Happy Weekend

Here’s to a Happy Halloween weekend.

Hoping you have a fun safe time trick or treating.

We’ll be carving pumpkins and enjoying lots of sugary treats.

~mrs. dunbar

We Finally Made It

 
This pumpkin patch has every known pumpkin known to mankind, with prices ranging from poor man’s to very exclusive pricing.

We waited as long as we could for cool autumn weather for the Pumpkin Patch. It just hasn’t arrived yet, so we went for it anyway.

 
Give a boy a pile of pretty much anything and he will try to conquer it.
Victory.

A Mother’s Prayer

I found this prayer recently and thought it was worth sharing…
Dear Lord,
So far today I am doing pretty well.
I haven’t screamed at my kids or thrown anything in a burst of anger.  
I have not grumbled or gossiped or whined.
I haven’t been greedy or self-centered.
I have not yet charged anything to the credit card, and I haven’t pigged out on the chocolate cake in the refrigerator.
However,
in a few minutes I will be getting out of bed,
and I am going to need Your help to make it through the rest of the day.
Amen.

AMEN!

Anyone care to join me in prayer today?

~mrs. dunbar

highs and lows and highs

Monkey finally had his mouth procedure taken care of on Friday morning. There was something about my kid being “put under” that really freaked me out. The anesthesiologist called me the night before to go over the proceedings. The call was meant to calm and inform me, only it hyped my state of worry up about 10 knots. I slept like 3.5 hours on Thursday night I was so worried he would respond to the medications like I had; horribly.

On Friday morning Mr. Dunbar flew in 45 minutes before Monkey’s appointment, so my dad picked him up from the airport and they met us at the dental office. *Thanks, Dad.* Seeing Mr. Dunbar calmed both Monkey and I.

The anesthesiologist was really good with Monkey. He talked to him, told him (in kid terms) what was going to happen, asked him to show off his big strong muscles, and made the initial drug part as painless as possible.

I think it was the fact that I sort of knew more of what to expect than Mr. Dunbar did, that I was able to just sort of throw him in the hot seat. It made me feel better, but not Mr. Dunbar. I know, wife of the year over here.   After this initial shot, Monkey got this glazed look in his eyes and went right to sleep. Xrays were taken after Monkey was asleep and we were able to see him again, while the pediadontist explained what the complete plan of action was. They took us back to the surgical room once he was already under. That is a vision of my son that I hope to never experience again. (no picture here) His eyes were taped, they had the tube thing coming out of this mouth, lines hooked up to his IV and arm. It was alarming and I thought I was going to vomit right there. But the doctors were very good, explained each step, showed us his xrays, and said they’d be out soon. My heart was racing fast and furious.

Monkey’s procedure took longer than expected with a few curve balls thrown in the midst of it. Here he is coming out of anesthesia and Mr. Dunbar holding him.

Friday afternoon the minutes just ticked by. Monkey was really dizzy and grumpy for the first few hours. He couldn’t watch TV or really do anything because he was seeing double and each time he would get up he’d fall right back down. But as the hours progressed and we got some food in him, Monkey started to come around.

The doctor called me around 7pm and I expressed my concerns over Monkey’s recovery and he reassured me that Monkey would only feel better since all of the infection had been taken out of his mouth. He was was so right.

The next morning this is what he looked like. Himself.

And since Monkey was pretty upset that his brother was at Grandma and Papa’s house for the weekend we let him go as well. He begged and begged for hours. Finally Mr. Dunbar and I figured he’d be happier there then home.

We high tailed it to our annual Marriage Getaway. This was the 7th year in a row we’ve gone and seriously it is such a great investment even though we missed about half of the conference.

Saturday afternoon we made it to one morning session and then it was Date Day. We had a great Pho lunch with one of my oldest friends and her husband. Then Mr. Dunbar and I vedged out in our hotel room. We seriously watched Bull Durham and laughed over and over at the silly 80’s jokes. It was such a luxury to just “be,” with no interruptions or butt’s to wipe or anybody making demands. It was especially nice since we were both so exhausted after a stressful super busy week, I fell asleep and by the time I woke up it was Dinner Party time. I even let Mr. Dunbar wear jeans, even though I guess somewhere in the directions it said, No jeans. (Sorry, Bill- There’s always next year.)

