still blog illiterate I guess

what in the world have I done now???

Every time I try to click on my blogspot I only get a link that takes me to blogger and then I have to hit view blog to get here??

oh man. and just when I was thinking up some good stuff to share, as if anyone comes to visit much anyway (thanks Diane for persevering and checking back often.)

So anyway, seeing as it is the middle of the night (hubby came up later than me and woke me so I just got up since sleep didn't seem to be returning) and since the baby girl went down early last night which means she will be up early. . .

guess I should try to get some sleep.

So wanted to brag on my shopping bargains this week but it'll have to wait. and update on my VBS week, and about a dozen other life things. . .

Please come back! I would love the company!

'nite

Okay, so this really is as far as I got! Ta-Da, the front door.

Which we never use. Now, the Shwann Man, my kids friends, my in laws (who are not allowed to see my garage!), and various and assorted other folks do use it from time to time.

The front door was the same green as the shutters and I hate, hate, hated it for the first 3 years we were here. I tend to use "occasions" to pull work from my already over worked hubby and a party with many guest who had never been down to our new place, did the trick this time!

Now I love the paint color but am not happy with the current wreath. I change it often though so for now the purple flowers on the undersized wreath help you find us when you visit. Because there are no house numbers and I finally took the paper with the number on it (in sharpie!) out of the transom window above the door you'll have to look for our mailbox.

Since I'm not sure I'll know how to link this anyway, I'll stop now and go on over toBooMaMas and see what I can do. If it works, I will be thrilled and post more pics within a day or two!

Please come back and visit soon. Just use the garage entry okay?

13 things I've done in the last thirteen days

I've seen this kind of thing on other blogs and since I have no idea how to link into any of that or any time to try and learn right now . . .I suppose this is merely to amuse myself and anyone who happens to stumble onto it. (grin) So, enjoy!

1. Driven my Father in law to the hospital for a cat scan.

2. Purchased and delivered a new matress set to my parents.

3.Written, copied, folded, stuffed, stamped, mailed over 100 invites to Hubby side family reunion and recieved back 17 of them including one very nasty note from a perfect stranger who did not like my junk in her mail!

4. Collected money for reunion on my side of family and not deposited one cent of it into ING account as promised as of yet. Also have managed to not book rooms yet either. But have made headway on weekend schedule and craft for said reunion. Did I mention I am a perfectionist in many ways and just can't be a happy person about crafts?

5. Collected, compiled, and culled names and contact info on more than 200 people to be entered into data base in order for sons missions support letter to go out in mail asap. This work was done while program kept losing/not saving my data.

6. Proofed, edited, praised, and corrected above sons support letter for Missions Internship to Cambodia begining in Jan 2007 for 1 and 1/2 years. Ditto for pledge card. Purchased envelopes and stamps for said project as well.

7. Attended a graduation party for dear friends daughter.

8. Visited a dear friends newborn and held coliky baby to give Mom a break. To many memories there gotta tell you.

9. Made dinner at home at least 7 of those 13 nights, amazing actually.

10. Picked up European travel guide from Triple A for husband who is going to Dublin, Ireland, London, England and Frankfort, Germany . . .without me.

11. Booked ten nights in 5 different cities and as many states for our road trip in August which entaled countless hours on the Internet.

12. Picked up the family room a minimum of 42 times and told 13 year old to do the dishes (his lone chore) at least this many times as well.

and finally13. spent way to much time reading blogs and not enough time reading Gods Word. Also read 3 books (fiction) to stay sane, it is my escape, I admit, even when it means losing sleep!

gas prices and choices

At $3.03 a gallon at the gas pump there are some subtle changes around here.

Do I really need to run to WalMart because I'm out of diet soda?

Do the kids really need to go to Gamestop to price new games or look for accessories?

Should I go to the Moms in Touch brunch on the other side of town?

Should I really try to do more than 6 errands at a time with a cranky 15 month old missing her nap?

Should we skip the State Fair this year (good hour+ drive away) or pop over to the beach after for the evening (another 45 minute drive)?

Should we hang out on opposite side of town for an extra two hours to go to 6 'oclock worship service just because I missed it this morning due to kids colds? (otherwise it is another 50 mile round trip to go home and me come back alone). . .

and on and on it goes.

Has anyone else been second guessing their usually straight forward decisions about where to go and when?

I don't drive a huge SUV ( I would though if I could afford one, hey! I have 6 kids!) but I also don't drive a compact either.

I'm not poor by any standard: world or US but I'm sure not rich either.(monatarily anyway)

In the middle of making all these decisions comes Bible School. Now any good christian Mom knows it is a given you will allow your child to attend such a wholesome activity. I normally would be on staff in fact. Not so with Jillian's health this year.
Built in excuse right? or no?

