Jolly ol' Maxo

Max loves Christmas. When he woke up and saw the "snow" last week he gasped and said, "Is it Christmas today?"

After church Sunday morning (we were visiting the Loibners in NLR) I asked Max what he learned about in Sunday school. He said, "Jophes. He had a dream. It wasn't really scary though."

Last night we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. He had a candy cane he had been given at Dixie Cafe earlier. Out of nowhere he said, "I want to give my candy cane to Jesus." I didn't really know what to say... Max said, "But Jesus can't come to our house. Maybe an angel can though."

Tonight he asked if we could make cookies for Santa....right now. He asks if it is Christmas yet everyday.

I miss the days of being that innocent and excited. I love Christmas.

No Doubt

Like I've always said... Nate and I don't make girls. Now, there is really no doubt to that statement. This morning I ambushed the ultrasound tech (literally sat outside her door waiting for her to arrive) and ran in before she had even taken off her coat. I reminded her that we couldn't tell what the baby was last time... and got my complimentary gender check. The baby is still breech but was more cooperative. He is very much a boy. Nate is so proud. Max is over the trauma of not getting a sister and will talk about a brother now. Grant is clueless... though he already makes a great middle child.

(The first picture is of his boy parts and the second is of his face)

and we're back....

I picked up the laptop last night. Fortunately, it just needed a new keyboard. Fortunately, Jason at NWA Techs (who is on my new favorite people list) happened to have one. Fortunately, it only cost $45! I couldn't believe it. I highly recommend taking your frazzled computers there. He said they have a guy who comes in and takes older PCs that people don't want any more, fixes them up and takes them to 3rd world countries when he goes on missions trips. What a cool ministry. So, thank you PK for knowing someone who fixes computers. It's sad how dependent I am on the internet. Have you tried going a week without it?

computer malfunction

Due to a slight technical problem with our computer (aka Grant was pouring his drink on it) there will be no new blog postings for a little while. The nice man at NWA Techs is trying his best to clean it up and we are praying the mother board has not been fried. I knew it was bad when he asked me if it "smoked"... and no, I didn't notice any smoke. Refer back to previous postings on why Grant is our most expensive child. God makes them cute so you don't injure them.

It's a....

Nate's prayers have been answered and only God knows what the baby is. We had the ultrasound today and he/she is breach (it'll still turn lots of times so that doesn't mean it will stay that way). But, what that means for the ultrasound is the baby is sitting on it's parts and the foot was in the way. The ultrasound tech said, "If I had to guess I'd say it's a boy." I asked her what she saw to make her say that. She said, "That's a good question. It's hard to say because it could be the umbilical cord because the cord is down there." Basically, she didn't know anything. Max still thinks it's a girl.
She printed off probably 20 pictures and said, "I have some pictures here for you." She handed me 3 copies of this one picture. It isn't even very good. And to top it off, I tried to watch the DVD of the ultrasound when we got home and it doesn't work. What a day.
But, the baby seems to have all it's parts and to me everything looked good. She didn't tell us anything so I guess silence is good.

All our boys

When the Loibners were in town we truly had a house full of BOYS! They all loved it. Whitney and I were outnumbered but we are used to it by now. Look at all those beautiful boys.

MIA

Did we loan anyone a sleeping bag? One of ours is missing and I have no clue where it could be! All I could think was that we loaned it to someone. Of course, I have no recollection of who that could be...

who needs keys....

