Samantha turned 8 today.  Eight years...wow.

On their even years we let them have a "real" party.  You know the kind that are outside the house and have friends included?  :)   She chose the YMCA Waterpark.  It's a nice place...big pool...big area for little ones with lots of water stuff...and then another pool with 2 big water slides.  They don't do parties there but they allow us to bring in cakes and stuff for a party.

We get there before opening to make sure we're the first ones in so we can get a good table spot.  Then as they're getting ready to open they tell us that the pump isn't working for the pool.  It keeps shutting off. They'll let us know in 30 minutes whether they'll be able to open or not.  They didn't.  :(

So there we are..the family...the friends.  What to do?  We decide to postpone.  We'll be trying again in 2 weeks.  Not next weekend as that's labor day weekend and 1/2 her friends will be out of town. 

We rented a couple of videos, ate our enchiladas, had cake and ice cream and she opened her gifts from us.  I was really surprised at how well she took it!!

I told Samantha tonight how proud of her I was for the way she handled the disappointment.  She told me that she had started to get mad and then realized that getting mad wouldn't do any good.  She's been pleasant and happy all day.  What a great kid!  :)

I've been out of the blog mood!  LOL  

But here's a short entry:  I had an ultrasound yesterday.  We dated the baby's due date to be May 12th!  The heartbeat was strong and wonderful!!  I just love seeing that first glimpse of the baby.  Makes it even more real (as if the sickies didn't do that!  LOL).

Not much to report on the last few days.  They've been a little lazy and yet we have somehow managed to get things done!   I ordered some more curriculum from Rod & Staff.  Love their stuff!!!  We had the Readers for Samantha but not the workbooks to go with them so I got those.  Love them!  She's so excited to have something new. 

Co-op was Wednesday and it went really well  (yes, Cindy, it's at Mt. Ararat! :) ).  Samantha was constantly checking the time until it was time to leave.

I was hoping to all go down to the YMCA this afternoon and go swimming but it's raining.  I'll have to see if there's any thunder and lightening.  If so, they close the pool.

A lady from church ordered 5 jumpers and 1 skirt for me for her children (matching for Christmas pictures).  I got everything cut out last night and hope to work on them some tonight.  I also cut out 2 jumpers for Samantha, a poncho with built-in scarf for me, and 3 colored pencil holders (also another order).  Today will be a day of sewing!  Yeah!!!  It's much easier to get a lot of sewing done when Roy is home to help with Alex!

Roy has duty tomorrow.  Such a bummer.  It's a long weekend for them and then he has to work on Sunday.  And it's a Sunday!!!!   He's really been getting the short end of the stick on the duties.  His last one was a Saturday and the one before that was 4th of July! 

I got our applesauce canned up.  I ended up doing it in small jars...I think they're 8 oz each.  That was all I could find at the store!  All the large jars were sold out at 3 WalMarts!   But I decided I like it like this.  They're almost individual serving sizes.  In fact, yesterday, Alex ate a whole jar by himself!

The canning was really easy.  Just filled up the jars, put them in the pot with a lot of water and turned on the stove.  After it was to a rollling boil I set the timer for 15 minutes.  Then pulled out the jars and let them cool. 

I never thought I would have so much satisfaction seeing those jars sitting there!  Now I need to find something else to can.  :)

I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days.  How I train my 14 year old daughter....hmm...not so well!   You know why?  It's because I don't think about the things I do...I just do them!  So I'm trying to give her instructions and I skip every 3rd step because it is just so automatic to me!!!

She wanted to take over meal planning, grocery shopping, and all cooking for a few weeks...maybe months.  Okay.  So I helped her with the planning...set her up with her own book.  She plugs in breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack.  Then we talk about how to make a grocery list...go through each meal, etc. 

I forgot to mention serving sizes.  I forgot to have her put on side dishes for dinner (I always just pick up a bunch of frozen veggies).  I forgot to mention some ingredients in some meals that are in my head.

Okay. We shop.  All goes well.   I won't mention the 45 minute wait in line to check out.....commissary on a payday....stupid!  Stupid!!

Now..making the actual meals.  This was how last week went. "Kayla, what's for dinner?"  This is at 2pm.  "Enchiladas."   "Uh HUh....and you put the beans in the crockpot this morning?"   "uh...no."  Okay, so we're NOT having enchiladas for dinner.  This happened every day almost!  LOL   In the mornings I would say check your menu...see what is planned. 

So this is the 2nd week and things are going better so far.  I need to remind her to start her prep sooner.  She takes sooooo long to do meals that would take me 1/2 the time.  Which is okay!  I just need to remind her to start sooner!!

This training stuff is hard.....  LOL

So I announced our pregnancy at church today.  Our church LOVES babies.  LOVES children.   We have many large families, as well as small families that would have loved to be large families.  :)   It was so nice to announce #5 and have so many people be so thrilled for us.

