Speed Blogging

So, I've fallen to the ease of what I like to call "Speed Blogging".   On Facebook,  you can post your "status" and it tells all your "friends" what you're doing at the very moment.  I find that rather then thinking up blogs, I've been thinking of Status's to post.  So Then I thought, Why not take those status's and make a blog about them.....  Speed Blogging combined.   So here it goes....

starting May 1st

They always start with Christie Kay Cook Wall ......

...'s little one has strep, oh what fun, Hope that doesn't go around everyone.  *it didn't*

... is up late cleaning.. showing tomorrow... cross fingers, hope, pray, (what ever you do).. for us. :-)

...It takes me longer to load my car with all my crap that I am hiding then it takes these people to decide that they don't want my house. :-(

...s going to bed...I know you don't believe me, but I am.. really... I am. 

...is doing a showing and church solo today. Should be fun

... survived and then had butter scotch chip pancakes after church. (Liza made dinner) She's a good girl.

...said her first good bye today. :-(. Not looking forward to the good bye part, that's for sure.

...just set up Dora-pallooza, my baby is 3 tomorrow!!! Where does the time go?!?!

...just watched the Bucket List for the first time. LOVED IT !!!! Uh, just loved it!

... Is thinking that now that I have a iPod touch and can fb from my bed, I shall never sleep!

...is wishing the kids had gone to bed on time. Grrr.

...is frustrated, how can my house look like a show home at 4, and by 6 it looked like a bomb went off???

...is in a bit of a funk... could it be that my premie turned 8 my baby turned 3 this week?

...s beat... What a week. WAY too many balls in the air this week. I'm ready to slow down.

...25 showings... not one nibble. :-(

... is feeling empowered. Im going to mow the lawn more often. How rewarding, and not too bad of a work out either. :-)

...can't believe that my kids went out with a pitcher of water and some dixie cups and actually made $6!! LOL Thanks neighbors for humoring them.

...had a great mothers day... rejuvenated, now back to work :-)

...is trying to be the grown up here.... really trying.

...burned her thumb on a pop tart!! Is that really possible?!?!?!

...some days I absolutely love being a stay at home mom. :-)

...COME ON PEOPLE!!!! DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!http://www.hps.org/hpspublications/artic

les/powerlines.html

...is a stress case this morning 3 more houses in my little area went up for sale. 2 under me, one over, but has WAY more to offer then i do. not lookin good.

...Wishes she could think about something else, I keep trying... I even went shopping, that usually solves everything!

...is so busy today! Baptism and 2 showings... craziness.

...can't believe her niece is old enough to be on FB! Crazy!

...is getting a massage tomorrow at 3. :-) MMMM

... is trying to figure out why she is SO tired

...better go make dinner

...is helping her children go thru detox. Sugar sugar sugar *from Grandmas visit*

...is flabbergasted!!! Is that a real word?  *Liza told a big huge lie. :-(*

...has 67 posts on my blog roll... where have I been the last week, and how come everyone decided to blog?

...-30 grand and closing costs???? are these people NUTS?!?!?

... wants to iron, I actually have the urge to iron.... That's just weird!

...the urge has passed, now I am just lucky to have the kids in bed FINALLY!!

...just ate the yummiest dinner!!! Mmm *pork loin and rosemary potatoes*

...Is watching Twilight while she blogs.... SIGH....

...Maybe I should go to bed seeing as how it's 3 am and I am 1/2 way through Twilight for the second time tonight... Maybe that Baja Mt Dew @ 7 pm wasn't such a good idea.. LOL!!

... is looking for a place to hide...... They seem to find me everywhere!!

...has shown her home 40 times!!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE!!!!

...LOVE LOVE LOVES Muddy Buddies!!!!!

...Is HOSTING a Miche Bag Party tonight... Oreo Cheese Cake and Spicy Cream cheese dip, Hummus, and more!!! YUMMO. Oh, and the bags are cute. :-) Come on over 7:30

... had a blast!!! All who missed, missed out!!!!

...was wrong, showering with the 2 older kids home was NOT better then showering with just the 2 little ones home.... What a zoo!

...is watching her hubby and Kids examine a cows heart! *Liza's Science fair project on hearts*

..."what does sandwich plus sandwich equal?". Tori *Katie answered "Plate". Tori said "RIGHT!" *

...loves the sound of frogs @ night in spring here in MD. I hope there are frogs in TN too!!