My oldest at home is to old for VBS, my 2 youngest are still to young if I'm not on staff. So we are talking one child. (huge sigh) Not just any child. This is to be her last VBS year then off to Jr. Hi. This invovles many after VBS trips. It is built up to an unbelievable measure.

I resist signing her up and she is handling it well (so far as I hear/know about) but at the last minute the guilt is eating me up. After all, we did drive down to the fair, (skipped the shore after) I did run to WalMart for non essentials a few times, and I did go out one night and pick up/drop off a friend who has a tighter budget than mine just to socialize. . .

Oh boy! So we are going to VBS. (9am-12:15pm) Monday they are to meet back at church for tubing down the river ($$)at 1:30pm-4pm) what to do??? Remember 50 mile round trip.

Tuesday again (9:00am-12:15pm) except my meeting with missions staff member goes over a bit and I still have to get gas (any wonder) and stamps on way home (wouldn't want to go out of way) .

Wednesday "graduating" kiddos have a field trip ($$)which will get them back to church late, around 3pm.

Thursday is pretty straight forward, 9:00am-12:15pm, oh and the 7pm program for parents to show them what we've been doing all week.

Friday we're done. It's big fun day, bring your younger sibs and enjoy the rides, moonbounce, etc.

It's only Tuesday and I'm to tired and poor to think about it anymore! Did I mention hubby and I pay($$) teenager to babysit when it is "over and above" regular duties/hours. . . more money. It is just not worth 1 and 3 year olds missing 5 days worth of naps and their regular schedules have them still in bed for another 1/2 hour after we've left in morning.

all that to say next week we really will eat beans and spaghetti I suppose!

But here's the thing. Both days so far my 11 year old daughter has thanked me profusely for taking her, letting her go, told me I am the best Mom in the whole world and offered her own money to pay for activities. She loves Jesus and getting to go hear about him for 3 hours is just a huge deal to her right now. How could I say no? Where are my priorities? Guess I may be scimping on the diet coke for a bit too.

My pie melted in the freezer!

I am not even kidding here. I spent way to much time on this thing for my beautiful whipped cream dollops to just ...just melt!!

I found myself complaining (isn't this where so much trouble begins?) about a jar of peanut butter and how oily it seemed and then went on to say I thought it might be good to make up a batch of my peanut butter bars (this is quick and I can practically do it in my sleep and they always get rave reviews) to use it up quicker. However, my completely and totally deprived husband says "How about a peanut butter pie" . I'm thinking now this is probably something his mother made (my MIL is a fabulous pie maker BTW) and mine would be nothing like it and why would I want to do this and I would definitly need to go get some ingredient . . .on and on it went in my head...but all that came out of my mouth was something like "are you crazy? have you no idea what you ask?" Well, I do love the man, I just do not love cooking anything that takes to much time or effort unless I get to show it off (oh dear, downfall number 2- pride).

So, yup, after dinner, I put the little one in his arms with a bottle and said I'll be back. I googled a few recipes and came up with pie filling and crust recipe that looked straight forward enough.

Now mind you, I simply can not follow a recipe as it is written. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes I just don't read it right! oopps!
Sometimes I am clueless as to what an ingredient is.
Sometimes I simply do not have time and take shortcuts. (this worked great more than once and now we have a few new casserole recipes, if I could just remember what I did!)
Sometimes I just don't have all the ingredients and I substitute (um-hm, you know what's coming) . This can be either disaster-ish or quite brilliant.

Tonight I decided that a peanut butter pie should definitly have a chocolate crust and surely I had just the thing. A bag of on sale Mickey Mouse chocolate graham crackers. Just enough for 2 cups finely chopped. I quickly hid the bag in the trash before anyone could moan about the tragedy Mickey had faced. Then said peanut butter was crunchy not creamy as it was suppose to be for crust, oh well. And wa-la. The perfect crust! Oh and I forgot it should have gone in a 9 inch pie plate , I put it in 8 inch. So nice thick chocolate crust. I'm tasting it already. Except it was suppose to freeze for one full hour before I filled it. . .bother. It was already almost 9pm by now.

On to the filling. Whipping cream? Surely not. That stuff in the can you top ice cream with would be fine. (substitution #1) Yup, it says whipping cream on the can. Now my brain does work and all the time I'm workiing on this I'm thinking about how it will come out, if my substitutions will work, blah, blah, blah. Hey, this filling really looks great! Now I'm suppose to fill the crust, top it with more "whipping cream" , and freeze for two more hours! oh dear. I decided to make my whipping cream (hey! there were 2 1/2 cans in the fridge, I do shop at warehouses with this crew) look pretty. I dolloped it on in an ornate and oh so nice looking pattern and showed hubby before I put it in the freezer.

