When it Rains...

It pours!

We've had a few things on our plate these last few days...

Like...the dryer died.

Wouldn't heat at all.

I shared the exciting news with T and then just looked at him with hopeful eyes. I told him I knew he could fix it. He wasn't so sure. I kept looking at him. I promised I'd help him.

We put the kids to bed and tackled the dryer.

I did really important things...like holding the flashlight and handing him things.

We broke out the ohmmeter...(I learned a lot.)

And discovered something about "no return" - or something...and that meant electricity wasn't going through the coils to heat them...

So T removed the heating element. One part of the coil had burned up. Hence the problem. T told me we were blessed that the house didn't burn down. There was a ton of lint down there! (an entire Walmart bag packed FULL - and I do clean my lint filter EVERY time and I stick the vacuum wand down there upon occasion.).

We googled the part. It was going to run us roughly $100...so I pulled a T move and called a repair shop first thing the next morning. They had the part and would sell it to me for $75. I woke the children, loaded the car, and we secured the part.

It took T less than an hour to put the new part in and re-assemble the dryer.

Good as new!

Oh, Mom was right...don't leave the house with the dryer running.

A photo of our newly installed heating element...working!

And "the man!" - Whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty fine man!

Now in addition to the dryer going ka-put, something red wound up in with a load of many whites...and they are all pink! Including a sweet little gown of MC's and my fav burp cloth...ugh!

And an old roof leak we'd paid to have fixed a few years ago poured forth once more. Lovely.

And the kids jammed a dvd into the player...I took it apart and successfully removed said item and put the player back together...and it works!

I dried her hair today...how hilarious is that?

Let me explain.

We were all in MW's room when I saw T3 (who's been potty training for the last week or so) standing in front of MW's Barbie castle, undies down, tee teeing. I screamed, "no, no, no! Not there!"

Little man was tee teeing in the Barbie potty.

Nice.

Itty Bitty Ghost Chair Giveaway!!!

(my itty bitty in our full size ghost chair)

Remember that post I did oh so long ago about a most wonderful gift my sweet husband gave me? (scroll to the bottom of the pics)

Well...Mrs. Limestone is giving away a Lou Lou Ghost Chair (the itty bitty version)! Go leave her a comment for a chance to win!

Weekend...& Surviving

What a GREAT weekend!

Katie, Matt, and Mary Thomas made the long trek to meet our newest little one! And we had a blast!

Saturday Katie and I packed up all the kiddos and ran an errand. We tried to capture the moment digitally, but without much success.

Saturday morning we headed to the pool.

Mary Thomas hung out on the edge of the baby pool.

It was a little colder than she cared for.

Not to mention there was a wild indian in there!

Who fancies himself an Olympic swimmer!

After an hour or so, the little girls just couldn't take it anymore...

But the big girl was just gearing up...

Thanks to a little help from Uncle Matt...

And her Daddy!

And then Uncle Matt broke out some serious skills...

Saturday afternoon I got to take a few pics...

The weekend wouldn't be complete without a pic of the bffs...

Sunday was Katie's birthday, so we celebrated Saturday night!

Ooo-la-la!

Happy Birthday, Katie.

You inspire me!

I love you!

And I love seeing you as a wife and mama!

Blessings to you on your birthday!

They packed up and headed out Sunday morning.

I miss them.

And as for the "surviving" portion of the title...

Today. I. Did. It.

I loaded up three little ones and ran errands. We couponed at CVS and Walgreens. We went by the bank and the coffee store. We even went to Sams. And. It. Was. Okay.

Oh, did I mention it was pouring down rain? And that the kids LOVED running through the rain??? They thought that was the BEST part! We screamed and laughed the whole way. And really, it was fun. There eyes lit up so bright!

Thankfully the kind man working at the coffee store gave the children an m&m cookie...which kept them content in their car seats, while I fed little bit in the parking lot, incognito, of course. During which we sang along to a catechism cd, compliments of T's cousin.

Three is pretty fun.

