Need a little laugh...

Well, in spite of a heavy load, to say the very least, this weekend, Jakob has been in true form. He has been making us laugh and smile immensely since we have been home last night. So, I hope you enjoy as much as we have!

Yesterday evening, Jakob and I were playing with playdough balls at the dining room table. I guess he picks up more from Handy Manny than I realized because he started counting the balls in 'Spanish.' It went a little something like this: "Puarto, Cinco (the only one he got correct), Chase!" These are, of course, Jakob's version of quatro, cinco, seis or four, five, six! Crack me up!

Last week, Jakob had a very difficult time at school with nap-time. I won't go into details because it was not a good moment in my mommy-hood! Anyway, the deal at school is that if you stay on your nap mat the entire nap time, you get a sticker at the end of the day. Just now, as I was sitting in our bed watching the Cowboys lose to the Redskins, :-( Jakob came into our bedroom and said this in a great teacher voice, "Mommy, you stay on your bed the whole time, and you get a sticker!" He has been back in to check on me several times and make sure I was obeying his words! I am happy to comply tonight and stay in my bed!

Sweet Felysha

Last night, one of Jared's and my students passed away in a car accident just down from our home. She lived down the street from us and was a senior in our program. Felysha was in our top group for three years and was working on her pharmacy technician license this year while finishing high school. Felysha was a very special young woman. If the Lord brings this to your mind at anytime over the next days, please lift up the Villa family in your prayers. Also, please remember our students' who loved her so dearly as this is an unimaginable thing for anyone, especially in high school.

These pictures are from Celebration in May. Felysha is in the middle and was absolutely hilarious dancing in the sixties number. I think she caught Kashif's wig...that's an odd statement! Anyway, to give you an idea of what a priceless, precious person she was, I showed up to our performance on Friday night with a big, chunky black necklace on. Felysha saw that I didn't have a matching bracelet and gave me the three that she was wearing on her arm and insisted that I keep them for 'next time.' These will now be irreplaceable pieces in my jewelry box...treasures in my heart. There are great kids in this world...just look for them. Felysha was certainly one of the best.

'Beggie' Tales

Well, tonight was the night when Jared and I earned our entry into the 'Parents' Hall of Fame' as far as Jakob is concerned! We have been looking so forward to the Veggie, or Beggie, Tales live show here in Lubbock. Jakob has been talking about it for quite sometime, asking every morning since Saturday, "Is it Tuesday?" I don't think he really gets the days of the week...he just heard us say that the Veggie Tales came Tuesday! Anyway, enjoy the pictures! He had a lot more fun than his face shows! His eyes were absolutely glued to the stage the entire evening...2 whole hours of Veggie goodness! He sang, he danced, and he went to sleep with his get up still on. It just wasn't a battle worth fighting tonight! God made YOU special, and He loves you very much! Have a great day!

UFO

We had open house tonight at the high school. Fun...don't you hear the excitement? Really, I don't have to do anything unless someone comes in wanting to meet 'the inappropriate one' of our bunch! It is always nice, however, to see parents and students in an environment where they feel obligated to tell me how much they love me. Makes me feel good! Anyway, my sweet mother-in-love, Bonnie, called me today on my way to school to offer to hang with the Jakob boy today! Hallelujah! (Can you hear the angelic anthem?) I am two weeks away from our first audition of the year, and every moment counts with my kids right now. Bon's offer was SO wonderful, today especially. Otherwise, Jakob would have been at the school with Jared and me all day long and into this evening at open house. That's a long day for anyone, much less my two-year-old! Case in point...Jakob is getting more and more adventurous every moment. I am going to begin paying into our health savings account double each month in preparation for our ER visits! I'm afraid they are just around the corner! This weekend, Jakob called me into the living room to "come see me doing!" That is always a scary cry. This is what I found:

Its not a poor picture by my standards. The blur is literally him in motion. He had turned his new favorite toy, the garage sale Sit-n-Spin, into his 'fwying saucer.' Thank you so much, Bon, for taking my little alien today! NEVER a dull moment...just the way I love it!