For the next hour, my 3 year old won't stop asking when he can have pie with Daddy. (why isn't this child in bed yet?) Then hubby starts asking when it will be done. I decide an hour surely is enough. uh, not. I open the freezer door and low and behold my pretty whipped cream dollops have melted! I am shocked! I think cry or laugh? (actually what I think is thank God this wasn't for company!) And ever logical reasonable hubby says, yeah, that's what that stuff always does on top of strawberries too? But in the freezer? So I'm thinking oh well, it'll eat. I pull it out to cut a piece and the whole thing is still like pudding! Now I'm worried, I had added that can stuff to the filling as well. hhmm. Better let it freeze some more.

Emory goes to bed crying for pie which he will eat for breakfast tommorow no doubt. Finally at midnight I cut a piece for hubby and he proclaims it good.

You know, those frozen pies in the WalMart freezer section that say just "thaw and eat" for $2.99?? Don't you think they taste nearly as good as the 4 hour homemade version that looks not so fancy by this time? Yeah, me too.

And my 13 and 11 year olds? Mom can you still make those peanut butter bars?

Gotta love 'em.

Meet Zachary

While I'm sure this is my son, the almost 19 year old college sophmore, I'm not sure just how much he favors this one and only somewhat decent picture I have.

I think he is marginally taller than this 6'0" shot.
I think he looks a bit older too after 12 months of living on his own, well, sort of on his own.
And I definitly think there is way more facial hair.


Zach (and don't even think of spelling that with a "k" on the end) (however if you'd like to use the syrillic equivalent as it is written in Russian feel free, Zach himself often does after several trips to that part of the world!) is child #2 in the line up. To hear him and his older brother tell it, these younger siblings just do not know how good they have it!

Zach is our independent thinker. Material things matter little to Zachary. Sometimes appearances matter even less. What matters to our Zach is how real and true and relevant someone/something is. He is passionate about his relationship with God. He has a deep desire to share that Faith with others by showing them his faith lived out in love. He is a peacemaker and prefers sayings such as "Oh, it's okay" "Oh, don't worry about it" and "What really matters about ____?".

Zach carries his independent spirit over to other areas of his life as well. He likes to spend time skateboarding. After graduating "homeschool" (a topic I will rarely discuss or bring up) he chose a less than main line college because he was certain it was were he would be best equipped to do whatever his future held.

There are so many funny stories from his youth but suffice it to say , he is no longer a youth in many ways.

Tonight I spent a couple of Hours trying to load a new label program onto our newer computer so I could attach a new mailing list (couple hundred names, and contact info's) to an e-mail for Zach so he would have it in time to turn in for an assignment due Friday. How many people do you think I would do that for?? Probably not even myself to often!

Love You Zach! Can't wait to see all God will do in and through you in the next few years.

Meet Cameron on a hot day

Well, only the one pic was suppose to make it into this post but I guess she's cute enough to not only introduce one of her big brothers but also show you our silly pool situation.


Cameron, is our 3rd born child. He will be 14 in August. Due to the size of our family (suffice it to say, large)Cameron is often called upon to be not only the perfect playmate (or personal slave to hear him tell it!) to his 3 year old brother but also the strong armed babysitter for his 1 year old sister (who he declares has a head much to big for the rest of her body, do you think?)

Cameron can be found most days in one of three ways. Playing his gamecube (which he earned the money for fair and square by babysitting "above and beyond" the regular family responsibility amount of babysiting for his siblings.) or reading a book (Huge Narnia, Lord of the Rings fan right now but has read so much I can't keep up) or on the computer IM-ing his brother at college or like minded Narnia cyber friends. He does like to organize kickball or capture the flag or whatever on our cul-de-sac with the neighbor kids or just hang out and shoot the breeze or hoops as well.

At 14, Cameron has left the "my little guy" phase behind and is heading into those deeper waters of figuring out what he really wants, who he really is and how he might get to those places. He is definitely a thinker and evaluator like his Dad so I am often feeling out of the loop with my boy these days, I am just to female to "get it" I'm told. ooookaaaay, whatever.

So days like today are to be cherished for however long they last. The sun was out, it was hot, way hot for these parts of the country, and Dad had dug out the "blow up pool" so the kids could have some fun. It became obvious it needed a patch but exactly where was the question we pondered as we continued to add water to the pool and air to the ring. . .eventually our pump died and we just gave up and then the summertime fun began.

Lazing around in a big puddle of water can be oh so fun. With snorkel and googles and imagination even more fun. Every now and then the pressure of the water in the pool would overcome the sides and the not quite filled ring and slosh over the sides like a waterfall. At one point, Jillie's little whale floaty was well on it's way to sailing right on out of the pool, baby and all! So comical albeit a bit scary as well. I don't take time enough to get out and play with the kids like that so it was a great day today.

hate to close it down but . . .

