Summer of Service

I am excited because tomorrow starts our Summer Vacation and our Summer of Service. My children are wonderful and for the most part very caring and giving but any kid gets the "I wants". I've seen this more over the past couple of months, maybe because they are getting older and there is more that they want. John and I have been trying to stress the importance of being thankful for what we have. When they complain about food that is put in front of them, we tell them to be thankful because we are very fortunate to have food to eat at all. We started the commission chores to get them to see that they can earn money for things and that all things cost. Emily goes to children's church where she takes a percentage of the money that she has earned and gives it to the church. We try to stress caring for others and giving. We have talked about ministering and sharing and serving. I was looking at another churches website about a month ago and instead of doing VBS this summer they are doing what they are calling DIRT....Disciples Impacting and Reaching Tallahassee. The children come each week for a mission opportunity where they get to serve others. I thought this was so cool. I so want to teach my children to have a servant's heart! John Daniel has this in that he loves to help around the house. He will do most any chore you ask him to. He especially loves laundry and could really do a whole load by himself if I just tell him what color to do. Emily has a servant heart in that she cares about other people's feelings. She really reached out to a girl in her class this year. This girl was in a horrible car accident at age 3 and suffered brain injuries. She has remarkably recovered well but has some issues walking and is a little slower at things. Emily was her helper and really reached out to help her walk up stairs etc. She also is really great at getting along with others and can play with two girls at a time without hurting feelings. She has always been very compassionate. BUT as all children do they act greedy sometimes, get the "I wants" and hurt feelings all the same. So to guide them and get them to practice serving, I thought it might be good to pick some service projects to do as a family during the summer weeks. This will also give us some purpose this summer. Now I can be very over zealous about planning things and sometimes I do it out of feelings of not being the best mom and trying to compensate but all the same I think it is a great idea. So instead of DIRT, we are going to call our project S.O.S.....summer of service! Here are some of the ideas that the kids and I have come up with.....

1. Bake goodies for our neighbors on both sides of us. One family is new to the neighborhood and the other family helped us some during my pregnancy.

2. Bake goodies for the EMS day shift and night shift as a thank you for serving Leon County.

3. Shop for Manna..our food pantry at church.

4. Visit and take lunch to our three sets of Great Grandparents

5. Make treat bags and take them to TMH Pediatric floor

6. Wash and Detail Daddy's car

7. Write thank you cards and make yummy treats for the church pastors and staff

8. Write thank you cards and take yummy treats to our pediatrician's office for the staff

Looks like we will be doing a lot of baking!!!!!

If you have anymore ideas let us know.

My purpose right now

I know our spiritual walks take many turns...ups and downs and bends and curves. I have been in the valleys and at the peaks where my walk is concerned. About a year and a half ago I was doing an inductive study of some of the books of the Bible. We did Philippians, and old Testament study, James and one on the Lord's Prayer. It was awesome and such a growth point for me. I was learning so much and grew a lot. I got pregnant and had to check out of life for a little while and when I started feeling better I was kind of trying to figure out what I was to do and where I was spiritually. I needed accountability and meeting together with a friend once a week worked nice until we couldn't make it work anymore with our crazy schedules and well just the craziness of life. So what now....since having Molly and spending more time with John during paternity leave and in general now that he is off during the days, I have an overwhelming desire and calling to just pray!! Not to say that I should not be growing in the word and reading God's word...actually most of the time when I am praying, I simply pray aloud scripture. I think John working nights (giving me more time alone at night and time to contemplate), my concern for his safety and the pressures that life brings forth in having a wife, three kids, a mortgage, a leadership position at work etc has brought me to my knees and makes me want to pray for John constantly. All around us couples are having difficulty in their marriages, society and the "world" seem to grow more anti-God,TV and Internet crowd our minds with impure thoughts, and it is just plain scary to me.....all I can do is pray! I have never been a prayer warrior. Praying is something that I actually have found hard to do. Maybe it is my lack of faith or my flight of thought. I mostly think it is my lack of faith in that I don't expect or anticipate God to be shown or expect that he will hear me. I instead worry, doubt, and have fear over things and situations. I have had such an overwhelming desire to pray for John that I got out my "Power of a Praying Wife". I pray out of it daily, using it as a guide. It has been so beneficial and has alleviated some worry. I am still working on truly handing all that over to God! I am telling you, immediately God answered one of my prayers...it was a small, very specific prayer and it was answered very specifically just the same. John experienced it too! I will continue to lift John up in prayer and have added to that some very specific prayers over my children as well. I think that is my purpose right now...to be a prayerful woman praying over those that I love the most! God is showing me that nothing is more powerful!

