I love the community here at HSB!   So it was a tough decision to move to a new location.   I wavered and thought and stalled and wavered some more, but finally decided it was time leave my comfort zone and find some new digs.    I've made so many great friends here and I would hate to lose contact so please save my new address in your bloglines account so we don't lose touch.  And I'll still be around reading all my favorite HSB blogs. 

Gayle

FOLLOW THIS LINK!!!!!

***inspired by a conversation with nsremom***

For years I’ve wanted to take local community classes with Chris (hubz).   I thought it would be a way for us to have something to do TOGETHER; a common interest, a common goal.   He didn’t quite seem to get it when I brought it up, but sweet guy that he is, he agreed to take a class with me.   I knew it was a huge sacrifice on his part and he wasn’t too thrilled about it…but he did it.

So the first class I could talk him into was a conversational Spanish class.  We had two small children and I still worked one evening a week at a pediatric office.   We have a large Mexican community where we live and I thought it would be a terrific idea to actually be able to converse with our Mexican patients so I signed us up and off we went. 

The class was a little boring.  The most entertaining part was the 60 year old couple we sat next to who were constantly sharing their spicy intimate life with us.  Way more info than I wanted, but enough comic relief that we actually finished the class. 

So my heart was set on our next class…..ballroom dancing.   I’ve always been a dancer.  I competed and coached in high school and have always loved the graceful moves of the ballroom dancers.   But Chris would have none of that.  He was a football jock and this was just way to girly for him.   I accepted the fact that this just wasn’t meant to be and moved on.

Well, don’t tell me that God doesn’t care about the desires of my heart…no matter how little they are.   

On Sunday night we were invited to a birthday party and the hostess hired a ballroom dance teacher to give us all lessons.  We were to arrive in semi-formal attire and spend the night gracefully gliding over the floor.    Chris was NOT thrilled….but I was! 

We spent two hours learning the steps and practicing our moves and I have to say I haven’t laughed that hard in years.    My toes were sore, my shoes fell off multiple times during the evening and I laughed so hard I cried.  But it couldn’t have been a better night. 

But….It was HARD to let Chris lead.  

Being the experienced dancer and a strong willed woman to boot, I had a hard time letting him guide me around the dance floor.  When you’re ballroom dancing, the woman has to follow the cues of her partner.   You have to have eye contact and notice the little guided signals that he sends your way.   I could tell a dip was coming by his raised eyebrow.   I could tell a spin was coming by his slight lifting of my arm.   I could tell a change in direction was coming by his letting go of one of my hands.    He was the one I had to trust as I danced backwards across the floor.  As the leader, he had an eye on where we were going and guided me there.  All I had to do was let him.  When I interfered or didn’t pay attention, that’s when I got my toes stepped on, ran into another dancer, or made him lose his step. 

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Now please know that I don’t have a perfect marriage.  In fact, anyone who tells you they do is, well….lying.    We’ve had close calls, hopeless moments, big arguments, and times where I thought, “I don’t know if we are going to make it.”  And God has always been faithful to meet us there and do a work in both of us.

But a lot of the time I’ve stirred up the trouble by not following Chris’ lead.   Sometimes I don’t trust that He knows where he’s going.  Sometimes I don’t think he knows the right steps.  And sometimes I disagree with the dance he thinks we should do.   But you know what?  That just doesn’t even matter.   My God is bigger than what I might perceive as my husbands bad choices.  

Cuz, you know what?   It’s not about who’s got the right moves and who doesn’t.  It’s about knowing that we each have a part in the dance.   He needs to gently guide me in the direction he’s chosen and I need to step in harmony with him. 

The dance is so much better when I just follow his lead. 

I know there is a common misconception out there that stay at home mom’s have nothing to offer to the workforce by the end of their parenting years.  But the amount of organization it takes to set up a bevy of  babysitters, pack for 6 people going in separate directions and map out each kids destination  so that Mom and Dad can get away for a long weekend,  leaves no question in my mind that I could totally run a fortune 500 company without breaking a sweat. 

TOTALLY!

It’s taken four different babysitters, working in shifts, to do a portion of what I do by myself every day of the week.   And that not only makes me feel extremely underpaid, but very deserving of a break.    So….while I’m off discoing under a mirrored ball,  watching the sun set, and eating breakfast in bed (I’m completely fantasizing, it’s a church leadership retreat in the boonies) my blog will be blank. 

See ya on Monday!

Malachi, who’s 6, loves hand me downs.  What can you expect from a kid who thinks goodwill is the only place to get new clothes?  (Yes, brainwashing can be a good thing.)  So he is constantly asking us if we have “anything we don’t want anymore”.    His  brothers and sister give him old toys and clothes, I give him old craft supplies I’m not going to use and hubz has been known to give him his old trophies, office supplies and dead cell phones.

So today while foraging for used treasures, Daddy gave him an old tape recorder.  He was giddy with excitement and immediately began recording every thing he could think of. 

Let me just tell ya, that can really stop a mommy in her tracks knowing that all her scolding, phone conversations, and bathroom noises were going to be played back at a later time for whatever crowd happens to be available. 

But Malachi soon realized his own noises were more entertaining.  So all day I have had the pleasure of listening to recordings of burps, farts, screams, hysterical giggles, more burps and farts and a few nursery rhymes thrown in there for good measure.    

ALL AT DEAFENING VOLUMES!!!!

So much fun, girls, so much fun!

I can only imagine what kind of horrific dreams I will be having tonight!

Being a nominee for the homeschool blog awards has widened my bloggy horizons. (Nah, I didn’t win but I’m still going to wear my tiara.)  I’ve been introduced to all kinds of great blogs that I didn’t even know were out there.  So, I decided to share my favorite reads, homeschool and non-homeschool,  in the hopes that you’ll find something new and exciting cuz it’s always fun to meet new people, right?

TC over at Fish In My Hair is a total crack up!  If you want a good laugh go visit her but make sure you’ve already gone to the bathroom first!

Emily at The Learning Never Stops puts on no airs.  I just can’t stand those blogs that are all preachy and perfect.  C’mon, let’s have some reality here!  But, Emily is the most REAL person I know.  She’s honest about life and hits a huge range of topics that just make you think.  Plus, she’s pretty funny too!

Amy at Chitlins and Camembert is a southern girl married to a French man, living in the French countryside.   Ahh….I can only dream!  We have some different political and social views but I absolutely love reading her blog and learning what it’s like to transplant yourself into a different country.   She’s a witty writer and I love to check her blog daily.

Boomama is another addiction of mine!   She just cracks me up with all her southern charm.  She’s got a heart of gold and half the time she’s just talking about fried chicken, relatives and pre-schoolers but she does it in a totally entertaining way! 

So go read some good stuff and let me know what you think!

Why, oh why does everything that needs a $70 per hour plumber break on a friday night after 5pm when they can charge extra? 

Anyone got an answer to THAT mystery of the universe, hmm?

A friend just happened to mention to me today, “Oh, by the way, you’ve been nominated at The Homeschool Blog Awards.”

“I WHAT?!?”

“Yeah, you’ve been nominated for funniest homeschool blog.”

I didn’t even know what a Homeschool Blog Award was and I don’t even have a clue who nominated me.  Somewhere out there lurks my very own Secret Admirer.   Can you feel the love I’m sending your way?

So, my tiara is on order and I’m not going to let the little fact that I’ve only received 1% of the votes stand in my way.  Cuz out of 476 votes that’s 4.7 people who think I’m kinda funny and that makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.   

I thought I should prepare some campaign promises since I’m going to be wearing that tiara for the next forever and I can’t just stand there and look pretty, I need to have something important to say too.  So here’s what I came up with…..

I promise:

Close parking spaces for moms at every mall across the nation

Free chocolate bars provided at 28 day intervals

World Peace

Oh, and maybe I’ll lower taxes too.  I’ll have to see how tired I am after all that other stuff.

So in a pathetic ode to a raunchy Rod Stewart song….

If you think I’m funny….and you really want me…come on baby let me know!

Vote Here!

A moment of enlightenment occurred about the time my first child reached the age of two.  I remember sitting in a daze on my couch at the end of the day surrounded by buckets of unfolded laundry.  I had just tucked my 2 year old son into his bed next to his 1 year old baby sisters’ crib.  I remember being exhausted from my days activities but I had been so busy that I couldn’t even recall what I’d accomplished that day or even what I had eaten for lunch.  Then a wave of awareness and humility hit me as I realized how much I took my own mother for granted.   As a child I just expected my mother to do for me.  Not once did I realize how much she was sacrificing to make my meals, clean my clothes, teach me how to read, and in later years, prepare favorite foods at my whim, drop everything to taxi me around, and spend thousands of dollars to keep me entertained.     Like a revelation it occurred to me;

Mothers don’t get much appreciation for the job they do until AFTER the job is done.    

Which leads me to why I blog.

• I need an outlet for my thoughts or I think I might explode
• I have a place and an accountability for expressing myself with writing
• I get a deep satisfaction out of making other people laugh
• I’ve made some really neat friends
• But most of all, I feel appreciated when someone actually takes the time to read my blog and lets me know it. 

And that, my fellow blogsters, is what keeps my gas tank full during the many tiring days when I’m feeling less than appreciated for the work that I have chosen to do.

So my Works For Me Wednesday tip is this…..

When you are in the thick of the mothering years it’s so important to do things that keep you feeling built up and appreciated.    

Pretty simple, I know, but so important.

It all started at lunch the other day.  Elijah, my oldest, picked my favorite Chinese place as our lunch stop after church.  I happily ate everything on my generous plate;  sesame chicken, heaps of fried rice, barbecued pork, Triple Crown and  numerous cups of sugared tea.    I reached for my fortune cookie, looking forward to the little white paper that would tell me all the good news my future holds, cuz you know how accurate those little ditties can be.    My family received things like this…..

You bring sunshine into the lives of others

Your strength of character outweighs your flaws

A new business venture will bring many rewards

I opened my stale cookie and pried out the paper.  The heavens opened and the angelic choir began to sing as I read what the future holds for me...  

Work on improving your exercise routine

Seriously, what kind of evil people stick a fortune like that into a dessert?!?  

So what’s a slighty chubby mother of four to do with a message so obviously sent from heaven?  Blow the dust off the treadmill and set up my first appointment with a personal trainer, that’s what! 

So my personal trainer and I (hubz who is reliving his glory days of teenage muscle power) arose at 6am this morning to perform torturous exercises resembling a contortionist that would make my evil fortune cookie maker very proud.    And I learned a few things today that I thought I should pass on.

• When handing over the exercise reigns to your husband, it’s probably a good idea to be getting along.  Any unresolved issues just might come out during the course of events….specifically when he’s deciding how many reps you should do, I’m just sayin.

• And  most importantly of all,  Never, and I mean never, stand BEHIND your husband while he is lifting large amounts of weight.  The scientific force of all that weight being thrust up and down can sometimes produce a gaseous waste that involuntarily expells itself towards the unwilling and innocent victim.   The husband will find this terribly amusing, the wife will not. 

We’ve always used the REAL names for body parts when teaching our children during those early talking years.  You know…..arm, finger, leg and yes, even the private ones.  My rationale was first, that I didn’t want to teach it once and then have to teach it all over again and second, I surely didn’t want to get so caught up in our busy child rearing years that I forgot to eventually tell them the correct names for all their parts. 

I could just see my adult son announcing to his new wife that he and his wee-wee need to use the bathroom or my daughter going into her first GYN appointment saying her yoo-hoo was doing just fine, thank you very much.    

Nope, not a real good idea.

As you can imagine this has been the source of some embarrassing moments through the years.     There was the time that one of my sons announced to the whole of Wal-mart that his p*n*s had an itch.   People were getting whip lash trying to get a good look at the nasty boy in lane #9.     And another time, on a trip to the library, when a son wanted to know where babies come from and my daughter in all her superior knowledge yelled out in her impatience, “From v*g*nas!  Sheesh, don’t you know anything?!”  

Cringe-worthy moments, yes indeed!

So it’s no wonder that during the toilet training process of my youngest son, the topic of body parts is frequently bandied about.   Being male, he is very proud of his unique set of plumbing and enjoys talking about who has the same parts that he does.  Combine that with his complete adoration of his oldest brother and this is the conversation that occurs….

Gabe- shi-shuh, do you have a p*n*s?

Elijah  – Yep!

Gabe – Can I see it?

Elijah  – No way! (With a huge laugh)

Gabe  –   Pweese!

Elijah –  Huh-unh!

Gabe – Then, yours isn’t REEEEL like mine!!!  It’s Fake!

Elijah wisely let him win this one but I'm sure there are many peeing contests in the future.

Boy I’ve been reading some good stuff on the ole internet today. 

I checked out chickadee’s blog and was totally built up by her perspective on stay at home mom’s.

And then the icing on the cake was an article that momn4boys has a link to and yep, now I’m ready to tackle the world….well at least the laundry, the kids, and the dishes.   

Go take a look!

Our kids grow up too fast and then they’re off to lead their own lives. 

Give your kids a great big hug and then go read this article….and then go hug them again.

Oh, Yeah! That's where I'd like to be today.

During our "corporate life" days, the company would send us on kidless vacations once a year and one of my favorite spots was the Four Seasons in Great Exuma Bahamas. We spent those 7 days reminding ourselves how to sleep without being awakened by a vomiting child, how to live life without doing a headcount to keep track of our little people, and how to cuddle like we were on our honeymoon again.

Now that we are self employed our getaways consist of hours of torturous travel with four bored kids, multiple stops to go potty, and a sneak to the indoor hot tub after the kids have gone to sleep.

But that's the trade offs to this family that we have and I can bide my time until it's just me and my LUVAH again.

Go check out the linky at Crazy Hip Blog Mama's to see where everyone else wishes they were today.

When spring comes, two things happen to me.  First, I feel this urge to put my feet in the sand and hear the ocean waves crashing against the beach and second, I start fantasizing about a garden. 

Every year I dream up great plans for raised beds, rocky garden paths, and climbing green bean vines.   I envision a white picket fence to keep the deer out and a homeschool routine of weeding and watering as a family, while gathering our abundant crop in wicker baskets to bring into the house for canning and freezing.  And sometimes……sometimes  in my fantasies, I’m even wearing an ankle length skirt, an apron and a bonnet. 

But in 13 years of marriage, I’ve managed a garden only once.  And I think that only happened because my Dad came over and built the beds for me, my husband helped me plan and plant and I only had ONE CHILD THEN!   Plus, that one child who was about 9 months old at the time decided to take a big taste of freshly manured earth and well, I don’t think I got back out to the garden much that summer. 

So today, I again decided that I was going to have a garden.  I put my perfect garden ideas aside and picked a location close to the house that would require minimal work. 

And we dug……and dug….and dug.

We pulled weeds and turned fresh moist earth and sweated.   We oohed and ewwwed over fat squishy worms and pill bugs and larvae.   We complained about our sore backs, our dirty fingernails and our lack of progress…..and then we went back inside while a half finished garden plot lay churned up by the window. 

My hope is that we’ll get back out there and actually plant something edible to harvest, but I’m thinking we just had a good day digging  in the dirt. 

This is a picture of a man who loves his wife.  

It all started with a home school seminar that I wanted to go to with Emily.  I casually mentioned it to my husband who promptly volunteered to watch my 4 kids and her 4 kids while we went to the seminar in Emily’s town.   And he wasn’t just volunteering to watch them, but to keep them overnight.

Eight Kids…Overnight…All Alone!

Now, to us mom’s that sounds like a lot of work, some sacrifice and planning, but not impossible.  To a man this means no wife to cook and clean up afterwards, no woman to coordinate activities to keep them occupied, no time to watch the game on the telly,  and  no adult conversation for a more than 24 hours.     And maybe, just maybe, a little more understanding of his wife’s extreme need for chocolate therapy.

And what was the first thing that we did with our free time?  Why, hit the local goodwill of course.  We also ate a nice dinner at a restaurant without a playground, tried on clothes at Old Navy without kids climbing out from under the dressing room door or hollering things like, “Wow Mom, those are BIG UNDERWEAR!” and  sat in our pajamas at night watching Dancing With The Stars and playing card games. 

When I came home I figured the trade off to having a girls night out was going to be all the work that would be waiting for me.  I expected my house to be thrashed by happy children who ran from room to room strewing toys all over.  I also expected piles of dishes in the sink and mountains of dirty towels since Superman took them all swimming at the local pool.

I was greeted at the door with what I knew was the same look he sees when he arrives home from work; a thoroughly exhausted person that is ever so grateful to see another adult.     But here’s how he wins the Superman title.  All the kids had their stuff packed and waiting by the door, there wasn’t a toy out of place, the dishwasher and clothes washer were both running, and a humbled man was telling me how hard my job is. 

I couldn’t have been more satisfied!

You might want to wander on over in the next couple of days to his blog.  He’s assured me that as soon as he recovers he’s going to blog about his adventures.  And it should be mighty good reading. 

“Mom, Malachi crashed his bike and he’s bleeding all over!” 

Not one of the more popular phrases I like to hear coming from my children.  Hubz and I ran out the door to find our six year old son crying while blood oozed out of his mouth.   We sopped up the mess and got the blood to stop and were faced with this….

He’d done a face plant on the pavement, and while his skull was protected by the helmet, his mouth was not.  His two front baby teeth were pushed in and one was hanging precariously with the roots completely exposed.   (I have to put a little disclaimer here.  My first thought was IS HE OK?  My next thought was where’s the camera, this will be an interesting blog.  I’m sick aren’t I?)

We spent an hour on the phone while the pediatrician tried unsuccessfully to contact a dentist on a Saturday.  She finally told us we would need to go to the emergency room. 

Oh Joy! 

We all know that means hours of sitting in a waiting room watching the homeless guy next to you barf into a bucket not big enough to hold a goldfish and praying mercilessly that he will actually get all the barf INTO the teeny tiny bucket. 

We were finally escorted back to a cubicle big enough for one, where the nurse told my son to get nekkid down to his underwear and put on a gown.  Malachi’s eyes got as big as saucers as he leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “Uh, mom, I’m not wearing any underwear.”

OH JOY!

Well we waited…

and waited…

and waited. 

4 hours in fact.  All this time the poor boy was nekkid under what he miserably dubbed “the girl dress” when finally a doctor came in to tell us the dentist was out of town and would meet us back at his office at 10pm that night. 

10 PM folks!  WAS THERE ONLY ONE GUY WILLING TO YANK OUT A FEW TEETH IN THE WHOLE BLINKIN’ TOWN?  

Fast forward to 10 PM.  

A very nice dentist met us, took some x-rays and in short order and relatively painlessly, my brave son was holding his two front teeth in his hand.   What a night! 

We got him home, tucked him in and fell into bed exhausted.  Oh but the night wasn’t over yet.  Just as I was starting to do that twitch thing right before you fall asleep, I heard a horrible sound coming from the bathroom.  My daughter was retching all over the floor.  She’d caught the flu. 

And I have no picture for that one.

A few have you have been concerned that I’ve shriveled up into one big raisin of a wrinkle and blown away with the wind, since I haven’t posted since my “Wrinkle” post. 

Instead I’ve just been neglecting you all of my wonderful prose….my deep insights…..and my huge amounts of knowledge in all things chocolate. 

I’m evil that way sometimes.

To be honest, my life has been filled with papers, receipts, documents, and a very unorganized filing system as we try to file our business taxes that were due YES-TURR-DAY!  (Uh, yeah, we filed for an extension.)

I’ve also been dealing with my vast stores of cellulite (must be from all that durn chocolate) and the fact that in a few short weeks it will be exposed in all its pale white glory as spring approaches.   

In other news this week, I had a gigantic case of road rage during my latest trip to Costco.  

WHY, OH WHY DO PEOPLE PARK THEIR ENORMOUS CARTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE!!!!!

I found myself resisting the urge to scream in the middle of Costco.   Not only was I the only one willing to make eye contact and yield to others but am I the only one who thinks you should drive on the right side of the aisle….you know, just like the street?

Nuff said.

Which brings us to today.  Hubby and I have planned a 3 mile jog/walk this afternoon…..without kids!  (Yes, there is a God!) and then a mouth watering jaunt to the library book sale where all books are 10-25 cents each!!!  (again without kids)   Books to us are equal or greater than chocolate so this is quite a thrill, let me tell ya. 

So…..I’ll leave you with a little something until my next post…..

Now that I’m 35, my skin is crying out to finally be taken care of and I have no idea where to start.   I have to admit, I’ve never really followed any kind of skin care routine other than washing my face with whatever bar of soap has been left in the shower.  I don’t even use sunscreen except for when I know I’ll be out on a boat or something and  even then I only put it on my nose and the tops of my ears.  So…..I need some good advice on what products to use.  

Can someone help me?

I’ve got normal combination skin….nothing too tricky and nice pair of crows feet and laugh lines that need to GO  AWAY!  I can’t even fill them in with a nice thick dose of foundation anymore.  So…..what do you swear by!   What skin care product can you just not live without?

My crows feet will thank you!

(I just read through that and realized I sound like a commercial, but I'm desperate ladies!)

Yes, I have reached that point where I can no longer say I'm in my early 30's.  All birthdays will now move me towards the big 4-0.   So I thought I would document my birthday weekend in pictures for those who couldn't be there.....and you know who you are, Em!

My actual birthday was on friday so I met for coffee with my gorgeous friend Sharnessa who probably just toppled out of bed and looked like that, while I had taken a full hour of scrubbing, brushing, drying and stuffing to even look presentable.

Then hubby had arranged for me to have a haircut and weave.   (I must be crazy to show you this NAS-TAY picture of me, but I DO like to keep it real,)  I look a bit lethargic because me and my tinfoil head had been sitting under the dryer getting rather snoozy.

The hubby AGAIN out did himself by setting up a mani-pedi for me.   My sweet vietnamese nail tech must have thought I was crazy when I asked her to take my picture.   She kind of missed the point and didn't actually get the pedicure part but at least you can kind of see what I'm doing. 

The next day........

Friends had set up a birthday breakfast in my honor.  (L to R is my friend Sharnessa (Barb's daughter), Me, Julie, Caren, Barb Shelton (who I blogged about a while back) and  Julie)  All homeschool mom's! 

So now the whole town knows me as the crazy lady who keeps asking to have her picture taken!  How vain! 

This was the headline that caught my eye today….

