Orthopedic Surgeons and Paper Frosties

Aaron and I went backpacking in Roan Mountain, Tennessee two weekends ago. Within the first hour of our adventure, Aaron strained a tendon in his left knee. He's stubborn...so he continued to hike on his injured limb. At the end of our trip (13 miles later!), Aaron couldn't bend his knee without falling to the ground in pain.

The day after we returned from our trip, Aaron called and made an appointment with a local orthopedic surgeon. We knew he wouldn't need surgery, but we also knew that he needed to see a specialist if we wanted to get any specific answers as to why his knee was hurting so badly.

Toby and I accompanied Aaron to his doctor's appointment today. Long story short, the doctor examined Aaron's knees, took x-rays of his incredibly flat feet, and came to the conclusion that his flat feet cause extra strain on his knees which is what caused him to pull a tendon. He recommended that Aaron go to Foot Solutions and get fitted for athletic shoes that will support his arches sufficiently.

Toby was very well-behaved while we were at the doctor's office today (unlike the last time). As a reward, Aaron and I took him to Wendy's for a quick lunch before I had to pick up Sam from camp (I know, not the most nutritious food...but they have FROSTIES). Aaron brought our food to the table, I cut Toby's chicken nuggets and fries into small pieces, and we all ate together.

When Toby was about half-way done with his food, I noticed that every time he picked up a piece of food, he would rub it across the paper tray liner sitting in front of him.

Pictured on the paper tray liner was a strawberry Frosty.

The child was "dipping" his chicken nuggets and french fries into the paper Frosty. I can't believe he remembered my trick from 2 months ago!

Watch Out, Friends

There's a fabulous new baking magazine on the shelves...and it's titled "Paula Deen's Chocolate Celebration." That's right. An entire magazine devoted to magnificent chocolate desserts (my dream come true!).


For those of you who don't know, I'm a bona fide self-proclaimed bakeaholic. Other than helping to raise other people's children, baking is my favorite pastime. If I wasn't a nanny, I'd open my own bakery (and Aaron's co-workers would keep me in business).

Anyway, back to the magazine. I got so hungry while reading through the recipes earlier that I had to take a break for a snack. A chocolate snack.

When I get a new recipe book or baking magazine, I usually pick out five of the most interesting recipes, bake them, taste a bit of each (to decide if the recipe is a 'keeper'), and give the rest away to friends. I love blessing others with yummy baked goods (and besides...if I kept the food at my house I'd eat it all and ruin my girlish figure).

Watch out, friends. The baking of new recipes begins tonight...and you just might be lucky enough to reap the benefits of my bakeaholism.

Tonia Takes On...

My wonderful friend Tonia has started blogging again. She's brilliant, witty, thoughtful, and a fabulous wife and mother.

Reading what she has to say will become addictive.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Where's Aaron?

Once every 2 months or so, Aaron has to be "on call" 24 hours a day for an entire week for his job. When he's on call, he has to go into the office on Saturday. As a trade-off, his boss gives him a day off during the week. Aaron is on call this week and today was his day off.

When I walked through the door from work this afternoon, I found my husband in his pajamas preparing to vacuum the downstairs carpet. He had already shaken out the rugs and swept the kitchen floor. I smiled and thought to myself, "Who is this man and what has he done with my husband?"

Just kidding.

Because my love language is "acts of service," Aaron knows that helping me around the house equals happiness for everyone. I love him.

When I came upstairs after putting away the leftovers from dinner, I found Aaron watching Nanny 911 on TV...and he was enjoying it. Seriously...who is this man and what has he done with my husband??

Hewwo?

I called Aaron earlier to remind him that I'm helping Sean with a photo shoot in Uptown Charlotte after work this evening. While we were talking about what I'm going to make for dinner when I get home, Toby reached out for the phone...so I put it up to his ear.

