Just Gathering My Thoughts - Homeschool Blogger

Those Two Lines

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:42:00 -0600

Many of God's Blessings to you!

You know when something major happens in your life you have those emotional ups and downs? Well I'm there. I am so there! See we have been planning to have children. We actually started trying seriously in September. I took note of my cycles and marked ovulation days. I knew I was very fertile and I told my husband if he looked at me I'd be pregnant! Well Monday the 24th I was a day late on my cycle. I thought, could it be?! I called a good friend who is a nurse and asked her how early can I test. She gave me great advice. I was going to wait until the morning to take a pregnancy test. I then returned a phone call to another good friend and mentioned I was late. She told me to get it over with already and just take the test. She said her niece would test before she was late to see. So after I got off the phone with her, I did it. I took the last pregnancy test. With in a few seconds it showed those two lines. One dark which was my positive like and one sort of pink which was the test line. I as surprise. I jumped around all excited thinking, "Oh my gosh how am I going to tell him!?" I was so excited I tried to think of creative ways to tell my husband. Should I wait until he gets home from work? Should I tell him as soon as possible!? I was so excited to tell him. So I took a photo of the two lines on the test and emailed it to him with the subject: I love you. I send him I love you emails all the time. So I know when he opened it he would be surprised. At the bottom of the emails I said, "I guess we should settle on names now." Within a few minutes the phone rang and it was my dear husband. After he got off the phone he immediately called his mom in England to tell her. He told me she cried. I was amused to hear she was so happy. I emailed a few close friends to let them know the news of our positive test. It was great to have that joyful support and prayers. My husband came home with flowers and chocolates in hand. The card on the flowers read, "To the mother of my 4 wonderful kids." He's such a sweetheart. The kids never questioned why he bought me flowers and I loved that. We contemplated telling them. I thought maybe we should wait until I'm bigger. We knew they have been wanting a new sibling, so we called them all to the kitchen table. We asked them to read the card. Ang read the card and it was silent for a moment. They said 4? We just looked and smiled. They said, "Dad?" We said, "Noooo!" silence again. Then Ash says, "We are going to have a new baby sister or brother???" We nodded and the shouts came out. I thought they were going to cry too! We were so happy. The kids were jumping all around in excitement. A bit later we decided to go out to eat. We haven't stopped smiling since then.

Well what now? The other say my husband wanted to buy diapers at Target. He's already picked out the nursery set we are going to get. He already had his boy named chosen before we were even married. I love, I absolutely love the fact that he is so involved and wants a family. I adore him and his love for family. We didn't get diapers the other night. In fact I think we may not go with the average on the shelf diaper. I think we may go with an eco friendly flushable diaper. I've been searching on the internet for them and came across http://www.diapers.com/ . I can't wait to start shopping for maternity clothes, diapers, and nursery items! It's such an exciting pregnancy. Monday I have my first doctor's appointment. We are going together. We pray that it all turns out alright!

Yes, I am about 4/5 weeks pregnant!

Snippets of Updates

Sat, 6 Sep 2008 23:21:00 -0500

Many of God's Blessings to you!

I've not blogged in a while! Wow well lets see, I've thought of several things to blog about but never made it to the computer to put fresh thoughts to type. I don't recall specific topics but I remember thinking, "Wow I should blog about that." Life has been good. Ever feel that you are on the right track and you fear that something may go wrong or tragedy may hit? I've felt that several times. I try to cast those thoughts out and enjoy the life the Lord has blessed me with. I find my self worrying about things that could happen especially after hearing of tragic events. Do you ever do that? Life is too fragile and precious to waste it away. I hope that you are finding life good yourself.

Well the Lot in Sunset Hills is officially ours! We closed on it August 27th. We are very excited to build a home together. The process has been very interesting. Architecture has always amazed me but it is even more intriguing to see it in process. We had a meeting with the Architect and an General Contractor and they both commented on how easy the process had been with us. Apparently their are couples who get into arguments right there on the spot, making the whole process tense. I don't like it when couples get into tense situations in front of me in a casual social atmosphere. I don't want to imagine what it's like for it to happen in a business type setting. Weird but it happens. The process of building a home has been an intense sort of road to travel for me. It's a privilege, a blessing, and a wonderful opportunity. In this process I've had headaches and stress! I tend to worry so it doesn't help. I have to see a building and walk in it in order to know if I like it. So that is a limitation I'm trying to work with and get beyond. We are just praying for wisdom and favor in the whole process. We are excited about it all despite the stress points.

The kids are ready for school! I am too! They finished in June so we let them have a bit of a break into September. This year they will all be in the Abeka DVD school (www.abeka.com). I'm curious about how the year will turn out. When their books came they were all excited to see what they looked like this year. We went out and went school supply shopping. That was fun. I remember going school supply shopping when I was little. It was always some thing I looked forward to. I'm glad the kids are ready for school to start. We have set up the school rooms and are looking forward to the new year. My son will start piano lessons this week. My daughters have been taking voice lessons and have really enjoyed it. Their voice teacher (www.kidslearntosing.com) said there is exceptional talent there. Of course I was proud to hear that!

Well my personal interest besides photography has turned to sisterlocks once again. I've wanted to have my locks installed back in 2004 but never did. I've been browsing sites and photos and I have to say there are some beautiful hair styles with sisterlocks. I'm excited and can't wait to get them. What are they? Well check out the site http://www.sisterlocks.com/ it's not all that great but it's where it started. They aren't regular dread locks. http://locksblogsphotos.blogspot.com/ also has a lot of sites that show women with sisterlocks.

As far as photography goes, I've just went to a pro account on flickr (www.flickr.com/happybeans76). Yay! I'm not quite ready to venture out and book appointments. I'm still in a learning hobby phase. I've seen a few places to sell photos online. So I signed up at a site called Image kind (http://tscullen.imagekind.com/ ). I've not gone pro on that yet. I'm not sure I really like this site's functionality. I've had upload issues on several occasions. I'm still seeking out places to possibly sell photos online. While I'm doing that I've been enjoying the world of photography. Speaking of photography, we did finally complete our wedding album!! Yay! We are happy with it. Patti did a great job. You can visit her site at www.pattigabriel.com

Oh and I didn't mention anything about the presidential campaign in this blog on purpose. Wait, I will suggest not to relay on the TV as your only source of election information.

Well this blog is longer than I thought it would be. Please excuse the typos and grammar errors if any it's bed time. So I'll end it here and wish you all a goodnight, good afternoon, or good day depending on what time you are reading this.

Acing the Parental Road and Happily Going Broke Trying To!

