OPK's (Other People's Kid's)

I am going to rant here for just a minute.

Typically, I don't mind when the neighbor kids come over to play. My kids love it. The great outdoors is so much funner (Ryan's word) when there are friends to play with. I especially like that they seem to be able to entertain themselves for hours. Did you notice my bolded word?? H-o-u-r-s! That is time that my house comes to a standstill, the vibrations from running, jumping, crazy kids comes to a halt and my head comes out of the spin and I find myself faced forward.

We had this wonderfully, sweet older lady that lived behind us. Her name was Mary and she loved to do yard work. Everytime she was outside, she'd take a few minutes to chat with my kids or myself. Then, a couple years ago on Christmas Eve, she died. The family had to sell the house. When this happens, you get new neighbors.

I so had this idea that we would have wonderful neighbors who we got along great with and we'd help out from time to time when they were on vacation and so on. Do you envision my idea of walking through the meadow, dancing with the butterflies??? This is so not reality for us. We do have a few neighbors that we are more friendly with but they happen to be the ones without children. Hmmm.....maybe there is something to that???!!

Anyway, back to my rantings....

The new neighbors have been pretty friendly but there have been quite a few different faces of people living there and I'm perplexed as to who is who and who is the real owner. I see a little boy there quite often and I assume he is younger than Kara. Needless to say, we haven't had many problems.

Now here comes the fun part....

One of the young ladies has apparently taken on a babysitting job and I can only hope that it doesn't last all summer. (Ooops...I suppose I shouldn't say that because perhaps there is a real need there. Life isn't all about me!) Ok, let me rephrase that, I hope that I am not having to be the bouncer all summer long.

Out of politeness, I always require that my children check to make sure it is alright with the parents if they can go into backyards to play and I always want that politeness from other people towards our backyard. However, the babysitting young lady isn't familiar with my law of backyard politeness. The three kids she is watching are 5, 4 and 2. She's been popping them over the fence for them to play without even checking to see if that was alright with us.

I didn't say anything to her because I thought to myself...oh, just let them play for a little bit and then you can send them home while we eat. Well, in two seconds flat, the three girls had everything in a stir. They quickly became known as the 'mean girls'. I felt that I needed to be out there with them during this visit. The thing that got me is that as soon as the babysitter popped them over the fence, she disappeared and I became the babysitter. They were our visitors until I sent them home so my kids could go to bed.

Today, first thing this morning, I looked out my window and who do you think I saw? Yes, indeed....I saw the three little girls that came to visit yesterday. I was so hoping that they weren't popping over the fence before I had my coffee. Much to my surprise, they didn't come for a visit until late this afternoon. However, they were here for two seconds and I had to send one of them home for trying to kick Kara down the slide and then proceeded to tell me she didn't have to listen to me. Of course, I set her straight. The funny thing is, while I was standing there having this stern conversation with this five year old, the babysitter was just sitting there in her lawn chair texting whoever without any concern as to what was going on. Interesting, I thought to myself. The little girl was back in my yard, five minutes later.

After dinner, I was informed by my kids that the 'mean girl' said that when she is bigger, she's going to beat me up and kick me in the nuts and then I'll say, oh, you were the girl that was in my backyard. Should I be worried???? I miss Mary :-)

Ice Cream Social 2008

Today was our homeschooling Ice Cream Social event. The kids had such a great time! They had made a 40 foot long ice cream sundae which thrilled the kids to death. Ice cream is the name of the game for our family. You just can't go wrong with that. I think our oldest said he had four bowls which was about the amount our four year old had. Wow!

The day was full of running around the park, eating more ice cream and let's not forget to mention the brownies they had to go along with it. They had hillbilly horseshoes and a bounce house on top of all that. They were forecasting storms and rain but it all held off for our event and God sent the sunshine! It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.

Follow That Red Suburban to Outdoor Adventures

My grandpa and grandma bought a membership at a family resort a few years ago on the idea that it would be something our whole family could enjoy and even vacation together. It was also a place for him and grandma to get away to that wasn't too far away but just enough that it was relaxing.

The resort is Outdoor Adventures. They have several of the resorts around Michigan but our favorite is the Lake Shore Resort. It's the bigger of the resorts and has many more options available to the member. For example, they have a beach on Lake Linda, they also have an indoor and outdoor pool, a cafe, putt putt golfing, kayaking, planned activities and so much more.

