Welcome to the Jungle

So, on our last visit to the zoo we discovered an exhibit we had not seen before. It is called the Jungle and well, it looks like a jungle, except that you are inside. I have to say I was quite impressed with this. For one, the growth is beautiful. But secondly there are animals out, meaning not in cages. There are some in cages, a sloth, some crazy looking squirrels, monkeys oh and a komodo dragon, a big one. But there are other animals just out. This was a crazy looking bird. The pictures don't do it justice. But it was just walking down the path.

Looking up there were huge bats hanging in the trees. I am assuming they were not dangerous since they here just hanging out up in the trees. These were not small. They were probably about a foot long.

Then there were these beautiful birds just sitting on a limb. You can't tell but this guy was eyeing me as much as I was eyeing him.

There is also a "stream" with sting rays, a "pond" with some of the biggest fish I have ever seen. You could actually go under the pond and see them swimming all around you. This was the kid's favorite part. And lastly a water fall that you can walk behind. We didn't take pictures of anything else that day. Nothing else compared to the Jungle. Have I mentioned we love our zoo?

A Knox update

I wanted to give a double update on my sweet boy, Knox. First, he is doing great. He was puny a few days but the day the grandparents got here he was all better!!! As far as his hair (and clothes)....well, I decided to keep both, but I did give him a trim. He may be my only little boy and it won't be long before he will be telling me what he will on wont wear. Besides, he is just too cute like this.

What a week

This has been a week of sickness at our house. This time it was Knox with some kind of stomach bug. I will spare you the details but lets just say I have gone through a few packs of diapers this week. So I had to take EC to the doctor to have a physical to start school and had to take Knox along of course. I mentioned our problem to the doc and she suggested the B.R.A.T. diet and if he still had a problem in 2 weeks then bring him back..... 2 WEEKS!!!! So we leave the doctor and I have got to run to Walmart (desperately needed more diapers and some extra strength Tide). While running through the store Knox "gets sick". Yep, I was that mom. You've seen her before. And in the back of your mind you wondered, "what is she thinking bringing a sick kid to Walmart". Well, on behalf of "those" moms everywhere, I DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS GOING TO DO THAT!!! Thankfully, I had picked up a pack of wipes already so I cleaned up the best I could (even the floor) and got the heck out of there. We got home and he did it again. Let me just remind you here that I am still very nauseous pretty much the whole day. These are the times my mom says you forget. I hope so. The only thing getting me through this week is the reminder that my wonderful in-laws are on their way for a visit, Praise the Good Lord above!!!

My little Blueberry

Ok, so my baby is now about the size of a blueberry according to the weekly update I get from BabyCenter.com. So how come my stomach is soooo much bigger? At this rate I will be in maternity clothes before my 3rd month, how embarrassing. I guess the biggest problem is my very short list of things that sound good:
Grill cheese or cheese toast
Pepperoni pizza
tatter tots - oh my, these are good
Cheesy potato soup (from Jason's Deli)
an occasional hamburger with nothing but cheese, mayo and ketchup
Do you realize this is the diet of a 5 year old and a college student. I steer clear of this kind of stuff as much as I can normally. At the rate I'm going I'll gain all my pregnancy weight before the end of my 1st trimester.
Several of y'all have asked if we will find out what we are having. If you know me at all, you know that I am WAY to practical to not find out. I have clothes to go through and wash and most of all a name to come up with. I really don't want to have to come up with 2 names, 1 is hard enough. Besides, it's going to be a surprise, I just get to decide when I get the surprise, right?

Baby #3

Some of you may have noticed that I have slowed a little on posting. Well, that would be because every opportunity I have to myself I go lay down. Yep, we are expecting baby #3!!! This was a little bit of a surprise but we are excited just the same. I am due March 31st so we have a long way to go. I got to go have an ultrasound today and see our baby who is currently the size of a grain of rice. As I have told some others I said I don't know which is more amazing the technology to see the grain of rice and hear the heartbeat or the fact that this tiny baby has a heartbeat already. It stops me and puts me in awe of our God who is so good to us. Please pray with us that this will be a good pregnancy (that I can make it through the nausea with 2 kids running around) and for a healthy baby.

