Busy, busy, busy!

Let me just tell ya - life around here has changed! I thought we were busy before! My goodness!! Are we ever busy now!

It's all good stuff that is keeping us busy! I like busy, but I also like some time to just be at home and be with my family and be still!

In addition to Luke starting school, Avery will start next week on the 8th, (both kids at new schools), I've also added another "client" to my personal chef "business". It's all very exciting!

As for school - big kid school - this is the biggest change in our lives! The hardest adjustment has been the schedule. Since Luke attends a wonderful charter school, there are no buses (which I wouldn't put my 5 year old on a bus now-a-days anyway) I have to take him and pick him up. Well, we're a good 12 - 15 miles and with traffic, it's about a 20 minute drive. So we get going pretty early in the morning.

Early in the morning isn't usually a problem for Luke. He's an early riser, but to get up, get dressed, get teeth brushed, eat and get out the door with all our stuff... that's taking some getting used to! Overall, he's doing really, really well and I think (after a full week and a half) that I'm finally getting into the swing of things myself.

Then I get him in the afternoon. He's usually in a great mood and has only had homework one time, but he really enjoyed doing that. I know there will be more after Labor day, and I think that will be good for him. Something to help him transition from school to home! I love that he loves school and homework and all that! I hope it lasts a long time!

Bed time is another adjustment. We're trying to get him in bed at an early hour since he's totally exhausted after school. And no matter how tired he is or how late he stays up, he's still awake about 6:15 - 6:30 every morning. So going to bed early is important! We're aiming for about 7:30, but some nights it's still 8PM. He defiantly does better if he has more sleep! He's much less weepy and happier in general when he's in bed and asleep earlier!

The early bed time does really cut back on our ability to go out in the evenings! We weren't really going out that much before, but since every week night is a school night now, we don't have the flexibility we used to have! But that's OK, cause I want him to wake up each morning feeling rested and ready for a good day!

And then - as some of you know - it's consignment sale time around here! I've been to two so far, and I'm consigning at one of them coming up in 2 weeks! So I've been busy tagging and sorting and organizing stuff for that! I love getting a good deal on cloths and stuff for the kids!

Then there's the upcoming 10 year anniversary trip! I'm slowly getting everything in order for that! It'll be here before I know it, and I'm afraid I won't be ready!!! But no matter what I don't have ready - I have formal dresses and shoes for our formal dinner nights and I couldn't be more excited about that if I tried! There will be more posts on the upcoming trip soon!

And like I said before I also took on another family to cook for, but I'll tell you all about that in another post also!

Let's just sum it up like this. I am busy, busy, busy - but really enjoying the different stage of life we're in now. I don't want it to go by too fast and me miss it!

Cookin' Eggs

It's been a while since I've posted about weight loss, food, cooking, exercising or any of that! But rest asured I'm still on the plan.

Currently I'm not actively loosing any more weight, just working on toneing and keeping in shape! I'm also not keeping a daily log of my calorie intake - which proves to me that writing down EVERY SINGLE thing you eat in a day has a TON to do with how much weight a person losses. It makes a huge difference! Right now, I'm happy to maintain my weight and continue to eat (mostly) healthy.

I am still doing the cooking thing. I am actively cooking at home most nights during the week, and some still on the weekends. Although this seems to be changing very slowly as the kids are doing better and better at eating out. Of course our favorite meal to eat out is breakfast, since the kids are at their best then!

So yesterday was one of those days I just didn't feel like cooking dinner! AND normally I would just call David and say I didn't want to cook, so let's go out (which would most likely mean Chick-fil-A, again, cause the kids do well there!) and he would be OK with that. Then we would both eat more calories than either of us needed for the day. BUT luckily for me I was cooking for another family! So I'm forced to stay on track - which is a really, really good thing! I'm really glad I have this accountability!!!

What was for dinner you may ask? I used a Biggest Looser recipe... it's called Wild West Frittata and some breakfast sweet potatoes. They were so very yummy and pretty easy! This is a good kinda thing to make on a night I don't feel much like cooking. It's easy, and healthy and it tastes good! It's a good thing all around!

Gotta keep it simple when I'm not in the mood to cook. It's nice to have the simple yet yummy and easy egg dishes to fall back on!

First Day of Kindergarten

Today opened a new chapter at the Winslow household!

Today one of the Winslow's returned to Greensboro Academy! The school where I spent 6 great years teaching!!

And this morning I took my first born child there. Walked him in, unpacked his stuff, helped him get settled and LEFT him there! All alone!!

Well, OK - he wasn't alone, Mrs. Anne Shaw was there - as were the rest of his classmates!

But for me, it seemed like it was all alone!

Did I cry - nope, actually I didn't! I surprised even myself with no tears!

Luke was so excited about being there and all the new stuff, that I couldn't cry. I didn't need to. He was comfortable and happy, and that made me feel happy as well!

