Spaghetti PIe

Not everyone in my house loves spaghetti so I decided to try something new. I made the spaghetti, put it in a baking dish and added chicken and mozarella. "Mmmmm good" seemed to be the consensus. Now what does this remind you of?



Hint-Maddie and Daddy were trying to recreate a scene from one of Maddie's favorite movies!!

Maddie couldn't get it in fast enough

Good to the last bite

My non-spaghetti eating kid, eating every bite!

Two more weeks

I am in cheerleading hell.  I fully acknowledge that after five months I have come to the conclusion that I am not cut out to be the mom of a competitive cheerleader.  I am anxiously counting down the days of this "pre-team".  Two weeks from today and I will be free!!!

What is there to not like?  I really hate that practice takes up two nights of my week with a third going to a tumbling for cheer class.  I don't like sitting in the upstairs glassed-in observatory room that smells most days like a gym locker and old McDonalds.  I hate sitting in a room that has no lights on because some moms have decided that there is a glare with the lights on and that bothers them so the rest of us must sit in darkness so they won't miss a moment of their daughter's performance.

I am okay with the fact that I will never be a "front row honey" peering at my prodigy the entire time she is practicing.  Sitting in the front row does not make you a honey, it is all about your attitude.   Front row honey's are those mom's who arrive extra early to ensure a front row seat because they cannot bear to miss one moment of their daughter's practices.  Some days I smell lots of missed opportunity with a smattering of "I want my daughter to be just like me" in the air in the parents observatory.   The emails that I receive are filled with words like extra practice and mandatory.  Did I mention she is eight years old?

So the question to me always is, "Why did you let her do it?"  The answer is because she has wanted to be a cheerleader since she was four years old.   She worked very hard this past fall on a recreational league team and improved greatly.   So we decided to let her work on her skills by doing this pre-team.  I am actually glad that we did this pre-team because Abby will never wonder what it would have been like.  She actually said the other night, "I will be so glad when this over."

Don't get me wrong.  The gym does a phenomenal job.  They have a top-notch program with some of the best coaches in allstar cheerleading and I never doubt that Abby is in great hands. They have amazing results, recently coming home with seven first place finishes, five second place finishes and several thirds at Nationals.  This isn't your mother's "Firecracker, Firecracker, Boom, Boom, Boom."  Any person that would tell me that these girls are not athletes has not watched them in the gym.   They work so hard during practice and what they are able to do is nothing short of amazing.  Their coaches are hard core and don't tolerate goofing off and inattention.   

It just isn't for us though.  I don't have the ability to act like cheerleading is that important, it isn't.  It's cheerleading.  The hard core mom's are their own brand of crazy and I want no part.   I suspect that nothing that requires that my daughters devote all of their attention and time to it will be on my list of things to become involved in, unless it is schoolwork that will get them into a good college. 

Two more weeks, just two more weeks

Lost Lamb

Today I feel like I have beat my head against a wall again and again and again.  One of my children continues in a behavior that we are at a loss to deal with.   We have punished, rewarded, ignored, cried, screamed and still it hasn't changed.   I feel like a failure, like if I tried hard enough I would be able to change this.  I can't though.  She has to make the decision that she wants to change the behavior.  

I wonder if my Heavenly Father feels this way about me, watching me do the wrong thing again and again and wondering if I will ever get it.  And yet He still loves me.  In the midst of chaos last night I thought of the parable of the lost lamb and how the shepherd left the 99 in the fold and went out to find that lost lamb.  What powerful imagery and what a message.  When the rest of the world would say, "give up and let her go because you have others to worry about", my example is a shepherd who didn't give up on the one.  So what am I to do?

 

Happy St. Patty's Day 2009

From my Irish Girls to You.  Happy St. Patrick's Day

Oh how loved we are

I laid down with the girls last night and spent a few minutes talking with them before they went to sleep.  This is possibly one of my favorite times of day because all is quiet and the girls will often tell me things that they wouldn't tell me at any other time.  

Last night was no different.  I laid down with them, we said prayers and then I reminded them how much their dad and I loved them.  I told them that as much as we loved them that God loved them more and that even though He made the whole world and everything in it He was concerned with them and their happiness and their worries and everything about them.  Maddie finally piped up and said "He knows the number of hairs on my head, Momma."    Just a simple statement of fact and a reminder of how loved we are.

Sweet Times

This past weekend was our third annual church retreat.   I have gone all three years and loved it. It is a chance for me to connect with the ladies of our church that I don't always get to see and also a chance to reconnect with two of my best friends, Cindy and Rebecca.  Cindy and Rebecca both worked with me in the STAT Clinic when I started.  They have both gone on to other nursing positions and I miss them terribly.  This year we also invited another friend Brandy to go with us. She was so excited about "going to camp" and kept us laughing the entire time. 

I was also very excited this year because Denise Hildreth was going to be there.  She is one of my favorite authors www.denisehildreth.com .  She spoke to our book club in October of 2007 right after my dad died and so much of what she said resonated within my heart.  When I heard that she would be there I knew that I had to be too.   

I was not disappointed by the weekend.   The messages that were given were without a doubt straight from God's mouth to our ears.  It was such a sweet time as we each heard a message that was no doubt meant for us.   As I looked around and watched hearts being touched I was reminded of just how amazing my God is.   I know that I wouldn't do it justice if I tried to recap the messages but I will say that it was a weekend that won't soon be forgotten.

Our beautiful cabin

The never ending rain

My friends. Cindy, Becca and Brandy

 

On the less serious side of the weekend.......  We shopped until we dropped Friday at the Dawsonville outlets before the retreat, we laughed as we slogged through the mud and the rain to the chapel, the dining hall, our cabin and the trading post.   Friday night we enjoyed a parade of old prom and bridesmaid dresses and a slide show of people in their finery (my picture below) and watched "27 Dresses."   Saturday night we enjoyed trivia and Karaoke and let me tell you, lest you think Christian women are boring check out the video below.

