White New Years

I got up this morning and worked out at 5:15am. I did this so that I would not have to get the kids moving too quickly this morning. I have really been trying these last couple of months to enjoy the season of life that I am in. Everybody tells me that it will fly by or be gone in the blink of an eye. The more I thought about this, the more God convicted me to "stop and smell the roses." I have been incredibly blessed with three healthy girls. Up until a couple months ago I took that for granted. God said very clearly to me that they were only mine for a little while and that He had entrusted them to me. So, I am proud to report that I am enjoying them. Making a point to do special things with them, making time for games, barbies, letting them help me cook, earning money, being "in charge", and just being kids. Each day is a decision to be a little more patient, kind, and willing to clean up a larger mess than if I would have just completed the task. Mothers, enjoy you babies! We only have them for a little while. My mom always made mothering feel effortless and fun. I can only hope and pray that my little ones will see His love through me and feel as special as my mom made me feel.

Bad Blogger

I have not been on top of this like I had hoped to be. Here is a list of some things that I love (in no particular order):

Jesus

Christopher

Greek Salads from Tagaris or Bonefish

Date Night

Small Group

Being a stay at home mother

my house

my friends

MOPS

Peanut Butter Bliss

Pepper Jack Cheese

Europe

Tropical Places

Hula

My work out classes

Kelly (my fav instructor)

having family nearby

financial blessings

Crossview

Pink accesories

My firefighter shirt

the phrase Save the TaTa's

movies

the fact that New Moon permiers in a couple weeks and me and some besties will be there

Moosetracks ice cream (havent had that in years, it is horrible for me)

staying home all day

holo holo

my mother

Dad

Bubba

Family Time

Time without kiddos

youth group

crisp fall air

high school football games

grocery shopping

couponing

cafe world

peanut butter

french fries

bejeweled blitz

back rubs

firefighters

peppermint mocha coffee creamer

Here are some things that I dont like:

Waking up before 7am

sick kids

belly fat

not eating a massive amount of carbs

leg hair on me

criminals

stupid criminals

stupid people

stupid drivers

Well, the like list is clearly longer so it cant be a bad day.

18 pounds! Woot woot

This is us on a date in March, check out my face! I will say that even tho there is boob loss, still worth it!

Our anniversary dinner at Tagaris, perfect music, food, setting for remembering our 11 years together. We postponed our anniversary dinner b/c we were camping with the youth on the actual date. We got to hear the amazing band, Run from cover too!

I think the straw that broke the camels back was when people would ask if I was pregnant. The first time this happened, it was 3 days after I had given birth to Leilani. I still had the big empty stomach out front so I undersood this comment and explained that I had just had a baby.

The next time, I was pushing the newborn in the stroller and my neighbor stopped and asked when I was due......did she not see that I was pushing a newborn? If I was knocked up that fast after having a baby ( I looked 6 mos along) then I deserved it, but I was not prego! The nerve!

The next encounter, I will unfortunately always remember, was in Kauai. Chris and I had just done an all morning hike, kayak and zipline adventure. We were in Hanale checking out the cool touristy places and headed into one shop. Chris walked in after me and I was following some ass in before me. He turned around and stepped to the side and said, " Oh, make way for the lady with a baby." So naturally I looked behind me expecting to see a very pregnant woman, but it was just Chris. So that left just me. He had said that ugly thing to me. A thing that I would have welcomed had I been pregnant, but that was not the case. His wife was sssshhhhing him from inside the store and saying "get over here." I walked out of the store and could not hold back the tears. They came out from under my sunglasses. Chris asked if we should go back to our town and I said yes. In the car he tried to be comforting and telling me how beautiful I am. I told him that I appreciated the kind words, but I just needed him to let me cry, and he did. We went to a beach on the way home and got thrashed around by some powerful waves. God comforted me then. He gave me that beautiful beach, sun, husband, powerful waters and made them wash over me. Men, women, idiots listen to this...... if there is any question in your mind if someone if pregnant or not, do NOT say ANYTHING. For the love of everything sacred and holy keep your pie hole shut! As a matter of fact, unless the woman is wearing a shirt advertising the fact that she is pregnant, or she mentions it in conversation, say NOTHING. Act like the bulge under her shirt is not there, becuase the truth of the matter is that you are ugly. She can lose weight but you will never get any prettier. Bite it! Ok, done with the rant. Last emotional vomit session for now.

