Chicken Eggs!!

Through 4-H the girls and I are doing an embryolgy project. They supply everything we need to hatch chicken eggs. Mrs. Ann brought it all yesterday and the girls are so excited. It takes about 21 days for the chicks to hatch, so be looking forward to pictures of the process and the actual chicks when they hatch. This is going to be an awesome lesson for them!

The eggs came in non other than an egg carton! We had to make sure Jimmy didn't make one of his special omelettes with them...lol!

This is the incubator the eggs will stay in until they hatch.

Fieldtrip to the big ol' town of Woodland

Last week our fieldtrip was to the Woodland Police Department and the Woodland Fire Department. Obviously I was the one who headed this trip up since my dad is the chief of police and my husband is the chief of the fire department...lol! I don't know what the kids liked most, lining up to each have a chance turning the sirens on and off the police car or taking a ride in the firetruck. My girls were showing off a bit. They wouldn't leave my dad alone, and before we went to the firehouse they had already made it clear to everyone that they were riding in the front with their daddy. They had a great time though, and my dad, Jimmy, and Chad did a wonderful job.

Our group with my dad in front of his police car

The group with Jimmy and Chad in front of one of the trucks

As promised, pictures from the magic show

Hannah telling a joke in between tricks

The three "Magicians"

I just got done setting up Rebecca's props for her next trick.
Hannah blows into her own hand and blows up a balloon that Rebecca is holding.

I thought I had a hard name to pronounce!

So I got this email today and thought it was way funny, but probably absolutely true.

If you saw a child's name written like this, how would you pronounce it? Le-a

Leah? No.

Lee - A? No.

Lay - a? No.

Lei? Nope.

The "proper" pronunciation is "Ladasha"!! Yes, that's right! Apparently this child attends school in Livingston, LA and her mother was becoming irate because everyone was pronouncing her name wrong. Well, HELOOOOOOO! When asked about the pronunciation her mother replied, "The dash don't be silent." Now I've heard it all! If I have another child I think I might name her La*. That's pronounced La-asterick. And don't you get it wrong!

Happy Birthday Baby Leah!

I'm probably going to cry while I write this, but oh well. This post is dedicated to my sweet baby Leah. Leah, my sweet Leah, I can't believe four years have gone by since you were born. I remember like it was yesterday having to hold you constantly during the night, all hours of the night, hoping your pain would ease and you would fall asleep. I felt so sorry for you and the pain you were feeling. But at two months, when your pain subsided, you were nothing but smiles! You were and still are my happy baby! Hannah's gift from God is dance and song, Rebecca's is her empathy and her artistic ability, and at your young age of four we've found your gift is making people laugh, giving the sweetest kisses and the best hugs. You love to talk, boy do you love to talk, and you say some of the funniest things. You are one of the most appreciative little four year olds I've ever known. You thank me for the smallest things, and that makes me proud! You make sure we bless our food at every meal, and will stop us in the middle of eating if we've forgotten. Leah, "I'm your best friend!" ....moon moon moon.... I love you Lee Lee! Happy birthday baby! Love, Mommy

Leah's 4th Birthday Party

So Friday was the big day, the deadline to be done with the kitchen and to celebrate Leah's 4th birthday. And celebrate we did! Despite all the planning, cleaning, and setting up, I love doing birthday parties for the girls. Because Rebecca's birthday is in the summer, we almost always have a pool party for her. But with Hannah and Leah, you never know how the weather will be so we try to plan something different and fun for indoors or out. This year was no exception. The girls and I checked out some magic books a while back and I thought it would be really neat if we put on a magic show for everyone. So throughout the week we made props like magicians' hats and capes, decorated stars and moons to put on the tablecloth and rigged up a curtain to make it look "real". We also worked on our actual tricks and decorated those as well. The girls wrote down jokes to tell the audience in between each trick. The night before Rebecca told me she was kind of nervous. I guess I would have been too if I was six years old and had to perform in front of so many people! But they did so so good! I was very proud of them. Jimmy and I were so busy doing the "behind the scenes" stuff that I didn't even get any pictures of them with their hats, capes, and wands. But his brother did and said he will send them to me this week sometime, so when I get them I will share. We video taped it, but not with a digital camera. The three girls got up there together and introduced themselves, thanked everyone for coming and then the show began. I had the best time at my sweet Leah's party!

