Moss Family

Update on Little Philip

2012-01-23T14:02:00.002-06:00

Happy to report that Little Philip's MRI showed no evidence of tumors in his brain! He does have some tumors in his neck, in the same place where the tumor was previously removed but Dr. Rutledge says that they are superficial and are not threatening. So, we will leave them alone since removing them just makes them grow back. We are so thankful for all the prayers and thoughts of all of our family and friends. We have really felt your love and support these past few months.So what happens now? We see Dr. Rutledge every six months from this point forward to monitor any changes in his current tumors, or any other new growth or concerns related to his Neurofibromatosis Type 1 diagnosis. He will have another MRI in another year to make sure there has been no tumor growth in his brain. Dr. Rutledge says she has about 200 pediatric clients and she can name 15 of them. All the others are routine visits with no complications other than what initially resulted in an NF1 diagnosis. So our prayer now is that we will be one of her 185 clients for the rest of our son's life.Thank you again!

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-19T15:16:00.002-06:00

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More Surgery and Update on Little Philip

2011-12-07T12:08:00.001-06:00

Helen had her tonsils and adenoids removed this morning, marking our third family surgery in less than twelve months. She came through like a champ, and is resting comfortably in her mom and dad's bed right now. We know the next week will be rough, but we've allowed plenty of time for cuddles, extra attention, and patience as she fully recovers. We hope this will help her sleep through the night since she never has, even in the womb!

In other news, we did hear back on Little Philip's test results today which confirmed that he does have Neurofibromatosis Type 1. We will be scheduled to see Dr. Bruce Korf in January to learn more about managing this condition in our son. He will have a brain MRI to rule out any major concerns or, at least, be aware of any concerns that may need to be addressed. Again, there are far worse diagnoses we could have been faced with as parents, so we are trusting in God's timing and plan to help us discern how to approach this as symptoms present themselves in throughout his life. He is a perfectly healthy little boy, incredibly smart, with the biggest heart you've ever experienced, and the best friend any kid could possibly have.

Little Philip's Surgery

2011-10-17T15:38:00.001-05:00

Little Philip had neck surgery on September 12th, where an ENT removed what we thought was swollen lymph tissue that had not gone down in size after over a year. Some of you may recall that he had a surgical biopsy last December 2010 where the first swollen node was removed. At that point we were told that the pathology came back as "nothing" and all blood work since we first became concerned about the large size of these nodes has also come back healthy.

Dr. Woolley, our ENT that performed the surgery, contacted us to let us in late September to let us know that the pathology results on his tissue revealed a neurofibroma benign tumor. This kind of tumor is not malignant but is a nerve sheath tumor that can indicate a condition called neurofibromatosis. Dr. Woolley sent us to meet with a pediatric geneticist that next week.

Due to the confirmation of the neurofibroma tumor in his neck, as well as the observation of several cafe au lait birthmarks, we were sent to Children's Hospital to complete the blood test that provides a 95% accurate diagnosis of either NF1(Neurofibromatosis 1) or Segmented Neurofibromatosis . Dr. Robin, our geneticist,said that it is highly likely that we will receive a positive result that Little Philip has one or the other of these. If that is the case, then we, as parents, will be tested to see if one or both of us is a carrier. If either of us test positive, then they will test Helen as well.

The good news - we have ruled out Neurofibromatosis Type 2, which has more severe complications since the tumors with this disorder tend to show up on the brain and spinal cord. We are thankful that this is not the case for our son.

Also good news, no matter where you are in the country, the blood test for NF is sent right here to Birmingham in the genetic lab we visited today. We are blessed to live in the city with the best NF specialists.

Bad news - We will not know the results of the blood test until the middle of November. We are seeing an ophthalmologist in mid-December to examine Philip's eyes for lisch lesions on the iris (benign, do not affect the sight, but are indicative of NF1 so this could further confirm a diagnosis). .

Since most NF1 and Segmented NF patients lead a completely normal life, many not even aware of their prognosis, we are praying for only routine tests that reveal nothing of concern. I won't bore you with the details of how NF could develop of the course of Philip's life but in a nutshell, grade school and the onset of puberty are when NF complications can arise so right now and at puberty will be the times we will be closely monitoring him for any growth in tumors that could be the cause of learning disabilities, cosmetic disfigurement, etc. We are trying not to let our minds go to these scenarios.

Despite the uncertainty, we are thankful to God for this prognosis. When we received the initial call from Dr. Woolley, there are much more terrifying things that he could have told us. We have friends who have received such a terrifying phone call and our heart goes out to them. Big Philip and I have drawn closer in our desire to be faithful in our relationship with God. We have wrestled with questions, doubts, fears, but ultimately rested in the peace of knowing that God does not make mistakes, and that He has a plan for our son to prosper, not harm him (Jeremiah 29:11). We continue to be prayerful and vigilant as we wait for the blood test results and be the "normal" family we always have been (some of you have met other members of our gene pool and should be laughing right now).

When People Ask Me What I Do for a Living...

2011-08-27T07:38:00.000-05:00

Whenever people ask me where I work I say Samford University. 90% of the time, the next question is "what to do you teach there?" which leads to my answer "No, I am an administrator. I work in campus life." At that point, the person either remembers a curmudgeon dean that punished them for a sensational college prank or they think I plan parties all the time.

Many of the programs and events I plan are fun but at the heart of it, there is a serious intent - To prepare students to lead lives of responsibility, character. I try to do everything I can to plant the seed of compassion and service in their hearts so that they are actively engaged in their communities and of service in their lives post-graduation. I want them to be a good neighbor, a real friend, even when that someone they encounter or befriend is outside of their comfort zone. I want them to feel comfortable leaving their comfort zone. I want them to lead a life of transparency. And it is my prayer, that they will welcome Christ into their hearts so that others will see Him present in all of their actions, their decisions, and their behavior, rather than simply in the preachy words they might "use" rather than live. For those students that have already welcomed Christ into their hearts, it is my prayer that college will be a time of refinement, where they will deepen in their faith, wrestle with the difficult questions of life, and find strength and encouragement in their faith. It is my prayer that in life's most difficult of circumstances, their faith will sustain them and that God would show and grant me the opportunity to be a source of encouragement and support. It is my prayer that I will deepen in my own faith through my work with these students, that they would see me, wholly imperfect except for the grace of God, working out my own faith on a daily basis, as I too, wrestle with the difficult circumstances of life.

Yesterday, over 700 new students chose Samford to begin what will be the best four years of their life, if they allow that process to take shape. It can be a time of great joy, and memories that will last a lifetime. Every one of those students comes with a different heritage, a different background, different values, differing levels of confidence, courage, understanding, encouragement. This is what makes college such a thrilling time. It is a blessing to me to engage with these students. I love my job.

The Class of 2015

2011-08-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know us, you know we work in higher education. If that still baffles you, it means we work college students. Each year, Beloit College publishes something called the Mind-Set List that gives some perspective on who the incoming college freshmen across the country are. Here is this years, Class of 2015 list.

1. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.

2. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.

3. States and Velcro parents have always required that they wear their bike helmets.

4. The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major-league sports.

5. There have always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded some U.S. Navy ships.

6. They "swipe" cards, not merchandise.

7. As the students have grown up on Web sites and cellphones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.

8. Their schools' "blackboards" have always been getting smarter.

9. "Don't touch that dial!" ... What dial?

10. American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.

11. More Americans have always traveled to Latin America than to Europe.

12. Amazon has never been just a river in South America.

13. Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you're talking about LeBron James.

14. All their lives, Whitney Houston has always been declaring, "I Will Always Love You."

15. O.J. Simpson has always been looking for the killers of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

16. Women have never been too old to have children.

17. Japan has always been importing rice.

18. Jim Carrey has always been bigger than a pet detective.

19. We have never asked, and they have never had to tell.

20. Life has always been like a box of chocolates.

21. They've always gone to school with Mohammed and Jesus.

22. John Wayne Bobbitt has always slept with one eye open.

23. There has never been an official Communist Party in Russia.

24. "Yadda, yadda, yadda" has always come in handy to make long stories short.

25. Video games have always had ratings.

26. Chicken soup has always been soul food.

27. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has always been available on TV.

28. Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief.

29. Arnold Palmer has always been a drink.

30. Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!

31. Women have always been kissing women on television.

32. Their older siblings have told them about the days when Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera were Mouseketeers.

33. Faux Christmas trees have always outsold real ones.

34. They've always been able to dismiss boring old ideas with "Been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt."

35. The bloody conflict between the government and a religious cult has always made Waco sound a little wacko.

36. Unlike their older siblings, they spent bedtime on their backs until they learned to roll over.

37. Music has always been available via free downloads.

38. Grown-ups have always been arguing about health-care policy.

39. Moderate amounts of red wine and baby aspirin have always been thought good for the heart.

40. Sears has never sold anything out of a "Big Book" that could also serve as a doorstop.

41. The United States has always been shedding fur.

42. Electric cars have always been humming in relative silence on the road.

43. No longer known for just gambling and quickie divorces, Nevada has always been one of the fastest-growing states in the Union.

44. They're the first generation to grow up hearing about the dangerous overuse of antibiotics.

45. They pressured their parents to take them to Taco Bell or Burger King to get free pogs.

46. Russian courts have always had juries.

47. No state has ever failed to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

48. While they've been playing outside, their parents have always worried about nasty new bugs borne by birds and mosquitoes.

49. Public schools have always made space available for advertising.

50. Some of them have been inspired to actually cook by watching the Food Channel.

51. Fidel Castro's daughter and granddaughter have always lived in the United States.

52. Their parents have always been able to create a will and other legal documents online.

53. Charter schools have always been an alternative.

54. They've grown up with George Stephanopoulos as the Dick Clark of political analysts.

55. New kids have always been known as NKOTB.

56. They've always wanted to be like Shaq or Kobe; Michael Who?

57. They've broken up with significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.

58. Their parents sort of remember Woolworths as this store that used to be downtown.

59. Kim Jong-il has always been bluffing, but the West has always had to take him seriously.

60. Frasier, Sam, Woody, and Rebecca have never cheerfully frequented a bar in Boston during prime time.

61. Major League Baseball has never had fewer than three divisions and never lacked a wild-card entry in the playoffs.

62. Nurses have always been in short supply.

63. They won't go near a retailer that lacks a Web site.

64. Altar girls have never been a big deal.

65. When they were 3, their parents may have battled other parents in toy stores to buy them a Tickle Me Elmo while they lasted.

66. It seems the United States has always been looking for an acceptable means of capital execution.

67. Folks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have always been able to energize with Pepsi-Cola.

68. Andy Warhol is a museum in Pittsburgh.

69. They've grown up hearing about suspiciously vanishing frogs.

70. They've always had the privilege of talking with a chatterbot.

71. Refugees and prisoners have always been housed by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.

72. Women have always been Venusians; men, Martians.

73. McDonald's coffee has always been just a little too hot to handle.

74. "PC" has come to mean personal computer, not political correctness.

75. The New York Times and The Boston Globe have never been rival newspapers.

Our Week In Review

2011-08-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Thursday, August 4th - we receive an offer on our house
Friday, August 5th- Marathon search for houses all afternoon. While driving around we commit to be under contract to sell our house.
Saturday, August 6th - offer on our new house and we wait. House is in different school system.
Monday, August 8th - we go to Meet the Teacher at Hall-Kent. Philip texts me while we are there asking me to come home to sign contract paperwork on our future house. We politely excuse ourselves from the class meeting and head home.

Tuesday, August 9th- We frantically work on paperwork to switch Little Philip from Homewood to Vestavia schools since school starts Wednesday at Homewood and Friday for Vestavia.

Wednesday - Thursday, August 10-11th - Renie hosts her Campus Life staff training and rounds things out with a cookout at our house Thursday night. Enjoyable and fun.

Thursday, August 11th - 9:40 a.m. we complete paperwork and start the 10:00 a.m. Meet the Teacher at Vestavia, finding out that Little Philip is in Mrs. Ratliff's class. We are thrilled. We also see his sweet friend, Erin, is in his class. Erin and Philip are good friends from preschool. Things are looking up.

Friday, August 12th - Little Philip starts school.

Mamie and Bop Moss spent a good portion of the weekend with us while Bop was here for a veterinary conference. The kids have been nothing short of amazing through this past week, barely having any attention from us as we have been on the phone with potential lenders and signing mountains of paperwork. Little Philip especially has been an incredibly cooperative little boy considering the transition he has been through. Having Mamie and Bop love on them was just what they needed, and lunch with Nee Nee and Poppy after church tomorrow will be icing on the cake. We are pooped but very happy with how things are turning out. More on our September 7th big move soon!

Little Philip Wrote a Song

2011-08-09T07:17:00.000-05:00

This morning while brushing hair and teeth for the day, Little Philip walks into the bathroom and says, "Mommy, I wrote a song, do you want to hear it?"

Son to the tune of Three Blind Mice....

God made me, God made me.
God made my family, God made my family
He made everyone in the world, He made everyone in the world.
God made me, God made me.

Overheard at the Moss House

2011-08-01T19:41:00.000-05:00

Conversation between Mommy and Philip

Philip, one day you are going to have to make the right choice, even though your friends will try to make you do something different. My prayer is that you will know what the right choice is and have the courage to tell your friends no, and be an example of how to make courageous right choices.

I know, Mommy. I know what you are talking about. That's called temptation. It's when someone tries to make you do something you know you shouldn't do. I know not to fall for that.

That's my sweet boy. Prayers that he remembers these conversations in the years to come!

Tiny Blessings

2011-07-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

Wednesday - van needs two new tires - one tire had a chunk of wood through it, the other a long screw.

Thursday - six foot black trim piece is missing from driver's side of the van. Lovely white bracket squares now adorn the side where the black trim piece once was.

Sunday - driving home from church we spot the trim piece on the corner of Greensprings and Lakeshore.

Unlike the Mazda, bread ties are not holding that trim piece on the van right now. We think it will hold this time.

Tenth Anniversary

2011-07-21T17:08:00.000-05:00

Post by Philip:

July 21st 2001 was one of the hottest days of the year for an out door wedding. We started the day with our photographs at 9am. There was a small rain shower then that had us all worried about an outdoor wedding. However, the rain passed and it was clear and hot! I remember thinking on that day how lucky I was to have such a wonderful wife. Here, ten years later, I still have those same feelings.

On July 21st 2006, for our fifth anniversary, my wife posted a wonderful blog post about the starting of our relationship and the things that she appreciated about me over the first five years. I think that it is only appropriate that for our tenth I post a similar list.

She is driven: As I look to start a doctoral program next weekend, Renie is already talking about when she will start ‘her’ doctorate. Renie has had several jobs with tons of responsibility and always done a great job. She also goes well beyond just ‘doing the job’, and looks for things to add or change…mainly to help others.

Her desire to save the world: Renie wants everything to be better after she leaves. All that she touches she wants to improve. Jobs she has taken and volunteer opportunities Renie looks for things that can be done to help others more.

Sense of humor: It is hard to be around Renie very long without laughing. Her taste in movies and her appreciation for “clever’ writing will often bring me to tears as she recounts what she read or saw. Since having kids we have been to very few movies but as they get older I am hopeful we will have more opportunities.

Her strong faith: Renie has never stopped praying for me and our family. She is always praying with the kids and talking to them about spiritual things. She makes me want to do a better job in my spiritual leadership with my family.