Numbers drop for those married with children.  U.S. Census says 1 in 4 households have traditional families.  (They mean a married man and woman)

The article goes on to state that….

“The culture is shifting and marriage has become a luxury item, one that only the well educated and well paid are interested in,”  says marriage expert Isabel Sawhill.

Hmm…..very interesting.  

First I’d like to set the record straight.   Whoever classifies luxury items (ie. Furs, jewels, caviar, big screen TV’s) with marriage has frankly NEVER BEEN MARRIED!  I don’t quite consider waking up in the middle of the night to the smell of a secretly released stink bomb and a long hairy man arm pinning me to the bed, a luxury.    Nor do I find that the self control it takes to keep my big opinionated mouth shut when my husband has dreamed up a plan to sell our home and live on a teeny tiny boat with our FOUR children, anywhere within the realm of pampered luxury.   

I love the cuddles, laughs, companionship, personal growth and the product…….my kids.

BUT LUXURY?   You’ve got to be kidding.  

Lady, this is work!

I’ve realized lately that my parenting skills are sorely lacking.  My early diligence and consistency with my first two children have been AWOL for a good long time now and I’ve been seeing things in my children that I have learned to accept but just don’t like.   Things like angry outbursts, disrespect, sassiness, put downs, impatience with each other, griping, nit picking, a ME attitude, and a host of other unpleasant attributes.   I’ve noticed, but have just been so overwhelmed with how far off track we’ve become, that I just don’t have a clue where to step back in and gain control….much less how.   

But God is faithful even when I’m not and our homeschool meeting last night was a seminar on relationships between parents and children and how to connect with their hearts.   It was hosted by Barb Shelton an author and homeschool mom who has graduated three children from home.  And they are just amazing people who  happen to be friends of mine so I’ve actually seen the fruit of what she’s teaching.  (I highly recommend checking out her articles on her website!  In fact, TOS magazine did an article on her a few issues ago…you might have read it!)

What I got out of the night was this….I”M THE PROBLEM, NOT THEM!  The things I’m seeing in my kids are exactly what I’ve taught them.  (Aren’t they just SO smart?)  I speak disrespectfully to them, I’m impatient, griping, nit picky, self centered….OUCH!  Barb gave me the tools so I decided I was going to start fresh tomorrow.   I went home and repented to God and started my day this morning with prayer and purpose.

My day began with plenty of opportunities to use my fresh attitude and within 30 minutes I was faced with 2 arguments, 1 moment of sassing, and a temper tantrum. .  I spoke softly, kindly, wisely……Whew!  I glided into the next room to address my husband, looked him straight in the eye and leaning over him, I  said in a loud whisper, “THIS SELF CONTROL CRAP IS GONNA KILL ME!”  Then I took a deep breathe, walked back in the room with the kids and pressed on. 

I knew before I could do anymore correcting, I needed to privately repent to each one of them and THEN begin the retraining process.  The opportunities presented themselves without any effort on my part and it was an amazing bonding time for each of us

Our Day Was Great!

It sure wasn’t without problems but every time, and I mean EVERY TIME an issue came up, we dealt with it. Nothing fell through the cracks or got ignored.   It didn’t matter where we were.   In fact we had a whining and screaming incident with my 3 year old in the car and I pulled over on the side of the road to deal with it.  But the response from the kids was great.  They loved having their calm talking mom back.    And we actually all enjoyed each other for the first time in months.  I was their mom but there were moments of friendship too! 

This evening I’m looking back realizing that I ended my day with no regrets.  Nothing I did today left me feeling ashamed of my actions.  Did I do stuff wrong?   Yes!   Did they do stuff wrong?  Oh yeah!  But we were quick to seek forgiveness and deal with the heart of it all in a loving way.    I know we still have lots of work to do and I’ll still have days when I want to just lose it, but relying on God to keep me focused and strong will help me to have more days like this……days where I can be a parent with no regrets. 

It so easy for me to get caught up in the academics of this homeschool journey.   Being a task oriented person in a very OCD way, I love doing work book pages and checking things off lists.   But I started down this homeschool road not because I wanted to imitate school at home, but because I wanted to guard the hearts of my children from the influences of our culture.  I wanted to make sure that the things they learned about life and knowledge were based on truth and faith and learned at the appropriate time.  

Academics are pretty low on my priority list compared to character building and a relationship with Jesus.   So sometimes I look at my homeschool counterparts and I get a little panicky that my kids aren’t in the appropriate grade book for their age, haven’t learned a foreign language yet, or aren’t taking the bazillion co-op classes that are offered in my community.   That’s when I start to feel overwhelmed and question my choices. 

And then days like today happened.

Is there anything more cool than when your kids learn a new concept and take it one step further?   We’ve been studying the parts of a friendly letter in our English books, you know, the heading, greeting, body…..all that stuff.   I forced the kids to use what they learned to write a letter to their best friends.   They whined and complained quietly to themselves, but they did it.   School was done and off they went.  Pretty soon I catch the 2 older ones at the computer, excitedly hovering over the keyboard.  What were they doing?   Writing letters of course.

They wrote to their favorite author, (Lemony Snicket) they wrote to their heroes, (Maria Tallchief the first African American prima ballerina and George W. Bush), they tracked down addresses on the web, read bios…..they learned, people, THEY LEARNED!   My little bit of teaching set their minds to ticking and they took what I gave them and made it their own.   I love that!

My son heard about a boy who wrote a book at the age of 15 (The books is called Eragon…haven’t read it yet) and was a bestselling author by 18.   That inspired him so much that now he’s writing his very own book.  He has illustrations, 10 chapters written, and the next book already forming in his mind.    I love that he’s found something that delights him and is pursuing it on his own!  And do you know how much teaching I can fit into his pursuit?   We’ll do tons of editing (English, grammar, spelling, sentence structure), figure out how to send it to a publisher (research), and probably learn to deal with rejection (character building), learn how to start something and see it through to the end (leadership skills) and build our prayer life while we wait for a response from the publisher. 

So, I guess I say ALL THAT to say this (as much to myself as to anyone)…….don’t compare your homeschool journey with anyone else.   If your kids are learning you’re doing a good job.    If your kids are taking it deeper, well, you’re doing an even better job! 

I keep forgetting to let y'all know to go check out hubby's blog.   I swear he is just a slow movin', deep thinkin', always serious kind of guy but once he gets a writin' he turns all witty and stuff.   Anyway, go visit him and leave him a comment so he knows someone out there is listening. 

www.homeschoolblogger.com/ChrisBryant

The kids and I spent the day hanging out at my parents house.  Once a week we go over and visit with my 97 year old Grandma who lives with them, while they take a much needed and well deserved breather.   

You don’t know how hard it has been to NOT blog about my Grandmother.   But, in a moment of family loyalty I agreed to my Mom’s request that I wouldn’t share all the funny details of my Grandmother’s current life.  And even now it’s just killin’ me.  But I will tell you this.  She is one spunky lady! 

So I’m going to attempt to blog about Grandma without actually telling you any of the tasty little tidbits and hilarious anecdotes that are her life now.  But it’s just killin’ me.

KILLIN’ ME!!!!

Going to Grandma’s house as a kid was always a treat.  The usually ritual was to greet her and Grandpa at the door with hurried hugs and kisses while running past them to the freezer in the laundry room.   Grandpa was known for his sweet tooth and always kept a gigantic bag of candy and hostess snowballs (those pink coconut-marshmallow things that were a cavity waiting to happen) in the freezer for our visits.    Then Grandma would proceed to give Grandpa a fierce tongue wagging for feeding us all candy.    Now I understand she just didn’t want us hopped up on sugar while we were at her house, but then, it was just a comforting tradition to watch Grandpa grin at her in glee while he was being berated by this 4 foot 11 inch ball of fire.   Grandmpa would wink at us while diverting Grandma from our binge and the fact that the freezer door was still hanging open. 

Grandma was the most stubborn, independent  and determined woman I know.  She wouldn’t accept a lick of help from anyone because she just knew she could do it herself.   But she was always there to help everyone else.  She had something like 11 brothers and sisters and was the oldest of the bunch.   So she started being responsible at the age of 3 as all the younger kids started coming along.  She would help cook and clean, dress and watch the younger kids and to this day the ones that are still around look at her as something between sister and mother.

After Grandpa died and Grandma lived alone we would come over to her house for a visit and find her moving the refrigerator by herself or climbing up the ladder to the roof to do some kind of maintenance.   Now keep in mind that she is just a little shrimp of a woman and must have been in her 70’s – 80’s at the time.    You can probably imagine my parent’s reaction at finding her doing all this dangerous stuff at her age.  But for me, I was just proud and hoped that I would grow up just as feisty as her.    

Nowadays, every time I see her she always reminds me that she’s almost 100.   I’m convinced that she’s determined to hang in there until that time.    And she’s just stubborn enough to do it too! 

It’s been really fun for me to take the kids over to visit Grandma and let them listen to her stories of growing up.   It started out as a time to give my Mom and Dad a break but it’s really turned into a living history lesson as we learn about 1^st hand accounts of what life was like before cars, television, pre-package foods, and plain old convenience.    A period of time that seems like a fairy tale to the kids. 

So even though I couldn’t share the funnies of today, the memories of yesterday have been a good thing to revisit. 

Being a single income family of six is synonymous with the need for thrift.    And, since the grocery budget for 2 adults, 3 growing boys and a dainty daughter can equal something close to a house payment, I’ve found ways to make sure that every scrap of food get’s used in ways that won’t make them gag. 

My biggest moment of food genius came in a fit of panic.   I opened the fridge to see what leftovers I needed to use up and was faced with 1 chicken breast, ½ cup of green beans, and some tomatoes that needed to be used before they sauced themselves.   Surely not enough to pass around to six people, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pull of the loaves and fishes thing.   But then it came to me.   Soup!   I chopped and mixed and boiled and spiced, made some rolls and Voila, it turned out to be one of the family’s favorite meals.  

So from then on I decided to keep a container in the freezer to catch all the leftovers in. Whenever I have leftovers like veggies, meatballs, pot roast…whatever, I chop it up and put it in the container in the freezer (keeping in mind what tastes good together).   When the container is full I thaw it out, add seasonings, broth, and maybe the handful of uncooked pasta that wasn’t enough for a full recipe, and we have hot soup and fresh bread machine rolls for dinner. 

I’ve got more compliments from my family on the leftover soups than I did when it was cooked in its original form.   And now I keep a couple of containers going in the freezer; one for beef and one for chicken.   Plus, I never throw out leftovers that have been sitting in the fridge too long and are now growing hair, because they immediately have a place in the freezer.    

So, that’s my brilliant Works For Me Wednesday idea.   Go check out Rocks In My Dryer for more great ideas!

I really made an effort to train my first two children from the minute they could move around.  And I did a really good job of teaching them obedience and capturing their hearts.   But by the time my 3^rd came around, I got sloppy.   Then when #4 arrived, I was sloppy AND too busy.   The fruits of my lack of labor have finally arrived and I find myself in the unpleasant place of having to re-train my 3 year old.    I’m am not only emotionally exhausted but feeling like a big fat failure.  So I decided to give myself a refresher course on how to train my toddler/pre-schooler and  thought I’d post my thoughts just in case someone out there finds themselves in the same boat. 

Let your No mean NO!   Pick your battles because you need to stand firm when you’re making a point.   When you tell your child no, you need to be able to follow through with it and not give in after 5 minutes of whining. 

Be consistent.    Kids learn fast.   If you show them that No means “Keep whining and begging until Mom gives up” they will learn that lesson well.  If you show them “When mom chooses to say No she means it” then that’s what they will learn and the whining and begging will stop because they know it won’t work.

When giving direction, get down on their level and look them in the eye.   I was constantly saying, “Look at mama in the eyes” before telling them what I wanted them to do.  For some reason, the eye contact is harder to ignore than when I give them direction while I’m across the room and they are playing with a toy. 

Practice with them.   When I have the spare time, we do drills.  I’ll give direction like, “Come to mommy, please” and we’ll work on answering, “yes, mommy” and obeying the first time.  Practicing at home really helps for when we are in a public place and I need them to respond quickly. 

Things won’t change over night.   You might see some changes right away but chances are you’re going to have to be consistent for a while before the changes start occurring.  It takes adults an average of 21 days to change a habit so you really can’t expect an immediate response from your little one.

Don’t raise your voice when you get frustrated.   When they see you lose your cool, they don’t respect your request.   I can be a yeller, when I lose it so I’ve tried to make a habit of responding the opposite of what I really want to do.   When I feel the urge to raise my voice out of frustration, I whisper instead.   Having screamed at my child and then using  the whisper approach, it’s amazing the different responses I get.   When I holler I get more resistance and crying, when I lower my voice they have to get quiet so they can hear what I have to say.  Plus, can anyone resist listening in to see what all the whispering is about?

Just reading that makes me feel like I’ve got a game plan on getting things back in control.  So if I go missing in the next few days, know that I’m probably hiding behind locked doors, soothing myself with some form of chocolate and reflecting on the good stuff…..like today when his Daddy carried him off to the potty and I overheard him saying, “Dad, mom’s my girlfriend.”   So cute!

Lord have Mercy!  I was going crazy without my internest access!   Not only did I miss my little daily coffee breaks reading all of your blogs, but I just can't function without it!    Hubby is moving his main work space into his home office and then changing locations for his client meeting offices so that required that  he network our home computers together....install a router....and a bunch of other stuff that neither one of us understand.     Not only did we feel the ultimate in stupid, cuz let's face it, we can point and click with the best of 'em but that's about it for the both of us.   So when the internet company who shall go nameless, decided to torture us with the 20 gazillion options on How To Get My Blinkin' Computer To Work my inner Old Lady came out....

"Why, when I was a youngun they ran the whole dang US of A with a notepad and a sharp #2 pencil, they sure did.   We didn't need none of that fancy high tech stuff you modern kids need nowadays.   And if a #2 pencil was good enough for the president of the U-nited States, well than it's good enough for me, and don't you forget it mister."

I've since changed my mind!

I couldn't renew my library books so I racked up enough fines to pay off the national debt.....twice!

I couldn't reorder my Blockbuster video rentals so I kept getting Bob The Builder movies instead of grown up movies.    I caught my husband balancing the check book the other day and singing, "Can We Fix It?   Yes We Can!"

After cooking approximately 13,140 meals in the last 12 years of marriage (and yes I actually calculated that)  I MUST use Meals.com to come up with something fresh and exciting.   Therefore without the use of my computer I was all messed up.   We ate pancakes for dinner, more soup and sandwiches than I ever care to admit, and if I even look at Top Ramen again, I think I'm going to scream!  

So I will be the first to admit that I can't function at full capacity without being connected to the World Wide Web.  

Is there an internet-anonymous group out there somewhere?

I'm on a borrowed computer today while mine is under the weather, so just a quick update.....

My hair is now back to it's normal shade of brown after a few days of clownish orange, (see previous post)

Gabe has put "Max" away and found other ways to entertain himself,

The last child is now finishing up with his sickness (it sort of hits us one at a time around here which can drag out for weeks)  so I'm hoping to have, you know, a LIFE again soon.

As soon as my computer is up and running again, I'll be back!

I was felled by the flu bug on Friday night, in the middle of date night no less.  And even though it felt as though my hind quarters turned into a weapons grade flame thrower and a ball of nastiness was threatening to erupt from my stomach and out my face, there were some exciting things that occurred over the weekend. 

Gabe (3) decided that my hot water bottle felt like a baby and thus named him Max and carried him around all weekend.  They only time I got to use “Max” was when  I was allowed to baby sit him while Gabe did more interesting things like play with legos or take a nap.   

I was allowed to lay in my bed from Friday night to Monday morning.  Food was brought to me on trays, I read 4, count em, 4 books over the weekend plus a book full of sudoku puzzles.   I didn’t cook, teach, break up fights, do laundry, or clean house.   Now if I hadn’t felt like death was imminent, I probably would have enjoyed this self centered life of luxury much more. 

By Sunday, I was rather rank smelling so I decided to use  what little energy I had to pamper myself.  I showered till the hot water ran out, gave myself a pedicure and decided to color the gray hairs that were starting to peek out from my last color session.  I tried a new highlighting kit that promptly turned my highlights a bright orange that looked like it belonged on a circus clown.   Today I will wear hubby’s baseball hat while I figure out how to get my hair brown again. 

But, there’s always a silver lining.  Since my weekend diet consisted of only apple juice, saltine crackers and chicken broth, I lost 3 WHOLE POUNDS.

Today holds all kinds of fun for me.  Now I must tend to the house that had no housekeeper, the laundry that had no laundress, and the children that had no mommy all weekend.  I’m not sure the involuntary vacation was worth it. 

Lately in the evenings, hubby has been reading a great kids biography series and our current book is on JFK.   (By the way, this series has some great biographies in it with lots of pencil drawings and interesting facts.  I highly recommend it!) 

Who was John F. Kennedy?

Tonight we read a chapter about how big a deal it was that JFK was the first catholic president ever elected.  During his campaigning, the voters were concerned that his faith (and the pope) would influence him while in office.  His response?    He urged people to put aside their worries.  His religion was personal and would not interfere with being president.  That really struck something in me that made me question if his faith WAS personal or if it was just tradition. 

My faith affects every aspect of my life; my decisions, my thoughts, my actions, my conscience.  There is no way to separate it from who I am or what I do!   Do I always do or say what’s right?  Do I always make good decisions?   Heck, no!  But my faith is always there either guiding my decisions or words, or being used to convict me to seek forgiveness.   My relationship with God is personal.   He’s a real live being that guides and comforts me, not a series of traditions or expectations.  

So that really makes me question JFK’s faith.   If it doesn’t affect his entire life and he can keep it separate, locked away in a box to be pulled out only at certain times, well, is that true faith?

I was reading countrymomof4 and nsremom and saw their list of favorite things, which made me think, “What could I not live without?”……….

• Rusk Jele Gloss (hair lotion for my curly hair) otherwise I’d have a 3 foot tall ‘fro sticking out from the top of my head. 

• Flavored soda water to replace my love of pop!

• Milk Chocolate…..and that’s all I have to say about that.

• My gi-normous wedding ring.  (ok, I know there’s lots of you out there with bigger and better wedding rings but it has lot’s of EXTRA meaning behind it)  By the way I DID find it!

• Paperbackswap.com……it’s like an addiction or something!

• Bath and Body works Mentha-lip shine.  It’s a creamy lip balm and is some kinda yummy mint flavor.  I have to hide it or Gabe will suck it right out of the tube.

• Tweezers to remove those nasty hairs between my eyebrows and the even nastier ones that sneak out on my chin like some kind of bearded lady at the circus.  (oh gosh, did I just say that?)

• My treadmill, because even when I’m just looking at it I break out in a sweat and that’s gotta count for at least a few hundred burned calories, right?

So what about you?

Combine my 3 year olds love of the Happy Birthday song, complete with all the additional kids verses, and his insistence that he be the first to pray at each meal and this is what you get at dinner tonight.....

Happy Birthday to Jesus…

You smell like a monkey…..

AAAAAAA-Men!

We watched two really great family movies over the weekend.  The first was One Night With The King.  It's a new movie that just came out on DVD and it's the story of Esther   It's pretty close to the Bible story but not exact.  The part I was really pleased with is that they could have gone way overboard with all the harem scenes and lots' of s*(ex) but.....they didn't!    I kept waiting for something to cross the line and it just didn't.  Even the costumes were modest.   So I highly recommend it. 

The next movie was Facing The Giants and I just can't say enough about this one.  I was really expecting a low budget, cheesy christian movie but I was very surprised.  Again, we ALL could watch it.  In fact I have no idea why it wasn't rated G instead of PG.  It tells the story of a christian football coach who renews his faith in the midst of all kinds of trials.  We all teared up quite a few times and it doesn't shy away from being bold in representing the man's faith. 

So is Hollywood finally getting it that the Christian community would like some decent stuff to watch?

Nah!

But these are definately worth watching!

After tallying all the votes, the award for Providing The Most Bloggy Material must go to my two youngest sons, Gabriel (3) and Malachi (6).    I figured the climax of our week was when Gabe chopped up all the beloved blankies in a frenzy of crazed scissor freedom in the middle of the night.  But, in an effort to not be outdone, Malachi pulled one last trick out of his hat and in good ole homeschool fashion, decided to do an experiment on electricity. 

This is what it looked like! 

Why did I put a safety cover on only one of the outlets?

But, You know that safety pin was just beggin for it.  Almost like the serpent in the garden, (“Oh come on, you know it will fit perfectly.  Forget what Mom always told you about sticking things in light sockets.  Nothing will happen.  In fact, it will open a secret door filled with all kinds of toys and candy.  Yeah, that’s right, it’s a portal to Candyland.”) I can just imagine what was going on in Malachi’s sweet little blond noggin. 

But in a totally immature moment can I just say, “I told ya so!”

So, this is what a 6 year old looks like when he has finished his self taught lesson in electricity.   

Fortunately he came out unscathed.  I’m off to hide all matches, sharp knives, and poisons because I still have two kids who haven’t contributed to the blog lately and I think I’m just fine with that. 

Most parents classify their lives as Pre-kids and Post-kids.

My Pre-kid years involved an exciting job, a shiny red sports car,  lot’s of indulgences, (clothes, travel) late nights and later mornings,  and independence.  

Sigh....

My Post-kid years are a bit different.    The sports car has turned into a people hauler, indulgences include new Wal-mart underwear and maybe a trip to the library, and I still have late nights but the later mornings are only when Grandma has a slumber party. 

And independence? 

That’s when I get to go to the bathroom All By Myself.

But excitement still prevails in my life.  And anyone who has experienced their very own toddler can probably give me a loud AMEN right about now.    

Our Gabe, who is 3, never lets me down in the excitement department.   He shares a room with his big brother Malachi who is 6.  And let me tell ya, the temptation of big brothers special things are a force to be reckoned with.  When the lights go out and big brother is fast asleep, that’s the ripest time to touch the untouchables and dig through all those mysterious older boy treasures.   We often hear the pitter patter of 3 year old feet running across the hard wood bedroom floor at night and the tell tale noise of drawers slowly sliding open or furniture being dragged across the floor.  Many a morning I’ve gone in to wake the boys up to find Malachi buried in an artfully arranged pile of stuffed animals and pillows where Gabe has played and Malachi has slept through the whole thing.  Other times I’ve gone in to wake them and bounced my forehead of their bedroom door as I realized some piece of furniture had been slid in front of it sometime during the night.  

