Thoughts From Jules...

My Forest Friends...

2012-01-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share with you today about my cute little forest friends. We have a special relationship, really we do. I'll tell you about it but you have to promise not to laugh at me. Deal? Ok here we go....

We were camping near Anthony Lakes in our big wall tent with the nice warm woodstove. Thankfully we brought the stove because even in mid summer it gets really cold at night up there! Anyway we were all sleeping that first night we were camping and I was awoke by something. The strange part was I could feel something had went across my face, whatever it was had claws or scratchy something because I could still feel the sting that something had been on my face!

When the realization that something had been on my face and actually made a sensation that stayed with me even after I woke up was quite scary. Thoughts of giant spiders or cougar claws started to come to surface. What? Don't laugh, nothing is rational in the middle of the night with just canvas between you and the night!

My first reaction was to wake Mr Wonderful up. He stirred, but I could tell he wasn't fully awake. "Honey! You awake?" All I got was a mumble mumble noise from him. "Honey! Something just ran across my face!" I said. He wokes a little more "What?" "Yes, something ran across my face!" Then I heart it. I said "Shhh, do you hear that?" He says "No, what?" "It's still in here!!!" I could hear it scurrying around the tent on the tarp floor! He said "Must have been a chipmunk".

I heard it jump on Munchkin's cot and run around her sleeping bag, then she started to squirm in her sleep.....(I think it went into her sleeping bag for a bit) then I heard it plop back onto the tent floor! Mind your our dog is sound asleep in the tent during all of this. Lazy dog, supposed to be protecting us.

Anyway, I begged Mr Wonderful to save the day, I mean night, and get it. He replies "What am I going to do, shoot it in the tent? It will be fine just leave it alone." I can't believe he just said that! "What? I can't sleep knowing something could shimmy in my sleeping bag or claw my eyes out at night! Not to mention the children!" I thought to myself how I was sure he'd feel differently if he had had his face ran across instead of me. Just as I was prepared to remind him of his duty to protect his family, the noises were gone. The chipmunk had left the tent.

My Forest Enemy

Would you believe I have two stories about assaults from chipmunks? I can hardly believe it myself.

It was my first hunting season shortly after Mr. Wonderful and I were married. I was completely new to hunting. Not only had I walked what felt like a million miles that day, but I had to carry this really heavy gun. It just didn't feel comfortable any way I held it. I tried carrying it by the sling but Mr Wonderful said I wouldn't be ready to shoot if we saw one, plus it dug into my shoulder anyway. I tried switching hands but pretty soon both arms felt 2" longer than normal from carrying that darn gun. I was ready for a rest but I didn't want to stop hunting either. So Mr Wonderful decided I should rest under this huge tree in a clearing. He would loop around the surrounding area and see if he could push some elk out into the opening for me. How chivalrous.

There I was, sitting under this big tree, minding my own business when I hear a very angry chipmunk chattering overhead! Great, now he is telling all his forest friends including the elk I am here under this tree. For quite a while this went on and I could hear that chipmunk climbing around in the tree overhead and little pieces of bark would flitter down from the upper branches. The chipmunk was getting lower in the tree and lower and finally it came out onto a branch just above me and chattered loudly for me to leave his domain. I was not going to be bossed around by some chipmunk. We actually had an exchange of angry words let me tell you! It was a verbal fight.

As a new hunter I knew I was supposed to stay put so I wouldn't end up lost.....like a small child I obeyed. I just tried to ignore the forest siren telling on my location every time it chattered it's warnings at me.

I don't think the chipmunk could relate to my desire to not get lost. He was angry as ever and not backing down in the fight! Then I felt it, the wet drops showering down onto me, into my hair, and on my coat. That chipmunk peed on me! I could not believe this had happened to me. I felt so assaulted! Then you will never guess.....he pooped on me too! Several times in the matter of a minute!

By this time I am trying to find the little sucker in the tree with my rifle scope but of course he is buried in thick branches and I can never get my cross hairs on him.....which makes him a very lucky chipmunk I might add.

Needless to say there never were any elk that came withing view of me.....one because of the siren in the tree I am sure and two if there had been any elk I am pretty sure I was busy aiming the rifle in the tree and never would have seen them anyway!

Oh course when I told my horrific story of chipmunk assault and his warfare tactics to Mr. Wonderful he laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. When we got back to camp he told everyone all about it. To this day he still tells my story all the time!

Well I have declared war against these little guys. What? They started it not me!

How To Get Kids to Help...

2012-01-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

If you really want kids to help sometimes you just have to let them use their toys to do the job!

Amazing what you can get the kids to do when you let them use their toys! We get all kinds of help with yard work and gardening thanks to the thrill of hauling anything in a Tonka dumptruck!

Then there is this beauty.....well I wouldn't call it a beauty but it is rough, tough, and industrial for a reason.

This wagon is built from a great kit we found in the Northern Tool Catalog. This wagon makes it so easy to get the kids to help with things like hauling firewood, hauling animal feed from the car to the feed storage, toting around yard plants for spring planting, we've even use it as a way to move heavy appliances, and so much more.

The other cool part is how much fun they have with it, they love this wagon. It goes pretty fast and it is QUIET, I couldn't stand how loud the old fashioned red wagons were when you tried to take the kids for a walk in it.....oh and the handle is nice and long for adults too.

We have went through about 3 wagons before finally settling on the idea we needed something tougher than the typical red wagon could hold up to. This one has an 800lb load capacity and I don't think it is going anywhere. The cost of the wagon kit at about $70 has been far outweighed by the many uses we have found for this workhorse of a toy!

So there is one of our tricks to getting kids into helping more. Oh and the other trick is they don't have a choice if they help or not.:)

A New Direction For This Blog...and our kitten adventures.

2012-01-02T15:52:00.000-08:00

No time like the present to dive back in, right? I am rusty at blogging so hopefully with time I will find my style and develop vision of this blog as I go along.

Oh My! It has been a while since I last blogged. It was fun to look over all the pictures I had featured on this blog and revisit some memories I documented here. I can't believe how much the kids have grown! With that in mind, I want to blog more in the coming year. In a sense it will be a way to create an online keepsake of our family happenings to look back on as well as a platform to share with family and friends.

I figured I could start with the most memorable story from the recent months (ongoing memorable, trust me!). I hope you enjoy this little glimpse of what we've been dealing with for the last few months! Here it goes...

~Kitten Adventures~

We had been wanting to get another kitten pretty badly for over a year. We had been seriously looking for a particular type of kitten starting in about May of this last year. We really love cats with extra toes and we also love calico cats we hoped by some miracle we could find one with both traits. Also we enjoy manx cats with the bobbed tails, they tend to have interesting personalities. We were prepared to have to settle for just one of the 3 traits we wanted either extra toes, calico color or the manx breed. We had been keeping a look out and getting the word out that we were wanting to adopt a kitten with one of these qualities. We didn't go into this lightly and wanted to make sure to get at least one of the qualities we were looking for.

A friend had told us about these kittens she got with the extra toes and gave me the name of the gal who had them. She said she might have another batch by now we could see about. So I called the gal and she had a calico kitten just a couple weeks old and she had extra toes and was a manx! Oh my we felt like we hit the kitten JACKPOT, she had all 3 of the qualities we were looking for! We were so excited. We asked the gal when she would be ready to adopt and she said in another 2 weeks. So I told her we'd call back when it got closer but that we were pretty sure we'd like this kitten.

We called back a couple weeks later asking if the kitten was ready for her new home or if she needed a little more time to be weaned or ready to come home with us that week. She hymned and hawed for a while and asked me if we were used to baby kittens? Well yes, we've raised a lot of kittens so I was really not sure what she meant aside from them whining at night or needing to have their food softened a little or something. I said I was sure we'd be fine caring for it (she said it was 6 weeks old so there should have been no problems in theory). She had asked if I could find a home for another kitten with extra toes as well, because she was getting ready to be on a trip. I agreed we probably could place the other kitten easily since I knew of other people wanting the extra toed kittens. We have two other cats with extra toes and people are always asking where to find a kitten like that.

We arranged to meet at a local McDonalds because she lived a ways out of town and so did we in the opposite direction. She was on her way to work after the drop-off so it worked out well. *Prepare yourself a little before you scroll down and see the picture.

This is what we were greeted with when she took them out of her car....(there just aren't words for the shock we experienced when we saw our little kitty for the first time!)

I wanted to throw up, cry, yell at the lady, and reject them! We shed quite a few tears on the way home that day. We felt so cheated and let down after all the waiting and excitement and fun of anticipating the new arrival it was a sobering experience to say the least! I felt so sorry for these two little kittens I couldn't handle thinking they'd go back home with her and it wasn't even an option because she was headed to work next, she couldn't keep them with her either. We HAD to take these kittens and save their lives, we just had to!

They smelled soooo bad! They had poop-balls hanging from their backsides, canned catfood caked all over their bodies and one had really goopy eyes. I have NEVER seen anything like this. For the life of me I could not figure out why anyone would bring kittens to their new owners looking like this! The kids couldn't even touch them they smelled so bad. I was seriously afraid they'd catch some serious "cooties" by handling them. I cried the whole time we cleaned them up.

While we were getting them cleaned up and noticed some bald spots but we thought maybe the canned catfood being caked on so long had made the hair fall out. We fed them about an hour after we gave them baths with the canned food she had sent home with us. First of all they climbed into the bowl of food and got it all over each other and were frantically eating like they were starving. Poor babies. We realized quickly how they had gotten so dirty the way they ate! We also think the food was too rich for their little systems, as they had constant diarrhea. We switched them to some softened kitten chow and things went much smoother. Here is the calico kitten cleaned up and taking a nice long nap! Can you see her extra toes?

Before long we realized the bald spots were growing, the goopy eyes were worse and the sneezing was a problem. We took the worst one to the vet and figured we could treat the other one too. So the orange one we took in and he was diagnosed with a respitory infection (FURS), worms, ringworm (mange basically), and fleas. Poor kitty. We came home with antibiotics, ringworm meds, and wormer (they weren't old enough for flea treatments yet).

We treated them both, but before long we realized the orange one wasn't going to make it. So we had to have that one put down.:( The kids were so sad! The calico one was stronger and less affected by all the ailments. She responded well to treatment and improved over time.

Here she is a little bigger in a custom hammock the kids made her.

Here she is snuggled up with our dog, Maggie.

Weeks went by, the kitten's ringworm cleared up and we thought things were finally smooth sailing! Only then we realized we all were coming down with ringworm! Uh oh! Weeks after we were first exposed. So we began treating it as directed and just when we thought everyone was cleared up we'd find a new spot! It has been a very long process. You have to treat it for 2-4 weeks CONSITENTLY before it clears up! I should have bought stock in Lotrimin company we used so much.

The worst part is we went on a trip with some friends of ours. We thought before we had it all cleared up and just days before we left it came back on one of the kids! Then their child caught it too! Talk about embarrassing! So this little kitty has quiet the story so far...hence the ongoing memorable part!

Soon after the weather started to turn cold she started getting her "big girl" fur coat in. She turned almost completely grey! She went from completely calico to almost completely mottled grey!

This kitten has had more surprises for us than we ever expected! Her coat eventually grew in and returned to her former darker calico colors.

Here she is today much healthier and happier! Her name is Betsy.

Welcome to the family Betsy!

Update....

2010-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on lately it is hard to condense it all so I won't even try. We are all doing well and enjoying the unpredictable weather of spring. It is beautiful and ever changing.

We are gearing up for some great things ahead. Our church family is growing and we will be helping out for our visiting evangelist coming in a week. Then we are also helping to kick off a Financial Peace University course, that features Dave Ramsey's teachings. That should take up much of our time but be a very rewarding experience! We can't wait, we have learned so much from his information and find ourselves in a much better position than before we found his teachings.

I won't try to go back and fill you in on the last year because I know I will forget most of it. So we will focus on the future and present happenings instead. Hopefully I will get back to update soon. This week we are cleaning and doing all kinds of repairs and finishing touches to prepare our house to be listed for sale......we are hoping to place an offer on a larger place out of town very soon. If that offer is accepted we will be trying to sell our home. It will be bitter sweet but we are READY to move out of town!

Wild Turkeys...

2009-06-14T23:23:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Creatures.

Admiring flowers and a surprise...

2009-06-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some flowers to enjoy......

Here is what came running out of one of the flowerbeds! By the time I caught up to it, it had run accross a graveled area and into dry grass.

Not something you see every day...

2009-06-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

I had to share this interesting pair.....on each side of this pic is something.

The more obvious subject is the doe.

On the right of the pic is an owl perched on a rock!

Sorry about the blurr, I had it on 60X zoom. It also doesn't help that the car was full of bouncing children when I took this pic.

My Favorite Pic....

2009-06-14T22:33:00.001-07:00

Dutch Oven Cooking Adventures....

2009-06-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

We I finally did it. I cooked my first meal using a dutch oven outdoors with charcoal briquettes. I would like to point out, this isn't a cooking blog....as you will see from my poor food pics. HAHA

I had to do it in a make-shift way because I don't have all the neat outdoor dutch oven tools...like say an outdoor dutch oven. This dutch oven is a cast iron chicken fryer that is probably 50+ years old. Grandma used to fry chicken in it. It is well seasoned and I love it for cooking inside. I have been wanting to try outdoor style meals too.....in preparation for the heat wave of summer, I am trying to find ways to keep the heat out of the kitchen for summer dinners.

What is inside the dutch oven you ask?

Elk Steak, onions, Morel Mushrooms, BBQ sauce, Worchestershire Sauce, garlic, and seasonings.

Here it is, all done ready to serve, the steak was super tender, the mushrooms were yummy and all partakers were HAPPY! I will definitely be doing more dutch oven cooking this summer.

Small Town Excitement....

2009-06-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we had some excitement in our small town. We had a Chinook helicopter from the National Guard land in our schools' ball fields! It was the highlight of their month! The first landing was at the high school, the second landing was the grade school. They let all the kids have a tour.

It was a fun day.....

Where we left off...Coast Trip Getaway.

2009-06-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time since I last posted anything on this blog. I figured I should pick up where I left off. We were headed to the Oregon Coast for a getaway. Here are some pics of our trip.

We saw some fabulous sunsets......

Awe inspiring sights....

Heard the crashing of waves......and smelled the salty air.

Enjoyed critter finds......dead and alive.

In the end it made for one happy couple.....

Headed to the coast....

2009-02-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

I am so ready, we are headed to the coast tomorrow. Just the two of us for some quiet time, some romance, some bonding time. I am sooo looking forward to it. I want today it be over and tomorrow departure time to be here already.

I will drop off the kids at my parents in the midmorning, then swing by and pick up my handsome date and we are off and running to a romantic getaway. We will be staying on the Oregon Coast in a quiet town. We rented a vacation home near the beach. I can hear the waves and smell the air now! mmmm. We will be celebrating a belated B-Day for Mr Wonderful (feb 10th), Belated Valentine's, and our 14 year first date anniversary which is today!

I will hopefully have some nice pics to post when we get back. The kids are super excited about spending a long weekend at the grandparents house.

Elephant Rock...

2008-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is Elephant Rock up near my family's cabin.

Bonfire....

2008-12-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

We could see this bonfire clear accross town so we went to check it out. It was just the city burning all the branches from the city clean up day. It was quite the pile of flames though. Made for a nice morning drive.

Cinnamon Rolls....

2008-12-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

I decided to make these cinnamon rolls this year instead of a bunch of different goodies all in a basket like we have always done. I hope everyone likes them! I found them on The Pioneer Woman blog. It is a great site! Here is the link to the tutorial she did on them, that inspired me to try them out this holiday season.

It is perfect because we had a funeral this past week that planning took up the time we normally use to bake goodies so this simplified my life tremendously. Plus, people still get something from our family.:) We need that excuse of delivering goodies to make our rounds and visit with people we don't get to visit with often.

Mine don't look quite as impressive as hers but that was to be expected.;)

Mmmm..Mmmm!

Sunset....

2008-12-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't caught on I really really love sunsets and sunrises.

Ornament Tour Part 2...

2008-12-20T00:11:00.000-08:00

We continue our tour of some of our best loved ornaments....

Sunshine's first ornament! Also the most expensive ornament on the entire tree!
What was I thinking?

One of Mr Wonderful's ornaments.

2007 Chamber of Commerce Ornament!

A dear friend made this for me about 20 years ago.

"Better Not Pout!" ornament I made from Sculpey clay.

I got this great ornament from a gift exchange last year! Love it!

Handmade ornament from my mom.

One of my childhood ornaments from 1980.

Spud Man's 2007 ornament.

Another one of my childhood ornaments. Probably my 2nd favorite.

Ornament Tour part 1...

2008-12-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

Join me on a reminiscent tour of some of our favorite ornaments.
We like to get one ornament for the family each year.
Each child gets one and we get one as a couple most years.

Mr Wonderful and I made this shortly after we got married. We took feathers and a pine cone, it turned out pretty unique.

This is a sock from my dear neighbor growing up. It has to be about 35+ years old.

Tober's new ornaments from Grandma this year!

A sweet bell angel.

One of Tober's ornaments from years past.

Sunshine's 2008 Ornament from Grandma.

My favorite Ornament EVER!
My sister made this for me, it is colored like our childhood horse Dixie.

Another of Sunshine's ornaments.

Spud Man's 2008 ornament from Grandma!

Tober's 2007 ornament.

Join me in a later post for part two of the ornament tour....

Kids Do the Silliest Things...

2008-12-16T09:55:00.001-08:00

Whippersnapper came in next to me and he looked awfully mischievous for some reason. Upon closer inspection, something looked odd. He was walking all stiff and awkward with a strange sound to his steps...hmmm

What is wrong with this picture?

Something just doesn't seem right does it?

Are you ready for this? Are you sure you can handle it?

Oh me oh my...a train set!

Finally a little help here!

Brrrr....

2008-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

We got SNOW!!! Finally! Looks like it will be sticking around a while at these temperatures! It was 2 degrees F this morning. Luckily with 8" of snow on our roof it creates quite the insulation factor and we are staying warm and toasty inside! Here are a few pics to enjoy....

The next few pics feature some things I am thankful for in weather like this...

Nice warm toasty fire in the woodstove with lots of firewood to burn.

Studded Tires for peace of mind.

With a big diesel pick-up this power cord is the most important thing this time of year if you plan to leave the house....

