We're Back

We got back last night from our trip to Lake Junaluska, NC church youth trip. I would advice not to spend 24 hours of driving with 15 teenagers. It can be dangerous to your health ... seriously. All that teenage drama - Oh my gosh. I feel completely physically and emotionally drained from those things called teenagers. I have decided that Jack will never turn into one of those things.

Our trip started out early early Wednesday morning by meeting at the church at 4 am to pack up kids, bags, and lots of junk food. We drove through to Bryson City, NC where we spent the night at this motel that was tucked up into the mountains. It was incredibly beautiful and breathtaking. The next morning we all got up early to go whitewater rafting, which was such a blast. The kids had so much fun, however there was much complaining about the cold river water.

After the rafting trip, we all piled back into the vans and drove to Lake Junaluska for the youth retreat. It was an amazing experience for all involved. Some of the kids were able to bring a lot of emotional baggage out and I am amazed at what kids today have to go through. It sure is a far cry from when I was their age. I do believe that all the kids got closer to God and hopefully they will take the high they are feeling right now and keep it with them forever.

But I just have to say that if I have to deal with one more teenage girl drama with massive tears, I am going to poke my eyes out! Good grief, what is it with teenage girls and drama? It is like they thrive on a daily dose of drama! I was thanking God all weekend that Jack is a boy. Laura was not as bad as some of the girls, but even she shed some tears over drama. I have worked with the children's (Jack's age) ministry for the past couple of years and even though that age can completely exhaust you, there is nothing like the youth teenage ministry to drain you of every possible ounce of energy and sanity.

But all in all it was a very successful trip. I will be posting lots and lots of pictures later. Right now, we need to get back in our van and drive another two hours to go to Aunt Ann's and Grammy's house to get Jack. I did pretty good in the not-missing-Jack department until last night when I talked to him on the phone and almost felt like crying. I am very ready to see my Jackaroo today and kiss and hug him all over and be very thankful that he is NOT a teenager yet.

And We Are Off

Well we are off tomorrow morning at 4 am to chaperone a church youth group to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. We are taking 15 teenagers, Laura being one of them and 6 of us adults. It should be a fun trip. We are going whitewater rafting on Thursday morning and then on to Lake Junaluska for the weekend. There will be a big youth rally there with kids from all over the southeast and I am hoping that Laura gets to meet a lot of new friends and have a great time.

We dropped Jack off tonight to spend the next 6 days with Aunt Ann and Grammy C. I know he is going to have a great time there, but I admit that it was hard saying goodbye to my baby for 6 whole days, the longest I have ever spent away from him. Wahhhh! But he will have fun fishing, picking blueberries, getting eggs out of the hen house, and playing with his Grammy and Aunt. And I sent him up there with a ton of cars, trucks, games, books, and even his golf clubs (he said he needed to practice his golf!?!). And I know he will be completely spoiled also.

I know that my posts have been few and far between the last few months and for those of you still sticking around for those few posts, thank you and I apologize. I do have plans to get back to my daily ramblings about life with Jack and the rest of the family. And posting lots of pics for ya'll. So until Monday, just pray for us that we do not lose our sanity with 15 teenagers!

VBS 2008 Recap

Our church had the annual vacation bible school last week. I volunteered to be one of the "Discovery" leaders in the science room. It was really fun watching the kids do the experiments each night and see their eyes light up when the experiment actually worked. This year ran a lot smoother than last year and I think all those involved had a ton of fun each night.

I, however, put my foot in my mouth one night. There was a boy named Grant who was five years old, who was THE worst kid in VBS this year. Every year, there is that one kid who you wished never signed up. Last year it was a boy named Dawson and to this day, I still have bad memories everytime I hear the name Dawson. Anyway, this year Grant was a very disrespectful, disruptful little boy. He did not want to do what all the other kids were doing and when he was challeneged, he would look at you in the eyes and just defy and dare you to do something. One night, he went behind the door and started to kick the wall so hard that I thought he was going to kick a hole through the wall.