Leah blowing her candles out

I did snatch this one shot of some of the people "patiently" waiting for the show to begin.
Leah opening her presents. She would wait for her sisters to read the cards to her and then open her gifts, most of the time!

Out with the old and in with the new!

If you look beyond the girls, this is what our kitchen looked like before. I don't know what I was thinking, but I don't have any really good "before" shots.

And these are the after shots!

The True Meaning

Up until today, I didn't know what St. Patrick's Day was really about. Like others, I thought St. Patrick's Day was an Irish holiday celebrated by wearing green, possibly a shamrock, and maybe drinking beer. But today I learned the true meaning, and I thought I would share. St. Patrick's real name is Magonus Sucatus Patricius and he was born in England in 389. When he was 16 years old, Irish raiders attacked his country and he along with hundreds of others were kidnapped, taken to Ireland, and sold as slaves. While held captive he became a strong Christian and at the age of 22 he escaped and went back to his home. Shortly after reuniting with his family he had a vision from God and felt that he was called to return to Ireland to teach them about Christ. His first convert happened to be his former slave master! St. Patrick spent the rest of his life evangelizing Ireland. He founded hundreds of churches, monasteries, and schools and baptized many many people. He is known as one of the greatest missionaries of all time.

The reason the shamrock might have come about is because St. Patrick use to use a shamrock to teach the Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to the people. This was a good way to teach them since a clover has three leaves on one and the trinity is three people who are actually one. So know you know! Yes, when I thought about St. Patrick's Day I thought about wearing green so I didn't get pinched, or I thought about shamrocks and leperchauns. But now I know what it is all about. And so do you! So, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Sneek Peek!

Jimmy and I worked all day yesterday tiling the backsplash, and about 9:00 pm last night we finally finished putting it all up. Boy were were we tired! It's still not done because we have to grout the tile now, but we have to wait 24 hours for the glue to dry first. So the grout will have to wait until tomorrow. Jimmy had a hard time cutting some of the stones due to his blade getting dull and the stones being so small. The scrap ones were put aside and of course the girls found them. Below is a little girl that Rebecca made out of the scraps she collected. She is so creative!

Here is the sneek peek!

Blogger Blast '09

All diets were off and the fun was on! I had a blast Friday evening seeing everyone and meeting the ones I've never met. It was great to put a face to people I've been blogging with for a while. Thank you Judi and Wendy for setting this all up and for our super creative gifts, and thank you Mandy for making those cool "blogger blast" plaques! I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few that I got.

All 19 of us!

No counting points tonight!
Rhonda and Shari just cheesing

Using my brain....finally

So, the kids are tired of sandwiches, which are very convenient right now, and another lunch day has approached. What to fix? What to fix? Ah ha....I finally realized that it was quite possible to heat things up or maybe even boil water on my griddle. So todays lunch menu, compliments of my griddle: ramon noodles, fried egg (with ketchup of course), green beans, and an apple. Yay, something hot. Sound good?

Overwhelmed

I'm starting to feel the stress of having a really really messy house. I never realized how much I love my kitchen sink and my washing machine. I can do without the stove...haha! Jimmy and I have never had a dishwasher, and that's so not a problem. But I would give almost anything to have one right now. The bathroom sink is not cutting it. We have issues with our washing machine backing up into our kitchen sink, so without the kitchen sink we can't wash clothes. I've been having to take clothes to my mom and dad's to wash. Thank God they live right up the road. But it still is difficult, and there is nothing like being able to throw a load in here or there. Jimmy has been working so incredibly hard trying to get this done. He's been working nights, so when he gets off in the mornings he comes home and works till after lunch and then goes to bed and gets up to go to his real job. We're trying to get this done before next Friday because we're having Leah's birthday that night. Did I mention we're doing a magic show for her birthday?? Jimmy, the girls, and I are doing it, so somewhere between school and working on the kitchen and finally putting everything back and cleaning the house really well, we need to practice our magic show. Ughhhhh!!!

