Check Out the New Digs

Okay, dear readers, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my new digs....drum roll please...and wah wah waaah-nope they're not here. They are at my totally new address (yes, I'm sorry, you'll have to change your links, your bookmarks, your RSS subscription.)


SO- from now on you can find me at

www.sarahsermons.com

Check out my new digs, I'm so excited about them!

UPDATE: If for some reason this link isn't working for you, just go to www.sarahsermons.com- that should get you to the right place! Thanks!

Mother's Day Was...

Mother's Day Was...

...Hanging out with family and friends...

...Drinking iced green tea...

...Admiring the shape of my pregnant sister...

...Drew bringing me a leaf that he picked out special and saying, "Happy Mommer's Day, Mama!"...

...Going to church and hearing a poignant message...

...Having little boys bounce all over my head, sit on me, and kick me in the face while I wish I was sleeping in : )...

...Watching Drew discover that boys don't always have to wear a shirt...

...Enjoying the well thought out words of my brother-in-law to his mother...

...Enjoying a happy cry...

...Me, falling to the floor at the hand of a pickle slice...

...Watching the season finale of Survivor...

...Soaking up the heat of the day...

...Speaking with friends I haven't seen in years...

...Enjoying meals cooked by the hands of others...

...Watching Drew's reaction to Frog-eye salad...

...a bit of a scavenger hunt..

















...that ended in a nice little surprise!...

















...spending hours after the boys went to sleep looking through songs in i-Tunes...

...Keeping Beau away from the floor fan...

...Receiving a much needed neck rub...

...Realizing how blessed I am...

Eh, Again.

I suppose I ought to post something of some sort this afternoon, well actually, early evening. The truth is that me and my whole family have been a little under the weather today. Runny noses, sore throats, sore bodies, no energy, and so on. I've been downing the echinacea so I kick it's butt before it kicks mine. I'm hoping this strategy, along with a ton of water works. Meanwhile, I'm being entertained by all of your blogs and so on...and dinkin' around with my own.

I know, I know, that post really leaves something to be desired. I promise a good one for next week when I'm feeling better. Hope you all have a fabulous illness free weekend. Oh and Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mommy-bloggers out there!

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today!
Things I love about my dad:
1. He's one good lookin' Pa Pa.
2. He's one of the hardest and most diligent workers I know.
3. He's always put his family first.
4. He plays the guitar and sings very well.
5. He made it to almost all of my soccer games, (what little number there were of them, it still meant a lot to me.)
6. He was always very supportive of any endevor of ours.
7. He threatened to break some jerk's arm for me once. (That's kind of a funny story, I'll have to share sometime.)
8. He really loves my mom, and takes such good care of her.
9. He's got a quiet, but great sense of humor that will really take you by surprise.
10. He's very mellow.
11. He fell asleep in the car a lot when I was learning how to drive. (This was a GOOD thing.)
12. He used to scare us girls after we were put to bed with his evil laugh, you know, the "BWA HA HA HA HA HA!" We always thought that was fun.
13. He's a prayer warrior, and a spring of wisdom.
14. He's modest.
15. He can ski, snowboard, and telemark like nobody's business.
16. He loves his grandsons.
17. He's very sensible and down to earth.
18. He's a Star Trekkie.
19. He always shared his plumb candy with me on the ski lift.
20. He said "yes" when Kevin asked him if he could marry me. ; )
21. And so so much more...

I love you Dad, you really are the best of the best!

A Perfect Day in the Life of Me

Well, I'd have to say that today was pretty close to a perfect day for me. I'm trying to relish every last moment of it, because they don't happen that often. Woke up this morning and chose to hold my temper with the kids which proved to improve my mood one hundred fold, (imagine that!) not to mention, the improvement in their behavior. (I knew those two things were connected...) Then I got to go to lunch, sans children, with a good friend of mine. Then we hung around at her place, where she helped me out with some new blog stuff. (Stay tuned for that, I'm really excited about it! Yay!) Then I drove the boys home. Nursed Beau to sleep and he actually stayed asleep. Then I thought it'd be a good idea to clean the bathrooms, so I started on them. Just as I was starting in, you know who started crying. I decided to finish at least the toilet, since I was knee deep in it already. I could hear Drew talking to him, and pretty soon, Drew came sauntering into the bathroom.
"Is Beau crying?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he said, "I give him his drink."
"Oh, did he stop crying then?"
"Uh huh."

So I decided to put in a movie for Drew and go check on Beau, sure enough he'd went right back to sleep. Just in case, you didn't notice: DREW PUT BEAU BACK TO SLEEP!