How fun was that? A little piece of blogging success and I'm to tired to stay up and continue. I'll try to recreate this success next time and introduce you to the 1st three in the line up!

Now to figure out how to link others to my post. . .any hints?

The Ultimate Big Sister

Meet Kiley. 10 years old (0pps, 11 now) and the best big sister anyone can claim.

Notice the love. None of us were able to hold the newest addition very much due to her hospital stays, medications and just under 9 foot cord hooked to her heart moniter. (notice the cords by baby Jillie's leg)

So this was a rare shot taken by big brother.

This love exemplifies my daughter. She is not only a great big sister she is the best daughter hands down. After 3 sons, who I love to pieces, this fourth born child of ours was and is such a wonder to me each and every day. She is female! She understands me! And she is so caring and compassionate about everything and everyone around her. She also loves God with her whole heart.

wow, isn't God good?

Amazing, truly amazing. I better keep going while I'm on a roll.

But first, Meet Jillian, better known as Jillie for now or actually that would be Jillie-Bean.

She is our last gig. Shows over baby. Arriving 2 months early by emergency c-section, she has kept us on our toes for nearly 15 months now. Just out of sz 3-6 months clothes, she is as petite as she is adorable.

She's been called "Fiesty" by nearly everyone who has ever had to "deal" with her. It is just the best word to describe her. And Thank God he made her that way or she and/or I may have given up more than once along the way.

More about our darling soon in new and interesting blogs coming your way. Keep checking back!

Meet Emory

Well. . .I have no idea how I did this or if I will ever be able to do it again (can't you just hear the confidence oozzing out of me !) but here is one of my precious little ones (oh and the arm and chin of another one (hehe).

Meet Emory, he walks to the beat of a different drum then the rest of my clan let me tell you. He is a constant source of joy and a constant source of just as much concern!! Never mind Elmo's World, Emory has his very own world and let's us in only when he deems it appropriate.

At three and a half years old he has the vocabulary of a 5 year old easily and does not hesitate to use it.

He has an attachment to a stuffed animal that goes way beyond reason and a love for his siblings that is nearly as strong.

He truly believes pants/shorts are only to be worn outside of the house, never inside.

I could go on but I'm sure as I continue to blog you'll meet Emory in many different ways!

acrosstheboard

I found these questions to be interesting so thought I would join in since I'm new around here.

