Our drummer boy keeps us in stitches

Here's a riddle:

What do you do when your brother won't stop playing the drums when you are trying to listen to stories on the radio?

A: Ask him politely to stop playing so you can hear.
B: Hide the drumsticks.
C: Haul off and hit him with the first thing you can find.

If you guessed C, then you have guessed correctly.  Now let's try another riddle.

If you are the brother playing the drums and you don't want to stop playing, in order for your brother to hear his radio, you do what?

A: Tell him politely that you really want to play the drums, but you will try to be quieter.
B: Go and turn your brother's radio up just a tad louder.
C: Turn around and bust your brother's mouth with a drumstick.

If you guessed C, then once again you have guessed correctly.

Since you all are doing so well, lets try another one.

If you are the mother of 3 kids whom have argued nonstop since the first day of summer break you do what?

A:  Polish the old paddle.
B:  Go to Sonic and order a limeaide and the kids get water.
C:  Call your husband near tears while he's working asking for help.
D:  Spend a little more time in prayer begging God to give you back the control you need to stop the 
      bickering.
E:  Oh, and drive to ER with 3 kids in tow so your child can get stitches in his mouth.
F:  All of the above.

Yes, F is the answer.

It was a nasty 2 cuts.

Yes, they needed to admit me too.

As many trips as we have made in the past, (past as in what, 2 weeks ago?) I had to get a bracelet too.  I was like, "Yes, please admit me too because I'm nigh a nervous breakdown."  I was also dealing with blood and drama on top of having all 3 kids in the ER by myself.  Josiah ended up getting his mouth stitched and he done really good.  We had a fabulous dr who Josiah actually had the last time and was really good with him.  I never even passed out.  I got a little weak, but gripped the hospital bed and fought my way through it.  I just don't do good with needles and blood, but when its your kid something just kicks in!!!

*Thanks ya'll for all the encouraging words when I see ya'll out about reading my blog.  If you haven't yet joined, please sign up as a follower.  I like to know who all is reading.  Please feel free to leave comments as well.

Memorial Day 2013 (lot's of fun)

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have tried.  After having so many technical difficulties I tend to give up rather quickly.  I haven't posted about our memorial day yet so I have to back up and get caught up on that before I blog about anything else.  Even though nothing really exciting has happened since, but that's not always a bad thing for our family.

Maynard had the day off for Memorial Day and we were excited to have a long weekend with him.  We left the house Monday morning without a clue where we were headed.  We wanted to do something fun, close by, and cheap.  That narrowed down our options real fast.  Maynard said, "I know what we can do.  Let's go to Camp Wildcat Battleground and look around.  I've always wanted to do that."  So I turn my head, look out the window and roll my eyes. 
Maynard:  "Did you just roll your eyes?"
Me:   "No, Honey, of course not."
Maynard:  "Do you have a better idea?"
Me:   "I have lots of ideas, but none of them include cheap and close by."

So Camp Wildcat it is.  My boys were absolutely thrilled so I gave in.

After driving a narrow, long curvy road in the middle of nowhere we finally arrived.

Then they had a nice area for a nature hike.  It was all mown around and just looked lovely.  So we headed down the path.

We started down the trail and we realized I left the windows down in the van and my purse was in there.  Plus, I was wearing flip flops while trying to hike.  I kept worrying about my purse so we finally turned around and walked back to the vehicle.  There were a few more vehicles up there by the time we got back so I was glad to recover my purse.  I'm beginning to act like an old lady when it comes to my last $3 in my purse.

We got back in the car and continued up the narrow roads.  They had lots of other historic things to look at.  We followed the trail all the way through until it ended in sand and a river.  We put the van in park and everyone of us jumped out and headed to the river.  So many memories came flooding in.  We always traveled alot when we were little and it was nothing for Dad to stop by a creek and let us kids out to go wading in the creek.  We would catch minnows and tadpoles.  It was a lot of fun.  Even though I'm typically the scaredy cat about almost everything, I was the first one in the water and Amelia was close to follow.

Maynard showed the boys how to skip rocks across the river and then I showed them how to catch minnows.  We were having a ton of fun and then this happened.

Yep, I lost my flip flop.  I tried my best to catch it, but the current picked it up and took it down the river pretty fast.  After that we decided to go home for lunch and then maybe come back later better prepared.  Like water shoes, ya know? Ha!