Italian Hoagies (in the crockpot)

I'm still on a crockpot kick, especially since the oven in my new house makes half the house way too hot for summer time. So I found this recipe on a blog but I have no idea which one (not one I have visited before) so I can't give anyone credit, sorry. But I thought it sounded like something Matt would like so I made it. It was very good and so easy. Probably too spicy for kids. My kids don't really like shredded roast yet so I didn't even try.

Italian Hogies:
2lb beef roast
1 envelope of dry italian dressing/ seasoning mix
1 jar of peppercino peppers - mild (you find them on the pickle isle)

Put the roast in the crockpot. Dump the entire jar of peppers and all the juice on top then sprinkle with seasoning. Turn it on low and let it go 8 hours. Then I shredded the whole thing with 2 forks. We put it on hoagie rolls topped it with swiss cheese and toasted it in the oven until the cheese melted. Then we dipped it in a little bowl of the juice that left in the crockpot. We ate on it until the rolls were gone and then Matt made quesadillas with some of the meat. That was good too. It is a little spicy but I can't handle much spice and I enjoyed it. Just a good easy meal. Would probably make 6 to 8 sandwiches depending on how much meat you put on each.

Playday and Popsicles

Rigdon was Emma Caroline's first friend here and one of the funniest kids I've ever met. They play so well together (Praise the Lord). A few weeks ago Rigdon came to play and this is the conversation I heard in the back of the car.
Rigdon: "Emma Caroline why are your eyebrows brown?" (not sure where that came from)
EC: (No response)
Rigdon: "Well, I think you are the prettiest girl in the whole world."

I agree

We're not in the South anymore

OK, so 6 times in the past week or so Knox has been called a girl. It's the haircut. They don't cut their boys hair like this here in the Midwest. So the big question has become, do I need to get his hair cut like a big boys and lose the "baby look". But, oh my, he is so cute I hate to do it. Matt says if I just don't dress him in jumpers and put him in little boy clothes (meaning khakis and polos) then I don't need to cut his hair. What do y'all think. It's not an official pole, I just want y'alls opinions here. I just had to include this picture too because really, does it get any sweeter?

My Little Pirate (with a little chocolate on his face)

Knox, who has never let me put anything on his head before, has really taken to the pirate look. I just about had to force him to let me put this bandanna on him but once I said he was a pirate he didn't want to take it off....boys. Too bad I don't have him on video saying "ARRRGGGG". Lori, where was this guy last year for VBS. We could have used him.

Customer Service

I promise this blog will not become a place where I am constantly blowing off steam or ranting and raving about bad customer service. However, what I was told today by a Chase customer service agent bordered on hilarious. Here's the story. I have been paying my credit card payment online for several months. Well, due to our recent move I needed to change the bank account out of which I make that payment. I jumped through all their hoops to get that done but when I went to make the payment the new bank was not an option for making the payment out of. So I called customer service and was transferred about 4 times before I was told that I could not make that change online because I was not the primary card holder (my husband is). Now think about that. I finally said how do you know which one of us is sitting here at the computer? Talk about not wanting to admit that there was something wrong with their system or maybe it was that they couldn't answer my question. But to say that it wouldn't show me the new account online because I was not the primary card holder. I honestly started laughing. That didn't make her too happy. So......she transferred me to a number that was "no longer in service" and it hung up on me. I am 0 for 2 in customer service these days. I think I need a cookie.

Redneck Sack Race

Build-A-Bear

My poor deprived children had never been to Build-A-Bear. Not sure EC had ever even heard of it. But when we moved here some sweet friends gave us a gift card so off we went. Well, they LOVED it. Every bit of it. Picking out the animal, stuffing it (stepping on the pedal was big for Knox), picking its sound, clothes and name, and the box it goes home in. We had such fun. EC picked the rabbit and a ballerina outfit for it. She named it Flip-Floppy (a name she came up with). Knox made a b-line for the orange cat that meowed. I wasn't sure he would enjoy this little adventure but he LOVED it. He held on to that cat and has been loving on it ever since. We named it Aubie, of course. I honestly think he wanted it so he could squeeze it, kiss it, carry it by it's tail etc.... All the things he wishes he could do to our real cat, without getting scratched.

