To Sleep Like A Child

What I wouldn't give to sleep like this. Isn't it the cutest thing when kids are sleeping? Audrey was passed out this morning and I just couldn't resist snapping a photo. I wonder what she'll think of this when she's older? Have a good day everyone, and sleep well tonight!

Ta Ta for now

Are we really this sensitive? Wall-E answers

Yesterday I was given the gift of "quiet time." Joe took the kids to see Wall-E, the new Pixar animation movie. I would have loved to go, seeing as this is the company i wanted to work for when I went to college for computer animation. (Hum, yeah that really comes in handy as a stay at home mom...) Since I had this time at home to enjoy myself I decided to read some reviews about Wall-E. Here's what I found out:

Apparently Americans are too sensitive and are afraid of the truth. OH NO! I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED, AMERICANS BEING OFFENDED! RUN FOR THE HILLS!! People are getting all upset about a message this movie is putting out. Never mind that it is a wake-up call for the future. If we keep using all the earths resources we could be trashing our planet to the point of no return. In the movie people have moved away due to that reality. Everyone is focused on the other message in this movie. here is what one angry movie critic had to say,

"Wall-E...supposes that the human race of the future will become a flabby mass of pea brained idiots who are literally too fat to walk. Instead they zip around in flying wheelchairs surfing the Web, chatting on phone lines and stuffing their faces with food meant to be sucked down like milkshakes while unquestioningly taking orders from the master corporation that controls all aspects of their existence."

Over weight people around the nation are getting very offended by this. Um, hello? Am I the only one that sees this could easily be the truth for our future? Obesity is on the rise everywhere you look. I am not skinny either, but I take responsibility for why I am not the weight I want to be. Fast food everywhere, kids who don't have bikes but motorized scooters instead. No one walks anywhere anymore, we are totally dependent on gas for our cars to drive EVERYWHERE. And we communicate most of the time via the internet (I am very guilty of this as well.)

Why would people be offended by what is already happening? Last Halloween our family went to Disney World and it was amazing and sad to see hundreds of people riding those motorized wheelchairs. And it wasn't because they were handicapped, it was because they were too over weight to walk. OK, I am trying to not be insensitive here but... If you are over weight and you want to change that maybe you should not ride in a scooter everywhere, maybe you should be the ones walking.

I can't believe so many people are getting bent out of shape from a kids movie. If I have hurt anyone's feelings I am sorry, that is not my intention. I am simply pointing out my opinion. Now go out there and eat something healthy and use your legs!!! :o)

Ta Ta for now

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music...

After 8 years without a piano in my home, I finally have one!!! I am so excited. It is a 3 year old M-class Yamaha that has hardly ever been played, the sound quality is amazing, so clear.
My mom started me on the piano before I could even ride a bike, I grew up with a love of music and the piano started it all. Well, I am sure having a mom who sang on stage in church and a dad who is the best drummer ever had something to do with it too. When Joe and I were married in 2002 he promised that some day he would buy me my own piano and yesterday he made good on his promise.
As soon as it was in place I pulled out all my old sheet music and sat on that bench while my fingers played old familiar melodies. For me the piano has always been like poetry is to most people. An expression of me, or how I am feeling. It is putting your thoughts to music, a way to release the things you can't say with words. I know that this wonderful gift from my husband will be a HUGE stress reliever for me.
I plan to start Zane and Audrey with piano lessons soon. Probably with me as their teacher first until their minds drift off to "ignore mommy land" and then I will hunt for a good piano teacher in our area. I can only hope to give them the gift of music as my family did for me. For now I will be brushing up on my abilities and letting the kids plunk on it to get familiar with the keys.
Have I said how excited I am to finally have my own piano? Are you sure? I don't think I did... just in case, I'll say it again: I AM SO EXCITED TO HAVE MY OWN PIANO!

Ta Ta for now

My Country Bumpkin

My daughter is so funny, she has fallen in love with one of my husbands fishing lures. She named him "Shrimpy" (it's a hookless rubber crawfish). She caries it around, pushes it on the swing, and makes a bed for it at night. This is how you know when your kids might be country bumpkins. When one of their best friends is a fishing lure. :o) Shrimpy had an accident today, one of his claws broke off!