You know what was even more amazing to me?  The teen girls that came up to me afterwards with congratulations and sharing their excitement with Kayla.  You can tell those girls come from families that have cherished each addition to their family.  I'm glad that Kayla can be around that. 

LOL ...  I know that if my mom told me she was pregnant and I was 14 I probably would have been appalled!   :)

I also found out today that one of my cousins is pregnant and we're due the same week!  Maybe even the same day!  We'll have to find out.  :)   I'm close to my cousins on my moms side of the family and enjoy talking to them and it's especially fun that some of them have been having babies too.  :)

On Friday we drove west towards the mountains.  It was a beautiful drive!  It took us about 90 minutes to get there but it was worth it!  We went to Stribling Orchards and had a lovely time meandering amongst the apple trees.  The kids all had a great time taking turns using the apple picker to get the apples out of the trees.  Meanwhile I picked apples off the ground (hey!  $.39 a pound that way!!!).  We ended up with about 30 pounds of apples.

Some of them we juiced this morning.  Oh, sweet fresh apple juice.  Yummy!

Some of the rest I'm going to make into applesauce tomorrow.

I'll post some pictures later.

I really want to keep sitting here reading blogs but I must get moving!  I'm almost done with a dress for a friends daughter.  Then I need to finish 3 pencil holders that have already been paid for!  THEN, while watching Survivior and The Apprentice tonight I'll be making ornaments.  I'm doing an exchange with some other ladies from HearthKeepers and I need to get busy.  Mine are a little time-intensive...about an hour each, so I need to get busy!

(Although I'm making them a little smaller than usual so hopefully they won't take quite an hour!)

I would love to post a picture of them but no one is supposed to see them until we get them just before Christmas.  Some of those ladies read this blog so I won't be posting a picture!!  Ha Ha to you ladies that thought you were going to get a sneak preview!

I cannot take the credit.  Samantha and Matthew taught him how.  Alex is now using sign language for please and thank you.    Cheers to Samantha and Matthew!!!   I love how the little ones learn so easily from their siblings!

Alex has been saying Mama and Dada for quite some time.  Especially Mama...I mean, he follows me around the house: "Mamamamamamamamamamamamama."  

The other day he said what Roy is calling his "first real word."  You'll never guess what it is.....  Never.... not in a million years.....

Ready?

Tickle

Yep.  Tickle.  We do little claws with our hands and call them our "ticklers."  Then we ticle.  We say, "Tickle, Alex, tickle."

So one day he walks up to me and he does the ticklers towards himself and says, "Tickle. Tickle."   So I tickled him and he laughed.  Then again, "tickle, tickle."  Again, I tickle him. 

Since then will he say the word???  Nope!  Stubborn guy. 

I cannot think of enough words to describe the Spirit of America show that we saw on Saturday night.   It was held at the MCI Center in D.C. and the drive was well worth it!!!

Here's the website that tells more about it:  http://spiritofamerica.mdw.army.mil/index.html

I cried, I laughed, I clapped until my hands hurt.  At the end we were cheering loudly and standing on our feet.  It lasted over 2 hours and was a fantastic program.

It is a music/drama program taking you through the years of the US Army.  It starts with the revolutionary war and out come the soldiers firing their weapons.  During the program there were narrators that took you through the years. 

There was a huge screen showing pictures/drawings through the years.  Different "characters" came out and talked.  Abraham Lincoln came out and talked while the Civil War was going on.

Besides taking us through the major wars, they also showed the behind the scenes soldiers: supply sergeants, nurses, etc.  Lots of music and singing.  Michael Peterson, a country music star, came out and song as though they were re-enacting a USO event.

I could talk about this program for pages.  It was wonderful and inspiring.  It touched my heart.  It made me proud to be an American.  It made me proud to be married to a Marine.

Every young man should seriously consider serving his country in the Armed Forces.  It can change your life! 

They are doing the show one more weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.  If you live near, I highly recommend going!  Tickets are FREE!!!  You cannot beat that!  :)

We left after lunch to hit the library.  On the seat of my van was a card.  I open it and it's from my husband.  :)   It's one of those old-fashioned picture cards...with the little kids. So cute!  he knows I love these pictures.

On the inside it says "I love you so much and I don't deserve you."   Ah...sweet guy.

I've had a rough weekend/week.  My herniated disc has been acting up something fierce.  The pain meds aren't working.  I'm sick of doing ice/heat on my back.  I hate being in pain!!!!   Anyway, he has been so good to me and has really stepped up in helping me with everything.  :)

Saturday was a lazy day!!!   Actually we cleaned in the morning - the van, the kitchen, etc. - and THEN it was a lazy day!  :)   Kayla and I did hit Super WalMart again...oh ugh...but picked up some really cute fabric for winter themed jumpers.

