2 Princesses, a Queen, and an old frog

Your gonna miss this....very picture heavy.

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:09:00 +0000

As we prepare for school to start back for Bethanie and I this Wednesday, this weeks Your Gonna Miss This Moment is easy. Just as the picture of Elianna above portrays so well, I am SO gonna miss the carefree fun days of summer! As we wrap up our summer the house is still messy and unorganized, kitchen walls and cabinets are still unpainted and the boarder is still in rolls, the living room has not gotten rearranged and the entry area remains the same. BUT.... lots of fun was had and many, MANY memories were made. So even though I didn't get ~~all~~ any of the stuff done that I wanted to this summer, we had fun, we made memories, and that is much more important. After all, like I am reminded many times, they are only little once and this "once" is going by much too fast. So for this week, I am joining Pam in her Your gonna miss this moment blog carnival with a bunch of pictures from our fun summer. When you are done here, go visit Pam and the others for more "Your Gonna Miss This...Moment" and join in if you have moments you are gonna miss.
We are gonna miss.....

Camping with many of our friends from church

Feeding the ducks and geese

playing in the creek and making our own "water slide" in the mud (which my camera battery went dead for :( )

Fourth of July festivities and fireworks

Swimming at Nana's...

Having fun at the water park

Sliding down little slides....

medium size slides....

And big slides!

and spending time with cousins.

Picnic lunches with yummy fresh cherries!

Fun times with cousins at the park

Hiding in the shade of the tunnel when it got to hot to play on anything else

Making our own splash pad at the park when it was too hot to play on the playground.

Enjoying the beauty at the park (a different one) after a day at the museum.

Jumping away from squirrels that get too close, lol (that brown blob in the middle is a squirrel, it came right up and touched Elianna's hand, I tried to take a picture but all I caught was the two of them jumping away from each other, lol.)

Feeding the Pigeons

Fun days at the county fair!

And just spending our days together!

I hope you enjoyed this recap in pictures of out summer, this was just a few of our fun things, many didn't get captured on camera (it was left at home or had dead batteries too many times to mention). I am hoping for a good school year for all three of us. I don't want to rush the year but I already look forward to next summer!!!

Not me Monday...4th of July edition

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:08:00 +0000

I don't have time for pictures right now but here is my first attempt at Not Me Monday...Pictures will come later :)

I did not drink Dr. Pepper and iced tea all evening at work on Thursday evening knowing that caffine that late would keep me up and I most certainly did not finally fall asleep at 7 am on Friday morning due to all that caffine I had.

I also did not use that time through the night when I should have been sleeping in order to make both of the girls a dress to wear for the 4th of July. ( pictures coming soon, remember)

And I also most certainly did not sleep till 2 in the afternoon on Friday, good thing DH had the day off just in case I would have done something so crazy that day.

I did not nievely assume since I had kids that I would not be scheduled to work on the 4th of July even though I didn't put in a request to have the day off.

I did not pout around all day on the 4th knowing I had to go into work that night.

I did not cheer up when it started pouring down rain and continue to rain for hours.

I did not jump for joy and give out a big ol' YEA!! right on the front line at work when I heard the fire works had indeed been cancelled and rescheduled for the 5th...in which I was OFF work.

And I did not keep a smile on my face ALL day on Sunday during church, a dinner and special service at church, and a birthday party/cookout, knowing I was going to get to take the girls to the fireworks after all on such a BEAUTIFUL night...and keep the long time tradition going :)

Now go visit MckMama and share what you did not do this week!

Me and my girls :)

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:13:00 +0000

This week we are having Bible school at our church. Tonight started off with a bit of Chaos! We arrived at the church a bit early to find a crew there re-sealing the parking lot, you know with hot stinky TAR! What in the world, who would have ever arranged for something like that to be done the week of bible school, hmmm, apparently someone who didn't think it would matter since....THEY WERE AT THE WRONG CHURCH!!!!! So here we are less than an hour before bible school is to start and the parking lot is blocked off and cannot be walked on. Luckily we have a gravel drive way beside the parking lot where the dumpster sits and it was big enough that everyone could pull in there. But then what to do about getting to the building? They put card board, tarp, and rugs down that led to the little building then from there to the main church. We had to catch each person as they arrived so that they wouldn't walk on it and ruin their shoes and track it into the church. It was a bit crazy but it all worked out in the end, and the church agreed to pay 1/2 price what they would have charged, for them to go ahead and complete the job (we were planning to get it done soon anyways, it was just bad timing). So after our crafts tonight we did face painting. A few of the adults painted the kids faces. Some of the kids kept asking to paint someones face so after all the kids faces were done, we let them paint the adults faces. Then when we got home Bethanie was complaining that her tooth hurt, it was loose, she tried to pull it first then she told me to do it, I barely touched it and it was out and she was crying, then laughing, then crying again. I started laughing at her which made her start laughing again, it was so funny. Then i got my camera out so I could take a picture of her, what was suppose to be a picture or 2 of Bethanie's new checkerboard mouth turned into a complete photo shoot that had me and the girls cracking up! Here are some of the results....

Bethanie showing off her checkered board mouth, she is now missing 4 teeth!

Showing off her lady bug! I think this is the first time Bethanie has ever had her face painted, usually she refuses to have it done!

Elianna showing off her butterfly.

Cheesy girl!

And here's mine (please don't mind how I am dressed, I was trying to look like a camper/hiker but could only find a plaid shirt of DH's to where), Elianna painted the left cheek it's a heart (made of different colors) with a yellow circle around it. Bethanie painted the other cheek, it's a flower.

Bethanie and I, Elianna took this picture.

Bethanie was taking mine and Elianna's picture together, I have no idea where she learned it but she gave me bunny ears!! Then since I was laughing and my eyes were nearly closed, I told her to take another one in which....

