Learning to say no...

Now you're probably thinking this is some post about a pastor's wife learning to say no to church members who constantly ask her to do this or that. Well it's not.It's about Asher.
Now he mastered the art of saying no a loooong time ago.
But this happened last night, so I just had to blog about it.

Being the youngest preacher's kid & the fact that he is absolutely adorable, as soon as Asher gets out of the car at church, people are vying for his attention. Usually, he makes a bee line to his daddy. And after he sees him, then he begins looking for his other buddy, Jonathon. Jonathon is the teenage son of our music director and he & Asher have developed a very special friendship. Jonathon plays the guitar & since Asher loves music, it works out great! In fact, they have a routine. Jonathon will play this little diddy (can't believe I just used that word) and Asher will dance & play his air guitar. Jonathon then slaps the guitar strings to abruptly end the music & Asher will say one of two things,
"do dat tang." (In Asherian, Do that thang!)
or he will say,
"do gin Jonfin!" (Do again, Jonathon.)
In fact, because of Asher, our family now says "Jonfin" instead of Jonathon, not to his face, of course.
Last night, after Awana, I was trying to round up my kids to head home. Asher, of course was with Jonfin. I finally got all 4 of them headed out the door & when we got outside, Jonfin was behind us headed to his car. He came up behind Asher, pretending like he was going to pick him up & when Asher realized what Jonfin was doing, he firmly said,
"No Jonfin, I goin home!"

And that's when Asher learned to say no. =)

Love y'all dearly!

A Whole Hand!

It's hard to believe that Caleb is 5 years old today!

Caleb,

You bring so much joy & laughter to our lives. Almost daily, I'm amazed at the things you say or do. You have a memory like no other. It's almost scary how you remember people and places. As everyone who knows you knows, you love to watch tv and/or movies. I'm afraid that I've taught you that the library is a place to get movies, not books. You also love to play on the computer.

You do like to play outside but you're such a hot natured kid, you can't stand to be outside if it's real hot. You have mastered riding Dougie's scooter & you like to ride your bike too! You love to climb & jump. You worked & worked until you learned how to skip & you know how to write your name. Just the other day, you asked me to show you how to tie your shoe, so I know it won't be long before you have that mastered too!

Even though you were old enough to start Pre-K, Daddy & I wanted you enjoy being home for a little while longer. So now when people ask you if you go to school, you tell them, "I'm home schooled." You came up with that on your own!

Caleb we love you so much & can't wait to see what you accomplish during your 5th year!

But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Numbers 14:24

That kid....

I've been posting some funny things that my kids say on Facebook & since I want to be able to remember them, I'm going to share them here.

Last Friday morning, as Dougie was getting out of the van to go to school, I told him, "do good on your tests." From the back seat Caleb yells, "Make us proud!"

We were at Walmart buying a new shower curtain rod & I was letting Caleb carry it. As we're walking through the store, he points the curtain rod towards the sky & yells, "FOR NARNIA!"

We were at Dougie's football practice & I made the comment that I didn't know which one was Dougie (they don't have #'s on their practice jerseys) & Asher says, "big bubba right dere, in da white hamet (helmet)." Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Today we were walking into the bank & Caleb says to me, "let's pretend we're bank robbers." I immediately told him that was a very bad idea!

Lately, whenever Asher is tired, he comes to me with some kind of toy or stuffed animal & tells me that it's tired. It goes something like this, "Momma, my do-eee's (doggie's)tired. He need to yay (lay) down in my bed."

I'm sure there are many more that I'm forgetting but as you can see, life is never boring with these guys!

While they were sleeping...

As you may remember, we moved into a house, that we are renting, this past January. When we first moved in, there were 2 rooms that I made some changes to immediately. I'm trying to link to the old post but it's not working, sorry.

But since then, I haven't really done anything. Although I have lots of ideas of things I'd do if this were our home but since it's not, it doesn't make a lot of sense to put a lot of money into it. But the other day, I was in the kids' bathroom and I noticed that the wallpaper was beginning to peel in several places. And I thought, "I could take down the wallpaper, use the paint I have left over from the dining room & be done with it. Easy peasy." Famous last words...