Toby cocked his head to the side, scrunched his eyebrows together and said, "Hewwo? HEWWO????" When Aaron started talking to him, Toby replied, "Uh huuuuh...Uh huuuuuh..."

Then Sam wanted a turn to talk to Mr. Aaron. He told Aaron about his new haircut and the Backyardigans....and he would have continued talking for 30 more minutes if Aaron hadn't stopped him. Evidently he had to go back to answering the phonecalls of those poor souls at Sunbelt Rentals stores nationwide who don't know why their printers and computers aren't working. Hmmm.

I know it probably sounds silly, but knowing that the boys love Aaron (almost) as much as they love me makes it feel like they truly are a part of our family. I can't imagine our lives without the boys in it.

The next time you're frustrated or sad, just imagine an almost-two-year-old saying, "Hewwo??"

Pray

Please pray boldly and specifically for Ferris and Wade Joye's new baby girls Liana Hope and Adleigh Grace.

I can't wait to see how God will be glorified through those two little girls and their faithful parents.

"I Don't Know Where Elmo's Batteries Went..."

If I have to hear Elmo do the "Hokey Pokey" one more time, I might do something drastic...like take the batteries out and hide them.

On the other hand, both boys are completely entertained...so maybe I can listen to Elmo do the "Hokey Pokey" for just a little while longer. Just maybe.

At least Toby stopped toruring that poor singing caterpillar he drug around by a string for an hour this morning. That thing needs to have its batteries removed...

The Charleston Nine

On this evening, exactly one year ago, a tragedy occurred in the city where I was born and raised.

My family and I left on a Royal Caribbean cruise on Father's Day of last year. Three days into our trip, we learned that nine firefighters had died in a horrific warehouse fire.

My first thoughts went to the men's families. My father has one of the most dangerous careers in the world - and to say that I've never thought that he or any of his friends could die doing their jobs would be a lie.

My next concern was for my father. Although my dad is a Battalion Chief for the city directly north of Charleston (Mt. Pleasant), I didn't wonder if he knew any of the men who had been killed; I wondered how many of them he knew. Although Charleston is a large city made up of several different fire departments, everyone in the fire service knows everyone else.

Firefighters become each other's family. Having grown up around the fire station my entire life, I can testify. For every two days my dad spent with my mom, my brother, and me, he spent one with his firehouse family. When my dad's duty day fell on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or some other holiday, we'd spend it with him and his firemen at the station.

Since we were on the cruise when we heard about the fire, my brother and I offered to go to the computer room on the top floor of the ship to see what we could find out about the fallen firefighters. I dreaded googling "warehouse fire Charleston, SC" because I was afraid of what I would find. Bryn and I scanned the list of nine names and didn't recognize any of them. That didn't mean our dad wouldn't.

We printed the information we found and took it back to Daddy. He hung his head after reading through the list as he realized he had worked with two of them and met a few of the others in the 25+ years he had worked in the fire service. I could tell that Daddy's heart was broken for the men and their families...and because he couldn't be there to help.

By the time we returned to Charleston six days after the fire had occurred, most of the funerals as well as a memorial service held at the North Charleston Coliseum had already taken place. It took us days to sift through unopened newspapers and read about what had caused the fire, why the building had collapsed, and how the City of Charleston Fire Department could have been more prepared to fight a fire of such magnitude. The stories were gut-wrenching. I cried as I read through story after story after story.

In the midst of all the tragedy, I received a call from my mom's friend telling me that my wedding invitations had arrived and were ready to be picked up. Happy to escape the sadness for a bit, I drove down to get them. As I walked out of the store, wedding invitations in hand, I heard sirens. I walked to the street to see the procession of fire truck after fire truck on their way to lay the final firefighter to rest at a nearby cemetery.

I stood on the sidewalk with my head bowed and let the tears stream down my face. I prayed for the children who lost their daddies. I prayed for the wives who lost their husbands. I prayed for everyone who had lost someone irreplaceable in their life. I cried because I knew he wouldn't be the last firefighter who would die trying to save someone else's life.