Sunday was church.  Have I mentioned what a fabulous church we attend?  So much focus on prayer.  Praising the Lord through prayer and song.  Good teaching.  A time for requests and intercessory prayer.  We pray for other countries, missionaries, etc.  Just really wonderful.

This was the 2nd Sunday and so it was potluck time!!  Everyone loves to stay and get to fellowship a lot more!  I have just felt so blessed with the love that is there among the body.

The elders are also starting a Family Talk time.  This will be really interesting for Roy and I to attend.  Each month there is a different topic on a subject that might be going around amongst the families.  This month is on whether our children should go to college.  He then listed 4 items to discuss.  I think they were: 1. our children should go to college, 2. only some of our children should/would go to college, 3. only the boys should go to college, 4. our children should not go to college/should pursue some other learning.  He asked all families coming to have a clear presentation of what they wanted to talk about (or not talk about as in our case - we'll just be listening!).

He said that he felt these discussions would be good in that they will help us to refine our beliefs/stances, help us to see something that we might not have thought of, and/or help us to come to some sort of belief/stance.

Did I mention that our Baptist church has elders?   If you've not been in a church with elders before then you might not understand how that is different from just having "pastors," even though it's technically the same word.  It's a different way of thinking and doing things. 

And can I tell you how thankful I am that there are no trustees that run the church who technically are not qualified to be deacons or elders so instead they call them trustees????     If you can explain that one to me, then please do.

AND, have a I mentioned that almost every family there homeschools???   I know I talked about this before but it is just so nice to finally be in a church where homeschooling is upheld as a good way to school my children.  My children feel like the norm here.  I don't know for certain on the numbers but I think there is one family that private schools and one family that public schools.  The rest homeschool.  Our pastor's children were homeschooled until high school and then went to private school.  So no type of schooling is "put down."  All are supported....it's just the feeling of knowing that you're doing a good thing by homeschooling.  :)

Okay, enough of my rambling....

Someone else asked me about the cost of jumpers.  :)

Well, that's why I said to email me...LOL...it really depends.  If I use fabric that I've picked out then it will probably be $20 postage paid by me.   If you have a type of fabric or theme in mind then I'll charge $20 plus whatever extra it costs for the fabric above what I usually pay for fabric for the $20 dress.   Make sense? 

I picked up some really beautiful fall fabric the other day that I'm making for a family here and I'll post a picture when I'm done with it today.  I'm also going to sew a couple different winter dresses that I think will turn out really cute!

Thank you for the sweet comments regarding the jumpers I made!  Those 2 sold so quickly and we're off to the fabric store tonight to buy more fabric.  :)

A couple of you asked where you find these.  Right now I'm just selling them to whoever asks me.  I'm focusing on fall and Christmas fabrics right now.  I love to sew and make other things also...right now I'm working on a ladies poncho with built-in scarf.  But the jumper is quick and easy and I've been teaching Kayla how to make them.  The more you make, the better you get at them!  :)

So, if you're interested in purchasing one (or more....)  for your daughter/daughters, please email me.   BurkeMC@aol.com   I'll be happy to stitch one up for you!

Tomorrow I'm working on a set for 3 sisters.  It's a surprise for the mom, actually.  She mentioned at church that she would love to have matching outfits for her girls but we didn't talk further.  Now she has had a baby girl and tomorrow is the shower!  So I'm going to surprise her with 3 dresses.

This weekend I'm going to work on a skirt for myself.  Samantha likes to match with me and so I need to get busy on that so we can have some matching things.  :)

I forgot to mention that Kayla and I ran errands on Monday.  One of those trips took us into Super WalMart.   We have a smaller Wal Mart that is closer to us and I prefer to go there.  BUT, I needed to hit the bank's ATM (across the street from the Super place) AND I needed eggs and cheese.  Might as well do the Super place.  Well, ugh.  

First off, this place is packed, all the time!  It does not matter what time of the day I've driven by, the parking lot is always full.  The place is packed inside.  I finally get through (after spending way too much time in the fabric section) and then stand in line for 30 minutes!!!!!  At "my" little WalMart I've never, ever, ever waited in line!   Thirty minutes.  Ridiculous.  You would think they would open up more lines one of these days!!!

Monday was great!!  It was so wonderful having Roy home for another day.  Our weekends always go too quickly.

We all got up in the morning nice and early and headed out to the yard.  We spent a good 2 hours out there mowing, cleaning, watering, weeding, etc.  The yard looks so much better!  We've really been neglecting it this summer.  Roy does great about mowing every week (since he got the wonderful riding mower!!!  LOL)  but the kids and I have done a terrible job with weeding.  This property has lots and lots of flower beds.  They are around every border, around the house, along the fence.  It is gorgeous...but there is a lot to take care of!  We're not doing a good job in anyway.  The former owner who lived here for a long time was said to have spent 2 or more hours a DAY in the garden!  Uh...not happening now!