Bathing Beauty

The first time a baby wears a swimsuit is certainly a photo opportunity!!! I have pics of Emily and John Daniel as babies in their swimming gear for the first time. Yesterday was Molly's first experience in her swim wear and in the pool. As I said in the previous post, we took the kids swimming as a last day of school celebration after lunch. It is so nice having a pool nearby and one that we can go to and hang out at anytime...thanks Papa and Nanny!!! Anyways, we put Molly in her purple bathing suit and stuck her feet in the pool and she hated it! The water was so cold and it scared her. Then aunt Edi blew up a little plastic baby pool. We sat her in that and she didn't mind it as much. She still didn't know what in the world we were doing to her! Her first pool experience lasted all of about 5 or 7 minutes....enough for some cute pictures and video!

End of First Grade!

Yesterday was Emily's last day of a wonderful first grade year! We celebrate because she got to attend an awesome Godly school, she had a awesome first grade teacher and because she has learned and grown so much! We attended the end of the year and grade promotion celebration on Thursday night which was so special and so moving. Once again it amazes me that so many children can stand on stage, be attentive, and repeat God's word by heart for His glory. They sang beautifully as well! Emily loves to read and enjoyed learning the Bible, going to art class, learned 6 long passages of scripture by heart, enjoyed cheer leading, PE class, learned so many new concepts in math, made great friends, met wonderful God fearing teachers, and much much more! We are blessed to be part of CCS. John and I celebrated a great year with the kids by taking them to lunch of their choice after school and going swimming over at Nanny and Papa's house.

Memorial Day Weekend

Not much to report because John worked all weekend. I was a little bummed, especially since it was his six days on and Monday, which was the holiday, was the end of a very long six days!!!! I tried to act really pitiful and my Mom and Dad finally felt sorry for me and decided to host a hot dog cookout with just us, my brother, and Granny and Granddad Thornton. It was something to look forward to! I decked all the kids out in their red, white, and blue and we made a nutter butter banana pudding trifle together to take over to Nee Naw and Pop Pop's house. We ate and talked and got to spend some time with Daddy before he went back to work! My very bestest friend, Amanda, came over to the house at about 10:30 that night and stayed with the three sleeping kids and I went and surprised John at EMS Headquarters. My plan was to take him coffee (he had already bought himself some) and some sweets (we had already eaten sweets that night) but that didn't quite work out. He had mentioned several nights before that he wished I could come visit him like the "ole days" when we first got married. So I just showed up and surprised him and we sat there all by ourselves without any kid interruptions and talked for about an hour and a half and then I went home. I even took a shower and put make up on before I went to see him! It almost felt like a date :) And the greatest thing is that all three kids slept the entire time for Amanda and she said she caught up on her TLC and MTV news! Thanks Amanda!

