...but just to add to that because I like having the last word...  my favorite part was watching all those kids playing on the trampoline, squirting their parents in the eyeballs with spray bottles, catching Xander and Parker as they dove down the slide, endlessly fetching escaped bouncy balls from the trampoline,  listening to bluegrass, and devouring Connie's cake.  Thanks Kane.  All you ever have to do is be you, and it gives me an unparallelled peace in God's plan (no matter the "storm").

Happy Birthday My Son!

OK so I'm still a day early but today was great! We woke up early this morning or rather Shannon woke up, then Kane woke up, then Kane woke Daddy up. After the normal running around the house to get the boys dressed and fed, get the dogs fed, get the boy's shoes on, tell Shannon to hurry up in the bathroom, listen to Shannon say how tired she is of me picking on her about getting ready in the morning, eat some cereal, down a second cup of coffee, get dressed, oh and feed the cat we finally made it off to church. Church was great as usual, good sermon, good fellowship and good worship. Pastor Ed spoke of the fact that we all will face storms in life and must persevere through them to become better Christians. After the sermon and Sunday School it's back to the homestead for the finishing touches before Kane's Birthday Party. For my part that included poop patrol, tiki torch installation, trash pickup in the yard, Shannon insisted I spray down the dry dirt in the backyard so it wasn't so dusty, water the garden, harvest today's yield(yes I believe myself to be a farmer), clean up the shed a little better in case someone from church wants to look in there(who says guy's don't care what their shed looks like), relocate the crate upstairs to safely stash the youngest dog, place sheets over the bed for the 2nd dog to not ruin my comforter and finally sit down on the back porch with Shannon for five minutes before family shows up. I forgot, go get more propane for the grill in case we need it. Despite all the preparations today was great. Kane immensely enjoyed his trampoline as well as all his gifts and company. Thank you to all that graced us with your company and to my beautiful wife for all her hard work in setting up. More then anything thank you God for such a beautiful almost four year old still my baby boy. God has truly given us ups and downs with this one from cleft lip repairs to plunges off the back of an old truck, potty training to not wanting Dad's help on the potty, speech therapy to being called by the sitter "her little Debater", a shy child who won't say hello to a child who ask me daily when he's going back to school and who by the grace of the Lord has more Bible verses memorized then I do though I hesitate in revealing that. Son if you read this one day know that in four years you have made more proud of you then I ever knew was possible. Keep God in your heart and faith on your mind with hope in your soul and always love your life as much I see you do now and you'll be truly blessed and so will I.

Josh and I are expecting Jackson "Colt" to arrive around the first of November... making him our 3rd boy and expanding our family to FIVE.  Josh came up with the name in the waiting area at the OB after we saw the ultrasound.  This kid was all over the place... twisting and turning in my belly like a little pistol.  Hence the name :o)  "Jackson" is short for Jacksonville (home of the Phillips family).  "Colt" is for Josh's latest gun hobby.  And in typical Ferrell fashion, we'll call him Colt to follow suit with Joshua "Kane" (baby Ferrell #1) and John "Parker" (baby Ferrell #2).

So welcome  to the fam little man.  You've got 3 huge dogs, a cat, 2 brothers, and a daddy and a mommy that can't wait for your B day!

Best Day Ever!

Happy 28 to me and Josh!  I love even numbers.  This year we stayed up til 12:34 on the 20th, the minute I was born.  OK that's actually a big fat lie.  I fell asleep at 11 and Josh woke me up to say "Happy Birthday!" and "Go to bed" at 12:34. I think that's a sign of age because I've never not stayed up until 12:34 since I was about 10 years old and found my baby book under my mom's bed...complete with dust bunnies and a lock of fine brown hair.  How cute, right?  I worked on my birthday.  Oh the joy...but I did get out early to do a little shopping for Josh from the alphabet store and select retailers.  So we stayed up until midnight again, long enough for me to repeatedly chant "It's still my birthday" for 59 seconds at 11:59.  We woke up Tuesday and dropped off the kids at their respective destinations, returned home for coffee and packed for the range.  After a quick stop at Perry's, I signed my life away at Eagle 1 and practiced loading and shooting a .22 and a 9mm for like 2hours.  WOW.  Talk about addiction.  I was one of those NO GUNS in the house ever people.  Hell bent on it, actually.  And then...I realized I can't protect my babies from harm 24/7/365 (or in this case 366).  I think they should be educated and exposed because God forbid they find themselves in a situation around "friends" or acquaintances with a gun and all they know is to "run" or "tell".  That doesn't work in real-life because it might already be too late and they won't know what to do.  Guess what?  That so happened to me.  I lived in a trailer park with my mom and she had a gun under her bed.  All she said was to stay away from it and put the fear of God into me.  That's all well and good until you find yourself in a house one day with a gun and you don't know how to tell if it's loaded, if the safety is on, what NOT to do, and what to definitely do.  And to be honest, no manner of teaching can relinquish learning on the reality and power of a gun until you see it and do it.  That's coming straight from the mouth of a teacher.  I can't tell you how many times Josh tried to teach me things or tell me things over the past 2 years.  Nothing sank in until I was in that range.  I flinched or jumped 3 ft every time a shot rang out.  I was so scared I was shaking for the first 30 minutes.  But the thing is... everybody in there was in control.  Guns don't kill people.  People kill people.
We went to Sono on Fayettville St.  for lunch.  I had the Pink Floyd and the Monkey Brain roll  :o)  and we people-watched those in suites with reservations.  We had coffee at Crema and went shopping at Khol's and Dick's.  We picked up the boys and came home to eat slow cooked stroganoff and chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and topped it all off with the game and a bottle of FireFly and lemonade.  Happy 28 baby, I want 75 more!  I love the way you make me laugh, the way you try new things, the way you watch me do yoga, and the way we stay up past our bedtime just to spend one more hour together  (even when you are reading Damn You Auto Correct and I am blogging).  I love you til the end of forever.      

