Busy Times

I haven't been posting much. I've just had too much on my plate. Here's a little of what we have been up to.

Birdie, Monkey, and Puppy Dog sung in the children's choir with the adult choir the Sunday before Christmas. They did a wonderful job, but we forgot to take our camera.

Christmas day we did our Christmas first thing in the morning; Christmas and a niece's birthday at my parents' house; Christmas with extended family on my mom's side in Lynchburg, Ohio; and then we came home and had to settle the kids down so we could all sleep. Jon and I made the decision not to use credit for Christmas this year, or use credit for other things either. Aside from a few small items that we had picked up here and there through the year, all the gifts we gave this year were homemade. Jon and I did not exchange gifts. We didn't have enough time without the kids around so we didn't get to finish our main gift to the kids. It's just as well though. The gift has become a project for our family to work on together and the kids are excited. Jon is even taking a few days off work at the beginning of the year so we can work on it. I'll try to do a post about it after we finish.

This week, we're working on our projects for Jon's side of the family and the kids are spending time sleeping over at my sister's and parents' houses. Tonight we will all meet up at Mom and Dad's house for a New Year's party. Tomorrow we have our Christmas/New Year's celebration with Jon's side of the family. I guess I better get back to work on those projects.

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

I about forgot to mention that our kitties were spayed/neutered and declawed Monday. Normally they are good about taking medicine, but not this time. They have a combination of an antibiotic and pain killer to take and they fight it tooth and back claws and writhing even though we scruff them or wrap them in a towel and scruff them. It takes both Jon and me working together to get their medicine in them. They foam at the mouth and try to spit out the medicine after I give it to them. The stuff must taste nasty. The poor pathetic things just lay around and want to be cuddled now and then. Does anybody know how to make a collar to keep them from licking their incisions? I was told to make them if they start licking themselves, but not exactly how to make them. So far, they aren't licking the incisions. I have to take them back to the vet to get their mittens off Friday.

The Play Went Well

Last Sunday was the church play, SCROOGE REVISITED, that Jon, Kitty Kat, and Monkey were in. I figured that I better get it posted before tomorrow.

The first two pictures are of Kitty Kat and Monkey in the opening street scene.

Here "Scrooge" is studying his books. "Bob Crachit" was off to Jon's right at his own desk.

"Scrooge" and his "old dead partner Marley"

"Amy" a.k.a. Kitty Kat and "Jenny" a.k.a. Monkey
"Mark Scroggins", "Jenny's" and "Amy's" dad; "Spirit 1"; and "Scrooge" in the background

The actors and actresses really got into their characters. Can you see "Jenny" cowering as "dad" got angry with "Amy"? "Mark S." was a modern day "Scrooge".

"Scrooge" and "Spirit 2"

"Scrooge" observes at the "Crachit" house.

"Spirit 3" tells "Scrooge" the good news about Jesus.

"Scrooge" kneeling at the manger scene

The church choir and praise band performed the music for the production behind the stage. They had a curtainless curtain call, and the choir and band members joined the cast on the stage. The choir and band members came out wearing Santa hats (don't ask why, I don't know). Here is a picture of Jon's mom. She is in the choir.

Bye-bye Baby Bear, Hello Little Bear!

Baby Bear decided that he didn't want to be called Baby Bear any more. We convinced him to wait until he turned four. Today that day came, and he is now officially Little Bear.


Jon had to work today, so Little Bear got to open his birthday present before Jon left.






















Last night, Jon asked Baby Bear what he wanted for breakfast. His answer? Pizza! (By the way, we had pizza for supper last night.) So, I made plans with Baby Bear to make a cinnamon "roll" pizza. This morning I made the pizza for Little Bear's breakfast. I got up later than I intended, because I didn't sleep well last night. Jon had to leave before the pizza was ready, so he ate a bowl of instant oatmeal. We saved a piece of pizza for him.
















This afternoon, I asked Little Bear what he would like for lunch. His answer? Oatmeal! So, I made Peanut butter oatmeal with a jelly dollop, carrot and celery sticks, and applesauce. I piled the kids' plates high with the oatmeal. I didn't want them to get hungry too quickly. Little Bear didn't finish all his veggies and applesauce. It was just as well though. He is fighting off some sort of flu bug. I realized that the applesauce would only make matters worse after I served him.