Her love for people: This is strongly tied to my second point but I wanted to include it as a different point because her love for others is what leads her to want to save them. She loves her kids and as we continue to ‘learn’ how parent I constantly learn from her interactions with our kids.

Her beauty: Since day one, I have been drawn to her. It doesn’t matter the length or color of her hair everything about her is attractive to me. It is probably tied to her loving spirit but I truly think she is beautiful.

She loves me: In spite of my failures and mess-ups over the years she has stuck by my side. I did not anticipate the move to Birmingham six years ago and I do not know where God will take us over the next few years but I know that together we will be fine!

There are plenty more things that I could write about my wonderful wife. I am truly blessed by God with her in my life. I do not deserve the blessings I have experienced over the past few years. I look forward to seeing where God will lead us and our beautiful kids in the years to come.

How to teach repentance

2011-06-27T21:16:00.000-05:00

Many family and friends know that my son is quite the literal child. Something either is or isn't.

Lately, he has really been motivated by what he is learning at church. He'll talk about it repeatedly throughout the week, explaining it to his little sister, his classmates (or so I'm told by their parents at birthday parties) and to us. I think he is at that age when the stories from the Bible are incredibly vivid, and exciting, sometimes adventurous or mysterious. I'm just happy it rivals his two year obsession with Scooby Doo. This past Sunday he learned about Jonah and the worm (worm, not whale Jonah 4:5-11). The lesson from the day taught him about the word "repent" and what it means. A great start to the week...

Tonight, my little man had a rough night. It could be that being without Daddy most of the month is really starting to take its toll on all of us. I know I've not been as patient and all-forgiving as I should be as a mother so why wouldn't it also be the case for this almost six year old little boy of ours? It doesn't matter what the problem was but the result was that he had a consequence for some repeated behavior tonight. He had multiple warnings and then I had to lower the boom and he lost one of his three books at bedtime. The wailing, the tantrum, the screaming commenced and when he finally stopped, we read his two books and began our nighttime prayers. We always follow the prayer outline of "thank you God for...forgive me God for...help me God with...I praise you God for..." His prayer was first "I'm sorry that I disobeyed" but quickly followed with "please, God, remove my consequence and let me have my third book back" and despite my best efforts to talk with him what repenting means and that it is not about regaining what we lost or want back, it just didn't sink in. I'm blanking on how best to approach this. Alongside what I hope is a growing relationship with God, I want him to learn to accept the inevitable possibility of consequences between himself and peers and sometimes teachers without being on full tilt temper tantrum mode for the rest of the day following an incident. We all mess up sometimes and sometimes we have to have a time out or consequence. How can I get him to cope with this aspect of life?

So moms out there that may be struggling with the same challenge, any thoughts or words of advice?

Awkward Church Directory Picture

2011-06-12T21:26:00.005-05:00

Recently, our church announced that a new church pictorial directory was to be produced. We have been attending our church, Mountain Brook Community Church, for over a year now and recently made the decision to formally join. It seemed fitting that we should make every effort to present ourselves as children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation, Philippians 2:15. Of course, we are full of faults, inside. We are very imperfect, I mean inside and out, and for that reason, desperately need God's saving grace in our lives. And by grace, I mean this mama REALLY needs that grace. For here is story of how our church directory picture might end up on awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Our church directory picture appointment was originally scheduled for, Saturday, April 30th. For anyone who watched national news that weekend, you know that the Birmingham area was devastated by a series of tornadoes on Thursday, April 27th. One of those early morning tornadoes severely damaged our church (see post below) so church pictures were cancelled and rescheduled.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Philip and I decided to take the family to our local favorite pizzeria, New York Pizza for dinner. While waiting for our pizza, Helen decided she really wanted a tiger tattoo from the vending machine. Daddy gave in and allowed her to try for it. Instead of a tiger (the tiger propped on a mound of human skulls, by the way), the grim reaper tattoo came out, prompting an all out temper tantrum from Helen who did not understand why she could not be guaranteed the tiger tattoo. At this point I gave in after an exhausting day and walked over to the vending machine, put in two more quarters, said this prayer "Lord, if you will just let the next tattoo be a tiger, it would really help soothe my nerves and make me a patient parent right now and for the rest of this evening." And poof - God was merciful and granted the tiger tattoo.

Once home, Helen and Philip gleefully asked me to put the tattoos on their arms which I did, but not without making it clear that we would have to remove the tattoos prior to our church directory picture three days later. I also removed the mound of human skulls from Helen's tiger tattoo because a tiger by itself as a tattoo is so much classier on a three year old little girl's arm. I decided to let the scythe wielding grim reaper tattoo on Philip's arm remain in its original form. I just couldn't figure out how to remove the gruesome death symbolism from the herald of death himself.

Three days later, five minutes before our church directory picture appointment, I realize I have forgotten the appointment. I toss two kids and a husband in the van, and we make it just in time. And so, charming son in white polo and seersucker pants, beautiful daughter in smocked dress complete with bow in hair, and two smiling parents arrange themselves on the picture stools when to my horror I realize that the children's tattoos are still very visible with no way to hide them. The photographer promises she will digitally remove the tattoos so I remove myself from the ceiling and smile.

Last week the freebie church directory picture was waiting for me in the foyer. To my horror, this is the picture that was enclosed.

Need a closer look at their arms?

Lovely isn't it? However, it should be noted that a quick phone call to the church office was made. A very friendly photographer who remembered me (who wouldn't!) said she will for sure digitally removed those tattoos prior to the printing of the MBCC church directory.

This might go down as one of my top five parenting failures and more proof of why the Junior League just ain't ready for me.

Overheard at the Moss House

2011-05-18T20:11:00.002-05:00

Helen: Mama, you got a sticker on your face?

Mama: What, this, Helen? (pointing to an constantly enlarging pimple on her chin)

Helen: Oh, is it a boo boo? You want me to get a band aid for you?

I'm imagining walking into work tomorrow with a Superhero band aid plastered across my chin.

Tornados Hit Alabama 4/27/11

2011-05-04T22:24:00.003-05:00

This is the guided prayer video used at Samford University's 5/3/11 Worship Service that followed the 4/27/11 tornadoes that ravaged Alabama. It's too overwhelming to write about now but we were left unscathed, except for massive amounts of survivor's guilt. The pictures within this video were taken in and around the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa area.

Our church, Mountain Brook Community Church, was also hit by a tornado that came through the Cahaba Heights and Vestavia area of Birmingham. The church will be fine and no one was harmed during the tornado but the damage is still jarring to see considering how many churches are normally places of refuge after a storm. So many churches were destroyed in the Tuscaloosa and Birmingham area, as well as in Cullman and Ft. Payne.

The tornado touched down in Tuscaloosa, remained on the ground and never let up as it scarred the state for hundreds of miles, leaving over 200 dead in its path. One of the local news editors had this to say to describe the devastation:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/29/whitmire.alabama.tornado/index.html

He Is Risen!

2011-04-24T20:47:00.002-05:00

The Goose

2011-04-05T20:46:00.002-05:00

In the early morning of Friday, March 25th, at age 93, my grandmother, Helen McCown Wettermark, passed away. Grandmother was a character. That is what I have heard my entire life. Phrases like "she had a zest for life" and "passion for life long learning" and "social butterfly" were all phrases I overheard by family and friends in the days that followed. I am the oldest granddaughter of twelve grandchildren. And perhaps the most memorable item in our childhood treasury of memories with our grandmother is the goose pictured above. Allow me to explain.

Grandmother received this goose from an anonymous friend or family member. No one to my knowledge, has ever owned up to it but I suspect one of my uncles sent it to her. The story I always heard was that a box with air holes was delivered to her front door, with the note "birds of a feather flock together." Contained inside was a beautiful white goose with leather beak and feet, and a wooden stick up the middle enabling the holder to make it look like an absolutely real live goose. Grandmother immediately took to "goose" and carried it with her everywhere, especially in her car. One summer, when we were young, Grandmother took me and my cousin, Alfred, to a nature camp held at Camp Alpine in Mentone, AL. Alfred and I were trying to remember how old we were when this trip happened and we suspected we were around 8 years old. On the way there, Grandmother was pulled over for speeding, something I remember happening at least one other time when I was in the car with her. As the state trooper approached the car, she turned down NPR, which was the only channel she listened to. Terrified, I watched as grandmother was confronted for her speeding. She pulled the goose out from between the seat and had the goose try to get her out of the speeding ticket. The goose did all the talking and it worked. The state trooper didn't know what to do other than try his best to hide his smile and send us on our way. And that's one of my favorite things about my grandmother. She could always get her way with that zest for life, quick wit, and despite what many considered a bit of madness, she knew was she was doing. And so, "goose" sat right there at the front of the door to welcome guests to the Wettermark house on Tuesday, March 29, 2011, serving as the gracious host for the celebration of the life of Grandmother, or Mama Jel, or Aunt Helen, or Miss Helen. Whatever you called her, she was one heck of a lady.

Grandmother would often pat my knee and and say "you ain't perfect yet..." She's right but I'm glad to know she is made perfect in heaven now.

Bond Family Needs your Prayers

2011-03-21T19:21:00.002-06:00

Family and friends, please take a moment to read the new blog family link to your right at "Bond Family." This is a fellow Vanderbilt alumnus, Elisa, and her husband, Nathan. Tragically, they were both recently diagnosed with cancer, stage 3 and stage 4 each, only nine days apart. They have a beautiful 18 month old daughter, Sadie.

It's unreal to think about such a thing happening to a family. And yet, even in the storm, I believe God has a plan through it all. Please take a moment and pray for Elisa and Nathan and if possible, contribute to their fund as they will surely need financial support to fight this awful disease.

Here is a link to the the blogspot that describes their recent diagnoses and has links to provide support to them during this difficult time. Otherwise, every now and then take a moment to click on their family blog link to the right to pray specifically for them as they journey through this nightmare.

Moving time

2011-02-13T21:03:00.002-06:00

For two years now, we've talked about whether or not to try to move up into a larger home. The economy being as bad as it has been, we have chickened out on more than one occasion but not before doing a little annual home renovations here and there. This time we are serious.

When we first bought our house in March of 2005 we had a hard time finding home insurance because the roof was so old, there was no documentation of the last time it was replaced. The floors were hardwood, but bared from years of wear and tear. The kitchen was doable, but had verdigreen marble laminate counter tops, a pesky white porcelain sink that stayed stained, and matching stick up plastic laminate posters that were also verdigreen marble. To match that lovely green someone had painted the kitchen walls adobe orange. It was lovely.

The master bedroom had cheesecloth from what we assumed was a grasscloth removal project gone bad. There was also a random door jamb that protruded from a bad drywall job in both the master bedroom and what is now Little Philip's room. We assume this was the original back door to the house before the addition of a third bedroom (circa 1975 maybe?). To divert attention from the cheesecloth, the previous owners apparently sponge painted orange and yellow on the walls, and added purple drapes to complete the Mardi Gras look.

Since then we have:

Replaced the roof

Replaced and expanded the deck

Refinished all the hardwoods in the house

Replaced the hot water heater

Gutted and renovated the master bathroom

Added crown moulding to all rooms but the kitchen and baths

Put up wood fencing facing the street

Replaced the counter tops, sink, and all appliances in the kitchen

Replaced the cracked sink and fixture in the front bathroom

Replaced old ceiling fans and fixtures in most every room

Painted over knotty pine in the laundry room, and replaced the flooring

Painted every single room in the house, even changing colors ourselves a few times

All of the above projects were done out of love for our family, with the hope that yes, our house will sell quickly this spring but also, if it should not sell, that is is exactly what we wanted to do for ourselves in our home to make it more livable for us.

We love our little house and we hope someone else will fall in love with it too.

2011 New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-16T20:21:00.002-06:00

Let's return to 2010 to see how we did with our 2010 resolutions. Did you know that 80% of all resolutions are broken by Valentine's Day?

Renie's 2010 Resolutions
Lose 25 pounds and keep them off. - FAIL. I think I needed glasses because clearly I thought it said GAIN 25 pounds from the looks of where I stand this year.

Organize the house from top to bottom.
Well, we kind of got this done because we had an itch to sell the house last July. Then we chickened out because of the economy. So we are again organizing the house, decluttering, and making it a goal to put the house on the market March 1st, just in time for the medical residency match that comes mid-March. We pray that our efforts to declutter will pay off and we can sell our house and move up to have a little more room.

Quiet time. I'm not going to set a daily goal because I know I will not keep it. Let's just say I need to reintroduce quiet time in my life.
I'm going to claim victory on this one, but with the caviat that 2010 was a bit of an emotional roller coaster so there were definitely some times when I dropped quiet time from my routine. I lost several beloved grandparents and dealt with some major life transition moments. All the more reason why this needs to stay on my resolution radar for 2011.

2011 New Year's Resolutions:

Renie's Resolutions
1. Lose 50 pounds. OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but at least 25 pounds need to go away, and quickly. We got Xbox Kinect from Santa for Christmas so I'm working through Your Shape Fitness Evolved. It's amazing, but it will only work if I stick with it.

2. Stick with quiet time. God is really working on my heart right now. I sense a growing boldness in my spirit. While many who know me think I'm pretty bold, when it comes to my faith, I tend to keep it under wraps. Something is stirring in my spirit and I look forward to what comes from that.

3. Keep up a personal hobby while balancing family, work, and home. I think it will be sewing, but it's all been put up in storage for now until we can have more room in a larger home. It was just sitting there staring at me through three huge clear rubber maid tubs so I had to move it until it can come back out. For now, I'll be working with ready to smock dresses rather than pleating and sewing my own from scratch.

4. Balance work and home. This is always going to be a struggle but it's gotten better. Samford is a great place to work, as was BSC, and I'm thankful that working on a college campus is so family-friendly. Still, my children and my husband need a priority place too, and I'm just going to have to be more diligent about this.

5. Start writing again. I don't know what I will start writing, but for now I'm might just start journaling in the hopes it might turn into a short story, for better, an idea for a novel.

Philip's Resolutions
1. Eat healthier (Renie's gonna force some broccoli down that throat)
2. Start a regular work out routine
3. Enter graduate school again, the gaol being to earn a doctoral degree.
4. Work on my spiritual health.

Little Philip's Resolutions
1. Learn to tie my shoes
2. Count by 2's and 5's
3. Learn to put my head under water and swim without swimmies (He is screaming bloody murder next to the comptur right now, saying he doesn't want to do it until he is at least 10.)
4. Learn to ride a bicycle without training wheels.
5. Finish reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia (we just started Voyage of the Dawntreader)

Helen's Resolutions
1. Work on wearing something other than a tutu every day.
2. Sleep through the night on a regular basis
3. Learn to swim!
4. Understand that being a princess is about what is in your heart, more than what you put on the outside (This is the only way Mommy is going to survive the princess years).

Riley the Dog's Resolutions
1. Lose a little weight. I'm an old dog now, and getting a bit rotund in the middle.
2. While I will continue to drink out of the toilet, I will try to lick my lips and keep from dripping a gallon of water across the floor as I leave the bathroom each time.

Atticus the Cat's Resolutions
1. You think you're old, you silly dog? Try being 13 years old and be the handsome tomcat I still am! I plan to keep on being that in the coming year.
2. I plan to continue to throw up my food about 3 minutes after eating it. I'm beginning to think it adds to my life longevity in some way.
3. I will continue to demand my water directly from a slow running faucet stream immediately after Renie gets out of the shower each morning. Just so she doesn't forget, I will meow incessantly on the counter in the bathroom for the duration of her shower until she gets out.