Oh brrr....so cold out there! We are supposed to get about 4-8" again tomorrow. Time to stock up on good foods and hunker down for a few days enjoying hot cocoa, good movies, and fun family time. We have a funeral to attend on Friday and I think it is supposed to snow then too. Mr Wonderful's uncle passed away on Sunday.:( This could be interesting getting to and from all the places we need to go this week to plan the funeral.:( When you think of it please pray for our family as we go about getting thru this next week.

Tree Hunting....

2008-12-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

We got our tree!! It was fun but snowy, windy, and ccccold! our scouting trip last weekend came in really handy, we already knew where the nice trees where. I am really glad we had one all picked out because the weather wasn't going to cooperate for our planned bonfire and some fun time in the snow. It was more of a bail out, cut it down, and race back to the pick-up before your snot froze in your nose type experience!Here is the tree we chose, a nice pokey spruce to keep Whippersnapper out of the tree. Brilliant thinking on our part.....except for the part where we are the ones that have to decorate it. Hmmm Note to self: Spruce trees, not such a wonderful idea after all.
The mighty tree hunter himself, Mr Wonderful.

Maggie loves running around in the snow!!

Callie wondering where Mr Wonderful was off to.

To some this could be considered overkill, when a simple hand saw would do. Mr Wonderful loves power tools. Oh and some kids who shall remain nameless went and lost our good hand saw while camping last summer so we didn't have a choice.

On our way back home decided to sing carols. It would help if at least one of us could remember all the words. We got to laughing so hard it was pretty fun. The 12 Days of Christmas had to be the funniest one to try to remember. We had it pretty well messed up by the end, Mr Wonderful kept trying to add strange things into every place we couldn't remember what went with what day.
This is my favorite part. I make several minute adjustments (I mean, I make Mr Wonderful make several minute adjustments, I stand back and give orders) like say turning the tree at least 360 degrees a minimum of 3 times to see which side looks best. Oh and then all the fine tuning adjustments for vertical up and down. So he spends alot of time on the floor making adjustments to the tree stand. It is just my favorite part to see how far I can push it before he starts grumbling about being under a poeky tree that is dripping melting snow. Hee Hee I wonder when he will catch on I am just messing with him? Meanwhile the kids are waiting anxiously for the tree to be ready to decorate.

The tree was a bit too tall so we needed to cut it off to make room for the angel on top.

Actually I had a great idea. After we realized just how pokey a spruce tree really was I devised a plan. We'd mount the tree on the kids' Sit and Spin toy and make it into a Lazy Susan type deal. Then we'd stand back with lights in hand and just twirl the tree and wind the lights right on without touching it. Then, for the ornaments, we'd just stand back and throw them at the tree and where ever they landed and hung was where they'd go. With as great of an idea as that was we just decided to put on our leather gloves and something long sleeve and we were spared too many injuries.

Stay tuned for a tour of special ornaments on the tree......

Beautiful Old Barn...

2008-12-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

I love scenes like this...I just with the owners would fix them up before they start to fall down. I always imagine the history that happened in these old barns. This barn was about 2/3 bigger, most of it is laying on the ground now.:( Imagine it in it's glory days...

Snuggle Buddies...

2008-12-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Maggie our Golden Retriever loves her teddy bear. She snuggles with this teddy bear, she takes it out in her mouth when she needs to go potty...she shows everyone at the door her teddy bear. She loves it......there is only oe problem with Mr. Teddy Bear. He is dirty....filthy really! Since he gets "loved" so much, he gets taken out in the mud, throw into the air and caught, slobbered on, laid on, and chewed on now and then. It reminds me of a toddler when you pry their favorite blankie from them long enough to wash it and they stand in front of the washing machine crying like you are going to ruin all the allure of their favorite blankie by simply washing it! We are trying to find the right opportunity to wash this beast of a bear. One of these days she will put it down long enough for us to wash it. I wonder what she'll do?

I should note, these pics were taken when the bear was relatively new.....here are pics of it not so new.:(

Isn't it sad?

"Help me!"

Here is what she looks like when someone has her bear.

Here is what she looks like when she gets it back...."Step away from the bear!"

Ok I am kidding, she is really laid back and while she loves her bear, she'd really rather just have some pets while she gazes into your eyes.

Garlands....

2008-12-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

When I got my Christmas decorations out this year I was ever so thankful I had the forethought to buy new garlands last year. In fact I was reminded that 95% of our decor is all hand-me-downs from when we got married 11+ years ago.....from people whom had probably had these hand-me-downs for a great many years. At what point do you start to upgrade? For example.....take these garlands.... You see we have tried fluffing, rearranging, and doubling up these garlands for years. For the most part they worked great....until we went to the store and saw all the glorious fluffy garlands....then we got garland envy and bought some 50% off. Boy, am I glad we did. Aren't they purdy?

Then the school had a fundraiser selling fresh greenery. Oh my, then the nice new fluffy garlands started to get garland envy and we have a garland uproar. So to keep the peace we decided the fresh one would fair best outside. Also the old ratty garlands had to go outside because they kept fighting with the new garlands....it was rough around here for a few mins till we got everyone separated and calmed down with their noses to the wall.

Then there is the poinsettia....I just love the color and happiness of a poinsettia, sadly I have never had a fresh one. I will just have to imagine what that might feel like, since fakes ones make me this happy...I probably couldn't bear that much happiness anyway. Sadly, I had to actually look up how to spell poinsettia.Anyway I have been slowly unpacking the holiday decor boxes. Gradually making progress on the transformation around here. Can't wait to get the tree and decorate that, maybe that will be another blog post.....

Sunset......

2008-12-09T16:56:00.001-08:00

This sunset caught us off guard today......what a sight!!! The kids came running to tell me there was a pretty sunset. These shots are all original, no messing with anything.

Isn't it amazing all these pics are from one sunset. Each moment was breathtaking, each moment completely different in color, depth, and beauty.

Scary Isn't it?

2008-12-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

This post needs no words.... "Dad quit making funny faces!"

Note: No lives were endangered during this driving session.

Tree Scouting...

2008-12-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Well I suppose you could say we went Christmas Tree scouting today....we didn't intend to. In fact we have a artificial tree we love. We were actually on a mountain drive when it started to snow and it was beautiful...and there were people headed back home with all these beautiful real trees....so I started getting tree envy. Then we were kicking ourselves for not buying a permit before we came up in case we found the perfect tree. Anyway we decided we were officially tree scouting.....so they took a short hike around to find the perfect tree, we have at least 3 possibilities and we might go back up this weekend to cut it down. The kids are super excited.....I have mixed feelings. As you can see it was snowing, actually kinda hard.

I was never going to be one of THOSE people, the kind that set up an artificial tree. So tackey, you have to go real, that was my motto. Then someone gave us a really nice, full fake tree. I fell in love, they are so neat and clean, they don't have to be watered, they actually hold up the ornaments and there are enough branches that each one can hold an ornament instead of having to put 5 ornaments on the same branch! HAHA

You see I am famous for not watering the tree......I usually put a kid in charge but then they forget too....so the tree dries up and we end up with a mess. Add to that we have wood heat which is very drying for a tree.....and it is crispy city by Christmas.....then look out when it is time to take the tree out of the house.

We will likely go with a fresh tree this year, it will be nice....I just might need daily reminders from my friends to water the tree! Unless of course I can get my kids to feeling impatient and offer to drag the fake tree in for them to decorate this week, then I might be able to get out of the sticky pitchy hands while trying to get the tree level, vertical, and steady. Not to mention the pokey process of stringing lights......oh the memories. I do miss the smell of the fresh tree though....to be continued....you will soon get to see what we ended up with fake or real tree this year....

Let's Play a Game...

2008-11-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Can you guess what this is?

How about now?

Thanks for playing...

Cuteness....

2008-11-30T18:09:00.001-08:00

My mighty hunters...

Sunsets and Sunrises....

2008-11-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

As beautiful sunsets and sunrises go, these are a mere sneak peak of the true beauty. I can't wait to capture more and more of these scenes. These are of Saturday's sunset and this morning's sunrise.

Thanksgiving...

2008-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

We had such a nice Thanksgiving! My brother and sister-in-law did so great! It was festive and fun. Check out their tablesettings.

Look at these candle holders they made out of gourds.

I loved their turkey cookies! They looked so cute!

I finally got to hold my new nephew too!!!! He is adorable!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Road Block....

2008-11-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

So I was driving along and what do I see coming up the road?

Luckily, I wasn't in any hurry. I got to do this as a little girl growing up. Moving cattle with my grandpa was one of the highlights of my childhood. I just got to enjoy the trip down memory lane. It made my day!

Let's play a game...

2008-11-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

Can you guess what this is?

How about now?

Thanks for playing!

Thanks to our lovely model Yellow Legs, our hen who is working on laying an egg in this picture.

No One is Safe Here....

2008-11-24T20:00:00.001-08:00

Hee Hee no one is safe, I will find them with my camera........I finally had to go for a drive because my little models were getting tired.....see?

The dog started making weird faces.....

The children started covering their faces.....

And pleading into the camera...."Please Mom, no more!"

Not many things where safe from the constant snapping of pictures around here....

Here is a doe and fawn we saw on our drive (cropped like crazy because I only have an 18-55mm lens). Look how fuzzy/furry the fawn is!!!! There deer were about 25ft away and the doe wanted to come after me, thankfully I was in the safety of the pick-up. She kept stamping her feet and would not take her eyes off me.lol

Macey the cat.

Holden getting away with being on the stool.

Happy Faces!

Not even the food was safe around here! Doesn't look near as good as it did last night!
The chickens even got in on some modeling action.
There didn't seem to be too many complaints from the scenery though.

Stay tuned and hopefully I will have some improved photography skills!

Playing catch up...

2008-11-24T08:18:00.001-08:00

I am getting a new camera in less than 20 mins! I am headed to the post office now. So hopefully I can figure out how to make sure my uploader keeps working. It is being finicky. So here is to more pics and more posts on this blog! Maybe I will post about the new camera. I hope it is all I hoped for!

Here comes more pics....even though they might only be ones like the following pic...where I can show you what my life is really like on a day to day basis.

Spud Man when he was around 3-4 yrs with a bag of catfood he snuck into a room....I believe he was even going to eat some......or did he? I don't want to know.

Technical Difficulties

2008-11-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I have tried to post several times and cannot get my picture uploader to work. That is why I haven't been posting lately, I figured posts with pics are so much more fun. So today no pics. I am hoping that there will be lots of new material coming. Today, in about 20 mins I go pick up my new camera from the post office. I am so excited. I hope it helps me to add some great stuff to this blog.

I will hopefully be back soon with an update between Aug 25 (my last post) and now.:)

Huckleberries...

2008-08-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Huckleberry Bounty!

Yesterday we also went huckleberry picking! It was great fun, much cooler than blackberry picking and the berries were larger than usual and thicker than usual so it was even better! We had fun! We picked about 8 cups of berries that we can use in muffins, pancakes, and a batch of jam.

Mmmm...mmm

I am very very concerned about Whippersnapper, brace yourself now......

We have a tree hugger in the family! Gasp.

Maggie on guard for bear spotting...

Bear!? What bear?

Blackberries...

2008-08-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Guess what happened to these berries....
Yup, Tobers ate them! Notice the scratches on his upper lip.....he had a bike accident and ran into a tree branch, poor baby, that is actually quite a bit healed up now.

We went berry picking yesterday! It was fun, we started out with blackberries. We got approx 4 gallons of blackberries for jam and cobblers. YUM. It was a bit hot for me though, I am lightweight when it comes to viciuos blackberry thorns and heat.

Spud Man gets to use the ladder to reach the higher up ones.
Holden got a branch of two cut off so he could eat some too without getting entangled in the vines!

Mr Wonderful risking injury to gather food for us.....Awe...

The whole gang.

Sunshine displays the dual purpse of a halloween bucket complete with a replacement handle made of bailing twine.

The days work.

Standard equipment for the day....berry stains all around. Coming up next....huckleberry picking...

Airshow...

2008-08-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the airshow in our town today. It was fun. My Dad called to invite us in to his office with is right on the tarmac edge. He parked his airplane near the office so we could enjoy it and sit in the shade of the wings. We had such a nice time, the weather was perfect! I have never been to an airshow so it was something new for my family. Here are a few bad quality pics from the aerobatic acts.
Is there such a thing as air show neck? My neck was hurting so bad by the time it was over from craning my neck to be able to see all the action....that is when you need a chaise lounge to kick back and see with no strain.

More...

2008-08-08T19:07:00.001-07:00

Here is another plan I came up with, I had even more fun with the SmartDraw program trial this time. It was fun! This one is 1,536 sq ft without sunroom, and 1,920 with the sunroom.

This plan is smaller by only a little, the sunroom is a little narrower in some places than the first one and it seems cozier to me. I also like how the kitchen sink is on an exterior wall so I can have a view of outside.

Dreams...

2008-08-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

I have dreams, lots of them. Most include a home on acreage with some creative/frugal ways of life. We would really like to build a passive solar home. I would like to consider rainwater collection for watering fruit trees and other landscape things....we'd still be traditional in that we'd have power and a well but we'd just do a few things to cut down on our electric bills. We'd grow some of our own foods. Acreage would mean that we could have a much larger garden than we have now of course. We'd also have some animals like a steer or two, chickens, and rabbits.

I have been researching zero energy design for homes and passive solar designs. I think I can see using several aspects of both ideas. I like the idea of a sunroom for passive solar heat gain during the day...along with either stained concrete floors, or tile for heat absorption during the day and radiation of heat at night (we'd probably have carpet in the bedrooms). We probably can't afford to build as large of a sunroom as we'd need for the zero energy designs so we'd supplement at night with a nice wood fire in a small wood stove. We like wood heat, and Mr Wonderful likes having an excuse to spend time in the mountains so everyone wins.

I love the idea of a sunroom mainly because I suffer from SAD in the winter where low sunlight in winter months tend to cause depression. So I can picture myself basking in the sun in a nice warm sunroom....maybe even in a hammock. I also love starting plants indoors but I don't have anywhere in this house to do it...there is only 1 south facing window and it is in the boys' room which means those plants would never stand a chance! HAHA I wish I were kidding.

So do you want to see what plan I came up with? I tried out this trail version of SmartDraw and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It is so easy to use and fast. Impressive. Anyway I just tried out the 7 day trial and probably won't be able to buy the real version until we are into more serious house planning mode but I think it would be a great tool for designing our dream floor plan. Here is the latest in many many designs I have worked thru as a possibility for our home ....someday. you know how somedays go right?

This house is 1,608 sq ft without the sunroom, with the sunroom it is 1,944 sq ft. 3-4 bedrooms 2 baths. I should be honest here, I love the idea of a sunroom (as I have it envisioned with my super powered rose colored glasses) BUT I can also see it with my "In All Reality Glasses"......it would be a dirt floor because we'd be too poor to lay pavers or tile, then I'd try my hand at growing plants for eating and decor, and we'd even put in a fish pond or fountain for interest, and we'd have neat paths with bark mulch. Then not too long after that the whole place would be torn up from Tonkas and 3 active boys, the fish would be caught, the pond now a hillbilly swimmin' hole, and my poor plants neglected and thirsty. Of course the whole house would be built centered around this great aspect of our home only highlighting my lack of green thumb and childcare supervision deficiencies. So there is that fear that it would be a hindrance and not an asset. I still love the idea though.....rose colored glasses beat reality any day if you ask me.

There are several things going on in this home.....first the double door air lock entry, minimizes energy loss when coming and going from the home. The utility room also acts as a air lock. Also the bedrooms are all on the north side of the house where it is ok if it is a little cooler at night (because we are bundled up under comfy quilts).

I really like the kitchen set up too as it has a large island. I can have company around me while I go about fixing meals and it also gives me a huge work space to spread out dinner prep. I have always wanted an island and I hope our dream house has one. It is a great place to spread out the paper and eat breakfast so the mess stays in the kitchen and not at the dining table.

One of the kids' bedrooms is larger to accommodate all 3 boys...I keep reminding myself it is just to sleep and store some of there stuff. They don't have to live in there 24/7. Also we have a flex room available that we could use as a bedroom while the kids are still at home (which will be a while) or the room can be used at a school room, office, or my favorite a craft room.

The utility room features floor to ceiling pantry cabinets on one side, along the other side a washer, dryer, and folding counter with dirty clothes basket shelves under counter. Maybe that way Mt. Washmore will stay manageable right? I even though about breaking up the pantry cabinets with about 8 cubbies all in a row at kid eye level between upper an lower cabinets for folded clothes so each child can come get their clean clothes. I think that would create a functional space to work in.

I have lots of ideas and some things that I still really want to learn more about but I have a start on something functional anyway.

Ever Had One of These Days?...

2008-08-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Maggie got her head stuck in the gate and was unable to free herself.....we found it quite funny and had to take pics of her before we took mercy on her and freed her from her predicament! Serves her right for trying to escape....again.

High School to Housewife...the Reception.

2008-08-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

One on my favorite memories was my dear sweet Grandpa Red who actually came! He didn't do social gatherings like weddings and I was so excited and honored that he actually came and congratulated us at the reception!! He has since passed away. Sniff Sniff....

"Honored Guest"

What would a reception be without food, right? We served croissant sandwiches and some really yummy salads. Several salads were made my close family members and we were able to pull together a nice reception dinner potluck style kinda. It was quite good and we had plenty of food amazingly. We had a pretty good turn out especially considering there was a 15 mile drive from the church to the reception. The reception was at my parents ranch where I grew up.

On our reception tables we had live goldfish in small glass bowls and several people got to take them home to their fishponds. We even had several for ourselves, 2 lived for 10 years in our pond!!! It seemed to be a huge hit for a centerpiece.

Maybe too big of a hit.....

I wonder what he's planning to do once this cake is cut? Be nice Mr Wonderful......of course I am sure he thought about it but he was a gentleman when the time came to feed each other wedding cake....he had me worried with that look though.

We opened gifts and we were so incredibly blessed by our loved ones!

After a long day of family and fun we finally headed to our first home........for our first night of married bliss!

A Morning Stroll...

2008-08-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Take a stroll with me thru the yard this beautiful morning....

My favorite spot this week in the yard, the colors, the stargazer lilies....mmmmm..mmm.

This has to be my favorite flower. This is the first one I have gotten to grow in my many attempts.....I am planting more this fall! I love their fragrance so strong, but so nice!

Well, good morning Mr. Bumblebee...

...and good morning to you too Mr. Grasshopper...

Talk about a busy mornin'....check out the legs on that lowest honey bee......covered in pollen!

There is just something about sunflowers to lift the spirits huh?