accent: I pick them up easily so quite a blend I am certain. Fought hard to rid myself of eastern shore MD/VA accent as a teenager and now I enjoy hearing it spoken (very slow southern type draw with old English accents thrown in!) Have grown up near Philadelphia,PA so you will hear that as well. . son in college in Minnesota, don'tcha know? ya betcha! And finally, have had teenagers in my house for last decade so "whatever" is in, rad, smokin', cool/hot, wicked, righteous, you get the picture!
Bible Book I Like: Just can't pick one, I just can't! Romans, John, Galations, Phillipians, Psalms, Proverbs, Luke, Job! aahh!
Chore I don't care for:OH! you are suppose to like chores?? well maybe cleaning floors, most kinds. I have eagle like eye sight and can not stand for any crumb or smudge to remain therefore no one but me can satisfiy me, yuk much rather delegate! or maybe dealing with paper, yeah that's a killer. can not control, tame, organize or get on top of that one at all no matter how much time I devote to it.
Dog or Cat: Are you kidding? I have six kids to keep alive and I kill house plants. Neither thank you.
Essential electronics: love this new qizmo, remote start for my car on hot days that turns on car which turns on a/c! and my cell phone of course, digital camera, and wireless internet, oh is that electronic? hehe
Favorite Movie:Not sure I have one but anything with Harrison Ford is good, Julia Roberts flicks, Sound of Music, Gone with the Wind
Gold or Silver: Gold in the bank and silver on the body.
Handbag I carry most often: Change for the seasons. Love all bags though. Leather in winter, Linen in summer
Insomnia: Oh my yes. worse with each child and with age
Job title: no one has really given me one I like yet? what day or hour is it? it may change repeately as I move through my day or week. Daughter of the King, Wife of One Fine Christian Man, Mom to several individually wonderful kids, and whether by choice or by defalt, Homemaker. The buck stops here.
Kids:yes, 3 sets of 2 OR, 2 out of home, 2 in jr. hi, and 2 little ones OR 4 boys and 2 girls, BUT never 6 unless I can watch the reaction on your face. hehe
Living Arrangements: A single family unit (Dad,Mom and kids) no pets, house on 1/4 acre in nice suburban neighborhood or in other words, very comfortable.
Most Memorable Moment: Lots I think. Each time I feel undeserved and extravagant love for me, a reprobate and repeat offender in the many relationships of love. Those are the times that stay with me, everything else pales in comparison.
Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Skipping out of band class for 2 semesters because I knew I could and not get caught.
Overnight Hospital Stays:Several ER visits with family members that just go on forever, a few with my older parents who needed someone as their advocate, and 6 personally, one for each child.
Phobias: Getting Lost in Strange places. My sense of direction is not so great. Being in Water situations I'm not familiar with.
Quote: so many good ones come to mind. . .but the lifesaver for me, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Phil 4:13
Religion: I can be religious about my diet(well sometimes anyway) and religious about my cleaning before company and relgious about my medication schedule but I think what you would want to know is out of all the world "religions" , systems to believe in, I choose the one and only that affords me a place in heaven after death based on my personal belief that I can do nothing to earn my way there or make myself good enough to deserve to be there, rather my "religion" ,my system of belief, is based on a personal, one on one realtionship with God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit, the triune Creator of the Universe who indwells me with His goodness and grace so I can live for Him and bring ultimate Glory to Him forever more. Me, a worthless sinner, saved by the matchless grace of an eternal Father who died just so I could live forever. wow! One of the few things I'll climb up on any soap box to tell you about.
Siblings:Oh yeah. 4. One "big" sister, ten years older than I, two brothers, 6 and 8 years older than I, then me, and a "little" sister 3 years younger than I.
Time I wake up: Naturally? around 9:30am but could sleep longer. . .Forced? whenever the little ones come and get me via standing at my side until I open an eye (3 year old) or calling from her crib. . .7-8am?
Unusual Talent: don't feel very talented. or skilled. Forgetfulness I have found can be a blessing though as you can never remember those who have wronged you or what they did wrong anyway for very long at all!
Veggie I refuse to eat: Depends on who's serving it! Brussel sprouts, cooked cabbage are two not so appealing ones.
Worst habit: Taking care of everything/everyone but myself. oh, and Procrastination .
X-Rays: ???can't really remember any except dental and my daughters arm (one week after the fact. .what?? she wasn't complaining until she fell again!) when she reinjured it and then told the ER staff "Mommy pushed me off the swing!" and yes, it was broken in 3 places.
Yummy stuff I cook:again, who's asking? great Amish Oatmeal cake, handed down 3 generations rice pudding, hubby thinks from scratch Apple pie is good, personally, I find the best tasting stuff (and fancy too) comes out of the freezer at Costco!
Zoo animal I like most:Since I am certain it has been 10 years since I was last at a zoo excluding Animal Kingdom in Disney (5+ years ago) you can see I have a deep love for animals. . .coughcough...uh maybe a panda or a giraffee? Natural history museums are nice, all the animals there are nice to pet, no oder and are stuffed so pretty like!

and that would be a peek at me!

love to hear about any of you too!

Random thoughts on a random day.

Laundry is almost caught up! What a thing to be joyful about!
I did not leave the house for any reason today, that sure does make a difference but I have to say, I'm itching to get out of here come tomorrow morning.

I pulled weeds tonight. I do not like this chore. It was very muggy and warm outside as well. I do not like this weather.
I also cleaned out my car today. I do not like a messy car so this is a good thing. It was very hot when I did this.

My 13 year old washed my car for me tonight. He did so to earn a few dollars. He had never done so before (car washing I mean) . It showed. He was later given a few pointers by me and re-did some of the "bad spots". Now my car looks pretty good. And the 13 year old has learned a new skill and has $5 in his pocket.

I organized my stroller collection today. I love strollers . I currently have 6, no 7. One is my snap and go and it is already tagged for resale but it will be missed . It is a very light stroller. I recently sold my Graco duo glide. I only ever used it in Disney and at the mall a very few times. It is a very heavy stroller. I am having a hard time deciding if I should return my new Joovey (sit and stand) or try out the new Fisher Price sit and stand or just give up on the one stroller for two kids idea altogether. I would go for lightweight umbrella type strollers for both if only I could be assured my hubby and two older children would not run off and leave me with two hands, two little ones, and two strollers as well to manage. This has happened often on family trips. Little ones can't do something older ones want to do so Dad takes them and leaves me with the enterage. . . what to do. But, my stroller collection is nice and neat and lined up against the garage wall now and I do feel better knowing I still have options. . .hehehe. Yes, I am a stroller addict.

I have spent hours of late on the Internet planning our next "trip". Trip is a very broad sort of word don't you think? Not vacation, not road trip, not traveling, not sightseeing, not visiting, just trip. And what a trip it seems to be turning out
to be. With more than 3000 plus miles to cover and gas at $3 a gallon and climbing...it's not something I take lightly, this planning I mean. Since most of the joy for me will be in finding the best things to see and do, the best bargains, and the most luxurios accomadations I can reasonably afford there is much to do.

