Jumping in the deep end

Sheep, Wool & Puppy

2011-05-08T19:27:00.003-04:00

For Mother's Day I got breakfast in bed from my dear children. There is nothing like a breakfast made by your children to really appreciate the gift of love. It doesn't matter what they make, but they give love with their food. I love that they all try so hard to show me that they love me. It is so dear. I am so grateful for my lovely children. The hugs, kisses and cards & food are a blessing as are each one of them.
   After breakfast we traveled to Maryland to the Howard County Fairgrounds to the Sheep & Wool Festival. I now love going to these craft festivals because my mother dragged me to them constantly as a child. I of course HATED them when I was a child, but now I appreciate them for the variety of handcrafted items available. My children seem to love these festivals, but it is probably due to the food! With kettle corn, lamb-burgers, lamb sausage, lamb BBQ, Goat cheese, and funnel cakes, what's not to love ??!!
   I took the opportunity to get maple syrup, soap and a fireplace broom. Isn't it great what you can get at these things?
   To make the day extra special, we spent it with my in-laws. It is so nice that the kids get the opportunity to spend time with their grandparents. Dixie also came along. She was SO GOOD! She did a good job of maintaining attention with me and also avoiding distractions. She got to practice LOTS of "People Greets". This was our first venture into a BIG area with her and she was great! She didn't mind the crowds or the animals. We met raisers from 3 other areas and one even knew her sisters that are in Richmond being raised.
I would have pictures to share from the day, but the 3; YES 3! people that I asked to take pictures, did not take any!!!!
Ummm, seriously? Baby in front pack, dog leash in hands, alternating turns pushing stroller, must I also take the pictures?

New Family member

2011-02-04T23:27:00.003-05:00

Today we met our puppy Dixie. She will one day hopefully be a guide dog for the blind. We will do our best to prepare her and love her. She is 15 weeks old and a lot of fun. She is so obedient. A credit to the puppy raiser who was handling her before us. She obeys the commands to sit, stay, heel, [lie] down, come, follow, [go to] kennel, and out [drop]. She is working on "close" which is a command to teach her to get close to the handler [me] and between my legs when I am sitting. This will be a common position for a guiding dog when riding anywhere or sitting with her blind person. There is so much to teach her, but mostly we just need to love her. That is easy with 5 children around.

Wow! I am a little tired from this rascal and so is she!! She is so friendly and fun. I am looking forward to learning a lot with her. The sweetest moment of my day came when all the rest of the family was away in bed. Dixie desperately wanted to get next to me on the couch. This is a HUGE no no for a guide dog, absolutely no getting on the furniture. I got down on the floor to be with her and the not so little bundle of sweetness got into my lap and fell asleep. She snored as only a puppy can, and I was grateful to have a dog in my arms again.

What to do

2011-02-03T22:37:00.003-05:00

Several years ago at the Virginia Home Educators Conference I saw an information table from Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB). (My high school friend raised a puppy, so I knew of the organization). At that moment I knew that I wanted to be a puppy raiser. But I didn't want to terrorize my sweet old puppy with a new young puppy, so I filed it away in my head to do in a few years when the time was right.
  As the years passed, I have gradually known that I was not going to be ready to get a "permanent" dog, very soon after loosing my beloved puppy. I also knew that my children would want a puppy immediately. A happy medium would be to raise a puppy for the blind. I could let my sadness go toward helping someone else and bring a dog back to the house quickly.   I also wouldn't have to do all the raising alone. The nicest thing about the puppy raising is that you have weekly training classes. I don't have to figure out what my puppy is capable at this age, they tell me and help me teach the dog. I also get to share this experience with Elizabeth. She is reading all the materials and attending all the training classes. We get to work on this as a team and in return she earns 100's of hours of volunteering for her American Heritage Girls Presidential Award that she is trying to get. I am looking forward to the time I will get to spend with my sweet daughter.
   One question that I get from everyone is "Won't you love the dog and miss her when she goes?" To this, I answer, "Of course, but I know that she will be helping someone. She will be loved and appreciated. What more does a dog wish for? What more could I wish for her? Also, I hear that you get to know not only the blind person, but their families as well. You end up with more friends. That sounds like a wonderful experience to me. But at the end of the day, I enjoy helping others and that is honestly enough for me. I know I will be sad to see her go, but she will just be replaced with another puppy to raise. and since puppies are a lot of work, the distraction will be good. I do intend to get another permanent dog, but we will have to do that when the time is right.
   The most amazing thing about this puppy raising process is that it is very quick, I thought it would take months to get trained and approved, but the process has been quick and tomorrow our first puppy comes to stay. We are all so excited. We have toys, food treats, and lots of love all ready for our sweet new puppy.

Back Again.

2011-02-02T00:37:00.122-05:00

It has taken me two months to write this post, but early in the morning on November 18th my 13 almost 14 year old puppy died. Because today is her birthday, I will honor her by writing about how her. I am grateful to have gotten to spend my part of my life with her.
You never know how much an animal will mean to you when you first get them. It is like any relationship. You are so excited to meet each other and learn about each other that you forget that there will be a day when you have to say goodbye. And goodbyes are never fun. Goodbyes are filled with tears, regrets, memories, and uncertainty. Will I ever see them again? will they have a safe journey? was I a good friend?
Two months have passed and the tears still fall for my constant uncomplaining companion.

In the case of my puppy it was a final goodbye to my childhood and youth. Not that I am old, but so much of my life has transformed while she was a part of it. During our friendship, I was a newlywed, went through 3 long deployments and many little ones, had 5 children, moved 3 times, bought a house, renovated a house, and innumerable other things. A lot has changed and I am a different person today than when I met her. What a joy and comfort you were dear puppy.

Ah, the day we met,...I remember it so well. I had spent the last two months reading dog books. I needed to figure out what type of dog would be a good match for me and learn how to train a dog. I decided on a lab or a golden retriever because they are good "family dogs" and are easier to train- a bonus for a novice. I then spent a weekend looking at litters of puppies. I did go to the Hawaiian Humane Society to find a dog, but the only retriever was not good with cats or children. Instead, I walked away with a kitty who still sleeps on the edge of my bed today. The next day I met my puppy. She was 5 1/2 weeks old. She was a great big ball of fluff and I loved her immediately. I remember rocking her in my arms that first night, It was a beautiful star filled night and I took her outside to "get busy", then held her and rocked her to sleep. She was so tiny.
A few weeks later she met her "boyfriend" and despite the fact that she got along well with others dogs, she had a special bond with him that lasted for their lifetime. I could say his name and her ears would perk up. Here they are playing.

I took her with me everywhere. We drove honey to work and picked him up, went to the beach, and the pet store. She was so good at riding in the car. She would sit in the passenger seat with her head on the stick-shift while I drove, that way I could constantly pet her. A win for both of us. When I didn't take her with me, she always met me at the door. Often she would bring me my shoes. I still expect to see her every time I open the door.

Of course with the additions of children in the house, her life changed. But I think she just loved having more people to give her attention, and of course all the food they dropped on the floor was a bonus!

A special bond of love.

Probably the one who fed her the most "fallen" food.

Rolo takes a snooze on the most comfortable pillow in the house.

Puppy meeting the newest family member.

During Snowmagedon 2010

Despite the fact that she was a Hawaiian dog and loved the beach and the water. She LOVED the snow even more. She would roll in it and jump and frolic in the snow. I am glad that her last winter included the record breaking snow last year.

I should seriously label some of these pictures because I have no idea where we are, except that we were driving cross country.

Goodbye sweet puppy, we miss you a lot. Thank you for spending your life with us.

To Stitch or not to stitch, that is the question.

2010-11-09T03:25:00.000-05:00

Perspective. It is all about perspective. A mother of one or two kids, runs to the doctor to sew up every little cut. Now that I am a mother of five, I have seen my fair share of stitches and know when they are necessary and how many they will need. But here's the thing the older and/or country doctors will tell you that the city/younger ones will not. Most cuts don't need stitches. You just need the wound cleaned and kept free from dirt and bacteria (that means $2 in bacitracin and bandaids). Your body is made to heal itself. So this is the decision I had to face today. Should I take Keener to the ER? Honey is gone, which means all of us would have to go. It is not a decision to be made lightly. A trip to the ER for stitches will cost you 4 hours of frustration, $700, 5 whiney kids, AND whatever disease you happen to catch!!
Keener's forehead got sliced when she fell off of brother Christopher's shoulders onto a gravel driveway. This is 4th time I have seen this head injury in my kids. This was a"borderline" case. A country doctor would not sew it up, but a city doctor would. I decided to save myself the trip, the money, the sanity and the health. I got Keener all cleaned up, gave her some arnica, and some hugs. Truly this is all she needed. The bleeding stopped eventually and she is healing fine.

---and in case you are wondering. Her hair is that short and crazy. She keeps cutting her hair. It is impossible to keep scissors away from her. So for now, she looks like a boy. and that's okay with me, I love her to pieces even if she has crazy hair

Again and again and again!

2010-11-03T02:35:00.000-04:00

Not Again! For the 10th time this year I have gone to start my car and the battery was dead. Now you might think this is caused by a bad battery. Wrong! It is caused by my five little "ducks". My little ducks are perfectly capable of opening a car door, but apparently closing the door is something they "forget" to do. Please God, explain to me how you can open a door, still have your hand on it as you climb out of the car and "forget" that you are TOUCHING the door?! The problem is that I do not pass by their side of the car on my way to the house. Then I might be able to alleviate this problem.
   Now with all this "experience" with dead batteries, I should be working for a car service and jumping cars for a living. Uh, not quite. I have a little too much of the "Scarlet Ohara" syndrome. What is that? Well, Scarlet is perfectly capable of doing anything she sets her mind to doing, but why do it yourself when you can get someone else to do it right?
   Hmm... right?
   Well of course! I don't really want to get my hands dirty and stick them into the engine of a car, hoping that I don't electrocute myself or make the car explode. I know how to set up the jumper cables but have never once done it. I mean really, why? Like I said about the flat tire, we have a car service with USAA, I have a Honey, and great neighbors. But in this case, it was the unlikely but very lovable handyman who came by to give me an estimate for fixing the water infiltration problem in my house. See what I mean about the Scarlet syndrome? He barely knows me, yet got tasked with the job because he was "lucky" enough to stop by before my neighbors got home or I had a chance to call USAA. And he was able to fix the water problem at the house also. Yeah!

More Halloween.

2010-11-01T02:43:00.030-04:00

Here is a picture of the kids from Halloween.

Keener was a Cinderella Princess, of course yesterday at the Navy game, she was an adorable elephant. Elizabeth was an orange witch, Rolo made the cheapest costume ever (thank you Rolo!!) and was a robot. It was only $2.50 for the can of spray paint. Honey says I should add in the case of beer he "had" to drink. Haha Honey, but no. You don't get to count the recycled box! Christopher is a Jedi, but the costume doubles as a monk outfit, so he was a monk for the All-Saints party.
Baby Tybee dressed up as a baby - I know, not very original, but it was COLD out. So we had to go for practical.
It was a crazy and busy day; church, lacrosse game, All Saints party with homeschool Group, Halloween Party with neighbors, trick or treating, then Honey left to go to Norfolk, Virginia for his two weeks of Reserve duty. Needless to say, we were all exhausted and literally fell into bed! One Holiday down, two more to go!

Halloween Message

2010-10-27T13:08:00.001-04:00

Pumpkin Carving with the kids last night. Last year we did not get to do it because of the not so lovely swine flu. I am very grateful that Elizabeth and Christopher are old enough to carve their own. That only leaves 3 for Honey and I to do.

Halloween message from the kids.

Maybe we'll pick out some costumes? We only have a few days left....
Oh time, where do you go? I always seem to have so little.

Back to reality

2010-09-01T16:12:00.002-04:00

After yesterday's blown tire, I prioritized my life and went to get the stand mixer fixed. What? the mixer? Well, yeah! It is annoying to not have waffles in the freezer for the kids when they don't want cereal for breakfast; or be able to make bagels for breakfast, or make a cake! I really love that stand mixer and it makes cooking so much faster. I did not grow up with one of these and I wonder why my mother didn't ever get one. I never have to stand around whipping up eggs or cream. It always seems to take FOREVER to stiffen up egg whites with a hand mixer. Did you ever wonder who actually figured it out in the first place? I mean I have no patience to do it with an electric hand mixer, but think about how long it must take with just a fork, Ughhhhhh!!!!! Anyway, with a full size spare on the car, what is the rush with fixing the tire? Well this is coming from the lady whose only care about the car is that it move and have operational A/C. The sales men always hate me when I go to buy a car. The first question they ask is what color do I want. What color? Who cares?! I just don't want to be living at the repair shop!
So the mixer is at the repair shop and the car will make it there another day.

Hisssssssss

2010-08-31T19:11:00.002-04:00

I am trying to limit my trips out of the house so that Tybee can get some sleep and be on a somewhat regular schedule, but I am trying to get the rest of the kids out of the house so that they are not stir crazy. So today we planned a library trip. I prepared a list of books that I want the kids to read, and they gathered up books to return to the library. Upon arriving in the library parking lot and hopping out of the car, I heard a loud hiss coming from the back end of the car. It sounded like it was coming from the tire. As I looked at the tire, it seemed to be deflating.
Not good!!!
Not good at all!
I told Elizabeth and Rolo to quickly get back in the car. We needed to get home FAST! The good Lord knows I DO NOT want to get stranded with a newborn and a feisty 3 year old! So I safely drove home (notice how I do not say quickly!). I have this general rule that I'd rather ruin a rim than get stranded or change a tire in traffic. I parked in front of our house to make it easier for USAA's car service guy to change the tire. It was pancake flat by the time I got home. Can I tell you how much I would HATE to change a tire? I know how to do it, but why would I want to? I mean we have the motorist assistance, why not use it? Besides, I don't have a jack, my jack slipped and broke 2 years ago when my stepdad was changing a flat tire for me (thus the parking on the street and NOT on the sloped driveway). I know that I can get a replacement jack but again, WHY? I DO NOT want to change a tire! Patience is a virtue, and I am willing to wait for the USAA guy. I also know that it would take me longer to get out a jack, read the directions, jack up the car, get the bolts off and get the tire changed out; than it would for me to make a phone call and wait. So 45 minutes later, I had my spare tire on and clean hands. Much nicer!

It's a Girl!

2010-08-06T08:22:00.015-04:00

We are very happy to announce that at 8:22 am we now have another beautiful little daughter.
7 lbs 10 oz and 20.5 inches of sweetness!

Since she is our tiebreaker we have been jokingly calling her Tybee. Now the girls outnumber the boys!
I have been very blessed with easy & fast labors and this was no exception, I only had 3 hours of labor! I am very grateful to my sweet Honey and my good friend Mary for being my birth coaches. They make all the difference in the world. And it was Mary's anniversary too! I hope she liked her present!