...Elianna gave me "MOOSE EARS" (better known as moose antlers to most) I think she must of come up with this on her own because I have never seen anyone do this before, lol.

This picture is horrible but I LOVE it! It captured Bethanie laughing so hard her eyes are closed and Elianna is being her goof ball self and acting crazy!

Giving each other bunny ears. Just look at that pride on Elianna's face that she was giving Bethanie bunny ears, I'm telling you, she thought this was the funniest thing ever.

Me and my calm, quiet, and toothless Bethanie who is growing up WAY to fast

And finally I gave Elianna "moose ears" to which she cracked up when she saw the picture.

We laughed SO much and had such a good time...and we weren't even doing anything but acting silly and taking pictures...I love times like these!

I'm gonna miss this...Girl Scout Day Camp

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:03:00 +0000

This week me and the girls went to girl scout day camp. It rained, and rained, and stormed, and rained some more and lot, and lots, and LOTS of mud was made! In fact our nice, shady, up on the hill spot that we chose to get away from the heat...was over taken the last day by a stream that ran right through it, lol. But you know what??? WE STILL HAD FUN and you know what else, I am going to REALLY miss this!! I am going to miss getting to a leader for our troop and taking the girls to camp. I am going to miss all the giggles that come from the back seats as we drive that long way to and from camp everyday.

(The girls from our troop that got to go plus Elianna)

I'll miss getting to be a unit leader at camp and enjoying having the girls we have had both years (even if some of them drive me to the verge of insanity, lol) and finding stuff to keep them entertained and busy during our free time while trying to help them earn some badges.

(our unit, I blurred the girls faces, the other blurry spots...rain drops, you guessed it, it was raining while we had group pictures)

I'll miss the creativity of the girls

I'll miss the joy they had in getting to make a fire they get to eat all while learning all about camp fire safety.

I'll miss their bravery and the fun they have at creaking, I am sure soon enough none of them will want to do this anymore.

(although it looks like we are trying to escape a flood, we really were only creaking)

I'll miss seeing the fun they have with water games.

And yes, even though I feel I have had to tramp through enough mud to last me a life time, I will miss the extreme joy they all experienced in getting to jump right in, lol.

I am so glad I get to be there for my girls during fun times like these. I sorta dread the day when Elianna is old enough to be in her own group instead of tagging along with Bethanie's because then I will only get to be with one group and not get to enjoy the fun that they both experience. I will definitely miss the day that I am no longer needed as a leader!

For more you're gonna miss this, please go visit Pam's site, and join in if you want to!

Summer, summer... SUMMER!!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Well it is now summer vacation, WOO HOO!! I've been out for 3 weeks now, Elianna for 2, and Bethanie just finished up last week. I got a job, working at Wendy's (where I worked from the time I graduated high school till Bethanie was born). I will be working nights, mostly going in at or after 7pm. So for the first time in 3 years....I will have all day, all summer to spend just me and my girls :D I am so excited!!!! I've got so much stuff I want to get done around the house and so much fun stuff for me and the girls to do.

With the girls my plan is to come up with a list of chores for them to do (simple things that don't take but a few minutes) each day. Then when they complete their chores they will get to pick from the "FUN jar". The FUN jar is going to have a lot of activities for us to do, they will get to pick one thing each day that they complete their chores. I am getting my list of activities to put in the jar from here, here, here, and my old time favorite here!! We are taking part in a summer reading project that Bethanie's school is doing. Although Elianna doesn't yet go to the same school, the teacher over the project is also including her and has lessons and activities for her to do as well. We will do our yearly summer reading program at the local library and will likely attend many of the fun things they plan there. We will also be going to Girl Scout Day Camp one week and having Bible School at our church the following week.

As for the house stuff, first I want to get it cleaned up and organized. I am going to get my kitchen walls and cabinets painted and hang wall paper boarder (I've had the paint and boarder for a year and a half now, don't you agree it's about time I get it done, lol). I want to rearrange my living room and make an "entrance area" by our back door. I've got lots of other goals for the house as well. My goal is to work about 2 hours each day on the house then enjoy the rest of the days with the girls.

So in order to be able to do all this stuff I am going to have to cut something out of my days...and that something is going to be my internet time. Oprah had a show last week about a challenge where all electronic stuff was taken away from these families to see how they did. Then today as I was looking around, went to this blog I had never seen before and the first thing I saw was this entry and could SO relate to what it was saying! Sooooo, no more internet for me through the week. Monday through Friday the computer and the tv will be kept off (I am sure DH will not go along with this so his laptop will still be getting use). So look on the weekends for lots of pictures of all the fun and productive stuff I have accomplished each week!

Please stand by....

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:54:00 +0000

my blog is under construction, lol.

Can't wait till gets done, I am loving the new back ground. A good online friend and fellow PE sister offered to make me a new header :) Thanks again Lori! I'm so excited!!!

Can anyone help me?

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:29:00 +0000

I am wanting to change my blog layout/background/header! I love, Love, LOVE my blog the way it is now but I am just ready to change it, it has been over a year of the same thing. So where do I go for FREE stuff. I have looked on Cutest Blog on the Block, they have some REALLY cute stuff but I can't find a header to go with the backgrounds I like. I want it to be americana like, red, white, and blue, maybe some stars and or stripes, I want to use this picture

Even though it's almost a year old now, it's still my favorite for now.

Oh, and while I am at it...does anyone know if you can change the name of the blog without starting a new one...ok, maybe I could just not put the title up there?

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks!

It's days like these....

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:28:00 +0000

...that make me realize how blessed I am, how far we have come, how special Bethanie truly is, and what a miracle we experienced.

A couple weeks ago this little girl, Maddie, passed away suddenly from what I believe was a respiratory infection. Maddie was a preemie, born 11 weeks early. At 17 months old she was catching up and thriving, but because of her lungs still being weak due to being born so early, her little body could not handle this respiratory illness.