Kayla babysit in the evening for our next door neighbor and Roy and I watched Sliders.  The library has all the episodes and we have started at the beginning and are loving it!  We watched the show sporadically but we had not seen it from the beginning so its been interesting to do that.

Ah...also found out that what we thought might be....could it be.....no...not blueberries.  Couldn't be something good that is ALL OVER our property!!!  Along every fence, against the deck....  it's just a weed with poisonous berries.  Great!  Guess what we're pulling out now?? 

I was shocked that my baby didn't wake me up last night!

About 2 weeks ago we started putting him in his own bed for naps and for bed at night.  It only took a couple days and he was falling asleep pretty quickly.  He was still waking up in the middle of the night and we would just bring him to our bed for the rest of the night.  Our plan this weekend was to start comforting him but leaving him in his bed. 

Last night he never woke up.    In fact...his normal wake up time of 6:30am came and went.  At 8am I woke up and found him in the kitchen with his biggest sister.  She said he woke up at 7:30 and she got up with him and gave him breakfast.   Great way to start the day!!

We were really lazy today.  We watched The Pacifier (good movie!), read books, played with Matt's train set.  I mostly did research on the computer, worked on Alex's words (per How to Teach Your Baby to Read by Glenn Doman), and made cookies with Sam and Matt.  Nice, relaxing day!!

MommaShepherd posted a comment and it reminded me of something I should have included.  I have felt very fortunate that Alex has been sleeping through the night since about 6 months...as long as he was in OUR bed!!  LOL  But he's too big now, he moves too much, he kicks, he hits, he wiggles!  It was time for him to move!!!  :)

Matthew picked "Cliffords Big Movie."  No surprise there.  He loves Clifford and every time we go to the library he looks for ANY books that are currently in.  ;)

Samantha picked "The Incredibles."  Ha!  No surprise there either!  They have seen this movie so many times and I get a kick out of how much they enjoy it.  My favorite line: "You need to learn to be more.....flexible."  :)

Kayla picked "Eat Drink Man Woman." It's a Chinese movie and looks really good.  It's about a widowed father with 3 girls who do not appreciate him.  He is a master chef who cooks for them all the time and they just don't understand that he does it because he loves them.  So he plans a romance in order to win his daughters hearts.  I hope we like it!!

I also got "The Pacifier" to watch for movie afternoon tomorrow.  It looked funny on the previews.

So I made a deal with children.  Clean up the house and I'll go get videos.  So they are madly racing around the house picking up everything in hopes that they will earn their reward (they will!).

While my sister was visiting we seriously neglected the house.  But that's okay!  Who wants to be cleaning when they can be visiting instead??  :)   But Michelle left this morning and so now we need to do laundry, clean the bathroom, and just mostly put things away in their places!!  Our house is small and when even one item is left out it looks messy. 

So I'm off now to go fold laundry!!

I'll post later about their movie choices - they each get to choose one.  Samantha and Matthew have said that they will choose something they both like so they will have 2 movies to watch.  Smart!  Kayla says she wants to pick a foreign film. 

This morning I watched the news for far too long.  I was nursing the baby and bawling.  The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is just heart-wrenching.

I'm appalled at the gas prices.  Gas was $2.54 yesterday when I drove by our closest station.  In the evening Roy went and filled up the van and he paid $2.70.  I'm almost afraid to drive by and see what it is today.  And the stations near the freeway are usually $.30 more per gallon!

Samantha is really dragging this morning....it's been like pulling teeth to get her to finish her chores and get dressed.  I just threatened her!  UGH!  Everyone else is ready to go and she still isn't dressed.  Time for some intervention....

We're going to head to Ikea - it's about 30 miles from here.  There isn't one in Cincinnati and Michelle really loves that store!  Then we'll mosey around and just do whatever.  Later we're heading to our local teacher supply store to pick up some things.  Once home we're going to work on a project for our kiddos.  :)

I don't think I mentioned this....we're hosting a Flat Stanley right now.   He's really enjoying himself with my children.  There's always someone to play with!  The other day we took him to Downtown Fredericksburg to see the old stores and just walk around.  Next week we'll take him to Washington D.C. to see some sites.

I don't think I've mentioned my cousin Nadine.     Hi, Nadine!

Nadine and her husband have a son named Ben.  Cutie Ben!   When Ben was about 5 months old Nadine came to visit me and we ended up staying up all night long talking!   We were homeschooling by then and so of course, we talked about that quite a bit.