Comparisons and the latest on Molly

Molly 2 months

Molly 2 months

Emily 2 months

John Daniel 2 months

John Daniel 2 months

Emily 2 months

Molly 2 months

John Daniel 2 months

Emily 2 months

Who's Who?? Could you tell without looking at the label? Yesterday was Molly's 2 month old check up and I decided to compare her weight now with what the other two kids weighed at 2 months. Then I thought it would be fun to post some pics of them all at two months. Molly got her first shots yesterday:( The doctor said she is a healthy girl! She is now really holding her head up on her own. She really likes to be up and looking around. She does lots of tummy time and actually likes being on her tummy better than being on her back. She loves the swing but hates her car seat. She likes the peanut shell that mommy wears but does not like to be swaddled in a blanket. She nurses great and takes a bottle from daddy when I am at work. She is a pretty predictable baby. I haven't figured out yet if that is because she is my third or if she is just an easy going baby. She only cries if she wants to do something different, eat, or sleep. She works up to a cry, you can tell it is coming b/c she gets a frowny face and makes grunting/coughing type noises. Then she lets out the big one and boy is she loud...she screams! She is very easy to soothe though. She is smiling now and coos when you talk to her. She loves the bath. She notices her brother and sister and likes it when they talk to her. She is sleeping approx 6 hours at night now on a good night. We are in a rhythm and I can pretty much predict our day and plan things accordingly.

Here are the stats:

Molly at 2 months: Weight--11 lbs 3 oz Height--22 inches (birth wt 6 lbs 13 oz)

Emily at 2 months: Weight--12 lbs 6 oz Height--22 1/4 inches (birth wt 7 lbs)

J.D. at 2 months: Weight--13 lbs 7 oz Height--23 3/4 inches (birth wt 8 lbs 10 oz)

Last day of School

Today was John Daniel's last day of school. We have loved Celebration Preschool since Emily started when she was 2 1/2 years old. It was a great year for J.D. He had two teachers, Ms. Nicol and Ms. Christine. They loved him very much and thought he was so cute (I know this because they told us everyday). John Daniel loved every minute of this school year. He had great teachers and met some great friends! One of his favorite friends at school was Jack Dessi. He and Jack just clicked and became best buds! They both have two sisters so maybe that was it. John Daniel said his favorite subjects were centers and playground. He did some great art work during the school year and has learned to write his name, at least the John part. He has learned songs, Bible verses, and much much more! We are very proud of our little boy! Congrats John Daniel on completing pre-k 3 with a bang!

cool present

My Aunt and Uncle that live in Miami are always very generous to John and I and our children. They have always thought of us when they travel and they travel all over the world. When my brother and I were little they started sending us each a Christmas Ornament. It became a tradition and each year I received an angel ornament (most of the time from a foreign country after one of their travel experiences) and Nic would receive a Santa ornament. We have probably 28 or more ornaments each. Something they have done for my kids is buy them a handmade stool with their name on it when they are born. As the kids get bigger they use it for everything. The big kids use it in the bathroom, in the kitchen when they help cook, in the garage to help do laundry, they use them as platforms and stages, turn them over and make them boats, they have learned how to spell their names by taking out the wooden letters, etc. They are very handy, sturdy and withstand much use! We love them. One came in the mail today for Molly! The big kids were so excited for her to have a stool like them. Cool Present Uncle Walter and Aunt Sheila!

Family traditions

Now I bet you thought I was going to write about big family traditions that have been observed for years but I am not. I am going to write about little family traditions that John, Me and the kids enjoy that are simple but memorable.

1. COFFEE--we are addicted to coffee..me because of the baby and I need caffeine at this point and John b/c of weird sleep and working nights. We make it in the morning and at night (decaf) and enjoy it with breakfast or dessert or have it as our dessert. We both just take cream please.

2. John started making these tomato bagel melts. Now on John's days off he makes me and him one. It is made with a whole wheat bagel, light butter, and toasted. Then add light cream cheese, sliced tomato, and put back in the toaster with some Monterrey jack cheese or mozzarella on it to melt. YUMO!!!! We eat this quite often.

3. Emily and I watch Dancing with the stars pretty religiously....not sure if sometimes it is very appropriate for my 7 year old daughter's eyes but I am so addicted to it. John even tunes in sometimes. I love dancing and I have always wanted to be a dancer so it is so much fun to watch to me.

4. Emily and I jump in the shower together a lot and so will John and John Daniel. Makes bath time quick and less painful!

