Going to Gatlinburg

For the millions of readers that my blog receives each day, I am sorry to inform you that it will not be updated for at least 4 days. I know, it might be hard to carry on throughout the next couple of days without your daily dose of the Alma life, but you must "carry on." Because I will be going to Gatlinburg with my best friend, Niki. No, that was not a typo. I said my best friend, Niki. I did not say Eric, Blake, Luke, Jakeb, or Kaleb; I said Niki.

In case, it's still not clear. I will be going out of town tomorrow for four glorious days without my husband and my four sons. It will be a girls weekend out! I'm pretty pumped and excited. Now, while the excitement abounds, there is some concern in the corner of my heart for Eric. I mean, four boys six years old and younger. Two of which, he must have school with in the morning. So, if you remember, please say a quick prayer for him and the boys.

This trip is long overdue. When Blake and Luke were born, we started a thing where I would go out of town for one weekend by myself. Well, we lost that along the way. I haven't been out of town without children and husband for over three years. (Unless you count 2 overnight ladies' retreats....) And two birthdays ago, Eric promised that I could go anywhere in the continental US for one whole week. Well, I'm only going for four days. I might save those other days for another occasion.

Anyways, I'm off like a wedding dress. Try not to miss me too much.

2 new haircuts

I've been wanting to cut my hair forever, but the past couple times that I've gone to get my haircut have not been enjoyable at all. In fact, they've been downright awful. So I was a little nervous, but determined today that I was gonna get it cut. I dropped my kids off at my mom's house, and went up the street to the beauty college where I was greeted by a plethora of hair stylist who had good hair. (My theory is...."if they have cool hair, they can cut hair cool".....so far, my theory has held up) Anyway, I told her I wanted it above my shoulders in layers....blah, blah, blah. And this is what I came home with. She cut it and straightened it.

I LOVE IT, by the way!! It's been looking pretty wild and crazy for such a long time, that I actually feel almost stylish now. I swear I lost 5 pounds getting it cut!

WEll, I went back to my mom's house, and of course the boys didn't like it at all. They don't do well with any kind of change like this. But that was okay because I loved it, plus they are 6 and under. What do they know.

I ran up to Meijer after I checked in with my mom if it was okay if she watched the boys a little longer, plus I wanted to show her my hair. ( She didn't even recognize me at the door at first.)Okay, so I left for Meijer and then came back to be greeted with this: Luke's new do. He cut his hair. He says that he doesn't know why he cut it, but I think it was because he didn't like my hair, so he retaliated. He was very upset because he thought he was gonna get in trouble. I told him that I didn't care what he did to his hair, but if he ever touched his brothers' hair with scissors, then he would get in trouble. I told him that we would have to cut his hair like a soldier's haircut. And he insisted that he could just wear a hat all the time.



Obviously I couldn't leave it like this, so after Eric saw it and we at dinner, I took Luke downstairs and did this to him!

Pirate Blake

Just wanted to post some cute pictures of Blake and his Pirates of the C aribbean gear. We cut off the dreadlocks that came on the bandana because "boys don't have long hair." What's really funny is that I took these pictures, and then about 15 minutes later I looked at him and yelled at him for wearing navy blue pants with a black shirt. I didn't even notice it for the pictures!!! He looks like a pirate bruise.

Blake's birthday

So today was Blake's, my oldest son, birthday. I can't believe he's 6 already. Yesterday, we were going to go to the Renaissance Festival, but it rained. SO instead, we went to Chuck E. Cheese where we were greeted by a 30 minute wait for a table, and possibly pizza. So the boys played for awhile and then we went to Chilis instead.
Today, we had church, and then for his birthday he went to a Cincinnati Reds game with his dad and brother, Luke, and with Roy, a family friend. Then after church tonight, he finally got to his cake and birthday presents. He was pretty patient about waiting. He was also VERY EXCITED to get his presents. Usually he has a theme for his b-day like Spiderman or HULK or Dath Vader, but this year he got a little bit of everything. It was a Knight/HULK/Superman/Pirate birthday. Let's see what did he get: a pirate of the carribean dress up kit, a superman cape, POC's Will Turner, a Disney activity/coloring thing, Peter Pan DVD and math game from Niki, a Peter Pan coloring book, a bone book, a game from Baba, a little knight from Great Grandma, and $$$$ from Eric's parents (which he bought 3 toys with that too). Wow! Now that I type it out it sounds like a lot, but if you look at the picture it's really not.





The superman cape almost caused a dilemma. When we went to put it over his head, we couldn't get it on. (All my kids have huge heads.) He then proceeded to throw a little fit, and Eric sent him to his room. Bless his little heart. He got in trouble for having a "big head." Then we realized the the cape actually has a clasp on it, so everything was fine.
This is what I got when I tried to get him to smile when eating his cake. This was one of many, many poses I got from him eating his cake.

