Fodder Dodder Canoe Trip

There is something magical that happens every spring on a river in Arkansas.

The annual Fodder Dodder Canoe Trip.

Canoeing and magical together in the same sentence???  What?

That's right.  Magical.

Because to a little girl having her big, strong daddy all too herself for two whole days is very magical.

He is her hero.

Her knight in shining armor.

Her very own daddy.

Just nothing but time and a river to spend together.

She knows her daddy is all there for her.

When he should could be working.

He choose her.

And that, my friends, is magical.

True love between a daddy and his princess. 

And his really big hat.

The (future) Mr. and Mrs. Miller

Because it's Tuesday.

And it's rainy.

And I like sarcasm.

And I could use a good laugh as I clean toilets and fold laundry.

YOU WRITE THE CAPTION.

Come on. This will be fun!

You know you want to.

Don't make me come through this screen!

Pretty please...
*****************************************


Introducing the (future) Wit and Caitlyn Miller.

He is obviously pretty proud of himself and she is obviously indifferent.

(Oh and yes, I believe in arranged marriages.)

Now, make me laugh.

(please.)

The boy who walked thru fire.

I caught on fire once during a Youth Life retreat.  Literally, caught on fire.  Not just "caught on fire for the Lord", I actually caught on fire when a spark from the fire flew up and landed on my jacket.

Maybe I should back this up a few months.  I fell in love with this really cute guy in my drama class.  I sat behind him and we became "buddies".  We would tell each other jokes and laugh, we passed notes about our crazy drama teacher, we even did duets together.  I was so smitten.  I just knew in my heart this was the boy I was going to marry. 

I was sixteen and full of crazy hormones that made me think crazy thoughts.

He was one of the most popular boys in school.  An athlete, a honor student, class president.  You name it, he was all of it.  I was just another girl.  Overweight, frizzy hair, OK grades, no talents, nothing special.  But I knew we had a connection.  I am sure for him it was more of a friendship than a love connection.   But in my heart he was my future husband.

Crazy.

I centered my activities so I could see him more often.  {Um, stalk much?}  Anyway, I just wanted to be around him because we were so comfortable together.  I had never experienced that with a boy before and I knew it was special.  I heard he was going on this retreat weekend and I immediately signed up, too. 

During the weekend they kept the boys and girls separate except for worship times and special activities.  This boy that I crushed on was the same boy that pushed me off the treetops obstacle course because I was too scared to jump off myself.  Nice.

On the last night was the campfire/devo time.  Boys and girls huddled around the fire and sang praise and worship.  Many gave their hearts over to the Lord that night. During the closing prayer, an ember from the fire jumped up and landed on my jacket.  It immediately started to flame {big, huge flames...or at least in my imagination}.  No one noticed because everyone had their eyes closed.

Except for one boy.

He was on the boy's side of the fire and noticed me and my flaming arm.  Swiftly, he jumped the fire and came to my rescue.  He may have smoldered the jacket fire, but my heart's fire burned more intensely. 

We left that weekend and life moved on.  He dated someone else and I continued to be his buddy.  I am not sure what events turned his feelings from friendship over to interest.  But that boy finally asked me to a movie.

Yada. Yada. Yada. 

Long story short.

That boy turned out to be the man who walked thru fire.  For me.

That man has been with me through so many fires I can't even count.  He has been my humanly rock when life dealt nothing but fiery circumstances.  Loss of my dad, early college rebelliousness, huge school debt, babies, post-partum depression, daily living, insecurities, etc, etc, etc.  Through it all, he has rescued and provided.  He carries this family on his back as we navigate through this scary world.  He walks thru fire everyday for us.  For me.

Today is his birthday.  I hope he knows how much we love him.  I hope he knows that walking thru the fire means something to me.  I notice.

I love you, Skip.  My leaping fire boy.

I would be nothing without you.

Thirty Four

Yesterday was my sweet hubby's birthday. I would have done this post yesterday, but I couldn't use my letter L and the period. That makes for a hard day of typing.

