Good Question...

Hey Laura, just to answer your question, in case anyone else was wondering, I have read the books (twice) myself. I read them first because I wasn't going to let her read them until I had checked them out. You are right about the sexual tension but she totally doesn't get that yet. She thinks I'm stupid for for talking about how cute Jacob & Edward are. And in the last book, they never talk about the actual act of sex but I warned her ahead of time that they would have sex after they were married. This still grosses her out and I'm glad :-). Want to hear something funny? Guess who else is hooked on these books? Chip! We got him to go see the movie and then he wanted to read the first book. Now he's read them all twice! We're all pathetic aren't we?

I have a question for you...

This is a question for all of my friends who love to read. Shelby loves to read as much as I do and lately she is stuck on the Twilight series. And I do mean stuck. She won't read anything else. She has read all 4 of them at least 3 times. She says she can't find anything else to read that is as good. And while I continue to agree that Edward and Jacob are very appealing, I would like for her to find something else. I am afraid she's going to be very disappointed one day when she figures out that boys don't come quite so "perfect." Ha! Ha! Ha! :) So my question for you guys is do you know of something else out there. I know that some of you teach reading/english. And some of you get to read a lot more than me, so you've got to give me some ideas.
Tonight I am glad that Cole is no longer puking. I am tired of cleaning it up and I smell like Clorox wipes!

Happy Birthday!

Last week was a week of birthday celebrations for us. Shelby turned 11 on the 12th and Chip turned 39 on the 16th. Yes, he is really 39 this year. He's not looking forward to 40 so next year may be his second 39th birthday! The weekend before Shelby's birthday, she had 6 girls over for a sleepover. It was fun but very loud. It is amazing how much 10 & 11 year old girls squeal! We only had one emotional breakdown - which is pretty good considering there were 7 girls! I am sad that my little girl is 11. She is growing up so fast right in front of me. But I also know that God has great plans for her and so I am excited to see what a wonderful young lady she is going to grow into. As far as Chip's birthday goes, his one request was that I make him a cake and so I did. It's just not as much fun to celebrate our birthdays as it is the kids. Cole's birthday in on the 15th of February and he has been negotiating his birthday plans for weeks!! And then my baby will be 9. I really wish everybody would just stop getting older! And do you know what really bugs me? Is that I sound like "old people" when I complain about not knowing where the time went! :)
Tonight I am thankful for my husband and my children and the fact that they are healthy and have celebrated another year in their lives.

Happy New Year!

Over the past couple of days I have been thinking about past New Year's. What I have done for them and whether or not I made any resolutions. There are a few New Year's Eves that I can remember growing up. A couple at church, one at a friend's house in high school, one at Food Max, and my most memorable one was in New Orleans. Since Chip and I have been married, we have spent almost every New Year's with the same group of friends from church. There are 6 couples that started out as newly married couples and now we've all been married for 12 years or more and last night there was 13 kids between us all. I always enjoy spending New Year's with all of them because I like being with my whole family. I like to have Chip and both of my kids with me at midnight. I know there will come a time when my kids don't want to kiss their mom on New Year's but for now they do and I love it!
I've never been one for resolutions because I know that I'm not very good at keeping them after January 31. I always say I'm going to eat better and exercise but if you know me well, you know I don't do that well either. The one thing I have done that motivated me the most was doing the half marathon in 2007. I have never felt so good physically or mentally. You also know that I partially tore my achilles tendon during training last year for the half marathon. I really want to do it again this year but I am also afraid of hurting that bad again. So I am thinking I am going to go really slow and see how it goes. I may not be able to run it like I want to but even if I can walk it, that would be okay. So if I am going to make just one resolution, it will be to start training slowly and see how it goes. This will make younger sister happy since she keeps bugging me to train with her again. :)
Today I am thankful for a New Year. It is always a nice way to have a "clean slate" and have a new start. Happy New Year everybody!