Easter 2012

What a fun filled week! We had a fantastic Easter party at school followed by a spectacular Easter Egg Hunt that involved 600 candy filled eggs, a soccer field and 30 5 year olds.  It was so stinkin cute!

I found these sweet little crafts for the kids. They love anything with stickers! This is Quinn and her BFF Olivia.

HC doing her craft.

I picked up these cute Jesus Loves Me necklaces. The kids thought they were fancy.

First pic Quinn has ever taken "willingly" with the Easter Bunny.

Ready for the egg hunt!

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Quinn checking out her stash.



Me with my egg hunters.

 For the past 9 months I have been participating in a Catholic church program called RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Although I've gone to Mass most of my life, I never participated in sacraments or took a leap of faith in joining the church. Those of you that know me know that I have pretty liberal social beliefs but fairly conservative political beliefs. I've never really felt like I could become Catholic because of my radical difference in opinion on many factors the church teaches. But as I've grown older and wiser (and with the help of my dear Catholic friends) I've learned that it is okay to have a difference in opinion on some of the teachings of the church. I believe that the Catholic Church is the one true church. I also think that they have some things totally wrong. I'm okay with this now ... so now I'm a full blown, card carrying Catholic:) The Easter vigil ceremony was long but memorable. I was Baptized, received my First Communion and I was confirmed as a Catholic. It was a long road. The funny thing is that I don't feel one bit different. I've always felt like a child of Christ, I have always felt close to God (at least most of my life), I've always felt a deep understanding of the importance of living a good life. But the process is over and I'm officially a Catholic. Fred was my sponsor. He has always played a strong, God-like role in my life so it was only appropriate to have him by my side. I must also mention that we get a pretty big discount now at the girls school! The ceremony was memorable to say the least  - full submersion in the baptismal, dosed in oil from head to toe, lay on the alter face down while they prayed for the saints. It was dark, kind of creepy according to Jamie but a touch beautiful. I might have started the process for the wrong reasons but somewhere along this journey I realized that your faith needs constant attention just like the other relationships in your life. So for the past 9 months I've educated myself on Christianity, prayed in ways I've never prayed before and spent a lot of time strengthening my relationship with God.

Hassie Clare didn't make it through the 3 hour ceremony. It started at 8:30 PM!!!! She looks so beautiful and peaceful in this picture to me.

Although we didn't get home until midnight, the Easter Bunny still made a trip to our house.

Thank goodness the Easter Bunny knew we needed batting helmets and play clothes!

Off to find the stuffed Easter Eggs the Easter Bunny hide in our backyard!

They both found money eggs filled with 5 one dollar bills. On their own, they got a baggie and put some of the money in the bag and asked me to give it to the kids at St. Jude. My heart was swollen with pride.

Afterwards Nana and the girls helped me prepare some food to take for our family Easter celebration.

We ended the day over at Uncle Dave and Aunt Jenny's house. We had a family friendly softball game (Thurman's v. Carroll's v. Hagel's), played the bean bag toss game and ate until we almost popped. It was the perfect Easter afternoon!

Mommy Dearest

Over the past 5 years my parenting confidence has seriously declined. My parental knowledge and confidence was vast and superior prior to actually having children. Now I constantly doubt myself as a mother and wonder daily if I’m raising these little munchkins to be serial killers or happy, well rounded members of society. Sometimes I lay in bed at night and relive all of the ways I could have been a better parent that day. Although I think I’m giving it 100%, could I do more? Is parenting really just a crap shot?


And just when I think I've earned the title of being called Mommy Dearest the principle of the girls school sends this letter home:

• April 12, 2012
• Dear Mr. and Mrs. Thurman,
• This week I have been reading a small story of the Saint of the Day over the intercom. All week the theme seems to have focused on doing what is right and just, as well as integrity. I have asked our students to think about our school mission statement. In our statement the students use the word integrity. I asked them if they are people of integrity. Fr. Duy celebrated Mass with us and told the students not only did they need to find Christ in everything they did but that others should see Christ in them.
• Hassie Clare was sent to the office today because another classmate spilled their milk. On her own, she went and got paper towels to help the student clean up their mess. She also comforted this student. Also, when she got to the office a teacher was walking through the door and Hassie Clare held it open for her. I wanted to share with you this wonderful act.
• May God bless your family,
• Principle Martin

My little girl was on cloud 9 for days. She has such a sweet, tender heart and loves helping others. When I asked her what made her get up to help her classmate she said that she watches me help people all the time and do special things for them and that she wants to be like me. Sniff Sniff. It was proud day for both of us!