Tonight was a dress rehearsal for the play at church. We all went so that I could help with make-up. After the rehearsal was over, we were all standing in a prayer circle. As one of our elders was praying for everyone to get and stay healthy Birdie threw up on the sanctuary floor. Fun times! (oozing with sarcasm)


We had cake and frozen yogurt/ice cream. Birdie had to sit this one out.


*I had more photos I was trying to post, but for some reason they weren't uploading. I may try again tomorrow. I'm too tired to wait for them.

Five Kernels of Corn, Part II

For those of you who are scratching your heads trying to figure out why I did a post about "Five Kernels of Corn" for Thanksgiving, it was a play on part of Thanksgiving's history. The children and I started out our school year by doing a study on the time period of early American history and reading THE LIGHT AND THE GLORY. We learned a lot. The Pilgrims first winter was a hard one. A ship they were expecting to bring them provisions brought them more hungry mouths to feed. During that first winter they ended up on rations of five kernels of corn per person per day. It was a tradition to place five kernels of corn on each person's plate to remind everyone of how blessed they truly were, before anyone took their seats at the Thanksgiving feast. If you Google "five kernels of corn", you will get quite a few links with more information. One I found a few moments ago was this one.

Mykidsmom and Damama T were the only two who left a corny joke. Therefore, they get to share the promised bragging rights. ; )*

In other news: There will be another post tonight. I have a name change announcement to post. Now I've got you curious, don't I?

Luke 2:1-20

Kitty Kat recited Luke 2:1-20 for our Women's Christmas Celebration at church last night. Some of you may remember that she did this last year as well. I went back through my posts so I could link back, but apparently I didn't blog about this last year. She did great.

I was going to take some pictures so I could post them. However, I forgot to take my camera. Jon's mom had hers, so there are a couple pics. I just can't post them here.

Five Kernels of Corn

I got this idea to do a silly post tonight. I asked Jon if he knew five corny jokes. He just looked at me and said, "You are so odd." So . . . here's one corny joke he has been telling the kids lately:

Two men walked into a bar. Which is funny, because you would think the second guy would have seen the first one do it.

There's one joke. I need four more. What's you favorite corny joke? Leave a comment to let me know. The corniest joke wins bragging rights. *


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Please remember to make the jokes clean ones. Children read this blog.

Monkey's Creative Writing 2/25/05

Monkey was looking through one of her old Creative Writing notebooks this morning. She got a laugh out of this recipe that she came up with. She said I could share it with you as long as I put the date of the assignment. LOL

A round sandwich

ingredients:

2 square slices of swiss cheese
2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread
1 hamburger dill slice
1 stick of pepperoni
1 apple chopped into 4 pieces
1 strawberry chopped into 4 pieces
2 acorns chop each acorn into 3 pieces
3 sunflower seeds

directions:

Mix all ingredients except bread and cheese. Then you spread the mixture on one slice of bread with a wooden spoon. Next, put the slices of cheese on top of the mixture. Put the other slice of bread on the very top. Cut a circle out of the middle of the sandwich with a very long knife (that goes across the living room). You have to be where God is to do it.

It Was Only A Matter Of Time

The weather here in Ohio has been all over the place. For example, last week we had a day in the 70s and the next day it snowed. Right now, there is snow on the ground. The children are talking of Christmas. When there is snow on the ground Christmas must soon follow. Right? Wrong. If you live in Ohio, then the chances are you will have snow for Thanksgiving and only need a light jacket for Christmas.

Hmm... I have strayed from my point.

Anyway, when the weather goes through crazy changes, people in my household end up sick. This past week, several of the kids started fighting coughs and stuffy/runny noses. We went through half of a large tissue box in one day. We've been fighting hard to get everyone healthy and try to keep it from spreading. However, last night I lost the battle. I had been fighting off the sickies. I thought I was doing O.K. Then, the girls and I went to Sunflower Scouts last night. It was bitter cold. I got through most of the night fine. As we were waiting for parents to pick up their girls, it hit me hard. All of a sudden, I had no energy. I started feeling achy and unsteady on my feet. I ushered my girls out of the church hoping the other ladies had everything under control (the girls in the age group I help lead had all been picked up).

The kids and I slept in late today. We needed it. Kitty Kat and I had stayed up late last night working on dishes. This morning, I am still feeling blah. Now, I also feel feverish. Ugh! Mamas aren't allowed to get sick!

