I've been TAGGED!

rules
1) each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves
2) people who're tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things & post these rules
3) at the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged & list their names
4) don't forget to leave a comment telling them they're tagged & asking them to read your blog
here's 8 random things about me!

Ok about me.........


1. I have re-discovered my love for reading..but I don't really care much for fiction...I prefer something along the lines of biography or informational. Oddly enough though the recent book by Frank Peretti was pretty awesome :)

2. I was in the marching band, orchestra, and symphonic band in high school...odd yes..I was a band nerd lol. In case you are wondering...it was flute and piccolo.

3. I attended private school from k-7 and I HATED IT! ARG!

4. My first job was at the largest theater in Tampa...it was a movie theater that had 8 screens LOL

5. I have 3 babes all from Haiti and 8 Angels with Jesus.

6. I have never mowed a lawn in my life ( i used the weed wacker once but Kyle decided that wasn't the best idea)

7. We "homeschool" our children and LOVE IT. We get to have the most fun during the day (I have to admit that so far this year has been the BEST year....very relaxed and able to enjoy each other). I think this all has to do with finding the right curriculum for our family...ahem referring back to #1......lots of reading on things that would work BETTER!

8. And I am completely opposite of the person who tagged me (chatterbox)...I try to be organized but alas my efforts fail. I am a disorganized mess and am quite certain that most days I would forget my head if it weren't attached!

I want to thank you..forlettin me...be myself....LOL

Yep you guessed it...today was SHREK day! My sister, my niece, and myself all took the kids to go see SHREK. We had SO much fun. This one was definitely a little bit "heavier" on the adult relationship side, but still quite funny. The kids had a ball and laughed almost the entire way through and lets not forget about Karleigh, Kiara, and Maddie and dancin' at the end LOL. They were so cute!Of course we had to stop watching the movie about 1/2 way through because we turned and looked at Kiara (she has had this whole acting like a dog thing all week..comical!) and she had her little "bowl" of popcorn....she would look at it....then bury her face in it shaking her head back in forth LOL. I was laughing at her so hard I was crying. My little stinker Maddie kept turning around saying..."mama..this is funny!" Too cute! We are now home for about 30 more minutes before we head back to the church. I normally have about 6 kids in class....extra 3 makes 9 so its a movie night tonight:) hopefully one the kids haven't seen (I think its a Hermie one...) Anyway....out for now....and yes I went WAY over my points today..I am 10 over and haven't had dinner yet!) tata for now!

What a day!

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Today was a GREAT day! We were able to go to the Cincy Zoo with the homeschool group and WOW did we have fun! All the kids were just amazed with all the animals.....They had SO MANY baby animals! They had baby Rhino's, baby monkeys, baby cats (some wild kind...don't remember what kind!) Here is a pic of the whole group..

I also was able to get some pics of the kids alone.... Here is Kiara

And here is Karleigh..........

And of Ruby......










And for 2 of my beauties....Here is Sanite

And my Noah......

The last one would not stay still for a pic! Now they are all SO tired and ready for bed! Kyle is grilling out hamburgers right now for everyone then I have a feeling we are skipping "family night' so all can head to bed! oh funny thing about family night...Sanite was asking in the car if we could have 'family night' tonight. Kiara asked "whats family night?" Sanite told her that we either play games or watch a movie with popcorn. I said more than likely it would be a movie night. Then there was silence...then I hear Kiara say" can can can can I be part of the family tonight too" LOL She cracks me up. One of those things where you never thought they would have to ask...these guys are just a natural part of our family. They are getting along so well and having SUCH a great time. They are all enjoying their new "housemates" as long as they can...my kids don't even want to hear about when they go home!

Oh yeah...here's another cute pic..Ruby was ZONKED in the car on the way home...Its hard to tell in the pic but Ruby's slumped in her seat with her feet on the handle of my door LOL

Washer update.....New washer was in order so we bought a "new to us" washer and it works just fine. In fact, it may be BETTER than our old one lol. Also I get to go in for my 1st ultrasound tomorrow. The only problem is I have to be there at 7:00 AM!!!!! It is about a 2hour drive. Needless to say I will be stopping at STARBUCKS LOL. Hopefully I will be able to start meds this cycle and be on our way to a HEALTHY FULL TERM BABY!