Antiques Roadshow

Raise your hand if you like to watch Antiques Roadshow on PBS. No really, I do. So Matt and I are driving around downtown one Saturday and we see all these people carrying pictures, trunks, boxes, typewriters, toys, chairs.... you name it. Then we see the trailer with Antiques Roadshow on the side and it all makes sense. Wouldn't you love to be that person who says "I paid $10 for it at a garage sale. I had no idea is was worth $100,000."
Becky - it's all you. I'll be waiting for that post.

I'm back.......again

OK this time it is for good. Honesty here.....we were using someone else's wireless signal. It worked great at first then it would disappear for a few weeks then come back for a few days then go away again. I can't live like that. So I broke down and signed us up for AT&T wireless internet. The lady at AT&T said they would send me my modem, I would set it up and on Thursday turn it on and go. So easy right......WRONG!!! Thursday came and went and I couldn't get it to work. Thursday night I was on the phone with AT&T. She said someone would call me in the morning. No one called. So I called again. I was put on hold for 20 minutes before I hung up. I mean, I've got 2 kids. I can't sit on hold all day. So I tried later - on hold for 30 minutes, hung up. Tried about 3 hours later - chewed out the first person, got a manager, threatened her within an inch of her life if she put me on hold, so she "transferred" me to a department that could help. They put me on hold for almost an hour, hung up. I give up. Matt calls and gets a helpful knowledgeable person (the only one there, I think). Today a nice man shows up at my house and fixes all my problems. YEAH!!!! Now if I could just get signed up for that anger management class.

Emma Caroline Quote of the day

Me - "Emma Caroline, what is a female?"
EC - "A person who delivers letters."

Love this weather

This may be a weird post but I feel that I must document this weather although many of you down in the deep South may not believe me. It is July 12 around 6:45 PM and it is 66 degrees outside. Did you read that???? 66 DEGREES!!!!! This Southern girl is freaking out!!!!! I don't have my AC on in the middle of the summer. If this is Global Warming give me some more.

CrockPot Falafel

This post is especially for my In-Laws and my brother, Stewart, who all share my love for Greek food......
Yes, you read that right falafel in the crockpot and it is so easy. The last time I made falafel I was newly married and it was so bad I think we ended up going out. This, on the other hand, is not. This is actually some of the best falafel I have ever had. I regularly read the blog of a lady who made a new years resolution to use her crock pot every day, or something crazy like that. Not only does she have some great recipes but she is very funny to read. So here is the link to her blog for this recipe. I actually got the taziki sauce recipe somewhere else so here it is:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 shallots, finely minced
2 Tbs fresh snipped dill (or 1 tsp dry dill seasoning, like Pampered Chef's)
1 tsp dijon mustard (didn't have dijon so I just used regular and it was good)
salt and pepper to taste

Old pics from Mississippi

OK these pictures go back over a month while we were still in Mississippi. But they had been taken with Matt's new iphone and so I didn't have them on my computer until recently. Can I just say it is a tad frustrating that my husband's phone takes better pictures than my digital camera.... This one was taken out front of a doctor's office down in Jackson. Knox came down with the croup one weekend and scared us all to death. Our options were ER in Greenwood or drive to Jackson. We opted for Jackson and recieved the best care from Dr. Hopper. What a blessing. While I was inside with Knox, Matt was trying to entertain EC outside so they were stopping to smell the petunias (which I don't think have a smell but who cares when you get a picture like this).
Right before we left Greenwood, an ice cream parlor opened and one night we took the kids. This was just a classic of Knox, who couldn't get enough of the fire hydrant and the ice cream.

This is just us having one of our last picnics in our beautiful big back yard that we miss so much.

4th of July

We spent our first 4th of July here in Wichita with the Dunn Family. Does it get any better than hamburgers, hotdogs, brats (a midwest thing for you Southerners reading), kids playing in the water and fun friends? A good time was had by all. The kids played in the water and had a blast!!!

Hot dogs and chips in your bathing suit outside. Brings back memories of good times for me at my cousins lakehouse on the 4th growing up. Now my kids are enjoying the simple pleasures of life. The adults on the deck enjoying the amazing weather.