Skip, there are so many things I love about you. This list only scratches the surface.

1. You took my LAPTOP today so the LETTER L and period could be fixed. Now I can type things like LOVE. LOULABELLE. JANELLE. LIKE. LISTEN. LOLLIPOP.

2. You saved me from a burning campfire when my jacket caught on fire. The way your LEAPT over that fire still makes me smile. I imagine how you pushed your current girlfriend out of the way. That makes it even better!

3. You stole my heart in drama class.

4. The way you LOOK in baseball pants!

5. How you remember to call people on their birthdays. That is so touching!!

6. You are a great gift-giver.

7. I LOVE the way you pour your heart into coaching our son's teams. You give more than most people in a volunteer position.

8. You LOVE your family. You are so good to your sisters.

9. Your favorite place in the whole world is home. That means so much to me and the kids. More than you will ever know.

10. Your hanger collection. Nuf said.

11. You have a future dream for us. The one where we grow old together type of dream.

12. Your blue eyes.

13. Your LAUGH.

14. The way you look when you roller skate...yum!

15. That time when I hit the house with your car, you didn't belittle me. Thank you.

16. Your favorite number and family LEGACY! So cool.

17. The age I was when you captured my heart and said yes to the Sadie Hawkin's dance. I knew you were the man for me.

18. When things get tough or scary or uncertain, you pray. You pray with me.

19. You are over-the-top good at managing our money. That is a huge relief that I take for granted. You take excellent care of us.

20. That I am your best friend.

21. The way you keep your car so darn clean on the inside. You are not at all obsessive about it either. *smirk*

22. The way you hug my Grannie.

23. Our shared television viewing. There ain't nobody better with that TIVO remote.

24. Your sarcasm.

25. The way you apologize after your sarcasm has gone too far!!

26. You and your co-conspirator, LOULABELLE, are thick as thieves. I don't trust either one of you.

27. I will cherish the LOOK in your eyes when I told you about LIL Poppy. There was pure joy reflected in those baby blues.

28. Your brain. Can I borrow it?

29. Your exceedingly patient with me during this season of LIFE. I know your needs have been put somewhat aside. For that, I am sorry.

30. Watching you wrestle and LAUGH with Zman melts me. You two are developing a real friendship. You are good for him. So good.

31. You are not afraid to tell the truth.

32. You never make fun of my hearing LOSS. Never!! I appreciate that. There are a lot of jokes to be had at my expense.

33. Our trip to Mexico will go down as the best week ever! You made it so special, even if you did get LOST.

34. This makes me speechless. It's a whole bunch of wonderful.

Happy Birthday, sweetie. I LOVE you so much. You complete me and make me a better person.

Guilt be gone.

Can I just tell you of all the sleepless nights I have had since I destroyed Skip's bumper and our house? I haven't been able to sleep or eat. The guilt has nearly destroyed me.

Well, there was that one nap I took yesterday and the almost full night's sleep the night before. OK, so I have been able to sleep. Nothing could take me away from my favorite past-time.

Also, I have been eating. The baby has needed nutrition. But I haven't enjoyed it. I promise you that! Except for the BLT I had at Sonic. That was just darn tasty. Again, it was for the baby.

Today is a new day and I, my friends, am free from guilt. Skip took the car to a locally-owned body shop and received a bid for the repair. The owner of the shop goes to our church and gave us an awesome price for the job. If it wasn't for him, we were looking at a major expense.

The house might be another story. Skip managed to "piece" it back together, but it definitely needs to be replaced. I still have a little guilt about that.

But I am pretty sure that I will go right on sleeping and eating like nothing ever happened.

I am so thankful to my man. He has handled this entire debacle with grace and mercy. I think he and his buddies have had several good laughs at my expense though. Every time I talk to him he has a least one or two more stories about female drivers. I will admit that I deserve any laughter coming my way. My driving record is not what I would call "sparkling" but it has been a long time since I have done anything remotely close to this.

Anyway, thanks honey. You are a man of honor.

