Seasoned

Recently I've noticed something in my house smells. Weird. *You have 2 hooligans under the age of 2, you say, of course your house smells weird.) But no, really, something smelled weird and I couldn't figure out what on earth it was. No matter where I stuck my nose and smelled *which I did, repeatedly, in every room and surface in the house* I couldn't figure it out, but I knew it was coming from somewhere in my kitchen. Billy has accused me of insanity, and an oversensitive sense of smell. But finally, today, vengeance was mine. OK, a little dramatic, but we finally figured out what the heck that smell was. :)

Yes, Merrick has developed a new flare for...my spice rack. Billy and I were minding our own business, obviously not a good idea around here, getting ready to go out to run some errands, when I hear from the kitchen: "You have GOT to see this." Those words usually mean Merrick has managed to scale something I previously thought was a safe zone. :)

Merrick had helped himself to the spices...this one in particular. *I guess it just must be the easiest one to get to.* And he used it to decorate my kitchen floor and his shoes. As soon as I walked into the kitchen...I knew what that smell had been. Obviously this wasn't the first time he had gotten into the spice rack, because I've been smelling it for about 2 weeks now. I was starting to go crazy wondering if I'd ever find out what it was.

But since he left evidence of his undercover seasoning activities this time...the mystery is finally solved. I'm just glad to know that I wasn't losing my mind, or my sense of smell.

Shout to the Lord

Who says church always has to be serious? This is a video of Merrick and a friend from church's little girl...she and Merrick were born 2 weeks apart, and have been nursery buddies since then. They decided to grace us with a screaming match in the birth-2yrs class last Sunday.

Hot Date at the Hospital

We've done alot of updating recently about little miss Tirzah being under the weather. Not like she looks sick here. :)We didn't realize until today just how "under the weather" she was. The Doctor finally *after too many co-pays and wasted visits* figured out that she has pertussis. Go ahead, ask me what pertussis is. *Everybody's doing it ;)* Its code for *worst cough ever*. Poor baby had been coughing until she was literally gagging and not breathing. Pretty scary stuff, especially when you only weight 12 lbs. So after finally diagnosing little lady, the doctor decided she needed to be admitted to the hospital for observation. *Gasp...more hospital bills??? Ugh, we haven't even payed for her delivery yet.* So to the hospital it was...
We were barely admitted *and I'd barely sent out a please pray for us tweet* when the Doctor came in to see her. She kept commenting on how good she looked. *Of course she is gorgeous ;)* And that she wasn't really sure she needed to stay. She went out of our room for a "conference" with the pediatrician who had said she needed to be hospitalized. After a few minutes *we've been in the hospital maybe an hour now...* the doctor came back and said that we could go home! As if that wasn't awesome enough...they said they were canceling the admission completely so that there would be no charge for our little expedition to the pediatric ward. Heck yeah. :) The nurse commented, upon seeing our McD's bag of food, that next time we wanted to go on a date we could probably find an easier way to do it. I agree.

Aside from our date to the hospital lobby McDonald's, we also got a good reminder of how well God is taking care of us. I was nearly having a panic attack at the thought of the new round of bills we couldn't afford. Oh me of little faith. We still have bills, *we might pay Tirzah off before she graduates ;)* but also a good reminder to put things in perspective and trust. And while Tirzah is still coughing (and could be for several weeks) we know that God loves her even more than we do, and she is safe in His hands. We would appreciate everyone's continued prayers for her, and for the rest of us not to get sick as well. Thanks for the prayers thus far!

Book Worm...Sort of.

I was trying to be all "sneaky sneaky" taking this picture of Merrick. I was afraid if he realized that I caught him reading a book it would be all over. He has actually been more interested in reading this past week. He even has this book about kids playing sports that he took to bed with him tonight. *WHAT? My child has been abducted by aliens...*

We used to always trade in his Chick-Fil-A kids meal books for a cup of ice cream, but the last time he decided he wanted to keep it! It had pictures of animals in it, that he was saying to himself while he "read" it. And no, there weren't hobbits in the book...that's code for hippo apparently.

Finally...

Everyone has things they are obsessed with. Me? Photography, running, and my hooligans to name a few. My hubby's obsession? Good food, Prison Break, and Shinedown. He is constantly listening to their music, and even follows them on Twitter. :) They were in the area last year, and he wasn't able to go to the concert. *He thought the world was coming to an end.* This year, however, we were able to finally see his favorite band in concert. I am not as big a fan, but tagged along because I wanted to take a shot at concert photography. I tried to read up on it a bit before I went to know what I was getting myself into. What could be so hard about low lighting, that's constantly changing, energetic subjects who are jumping around in said lighting, and a mass of people with their heads and limbs in-between me and the perfect shot? Uh, yeah...it was hard. But it was fun. :) This week at I Heart Faces the theme was "Contemplative".

While I'm not 100% what this guy was really thinking...

...I'm pretty sure Billy was thinking he wished he could get his camera-happy wife out of the mosh pit so he could enjoy the concert, and stop worrying about the mother of his children being crushed by over-enthusiastic Shinedown fans. ;)