Time, where does it go?

As I sat down to my computer early one morning, 5:30 am to be exact (and that's extremely early for me), I decided to check my email. Sifting through all the junk emails, Old Navy, Children's Place, Kohl's, I started clicking delete, delete, delete. 
Then I saw it, a Facebook message from Sarah.  She was asking to use me as a reference in regards to babysitting jobs.  Simple request, no big deal. Sure. I can do that. 
Then it hit me, I slumped back in my chair, and stared dumbfounded at my computer.  Quickly, tears were starting to form in my eyes. I know, it's crazy.  I'm thinking, "Really, come on. This is the girl who was born two months after I moved to Virginia at the very young age of 18." 

For the first three months of Sarah's life she scream her head off, literally.  I held her, rocked her, put her down, held her some more, rocked her some more.  Nothing helped, nothing but . . . time. 

"Where has the time gone?" I asked myself.  It seems like yesterday that I was changing her diaper, administering Mylicon and taking her on walks around the neighborhood and now she is asking to use me as a reference so she can care for someone else's children.

I'm overwhelmed by the fact that the past 18 years have flashed before my eyes.  Just like that, I blinked and they were gone.  Yes, I do realize I am only 37 years old.  Yet I didn't for a moment even consider it until I saw Sarah's email.

The girls that I spent 7 precious years with are now all grown up, well almost.  Elizabeth, who is the oldest is finishing her second year at the Coast Guard Academy.  Sarah is attending Lewis University with a major in Nursing and the youngest, Samantha is an 8th grader at Oakcrest School.  Both Elizabeth and Sarah participated in my wedding as flower girls and the dresses they wore now belong to my own girls. 

Now that is strange. 

The question is, will I give her a reference?  Absolutely, without a doubt.  I would be honored.

So... I just had to add this to the collection.  Dave and I came across this picture by accident a few days ago.  It was taken right after I moved to VA in 1992.  I look like such a baby and indeed I was.

Elizabeth and Sarah - 1993

I am holding Elizabeth and Dave is holding Sarah.  When Dave and I danced our first dance as husband and wife, Sarah slowing made her way onto the dance floor and by the end of the song she found her way into our arms.  Very sweet!

Samantha was only a year old when Dave and I married.  She misses her sisters terribly since they have left for college.

Elizabeth, Sarah, Samantha, and Nicole.  Sarah's graduation from high school (2010) before heading off to Chicago. 

Elizabeth, Samantha and Sarah.

Time, really does fly!

Catching up

As you can see the blog is lacking quite a few posts.  We are alive and well.  Just busy, busy and more business to keep us going.  Our summer was filled with a trip to Utah to visit family and attend the Carpenter family reunion.  Just days after returning home we headed to Bethany Beach, DE for the 4th of July.  After that we pretty much laid low for the rest of the summer.  Then ... came the start of a new school year, Little League, softball, and soccer.  And then ..... there's the fact that I discovered facebook, I know some of you are laughing and shaking your head.  That is probably the real reason the blog is looking slightly dilapidated.  Pictures of our summer will be forthcoming, just be patient. 

She actually did it!

Rachel has been contemplating for some time now as to whether or not to cut her hair and donate it.  One day she's willing to cut it and then the next she's not.   As for me, I want it gone, goodbye, see ya.  As beautiful as it is, it is so much work ... for me, not her.  No matter how much conditioner we used it was still a pain to brush and with swimming season here it would be that much worse. 

Fortunately for me, while in Utah, Rachel saw her cousin Kayzia and fell in love with her hairstyle. So as we are driving to the salon Rachel decides she is going to go for it.

Clearly, this is a before picture.  She looks this way because we are coming from the pool.

This is right before the tears started falling, which didn't surprise me.  She started crying and said, "I want my hair back."  So I started crying too. 

Personally, I think the style is adorable, cute and not to mention, easy to take care of.  In the end she did donate it to Locks of Love, which is a non-profit organization that provides wigs to children with hairloss due to any type of medical condition.  After about a week Rachel did say she really likes it and comments on how easy it is to take care. Thank goodness for that!

Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday we attended our annual "Mr. Thomas' picnic", as the kids have come to call it.  Mr. Thomas is a long time friend and customer of Dave's.   The picnic is held every Saturday of Memorial weekend and we have been attending for 5 years now.  Amazingly, it takes place on the grounds of Oak Hill Farm, which at one point was the home of James Monroe, the fifth president.  Construction of Oak Hill began during 1820-1823 and he lived there following his presidency.  Oak Hill is located south of Leesburg in Loudoun County and today remains a private residence.

About halfway there, Middleburg to be exact, I hear from the back seat.

Joseph,   "My finger is stuck."
Me,   "What do you mean it's stuck?"
Joseph,   "It's stuck."

You see, for some time now Joseph has been fascinated with sticking his fingers in things and getting them stuck.  Example, the seatbelt buckle with the hole in the middle.  Well, you get the point. 

At this point he is crying. 

Me,   "What did you put your finger in this time?"

Joseph,   "A yoda toy."

Now I bust out laughing, which only makes him cry more.  Now Dave is laughing, and so is Rachel and so is Nicole.  Now he is really crying and saying his finger hurts.

So I unbuckle, climb in the back and take a look. This is what I find.  Which only makes me laugh harder.  I couldn't resist taking a picture.

As we tried to pull it off, it only hurt worse and made it swell.  So we decided to wait until we got to the picnic which was only about ten minutes away.

Cooking oil does not seem to work.  The problem was the more we pulled the more his knuckle swelled.

Super Dave to the rescue, with cooking scissors.  I can't watch anymore.

Me   "Did you learn your lesson?"

Joseph   "Yes."  sniffle, sniffle

The finger is just fine and has fully recovered.

Was once James Monroe's house.  This picture does not come close to displaying the beauty of the house and land that is sits on.  Oak Hill Farm consists of about 1600 acreas.

This year for the first time Dave was in charge of cooking chicken wings.  I knew you would want to know what twenty pounds of wings looks like.

Chocolate cake!

Horse shoe tournament.

Nicole turns 6!

She's growing up!  Nicole, (aka Colie Bird) who was born on a Sunday, on Memorial Weekend and during church turns 6 years old today.  Well she wasn't exactly born at church but I went into labor while sitting in Sunday School class at Grace Church of Gainesville.  We made the executive decision to leave (excellent choice on our part) and head to Prince William Hospital.  Nicole wasted no time making her grand appearance into this world.  My doctor didn't make it on time and the nurse practically delivered her, had it not been for some stranger doctor that appeared out of nowhere.  But hey, I didn't care. 

Who would have known that Nicole's future best friend would be born in the SAME room a few hours later.  How cool is that?! 

For dinner tonight she requested spaghetti, and garlic bread.  Her absolute favorite.  How easy is that to cook and yes the rest of us had salad.

Nicole at 2 years old.  I can't decide whether or not she looks like Elise.

This was taken tonight.  Note the penguin tattoo on the right arm.  You can thank her best friend for that one.

It's official, I've lost my mind.

I caved, again.  I'm insane.  I was overruled, big time.  What is this world coming to?

Carrie


The rest will now be posted by Rachel.

For two months now I have wanted a pet mouse. My friends, Abby and Sam had two mice and I fell in love. So this Saturday Joseph and I picked them out. They are adorable! Mine is the black and white one and her name is Rocky.  Joseph's is light brown and white and his name is Chisel. I talked my mom into holding Rocky but she thinks the tail feels weird. Rocky is pretty friendly and after thinking it over, will jump into your hand. Chisel is still skittish but seems to be warming up. We held them Sunday night and will do that every night until they become more comfortable.

Coming home from Petsmart.  Thanks to our friends Abby and Sam who generously donated a no longer needed mouse cage.

Everyone sitting in the bathtub holding them so they won't get out.  This is what we do on Sunday nights for fun.

Joseph and Chisel.

Here is Rocky. Isn't she adorable?

Rocky has a soft heart. I actually felt something wet, she gave me a kiss.

Muckdogs

Joseph is finally getting his long awaited wish.  After playing 6 seasons of soccer he really wanted to try something different, baseball that is.  He is now in heaven, playing for the Clarke County Lower Minor MUCKDOGS.

