20 days away?





December 3rd

Wow! What a long time to leave you hanging with nothing fun to read! Change is still very dominant in our lives. Stephen & I have come to the conclusion that fast change is going to be the theme. We are more the type to stop, think about the options, think about which is the best, start thinking about moving, stop and think some more...at least when it comes to big things.

God has this plan, a very intricate plan, that is very different. For example, Stephen moved to FL again in June of 2010. I moved to FL for the first time in July of 2010. I met him in September - what a shy, quiet guy he was! I couldn't get him to do anything more than chuckle or say, "Goodmorning ma'am."

What the beans?

Whatever, I loved Connie and we were friends and that was all I cared about.

Two months later Stephen & I go on our first date and became pretty much inseparable. (November 20, 2010) He proposes on March 19, 2011. We get married June 25, 2011. Early November we discover the landlords put the house we're in on the market. We apply for a position in Natchez, MS November 17, 2011.

November 21, 2011 - "MK1 Langenmayr, orders just came through that you will be transferring to Natchez, MS. You will report as the EPO by January/February."

What do you say? Yes sir? That's what we did! Uncle Sam called, we followed.

Good thing the house is on the market! Good thing I have a FABULOUS work family that is helping me get everything together to leave, get my students taken care of, and helping me laugh off the dumb little things of life!

Kyle & Abby are excited/sad/scared about the move. Excited because it is a chance for new friends. Excited because they found out I'll actually be able to be around more since I won't be working 75 hours a week. Excited because their natural mother will be 5 hours instead of 16 hours away. Sad to be leaving the friends and family here. Scare at the idea of changing schools and not knowing what life will be like.

Stephen is excited! He will be working for a WONDERFUL Master Chief! The job he will be doing is exactly what Stephen hoped for. At Natchez, he will be under way every other week.

Kaden? Oh I'm sure if he knew what was happening he'd be happy/sad. Happy because there will be plenty of new places to sniff out. Sad because he won't be going to work with Stephen anymore at the new base. This dog is SPOILED!

Me? Excited/sad/nervous/outside of my mind happy! Excited - a new place! I love going to new places, meeting new people, and exploring! Sad - My RCE family is here. They took me in when I was nobody to them. They offered to let me spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with them last year when I was alone. Stephen's family is here - they are wonderful and I (we) will miss them A LOT! Outside of my mind happy - I won't be a full time teacher so I'll actually get to be home with my kids on the weekends!!!!!!!

There are pictures GALORE on facebook. Sorry but 90ish pictures is just too much to post on here. Besides, you upload pics on here ONE AT A TIME! YIKES! Facebook you upload all 90ish and you are done! =) Go check out the fall pictures, Abby's birthday, etc.

Thanksgiving pictures should come soon! As in hopefully a couple hours if I get my lesson  plans all done. I'm typing this for a 10 minute break...ok so it's been 5 minutes, but whatever. We teachers round time and maximize what time we have!

Love to you all!

Because we need it...

It's because we need it. Do we want it? Well, honestly, no we don't. What we would really like is the result. You have to admit, if you could have the end result without going through it, you'd take that result in a heartbeat!

Growth - it hurts. It's a pain. It's frustrating, why can't it just happen instantenously (sp?) and be done with it?! Patience - a virtue I was born without. ...ask my husband, children, and parents....they will agree with me.

I knew this year would be difficult. However, can it please be over now? Please?

Am I rambling about marriage? HECK NO! I've never enjoyed life more EVER! Am I rambling about being a mother? NOPE! Are these frustrating? haha! Only momentarily...more with myself than my family.

We are getting lessons in faith. That is what I am rambling about. God is bound and determined to awaken the hearts of His people and teach them faith through thick and through thin. The kind of faith that says, "It might be pitch black out with wolves snarling at my heels and spiders crawling all over everything (yes - I loathe spiders) but still, I will have faith that Christ's blood covers me and I am redeemed! I have the strength of the Father inside of me and nothing can knock me down!"