Last year we actually flew to Florida because ticket prices and gas prices were nearly equivalent (with 6 of us) even when we figured in the rental car. This year, no matter how I try to book us, flying is out. So is Florida BTW since we have to be in Minnesota for a graduation. So a road trip is in. We've done many road trips over the years and the older boys enjoyed them. The middle two and our little two are pretty good travelers as well... I think. It's just a long way out there on limited time and money so . . .this is huge. The planning I mean.

Lots to do and complete in the next several weeks.

So, staying home today was a good thing I think. Altho, my list for tomorrow is huge.

Determined to get to bed at a nearly reasonable time tonight.

Oh and one more random fact. My daughter in law passed her nursing boards today with flying colors! woo-hoo. Now the job is totally secure and she's officially an RN!

things we do for our kids and movies with no end. .

For instance, we are not a "watch tv regularly or go to the movies" type of family. We are just usually way to busy for such. However, occasionally, it's a big deal if a new movie comes out in theaters or on video (or is that DVD that I should be saying these days?) that we have particularly been looking forward to or heard about, etc.

Such was the case a while back. I was actually kind of excited because hubby had agreed to sit with the kids and I and we would all watch the just released on DVD, first in the series, Lord of the Rings movie. Now see, I was excited for very different reasons than my childen I am certain.

Some pride was involved here. I mean, after all, my childern had chosen JR Tolikien and CS Lewis (yup, did the whole Narnia thing too) over some other type reading (no comments on what that would have/could have been) . Anyway, back to the big movie night.

So it is a Saturday night. My children have already seen this movie in the theaters and are anxious to watch it again to pick up on even more of the minute differences they have already found in it and the actual book. Oh, and maybe they are kind of interested in the actors/costuming and the action stuff too (so they are teen agers!) . Popcorn is done, drinks are had all around and the movie begins.

This is not my favorite kind of movie at all mind you. And apparently I have not read the complete works of Tolikien so I am asking really lame questions as we go along. So it is at least an hour into this thing when I think to ask how long it is and am greeted with silence. So again I ask doesn't anyone know? Where is that box? Okay so it's 3 hours long. . .and it is Saturday night (ya know, before church??) and we started well after 9pm . . .groan.

And to cap off the night, this movie has no ending!! It totally leaves you hanging for the next movie which is not to be realeased for like another year or something! I was just dumbfounded. How could I be so clueless my family wonders. I mean it is like reading half a book or something and putting it down for a year or so?! I rarely read a book in more than one sitting anyway. Just have to finish them. ie-yi-yi!

But my children are quite happy that we had a family movie night after all so I get over it. Flash forward to tonight.

College boy is going back to school tommorow, he flies out in the late afternoon. Church is in the morning and then we eat, and pack and off he goes. What would he like to do for his last night home we ask? We decide on dinner and. . .you got it, a movie. Besides forking out top dollar for Saturday night movie tickets, (I did not have time to go to Costco and pick up discounted ones ) This movie is sold out until 9:45pm. That's okay, it's a sequel the boys really want to see.

I should be wiser by now, but no, I have not seen the first movie altho it has sat on our shelf for over a year I believe. So I think oh well, just go with the flow.

Dinner, btw, is great. We tried a new place and loved it. Plenty of time to get to the movie. Even time to stop at dollar store for yummies. And 9:45 doesn't sound so late. The last 7 shows have been sold out all day so we think we should get there a bit early to secure good seats. I think 9:10pm is more than a bit early. I am proved wrong by the more than half full theater. And then there are the half hour of commercials after the 9:45 start time . . .all this before I think to ask how long is this movie anyway?? "150 minutes I think Mom." oh. Saturday night again. . .

Okay, so I call home, check on the babysitting daughter who assures me baby #1 is down for the night and #2 is on his way.
Oh, well okay, I can sit back and relax. Might as well enjoy, I did pay for this. . .

I can't follow a thing for the whole first hour! I'm lost since I did not see first movie I'm thinking. I finally become engrossed enough to forget the hour/length of this thing and decide even though it is really kind of ugly/scary it's okay, I'm into it. But you already know what is coming don't you? There is no ending!! aaahhh! Can you even believe? A shameless 2 and a half hour flick to get me to come back and see the third movie?

The boys thought it was great. My hubby agreed with me for once but also thought it had it's moments. All I could think is I should have gone home after dinner!

So, the things we do for our kids and movies with no endings.

BTW, this was not a movie from high literture if you must know. It was one of those movies I have no personal interest in outside of the Disney ride it ties itself too, because I do love Disney and I do love Disney rides. . .so for those of you who love adventure, this one was for you. All I have to say is

aarrrggghh matey, next time let me know how long the voyage is to be.

A quick but relaxing get away

So here it is Thursday night, oops! again, Friday morning!
??How does that happen??

