Merry Chris-a-mas!

That's how Austin says it. I love the lingo of 3 year olds. So funny! 

Well, we had a really nice Chris-a-mas. We all went to the Gordon's for their annual Christmas Eve party. Stayed there until Anna was almost a mess. Then we headed home in anticipation of putting all the kids to bed. We got three of them to bed, but the one we thought would for sure go to sleep, did not go to sleep. In fact, Miss Anna was VERY excited to be in her quiet home. She perked right up and was all over the place with lots of smiles and wanting to play. Stinker! All of my kids did this at this age. They like their quiet and familiar home. 

Christmas morning brought the opening of presents (after getting coffee going, of course). Austin busied himself playing with his new race track, Ethan got to business on his new DS game, Anna played with her new toy that lights up and makes all sorts of noise, and Emma worked on her magnetics set with her daddy. Later that afternoon the Martinez families came for dinner. We chatted and played Taboo, ate turkey dinner and cinnamon rolls for dessert, and finished the night off with Rock Band. :) The kids got to bed late again, but they had a great day. 

Today we are relaxing at home, I am sitting here quite tired out and looking at the mess around me. Pav and his wife, Sarah, are coming in tomorrow and I have all sorts of things that I need to do, but they are going to have to wait just a bit. I need to relax! Hosting Christmas is a lot of work! I did get a little snooze today, but what I really need to do is get to bed early tonight. 

I hope you all had a merry Christ-a-mas!

Anna is 1 Year Old!

This past Thursday Anna turned 1 year old. My baby girl! Sigh! She has been so much fun. All of my kids are fun, but with each child it is a little different. Anna is different because she is my fourth and I am so much more relaxed with her. I have really laughed a lot more this first year! 

We had a big birthday party planned for her today! Ok, well, really it was just a great excuse to have a get together at our house. :) The typical first birthday parties I have been to in the past have usually resulted in the guest of honor either crying most of the time b/c of all the commotion or the child slept through the party. I think I might have been impressed with Anna if we had had the party today! (Matt started feeling bad last night and it only got worse this morning. So, we ended up having cupcakes with just our family. And I loved it. It was great!) But Anna surprised me! We got her cupcake ready and sang Happy Birthday...and then she promptly dug in! I couldn't believe it! My other kids either didn't like getting their hands dirty or were just so overwhelmed by this time that they wanted nothing to do with the cake...until you put it in their mouth. :) But Anna dug in, squished it all around in her hands, kept licking her hands off, and thoroughly enjoyed herself! Then off to the bath she headed. 

Hopefully Matt will start feeling better tomorrow, but if it's the same thing I had a couple of weeks ago, then it will take another couple of days of laying around the house. Pray that the kids don't get it.

Words that Rhyme

Austin is interested in words that rhyme lately. I am surprised as none of the other kids ever showed interest in that at such a young age. I think he is interested because he hears Ethan and Emma rhyming words. For example, (and picture this, he usually shouts out the words in the middle of a conversation you are having with someone else, and he won't stop until you have acknowledged him), 

"MAMA! MAMA! WHAT RHYMES WITH CAT? UMMM, SAT, AND HAT, AND MAT! THEY RHYME WITH CAT!" After he warms up with an easy one, next comes the hard one...or so I think. But for Austin? Nope, he's got it covered. 

"MAMA! MAMA! I SAY, MAMA! I AM TALKIN TO YOU! MAMA! WHAT RHYMES WITH CHRISTMAS TREE? I KNOW! MINI ME! AND I GOTTA PEE! DAT RHYMES WITH CHRISTMAS TREE!" Yup, you got it. Never would've thought of those ones. Way to go Austin! 

Musings while Stuck on the Couch

This has been an interesting week. First I had an awful sore throat and incredible achyness that kicked my butt for a couple of days. (I thought I had strep!) I'm still in the process of getting over that. Then this morning, as I was holding Anna in my left arm, I reached over to get something off of the end table with my right hand and something popped in my rib area and was so painful! I recalled what my chiropractor said about how it feels when a rib pops out of place, like an ice pick stabbing you in the side, and sure enough that is about what it felt like. I couldn't take a breath without a sharp pain stabbing my right side. Oh, it was awful! So I called Stephanie and begged to come over because well, I was having trouble breathing. And well, breathing is important. So, out go my plans to actually get out of the house and buy Christmas presents and here I sit with an ice pack on my back. So, for those of you who were going to get presents, my plan was to buy them, wrap them up nice this year and mail them. Now it looks like I will be doing what I usually do, ordering online with a "Merry Christmas" in the notes area. :) It IS easier to do that, but I wanted to do something a little more special this year. Ah well, it's not about the presents anyways, is it? It's about taking extra time to remember our Lord during this season. 

You know, I'm really enjoying Christmas this year with the kids. We already went to see a play, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". I have to admit, I got teary during the performance, not because of the play itself, but because I was so glad to be sharing it with my kids! I didn't get to participate and enjoy the Christmas season as a kid, and I'm finding that my kids love it! And therefore I love it! They love the decorations, the lights, the Christmas songs, and of course they are looking forward to the presents. :) We watched the movie 'Elf' the other night and it was great! It was about Santa Claus (someone who I have had issues with in the past), but my kids know that he is not real and they still enjoy watching shows about him. It's just like Frosty the Snowman or even Transformers. Just one more character. I used to not want my kids to get hung up on Santa, but you know, even if they did it means no more to them than Blue from Blue's Clues. It's been a liberating Christmas season so far this year and I am thoroughly enjoying it! So long as they remember what Christmas really represents I don't mind all the extras that go along with it. And that will be my mission, to make sure I develop fun traditions around Jesus. So, if anyone has any ideas I would welcome them.