5. Grilling out!!! We love to grill or should I say John loves to grill and I love to eat what he grills. He is awesome at it. We have both a propane grill and a charcoal grill and he uses both all the time. He has grilled everything possible and we love to try new things.

6. Watching Headline News with Robin Meade.....John and I do not get the newspaper nor do we listen to nightly news except on occasion but we like channel 38 national news in the am with our cup of coffee.

7. Watching the food network...LOVE IT. At one point we were totally addicted to it and it is getting that way again. We like IRON Chef, Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray, Giada, Paula Dean, and Alton Brown.

8. The Internet....This is mostly me but everyday I check email, my blog and look at my friend's blogs, look at facebook, and check our online banking. I go to those four sites, check them out, and I'm done with the Internet for the most part.

9. Sitting in the garage...now this sounds so white trash to me but we do it. The kids go out to play in the front yard or ride scooters and John and I crack open a diet coke and sit in our beach chairs in the garage or right outside the garage and watch them and talk.

10. LOST on Wednesday nights. This is our favorite show on TV and we rush to get the kids to bed to watch it!

11. Our walks at night...me and the kids take a walk when John goes to work. It is a good time to chill with the kids and they love to run around or ride scooters.


That is probably our top eleven right now of things we do on a regular basis. They change for seasons etc. Just noticed a lot of them have to do with TV or Eating....HMMMM??

Daddys and Daughters

Tonight was the annual Father/Daughter dance at our church. Emily, of course, was very excited. John took off of work to take her. Emily is most definitely a daddy's girl. She looks like him and wants to be with him and loves on him all the time. I have to say that my husband is the most wonderful father in the entire world. He has patience, he very seldom yells but is strict in the same notion, he is helpful, loving, kind, and involved. I tell everyone I meet that no matter what he does to make me mad sometimes, it is never over whether he is a good dad or here for his kids. He is excellent. This really shows in his relationship with the kids. They love him. He is tender yet firm! It is a very nice balance! Not sure how he "learned"this...I think it was just being around some great women growing up...his Mom and Grandmothers. Anyways, they left the house all dolled up and full of excitement. Emily and I watch Dancing with the Stars and she is always practicing her moves, wanting her and her daddy to do some of the dances...John is wonderful in the fact that he doesn't care what others think and is able to get on her level and "play dance" with her. John Daniel, Molly, and I went to spy after while. The gals at our church always do a spectacular job. They don't miss a detail. They had white lights, fancy food, punch, a DJ, a dance floor and a picture taking corner. When I got there, Emily came running up and said..."Daddy and I have a new move!" She and him did an amazing stunt that can only be seen by the pros on Dancing with the Stars...it was complete with a lift and then Emily slid under his legs and back up to her feet. Very Cute!!!! All the Dads are so great and get a very good work out I must say!!! John was sweating like a mule! The night ended with a sweet slow song and John even grabbed Molly for a twirl around the floor once or twice. Guess he will be going to Daddy Daughter Dances for quite some time seeing as though his daughters are seven years apart!

A Praise!

On Tuesday we took our sweet precious Molly to TMH to have a VCUG. This test looks at the workings of her bladder and ureters to see if she has vesicoureteral reflux like her sister did. Our pediatrician decided to call the pediatric urologist that operated on Emily and ask to see if Molly should be tested. Dr. Erhard in Jacksonville said yes. Apparently there is a 40% chance that a sibling sister would have the same problem. So we agreed with Dr. Elzie to have her tested and not just wait on a fever or urinary tract infection. We went through this test 6 times with Emily before her surgery at age 5. It is horrible. I guess not as horrible as the post op of surgery with a 5 year old but still just horrible. They first lay the child down, hold her legs down and catheterize her. They empty her bladder and then hook the catheter up to a bag of fluids and dye. The fluids and dye run into her bladder and blow her bladder up until it is full. Then they wait and when the child urinates the radiologist watches the dye and takes about 4 x-rays. The x-ray machine is on top of the child so it feels like it is going to fall on them I am sure. Then the catheter comes out. Emily had grade III (which is right in the middle of the scale of severity) on both sides of her ureter/kidneys. Most children that are born with this out grow it but Emily had not by 5 and the specialist said she most likely would not after that age.