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:20:00 -0500

Many of God's Blessings to you!
You know, this exciting parental road gets a little weary at times. It's full of adventures. There are personality jilts lurking at every turn. One moment I have the sweetest and most fun children in the world. The next moment they jilt me with a "What in the world were you thinking!??!" reaction. This week has been a tough one. I had one cutting her hair, one A-student 3rd grade drop out wanting to new parents because we didn't buy him the $90 Lego Star Wars toy he wanted, and one that's so angry at doing her math work she wants to scream. Funny thing is she has nothing lower than an A in math. It is all resolved and has left me feeling exhausted.

We do have great kids though. All is resolved. My son is happy at home minus the high priced Lego's. One daughter is still sporting her messed up do, and the other is calmly doing her math again. Isn't it amazing how our desire for leisure can drive us to think irrationally and make the wrong decisions in life? Now being fair, they are growing children lacking their frontal lobes of their brain development from which the ability to reason comes from, but we as adults with fully developed frontal lobes can make some silly decisions based on leisure and the desire for "fun!"

Why does this desire for leisure have such a strong influence on many, while the pride in working drives others? There is nothing like feeling accomplished. I like the feeling of a job well done. I hope to influence this sort of drive in my children. The road of desiring leisure isn't fun. They are just children and I don't expect results of an adult, but I'm not going to discount the importance of teaching them the reward in accomplishing a job well done now. One thing we have put into action is not giving money for chores around the house. We consider that things they should do. No one gives me money to do laundry! Instead of giving them money for chores or doing their fair share around the house, we give them an allowance on a grading scale for quizzes and tests.
A= $ 2.00
B= $ 1.00
C= $ 0.00
D= $-1.00
F= $-2.00
Yes, we subtract if they get D's and F's. That has motivated them not to be careless with their school work. If they want something, they need to stay up on their school work. My son is now working for that $90 toy by making keeping his grades up. We always have to remind them of this grading scale though. They tend to want us to just buy things for them. We do sometimes but things like this $90 toy is something he needs to work for. The good thing is his lowest grade this year so far has been an 88. If they all make straight A's I might happily be broke!

So How's The Home Building??

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:18:00 -0500

Many of God's Blessings to you!
Some time late last year we decided to build our first home together. Since Rich works in St.Louis and has to drive forty-five minutes away we figured we would look to get closer to his work location. This decision started out exciting, frustrating and fun. The move to St.Louis has been a long process. It's hard to pin point emotions in all of this. Some days we are really excited, other days we find ourselves exhausted and frustrated. Overall we are excited for the future. It has been a great work in progress. So here goes the story of the progress we have made.

We started out looking online at the area cookie cutter home builders. After looking at different layouts, areas, price ranges we decided to take a look at Mayer Cookies, err um I mean Homes. We took a drive over to their Seckman Lakes location to see their array of models. They seemed to have a great reputation and they were quality builders who have been around for a while. We chose a location on their new cookie sheet to place our special cookie. It was a very nice lot. Our cookie was going to be in a cul-de-sac, forest area behind us and a great view out the front. It had everything that I wanted in a home location. The cookie cutter we chose had a laundry room upstairs. I thought this was just the be all and end all to home cookies. This home cookie was special, it had my kind of sprinkles! Our neighborhood of choice was in Imperial, MO. It was beautiful and it put Rich closer to work. It was all wonderful but for some reason I just couldn't get a peace about it.

I pushed those feelings aside and went forward. The plans to build there went forward. We planned this cookie home out to point of taking out walls, switching out layouts of bathrooms, and picking out the brick and mortar. We didn't realize how the color of mortar can make such a difference from brick to brick! We went to places and chose carpets, cabinets, counter tops, and all the works. Some of the choices were mind numbing. We ended up with two file folders when most of the people only had one. The lady we were working with was absolutely wonderful! We were loving it until we found out the home we planned out was going to be one of the four biggest homes in the neighborhood. As we started working on things we ended up changing the layout, adding things to the house, the house became more expensive. This could have been a great ego trip for us but it wasn't. It made us very uneasy. Being the "big fish in the pond" wasn't what we wanted to be. Again, throughout this whole process I just couldn't get a internal peace about it. I went through all of the pros of building there in my head trying, to assure myself that this house was it. We had a great lot in a cul-de-sac, nice view out front, forest behind us, a state park near, and more. Still in all its goodness, I had no peace about it.

So one day we were talking about this big fish in the pond scenario and figured that resale value would actually hurt us. So I confessed several concerns to my honey including that I didn't have a peace about it. He was unsettled at hearing this but willing to listen. After a visit to England to attend my sister in law's wedding we came back with a fresh mind about it all. We decided to look at other model homes. I had no problem about the layout of the house, the neighborhood was the issue. We went to see McBride cookie homes in Eureka, MO. This put us a little closer to Rich's work than Imperial was. I actually thought this was just going to reassure us that we were building the right home. To my surprise the moment I stepped foot in that home and I was amazed. Scrap the other cookie! I wanted this model home as is! This home had the feel I loved! It proved that the model we had been building was all wrong! Oops!

So fast forward a couple of months. We decided we wanted to be some where we would be mid price instead of the most expensive home. The lot in Imperial was let go. Oh the one McBride home that I loved in Eureka had no lots that we liked. In fact there was a grave yard next to one lot that our Buyers agent saw. Beautiful home, undesirable lots! The only home I'd take in that neighborhood would have been the model. We did decided to hire a buyer's agent to help us. Buyers agents are different from real estate agents. We searched and searched for a lot. At one point we thought we might have to buy an existing house. While searching it was confirmed that we needed to build our home. So we continued to look for lots. We saw lot after lot and none really got us.

One day we were looking on the web and found a lot in a very desirable location. In fact we were surprised it was still available. The real estate agent made a typo in the name of the neighbor name. Anyone searching the name would not find it but we did and the chase was on! The builder Taylor Morley owned these lots that remained vacant for a while. Taylor Morley filed bankruptcy and the lots went back to the bank. Then a couple of real estate agents bought them and were trying to sell them off. That's when we came in to buy.

So, fast forward to August, we bought the lot we wanted. It felt great to own a piece of land in a beautiful neighborhood called Tapawingo on the Green in Sunset Hills, MO. This put Rich three minutes way from work. We were happy about his location. Rich and Adrian both like golfing. I even have my own set of clubs. This neighborhood is around a well established Tapawingo Golf Course. It's got beautiful views, nature all around and we are not the big fish in the pond! In fact we just might be in the low middle! So we were well pleased with the location of this lot. After buying the lot, we decided to hire an architects Heine & Croghan to help us plan out the home. We didn't want a cookie cutter pick your layout builder. We wanted something unique to our lifestyle. So we worked on it and got a plan we liked. We are happy with it.