The funniest moment occured when we arrived at the hospital. We happened to arrive when all the scheduled inductions and C-sections were checking in. When Honey announced (via intercom to the L & D desk) that we needed to check in, they assumed that we were part of the scheduled group and told Honey to have me take a seat in the waiting room. Honey replied, "YOU WANT my wife to DELIVER in the waiting room?!?!?!?" The very flustered staff quickly let me through the doors and into a delivery room! It still makes me laugh because Honey is NOT one to say something rash or raise his voice at people. He must have been really anxious.

How's this for fate? I got the same labor and delivery room that I was placed in two months ago when I had early contractions! Previous Post

Honey and I with our new little princess.

Big Sister is happy with her new little sister.

Christopher loves his little sister.

Keener is so happy to have someone to boss around!!

My three littlest ones. So sweet!

Nana and her newest little grandbaby.

Keener's Godmother Mary meets Tybee.

Our new little princess is healthy and is growing big despite a little jaundice (I think all babies must have jaundice). Now to just enjoy her and let the other kids love on their new sister.

One last picture from the hospital.

Uh, What day is it? Shouldn't the birthing center at the hospital at least get this right????

Made me laugh. Hope it brings you a smile too!

Every single day!

2010-07-15T20:51:00.005-04:00

Like every other parent that I know around here, we have had a swim or dive meet every night this week. Add to that, the morning practices and we basically live at the pool. Having not grown up in this culture of "Your life revolves around the pool during the summer", I am a little mystified and exhausted. I would just not bother, but it leaves my kids with no other children to play with. All the other kids are doing the same thing! And I am not kidding! I only know of 3 children NOT on a summer swim team. And honestly for a set daily schedule in the summer and a way to make sure the kids are getting exercise, the price is great. at least it basically sucks up July and leaves August alone. So normally August is very relaxing. (Unless I am silly enough to sign up the kids for football or cheerleading!- Not on your life! The 6 year olds practice 4 days a week! Seriously? Why does a 6 year old need that much practice?) Thankfully we have friends whose father played football in college and he insists that his boys not play until 6th grade. Thank you Lord for leading them into my life. I am so grateful that I can have the same rule and "prove" that you can still play football in college if you start 6 years later! I am so grateful for other parents advice and council. It is things like this that make it easier for me to be a parent. Who said you can't use peer pressure against your kids? Probably the best thing you can do is band together.

***Don't know why this didn't get posted months ago-but this is from July 15th, but posted November 19 2010

My little fish swimming-video

2010-07-13T19:33:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd try using the imac's imovie and try adding music to this video of Keener swimming (as mentioned on June 25th) at the pool. Imovie was quite a challenge, but not bad for a first try with 1000 distractions. She can swim a bit farther but it was quite challenging to be the camera woman and swim coach at the same time.

The music is from Taylor Swift. I just love her songs. The song is "">Best Day" from the album Fearless

A nice day.

2010-07-12T20:00:00.001-04:00

We are enjoying having N♡-'s sister (L♡♡) visit with us this summer from Spain. It is hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since we picked her up at the airport. Since we have been living at the pool with swim and dive team, I have not been able to take her as many places. I am also a LOT slower this last month and the heat is getting to me. Of course with 100 degree days, I think the heat is getting to everyone! So today I made an effort to get L♡♡ to DC to see the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. We got very lucky with parking-yeah!! yeah!!! yeah!!! My rule is you take 20 minutes of driving around for free or metered parking and after that you go home or pay.

Constitution Hall.

We got to park here- this is barely a block from the White House. See what I mean about getting a great parking spot!!

Elizabeth, Christopher, Rolo, Keener and L♡♡. Thankfully it wasn't crowded. Notice there is NOONE else in the photo- not a normal thing.

The White House.

The 1st lady's vegetable garden is off to the left, but not visible in this picture.

Christopher and Elizabeth

Is it just me or are there a TON of fences in DC!

Of Course no matter where you go, all it takes is

a simple flower to inspire a child.

It just proves God knows best.

The National Christmas Tree without all the gaudy decorations.

Crazy Picture of kids at backside of Jefferson Memorial.

In Front of Memorial

A Memorial can be fun.

and a little "arty" too.

And to make the day even better for me. They KNEW who Jefferson was, remembered seeing his home last year and that he sent Lewis and Clark off on their expedition. Ahhh, a little reward for their teacher!

5 weeks left! Venture to make a guess?

2010-07-07T14:46:00.001-04:00

I went to the OB appointment today and the time is coming near for our newest family member to show up. A very active little one. I had bruised ribs last week. I have noticed that if they are active in, then they are active out, so I think I will be running from day 1 with this little one. Luckily both baby and I are healthy. I am a LOT like a waddling duck, but it is always worth it. I am just grateful for our local pool this summer because otherwise I would be miserable in the heat. It has been difficult to get anything done when it is 100 degrees out. I do actually like the heat, I say it gets the chill of winter out of my bones. BUT, there can be too much of a good thing, and I think I have reached that point! I hope you are keeping cool.
So, as the countdown begins, I thought I'd share my guess on the sex of the baby since we did not find out. I am convinced it is a boy. Only time will tell if I am right (probably not!) or wrong. The Chinese calendar is not on my side and has been correct with 3 of my 4 children. My OB even said that they once checked 150 women against the calendar and it was 100% correct. Pretty amazing I have to say. Feel free to leave a prediction. I'll even venture a weight guess 8 lbs 1 oz.
Let the guessing begin.

UPDATE: Now I am frustrated, there is another calendar out there. Which is the right one. They are similar, but have small differences, Of course they would be in the month that makes a difference to me!
Here is the other Chinese calendar #2!

Amusement park

2010-06-26T13:55:00.003-04:00

   Elizabeth's Girl Scout Troop decided to go to King's Dominion for the day and camp nearby for the evening. Since L♡♡ was coming to town and we had tickets for an Orioles game the next day; we decided that it would be better for Elizabeth to just meet up with her troop and enjoy the amusement park, but not camp. This gave us the opportunity to take L♡♡ to the park. We hoped that she would enjoy all the rides. Our previous exchange students have enjoyed going.
  Since I am really big and pregnant and would not be able to ride any of the rides and could not handle all the walking or the heat, I got to stay at home and enjoy the crickets chirping, ... I mean the peace and quiet. Ahhh.... Quiet, what a stranger you have become, PLEASE visit more often!
  Honey took all the kids and here are a few pictures from his day with them.

Keener & Rolo

Christopher and Keener

It looks like they had a great time. They were exhausted when they got home.

Unfortunately there are not any pictures of Elizabeth because she spent the day with her troop, but I am glad she enjoyed a day with her friends.

Honey did capture a picture of one little creature that I am glad did not get angry with him.

Yuck! Those skunks really can leave a bad smell.

Picnic

2010-06-25T13:24:00.008-04:00

Honey's office has an annual picnic which we like to attend because they have found a good combination of location, timing and food. The location has just the right amount of shade, which should not be discounted because there is nothing worse than a picnic that is hot and miserable. It also has a playground, ball field and bathrooms close by. As any parent of little ones knows, there is nothing worse than a LONG walk to a bathroom.

Here are Honey & Elizabeth enjoying the shade.

We took L♡♡ with us, event though she arrived just yesterday afternoon. We have a busy first few days planned for her, but we are so glad that she is here.

Keener seems to be having fun with her already! Goofy Girl, always making silly faces!

Faking it.

2010-06-25T09:17:00.004-04:00

Now that summer has started, I live at the pool almost every day. With swim team and dive team, it is inevitable that I go every day. Keener loves going and most spends a lot of time swimming by herself or with the other 2-4 year olds that hang out near the entry steps into the pool. The main difference is that she is the only one who is able to swim at the age of 3. Like Rolo, she is 95% self taught. I learned a lot from Elizabeth and Christopher about how to teach a child to swim. The biggest mistake that I (and others) make: showing fear.

Teaching a kid to swim is all about the fake. You have to pretend that you are not worried about her drowning. You have to pretend that when she goes under the water and comes up coughing, that your child must have had a wonderful time doing so. You need to congratulate her on how much fun she must be having. Tell her that she did a good job putting her face under the water. Tell her she is a great swimmer. Why? because, then she will want to do it again. So how does this work? You have confused your child. She is thinking "That wasn't very fun, why is Mommy so excited?" Then she becomes interested in making swimming fun. She has to figure out a way to find the joy. She also will start to watch the other kids swim and learn from them. This is not to say that I do not use other swimming devices (the baby swimming ring, the vest, and a swim noodle) to help my kids learn, but "the fake" is my most effective weapon.
Right now my only problem is the other parents who keep trying to "save" her. As if I would not be watching my child in the water! Oh well, they can enjoy their own clinging child pulling down their bathing suit and scratching them to pieces for a few more years, while I enjoy watching mine swim!

Cherry Pie!

2010-06-14T20:00:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday we went strawberry picking and cherry picking at my favorite "pick your own" farm, Homestead Farm. I just love their farm. They have the sweetest golden retrievers. They have such a family friendly set-up and are so nice. And the produce has always been divine. I went with my neighbor and her girls (seen here before) and I can not believe how beautiful the weather was. It was in the low 80's and overcast with no humidity and a slight breeze, Ahhhhh what a wonderful day!

I didn't get to making the cherry pie before my "fun Thursday." So I finally made one today. Keener and Elizabeth pitted all the cherries, Elizabeth measured and mixed the cherries with sugar and flour, while I made the pie crust and assembled the pie and made dinner. There is nothing like a fresh pie to make you feel better. Yum! Yum! Yum!

I generally use the pie recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (As my taped, but still falling apart copy can surely attest to!! ) The nice thing about their fruit pie page is that is only calls for the fruit and some flour and sugar to make the filling. I prefer pies this way because they depend on the fruit for flavor and not a lot of spices or other fillings. I find that simplicity is best where pie is concerned. Go make yourself some fresh pie and enjoy that it is summer with a lots of fresh produce to eat.
*****I decided to update this page and add the recipe:

Simple simple Cherry Pie recipe.

For filling; Mix 4 cups pitted cherries, 1 cup sugar, & 1/4 cup flour. Pour into favorite uncooked pie shell- in this case I made one with lard (below) so it would be flakey. Cover with top pie shell and decorate if you want. Cook @375 for 30 minutes covered with foil, then 30 more to brown the pie top and voila' yummy pie. (I of course forgot to cover it for the 1st thirty minutes; so in my case I covered it for the 2nd half of cooking. It still turns out the same.
For Double Pie crust - (I use an electric mixer) Mix 2 cups flour & 1/2 tsp salt, add 2/3 cup lard, beat until it looks like peas, add 6 TBS COLD water. Mix 30 seconds or so until mixed. Divide in 2. Roll out one for the bottom crust, put into pie pan. Roll out second crust and cover pie.

What a day!

2010-06-13T20:00:00.044-04:00

So now that I have had a few days to recover, I should let you know that Thursday was NOT a good day for me. Early in the morning, I started having contractions and was generally not feeling well. It just goes to show what happens when you start thinking "Wow! my contractions have stopped for almost 3 weeks, maybe I'll get a break for the last trimester......"
"Wrong!!
I barely was able to make it through the morning, but luckily I had a movie backup for one of my sick days. We watched Around the World in 80 days. During the movie I called Honey to say that he might need to come home early because I was not feeling well and was having pretty bad contractions. We finished the movie and used it for our daily geography and history discussion. Then we did our daily scripture readings and were all set to start reading Greek Myths and Aesop's Fables.

We are using D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths which I simply love. It has useful illustrations that are detailed and pertinent to the myth. Each myth leads into the next, so there is a cohesive flow to the book. The kids really love hearing the myths. We have already read through Usborne's Greek myths book which was a good introduction, but not even close to the quality of D'Aulaire's.

   I started to realize that I was not going to be able to read. I was not able to talk during the contractions, NOT a good sign. My Bradley Childbirth class (all those years ago...) told us that one of the signs to go to the hospital was when you could not speak through a contraction. Uh Oh! I told the kids that school was over and to put things away while I called Honey and told him to come home ASAP. Then I got on the phone with the doctor, and various friends to make arrangements for the kids. Then the real fun began!
   I got to ride with a very nervous Honey in rush hour traffic while having contractions. Scary does not even begin to describe the ride.
   We get to the hospital and darn it all, but NONE of the contractions are showing up on their monitor. WHAT?!!! Here I am having regular contractions and not a bleepity bleep one has the decency to show up on the machine! After 5 hours in the hospital, a lot of prayers, a lot of patience, and a lot of tests, it turns out that I have an infection. The infection is irritating the uterus causing me to have "non-productive" contractions. Great!!!! (said with LOTS of sarcasm.) I could have saved my uterus the time and told it that I was already non-productive. It wasn't really necessary to prove it to me!
   So now that I have had a few doses of antibiotics, a few war wounds from being a pincushion, and a few days to rest, I am feeling a lot better. I am happy to have left the hospital with my baby still growing inside me, that was the best part of the whole day!!

Playtime in the water.

2010-06-02T19:50:00.001-04:00

Keener has enjoyed playing in the old sandbox and using it as a pool for the summer. It makes my afternoons easier to have her occupied. She has a LOT of energy and has a HUGE personality. Isn't that such a nice way of saying that my child can be a brat?
Since I love her, I accept the good and the bad?! She is so strong willed that at times I find it hard to balance. I want her to be the fiercely independent and adventurous person that she naturally is, but I also need her to learn to be respectful and obedient. It is those fights for obedience that are difficult. But hopefully with perseverance, I will be able to achieve a happy medium.

Peonies for me

2010-06-01T02:36:00.000-04:00

   I love easy flowers and the Peony is certainly one of them. Easy to care for, beautiful in bloom and low maintenance. Despite all the variety of flowers that I have growing in the garden, I do not have any high maintenance plants.
Who wants that?
Who has the time?
   I have developed basic rules for my yard and gardening and the first one is to limit weeds at all costs. That is easier done with mulch than with chemicals. There can never be enough mulch, well,... almost never .
   The next "rule" would be that edging is so overrated! I avoid that at all costs. Again, mulch comes in handy. I just make the flower beds end in mulch and allow several inches of buffer for the lawn mower and leave the rest alone.
   My non negotiable rule is that I am unwilling to put up with persnickety plants. If they need special attention, then I do not need them. The only plants in my garden that fall into this category are roses, which for some reason like me. I am just lucky I guess. I have never had any trouble with them, so they get to stay. There are so many easy plants but here are a few of my favorites:

Azalea
Butterfly Bush
Iris
Gladioles
Hosta
Lirope
Lilly- white Easter and Daylilly
Native Virginia Honeysuckle
Peony
Roses

These make up the core group of plants which I have in my yard. I hope that you enjoy the sunshine and fresh air as much as I do. Until then, Happy Gardening!

