I'm baaaaaccccckkk!!!! Since last time... my lil man has started counting! Well, we say one and he says twoooo.....threeee! (which is more like "whee" because it's followed by some sort of fun!) Ohh, and I love love LOVE when John signs! Mom asked him if he would like to swing. He replied "please" in sign... talk about cute! Makes the times when he pushes my buttons a little more tolerable! He squawks... I guess that's what you'd call it, I imagine that it's the sound a pterodactyl would make, and I don't think I would have been a big fan of pterodactyls.

I've been stressing lately about planning for our vacation.... well... I love planning it's the whole getting more bang for your buck that's stressful! Plane tickets, baggage prices, Disney tickets, universal, food... ohh but I will splurge on our California Grill dinner at Magic Kingdom - if you ever get the chance...eat there...awesome food and then you get the narrated fireworks show... talk about a perfect dinner. Justin and I ate there on our honeymoon and just loved it! But anyway, next time I go to Disney, remind me that I want to go in August...cheaper plane tickets, free dining plan ($87/day for a family of four including park tickets, hotel, AND food!!) So go ahead...plan your Disney vacation this august and tell me how much money you saved!

So, have I told you how many projects I have going?!? Yikes, I get excited starting something then get distracted by something shiny and want to start some other project. I just co-hosted my very first garage sale - I did NOT like the early business, but it wasn't bad. I made $160 and I'm not sure how.  I kept thinking "sure, you can give me money for the crap I was going to throw away or donate." So you probably already know that people are weird... Well I met alot of 'interesting' people during the sale. Whew - I had to control the size of my eyeballs at times... (you know they get huge when I think "what in the world?!?!) Funny thing, one lady paid for $10 worth of crap in nickels...yep it's as many as your think! There are 40 nickels in $2 just to give you an idea. I just told her to give me all that she had and go away with her things... in a much nicer way, I promise! She spent 30 minutes telling me about how her grandkids live with her (they were cute as buttons by the way and well behaved) because their mother is a user and just got out of prison! She talked about how she just lost 105 lbs due to disease, (kind of makes me enjoy my extra pounds!) She said she didn't think she had much longer to live, that she didn't know what to do with the kids, and that the reason she paid in nickels is because her husband is a pizza delivery man..  (who tips in nickels by the way?!?)  So in all that, I realized I'm pretty lucky to have what I have. Not even the material things. So I did pray, first that I know how to raise my children not to be drug users - scary! Also, for the kids, I wanted to take them - not in a kidnap-y way, I just want to give them the love they deserve. So, before they left, I gave them some stuffed animals, my (new) bottle of water, and ran them off without paying much more than 50 nickels (and not just because I didn't want to count all those stinking things...ok maybe a little why)

For all you who haven't had kids yet, never underestimate the power of the Popsicle! John fell down the porch steps last week. Justin brought him in with a mouth full of mulch and gravel, bleeding, scratches on his face, already showing bruises, and crying. I felt soo bad for him. I hugged and kissed him and tried to sway him and nothing worked. I handed him back to Justin and asked if he wanted a popsicle... he kind of turned my way but was still crying... I ran to the freezer and cut the top off one and crying ceased. Very small miracles make you feel so triumphant sometimes!

One last thought - this has been grinding my gears for some time now. I do NOT like how stereotypical some people are.... against christians. Why are so many of my "friends" on facebook so quick to point out things they hate or why they aren't christian?  I'm sure you see it. I'm totally offended and get angry, but I have to stop, the war is already won for me... then I feel sad that they will never know. The first reason to become a christian if I wasn't, would be Heaven ... I don't just want to die and rot in the ground. Not OK with me. Maybe they will find their peace with Buddha, or whatever they have (sorry, world religions was almost 10 years ago!) but I don't post on facebook that their god is dumb, and the people that worship him? are too. It's rude and I don't like it. I know I'm not perfect, and that's OK, I know who is and that's what counts. If I do see someone that is lost or hurting... I do invite them to come to church and at the very least I tell them I will pray for them and that I am here. I will be here to pray, to talk, to help. I'm terrible at my verses, but Matthew 25:40 "whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me". I try to be that. No, I don't give beggars money (that's another story) but I will direct them to a place where they can find everything that they need. I just don't understand... maybe Christians like the WBC give us a bad reputation, maybe they have encountered a rude christian, I don't know... but I do know that I do not want to be a christian that gives others a bad taste in their mouth for Christianity. It's hard some days, but I want to be the light. How do you guys feel when your friends do this? There is so much evil and sometimes it seems that there is more evil than good. But I refuse to believe that their power is stronger, it's simply not. My heart is calmed when I hear about the Patriot Guard, and other groups who restore faith in humanity.