And that’s just a DANDY way to start your day!

But yesterday morning I walked into a brand new scene altogether.   Somehow, Gabe had gotten hold of some kid safety scissors.  You know…..the kind that are rounded on the ends and only cut paper?

Well, They Don’t Just Cut Paper!

It looked like that kid had “Partied Like It’s 1999”.  There was confetti everywhere.   And upon closer inspection the confetti wasn’t of paper.  It consisted of his chopped up pillowcase, his sheets, his very own blankey made by his great grandmother, all the blankets stacked in his closet,  and the piece de resistance, his brothers favorite blankey that was STILL CLUTCHED IN HIS BROTHERS SLEEPING HANDS!   

As you can probably imagine, the mother in me had smoke coming out of her ears in a very cartoonish fashion.

The homeschooler in me felt that was an excellent midnight lesson in motor skills.

And the kid in me said, "Can I play?"

My mother-in-law called the other day:

Hi Gayle.  I was wondering if maybe, I could have ALL the kids over for a slumber party on Friday night.  I just thought it would be fun for all the cousins to get together and play in the snow, and watch movies, and have hot cocoa and…..

My Breathless Answer:

I’ll Have Them Ready in Five Minutes and Waiting on the Front Porch!

This mama doesn’t have to be asked twice.    In fact, I figured I better answer pretty darn fast or she would have a moment where she realized what she’s truly gotten herself into, what with inviting eight kids between the ages of 3 and 11 to spend ALL NIGHT with her.  

Oy!

I couldn’t think of anything worse.  Well, maybe eating the last brownie and realizing there is no milk to wash it down with. 

Now THAT would be cause for concern.

So figuring that she’s got a really good hairstylist that would cover all the new grays she’ll wake up with the next day,  I sent the kids packing with absolutely NO guilt. 

And hubster and I had the house All To Our Selves!

We crammed everything that we could think of into that 24 hours of freedom;   we ate our meals at all kinds of odd hours,  we left the house on a whim with only a moments notice and with no bags full of kid gear,   we worked on projects around the house that would have taken us hours with kid interruptions,  we stayed up till 2 AM, knowing we could sleep in come morning.   

And I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun!

I get so caught up in the responsibilities of caring for the kids and their multitudes of needs, taking care of the house, teaching, and organizing our lives, that I easily forget that it all started with a great love affair. 

And Grandma’s hair looked just fine the next day.  Nary a gray hair in sight, bless her ever lovin’ heart!

Losing our teeth is a right of passage.  Depending on what stage you’re in, this can be a something to look forward to or something to dread. 

Take for instance my 97 year old grandmother.  Grammafornia,  (a shortened version of Grandma who lives in California) spunky chick that she is,  likes to brag about her most recent trip to the Dentist where she shocked them by flashing her very own, still attached, choppers. 

I know, I hope it’s hereditary too!

And on the flip side is my 6 year old son who has had a dangling loose tooth for weeks.  It’s just hanging there by a thread of skin and I have to admit to being rather clumsy around him for the last few days in my covert attempts to give it just enough incentive to finally detach itself from my sons face. 

Oops, sorry son, didn’t mean to bump you with my elbow Right On Your Tooth.

Oops, mommy didn’t mean to hit you with the pool stick Right On Your Tooth.

DRAT

Though all my attempts failed, that stubborn tooth plopped right out in my son’s hand this morning while I was still, ahem, in bed. 

In runs Malachi, “Mom, Dad, I lost my tooth.”  In all manner of loud, excited, and screaming voice.  He’s not the quiet one in the bunch for ANY occasion. 

Hubster’s not much of a morning person so I was so proud when he recognized the significance of this day and popped right up and welcomed him in for a congratulatory hug in our warm bed followed by the directions to his wallet where the $1 award from the Mole-i-nator (our manly version of the tooth fairy, stolen from one of the Santa Clause movies) awaited. 

Even our oldest son got in on the generosity of the moment and snuck a dollar of his coveted savings-for-the-day-my-parents-lose-their-mind-and-let-me-get-a-TV-for-my-room into his pocket for his younger brother to have.   

So, without any further doo-doo, (as my toddler says)…….

Welcome, O Toothless One to the ranks of the many that have gone before you.  May your first set all fall out and may your second set all stay in. 

Hilight of my day:

• 6 year old son gets finger stuck in old jingle bell ornament that was still decorating my house.   
• Hubster must CUT ornament off sons finger.

Conclusion:

Hmmm....Not a good idea to try and get a head start for next Christmas, by leaving decorations on year round.

Bummer!

The last time I remember winning something was in elementary school.   It was the school carnival and I was playing the cake walk.  Around and round we went.  The music stopped, my competitive nature took hold and I splayed my arms to block the boy in front of me from stepping on my number, thus winning a gi-normous, delectable,  fudgy concoction that not only made me glow with happiness but cemented my fetish for all things chocolate. 

That was a long time ago.

Since then, I've entered numerous contests and drawings, but with no success.  Not even a consolation prize.

So, this morning I was taken aback by a phone call saying that  I had been entered into a local grocery store drawing by shopping during their grand opening and was now the proud owner of this....

A cool new Ipod Shuffle. 

I ran downstairs to tell my hubby and mentioned that I had written it on my Christmas list (that I never managed to give to anyone) and I actually won it! 

His reply?

"Awww...your Daddy got it for you!"

Go Check out ROCKS IN MY DRYER for more great ideas!

Out of my four children I have an 11 year old carnivore, a 10 year old self-proclaimed vegetarian, (How can you, like, eat something that you can pet, mom?) and a 6 and 3 year old that are Never Ending Bottomless Pits Of Starvation that can never be full unless faced with a plate of broccoli.  (I'm not hungry anymore, mommy)  

So what does any good woman do? 

Go. Stealth.

I have made an art form out of jamming vegetables into unsuspecting children all while they thank me for their yummy treat.  

That almost makes me cackle and wring my hands with evil pleasure.

ALMOST

So since I can't really fit all my sneaky veggie recipes in this one little ol blog I'm going to give you my most Jam Packed With Veggies But They Are Tottaly Clueless recipe and let you go from there. 

You will be amazed at the amount of veggies, and I mean the really gnarly ones, you can sneak into this recipe because what CAN'T you disguise with chili powder, right?

Vegetarian Chili (but I add meat)

1 small onion

1 large green bell pepper

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup red wine or water

3 cloves garlic

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 beef bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 cans kidney or pinto beans rinsed and drained

1 lb. ground meat, browned

HERES THE SECRET!  Put all your veggies through the food processor so they are smashed to smitherines.  I mean pulverized till they are liquid, seriously!  They'll never know!

Pour it all in a pot over medium high heat.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes.  Serve with sour cream or grated cheese on top.

Another WORKS FOR ME tip is that I quadruple this recipe and then freeze it for days that I just don't feel like cooking! 

Wow, two tips in one, huh?

Oh, and 1/6 of the recipe equals 300 calories. 

It Works For Me!

Go check out Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips!

Exfolliating is so good for your skin.  It sloughs off any dead skin and leaves you with a glow on your face.  But I just don't fall for the $60-bottle-of-facial-care-products gimmic.  So somewhere a long time ago I got this great tip on a homemade exfolliater.  When you are washing your face with your favorite soap, lather up your hands and put a teaspoon of salt in the lather.  Rub in a circular motion gently over your face (but for obvious reasons, watch out for your eyes) and then rinse off!  There ya have it....glowing skin!

It works for me!

Well, after all the hub-bub of Christmas and the overload of presents that the kids received, this story just hit my warped funny bone in all the right spots.   

Little Leroy came into the kitchen where his mom was making
dinner. His birthday was coming up, and he thought this was
a good time to tell his mother what he wanted.
"Mom, I want a bike for my birthday."

Little Leroy was a bit of a troublemaker. He had gotten into
trouble at school and at home.

Leroy's mother asked him if he thought he deserved to get a
bike for his birthday. "Of course," he said.

Leroy's mother, being a Christian woman, wanted him to
reflect on his behavior over the last year. "Go to your
room, Leroy, and think about how you've behaved this year.
Then write a letter to God and tell him why you deserve a
bike for your birthday."

Little Leroy stomped up the steps to his room and sat down
to write God a letter.

Letter 1: "Dear God, I have been a very good boy this year,
and I would like a bike for my birthday. I want a red one.
Your friend, Leroy."

Leroy knew this was not true, so he tore the letter up and wrote a new one.

Letter 2: "Dear God, I have been an okay boy this year. I
still would like a bike for my birthday. Leroy."

This letter was no good either.

Letter 3: "Dear God, I know I haven't been a good boy this
year. I am very sorry, and I will be a good boy next year if
you just send me a bike for my birthday. Please. Thank you.
Leroy."

Leroy knew this wasn't true, and now he was getting upset.
He went downstairs and told his mother he needed to go to
church. She thought her plan had worked and told him to be
home in time for dinner.

Leroy walked into the church and went to the altar. He
looked around to see if anyone was watching. He bent down,
picked up the statue of the Virgin Mary, and slipped it
under his coat.

Letter 4: "Dear God, I got your mama. If you want to see her
again, send the bike. Signed, You know who."

We don't take summer break....we take holiday break from Thanksgiving to New Year.  We usually do school once or twice a week during this time, but I really don't sweat it if it's been two weeks and we haven't cracked a book.    But New Year is almost upon us and it's time to get back into gear.  I really want to implement a personal devotional time for the older kids. (Ages 11 and 10)  I'm just so overwhelmed at the thought that our teen years are approaching and I'm really feeling a sense of, um, panic.  By the teen years I need to be at the stage where I am ready to release them to make their own decisions.  I want them to have the opportunity to learn how to be independant before they actually leave our covering and guidance and ARE independant.  So I'm really feeling a lack in the area of teaching them to rely on God's word to work out their issues and problems, and also a lack in their personal relationship with Him.   How do I bring it from being Mom and Dad's God to their God?    They've professed faith in Him and have taken steps to commit themselves to Him but I really want them to understand the importance of having conversations with God and listening to His direction in their lives.    So my questions to you is this.....

What kind of personal devotion time do you expect for your kids?

I've heard of some people having their kids do a bible reading alone and journaling about it, but I need a little more detail than that.   Do you have them do it first thing in the morning?  What do they journal on?  How do you assign scripture?  How do you check in with them to make sure they are actually doing it?  What, if any, resources do you use other than the Bible?   

Everyone has their 5 minutes of fame, right?  Well, I hope this isn't it for me.  I received this e-mail today.

Well, my goodness a year has flown by.  Yesterday was my first blog-a-versary!  I managed to squeek out 167 entries in the past year while homeschooling and all the other stuff I really SHOULD have been doing instead of blogging.    I looked back over my entries and had a good chuckle.  Lot's has gone on during the year and I still can't figure out why in the world I started this blog in the month of December, my busiest month of the year.   So if you get a chance, I've picked some of my favs to share with you.

This was my first entry...the entry that started it all....

This is about God's faithfullness to return my missing wedding ring right after a huge loss...

And this....this is real life!

I have made so many sweet friends here at HSB, thanks for reading my stories and being so encouraging to me!  

Oh, and don't forget to check out Hubby's new blog.  The guy has gone and outblogged me today.  TWO blogs in one day!!!!!

Gayle

I was a teenager during the '80's. 

Those were some exciting years marked by learning to drive, going on my first date, learning how to wear make-up and well, some downright hideous fashions. 

Remember neon?

Bobby socks with pumps?

Michael Jacksons glove?

and big hair?

I'm not talking large hair, I'm talking hair that is so big it hits both sides of the doorway when you walk through and goes straight up off your forehead like you just walked into a glass door with wet hairspray. 

And I had it!

I have to admit I was well known in those days as the fashionable girl in school.  New fad?  Gayle was wearing it.  New hairstyle?  Gayle was wearing it!   But sometimes I don't know when to let a good thing go.  So as the years after highschool went by, my hair stayed the same.  I mean, why mess with a good thing? 

The '80's ended and the '90's began and I STILL had my stylin' hair....all long and curly and BIG.  But in the year of 1994 a most momentous occasion occured.  I met the man of my dreams and said "Yes" when he asked me to marry him.    And then came the wedding.

December 10th, 1994 came and I still had not changed my hair.  My wedding pictures would record for all time, the record breaking height of my bangs. 

So today, as we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, I got a nice little reminder of my most embarrassing hair moments (so far) as we reminisced over our wedding photos. 

And just for fun, I thought I'd post a picture of one of my bridesmaids.  Can you guess who she is?   (Oh pleez, pleez forgive me when you see this, Mwaaa-haaa-haaa)

So, am I the only one freaked out at the thought of losing all your entries when homeschoolblogger has some work done on Sunday? 

If you would be heartsick at losing your stuff check out THIS post about how to back up your blog.  It's super easy to follow and I feel like I'll get a good nights sleep on sunday.

Gayle

I love the Christmas season, not only for the obvious reasons but it provides me with a few more wardrobe options than I get the rest of the year.   

I live in jeans and track suits with a ponytail holder holding my curls away from the diapers I'm changing and the food I'm preparing.  Otherwise, I get either a strange odor in my hair or someone gets a surprise hair-burger for dinner.  

But Christmas means I get to blow the dust of my high heels and shop for sparkly, shiny and stylish dresses.  Oooh and I do love to shop!   

So this year I found like, the cutest dress EV-ARRR.  It was  a knee length red silk Kimono that strategically covered my aging upper arms but left my newly found running muscles in my calves looking quite buff, if I do say so myself.   It was quite a daring wardrobe change from my normal attire and I felt very modern and hip. 

Oh, and the shoes....did I mention the cute peek-a-boo toe black shoes with the arch breaking heels that made me feel all grown up!  Sigh,  It was a beautiful thing. 

But as I got to the party and started getting comments like this....

"So, um, what kind of dress is that?"

"Is that your robe?"

I realized that maybe I wasn't as fashion forward as I thought.  Maybe I was the one that everyone at the party was using to break the ice with in uncomfortable social situations.

"Did you see that woman  over there wearing her robe?  What was she thinking?  Oh my gosh she looks just hilarious.  Did you hear she doesn't work, she stays at home with her children and won't even let them go to a school.  She teaches them at home, poor things."

Oh well, wouldn't be the first time.

Yes, you have made it to Grace For Gayle.  I just had a bloggy identity crisis and needed a change.

As basic as it is, it took me 3 hours to redesign my blog and left me shaking like I had just swallowed three Red Bull's in a row.

And somehow I have to pull up enough reserve energy to make it look like I actually did something worthwhile today before my hubby gets home.  You know....tidied...cooked dinner...MADE THE BED for goodness sake!

So this is all the "entry" I can muster today.

My husband is a deep guy.  I'm talking over my head deep.  Which I suppose isn't really hard to do.  But he can pull a phrase out of the Bible or a thought out of his head, mull it over for a while and spit out this deep truth and understanding that just kinda blows this silly girl away.   And he's so darn humble and wise and charismatic that you just feel convicted standing next to him. 

And then he married me.

I, on the other hand, have to work really hard to be serious.  I'm a sucker for making people laugh and I tend to only feel comfortable with "deep" when it pertains to the proportions of my post pregnancy belly button or the appropriate serving size of chocolate pudding. 

You know God has a sense of humor pairing the two of us up. 

So today my husband was sharing another one of his deep thoughts with me and I listened and realized he needs to share this stuff with other people because...

1. He comes up with some fascinating thoughts and ideas  that are just wasted on little ole goofy me and....
2. After listening to it for the past 12 years he's starting to notice my glossy eyed smile doesn't really mean that I'm moved to tears by his amazing insight, I'm just frustrated because there's NO PUNCHLINE!

So I said to him, "Babe, you've got all this great stuff to say and it's such a waste to keep it all to yourself.  You really need to start a blog and get your stuff out there.  See what other people have to think about it." 

To which he replied in his usual manner of silence. 

(Hello.....this is me speaking....please grunt or do something in response!!!)

I didn't think anything of it and went along my merry way.  But to my suprise,  I got a phone call while I was out and about and it was him asking me how to set up a blog on homeschoolblogger.  He actually DID hear what I had to say. 

So, please go visit my hubby at his new blog home.  Please make him feel welcomed and pass him along to any other homeschoolblogger guys so he knows he's not the only one with testosterone floating around in this part of the blogosphere. 

The day after Thanksgiving we hit the road and  took a four hour drive to visit nsremom on Whidbey Island.  Their house is Right On The Water...I'm talkin' take a few steps out the back door and you are waist deep in the Puget Sound.  We were only a short drive from Seattle so we spent Saturday at the Seattle Aquarium. 

This is all but one of our kids.  We caused quite a stir walking through the city with eight kids in tow.  I never saw anyone the whole day with more than 1 child. 

Hubby is in the back with Gabe on his shoulders, nsremom and hubby are the other Big People in the picture.  We're looking at the seals.  The aquarium weaves inside and outside and is right on the water front.  In the distance is Puget Sound.

Malachi only had two expectations from the aquarium.  He wanted to see a shark and an octopus.  So here is proof of his bravery....after the picture he ran from the octopus tank and refused to go back. 

Here's  nsremom's big boy (on the left) and mine (on the right) being, well, Boys! 

Couldn't resist posting a picture of my hunky husband. 

Here are some of the kids working up the courage to stick there hand in a tank filled with strange looking live sea creatures.  Wouldn't you hesitate?

We also walked through Pike Place Market and had the best Clam Chowder Ever!

On the way home we had a freak snow storm and it took 9 hours to drive the 4 hours home.   Snow in our part of Washington in November is unheard of!  If we actually do get ANY snow it's usually a sprinkle or two in January or February.  So all the way home I was thanking God for our portable DVD player.  I think I would have been missing patches of hair if I would have had to entertain the kids myself.    We arrived home at the ripe hour of midnight and crawled into our beds.  When we woke up in the morning a fresh layer of snow greeted us.  So the kids have been playing outside all day. 

Malachi and Gabe in the backyard.

nsremom's boy on the left, mine on the right.

Oh my goodness!  I've been just busy, busy, busy, this week and I'm getting ready for a grand trip to visit nsremom on her "island of paradise" on the day after Thanksgiving.  So, I thought I'd pop in super quick and post this amazingly groty sounding recipe that was actually So....So....Good!    Has anyone every heard of this?  Maybe to some of you out there this is an old family favorite but it was new to me and quite a risk.  But I knew it passed the test when hubby said he liked it BETTER than traditional pumpkin!  Plus I've always got a bag of carrots in my fridge but must always make a grocery store run for a can of pumpkin.  So, I'm all for less effort!

Cinnamon-Carrot Pie

2 Cups cooked, mashed carrots

1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated whole milk

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs beaten

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ginger

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 10 inch unbaked pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Combine carrots, milk, sugar, eggs, salt, ginger, and cinnamon: beat for 2 minutes.  Pour into unbaked pie crust
3. Bake 15 minutes; lower heat to 350F and bake 45 minutes longer or until filling is set and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Serves 8

Per Serving: 340 Calories, 16g fat, 7g protein, 42g carbs, 2g fiber, 410mg sodium.

Tell me what you think!

Potty training is such an interesting experience.  My 3 yr old, Gabriel, has just mastered number 1, but number 2 is rather elusive.  We always know when it's "time" because he does what we affectionately call the poo-poo dance.  It involves lot's of bouncing and urgent moaning and many "uh-oh's" but when we head towards the bathroom, the dance mysteriously stops and off he runs to play.  He usually saves it all up for when we put on his nightime diaper.

But lately, of his own accord, he's decided to try the potty for ALL the numbers.  And I couldn't be more happy.  He still likes to do the poo-poo dance as a prelude but when we get to the potty he actually lets me set him up there and gives it a good shot.  I can't say he has ever been successful yet, but golly, the effort is just thrilling. 

So, the other day, while dangling over the toilet, in a space that could fit almost 4 of his cute little Kee-sturs, he shared this observation with me....

"Mom....there's fire shooting out of my crack!"

And lo and behold, success at last.

Some of you may remember an early post where I decided I was going to become a runner.   I don’t mean the kind where my toddler has ripped off all his clothes in the library and is running through the science fiction section nekkid as a jay bird while I work up a sweat chasing him with a very large book to cover his privates.

Oh, yes….that has happened.

I’m talking about the kind where you get called an Ath-UH-leet, sweat profusely, and exercise till your lungs are on fire. 

For some insane reason, I decided that I needed to do this.  Like many of the other GREAT ideas I get inspired with, I have tackled this one with gusto.   I researched and embarked on a plan that would take me from walking to running 2 miles in only 8 weeks and signed up for my first 5k (3.2 miles) on Thanksgiving morning.    

So last week I made it all the way to week seven and managed to run on my treadmill for 20 minutes straight, without, um, having a heart attack or blowing chunks.  I decided I better move it outside on the actual course to see just how far I could run.  I was betting that I was at least at the halfway point, but since I hadn’t ever run outside yet I figured I should get used to running in the cold and possibly rain. 

So last Saturday morning, in a burst of positive thinking and crazy energy I threw on my gear, hit the “on” button on the coffee pot for hubby and whispered in his warm sleepy ear that I was off to run the lake trail this morning.  Never had I felt more like an Ath-UH-leet than speaking those words to hubby. 

It wasn’t even raining so I was all excited to look like all the other runners and leap all gazelle-like-ish over the trail with all my lean muscles bulging. 

Did I mention that I’m a positive thinker?

I turned on my headphones and started a brisk walking warm-up and after about 5 minutes I decided to break into a run. 

Whoa Nellie!

This wasn’t feeling quite like my pre-programmed run on my treadmill.  I had a hard time finding the speed that I normally run at.  When I would slow down to what felt comfortable I noticed that the ground wasn’t whizzing by very fast.  In fact, coming up over my left shoulder was a couple in their 80’s and, dagnabbit if they weren’t going to pass me….WALKING! 

Well, my ego couldn’t take that blow, so I sped up until I felt like I looked like all the other lake runners.  But, oh my goodness, I lasted 30 seconds at that pace before I stopped, lungs heaving, and caught my breath.

It didn’t take long before I realized that my ‘run’ on the treadmill was everyone else’s ‘fast-walk’.    So instead of walking the rest of the trail, what does this ol’ gal do? 