...43 and counting.....

...just drank a lemon berry cream slush!!!

...shopped and shopped and shopped and shopped

...bought 2 new pairs of shoes...... So cute! *Great Girls weekend In PA.*

...is trying not to eat... A weekend off has proven that I am indeed stress eating.

So there you have it the month of May in Speed blog form.  :-)  It really does pretty much cover it.  

Mothers Day 2009

Mothers Day this year was kind of crazily squeezed in between birthdays and home showings.  Brent is working Trauma this month, so he has had kind of a weird schedule, so sometimes he works the night shift for 3 days.  And it so happened that he was working mothers day weekend.  He wanted to give me mothers day still, so the silly guy worked all night and then stayed up all day taking care.  (Despite my insistence that he didn't need to do it.)  It meant more to me this year then any other tho.  Just because I knew he could have blown it off and said yeah,  I'll do it another day.  The sacrifice was a gift.  During the week, when he was off work, we went to Cheese Cake Factory, my pick, for Thai Lettuces Wraps (YUMMO!!!)  That was SO fun.  The kids have never been there, so they loved it.  

Each of the kids did a little some thing to make the day special.  Liza bought me a little change purse off the "prize cart" at school.  Alex made me a card at school, and Tori did a big presentation at school.  
They did a little play where Tori was a white bunny.  "Over in the Meadow".  The kids sang songs and gave the mom's cards and butterflies full of glitter. :-) (I LOVE glitter....)

We had a snack of Dirt and worms that was actually sponge cake in softened ice cream stacked up inside a  bowl to look like a brick plant holder.  It was quite yummy.  My card from Tori was super sweet, where she told me that she loves me because I make her food.  And that I look pretty when I am going to church.  ( I love these things that they have them fill out)  So cute.  Brent gave me an ipod touch.... I LOVE it!  My ipod died... remember the xx eyes on my ipod post?  Yeah, so I am very happy to have one back seeing as how I need music for teaching.  :-)  I love the internet feature on it.  SO COOL.   

Alex is 8!!!!

I Can't believe that my little 4 1/2 lb baby is 8!!!  WOW!  It seems like it was just yesterday when I suddenly went into labor 6 1/2 weeks early.  

Here he is on day 2.  Off the ventilator, but still supposed to be in an incubator.   I thought he was the cutest baby in the whole NICU!  Never has there been such a beautiful premie.   He fought his way out of there in what seemed like forever, but was really only a couple weeks.  And although he is the skinniest 8 year old known to man, he has thrived well.  

This is one of my favorite pictures of my little man.  Really hanging upside down from a trampoline is not and was not in his nature at this time, but he was so dang cute.  And now.... He is 8!  And such a fun kid.  He loves Star Wars, Leggo, magic, scooby doo, and anything video games.  Alex is a very determined boy and gets very frustrated when he can't do something, usually he is frustrated with himself.  He can accomplish a lot because of this determination, and it is very fun to watch him do it.  He really wanted a Nintendo DSi for his birthday.  We Told him that it's too expensive for one person to give him, so for the second year, he requested Cash gifts from all the grandparents.  He pooled his cash together and with a little birthday help from Mom and dad, he got his DSi.  I kind of felt bad for him on his birthday cuz he didn't have the traditional birthday experience.... he didn't open a bunch of gifts, he didn't have a big 'friend party', but he sure seemed happy with his new toy.  His sisters bought him a game, as did his best pal Wyatt. 

For his birthday, Alex and his dad went to a hockey game about 2 months ago in Pittsburgh.  They had a fabulous time!!  Brent surprised Alex at school, picked him up early, and told him what was going on!!! Oh they had a ball, and Alex felt so special.  He however did not like the fact that he and his Dad seemed to be the only people in the whole stadium who were cheering for the Flames!  They drove home that same night, so they were out really late, but had a ball.  So the deal was that if he went to the game, there was not going to be a "Friends" party.  Something about Alex, he doesn't have a whole lot of close friends, he just isn't as much of a social butterfly as my girls are.  In the past we've thrown birthday parties where invites have gone out to 8 kids, and only 2 show, so this year, we saved him the trouble of having only one show, cuz his other pal (Micah moved to Germany).  So at the last week, I told him that I would take he and Wyatt Bowling and then have Wyatt over for Pizza and games.  All was going as planned.  Pizza was ordered, pick up at 5pm.. Ice cream cake was in the freezer, candles bought, balloons etc...
Then while at the bowling ally, we got THE CALL, THE CALL that has come 30 plus times...  "We have an agent who would like to show your home from 5:30 -6:30"  PANIC.  Here I am, 2 boys bowling, shoes on, game paid for, and a showing in 45 minutes.  I call Brent, and he gets on the Ball, then I call Jeri.  "What am I going to do??? I am picking pizza up at 5...  Can we bring it over to your house?"  And so, the party moved to the Tidwells.  We all loaded up, Pizzas, Balloons, Icecream Cake, the whole 9 yards.  (event the dog, since he can't be in the house when we show it.)  Oh yes... but I forgot the plates, the forks, the candles the cups, the drinks.  But Jeri stepped up the the plate, and saved the party.  Star Wars Plates, forks and cups.  She even had some blue candles.  (YOU ROCK JERI!!!)

