The kids have said some shockingly funny things lately. Please know that you are warned if you are offended very easily.

You know those people that you see out in public and you think, "Why, I would never....!" Yup, we are now those people you would say that about. Last night my friend Joia call to see if we'd like to join her and the kids at the mall for dinner. (Tuesday night is kids eat free at Chick-fil-a and they ride the carousel for free.) We'd never been before and keep meaning to go. We immediately jumped in the car and headed on over. Brandon was going to be a while and didn't mind us abandoning him for dinner. Now, picture what we look like... no makeup, old jeans, old sweatshirt, Sophie wearing one of Christopher truck shirts that's 2 sizes too big and her hair is everywhere... I was just glad I didn't have to fix dinner so I didn't care. (We fit right in at the mall at night.)

We get there and it's crazy! People everywhere. Thankfully the kids were a little intimidated and stuck to me like glue. We get in line for food and then find Joia and get a table. Once we are finished the kids can't wait to ride the carousel. Throw food away, get our stuff together and I turn around to see both of my children lying on the mall food court floor dragging themselves along it. I almost vomited right there!!! To say I was mortified is an understatement. Joia said, "Do you need a wipe?" I was thinking that a blowtorch was needed to kill all of those germs. I yell at them to get up and off the floor, to NOT touch anything and slather hand sanitizer all over them. How gross is that?

Then we head over to get in line for the ride. I've got my two kids and Keenan with me and they were perfect little angels and waited very patiently. (So proud!) We get all the way up to the gate and are first in line for the next ride. I start asking the kids what they would like to ride on and Christopher says, "I like the orange tiger!" I told him it was his. Keenan wanted a horse and thankfully that was right next to the tiger.

The sweet lady opens the gate and two little boys behind us dart in front. One to the left, the other to the right, the same direction the tiger is in. He tries to climb up. Now, normally I would stop and help him because he's too little to do it himself. BUT he's cut in front of us AND is getting the one thing my child wants and waited very patiently for. I sternly (and gently) told him that my child was waiting to ride on the tiger and that he had cut in front of us. He thought about it for a minute, got down and walked to try to find something just as exciting. No luck. I put the kids up on their rides and look up to see that the little boy is sobbing. SOBBING!!! I made a little boy cry. He sobbed throughout the entire ride!! His mom comes up and asks him what's wrong (while the carousel is going around) and he yells, "Somebody made me get down!!", he turns around to point to the tiger and I'm just praying he doesn't point to me for the long line of parents to see who had done this to him. I see Joia, next to the boy's mom, and she makes a sad face, until I mouth that I'm the one who did it. She dies out laughing and points at me. Thankfully the boy's mom was very sweet and told him he was fine and could ride it next time.

We didn't ride it anymore. We distracted the kids by getting a free ice cream (if you don't open your kids toy you can return it for a free ice cream-- ask for the cone, you get more ice cream!) and then we parted ways. It was time to go home. I'm not sure if I will go back. We might. I'm not a fan of the mall at night anyway, the crowd is, how to I put it, a little different than the day crowd. But we had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out and do something with a friend. Thanks Joia!!

I'm totally thrown off as to what day it is. Brandon was on call all day Saturday and when he got home Sunday morning he wanted to go up to Montgomery to spend the night. I had my whole Monday morning planned out because it's the only day I don't have both kids with me, but I never do things spur of the moment like this so I agreed. We were packed (in one bag, yeah!!) and on the road in an hour.

A friend of mine from church emailed everyone to ask us to pray for her brother-in-law. He is in Afghanistan and yesterday after a routine patrol his vehicle ran over an IED. The explosion left both of his legs severely injured and he has a spinal fracture. They have spoke to him and he is being cared for, in stable condition and will be moving to Germany and so forth for further treatment.