Now that I've ranted a little, I'm going to go finish getting ready for the day so we can get school done.

Where's the optimism? I didn't have to get up early, get kids ready, and take kids to school this morning!

Saturday Sounds

rain falling

cars splashing through the water on the street outside

rain pinging on the kitchen window air conditioner

rain

rain

silence

no rain?

"Mom, it's snowing!"

Optimistic or Sarcastic? You Decide.

I may never have an empty nest.


So, here's the story that goes with that statement.

Puppy Dog (6yo) had worn out his shoes. I mean the toes of his shoes were completely split open from one side to the other. I taped his shoes last night so that he could wear them to P.E. this morning. Jon picked up a new pair of shoes for him on his way home from work. It just so happens that he found the exact same shoes as P.D. had before. When Jon came in the door with the shoes, P.D. saw the box and got excited and demanded his new shoes. That doesn't work at our house.

Jon slipped the box to me and I had Monkey sneak P.D.'s old shoes to me since he wasn't wearing them. I switched out the shoes and put the lid on the box. Jon then presented the box to P.D. A look of confusion came over P.D.'s face as he opened the box.

Jon then had me take the box back and change the shoes again. Jon took the box out to P.D. and told a story about a salesman telling him that this was a special box. If you put an old pair of shoes in it and close it, when you open it the shoes will be new. Jon told P.D. that it didn't seem to work last time, but maybe it would if they tried again. P.D. opened the box and got excited, "Awesome! I got new shoes!". Froggie (13yo who will be 14yo in Jan.), on the other hand, got excited and yelled, "It worked! It worked!". Froggie then ran to tell Kitty Kat and anyone else who would listen about the magic box. Froggie genuinely believed that the box was magic.

So, there's just one example of why we may never have an empty nest.

Seriously though, does anyone have any words of hope for us?

Creative Writing

Yesterday, I had the children do some creative writing. I won't grade their creative writing. Later, I will start having them circle the words they think may be misspelled. As they learn about different things in their other classes, I will start having them edit and rewrite their entries. For now, creative writing is just a time for them to have fun writing and drawing. Obviously, they all have areas they need to work on. I am pleased though. They all put forth more effort than they had at the end of last year.



Birdie, Puppy Dog, and Baby Bear were to draw a picture of a newborn baby:

Birdie says hers "looks like a baby in the manger with grass".


Puppy Dog's:

Baby Bear's is one of two things. Yesterday, he said it was baby Jesus's blanket. Today, he says it is baby Jesus's bed.

Monkey was to pretend she was a newborn baby and write about a day in her life:

"Waaaa! Waaaaaa!

I wos cold.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

waaa! ssssssssssssss.

SSssszssssss.

I was sleqing Then I waokuq.

I was waringy A rose pink Dres!

Froggie and Kitty Kat were to suppose they were able to visit the time and place of Jesus's birthday and write a letter to their parents describing the events:

Froggie first wrote from a calf's perspective and then from Mary's perspective:

Imoo

I am a cafe

who is happy

That I am

olade

That I can

see the newbo Baby

goodbye


I will love to be happy to be marry

I will be expeting NewBorne
Baby And he will bwe Name

a Baby god's son And she will call him
Boy
Jesus When Jesus Was 30
year's old He cam to the that

god hade made then

When he was kind and then

he went Away Far away From

his diciples houses

and then Santan is so mean
that he wed didnotnouticthat

termping him

and then he died on the crose


I think Kitty Kat was trying to write a book:

11/10/08

Dear Mom and Dad,

my work is going very well. Yesterday something happened. I was sweeping in the inn, like I always do at high noon. The inn was as full as a basket filled to the very top. I was sweeping the dust out into the street, when I saw two peaple and a donkey coming down the road. They stopped in front of the inn, and a man helped a woman of the donkey. They went inside the inn, and I followed them in. As I was putting the broom away, I heard the inn keeper tell them, "Sorry, We do not have a room you can use, but you can use the cave we use as a stable, but you will have to sleep with the animals." Then the innkeeper called me and said, "Take this couple's donkey and lead them to the stable, but let the woman ride the donkey, she is pregnant." Then we went outside, and the man lifted his wife onto the donkey, and we headed for the stable. Once we got there, the man helped his wife inside, and I followed, still leading the donkey. When the donkey was in a stall, and had water and food, I said, "I will be out here later today to take care of the animals. I will also bring some food and water with me for your dinner. But, do you need some right now?" I asked. The man said, "Yes, we would like some food, as soon as you can, please." I went back to the inn. When I found the innkeeper, I said, "Master, the couple asked me for some food and water. I sit all right if I get food and water and take it to them?" The innkeeper said, "Yes, but run back as soon as youcan. You need to finish your chores befor you have to go feed the animals." I said, "When I go to feed the animals, I need to take the couple some dinner. Is that all right?" He said, "Yes." So I got the food and water, took it to the couple, and then I ran back so that I could finish my chores. When I got done, the innkeeper gave me my dinner, and while I was eating, he said, "Take an extra lamp with you tonight, so that the couple does not have to sit in the dark, and take the lamp as soon as you are done eating. If they need anything, get it for them befor you come back to get the feed from the storage room. And don't forget their dinner." As soon as I got done, I grabed the food, the lamps, and a bucket to carry the things to the stable. When I got there, I got the unlit lamp, lit it with the other lamp, and set it on a shelf, then I gave the couple the food and then I walked to the spring, filled the bucket with water, went back to the stable, and gave them two cups so that they could get their own water. Then I ran back to the inn, grabed the feed and another bucket, and went back to the stable to feed the animals. I fed the animals, then I went to the stream. On the way, I figuered out how many trips it would take me to do it with one bucket. When I came back with my tenth bucket, I heard cries of pain coming from the stable. Then I heard silence. Suddenly, I a new born baby's cries. I walked as fast as I could back to the stable. When I got there, in the manger was a baby boy. I very, very slowly walked closer. When I got a cubit away from the happy couple, I said, "What is the baby's name?" They looked at me, and the woman said, "His name is Jesus, Son of the living God." Right as she said this, the inn keeper walked in. When he saw me standing by the happy couple, looking with love at the manger, he looked at the manger to. When he saw the baby, the woman said again, "His name is Jesus." Then the Inn keeper and I went back to the inn.

With Love,

Your Datter

A Little of This And a Bit of That

First, Lucille at Who's Going to Tell You? wants to know if she should keep blogging. She says she will continue if she gets fifty comments. She did not specify that the comments had to be from fifty different people, but wouldn't it be neat if she did get comments from fifty different people? I've started her off with ten comments. I'm just ornery that way. LOL So, everyone head on over to Lucille's place. I'll wait. I need to change around the loads of laundry anyway.



Second, I don't think I mentioned before that Jon, Kitty Kat, and Monkey are in a Christmas play the Stage Right drama group at our church is putting on. The play is (if I have it right) "Scrooge Revisited". Jon got the lead part of Scrooge. The girls are extras in a scene or two and are the great-great- great...granddaughters of Scrooge in a modern day scene. The girls had their lines memorized for their audition. Jon, on the other hand, has a total of ninety-nine lines to have memorized. He is finding that it is a lot harder to memorize lines now than it was when he had less responsibilities.



Third, things have been crazy around here.

The two aforementioned girls had to be at church every day but Friday a couple weeks ago. Sunday: we had morning and evening services and activities. Monday: the girls and I had Sunflower Scouts. Tuesday: Jon, Kitty Kat, and Monkey had play practice. Wednesday: Baby Bear had his Wed. night class; Puppy Dog, Monkey, and Birdie had children's choir; Kitty Kat and Froggie had small group; Jon had Men's Fraternity; and I had Teacher Training. Thursday: we had homeschool P.E. Saturday: our church had their Fall Festival and Trunk and Treat.


This past week was all mixed up.

A week ago Saturday, Birdie was playing ghost in a sleeping bag after I warned the kids to put the bags away before someone got hurt. Birdie tripped and chipped four of her teeth.

A week ago Monday, I dropped the other kids off at Mom's and took Kaycie to the dentist. Jon met us at Mom and Dad's and we ate supper with them before the girls and I had to run off to Sunflower Scouts.


Last Tuesday was election day so we tried to focus on the elections. The kids and I went over to Jon's Mom's place and picked up her pop cans (to recycle) and ran her vacuum. We took all our cans to the recycle center and then picked up lunch. We ate lunch at Jon's workplace. It was a nice day so the kids and I played games (i.e. Mommy Says instead of Simon Says) on the lawn while we waited for Jon to get off work. When Jon got off work, we went together in the van to go vote. The kids did great! They only got riled up when one of the poll workers started encouraging them. The workers were bored and enjoyed the lively chatter of the children. After we voted, we went shopping and then picked up Jon's car. The evening was spent watching the voting results, watching an online video about how the voting process works, etc.


