GrayCrew - Homeschool Blogger

Blogging is like Dieting......

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 20:24:00 -0600

……You are faithful to post entries (or eat healthy) for awhile and then suddenly you fall off the wagon! (Or the web)

Seriously, we’ve been busy. And everytime I’ve sat down to blog, something kept going wrong with our external hard drive-the one with all the pictures on it. It would freeze up my laptop and by the time I rebooted I needed to move onto something else. Besides, a blog just isn’t a blog without pictures!

So imagine you’re seeing pictures of:

our field trip to the zoo
a family outing to Dinosaur State Park
my boys horsing around with their little sister. Literally. Precious, ain’t?
big kids playing roller hockey and tennis
little kids playing their hearts out at a gigantic “castle park”
my boys burning leaves and chocolate for science class. Really!
many more miscellaneous pics

You also missed out on posts about:

above mentioned pictures and events surrounding them
our school year so far
updates on pregnancy
the drive shaft blowing apart on the suburban while driving down the highway
our visitors and how my family can baby proof an entire house in less than an hour-and clean it too!
politics
our trips to the pediatric dentist and how I’m funding her holiday vacation
who knows what else?

31 Things About Me

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:32:00 -0500

It's my birthday. Can you guess how young I am?
I scored a 34 on my ACT. Smart, huh?
My hubby and I met at Taco Bell. I fed him. Got to his heart thru his tummy!
I hate roller coasters.
I've been pregnant 11 times. We have 6 babies in Glory, and our 6th living child with be here within 8-10 weeks.
I mix up my words all the time and rarely notice. My family finds it entertaining. Last week Kid2 got a cut on his foot while we were out. I bandaged it and told him that I needed to take off his foot when we got home to clean it. He knew what I meant.
I wear contacts because without them I can't read the second line on the vision test. Even the E is blurry, but come on now, we all know it's there!
My greatest love is not my husband nor my kiddos, it's my Lord and Savior!
I've got Irish skin and German gas. Thanks Gramps!
I'm the first-born of my generation and my daughter is the first-born of hers. (maternal side)
I cannot knit or crochet worth a lick.
I have a thing for Hot Tamales. Oh so good!
My middle name is Marie
I do not drink coffee. I'll take a big mug of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and whipped cream over java anytime!
I had a nose job. When I was 5.
I'm quiet IRL. My hubby's the outspoken one
I like to cook and bake
I can't stand apple bubble gum. I think it gives you bad breath
I actually enjoy doing laundry.
I hardly ever make my bed
I'm a cheesehead that moved to Cowtown. :)
I homeschool my kiddos year round.
I like to read
I will not go into our swimming pool if the temperature's below 90
I've been induced with all my babies
I really enjoy Culvers
I've needed stitches on my chin 3 different times
I have never lived by myself
I like to play this game. Found the link on donnac's blog.
I don't have any tattoos
My first car was a 79 buick. I got it in 95(or was it the end of 94?)

Ike and a Need to Vent

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:34:00 -0500

We survived Hurriicane Ike. Actually, Ike never came too close to us, it scooted East and took the rain and wind with it. Saturday was cloudy with some rain and wind, but nothing like what was projected to hit us earlier last week. I am grateful.

Regardless, we were prepared for anything. Our gas tanks were filled up, water restocked, food bought, batteries, lanterns, etc. checked, propane tanks were both full and ready to go. I even made sure we had light up thingees for the kids to play with if we lost power. House was cleaned up and all the dirty clothes were laundered.

Standard stuff, right? Then here is my question to you all. How come so many people were unprepared for this hurricane? They had adequate time to get all their supplies in order, but many chose not to. Even worse, many people in mandatory evacuation areas decided to risk their lives and stay behind. And now they expect FEMA to come in and rescue them. There are people who actually need help and here we are taking care of idiots. I am NOT talking about everyone. I’m just venting about the ones who didn’t do a thing and expect to be taken care of because they were stupid.

And do not get me started with FEMA. The government is way too big and has way too much power. Whatever happened to relying on each other locally? Taking care of your needs and the needs of your neighbors? If that is too much then the city needs to get involved, then the state. You should see the way Texas is pulling together here. Texans helping Texans first. Not Wisconsinites helping Texans. We can take care of our own, thank you. Even the idiots.

Speaking of paychecks.....

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 18:19:00 -0500

I just found out that we will be getting one soon. Hopefully by the end of the week! Woohoo!!!! Rejoice with me! This is money from July, people, JULY!!!

As always, just as our savings is nearly tapped out! God is so good!!! HE always provides. In HIS time!!!!!

Rejoicing!! ~Kelly

Perfectly Misaligned

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 17:57:00 -0500

Last month Mr. Graycrew had mentioned the tires on the Suburban were going to need replacing in a few months. Ok, I’ll budget that in-no problem. We can take care of it when we get our first paycheck. Maybe second.

