My Garden of Faith

My garden of faith... It is exactly how it sounds!!

No experience, Not much research, But Lots and Lots of Water, Love and Prayer!!

This big beautiful garden has been an amazing experience for me as well as Skyler and Maddie. Maddie especially has really enjoyed all the responsibilities that come with a garden.

I knew that I would enjoy gardening but would have never known the true blessings that have come along side it.

Above, Maddie is holding our very first green bean. It is very small, we picked it way to early but we both were very anxious to try our very first vegetable out of our garden.

In another picture you will see both the girls holding a bowl full of vegetables that were just picked. We cannot believe how large these vegetables have grown.

We have already enjoyed many meals with these delicious vegetables and are looking forward to harvesting others soon.

The Forgotten Passion

The LOVE of photography has been in my blood my entire life.  In fact that love came from my father.  I still to this day remember the smell of chemicals in my basement where my Dad kept his darkroom.

My favorite memories I have from college are standing in a pitch black room over a sink watching my images slowly appear.

Its amazing how you can let "life" take over and you slowly forget to live your life....

Hopefully these images are the start of many to come....

My New Way of Solving a Tantrum.....

Tantrums.....  Oh they can be very frustrating at times.  I believe there is no such thing as the terrible two's and three's.  If you ask me it is a bunch of boloney.  There are terrible 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and even 34 (I know I am 34).  

Our sweet, adorable little (not so little anymore) Maddie is on her way to turning 5.  Thankfully, we have been blessed with two of the sweetest, kind hearted children that walk this earth.

However, we still have tantrums here and there like every other parent in this world. As a very busy mother of two I don't have a whole lot of down time and I like to make the best of my time with the girls.

So, one day Maddie was having a tantrum about something, I think she wanted a snack and dinner was on the stove.  I was frustrated, tired and quit frankly did not want to listen to Maddie cry on the steps in time out.  So here she is giving me a dirty look and stomping her feet telling me she is STARVING and she cannot wait until dinner. I just looked at her with a big smile and she started to laugh so hard that she forgot all about her tantrum.

A couple of days later she was upset because she did not want to wait her turn to play on the computer - again I smiled at her and she started to laugh so hard she forgot about her little tantrum.

So for me I have found a new way of dealing with Maddie's little tantrums.  We both end up cracking up and it ends with a smile on both of our faces......   

For those of you that think I have completely lost my mind, she still gets in trouble for the big things. But I believe parents (me anyways) need to learn to pick your battles with your kids. I would rather have Maddie's little tantrum end up with us both giggling than her crying on the steps.

Sometimes being broke is a BLESSING.......

Please read previous blog first.....

I honestly do not even know how to begin this blog. I typically try to have a funny twist to my stories but there is nothing funny about this one. The only thing I am doing right now is thanking God for my lack of cash!

About an hour after I wrote my previous blog Danielle and I were in her kitchen. Danielle was cooking dinner and I was helping Gillian with her homework, then the phone rings. In a matter of seconds I am overwhelmed with emotions. As I said in my last posting my flight was canceled. What I didn't mention in that posting was my frustration that I wanted to take a different flight US Airways flight 1549. Unfortunately, Tony and I have had some financial hardship lately on top of his car breaking down on our way to the Airport on Sunday. So needless to say even though I was so desperate to see my 2 sweet peas we couldn't afford to buy me a ticket just so I could fly home today.

So, I am sure you have all heard by now the flight that I wanted so desperately to take, landed in the Hudson River 2 minutes after they were in the air. Like I said, "Sometimes being broke is a blessing".

So needless to say life has been pretty crazy in the McKenna house tonight. The phone has been ringing off the hook for hours and every time Danielle and I pass each other we both are amazed with the outcome of today.

I started my day mad at the world that I was not home in North Carolina with my family and tonight I am counting my blessings that I did not get on flight 1549.

Most of all Thank You Tony. If you would have been ok with me booking that flight than I would have landed in the Hudson River as well. Sometimes, only Sometimes it's important to listen to your hubby.

Spirit Airlines - NEVER AGAIN!!

There are some airlines that are meant for flying and others not so much. I understand that if the visibility is not good than yes I do not want to be in the air. The big problem is they have no idea how to handle a canceled flight.

I flew up to N.Y. on Sunday to see my cousin. She recently had a new addition to her already full family. Baby Leah is a beautiful little peanut and I have had a wonderful time playing Mommy to her the last few days. The problem is as much as I am enjoying my time here hanging out with my cuz who I never get to see and her gang I miss my own deeply. As much as I know that Tony is doing a fine job holding down the fort at home I am going stir crazy for kisses and hugs from Skyler and Maddie.