This morning I was going in and out of the house getting ready for work. I had to move the minivan because it was behind the buick (which is the car Nate and I use for work... the rule is you can't drive the minivan unless there are kids with you). Grant went outside with me and was playing in the buick. I threw all of my stuff in the front seat and grabbed him (who was of course kicking and screaming and throwing a typical Grant fit). I went back in the house to hand him off to Nate and grabbed my purse. I was excited to be leaving on time for work. I was even 5 minutes early! I went to open the passenger side door to throw my purse in... locked. Sinking feeling instantly settled in. We don't lock our cars... especially not the buick. I looked over and sure enough, the driver side door was locked too. Now, when I mentioned earlier that I had thrown all of my "stuff" in the front seat that included the only set of keys we have for that car. It also included all of my work stuff and my cell phone. Apparently, Grant had been hitting buttons and had locked the doors. My love for him was overflowing at that moment. I started making phone calls to work to buy some time and try to get my client to come a little later so I could figure things out. Of course, no one had my client's mom's cell phone number. My boss called my cell phone and left a message with her home number on it (my phone was still, of course, locked in the car). I took the van, went to work, was only 10 minutes late and even made it there before my client. Small miracle. Nate in the meantime started calling locksmiths. The first guy came, in an unmarked truck, with greased back hair flopping in the wind (Nate's words). He stayed for an hour trying to get the car unlocked... no success. Have you ever heard of a locksmith not able to get a car unlocked? He gave Nate a number to another guy saying he couldn't get it. Nate called that number. The guy from pop-a-lock came and tried to get it unlocked for about half and hour. He said buicks are really hard to get into because they have double safety bars which don't allow for the proper angle to get to the lock. Then he saw my keys on the front seat. He said, "Oh... if I'd seen those keys I could have just made a key and been out of here in 2 minutes." That is shady to me... what did seeing my keys do? I looked, they don't have a number on them. How could he make a key that worked based on my keys laying on the front seat? But, he went to his truck, made a key and unlocked the door. So, we recommend pop-a-lock much more than the old man in the unmarked pick-up with the greasy hair. Probably don't let Grant play in your car... he continues to hold rank as the most expensive child we have.

Halloween

I ordered the boys Halloween costumes back in September. I was so proud of myself for thinking ahead and getting it done so I wasn't desperate at the end searching for the ever-so-popular Star Wars costumes! That's what I get for thinking. Max's costume arrived 3 days after I ordered it! I love E-Bay! Anakin Skywalker has moved into the McGooden house. We kept waiting and waiting and wating for Yoda to move in, too. Two days ago a package finally arrived from costumedisgues.com Just in time! We were very excited to open the envelope. I thought the envelope was kind of flat for the yoda head piece but, maybe it just got flattened during shipping. Nate pulled the much awaited costume out of the envelope and.... Mr. Incredible. Yep, that's right, a size 3T-4T Mr. Incredible costume. I just can't believe it. What in the world do you do? I immediately called the company only to hear a recording saying the mailbox is full. I've e-mailed twice only to get e-mails back saying "due to the high volume of e-mails expect a longer than normal response time." Today I found a different number which asked "please do not leave a voice message. please send an e-mail to our customer service representative." Oh, I left a message. So now what? Anyone have a Yoda costume lying around?

Isn't it Ironic

We all know Grant is a dirty little thing. He is a dirt magnet (note previous posts and dirt ridden pictures). But, I have to say, he is the tidiest among the Nate McGooden family. Every time he passes the trash can in the kitchen he closes the lid. If there is trash anywhere in the house he picks it up and throws it away in a trash can. If he is running past the bathroom he will stop, go back and close the lid to the toilet. He loves to clean up and sing the clean up song as he does. Bathtime seems to be one of his favorite daily activities. I guess he's making up for his inability to keep himself clean. I thought this nice clean picture of Grant would be a welcome asset to this blogsite that is full of lots of dirty Grant. Clean Max is just an added bonus.

Is that....?

I walked into the bathroom last night to check on the little guys who were taking a bath. Grant is quite the splasher and an incredible jumper given his body mass. He can (and has) completely soaked the bathroom floor with the tremendous waves he makes by jumping and falling down on the bathtub floor. To prep himself before the big jump he slightly bends his knees, puts his arms behind him and yells, "JUMPY, JUMPY, JUMPY!" He also likes to hold a washcloth in each hand, saturate it and fling it toward the bathroom door. Max thinks all of this is hilarious and just sits and laughs at him. So, back to last night...Max and Grant were both standing up in the bathtub laughing (which rarely means anything good is going on) and the far wall of the shower was covered with heaps of brown stuff. Max pointed and said, "Look what Grant did." Grant also had his hands full of the brown stuff. My stomach sank and I started psyching myself up to clean up a wall and bathtub full of poo. But, fortunately, upon closer inspection I realized they had found an empty paper tower roll, soaked it, and Grant was throwing wads of it on the wall. He got it really high, too. Still a mess but oh, so much better to clean up than poop. The scary thing is they are not even 4 & 2. What is going to happen when they are 7 & 9? Or 11 & 13? And what happens when number 3 arrives and is even more mischevious than the 2 of them? God, help us all! Really. That is a sincere prayer.

