Date the alphabet

I feel as though I'm a dry well.
I have so many creative ideas popping around in my head.
I have so many things I've been trying to get organized
so that I can get things done before the babe comes.
*Homeschooling plans
*Halloween Costumes
*Cute fall decorations
*Handmade Christmas presents

But time has not been on my side lately.
My daughter woke me up in the middle of the night
on July 31st to tell me "I puked"
then she proceeded to do this for TWO weeks.
Now, luckily she did not puke EVERY morning,
and luckily she knows how to puke in a bucket
but seriously it was weird...and tiring.

We still don't know what was causing this to happen
and still don't know if our pukey mornings are behind us
but we're hopeful!

So, in spite of my best intentions for getting organized
and making my crafts, I've been too consumed;
with cleaning up puke, resting on the couch
and playing with kiddos, to get much done.
Not to mention the ginormous task of
designing a few projects for church related activities
and a 24 page wedding album for a client...

I just feel as though I don't have the time to do what I want to do.
And well, I do waste lots of some time just sitting around
blog surfing and stalking and reading and crying with people.
That's my own fault and I'm totally aware of it.
It's a bad addiction that I need to get fixed.

On top of all this my husband found out yesterday
while we were at church with him having lunch
that his grandpa may not live through the night
*side note*
isn't it amazing how God puts us in the right place at the right time.
The kids and I hadn't been out of the house since Sun morning
(since we all got sick at some point last week)
and then yesterday morning Greg mentions that we should
come to church and have lunch with him.
(which isn't totally weird we just haven't done it in a while)
While we're at lunch Greg gets a phone call from his dad,
turns out his grandpa was taken to the hospital via flight for life
and isn't expected to live very long.
Grandpa made it to heaven at 11pm Friday night.
I'm glad God saw it in His wisdom for us to be there.
*end of side note*

Okay, I know that was WAY more than you bargained for this morning
but bear with me...there's a point to all of this.
We've heard it a 100 times, maybe even a couple thousand,
cherish each day,
live each day as if its your last....
but do we really?

Don't get get so consumed in the rat race that life seems to have become
that we forget what's really important?
Don't we want the absolute best for our kids sometimes to their detriment?
Don't we sacrifice on family time in order to make sure they're
well balanced with sports and academics?
My kids are still young and have never been involved in
regularly scheduled activities (except a week at VBS)
but I see the temptation to make sure they have it all,
to make sure they experience things I didn't get to,
to make sure that they're liked by their peers and not made fun of.

But more and more lately,
I want to make sure they know they're loved.
To make sure they know JESUS!
To make sure they love their family and siblings
and to make sure that they know how to love others
(even those who are "different")

So I'm not sure where all that came from,
this stuff below is what I really wanted to tell you about this morning.
So please excuse my diarrhea of the mouth up there...

My husband started a new thing with Naomi this month.
He's going to "date the alphabet" with her.
Each month he will take her on a date that starts
with a letter of the alphabet and work through the alphabet
one month at a time.
He's making sure she knows that she is loved!

So, on August 1st (or as close to the date as schedules allow)
he took her to Applebee's...it starts with A.
Then on September 2nd he'll take her somewhere that starts with B,
(it doesn't always have to be a restaurant)
October 3rd will be a C
November 4th will be a D
and so on and so forth.
The cool thing is that since there are 26 letters of the alphabet
this will take over two years.
I think that's awesome because she'll really come
to look forward to their dates and wonder where they might be going.

I hope to start this tradition with Micah as well...
and one of us will do this with the baby
(we still don't know the babe's gender)
when the peanut gets bigger.

We also plan to make an ABC date book to keep photos and stories
of all their dates...here's the first one...
sorry about the quality it was taken on Greg's phone.

So what do you think?
Where should he take her for their "B" date?