So my adventure to return home started very early this morning. Oh my poor cousin.... We woke up to snow this morning but I went online and checked the flight status it said LEAVING ON TIME. Well the complicated part was that even though we originally were suppose to have plenty of time this morning now Danielle was nervouse that it would take us longer because of the roads were bad. So we loaded the little ones in the car and I sat in it until the kids bus came at 9am. Then we spent the next 2 hours driving 15 miles an hour to the airport. During this time about an 1/2 before I was supposed to load on my plan I called Spirit and the man on the other line informed me that we were departing on time. So Danielle drops me off and we say our goodbyes. I walk in the doors and there is a mile long line for Spirit Airlines. I curse under my breath get in line and start asking the people that work at the airport whats going in. All they would tell me is that the flight was cancelled and I needed to get in line. I continued to try to get information and I was failing miserably. After waiting on the line for over an hour and looking for some sympothy from the airlines that they have just ruined my day, I get nothing. The flight tonight is booked and they will fly me out on Saturday at No Charge. OH Thanks!!

As I am sure you have figured it out by now I am back at Danielles. What a waste of a day especially for her. A mother of 4 who doesn't have a second to breath has spent 1/2 her day driving me around in circles- oh how fun!

I broke the bad news to the girls and Maddie's reply was why did it have to snow and again how many more days? Skylers responce was are you going to play in the snow mommy? And I want to come.

I am sorry Skyler and Maddie that Mommy has been gone this long. I can't wait to see you and give you lots of hugs and kisses.

Hopefully, I will see my family on Saturday!

The ALMOST Perfect Cookie Party!

Yes, it was a perfect day ALMOST... My dear friend Anne and I had decided we wanted to throw a cookie decorating party. Do you know what it takes to plan one of these? Lots of phone calls, dividing lists of who brings what and reminding your friends they each need to bring 2 dozen cookies. I have to say, that was the easy part. Ok, I am going to back up for a minute... and start with the night before.

I am getting ready to put the girls to bed and Skyler is VERY cranky and I realize very warm as well. Ok, no big deal we can get through this I say to myself. If you know Skyler she gets a fever for everything even a sniffle. So I thought the party will continue...

Back to the am...

About 6am Skyler wakes us up and she is warm of course so we give her some Tylenol and tell her to stay in bed. At 7:20 I have four little hands knocking at my door - I am babysitting Emma and Carson while our friend Mr. Chris has to go to work. Still everything seems to be running smoothly with the exception of Skyler feeling a little under the weather. After getting the Coble children settled I start working on my to do list for a Party that starts at 2pm. Seems like a lot of time - well barely. P.S. Later that day before Hell broke loose my husband tells me we could have slept until 11 and have plenty of time to get ready for the party (uh huh, I say).

Thankfully I made the cookies with the girls on Thursday after school so that part was done. I did however have to make the icing. That went smoother than I had expected, I thought! During all of this my phone rings Anne has some bad news, Lily threw up last night and she doesn't think she is going to let her come. I told her that Skyler had a little fever but I was going to let her join in anyway, I was confident that it was just a little cold. One of Tony's to do list was to run up to the stores and grab a few things I forgot to think of until last night around 11:30. When he came back I was cleaning up all the mess I had made from making the icing. I showed him all the containers with all the different colors to see what he thought. Well apparently, I had not made nearly enough icing. So as we have in the past we call Anne to settle our marital disputes. She comes over and says oh no Christine that is defiantly not enough. Ok now I am a little frustrated, where has my time gone it is after 11...

So, Skyler comes in the kitchen still feeling pretty warm. I suggested to her that she go upstairs and take a nice shower, I thought that would help her feel better. 3 kids running around the house as I am on my way up to get Skyler started on her shower. Tony's on his way down the steps and there it goes... Skyler throws up everywhere....... Now we are in survival mode... what do we do and how do we fix this. Tony gets his famous mask he uses anytime the kids throw up, and he starts cleaning. I get Skyler undressed and in the shower since she has to have one now.

Ok, what do we do, it is now almost 12:00 and the party is supposed to start in two hours.....

Well, long story short.. not so much. We decided to quarantine Lily and Skyler upstairs in Skylers bed since they had the same symptoms and the party did go on.....

The party was a huge success...all the kids had a great time decorating cookies with more toppings than you could imagine. Even Skyler and Lily where able to join in after our friends left and it was just the neighbor children. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had plenty of icing, in fact we never even used the second batch of icing that Anne and Tony insisted I make. Thanks guys next time leave your opinion to yourself! :)