So what did you do today?

2010-05-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

"So, What did you do today?"

"I built a wall"

Not to outdo Honey, I built another wall in our yard while he was off watching the lacrosse games. I am a little tired of the backyard looking a little junky. I have been spending a lot of Honey's time making it look a lot better. We've moved several Forsythia and hostas and some impatiens against the back fence to make it look better (Our neighbors behind us need to be a lot more inspired with their yard). The never ending pile of mulch (See this post for a picture) is being used to make them look like more formal flower beds. I am trying to make the backyard be a play area for the kids, but not look only like a play area for the kids. Along those lines we have gotten outdoor storage for their toys and are trying to make everything else look a little nicer.
So I thought that since the last wall was fairly easy, I'd try one more little wall to help finish off the other end of the "trash patio."

This one is next to our side neighbors with whom we are very good friends. I planted two blueberry bushes behind the new wall and hopefully next year we can share some blueberry pie with them. Of course, now I have plans to extend to walkway (from the trash patio) around to the back of the house and connect to the back patio. Poor Honey, just when he thinks he is done....

Lacrosse, Lacrosse and More Lacrosse

2010-05-31T18:00:00.001-04:00

Duke beating ND in Overtime

for their first NCAA Championship.

I have had the pleasure? this weekend of being a lacrosse widow while Honey went to the NCAA championship games in Baltimore. Three days and five games. Christopher went all three days as well. My only word for this is Obsession. But I am glad they had fun.

They had a nice kids zone outside that Christopher got to practice shooting at the goal. Good thing there weren't any scouts, one shot went over the top into the parking lot. Ooops!

Elizabeth went to the finals on Monday, she likes the game, but 3 days is a little much for her too. Rolo went the first day, but I had forgotten to send the camera along so I don't have pictures from that day.

Father H came along on Monday too.

I'm glad everyone had a good time, but now life can get back to "normal". Whatever that is supposed to mean?!

Month of Miracles.

2010-05-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

Whew! I'm through with May! I called this the "Month of Miracles" because baby's chance of surviving if born any day during the month went from 10% to 85%. What a dramatic difference 5 weeks makes. I started the month at 25 weeks and ended at 30 weeks. Every day made a huge difference in the life of my newest little one. I am very excited to have 10 weeks left and looking forward to meeting the newest little family member.
I just hope I can stand the heat of summer. I love the heat and hate it at the same time. I try every year to not turn the A/C on until June 1st and so far so good. It seems silly, but I think that I should try to get myself adjusted to the heat a little bit. Besides, I do love the fresh air and I love just having the doors open so the kids can run in and out. It eliminates the "CLOSE THE DOOR!!" rant that I am forced to make when the A/C is on. I love hearing the birds, squirrels, crickets and the sweet smells of summer like honeysuckle, lilac, roses, gardenias. Mmmmm, makes me want a glass of sun tea, a pool and a good book. I hope your summer is starting off nicely too.

Yard work

2010-05-23T18:00:00.002-04:00

Well, I've put Honey to work in the yard. It is only fair, he didn't "get" to do anything last year. As I said in a previous post, he built me a little trash patio for storing our recycling container, trash containers, hoses and such. I am very pleased with the outcome. It is nice to not have a huge muddy mess to deal with.

This is an updated picture of the Astilbe and Hostas that are beside the side door. Much better!

Since he did such a great job, I decided that my vegetable patch needed to have a little more structure to it. I am trying to use the vegetable patch as a small continuous homeschooling science and gardening lesson. We planted the seeds in little starter trays but the plants were quickly outgrowing their temporary home. After talking about the terrain and my needs, we decided that a small wall would be ideal. I went to Home Depot and got the stackable wall "bricks". Thankfully there were people there to load the cart and the car. That stuff is HEAVY!
I am very grateful that Honey is so meticulous about things being level. It made the wall look great and I am very proud of him. The bottom row took about an hour to do but it was worth it when the next rows went up so fast. With the bottom row level the next two rows quickly (10 minutes) were added for a very nice wall for a mere $80.

Elizabeth and I quickly got the plants in and voila' our vegetable garden. Now we just need to watch it grow!!!

Poor Puttycat!

2010-05-19T12:25:00.033-04:00

My poor cat is "loved" very much by Keener. He now does not even bother to run away, although he is getting better at hiding ahead of time. Along with her siblings, Puttycat is getting the dressed up, riding in the babydoll carriage and made to play with the "other" stuffed animals.

He also gets carried "child style" (She child carries him around his waist so that half of him is flopping over her arms and the other half is dangling). I think with all this "love" the cat is earning a faster path to heaven than the rest of us!

I think his eyes say it all. And Puttycat, I agree!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

Our Priest printed this in the weekly bulletin, so I cannot take credit for finding it myself, but this is so beautiful that it is the simplest way to say Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother and all the other mother's. May you have a very blessed and happy Mother's day!

The Most Important Person
on earth is a mother. She
cannot claim the honor of
having built Notre Dame
Cathedral. She need not. She
has built something more
magnificent than any
cathedral-a dwelling for an
immortal soul, the tiny
perfection of her baby's
body…The angels have not
been blessed with such a
grace. They cannot share in
God's creative miracle to bring
new saints to Heaven. Only a
human mother can. Mothers
are closer to God the Creator
than any other creature; God
joins forces with mothers in
performing this act of
creation…What on God's
good earth is more glorious
than this: to be a mother?

-Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

Rolo becomes a littly "Gappy"

2010-05-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

Rolo lost the other of his top teeth and for a little while will have that precious "gappy" look. I just think it is adorable.

This last tooth was one that did not want to come out, but luckily it finally did. It's fun to watch the kids go by the milestones and sad at the same time. You want to savor every day that you have with them and enjoy them being kids for a minute, but too often daily tasks get in the way. I am going to try to enjoy that sweet smile for the few weeks while it lasts before the new teeth come. Keep up the smiling Rolo!!!

Pebbles and Pearl

2010-04-30T22:15:00.041-04:00

A good mother.

My neighbor had a pregnant horse named Pebbles (Okay, technically a she's pony; but to me it looks like a horse!) Pebbles went into labor and my neighbor got stuck at the barn without her cell phone charger, so in anticipation of a long night, I brought the needed charger out to her late Sunday night. I am very much a night person, so to me it is not a problem. Elizabeth (also a night person) went with me. While I was there Pebbles did not have her foal, but I decided that letting Elizabeth sleep at the barn on "baby watch" could be a learning experience. Let's be honest, who wouldn't want to see a foal born? So I let Elizabeth sleep at the barn on bales of hay with my neighbor. Much to poor Elizabeth and my neighbor's dismay, the foal was not born that night, and they had to come home. The foal was not born the next night either. Finally Pearl was born on Tuesday night. She is a beautiful little foal, and fits her name perfectly. Elizabeth went to the barn and took the pictures for me. I have yet to see Pearl. So thanks Elizabeth for the pictures, I can not wait to see her. There is something so precious about a baby, human or animal, it is still amazing what God can create.

Sweet Pearl

Mother and baby


Here is a wonderful and famous hymn to remind us of the simple beauty of  creation. (A link is included if you wish to also hear it)
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander

 Refrain:   All things bright and beautiful,

 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.

1. Each little flower that opens, 
 each little bird that sings, 
 God made their glowing colors, 
 and made their tiny wings.  
 (Refrain)

2. The purple-headed mountains, 
 the river running by, 
 the sunset and the morning 
 that brightens up the sky.  
 (Refrain)

3. The cold wind in the winter, 
 the pleasant summer sun, 
 the ripe fruits in the garden:  
 God made them every one.  
 (Refrain)

4. God gave us eyes to see them, 
 and lips that we might tell 
 how great is God Almighty, 
 who has made all things well.  
 (Refrain)

Olympics, Family style.

2010-04-19T20:34:00.002-04:00

We have been studying ancient Greece (using SOTW) and I decided to let the kids have their own "Olympics" and Greek Feast. The kids planned the contests and made the medals. The hardest for them was planning the obstacle course, but they persevered and planned a fun path through the backyard. It included swinging, jumping jacks, trampoline bouncing, jumping over obstacles and running up the ramp, across the bridge and down. I am very proud of their planning. They learned to negotiate what events would be included. Christopher only wanted events that he could win (Don't we all). He REALLY protested against the Limbo contest, but he lost that negotiation. Keener had such a huge advantage, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Very funny.

I discussed the food feast menu with them, but Elizabeth and I made most of it. As usual there was too much food, but it was so yummy. Most of the ideas came from this web site http://greekfood.about.com/od/discovergreekfood/u/classic_traditional.htm.

Here is the menu:
3 different types of olives-green, brine (kalamata), gaeta (olive link here) ,
dried figs, apricots, dates and golden raisins;
almonds
hummus and pita
Tyropita-3 cheese stuffed flakey pastry
Spanakopita- spinach and cheese stuffed flakey pastry
Camomile Tea
Tzatziki (Yogurt Cucumber Garlic dip)-SUPER EASY to make!!!
Froutosalata-Fruit Salad with honey dressing- yummy!
We also had two different types of fresh bread-thanks to the store bakery!

They had so much fun practicing the past couple of days and then participating today. It was such a great way to start off a week. We had perfect weather and everyone had fun.

So here are the results:

Crabwalk
1st Christopher
2nd Elizabeth
3rd I---- (Our neighbor)

4th Rolo

5th Keener

Bear crawl

1st Christopher

2nd Elizabeth

3rd Rolo

4th I---- (Our neighbor)

5th Keener

Hopping

1st Christopher

2nd I---- (Our neighbor)

3rd Rolo

4th Keener

5th Elizabeth

Frisbee Toss

1st I---- (Our neighbor)

2nd Rolo

3rd Elizabeth

4th Christopher

5th Keener

Wheelbarrow Race (Teams)

1st I---- (Our neighbor)/Christopher

2nd Rolo/Elizabeth

3rd Keener

Long Jump

1st Christopher

2nd Elizabeth

3rd Rolo

4th I---- (Our neighbor)

5th Keener

Limbo

1st Elizabeth

2nd I---- (Our neighbor)

3rd Rolo

4th Keener

5th Christopher

Obstacle Course (Time)

1st Elizabeth (1 min 12.2 seconds)

2nd Christopher(1 min 18.7 seconds)

3rd I---- (Our neighbor) (1 min 47.4 seconds)

4th Rolo (1 min 49.9 seconds)

5th Keener (2 min 35.0 seconds)

Keener was adorable doing the obstacle course. The other children helped her. It was so wonderful to see them cheering her on and helping her not get sidetracked. She did however tend to stop to fix her socks. If she wasn't looking like a European tourist with her socks up to her knees, she just wasn't happy! Made me laugh just to see her stopping to do that.

Awards Ceremony Picture

Trash Patio

2010-04-04T13:38:00.004-04:00

Completed Patio

For the past two weekends I have put Honey to work. The area on the side of the house which leads into the laundry room was becoming a huge problem. With all the snow and rain, the side of the house became a mud pit. I think it was a bigger cause of my muddy floors than any other area of the yard!
So I put Honey to work building a trash patio, for lack of better words. We store our trash, recycling and Composter out there as well as our hose and sprinklers. Since there is a slight slope, we needed to build stairs as well. Luckily all the materials in the project were FREE! That's what happens when you buy a house from someone who was a handyman with 1000 unfinished projects. I have found probably 20 of the LARGE plumbing pipes buried in the yard (stored in the yard is more like it), another 20 small pipes and multiple shapes and sizes of pavers and bricks. I have since gotten rid of all of the pipes since I have no use for them, but the pavers keep getting rearranged.
Honey is very good at making sure that everything is level. Me? not so much! So he did a fantastic Job of creating the patio and a new planting bed. I put in a few Astilbe and some free Hostas (I divided them up from other parts of the yard) Hostas must be one of the gardener's favorite friends! I think it will look even better in the summer when everything is in bloom, but for now, here is the new flower-bed:

You can just see the Hostas poking through the soil.

This is the Forsythia that I used in vases in the house while it was in bloom, but am trying to see if any will root. Then I can expand my "wall of Forsythia" in the backyard.

Here is a picture of the pile of mulch that I had delivered, I think there is such a thing as too much mulch!

Playday in the park

2010-03-31T21:17:00.002-04:00

Today was a GORGEOUS spring day. I just love the spring weather. I took the kids to Clemyjontry Park to play on the fully handicapped accessible playground. I went with my friend Mary (@ Passionate Perseverance) and her daughter Courtney. Courtney was a little sleepy today, but the vitamin D was good for her anyway. (She has a Vitamin D Deficiency). Mary and I traded seeds for our gardens. We are going to be doing square foot gardens this year. I'll let you know how that works. I have been very busy planning the garden and getting things ready to plant. This is my first year using the square foot gardening method. My sister has used it with a lot of success. I am looking forward to learning a little more about gardening. Hopefully I will have LOTS of pictures to share. I have a lot of experience with flowers and bushes, but not so much with edible plants. Unless you count the pumpkins I get for free every year by throwing all the pumpkin guts into the garden in the fall after carving them for Halloween. I would say that pumpkins are SUPER easy to grow, as long as you don't care how many you get!
At the park my kids ran, and climbed on EVERYTHING. You would think that they would be tired, but they came home and played on the new trampoline for hours. We did manage to sneak in a little homeschooling via religion class. The only important class of the week! I use a Catholic teacher planner from Creative Communications. It lists the Saints of the day and Holy Days as well as contains the readings for next Sunday. It also has a word of the week that is contained within the gospel reading. We spend the week pre-reading the scriptures that will be read on Sunday. It has helped the children to listen and gain a better understanding of what is going on in Mass. It also has helped them listen with more interest to the homily. I have been very pleased with the information contained in this planner. It has helped me to stay on track this year. Something I always need help with!

Jumping in the Backyard

2010-03-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

For the kid's birthday, we got them a joint gift of a trampoline. I got a good deal on a 12' one from Sears. From everyone I know who has gotten one, it is a pain to set up because the directions are always difficult. I agree with that! But the reward is a toy that kids of all ages and abilities can play on at the same time. Not to mention the exercise and "tire them out" factors. The kids had a blast on their first day jumping. Here are a few pictures from the HOURS that they spent outside playing.
Here are all the kids at once. (For the safety folks: Yes, together the do not exceed the weight limit!) Then a few individual photos.

I will say that it appears to be money well spent!