Then just this week, I read of this little girl, Kayleigh. Kayleigh was also a preemie, born 12 weeks early (Due to Preeclampsia, the same as my self). She was 11 months old, she went through 7 major surgeries and had never been able to go home. This week she lost her hard fought battle and passed away.

My Bethanie, as most of you probably remember, was also a preemie. She was born 13 weeks early (she was earlier than either of the 2 babies I just mentioned) and weighed 1 pound 12 ounces.

She spent 84 days in the NICU. Of those 84 days we eagerly waited 21 days before we got to hold her for the first time....

It took 5 long weeks before she could successfully be weaned off the ventilator....

She came home still requiring oxygen....

Then finally 1 month after bringing her home, we got to see her beautiful little face with no tubes or wires attached....

We had been warned of how serious it could be if she were to catch a cold or something worse, so for the first 5 months of being home, we kept her isolated in hopes of keeping her free of any illnesses. It was SUCCESSFUL! We took her out for the first time (to anywhere other than the doctor) at 8 months, she got to go to church on her first Easter. She did not get sick for the first time till she was 18 months old and that was a stomach virus, which resulted in her getting badly dehydrated. That has thankfully been her one and only return stay in the hospital. From then on she thrived....

Her first birthday....she weighed a hefty 13 pounds then!

Her second birthday....looking much more like a 1 year old, she was now up to 18 pounds.

Then her third...

Fourth....

Fifth...she was now up to 31 pounds and had just started school.

6th....

Seven.....

Eighth....

and here we are today....

A VERY smart, loving, beautiful little girl who now weighs 48 pounds who I love with all my heart and am more proud of than words can ever say. She has overcome so much and for that I am eternally thankful to the Lord above for letting her survive and giving me the privilege of being her mom. I Love you Bethanie Ann!!!!! XOXOXOX

(Mother's Day 2009 Alyvia, Bailey (my nieces), Bethanie, and Elianna)

I don't, and probably never will, know why Bethanie is so perfect and alive and these other families had to give their babies back to our Heavenly Father but I do know that I will hug and cherish my girls even more knowing what could have been. My heart and prayers go out to the 2 families who have lost their precious little girls. I can not even begin to imagine the pain they are going through.

One more thing I need to share...When I was dismissed from the hospital after having Bethanie. Matt and I went to Kroger's to get my prescriptions filled before going home. As we went through the card section, I noticed an Anne Geddie's card with this picture

I had a feeling of peace when I saw it, it's hard to explain, but I knew I had to get it. I felt like God wanted me to see that picture as if He was telling me "She's going to be fine, I'm holding her in my hands". My MIL took that card and had it framed for me and it still to this day hangs in my bedroom.

Recently my girls have discovered a little picture album that I had made for Bethanie when she was a baby, to keep in the diaper bag to take with us when we would be out. In it I have a few pictures of Bethanie when she was in the NICU. One of those pictures she is wearing a dress that was REALLY tiny and my girls now use it for a doll dress. I think Elianna (who is only 4) has realized, to a point, that Bethanie was really tiny as a baby. Tonight she was getting ready for bed in my room and she yelled for me to come in there. When I walked in the room, she pointed to that Anne Gedde's picture and asked me if it was Bethanie when she was a baby. I told her no and then about how I had gotten it when Bethanie was still in the hospital and how it made me think that God was holding Bethanie in his hands. She got such a peaceful, happy smile on her face, tipped her head to the side and nodded almost like "Yea, you are right mom".

How Fun!!!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Heard this song on K-Love this morning!!! Had to share it, it brought a smile to my face, hope it does the same for you :)
I tried to figure out how to put the video directly into the post but couldn't figure it out, sorry, here's the link instead
The Cartoon Song

Ok, found it at YouTube...here it is, this video has the words but the cartoons aren't moving, the one above the cartoons are playing while the song is playing. Pick which you would rather watch, or watch both, the point is the song :)

Who needs a Nintendo DS when you can have this......

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:03:00 +0000

That's right it's the all new PAPER DS! It even opens up, has an on/off switch, and the other controller buttons like the "old model".

Tonight I was sitting outside on our swing while the girls were over on the neighbors back porch playing with their little girl. Elianna comes over to me, very excited, this is how our conversation goes...

E: Mommy, look what A gave me!! It's a DS!!!!! (handing me the paper version)

me: WOW, how cool. So what's a DS (I wasn't sure if she knew or not)?

E: umm, it's a thing you play

me: Oh, cool. You mean like a game?

E: uhhh, yea (in a not so sure voice). Here you can play it for a while.

She opens it up and shows me how to turn it on, she even showed me one side of the button is to turn it on and the other is to turn it off.

E: and these buttons over here... this one makes it stop, and this one...(I can't remember what the other buttons do but she knew exactly what she thought they would do)

me: looks like fun.

E: yea, play it mommy.

So I do and off she goes back to play with the other girls. I decided I had to take a picture, so I brought it in the house. A little while later Elianna comes running in the house.

E: MOMMY, where's my DS.

I tell her where I had layed it. she grabs it, holds it like a real game, and off she goes.

BTW, Elianna has never played with a real DS before, lol.

What a GREAT imagination!!

Long overdue pictures

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Today I took a nap...a LONG nap. I was tired, so now that it's time for bed....I'm NOT tired. There are SO many things I could/should be doing instead but decided that sharing pictures sounded more fun, so here I am.