Fast forward a bit more to September, now we are beginning our building phase. We chose the builder that had been building homes in the neighborhood already. Not Jones Company but Whalen Homes. We were warned to stay away from Jones Company homes. Whalen does build a quality home. Mr. Whalen looked at our layout, gave us a great estimate and it was a done deal. We liked some of their homes and the way he conducts business. They build a good home and we were happy to work with them.

Today we went to pick out cabinet doors, stains and counter tops. Remember, we went though this before so we knew exactly what we liked right? Wrong! This kitchen is bigger than the one we were considering. We took some elements for the other McBride home I loved and incorporated it into our home. So the cabinet colors and flooring all changed. The style of home has changed from cookie cutter to unique Tuscan style. We are doing something totally different and we like it. As the project continues on, I'll be able to post solid decisions. We are both very very excited to build our home together.
It's late, and my eyes are getting heavy so I will proof this tomorrow.

So how is the home building? Wonderfully educating! - goodnight.

Oh Anticipation...

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:09:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
So, I've got some really exciting things going on. Today I get a delivery of some clothes I ordered online. I'm looking forward to trying them on and probably returning most of them! I like the anticipation of getting these clothes but when they don't fit, I do dread the return. Tomorrow I get another delivery of books I ordered online too! Yay! I just get so excited about tracking packages online! It's so neat to have the box sitting at your door. I love the anticipation of opening it up. I get excited even when my husband gets things. So I'm eagerly awaiting the UPS truck pulling up. They say they deliver until 7pm! Yay!

So that excitement takes care of today and tomorrow. Thursday we have a meeting with our home builder to look at more layout updates. One night I asked Honey, "Where are we going to put your parents when they come to visit?" I'm looking forward to my in laws coming to visit us. They are wonderful people. Honey's reply to my question was, "hmm." The next morning Honey informed me that he has turned our 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home into a 6 bedroom, 4.5 home! We had to have a reasonable place to house family when they come and visit! It helps with resale value too. We have been looking at lighting for the home. I found some brilliant pendants for the kitchen island we both love. It is amazing how much we like the same things. We are so excited about building our home together. When we meet with our builder he is going to give us cabinet and counter top samples. I love samples! I've been staring at the hardwood floor sample and carpet sample for days. Saturday we were out at the lot and I had this funny idea. Since we live within a golf course, I said, "Honey lets go see if we can get a golf cart and go around the neighborhood." He agreed to go ask. I love this man! Much to our surprise, they told us to go ahead! We rode the courses and saw the backyard of our house from down below. Honey is really happy with the course and the neighborhood. He is excited to play golf there with his dad and brother this summer. Here is a view of our lot from the course. Our home will be built on the empty lot to left side of homes there.

Friday, we leave for Disneyland!! Yep we are headed to California for some fun in hopefully the sun! The kids are so excited about it. To tell you the truth, it hasn't hit me just yet. Honey and I have both been to Disney World so we figured Disneyland would be good this time. One thing to take note of, if you have kids go before they turn 10 or you will pay the adult ticket price for them. I had no idea. I thought the adult ticket price would be for adults. Apparently the Disney folks beg to differ! It's not a drastic price jump but saving a bit helps. We'll go to Lego land and Sea World too! Oh and I'm oh so happy about going to The Coffee Bean again! Honey wants to go to In and Out. I'm really looking forward to this trip!

Man, God's blessings are amazing aren't they? So I'm excited! I'm going to go now package is here!

Vacation

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 19:45:00 -0600

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
We just came back from a wonderful family vacation! God is so good in allowing this blessing. We went to Disneyland in Anaheim California. We left October 31st and came back November 5th. While we were in the sunny land of California we went to Disneyland, California Adventures, Disney studios, Lego Land and Sea World. We also got to visit the a Disney studio set. The whole vacation was a blast! We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel and enjoyed the Lilo and Stitch breakfast. While we sat and had breakfast the Disney characters roam around and mess with people. We also had breakfast at the Storytellers Cafe with the characters. All of the characters came up and found my son's Mohawk fascinating. Yes it is quiet cool. A lady ask to take a photo of him while waiting in line at Sea World! She said "You are so lovely!" I was a bit surprised but, he did get a lot attention for his "cool hair." In fact after we left the Disney studios I got word that his hair was a the topic of conversation. I love it, after all I was the one to cut it like that.

So where are the pictures?! Well, the camera bag was accidentally left on the kitchen island so I good photos. I was limited to a cell phone and the HD Camcorder camera option. I did get lots videos of our trip. We did get a few photos taken by the Disney photographers and a disposable camera.

We arrived in CA at about 11pm. When we got to the hotel we were all excited and very awake. We were so happy to begin our vacation there. The kids loved seeing the Palm Trees.

The first day we went to Disneyland and had tons of fun. The crowds were not bad at all. We all rode our fair share of rides. Ash however refuses to go on any roller coaster that looks a bit extreme. She only sat out on two of them though. I was proud of her.

The second day we we went to Lego land. I wasn't too impressed to visit California only for the park but was a neat place to include on the trip. The Lego displays were amazing. They had a few fun rides. My son actually enjoyed screaming on purpose on the roller coaster rides that were not that "exciting." I guess he was making a rather sarcastic point. The kids got their drivers license from the Volvo Fun Driving School. They got to drive small cars that went up to a whole 2 MPH. I am slightly envious of their cute drivers license pictures. The best ride for me at Lego Land, was the Sky Cruiser. It's a track set high above the park with pedal cars. I think the kids liked the roller coasters. After Lego Land in Carlsbad we drove back to Anaheim to meet Ang, she was a beautiful bridesmaid in our wedding. I sure miss her!

The Third day we went to California Adventures which is right across from Disneyland. We enjoyed this place. Again, the lines were not long at all. In fact we rode the Orange Stinger about 4 or 5 times! The kids loved that ride. It was rather neat to fly high in swings. 3 out of 5 of us rode the California Screamin'. My son and daughter did not want to chance the loop. While were were walking around the park I got a good news text message from Ang. Since the girls are into acting, Ang wanted to surprise the girls with a tour of a couple of sets. Her sister, and another friend of mine, is an Associate Producer for a Disney Channel show. We left California Adventures to head to the Disney sets. The kids actually had no idea where they were until we were walking around inside the lot. While we were there they were actually taping the Suite Life On Deck. We got to see Selena Gomez taping in a scene. While Kim gave us a private tour of two of the sets we also saw Jake T. Austin and Dylan Sprouse on the lot. The girls almost lost their minds! It was a great highlight to the trip (Thank you Ang and Kim)! After the studio visit we drove down the Hollywood Blvd street. We didn't want to get out and walk down the street with the stars. Not with the kids! Then we decided to drive to the famous Rodeo Dr. We finally got to meet up with Ang again and had dinner at an Italian restaurant at the City Walk.