Merry Christmas!

Baby Gate is Up!

Well, I have good reason to finally put the baby gate up at the foot of the stairs. Up until now, Anna has just lingered at the bottom of the stairs looking up. She might venture up a few steps, but that would be about it. This morning I was doing emails and such and knew she had gone over in that direction, but it was entirely too silent. Then I heard someone playing with the gate at the TOP of the stairs. Sure enough, it was my sweet pea! She had climbed up the stairs and was playing with the gate. I got there just in time too! As I was heading upstairs, she had pushed the gate so it swung back out over the stairs and she was reaching for it! She has already fallen down the entire flight of stairs once and I don't care to have it repeated. Anna also is cruising around furniture alot these days. She'll be up and running before we know it!

Thanksgiving

It has been a week since we returned from MI for Thanksgiving and only now do I have some time to sit and think and blog. :) It's been a busy week of cleaning up the van from the trip, trying to get the kids back into the swing of things with our daily schedule, putting clothes away, and putting away misc piles that have gotten out of control recently. But I am feeling like things are in better order in my house, therefore I can now think. :)

THANKSGIVING!!

It was a great week! Matt and I and the kids started the trip by driving up to stay the night with the Griffin's near Little Rock. The next morning we headed out for MI. It was a long second day of driving but the kids did really well. I'll be honest, I was ready for the worst. I was ready for irritability and fussing and motion sickness. I had toys for the kids and I had back-up toys! I had snacks and drinks (but we didn't want them to drink too much so we wouldn't have to stop alot!) But the drive went way better than I anticipated. There must have been alot of prayers out there for us. :) The kids kept themselves entertained in the morning, then they had lunch, then naps, then they played for a bit again, then dinner, then videos at nighttime, then one last potty stop and they slept the rest of the way. 

While we were up there we stayed with Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Stan. We went to Jim and Deana's place and saw their new house. It is a really cute place! We also saw Julie and Brian and the girls quite a bit since they live only 1/2 a mile down the road. And then we went to Grandma Lola and Grandpa's house one morning as well. That was all before Thanksgiving Day. On Thanksgiving Day Aunt Judy and Jim, Cyndi and Ben, and Grandma Lola and Grandpa came over for dinner. That evening all the girls headed down to aunt Judy's house in IN to search through all the ads and plot their plan of attack for shopping the next morning, Black Friday. Grandma Lola and I didn't go down for the shopping. We are not fans of all the crowds and standing in endless lines. So I helped the others find the gifts they were looking for. At one point, I'm not really sure how this topic came up, but Julie and someone else started talking about killing chickens at the farm for food. Well, at that point, this city-girl headed on out to the kitchen! But I did find some tasty Bailey's and after a few sips was able to join in on the conversation. :) The next morning everyone else headed out while Grandma and I slept in. We joined everyone for breakfast around 9ish and then headed home where my sister and her family were waiting for me! It was great to see them. They stayed the day at Deb and Stan's. We all went out on a hay ride to the pines. Everyone got out and ran around through all the trees until we were freezing. Then we headed back in to warm up and get ready for some of Grandma Lola's fabulous swiss steak for dinner. Yum! The kids had fun together and it was nice to hang out with Patti and Bill and all of Matt's family. We had more people over for dinner on Friday than on Thanksgiving! Jim and his family and Julie and her family also came over. There were a lot of kids! 

On Saturday we were ready to head home. I knew I would miss everyone, but I was tired and needed to get home and get the kids back to their routine. There are some great things about living up in MI that I think I would really enjoy if we were there. But as I prayed about it I knew that we are still supposed to be in TX for the time being. And I have to admit, I think the weather here is much better! :) So, Debbie loaded us up with fresh salsa and strawberry jam to take home. Julie got us some pure honey, peaches and applesauce. And Deana baked and frosted a ton of sugar cookies that we we have thoroughly enjoyed. And the cookies are gone. :) 

Saturday night we stayed the night at the Payne Chatelaine! Amy, I'm surprised that you didn't mention on your blog the exciting game that we played after the kids went to bed! Have any of you ever played 24? If you haven't then you MUST! Fabulous game! Fabulous! ;) Wouldn't you recommend it, Amy? (he he he). Ok, so this game must have some kind of bug in it or something. It started out good, but then there were certain parts that you had to use your remote with the tv that none of us could get past. So, of course, according to the game our missions kept failing. It was actually really funny and we all had alot of fun playing. It was really great to see the Payne's again. We have missed you all down here in TX. And we will stop and see you again next time we drive to MI. This time we will hopefully not have puke-smelling children when we first arrive. :) (Anna and Austin both got motion sick in the van and threw up about 20 min before we got to their house. I think it was the winding back roads that did it to them.)

We left early Sunday morning for TX. On the way we got a call from the Griffins who were also driving home from KY. As it turned out we were both about the same distance away from their house. So, we decided to crash at their place for dinner and to let the kids run around and get their jammies on before we finished our journey. After getting stuck in some traffic, we arrived at their place first and ordered the pizza. It was a really nice break in the trip. On the one hand, it made the trip longer, but it was worth it. We arrived home about 1am or so. 