Even in Ben's young life, Nadine and her husband have spent a lot of time "educating" him.  They take a lot of "field trips," read books, etc.  Recently Nadine told me that they plan on homeschooling Ben in a very unschooling type way!  Yeah for Ben!!!     

I'm so excited for the children whose parents are making these choices at their child's young age.  For these children, learning and "school" will just always be a part of their lives.  It is a way of life and a wonderful one at that!!

Now....I just need to talk Nadine into getting her own Homeschool Blogger blog...

My sister Michelle lives in Cincinnati, which is 550 miles away.  She and her daughter Danielle are here for a visit!     They got here Tuesday late afternoon and they leave Friday morning.  Not a long visit but I'll take what I can get!!

Tuesday night we stayed up way too late!!  We were talking schooling, parenting, being wives, etc. and basically trying to solve the problems of the world.  :)    She has been doing "school" with Dani and it's so fun to talk with her about it.

Her husband is not completely on board with homeschooling but Michelle has hopes that she'll get to continue schooling Dani for as long as she can!  I'm so excited for her and for Dani! 

So we spent a long time talking about different curriculums and looking at books.  It was great!

Now if I can just talk her into starting a blog... 

She said that it was great and that she's sad it's over.  LOL

I talked about our breakfast already.  Around 10:30 we went over to some friends house and swam in their pool.  They have 6 children.  The older 2 are 16 and 19 but the younger 4 are 13 and under.  So they all played with my 4 and they had a great time.  The pool water was really cold so Matthew and Alex didn't last long!

Then we had lunch and afterwards the kids went out on their massive front lawn and played games.  We left about 2:30 and Samantha did not want to leave!!!

Samantha, Matthew, and Alexander all fell asleep on the way home.  I left Sam and Matt in the car and took Alex in and laid down with him.  That nap was really good!

After Roy got home from work we headed out to CiCi's Pizza - Samantha's Choice.   If you have one in your area, check it out!  The prices are great!  $3.99 for adults all you can eat, and $2.69 for children. She opened her presents there - we got her a baby bed - it's a Graco play pen with musical canopy.  Really cute.  Her siblings got her a necklace that says #1 Sister on it.

After we got home we did candles, singing, and eating of cupcakes.  Shortly after was bed!!!

This morning I made pancakes again and decorated the table.  :)  She loved that she got a birthday "again."   I've told her it's over now though!  LOL

My husband took me on a date Thursday evening.  We had such a great time!  We haven't been on a date since we moved here last December and it was really wonderful to have some time out of the house together.  Our missionary friends were still in the area and their oldest (who had babysat for us in CA) came over to watch the little ones.

First we went to Borders bookstore.  We browsed, got a coffee, looked at more books, and talked.  We could have stayed there for a few more hours!  That's one of our favorite things to do.

Then we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.  The food was great!  The service was great!  The atmosphere was great!  Roy told them it was my birthday so they came and embarrassed me.  :) 

Then we went shopping for Samantha's birthday present.  Usually I do those things by myself so it was fun to have Roy with me to help pick out things.

We are not going to wait so long for our next date!!

Today is Samantha's birthday.  She is my 2nd born and is 7 today.  Wow...7 years!!

This morning she was bouncing around.  She was so excited that it was her birthday!  :) 

She wanted pancakes this morning, plus wanted to make them!  So we made these:

Cornmeal Blueberry Cakes

1/2 c cornmeal

1/2 c boiling water

1 egg

1/2 c sour cream

1/4 c milk

2 T. vegetable oil

3/4 c flour

2 T sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 pint blueberries

Place the cornmeal in a small bowl. Pour in the water and stir evenly to moisten.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, milk, and oil. Add the cornmeal and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. pour in the liquid ingredients and whisk to combine. Gently stir in the blueberries.

Heat the skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly coat with oil. Drop batter, 1/4 cup at a time, on griddle, wiht plenty of space for spreading. Fry until bubbles form and break on the pancake's surface and the bottom is browned. flip and cook just until done.

Makes about 8.

These were really good!!!  And that is coming from someone that doesn't like pancakes...but I do like cornmeal.  :)

Now we're off to go swimming at a friends house.  They don't know it's Sam's birthday but they soon will.  Kayla and Samantha made cupcakes to take with us to share with them.  :)

I got this from Dawn's Blog who got it from another blog which came from another blog and so forth!  LOL

I asked these of Samantha, who turns 7 tomorrow!  There are a few she didn't answer.

Better to be safe than... a baby.