The fourth day we went to Sea World. Sea World was amazing. We got to see Shamu of course. None of us got wet. We also got to see the Anhuser-Busch Clydesdale horses. The horses, whales and dolphins are absolutely beautiful! I have to admit, the "Believe" theme from the Shamu's show didn't inspire me as much as the whale did. I guess it didn't touch me since I viewed most of it through a HD camcorder. After leaving Sea World we went to Medieval Times. Now that was a show! We all enjoyed yelling and cheering. They fed us "Baby Dragons" that tastes just like chicken! The knight we were cheering for threw a carnation up to us and my son caught it and gave it to me. He is such a sweet boy to his mommy.

The last day we woke up and went to have breakfast at the Story Tellers cafe and visited both Disneyland and California adventures for half a day. We had to be at the airport around 3:30 pm so we decided to make the best of our half day! We were sure sad to leave the sunny land. No one wanted to come back home. The kids wanted to bring the Palm Trees back with them. I did too! So I think we have a serious goal in mind to eventually move...again. We have a few things anchoring us here but after a few years we will be able! Yay!

So Domestic

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:33:00 -0600

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
I never saw my self as being domestic. I never saw myself as a mom who would ever home school her children either. You see before I had kids I wanted my own design firm. I wanted to be an Art Director, CEO, or President. I wanted to work for a magazine at one point too. Throughout all my dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up, never ever did the title of "Mom" cross my mind. It wasn't a desire of mine what so ever! I had no intentions of marriage, pregnancy 0r 18 years plus of caring for kids. My life was all about me. I had no idea why any woman would want to stretch their body to no end and go through unbelievable pain to bring a hollering responsibility into the world! Yes, I thought that up until God was able to bless me in a strange way. Surprise! I was pregnant....with twins! Gasp! You can now insert your own Vincent Price laugh at this happening. He does have a sense of humor doesn't he?

Thank God my thinking changed! Thank God my life has changed! It's so much more meaningful. I now know that love people talk of, you know the love that only a mother could have. It's so much greater than I could ever imagine back then.

After having twins, I had a son. They are about 21 months apart. The youngest is soon to be 9. We want to have two more lovely children. 5 kids you say?? I know it's not for everyone but yep 5! A house full of love and something always going on!

I've become so domestic through the years! I'm a total home body when we aren't traveling some where. I like to be home with my family and do homely things like cook bread in my bread machine. I get excited when my Honey likes the bread I've baked. I get excited when the kids are happy about dinner. I got excited about the front loading washer and dryer set we got. I got excited the Dyson vacuum cleaner we got as a wedding gift, then I found myself excited about getting a Kirby Vacuum cleaner. Before family life, vacuum cleaners, washer and dyers, baking bread was boring! It was not on my list of things to do. My how things change! Is my life any more boring? Not at all! I love my life! I have a wonderful husband, and wonderful children. I like making our home some where they want to be. Yes we have gone through the school is tough and I don't want to do my chores so I want new parents stage with the kids. Again, it is always something going on! Sometimes fun, sometimes challenging. We always tend to come right back around to loving one another. At the end of the everyday, I want my family to always know I love them.

Well.. it's time to go hug on the kids, check the washer and dryer, bake some bread and feel good about the accomplishment of a clean home. It's about 3:07 pm and I can't wait till Honey is home!

Have a look at what my 10 year old spelled out with her lunch today... yes they still call me "Mommy" and absolutely I love it!

Lend a Click

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:03:00 -0600

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
As I was browsing the blogs I follow I saw a blog by Mama Jenn. She has posted a blog with One click buttons and I thought I'd post the same to spread the word. One click is all it is to help out. There are no sign ups, you don't have to enter an email address or fill out surveys. Just one click and it counts. So click on a banner or all banners and help! It's that easy.

The Lies Boys Believe

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:10:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
All this week the kids have been in VBS (Vacation Bible School). They have had their fun and I'm glad about it. They have only gone to one VBS a summer. Since we home school, I haven't volunteered to help with a VBS. This is sort of their summer break away from mom and my summer break to get a few things done. It is just enough time for me to get errands ran and my to do list empty so I can fill it again! Although I've enjoyed the few free hours, when they are there they are constantly on my mind, hoping they are ok, wondering how their day is going etc. They have always come back really happy kids. I hope they will continue to see VBS as a happy time and later on contribute back to it in helping.

So on my journey to get things done yesterday I went to the library. I'm a self help kind of reader. I like to read books that will generally give me good ideas about life improvement. I've read fiction books that I liked, but I'm a sucker for a facts and proven methods. Some aren't so great so you take the good and dish the bad. I picked up a book called 200 Ways to Raise a Boy's Emotional Intelligence by Will Glennon. I thought, "Hmm there are so many books about girl issues, what about my boy?" So I inquired and checked it out. Within a few pages my thoughts focused on my son and how today's culture has effected our view of how a man, a son, a boy is supposed to be. There is one chapter called Exploring Your Own Assumptions that talks about our ingrained thinking of how men are "supposed" to act. The "don't cry" theory is addressed among others. The stereo type of men shouldn't cry, and non emotional so they aren't wimps is an oppressive way to stereo type. Women have had feminist rallies stating, "I'm equal andI can do whatever a man can do!" while if a man shows emotion (other than being a sports fan), they must be gay! Not true. I thought to myself, I really appreciate when my husband shows his emotions. It lets me know he cares. I appreciate him expressing feelings. It means he it says to me that strong and intelligent. I want my son to do that too.

So why did I fall into the stereotypical thinking? It was ingrained in me. My father cries easily. My mother viewed it as weak. My mother hardly cried. I think I saw her cry twice in my life time. I viewed her as "strong" because of that. I think she is a strong woman having had to raise three children as a single parent, but I realize now that not crying isn't a sign of strength, yet it is of pride and some what immature. I thought that way for some time. My thinking has actually turned opposite of the past. Holding things in does a world of hurt to your body. I adopted the "I can't cry" thinking and I still struggle with it. I don't like to cry in private or in front of people. I hate doing the ugly cry! Although I battle with it internally I don't apply it to others. I'm slowly letting my family see me cry from time to time. It lets them know I'm human.

For a while I questioned my son's crying. Why does he so easily moved? I worried that he might be the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve or be teased. I struggled with the stereotype in this situation again. I didn't want to emotionally cripple him by telling him not to cry but I didn't want him to be a wimp either. This book gave me confirmation in telling me that it is ok for my son to cry. I'll continue to comfort him without worrying if his emotion is normal. I'll let him get his emotions worked out just as we confidently let the girls work theirs out. He's my son, and I am his mother who is very proud of him.