Here I am with my Comrade of Comrade’s. The woman who seriously has invested hours and hours and has poured buckets of love and time (along with her husband) mentoring Mr. Dunbar and myself in our marriage. She’s one of my best friends. She offers grace like no other. She does everything intentionally. Last week was a crazy week for her and she still made the time to call and email and say “What do you need help with? What can we do for you since Mr. Dunbar is out of town?” (Hugs, E!)

And here I am in the Ladies Room with some of our other friends who are great also. They thought I was nuts taking photos in the bathroom.

My dress was NOT that short when I bought it. The belly is hiking it up. And the shoes, were purchased way before I knew I was preggo for this specific Dinner Party night; they were actually pretty comfortable.

Anyhow, our church does a great job every year of putting this weekend on for us Married Peeps. There’s a floating saying around here, “Spending $350 on your marriage before it goes bad, is a lot cheaper than divorce.” The weekend isn’t even all about taking a bad marriage and making it better, its about taking a good marriage and making it great. The weekends are always a lot of fun as well.

Today (Sunday) we were awoken by somebody else's kids playing outside of our hotel room door at 7am or so. Seriously? Seriously! So we got dressed and came home.

This was our shortest Marriage Getaway ever. But again so worth it.

Then of course when we got home reality set; laundry, groceries, chores, and bills to pay.

But I’m hanging on tight to the high of a God who gives us grace, a son who is healthy, a husband who loves me, and parents who take care of my hooligans.

~mrs. dunbar

life this week

Ahh. Wednesday again. The days seem so long right now, but then I look at the calendar and they are passing quickly.

I got gas at Costco this morning and totally jammed my finger. It had blood and everything. If I hadn’t been wearing a nice wool sweater I would have been tempted to just wipe the blood spillage on my sweater, luckily I remembered my closet is very limited these days and blood stains are not the easiest to remove. So I stuck it out until we picked up Monkey from school and politely asked for a Band-Aid. The teacher gave me a Dora one, I felt so special.

I’m reading the most pointless book ever. The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti. It’s 275 pages long, I’m on page 200 and have yet to figure out what the heck is the point of it. I’ll pass it on to my MIL when I’m done, and she’ll be able to tell me.

I’m still wondering why I vacuumed my car this past weekend. On my next car I need it to have mats that extend out prior to entering so boys can wipe their feet before they trample into the vehicle. Anyone got a seven or eight-seater car that they absolutely love?  We’ll be shopping pretty soon for a new family car. My mom says I need a Land Rover. Mr. Dunbar said, “Sure. If she’s making the payments.”  So what’dya say, Mom?

Monkey had his first class party of the year. The Pumpkin Patch Party. They actually had centers during the party. (Teachers after my own heart; creative yet controlled parties.) Face painting. Small craft. And then cookie decorating. I wish school was always this fun for kids. 

We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner last night. Tuesdays are Family Night there. Don’t go. It’s madness. The boys enjoyed every single minute of it. I wanted to bring them home and spray them down with bleach, but I didn’t. I just washed them twice.   

My dad came over last night. He’s doing some training for trainers at his work. His homework was to put together a 12 minute speech on any topic of his choice. Did you know he chose his grandkids! Seriously? He’s got the most amazing daughter in the whole world and he chose to speak about seven munchkins. I’m still in disbelief. But, being the good daughter I am, I helped him put it together. (My bill is in the mail.)

That I think about sums up my week up to this point.

Have a great day!

~mrs. dunbar

A Shower

 

My Aunt hosted a Baby Shower this weekend for my cousin. It was a big deal since my cousin lives on the East Coast and this would probably be the only opportunity for everyone to see her while she’s preggo with her first baby.  The two of us are due less than two weeks apart.

Baby’s last name will be Rush, and although it will be a GIRL her daddy already had a BOY name picked out: Nathan Alexander Scott C? Asher Rush, so they could call him NASCAR. Men, what will we ever do with them?

The carrier on the gifts-table for cards.

