In case you were wondering......
Yes I am still keeping and have kept my new years resolution to change. I haven't missed a single day, although my most awesomest husband in the world has helped a few nights and I have been up at midnight doing dishes a few, I have gone to bed every single night this year with a sink with NO DIRTY DISHES IN IT!!! Ah huh! That's right! Who's bad!!! Oh yeah! That's me!!!!



yup yup yup


*************************************************************
FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENT
(non family readers might not get the full intent in this little drivvle)
To my beloved Grandpa Kelly (yes, you know I love you even if I don't ever call and return your HYlarious voice mails) and all other Texas family members and those who call themselves family members and ESPECIALLY those who live like family members and wish they really were family members and also to those that pretend they are family members but aren't really and to those that we all assume are family members and have long forgotten that they aren't really,
I realize that ya'll call me "The General" and for good reason. I can be pretty powerful/bossy/demanding/orgazationally brilliant/pushy/loud/bossy at times....only when needed, of course, like when the outhouse gets blown over and no one has picked it up and put it back in use and other such emergency situations. I also do realize and openly acknowledge that Sweetie has brought me and our beautiful children up to the land of snow and ice to live and shiver, far far from you. And I also do hereby acknowledge our fond and frequent memories of our beloved family and state afar to the south and our intense jealousy of fabulous weather in afore mentioned state.

HOWEVER, I want to clear up the misunderstanding/misconception/misinterpretation/delusion/authority misplaced...etc etc etc et al, of the recent weather events in said beloved state. Even in my blusteriest state, I cannot nor would I subject my beloved familial persons to snow....and especially not multiple times in one year. Really! I declare, I DO NOT know why anyone would ever think I'd send snow to Texas! It wasn't me!

Love,
The General

Friday Kid Update

I haven't done this in a while, so let me jog my tired little brain and see what I can remember write about.

Joshua- His reading abilities astonished me this week. We do lots of school throughout each day and thru the week, but I haven't been sitting down and having him read to me alot lately. I had checked out some level 1 readers for him from the library and have noticed him grabbing random books and reading them to himself alot lately. So just to check in the other day, I asked him to read me a page from the book he was currently reading. I was amazed. He flew right thru the page, no problems. This isn't some basic Dick and Jane kind of book either. I was just so impressed and excited for him. I love love love books and I hope to pass that onto my children. Seems the bug might be biting baby #1. (Smith family, thank you for Tombo's book. That was the one he was reading!)

Leah- Leah leah leah. She's a challenge right now. She decided this week that she wanted to play the picky eater card again and see how it went. We don't do picky eaters in our house. We have a rule that we are all to be grateful for what the Lord has provided to nourish us, whether we care for the food or not. So Tuesday morning she got to eat her food from Monday night she didn't want. Then, Thursday night she decided to give it a go again. She skipped eating it at breakfast and lunch today. After nap time, her plate was mysteriously missing. She got up and threw it in the trash. So, you better believe that I picked it and the food up and put it right back on the table.* She finally ate it about 45 minutes before dinner time. You'll never guess what the VILE, AWFUL, NO GOOD, NASTY offending foods were! Grassfed, organic steaks off the grill, creamed spinach with lots of fresh garlic, and mashed potatoes. Serious!

Hannah- A little toot to be sure, but she is too stinkin cute for me to crack down on her and train her any better right now. You just CANNOT get past those big blue eyes! So, here are some Hannahease for you, because with this one, you need it!
Juice really means water.
Milk really means a juice of any sort.
Actual milk is not spoken of because she doesn't understand why anyone would drink that nasty stuff, lol.
This means I want what you have or anything within a 5 block radius and you better figure out what it is on your own because I'm giving you no other clues.
If This repeated over and over doesn't work, she will give you a "please" a few times and then right before she loses patients with your failure to comply she will say "good girl".

Pictures soon. hopefully this weekend!

*I did make sure that the food wasn't laying on any rotten salmonella laiden food, but I can't promise I wouldn't have given it to her either way.

More randomness...
-We compromised and did both a Dave Ramsey vacation and a relaxing one. See, we had the money saved to relax and do nothing the whole vacation, but we've DR'd it for so long that well, spending frivolously is just repulsive to us now...most of the time ;-). So we had breakfast buffets every morning at our hotels, then ate veggies and dip and hummus and crackers for lunch in our room. Much healthier and cheap. Then ate dinner out. It worked out well. And Hannah was excited to see her beloved broc broc at lunch.
-It is sunny and 40+ degrees here all week. The snow is melting!!! Praise God. Spring might just show up on time here this year!

Hold On To Your Hats

Whirlwind, comin through.....
-Had a whirlwind leading up to vacation, busy busy busy.
-We took off for some down time. We spent two nights at the Embassy Suites (best hotel chain of all time) south of Cincinnati and visited the Newport Aquarium and the Creation Museum. We give the aquarium 2 stars, we give the creation museum 5 Lachpach stars...our highest rating. Then we checked into Great Wolf Lodge and loved every minute of it. Joshua's favorite part was the wave pool, Leah LOVED the slides and rode them over and over and over and Hannah loved the water, as long as she didn't have to get in it. She and I stood with our toes close but not in the water alot. Sadly, Leah and Hannah got pretty sick and ran a high fever the last night we were there, so we cut our last day in the waterpark and headed home.
-We got home and my friend Erin was admitted to the hospital and so we went and picked up their six children. They stayed with us for three nights and we all had a good time. Things were really smooth and pretty easy, but no matter how it shakes up, 6 babies 5 and under is just exhausting.
-Tomorrow, I will prop my feet up and pretend that I don't have to miraculously whip this house into shape to start hosting a small group in our home on Friday after Robert is out of town on Thursday and Friday.
-Hannah is now 18 months old. She's a hoot.
-Tomorrow is day 14 since our pox party. I'm hoping to wake up to three poxy kids.

Schizophrenia

schiz·o·phre·ni·a - (noun) disorganized speech and behavior

This is how I feel about my blog. Little clips of my life put randomly together seem odd and make me laugh. I could also add some kind of personality disorder here as well. I'm a many faceted person and depending on the personality that sits down at this computer when the moment of opportunity arises, you could get any mix of thoughts or sentiments. Blogging is funny that way. Some women are so great at being consistent in their content and thought patterns, probably because they have a precise purpose in blogging, but I'm just not. So I plug along here. After all, my two purposes of blogging are to continue to share my life with my beloved family and friends a 1000 miles away from me and to have some kind of insight for my children of our familial pursuits in their childhood. If nothing else, it should give them something to make fun of me about as I get old and crotchety.

And so, to warn my readers of a day when my post might be all over the place, I introduce you to my newest posting series.....schizophrenia.

So, what's on my mind today.
Snow is so pretty and I love it, except that it is cold and you have to wear too many clothes and you can't swim and then it gets slightly warmer and is still cold but the snow melts and gets really messy and muddy and it is still cold. Only 2 more months of winter here. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. The winter really has been much milder this year than lasts, and I am thankful to God for that!

When we moved to Ohio, remember I was big pregnant and soon had a baby and then saw snow for the first time, Sarah V came to stay with us and help us out (still waiting for her to come again...hint hint). She marveled one day about how I would let the kids run around our circle in our house and be loud and rowdy. I told her that I was trying out a theory. I had heard of women and children being locked in their homes for months on end by this mysterious thing called snow, and that sounded like alot of pent up energy to me, so I was going to let my kids learn that at certain times, they could let it all loose in the house. I can now say that I am glad I thought ahead to that! Today my children ran up and down our hall, screaming at the top of their lungs AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......for 45 minutes without stopping. You could see the awe and admiration in Hannah's eyes at the sheer genius of Joshua and Leah to come up with such an engaging game. It works! (I've also brought the bicycles in to the basement for a few quick laps while I change out laundry.)