Please take a moment to pray for the families of:

• Captain Mike Benke
• Captain Billy Hutchinson
• Captain Louis Mulkey
• Engineer Brad Baity
• Engineer Mike Kelsey
• Assistant Engineer Michael French
• Firefighter Earl Drayton
• Firefighter Brandon Thompson
• Firefighter Melvin Champaign

Pray, also, for the remaining firefighters who still struggle with the loss of their brothers.

Next time you see firefighters, thank them for putting their lives on the line to save others.

Happy Father's Day!

I have the coolest dad EVER.

My dad has been in the fire service for more than 25 years. When I was in elementary school, Daddy used to bring his fire truck, firemen, and "Rookie" (the fire station's dalmation) to visit my class during "Fire Prevention Week." My classmates raved about how cool my dad was...but through the years, I would learn that he was cool for so many more reasons than simply coming to share his profession with my friends at school.

Daddy has led my family in loving the Lord. He disciplined me when I needed it. He has always been there for me and supported me - no matter what. He pushed me to do my best in school. He always strives to do better and be better which has resulted in a wonderful example for my family and me to follow. He puts others before himself.

When I was little, Daddy would ask me the same question every night before he tucked me into bed and kissed me goodnight: "What do you call a bug that walks backwards?"

"A doodle bug!" I'd say.

"You're my Doodle Bug," he'd say.

I'll always be your Doodle Bug, Daddy.

Twitter and The Magic School Bus

Oh, what a week it's been.

I feel better today than I did yesterday (praise the Lord!). I still have a low fever and a killer headache, but my throat isn't sore anymore and my body has stopped aching. Perhaps watching "girlie movies" last night helped the healing process :)

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but yesterday I added the "Twitter" application to the sidebar of my blog. I didn't understand what it was until I saw the Elevation Staff Twitter on Pastor Steven's blog. It's kind of pointless if you don't have people to Twitter with, so I'm not sure if I'll keep it up. Nonetheless, it's a pretty neat idea. Check it out.

The boys are currently watching The Magic School Bus on TV. Man, I feel old. I remember watching this episode in the third grade.

Starbucks Coffee and A Loving Husband

I woke up with a sore throat yesterday morning. I thought it was just allergies...but I think I was wrong. When I arrived at work yesterday, Mike told me that Liz had the same symptoms I had. The Wallers and I share everything...even germs.

I began feeling progressively worse as the day went on, and by the time bedtime rolled around last night I was an achy, whiny mess.

I would like to shout from the top of a mountain that I have the best husband ever. Not only was Aaron patient with me as I whined about my sore throat, headache, cough, and achy ears, but he tried his best to make me feel better. He made me chyrsanthamum tea for my sore throat (and made it so hot that he had to bring it to me with an oven mitt). He offered to go to the grocery store at 11pm to get me some medicine. He got out of bed in the middle of the night to get me a cup of cold water from the refrigerator. My husband rocks.

I still feel pretty yucky, but I made it to work today. On my way in, I stopped by Starbucks to pick up a Skinny Vanilla Latte to soothe my sore throat. The lady at the register told me I looked sick. Thanks. That's just what I needed to hear.

There's nothing that a loving husband and Starbucks coffee can't heal. I'm looking forward to feeling better today.

(P.S. - Uncle Eric: Sam is walking around the house "talking to you" on Liz's old, dead cell phone. It's the cutest thing. He's telling you that he woke up really early this morning and can't watch TV yet because he hasn't changed out of his pajamas. Evidently, you're talking to him because he keeps saying, "yeah....yeah..." And his classic exit: "OK. Love you. Bye Bye!")

So Thankful...

I'm so thankful to have a job that allows for lots of flexibility in daily activities.

Once every two weeks or so, I bring the boys to my house to play and hang out. It's a nice change of scenery for them and they love playing with my cat and exploring. Bringing the boys to my house every once in a while allows me to multi-task. I'm able to take care of the boys and catch up on a few chores that don't get done earlier in the week.