We had a great Easter. The day was BEAUTIFUL!! The Easter Story Cookies that I posted about did not turn out. The first night (Easter-Eve) I beat the mix for a good 30 minutes and still could not make "stiff peaks" So I told the girls we would try again the next night. I found out that it was because we had gotten a tiny bit of the yolk in the bowl. So on Easter night we tried again, I got the stiff peaks this time...only this time I made the cookies too big so the next morning they were not hard, they were still gooey in the middle which resulted in them not being hollow, but they still tasted good :) . On Easter we went to church, then went to my grandmas. Since Bethanie was born DH has only missed church on Easter 1 year (and it was a very rough year) and he has always come to my grandma's for Easter dinner and the annual Egg hunt. It has always been a tradition to get family pictures taken while we are at my grandmas while we are dressed up. This year he stayed home....and played his game. Yes, I was very upset, but I did not let it ruin our day.

The girls and I carried on the tradition without him.

After we ate, hunted eggs, and visited for a long while. We headed back home (just across the creek) I considered taking a nap but decided it was too beautiful outside to spend the day inside. So me and the girls spent the whole afternoon (what was left of it anyways) outside. I took more pictures of them....

(Elianna had found some glittery make-up)

We admired the beautiful tulips (all 4 of them) that had grown in our front yard....

and we "chalked" on the carport with their new sidewalk chalk.

We took "baby" Walter (a plant I had to grow and keep a baby book for for one of my classes) outside and got pictures of him with his big sisters....

Then we went back to church that evening. We just throuroghly enjoyed the whole day. Look at those bright blue eyes on Elianna!!! Still after 4 years I look at those eyes and can't believe I have a blue eyed girl.

And since I broke my promise to share pictures while I was on Spring Break here are some from Elianna's birthday party. We had a joint party for Elianna's 4th and my niece, Bailey's, first. We had a princess theme, my aunt made them a castle cake. Here are the birthday girls

And here is my beautiful little princess.

Oh, and I knew since Elianna was born that it was bound to happen someday and this week it did. Bethanie, who is 8 1/2, and Elianna, who turned 4 in February, now weigh the exact same! I weighed them on Tuesday and they both weighed 46.8 pounds!!

Easter Story Cookies

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:22:00 +0000

When Bethanie was a baby, I found the following recipe. I thought it sounded like a great idea for kids but her being a baby, she wouldn't understand. So I printed it off and saved it. Every year at Easter I would forget about it. I would run across the recipe every now and then but it was always like middle of summer or christmas time...never any where near easter (which just typing that makes me realize I could have done this ANY time of year, it's an important story to know no matter when they them learn it). This week the cookie dough that Bethanie sold for a school fundraiser came in. As I was thinking of making some for Easter I remembered the Easter Story Cookies and looked them up on line. Here I found a recipe that includes Bible verses to support what each step represents. So tonight as we get ready to go to bed, we are going to make these. I am excited that the girls will have something more to focus on than just what the Easter Bunny but in thier baskets. Now I just hope they work like they are suppose to. Here is the recipe that I found at "Home with God"

Easter Story Cookies to be made the night before Easter
You need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important - don't wait until you are half done with the recipe!)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.
Read John 19:1-3

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.
Read John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.
Read John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.
Read Luke 23:27

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.
Psalms 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.
Read Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.
Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.
Read Matthew 27:65-66

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.
Read John 16:20 and 22

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! Explain that on the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.
Read Matthew 28:1-9

THANK YOU JESUS FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR US!

Have a Happy Easter!!!!

Monsters from Florida

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:55:00 +0000

Let me start by saying niether of my girls have ever been to Florida, we have never talked about Florida, and we don't know anyone who lives or has went to Florida recently.

Today on my way to take Elianna to school we saw a horse trailor at a stop light that was on the road that was intersecting with the road we were on. Elianna saw it and this is how our conversation went...
E: Mommy, look at that, what's in there.
Me: I don't know, maybe they have horses in there.
(then the trailor turns and we can see that the back is completely empty)
Me: Oh, I guess there isn't anything in there they must have already dropped the horses off.
E: Maybe they are gonna go pick up some animals
Me: Maybe so
E: Maybe they are gonna pick up some horses, or maybe they are gonna pick up some BEARS.
Me: Ooohhh, that would be scary but maybe so.
E: Maybe they are gonna pick up some big LIONS.
Me: Hummm, I don't know about that.
E: Or maybe, maybe they are gonna pick up MONSTERS.
Me: Monsters??
E: Yea, scary monsters. But Mommy, where would they get monsters at?
Me: (all that came to mind was probably under your bed, but decided not to go there, lol) I don't know, but I hope I don't ever find them!
E: Maybe in Florida.
Me: Florida?? What makes you think there are monsters in Florida? Where did you ever hear about Florida?
E: Well, I don't know if they have a zoo in Florida or not.
Me: Are there Monsters at a zoo?
E: (ignoring my question) Yea, they do have a zoo in Florida cause Hannah (her new little friend at school) telled me.
Me: Did Hannah tell you about Florida?
E: No, I just knowed about it

HIP, HIP, HORRAYYYYY!!!!!!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:14:00 +0000

SPRING BREAK IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND....

Today is the......first.....day.....of...........

SPRING!!!!!!

YEA, YEA, YIPPEE, YEA!!!!

After the week I've had, all I can say is PRAISE THE LORD!!!

I have spent every spare second this week working on a project for my one class. After approximately fourteen hours, yes that's right 14 HOURS of working on this darn lexicon thing and still not being done, I go to the computer lab, following a test that completely fried my brain, to work on it longer and it DISAPPEARED off my jump drive!!! Yes that is correct again...IT DISAPPEARED...all 13 pages of it! After an hour and some very intense feelings of needing to cry and vomit (literally, I am not kidding here) "THE computer guy" at the college managed to find it!!! So I took a little break, got some lunch with a friend, skipped my other class, then got back to work for the next 3 1/2 hours till it was finally FINISHED and SUBMITTED!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

And Spring break officially began!

I stopped and got a pizza for dinner, headed home and lazed in lazy boy recliner for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow, the girls and I are headed to a Princess Party, then I will spend the entire rest of the week cleaning and organizing my house, prettying up my yard, getting school work ahead of schedule, and just enjoying my time off of school with my girlies.