Wednesday Birdie had an appointment at the E.N.T. doctor. Monkey, Kitty Kat, and Froggie stayed in the reception area and read. The boys went back to the examination room with Birdie and me. They all behaved well at the doctor's office.


Thursday the kids had their homeschool P.E. class and I got a chance to talk with some of the other homeschool moms from our church. We also had to run some errands.


Friday the kids and I (my mom came too) went to watch Jon at a forklift rodeo. As the day's events ended, Jon was in first place in the masters division. Jon's supervisor invited the children and I to go eat with them afterwards at Lone Star.


Saturday was the final day of the rodeo. We went again hoping that Jon would stay in the top six. During the final half hour, he was knocked down to seventh (I think) place. Needless to say, he was very disappointed. Jon stayed for the catered award ceremony while my mom, dad, the children, and I went to Frisch's. We then went back to our MESSY :. ( house for pumpkin pie that my mom had brought.

We also were getting back into our early rising routine this past week and dealing with the time change. Our pets are still messed up over the time change.

The children were really trying my patience this last week or so. They have been fighting and arguing, talking back, grumbling, complaining, deliberately disobeying, and making messes without cleaning them up. Between our busy week and trying to fit in school we didn't have much time to keep up the house. When we were working on the house, it was like we would take one or two steps forward and at least five steps back. I'm still trying to find the optimistic side of things.

This morning before he left for work, Jon told me I really needed to enforce a mandatory nap time "right now". He gave them all a talking to as well. The kids were already at each others throats before 6:30 am this morning! The kids have been watching preschool programs this morning ever since breakfast was over. They're not allowed to mess around or the T.V goes off. The girls won't take a nap anymore, so this down time is about as close as we'll get to naps. I was hoping the boys would fall asleep, but they're not. They are close though. We might just have to start our school day with story time. We've really got to get the kids back into a better routine.

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll end it here. I'll have another post up soon with yesterday's creative writing assignments.

Where should the moon be at 5:30pm?

We were out this afternoon between 5:30 and 6:00 and the following conversation took place:

Baby Bear: "Mo-ommy-y, there's a pro-oble-em!"

Me: "What's the problem?"

Baby Bear: "The moon is up!"

Jon: "Where did you see the moon?"

Baby Bear: "in the sky"

Who would have thought that a 3yo (almost 4) would be that aware of the time change differences?

Maybe that explains it!

There is a post at Happy to be @ Home that says that there is a saying that moms lose 25% of their sanity for each child they have. If each 25% is deducted from the already lowered percent of sanity then I am left with only 17.8% of the sanity I had before motherhood. If each 25% is taken from the original 100%, then I am left 50% in the hole when it comes to sanity.

There is an upside! Being insane means I can be more creative! After all, I'm sure not every child gets to eat leftover meatloaf pizza.

Speaking of pizza, Jon thought his workplace was providing lunch today so he didn't take a lunch. He'll be coming in the door HUNGRY. I plan to make a chicken bar-b-que pizza for us to eat when he gets home. I better go get it started!

Have a great day!

7 Things About You Meme

I was tagged by Jennifer at Getting Ahead for this "7 Things About You Meme". So, hear goes . . .

1. For about thirteen to fourteen months when I was in the end of fifth and beginning of sixth grade, my family lived in Kentucky. One day after we had lived there for a while, our neighbors saw us kids outside playing. They asked my mom who that other girl was. My mom asked who they were talking about and they pointed me out. I spent so much time in my room reading the neighbors didn't even know I existed. LOL * My mom could probably elaborate or correct if needed. My memories of that time period are a little foggy.

2. I love baking and cooking, but I really don't like cleaning up afterward.

3. If I have to wait for a child to do part of an assignment, I have to have something else to do. If not, I tend to get drowsy. I give the children stretching and moving breaks in between subjects. The children benefit from this and so do I.

4. I am one of those people that could read a newspaper with a red pen in hand. Every little typo, spelling, and grammatical error jumps out at me. I used to correct the letters I received as a child. When my older two girls were in public school I cringed whenever I got a poorly written note from their teachers. While I'm blogging and commenting on other blogs, I don't always proofread before I publish. When I see my own errors, it drives my crazy.

