He still answers:)

Well, He answered another of my little girl's prayers in a very "Miracle on 34th Street" way, she prayed for a little sister, and that is what she will be getting this September! I am humbled by the effectiveness of such a young one's prayers. I did, however, ask that she consult with her father and I the next time she prays for a major life change.:).

He answers

God is funny.  And faithful.  And He listens.  Even if you are a four year-old girl praying with the seeds of biblical knowledge and faith, he answers.

Last summer, Justin was the project architect on "Cheetah Hunt" a new ride and exhibit at Busch Gardens Tampa.  He was gone, a lot.   A lot meaning, about 3 days a week or more, from Fall to Summer 2011 Justin was in Florida and we were in Missouri.  Hard? Yes.  But the life we will have to adapt to, because, he is an architect.  

As a celebration, we traveled to Tampa for the last week of his C.A. (Construction Administration) and for the opening weekend of the ride. It was our first family vacay, and my very first time in Florida as well as the kids'.  It was quite memorable for us all and we enjoyed seeing Dad's hard work coming to fruition.  WE also enjoyed the beaches, Busch Gardens, Downtown Disney and some much needed family time. 

Sawyer was only 2 so he loved just about everything, even the fact that the cheetahs would have loved to snag him for a snack!  And Anna, well, she loved the beaches and they left a lasting impression on her heart, so much so, that when we returned, she was in a mild state of depression.  I say that a little tongue-in-cheek, but truly, one night as we were driving home from a family friend's house on the other side of Creve Couer Lake, I started pointing out the beauty of the forest around us.  This would normally inspire Anna to some sort of nature-loving, fairy-seeking blissful state, but this time, she began to cry. 

"It is not fair, Mom!" she howled "I don't like these trees!  I miss the Palm Trees!!!! Why can't we live in Florida???"  

I giggled a little to myself, under my breath of course, and justified, " Anna, Daddy's job is here.  In St. Louis. He works very hard to provide for our family so I can be home and take care of you and Sawyer, but we need to live where Daddy's job is."  I expected my very logical, rational-beyond-her-years, daughter to give up the fight, but more crying continued into hysterics.  I was surprised and a little amused by this, not expecting such a strange parenting challenge.  I remembered, I am not her hero, God is.  As much as I want to give this little girl everything she ever wants, I can't.  So, what do I do when what I have to offer is not enough (it never is)?  Point her to God.  

"Anna,"  I calmly cooed, "when you have a problem you really don't know how to fix, what do you do?"  

"Pray to God..."  she responded.  

"Yes, and God WILL ALWAYS answer! But, he is not like a magic fairy, or Santa."

"What do you mean, Mom?"  I had peaked her curiosity.

"God will always answer you when you pray, in one of three ways.  He will 1. Say yes, 2. Say no, or 3. Say not right now, but later. So when you pray, you really have to give your request to Him, and be okay with His answer."

"But what if He says no?"  ouch.

"If He says no, which he does sometimes do, He will change your heart to be okay with it if you let Him."  

"I want to pray right now! "  she replied.  And that is exactly what she did.  She prayed that she would get to move to Florida. And if she couldn't move now, that she would get to someday, "because Missouri doesn't have any beaches, and I love palm trees."  

Now if you know me, you know how this story began to unfold.  But for those of you who don't, here it is.  

The next project Justin got work on was for Sea World Orlando.  Yep.  Florida.  And right around February of 2012, about 6 months later, we got word that Justin and our family would be asked to relocate for C.A. on this new project in May until June of 2013.  

God answers.  

My daughter, the next Jillian Michaels?

I am going through boot camp. My daughter Anna is putting me through it with the grit of an officer in the marines. It has nothing to do with physical fitness or preparedness, in fact i am convinced it has quite the opposite effect. It is sleep deprivation boot camp. She began as an infant with her ability to fight sleep like a ninja in the night, and now, after years of beautiful, sleep-trained naps, the gloves are off and she means business. All. the. time. She wakes me up every morning at my bedside usually between 645 and 700 with, " Mommy, please get me breakfast." If I delay in meeting her demand/request, the ugly cry will be an instantaneous result. I do set rules, like "Don't leave your room until the first number on the clock is a 7" but regardless, I feel ill-prepared for the schedule she is attempting to dictate. Not only does she wake me every morning, (no big d), BUT, she has completely stopped napping. She will lay/sit in bed for about an hour looking at books quietly during "naptime" (which she still calls it btw.) But her ninja reflexes and super human senses detect anything and everything I may or may not be doing during nap time. Let's face it, sometimes moms need a nap too. So, what am I to do with this new stage, but figure out how to survive? I don't know too many other moms with this problem, but I am going to need to start going to bed a lot earlier to just beat her to the punch in the mornings. Such is life:) But I am still beyond blessed to be living mine.