Julep the Cat's Resolutions
1. I will continue my conquest for Riley's entire dog bed. No longer will he be allowed the remaining corner he sleeps on since I always plant myself there first each night.
2. I will continue to keep Atticus young by chasing him around the house.
3. I will stop hissing and throwing a huge fit when both of my human grandmothers come to visit. If I cannot do this, I will at least treat my human grandfathers the same way so that my human grandmothers will not take it personally.

Couponing Again

2011-01-16T20:01:00.002-06:00

So I fell off the coupon wagon when I went back to work full-time in July. It's not that we are rolling in the dough, it's that I didn't reschedule my life to include grocery shopping in a routine regular place each week. As hard as it is to keep a routine with both parents working, it really is the only way to make it work. So that is one of my new year's resolutions, to get our household and family routine back in shape.

My wonderful coupon binder sat on a shelf for months, and our two Sunday papers that are $1.00 a piece, delivered to our home each Sunday, kept piling up until my bedside table looked like a shot from Hoarders. So, just before our holiday break ended, I spent several hours getting the coupon binder up to date, and every coupon that had not expired in its rightful category.

For the last two weeks, I've done my shopping by couponing again. I have literally been spending about $250 more each month in groceries or eating out, by my estimation. Knowing what I can save by couponing, it makes me sick to think what a terrible steward we have been of what God has given us. More so, it sticks in my heart and gut about where that money could have been put, since we had it to spend on groceries. Really makes me think more about what we need to do to be more honoring to God about the blessings He has given us.

Since I do work full-time now, I can't do my weekly shopping on Wednesday morning like I used to, just after finding the match up coupons from the Tuesday Publix flyer. So I did my shopping today, Sunday. It's not ideal, but when the kids are napping, it seems about right. I'm not sure I'll stick with this day but it worked for today.

My total bill was $49.33 and I saved $50.00. That being said, it was a weird shopping day. We can eat Aunt Jemima waffles for days now, and since I depleted my razor stash by not couponing the past four months, it was nice to begin that new stockpile with the savings on the Quattro disposable razors today. Otherwise, we got some free Jiffy popcorn, eight cans of super cheap Progresso soup (will help out with my diet and eating on the run on campus each week). There were a few other good deals too, which you can see at www.southernsavers.com which is my weekly visit to match up on coupons. My percent savings would have been higher but I also bought two bagged salad mixes, two fresh tomatoes, two candy bars that were on clearance, and two bags of mozzarella cheese for the kiddos to make a pizza. And that is how I also recommend shopping for those of you who are new to couponing. Don't make it an idol in your life! Recognize that you are saving a bundle so if you want to (and can) splurge on some special cheese or another item that is not on sale or you don't have a coupon for, you can, because you've made a little room in your buggy and pocketbook to do so by your couponing efforts.

2010 Moss Family Christmas Card

2010-12-19T20:56:00.001-06:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 5th Birthday Philip

2010-07-18T20:42:00.003-05:00

Our little boy is five! As cliche as it sounds, time really does fly. Philip had a great birthday party with friends and family all around. Helen really wanted the party to be all about her. Being two is tough.

And since he turned five, and is within 1/2 a pound 40 pounds, we transitioned to a belt strap high back booster seat. He loves it because he can easily strap himself in and unstrap unassisted. On those rainy days, Mom loves it too. The only problem is that Helen wants EVERYTHING big brother has so the jealousy factor has really kicked in!

Hot Water Heater - One Paycheck later

2010-07-11T22:25:00.002-05:00

Battle of the Bulldogs

2010-07-06T20:43:00.003-05:00

Today, I started my new job at Samford University in Student Affairs. Samford's mascot is the bulldog. I love college administration. I love college students. I love everything about a college campus. Two years ago when I left my job at Birmingham-Southern College many considered it career suicide, including me. I never expected to be able to re-enter this field in the way that God has allowed me to with Samford. I will have the opportunity to again work with amazing student leaders in campus activities, Greek life, leadership events, and whatever else we can come up with together to ensure that these students' four years (and we know parents want it to only be four years) are incredibly memorable and all for positive reasons.

I am also blessed to have found yet another campus that is so family-friendly. I look forward to bringing our children to Samford athletic and other campus events. If nothing else, I can't wait to see them take off across the beautiful campus quad, and running until they have no choice but to sleep through the night....without waking up and crying for one of us....or ending up in our bed before dawn.

Being at home with my children these past two years is something I will always treasure, but now is the time I feel called to return to work. I pray my children are enriched by my work experience, and grow up with a strong appreciation for opportunities to continue to learn and grow not only in their minds, but also in their hearts and souls. I pray that they will become lifelong learners as a result. I pray that their faith will be the cornerstone to that process.

So today, my children began day school again. For Helen, this is something a bit new staying for a full day rather than the typical parents' day out half day. For Philip, he was in heaven, finding himself surrounded by new puzzles, new books to read, and a classroom full of new friends. He also selected a Scooby Doo nap mat. He practically levitated with glee to have found his favorite character on which to rest his head. I heard from a fellow parent about an hour after dropping Helen off (and she was in tears when I left) that she was happily washing her hands alongside a new little friend, giggling as they made bubbles in the sink for what was probably the umpteenth time in praise of the bubbles they created. When I returned home from work, Daddy had picked them up and headed to the library to get their summer reading stamps and to check out new books. Both Helen and Philip were chatterboxes about their day. And thankfully, they were also all smiles about the experience.

I also had some of the best fried okra I've ever had today in the campus cafeteria. I would have had more if no one was looking. While all of the above experiences certainly put my heart at rest about my decision, the okra was icing on the cake and proof that God intends happiness for us in this new chapter in our lives.

Pre-birthday bribes

2010-07-02T22:18:00.003-05:00

(On the way home from Free Friday Flicks in the Park)

Philip, if you will stay in YOUR OWN bed all night tonight, you can go with me to order your Scooby Doo birthday cake tomorrow.

But I can't. I need to cuddle with you in your bed.

Then you can't go with me tomorrow to pick our your birthday cake.

OK, will you just get one with Scooby Doo on it then?

No, I will order one with a big head of broccoli on it.

But I don't like broccoli.

Then I guess you better stay in your own bed all night so you can go tell them what you want on your birthday cake.

(30 minutes later as Daddy puts him into bed)

Daddy, maybe it's not real broccoli, maybe its (making sprinkle finger gestures overhead as he speaks) just icing decoration.

June Travels

2010-06-14T21:07:00.004-05:00

We just returned from the 2010 Moss Family Beach Reunion. It was ten years ago that I took the huge risk to accept the invitation to come to a family beach trip with a boy I barely knew. I knew something was special though and the rest was history. Here is a brief trip down memory lane with the first family group picture that started it all.

This free slideshow made with Smilebox

A Week in Review

2010-05-29T20:39:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday - Baby shower for our sweet friend, Betsey in the morning. Last tee ball game for Little Philip at 2pm followed by a mad dash to Haley's house to bring her a birthday gift, even though we had to miss her party due to the tee ball game. A little time jumping with just Haley in her princess moon jump mended the heartbreak in a jiffy.

Sunday - brought breakfast for our church small group, followed by dinner with Big Philip's childhood friend and his family from Arab.

Monday - End of the year IEP meeting for Little Philip at our local elementary school, where we were pleased to hear that Homewood will continue to provide speech services to him at his new private 5K school. He had made a lot of progress but we are still working on a few key areas to help him improve before he will start "true" kindergarten in the Fall of 2011. We love Miss Taryn and everyone in Homewood's schools that helped us get this far and for their commitment to see him improve even more in the coming year.

Tuesday - Play date with our Selma cousins at the McWane Center. We've been trying to schedule this for about a year. Little Philip and his second cousin, Lauren, had a blast. Helen, while a wee bit older than John David, also enjoyed the visit! The picture below shows John David and Helen about five seconds before nodding off.

Wednesday - Early morning grocery shopping at Publix. Spent $96 and saved $114 by couponing. By 10:00 am we met Miss Leigh and Macy, along with Miss Brittany at the park. Renee and her boys also joined us which Little Philip loved. After the park we headed to Aldridge Gardens to feed the ducks, geese, fish, and an insane number of turtles. Picnicked in the boathouse, with the saving grace of a cool breeze and shade.

Thursday - Play date at our house with Little Philip and Haley. Water sliding, finger painting, play dough fun, hide and go seek, lunch, and more water sliding, all by 1:00 pm. We were so glad our water slide set up in backyard was a success after being in storage for the winter.
Friday - Play date at Jackson's house along with several other little friends and mommies. Swimming in Jackson's pool was a hit for Helen. Little Philip hugged the wall and stairs, scared to death, while all of his little friends jumped in and out of the pool, swimming around like fish. We are hoping swimming lessons while in Tennessee with Mamie and Bop will help us heal from our scary pool plunge last summer. We had no idea it affected him so much.

Saturday - Neighborhood cookout and water slide fun with all our neighbors with kids. Redneck margaritas, Philip's famous slow charcoal grilled ribs, baked potato casserole, homemade ice cream, brownies, the works. Lots of fun!

Saturday at 8:45 pm - Crawling to bed after a crazy fun-filled week.

Living in Disarray

2010-05-11T19:17:00.005-05:00

This is my house right now. It is not pretty.

If you've knocked on my door in the last few days and heard me hush everyone inside to pretend we are not home, I apologize.

I'm not sure how I let it get this way. It was clean last weekend when I arrived back home from a wonderful weekend away with my college friends. Mamie Moss and Big Philip made sure of it.

I post this on the blog to motivate me and hold me accountable to restore order to our humble abode. Instead of looking at larger homes for sale every day I need to take that time and put it to good use trying to keep the house in order. I think like most moms, I get terribly deflated after cleaning all day on a beautiful Saturday or Sunday afternoon, only to return to work on Monday and find the house looks just like it did before the cleaning spree. It's not anyone's fault. It's just what life looks like when actively living in a small space.

I don't remember it looking this bad when I worked full-time and since I'm returning to full-time work again mid June, maybe it will improve with the kids in day school and both adults working mostly outside of the home.

In the meantime, I've got about four weeks to get a better cleaning routine down in the house before returning to full-time work. And before anyone suggests I visit the flylady.com I ditched her long ago after she nearly gave me a nervous breakdown with all of her email reminders those first few weeks I tried to implement her system.

Potty Training Victory

2010-05-10T20:36:00.002-05:00

We are claiming potty training victory with Helen after only about two weeks! Please recall the year long saga with Little Philip to share in our joy that this process was virtually painless. Things we did differently that produced a more positive result:

1. We had a girl.

Pretty much, that's it.

Kidding, of course. We attribute our success to the fact that this is a second child, and yes, that Helen is a girl. Also, we did not use any pull-up diapers. We went straight to big girl panties, and LOTS of them. Disney princesses, Dora, Elmo, stripes, dots, you name it. Whatever it took. And it did take. She favors the princess look. No surprise there.

Helen turned two March 18th. We potty trained in one three day weekend, toward the end of April. While her tiny bout with diarrhea during this ordeal was a challenge, we also think that this lent a helping hand in Helen learning to potty....a lot.

We still wear a diaper for naps and nighttime but already, the family budget is breathing a tiny sigh of relief from the burden of diapers and wet wipes being lifted.

Taking the Fear Out of Swimming

2010-05-07T14:55:00.003-05:00

Little Philip has always had a fear of water. It is the typical stuff, water in his eyes is frightening, the thought of putting his head under water is terrifying, and so forth. We had him in water babies when he was about 18 months old but by the next summer, all comfort and skill was lost.

And then the unthinkable happened. Last summer, while playing in a hotel pool, Little Philip did what every parent fears. He was crouching on the side of the deep end, reaching for a pool toy that was just out of reach. I was holding Helen (15 months) in the shallow end of the pool watching the entire event unfold. The event, mind you, was all ten seconds at most. It still seems like an eternity now. Little Philip reached, and slipped in, silently, no splashing, no kicking, no screaming, just the nauseating silence as I screamed for Big Philip or any of the other adults in the pool to get him. He simply froze, straight up in the water, head just below the surface. It could not have been more than five second before and adult quickly pulled him up to safety. By then I was traumatized, trying to conceal my tears and fear from Little Philip who, himself, was a basket case. We quietly talked about it after the event with him, consoling him, trying not to seem alarmed but also trying to make him forget the event. We never brought it up again.

Fast forward to this past month. Pool toys are everywhere. Commercials on TV show kids playing in the pools and beaches. Our matching cousin bathing suits arrived for the Moss Beach Week. Little Philip regularly recalls the incident at the hotel pool with a whimper in his voice. It's real fear and I can't blame him. All the more reason that I am bound and determined to help him overcome this fear and see swimming as a fun and safe activity.

As a full-time working mother, there are no swimming lessons offered at a time that is feasible for our family. All of our local swimming pool lessons are offered for a typical two week session, at approximately 9:30 0r 10:30 each morning. As I prepare to re-enter the full-time work force in my return to work at Birmingham-Southern College in June, again, I wonder, how can we bring our son to the point of comfort and safety with water? Individual lessons may be our only hope, but I think the lack of peer pressure he would receive in a group setting may add another obstacle to his swimming training.

I'm on a quest. Since he loves to read anything and everything (seriously, he spent 30 minutes with a book describing the history of flag making), we just returned from the library with about eight non-fiction books about swimming, lifeguards, water safety, and pool games. I am crossing my fingers that these books might entice him to take a few healthy risks, knowing mom and dad are right there beside him as he learns to swim. With any luck, he'll be in the middle of the pool at the condo for Moss Beach Week swimming along with the rest of his cousins. We do not want another repeat of him hugging the concrete pool steps while Helen jumped from the side of the pool into our arms the entire week.

Are there any working moms in the Birmingham area that know of swimming lessons that are offered outside of the typical 8-5 work day?

Philip Reading

2010-05-04T20:46:00.003-05:00

Little Philip may have taken forever to potty train but eventually, he mastered it. One thing he has mastered is reading. He loves reading, anything and everything. We cannot spell out words anymore to each other as parents because he will quickly tell you just what you spelled. It is a wonderful thing to see him at the library, picking out books because of the topic rather than just the brightly colored cover. There are other children that read by age four like Philip, we know this, so please do not think we are bragging on our parental skills. We did nothing to teach him to read other than read bedtime stories to him beginning early in his life. His desire to learn to read rather than be read to, we solely attribute to his sweet spirit and incredible hunger to learn anything and everything!

At preschool when it is free play time, he will often go to the book shelf and sit down and read aloud to his classmates. It was a proud moment when I overheard a friend say to him "Philip, how did you learn to read so 'good'?" A huge smile spread over his face and he looked across the room at me to be sure I heard what was said. I silently signed my "proud face" sign to him to let him know that I was, indeed, a proud mama.

Here is a typical bedtime for us. He is reading The Wish Fish for the first time (an Usbourne first reader - I highly recommend Usbourne books!). This is one of about twenty books he chose at the library this week and he is ready to go back and exchange them for new ones already. In this video he gets tripped up on several words that begin or end in consonant digraphs (th, sh, tch, ch, etc) or those that have multiple syllables. Still, not a bad start to reading!