P.S. Could you bring home some ice cream?

You'll have him eating out of your hand.

Ladies! I found a FOOL-PROOF way to get your husbands to run all your errands for you.

Are you ready?

This is pure genius!

First. Make sure your man is taking a nap then lose your cell phone. Make him call you 40 times until you can locate it in the deep recesses of your car, otherwise known as the passenger seat hiding under some Krispy Kreme napkins.

Second (and most critical step). While backing HIS car out of the garage make sure you don't check your mirrors so you can slam into the HOUSE and pull HIS bumper half-way off allthewhile causing significant damage to your garage.

Third. Pray that he hears the horrific noise and runs out of the house to survey the damage.

If you follow steps 1-3 then I PROMISE you next time he will take care of all your errands. He might even offer to take your children with him.

You have my Money-Back guarantee!

Since everyone else is confessing...

...then I guess it is my turn. I am so embarrassed by this one that I haven't even told my husband. He will read this just like everyone else.

Say a prayer for me, girls.

Loulabelle is turning four at the end of this month. We are planning a CandyLand party to celebrate our sweet lollipop of a girl. Everyone is really excited for a party with tons of candy and a chocolate fountain. It should be loads of fun.

Anyway, the big dilemma (for me) has been what Lou will wear. Does she want to be Queen Frostine? Princess Lolly? Plumpy? Everyday we change our mind and now it is go time. I need to know.

Today she said she just wanted to be the girl on the gameboard. The sweet little blonde girl with overalls and red/white tights. Very sweet. Somewhat easy.

So I thought.

Nary a website had cute little red and white tights. On a whim, I started flipping through a Hannah Andersson catalog when I saw these leggings. Very possible, but I would need the Hannah dress to go along with it. I just don't see her wearing red and white striped tights without the whole ensemble.

By now I am bored out of my mind looking at this catalog.

Yeah, right. I was DROOLING over all the pages. I think I actually digested some of them. Like this and this. This dress actually made my womb open and make room for triplets.

After getting over that cute little cable knit dress, I found this. Cue the lights. Cue music. THE. PERFECT. DRESS for a CandyLand party. The perfect dress for a lollipop girl like Loulabelle.

I needed an intervention right then. Right there. I called Shelley to have her talk me through the rest of the catalog and then support me while I threw it in the trash. Well, talking with her was like calling Hannah Andersson and chatting with a customer service rep. She offered me NO backbone. NONE. In fact, she pointed out all the wonderful features of the Hannah Andersson day dress. Supposedly, these dresses will last 10 years and they clean themselves.

My day went on and I did my best to get this dress out of my mind. I tried to ignore Shelley. Then I talked to Sonja. She said, "YOU HAVE TO GET THIS!!" She also went on to say that it will last for years. I wonder if both my friends get a kickback from Hannah herself.

Since I easily cave to peer pressure, I called the company just to "ask a question" about the dress.

Will it arrive in time for her party? YES.
Does it last 10 years? YES.
Does it clean itself? YES. YES and YES.

I am weak. I bought the outfit. I did. It was the most I have ever spent on clothing for my kids. But since it has a shelf life of 10+ years, it should pay for itself.

So really, it's a bargain at a mere $6 a year.

Date Night

The steaks are marinating in the fridge.

The shrimp have been skewered.

The salad is tossed.

The potatoes are baking.

The table is set.

The audio-visual entertainment has been selected.

The kids are safely tucked in at Grandma and Papa's.

The grill is being prepared.



WHAT!!!



The propane tank is empty.

It was almost ruined over $5.75.

Last night, we enjoyed a fun time with our Supper Club at a local minor league game. We ate at Chipotle's (thanks, Dawn for the recommendation). Stuffed our faces with a big, fat burrito and headed to the game.

The weather was perfect, albeit a little on the warm side. I immediately started to burn up wearing my denim capris. Technically, they are 4 inches away from being jeans...what was I thinking? Who wears jeans on a 90 degree day? Anyway, the evening was a typical summer evening. Stifling, with a mild to rare chance of breeze.