I thought I was a slender woman, not thin, but definitly not fat. Enough of those coments tho and a girl starts to wonder. I would have skinny days, not many during the month, but some. Well, with the help of weight watchers and Kelly (my fav instructor from the gym) I have far more skinny days than fat. Also, I am so glad I did not go buy a new wardrobe when everything was tight. I can finally fit into the things that havent been worn in years. Who knew that my clothes were not shrinking? I thought that was the case. Honestly I thought that as they got older they must have been shrinking. Truth be told, as I got older I was growing, SUCK!

Anyway, my goal was 16 pounds and I made that a few weeks ago. I gotta give some props to my husband (who willing funded weight watchers food and online membership so that I would be losing "the right way"), to my auntie who is my ww partner and cheered me on, and to my daughter Dani. She would loving ask, "how many points is that going to cost you." It admittedly pissed me off a few times, but she was truly trying to help me. She has been saving and taking money donations for a few months. Well, after her birthday she bought me a work out shirt that I said I wanted when I reached my goal. What an amazing heart that girl has, I love her so. And the shirt looks beautiful!

Family Night

Well, the craziness has continued for Chris at work. The paydays are nice but I would personally rather have the time. Last night we took some time as a family to indulge in a new found family tradition. Whenever possible we go out to Applebees on Wednesday night because it is family night and the kids eat for free. Plus appetizers are 1/2 off until 6pm, does it get any better? I enjoy being at a place "where everybody knows your name." Our kids get their faces painted and it gives Chris and I a few minutes to debrief our day with each other. I love that we are "regulars" somewhere.

On a seperate note, I gained 1.6 pounds today.....stink. I sort of expected this. If you are a woman you know that you feel fat during your "time of the month". So I was not surprised to see a gain it happened last month too. I feel really great after this week so I am excited to reach my goal in the next four weeks, I hope. As a reward I will be going to Applebees and putting some of it back on with their blondie. That dessert sounds so great!

The summer has been a good one with the girls. We have had a routine of going to the court club, running errands, doing something fun and coming home for nap time. Our fun things have included free summer movies, the Hermiston water park, pool playdates and free lunches (the girls favorite I am sure). The time has really flown by and I have loved it. I am really trying to savor the time with them. Having a routine has helped to keep some sort of flow to the summer.

On a funny note, my Allison is certainly one who marches to a different drum. As I type this she is wearing roller blades, panties, a bra and an unbuttoned shirt. Only Alli would be zooming around looking like this. Chris cringes at the thought of his girls wearing bras (they totally dont need bras) but they love it and he knows it is something fun for them. So, Leilani is currently the only girl not wearing a bra. I bet if we had one her size, she would be wearing it. funny!

Ode to Greta

So I havent blogged in a while so here is a brief update:



Chris has been working a whole butt load of overtime. Praise becuase God always seems to bless us financially when something is coming up. Yikes because I dont know what that thing will be. 17 hours overtime this week= not getting to see much of the family. We combatted this today by taking all the girls to boatraces with us. Mom had come on board to watch them, but we just couldnt leave them after not being together this week much as a family. So we took everyone to boat races and had some time as a family there. I watched my husband do 17 pull ups to get a free army t shirt. It worked out nice b/c the one he had brought did not go with swimming shorts. The army t shirt did, and I got to watch my guy in action. Love that!



Dani has been asking questions about sex after catching a glimpse of salmon spawning on tv. Darn you animal planet! Chris is totally comfortable with this topic and works hard to keep this a discussable topic on the table. I admire that about him and appreciate him taking the explaining role in our relationship. Also I have decided that I am fine answering general questions that Dani has but not personal ones. You have to have boundaries.



Alli is amazing. We are really working on reading and she read a level two today. I was so proud of her. She is my favorite person to nap with mainly becuase she will actually fall asleep with me.



Leilani is in the horrible 3's. Her new forte is to flat out lie. She will often wake up from a nap and tell me," You said if I take a nap I could have two popsicles." I must have let this go once and now it is her manipulative way. Oh my! She will hit her sister and then say, "I didnt hit her." I do not like lying.



Me, I am still trying to lose weight. I am very please to announce I am at 10.2 pounds. I gained last week, .6 pounds and was devastated. I did absolutely everything I could last week. I worked out six days and one of those days was the bts marathon where I did three classes. I thought for sure this would push me past a monumental mark in the weight loss, but I gained. Very sad. Mom bought me a sassy purse to make me feel better and it did just that. Also I have been taking advantage of the free hot lunches that the kennewick school district puts on in the summer. The girls so love this and I do to. Less for me to do for lunch= happier me. So as a solution I am feeding my body more often. Anyone who knows anything about weight watchers knows about activity points. last week I had 55 and used one of them. So my aunt thought I might have been depriving my body. So I am eating a little more this week. I wonder if I wouldnt have lost anything yet if I would have used the activity points. something to think about.