I've been reading alot this year. I really miss reading when it doesn't fit into my life. I've read lots of books on health and nutrition, always trying to do better for my family in that area. It pays off, if nothing else because it gets me refocused on what junk we are putting into our bodies. I day dream alot about blogging a series here on my health journey. Someday, I'll even sit down and do it, but I warn you that I need to clearly relate the concept of place value to my 5 year old first.

I've also been reading on temperaments again. Trying to get a better hold on how best to guide and teach and discipline each of my chlidren. It is tricky business figuring out your child's temperament. They say they aren't fully established until 7, but I think we can see ours pretty well right now. Joshua is like his father, big surprise there, phlegmatic with a little sanguine...although he seems to have more sanguine than Robert. Leah is interesting. She is just like me and so I assumed she'd be a strong choleric...and she still might, but right now I think she has alot of sanguine in her....which I have NONE. Hannah is a baby, and I have that one nailed down! Or do I, she will be 18 months next week.....hmmmm. Maybe I should start potty training her.

When I finish this post, I will begin the list making and suitcase pulling for our trip!!!! We are all so excited. Especially since it is snowing heavily today and is supposed to continue tomorrow. But in Cinci, the forecast is for sunshine and 40 degrees. CAN'T WAIT!!! Sunshine!!!!

My cheap-Dave Ramsey side and my free spirit spender side are battling over this trip. DR on my shoulder keeps telling me to plan our meals out for the trip so we can save money and eat healthier...I like this option except the work involved in planning and executing it. lol! My free spender side keeps telling me that I love eating out and really it is vacation, my only glimpse of down time ever and I should take the break and enjoy it. Hmmmm, we'll see which lists I get accomplished before we leave on Saturday....that will really determine which side wins.

I used to pack for the whole week leading up to a trip. I'm one of those annoying people that forsees almost any need and packs accordingly to have all bases covered. However, since having children, I've learned about this crazy malfunction on the 22nd chromosome. Apparently it is a gene that shuts off once you reach an age older than my children, I'll let you know what age that is once mine reach it. It's wild to observe, especially if left to develop uninhibited. Here is what it does. Any time a suitcase is brought into the environment, it immediately clicks on and the gene springs into action. If the suitcase is left empty, the child must, genetically driven, completely and totally and haphazardly fill every space of said case. They really can't help themselves. However, and this is where the true wonder of the human make up comes into play, if the said case is being or is packed, the same child MUST remove all items and place them in the most unusual spots in the most extreme areas of the current environment. The first time I witnessed this with Joshua, I just thought it was a novelty of an unknown item, but I now know, after having three very distinct and separate test cases, that it is consistent across the species. Amazing really!

We've survived our first chicken pox party of this season. Hopefully it is the only one we need to catch the elusive critters. All of us Mom's were talking about how funny it is that people freak out when there is a case of pox. We all swapped more germs than this germaphobe Mama can ever honestly admit and who knows if any of the 13 children will actually catch the pox. One of the Mom's here was with her #8 child, the last one to need the pox. She said her #7 took 5 parties before she got them. Seriously, this infecting gig is hard work.

My children all had their very first suckers. Joshua was pretty sure he had died and gone to heaven. Finally a sweet he really loved. I'm petrified of what tonight could be like with all of that sugar and artificial colors. I know that tomorrow will be AWFUL. My kids react to sugar soooo much and usually get very limited amounts. The big two ate a whole sucker, red and blue at that! EEK! Hannah did a pretty good job on part of a blue one herself. I can't believe I let my 17 month old have a sucker. Still freaked out about all of this. I'm such a germaphobe and healthaphobe, these pox parties are just hard on my pysche.

But, now we wait. 14-21 days from now we will know. Surely at least one of the 13 picked it up. The pox boy was awesome. Never fussed once about licking all of the suckers, or having his nose swabbed. Hope my kids are as willing to help when their time comes.

We are going on vacation!!!!! Robert's company finally hired someone for the second full time management position that he has been working since Hannah was 2 months old. FINALLY! So, to celebrate our survival of this insanity and to get our family pulled back together, we are heading out for some down time!!!! We are going down to Cincinnati for a few days. We'll take Robert to the Creation Museum for the first time. The kids are ecstatic about going back, and so am I. It really is stunningly beautiful! We are also going to visit the Newport Aquarium, we are aquarium junkies, after all. Then we are going to park it at Great Wolf Lodge and just chill for a few days. Cannot wait! We don't plan on leaving the hotel at all. Our ideal schedule looks like sleeping in until 8-9. Get up and enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the buffett downstairs. Mosey over to the waterpark a few feet away. Play play play. Have a quick lunch in our room. More waterpark time. Then long naps, playplayplay. Dinner, bedtime story in the lobby then sleep tight. Wash, rinse, repeat! We leave Saturday!!!

Tomorrow we are hosting a chicken pox party at our house. Hopefully it will work this time. It would be perfect timing to get the pox!!!!

Affirmations

-Today I was wading thru knee deep snow to make a passable path for the kids to get to a hill in our back yard to sled on. I pulled Hannah on her little sled and Joshua carried Leah's sled for her as she worked her little legs in the high thigh deep snow for her. Joshua said "Mommy, it feels like we are walking thru the parted waters in the Red Sea. Just like Moses." That made me so happy.
-Joshua and Leah have morning chores that they are to complete before coming out of their rooms. Lately, Joshua gets up at 8, which is his "I'm allowed to get up now" time. Gets dressed, makes his bed, picks up his room and then, even though he could come on down to see what I'm doing, he has been going and making Leah's bed for her so she can just get dressed and pick her room up. It's so nice to see that sibling love and devotion.
-Earlier this week, the big kids were outside playing in the snow. I looked out to check on them, and they were out front shoveling the driveway for us.

Friday Kid Update

We are doing good. We are all settling into our winter routine of only leaving the house on the weekends. Amazing how much money we save this time of year. It has just started snowing and we are glad to see it. We've had little snow this year. One good storm on New Year's Day that lasted for 2 weeks but since then very little. It has been nice in some ways. The kids and I have gotten to get out to the library some, but there hasn't been any fun snow to play in or sled on. This is supposed to be a pretty good snow, so hopefully we will get a good sled day in tomorrow.

The kids are all great. We are doing some retraining and role realignments right now, so it isn't necessarily pretty but necessary. We realized that herd parenting Joshua and Leah together needed to stop. Joshua now has more responsibilities to help push him to better maturity choices. Leah has had all choices and responsibilities taken away to get her back to being realigned at a 3 year old level, instead of 5 years. It is already helping. Joshua is listening much better and being much more caring for us all. Boys just need more work to keep them busy, and I forget that sometimes. Leah is having the biggest change already. She's much calmer and happier. Hannah is ADORABLE. I've thought that all of my kids were cute, but several times a day, I want to grab the camera and capture Hannah at this stage. I don't know if it is her temperment to be so cute or just a phase. Time will tell. She definitly likes attention. I don't konw if that is because she's a third child ans so always has someone's attention or if it is just who God has made her. It sure is fun. We all eat her up.

Hopefully, next week, I'll have some video to put up here!

The winter blahs are setting in here. This year it isn't the snow, yet. We had a nice thick 18 inches that was great to sled in for about 2 weeks but then in a freak weather phenomenon, it got above freezing for several days in a row and it all melted. Since then, it has been cold but no snow. It did snow some this morning, but only about 2 inches. The problem is just that it is cloudy every day. Cold and cloudy is just blah weather. I can see why multitudes of people up here turn to anti-depressants and other drugs, although I don't condone or support this path of treatment, I do sympathize with people looking for a quick fix. It is just wearing never seeing the sun.