John went in with Molly thank goodness..I didn't think I could hear her cry like that. We waited for over 2 1/2 hours to do the test. John said that as soon as they started putting the catheter in she started screaming and turned red from her belly button up. Dr. Albright (who we really like by the way...he was always great with Emily) did not see any reflux!!! Yeah! Praise God! He wants an ultrasound to look at the anatomy but that isn't painful so it won't be bad on her. So we are very thankful! And thankfully, Molly won't remember any of it!

The weekend!

This last weekend was very busy! Emily had her piano recital on Friday, Ballet recital on Saturday and we celebrated Mother's Day with the whole Gay/Thornton family on Sunday at our house. Emily performed wonderfully at both recitals! She was in tap this year so it was fun to see her do her tap dance. Videos of all performances (including John Daniel's spring play) are posted under "family videos" on the blog. It was very special to have Grandma Gay at the ballet recital. She has never seen Emily dance in person because the last 5 years she has stayed close to home taking care of Granddaddy Gay. I think she truly enjoyed being there and being involved. She also came to our home on Mother's Day. It was fun to have almost all the great grandparents and grandparents and Aunts and Uncles together. One of the coolest things was Emily and Nanny (John's Mom) doing a duet on the piano. John's mom is an excellent pianist and her and Emily sat down and played together! Emily was really surprised at how well her Nanny played and sight read the music. I wish I had gotten it on video! That was really special. My grandfather, who has been in the hospital recently, was in great shape and said he felt great. He went on and on about my food which was great for the ego! John and I love to entertain and it was really special to have our families together! For Mother's Day, I got breakfast made for me and lots of gifts from my kiddos that they did at school. The one that we all got a chuckle from was John Daniels list of things about his Mother! It was a list that him and his teacher made that asked questions and then he gave the answer like "my mother looks beautiful when"....and then he said/wrote "when she wears pretty clothes". One of the statements was "my mother likes to"....and John Daniel said/wrote "lay down".....oh from the mouth of babes......his teachers probably think I take 3 hour naps everyday!!!!! John loved it of course b/c my family is known for nap taking! And I do love to lay down! Is this all my son thinks I like to do I wonder?????

Good Friends

My kids are surrounded by really good friends. Thank you God for our sweet friends that we have! I guess most of them have become their friends because I was friends with their mommies but maybe that just shows that I have good taste :) Emily is doing her ballet recital tomorrow and as I looked around at all the girls she was talking to and excited to see, I was very thankful that she and I have made good friend choices. As she gets older,as well as my other two, I hope that they continue to make wise friend choices and enjoy the "old" friends that they have grown up with. It is so nice to have friends with the same age children as mine. Here are just a few pics of some of our great friends.

Mixed emotions and Super Duper Daddy!

Today was my first day back at work since the birth of little Molly. I have always had mixed emotions about going back to work after the birth of my children. I waited a year before I went back after having Emily (mostly because I quit my job and it took me this long to find one) and then with the 2nd and 3rd I have waited about 7-8 weeks. Now when I say I went back to work today..it isn't as if I worked a nine hour day. I left at 9:45 and got home at 2:10. It was a four hour shift. I have to say that this job is a blessing. It totally fell in my lap. I put my application in at CHP not even knowing that there was such a thing as Urgent Care or working after business hours there. I got a call the day after and the nursing supervisor told me she would hire me and take any hours I could offer her. I made more per hour than at the hospital, it is so NOT stressful and I like the people I work with. So it isn't horrible going to work and I still get to pick my hours. I hand her in a list of hours I want to work every month. I work it around John's schedule so he is 95% of the time the one that takes care of the kids. I have no minimum or maximum number of hours that I have to work. So that said, I love my job and respect the company and people that I work for. It is still very hard to leave..I cried the entire way to work today. I have guilt over it for a little while but then when I pray about it and talk to others about it...I realize that my children are left with the only other person in this world that loves them as much as I do. You really cannot beat that. I guess I really don't have to work...John and I send the kids to private schools, take vacations, and eat out so if we didn't do all that I could stay at home but I have to say sometimes it is a nice mental break. I use my brain in a different manner, keep up really important skills that help others, and it also allows us to live a little more free with our money. It has also been a mission field where I have gotten to share my faith and family values. I will continue to work 4-5 hour shifts until Molly gets older and is spreading her feedings out longer. John usually only has to give her breast milk from a bottle one time during this time. When I got home today I jumped in the shower to get the germs off of me and then crawled in the bed with Molly (John had her asleep in our bed). We snuggled and she nursed and I told her I loved her.