Come back, Nana!

My mom left a long time ago (but sometimes it takes a long time to get pictures developed with an old school camera). Here's a typical breakfast with Nana... and Poser...and Goofy. Things stayed so much tidier when she was here. Come see us again soon!

Practice makes perfect?

One of the other soccer mom's sent me these pictures of our first practice. They all look so still and they are in a line! She must have a camera with a fast shooter.... this couldn't have lasted for very long. The little guys are getting better. We had our 3rd practice last night (thanks to Dan and Carol for all the help!) and our second game is Saturday. On the way to practice last night, right before he fell asleep, Max said, "Is that orange team going to be there? I don't like them. I don't want to play with them again. They are mean." Poor little guy is in for lots of disappointment in his little protected life if he thinks getting pushed in a soccer game is bad. Notice how Grant is right there in the midst of everything. He is going to be a great middle child.

Football Game

Does anyone need tickets to the football game tomorrow night? We have access to three tickets in the south endzone. Whitney Loibner's dad is selling them for regular ticket price (so $35 instead of $75). If you guys haven't experienced a game from there you are missing out. There's a reason the tickets cost so much more... there are backs on the seats! It is awesome.

Soccer

My sanity is being put to the test. I am officially Max's soccer coach. There are 9 kids on the team (7 boys, 2 girls). It is a wild and crazy time. We've had 2 practices so far. Has anyone ever tried to get 9 three year olds to stand in a line? That is not an easy task. There are a couple kids on the team who I think may be profoundly deaf because they do not listen to anything that is said to them. They just run and run and run. Maybe I'll try sign-language next week and see if there is any improvement. We had a pseudo scrimmage on Wednesday. Really, you just have to laugh.... and sigh. Some kids just stand there crying because they don't have the ball or because someone took the ball from them. Others get the ball and just run around the field with it. One kid ran to the side line and got teddy grahams every 20 seconds. I asked one little boy why he didn't shoot the ball in the goal and he said he didn't want the boy standing in the goal to get it.

Our first game is tomorrow, September 10th at 10:10. If you need some comic relief and a picture of great organized sports come watch! It is a guaranteed good time.

Anyone need a shower?

Grant has learned how to bathe himself outside. Finally, less work for me. What a conscientious little guy. If only all little boys could be this clean.

Max's first fish

We went fishing at Grand Lake when Nana came to visit. (For some reason, the picture of Nana wouldn't download to this site so you'll just have to trust me that she was there). Nana caught 9 fish... and she claims she's never fished before. She even put her own worm on the hook. Max held his own fishing pole this time and caught 6 fish all by himself! He was so excited. Grant licked worms.

May all the fish that swallowed the hook and floated to the top RIP.

(oh, we forgot the boys' life jackets at the lake house so we scavenged around the dock and found these ghetto ones... nice.)

More pool fun

I tried adding these pictures last time but for some reason it didn't work. So, here are more highlights from Mt. Sequoyah.

The best part of Max's night was definitely the big nasty mutant frog/toad that was swimming in the pool.

I don't know how PK kept his head above water wrestling to hold all those kids in the pool.

What a fun time for all!

Swimming at Mt.Sequoyah

The whole group came to Mt. Sequoyah to enjoy an end of summer/fall is almost here celebration. We ate, of course, swam, some even played tennis and volleyball. Who wouldn't want to be in this crazy community group? It's always a good time! Max was sporting his spider man flippers, eye gear and fins. He is a fashion icon. Jason in his model/lean out of the pool pose. Very chic. Who has time to find a bathroom? At least he doen'st pee in the pool.
PW and Pudge.
Big Grant, also modeling his Spider man attire. It must be cool in the little man scene.
The whole group, pool side.We should do this more often... but next time let's make it ocean side.

Boots and PJs

The boys were excited to wear their new boots that their Pepaw gave them. I added the nice touch of the matching pajamas. Just love those matchy kids. I don't know why their arms are in the air. I understand Max holding a pistol... that makes sense to me. But, Grant with a flip flop?