All in all the trip went really well. We had a good drive there and back. And we all had a good time with friends and family.

I will post pictures on my picasa site.

Update

It has been quite awhile since I've blogged. Seems there aren't enough hours in the day. We were doing quite well over here....until early this morning. Ethan came into our room complaining of his stomach hurting. He crawled into bed with me and sure enough it was really hurting him. After awhile he threw up and is now in a much better mood. I am thinking this is just the residual of strep throat that he is still getting over. Of which he is still taking antibiotics for. I don't really know. I have not had coffee yet this morning and have been up since about 3am (first with Anna, I let her cry it out last night. It is time to stop nursing her at night. It was time to do that awhile ago but I never quite got around to it). We will see how the day progresses. I suppose we will put all activities on hold yet again for a day or two. And these were the busy days coming up! Today the kids have gymnastics and tomorrow they have The Cube, our co-op where I teach two classes. I'm not sure what to do about that. I missed last week because of Ethan's strep throat. I guess we will just see how the day goes and then decide.

I did finally post a bunch of pictures on my Picasa site. http://picasaweb.google.com/lesliehargus I tried to post them on the blog but it was such a pain so I just decided to keep them at Picasa. Much easier to do. I need easy and I need fast! The kids and the house keep my busy! You know, I had to laugh yesterday when on three separate occasions people asked me, "Are all these kids yours?" With a look of surprise and amazement in their voices. :) ha ha ha! Sometimes I am surprised I have this many! They keep me busy. But overall things are getting easier. Austin is pretty well potty trained. Yay! That makes life much easier.

Ok, side note, as I am typing this Austin burped (he is sitting at the table eating) and said, "Mama I sick. There's too much Frosted Wheats in my mouth, that's why." The logic of a 3 year old. He is my funny boy.

So Austin is pretty well potty trained, as long as I remind him to go. And Anna is on a good nap schedule which makes it easier for me to do schoolwork with the kids. She's also eating more solids which is a nice break for me. :) And as I get more sleep the better I feel and the better I am able to deal with all that comes my way during the day.

Ethan and Emma are doing really well with school this year. Emma has whizzed through her handwriting book and is writing out her bible verses from Sparks now as her handwriting assignment. She's also doing quite well with Math. I am amazed at how much she already knows just from listening to what I have been doing with Ethan. And Em is also doing great at reading. We are halfway through her reading book. When we finish the book she should be reading at a second grade level. When I finished that book with Ethan last year his reading skills took off. I can't wait to see that happen with Emma. Right now she is still hesitant and not quite confident in her skills. It won't take long and she'll be getting out her own library books to read!

Ethan's attention span is much better this year. I can see improvement in every area. It's very exciting to see! He catches on to math easy. He figured out subtraction before we got to it in his book. He didn't know that that is what he was doing tho. His handwriting is also sooo much better! I didn't expect such a huge improvement in that area yet. I had heard that for boys it takes until second grade for handwriting to improve. I don't push it, but we do a little each day. I think that works well for him since he still doesn't like it.

Princess Anna is growing like a weed. She is funny. A serious little thing like her oldest brother. She's quite fond of her daddy these days. She reaches for him as soon as he gets home from work. He is "Happy Fun Dad" after all. That's his job. :) Anna likes to make new noises with her mouth, she likes to dance (she's a headbanger), and she is learning how to wave bye bye. Her biggest achievement is that she is standing up on her own for a few seconds at a time....until she starts to dance. :) She took two steps towards me while holding on to only one of my hands yesterday. She is well on her way to causing all sorts of trouble!

And Matt is enjoying his new job as well. He is finally getting his weekends off. He actually got to work on our bathroom shower last weekend! and I bought some paint for Emma and Anna's room. Not sure when I'll get around to painting tho....

Sick

Well, today Ethan is sick and we are going to head to the dr to get his very swollen throat checked out. I am really hoping none of the other kids get what he has. He also threw up last night and this morning. Off I go to take him to the dr.....better get a bucket to take in the van....:(

Back from the dr with a pitiful child and prescription in hand. He has strep and is having trouble keeping much of anything down. Poor kid. Pray for him. Pray for all of us, that it won't spread.

Girl Weekend!

My beautiful girls and I got to go up to MI for our annual 'Girl's Weekend'! This is the third year we have be able to get together. My sister, Penny, and I and our respective girls head up to MI to join our other sister, Patti, and my mom and our lifelong friend (our 4th sister really!), Heather. We like to make our visit in the fall to see the fall colors on the trees and go to the Cider Mill. It's the best time of the year up there! We also get together with the family and have Thanksgiving dinner while we are up there. (OK, I'm not sure how this section got underlined....)

The cider mill was fun as always! There were alot of things for the kids to play on, animals to pet, and of course cider and doughuts to eat! Sooo yummy! Sigh! I look forward to the cider mill every year. I don't think I will ever tire of it.


This year was the first year we all dressed up in costumes and went to the Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo. Most of our group were characters from The Wizard of Oz. In my opinion, my costume was truly the best! And mostly because it was made with love from Heather. :) It was great! Originally, Heather had a Tin Man costume and I was going to borrow it. Well, when the time came to get everything together she couldn't find it! So, she threw something together...literally! I was held together with duct tape! And lots of it! And to top if off, I was pieced together outside of the entrance to the zoo! It was hilarious! But I loved it. My costume was also the best because I was the warmest! :D It was chilly out that night!