Just in case you are wondering ... the Batavia Muckdogs are a team based in Batavia, New York.  They currently are the Short-Season A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Yeah, whatever that means.  The Muckdogs were previously an Affiliate for the Philadelphia Philles......  thought you might like that bit of information.

Baseball is very different from soccer.  Random practices and games.  Games during the week.  We are not use to that.  Baseball is taken VERY seriously, at least out here it is.  Concession stand is open all the time.  It's very exciting to buy a ring pop at the concessions (it's not for me, I hate them). 

Even though we are only a few weeks into the season I think I like baseball more than soccer (sorry cousins Emily and Brandi).  Joseph absolutely loves it ... except for wearing his cup.

Joseph as catcher.

Joseph hit the ball and made it to second base.

Taking off from second base.

Enjoying the game.

Elise eventually fell asleep under this blanket. 

Easter pictures

Here they are.  What a beautiful day it was.  Thanks to my friend Lisa who loaned us all the dresses.

Here are some pictures of the neighbors flowers.  They are just so beautiful I had to include them.

Victory Over Death

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  "He is not here, but He has risen."    Luke 24:1-3,6

Future MK Consultant

While doing school one morning I noticed Elise was missing.  It was quiet, really quiet.  As all mothers know that spells problem.  I go upstairs looking for her and this is what I found.

She was in my makeup bag with everything spread out on the floor.  She was in the process of using my waterproof blackest black mascara as lipstick.  Oh, would her Mary Kay selling Aunt be so proud of her.  BTW - it does come off with baby oil.

Yes, we're alive!

We have been busy, busy, busy.  Nothing too exciting, just normal everyday stuff.  Since Rachel and Joseph will take their academic tests in May we really have been focusing on school, and lots of it.  Which has left me with little time to blog.  After testing is over I can finally let my breath out and relax a little.  Here are a few pictures of our everyday life, please don't yawn too much. 

Rachel decided one beautiful afternoon to wash her "motorcycle".

Joseph and Nicole voluntarily weeding the garden.  Uuumm!  Looks suspicious to me.  I think they are looking for marbles for their jars (more on that in a later post).

Rachel is still swimming with the swimteam in Winchester.  They swim every Mondays and Wednesdays.  She loves it!

Last week we enjoyed a field trip to the Virginia Arboretum (Blandy Experimental Farm) here in Boyce.  Talk about a beautiful place.  This trip was on "water wonders".  The students used topographic maps of Virginia to locate and describe their own watershed.  They also learned how to collect, measure and record water quality (i.e. look at little squigglies under a microscope).  How cool is that.  Next month we will go back for Virginia Natives: plants and animals).

Collecting pond water.

Now we're getting to the fun stuff.  Lots of little wiggly, slimy things to look at.

Last, but not least.  This picture has nothing to do with the field trip or anything else but I had to include it.  Yes, it is real.  I'll leave you now, with this.

Dave, thank you for loving me

Today is Dave's birthday.  Let's just say that he is 40ish and we'll leave it at that.  I wanted to post a few things about him that I love and they are in no particular order of importance (except for number 7, that's my favorite).

1. He can fix anything; electrical, plumbing, drywall, cars and crayons.  He saves us so much money.
2. He makes the best omelets.
3. He ALWAYS makes me laugh ... even when I'm mad, which makes me even more mad.
4. He brings me coffee in bed on Saturday mornings (this one might ruin his image).
5. He absolutely, hands down, is the best painter ... in the world.
6. He is a very forgiving person.
7. He puts the kids to bed every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night.  I love it!
8. He is the grill master.
9. He always takes one of the kids with him when he goes somewhere.
10. His clam chowder .... yummy!
11. He calls me every afternoon at 4:20pm, even if it's only to see what I'm cooking for dinner, I do love hearing his voice.
12. He plays Monopoly with the kids ... when I don't feel like it.
13. He without a doubt cherishes his children. 
14. He involves the kids in everything he does around the house. 
15. He goes to work every morning so I don't have, well a paid job anyways.
16. He is my very best friend, sorry Keri, Michele and Laura.
17. He trusts in Jesus Christ as his personal savior.
18. He starts singing (loudly) out of nowhere and it's usually either a song from the 80's or "Frank".
19. He makes me feel safe.
20. He tolerates my casseroles.

Happy Birthday!  I love you!