ABC's

When Jakob was a very new baby, it took me a while to get out of my funk and tap into my own childhood to pull out fun songs, stories, and other things that should be second nature for moms. So, in the middle of the nights when I had run out of praise and worship songs to sing, I would pull out the ever reliable "ABC Song." Instead of tagging the end with the line, "Now I've sung my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me," I would sing, "Now I've sung our ABC's, can't wait 'til you sing with me." Jared and I continued to sing our change of words until this week. He has been able to sing parts of the song with us for several months now, but this week, he sang the whole song by himself. He sang the original tag lines instead of the Hardy version. Tonight in the car as he sang it all by himself, on key no less, I had a massive, "Oh my goodness, my baby is not a baby anymore" moment. It was so surreal to remember singing "Can't wait 'til you sing with me" and living out that exact moment. I LOVE hearing him sing songs that he has learned from us or at church and the songs he composes himself. I swear I see God's grace, mercy, and creativity spelled out to me through Jakob each and every day. Needless to say, I have a new favorite song...ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ...

Moving into the stadium...

Well, I mentioned in a previous post that we LOVE football around here. We have been at a football game three of the last five nights. A bit overboard, I know! Friday night was our first home Tiger game. Jared has to be at the field early to prepare for his pregame stuff now. So, Jakob and I did alone this week. He was SUPER excited about going to see 'de boys' play that night. I did not take into account, however, that it might not be as easy as 1, 2, 3 getting myself, Jakob, and enough stuff to last us through the winter season up the stadium bleachers. After the flood of 2008 in Lubbock on Thursday, it was humid...really humid. So, I packed up rain coats (just in case), food for Jakob, stadium seats, diapers, wipes, 2 juice cups, an iPod filled with Wow Wow Wubbzy podcasts, and a portable radio so I could listen to Jared...oh yeah, and my 30 pound son. I thought, nay hoped, that he would hold my hand and walk from the car to our seats. Umm, not so much. He was fine for, oh, about 100 feet. Then, the drums began to play as we walked across the parking lot. Jakob vapor-locked. He began to climb my leg saying, "De drums eat Jakob!" So, I had to hoist my son onto my hip along with all the other junk, ask the ticket person (thankfully I knew her) to take the tickets from my pockets since I had no free hand, and pray to God that He would seriously give my puny muscles strength as I climbed the bleachers to our very nice, but very high, seats! Once we got there, however, Jakob ROCKED! He had such a great time! He was the best football date, other than Jared, of course! Right after we got situated, and by situated I mean that I got my breath back and dried my armpits from the humid sweat that had overtaken me, there was a HUGE hit right in front of us. Jakob looked at me with my favorite Jakob face and said in his lowest voice, "Whoa, Mommy! That was a BIG tiger!" Priceless! By the way, you can hear Jared every Friday night on 105.3 ...he really does do a great job. On Saturday, we went to Jakob's first Texas Tech game...another big hit! Thankfully, Jared was there also, so I didn't have to carry anything but the diaper bag! Hooray for hunky husbands! Here are some pictures from the day! Thank you, also, to Lauren and Tyson who helped me so much on Friday night with Jakob! We had such a great time with you guys on Saturday also!Jakob with Tyson and Lauren at the Tech game.

Get your guns up! Jakob's fingers don't quite cooperate yet!

Tickle me! I'm a Red Raider! Cutest fan of all 53,300 in attendance!
Jakob was a pretty tired guy! It was a late, but incredibly fun, night! Raiders won BIG!

When it rains, it pours!

Well, Lubbock isn't usually known for it rainy weather, but things are a bit more than saturated tonight! In fact, it has rained so much today that we don't have school tomorrow because of flooding! That's right, no school because of rain in Lubbock, Texas. Good grief! Jakob added a little spice to our lift tonight. Hope you can find the humor in my puns tonight!

Tinkle, Tinkle My Little Star!

As Jakob and I were watching cartoons just now, he looked over and said, "I go t.t. in the potty." This isn't that unusual lately. He will volunteer to go sit on the potty and read his potty time books, usually just after he has gone in his diaper. We don't want to discourage him from the potty, so we are willing participants. But today...HE DID IT! This is two times now that a reading session has produced that sweet little tinkling sound! Jakob seemed much more excited this time, though, and immediately asked for big boy unders....Woo Hoo! One less diaper in my day today!

Jeep update...

Well, this important thing is that it did not explode! The not-so-good news is that maybe it should have! It was a pretty sick vehicle, and we didn't even know it! After Mark (the kindly mechanic neighbor mentioned below) called Jared with the final list of issues, we realized that we were pretty blessed that nothing catastrophic had happened thus far! The gas pump and manifold were both cracked causing the initial leak in question. And, no, my speedy exit from Whataburger couldn't have done that...whew! We are also leaking differential fluid, coolant, and axle fluid. I don't even know what all that does, but it all sounds pretty important. So, we are hoping to have the Jeep back on Wednesday. Mark the Mechanic is about to reach Bob the Builder status around here! We are so blessed that Michael found the leak and that Mark was so available to help us. What an absolute God-thing that it all happened the way it did!

