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August 31, 2006, 11:38 pm Blah... So I caught what the kids had/have. I spent most of today on the couch running a temperature and not being able to speak above a whisper. Justice is still sick, but is feeling better than he was. Jacob is doing better already too. I'm hoping I heal as quickly as the kids. Darby still has a cough, but has her energy back. Jarvis is the only one that didn't really get sick (he coughed a little bit for one day). I think Brittany is still sick, but she is hiding it because she wants to help take care of me and everyone else. God sure did bless me with her! She is such a help; I don't know what I would do without Brittany!!! Hopefully I'll be back with some longer posts and some new photos soon. Please pray we all feel better! :) August 30, 2006, 11:14 am Busy... My life has been kind of hectic lately. I prefer a laid back, not-much-going-on, kind of life, but sometimes, especially with five children, life gets a bit crazy. Jacob... Jacob had his 6 month checkup yesterday (yes, I realize he is 7 1/2 months old - I'm a little late). His height is actually on the chart now (in the 10%), so the doctor isn't as concerned about that and is sure he'll continue to catch up. He's still a bit of a runt - he weighs 15 pounds, 3 ounces and is 26 inches long. He just now started to fit into the 3-6 month size clothes, and some of his 0-3 month clothes still fit. He is crawling EVERYWHERE, pulls himself up and can stand for a few seconds on his own. He got two teeth (the bottom ones) last week, and smiles constantly. He is so squishy and cute!!! :) Sick kids... My children have head colds (fevers, sore throats, snotty noses, etc.). Jacob even has it now (his first time being sick - poor baby). School is pretty much out of the question today, so I actually have time to update my blog! Although I hate that my kids are sick, I'm going to take advantage of the day off school and try to get some scrapbooking done. Quote for the day... "Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food and tyrannize their teachers." ~ Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC) I wonder what Socrates would think if he saw the majority of children today. I have a few friends who train their children properly and whose children actually respect them, but I have more friends and acquaintances whose children are complete brats - talking back, constantly defying their parents... basically just doing whatever the heck they want (and they don't seem to care for their parents either - and vice versa). It blows my mind. I think the main problem isn't necessarily a lack of discipline, but a lack of love and attention on the parents' part. The kids are neglected, left to the TV and video games to raise them. If you happen to be one of those parents who have neglected your children... take a few minutes today to smile at them, look them in the eyes, and tell them that you love them. Tell them how much brighter your life is because they are there. And mean it. Make sure they know that you mean it. :) August 27, 2006, 3:07 pm I'm baaaaaaack... My computer break was wonderful. And you know what? I didn't miss it! It was a relief, actually. So now my goal is to cut down on the amount of time I spend on here and make sure my priorities are in order. I think my week off helped. :) Just a short post now to say hello and I will post a longer one tomorrow. I hope everyone had a wonderful week. Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to TRISH, the best mother-in-law I could hope for!!! Thank you for being so good to me! I am very thankful we have a good relationship. :) August 20, 2006, 3:27 pm Taking a break... Starting this evening, I will be turning my computer off for the week. I will be concentrating more on homeschool, the start of PWOC (ladies' Bible study I attend), time with the kids, and more time in God's Word. I will not be checking the blogs or email at all, so if anyone needs to reach me, they'll need to call. If you don't know my number, then I must not know you, so why would you need to reach me? Haha! If anyone feels like they spend too much time on this machine, or watching TV, or talking on the phone, or whatever your 'thing' is... I recommend stepping back and taking some time away from it. I guarantee it'll be refreshing. And no, a computer is not a 'necessity' although many think that it is. I'll let you know how my computer-free week went when the next weekend rolls around. Have a good week, all!!! :) August 18, 2006, 1:08 pm HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TO ETHAN! :) To all the animal lovers out there... Just to clarify, I love animals. I would never actually *hurt* our cat, even though I joked about killing it. I actually sat with the silly thing last night and pet it, even though I'm allergic to it!!! We have had a lot of cats in the past, and I have loved them all... the cat we have now, however, is of a different species. It can't be a real cat; it just can't be. Oh well. I just wanted to clear that up for those of you who thought I may have been evil enough to cause pain to our furry little friends. :) Oh, and the birds? They just SCARE me! Period. :D Maid service... So I was trying to figure out what was more important to me... buying groceries or splurging on a maid service to come scrub my house once a week. I *know* that one day, the kids will all be older, and I'll be able to keep the house clean, but it just doesn't seem like that day will ever come. I know, and I totally agree, that spending time with the kids and