Blogging

So I was reading The Pioneer Woman this morning and thoroughly enjoying her post from this week about her cat playing with her dogs tail, when it occurred to me I haven't posted on my blog in over a year.  I began to ponder why.  First of all I am completely upstaged by blogs like the Pioneer Woman, or my sister, or my friends that actually seem to have different things happen to them day after day.  I mean I could say I am sitting here in my flannel pajamas and writing this, but on day 17 you would be going, "Again?  Sheesh, doesn't she have a house to clean and kids to teach or something..?"

Then there is the name of my blog.  It no longer applies.  We are in high cotton around here people, it should be 4 bale cotton.  We've added to the fam!  But you already knew that.  See, my blog is already behind it's time.

So, I could tell you that we are on Lesson 48 today in Phonics (not that I'm counting).  That Ethan has learned to get up on his hands and knees and is contemplating mobility (Heaven help me), or that Mae took a permanent marker to my dry erase board yesterday (at least it's white), and that Calvin (the schnauzer) took off running down the street with screams of "NO COME BACK!" behind him (the lucky sucker).

But, that's just what everybody else is doing....right? 

Happy Thursday.

FOR TODAY July 7, 2009...
Outside My Window...the sun is shining and there is a breeze...

I am thinking...of living victoriously in Christ!

I am thankful for...the 4 day weekend we enjoyed with my husband!

From the learning rooms...M is going try potty training again today, and we are going to start our summer reading today....

From the kitchen...I am wishing baking didn't heat the house so....

I am wearing...comfy clothes today, we have nowhere to be!!!

I am creating...nothing...

I am going...nowhere!

I am hoping...to enjoy a quiet week...

I am hearing...the girls play happily with their kitchen set....

Around the house...going to tidy up and enjoy the clean house!

One of my favorite things...my schnauzer's new haircut....

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Relax, enjoy and maybe weed my flower beds!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

~FREE Rug Giveaway!~

The gals at Econobusters are doing a rug giveaway! I love this blog! I also need a rug or 2 to cover all of this beautiful but noisy laminate flooring...
so:


~FREE Rug Giveaway!~

Shared via AddThis

Summer Is Here!

Well, I certainly planned to write on here more often than I have! We have had a nutty couple of months out here on the caprock! Let's see, both R & E turned 6 and 5 respectively. Just as we were adjusting to having a 6-year-old she announced on the night before her birthday she had a loose tooth! That was a blow! I pulled her first tooth a week later. It's tough, you work so hard getting those teeth in those tiny fussy mouths and then a blink in time later, they fall out. Sigh....

E is loving being 5 and can't wait to start school! We got our textbooks in a week or two ago and she loved looking through them. I am looking forward to this year too, we get to do some "real" subjects like history and science. I am just wondering how it's going to work keeping M busy! She may be reading by the end of the year too! =]

Tom has been busy with wheat season, and the girls and I just finished Bible school and have one more week of swimming lessons. This summer is threatening to fly by, I am desperately grabbing at it trying to savor a few moments!

Well, I will try to update this blog more often! It really is fun to write here when I get a chance!

OK Folks....

Hey!
Sorry it has been so long, I have not been playing that game all this time, just for the record. =]
I have been attempting to find a new favorite season since Spring in the West appears to be um, rather windy. (we have had sustained winds of 35mph and gusts in the 50's)

I couldn't let this pass, I just caught a video of Rick Warren on Larry King.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/04/07/rick_warren_i_am_not_anti-gay_marriage.html

I must admit to having a heavy heart. Are we going to stand for anything anymore? Are we going to stick with having taken a stand? Since when do we refer to Easter as "Our biggest week of the year"? What are we an appliance store?

Think believers. Think.

In case your looking for me.....

I am here, playing this game......

Procrastination

It's 10:30am on a Saturday.... I really wish I wasn't even up. I can't help but daydream on mornings like this about going on a weekend retreat with my hubby and not having responsibilities other than getting breakfast before it stops being served. So, in rebellion to my life I am sitting here in pumpkin pajamas (I am aware that it is January) and typing. I need to go do ironing, I don't think Tom has any more shirts left, I need to organize school, we start back on Monday. At some point I should brush my teeth...or I could just keep sitting here. The thermometer says it is 36 degrees outside, which means I am not going out there -- it also explains why Sallie keeps staring hard through the back door....
Well, now the kids are getting dressed and M just brought me a wipey from her diaper bag for me to wipe her nose with, so cute. So I guess I will go start ironing and organizing.... Should make this day count for something......at least until nap time.

Crate Trained.