Potty Training Update

2010-04-25T20:43:00.001-05:00

We interrupt this potty training boot camp currently in progress for diarrhea. Please stay tuned :(

Overheard at Speech this week

2010-04-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

Little Philip receives speech services once each week with his beloved Miss Taryn, who has worked nothing short of a miracle with Philip's speech these last two years. As the session was ending on Tuesday, she showed him a picture (I think, I was listening from behind the partition).

Miss Taryn: Philip, what are these?

Philip: Mommy has those.

Miss Taryn: Does Mommy lift weights like these?

Philip: No, I never see her use them.

Potty Training Boot Camp

2010-04-22T20:02:00.004-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of characters:
The plot - potty training in a weekend. In a phrase - potty boot camp.

Helen will officially go pantless at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow when she awakens. She will remain pantless until she gets it. I have multiple bottles of floor cleaning solution as well as several bottles of Resolve and Woolite Rug Cleaner. We are ready, mom is willing, now is daughter willing?

Please don't let this be a repeat of a year long process with her brother. (click here for recap)

What Are Little Boys/Girls Made Of

2010-04-20T17:23:00.005-05:00

What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails
That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And all that's nice
That's what little girls are made of

So true. Helen is definitely not cut out for a life with bugs which, among other things, is her latest fear. Don't even get me started on trying to get her to step over the threshold of an elevator door. Thank goodness for big brothers for rescuing us from violent and unpredictable dead ladybugs.

Two Down for the Count

2010-04-12T08:31:00.000-05:00

We just returned from Leland, MS where we attended the beautiful wedding of Leah (Big Philip's cousin) and Judson Williford. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for a memorable outdoor wedding and reception. We would have enjoyed the celebration so much more if not for Little Philip who fell asleep before the reception started. We draped him across three chairs on top of Daddy's suit jacket and danced with Helen for a few songs and enjoyed catching up with family and friends. When we arrived home that night, Little Philip had a fever. We drove the long drive back to Birmingham on Sunday and arrived home to check on both Helen and Philip. Both had fevers. And Big Philip is working at MSU until late Monday night.

So, with a substitute arranged for my sweet little 4K puppies, I'm tending to my own flock at home, hoping it doesn't get any worse than this. Little Philip threw up at 3:00 a.m. last night but his fever had risen to 103 so with Motrin, we are keeping it around 100 and preventing anymore yuckies. It looks like a full day of Nick Jr. at the Moss house. Maybe I can finish Helen's smocked Easter dress (please note the date of this post).

Easter Sunday Celebration

2010-04-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday. Little Philip made a rugged cross in children's church that was so beautiful. We made it the center piece of the table. While he was very excited to hunt for eggs, he truly understood the true meaning of Easter Sunday and was thrilled to find out that the children's church activity was to tell the story of Jesus with Resurrection eggs. If you've never seen these, they are a very special way to explain a difficult and complex story for the typical four year old. Each egg has a small object in it (dice for casting lots for Jesus's robe, crown of thorns, etc) with an accompanying story segment of the week leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. The last egg is empty to symbolize the empty tomb. He is risen!

My Granddaddy

2010-03-30T21:01:00.001-06:00

On Friday, March 12th, my Granddaddy celebrated his 94th birthday. On Sunday, March 14th, he was called home to heaven. My Granddaddy was a very formal man, a man of few words . I talk incessantly, much to the frustration of my husband, and I wish I had inherited a little bit of Granddaddy's ability to stay quiet, listen more, and choose only the best time to speak and the best words to share. Because of this, he had the unique ability to draw a deep desire out of me to please him, to make him proud. He was a very accomplished man, although he would never say so. At his funeral, based on the people that came to pay their respects, I learned what a tremendous influence he had on so many, always choosing to remain anonymous in the gifts of time and resources he shared. He truly had a servant leader's heart and I am eternally grateful to have been in his arms as a young child, while my parents completed graduate school in Mobile.

Granddaddy would take me to my swimming lessons, always being more patient with me than my swim teacher, despite the fact that I never put my head under water until I was seven. He took me to Whataburger or Krispy Kreme after swim lessons, and I remember watching him empty sugar packets into a teaspoon, wink and me and flash a big smile as he devoured his sweet treat. I was not quite four years old then. He never wanted us to go into the attic, despite the fact that inside that attic were treasures I still long to find now as an adult. The second floor of my grandparents home has four sets of doors that lead to an attic that wrapped around the front of the house. He told me he kept a live bear in the attic and for a while I believe him. Granddaddy would secretly watch for my curiosity to be too much for me, hiding until I just barely turned that door knob and then growl the loudest bear growl you can imagine. That is why my children (his only two great grandchildren), and the youngest of his twelve grand children who are still in college, call him Papa Bear.

A funeral Mass was said for Granddaddy. My cousin, Fred, and I read the two readings as the two oldest grandchildren. Each of the remaining grandchildren read the Responsorial Psalms and the Prayers of the Faithful. One of the prayers of the faithful in the Mass was this. The true measure of greatness is not in worldly things but in the love and devotion of one's family. We thank God for the example of this in our Papa Bear.

Alfred Boyce Wettermark- longtime resident of Mobile, died at his home. He was 94 years old. He leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Helen McCown Wettermark; seven children, Alfred Boyce Wettermark (Urszula) of Fort Worth Texas, Irene Porter (Paul) of Mobile, Lawrence McCown Wettermark (Nancy) of Mobile, James Hart Wettermark (Joan) of Birmingham, Michael Daly Wettermark (Tina) of Fairhope, Mary Helen Espinosa (Carlos) of Managua, Nicaragua, and John Francis Wettermark of New Orleans; twelve grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Born in 1916 in Alexandria, Louisiana, he was the son of Alfred Wettermark of Nacodoches, Texas and Alexandria, Louisiana and Irene Boyce Wettermark of Boyce, Louisiana. He was a graduate of Spring Hill College and Harvard Business School. He served in the Navy during WW II aboard the USS Altair. Following the War his Navy service included coordinating supplies for the construction of Thula Air Base , the northern-most U.S. Military base in the world. He was the Supply Officer aboard the USS Wasp Aircraft Carrier and for Naval Air Station Pensacola. He retired from the Navy in 1962 at the rank of Commander. Following his Navy service he worked independently in real estate acquisitions, sales and land management as well as in financial investing. In Alexandria, he was a founding member of the Alexandria Aquatic Club and was active in civic and church affairs. He was partnered in numerous businesses including Hemenway Furniture Company and Guaranty Bank and Trust Company. In Mobile he was active in Kiwanis, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, Catholic Charities and his Parish of St. Ignatius, as well as his alma mater of Spring Hill College. He will be remembered for his intellect, wit, gentle nature, and humility. Most of all he will be remembered for his love and devotion to his wife and family. He was a true Southern gentleman.

Poor Second Child

2010-03-30T20:38:00.000-06:00

Poor Helen. I neglected to mention on her actual birthday, which is March 18th, that she is two now! See what a terrible mommy I am? I chatted with my mother-in-law over spring break about how terrible I am at keeping up the same level of attention to keeping photographic and written memories of sweet Helen. She gave me Big Philip's baby book that has a few notes in it, and then shared that her first son, George, had a complete baby book. Her third child, Emily, has a baby book with only her name written in it. We took Big Philip's baby book back home with us, determined to fill it out. The book includes pages for enscribing the names of your wedding party and even your grandchildren All is not lost! There is still time to get that book finished!

Meanwhile, Little Philip's book ends at age five and that is fast approaching. I need to complete the last two years to catch up.

Helen's book has, well, the first week of her life in it. Maybe I should make her first priority.

After celebrating the life of my 94 year old grandfather, Alfred Boyce Wettermark (Boyce is mine and Helen's middle name), we went to Tennessee to celebrate Helen's birthday with all of her Moss cousins and family. On the Monday after spring break we returned to school and Helen finally got to wear her birthday cupcake dress she has been begging to wear for weeks. Seriously, she is two and begs to wear dresses. This is definitely proof of nature vs. nurture if you knew me as a child.

Super Why

2010-03-24T07:08:00.000-06:00

Overheard this morning while Mommy was finishing lunches before school:

From the living room where the kiddos were watching Super Why. Wyatt said "and you, what's your name?" to which Little Philip loudly replied:

Philip, with the power to READ!

Spring Break Plans

2010-03-11T21:13:00.001-06:00

We are so looking forward to spring break next week! Granted, we'll miss that extra week of preschool teaching pay but the reward of being at home for a few days as a family means so much more. That being said, I anticipate running out of fun things to do with the little ones on Monday at 9:00 a.m. I found a great new blog called No Time for Flashcards that is all about encouraging children's learning through creativity. There is a bar on the right that has different crafts and activities sorted down to any keyword you can imagine. She even sorts activities by age group which will be wonderful as I continue to look for more fun activities to add to my 4K classroom!

Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-03-07T20:35:00.001-06:00

I have no idea what this crazy movie is supposed to be about but tonight, I had the luxury of having a 5 minute steaming hot bath. That might as well be a time machine moment for me. Big Philip kept the kids at bay, literally, while I soaked my tired body, staring at some kind of funky toenails that are never going to see sandals unless I do something about them. I slid down into the hot water not only to attempt to submerge my fat belly that is sooooo, not baby weight anymore, but also to try and block all sound, in a Calgon moment. heard instead:

WHAM......WHAM....
Moooooooomy? Mooooommmmmy? I hear Mommy in there, Daddy!
(Daddy says something to lure him away from the bathroom door)
WHAM...WHAM.....WHAM...kicking the door some more...WHAM
Daddy tells him to leave Mommy alone while she takes a hot bath.

But she's not in the tub anymore because I heard her tee tee just now!

Nope, that's just our leaky faucet, son.

Bedtime Update and Nostalgia

2010-03-06T14:08:00.000-06:00

We are happy to share that Helen has finally adjusted to her big girl bed. She, like her brother, must have a bedtime ritual, and while she does not demand three books, she does demand to be read to before bed. To us, this is a pure joy and a positive thing to reinforce. Philip reads voraciously and we like to think it was because we began reading to him at his nap and bedtime at an early age.

There are few, if any, toys left from my childhood in my parents house. This is in stark contrast to Philip's childhood home that contains even the tiniest plastic G.I. Joe gun that mounts on the arm of some small action figure. In fact, even the arms of G.I. Joe men themselves are still in his playroom, despite the actual bodies of the action figures having been severed from said arms decades ago. We were recently at my parents home and Helen found a very old book I had as a little girl. It is called What's In My Pockets? I very much remember this book, and my parents hiding little trinkets inside the pockets sometimes when they read it to me. The trinkets are long gone, and the book itself, being made of fabric and applique, has been washed many, many times, leaving it faded and well worn. Simply put, it shows it was loved.

Helen asks me to read her the pocket book every time she lies down for a nap or her bedtime. I leave the room with her babbling happily as she flips each page, sticking her sweet little fingers into each kind of pocket. Her favorite is the secret pocket, sewn into the top corner of the last page of the book.

I can't tell you the joy it brings me to have one of my toys beloved by one of my children. I'm off to find some little trinkets of our own to hide in each pocket, to start a new generation of memories with my own child now.

Overheard at the Preschool Today

2010-02-19T20:30:00.000-06:00

Philip, is that toothpaste dried on your face?

No, I think it's just dirt from being a little boy.

Valentine's Day Candy Overload

2010-02-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

MOMMY! Did you know that the stick in Lick-a-made is candy too?!

Big Girl Bed Time

2010-02-12T21:29:00.000-06:00

We are trying to accomplish two things right now. (1) Helen to sleep through the entire night entirely in her own bed and (2) reclaim a little space in our little home, perhaps combining Helen and Philip into one room within this year. In order to accomplish one or both of these tasks, we removed the crib gate from Helen's crib, making it a low day bed. So far so good....sort of.

Couponing Meal

2010-02-08T18:28:00.004-06:00

So I know this is typically a family memories blog but since we started to clip and use coupons for our grocery shopping, it has become a huge part of our family activities. Take the meal shown above. That's pulled pork BBQ nachos with black beans and Bobby Flay's Queso Sauce. Here are the ingredients along with the price we paid for them:
1 box Velveeta cheese - 93 cents
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes/green chiles - FREE
1 tub Lloyd pulled pork BBQ - $1.25
1 can black beans from ALDI - .$.49
16 oz. cheddar/jack cheese - $1.50
Bag of corn tortilla chips - $.99
tablespoon of chili powder - FREE
tablespoon of Kosher salt - not sure what I paid for this a while back but it's just a tablespoon.

The queso recipe calls for red onion (didn't have it) and green onion (didn't have it).

Total price for this meal was $5.16

We have about 4 cups of amazing queso dip left over for anytime we feel like hardening our arteries again soon. There is also enough BBQ left for Big Philip to have a BBQ sandwich tomorrow for lunch.

So, these are brand name products for free or next to nothing all from couponing at Publix. Our grocery bill each month has gone from $550 to about $350. We do not set foot in Walmart because Walmart will not double coupons that make their everyday low prices NOT the lowest compared to Publix. Anyone not convinced yet?

Rainy Saturdays

2010-02-06T20:18:00.005-06:00

It's been raining for a few days now. I realize this is nothing to complain about compared to our family and friends suffering "snowmageddon" in the northeast. Would it be considered in poor taste to say that we would love to have about ten of the 36 inches that have fallen in the DC area today? We would really love to make a snowman.

Because of the rain, we have to make up things to do in our very, very tiny house. It's actually quite entertaining so I spent this afternoon observing differences in personalities between Helen and Little Philip.

Helen is such a little girl. For my friends that believe in the nurture argument about gender differences, Helen is living proof that nature often takes a commanding lead. I am not a girly-girl, never have been. There were no dolls in my room growing up. I had science test kits, dug in the dirt, built forts in the woods (by the way, thanks Wildwood Walmart for establishing your presence directly on top of my once beautiful fort. I'm still that bitter twelve year old). Enter Helen into our lives. She loves dolls, loves babies, and pulls my necklaces off to try on all the time. In a word, she is all girl. She also has an outstanding sense of imagination. This afternoon Helen disappeared on me for about five minutes. I was in the dining room tagging toys and clothing for an upcoming consignment sale. I went into the kitchen and found Helen sitting in my chair at the table. She had her baby doll firmly clipped into her booster seat. She asked me for a bowl and spoon. I asked her if she needed a bib too to which she replied uh huh (we are working on please and thank you but it's a struggle). She then commenced to feeding her baby. It was so adorable.

After catching that little moment I decided to film Little Philip for comparison. Little Philip is a realist, and black and white kind of guy. He has virtually know concept of how to play make believe. If he had happened upon his sister, he would have wondered what in the heck she was doing, maybe even offering to dump real oatmeal into the bowl rather than try to comprehend make believe oatmeal. Instead, Little Philip was happily coloring in the living room, singing his Letter People songs, talking to himself about the characteristics of each letter person. To him, the Letter People are very real. To us, they are practically nauseating. Every night he listens to the Letter People music CD. He has us put his CD player on random (he'll come out a fuss if the songs go in order) and sleep mode. If he is still awake when the music stops, he will come out and tell us to turn it back on. Meanwhile, Helen is snoozing within a minute of going down. However, she'll be up in about three hours. Philip will be out cold.

My children seem to be polar opposites right now and it is so intriguing to watch how these differences play out each day.

Overheard at the Moss House

2010-02-01T21:35:00.002-06:00

At bedtime, just before prayers, a conversation between father and son...