What is the legal age for manuel labor?

I have a feeling Jamie and I might violate a few of the child labor laws. At 5 years old my girls can unload most of the dishwasher (I pull out sharp knives and anything that goes up high), unload the dryer, fold towels and bed linens, clean their playroom, help carry in some groceries, clean their bathroom (they use lysol wipes to wipe down everything), change out the bathroom garbage bags, clean their room and make their beds. Is that too much for a 5 year old? They work together as a team by either assisting each other or splitting up the chores. At this age most of the work is fun for them and they enjoy helping us (Quinnie more so than HC).

I'm in charge of the inside of the house and Jamie is in charge of the outside of the house. He quickly caught on to the concept of using our children as free laborers.

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I told the girls a few weeks ago that our household is a well oiled machine and that everyone has to pitch in to make it run smoothly. Quinnie Ray told me "I have a great idea. Why don't you buy some oil at the store so we don't have to do all have the work and we can crawl in bed and snuggle instead?" I wish it was that easy Quinnie Ray but I love how you think!

I'm sorry... I've lost my mind. Have you seen it?

So I officially made it an entire month without blogging. Some of you might wonder if I gave it up for Lent. The answer is no ........ I gave up peanut butter. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Anyway, the past month has been the busiest month of my entire life. I over committed myself, once again, to waaayyy too many things but I've paid the price! Someday I will learn.

It all started when I got suckered into volunteered to be the assistant soccer coach. No big deal - season is only 5 weeks long. Before I knew what was happening, I got bullied into offered to coach a 5 year old Coach pitch softball team in a neighboring town that evidently takes little girl softball VERY seriously.  I had the perfect assistant coach, great parental support and one of my girls begging to play (more on that later). Sounds like a no-brainer .... I came up with a cute team name, let my girls pick our colors and went to the draft and picked girls that either went to our school or girls the same age as my girls so that we could be together forever. Little did I know that soccer season and softball season overlapped by 3 weeks. So for 3 weeks I put my kids through hell racing them around town every evening and weekend to soccer games, softball practices and on most days, both. I officially became one of those insane helicopter parents that I swore I would never be. We basically lived out of my car and off fast food. I will NEVER again do that to my children. Shame on me.
In the meantime, I was finishing up the long road of RCIA (aka - becoming Catholic). It was a long 9 months and this subject needs it's own blog entry .... or 4. We had retreats, practices, classes .... but the ending was bittersweet.
Thrown into the mix of all this craziness was pink eye (HC) and the worse case of strep (Quinn) I've ever seen. It even got in her eyes! Horrible, nasty stuff that went undiagnosed for 5 days because I thought she had pink eye!

Quinnie Ray with her swollen little face. 

We spent lots of time at different doctor offices. They are all dressed up because we had just left a beautiful ceremony at church where my parent's renewed their vows and my Mom was confirmed as a Catholic (more on that later when I can retrieve photos off my camera).



Even when she started feeling a little bit better she would not open her eyes due to light sensitivity. Once we figured out that it was strep, she was a new little girl within 24 hours. Symptoms - red, swollen, painful eyes, headache, doesn't want to eat, only wants to sleep = Strep Throat. Who would have thought!