Patriot Guard Mission Scope: stand guard at funeral services of America's Fallen Heroes who are killed in action or are casualties of the current wars on terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, or any war zone. We also offer this support to law enforcement and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.

We are invited guests of families. Our duty is to shield them from protesters as they say a final farewell to their loved ones.

Back to a good note to send you off... John says potty (sounds more like pieee - like a slice of pie.) when he goes and has been asking to go in and then sits on the potty chair with his diaper on and says pieee. Take his diaper off, he won't go, so who knows what he thinks that thing is for! But at least he's getting used to it and isn't using it as a puzzle anymore!

Sorry, guess they are going to be long posts when I only do it once a month! Hopefully I'll get better!

Love yas!
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Yay! My first post! It's going to be a long one...hold on! 

What to say... Well, I'm really doing this because I'm a slacker! Most other mommies I know keep a journal of what their babies are doing.... not me... I've written things down on a calander, kept some things that he may want to look at later, but overall, I'm terrible at writting these things down! I'm so bad, I don't even know what things to keep and what to pitch! (I just threw out my 8th grade graduation cards from 1999 and still have 16th birthday cards, HS graduation, bridal shower ...all the way to baby shower cards - which was at least only 2 years ago!!!) So I have a habbit of either keeping everything or nothing! Help!

So anyways. I'm going to try to keep all of John's (and our future children's) journal on this blog. Let's see if that will work! My only real hope in this blog is that my children will read this someday and think "wow, my mom is a NUT, but she must really love us!" and maybe get a few laughs from you followers (thanks Mom!)

I bet you are wondering where I came up with Duct Tape and Popsicles as a name...yes? Well, my dad and my cousins were talking about their dad's parenting philosophies... two things were talked about. The dreaded punishment of 'push-ups with pain' and in place of a visit to the doctor 'duct tape and popsicles' cured all ailments! Thanks Uncle Scott! I haven't broken out the duct tape yet, but the popsicles stop tears of all kinds!

So a bit about my family - in case I ever forget (I do have Peterson blood - YIKES!) I married the love of my life July 26th, 2008. We adopted our handsom, crazy, chubby blue-heeler LeRoy Jethro "Gibbs" in october of 2009, and had our 'second' child John on 10-10-10! (Yes I was induced that day but not by choice!)

I follow other mommy-blogs and am getting some ideas of what to post from them. One of these blogs is Tiffany Nardoni http://tiffany-adventuresofastayathomemom.blogspot.com/ and she is an amazing mom, I can't get through any of her recent posts without shedding a few tears. She talks about the recent loss of her son, Thao alot and the struggles they went through while he was hospitalized. What a great family. And Michelle - my long time friend's big sister (now my friend) started a blog not to long ago talking about crafting with her newest BFF the Cricut Expression and her mommy-ventures with her cutie Kaylie at  http://thatcrazycricutgirl.blogspot.com/.  And last but not least, my favorite cousin-in-law Jen (don't get jealous everyone else - I was just going in order by height! (Jen - you really are my favorite, I just had to say that!) Jen has just recently told us her big secret. She has Cystic Fibrosis. She is such a strong person and she discusses her struggles with admitting her secret and the trials of her daily life. http://jensbreath.blogspot.com/. 

If anyone (yes, you mom) has any suggestions as to what to blog about - let me know! I'm pretty much going to just try to talk about how I..... work...function....what's a good word here... operate... as a Mom.

Thanks for reading!



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