Baylor started Tae Kwon Do

Tonight was his first class. He seemed to really enjoy it, and his teacher seems like he knows what he's doing. (I, on the other hand, have no idea what it's supposed to be like!) He's been asking for about two years to take some sort of martial arts, and I just couldn't find any place that was astronomically high in the financial area. I discovered recently that UL has a Youth Tae Kwon Do class at Bourgeois Hall, and I signed him up today. He was so cute. He was a nervous wreck on the way to the class. It's only once a week, so I figure it's a great way to see if he really likes it before we look into a "real" class.
Pray for him this week. He starts his iLeap test tomorrow, and doesn't finish until Tuesday. I think he'll do okay. I'm hoping to see some radical improvement in his reading ability since last year. Well, radical isn't the right word. I'm hoping for any improvement. Ms. Elaine says he's really doing well with her, so we'll see!

We're pretty sure Nadia is a genius.

Baylor has his standardized test coming up this week, so we've been having him work on some practice lessons and quizzes. Tonight I sent him to the office in our front yard so that he could work on a section of the test without the distraction of Nadia and Dawson.
He came in to ask me a question. After a little moment of stalling, I told him to go do his school. Nadia commented, "Baylor's can't drive without you and you. Is he walking to school?" David and I both said, "Wow!" What a connection our girl made. Then she added, "Well, is he riding his bicycle to school?" David then explained to her that he was doing his work in the office in the front yard..."Ohhh" she said.
This weekend we were riding in the car when she said several times that her stomach hurt. "What would make your stomach feel better?" I asked her.
"Hmmm...Jesus. Jesus would make me feel better," she said.
So I reached back and grabbed her little hand, and we prayed for God to make her feel better. After a few minutes, I asked her if her stomach was better. She thought about it and said, "No, not yet!"
Then she said, "Hey, my stomach is better." I asked her what she needed to do, and she loudly exclaimed, "Thank you God!"
Baylor played his last soccer game this weekend. We've agreed to let him quit soccer since he really wasn't enjoying it anymore. It was a hassle to get him to games with him being at his dad's every other weekend. He wants to take Tae kwon do, and UL's Potpouri offers a class that we are going to look into for him. He's pretty excited about it.

Weekends...

can be great! This weekend was a wonderful one. (How's that for alliteration?)
Friday night we brought the little ones to my mom's house for her to babysit while we went out to eat with the Donham Computer Services crew. The food was good, the company was good, and sleeping all night was good. I actually slept from midnight until about 7:30 am, which is an eternity as far as I'm concerned.
We woke up Saturday morning, ate some cereal, and then got dressed. David had bought me a gift certificate for a water massage when Dawson was born. He's six months old, and I hadn't redeemed it yet. So we went and had massages, and then walked around the strip mall for a few minutes. Our morning ended at Southside Bakery where we each had an awesome cheeseburger with grilled onions. Perfection.
On we drove to Mom's to get the kids. (Baylor is at his dad's). Nadia was having a blast playing in the dirt and planting flowers, so we visited for a while. I even got to go in the house and take a nap. Mom took some pictures (of the weekend, not the nap), so I'll try to post some.
We left there and came home. We went next door so David could help Ms. Geri with her new TV. After that we came home and went to bed.
This morning we went to church, stopped at Albertson's for mac and cheese, and are about to take our naps. I think this was just the kind of weekend I needed. Easter break is rapidly approaching, and it is definitely time for it. I'm just worn out.
We planned our family's vacation this year. I wanted to go to Tennessee to see Ruby Falls and the Lost Sea, but it just wasn't in the budget this year. So we decided to go to David's nanny's house in Houston. Houston has something called a "City Pass" which allows you to get into six of the major attractions for one very discounted price. We're planning to go to Nasa, The Children's Museum, the Houston Zoo, the Downtown Aquarium, the Health Museum, and the Natural Science Museum. I can't wait! We'll have evenings to hang out at his Nanny's pool and visit.

Another weekend gone.

When David and I were dating, we'd always sigh with contentment at the end of a weekend and just bask in the joy of an awesome weekend. We'd hang out with friends, go out to eat, talk for hours, and just enjoy each other's company.
Boy, is that season of life behind us now! I find myself longing for a chance to SLOW down and just enjoy things. With three kids and a full time job....slowing down is not an option. I feel like I'm always rushing to get to the next event. The thing is, there's nothing unimportant that can be cut to make things less stressful.
Take today for example. We volunteer once a month to work in the nursery on Sunday mornings. Today was that morning. We signed up for a Communication in Marriage class at church during third service. That's important, especially in the season of life we are in now.
Lunch. Naptime. Tonight we have small group, which is something we enjoy once we get there. David had to leave with Dawson and Baylor, and I'm sitting at home waiting for the dessert we are supposed to bring to finish in the oven. I'm also waiting for Nadia's underwear to dry in the dryer. Both are pretty important.
You might be asking, "Well why don't you just put another pair of underwear on her?" The answer is simple. There are no other clean underwear in this house. Trust me, I've looked. So they are ALL in the dryer, and we have to wait.
You might be asking, "Well, why didn't you buy something ready made to bring for dessert since it was your turn?" The answer is simple. In my brain, making a cake-mix peach cobbler sounds easy-peasy. I can do it with my eyes closed. It's good. It's simple. It's inexpensive. So why am I sitting here at 5:22 waiting for it to come out of the oven ?(Small groups starts at 5!) There's this little nugget of GOLD on Sunday afternoon called naptime, and apparently I was really tired today because I slept like I was a dead woman, and woke up at 4:22. Yes, at 4:22 I still had an unmade/unbaked peach cobbler in my kitchen.
Back from small group now. It was good as always. We're very fortunate to have the friends that we have at our church. They've been such a blessing to us in our lives.
My back has been bothering me. David asked me to lay down on the floor, and he was stretching my legs up towards my chest to stretch out my back. Nadia walks up behind us and says, "Momma, nobody wants to see your butt!" We were laughing so hard that he had to stop stretching my back because I couldn't breathe. When she realized what David was doing, she said, "Daddy. That's my momma. Stop doing that. You are hurting her!"
It's Sunday night again. Another weekend gone.

Back from New Orleans!

We took a little trip through the 9th Ward today on our way to our niece's baby dedication and baptism. It still amazes me just how much damage was done by Katrina.
Marissa is getting so big, and looks even more like her daddy than she used to. I took some pictures, and hopefully there a few good ones in the bunch. We ate way too much food, but it's hard not to when Mark's dad is the cook. I'll go back to counting points tomorrow.
We stayed in a hotel in Metairie, so it felt a little like a vacation. The four of us slept in a big king sized bed. (Baylor is at his dad's til tomorrow.)
Dawson slept from 11 pm-2 am, and then was up at 4 and 6. Nadia was up at 7, so to say I'm tired is an understatement.
Well, I'm off to bed. This time change is killing me.
Nadia and Dawson are both sleeping, which in our house is a rare occurance.