Then as if my kids were not already precious enough today, I came out from cleaning the rest of the bathroom and Drew was fast asleep on my bed. So cute! So I went on to clean the other bathroom, and then finish folding some laundry. (Some of you may wonder how these tasks possibly have part in the perfect day...accomplishing things like these just make me feel so on top of it...a rare thing...especially the bathrooms!)

Then hubby came home and actually genuinely wanted to know about my day...so naturally, I told him. Then it was off to pottery class where I finished up four mugs, and successfully threw a large bowl. (My arms are really going to hurt tomorrow though, that was a huge slab of clay!) Then I cam home, and nursed my little Beau right to sleep again, only with a little crying, and now I'm posting this here post...so that was my day. Not too shabby. Tomorrow it's off to celebrate my dad's birthday which I almost forgot! Happy birthday DAD! Love you!

Weekend Trip

Well, last weekend was fun. The whole family trekked over the mountains to go see my MIL graduate from college. Congrats Mom Cherry! (Am I allowed to post a picture of you?) Afterwards, we headed up to the cabin for a graduation party and a family reunion of sorts. We all had fun jamming on instruments and singing songs together. Although, I mostly chased Beau around all day, being his "damage control."
Kevin and I stayed at my cousins house, and her kids have hamsters. (Do you see where this story is going?) So I picked one up, and naturally, Beau wanted to see the thing up close and personal. Before I knew what was happening, (he is lightening quick, I tell you) he was squeezing the tar out of the thing's rear end, and it promptly let out a scream like you've never heard a hamster scream before, and then it bit him. Beau didn't even cry. His face showed only a second of surprise, and then he was onto another thing. But boy did he bleed! We were a little concerned at first that the hamster might be carrying some sort of disease. After hearing that it had bit one of my cousins kids, and she wasn't walking around foaming at the mouth, we assumed he'd be just fine. We dissinfected him, bandaged him up and he was good to go.
The night we got there we headed over to a Tex/Mex restaurant where we became one family's source of entertainment for the evening. The first thing they said when we sat down was, "Where'd the blonde hair come from? The milkman?" Then they proceeded to laugh wholeheartedly as well when they watched Drew take the top off of a pepper shaker and dump half of it into our chips...




We had fun on the way home too. I slept most of the way, arguably the only sleep I got on the trip, ha ha. The best part was stopping at a DQ and getting everyone some cherry dipped cones.

Ariel at I Forgot How Many Weeks

I think it's about time I posted another shot of her...
well here she is!

From the Mouth of Drew

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"That's not nice, honey. We don't say things like that to anyone, and especially not Beau. Beau is not stupid and you are not stupid. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Where did you hear that anyways?"

"Rockymountainpbs.org."

(And I thought I was letting my children watch appropriate TV programming!)


...and on another note...


"Gawilla, gawilla, gawilla!"

"Drew, say Grrrrr!"

"Grrrrr!"

"Now say rilla."

"Rilla!"

"Say Grrrr-rilla!"

"Grrrrr-Willa!"

Happy Mother's Day...Wouldn't You Like to Be Paid What You're Worth?

You may have already seen this if you read Peach and Pearl, but I just had to share it too. In fact this should be shown to every hard working mother. This is the validation that we have all wanted...

Ideas and Ways to be "Present" for your Kids

There has been a discussion on better parenting going on over at Rattling Around. We have all been recalling ways to be more "present" for your children, and what we really mean by "present" is more available, more attentive, listening better, and focusing better on our children. Pezmama, listed ways to be more present with her children, so what follows is my list of ideas and ways to be more present with my children. The idea here is to share all of our ideas with one another in the hopes of just helping each other become better parents, so if you have any ideas to add, or would like to do a list on your own blog, please do, and let us know so we can check them out.

* Sacrifice time on the computer for time with your kids.
* Get down on the floor with them, wrestle, throw balls with them, play their games, teach them new games.
* Start conversations with them, ask them about their day, their likes and dislikes, etc.
* Don't tune them out, listen to what they're saying to you, treat them like what they have to say is important to you.
* Encourage them to help you with your projects.
* Be more patient, don't tap your foot when it takes them 10 minutes to put their left shoe on their right foot.
* When they're watching TV, watch with them, sit with your arms around them.
* Dance and sing with them.
* Get them involved in their own projects and help with them.
* Do something with them that they like to do.
* Go for walks together.
* Schedule better times to talk on the phone, or keep conversations to a minimum.
* Don't sweat the small stuff, don't worry about toys on the floor, or, ehem...spilled milk.
* When you're angry with them, whisper instead of yelling.


So that is what I've got so far, and I will be adding if I think of more. I know Pezmama and I would love to hear your ideas so fire away!

A Meme for Tuesday

Alrighty, I have been tagged by GiBee, so without further ado...here goes....