Daddy, did you know there are three Gods?

Really Philip?

Yes, God the Father, God the Son, and then the broccoli said the Holy Ghost. He made a mistake. It's the Holy Spirit.

Some people say Holy Ghost, Philip. Broccoli wasn't wrong.

But most people say Holy Spirit, right Daddy?

Apparently, Little Philip watched Veggietales at school today.

Happy 35th to Big Philip

2010-01-28T22:03:00.002-06:00

Happy birthday, Daddy! In the words of Little Philip, thank you Mamie and Bop Bop for having my Daddy!

Consignment Season

2010-01-23T21:30:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of my dining room, picture perfect for that next hip dinner party.

For the past year, I have gone through the emotionally scarring experience of steaming, ironing, and safety pinning each outfit from my child's previous season to a wire hanger, ensuring that the hook is pointing to the left in order to sell it in a seasonal children's consignment sale. The goal is to make enough money to buy this season's clothing for both children.

I don't sell any of my hand smocked or high-end smocked clothing. I keep that for my grandchildren so that one day, in long awaited future, my daughter and daughter-in-law will have to to find a way to politely accept and use my lovingly stored family heirlooms despite the fact that children will probably be wearing Teflon spandex or some sun-proof spacesuit by then. In other words, my grandchildren better be wearing smocked clothing at some point or my birth certificate doesn't say Demopolis, AL. I realize this is a matter of opinion but I'm already forming scary strong grandmother opinions at age 35. But I digress...

My rule is that if I cry nostalgic tears as I fondly remember a time when one of my children wore an outfit as I try to put the outfit on a hanger, it gets to stay. The problem is that we are 99% sure we are a complete family. This makes the tears come more freely as I consider that each milestone with Helen is most likely the last I will encounter as a mother. There will not be another child to potty train after Helen. HOW SICK IS THAT? Do I need to remind everyone of the horrors of potty training Little Philip for 18 months???? I literally googled and opened a phone book to find a potty training support group. All I can say is that all those motherhood hormones are cruel little masochistic suckers sometimes.

My only imperfect and earthly saving grace is that hope that I make enough money to then, in turn, buy other children's consigned clothing, each with their own memories in each little stitch, with room to add more memories with my own children tucked neatly inside each outfit. And with even more luck, I'll make enough money to continue to invest in sewing and smocking instruction classes. Those are my new addiction and I eagerly look forward to those moments when I can buy fabric or take a class.

In the meantime, let me know if you want to come shopping in my dining room. We've got a car lot of toddler Tonka trucks in there.

Helen's Snore

2010-01-14T21:47:00.002-06:00

It's 9:45 pm and Helen is sleeping peacefully, for what we bet is another three hours. Then she will magically wake up and scream for over an hour until we surrender and deliver her to our warm bed for the rest of the night. She will wake up at approximately 5:45 a.m. and promptly demand that Daddy (not Mommy) take her to the living room where she will watch Animal Planet while eating gogurt.

But for now, doesn't she snore like an angel?

Helen's Chatter

2010-01-10T22:02:00.003-06:00

It is so interesting to hear Helen's speech develop, which has been at an alarmingly faster rate than Little Philip's experience. Granted, Little Philip was plagued with ear infections and did not get tubes until he was 18 months old. Helen has only had two ear infections to date, and nothing to right home about. And let's face it, she is a girl.

So here are Helen's favorite topics.

SQUIRRELS (pronounced QUIRL)! At 21 months, she is obsessed. If she sees a squirrel she will levitate and begin squealing, pointing, shaking, holding her finger to her lips to let everyone know she needs complete silence to lure the squirrel nearer to her. She has no less than three stuffed squirrels in her crib at all times.

Goat - pronounced correctly, this is her second favorite animal in her book. She also called baby cows goats but we'll get there.

Hay kittay! - We have two cats, and she is very loving and wants to rub them all the time.

Ra Ra or Rayeeeeeeee - That's Riley our dog. Riley never let Little Philip sit on him like a pony ride, but Helen has achieved such greatness. I think Riley knows he's lost the battle with the princess of the house.

Mulchhh - Milk. She drinks a good gallon a day.

JoJoot - Yogurt. She eats about 4 servings a day. The girl is not missing any calcium.

Bed - Bread. She asks for plain pieces of bread or whole flour tortillas for snacks. And she devours it.

Cacker - Cracker

Beebee - Baby

Poon - Spoon

Tickle, tickle, tickle - self explanatory

Babah - Brother, although she has recently said brudder as well.

Favorite Phrase so far:

Where Daddy go? (with hands in the air)...answering her own question: At wuck.

I poo poo. Thanks for sharing Helen.

2010 New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-04T22:28:00.004-06:00

In case you missed last year's resolutions here they are. By going there you can see the previous year's resolutions as well.

Renie's 2009 Resolutions - How did I do?

1. Quiet time, every day, without fail. - Massive fail.

2. Baby weight must be gone. Goal? 20 pounds shed by Moss Beach Reunion, first week of June.
Can't remember what my start weight was so let's just call this a massive fail as well.

3. Learn to sew drapes and garments. I'm already taking my first real sewing class this month. By the end of the class I should be able to sew a Lucy a-line jumper for Helen. I also want to learn how to put in a smocked insert to the Lucy jumper and how to put together a bishop dress that has been smocked. My goal? To make some money to add family income...once I learn such skills. I'm definitely learning more and more about sewing. I can make a Lucy in my sleep and even know how to do set in sleeves, collars, pleats, and ruffles now. I also have a smocking pleater now so in the coming two months, I hope to learn how to pleat a bishop, do picture smocking since I'm basically capable of doing geometrical smocking now, and how to put a bishop dress together, all by Easter of course! I would love to be able to market these skills for extra income but time is precious now that I'm working part-time teaching preschool. Still, I love sewing and I do think there is a future in this for me.

4. Potty train Little Philip. Seriously, folks, we are so close. Philip rarely has an accident anymore and it is usually out in public rather than in the house. However, if he sees you typing on a computer, please excuse him when he asks you if you poo pooed on the potty. You see, he gets 20 minutes of computer time every time he poo poos on the potty so he naturally assumes you did the same. Just say yes and enjoy the high spirited affirmation from a three year old for controlling your bowels. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Literally it was last January that we claimed victory. That time spent potty training might be the only time I was tempted to call my doctor for a psychotropic medication. Let's hope Helen doesn't drive me to such a place like that.

Renie's 2010 Resolutions:

Lose 25 pounds and keep them off. No baby headed our way this year and certainly with Helen turning two in March, there is no way I can continue to say "well, you know I just had a baby."

Organize the house from top to bottom. We are cramped, really cramped in our home and our clutter and disorganization does not help. I really think we can revamp several closets and areas in our home to help in this area. We will start with the front coat closet that I'm sitting in front of right now, typing on this computer. Yep, our front coat closet is a computer closet. We are that cramped.

Quiet time. I'm not going to set a daily goal because I know I will not keep it. Let's just say I need to reintroduce quiet time in my life. Daily would be great but let's just start by making it a regular routine again. I know I need it and everyone around me would benefit greatly from the peace I gain by putting myself in the more than capable arms of Christ once again.

Big Philip's Resolutions:

More consistent quiet time.

Eat healthier and work out more.

Give up regular Coke and switch to either Diet or Coke Zero

Clean out my car so it doesn't look like I live in it. There might be upholstery underneath all of that ****. (Renie's subtle suggestion)

Little Philip's Resolutions:

Learn to ride my bike.

Ingest foods that grew in ground. It's been a while.

Learn to listen and obey the first time with a cheerful heart.

Stick up for myself when my little sister bosses me around.

Helen's Resolutions:

I will not bite my brother ever again.

I will not hit my brother or try to shove him out of my mommy's lap.

I will try not to eat my family out of house and home with hourly full meal feedings each day.

I will sleep through the night and not scream like a ringwraith from Lord of the Rings at 3:00 a.m. every night, nor will I refuse to sleep and continue to scream in such a way unless I get to sleep with Mommy and Daddy.

I will be potty trained before the end of the year, maybe by Moss Beach Week in June.

Riley the Dog's Resolutions:

I will try to keep my evening outings to the backyard to a minimum, especially once my parents have settled into bed, knowing that Helen will likely wake them up within an hour of falling asleep.

I will no longer eat napkins out of the kitchen trash can. There will no longer be evidence of such a habit found digested in the backyard, especially by the children's swing set.

I will continue to be the sweetest dog ever to my human siblings, continuing to allow Helen to ride my like I'm a kind of wild horse or something. A spoon full of peanut butter every now and then will help me keep my sweet spirit and shiny coat.

Atticus the Cat's Resolutions:

I will no longer vomit ten minutes after I eat breakfast and dinner and if I do, I will do my best to avoid shoes, bed linens, rugs, or sofas.

I will shed less. This should help with goal number one.

I will not sit and demand a stream of water from which to drink at 6:30 a.m. from the bathroom sink. I will accept the fresh water sitting in my bowl each day willingly and without whining, even though I am twelve years old now, and have tolerated the introduction of a dog, another cat, and two small humans to my very important life.

Julep the Cat's Resolutions:

I will no longer walk across my parents' bodies and faces just after they have fallen asleep or just before their alarm goes off each morning. If I do, I promise to turn the volume down on the purring.

I will try to be nice to any female human guests that come by from time to time. I will especially try to be nice to my human grandparents that come to visit. I realize that this is the third year I've made this goal. I will remind my mother that her weight goal is also making a third appearance.

I will willingly give up my claimed bed that once belonged to the dog of the house, but only if he continues to spoon me as I sleep each night.

Christmas Travel Marathon

2010-01-04T21:38:00.006-06:00

Hi, remember us? It's been a while, we know. This was one of those holiday breaks where we traveled a lot. It was almost the kind where we needed an oil change before and just after the travels, but not quite. We would not have it any other way as we were able to see family in West Tennessee as well as L.A. That's lower Alabama for those of you unfamiliar with our terrain here in the Deep South.

Because Big Philip works in education, meager though the pay may be, the payoff comes in a lovely two week break that allows us to reconnect with each other and our family, and that is just what we did. We began by visiting the Moss family in Tennessee. There, one our surprise Christmas present from Mamie and Bop was Skype for each of the siblings. Since then, Little Philip and Helen has been video phoning cousins and grandparents, even calling Aunt Mary Helen in Nicaragua once! No matter who is on screen, Helen puts her hands in the air with a questioning aire and says "wheah Amy?" Amy was grandchild number eleven to come along, just three months after Helen. And since then grandchild number twelve was born to Aunt Beverly and George bringing their total number of children to seven. Grandchild number thirteen is due in July, which will make Amy a middle child of three to Aunt Emily and Uncle Jamie. Try to keep up now, the numbers wildly fluctuate! Below is a picture of the nativity play, starring all the older cousins. Little Philip was cast as Joseph but got stage fright and was quickly recast as a shepherd where his line was "we are so afraid!" Helen and Amy loved spending time with each other, taking care of their baby dolls.
After traveling to Tennessee we came home for Christmas "eve" eve so that Santa to come to our house. Santa was a big deal this year to Little Philip and it was so much fun seeing that special light in his eyes. Well, you can't exactly see the light in his eyes in this picture but he's four so, he's focused on the loot. And we promise Helen smiled that morning, but not when we forced her to look at the camera for this picture. Apparently we disturbed her from her princess tea service.

After about 20 hours in Birmingham we headed to Mobile to be with the Porter and Wettermark family. We were there long enough to really spend some quality time with Memaw Porter in Daphne as well as Grandaddy and Grandmother Wettermark. We even got another picture of the four generations of Wettermark women. Grandmother Helen, Nee Nee, Mommy, and Helen. This is always a sweet moment for us. Despite the chill, Little Philip and Helen headed straight for Memaw's front porch swing during our visit. NeeNee and Poppy completed Little Philip's geotrax train set with the an airport, complete with a remote control airplane that does loops in the air on a track.

We coaxed Nee Nee and Poppy to visit the Mobile Exploreum with us since it was free admission for us as McWane Center members here in Birmingham. For anyone that does not know the a McWane membership is reciprocal with most children's science museums in the country, now you know and it is so worth it. Lots of silly time was spent at the Exploreum. Little Philip was amazed at Daddy's floating head.
Then we were finally headed home, to two cats that were besides themselves lonesome for our return. When we opened the door I wanted to say "we've been robbed!" but alas, that is just how we left our house on December 18th and how we found it on December 27th. Aunt Elizabeth was able to come home with us for the week which was so much fun for everyone.

Then on December 28th we went over to Starkville to cheer on the bulldogs and were able to sit with our friends the Mathews. Miss Diane helped Helen understand the game while Big Philip tried desperately to get Little Philip to sit still and watch the game. Notice the death grip Daddy has on him in the picture.

We've spent the last week trying to clean up while spending some good quality time with each other. Big Philip started work today, and we all return to school tomorrow. I think we will be grateful for the routine to return.

Our 2009 Christmas Card

2009-12-08T22:09:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-11-30T21:25:00.006-06:00

Thanksgiving Part I and II have come and gone and not without many happy memories.
This year my Porter family joined us in Birmingham to celebrate Thanksgiving on the weekend before the actual holiday. Memaw was able to join us which was such a special treat. Thanksgiving would have been Papa Julian and Memaw's anniversary so we all want to make sure Memaw knows we love her and are able to reminisce with her about the many happy memories we all had with Papa Julian before his passing this past June.

And so, I bought a 20 pound turkey, thawed it all week, and promptly handed it over to my mother and Memaw to cook when they arrived Thursday. I prepared the sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing (homemade, every bit of it) and an almond joy cheesecake. My sister, Ellen, made a Bing cherry salad, delicious Gorgonzola fruity nutty salad, and Mama brought up pumpkin and pecan pie. The meal was enormous and perfect. We had a wonderful time. As my childhood friend Kelli once said, the Porter house is the only place where four people can be in a room and you hear at least eight different conversations going on at the same time. What can I say? I come from a chatty lot. Besides, have you ever seen such a glamorous great grandmother enjoying her mid morning bloody Mary? I love this woman.
After we recovered from Porter thanksgiving we had Little Philip's Thanksgiving party at school. We made Indian shirts and gave each child an Indian chief or princess name. Little Philip was Chief Funny Feet, in honor of his latest favorite Letter People character, Miss F. The children memorized a Thanksgiving Bible verse, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever. Psalm 107:1.
The next morning we headed up to Tennessee to be with the Moss family and all extended family for the annual Thanksgiving at the farm. The entire Smith family came up from Lafayette, including our newest member of the family Josh, who married Marietta this past summer. His mom, Viv, came as well, which meant everyone finally had a chance to really get to know her since a wedding weekend is no time for quality chit chat with the mother of the groom! Viv was awesome and fell right into the groove of the Moss family activities. While I didn't get her to chop wood with me, I did get her to go on a walk in the woods. Of course, I was also chasing my two children this entire time so I did not have the ability to capture such moments on film. Someone in the family did and I await their pictures (ahem, Hannah?). The Jim Moss family came up from Jackson, MS as well with their two newest grandsons. These poor hapless souls are all products of Ole Miss which made the Egg Bowl great fun on Saturday. See below for our triumphant pose. Nothing like a four year old picking on a ten month old!Now, a confession. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving the zipper on my new corduroy pants busted open. Yes, yours truly had to shamefully go into Ann Taylor Loft BEFORE the Thanksgiving feasting to hand over busted zipper pants and request an exchange. Those employees are trained well to politely apologize for my inconvenience and suggest I pick out a new size 8 on the pants table behind me. If Loft employees accepted tips, she would have gotten a big one. Nevertheless, 48 hours later, with yet another table laden with 9 x 13 casserole dishes of every food imaginable in front of me, the busted zipper was forgotten.