I will promise you this, sometime this week I will do a much overdue post with pictures from Elianna's birthday party (from early February) , the princess party , and everything in between. So now I am headed to bed for some sweet spring time dreams...goodnight!

My feelings are hurt...or somthing

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:54:00 +0000

It's nearly 2 am, I have a presentation in my class at 10 am that is not completely ready, yet here I sit, my mind unable to focus on anything other than the hurt I am feeling from someone elses words from earlier in the day.
I have been struggling lately with the time I am away from Elianna. Since I first became a mom 8 1/2 years ago, my entire life has focused around my girls. Going back to college is the first thing I have done for myself (and really it's not just for myself in the long run, but for now it does feel that way). I am really not away from her much, I have a class on Tuesday evenings and then on Friday when she doesn't have preschool I have class from 8-2. But this month has had alot going on, First the David Cook concert which I couldn't stop thinking about the girls and asking myself why I was there (I did have fun, the concert was ok, MUCH harder rock and louder than I expected, but being with an old friend was fun). Then there was the volunteering at the food pantry for my one class, then there was the play that Bethanie and I went to, and then this weekend when Bethanie and I went to a Girl Scout indoor campout. Elianna has spent the night with my mom or my sister 2 weekends this month. I feel like all I have been doing is pawning Elianna off every Friday. And it doesn't help that every week when I take her to my aunt's house bright and early on Friday morning that she cries when I leave, telling me "I want you!". It about kills me to have to leave! It also doesn't help that I had to keep her home from preschool on Thursday (she locked both set of keys in the van) yet instead of enjoying our time together, I felt like she was a teenager and we spent the whole day battling with each other. All that to say I have been struggling, not feeling like a good mom, having issues with missing my "baby".
Then today happened. We had a dinner at church. I was up at the counter getting my plate, thoughts of where I was going to sit running through my head. I usually sit by my sister but today her husband came, they sat with some other people and there was no room at their table. Then I hear it, my aunt (the same one who watches Elianna on Fridays) and my sister (who Elianna spent the night with on Friday) talking, their coversation goes something like this...
Aunt: (says something but I am not tuned in to what is being said yet)
Sis: Yea, I don't get it, she has no problem coming to our house even though B (BIL) yells at her the whole time she is there.
I realize they are talking about Elianna, how she cries every time I drop her off at my aunts house. That's when my aunt say....
MAYBE SHE JUST DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN SOMEONE TREATS HER RIGHT
and my sister chuckles a little and says yea, maybe so.
I glanced up at them while my heart broke into a million very small pieces. I am not sure if their conversation continued after that, if I just tuned out, or if they know I heard them, but I was hurt. I AM HURT.
I am the only one on that side of my family that has ever been a stay at home mom. I was there for my girls 24/7 the first 8 years of Bethanie's life and first almost 4 of Elianna's. I took good care of my sister's girls while she worked full time from the time they were born till I went back to school and I took care of my aunts granddaughter from the time she was 8 months old till she started preschool at almost 4 while her mom finished school and started working a full time job. Now that I am in school, I am away from my girls less than I would be if I worked a full time job like the others, Yet for some reason I am a bad mother. Is DH a wonderful father? no, he acts like a drill sargent at times and he doesn't make spending quality time with them a priority by any means but is he horrible? No! And I have always strived to make it up to them where he falls short.
I am just really hurt by their words and am not sure what to do. Will I be able to take Elianna and drop her off at my aunt's after this? I just really don't know. And I guess if I need someone to keep Elianna over night I will call my mom.

Honestly?!?!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:08:00 +0000

WOW! I won an award!! Thanks Jen!!! I think it's my first one ever!!

The rules for this award:
Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
Show the winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.”
They can keep the little Honest Scrap sign.

Ok, well I think all the blogs that I would give this to have already recieved it so....

Then list at least 10 honest things about yourself.
1. I would love to someday "Flip" a house. That's where you buy a cheap house, redo everything that needs done, then turn around and sell it again. You can make a years sallery in about 2 months. This would be a good summer activity for me after I become a teacher and the kids are older :)

2. I finally feel like "YES, I really can do this college thing", it took me getting some grades in to really feel this way.

3. I do miss my nieces but I DO NOT miss babysitting!

4. My house is unbelieveable cluttered, messy, and right now dirty but unless someone mentions coming over, it doesn't really bother me to much. Well at least not enough to actually postpone other things in order to get it organized and cleaned up.

5. I am shy and insecure but I am working really hard to overcome it.

6. I am more excited about the David Cook concert that I am going to with an old friend and 2 of her friends that I don't know, than I have been about anything for quite a while :) only 5 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Girls night out!!!! Ok, so one of the friends is a guy, from Moroco but that's ok.

7. No one in my real life knows I have a blog. My DH could easily find it since I have it saved to the tool bar at the top of the computer screan but he probably doesn't care.

8. I am a BIG time procrastinator! I swore I would not be when I started back to college but it's just who I am. Last week a paper that we had known about for weeks (I think about 4 weeks actually) was due on Friday by 5pm. I finished and submitted it...at 4:56pm. I hadn't even started it till a couple hours before that. I wish I could change but don't know how.

9. I often wonder if Bethanie's extreme shyness is my or DH's fault in some way.

10. I am volunteering at a Food Pantry two days this week and I am nervous that I will see people I know come in.

It came

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:09:00 +0000

That ice that was coming down in my last post....WELL, even though the meteorologist on the local news more or less PROMISED it wouldn't be as bad as in 2003, saying the storm in 2003 was a one in 100 year occurance. Well.....HE.....WAS.....WRONG!!!! We got the ice, lost electric on Wednesday (realized it at 5am when Elianna woke me up by patting on me but I couldn't see who she was) went to stay with my sister. Electric came back on late on Friday. Went home on Saturday but didn't have phone, cable, or internet until Late Monday afternoon. I felt completely out of touch with the world.