Strike while the... punch.
It’s always darkest before... morning.
Never underestimate the power of... the seas.
You can lead a horse to water but... it won't drink it.
Don’t bite the hand that...
No news is... never a news.
A miss is as good as a... mister.
You can’t teach an old dog... how to flip.
If you lie down with dogs, you’ll...get licked.
Love all, trust... mother.
The pen is mightier than the... seas.
An idle mind is...
Where there’s smoke, there’s... fire.
Happy is the bride who... got married to a husband.
A penny saved is... a nickel.
Two’s company, three’s...goes to four's.
Don’t put off till tomorrow what... 
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and...the whole world cries with you.
There are none so blind as... the seas.
Children should be seen and not...by sharks.
If at first you don’t succeed...cry.
You get out of something only what you...get out of the closet.
When the blind leadeth the blind... it leads to water.
Better late than... church.

Just a test to see if my dad is reading these.  :)

My birthday ended up being really nice!

After getting home with the dog - who, by the way, has healed nicely, but still needs physical therapy to have full use of his leg - we left and hit the mall.  The children were all so good!!  There's a new kiosk from the company Color Me Beautiful.  They do color analysis and sell makeup, skin care products, etc.  The lady talked me into getting my makeup done.  Ah...she didn't have to do much talking.  I felt pampered.  :)   My children were so good and just stood right there through the whole thing!!   I let Kayla try some new lip gloss too.  :)   I loved how the make up looked.  She did a fantastic thing with my eyebrows!

I didn't buy anything as I like to see how the make up holds out on me.   I've gone through at least 10 different brands of make up and I have one that I've stuck with for about 5 years now.  So last night I look in the mirror.  The foundation is splotchy, the eye liner has traveled down to the spots under my eyes, and the mascara is mostly gone.   Now, Color Me Beautiful may be great for some!  But it isn't for me.  These are some others whose make up does NOT work on me: Avon, Artistry (but I use their skin products and LOVE them), Mary Kay, Prescriptives,  Maybelline.   I use Merle Norman and it has been worth the price! 

Then we just walked around - looking and admiring and wishing.  :)  I tried on some clothes at Christopher & Banks and found a few things I'm adding to my wish list. 

In the evening my husband took us all out to dinner at Steamer's, it's a Bar and Grill close to our house.  Really good food and a fun atmosphere.  Not until we'd been there awhile did I notice some "interesting" sayings on the wall.  LOL  I pointed them out to my husband and he said, um...maybe next time we won't bring the children.  LOL  Thankfully my children didn't notice them and I don't think they would have understand the meanings anyway....such things as Eat our Oysters, you'll love all night long....and other things that were "worse" but made us laugh!

Then we rented Million Dollar Baby.  That's another post....wow...good movie.

Tonight we're going on a date, still don't know where, but do know that food is involved.  :)

to Me!  

I'm 33 today.  I like being in my 30's.  Life is so much better than when I was in my 20's!  But I still look at that number....33....and think....how did I get here???????

What is planned for today?   A trip to the vet for the dog.  So exciting!  :)

Tomorrow we have a sitter and my husband is taking me out for a few hours.  I do not know the destination and no amount of bribing or coquetry has revealed the answer.

This morning I was up at 5am with the baby.  He fell back asleep cuddling with me on the couch and I closed my eyes for a brief moment......which lasted until after 7am.       I woke up to Samantha standing over me and presenting me with a homemade card.  She's such a sweetie.

Yep, we're joining the commuters this morning.  We need to leave in about 5 minutes and I'm still sitting here drinking a cup of coffee.  A really yummy cup at that! 

Alex has a doctors appointment at Walter Reed and though it isn't THAT far mileage wise....it will be FAR time wise.  I expect it to take us at least 90 minutes and that is if we don't hit too much traffic.  Thankfully there are car pool lanes that make part of the drive go much faster!!!

Alex will be having minor, minor, minor surgery and this is the pre-appointment, which means we'll get to go up there at least 2 more times.  Oh joy.  

And I'm off!!  Have a great homeschooling day!  We're doing ours in the car and in the waiting room.  :)

Alex, the just barely turned one-year-old, has climbed the ladder up to the top bunk.   His sister found him getting ready to climb over the rail onto the bed! 

We knew he liked to climb.  I had the stepping stool out for him and he loved that...2 steps up...2 steps down.  On and off the couch.  On and off the chairs.  But up the ladder???  GREAT!!!

We knew he had gone in the bedroom but that's where the toys are - no problem to let him go down the hall - it's a small house.  He must have climbed that ladder fast, too, because Samantha practically followed him down the hall and she found him already at the top.

Well, no more playing in the bedroom alone, ever!  

Our last few days have been busy and wonderful!

On Thursday our friends Jose and Marie Serrano and their 4 girls arrived.  We first met them at West Coast Baptist Church in California.  Joe was the pastor of the Spanish ministry there.  Marie is a wonderful lady!!  She and her girls came to our house every other week for several hours.  She was a mentor to me...just like the one mentioned in Titus 2.