Now for the super duper Daddy part...I left the house today with no worries. I cried just because it was an emotional event for me but I have no concerns when John is with the kids. I left and had to tell him NOTHING. The only thing he asked was the time of the last feeding that I gave her. He knows how to feed her, how to defrost milk, which bottle and nipple to use, how to change her, how to burp her, what to do when she is crying, how to put her to sleep, where all the essentials are etc. And this is not because I have made sure of this before I left...he is a natural at taking care of our kids. It doesn't faze him. He is very relaxed. He learns by being a part of routine things. He doesn't get frustrated. He isn't afraid of babies. Poop doesn't gross him out. He naturally just seems to know what to do and he has always been like this with our kids. I seriously think he is one of the best dads I know. Today he had John Daniel and Molly. Emily was at school. Besides just taking care of the baby, he made red jello with John Daniel, cleaned the kitchen AND bathed Molly. I didn't ask him to do any of this!!! He really is amazing and he didn't even call me at work to ask questions. We practiced yesterday with a bottle. He gave Molly a bottle and I pumped while he fed her. I think he really liked it. She just lay there in his arms looking up at him sucking on the bottle. He talked to her and loved on her. She also took a nap on his chest yesterday so I think they really bonded because today she was just smiling and cooing at him. I am super blessed to have such a awesome man that is a super duper dad to my kids.

Emily's Favorite Subjects

Emily informed me two days ago in casual conversation that her favorite subjects were Art, physical education, and graphing in math. Today she came home with some really cool art work. Tuesdays are art days and she is always excited that Tuesday has rolled around. Today she won the award in art class for the best "ART MANNERS." I had to take a picture of these pieces because I loved them so much. She wanted to give the picture of the cow to her Nee Naw because she knows my mom loves cows but I wouldn't let her. I want to keep it!!! Sorry Nee Naw.

Little teacher

We cleaned the kid's room tonight and we did it really good. It looks great. I got on the phone with my mom and I could here the big kids playing school. Emily was the teacher of course. J.D. was the student. I was on the phone with my mom for like 45 minutes so they had played for awhile. When I was off the phone they were very excited to show me something. Emily says "J.D. can read!" She had been working with him on several subjects..art (they made a lion out of construction paper and said it was one of God's creations)...Bible lesson (Emily was reading to him out of her children's Bible with pictures)....and reading. John Daniel sat down on the couch and got in reading position immediately. This is the position that Emily's teacher has taught them to be in when they are reading. It includes sitting straight and having both hands on the book ready to turn the page. He read out of one of Emily's first readers that she learned on last year in Kindergarten. It was "Sam" "Matt" "Sam and Matt" "Sam sat on Matt"...that kind of book. He "read" it perfectly as his little teacher sat beside him SOOOO very proud. I am sure he memorized the pages that went with the pictures but he even got words like and and on. They were both so proud. As I took them to their room to tuck them in they showed me their school room. John Daniel's "desk" was his tool bench b/c it has drawers. Emily had even made him an art folder to put all his artwork in like I made her. How very cute, very imaginative, and very smart my children are!!!!! It is so much better than them bickering like they do sometimes!

John Daniel's favorite Commercial on TV

"Baby come back!" This is John Daniel's absolute favorite commercial. Now he acts it out with our broom here at home.