Grant's parents do not go to our church, so I really did not know him nor his parents very well. I was in the hallway when a woman walked up to me that I did not know and start talking about how wild Grant is and well I opened up my mouth and stuck my foot in big time. I told her that he was the worst child this year at VBS and she stood there open-mouthed and told me that he was hers. Of course, I felt horrible about telling her this and tried to apologize to her. But she just walked away not wanting to hear my apology. The next day I got a phone call from a friend telling me that Grant's mother cried the rest of the night because of what I told her and she "didn't expect that kind of attitude at a church."

The next night, I tried again to apologize, but again she did not want anything to do with me nor my apology. I felt bad, but the truth was her child WAS the worst kid and she needs to know what kind of kid she has. I keep thinking that if somebody told me that Jack was acting badly, I would be the first one to apologize and not act like that person did a personal assault to me and my child. Anyway, I guess life lesson learned - I need to learn when to open my mouth up about other people's children.

I will post pictures probably tomorrow when I have a bit more time. And tell ya'll about our upcoming trip to North Carolina with 19 teenagers! Fun times!

Today I Wanna Be

Jack is always telling me what he wants to do when he "grows up". Everytime I hear him say that, I always think of the Toys R Us jingle "I wanna be a toys r us kid". Anyway, for the longest time the boy wanted to be a "race car driver". Seriously everyday, about a hundred times a day, he would say I wanna be a race car driver just like my cousin Chad. (Thanks Chad!). I always told him he had to go to college first, so after awhile, he would add the little caveat to his dream - "after college" and then he would ask me again "when is college". I would again go through all the schools he has to finish before becoming that race car driver (preschool, elementary, junior high, high, and then college).

Well in recent weeks, Jack's fascination has moved from race car driving (thank goodness) to being a rock star (oh geesh). And I have the Disney channel to thank for this latest obsession because of their non-ending promotion of the movie Camp Rock. He will go around the house strumming his imaginary guitar and say "I am a Rocking Star Mom!". Even at church he will stand up during the kid's song worship and pretend to play the guitar. At this point I am really not sure which is the worst idea - race car driver or rock star. But of course, everything is "after college".

So yesterday, he went to the doctor to have his hand checked out, which by the way is looking really good. I am no longer feeling faint when I have to change the bandage. The doctor thinks it is going to heal up very nicely with probably no surgery (yahoo!). But we have to give it another couple of weeks to make sure. So that was good news.

Anyway, while at the doctor's, I guess he had the sudden inspiration that doctors were as cool as race car drivers and rock stars because he now says he wants to be a doctor, which is something I can live with a lot easier than the previous two career choices. There is just the little matter of how to pay for med school is all.

I just think it is so great to be young and have your entire future ahead of you and a blank slate as to what you are going to do with that future.

In other happenings, our Vacation Bible School started last night. After last year's first night chaos, I was fully prepared for that same chaos. However, it ran so smoothly and I think the kids enjoyed it very well. This year, I am helping out in the science "discovery" room where we are doing science experiments to demonstate God's love. It is really fun to see the expressions on their faces when doing the experiments. My friend Nichol, who is a pediatrician, is my "lab partner" and she even brought lab coats for us to wear. All very cool. I will take the camera and get some pictures of the church all decorated. We have been working hard getting ready for this. We were at the church until 10:00 on Friday night and then again on Sunday night. But I think it is going to be a successful VBS this year.

Bob 1991-2008

Today I had to put to sleep my dog of almost 17 years. Bob, my wire-haired dachshund that I picked out when I was only 24 years old, which was about 3 lifetimes ago. Through a marriage, a divorce, a bad relationship, my single years, meeting Jim and having Jack, Bob was there as always. My faithful friend who stuck with me through it all. He lived in three different states, 6 houses and 3 apartments with me. And today I had to say goodbye to him. In the end he was completely deaf and almost blind, but when he knew that he was getting a treat, he still pranced around like a puppy. I knew this day was coming and I thought I was ready for it, but I still cried like I lost a dear friend. He was my first son before I had Jack and he will be missed.