Me and my Honey (awwwe)

But the story doesn't end there. We left the Dunns and brought the kids home and put them to bed. Then Matt and I sat in lawn chairs in the middle of our front yard and watched all the firework shows going on all around us. This place is fireworks crazy. I kid you not when I say it looked like a show you would see downtown going on all around us. I didn't even know you could buy those kinds of fireworks for your own backyard. I have to say it also sounded like we were in a war zone with all the explosions. It was a new experience for us but a lot of fun. Did I mention how nice it was outside? I didn't sweat one time. CRAZY!!

Metro East

So we are now in Wichita and getting adjusted to all of our new surroundings (Daddy, I promise to post more pictures of those surroundings soon). One thing that is not the least bit hard to get use to is our worship service. Every week I have to keep myself from jumping up and down during worship. The music is great and the preaching.... oh the preaching.... That is another post entirely. Lets just say it is AWESOME. A few weeks ago a man, with an amazing tenor voice sang "God with us" by Mercy Me. The band played and our new friend Byron wore those drums out. Next time you hear this song crank it up and for goodness sakes forget where you are and raise your hands and sing at the top of your voice:

Who are we--- that You would be mindful of us?
What do You see--- that's worth looking our way?
We are free--- in ways that we never should be.
Sweet release--- from the grip of these chains.

Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.

All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.

My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.

Lord, You know--- our hearts don't deserve Your glory;
Still You show--- a love we cannot afford.

Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.

All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.

My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.

Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,We lay it at Your feet.

All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
My debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.

I'm Back / EC Swim Lessons

For the grandparents and a few other friends who check my blog on a regular basis.....I have not fallen off the face of the earth. We lost internet access for almost 3 weeks. I thought I would lose my mind (how sad that I have to have the internet now. I can remember back in college when I sent my first email and had no clue what the internet was. ANYWHO...). But I am back online now - YEAH!!!
So a little catchup in our life is due so I will slowly begin to do some posts to cover the last few weeks.
EC has been taking swim lessons every Monday through Thursday for the last 2 weeks and will actually finish her class tomorrow. She has had so much fun. I'm not sure that she will be swimming all around by herself tomorrow but we are so much closer than we were. It was so funny to see her teacher just pull her into the water and even push her head under a few times and EC comes out saying "when can I go back?" If I had done that she wouldn't forgive me for a month. So here she is in all her goggle glory.

Thank you Lord for new friends

Father's Day

We sort of missed Father's Day this year. Being 13+ hours from home we did not get to spend Father's Day with our Dads and had to resolve ourselves to just a phone call. Add to that that Matt was with 60 kids at a camp in Oklahoma and it REALLY didn't seem like Father's Day. However, I am so very thankful for my Dad and my Father-in-law who raised us in godly homes and taught us how to be parents. What better way to send out the Gospel than to raise up disciples in your own home. Once they are grown you let them go with encouragement and much prayer. Pretty neat to think that our parents raise us in Alabama but little did they know that their faithfulness to God and ministry would, through us, touch lives in St.Louis, MO, Augusta, GA, Greenwood, MS and now Wichita, KS.
Now I am so thankful for Matt who is not only a wonderful husband but a great dad. I have enjoyed this adventure being married to you, Honey. I look forward to many more years raising our kids together to love Jesus more than anything. I pray that God will bless our ministry here but also as we train up our children to go out (who knows where) and tell others of the One that means the most to them.

Our new house

We figured we should post a picture of our new house for all to see. We miss our big trees but thankfully it has not gotten too hot yet. It needs some TLC and some serious landscaping. Anyone know a landscape architect in Wichita that wants to give some free advice??? Right now we have 2 beds of lava rock, yep, lava rock. That is close to heresy to this southern girl who LOVES flowers. Problem is I just don't know where to begin (aside from getting up all the rocks). Playing in our new front yard. OK, actually we were playing in the driveway. We love sidewalk chalk!! EC went to VBS last week so Knox and I got to spend some quality time together which mainly included him getting into things and me cleaning up after him. Life with a boy.