Instead of driving back through the long, narrow road again we went the opposite way where we could go straight to the river from the main road.  We had a blast.  I love when life slows down a bit and you can enjoy playing with your kids.  Even though I'm in my 30's, I still have a very active imagination.  We pretended we were on a deserted island.

We built this fort.

Fishing for survival

Their campfire

We really got into it.  The kids had a lot of fun.  At one point though, I realized Maynard and I were the only ones playing.  Ha ha

We played around in the water and Titus kept scaring us because of the current.  That kid is attracted to danger, I tell ya. 

We decided to pack up and head home.

But the fun wasn't over!!!!!!!

We built a campfire right in our front yard.

We roasted marshmellows and hot dogs.

While we were working, (Maynard was working) on the fire I gave the kids all a box of snappers.  Whatever they are called.  Those things you throw on the ground that pop?  Anyways, they love them! 

We finally forced the kids in the house to give them a much needed bath and then we all crashed!

So was going to Camp Wildcat a great idea?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

We wasn't out a dime and we had great quality time with our family.  So you can have fun, close by home and not have to spend a lot of money.  I didn't know it was possible.  Ha ha!!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our Memorial Day!

Happy Birthday to me!

Saturday was my birthday.  I turned the big 35.  Which is ok because I have been 35 now for a couple years.  I know weird, but I have kind of lost track of how old I was.  A couple years ago I told a preacher's wife that I was 25.  I was serious too.  However, I was only about 8 yrs off.  A little later I had to call her and say, "Did I tell you I was 25 earlier?" Ha Ha  So now this has become a joke at church and I'm known for staying in my 20's even though I testified to being saved for 30 yrs back in April.  So funny!

I was sent to my bedroom late Friday night by Maynard and the kids.  Which was such a blessing. Ha!  While I was in my room they were baking me a birthday cake.  They were going to suprise me.  I of course knew what they were doing because I had bought the cake mix and icing to help them along in their adventure.  Kids love suprising their mommy's so I knew they needed a little help.  It wasn't too much longer and Amelia came and crawled in bed beside me and said, "Mom, sshhh, we are making you a cake."  Then she fell asleep.  The boys began hollering for me and I came in the kitchen to find this beautiful masterpiece.

Sure was made with lots of love. (It tasted really good)

Saturday morning Maynard and the kids brought me gifts and their cards.  Then we had more cake for breakfast then headed out to some yard sales.  I found some really good deals and so that always makes going to yard sales fun.  Then we had my birthday lunch at where else than Shiloh's roadhouse.

We stopped by at the cemetery where Maynard's family is buried.

Amelia paying her respects to someone we don't know.  But hey, it had a bench to sit on.

Jerry and Lisa Parker

Maynard with his brother and sister's grave.  They both died like a year apart.  His sister was killed in a car wreck and his brother was burned in a fire.  Very tragic deaths and I am amazed at the strength of this family to be able to endure this kind of pain and hurt.

After visiting the graveyard, we dropped the kids off at Maynard's Mom's house.  I always call her Maynard's Mom.  I could say Mother-n-law, but that is just so awkward for me. lol  Apparantly, she has 2 names.  Some people call her Darlene and others call her Sue.  So I'm confused what I'm supposed to call her.  I am soooooo serious.  I avoid calling her by name and she is referred to as "Maynard's mom." Ha ha  So anyways........  Maynard and I headed to Richmond.  We got there and we kind of had noticed we were in a solemn mood.  I guess visiting a graveyard will do that to you.  We stopped at a Goodwill and then in real quick to Culvers to grab something quick to eat and then we went back to pick up the kiddos.  Sometimes I desparately need to get away, but when I finally do I just picture my kids choking or getting hurt and I just can't enjoy my time away from them. 

So that was the end of my special day.  But it was nice and shared with the people I love!!!!!!

Last day of 1st grade!

Josiah lives for awards day each school year.  There's just something about getting your name called and going up front to collect a trophy, medallion, or certificate.  He had to memorize the whole book of James this year and let me tell you it wasn't easy.  I constantly reminded him of that trophy waiting for him at the end of the year and that always seemed to motivate him.  We finally got it memorized.  Sheww, lots of hard work there!  He is in first grade and the all the other classes were memorizing the same scriptures as well.  I was pretty proud of him to be memorizing something that the high schoolers were memorizing too.