First, you start the week by atending church, uuhh. . .make that attending church nursery, yeah that's it, with your family of 7, which involves 2 cars no matter what those car dealers say about 7 passenger! That is an urban legend to be sure when you are talking about 2 parents, 2 carseats (and appropriate gear), 2 jr. hi -ers, and one 6'1", 260 lb. college kid!
Anyway, 2 cars later, we had worshipped, (even managed to do that while visiting with other Mom's in nursery) , stopped at our favorite cajun/mexican restaurant for dinner, napped , and visited hubby's parents for our "every other week whether we have time or not" Sunday visit.

I know some day when we no longer have them, I will be glad we took the time to make this a regular part of the kids and our lives. Right now, it often feels overwhelming to lose a nap or keep a little one up so far past bedtime but we do enjoy the visits and know they look forward to them. My folks, on the other hand, never need an invite and stop at our place regularly, maybe to regularly? hehe. usually around dinner hour? hahaha. Just really very blessed to have both sets of our parents alive and in our lives really. And both living nearby as well. So nice not to have to plan yearly vacation time as a time to visit family but actually visit favorite places or go someplace new.

Ah, and off topic as usual!

Monday, hubby took day off work to spend time with visiting "college boy", aka, 18 yr old son, so off to the beach for the day for them and the 11 yr. old daughter and 3 year old son. Can't believe I opted out of that one since I'm the only one around here who even cares about what hue my skin is in summer! But maybe I mentioned before, "these two babies" as I often refer to them, have changed so many things for me. I'm sure some is age but some is just plain old tiredness! So baby girl and I stayed home to get ready for next 2 days, or so the theory went. Oh, 13 yr old son at home too but since I did not wake him, I never saw him before 1pm!

Monday: what actually happened at home, was this. I was so bummed about missing beach with a chair and a book, I played with the baby girl and fed her and as soon as she went down for morning nap, I hopped into my swimsuit, grabbed a cup of diet coke, ice and a book and hit my deck with a towel and a spray bottle of water! 1.5 hours later, I was nicely cooked, slightly burned but nothing serious with color I wanted to take away with me for the next two days! Oh, and then baby daughter was still asleep so I laid down for a nap!@! She actually woke a half hour into my nap, but by then the stay at home son was up and he watched her and gave her lunch for me so I got to sleep some more! Hubby called shortly thereafter and announced his ETA as shortly before 5pm with daughter who "needed to be back" in time for youth group!

Dinner for those left at home was sacrificed for my shower and a last minute fast food meal with a friend before we dropped said daughter at church and went baby gift shopping for a mutual friend! A date I'd been trying to fit in for several weeks! Back home by 10pm.

What a wasted and perfectly lovely day. But this is how it happens.

Haven't mentioned yet that I should have been doing laundry and packing for two? Well, hubby needed to be above NYC in a Connecticut office early am Wednesday so we decided to take the fourth to drive up and stay overnight so he could avoid rush hour on Wednesday am. Good decision! We were able to get up around 7am, get everything settled here and packed and ready to go by 9am! woo-hoo.

Breakfast at a world famous restaurant was so good and such a treat, I just love a good sausage buisquit from McD's! The drive was long and traffic on the fourth did get heavy going around the city but considering it is one of the largest cities in the world, not to bad. Arrived at hotel by 1pm, checked into a very lovely room (anyone love tripadvsor.com as much as I?)and then decided to go see what was in town.

Stamford, Connecticut is not a tourist meca to be sure but we eventually found the antique places we were looking for, all closed for the holiday, so a drive up the coast sounded like a good back up plan. Connecticut coastline is not what I was expecting at all! I'm so used to beach side houses and boardwalks and great restaurants but all along Interstate and even Route 1 all I saw was . . .industry? hhmm, time to ask for help. The guy in the service stop was very nice and tried to be very helpful but his answers were a bit vague. . .fireworks? uumm not really sure. boardwalks? mmm, parks close at dusk. . .restaurants? sure, if you can find one open on holiday (closed on a holiday is a strange concept to us, especially the fourth of July!, at home, everything would be booming until 1am at least!) and if you want seafood. . . oh well. We drove some more, got lost once or twice, saw some public sand, some Independance day signs for events that had taken place earlier in day, found one town we liked and it was mostly "open" (Milford). Unfortunately, aside from purchasing a few sale items in a fun but a bit out of my budget store, we did not eat here. We thought we would come upon more places like Milford. We did not. Both my hubby and I love architechture so we were able to comment about lots of that throughout our lengthy drive but a few more hours into this, we also noticed a severe lack of restaurants. And when we found one, it was closed up tight like most everything else around it? Yikes. Out of our element here. WE ENDED UP EATING AT FRIENDLY'S!! oh and a really horrrible one at that. Well, it was laugh or cry at this point so laugh we did, made it back to hotel in time for a swim anyway but I was just too tired! Hubby went and I enjoyed the wonderful pillowtop mattress and flipping channels. I rarely ever even watch tv so it was fun for me. What a day. Most of it in the car.