The tears have been flowing much more frequently. My vision is terribly near sighted. The "mole hills" surrounding me appear as though they are Mt. Everest. I haven't the strength on my own to carry on. These are too near and dear to my heart - the pain is more than I can bear. But Christ stretched His arms out and told me "I love you this much. How much do you love me?" Trembling I stretch out my arms, "I love you this much, my LORD." The devil sees me and tries his hardest to hit my heart.

I can't delve into what is going on. Mostly because it changes every moment of every day. Partially because it is painful and being that vulnerable is not something I can do right now. But the devil is trying to attack my family, my job, my heart....he can't win. The war is over - the battle is won.

Let me share some verses that have been holding me...

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  ~ James 1:2-4

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING." ~ John 15:5

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?" I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King." ~ Isaiah 43 (various verses)

Stephen, Kyle, Abby, and I are doing fabulous. The pictures are true pictures - we are loving being a family. Please understand, God has blessed us beyond measure! However, join with us as we pray for God to continue to bind us together. It is my honest belief that because the devil sees what a powerful witness we are for Christ as a blended family, he is doing his best to hinder us. Isn't it wonderful to know that despite his best efforts, the devil is failing?

My tears? Tears of praise, tears of weariness when my eyes are not solely focused on my Lord, tears of prayer begging God to protect my precious children from pain and to bless my husband.

My cup is full beyond measure and flowing over. I am blessed!

Fork & Spoon Museum

It has been quite a long time since I have written...let me share some pictures that you have missed out on. (Thanks to my disorganized life...it's getting better!)

Stephen and I had date night! Not last week, but the week before. =) He was sweet enough to take us to Red Lobster for endless shrimp night!

Steve LOVES having his picture taken... 

I don't exactly love having my picture taken, but was way too excited to have one on one time with him!

From Red Lobster we went to the mall. Believe it or not, I didn't find anything I wanted.

HOWEVER, Stephen did. =)

After dinner, he treated me to Starbucks!

When we got there, Stephen and I had to wait a loooong time before we ordered our coffee...

See how patient he is? 

Food doesn't always sit well in my stomach.

Little did I know there was vinegar in one of the sauces for the shrimp.

But he loves me and will wait for me...evil eyes and all!

IT was a delicious dopio!

You can't go wrong with those!

In between that date, and the museum, Steve and the kids brightened EVERY one of my mornings.

No matter how frazzled, stressed, psycho, I got - they loved me and brightened up the day!

I accidentally slept in, but Stephen helped me smile!

Abby told me at one point she loves me like a sandwich!

I look like death, but he still kisses me!

Kyle had given me a hug and kiss.

Once he saw the camera, he suddenly became engrossed in his book.

Kaden even offered me his treat!

Yes, that is his treat and not his tongue sticking out.

Now...to the moment you all have been waiting for.

Short version - I need horse fixes.

Stephen decided to surprise me with going to the horse festival with me!

We told the kids we were going to the Fork and Spoon Museum.

We got them spiral notebooks and pencils to take notes.

They had to write a report about the various historical forks and spoons they would see.

There were spoons from before there was metal work discovered.

Others were used by patriarchs, such as George Washington!

See how excited Kyle and Abby were?

Abby is a perfectionist.

By the time we took this picture, she was almost in tears because she couldn't draw a fork or spoon.

To help them feel better, we swung by our favorite local coffee shop.

Stephen & I got coffee.

Kyle and Abby split a coke, it seemed to help their moods as bit.

I tried to take a picture of Stephen and me.

9 times out of 10, he does something similar to this in a picture...

WAIT!!!! WHAT/!??!?! THE HORSE FESTIVAL!?!?!

YYYAAAYYY!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of our day  =)

This is Abby's favorite!

It took 3rd for color.

She got to go visit it in the stall and pet it!

Stephen and my favorite... =)

This horse took first place in mounted marksmen ship...Basically shooting from horse back.

The guy was super nice and let Abby feed the horse cookies then led her around a bit.

  

Kyle found a couple horses he liked... 

GOLDEN CORRAL! ICE CREAM AND PIZZA!

YYYEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!!!! 

Now, I leave you with this final photo.

