Pictures

I've gotten many requests to post some pictures. So I did. Please check the boys blog for some cute pictures. You can find the link on the right hand margin of this screen labeled "my boys blog". Here is also one from the day Brian and I moved in.

Oh and by the way, if you didn't see the house before, I posted pics awhile back. You can click here to view them.
http://aprilspicer.blogspot.com/2008/04/we-have-house.html

Thoughts on Bloomington

I decided that it might be interesting from time to time to post my current thoughts on Bloomington. Over time, years even, it will be funny for me to look back and see how my views have changed, were wrong, were right, and so on. I know it's been awhile since I've written and I promised to be better. It's just things have been nuts and the kids are more hooked to me than ever. They have all this room to roam and do they want to? Nope. They want to follow me everywhere. Sigh.... So I will do my best. I have so many good pictures to post but my usb cable is in a box somewhere---story of my life. For now, here are some current thoughts on Bloomington:

-The weather rocks. I wake up to a chilled house and could spend a couple hours outside in the heat of the day without feeling miserable. Remind me of this come December.
-Grocery shopping could use some help--the girl at Kroger mocked me openly and I was not pleased with the store, prices or customer service. Sniff sniff.
-I wait expectantly for the YMCA to be spectacular. I signed up tonight and the gentleman, David, who helped me was so nice and helpful and seemed so excited to have me in his town as a newbie.
-Bugs. There seem to be large volumes of bugs here. Hmmf.
-Bloomington drivers. No one is in a hurry......ever. To my knowledge, not one road/hwy has more than two lanes on each side. Most of roads just have one. However, cool YMCA guy told me I need to start finding the shortcuts. Sure, I'll jump on that.
-Neighbors. I have met Coralee to my left and Sandy to my right. Very friendly people. While we've been told there are a lot of retired people on the street, we know there are a handful of kids. There is a 15 month old 2 houses down that Wesley could end up becoming buds with. Anton is a 5 year old next door that hopefully Noah can play with.
-Least favorite time of the day: 2-5pm. It seems like such a long stretch to wait for Brian to come home. I'm not used to this 7-5 business.
-General layout of the city: pleasing. I have ventured on a couple excursions and was able to follow a map perfectly. If you know me well, you know this is no small feat. I now know my way around most major parts of the city. I was told to avoid the campus once fall hits---too many one way streets with too many foreign drivers.
-Anticipated highlight: Farmers market. I look forward to going on Saturday. The whole town goes (not just the nature nuts. Oh wait, the whole town is nature nuts!) and families seem to think it's the best thing you could possibly do on Saturdays.
-Favorite alone moment: I've only had one. It was at a big beautiful Target tonight. I shopped alone for 2 hours and it was the coolest Target I have ever seen. Since this is a college town, they have so many cool things for super cheap. As Brian said, I guess it made up for my Kroger experience.
Dilemma of the week: We only get one trash can and they only come once a week. Now how am I supposed to make this work???

Tata for now. I'll try to post pics tomorrow if I can find the cable. Write me, call me, email me, mail me.

In Transit

Hey ya'll. I think it's funny that I just used that word when I'm leaving Texas and really didn't use it for the 7 years that I've lived here. :)

Well, our home is no longer our home and we officially signed it away to a nice family of four today. What a weird experience. I've done it once before but I was more proud of this home for some reason. It was a little harder to let go. I said goodbye to 2 of my best friends which was less than satisfactory. Cried some of my first and hardest tears. Yuck. I really wish I was the type of person that could just cry openly and comfortably and people knew me as such. But that is not the case. I feel most comfortable crying alone...even when my husband is around. I looked out the window to my right so that he wouldn't see me. He knew what I was doing and squeezed my hand. He's very sweet. But I wanted to just sob for as long as it took however, that was not the time. 

We are now at my sister's house in McKinney with cousins galore running amuck. My other sister is here with her kids as well. Noah and Wesley are having a blast and it feels quite normal to be here. Tomorrow Brian and I embark alone to IN to close on our new house and begin the unpacking process. I will fly back to TX in just a couple days to pick up the boys and take them "home". That's it. That is the end of the story, the process, the details. From then on, it will just be us....the Spicers....living in Indiana. I'll keep you posted.......

Menu Plan Monday...countdown to...........

Good evening folks. I hope you had a beautiful Sunday as we did and are winding down or gearing up for your work week---whatever that may consist of. For us, it would be our FINAL full week in this house. Can you believe that?? I can't. It's just nuts. Brian has been going around today and taking down all the shelves, pictures, etc and now the house is looking a bit bare. The movers are packing us, so none of that is going on (thank goodness!) but still little tasks here and there are getting done.

