In The Rain

We just kinda hung out today, relaxed, had church at home ( I woke up with such a crick in my neck, I could barely get into and out of the shower). In the afternoon we were sitting outside by the fire and I decided that I would let the kids tent out tonight. As soon as we laid out the tarp and spread out the tent a major downpour came out of nowhere. I mean it was just buckets. So we scrambled to roll the tent back up and just as the kids were gonna run into the house, I told them to strip off their soaking wet clothes and let them play in the rain in their undies. And they giggled and laughed with their heads back as they swung in the rain. It was so cute and I  just smiled at their glee.

Happy Belated New Year!

They Know the Drill

I have an Ohio (or American) Sycamore tree in my yard that is 80+ feet tall. It is the same tree that my brother climbed 30 years ago. At that time, my brother etched his initials in the trunk. The great quest has always been to find those initials.

Today (Saturday) James was climbing the tree and I heard Jeanna say, "James, don't fall out of that tree 'cause Mommy does not want to have to take you to the E.R.!"

She got that right!!!

Good, "Clean" Fun

With all the rain we decided we needed some outside time.

Had to wash their feet just to get them into the  house to the tub.

My tub.... oh my goodness! but it was so much fun!

They clean up pretty good!

Happy May Day! & Belated Birthday Post

Happy May Day! As a child, my mother always cheerfully greeted me on May 1st with this. My mother greets everyone, everyday with a 'happy, it's-a-great/beautiful-day greeting', but she particularly likes May 1st. If I had planned ahead, we may have done a May Pole, but last night was rough.

I have not had internet since early Monday, so I missed doing a birthday post for Jackson. Monday, was his birthday.  He is 9 years old and the happiest boy...grinnin' and cheesin' from ear to ear for days! All he wanted was 1 matchb*x car for his birthday. He is the easiest kid to shop for because he is thrilled with anything you give him. Not only did he get 5 new matchb*x cars, but he got a much needed big boy bike! There is a lady at our church that shares a birth date with him. They call each other "Birthday Buddies". She is in her early 80's. He was telling her about a m*nster truck car that he wanted and asked her if she would like one too for her birthday. She told him that she didn't even know what that was. LOL!

So....


Happy Birthday, Kid!

Middle of the Night and Laughing Alone

We had purchased an undergarment from the Mart of Wals for Jordan, but due to a miscommunication the wrong cup size was purchased. I had hung said undergarment back onto the hanger with plans to exchange it on Monday. I put it on the back of our love seat which sometimes becomes our catch-all. Okay...now I have to admit a truth... we let our dog on our furniture. I add to that the fact that I keep the furniture covered with sheets because of this. So the dog sleeps on the love seat.

I got up last night for a bathroom run and the dog jumped down from the love seat in a frantic way and followed me. I am half sleep and mumble for him to go get back on his chair and he just goes from bedroom door to bedroom door as if he is searching for his kids. I keep telling him to go back to bed. Now I am fully awake and go to the couch where the dog follows me and tries to get up with me. I am completely annoyed and just give in to letting him get on the couch (which is not usually allowed). He jumps up in my lap and is whimpering. I reach for him and feel in the dark the bra with the hanger still attached wrapped around his neck. I quickly pull it off and he is so relieved. I pet him and apologize for the attacking undergarment and then I burst out laughing, in the dark, by myself!

**no animals or undergarments were harmed in the participation of this event.

Entertaining Angels & An Emergency Roadtrip

We had a personal needs distribution today and as always it was fun! We love the people that we serve and have developed great friendships with them. We have 1 couple that comes every month and they try to take more that their share. We now get a kick out chanting, "just one!" to them and they in turn, smack their lips and roll their eyes in mock fashion. We have a guy that gives a different celebrity name every time he comes. As he was leaving today, he informed me that next month he would T*m Cru*se. Too funny. We offer feminine hygiene and 1 of the men got a big kick out of telling us with a dramatic hand wave that he did not need any of those products. Good Day with many served.

On another note, my very dear friend had to go to the ER tonight so 2 of my children and I drove to her town about an hour away to offer support if needed. She has 4 small children that call me Auntie De ~Smile~ Waiting...