It shows Stephen and me as we truly are.

Me the ever happy innocent one...and him, well, I'll let you decide!



Wow...

What a week it was! To put it nicely, all four of us made it to the end of each day exhausted and in bed at latest (adults that is) by 10pm on most nights. Kyle & Abby fought off going to bed as much as possible but would fall asleep in about 2 seconds after their little heads hit the pillows. It's busy season for us! Parent conferences, Kyle & Abby with homework at least 4 nights a week, running around doing normal life things, the list goes on! Terrible grammatics, but frankly I'm ok with it right now.

Kyle & Abby got to spend the night at the grandparents Friday....that left Stephen and I free for a date night! We took full advantage of the unlimited shrimp and ate 5 servings of shrimp, an appetizer, a salad, and 1 biscuit. I paid dearly for eating off diet, and Steve did just fine! We went to get some coffee afterwards then headed home. It was wonderful!

Kyle & Abby? They visited Mema (great-grandma), went to the toy section of Wal-mart with MeMe (grandma), ate pizza and ice cream, visited Homosassa Springs Wildlife, had more ice cream, and spent most all of Saturday at Meme's. Stephen joined them in the afternoon so he could watch the Gator game. FYI they beat TN, which is my oldest brother's team! =) Me? I drove to a coffee shop and worked for 5 hours on grading and data entry. Yep, that's my life!

BUT on Sunday we all went to Meme & Poppa's! Pretty sure they are going to get sick of us. ;) It's just fun to visit! Plus Meme (aka Connie/mom-in-law) and I have been friends since before Stephen and I met....which was one year ago this past weekend. This blog is about to get random so I"m going to sign off.

Love ya'll! I'll post more later!

Short & Sweet

Kyle's parent conference Monday - he's doing WONDERFUL!!!!! Of course, we knew that. He's our son. Why wouldn't he be wonderful?

Abby's teacher says she is a sweetheart! Again, we knew that! She's our baby girl! What else do you expect?

Midterms came back! Abby had all Ps (aka is progressing very well.) Kyle had ONE B and the rest As!!!!!! =)

Stephen is off fishing today! He needed to go!

Kaden has to be put in the crate today. He doesn't know that yet. He's not going to be happy with me when he finds out =/

Duh! moments

I tend to have a lot of these, believe it or not. My gracious loving family is very patient with me each time too, thank the Lord. This past week was a ... challenging one. One -  my class is more challenging. Two - I'm not as effective as I thought at communicating (shocker.) Three - I'm an overachieving perfectionist (that's the killer.) Four - work is picking up. Five - I don't question if I don't think it's possible.

Kudos to all you full time working mothers! Specifically those of you fellow educator mothers! Granted, none of us have easy jobs, but educators work 8 hour days go home and work usually 4 more hours. OR they stock up those 4 hours each night and disperse them to Saturday and Sunday. I would love to know how you manage to teach, parent, and keep a semi-clean/organized home.

Talking is something I'm good at. Just ask anyone who knows me. Give me 5 minutes in your presence to get a feel for personality, and I'll talk your ear off. ...It's one of the more charming traits Steve married me for! Ok so that's not true, but it's funny! Anyhoot - there have been normal miscommunications or lack of communications here and I've been praying praying praying about how to straighten them out. So, one day I pulled Steve aside, apologized in advance, and spilled all my thoughts, feelings, and whatnot.

By the way, I don't know what marriage did to me. I used to never cry and now I cry at the stinkin drop of a hat. NOT A FAN OF THAT!

Back to what I was saying...as I'm spilling my blah (translates into "girl stuff") God starts talking to my heart. Being a typical woman, or so I'm told, I thought the problem was him. HA! For once, I was wrong. Yuck that tastes nasty coming out of my mouth! But it was wonderful to be able to talk and spill and shed a few tears. He's learning not to laugh at those tears. Enough about that. I feel better, I'm learning myself better, and handing more over to Christ every moment of the day! SO FREEING! Christa Wells has an awesome song on her Frame the Clouds cd. It talks about carrying a hidden burden. I felt like that was my baggage that  I wasn't talking to Stephen about. You should listen to that cd of hers. LOVE IT!