I love you Bobers.

The Finger Saga Continues

We are still managing with burnt fingers here at the Jackaroo house. The boy is such a trooper. I am completely impressed with him and his pain management. It makes me think I am a total wimp to pain, because if I had the same injury, I would be complaining about the thing all the time. But not Jack, he just goes about his day and doesn't let the fact that he has no use of his left hand get in his way. He even has accomplished the taking his pants off to go potty quite well with the one hand.

The actual injury is looking better than it did on Saturday when I almost lost my lunch. I changed the dressing yesterday and I can see the healing process going on. The human body really is quite amazing. I am actually going to take him over to a nurse friend today to have her look at it and see what she thinks and let her change the dressing for me. It will be nice to have a professional do it rather than me who about faints away. Yeah a medical career was never in the cards for me.

I also have such a great group of friends. It really was quite amazing that I only told one person about the incident and before the night was over, I had like five phone calls from friends wondering how he was doing. I feel very blessed to have such great girlfriends who I know I can count on in times like these.

Oh and the other day at Walmart, the boy did not get a video game system. One big reason was because I just don't want to have one in my house and well he couldn't play anyway. But we did end up getting a couple of games - Hungry Hungry Hippos and Candy Land. We have been having fun playing those and Chutes and Ladders and Sorry. There isn't much else the boy can do besides watch tv and I really don't want him to watch tv all day long. Unfortunately the pool is out for at least two or three weeks, along with the beach, and the waterpark, and playing outside. But he is taking it better than me! It just goes to show you that you can learn something from your kids.

The Boy Has Me Wrapped Around His Finger ...

especially the bad fingers. Today I changed the dressing on Jack's hand. I got out of it yesterday by pushing the job off onto Jim, but since Jim is sleeping today, I had to do the deed. Let me tell you, I am by no stretch of the imagination a nurse. I cut off the bandage as gingerly and gently as I could, but it still hurt a lot, I could tell. When I took a look at the fingers, I literally felt like throwing up and my knees got weak. They are ugly and look horrible, much worse than the day it happened because now all the skin is falling off like the doctor said it would. It is basically a very bad burn. When I had to put the antibiotic ointment on, he yelled and howled. I can just imagine how much it hurts him and I kept telling him not to look at the hand, but to look out the window at the birdies. I just wish I could of looked out the window at the birdies too! Anyway, I could not wrap that hand up faster, both for the boy's sake and mine own. Yuckie! I am thinking I am going to take him to a nurse friend's tomorrow and have her do the daily job of changing the dressing.

So because I have been basically feeling guilty and sorry for the boy because he has no use of the hand, I am going to take him to Walmart and let him pick something out. I asked him if he wanted to get a new movie or toy and he comes up with this: "I know. I have a great idea. Let's get a video game! One that you play on the tv! Isn't that a great idea?" Now I really do not believe in video games at all. I think they are a huge time waster and once they come into the house, the kids don't want to do anything but that. But because the boy has me wrapped around his very badly hurt fingers at the moment, I actually thought seriously about getting some video game something for him for a second there. We'll see. Who knows, I may just be worn down, but then again, he can't really play with just one hand very easily.

As I said before, this mother thing is not easy at all!

Mother of the Year Moment

First off I want to apologize for going two weeks with no post. It has been extremely chaotic around here with juggling schedules and having one car syndrome. We also have had sporadic internet, which has caused me to start to twitch from withdrawals. I admit that I am an internet junkie.

Now on to the Mother of the Year Moment that happened yesterday afternoon. We just got a new (well new to us) treadmill which is in our family room and I have to trip over the thing to get to the kitchen. Something I seriously need! Anyway, Jack loves to "exercise himself" on the thing. I do let him walk on it at the slowest setting and he thinks it is the funnest thing in the world at that moment.