My breakfast is being delivered.....omlet anyone?

Isn't she beautiful?

I wish you could hear the cackles and clucks....it is magical. They are spoiled, that is the garden they get to feast on for a few mins.......I must end this stroll because.......

"Feed Me!"

And my morning starts.....I hear kids getting up, my stomach is calling to me to fix breakfast, pets need fed, house needs cleaned, things to do, places to go. It sure was nice to have a few mins of utter bliss before the hubub started.

Join me again soon......Blessings to you this morning!

High School to House Wife....We Were Wed...

2008-07-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our wedding day was magical....as I hope most are! Everything came together so easily and beautifully. So many special people showed up to show their love and support. I was so excited to see so many that had come.

The night before the wedding, my maids of honor stayed the night with me and we stayed up late talking and getting prettied up for the big day. Just before the ceremony I was starting to feel a little iffy in the stomach. I had not eaten much and I was starting to feel sick from lack of food. So I asked someone in the bride room to go get me some saltine crackers and gatorade from the store to help calm my stomach. What was I thinking not eating enough anyway? It had been such a busy day I guess it slipped my mind. I felt relatively calm aside from the fear of puking somewhere inappropriate like say....in front of hundreds. I hear Mr Wonderful was a little nervous in his room though......was it because he heard his bride was sick to her stomach? (as in cold feet? Which wasn't the case I assure you.).......When the food arrived I found out it was Mr Wonderful who had ran to the store for me and got me what I needed. Was that not the sweetest thing? Gulp....I am getting all tingly just thinking about it.

As I look towards my groom and we see each other for the first time this special day....I am giddy. Does my dad look TOO eager to give me away? Hey wait a minute!

Can anyone guess what he's thinking? Kinda looks like he's thinking about later that night huh?

"Good Trade"

"Sealin' The Deal!"

"Yes!"

Working on another Highschool to Housewife post...

2008-07-30T12:02:00.001-07:00

I AM working on the next chapter of Highschool to Housewife BUT I can't seem to lay my hands on our wedding album which is kinda important for this post beings it is about our wedding. Darn it! I will go searching, I promise, but be patient as it takes a lot of time to scan and edit pics once I actually find them...where ever they are!

In the mean time I figured I would share which picture Sierra chose to enter in the county fair for her photography.

Style Review....4-H Modeling

2008-07-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sunshine entered what is called Style Review. It is a great competition focusing on poise, interview skills, and grace. I think is is such a wonderful experience. This is her 3rd year doing this event and she did such a good job and had great confidence and excitement about it. To participate you have to have made your own garment, the judges interview you and ask you all about your garment and the process of making it and other things you enjoy etc. She did great. When asked by the judges what was the hardest part about her project she replied. "The hardest part was definately keeping the cat off the ironing board as we were making it and the understitching around the neckline." The judges laughed so hard and she was all giggles so I was happy to see her so confident and to see her visiting with the judges and not being too shy. It was a neat thing to see for me as a Mom.:) In the evening there was a public fashion show where they all had to model on a large stage with lights and a crowd, another GREAT experience. She did really well with that as well, I was not able to take pictures of that because my camera just is not good at low light stuff like that when the subject is more than about 10 ft away.:(

There was a newspaper photographer there and she said he asked for her name and age so maybe just maybe she will be in the paper! Whoo Hoo. That would be so cool, she'd love that! Then out came the little Diva....refusing anymore photos......(What? This in only the 50th shot come ON!)

Just kidding!!!

She was awarded Reserve Champion at the evening style review....I captured this next picture...I cropped it to just her because there are kids on either side and obviously I wouldn't post pics of other peoples kids without permission.:)
It was such a wonderful day....unfortunately very few pics in the building turned out, so we took a bunch at home around the yard. Also here are some video clips of the judging portion (not the evening style show).

Fair Time...

2008-07-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time of year, county fair time. We are taking this week to finish up fair entries and make those last minute things. We have one outfit for style review (kinda like a mini modeling competition to teach girls about interview skills as well as manners) then we have a little jam to be made, some cookies to be baked, and Sunshine decided she will be making a yeast bread....yes she is fearless! Tobers is going to make a pet rock to enter and peanut butter cookies. He is pretty excited.

Last year I swore we were not going to be doing fair again. I don't care for the atmosphere at our local fair. I'd prefer to be able to participate in neighboring counties with less of a commercial feel or something but this is the county we are stuck in and my kids really wanted to enter things. So this year, instead of going on an evening when Mr Wonderful can go, we will be going on a weekdays midday or mornings. I don't really like crowds and I prefer to be able to relax and enjoy rather than be rushed around. So Mr Wonderful will miss out seeing it but at least we will probably enjoy ourselves more and it will be cheaper thanks to the local reading program issuing free passes for kids once they hit a certain amount of time reading.:)

I will try to post pics as we work on these projects this week.:)

Organization...

2008-07-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Organization is a tough one for me. I try, I really do, but in a few days it is all undone and I get discouraged. I am not a naturally organized person, I am more along the lines of creative and free spirit flying by the seat of my pants. The problem with that is that the seat of my pants doesn't seem to fly me to the routines I need to be doing. It just doesn't automatically happen without me making a list or something to go by.

These past 2 weeks I have been concentrating on building a framework of a routine. Why the sudden importance on a routine? Well, I was starting to feel really overwhelmed and not sure about the task of homeschooling another year. In fact I considered sending them to public school this year. I just felt like I was falling thru on so many things even though school itself went really well last year. I was not doing as well the the overall balance of things that are important to me that get done, like making good meals for dinner, or keeping the house presentable, or my own health and weightloss etc. There didn't seem to be enough to go around for everything and everyone that needed something.

So two weeks ago I realized WOW it is so much easier to stay more ontop of things that it is to let them pile up like laundry, dishes, and other cleaning. I have some great routines in place as well as some handy check off sheets. They are helping me a great deal and I can already start to feel many of the things becoming automatic.

I think it boiled down to priorities. It really is important to me that I homeschool the kids. I can see the difference in them. The problem with the cenario up till now is that school was first for me, once school was done I would kinda relax and feel like I did my deed for the day and I'd not be as connected with the kids for the rest of the day. I had to change my focus onto being a more connected Mom all day and not so much energy going into only the schooling part. Also keeping the house neater frees up my energies to be doing fun things, and making nice dinners, and my mind is clearer when DH gets home.

Also I am taking more deliberate time for devotions and prayer time. It seems to be helping me to focus on how I want Jesus to be the center of my day and how I can learn to be more focused on his plan for this family.

This week is Vacation Bible School for the 3 older kids. They are really enjoying it and I am enjoying the quiet time in the mornings with just Whippersnapper. I am getting a lot of cleaning and dejunking done around here too.

Anyway I have been learning alot from my fellow homeschooling Mom's about organization, routines, and smart tips for managing the chaos that seems to come with homeschooling.

We are tentatively starting school next Monday! The kids are excited, well Sunshine and Tobers are anyway. Spud Man hopefully will get there. I think he will once he sees how different this year will be compared to last year. Things will be alot more relaxed and the goal is to teach the love of learning and the ability to find where everyone can learn what they would like to learn. As well as the more traditional schooling. I have to keep in mind I can teach all day long but if the kids have no connection or interest with what I am teaching it is a waste of my time, it is like a gallon of teaching for an ounce of learning. So I have to be careful that I am not going thru the motions and they still aren't reaping the benefits of my time. It is a balancing system that can be tricky some days.

So here is to a more organized school year!! Sunshine in 5th grade, Spud Man starts 1st grade, Tobers is doing preschool and Whippersnapper is learning what toddlers learn best....everything new and exicting in his world!

Adventures...

2008-07-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we went out to my parents ranch. It is only about 15 mins away and they have a nice creek about 75ft out the front door. I spent many summers there playing for hours on end. I took the kids down to the creek to play while my Mom and I sat in lawn chairs and chatted. 2 of the kids' cousins also came to play. We'd been there about an hour and noticing a doe in the creek about 50 yards away and she looked like she was escaping the heat in the water like we were, except she just appeared to be feeding long the edges of the creek and meandering around. So we had been chatting and watching the kids play up and down the creek from us. I noticed our doe had left after an hour of being there. Then about 15 mins later I noticed something low to the ground coming out of the brush right where the deer was no longer there, first I thought maybe a beaver because it was moving so slow and so short, then more of it came out of the bush and a little more and then I realized it had a big long tail! It was a cougar on it's belly creeping out to the edge of the water and it got a drink....about this time once we realized what it was started yelling for the kids to get out of the water and get to the house (thank goodness it was so close). We got the kids to safety and the last time I looked at the cougar it was sitting up looking at us. Thank goodness it didn't try to chase us! I doubt it would have. It wasn't a very large cougar but still a cougar 50 yards from where my children were playing in the water! YIKES! Anyway that was enough excitement for one day! LOL

They called the state trapper (who is entirely too busy in our area with cougar sightings etc) and he was supposed to come out and track it with dogs but we never knew if he actually made it out there or not.:( Unfortunately the surrounding areas are getting overrun with cougars. Ever since they changed the law about not hunting them with dogs. They have no fear of humans like they once did and the younger ones (because there are so many more of them now) are getting pushed into more populated areas because their mom's push them out of their territory etc. Anyway I think this one was a younger one because it wasn't real big but they tend to be more dangerous because they are inexperienced hunters and are more tempted to try to attack a human and they are more bold IMO. This isn't the first time we have seen cougars out there over tthe past several years but when we were growing up we had never seen a cougar on the ranch......as much as we were all over that land on horseback and on foot it is amazing. Now we see several a month.:(

That was the week I decided to stay off the internet for 1 full week! No internet so that I could make sure and think about my priorities and take some time to think about life, these precious kids. It was the best thing I could have done, it got me out doing things I don't normally do and we had quite an adventure of a week!!! First there was a huge windstorm at my parents that blew over about 30 trees and we had to cut trees out of the road and the kids all got to ride in an excavator and see the guys falling trees etc. It was pretty neat and the kids were loving it. Then the cougar sighting the next day, we also did several fun things that week like sewing Sunshine's 4-H project, going to Tri Cities for fabric shopping etc. It was a very good time and I can definitely see myself limiting internet for several days per week or another week at some point just to keep my focus on life going on around us.:)

10 and 2....

2008-06-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

A cheery lily just because.....

This week was the B-Day Party for Sunshine and Whippersnapper. This was the family BBQ portion of the celebration. I wanted to share a few pics with you.

Wow! I wish I knew that pic was being taken!

Behold!.......The trucks and sailboats!

Sunshine's new pole!!

It was a fun evening and I am glad everyone that came was able to make it. I can't beleive my oldest is 10 and my youngest is 2! Gulp....time flies!

Our Coast Vacation...

2008-06-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

The big anticipation, the first hike to the ocean of the trip......

We had such a nice time on our vacation! We took our trailer down to the Nehalem Bay State Park. The headwind going down the Columbia Gorge was a strong one and we got terrible fuel mileage going down.:( As you know terrible fuel mileage with today's prices is NOT good, but we made it fine. The weather was cloudy at times with some wind/breezy stuff but still nice, no rain which was a huge blessing! The kids of course had a blast and I was much refreshed while we were there. We left on Tuesday June 10th and we came home on Sunday June 15th. The first day we got there we took a hike out onto the beach, a short 10 min walk to the beach from our campsite). It was still kinda misty when we got there so I wasn't able to get any pictures that trip on the beach. We got our camp all set up and relaxed with a homemade pizza dinner.

Wednesday we headed for Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR. We sampled cheeses, we watched as they packaged all the cheeses. It was pretty fun. The kids liked the cheese samples too! We got our ice cream cones and sat in their sunroom area. Then we headed across the road to buy a fresh crab....I love crab.....Spud Man loves crab too....wait the whole family likes crab! So we took our crab back to camp and devoured it in no time! I got to take a nice nap while Mr Wonderful took the kids on the beach, where he buried them and played in the waves till they were too cold to stay any longer. Did I mention there was a lot of sand in our trailer by the time we got home?

Thursday we headed up north our first stop was in Seaside, OR . In Seaside we continued with our tradition and let the kids ride on the carousel and bought saltwater taffy from Rascals, YUM! We headed up north to a beach area called Sunset Beach. We got to drive out on the beach for a while and even stopped for a few whole sand dollars (that ads a new twist to beach combing)! Sunshine also got to try her hand at a little driving.....we have the entire whiplash experience on video.....if you can keep from getting sick that is. We headed a little further North once Mr Wonderful secured his position as driver once again. We did a little shopping for Miss Birthday Girl and I got my hair cut real quick, it was bothering me and I needed a fresh look. The boys all went for a drive over the Astoria Bridge which is about 5 miles long while Sunshine and I got our girl time when I was getting my hair cut. We finished off our day by driving back down south to stop at Mo's for dinner in Cannon Beach and enjoy the ocean views and eat our chowder and seafood. The food wasn't as good as I remember though.:( After dinner we headed out on the beach right in Cannon Beach and had a nice evening stroll. Then back to camp we went.

This little guy wanted in on the action with Spud Man. They had a blast!

Friday was our day to find a lake to go fishing......it took us a few tries to find somewhere we thought we could actually get to in order TO actually fish, (lots of weedy lakes) BUT it meant driving a long ways on windy roads. When we got there we were really disappointed by port-a-potties that were disgusting (I mean they were BAD~ they make me want to run for the nearest tree screaming and bare my buns for the world to see!). It was a beautiful mountain lake that had been somewhat trashed. There were ammunition casings, garbage that had gotten into the water (pop cans and chips bags etc.) and it just seemed such a shame, especially with that long drive to get there!:( Anyway we had a really nice time and caught a few fish. There were also some interesting little creatures to discover.........there were salamanders in the water (well at least I think they were salamanders)....they were very curious (or hungry for our fish) and they'd come right up and let you catch them and everything. I wasn't too keen on the kids catching them though. HaHa.

Our curious salamanders....

Mr Wonderful trying not to get hooked by Whippersnapper's fishing habits...

Saturday was the perfect finale to our week. We went to several small beaches close to the State Park and enjoyed some tide pooling, wave chasing, picnicking, and long walks along the shore. The kids had such a blast! They loved taking their Tonka trucks out and doing some excavating in the sand too. It felt soooooo good to get to the coast again.

Waiting for the next wave.....

This trip was SO good for Maggie....she really had fun!

Happy Birthday Sunshine!

2008-06-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sunshine turned 10 on the 16th of June!!! We are doing a combined B-Day party/BBQ for Whippersnapper and Sunshine tonight. Whippersnapper's B-Day is on the 28th of June. For her B-Day evening we went up to a nearby pond, let them fish for a couple hours, BBQed some burgers and had some cake. Then we insisted she help uu load up some stuff in the back of the pick-up and we had hidden her gift (a big box covered in a blanket) that no one had even noticed in there the whole time.....anyway we strategically told her to move this, move that, then lift that blanket some......she saw the picture on the side of the box and she was all smiles! We got her a pool. We got one of those above ground pools that is 12' across. She was so excited! It was really for the whole family but she had been asking for one for a long time so we figured it was a good time.

I had to do her hair like a 4 year old that day because I was going into shock over her being 10 years old already. HaHa Everyone got good and dirty and had a great time!

Here are a few pics from our evening fishing...

Whippersnapper LOVES tackle boxes!

It was a fun evening!!

Some of my favorite things....

2008-06-05T09:46:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share some of my favorite things in life......

Baby pictures of my children....and when I get all crazy and do something out of character like using cloth diapers for our youngest.
Messy food faces as long as there is not dirt mixed in with it....haha

Embarassing pics of my kids on the potty chair...

Seeing Mr Wonderful be a wonderful Daddy!!!.....

Cats with extra toes and calicos....... this calico was one of my childhood cats....

My kids getting to spend time at the coast....sand and all.....

Ornery Brother spending time with my kids....

Horses....my beloved horses.......how I miss having horses...but they are some of my favorite things....

Miss Callie Dog....here she is as a puppy......

Silly Maggie dog......

When we splurge on something to make a special memory! Here we are taking a helicopter tour of Cannon Beach and Seaside Oregon for our anniversary. I am 7.5 months preggo!

Thanks for joining me on a few of my favorite things......

High School to House Wife...We Make Plans..

2008-06-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

FINALLY ENGAGED!!!! WHOO HOO!!!

The morning after the beautiful proposal in the dark we had to head to the Oregon State Fair where I was entering a project.

My sister was the one taking Mr Wonderful and I down to Salem, along with her baby. My sister was really happy for us and excited. We knew my parents would be less than enthusiastic about it so we hadn't told them yet, plus there really hadn't been a chance to tell them anyway. So here I am wearing my beautiful ring for several days and my parents have no idea I am engaged. Anyway I did well at the state fair and we had a great time......except that episode of crying baby for hours in the car......that part wasn't so fun.....maybe my sister was trying to prepare me for kids? I am sure that was it.....

Well we finally got back into town and tracked down my dad on the construction job he was working on to share the "good" news. He was happy for us but secretly I am sure he was terrified. I am his youngest and a daughter at that so I am sure that it was hard to swallow. Then came my mom.....I actually don't even remember telling Mom, it seems she was just not ready to accept it and it took her a long time to even allow me to talk about making plans for the wedding. It was a rough few months for our relationship.

We wanted to set the date for December of 1996 with just a 4 month engagement, but my parents put a veto on that idea. So we decided July would be a good month to be married, we set the date for July 19th, 1997 that would allow for almost a year long engagement. We toyed around with having an outdoor wedding at my parents place, we toyed with having a church wedding, it was fun deciding all the details and Mr Wonderful was right on board with all the details as well. We make a great team! Sometime I regret not having an off season wedding.....July is so hard for him to get time off for our anniversary because it is his busy work season and everything costs more because it is the prime vacation season........we were on to something with a winter wedding BUT I am not sure that December would have been a wise choice either. HAHA

We finally decided on a church wedding, we chose a small country church. Only one problem....it didn't have air conditioning, we didn't really think about the importance of AC when we made arrangements. It wasn't until about January 1997 that my Mom finally decided this wasn't going to crash and burn and she started agreeing to help me plan and get ready. We decided on a pattern for my wedding dress, actually we combined two dress patterns. We ordered the fabric, it just so happened my future MIL worked at a fabric store and was able to get a great discount on all the stuff I needed. I chose a beautiful brocade fabric with some organza to gather around the neckline......I eventually added lace and beaded it all by hand. It was a labor of love and I loved it when it was done. Here is a picture of me sewing away....we also made a bunch of the little angels in the picture by the sewing machine for people who helped out with the wedding. They were really special and a real challenge to make. Forget the wedding dress, that was easy, it was the little angels that were the challenge! HaHaHere is the dress after I put the lace on but before I beaded all the lace.My parents gave us a budget of $1,500 for our wedding. We picked out invitations with a mountain scene because I was raised in a mountain setting and Mr Wonderful loved the mountains as well. We invited about 200 people. We chose a beautiful cake with a little fountain under it, I made the maid of honors' dresses....I chose to have two maids of honor because they were both close friends and I couldn't make one a bridesmaid and one a maid of honor.....Mr Wonderful also had 2 best men. So we paid for the maid of honor dresses since I was making them, then my MIL did the flowers as her gift to us. We managed to pull off our wedding for less than $1,500 somehow! Now I can't even imagine being able to pull that off.Look here, what do you suppose she is thinking? "I just LOVE my bride's maid dress." Not likely, well maybe she was thinking..... "Thank God, I got her married off!" Or how about..... "Oh God I am SO HOT please let this be over soon, I'll just smile and pretend I am fine." Or how about..... "She is so going to pay at my wedding someday!"