No more pupcakes

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Today was a sad day for me (ok, at least a couple minutes were sad anyway). This morning as Elianna and Bethanie were enjoying left over "pupcakes" from Elianna's birthday party yesterday, Bethanie informed Elianna that they are really called CUPcakes rather than PUPcakes. So Elianna declared....From now on, I'll say it right, they are CUPcakes :( I thought I was going to cry. Bethanie called them pupcakes until probably a year or two ago, and then that's what Elianna has called them since she started talking. Now...my babies are growing up...and we won't have anymore PUPcakes in our house ever again :( :( :( I will definitely miss that!!

It's coming down!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:33:00 +0000

Ice that is! Since just after noon today, we have been getting icy rain which is falling on top of the already 5+ inches of snow we got last night! Me or either of the girls had school today because of the snow, they didn't have school on Monday either because we had gotten about 2 or so inches on Sunday. Now for tomorrow, school is already cancelled again because of the ice. Even the college is closed again. As I sit here in the quiet of my home looking around on the net, I hear the ice/rain coming down (it's coming down as rain now but is freezing as it hits the ground) and I have heard 3 trees fall (maybe they were just branches but they sure seemed loud). All this brings back the bad memories of the ice storm we had back in 2003, we were without electric for several days, therefore had to go stay with other family because we had no heat. We came out of that storm with, other the inconvience of staying with someone else in the dark, no damage to our selves, our home, or our cars. However MANY people around our area were not so lucky. Many people were hurt from not having heat, from falling on the ice, trees fell on homes, vehicles were destroyed from crashes and falling trees, many homes suffered damage from busted water pipes, etc. The area looked like a war zone! I am just hoping and praying that it's not that bad this time!!

Need to take a break

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:50:00 +0000

I know I don't post very often on my blog anyways but I feel if I make a post about this then I will be more willing to hold myself to it. I am only going to have ONE "not for school" Internet day a week. That day will be Saturdays. So from here on out I plan to not visit my boards, my blogs, or any other site that doesn't pertain to school on any day other than Saturdays (and I can't guarantee I will even have time every Saturday). I thought I would have plenty of time to do school work in my free time BUT I didn't realize not only do I have class and lots of homework (and man is it a lot, A LOT of reading, A LOT of writings, and lots of class projects), but I also have field time that wasn't scheduled in. I thought Wednesdays and Thursdays were going to be free, those and Tuesdays were going to be my days to get all my work done so that evenings were pretty free to do all the evenings normal mom stuff. However after having my first days of all my classes I realized that isn't going to be the case. Wednesdays I have to go to one site for one class, Thursdays I am volunteering with Big Brother, Big Sister for another class. Then I have to fit in visits with 4 teachers from at least 2 different schools for my intro in Early childhood ED class and then observe one class room with a literacy center and begin working with a student for my literacy class all within the next 2 weeks!!! So i am off to go set up some field time, see you Saturday... maybe :)

Our milk, it don't come in gallons

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Elianna started going full days at preschool this week. She was only staying till 11am now she is there till 2pm. She was SOOO excited about it. She was most looking forward to...nap time, getting to watch a movie, and getting to eat lunch at school. I'm not sure why she was excited about nap time, she never naps unless she is sick, and we have rest time here everyday so that wasn't something really new. I knew she would be excited about eating lunch at school because her first week, she was really disappointed that she didn't get to each lunch. So I pick her up after her first long day, ask her how her day was. She was all excited to tell me that they get to watch a movie AT nap time (humm, just like rest time here, so why was it oh so exciting when it happens at school). Then as we were pulling out of the parking lot she says with much excitement "Mommy, at my school, our milk, it don't come in gallons." It's just too funny the things that a 3 year old gets excited about.

It's official!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:52:00 +0000

I am now a college student!!!! again. I even updated my profile :) I had my first class yesterday. As I sat there hoping I wouldn't be the only "old" person in the class, I look up to see one of my best friends from high school walking in the door!!!!!!

We had lost contact with each other some time after I got married. When Bethanie was about 3, she got in contact with me and we got together for dinner at Pizza Hut (the place we always went to in and right after high school). We made plans to get together on a regular basis but it didn't happen. This summer, after I hadn't seen her for a few years, I get my All You magazine in the mail, sit down to read it and low and behold there she is in the magazine!! She had moved about 10 hours away. I try to find her online but had no luck. Finally I stopped by where her parents use to live, not knowing if they even still lived there. Her mom still did. I asked about Jeanna and gave her my phone number to give to her. A week or so later she called me. She was getting ready to move back here so we made plans to get together when she got settled in. Then I never heard from her and DH deleted the message she left with her number (it had been on the answering machine for months, he didn't realize I was saving it for a reason). She called me on Christmas eve to wish us a Merry Christmas, we talked only a few minutes, she told me she was going back to school and I told her I was too. Never would have dreamed that we would have a class together! So after class yesterday, we went to eat together and got caught up on each others lives. It's so weird, when we first started college after high school, we would always try to get our classes together. Now here we are 16 years later (OMG, how could it have been that long ago!!) and doing it all again. I am just SOOO happy that I have someone I know in class with me and that we get to reconnect after all this time.