Cracked

Wed, 7 May 2008 23:55:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!

I haven't posted photos in my photo blog a while. I am regretful, not only for not updating my photo blog but for missing out on the pleasure of taking photos. Sometimes life gets too busy, we forget our hobbies and the things we enjoy. We set those things aside to do things that need to get done. Life becomes the mundane business as usual. As we pass through life, enjoyment evaporates. Life gets dry, the daily troubles and tasks make us some what bitter and blue. This is when we must stop ourselves and remember what makes us happy, what makes us smile, what puts joy in our hearts. We have to realize we owe ourselves happiness. We deserve it, desire it, and need it. If we don't nourish our lives with healthy pleasures that provide us with true joy and happiness, we become cracked. Without true happiness life is fragile, unstable and will eventually crumble.

Strange Occurrences

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 23:35:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!

Our family went camping for the first time. We left on the 30th and returned on the 1st. We spent a great weekend with friends at the Ozarks Outdoors. Saturday we had an eventful float on the Meramac River. I really enjoyed it. In fact we all did. It was perfect weather through out the weekend. We had a few seconds of scattered showers but that was all. The night sky was beautiful. The morning we packed up we made Smores! The kids enjoyed that! The camping weekend was great for us all.

Now, I have a strange situation going on here. A neighbor of ours has had some rather strange behavior that just came to my attention. Apparently it's been going on more often than I realized. Let me try to explain. At first I thought it was a matter of coincidence. We were going for a walk one day and just before we started off I showed my girls how to do cartwheels. We had a few laughs and giggles and then decided to walk on. We walked passed our neighbor's yard and saw one of the little girls silently doing perfect cartwheels in their front yard. The girls thought she was a copy cat. I brushed it off as the kid being lonely. Now it seems every time we come out of the house, whether it be the front yard or the back yard they seem to appear doing the same thing. Now you might think oh whatever it's just you making a big deal out of nothing. No, the day I noticed it, it was obvious. I decided to do my husband a favor and mow the front lawn. So I started the mower and went on my merry way. I was very proud of my self for starting the mower all by myself by the way! I mowed one row and I turned around to go up the next and out came the neighbor with her lawn mower. She decides to mow right beside me. Along the same path... See? Yeah strange. So I decide to smile and maybe make small talk about the rain in the area or something. She responds to my initial smile and hello with a smirk and a "Humph." At felt insulting and a bit confrontational. My girls were outside and I turn around and look at them with an, "Is it me or is this strange!?" expression. They respond with hunched shoulders. We laughed and mowed on.

Today was a beautiful day and I decided to go in the backyard and read. My daughter Ash joined me. It was very peaceful and I enjoyed the quiet company. Ash looks up, chuckles then says jokingly, "Mom what if the neighbors come outside with chairs too." I laughed and said, "No I doubt it." I've never heard them come out in the backyard to play and they couldn't possibly be paying us that much attention. Shortly after her comment, her sister and brother came out to play in the water. Ash of course gave up reading with me and joined the water fun. The sound of water splashing and kids playing filled our backyard. I noticed my dog's ears went up and she ran to the fence. It caught my attention and I called her name to come back to me. I thought she was going to bark or do some territorial Yorkie like action. Immediately after calling my dog's name I heard mimicking kid sounds from the other side of the fence. I thought "Really?" Why is this strange? Because we have never heard their children laugh and play loud in the backyard before. We have been in the back yard playing many times and never heard a sound from that side. For a while I didn't even know kids lived there. They have kept to themselves and are always in the house. I find it strange that our kids have never spoken. It's just weird. I wonder what other Copy Cat neighborly situations we will find ourselves in before we move. This should be interesting...

- It's late. Goodnight.

Decluttering Stuff

Wed, 2 Apr 2008 22:32:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
Well I haven't blogged anything in a while. While I had time I sat at the

kitchen island with my laptop with the intent to to blog. Tonight we went to the

library. I felt really bad because we have been in O'Fallon too long not to

have made a journey over to the library. We finally made a night of it. When we got back

at the house my dear husband started cooking hamburgers while watching the

Baseball game. He'll occasionally commented on the players are. I like that he talks to me like I actually know something about baseball. While he was cooking and giving me a night off from cooking, I sat at my laptop to blog this. Ashley was reading her Mysteries of the Human Body book, she wants to be a doctor so that book captured her interest. Angela was intensely looking at her Guide to Fashion book. She's into fashion and wants to be an actress. Adrian got some books on the city of St. Louis but he was playing with his Legos. He says he wants to be an Architect. He's got the drawing skills for it and he's not too bad at math. I got some books to aide in teaching the kids in math and Illinois state history. I've got too many books on my "to read" list to get any more at the library. I'm happy about what books I have now. Oh one note if you like books check out Paper Back Swap.com

Life has been a bit hectic for me. I've found myself with sleepless nights. I have

nothing to be overly stressed about but just enough things to keep my mind going.

I've been stressed, tense and just over all frustrated. To help me out I've been trying things to make life easier. One thing that really hinders me is a messy home. Our home isn't very clean right now because of dinner preparations but it won't take long to clean it up. Before, I would be stumped at where to start. There were days that I would just look at the house and be discouraged at starting to clean. So I made up a system that helped me. You see, I'm a very visual person so to some one who doesn't think like me this way may seem useless and too much work. I had to do this to help me. I took a photo of the mess, printed it out and mapped out my plan of cleaning. This helped me to see the mess in a different way, and concentrate on one area. I did this with the kitchen first and moved on to different areas. It was an eye opener. You notice things that have been over looked for a while with a photo. So if it's not too much trouble try it. In fact try it even it you have cleaned it up. A photo will reveal the mess! I was very happy with my progress. The house is still in a decent shape.
Another thing I read about was putting things in the areas you use them. For example if you go to the kitchen table to mail things out, then keep the stationary supplies (stamps, envelopes, pens etc.) in a drawer near the area. I had my coffee maker on the other side of the kitchen. I placed it closer to the sink. It made making coffee a quick task. Before then I'd go back and forth from the sink to the coffee maker. Now it's just a side step. I cleared out my utensil caddie. There were gadgets in there I don't use on a regular basis. I took those things out and it made for a neater more roomy caddie. It's these things that can really simplify your life. It did for mine!