While Quinnie was puny, Hassie Clare was kicking butt on the soccer field. Once I told her she could get an ice cream if she scored a goal, she scored 3 goals in the very next game.  I see so many things wrong with my bribe but whatever it takes .. right? :)  



Hassie "I will do anything for ice cream" Clare

In case I get sidetracked and never blog about our soccer season again I have to mention that Quinn scored 2 goals in one game after she came back from her illness. We are still not sure how that happened. She is not what we would call a "go getter" on the soccer field. Once HC would score in a game Quinn would ask to sit out the rest of the game cause she was already guaranteed an ice cream. She said that way she would not have to get sweaty. That is how Quinnie Ray rolls.
 


Quinnie "I perfer not to sweat" Ray

 Let's see ... what else. Jamie and I loaded up my mom and the girls and took a one night trip over to eastern TN for my adorable niece's first birthday. The party was beyond precious ... just like our Paisley. We stopped at an ubber cool kids Science Center in Nashville on the way home ( 99.9% sure this is where we picked up the pink eye and possibly the strep.) I didn't take any pics on our entire trip! Unless maybe I took some with our actual camera and not my phone but in that case, I can't access any pics because my external storage device is acting like a little bitch and I can't download pics right now. So there you have it .. another excuse why I haven't blogged in over a month.

My best friend from high school has a daughter, who is also my Goddaughter. Hassie Clare and Jamie got to go to her royal princess party while Quinn and I went to doctor.

Hassie Clare (5.5) and Ava (6) at Sweet & Sassy

Milestone wise it was a big month for us:) Both girls are officially swimmers without floaties and bike riders without training wheels. HUGE deal in the Thurman household.

I finally figured out how to load pics onto my blog directly from my iphone (temporary fix while my pic hard drive is being fixed). Maema put a serious guilt trip on me about my lack of blogging so I better get busy catching up!

PS - Please let me know if you find my mind anywhere .... I really need it back!

Wordless Wednesday - 2 big reasons why I enjoy coaching soccer

1st team sport - 5 year old spring soccer - rec league - 2012

T R..woop woop O J..woop woop..A N S!

Last weekend we spent cheering on my college Alma Mater, the Troy University Trojans while they whipped some butt at Ole Miss. I was the grad assistant for the softball team back in the day so we jumped at the opportunity to go down and meet the players, hang out with the coach's and cheer them on to victory. FYI - they went 5-0 on the weekend and won the Ole Miss Classic. Woop woop!
The team went out of their way to make Hassie Clare and Quinn feel special and to show them how much fun they are going to have playing softball. They loaded them up with gifts - autographed softballs, trophies, t-shirts, posters. They taught them dug out cheers. It was like love at first site for Hassie Clare. Quinn was a little more shy and reserved.
I got to spend some good quality time with my old coach who is now one of my dear friends (not so much when I played for her). She always makes me feel so .... proud isn't the right word .... maybe special and nostalgic are the words I'm looking for. Being with her reminds me of the person I once was - a care-free college athlete who's only purpose in life was to get decent grades (I use the word decent loosely), play volleyball and most importantly, have fun! That "me" seems like such a distant memory but when I'm with her all those memories come flooding back. It is good for my soul ... plus she super inflates my ego and brags about me to anyone who will listen ... what's not to love about her! :)

Anyway, super busy but fun weekend. We also managed to also squeeze in 2 birthday parties and soccer pictures.

Soccer pics - our first sports team Spring 2012!

Hassie Clare - AKA Soccer poser extraordinaire

Quinn - "Picture day is my favorite part of soccer so far cause I don't have to run or get hot."



Go Trogans! For some reason we only took 2 pics while we were at the Ole Miss tournament.

Pic courtesy of HC - she was impressed with the maintenance crews long water hose.

Hassie Clare and Quinn at Andy's party - Incredible Pizza.



Circus and church and haircuts OH MY

Our weekends are fully loaded. Last weekend we got invited to the circus. After soccer practice we headed out to Memphis to meet some friends to feast on Pronto Pups, Cotton Candy while watching magic tricks and elephants standing on each others back. The girls loved all the action. The family from Argentina that spins each other with their feet were my fav. I found myself pondering over circus life throughout the entire event.

Shiner's Circus with our friends Ella Grace and her sweet mom Janet. Thanks for the tickets!