I noticed I was heading down the path of blahness again and so decided it was time to get back on my Netflix workout video reviews again. Up first this year, Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I was pretty scared to be honest. I had heard much fitter specimens than me lamenting the agony of this system, but it was the next fitness one up in my queue, so I bit the bullet and resisted the urge to put it right back in the mail. Today is day three and I have to say that I like it.....with the caveats that I am still on level 1 and not doing it with weights, technically (I think do crunches with a 25 pound toddler on your chest should count as weights!). It is a reasonable system, as she leads you through 3 circuits of 2 minutes weight training, 2 minutes cardio then 1 minute of abs. The moves are pretty straight forward and she does them in a controlled manner, not fast and furious, so I feel like I can really do them correctly and effectively. And um, they are effective! My first day, I actually made it through the whole workout, and was pretty proud of myself. By that night though, I was pretty tight. The next day I was quite sore, but getting through day 2 helped work that out....until that night when my whole body was burning every time I got up or down. Ouch! Today is day three, and other than my glutes being tight and my knees being sore from the push ups, I am feeling really good. My only problem is that after having three kids, I'm realizing I might have to always workout in Depends! Very annoying!

I don't like that the girls are just in sports bras, but that is the norm these days. She also has said a couple of cuss words, in my book the A## word is a cuss word. And she talks about girl power and flaunting it, etc here and there. Annoying. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone significantly overweight or out of shape. It isn't a first timers video. I think you'd just quit because it was too much right off the bat....at least that is what I would do under those circumstances.

Tomorrow, I think I am going to add canned vegetables to the mix. My arms are gonna die. I already know it!

One World, One Heart

Have you guys heard about the blog event going on right now? It is called the One World, One Heart giveaway. It is fun. You visit these artsy Momma's blogs and reply to their contest post and then you are entered to win something from them. They have some really cool stuff going on all over the world. Three of my friends in Texas are participating, so check them out.

http://shonastudio.blogspot.com/
First, my friend Shona. She's this amazingly fun and sweet lady that also happens to be an amazingly talented artist. You have to check her out, her work is beautiful and so full of life. She also happens to have a book coming out next month and she posted an introduction to it today on her blog!

http://sewingwithtrudy.blogspot.com/
Next is my friend Trudy who is an amazing seamstress. Her blog keeps moving me closer and closer to sewing again. She does some really cool looks!

http://thehomemakingarts.blogspot.com/
Finally is my friend Donna. Donna and I have served side by side thru some really fun times, pulling weeds and cleaning friends homes and serving meals together. She has so much wisdom to offer us younger mothers and she is doing just that at her new site. She's a pretty impressive artist herself as well.

Hello Blog,
Just you and me around these parts lately. Sorry if you've felt a little neglected. I really do love you and I realize you do have a purpose other than just my pleasure to get to sit down and write periodically. I realize that if I never post here, my children will wonder how we passed the years of their childhoods. I do know that it would probably be more practical to just bite the bullet and do the traditional scrapbooking things, but really, I just don't have it in me. Now don't be rediculous, haven't you noticed that I haven't even uploaded our pictures from our trip to Texas in NOVEMBER yet? Really. You honestly think I would ever get around to picking, editing, printing and scrapping pictures. And we both know how lacking I am in the artistic department......so no no, you and they will have to settle for my endless, random and sporatic writing escapades here. Now don't get pouty! I'm warning you!! Ok, fine....then I am not rambling today, I am ignoring you completely and going back to my reading. You know, you aren't the only outlet of my free time on the block honey. In fact, I've already read 15+ books this year. SO THERE! Now you know. I've been cheating on you........with the printed word.

I'm going to wipe a poopy bottom now, when I come back, I expect a cheerful heart.
Sincerely,
Your Author

Ahh, the rollercoaster of Motherhood. Last weeks high is this weeks hiccup. We are still doing well but not near as together as last week, and of course by we, I mean ME. Hannah has had tummy issues and ran a fever one day and is still having teeth coming in like it is her life's job, so that means she wants Mommy to be holding her or nursing her constantly. Really puts a cramp in my "get 'er done" attitude. But hold her I do because she won't want or need that much longer. I try to remember that when I am frustrated with the poor attempt at schooling and the nasty, filthy floors and laundry that never did get put away and toilets....oh the toilets. When I hit these times now, instead of just throwing in the towel and calling the day a bust, which used to be my MO....at times I'd call a day a bust at 9 am, lol... now I pile us up on the couch and read books together or gather us on and around a kitchen counter to make something, ANYTHING and make myself no matter how tired sit down and do my devotional. This might surprise you all (or not since I'm sure 99% of you aren't as hard headed as I) but those days end up much better than they began. I look back with Robert after the kids are in bed, and the dishes are done of course, and can actually say that something got done.

So my superwoman cape isn't back from the cleaners yet, but that's ok. I'm focusing on growing Godly children and feeding us all as nutritious as possible, after all our lives are gifts from the Lord, shouldn't we fill them as such. (and no no, you are completely wrong if you think this recent healthy refocus has anything to do with the nasty taste still left in my mouth from our recent McD's trip...completely off base!)

We are of course praying for Haiti too. We haven't introduced the topic to our children. How do you really, to a 5, 3, and 1 year old? How do you tell them that there are children just like them starving to death lieing next to their dead mothers? I just don't know what to tell them without scarring them. They know about Haiti since some of our friends brought their boys home from their last May. How do I tell mine that the orphanage that Justin and Peterson lived in, and we looked at pictures of often is now unsafe and maybe after this morning not even standing. So Robert and I save those prayers for our time, not our children's. Sadly, this won't be the last time in our babies lives that they will see this kind of destruction, so we wait until their little hearts can handle it.

We are rejoicing today at the hope that the Lord has brought us thru the Republican win in Mass. We do continue to pray though for God to stop our nation from the innocent slaughter of children. Shame on everyone of us for not doing more!

Ok, this post has taken an sad turn and I can't leave it here, especially since I have some fun kid updates that I didn't get posted last week. So here they are...
Hannah- Has hit a developmental SPURT in addition to her fussiness. She is also talking much clearer and repeating everything she hears. Yesterday she went on and on about her hummus and crackers. The girl might just bankrupt us with her hummus habit! (Note to self, must get homemade hummus going quickly!) She can point to most parts of her body when we ask her. She likes this game particularly when getting her diaper changed. She is walking full time now too. If you don't believe me, check out the video I put up on FB. She's 16 months old now and like all three, I am becoming weary of her babyhood, but unlike the others, I know that a BIG corner gets turned at 18 months and so I'm ok.
Leah- Is struggling with middle child syndrome right now. Joshua gets lots of attention because of school, Hannah because she's still nursing and Leah is feeling left out. She's taken to lieing or trying too. She's still a helper though. I think she has to help, it is in her genetic make up to clean and pick up and coddle her siblings!
Joshua- Has had a big ole growth spurt lately. Right now he is LONG and lanky. I know that means to stock on groceries because he'll start chubbing up for his next spurt soon. He already eats twice the breakfast I do. He's doing really well with his school. He loves all of it. His handwriting is improving TREMENDOUSLY and I think he finally has conquered the "b"/"d" confusion....just in time to confuse a 9 with a P. He'd doing so well!

Things are going really great here. It is nice to have a calm season that is clicking along. I seriously haven't felt this good in 5 years. We aren't moving right now, no new babies in the works, no babies waking up all night, we aren't surviving on nasty food...life is good. I'm feeling good and full of energy. I've been able to stay on top of our house work, cooking, homeschooling and baby nurturing as well. It is nice to have a break like this. Hannah will probably wean in the next few months and if I'm not pregnant, I'll actually get to kick healthy living into high gear and do some cleansing. My liver and gall bladder are in poor poor shape and have been for 5 years now, but I've never been able to treat them with more than external oils, which rock and totally get rid of most of the pain, but don't totally fix the problem. So soon, I might just get to do that. Most people with my issues just have their gall bladder removed, but we tend to feel that God put all of our parts in for a reason and so we would like to keep them where he put them. After all, it is my fault they are torn up. It is all diet related.

