Kick me!

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

Snowmageddon, Will somebody please shoot that groundhog!

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

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?