Ok, after I added the pictures everything became an absolute mess. I am not sure how to fix it at the moment. But I am going to head to bed now b/c it is too late. :) At least I got something put up here!

My First Time

So, I colored my hair today for the first time. All by myself...well, Anna was crawling around on the bathroom floor while I was doing it. I think she may have gotten her foot colored in the process. I believe I ruined a towel and a shirt in the process. I'm not sure though. It's 'semi-permanent' color. Anyone know if it will come out of fabric? I didn't read that part in the directions. Not detail oriented, you know. :) So, the box said it was a, and I quote, "Light Golden Brown." Well, let me just say that there is no light or golden showing up. In fact I see more brown and even red! How in the world did that happen? It looks nice thankfully! And it will wash out eventually. But I was expecting one color and got something very different. My hair is darker than when I started! I didn't expect that. Oh well, live and learn. Right? :) My goal was to cover up the gray. And I think I covered most of it. There are a few resistant ones, but I got the majority of them. I was trying to be at peace with my gray hair. That didn't happen. I'm 35 now. Aren't I at the beginning of my midlife crisis? 

It's Loud at My House

I am sitting here in my living room listening to the chaos around me. There are 5 adults and 9 children ages 6 and under in my house. And there might be more to come. I am not sure. Becky and Jesse Griffin and kids are here to visit from Arkansas this weekend. And then other friends from in the area have come to hang out with us too. There has been football-watching (not by me), video game playing (also not by me), and soccer playing (again, not by me). The kids have kept themselves busy with legos and a train set. The adults have been doing most tv activities. I took Ethan to his soccer game where they won their first game of the season! Yay! Ethan played well. I had to bribe him with a doughnut, but you know, if it works...I told him that if he kicks the ball at least 4 times then he could have a doughnut when he gets home. And he did! He usually just likes to run alongside the soccer ball during the game. I might use the doughnut trick again next time. :) Then Becky and I went to the homeschool store and bought some books. I found some great books for Ethan to read in the morning. "Why Does It Rain?", "Where Does Electricity Come From?", "What Is In Space?". Books like that. He will love them. Those are exactly the questions he has been asking me lately. Then home to get the kids dinner and have a rest myself. When I next came downstairs all of our guests were gone! They had gone to a church function at a friend's church. But by then Matt was playing Rock Band at an obnoxiously high volume and so I took Anna, Austin and Emma to the park. It was beautiful out this evening. In the 70s I think. It was perfect. After we got home I took Anna upstairs with the intention of putting her right to bed. But after I changed her diaper and put her jammies on she was wide awake again. I missed my window of opportunity! We played and read books and finally she started rubbing her eyes and I put her down. So here I am....listening to another playstation game. Thinking that it's time to escape from the noise again....having a baby is great for that. :) Oh, I think Anna is fussing...better go get her!

Camping

This past weekend was the Scout Family 1171 campout. Ethan and Emma were both given an award at the awards ceremony so of course we had to go! But the question is, did we have to stay the night?? I think the jury is out on that one. I now know that my loving husband would say "NO". I learned this weekend that he is not really interested in going to all the trouble to get the sleeping bags out, get the tent set up, bring a cooler full of food, and all the other stuff that is required to camp out...he does not like to do that for what he says is "One crappy, cramped nights sleep." Ok. Maybe he has a point. I'll admit it was challenging at times. The hardest part was that the kids were so excited to go camping that they did not nap at all, got to bed late, didn't get a good night's sleep, and thus, were somewhat cranky and disobedient. But the good points were that the weather was absolutely beautiful! It was in the 80s during the day and the 60s at night. A gorgeous breeze was blowing. NO BUGS!!! We got to see dinosaur footprints, go on a few nature walks with the kids, and just spend time outdoors. No TV's or computers involved. It was nice to get away and do something completely different for awhile. I still enjoy camping. But I have a feeling we'll just put the tent up in the backyard for a few more years until the kids get a bit older.

So, I'm beginning to think I'm not detail oriented....

I attended the first bible yoga class 2 weeks ago. I stayed for the yoga part, but I did not stay for the bible study afterwards. I did not realize there was a bible study after the yoga and I had not sent enough formula or diapers with Anna into the nursery. As I was walking out of the class I glanced at what book they were using for the study and even asked someone what the name of it was.

Fast forward to this morning, I actually got to class on time (and it's quite an effort to get all the kids and myself ready and then to get them into childcare by 9am, but it's worth it!!!). I was ready! I had my new exercise pants, new exercise shirt (all my 'exercise' clothes were the old ratty shirts that were all worn out and were almost ready to be thrown out but since I used to work out to tapes at home and no one saw me, who cares? I'm sure some can relate.), my yoga mat, kids were dropped off with all the paraphernalia, and my book. The book that I made a few special trips to buy because I didn't find it at the first couple of stores I went to. So, I go through all the yoga poses almost tipping over at times. Rediscovering muscles that have not been used in years, learning how inflexible my body has become, but feeling good and really enjoying it all. Bible yoga is fantastic! It is a class for beginners at my church and the lady who does it reads bible verses and different quotes during the poses. It is a time of focus and meditation. Really nice. Something I need right now. Afterwards we get in a circle to talk and I hold up my book and comment on how I bought it but have not read it. That is when my friend, Jenny, next to me says ever so politely, "You have a different book than me." I thought, "Maybe just a different cover." I look over and nope, a completely different book. I just started laughing and you know, I'm not surprised. With the birth of each of my children I have developed selective hearing and have lost attention to details. I used to be detail oriented, but with each child I have focused less and less on the details b/c I just don't have time for them. So, I kept looking at Jenny's book and just laughed inside. I thought I was so on-the-ball this time!! ha ha ha! But you know what, the book I did get, "The Power of a Praying Woman", the book I thought I heard I was supposed to get, is perfect for me right now. I was excited when I bought it and read the chapter headings. I thought, "This is just perfect!" :) So, now I have to try and find time to read both books.