The weather is a pleasant surprise so far this winter as well. We are having to learn still to live on the calendar seasons, since that really is how things work up here. Winter began in late December. Unlike last year, we got no snow at all in Nov and Dec, but Jan came along and God opened the spigot up there and it has snowed constantly since. The weathermen are worse up here than in Texas, and that is pretty bad. Last week, schools were shut down and all kinds of closings in anticipation of a major snow storm. We were supposed to get 4-6 inches over night then another 6 or so the next day. We got about an inch, maybe. Tomorrow they are forecasting 0% chance of snow, so I'm bracing for a foot of the white stuff. ;-) They are also saying we are supposed to get above freezing three days in the next 10. Now that is just craziness. I remember last year we didn't get above or even close to freezing from Nov thru mid April. It was crazy towards the end of that stretch! But this year is proving, thus far, to be quite the mild and pleasant winter. Nice, pretty snow but nothing where I have to shovel the drive twice before Robert gets home from work.

This house we are in now is the perfect location in our neighborhood. We live right across the street from a giant hole in the ground that is perfect for young children to sled on and way too short a run for teens. Perfect. I got to sled for the first time last weekend and it is seriously one of the funnest things EVER! I'm an addict. Our familiy sleds all the time now. Sooo much fun! We even have a baby sled for Hannah. I'll get pictures one day if it isn't snowing and I can take the camera out safely. It is a blast!

We will be hosting a small group for our church starting soon. We are going to be doing the John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life material. Robert wants to read it with the group, so he asked me to preread it, and whoa boy, it is gonna rock some worlds. I don't think you can seriously read it and walk away unchanged. I can't wait. We have the DVD study along with the books and study guides. Gonna be soooo good.

Friday Kid Update

But first, a Mommy update. We are rocking and rolling 2010 so far. This week we have schooled every day, begun our Latin studies and cleaned everyday....in addition to going to bed with an empty sink, things are awesome here!

Joshua- is doing really well. I think he might be bored with his math because he's choosing to do phonics before math some, an interesting new turn. However, he loves that he can count money and tell time. Both are basic skills so far, but he's doing well.
Leah- Is Leah. She's just growing up, but nothing real exciting. She loves to cut and glue. When Joshua sits down to school, she gets her supplies box out and starts cutting paper into tiny pieces. She insists on cutting it into her supplies box, even with my suggestions that she throw it away. Oh well, she is holding scissors much better than Joshua did at this age. She likes to marker too. Maybe she is going to be my crafting kid. She picks up tons of Joshua's school though, just sitting there. When he is working on his bible memory work, she can always correct him when he misses a word. Very interesting. It'll be interesting to see what her learning style is. She doesn't like working on her memory work but always surprises me that she gets it, when she seemingly flakes along when it is time to work.
Hannah- Every morning I walk into her room and say "Good morning Rooter, Tooter, Cuter, Pooter" She is snuggling with her baby doll and then asks me to put the babydolls clothes back on. Every morning. Lately she is living up to the tooter/pooter part. She is a TOOT. She's started throwing little tantrums when she doesn't get her way, mainly when I don't hold her 24/7. She is finally starting to walk on her own some. Can't wait for that to be a full time hobby!

Joshua finished his first ever homeschool book yesterday. Phonics, step one....check! So, to celebrate, my sanity thru it and his accomplishment, we let him choose anywhere he wanted to eat dinner. We were expecting Olive Garden or Bob Evans or maybe Longhorn for his sister that seems to be exactly like her mother in everyway. But, he chose.....McDonald's. Seriously, I almost passed out until my stomach tied into a million knots from the fear of it and revived me. He had two very logical reasons, since he is exactly like his father, first, they have a playground and second he had gift certificates that have been burning a hole in his hand for weeks. So, off to McD's we went. Thankfully it is in our neighborhood since it was snowing heavily. And thanks to the snow, we were one of two families there. We all ate, YUCK and played for a while and then.....my sweet baby boy proudly took his three dollar gift certificates and went and bought a Sundae for himself, his sister and his mother. That made the indigestion and late night bathroom trips all worth it. He's such a sweet boy!


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If you too find yourself in the above dreadful situation of eating at a less than desirable food establishment or have just found yourself on the bad end of a good pot roast, check out my link for my essential oils business and order the oil Digize and the supplement Alkalime! You'll be glad you did!

Happy 2010, May the Lord Change You for HIS Glory!

A new year, how exciting! Really, it is a chance to choose to make a fresh start. It is a choice. You can also choose to sit in your own muck and mire and keep your life the way it is. This year, I have made a resolution to change. It isn't a major change, or maybe it might end up being, who knows. I've never made a new year's resolution before, just like I've never given anything up for lent, maybe I'll ponder that this year as well. But, last year, in January, I had the privilege of spending some time with my dear friend and mentor, Johnnie Seago. Her oldest son was getting married in Georgia and we were the only family friend that got to attend. We worked our tails off together for this wonderful couple and got to celebrate in a beautiful ceremony a God ordained joining of man and wife.....who by the way is now expecting their first baby, so stinkin excited about that, anyway, where was I.... so while I was working along side Johnnie, we talked about their new year's traditions. Most of us have holiday traditions of sorts, but I don't konw alot of people that include new years in those traditions. But the Seago family does. They sit down and talk about the year to come and their plans for it. They make goals for lots of areas in their lives and resolutions for change. So I asked her, "But no one keeps resolutions, why even bother?" And her answer is still with me. She's pretty cool that way.

She said, because even if you don't keep them all year and fall off from them in three months, you are three months better than you were before. Pause. Hmmmm, no one ever mentioned that to me before.

SO, this year, I resolve to change. I have tons of things in my life that I need and should work on, but I'm starting off with just one this year. It could be a biggie that could change my whole outlook on life, really, however, it is simple. I resolve this year not to go to bed with dirty dishes in my sink.






ok, now that you are done laughing, I'm serious. Never in my life have I done or seen this done. But, every morning, I get up and come downstairs and immediately feel defeated because I can't even start on the things for my life today because I still have yesterday hanging over me in my sink.....and yes, sometimes multiple yesterdays are piled up there, and yes, sometimes they stink....kind of like other things in my life that have been piled up over time, like laundry and emotional baggage, but I'm starting with the dishes, ok!

So, there it is for all the world to see. I'm doing my dishes! Two days down, 363 to go! So far so good. God help me if I get pregnant!

It is finally snowing here. It started last night and snowed thru the night and most of the day today. I took all three kids out to sled this morning. So fun. I didn't really get to play last year since Hannah was so little. Hopefully this year will bring lots of sled time. I picked up an infant sled in a garage sale last spring and it is perfect for Hannah. I just pull her along behind me and she's as happy as a clam. Today one of her boots fell off on the way out the door and I just went on. Won't do that again. After about 15 minutes, she started grabbing her little foot, I'm sure it was frozen. Oh well, bad mom of the year award there. She doesn't seem to have any ill effects. Robert even got home early enough to get in on the action today. He and the big kids headed across our street to a big hill and start learning the slopes (pun intended). Since we are children of the south, it is as new and fun to Robert and I as it is to our kids.

Christmas was wonderful but not white. I mean, come on, we weren't in Texas after all. They had a white Christmas, at least first thing in the morning before it melted off, we had rain. Oh well, maybe our third Christmas in the north will be a white one. The kids came running in at 8 and yelled, "Mommy, Daddy, it's Jesus' birthday and we get to eat CINNAMON ROLLS!" We were tickled. First, that their excitement was first that it was Jesus's Birthday and second because their next biggest adventure was not just presents. We really try to instill that presents are just a small part of our celebration...only a recognition of the gifts that Jesus received at his birth. We too only receive three gifts each at Christmas. It keeps things simple and focused on other things.

We continued our cinnamon roll tradition this year. Two weeks ahead, we baked fresh cinnamon rolls for families at our church. Then did tons of candy for Robert's work and then a batch of cinnamon rolls for our neighbors. But, all of our neighbors were gone, so on Christmas morning, Robert and the big kids went driving around to find people that had to work on Christmas and blessed them with fresh cinnamon rolls. Robert said it definitly made an impression on everyone that got them. The 18 year old girl working at the movie store almost started crying, Robert left quickly, lol. I think next year, we are going to do another batch just to deliver to people working on Christmas day.