enjoying them, is MUCH more important than having a clean house. But I still LIKE having a clean house! A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to deep clean one room a day while straightening the others (and the kids have chores as well); that way I didn't have to get all my deep cleaning done in one day, and on a rotating basis, that should keep the house clean (and seemingly save me time). I discovered that when I deep cleaned, say, the living room, that while deep cleaning the kitchen the next day - the living room got trashed again. And so the cycle goes. It is impossible to have the whole house clean at the same time unless I spend two straight days doing NOTHING but cleaning... then the whole house will be clean for a day or two until it gradually gets trashed again. But that one or two days is nice. I usually only do the maniacal 48 hours worth of scrubbing when I'm about to have company. Then I crash from exhaustion for a couple of days and the house gets trashed again. Any tips on how to keep the house sparkling clean when you have 5 homeschooled children would be appreciated (somehow I'm guessing no one has any though). I guess I'll just put my blinders back on and ignore the messes I can't keep up with. :) August 16, 2006, 8:35 pm Birds are creepy... About a year and a half ago (the first month I started blogging), I posted about my bird fear (you can read that here). Brittany, superb videographer that she is (um... you'll see how sarcastic I'm being when you watch), captured that fear on our trek to San Antonio a few weeks ago. Since most of the video is of the back of my head and the ground, you'll have to turn up your sound so you can hear the banter. (Thanks to Malia - Andy's cousin's wife - for giving me the brilliant idea to share videos on my blog - don't know why I didn't think of that before; not that I've had my video camera that long anyway). :D
August 16, 2006, 4:05 pm Jarvis: "Can Jacob have a mint?" Me: "No." Jarvis: "Can he have a gummy bear?" Me: :-| August 16, 2006, 3:25 pm School... Our home schooling is going well so far. Jarvis isn't as motivated as he usually is, but I think once we get into the groove of things, that will change. He's usually the one that wants to learn all day long, but he's doing good even though I have to push him a little more than usual. :) Brittany and Justice have sunk right into their routines and are doing really well. Darby is so excited about kindergarten, and I wish I had MORE time to devote to being just one on one with her (of course I have LOADS more one on one with her than the teacher would were she attending a traditional school). We're still figuring out the best schedule, and so far it looks like having my one on one time with each of the older kids in the earlier morning works well, and one on one with Darby right after lunch works well. I sort of rotate amongst the older kids when they need me, but with Darby - she needs my full attention unless she is stopping to do a coloring page or something, so I have to do her studies when the other kids are well set with what they are doing. So far everyone has been finished by 2 or 3 pm, and then we have our one hour of daily quiet time. This is a necessity when you have the parent and five kids together 24/7 - helps us all keep our sanity. :) It's quiet time right now, and that usually means no TV or computer, but Jacob woke up early from his nap, so I'm nursing him and will watch and play with him while the kids have their quiet time - then Brittany and Justice will take turns watching Jacob while I have my quiet time. Okay, maybe that was waaaay too many details, but I'm sure some of the relatives will enjoy hearing more about how we spend our day. :) Andy... Got to chat with Andy a little on the i.m. yesterday and today. His humvee was blown up last week, but they all walked away from it. The front of the humvee was totaled though. God is definitely watching out for him. He did lose a soldier in one of the three explosions he's been in, but I am thankful that Andy and the rest of his men have remained safe. I have no doubts that God will bring him home to us safe and sound in November. :) We appreciate any and all of your continued prayers. Jacob... Jacob is ON THE MOVE! He has been scooting around for a while and getting where he needs to go, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't keep up with. Now he is full-fledged crawling on all fours and he is fast. And he loves it. And he thinks he is the king of the house! He can stand for a couple of seconds without falling, and he has been pulling himself to a standing position for a little while now. He is easily amused and thinks all of us are hilarious. He smiles at strangers and bats his long eyelashes and shows that twinkle in his big blue eyes - so everyone we see wants to take him home with them. He has a big gummy grin on his face almost all the time. He is such a happy baby! He does not sleep through the night yet, but that's par for the course for a baby who is solely breastfed. He does eat baby food, but not tons of it, and he doesn't really take bottles. He's probably had 7 or 8 and finished maybe two of them. He's growing right now, and last night he woke up approximately every hour wanting to nurse. I don't get much sleep. I haven't gotten much sleep since Jacob was conceived! I wonder what it'll feel like when I finally get to sleep 8 hours straight??? I think I've slept about 4 hours straight a handful of times since Jacob was born (on those nights that he decides to sleep that long for one period). Not that I'm complaining - I