State of Mind

If you have read my blog you will have noticed how incredibly busy my summer was with guests coming and going. Matt and I constantly had people at our house for about 3 months. The most time we had without guests was about 4 days at one time, I think. You know, I prayed and asked God for help in being more hospitable. And help He did! I got more opportunities than I dreamed! :) Unfortunately, during that process I forgot the one who I had asked for help from. And it showed. I got more and more drained spiritually and emotionally. At the end of it all, after everyone had left, I felt so empty inside. I had absolutely nothing else to give. And yet, my children still expected me to give. It was tough. For awhile I couldn't pinpoint the problem. I thought I was too busy (and I was!) and that if I lightened the load I would feel fabulous. And I did lighten the load and it helped some. I thought if Matt would stop working 80 hour weeks then I would feel better. It did help a lot, but there was still something not right. There were other things I thought were the problem, but they weren't. It finally dawned on me when I was at church (which I hadn't been to consistently since before Anna was born...so at least 9 mos) 2 weeks ago. The sermon was about our "Now Season" and my tears just started flowing and I couldn't stop them. I wasn't crying out loud, but the tears just flowed. I wasn't enjoying my "Now Season". I was burned out. I don't remember being burned out like this before. Utterly tired. And I never saw it coming. Ha ha ha! I'm sure others did as they witnessed my intense summer schedule. :) So the next week I was thinking a lot on that. Then we went to church this past week. I kind of remember what the sermon was about...ok, not really. But that's not why I was there. :) I was there to invite God back into the lead position of my life again. I asked Him to make Himself known to me right then and I finally...finally sensed Him again. I missed Him. I always do when this happens. Because this is a particularly poor habit of mine. I hate the cycle but don't know what to do to stop it. Anyways, I begged Him not to leave, to stay with me and make Himself known even when there is so much else going on and it's so noisy in my house that I can't think. Because that's what happens. Ah, and I sense Him right now as I'm writing this. I miss Him when He's not there. But it's amazing how in the busyness of life I get so distracted that I don't even notice He's quiet until it's too late and I am far from Him and then I struggle to get right with Him and come back. It's a struggle every day to keep my priorities right. To keep my mind quiet so that I can hear Him. But oh, thank you Lord, for not giving up on me and being ever so patient. Maybe one day I will learn my lesson and stop being so cyclical. Maybe not. I have had many other times where You were quiet. I am thinking that it is during those times when You are watching to see which way I turn. And You wait patiently until I finally turn to You. Thank you for always bringing me back.

Not Sure What to Blog About

I'll be honest, there is so much going on, not only in my head but in life itself, that I am not sure where to begin. I don't even know what to blog about! Maybe if I list things out that will help clear my head and give you an update...let's give it a try.

• Anna got another tooth! This time it's one of her top ones. That's a grand total of 3 teeth.


• Anna is also cruising along the furniture and every so often let's go to practice balancing.


• She is now 9 mos old and I still need to get her pictures taken....but her hair is crazy! I don't know what to do with it. It won't stay down! Sticks up all over. Any suggestions??
  


• I am in serious potty-training mode with Austin. I put underwear on him the other day and decided not to go back. Pull-ups only for sleeping. He is doing pretty well...providing I tell him to pee in the potty every 30 minutes. :) Gotta start somewhere!


• Anna needs to be trained to sleep through the night. I am tired and really can't afford to be.


• I got help with leading my unit for American Heritage Girls. Yay! The pressure is off and I can relax a bit with that now.
  

• Linda and I are also going to swap off driving the kids around to their classes again. Every little bit that my schedule lightens up really helps. :) Thank you Linda!! I am looking forward to some quiet time at home with Austin during those days that I am not driving.
  


• Emma is really enjoying American Heritage Girls. All the girls are very good and are easy to please. We are going on a campout in 2 weekends to Dinosaur Valley with the Boy Scouts Troop. Ethan is a Tiger Cub with the Scouts. He is loving it! He of course loves the uniform and earning badges. Ethan is a very concrete boy. If he has something tangible he can earn then he is gung-ho about it! Of course with scouts comes fundraising....popcorn anyone??
  

• My friend, Stephanie, and I co-teach two preschool classes at our co-op, The Cube. We teach a music class and a bible class. There have been a few challenges since we started, but I think we have gotten things worked out. We have rearranged our classes, the snack time, the activities, and I think we've finally got it working well. yay! I am not worried about it at all with Stephanie by my side. I love working with Type A personalities! Especially since I am not one of them. ;) Stephanie is great. She is always thinking of new things to keep the kids busy during class. We've figured out that we have to fill most every minute of the kids's class time. That way they don't have time to get into trouble...or horse around and hurt other children.....