Another quiet dinner with the boys

Fish sticks, green beans, cottage cheese and pineapple. Seems innocent enough... but not when you're feeding it to my boys. Grant didn't have a nap today; let start there. He was hungry and crabby- fun for me. Max wanted to be watching Star Wars but he was a little bit excited about fish sticks and ketchup. So we started with the prayer. Max wanted to sing his Mother's Day Out prayer. We held hands. This is when I realized I hadn't washed Grant's hands. Oh well. So we start singing the prayer. Max wanted to sing it alone. Then Grant wanted to sing it. So we held hands again. Then Max wanted to sing it again... Is it bad to tell your kids to stop praying so you can eat? Grant went to stab a fish stick with his fork. His entire plate went flying to the floor landing upside down. He said, "Oh no." Mommy said, "I need a drink." I picked up the food from the floor and put it back on his plate. That's right, he had dirty hands and he ate food that had fallen all over the floor (except for the cottage cheese, that's where I draw the line). After I wiped up the floor we resumed with dinner. I told Max he had to eat a green bean. He told me he needed a glass of water because milk didn't wash it down right. I got him some water. Then he covered a green bean with ketchup and slowly brought it to his mouth. He began to chew and made the most disgusted face. He said, "This is just a widdy bit yucky." I couldn't help but laugh. Grant started flinging green beans then threw his glass of milk. Grant stood up in his chair. Max stood up in his chair. Grant stood up again. Dinner was officially over.

I love peaceful dinners at home.

Therefore....

Max and I memorized a bible verse together. Actually, I re-memorized it. We were challenged in our Grove U class (which was really good) to memorize TMS. I memorized the TMS verses in college but it has been a LONG time... Anyway, Max and I memorized 2 Corinthians 5:17. I highly recommend memorizing verses with your children. First of all, it really helps get it in your memory because you have to repeat it so many times outloud and also, it is hilarious.
I guess it's a little hard to memorize a verse with words that you don't know...

You or I might say:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:17

Max says:
"There not for (or There five), if anyone is in Christ he is a new frustration (or begation or ation or begination). The old has gone, the news has come."
"I don't want to do that part"

Next time you see him maybe he'll say it for you. Probably not, but you never know.

Friday Night Highlights

Tonight Max bolted out of the living room and said, "I have to go potty!" A minute later he walked out of the bathroom, Darth Vader underpants around his ankles, hands on hips and said, "Hey. There is blue stuff in the toilet." (I was letting the cleaner soak in... so many boys...so much grossness) I told him it was ok, he could just pee on it and then flush it. He said, "That is yucky." So he peed, then he found the toilet brush and started cleaning it... before he flushed it. When pee meets toilet bowl cleaner it makes LOTS of bubbles. He is such a good helper.

"Not Grant...."

Grant has entered a stage of attitude problems. Some may believe that children don't suffer from attitude problems until the teen years; to those people I would say, "You've never had an 18 month old." Grant screams, flails around on the floor, and walks around the house saying, "NO!" to anyone who will listen. Yesterday he was sitting on the couch looking at his boots saying, "No, no, no..." But then, there are the happy moments with big cheesey grins that make it all worth while!

Bath Boys

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother giving them baths everyday... really, they have at least one bath a day! It makes me feel better that they were at least clean for a little while. Are girls this messy?

Dirty days of Grant

At the Lake

We went to the McGooden lake house this weekend for a little retreat. Only, it's not really a retreat when you bring your kids. Nate's mom got all the kids fishing poles so we braved the dock and went fishing. Adrienne and Chloe are girly girls so even though they liked the idea of fishing they would not touch a worm. Grant on the other hand carried a worm around with him the entire time and held it up to his lips as if he were going to put it in his mouth. (He never put it in his mouth, I think he just liked the feel of it on his lips!) This of course freaked out ALL of the girls which only made him want to do it more. He is only 18 months old but he knows when he's entertaining. Fortunately, almost everyone caught fish that wanted to so it was a successful, yet stressful event, given the kids: Max was scared of holding a fishing pole because he might catch a fish which for some reason he thinks can bite; Grant walked close to the edge of the dock with his worm and threw his fishing pole in the lake, Adrienne kept lifting her worm out of the water to see if there was a fish on it and Chloe was just a little grumpy. Who wants to go with us next time?