So this blog was an ode to Gretta. I have a friend named Carla and she has been called Greta at work several times. I do not see the "Holland" that she is evidently channeling, but others apparently do. Maybe I will come across some literhosen (sp) and get them for her as a joke.

Hunger .vs. Eating for Fun

So, two weeks ago I joined weight watchers. Before anyone sighs in disgust b/c you think that I do not have weight to lose let me just say that this is for me. I got on the scale a couple of weeks ago and weighed more than I ever have without being prego. And if anyone else asks if I am pregnant I just might kill them. So for the safety of others around me I decided to do something.

I called my good friend Jen who encouraged me to join and she would do it with me. So I got online and signed up for the free week. It is amazing keeping track of what you eat. It really opened my eyes to the incredible amount of food that I was eating. I would probably eat enough points for a couple people each day....yikes. Just to put things in perspective while I was pregnant with Dani, I practically lived on supersonic cheeseburgers with mayonnaise. That is 24points, my total allowance for the day. That is a huge amount of food.

Another really difficult thing for me has been the avoidance of french fries. If you know me well you know that I prefer french fries to almost anything. Especially mcdonalds. It has not been as difficut as I thougtht it would be. MOst of the time I can ask myself, am I hungry or do I just want to eat becuase I am bored (or emotional). Luckily during those weak moments I have extra points to be able to indulge with some M&M's (my current fav) or a dessert.

Anyway, as for results I have lost 4.6 pounds. I was a little nervous to weigh this last week b/c we spent the whole weekend with Frank and at out most of the time. I wasnt going to weigh, but I thought I better get up there and at least know what a weekend of unhealthy eating looks like. Praise God I still lost. Again, I know I dont have a lot to lose my goal is 15pounds and no more comments about whether or not I am pregnant. So there you have it.

Also, random comment, salsa dancing is hot hot hot. We went to Seattle last weekend to be with a friend and he took us to a lesson and then dancing. We sure enjoyed watching people and I even got asked to dance. I told him, "You know I just had my first lesson tonight, I am not that good. He indulged me anyway and it was fun!" We also took in lots of great food from The Pyramid, Bal Mar and a Thai place. The Mariners game was fun good thing they won!

Canada, EH!

So, my husband afforded me the opportunity to get away with a friend for four nights and five days! We went to Vancouver, BC (hoping to get our passposrts stamped) b/c my friend had a free hotel stay for us at the Hyatt which is right downtown. It was beautiful and truly an experience. Our first night there we turned in pretty early and slept until our hearts content......8:30am. We filled our first full day with a trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This was quite a feat for my friend because she is afraid of heights. It took a pep talk to get her across the bridge and then she wanted to be air lifted back. That did not work, so she resigned to walk and not stop. I included a pic of myself with her in the background not stopping. So funny! After that we proceeded to the "tram" portion of the trip on Stanley park. We rode this ski liftish thing up the mountain, had lunch and went to view the bears. I will say that the bears were held back with electric chicken wire. Not the safest thing if you ask me.

The theme through our trip was the search for all things "Bobbert". We are into the twilight series and as you may know, Robert (aka Bob, or Bobbert in our case) was the main character. We hoped to catch a glimpse of him as they were filming the second movie there recently. Unfortunately no Bobbert sightings, but we did see some people that may have belonged in La Push. We tried to be sly about taking a pic of them, but I think they saw us. While sitting at the beach, we smelled that you never forget once it has been smelled......pot. (Both of our childhood upbringing made that knowledge possible) We looked at each other and I said, "I wonder where that smell is coming from?" and with out missing a beat we both said, "La Push!" We were hilarious. If you are not rolling on the floor laughing I dont know what to say, that was some funny stuff!

Our favorite activity we did was to rent bikes and ride around the perimeter of the Stanley Park Seawall. It was beautiful and cheap. We rode for an hour and a half and it was only $10 Canadian. We later paid for this as our rear ends are yet to recover for being on a bike for that long. We got to see a lighthouse, houseboats, beaches and lots of people. This was a very diverse city and the streets were crowded Thurs-Sun. Our favorite restaurant that we ate at was called Elephant and Castle. The french fries were delish and so were the main dishes. We actually ate there for lunch on Sun and then went back for dinner. They had live entertainment and the music really made the atmosphere enjoyable.