"The aged women likewise.....that they may teach the younger women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be disreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

She has such a quiet and gentle spirit and she challenged me in many ways in my own home and with my husband.  In May 2004 Joe graduated from Bible Institute and having previously given himself to the Lord to start a new work in El Paso, Texas, they left on deputation.  I have missed them dearly!  In Dec 2004 we moved to Virginia and guess where they were heading this month!  Virginia!  Yeah!!!

We opened our home to them and it has been a blessed time to have them here.  They arrived Thursday afternoon and will leave this Friday afternoon as they have meetings scheduled in North Carolina.  I will miss them so much when they go!

It's time for us to leave for church so I'll end this now and share more later of what all we've been doing around here.  :)

We're finally home from the vet.  We left at 9am and got home at 1pm.  After the 45 minute drive there, and the 30 minutes in the waiting room, we were informed that it would be at least an hour before he would be ready to go.  They were having trouble getting his sling just right and needed to sedate him.  O-K-A-Y

The kids and I leave and try to find a McDonalds or Burger King with a play area.  We drive and drive and nothing.  We ask...nothing.  Tons of shopping but no fast food in the area??  Strange.  Anyway, we finally hit McDonalds and end up eating in the car as the baby has fallen asleep.  Let him sleep, we say!!!

We get back and get the dog who is in a great mood and has a beautiful, well-done sling on his hind leg.  I hope this one lasts!!!

Then the traffic coming home...oh my....have I mentioned that we live south of Washington D.C. and the vet (the special orthopaedic surgeon!) is  close to D.C. and all these freeway interchanges and there was SO MUCH TRAFFIC!   And who decided to do road work in the left lane in the middle of the day.  UGH.  Anyway, we finally got home at 1pm.  And I'm ready for a nap.  Not gonna happen...

Taking a little break on the computer and then off to pick up the house and do laundry.  We have company coming in a couple hours!!!   Yeah!!!!

The end of the day is here.  In another 20 minutes I hope to be sleeping!  Today was a waste as far as most days go.

I did get up early and for that I'm thankful.  My husband's alarm goes off at 5am.  I usually doze in and out until he leaves at 5:40 and then fall back asleep until the baby wakes up at 7am.  Then it takes me 2 hours to feed the baby, myself, take a shower, and actually wake up.  Instead this morning I got up at 5am with my husband and when the baby woke up at 7 I had already showered, gotten ready, eaten, etc. etc.  It was nice to be "awake" already when the kids got up.

Then we puttered around the house for 2 hours until we left for the dog's appt.  Got home at noon, called the vet again, left again and this time didn't get back until 2pm.  I'm not really sure what we did until 4:30.  Probably mostly did this:

Then from 4:30 to 5:30 I did this:  with the baby.  Love these smilies.

Then I sewed for an hour while my daughter made dinner.  What a sweetie.

After dinner was baths and a phone chat with my girlfriend, Christina, who is coming over on Friday!  Yeah!!

Then children to bed!!  And more  for me until my husband finally got home from work - unusually late night for him.

Tomorrow morning - back to the vet again  .   We have some friends who are missionaries on deputation and they will be arriving tomorrow to stay with us for a week and a half or so.  I'm looking forward to it!!!

So I'm reflecting on what we did for "school."  Hmm...well, books on tape are quite popular with all our car time.  My oldest and I did a weeks worth of devotions in the book Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (she read to me and we talked while I was driving), Samantha play sudoku for awhile.  Great mind game. Matthew and Alex played the piano.  :)

Good Night!

Do I dare even start to explain what is happening with our dog?   Bartholomew, or Bart, or "stupid dog," as I affectionately call him (because he is actually very, very smart), was hit by a car last week.

My husband took him to the vet and they did x-rays and checked him out real well.  Thankfully there was no internal damage but his hip was out of the socket.  He would require surgery to put it back in place properly.  So off Bart goes to a vet hospital 45 miles away.  We didn't talk much about what to do, just decided to go ahead and have them fix his hip.

We are not done with his treatment and so far we are out $2850.    How did we get ourselves into this???  We didn't want to lose the dog.  He really is a great dog!  He's a lab/pointer mix and is terrific with children.  But we always said that we would NOT spend a huge amount of money on a DOG!  And here we are...almost $3K in debt for a dog.

And the time this is taking.  First it was taking him to the vet that is 45 miles away.  Then picking him up a couple days later.  Then Monday I took all 4 children and we took Bart back for a bandage check.  It took 45 minutes to get there and 90 minutes to get home (traffic, always the traffic).  Today, I took him again(his sling had come off).  Again, 45 minutes there...90 minutes home (construction!).  We no sooner walk in the door but I notice that his sling is off his leg again!!!!!