COPS

Yesterday, I decided to go to Walmart before I went to work. I had tried to take a nap. There was nothing on TV. And I definitely didn't feel like cleaning. So Walmart, here I came! As I was pulling into the parking lot at Walmart, I see these crazy flashing lights behind me. I literally looked around because I couldn't think of a thing that I had done wrong. The cop proceeded to turn on his brightest of all lights, get out of his car, shine a flashlight into my car's backseat and frontseat, and asked for my liscense and registration. I looked at him and said, "What did I do?" expecting to hear that I was speeding even though I knew I wasn't. Maybe I had a tail light out or something. Do you want to know what he told me? He told me that I had an illegal use of lanes because I didn't use my blinker to pull into Walmart's parking lot!!!!!
What in the world? I almost started laughing right then! He went on to question me. "Is there any reason to believe that you've had anything to drink that might influence your driving.?" I answered, "Nope, never have drank." (You could tell he didn't believe the "Never" part.) He then asked me, "Is there any reason to believe that there is a gun, knife, illegal something, or a DEAD PERSON in your vehicle?" I actually smirked and said, "Not that I know of." This whole time, he is beaming his flashlight in my backseat like he's looking for something. I look in my rear view mirrow, almost get blinded, and realize that there is another cop there now. What in the world?
He told me to pull further up in the parking lot so that we wouldn't block traffic. So I did, and then I waited. He must have checked my plates and liscense, and ran a background check because he took forever. I actually called Eric and told him everything all while the light is still shining blindly in my car. I really thought that my next phone call to Eric would be my "one phone call" from jail with the way they were acting. Eventually the cop comes back and tells me that he's just giving me a "COURTESY NOTICE" which isn't even the same thing as a Warning." All the while, the other cop is touching my car and using his flashlight to check my car again. SERIOUSLY, what would I have had in my car that they wouldn't have found the first time? PSYCHO! He must have had a car that met my description that had done something wrong. I mean, come on! Who pulls someone over for not using their signal especially when it's 12:15 in the morning!!!!
Anyway, and that was that. Twenty minutes later, I walked into Walmart to browse the toy aisle for Christmas/birthday presents for my kids.
Insane, completely insane!

a Die-Hard Bengals fan

It's football season, and being a Bengals fan around here is a big deal. Obviously it's a really big deal to some. I saw this car the other day when I was up in Middletown visiting my mom. Gotta give the guy credit. He even decorated the inside and himself for the Bengals sake!

Presidents

So since, Blake wants to be President of the United States when he grows up, he obviously fascinated with Presidents. And while he is fascinated with Presidents, I'm going to take full advantage of that. We went to the library the other day, and he begged to get some books on his favorite Presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. When he found the section on Abraham Lincoln, he went a little crazy. As I was pulling them off the shelf, he kept grabbing them. As the pile continuted to grow in his arms, I found a book on George Bush. He grabbed that last book and put it on top of his mountain of books, and then he started KISSING the books exclaiming, "I'm so excited about these books!"

When Blake grows up....

Blake came up to me the other day, and asked me if I knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He proceeded to tell me that he wanted to be the President of the United States of America and chase the bad guys. Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big!!!

Ps. This stems from our history lesson the other day about 9/11; so see, he's listening in school!

Sadness in my house

I almost cried last night. My dishwasher stopped working yesterday morning. I figured that when Eric got home last night, it would be a simple flick of a switch and it would start working again. WRONG!!!! Eric worked on it for over an hour, took it apart, put it back together, and sadly said, "It's dead." causing me to mourn the loss of my dishwasher. It was supposed to be with me forever. It's a Maytag. They're supposed to be the best. I feel betrayed and sad all at the same time. It will be hard, but I must say goodbye to my dishwasher and become the dishwasher. Goodbye automatic; hello dishwater hands. It builds character, right?

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Blake and Luke had their second and third soccer game this week. One was Wednesday night which we could only stay for half of it because of church. It was a muddy game. The field was wet and full of puddles causing some of hte kids to have a great time jumping in them. Anyway, Blake got the ball, and was dribbling it down the field. No one was around to take the ball away. He was doing great....until he slipped in the mud and fell right into a puddle. He was not impressed. He got up, did a monster stance trying to get the mud and water off, and looked at me and said, "EWWWWWW!!!" Everyone erupted in laughter especially me. IF only I would have had my camera. (Of course, the one time I forget it is when I really needed it. Blake even asked me if I got a picture of it.)

The next game was Thursday, and about 3 of the players never showed. Okay, well one of them did, forgot his cleats, and refused--I mean, really refused-- to play. So the boys got to play the whole game. I got a lot of action shots this time. They had fun. Shoot! I had fun watching the kids run everywhere. Luke was thrilled that he actually kicked it past this "big kid" on the other team. (Click on the pics to see them close-up.)

