What say you?

I've been pondering blogging again.  That is all.

Parenthood

Look at that boy!  Doesn't he have the sweetest little smile?  The sweetest blue eyes and button nose?  I Just had to sit on that sweet three year old so I could pull raisins out of that cute little nose.

Going Private

My blog is going private.  Not that there's been much to read over the last year or so, but if you'd like to continue to follow me send your email address to chandramarie@yahoo.com.  Thanks!

Trials of Parenthood

The middle child decided to jump off her brother's changing table tonight. Good thing her chin caught her...you know, so her hands and feet didn't get hurt. Two holes in her lip, two loose adult teeth and bleeding gums = one very unhappy child and mom. On the bright side, the teeth are still coming in, so they didn't go all the way through her lip. Taking all three kiddos to the ER is not on my "to do" list tonight. (Daddy's at a concert.)  Hoping the teeth tighten up again, I'd hate it if she lost them before they even came all the way in.  Sigh...

Guess what...It isn't spring anymore.

It's August.  I haven't posted in months.  What do you want, I've been a bit busy!  Busy doing things like planning a surprise birthday trip for the Mister's 40th birthday, which, by the way, remained a complete surprise until the night before we left and was awesome!  Busy getting a business up and running.  Busy being mom to three needy adorable kids.  Busy traveling across country to visit family and friends.  Busy hanging out with good friends and enjoying the hot weather, sunshine and heck...even the humidity.  Busy celebrating double digits, an outstanding flag football season, basketball camp, and a first overnight trip without us for our oldest.   Busy watching Little Miss lose her first and second tooth within a couple weeks of each other, write her name, find countless new outfits in her dress up bin, be a terrific mommy to her babies,  and draw millions of pictures.  Busy navigating the terrible two's while remembering how thankful and blessed we are to be parents to that two year old.  Busy watching that same two year old learn to speak in full sentences, share (sometimes), develop a sense of humor and find his rowdy side all while still remembering to cuddle with me at the end of the night for rock-a-by and lullaby time.  And, in the interest of full honesty, busy pinning, blog reading, crafting, trying new recipes (2 superstars and one epic fail) and moving furniture around in my house.  It's a busy season of life, and while it isn't all roses and champagne, it's a season filled with blessings.

Spring in the South

Growing up in a part of the country that didn't get tornadoes, I wasn't especially fearful of them.  When we moved here, as we were driving into town we had to pull over because a tornado was expected to hit the area we were about to drive through.  I told The Mister that if we hadn't already sold our home in CO, I'd turn around and go back.  After sitting it out, we got back on the road for the final hour of our trip and drove through the aftermath on the way to our new home.  Luckily it hit in an unpopulated area and just took down a lot of trees.  That was May, the end of spring tornado season for that year.

I forgot about tornadoes and settled into life in TN.  Over the next couple years we'd have warnings and watches, I never knew which was which and I'd watch the news but I was the crazy person standing outside looking at the sky.  I think our oldest only sat in our safe place maybe once or twice during those years.

That all changed two years ago on Good Friday.  We were at a friend's house for a playdate, when one of the women got a call from her husband saying we needed to watch the news and a possible tornado was coming.  We loaded all the kids into a bathroom and the moms went out to the porch, two of us carrying babies.  We opened the door and about a mile away was a funnel cloud with debris flying in circles.  It stopped before it reached us, but caused lots of damage and took two people's lives...a mother and her baby.  We had to take all sorts of  alternate routes to get home that day and drove through the hardest hit areas in the days that followed.  That day helped me develop a very solid fear of storms.

Two days ago, the weather guys were mentioning lots of storm activity headed our way.  It rained and thundered all night, I listened for text messages from the National Weather Service and turned the TV on a number of times during the night.  Even with those precautions, the storm caught us a bit off guard.  I was dozing and listening to the weather outside and then all of a sudden the wind was really loud.  Possibly the loudest I've ever heard.  We went running upstairs to get the kids and as we were doing that we heard trees snapping and debris hitting our roof.  It was really scary.  Throughout the morning we heard reports of all the damage in the area, along with reports of more storms to come throughout the day that were possibly going to be worse.  I think the kids were in our powder room/safe area 5 or 6 times.  Our area experienced lots of downed trees and power lines, plus a number of homes and businesses with minor roof and/or structural damage.  It was a long and trying day and by the end of it I was OVER spring storms.

Then I saw the reports coming out of Alabama.  Even though yesterday began with fright and ended with me being worn out and weary, it could have been so much worse.  We're so lucky we just had strong winds.  I'm reminded me to be thankful I was able to spend the day with my family and even though parts of it were scary, it's nothing like what the people in Tuscaloosa experienced.  No one died here.  Comparatively, the damage in minimal.  

I hope we don't spend much more time in our safe place this spring, but I'll gladly take that over the alternative.

Wow!

What a ride this week has been.  Its spring break, and it started with a houseful of sick kiddos.  Monday we confirmed E's ear and sinus infections were clearing and that the other two were dealing with serious allergies.  They're all still coughing and snotty, but I'm happy to report no wheezing is involved.  Keeping our fingers crossed that Ryan's growing out of his asthmatic tendencies.

After Monday, this week has been all about Embellished Living.  Tuesday was spent in final preparations for our first Craft Show, and Wednesday through today was spent at said show or working on special orders that came in during the show.  We got so many compliments about our product and presentation.  People couldn't believe we made everything on the table.  They thought we were a company, had a store, and did trunk shows.  Wow!  We've been in business just over a month and it has been so much fun, and while we thought we had a good product, we had no idea how positive the response would be!  After this week, we can't wait for our next show in May.

On top of all that, my family has been so supportive and excited right along with me.  I feel so blessed!