Last week was our week to go camping in our travel trailer and grandpa and grandma rented a little cabin. The kids love the time they get to spend with grandpa and grandma along with all the fun things there are to do. I tried to get them to slow down and not do everything on day one but they were determined to wear me out!

Ryan got to be a hero and save the day. Grandpa had locked his keys in his cabin and contacted the maintenance guy to let them in but he didn't have the right keys. So Ryan got to climb in their window and unlock the door thus saving the day! He was pretty proud of himself.

One of the days we were there, I took all of the kids putt putt golfing. Yes, I even took little Kara. She is wicked with the golf club as she swings it around in the air. She loved the game but after awhile she just wanted to carry her ball to the hole and just throw it in. Aaron got tired of the way you are suppose to play and decided it was much more efficient to place the ball near the hole, lay on the ground and shoot the ball into the hole billiard style. It became a little chaotic when Kara was throwing her ball into the water, me trying to get it out then running in the other direction to get Aaron to stay with us since the game goes quite a bit quicker if you play his way. By the time this game was over, I was about comatose and in need of a Venti Frappuccino but much to my disappointment, they didn't have a Starbucks shack on the premises. Maybe I should jot that down on the suggestion card.

We took a trip to the beach. I usually avoid beaches due to the gross water and bathing suit attire issues but I caved in and took the crew. I could so write another post on this particular subject. I had contemplated taking pictures with my camera phone to upload here so you could see what I saw but I changed my mind. I just don't understand why bigger women want to wear bathing suits that are missing material. I will stop there. The kids had a great time running and jumping and splashing and throwing mud at each other. They ALL slept the night through. I guess it did have it's benefits.

They had a Father's Day card making activity for the kids which we went to. They loved having a craft to do. Ryan made his card for grandpa and insisted putting grandma on it too. He carefully drew a picture of himself between grandpa and grandma because he loves them. Then he was itching to go give it to him before anybody else was finished. He is quite a character.

Kara got quite attached to grandma. The first thing she wanted to do as soon as she got up every morning was 'walk, walk' down to grandma's cabin. Everytime Kara would get a glimpse of her, she'd start talking in her sweet high pitched voice....'grandma, grandma, grandma' along with taking tiny little marching steps. I wish I could have gotten that on video! It was priceless.

We spent the evenings roasting marshmallows and sitting around the campfire. This is one of my favorite things about camping. When the day is quieting down, the smokiness of the fire and the warmth of the company sitting around talking and reminiscing, those are memory making moments.

I'm an Aunt again....

My sister in law, Pam, had her baby this week. A little girl named Emma Collette. We haven't had a chance to to see her yet but I will post some pictures when we do.

Family Time

While my aunt was still in town, we decided to all meet up at a family favorite restaurant, Zehnders. Some of my fondest memories are of eating there as a family since way back when. So it really was an appropriate place to dine. I love their homemade noodles and their vidalia onion soup.....yum-o!

This year my kids were all happy to see the walking chicken named Drumstick. A couple years ago, Ryan, just loved that chicken so much that he didn't want it to go. I do think he would have invited him to sit and eat with us but alas, a chicken has to do what a chicken has to do. So upon our perusing the little stores they have beneath the restaurant, we found a stuff one and bought it for him. A few months later, that very chicken left this world for chicken heaven. Ryan was trying to help me cook and he threw that stuff thing on my gas stove. Thank goodness I have a quick hand. It left a nice little burnt spot and the smell......well, have you ever smelled stuffed animal material singed? Not a pleasant smell. It didn't remind at all of the chicken we eat at this wonderful restaurant.

My aunt's visit has come to end and I'm sure she will need a nap when she gets home. I know she wore my Mom out but in a good way. We have some new fond memories to cherish.

It's Party Time

You ever have one of those days that has made you a little more then stressed? A day in which you needed everything to just go the right way because you've got so much to do in so little time? Let me tell you about my recent experience.....

My Aunt has come in to town. We haven't seen her in four years. We were excited that she had the opportunity to come up for a visit. However, when you go visit your home state, there are a lot of people to see in just a short time. How you handle that is, have several of the relatives over at one place, at one time, throw in some yummy desserts and you've got a party. My house was the chosen party destination......and I found out about it the day before.