I looped around, walked back to my car and headed to McDonalds to console myself with a sausage biscuit with egg meal…with extra cheese, hashbrowns, and a super sized sugary orange juice. 

I’m thinkin’ I’ll shoot for the 5k in February.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck.  One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.  At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.  Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.  Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

God knows our flaws and can work all things together for His good.  Isn't He wise like this with us.....using us in our children's lives, even though we have cracks and chips of our own?  Be encouraged that you are doing great things in your kids lives despite your own faults. 

I don't know what happened in my last post but my fingers had a life of their own and out poured this great tribute to my mom.  But it really was a two parter of a day. While I was at the the Bazaar, Bizaare things were happening at my house. 

My 6 year old called me on my cell phone to ask where his new Star Wars book was.  Apparently no one can find anything in that house except me.  I guided Malachi to the book shelf where, go figure, he found the book.  I hung up, but immediately my cell phone rang again with a mysterious phone call from my husband.

DH - So what did Malachi tell you?

ME - Oh, he was just looking for a book.

DH - So, you're ok, right?

ME - Uh....shouldn't I be?

DH - Well.......(long silence)  you know how our master toilet runs ALL the time and the knobs on our sink broke off and we can't turn on the water and it drives me crazy, so I decided to gut the bathroom?

ME - You what?

DH - I tore out our bathroom.

My husband doesn't do anything around the house.  I'm not kidding.  I clean the gutters, paint, mow, fix the broken stuff, or handle the hiring out of something that is beyond my knowledge.  I grew up with a fix-it Dad and I was his apprentice so this stuff doesn't freak me out.  Now techinically hubby could do it, he just lacks the confidence to try it.   So he just chooses not to. 

So....wanting to be very encouraging this was my answer....

ME - Well, isn't that exciting.   So....how long do you think until we can, um, have a toilet back?

Can we just pause for a moment for a little back patting?  What I really wanted to say was, "Oh great,  so are all 6 of us going to share the only decent bathroom in the house for the next 5 years until you feel another urge of manliness and fix it?"  See now why I chose the other thing to say?

So when I returned home that night, yep, he had definately torn out our toilet, cupboards, sink and flooring and I was staring at the gaping toilet hole in the floor.    He promptly stuffed a bucket over the hole to cover it up, because personally I think nobody should have to see where all that stuff goes.   I'm all for mystery!

But this is not the end of my story, oh no, this is only the beginning.

In the middle of the night I heard the fast paced pitter patter of little feet.  I marched across the hallway, ready to catch my 3 and 6 year olds playing on their hardwood floors but, alas, they were sleeping soundly in their beds.  

Hmm, odd!

I went back to my bed, which by the way is only about 2 feet from door of my bathroom. 

That's very important to know!

But the minute I layed my head down I heard the noise again...and it was coming out from under the bucket in my bathroom.  Immediately hubby and I shot out of bed and cautiously cracked open the bathroom doors.  We sat, terrified and groggy on the edge of the bed, with blood shot eyes staring at the pink bucket. 

Scritch, scratch, scritch.

Come to find out, a mouse had found his way through the floor boards and had managed to squeeze it's way through the hole between the floor and the toilet pipe and was trapped under the bucket....trying desperately to get out. 

He sounded mad and huge...gi-normous in fact!

Every year when the Washington rains hit we have to put out the D-con because all the mice run for cover under our house.  We found one in the basement toilet, one in the main floor family room and one in the entryway closet.  But never have they invaded our bedroom space on the top floor.  So we were both feeling a little violated.  The last few mice sightings prompted a whole lot of table hopping and shrieking....from both of us.   So neither of us were real keen on getting too close to this one. 

Hubby halfheartedly agreed to get the hammer and try and hit it when I lifted the bucket but since it was the middle of the night I didn't want to wake the kids.  Plus, the head of the hammer versus a mouse running at the speed of light most likely meant the mouse was going to win.  And the thought of a mouse loose under my bed or in my closet was enought to give me the heeby-jeebies. 

So what did we do?

We put a stool on top of the bucket so the littler bugger couldn't get out and hubby promptly fell back asleep to deal with it in the morning. 

I laid on my bed,  eyes wide open, hugging my pillow to my chest and staring at the bathroom door to make sure he didn't escape. 

When I woke up the next day and worked up the courage to lift the bucket he was gone and must have found his way back to where he came from. 

But I've got enough D-con spread throughout the house to take out this guy and all his little friends. 

My mother has always been a crafty lady.  I remember when I was a little girl, going to the fabric store and just loving the sound of those scissors cutting the fabric as they rumbled along the counter top.  The yard stick that was built RIGHT IN to the the counter always amazed me.  The stack upon stack of every fabric you could choose would almost make me dizzy as I looked up at them.  They seemed to reach to the ceiling. 

Mom would always craft some kind of exciting thing and to top it all of she would sell here wares at craft bazaars.  I loved going to her bazaars with her and playing 'store'.  I learned to make change, talk with the customers, set up displays, and of course....shop!  

As the years passed Mom taught me, just as her mom taught her, all the crafty things she knew.....the fine art of crochet, (I remember lots of frustration and tears trying to figure this out) how to use the sewing machine, how to read a pattern, how to NOT get blisters from a glue gun,  how to embroider and hand sew and I'm sure lot's of other stuff.  And pretty soon I began to sell my creations too!

It became a tradition, when the bazaar season came around, to pack up with mom and sell our stuff.   As the years passed and life got busy with marriage and kids and, well, just life, we always carved out this little bit of time together.  Now it's earned the added bonus of being "girl" time in a land of care taking, cooking, and cleaning.  A time to spend all day together talking and laughing, realizing how our lives are much more similar than we think as she takes care of my 97 year old Grandmother that lives with her and I take care of my four children. 

I didn't realize how important this tradition of ours had become until my 9 year old daughter decided that she would like to start making some beaded bracelets to sell at the bazaar that I went to today.  She didn't get them made in time for me to take them, but I saw the tradition bloom full circle in her heart.  She asked if she could come with us but I told her "No, this is my special time with Grandma.  And some day when Grandma is too tired to do it anymore, then it will be your turn to carry on the tradition with me."  She was happy with that and I vowed in my heart to start taking the time to teach her all the crafty things that my mom did.  

So, Mom, (and  I know you are reading this) what you didn't realize when you were sharing your time and efforts "homeschooling" me in creativity and craft, was that you were also building a foundation for my daughter and I to sit behind that table someday, laughing and talking and realizing how much OUR lives are much more similar than we think. 

Love you Mom!

(Oh yes, it is a good picture, mom...I know what you're thinking!)

We found a great fun resource that we've been using for a while and I thought I would spread the word.  It's called Homeschool Radio Shows.  It's downloadable radio programs from the 'good  ole days' when families used to sit around the radio rather than the T.V. at night.  We listened to The Cinnamon Bear and Moby Dick yesterday and today is The Biscuit Eater.   Sometimes we listen together, and other times, when I'm working with two kids at a time for school, the other two will listen to the story of the day.  It's been a really fun thing.   I have to admit it took some getting used to with the older ones.  They complained about how dumb it was (I think because there is no picture to watch)  but they always ask me to play more so I'm thinkin' they secretly like it. 

****Today is nsremom's birthday!  Please stop by and wish Emily a happy day!****

The first part of this story is here.

I am having the hardest time getting the rest of this story posted so you are going to get the Readers Digest Condensed Version so I can just get it over with....

We left off with me and 4 children having an impromptu soccer match/picnic along the side of the road IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.....FOR AN HOUR....WITH A FLAT TIRE....AND NO ONE STOPPING TO HELP!  I kept getting mysterious calls on my cell phone from my husband but because it wasn't working properly we couldn't hear each other speak.  He was frantically trying to find me but we had no way to contact each other while he was driving on the freeway trying to locate us.  Something needed to happen! 

I was just contemplating hiking up to the truck stop with all the kids to try and call someone to come find us when along comes a rickety old rust-bucket of a truck with a greasy wooden flatbed and a matching greasy driver.   The truck rattled to a stop beside our suburban, blocking us from the view of passers by, I might add.  Which caused me all kinds of creative imaginings and newspaper article headlines with the words murdered, abducted, and tragedy in them.  

The man, in his 40's with greasy arms and fingernails hollers out his window in a gruff voice, "Hey, do you need some help?" 

"Uh, no, my husband will be here ANY MINUTE to help us."  I hold up my cell phone to show him I have the ability to call 911 if I need to. 

"Well, how far out is he?"

"Oh, he should be here ANY minute!"  I say in a way that must have been very unconvincing because he listens and then hops out of the car mumbling something about me probably not even having a spare. 

I give in and show him the spare I've managed to drag out of the car as well as the jack which he takes one look at, sighs impatiently, and pronounces 'broken' as he stomps off to his truck to grab his own.   When he opens the car door out jumps a mangy looking dog that limps out of the car and much to my 6 year old sons delight, hobbles over to stare at him with eery blue eyes. 

"That's Maggie,"  the man grumbles.  "She wants you to throw a stick," he says to Malachi.  And so begins a love story between dog and boy that I'm sure my son will talk about as he's laying on his deathbed at a ripe old age.  We managed to scramble together a water dish for the dog and they played till they both got worn out.    In the meantime, grumpy-greasy-guy was still working on my tire and I was feeling pretty humbled by this point.  I was still planning my escape just in case he turned out to be a serial killer.  I was  working through all my Kah-Rah-Tay Skillz in my head just in case I needed to defend myself and the kids.  I didn't think to ask him his name, didn't know if it was appropriate to make small talk (which I kind of stink at anyway) and was trying to figure out if I should give him my last few bucks.    He finished up my tire, noticed it was low and followed me to the nearby truck stop to put air in my tires so I could get home safe.  Ahhhh!  That itty-bit of concern almost made my eyes overflow in humble adoration at my grumpy-greasy-guy.   He finished with the air and I knew it was time to part.  I offered him our last unopened bottle of water and with wet eyes, told him how much I appreciated his help. 

He looked me deep in the eye and said, "I know how much you appreciate it," in this intense, knowing way.  His voice was no longer gruff but warm and all of the sudden I felt a mixture of safety and a feeling that his words meant way more than they actually said.  It was like he knew who I was, all the turmoil  in my heart, and how hard and humbling it was to let a stranger help me...to let anyone help me in fact. 

I hopped into the car with teary eyes and drove towards home wondering if all those angel stories of help along the freeway weren't ALL made up. 

"Mom, what does Boo-Zumm mean?"  My daughter asked.

We always have the most interesting vocabulary lessons.  Usually they are innocent questions about things they have heard from neighbor kids, that they don't recognize as profanity.   So I'm usually prepared to give all sorts definitions,  whether they are usable words or not.

"Do you mean Bosom?"  I asked.

"Yeah, that's it,"  she said.  I realized she had been watching Anne of Green Gables, where Anne always uses the phrase "bosom friend".  So I explained that bosom was an old fashioned way to say  BEST friend. 

"Oh, so Sarah would be MY bosom friend?" she asks.

"Yep, she is your bosom friend.  I think it represents how you would hold someone close to your chest, like in a hug.  Bosom also means  a woman's breasts, too"  I shared, wanting to be thorough. 

Just then my husband came whistling down the stairs and I told her, "Your Daddy is my bosom friend." 

My daughter stops and giggles and lays this one us. 

"Don't you mean he's your BREAST friend?"  

My husband and I look at each other with raised eyebrows, snort a little in laughter and decide...

end of today's vocabulary lesson.

****** I promise I will post Part Deux of Maggie and the Roadside Angel soon******

I was "good" homeschool mommy today and did something other than bookwork with the kids.  We made homemade playdough, which I've done a bzillion times with the kids but it just makes far superior playdough then the store bought kind so I thought I would share the recipe.  

Play Dough Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of oil
• 1/4 cup of salt
• food coloring

Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last, in a pot.  Stir over medium heat until smooth.   Knead until blended smooth.  Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. 

I double the recipe because I've got 4 kids....less arguments.  My last batch  has lasted 2 years and is still going strong. 

Have fun!

I received my new Vision Forum catalog in the mail today and opened it with fear and trembling.  I absolutely LOVE most of their resources but every time I open the darn thing this wave of condemnation...or not measuring up...or maybe it's  "I'm not doing good enough"....hits me and stays for a few days. 

I know that especially in homeschool circles, we have some very strong views about certain things so please know that I'm not wanting to offend, just wanting to share my thoughts.  

I open up that magazine and see the pictures of the perfectly coiffed women surrounded by their numerous children, wearing their modest skirts, shirts buttoned to their necks, everyone matches, all smiling.  I read the titles about kids being a part of the church service, never to be sent to a (gasp) class,  all the elegant victorian pictures of women in white dresses with babies in lace and peaceful expressions on their faces.   Their husbands wear sports jackets and smiles, and write books called Becoming a Godly Patriarch and Manliness through Fatherly Discipleship.   I can not relate with these people!

I truly believe in courtship, modesty (just not from ankle to earlobe, more like no cleavage, skirts to the knee, and no cheeky shorts) the blessing of children, the headship of my husband in our family, homeschooling, and purity.  But every time I read this catalog I cringe at my own lack.  And that's just not right.  I don't want to wear masks for people.  I want people to know that I'm not perfect.  I have marriage struggles, kids that challenge and push me, heart issues that need to be changed, impure thoughts that I need to surrender to God, and all kinds of sin in my life.    But I notice quite often when I bump into someone who is "quiverful" or "extremely modest" or even "pro-public school"....anything they believe strongly in and I don't quite follow the mold, there is a quiet unspoken judgement that passes, whether they are dishing it out, or maybe it's me doing the dishing.  

So I've been carrying this feeling of not measuring up for a few days thinking, "God should I go all "quiverfull", start wearing dresses and high neck shirts?" 

I hit random blog today and the first one I came to was a testimony from a sweet woman about how she chose to be unselfish and have as many children as God gave her.  (Oh no, I'm feeling the pressure mounting).  The next one is (no kidding)  about a woman who has decided to wear only dresses, no pants and is loving her new life of modesty.  "Oh God, where is this going?"  I'm already wondering if I should have a reversal on my tubal and go shopping for some LONG skirts.  And then, the final random blog landed on a woman talking about the feeling we get when we do something different than "the crowd" and suddenly become an "other".  How being different is O.K.  We don't need to conform to every thought or idea or movement that is out there.  We need to conform to Christ.

Ahhh! 

In Romans 14 it talks about "welcoming with open arms believers who don't see things the way you do."   Some might think they can eat anything on the table while others believe vegeterianism is the way.   Or some set aside certain days as holy, while others think each day is pretty much like the other.  Romans 14, 22-23 from The Message says this:

"Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others.  You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent.  But if you're not sure, if you notice you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe--some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them--then you know that you're out of line.  If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong."

I feel all better now!

I've written the first line of this entry at least ten times.... and then erased it.  I have just been sinking in work and projects and commitments lately, leaving very little time to sit uninterrupted at the computer and have a coherent thought.  (sigh) 

So I've neglected to tell a few stories that have happened over the past week.  But you lucky readers (all two of you) will get to hear about:  

Maggie and the Roadside Angel

I had just finished a great visit with my super bestest friend ever and stayed way past my 3 year olds naptime.  Since she lives about 40 minutes away I knew it was going to be a L-O-N-G ride with a fussy kid and I wasn't dissapointed.   About 10 minutes into the ride, on the freeway, Gabriel decides he no longer needs the seatbelt he is wearing so I pull over on the side of the road to discipline him and buckle him back up.  But as I pull back onto the freeway I hear a loud explosive thunk.  I just assumed it was one of the kids tossing a toy and maybe it hit the window or I must have run over something and it banged against the underneath of the car.   Either way, it was going to have to wait because my screaming child had, again, unbuckled himself.   Of course, I'm in the fast lane, (because I'm just not a slow kind of gal)  so I work my way over through the two other lanes of traffic towards the side of the road.  But as I'm working my way over, my car starts to feel like it's driving on slick roads.  The steering is really loose....something is wrong!  By the time I pull off the road at the exit, I've put two and two together and figured I probably have a flat.  In all the excitement though, I forgot to see where in the world I had turned off. 

We pull over into an empty park-and-ride lot, in the middle of nowhere, and to my delight (tongue in cheek)  I have a flat tire.  I try to reach my hubby at work, at home, at his never answered cell phone and finally he returns my call.  Since his cell phone doesn't work, he has to get all directional information from me RIGHT NOW since he won't be able to call me as he is driving.  Let me just give you a little window into the mind of a woman with four kids...and a flat tire...parked in the middle of nowhere.  I don't think really clearly in situations like those...at least not for the first 15 minutes!  So here were the directions I gave him----"Uh, I took an exit,  I think I passed Ridgefield, there's a red and yellow truck stop up the road and a big grey thingy across the freeway."  Now, YOU could find me, couldn't you? 

Well, he couldn't!  I sat there for an hour while cars drove by, people walked by, others parked 10 feet away and got in their carpool vehicles., they stared, they pointed...but NOBODY stopped.  Sure, we probably looked like we didn't need any help.  In the back of my car were lawn chairs, soccer balls, bottles of water, bungee cords, and muffins from a picnic a few days ago that hadn't been eaten.  The kids played. I lounged in a chair with my sunglasses and water bottle.  I'm sure it looked like we just had the urge to pull over on the side of a road, in the middle of nothing, let all the air out of our tire, and kick soccer balls in some strange field. 

Ooops!  I'll have to give you part 2 tomorrow.  My adorable (ah-hem) 3 year old just woke up from his nap crying "poop mom" and I have to leave for soccer in 15 minutes.

to be continued......

Several years ago I had done a study on Halloween.  The kids were young and really wanted to participate, and so through study and research my husband and I had decided not to participate in ANY way in Halloween; not substituting it with other activities, not handing out candy to trick or treaters....nothing.   But as time passed I lost sight of my convictions and they began to be compromised.  "Well, maybe we will dress up and and attend a church 'Harvest Party', or maybe we'll hand out candy at the door.  I trick or treated as a kid and I turned out O.K."  Pretty soon I had completely forgotten why I chose to just ignore this holiday in the first place.  This year I felt my convictions being reignited and I came across Aligirls entry on Halloween.   There is no way I could have written it any better myself.  So, if Halloween causes turmoil in your heart and convictions and you just aren't sure why, or you're not sure if you might be compromising in the way you handle the holiday, drop on over and read Ali's entry. 

I had a great weekend.  Some friends and I went to the Women of Faith conference in Portland, Oregon and had a fun time.  Kind of fell off the wagon though, and ended up eating out a lot.  So, I hit the treadmill hard today to try and counteract my binge.  

My husband had total kid duty for a few days. He had to handle soccer games, meals, laundry, and house jobs since we were having company the day after I got back.  My 11 year old son snuck off a few times to call me on my cell while I was gone with one saga after another.  They get so used to the way I do things, our routine, and how I handle the conflict, that when Daddy takes over for me he just, "Doesn't do stuff like you do, Mom."    Well, duh!  But, by the end of the weekend, they were used to Daddy's care....just enough that when it was time for the "changing of the gaurds" they complained that I just, "Don't do things like daddy does."  Ugh!

And of course, Halloween is coming up.  I hate that stinkin' holiday.  We've never done the trick or treat thing.  We have attended church Harvest parties on that night and since my BFF's birthday is on Halloween, (don't forget to stop by and tell her Happy Birthday on the 31st!!!)  sometimes we would just celebrate her birthday and ignore it .  But I haven't quite found a tradition or way to counter-celebrate Halloween that fits.  This year some friends from church are thinking of having a Harvest party and have some fun games (bobbing for apples, cake walk...stuff like that)  but sometimes I even wonder if doing anything at all on Halloween is compromise.  Do we hide or do we provide an alternative?  I'm curious to hear what you all think. 

I have to admit, there are only a few things to rival the feeling of getting a super bargain and right now I can't think of any because I'm zinging from my latest find.  Instead of buying a geography curriculum this year we are doing the next best thing to traveling the world.  We have joined post crossing, which is a postcard exchange program.  I can't remember which blogger you are that I heard about this from (please forgive me) but it's an online service that hooks you up with other people all over the world to exchange postcards.  We recieved our first one today from the Czech Republic.  The postcard told us a bit about the town where it came from and then we located it on our world map that hangs on a wall and put a little dot on the location they were from.  Tomorrow we'll do a little internet search to find out more about that country.  How cool is that?  It costs 24 cents to send a postcard so I would have to say this is the cheapest "curriculum" I've ever used.  Plus the kids are so excited about seeing the foreign stamps and, of course, it's always fun to get mail. 

Whoowhee!  Did I mention that we have declared a moratorium on fast food in our house.  (Now, weren't you impressed with my big word...I had to look it up in the dictionary.)  We have been grease and convenience free for a month now and I truly, with my whole being, remember why we used to eat out so much.  From the moment I wake up  (and believe you-me, I am not exaggerating here)  I lay in bed thinking what I will make for breakfast.  Then I do the 1st load of dirty dishes that are leftover from last nights dinner because the dishwasher was too full to load it all.  Then I cook breakfast, clean up and have a whole hour to spend thinking up lunch, to which I begin preparing it, feeding them, cleaning it up and then it's time to fill the crockpot for the evening meal and yank a hunk of meat out of the freezer for tomorrows dinner.  I'M EITHER THINKING FOOD, CLEANING IT UP, OR PLANNING FOR IT EVERY WAKING MOMENT!  Sheesh!  It's been great for the ole backside though.  I'm already full from all the thinkin', plannin', and cleanin' that the thought of stickin' it in my mouth and actually, like, swallowing it is enough to make me spew!   

There have been some repercussions though (gosh, another great word, huh?).  My daughter will soon be coming into some money and she's been planning for weeks what she will be doing with it.  But today, while driving past Wendy's she said in her day dream voice, "Mom, is there tax on 99 cent hamburgers?  I'd like to save up and buy one."  Then at dinner tonight we played a game that our kids thought up.  Everyone go around the table and talk about your favorite lunch, dinner, snack, and breakfast.  We all were animated and giggling......and then I realized we were all talking about restaurant food.  Not mom's famous beef stroganoff, or zucchini bread.....it was fish n chips from the Masthead, and steak from Applebee's.   