Last week tried again

I got slack from my family for my last post so it has been deleted. Last week was great. 2 more days until Nate gets home... but who's counting?

Oh, and for the record, no, Nate never got a DUI. He was being sarcastic.

Max's new laugh does sound like an asthmatic monkey, though. That remains the same.

All Over

I leave tomorrow afternoon for two weeks to the great place of Irving, Texas. I imagine this will be a long two weeks since I had a long two days when I was in Louisiana enduring my first tropical storm. Has anyone else been through a tropical storm? The winds were up to 70 mph and the top story of the U-Haul building was blown off. The door was also blown open and banging against the building. I'm bringing lots of reading material for the stay. Tonight while I was packing I couldn't find some paperwork I need and my holster. Sarah and I searched the house franticly but couldn't find the missing goods. So I get to call my boss in the morning to ask him if I can get into the building without setting off any alarms. That should be fun. I'm also having some problems with my check. I think it is short 3 hours so I have been talking to my manager about it and trying to sort that out. They were also supposed to have an adavance check for me but that didn't come in today either. This has been a frustrating afternoon/evening.

I also had a bad Tim's experience tonight. First off, they don't have honey mustard anymore and to top it all off the pizza wasn't up to par. Sarah thought it was alright but I didn't enjoy it at all. I feel communist saying Tim's pizza isn't or wasn't good. I think it was the cheese. Maybe the restaurants cook the pizzas different or use different cheese. I am quite bummed though because we haven't had Tim's in a long time.

For those of you who have been and are currently praying for us, I want to say thanks. We definitely need them and God is answering the prayers. As Sarah said we had a huge check come in the mail that paid for our mortgage and childcare needs for the month. Boo yea!!!! We both started crying and were speechless. It's awesome to see God provide for you when you really need and not when you want something extra. It's been very frustrating for us but it has helped me put things in perspective. We don't need a lot of what we want but we buy it anyway. This time has really helped me grow spiritually and has shown me that money isn't everything. Hopefully, we won't forget where we've been when God gets us through this.

I want to say thanks for all of the love we have felt and recieved from everyone. God is using you.

Little Buckaroo

This may be my all time favorite picture of Max. He was wearing all of his cowboy gear and had lasso and pistol in hand "just like a real cowboy." The shirt he's wearing was my dad's and the vest and chaps were my brother's. I don't think either of them ever looked so cute though (sorry Adam, it's true).

Brotherly Love

These are a couple of goofy guys. I caught them in a moment when they were actually sitting next to each other without hitting or yelling. Usually there is some punching or screaming of "No, MINE!" going on. Oh, the brotherly love....

See what I mean?

Note how dirty Grant's face is even after he's been in the bathtub a little while and had water dumped over his head. Now that is some ground in dirt!

warriors by the water

When we went to Mississippi to visit my grandparents we went to a fountain area by the Missississippi River. Max loved to run through the water (with his sword of course) while Grant just liked to watch Max and Nate run through the water. Grant likes to swim but he isn't so fond of the water shooting up at him.

My little warriors

This is one of my favorite pictures of the little guys. Max is never without his sword! Gotta love the chub on Grant.

God is still working

I've been so mad at God recently. I hate the situation we are in right now. I hate scraping by each month hoping we have enough to pay our bills and not knowing what to do if we don't. I hate that we have been married 5 years and are worse off financially now than we were when we got married. I hate that I can't enjoy Max and Grant as much as I should because I have a constant pit in my stomach. I've just been mad. God and I have been duking it out. You know how it is so easy to have faith when you don't need it? If someone were to come up to me complaining about how God isn't providing blah blah blah I'd tell them to "Be patient; pray; it'll all work out..." (FYI: not a good response for someone who feels hopeless). But I haven't believed it for myself. I know God can provide for us but I honestly didn't think He would. I thought Nate and I would have to struggle through on our own with God just watching shaking His head in shame. We had two BIG bills due on July 1st (mortage and mother's day out), the total of both over $900. How in the world were we going to pay them? Nate really didn't want to ask his parents for money and I had just received a check from my mom to get my account positive! So when we got a card yesterday from friends with a check for more than we needed I just gasped and started crying. God is still there even when you think He's not. Even if you think the deadlines are past and there is no way short of a miracle that you can pay your bills the miracle will happen. God is good... even if you don't always believe He is and you are mad at Him. God worked a miracle just yesterday in our lives in case some of you doubt that He still does crazy things like that.
(sidenote: the lady at mother's day out is really patient and never mentioned not being paid on time and we don't get a late fee on our mortage unless it's received after the 17th... so really, perfect timing)