I actually chose that dress color because it is my favorite dark thundercloud sky color, our pick-up is also close to that color......I know weird huh? Hey I still like the color so who cares right? I mean people lately are doing brown and pink together or turquoise and brown.....brown dresses? Come on!

Stay tuned for wedding pics the reception and the rest of the story......

More GG Savings...

2008-06-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post more of the GG savings for anyone interested.

Albertson's:
Products worth: $132
Total Paid for Items: $55.08
Savings from club card and Bonus Buys: $60
Coupon Savings: $18
Total Savings: $78 or 59%

This week at Safeway:
Products worth: $81
Total Paid for Items: $35
Club Card Savings: $23
Coupon Savings: $18
Misc Savings: $?
Total Savings: $46 or 57% PLUS 20 cents off fuel discount PLUS 2 free movie tickets worth at least $13 in our area, plus 1 free large popcorn when you buy two fountain drinks. So those savings are awesome!

I am doing pretty well with it and that is even with a fairly limited amount of coupons! I can't wait to see how I do after the first 3 months where we are stocked up on more things and can start simply spending less. Right now we are spending the whole budgeted amount for groceries and household (but we are staying in budget well unlike before) but yet we have TONS more food and household items than we did before!!! It is great!

Here is what I have stocked up on so far.....this is with staying in budget AND only 3 weeks of doing the GG. Drum roll please.....

BBQ sauces 10 @ 30 cents each
Mustards 8 total
Mayo 3 large jars
Popcorn 4 boxes of 3 each
Prego sauces 6 jars
Toilet paper 36 double rolls
Paper towels 5 packages 8 ct each
Marinades for BBQing 6 bottles
Cereal 17 boxes
Deodorant for both of us 8
Toothbrushes 2
Shampoos and conditioners and hair products 8
Band aids and Neosporin 3
Rice mixes and instant rice 4
Granola Bars 2 pkgs
Frozen Pizza's 8
Frozen Chicken Breasts 3- 4lb packages
Pork and Beans for BBQ season 6 cans
Sunscreen 3 bottles
Toothpastes 6 tubes
And a few other's I can't think of off the top of my head.

I find that amazing in less than a month I was able to acquire that much stuff at really low prices....I am trying to save at least 50% in order to justify stockpiling it. So I am doing good saving anywhere from 40% to 60% so far on all my receipts! I love that giddy feeling when we are carting out to the car as I am looking over my receipts and checking out the printable coupons they give you with the receipt! It is a rush in some ways and it is a game......it sure makes shopping for the family more fun too....it made a boring chore into something challenging and FUN!!!

The secret is to NOT use the coupons on any regular price item.....save them until it goes on sale and don't be afraid to let the coupon expire if you won't save enough to make it a good deal even with the coupon unless you just have to have it right now. It is hard to pass up using a good coupon but it really is better to wait if you can for a real sale and combine the coupon with it. It is always exciting to see something on sale that you have a coupon for.

Oh I have a couple more....last night we went as a family and we saved BIG! We went to 2 stores and here's what we saved just in % this time. Safeway transaction #1 61% , #2 58%, Albertson's #1 93%!!!!!!!!, #2 30%. Let me explain the 93% one......Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce was on sale for 10/$10 a couple weeks back....I knew I had seen a coupon online for Sweet Baby Rays so I was sure to get a rain check when I noticed they were all sold out. So I went home ordered some coupons CHEAP, then went back to the store after they had arrived and I managed to get each bottle for $1, then used my coupons for $1 off any TWO bottles, then used store doublers and they ended up being only 20-30 cents each so basically 10 bottles for the prices of 1! I also got several tubes of toothpaste for free as well.:) Mr Wonderful was impressed with the savings too which is always nice.

Thanks for sharing in the fun!

Mushrooming 2008 Trip #1....

2008-06-03T13:33:00.001-07:00

We love to go mushrooming and we try to go at least 2-3 times in the spring. This is our first trip as a family this year and we had such a great time....I was able to enjoy some photography and the kids got to play in puddles and hike around and find all kinds of interesting things. The mushrooms were few and far between but we managed to fine one small skillet full to fry up when we got home.

This is typical when we go hiking......"Mom, are you coming?" LOL Which isn't what was really going on....more like this...."Kids turn around......smile!" "Ok that didn't turn out let's do it again.......smile....!" "Ok ONE MORE TIME, I'll get it this time.......SMILE!!!!" "Got it! Thanx Guys!"

Then they must concentrate to not "accidentally" get wet in the puddles.....what is it with boys and mud puddles? We let them play in a few towards the end of the hike when we knew we were close to the rig but we wanted their feet dry for the majority of the hike.....it was tough but they managed to stay out of them until we said it was ok.

I loved this old broken down log cabin......it was right on the edge of a meadow and unfortunately all behind it had been heavily logged so it kinda ruined the surroundings but the new little seedling trees have been replanted so maybe someday soon there will be more beautiful trees surrounding this old cabin ruins.

Here is what we were in search of.....few and far in between....

Here is what we were NOT in search of...but I had to take a pic of this one.....weird huh? Mr Wonderful told me the real name but I have long since forgotten it...looks like a burnt shroom to me.

"Hey guys! Look at ME!!!!"........Alarm bells go off in my Mommy radar....."Spud Man?" Spud Man yells from a far off place "Look at me way up here guys!"..........Mommy terror surfaces and I yell "Spud Man, GET DOWN here!! What are you doing clear up there?" This is his favorite thing to get me all worked up....he climbs to the top of a tree and then sways it around saying "Hey Mom this is what a tree does in the wind huh?" Did I mention I think I am getting grey hair? Notice the child leaning way out from the top of the tree!!!!!!

Here he is on his way down closer to the ground...once I knew he might survive the fall I could then snap a calmer picture....not as shaky as the first.

Isn't this scenic picture great? I have always loved this view. Now wouldn't that be neat to wake up to every morning?

It's Worse Than Ever!....

2008-06-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

I have been drooling over a digital SLR camera for quite a while now but lately it is getting worse....this week I am stuck on the Pentax brand. I like the K200D and the K100D Super models. I reeeeeaaaaally want one but once again patience comes into play......um ya, still can't find it.

So why am I wanting one so bad moreso now than before? We went mushrooming as a family last week and I was all excited about just being able to take pics along the way....here are some I was able to capture with my little Nikon Coolpix 4300.....I just REALLY wish I could get better close ups...I LOVE close-ups. I am glad I was able to take pics of such great things because the mushrooms were few and far between.

There seems to be a theme in the first few pics....bugs.....bugs everywhere! Do you see the little catapillar?

Here I cropped it and enlarged it some to you can see what I am talking about...it gets grainy when I do that though.

This seems like the best I can do for a close up with my current camera but to me it looks washed out and still slightly out of focus....not to mention in this shot I have cropped it and enlarged it at well so you can see what the heck I am looking at! LOL

I liked this pic, these flowers were all looking down so I had to tip this one up so I could take a pic of it and of course in keeping with the theme of the day there was an ant on it......

We found this furry creature along the trail, it must have sensed our footsteps and curled up for protection. It was a very large catapiller about 1.5" accross in it's balled form. I have never seen one that big! This next photo is of the corner of an old log cabin! It was beatiful with all the moss growing on it and half rotten. I love the textures and the almost black and white quality to it.

I love sky shots too....I love big white puffy clouds, thin white whispy clouds, but dark threatening thunder clouds are my favorite...they stir me deep in my soul!!! I feel so alive when I see a sky full of the dark deep blue gray clouds......then add to that the thunder and lightening and I am one happy girl!

Lookey who we encountered along the way. He was in a heck of a hurry to get out of there...I have no idea why.......I mean it wasn't like there were 2 boys rather intent on "studying" him or anything.......So my question of the day is do I go a new camera first or do I get Photoshop and try to play with the pics I can manage to get with my current camera and enhance things etc......then worry about a bigger camera in my future when I have more knowledge on how to actually use it and I am absolutely sure I have used my camera to it's fullest potential...... So what should I get first Photoshop or a digital SLR camera?

If Only....

2008-06-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

If only I had tried out the Grocery Game when I first heard about it.......which was approximately 2 years ago.

I might have saved $8,500 in 2 years! I figured that we spent roughly $500 to 700 per month in groceries/pet care/household items (we never budgeted that much EVER but there were always so many things we NEEDED that we had to run and get and they added up).

I think a safe average for GG if you were stockpiling properly and after you got started might be around 30-50% depending on how much we used the list to the T. Anyway this is what we might have/could have saved in that 2 year period..........between $3,600 and $8,400!!!

Now this is of course depending on the average percentage saved and how much we actually spent each month! Any number in that above range is enough to make me regret not at least trying it when I first heard about it!

That could have been a used car! That could have been a couple family vacations! That could have bought us LOTS OF FUEL! That is lots of date nights! Or a lot of medical bills paid off! We really could have used that money.......so I won't make that mistake from now on........I have heard some people even save like 70% on GG but I am not that savvy and won't even pretend like I could be. LOL

Grocery Game....

2008-05-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

I did not know what I was missing.....I looked into the Grocery Game (GG) several years ago when we first started trying to get out of debt but it seemed like a whole lot of hassle for some coupons and a couple dollars in savings here and there, what is the point right? Plus I was convinced that the only things there were coupons for were packaged foods or things I wouldn't buy anyway.

We tend to eat pretty healthy when it comes to meals, lots of homemade from scratch stuff with a few prepackaged things to help in there too. So I figured anyone that didn't cook like I did would surely save tons just not me.....the other thing that turned me off was paying for the GG membership.....I just shy away from those sort of things in general. So I missed out, went along with my little life and didn't look back.

Then a couple Mom's from our homeschool group got some of us together and they shared how they got started with the GG and then went beyond that further to save money, they had receipts to look at and examples of how they did this coupon shopping sales combining thing and I was just in awe! It was amazing I just had no idea there were all these tricks! After the meeting you could tell several of us were sitting there just processing all the info in our heads trying to get it all straight because they gave us some really awesome info and some great tips to get started and it was so much fun. So I still had some reservations (still do a little) because I am kinda timid about coupons I hate taking up extra time or making people wait. Plus I had to tell myself that just because junk food was going to be on sale and an excellent price did not mean that I need to buy it! So I have to be careful about that added temptation, the good news is though that if the junk food isn't on sale it is less of a temptation if I am in the coupon shopping zone.

So here I am several years after hearing about the grocery game (funny thing is the two moms that gave us the presentation also had heard about it several years ago and decided not to pursue it then either.) Anyway I had Mr Wonderful grab me a Sunday paper early Sunday from the local mini mart. I started clipping and organizing my first set of coupons (I was never really a coupon shopper before). It was kinda a rush wondering what would be on the next page of the coupon pages and when I was all done there was an odd let down and a desire to go find more coupons! LOL Anyway I printed of THE LIST from the website http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ and then went to town, I went to Rite Aid and Safeway. I did well for my first trip and only having one Sunday paper's worth of coupons and a couple printable ones in my possession.

Here is my very first shopping trip with GG:

Rite Aid~
Total regular price $78
Coupon Savings $7.60
Savings after rebates $17.50
Total Savings combined with sales $52 or 66%

Safeway~
Total regular price for the items I bought $ 196.64
Savings just with club card $69.80
Coupon Savings $18.70
Total Saved $88.50 or 45%

Remember all this savings from the GG list (which simply helps you combine your coupons from the Sunday paper with the sales at the store to get the best deals) and ONE Sunday paper's worth of coupons! I am amazed.

I looked back thru a few of my last receipts from Safeway from BEFORE GG and my club card savings were only around 15-20% ( know sometimes when there is alot of Buy One Get One Free sales it goes up to like 30% then). So I must have been really bad at the sales shopping, I just was getting everything I NEEDED and not paying much attention to the sales because if it wasn't on the list I wasn't buying it but yet if I had planned out meals by the sales fliers more or also stockpiled when it was on sale it would have been so much better but I was so focused on not buying excess I lost out all this time! Live and learn.

My goal is to be careful and not be lured by sale items I don't NEED, because even if I could have saved 90% I'd still be spending 10% more than I would if I hadn't bought it! I have to be careful and also not bring home too many things we don't need even if they were great deals. I want to stock up on the items we definitely need but since storage is an issue I have to be careful, I already have plans to add a second shelf up high in almost every closet and maybe some under bed storage. I am also thinking about moving my sewing supplies somewhere else so I can have the utility shelves in my walk in closet for stockpiling. I think I will move the sewing items to the large linen cabinets in the bathroom, for some reason sewing supplies in the bathroom is not quite as weird as food storage in the bathroom, although it might be handy....doing my hair realize I hadn't eaten anything and just pop open the cabinet and grab a snack right? I draw the line at food going in the body at the same time it goes out. Some things should not be combined! So hence the reason only paper products, hygiene products and sewing supplies will be in the bathroom cabinets....it is really a shame too because there is a LOT of storage in there. So the dry goods food will go into our walk in closet on a set of 4ftw X 7 ft H X 2ft D shelves. That should be plenty of storage to get me started.

I am so excited for the next week's fliers (tomorrow is the day) and of course the Sunday paper again, this time I think I might buy 2 papers. My goal is to plan out our meals from the flyer and also look for some bargains to stock up on. This GG thing is addictive and FUN! What better hobby than to save lots of money on groceries....sounds like a pretty safe "addiction" to me!

My incentive is that we will be continuing to budget the same amount for groceries and household and anything I save and don't spend on that I can have for what I like to call "fun" money for either a weekend getaway, some new clothes, makeup I can't normally afford or some other luxury item like that, or even stuff for the kids' homeschooling that we would love to have but it is not a necessity etc. I am looking forward to it for sure!

If YOU decide to try out the Grocery Game I suggest to start buying the Sunday paper a couple weeks before you sign up so you can be rearing at the gates when you get your trial month membership for $1, you can take full advantage of more sales and savings that way and you get the most bang for your buck (literally a buck!). Plus if you want to sign up, use my email (thesummerfields@yahoo.com) as a referral! I can get some free weeks of membership (and so can you for referring others which makes it EVEN better of a deal as if saving all that money in one day wasn't enough reason.) I saved enough in one day to pay for the GG membership for 1 entire year!

New Vacuum!

2008-05-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

My new vacuum is finally here!!! Ahhhh it feels like a Cadillac after my other one!!! The self propel is really nice but not as powerful as I figured it would be ( I have never had a self-propelled one), which is probably good otherwise it would run over my toes! I LOVE that dirt sensor light, it really encourages me to take my time and wait until it is more clean before moving on. The carpet is so light and fluffy underfoot now.

So that was the excitement for the day.....the rumble of the UPS truck coming up the street and he delivered our long awaited vacuum then he asked me if he could please borrow our hose (it was running in the front yard) to cool down some. It is really hot lately, unusually warm this past few days, we are all trying to adjust. So after he sprayed the hose in the air and let it rain back down on himself he was back on the road (hopefully a little cooler) and we were excitedly opening our package. There is something about the thrill of a new machine......albeit it means work, like you know I actually have to vacuum!!! No more excuses......I might kinda miss my old excuses some days.

We spent part of the early afternoon cleaning up the living room from the piles and piles of folded clothes we'd been working on, so that I would not be embarrassed to have someone stop by unexpectedly...or expected like the UPS man, since those big packages they tend to carry all the way into the house for you. Which is so nice of them by the way. So the dilemma of Mt Washmore is better but Mt Fold Me was huge! Now they are both manageable and we should have them scaled in no time....I hope...unless that mysterious multiplying thing happens overnight....where you go to bed with just a few loads left in the pile and suddenly in the morning there are 10 loads......it isn't possible that each of the 6 people in the family wear THAT many clothes in one day is it?

Why is it when the A/C is on everyone leaves the door open? It is driving me nuts! It is like they sense there is $ to be wasted and they seek to fulfill their mission in life.

Vacuum Woes...

2008-05-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am about to blog about a household appliance....I do realize this is scraping the bottom of the subject matter barrel, but it is what it on my mind lately.

I have a Bissell Powertrak Revolution vacuum.

IT was supposed to be a good one, it features a Turbobrush for cleaning stairs and pet hair...(.never mind that I don't have stairs). It is a bag less model which was a must for me as I liked seeing what I got out of the carpet each vacuuming session. It has about 5 different filters and all kinds of special features right? Well it is a terrible vacuum, the suction is poor (because it has so many filters that get clogged that have to be washed out periodically), the beater bar/brush bar has had to be replaced once already and needs it again, the thing clogs up all the time I have to stop vacuuming and either get the shop vac to suck out the clogs of hair and dirt from the hose section right behind where the beater bar is or I have to dig it out with something......it is a VERY messy process and annoying for sure. Then when it comes time to emptying the dust cup it is THE most messy process, you dump it into the garbage can but get to enjoy the poof of dirt all over and you are lucky if all the dirt actually gets into the garbage can, why did I think bag less was a good idea? It is really messy even if you carefully take the canister out, dirt still falls all over the vacuum itself so you end up vacuuming along and probably dropping more dirt here and there with the emptying process. So I beg to question, why do we have a HEPA filter and 5 means of filtration if when you empty the canister it gets poofed back into the air worse then ever? What is the point?