Circumstances changed this past Friday. Mr Graycrew took Kid1 to a local nature preserve to spend some quality time with his little girl young lady and to play around with his camera. On the way home he made a pit-stop at the gas station so Kid1 could use the restroom. The ones at the park were not up to her standards. According to her they were stiiiiiiinky.

When Mr Graycrew parked the car, he left the wheels turned cockeyed and noticed something. The insides of the tires were bald. All four of them! Yikes!!

The very next morning my Mr Safety purchased 4 brand spanking new tires and had an alignment done. The wheels were so misaligned that they barely showed up on the ranges. What’s funny is that we never noticed. The Suburban always drove straight on for us. I guess you could say that the car was perfectly misaligned!

The Latest

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 17:56:00 -0500

Sorry to be offline for awhile. Mr Graycrew had minor surgery 2 weeks ago and I was busy taking care of my man! He’s doing better and is slowly on the mend, Praise the Lord!

Kids are doing great. We took some unplanned time off school last week due to the teacher not feeling well! The substitute never showed up, teeheehee. The kids already had some days off, I just opted to make it the whole week. I did manage to sort through all the baby and toddler clothes and divide them into new storage buckets by gender and size. Whew, that job is finally done! AND my closet is much, much cleaner. It only took 14 buckets, including outgrown dress shoes. (All other shoes get donated or tossed)

Our extracurricular activities are starting back up. Kid1 is REALLY enjoying her choir class. PE starts this Friday. Kid1 will be playing roller hockey, Kid2 tennis, and Kid3 kickball this month. The boys are anxious for Spring to come so they can get back into Little League. Now that should be fun. 3 different boys on 3 different teams, all with conflicting schedules I’m sure! No need to dwell on that right now. I have a few more months before our busy season hits!

Growing Up.....

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:55:00 -0500

This is what happens to 10 year olds with too much energy! Bwaaaahaahaaaa!!!

The lawn needed mowing earlier this month and we found ourselves without MowerMan(that would be dh) for the week. Kid2 has been eager to start manly yard work; You know, things other than picking up toys and dog poo and hauling garbage. So I gave in and let him mow the lawn AFTER he picked up poo and toys!!!

He was so eager to please his Dad that when Mr Graycrew came home he was marched straight out back to check out Kid2’s work in the dark. My boy has already mowed a second time and is doing a great job at it!

I've Been too Gone for too Long.....

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:52:00 -0500

..so why don’t I just stay gone? …..Ok, the flashback to the 80s and Randy Travis is over. Back to the regularly scheduled blog.. BTW, I’d never stay gone for too long. How long is too long, anyway? 6 months? 6 years?

We have not been enjoying these dog days of summer. Too many 105° days for my yankee blood. Mornings are spent deep in school subjects. Afternoons are spent swimming, then back to school till supper. Which lately has been after 7pm. It’s too hot to eat enything but ice cream before than. I’m starting to understand the whole Mexican tradition of siestas though!

We celebrated Mr Graycrew’s birthday the end of July. He had been out of town all week and we were expecting him home on his birthday, so out came the paint and big roll of paper…

Kid2 and Kid5 made the most mess…Cleanup duty!!

Pretty girl! See the blue paintshadow? It’s an 80’s theme today!!!

Mr. Graycrew’s view when he came home!

Want to know the best part of his birthday? It was when I was going through his suitcase to get laundry started and happened upon a present for me!!! Our anniversary was two days later and apparently he had been saving up to buy me a beautiful diamond necklace! Now you’ve got to understand the surprise here. Money had been crunched due to a major delay in pay and a new job. Which means no extras, no trip back home for a wedding we wanted to attend(boo hoo), and no new camera for dh’s birthday. He only got an IOU for after payday!! I wish I would have thought of putting extra money aside to surprise him! I am blessed, people. I am blessed!!!

Till next time! Sooner than later :) ~Kelly

I Found it!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:49:00 -0500

I have spent half the day looking for Kid2’s math CDs. Checked the bookshelf by the table where I keep stuff we use daily. Nope, not there.

Checked our desk drawer in the office where some other cds are. Nada.

On the breakfast bar under a pile of papers? Zilch.

Oh I know, let’s call Mr Graycrew. I betcha he put them somewhere. He has no clue.

In comes Kid1. “Mom, have you looked on the math shelf?” Now why would they be there? That’s for math that no one is currently using. I mean come on, who in their right minds (in this house) would put math cds on the bookshelf designated for math curriculum? Hmpphhh Guess what? FOUND ‘EM!!

So now Kid2 is happily working on his next lesson in Math5. He won’t need a new cd for another 30 lessons or so. That gives me a month to lose ‘em all over.

I have heartburn. Gotta go find me some Tums. Does this mean that our baby will have a head full of hair? Stay tuned. Dom…dom….dom.