would not trade all the full nights of sleep in the world for this most adorable sweet baby that God has so wonderfully blessed me with!!! Jacob thinks I hung the moon; and I think he did. Right now, he is sitting with me trying to grab the monkeys off my pants (yes, there are monkeys on my pants - if I have no place I have to go, I often wear comfy pajama pants all day - I don't succumb to the societal rule that I have to get dressed in 'clothes to go out in' every morning). :) pet peeve of the day... ...when people use the spelling "loose" when they are using the word "lose". They are two separate words, people, with two separate meanings and two separate sounds! (not that I am always grammatically correct, especially on my blog, but I know HOW to be and that one bothers me for some reason). :D August 15, 2006, 10:38 am Another Darby-ism: My friend, Robyn, sent a photo of her family, which I printed and hung in my office as a reminder to pray for them. For anyone who doesn't know them, Robyn and Jeff have three girls, and she is pregnant with their 4th girl. Darby was looking at the photo, and she said, "Why does Robyn only have girl babies?". Then, after a moment of reflection, Darby said, "It must be because she is such a smart girl!". LOL!!!! :D August 13, 2006, 8:36 pm Home again... We just got back from a fun weekend in Dallas. The DSFF (Deployed Soldiers Family Foundation) put on a little retreat weekend and the kids and I were one of the few families that got in - woo hoo. It was a day at the salon for me while the kids enjoyed Chuck E Cheese (they had childcare at the hotel for Jacob), free time in the afternoon, dinner for me and a separate dinner for the kids, a free night at the Embassy Suites and their yummy breakfast. The kids went swimming in the hotel pool this morning since we didn't have to check out until noon, and then we went to the Dallas Galleria and let me just tell you that I NEED to live near a REAL mall!!! Or maybe I don't. The mall here sucks so bad that I rarely go. If the Galleria was close, I'd be there often! The kids really wanted to go ice-skating (there's a rink in the mall), but a couple of them weren't wearing socks, none of them were wearing pants, etc., so I told them that sometime soon we'd find a skating rink. Some fun details of the trip... The salon: Got a chair massage, which was soooooooo nice! Wow. I really need my regular masseuse to come home from Iraq. I didn't realize how badly I was in need of a massage!!! Also, got my hair done. We won't discuss the comments from the hair dresser about the state of my hair, but I will say that it had been almost a YEAR since my last trim - and I color my hair, so the ends were horrid. Plus, I had done some weird thing with my hair that morning (tied it up in weird little knots while it dried to see what would happen), and it was sooooooo frizzy and weird so when I pulled it down from the bun it was in, she was like "wow, you need some style!" - LOL (I think she assumed my hair looked like that all the time :D). Anyway, she gave me a cute razor cut choppy style while keeping my length and I LOVE it!!!!! I think I'm going to do some high and low lights now that I have a good cut. :) Also, they did make-up - that I had to wash off and redo but that's to be expected. I hate it when other people do my make-up! LOL. The bad thing about the salon time was lunch. They had Jason's Deli catered for lunch, and EVERY FREAKING SANDWICH HAD MAYONNAISE ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had some pineapple and a bag of Fritos. And ALL THE DRINKS WERE SODAS - most of them diet. So I had some tap water with no ice to drink. Okay, so it was free, and I can't complain. But it just kills me how people assume everyone loves mayo and sodas!!! :D The dinner was good. They had a little fashion show, a singer, a motivational speaker (for military spouses), and GREAT goodie bags for everyone. Plus, the people at my table thought I was funny. ;) Jacob actually did pretty well with the childcare people. They thought he was the absolute cutest. It was the first time I had left him (aside from when Rhonda watched him and the other kids during my whole 'being arrested' scenario a couple months ago) and I think it was harder on me than him. He did fuss a little, but not too bad. He ate some baby food for them, but he refused to take his bottle, but I nursed him right before I dropped him off each time, so he was okay. :) I cannot tell you how many comments I received - from the childcare workers, from other moms there, from random hotel guests - about how well behaved and wonderful my children are. They were apparently the best behaved kids at the event and the sweetest - so that was cool. It's always nice to hear others think you are doing a good job as a mom. :) I also got many comments such as "YOU have FIVE kids?!?!", but that's nothing new. :) I love the Embassy Suites breakfast. Had a really yummy omelet for breakfast... and some bacon... and a blueberry muffin... and a banana... and some yogurt... Um yeah - I was hungry. :) The Galleria: I discovered Teavana! OH - MY - GOODNESS!!!! Wow! Totally awesome! I ordered iced, sweet, mandarin, green tea and it rocked my world! I'm soooooo going to order some things off of their website... soon! Express was having their semi-annual jeans sale!!! What great timing for me. :) Got me a pair of jeans that I really love (their jeans are my favorite!!!). Trade Secret had the Burt's Bees face toner and shampoo that I needed, and the Biolage conditioner I wanted. Woo hoo! Went to the Container Store for the first time, and