After starting my day at 6am, taking care of the boys for 1o hours each day, going to the gym after work, cooking, entertaining guests at our house, and spending quality time with my husband, sometimes chores like laundry, vacuuming, and cleaning don't get done as often as they should. I'm so thankful to have a husband who willingly helps me around the house...but even with both of us working together, it's still hard to get everything done in the evenings. Our weekends are always crazy, so getting anything done on a Saturday or Sunday is nearly impossible.

With Aaron's crazy work schedule (his schedule rotates daily between 7am-4pm, 10am-7pm, and 11am-8pm), it's difficult to spend quality time together sometimes. On the days he works until 7 or 8pm, I'm almost ready to go to bed by the time he gets home and I don't want to spend the few hours we have together cleaning or doing laundry.

So, all that being said, bringing Sam and Toby to my house is a huge help for me. Not only am I taking care of the boys, but I'm also taking care of my household and, therefore, caring for my marriage and myself.

In just a few hours this morning, I have:

• folded three loads of laundry while watching Sesame Street with the boys
• ironed a heap of clothes that have been staring at me for weeks
• unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher
• cleaned the kitchen countertops and swept the floor
• fed the boys lunch
• prepared dinner for Aaron and myself tonight

I pray that even on the days when the boys aren't behaving as I wish they would, I would remember that I have the best (and one of the most important) jobs in the world. Boys will be boys (and 4-year-olds will be 4-year-olds!). It's important to take the bad days with the good ones...and journal every bit of it here so that one day, when the boys are taller than me and don't need me anymore, I can look back on the silly things they did as preschoolers and reminisce about the best job I've ever had.

The "Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich"

I usually take the boys to a bookstore at least once each week. They play with the train tables and I browse magazines for new recipes. Everyone is happy for an hour or two.

Last time I took the boys to the bookstore, I ran across the latest issue of Taste of Home magazine. As I browsed through each page, I only found 4 recipes I liked. Instead of buying the entire (expensive) magazine, I took the cheap way out - I rounded up some scrap paper and a pen and copied the recipes by hand. Here's my favorite recipe I copied from the magazine:

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon seasoned salt
10 slices Italian bread (1/2 inch thick)
2 tablespoons butter, softened

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in cheeses, garlic powder and seasoned salt. Spread five slices of bread with the cheese mixture. Top with remaining bread. Butter the outsides of sandwiches. In a skillet over medium heat, toast sandwiches for 4-5 minutes on each side or until bread is lightly browned and cheese is melted. Yield: 5 servings.

I made these sandwiches for lunch (twice) last time my family came to visit and everyone loved them. They're extremely easy and inexpensive to make. I bet you'll never make a boring grilled cheese sandwich ever again :)

Legs on the Bus...

I didn't think many people would care about the "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" question I posted last week...but I actually got an overwhelming number of phone calls, e-mails, and comments wanting to know the answer. So here it is.


There are 10,900 legs on the bus.


Did you get the right answer?

Scary Sunday

I witnessed one of the scariest things EVER at church yesterday.

I was scheduled to run one of two cameras for the 11:30am and 1pm services yesterday at Elevation. A new girl named Rachel ran camera with me for the 1pm service and was doing a great job. As Pastor Steven was wrapping up his final sermon of the day, I heard Rachel say (through our head-sets that we use to communicate with the video trailer outside), "Is there anyone in the trailer who can come run my camera? I feel like I'm going to faint."

I immediately looked over at her (she was positioned on her camera stand 4 feet to my left) and clearly saw that she needed help. No one in the trailer was answering our calls for help...so I started to panic a bit. Between trying to keep my camera steady, watching Rachel, trying to stay quiet so I wouldn't disrupt Pastor, and attempting to let the trailer know what was happening, I felt helpless. I think I was the only one who knew what was going on at that point.