On another note (I can't believe I'm going to admit this because now that you know I'm really going to have to do it)  I signed up for my first 5k run.  I worked out my little training schedule and I'm increasing my distance so I can make it the whole way without, you know, humiliating myself.  It's called the Turkey Trot Run because it's on Thanksgiving morning but I really felt comfortable entering a race where  the name conjures up an image of an overly plump headless turkey waddling 3 + miles around our local town.  It just seemed to fit, you know?

Soccer season means crockpot and bread machine burn-out at our house.  I just don't have time to cook and since we have decided to go on a fast food detox, (I've been clean for 3 weeks, thank you very much!) my crockpot is getting a work out.  With soccer games or practices 5 days a week, by the time I get home it's only 30 minutes until bedtime for the kids.  Just not enough time to throw together dinner, eat it and clean it up.    But sometimes with school, errands, and other commitments,  I forget to fill the crock at that 8-10 hour window and, oops,  I have to whip something up late at night. 

So, last night was one of those nights.  I relapsed and begged to go to Wendy's so I wouldn't have to cook.  But my ever faithful husband talked me down from my fast food craving and I went home and whipped up some scrambled eggs and toast for dinner.  I felt so good that I had resisted the urge for grease and those eggs tasted even creamier for it!  But in this house, with so many people in it, there's bound to be one who throws a crimp in our joy.  And tonight was no exception.  As I was raising my last bite of creamy eggs to my mouth, this was the question that was posed by my 6 year old.

"Mom, are eggs meat?" 

"No, sweety."

"Well,  aren't we eating baby chicks?"

Ewww!!!   I put my forkfull of eggs down on my plate, as did everyone else around the table.  That greasy, mystery meat hamburger from Wendy's was sounding even better now!

We have the perfect pet - Hermit Crabs.  No shedding, no big poops to clean up, you don't have to walk the thing, they don't smell or need a bath, and best of all they stay in my son's bedroom...or so I thought.

I was tidying up the house last week and picking up things as I walked up and down the stairs.  Outside my bedroom, I noticed a rock against the baseboard and leaned over to pick it up.   Much to my surprise, a claw reached out of the "rock" and I realized one of the hermit crabs had gotten out.  I went through every scenario I could in my head. 

Must have been the 2 year old who sneaks into his brothers bedroom across the hall any chance he gets.  I bet he was just as surprised as I was when the claw reached out and then he dropped it on his way to show me the "pretty rock".

Or...maybe the crab climbed up the vertical plastic walls, pushed up the lid, climbed out to the shelf, rapelled down the bookcase, stealthily crept across the hallway, under the chest of drawers and was taking a breather by my bedroom door before I foiled his plan to pinch my toes in the middle of the night. 

Nahhh!  It had to be the 2 year old.

I returned the nasty thing,  ( I swear it looks like a booger with claws) and returned to my regularly scheduled mommy duties. 

Last night, my 11 year old came rushing down from his bedroom right after I had sent him up to bed.  I would have normally  been very upset that he was interupting my free time, but the look on his face told me to listen.

"Mom,  I went into my room and General Grievous (he loves star wars) was hanging from the roof of his habitat.  HE CRAWLED ALL THE WAY UP THEIR BY HIMSELF, MOM!"

Oops!  Blew that theory.  We must have the hermit crabs from Mission Impossible!  Needless to say, they have a nice heavy weight on the lid of their home now...and I didn't sleep very good last night.

We had a family movie night this weekend and I just couldn't let this one go by without letting you know about it.  It's called The Inn of the Sixth Happiness with Ingrid Bergman and is based on the true story of the life of Gladys Aylward.    The story is about a woman who feels called to be a missionary in China and everyone turns her away saying she isn't qualified.  So, she works and saves and arranges her own way to China to help with another missionary that works there.  They set up an inn for weary travelers and promise no bugs, and great stories!  In a culture where story telling is a big draw, this wins much favor and they begin to tell the stories of Jesus.  Through her years of service to the Chinese people she wins many to Christ and some in very prominent positions.   There are a 2 violent scenes but keep in mind that this is violent according the the standards of the 1950's NOT today's standards of violence.  We learned all kinds of stuff about the Chinese culture, tons of vocabulary words, and it painted a picture of poverty that really moved my 6 year old son to compassion.    You just have to see it!

I am a muffin baking, skirt wearing, domestic goddess of late. 

No….really! 

Something all motherly, nurturing, and well, domestic comes over me every fall.   But lately it’s been even more intense.  I was recently, umm, downsized from my job so I’ve got all this extra time on my hands to plan, cook, and organize.  And, what job is that, you ask?   I’ve been my husbands’ part time administrative assistant at his financial advisor practice since we opened in January.  (Another of my unpaid jobs…what’s up with that?)  And recently he decided that he really needs to be the one who carries the responsibility of building our business. 

So, hey!  I’m not complaining! 

You should see my stuffed freezer!  I’ve been baking muffins, and bread, and meals and stuffing them all in there for the winter, like I’m a chipmunk gathering nuts.   We haven’t eaten out for weeks and this, from a family who can walk into any fast food restaurant in town and get called by our first name.

Every single one of us!!!! 

So I thought I’d post a picture of all my womanly domesticity, in my homeschool mom skirt, barefoot in my kitchen, baking all kinds of healthy goodies to feed my

family.

Hey, guess what?  There's a contest over at The Spunky Chicks Book Club for a FREE book!  Anyone can enter!  Check out the details here.  I hear this is a happening place and lot's of fun.  They are a really neat bunch of christian ladies.

(what a shameless plug for my other blog, huh?)

Excuse me for just a minute while I dig out my soapbox  from it’s home in my dark closet.  Oh, there it is, under the toy boat that is always rocking and those feathers that always look ruffled. 

Ok, here we go.  Let me just climb up on top of this thing and then we can get started.

So... the bumper sticker I saw today read like this:  Jesus Was A Liberal. 

In todays political arena where the words liberal and conservative are bandied around like tennis balls between Agassi and Roddick, what does it all mean?  So I, with so much spare time on my hands, decided to find out.  Because frankly,  it kind of torked me off that people are calling my Jesus a liberal. 

I found this definition in the dictionary:

lib·er·al     (l b r- l, l b r l) KEY  

ADJECTIVE:

1.  
1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
3. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism.
4. Liberal Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
2.  
1. Tending to give freely; generous: a liberal benefactor.
2. Generous in amount; ample: a liberal serving of potatoes.
3.  

Not strict or literal; loose or approximate: a liberal translation.

Of, relating to, or based on the traditional arts and sciences of a college or university curriculum: a liberal education.

5.  
1. Archaic Permissible or appropriate for a person of free birth; befitting a lady or gentleman.
2. Obsolete Morally unrestrained; licentious.

So, that wasn’t quite what I expected.  It’s kind of a mix of good and bad.    I thought liberal was “It’s a free country, I can do anything I darn well want to like kill my baby before it’s born, or sell drugs cuz hey it makes you feel good, or take nasty pictures of people and make money from it, or let everyone choose for themselves what is right and wrong and live by their own moral code.  I mean, it’s all relative right?”  The last definition pretty much summed up my thoughts on the liberal view:

Obsolete Morally unrestrained; licentious

Now I could be getting myself in a lot of hot water here, because I’m completely not up with current politics.  That would be my friends nsremom and countrymomof4.  But this just doesn’t describe Jesus at all. 

1. Jesus certainly wasn’t limited by the traditions of the day.   He tried  to free people from the Pharisees teachings and hypocritical living.  But he did teach the unwavering Truth and He wouldn’t compromise on that. 
2. He was NOT open to new ideas and reform.  He knew the right way, was NOT broad minded (the way is narrow and difficult ) and was most definitely not tolerant of the ideas and behaviors of others. (Remember the story of the merchants at the temple and Jesus getting angry that they were selling their wares on the temple steps?)
3. He DID give freely and was very generous so in that way, and that way only, was he liberal.

So, here’s my new bumper sticker – Jesus is NOT a liberal…He’s the Truth!!

mamaduso is hosting a homeschool blogger picnic this saturday in Albany, Oregon!  If you are within driving distance of Timber Linn Memorial Park in Albany,

please join us at noon.  It would be so fun to put actual live people to all this bloggity business! 

See you there,

Gayle

I'm a really simple gal.  It truly doesn't take much to make my day;  a fistfull of hershey's kisses....an hour without sibling rivalry...a moment in the bathroom without interuption.....these are the things of beauty in my life.  But being the mother of four children I can say with complete honesty that they don't happen very often and if they do, there is always a catch. 

We just finished a whirlwind month of birthday celebrations for all three of my boys.  September is like Christmas morning around here; lot's of toys and children who are completely absorbed by them.  Which translates to: much free time for  mom.  I decided to take advantage of their preoccupation and  engage in one of my favorite mommy pasttimes which is going to the bathroom ALONE!  I tippy toed upstairs so as not to disrupt their play and walked into my bathroom with a sigh of gratitude.  Ahh....glorious peace behind the only door that locks.  I just might paint my toenails while I'm in here!  But, as every mother learns, things aren't always what they seem.  As I lowered myself to the throne, (forgive me if this is just too darn much info)  I made contact with a toilet seat shaped wet spot and knew....just knew....that my hiney had just been contaminated with boy pee!  (do you hear the record screeching to a halt?) 

My husband has trained them so well to always put the seat down but my 6 year old really likes to cut corners. I mean, come on, why lift it when your just gonna have to put it down again?  On numerous occasions I have caught him doing his thing while the seat is down and not keeping a good eye on his target.  Which brings me back to the wet ring-o-pee that is now attached to my rear portions.  No removal method really makes you feel like you've got it all off and I have to admit that all day I've felt rather tarnished.  I'm positive that at soccer practice today, all the other  soccer moms just knew that I was carrying around a contaminated backside. 

And now that I realize that I've just posted about my derriere, I think I'm just gonna  call it a day. 

What exactly is a team mom?  I'm not their mom, my job is not to mother them, so is that secret code for the mom who does all the work?

"Dinner's Ready" is not code for sit on your butt longer or "Hey, everyone start a new project that takes 20 more minutes"

If I need to drop Kid A off at 4:15 at one end of town and Kid B off at 4:30 at the other end and I actually make it, don't the points I earned for my promptness cancel out the demerits I earned for the speeding ticket...hypothetically speaking of course.

Why is it called a jelly belly...because it goes in your belly or because it  turns your belly to jelly?

Does anyone else think that the written word "booger" is just hilarious looking?

Calgon...take me away! 

Busy, busy, busy!  September is the month of hitting the ground running!   All my boys have birthday's this month, (honest, I didn't do it on purpose) soccer season starts,  and I've got some serious DVD watching to catch up on.  The next season of LOST has finally come out and I can't get my netflix envelopes fast enough!!!

Also, my other blog is consuming lot's of my time and I'm having a blast with it!  I just love my blog buddies over there! 

Oh, and I'm on a fitness kick of late, but I guess you probably know that from my ticker. 

I've been getting all nesty; baking, stocking up the freezer, organizing and getting rid of junk.  I think I'm preparing for winter.  I really like our seasons in Washington State but I think my favorite is fall/winter.  I love wearing cozy sweaters, and reading books by the fireplace, and having hot soup and fresh bread for dinner. 

That was a rather rambling account of the last week, but I figured I better let ya'll know I'm still here....just keeping busy!

Wow!  Well that weight loss ticker is just in your face huh?  So here's hoping accountability will keep me consistent with my weight loss plans.  The burn of my pants rubbing between my thighs was bound to cause a fire soon so I decided it was time to get back in the exercise game.  Last week I managed to walk 14 miles and lose 2 lbs while eating wisely but still having small indulgences.  See, if I can't have my chocolate and eat it too this diet thing just doesn't work.  And now that my age is creeping ever so close to 40, my metabolism is slowing...slowing...slowing and the only way I'm gonna not blow up as big as the pillsbury dough boy is to counteract it with exercise.  Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  Shhh!  I'm a  runner-wannabe.  I've always wanted to be a runner but never had the gumption to do it.  I came across a program that does walk/run intervals and by the end of the month it promises I'll be able to run for 30 minutes straight!  I know..I know!  Sounds great huh?  But seeing as I've never ran for more than 10 minutes without feeling like I was going to lose my lunch this could be quite a feat.  We'll see how the running thing goes.  Oh and thanks, Sharn, for being my walking partner on tuesday's and thursdays.  So, everyone, please keep on eye on my ticker and if it looks like it's stuck please let me know.  It's probably just an, umm,  mulfunction, yeah, right!

Yes, I know this is Homeschoolblogger  which of course, is pro homeschooling but I’m going to go out on a limb here and post on the negative aspects of teaching our children at home.  I only came up with one.  

1. Sometimes our children know TOO MUCH!

The family was having movie night, watching 8 Below and during the movie I had to HONK my nose.  After clearing all my boogies out, my daughter pipes up with this little bit of information. 

“Mom, did you know that in Illinois in the 1900’s it was illegal to blow your nose in public?”

“Uhhh, no dear, didn’t know that.”

Son says, “Yeah, and did you know that in Tennessee if you tickle a girl in public without her permission you can get a fine?” 

Where do they come up with this stuff?  In their “spare time” my ever inquisitive kids had picked up an old law book.  What next?  Memorizing the dictionary and correcting my terminology?  What have I created?  Why couldn’t I have put them in public school and let them come home to tell me Dick and Jane like to swing or to sing the wheels on the bus go round and round?  Shame on me for creating a love of learning.  Now they might actually turn out….gasp….DIFFERENT!

I'm one of those people who worries this time of year if I'm doing enough regarding homeschooling.  I used to go on a frantic curriculum shopping rampage about August every year, scooping up 2 of this because who doesn't need to know latin right?  And 3 of this cuz, gosh, the cover's sure are cute.  And maybe a couple of these workbooks over here because I mean shouldn't everyone at age 5 know calculus?  I'm am now reformed, I hope.  I've finally found the curriculum I love and I'm stickin' to it if it kills me.  But even though I love my math program (singapore)  I felt like the kids did need more multiplication practice so I came out of the curriulum-junkie closet and started browsing the catalogs and web pages.  I bought multiplicaton games, and flash cards, and workbooks....and almost had a relapse until I bought Times Tales Deluxe.  Can I just say WOW?  It promises that your kids will know their upper times tables in one hour and they aren't pullin' our legs.  It really just took one hour and It almost sent chills down my spine.  The kids were saying how fun it was and I taught it to them while we were laying on the couch, no less.  I started it and just couldn't figure out how this was going to all come together but just kept plugging along.  Even my husband joined in, since we began at the breakfast table before moving to the couch.  If you are struggling with multiplication get it!  If you are just getting started with multiplication, skip all the frustration and start with it.  I swear they are not paying me to say this.  It is just that good!!! (oh and I think I only spent $15 on it!)

Ok, call me crazy, but I MUST pass this video clip on.  Pick me up off the floor cuz I'm laughing so hard!

I just got tagged by my friend Leanne and instead of making the old boring list I went with the "a-pictures-worth-a-thousand-words" thing.  In looking back I think some of the words are sloppy, messy and disorganized, but hey, you're seein' the real me.

5 things in my freezer....

* Cool Whip Lite  (I know....wishfull thinking that the "Lite" in cool whip will counter the brownie it's sitting on.  A girl can wish though, can't she?"

*Leftover pancakes that I froze hoping to pop them in the toaster on some lazy morning.  Hey if Eggo can do it, Gayle can do it!

*Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts

*Baking Soda-cuz it's pretty obvious this doesn't get cleaned out much!

*Behind the Cool Whip is a container of frozen taco meat that I whipped up with big plans of saving on dinner prep time in the future.

5 things in my closet.....

*Lot's of shoes - And I still think I need more

*A huge rainbow stack of mommy sweatpants (my uniform...no denim jumpers for this homeschool mom) 

*A box of shoes for my 2 year old that are too big and I need to store in his box of next-size clothes

*Empty hangers because I need to do laundry.  Thank goodness I don't have to post 5 things in my laundry room.

*Hiding in the top left are my stash of swimsuits.  They are just as embarassed to be seen as I am when I where them. 

5 things in my car...

*Gabe, my 2 year old

*Kid books

*A bag of wipes (hey this is like Where's Waldo!)

*Gabe's car seat

* A sandwich bag with, Lord knows what, in it.

5 things in my purse...

*Cell phone

*Tanning Lotion

*Hand sanitizer (we've been watching old season's of Monk and my husband has recently become a germaphobe)

*A treasure from a vending machine with a ring still in it.

*Old receipts

Well there you have it.  Now who's going to take up the challenge, hmm?

We just returned from a grand vacation.  We camped at a KOA across from Ft. Stevens State Park.    This was the Queen of all KOA's.  In fact, I feel a little guilty even calling it camping.  We had a pool and hot tub, laundry facilities, daily curbside garbage pickup, pancake breakfasts at their kitchen, hot showers every day, 3 or 4 parks for the kids to play at, and an arcade/game room.  Boy, we were really roughing it, huh?  We decided to rent some mountain bikes and a bike trailer for the younger two and hit the miles and miles of biking trails that Ft. Stevens has to offer.  In 2 days,  we covered about 15 miles on our bikes and being that it's been a few years since I've ridden a bike, I feel like I have a bicycle shaped bruise on my nether regions.  The good news is.....muscles have shown up where I thought they ceased to exist. 

So....I learned a few things while I was there:

• I get more exercise while I'm on vacation then I do at home. (No book reading and lounging until my kids are grown I guess)
• I will never swim in a public pool EVER AGAIN! (I swear we pulled out at least 4 hairballs each while we were there!)
• I LIKE MODERN AMENITIES!  (Not a new realization.  My first thought coming home was, "When can I get a pedicure?")
• Boys like dirt!  (Again, not a new one but there sure is a lot of it for them to get into in a campground.)

We've been living it up since the kids have been gone.  Only having one kid is a breeze but I can see how he could get really self centered if this were a permanent situation.  It has been nice to focus directly on Gabriel for a while. 

Do you know, it took 3 days for my dishwasher to be full enough to run it?  Wow! We've been eating out lots because eating out with 3 is way different than eating out with 6 people.  We can have steak dinners at a restaurant for under $20 and the grocery bill is teeny-tiny compared to what it usually is.  One night we bought a roasted chicken,  fresh french bread, ready made spinach salad and carrot cake.  Sounds yummy huh?  We were so stuffed that hubby and I ate half of our cake and saved the rest for movie time after Gabe went to bed.  (We're hooked on Prison Break DVD's from Netflix)  So, off we go to tuck Gabe in, and then we waddle our full stomachs down stairs to polish off our cake.  My husband stands at the refrigerator door and says, "Now how do we tell which is which?"  So we took a second look.  What a picture of our differences.  My cake was gnawed all the way around, the carrot decoration off the top had been eaten off and the edges were all jagged.  That's me!  I dive into life, I don't think about how messy it might be getting, I just jump in and savor the good parts.  Then there is my husbands piece.  It has been methodically eaten from one end and it is perfectly symmetrical and straight along the eaten edge.  And that, my friends, is my husband.  Neat and tidy, methodical and organized.  I just couldn't resist the photo op and actually took a picture of our half eaten cake to show my blog friends.  Hubby piped up and said, "Look though honey.  If you fit the two pieces together they make one whole piece."  Ahhh, gotta love him!   Hubby and I got a good chuckle and snort out of our little object lesson.  Then we chowed down.

Yes, you read that title right.  We're potty training this week...need I go on?  Yes? (sigh) Ok, here it is.  Gabe and I went to the post office tonight to mail off the books to the winning ladies and while standing at the do-it-yourself-postal-thing-a-ma-jiggy I hear the dreaded sound of water hitting beautiful marble floor.  (Did I mention the echo in our cavernous post office?)  Gabe profoundly says, "uh-oh mommy" and I look down to see his little wet toes peeking out of his sandles as he stands in a puddle the size of, well, a  small country.   People were passing to and fro giving me that "You're a bad, bad mommy" look.  Good thing I only had one child with me or it would have been the "You're an irresponsible, bad, bad mommy" look.  There I am standing next to a pee-soaked toddler and nothing to wipe it up with except the books I need to ship off to the ladies.  And, yes, I briefly considered that option...but only for a second.  But, oh!  I've got a leftover wad of Quizno's napkins in my glove box for just such an emergency.  Instead of leaving Gabe in the post office, which again, I briefly considered  (I mean who's going to steal a urine soaked kid, right?)  I coaxed Gabe to the front steps for a seat within view of the car.  Have you ever seen a little kid walk when he has pee in his pants?  He walks like  a cowboy who's been riding all day but with a bit of the Fred-Flinstone-as-he's-twinkle-toeing-down-the bowling-lane.  (Pause and ponder that one)  I rummaged through my car and managed to find a clean pair of underwear, his older brothers pants and wad of only semi-used napkins.  Ah ha!  Lucky day!  Back in we go to mop up the puddle before someone slips and lands in it.  (Then I'd be an "irresponsible, bad, bad, DEFENDANT, mommy") I strip the poor kid right there in the middle of the post office lobby, cuz, well, my reputation as a mother is already shot anyway. I get him dressed again, continue to put postage on the packages and with all the pride I have left, which isn't saying much, I march back out to my car hoping that I never see any of those people again. 

Yep, it's potty bootcamp this week.  My three older children went off to the beach with their grandma today for a whole glorious week.  (Lord, I love 'em but a break is nice!)  So we are hitting the potty hard.  Time for my almost three year old to use the camode.  And we ARE a bit obsessed.  We've turned into the entertainment as my son runs back from public restrooms yelling, "Mommy, I Peed!"  at the top of his lungs and then we all end up clapping like lunatics.   We did make it through our first day with no accidents though!  Whew!  We made a trip to good ole walmart where my son immediately picked out new "pie-duh-man  un-uh-muh".  For those of you who don't speak that particular dialect of gibberish that is 2 year old for "spiderman underwear".  (The cutie has never seen spiderman before.  In fact neither have any of the other kids so I don't know where this particular fetish has come from!)  Anyway, I've got all kinds of things to accomplish while the kids are gone.  I have a bathroom that was remodeled 2 years ago that I have yet to paint the trim and door, a garage full of leftover garage sale stuff from 2 weeks ago, and a rec room that has turned into a "dump your old junk all over the floor" room that needs to be sorted out.  I'll probably end up reading books to a two year old sitting on a tiny potty all week!  Ahh, such is life!

I just had a question from someone about whether they can still participate in the book club.  The answer is YES!!!  PLEASE!!!  Come on over to the book club blog and tell your friends too!  The more the merrier...and funnier....and sillier, and well, you get it right?  You can pick up a copy of the book at amazon.com or check out paperbackswap.com to see if you can get if for free!! 