Eva Bailey

Many of you have prayed with me for my Aunt Eva who has battled cancer for over 10 years. Well, her battle ended Saturday morning and she went home to be with her Savior and her mother, who we just lost a few months ago. This is very bitter sweet for my family. She suffered for so long and because of that we are glad that she is home and no longer suffering. However, we will miss her so much. She was truly a sweet precious lady. One of the things I will always remember is that when she hugged you she patted your back and there was never a faster patter. It was a thing unique to Aunt Eva and I loved it. I can even remember as a kid trying to hug and pat as fast as she did. I have so many memories of my Aunt because her daughter and I are the same age and our moms were so close that we were often together. One thing I loved about Aunt Eva is how much she was like my mom. Of course they were sisters but they just did so many things the same that I felt like she was a 2nd mother to me. She will be so missed but we have a hope that so many don't have. One day we will see her again and you better believe I can't wait to get a hug and a fast pat.

Double Rainbow

We have already experienced some crazy weather here in Wichita. Thankfully nothing severe. Our first night in our house we had marble sized hail for a few minutes but other than that we have just had a few thunderstorms and amazing temperatures. Yesterday morning was in the upper 50's. This whole week we have lows in the 60's and highs in the 80's. For this Southern girl who is use to upper 90's in June, I am loving it. Sunday night we had this amazing display out our front window. It was a huge double rainbow and it was beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. Just another reminder of God's promises to us.

Our first trip to the zoo

This morning we decided enough with the boxes, we wanted to do something fun. Some sweet friends gave us a gift card for a year membership to the zoo so we decided to go. We LOVED it. It was overcast, windy and down right pleasant outside. Perfect zoo weather. The animals must have thought so too because they were all out and putting on a show. The first picture was my favorite. This beautiful lion just sat and posed for me. I just watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe again and I would swear this was Aslan. He was beautiful. This is what Knox wanted to see, the giraffes.
Is there anything better than stopping to have a picnic snack at the zoo?

Matt said this was the one exhibit that actually made him nervous. This grizzly bear looked ferocious as he paced back and forth. The other one just watched from the cave.

Another favorite was the Gorilla exhibit. This is the bridge you cross to get to it. It was so neat.

We saw at least 4 huge gorillas. This one was right up next to the glass, just lounging. Quite funny. If you look real close you can see EC's reflection in the glass.

The elephants were putting on a show too. This one was standing right on the edge eating a stick. The other one was slinging mud on himself.

It was truly a delightful visit. They are working on expanding the zoo so it will just get better. I can't believe I have a pass and we can go whenever we want. Someone pinch me. We decided to wrap up our perfect morning by getting bagels to eat for the week at Panera and grabbing some lunch at Chipotle's. It was a great day after a long hard week of missing friends, missing home, EC being sick (that's another post), and making big adjustments. We're so thankful.

We are in Wichita

It has been a long few days but we are in our new house in Wichita. But being one that loves to tell a story I must start from the beginning. We closed on our house in Greenwood on Thursday. And I did it with no tears. Have I mentioned I loved that house. Then Friday our movers were to show up at noon. No one was there by 2:00 so we called our sales guy. He said there had been a medical emergency and they would be there at 6:00 to get started and then finish on Saturday. Well, 6:00, 7:00 8:00 etc... came and went and no movers showed up. We went to bed only to be awakened by EC at 1:30 who said she was going to throw up. You know our history, we panicked. Matt stayed up with her and I went to bed. Turns out she was OK but just didn't want to sleep so Matt only had a few hours of sleep that night. I got up bright and early thinking the movers would be there. No movers. By 10:00 we were panicking and calling other moving companies, Uhaul etc.... when we finally got a call that a 2 man crew would be there to start packing at 1:00 and 2 more men with our truck would be there that night. Keep in mind that this is Saturday and we have to leave first thing Sunday morning to drive to Wichita because we are closing at 8:00 Monday morning on our house here. Well, they finally showed up and started packing. We had lots of sweet friends come by for a last teary goodbye. Our sweet friends Keith and Tonya even brought dinner - hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit and the best banana pudding you have ever put in your mouth. It was a sweet time having a picnic on the living room floor. The movers packed and loaded all they could until 11:30 when we all called it a night. They were to be back at 8:00. We had originally planned to leave at 7:00 for our trip since we didn't know exactly how long it would take but we thought we would wait until they got there. Our really REALLY sweet friend and hero for the weekend, Tonya, said she would stay at our house until everything was out so that we could go ahead and leave. No movers were there by 8:30 so Matt called and WOKE THEM UP. AUGH !! They got there by 9:00 but we couldn't leave because there was a disagreement about how they were to be paid. Come to find out that they didn't actually work for the moving company we had hired - Ultimate Van Lines. I won't even go into the 20 phone calls it took to fix that debacle. So finally we got on the road at 10:00. Bad weather, 5 toll roads and 11 hours later we were in Kansas. This is the wide open sky that greeted us as we traveled the last hour of our trip into Wichita.