About 20 seconds after Rachel's initial call to the trailer for help, I was able to communicate with the guy switching between cameras in the trailer. I told him that Rachel was feeling faint and asked him to switch the live shot to my camera. As I looked back over at Rachel to let her know she could leave, her eyes began to roll back in her head, she blacked out, and she and the camera took a dive off of the front of the 3-foot high camera stand into the back row of seats in the auditorium.

There were a few people standing to the left of Rachel when she began to plunge forward and they did what they could to minimize her fall. The camera and tripod crashed into the last row of seats and Rachel ended up on the floor between the last two rows of seats.

Larry Brey was over her immediately and took control. Pastor Steven stopped his sermon, let everyone know what had happened, and immediately began praying for everyone's safety and well-being. If it wasn't for Pastor's prayers and ability to keep everyone calm, I'm not sure what would have happened next. Thank you, Pastor Steven, for immediately going to the Lord in prayer on behalf of Rachel and anyone else who could have been hurt.

Even though I wanted to leave my camera and make sure Rachel was okay, I knew the most important thing for me to do was to do my job. I was the only camera left and the trailer was depending on me to finish up the service. Rachel was unconscious for about 10 seconds and once Pastor got the thumbs-up that everything was okay, he left the stage, the offering was taken up, and everyone quietly exited the auditorium. Rachel sat up in one of the back row seats, drank some water, and rested until the paramedics arrived. Because she was experiencing a tingling sensation in her arms and hands, they wanted to take her to the hospital just as a precaution.

Thank God that Rachel wasn't seriously hurt. Thank God that no one was sitting in the seats where the camera fell. Thank God for people who are cool-headed enough to handle emergencies.

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Aaron and I occasionally like to watch the show "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader" together. I usually get most of the history and english questions right and he's the Master of the math and science questions.


Aaron sent me an e-mail the other day containing a 5th Grade math question from the show. He says he got the answer in 20 seconds (and I totally believe him). Aaron is a GENIUS when it comes to math.


Math makes me want to hurl. Perhaps that's why it took me 20 minutes to figure out this 5th grade math problem. Whatever. I got the right answer in the end. Let's see if you can get the right answer, too.


A) There are 7 girls in a bus.
B) Each girl has 7 backpacks.
C) In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.
D) For every big cat there are 7 little cats.


How many legs are there on the bus?


* This is not a trick question...so don't say that a bus doesn't have legs. The bus driver is not part of the equation.


Let me know what number you come up with! I'll post the answer in a few days.

Beautiful Ladies

When my mom, Aunt DeeDee, and cousin Taylor came to visit Aaron and me on Memorial Day weekend, Sean took some pictures for us. Of course, they turned out beautifully! Here are a few of my favorites:

Check out the rest of our pictures on Sean's snazzy new website. Click on clients and enter "allison123" as the password. Enjoy!

Amy the Blue Boy Fish

I was greeted at the door this morning by a smiling Sam yelling, "Mrs. Allison! I got a FISH!"

"A FISH? No way!" I exclaimed, feeding his excitement. "Let's see this fish," I said.

Sam led me to the kitchen where he proudly introduced me to his blue Beta fish. His name is Amy. Yes. HIS name is Amy.



Amy is the name of Sam's "best girl friend" at school. In an effort to never forget her, he named his "blue boy fish" (as he calls it) after her. So romantic.

Seeing Sam's fish took me back to my sophomore year in college when my old roommate Syd and I went to PetSmart and made the spontaneous decision to buy two Beta fish for our bedroom. I named my red fish "Blue." I wish I could remember what Syd named hers because I'm sure it was wittier than the irony I came up with. Our fish lived happily on our desks for a few months and then...well...you know...they died.

Needless to say, I decided not to tell Sam what happened to my Beta fish. I'm sure he'll experience the flushing ritual that comes after the death of his beloved fish someday...but I hope that day comes far, far in the future.