Well, ladies....(drumroll please)....I've got the new blog all set up.  I 'm just so stinkin' excited that I can't wait any longer to announce the winners.  So......the winners of the five FREE copies of For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn are:

1. thewestiecrew
2. AHappyHome
3. eyecorn
4. nsremom
5. NeverAlone

Send me an e-mail with your address and I'll ship those off to you quicker than you can make a PB&J for a hungry two year old. 

As for the naming contest....well, that one didn't go so well.  But I had two women at least acknowledge that I posted so I flipped a coin and the book For Men Only goes to ....

                 Happy Home!!!!

So, if you haven't already got For Women Only...well....do it now!  It's an amazing book.  I'll be posting on the book club blog about how it changed my marriage...in all it's gory detail....so come on by and visit.  The official discussion will start on August 21st.  but I'll be posting some background stuff before then. 

Gayle

Malachi....(sigh), he's an amazingly different boy.  I've always enjoyed his unique perspective on life and his ability to see things outside of the box.  Well, except for the times that it embarrasses me in public (hey mom, why's that lady so fat) or in private (hey mom, is that a zit?).  At 5, he's provided me with more thought provoking questions than I can keep track of.  (What age is God?)  He's just been full of  'em lately so I thought I'd share today's special thoughts a la Malachi!

************************************************

Malachi at the chinese restaraunt:  So, mom, can I have your chopsticks when you're done. 

Me being fiesty and silly:  Sure Malachi.  I'll let you have my chopsticks if you let me put one in your ear and pull it out the other side. 

Malachi:  Well, ok mom, but can I keep the clean one?

************************************************

I witnessed Malachi throw his straw wrapper behind a tree so I told him to pick it up and take it to the garbage can.  Ahh, a teaching moment.  So this is how it went.

Me:  Malachi, throwing your garbage on the ground is called littering.  Do you know that if a policeman catches you littering it's a $500 fine?

Malachi:  Well, what if I threw it where he can't find it?

Me, oh so wisely responding:  But, honey, God knows that you've littered.

Malachi:  Yep, but God's not gonna tell the policeman....he can't hear him.  You can only hear him in your heart.

Gosh, I was so impressed with his skills of reasoning that he totally had me speechless.  All I could do was hold in my giggles until I could  pull my hubby aside and tell him the story. 

It looks like we are going to have a fun group of "spunky chicks" for our book discussion.  I'm REALLY looking forward to this.  It's not too late to enter the contest either.  Just enter here!  The last day to enter will be SUNDAY, AUGUST 13th so don't miss out!!!!  That way I can ship the books out to all you WINNERS in time for our official start date of August 21st. 

So......I really need some help for the name of our new book blog!  All you creative ladies out there can probably come up with something better than I can.   So submit your name ideas for a chance to win the guys companion copy called FOR MEN ONLY!  It's a goodie! I'm reading it right now and thinkin, "So THAT's why I react like that!"  Can you believe I have to read a book just to figure myself out?!?!?  Just leave me a comment for your "name" suggestion before August 13th and I'll choose the name that will best fit us and someone out there will recieve the complete set of books!!!   Yippee!!!

I love books.  I’m sure if you’ve read my blog for any length of time you probably already knew that.  So…..I get these great ideas sometimes.  Some are great and some, well, just ideas.   But I think this one is a good one!  I’m going to start a book discussion group.  We’ll stick to books about personal growth, being a wife, or being a mother.  We’ll discuss a chapter a week (nothing too strenuous or fast paced since it’s almost back to school time).   I think it will be a great time of growth as we share and we’ll probably have a lot of laughs and fun since you all are such spunky chicks!  So to kick off our 1^st book discussion I’m going to have a contest!!!   I have five FREE books to give away!  Just post on your blog (with a link to mine) that I’m having a contest, leave me a comment that you’ve done it and you want to participate in the book group,  and you’re entered in a drawing to receive a free book for our first discussion.  It’s that easy! 

So a little about our first book:  My hubby and I hit a rough patch in our marriage about 2-3 years ago and went on a major learning curve so we could understand each other better.  We came across a little gem called For Women Only:  What you need to know about the inner lives of men by Shaunti Feldhahn.  I started reading this book and thought, “Oh my goodness, I had no idea he thought like this!”  We ended up reading it together so that he could confirm the stuff I was reading and it was one of the most bonding times of our marriage.  He felt so understood and I was opened up to a whole new world of male thought.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, (ha ha) they have a totally different train of thought than we do and that can make for lot’s of misunderstandings.  (BTW, she just came out with For Men Only and that one is amazing too!)  Here’s a little blurb on the book if you want to check it out a little further. 

I’ll probably have the book discussion on a separate blog dedicated just to that. (As soon as I set it up I’ll let you know the address).  It might deal with some more grown up topics than should probably be discussed on homeschoolblogger since there are lot’s of kids that have blogs on this site). 

I think we are going to have lot’s of fun and I know it will be interesting to get everybody’s input as we go through our books together.  And just think…you don’t have to get dressed up and meet at a certain time…just drop on by with your mug of tea, your slippers on, and at midnight if you want and see where the discussion is going. 

Hope you join us!

Gayle

Oh my, Oh my!  We gathered our bowls of chili and cornbread and sat around the T.V. for family movie night and wound up with a wonderful surprise.  An excellent movie!  Emmanuel's Gift (rated G but with some very heart wrenching thematic elements)  was an inspiring movie about a boy born deformed in Ghana, where the physically imperfect are usually put to death or shunned.   He overcame his handicap and ended up changing his corner of the world.  My middle class white kids, who are rarely if ever exposed to the challenges in other peoples lives, were glued to Emmanuel's story.   He overcame so much and then turned right around and helped as many other's as he could.  I know I'm not doing it much justice and I just don't want to give too much of the story away.  Suffice it to say that it is definately worth watching.  My 10,9, and 5 year old were moved by it and it caused some great discussion afterward.  Check it out.

I came across this little tidbit in a christian marriage magazine and thought some of you out there might be interested to know that kissing can help your diet!!!! 

• A one-minute kiss works off 26 calories
• Our brains have special neurons that help us find our mate's mouth in the dark.
• A passionate kiss quickens your hear rate to 100 beats per minute
• Kissing reduces tooth decay because the extra saliva generated by a lip lock cleans your teeth.  (eww...gross!)
• Nine out of ten couples in happy relationships kiss before bed.

I read this to hubby and of course he was in total agreement (duh) and felt we needed to prove the authenticity of the article.  Let me tell you what I learned....

• Sheesh!  One minute is a really long time!  I can polish off a 1000 calorie blizzard from Dairy Queen in one minute so this isn't really a great use of time for me.
• My brain must be wired strangely because I consistently found his nose or chin.  The lips were a little more elusive.
• Oh Yeah!  At least 100 beats per minute...that's gotta burn way more calories right?
• Gross....just gross.   I try not think about this one too much.
• Uh...Oh!  I usually fall asleep with the book I'm reading hitting my forehead.  Then I mumble good night (to my already sleeping husband) and turn the lamp off.  Must work on this one!

My 2 year old is a constant source of fresh material for my blog.  Lately, he's fascinated by my eldest sons pet Beta (that's a fish for those of you who don't know).  I constantly find that the tank has been tampered with by a 2 year old.  One day I walked in to find Gabe with his hand in the tank and a puddle of water all around the base.  He froze in mid grab with that deer in the headlights look.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm fishin mommy!"  The next time there was a trail of water drips from the fish tank to his bedroom.  Fortunately the fish was still in the tank but he was looking a little haggard from trying to escape the clutches of my 2 year olds hands.  The time after that he felt that Xanatos (that's the fish's name...someone out of star wars I think)  wasn't getting enough food and dumped ALL the fish food into the tiny little tank.  There were stinky, oily fish flakes in a one inch layer on the bottom of the tank and it smelled like a sardine in my son's room for 2 weeks.  Elijah (10) got wise and bought an electronic alarm for his bedroom door.  Now, anytime Gabe enters the "sacred room of the older brother"  we hear squeels and beeps and sharp sirens and off we run to assess the damage.  Well, today Gabe has reached new heights of creativity.  At the blaring sound of the alarm, I ran upstairs to find my cherry chapstick smeared all over the inside and outside of the fishtank.  I sighed deeply and wiped off the tank, the rocks, the plastic plants, and the table.  I asked Gabe what he was doing and this was his darling reply, "Chapstick for fish lips, mommy"  ....Okey Dokey then....I guess in the mind of a 2 year old, even fish can get chapped lips. 

I got ambitious this year and ended up organizing a neighborhood garage sale for this weekend.  What a lot of work!!!  I'm hoping it will add a little bit to our slowly dwindling coffers since we are living off the savings that my wise husband stashed away before we started our business.  Don't let my normal sounding start fool you though.  It was not a normal day yesterday.  It started with hubby staying home and watching the kids while he did some business at the house and I went into the office that morning and did some paperwork and phone calls.  Then I rushed home to make lunch, and send him off to work.  Then the kids and I shuffled into the garage to keep setting up the garage sale.   We had set up an appointment for a bid on some siding for our house at 7pm so when my husband came home at 6pm we were going to grill some steaks and be ready to meet with the guy.  Being a hot day the kids were running around in swimsuits/diapers and just as my husband got the grill ready for the steaks...knock-knock...the guy was early.  We soon found out that this guy wasn't here to give us a bid but to apply some high pressure sales techniques and to get us to hand him a check tonight!!!  Hello....self employed here....we need a bid so we can save for it for next year.  This guy was practically pinning my hubby to the wall, with a finger to the chest, trying to get him to sign some papers.  I could tell by the look on my calm, diplomatic husbands face that he was about ready to lose it.  An hour later, hubby had finally manouvered this guy towards his car door when CRASH-SCREAM-WAIL our 2 year old bit it in our steep driveway while riding a scooter without a helmet!  Blood was gushing from his forehead and the guy, without another word, hopped in his truck and skidded off down the road.  We've never had a kid that needed to go to the ER before but today was our lucky day.  We applied pressure to his head, calmed him down and loaded the whole brood into the car.  Turns out they don't even do stitches now,  they superglue the wound together (took a whole 3 hours, when I could have done THAT at home!)  Anyway, made it back home by 10pm with the express instructions that he is not to get it wet.  Ahem......he was filthy when I took him in,  has blood stains all over his blond head, and IT'S 100 DEGREES TODAY!  No bath!  No Sprinkler! No Spray Park! No Swimming Pool!  Nap time will not come TOO soon for me today! 

My husband and I are both aware of the middle age spread that is creeping up on us so we've been making an effort to eat healthy, watch our serving sizes and get some exercise.  One night we let our gluttony rule out and after church on Wednesday we went to the grocery store and loaded up on goodies; chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint patties, candy bars, and chips.  It was total gluttany and we intended to eat it all!  That night when we were getting into bed, this was the conversation we had.

Chris: Honey, I've come to a realization.

Gayle: Hey, Me too, You go first!

Chris:  I just ate 3000 calories in 2 hours.  That should have taken me a day and a half to eat. (Big Groan)

We mutually consoled each other with our moaning and lot's of belly holding.  It was very bonding. 

Chris: So what's your realization?

Gayle:  Well, I've decided I don't need to diet anymore.  

Chris:  Wow, how come?

Gayle:  All I need to do is get taller and then I'd be the perfect weight.  (Big Smile!)

See...I've got it all figured out!

I went into my local mini mart to grab some goodies for my son and there was a teenage girl working behind the counter.   She must have been a whole 18 years old.  18 years of firm belly hanging out, nails bitten to the quick and painted black, pierced eyebrow and an attitude of boredom.  What great service huh?  I walked up to the counter and she plastered a fake grin on her face that I'm sure is only reserved for the elderly...like me, and says, "Is that all Hon?"   Whoa Nelly!  One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone the same age or younger calls me Hon!  I mean Hon is for little kids or my sweety.  I just got over being called Mam by those young whipper snapper grocery baggers.   Cut me some slack here!  Hon is SO condescending and I'm sure I gave her my nastiest look....at least I was trying to but some times it comes out more like my contact fell out.  Anyway, I gave her my few bucks, grabbed my goodie bag and marched out the door hollering over my shoulder, "Thanks, Snookums!"  That'll teach her.

There are some times when I'm overwhelmed and think, "It would be so much easier to be a man."  No more dinners to cook, no more laundry to wash.....then I came across this list and got such a hoot. 

               The Benefits of Being Made Male

You can be President.  You can wear a white t-shirt to a water park.  In fact, you can wear NO t-shirt to a water park.  Car mechanics tell you the truth.  The world is your urinal.  You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.

You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.  Wrinkles and gray hair add character.  Wedding dress $5000.  Tex rental $100.  The occasional well rendered belch is practically expected, as is the fart.  New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.  One mood all the time.  Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.

A five day vacation requires only one suitcase, sometimes none!  You can open all your own jars.  You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.  Your underwear is $8.95 for a three pack.  Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.

You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.  The same hairstyle last for years, maybe decades.  You only have to shave your face and neck.  You can play with toys all your life.

Your belly usually hides your big hips.  One wallet and one pair of shoes - one color for all.  You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.  You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.  You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.  You can do christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24th in 25 minutes.

So, one of the days we spent at the Port of Ilwaco and had the best crab cakes I've ever had at some tiny little shack of a restaraunt.   We wandered around the docks and happened to see a yacht for sale, talked the man into letting us board and got a grand tour.  It was a 36ft. boat with incredible wood work and a price tag that was out of this world.  But what a beauty.  My husband was seriously considering selling everything we owned and talking me into living on it.  Yikes!  I'm still learning the technique of, "Shut up and let him talk, cuz it's never really gonna happen."

We found a book shop and I think we must have spent at least 2 hours, taking turns looking at books.  We are huge bookaholics and left with no less than 4 bags of books.  These great lions were constant distractions for the littler kids since they don't quite understand the lure of a good book yet.

Malachi and Gabe found this beetle on a stick and it kept them entertained while we all went over our book loot outside.

We found a couch on the beach....just sitting there and I couldn't pass up the photo-op!

The weather was warm enough that we could actually get in the cool Pacific without getting frost bite.  In Washington state you can drive on the beaches so we drove to a spot where the waves were crashing nearby and there was a little pool of sea water to play in.  The kids splashed and laughed and built sand castles while hubby and I huddled in the car with the windows down, taking pictures.  (It was still a bit windy out) 

My daughter is such a girly girl.  I love it.  Look at this natural reaction to getting splashed by big brother.

We hiked up to North Head Lighthouse on Cape Disapointment (this is an awesome panaramic virtual link...check it out)  After the long hike to the lighthouse, we got there and found out that only 7 years olds and up were allowed to go to the top of the lighthouse.  So, being the selfless person that I am, (Ha!  I pouted on the inside)  I told hubby and the two older kids to go on up and the little ones and I headed back to the car.  Some kind man from India and his beautifully garbed wife took this picture for us.

To be continued......

Just got back last night from our first camping trip of the year.  We headed up to the Long Beach Peninsula and camped for about 4 days.  The weather was beautiful so we got to hike and visit lighthouses and all the good stuff.   In an effort to bring balance to my hard working hubby I talked him into buying an old (but clean) trailer last year so we could have more family time.  It's not much to look at but the fact that it's paid for make's it look a bit sweeter.  (I hate debt!)

The oldest and youngest share the pull out couch, my daughter sleeps on the folded down dinette and my middle son sleeps on the floor. 

Hubby and I have a luxurious (Ahem)  cubicle of a room in the back where we relive our earlier years of marriage when we had a cozy double bed and wouldn't think of sleeping without at least some part of our body touching.   Now we rather enjoy our own space and are more commonly annoyed when someone crosses the imaginary line down the middle of our queen bed without being invited. 

After all the kids fall into their makeshift beds, we giggle as we tiptoe back to our little room and shut the door.  That's when the fun really starts!!!  Oh....you are so dirty minded!  What we REALLY do is climb into our tiny bed, pull out our microscopic traveling DVD player and eat junk food while laying in bed watching old TV reruns.  I know....we are some kinda crazy aren't we?  But golly, we don't have a TV in our bedroom at home and we sure don't eat in bed, so this is quite the guilty pleasure. 

I'll catch you up on our vacation adventures in Part 2!

We had a fun filled weekend with nsremom on their new boat.   I was so proud of my kids.  They just got over their fears of water last year, so for them to get in the middle of a very large lake and get pulled behind a boat for the first time was very brave.  I grew up on a boat with a dad that was a sailor and loved the water and a mom that was afraid of the water and never learned how to swim.  What a good wife she was.  She pulled up her bootstraps, or in this case her life jacket and I have terrific memories of family times on Lake Shasta, California.  So it was great to see my kids having the same kind of fun that I did growing up.  I was so caught up in the fun that I only got a few pictures, but here they are. 

My daughter is in front and nsremom's daughter is in back.  They are best friends.  I know this looks like a panic moment but they are really just pulling themselves up and into position for take off!

This is my son (5) on the left and nsremom's daughter (6) on the right.  They have the same fun-loving personality.  We had signals for when they were being pulled and needed to communicate to us.  Thumbs up was faster, thumbs down was slower, and shaking their head meant we want off now!  My son gave us the yawn signal which means, "Come on, you're boring me back here.  Speed it up, buddy!"

This is my yummy 2 year old Gabriel.  We played straight through his nap time and he fell asleep on my lap in the boat through all the jostling and bumping.  He hasn't slept in my arms since he was a nursing baby.  It was so sweet! 

My oldest son tried water skiing, and my husband tried wake boarding.  We all slept good that night and had sore muscles and sunburns, but it was worth the fun. 

Today I'm recuperating from our 4th of July fun and getting our trailer ready for camping season.  Lot's of cleaning and packing!  I'll try and remember to take MORE pictures this time! 

I was born in Redding, California and it's hot there!  Normal summer temps are usually well above 100 degrees.   I spent most of my early childhood on Lake Shasta exploring in our boat and camping on it's islands.  My now brown hair was a perpetual blond, I had a tan that never went away, and I didn't wear shoes all summer.  But at the age of 8 my dad got a job in some wierd place called Washington State (which I'd never even heard of)  so we packed up and moved north.  What a shock!  It was a beautiful place but it was so cold and wet.  My brown skin shriveled like a prune the first time it rained and I remember thinking these people were kooks because at 70 degrees they were outside in their shorts (rain or shine) pretending it was summer.  While they were in flip-flops and tank tops we were bundled up in winter coats and mittens, riding to the grocery store with the car heater on.   But alas I've become one of them. 

Washingtonians are used to the rain.  In fact very few of us even know how to work an umbrella.  We wear flip-flops year round and are very proud of our wet webbed toes.  And yes, when the thermometer hits 70, I now break out the shorts and tank tops and we frolic in the sun whenever it peeks out at us.   But the last few days have brought back memories of Redding.  It's hit 100 degrees here for 2 days and I feel like a total traitor to my California roots.  Normally our warmest days come in late August and early September and they might get close to 100 but NEVER in June!  Most Washingtonians don't have air conditioned houses so we are wallowing in our own sweat, getting grouchy and getting very little sleep.  Right now it's 9 PM and my little ones are trying to sleep in 90 degree bedrooms.  Every time I go check on them they are laying in little sweat puddles.  My happiest moments lately have been standing in front of the open freezer or taking a cold shower.  (What's my hubby complaining about....I think cold showers are great!)  My brain and my body can't move faster than a slugs place and I keep thinking, "How do my friends in the hot states deal with this?"  In fact at dinner I did an unthinkable thing.  I prayed for the heat to go away and the rain to start again.  Now I really know I'm a turncoat.  I bet they won't even let me VISIT California again!

I've always been a loud noseblower.  Even as a kid I could rattle the windows in one blow of my schnoz.  It just didn't feel like I got it all unless I blew a hole in the kleenex.  (Bear with me, this IS going somewhere.)  I grew up with family commenting on my noisy habit and I never did it in public.  When I met my soon to be husband and we were beginning to court I made sure he never heard any bodily functions from me; no burps, no tinkles, no snorting when I laugh, no throat clearing and definately NO NOSE BLOWING!  But at the speed our relationship was progressing I realized that this guy was some serious marriage material and at some point I was going to have to let him in on the real me!  So one day I was over at his house, waiting for him to get ready so we could go somewhere.  He was gathering his things to head out the door when he decided to use the bathroom.  His apartment was very small and the walls were pretty thin so I thought to myself, "Maybe I should wait outside because I think I'm going to get an earfull of noises that I would rather pretend he didn't make and I don't think I'll be able to act like I didn't hear it when he comes out!"  But, something in me kept me sitting on his couch waiting for him.  Lo and Behold...I heard all kinds of manly noises coming from that tiny little bathroom.  Growing up with no brothers, these were all new noises to me; the sound of pee hitting the toilet water from a looong distance away,  and the start...stop...start of it all, the little toots that punctuated the whole process, and......wait a minute....what was this?   HONK!  HOOOONK!  Could it be?  He was Honking his nose!  This is the man of my dreams!  And right then and there I knew...this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with.  He came out of the bathroom and off we headed but inside I had a glow of certainty.   We relived this story together this morning and he got a big chuckle out of it and recommended it be fodder for the blog so.....here is our ridiculous but true love story. 

I've been through the two's 3 times already, but this is by far the worst.  It's not that he is any tougher than the other kids, it's that I'm lazier than I used to be.  When I had my first child I was very idealistic.  Before he was even born I had formed all my discipline and child rearing theories, read every book that backed them up and informed everyone of my vast amounts of knowledge.  (Yeah, pride was an issue. )   When Elijah was born, I remember that at about 9 months we started training him on how to be obedient.  We were so consistent teaching him "no" and swatting his hand that by one year old, people were amazed at our wonderfully behaved child.  He learned fast, and rarely to this day, do we deal with obedience with him.  We have some character and attitude issues that crop up every once in a while but for the most part he is well behaved. 14 months after the birth of Elijah, came Allegra.  (I only had about a 4 month break from nursing before I started again with Allegra.)  We weren't as vigilant with training Allegra, but we were consistent enough that she got the message too.  Wow, two well behaved children.  Then a break of about 4 years and a contentment with my life that brought on the lazy bug.  By the time Malachi came around, I had forgotten how important all that training stuff was.  That, coupled with a very "passionate" temperment, meant a tougher child to raise.  I was completely inconsistent and he got away with lot's more.   He is now pretty obedient but much whinier about it than I would have allowed with the other kids.   By the time Gabriel came around, I was 31, tired, already had three kids, and because he would be my last birth baby, I reveled in his cuteness.  Uh, Oh!  Big Problem.  I was completely inconsistent....have I even discplined him at all yet??  