Advice for putting together your own trampoline:
My bit of advice to the makers of trampolines is to color code 4 of the spring hooks. That way you could actually follow the part of the directions that says to hook the 1st spring, then hook the other spring that will go directly opposite it. This would be easy to do if there were not 50+ springs and you only thought is "if I mis-hook this, then I will have to redo the entire thing!" So here is my solution to following the directions. I started off hooking the springs every other one, then every 3rd, then every 4th, then every 5th one until I was completely around. Then I went around and filled in the "missing springs." My kit cam with a hooking device for the springs that was VERY helpful. Apparently not all trampoline kits come with this. If yours does not come with this tool then look for some tool that you might have with an "L" shape (Like a large allen wrench). It allowed me to pull the tension of the spring without worrying about pinching my fingers.

Happy 3rd Birthday Keener

2010-03-29T02:05:00.001-04:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetheart!

My last birthday of the month. It is little Miss Keener's 3rd birthday today. She is such a pistol! Makes me laugh all the time with her expressions and sauciness. She is such an opinionated girl. I am so glad that my little girl was born 3 years ago today. What a wonderful day. We did not find out if we were having a boy or a girl, so it was a perfect surprise to have another little girl. I love you so much crazy girl, I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope you never loose your spunk!

Palm Sunday

2010-03-28T23:33:00.004-04:00

Every year we get together with Honey's family on Palm Sunday. It is an ingenious solution to the "Whose house are we going to be at this year?" question that comes up in EVERY family when holidays are mentioned. The kids love seeing their grandparents and cousins and I definitely enjoy having a meal that I don't have to prepare or clean up after.

After that party we went to visit with my sister and dye Easter eggs. It is always so much fun to watch the kids dye eggs. I got smart and took off most of Keener's clothes. She did a nice job of sharing the colors with Rolo.
Elizabeth, unca, and Driscoll are dyeing their eggs. The girls took a long time, but I think their results were quite nice. (Not that I remembered to take a picture of them!)

I tried so hard to take a picture of Christopher, but he kept changing his expressions every few seconds and I couldn't get any with a normal grin. I guess he was just my goof of the day.

Here is a picture of my wild man nephew! Don't know what he is trying to do. Pray?

Rolo and Honey after dyeing their eggs.

What a busy day. It is time to rest!

Alter Boy.

2010-03-26T23:13:00.001-04:00

Today Christopher served as alter server for the first time at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Wow! Isn't that a mouthful! We went on a tour there today with our good friend Father H and our homeschool group. He gave mass in the BEAUTIFUL chapel and Christopher was one of the boys to get to participate. He was so excited! The nice thing about Father H. is that he wants to seize the joy of being a server and allow boys to participate whenever they are ready. He figures that if they have the desire to serve God, then allow them to participate. He does not mind the little mistakes and tries to encourage them on their way to serving God. Some priests are really bothered by the little mistakes, but not Father H. He just corrects them with a gentle word.   I was very proud of my little alter server. He did a great job. Father H also had me do the reading for the mass. Oh boy was I a nervous wreck! Oh well, God knows I tried my best.
   So after our wonderful day at the Basilica, I came home to have dinner prepared for me by Keener's godmother. She brought dinner and cake to celebrate Keener's 3rd birthday (Next monday). Oh how yummy and what great conversation! Once she gets her pictures on her blog, I'll put a link up so you can see the food. Kebabs with scallops, shrimp, swordfish, chicken, tomatoes onions, and peppers; and a Kenwah salad. I am so glad to have friends like these. She is a great comfort and help when I am not feeling my full 100%.
   I'll leave for now, baby has decided to kick for a while, and I want to enjoy it. It is always a comfort to know that baby is doing well and has the energy to move around.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-03-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

We took Rolo and Keener to Chuck E. Cheese for their birthday party today. The party was after Rolo got out of his preschool, so most of his preschool class was able to come. I have to say that I HATE that place, but the children love it, so I force myself to be nice and take them once or twice a year. I have learned the secret to going though and I will pass them along in a set of 5 rules.
Rule #1 NEVER go when it is a school holiday. In the middle of the summer is fine, but then you must follow rule #2.
Rule #2 Go Early in the morning or between 2-4 on a non rainy weekday
Rule # 3 Never go when it is raining.
Rule #4 Never go on a weekend, except for rule #5
Rule #5 The best time to go is early Sunday morning. I know, what about church? But that is WHY it is the best time to go. This is when it is nice to go to Saturday Mass or got to an early church service.
By the way, the place was empty and CLEAN today.
The best part about going today is that I said "no more parties there. They are too expensive.", so now I get to avoid that place forever. Honey can take them once or twice a year, but I get to stay at home and be content with silence.

So it goes.

2010-03-25T10:25:00.000-04:00

For several days, I have been feeling contractions, some bigger than others. So I decided to go get it checked out. I had early contractions with Elizabeth for 12 weeks before she was born, yet she was born on her due date. So on one hand I was not worried, but on the other hand, I think it is better to be a little cautious. So joy of joys, I now am on "limited activity" or "modified bed-rest". It is hard to get me to slow down, but this little one is doing a good job of making me. I am not "progressing" according to the doctor, so the contractions are not doing any harm. Thank the good Lord! My biggest worry is that I tolerate the pain of labor quite well and have quick labors, so I am concerned that I will go into labor and have little time (if any) to stop it or get the baby some steroids for his or her little immature lungs.

I believe very strongly in the power of prayer and the power of mind over body. So as I will my body to get this baby to a safe age to be born, please say a few prayers for the little one who still needs to grow. I figure that 5 weeks is a minimum for any viability, 8 weeks is much better (I'd be about 28 weeks). The chance of survival goes from 25% to 75% in the matter of 3 weeks. I always find that so amazing. Of course better still would be me getting all the way to 40 weeks, but I take it one day at a time. What else can you do?

#5 Ultrasound

2010-03-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

I went to have my 20 week Ultrasound today. Here are pictures from Baby # 5. I did not know that I was going to be having a 3-D Ultrasound, but I was glad to get to see the little sweet face. What a great joy a little bit of technology can bring. Baby's face is a little blurred at the chin because the placenta is in front. This also explained why I have not been feeling a lot of the kicks.

Baby was not cooperative, so we saw a lot more of Baby's behind than baby's face. Oh! I know I will have a fun one to deal with! Here is a "moon" shot for all of us. Made me laugh!

Here is the traditional side shot of the baby's head chest and arms.

A Picture of the baby's foot. You can see the tip of the other foot also.

Picture of Baby's face with hand in front. Baby was being very shy, but moving all around. It took a long time just to see the heart and all the chambers. Everything looked perfect. Yeah, that is a relief.

At the end of all the tests, the baby is doing well and is growing big and on target.

3 down 1 to go

2010-03-17T07:58:00.013-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It is also Rolo's Birthday. Happy 6th Birthday Rolo! Amazing! My little sweet boy is 6. I remember that it was overcast and it snowed on the day he was born. He was my back labor baby. I wish that on no one. Not that it is particularly more painful; different but like all labor it is more mind over matter than anything else. The problem was that the contractions did not register on the machines, so the nurses did not believe that I was progressing that quickly. Boy were they wrong! He was my fastest baby. 1 hour 50 minutes. For the second time, the doctor came running into the delivery room. I am starting to wonder if I really need them at all, if they barely bother to show up! Luckily my sweet baby was born and has brought me a great amount of joy. He is my snuggle bunny. I love to cuddle with him. He is happy to stay cuddled for hours. Rolo also has a tremendous amount of patience and self reliance and has a great ability to play nicely with others. Yet, he has always been content to play by himself building things. He was born to be an engineer or an architect. (Only if he wants to be!) He is constantly building. I enjoy watching him grow up and seeing all that he learns. Oh, baby boy I love you very much! I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

2nd One & still going strong.

2010-03-12T08:50:00.017-05:00

It is Christopher's 8th birthday today. Wow! Is my little boy really 8? It seems like time barely moves on, but yet here I am celebrating 8 years of being his mother. He is truly a wonderful and energetic boy. I remember thinking, where did this baby come from? Elizabeth was so calm and such a GREAT sleeper, that I was taken for quite a shock with him. He was a fast delivery (2 hours 5 minutes, literally the doctor ran into the room at the last minute) and he hasn't stopped running yet. He is also VERY consistent about waking up. It is a rare day that he does not wake up at 7:00 am. Energetic does not begin to describe him, but I do love watching him play. He is always so busy. It can be tiring, but there is such a pure joy of life, that it is hard to not just be happy and enjoy life too. So Happy Birthday dear sweet boy. Don't grow up too quick, your mama still wants to cuddle a little while longer.

Do you ever wonder?

2010-03-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

   Do you ever wonder how you get sucked into that movie that you "swore" you'd never watch? I got sucked into the Discover channel's movie "The Flight that fought back." I try to avoid all the September 11th things. It just hurts to much to watch. I believe I am like many people who lost a friend that day. Unfortunately with 9-11 stuff, it always comes unexpectedly and I never seem prepared for the wave of emotions. I lost my friend's Rahma Salie. Both Rahma and her husband Mikey Thodoridis and their unborn child were on American Airlines Flight #11 from Boston. It was the first flight to hit the towers. That is one thing that slightly consoles me. Before 9-11, we were so conditioned to just "play along" with terrorist and let their demands be met, that I don't think that she could have fully known what was going to happen. I am grateful that Mikey was with her so that she was not alone, but saddened that they both had to die.
   This was the first time I had re-seen the most of the footage that we watched on that horrible day. It was hard to not watch. It is just as horrible the second time as the first, except that when I watched the towers swaying the first time, I kept thinking that the people inside them must have had more than enough time to evacuate and that there would not be that many people who died. Boy was I wrong. I remember thinking at first that with one plane, it must be a tragic accident, with two planes something must be wrong with our flight communications system, but I became increasingly aware that this was not normal and something was seriously wrong. By the time I heard the early reports about the Pentagon, I knew something was seriously wrong.
   I am sure everyone remembers how they heard the news. I got a phone call from my friend Alicia who was late for a play date for our daughters. She told me to turn on the TV. The fact that it was Alicia always gets me saddened again, because not quite two years later her husband Peter died in a Navy training operation. It is odd how the memories of two lost friends are just jumbled together.
   Anyway, I watched the movie and was crying the entire time. The tragedy of the day and the lingering affects are just devastating. I have not been able to bring myself to go to New York City, but I know one day I will. I just have to be ready. Here it is 8 1/2 years later and I am still not ready. I am not ready to fully say goodbye. As for the movie, I have my doubts as to whether the flight was shot down vs crashed by the terrorists while under attack. I am sure that the American spirit must have provoked the passengers to fight back. Americans are too fiercely independent to not start fighting back, but I also know for certain our government would NEVER release information about the military shooting down a civilian passenger plane. It is much easier to have a plane full of heros than soldiers who were responsible for the deaths of American civilians. I don't think it matters anyway, their tragic deaths were the responsibility of terrorists, no matter why the plane actually crashed.
   So for Rahma, Mikey and your baby, I hope that you are safe with God, while the rest of us continue our journey here on earth.

Another year older

2010-03-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! My dear Elizabeth is 11. Wow, time sure does fly by! I was thinking about the Sunday morning that I became a mother and she changed my life forever. What a wonderful day! It is hard to imagine that my sweet baby is almost all grown up. Every year that she gets older, I wish she was younger. I keep thinking that I am one day closer to not getting to spend every day with her. Soon it will be time for her to leave the nest. I know I will never be ready for that, but time goes on and we must let them go no matter how hard it is.
In the meantime, back in the real world and out of my mopey dreams, we had a busy day. I think Elizabeth had a lot of fun which is all that really matters. One of her friends and her cousin spent the night last night, then we went to church, had lunch and cake with her friends at home, then drove to a local indoor pool (Cub Run Rec Center) with water slides. All the kids had fun. The bonus was that the admission was less than expected, They charged us a family rate. Yeah! How often does that happen that you save money unexpectedly? Normally it is the other way around.
My only word of caution is that I think the pool was not originally designed very well. They have slides and play features for little kids (2-4 year olds) and two big slides for bigger kids (48"+). There are no medium slides. This makes it hard to take a 5-8 year old if they are short or scared of the really big slides. Otherwise, the facility is nice and clean and easy to get to.

Homeschool Hurdles

2010-03-05T00:34:00.001-05:00

I have been having trouble staying on target with school lately because I am so tired. In the meantime, I gave the children their assessments for the homeschool program we will be using next year (St. Thomas Aquinas Academy). With Honey being gone last year, Elizabeth having a big learning disability, Rolo starting school "officially"next year and a new baby on the way, I knew I needed a little bit of help planning for next year. I am a little behind in some subjects and have been desperately trying to catch up. In my defense, most of the backup comes from Elizabeth from where her public school failed her. And yes that is as nice as I can be. She was over 2 years behind in handwriting, spelling, grammar, and math, when we withdrew her from the public school. I hate to think of what might have happened, if Honey and I had never intervened. It has been very difficult to play catch-up when I don't know where all the holes in her knowledge are located. I am hopeful that St. Thomas Aquinas Academy can help me position Elizabeth with better resources to fit her specific needs. Since I had to test the children individually over several days; we needed a "light" school project to fill in the week, in order to not loose all that learning time. I happened to see an ad for the Planet Earth* documentary series on Animal Planet. That seemed perfect, and thanks to TIVO-the best $5/month I ever spend on TV- we have been able to watch all 11 shows over the course of the last 3 weeks. We watch a 1 hour episode, then write about and discuss the show. It is nice to have one item that can cover science, geography, handwriting, writing, spelling and grammar all in one shebang! I know that all the year can not be made up of movies, but it certainly has helped me get over this bump without leaving the kids behind. I am even noticing a big advancement in Christopher's writing. He is starting to understand how to pull related information together to form one thought. Getting him to focus just a little bit is a big achievement. He is so much like his mama; rush ahead, learn the hard way, retreat, retry. It is hard to teach him a little bit of focus, when I lack that skill myself!

* Personally I think the series, "Earth, the Biography" is better narrated and more interesting. Planet Earth is still worth seeing, but should really be titled "Earth Animals" or "Planet Earth-Animals". It is more devoted to animals and the environments in which they live, than to the earth itself. Also, there were many times when a map would have been a very useful addition.