5. I have about a hundred things/projects I would like to do but don't have time to do.

6. If it were up to me, then I would probably never get new clothes. My husband usually buys clothes for me or drags me to the stores. My parents tend to give me clothes or a gift card to a clothing store for Christmas.

7. I like liver and pork brains. I can remember eating pork brains with my grandparents, but I'm not even sure a person can get them anymore. I sometimes tease the children about having pork brains, liver, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and other "yucky" foods for a meal.

That's done. Now to choose seven people to tag . . .

TMBMT at TMBMT's Ramblings Hey, Sis!
Teri the "Ohio State Nut" at Go Buckeyes!
Lisa at Green From Blue
Damama T at Damama's at it again!
mykidsmom
Lucille at Who's Going to Tell You?
Tara at Tara's Ramblings

Here are the rules if you got tagged or just want to play along:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 7 random things about yourself
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

Lumber-Jon

Sunday, September 14 seems so long ago, doesn't it? Almost a full month ago, a part of our neighbor's ash tree fell on our roof. After a frustrating cycle between insurance, estimates, and unreturned phone calls, I talked Brandi into letting me do it myself (I promise I won't fall off the roof, honey!). And yet, I still don't have the job done. You may be wondering what is taking so long, and frankly, so am I. So if you could please tell me...

Mandatory overtime at work (I was not allowed by work to refuse), mandatory family time (no tree is gonna get between me and my kids), keeping my Sunflower happy (need I explain?!?), and lack of a spotter have all conspired with my general fear of falling (a very healthy fear, I might add) to keep me from getting back up on the roof to finish the job. Yes, I said back up. I was up once, which would be when I discovered my fear of falling. Not really afraid of heights, just afraid of falling. With a brother spotting me, I spent 3 to 4 hours up there with a chainsaw just cutting off the leafy branches. Today, for lack of a spotter, I am trying to break down the limbs into firewood, kindling, and compost.

Pictures of me usually look like this,

but I let Brandi (a.k.a. Sunflower) snap some of me while I was "on the job."

Carrying one of the many branches after stripping it to cut it up.

Cutting with POWER ! Arrr arrr arrr.

Halfway done with the little branches, now for the rest on the roof (still !).

Doesn't look too bad, but don't .....

... look down.

Cute Quotes

Baby Bear: "Mommy, I'm going to build my cubhouse at Gamma R-----'s house. And, I have biznis cawds. I'm awowing you and Daddy to be in my cub."

Pardon My Mess

I decided that our blog needs a new look. There's no telling when I'll get done tweaking it.

A Much Better "Pow Wow"

The girls and I went to our Sunflower Scouts kickoff party yesterday. The first half of our year we will be studying Native American Indians, so the party was a "pow wow". We all had a great time. The girls had a lot of activities to participate in: face painting (or "free face painting!" as some of the girls called it), playing in what I'll call a clubhouse, painting pumpkins, making Indian corn door hangings, making "turtle shell" rattles, making hair clips, roasting hot dogs, eating, watching a smoke signal demonstration, and dancing around a fire to a drum beat and then picking up candy when the drum stopped. A couple of our girls still have signs of the face paint. lol My camera ran out of power, so I didn't get very many pictures. None of the pictures are ones I could post here. Monkey was excited because a girl told her that they were friends now. Yay!

On another topic . . . Jon and I had a good time on our date. We went to the mall and Jon got a shirt. Then, we went to eat at a steakhouse and everything was just as we ordered it. I think we went to another store and then went home. Jon had to work the next morning so we couldn't stay out too late.

Happy Birthday, Jon!

Today is Jon's birthday. He has to work, but my mom is going to watch the kids so that we can go on a date.

I'd write more, but it isn't yet four in the morning and I've been up for a while doing laundry and some other things. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. So, I'll post about our day later (maybe tomorrow?) after our busy day is over and I'm more alert.

Happy Birthday, Jon!

Food For Thought

"Democrats Had Role In Crisis"

A Busy Weekend

We had a pretty eventful weekend. I finally have something to blog about! LOL I could do without some of it.

Saturday, the kids and I went to a Pow Wow. It's not something we will do again. It was a BIG letdown. The kids and I were all bored, we had to pay to get in (more than was locally advertised) and they had merchandise booths surrounding the center circle , and I got sunburned.