I AM - happy, just because I actually FEEL happy for once.
I want - some brand new black shoes, and my youngest son to go to sleep.
I wish - that no one had to deal with illnesses on the earth.
I hate - movies that are just a big political agenda disquised as entertainment.
I miss - having a cat.
I hear - the washing machine, groovy music, and my son protesting his nap.
I wonder - if it is going to be nice and warm this week so I can wear some of my new summer clothes.
I regret - that I don't have enough energy to clean my bathrooms today. (But I REALLY don't.)
I am not - wearing any shoes.
I dance - better than I think I do.
I sing - less than I should.
I cry- at the sappiest, stupidest little things.
I am not always - an emotional time bomb.
I make with my hands - pottery, good food, drawings, knitting.
I write - like I talk, most of the time.
I confuse - Ethan Hawke with Christian Bale.
I need - to eat a snack.
I should - dust my tables and such.
I start - my car, the wash, exercising.
I finish - brownies, popcorn, my glass of water.
I need to tag - Allie, Jill, Mama C-ta, and Fuzzypeach

All's Well That Ends Well, Right?

Today was too much of a stressful day for me. It started off with rushing around the house trying to make it to my chiropractor appointment on time (one of the only non-stressful events of my day.) In the rushing around, I never got a bite to eat, so by the time I got done with my appointment I was one hungry/grumpy/unstable mess. Just as I was leaving my appointment Drew decided to throw a fit right there in the office because I told him he couldn't have a cookie (after he'd already had who knows how many.) This really stressed me out because it is so hard to know what to do when you have to discipline your child in public. I really didn't want to brush this episode off because he has really been acting up lately. Fortunately, my sister is the secretary at the chiropractor's so I handed her Beau and took Drew outside so I could talk to him. Even after the "disciplinary action" he was still asking for the cookie and crying that he didn't get it because it was "his", and he wanted to ask Ariel if he could have it. I have such a hard time knowing what a three-year-old is capable of understanding. Sometimes he demonstrates understanding of things that blow me away, and other times I don't know if he just doesn't get it, or he's just being very defiant. So then we proceeded to finally eat lunch, and meet up with Kevin. Thank goodness for food or I would have melted onto the floor of our Suburban in frustration by that point. Then we proceeded to Sam's Club which really went just fine, except for the 2,678,000 things Drew asked for while we were there. I don't' think there is a way curb the asking for things unfortunately, but if any of you out there have any good solutions for that one, I'd love to hear them. Then it was across the street to Wal-Mart where I not only had to finish grocery shopping for myself, I had to get groceries for my grandmother as well. So I kept Drew out of the cart this time so I could easily separate my groceries from her groceries. Well, Drew whined the entire time, pulled and yanked the cart this way and that when he wanted to go towards something he wanted, put random things he wanted in the cart, and pitched fits several times when I told him he couldn't have things. We're talking screaming and jumping up and down here. Let me tell you, people, that I am one of those people who will shy away from any public attention even if it is good. Imagine my embarrassment, when my child is acting like a holy terror! In the midst of all this, my conscience starts kicking in, asking myself questions. "Why is he behaving like this?" "Is it my fault?" "Am I not giving him enough attention?" "Am I giving him the wrong kind of attention?" "What is the right kind of attention?" "What if it's already too late?" Fortunately, I found a job for him in the grocery cart: being the wall the separated our groceries from grandma's groceries. Finding something for him to help me with, helped to keep him out of trouble. Let's hope I remember that the next time he's having a day like this. While I'm in the grocery store, my grandmother, bless her heart, calls to tell me some other items she forgot on her grocery list. I was already 3/4 of the way done. And must I mention, Wal-Mart's ability to have everything in stock but the thing that I want. So then we dropped off the groceries with grandma and went home to cook dinner. Drew was just fine after this because he was, well, asleep.
I was in a hurry to cook dinner because I wanted to make sure Kev had something to eat before his recording session at 6. When he got home, to my relief, he told me it was cancelled, at which point I began to breath again. Then he went and decided to clean the toilets, because, and I am ashamed to admit it, but I haven't cleaned my bathrooms in at least a month. Aside from the laundry, the bathroom cleaning is one of the first things I would hire out to someone else if I could afford it. However, I still felt bad that he had to go clean them. I'm thankful I have a husband that is willing to do it, don't get me wrong, but there is still some part of me that feels guilty when my husband has to go clean the toilets. So Kevin cleaned the toilets, I made dinner and everything else went fine for the evening. No complaints. (Could I complain any more?) Now I'm just watching an incredibly depressing movie, but I'm keeping myself distracted by writing this. All I have to say, is it better end well.