I was hot. I was trying really hard not to complain because I wanted to enjoy the moment of sitting with friends and watching the kids play.

Somewhere along, the minute we sat down, the kids started begging for food. I managed to hold them off until the 5th inning. At which time I proceeded to buy 2 snow cones and a bag of Kettle Korn. As I was delivering the snow cones, I asked my beloved if he would like a bottle of water. He said..."No, I am fine." (remember that)

I wasn't. I had been eyeing the ginormous soda that Shelley was drinking. Not to mention, I was HOT. And SWEATY. I went to the stand to buy my Coke. They had 3 choices at the stand.

Tiny for $1.50
Plastic cup with NO refills for $3.25
Bigger-than-one-human-can-drink for $5.75 plus 1 free refill.

I chose the bigger than life sized Coke. I knew my kids would help suck it down and then I could get a free refill. Once I walked back to my seat, Skip eyed my drink. The drink that took both hands and good balance to hold.

What happened next was NOT pretty. You could have cut the tension with a knife. Why did I buy a drink that he doesn't drink? Why did I spend FIVE dollars on that? Why did I not buy water that we could all share?

HOLD THE PHONE.

Did I not ask if I could buy him a water? Did he not say, "No" to that request? I was fully prepared to buy the water and the coke. Needless to say, this was almost a deal-breaker, folks. This was almost the straw that broke the camel's back. I say almost because in the midst of our tension, I tried to slam my giant drink in the stadium cup holder. It didn't fit. I sheepishly looked at him and we burst out laughing.

If there was one thing that I love most about our marriage is our ability to laugh. Laughter has provided the backdrop for our life together. He is my best friend and I am his. We can laugh at ourselves. We can laugh at our circumstances. We can laugh at our mistakes.

We can laugh when our BIGGER THAN LIFE cup is half full. Even if it costs a whooping $5.75.

Thursday 13

13 Ways to Say "I'm Sorry."

Please forgive me.
I shouldn't have done that.
My bad.
What was I thinking?
I feel awful for...
I really messed up.
I will try harder next time.
I care too much about you to let this come between us.
I'm a jerk.
Help me understand what you are saying.
Oops, I did it again.
I should know better.
Are we OK?

Skip, I'm sorry for not treating you with respect tonight. Please forgive me.

Mixing Business with Pleasure

Oh, I shouldn't post this...but I'm gonna. Mom, cover your eyes!

Today as I was cooking dinner, I called Skip just to let him know I was thinking of him (in the manner of which he likes to be thought of by me).

I was chopping chicken and broccoli with my Pampered Chef Food Chopper. If you have one of these fantastic tools, then you know how much fun they are. CHOP, CHOP, CHOP. Anyway, below is our phone call...

Ring, Ring.
Skip in official-business-what-do-you-need voice: "Hello."
Me in my bedroom voice (read this in yours, I know you have one): "Hi..."
Him: "What are you doing?"
Me: " Just thinking of you..."

CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP

Him: "Really. What are you thinking?"
Me: "Oh, you know..."

CHOP, CHOP, CHOP

Him: "Are you thinking about seducing me or killing me?"
Me: "Huh?"

CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP

Moral of this story...don't mix food chopping with sexy phone calls. Not a turn on.

We Had a Blast!

What a fun weekend we had in St. Louis! Girls, plan your getaway with your husbands now. It is well worth the time and money. We recaptured "us".

Here is a few highlights:
--Hotel races down the hallway.
--Seeing Busch Stadium for the first time. I was in awe.
--Downtown St. Louis at night. Walking home after the game.
--High fives with the man with soft hands.
--Flannery's food--yum!
--Time with the Griswalds.
--The huge bed with the fluffy pillows.
--Waking up on our own, no kids in the bed!!
--Holding hands.
--Getting ready without being rushed. That is a treat!
--Calling the kids on the phone and listening to their sweet, little voices.
--Riding the metro...the wrong way.
--Talking with Skip...really talking.
--Scalping our tickets.
--Watching Albert hit a bomb!
--The chicken and black bean quesadillas. WOW!!
--Kelly was the cutest waitress.
--Finding our brick outside Busch Stadium. "Sweet 16..."
--Foot massage. It is better to give than receive.
--Putting our marriage first.
--Looking forward to seeing our kids. Missed them like crazy!