let me just say that I could spend about a million dollars in there! Found some things I needed that I had been unable to find at the local Killeen stores (an old junky Target, and, of course, Wal-Mart) for organizing school papers and a couple other things. I had been to their website at some point in the past, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that store! If anyone knows me well, they know I'm an organizational freak - so this store is right up my alley. :) Hit Panera Bread on the way home (in Waco) and got a couple things of Broccoli Cheddar Soup and a Chicken Frontega Panini to enjoy tonight and tomorrow. I sooooo wish we had a Panera near my house. School starts tomorrow, and Darby is so excited she can hardly contain herself! I will be home schooling, and thank the Lord, I'm actually ready to start tomorrow. :D Now, I'm off to eat some Panera and relax before hitting the hay. I hope everyone else had an awesome weekend as well! :D I had a couple pictures of my new cut, but after previewing them, decided they were no good and will take more photos tomorrow or the next day and post. :) August 11, 2006, 12:06 pm Two nights ago, at our family meeting regarding rules pertaining to cleaning (or rather, the lack thereof), Darby said: "I figured this out all by myself: if you put the cat in the pool because you want to watch it swim, it will scratch you." That was her input as to how we could do better at cleaning up after ourselves. :) HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY TO MATT & CAROLYN!!! :) August 9, 2006, 4:38 pm Just say no to mayo... I had an appointment today, and from the hectic-ness (I know that's not a word) of getting there on time, my lunch got put on hold until afterwards. By the time we left, I was starving, and Jack in the Box has pretty good sweet tea (which, sweet tea, in and of itself, is difficult to find when you are out of "the South"), so we headed there on the way home. I ordered a number 8, a sour dough sandwich with grilled chicken, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato... and I specifically said at LEAST twice, "NO MAYO". The lady even repeated it back to me. All the kids were getting a little something as well, so with my large bag of food, idiotic me, I did not check my sandwich before leaving the parking lot. I arrived home with thoughts of my delicious sandwich swirling in my head; I got the kids all settled with their food at the table, and having eaten all of my curly fries on the way home, I sat down to enjoy my sandwich. I opened it up, and alas... it had mayonnaise on it! Disgusting! My lettuce and tomato were ruined. Thankfully, the lettuce and tomato had blocked the mayonnaise from touching my chicken and bacon, so I just had to remove my only hope of having some small amount of vegetables with my lunch! My bread was seemingly destroyed. Not wanting to sacrifice the top of my sandwich, with about ten paper towels, I managed to soak up as much of the repulsive substance as possible. Then I held my breath with each bite so there would be less of a chance of tasting any remnants of the evil sauce. I ended up leaving the last few bites of my sandwich, because just the thought that there HAD been mayonnaise on it was absolutely revolting and the more I ate, the more I wanted to vomit with every bite! I then hit google, and discovered I am not alone. A few excerpts from some websites I visited: "Mayonnaise, like hollandaise, was invented by the French to cover up the flavor of spoiled flesh, stale vegetables, rotten fish. Beware the sauce! Where food comes beslobbered with an elegant slime you may well suspect the integrity of the basic ingredients." source unknown http://www.nomayo.com/ - part of the "Worldwide I Hate Mayonnaise Club" "I could go on and on about mayonnaise. Like how you go through the drive-thru--and we all know what happens in the drive-thru--and you say, very clearly, "I'd like that without mayonnaise," and the little readout says "No Mayonnaise," and for the next half hour, while you wait to get up to the window where they give you your food, you have some HOPE that it won't be on your sandwich. But, heck, by the time you get to the window, you've forgotten what you ordered, so why do you bother having hope? That sullen teenager at the drive-thru window-- he doesn't remember what you ordered! Why would he remember? He got three hours of sleep last night and smoked two joints on the way to work today! And you think he's going to remember that you don't like mayonnaise? No! You'll be lucky if he remembers that you've already paid him! So you lose hope, the moment you get up to that window after your thirty-minute nap and he looks at you with eyes so red that they could signal traffic at intersections, and he says, "Hi welcome to ... um ... wherever I am today ... Can I take your order?" You lose all hope. Is there going to be mayonnaise on your sandwich? Heck, yes. His marijuana-soaked synapses have translated "I'd like that without mayonnaise" into "I am a talking orangutan. Orangutans are native to Borneo. Orangutans subsist on a diet of leaves, tubers, insects, and MAYONNAISE!" So he's all proud when he remembers his grade-school zoology lesson and he personally goes back to the three other stoner kids in the kitchen, and he looks, with his bleary red eyes, into their bleary red traffic-signal eyes, and he tells them, on your behalf, "Ook." And they look back at him, and their marijuana-soaked brains kick into overdrive, and they say back to him, "Ook-ook!" Then they get into a discussion of the relative benefits of "Ook," and suddenly they're all jumping up and down in the kitchen going "Ook! Ook! OOOOOOK!" and screeching like howler monkeys on acid, until one of them notices the manager coming back from his trip to the drug store for another three bottles of cold medicine, and they all quiet down, and as he walks past them in his own little traffic-light blur, they solemnly prepare your sandwich with EXTRA mayonnaise, according to their marijuana-soaked ook-monkey work-in-a-fast-food-restaurant-to-pay-for-grass hard-wired fast-food training. And as the stoner kid in the kitchen hands the mayonnaise bomb to the stoner kid from the drive-thru window, they grin at each other, and the one kid says, with a little conspiratorial grin and a darting glance at the manager's office, "Ook." And then the window stoner brings you your sandwich, and by now he's forgotten that you're the orangutan, not him, and so he says, in perfect non-simian English, "Thanks!" with such confidence that you are all but convinced he got your order perfectly right, and that all that howler-monkey screeching you were just listening to wasn't a bunch of synapse-challenged orangutans pouring mayonnaise on your sandwich by the bucketful. And, stupid you, you drive away, without first opening every sandwich in the bag, because the little reader board back there about a half-an-hour or so said "No Mayonnaise," and you've allowed yourself to have hope." excerpt from http://www.jdwiker.com/things/mayonnaise.html "I'm a whiner. I whine about a lot of things. I'm actually kind of proud of my distinguished whining prowess. I'm also extremely pleased that I can be both a hopeless whiner and a smoking hot specimen of male hunkiness at the same time. What can I say? I'm gifted. So, anyway, yesterday I was sitting in on a meeting up in the Twin Cities. It was a big and important meeting featuring big and important people within the magazine I write for. And then there was me. When it comes to the magazine I write for, I'm neither big nor important. I'm just kind of there. Now that I think about it, I believe the only reason I'm expected to attend those meetings is because no one trusts me to be in the office all alone. That's probably wise. Well, while all the big and important people discussed big and important things, my attention was focused on something far more big and important: lunch. I was really hungry and, according to the schedule of events, we were supposed to break for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Well, 11:45 rolled around, and still we hadn't eaten. In hungry desperation, I futilely underlined the word "lunch" on my schedule so repeatedly, that eventually the ink started to soak through the paper. Finally, the group broke for lunch, and sandwiches were brought in. I could scarcely contain my excitement. I grabbed a bag of chips and two sandwiches and I scurried back to my seat to inspect the meal. And that's when I saw it: mayonnaise. I hate mayonnaise. I despise mayonnaise. And, when confronted by a sandwich defiled by mayonnaise, I fall back on my old standby: whining. "Awwww, man, there's mayonnaise all over these things," I groaned, returning the sandwiches to the counter, refusing to eat them. I don't understand it. At what point in the evolution of the sandwich was it decided that mayonnaise should be a required component? And, more than that, why is mayonnaise so liberally slathered on a sandwich? I mean, I could probably deal with mayonnaise if it weren't smeared all over the place. I could take a knife and remove the offensive gunk if it weren't so omnipresent. As it is, mayonnaise is spread all over the place, with the thickness of toothpaste. There is no way to reclaim a sandwich once modern day portions of mayonnaise are applied. It's a lost cause. It gets all over the lettuce, which is ruined, and it finds its way into the deepest fibers of the bun or bread. Once introduced to the pristine sandwich environment, you see, mayonnaise stages a massive takeover. It's hard to explain my disdain for mayonnaise, beyond the fact that I just can't stand the taste. I have a violent reaction to the taste of mayonnaise, by which I mean I spit it out and scrub my tongue with a napkin. I think it says volumes about mayonnaise that the biggest mayonnaise company out there is called Hellmans, because when I bite into a sandwich with mayonnaise glued in there, I think, "Yuck! What the hell, man?!" And, you know, I don't think I'm the only mayonnaise hater out there. I think there are legions upon legions of fellow mayo haters who are sick and tired of restaurants just assuming that we want our burgers iced with mayonnaise. What gives them the right to decide what we want on our food? Knock it off! Stop pushing your pro-mayo political agenda on the rest of us! And if you don't stop with the mayonnaise, I'll have to reach deep down and break out my hidden weapon. I'll whine." from http://ramblingrhodes.mu.nu/archives/019461.html I can so relate with the above articles. What is this world's obsession with mayonnaise? Why and more importantly, HOW?!, do people think it actually makes their food taste better? I don't get it. Can someone, anyone, PLEASE explain it to me??? August 8, 2006, 11:51 am HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY TIMOTHY!!! :) August 6, 2006, 10:56 pm Barnyard... Okay, I know I promised more baby photos today, but I got busy. :D We went to church this morning, I spent the afternoon cleaning, and then took the kids to see a movie tonight - oh and we had to hit Wally World (a common event - we are always needing something!).