Here's some before shots~


As you can see, lots of brass and lots & lots of flowers. The thing we ALL hate most about this bathroom is the shower curtain rod. It was here when we moved in. It's plastic & brass with grooves & the hooks are suppose to slide through the grooves except that they don't! So to open the curtain, you have slide each hook individually! If I change nothing else, that curtain rod is going!



I started Monday morning by removing the wallpaper. If you follow me on twitter, you may have read my mid-morning tweet asking, "Is it common to wallpaper directly to the drywall? Sure makes it hard to remove." Yes, the wallpaper was directly on the drywall & it was not coming off easily. After several responses to my tweet, @HisHollySmith gave me some tips to help it come off easier. While the boys were napping, I was able to get the rest of the wallpaper off. My original plan was to paint immediately but because of the lack of primer on the wall, I knew I'd need to prime it first. When Steven came home Monday afternoon, I waited for him to see the bathroom but since he rarely uses this one, he didn't see it. So I decided I'd see how long it took for him to notice.

On Tuesday morning, I primed the walls, taped & painted the trim. I decided to spray paint the hardware with some rubbed oil bronze spray paint that I already had. I was too chicken to try to take the light fixture down, so this is what I did~



So professional.
I knew that if I got any of the spray paint on the wall, I could use the primer to cover it before I painted. See, there is a method to my madness.
While the boys were napping, I got the paint on the walls. Steven still didn't notice the bathroom.
On Wednesday, I painted a 2nd coat & did the touch ups.
After~

Here's the breakdown:
paint- free, already had it
spray paint- free, already had it
2nd can of spray paint b/c I used all of the other can- $3
tape- $2
new shower rod- $10
shower rings- already had but they got a coat of paint
Grand Total- $15

On Saturday night, Steven came into the bedroom and (jokingly) said, "there's something different about the bathroom?" Ha! He couldn't believe that I'd done it without him even knowing.
One more side by side before and after~

Aaaaahhhh, so much better, at least I think so.

First Day of School...

Today was the first day of school for Emma & Dougie. Emma is starting to 8th grade and Dougie is starting 5th grade. Would someone please tell me how we went from this~
2007 4th grade & 1st grade

to this 2011, 8th grade & 5th

What's even scarier, this time next year Emma will be starting HIGH SCHOOL! OMW!!

If you need me, I'll be on the couch in the fetal position!!

Love y'all dearly.

South Georgia Sand...

Earlier today, my sister texted me this picture, along with the message, "Thought of MaMa & PaPa!! Wish I could send the scent through the phone. ;)"

When we were kids, we spent a lot of time each summer at my MaMa & PaPa's farm. We would help out working in the tobacco fields, even though it sounds like something you would dread, we loved it because we got to be with our cousins. And even though the days were really hot & long, we always made it fun. Anytime we headed back to the house, we always had to make a stop by the water spigot in PaPa's barn to wash up. PaPa always had a bar of Lava soap for us to use. One thing I will never forget is him telling us to wet our hands, rub the soap on our hands and then take our hands and get a little bit of sand on our hands and then scrub away. I guess the sand worked like an abrasive because our hands would get soooo clean!

When I replied to my sister's text, I asked her if she remembered rubbing the sand in with the soap? I told her that it was a memory I'd never forget.

A couple of hours later, I got a text from my older brother. I guess my sister had sent him the picture too and he was replying to it. He said that he had bought some Lava soap a while back but that it "just doesn't work without that south Ga. sand in it."
It's amazing the memories that can be brought back just by the sight & smell of a bar of soap. My precious PaPa went to be with Jesus 20 years ago this past April but his memory is alive and well in his children & grandchildren.

11 years old!

Today Dougie turns 11!

Last night around 11pm, I was putting some dishes in the dishwasher before heading to bed and my mind went to 11 years ago. I was getting ready for bed at right about 11pm and I had my 1st contraction. I didn't have anymore until about 3:30am. At that time, they were coming regularly and we headed to the hospital. By 7am, July 26 (his due date!) Douglas Neil Englund had entered into this world!

This birthday is different because I'm not able to wish him happy birthday. Dougie is away at camp for the very first time and he is celebrating his birthday with them. It's a little weird but I know that he is having a great time. But I do miss him.

Happy birthday Dougie! You are such a great kid and I love being your mom!