We had our friends the Denney's over for dinner on Christmas night. It was so fun. Kids were running everywhere (they have 6) and it just made it feel like home. We all ate. The kids, at least from three and up, got up and recited scripture and poetry. It was wonderful! We had so much fun.

Robert is back to work this week, but will have another 4 day weekend this coming weekend. We can't wait. What can we say, we just love being together as a family.

Bonus Kid Update:
Joshua lost his first tooth. It only made it about 36 hours before it was out of there. I think he played with it constantly from the time he realized it was loose. Robert put him to bed and it was just barely hanging in there, so he told Joshua that if it came out to just come wake us up and let us know. Well, wouldn't you know it that about 1am, Joshua comes in and tells Robert that it's out. We are pretty sure that he laid in there all night playing with it. So funny. We don't do the tooth fairy, but told him that we'd give him some money when it came out. He's still happy playing with it right now, lol.
Leah is just plugging along. Trying to find her way between big girl and little, although she's leaving little girl more and more behind. She's been asking to do school alot lately, so I might get our curriculum back out and work with her some more. She loves to color and cut right now and is so sweet with her baby dolls. She still tells me that when she grows up, she is going to nurse Hannah for me. She's alos my cleaner. She'll disappear and the next thing your know, the play room is picked up and organised. It's a beautiful thing!
Hannah is walking. Or I should say that she CAN walk. She only chooses to walk to Robert or I, but she can walk as far as she wants. She's still unstable and shaky but is progressing. I think she just isn't ready to move to the next stage of life, and that's fine with us....most of the time. She's eating well now and talks alot. She's into little temper tantrums now and then when she can't get what she wants, like a toy open or food fast enough, but she's easy enough to correct, that's nice. She's sleeping thru the night and even goes down awake now, which is going to be a major plus when it comes time to wean her.

This week I need to get us organised to start the new year. Robert and I will sit down and do our budget for next year. I need to organise what we want to finish up in school, we are starting Latin and music studies soon. I also need to get our healthy living organised. hopefully I can do some cleansing this year along with Robert and deal with my lingering liver/gall bladder problems. I also am making a New Year's resolution this year, for the first time ever, but I'll wait and share that later.

-Joshua has his first loose tooth. How is that possible? Wasn't he just born?
-Hannah loves to make animal sounds. She does a purrrrfect meow. She also loves walking with her walker toy, now if she'd just walk on her own.
-I don't understand cancer. I know the prevelance of it now is probably related to our toxic lifestlyes. I had a classmate who was buried on Tuesday, he died of a brain tumor, the same kind his 5 year old daughter died from a year ago. One of my lifetime best friends' husbands found out his cancer is back after a short remission last week. Another friend was diagnosed with breast cancer on Monday. A friend at church's mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer this week too. I don't like cancer. The pain it causes families and individuals is ugly. Lord have mercy on us.
-Speaking of toxins, I finished my candy/cookie bakeathon last weekend. This year was 10 dzn almond cranberry sugar cookies, and a bunch of peppermint bark and rocky road fudge, but the star this year was the Oreo Truffles
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-OREO-Truffles/Detail.aspx
People went gaga over them apparently at Robert's work, which is where all of this nasty sugary mess gets sent! ;-)
But this weekend is the big weekend for me and where I'll end up in trouble. This weekend is when we bake the from scratch cinnamon rolls from Pioneer Woman. By the way, she' giving away three KitchenAid Mixers on her site. Check it out.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

PS Someone that is programming wiser than me, please tell me how to get these links to by cute little hyper links please.

Friday Kid Update

Joshua- His face is chubbing up, so it looks like I'll be pants shopping for him again soon. Wowzers, his growth spurts have really kicked in this year. He seems to have finally made it thru his super clumsy and very irritable phase. Thank goodness! I was wondering if he was going to live thru both of those,lol. He's telling time really well now. His motivation is that I tell him what time he can get up in the mornings and from nap time. ;-) ***He loves taking care of Hannah. He can feed her, and take her out of her highchair and wash her hands up. He carries her around any time she'll let him. Now if I could just get him to change her diaper and bathe her, I'd be on vacation!

Leah- She's beginning to come into her second Mommy roll, being the oldest girl. She is quick to correct Joshua and Hannah when they are straying from the path of righteousness. Now if we could just get her to follow suit! She is very obedient as long as she thinks she might get caught, but if she thinks she can get away with something, all bets are off. Yesterday, she filled one of our vents with tiny little pieces of torn up paper, then so that she wouldn't get caught, she closed the vent. Thankfully, I found it very soon after and no harm was done. She still loves dressing up and playing BooBoo's (babies) with Hannah. She tells me often that when she grows up to be a Mommy, she will nurse Hannah for me. She hasn't quite figured out the concept that hannah is growing up too.

Hannah- Is 15 months old now and FINALLY is sleeping thru the night! because she is now night weaned!!! This makes for a much happier Mommy, at least when I get over the flu it will. She's finally settling in to this house. She will crawl around and play on her own some now. Before, she was constantly by my side and usually wanting to be held. She's finally cut her 8th tooth. I think because we were in Texas. She's cut a bunch of teeth in Texas, lol. Her vocabulary EXPLODED while we were in Houston. I think because there were so many people around talking all of the time. Our house is a pretty quiet house, even with three kids. We just aren't a loud, rampbunctious bunch. But the Seago house is anohter story. I believe there were over 30 of us there the first 4 days of our trip, and Hannah heard lots of talking. She nows says tons of things. She also has been coming and telling me when she has poopies and that's pretty nice too.

win some free stylish clothes

you girls all know how I need all the help I can get being stylish....so, I entered to win some really cute clothes over here...check it out!
http://www.petitelefant.com/2009/12/shade-outfit-giveaway.html

We are home. We arrived late Saturday night and slept most of Sunday. Today was grocery shopping for starving children in our family ;-) and putting up the Christmas tree, addressing Christmas cards (I can't believe how out of date my address book got this year), finding Christmas cookie and candy recipes for Robert's gifts to his employees (hint hint, anyone got some?), nailing down schedule for babysitter during Sifco Management Christmas party for Friday, deciding on a family Christmas gift for party at church on Sunday and food to take also.......

anyone see a theme here? Hopefully I'll be back to update about our awesome trip to Houston and Seagoville over Thanksgiving. In case that doesn't happen, we got to fly home with Jim Cantore and Mike Seidel from the Weather Channel, pretty cool for a weather junkie family like us!

Eyes of Blue, 2 foot 2...

More Bullets

-Thanks for all of the info and suggestions ladies. It reminded me that I am doing way more than just the curriculum. We've read thru the whole Charlotte Mason reading list for Kindergarten. We are starting the first grade list. We also got some Abeka K and 1st science books that we've gone thru. He's doing Explode the Code phonics and loving it and Horizon math and we are liking it. We also do bible studies and memory work every day. So, I guess we are good so far.
The curriculum we are using is actually My Father's World. I'm going to have to reevaluate it for us next year. I've realized that I'm just not a fluffy girl. To me, coloring and cutting and artsy work every day is a waste of time. My kids seem to be geared that way so far too, thank goodness. If I get an artsy one, we are in trouble, lol. So I am going to keep with the MFW but just lightly and use it for our one or two days a week of fluff, then focus on everything else the rest of the time.
-This weekend was crazy busy and I'm exhausted. The Candlelight Walk went really well last night. We served free chili and hot dogs to the community during the parade and festivities. It was fun but tiring. I organised all of it, so I was glad it went well. Today we had Thanksgiving dinner celebration with the Lohnes and our church family here. Lots of food and it was fun. I stayed home from church this morning to get some rest and get food prep done.
-I am hoping that everyone has passed thru their illnesses. Hannah had the flu all week but seems to be good now. Leah threw up on Saturday morning out of the blue, we still don't know if it was something she ate or a bug, but she seems ok. Joshua and Robert and I are good, so far.
-Getting ready to head to God's country again come Thursday!!!!!!!!