Looking back on babysitting

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:22:00 +0000

This week my Your gonna miss this is very easy. Yesterday was my last day to babysit for my nieces. I never dreamed it would be as emotional as it was for me. We didn't do much during the day, just had a go with the flow kinda day. The older niece ~ Alyvia, Elianna, and I made snow men, and I just let them play and have fun. I was fine all day. I gathered up the baby stuff for my sister to take with her. My sister came that evening to pick them up, I was in a good, happy mood. We were laughing about some things the girls had done, I even felt a little bad because I felt good about it being my last day. As I helped my sister load the baby stuff into her van, my mood suddenly changed but i do not know why, suddenly I felt really sad. Then my sister tells me she got the OK to go into work late on Monday and told me about her boss asking her if she was going to cry all day on Monday. As soon as she said that I started crying, total surprise to me, but I did. I tried to not let her see me. I got myself together, then out of nowhere I would start crying again. When they finally went to leave I asked Alyvia, the oldest, for a hug and then I really started crying and couldn't keep it hidden from my sister any longer. I look at her and she starts crying too. She leaves with the girls and I cry off and on for the rest of the evening. Then today I was perfectly fine, had thought about the girls many times, had thought about starting college on Monday and I was fine, didn't feel sad about it at all. That is until my sister-in-law called, I was telling her how hard it had been and I started crying again and have continued every time I think about the girls since then. I am so going to miss them! I know I will see them at least once a week but it just won't be the same. I have babysat them since they were each 6 weeks old. As crazy as babysitting made me feel I was going at times, I will really miss it, and especially the kids, I love them all.

I first started babysitting when Elianna was about 7 months old. I started off just babysitting my cousin's little girl, Alyssa, who is 2 months older than Elianna. It was difficult at times having 2 babies but it was also fun.

(Elianna and Alyssa)

I continued to babysit her and then in April 2006, Alyvia was born. About 6 weeks after she was born my sister went back to work and I started babysitting her as well. During the summer it was just my girls and Alyvia because my cousin was out of school.

Come late summer I hear that a close friend of the family was looking for a babysitter. She had 2 girls, Katricia who was 3, and Abby who is 2 months younger than Elianna (1 1/2 at that time). I decided I would do it. So for the rest of the summer I had Bethanie~ 6, Katricia~3, Elianna and Abby~1 1/2, and Alyvia~ 4-5 months. After school started Bethanie went to Kindergarten and I started babysitting Alyssa again who was now almost 2 ~ 4 babies under 2 what was I thinking!! They sure kept me busy but it was also alot of fun.

(Bethanie, Katricia, Elianna, Abby, and Alyvia)

(Katricia, Abby, Alyvia, Alyssa, and Elianna)

(Alyvia, Katricia, Abby, Elianna, and the turtle we found in the yard)

Early the next summer my cousin had a little boy, Ethan. And once school started back up the next year I babysat for him as well. At that point I had Katricia ~ now 4, Elianna, Alyssa, and Abby~2 1/2, Alyvia~ 1, and now the first boy who was about 4 months.

(Elianna and baby Ethan)

The following February, my sister had her second little girl, Bailey. About 6 weeks after she was born, I started babysitting her as well. Katricia has now started preschool and would only come sometimes on Fridays.

Summer came and again I didn't have to babysit Alyssa and Ethan. Abby and Katricia would sometimes stay with their papaw who had just retired, so I had them less and less that summer. Then this school year started. Bethanie went into 2nd grade, Katricia to kindergarten, Alyssa and Elianna to preschool (not the same one). I only kept Alyssa a couple times at the beginning of the year, and Ethan started staying with his papaw (his best buddy). Abby came less and less. So most of this school year I have spent with just Alyvia and Bailey.

I will miss ALL the kids but Alyvia and Bailey I will miss the most. They have both been here since only weeks after they were born. I saw them do many things for the very first time. Alyvia called me mommy for the longest time, both of them are happy to see me every morning, I have a closeness with them most aunts don't get to experience with their nieces. I love these 2 girls as if they were my own.

I'm gonna miss the things they do that make me laugh

(Bailey drinking water from the sprinkler)

(Alyvia putting on MY makeup)

(Here's that picture again :) still making me laugh every time I see it)

(Alyvia playing dress-up)

I'm gonna miss seeing them sleep and especially having Baily fall asleep in my arms

I'm gonna miss the closeness, almost sister like closeness, that my girls have formed with Alyvia

I'm gonna miss the fun things we use to do like go to the park and paint or just play out in the yard

(Alyvia)

(Alyvia, the other kids painted rocks, Alyvia painted herself)

(Alyvia)

(Bailey)

I am going to miss their smiley faces and seeing them everyday.

(Alyvia, 9 months)

(Alyvia, 2 years)

(Bailey, 5 months)

(Bailey, 8 months)

I love you girls!!!! I'm gonna miss you terribly!!

To see more You're Gonna Miss This Moments visit Pam's blog.

2008~A year in pictures!

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:03:00 +0000

I saw this idea for a year in pictures over at Amy's blog and again at Lori's and loved it. So here is my...

2008

January:

Elianna painted herself with her new paint set,

High winds destroyed our trampoline :(

and Elianna got her hair cut into a short bob. It was her first real hair cut.

February:

We went to Go Diego Go Live,Elianna turned 3, we celebrated with a fancy princess tea party.

March:

Bethanie lost her first top tooth

and we celebrated Easter

April:

The weather warmed up and we enjoyed getting outside to play.

May:

We went to a circus,We were overtaken by Cicadas (It only happens every 17 years so i HAD to mention them :) ) Elianna, although she freaks at the sight of bugs of any kind, dearly LOVED these creepy things and was really sad when they went away.

I went with Bethanie's class to the zoo, so many parents from her class went that only 1 parent chaperon had more than just their own child.

June:

Bethanie finished first grade.

July:

We celebrated the 4th of July by dressing patriotic, going to a cook out, and watching fireworks.

We celebrated my birthday with a picnic at the park after stopping at the local thrift store to buy me a dress (because Elianna insisted she get me one for my birthday). While at the thrift store we found hats for all the girls so I could get lots of cute pics.

August:

We had a regular visitor in our back yard

We went to the zoo and got up close with a tiger (there is a very thick piece of glass between Bethanie and the tiger. It was so cool being THAT close, that tiger would walk back and forth along that window, I don't think he could see through it though.)