I wanna give a big thanks to Mrs. Shaw (her and I were - are - good friends from my years teaching, so I wanna call her Anne all the time, but since Luke has to call her Mrs. Shaw - I'll try to also!) for making his first day - the first day in a long, LONG school life - really great!

Here is my favorite little conversation for this afternoon...

Me: Did you have a good day?

Luke: Yup! And do you know what? I was at school for like 6 and 1/2 hours?!!

Me: Did Mrs. Shaw tell you that?

Luke: yup! And GUESS WHAT????

Me: What?

Luke: (in a super excited voice!) I GET TO GO BACK TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No sweeter words were spoken today!!!!

Thank you all for your prayers and thank the Good Lord Jesus for caring about every detail of our lives!

A few pictures of my little man!

She's Amazing

If you've been reading with me for the last few weeks, you know that I've been working on potty training Avery. And I gotta say, she's amazing! She's had very few accidents, some were simply my fault, others where when she was so sleepy she didn't know what she was doing!

Overall, I would say, she's got it. She's telling me when she has to go, or just going all on her own. The only trouble she's having seems to be getting her bottoms put back on... one thing at a time right?!?!

But here is the really amazing thing...

She's been dry every morning - EVERY MORNING - for like 4 or 5 nights! I cannot believe it! And the other night when she was awake (that's a whole different post, she's taking steroids, so she wasn't sleeping well!) she told me she had to go peep peep (that's what she calls it!)!

I'm so proud of her, I could turn inside out!

I'm still carrying around all the extra things you do when they are potty training - extra cloths, wipes, diapers in case it gets really bad, M&M;s,and a small potty in the back of the car! Mostly I haven't needed the extra stuff, and it's bad when I forget the M&M's, but she's doing great!

The potty in the car has been great too! I got that idea from a friend who's daughter was potty training the same time as Luke. It's a great idea, and it was wonderful to have it when we were at WalMart the other day! It's so much nicer to do all that in the back of the car, rather than the nasty WM bathroom!

and who wouldn't want to peep on a princess potty?!?!

So, if I could be so bold as to say - Avery is potty trained!!!!!

I"m a proud Mommy for sure!

And glad to be seeing the last of diapers in my life!

Fall Consignment Sales

Again, it's the wonderful time of the year! I'm working personally here at home to get stuff all together and tagged and ready to consign! Yippee!! But listed below are some of the sales in this area. So for those of you who are far away - this won't do you any good. Sorry!



Greensboro Mothers of Multiples Children's Consignment Sale
C3 Church Greensboro
300 NC Hwy 68 South
Greensboro, NC 27409

Thurs, Aug 26 from 7pm-9pm
Fri, Aug 27 from 9am-7pm
Sat, Aug 28 from 8am-12pm (most items 1/2 price)


Main Street United Methodist Church
306 South Main Street
Kernersville, NC 27284

Friday, Sept 24th 9am - 2pm; 5-7pm
Saturday, Sept 25th 9am - noon

Fountain of Life Preschool Consignment Sale
323 Hopkins Rd
Kernersville, NC 27284

Thurs. Sept 16, 5pm-8pm
Fri. Sept 17, 9am-2pm
Sat. Sept 18, 7am-1pm

Christ United Methodist Church - Greensboro
410 North Holden Road
Greensboro, NC 27410

Friday, October 1 from 9:30am-8pm
Saturday, October 2 from 8am-1pm (Half-Price Sale)


Friendly Avenue Christian Preschool
4800 W. Friendly Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27410

Friday, August 13, 2010, 9:00am to 6:00pm
* Saturday, August 14, 2010,
8:00am to 12:00pm * Half Price Day

St. Paul's Catholic Church Sale
2715 Horsepen Creek Rd
Greensboro, NC 27410

Friday, Sept 10th 9 am - 8 pm
Saturday, Sept 11th 8 am - 1 pm Half price sale

Guilford College UMC Children's & Maternity Consignment Sale
1205 Fleming Road
Greensboro, NC 27410

August 27 from 9am-7pm
August 28 from 9am-1pm 50% Off Selected Items


Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church
2600 Pisgah Church Rd
Greensboro, NC 27455

Friday, Sept 24 from 9:00am - 7:00pm
Saturday, Sept 25 from 8:00am - 1:00pm

Christ Community Church Consignment Sale
369 Air Harbor Road
Greensboro, NC 27455

Sat Sept 11th 8am-12 pm
CLOSED Sat Sept 11th 12pm-1pm
Sat Sept 11th 1pm-4pm 1/2 price sale

First Presbyterian Church - Greensboro
MULLEN LIFE CENTER (Corner's of Fisher and Greene Avenues)
617 N Elm St
Greensboro, NC 27401

Friday, Sept 17 from 9:15 am - 7 pm
Saturday, Sept 18 from 8 am until Noon

There are SEVERAL more, I don't have them all listed. And some there aren't dates for - or I don't have those dates for yet. You can see a list at this site.