It really was quite tragic. Audrey was upset and didn't want to play with shrimpy until I fixed him. How in the world was I going to fix a rubber fishing lure??? I decided to let Audrey be the Doctor, all she asked for was tape.


After pulling off most of the tape from the roll she was set to start Shrimpy's surgery. This was getting very interesting, notice the serious look on her face.


After wrapping the tape around her little friend and getting his claw to stay in place, she needed to check out her handy work.


Looks good. I think Shrimpy has lived to see another day! Thank goodness, I wasn't quite sure what to do if he didn't make it. Should we have given the little guy a funeral? Did he need a shoebox casket? I guess those questions will someday need to be answered, but for now Audrey and Shrimpy can continue to play together on the swing set.


In case you were worried, Shrimpy is healing quite nicely. He is enjoying a movie with Audrey, with his claw propped up on a pillow of course.

Ta Ta for now

The Paradox of Our Time - by George Carlin

May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008

George Carlin may have been rude and obnoxious at times, but he sure had some truth to the things he said. Here's to him:


"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Thanks George for the words of wisdom (even if it was from an unlikely source)

Ta Ta for now

Sleepy Back Yard Adventures

The weather is great today, which should be a good thing , right? Well what it means to me is yard work, mowing, weed eating. If I don't do it today it will either be pouring down rain or too hot to breathe tomorrow.

I have decided to let the kids help mow, we'll see how that goes. Don't get me wrong, I would much rather do yard work out in the sun then stuck inside doing laundry and dishes. But, I am SO tired today. Not from simply being a mother of two very rambunctious kids but from my evening. Joe is still on night shift and that usually means the munchkins get to sleep with me in the big bed or camp out in the living room. They chose camp out. (What kid wouldn't?)

As they drifted off to dreamland in a little tent on the floor I stayed up too late geeking on the computer. Then I had to decide...Sleep on the couch near their pretend camp ground or tip toe to my comfy bed? The bed won and off I went.

Since children are born with a special radar that tells them when to wake up earlier then normal when mom went to bed late, Audrey woke up at 3am wanting to know where I was. She crawled into bed with me. Then at 6am Zane was up wanting to know why he was all alone in the tent. He crawled into my bed too. OK, so then the dogs felt left out and they too jump up on my bed. Close and cramped till 7:30am and I couldn't lay there with my eyes open any longer.

Back to the beautiful day outside... So a tired woman and her 2 small children will be using power tools and a lawn mower in about 15 minutes. This should be good, pray we don't take any trips to the ER or screw up the yard too much!

Ta Ta for now,

SolesUnited, what a great idea!

My kids wear their crocs everywhere. These silly little shoes are easy for them to put on by themselves and if they get dirty all i need to do is hose them off. LOVE IT! Audrey and Zane have more shoes then anyone I know, more then me that's for sure. But did you know there are millions of people on our planet without a single pair of shoes? I love being barefoot, but I don't think I would enjoy it walking miles to the store on the hot ground.

Crocs footwear is trying to help this situation by taking old, worn-out Crocs and making them into new SolesUnited Recycled Shoes. To date, SolesUnited has donated over 1 million pairs of recycled shoes, and they hope to donate 2 million more in 2008. It is an amazing organization that helps so many people.

Here's the CEO of Crocs, Ron Snyder, explaining the program in this video:



I am so glad to have found out about this program. Now when my kids outgrow their summer shoes I will be donating them, I hope you do the same.

Ta Ta for now,

Rhinos and Underpants

This morning while we were snuggling in bed my son had an astonishing revelation.

"If you are in the backyard and there's a Rhino, don't whip him with your underpants. He might get mad and poke you in the eye, that would hurt."

Picture that with me:




It actually makes sense, If you whip a Rhino with underpants I bet he would get mad, I know I would get mad if it happened to me! Kids crack me up, where they come up with this stuff I will never know. What was going on in his little head before making that statement? Well, he must get it from his mother... I too have been known to ask bizarre questions. Remember this mom "If you're stuck in the tar between 2 towns and it's raining, which way do you try to go?"

Today is Sunday in the south, which means everything is closed. So my munchkins and I are going to make the house look nice and shiny. After all, we wouldn't want it to be a mess when the Rhinos stop by!

Ta Ta for now,

Is it me? Or is it me?