Favorite morning EVER!

Jakob broke out of his room around 5:30 this morning and came into our room and climbed into bed. It was so close to the alarm time, we just all crawled under together for a few more minutes of sleep. Around 6:15 Jakob sat straight up, folded his hands, and started praying out loud. Jared and I both barely opened our eyes to see if the other was listening and then quickly pretended to be asleep so that he wouldn't stop. It was the SWEETEST thing I have ever heard in my life. It went something like this: "Dear God, thank for our family. Mommy, Daddy, and Jakob Hardy. Bwess our day at school. Amen." Then he repeated that in different variations for a few minutes. A lot of it, as I'm sure you can tell, is part of what we pray at bedtime, but it was precious none-the-less. I had a moment of just knowing that our Heavenly Father was smiling so big. Maybe He even got chills like I did. Just now, I am sitting here wasting time, and Jakob comes up to me and says, "I Jakob Hardy" after bumping his chest with his hand. So, we started exchanging hellos. I offered my hand out to shake his and once we mastered the 'manly' handshake, we started working on introducing yourself to someone with the handshake. He is now grabbing my hand as he runs through the living room saying while shaking my hand, "Hello! I Jakob Hardy. Nice to mee choo Mommy!" What a start to a day!

Are you ready for some football?!

Its finally here!!! Football 2008! High school, college, or professional...I don't care! I love them all! Now that Jared is one of the Frenship announcers, he is even a bit more interested! I knew that I would win him over to the dark side sooner or later! As excited as I am that Jared is garnering a new love for football, I am most excited that Jakob has caught the fever! Tonight he came into the living room while we were watching the sad, first half of our Colts' game with a plastic bowl as his helmet! He decided that I, too, needed a bit of protection and gave me my own head gear. I love it! Who cares if he can count?! The boy loves football! I have done well!

I forgot!

I forgot the most fun and ironic thing that happened on Friday! I jumped 'rope' with a soaker hose! That's right...the closest thing to a workout I've had in weeks! I can't believe I forgot to put that!

Thankful.

I just re-read my post yesterday, and while it was a really ironic and different sort of day, I whined...a lot. When Jakob begins to whine, I tell him to turn his 'whine button' into the 'off' position. So, here are things that I am truly thankful for tonight...with my whine button in the off position...

• the sound of Jakob's feet running across the new floors
• the look on the face of a student with a 'breakthrough' to a high F
• great friends to cook for tomorrow
• football season
• pumpkins and acorns
• noticing Jared is staring at me like we were still in college
• talking with my mom for a ridiculous amount of time
• red tags on clothing
• Abreva
• iTunes, DVR, and internet
• Cranium with friends and family (you should hear my father-in-law hum Like a Virgin!)
• watching and waiting for God to continue to amaze and astound...far greater than I deserve
• leading praise and worship with my husband...singing to the Throne together
• listening to Jakob sing anything from Jesus Loves Me to Fruit Salad
• hearing Jakob say 'Amen' after repeating the end of each sentence in our prayers
• my bed...I am heading there now

There is a lot of real hurt surrounding people extremely close and just acquainted to me...probably to all of us. Tonight, I am trying to remember that our God is El Shaddai, all sufficient. I am certainly thankful for that...

Lightning only strikes once...right?!