My mom and my SIL are like the queen’s of wrapping pretty gifts. This was my mom’s gift. This little green bag was my attempt at being cute. As always I got practical little things for baby: teething tablets, Vick’s Baby Rub, Clotrimiazole (for yeast infections, gross- but handy), Mylicon, pacifiers, and other little odds and ends that send Daddy’s to the pharmacy in the middle of the night.

Hors d'oeuvres and dessert table.

The weather got pretty crabby on us with a cool mist and breeze. So everyone had to huddle closer together and I served more cups of coffee then a Starbucks Barista on a rainy morning. My mom also threw together an apple cinnamon tea that the ladies loved. It made the house smell divine. The tables were set to a lovely yellow and green color scheme.

It was a busy afternoon, full of all things baby.

And to end this post… of course, a belly shot.    

   ~mrs. dunbar

Tackling

This evening I sat in the backyard after playing an hour of football with the boys and just reveled in the setting sunshine while trying to catch my breath. A pregnant mamma should not be playing tackle football, unless of course the other players are 28 and 38 pounds, respectively. Once Monkey’s team reached 100 points and Bogie’s and my team had 12 p0ints I tapped out. Told them I’d watch from the sidelines and went and sat in my authentic stadium seats. Authentic baseball stadium seats that is. That used to be in my house. But like most of Mr. Dunbar’s things have been reduced to sitting outside (or in the garage.) But they made for a nice spot to watch the boys and the setting sun.

Here’s my self portrait of the day.

Do you see my big guard dogs’ tails sitting at my feet? Isn’t that sweet? Man’s best friend.

Girls can never sit still. She’s grooming him even as he’s trying to watch the game.  And I indeed have a true tackler on my hands. At 28 pounds the boy can take ‘em down. He throws his whole body into it. Full force.

The boys made me laugh. And itch. Rolling in the grass like that makes me want to break out the Benadryl.

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On a different note, Kasey over at Lola B’s asked these questions yesterday. I thought I’d tackle them as well.

*would you rather spend a week on the beach or a week on the slopes? i’d choose the beach any day any time.

*how old are you? 32 i still can’t believe it.

*are you single…married..or divorced? married, almost 7 years

*would you rather watch ‘hoarders’ or ‘i didn’t know i was pregnant’? hoarders, those people freak me out.

*would you rather wear ballet flats … boots …or  flip flops? since i’m a california girl, I’ll go with flip flops. but i do love any sort of shoe.

*would you rather live on a farm …in the city….or be content in suburbia? i love suburbia

*would you rather have dinner with Whoopi Goldberg or Regis Philbin? regis. i love his ties and i want to know how he deals with kelly.

*would you rather have roasted tomato soup or chicken noodle? roasted tomato sounds so much more romantic.

*if you could travel for two weeks anywhere in the world…where would you go? i’d go to small towns in northern italy or perhaps switzerland. although africa is calling my name.

*would you take your husband or travel with a friend?  mr. dunbar of course.

*would you take your kids or leave them behind? two weeks, the kids are coming. i can’t wait to take them all over the world.

*would you rather drive a mini van or mini cooper? as surprising as this is, i’d have to say mini van. those little coopers scare me.

*would you rather  go to a movie or a musical/play? hmmm…. movie i guess. i’m craving some good popcorn right now.

*would you rather have a cupcake or a bag of chips? oh a cupcake of course.

*would you rather sit and read or watch a favorite show? sit and read, i need some peace and quiet.

*when was the last time you slow danced? this past weekend, mr. dunbar put on our wedding song. crazy love, van morrison.

*would you rather sit and dream or live your dream?  live the dream.

*would you rather eat kraft mac n cheese or ramen noodles? kraft mac n cheese, although my kids won’t touch the stuff.

*would you rather your child ate their buggers or collected them on their shirt? buggers are gross anywhere especially in their mouth, so i guess i’ll take them on the shirt.

*would you rather exercise or watch Oprah? exercise

*would you rather wear sweats or get dressed for the day? always get dressed for the day. even cute sweats count sometimes.

*would you rather be caught wearing your sweats at walmart or chuck e cheese? walmart, half the people in there are still in their pajamas and sweats are a step up from that.

(If you do this cut and paste like I did, let me know. I always love reading peeps answers.)

And one last shot of my football players.   All smiles and and sweat.

~mrs. dunbar