Prayers needed

First I would like to say thank you for praying for my cousin Jenn. Many of you have been following her blog and know that she has been carrying a little boy they named Matthew and that they were expecting sad results. This weekend she posted that she went into labor at home and was blogging until the contractions were close enough to go to the hospital. Well, on Sunday her mom emailed us to let us know that Matthew was born at 9:40 in the morning and looked beautiful. She said he was put on life support so that they could spend some time with him. They were able to say their goodbyes and get pictures and then he was taken off life support. He lived for about an hour longer before the Lord took him. She said it was very hard. I can't imagine it being anything other. No matter how prepared they were, or thought they were, I can't imagine the pain being any less. I know their hearts must ache, not to mention Jenn's c-section causing physical pain. To go to a hospital to deliver a child you're most certain won't be coming home with you. To have to deal with all of the postpartum issues...hormonal changes, breast milk coming in, baby belly, but no baby. My heart aches for them, and I know you all have been praying so please now pray for strength and emotional healing. Thank you, and I know she would thank you too.

What a difference a week makes!

These were some pictures from this past Monday

And these are pictures from this weekend!

We went from snow on Monday to beautiful carwashing, get sprayed with the water hose Saturday. Good ol' North Carolina weather for ya!

Dishes and Coffee in the Bathroom?

Well, I've been to hotels before that had a coffee pot in the bathroom, but never thought I would be making coffee in my own bathroom. Nor did I think I would be washing dishes in there. That's what we're dealing with here in the McDermott household, no sink, no microwave, no stove, no oven. But we do have a refrigerator!!! There's a lady I go to church with who had to go without a kitchen for 3 years while they renovated their's!! Can you imagine? I pray that this will not take more than two weeks. Our goal is to have it done before little Leah's birthday party (March 20th). Think it can be done??

This is a picture of most of the kitchen. Notice the stuff on the table that belongs in those cabinets. We weren't sure where to put everything. There is a bookshelf to the left of this table and it is covered with stuff as well. We've been eating our meals in the living room on towels. The kids think this is a blast because they NEVER get to eat in the living room!

Another table in our kitchen that is full of stuff.
Quick peek of what the cabinets and backsplash that we picked out look like. As soon as I saw this stone tile I knew that's what I wanted. I love it! I can picture it all in my head, and can't wait for it all to come together! My husband ROCKS!!

Major Renovations

Jimmy and I bought our house, our first house, a little over seven years ago when Hannah was just a baby. It needed a lot of updates, especially with colors. It's a good solid house, but we're always making plans to do something to make it like we want. But, as I've said, we've been in here for a long time now, and yet to do anything major. The first thing we did was paint because this ENTIRE house was mint green, molding and all! Everything was green, oh, except the bathrooms but they are lemon yellow and some bluish/greenish color (tubs, showers, and sinks match the outdated colors as well). We didn't paint all the rooms, we left the kitchen, dining, and bathroom alone. Our thought was that we would get to it when we could. I always joked that the kitchen made me hungry for mint chocolate chip icecream because of the green colors and black hardware. But the green will be gone soon and a newer, fresher kitchen is waiting for me!!! I'm so excited!!! This is the first big renovation we have done. Jimmy ripped out all of the backsplash and is in the process of ripping out the countertops. I have taken some pics for you. One of the mint chocolate chip colors from before, and a couple of what it looks like this very instant.

In this picture, the top cabinets have already been painted with new hardware installed.

This is what my kitchen looks like right now!!

New Blogger Ya'll

Hey guys, a friend of mine named Billie Jo has just started a blog. So please welcome her to the fun world of blogging!! Her site is www.bjflyhe.blogspot.com Let's get her hooked folks...lol!