Leilani Turns 3

Three years ago today my baby came into this world all on her own time. It was a fabulous experience to have for my final baby. Here is one of her first pictures and one of her most recent pictures. Isnt she cute?

What Goes Around...

About 2 months ago, Superbowl Sunday to be exact, I had a stitch break in my eye. For those of you who dont know, I have many stitches in my eye from 5 years ago and they just get old and break from time to time. NOt a big deal, really! When this happens I just need to go in and get it pulled out. It is seriously a five minute thing. Well last night I was working in the nursery at the church and I thought the same thing happened. It just feels like i have something in my eye and no matter what I do, it wont go away. The fact of it is, I do have something in my eye and it is sticking up so every time my eyelid goes over it I feel it and it is annoying. Anyways, two months ago it was a pain trying to get a hold of my doctor b/c his answering service was accidently not forwarded. But I ended up going in and having it taken care of.

So last night I paged the doctor and he promptly met me at the eye clinic at 9pm. I have to admit it felt kind of shady because it was night, no one else there, meeting behind the building. You get the picture. Good thing the doc never reads this he would never come in after hours for me again. But back to the point. I feel horrible when this happens because I know what it is like to be paged out for something, or rather to have Chris paged out for something. So I always apologize for the inconvenience, but he says he doesnt mind and I guess that is what he gets paid the big bucks for, right? But come to find out, I did not have a broken stitch in my eye. He did find something in my eye and it was scratching it, so he removed that and I am once again on antibiotics for the eye so it wont be infected. This eye is becoming a big pain.

Well at 6am this morning (I think that was the time, anyway 0 dark hundred) I heard the phone ring and I immediately knew it was his work. I even knew what boss was calling b/c he always calls the home number instead of the work phone. Chris got dressed quickly and left. It is now 2pm and he is still not home. The girls and I have been doing the Easters festivities without him. Pitty party for me I know. But I guess this was due to me because I pulled the doc from his family last night, so it is only fair that Chris gets pulled away this morning. Just so everyone knows, I am really not sour about this, I just thought it was ironic. I hope you are having a happy Easters!~Jaimie

Status Updates

So this is how you speak about yourself on facebook, in the third person. A friend of mine did her blog this way today and instpired me to do mine the same. Here goes:

Jaimie does not like putting the girls to bed crying for one reason or another.

Jaimie did not think that she would get two full weeks of spring break, in the house with the girls, beause it is too cold to go out, where the illnesses can breed and prolong one another.

Jaimie is the master procrastinator.

Jaimie loves to get to bed early although her body tells her to stay up each night and watch the shows that are coming on.

Jaimie hasn't missed the shows at night, she rents them in re reun form at the library for free, whoo, whoo (baby momma).

Jaimie would love to sleep on her right side but doesn't becuase each time she does, Chris seems to roll over and hit her in the face.

Jaimie has a sink full of dishes, a dishwasher full of clean ones, a chair full of laundry, a dryer full of dry clothes, a washer full of wet clothes and guess who has two thumbs and doesnt care????? Jaimie Littrell (shout out to scrubs, I am not naturally that synical)

Jaimie is wondering if anyone from the neighborhood is going to participate in the easter egg hunt.

Jaimie loves nap time each day.

Jaimie loves to see her husbands ears go up (like a dobie) at the sound of a siren or flashy red and blue lights.

Jaimie loves thinking that she is hilarious.

Jaimie loves to dream about living in Kauai and being at the beach each day.

Jaimie loves to play parking wars with her hubby and write tickets.

So , there is what jaimie is up to.

Also, Jaimie loves pink hair.