Pack your bags, friends!

I Fell In Love with My Husband on the Baseball Field...

Many years ago, I fell in love with Skip. I loved to watch him play baseball. He was SM #16. He played with such intensity and love for the game that you couldn't help feeling the same. I fell in love with the way he looked in his uniform, the way he he encouraged his teammates, and the way he gave everything he had on the field. I knew he was destined for greatness.

Greatness came tonight on the t-ball field with our son's team. I love watching him coach these little guys, many of which he has coached since they were 3. He loves these boys. He loves this sport. He coaches with integrity and purpose while teaching them the fundamentals of the sport. I love watching him prepare for the practices/games days in advance. His heart is on that field with those boys. He holds nothing back...gives it his all. That is greatness.

I fell in love with my husband on the baseball field way back in 1989 and again tonight in 2007.

By the way...the team is adorable!!

1947

The year my sweet grandparents got married:

--Harry S. Truman becomes first president to make an address to the public on TV from the White House
-- A car cost $1,500
--The price of gasoline: 23 cents/gal
--The average house costs $13,000
--A loaf of bread was 12 cents, and a gallon of milk was 80 cents.
--Mailing a letter cost 3 cents.
--The annual salary was $3,500 and minimum wage was 40 cents per hour.
--The New York Yankees won the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
--The first microwave oven was produced.
--The song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" was written.
--44,ooo TV's were in American homes versus 40 million radios.
--TIME "Person of the Year" was George Marshall.
--The Academy Award for best actress goes to: Loretta Young.
--A man, named Bud, and a woman, named Shirley, loved each other and couldn't wait to get married.

They lived together in good times and bad for the last 60 years. They have survived the death of a child, breast cancer, heart attack, and other assorted maladies that God used to made them stronger. Through it all, they taught us that marriage is a commitment that lasts forever. They set the example for future generations that love endures, love believes, love hopes and love grows. Thank you, Grannie and Gramps, for your legacy.

Happy Feet

My friend Alana encouraged all of the bloggers to think of what makes us happy. Here is my list.

--loving my husband more today than yesterday
--when both my kids want my lap
--kissing L on the neck under her curls
--counting Z's freckles and pretending to eat his "chocolate chips"
--time alone
--Mexican food
--baseball
--coffee
--my kid's birthdays
--reading and having time to read
--good, real, true friends
--church
--Amanda & Rachel--my two "mentees"
--finding money
--lazy Saturdays
--vacations
--family movie night
--sunrise
--exercise--after I am done!
--watching my children laugh and play together
--Mrs. R--Z's teacher
--TIVO
--warm chocolate chip cookies
--camping
--bonfires and smo's
--clean kitchen
--the joy on my kid's faces when they ride their bikes
--a good cry
--Girl's Night Out!
--sleeping in with my husband
--a nap (with or without my husband!)
--listening to Z read
--watching L do gymnastics

When I look at my list, I realize that God has made my life rich beyond measure. I am grateful.

60th Year

I am so excited for this weekend. Today is my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. We have family coming in from Kansas and Oklahoma. Cousins, babies, uncles, aunts, siblings...we haven't all been together for years. We have a weekend celebration planned complete with photographer. What an honor to celebrate these two loving people! Thankfully, Mother's Day is on the same weekend. Perfect timing!

I just called to wish them "Happy Anniversary!" Grannie was crying. She can't believe we remembered and planned such a fun weekend. She said that Gramps even remembered (he suffers from dementia and has trouble with details.) He told her it would probably rain just like it did the day he married her. OK, so now I am crying.

Well, I can't wait to tell you more...