I always enjoy entertaining and I love it when my great aunts, uncles, and grandparents get together so it was a wonderful opportunity to have them over. However, if you have children, you homeschool, run a business along with life in between and cleaning seems to always drop down to the bottom of the list, a day's notice is sometimes not enough to get your house in order.

I must admit that there was some yelling involved to get the children motivated. Ok, maybe there was a smitch more than little. They just did not see what I was all up in a stir about. After all, it was just family coming over. Overall, the kids did a great job at helping. The house was presentable...not perfect, but presentable. However, I still had the deserts to put together. For that to happen, I needed to run to the store and I also needed time to take a shower.

With only three hours before party time, I grabbed my purse and headed out the door. When I got to the car, I thought to myself, why is there all this condensation on the driver's side window? Then, I realized it wasn't condensation but that is was shattered. A huge groan escaped my being. I surely didn't have time for this nor was this convenient financially or timely. What could have done this and where was the person who did it. I needed to explain to him/her how this just was not on my agenda for today. Someone needed to pay or at least let me rant and rave while I was jumping up and down in a fit.


Have you ever talked to yourself? Well, I did at that moment. I was already stressed beyond belief and I didn't need a dumb ol' window sending me over the edge. I took a few deep breaths and muttered to myself that it didn't matter how it happened, it just happened. We needed to take care of the situation and continue on with what needed to be done. After my husband and I grumped at each other for a little bit, we took the next step.

A quick call to the police to make a report for our insurance company was made. Of course, it wasn't an emergency so we waited and waited and waited. After he came and went, we had to take it to the repair shop and clean all the glass up off of the ground. What a mess!

Thank goodness I had made the brownies for my trifle earlier that morning. My husband offered to run to the store for me while I took my shower. That worked out splendidly. In the end, my trifle got made, my hair got done and my house was presentable. I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Inspite of all the chaos and crisis we had during the day, the party went smoothly and everything came together like it needed to. It was great seeing everybody and catching up on what's going on with each of them. As to the car.....I am so thankful that the damage to the car fell under the smaller of the two deductibles. What a day!

Final Resting Place

My father in law passed away back in January. He was cremated and we had a memorial service at the church at that time. However, what to do with the ashes has not been decided until recently. It just didn't seem settled until now. Grandma Loretta decided to have the ashes placed in a Veteran's cemetery. Bob's Dad was very proud to have fought in the war, to have fought for our country so it was very fitting that he be placed there.

Several of the family got together including my brother in law, Dave, who just got out of the hospital a week ago. We all gathered around and my husband prayed. It was an emotional time for all of us. He is very missed.

We all had dinner afterwards at a restaurant named the Riveria. It was right on the lake and we sat where we could watch the boats. The kids loved it. The ferry boat entrance was right next to the restaurant which totally enthralled Ryan and Aaron. To watch the semi trucks getting on the ferry boat truly amazed them. The bus boy will have to wash the windows where the boys had their hands and faces glued to the window.

After we stuffed ourselves with the over-indulgent portions, we sat on the dock watching more boats go by. I think the kids will remember this day for a long time.

Another Meme

I've been tagged by a friend of mine over at 'You've Got To Be Kidding' for a new meme. Sorry it took me so long to get it done, Ellen!


Favorite person outside of family? This is hard because I have several....Lisa, Becky, Robin, Shelly, Betty.

Favorite Food: Mexican

Quirks about you: I didn't see a need to drive past 14 mile till I met some of my favorite people....now look at me, the world's our playground!

Any regrets in life? My first marriage

Favorite Charity or Cause? Karmanos Cancer Institute

How would the person who loves you the most describe you in ten words or less? A quote from Bob: Sensitive, Loving, Wife and Mom, Friend, Coffee-lover, Wonderful Cook

Favorite Blog recently? A pondering heart has been a new favorite. She's a 17 year old young lady trying to follow Christ.

Something you can't get enough of? Hugs from my kids

Worst job you ever had? Kentucky Fried Chicken. The assistant manager didn't like me for several reasons so he gave me the gross jobs like cleaning out the bottoms of all the garbage cans and bathroom duty. I quit after two weeks. I thought that was ample time to give it a shot.