I like to have a clean house. Not just typical clean mind you, but slightly OCD clean. They tested me and I'm not OCD, I just have "tendencies." Mess from children doesn't bother me, honestly. BUT leaving my bed unmade, my clothes slopped into drawers instead of folded neatly, dog hair on the floor, papers strewn across the desk, boxes in my bedroom (because there is no where to unpack them), my work sitting undone on the desk. ARGH!!!! Can't handle it! So to help me out, the alarm goes off at 5am. That's my time. That's my read the Bible/exercise/laundry/cleaning time. Kyle & Abby get up at 6:15am for breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth and hair, making beds, and getting into the truck hopefully by 7:30am. Stephen gets up ...well, it varies ;) I don't mind! Let him sleep, he helps me SO MUCH!!!!! Usually we three (me & kids) get to work at 7:30am. I set up for my day. 4pm I go home, help with dinner/homework, clean up dinner, help with baths, read a Bible story as a family, and put Abby down. Stephen and I sit for about 30 minutes then Kyle is off to bed. USUALLY I am pooped so I do bare minimum work and am in bed no later than 10pm. This repeats Mon-Fri. Saturdays I get up at 5am and do everything I missed during the week until the kids get up.

I thought I was doing pretty well....until yesterday. You see, if I miss a meal there are some pretty whacky repercussions. Randomly falling asleep, grumpiness, lethargy, general "can't function-ness." I missed 2 breakfasts (I eat 3), and ate no lunches by 11:30am. Usually by this time I've eaten 2 bags of veggies, a bowl of cereal, 2 boiled eggs, and some carrots/grapes/an orange. You get the picture. We were running errands and on the way I bottomed out into grumpiness. Holiday weekend - 2 kids - a husband who does not like busy crowds, are you getting the picture? We made it through everything. We got home and Steve told me to stay home and nap before meeting the family at my in-laws (aka 2nd family) I teared up because I knew I was tired and grumpy and was trying so hard not to be. He led me to the recliner sat me down, held my face close to his, and told me that my health and happiness was worth more than a clean house. "Rest, then come over. You can't do everything." Do you have any idea how hard it is to hear that and know he is right?

Told you he is awesome!

2 hours later I woke up and joined them!

Work - ugh - it's good but it's work. Enough said!

I ran the budget only to see if we could get a good cable package within our budget. Called the cable company. "Ma'am, you have channels 2 - 99 for free." There was more to the conversation, but YIPPEE! We can watch the Colts and Gators from HOME for FREEEEEEE!!!!!

I should have asked, but I didn't. Yay for us!

Here are some pictures from today! =)

Kaden showing off his GATOR orange collar!

It's reflective - Abby is proud to say she picked it out. ;)

Blurry - but thank my phone for that one.

A late night a HS football game, late night for a Gator game (she zonked at 8:45pm last night on the couch), and she's down for the count!

Kyle showing his "western" version of a Star Wars Storm Trooper!

Getting ready to dispatch the enemy!

Stephen went outside and did a wonderful job trimming!

He thought I'd be upset by how much was done, but seriously folks!

EVERYTHING needed to be trimmed!

Kyle and Kaden are helping get the brush loaded to throw it away!

Me? What do I get to do today?

Want to guess how excited I feel about grading, writing lesson plans, and doing a reflective analysis while my family gets to be outside working in the beautiful afternoon?

Can you guess?

Notice the perfectly smooth and beautiful hair, huge smile, and general joyfulness exuding from my face.

Love to ya'll! Praying for you!

Warm Fuzzies

Do you ever have one of those days? You know, those ones where a poptart just isn’t enough? When a cup of coffee usually brings a happy warm fuzzy feeling to your heart? When a snuggle with your puppy (80+ lb puppy) just doesn’t get your heart strings like it usually does?

 

It’s one of those for me.