Different Strokes

I loved this show as a kid. I really did. I loved Gary Coleman as Arnold. Shoot, when he was running for governor for California, I almost wanted him to win just because he was Arnold.....(but then another Arnold won.) His famous quote was priceless: "Whatcha talkin' about Willis?" It made me laugh everytime. I mean, they could have taken everybody off the show except for Arnold (oh, and that little white headed maid that they had one season), and I still would have watched that show. So, guess what I did. I found season 1 on ebay for $8, and I bought it. WIth shipping, it was $11.50, I think. I'm a little embarrassed about it, but also so excited to re-watch it. It probably won't be as funny as I remember it, but I know that it will make me smile at least. Maybe the boys will even like it. I hope it gets here soon!!!!!!! In the mean time, I'll probably going around humming or singing the song......
"When the world don't move to the beat of just one drum.
What might be right for you, may not be right for some....
A man is born, he's a man of means;
and along come two they got nothing but their dreams,
but they got DIFFERENT STROKES today,
DIFFERENT STROKES today, DIFFERENT STROKES to the world.
Everybody's got a special kind of story;
everybody got to shine;
and no matter that you got not a lot, so what....
They'll have theirs;
you'll have yours;
and I'll have mine,
and together we'll be part if it takes
DIFFERENT STROKES to the world,yes it does.
It takes DIFFERENT STROKES to the world. YEAH!

PS. What's really sad about that is that I typed it all from memory. It's the DIFFERENT STROKES them song. Gotta love it!

What would I do?????

"What would I do?"
1. What would I do if I won a million dollars?
Pay off bills
Buy a new house
Give a lot to the church
Send my kids to a CHristian school
Get ERic a Hummer
Pay off my mom's house or buy her a new one.
Save the rest.
2. What would you do if you have no children?
NO children? I wouldn't even know how to act. I couldn't imagine my life without them, but if I had to...I think we would simply just travel more and have a SUV instead of a mini-van. Oh,and obviously I would be working too.
3. What would you do if you are the president of the United States?
I don't know that I would be any better of a President than Bush is. I'm not too into politics. I'd love to completely ban abortions and gay marriages, and I'd love to kick some terrorists butt. Oh, and get rid of the whole stem cell research thing.
4. What would you do if you skip a meal?
Skip a meal??? Oh my word, I might die! Just kidding. I usually always skip breakfast except for my cup of coffee.
5. What would you do if you are in your ideal weight?
I would obviously be skinnier.
6. What would you do if you could meet anyone you want and who would that be?
If we're talking movies stars, then I would still not mind meeting Julia Roberts or Jennifer Garner. THey are my two favorite actresses.
If we're talking anybody else famous..... I have met most of the scrapbook celebrities, well all the ones that were famouse at CKU in '03, so I haven't met Cathy, Ali, Elsie, or Donna yet. That would be pretty cool. And, recently I've read a couple of Lisa Whelchel's books, and she would be pretty cool to meet too.
7. What would you do if you are famous?
I doubt that would ever happen, but if I was famous, I would try to stay private and mysterious.
8. What would you do if you are a "scrapbooking celebrity"?
I would love to teach classes or write a book and sign autographs at CKU. (That sounds pretty sad, doesn't it?)
9. What would you do if you could change anything in the world?
I already answered this witht the President question. I would stop abortion and same-sex marriages. They are both sooooo wrong.
10. What would you do if you don't scrapbook?
I'm sure that I would spend more time cleaning my house. lol! I would seriously probably find some other sort of creative outlet maybe.

So thoughtful

Luke went out to get the mail, and brought these back to me. Such a thoughtful kid. Gotta love him! I really loved the picture of his hand, and how it shows he's still a little boy with grimy little hands and dirt under his fingernails. Never thought I would think dirt is cute, but I find it adorable. I hope he never grows up!

Kaleb's pout

This is what Kaleb does when he doesn't get his way. I think that this time I had only told him he couldn't climb on the bleachers at the soccer game. Have you ever seen those craft dolls that look like this? Those are what he reminds me of. I'm gonna upload a picture when I get my scanner hooked back up. Oftentimes, he throws himself on the floor and cries also, but I think that the ground was too wet for him to want to do that this time.