We had a great time.  We couldn't have waited till after the showing because Brent had to leave for work before 6pm, so it had to be done when planned.  Even the Cake, so that dad could be there.
The baby in the back ground is Jeri's baby, so those of you far away, don't worry, you didn't miss anything.  :-) He spent the evening with Wyatt, a sleepover where they were aloud to play DS till they couldn't see straight.  They even had to find plugs that were near each other cuz their batteries wore out.  It was funny.  They were some happy boys.

A little over a week later on May 16th Alex was Baptized and became a member of  The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.  He wrote and gave a talk on Baptism that was very touching.  I know that even at his young age, this boy has a testimony.  It is so wonderful to listen to your child speak of the Savior with such love. 

Here he is with his Dad.  He is so happy that his dad has the Restored Priesthood of Jesus Christ and has the authority and is worthy to baptize him.  In our church we are baptized by immersion.  So can you imagine what I thought when the councilor in the Bishopric called me and told me that the hot water heater was broken, and my boy was going to have a nice cool baptism.  But when I told Alex..... he surprised me, he said "That's okay mom, because I will be so warm inside it won't matter."  Ah, that's my boy.
He has so much faith, it's unstoppable.  Alex has prayed for confirmation of things and has been blessed with some very telling dreams.  I am so glad that Heavenly Father hears and listens to the prayers of even the smallest child.  So the Baptism went well.  Alex spoke on Baptism, followed by his baptism.  Which he confirmed that the water was certainly cold, but he also assured me that he was indeed so warm inside that it didn't bother him.   The rest of the guests watched a movie about Joseph Smiths First Vision  while Alex got changed into his NEW suit.  (of which, I somehow ended up w/o a picture of it)

When he returned I spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost and then he received the Holy Ghost thru a blessing done by his Father.  Bishop Eric Nuss, Brother Ammon Brown, and Lincoln Tidwell, all joined in the circle for this blessing.  The spirt was so strong, there was no denying it's presence... I wish that everyone we know could have been there.  Liza said the closing prayer (which she was SO excited to do).  The whole thing was awesome.  We had a yummy Costco cake to share with everyone and then Alex got to pick a place to go and eat for dinner.  So after eating ice cream cake for breakfast (grandma got up with the kids), and then eating a little Mac & Cheese (upon my insistence) followed by 2 doughnuts (grandma).  Then the cake at the baptism cake, and the boy picks I-HOP.  RU kidding me!?!  More sugar??  So off we went.  We took his "baptism gifts" with us.   His expressions as he opened these gifts were priceless.  I am so glad that I had my camera out!!  

This one is my favorite!  This is SO perfect, I almost cried when I saw it.  This is his very own set of Scriptures. ( A King James Bible, A Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl Of  Great Price, all in one book.)  He was SO excited, as you can see.  His very own, very special book.  He LOVES reading together from the scriptures, he often is grateful in his prayers that we read together that day.  
Here he is opening a few other gifts at I HOP.  It was such a fun day!
See what I mean by his facial expressions.  :-)  What a fun kid
Alex, I am so proud of you and your decision that you made to be Baptized.  You have so much faith and you KNOW that your Heavenly Father loves you and you love him.  You love the Savior and you want to be like him.  You love to do nice things for your sisters and want so much to grow up to be like your dad.  You're tender spirit is a joy to have in our home.  I love you my boy!