 

I froze all night last night despite sleeping next to a human heater. Woke up and had a cuddle moment with Kaden. (loved that!) Went to wake up our children….Abby woke up sweet and cuddly, and so did Kyle. That is he woke up sweet once he realized I had let him sleep to his alarm for 10 minutes. ;)  Mayhem! Breakfast today was “wonderful” the kids also get poptart Thursday. Suddenly the poptarts were no longer yummy to a young man who previously had enjoyed them. The little girl felt she needed to point that out. An argument. Split that up. Check beds – not made. Please go make them when you finish breakfast. An argument, or at least an attempt at one. Dad came out and got breakfast to find me frazzled trying to pack my lunch, finish the kids lunches, make my breakfast (daRn this diet!), make coffee (it’s a must), and running to get ready. Check to see if the dog was fed, nope! Abby please do it. Another attempt at an argument. I finish getting ready on the brink of tears because as we all know, we women have the choice of either crying or getting angry…I chose tears.

 

Have I told you yet that my husband is amazing? He is. J He stopped getting himself ready multiple times to just hold me and give me a kiss. I needed that this morning!

 

Then what? I get to work and well, a coworker summed up my day like this. "Langenmayr, with the class you have, if you don't drink - you should think about starting."

 

Yep

 

So why did I call this "Warm Fuzzies?"

 

Because at lunch someone monkey  climbed me, bear hugged my neck, and gave me a big kiss! Followed by, "Don't worry if they're poops, I love you!" Who couldn't get the warm fuzzies off of a 5 yr old saying that??? OR let's try, "I love you =) Can I have a big hug?"  "You look like you had a hard day, can I hug you?"

 

Like I said...warm fuzzies. What did my amazing husband do? Hugged me, kissed me, and told me he loved me.

 

I am so blessed! It amazes me that I forget to smile sometimes. It amazes me that despite every blessing I have, I still find a way to find the cup half empty. How many 28yr old women find the perfect man, with two fabulous children, own a gorgeous sweetheart puppy, and have such a beautiful home with family 5 miles away? Granted my parents are more like 16 hours away, but they have made themselves readily available by all sorts of ways! AND Stephen's family is so amazing it makes me feel as if they truly were my own family!

 

AS I said - I'm blessed and full of warm fuzzies today! =) Love to you all! I'm prayin for you!

Can't believe it!

Well, dear favorite friends and family, we called God out. Yep, it's true. Stephen and I have been bending over backwards on a certain project. For two weeks I have been daily (sometimes minute by minute) asking God to help, to no avail. However, last night Stephen finally said, "Look God, we've been doing our part and bending over backwards to get it done. We need You to hold up Your end."

God heard and gave us a break! YAY!!!!!! It was much needed....

Where to begin? Life is everything I expected it to be and so much more! I knew when God told me Stephen was the one for me that my life would drastically change. It was with full understanding that the moments for me would become few and extremely far between that I said, Yes, I'll marry you! These crazy stressful moments when more than anything I want to say, "Look, dear child of mine, if you would simply do your homework/not through a crying fit/talk back/get up in the morning/do your best the first we wouldn't be in this situation. So put your big boy/girl pants on and get on with it."...I still find so much love and laughter in those moments I wouldn't trade them for a million dollars. You couldn't pay me, or give me anything that would be worth more than my daughter's smile when she gives me a hug. Or my son's precious hugs each and every time he thinks I just need one. You see, hugs and kisses are my thing. I need those to survive. My momma prayed that my family (she's been praying this for years) would know I needed hugs. Who knew they would come from such precious packages? Let me tell you, my heart has tripled in size over the past two months!

Can it really only have been two months ago that I became Mrs. Stephen Langenmayr? Don't take this wrong, but it has come so ... almost ....naturally I guess is the right word, that it just fits.

Plus we've been through a few things most people wait years to go through. ie We have to children. We share the with their momma. We are preparing for a transfer with the Coast Guard, it could come at any time.

LOTS of stuff! But!!!!! We love our life together. It's weird when I try to think about life before my family.