Last week he learned how to crawl out of his crib and being as I hadn't taught him "No" very well yet, this posed quite a problem.  My 2 hours to myself in the mornings that I NEED was being interupted by a 2 year old who had too much freedom and would rise and shine at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning and ruin my quiet time.  This does not make for a happy mommy.  The decibal level of my voice during the day was loud and shrill and sometimes I wouldn't have time to take a shower until naptime at 2:00pm.  My robe was worn more than my clothes.  Something had to change.  I knew it was time to get rid of the old rickety crib that had seen 4 children through babyhood and move into a toddler bed, but that still wasn't going to change the fact that my blond angel was GETTING UP TO EARLY!

I was brain storming with my wise and trusted sister/friend nsremom, and this is what we came up with.  Every night at bed time, Gabe would be out of his bed playing for at least 30 minutes before hubby and I figured it out or got off our butts to go up and swat him. Every night we went through this same scenario for 2 hours before he was worn out enought to go to sleep on his own.  So in essence we were confusing the poor kid.  He had already been playing for so long that it wasn't clear to him where he was starting to go wrong.  "Was it the wrong toy to play with?"  "Was it that I was out of bed too long?"  So here is the solution we came up with:  I was going to have to put him to bed, tell him to stay in it and go to sleep and then wait outside his door for the sound of little feet hitting the floor.  As soon as they hit the floor, I would calmly walk in, swat his little thigh, and put him back to bed with the same rule.  Ahem,  O.K., this was going to take some effort on my part but I'd had enough and I wanted my mornings back !!!  Last night, I tried it.  I tucked him in, kissed him and told him to stay in bed.  Then I got my book and sat down outside his closed door and waited.  Well, it didn't take long until I heard the little pitter patter of footsteps running across the room towards the toy shelves.  I opened the door and caught him, swatted his behind, put him back to bed and sat back down in the hallway.  Hmm... that seems very clear to me.  DON'T GET OUT OF BED OR YOU WILL GET A SWAT! But, I think he needed a little bit more teaching.  He must have got out of bed four different times and I calmly walked in and started the whole process again.  After 30 minutes, it finally got quiet.  I peeked in and there he was, laying in his cute little bed, almost asleep.  I gave him the thumbs up, "Good job staying in bed, Gabe."  I shut the door for the last time and off he went to sleep.  Yippee!   It worked.  Gosh, that wasn't so bad after all.  When he woke up this morning he was so agreeable, happy and obedient that it was like a new child.  He almost loved and respected me more because I had taken the time and interest in him to show him I cared by setting boundaries.  I'm hoping that it will only take a few more nights before this isn't an issue anymore.  In fact, this morning I got a shower and some reading in before he got up.  I feel like a new woman. 

We did a new unit study this week called, "How To Make Mom's Life Easier".  And let me tell ya, I'm thinking of printing it up and calling it a new curriculum.  This is what my kids learned.

Elijah (10) - How to use the lawnmower properly.  (Yes, I, not my husband taught this subject)  I also taught him how to use a drill to make a tree swing from scrap wood.  Gosh, I feel like singing....I'm Every Woman!

Allegra (9) - How to put a wandering 2 year old back to bed, How to properly load and turn on the dishwasher.  (Her normal chores is to unload it)

Malachi (5) - How to change a diaper.  He was really worried about the poopy ones but I told him ONLY mommy does those.  You should have seen the relief on his face!

Gabriel (2) - How to stay in a new toddler bed, How to obey mommy and daddy the first time, How to remove the clothes from the dryer into the laundry bucket.

I tell you what.  I'm feeling like superwoman!  Now I'm brainstorming for next week.  Hmmm...what else would make my life a whole lot easier.  Delegating is awesome!

I was going through the check out line today, loading up my butter toffee peanuts on to the little conveyer belt when a headline caught my eye.  "Jennifer Aniston Looks Pregnant!"  and accompanying that exciting headline was a picture of a svelte woman in a form fitting dress.   Huh?  I leaned in closer thinking, "Maybe it is time for glasses."  With my eyes squinted I stared at her abdomen.  The only thing protruding was her ripped abdominal muscles and I snickered to myself.  PUHLEEZE!  If that woman looks pregnant than I must look like I'm having twins next week.  Then I got to thinking.  If I was rich and famous and someone actually cared to put me on the front cover of a gossip rag what would my tagline say.  What would they catch me doing.  Here's what I came up with....

Gayle Caught With No Make-Up On, Dirty Toddler In Tow, Buying Out The Twinkie Rack At Wal-mart!   What would her personal trainer and stylist have to say?

Aliens Invaded Mother Of Four's Home!    Quote from neighbor, "I though there wuz somethin' fishy goin' on over thar!  When I came over to visit she wouldn't let me in the door and thar wuz all kinds of strange noises coming from the inside."

Homeschool Advocate Turns Up Missing!  Found Hiding Under Dining Room Table.  "Sheesh, We Were Just Playing Hide and Seek.  Who Knew It Would Take Them So Long To Find Me." 

Two-Year Old Boy Taken To Emergency Room.  Was There Foul Play?  Harried Mother Says, "He Was Trying To Hide His Peas So He Wouldn't Have To Eat Them.  It Only Took 2 Hours For The Doctor To Get Them Out Of His Nose!"

Boy am I glad nobody's following me around with a camera.

Yes, you read that right and let me tell you the story.  Gabriel, my fourth child was born with three curious older siblings.  They wanted to inspect every inch of his cute body when he came home.  They loved his little toes, his saggy little baby cheekies, and his pursed lips.   When they got to his torso they noticed his tiny little baby nipples and underneath the right one, about 1 inch down was a light brown spot that they immediately pronounced his "third nipple".  We all laughed and whenever he learned something new we would all exclaim, "Must have been that extra nipple that made him so smart!"  As he grew, whenever he did something naughty, "Oh, it must have been that third nipple that made him do it!"  It became the cute family chuckle.  When Gabe was two and in for his Well Child check up at the doctors office we all went.  We got him undressed and the doctor checked him out.  As the appointment ended the doc wrote his last notes in the chart, patted Gabriel's tummy and very nonchalantly said as he walked out the door, "Looks like he's got a third nipple!"  And out he walked.  We were stunned and silent.  Huh?!?  That was just a joke!  You mean he really does have a third nipple?  We just made that up!  Come to find out that HE DOES!  It's started to grow a little nipple lump in the middle and the Doc says that sometimes just happens.  Wierd Huh?

How do I begin tactfully.....um.....someone made a stinky smell in the house and my always helpful ten year old decided to get rid of the odor.  I've been training these guys of mine, including my husband, to be sensitive to the feminine presence in the house, so odor's are to be dealt with BEFORE they come in to contact with my sense of smell or taste.  My sweet ten year old, while proud of the stench maker (his dad) was sensitive to my needs and ran downstairs for a book of matches to light some candles.  Now, I wasn't even home when the odor occured but by-gum I've trained them well in this area, and he immediately took it upon himself to destroy the evil smell, for fear that it would linger until I returned home.  He lit all kinds of candles I have sitting around the house; apple cinnamon, vanilla, blackberry and last but not least the almost used up lilac in my master bathroom.  It must have smelled like a swirling vortex of food and flowers and I sure admire the thoughtfullness but the first awareness I had that something was amiss was a call on my cell phone that went something like this...

Hello?

Um, Hi Mom.  (Very fast with no breaths)  I-almost-burnt-the-bathroom-down-and-it-left-a-black-mark-on-the-wall-and-the-flames-were-really-high-but-I-threw-the-candle-in-the-sink-and-put-out-the-fire. (Followed by a big gasping breath for air)

When I returned home I found lavender colored wax stuck to my sink in long drips and a huge black stain climbing up the wall from the sink to the ceiling.  A little scary looking, but at least I know that my son is level headed when it comes to emergency situations.  Hmm...or maybe I need to ease up on the odor-removal training a bit. 

Ahhh, life is back in order.  During my brief hiatus I came across some interesting stuff.  I found this link that gives a statistic on how many public schooled/homeschooled teenagers continue to have faith in God after graduation.  It was very encouraging!  The next fascinating thing I found was a discussion on this blog called Mormonism and Christianity - same or different?  I was glued.  This could be a very controversial and divisive subject but this lady handled it exceptionally well.  The comments were very kind, even though both sides were represented.  I think this is a 3 or 4 parter but it was an amazing comparison. 

So....next post, Hmm....should it be "How My 10 Year Old Almost Burnt The House Down", "The Third Nipple" or the next installment of "Plunge Plunge Glub Glub"?            You'll have to watch and see!

Yep, I'm still around.  I'm dealing with some issues that are totally consuming my brain and emotions right now so I'm going to be posting very little this week.  Humor has escaped me at the moment...but it will be back. 

Gayle

Boy, this tagging thing is going around blog world like a virus.  Now it's my turn to get it.  My dear friend CountryMomof4 has finally entered blog world and one of her first duties was to tag me.    Check out her new blog and her story of homeschooling, then to private school and back to homeschooling.  She says the grass is NOT greener on the otherside as it pertains to all that free time you would have if you're kids were in school.   Anyway...here's my answers.   Favorite magazine?  I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's PEOPLE magazine.  Love the glam!   What is your favorite tv show?  We don't get TV but we rent shows from Netflix.  My hubby and I are anxiously awaiting the next installments of 24, Greys Anatomy, Alias, House MD, Scrubs, and Lost.    What's on your mouse pad?  Duh, my mouse silly! Favorite smell?   New baby head and warm brownies   Worst feeling in the world:  When the phone rings in the middle of the night.  You know it's never anything good.   Things I do on the weekends:  Fly to Palm Springs in my Cessna, Catch a Cirque de Soleil show in Vegas on the way back, ride a barrel down Niagra Falls.  (my real answers are too boring)   Favorite Soundtrack:  No soundtrack but I really like BarlowGirl.   My daughter and I, along with nsremom and her daughter went to a concert and they rock!   What is the first thing that you thought of when you woke up this morning?  Do I have any clean underwear?   Do you get motion sickness?  Only when I hit turbelence, a boat rocks, I read in a car, or I ride a roller coaster!!!!   Roller Coasters, Exciting or Deadly?  Love them,  but it really makes me mad that I get nauseaous.   Pen or Pencil?  I fresh pointy pencil or a ball point pen.  Makes no difference.  I'm just happy I can find one!   How many rings till you answer the phone? half a ring but I'm getting better.  My husband hates this trait so I'm struggling to let the machine pick it up and not even answer it.  There are claw marks in the arms of my favorite chair. Favorite Foods?  Chocolate, pizza, warm fresh bread with butter......   Do you get along with your parents?  Yep!  They're great!   Have you ever been convicted of a Crime? Does hiding behind the kitchen counter, licking the beaters before the kids get them count?   Chocolate or Vanilla?  Oh...most definately chocolate! Croutons or Bacon bits?  Bacon bits if they are real, not the fake kind that break your teeth.   Do you like to drive?  Oh, I'd much rather drive than be a passenger and NO I don't have control issues.   Do you sleep with stuffed animals? I have been known to fall asleep on the couch and wake up with everyone's toys piled on top of me.   If you could have any kind of pet, what would it be?  NO PETS! Favorite alcoholic beverage?  Not much of a drinker.  Not for any moral issue, just never found anything I liked.  Oh wait, I have had a margarita once that was pretty good.   What is your zodiac sign?  Pisces, all though I think zodiacs are rather fishy....har-har!   Do you eat the stems of your broccoli?  Eww, do YOU eat the banana peel?   If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be? I don't want a job!  This life of leisure thing is pretty good! If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be?  Who wouldn't want to be a blond?   If you could have a tattoo, where would it be?  Why would I get something permanently stuck on my body that would shrivel and morph into something unrecognizable by the time I was 80?  Not very sexy! Have you ever been in love?  Did some kid right this?   What is on the walls in your room?  Coffee (with cream) colored paint and a cool metal sculpture over my bed. Write the first thing that comes to your mind: This is sooooo long....who's gonna make it through this whole thing? Is your glass half empty or half full?  If it's somebody else's problem it's half full, if it's mine it's half empty.   What is your favorite Snapple? I don't drink snapple but I love flavored soda water!   Are you righty, lefty or ambidextrous? Righty!   Do you type with your fingers on the correct keys? Yep!   If you could be any gardening tool what would it be?  Huh? What is under your bed?  A fire escape ladder, a suitcase, and a picture of a sailboat. What is your favorite number?  who cares?   What is your favorite color?  I love earthy warm colors, greens, rust, tan, oranges, reds   What was your first car?  My grandmother's gold datsun station wagon.  She couldn't drive it anymore and I was just thrilled to have my own ride.  It was stick shift so I'd just pretend it was a sports car!   What is your dream car?  Something red, sporty and only has seats for two! Favorite sport to watch?  Tennis, or ice skating,  I just don't GET football! Say one thing nice about the person who tagged you:  I love her sense of humor!   Now who do you tag? duckygirl...it's your turn.

Things we learned in school today:

I LOVE that my boys want to be like their daddy!  It makes me so happy to know that they admire and love him.  But being like daddy means different things to different people.  To my 10 year old that means saving and managing his money, (my hubby is a Financial Advisor) choosing which investments to put his meager earnings in, organizing his space like Dad does….things like that.  To my 2 year old that means stretching and exercising, talking in a deep voice, and wearing a pencil behind his ear.  But my 5 year old has a different idea about his manly daddy….It’s all about nose hair!

To him, manliness equals hair, and thank goodness he is focusing on Daddy’s nose! (hee-hee).  Yesterday he proudly came up, shoved his face in mine and said, “Look mom, I’m getting nose hairs just like Dad!”  Then he made this hilarious face to show me his bounty of hairs!  

Hmm....I guess since he's looking up at his 6'2" daddy all the time, nose hairs must play a pretty prominent role in his perspective of Daddy. 

I ran into a public school teacher I know the other day.  She's been teaching for at least 20 years and every year about this time she is so worn out.  She's ready to retire and just slogs through the last quarter of school.  We talked about how she's wrapping up her school year and how we are wrapping up ours.  She stopped in mid conversation and said, "You know, I really admire you for teaching your kids at home.  Really, the most important thing is their character.  Academics are important too but when ever I face a problem or have been through hard times in my life, it's not my masters degree or what I learned in 8th grade history that gets me through.  It's my faith and character traits that I've learned that I use most."  What an encouragement!  Sometimes I get so bogged down in trying to keep up with the academic standard that is set for our society.  You know, the mysterious "them" who says a child should know certain things at a certain age.  When I try and keep up, I always fail but when I'm happy with the progress my kids are making and their love of learning, we constantly win. 

Two year olds are an adventure.  The first few I had, I could handle. But, by the time my fourth came along, I was so busy with all my other duties that he was allowed a bit more freedom than the rest.  So the story begins…

My oldest and I were focused on finishing up this year’s math book and I swear my two year old was out of sight no more than 10 minutes when my mommy radar kicked in with, “Hey, does anyone know where Gabe is?” 

“Oh yeah.” My 5 year old says.  “Last time I saw him he was in the bathroom and I could hear the toilet flushing.”  Aargh!!!!   I immediately broke into a run and tumbled up the stairs to the bathroom where this is the sight that I was greeted with….3 swirling toothbrushes going round and round and round the toilet bowl and 1 happy little boy with his hand on the flusher.   Without even thinking I plunged my hand into the toilet and proudly beheld my bounty. HA!  I had got every last one of them.  (When did it become normal to not even think twice about sticking my hand in a swirling toilet?!?)  After a good scolding and a little lesson about germs, I stuck the toothbrushes in the dishwasher, hit the sanitize button and carried on with my day. 

A few hours later, all my pride fell down around my ankles like an old pair of undies with worn out elastic as I realized the poo that one of my kids had lovingly placed in the toilet for me to find later, was not going down as it should.   Plunge, plunge, plunge, went the mommy.  Glub, glub, glub, went the toilet.  Finally the poo went on its way to places unknown but the toilet was still not flushing as it aught.  So I did what any overworked, underpaid mommy would do that still had school to finish, dishes to wash and clothes to clean…..I shut the door and declared it unfit to use.   “We’ll leave this one for our super-duper handy-dandy Daddy to take care of!” I said with tongue in check.  (If you know me at all, you know that’s not quite the way we describe Daddy around here.)   I went back and asked my genius of a 2 year old why he put the toothbrushes in the toilet and this was his reply, “Keen Toofbush mommy!” (Interpretation:  I see you clean the toilet with an old toothbrush sometimes and I thought you were cleaning the toothbrushes not the toilet.  I just wanted to help cuz It looks like so much fun!!!) Well of course.  Why didn’t I think of that?

After Daddy got home and unsuccessfully snaked out the toilet.  We decided that an AM phone call to roto rooter was our next option.   The guys showed up, used some nifty tool for a sum total of 5 minutes and what did he pull out?  A hard plastic container of kid toothpaste.  The guy told me that it had almost got permanently stuck in the line but he just caught it and saved us from having to buy a new toilet.  When the roto rooter guy carried his prize out to the truck to write up my $75 dollar bill, he thought I wasn’t looking, but I was. And you know what I saw?  He was holding his little baggy with the prize in it, doing a little hip shaking jig and hollering, “I got it, I got it”  to his partner in the passenger seat.  Now, don’t tell me plumbers don’t enjoy their jobs!!!! 

We live in a small town, so when a field trip opportunity comes close to home, we like to take advantage of it.    Across the Columbia River from us is the Port of Rainier, Oregon and it just so happened they had a visitor.  The Hawaiian Chieftain, a working replica of a trade ship from the 1700’s was docked and offering educational tours for schools.  The public schools couldn’t pull it together on such short notice but the homeschoolers could.  So Mom2ZAW organized a field trip and about 40-50 of us got one of the best tours ever!   They showed us how to use a sextant, raise and lower a sail, what a brick of tea from the 1700’s looked like, gave us a little history lesson about trade and trade routes,  relations with the natives, and we also got a tour of the decks and the cabin.  It was so much fun. 

You know, we just don’t do pets very well.  Our first pets were beta fish.  They lasted about 2 weeks till the tap water killed them and they went to fishy heaven by way of toilet.  Next were two lizards affectionately called Penny and Gorm.  We had to make weekly trips to the pet store for fresh crickets, but they lasted much longer.  Eventually after a year we realized we weren’t taking care of them as well as we thought we had.  Gorm had dehydrated into a crunchy shell of a lizard and Penny, ever faithful, withered away a week later.  “Hey, I thought YOU were giving them water!” was heard for weeks around here.  We took a little break from animals for a while.  But, it does take me a while to learn my lessons.  One Christmas morning, we surprised the kids with a brand new golden retriever puppy.  She was so cute and adorable and the kids all cried a little at their exciting present.  That seems to be the only fond memory we have of Macy though.  It proved too much to train 4 kids and 1 dog and the kids were terrified by her enormous size and extreme playfulness.  They would sit in the window seat and watch her from a distance as my husband stood outside, grumbling in the rain, tossing a ball to the dog.  And STILL I didn’t learn my lesson.  Next we tried hamsters.  The kids saved all their allowance and bought 3 hamsters and all the gadgets they would need.  How could I turn them down since they had planned and saved so well?   The minute we got them home they succumbed to hamster diarrhea brought on by stress (4 loud children poking and prodding them) and were dead within the week.  And, yes, I admit, I did it again.  The pleas of “Mom, why can’t we have a pet” were just too much for me.  This time I was a bit smarter.  I had a few guidelines:

• No hair
• No potty training
• No slobber
• No smells

Hermit Crabs!  I know they aren’t real cuddly but they seemed easy enough.  We bought our habitat and sent away for our crabs.  Two arrived dead and the third died within a week.  The fourth is still hanging on for dear life as we speak. 

As some of you may remember, we had a bit of a mouse problem that my brave husband has taken control of.  Well, yesterday, outside my laundry room door, a dead fuzzy thing was found by the children.  “Mommy, Mommy, there’s a dead mouse by the back door!”  My husband, who just happened to be home, put on his hip waders, (I’m not exaggerating!), gathered up his shovel and tromped over to scoop it up.  Turns out it was a dead mole that the neighborhood cats had sweetly left as a gift to show off their hunting prowess.  “You’re hired!”  I thought to myself.   “Guess what guys?  How would everyone like to have their own pet cat?”  They all looked at me with twinkles in their eyes.  “You know the three cats that hunt in our backyard?  They are now officially our pets.  You can each have one and name it what ever you want.”  They were so excited they couldn’t see straight and off they went to decide on names.   I was pretty proud of myself.   Someone else feeds them, takes them to the vet, deals with their fleas and lets them in THEIR house.  We get to give them treats, let them hunt all the little critters in our yard, and send them home.  I didn’t think the kids would fall for it but when I got up this morning they had named the cats and were getting ready to feed them a can of tuna.  Finally, we have our perfect pet!

For 364 days, my family has been saving up all their appreciation for me.  We wouldn’t want to spoil the fun of Mother’s Day too early would we?  So as the week of Mother’s Day approaches I start looking for strange behaviors, whispers between the family, sly looks and grins exchanged behind my back….I just know they are planning something good.  I mean 364 days is a lot of pent up appreciation to plan for.  You can’t just let it all out at once, it’s a delicate art. 

The Friday before, I started noticing those strange behaviors that have always heralded the approach of my most favorite holiday.  But they were a little different than I expected.   They included bellyaches, extra whining, a faint green color to the face, and by Friday night all that pent up appreciation came out in a very unexpected way…VOMIT!  Friday night my daughter got it and since I don’t do vomit very well, I woke up my husband and hovered in the hallway pointing out which cleaners to use, handing in garbage bags, and stripping beds, while he cleaned up the piles of regurgitated taco soup we had eaten a few hours ago.  (It used to be the family favorite but I don’t think we’ll be eating it much anymore.)  I spent most of the night doing laundry, making beds, cleaning out barf buckets, disinfecting the bathroom and scooping chunks out of my washing machine.   Finally at 2AM we all got to sleep.