First Communion

Jackson had his first communion today and he grinned the whole time. When they passed the elements he made sure that the ushers knew he could have it this time. Of course, he picked up a big piece of element. It was neat to experience it with him.

The Indoor Outdoor Purchase

I was able to purchase an outdoor basketball hoop system for the kids for a very reasonable price. I am usually able to assemble furniture, toys and most "some assembly required" items, but this thing....well. The instructions are in Chinese and the pictures with no English words don't look much like any of the parts in the box.

Big Sigh!

So the huge box has been sitting in my living room for almost 2 weeks now.

The Kidnapping

My brother came from KY to attend the party and was then planning to go to Canada for a little get-away. He ask if he could take Jordan as a surprise and I thought that would be cool. I packed her a bag the night before and pulled out her passport. The kids thought that "Uncle" had left to go home and were sad at his short visit. He had brought a friend home with him and came back in the house to fuss at Jordan for not saying good-bye to Ms. R. She went out to the car to say good-bye and he pushed her in the car and took off driving. She thought it was a big joke and that he was just going around the block. When they got on the highway, she said she was a little nervous, but she knows that Uncle would never hurt her, so when I called she said, "Uncle got me and I don't know where we're going." She said that she then thought they were going out to dinner in the next town, so fell asleep in the back seat. When she woke up later, she was at the Canadian border patrol. When my brother pulled out her passport she said she was so surprised.

She had a BALL!!! They shopped and ate and stayed at a very expensive hotel. She swam and rented a movie and had a king sized bed all to herself. When she saw her suitcase she said she was worried about what I would have packed. (we have a difference of opinion as to what is modest and acceptable clothing) She was surprised that I packed some of her favorite outfits.

All and all it was a great experience for her and gave me a chance to clean that bedroom of hers..."ha ha ha" she says with a smile...

Delivery

Triple bunk bed.

This is being delivered to our home today. They boys are very excited. I am a bit overwhelmed with what it will take to get it into my house, down the hall and into the bedroom. An adventure to say the least.

UPDATE!!!

Wow... It's here. How will we get that into that room? I will take pictures.

Late Blooming

We are finally taking our very late spring break. We wanted to go on vacation for our spring break, but the lake house that we wanted to rent was not available until the last week of April. So today is our last day of school for 1 week as we prepare to go relax in the big ole house. The kids love it because there is so much room and they get to spread out a bit. The house sleeps 18 people and as I mentioned before has 4 bathrooms!

We are planning a "Chopp*d" competition for this weekend where family members will prepare dishes with the ingredients provided. There is already lots of "smack" talk going on. Can't wait! We will also celebrate an early Mother's day as my brother is coming into town and won't be able to come back again in 2 weeks.

I finally found a great set of flash cards for addition, subtraction and multiplication. I plan to take those and an art project with us. Once again, James will probably be the only person that has to do a little school. He just does better with the consistency of plowing through his curriculum without too many breaks in his routine.

Nana's World

You know the statement about grandparents not being the same people that raised you.... well that is my parents to the "T"! I don't know who these people are!!

Jordan has been over my mom's house since Friday to help mom out and as a birthday gift, Nana took her to the mall for new earrings. (I was okay with not going ~Smile~) This morning my mom and I had an appointment so I picked them up. I had 6 kids and they did such a great job that I thought about doing drive through for lunch. Jordan started mentioning all the places she wanted to go for drive through saying, "I am so tired of eating candy and pie and cookies and pop! I need some real food!" I burst out laughing 'cause in Nana's world they can watch  t.v. till their eyes fall out and eat candy, pie and ice cream until their tummies pop and drink all the soda their kidneys can handle and apparently after 4 days of that, my little sugar fiend was craving a salad and as she said, "I need some protein!" ROFL!!!

Too Long of a Title

I was thinking of titling this: "Inspections, Work Day, Teacher/Parent Conferences and the Messed-up Schedule", but with a title like that...who needs the post. LOL!