Let me just say that Barnyard is THE funniest movie I have seen in a long time! I was ROLLING! I reminded myself of Daniel when he was watching Wayne's World years ago!. This movie was FUNN-EEEEE!!! I'm sure many will think it is totally stupid, but the makers of this film TOTALLY hit my sense of humor! Granted, I went in not expecting much AT ALL, and that always makes a movie better (it's better to have low expectations than high expectations when it comes to stupid movies). Okay, and Brittany is obviously getting older and is now officially embarrassed by her mother - she kept saying "Mom, SHHHH!!!" when I was in hysterics at the movie. Of course, if anyone has ever been to a movie with me when I find it extremely funny, they know I cannot contain myself. Although I tried... for Brittany's sake. I think I thought it was funnier than the kids. Okay, RUN out and see the movie and let me know what you think (of course now everyone will be expecting it to be hilarious... just go thinking it will be totally stupid... then you will think it is as funny as I thought it was). I will be buying this one when it comes out on DVD!! :D
August 5, 2006, 2:46 pm HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CAROLYN!!! :) Answers and announcements... Laura posted some questions on my guest book, and she made me realize that I hadn't announced a couple of things! So to all you curious people out there... Andrew has reenlisted in the Army. We are officially 'in' until 2012 (that will put him at the 12 year mark, from there it will be 8 years to retirement - our plan now is to stay in for the full 20). He got his next duty station put into his contract. Next spring, we will be moving to Ft. Lewis, Washington (about an hour south of Seattle). We're all very excited about the move out of the Texas heat to what we've heard is a gorgeous area of the country! :) (4th ID - the division Andy is in - is moving to Ft. Carson, Colorado. The move wasn't guaranteed - in other words, we could have held out for CO but ended up stuck in Texas, and WA was high on my list of places to go. Germany had been available and we were going to choose that, but by the time he got to finish the contract, Germany was no longer available and WA was.) Probably too much information, but at least now everyone's questions pertaining to this matter should be answered. :D Andrew comes home in November, but we aren't sure what day. It will be the first half of the month though. :) (YAY!!! Three months may seem like a long time to some, but after nine months, three is a piece of cake! We cannot WAIT!!!). :D Yes, Jacob looks a lot like Andy, but not exactly. Here are a few photos of Andy as a baby. Later today or tomorrow, I plan on putting photos of my other kids at this age. I think it's fun to see the similarities and differences. For instance, until looking at some old photos, I didn't realize how much Jacob looks like Jarvis!!! You'll see when I post the other photos. :)
Okay, so I'll post some photos of Jacob and his siblings later and you can make your own assessments as to who Jacob resembles. I think there is one photo somewhere of me when I was around 9 months old. If anyone has any baby photos of me, please send them to me - since our house burned when I was nine, and I was the 7th child, not a lot of photos are hanging around of me under the age of nine! :) August 3, 2006, 11:06 pm Lesson plans... I've been up to my ears in school preparations. I have Jarvis' lesson plans done for the first quarter in every subject. I have two of Brittany's subjects done for the entire year. I'm still waiting on a few of her books to arrive in the mail before I can finish hers (they should come in the next day or two). I have all of Justice's books and will hopefully get his first quarter lesson plans done for all subjects tomorrow. I still need to get something else for Darby's, then I'll work on hers. Four kids, four grades, and about a million subjects. It's crazy. But I feel ready this year. I am on track to have all lesson plans for at least the first quarter done before the first day of school. It feels good to accomplish stuff and be ready! :) Oh, and in case anyone is curious - I will be teaching the following grades this year: Kindergarten, 3rd grade, 5th grade, and 8th grade. Who knows if we will homeschool again next year (we'll be living in another place so we'll have to see what kind of schools they have there), but for this year we are. It'll be busy, but fun. :) Our lopsided pool... I went swimming with the kids tonight in our lopsided pool. Brittany stayed indoors with Jacob, although he did get in the pool for a few minutes (while clinging to me). My friend, Rhonda, had taken Britt, Justice, and Jarvis to the base pool for a couple of hours, so I got the backyard pool filled up for Darby. Since it was just