Better to call a plumber

2010-03-04T00:42:00.000-05:00

I wish we would learn to just call a plumber. Instead, Honey and I spent 3 hours tonight taking apart the toilet to find the Mardi Gras necklace medallion that was causing the clog (and multiple daily bathroom floods). Some days I just look at these messes and say "Is this really my life?!" This 3 inch clover shaped medallion* was a real pain in the neck (and back and knees...). The problem is that Honey and I had been able to deduce that something must be stuck only in the toilet since we were not having trouble with the drains in the tub or sink. I knew how to change the toilet wax ring, so I thought it would be pretty simple, no need to call a plumber. That would be silly! All we had to do was turn over the toilet and find the clog. How hard could that be?
Here's my time estimate: Turn off water to tank and unhook the water hose (2 minutes), drain the water (1 minute), unbolt the toilet and turn over (5 minutes), scrape the old wax ring off** (5 minutes), remove the object (30 seconds-NOT!), clean up before reinstalling toilet (5 minutes) and reinstall the toilet (2 minutes). My estimate was spot on for everything except finding and removing the clog, so it took us 20 minutes to do everything but find the medallion. That's 2.5 hours to get the medallion out!!! We did not know ahead of time what we were looking for, but the toilet drain line is not that long, how hard will it be to find the toy? Answer: VERY HARD! Not to mention that it was hard to reach or pull out.

I wonder why I don't learn from my mistakes and just call my very nice plumber first.

* The medallion clover shape lent it to be very capable of rotating and causing a clog, but also spin open so the toilet would drain. Annoying, annoying, annoying!
** It is always easier to pay $5.00 and replace the wax ring for the toilet than to find a leak from the seal 2 days later., and have to remove the toilet again.

Baby of Mine

2010-03-02T19:24:00.007-05:00

I went to my 17 week checkup yesterday. Everything is going fine with our new baby. My morning sickness is passing, but the extreme fatigue has not. I need naps daily, but get them about twice a week. I have again (third time's the charm!) gotten gestational diabetes. I am hopeful that I can manage it with diet and exercise. The baby seems to be doing well and as usual for OB check-ups I got to listen to the heartbeat. I love listening to the heartbeat. It is very comforting just to listen to that sweet little beat.
I am very much looking forward to my next appointment. It will be for the ultrasound. I just love seeing our new child and having a picture of him or her. We still have not decided if we will find out the sex of the baby or "be surprised" when he or she is born. Keener was the only child that we did not find out what her sex was ahead of time. It was very exciting to wait and learn when she was born. So I am leaning towards a secret. Secrets are such fun.

Independent living

2010-03-02T02:25:00.000-05:00

Honey told me last night that several people had complimented our children lately. "They are so independent", he was told. I was happy to hear this. It is not always easy to see the big picture when you are dealing with the day to day raising of the children. I am very proud of this compliment. I tell the children that my job is to make them capable of handling their own lives by the time they are 18 (or leave home). I do not expect perfection, but they should be able to make a decent meal for themselves every day for a week, drive a car safely, choose right and wrong, know how to find a plumber or a how to book on plumbing, among other things like balancing a checkbook, doing their laundry and doing their taxes. My wish is that they will be useful citizens of this country, compassionate members of their community and loving people. This can be achieved if they are taught to be independent.
My mother taught me how to be independent and it is probably the best thing that I could teach my children. They need to learn that Mommy and Daddy will not always be there to help them. My mother never did my taxes for me. When I was 16 and had a job, she got me the 1040 EZ form and said, "Get to work." My job, my money earned, and now it was my responsibility. So I sat down and figured it out. Several years later, I worked for a tax accountant during tax season and I was amazed at the number of people who PAID FOR their child's taxes to be done by an accountant. What lesson was this teaching the child? Not to mention the cost. Not many teenagers need more than a 1040 EZ form, so why pay $75+ for a form the child could fill out for free in 1 hour?
Another more memorable way that my mother taught me a life lesson, happened when I went on spring break my senior year of high school. My friends, sister and I went to New Orleans. We were going to visit with my older cousin and stay with him for two days. My mother gave me a turkey to cook for him. Yes, a WHOLE Turkey! I looked at my mother like she had lost her mind, but took it with me anyway. I had never cooked a whole turkey before. My cousin said, "Uh, most mom's would have given you a package of turkey lunch meat or $20." He was right, but what lesson would I have learned? She taught me to bring something with me when I am a guest. She also taught me how simple it is to cook a turkey. So I successfully cooked that turkey for my cousin and have never had a fear of cooking one. It is also a great story about how crazy my mother is. I do love her very much, but seriously a turkey?!

Crazy Woman!

2010-03-02T02:21:00.000-05:00

I went out to the grocery store tonight to get eggs and bread for tomorrow. I realized as I was walking across the parking lot that I was STILL WEARING MY SLIPPERS! Who am I? I was not about to turn around and go back home, but I felt like such a crazy old lady! I realized I must be turning into my mother who would wear her slippers everywhere. I guess it takes one to know one. Here's to you mom, you have now turned me into a crazy woman.

Poots and Toots

2010-02-16T23:23:00.001-05:00

We got back from the Mardi Gras Party in good spirits, but this achy body needed to rest with my feet up. I sat on my bed with my computer on my lap. As usually happens, the kids all came into the room. They started talking excitedly about the great time that had at the party. Keener was very chatty, when suddenly a series of "poots, or toots" started coming from her bum bum. In the joy and excitement of the moment, I could not help but laugh and laugh. This set her off laughing and when a few more "toots" came, I think everyone was laughing.
The sweetest laugh is the laugh of a child.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-15T20:45:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras). Our church is having their annual party to celebrate. For the first time, our family is going to attend. Normally we have CCD on Tuesday nights and as a teacher I was always unable to attend. I am taking my much needed break from volunteering for a year, so we can go. When Honey got back, I decided that I needed to take it easy and only deal with homeschooling, so I dropped the job of girl scout leader and CCD teacher. I am always willing to help, but am trying to avoid the leadership, organizing, and running of anything. I also chose not to send them to CCD but to leave the religious education at home for this year. It has enabled us to change our focus to learning about more about the saints and reading more from the Bible and discussing it.

I am looking forward to celebrating Mardi Gras. I think it will be a lot of fun. My grandparents always went to New Orleans to celebrate because my uncle lived there. I have the happy memories of Mardi Gras that my grandparents shared with me. That is probably why it is on my list of things I would like to do in my life. It seems like such a fun event. Maybe Honey and I will go one year when the kids are older. In the meantime, I went to help decorate for the event and took Elizabeth to help. She was a huge help. We had a great time and Elizabeth is excited for the party. She loved all the bling and sparkle. She was planning her wardrobe for tomorrow all afternoon! I am glad that she is excited. I love to see her smile, it warms my heart.

I hope you have a Wonderful Mardi Gras!

Whoo Hoo For Me! I can now be president!

2010-02-14T23:57:00.000-05:00

So I had my birthday last week in the middle of the snowstorms. It was sort of hard to get excited about it since I was stuck in the house AGAIN looking at fluffy whiteness. But the good news is that I am now eligible to be the President of the United States. Look Out Obama, I might just run against you! Yes I passed to that tender young age of 35. But don't tell my kids, I keep telling them I'm 29! Which is not exactly a lie, I am 29 years and 2192 days!
It has always been fun celebrating my birthday because I am a twin. I am never alone and I always have a birthday buddy. Ironically I have met over 30 people in my life who had the same birthday and even dated a guy whose birthday was the day before mine. And his roommate's birthday was the same as mine. Weird right? I even share my birthday with William Henry Harrison (9th President, known for the serving the shortest time as president.) My sister and I always get together to celebrate and just enjoy each other and our families. This year was a little delayed because of the weather, but I got to celebrate with her today. We let the kids play and our husbands got take out for us, which left us to chit chat and relaxation. Trust me when I say that this is SOOO much easier than dealing with 7 kids in a restaurant.

I am so grateful to have my sister, I love you sis and I am so very happy to share my birthday. Here's to celebrating many more, even if we don't run for president. Of course I should never say never...

4 in a row.

2010-02-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

It just occurred to me that there are 4 holidays in a row this week. Weird. So Happy Valentine's Day! Happy President's Day! Happy Mardi Gras! Have a Blessed Ash Wednesday!
Whew, Thursday is our day for a break!

Two rescues at once

2010-02-11T23:00:00.077-05:00

I traveled to my friend Mary's house to rescue her from insanity. The snow is really making it hard to get out around here. Since I have 4 wheel drive, I asked her if I could come rescue her. Trust me when I say that I needed it in her neighborhood. My street is fairly cleared, but she lives further out in our county and hers was in horrible shape.
   We quickly hopped in the car and started to leave her neighborhood. When we were almost at the exit to the neighborhood, I saw a little boy peeking his head out of the snowbanks. He was around 3.5 - 4 years old, wearing pajamas and shivering. I stopped, honked my horn (to alert him and his parents). He stopped, but there was no adult around. We rolled down the windows and asked him if he lived at that house. He did not. Then we asked if he lived nearby, "No I lives far away".

Uh, oh!

So we quickly go into mommy mode. Mary gets out and tries to talk with him and also talks with a neighbor from a few houses down. The neighbor does not recognize the boy and says he does not live in the houses next to her.

Double Uh, oh!

While Mary talks to the boy to try to calm him, get his name and a location of where he is supposed to be, I call 911 and talk to the dispatcher. While I am on the phone the boy bolts out running. Mary chases after him and I follow in the car. Another neighbor joins in the chase to help this boy while I remain on the phone with the dispatcher. I had to stop at the street intersection, in order to pull over and allow cars to pass and be at a location the police could easily recognize. Mary and neighbor #2 are no longer in sight. I waited anxiously for her to return. When she does, the news is not a great big happy reunion story. The boy ran to a house and she knocked on the door. No one answered. She turned the handle to see if it was open (it was) and the boy darted into the house. She yelled to see if anyone was home. A man came to the door, not all himself. Mary was not sure if he had been asleep or if he was using some mind altering substance. He did not seem concerned for the boy, or appear that he had been looking for the boy. He barely addressed her when she asked if the boy belonged here. He answered her with, "Yes. He's in daycare." Close door and lock it.
Uhhh, in my book a THANKS is in order. Even a little bit of concern over the boy being lost????

When Mary gets back to the car and relays this to me, I know in my soul that there is only one thing to do. It is not to call the police and say the boy has found his home, and get on with our day. The right thing is to stay and wait for the police and explain the situation. Is the man sleepy? in an altered state? Is he fit to provide daycare to this child? I did call back the dispatcher and alerted her to the change of situation and that we would be willing to wait.
   The police arrived shortly. They were driving a school security SUV instead of the standard police car. They had a chuckle with us about being "real cops" in a borrowed car. (Due to all the snow, any county SUV was being put to use for other purposes). I was glad to have police officers that were friendly, but diligent. They took all our information and went to investigate while we waited for them to return. When they did return they told us, that the wife was actually the day care provider. They told the police that they were starting to look for the boy when he came back, and that he had not been gone for long. This is not true. Based on where the boy was located, he had to have been out of the house for at least 15 minutes. Think about how long it would take a typical curious boy to meander around and travel about 2-3 blocks. 15 minutes is a fair estimate. Not to mention that a daycare provider should have child safety locks on the doors. The police were able to assess that the man was not under the influence and had probably just awoken when Mary knocked on the door. They were filing a report, were notifying Child Protective Services, and were going to call the mother of the boy to inform him of the event. This is the best result that we can hope for. At least the mother was informed and if anything else happens with this daycare, there is a report filed.
   I am no perfect parent and these things can happen to all of us, but I know that I would never feel comfortable leaving my child at that daycare again. I think that your minimum expectation from a daycare provider is the safety of your child. I can only say that I wish that little boy the best of luck and I am glad that Mary and I stopped to rescue him.

After that hour detour, I was finally able to rescue Mary!

Patience is a Virtue that my dog should teach.

2010-02-08T16:04:00.000-05:00

I do not know how I got so lucky when I chose our dog. A small part is due to the fact that I am one to do research first. I looked at criteria for good family dogs since we planned on having kids; dogs that were easy to train, since this would be my first time training a dog; and how to choose the right puppy/dog. I looked at 5 litters of puppies and the local shelter before choosing our sweet dog. Most people are surprised that I looked at 5 litters. The average person looks at 1, and fall in love with the "cute" puppy. I was lucky enough to read a book that reminded me that ALL puppies are cute. I needed to look for the qualities that I desired. Trust me when I say that it was REALLY hard to look at a sweet little puppy and walk away. It was also hard to go to the shelter and see all the animals and not get one. Of course we did not leave the shelter empty handed, our kitty came from the shelter. When we did get our sweet puppy, she had all the qualities that we had been looking for and I am grateful that I put forth the effort. She is so kind and patient, has never growled at a full grown dog and only once at a puppy (that NEEDED to be reminded that he was not the boss). She rarely barks and has never bared her teeth at anything. She is truly a very good natured & sweet tempered dog.

The kids love her and sometimes more than she needs, as witnessed here:

What a hard life... for the dog!

Poor puppy!

I would get mad at Keener for abusing our poor dog, but she was trying to snuggle with her. She really loves our puppy very much, but being almost 3, she forgets that she might be hurting her when she is trying to love her.

What size is this?

2010-02-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

I have a terrible time trying to find clothes for Elizabeth. She is so skinny, and unfortunately as Americans get fatter and fatter, the child sizes do as well, so a child's size 10 is actually larger than it was when I was a child (a 10 now is what a 10X used to be). I have made or altered a majority of her clothes to fit her. I actually tend to retire her clothing because I am tired of seeing her in the same outfit, rather than her actually outgrowing an outfit. To illustrate this point, she put on a shirt that was Keeners.

It is obviously short at the waist, but it looks just like a summer crop top. She can do the same with a lot of Keener's sweaters. So I must ask, what size is this shirt really?

Kick me!

2010-02-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

This is right before I did get kicked. What a little devil!

Snowmageddon, Will somebody please shoot that groundhog!

2010-02-07T06:31:00.002-05:00

I created this poster with a program from http://www.studentposters.co.uk/templates.html and a picture from www.tech4kids.files.wordpress.com.

I am feeling a little sick of all the snow. Our third snowstorm this week brought us the "Snowmaggedon" We had already had 4 inches last Saturday and 4 inches on Wednesday. I know all you people from Buffalo, NY and North Dakota are telling us to just calm down, but it's a LOT of snow for us. We don't all have snow tires, chains, snowmobiles and snowblowers only SOME of us have shovels, and the very few have snowblowers. This is not normal for us, and no it's not due to global warming or climate change (Please! What a bunch of malarkey!). It's because we were due a big storm or two, or three, or ..... I just think there are cycles to weather and we drew the snow card this year. That said, my back is hurting from all the shoveling and saying that I am tired would be an understatement. Honey and I have shoveled around 30 inches of snow from the driveway and sidewalk and cleaned off the cars. He did a lot more work than I did, and it is moments like this that I am SO grateful that I have such a hardworking man for my husband. I don't know what I'd do without him. (Well, maybe I do... but let's not repeat last year. I'm SOOOO much happier with him home!)

I am going to leave you for now with our pictures from all the snow, but if you see any groundhogs, would you PLEASE shoot them. I don't think I can bear much more of this... of course there is the storm that's coming on Tuesday (sigh, sigh, sigh.......)