Well yesterday afternoon, Jack was walking on the treadmill and I walked away just to check on the laundry in the laundry room. I remember thinking to myself that I should not have let him alone on the thing, but he was just walking and seemed safe for a minute. It was hardly anytime and I heard a blood curdling scream come from Jack and I went running. I saw him with his hand caught in the track and stuck and he was screaming. I pulled the cord to stop the track and pulled his hand out and there before me was his hand with fingers with no skin left on them! Literally I saw the tendons on his index finger. It had in essence burnt the skin off in a matter of seconds. I thought that he had fallen, but he told me that he put his hand in there on purpose. Boys! Never did I think he would be that stupid as to put his hand in a moving track.

So anyway with him screaming at the top of his lungs, I went into crisis mother mode. I threw some shoes on him and me and ran for the car. As I backed out of the driveway, I called Jim who was in training to give him the message that I was on my way to Keesler AFB emergency room. It was a long 20 minute drive with Jack screaming in back.

Anyway to make a long story short, we made it to the hospital. His fingers are pretty messed up and right now we have change his dressing everyday with antibiotic ointment. He also has to take oral antibiotics and has a pretty strong pain killer for a four-year-old. There wasn't much they could do there. The doctor said just like a burn, the rest of the dead skin will slough off in the next few days and we have to watch how it heals. It maybe that he will need skin grafts or some type of hand surgery if it doesn't heal right. I am praying that it will heal good, but we won't know for a couple of weeks.

And I have to say that he is such a trooper. He hasn't complained once about being one-handed. He has no use of his left hand and he does a really good job working around the problem. He has played with his blocks all day today and totally compensates for the loss of his hand. I know it still hurts because he will look up and just look at me saying "ouuuuuccchhhh". I feel so bad for him and I have run the what ifs over and over in my mind. I didn't need to get the laundry out at that moment, or I should have made him get off the treadmill. I am just glad that it wasn't any worse than it already is. And after an internet search last night, I realized that we are not the only one out there with hand injuries on treadmills. It seems quite common in fact, unfortunately. So just a warning for all of you out there with kids and treadmills. The two do not mix well.

It was funny because I literally had four places to be last night with the Finance committee meeting taking top priority. Never in a million years did I think I would be in the ER with Jack's fingers mangled. Of course I didn't get to any of the places, but stayed home. Lately it seems that I have a hard time living in the moment as Oprah would call it. I am always thinking ahead of what needs to be done and when. I tell you when I saw Jack hurt like that, I was definitely in the moment and every fiber in me was concentrating on getting him to the hospital. Nothing else mattered. If nothing else, maybe this taught me that I do need to be more in the moment, especially when it comes to Jack. Lesson learned.

Girlfriends & Sex & the City

Alright, I can't tell you how much I love Sex and the City. I know it is racy. I know there is a lot of sex. But under all of that, it is a really great show about girlfriends and life and relationships. During my single years of my early 30s, I absolutely adored the show. I could relate to every single one of those women in some way or another. Maybe it was because I was the same age as they were, and single, and close to giving up on finding Mr. Right. But I loved loved loved the show.

Then I did find my Mr. Big, got pregnant, had a baby, got married (yes in that order) and the show went off the air. But tonight, I went with all my new girlfriends I have made here in Mississippi to see my beloved show and it was everything and more that I expected or hoped for. First of all, the group of us 9 girls went out for Mexican, got slightly drunk on Margaritas and went to the theatre. We got there early to get good seats of course, and I have to say that the crowd of women in that theatre was so much fun. Within minutes, I think the entire theatre were great friends and we even invited a few of them to a party next week. Yeah and being slightly drunk didn't hurt any in the socializing area either.

The movie was the greatest. Whoever was a fan of the show, you MUST go see the movie. You will cry, laugh, and hug your girlfriend next to you on the way out. Oh and do not take any husbands, cause they just won't get it. Go with your girlfriends. The best.