Did you know that you "can't see" this man. He is doing a "stalking dance". He is supposed to be sneaking up on buffalo and when he is crouched down he is "invisible". The announcer even said if we had our pictures developed, then they would come back without the image of the dancer. lol
The kids thought the announcer was insane.


These two showed up on/around our porch Sunday early morning. Jon was a pushover and we have now adopted them. It wasn't too difficult to persuade me.

Tiger is a little timid. He likes to hide in their new refuge. Lily is more adventuresome and curious.

This tree fell in the wind storm Sunday and blocked our side street.



It almost hit a neighbor's car.


We had some damage around our house, too. This is one of the sections of privacy fence that fell down.

Some small branches fell on some wires between our garage and house (we got them off each time) and a large limb fell on our house. There doesn't appear to be much structural damage, though I could be wrong. I think God was really looking out for us!
Do you see the crack in our next door neighbor's tree? We were really watching it Sunday. None of our children slept upstairs Sunday night. Our neighbor moved one of his daughters out of her room that is on the corner of their house near the tree. It really looked like it was going to crash down. We think the ivy vines wrapped around it are holding it up. Our neighbor isn't allowed to mess with it and has to wait on the city/county to take care of it.

Our electricity went out Sunday at 4:11pm. It came back on a little after 5:00am this morning. Now, I need to go clean out our refrigerator and freezer before I put our food back in them and catch up on the laundry.

Freaky Sneaky

Isn't it fun to put your experiences in life to use on your children?

As a child, we lived in a two-story apartment where one whole side of the apartment was adjoined to the next. My dear mother, being ever courteous and considerate of our neighbors, wanted to be sure we didn't disturb them. Therefor, if one of us children (four rowdy boys and one ornery girl) would happen upon the disfavor of said parent, one oft-used punishment was to climb and descend the stairway X amount of times SILENTLY. At the time, aside from pleasing our neighbors with our silence, I could not see any possible use for this skill in my adult life.

UNTIL I had children. We now live in a very old (originally built in 1871) very creaky house. With many thanks to my mother (NEVER thought I'd write that phrase) I am able to be beside my children without warning. I have employed this skill to stop fights, correct the errant child, and surprise my four daughters when they decide to have a slumber party instead of going to sleep at night. Time and again, my children have been caught off-guard by my stealth. This usually results in one or more of my offspring whispering "freaky".

During one of my slumber party busts, I got so close to Froggie that I could whisper in her ear, so I said the following:
"It's freaky how sneaky your Daddy can be."
As my children desperately try to figure out how to hear me coming, I am encouraged to find that an otherwise pointless exercise has become useful. So, as I am designing appropriate discipline for my children, I have hope that they may be able to find some future benefit from some useless form of punishment.

Another Celery Experiment

August 18, 2008: I prepared celery for the joint birthday party. I cut the whole root end off the celery to save time instead of separating the ribs before cutting off the ends. Previously, I had seen an activity for cutting the topmost part of old celery off and putting the root end in water to watch the young shoots grow. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if it would work with just the root end.

I didn't get any pictures before today. When I cut off the end, I cut straight through. The growth that you can see above the level of the rest of the cut line took place after it was cut. This is what our celery looks like now:


There are even little roots growing now. Can you see them?


The kids have enjoyed watching the progress. Kitty Kat has even taken it upon herself to make sure it stays watered. I moved the celery to our dining room table to take these pictures. Baby Bear walked right past the table, saw the pictures on our computer, and ran to the kitchen to check out the celery. He started getting stressed out because he couldn't find it in its usual spot. "Hey, where'd our celery go!" I showed him where it was and everything was right in his little world again.

Monkey Art

BALLET CAN BE FUN by: Monkey 8/30/08


Monkey got her inspiration from the pencil sharpening which she found in Baby Bear's pencil sharpener.

More Homeschool Freebies

Do you remember when I posted about the Homeschool Freebie of the Day?

This weekend only, the site is hosting a "Homeschool Freebie of the Day Labor Day Weekend/ End of Summer BASH!.

They are adding new freebies all weekend that remain free for the whole weekend. There is also a scavenger hunt to find past freebies that are available again for this weekend. I went through the whole hunt and found all eight items in just a couple minutes. That's saying a lot since we have dial-up.

This is what our computer desktop looks like right now. It's fitting, huh?!

Just for Fun