So with good food, good company and blessings o' plenty all around, another Thanksgiving is in the books with many happy memories made. We pray each of our family and friends had the same experience and much for which to be thankful this year!

Reading and Spelling at Age 4

2009-11-16T21:32:00.003-06:00

Little Philip LOVES the letter people. Remember them, children of the seventies? Mr. T with his tall teeth, Miss A who said a-a-choo, Mr. M with his munching mouth? Ringing a bell with anyone? Need a reminder? Go here and it may refresh your memory.

We have been using the Letter People curriculum in our 4K class this year. Little Philip knew his letters but now he is learning phonics. The result? He is spelling and reading now! Something clicked recently and now he sounds out small 3-4 letter words. Tonight he was in the tub and called me in to show me what he spelled all by himself.

Camping

2009-11-15T21:28:00.007-06:00

Yes, camping. We went camping with a 4 year old boy and a 19 month old girl and survived. The last time we went camping Little Philip was 3 months old, at the most. While I am a city girl, I do like to get a bit of the country in my bones and this weekend's camping trip was just what I needed. Big Philip is laughing behind me, recalling me wrapped up in my sleeping blanket Saturday morning loathing the cold weather while my children were bouncing around the campsite, dodging the campfire. I wouldn't know. I wrapped my head in the sleeping bag too, except for this moment when Little Philip wanted to snuggle.
Still, I had a wonderful time and the children were enthralled with the entire experience. Big Philip took care of packing everything we needed to camp, including our food. I simply packed the clothing, and forgot a coat, sweater, fleece anything for myself. Yep, I'm that kind of self-sacrificing mother.
We had hot dogs and smores over the campfire Friday night but also, Big Philip did some foil packs to throw on the fire that were filled with marinaded sirloin tips, diced potatoes and mushrooms. This was to die for compared to the ALDI hot dogs. Glad the kids didn't ask for my sirloin tips because there would have been a serious fight.
For breakfast we had powdered doughnuts and also foil packs with shredded hash browns and sausage. The smell alone after steaming over the campfire was to die for, especially after waking up as cold as I did. Big Philip even had an iced coffee waiting for me. I think I ruined his romantic gift by asking if he could somehow grill it over the fire. "It's an iced coffee," he said.

We walked around Oak Mountain lake after breakfast, stopping at the camp playground for a spell, starting up random conversations with another family that was there camping. Then we broke down our campsite and headed home for the day, right around lunchtime. Helen slept the entire 25 minute drive back home, and promptly refused any further napping for the day. This was the only glitch of the entire experience.
We highly recommend camping for any family. Being without Internet, cell phone, and TV was just what we needed to reconnect and remember what is important in life - looking for squirrels.

No Christmas Cards This Year

2009-10-31T20:02:00.000-06:00

And this is why....

The Demise of Childproofing

2009-10-13T20:06:00.002-05:00

Today I tried to look at my parenting through fresh eyes, instead of bleary blood shot eyes that are exhausted from the physical and emotional strain of being a Mama Bear, constantly protecting, loving, kissing, adoring, and caring for my little ones. For the most part, I gave myself a passing grade. I do my best and look to others and experts for advice when needed, which is almost always.

I did notice one thing. Maybe you more seasoned parents can attest to this too. With Philip, I was so proud of the hundreds of dollars we spent on the latest and greatest safety devices in and around our home. No electrical outlet was left uncovered. Computer cords were neatly tied up in fancy zip ties. Door knobs had safety covers on them preventing an escape. Every right angle that sat at four feet or below had padded covers. We even bought a toilet lock, which gave our dear friend Sarah, who was Little Philip's caregiver for his first year, fits. Granted, she was pregnant so unlocking the toilet was probably akin to torture for her each day. Still, there was no way I was going to let my infant son take too good a look into the toilet bowl.

Which brings me to the demise of my child proofing efforts. I guess the bleary-eyed bloodshot parenting has become a bit lax with Helen. We have allowed her four year old brother to do the childproofing in the house. This is the result of our under sink cabinet child lock. We think it works pretty well. If she tries to undo it, she gets a pretty good rubber band snap on the arm. Classic conditioning.

Our Newest Artist

2009-10-10T08:34:00.005-05:00

Little Philip loves to paint, color, do "find it" puzzles, and anything else that involves sitting at his white table for crafts and activities. Helen wanted to join in the fun today so after her brother finished watercolor painting, she climbed up into his chair to paint.

We have yet to show Helen how to paint. Her brother has always been such a careful child so we were a little more daring when it came to introducing finger paint, water colors, markers, etc. and Helen is anything but careful. Recently, she colored the walls in the dining room and living room, as well as doors with sidewalk chalk. She will do so regularly unless we put it all up. Thank goodness it is just chalk. So when Helen finally positioned herself in the chair and lifted the paintbrush, I was curious to see what she would do.

Here is an example of her artwork from school.
Which means that the only paint experience we have allowed her so far has been for an adult to firmly grip her hand, paint the palm, and firmly place the palm onto paper. Is it any wonder this is how she chose to paint today? It is fascinating to see what creatures of habit little ones are at this age!

Overheard at the Moss House

2009-10-03T09:18:00.003-05:00

Mommy: Philip, Helen loves her baby doll and I think we need to give the baby doll a name.

Little Philip: Yes, we need to give Helen's baby a name.

Mommy: Since Helen can't really talk well yet, why don't you name the baby?

Little Philip: I don't know what to name the baby.

Mommy: What is the most beautiful girl name in the world?

Little Philip with a smile: Emory

Friday Night

2009-10-03T08:34:00.003-05:00

We held off as long as we could, the veil of ignorance being a blissful thing. TV commercials were lost on him, producing a glazed look of knowing nothingness. And then we started attending Mountaintots Day School. You have to pass it on your way to the church. Little friends started talking and finally, he knew what he was missing and begged to go. We broke down and took him. The rest is history. There are about 25 request to go to Chuck E. Cheese each week and we give in about 2% of the time. Friday night was an example of our blessing our son with the Chuck E. Cheese experience. We dragged Aunt Ellen along just for the sheer torture factor. It is a lot of fun watching a young twenty-something happening gal like Aunt Ellen look like a deer in headlights the entire time we were there. She mainly stuck to the salad bar instead of Whack-a-Mole with the rest of us. But we did manage to get a picture of the evening. Aunt Ellen's forehead is the centerpiece but the smiles on both children's faces lets you know that fun was had by almost all!

Just in Case Child Protection Pays a Visit

2009-09-30T18:03:00.008-05:00

Helen is always hungry. Helen is always eating. We had her 18 month check up yesterday and Dr. Simpson asked if she had a 7-12 word vocabulary. I said yes. He asked what words she was saying. I said "cookie", "cracker", "cup", "more", "mama", "dada", "baba"(brother), "Ra Ra" (Riley the dog), and "kitty." Her first words have always had something to do with food. The words she is trying to form now remain in the food category as well. Her teachers are amazed at the amount of food Helen ingests, yet she remains one of the tiniest and daintiest little ones in the Bunny room. At her check up she weighed about 22.5 pounds and was 31.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 25-50% for height and only the 10-25% for weight. Have no fear, her honker 19.5 inch head is well within the 95% for her age. Love those Moss genes.

Just in case anyone ever accuses me of not feeding my children, I post the following videos as evidence. When Helen wakes up in the morning, she lunges for her high chair. When she wakes up from her nap she lunges for her high chair. She will sit in the high chair for an hour tapping the table as she waits for food preparation to end. She will fly into a rage if you take something out of the oven, stir it, and then put it back. For the eighteen minutes it took the cookies to bake in the video below she stood in front of the oven, pressing her face against the glass, signing "please" over and over and over. For my Vandy friends, Helen is OHB - One Hungry Baby.

Meanwhile, Little Philip ate three bites of chicken and rice for dinner and called it quits in favor of going to his room to dance to the Letter People songs.

Dressing Little Girls

2009-09-19T10:16:00.006-05:00

This morning it is raining, again. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights so we are headed to Lowe's this morning to buy some wood, nails, and some tar to seal the ark we surely must build if this rain is to continue.

But that has nothing to do with this post. This morning we are taking it easy, trying to decide something to do as a family in the rain, that is free, or relatively free. While I was in the shower, Big Philip graciously started to dress the kids. It has not gone well so far. Little Philip insists on wearing his spider man pajama top for the day. I pulled out a one piece romper for Helen that has a sailor collar on it. When I got out of the shower, this is what I saw.

Another flashback story. It is second grade at Our Lady of Sorrows School. My sister, Ellen, has just entered the world. My Daddy is dressing me for the school day. This should not be difficult considering it is the basic Catholic school uniform pictured here:Pretty easy to figure out, right? Nope. Daddy put my jumper on backwards so that the V yoke was straight down my back. I believe it was my former first grade teacher, Ms. Campisi, that caught me in the hallway and corrected it before I entered the classroom. I just didn't want to hurt my Daddy's feelings.

So my sweet husband let me sleep until 8:00 am this morning and I am eternally grateful. But clearly, I need to give some more basic instructions on dressing a little girl. The sailor collar goes in back, Daddy!

We Won (a wrench)

2009-09-14T13:43:00.003-05:00

But a really good one! A while back, Daddy entered himself and Little Philip into the Skil Saw Birdhouse Building Memories contest. He and Little Philip followed their instructions on how to build a birdhouse together. The birdhouse is hanging in the tree outside of Little Philip's bedroom window now.

Today we received a call that we were a 4th place winner, which means Big Philip (and technically Little Philip) won one of these:

Apparently it is a really good power wrench so we shall see what gets fixed on the honey-do list now!

We are also featured on the Skil-Saw entry web page which you can view here. Some of the other entries look pretty fancy. We can say that Little Philip did all of the work on his birdhouse except for the power sawing and getting the screws in really tight. We are very proud of him!

Goat Cheese Heaven

2009-09-12T16:15:00.003-05:00

This post is to inspire my our niece, Joy, to take very good care of those milk goats she recently acquired. Aunt Renie paid $6.00 for this itsy-bitsy tub of herbed goat cheese today at the farmer's market. The way we see it, you'll have your college tuition paid for in no time if you can make this delectable cheese!

Hungry Hungry Helen

2009-09-09T20:36:00.004-05:00

Much like the hungry, hungry caterpillar, Helen eats her weight in food each day. She awakens each morning, earlier than any rooster, and proudly says "eat! eat!" When she smells food she says "eat! eat!" When she awakens from her nap in the afternoon she says "eat! eat!" As often as the Weather Channel does the local on the 8's update or I have to endure another song from the Fresh Beats on Noggin she says "eat! eat!" Up until now, only her mommy and daddy could marvel at their bottomless pit of a child, thinking it a nice change from Little Philip who eats nothing but PBJs each day.

So this afternoon, I planned a little experiment. While Helen and Philip were napping, I started making our Cuban black beans a rice, a request by Little Philip. It is actually the only meal he has ever asked for seconds of that I can remember. Helen woke up at about 4:30 and, as expected, smiled that loving smile and said "eat! eat!" I gave her a cup and kept working in the kitchen. She would have none of it and walked over to the table, removing her bowl and fork to demand that I serve her.

After eating two bowls of black beans and rice (you can see the size bowl in the above video) as well as half a can of mandarin oranges, Helen eyed the cornbread and promptly demanded that Daddy relinquish his hot buttered piece, but not before retrieving her spoon from under the table, just in case the cornbread required it. Having removed all traces of food from the dinner table, Helen retired for the evening, leaving the kitchen in nothing but her diaper, heading for her brother's bean bag in the living room upon which she sat to digest her weight in food.

Overhead at the Moss House at Bedtime

2009-09-06T21:43:00.002-05:00

Each night, we say our prayers with Little Philip. We first thank God for everything and everyone in our life. You know, like the ability to watch Wonder Pets and stuff like that. Then, we ask God to forgive us for our sins, like not putting our shoes on when Mommy tells us to. Then we ask God to help us with different things. Sometimes it is very sweet like giving other little boys and girls toys or houses or food to eat. Other times it is the ability to watch more Wonder Pets.

Tonight, in the mind of our wonder-eyed four year old, something clicked.

Mommy, Jesus died on the cross for your timeouts.

Busy Times

2009-08-29T11:31:00.002-05:00

I feel I have abandoned our blog lately, due to typical daily busy times! We finished up the summer term of preschool and will be beginning the new year this coming Wednesday. I will be teaching Little Philip in his 4K class along with a co-teacher. Helen will be starting in the "bunny" room just down the hall from the two of us. I am excited about meeting all of my new students and look forward to Helen continuing to improve in her anxiety as she departs from me. Lately, there have been no tears as I drop her off each morning and if she catches a glimpse of me during the day, she rarely cries or falls apart anymore.

Big Philip has started his fall marathon of visiting area high schools, following up with prospective students for MSU and attending area college fairs. He continues to enjoy his work with MSU.

There is nothing else to share at this time. We lead pretty boring but blessed lives lately!

Simple Things in Life

2009-08-21T10:25:00.000-05:00

You know you are easy to please when the highlight of your day is when your free bra you sent off for 6-8 weeks ago finally arrives in the mail. Pure bliss.

Roger Day!

2009-08-12T20:59:00.002-05:00

If you have not had the pleasure of taking your little one to see or hear Roger Day in concert, I highly recommend it. He's sort of a toddler celebrity around these parts but travels all across the country to do children's concerts. Tonight he were able to see him again at a local church and Little Philip got all his sillies out!

Cauliflower

2009-08-10T20:06:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, there lived a darling little girl named Renie. Actually her name was Little Irene, because that's what you do to your children when they live in the South, especially anywhere near Mobile, AL. You always confuse them and everyone around them by naming them after you so that every time someone calls on the phone you must clarify which Irene the caller desire. I decided to repeat this torture with our son. But I digress...

So anyway, this little girl named Little Irene hated oatmeal. I don't think instant flavored oatmeal packets were invented yet and if they were, Little Irene's parents surely did not buy them for their perfect daughter, so the only option was old fashioned steel cut oatmeal, like what horses eat. So one morning before school, Little Irene came downstairs in her Catholic school uniform and found, in horror, that her mother had served hot old fashioned oatmeal for breakfast, complete with raisins, butter, and brown sugar. She sat down and begged not to eat it but her mother forced the issue, saying "IRENE BOYCE PORTER YOU CAN SIT THERE ALL DAY LONG FOR ALL I CARE BUT YOU ARE NOT GETTING UP FROM THAT TABLE UNTIL YOU EAT YOUR OATMEAL!" And so, Little Irene sat crying, whimpering about the fact that she would be late for school if her mother did not relent. All the while her mother babbled about starving children in Africa and what a sad thing it would be to have to confess to Father what's-his-name than you did not eat your oatmeal, blah, blah, blah. Finally, in obedience to the desire to remain a perfect daughter, Little Irene held her nose as she shoveled the goopy meal down her throat. She was then allowed to get up from the table. When she did, she promptly threw up all over the floor. Little Irene was very late for school by this point and so she had to go to the school office. There sat Sister Joan, the principal of her school. When Sister Joan asked what was the nature of Little Irene's tardy arrival, Little Irene's mother nudged her daughter to explain. Feeling sure that a Catholic nun would take pity on her, Little Irene blurted out "my mother made me eat my oatmeal and it made me sick so I threw up." Why Little Irene thought a Catholic nun would take pity on this situation, she'll never know but sure enough, Sister Joan replied saying "I am sorry Little Irene, but I am afraid that is an unexcused absence." At this point, Little Irene pondered this and realized that at eight years old, big whoop if it was an unexcused absence. Later in life, Little Irene would become Presbyterian.

