This was written on Tuesday, the 24th. My boys have been "taking care"  of me since Monday  afternoon when I became very cold and simply not well. Joshua had to miss his baseball practice because I was in bed and Martin had a meeting for the paper. Joshua wasn't happy.

I had actually forgotten it was my birthday until Caleb bounds onto the bed this morning saying to Martin, "it's Mommy's birthday today". Oh ya...guess it is....um, can't we skip today and the whole birthday thing? Please??? Remember the TV show "30 Something"? Well, I'm hard-pressed to actually remember my age, so let's just say it's a little more than "30 Something".

After Martin went to work, the boys were still "taking care" of me, when Joshua wants to know how old I am (hurry, get a calculator and I might be able to figure it out son!!). Then without waiting for my answer he declares I'm 25, then 23. Gotta love that boy.  Whereas my little reminder of the birthday boy, Caleb, says that I must be 100.  Um, need to work with him some more. Mommies are NEVER 100 -- trust me on this - although they may feel like 100 some days, it's NEVER EVER nice to tell them they are 100 years old.

Caleb has already put in his request for Martin to pick up some "chocolate" at Walmart for my birthday present. I'm hoping that eating chocolate will actually happen later today (and it did).

Joshua attempted to make me breakfast (yes, I was still in bed). A bowl of Cheerios with milk, a glass of milk and a bagel. The thought of all that food was, um....not appealing. I thanked him, but asked that he eat it for me. Then Caleb decides he will make me toast. He found a jar of chocolate frosting with sprinkles. Yes, I had toast with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. I attempted to share with them, but alas none wanted to share with me.

At some point Joshua says that as part of the birthday gift thing, that he wants me to have 3 boys and 2 girls. Okay, brain is a tad fuzzy, remember I was still in bed, but I don't remember being asked if that was okay with me. I guess he thought I would actually want more children as one of my birthday gifts. Then Caleb says that it would take a long time for the other children to grow up to be 7 like him. I was still trying to reconcile the "baby" times -- middle of the night feedings, diapers, spit-up.....more kids. Please understand, I'd love more children, but maybe outta diapers, please!!!

Of course the boys are continuing to be "helpful" -- well as "helpful" as they can be. They've "cleaned" the TV, mopped the floor and heaven only knows what else. There is a slightly "cleaner" scent to the house, so maybe it wasn't bad after all.

Because this wasn't posted "timely", imagine that!!!, just wanted to let you know that today is Martin's birthday. Caleb and Joshua both gave him toast with chocolate frosting. Apparently Caleb must have eaten the sprinkles as I didn't see any on the toast. Happy Birthday Martin!!!

I'm taking a moment to do a post on the kitchen remodel we did in November, right before Thanksgiving. When we moved into this house on Labor Day 2005, the kitchen counters were um, interesting. My DH seemed to like them, but I wasn't that impressed. Between the color (an ugly taupe at best) and the faux tile a previous owner attempted to do....you understand my dislike. After careful inspection I knew that the faux tile was a paint on job. Little did I know that it would be peeling off sooner rather than later.  Then there was this butcher block top as part of the counter on top of the dishwasher. It was higher than the rest of the counter and frankly I very rarely used it as a cutting board. Yes it was close to the refridgerator, but not close enough to the stove. So to me it was impractical and plain ugly. I'll spare you the ugly details of the sink and faucet.

After being disgusted for the 1000th time with the paint literally coming up when wiping down the counter, we went to Lowe's.  Armed with an extra section of wallpaper so that I could match up the wallpaper to the counter, we made a decision, after about two hours of looking. (Just so you know, I don't do wallpaper. I paint. After having to take down really, really ugly wallpaper at our previous house, I vowed to NEVER EVER wallpaper anywhere in my house. Because the wallpaper in the kitchen is okay, I'm not inclined to paint over it unless I absolutely have to.)

Picking out a simple thing as the color of a counter top about did me in. I definitely don't ever want to build a house and have 1000's of decisions to make about every little detail.  More power to ya'll that have done it.  So without further delay, here are some pictures.

The butcher block top. We actually saved this and it's very, very heavy. We have thoughts of making it into a table. We'll see if we ever accomplish that.

Can ya see the pretty (?) yellow underneath the ugly taupe?

Yup, had to put a towel down over that counter when we hand washed dishes.

Here's part of the counter demo. Thankfully the workers didn't ruin the wallpaper.

The counter and the sink are installed. Just waiting on the plumber to put in the faucet.

Such an improvement from before.

The other half of my kitchen. This picture is too light and yet the others are too dark. Yes the counters are a dark green, but they aren't black, nor as light as this picture makes them look.

In the Hermie series by Max Lucado, Hermie is the caterpillar and Skeeter is the mosquito. Poor Skeeter has a very crooked stinger. Skeeter feels his crooked stinger was obviously a design "flaw" from God. Because of this  crooked stinger, he has a terrible sense of direction and is always getting lost. Thankfully Hermie's friend Wormie reminds him that God made everything and God doesn't make mistakes.  The story is based on Psalm 139:13-14 ...."How you made me is amazing and wonderful."

While all the others in the garden are excited about Sinclair M. Skeeto's arrival, Skeeter isn't. Sinclair M. Skeeto is Skeeter's brother. They haven't always been the best of friends because of jealousy. Skeeter always believed that Sinclair was their dad's favorite because his stinger was straight. But was that really true?

Sinclair is the brother that really enjoys adventure and his mission in the garden is a treasure hunt. Much to Sinclair's dismay, only his brother Skeeter, can help him search and find the treasure.  From working together in the great treasure hunt, Skeeter learns something about his brother Sinclair that he never knew. Skeeter helps his brother Sinclair realize that God made us all different, unique and perfect in His sight.