Using the potty

It's amazing what life is like when you have small children. It's just so very different from life "before kids"! Nothing is the same, the things that are important are different, the way you spend your time, how much you sleep, how you feel about sickness... and about a zillion other things are just different!

Sometimes that difference is hard. When you don't get enough sleep, or you cannot get the simplest things done around the house, it's totally irritating. But overall, the differences are totally worth it.

The big thing at our house is potty training the littlest one. She's doing very well with the whole thing, but it's funny cause it's not just her! Luke is involved too. Shee when I trained him, Avery was only like 5 or 6 months old. So she had no idea what was going on. He on the other hand totally gets it and is involved in the process.

How is he involved you might ask? Well he too wants M&M's for going pee on the potty! Yup! My 5 year old is asking for M&M's when he goes pee. Now, I used M&M's with him when he was training, but of course he doesn't remember that. And sometimes he'll ask for some M&M's when Avery goes pee!!!! It's funny!

My goodness, he's a mess.

But since we are potty training, there's much talk about the potty, and lots of time spent in the bathroom.

I don't think anyone thinks about that kinda thing you think about becoming a parent. Who knew how wonderful and exciting it would be to see pee and poop in the potty?!?!?

I have to say, when I look back on my newly married self, living on my own with my love, purchasing our first home and our first dog and feeling all grown up and important, I didn't think I would in a few short years be jumping up and down and yelling yippee when one of my children went stinky in the potty!

But alas, this is my life and I gotta say, I'm a proud of how great Avery is doing with using the potty!

Free Will

I heard this story last week, and it's one of those that sticks with you! I'm sure you know someone, or have heard a similar story, but hang with me if you would please, because I had a revelation.

Scenario (this is real, I'm not making it up!):

Single mom - not working (so living off the state!), has 5 children (by several different fathers) in her home. One of whom requires CONSTANT care due to the fact that he was shaken by his father as an infant (that's a whole different story). He's 14 now, in a wheel chair and cannot do even the most basic things for himself. So the children in the home range from age 14 to about 9 months.

The grandparents (who by the way have permanent custody of an addition child) take turns keeping the kids at their house for a few days at a time during the summer, just for fun and to spend time with their grand-babies. But after having one of the children with them they start to hear stories about lots of adult arguing and yelling and even some chair throwing at their house.

Next it's brought to light that the conditions in which the children are living are less than ideal (to put it mildly). The house is disgusting. It's dirty, there are dirty dishes everywhere, bugs all over the place, mold and mildew in the home.

Some of the children don't even have proper beds. They are sleeping on just box-springs. To make matters worse (can you imagine?), the mom who gets a boat load of food stamps - which is good cause she needs them since she has all those kids to feed, right?!?! Well, turns out she's selling them for cigarettes and or gas or whatever else she wants. What does that mean? You got it, the kids aren't eating all/what they should.



Can you even imagine that? I mean that's the kinda thing that makes me wanna pick up the phone and call social services. And cry the whole time I'm doing it.

These kids didn't ask for this. They didn't ask to be born. They didn't ask for this lady to be their mom. They are innocent in the whole situation.

While talking to David about it, through tears of course... David says, the only way I can make that make sense in my mind, why God would allow that to happen is - free will. Yup, I said, your right.

I hadn't thought of it like that.

But he's right. God made us with free will, so this mother is exercising her free will. As despicable as it is, that's what she's doing. I think about that for a bit (and here's my revelation), and (with more tears) I say - and that right there is what makes Christ's sacrifice on the cross so very special.

He died - carried all that pain and suffering and all our sins - KNOWING that there would those who didn't accept His love, forgiveness and salvation. OH MY GOODNESS - ya'll - do you get it?!?! Do you see how much He loves us? Loves you?

Cause the Bible says He would have done it for just YOU!

WOW!

That's some serious love right there.

So although my heart is still breaking for those children. And I'm praying a TON for them, and I have no idea what will happen in that situation, I know that God loves those kids - and that single mother - and that no matter what happens He is in control and He loves them beyond measure!

I'm soaking in that love today - and I hope you will as well!

Do you feel the love?

A funny thing happened on the way to the pool on Friday!

Luke and I were talking about going to school (a topic which we talk a lot about these days!) and somehow - do not ask me how, because I do not know, Luke got to talking about being buried alive.

I know, weird right?!?!?

Anyway, he says it's bad to be buried alive. I agreed. Then he says...

"Mom, if you were buried alive, Daddy would come get you. IF you had your cell phone with you and he could find you."

Me: "Oh, that's nice! Why do you think Dad would come get me?"

I'm thinking he's gonna say because he loves you, cause your the mommy, something along those lines... but this was the answer...

"Because after a couple of days Daddy might get hungry, because you do all the cooking and stuff and Daddy doesn't know how to do that stuff."



What more is there to say?

I wouldn't want my family to go hungry while I am buried alive! Here's to hoping that never happens to me!

I feel the love, don't you?