Enough sentimentality! It's Friday! That means jeans at work, high school football game, and headed to Ocala tomorrow! So yes people, your thank you notes that are much over due could very likely get sent out tomorrow! In our defense (yes this is an excuse) we haven't spent a straight 20 days in our house until now! If we can just stay home for the next 5 days, we will have spent our first solid month at home without any roadtrips!!!! =)

Love to you all!

It's Friday!!!

It looks kind of light outside. Wonder what time it is...

6:12am

Oh yeah, the alarm didn't go off!

45 minutes late getting up.

Run to Abby's room...wake her up and clean up the mess that is hers. Apparently "clean your room up at the end of the day" didn't happen.

6:22am

Kyle isn't moving. How come I don't hear his alarm clock? ...It didn't go off. FLIP the lights on "Rise and shine Kyle! We have to get going!"

6:40am

Abby is dressed, mess cleaned, both brushed their teeth, run to wake up Stephen so he can help with breakfast while I hop in the shower.

7:07am

Done with the shower, working on the hair, Stephen is leaving, Abby ate part of her breakfast, Kyle is still eating. Need to pack my lunch, finish the kids lunch, fix the coffee (aka life source)...

"By the way Babe, don't be mad but...."

...Please don't be mad but Abby's broke."

"How? Who did that?"

"Abby did."

"Abby?"

".....maybe?????"


:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) I lovve my husband! He cracks me up!  Needless to say I was laughing at this morning because, who has mornings like this? I got to work praying I didn't look as crazy as I felt. NOPE! Someone kindly pointed out ASAP that I looked a bit frazzled & my hair looked pretty crazy.

Thank you dear friend ;)

My mom in law told the front office at work how my morning had gone. Later in the day a front desk worker saw me and said, "No wonder you look so crazy today with a morning like that!"

Thank you as well my dear friend :)

Honestly! I think it's hilarious! I love my job & the people I work with, they definitely help me laugh!

So any-hoot! I had to share that with you! Love to ya'll!

We have entered into week two of school. Kyle & Abby officially have become difficult to wake up! Kyle didn't wake up until his second alarm went off and even then I had to encourage him to get up...not bad for an 8 yr old! Abby on the other hand moaned, growled, groaned, and flopped until I pulled "My Mother" on her. =) When I was growing up, you always wanted Mom to wake you up. Dad would count to 3 and flip on the light...sometimes before he got to 3 just to catch you by surprise. Then he would give us some cheesy line like, "Rise and shine! Time to be bright eyed and bushy tailed!"

We quickly found the Proverb about loud greetings in the morning being taken as a curse. =)

Mom? She'd come tickle you lightly with her fingers while going "woo woo woo! woo woo woo!" in a sing-song voice. Who knew how much fun it is to wake someone up with that! Abby was...well, not happy, but it was HILARIOUS! Kaden came and joined in on the fun by licking her face.  The best part of the "Abby" moments has just got to be shared! Stephen and i have been prepping the kids for chores, right? So tonight I asked Abby to feed Kaden his dinner.

"Why?!"
"Because that's one of your chores, honey."
"I don't believe this! I have to cook, clean up the lunches, help pack the lunches, and feed the dog twice in one day! Oh my word!!!!"


HAHAHAHAHAHA! How precious is that! Yes, we talked about having the right attitude and being respectful, but come on people! You can't deny how adorable that is! Here are 2 pics that I didn't get posted last week. It was on Friday. Abby informed me she had been counting down all week long to the weekend so she wouldn't have to go to school. Lol

Kyle refused to smile, so here he is eating breakfast. =)

Sassy pants herself!

On Saturday, both kids ended up at a friend's house (bless her heart) MK has 8 kids, 5 were home, and she had 3 extras! Our 2 plus another lady's daughter had come to play. Kyle was being camera shy, but Abby was in high heaven! Can you guess why?

This is Mahogany. He spooked her a bit because of his height, but she loooooooves horses! Ok, time for this teacher to hit the sack. Love you all! Stay true! We are praying for you!



Wow

Where to begin? People are so wonderful and never frustrating! The first week of school has been survived! Saturday is gone before I could blink. We have had our babies home for a week and a half, whereas I feel as if we JUST got them yesterday.