I'm thankful HC didn't sneak away and join the circus while I wasn't looking. I could tell she was thinking about it. Quinnie still doesn't understand why anyone would want to ride an elephant or live in a tent.

Since we were all the way on the other side of town, I made haircut appointments at this boutique that only caters to little girls. It was precious! Quinn got 1.5 inches cut off and Hassie Clare got 4 inches of dead ends cut off. Everything in the place was minature and tricked out with ubber girly stuff.  Hassie Clare and Quinn loved every minute of it!

Picture taken by HC. She was trying to make Quinnie laugh so she wouldn't be so nervous.

Hassie Clare made funny moaning sounds the entire time she was getting her hair washed. After the lady was done HC said, "Ohhhhhhhhh that was wonderful. Can you do it again?"

Hassie Clare ... AKA Sassy Diva.

Quinnie got a glitter flower on her face, a sucker and a tattoo after her wash, cut and blow-out.

Hassie Clare



Ummm .... excuse me teenager, please give me back my 5 year old little girl named Quinn.



I just noticed that they are making sure you can see their "Sweet and Sassy" tattoos on their hands in this pic. Quinnie on the left, Hassie Clare on the right.  

For some reason the girls look a lot alike in these pics to me. Maybe it's Hassie Clare's blown out straight hair????? Or that Quinn's hair is darker now????  People still ask me how do I tell them apart and it cracks me up cause I normally don't think they look a thing alike.

On Sunday the entire farkel family joined me at church. They had a special ceremony for the RCIA elects. It was nice even though I turned blood red standing in front of the entire church while the priest asked the parishioners if they would except me. I DO NOT like being the center of attention. It creates crazy anxiety within me. I was up at the alter for almost 10 minutes all by myself.  It took hours for my hives to go down and my sweat to dry up. Afterwards we took my parents out to a nice brunch and I eased my anxiety with some french fries. Ahhh ... fried food therapy works wonders on me!

The weather was awesomely spectacular so Jamie and I decided to pack the bike trailers up and go on an adventure. We both are positively in love with biking right now. It is a struggle to pull the trailers full of 5 year olds and junk but well worth it! The girls love it and they find it very relaxing... maybe a little too relaxing.

I didn't get a pic of Quinn but they both feel asleep and missed about 6 or 7 miles of our ride.

   At one point in our ride we stopped at a playground and let the girls run off some energy while we stretched our legs and visited some more with Mom and Fred (they live near the park). It was a bad move. We got stiff and sore quickly and we still had a 7 or 8 mile ride home. But we put our big girl panties on and managed to make it home safe and sound. We all agreed that it was the best day of the year so far!

Leap Year Lovers - Feb. 29, 1988

Although they have been married for 24 years, this is only their 6th wedding anniversary. I am continuously impressed with their faith and commitment to one another.  Just like the date of their anniversary, their relationship is special and unique. Watching my parent's love blossom and grow over the years has been one of the great joys of my life.  




Happy Anniversary!

 

