Happy Birthday, Joshua

My Joshua turns 11 today. Hard to believe that he is that old. Time sure does fly. He'll be a teenager before I know it. I remember wanting to be a mom so badly. We tried and tried and there were so many tears shed. I remember asking God why teenage girls could jump in the backseat one time and get pregnant, and yet there were two loving people who could not get pregnant. God answered my prayers. I took pregnancy tests so many times. I remember waking up early to take this test. It was positive. I knew I must have messed it up because I turned the test upside down, so the results were not right. We didn't have a Walmart here back then, so I remember waking Jack up around 7:15 and telling him I was headed to Food Lion for something I needed. I'm sure he was dazed as he didn't even ask me what I needed. I ran up there, came home and took the test again and it was positive!! The pregnancy was a pretty easy with just a few cravings. The last month the doctor moved me from full time to part time work. A week or so after that, I got moved to "bed rest" only because I was swelling so bad. Joshua was due on the 25th of January. Of course, he didn't come on his due date. I remember it was Sunday and I didn't feel too well. We stayed home from church and took it easy. Later that evening, I started feeling pain, but the pain didn't come too often. I did call the doctor, but she told me to wait until the pains got closer together. I sat up and watched the entire super bowl with Jack (he was hoping I would make it till the end:)). I couldn't even tell you who was playing, but he could. I remember that it was getting late and then the first ever survivor came on. We stayed up and started that. The pains were getting closer, but nothing really bad. The doctor called us to check on me and told me to come on in. When I got to the hospital, my contractions were not registering on the monitor so she told me I would probably have to come home. They decided to check me and I was 4 cm so she told me I could stay. We took a walk around the hospital and when I cam back the pain was so intense. I couldn't bear it. I had to have my epidural. Finally at 5:50 am, Joshua Caleb McLean was born. Joshua you have been nothing but a joy to us and we love you so much!! Happy Birthday!

Menu Wednesday

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you are being pulled in different directions.....when you wonder how on earth everything is going to come together? Well, this is one of those weeks. I had my day all planned out today. I even broke everything down by times so that I could keep a schedule! I was on the elliptical and got a phone call from preschool wanting me to come in a sub. Well, there went my day! I managed to get a few groceries and had to put everything else on hold. I'm working the next two days, and have a ton of things to get done by this weekend. I'm just praying it will all come together. I should be ok by Sunday night!! Here is the menu for the week:

Wednesday: shrimp and french fries
Thursday: Ham and cheese roll ups (hoping to get out to our ladies group)
Friday: pizza (Josh is having a friend over)
Saturday: taco salad (we didn't use all the shells from last week)
Sunday: Josh's birthday......out to eat
Monday: bacon and Parmesan pasta (by request from the kids)
Tuesday: swiss chicken

Have a great week!

My Life Song

I hate it when my husband is right (am I the only one like that?). Yesterday after church we stopped by Bojangles (he needs to own stock in Bojangles) so that he could get some sweet tea. He bought a half gallon of it and put it close to my feet. In the meantime, Casting Crowns came on singing their song "Let my lifesong sing to you".....and or course as you know I'm one of the biggest CC fans (partly because of the role model the lead singer is for Josh....same situations). My husband calls me a CC "groupie". So I'm singing along and Jack pulls off and puts on his brakes and the tea goes flying under his feet. I let out this big sigh (even though I don't remember it) and Jack reminds me of the song I am singing. Of course I didn't take it well at the time, but it's been in my mind since then. Here I am singing this song about letting my lifesong sing to Him, and I am getting upset because the tea went the wrong way and it is such an inconvenience to me!! Ok sweetie....you got me:)
It also brings me back to Saturday. I'm trying to get out the door to go to gym class and Josh wants something that I had not planned for him to have for breakfast. I told him no and this "discussion" breaks out. Our discussions sometimes get elevated because we both like to be right and have the last word. I guess I have a lot of work to do, especially in my parenting. I can't wait until I'm finally right and Jack is wrong.....but thank you for showing me I have a lot to work on:)

Meal Planning Wednesday

Whew....my week got thrown off. I was scheduled to work yesterday and then got called in today. Yeah for work, but bad because this is grocery day! Needless to say, I had raid my freezer and pantry and was able to come up with hamburger rice casserole for tonight. Everything else will just have to be pushed down a day.