The reality is slowly starting to sink in. I hated telling everyone at church today "next Sunday is our last Sunday". Blaaaa, bleck, phooey, lamo, not cool, suck. I will miss our family in Christ more than I could ever put into words. I feel more at home there than possibly anywhere else. We have been through so much the past 7 years, and this is the most glorious time ever at our church. So many qualities of Christ are being shown constantly. I am proud and honored to call Southlake Church my church home. I feel like I know everyone and everyone knows me and my kids (and hubby of course). I could jump in anywhere to serve and never feel intimidated, I could ask favors from people and not feel awkward, I could be transparent in worship and not feel shamed.......the list goes on. Our church is comprised of young and old, baby Christians and sages. Just the perfect combination of parts that make up the body of Christ. I know that no future church will ever replace it. But I do pray that God brings us to one that rivals it. Pray with me, please.

Noah likes me to tell "stories" a lot. We have been telling them each night as we lay in his bed together. (He has a new giant bed and it makes cuddling SO much easier). Tonight I told him of a fictional character named Luke and his experience at a new preschool in a new town. Hmmmm, too close to home? The fact is I'm trying to prepare Noah at every turn for what I think he'll experience there in IN. And these stories serve as great reminders to me for my own preparation. We ended the story with a prayer asking God to provide each member of our family a very special friend. Pray with me, please.

So as I experience my last week here in TX, I did my last grocery trip to my favorite Kroger this afternoon. Boo hooooo. Good news is that they have Kroger up in IN! Woo hoo. Anyway, they happen to be running fabulous sales on meat and it was fun to try to shop knowing we have to eat everything perishable in one week. And guess who is coming to help?? My nephews and sister will be staying with us a couple days and so I shouldn't have any problem with food hanging around. I referenced this phenomenon a few posts ago. So here is my final menu plan in Texas. I hope to be up and running quickly in IN and will try to resume life as normal. But you might just get updates, stories, and pics for awhile. Afterall, everyday will indeed be an adventure. One that I pray is not too lonely and not too difficult. Pray with me, please.

Monday: pork chops on the grill seasoned with Emeril's Essence, baked potatoes, mixed veggies

Tuesday: Hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, chips, and fruit (it'll be a hit with all the kiddos)
Wednesday: Spagetti, garlic bread, and caesar salad
Thursday: Mustard chicken, brown rice, green beans
Friday: Going out with some of our best friends
Saturday: Chicken fajitas, beans, rice
Sunday: Eating up every last perishable morsel that exists in our house. Feel free to come over and help us out. :)

Swooning.........

Sitting down to dinner.
Noah: Ooo! Mama, we gotta pray.
Me: Ooo! You are right. Let's start.
Noah: Wait. I need to go to pee.
Starts running off to the bathroom. Peeks his head back around the corner at me....
Noah: Mama, I love you. Lingers and just looks at me with those beautiful eyes.
My heart melted.

We were both sitting down in the family room watching TV.
Noah: You look awesome in that shirt.
Me: Thank you, sweetie. That is very nice.

I was in the kitchen doing dishes after dinner tonight.
Noah: Man, these chairs are dirty. I gotta clean them! I'm gonna clean the table too.
Me: Thank you sweetie. That is so nice of you. You make me proud.
While he is cleaning...........
Noah: I am suuuuuuuuch a good helper Mom.

How in the world did I get such an amazingly adorable loving child? I feel like I am constantly looking around thinking, "who put him up to this??" It is just too good to be true! I'm so thankful.

i

I got this from my friend Heidi's blog. You can find her on my blog roll (Andersons).

i am: enjoying a few moments of quiet-the boys are still sleeping at 8:22am.

i know: that Jesus loves me more than I can logically comprehend

i want: our life in Bloomington to be spectacular

i have: curly hair that prevents me from having a "cool" hairstyle
i wish: that my boys wouldn't follow me around like puppies

i hate: running out of time
i miss: life with no kids sometimes (sigh)

i fear: violent things happening to me or my loved ones; and throw up
i feel: glad it is morning and eager to accomplish a lot today
i hear: my husband rustling through his papers

i smell: coffee and the unpleasant remnance of the recently used bathroom to my right
i crave: to be alone and do whatever I want for a few days with few money restrictions :)

i search:the internet way too much for deals

i wonder: what 6 months from now will look like

i regret: not being more in shape and not being more productive

i love: my family so much

i ache: for Christians to act with love to their brothers and sisters in Christ (or I guess I ache when they don't)

i care: way too much about other people's finances

i always: am dramatic---whether out loud or internally
i believe: God can do anything and Jesus is exactly who He says He is.
i dance: with Noah and Wesley in the living room every day
i sing: all the time. What would life be without it?
i don’t always: act like the wife or mother I really want to be
i write: not near as much as I used to. The written word is growing archaic.
i lose: things a lot, but I'm getting better!
i never: will understand certain things about life or certain people in this life
i confuse:my husband a lot!!!
i listen: to my Ipod a lot less than I would like to.
i can usually be found: in the kitchen: snacking, cooking, meal planning, reading recipes, etc.

i am scared: of something really terrible happening to my family.

i need: coffee, first thing in the morning!
i am happy about: our new house.....great friends in my life...my precious boys....my incredible husband...and mostly how God saved me from being the most terrible person and instead wants me to spend eternity with Him.