What job would you pay not to have? Garbage clean up. Gross!

If you could be a fly on the wall, where would you be? I think it's better to just not know about stuff sometimes.

Favorite Bible Verse right now? Psalm 34:18...The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. This verse is full of comfort and brings me a sense of peace. Knowing that God is close by, warms my heart.

Guilty pleasure? Chocolate and coffee

Got any confessions? I like what Ellen said.....between me and Jesus

If you had to spend $1,000 on yourself, how would you spend it? I could really use some new clothes. Oh, and I would love to buy several pairs of shoes.

Favorite thing about your house? The bathroom. It's usually where I get two seconds to myself.

Least favorite thing about your house? My laundry room.

One thing you are bad at? Organization

One thing you are good at? Cooking

If you could change something about your circumstances, what would it be? More 'paying' customers.

Who would you like to meet someday? George Bush, our president.

Who is your real life hero? My Grandpa. This is a post in itself. He is a living example of Christ. I've seen him back up his faith with his actions time and time again without complaint. He is gentle and kind and is all around amazing.

What is the hardest part of your job? Not much time for myself and not enough of me to go around.

When are you the most relaxed? In the evening, when the kids are all tucked in and the world is quieting down for the night.

What stresses you out? When the money doesn't stretch as far as it needs to, when I have too much on my plate and when I do not get enough sleep.

What can you not live without? Christ

Why do you blog? To capture the events of my life. It's the story behind the picture.

I'm not tagging anyone in particular but if you would like to share your answers with me. Please let me know. I'd love to read them :-)

Okay - rules:
1. Answer ALL the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you
3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category.
New/ newer bloggers (since we want to share the love and send them traffic)
Bloggy friendsBloggers you’d like to get to know better
Bloggers you don’t think will respond, but you hope will

Addiction

Our two year old is an addict. That seems like such a crazy age to have addiction problems but she does. It's kind of like her coffee fix. She wants it, when she wants it. If you don't move fast enough, she will start hitting your arm repeating the word's "frog", "frog" till you finally give in. Then, she takes your hand and leads you to the computer.

What in the world am I talking about? I'm talking about Youtube.com, of course.

When Barbara and Sharlene were staying with us, Kara was so hysterical most of the time. In order to calm her down, Bob would whisk her away to his office and play some 'youtube' videos just to get her mind off of all that was going on. She fell in love with one in particular.....Crazy Frog. I don't know why but that one just tickles her fancy. Now she wants to watch it over and over.

I need to get her on video to show those crazy frog producers what effect they have on young viewers! She dances to the music and she has the crazy frog 'beep beep' down to a science.

What did we ever do before Youtube? I've just recently seen some music videos to songs that were popular in my teen years. I didn't even know they were out there.....boy, do I feel old now!

Happy 13

We recently celebrated Brad's 13th birthday. Ack! I'm a mother of a teenager. I knew it would happen one day but now that it's finally here staring at me in the face, it's a scary thing. Not only that but having a 13 year old and a 2 year old all at the same time, it's craziness. I'm always up for an adventure and I guess this would definitely be considered one.

Brad, Grandma and I went to Coney Island for dinner which is his most favorite restaurant other than somewhere where they have a buffet. Probably because there isn't a long line, you get lots of food (it's all about the food) for pretty cheap prices. We then headed over to the Coldstone Creamery for some delicious ice cream.

I also made him a Boston Cream Cake which he absolutely loves. How can you go wrong with pudding and chocolate ganache.

Brad is truly an amazing young person. His heart, his sensitivity to honoring God makes me so proud of him. One of his biggest fans is his little sister, Kara. She adores Brad. It's neat seeing those two playing together or snuggling on the couch.

Happy 13th, Brad. We pray that this year will be full of happy times and that it brings you closer to God. We love you, son!

Happy Mother's Day!

On this Mother's Day, I was woke up by a two year old yelling emphatically that she's was 'hungy' (yes, I spelled that correctly). So we went downstairs to see what we could find. It's one of those kinds of days, old mother hubbard's cupboards are in desperate need of filling. Sometimes, it's hard to get to the store when you are running here and there. One would think if you are out, that would naturally be one of the stops. However, for us, it seems I'm always out in the opposite direction of the store.