Tina Turner "Rolling on the River"

Ike Turner

Jeff Hockman and I, Prom 1987

The Jeans

It all began innocently enough.   I went shopping for Abby at the beginning of the school year because she needed jeans.   I bought five or six pairs on sale at various places and called it a day.   I didn't count on the fact that Abby would bloom into a fashionista this year and that only one pair of jeans would make the cut.  They are a dark blue pair of LEI's and they are the ONLY jeans that she will wear.   She says they are the only ones that fit.   Never mind that I also bought a light pair of LEI's and they are the same cut but "they don't fit right".  My winter has consisted of washing those same jeans again and again.   Thank goodness four other people live in this house so her jeans can get washed without causing too much extra work.  

Last night she didn't have the jeans laid out to wash so I didn't wash them.  She walked into the bathroom to check her outfit with them and of course, she was perfectly coordinated in her aqua top and black and aqua polka dotted bow and the jeans-the very dirty jeans.  Apparently, they still look good even with all kinds of ick on them.   I made her take them off and I gave her another pair of jeans which looked exactly the same I thought and she muttered something about "looking stupid" and went to eat breakfast.  

I didn't think this was supposed to start so soon.   On an up note at least her tastes have not gotten expensive since I found the LEI's at WalMart for under 15.00 and I know what to buy for next season as long as she doesn't change her mind (yeah that will never happen!!!).

Abby in "the jeans" during our first snowfall

Abby in "the jeans" on the playground

"The jeans in front of my washer.  Their home every single night!

Let the games begin

We are now in full swing soccer season.   Last Fall the schedule didn't seem to overwhelming. Maddie practiced on Wednesday nights and one of our friends took her along with her little girl.  We then met up after I got off work and had dinner together with all of our kids.   Saturday mornings we had a game and then we were done.

Everything changed this season.   First off, the two older girls decided that they wanted to play indoor soccer in January and surprise of all surprises, they were both pretty good.  They both wanted to play Spring soccer and so Bud and I said fine and signed them up along with Maddie. I then realized that Abby's cheer schedule, that I thought ended the first week of March, doesn't end until the first week of April.  To make things just a little more interesting, Bud decided that he would coach Maddie's team this spring and also get back into reffing soccer games.  Do you see where this is going?  I have become the mom I said I would never be.  The one who runs from practice to practice.   Here is what the current schedule looks like:

Monday- Abby cheer practice 5-7 and Destiny soccer practice from 7-8:30

Tuesday-Abby soccer practice 7-8:30

Wednesday-Abby cheer practice 5-7

Thursday-Abby tumbling for cheer 5-6 and this past week soccer practice 7-8

Friday-Destiny soccer practice 6-7:30 and Maddie soccer practice 6:30-7:30

Today our schedule was 

8:00 Bud left house with Destiny so he could ref an 8:30 game.  

8:30 I packed the cooler with drinks and snacks for the day, showered and got the other two in game gear.  Bud begins reffing.

9:25 Left the house 10 minutes late to get Abby to her field for her game at 10:00

10:20 Bud arrived at Abby's game to watch her 

10:45 Bud took Maddie and Destiny and left for Maddie's game

11:00 Abby's game ended and I realized that I had forgotten the drinks for Maddie's team in the fridge 

11:25 I arrived home, grabbed drinks and left for Maddie's game

11:30 Maddie and Bud's game started

11:55  Arrived at Maddie's game, hauled cooler, snacks, drinks and chair down to field

12:00 Destiny headed to her field for her game.  Thank goodness it was at the same park as Maddie's.

1:30 All games finished and the tired Gamblin's head home

The bad news is that no one won.  The good news is that they all played excellently.   Today was Destiny's first day ever on a regulation soccer field and no one could believe it.  She did absolutely incredible.   Abby played the entire game as forward, not coming out one single time.   Maddie scored one of two goals in her game.    The smiles on their faces and the knowledge that they were out running and having a good time and not sitting at home watching television was well worth the crazy morning.     The only thing I forgot.......the camera!   Pictures next week I promise.

Monday it all begins again!!

Winter Storm 2009

When Bud and I lived in Ohio snow was a part of winter. You didn't necessarily like it but you knew that it was coming sometime during the winter. It is what you got used to.

This is our old house in Ohio. I still miss our friends and neighbors there.

View from our sledding hill

Abby was 3 1/2 in this picture. We got 2 feet of snow right before Christmas and I still managed to get to work the very next day at the hospital.

Now we live in the South and in the South snow is a very BIG deal. Even when 1-3 inches are predicted. I laughed when I turned on the TV and heard "Winter Storm 2009" with almost continuous coverage of the impending "storm." We left for church and I realized that the snow was a big deal down here because NO ONE knows how to drive in the stuff. I found myself getting very cranky and yelling which probably isn't the most Christlike action, especially when you are headed to church and three sets of impressionable ears are in the back seat. The girls were so excited when we left church and there was an inch on the ground and the parking lot was slushy, never mind that not a bit was laying on the roadways. By the time we got home, the snow had turned to rain and the kids never did get to play in it beyond the few snowballs they threw at each other in the church parking lot. We never got more than that inch in our neck of the woods (don't I sound very Southern?) but we had a good time pretending that it was coming down as we ate our soup and grilled cheese sandwiches next to the fire.

The girls and I in front of our church

Bud and the girls in front of the church

The girls with their obligatory funny picture

Oh well, there is always 2010!

P.S. Mom,
I only let the girls wear jeans to church because the weather was so miserable!!!