Book Buzz

So I love to read books that have a lot of buzz about them. Each year Janet Evanovich comes out with about 2 from her Stephanie Plum series and I am always eager for those. Stephanie is a female bounty hunter who constantly messes up on apprehension, destroys her vehicles and finds herself in a love triangle between the suave cop Morelli and the rugged bounty hunter Ranger. These are good fast reads. It is great to start this series if you have not already b/c you could catch up and read all of them before the next one comes out in Juneish (I think).
Another book I flew through was the Shack. This was another amazing quick read that I read b/c I knew that it had some very pointed Christian terms and explinations and I wanted to be able to know what it was saying. This was a great book for Christian and non Christian alike and really opened up my mind to the real vastness of the trinity of God. Read it, you wont be disappointed. I will have you know that that is a fiction book though. After I finished I was googleing people and places b/c I thought some of it was real and the locations are places that I have been.
I just started reading The Red Tent. 2 reasons. First, we are going to visit some friends in June and this is one of Cara's fav. books, so I wanted to read it. She is a doula and so far there is quiet a bit of mid wifery stuff in there so I can see why she loves it. Secondly, a couple years ago it came out that the husband of one of my friends (yes it is the Aldersons) was reading this book. The Red Tent is where the women would go during their time of the month or during childbirth. Basically whenever they were bleeding. So you can see why we razzed him for reading this book that his wife's book club had read. (love you tyler and michelle) Also it deals with old testament chaaracters, spesifically the line of Jacob. Very interesting. I honestly thougth that I would not like this b/c of the old test. subject, but I am loving it and find myself stealing away or putting off an nap to enjoy a few pages.
Lastly is the book and movie Twilight. I heard the buzz going around about this book last year. I wasnt really interested. I saw my future sister in law reading it but still no interest on my part. Well, my friend (Jen) was in from Tacoma last week and she had devoured the book series a couple weeks before, so I thought I would give it a shot. Doing what any red blooded american might do, I rented them ovie first. I do have every intention of reading the book too, but the movie was fabulous! I usually dont enjoy stuff about vampires and such, but I am a sucker (pun intended) a forbidden love story.
So there is my rant. My family is finally on the mend and I am really looking forward to a full night of sleep tonight. It has been about a week since a miracle like that has happened.

shamrock on the shirt

So, for my interested readers, I did not go and rescue my little kindergartener. Cold hearted I know. I went with Chris and decided that this would be a good lesson for her to learn. But, she came home with a shamrock on her shirt. Her teacher gave all the little kids who did not wear green a shamrock on the shirt. Genius woman I tell you. She is amazing! Alli proudly displayed it the rest of the day until it fell of her shirt.

Curlies and Pokies

I probably didnt spell all that right, but ok well, you get the gist. Leilani calls her curls her curlies and she calls my leg hair pokies. Each night she twists her "bangs" with her finger. Inevitebly she will get her finger stuck at some point and come to us crying. We have to cut the knot out most of the time which has created "bangs" for her. All our girls had hair that is all the same length. But due to Leilani's recent mishaps we have had to cut more and more from the front of her hair thus creating bangs. Chris' mom tried to get her to stop twisting by enticing her to pat her hair instead of twisting. It has not worked so far, but Leilani keeps reassuring us that she will stop twisting and start patting. We'll see.

As far as the pokies, I get Leilani dressed in the morning. Most of the time I am wearing capri's and I set her on my lap to get her pants on. She immediately does the inverted crab lifting herself off my pokey leg hair. I will admit that I think this is funny so on occasion I have placed her on my lap knowing full well that she would probably be repulsed by the pokies. This morning was the first time that she stopped herself ahead of time from sitting on my lap. I was impressed, but I just shaved yesterday, it couldnt be that bad. So she sat very carefully and proceeded to feel if I had leg hair on my calves. Smooth like butter. (strange analogy, I know) Anyway's that is how I get my morning chuckle.

On a seperate note I did have a dilema this morning. Allison (knowing full well) decided not to wear green today and was just going to tell everyone that she is not playing the pinching game. I told her that she might get pinched and still she refused to play the cultural game of pinching on St. Patty's day. So I drove her to the bus stop and like buzzards to the dead, the little boys were circling her and pinching. She was in tears and I called her back to the car. I asked if she wanted to wear my airfreshner (b/c it was the only green thing I had with me) and still she said no. So, I didnt know if I should go rescue her (by taking a green sticker to school in hopes that she would wear it) or if I should let this be a lesson learned. Tell me what you think and I will tell you what I did on the next post.

The Whitehouse Crawford

So, first of all we have an amazing small group. I remember thinking when we moved from Tacoma to Everett that surely God outdid himself in Tacoma. Nothing could top the group we were with there and yet he was faithful. Not to say our group in Everett was better, but it was different and amazing. We did a lot of activities and outings; camping, shopping, Whidbey Island, Leavenworth, ect. The Everett group really embodied what we had hoped for. People our age going through the same season of life as us and leaning on God for understanding in similar situations.

Well, when we moved to Kennewick I thought we were due for a not so great group. Since we have lived here we have been a part of three groups. I am now of the belief that God is showing off and giving us a little taste of who He is. He has blessed us with people who have taught, inspired, encouraged, uplifted and loved us wholly.

We recently went to the Whitehouse Crawford for a formal group date together. It was a fun ride to Walla Walla together and then we enjoyed some fine dining. It was truly an experience. First of all we had never eaten anywhere that expensive. The ambience was worth every penny. We sat with friends, enjoyed laughs, invented a board game, tasted amazing steak, took pictures and learned some very interesting things about one another.......the Crawmers.