New Years resolution #1. Blog more....

I have never been what I would describe as a "homebody". Don't get me wrong, I like home, always have, but I love going places and seeing things and shopping. But, I think I am now crate trained. Just to explain, when you crate train a dog it goes something like this: for the first few days (sometimes longer) when you put the puppy in the crate it whines, and cries and howls. Then, for the next few weeks it will fight like crazy to keep from being put in there, grabbing the door frame, struggling throwing itself on you, but then becomes calm inside the crate after you win. Then in stage 3 the pup will willing go into the crate when told, but won't go voluntarily. Then comes the wonderful stage 4 (where we are now with our 6 1/2 year old Golden Ret.) you can leave the crate door open, she will go in there when she wants, sleeps in there on her own and considers it her own personal den. Some dogs collect treasures to keep in their crate to chew on or enjoy....

I have finally reached stage 4. After the holidays and craziness I couldn't wait to get home to my "crate". Drug home all of my treasures, my kiddos and Tom. Granted, I am looking forward to going out again for treasure hunts and visits with loved ones, but I am definitely enjoying being home!

We took our usual tour this Christmas covering over half of Texas, across Arkansas to Tennessee. Thankfully, Tom's parents live in West Tennessee! It was wonderful to visit with family. I got to spend a lot of time with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. Got to meet Bonnie & Scott's new addition "Murry" the jack russell terrier. I think we bonded.
We got to see all of R, E, & M's cousins in Tennessee, it gets nutty with 9 children! Ages, 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 17months, and 13months!!! 7 girls, 2 boys! Busy, but fun.

Well, I am off to finish unpacking, downloading pictures, getting my Christmas cards out, finally, and cleaning house -- time to fire up the crock pot! ;-)

Hope all is Merry and Bright with everyone!

Happy Reformation Day!!!!

I am currently taking care of sick kids. :( But, I am still out here and will be posting soon!

Dust Bunnies

I would have posted sooner, but I have been buried under a pile of laundry/housework! It seems to never end and our house is tough to clean all in one day (especially when you keep having to stop and change diapers fix meals and hang up on recorded messages), so by the time I finally finish the last room it is time to start over!

We took a trip to the fire department (which the girls insist on calling the fire hydrant for some incredibly annoying reason =), it was fun! Between me and two other ladies we took 10 kids ranging in ages from 10 months to 5 years. Whew! They liked getting into the fire truck (which was huge) and getting to see all of the hoses and wear the chief's hat in a picture. I think the Mom's were just as impressed as the kids at all the stuff they have! We live in a small town, but a huge county some 1500 square miles -- mind you there are only 14,500 people in the whole county. But, there are tons of grasslands, and oil rigs to keep the fire department ready for any emergency. Interestingly, he said that the occurrence of structure fires had dropped since they started doing fire safety programs in the schools!

We also took the girls on their first fishing trip Saturday, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We have met another family here that has 3 girls also aged 2, 3 1/2 and 5. We joined them on their fishing trip. The girls caught impossibly small perch, but had so much fun!

Well, I am off to put girlies to bed, take care out there!

Fuzzy Headed

Well, it was a busy week! Tom's Mom was here from Sunday to Sunday, to visit with us and the girls. M finally is trying to walk, she cracked Gan up walking on her knees around the living room (sigh), but by the end of the week she was walking from furniture to furniture. Last night Tom and I had her walking across her room! I thought this day would never come, 15 months has been a little long for Mom. R & E had lots of fun and Mom and Dad got away for our anniversary date, it's a month early, but we will gratefully take the opportunity!

We also cleared all of the book boxes out of the front foyer! It now looks like we are moved in! I had been to the bottom of all of the boxes but had to repack books because we have no bookshelves. We moved the boxes and I got a friend to "store" her bookshelf at our house. So it is now a lovely sit and read area!


Well I am off to start the day, today is Columbus Day so we have the day off of school but we are taking a tour of the fire station today with some friends!
Have a great Columbus Day!

Jumping ship and miles of nothing...

Ok, so due to some difficult circumstances with my grandparents the girl's and I trekked across the massive state we live in to see Mom and Dad and offer our support in helping my grandparents. It was fun to see Granddaddy (my Dad) preach and go with "Honey" (that is what the girl's call my Mom) to get a fresh gingerbread man and pumpkin cookies! It is amazing to realize that my kids have my parents as grandparents, it is hard to believe that life is moving that fast!