• Matt will be starting his new job next week. He is very excited! Of course he is! It will be a good change of pace for him.

• We painted (I mean, Matt painted) the living room and upstairs bathroom. They look great! I will try and get pictures up soon.

• I have discovered that I am going to need to actually write out a schedule for my life if I want to get things done. There is alot to do. I need to write out a schedule for the kids too so that they know what is expected of them and when, so that I am not always telling them.
  

• I am getting most school work done with the kids...but why is it that it takes all day?? Oh yeah! Because I have a 3 yr old and a 9 mos old that I have to entertain and take care of as well. I can honestly say that I am wondering if I should put the kids in public school instead of school them at home. It's a tough decision.
  

Well, I am not finished writing, but I am falling asleep at my laptop. Oh yeah, I got a laptop. :)
Off I go to bed. I will try and finish my thoughts tomorrow.

Tired

Matt and I got to go on a date! I am excited that we will be able to do that more often in the coming future. I am watching a friend's little girl for 1.5 hrs during the week. Payment will be Matt and I going out on a date every couple of weeks. Yay! We have needed this for a long time. We went to Rockfish tonight. Very tastey Mahi mahi and Blow Pop Martini's. mmmm!

We also started our homeschool co-op today. The Cube! The kids had a great time and made some new friends. The classes that I co-taught went pretty well. There is some tweaking to be made, but I think it will all get worked out and the kids will have some fun in the process. :)

I will put up a picture of the kiddos soon. Right now I am quite tired and ready for bed.

School

Ok, well we have finished 2 days of school with the 3 oldest children. So far, it is going pretty well I would say. There are a few things to iron out, but it looks like they are all enjoying it. And I think the structure of it all is good for all of us. The kids all get ready and do their chores for the day after breakfast. Then Ethan practices piano. I am doing all the reading portions with all 3 kids, then Emma and Ethan do some handwriting and language arts. By then it is usually lunchtime and after that we do math. And admist all of this I am constantly checking on Austin to try to get him to poop in the potty. He is doing ok with it. I am toying with the idea of taking him out of the pullups and just putting underwear on him. I did that at the beginning of the summer and he did not get it at all. Wet his pants every time. But now he's a couple of months older. I think I'll give it a shot...this weekend....when Matt is home to help. :)

Statement of Truth

So, I was combing my daughter's hair after she had her bath when she casually mentions something about her 'baby hole'. !!! As my eyebrows fly up to the top of my head, I try to casually ask, "WHAT?". I hear more mumbling about a 'baby hole' and I have a feeling I know who came up with this. So, I ask and sure enough her buddy, Alyssa, coined this latest and greatest terminology. Alyssa cracks me up. Of course that word makes complete obvious sense, after all it is where the baby comes out. So, I proceed to tell Emma the correct terminology, but really thinking that I'm ok with her saying 'baby hole' as opposed to it's correct terminology. I just can't go there yet with my daughter. She's only 5! These kids are funny tho. I love 'em.

Xanadu Revisited

So, we're travelling further back on the timeline....the weekend before Penny and Olivia visited, our college buddies all came to our place. Specifically the buddies that make up Xanadu. Ask Matt. It's all the boys. Kyle, Blossom and Karan were here from Sri Lanka; the newly married Mike Pavlik was here; Dave and Lisa Bonnet and boys; Brent and Angie Buchanan with kids in tow; and of course, the Martinez's who were already staying with us. Lots of food, fun, and Rock Band was had by all.





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Aunt Penny and Olivia Visit

We had Aunt Penny and Olivia visit the weekend before Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Stan were here. All the girls went out on a Girl Date for ice cream one day. We even managed to go to the park one day. Pretty humid out, but we played for a bit. The rest of the time we spent playing inside or in the pool. Olivia improved her swimming so much in a short 5 days! Way to go Olivia! It was great to spend time with her and my sister.

Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Stan Visit

Matt just left to drive them to the airport. We were sad to see them go. The kids had a great time playing with grandma and grandpa. They all played in the pool and played games. I LOVED the 'Silent Game'. Yes, that one was my personal favorite. Ok, look at Austin and grandma Debbie...I've always wondered whose eyes Austin's looked like. Now we know. :)

Dinner?

The age old question...what to have for dinner? I am sitting here contemplating it. So, I thought I might as well blog while I figure it out.

We have had such a busy summer. So many guests! It has been great. Really! :) It has been incredibly busy and fun. It is now time for things to slow down tho. I am ready for school to start and to get into a regular schedule for me and the kids. They are ready too. Next week I am planning to start school. I don't have everything I need, but I have most of my curriculum figured out. I'm also teaching at our co-op, The Cube, this year. I hope to get those classes figured out next week in preparation for our start date next Friday. Nothing like leaving it all to the last minute! But that is what I do. I always left papers to the last minute in college. If I start early and have too much time to think I can't make a decision on how to approach the topic. I would keep changing my mind. I finally learned to just wait until the last minute and then I would HAVE to pick a topic real fast and go with it. It works for me. :) Not great for your stress levels, but it works out.

I also need to take a training class to be an assistant leader for American Heritage Girls. I am thinking it will be great for me and Emma to do fun things together and for me to see what she likes to do. So, I am looking forward to it this year. Ethan is excited about Cub Scouts. The AHG and Scouts already have some camping trips and day trips planned that will be fun to do.