Fast forward to this evening and you will find my son at the dinner table, refusing to even try a teeny-weeny morsel of buttered cauliflower. We are talking about a piece about the size of a pea. My only rule is that you have to at least try a new food by eating one bite. If you don't like it, you do not have to eat the rest but you must at least try it before passing judgment. I refused to let Little Philip have his chocolate pudding unless he tried his cauliflower. Mind you, my husband was sitting across the table trembling that I might make him take a little bite too. In the end, the power of warm chocolate pudding was too much and Little Philip attempted to try it. As he tried to swallow, he upchucked onto the floor. Somehow the above memory of being forced to eat oatmeal alluded me until the fateful moment that Little Philip's stomach emptied itself onto the kitchen floor.

Yep, I have officially become my mother.

The Three Philips

2009-08-08T21:36:00.002-05:00

We have now lived in Birmingham for five years and wanted to make a visit to Selma to see our Uncle Buddy. Uncle Buddy is Philip Ball Moss, both Big and Little Philip's namesake. While we enjoy seeing him at family weddings, we wanted to have a visit on his home turf so we invited ourselves down for a visit today!

As always, Uncle Buddy was the picture of graciousness, and we enjoyed learning more about the Moss family history as well as our driving tour of Selma. After a delicious lunch we returned to Buddy's house to swim with his grandchildren. When Helen's eyes started looking a bit sleepy we began our goodbyes and prepared to drive back to Birmingham. It was at this point that Little Philip announced that he wanted to spend the night with Uncle Buddy. He repeated this emotional request several times, even throwing his arms around Uncle Buddy and sweetly repeating his request in his ear. While it was tempting, we figured that we should depart before our little darlings turned back into pumpkins. And so, we dragged a sobbing Little Philip to the car, explaining to Uncle Buddy that he should consider this a great compliment. We had a wonderful time and hope to return for another visit soon!

Budding Artists

2009-08-08T21:28:00.002-05:00

This past week, Little Philip's friend, Emory, came over for breakfast while her mommy and daddy went to the doctor, and what we hope will be her last doctor's appointment before her baby brother, Ethan arrives.

Little Philip and Emory are quite gifted in the acrylic painting department. I love the layering techniques both children used, playing on the patterns of light in this work. Notice the abstract ability to capture what they deemed to be "a day at the beach with friends" with bright contrasting colors. Maybe this was the case but most likely, there were four buckets of paint and each stood guard over their respective two buckets. Still, a work of art in my mind!

First Nightmare

2009-07-28T22:03:00.002-05:00

Little Philip was sobbing tonight because he did not want that big brown thing to come out of his wall and take all of his stuffed animals again.

Nightmares are so scary. Now I'm going to have a nightmare about a big brown thing coming out of my wall too.

Grocery Glee

2009-07-27T16:14:00.003-05:00

Sometime ago I wrote about how we started to use coupons in our household to save money. By my estimation, we have come to the point where we save, on average, about 35% on our total monthly grocery bill. This is a good thing considering our summer energy bills went up due to the typical Alabama heat and our need for some good backyard water slide fun. Because of couponing, we are rarely financially stressed when we turn that water spicket in the backyard or adjust our A/C by a degree or two.

Some couponers have all the time in the world to put their entire grocery shopping experience out on their lovely dining room or kitchen table, artfully displayed to show the amount of groceries they received after subtracting their coupon savings. I sometimes think they have fake children because there is no way I am taking that 15-20 minutes out of my day to artfully display the food my children are already clammering for, let alone slapping off the hand of my hungry husband. But for today, I will make an exception because it was just one of those grocery shopping experiences that put it all in perspective.

Here is what I bought. I have highlighted in red what was NOT on sale to show that I was able to buy these items relatively guilt free as a result of being offset by coupon savings. Most of these items were fresh produce or specialty items that rarely come with coupon potential. The total of these non-sale items was $29.06. Keep that figure in mind when you see my final bill.

2 bags Glory Brand Cut/Washed Turnips - $2.99 each
Publix frozen green beans - $2.69
Veggie Stix organic veggie chips - $4.27
Mary B's frozen tea biscuits - $2.59
Publix gallon 1% milk - $2.89
Bag of red potatoes - $3.99
Publix extra large eggs - $1.49
Birthday card - $.99
Whitewheat Bread - $2.00
Shout Trigger laundry spray - $2.99
Publix 6 pack kids yogurt - $2.00
2 packs of Yoplait Gogurt (B1G1 deal) - $1.44
Publix antibacterial wipes (B1G1 deal)
Lysol All purpose cleaner - $1.59 (B1G1 deal)
Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (B1G1) - $1.50
Kraft Cucumber Ranch dressing (B1G1) - $1.50
Kelloggs Special K Blueberry cereal - $3.99
Special K cereal bars - $3.19
2 bags 8 o'clock ground coffee - (B1G1) - $2.50 each

Total bill before coupons and B1G1 deals - $70.15
Total savings with coupons and B1G1 deals - $25.23
TOTAL FINAL BILL - $44.92 a savings of 36%.

Some of the really good buys included the Kraft dressing (50 cents each) and coffee ($1.49) and the Lysol All Purpose 40 oz. cleaner (60 cents). Again, if you look above, I bought a lot of items that were not on sale, and bought mostly brand name items and still, I saved a bundle! If you see a brand name purchase, that means with coupons, it was cheaper than buying the Publix generic verson. And the best part, NO WAL-MART! I won't say I don't go there at all but let's just say in the five years we have been in Birmingham, I think I've been there six times. I think that is pretty good considering the evil empire's ability to infiltrate your life. All my savings come from my friendly local Publix. Mike, the customer service manager tells me to "knock it out" when he sees me arrive, knowing I'm a couponer. There are several cashiers that are super nice and enjoy ringing me up just to see what kind of savings I racked up for the week. Simply put, Publix rocks and I want to support a business that practices ethical care and support for their employees, customers, and the community in which they abide.

Where do I get my savings ideas? My home girl Jenny over at www.southernsavers.com. She is amazing! Want to know more about couponing? Just ask me or check out Jenny's blog as she taught me everything I ever wanted to know and she continues to teach me even more tricks of the trade.

Sew Frustrated

2009-07-22T20:14:00.007-05:00

I have had the enormous blessing of a few days all by myself. Literally, my husband has been in Mississippi for staff development week and his parents graciously offered to take Helen and Little Philip to Tennessee for a few days of spoiling and cousin time.

Big Philip's time in Mississippi unfortunately parted us for our eighth anniversary yesterday. However, after eight years of marriage, we know how to adapt so we celebrated last Friday. In our minds, the actual "date" of a birthday or anniversary is less important than celebrating it the right way on a day when you can.

I am sure my children are having a blast with all of their cousins, aunts, uncles, Mamie, Bop Bop, Mama Em, Papa Papa and then some. I hear that they went to an exotic animal farm where wild animals came right up to them, allowing the children to feed them. I am sad to miss such fun but...

Did I mention that I had these last few days all by myself? Sunday night after Big Philip left I wandered aimlessly around the house, pittering on facebook, attempting to discern what to do with this incredible gift of time and space. After a long hot bath in complete silence, a conversation with a girlfriend that did not involve hiding from my children in order to have said adult conversation, I decided to get busy sewing.

Now you should know that I am a sewing-crazed fool that has zero skills. That is a major problem since it means I have dozens of patterns and fabric I have purchased this past year and most often, end up ruining the fabric and my spirit attempting to teach myself to sew. I have been known to look inside the shirt and dress collars of my preschoolers to see if their mothers or grandmothers handmade their outfits. I have also been known to wait by the classroom door to accost these mothers and grandmothers and asked them how they did it. I took one sewing class at The Smocking Bird here in town and learn how to sew the Children's Corner "Lucy" pattern for Helen. That taught me some very basic skills and tricks that I have been able to apply. However, I continue to be baffled by the dreaded zipper, that appears in every pattern I have purchased to make clothing for myself. Still, I keep at it. So here are the results of the last 72 hours.This is a Lucy dress I made for Helen. It was very easy except for making the buttonholes. I recently bought a buttonhole foot for my Bernina 150 but no matter what I do, I have to gently tug the fabric along to keep it from snagging. I made it work but an expert seamstress would look on my work with a heavy heart. It is a cute little jumper and something that is not so PINK since most of her wardrobe is still so PINK. I thought it was time to branch out.
This is a skirt I tried to make about two months ago. I checked out Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing book from the library after seeing some craft blogs tout how simple, functional, and easy the patterns were in the book. I chose the Yard Sale Wrap skirt and got to work. To tell you the truth, my work was virtually flawless and then I tried it on. Mind you, I made the X-large size so imagine my dismay to find it would not go around my waist by about six inches. Some quick googling revealed that Heather goofed and did not get corrections completed before the book went to press. I was so upset. I printed off the errata sheet and tucked it into the book before I returned it to the library so some other poor soul did not find herself as frustrated as I was. However, the bliss of these last 72 hours gave me the time to cut out the beautiful waistband, pull up the skirt to shorten it and fit my teeny-tiny waist (detect that sarcasm?), and attempt to put in a dreaded zipper. I failed again, but it does zip, and it will stay on. I just need to wear a slouchy t-shirt with it to cover my terrible sewing skills.This is a dress I complete a while back and had planned to wear to some summer wedding weekends. Again, it is virtually flawless except for my inability to put in an invisible zipper. Because of this, there is a hideous white zipper that glares at you from the back. I post a picture of it despite the fact that I did not do a thing to it these last 72 hours. However, I spent about an hour trying to work up the courage to take it apart and try again. I decided against it and plan to take it to an alterations place to have them correct my zipper mistake and make it wearable before my Southern upbringing makes it impossible for me to wear eyelet linen past Labor Day.

I started to back smock a pink panel I was given that should form a cute bubble but comparing it to Helen's current bubbles made me think that she has definitely outgrown it. If I had a smocking pleater, I probably would have spent some more time starting some new smocking projects.

So here is my wishlist to feed my need for sewing.

A smocking pleater
The Smocking Bird's intermediate sewing class (set in sleeves, collars and piping)
The Smocking Bird's smocked bishop construction class
The Smocking Bird's smocking stacking class

Too bad we need groceries first each month!

Tomorrow I will be able to press my sweet children's faces to mine and give them big sloppy kisses and hugs. Saturday I can give my husband big sloppy kisses and hugs too. For now, I plan to go soak in one more hot bubble bath and enjoy that last glass of white wine chilling in the fridge.

Ahoy, Me Hearties!

2009-07-18T20:52:00.008-05:00

Today we had Little Philip's 4th birthday party. The weather was absolutely perfect, right in the mid 80's. It was actually a tad bit chilly if you were playing in the water slide we had for the party! Lots of little friends helped us celebrate with a pirate themed party. Aunt Lizzy had plenty of beads and doubloons she brought from New Orleans so we draped the back deck and used them to decorate the treasure chest full of party favors. Little Philip finally received the big boy bike he has been hoping for, with "two wheels." It is 8:55 pm now and both children are sound asleep in their beds after an exhausting but fun-filled day. Love that silence!

Happy 4th Birthday, Philip!

2009-07-14T18:50:00.002-05:00

Little Philip turned four years old on Monday. I had hoped to post big smiles and happy pictures but instead, we had one sick little boy on his birthday! We returned from a family wedding in Mississippi this past weekend with both children down with a stomach bug. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than having two children throwing up on "both ends" and being stuck in a hotel room, plotting your five hour drive home for the next morning. We were sad not to be able to visit with family since the first incident occurred as we were pulling up to the church for the wedding. Let's just say that the rental car we still have should air out by the time the body shop actually finishes fixing our van...we hope. To all our aunts, uncles, and cousins who waved at us from the Hampton Inn breakfast Sunday morning, it was great to "see" you.

So Monday morning we filled Little Philip's room with balloons, just like we did last year. He didn't even notice them as he weakly dragged his poor little boy out of bed to throw up one more time before heading back to our bed for the day. He slept most of the day away but was feeling much better by dinner time.

Fast forward to Tuesday, when Mommy returned to work and left Daddy to care for the two mostly healed children. Little Philip decided to use his new beanbag chair as a slide off of the sofa. He slid alright, right into the coffee table face first. His lip and front gum look like something out of a gory movie, but Dr. Hamm assures us that his teeth are in tact (our biggest concern) and that lips and gums are amazing to watch heal. We hope it heals in time for some birthday cake on Saturday!

Helen Eats and Talks

2009-07-08T18:21:00.005-05:00

Helen is just shy of 16 months now. She started walking the second week of June, FINALLY! Actually, she spoke her first word before she ever took her first step. Her first word was "thank you" which roughly translates to "I-am-holding-out-my-hand-and-repeating-this-phrase-until-you-feed-me-what-is-in-your-hand-and-if-you-don't-I-will-shriek-like-a-wild-banshee-causing-a-huge-public-scene." It's adorable, really it is, the first ten times, but then it kind of wears on you without a Tylenol fix. Unlike her brother, who eats like a bird, Helen eats roughly her weight in food each day.

This past week she added another new word to her ever growing repertoire: "cookie." She also says "cracker" but cookies are more prevalent in our house lately than crackers since baking them is a family activity in itself. Yeah for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough recipe that keeps wonderfully in the fridge! Here is a little clip of us holding food hostage until she says the word. Please note her frantic use of baby sign language taught not by her parents, but by her brother across the dinner table.

Summer Activities

2009-07-01T21:25:00.007-05:00

A blog called The Long Thread shares a plethora of summer craft activities you can share with your children or yourself. I am drawn to blogs like this since I am now teaching preschool. Little Philip is a glutton for arts and crafts and anything involving books. Helen wants to tag right along, despite her tender age of 15 months. Thankfully, we are past the point of eating craft glue so she is able to join us with most projects.

Here are a few projects or activities we plan to do this summer, all gained from the above link but specifically linked in each project (former BSC Honor Council members, please note my effort to cite sources):

We seem to go through the store bought sidewalk chalk like toilet paper around here, so we will be making our own sidewalk chalk. I have an enormous four year old container of plaster of Paris I bought to make Little Philip's first feet impressions. However, the cute little tin I bought to put his cute little footprints in turned out to be too little since I gave birth to a son roughly the weight and size of a Thanksgiving turkey.
We will be making our own sidewalk chalk paint but will not be using Mommy's beloved silicone pastry brushes. Daddy has some perfectly good paint brushes in the garage that has seen their last latex painting days. Since we can't afford to fixed the horribly cracked concrete driveway, I'm devising a grand sidewalk chalk mural that will disguise the cracks for the little ones to complete one day.
Because Little Philip loves to read and has discovered the Dr. Suess section at our local library, we will be making oobleck. I have not read this book, nor do I know what this stuff is but it looks a like like Flubber and getting ooey-gooey is quite a treat for my little ones. On a rainy day (if there will ever be one!) we will be making kaleidoscopes:
And one more project. We will be making our own bubble mixture which basically consists of dish washing liquid, water and unflavored gelatin. For all my couponers, remember those $4 off any one Knox unflavored gelatin coupons that resulted in about a $2.50 overage to spend? I have about ten boxes of that stuff that have just been sitting waiting for a use like this.