Saturday at my Mother-in-laws appreciation celebration my oldest son started looking a little green about the gills so we decided to head home. I was worried that my husband might have to clean puke out of the suburban (BTW, Every year I wonder why the moms who are pretty much done with the mothering thing, get celebrated so much.  I’m still in the trenches here!   I could probably use way more appreciation and encouragement than they need right now!)  Just as we were getting into the car, out came the barbecue he had just eaten.  Round 2 had begun.  We managed to get him home and into bed before starting the whole process over again.   

Between hurls, while we were on our hands and knees scrubbing the carpet,  my husband and I had a little “déjà vu” moment.  Hey wait a minute!  I seem to recall doing this last Mother’s day and the one before that….and the one before that.   Houston…we have a problem!!! Somebody has their wires crossed.  Mom’s day isn’t supposed to be about doing extra mothering!  Mother’s day traditions are supposed to be presents, no cooking, brunch, breakfast in bed, homemade cards…stuff like that.  My kids have made it a tradition of getting the stomach flu for the last 5 Mother’s days.   So I’ve decided that next year we’re just doing two Father’s days.  Let him have ALL the fun!

Ahhh, it was my favorite time of the day.  My work as a mother was over for this 24 hr. period, (barring any middle of the night emergencies) and it was time to relax with my husband.  He plops himself on the couch beside me and I snuggle in close as he stretches his arm out behind me on the couch.   His arm rests on the back of the sofa but his fingers are exploring the back of the couch when suddenly he exclaims in a horrified voice, “THERE’S A BOOGER ON THE COUCH.”  It could only be one person…..our 10 year old Elijah. 

Elijah has been an avid nose picker since birth.  He never sucked his thumb or used a pacifier.  Oh no….His finger in his nose was what comforted him.  Being that he was our firstborn and a boy to boot, I thought this was a normal occurrence…..you know, “Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails” Boys are supposed to burp and fart and do all kinds of repulsive things.  And, well, it was sort of cute. 

By the age of five I realized that Elijah had a special talent.  He wasn’t just any ordinary booger pickin’ five year old.  He had a gift.  We were living in our first home, a 700 square foot, two bedroom, cottage and we were expecting our third child.  Time to rearrange the kids’ room to make way for a new crib!  We pushed furniture around and just started pulling Elijah’s bed out from the wall, when I bent over to inspect the strange brown polka dots on the wall.  Hmm, not mold, what could it be?  Upon closer inspection we came to the disgusting conclusion that our firstborn son had been storing his used boogers up behind his bed.  (Picture five years worth of boogers!?!)  I mean, gosh, you never know when a crusty booger might come in handy.   That was also the day our son learned to use the vacuum. 

Since then, Grandma’s favorite chair has been a popular storage spot for his little hobby as well as his seat in the car and the dog we used to have.    (We finally had to get rid of the dog because nobody wanted to pet her anymore.  Who knows what emotional scars the poor thing had from carrying her masters’ boogers around all day? )  Since, finding his little goodies around the house was a rare occurrence anymore  and being that the boy was 10 by now, we figured he had grown out of the booger stage.   My boy was growing up!  So when my husband found another one on the back of the couch that night, the  normal response of any sane mother would have been, “Ewww, gross, ELIJAH GET DOWN HERE NOW!!!”  But instead my love-twisted mother’s heart softened as I said with glistening eyes, “Awwww…He’s still my little boy.”

BooksandBairns has tagged me and I now have to reveal 6 random things about myself. 

1. I only shampoo my hair a few times a year!!!  Ewww, sounds gross huh?  No, I am not a disgusting person, (well I guess it depends on who you ask) but my naturally curly hair can’t take it.  I just use conditioner everyday and if my head gets smelly I massage that into my scalp. 
2. I knew my husband 2 months before he proposed and a total of 6 months before I walked down the aisle.  No shotguns here, sometimes you just know things, huh?
3. After making the joint decision that we were going to remain pure until our wedding night….my “friend” came to visit as I was putting on my white wedding dress on the big day.   Hmmm, white dress + the color red, YIKES!  Needless to say, I managed to break the news to my husband and our wedding pictures were taken soon after.  We both look a bit perturbed in our pictures and our wedding night was not quite what we expected.
4. I love tanning beds!  Oh, I know the dangers but not only is it the best camouflage for that extra 10 pounds I’m always carrying, but living in rainy Washington State can sometimes be gloomy.  When I get that little zap of sunlight it makes me feel all bright and cheery.  Ahhhh!  (Don’t worry, I’m not SO hooked that I’m all leathery or anything.)
5. I have a strange compulsion when eating chocolate.  I must finish the whole bag.  Oh…so that’s where the extra 10 lbs. comes from.  Duh!
6. I check my e-mail at least 5 times a day.  (Please, somebody tell me this is normal!)  I just love getting mail!!!!

Best friends are great!  All you have to do is give them a call and it can change your whole day.  By a wierd series of events, I just happened to order a book off of paperbackswap that ended up being from my best freind nsremom.  She called me laughing.  I mean what are the odds?  There are like 25,000 books listed on paperback swap and I just happened to order one from her.  So, we set up a time today when she would be in my town and decided to not only swap the book but to go an a geocaching adventure.  Geocaching has become my new hobby and what are friends for but to pass on great new finds?  So today was my friend Emily's maiden voyage. 

We loaded up our passel of kids (8 between the two of us), programmed the GPS for our first hunt and off we went. 

The first hunt we went on was way too easy.  While we were having some much needed girl talk, the kids had run up ahead with the GPS and found it before the adults even got there.   By the time we walked up to the site they had already ransacked it for treasures and were ready to go back.  We found a grassy spot and stopped for a picnic lunch. 

The next hunt we decided to do less talking and more keeping up so we were in on the find.  The boys found it first, hiding in a hollow spot of a tree. 

Then our tribe of children sorted through the toys and traded goodies so the next treasure seekers would have some fun things to find. 

And this is a picture of Emily and I (my son took it).  In fact, if it wasn't for her I might not have ever met my awesome husband.  Emily and I met about 12 or 13 years ago.  She was a newlywed and I was still single.  She had just gotten a job at the pediatrician's office that I worked at and it was my job to train her.  We hit it off right away and a few months later she introduced me to my husband.  A few months after that she was a bridesmaid in my wedding and since then we've been fast friends.  We've gone through our first pregnancies at the same time, coached each other through marital difficulties, identity crisis', kid issues, church searches, weight gains....you name it.   Our children are each other's best friends and our husbands are buddies too!  Anyway....I feel really blessed to have her in my life.  Love ya, Em!

I hit the scales over the weekend and about choked on my Twinkie.  I had surpassed the ‘no-no’ number.  That’s the number that means I have to start my diet again.  Now, I know I should “have a better body image” and “not compare myself to the magazines” and all that good wise stuff but the reality is I know I’ll never have a perfect bod but I do have a weight range that I’m comfortable with and I have plumply exceeded it.  I did really good on Monday and made it through the whole day with not even one binge.  Being that I’ve tried to diet the past year and my average is 2-3 days before I break…I’m off to my typical start.  But late tonight I went tanning (a tan can camouflage fat like nothing else can) went and cleaned my husbands office and ran by the grocery store.  Ahh….there is my problem: THE GROCERY STORE!  The first aisle I went to was to get the requested cashews to fuel my husbands binge.  Well in no time at all I had grabbed the butter toffee covered peanuts and shoved them in my basket…for me!  The “good me” at least looked at the calorie count….hmm, only 140 calories….PER OUNCE!   What’s that…like 3 nuts?  I can eat the whole can in 5 minutes.  But the “bad me” kicked in right away.  “You’ve been good, you deserve a treat.”  “Yeah, I do,” I thought to myself so off I went to the yogurt and bottled water aisle to try and cover my tracks.  About two aisles away the “good me” came back.  “You know you’ve got sugar free chocolate pudding at home that’s only 100 calories and a bag of fat free popcorn that you can stuff your face with for only 90 calories.”  I hate the “good me”.  She’s no fun at all!  So I loaded up my yogurt and in a moment of strength I quickly shoved the yummy butter toffee peanuts on the refrigerated yogurt shelf and sped away.  I didn’t get 2 feet before the “bad me” tried to talk me out of it.  I began to chant…“Walk away from the peanuts, Gayle, walk away from the peanuts!”  As I pushed my cart toward the check out counter (hopefully not saying my chant out loud)  I swear my cart got heavier and heavier the farther I got away from my beloved peanuts.  But I made it to the parking lot with out running back in and emptying the shelves so I think I had a little victory.

I'm rethinking things for our homeschool next year; what curriculum works, what doesn't, what do the kids want to learn about, what field trips were good and why, and also what role does our local homeschool support group have in our homeschool.  I'm really curious to know how your local homeschool support group affects you. We live in a pretty small town and all I know of support groups are the one I've been too.  I know there has to be a world of difference when it comes to what each support group does.  So, I really would love to have some input.  What do you love about it, what do you wish would change, do you even go to a support group, how does yours function, how does it affect your homeschool?  Looking forward to everyone's answers.

Gayle 

Historically I’ve proven to be a boring mommy.  I read all your blogs about cool science and art projects, field trips and fun rabbit trails that you follow and I think,

MY POOR CHILDREN!  I feel adventurous when I whip out the play dough.  So, every once in a while I try to break out of my comfort zone and do something out of the norm.  Thanks to ChattamMommy I think I’ve found a new obsession…er…I mean “adventurous homeschool teaching moment.”

GEOCACHING

We went to Wal-mart and got a GPS (global positioning system) and logged onto www.geocaching.com to start our very first techie treasure hunt.  I found a hunt that required 3 stops before we found our final cache.  At each location there was a number that we would enter into an equation so that we would know what the next coordinates were.  “Ah ha!  What a great way to incorporate math,” I thought.    Have I ever mentioned that I tend to bite off more than I can chew?  I knew by the vague map that it was at our local lake so off we drove with the GPS still in the box, (I have no idea how to use it yet) and 4 hyper kids waiting to find a treasure.  We got to the lake, and the kids bounded out of the car and jumped all around me like pogo sticks while I was trying to figure out how to work our new contraption.    Did I ever mention I’m not very patient?  In no less than 5 minutes I was ready to pack it up and go home.  I finally locked them all back in the car, stood outside and figured out how to enter our first coordinates so we could get to our first stop. Finally I let them all out of their seats and off we went strolling down the path, following the arrow on the GPS.  After about 10 minutes, and a very tired 2 year old, I figured that driving to each location was a much better idea.  So, we hiked back to the car and drove as far as we could before we finally found our first stop.  It was a lamp post with a little metal tag attached that had a number on it.  We entered it into our equation and got our next latitude and longitude coordinates.  By now I’m already pretty cranky.  My 2 year old is fussy; my 5 year old won’t get out of the car and every time I try to figure out how to enter my numbers into the GPS, my 9 and 10 years old interrupt me with a zillion questions.  This is not going how I planned.  I thought we would have storybook homeschool moment; everyone engaged, holding hands, singing camp songs as we walked down the trail being admired for such a wonderful family as we waved at passersby.  HA!  I was hoping nobody was looking because I’m sure the scowl on my face would have melted a commando into a puddle at my feet.  I trudged to the second stop, another lamppost, and entered the next number into our equation.  I stomped to the 3^rd lamppost, dragging my toddler behind me and by now it has dawned on me.  Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to take this particular hunt.  If any of my coordinates are off, by the time we get to the last one, we could be miles away from its actual location.  We get back in the car, and now all of us are wearing my contagious scowl.  I follow our last set of coordinates as a lump of doom settles into my stomach.  If we don’t find this stinkin thing, they are never going to forget this horrible day.  “God,” I pray, “I know I don’t deserve it because of my stinkin attitude, but will you please help us find the treasure at the end of this hunt so my kids will remember a good time instead of a grumpy mom?”   Screech…..the GPS says to stop and we all grumpily exit the car.  My little blessings are following behind me, dragging their heals and muttering things under their breath but all of the sudden my GPS starts wiggin out and telling me we are practically on top of our destination.  I’m starting to get excited now and so are the kids.  Chins come up off of chest, backs straighten, and feet start picking up speed.  We come to a huge bush and the GPS says this is it!  We all fall on our hands and knees and start frantically  poking through the leaves, lifting up branches until…..THERE IT IS!  A big container labeled GEOCACHING!  There we were.  Jumping up and down, screaming, “We found it, we found it!” while cars passed us on the street and the lake joggers about broke their necks trying to figure out what was going on.  We opened our treasure, dumped out the contents, signed the logbook as proof that we actually made it and all of us loaded back into the car with light spirits and happy attitudes.  God saved the day and now we are addicted…er…I mean EXCITED about our new hobby.  Go check it out!

Have you ever had a problem completely take over your life?  Whether it’s a tough relationship or a difficult situation, it can sometimes take over every aspect of your days.    It can fill your head every minute, making you forget if you brushed your teeth or not.  It can keep you up at night while it buzzes in your head like you just drank a 2 liter of Pepsi before laying your head on the pillow.  All you can see is this huge looming problem and everything else gets out of focus.  It happens to me sometimes and I tend to lose my perspective on other things.   

I was reading the story of Joseph, I don’t remember if it was in my devotional time or for school with the kids, but it struck me that although the story of Joseph gets told as a complete story in itself, it’s more than just that.  It’s a story that is smack dab in the middle of something bigger that was going on.   The story of Joseph was really a PART of the promise that God gave Abraham.  God promised that Abraham’s descendants would inherit Israel and throughout Joseph’s betrayal, slavery, and heartache, we see how God brought the Israelites (Joseph’s family) into Egypt so they could be protected from the famine.  Then they could continue on their journey, being led back out of Egypt by Moses (another story in the bigger picture) and finally finishing their journey to the Promised Land with Joshua, thus fulfilling God’s promise.  Hmmm… Joseph’s story is amazing but it was just a piece of a bigger story, one with much more importance than just reconciling Joseph with his family and bringing healing to their wounds. 

I read this quote on the wallpaper of a restaurant bathroom (no kidding) and it has really stuck with me.  “We don’t see things how they are; we see things how WE are”.  How true that is.  I look at things and they are filtered by my experiences; my hurts, my successes, my fears, my hopes, my secret desires, or even my spiritual gifts.    I’m not always truly objective, truly seeing things as they are.  My life, the good parts and bad, are all a part of something else God is doing.  They are not isolated issues in my life.  They could be a means to teach me something, they could be a stepping stone to reaching some other goal, or they could be a part of someone else’s story entirely.  God is the Orchestrator of our lives and He knows the big picture. 

So, when I’m faced with an overwhelming problem in my life, I’m learning to look at it differently.  Instead of it being a consuming issue that takes over all of my faculties and leaves me thinking that it is the main focus of my life at the time, I’m seeing that what God has in mind could be something beyond me.  It could be farther reaching than my life.  It just might be part of His bigger story.  

As I'm in my bedroom primping to go somewhere, my two year old comes running in, all a fluster.  I can tell by the tone of his voice and the urgency in his toddler waddle that he is going to relay something very important to me.  It doesn't take long before he starts:

Gabriel:  Mom....piderman....piderman.....come!

Me: Ok, I'm thinking he wants me to get his spiderman toy for him?  Maybe his bunkmate, Malachi, has taken spiderman from him?  Maybe spiderman is pluggin the toilet and it's overflowing on my bathroom floor!  Ok, I'm feeling the urgency to respond now!

Gabriel grabs my hand and pulls me into his bedroom and this is the sight that greets me.  My 5 year old is huddled in a corner hollering at his 2 year old brother to "Hit it with the shoe"  I look down where my toddler has led me and crawling across the room is a spider the size of Rhode Island,  running as fast as it's eight hairy legs can carry it.  I think it realized that the little people it thought it could take, just called for back up and he's about to become goo.  Normally this is a job for my husband because spiders and I have a long history of bad relationships but I'm at a bit of a loss since he's already left for work.  In one of my bravest moments I grab my two year olds itty-bitty shoe, which in comparison, will only cover about 2 legs if I'm lucky, and proceed to turn that icky spider inside out. My 2 year old takes a deep sigh...my 5 year old crawls out from his corner, and I mop up my mess with toilet paper and flush him down the toilet.

Gabriel: Piderman all gone mommy?

Me: Yep, Piderman all gone Gabe!

This weekend was my husbands 36^th birthday.  I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and (be prepared…this may shock some of you) he requested a massage, manicure/pedicure and a visit to the tanning bed.  Now before you get the wrong idea, he is a very masculine man.  But in the course of our marriage he has relented and tried some of the things that I like to do.  It was a real struggle for him to go into a salon and get a pedicure with 10 other women watching and whispering about him.  I knew they were all just trying to figure out what bet he lost to get him to submit to the girly treatment.  But it wasn’t long before he realized what a good thing I had going.  And now it’s HIM that reminds me that we are due for our mani/pedi.   I’ve completely spoiled him! 

The day of pampering didn’t work out so he graciously gave up and offered up HIS day for a family day.  So, instead we went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, just a few hours drive from home to Tacoma, WA.  They had a shark exhibit that was really neat and a fascinating display on seahorses. 

This is a picture of the peacocks that roamed freely through the zoo and the parking lot.  My oldest son was brave enough to get this guy to eat a cracker out of his hand.

This is my bunch (that’s not me in the back)  touching the live starfish.  Ooooh!  Aaaah!

And here we are feeding the goats in the petting zoo. 

I think a few of them thought my 2 year old might taste good.

On the way home we stopped at a giant screen movie theatre and watched Ice Age 2.  (It was cute but had some bad words snuck in there.  Why do they always have to do that?) 

I was over at Gena’s blog and she had a contest going on about our husband’s.  I’m sure it’s too late to enter but in honor of my husband I thought I would post the 5 things I love about him since he didn’t really get the birthday of his dreams. 

1. He is one of those guys that isn’t afraid to stand up against something wrong, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.  And he does it in a very diplomatic way.
2. He is quick to say I’m sorry and ask forgiveness when he does something wrong!
3. He is very generous and pampers the kids and I whenever he can.
4. He is a humble and teachable man that possesses a mantle of leadership that is noticeable even before he opens his mouth.
5. He has a love and understanding of God that amazes me.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Now is the time when a lot of homeschoolers are wrapping up their school year and making plans for next year.  To many of us that means the big curriculum hunt-and-buy, but to others it’s reevaluating whether or not to even continue homeschooling next year or not. 

I know I’m going to continue homeschooling but It did make me stop and think…Why do I still homeschool?  And this is what  I realized: that at my absolute worst homeschooling mommy moments I can still provide an equal academic education to what the public schools are teaching….

In 1997, a study of 5,402 homeschool students from 1,657 families was released. It was entitled, "Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America." The study demonstrated that homeschoolers, on the average, out-performed their counterparts in the public schools by 30 to 37 percentile points in all subjects. (HSLDA)

And it’s also much cheaper to homeschool….

The average cost per homeschool student is $546 while the average cost per public school student is $5,325. Yet the homeschool children in this study averaged in 85th percentile while the public school students averaged in the 50th percentile on nationally standardized achievement tests. (HSLDA)

But what all the statitistics don’t show is that the education I give at home can reach where the public schools can’t  

In the land of “Jessica has two mommies”, “Tolerate everything, even evil”, Drugs you can buy at the park, porno at the corner minute mart where I (used to) get my gas, and clothes that show more skin than I showed on my wedding night, I have the power to be there when my kids are asking questions.  I am giving them the availability of a Mom that cares much more about them than a paid employee at a school.  A parent that is available when the world shows them something that makes them question its integrity.  I can train them in right and wrong….ethics…morals….values…TRUTH!   And that is something that is relative in the public schools.  The moral training in public schools consists of government filtered, politically correct truth learned from their teachers but mostly from their peers and the people or things that influence them. 

I recently read an article on the atrocities in Sex Education that are being taught in the public schools of Massachusetts.  This is really happening.  Now, most of the time I distance myself from this stuff because it doesn’t really affect my life right now.  But I got to thinking.  They are teaching this stuff to kids as young as 1^st grade and this is shaping the way these kids think.  If this continues much longer it will affect a whole generation of children and it will change the world that my kids grow up in, the pool of spouses they have to choose from, the type of people they will have to work with, live next door to….it goes on and on.  I want a better world than that for my children.  I want them to be able to find spouses that love God, are commited to their husband/wife, love their children and are in for the long haul, are productive members of society and know the difference between perversity and goodness. 

As homeschool moms we have a responsibility to our own children and to future generations, to continue in what God has called us to do.  We live in a world that is getting darker and darker and our kids are going to be living in it.  We need to give them their education in an environment where they can cement in their hearts and minds what is right and good.  Now I’m not recommending sheltering our kids so much that they are completely unprepared for the world when it’s time for them to be out in it.   I’ve seen what happens to homeschooled kids when they grow up and were overprotected from the teachings in modern society.  They flounder and experiment and sometimes fall.  We need to be vigilant in preparing our kids for their future.  We need to make them aware of the things that are being taught as “acceptable” and help them find the answers in God’s word about what is right and wrong.  Unfortunately the world’s teachings need to be presented to our kids also, but always in the light of truth.   

So I hope we all stay the course that God has given us.  It’s a noble cause and one of the most important things you will do in your life. 

I posted in a previous entry that we had let our landscaper go since starting the business.  It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to pay him when we had no income coming in.  (duh?!?)  Now, Washington State in the spring is an emerald colored paradise.  There’s lots of rain so when springtime comes everything is beautiful and flowering.  But the drawback is that grass grows faster than a racecar at the Indy 500 and mowing becomes a once, sometimes twice, a week job.  I sought some landscaping advice from you ladies since my husband’s idea of lawn care was to kill it so he wouldn’t have to mow it.  And what did I get from my dear blog friends?  MOW IT YOURSELF!!!!  I have to admit, this wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for.  It’s a three hour job that requires a lawn mower, a weed whacker and a blower, all of which haven’t been used for four years and who knows what state they’re in or even if they work?  But the weekends have gone by and it’s obvious that if I want it done I’m going to have to do it myself. (You’d be really proud of me.  I didn’t whine, hint, complain or even mention the overgrown yard.  I just waited and said nothing – a miracle in itself.  When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I mowed it while he was gone – not in front of him, so as to make a point.)  So here is proof that I took your sage advice.

I got the mowing done in 2 hours but couldn’t get the weed whacker to work so I gave up.