Weekend Recap

It was a very busy weekend here in Jackaroo World. On Saturday, I predicted right, and Jack came home from the boating fishing trip very sunburnt. In fact, he got sick Saturday night by throwing up in the night in his bed around midnight. And then again in the morning. Needless to say, we did not go to church on Sunday. I could just imagine that during children's story time, Jack would heave right in front of the whole church.

However, by the 4 in the afternoon, he was feeling better and I let him go to Allison's birthday party next door. She was turning five and let me just say that it was a huge affair! They rented a huge inflatable water slide for the kids and that turned out to be a huge hit. I wasn't sure if I wanted Jack out in the sun, but he convinced me to let him put his swim trunks on and go play.

I think there were at least 60 or 70 people there with about 30 of them being kids under the age of 6. It was absolute chaos. They also had a show with somebody dressed up as Ork from Dragon Tales and there was lots of singing and dancing. I told Sonia, Allison's mother, that she could host Jack's birthday party next year since she obviously knew how to put on a kickin' kid's party!

Because of all the excitement the previous two days, yesterday was a very low-key day. I didn't want Jack to get any more sun, even though a lot of our friends were going to be spending the day at the pool.

And today, Jack gets to go to work with me. I can't find anybody to watch him for the few hours I have to go work and Jim worked last night, so is sleeping. I had to take him with me last Monday and he did really well while watching movies on the portable dvd player and playing with his cars. Thank goodness I work for a place that lets me do that, cause I can't afford a babysitter, kinda would wipe out the benefits of actually having a job. Ya know.

And I know I promised pictures of the birthday party and well I am lame because I was so worried about Jack being sick that I didn't even think about the camera until way later. I do need to start taking some pics of the boy and post them for ya'll.

Took The Other Option

So I opted out of the fishing/boat trip today. I actually woke up with a scratchy throat and went "uh oh" and decided that I just better stay off the boat today. It has been the most relaxing day I have probably spent in the last four years. Since I really do not feel well, I decided to just not look at my floors with the dust bunnies who now have grandchildren dust bunnies and relax today. I did have to force myself to go to Walmart to get a birthday present for Allison, our neighbor. Her birthday party is tomorrow. She is going to be five and from what I saw of the big preparations going on in their backyard, it is going to be one huge party. I will definitely take pictures. I just hope that Jack doesn't streak through their house like he did last year at her fourth birthday party! Yes, he ran fully naked through their house after he went swimming in the little pool. I always tell people that Allison had a stripper at her fourth birthday party.

Anyway, back to the fishing trip. I do not believe that Jack has ever been this excited about anything in his short life. I think this even tops Disneyworld! He jumped right out of bed this morning at 6:00 am ready for the day of fishing. I heard him yell "hey Uncle Bailey, we're going fishing today!" And he was so cute today when I saw him walk out carrying his little tackle box wearing the hat that he proclaimed was his "fishing hat". He really is growing up so fast. They really have a great day with blue skies and lots of sunshine. Of course, Jim being a Dad and a man, left the sunscreen home, even after I put it out on the counter for him to take with them with explicit instructions to lather Jack up every other hour. I am just hoping that Jim has the good sense to keep the boy under the roof of the Pontoon boat, or the boy is going to be one fried little boy when they get home! But even with that, I am sure Jack is having the time of his life.

Random Happenings

Some recent happenings in the Jackaroo World household:

** Last weekend Jack and I went to a spring festival held by a local church. First of all I just have to say that the church had to make some major bank that weekend because the thing was huge. There was rides, games, booths, crafts, shows, and more going on. Jim was working last weekend so I decided to take Jack and we had a blast. It was a fun Jack and Mommy day, just the two of us. Jack rode a bunch of rides. The funny thing was when he walked right on the little roller coaster all by himself with no fear at all, but when I tried to get him on the Ferris wheel, he said it was too scary. However, we both rode the ferris wheel and all he could say during the whole ride was "wow" and "this is so cool". Jack also got his very first pony ride and although I took pictures with my phone, they turned out really bad or you would see Jack riding the cutest pony of all. After that, we ate all kinds of bad carnival food and enjoyed every last bite. All in all a great day.