So I just finished picking out my new vacuum. I at first wanted a Dyson or Oreck.....then I got to reading reviews and I actually used a Dyson for a while at church. I am not impressed with the Dyson, it does have good suction I will give it that but it is awkward to operate, the buttons are hard to figure out and it was incredibly hard to push on low pile carpet of all things. Plus the way the front rounds down you can't vacuum under anything it is too bulky.:( Anyway the Oreck had so many negative and mixed reviews I opted against it to because of price, bag costs, and the fact that you have to have two machines to do the job of one normal vacuum since the upright does not have a hose you have to use the little canister vacuum they send free. Anyway I went with a Hoover, I spent less than I was going to on a Dyson or Oreck and it seems to have some nice features. I had a really basic Hoover from our wedding 11 years ago and it lasted 9 years without any problems or repairs.....my current vacuum I had less than 2 years and have needed to replace the beater bar two times and am constantly unplugging it. So I kinda went with the brand I knew worked alright for us. I found it on Walmart.com for $220 and free shipping and handling. Then I also looked on Ebay and was able to find it for $144 and $20 SH so I bought it off Ebay with a Square Trade Extended Warranty so if it breaks they pay to fix it or if it can't be fixed they reimburse me what I paid for it, it is a 3 year warranty so I hope it works ok. The warranty was cheap so I figure it was worth it for a little extra piece of mind. This is the most I have spent on a vacuum so I am hoping the more you spend the more reliable right? LOL

Here is my new vacuum that I should be getting in a week or two. Hoover Windtunnel Bagged Upright U6439-900.

Here are the specs in case you feel like reading a boring list of specs. LOL

The Hoover WindTunnel self-propelled vacuum features an on-board powered hand tool for cleaning stairs and upholstery, agitator on-off switch for cleaning bare floors, filter bag check indicator to let you know when to change the bag, and HEPA filtration, which is great for allergy sufferers.
Self-propelled for effortless cleaning
Deluxe stretch hose and on-board powered hand tool for above-floor cleaning, stairs and upholstery
Embedded-dirt finder system lights up to let you know when the carpet is clean
Agitator on/off switch allows for cleaning bare floors
Bag check indicator lets you know when bag needs to be changed
HEPA filtration traps 100% of dust mites, 99.98% ragweed and common grass pollens
31-foot cord with quick release
Wide, 15-inch cleaning path
Headlight
Model No. U6439-900
Top-rated by a leading consumer magazine
Available at Walmart.com; not available in Wal-Mart stores

Day Two With Short Hair...

2008-05-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

We played with Sunshine's hair a little today and it looks cute, we put some hot rollers in it for just a few mins and this is the style we came up with, does she look older or younger than before?

Locks of Love...

2008-05-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sunshine has been growing her hair out for several years to be able to donate to Locks of Love. We trimmed the ends recently but we still had enough to cut the 10" required for donations. Before we did anything major I had to take pictures of her beautiful hair that I have spent hours in my life braiding and messing with. I love her hair, silky, long and naturally highlighted from hours of childhood fun in the sun. I wish I still had those natural highlights like I did as a child.

Then it was time for that final and fateful ponytail.....deep breath for both of us.

It was really hard to cut thru but I got it all cut off. So it was done but oh crap, then I realized she needs a professional haircut, I don't think I can even this up and still have her look like a girl! I can cut hair to some degree but her hair is fairly thick and everytime I tried to even up the ends it looked so choppy so I quit while I was ahead and made a quick call to the local salon and she asked me if I could be there in 10 mins.....uh 10 mins.... sure. So I woke up Whippersnapper from his nap, made the boys change their clothes because they were knee deep in the dirt pile in the yard. I threw on some foundation and mascara myself and we were off and running.

The lady did a nice job evening things up and Sunshine loves it! So do I, it is so flippy and cute. I think this will be perfect for summer and also much easier for her to care for. Not to mention she is really excited about new hair clippies, headbands, and barretts too. I can still do some short little braids in the top of her hair and it will be nice to keep it out of her face some. She wants to grow out most of her bangs and leave a few whispy bangs so we'll have to keep her longer bangs swept to the side in a barrett or something.

We wanted to share this special journey with you. Hope you enjoyed being along for the ride!

It came!

2008-05-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

We got our homeschool supplies order yesterday! It was so exciting for the kids to open it all up and we looked over every item and they all asked if it was theirs.....everyone got their little stacks and then we had a family stack. They are really excited to do school now...that was what I was hoping for.

My favorite things are probably the Prima Latina DVDs and the Prismacolor watercolor pencils.

We will be taking a month off as soon as we finish this years materials. Then we will start some new materials in mid June. I doubt the kids will let me wait that long, although there is still a chance we'd go ahead and have a summer break thru till August 1st.

I am stuck between two trains of thought. It was strongly suggested to me by a public school teacher friend to see about Spud Man being evaluated for a learning disability. Which I kinda wonder since he loses so much info if you don't work on it REALLY consistantly and he is just not progressing very fast at all, we've been working on beginning reading for almost 2 years. Then there is the other train of thought, he might not be quite ready and give him 3-6 months off and see if he picks it up easier then......which I am having trouble letting go and doing that because he is 7 now what if he does have a learning disability and we'd be wasting 3-6 months precious time using methods that could help him learn easier. I don't want to stick my head in the sand and yet I am not real eager to sign him up for a lifetime label either.:( We are still thinking on it and trying to figure out what to do.

Well that is the short of the school order....I am so excited to read thru them and incorperate it all into our plan next year.

The Great Wait.....

2008-04-29T15:37:00.001-07:00

So we are waiting on that school order I placed last week. I hope it comes soon I don't know how much longer I can wait! I just can't wait to get my hands on crisp new materials for our summer of learning. Smell the smell of freshly opened books and paper and colored pencils. LOL

Unfortunately due to circumstances out of my control (and some in my control AKA laziness) it does not look like we will be finishing in as good of shape as I had initially forcasted. I am not sure when we will finish the materials but at least we are within 4 lessons of finishing on time.....part of me says who cares, no public school ever covers 100% of the material in any one grade but they go on to the upper grades anyway so why can't we skip 4 lessons and still consider ourselves done for the year? LOL

I am so looking forward to next year but also I need to really commit to being diligent in our learning because with the new materials not having such set lessons of tangible accomplishment like our current materials I have to be more commited and long range focused than before. I hope it does not end up being a disaster of a year. Especially after this last year going so well and being proud of our efforts. Time will tell......

Cars again...

2008-04-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

I am still drooling over a Honda Pilot, never mind that I am supposed to be considering the best model of car to buy if we have to buy a beater. We only have to buy another vehicle IF Mr Wonderful gets a new job. Which we haven't heard anything from them yet anyway.

As I ponder about howe to get my hands on the steering wheel of a Honda Pilot I started thinking, we could trade in our truck but then what would we haul all of our camping stuff in or remodeling supplies...nope that won't work, gotta keep the truck.

Now the only other option is to just buy it, isn't that what most people do? Just sign on the dotted line and you have yourself a nice new car payment.......I was toying around with some numbers today, wondering if I could REALLY save money each month for a car payment (as if we had a car payment but not really) and in 3 years we'd have enough $ to buy a car....so you have several things going for you....Let's say I have picked out a 2003 Honda Pilot which is worth around $18,000. If I saved up $400+ each month for 3 years I'd have my $18,000 with the help of a 3% savings account and not having to come up with around $700 (interest I earned on the money sitting there). However the impatient side of me thinks, we'll never actually save it, the money will dissappear on something and we'll never get that newer car.......so we should just buy it and that way we HAVE to pay the payment right? So I did the numbers trying to contrast it in almost the same terms as before $18,000 for the car, interest is higher though at 5% and we get to pay it out instead of earning it. Let's just say we also did it for 3 years like the first figures, our payment would be about $100 more per month AND we'd end up paying out about $1400 more in interest payments!!! Not to mention your car is like 3 years older and worth considerably less....However if we saved up that $18000 for that 2003 car we had our eye on, in 3 years we have our cash and what do you know? The car we had our eye on is no longer $18000 is it less, so we have the option of still buying that car for less OR getting a newer car for that same $18,000. See where I am going here?

Now this is the kicker, I see the advantages plain as day I really do, but will my responsible side win or will my childish impatient side win? Or will we go somewhere in the middle and buy a older car we can afford to pay for now with a thousand or two and then go ahead and save that $ for another car down the road?

Ugh, we never should have sold that 1991 Honda Accord, it was such a good car, now I'd be scared to buy a car that old because of what might be wrong with it. Darn it! I am off to stew over this new contumdrum!

Temptations....

2008-04-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it! Mr Wonderful actually applied for another job! It feels strange and possibly freeing....however, with that wonderful step there comes another temptation.

There was talk of a hefty raise to stay working with the business and when we do the numbers (if we get the raise we'd like) and figure in the fact that Mr Wonderful drives a company rig....it might be that the money would be better staying where we are. Having said that, we have some thinking to do on how valuable Mr Wonderful's time at home is and how much having him more emotionally available is worth to us. I mean the stress and hours alone are tough, granted more money would make that more worth it.....but we also have to keep in mind not to be weak to more money if it is not a good situation long term. We can't let a good job opportunity pass us by and look back and regret it later unless we are sure we want to stay.

The things making us lean towards the government job are the benefits, (right now we pay our own independent health insurance, there is medical available with his current job but all the employees are so much older than us that our portion would cost us a fortune! We don't have dental insurance offered which is a huge problem because we have a lot of dental expenses every year.) The hours for the new job would be less, he will still have some probable overtime but probably not near as much as now, and he'll be able to leave work at work and not stew over important decisions at home all the time like he does now. There is room for advancement and career growth and raises down the line with this job opportunity as well. It is a tough comparison in many ways. Luckily we don't have to make any decisions right now, right now we wait (darn patience bone, I can't seem to find it, again!) to see if he even gets invited to interview let alone offered the job! We are praying that he does get the job offered to him so that we can have a chance at that decision.

We don't really want to leave in so many ways, we want to see the business thrive but we just aren't sure we have the same vision. I feel more confused now than when I did earlier! How is that possible? I have no idea but is has been proven just this minute.

Time will tell, he may not even get an offer for the job he just applied for. So now I am trying to distract myself by figuring out our front landscaping plan. We did about 30% of it last year and now want to add in another 30% of the plants we need to fill it in. That is all we can afford to do each year. It works nicely though because you can see what is working and what you want to add into the mix of plants you already have, then wait another year to see how much more you want to add, meanwhile I try to fill in the blank areas with annuals.

Giddy....

2008-04-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have been formulating a wish list on www.rainbowresource.com for our homeschool needs. I was not aware of how dangerous and extremely fun a wish list could be! I could have went on for hours adding things. Sensibility took over and I had to narrow it down to what we needed for our summer and early fall materials.

We paid bills last weekend and I requested we spend $150 for school materials....... Mr Wonderful said "Request granted.".....Whoo Hoo! I was so excited I felt like a little kid that was able to pick out candy at the store or something. I had been trying to be patient for a large enough paycheck that we could afford it, I had been setting aside a little here and there and finally it was time!

Anyway I placed my $150 order earning myself free shipping and handling. I am a sucker for free shipping! We got some fun stuff here is a list of what we got:

Primary Language Lessons (Language Arts for Spud Man)

Exploring Creation with Botany (Sunshine's science)

Mavis Beacon Typing for Kids program

Prima Latina DVD's (for Sunshine's Latin, I already have the books and love them!)

Horse Scenes to Color and Paint and Country Scenes to Color and Paint (we like to use these as a master coloring books that we make copies out of all year)

Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils (I love Prismacolor colored pencils and find they are worth the price, we have never tried the watercolor kind though and we can't wait! These will come in handy for art as well as nature studies.)

Kumon Workbooks: Let's Cut, Let's Fold, Numbers 1-30, Uppercase Letters, Telling Time. (For Tobers)

Several books like Burgess Bird Book, Aesop's Fables, and Just So Stories.

Now the order is placed and we wait......ah yes that pesky thing called patience. I do believe I will take pics as we dive into the box when it gets here. Nothing like the rumble of the UPS truck coming down our street and the giddiness I feel when I realize he has stopped at our house, unless of course I have to drag everyone down to the post office and lug it home myself.....that isn't quite as fun but still exciting all the same! I love packages unless of course they are weird packages from some sicko who stole my identity a few years ago, I had quite the shock from the UPS man one day. That is a whole other story, maybe I will tell it someday.

Means of Transportation...

2008-04-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

I have been looking into options for a newer vehicle. We really like our current vehicle but it may be necessary that we need another fuel efficient vehicle for Mr Wonderful to drive. Right now we have a Dodge Ram Quad Cab, it is a loud diesel engine. It gets about 21 mpg and has been very reliable since we bought it new in 2002. It has been paid off for about 5 years now. We all can fit into it but boy is it cozy.

So as I try to sort out options for a vehicle for Mr Wonderful, I am trying to decided what is important....should it be able to seat all of us? (I mean you'd think that would be a no brainer right?) but if we keep the pick-up then that will have to be the family rig and the car will be fore Mr Wonderful to get to work since fuel efficient cars that seat 5 are more plentiful. Or should we trade in our pick-up on a nice family vehicle?

We have a RV we want to trade in on that 2nd car (or sell it and use the $ to buy a car). So we have some options but here is my beef..... You'd think there'd be more options for family vehicles for people with more than 3 kids! Seriously it is like these car designers think that if you have a large family you must be rich enough to buy a luxury SUV and pay for 15mpg fuel economy! I would be happy with a stripped down full size van with vinyl seats and rubberized floor if it got 25+ mpg!!!

I have my eye on a Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander but those are expensive and we don't really need a NEW car so I feel a little confused on what to do. Minivans are ok but the gas mileage is not fabulous there either.

We used to have a 1991 Honda Accord and it was faithful, easy to drive, and got great fuel efficiency. Then when Whippersnapper joined us we sold it....oh how I wish we hadn't. It was paid for, now we have to figure out another car just under 2 years from when we sold it! I guess you just never know about these things.

So I am trying to decide on if we just get Mr Wonderful a inexpensive fuel efficient car that won't fit us all as a family and just keep the pick-up. Or if we should trade the pick-up in on a nice family car that gets better fuel mileage and another small car for Mr Wonderful. We won't need a big powerful pickup very much anymore once we sell our RV. Ugh I am off to research some more. Anyone have a good solution for this vehicle thing? Most people I know with large families drive Suburbans but I don't want that kind of gas mileage and repair history. I grew up with several suburbans in the family and they always needed something repaired. The only good suburban we had was a diesel gutless wonder but it got 30mpg. That was a good one, it had the front bench seat so we could haul 9 people.....see.....why do they do all those fangled consoles in front seats? Just start making cars with a bench seat in front again and we'd get a whole lot more options for rigs with seating for 6! Ok I am off to go write every car maker and complain.

No really I am going to do dishes but I'd like to pretend they might care about my vehicle needs. LOL

Nothin' Much...

2008-04-14T13:31:00.001-07:00

There just doesn't seem to be much to write about lately. Aside from ramblings about home school curriculum ideas that change every 5 mins and our slow progress recovering from our cold bug there has not been a whole lot to write about.

We are into our current fad of looking into our options for a different career, going back to school, or moving. Of course I don't believe anything will come of this once again.....(this is only like the 50th time this has come up). I will believe it when I hear the U-Haul truck backing in and the check being written for our house. LOL.

Anyway life is good, just busy. This week we have dinners all week at church for an evangelist who is visiting, we have a dinner each night before he speaks. It makes it nice, we help set up a dinner and I don't have to make dinner all week at home! The first night went well and I am looking forward to the rest of the nights too.

We have been reading The Fields of Home by Ralph Moody. We really have been enjoying this series of books, I don't care for this one as much because it has a harsh tone because of a grumpy Grandfather set in his ways but it is proving to have a undercurrent of deeper meaning. I enjoy reading about country life so it is always good to read in that writing theme.

It is a rainy day here, I would love to be out doing yard work on a sunny day but it is not going to happen for a day or two it seems. I really need to mow the lawn and get some flowerbeds weeded but I just have not gotten to it. I am starting to get into the mood for some flowers in the beds too but it is a wee bit early with as cold of weather as we've been having.

We keep thinking about starting to build some rabbit hutches and get some rabbits. I want to but I am not sure about giving the kids more chores. They have their hands fairly full with the chickens, cats, dogs, yard, household chores and their schooling. They really, really want to get rabbits but I just don't know. We are mostly at a loss of where to put them. They need protection from extreme heat and I don't want to lose anymore growing area for gardening. We shall have to wait and see what we can figure out. What we really need is a few more acres and a few more $1000 per month. LOL I am sure that would solve everything. Right?

Homeschool With Toddlers!

2008-04-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

There is a delicate balance with homeschooling and having toddlers running amuck. Whippersnapper is easily entertained with things like putting leggos in the toilet, scribbling with dry erase markers all over my walls, escaping out the front door (if someone forgets to deadbolt it, hence why I freaked out when Mr Wonderful insisted on oiling the squeaky door, that squeak is an alert for me, without the squeak I wouldn't know when he was trying to escape!!!!).

Here is our peaceful, dilligent morning of school. Aren't they cute little students?

Anyway, trying to do homeschool is difficult with a toddler some days. For example, he has taken to climbing onto the table. He starts with the lean.....he is intensly interested in the kids' school....

Then he decides that vantage point just is not close enough.....

....and boy is he picky about handwriting!!

Let's check in on Spud Man's work.....soon he is ON the table. He also decides life would not be complete without.....

An eraser to eat! Yuck!

Give me that back!!!

Any of you who think he is such a little innocent child...check this out! He is after the teacher!!!! Ahhhh!

Help me!!!!

Kicking Some Germy Butt!

2008-04-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

We cleaned! We got so sick of being sick so we just decided to suck it up and we went crazy cleaning this entire house! We scrubbed floors, we scrubbed walls, we washed windows, we sanitized doorknobs and dresser knobs, phones, toilets, sinks, light switches, we stripped bedding and washed in hot, we vacuumed the floors 4 times, we cleaned out the entire frig taking every shelf out and every drawer was cleaned! We also scrubbed every part of our kitchen chairs and table. We worked so hard yesterday and I can only hope this place stays clean for more than 10 mins and that we start to get better!

The best part? Everyone worked so well together, we were like a well oiled machine! We had good tunes on the radio and everyone did their part without struggle and then we'd rest for a few mins and talk about what to do next then get at it! It was a rare day around here since I never get that serious of an urge to clean!

Here is a pic of the boys having a great time in our stripped out frig! BTW I told the kids to go get their grubbiest clothes on because we were cleaning and going to get dirty!! Ignore all fashion sense in these pics or lack of clothing! Oh yes and also ignore the glisten of a snotty nose! It is a permanent state lately! Just tellin' it like it is, honest!