Self Absorption

I've decided to save my Alex's Birthday post for when we have Baptism pictures to put with them. This post has been brewing in my mind for days and days.  It is an apology and an exploration post.  I would like to apologize to everyone who has come in contact with me in the  past oh, 3 months.  I have got myself so wrapped up in this house and the selling that I have forgotten to be a friend to others and have these blinders on to everyone else.  This month, with the 2 birthdays  in 3 days has really shown me how much more I could be doing.  I have been hiding behind my house mess, using it as an excuse to not be involved.  Yes, selling your house is difficult, and keeping it clean with 4 kids is a trick, but it is no reason to drop every ball but your own.  I've slacked on my Visiting Teaching, I've had two friends go through a very difficult time, and I haven't been there like I could have.  When people talk to me at church or otherwise they ask how it's going with the house.  I fill their ear with house crap and then walk away, feeling a little better that I've expelled some of my stress, but later realizing that I have NO idea how that person is doing.  I've done this in all aspects of my life, at the gym, with family and with friends.  This week I watched a video about an old friend of mine who has started an organization called Project Pink  this must take so much of her "spare time"  and what am I doing with mine?  My sister did a "bear crawl" up the butte, in her town to help hunger, and I wanted to donate, but didn't, kept forgetting... then the day came and went, and she put her whole heart into this climb and accomplished her goal, and I couldn't even enter my credit card number on the computer.  I am so proud of her, that would be so hard to do.  There are just so many opportunities to serve and help others, and I have not been doing any of them.  I think this may also be why I haven't been blogging, cuz I feel like I am already spending too much time on me and mine.... Anyway, just the thoughts in my head spewed out on paper.  I hope really that this post gets lost between the two birthday posts.  I am putting it up for me to have it anyway.  Just writing it makes me want to get on things.  

Katie's 3!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY KATIE

I can't even believe that my Katie is 3!  How in the world did that happen?  Oh she is at such a lovely stage.  I adore 2 and 3 year olds and am really cherishing every moment with her.  She was a cinch to potty train, and is a doll 95 % of the time.  She loves to make mom and dad happy and proud.  She isn't sneaky or sassy.  She plays so well by herself it sometimes makes me feel guilty.  She love love loves her best friend Leah.  They share similar interests and are SO cute when they play together.  Both of them, amazing at sharing, for their age!  She absolutely adores Dora!  Right now it is the Dora Saves the Mermaids that is her favorite episode, but she has also really enjoyed the "Super Babies" episode.  She got TONS of Dora stuff for her Birthday.  Dora dolls, bubbles and figurines.  A Tinker bell umbrella (cuz she does love tink) and some ponies (from leah) because the two of them also LOVE ponies.  She will play babies with Tori, but not like she plays ponies or with her Dora house.  It is so fun to listen to her play and act out the scenarios.  So cute.  Katie is hip on the big kid stuff and loves to dance with Liza to Crazy Frog techno, and "ballet" with Tori to the piano.  She also calls points out anything "Hanna 'Tanna" too.  She has taken her daddies "secrets" and will tell you "I need to tell you a secret" and then whisper "I love you" in your ear.  She will still lay down and snuggle to watch a movie but does have to get up if Dora says "Stand up! Up Up Up!"  But will come right back after she helps Dora over come her obstacle.  She also yells at and talks to the TV.  It's very cute.  She truly is this sweet people, I am not kidding you.  Okay, so sometimes she is a bit spoiled.  But as long as things are going her way... all is well with Katie.  :-)  Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!! I am so glad you are a part of our lives!

For her birthday we had a little family party.  Her brother and sisters each bought her a gift with their own $$, they really did spend their own hard earned $ on their sister.  Even Alex who was saving his $ to pool together with his birthday $ for a DSi, bought a nice gift.  

Here she is with all her loot from the Family!  She was so excited and LOVES to play with all of this stuff.  She is even sitting on  her Dora blanket.  :-)
These are the Dora Cupcakes.  She was so cute, all day she asked me if she could have her cupcake "where Dora do's this" and then she would pose like the Dora picture on that cupcake that is right in the center.  This one was her favorite!  She loved her Dora cakes.  :-)
This picture is SO Katie, I had to post it.  She is such a sweet heart.