Anyway, I'm off on a bunny trail it seems. As we entered the kitchen, Grace had made us a beautiful breakfast table. She put a table cloth on which we hardly ever use because the little one's like to pull it off. If that happens, everything on the table comes with it...yikes! She set the table very nicely along with our collection of 7-eleven Halo cups. It was all quite nice. She served blueberry Eggo waffles and since she knows those weren't my absolute fav, she used our one and only egg to make me a special omelet. She really blessed me today.

My husband's gift to me was him staying home with the kids while I went to church. I know that may seem incredibly weird to some of you, but if you could just picture me going to all there is to go through getting this family to church, only to walk the halls with at least one kid, you would understand what an incredible treat it is to actually hear the sermon and my most favorite part....to participate in worship. What a blessing that was!

I am truly blessed. I've been entrusted with five fabulous kids and the best husband I could ever have asked for. Thank you , Lord, for your unending blessings.

Happy Mother's Day, my friends!

My Tree

We have this beautiful tree in our backyard. When we first came to view this house when we were looking for a home, this tree is what really drew me to it. It was in full bloom at the time. However, I am clueless as to what it is. If anybody has any ideas, please comment.

Last year, I noticed that the blossoms were not as vibrant nor were there as many flowers. I sloughed it off and thought maybe it had something to do with the kind of winter we had. Then last summer, one of the kids was trying to climb it and the whole limb just snapped off with hardly any effort. I thought, uh oh, something is not right.

My husband then went there to see what he could see. He was able to snap another limb off. As far as we can tell, it's dying. I want to cry. I love that tree. This Spring, it still bloomed but again, not very vibrantly.....just enough to bring out the bumble bees.

Aaron came running in the house sobbing. I inquired as to what all the fuss was about. He told me that the neighbor kid said if he looked right at the queen bumble bee which he informed him was what was out there hanging around my tree, the bee would chase him down and sting him. I love neighbor kids. I ask myself daily why we don't have a few more of them on our street. (note: sarcasm)

It just wouldn't be Spring, if I didn't have one child decide he was crazy scared of bugs, spiders or bees. My Spring is now complete along with the sassy neighborhood kids who have now come out of hibernation.

Spiritual Growth

As a mother, I love to experience life with my kids. To me, experiencing their spiritual growth, is one of the most important. I cannot put it into words to properly describe how much it means to me.

We had a great service on Sunday. Yes, I actually got to sit through it and hear it, all at the same time. It was one of those rare moments. It happened to be the Sunday that communion was being served. Now, I know that many parents allow their kids to take communion at a young age but we have not allowed it.

To me, communion is a very personal and special time between the Lord and oneself. It is a very serious thing to take it and before I allow my children to partake of it, I want them to understand what it means. I don't want them taking it, thinking that it's snack time or sitting through it snickering, poking fun at it nor do I wish for them to take it for granted, leaving it with no meaning.

Grace has been asking about it recently and after much discussion, we've decided that she is ready to take that step. She's also been asking about baptism and expressing interest in doing that. I'm so excited that she's feeling prompted in that direction and is feeling God leading her there. It will be interesting to continue to see that play out in her life.

She took communion with us on Sunday. I thought it was her first time, but found out later that she had taken it at Jerusalem Temple, a church she visited with some friends of ours, down in the city. I was a bit disappointed at that because I really wanted to be with her when she decided to take it but after she explained what happened and how connected she felt, my disappointment dissipated a bit. I'm just grateful that I was there with her this time.

I want to explain that I'm totally not an overbearing, controlling parent, just a very involved parent who desires to experience all that I can with each one of my children. I am amazed at her spiritual growth as well as some of my other children. I don't remember being that way when I was their age. My mom was always talking to us about God and she was always willing to answer any and all questions we had. We went to church all the time. I had Grandparents always talking about God and His affect for change on our family. I knew from all of these things, that God was very real and I could see very real evidence of his care in our lives.

Perhaps, it's because they are home with us for their schooling which integrates God through every subject, along with all the other ways we help them understand their relationship with Christ through His blood sacrifice. Perhaps, it's the prayers their Grandparents have said over the years. Whatever, the reason, I'm am so grateful for it. I pray that their hearts will continue to be tender towards God and that they continue to seek Him out everyday of their lives.