Menu Plan Monday

Wow! What a full week I have and it's only Tuesday! I have the pleasure of keeping my nephews for the entire day today. My poor sister is down with post op tonsilectomy. NOT FUN. So the boys are in TX for the week. I have gotten some stares as I chart around town with 4 boys. They could all be mine and it's kinda fun pretending. :) However, one thing I've realized is how much FOOD they consume! Woo. If we have any more kids, I don't know if our cupboards and fridge would be able to hold more than a few days at a time. Alright, well, here is the menu for the week. Last week went pretty much as scheduled except I ended up going to dinner with a friend using a Snuffers gift card and Brian took the boys for some much needed fun at Cici's. So we didn't do the breakfast for dinner thing. Maybe this week since I'll just have the kiddos a couple times.

Monday: Taco salad

Tuesday: Mini-meatloaves, tater tots, corn (old school meal)

Wednesday: Bean burritos and rice

Thursday: BFD (breakfast for dinner)

Friday: Out

Saturday: Macaroni & Cheese, broccoli

Sunday: Chicken Taco Soup

The inner workings of me

April thinking this morning approx 10am...

Okay, we are going to do something fun today. It's a beautiful day outside, we need to get out. We will definitely do something fun. "Noah, we are going to do some really fun things today ok?" Okay, so hmmm, we could go to Main Street days....naaa, not with Wesley, no way. We could go walk around Southlake Town Center. Hmm, not fun for Noah or Wesley. I need to be impressed with what I come up with. I want Noah to be impressed too. We could go down to the Forest Park train. Yuck, long car ride for Wesley and he is already in rare form today. We could picnic at Bear Creek park. That's not original. We have done that before. Noah would not be impressed. Brian isn't here so I want to make a unique memory. Maybe something we won't ever do again before we leave for Bloomington. Feeling restless. Walking aimlessly around the house while sort of straightening up. "Yep, we will do something fun today Noah. It's a beautiful day." Well, we could go to the opening of our neighborhood pool today. Oh man, if we do that, Wesley would prevent me from really getting to work with Noah and watch out for him. Plus, I think the pool will be cold. Starting to get agitated. Mind going 40 different directions. Wesley woke up and is really fussy. Must leave now. "Okay Noah, we need to go now. Get in the car. No, get your shoes on and get in the car now." What are we going to do? Come on, God. Give me a clue here. I have an opportunity to do something cool with my kids....show me where to go! Driving out of the driveway. "Noah, don't ask me where we are going because I have no idea yet."
Feeling annoyed. How did my mood change so drastically?? All because I have no idea what I'm going to do. But we needed to get out of the house. Yes, this will be fun. This will be a memory. Bring the camera just in case.............

We stop at Central Market to run in for some grab lunch boxes. After getting everyone loaded in the car with Wesley crying and me realizing I could have made everything I bought at home, ugh................

Bliss. Beautiful bliss. Complete with Noah saying, "Mom, thank you so much for bringing all this stuff so we could do this."

My little punkins.
The Texas sky is one thing I'm going to miss a lot.
Look at these clouds. The pictures don't do them justice.
This is the new pose Noah loves to make.

Nice face. He was munching on something he found in the grass.

Noah riding his bike on some great paths around Bob Jones Park. Our first visit to this beautiful place!

I wish so bad you could see his face. So cute. But he's posing again in front of this lake. He got to watch some people catching fish and he thought it was the coolest.

I couldn't get the little rascal to look at the camera! I finally posted some new things on the boys' blog so make sure to check it out!

My 30th Birthday party

So below is a slideshow of some pictures from my birthday party. It was an intimate group of 7 (Stephanie we missed you!) and we had a lot of fun. Many of the other girls took better pictures I'm sure. While it may look like all we did was sit around and talk, um wait.........that is what we did! While enjoying multiple mexican restaurants in the process. :) Any weight I might have lost was definitely gained back on that night. I'm blessed to have such wonderful friends and sisters. In case you don't know what they look like, one of my sisters is the only blonde/blue eyed, and the other is brown hair, brown eyed. One of the pictures is of the three of us. We couldn't look more different! IN fact, I'll post a picture right here that shows you that fact. Craziness, huh?

Okay, now here is the slide show for you. Hooray to turning 30!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com