No Time, Bullets

-Hannah woke up with a fever Monday morning. It broke this morning but is now back. Poor baby. She won't let me put her down.
-Busy week. I am organising our churches free chili/hot dog meal for the community during the Medina Candlelight Walk on Saturday, also making 2 huge pots of chili for the event. Went and bought 33 packages of hot dog buns today, can officially check that off my list of things to do before I die. Sunday we are having our church family Thanksgiving celebration at the Lohnes's home. I'm cook up a whole slew of yummies for that.
-I need some homeschool thoughts from you Mama's. Our curriculum is WAY WAY under Joshua's level. I thought we'd just push thru it anyway for a structure but seriously. It is a waste of our time, and I don't like wasting time. Leah gets most of this stuff and she's 3. What to do. We had purchased more advanced phonics and maths and so he's really pushing thru those now, but should I look for something else? Anyone? This totally reaffirms to me that Joshua couldn't got to public school. He's almost on a second grade public school level at 5. If we put him in "K" next year, he'd get diagnosed with ADHD and put on meds. Seriously.
-Robert is now in an indoor soccer league for the winter. It's fun but I don't like splitting my attention between the kids and his game. I'm a sports fan and just want to watch all of the action, lol.
-We leave for Texas in NINE days! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!
-I made some awesome chicken and dumplings. Actually, I feel like I'm coming into my own on this whole soup making adventure. I consider myself a good if not great cook. I've been doing it since I was 9 (my Mom worked second shift, so cooking was up to me) but living in the South, I never really had a reason to learn soups and so have always been awful at them. But now, I think I've figured them trick out......shhhhh, don't tell anyone, it is a blender! Yup! I use an immersion, but a regular would work too, just more work. I boil up a million veggies in some chicken broth, doesn't seem to matter what kind, and then blend them up, TA DA! Delicious soup. Really, we are loving it. My chicken and dumplings I boiled the chicken with onion and garlic and carrots and kale, celery, then pulled out the chicken to dice, blended up the veggies, add a little more broth to thin it some, then threw in the chicken and dumplings and let them cook. It was DIVINE and alot healthier than most recipes. So there ya go Kel, try it, you'll love it!

and today just gets better and better. We ran to check out a health foods place I had heard about and it is the best Healthy Foods Grocery I've ever been in. It is called the Mustard Seed and I am in LOVE. I was soooo giddy going thru it today. Tons and tons of gorgeous organic produce. Awesome supplements and other groceries. A fresh butcher that had great looking meats and fish. Seriously, I'm soooooooooo stinking happy!

Then, I came home and all of the kids went down for naps!!!!! Hannah is still adjusting to the time change and has been taking a morning nap and it is about to kill me! No rest or breaks at all is more than this Mama can handle for days on end.

Finally, I've got a big ole pot of chicken and veggies bubblin away to make some chicken and dumplings for dinner. I am on a mission to make meals we love from our childhood but healthy. This one has kale, celery, carrots, onions and chicken. I'll pull the chicken out and dice it up, then cream the veggies to make a creamy broth then add the dumplings and chicken back in. I CAN'T wait, I was drooling while I made it.

A little unsettled. We got an email from our HOA here today that said a man in a blue car has been going to kids waiting for the buses in the morning and yelling at them to get in the car. This has been happening for 2 weeks. Ick. I worry about Joshua at times. He is sooo social, and will talk to anyone, anytime. Anyone have good suggestions for a book on how to talk to your kids about safety stuff like this?

In other news, we are having the best day. I was just sitting thinking that this is how I would like all days to go. We got up and got the kids their baths and then breakfast. Joshua fed Hannah her breakfast while I did some computer work. Then, Hannah went down for a nap and the big kids and I got school done. Leah even asked to play some alphabet games and she is finally learning some of her letters. Joshua is doing phenomenal in school, no surprise there. Then, we made banana walnut pancakes together and had a tasty lunch. Now we are off to run some errands and enjoy the beautiful weather we are enjoying!

I have a headache and no idea why. Hannah is sleeping ok, not thru the night but ok. I've been eating good, drinking my water....must be hormones. Blech. AND I don't have a book to read right now, which is what I"d like to do, curl up and read a book. I've been reading Cindy Woodsmall's Amish books lately. They aren't anything jump up and down about but the stories are fun to dive into. She isn't as good a writer as Beverly Lewis. She is more personal stories and sagas kind of writing with a little Amish life thrown in, where as Beverly Lewis is more Amish lifestyle with personal sagas included. I like Lewis better. That being said, I am still going to finish the Sisters of the Quilt series and then get back to what I prefer to read, nonfiction. I recently reread 5 Love Languages, still highly recommend that book. I also read two books with Joshua that we really loved and I would like to find for our home library. One was A Tree is Nice and the other was A Little Boy Named Babaji, really loved the Babaji story.

We our enjoying some unseasonally warm temps here right now. It is nice as I know what is coming this year. I know we will also enjoy the snowy times too, but they last so long. I'm trying to get the kids outside as much as possible, and am researching vitamin D supplements.

What a great weekend. We have been blessed amazing summerlike weather this weekend. It has been in the 60's yesterday, today and tomorrow will be too. Sunny and BEAUTIFUL!!!!! So, we are out enjoying it! I think a zoo trip is in store tomorrow.

8 Wonderful Years in September.

All of us on our 8th anniversary in September.


This is my first time ever, organised junk drawer. Is this inspiring or what?


Bad hair night for AWANAS.

This is our cutie little blond curly haired blue eyed girl.

We had our first snow yesterday. It snowed off and on all morning. No sticking. The kids went out to catch flakes on their tongues.

Don't forget to vote today, lots of people have given their lives for you right to vote! If you are in Ohio, please vote no on 2!

It is sunny but cool here today. We had a really heavy frost yesterday morning. Snow is forcasted for Thursday. It is November now, so I am ok with it snowing. Reminds me that I still need to order snow boots for the kids though...oopss. We've looked at alot of the cheaper snow boots around but none of them look like they would be waterproof and my kids would have frozen feet in about 10 seconds. They love playing in the snow, and so we are going to spend the money to get them boots that will keep their feet warm in the snow. Joshua actually begged to go play in the frost yesterday, lol! He ran to me first thing in the morning and said "Mommy, Mommy, look outside there is white stuff!!!!" He was sooo excited. Hated to break it to him that it wasn't snow and they weren't going out to play in it.

Hannah is either gearing up for a huge growth spurt or getting sick. The last two days she has nursed constantly. She climbs up in my lap and signs eat while pulling on my shirt and saying night night, lol! She may not be talking fully but the girl can get her point across. She also screams APPLE at the top of her lungs any time anyone has ANY kind of food. It is hysterical. She'll frantically sign more and eat and please trying to get some food. You'd think she was starving to death. She ate more chicken pot pie than Leah at dinner last night.

Happy Reformation Day!!!!!!!!!!!

On Oct 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door in Wittenburg, thus unknowingly beginning the Reformation. This is what we celebrate today. We avoid the American celebration of death and the occult and choose to enjoy a dinner out for breakfast as a family. In Texas, we had lots of friends from our church join us. In Ohio, thus far, it is just us enjoying Bob Evans! Yum!!!

So, Happy Reformation Day Ya'll!