Celebrations

We celebrated Kara's 2nd birthday this week. Boy, I can't believe how much she's grown. She loves to talk and she loves to 'go'. Bob always takes the birthday kid out for breakfast. Since she doesn't sit still and most certainly won't make it through a breakfast, he took her out for 'Timbits'. (thanks for the great idea, Lisa!) She loved it! She was so happy to go with Daddy and was so happy to sit in her car seat and eat her cup of donut holes.

We had some family over for the celebration too! She was running around kissing and hugging everyone. She's so precious when she's not screaming, no..no...no.

In the middle of our little party, I happened to glance out the window and saw an ambulance right in front of our house. When I opened the front door, I saw a little old man laying on the ground behind our car. Fortunately, the neighbor's across the street had seen him fall, got him a pillow and a blanket and called 911. He ended up being alright, thank goodness.

It was a bit unsettling that all that was happening in our front yard and we didn't have a clue. There is this older couple that lives down a bit from us, that keeps up on everyone. Not in a nosy sense but in a sincerely caring way for people. They are always out there during the winter, shoveling everyone's driveway, doing what they can for the neighbors. We are really blessed to have them in our neighborhood. They jumped right in and were going to check on him and make sure his family got called. That is the kind of neighbor we want to be.

The neighbor lady came back around later that evening to let us know that the little old man was doing ok and that they had gotten a hold of his family. She thanked me for what I did, for being out there with them. I thought to myself, I really didn't do anything but lend a listening ear and a kind word to him. But I also thought that it was neat that she came back to give us a report and to, in a way, encourage people by thanking them for what they did do. As the lady was leaving, Kara called out to her for a hug. Of course, she got one. Who could resist? However, my thought was why would she want to hug an unfamiliar person and be all cute with her but won't go in her Sunday school class without a screaming meltdown. Another question that goes down in the unsolved mysteries along with, 'why on earth are there wasps'.....again a mystery to me.

Brad told me he was already to go out there and put his new CPR skills into practice but realized the ambulance was already there so maybe he's catch it next time around. So I, being the teacher and mother, decided to quiz him a bit to see if he remembered what to do from his class. He told me that he was to ask him if he needed some help. Then, he proceeded to tell me he needed to turn the man on his side. I quickly let him know that you only turn someone on their side if they happened to be unconscious...which he was not. I think, perhaps, we need a second course on CPR.....maybe a daily DVD.....

Dave and Pam's Story

To keep everyone updated on how my brother-in-law is doing, we've created a blog for them. I've also put a link to it on my sidebar. Please keep them in prayer, they desperately need it!

We are still working on the blog to get it all updated so it's a work in progress. To check it out:

www.daveandpamstory.blogspot.com

CPR Class

Last week, the two older kids had a CPR class. I thought that would be a great idea since they are getting to the age that I am able to use them for babysitting the younger ones. This whole concept of leaving them alone was a new change for me. I can't believe that they are already that old. Then, I'll have conversation with them and it's very evident that they are. They have minds of their own! I've known this since they were younger than two but when one has half an inch before I'll be needing to start looking up to talk to him, that change is staring you in the face.

There was a lady in our homeschool group that use to have her license in CPR training but has let it lapse. She was willing to give the class but the kids aren't certified. Really, I just wanted them to have the information and the knowledge to know what to do should something awful happen when I'm not there.

She was great with the kids. They enjoyed her class and it was very interactive which was wonderful for a hand's on learning experience. Mrs. Cathy was a great sport at being one of the victim's. Her son worked with her and we all had some fun watching it!

The kids learned so many things and I am relieved that they are familiar with what to do. I was concerned about Grace to begin with. She freaks out everytime something happens. Her way of dealing with it is to run in her bedroom and hide. Not a good way to deal with an emergency situation.

A few years ago, we had a few traumatic things happen like my husband getting bit by the neighbors dog with lots of blood, then Aaron who was eight months old (at the time) fall down the stairs hitting his head on the GFCI again with lots of blood, and our three year old (at the time) eating what he thought was candy when it really was some of my mother's medicine. Hopefully, with some extra assurance on what to do in those situations, I'm hopeful they will be able to apply what they learned.

The kids had fun rolling each other on the floor so they wouldn't choke should the victim throw up, they were shown how to create a sling for a broken arm, given instruction on how to never pull an embedded object out of someone, choking and all about snake venom.