It was also nice to see trees. I certainly used to take those for granted! =]

We drove for 9 hours on the way there and 8 1/2 on the way back, and both times when we finally got there, R would happily announce, "That didn't take too long at all!" That's optimism for you! Tom had the entire house to himself for almost a week (I am so jealous of all that time alone to get things done). I think the more chaos there is around here, the more lonely and quiet the house gets! He was certainly glad to see us come home!

Well, Tom's Mom is coming Sunday to stay for a week! So, I have got to go clean and get ready for her visit. Hopefully, this will be a fun week, I have cookies planned, a girl's lunch, and catching up on family stuff.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Being outdoorsy....

This was a fun weekend! For starters on Thursday night we taught the girls how to play kickball! That was a lot of fun, it seems R has a pretty competitive streak (no idea where she got that)! She picked up on the rules pretty quick once she learned to run the bases in order! By the end of the game she had learned how to steal bases! (again, no idea how she learns this stuff :)

E's big breakthrough was she stuck with us! She is not a game-player and generally clams up at Cubbies (AWANA) and won't even play "duck-duck-cubbie". But we are working with her so she learns how to play so she will have fun (she hates it when everybody shouts orders in the heat of battle....seems like I have some other family members that hate that too.... :-).



Then on Friday Tom constructed a backyard campout! Complete with 6-man tent and smoldering fire! We live next door to a county fireman so Tom made me happy by asking before we finished off our stump in the backyard! We managed enough hot dogs to justify s'mores! It was great!

Cheap Entertainment.

Ok, it has been shamefully long since I last posted. No doubt, I have lost my viewing audience. Too bad, you'll have to waste time some other way now!
Let's see, I ended with a book review last time and have since blown through "The Devil Wears Prada". Other than reading is better for your mind that television, it was "fluff". It is amazing how I can take months to go through an uplifting worthwhile book, but then can put my life on hold to read something completly entertaining.... It's not a bad book, but, in my opinion, the movie was better.

Fall seems to have found us, and I have been working through getting out the fall clothes for 2 weeks now -- mind you, we don't have that many clothes, it just seems to take me that long to do any project these days. Which brings me to home school. That is going good, R is really coming along on some things, but she would much rather know everything rather than go through the process of learning it! Tom and I both know she came by that honestly, but that doesn't make it any easier to keep my patience on some days! We only know 1 other home school family in town and their daughter is our babysitter. It is difficult to feel alone in doing this, so I will still be calling my distant homeschool buddies to get some advice!

We are working hard to adjust to small town life, the entire town revolves around the local school and football is definitely king out here! We are friends with about half of the coaching staff (there are 15 coaches working in the football program right now), so we are learing about the ups and downs of coaching!

A picture is worth a thousand words so I will close with our "friend" who wandered into our backyard today. It was fun watching him try to sneak off on the girls when they forgot to watch him!!!

Book Review

Ok, a while back I auspiciously mentioned a whole list of books I was going to read and let you know if I liked. Yeah, um, here I am months later finally almost through with the first one. Ok, "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God". I really like this book. It is pretty convicting when they talk about dying to yourself, living for God and selflessly serving your children and husband. They are a little more extreme in some things than I personally am, but most controversial subjects (i.e. amount of children to have) they have left to your own personal convictions. They do go into how much our society, and even the Christians, have been influenced by the feminist movement. We are all subject to swallowing something that appeals to our selfish nature, when we know what the Bible says about selfishness:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should not look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:3-8)

Whew, I always feel terribly convicted whenever I come across this passage. It takes away all of my "but I's". But I am wasting my college degree. But I am just not getting my "me" time. But I am tired. But I worked hard all morning and I deserve for these kids to take naps! Etc., etc. All of these were running through my head as I was reading some of the passages in this book.
I recommend "Passionate Housewives...." But, as always, remember there is only one Bible.

Caffeine Buzz

I think I should stop drinking caffeine. It has affected me weird since I was expecting Mae. Like tonight, I had a Coke Zero with supper and now here I am typing away when I should be sleeping! Oh, well.

Let's see to update, M's birthday bash was a success. All relatives arrived safely, seemed to enjoy themselves and got safely home. Tom smoked a brisket for the main meal and it was delicious. M loved her birthday cake it was white cake with red letters and strawberries. She very methodically crammed her piece of cake in her mouth and loved every morsel! -- Shameless plug, I love Blue Bell's Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla ice cream. It is the official 1st birthday ice cream of our family!