We finally got there after 12 hours of travel and hit the beds hard at our friends house, the Tappans. God has truly blessed us with such great friends in Greenwood and here already. We got up early and went to close on our house at 8 am. All went well. The movers were to be here at noon but of course they didn't get here until 6:00. We unloaded and unpacked until 11:30. Exhausted we started back the next day. It is now Wednesday and the house is starting to look more like a home and less like a warehouse. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, calls and emails. We already miss our friends in Greenwood but are thankful for what God will do through us here.

Goodbye party

Some of our sweet friends from church threw us a goodbye party. Problem is I can't seem to remember to take more than just a few pictures. Here are 2 but I promise there were a lot more people at the party. Thanks so much Veritas Class. Thank you Trey and Elizabeth for hosting. We had a great time and we will miss you so much!!! Lori and me
Matt and I with Keith and Tonya.

The skies are His handiwork

This was the scene out of my backdoor Saturday night. Awesome!!!

Our House - The 6 Oaks Ranch

Just wanted to give an update on our move. We have a contract on our house (pictured below for those who have never seen it) and will be closing on April 29th. We are so thankful for this because the housing market is terrible here and houses sit on the market forever. So we are so very thankful. We have been blessed to have lived in this house for 3 years and have loved it. Mostly I think we will miss the yard and trees. It is just beautiful, especially this time of the year. But sadly we must leave it. The movers are coming to pack us up on the 30th and load on the 31st. We will drive to Wichita on June 1st and close on the house we have a contract one there on the 2nd. We will also unload on the same day. Please continue to pray for us. There is no wiggle room in our schedule so pray for things to go smoothly. Also just pray as we make this huge transition.

EC finishes K4

Emma Caroline finished up her K4 with an end of the year program. They do the same one every year so we had seen it last year also but it is cute none the less. She had a line this year and when it was her turn she wasn't paying attention. She stood there looking around then gave a great big yawn before someone got her attention to step up to the microphone. What can I say, it makes for a funnier video than if she had just done it right. But the kids all did good singing their patriotic songs. And still in the car from time to time she will bust out with "My country tis of thee. Sweet land of 'liverty' of thee I sing." Gotta love it. My parents came for a visit so they also got to go to the program. It was a great time.

Happy Mother's Day to me

It was a good Mother's Day. I didn't have to fix lunch (Matt did a pizza). And I got to take a nap!!! It was one of those great naps when you sleep so hard you wake up and you don't know where you are or what day it is. AHHHH!!! Plus my kids were NOT sick. Matt was but he let me take a nap anyway. I love Mother's Day.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

1 giant inflatable jumpy thing plus Happy Birthday plates and napkins
plus a girly flower birthday cake

minus a little girl with a stomach virus

Equals 1 cancelled party

they snuck one by us

So the whole family, including Matt, goes grocery shopping with me on Thursday. Now that I am a mom I hate the checking out process because the space is narrow and there is candy and sometimes toys all around. I'm trying to get stuff on the belt for the cashier and they are grabbing all around them. This particular trip Matt was doing the unloading onto the belt and I was flipping through a magazine and swatting hands grabbing things. Well, we got home and were unloading when we came across this container of Nutter Butter bites. At first we were a bit puzzled but then we had to laugh as we realized they had snuck one by us.

A crown of flowers

Raise your hand if you made crowns of flowers when you were little.