Boots & Bathing Suits

This picture was taken this morning - I tried on a 24M swimsuit and it barely fit - I guess she'll need a bigger size for this summer.. the boots were her idea :o) ha! This reminds me of stuff my sister would wear when we were little!!











Now this one..
GEEZ! I was eating chocolate icing on graham crackers last night, real healthy, I know! and she desperately wanted to have a bite.. this is what happened!









Earlier this week it was pretty warm outside - so I let audrey play in a big tub of water with some toys - she loved it.. it kept her occupied for so long!

Know His Ways and we'll know ours

Charles sent me this online devotional this morning. The timing is perfect, since we had to discuss and decide some details about our move last night. We thought the deal would have been "sweeter" than it turns out to be and we are trying to figure out some financial things with his HR dept... it is just so hard to know what to do:

Though the Bible never uses the word guidance, it does speak of a Guide. We may seek guidance, but God provides something better—himself. Many of us struggle to understand and discern God’s guidance for our lives. We ask questions like: Should I marry or not? Should I marry this person or that person? Should I have another child? Should I join this church or that one? Which profession should I follow? What job should I take? Is my present line of work the one to stay in? Herein lies the major distortion of knowing and doing God’s will. Does God lead and direct in these areas? Yes. Does he come out and overtly tell us what to do? Rarely. So how does God guide us? Consider these principles: God’s guidance concerns itself more with our steps than our overall journey. God’s guidance is more preoccupied with the present than with the future. God’s guidance has less to do with geography and more to do with morality. God’s guidance is more interested in our character than our comfort. God’s guidance is not insider information. God’s guidance is that we pursue the Guide more than guidance. In seeking God, his plan will be revealed. His way will lead back through his Word. If the step is more critical than the journey, and the present is of greater consequence than the future, and the Guide more essential than the guidance, what is needed? We need to know the right step to take. We need to know what we must do in the present. We need to know the Guide. God does not guide us magically; he guides us relationally. Therefore, the Bible must be studied so we may become acquainted with the ways and thoughts of God. God’s aim is that we become his companions who walk with him. He already knows us. Now he wants us to understand and know him. The more we understand him, the more real our relationship will be with him and the more likely we are to keep in step with him in the direction he is taking us.

Pee on my Keys

Last Wednesday, like every other Wednesday, Audrey and I went to church for bible study and in addition to my regular cup of coffee, I had an extra helping at church... Now being in the usual hurry to get home afterwards, I delayed using the restroom at the church like I should have - since our drive home is about 15 minutes. I was speeding to get home ASAP and by the time we finally arrived I was in pain! Audrey likes to do as mommy does and tries to unlock the door with my keys, I usually patiently let her try and figure it out but this time, I picked her up, grabbed her hand, shoved the keys in the door, turned the knob and ran in, leaving the keys in her hands. We have been trying to stir up interest in the "potty" so she usually follows me in there and points to the potty and gets all excited.. On this particular day she was a little frustrated with me for zooming past her in such a frenzy to get to the "potty." As I sat I took a deep breath of relief; I made it! (I seriously thought I was going to wet myself)... and in walks the very irritated Audrey. She rared back and said "NO!" with both arms flying - the threw the keys in just the right spot as they flew past my crotch and into the toilet. Now, I had been "holding it" for so long I just couldn't stop myself from peeing.. it was just going and going.. my first instinct was to retrieve those keys - so i reached down thinking that I was done - and out came more pee.. ok - now I'm peeing on my own hand -GROSS! I couldn't just flush the toilet without getting my keys, who knows what would happen - so I reached in again, scooped them out and thoroughly washed them off and my hands really well - and much to my amazement, the keyless entry STILL WORKS!

Change

View Larger Map

Big change is coming along for the McManemin Family.

Charles' 18 month assignment is up and we have been diligently praying for a clear path for him to take with his career. God has opened a door for him and he has decided to walk through it ~ I really don't know how to say this; except to just say it.. The new position requires us to relocate.
The Good News: it is NOT overseas (thank you Lord!)
The Bad News: it is over 14 hours away (according to google maps).

As of April (yes, just weeks away) our new home will be in Greenville, South Carolina. I have been quietly emotional this week -putting up a strong and supportive front for him and to our friends so that I did not let the 'cat out of the bag' before the appropriate time. He called me at 7:45 Monday morning and excitedly broke the news to me... I was very quiet, listened to all he had to say and gave him a secretly tearful, yet peaceful, "congratulations, I'm proud of you."
Everyone knows how happy I am here - honestly, I would be perfectly content living here forever. Currently, we only have a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive to see our families... we have a WONDERFUL church where we have met so many incredible people... especially our nearest and dearest friends: The Browns, Chapmans, Careys, Leflars, Reeves and Stanfields. I am involved in so many different things like Women's Bible Study, MOPS (mother's of preschoolers), Sunday School Class, Tuesday play groups etc etc.. the list could go on and on - the point is: I feel a sense of belonging here, moreso than any other point in my life. My selfish emotions tell me to make him drag me there kicking and screaming and complaining all the way - But my christian duty as a wife is to CHOOSE to be supportive and accept this change with a smile and most importantly to TRUST in our Lord that He'll provide all of that in our new town. My attitude has already been decided: that I'll support and encourage him as the leader of our home ~ and as long as the three of us are together, everything will be okay.