Coach Mommy

A new page of this adventure in parenting has begun. SPORTS. I have always sworn I would never coach little kids. I always said I would focus on my own kids and help develop them into athletes ... God willing. Well, somehow or another I got suckered into coaching 5 and under soccer for our local rec league. It is the team of twins - 3 sets. So far so good. SCORE - 5 practices, no injuries, very few tears, only one crazy parent. Games begin next week.
Once word got out that I was coaching soccer I somehow got suckered into coaching 5 year old softball. Coach pitch ... no tee. CRAZY! It starts the week soccer ends. After the draft of course. Yes, they have a draft. I've been told to pick the kids based on their parents .... if the parents look crazy ... don't pick their kid no matter how skilled they are. I'm following this advice. Parents scare me. Chances are good that I'm going to discipline their kid or hurt their feelings at some point in the season. But I strongly feel that I can teach them some basic fundamentals if the crazy parents stay out of my way.
It will be interesting to see how my girls athletic careers turn out. HC wants to play anything and everything. She is fast, furious and darn good at everything she does. The problem is that she doesn't listen and is hard to coach. Quinnie on the other hand is slow, meticulous and natural ability doesn't come as easy to her. But she is the most coachable kid I know. It will be an interesting journey for sure!
Quinn decided she did not want to play softball because she doesn't hit the ball well. I worked on her for over a month trying to encourage her and tell her how much fun it would be. Her Dad attempted to persuade her. This child has her fathers bull-headed stubbornness and she was adamant that she didn't want to play. On the day I was signing up to coach and signing up Hassie Clare for softball, Quinn overheard me talking to the team mom about snacks after the games and practices. Quinn chimed in, "Ohh ... there will be snacks after practices and games? I'll play."  Hey ... whatever it takes ... right????
One of the little boys on our soccer team calls me Coach Mommy. I could butter him up and eat him he is so dang sweet.  My girls say I'm nicer to the boys on the team and harder on the girls. The fact is that the girls on our team are capable of listening and running drills. They need to be strong and tough and they will probably carry our team. The boys are still sweet little love muffins that just need a little TLC. Plus ... they call me Coach Mommy. Okay ... maybe .. just maybe I suffer slightly from gender discrimination on the field!

What holds up these dresses Mommy?

The girls and I stopped into this new little boutique by our house to see what they sold and to look for earrings for my girlfriend. The girls ohhh'd and ahhh'd at all the formal dresses as we walked into the store. The lady behind the counter gasped when she saw the girls had red heart sucker rings on their finger so I quickly reminded them to keep the sucker in their mouth and not to touch anything. The boutique was not what I expected but we browsed around looking at all the sparkly "grown up dress-up dresses."
Hassie Clare and Quinn had on their sweet little Catholic school uniforms and they behaved like little angels. As we were leaving the lady behind the counter said, "Ya'll come back." Without missing a beat, Hassie Clare said, "We'll come back to shop here when God grows us some boobies."

HELLO CRAZY LADY ... its been awhile

I've been having hip pain on one side for a few weeks. It feels muscular and it is probably a hip flexor. It hurts during Spinning class and a day or two after Spinning class ... which I do about 3 times a week. Last night I crawled into bed and my good hip locked up or did something crazy. I was paralyzed with pain for about 20 seconds. The intense pain subsided but I still feel discomfort. Feels totally different than muscular pain. This is where my crazy lady syndrome kicks into HIGH gear.
The lights are off, I'm laying in bed with a gazillion thoughts running through my head. And suddenly I remember years ago my oncologist asking me if I ever have hip pain. And then my mind starts racing more. I've been tired a lot lately, both hips are hurting for no apparent reason .... oh lordy ... my cancer must be back. I try to rationalize with myself, pulling statistics out of the back of my head - the chance of recurrence after 11 years is less than .05%. But still .... my freakin hips are killing me and I'm so dang tired all the time. Gotta be cancer. After a few hours of worrying about everything known to cancer, motherhood, kids, my will, work, etc. I finally drifted off to sleep.
As the years have gone by, the fears of my cancer returning have diminished. At the 5 year cancer free mark, I decided I would not let that ugly disease control my thoughts. And for the most part, I only think about it twice a year when I visit the cancer clinic. I know the culprit of crazy lady coming to visit me. One of my dear friends wrote a book. It was recently published and sits on the selves of many book stores. I got a copy hot off the press but it sat on my night stand for 6 weeks ... until this week. I could not bring myself to read it even though I read the pre-edited version a few years ago.  I knew reading the book would mess with my mind and crazy lady would show her ugly face. Anyway, I read it cover to cover the other night. It is a beautiful story about a young woman battling cancer while falling in love. It is her memoir. While our stories are different, there are several similarities and many things we went through together. I'm totally flattered that she thanked me in her acknowledgments and that she mentions me a few times in her book. I love her and my boyfriend her smokin' hot hubby and I have not doubt that we will be BFF's until the end. But her book brought the crazy lady out in me for sure!


This is my girlfriend Michi's (short for Michelle) book. This is her on the cover ... isn't she stunning?