The kids are taking soccer this fall, too. Ethan took it last year and so far he has done really well at practices this year. I've seen some improvement already! He's a bit more aggressive this year which is a good thing for him. Emma had trouble her first practice. She did not want to participate. Cried every time someone tried to convince her to get out and play. We've only had one practice and then this week's practice was cancelled (not a good thing, she needed to be exposed to it again). I think she may have been more willing if she had some friends on the team, but this is not the case. I recall Ethan being very hesitant about participating the first year he took a sports class. We will give it time. It will be good experience for her.

So, that will be our year. School, sports, and Cub Scouts and AHG. A full year. Good times. :) Hopefully a vacation up north thrown in there. Oh, and rest. We all need some of that too.

As for dinner, I'm thinking it will be a spaghetti night.

What a Weekend!

I know I have not blogged in awhile, but we have been so very busy that I have not had time to think and process all that is going on. While all of the business is alot of fun, I am tired at the moment. We had a great time this weekend. Kyle and his wife, Blossom, and their son, Karan, came to visit as did Mike Pavlik. They stayed over our way for the weekend. Dave and Lisa and kids and Brent and Angie and kids also joined in the fun. All the dads and kids went to see The Clone Wars on Saturday afternoon and then the dads went out to 'bond' over dinner that night. That was really the only big event. We mostly just hung out and played Rock Band and the Wii and enjoyed each other's company. We were all friends in college and just love hanging out together. And then Ben and Vicki and kids have been living with us since last week. They are moving down here and we are home base for awhile. They are great house guests! We have really had a good time with them here. I missed them while they were in Washington. I believe their current plan is to get into a place in the next week or two. In the meantime, Penny and Olivia are coming down to visit this Thursday. No plans as of yet during that time. Sleep? Yes, that sounds like a good plan. :)

3rd and 4th Sightings

The 3rd salamander sighting was in the house....myfriend, Vicki, saw it at 6:30am the other day and caught it and put it outside. A girl after my own heart. :) Of course, she is a veterinarian so I can't imagine her hurting ANY animal. :) Maybe we have a salamander infestation? Is there such a thing?? The 4th sighting was outside. We had friends over this past weekend and one of the boys caught one outside and we put it in a gladware container. The next day we saw them again and I heard he gave it to his brother for a birthday present. Jesse said, "I got a LIVE present!". ha ha ha! Too cute.

Second Sighting

As I was getting ready to head to bed the other night, I heard Matt call out, "Uh, Les, come here!". Apparently the tan salamander had made it's way into our front closet. This is probably the same one I saw in Austin's bed a while back. With the state of our front closet (lots of stuff stored in there) I didn't put too much effort into finding the little guy. He'll make another appearance soon and I'll get him then.

She's Officially Mobile!

Our littlest one, Anna, is now officially mobile! She has been crawling all around. Of course, when she sees me she stops and fusses to be picked up. :) Imagine that....a baby that fusses and wants to be held....

One Last Thing...

While my parents were here we had another little houseguest....a salamander! Yes, we have had salamanders in the house before, but my parents have not. They looked slightly alarmed when I told them one had escaped out of Austin's bed before I could catch it and was running free in the house. That night before getting into bed my mom shook out her blankets just to be sure she didn't have an unwanted friend. :) The next day I heard a yell "LES! SALAMANDER!" and sure enough there was a little one. I caught it and put it outside. What I didn't tell her was that it wasn't the one I saw in Austin's bed! The one we caught was spotted. The one in Austin's bed was tan. :D And I haven't found him yet!

Bouquet of Lilies

These lilies were so beautiful that they deserve a post all their own! Thank you Matthew. You are so wonderful to me. I love the flowers. I am loved. :)

I cannot seem to put up a picture of the full bouquet up without it being sideways so here are some pictures of the individual lilies.

Grandma Joan and Grandpa Doug Visit

Me and the kids have had so much fun hanging out with my parents this past week. Grandpa Doug read and played with all the kids (even fussy Anna!) while grandma Joan and I worked on landscaping. Grandma Joan did 90% of the work and I may have managed to pitch in about 10%. I don't know how she did it in the 105 degree heat! I suppose taking pool breaks helped alot. :) And then in the evenings after dinner we would all get in the pool and hang out together. Anna was also very productive this week. She popped through another tooth! THAT would explain why my littlest one was so very fussy and clingy to her mama.

Grandpa and Anna cuddling.

Grandpa reading stories to the kids.

Grandma taking a dip in the pool with Anna.
Grandpa swimming with Emma.
Anna taking her evening nap.
I LOVE the pink float AND the crocs!
What more could you want? Poolside service!

My Header

You know, when I was looking for a 'Look' for my blog header I came across the quote that is up there and thought it was perfect. I look at my kids and want them to be great friends as they grow up. And I want that to continue on when they are adults. My sisters are my best friends. They always have been. Always will be. I love them so much and miss them. I want that for my kids. I talk to my kids and tell them to take care of each other, watch out for each other, comfort one another. I am trying to cultivate that kindness and caring in them because it doesn't always come naturally! :) And I pray that they will love one another always. I am hoping they will be great friends to each other.

Updates

Do you like the new look? Thank you Amanda! She is the one who beautified my blog page. :) I love it.