sitting there full of water, I decided to swim with the boys and Darby. We had a blast playing Marco Polo and a 'car' game they taught me. :) My hobby... I actually scrapbooked last night. Got my desk cleaned off and played with all the scrap stuff I've been hoarding this summer. I did two pages and have a million more in my head. I hope to take the time to do some more this weekend. :) My sweetheart... I got to chat with Andy today. It's always so nice to hear from him. I miss him so much. We are down to three months, and I cannot WAIT until November comes!!! August 1, 2006, 2:11 pm FedEx brought me a spa basket today. Yay. Marci and Mom sent it for my birthday (thank you!!). I'm about to go soak in the tub with the bath salts and a mug of green tea that came in it. The basket came on a good day - I woke up in the middle of the night with a migraine, and of course it is still there, even after extra sleep and a handful of medicine. I get my dental night guard on Friday, so hopefully that will get rid of these bi-weekly super-headaches. Because they are getting VERY old! July 29, 2006, 1:31 pm HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY TORI! :) Reasons to kill our cat...
Ashley, the kitten, is a maniac! I have started to have to close my bedroom door at night because a)she will pounce on my feet under the blanket 400 times in a row, b)I will wake up to the sound of her trying to 'nurse' on the ear of whatever child is sleeping with me (although not Jacob - she has learned never to TOUCH Jacob, in fact she is scared of him now), c)she bounces around my room like a ball in a pinball machine, and d)I really think I am allergic to her. It's not just because of the above reasons that I sometimes fantasize about furry torture, it's because she also likes to climb my leather furniture like it's a tree, leaving a myriad of claw marks (anyone know how to get rid of claw marks in leather? No? It's impossible? Yeah, that's what I was afraid of). And it's because she thinks Darby's fidgeting arm is something to pounce on and fight with. And it's because she's the most annoying cat I've owned! That's the problem with getting a kitten - you never know what you are going to get. With dogs, if you get a certain breed, you know a bit about what kind of temperament they will have, etc. With a cat - who knows?!?!! Now, I am generally a cat lover. I have had some awesome cats (Sparticus - our cat in N.C. - was the BEST!). Ashley is NOT awesome. I bought some cat nail clippers (why I didn't do this earlier, I don't know) to try to get rid of what is destroying the first new furniture I've ever owned, but yesterday, when I tried to clip her nails, I got ONE nail clipped. On the second nail, she bit me and forced her way out of my lap. I didn't have the motivation to try again. I guess I will today. I will enlist the help of one of the kids. All I can say is that if the kids weren't madly in love with her (and they are), she would be gone! I do not have much patience for annoying animals. I love animals that are well behaved, good companions. LOVE them! But animals that destroy things and annoy the ever-loving crap out of me?!?! Not so much. House full of kids... We had an impromptu slumber party last night. And it's still going on. Yesterday, half the neighborhood was in my house. I told Brittany and Justice they could invite kids in to make their movie (Brittany is the director) IF they got the whole house clean. Little did I know they would get up early and spend three hours slaving away! Next thing I knew, I was holed up on the computer with Brittany's ipod to block out the noise and escape the chaos! :) I did manage to get my desk cleaned off, bills done, and stalked ScrapSupply to try to get their Free Goody Friday prize, but alas - the prize was posted while I was at dinner. Oh well; I made my order anyway because they are having a darn good sale on Basic Grey papers (my favorite). :D Brittany ended up having three girls spend the night. The boys were disappointed to have to sleep in my room with me - but um... I'm not an idiot! I know they are young now, but I figured we could just go ahead and get it out of their heads completely of ever pulling one over on me in the future!!! ;) Any other night everyone is BEGGING to sleep in my big comfy bed (they pretty much take turns while Dad's in Iraq - apparently my bed and blanket are much more comfy than theirs). Some nights I end up with three kids with made up beds on my floor. I'm not sure what the appeal of sleeping in there is, but they like it, so I let them. Of course, last night, I got "can't I stay up and play with the girls?" and "can I sleep on the couch?". Um, no. Sorry. ;) Anyway, the dress-up fest is still going on - my high heels have never gotten so much use! And poor Jacob is totally worn out from the overdose of girly