After the birthday excitement abated we decided to take a "mini-vacation" to one of our local hub-towns last weekend. We got a two-room suite at one of those extended stay places. It was great to have a microwave and a refrigerator in a kitchenette for feeding M. R asked at one point why we weren't cooking in the room and I said we were on vacation. She said, "Oh, so we have to eat out?!?" Exactly. We enjoyed plenty of Chick-fil-A and Pei Wei and had a good time. Although, I must say that R caught a cold on the day we arrived and M wasn't sleeping good due to either getting shots, or teething molars or just being a one-year-old, take your pick. So, I describe the trip as "Fun, but not relaxing". =)

Ah, yes, we are a 2 guinea pig family now with the addition of Shy, "Dottie's sister". She looks just like Dottie in the face so we couldn't just leave her there, now could we? So far she lives up to her name, even after being here for a week and a half now she still dives into her box whenever we walk into the room. I decided "Shy" was a better name than "Terrified". :)

So, never a dull moment around here! I am signing off to play freecell until the sandman finally shows up!

It's a Jungle...In Here?

Ok, so as part of "M's Birthday Prep Week, Part 2" we are starting redoing R & E's room. The people who lived in this house had a boy, so the girl's room was covered on two walls with glued brown paper sacks that looked like this:

That is essentially brown paper sacks, and Elmer's glue, lots and lots of glue. Good news was if we got it wet, it would start to peel off! 2 walls had this on it and 2 walls looked like this:

Do you remember that scene on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" where she said the neighbors could check out their subtle tribute to the Greek flag, then it pans up and their garage is painted to look exactly like a greek flag? Yeah, that came to mind when I saw this room! Check out the star, it is a window shade!
Ok, so we peeled paper and peeled paper and under the first wall we found this:

That is khaki and those are stenciled animal prints around the closet door (BTW the closet door was red to go with the Texas theme.
And then under the next wall we found this:


Giraffe, Leopard, Tiger and Zebra? What? Keep in mind as I took this picture, the walls to my right and behind me, still look like the Texas flag! Wild! The girls though this was funny, but, mind you, continued to ask when we could get to the pink paint!
Needless to say we are priming the walls!
This is what happens when you buy a house with lots of history!!!

Back to the land of the living!

So, sorry for no correspondence with anyone the last week or two, our computer went kaplooey. It was anticipated, but as always, ill-timed since we are waiting on the insurance adjuster to give us the verdict on our roof. You know, the hail storm..... Anywho, I am overhauling the house in anticipation for M's 1st birthday party next weekend. All grandparents will be coming so I am working on getting the girl's rooms rearranged and ready. It will be lots of fun when everyone is here, but right now I have an overwhelming todo list! I finished the back flower beds today though!

I totally finished the study so I will post pictures of that when we get the computer box out! Woohoo! Another room bites the dust!

Tom got an unheard of 4-day weekend for the 4th so we got to see all of my family! That was great, and a major blessing to get to see Bonnie and Scott before they head out this next weekend! :-( Their moving is giving us an excuse to plan a field trip to Pennsylvania! Independence Hall here we come!!!!

Well, I am off to enjoy the rest that naptime brings to Mommies before the evening commences!

Dottie a.k.a. Guinea Pig #2

Ok, so when you enter the world of small pets you have be always steeled for the worst. In our case poor Pokey only made it a week. She seemed to have come with some sort of respiratory condition. So, we now have "Dottie". Dottie is currently running at full speed around her cage so she seems to be in good condition (right now anyway ;-). We have had Dottie now a week and a half and she is funny, squeaky and cute. So here are her pictures! E is doing good keeping her fed, watered and petted!

Ice From the Sky

As if our life this week wasn't nutty enough running R & E around going to Bible School and to swimming lessons, we had a rip-roaring hail storm last night! Tom and I got the girls in bed and decided to stay up late and watch Fool's Gold on our pay-per-view. It was entertaining, but so very silly! ;-)
Anywho, right after it was over, we were checking doors and turning off computer etc., we checked the radar and hail was headed our way! So, our later night turned into a late late night! We moved the girls to our bed away from windows and such. We started with pea sized hail and ended up with tons of large marble sized and golf ball size and eventually some tennis ball sized! I made matters more dramatic in the midst of everything by knocking over the ironing board and making a tremendous crash, we were just sure things were coming through the roof!

Our yard looks like a war zone, Sallie dutifully brought me 2 dead birds to the back door this morning, and I think we are the only people on our street who haven't cleaned up the mess yet! Lazy bums that we are! So, here are the pictures, these Tom picked up after they had been rained on for about 10minutes -- mind you, it isn't wise to run out there while this stuff is still falling..... ;-)
Oh, please excuse the state of my tennis ball for "scale" when you have a golden retriever, your tennis balls look like this!


Oh, and I had to include this last one, you can really see the layers, isn't God cool!?!?