Unfortunately, the night before awards service I heard him in the bathroom throwing up.  Poor guy threw up every hour.  He got up for school that morning, but I sent him back to bed after a dose of Zofran.  I knew his heart would be broken if he didn't get to claim that trophy he worked so hard for.  I called the school and they said it was okay to bring him in just for the awards service.  So that's what we did.  I watched him from my seat and prayed to God in Heaven he didn't spew everywhere!!!

Josiah proudly rockin' his awards

He ended up with lots of awards.

Trophy-Memorizing the book of James
Trophy-Read 300 books in class
Blue medallion-Honor roll all year
Burgandy Medallion-Citizen award (good attendance and low demerits) Yeah, not sure why he got it.
Certificate-Spelling
Certificate-Social Studies
Certificate-Bible knowledge (most proud of this one)
Certificate-Christian Growth award
Certificate-Character trait was "Thankfulnes"

I was pretty proud of him and all of his hard work.

Friday was his last day of school!

We celebrated with a bike wreck and spent Saturday evening in the ER.  Of course ya'll know how much we love our special room at the ER.

Can't help but smile when I see the bible book on his bed.  Would you believe there was no t.v. in there. Ha Loved it!!

Josiah fell on his bike and took a hit to his chest with his handlebars.  He was hurt pretty bad and was gasping for breath and almost passed out.  He is very dramatic so it was hard to believe him, but after an hour of crying and seeing the big bruise on his chest, we decided to take him.  They took an xray, but everything was okay.  They just said he had bruised his ribs and would be sore for about a week.  I'm very thankful he wasn't hurt any worse.  Someone mentioned dressing my children in suits of armor.  It may be something I will look into for sure! Ha

Happy Summer Break!

Things been a little too normal too long so............

I know, I know.  Ya'll have been dissapointed in my normal postings latelty.  Things have been going pretty smoothly and I had began to think that maybe, just maybe my motherhood is about to calm down for a spell.  I mean I am actually braving trips to the grocery store now with 2 kids undertow.  They have been behaving pretty well for the most part.  Then it all came to a head one day........  We were desparate for a few groceries and I couldn't put if off any longer.  I dropped Josiah off at school and me, Titus, and Amelia went to the grocery store.  I got out, opened the side door and out they came.  Something caught Titus's eye on the ground.  I believe it was smashed, carmel candy or something.  Anyways, he and Amelia were really impressed with that mess.  So much that Titus had to gasp and step back the same time as I was shutting my van door.  I shut the door right on his upper arm.  Hard.....like, really hard.  Titus is not a crier.  When he does cry, I know he is hurt.  It didn't take long for the crying to come.  Not sure who cried the hardest, me or Titus.  I mean do you know how bad it feels to know that you caused your child to get hurt?????  We sat down in the van and I held him while he screamed and cried.  The look he gave me was so puzzled as to ask, "Why did you do that to me, Mommy?"  I pulled his sleeve up and it there was only one line on his arm.  It really didn't look to bad at the time.  He moved his arm around for me and I figured he was ok.  I asked him if he sill felt like going in the store and he did.  He stopped crying and we went in to get some groceries.  I kept watching him and noticed he wasn't using that arm.  As matter of fact, he was just holding it crossed across his belly like it was already in a sling of some sort. I finished getting my groceries, loaded up the van, and went a few buildings down and took Titus to the Dr's office.  Here he is waiting for the Dr to come.

See how happy he was with me?

 

The Dr came in and checked him arm out.  Titus never whinced or cried out in pain at all.  There was still only one line on his arm.  The Dr. declared he was fine and that it was just a deep bruise and didn't think he needed an xray.  I would have felt more comfortable if he had an xray taken, but I guess the Dr felt otherwise.  However, I am very thankful he wasn't hurt worse than what he was.  I just knew that his arm was broken.  I'm not sure how we have managed to escape any broken bones or stitches yet, but so far so good.
*Edited:  I forgot to mention that while our Dr was checking Titus's arm out and Titus was telling him what had happened, Amelia blurted out, "Yeah, she tried to get me too, but I jumped out of the way."  Thank you, Amelia!!!  The Dr just laughed and teased that he needed to call Social Services on me!  I was mortified!!!!!!

Here is part of the bruise that showed up by that evening.  There is a fainter bruise on the inside of the arm that I couldn't fit in the picture.  It is looking pretty yucky, by now.


 

And you know what else happend to this little cutie Saturday morning?

What?  He isn't even in school  yet!!!!