We've had a lovely week. Spent time at the Akron zoo and two days tromping thru the woods at the Rocky River Reservation. We saw deer up close on both days, crawled around in tree roots of fallen trees, got pounded by falling acorns and were in awe of the beauty of God's creation in the Fall season. We finished up our creation study in school and now go onto 26 fun filled lessons surrounding the letters of teh alphabet. Each letter is paired with a math, reading, bible, science and I think geography lesson for a week. Next week will be sponsored by the letter "S"! ;-)

Today we go vote. Please, if you live in Ohio, vote NO on issue 2. I've never read a more poorly written and less thought out piece of legislation. It makes me mad actually. There is no reason that this issue should remotely be linked with any kind of constitutional amendment. And even if this were to try to pass as simple legislation, it is rediculous. There are no standards addressed at all and no over sight by anyone, or the option of oversight to ever be established or possible. Basically, it comes down to big agri business wanting to set up this committee that can run rampant over the farmers and therefore the people of Ohio. Don't give away your power! VOTE NO ON ISSUE #2.

And in case you are wondering, we will voting NO on #1 and #3 as well. We aren't in Cuyahoga Co anymore so we won't have the option of #5 and #6, but we would be voting no on 5 and yes on 6, if anyone cares.

We had a good weekend....but I! had a great weekend!!!! I read a book on Saturday, and it wasn't a child's book and I did it all by myself! Robert got up with the kids at 9 and headed downstairs. I curled up with an Amish fiction novel and read in bed and ignored screams and bangs and fits until noon!!!! I got up, made everyone lunch. Got them all down for naps and went right back to bed to read until 5. Got up, showered and went out to a yummy Mexican dinner with my family. It was the best day I've had in FOREVER!!!! I told Robert that I need a reading day once a month. Hiding in bed with a book has been my escape/reboot mechanism since I was small enough to read...which I think started at 4 for me. The book was ok, not the best I"ve read by far or worst, but that wasn't the point!!! I'm refreshed!

Today was sunny and 60 degrees, so even though we got to be late and Hannah was up every 45 minutes last night and Leah has a cough and Hannah a cold....we went to the zoo. I knew what it would mean for this afternoons nap scenario and evening/night routines and we still went....and it was lovely. We visited the Akron zoo for the first time. We live much closer to Akron than Cleveland now. It was a nice little zoo. We can't wait to go back and show Daddy, and for Daddy to take the kids thru the snake building. Mommy don't play snakes! We still squeezed school in after dinner. And now, I'm off to bed.

Friday Kid Update

Yes, I haven't forgotten.....just been tired and settling. Without further ado.

Joshua- Loves school. I wish his teacher could school him as much as he wanted me too. If that were the case, he'd graduate by age 10, I'm sure of it. Of course, that is one of many reasons we are homeschooling. So our childrens education will truly educate and grow them, instead of just being floated thru a system like we were. Robert and I often wonder how much more we could have learned and done had we been given any opportunity other than mundane school boredom. Anyway, Joshua is loving school. This morning he told me "I love math" I can't wait for his Daddy to get home and hear that. He'll cry..... no really, he will. Math is Robert's passion, he can do calculus in his head. I think Joshua may have the same knack. We could easily finish the kindergarten math books I got him in a week, if I let him, but I'm not. This year is more about us learning how to do school together than him learning any concepts. He pretty much has most all K concepts down.

He is growing like a weed. I think he is growing so fast sometimes that his mind and body can't keep up. He goes thru regular periods of being crazily clumsy. Thankfully other people have seen him just walking along and fall flat out on his face...other wise people might question his bumps and bruises. He is really funny though because he always immediately jumps and says real fast and loud "I'm ok!" I think his mind has days it can't keep up either. Every once in a while, he'll just not be him. He won't listen, has no regard for us or other authority, is mean to his sisters, and just kind of quiet. I really think it's his way of just shutting down some to process and then he's good again.

Leah- Is still so flamboyant and crazy. She's starting to try and be sneaky, which is funny since she's 3 and has no skill at it whatsoever. She too has had a huge growth spurt. She shot right through her 3t's and is a solid 4t now. Good thing I was slow on the winter clothes shopping or we would have been in trouble in the wrong size. She has her own room now and really seems to be thriving. I think she likes her quiet alone time in the mornings before I get everyone up. She gets up and gets dressed....which is always an amusing costume of sorts, and then plays with her babies and kitchen. I really think it has helped her calm down a bit. She does need more focused training from us though. She is kind the brat right now, but that is totally our lack of training. We are working on it.

Hannah- Now this girl has taken off! She is eating table food almost full time, although she still nurses 8-12 day too. She's putting on weight and BUSY. She's crawling for real. For a few days, she would hold our fingers and walk with us, but now if we try to do that she promptly plants her bottom. I think she figured out we were going to less carrying time with Mommy and she quickly put the brakes on that. She talks up a storm. She says NO NO, constantly...but only in car...to Leah! lol! She also knows alot of signs and can and will quickly put her siblings in there place. They love her so much though. She calls them both Bubba, which cracks everyone but Leah up, although she has come to terms with it now. We HAVE to work on her sleep. Up until 9 months, she was a great sleeper....for a Lachney baby, but then we traveled to Texas and back and then D.C. and we've been unsettled since and her sleeping is awful.....and I'm about to collapse becasue of it. Time to break out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child again. Poor Tooty doesn't know what is coming! But we'll all be happier once we get thru it.

Things are on the up and up here already. A relief for sure. I'm not a big believer in all of the crazy media hype that stirs our country/world into hysteria every year or so over some new virus that is going to kill the entire world. But, having little ones and knowing that small children in our area have died from swine flu, does make me pause. We still handled this the way we always do any "sick" episode....meaning,we don't wait until we are sick to care for ourselves.

I always try to keep us in healthy habits to give our bodies strength for life, including virus's and bacteria. So, we just got everyone really going on the Ningxia Red, diffuser going full time, lots of oils on our bodies, homeopathic remedies and we got chiropractic adjustments. Everyone woke up fever free and well today. I think we are all a little tired but otherwise we are fine. I'm grateful to God for bringing us on a path of natural healing. I think it is sad that americans, christian and not, put more trust in doctors than our God who loves us and CREATED us. He designed our bodies with systems to fight, but sadly most people just want to run and take a pill to stop those annoying symptoms. He also gave us many things in His creation to help our bodies when they are taxed and stressed. He is a mighty God!

Oink Oink

Well, some kind of flu has entered out house. I'm not guessing whether it is of the porcine variety or not, but it is here either way. I think Hannah has had it a day or two. She's had very very swollen lymph nodes and been really cranky and clingy, but really, how much can you get from a baby about their symptoms. I've felt really ick the last two days with a headache and general run down feeling, but I'm a Mom that is woken up every 45 minutes to 2 hours all night every night....so I assumed that was my issue. But then last night, Joshua says he feels funny. I assumed he was just tired from not taking his nap that afternoon. Then within 15 minutes, he spikes a high fever. So, I'm pretty sure we have a flu of some sort. Robert ran to Walmart and got 4 boxes of Ossillococcinum (OSC) for us. Thankfully they weren't sold out. I've heard of multiple schools being closed in our area this and last week for swine flu, so I was worried. Thankfully for us, most people run to their ped and not for natural remedies...silly people. Anyway, keep us in your prayers. I'm staying on top of everybody with oils and remedies now so hopefully it will be short lived and mild.

Beatles-esque Bible Books Song

Wanted to post this so I can find it later.

SNOW

Snow is forecasted for Saturday, October 17th. I keep refreshing weather.com to see if they made a mistake. :-(

Too many blog posts running thru my head, so I'm giving ya bullets instead.

- First, B is doing better. He had 5 stints put in, in two separate operations. All went well and he flew home as planned two days after the second procedure....not against a few suggestions from the doctor and family members. He has a follow up with his cardiologist in Houston this Thursday, so we'll have a better report then. He is feeling well though. He'd be feeling better if LSU was winning. His heart monitor was going crazy during the LSU game, lol!