Okay, so it has been an interesting day to say the least. It hasn't been bad at all...its been ironic, a bit frustrating at times, and long but not bad. For those of you who chose to read my rantings...here you go! So, yesterday I left the house at 8:30 and returned home after 10 last night. I have an incredible job that allows me great flexibility in my time and schedule normally. I am just trying to keep my head above water right now with everything and everyone! We had small group last night, always a huge blessing, but it just ended up being a really long day. SO...the sun came up on September 5, 2005. Work was fine. The kids were fine. Jared had to leave for Dumas for a football game in the early afternoon, so I went to pick up lunch for Jared, Jakob, and myself so that we could see one another a bit after our long day yesterday and our separate schedules today. I realized after leaving the house that I had left my wallet in my office last night. So, I only had my checkbook. Well, as I am sure you know, most places don't take checks any longer. I chose to go to Whataburger, my favorite, to get lunch. I looked ALL OVER the drive through menu for any signs of their check acceptance policy. Nothing. So, I ordered with a watering mouth and Jakob in the back yelling, "Yay! Kamburgers!" After 25 MINUTES waiting in the drive through, I reached the window to hand the man my GOOD, NON-BOUNCING check only to hear, "I'm sorry, ma'am. We don't take checks." I said, (quite sarcastically) "Of course you don't. Fantastic." As he smiled his goofy high school grin at me, I wondered how he was even eligible to be working at this time of day. Shouldn't you be in school? Or am I just getting really old?! Anyway, I digress. I then, more politely, said, "You should really post that on your menu back there. It would have saved some confusion." Then, I gunned it. I was now late to work, didn't get to see my husband, and couldn't explain to my 2-year old why he didn't have his 'kamburger.' Seriously. *deep breath* Okay, so I won't even go into detail about the nap time debacle that happened in my office today. It isn't even worth your ocular efforts right now. So Erin, Ashley, and myself had an undercover operation planned tonight. When we got to our secret destination armed with flowers, tools, dirt, and organic compost, a God-send of a friend, Michael, noticed that the Jeep was 'bleeding'...GASOLINE!!! Not just a few drops, either. So here is how the story goes. Carla's Jeep, leaking gas. Michael's neighbor just happens to be a mechanic. (Thank you, Lord!) Neighbor mechanic man comes out smoking a cigarette to check my gasoline leak. He did however throw it in the opposite direction of the Jeep...smart. He instructs Carla not to drive the Jeep for fear of, oh you know, EXPLOSION! Jared is unable to be reached because he is already on the radio in Dumas. I don't think all of Frenship-land wants to hear this conversation played out over the air-ways! I had to make this decision all on my own...completely out of my character. This is, after all, why I got married to a capable man! While I am talking with the friend and the mechanic, Erin and Ashley went and shopped in another neighbor's garage. This neighbor is not having a garage sale...they just went shopping...through plus size clothing, none-the-less! If you know them, you know why that's even funnier! So, really, God is so in these details. If this was going to happen while Jared was gone, what incredible provision today in all of the quirkiness! Just before we left, though, the transformer on the electrical lines above where the Jeep landed began shuddering and sputtering. So, hopefully, the transformer will not blow up while my gaseous Jeep rests beneath it. Oh, and just so you know that God still has a sense of humor...our Jeep is a disaster! We strive to NEVER let people inside or to even get close to seeing the inner workings of our slobbed out vehicle. How funny that I had to have the help of two very dear friends who had not yet entered the 'trashed out Jeep' phase of our relationship. In fact, I don't know that anyone but students have entered the Jeep in years. Anyway, it was humiliating for me. Erin even found enough change just in the passenger floor board to get a Sonic drink! When I came home tonight, Jakob shoved his fist down his throat and vomited on me. How is that for a period on the end of this day? Thank you, God, for protecting my family today from a potentially harmful situation. Thank you for your mercies that are new every morning. Seriously.

First Day!!!

Today was Jakob's first day of 'school!' He did SO great! He slept all night long last night, so he started this day very rested and ready to go, thank you, Lord! Getting dressed was no issue, a real blessing these days. When we pulled into the church parking lot he said, "Mommy, this not school...this Jakob's church!" I thought, "Amen, brother! You're catching on to the point!" Jared picked him up without reports of crazy bad behavior. We'll see if Ms. Alexa was just being kind today or if Jakob really did do well! The only thing he will tell me is "I eat animal cwackas at school!" That settles it!

He's smart, right?!

Well, tomorrow is Jakob's first day of school...okay, its just PDO! But, still! We have geared up since Mommy and Daddy's first day of school last Monday that Jakob's day was coming! We cut his hair tonight, picked out the back pack and lunch box last week with Nana, and laid out our clothes before bedtime! I am so excited for him, and I think he is excited. He will be in a familiar place, our WONDERFUL church, Melonie Park. But, just now I was trying to think of what to send him for lunch tomorrow. You know, I don't want to send too much, but I don't want to send too little where he is having to beg off of other two-year-olds! My mom always sent us notes in our lunchboxes, and so I did the same for Jakob. I wrote this little note and put it in his lunchbox for tomorrow. Then I thought...although he does know all of his letters and about half of their sounds, HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO READ, CARLA! Good grief! I am leaving it in there, though, so his teachers can read it to him. I am not going to do well during kindergarten....not good at all!