When the class was over, I was informed that if Grace was my help in time of need, I'm a gonner.....should I be worried????

It's Time To Order

This is the month I get lots of catalogs. Homeschooling catalogs, that is. It's time to start thinking about purchasing new curriculum for the new year. Some catalogs I toss but some I browse through. There is so much available, it's hard to choose.

We've been using the Lifepacs and Horizon's through Alpha Omega which I love mixed with some Abeka. Every child has a different learning style so I try to add things that will help each one of them learn. I also try to throw things in there that they are interested in. For instance, Ryan is into dinosaurs so I got him a sticker book on dinosaur's and a Kumon book that had a paper dinosaur to put together. He's a hand's on kind of learner and those work for him.

This next year, I'm looking to add a little bit of Bob Jone's (BJU) to our curriculum. I've heard a lot of good things about their curriculum. I do know they are legalistic in their views and so I'm concerned about that coming through in how they present their material. However, I usually am reading along side with the kids, so it may present some good discussion too. If it gets too confusing for them, I may switch back. Sometimes, it's good to freshen things up a bit with something different.

There is so many neat books available that sometimes I get too excited and buy way too much. You can only fit so much in one year. Come to think of it, I guess those catalogs come at a great time of year. About April, the kids are ready to be done with school (truthfully, they are ready to be done by the second week of September) and I'm trying to push them to keep going but when we start looking through the catalogs, planning for the new year, it seems to inspire them a little bit.....emphasis on little. I'll take what I can get.

Getting Together

I don't want to let a very dear friend of mine down as she is certain our adventures of last night will hit my blog. So here it is.....

Bob and I haven't been out much together lately. We really were making a pointed effort to go on dates whether they be for dinner or just a five minute date to Starbucks. Then, when we decided to take on the care of Barbara and Sharlene, that had to be put aside. It was tough. But now, the girls are gone and somehow between homeschooling, having our own business, field trips, park trips, church and so on, we just haven't gotten back into our groove of dating.

Some very good friends of ours invited us (without the children) over for dinner and fellowship. As I sprinted to the car (not looking back once), it felt so odd and unfamiliar to not have to put someone in a car seat, lug the diaper bag, yell for someone to just-get-in-car, run back in the house for something else I just couldn't carry because I don't have eight arms. It's nice sometimes to be reminded you aren't just a mother but a wife too.

On the way to our friends house, I looked over at my husband and realized that his shirt was inside out. So I mentioned it to him. He glanced over at me with a sassy smirk. "I put the shirt on, dear, how it was on the hanger," he said. "I put it on the hanger the way it came out of the dryer, dear," was my response. I thought he would have been happy that it actually got on the hanger and was not a wadded up, wrinkled mess. Apparently, he expects me to make sure his shirts are right side out too. Ugghhh....the pressure. Next thing you know, he'll be wanting me to use that thing that heats up really hot, has steam and you apply it to a piece of clothing that has wrinkles. I think I have one of those in a box....somewhere. I prefer to refluff.....it works like magic.

We pulled off into some parking lot of a closed nursery to do the changeroo. He was trying to be all sly about it. Off the shirt came hoping the tinted windows were enough to give off some amount of privacy. Then, he stepped out of the car to undo his belt to tuck it in. As he's tucking and buckling, a little old man comes walking around the corner with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow. He's probably still wondering what was going on.

The telling of our adventure was quite the ice breaker. We met with a couple other couples who we don't know very well or haven't met at all before. I can only imagine what kind of impression we made. It was a good laugh.

After the evening came to a close and we were driving home, we both were in agreement that we need to get out together more often. It was really fun being a couple.

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Today is my very good friend's birthday. She's an amazing woman who I've had the pleasure of being friends with for a very long time. She's sassy, has an awesome sense of humor, has the ability to make me laugh till my sides hurt and isn't afraid to tell me what she thinks. Her love of her family and for God are an inspiration to me. She always knows how to smack me back into reality when it's needed and she always seems to know when I need a 'pie' night. Her friendship is truly something that I cherish. Happy Birthday, Lisa!!