OK so what do you think about the new blog design??? I absolutely love it! I can't believe how much it looks like my personality all over the page. Pink Armchair Designs did an amazing job. On that note, let's get to blogging:

We have a new friend around our house. A turtle Zane has named "George". About a month ago he was found slowly walking through our front yard. After the kids and I checked him out and watched him walk and pock his head in and out of his shell we took him out to the woods and say our good-byes.

A few weeks went by and out of the blue there was "George" in the front yard again. How funny that he found his way back! So we repeated the same stuff, told him he was silly and back to the woods he went.

Yesterday Joe stepped outside on the porch and who do you think he saw in the yard? Yup, it was "George" for the third time! Soon we'll have to start feeding him. I can't figure out why he keeps coming back or how he is finding his way to our yard each time. If we are lucky enough to see him again I will take his picture for you all. Have a great weekend!

Ta Ta for now

Summer Full of Fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I tell you what, I want to come back as my kids in my next life! Ha Ha. They get to do so many cool and fun things. This is a little preview how our summer vacation has gone so far. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzie

Prayers are needed

Good evening,
Things here at the Rackley house are rather quiet. Audrey and Zane were at Vacation Bible School tonight and Joe is working night shift. Mommy alone with the computer for 3 hours!!! So I started reading my friend Kate's blog. Then I checked out the blogs she reads and ran across a link to this page

http://catecantrell.blogspot.com/

I sat here at the computer reading about a beautiful baby girl named Cate with a heart problem. This is the fathers blog as they await her recovery from major surgery. Every entry is filled with prayer needs, scripture, sorrow, and tears. Please go by and read about this family and put them in your prayers. We need to remember what a gift we are given from God by simply being healthy everyday. Thank You God for the gift of healthy children, and please help baby Cate and make her well.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzie

Take me out to the ball game...

Yesterday was Zane's first T-ball game, how exciting! I looked like such a dork holding the video camera in one hand and taking pictures with the other. There were 12 little kids in the splintering heat anxious to play. Joe was actually not working for once and was able to come. Good thing he came because the coach never showed up and Joe ended up doing it. We missed the first 2 games while in Charleston, apparently the coach didn't come then either. I wonder why he would have volunteered to do it if he was just going to bail. I feel bad for Zane's team. Every other team was out there warming up, learning how to throw correctly and catch, but here were our "Bad News Bears" lined up in the dug-out alone. You know this mom will be making a few phone calls today!! All in all the game went pretty good, Zane was the only "lefty" which he thinks is really cool. He loved chasing the ground balls into the outfield and getting up to bat. It is so fun watching Zane take interest in sports, and this dorky camera holding mom loves cheering him on from the sidelines too.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

A Week of Learning

This past week the kids and I loaded up in the car and headed for Charleston, SC (sorry I haven't posted, been relaxing). My mom signed the kids up for "Nature camp" and they LOVED it!

They learned how caterpillars change into butterflies, which snakes are good or bad, how to respect wildlife, and all about blue crabs. Each day when I came to pick them up they were exhausted from all the fun. Zane held a real live crab, and my little Audrey even held a King snake. I was so impressed with this summer camp, if you happen to be in the Charleston area over the summer with small kids check this out!

We had a great week down at my mom and dad's house. Lots of swimming in the pool and riding in Pa Pa's golf cart too. I took the kids to Splash Island one afternoon. It's a cute little water park perfect for little one's, small slides and never too busy so I don't have to worry about my babies getting lost or knocked over by big kids.

Back home now, let the vacation laundry begin! I think we will make today "PJ day" so we can lounge around in jammies and do some housework, play our new Indiana Jones LEGO video game, relax, and enjoy each other.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

It's a hot one

 
The last few days have been over 100' F!! Ouch. The kids and I took a nice dip in the pool, unfortunantly it wasn't as refressing as we had hoped. The pool was like bath water. It was still fun to swim and play though. If this weather is any indication of what is to come in the next few months we might need to vacation in Alaska so we don't melt! Stay cool, and enjoy the summer everyone.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

The Gentle Manatee

My mom's favorite animal is the Manatee, I am often surprised at how many people have either not heard of them or know nothing about them. I grew up in a house where Adopting a Manatee and "Sea Cow" gifts were common place. Being that the summer is upon us, and boating is in high swing, I thought I would share a little bit about these gentle giants we love so much.