This is actually from the Wednesday storm.

This is also from the Wednesday storm, but such a sweet smile!

You know you have a lot of snow if you come out for the second round of digging and the snow is taller than the blade of the shovel.

Take 2 of digging, Can you even tell?

Rolo climbing on the pile of shoveled snow!

He's almost as tall as the Suburban now!

Our neighbors.

Elizabeth begins her tunnel.

Two littlest ducks in the snow.

Notice the pajamas that Keener is wearing. Somebody snuck outside. About 5 seconds later she starts to cry because she is cold. Duh!

Rolo sitting on a pile of snow, he is having so much fun. There are bushes underneath all that snow!

Our street looking west.

Our street looking east

After Digging the 2nd round, one more to go!

Front of house.

The bricks are almost covered!

Playground out back.

My path to the bird feeders. I refilled them. Where else are the birds going to get food?

Back Door, we are not even bothering to try to get out here.

Back view of house.

That orange thing is the top to the T-ball stand.

I love icicles!

This lamp looked like it was wearing one of those Russian hats. Made me smile.

After taking this picture I promptly shoved my way through the gate beside it and promptly brought all that snow down on my head.

This is one of many measurements. Unfortunately we are having camera trouble, but we had about 28 inches of snow in 24 hours!

See my foot way down there, it was hard to walk through this snow to take pictures.

Luckily I had my path to walk back through.

I hope that you enjoyed them. Whew! I'm tired!

Moving troubles

2010-02-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

Honey and I snuggled down for long winters rest when Keener came into the room. She climbed up in bed beside Honey and kept pushing him closer and closer to me. Yes, I mean this literally because she will push with her feet against your back. As Honey kept moving, I kept getting closer and closer to the edge of the bed. I finally told Honey to move her back before I fall off the bed. When Honey started to move her, Keener said "STOP IT! You are on MY side of the bed!" Made me laugh so hard to hear her get so upset about "her" bed. Boy does that little girl have a STRONG personality!

Happy Birthday Puppy Dog!

2010-02-02T21:48:00.001-05:00

Happy Groundhogs Day! I am always hopeful for less winter, but alas this year it appears that I will not get my wish. Every winter I ask myself, "Why oh why did we ever move from Hawaii?" I of course loved the snow when I was a child, but now that I am an adult I think, "If I move back to Hawaii, I could always visit snow somewhere. It will always be winter somewhere." I definitely could live without snow and go back to flowers blooming year round, daily rainbows, and Christmas at the beach. Oh well, I have to take the path that God gave me and be grateful. I'll send you pictures of the 2nd big storm that we expect to see next weekend.
At least my 13 year old Hawaiian dog likes the snow, no make that, LOVES the snow. For a dog born in Hawaii, I am always so surprised by how much she loves the snow. She gets snow, snow, and more snow surrounding her birthday this year. She was born on Groundhogs day and while I did not know her until she was 5 weeks old, I always try to remember my sweet dogs birthday with a bone and a nice meal. As she gets older I realize that there will not be as many to celebrate, but as long as she acts like a puppy a little bit, I am hopeful for a few more years. So Happy Birthday dear sweet puppy dog, I hope that when I'm 91 (her dog years), I look and act as healthy and happy as you!

Dream a little dream

2010-02-01T15:36:00.004-05:00

The other night our friend Father H came over to visit. As we were sitting around chatting, we began to discuss criminals and jails. He spends time at our local jail giving mass and helping the prisoners. I think his mission is very important and one that can only lead to good. These prisoners need to know that people care about them. That somebody wants them to succeed when their sentence is finished. This is a much more difficult task than most people think. How many people do you know who have hired a former criminal? I know of only one, my mother.
My mother has this ability to see the goodness and opportunity in everyone. This is probably one of her best qualities. There are so many people that I have seen her give jobs to and try to help them find their path to a better life. This includes one person who is working for her right now that has a criminal record. He is a hardworking guy that was first a tenant of hers. He just had trouble paying his rent all the time because #1 it is not easy for an ex-con to find work and #2 he didn't know the basics of how to balance a checkbook. This is where my mother saw someone who could help her and she could help him. She was in need of a general handyman and a house cleaner, but couldn't give a lot of hours to either, but to a combined job she could guarantee more hours. He was able to do both jobs and she could make sure that he could pay his rent. In the process she has been helping him to take more control of his finances. There was a minor risk, but ever person deserves a chance. As I said she can always imagine the possibilities. For being such a structured person, my mother is a dreamer. She can look at anything and see the possibilities. She looks at a wreck of a house and knows how to turn it into a gem, she sees a wreck of a person and sees the gem inside. I don't know if my mother even knows this poem, but it is my favorite (I already posted it before), probably because I am like my mother.
I am a dreamer.

Hold fast to dreams,

For if dreams die,

Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly,

Hold fast to dreams,

For if dreams go,

Life is a barren field,

Frozen with snow.

--Langston Hughes

Bane of existance

2010-01-31T16:10:00.001-05:00

Socks are the bane of my existence. Honey agrees completely. With 4 kids and Honey and I, that is 6 different sizes and then all the colors and types. I can't say how much I truly hate socks and how glad I am every summer to put my children in sandals. I did finally realize that it is worth it to buy only one brand of socks. They mark their name in different colors based on the size. Thank goodness! That was my great discovery. Truly this is what the socks companies should be advertising! So for now, I am busy sorting and looking forward to sandals.

2010-01-26T13:47:00.000-05:00

When last I left you, Keener was naked dancing on the table. This is not the whole story. I am having constant clothing battles with my almost 3 year old. She hates dresses unless she is wearing pants under them and has gone so far as to undress in the middle of Mass. Luckily it was not as far as letting God and everyone else see her birthday suit. She wears about 10 outfits a day. She is constantly changing because one outfit is "dirdy". She is one STRONG WILLED child. If it wasn't so funny it would be a lot more exhausting. So how am I handling this? I am letting her express herself with her clothing most of the time. At Mass, Mommy wins, always. But, most of the time I let her win because a strong will is not a bad thing in life. Neither is the ability to express yourself and feel comfortable about how you look. I allow her to have a bin of "dirdy" clothes and that is the pile that she changes into and out of all day long. I also have put a lock on her closet. There are only so many times that you can force a child to clean up the big mess before you have to be smart and save yourself. It's not like it's fun to monitor a child when they are cleaning. I feel like I'd rather not make clothing a big issue now, I know it will be a big issue with teenagers, so I'm saving my energy for the real battle.

Dancing for Depends.

2010-01-19T22:22:00.003-05:00

After dinner tonight, I turn to check that all was cleared from our dining room table. What do I see but my almost 3 year old up on the table dancing NAKED. What can you do when something like this happens? Nothing but laugh, and hope you have some Depends.

#5 is alive.

2010-01-18T22:00:00.001-05:00

With great joy and a new begining, I get to announce another gift to my life. This one is currently turning me into a zombie, but this should pass soon and the double-wide me will begin. The other children are all so happy. It makes me proud that they find joy and not jealousy. Before having kids, I always wondered how children could feel the love of their parents if they have to split it with more people. What I am finding out, is that each child has more people to love them than the child before. Each child gives so much pure love to their new sibling, that it would be impossible not to feel loved. A mother of course always has enough room in her heart to love one more little one, but the brothers and sisters are who make such a big difference.

Where is this going to lead.

2010-01-16T00:00:00.004-05:00

I have had a very hard time trying to decide how to handle my blog and what to do with it once Honey got home. Should I stop writing? Should I change my focus? What is my goal?

I love having all the memories of my little ones as they are growing up. I love sharing my thoughts of the day and all the crazy things that seem to happen to me. I love that family and friends from far away can see updated pictures of the kids. So after months of not much writing, but a lot of reflection, I have decided to continue, but I want to add a little more focus on two things: my faith and my history. Both are an integral part of who I am. I think without the background, it is hard to really know me.

So we are going out with the old adventures and on with the new.

OLD

Family, Homeschooling, and life in general. Where am I going and where do I want to be?

Trying to keep Honey up to date on the kids while he defends the country. He has his adventure & I have mine.

NEW

"Family, Faith, Homeschooling and this crazy thing called life. Don't let it pass you by! Enjoy every day for what it gives and takes."

I try to live my life with no regrets. It is hard, but I try to remember that even if it is a bad experience, you learn something. I had to choose to be positive and strong while Honey was away. I could have wallowed in despair, self pity, & worry. But I had to give my worries over to God, and choose to take what fate had in store for me. It is not always easy, but you can choose to grow stronger. It is all about the choice. Choose to be strong. Choose to learn. Choose to grow. Choose to Live.

Kicked in the right direction.

2010-01-12T22:45:00.053-05:00

I met up with one of my dear friends today. She is very good at helping me to focus on the important things in life and clear away the distractions. I think we all needs friends like this. She makes me realize the wonderful things about myself. I mean this in the most humble way possible. Often we only focus on our problems, fears and shortcomings. How many times have you thought today, "I am so wonderful! I am so beautiful! I am so smart! I am such a great mother! I got everything done today!"?? More often it is the opposite. Trust me, I am no Positive Polly. I have faults, my biggest by far is the ability to stay on target. I am great at the starting gate and great at the finish line, but the middle of the race is my biggest weakness. Why else would it take me months to start blogging again? It is actually one reason that I took my kids cross country in the middle of Honey's deployment. We all needed something to look forward to and something to get us over the hill, so we could see the end of our journey without Honey. Sometimes (like with the deployment), you know that you will hit that roadblock and will need a kick to restart you in the right direction. Other times you just can't anticipate what will come. This is when good friends come in handy. They are not afraid to tell you the truth. I am so thankful for my friends who help me over that block in the road, without them I would be still staring at this computer screen wondering what to type.

A Chuckle for my heart

2009-12-07T00:09:00.003-05:00

Keener has learned to genuflect before we sit down at mass. She has been doing this without prompting for several weeks now, following the good example by her older siblings. Obviously, she does not fully understand the purpose of this because as I walked up to take Communion today, she stopped at every row, knelt and then got up again. It brought a smile to my face and a chuckle to my heart. Glad to see that she has found joy in mass.

Generosity

2009-11-03T10:54:00.004-05:00

Generosity must be an innate quality that most people somehow loose. My dear little Keener was helping me watch my 5 month old goddaughter today. Keener thought that the "baby" needed her blankie. This is Keener's most prized possession. I was proud to see that she was willing to give away something that she loves to make the baby happy. What a generous heart.

This is a picture of them playing.

The Sound of Silence

2009-10-26T20:09:00.003-04:00

The poor librarian took pity on me today. I was the victim of all of their policy changes from this summer. I already knew that the budget cuts had changed the library hours. This has made it difficult for me to get to the library because I try to go between 8-9pm when the kids are fed and on their way to bed. The new hours have the library closing at 8, which is a more inconvenient time for me.

So what else changed?

For starters, the limit on overdue charges went from $25 to $15. I have to say that I tend to have overdue charges because I normally have a stack of books and a few are missing. The $75 I spend at the library a year pales in comparison to what I would spend on the books.

The second change was that the fines went from $0.15 to $0.30. This may not seem like a big deal, but with a 50 book limit (Thank God that didn't change!), you reach your maximum in overdue charges on the 1st day overdue.

The third policy that changed was that I can no longer give my children's library card number and have their books put on their account. I must have their physical card. Since I did not want to carry 5 library cards around in addition to the 5 insurance cards that I have to carry around (why people ever complain about a mother having a big purse is beyond me. As if I could help it with all these extra ID's I need to carry around!!), I had put a label on the back of my library card with all the kids library #'s on them. So much for that idea! Anyway since we were checking out 56 books, I was 6 over the limit. Without the kid's cards, I thought I was out of luck, but the librarian (who was explaining all these policy changes) took pity on me and "forced through" the extra books onto my account. Thank heavens! I really appreciated it.

And what was my reward for (somehow finding) patience with the new policies? --a kind librarian and a car ride home with SILENT children who were all reading their books. Ahhhh, now that was an outing worth taking!!!

Beauty takes root

2009-10-23T00:52:00.007-04:00

I believe that no beautiful woman is beautiful by looks alone. Your personality is a large portion of your beauty. How many times have you met someone who appeared pretty at first, but had such a sour disposition that it changed your opinion of their outer beauty? How many times have you met someone who "became" beautiful in your eyes because of their inner beauty? I know my opinion has been changed quite a few times.

Saying all that, my sweet Elizabeth does not like the color of her natural hair. She was not feeling as beautiful as I know she is. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that this was a simple fix and why should I hold her back? I dyed my hair all the time when I was younger (and maybe I still do....). If you hated your dress, wouldn't you change it? Wouldn't you wear high heals (or flats) to change your height? I think that we all have little parts of us that we don't like. Is it your hair color? Your hands? your feet? arms? calves? back? bum? How we react to this aspect of ourselves is important. How much do you care about your ugly toes? Enough to never wear sandals or only enough to want to paint them, so you feel like you make them pretty?

So I decided to let Elizabeth know that if she didn't like her hair color, we could change it. She could pick any color she wanted (uhh, well not purple.... mama's not ready for that yet! But honestly it wouldn't bother me... that much!) I want Elizabeth to know that she has the power to feel beautiful. Sometimes it means taking a relaxing bubble bath with your favorite scented soap, and sometimes it means dyeing your hair. The important lesson is that she take control. I wanted it to be her decision and only hers. Her initial reaction was a happy shock. She hadn't even considered coloring her hair, but she seemed delighted with the opportunity. I told her that she needed to think about it for a few weeks. So after the "waiting period", I asked again.

Elizabeth was very excited and chose to become a redhead!

I stressed to her that she has to love herself both inside and out, and that I thought she was beautiful. I don't want her to fixate on her outside appearance, but I think it is a good opportunity to teach her that small things to make us feel prettier are certainly acceptable. The happiness it brings her help bring out her natural beauty.

I also thought it was quite brave for a 10 year old.

So here are the results!

Both are great pictures in my opinion.

Out of the mouths of babes

2009-10-20T03:16:00.005-04:00

Keener is changing so dramatically every day. Her ability to communicate is rapidly increasing, yet the slips of the tongue and opinions of a 2.5 year old are keeping the rest of us smiling.

Example #1: Elizabeth is very good at convincing Keener that certain items are "princess" items. This comes in very handy when we are having trouble getting her to wear a certain article of clothing, eat a particular food, or try something new.

In a typical conversation Elizabeth asks Keener, "Are you a princess?"

and Keener replies with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

Today Keener replied, "NO!!!!! I'm a KEENER, Not a PRINCESS!"

Well !! I guess she feels very strongly about that! She's NOT a princess, just in case you didn't hear it in your city!