We had our licensing/homestudy inspection and I did not like the person who came out to do it. She was an intern who was very interested in putting her training to work and carried herself about the house in a authoritative way. She tested all of the smoke detectors and tested the hot water temperature which she made me turn down. It was 145 degrees and needed to be below 125 degrees. I really like my hot water ~Smile~ She interviewed the children individually (with me in the room). It was interesting because she used words and language that a few of the kids did not understand and thus gave answers that made her look quizzically at them. Example: she asked Jeanna what school she went to in which Jeanna answered, "homeschool". Not true, but I realized that Jeanna was answering what she wanted and not what was asked which led to the following questions to be not answered truthfully because Jeanna was still on the track of what she was answering. See, Jeanna hates going to public school and when my kids are talking about school, she often talks as if she is experiencing what they are so if they are talking about something we did during the day, she will say she did too, even tho' she was at school and was not with us. One reason she does not like school is because she says that the kids, "hit me" and are "mean to me" So the next question from the intern:

Intern: "Do you like having lots of siblings?"
Jeanna: "No."
Intern: "Why not?"
Jeanna: "Because they hurt and kick me!"
Intern writes this down.
Me: "Jeanna, what's a sibling?"
Jeanna: "I dunno."
Intern: " A sibling is a brother or sister. Do you like having all of these brothers and sisters?
Jeanna: "Oh yes!" eyes twinkling, face smiling.

I think Jeanna was thinking that siblings are the kids at school.

My fear is that had that question been asked alone in a room there would have been more inquiry into how the siblings were hurting her and much information would have been gathered.

Another example that upset Jordan: The intern was interviewing James. She asked him, "Do you feed your dog?" He said flatly, "No" She moved on to ask other questions without following up on that so Jordan was worried that she would think that we don't take care of our dog. James would not have thought to say, "I don't feed the dog because that is Jackson's job."

Finally, she asked Jordan if Jordan ever goes out of the house to meet new friends ('cause you know us homeschoolers never leave our house!) and Jordan said, "No." Jordan later said she had mis-understood the questions because we don't go out for the purpose of meeting new friends...we meet new friends sometimes while we are out. All in all we determined that everyone was nervous and the interview was not fun.

About a month ago I scheduled a teacher/parent conference with Jeanna's teacher for today. Today, Jordan got called into work and gets off during the scheduled conference. I guess she will have to stay at work about 1/2 hour longer.

I need a new free Friday field trip idea.

Surprises!

I enjoy giving surprises. Of course it's hard to receive them, but I really enjoy giving them. So... surprises on the way ~Smile~

Conversations With a Childless Uncle

This may have only been funny to me as I am fascinated at how fascinated my brother is about life in the house with my kids. My brother is unmarried and has no children. He used to travel home about twice a month and then would see us for 4 weeks on family vacation. He often says being an uncle is like being in the Reserves: 2 weekends a month and 4 weeks a year. Today is my "little" brother's birthday and I let Jordan call him this morning at about 6:50 to wish  him a "Happy Birthday". When she was done she passed the phone to Jackson who talks very softly on the phone, so before he could pass it on to the other 3 kids who also are still learning to talk clearly on the phone, I just had them do a collective, "Happy birthday, Uncle!" Later I e-mailed him and this was the conversation:

Subject: Happy Birthday

My gift to you this morning was to not let the kids pass the phone one by one to each other to mumble conversations to you! Ha! Also...did you get my message about dad's gift to you?

LOL thanks for only letting 2 kids on the phone.  No I didn’t get your message about dad.

Dad sent a b-day gift to your house to be delivered by noon today. I was like, "um, Dad...he will be at work" and he was like, "oh?!??"

Oh yeah I got that message.  Yeah I guess you guys will never understand that some of us work.  It’s not easy being green!

Oh I get it. I choose not to live that lifestyle. LOL LOL! But to each his own. ~Smile~

I was surprised that your kids were up so early.  I always see them on sleep in til 9 am days.

The 1st school bell rings at 8:15 and the tardy bell at 8:20 so they get up between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m.

 I get up around 5:15 to get to work at 6 am and I have to drive 6 miles.  What on earth do they do from 7am – 8:15?