Here are some pictures from that night.

Wordless Wednesday

Lucky You

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me (or my child)! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be poetry, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

Not for the faint of heart - By Chris

Okay I realize that The Littrell Show is usually authored by Jaimie, but after today's mess I had to share my thoughts. No I didn't hack into the blogspot. I stopped hacking into Jaimie's accounts when she was dating another guy back in college. This time she gave me the password.

So a little background. Us Littrell's don't get sick very often; a blessing and a curse. The curse of this is we are total wimps when we do get sick (or at least I am). I am a big bad police officer willing to run towards the sounds of bullets, but if you show me a little vomit (especially my own) I get a little faint, get sick myself, and/or curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb. If you know me, you know I tend to exaggerate a bit. Right now, I'm not exaggerating.

So I have had a little head cold that past 24 hours. Jaimie has been doing a fabulous job of serving me as I get better (she ironed all of my work clothes for the week!!!).

So I woke this morning and was feeling a little better. As Jaimie and I got dressed for the day, Alli started freaking out and calling for Jaimie and I, as if someone had severed an important body part, like a head or something. Jaimie rushed into the living room as I thought, "What ever, Alli is always full of drama." When I heard Jaimie start to lose it I realized that we may have to start looking into a head donor for one of our children. My only hope was that it would be someone of the right gender. Then I realized, "I don't think medical technology is far enough advanced to transplant a head." Oh well...

As I rushed into the living room, I saw something much worse than expected. Danielle was vomiting all over the floor, pillow, and ottoman. The thing that got me most was that Danielle was not even trying to get to the kitchen or bathroom, but continued to vomit all over the floor. I scooped Danielle up (in not the most loving of ways) and put her in the kitchen. I walked with her to the bathroom and suggested that she shower.

As Jaimie cleaned up the puke (not that it was only her responsibility, but if I would have done it the puke pile would have been twice as big) with the life saving carpet cleaner that her father Henry gave us years ago (THANKS HENRY!!!) I responded to the bathroom where Leilani was frantically calling for Jaimie. Leilani had wet herself, but luckily for me she did it in the bathroom.

Fast forward about 3 hours, everyone is doing well. I blended Danielle a banana, peanut butter smoothie and we played a board game. Shortly after the game, I noticed that Danielle was performing headstands on the couch. I asked her if she had her puke pot with her in case she got sick. She told me no. Within the minute, Danielle was hovering over the pot emptying the banana smoothie into it. A couple minutes later, I noticed that Leilani was taking herself potty. I was so proud...that is until I saw the diarrhea trail leading to the toilet.

The up side? I don't know if our house has ever been any cleaner. If this keeps up I would suggest buying stock in a major bleach company!!!

Chris

Good Times, Good Friends

Our front room- Yes, we have now trimmed the rug mat

Valentines Dinner with Friends (running partners)

Us and the Bakers at PF Changs


I havent blogged in a while and feel a little bad about that, so here is the catch up blog. A couple weeks ago we put in new flooring in our front room. Thanks to our amazing friends the Schultzs the room looks amazing. They got us going and we finished the next day. I love the way it looks and feel truly blessed that God provided for this project financially. It makes clean up so much easier and the ants......way easier to exterminate. With carpet, each time we would spray for ants I was always concerned about the poison residue that was left behind. Now I dont have to worry about it, I just wipe up the floor. So nice! FYI, we dont have a major ant problem, just ocassionally if girls track food in here.



We went out with the Bakers (Joel and Jessica) a week and a half ago to PF Changs. It was so great. We got this deal where we got two appetizers, two entrees, and two mini desserts for a good price. My allergies were horrible (praise Him for Zyrtec) but I still enjoyed the night. We will be serving with the Bakers in the youth department and are really excited about that. They are highly motivated people and really have a heart to serve.



This most recent weekend, we had babysitters two of the three nights. This is quite rare for us as we used teenagers, not family. The girls and the sitters did great and all seemed to have a good time. On Friday night we had the annual banquet for Chris' work. This was fun as his parents are there too (hello , he is the captains son) and so there is always a refuge to go to if I want to end a conversation. I just go talk with the mother in law. On Saturday night (Valentines Day) we had a missions dinner at the church with a 4 course meal and silent auction. Chad and Kathy joined us that night and I really enjoyed taking them around and introducing them to people. We saw a lot of faces from other churches all there to support the cause. So, Chris and I bid on a couple items and did not win. We were bidding on this beautiful pie and the man who won it actually gave it to us. That was so nice, and delicious.