-Nanny flew home today after 5 crazily busy weeks here with us. It was a nice visit although we didn't get to have near as much fun as we wanted. I would say we will next time, but since we will be moving again next year, and I will be begging her to come help again then...well..who knows. She did get to see the leaves start to change and we ooh'd and aah'd about that together. It really is a sight to see. It was nice having her around. The kids LOVED having Nanny always ready to read a book or color a picture. And I didn't mind the help with the laundry either. ;-)

-It is fall here and that means a million different festivals and such. We love doing stuff like that together as a family. Last weekend we hit the local little Rennaisance Faire. It was fun and had more stuff than last year when we took Sarah V. But, this weekend I think we are going to hide and rest. We've been going at Mach 1 without a break since mid August when we decided to move. We've also had company that entire time, and so I think Saturday will be a pajama family day here. We are tired.

- Robert has joined an over 30 soccer league. He's THRILLED to be playing soccer again. He's played his entire life until the last 10 years. His first game was good but COLD for us on the sideline. I'm new to this soccer Mom status, so I am learning the ropes. The second week, I remembered the jogging stroller and water for us all. But didn't dress us near warm enough or bring blankets. I'd say this week that I'd be ready, but.... last week, Robert got taken out by the other team and has a badly badly sprained ankle. I'm really pushing the oils and remedies thru and it is healing remarkably but it will be a game day call on whether he'll play or not. Since they are forecasting 40 for a high with rain...I'm guessing not. ;-)

-We are starting school this week. Although, I was reviewing our curriculums intro lesson which is 10 days long and realized that it is SOOOO below Joshua. So he'll listen along and then go onto his higher level phonics and math work and I'll teach Leah kindergarten. Might as well get her started if I'm doing the work already. Today we worked on composers and classical pieces.

-I'm doing good. I need to finish getting this house into shape so I can find my happy place.....impossible for me to do in unorganised clutter. I need to start exercising again since winter is quickly coming, but we'll see when I get that into the routine. My headaches are still around, sadly. But there is a doctor in Columbus I might try to start seeing in the spring, when the snow melts and I have a car to drive again.

- FINALLY! PRAISE GOD, our house in Texas closes on THIS FRIDAY!!!! I thought it would be bittersweet, but honestly it is just a relief. It will be one month shy of 7 years since we bought it. It was a great house for us to get started in, but man am I ready to have another house of our own.

Please pray for my father in law, B Lachney. They flew in to visit us yesterday and this morning Robert and Sue had to take him from the Pro Football Hall of Fame to a hospital for chest pains. He's had a heart cath and we're waiting to see what next.

Everyone's napping and I desperately need to be unpacking and organising/cleaning...so I think I'll update real quick. We are moved in and getting settled. I have most of our stuff unpacked and somewhat ordered although I will be doing some major organising once all of our company is gone. Mom only has 2 weeks left here. It was been soooo nice having her here to help with the kids during the move and catch up on alot of my much neglected sewing projects. We've even fit in a few sightseeing jaunts, including our first ever school field trip today. We went to a local farm and the farmer gave us a tour. We got to all pick pumpkins out of the patch and apples from the orchard. Feed the pigs, learn about beehives and their honey making. Joshua and Leah both asked very good questions about the bees, dispite my nervousness of them being silly and distracting. Overall it was a good little tour. It felt good to be around other homeschoolers again and got me in the schooling frame of mind, which is good since we will be starting our year as soon as everyone leaves. Robert's family comes in on Thursday. We are going to do Amish country (a must for every visitor here), the ProFootball Hall of Fame (I'm giddy about this one), the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame (I'm sad I"ll miss this one since the kids have a doctors appt that day), dinner on Lake Eerie, Robert's first soccer game and other shopping and eating. Gonna be exhausting but fun. Hope you guys are all doing good. Shoot me an email if anything big is going on in your lives, I'm only checking email right now. I've popped on Facebook for about 2 seconds once or twice but that has been about it.

We are moved in. Busy unpacking and getting "home" reestablished. My children are in desperate need of routine.

Celebrating 8 years of marital bliss today. We've been so blessed by our Lord. He brought us together 8 years ago. We met in Feb of 2001. Robert came to know Christ in April, then quickly got permission to court me from our pastor. By my birthday in May, we knew we would be getting married. Sept 11, 2001 shook our world and then 4 days later we began a wonderful walk TOGETHER with our Lord. It really has been all blessings since. Only by His grace and love are we where we are today. We acknowledge and are grateful for that. Happy Anniversary Sweetie, I love you forever and ever.

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Today is my sweet baby boys 5th birthday. Five years and three states ago, I became a Mommy and Joshua brought joy into our world. He is a really great kid. He has a heart of gold, even on his arnery days. He loves loves loves his Mommy and still will stop almost anything to snuggle up with Robert or I. He thinks Leah is a pretty cool playmate and Hannah is his joy. He is quite proud that he can now carry her around, since he is a big 5 year old after all, dontcha know. This morning he ran in to our bedroom and snuggled up as Robert and I sang happy birthday to him. Then he quickly got up and jumped super high, so we could notice how much higher he can jump, not that he's 5 years old. He's reading really well. He'd really really being doing well if his mother would hurry up and teach him more phonics rules. He loves playing outside in the dirt with sticks and rocks...and sometimes balls. He would sit and listen to books being read to him for days on end. He likes limits and having them reinforced when needed, keeps him a content boy. We are having our first, not at home birthday party since our house is now 80% packed up, including the entire kitchen. I even had to BUY a birthday cake, I hope it is tolerable. We are going to Bounce City and having a good fun jumpy party for him. I know he'll be blown away by it. I can't believe that it's been five years. We are blessed to have sweet Joshua Robert in our lives.

We love DAVE RAMSEY!

Ok, we have taught his class, and are successful with his program. We love him.

In case you haven't jumped on the Dave Ramsey Debt-free Bandwagon yet, now's a great time to check him out. He's giving away baby step #1!

Real quick catch up....before I dive back into boxes and packing and then head to the airport to pick up Nanny.

Hannah turned one year old on Friday. This year has flown by! She has been my easiest baby by far. I think alot of that is because I didn't have major surgery to deliver her. (insert my long rants about idiots that schedule Csections here) I feel kind of bad. We didn't do anything for her birthday at all. We had decided to go visit friend in DC for labor day weekend and so I was getting us packed and loaded and then we were driving the rest of the day. I hate that I don't have a picture of her eating her first birthday muffin that I always make the kids. I think I might make them later this week, and do a little family party then, just for the picture, lol. I just don't want her to later ask me why she doesn't have a picture like Joshua and Leah. Right now, I think she's ok with it. ;-)

We had a wonderful weekend in DC. We visited Pooka (Harris), Aunt Cake (Kate) and Jojo (Jonah) and Sammy the dog. They are foodies, like us and so we ate alot and loved every minute of it. I took my grain mill and Pooka made some fresh pasta for us. Cake made some fresh calzones also. It was lovely. They live in a beautiful planned community in Virginia. We walked all over, down to the farmers market, to the playground, so fun. We also drove into DC and went to the national zoo. It was nice but got crazy crowded in the afternoon. Cake and I got pedicures. The whole weekend was so nice and laid back and relaxing. Just what we needed before this next month of craziness. We can't wait to go back and do the DC touring. It was exciting just driving over the Potomac and seeing the Washington and Lincoln monument from the car. I can't wait to really go explore our nations capitol.

Awesome

We finally got and accepted an offer on our house in Texas. 14 short months was all it took on the market. Actually, it was less than 2 months since we listed with our new agents. If anyone in the Houston area needs to buy or sell a home, I CAN NOT recommend Ronnie and Cathy Matthews any higher. They have been amazing!! Seriously, they've been actually WORKING to sell our house, instead of just listing it and waiting. We have been impressed over and over by them. And now, we have a much better idea of how to sell a house the next time we need to. We are grateful to the Lord for leading us to them and for His perfect timing for our sell, even if it isn't the timing we would have planned. May His will be done in this sell and in our buying of our next home! He blessed us sooo amazingly in that, our first home. All three of our children were conceived there, along with babies for three other families, including the birth of a sweet baby boy there just yesterday! We thought about listing feritility blessings as part of our sellers disclosure, lol!