Toodles! ~Kelly

An Invasion

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:48:00 -0500

Yeah folks, you heard right. We have been bombarded with mice. (Maybe bombarded is too strong of a word). Ok, we have been invaded. Now Mr Graycrew has been diligently setting traps and they have remained empty for the last 2 weeks. So great, mice problem solved-right? Nope.

I was talking to Mr Graycrew the other day on the phone when I noticed our dog had her attention on something under the pool table. Thinking that one of the children left a snack under there, (No, not my kids, they know better than that. Rolling eyes here) I casually moved a storage container of Magnetos so GrayDog could clean up after them. Well, it wasn’t crumbs. It was a mouse. I shrieked into the phone and jumped onto the nearest chair, causing my dear husband to go deaf. (Remember, I was on the phone with him) It got away from Graydog, but she managed to catch it later and proceeded to eat it. Who needs a cat anyway? I keep telling myself it was the same mouse…Mr Graycrew will be home tomorrow and he’ll take care of traps. Till then, I’ve got my mouser!!

So this week has been spent thoroughly cleaning nearly every nook and cranny of this 4000sf house. That’s in addition to our normal school routine. I’m finding the time in the evenings. With hubby gone, it gives me something to do. Let’s call it early nesting folks, shall we?

A rare occurence

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 20:59:00 -0500

That’s right. The temperature dipped from around 100 down to the lower 80s. AND it sprinkled. In Texas. In July. Yeeeeeeeeeehaw! Needless to say we’ve spent the last hour or so outdoors enjoying a beautiful evening. The dog played with the bubble machine and we played baseball. Ok, ok I just ref’d the game

Did you hear me? We were outside in July without the sprinkler and without utilizing our pool. Amazing.

Now we are all inside celebrating with a nummy bedtime snack. Daddy’s oreos are oh so delicious. Maybe he won’t notice that they’re all gone. Hmm, perhaps I should buy him more before he comes home on Friday.

Taking a minute to update

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 13:57:00 -0500

Did you all have a wonderful Independence Day? We sure enjoyed having Daddy back around here for the weekend. Last week was his first week on the road for work in a long time. It is quite an adjustment when you’re used to having him around 24/7.

The whole graycrew enjoyed a lazy day of swimming and grilling. Nearly everyone got hurt in one way or the other. Kid1 sliced her toe open. Kid2 fell off the swings and ended up with some major road rash up and down his back. Kid3 scraped the skin off his fingers and managed to get quite a few slivers from climbing the fence. Kid5 was being monitored for a nasty reaction to some bug bites on her leg and shoulder. The dog had a nice sized tick embedded in her ‘armpit’. Do dogs have armpits? They do now! :) But I’m not complaining. There were no visits to Urgent Care for broken bones or stitches. All in all, a relaxing day.

School is in full swing again this week. We’ve restarted the history cycle and are studying Ancient History, cramming 2 weeks into one. Kids2&3 need to finish up their Astronomy course and then it’s off to Zoology. Woo hoo! We are still on schedule to wrap up most of the year by the time baby6 is born.

Okay, my header on this blog is pathetic. It needs serious help. Sounds like I’ve got a project for Kid2 and Mr Graycew. Now all I have to do is convince them. Easier said than done.

Kids are inside from swimming so it’s time to get back to our studies!!

We're Tickled......

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 20:56:00 -0500

…………BLUE. That’s right, not pink. Tee hee hee

Last week the entire family made the trek to mama’s OB. Why? It was ultrasound day!! We started the exam, planning on sharing the gender towards the end (you know, to keep their attention) when Kid1 suddenly blurts out, It’s a boy!! The little snitch :) She has gotten pretty good at “reading” the ultrasound images over the years! Sure enough, she was right. Kid1 then turns to Kid5 and says “Sorry, looks like you’ll have to wait 9 years for a little sister! That’s the pattern.” lol

Baby looks strong and healthy. He was showing us some Karate kicks and defensive punches in the womb. Oh, and he picked his nose and sucked his fingers too!

So yes, now we will have 4 boys and 2 girls to raise here while never forgetting our 6 precious ones who passed onto Glory ahead of us!!!!!

I’ll post some pictures of our new son once they get scanned in!

Happy birthday Kid4

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 20:54:00 -0500

Saturday our little guy turned 5 years old! He had a blast opening his presents and eating his Indiana Jones cake. He played all day with his new toys. Score one for Mom and Dad, we were right on target this year.

This was taken 5 years earlier. I love this picture of Kid4 in Daddy’s hands!

Guess Where I Spent the Afternoon?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:14:00 -0500

20 questions anyone? Here’s a hint. I am the mother of 3 rambunctious boys!