Wednesday found me in a mall with nice stores while hubby worked. He finished sooner than expected, and we went back to those antique places. Good decision. Talk about a shop until you drop day. And hubby was game through it all. Found a great cafe when our feet couldn't take another minute and had the best Turisumo (sp.?) Guess the shot of expresso in it gave us a second wind. We never headed out of town until 5 pm when everything appeared to be shutting down again. So Stamford is a great place for Antiques but a not so great place for much else from what we coud find in our brief stay.

Best part of travel? No traffic! Straight shot home in 3 hours flat which allowed us to stop for dinner on our own home turf before showing up back at home with all the goodies for the kids.

Lovely, Lovely to have almost two full days away with no diapers, no housework, no cooking, etc. And right smak in the middle of a week no less. Yup, this is how it happens.

And today was Thursday, back to reality. Invites must go out for reunion. Errands had to be run. Son had to be car pooled. Babies had to be changed and fed. Hubby had to work. House needs serious attention about now so I guess tomorrow will come all to soon. Oh and house company for afternoon tomorrow ups the anty even more.

Good thing those "almost two days" were relaxing.

That's my week. And that's how it happens.

Kim

Is this really who I am?

Well, fitting blogging in is a bit harder than I imagined. Now reading all these links and blogs is way to easy.

Today was a milestone day. The littlest one, managed to climb all the way back down the steps by herself. Cool huh? She's been going up for a while but just as she reached the very top step of 14 total (one landing in the middle) she paused, turned around with a huge grin and gingerly reached her piggy toes back down to feel for that last step she had just conquered!

How cute it was. Mommy at the top , Daddy at the bottom and all of us holding our breath! Big sister joined in the cheering session half way through. The 3 big brothers were off somewhere together enjoying something better apparently as they did not come when called to see the big event.

Seems like the older I get the more I enjoy these little milestones and the more precious they each become. Especially with these last two. Who by all rights should not even be here but are. What a gift from God that is!

Man plans, God laughts or so I am told.

He surely must laugh every time he thinks about what I thought my life needed to be full, content, happy, whatever. It was not 6 kids ranging in age from 24 years to 14 months!

I try never to tell anyone I have six kids unless I am looking for a reaction (those are kind of fun) rather I tell them I have 2, um sets of 3, or really more like, 3 sets of 2. "just 2 babies" I've been heard to say "oh, well , and two middle school age ones, and 2 grown and out of the home. . ."

Never quite sure what mode I'm in most of the time. Lots of my friends have only grown or high school age kids and are quite frankly giddy to be "almost done" the grind parenting can sometimes be. Their giddiness makes me gag on my plateful. Oh dear. The "car pool" gang is who I see most and most think I relate to the best. I disagree. They are all so busy running here and there and keeping up with so many "lessons/games" (don't even get me started with that one!) that this sleep deprived, nursing mother of two, age 3 and less, just can't relate. But then there are the newest "friends" in my life, those newest first time moms or Moms of preschoolers who really do know so much more than I and would love to tell me what I should try next. Pu-leeasee! And then when I try to realte to those mega super strength Moms of 5 or 7 or 10 children (they never call them kids btw) I just cringe at my inability to relate to how much they love their big family!

What a huge mess I am. I do love my family, just in pieces I think!

Did I mention our granson is 4 and a half and is older than those 2 newest babies? He played soccer this year for the first time and his Daddy and Mommy would love for our 3 and a half year old, "Uncle Emory" to join him next year. Are they insane? I tried with everything in me and only made it to one of the Grandsons games this season and thought I was doing well.

And when our mutual pediatrican says to me in a moment of weakness in their office after a particularly trying week of illness, "Mrs. A. You are doing so well for being an older Mom and having to deal with all of this", I just want to curl up and die right then and there! I guess my daughter in law is the young Mrs. A. these days and what pray tell does that make my MIL??

ah well, you folks don't know me very well yet and I'm sure this post is coming across as very whiney, but as I feel very whiney at the moment perhaps it is a bit to real . . .However, I do love my kids, love my husband, love my life and all the privelidges and adventures it affords me and most importantly love my God who gave it all to me to because He must have known what was best for me even when I did not! Much easier to fully rely on God when there is so little of myself to rely on I'll give you that much!

Perhaps I'll recall that in the morning (okay later morning than it already is) as I try to bath, shower, dress and pack up all 7 of us for the 8:30am worship hour tomorrow morning! And here's a question. Why do the older folks who prefer traditional worship over contempory worship get to go to church at 11am instead of 8:30am?

I am a certifiable mess!! Happy to have the college age one home for a week though, so 7 is okay for now, but boy will 6 look good next week too!