In other exciting news....Anna got her first tooth in! And THAT explains why she has been up at least 4 times each night for the past week. And why she has been fussier as well. The interesting thing is that I have been keeping an eye on her top gums for the past few weeks because they were swollen. I figured her first teeth would come in on top. I had checked her bottom gums several times but they didn't look swollen to me. Then all of a sudden there is a tooth on the bottom! She's kinda sneaky that way. Stinker. Hiding her swollen gums from me. :D I am going to have to keep a close eye on this one.

In romantic news....I got flowers! Matt is so sweet. Every so often he sends flowers and it just makes my month. The doorbell rang this morning and I wasn't surprised it was the FedEx guy since we were expecting a refrigerator part. But I WAS surprised to see a big box of flowers as well! Sigh! Makes me smile thinking about it. Beautiful lilies. They are in buds right now and should be opening in a couple of days. I'll take a picture and post it soon. I love you Matthew.

Running

It's a crazy world we live in. I am glad God is in control. But sometimes you still have to wonder 'Why?' when life takes such an unexpected turn for the worse. I am of course thinking about my friend whose husband is in the hospital after he was in a motorcycle accident. They have been through so much. It has been a long road for them these past months. God has shown Himself throughout this time to my friend and to all of her friends. It has been amazing to watch. Her faithfulness and steadfastness to the Lord. God has brought good out of the tough times she has been going through. She has been a wonderful example to the rest of us. I hope she knows that. God is making her into the Godly woman He wants her to be. It is a tough process. He is using the circumstances to mold her. Not an easy task. But she is handling it well. I am impressed. I am proud of you, Kendra. You are doing what God wants you to do, you are turning to Him. Well done my friend. Keep running the race.

I have an iPhone. I am cool...you are not. ;)

I am totally cool now. I have an iPhone. If you know my husband you would not be surprised that I have an iPhone. I have his old one. He got a new one this past week when they came out. From what I understand this new one is faster and has GPS. I will admit I have been having fun with it. :) I've already downloaded applications for a few games, Phonesaber (lightsaber!), Pandora...I forgot what that one is already, flashlight (your phone acts as a light, good for coming into the darkened bedroom at night so you don't have to turn on the light and waken the sleeping bear), and I can get to Facebook from it. There are even more cool things about it. Of course you have your phone, can access your email acct, access the internet, download iTunes and use it as your iPod, I have the Bible downloaded, there is a Map app that can locate where you are at using cell towers, text messaging, and you can store a TON of photos on it. I really like it. :) There are more things on it, but those are the ones that I love. Am I becoming a geek techie? I don't think I can even help it when I live with one....it's in the air.

Prayer for the Payne's

Dear Lord, I come to you and ask for a special blessing on Amy and Tommie Payne and their boys. They are off to start a new adventure in a new city and while it is exciting it is also hard to leave your friends behind. And Lord, the friends that are left behind miss them too. They are such a fun family! And I am so very thankful that you brought them into my life. They have been a special blessing to us. So, Lord, I pray right now specifically for their drive up to In tomorrow. I pray that Amy and Tomie will be clearheaded while driving and have good weather. I pray that the boys will behave and amuse themselves during the long ride. I pray that it will be a fun time for the family and that they will enjoy each other. I ask for special protection around them during this time. And then Lord, there is the moving in period, finding a house, selling a house, going to a new church, making new friends. Lord I ask that you will be intimately involved in each of those activities. I pray that you will guide and direct them exactly where you want them to be. And I pray that they will be ready and willing to listen to your voice. I am excited for them, Lord, and know that you have some fun stuff waiting for them. Lord please give them the support system they need and please bless them with the desires of their heart. And remind them that their friends in TX love them and miss them and think of them. In Jesus's name, Amen. Thank you Lord.

Cleaning (aka 'scraping' leather)?

Our youngest little man got a hold of a pen and left his mark at various points in the house. One of the places was on the leather ottoman. Anyone know how to get pen off of leather? The only way I have seen is to rub off the soft part of the leather (unfortunately) and then the pen is still there but at least lighter....sigh! The first true furniture casualty of children. Not bad considering it was #3 who did it. I just don't follow him around like I did the first two I guess. He really gets away with so much more....can you imagine what Anna will get away with! Yikes!

God is Good

I am amazed at God. He is way cool. :D His latest in my life is that He is taking wonderful care of a very good friend who is in the hospital. The Lord is showing His healing hand and for that I am thankful. It is well with my soul.

Patio Paradise!

Whoo hoo! We are on our way to a patio paradise! Matt went out today and bought an awesome new patio set! I love it. :) I checked it out online while he was at the store and gave it the thumbs up. As for the rest of paradise? Well, that will be forthcoming. Baby steps... and now I am off to rock with my husband and play Rock Band. He brought it home for himself for Father's Day (of course he had to get a Playstation 3 in order to play it!). I'll admit I was skeptical. 'Just another gadget' I thought. But it is really fun. :) Rock on baby!

Hello world!

Well, this is my first blog. As I am attempting to type something I have been asked by my daughter to get more cereal (brb)....by my son to get him a drink and I still have not even finished my morning coffee. I am seriously wondering if I will have time to blog! I will give it a shot. :) After all, it seems like the latest and greatest! I have read my friends' blogs (must stop and go get milk for the daughter and break up a fight between the sons...brb)....and have enjoyed them and thought it might be a fun way to let my family members know what is going on down here in TX. So, here I am.