Example #2: Rolo has this very disgusting, very decrepit, blankie that is dying a long and agonizing death. It is SOOOO nasty that I hate to touch it. I do wash it often, but I think knowing it's "history" is enough to make me not want to. We will jokingly call it his "pee pee blanket" (and yes it is because of what you think).

So today while talking with Keener (whose own blankie was temporarily "missing" (childspeak for "I left it in my room and want Mommy to go fetch it") I pointed to where Rolo's blankie had been left on the floor. I said "Why don't you use brother's?"

She turned and looked at me and said in perfect English, "That's Rolo's pee pee blanket. It's disgusting!! I won't touch it!"

Well!! I guess she isn't shy about her opinions, like I need another opinionated female in the house!

Example #3: I was wearing a mud mask that was white when dried. (Very fun to scare the kids by the way.) Keener walked into the room and saw my face. She was quite shocked and said, "Your face is dirty! You need to clean it now! I go get a wipe!"

When I tried to explain that it was okay and that I would clean it off in a minute, she became very angry and said, "No! Now! Clean now! Mommy no dirty face!"

What could I do?

So, I got the washcloth.

Swine Flu

2009-10-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

We are finally over the Swine Flu. Lucky us!!! Everyone keeps asking me what it was like. Well...... (drumroll please) it is exactly like the regular flu (You feel like someone knocked you out and you wonder how you ever learned to crawl much less walk!) except with an REALLY annoying dry cough. The flu just seems to knock me out. I literally remember going to sleep on the couch after calling Honey to come home from work, then I woke up 2 days later in my bed. Weird. That loss of time and place.

Thankfully we are all better and had the chance to go get the vaccine for the regular flu, so hopefully (knock on wood) we will last through the winter without any trips to the doctor. ~~~Dream a little dream for me~~~

Doing things in reverse order

2009-10-06T02:16:00.006-04:00

So apparently we needed the flu to run it's course through the house prior to us getting the flu shot this year.

"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. *

"Yes, Pooh I agree! What a bother".

I got zonked with it first and then one by one we were all tagged "it". So now I am wondering, should I bother to get the flu shot since we already had the flu? I am so tired of being in my house and being sick and tired. I am looking forward to having a nice healthy family again. (A woman can wish can't she!!!)

I even found the gumption to cook today! I cooked up some lamb chops. We bought a lamb last winter and still have a few cuts left in the deep freezer. There is nothing more tasty than fresh meat from the farm. I don't know what the grocery store does to remove all the flavor from meat, but there is such a big difference. I hope that I can buy another one this year. It was a wonderful treat. If I ever followed a recipe I might share it with you, but alas I am the type of gal to open up the fridge, pantry, and spice cabinet, throw in what I feel like tasting. Then I mix, cook, and serve. Take that Martha and Julia!!!!

* Can you tell I have a 2 year old who is obsessed by Pooh at the moment?

Out & In & out

2009-09-28T17:53:00.002-04:00

Out went the old ear tube that was stuck in the canal.

In went the new tubes, so that hopefully Rolo will be able to hear clearly again.

Out went the adenoids which were apparently already sick and infected, so a good advance call by the doctor. Surgery went well, Rolo seemed better immediately. I guess the adenoids were bothering him, but we couldn't even tell. I am glad to have my baby healthy. He is such a good patient and just like his mama. As soon as he woke up from his anesthesia stupor, he was ready to leave. He hates those hospitals as much as I do!

Ear Saga continued

2009-09-04T16:48:00.002-04:00

Oh if only the story with Rolo was over. The fun never ends here. I can only say that I am blessed that we have two insurance plans for the moment.

A week after the rupture, Rolo looks at his Daddy and says, "I can't hear out of my ear."

Oh great! So I am on the phone to the pediatrician and his ENT trying to see who can get him in first. The ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) wins. After a hearing test, I am told that he has fluid hanging out in his ear and that he needs tubes again. He also might need his adenoids removed because they might be causing the fluid backup or harboring infections. When the doctor put in the tubes she will scope him and see if it is necessary. Am I the only one who is like "Uhh, what and where are adenoids?" (click here for a link to a simple answer with diagram)

So I schedule him for surgery a week after we get back from my mother's big Birthday celebration. Is it really necessary for me to live at doctors offices?

Take a bite and hide the evidence...

2009-08-30T18:20:00.004-04:00

Keener has been having a runny nose, but it started to smell funny. My Mommy radar went off and I took a look up her nose. Sure enough, there was something up there. After retrieving the object, I was able to figure out that she had taken a bite out of a purple swim noodle and then hidden the evidence in a (ahem) convenient location. Since it had been at least 2 days since we had gone to the pool, it was rotting. In a word, GROSS!!!!!

I'm still wondering why a 2 year old thinks it is a good idea to stick something up her nose.......

Add another one to the list

2009-08-24T12:15:00.002-04:00

Having Fun with Honey at the beach.

Too bad reality set in.

Rolo woke up at 4:00 am on the day we were supposed to be leaving and was screaming in pain. His ear hurt. Rolo has had multiple ear infections and tubes in his ears, so off to the ER we went, a Saturday sickness in another city leaves us with very little choice of where to go. Since he didn't have a fever and the ER docs didn't "see" that much (a slight irritation), they gave him a topical pain reliever for his ear. A few hours later he had a fever and was no longer in pain, but was certainly a sick little boy. Then a few more hours later and at our home, I see that his eardrum has obviously ruptured (no need for gory details here). Ughhh! A trip to our pediatrician confirms the rupture. Some meds for the ear and the infection and my little boy is feeling much better.

This got me thinking of how many ER's I've been to with my kids. Here's the list for the past 10 years.

Tripler Army Hospital Honolulu Hawaii
Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center Norfolk Virginia
Portsmouth Naval Hospital-Portsmouth Virginia
Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters-Norfolk Virginia
INOVA Fairfax Hospital-Fairfax Virginia
INOVA Emergency Healthplex Center-Alexandria Virginia
Howard County General Hospital- Columbia Maryland
Erlanger Hospital-Chattanooga Tennessee
Chatuge Regional Hospital-Hiawassee Georgia
Dewitt Army Hospital-Fort Belvior Virginia
Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital-Virginia Beach Virginia

Wow, that's a lot once I started to think about it. And that is just the ER's I've been to!

Thankfully we have been lucky that most trips have been for simple things and the two times I've had bad experiences, I've had the nerve to leave one ER and go to another. Word of advice... NEVER go to #2 DePaul Medical Center, unless you just want an autopsy. Horrible does not begin to describe their ER. I would always go to #5 INOVA Fairfax and #4 Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters. CHKD saved Elizabeth from extreme dehydration when she was having a bad Reflux & stomach flu combo. The memories of my little girl being so sick still scare me. I wish I had some words of wisdom to gleam from all this time in the ER's, but my advice is the same as you read elsewhere.

Make sure the staff cleans their hands. There is nothing more disgusting than an ER.
Go with your gut. Remember the old joke "what do they call the person that graduates last in their class from medical school" Answer: Doctor. They are human after all.
If a doctor is acting all high and mighty, start calling him/her by his/her first name. Nothing brings them down to your level so fast as the familiarity of a first name.

On to a simpler life for a month (I can only hope!)

Honey is Home!!!

2009-08-16T00:32:00.004-04:00

Honey's Home! So Glad to have him back. Here are the pictures!

Honey and me

Great Big Hug.

Almost There!

Jumping into his arms!

Two Littlest ones enjoying a moment with their Daddy

Great Big Bear hug for Daddy.

Daddy and his Girls!

Three Little Pumpkins sitting on their Daddy!

Decorated the Car Just for Honey!

Gratitude

2009-08-14T01:00:00.008-04:00

Today as I prepare for the return of Honey. I can hardly believe that the time is almost over. Hours are all I have in front of me instead of months. In light of that I want to discuss a more serious topic, Gratitude. Gratitude is defined as thankfulness or appreciation. It is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgement of a benefit that one has received or will receive. (Wikipedia)

As I mentioned months ago, I am very grateful to the Bad Backs Lax for their gift to our family. There are many other individuals and families that have been so kind and generous to our family during the time that Honey has been away to defend our great nation. The kind words and outpouring of love, assistance with the kids, help with the laundry, mowing the lawn, meals and phone calls just to say hello; have been such a huge blessing. I don't think I have ever felt so loved. I am so grateful to know so many wonderful people. I don't think I could ever repay them for the friendship, love and support that I have been given. It is a gift of love that has no price. They have been a perfect example that "Kindness is love in action" (from The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick).

So I ask you to remember that the smallest things that you do might have the biggest impact on your day, or more importantly; the day of others. Try to follow John 15:12, "This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you." Smile at your mailman, say hi to the check out clerk, let that person in front of you in line at the store (or parking lot!), give your child or spouse a hug, call up a friend you haven't talked to in a while. These small things may make a big difference in their day. I know that the quick phone calls or emails to see how I was feeling, made all the difference in the world to my day. The acts of friendship made me not feel so alone. I am a huge believer in "what goes around comes around". This isn't just about the bad, it's about the good things too. Friendship means being there when times are hard, not just when it's easy. So when you get up each day, ask yourself "Who do you want to be nice to today?" And get to it. Be a blessing in someone else's life!

Why NOT to travel with us!

2009-08-13T22:16:00.001-04:00

The Car Cleaning Story got me in the mood to tell my other ... "this happened right before our vacation" story.

Four years ago we decided to take the kids to Disney-world in January. Since we live 15 minutes from the Amtrak Autotrain (About.com), we decided to take that rather than deal with flying with 3 kids (Strollers, car seats, bags, & security... what a nightmare!) The biggest advantage of the autotrain to families is that you can leave the car seats, strollers and bags in the car. You only need an overnight bag for the train. My in-laws (aka Nana and Granfer) were going with us. In order to do this, we needed to add storage to our Volvo Wagon. We had a bench seat in the back, so seating was not a problem, but since that uses all the cargo area, we needed to have a place to put our bags. The plan was to put a trailer hitch on, then put a cargo rack on the back and put the suitcases there. So the week prior, I go to UHaul and get the hitch put on. Well now we run into problem #1.

Problem #1a The hitch is not in stock (even though I ordered it and was told it was in stock waiting for me!). I now have to come in the day before the trip in order to get the hitch put on. Okay, not that big of a deal. (Problem #1b)So I go back on the day before the trip and the 1 hour install turns into 4! The kids are going nuts because of the wait and Honey leaves work and comes to pick them up. (Problem #1c ) It is of course now starting to snow with bit of sleet! Oh Great! (Problem #1d) So what is the reason for the wait... they didn't know how to install the hitch on a Volvo wagon. The UHaul "technician" actually asked me where I thought the hitch was supposed to be placed on the car. "Hmm, On the back?" How should I know? If I knew that I would have done it already and I wouldn't be paying you! Finally after who knows how long, it is done.

Problem #2. So we do our nightly routines and then put together the cargo rack for the trailer hitch. We test fit it onto the car. Uh, Oh, the cargo rack is hitting the ground. That's okay, we are parked on a slope. We'll just move the car. The problem remains, .... so the slope isn't the problem. I guess those Uhaul it guys didn't get it right after all. Hmm, I guess we'll have to go with plan B. We have a car top carrier, but we didn't have roof rails. (The carrier was a "gift" from my father because he didn't want to store it anymore). Since it was so bulky, we didn't originally want to use it since we would have to move it into the car during the train ride and it would be much more difficult to deal with. Since we were left with no choice, we went to get temporary roof rails from the auto store.

Problem #3 We have just enough time to go to the store and get the rails before the store closes. Then our problem will be solved... If only!!!! We got the rails, put them together and realized that one of the rail's rubber feet was missing from the box, so we needed to go back to the store in the morning to exchange the rails/ get the replacement, otherwise it would scratch up the car. That's okay. Everything else is packed.

Problem #4 Honey is getting ready for a half day of work (we have to be at the train station at 2:00 to load the car onto the train). I am in charge of getting the replacement foot and getting other last minute things for the trip. Not a big deal plenty of time... WRONG! I am groggy but waking and I look at Honey's pillow. Christopher is sleeping beside me, but there is something all over the pillow, it looks like chocolate. What has our little almost 3 year old Christopher been into in the middle of the night?!. I take another look and it's blood! I quickly jump out of bed and check out Christopher. Sure enough, he has a gash in his head. He needs stitches! I yell to Honey that he needs to call work and take the whole day off. One of us needs to go to the ER and one needs to get the rest of the last minute stuff done, feed the kids breakfast and lunch and clean up. We decide that he will take Christopher and I will do the last minute stuff.

Problem #5 I take Christopher into the kitchen to feed him breakfast before we leave. I put him onto the stool at the kitchen counter and make breakfast. Honey arrives as I finish putting the food in front of Christopher. As I turn to go get dressed for the day, Christopher falls off the stool and hits his chin on the floor. He now needs stitches in his chin!!!

Here is an Ikea Stool like ours. This is the second time that this stool has caused Christopher to fall and require stitches. Needless to say, we no longer have the stool!

This is from http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YQjq5-PO-Wx9-2F-mNVjwQ

We have temporary furniture out because our flooring is not yet installed. It is the last thing left to do for our house remodel. (Problem #6-House is under construction and thus the reason we NEED a vacation! Problem #7, we were having bank trouble all week, trying to get the bank to pay the contractor the proper amount of $ he was owed.)

So now Honey has to have two sets of stitches for Christopher and meanwhile I am praying that he doesn't have to deal with CPS (Child Protective Services). As I run around getting the other kids fed and dressed and the last minute stuff done. I do finally get to the store, get the cargo carrier onto the car, get the luggage into the car and effectively deal with Nana who has arrived and is warding off a panic attack over the stress of the situation (Problem #8)

Now all we need is Honey. It is 1:00 and I am starting to panic. He's still at the ER! Christopher is all stitched up, but they are waiting for some paperwork. Ugh! Gotta love bureaucracy in a time like this. (Problem #9) I am able to convince Honey that we have to leave for this trip and that if they don't come within 10 minute, he is to leave. We've dealt with stitches before so we know about the aftercare and they have our insurance info so they can bill us. I mean really, why was he waiting anyway?

Thankfully they come within the next 10 minutes and Honey is out the door and we get to leave on our trip.

Sometimes it's hard to believe my run of bad luck.

Moral of the story: Don't travel with us! We have horrible travel karma!

P.S. This is not the end of the story, we had to go to the ER in Disneyworld to remove the stitches. While there we all contracted the stomach flu from the family that was letting their kids play in the play area while they were sick (Some people have so little sense or kindness!). It was NOT a fun trip home!

One last Trial before the end.