I take him to my local vet but they cannot get the sling to work and his leg keeps falling out.  His leg is supposed to be up in this sling for 2 weeks to keep his hip from moving.  If his hip moves and gets out of joint then that $2800 up above will have to be repeated!!!!!

So, the dog is on "bed rest" and I have to go to the vet again in the morning so they can fix this stupid sling.   And every time the sling falls off we have to do a $75 xray to make sure that the hip is still good.

Not to mention cleaning the wound, putting Desitin around the bandages and the sling where it rubs, keeping him on a leash and in the house all the time she he doesn't go roll in the dirt, and figuring out how to cut $3K from our budget so that we can pay for this.

Okay, vent over.  It's done with now.  I can't change anything at this point.  I sometimes wonder where the staying at home is in my stay-at-home-mom job description.

Some nice things: I took a short nap this afternoon and am feeling rejuvenated.  My oldest daughter is making dinner.  My husband will be home soon.

So my baby turned 1 yesterday.  We had his favorite food - grilled cheese sandwiches.  Then he opened his presents and we had cake.  Here's a picture of him clapping.  Shortly after this he smeared the frosting all over the table.  That was a joy to clean up!!  LOL

The other 3 children helped decorate the cake and had a great time doing it!  Roy got out the video camera and taped Alex.  We have been terrible about video taping lately.  In fact I don't think we've taped much since Alex was born!!!  The other children have lots of themselves and they love to watch home videos.  Now that the camera is out I need to use it more often and not hide it away in the closet.

I gave my new blog link to my mom and she said she would read it because she likes to hear about what her grandbabies are doing.  I think that's a good enough reason to post away! 

Mom, if you're reading this: I'm glad I can share bits about our day with you.  You can comment by clicking on the leave a comment link.  :)  Love you!

We're doing some character trait training by going through The Original 21 Rules of this House by Gregg, Sono & Josh Harris.  We just did Rule #3 "We tell the truth."  My oldest looked up some scripture verses about truthfulness and shared them with us.

My daughter tells me that I'm only supposed to post once a day.  Once a day??  I have more to say than that!

I was sitting here at the computer, eating breakfast, drinking a cup of coffee, trying to become functionable, when my 14 year old asked if she could go for a bike ride.  And off she goes on the bicycle we got through Free Cycle.

If you've not heard of Free Cycle then go to here: www.freecycle.org  You join a group in your community and when others are giving away their items for free, you can request to pick them up.  We've gotten some wonderful items in the past year: books, bicycles, shelves, scrapbooking supplies, etc.  We've also given away a lot: books, car seats, washer/dryer, refrigerator, shelves, etc.  It's a great resource and helps keep things out of the dumps!

On Saturday a Free Cycler had posted that they were giving away a rusty 26 inch bicycle.  I emailed and requested it for my daughter and we picked it up on Sunday.  It's a great bike!!  Yes, there is some rust on it but that will come off with a little cleaning.  It's perfect for my oldest (who outgrew her last bike).

We drove around the neighborhood yesterday clocking some different routes as she wanted to know actual distances.  This morning she rode over 3 miles!  It's great exercise for her!!

I spent far too much time on this blog today.  But I do know more about templates and how to change them to suit myself.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself!  This is exactly what I want to keep teaching my children - how to figure out things for themselves - how to keep on looking until they find the information they need!  I figured out how to add URL links to my friends (homeschoolblogger only lets you add in other homeschoolbloggers) and I also added the category "What We're Reading" along with the list of books.

Journaling here could get addicting.

Today is my baby's 1st birthday.  My husband and I were talking about this past year.  Alexander is so adorable.  He walks everywhere now, has cutey teeth, loves to clap his hands, blow kisses, and play peek-a-boo.  One year.  Time goes so quickly.

On our childrens birthdays they get to choose what is for dinner.  I'm making Alex's favorite - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!  (Can you believe he doesn't like mac-n-cheese???)  Then later there will be cake!  My oldest, Kayla, has it in the oven right now.

Here's Alex walking with his big brother:

Even though our school year has not officially started the children have been asking me to "do school!"  I never thought I'd hear those words.  On Friday we pulled out all the new stuff that we've gotten so far and did the first lesson in each book.  We looked at other books that we'll be reading this year.  It was quite fun! 

Today we had to take the dog, Bart, to a distant Veterinarian Hospital.  (He was hit by a car last Wed and thankfully is doing great - had to go back today for a check on his hip.)  The children took books on tape to listen to for the car ride (about 45 miles one way). 

I could hear Samantha, age 6, and Matthew, age 4, in the back of the van, laughing and laughing over their book.   My oldest was jotting notes in her notebook of funny British sayings from her book on tape.

On our drive home I was thinking about how much I enjoyed homeschooling.  How, even though we weren't at home, they were still schooling and they were loving it!