Wow! Where did time go? Did I really just get married? Did our babies just get home? Did we really just finish the first week of school? Holy cow!

This morning was HILARIOUS! Let me tell you, our little girl is a spitfire! This morning she woke me up with "spider legs" which is where she wiggles her fingers just over my skin to feel like spider legs. I hate spiders! She loved that I flipped! Because I knew that Stephen would love some attention, I told her to get Daddy with spider legs too! Haha! =) Add to my list of questions, Did Abby really already start school?! Anways, back to my story...after she woke us up, Abby left to go play for a minute. Within literal seconds we heard her begin to cry loudly and then scream. I ran out with Stephen on my heels to see what had happened! Abby was sobbing, and Kyle calmly told, "Miss Elizabeth she wanted to see my puzzle box. I told her fine, but let me show you it first. Abby said no. I said you need to know how it works so you don't break it. She got mad and said no, so I grabbed her face like this (one handed on the chin) and said No, you need to know how it works first. Then she punched me five times in the face. So I punched her in the side of the head."

My first reaction? I looked at both kids and neither had a mark on them (thank you Lord) then laughed. Abby is constantly picking on Kyle & antagonizing him. I'm not going to lie and say he doesn't do his fair share, but he typically gets into trouble for his reaction. How can I get upset with him when she clearly antagonized and attacked him?! We sent her to her room until she could come and apologize. Kyle we left alone. He was SHOCKED! We told him that normally he would get into trouble for punching her, but he had done a very good job of being patient. We also explained how to try for more peaceful reactions next time. That was that....

On to annoying adults. Seriously, it was bad. First, Stephen does not appreciate crowds like I do - which is fine. We were in Sam's Club and ran into several less than savory people that were frustrating. Because of that, when we reached Wal-mart I sent him off to the automotive/sporting section so he could do his thing and I could do mine. (yes, grammatical errors in sentences this long but I'm too tired to care...sorry!) I began my mission of grocery shopping. I got cut off by a family that glared at me. Sorry, but if I'm moving forward with my cart and your path cuts daigonally in front of me, you are the one cutting me off not the other way around. I looked at their glares and laughed out loud. ....maybe not the Christian thing to do, but it did irritate them! ;) I finished in the produce area and began browsing through the aisles. My only question is, is it really necessary to block off the aisle by turning it perpendicular to the aisle? Add to that, is it really necessary to do it 3 and 4 carts deep? All I wanted was some ridiculous mixed greens! Ok so that's all I wanted the first time it happened. And yes, these dear sweethearts did it 3 times to me. I got cut off, had people stop and converse in an area so packed I couldn't even back up. BE PROUD MOTHER! I did not say a word, give a look (except clenching my jaw and looking up to heaven so I wouldn't say anything.) By the time I got to Stephen, I learned he had met with several like people. We went to check out. It was now about 4:20pm which was 5 hours since my last meal. Those of you who know me, know that 2 hours is my max length before I start to get drowsy, moody, and eventually straight up fall asleep. Yay for a super fast metabolism! Stephen was sweet enough to run down to the McD's in Wal-mart to get some food. He came back looking like he had a story to tell. Good! Because the lady in front of me was looking for change in her ONE OF SIX coin purses. Lady, if you need more than one, put it in a jar and take it to the bank! =) Apparently, in the time Stephen was in line, ordered nuggets, fries, and two burgers (the burgers were for him) a lady had eaten 2 big macs, 2 large fries, and drank down a large coke. YIKES!!!!!!!

We ran off to pick up the kiddos...and got there late. But that was ok because our friend is fabulous and wasn't upset at all! Kyle got invited to a friend's house for the afternoon. Abby was upset to put  it mildly that she couldn't go. Our friend invited Abby to stay and play with her 2 daughters. Abby was in the pool 10 minutes later! When we picked them up, we discovered they had played with toys, dogs, the pool, horses, and just rough housed around in general! Both are now fed (a rather large dinner), bathed, read to, prayed over, and sound alseep!

Peace out friends! Lesson plans are waiting on me! Love to you all!