Who? Kid2

What? Stitches
When? This afternoon
Where? Lower right leg
Why? Cuz he’s a boy
How? He caught his leg on a drill bit (that was in the drill) while out front with Mr. Graycrew. I’ll tell you what he’s building later!!

Overall Kid2 was a trooper. The triage nurse got a kick outta him. When she asked him what he was there for, Kid2 replied rather nonchalantly that he just needed stitches so he can get out of there and on to Tae Kwon Do. That’s my boy!

The numbing cream wasn’t working well enough so they had to shoot him up to numb the area. He was awful brave, let me tell ya. He watched the doc stitch him up, studying the how-to’s. Kid2 has been warned not to practice sewing stitches on any of his siblings!!!

The only downside is the pool is off limits for 2 weeks. Bummer. At least the doc ok’d TKD for him.

Happy Birthday Kid5!!!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:13:00 -0500

Our little princess turned 2 this past Saturday! Here are some pictures of her big day. Enjoy!!!

Kid3's first baseball injury

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:33:00 -0500

I just got an email from Mr. Graycrew with a picture attached. Subject-Kid3’s first baseball injury :) What? And why the smiley face? Men!!! He attached a picture and sent it from his cell. I suppose to make me feel better. Yeah, right. So I called up the afore mentioned man to get details. To see if my baby is alright. Ok, ok he’s 7. And this sort of thing happens all the time. But I’m usually nearby. I know, I know. Boys WILL BE boys!!!!

Apparently Kid3’s glove clipped the ball and it hit him in the face, shattering his brand new sunglasses. You know, the ones he just bought with HIS own money! :( I say yay for those sunglasses. They protected his eyes! He ended up with a cut near his eyebrow. So Kid3 took a trip to the training room to get bandaged up. Looks like butterfly stitches. He’s alright, now that Dad said we’ll get him some new specs to replace the broken ones.

He’s back on the ball field right now finishing up his last day of camp. What a trooper!

Way to go, girl!!!!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:07:00 -0500

This past Saturday Kid1 had a belt test for Tae Kwon Do. Here she is getting ready to do a stomp kick through some wooden boards. Notice how many there are?

That’s my girl!

Don’t mess with this kid!

Here is Kid1 with her new BLUE belt. Look at the lower left corner. She the way she’s standing?

Oh yeah, Mr. Graycrew got his purple belt too! Can you see him?

Kid2 wanted me to let you all know that he snapped all these pictures. Thanks man!

This Past Week

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:16:00 -0500

I’m not posting my menu online this week. We didn’t exactly stick to the menu last week either. You see, last Thursday the big freezer was discovered left open! Most of the stuff was still salvagable and we had to eat more chicken than I planned. It was time to defrost the freezer anyway. And yes, we did have mashed potatoes this week!!

Kid2’s Little League season is over. His team finished first for regular season and then came in runner up for the championship game! Way to go Astros!! (NOT Houston, blech. We’re Cubs fans!!!!). Here’s the team with their trophies and medals. Kid2 is lower left.

This week Kid2 & Kid3 have baseball camp run by our local high school coach. It’s going great! The boys are enjoying themselves and it looks like they’re learning a thing or two as well. I’ll post some pictures of camp later this week.

Otherwise, it’s the same old routines around here. School is back in full swing and some chores have been reassigned. I just finished some online shopping for our two June birthdays. Now I’ve got to schedule their annual pediatric well-check visit. The whole crew also needs to get in for their 6 month visit to the dentist. Time to go make appointments!!!!

Our Weekend

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 23:45:00 -0500

Friday was spent at closing ceremonies for Little League. The whole family went and endured the heat to watch kid2 participate. Coach got the trophies, but he’ll hand them out at the end of the year party. Problem is, we still have to wrap up the year! Saturday morning Kid2 had a playoff game. He scored a run and the team won the game. Championship game is Monday night.

Saturday night was church. Mr Graycrew went with Kids1&2. Mom stayed home from all of Saturday’s activities. Little ones were just not feeling 100% yet. I wasn’t up to par either. I couldn’t fall asleep last night. My back was spazzing cuz of pregnancy hormones and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Mr graycrew immediately prayed with me, then offered to get the heating pad but it’s MIA. Instead he got out the heated massager and massaged all the kinks out of my back. After that, I slept like a baby! My hubby is so wonderful. I am blessed!!!!

Today was enjoyable. We had Biscuits and Gravy for brunch, cleaned up the house, then headed outside to swim the day away. Got out of the pool and grilled some chicken for supper. It went great with some stuffing and peas. Nummy!

Kids are all in bed now and I’m supposed to be finishing lesson plans for the next 6 weeks. Tomorrow is our first day back to school after a few weeks off for R&R. I am looking forward to settling back into our routine.

Time to go rub aloe on my shoulders. I may look like the German side of my family, but I have Irish skin that burns in the sun!! OUCH!!