On a final note, some friends and I are going to run a race. We are keeping each other accountable in fitness and we have a goal of running a 5K together in April. We are really excited and I need to get training. I dont like running in the utter cold (it snowed yesterday for pete sake) but I need to get myself out there. So, that said, I will be doing this with my friends and if I dont want to be left in the dust I need to start training. The two gals in the middle picture with me are a couple of the ladies that I will be doing the race with.

Compelled

2 Corinthians 5:14 says

"For Christ's love comples us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

The next quote is what My Upmost for His Highest says about the above verse:

"This total surrender to "the love of Christ" is the only thing that will bear fruit in your life. And it will always leave the mark of God’s holiness and His power, never drawing attention to your personal holiness."

Are you compelled for Christ's love? Are you drawn with magnetic force? Or as Paul puts it, are you held as in a vice? Convicting, isn't it?

I am including our family photo that we had taken at church a couple of weeks ago. I hope you are having a good week and that this verse speaks to you as it did to me.

I will make a scene!!!

Last night my aunt and I went to the amazing store Real Deals for an open house and sale. It was fabulous. We are very much alike and I love her. I am one of those shoppers that go through the store, pick things us and then put them back. I talk myself out of buying things, it is just who I am. Well, last night we had put our things on the holding rack while browsing more. When she picked her stuff up to go and purchase I said, "I am leaving mine there, act like they arent ours and walk away."

She looked at me funny and said, " You are not going to pull a Cheryl (my mother, her sister) and put this stuff back, I am buying it for you."

I put my hands on the goods, she put her hands on the goods and I said, "Let go, let me just do what I do."

She replied, "No, I am buying these, they are mine (refering to my items)."

As we both stood there locked by my purchases I looked at her and said, "Let go or I will have to make a scene."

She said, "Let me get it, they are mine now." At this point the people behind the register are looking at us like, 'ladies we have more of those if you are going to fight over them.'

Without hesitation I raised my voice and said, "Please dont touch my breast!"

My aunt looked at me in horror and said, "Oh!" as if not knowing what else to say. The woman behind her looked around and said, "Well, I thought this was a home decor store." To which we burst out laughing. We explained the situation to all involved and of course they sided with her. So anyway they told me just to let her buy it and I eventually did. Needless to say we wont be going shopping together anytime soon. I rolled at how funny I am. She thinks I am funny too. The people behind the register also paid me the compliment of saying that I looked like I was in highschool. Thank you very much that was just the cherry on the ice cream for me. Good times!

25 Random Things

1. WHAT CITY AND STATE WERE YOU BORN IN?Kennewick, WA
2. CATS OR DOGS?Definitely not cats!!!
3. HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU HAVE?three
4, YOU PLAYED WHAT SPORT IN HIGH SCHOOL?Volleyball, swimming (2 weeks until I got to sick to swim, cold air wet hair and I do not agree), track, and in desperation cross country.
5. YOUR COLLEGE ROOM MATE DROVE YOU NUTS BECAUSE...I never had a college roommate.
6. DO YOU EAT MUSHROOM SOUP?No, but I would
7. IF MARRIED, WHERE WERE YOU MARRIED?My hometown, Kennewick, WA
8. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE PICTURES YOU TAKE?We stockpile them in the computer until we print the. I am quitting the scrapping though and doing photobooks after I finish 2007
9. FAVORITE FLOWER?orchid
10. HOW MANY BROKEN BONES IN YOUR LIFE?none
11. SPOUSES OR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS NAME?Chris
12. FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME?The Bible, The Schack, anything Janet Evanovich in the Stephanie Plum series
13. SURGERY???Eye....too many to list
14. HEELS OR FLATS?generally flats, but if Chris is lucky....heels, lol
15. PARTIES OR QUIET NIGHTS ALONE?I used to say parties, but my house always sounds like a big party. So, now it's a night alone.
16. FAVORITE PART OF CHURCH?Worship (music), small group
17. HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU FAIL YOUR DRIVERS TEST?None, I only missed two points baby. I didnt have to parallel park b/c it was so windy it kept blowing the cones over. Yeah for the tri
18. DO YOU HAVE ANY ALLERGIES?Why yes I do. Dust mites, cat, a few trees, bees
19. YOU DRIVE A...05 Kia Sedona
20. HOW MANY CAR SEATS ARE IN YOUR CAR?Four, yikes!
21. FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPINGS?Sausage, black olives, onion, mushrooms, green pepper, etc...the cowboy pizza from papa murphys
22. FAVORITE JEANS?Route 66, K Marche
23. A PAID VACATION, YOU CHOOSE TO GO WHERE?Kauai, do you need to even ask?
24. HOW OFTEN DO YOU EXERCISE? WHAT DO YOU DO?Once a week, hula. Lame I know I need to do more, too cold and too cheap
25. YOUR FIRST CAR WAS A...69 slug bug, pink