The kids told her that she has to close her eyes and make a wish when she blows out her candles.  So she did, but she didn't open her eyes to blow, so there was much blowing in the wrong directions before he siblings advised her that it was okay to open her eyes to blow.  It was so cute.  It took a few blows and some coaching to blow at the stickers to get her to get the flames out.  Too funny. 
Her dear pal Leah was out of town on her actual Birthday, so we waited for her to come back in town for her party.  When asked who she wanted at her party she told me "Me and Leah, and Dora, and Luke."  Well, we got Luke and Leah, but no Dora.  Oh well, 2/3 isn't too bad.  She was pretty excited.  
We ran the cupcakes through one more time for the Friends and had some hotdogs and cheetos too.
Here, "Lukey" is giving her a hug, but she is far to busy with the gift he has given her to hug him back.  Then is was off to Jump Zone with her pals and sister.  They had a blast!  Even though Katie looks like a scraggamuffin cuz we are growing out her bangs, she had a great time with her pals!! :-)

One more second

We've had a crazy week... showings, birthdays and dad working night shift don't do well together.  There is a few blogs coming of birthdays and such, but today I just need to blog about a girl who we have deemed "The Birthday Scrooge".  All week long we have had to endure hours and hours and HOURS of Tori.  Her voice has been locked in complain/whine mode, and NOTHING turns it off!  This girl is so put out that other people are having birthdays and hers isn't until October.  Now I understand that it is hard to wait for ones special day, and I also understand that it is difficult to watch your siblings get new stuff and receive nothing for yourself, but the CONSTANT whining is going to drive me CRAZY!!!  We can't even pick up the mail with out a 5 minute lecture from Tori about how much it sucks that Alex got a card, and how much she wishes that it wasn't his birthday.  Seriously Friends, she is making me nuts.  I have tried to talk it out rationally.  I've tried to ignore  it,  I have tried to point out all the fun that she has gotten out of this week of birthdays, but all to no avail.  She is determined that she HATES other peoples birthdays.  Hence the name "Birthday Scrooge".  Katie has shared her toys, but Alex only got one gift and of course won't share, so until he does, I have to hear about it....  oh give me strength with this girl.  :-(

First Good bye.

Today started out normal, teaching water aerobics this morning.  It has rained like mad around here the past few days and my back yard is looking like a swamp.  (maybe we should put this in our MLS listing "Home back's onto stocked pond... fish off your own deck!!)  We have lowered the price on the house AGIAN (sigh) and so have had a few showings one sat, one sunday, and two today.  The fun today began when I had the agency tell me that I had 2 showings between 12:30-1:00.  I thought that was funny to have them both in the same 1/2 hour, but what ever.  We came home and got cozy (katie and I).  We fired up the oven to bake us up some yummy cookies.  
Yes, I know, I am old fashioned... Home baked cookie like grandma used to make.  :-)  The oven beeped that it was ready, we pulled the cookie dough out of the fridge.  And this is what we found:

My Friends and family with teenagers will likely say "get used to it".  But me and poor Katie were pretty disappointed.  :-(  I would have whipped up a batch of cookies, but I had an appointment, and didn't have time.  Luckily I didn't start because just moments later, there was a knock at the door.  "Hi, Im the agent showing your house!"  AHHH, what!?!?!  (me with DOG under my arm standing in the doorway looking shocked).  I Apologized for being taken by surprise, invited them in to look about, and ran around turning lights back on, and trying to make sure that everything was still good, while keeping the dog quiet and katie and I out of the way.  They didn't look or sound too interested.  I asked them if they had any questions about the area.. none.. Oh well. 

Then I skittered off to my Dr.s appointment.  I let my Gyn appointment wait way long (hum, 3 years since I had Katie.  :-) )  I went to see my all time favorite Dr. (well with the exception of the one I am married to).  Dr. Espisito.  He is SO wonderful, I can't talk enough about how awesome he is.  He just has the most amazing bedside manor and is so personable.  I got to ask him all my questions and chat for a little bit.  Then, he got up, gave me the low down and said good bye and walked out of the room. :-(  I choked back a tear. (that feeling took me by surprise)  I just said my first goodbye, I thought. BOO!!  I felt that the good bye was not good enough, so I was happy to see him in the hall and get a chance to shake his hand and tell him that I wouldn't see him again, but thank you so much for all that he has done for our family and for me.  What an amazing Doc.  So anyone looking for a great OB/GYN in Columbia, this guy's for you... he is well worth the wait, and yes, there is always a wait, but you get your turn 100%.  I raced home because I made poor Natalia late for her Ballet ( Jeri had my kids)  and we are off to  Chick fil a fund raiser tonight.  Yippee for not cooking.  :-)