 

We were in the car driving around to yard sales on Saturday morning when Titus tells me his tooth is loose.  I mean I've heard it a gazillion times ever since Josiah's teeth have been falling out almost daily.  I said, "uh huh, ok, Titus."  "No, really mom it is."  So I felt of it and it was a little bit loose.  I asked him if he had hit his mouth on anything to make it loose and he said no.  It could have only been 15 minutes or less when I heard, "I just pulled it out, Mom."  I looked back and he was proudly holding a tiny, tiny white tooth in his hand.  This goes to show you the kid's pain level tolerance.  He never whinced or cried, he just yanked that barely loose tooth right out!  He was thrilled about the tooth fairy coming to his house.  I think he got a little nervous about it when he yelled from his bed, "Mom, will Jack (our lab) bark when the Tooth Fairy gets here?"  Then Amelia hollered from her bed, "MOM, the Tooth Fairy won't see me will she?" ha ha ha  My kids make laugh so hard sometimes!!  And then other times, I won't to knock them out.  Because of crazy stuff like this:

Yes, he is in a hospital bed.  This is our special room at the ER.  No one is allowed to use it, but the Parker kids. (not really, a bit of sarcasm here)

This is back to Saturday.  The same day Titus lost his first tooth.  I got ahead of myself earlier.  I realize I could fix that being that I haven't hit post yet, but nah, that's too much trouble.

Maynard ran into the store real quick while I sat with the kids.  Titus unbuckled and leaned up front for some reason.  He can never stay buckled in a vehicle that is not moving.  Ya'll know how I am obcessed with ears, right?  Well, as he leaned over I decided to do an ear check.  Can't help it, yes I have a problem.  This time however, I was successful and all my ear checking was not done in vain.  As I looked in his ear I seen a peice of white something in there.  At first I'm like, "Wow, this is a big chunk.  Then I realize that is not wax.  Since I left home without my trusty bobby pin, I used my car keys.  I pulled it out and it was a peice of styrofoam.  I went through the whole spill, "What?????  Why is there styrofoam in your ear?  When did you do this?  Why did you do this?  Are you crazy?"  Then I asked to see his other ear.  He really put up a fuss and declared that that ear was fine and there was nothing in it.  So I yanked him back down and checked that ear too.  What did I see?  Another peice of styrofoam in that ear.  This one was way too deep for me to even try to dig out.  Maynard came back to the car and I had to explain our problem.  He was furious.  Just 2 weeks prior we had Amelia in the er for hurting her finger and now Titus had filled his ears with styrofoam.  He may have mentioned that he didn't enjoy spending his Saturdays off work sitting in the ER.  Maynard tried to remove the styrofoam, but he was making me nervous and Titus was scared for his life.  We went ahead and went to the hospital.  I asked the triage if that was really an emergency and if he needed to be seen before I registered.  They delcared that he did need to be seen because even a small peice left in his ear over night could set up a bad infection.  So I trusted their judgement and they took us straight back.  It was so deep that the DR had a hard time getting it out and was a bit nervous to even try.  He got it out finally and declared the other ear styrofoam free.  (I had already removed it)  Titus finally told me he had just put the styrofoam in his ear about an hour prior to me finding it.  Josiah said Titus told him that he was acting like he had hearing aids like Papaw!!!  This is the same kid who stuck a bandaid up his nose and we had to go to ER because he was gagging and trying to puke.  They never did find that bandaid.  They guess he swallowed it somehow. 

So all this happened from Tuesday to Saturday.

Oh yeah!  Amelia also ate a silicone packet out of an empty medicine bottle.  I had to call poision control about that.  Did you know that those things don't even hurt you?  They need to remove "Do not eat" off of the label if in fact you can eat it and not get hurt.

I knew we were too normal for too long for it to stay that way!

It's bubbling, bubbling, bubbling............

Ok, so I had my mind where it needed to be for this post, but an older lady sitting next to me here at the library just cracked me up and I can't hardly quit laughing.  She just looked at me and said, "Do you know me?"  I said, "No, Ma'am.  Then she said, "Well, I thought maybe you knew me."  I can't help, but laugh.  I don't know why, but it has struck my funny bone. 

So anyhoo............