Psalm 56:3 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

Prayer Please

Please pray for my cousin and his wife. She is 30 weeks pregnant and went into labor yesterday. They were able to stop the contractions; however she is already a centimeter dilated and her cervix is thinning. They have an active 10-month-old at home (yes the're gonna be close brothers!) and she is going to be on bed rest - which can pose a real challenge since she stays at home with him. Please just pause right now and ask the Lord to place His mighty hand upon their sweet unborn little boy, Henry. Ask that he allows Henry to grow and develop enough in her womb so he will be strong and healthy at birth. Thank you fellow warriors - I appreciate it.

Crawfish Lovers

Easiest Ever Crawfish & Corn Soup

2 Tbls. oil, butter or margarine

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

1lb peeled cooked crawfish tails (in seafood frozen section) rinse and drain them

1 (10oz) can Rotel

2 (10 oz) cans cream of potato soup

2 (17oz) cans cream style corn

2 (17 oz) cans regular whole corn (drained)

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

3Tbls. fresh parsley (optional)

3Tbls. fresh green onions (optional)

Heat oil in large heavy pot, add onions and saute' until tender

Add crawfish & cook about 3 minutes

Add half-and-half and all the cans of stuff

Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes

add chopped parsley and green onions if desired.

(If it is too thick, just add some regular milk to it)

*I made this tonight and forgot the two cans of whole corn; you couldn't tell - We loved it :)

Enjoy!! It's Delicious!

Calling all Whiners

Charles called tonight to give me the usual "30 minute head's up" that he is on his way home from work and could hear the extremely loud and annoying whining coming out of his sweet and precious little darling daughter tonight... He wanted to talk to her, (like she was really in trouble - you know that you are in big trouble if daddy has to get on the phone, right?!) ha ha :) anyways - it didn't phase her a bit; she liked hearing his voice.

My dining room = Our "hobby lobby"

I wanted to share with y'all our Super Sunday Sewing Night. We weren't very productive this time, but we had lots of laughs! We were all trying new patterns - which was extremely challenging for us "apprentice" sewers... bottom line, no one knew what they were doing! :) we got the giggles all night because our creations left much to be desired! :) After about 11:00 delirium set in - but we had a blast just laughing at ourselves and with each other.

• "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." Proberbs 31:25

I came across this verse today and thought to myself, "Good thing she's clothed in strength and dignity - because what I made didn't come out so good - and if 'she' was wearing what I made - then she'd definitely be laughing at the days to come!"

James

At church we are doing a series on the book of James - If anyone is interested in hearing about this awesome series you can click the logo to listen to or watch any of the sermons.. pretty cool!

Be Mine

Today Audrey had a couple of "firsts" on her second Valentine's day. She kicked off the day with eating her first real bowl of cereal. I say "real" because she had her own bowl with Cherrios and milk (she usually just eats out of mine). I never allowed her to have her own before because I just had visions of milk flying all over the kitchen - but today I said, "What the heck?!" and she did great! Ate it like a normal grown up human being.. So I totally underestimated her!
Another "first" for Audrey was this painting - her sweet friend, Allie, gave her paint for her birthday and I haven't been brave enought to do that with her either until now. She did pretty good with the exception of throwing the paintbrush on the ground over and over again -and that was enough of that.

Audrey had a few friends over to celebrate this Valentine's day and while the kiddos were playing, the mommies were making chocolate covered strawberries for the daddies. I think we made about a hundred! Lots of fun~ Happy Valentines Day ! (Here is a picture of Jennie dipping some strawberries for her hubby, Matt.)

Food for Thought...

Hey friends!

It was my turn to bring food to play group today. Mexican Lasagna was my choice and people seemed to like it... I had some requests for the recipe and the easiest way to get it out there is through "the blog." I usually don't make it from a recipe, but for some reason I already had it typed and saved on my computer. I was super surprised to see how much the recipe has changed since Audrey has come along. This recipe has "evolved" into something much simpler - to fit my life.. Either way is good. This is the one I made today:

Makes about 6-8 servings
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1/2 can refried beans
Mexican style cheese shredded
1 can chopped green chillies
Sour cream
Pico de Gallo

Preheat oven 350
brown ground meat, drain,
add taco seasoning, 1/3 cup of water & can of green chillies,
let sauce thicken
line 13x9 dish with tortillas, sides too!
Then layer these:Refried beans (spread not too thick)
ground meat mixture
cheese
another layer of tortillas
refried beans
ground meat mixture
cheese(top with green onions – optional)
bake for about 30 minutes until cheese bubbles
let casserole rest for about five minutes, top with sour cream & pico de galloand Serve! (it is good served with corn)
ENJOY!