He Started It!

He Thought That Looked Like Fun Too!

Here They Are Movin' to the Music!!

Sickness Go Away!

2008-03-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am trying to hang in there but this bug we've all got is not letting go of us, and it looks like we get another fun round of fevers/colds/sore throats/coughs!! This is so frustrating, we just get to feeling better from the last thing, but not quite rid of the cough, then Wham! we get hit with another something or maybe it is the same thing just some long drawn out morphing/regenerating bug! I just want to feel better and enjoy the nice sunny days when they arrive and quit hacking up a lung every time I turn around!

The kids are all in the same boat, we've really been considering quarantining ourselves from the outside world until we can get over this because this bug just keeps getting passed around, or maybe our immune systems are so weak now that we are susceptible to everything? I don't know what else to do.

I keep trying to take it really easy and not overtax anyone with a busy schedule, but it honestly doesn't seem to be helping much.:( I guess on the bright side it gave me time to sit and surf. I got to research all kinds of curriculum ideas and choices, I got to email like a mad woman, I have read more books than I have in a long time, I have not done anything useful for fear of making it worse, finally I have a reason to avoid my "duties" around here.

I know we are not alone in this area though, community wide, maybe even county, wide this area is getting hit hard with this bug that won't let go! The highschool was so happy to have spring break finally come so that maybe everyone would have a chance to get over it while on break. I can't imagine this type of thing in schools!!!!

Our School is Growing...

2008-03-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so to be clear the number of students in the school is NOT growing. Only our ideas and goals are growing. Now that we have made that clarification I would like to share a few tidbits of where our thinking has changed and my hopes for our school next year.

When we first started I wanted everything laid out day by day, I wanted to not think about it on HOW I would teach it because I had no idea HOW to teach it in the first place. Anyway I am noticing I am feeling more and more confident and not feeling like everything has to be canned (basically tells you what to say to your child to teach them) to more of a relationship of learning. I want to snuggle on the couch and read a good book together and then have that lead to some questions and ideas of how we could learn more (even if I had to prompt those questions) and then that hopefully will lead to teaching the kids the skill of being able to learn for themselves later in life. If they wonder something I don't want them to ignore that I want them to know where to find the answers and to feed the desire to know more.

In the past I think our school has been hard on me with burn out happening often because I am a fairly creative person but the thought of the books and restrictions and the boredom would get to be too much sometimes. The only thing that sometimes was able to pull me thru was the fear of failing completely or the excitement of summer being around the corner and getting to do more creative learning.

I have since run accross information for two types of schooling that I want to learn more about. The first was Charlotte Mason and the second style is a classical education. I am excited to learn more about these two types of learning and how I can use them in our school. I have already decided to work slowly towards it, I want to implement several of the things this year, however where the workbooks work well for us (Math) I want to keep those in place. I am VERY excited about adding in more literature and classic books to the kids' learning plans. There is so much I have yet to learn and so much more I need to know before I think I can take the time to get it right. I think the point is to start somewhere and enjoy the process of the growth that happens.

The past few weeks I have been making a point of snuggling in and reading from a good book. The kids so enjoy this, I mean sure they are kids and they squirm and make noises and it drives me crazy some days but what I notice is that they love just having my attention be on them....doing something for just them! It is amazing how when I just sit with which ever of the kids I am working with and give them my full attention and not trying to check emails while they work or thinking about those dirty dishes or just feeling overall distracted that they respond so much better to me and their studies when I just sit and be with them. Now of course they have to be able to work independantly and they do but there are a lot of times where they are just struggling and I want to be able to line them out in something and go about my day. They were frustrated and I was frustrated when I'd get back and nothing was done. I keep thinking I need to be productive but they need me to be still sometimes. I have some learning to do, here I thought that I was teaching the kids, right?

I am really excited to share what I am learning as we go. Hang in there, when I am in planning stages, the plans are bound to change at least 4-5 times. Hee Hee

The Hayloft Suite

2008-03-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

Wow we had such a wonderful time on our little trip to Boise. We stayed at the Anniversary Inn and it was fantastic!! When we checked in they were very friendly. Then we went up to our room, we opened the door and we were both blown over with the atmosphere!! They had only the light in the "outhouse" on so you saw the moon shape in the door and they had some music playing up in the loft as to lure you up there! Then there was sparkling cider on ice and two slices of yummy cheesecake. Also they had some awesome chocolates. It was all complimentary that is just how they do it there. We've stayed at a couple nice places and even a great B&B but this was bounds above anything we had ever seen! The room was done with such neat decor and rustic barnwood etc. I would love to go back tomorrow!! It was hard to leave.

Here are some pics.....I should point out that it is REALLY hard to get a decent pic with the overall feel and layout of the room but I will try.

Here we go....into the hayloft suite...

This is what we saw when we opened the door!! The jetted tub is on the left, with two white fluffy robes!! That opening up in the loft is the bedroom area.

This windmill actually has a fan set up so it runs, it adds alot of fun. When you turn on the shower, it goes up to the top of this windmill and down the pipes and falls into the shower area, it is pretty unique!

There is a nice fireplace to the right.

From this loft opening you look down onto the jetted tub, the neat windmill and outhouse, along with an awesome wall mural.

This is the view looking down from the loft window. Hi Mr Wonderful.

We decided to get proof we actually stayed here! We had such a good time. I highly recommend this place! They also feed you a nice continental breakfast at whatever time you specify, they just leave it at your door at the chosen time. The best part? Checkout isn't until noon!

The Bug Has hit....

2008-03-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

...the homeschooling curriculum bug that is! Oh my it bit hard recently. So much so that I have decided to change the entire feel of our school next year! This is a bit scarey to me because this last year went the best yet.....this situation reminds me of that saying...."If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix it."

I forsee a few challenges if I don't make changes now though. Spud Man will need something of more interest and inspiration as he gets older. He is not a workbook type kid. I am thinking more of a Charlotte Mason/Classic method might be for us. At first I was a believer in simply bringing school home....then I read A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (excellent book BTW) and it changed how I look at the end goal.

All this time I have been feverishly trying to make sure I am doing everything public school is doing......why would I do this when I have not been particularly impressed with the products of that system? There are some downfalls to that style in OUR home, it puts a lot of pressure on me to stay with a certain timeline that has nothing to do with my children's needs, aren't I homeschooling to provide the best education I can?

Part of the book mentions workbooks and text methods (what we were using almost 100%) and how it can sometimes lead to a gallon of teaching and an ounce of learning. She states that if I child can develop some kind of relationship with a subject (reading something they enjoy, exploring nature and something catches their attention, etc) that they are much more likely to absorb info revolving around it. It makes sense. I want them to be able to remember what I teach, because let's face it, teaching is hard sometimes, and it is not as rewarding as I'd like at times. There just seems to be a flow about this Charlotte Mason style and a peacefulness in the family/school.

Another seriously lacking area in our homeschool was literature. The classics specifically. We were covering all the subjects right down to science and art but it was all curriculum and a few free reading library books of interest here and there. I read very few books aloud to the kids, after school I was kinda done with all that. I felt like they got read to tons in school, little stories there and there, lessons etc.

Recently we started adding in read aloud time before school starts and it is making a nice difference, it is like it prepares their minds for learning somehow. I am really getting excited about a new method next year.

One thing I was starting to notice with the workbook method for everything is that sometimes I kept asking myself "Do they really need to learn that right now?" I felt like I needed to do it all and it was getting tiresome for everyone. Granted great curriculum but we are finding we need more flexibility. I am gaining enough confidence after 3 years to start doing a little more creatively.

One of my personal favorites from the Charlotte Mason style is they use copywork or dictation, you have the kids copy a passage and then you correct it for grammar, handwriting, punctuation, spelling, etc...it takes care of a lot of skills all in one. I love that streamlined idea, right now they have handwriting, grammar, spelling, punctuation practice, etc.

Also I love the idea of narration, where you read aloud something or they have free reading and you ask them to narrate what they read/heard. It helps you know how much they are absorbing, not to mention they develop public speaking skills, articulating thoughts and ordering facts etc. I wish I were stronger in that skill myself.

Lately I am also trying to plan my own lesson planner, I used one last year and it was a HUGE help in me staying on track and goal oriented. So this year I want to make a few tweaks and make my own planner pages (I have a lot of work to do, I have about 5 samples so far and I want to try them all to see what works best....am I obsessing? Ya I might be). I thought it would be fun to have areas for notes from friends and family members for encouragement thru the year (Jan/Feb can be hard for me when SAD sets in). Mr Wonderful for Christmas last year gave me a calendar with 3 months worth of special comments, he went thru and every few spaces in the calendar he'd write little things like "You are doing a great job with the kids." "Date Soon?" "You need a back rub huh?" or "I Love you!" It was precious and I LOVE it, so I thought it would be neat to have him do the same thing, or to have my dear friends write something funny or special if they will. Something to encourage me to keep going on this wild ride!

So far I am planning to stick with Christian Light Education for math again next year because it is working great and we love it! We also want to try some different grammar and English topics (we are thinking of trying Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons), we are adding a family read aloud time with lots of great literature, History from living books (many of our selections in history, literature, reading etc are taken from lists at both http://www.amblesideonline.com/ and some from http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/) , spelling we will simply take mispelled words from their written work or vocabulary words and use those as our lists, Science will be nature walks with a nature journal along with Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space. For Spud Man's phonics I continue to use Scaredy Cat Reading System. That is about all I have any remote idea on. I am positive it will change over the summer but it sure is fun trying to see if I can formulate a plan early.

School has been going so well this past couple weeks! We have only a few weeks left. Our last day of school for this year is May 9th! Testing is on the 13th of May and we will be able to relax into a fun summer program....my goal for summer is to read to the kids more and keep all their facts fresh. I learned the hard way last year NOT to forget school completely over summer with Sunshine....beginning of this year we had to take 3 weeks and relearn her multiplication facts! That was frustrating, but since then she is doing so great with all her facts so no complaints.

Anyway I am having fun diving into all the catalogs, websites, and friends materials looking for that just right fit for our school next year. I will keep you posted on all the fun....

Homeschooling.....

2008-03-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

We started homeschooling because Mr Wonderful was working on a job about 2 hours from home and we wanted to stay with him in our RV during the weekdays and not have to worry about keeping the kids out of school for any length of time. It was a big job that lasted almost 2 years, it was a very financially rewarding job as well. So it was important to us to give homeschooling a try. Once we got started we knew it would be hard to ever go back, we enjoy the freedom and flexibility it gives us.

Right now we only do formal schooling with the two older ones, Sunshine (9rs 4th grade) and Spud Man (7yrs Kinder.). Tobers (4yrs) really likes busy work (but doesn't want to listen to how to do it, he just wants to do his own thing all the way thru his workbooks). We have been homeschooling for about 3 years. In the beginning, I really was not a fan of homeschool for various reasons. There are sometimes I have those days where I am tempted to send them back to public school and have 7 glorious hours to twirl my hair and drink tea, talk on the phone, and surf online all day. Then there are the times I can't imagine having them gone that long, I would truely miss them so much. I really do enjoy being a part of their education and I love how I am relearning everything with them (it is amazing how much 4th grade stuff you learn for the 1st time while teaching...how is it possible to forget that much stuff?) anyway Sunshine is a self starter and naturally likes to teach herself (can you say dream student 90% of the time?). She is the easy one.

Spud Man on the other hand, is all boy, 7 years old, and would rather be out in the dirt. Alas my patience (oh that's right I don't have any, and if I do find some I always use it up with him). He is about 75% better than he was when we first started, he used to flop around and whine and moan and groan and make my life miserable to the point that the last thing I wanted to do was start school with him (which now I know that he just was not ready then). There were times I was so inconsistant because I could not face another day of schooling this child! We weren't talking about anything taxing here 5.5 yrs old and learning the ABC's and basic phonics, or counting. He was exceptional with writing though, his handwriting was amazing! When he was first learning his hand eye coordination was great. Now he has started to get a little sloppy just because he can write faster now and it went downhill a little. Anyway right now after 2 years of struggle suddenly he is doing really well in math (he is in about 1st grade math) and he likes it!!!!

Reading we are finally making some great headway on, (he has come a long ways but it took a long time!), I keep expecting one day for him to just wake up and read for as much as we've been working on it. I think I am more committed to keeping him home simply because I know he would need meds for school since he tends to lean towards the ADD side of the scope. At home I can manage that by monitering his eating and I find ways to incorperate learning with movement, he also learns well from videos and computer programs...some hands on stuff is always better with him. This past 2 weeks he has made huge strides in progress, he is now reading and creating sentences on his own and he is gaining a lot more confidence in his own abilities as well. He is especially enjoying his cookie sheet with salt in it for a tactile way of learning. He likes to make his sentences and words in this and it helps break up the work into something interesting at times.

I found a curriculum I really like using for language arts and math (I like their other subjects too but like to mix things up a little bit). Anyway it is called Christian Light Education it is very simple, easy to teach,I beleive it is also slightly advanced. I really like the simplicty of the illustrations and the practicality of their math too. It reminds me of something vintage or classic. Anyway we've been using that for 2 years now. It is similar to Life Pacs in that it has 10 workbooks for each grade level which makes it nice for both the kids and myself to see some benchmarks and workbooks being finished. We also really enjoy the CLE reading, their readers are great to have for the family library as well, filled with wholesome stories with character and morals.

As much as we like the above curriculum we have also taken an interest in more of a Charlotte Mason style for our homeschool as well. This is something new we want to add/replace some previously used things with next year. I have been reading all kinds of info about it and trying to formulate a plan. I need to build a little more confidence in my abilities but I think it is a definate goal. We will continue with CLE Math but try to put together some more Charlotte Mason style techniques for the rest. I want to try this out over the summer to see how well we all respond to it. We do have a weakness in the literature area of our school right now so I think this would be a great fix to that weakness.

This year we used Sonlight science, Complete Book of US History, and several other basic workbooks to fill in the edges. We like to play board games like Snapshots Across America, or Sum Swamp, and of course card games too. Tobers especially likes this visual perception game.

I have no idea how I will ever manage 4 children needing to be schooled at once but I will cross that bridge when I get there. I am hoping the older ones will help teach the younger ones some things but time will tell.;)

Some of the activities we do with Tobers.

We do testing each spring locally. Even when it is not a required benchmark year for them to be tested I go ahead and do it. I also get an analysis of what areas need work or are doing well in. It really helps me to see where the weaknesses are and what they are doing well with. I feel like it is moreso my report card on how well I am teaching them than the kids' report cards.

I find that the kids are learning so much about real life in this homeschooling adventure. Mr Wonderful teaches them real life skills, he gets to spend real quality time with them doing useful tasks (he also tries to stress the important of learning and how he needs basic knowledge like they are learning in their schooling to be able to do it properly. I also teach them skills in cooking, sewing, woodworking, cleaning, art, animal care, dog training etc. As a family we process hundreds of pounds of produce and fruit by freezing and canning for our winter's supply since Mr Wonderful's income is smaller in the winter due to weather and lack of hours working. We try to do everything we can as a family. I really believe they will end up with a well rounded education.

At first I was concerned with socialization (like everyone else who starts this journey, and everyone whom you tell you are starting this journey) but we are a part of a homeschool group, church family, and we are out in the world occasionally. ;) I really love how most homeschooled children I know can talk to all ages, very young, younger, older, the elderly and can carry on meaningful conversations. You don't see a lot of that in public school....I was one of those that had a hard time relating to elderly or different ages.

Sometimes I feel like homeschooling is a huge job and very tiring in many ways for me. I think it is mostly emotional/mental, especially on the days that I struggle with Spud man, it sucks all the confidence out of me. The responsibility on my shoulders is heavy sometimes but then I think about what sort of issues I would be dealing with coming home from school as far as attitudes and behaviors and I know I actually have an easier job than the alternative of trying to parent kids effectively when they are away from you for so long each week. I am not against public school, I am just really glad that for now we have decided to choose this route.

Anyway I just wanted to share a little about our "school" and the whys and what materials we use with you. Having said all the above things I find it VERY important to have outside support, other families you can share with and get together with. That has made a huge difference for me personally to keep up with the demands placed on me. Also I find it important to take time for myself without the kids, at least once per week. It is about balance and each person has to find their own delicate balance of what works for them. It took me 3 years to figure out this much so I imagine after a few more I will have figured out a few more tips to make it more enjoyable. So there is a dive into our homeschool mission......thanks for tagging along and listening to me meander thru my thoughts.

Callie is getting old...

2008-03-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

If you look closely you can see a small puppy peeking out of Mr Wonderful's shirt. She was so tiny!

Here she is at a couple months old. She was so cute! Lately I have been thinking more and more about Callie and her role in Mr Wonderful and I getting together. How she has been such a large part of our lives for so long...what will it be like when she is gone? Will Mr Wonderful and I lose a part of ourselves when Callie passes away?
Callie is over 13 years old and she is almost completely deaf. It is getting to the point of her being a liability when she is outside, I worry so much since she can't hear cars coming or people calling her. It is scarey for me to try to protect her. Her eyesight is also starting to fail as well. I am scared we will have to make that dreaded decision before we are ready.
For now Callie is actually fairly perky, Mr Wonderful gets home and she jumps all around and greets him, she can still jump into the back of our Dodge pick-up most days. She is kinda gettting cranky with our new dog Maggie and she will get cranky with the kids at times. She is still very loyal to Mr Wonderful. She has decided that when we are not home her rightful place is on our couch! Since she is deaf and cannot hear us come home we are always catching her snoozing on the couch when we walk in the door. She can still perk up well with no real signs of arthritis that is so common in older dogs but she does take a lot more naps between her active moments!

She will do about anything to please Mr Wonderful including becoming a retriever for grouse season. She learned to retrieve a grouse after one got away from him several years ago. She has NO breeding in her for retrieval, she is a Heinz 57 blend of cowdog. She has blue heeler, carter dog, border collie and possibly some mystery breed as well. Why is it that these mixed breed dogs usually end up being the best dogs? They don't cost a dime to get one and nothing usually goes wrong with them for years and years.

Then you go and spend hundreds of dollars on a purebred Golden Retriever puppy and she ends up chewing out her spay stitches costing a whopping $350 for a simple spay surgery, and now she has sensitive skin and needs special shampoo. Not to mention that she chewed a hole in our fairly new carpet!!!! I had forgotten how much work puppies are. It made me even more thankful for easy Callie who was already potty trained, tried and true left alone in our house, and how she is just perfect because she is all we ever knew.