I am so pumped from our services this weekend.  We went to visit my family to hear my younger brother preach for his very first time.  However, it didn't actually work out that way.  Sunday night, all of my family, except one brother, was all in church together.  I was excited that my younger sister was there too because I hadn't been in church with her in a long while.  Also, my older brother Todd was there.  He was the one who got saved about 3 weeks ago.  He is a policeman with Louisville metro police department.  The Lord gloriously saved him while en route to his job one Sunday.  Ever since he has been such a different person. 

So Sunday night, we were all there and the service was going great.  Maynard and I were asked to sing and the power of God fell in that church house.  Not to any of our boastings at all, but only that we were used of God.  People began to worship and some were stepping out and shouting all around.  No greater joy was when I looked back to see my brother grinning.  We were singing "Praise God it's settled, I'm saved."  I felt like it was ministering to his heart.  Then something caught my attention and it was my Sister coming down the aisle and fell down at an altar.  It was so good to see her pray.  She had pretty much warned everyone to back off and not to ask her to go pray.  So to see her step out on her own was such a good feeling.  She still needs prayer and didn't get completely satisfied, but I know the Lord helped her and touched her heart.

It was 8 o'clock and Jacob hadn't got to preach yet.

When he came up to the pulpit he said he didn't feel like he needed to preach, but if he had, it would have been titled, "The simplicity of salvation."  He also said his wife, Jonelle, was prepared to sing the exact song as Maynard and I had.  Isn't that amazing.  I mean think of all the songs out there that could be sung and God has one song the he has chosen for that service by 2 different people.  I love it!!!

Melissa testified real good and bore her heart.
Then, my newly saved brother Todd got up and testified.  He got excited and let out a "whooooo"!  What is not to be excited about?  There is joy in serving Jesus.  He is the joy of our salvation.

I know I didn't get this out like I wanted too, but just felt like I needed to share.

I'm also thankful the Lord saved me 30 yrs ago.  I was 4 yrs old on April 13, 1983.  It was nice being in church with people that helped lead me to salvation so many years ago so close to my  spritual birthday!

Amelia's trip to ER

I was going to title this "Amelia's first trip to er, but then I remembered it's actually her second.  She had rsv when she was 6 weeks old and quit breathing on me.  It could have been for only a few seconds, but felt like an eternity.  She got breathing treatments and sent back home with the machine.  Some babies do a lot worse with rsv and I'm very thankful she didn't have any more worse complications with it.  Poor Micah Allen has had an awful time with it and has been in the hospital several times.  He actually just got home this week from UK Childrens hospital.  Please pray for this little guy if you all will.

Back to my topic....... I know it's so unlike me to wander off my topic. Ha Ha

Saturday afternoon the kiddos were outside playing in the awesome sunshine.  I was putting a load of laundry in when all of a sudden I heard screaming and crying.  Now my kids are screamers.  I am not one to run when I hear a scream because that's just them.  However, a momma tends to learn her babies cries and screams.  One scream means, my brother just hit me, another scream means, my brother took my toy, another scream is, my brother is scaring me, and of course, the other scream is, I'm really hurt scream.  This scream happened to be, "I'm hurt scream."  Just a few seconds later Maynard hollered for me to hurry and I knew that this couldn't be good.  I walked into the living room and Amelia had a bloody finger.  The whole tip of her finger was bleeding and it looked like it was crushed in.  We immediately jerked her up and started the trek to the hospital.  I tried to "man" up and keep looking at her finger on the way to the hospital, but she wouldn't let me move the paper towel because she didn't want to see it either. We finally got it out of her that she hurt it on the slide.  Maynard said he had noticed a busted part on the slide and figured she went down the slide and her finger got hung in the crack.

Here she is as soon as she got a room.

Maynard completely took over in the er and that was fine with me.  I sat back and chose to take pictures and find cartoons for the boys so they would behave!

 

 

That finger had to be cleaned real good before they could do anything.  They probably shouldn't have told her it was going to sting a little because I'm pretty sure she was crying before they ever touched her finger.

 

 

Once her finger was cleaned up it wasn't as bad as it first looked and she wasn't going to need stitches afterall.  They still had a hard time getting her to move her finger so they wanted xrays to make sure it wasn't broken.

The results were in and her finger was fine.  It just needed cleaned and bandaged.  We are supposed to keep it wrapped up for a week and well, that's not going so well.  To me it already looks better and I think air will do it better than keeping it bandaged up all the time.

I am very thankful that she was hurt no worse than what she was.

Isn't this picture the sweetest?  Titus was really concerned about his sister!  (He also could see the cartoon better) Ha Ha