Well I'm going to whine down now. It's getting late! Thanks for reading! Maybe tomorrow I'll blog about ... darn I just lost my train of thought! Goodnight.

uploading expressions

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 23:00:00 -0600

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
Hello again.
Another blog so soon? Maybe but it will be short. You know how you have your wants and desires but never get around to them? One of mine is photography. I really get a joy out of viewing photos. I like to see what's going on in photos of crowds, I like expressions in portraits, I like to see beautiful color in photos of objects and a photo with an overall mood really grabs my attention. So what do I do with all this emotion and such? I thought about starting a photo group but I don't think I'd put 100% into it. I haven't totally given up on the idea. I have several friends that like photography so I think it would have a good number of people join but not now. So what did I do? I started a photo blog. Yes, a blog with a photo a day and very few words. Nothing like the gobs and gobs of photos on my picasa or flickr accounts but just a simple photo a day. I've got it up and running now. The challenge is actually uploading a photo a day. Some of them may be old from the archives and some might be new. The one I just put up is the newest one I've taken. Some maybe not be so interesting and others may just have you staring. I won't put up any old photo, it will be of something that I like. It will be of something that interests me or makes me laugh. No, not a degrading photo, but something that will generally make you smile. I like photos that give a good feeling. We've got too much pain in our lives anyway so I don't focus on that. I'm not fond of nudes either so you are highly unlikely to see any body photos. I know some may feel that the body is beautiful, natural in forum etc. Yes that is true but not something that interests me. So if you like visit here http://bytesoflight.blogspot.com/
and leave me a comment of some things that interest you. Feel free to leave me comments on the photos too.

Thanks for reading again. I hope you've had a great day or you will have one.

2007

Mon, 7 Jan 2008 00:20:00 -0600

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!
I guess I haven't blogged in a while. I haven't had much to write. Although I've thought on several occasions "I'm going to blog about that!" I never did. So Here I am blogging...
I've gotten recap newsletters of 2007 and thought, you know I should do that! So I'll try it now.

2007 was a ... heck of a year to be honest. I went though some really crazy times, yet one of the best things happened to me. I'll focus on that and leave the negative out.

I'll start with this....I married the greatest man since Jesus walked the earth. Yep I love my husband just that much! If you are married I hope you think your spouse is one of the greatest people too.

Earlier this year we went to England and France. The trip was one of the greatest ones I've taken. We got to see the farm where my husband grew up. I love my in laws and England is amazing. There's so much history there I couldn't imagine living there with the marvelous architecture! The weather was great the entire time we were there. It didn't rain one time. We took a ferry over to France. Getting lost in France was an humorous adventure. I think we drove the same road about 5 times! We ate at a restaurant in Calais. I had some fish with the most delicious creamy lemon sauce. My husband's French was great. I loved hearing him order for us. Back at the farm the kids enjoyed going for walks and exploring the farm while I enjoyed the European life. They really enjoyed themselves. My mother in law told me the kids are a credit to me. The compliment some how made me feel like a great mom. At that time I really needed to hear it. So far in the the kids short years they have visited Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, France, and England.

Mid summer we had a grand time with family and friends coming to share one of the greatest days of our lives. The kids keep saying they want to relive our wedding day. Me too Me too! Yes it was so much fun. We have some great memories. After we got back from the Honeymoon we found out the kids went places and had a blast with their cousins, Aunt, Uncle and grandparents. They were spoiled and loved every minute of it.

Late summer we spent getting the house in order. I didn't move out of my duplex until August 1st. We just finished putting together the last piece of furniture for the kids tonight! It's been a process of combining two homes. Room mates had to move out, we painted the kids rooms, cleaned the carpet, got rid of my old furniture on freecycle, threw out old stuff and put in new stuff. We were showered with bridal and wedding gifts. Thank you!!! The work still isn't done. I've wanted to have a get together but I haven't got it together to have a get together! In due time it will happen.

September-October was a procrastination period. I think we burned out in August. The house combining process just sort of stopped. We just spent the time growing as a family. We went to an enriching marriage class. We met some great friends and learned a lot in the class. Home School started for the kids and that took up most of the time during the day. It still is! Soccer season was in full effect, that's how we found out about the kids having allergy induced asthma. Not fun at all to see your child sick. Thank God we have a solution now.

November was a time for giving thanks. We spent it with some great friends we met at the marriage classes. Soccer season ended. The girls didn't have the best experience, and the parents were just difficult to deal with at the end. Our son's coach was a great one! We wished he could have him again but he won't be teaching his grade this coming season. Awwww :(

December brought Christmas and the end of the 07 year. It was a very happy Christmas. We sent out Christmas cards I designed myself! It took a while and I think the process almost drove Rich crazy! It got done and we mailed them out. We enjoyed our first Christmas as a family. The kids had a blast and loved their toys. I think this year was the best one for them. They are getting older and are asking for more expensive gifts. They all wanted ipods for Christmas. LOL yeah right! We got them less expensive MP3 players. Now they walk around the house with earphones on singing songs. We got a telescope for us geeks. On a cold Christmas night we were out scoping out the moon. The end of the year we celebrated with friends. We all enjoyed ourselves. One of the girls laughed so hard while playing bowling on the wii she lost her guts! Nice. It was the best New Year gathering I had ever been to. I guess that wouldn't be hard since I haven't been to any! Nope, its true it was my first New Years party ever.

January 2008 - I sit here watching CSI with my handsome husband. We are headed back to England and will embark on more exciting things to come this year!

I'm finished. I've blogged about the year. Know that all is well in our household and life is rolling on well. I hope all of your 2008 will be greater than your 2007 was! May God be with you!

A Lite Reading...

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:19:00 -0500

Hey Yall! Many of God's Blessings to you!

I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been so busy but I find myself thinking wow I should blog about that!

Tonight Rich wanted to put a coat of paint on Ang's chest of draws tonight so it will give us a head start on tomorrow. We've got a full Saturday ahead of us starting with early morning soccer games! Rich relaxed back in the chair after painting I looked over and said Ang's brown looked like "Turd Brown." Rich looked surprised and said in his British accent, "Um... no, it's called English Saddle." Ooops!

After a good laugh we decided to retire to bed. We sit here with our laptops. Rich is playing his computer game and I had the intention of playing The Sims2, but I ran across a few blogs I read. I really like blogs especially the funny ones. I like a light entertaining read. After a long day of here and there, I like to let down light and enjoy the end of another day. Reading is a good way to do it. It can put a comforting spin on life.

As I read other blogs of mothers, I'm finding as parents we all tend to go through the same general things with kids. It's a great circle to be in. I mean how cool is it to bring up a precious person and show them the right way? It is an experience that you can't fully understand until you have personally gone through it. It's a blessing. At times it can feel like a curse. Hopefully we have more blessed days than hard ones.