Who would have ever thought she'd be this big of a part of our lives? Part of me fears that when Callie is gone I will have to face that we are also getting older and that our youth is over. It is hard to face, she has been with us thru so much of our lives, falling in love, getting married, setting up our first household, bringing home all 4 of our babies, welcoming a new puppy (she was NOT happy about this little addition), and lots of family fun to be had in the last 13 years.
I hope she can stay with us a long while! Maybe she can break some kind of dog life record right?

Younger Years Cooking...

2008-03-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Is everyone enjoying our story so far? Just curious. I admit I am having fun but I also feel like it is such a personal thing that it is kinda hard to put out there too. Hopefully you guys are getting some good laughs out of the deal. I know it has me reminscing and loving the walk down memory lane. It has us carrying on more dialog from our past then we have in a while too. Mr Wonderful enjoys talking about most of those times too.

Today he told me for the first time ever that once before we were dating that he had eaten up at the house (the shop where the guys worked was not far from our house) and that I had made mac and cheese and my Dad had kept everyone working late that night and he felt bad sending them home so far from town so late without feeding them. Just so happened I had made a large batch of this Mac & Cheese and Mr Wonderful initially thought, "yuck I don't really like Mac & Cheese but gosh I hate to turn them down" meanwhile as I am hearing this story I was pretty sure it was not about the food, he probably wanted to see me even though at the time he was still playing Mr Uninterested. Don't you agree?

Anyway he did come with a couple other workers for this late dinner and he said it actually was the best Mac and Cheese he'd had because it was homemade. He said that was when he figured out I was a good cook, I was probably 15 at the time. Interesting huh?

Problem is I have no recollection of this said dinner or making Mac and Cheese. Although I did cook ALOT during that time in my life because my Mom was going thru chemo and I did a lot of those sort of things for a long time. I drove for her most days because the chemo affected her eyesight and energy. Anyway I wish I could remember this dinner.

He told me this story with great detail. Why can't I remember it?

Speaking of my early years cooking, wanna hear something truely embarassing? My brother had just gotten married and they had stopped by to visit so I had to quickly get something in the oven for dinner for everyone. Our family had this great meatloaf recipe with shredded potatoes, shredded carrots, some egg to hold it together with some seasonings and of course the burger, then on top a yummy sweet ketchup sauce. So I did have all the ingredients for it. I started shredding those potatoes and carrots, I added everything, I pressed it into the pan, I smeared on the yummy topping and got it baking. Ahhh now I could relax and enjoy the visiting and evening.

Well soon it was time for serving, we are all seated around the table ready to dig in, we have our side salads, we have our meatloaf, and we all start digging in. We are all dished up and finished praying when my SIL says to me...."um did you forget something?" I am like "What?" I had yet to taste my meatloaf you see. Turns out I forgot to add the burger to the "meat" loaf! How embarassing, it was bad too, it was inedible, it was a crying shame all the work and time waiting for dinner and no meat? Ya I am not sure I will ever live down the night I made meatloaf and forgot the meat.

Highschool to Housewife...His Truck.

2008-03-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I would take a few mins to tell you about Mr Wonderful's pick-up when we were dating. I come from a long line of Chevy pick-up drivers (don't look in my driveway because we have a Dodge, we got a lot crap about it too!) anyway Mr Wonderful drove a pick-up that had special meaning for me. You see it had been in the family a while before Mr Wonderful bought it. First my Grandpa had found it for my oldest brother who was looking for a pick-up to rebuild (a project if you will). He completely rebuilt it from engine to paint job. He put glass packs on (whatever those really are, I just know it made it sound loud and fun), then he put in a large sound system with a subwoofer (my personal favorite), this pickup was NICE in it's early days, but then my oldest brother wrecked it one night the road washed out in a flood (so on goes the first few layers of bondo), then repainted it again. Anyway this poor pick-up had been thru a lot by the time Mr Wonderful bought it, including Ornery Brother. Ornery Brother sold it to Mr Wonderful.

Mr Wonderful ended up recovering the bench seat in a really neat navajo fabric and I was particularly impressed with his choice. When Mr Wonderful and I went on our first date I noticed he listened to the radio WITHOUT the subwoofer turned on......what kind of injustice is THAT? I could not believe it, because to me the best thing in the whole world was feeling that bass "move" you. I love bass......to this day when I hear a good bass in music or movies it makes me tingle. I am pretty sure it can be linked back to our time in this blue truck with the subwoofer ON!

I miss that truck sometimes, well alot sometimes. The times I don't miss it are when I think about how many repairs it was constantly needing, how is guzzled fuel like a thirsty elephant, and of course it only seated 3 people.......those are the reasons we ended up selling it shortly before we got married. Now you want to know the true sign of good husband material? A Man willing to trade this in.....

For this.....

Shortly before we got married we decided we needed a car that would be reliable and also get good gas mileage. Turns out we made a good choice because our Honda Accord ended up being with us for a LONG time, we bought it in 1997 and sold it about a year and a half ago 2006 (when we had our 4th baby and we could not longer all fit in it). I loved that car. Anyway it says a lot about a guy who is willing to give up his truck for a family car. By the way that is his dad next to him in the pic (he passed away in 2003 just 4 days after Tobers was born). I believe we were one of the only people to stubbornly hold on to a car that we loved even though we were completely busting out of the seams with 3 kids, 2 adults, and a dog on occasion. That car was a member of the family it seemed. We get attached to our vehicles for some reason they all have names.

In those above pics that is almost the exact outfit he wore on our first date! Here are some random pics with Blue Bertha in it.

Don't I look young and innocent? NOT! What WAS I thinking with that outfit (I swear those slickie pants were "in" then!) and what was up with my hair?

By this time this truck had been thru alot, witnessed a whole lot, and been the center of a lot of fun adventures.....another fun little note about this truck is that it had a back window. Callie would most of the time ride in front when I was not in the truck but sometimes she'd ride in back. When I was there she'd ride in the back more....she DID NOT appreciate this setback in her position. If Mr Wonderful and I got to flirting and tickling in the cab or something fun (get your minds out of the gutter people!) she'd start scratching at the back window and if we let her in she'd break up the fun and protect Mr Wonderful! She still does that to this day, she protects him even if he is winning!!! Doesn't she know I named her? She is very much Mr Wonderful's dog still after 13 years! Hmph!

Now I know Mr Wonderful's truck was nothing spectacular but we sure loved it, it was well worn by the time we sold it but there is a special memory there. I still really like the looks of those chevy trucks so proud and loud. We have talked about when the kids are grown that we will find a chevy pickup in that same era and rebuild it and have that be our date rig! There are just certain things that take us back and 70's chevy pick-up's do that for us.

High School to Housewife....Proposals in the Dark.

2008-03-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am about to share with you the story of Mr Wonderful's proposal. We had been dating about 1.5 years and I was more than ready, I was fast approaching 18 and I could not wait to spend my life with him! I had graduated a year early from high school and attended 1 year at a community college. I really only wanted to be a wife and mother to his babies. That was all I ever dreamed about growing up, I had no desires to be a working woman or even get a degree (to this day I still have no idea what I would be interested in if and when I do go back to college). I am madly in love and feelin' impatient I kept thinking...."I know he has a ring, I am pretty sure, or at least I think so." I am just waiting, and waiting and waiting some more...and as you all know I was born with a devastating birth defect....I was missing my ability to be patient.

So it was my 18th B-Day and Mr Wonderful took me out for a beautiful night. He drove me up on a secluded ridge (I still have no idea if this was public or private land) anyway here we are driving out onto the point of a rugged ridge just as the sun is starting to set. It is bumpy and rough and uncomfortable.....the suspense is killing me...I think to myself.. "Is this the night? Is he going to propose, something is up here?"

Mr Wonderful finally parked his pick-up and turned on some romantic music (I should mention that he had this amazing sound system complete with subwoofer that I particularly found personally moving in a raging hormone kinda way). Anyway the music is set, the sun is falling, he gets out some stemware fancy glasses from his toolbox somewhere (do you KNOW what kind of yucky, dirty stuff they normally keep in men's truck toolboxes?....ignore that) anyway he has sparkling cider. He pours me some and we take a nice stroll towards the sunset glasses in hand.....the light is beautiful and romantic. Again that darn suspense is getting to me....actually it never went away. All the questions flooding my mind. "Is he really going to propose?" I think to myself "I am 18 now, it is safe to go ahead anytime, really." We chat, we laugh, I start to get impatient, I try not to let Mr Wonderful know just how devoid of patience I really am. The suspence I tell you.

Just then he turns to face me and gently strokes my cheek and looks deep into my eyes......(my knees go all wiggly) he starts to say how much he loves me and how much I have given him and how his heart needs me to be complete and just how much he looks forward to a life with me. With that he dropped down on his knee and took out a velvet box and asked me so sweetly with tears in his eyes to marry him. I of course said "Yes, I love you of course YES!!!" He put the ring on and I was so excited, we hugged and over his shoulder I was trying to hold up my hand to see the ring....but by this time it is dark...too dark to even really SEE the ring! I had no idea how big it was, the shape of it or anything! So I casually mentioned we better get back to the truck because it is dark and I am a big weany in the dark.

The minute we got to the truck I bailed into the jockey box whipped out the flashlight and gave it a click......."ah finally some light around here.".....I gave it a glance and WOW what a sparkler, it was more than I could have dreamed of! I mean here I was 18, young naive, and so hopeful. It ended up that he had done a fabulous job picking out my ring all on his own...he only asked me a few vauge questions and went with it. He ended up getting me an oval cut, slightly bigger than a half carat solitare!!! I was grinning from ear to ear. I was completely in love with my man and all the way home I kept trying out the word "fiance"....I love that word.

There is more to the story, specifically how my parents reacted to the news as well as what comes after an engagement like wedding plans, weddings, honeymoons (yes plural, but it is not all it is cracked up to be), and babies.....lots of sweet babies.

So ladies tell your sons, "If you love her.......don't propose in the dark!" Unless of course you want to test the true depth of her love.

This was our engagement picture.

High School to Housewife...My Sr Prom.

2008-03-11T17:24:00.001-07:00

We went to my Sr Prom together (our 2nd prom together) as you saw in the last post. There is a wee little bit more to the story. You see we went to prom of course and had a nice time, but then everyone started to leave early for different destinations. Mr Wonderful and I decided to go our own way as well. We decided on a beautiful night like that we wanted to go for a drive and find somewhere private. We drove around and finally ended up on some quiet country gravel roads. We decided to get even more private and we went up a steep road that was not improved.....have I mentioned Mr Wonderful's pick up is not a 4 wheel drive? Anyway we parked and admired the stars. Anyway it was quiet and peaceful and beautiful with those bright stars in the sky. When we got ready to leave we realized somehow the truck had gotten high centered!!! This was NOT good since we were getting close to my cerfew. So luckily Mr Wonderful had a flashlight.....he tried digging out even all dressed up in his tux! (no luck) Then we tried jacking it up and giving it a good shove while I hit the gas, that did not work either.

So we were left to start walking towards the nearest house......the nearest house was probably 1/2 mile or more away in the dark. Now of course since it was prom I was wearing heels.....we have already established that this is an unimproved road which means large rocks and potholes in the dark. It was painful, not to mention I was wearing a fitted dress with not a lot of room to walk anyway. So we walk and walk to this far off house...wouldn't you know they had what souned like at least five large mean dogs? We could not even get close to that place before we were pretty sure we'd be eaten.......problem is the only other house is MILES away!!! Of course at that time we did not have a cell phone (boy that would have been nice).

So we start walking towards more of the main road (still a gravel country road). We were pretty embarassed and worried about not making it for cerfew and what trouble that would lead to. I was pretty sure I'd be washing a lot of windows that next day. You see my parents had a rule that if you were past cerfew that you had to wash windows (we had a ton of bay and picture windows it was a huge job). Anyway we are walking when we see headlights, oh thank God!!! So we start turning our flash light on and off to signal we needed help. This car was still a long ways away and it was iffy on if they'd even be able to see our light but they appeared to! The vehicle started coming our way!!! It was such great news....until we figured out who it was. It of course had to be the police!

So if that was not humilating enough the officer insisted on calling MY parents (we wanted to call one of Mr Wonderful's buddies to come pull us out) and letting me explain what was happening and then we tried talking him into just gently pulling us out of our perdicament...he said "No". Then he drove us part way to my parents house because they were on their way.....can you imagine getting a call at 2am from the cops (2 hours after my cerfew)? Somy parent got there in record time.....we both climbed in to my parents rig said thank you to the officer. Then my parents drove us to the stuck truck and my parents helped pull the truck out of it's perdicament. Then we had to go our seperate ways. My parents were suprisingly quiet and not too mad, I think they were just thankful that I was alive after all that! I was glad they did not feel the need to kill me.

We finally made it home around 3am and that was the end of my prom night adventure.

So the following pics now have deeper meaning huh? Just imagine how I might have looked after my adventuresome evening. Shoes thrashed, dress ripped along the hemline and up the slit from trying to walk several miles, filthy ruined dress from trying to dig us out and help Mr Wonderful, tear stained face because I was scared what my parents would do, let's not even get stared on my hair! Ya, I was a mess.......so these pics are pretty hilarous to me knowing what I ended up looking like after the evening came to an end. Good thing I did not make that dress because I would have been really upset but I did not really like the dress all that much anyway...don't you think it made me look like a football player with those shoulders? HAHA

High School To Housewife...The Long Wait.

2008-03-10T09:27:00.001-07:00

After our break-up months earlier I was more sure than ever that I really did want to spend the rest of my life with Mr Wonderful. He had remained caring, respectful and honest with his feelings even thru all our struggles and I knew I wanted to be married to someone with that kind of self-control and respect for me even thru turmoil. We took it slowly and worked towards a stronger relationship for the next year. I graduated a year early from high school and he got his associates degree in Civil Engineering. Graduating early was something that I had worked towards from the 7th grade, I had seen so many seniors in high school only have to go half days that I decided to plan out all my credits when I got into highschool so that I could graduate early and forget a silly 1/2 day for a whole year. I did just that.

Mr Wonderful and I had a good relationship and we were getting more and more anxious to be married. My parents really "encouraged" us to wait, well ok forbid it for a long time because I really was too young. I sure did not think so at the time though. We had to be patient until my 18th B-day because as you probably know parents can't say much once you are 18 right?

This is how Mr Wonderful chose to express his love at times! I loved it!

Here are some other various pics from that year.

Here I am at my last county fair with another 4-H outfit for modeling.

Here we are at my Sr. Prom April 1996.

Here is my senior pics. The top photo I had broken my foot just minutes prior to the photo shoot. I had gotten my horse all groomed and ready and had went inside to grab my saddle, when I stepped off a large step with my saddle I felt my foot snap and instantly I started to feel ill. The photographer had driven all that way out to our ranch and I felt so bad about her coming so far for nothing and I was ready (it is not small feat to get a horse ready like that not to mention myself) so I dried the tears, fixed the make up and hobbled up the hill for our photo shoot, the wincing pain is barely noticable! That photo shoot was followed by getting to the ER to wait another 3 hours to be seen, then painful tweaking for x-rays and a walking cast for a few weeks. The second pic (on the bottom) we had done in a studio, injuries are less likely in a studio we confirmed. Can you tell I was all cowgirl back then? I love it!

Here is what I made him for our first Christmas together 1995.

Good times!

Highschool to Housewife....Storm Clouds Brewing.

2008-03-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

After 3 months of dating Mr Wonderful and I had taken the next big step. I was a terrible influence on him. We had our fun but it also seemed to consume the relationship and thoughts. We had been together roughly 5 months when things started getting stormy. I got anxious and nervous about things being so serious when I was only 16 years old. I was not sure I was completely ready to settle down. I knew I loved Mr Wonderful and I wanted to spend my life with someone like him but I also was not sure I was done with my teen years and doing fun and wild stuff.

I broke his heart, I told him how I was feeling and that we needed a break, that things were getting too serious and I was only 16 and needed a little space. Of course all this time I was the one to make it more serious I mean talk about indecisive! That was not the only reason, there was another boy showing me interest and I missed that new love type attention. I explored the idea of dating someone else but it never went very far. I missed Mr Wonderful, I still had not been able to break the habit of calling him to talk, he was my best friend. He was devastated and crushed beyond comprehension but he did not waste any time taking up an offer for a date with his ex-girlfriend (the one that dumped him right before he and I started dating). Anyway they went to dinner and I think kissed as well. I was busy being silly with my new friends and driving too fast and kissing this new interest. Once we kissed that one time I knew it would never be as good as it was with Mr Wonderful. So I broke all ties with my new friends and started trying to repair our relationship as best I could after I had been so selfish.

We had been broken up almost a month. During our break up he still treated me with respect and he even gave me a sweet B-Day card about always being friends and that he still cherished our friendship. I think that was one of the turning points for me, to know that he still cared about me deeply even though I had hurt him. It took a while to build back the trust and we were pretty much only friends for over a month after we decided to try it again. It took a while for me to be ready as well, since part of the reason for the breakup had been for space because things had been moving along fairly fast. So we slowly worked our way back to each other and learned about trust and commitment. Soon our relationship had grown to be even better than before. We had a deeper relationship now and we were stronger and happier than before. It was like we had passed a test or a major bump in the road and he and I both proved we had what it took to make it work. One of the neat times we experienced in our journey back was that we had been out to dinner eating chinese food and we got our fortune cookies and here is what mine said: "Stop searching forever. Happiness is just next to you." It was like a 2x4 to the head, I realized it was right, he was everything I ever wanted and needed, DUH!

We also knew that lust is what had really started to ruin our relationship. After we got back together we decided to hold off on that part of our relationship. It was important to get our minds on something else and learn to be friends moreso than worrying about anything more. We maintained our decision for about 6 months.....until I dared him that he could not resist me, ya don't even dare a man they can't resist you when you both have been fighting temptaion for over 6 months.......turns out I won the dare and our hiatus from hanky panky was over. See? I was such a bad influence! That man would have waited forever for me had I been responsible and patient! You just can't dare a man like that (well you CAN after you are married but somehow it doesn't quite work the same!)

Highschool to Housewife....Awakened Hormones.

2008-03-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

No one told me about these hormones, well I heard about them but I never pictured myself being victim to them. Those kisses from Mr Wonderful ignited something in me I had never known. I was falling for him harder than I thought possible. I wanted more!!! So far we had only ever kissed gently and sometimes passionately but it never went further than that....I was becoming impatient, I wanted to him to seem as overtaken with passion as I was recently starting to feel.