** The other night, we went to a neighbor's crawfish boil and brought home a ton of the mudbugs. And my little redneck-in-the-making cracked them open and sucked the heads out like a pro. And nope, not me. I still can't quite get myself to actually "enjoy" eating a mudbug yet.

** Tomorrow we have plans to rent a pontoon boat and take it out in the Biloxi Back Bay. My brother-in-law is coming with us and a lot of fishing will be happening. Of course Jack is way excited and can't wait to use the fishing pole that cousin Chad got him for his birthday. As for me, I couldn't decide if I wanted to spend the day alone in peace and get some work done around the house, or join them on the boat. I just decided that the work will still be there and a day lounging on a boat sounds like fun. But I can guarantee that this girl will not be fishing. Nope a good book, cold drink, and bottle of sunscreen will be my companions tomorrow. I will also be the official photographer, so look for pictures. I know that pictures lately have not been very plentiful and I hope to remedy that soon.

I hope ya'll have a great Memorial Day weekend!

The Last Day

Today was the last day of school for Jack. He graduated from K3 and got a diploma and everything to prove it. The plan was to have a "water day" today for all the kids in K3 and K4 with water slides and jumpy houses. All the kids were told to come to school today wearing swim suites and armed with towels and sunscreen. However, Mother Nature decided to cancel those plans with a massive thunderstorm planned for this morning. I woke to the sound of thunder and a lot of rain and knew that I was going to have one disappointed kid on my hands today. For the past week, all the kids have been about to jump out of their skins with excitement over the water day, only to have it cancelled. I guess it is just the first of many disappointments in their lives.

They did set up the non-water jumpy houses in the gym and had a play day all day and by the time it was all over, the kids forgot about the original plans. When it came time to say goodbye, everybody got a bit teary-eyed. Mrs. Nix gave Jack a huge hug and I could tell she was fighting back the tears while doing so. She was a great teacher and there is a small chance that she might be moving up to teach K4 next year so I am hoping that Jack gets her again next year.

Oh yeah and I am proud to say that my son was one of the few kids in the class that did not have to have a spanking this year. The school does have a spanking policy and if the teacher feels the child needs a spanking, then they are taken into the principal's office and the parents are called in to do the deed. Jack never had to do that this year, even though he had his share of time-outs. There was one little boy, Tanner, who was in the Principal's office more than he was anywhere else. I asked his mother the other day how many times she had to come in for a spanking and she said that she lost count after 10 or so!!! But the thing is, she never felt her son had ever done anything wrong, even when I saw him do some pretty horrible things in front of me. He never listened nor took any direction. To him, rules are not important and I could tell from talking to his Mom that she felt the same way. One time, she asked me how I got Jack to be so good and I just told her that he had plenty of swats on the butt when he was younger and he has boundaries and he knows them. She looked at me like I was talking a foreign language. I think Mrs. Nix had a very long year because of that child.

So now I have to come up with stuff to entertain the boy this summer. I am sure that we will be going to the pool a lot and the water park and the beach. I also plan to take advantage of the area churches vacation bible schools. Along with the one at our church, which I will be helping with, I plan to send him to the one at his school and maybe one other one. It is free and keeps him busy for a couple hours a day for a week. So what are some of the other mother's doing this summer to keep their kids entertained? It sure seems like a full-time job to me.

42 Is The Number This Year

Jack had his four-year-old check up today. He was very worried about getting shots and informed me several times on the way there that he did NOT like shots and did NOT want any shots. And alas he is done with shots until he has to go into kindergarten.