I have 9 year old twin girls and a 7 year old singleton. My girls are amaze me all the time. No let me correct that, God has amazed me through them. The twins act like me in different stages of my life. It's the strangest thing to me. The oldest twin (by 30 minutes) has my personality when I was a teenager. The younger twin has the personality I had in elementary school. I understand both of them very well. We have a great time laughing, talking and sometimes crying. People say my son acts like me. I only see it when it's actually pointed out. I find myself thinking "Where does he get that from?"

I love to watch him explain things. He's just so cute!

So all three of them have my personality to different degrees. I'm sure I wasn't as entertaining as the oldest, and I think I cried a little more than the youngest. I love my children. They are just so precious. Of course I want to savor this moment... you never know what tomorrow may bring! I'm ending this as a light read while I can! Good night all.

1% Full on DRAMA

Tue, 8 May 2007 00:45:01 -0500

Today was a great day. We started out late with a devotion. While we were discussing the devotion I made Grill Cheese sandwiches.

Ashley ended up getting a time out for misbehaving. Yes we still do time out because it works. She then had a cow about a spider web being in the corner. Richard happened to take this day off because of his PRK surgery. After her time out he talked to her about fear. We pointed out scriptures that supported us having dominion over the animals. We further explained dominion vs. wisdom. Of course you have dominion, however let's practice wisdom with it and not sit in front of a bear making taunting faces and poking it. You will be eating, which will be your punishment for not practicing wisdom.

The kids asked about different animals. We talked about their fear of spiders vs. other animals they seem to think are harmless like a Hippopotamus. Yeah a Hippo is harmless?! I googled the word Hippopotamus and showed them how big it was and how dangerous it is. Yes I showed them that linked picture. I we should go to the zoo and Richard looks and asks "You want to?" I was like wha? Now? Are you serious? At this moment our personalities totally flip flopped. I was thinking um we arent prepared, he's thinking yes this will be a great spontaneous lesson for them. Richard wanted to show them spiders. Ash was apprehensive about it. I was too but I wasn't going to show it. I was "BBBBad" uh I ain't afraid of no spider! Yeah we had to get over our fears of Spiders.

So we packed up and got ready to go to the zoo! The girls are asking about the "Spider House" which is actuall called the Insectarium as. They had a mental picture of tons of spiders every where. It's actually a insectarium with a lot of different insects. I tried to explain to Ash how they are behind thick glass and you can't touch them and they can't touch you.

Now Ash usually laid back and a bit carefree about things. She's like that 99% of the time. The missing 1% is full on DRAMA! When she's at that 1% you will know it with out a doubt! This kid will scream and kick and get dramatic and won't care where she is. So she's at the dark sliding doors for the insectarium. Richard, Ang and A all went in with out hesitation. I look back and Dun Dun Duuuuuuuun! Ash stops, she shakes, she puts on the 10 ton Drama Queen Crown! There it is the full blow 1% extreme "I'm scared" scene. My patience were wearing thin as I stand in the hot sun feeling the cool breeze of the sliding Insectarium doors open and close. We were out there for about 3 minutes...

So Richard, Ang and A came rushed up to her yelling "OMG you HAVE to go in there it is SO COOL!!! They were really excited about it. Ash wasn't having it. She didn't move. It was hot. I was mad. Rich decided to try to pick her up. She screamed. I was mad and hot. Did I mention I was mad and I really hot? Every time the doors opened to let me feel that cool breeze it was just a tease.

So Richard standing at the door says come this close and peak in. She inches toward the door. I stand in the door with Richard and coach her in too. We literally inched in. She looked in to see the thick glass boxes. She looks and is still sort of hesitant. Richard walks over to the Praying Mantis (this insect eats it's own and she thinks oh look it's cute!). He says look here is the praying mantis and she walks in the door and goes over to the praying mantis with the reaction of "Oh it isnt that bad it's not a party house of spider waiting to feed on humans." Honestly it was maybe 8 spiders and the rest little insects.

I was tired at that point and was just happy to be inside a cooler area. Now remember I was afraid too. LOL forget my fears I was too tired. Ashley's drama too my mind off of it. I walk through and was choosy about what I wanted to see. I nicely skipped the maggots and leeches. There was a huge bird eating spider that was as big as Richard's hand. We didn't let Ash see that one. She's getting over her fear and we didn't want to have a set back. We went into the butterfly house. It wasn't that full but it was neat to walk through.

After all that, Ash was proud of her self. Rich and I are very proud that she conquered that fear and learned to trust us. That was the big lesson for the day for her. Although I was tired, frustrated, mad, teased, annoyed... It was all worth it. I am proud of my little girl! She got big hugs and cheers and will never know just how frustrated I was with her.

OK Now the Penguins... I was really amazed and loved watching them. I wished I had my other lens that lets me get good close ups because I could have gotten some really good shots of them. I want one as a pet. Wouldn't it be cool just to have a Penguin hanging out? lol

Well today was a full day. I'm getting sleepy. I'm going to solve a sudoku puzzle and knock out...

I upgraded to Vista, and my touch pad is annoying. Good night

...sigh

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 08:28:00 -0500

Hi all. I haven't blogged at the hs blogger in a while. I've been over at myspace.com catching up with old high school friends and church friends. It's amazing how one concept grew into something huge. You know I pray that we all have that concept that will benefit us greatly and others too. The human mind is awesome. I truly believe that God empowered us to reach beyond our on mere amazement with the human brain. We as home schoolers tend to think out of the box by simply making the decision to home school.

Thinking out of the box. I need help. I need help with motivation. I need help with strength. I confess I want to give up, I want to stop, I want to just have my free time of no obligation from 8-3 and to just supplement from what the teachers teach at public school. I want this out of Selfishness! Yes that is how I am feeling. I know it's selfish and I know I need a big spiritual correction session! I do I need to pray about this in my heart. I love my kids and even when I want to be selfish I cant seem to bring my self to go to the local Public school and enroll them. I have to remember what the vision the Lord gave to me was. I have to not give the enemy's ideas any entertainment. God is my strength. I can do this. Many others have and I know I can go down that same path.

So if you will...

Dear Father God,
I come before you asking that you forgive our sins and hear our prayer. Please help me to continue to clearly see your vision, and hear your voice. Father I ask that you give me strength and other home schoolers that are having a struggle. Lord I humbly ask for your mighty blessings of wisdom in the areas suffering improvement. I personally ask for your wisdom in where to go with home schooling. Lord please point out areas of improvement, please show me the best way to teach your children. Please guide me to teach in the way they will quickly learn and retain the information they have learned. Lord I ask that you help my heart. Please help my heart to remain soft and willing to do as you have told me to. Please send your might Angels to protect our home, our school, our family, social circles, and our paths from the enemy's efforts. Lord I ask that you take out all of the enemy's ideas, paths, and anything he has set up as a trap. I ask that you give us health, strength, knowledge, spiritual guidance and wisdom in all these areas. In Jesus name Amen.