And the good news? All of the above activities will cost us nothing since we have all the required materials or ingredients already on hand!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Lizzy!

2009-06-28T12:50:00.004-05:00

We were able to celebrate Uncle Rob's birthday in person but Aunt Lizzy is way far away in New Orleans. So, Aunt Lizzy, here is our virtual birthday card to you! We love you!

Car Accident on Sunday, June 21st

2009-06-27T20:55:00.001-05:00

Many friends and family members have heard bits and pieces about my car accident this past Sunday evening so after some prayer and thoughts, I'm posting the full story here. Sunday evening around 7:30 I headed to Publix for our weekly penny item(vanilla wafers this week) while Big Philip stayed home with the kids. I was stopped at the red light leaving our neighborhood, preparing to turn left onto a four lane highway towards Publix . When the light turned green, I proceeded to turn left. I was struck by someone running the red light. The impact took off most of the front end of our van but I was unscathed, not even a bruise or any soreness. I wish the story ended there but it does not.

In the next few seconds, the driver that hit me lost control of his SUV and struck a telephone pole. His girlfriend was also in the car and sustained multiple fractures but was conscious at the scene. Sadly, the driver, an eighteen year old male who just graduated from a prominent local high school this past May, died in transit to the hospital.

Big Philip has been out of town most of June working at MSU with their new student orientation. At the time of this accident, it just so happened that he was home for a few days in between his work obligations. Otherwise, the children would have been in the van with me, a thought that terrifies me.

Please pray for this young man's family who is grieving the loss of a son. An experience like this causes me to pray more fervently for God's wisdom in knowing His plan for me on this earth. It also makes me more thankful for the life I have been given. I share this experience in the hopes that you will feel the same way.

Clone Time

2009-06-21T15:29:00.005-05:00

When Little Philip was eight months old I posted a picture of Big Philip at the same age. The resemblance was uncanny. What is even more amazing is that with each milestone, son continues to be an almost complete clone of Daddy at the same milestones. Here is Big Philip, pictured on the left, at the 1979 Moss Family Reunion in Perdido Key. In this picture, he is four and a half years old.
And here is a picture of Little Philip at this year's reunion, just one month shy of his fourth birthday.
Scary isn't it? You should see what Little Philip will look like at his senior prom. Get in line girls. He's gonna be a heart breaker!

Blackberry Season

2009-06-20T20:54:00.006-05:00

It is so freakin' hot in Alabama right now which can only mean one thing. It is blackberry pickin' time. Sure, we could go to the store and buy fresh or frozen blackberries but what is the fun in that?

Today we went to the Valleydale Farmer's Market that meets each Saturday at our church, Faith PCA. Daddy helps out at the Boutwell Farm's meat booth (is anyone surprised?) but we have not been able to join him these last two Saturdays due to travel. Today we made it out there by 9:00 a.m. when the temperature was a cool 90 degrees already. We lasted about half and hour before heading up the hill to the church playground. Nothing cools a mother and two aunts off more than standing around watching an almost four year old play on a playground. Helen had just about had it so Aunt Ellen waited in the car with her while Aunt Lizzy, Mommy, and Philip played a bit. I could not resist taking a peek at the edge of the woods that borders the back of the church and sure enough, jackpot. We picked about four cups of blackberries and headed home to make some cobbler.

So we started with this. Sugar coated fresh blackberries.And ended up with this. A delicious fresh blackberry cobbler complete with blackberry syrup, proudly displayed by a just-up-from-my-nap-so-please-excuse-my-messy-hair Little Philip.
Diet? What diet. Sweet mama, this was good. The recipe is from my girl over at Pioneer Woman and can be found here. Now I'm off to scrub my entire body with soap to be sure I don't come down with a rabid case of poison ivy from all that pickin' today.

Back from the Beach And

2009-06-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

We are back from the beach week in Perdido Key and it was a long and memorable week! Lots of cousin time and lots of pictures to download and sort. Sadly, at the close of the week my beloved grandfather, Papa Julian, passed away. He had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and was awaiting the results of a PET scan to see if the cancer had spread. Before those results were even read, he passed away, but we later learned that the cancer had spread to his brain. It was a blessing for him to pass so quickly, without any pain, but we all miss him dearly. As with any good Southern funeral, our tears were mixed with hugs and laughter with loved ones all around, along with a delicious outdoor picnic following the funeral at Papa Julian and Memaw's house. The setting was Papa Julian's beautiful pecan orchard and he would have been very happy to know we all enjoyed being a family together reminiscing out him and all our wonderful memories.

I will download pictures soon but we hit the ground running after our return late Monday night. The cupboard is bare so I need to get our household back up and running before I spend some time updating our blog.

King (Make that Princess) Sized Bed

2009-06-03T15:29:00.003-05:00

This week has been a doozy of a week at the Moss house. Mommy started work at Mountaintop Community Church preschool which means Little Philip and Helen also started a new school. Little Philip is elated to be back in a school setting and by all accounts, is doing very well so far. Can you guess how the next paragraph will begin?

Helen is not transitioning well, something we all expected. Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last day for the week before heading to the Moss family reunion at the beach next week. That means that when we return, we will begin the transition all over again. We are confident that she will get into a routine but for now, Miss Helen is none too pleased to be leaving Mommy, even if it is just ten feet across the hall from Mommy's classroom. Her teachers are sweet and can be and they are being very patient with her, considering all the other children in her classroom are wondering what the heck her problem is.

Big Philip also left for Starkville today, where he will find his temporary abode in an MSU residence hall while he and his fellow staff members welcome all the new MSU students through new student orientation sessions throughout the month of June. We will miss Daddy tremendously but look forward to a few days here and there where he might be able to head home for a break. And if he does come home for a break, he hopes he will not have to share his bed with his little girl anymore. As you can see, her first night after starting school was not a restful one. After trying to rock her back to sleep when she work up at 4:00 a.m., Daddy relented and brought her to bed with us, where she promptly turned perpendicular to our bodies and began kicking Daddy in the head.

People Who Have Changed My Life

2009-05-29T08:46:00.003-05:00

My neighbor and friend, Lurenda, lost her little girl, Olivia about a week after her birth. Olivia was born very premature. Today would have been Olivia's third birthday. In honor and memory of her, Lurenda asked her friends to share someone who has made a difference in our lives in the same way that Olivia touched so many lives in her short life. I cannot think of any one person in particular that stands out above anyone else so here are my thoughts on this Friday morning.

My college roommate Meredith, a new mommy herself! She would not remember this but sometime our junior year, I was struggling with a relationship and she calmly looked me in the eye and asked if he was a Christian. I could not answer. She then said "Renie, can you imagine him not being with you in paradise?" While it took me a few more years to act on her sisterly love for me, I did finally make the break and the result was meeting....

My husband, Philip. I guess most wives would say that their husbands have had a lasting impression on them and for good reason. My husband, Philip, accepted me for who I was, warts and all. I remember that deep talk every couple has when they lay it all out on the table, with pure honesty. As I finished sharing my sordid past, he shared his and it was virtually spotless. I felt so ashamed and fearful. How could this wonderful man love me? He looked deeply in my eyes and simply said that I was his love, that I was to be his bride, forgiven and washed pure, just as Christ loved the Church. I have never felt such a powerful rush of emotions as that moment, in Kentucky, nine years ago.

And of course, my children. No one, especially me, could have imagined me loving my calling as a mother as much as I do. Each morning, I thank God for these little blessings and how much they depend on and adore me and my husband. They are living proof that God programmed us to desire love from one another and to love Him.

Dear sweet Olivia, thank you for the opportunity to reflect on people in our lives that have made us be better people because of their unconditional love for us.

Overhear on our Neighborhood Walk Tonight

2009-05-28T22:43:00.002-05:00

Mommy, lifting Little Philip up and cradling him in her arms:
Philip, soon Mommy isn't going to be able to lift you up like this because you are getting to be a big boy. Sometimes wants you to stay my little baby boy so I can cuddle like this forever.

Little Philip:
No, I want to be a big boy!

Mommy:
I know, and you are getting to be a big boy.

Little Philip:
I want to be a big boy because I want to be a daddy.

Mommy/Daddy:
Philip, it will be a long time before you get to be a daddy.

Little Philip:
You have to be six years old to be a Daddy.

Rainy Day Activities

2009-05-26T15:25:00.005-05:00

It has been raining for about year solid now, or at least it seems that way. When it rains like this, our already small house has magic walls that seem to come in around us even closer, especially when Daddy is working in his office. Want to see Daddy's office? Yep, that's our living room. So when the rain begins to make us climb the walls, we go to the McWane Center, an incredible three story children's hands on science museum here in Birmingham. The last time we went Daddy went with us. The McWane Center has this great game floor that Little Philip loves. His favorite two games are dodge ball and a bug squash game. While Little Philip was excavating a nearby dinosaur bone yard exhibit I caught a glimpse of Big Philip and Helen on the game floor with another daddy and his little girl, competing in a friendly bug squash competition. This other daddy is a friend of ours, a physician who, if you notice, keeps both hands on his infant daughter at all times. You can tell the difference between these two daddies in the video because our daddy uses the one-handed hold approach in order to use his smooth jazz hand move each time he lunges to squash another bug.

Overheard at the Moss House tonight

2009-05-23T21:22:00.002-05:00

Philip and I cleaned the house today from 8:00 - 4:00 p.m. solid. We did not get to our bedroom but the rest of the house is spotless. We had some friends coming over for dinner around 4:00 p.m. (can you tell we have kids?) so at 3:30 I threw myself in the shower to get ready. I could hear Philip finishing wiping down the bathroom counter on the other side of the shower curtain and I was thinking about how grateful I was for all his help. So I told him so.

Me:
Honey, thank you for all your help today. I couldn't have done it without you.

Philip:
And thank you for shaving your legs for me.

As we near our eighth anniversary this July, romantic interludes like this still make my heart flutter.

Chocolate-Rasberry Burritos

2009-05-18T18:21:00.008-05:00

Note, the above picture is of chocolate banana burritos but imagine the same thing with chocolate and raspberries for the below recipe. Remember, we ate ours before we thought to take a picture so use your imagination!

Because there were several requests for this, I am posting the dessert recipe Philip made for me on our camping/farm getaway. This recipe is from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Grilling.

Chocolate-Raspberry Burritos

4 8-9" flour tortillas
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 T. butter, melted (it must be butter, not margarine)
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 T. sweetened cream cheese (just soften and add a little powdered sugar)

Stack the tortillas and wrap in a piece of heavy foil. For a charcoal grill (i.e., real man's grill), grill foil packet on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium-low coals about 5 minutes or until tortillas are warm and pliable, turning packet once. Or simply wrap tortillas in paper towels and microwave for 20-40 seconds (that's what we did).

Sprinkle 1/4 cup each of the chocolate chips and raspberries in the center of each tortilla; fold in sides and roll up. Brush burritos with half of the melted butter. Grill burritos over medium-low coals about 3 minutes or until the tortillas begin to show grill marks and the chocolate is melted. turning once. For a gas grill, preheat grill, Reduce heat to medium-low. Place foil packet, then burritos on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as stated above.

Transfer burritos to a serving platter. Brush burritos with remaining melted butter. In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the burritos. Serve immediately with sweetened cream cheese on side as a dip. (or just put a tablespoon of the cream cheese inside each burrito prior to grilling).

Our Romantic Night Away

2009-05-16T21:06:00.004-05:00

Despite our meager family budget living on one income, Philip and I have recently tried to find ways to keep the romance alive. That is, we try to do something for just us, as husband and wife rather than as mommy and daddy. This is hard to do when you consider what a night out cost. By the time you add in $10/hour for a babysitter, a modest dinner and two movie tickets, the cost starts looking like most of our monthly grocery budget.

Last weekend we headed to West Tennessee with plans to leave our children with Mamie and Bop and "camp" at the nearby Moss Farm. Apparently, Noah finished his ark because the rain started and it did not stop. Thankfully, the Moss Farm has a delightful farm house that kept us warm and dry.

Despite deciding the day before to make this trip, Philip managed to make some delicious chicken and vegetable foil pouches to marinate on our drive up. After marinating for about six hours, our dinner was absolutely delicious, roasted over a campfire, I mean, wood burning fireplace. So after a glass or two of wine and a nice walk through the woods before the rain started, we hunkered down inside and ate our dinner. Philip also brought the fixings to make raspberry and chocolate enchiladas. They were incredible. So incredible that they ended up being digested before either of us could take a picture.

We did our best not to turn on the TV, especially since the TV picture really doesn't work but we turned it on long enough to be sure we were not under a tornado watch or warning. Then we chatted a bit and went to bed at 9:00 p.m. This by itself, made the trip completely worth it. We tried to sleep in the next day but our bodies are so used to waking up early with the children that we only made it to 7:30 a.m. We made coffee and laughed about how little conversation we had for each other that did not involve our children. At lunchtime and with the rains subsiding, Philip grilled delicious burgers and we ate them with the organic veggie chips we picked up at the Amish bulk food store coming into town (that sounded like a SNL skit involving Martha Stewart but really, that's what we did). After that we headed back into town to rejoin the living.

It may not be the posh get away most couples dream of visiting but it was a blissful time for the two of us to reconnect.

Boys Being Boys

2009-05-15T20:21:00.004-05:00

Today Little Philip and Helen had some friends come over to play. The girls stayed inside to play while the boys went outside to be boys. This is what I found a few minutes later. Is there anything cuter than two boys playing in the mud?

Yes.

Overheard at the Moss House Tonight

2009-05-11T21:07:00.006-05:00

Mommy: Daddy, did you change Helen just now?

Daddy: Yes.

Mommy: I guess that is why there is a big hunk of meatloaf on the changing table?

Daddy: It must have been stuck on her from dinner.

Pause

Daddy: Are we sure that's meatloaf?

Love Grows Best in Little Houses

2009-05-06T20:34:00.004-05:00

At bedtime, Helen was still howling from her bedroom five minutes after putting her down. She's a great howler, making us think someone is in there attacking her sometimes with the way she can change her pitch, pause, and then begin shrieking all over again. Call us bad parents but we believe in sleep training our almost fourteen month old.

At this point, Little Philip was being a darling in his bed, having had his three books read to him by Daddy, prayers said, and his "quiet time" alone with his last book complete. Little Philip's room is right next to his sister's. the living room is right next to both bedrooms. I told Big Philip that he needed to go in to check on Helen because I would just make it worse. On the way, Little Philip came to his door, cracked it and told Daddy:

Daddy, I want some white noise.

Mommy and Daddy want it too.

Spring Park Fun

2009-05-04T23:05:00.003-05:00

The weather is so very nice right now. Well, not this week, but the temperature has been blissfully warm in the last few weeks. Our friends found a delightful little park one day and we all went for a picnic to let the kiddos get their sillies out. I found Marley, Max, and Philip all inside a tube on the playground. The conversation was quite amusing to hear as they all battled for their particular roles in "playing house."