The stats are 42 inches tall and 42 pounds. We started to go to Keesler AFB for our medical since it is totally free because of Jim's 20 years of service and this is the first time Jack had an appointment there. I am very impressed with the level of care. The doctor asked all kinds of questions like can he spell his name (yes he can and the doctor was impressed) and can he stand on one leg and even how much tv he watches a day. Yeah I totally lied on that one and said "hardly ever" because there are some days that the tv is MY sanity saver. I admit that it has been a babysitter from time to time.

I had to laugh because he also asked if Jack bruises easily because to look at his legs, one might come to the conclusion that either he does bruise easily or he is a very abused child. What can I say? He is a boy who plays hard and has about a dozen bruises on him at any given time. But he is a healthy boy and for that I am very grateful.

The Sensitive Child

Right now my son is crying his eyes out because he found a dead fly on the floor. He has carried the fly around (against my wishes) for the past 30 minutes telling me that the bug "is his friend". He asked me how the bug died and I told him he could have just died because he was old and bugs don't live very long, which prompted even more tears. I know that this should be some learning moment for the boy, but please, it is a bug. I just don't have it in me to sympathize the passing of a fly. Call me callous.

When In Rome ...

Well we joined the ranks of redneckdom tonight. We went to the race track to watch the stock car races. It is a dirt track and about as Southern as you can get. Jack of course being the ultimate race car fan these days was enthralled. He was hooping and hollering like a pro. It is official, we are now raising out little redneck. The three of us would each pick a car before each of the races started as our pick for the winner. That made it fun to root for somebody and actually Jack was pretty good at picking the winner.

We stayed for a couple of hours and left feeling filthy, but it was a fun family night for the three of us. It seems like we don't get a whole lot of family days these days and it was nice to go out just the three of us.

And I just wanted to do a shout out to Grammy A and Grammy C for a Happy Mother's Day. And any and all other Mother's out there hoping ya'll have a Great Mother's Day.

And Another Sunday Zinger

I will start this post out by mentioning that I woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning to Jack throwing up next to me in my bed (I let him sleep with me when Jim is on duty). I knew that on Saturday he probably ate a ton of cotton candy and whatnot at the May Fest at church and was probably feeling the effects of that. So we got up and he seemed to be fine. He ate breakfast and I just chalked it up to too much fun the day before. Of course, having to strip the bed and wash every single thing was not fun. I was thanking God that I didn't have the down comforter on the bed that we just got back from the cleaners a couple of weeks ago after paying $45 to clean. And poor Jim had to sleep in the guest bedroom after he came home from work.

So we went to church as scheduled yesterday. At one point I did have to take him to the bathroom where he had a good case of diarhea. This was just before the children's sermon where the kids go up for a story and then they all go off to children's church and the adults get to listen to the sermon in peace. So Jack went up for the children's sermon and I know that I have blogged about this before, but every week I am scared to death to hear what Jack is going to say out loud in front of the whole church. Every week there is something that he feels the need to tell everyone. One week it was that he farted. Another week he kept interupting Pastor Stephen to tell him all about his cousin the race car driver. Last week he had to spill the beans about Daddy hitting a mailbox on the way to church and breaking our passenger side mirror. Yeah so by now I am literally scared to death to send him down front for the story time. And by now you can pretty much guess what Jack's topic of conversation was yesterday. Yep that's right, he had to tell everybody how he threw up in bed, with noise demonstrations, AND he had to tell how he had just pooped in the toilet at church!

Now I know the reason why he feels so comfortable in telling Pastor Stephen all these things is because Stephen is not just our Pastor, but he is one of our closest friends. We get together with them at least once or twice a week and Jack sees him just as a friend and not as the "pastor" of the church. But seriously ya'll, he needs to stop this! Literally, every single pair of eyes turn toward me when it is time for the children's sermon. And me being the shy one that I am, starts to sink lower and lower in the pew.

To make matters worse, Stephen worked Jack into his sermon for the adults. He was talking about comfort zones and how we need to get outside of them to talk to other people about Jesus - to Just Walk Across The Room. And he said "look at Jack, he is in his comfort zone telling everybody how he pooped at church, that is how we all should be with that much enthusiasm". Of course that got a good laugh from everybody.