My friend is a wonderful and gentle and sweet woman and I am so blessed to have come to know her through S.S., Bible study and MOPS. I ask that you please pray for this man and his family as they are going through this challenging time. I can only imagine how they must be feeling right now. I know they will be strong and rely on the Lord for whatever lies ahead, but that doesn't mean they need any less prayers sent up for them. There is also another mom I know through church who's husband just left for a year long deployment about a week ago. She has two children that he is home schooling right now and I know she could also use your prayers as well.

It makes me nervous for when the day comes that Brandon will have to leave us due to deployment, but that is still over a year away. But we signed up for this and it's part of our lives. It's been in the back of my mind because it seems so far off. Let's not forget to keep praying for those who are facing it now.

A couple of you have asked how it was going now that we don't have cable, so I thought I'd fill you in. I love it!! Every now and then I have the desire to fall into the couch and watch something mindless, but I just grab my book and feel so much better because I did. I have never read so many books before and felt so good after reading something.

I also started back into Bible study and I'm really, really enjoying it as well. It's called Conversation Peace and it's so perfect for this time of my life. I've been finding myself so frustrated with the day to day and know that the kids and I are yelling at each other more than we should, but just didn't have that inner peace to help me change. Maybe I was being lazy or stubborn because I wanted to be right and for them to magically listen, but well, that's just stupid.

After just one week I find myself being happier and speaking to my children in a much happier tone and they are returning the favor as well. We still have our struggles, like Christopher giving one word commands because he thinks it's funny or Sophie just saying no because she doesn't care what you want or think, but I'm more patient about how I handle it. Funny because I find myself being more strict with them now too!

I think the best part of cutting cable is I don't have to listen to it when I go to bed. I hated turning it on, but sometimes it was just so easy to check out what silly show was on or how much a house costs in another country that I knew I'd never live in. So, I'm loving it. We listen to music more and the kids are playing even more than they did before and we are having more fun playing with them. A friend of mine wrote on her blog that we tend to think of our children as being in the way and that's not how we should see them or treat them. It really hit home with me because I knew some days that was how I felt. I truly enjoy them so much more now than I ever have before. I'm sure some of it has to do with the ages they are and that Sophie can play more every day, but I think it's because I'm not trying to look around them to see something stupid on television and I'm spending more time in the Word. It feels good!

Now, if you could only see what those two were up to while I was typing this. Sophie's bed has been moved to the middle of her room and Christopher found an old cookie dough scoop and used it to throw a plastic golf ball in the hall. Sophie would retrieve it and bring it back to him. Those two. Always up to something!

It's funny how things work isn't it? Here I go posting about things that haven't even happened yet and guess what, they aren't happening. We went out last night and had a great time. We had dinner the two of us and met our friends for the movie. We saw The Blind Side and I HIGHLY suggest seeing it! It was fabulous!!!!

This morning we woke up and Christopher felt very, very warm and stayed that way for about 2 hours. We decided to not head out of town due to him telling us repeatedly that he didn't feel good. He looked and acted like it. I took his temp, but I think the thermometer's broken b/c every time we took anyone's it was lower than the time before. I think I registered about 93.3 degrees at one point. (Is that even ok?)

So he and I cuddled on the couch for a few hours and Brandon took Sophie to breakfast. They came home with doughnuts and that perked the little guy up. (I truly believe he didn't feel well even though the doughnuts made him better.) After while, we went to the BX to get new cartridges for the printer and new phones for the house. We lost one of the ones we had and I think the one that was left is the one that got left out in the yard during a downpour. We never really liked them anyway. We got one kind of like Grammie's at Christopher's request. Not sure how he knows or remembers, but since all phones pretty much look alike we went with it.

Then we wandered to the toy section and picked up a few more Legos. We got the firetruck ones that also make a boat. The little man and I couldn't wait to get home and get to work. I don't mind that the pieces are little, but you do lose them and well, when you have an army to build there are never enough Legos to go around. I've thought about buying the same ones we have so we don't have to keep taking them apart to make the other suggestions they have.

Everyone just got quiet, it is nap time after all, and I'm going to join them. Hope you have a great weekend!