Behavior: Manatees are passive, slow-moving animals. Most of their time is spent eating, resting and traveling. Manatees are often shy and reclusive.

Habitat: Manatees are found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals and coastal areas, particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish.

Mortality: Many manatee mortalities are human related. Most human-related manatee mortalities in Florida are caused by watercraft collisions. They can accidentally ingest fishhooks, litter and fishing line or become entangled in crab trap lines.

So be careful out there in the water and watch out for these adorable guys. There are many things we can do to protect our planet and the animals on it, we just have to try. What a shame if our children miss seeing them.



http://www.savethemanatee.org

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

Silly Ballerina

Zane is finally not sick and now the summer time mischief can resume. Audrey has had a tough time being a "shut in" while her brother was under the weather. She had been forced to use her own imagination to keep her entertained. Here is what was going on yesterday...

In her Tutu romping around the backyard. What a cutie-pie. It is so nice that both my kids have reached the age where they don't need me for every little thing, although i sometimes miss "Mommy can you help me?" every 5 seconds. I wonder what the next stage in their lives will bring. But for now i will cherish the ballerina in my backyard.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

Sleeping Mommies

It is so amazing to me that women around the world with small children manage to function at all. I am not sure how many hours i actually got last night, maybe 3??? Who's counting? Every night at least one of my friends will have a restless night at their house and yet the next day there they are smiling being "mom" same as yesterday.

It baffles me because not too long ago (OK, a bit longer then i would like to admit) i was a teenager sleeping constantly. We all remember those Saturday's when our mom's would come in multiple times saying "Honey, it's time to get up, you can't sleep all day." Then as soon as she'd close the door the covers were back over our heads and off to dreamland we went. Nothing could wake a sleeping teenager on the weekend.
Now jump to last night...

8pm: Zane and Joe go to bed early, sleepyheads. Audrey and I stay up and play with puzzles for a little while, then off she goes to bed about 9pm.

10pm: I hear Audrey crying (I'm watching some late night movie on HBO enjoying "mommy time") She refuses to go to sleep alone since she knows Zane is in our room with Daddy, he is still running a high fever. I decide to sleep in her room, hearing a little voice in my head say "pick your battles"

midnight: Everyone's asleep but me, i am geeking on my Blackberry reading the news so i can feel like i am still a functioning member of society. Audrey's arm is on my forehead as she snores into my ear and repeatedly kicks me in her sleep.

1am: I can't take it anymore, I slip out of the tiny twin sized mattress in my daughters room and creep into my bed, OOoohh sweet comfy bed, i love you so much! then... "SSNNNOOORREEE, SNORE, COUGH, HACK, SNORE" Both daddy and son are apparently competing for the gold medal to see who can make the most noise. I am outta here. (but first, a cute picture of my baby sleeping with the dog to scrapbook!)


3am: Still awake, now sleeping in Zane's empty room with the door open of course in case Audrey sees i am not in her bed she will come out to investigate. off i go to sleep, finally.

5am: Joe wakes me up on his way to work "Liz, Liz wake up! Why are you sleeping in Zane's room? Want to come back to our bed, I'm leaving for work" Thanks honey now I'm awake again.

6am: Totally passed out in my comfy, need to get washed sheets.

7am: "Good morning Mommy!!!!!!!"

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

Hey, look at this cool thing

Make a Smilebox postcard

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy

Trying out the "Blog" thing

I have spent all morning trying to figure out this blogger thing, i thought it would be easy. I believe i am putting too much thought into it...hum, well we will see if i can get it going.

It is a nice and HOT 90 degrees today. Add southern humidity and I am dying!! We are unable to use our pool right now because Zane has the stomach flu (poor little guy) It wouldn't be fair for Audrey and I to go in without him. Today was supposed to be his first Tee-ball game but he needs to rest up and get better.

Joe is working as usual, not sure how he stays human with all the hours he works (sometimes i don't think he is human actually) Which leaves me in charge of the house. Same old stuff to do today as most days :

Laundry
Dishes
Entertain children
Let dogs out
Pick up after kids
Clean house
and try to get a few moments peace in there too

I know Joe wishes I would do a better job at picking up around here, I wish we had that robot maid from "The Jetson's" I think her name was Rosie. Would be nice. Well, i hope i can write things of interest, just the life of a mom making it threw another day.

Ta Ta for now,
Lizzy