I even try to tell the boy to NOT interrupt Pastor Stephen. We have a long conversation every week about how it is not nice to interrupt and only talk if he asks a question. But the boy loves church so much and gets so excited when it is time for the children's sermon that all the lecturing I gave him goes right out the window, which I suppose is a good thing when you look at it, but I am afraid that I am going to be forever known as Jack's mother, the boy who pooped at church!

A Rainy May Fest Day

Yesterday our church had a May Fest. I was part of a group of people who have worked very very hard for that day. In particular, my neighbor Sonia, has worked her butt off getting donations and making sure the word got out to get people to come. We had planned for a ton of games for the kids, crafts, face painting, bounce houses, a bounce obstacle course, cotton candy, smoothies, food, and vendor booths. I bought a vendor booth for my Arbonne. It was going to be a perfect day. Until the weather forecast called for rain on Saturday. So on Friday night, we cleared out the sanctuary and fellowship hall in our "just in case it rains" policy to move everything inside.

And it did rain - big time. I was so disappointed because I know people worked so hard on this day, but by the end of the day yesterday, we all had a fun time. It cleared up in the afternoon and we were able to put the bounce houses and obstacle course outside. And in the end, the church made a profit that will go for a cause. No, it was not the same, but I believe that there was a reason that we were forced inside the church. I think there were people who came, who have not stepped foot inside a church in a very long time, if ever.

Jack had a blast, I think because I didn't see much of him during the whole day. I was manning my Arbonne booth most of the day and every now and then I would see him come running to show me some stupid toy prize that he won. It is great having the whole church look out for him because Jim wasn't there because he is working this weekend. If the fact that he was completely filthy at the end of the day is any indication of how much fun he had, then he had a really good time.

So I just have to say that even though it wasn't what we had planned, God had other plans and it still turned out great. We plan on doing it again in the Fall for our Fall Fest. Now that we have done this one, it can only get better, of course with a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Next up is Vacation Bible School next month, which I am going to be "Discovery Leader" where I get to do science experiments with the kids. Should be fun. Like I said before, life is going warp speed! Geesh!

Thank You Uncle Sam

We got our $1500 extra little something something from Uncle Sam today. However, sorry to tell you Uncle Sam, we are not going out and spending it on the latest and greatest plasma tv (our 10 year old tv is just fine thank you) or any other gadget that you want us to spend it on. It is going straight into our savings account. Thank you Uncle Sam for bolstering the old savings because you never know when you just might need to fill the gas tank for a gazillion dollars.

He Handled It Himself

So last night Jack had an accident in his bed. I guess it was sometime during the middle of the night. But the boy handled it like a pro and a big boy that he is. When I walked into his room this morning to get him up for school, I noticed that he was wearing different jammies and was laying on top of his comforter on the bed with another blanket over him. I pretty much figured out what had happened, but I wanted him to tell me. I always tell him that if he tells me the truth about accidents, I will not be mad, but I could tell that he did not want to tell me what happened.

Finally after a few minutes, the whole story came out how he woke up and realized that he had peed the bed. He got out of bed, threw his dirty jammies and underwear in his laundry basket, got clean jammies and underwear out of his dresser and changed into them. He then got another blanket from his closet, made his bed by pulling the comforter up over the wet area and laid down on top with the new blanket on top of him. He did all this on his own without waking up me and Jim.

Of course, I had to praise him for being such a big boy and for telling me the truth of what happened. And just for that, we stopped and got ice cream from Sonic today after school. He really does amaze me how much of a big kid he is these days. He dresses himself, brushes his teeth, cleans his room up fairly well when asked to do so, and is consistently one of the "best kids" in his class according to his teacher. That being said, he is not perfect and the whining stage has come back to roost big time. If there is anything that I can not stand, it is the whining! Drives me nuts. But for the most part, I couldn't ask for a better kid.