A Prayer Request: Update

Over the last month, my brother-in-law has been in the hospital. He has made some improvement but not substantial. He has, however, amazed the doctors that he's still here. They honestly thought he was not going to make it that first week. We are so thankful for extra time and for hope. Hope is such an important emotion to hang on to. Our hope is in the Lord. He has his hand on Dave and whether He choses to heal him or take him home, we have to put our trust in Him.

I admit this is a hard task to do. I've been a Christian for a long time and still find myself wondering why these horrible things happen. It's so hard to trust, so hard to leave it in His hands. I suppose God knows that. I often have found myself asking God if he's checked my mental capacity to handle this or that. That perhaps, He should double check....just to make sure. There is one thing I know for sure and it's that His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than my thoughts and His love is greater than my love. God cares about Dave passionately and His will, will be done.

My heart is so sad, so sad for Pam and all that she is having to handle, so sad that my family is hurting, so sad that Dave is so sick.

Dave has started running fevers again. What the doctors have found is bacteria that has developed in the left lung around the chest tube. There is a possibility that it is also around his heart. They will be doing tests to confirm that.

He is in very critical shape. Please continue to pray for him and for his family.

Not Again???!!

Guess what today is? Yep, it's Sunday. The day we go to church. It is also the day that burns through my energy faster than Lightening McQueen on the raceway.

Today, I woke up to beautiful sun shining and warm air breezing through my window. What a nice way to wake up. I thought to myself, it's going to be a great day. I came downstairs, made the coffee, and cooked breakfast. We were off to a great start. Off I went to take a shower.

As I was trying to get the kids ready, that is when it hit. The 'I don't like church' and the 'do I have to go', 'Is Brad staying home so I can stay home with him', 'How about Dad, is he staying home' or how about this one....I already learned about God, He doesn't have parents comment from my six year old. Then there was the four year old having a bit of a fit, laying on the floor stomping his feet. I asked him if he was throwing a temper tantrum and he said no, mom. I then proceeded to ask him what all the foot stomping was and his reply.....it's just acting, Mom. Sigh. I am still stumped on this one. I loved going to church when I was a kid. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they give me such a hard time.

They make the classes fun. They have actors that act out Bible stories, they have the traveling musicians and they do crafts. They also have L-O-U-D music. What else is there? I think my kids must be just weird. They'd rather sit with me which I'm mostly ok with.

On this particular day, Kara seemed a bit out of sorts. Bob said maybe one of us should stay home with her because what was going to happen was that she would end up not going in her class and I would spend the whole time chasing her around. I p'shawed that thought and told him she would be alright. Famous last words.....

Bob dropped Kara off at her class or should I say they peeled her from Bob while she was kicking and screaming. Now mostly, we just leave her for a few minutes and she settles down and is fine. However, in the process of our little wildcat flailing her hands and feet to all who came near her, she fell back and whammed her head on the wall. Of course, I couldn't leave her with that happening.

So I stood in the class with the diaper bag and purse in one hand while I have her in the other. Every time I'd even get a notion to put her down the flailing of the arms and legs would go wild. So I thanked the ladies for trying but I would just take my little wildcat and go sit with her in the atrium. Well, that didn't work either because now that she is almost two, sitting in my lap for more than three minutes just isn't going to happen.

So at the end of the atrium is some couches which I thought maybe would be better for her so she wouldn't disturb people too much. That worked for about ten minutes until she discovered the exit. Did you know that if you push the handicap button the doors will open. Yep, they do and she did. Visualize me running down the hall in my not so flat shoes, chasing a two year old who has escaped out of the church. Sigh.

I caught her and brought her back to the couch where she screamed her head off along with her flailing arms and legs and then proceeded to spit in my face. She learned that little trick from Barbara and Sharlene which we haven't been able to break her of yet. At that point, I was sweaty from chasing and fighting with her, my hair was every which way, my heart was pounding and I was about in tears. So I crept back to where Bob was sitting with the other kids and told him I'd be outside.

For the rest of the sermon, I sat in the car with a almost two year old who clearly was ready for a nap. I was rehashing all that Bob had said earlier that morning. Perhaps, I should have just stayed home with her. I certainly didn't hear the message. Thank goodness I can catch it online. I do wonder though.....am I the only mother who has impossible Sundays because I scanned the parking lot and I clearly was the only one out there. I suppose I could start a Sunday morning Bible study for crazed mothers out in the parking lot. Anybody interested????