International Babies

I was talking to Carol a little bit tonight about international adoption so I came home and had to look up some international babies. They are so beautiful! Everyone needs to go to www.precious.org Caution: you will want to adopt a baby! In case you're curious, no, we are no where near adopting a child but it is fun to look. Nate really does want a little girl from India...

Pictures

I know, I know... we don't have any pictures on our blog. It isn't for lack of trying. Anyone who has insight to posting pictures is more than welcome to help. I've done the thing you have to do... I can't remember the name of it... the website you have to download your pictures to... starts with an "H"... ok, so now you can all see why I haven't been able to figure it out! Someday....

Boys in summer

I am forever amazed by my little guys. They are so dirty! This summer has been about playing outside... all day long. Max is constantly at the neighbors. Apparently, he has started climbing over the fence to get there without me knowing it. If Max is outside, of course Pudgely (our endearing nickname for Grant) wants to be right there with him. Even if they are only gone for 5 minutes they come back completely covered with dirt and who knows what else... especially Grant. He is our little walking Pig Pen. I love boys and all the action and rough housing, that sort of thing. What I don't like at all is that "boy smell." But, there is really no way of avoiding that these days! I guess that's why God gave someone the insight to invent lavendar baby wash... so moms can endure the smell of their boys.

Trusting in God

It's weird or so it feels, to completely trust God to provide for your financial well being. I thought that might be the case when we first got married and it was. Not that big of a deal. Give it a few years of working and everything falls into place. That sort of happened for us, then I decided to switch careers and that flopped. Then I couldn't find a job so I did the temp thing for a while and started working nights at FedEx. Then I was hired as a courier at FedEx. I will be going to school July 5-6 and July 18-29 in Metarie, LA, and Irving, TX. Sarah is working this week with the new private group. That will help a lot. She is slowly building her clients there and will work again in Huntsville when school starts up. She will work during the day and I will afternoon/evening. If you currently put our two checking accounts together I think the accounts combined would be $0.00. That's the scary part for us. It's hard not to be in control or have enough money to buy your kid's small things when they want them or when you want to get them something. It also sucks because I would like to buy Sarah flowers to help take her mind off the situation but it's hard to do that also. It's hard to be content when see other people doing what they want and you can't. If we didn't have kids it wouldn't be as big a deal to me. I realized that I am failing at providing because I can't pay our bills and I might have to ask my parents for money. I don't want to do that but we might have to. I have enough to pay the bills to keep the house going but not enough to pay the mortgage. Please pray for us to make enough money to pay our bills through the summer. When school starts again we should have enough money to pay for everything again.

I'm working

I received the phone call yesterday from Rej, my FedEx boss, to inform me I was getting a courier position. I was told I will get an offer letter either today or tomorrow. Once I accept the job I will have about 40 hours of computer training, defensive driving school (because of my DUI), and then courier school. I think all of this will take 2-4 weeks, but I don't know. I was told this will be a pick-up route which starts around 3:30-8:00. We will have insurance again and I won't have to work at the temp agency anymore, unless I want to. Thanks for all of your prayers, donations, and love.

My brain fart of the day: The SEC schools are having a challenge to see which school can get their alumni to sign up for a G.O.L.D. card. If you love those piggies, which you all do, sign up for your gold card so we can win in something other than track.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

Well, if the Kelley's are doing it it must be time for the McGooden's to do it too. But, updates aren't promised as soon as we are a true working household again. For now, we have some free time so let's have at it! If nothing else, we can post pictures of our crazy crew. You can keep up with Max's growing height and Grant's growing belly.