Wednesday----hamburger rice casserole
Thursday-----chicken and dumplings
Friday: taco salad
Saturday? hoping for date night
Sunday: subs, 7 layer dip (playoffs)
Monday: Chili casserole
Tuesday: crock pot lasagna

Jenna and Olivia

Jenna has been bugging me for weeks to let her friend come over, so I finally told her she could. Olivia came to visit us. Olivia and Jenna were in the same kindergarten class but got "separated" during first grade. They are back together again this year and are loving being in the same class. Olivia is such a sweet little girl and comes from a good home. I painted their toenails and fingernails and Jack set up the air mattress for them. They had so much fun when Jack let the air out that he filled it back up just to let them do it again! I am so thankful she has good friends. I loved hearing all the giggling. It makes me want another little girl, but don't worry that is NOT happening!!!

Wednesday Menu Week

I decided to go back to putting my menus down. I'm doing this because I put my list in my purse and then sometimes lose it and I forget what I had planned for dinner (and that is what happened last night). I totally went blank and so I improvised and had pancakes, eggs, bacon and hash browns.

Wednesday: chicken nuggets and french fries (I had a big lunch today so I will just eat fruit tonight)

Thursday: I will be gone and Jack is taking the kids to McDonald's for 69 cent cheeseburgers (In Raleigh)

Friday: got invited to friends house for dinner

Saturday: Steak and baked potatoes

Sunday: pizza (in honor of football playoffs)

Monday: spaghetti and garlic bread

Tuesday: chicken dish....(i have frozen chicken breasts in the freezer) probably chicken and dumplings or baked chicken with sides.

What Goes There?

Most of you know I have totally re-done my kitchen and I love it. We put new flooring on top of our old one, took done the wallpaper border and painted it a sage green (which doesn't show up on the pictures) and then switched everything to black, including my new table. We also just finished another change (see second picture). Remember that old ugly phone hanging by the light switch.....well, Jack was able to take everything done and re patch the wall, so that UGLY phone on my wall is gone. If you will notice on the other picture, I still have a very blank wall (the top picture). It is SO naked!! It really needs some work up there. I thought about maybe one of those large clocks.....but I wanted my readers to give some more suggestions.....be careful if you suggest it, you might have to help me :).....if you find something at a thrift store, just let me know!

Goals

I'm keeping my goals for 2012 pretty simple. In fact, I'm asking my readers for some advice and help.

1. I did a lot of home improvements over 2011, but I'd like to continue that in 2012. My top ones are doing the kid's bathroom floor and repainting their rooms.

2. Continue working out at least 2/3 times a week. I'm VERY discouraged right now as I've been working out harder than ever, but have not lost one pound. Not one! I am working on portion controls and may possibly do weight watchers, but I don't want to "diet diet". (that only discourages me more)

3. Find some sort of Bible study. Right now I just have been reading a Proverbs and maybe a Psalm or some other passage, but I would like to start some sort of study. I tend to be a little more consistent if I have that. Any suggestions?

4. Find a part time job. Now let me clarify that I did have something come my way, but it wasn't the right fit for me and there were a lot of different things that just didn't give me peace. I would love to be back at a preschool (not a daycare) or some job like that. If you know of a good family that needs someone to watch their child, I would be willing to do that as well. I really need something to occupy my time, but I want to be home with the kids and during the summer as well. I'm feeling like I need something to help with the extras and I need it to make me feel like I'm valuable for something.

Any help in any of these areas would be greatly appreciated!! Happy 2012

Hurricanes Game

Happy New Year!!!! I haven't set my "goals yet for 2012" but will post that soon. I surprised the family (even Jack) with tickets to the Hurricanes game the day after Christmas. Of course, the McLean's do everything cheap!! There are several games during the year that they consider "family nights" where you can get $10 tickets and they also have $1 hot dogs!! We took advantage of both. I had an extra ticket, so we invited Jack's best friend, Lai to go. The Canes won and it was a lot of fun. We plan on going again for Josh's b-day later this month.