Mangled

So this morning while I was still in bed, half asleep, Kaleb came into my room. He tried to hand me my glasses that were on my night stand next to my bed. I simply said, "No, put them back," and then rolled over. BIG MISTAKE!!! I actually totall forgot about the whole incident until about 45 minutes later when he brought them back to me....LIKE THIS! (I think that I failed to mention the reason I had to buy new glasses is because Jakeb broke the other ones; the same ones that Eric rescues from down the toilet after the older boys flushed them down.)
They were mangled so badly that part of the lens was coming out. I was pretty upset, since I just got them a couple of months ago. Plus it meant that I had to wear my contacts which I just don't like wearing anymore. They hurt my eyes. I wore them half the day until my eyes couldn't stand it anymore, and I told Eric that I had to go to Walmart to see if they could perfom surgery on my poor glasses. Well, Guess what! Walmart can work miracles! The lady, although very grumpy, fixed them within seconds. It was amazing.

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Blake and Luke's first soccer game.

Well they had their first game today. They were so adorable out there. They each were able to play 2 quarters each. Blake played goalie one quarter. Luke was bummed because he didn't get to play more. It was quite funny to watch all these little 4&5 year olds running around kicking the ball. One little girl was so excited when her grandma arrived that she ran off the field to give her hugs right in the middle of the game.

Blake said that his favorite part about the game was trying to get the ball from the other team. Luke's favorite was running through the tunnel that the parents formed at the end of the game. They lost their first game, but I don't think they even realized it. The score ended up being orange team 2 and green team one.

(BTW...Luke is on the left, and Blake is on the right.)

Scoring for all the games:

game one - orange team 2/ green team 1

Game two - purple team 0/ green team 1

Game three - blue team 2/ green team 0

Game four - red team 3/ green team 0

Game 5 - maroon 1/ green team 2

Game 6 - missed, not sure

Game 7 - Orange 2/ green team 1

Game 8 - Blue 0/ green team 0

Game 9 - red 1/ green team 0

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

As I sit here and ponder what to write this quote from John the Baptist keeps popping in my head. I was reading my Bible the other day (John chapter 3), and towards the end of the chapter there were some people talking to John the Baptist. These people were bothered that there were now people following after Jesus Christ instead of after John the Baptist. He simply answered and said that, "I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him." John knew his place in this world, and he did his job well. He tried to prepare the hearts of the people for Jesus Christ. He went on to say, "He must increase, but I must decrease." I find it awesome that John realized this, and that he was actually cool about it. I mean, if it was me, I would be a little grumpy that I wasn't in the "lime-light" anymore. But John wasn't. He knew his role for this world. He did his role exactly like God the Father wanted him to. I can only pray that I will do my role likewise. I pray that He will increase, and I will decrease.

Goodbye, Scrapbook room!

Well, it's goodbye to my scrapbook room as I know it. The room in the basement where my scrapbook stuff is keeps on flooding. Nothing too major except soaking carpet and moldy walls. So we've decided to rip up the carpeting. There's nothing we can do really about the leaking, so we've decided to pull the carpet up, clean the floor up some, and then paint it. That way, if it does leak, it'll be able to dry completely without the wet carpet and mold. So, like I said it's goodbye scrapbook room for awhile. It's going on a little vacation since I have to get everything out to pull the carpet up. (What also stinks is that I lose my computer too for a couple of days.)

Ode to my scrapbook room.

How I love thee, my scrapbook room,
Let me count the ways.
I love thy brightly colored walls,
and the over-abundant supplies.
Thy ribbons make me smile,
and thy papers cause me glee.
How I will miss thee, dear scrapbook room...
while thy carpet must flee.

The Barr's - my brother's family

I didn't realize how much I missed this family until I went to see them! I love them so much. It was such a refreshing visit. Believe it or not, I was able to reflect on my family by observing theirs. God is totally the center of their house, and it shows in every area of their life. They love each other sooo much. The kids aren't perfect, cause, come on, what kids are? But they sure are sweet and fun. My boys loved being with them. Michael and Stacy have been married for 12 years, and, believe it or not, are still madly in love with each other. I love being around them. I am so going back to see them in the spring. Spring break, here I come!

PS. Don't tell my brother I said any of this....I'll deny to the end.

Kaleb's personality

1. This is Kaleb screaming my name in the car, not crying...just yelling it.
2. This is Kaleb's joy when i turn around!
3. This is Kaleb pouting when I look away!
4.This is Kaleb peeking to see if I'm looking again!
5. And this is him smiling again when he sees that he has gotten my attention again! He won!

He's so bad and so spoiled. But he sure is cute!

2 Places finally visited

We went to IKEA!!!! We went while we were visiting my brother. It was so cool. I can't wait until 2007 when ours is supposed to open up. I couldn't believe how HUGE it was. I was so overwhelmed, and I love the fact that you can drop your kids off for 30 minutes of free baby-sitting while you shop!!!!!

On the way our of the D.C. area, Eric stopped at Caribou coffee for me. We have them here, and I've been wanting to go. I was a little nervous to spend that much money on coffee and then not like it, but....it's just as good as Starbucks!!!