attention (they all LOVE him). And now I am going to get to work on preparing for the school year. This coming week we are going to be doing some review and making sure everyone has all their concepts from the previous year down pat before this year begins. And I need to order some books before it's time for school to START... it's right around the corner!!! July 27, 2006, 4:26 pm earrings... I didn't post photos of the earrings Andrew sent along with the ring from Tiffany's. So for those who are curious, here they are. I wasn't completely sure about the square ones - I thought they were cool, but wasn't in love with them. But I put them on today and they totally rock! I LOVE THEM! The silver balls are very shiny (and shiny is good), but they are a little big as far as balls go, so I may exchange those. Andy is such a sweetie. :)
cleaning... After being sick, I had a relapse. I just started really feeling better yesterday (but still am a bit nauseous here and there - ugh). Now I have two weeks worth of cleaning to do. The kids helped out with chores, but they just can't handle the deep cleaning that two weeks requires. They can keep dishes done and do some laundry, but they couldn't start a cleaning company anytime soon! LOL It'll probably take me three days to get caught up. Maybe not that long - hopefully not that long. photos... Since I haven't uploaded my photos to a kodakgallery album from the last month or so, I figured I would post a couple on the blog.
I really do have photos of the other kids too, but Darby and Jacob are willing participants in my camera activities - the other kids sometimes run and hide, or they are off playing. I will post some photos of the older three kids soon. :) July 26, 2006, 10:54 pm little blue box... UPS came today and delivered some little aqua-blue boxes with white bows. You girls know what that is! Andrew decided that a dozen years together warranted some jewelry from Tiffany's! He is SOOOOO sweet!!! He sent some earrings that are really cool, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this gold and amethyst ring:
Andrew - YOU ROCK! :D {photo from Tiffany.com} July 25, 2006, 2:45 pm Okay, so everyone hates the photo I had on my blog banner. LOL I changed it up a bit, but I'm not happy with this one either. So I'll probably change it again as soon as I get the chance. Maybe I should just have the text with no photo. :) July 24, 2006, 9:34 pm blog, blog, blog... 16... the number of blogs I check on a frequent basis (most of them daily). 7... the number of other blogs I check on a semi-regular basis. 16... the number of even more blogs that I check when I'm really bored (a rarity). Even with the amount of blogs I already check, I wish more people would start blogging (and the above numbers - which equal 39 for those of you who can't add - are only counting the ones I have saved in my favorites. These statistics don't take into account the number of blogs I read when I click on links from other people's blogs). I think it has been a wonderful way to keep tabs on family and friends (and the few people I don't really know whose blogs I stalk). I have been doing my blog now for 16 months, and I still love it. I'm still thinking of starting another more serious blog or forum or something. I like to keep this one lighthearted and fun and non-controversial. But I'd like to have one for discussing deeper issues. Who knows... maybe one day soon. All you blogger wannabes out there... go ahead and start one of your own! I'd like to get to know you better. :) July 24, 2006, 3:01 pm So I decided it was time for a new look for the blog. I'll probably update the photo on the left fairly often. I have lots of photos that I need to upload to an album and send out. Maybe one day this week. The doorbell rang this morning... Andrew sent me 12 roses for our 12 years together. He's so sweet. He says I have another gift coming too. I can't wait to see what it is. I love him. (and not just because he buys me things) :) I am trying to get caught up on my email... it's slow-going though. If you have written me and I haven't written back, it's just because I have let my inbox get completely out of control. I'll get back to you soon. :) July 23, 2006, 6:10 pm Today is Andrew and my 12th anniversary! I'm so thrilled to still be married to the most wonderful husband on earth. We have certainly had our struggles, but God has miraculously brought us through them to the most awesome relationship of any couple I know or have ever known (and that is not an exaggeration). We are so in love, even from opposite sides of the world. Andrew is amazing, and I cannot imagine being anywhere else in life but celebrating my 12th anniversary with him. :) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY! I LOVE YOU!!! :) |
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