Day 2

I have survived! My first day of school that is. =) The students over all are great! I'm sure we'll all settle in and it should be a fabulous year! (and if you know teachers, that is code for - I will learn patience and use my teacher voice frequently ;)

Anyways, since I last spoke to you all we have had a tremendous amount of craziness! Stephen and I went to pick up the kids in AR (YAY!) and spent a few days up there. We also got to visit his old church and stay with some of the friends that helped him during the craziness of his last few months up there. When we made it home, I had missed 1 day to set up my classroom. HOWEVER!!!! Rock Crusher is SUCH an amazing group of people and about 6-8 people came in, set up my room, and put together the packets of information my parents needed to fill out! Yay!

We are all settling in well. =) Kyle has successfully woke up to an alarm two morning in a row! We are so proud of him! Abby is excited that she is too young to use an alarm clock. She is much more like Stephen in the mornings....they aren't morning birds. ;)

Last night we were all sitting down eating breakfast for dinner. Stephen and I went to take care of something in the kitchen and I heard Abby say, "Oh yummY!" I went back out to see what she decided was so yummy! Oh wait - she was dipping her bacon into the butter! YUCK! But she was loving it! No offense, but Mom, that totally reminds me of you! =)

After we cleaned up we had a rousing game of "Monster!" The kids absolutely LOVE it! Stephen pretends he is the Monster, Kyle is our Knight in Shining Armor, Abby is the Damsel in Distress, and I am the loyal steed for said Damsel. It was hilarious! Abby was squealing like crazy, Kaden was chasing us, Kyle was attacking Stephen, Stephen was chasing Abby and me, and I was simply trying to stay upright because I was laughing so hard and Abby had a death grip on my neck! =)

Day 2 of school! Hope ya'll are enjoying it! We have crazy thunder, rain, and lightning today! Love to you!

Just a few more days

until they come home!!!!! I might be a bit excited. ;) I MIGHT have woke up at 4am so I could set up the rest of Abby's room and get Kyle's room almost finished....yeah, I might have done that! Thank God Stephen is a deep sleeper! He woke up for about 30 seconds and was sound asleep shortly after that. =)  SO - I took pictures! Keep in mind the room is only set up! It's not decorated! These were taken on my phone too - so please bear with me as they are a bit blurry....

Abby's bed =) If you are standing in the kitchen/hall outside of her room, this is what you see first.

Her walk-in closet and SOME of her toys. (Yes, a 5 yr old has her own walk-in closet. ;)

Her desk, lamp, & dresser. Let me tell you I looooove her lamp! It's one of those torchiere lamps with multiple heads you can point in any direction. Abby's has pink, purple, green, and white. It's so cute! Her dresser is right next to the doorway from the first picture.

At the end of the same hallway as Abby, is Kyle's room. The dresser is right next to his door, and look! Another walk-in closet!!!!! =) He also has a multi-head torchiere lamp. However, I was a good girl and made his colors white, blue, and orange. I'll let you guess what team he likes the best based upon those colors. ;)

As with all things, there is a story. These bunkbeds are amazing! Mr. Langenmayr (THE Mr. Langenmayr of our family - aka Jim) made these for his sons. I'm told all 3 boys had the opportunity to beat up these bunk beds. Stephen inherited them and Kyle has used them for sometime. The beds are just as sturdy today as the day they were made. As you can see, I still have to make the top bed. =/

The empty corner will be filled with Kyle's desk. He LOVES his desk! I've never seen a boy that loves to write and illustrate as much as he does! In the months before the wedding, he wrote several starts and several whole stories complete with illustrations.

Are they home yet? Stephen and I are so ready for them to come home. Don't get me wrong, this past month has been absolutely heavenly. The chance to get Stephen to myself for a whole month is priceless! I thank God we had that opportunity because adjusting to married life (for me) is a big deal. Yes, there will also be an adjustment when the kids come home. However, because I have had the chance to adjust to being married first - the adjustment to kids should be easier. How about now? Are they home now? Do we reallly have to wait until this weekend/Monday? =/