I hope this helps my playgroup pals!

This is a test... only a test :o)

I'm having an interesting day - Audrey decided we are going to have a "no nap" day. We ran errands this morning, came home to eat lunch and routinely she goes down for a nap at 1:00... well, not today! It is funny really, because I was just talking to one of my friends, Christine, and I said to her, "I'm really trying hard to not let Audrey's mood determine mine." hmmmmmmm.. I know God heard that and I'm starting to believe this is a little test... She has been crying nonstop for about an hour - I even went ahead and got her out of the crib, gave her a snack and turned on Elmo.. usually a sure fire way to get her "happy." As she cried through it all, I decided back to bed she goes.
(I needed to "post" again to see if I enabled comments correctly; I've had some requests for the comment thing to be fixed - and since I'm really not the best at this blogging thing... I'll see if it works.) Alrighty fellow bloggers.. I got it to work.. the problem was in the template - i just had to double click on the big box that says "posts" and check the box for comments.. YAY!

Mad at Dad

Ok.. So I expected a little different reaction from Audrey when her daddy came home yesterday afternoon. At first she squeeled with excitement (which was expected), but then she just started acting all crazy. A little frustrating situation for me because I WAS excited he was there, but I had to deal with strange behavior issues - issues that were not at all present when daddy was "bye bye." She repeatedly hit him, hit herself, made ugly faces at him and was just down right nasty towards him. Could she really be mad at him for leaving for that long? How strange that she can comprehend so much at such a very young age... Prime example: at this very moment she is trying to crawl in my lap saying, "UP! UP!" my response is, "go play with daddy" - her response, "NO!" Seriously?! I know kids bounce back quickly - but I hope this just blows over in a day or so..
Last night she coughed a ton and Charles was up in the middle of the night (he is still on Middle Eastern time) He is exhausted - but I think those two need a little bonding time, so I'm going to church and I'll leave those two here to make nice..

Seventh Heaven!

God sent me a little gift this morning from across the street - TWO seven-year-olds wanting to
play with my Audrey!! WOOO WHOOO! I've gotten so much done trying to get ready for Charles' return. Having not seen him in two weeks I've gotten those cute butterflies back in my stomach (you know, the ones you got when you are dating and you see their name on the caller ID or when you are getting ready for those first few dates...) I just want the house to be perfect - a nice dinner on the table, Audrey to be rested and happy and last but not least, I want to look cute too! A tall order when you have an 18 month old who just wants to play - sweet girl. So, much to my surprise - God sent over these two precious 7-year-olds and I have gotten EVERYTHING done all before naptime! Well, except I'm not cute yet - but I'll get there :) Addison, Kaylee and Audrey played babies, cooked in her play kitchen, read books, played house outside and made countless trips down the slide... The girls were so sweet all playing together. Audrey really thought she was "big" like them!

Get Silly

So I guess I'm officially a blogger :) HA! I never would have guessed this, but I'm so glad that I've taken the "plunge." Mainly for my own records of this sweet season in our lives... I just love this age of Audrey and I don't record enough memories as I should - so this is my attempt.

If you know my child you clearly understand the choice of my title for the blog... While she has her undeniable prissy side she is the roughest and grossest child you've ever met. I mean that in the most loving way possible - God made her this way and I really couldn't imagine her any different - I love her just the way she is! The combination of the two really balance her out and keep us laughing. This picture is one of her prissy moments as we were taking Easter pictures.

I am looking forward to how much "fun" she'll be this Easter and finally being old enough to participate in things like Easter egg hunts. I have very fond childhood memories of Easter holiday activities - like dying eggs (which she will not be doing this year! ha! what a mess that would be!) and that we'd always make cookies and decorate them easter-ish... Now that I'm thinking about it and knowing my mother, it was just an excuse for her to eat cookies with icing - one of her all time favorites. We also used to go camping every year and our Easter baskets would be waiting for us early in the morning. I would literally eat my self SICK on candy - I remember one year I actually threw up chocolate in my sleep... I see where Audrey gets her grossness from... woops.

I desperately hope all kinds of memories and traditions for Audrey and future children. We (Kari and I) had a blast living the 'simple life.' Life was at a slower pace then - we didn't have the best of the latest and greatest toys or clothes, but we didn't know it. My clearest and absolute best memories are the times when mom and dad dropped everything going on around them and got silly with us - really played hard. Many times during the week I catch myself filling up my days with so much stuff... her countless trips in and out of the carseat, when really - her happiest moments are right here at home when I will drop everything and get silly.. that deep belly laugh never gets old, it is music to my ears - I just love it.