Mark 12:30-31

The NIV says:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

We have been using these verses in partenting a lot lately because we are faced with the questions of : "why do I have to be nice, they werent nice to me", "why cant I say that her breath stinks, it does?," "why do I have to include her?" Stuff like that. The girls are constantly challenging us and this is one of the many key verses in our church. We have been trying to emphasize the importance of this and it has really spoken to the heart of Alli. Here was a conversation between her and I last night: (A=Alli, M=me)

A-Why does God want us to love each other?
M- (summary of the above verses and general conversation)
A- Why cant we call someone stupid?
M- B/c we wouldn't be loving our neighbor as ourself would we? That would be hurtful.
A- (violent crying) I dont want to tell you somehting I need to tell you...(more shrieking)
M- Calm down, I cant understand you. Just tell me what is wrong.
A- I dont want to say.....(pause and cry) I called someone stupid (sobbing)
M- Calm down, just tell me who you called stupid. You are not going to get in trouble, but we are going to talk about it.
A- (barely able to understand) I sometimes call Daddy stupid after I get in trouble...(more crying)
****Translation, After disipline she goes to her room and secretly slams Chris. I laugh on the inside a little and cry at the same time. I laugh b/c part of me thinks, "Is there no where this child can express her anger?" I cry b/c she was so distruaght with the sin she had committed that she needed to reconcile. It was physically difficult to admit her sin and possibly accept a punishment. But, that was far more important for her than to remain quiet. She wanted reconciliation with her father. What an amazing picture of us struggling through our flesh and "coming clean" with our Heavenly father.*****
M- I am not going to punish you for this, but you will have to tell your father what you did. We dont call people stupid because it would hurt them and then we would not be loving them.
A- Will you stand with me when I tell him?
****Jesus is our intercessor, our person standing with us submitting to our father. The amazing thing is that Jesus covers us so that all God sees is made clean. I thank God for this application of salvation in our everyday life****

I slept in this morning and when I got up, she had already come clean to Chris without me. Come to find out (this makes it a little worse), she actually calls him stupid when going over her prayer cards at night. I assume she only does this when she has been in trouble that day, but who knows. Using her prayer card as a little voodoo doll is what Chris and I picture. Morbid I know. Oh, children.

Blessed

I went out with my hula sisters last weekend for lunch at Shanghai Restaurant. It was fabulous. They gave us so much food that I took it home and had another meal out of it. Anyways, I love being with these women. They are so much fun. The lady that looks like she could be my hawaiian mother I call mom. All in attendance were Bonnie, Judy, Lani, Me and Trudy. We stopped for lunch before going to a fellow sisters baby shower. Amy is having a girl later this month or early next month.

In other news, we are getting ready to redo our flooring. We feel really blessed that we have the financial means to do such a project. Chris has never done flooring before and is doing it alone (so far) the end of this month so you could send up some prayers for that if you think about it.

I am loving my week this week. I have stayed home with Leilani. The term stay at home mom is relative. We are constantly on the go, but a couple days this week we literally stayed home and I loved it. I scrapped, she watched movies or I cleaned and she played "kitchen". She is so cute and I am loving this phase. Thank you God for my family!

Black Eyed Mary

So, this little gem was left in our bathroom a week ago after a game night with some of our friends. She is called black eyed mary because she is from the dollar store and some of the paint around her eye is too low, hence looking like Joesph gave her a black eye. I have also heard her referred to as domestic violence Mary. So funny. Anyways, this figurine gets passed around from person to person in our church. When she is left in your home you have to proudly display it for two weeks and then pass it on to the next family. Last night a couple in our group said they would not be inviting us over until we have passed it on. Oh, it was also attached with the Bible verse Leviticus 18:23. I am not going to post that, I will let you look it up for your reading enjoyment. I love my friends!

New Toy

So, for those of you who know Chris and I, you know that we dont live on the extravagant. Not to toot our own horn, but we are pretty frugal for the most part. Saving for the next big thing. Well, we had some Christmas money burning a hole in our pocket yesterday and so we went out and bought our first game system in years....a playstation and Rockband. We love it! I forsee hours of fun playing with the girls. Anyways it is going to be fun times at the Littrell house.