 So back to me and my self diagnosis. First thing this morning I planned on calling my Oncologist. I woke up a little more clear headed and decided I would rationally think about what is going on with my body. I googled hip pain and concluded that my pain is most likely coming from exercise and not stretching adequately. I'm tired all the time because I work full time, have young kids, coach soccer, in RCIA class, a volunteeraholic, I'm room mom, I'm re-financing our house and the list goes on and on and on. My daily schedule is NUTS and it is 100% my fault. I should just focus on my work and family and say to hell with the rest. But I can't. Obviously I thrive on staying crazy busy from 4:45am until 8:30pm at night. When I'm rested, I realize that I love it and I would not have it any other way. Now .... if I could just get crazy lady to stay away so that I can get some rest at night!!!

PS - Just for grins and giggles, I called my oncologist and had them add some scans and extra tests to my next appointment. Damn you Michi and your good book!

PSS - You can get a copy on NOOK, hard back or soft cover. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-lost-my-uterus-and-found-my-voice-michelle-l-whitlock/1108056659

Heart Love Heart Love - 10 years

My beautifully romantic husband wrote this to me in my Valentine's Day card:

10 years ago today, there was a nervous young man in a hotel room waiting for the love of his life to enter. He fought back tears of joy as he lit candles, placed balloons around the room and made sure everything was in the perfect place for her arrival. He had sent her on an adventure through the city, picking up clues as she went, to lead her to the hotel room where the man nervously waited. Then ... it happened! The door slowly opened and there she was ... nervous and fighting back tears herself as she entered the room. His body felt a rush of emotions that he had never felt before. He knew, from that moment on, his life would change forever. He knew that this beautiful, intelligent, loving and extremely sexy woman was going to say yes to his proposal. He then got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes! They kissed and hugged and cried for what seemed like hours. It was one of the best moments of the young mans life (the best up to that point). He couldn't imagine the joys and happiness that were in store for him, but he knew, with this woman by his side, that his world would be an infinitely better place.

Thank you for saying yes!!!

I love you,

Jamie

Lordy, lordy ... that man still makes my heart jump and flutter. The girls and I decided that we are going to make our Prince a romantic dinner tonight. They came up with the menu - pizza, salad, olives and chocolate covered fruit. Although it won't be as romantic as it was 10 years ago, the room will be full of love and laughter. We will tell our children our wonderful love story and they will ohh and ahh. And, as always, I will feel like the luckiest woman in the world!   

 

Monster Truck Madness

Hassie Clare LOVES monster trucks ... just like her Daddy. So when Jamie's BFF from childhood comes to our area with his monster truck every Jan., which is on or near his birthday, our lives stop. Jamie takes the day off work to go "play" and Hassie Clare counts down the days until the big show. Quinn and I don't get it. I'll go ... if Jamie really wants me too but only cause they serve beer. Quinn hates it cause its loud and the smell burns her nose. And the mean looking trucks give her nightmares. Hassie Clare told me the smell that Quinn hates so much smells like "fun" to her. Its gotta be in her blood!

Quinn and I decided we both wanted a bowl of good soup to warm up our bellies. We also needed to do a little shopping for the birthday boy! The topic of conversation over our dinner: how much we loved one another. It was cheesy, delightful and warming .... just like our soup.

The next day we loaded up and went to a local car show where the "Monster Truck" was making an appearance. Fun stuff I tell ya. However, seeing Jamie so happy makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. He loves this stuff and he loves teaching me and the girls all about it!

HC had a chance to ride in the monster truck when he paraded it around the arena and she passed. Could not believe it! She said maybe when she is 6 she will ride in the truck.  

Afterwards we headed south to a little cheesecake place I've been dying to try. Jamie picked out a caramel, chocolate cheesecake. That sucker was $55. And worth every penny. This is my new favorite picture ... I wish I had taken it with my camera and not my camera phone!

We ended the evening with a nice, big steak at Jamie's favorite steak house. Some loved ones joined us to celebrate. It was uneventful to say the least ..... exactly what we needed! So far 41 is being much nicer to him than 40!!!