Somebody better save me from myself

I am a very, very clumsy person. If you know me, you know that this is not self-deprecation, but truth. I say this now, because I sprained my ankle this weekend for the billionth time, and my first reaction was to laugh, then my second, to get angry at the inconvenience I knew would ensue. I am beginning to think that objects jump into my path. This time, it was a black walnut, and I didn't just trip over it, I laid my body out across a gravel path, scraping up my hands and forearm. Jenn had to pull acorns and sticks off my back and out of my hair. Go big or go home I say! A couple of months ago it was a steak knife, an avocado pit and a new hole in between my fingers. Also, not very painful, just very inconvenient. In high school, I remember slipping on a banana peel, for real. Those things can just run away with your feet, i promise. I also was playing catch or frisbee or something after school one day and decided to tackle some trash cans I didn't see because MY EYE WAS ON THE BALL! So, what's a girl to do? If you have any clues or tips, please for the love of all that is sacred and holy, share them. I would love to live to see my 31st birthday.:)

Surviving the plague and the seesaw shark

Well, i am beginning to get stir crazy and thought this blog post was Way overdue! Just getting over strep throat, which may as well have been the black death. i have never chilled and fevered and ached more in my life. I must say my husband was Superman, or SuperMom when i needed him. He stayed home to take care of the kids while I was quarantined to our room. What a stud:) Also, thanks to all my beautiful friends who sent me facebook get well wishes! Love it!

Anyway, on this side of that dark tunnel, I thought I would share some pics we took on our trip to the Georgia Aquarium! This was my first time getting to see Justin's finished work in person and it was a total blast. First, it was the middle of the week, so right there, a 2 day vacay midweek? A-Mazing! this is the fam at the airport around 620am:) They did pretty well on no sleep.

I stink at this posting pictures thing, so i will narrate now:) The second pic is the entrance to the aquarium. It looks like a video screen, but it is actually fish swimming through a rapid current aimed in the direction you are supposed to walk:) Clever huh? Justin didn't do that. Someone else at PGAV did, but still cool. Third pic is the lobby area which houses all of the entrances to the other exhibits.

The exhibits were so modern and accessible to kids. I loved the jellyfish! Sawyer learned to say "FISH!" and do fish lips! He would run through a crowd of people to get to the front of the tank for the best spot in the house.

This is all the Pacific Coral reef. Sawyer's favorite! Then, in some other exhibits, there were tunnels for kids to crawl through. I will show Justin's new exhibits next. These two pics are of the Sea otter expansion. This is a sea otter named Gracie who was a total ham:) The kids loved it! Notice the glass on the other side, where you can get a close up view:)

Next: my favorite animal. Penguins!!!!! The expansion of the Penguin exhibit included a tunnel crawl with a pop up dome where you can view the penguins, inside the enclosure:)

Great job babe:) So cool:)

Lastly we saw a massive tank that was Anna's favorite. It started with a walk through a tunnel of water, and ended with literally one of the biggest tanks in the world. I could not get a picture of the whole thing, it was that big. The third picture shows how thick the glass for the tank actually is.

Anna loved the hammerheads and ended up bringing home an (ugly) stuffed animal of one:0) She also loved(and feared)the seesaw sharks ( sawfish) and whale sharks. She said at one point, while cringing, "I don't want it to get me!" If only she could see the video of her Aunt Meg and Uncle Josh in shark cages off of South Africa. My favorite animal of the day, besides penguins, would have to have been the whale sharks. They are really pretty in that they have these spots that look like water glimmering in sunlight. This trip was really a vacation, even though it was only like 30 hours, because Justin and I got to be "in" the ocean, our favorite place, with the kids.

Who can't be relaxed looking at this all day?

Or this? :)

I love my family.

Project update!!!

So, I told you I would keep you posted as the info about my husband's last year of work became available. Here are some links! http://www.buschgardens2011.com/ Clip 1 code is: CHASE. You can also view the teaser videos at the bottom of the page. So fun!!!

We are going to be visiting the Georgia Aquarium next week and it will be the first time I will see a finished project that my husband worked on! Watch for some fun pics of the penguins and our little ones!!

while pitting cherries...

Wow, pitting cherries looks like major surgery! I found a tip online to use a large paper clip and fish the pits out and i felt like i was removing organs and the red juice was staining my hands... Anyway, it took me a good 30 minutes to do a pound, and I got to thinking about something that happened today.

My daughter, Anna turned 3 in June and this has gotten Justin and me thinking about preschool. I had received a plethora of opinions on the topic and felt like I really needed to do my own research to see where I really stand.

I went today to a fairly new, but pretty affluent preschool nearby, where a friend of mine teaches, to get some information and they ended up taking Anna, Sawyer and I on a tour. This place was awesome! Each room had a theme based on a children's book and the lesson plans were posted on the door. These plans were described by the head of this school as being, "highly structured and highly academic." Two things we are looking for!

All this being said, the place was awesome, but probably out of our price range. The part of the day that really got me thinking, was when we were in the 4 year old room, with the kids while they were doing Learning centers. I can only assume that I was totally and completely beaming. The tour guide said, "Wow, it looks like you miss it." It, being teaching. I thought about this, and even though I miss teaching, it wasn't teaching that made me beam. It was school. At the risk of sounding like a total geek, I still must say it. School is Awesome! I love it and always have! The sense of community in a classroom, the excitement of learning and trying new things, the change of a new teacher every year, then every class period, the relationships, the playing, the opportunities to try, succeed at and even fail at, new things! I cannot wait for my little ones to experience it! I will be right beside them all the way to try and make sure they have a positive experience, and that they also learn from the tough days too.

I truly believe someday I will return to teaching, and probably teaching Spanish:) one of my passions, but for awhile, I will be content experiencing school through the eyes of my kids:)