And So It Goes

Josh got the 5th mouse today.  That's all I have to say about that.  I am editing away on Boards and loving Apples of Gold, Parker is WALKING and TALKING (dada, daddy, mama, mommy, doggy, no, uh oh, bye bye), Kane has memorized 13 verses of scripture, and Josh is downstairs fixing the dryer...again.
Last night we prayed for a good week.  The stress skews everything that Josh says lately.  I get cyclical in my communication patterns.  I am trying very hard to keep in mind that prayer for the most explicit requests warrants consideration.  Ugh.
I would really like spring break to put on some wheels and pedal faster.  The good news?  There are 78 days left.  Crunch!

My intern took over and I'm feeling a little less stressed, a little, and right now Letterman is doing his segment on Get to Know the Candidates, which I'm kinda diggin. 

Currently reading: The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrimur Helgason
Just Finished: Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who... trilogy. 
Thoughts: Hmm.  When Stieg wrote, he included the characters' mundane daily activities or thoughts that basically made you feel like you were right there with them or living vicariously. I decidedly like the style. Hitman is full of foul language and innuendos.  It's a humorous read, mostly because a hitman murders a pastor and then has to fill his shoes for a stint in Iceland.  So far, so good. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday John Parker

Indeed a big blur.  I woke up with yet another splitting headache...not sure if it was due to the NCSU pre-gaming beverages (sadness!  I practically passed out before it even began!)  or the lack of blood flow in my head...also due to way too many cold ones and late nights recently.  We have been going strong daily (and nightly) since Friday, the 23rd with no end in sight.  Note: Drink more water, eat more bread, do more yoga.

But tonight was exceptional for one reason only.

Parker was born with jet black hair, a V-bac, risky birth, at noon on the dot, this day 2010.  Unlike Kane, they placed him in my arms right after I pushed for the last time, and he looked up at me with the biggest and brightest, most hopeful eyes I have ever made contact with in my life.  My God, he was perfect, angelic, and astonishing.  Today he has a mess of scraggly dirty blond hair, wide world eyes, and the best laugh a baby could possibly have.  He still manages to stir my soul with a single look.

Tonight we celebrated with frozen pizza, overly large balloons hanging from the ceiling, a richly designed cake, a handful of good friends and family (whom I always seem to call at the last minute when I put off making extravagant plans), and a boat load of napkins.  It's too bad his birthday falls in the winter... we could have more easily sprayed him down in the backyard like we did with Kane.   On the way home I  found myself driving behind a Jeep with one of those Life is Good stickers plastered on the rear window and I laughed (like out loud) because it's true.  Life is good.

Rainy Daze

I am FREE!  It's 20 degrees warmer than I expected it to be, and instead of snow we have rain, but I'm free!  Today was an awesome day for any classroom teacher that went "above and beyond" the land of CMAP.  I don't care what anybody says, public school teachers should celebrate the holidays with their students.  Not exclusively because it's fun but because we spend 8 hours with them 180 days of the year and we try to treat them the way we would treat our own children...at least we do our best without a pay-raise in God knows how long.   Wouldn't you celebrate a winter holiday with your own kid?  Even a Jehovah's Witness is playing a part in it all in some way, shape, or form.  Seriously, think about it. Whether its at a place of worship or even leaving school early to avoid the celebrations...is that not, in its own way, at the very least, acknowledging the holidays?  I mean REALLY.  And what central office employee or board member or superintendent did nothing, wore nothing, said nothing, exchanged nothing, baked nothing, or decorated nothing in light of the season?  They all have desks.  I know they've got something sitting on it that screams Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or rejoice for Ramadan, or Happy New Year or whatever!  BUT oh no, we are the only ones that have to go to battle with swords of objectives and target goals, benchmarks, and interventions against the government to have a holiday celebration that involves food, parents, and an educational movie to prove that we are not "wasting instructional time".... "wasting time with kids"????  Has anybody thought about that statement at all?  Why do we get the flack for wasting instructional time?  What about the parents that are not supporting student learning, or the laws that are keeping kids in classrooms where they aren't learning to their potential because it's not the best environment for them?  Where is the scare tactic litigation that is sent to these lovely citizens stating that if they don't start doing their job as moms and dads, or policy makers, that they will be given bad evaluations that effect their jobs as parents and employees for the school system?   I am a good teacher (there's data to support that claim so it can't be considered bragging if it's a factual statement that is supported with clear and consistent evidence), and I love my job. It's not even possible for me to be wasting instructional time with the kids.  Never. They are not just a job that I have to prove I'm good at.  I live and breathe in that classroom all day long and they are right next to me...looking at me, with hope, as their fearless leader that would jump in front of a bullet for any of them.  They are just kids that need to be lovingly taught how to be successful and confident life-long learners.  There are so many other factors that would make us "better teachers" or help the students learn more in shorter amounts of time... So many other factors that it begins to have nothing to do with time at all.... but once again, it's our fault, not the parents, not the government, and we have to own that or our jobs are at risk.