We were on our 1 month anniversary date (I know 1 whole month) and we were talking comfortably like we always did when my impatience bone started bothering me. I had to ask......it seemed like we were more friends than anything more.....I asked Mr Wonderful why it seemed like we were more friends than anything else, did he not want anything more? He responded surprisingly. He responded with a major come on, no talk no hesitation. All that time he had been being patient and waiting for me. I can still remember what I was wearing (in the picture below)

and I remember being in his pick-up cab, I had my back pressed against the passenger window and he was leaning accross the cab kissing me....only this time there was way more passion and there were wandering hands, but then it started to get a little hot and heavy (I was thinking something in between being just friends and madly passionate) so I had to put the breaks on this new development once it was aparent that clothes might start coming off. I told him I was excited to see he did have an interest in me past being friends but that he had to calm down...turns out he was also starting to battle those rising hormones (like I discovered for myself after our first kiss). We had to recompose ourselves and agreed to take it easy for a bit. He was a gentleman and he was once again patient, I was satisfied that he was burning up with desire for me. He passed the test, he was respectful of my limits that night and I knew I could trust him from that point on, I never had to question his feelings for me or his respect for my limits or feelings.....now that is more than I can say for MY limits or My respect for myself in the future months........

Here is what I did with most my time when I was not with Mr Wonderful. Training and showing my horses.

Mr Wonderful captured pictures like the ones to follow on his Pentax camera in his passtime. He also did a lot of fishing and hunting. Only of course when he wasn't on a date with me or working for my family's construction business.

Didn't he take some great pics?

Highschool to Housewife...We go to prom together.

2008-03-07T09:45:00.001-08:00

After we had been dating a few weeks I asked Mr Wonderful if he'd be willing to go to my prom with me, I kinda doubted he would want to go back to a high school prom after being graduated 3 years but he enthusiastically said YES! Whoo Hoo I had a date for prom!

I got busy sewing my dress and making plans. He ordered his tux and we were all set. I was so excited. It was my first prom and I had a serious date and not some random date I did not even know very well. I felt like I had arrived to some elite club of people who had a real date for prom.

Here are a few pics from our special day.

I am so glad we had the forsight to have him take off his glasses.....too bad he could not see a thing!

This pic my Mom took of me in front of our front door. What I would not do to be able to fit back into that dress, or anything that size.......and to think at the time I thought I was HUGE! If only we could go back and tell myself I was fine the way I was!

I was also able to use my dress for 4-H modeling and sewing so I was able to check that off my list of things to do early in the year. Here is a pic of me taking top prize at the Oregon State Fair for style review (modeling a garment you made). Too bad we did not have the forsight that day to take Mr Wonderful's glasses off. Mr Wonderful was able to come along on the trip with my parents.

Mr Wonderful Grocery Shops...

2008-03-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

So my energy has been MIA lately and I have been desperately needing to head to the store for some FOOD! We are all starving around here, Ok not starving because we have lots of canned fruits and frozen meats but the fillers like crackers, bread, side dishes, cheese, all dairy really, (you know all the appetizing parts of a meal) are lacking around here.

I managed to put together a nice meal plan for the next week along with a good grocery list. Problem is you actually have to have the energy to GO to the store to GET the groceries for it to do any good!

I finally called Mr Wonderful a few mins ago to feel out his willingness to get groceries for me. Sure enough he said he would be able to and that he'd call me later to get the list. Little does he know it is a LIST, complete with two full columns. Poor guy. If I know him he will do it with a smile and he will pick up a few more extremely useful items that I had no idea I needed but I really did. He is good that way.

Anyway I am feeling so very lucky right now to have such a helpful husband. He probably knows it is his only chance to get any decent cooking around here huh? Maybe he isn't being super helpful, maybe he is out for self preservation? HAHA

Now I have to figure out one more meal from the nothingness in our frig and cabinets. Can I do it? Yes I can!!!! Evidently I have been watching too much Bob the Builder....

Highschool to Housewife.....He Courted Me!

2008-03-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

So after I FINALLY caught his attention, Mr Wonderful started living up to his nickname. He bought me flowers, he bought me easter Bunnies with Cadbury Eggs (my favorite Easter candy) he wrote the most romantic cards and letters (lots of them), he surprised me with sweet romantic dates. Here are a few pics of some of the beautiful bouquets of flowers he got me over the course of our early dating relationship.

It was the letters and cards that went with these flowers that was so touching. He was not affraid to tell me how he felt about me and he was so honest and open with me. I cherish every word in those cards and letters to this day. Now if I could just get him to write a few more of those now that he "has" me 13 years later.;)

Highschool to Housewife.... The Long Awaited Kiss

2008-03-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

We had been dating 3 weeks and we were finding that we were very much compatible with one another and we could talk so easily. I loved that he'd talk to me and we could talk about anything!

We were on a drive near my parents home one day and we were talking about life and how we'd like our futures to look and Mr. Wonderful turned to me and said that he could see himself married to me someday! GULP! It was such a nice compliment and I knew I had arrived! Now at this point we had not even kissed yet and he could picture himself married to me? I admitted I felt the same way because to be able to talk so openly with a guy and to not have him constantly trying to get me into bed was a really nice change! I had some previous boyfriends that really hurt me and made it very clear that all they wanted was action and could care less about what I wanted to say or do.:( So Mr Wonderful was exactly what I needed, he was patient, kind and respectful. Anyway we had been talking and driving around spotting wildlife. We stopped and decided to tour my older brother's RV, it is where Mr Wonderful had spent part of a previous summer living. Anyway we toured it and sat on the couch together. I personally was beginning to wonder if Mr Wonderful would ever make a move to kiss me, he didn't. So I took matters into my own hands. I leaned in and kissed him, it was passionate, it was earth moving, it was wet! I decided right then and there that we needed to be kissing lessons....we laughed about it and promptly decided we must keep practicing because we had to get this right. (He teases I taught him how to kiss, so true, so true!) After several "lessons" we were able to get it just right and we of course decided we'd never be done learning to kiss one another from that point on. So our first kiss was in my brother's RV on the couch and 3 weeks after our first date. (That reminds me I think we need a refresher course in the kissing department.....hmmmm..."Mr Wonderful, where are you?") That kiss started a whole flow of hormones that would soon be emerging in future weeks and I was not aware these sort of hormones existed except exibited rudely thru past boyfriends but not for me personally, until then.

The whole first kiss was better than I could have imagined, I mean what man would not take offense to a little suggestion in the kissing department? I mean just the fact that he was open to suggestions even at that tender moment said a lot for our future. I was head over heels for him and he appeared to be in the same state.....

He Gets It From Me....

2008-03-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

It's true he gets it from me......I often look like this after eating or making brownies. I don't know what is wrong with us but we just lack self control when it comes to brownies.....oh and I am still looking for my patience bone.....anyone seen it?

Energy Is Missing...anyone seen it?

2008-03-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

I am feeling much better after the flu but the energy still escapes me.:( I wake up tired and want to lay in bed all day. I can muster loafing around the house, but then I look outside and it is sunny and looks warm out there and I want to be out working in the yard yet my energy just makes me feel like curling up on the couch.

I should be doing school with the kids but then the energy required seems too great. Why does it take so long to get over the flu? Especially this flu. I was reading that it can be normal to take up to 3 weeks to get energy back after the flu!!! I don't have 3 weeks to feel this way!

I had a root canal done on a problem tooth on Monday and it is still tender and healing up. I can't wait for things to be normal in the teeth department. I am trying to get to Boise to pick up a mouth gaurd because I clench my teeth at night which causes a lot of inflamation and pain if it is left untreated. We have had to reschedule our trip to Boise at least 4 times already, due to weather conditions and sickness! I really need to get there soon.

I suppose I should go force myself to get moving and work on the kids' school work.

Highschool to Housewife....the Catch.

2008-03-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

So last post I told you about how Mr Wonderful named his new puppy Callie after my suggestion. I was sure this was a sign that he was flirting with me.

So now I had this excuse to call and check on the puppy. I did call him, he was friendly and sweet and the puppy was doing great. I swallowed hard and asked him if he would consider going on a date with me. Sure enough he suggested we go out that next weekend that it might be fun to go out! I could not believe my ears, at first I thought it was because he felt kinda forced into it but then later after we had talked for a while it was getting close to time to hang up and he said this after I told him that I was excited that we finally get to go on a date...he said "I am really looking forward to it". I melted, I had a grin on my face for the entire week!!!

To think it all started because of this cute little puppy.

Turns out the week went by so slowly. Finally when it was that day I primped and paced and waited for him to come. He was right on time, the rumble of his Chevy truck made my heart go pitter patter. He visited with my parents for a while then we were off on our date. He was trying to get to the passenger door before me but it did not work out and he was a little disappointed that I did not wait for him to open the door for me. Awe...how sweet!! I was a little embarassed because I bolted out my parents house so fast and into Mr Wonderful's truck that it may have been considered lightning speed, plus to have not been refined enough to wait for Mr Wonderful to open the door (I guess I was a cowgirl afterall).

We decided to go to Denny's and a movie. He ordered a side salad and in the end he decided a salad on the first date is only a good idea if the other person orders a salad too. He said he felt akward eating in front of me as we were trying to talk. I was just busy thinking about how nice he looked in his Wranglers, his blue and grey flannel shirt with elk all over it, and how his belt buckle matched everything perfectly. (He still has that shirt and belt buckle, I still love it!) After eating at Denny's we were off to watch a movie, I remember thinking I should not have eaten so much because my pants were tight in the waist. Anyway we got seated in the movies and it was so fun being there with him, after all this time of wishing and hoping, here he was, a much older guy with little old me! We watched our movie but honestly I don't remember much about it, something about my mind racing because I was on a date with Mr Wonderful, but I do remember briefly putting my head on his shoulder.

After our movie we went up to the airport to watch planes take off and land (something I have always liked) and we visited for a while. We eventually drove to my house and talked for a few more hours there, it was so neat, he was easy to talk to and I felt comfortable with him. He was a gentleman, funny, good looking and kind in every way. About midnight we decided he better head home and I walked him out to our front porch. We said good bye to one another and he game me a gentle hug and told me how nice of a time he had. I melted and from that moment on for weeks I had a permanent smile on my face even in my sleep. I was walking on a cloud from then on.

High School to Housewife...the Chase Was On!

2008-03-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Mature girl that I am at the time, I left notes on his pick-up, he ignored them. One note in particular was my expressing my true feelings for him and layin' it on the line....I left it on his truck, then waited for the earth shattering visit where he tells me he feels the same way and we live happily ever after.

I waited that is for sure.....I waited and waited and he never came.....so being a patient person that I am, I called him to make sure he got it. Here is what he said "Oh I didn't open it until I got home" WHAT??? Now to me mis-impatience herself would have never been able to wait to read something/anything until I got home so I highly doubted his story....so now what?...he read it when he got home right? "Well what do you think?" He basically let me down easy saying I was the boss's daughter and that I was his best friends little sister and he played it off and never gave me the time of day...turns out this was the perfect thing for him to do, because playing hard to get is really fun for the chaser when said chaser is 16 yrs old and determined like I was.

Shortly after that he had picked out a puppy from my brother and his wife. He had just picked up this puppy and had stopped by the house to talk to my other brother (Ornery Brother), Mr Wonderful AKA Mr Uninterested had his younger sister with him and we were all messing with the puppy and saying how cute she was and on and on. Well Mr Wonderful had to run out to his pick-up for something and I proceeded to gush to his sister all about how I had this huge crush on him and I wanted to date him so bad. I figured if I could get on her good side she'd tell him what I said and I could "get at him" that way. Still did not work, nothin' happened. We did end up trying to figure out a name for the puppy though and he ended up taking my suggestion!!!!! I felt like a celebrity!! He took the name I suggested for his puppy. Her name is Callie......awe I still can't believe it. I think he kinda flirted don't you? I mean surely that was a form of flirting to take a name suggestion and use it....ya I am pretty sure.

Then I finally had a reason to call him, I had to check on that new puppy right? Make sure she was doing ok. I mean because unless I called I was pretty sure he was having all kinds of hardships with the puppy that I might have been able to help with right? Hee Hee

The chase is still on.....

Ouch!

2008-03-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well last night as I was trying to stay calm about an impending root canal procedure (I get worked up about these things) and I ended up having a little accident. Whippersnapper and I were sitting on our bed watching TV snuggling and he was kinda wired up. He ended up throwing his head back and his head hit my lip, jambed my teeth and split my lip open. I was very surprised and thankful that he did not end up chipping any teeth. It hit me so hard I was crying like a baby and spitting blood. So now I have a fat sore lip, a tooth that has had a root canal today, and several sore teeth from his head hitting me! I always find it ironic that when it rains it pours.

Mr Wonderful has come down with our flu.:( He is a perfect gentleman even when sick, mainly because he is trying to be a good example because when we were all sick he complained a little that we were being a little on the bossy side and forgetting our manners. So of course he is a gentleman complete with manners and compliments. Hee Hee Just wait till day 3 of this crap, I'll bet those manners will go by the wayside. LOL

I am kinda excited about a little extra family time. He is staying home tomorrow and we will go get movies and hang out in bed together as a family all day. I am glad he waited till I was feeling a little better so I can handle things a little better. Normally he gets sick when I am really sick and then expects me to care for him too! I am really thankful I had a chance to get a little strength back before I had another patient.

Time to go tuck the kiddos in and snuggle in with Mr Wonderful.

Spring Emerges....

2008-03-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Certain sights this time of year make me giggy! Here is one of them.....

I was just out enjoying all the things starting to come up, taking stock of some spring planting ideas when I came accross THIS horrible injustice!

I want you to know THIS is my prized blue spruce bird's nest shrub, it is so neat I really like it. It was a splurge purchase last year. I love the blue hues to this plant and how compact it is. So I am strolling along and I see that a dog has crapped several times on my prized bush (not our dogs because they are not in the front yard)!!!! I am NOT happy at all! How dare they do that to MY bush? I wanted to cry, but then Spud Man saved me and cleared it all off with a shovel. What a nice guy huh?

I am really getting excited about spring time!!! It is warm today too so that doesn't help much, it only further ignites the need to study those seed catalogs and obsess about what to get this year and where to plant it. I am considering getting some seed starting supplies and trying my hand at some heirloom tomatoes this year. I will have to keep you posted on that process!

Cough Drops...

2008-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

So what is the deal with kids and cough drops? We get those Ricola brand ones that taste a little like candycane or something. My kids like these things alot. It seems like they have not been coughing hardly at all then without fail they will start coughing and after the 5-8th cough they wander over to me and say "Mom can I have a cough drop?" But that is the process of asking, not one of my kids asks for a cough drop without adding at LEAST several fake coughs to be sure that I KNOW how much they REALLY need that cough drop! It is pretty funny actually.

The older ones have figured out advanced planning, they will cough BEFORE asking me for one, the younger ones will remember we have those yummy cough drops and then they will ask me for one and THEN add a fake cough after asking. It just cracks me up that they think this actually works and that I don't know what they are doing.

Ok so it does actually work because when they have cough drops in their mouth they stop pestering me! They stop talking so much and they just sit there!!!! I love it!

Lookey Who We Got to Babysit.....

2008-02-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

This last spring a friend of mine decided it would be a good idea to get some baby ducks.....for easter (you know the drill, they are cute and fluffy and great for the kids, then they grow and you turn them loose on someone's farm right?). Anyway she had had the ducklings for a few weeks but they were growing out of her pen she had set up and they were impossibly messy, no exageration there. They were smelly, bad house guests in general. Eventually she had to have them in an old bathtub in her garage so they weren't getting the attention she wanted them to have.

Of course it just so happens they had to go on a trip and needed someone to babysit these ducklings for a couple days...she promised she'd come back and get them really, but then the kids fell in love with them and they soon became my problem. Before we knew it we'd had them several weeks. We were slightly better set up for them as we did have an area outside for the messy guys. We figured out a way to keep their water clean and their bedding dry. We even had a pond in our yard so they got some frequent swims. Overall it was really fun.

They soon had to go to a new home though as 5 ducks in town did not really make sense. We found them a suitable home complete with natural pond with lots of feed and acres and acres to enjoy. It happened to be my in-laws place, so they were welcomed with open arms.....too bad the coyotes had hunger pangs and there ended up being a couple unfortunate ones.:( It's always one thing if it isn't another!

They really know how to make a muddy mess of our pond don't they? Ducks are messy, don't let anyone tell you different! Hope you enjoyed the little piece of springtime heaven....

He Shared..

2008-02-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

Tobers was nice enough to share his flu bug with the rest of the household. Yup 50% of us have it now. Spud Man and I came down with it late in the night. The scarey part is that Tobers is still recovering, he still has a cough and seems fairly weak although he is in good spirits and seems to be feeling better each day. His fevers are finally gone.

Looks like we will be having another slow week again. I just really hope the other 50% of us don't get it. Hey I can hope anyway.

I am NOT very happy about having to take time out to be sick. This headache alone is enough to criple me, not to mention all the body aches and chills etc! Enough with the pitty party! Time to go take a nap and get better.

My Poor Baby...

2008-02-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tobers is miserable. He was better yesterday for most of the day, sometimes normal temp sometimes a low grade fever lower than 100 degrees. Then this morning he again had a 103 fever and a horrid cough. He says his tummy hurts really bad, (probably sore muscles from all that coughing) he coughs the entire time he is awake and he is sleeping alot and wakes up crying and coughing. It is really sad to hear and watch. We've been trying to comfort him and let him rest, but tomorrow I think we need to head to the Dr. I called earlier in the week because I was concerned about his fever lasting for 2.5-3 days, they said with the flu it can be normal to have the flu with fever for a week!!!! Ugh.

What is strange is that when he is awake he doesn't want to be comforted or touched, he wake up really upset when there is a mildly loud noise, and he gets angry and will hit you if you try to stroke his hair or hold his hand. This is the strangest thing I have seen with him. He is usually such a snuggly guy and sweet even when he is sick, I am hoping it is just the fever making him cranky or something. I really hope he startes feeling better soon and that no one else gets it!! It is one of those serious bugs evidently!

One good thing about having a sick one in the house is everyone has to take it easy and get some rest. It has been really good for me in particular because I have been busier than I maybe ever have been for a longer period than normal. While I have been enjoying this pace emensely I am also thankful for a forced rest period this week. I have been taking it easy all week.