2009-08-13T22:13:00.008-04:00

I woke up today and didn't want to move. My back was and is killing me! But I have lots to do before Honey gets home TOMORRROW!!! I need to keep the house clean, find a dog sitter, pack for the beach and the most necessary - the car must be cleaned. It's waited too long. It's been sitting & festering in the hot summer sun too many days. All the kids melted madness in the backseat was started to smell.... The most disgusting thing is not the yuck that is unidentifiable, but the chicken nuggets and french fries that look not one day older. Makes you wonder what it's really made of?!

After quickly cleaning Honey's car. I started on the Suburban. First I had the kids get all their stuff out (while I cleaned Honey's car). Then I had to pick up all the sticky change($) that they seem to accumulate in the backseats and in crevices. I also try to get things put away during this phase and strip the car seats so they can be cleaned as well. Next it was onto the vacuuming. There is a LOT of space in the Suburban and I normally have to make a few passes with the vacuum because of all the fries, crackers, candy, stickers, crayons, you name it!. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Just when I was almost done with the vacuuming it started to pour down raining. Why does this always happen to me? So I of throw the rest of the vacuum in the car, go unplug it so I won't get electricuted (that would be my luck!), throw all the miscellaneous junk into the house and grab the keys so I can roll up the windows. I come back to the car, put the keys in the ignition, turn on the car, but it won't start! I know it's not the battery (I already replaced that while Honey was gone!). So, I called roadside assistance to come give me a jump. Apparently, I took an exceptionally long time cleaning the car! ... and I'm still not done! I still have to scrub the gunk off the seats and reinstall the car seats.

Who knew that you could spend so much time cleaning the car that you could wear down the battery?

For some other of my bad luck before vacation stories, visit "Family Oldie," "Why to Not Travel with us!" or "The Rest of the Story."

2nd String

2009-08-11T23:55:00.000-04:00

The past few months I have listened to Taylor Swift a LOT. Her music really reaches out to a lonely soul and makes me remember all the things I love about Honey. Probably my favorite song is "Breathe" .

Now I know that the song is about a breakup, but many of the emotions of a break up are similar to being separated.

"...I don't know what to be without you around"

"...I can't breathe without you, but I have too"

"... Your the only thing I know like the back of my hand"

After being married for 12.5 years it is quite an adjustment to not have Honey around every day. We often spent time apart during the first few years of our married life while he was out to sea. But, once he left the Navy for corporate life 7 years ago, I have gotten to enjoy having him around. It is amazing how much you can take a person for granted because they are with you every day. You just expect them to be there to help with little things like getting milk from the store or filling up the car with gas. I hate filling up the car so much. I can not tell you how many times I have pulled up to the gas pump, gotten out of the car, and then realized that the car was too far away or that I pulled up to the wrong side. I feel like a moron when it happens, but I was used to Honey taking care of these things for me. When your team is no longer together, you feel abandoned and like you have no chance of winning the game. This is where the 2nd string must come in to help. I have been lucky in life to know a great many wonderful people. Luckily, these people have come in to help me. Friends like these are worth their weight in gold.

You can watch the video and hear the song here.

Go figure?

2009-08-10T09:39:00.004-04:00

Here's one [unexpected] thing about Honey's flight from Kabul to Kuwait that bugged me.

The Army sent the soldiers on a flight that mustered at 1:00 PM. It left Kabul at 7:00 PM. The plane landed in Kuwait 6 hours later. During the entire time the Army didn't feed them!

Honey (being the non-complainer that he is) said "Well, it wasn't a commercial flight. It's not like they have stewardesses."

Well, sure, ...but someone got paid to feed those 60 people. And seeing as how the military invented the MRE's (Meal's Ready to Eat for you non military types), It's not like there wasn't an ability to give everyone a quick (albeit bad meal). Annoying. I guess feeding the troops is not a priority.

Almost there, almost there...

2009-08-10T02:56:00.002-04:00

Honey called to say that he is safely in Kuwait. Yeah!!! He has to clean his gun and turn it in, then endure a few days of needless drivel from the Army and then he will be home again. I am very excited to see him. The kids are very excited and anxious to have him home again. They keep saying sweet things like:

"I'm going to hug Daddy forever"

"When I hug you [Daddy], I'm never going to let go."

"I'm gonna kiss you all day!"

Looking forward to a joy-filled reunion. I'll get as many pictures as I can.

Dropping things

2009-08-08T23:34:00.001-04:00

It's the worst feeling to drop a child. In all fairness, I was tired because Keener was up until 4 am Friday morning, but I am grateful that only minor scrapes occurred when I dropped her later that same day in the pool's shower. Her wet little body just slipped right out my arms and onto the floor. Minor cuts, but boy did I feel like the bad mother.

Then today (Saturday), The bike tipped over with her in the baby seat. Ahhh!!! No scrapes or broken bones, Thank God!

I think I won't be getting that "Mother of the Year" award. Oh well, who likes clutter anyhow!

College Friend

2009-08-08T01:47:00.003-04:00

My good friend from college came with her two children to visit me for a few days. She is Christopher's godmother. What a blessing to have someone else around, more kids for my children to play with and someone to distract me from the last few days of the deployment. I am very grateful that she took the 9 hour drive from Boston. I am amazed at how the gift of companionship can make such a difference in my day. No "priceless" work of art could compare to the gift of friendship. I'd pick my friends every time.

Closer, Closer, almost there!

2009-08-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

Ahh, the end is near. I am having a hard time concentrating on doing anything since Honey's arrival back home is so close. 8 days, but who's counting?

Answer: Me!! Me!! Me!!

Now if only I could get the 2 year old to go to sleep. She is giving me a lot of trouble not sleeping. I don't think Honey could come home soon enough! Then maybe I'll get a nap!

Achey Breaky Mama

2009-08-04T03:39:00.006-04:00

I sure am tired. Not that I can remember doing that much today. I came home from the gym and put my feet up. They were so achey. I really need a good pedicure! Love the massage part and the foot soaking part. I really don't care that much about the whole painted nail thing. That's the excuse to get a foot massage! The days are ticking slowly 'til Honey comes home, but I will try to enjoy the days as they come, No use wasting a perfectly good day with mopeyness.

Secret Desire

2009-08-01T23:21:00.009-04:00

What is it about boys and stitches? Do they think I have a secret desire to live in the ER? Do they think that I might miss the ER if I don't get my annual visit? I honestly don't know how many times I've been to the ER for the boys for stitches.

So what happened this time? Well, Rolo was walking on the couch taking off the cushions to make his fort, when he slipped and hit his chin against the coffee table. I took one look, saw fatty tissue (my sign to go in for stitches) and sent the rest of the kids to my neighbors while I went to the ER. I am actually so used to this, that I stop to think about what I might need for the ER (Books, Ipod, blankie).

I was hopeful that this time they might use the glue rather than the actual stitches. The glue is 10 times easier to deal with as a parent. There is no need to go back to the doctor and have it removed, no need to numb the injured area, no need to strap the kid in a body board (All I can say is that those boards DO NOT work on my kids! Junior Houdini's....). The glue just peels away like a layer of skin after a week or so. I have never had an injury that qualified just for glue, but I am always hopeful. This time Rolo's injury was glue eligible. Yeah!!!!! I was so happy. Rolo was very calm while they fixed his chin up. Here's the photo with the glue. Doesn't look that bad............ now.

One of the books that I took with me was this one. The Human Body.

I brought it because Rolo loves puzzles and since you never know how long the ER visits will be, you need to be prepared. The doctors and nurses loved it. They thought it was so great. They kept asking Rolo if he thought he'd be a doctor. It was funny because he kept giving them a very decisive "No." I said I think he'll probably be an engineer like Daddy and Granfer. But of course he can be whatever he wants to be. Isn't that the fun of watching your kids grow up? Seeing who they become.

Running

2009-07-30T23:33:00.000-04:00

Now that I started running, I had to get better workout shoes. My feet were starting to hurt from the lack of support. So I went to buy shoe's at Dick's Sporting Goods. I mostly go there because the kids love the little sample track that goes around the shoe department. They can run around the track while I look at the shoes, and they are ALLOWED to run around in the store. They love it and it gives me time to browse. Gotta love a store that can entertain the kids while I shop!

O's pain

2009-07-29T01:55:00.002-04:00

Tonight we went to our 3rd Orioles game this season (O's for you Baltimoreans). Every game we have seen, they loose. I think we must be bad luck or they stink (probably, they stink!). Tonight they actually won (but only after we left!). The game was painfully long. And I mean "longer than a normal baseball is sooooooo slow," sort of pain. I was looking at the clock in the 2nd inning, thinking "Will this game never end?!". In their defense the game did start 40 minutes late since it was raining when we arrived for the game, but that part was actually quite entertaining because the intermittent rain meant that the field kept on getting covered and uncovered, covered and uncovered. It sure is fun to watch those guys run and cover the field.

The most entertaining part of the game though, has to be Christopher trying to get onto the audience camera. He hasn't gotten on yet, but I keep telling him to have patience and wait, he's not making a big enough idiot of himself. When he does the job properly, then he'll get on the big screen! Hmm, I think he took it as a challenge.

Geico my AC

2009-07-28T23:20:00.005-04:00

Should I tell the Geico guy (great spoof of their commercial) that I saved $150 on my electric bill by opening my windows and not turning on the AC until mid July? I know it's not car insurance but I almost died when I saw that the bill for June/July was $66. I don't think it's ever been that low. Yeah for me! It's the little joys in life.

Oh you figure it out!

2009-07-27T21:37:00.004-04:00

The past two days have been very busy. Doing what, I do not know. Yesterday we left the house for church at 10:25 and didn't return until dinnertime. Yes, church is 10 minutes away and it does start at 10:30, but we were having one of THOSE mornings when everything would spill, clog, clump and hide itself. Luckily (I guess?) I am a bit of a speed demon and we made it to church by 10:32 and they were just starting the procession. I did manage to get all green lights on the way, so that helped. After church we ran a few errands and then I went to the gym. I am trying to get myself into some kind of shape to strengthen my back and relieve me of my pain. Who knew that a minor fender bender could mess me up this bad? It's hard to believe that it's been almost 8 months of pain. I thought I'd feel better in a week or two, wishful thinking apparently. I can't complain though. I will be better, I just need to have patience. One virtue that I am SERIOUSLY lacking.

Today was busy, but relaxing. We went to the Post Office to mail Honey some more snacks, then off to the gym so I could kill myself. My first day of running on the treadmill instead of speed walking. Oh my %$#^!, Did I really use to go running for fun? Man, am I out of shape! But "Yeah for me!", I ran for 30 minutes & walked the other 30 minutes. After the gym we went to our neighborhood pool, so I could relax (And I guess so the kids could have fun too.) Despite the fact that I know that the sun causes cancer, I really, really love spending time in the sun and getting a tan (as much as this little Irish girl can!). I could fall asleep in the sun if I didn't have the kids to watch. Makes me remember all the time I spent with my friend Alice up on her parents roof laying out and sunbathing. Makes me glad that I had such a great friend growing up. Makes me glad that I still have such great friends.

Goodbye N♡-

2009-07-25T13:53:00.005-04:00

We said goodbye to our sweet exchange student yesterday. N♡- was a little blessing that God bestowed on our family for a month. She was so good for all of us. Christopher was crying when she left and is moping around. Keener keeps asking about her"ria, ria" and Elizabeth was sad that she did not get to spend more time with her. I enjoyed having someone to talk to. We feel so lucky to have had her stay with us. We are all looking forward to the day when we get to go visit with her in Spain.

Juvenile Delinquent

2009-07-24T17:06:00.002-04:00

So Keener got kicked out of childcare today, Lucky me! When I go to the gym, I take the kids to the childcare. Normally I get to workout in peace. Occasionally I get called for a scrape, but more often for a diaper change. Today, Keener decided that she needed to bite 2 kids. So although my other kids could stay, she had to go for 24 hours. Ughh! What a pain. My little diva is certainly a big pile of trouble. Too bad she's so cute. It's hard to stay mad at her. The next time she does this, she can't go to childcare for 3 days. I told Elizabeth, Christopher and Rolo that if she does it again, I'll put a football helmet on her. If you can muzzle a dog, I can muzzle my kid!

Satisfying Homeschool

2009-07-23T00:44:00.002-04:00

I had a very satisfying homeschooling moment. I have been trying to teach the kids a little bit about art and art history. I have been using the Usborne Book of Art. I read 2 pages at a time, when we get a chance. I am basically trying to introduce the kids to art, but not push anything on them. So today we were speaking to N♡- about Bilbao Spain where she lives. She showed us (on Google Maps) her home and school and the Guggenheim Museum. She showed us some pictures from the Guggenheim. One picture she showed us in particular was of the very large Spider scupture.

This picture is from wikimedia commons.

I kept thinking that I had seen it before but couldn't place where until Christopher chimes in with "That's in our art book on page 21-22."

And boy was he right! Right page, right sculpture. I was pretty amazed, but utterly satisfied that I had taught my little boy and he had learned more than I did! Along that same art theme: We got a package today from Honey that contained some Lapis Lazuli. There was a picture that we had studied with a beautiful blue color. The paint had been made from this stone which coincidentally comes from afghanistan. Since it is only $5 for a few small rocks, Honey sent them to us to help the children "see" and "touch" the rock that made the pretty blue color. It was very satisfying to see . Thanks Honey, you are helping the kids with their Art lessons by sending the rocks to me.

Whippersnappers!

2009-07-22T23:11:00.001-04:00

Apparently I still have some balance in my old age. Christopher was trying to stand on his head. He was having trouble balancing so I helped him out by putting my arms out to catch his legs if he started to fall. He asked me if I could do it. I said, "Well I can try." So, I did manage to do better than him and better than N♡-. Take that! you young whippersnappers! Not that I was anywhere close to my more balanced younger days. (I had a lot of free time to "practice" back then). It was a lot of fun. We were giggling by the time we had all fallen over a few times. Sometimes it is nice to be a kid again.

Baltimore & Ohio

2009-07-21T22:17:00.001-04:00

I went to the B & O Railroad museum in Baltimore today with N♡-, Keener, Rolo, & Christopher (Elizabeth is at Girl Scout Camp). We met up with Nana and Granfer and Cousin Edward. Although we have been before, N♡- had not been and I thought it might be interesting for her since the railroads played a substantial role in the development and commerce of our budding nation. Not to mention that the building is beautiful and the train collection is impressive. The kids enjoy going. It was a good way to spend time with their grandparents. N♡- also enjoyed it. It was a good choice for the day. We then went back to Nana and Granfers to let the kids play in the woods. What a nice day.

Clogged, Again

2009-07-20T16:44:00.003-04:00

I got to see my friend R----- the plumber again. This time the clog was 77 feet! Let's hope that this time it fixed the problem for good. Luckily it was a free visit since it was under warranty for 6 months (yeah for me!). I think Honey will be coming home to a whole new house. Hope you like it Honey!