5 kids, 1 bathroom, 1 crazy dog begging for food and water, 1 kid who wet and or pooped her bed, 2 boys helping with changing bed, running bath water, getting pee pee stuff to the washer, 1 toddler begging for juice, 'sear-di-o's" and milk. Dog barking to go out....dog barking to come in...Lather, rinse, repeat. 1 teen laying on the floor complaining about having to get up, complaining about having to wait in line for bathroom, us not having the right kind of cereal, and somebody looking at her. Breakfast. Some of the dishes get put in the dishwasher, but heaven forbid they all make it in there...that would just be too right. Mom fusses. 5 kids brushing teeth, somebody spits on somebody else "accidentally" pretty much every day. 5 people washing face. 1 kid who had a bath, washed face and still managed to have last night’s dinner and today’s toothpaste still on her face gets help from a boy to wash her face...said boy does not wring out wash cloth all of the way and drips water down her clothes...she needs a new shirt. 4 kids gets dressed, 1 toddler walks around naked cause he refuses to put his underwear on by himself. 1 girl gets hair done, 1 teenager stands in the mirror for 40 minutes adjusting hair and make-up which mommy then makes her wash off. 2 boys set up school. School bell rings. It really goes quite fast.

So it’s pretty quiet around there in the morning?

ROFL!! Yes...silent like a museum. LOL

You forgot

Toddler saying over and over and over and over

“Pay da dotor boyz!”

Yep...that's why he's single. ~Smile~

Free Friday Field Trip Part II

We had a 2nd free field trip yesterday that was free in theory, but did have a small cost so it was an "Almost Free Field Trip". We received 6 free tickets to a local NBA game at a sports arena that is about 1 1/2 hours away from our home.

I had such a fun time going through local thrift stores to find jerseys and T-shirts with the team logo on them so the kids could support the local team. The whole time they had no clue they were going to be going to a game. When I told them of their surprise, they were mildly enthused as they could not even fathom what it meant to be going to a live basketball game. Afterward, they were all pumped up, talking non-stop about the game, the other fans and the half-time show.

OH Boy!!!

Having only seen games on television, they had no concept of the fact that a stage had to be set up and what a light show in a darkened arena would be like. They also had their very first stadium hot-dog. Jackpot!!!

I was very tired driving home after the game, but their fast-talking excitement brought us on in nicely. We did not get home until about 12:30 a.m. and I did not have to tell them twice to get to bed.

Progress, Pies and Reborns

Progress reports:

Jordan loves to bake. This week she made a graham cracker crust pudding pie with a cherry fruit topping. Very yummy. 

As an early birthday present, Jordan received a reborn doll. He is a Michelle Fagen Sculpt by the artist, Cindy Sales from the Bountiful Babies Nursery. She loves him so much. She dresses, grooms and changes him several times per day. He goes almost everywhere with us. Last night he had his first photo shoot. She took no less than 70 pictures of him. LOL! Here is 1 of my favorites. The picture with the 3 babies shows my 2 reborns with hers. I have 2 Berenguar Reborns whose artist I cannot remember. They have crazy, wild hair as I did not prepare them for pictures. :)

 

That is what we are doing around here. I am hoping to work on our use-to-be-playroom-that-turned-into-a-storage-room-because-we-had-too-many-toys-room as we are hoping to change it to a schoolroom. 

Have a Great weekend!

Peace!

Lent

I meant to post this yesterday, but Blogger was giving me the blues.

Ten years ago I worked a job in which I was on call 24/7. I only had  2 kids back then and we ate alot of fast food. My favorite was the "King". Everyone in my office ate from the "King" as it was within walking distance from the office. My secretary and I decided that we would give up the "King" for Lent. After 40 days of not eating there, I did notice that I felt much better...expecially in the afternoons. I never ate there again. Today marks 10 years since I have had the "King".

I just came off of a soda fast last month and really had not thought about Lent this year until yesterday. What did you give up?

Please prove you're not a robot...

I cannot! I cannot see well enough to figure out the letters and thus cannot leave comments as usual. For many of the blogs that I read that use smaller font, I have to copy and paste into a word document so that I can read them with a larger font. But this word verification thing... I just cannot do it.

Oh and just for the record... I am not a robot! LOL!