Bethanie started second grade!

September:

Bethanie turned 8. We celebrated with a cookout and a Hannah Montana cake at the lake.

Elianna went to her first day of school after flat out REFUSING to go on the actual first day of school.

We met the newest baby idol - Hannah Banana Montana (this picture cracks me up every time I see it so I just had to add it in here :) )

Both girls played soccer

October:

Bethanie won 2nd place for her flower in a pot costume.

Elianna dressed up as a pack of smarties but should have been a pack of cry babies (remember those?).

And we carved pumpkins (the girls drew the faces, I cut them out)

November:

We got our tree up the day after Thanksgiving.

December:

We got a snow day with more than normal amount of snow for December.

Santa came to Elianna's class party and she happily sat on his lap :O

We had a great year and have ALOT to be thankful for. As I look forward to this new year that we have started I see many changes that are about to happen, they make me sad that my time as only full time mommy is over, yet excited for what the future holds. I am nervous as I prepare to go back to college after 8 years of no work or school outside my home but I can only lean on the Lord for guidance as this new branch of my life begins. Please keep me and my family in your prayers that we can adjust and do out best at getting through these changes.

HAPPY 2009!!!

May it be a great year for all of us!

Stuff we made this year

sarahrgreen@aol.com (The Queen) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:19:00 +0000

We made ALOT of our gifts this year, I would say about 1/2 of all our gifts were handmade, or at least some part of it was. The girls and I made these scarves for all the grandparents on my side of the family (my mom, dad, grandma, and mom's husband who the girls call papaw as well). I got the idea from Sara's Art House, the girls helped cut the fringe and then stitched the words on, I zigzagged them onto the scarves (although I am a little embarrassed to say I did, I took a picture of the worse of the 4). We put hearts on the grandmas, a mitten on one and a football shape on the other of the grandpa's.

We made these pillows for my mom, with a reindeer made of each of the 4 granddaughters foot and hand prints, and for my sister with just her girls. I got this idea from some craft blog but cannot find it now. Their pillows were plain with the reindeer on them, I added the Christmas fabric boarder. The girls stuffed these themselves and had a BLAST doing it who would have thought adding stuffing could be so much fun for an 8, 3, and 2 year old :)A close up of Bethanie's.I made tu-tus for my nieces and my cousin's little girl. Found how to make them from Mom Dot, they are SOOO easy. Here is Alyvia's (2 year old niece), the tiara, boa, and necklace I found in the dollar section at the local grocery store. The tank top was one of Elianna's that she had never worn, I painted Alyvia's name on it with pink glittery fabric paint. I was so happy with how the hole set went together. This is Baby Bailey's, it looks much longer than it actually was. I would say it was no more than 8 inches long. The crown on a head band I also found in the dollar section, it was cheap made but looked SO cute on her.I also made both of the nieces an outfit. I made the skirts like this one (which is where I got the instructions for making them). The shirts I bought then cut one of the princesses from the skirt fabric and attached it to the shirt along with the first letter of their names. For Alyvia I made a little purse to match as well (she LOVES purses more than anything else). They turned out REALLY cute but I didn't get a picture of them.

We painted sweat shirts for my dad and my grandma. Here's my grandma's, feet and hand print angels. I had seen these on a kids site to make these angels with construction paper and tried it on a sweatshirt. I was happy with the turn out even though we got paint in a few places it wasn't suppose to be. I didn't take pictures of my Dad's. We actually made him 2, one with pictures of the 4 girls that said Papaw's girls. Then at the bottom said "Girls just wanna have fun...with their papaw", I was really tired when I painted the words on the shirt and kinda regretted it later. DH thought it sounded kinda bad. The other one we put the girls hand prints on it and wrote "Best Papaw, Hands down".

I also made a very cute apron for SIL that I made from a panel that I got from Walmart. I added a ruffle to the bottom and lined it so it could be reversible. It had snowmen and was really cute but I forgot to take pics of it too.

The girls also made my mom pictures of her and them. They drew the pictures with markers, wrote "Mamaw and Me" and I put them in frames. Mom loved them.

I really enjoyed making gifts for everyone, enjoyed being creative, seeing their faces when they opened their homemade gifts, but it really wore me out. Next year I still want to make alot of gifts but will start MUCH earlier. I was so last minute on some of these gifts that I was up till after 6 am on Christmas day (DH was waking up for the day as I was going to bed for the night, lol). And then had to finish my cousin's little girl's tutu in the van on the way to our Christmas gatherings. And I still have at least 2 more gifts to make -purses for my mom and sister. And was wanting to make my mom and sister a calender with the artwork by the kids.

Other than gifts we made some other things as well. The girls both made one of these in Wednesday night class at church. It's simply a paper with "shadows" of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. They colored them blue, then they rubbed baby oil on them to make them transparent. They glued craft sticks for the stable, glued glitter on a star and put on the top. Then put a little lamb with a cotton ball as wool on the front. I sat them in the front windows where we have Christmas lights on the inside. These were such easy ornaments but I just LOVE them. They look SOOOO pretty at night when it's dark outside and the Christmas lights are on. They look like they are all lit up. The picture doesn't really show how truly pretty they look.
Lastly I saw these snowmen doughnuts here. They were so simple but so cute, I just had to make them for the girls. Well when I was at the store getting the white doughnuts I saw the chocolate ones and wanted some of them too. The next morning when I was making them for the girls I had a great idea. I made whole snow men instead of just the heads....

And I also made......

PENGUINS!!!! The girls and DH got a big kick out them.

This is my 3rd post for today so be sure to look below for the other 2. And look for another, a new year/ a year in pictures post coming soon but not now because we are off to go out to eat seeing as how all we have had is a bowl of cereal all day.