Ok off to home school!

Ok, I confess I'm playing games....

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:46:00 -0500

School is over. I sit here after finishing my hot lunch of cheesy squeezey noodles and broccoli trying not to think, but for some reason I just gotta blog. My brain hurts. I think I stress too much about things that may not matter in the grand scheme of things. Homeschooling the kids, will it really matter if my son doesn't know what the statue of Liberty is? I mean it's not like it's important right? Come on how has that copper French built thing help you get a job? Yeah see how stupid that sounds? History is important and I want the kids to know it but stressing about it doesn't work I guess. Funny thing is, as a kid I remember being totally mesmerized by the Statue of Liberty. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to an immigrants coming to America to see that statue after a very long journey. Did you know it's a bronze replica in France about 1/4 (35 ft) that stands in Ile des Cygnes an island in the Seine River?

I got to see this statue in New York and got pictures of it in 2004. It was a site I always wanted to see. Why? I really have no idea. I think it was the massive size that caught my attention and the meaning to immigrants. You can view the various pictures I got here

Anyhow school for the kids is very important. Lately I've been stressed about them not remembering things. However repeating it is the key. A proper bed time and nutrition can help too. My son did really well today. He's such a smart kid. He surprises us at times.

Last night we played two games called 10 days in Africa and Great States. I won at both of them. I think it was pure chance though. These games were a lot of fun. The great thing about these games are we are all learning. It's a fun way to keep the kids attention while they are learning. Michelle, who is a great friend gave us these two games and a great list of games to get like this. I'm setting out to get every one of them!

We will have a family game night now. Richard and I are both big game board fans. Last night was more of a battle of Rich vs T in the games. After I won the two games we took it to the Wii. I challenged him to a game of tennis. It was all humor and fun. He won 1 game. I won 2. LOL no just kidding. I won 1 he won 1. Then the kids played baseball with him. I was too tired to remember the score. It was late, I got sleepy and we had to head home for bed time.

dear blog...

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:20:00 -0500

Dear Blog,
I've neglected you. I'm sorry so here are some make up words....

Well I sit here with not much more to say. Life has been really busy with home schooling 3 kids, spending time with family, freelancing a little, wedding planning and trying to stay on top of housework. I feel like I'm losing communication with the outside world sometimes due to just those things! I don't have time to talk on the phone a lot and go places. So many times I'm out of the loop on things until Wed or Sunday!

Home schooling -ahh that bittersweet tug o war! One day think I'm ready to call it quits then the next day I think oh it won't be any other way but homeschooling! I'd have to say overall we all love it. Its just the bad days that makes it harder. Richard supports it all the way. We are planning to arrange things to make a classroom space for the kids and so i can teach in the best way I can. The kids will be tested soon also! I will have to look into that since there are other options other than the IOWA testing.

Spending time with the family - Well that's almost 2nd nature for me but it call be put on the side when I have work to do. So far it's been ok. The kids usually play around me and we interact regardless of what is going on. They love it when Richard comes over to play beanie baby wars with them. The living room becomes a war zone of flying beanie babies! It's funny to watch but my threat remains the same: If i get hit or one of those things lands in my coffee it's an early bed time! Any how family life is great!

Freelancing a little, well a little is right. Things are coming in sporadically. I know why, I can only deal with so much. Being a homeschooling parent and caring for 3 little ones takes more brain power than I thought! I'm doing it, however if I was not homeschooling (which is not an option we are considering) I would be able to devote more time to it but that's not the way life is. I'm also not a very good sells person. So most of my clients are word of mouth. But so far so good with what I can handle.

Wedding planning - Fun stuff! I love planning our wedding with Richard. This man is so perfect for me it is amazing. Guys this genuine love that i feel and have for him is so much more than I can put into words. We did cake tasting Saturday and that was yummy! The kids loved that. We picked out and ordered our cake! Plans are coming right along. I am so excited about the coming day! It cant come fast enough!

Trying to stay on top of housework- lol! just a continual disappointment at times. I think Oh wow look how sort of clean the place looks. A few minutes latter a benie baby war happens or i bring a load of laundry up and it doesn't get put away. The favorite place for me to clean is the kitchen. I c an do that quick and easy. All the other places are just less fun.

Ok so that's about it! I want a Maple Butter Blondie from Applebees!

Happy Christmas

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 23:32:00 -0600

Ok so Christmas was awesome! After Christmas was awesome! The kids woke up to tons of presents which took all of 15 minutes for them to rip through. We got to speak briefly with family in Texas, England, Oklahoma and Canada. It was great seeing their faces all excited about their new toys. They had some cool stuff in their stockings and cool things to play with. The Christmas was full of RCs that goes up walls and on water, talking dolls, and . He got another hovercraft and a ground RC. Those are pretty cool. The batteries had to charge all day but once they did he was really excited about playing it. I think even though he got the cool electronics toy he really enjoys his Mickey Mouse toy. The girls got dolls and such. Then they have this thing called Moon sand. It was all sold out before Christmas. I had to get the ones i got from ebay. Luckily the lady that I ordered from was close to us so we got it before Christmas. The Moon Sand is neat but you eventually end up sweeping it away because it crumbles up and falls to the floor.

Rich enjoyed his gifts I wish I could have gotten him more. He defiantly deserves the world! But since we couldnt give him that we gave him a little of what he liked out of it. He seemed to like the board game section of the toysrus store so we got him the games he pointed out. The games make for great family time. They enjoyed playing games tonight. Any how the big Kahuna of gifts were mine! Momma did not feel like she was an afterthought this Christmas! I was so surprised! The kids got me a Laptop! Richard got me an Olympus E500 Digital SLR camera and I got a Robosapien too! I got the cool toys this time. LOL the kids were trying to play with my bot and I gave in of course. It's a neat thing.
I like my faster, lighter, cooler and all around better laptop. The camera is just WOW! But nothing beats spending Christmas with Rich and the kids. They made Christmas the greatest holiday this year.

I've spent Christmas alone at times and it's not a fun thing. I've gotten nothing for Christmas up until my sr. year in high school and it wasn't the greatest feeling but that is life. You see I have this thought, if I had not gone through those things, I would not be able to cherish what God has in store for me now. I know the blessing in having family around you and I never want to be without it. I love my kids and I love my Richard. They are very dear to my heart and I feel the blessing from my Lord this season is them. Praise God among all the holiday fuss, toys and electronics, Praise God for life and those you share it with.

Family, there is nothing like it in the world. Family is a God given privilege to have one. It's a blessing cherish it.