Muffins, AC, & the BG

Even if you don't like bran, I bet you'll like these. Mama made the original recipe for me while she was here just after MC's birth. They called for raisins, which T and MW won't eat, so when we finished off the original mix, I decided to tweak the recipe a bit...in an effort to make these babies a little more healthy and with raisin substitution plans...

Here's the beautiful thing about this recipe...the mix keeps for 6-8 weeks in the fridge and takes minutes to prepare and you get fresh, made from scratch muffins anytime! And they are DELICIOUS!!!

All-Bran Blueberry Muffins

4 c flour

1.5 c wheat flour

2.25 c sugar

5 c All-Bran

3 T baking soda

1 qt buttermilk

1.5 c oil

4 eggs

.5 c molasses

turbinado sugar (for sprinkling)

fresh blueberries (you'll add these the day you bake 'em - I do 8-10 per muffin)

Add liquid to dry ingredients

Keeps 6-8 weeks in fridge

Baking Instructions:

Spray or line muffin tin. Fill cups half way and sprinkle with blueberries, top with another spoonful of muffin mix and more blueberries (I have to push them in a little to get them to stay). Sprinkle lightly with turbinado sugar. Bake 20 minutes at 375˚

Enjoy!

Saturday morning we went to the pool.

MC chilled in the stroller.

MW got to show off her skills. She can swim underwater with her eyes open...and jump off the diving board...and go down the slide. This is BIG! (Um...slightly over exposed pic...oops.)

Little man kept cool in the baby pool. No swim diapers allowed in the big pool. (Which has been motivational...I think.)

After a full morning of swimming, we headed home for lunch and some down time. Sometime Saturday afternoon things began to feel a bit warm in the house. And they only got warmer. T, being quite literally a jack of all trades, headed out to remove the AC panel and investigate. He's done this several times before and successfully made repairs (even in the middle of the night sporting nothing but his boxers...).

When he pulled the panel off, the wires on the unit sparked. Long story short, the contactor had literally burned. And so the AC wasn't cooling. And it was Saturday afternoon. Home improvement stores don't carry that kind of thing. I assumed we were sentenced to intense heat until Monday, probably Tuesday, as the part would have to be ordered...but alas, my genius husband made several calls and tracked down the part. A very kind repair guy in a town not too far away had the part and actually agreed to sell it to us. We loaded up, drove way out, T talked the guy into selling him a second contactor, so we'd have a spare, and we headed home. T made the repair in a few short minutes and ahhh...that wonderful cool air!

He's always telling me he's "just a man."

No. He isn't "just a man."

He is "the man." Every single thing he puts his mind to, he does, and does well.

Oh, by the way, each contactor cost us a whopping $10.98. Not bad, huh?

Sunday morning we got to worship the Lord together, as in, all five of us! MC slept the entire time. MW "took notes." (Post service, we asked her what the sermon was about. Her reply: "I think he talked about God and Jesus and the Bible." Um, yes...we have a little work to do there.) Little man made it partway into the preaching. That's the longest he's lasted. Time spent singing "How Great Is Our God" was precious. We sang about time being in God's hands...the beginning and the end, which is an awesome and precious truth to be reminded of, especially while standing there, surrounded by my husband and our three precious children. The beginning and the end - it is all in His hands.

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Botanical Gardens to stretch our legs a bit.

We saw some beautiful Koi fish...

and watched them splash a bit near the surface...

Little man led the way on the trail...

closely followed, and sometimes passed by a delighted big sister...

who pretended we were on a treasure hunt...

and also wore her Cinderella dress...

she and her bro were too busy fighting to spot this beauty...

but man did they team up and have fun skipping through the muscadines...

T gave a lesson on how windmills work...

little man was enthralled...

and kept looking up...

and when he was forbidden from playing in the water beneath the windmill, he took off running...

I was the odd ball snapping pics left and right. No one else noticed this. I think they were hot and tired and ready to go at this point.

Makes me marvel at God's creativity.

MW was wiped out. As soon as T unlocked the car, she was in it.

But a few feet shy of the car, the little man got a rock in his shoe and sat down to remove it...at which time a bug landed on his face...resulting in a total meltdown.

All said, it was a wonderful day!