Wow what a week!

We have had the Shepler trio here for a couple days and we have had SO MUCH FUN! On that 1st day it was so crazy, pick everyone up, head back to Madison, head to the house to drop stuff off, head to the library, pick up lunch, to the park, home for nap.....up from nap then to evening activities. Monday night was especially crazy as I had to be in 2 places at the same time! In 2 different cities no less! With 6 kids! Kyle took Sanite to her dance lesson in Scottsburg....I hated for her to miss it as it was her LAST lesson before the recital...not to mention they were giving out info for pictures next week. Then while he did that....I took 3 and headed to a banquet for Noah's wrestling. It was a last minute thing and since he placed 1st in the championships I hated for him to miss! And can I say WOW that Kiara and Noah both had a "lucky day." I wasn't sure what was gong to on at the banquet as all I had been told about was drinks and chips...I figured it was some snacks....so I managed to fix grilled cheese for supper and we were all full when we left. Kyle took Sanite, Maddie, and Karleigh while I had Kiara, Ruby, and Noah. We walked into the school cafeteria and there were drinks, chips, AND a full sheet cake. Noah said "WOW! Who's birthday is it?" lol I told him it was for a "congratulations" to all the wrestlers. Then I her Kiara saying "Angela......Angela.....Look at THAT!" I turn around to see someone delivering about 30 pizzas LOL. Needless to say that Noah and Kiara were just busting at the seems with excitement!

On Tuesday we were able to take some time off and just relax in the afternoon...my babysitting buds got here in the afternoon and the 8 kids (yes you read that right) had a great time all playing together. It had been a couple of days since I had weeded in the garden so I set out to weed while the kids were busy playing on the trampoline. However it was hotter out than we originally realized....so when I watered the garden...guess where the kids were playing???

And here are the girls.....

The girls have been SO GOOD for me. Everyone is getting along so well and we are all having just a great "special time" together. Though, they do miss you :)

On a couple other notes.......did I tell you about "little" Maddie???? She had an appt on Monday and they did weight and measurements....would you believe my "little" Maddie is 34lbs and almost 38 inches tall?!?!?! She's a GIANT! LOL

Today we are all headed out for another fun day...we are headed to McDonald's for breakfast (so the kids can play and I can sit and "chat" with my sister...a rare treat!) and then off to look at a new washer...yep you read that right...our died...kaput...gone...forever...As I was working on school with Sanite yesterday I walked over to check on my laundry and I was standing in a pool of water...Kyle came home and pronounced it dead at about 4:30 in the afternoon...so the kids and I are headed out to see what I "can get by with" LOL....I am cheap and don't want to spend lots of money but with 8 people in the house for the time being...being without a washer is NOT an option! LOL

A WHIRLWIND couple of days!!!!!

The past few days have been absolutely CRAZY! On Friday I had a couple jobs to do in Clarksville to do as well as a bit of shopping at Sam's due to the upcoming addition of "3" to our family for a week. Was able to come home JUST in time to head to a play date up at McDonald's. This am we woke up, started to clean up a bit, and then headed off to T-Ball pictures, then a T-ball game. After the game we ran up to vacuum the car, get a gift bag, drive through McDonald's then FLY to Indianapolis for Kiara's 5Th birthday party. The kids bowled and then played. We left a little after 4:30, headed back to Columbus where we stopped at Kmart to do a shop and then through the drive through at White Castle (yes the fast food I love to hate and hate to love). We came home, gave Kyle his burgers, unloaded the truck (I came home with MASSIVE amounts of stuff in the car....all stuff for spikes jeep and the girls suitcases for next week. I literally could not see out the back window nor my passenger side window..we were PACKED)! After we came home, we had about 1 hour before we had to leave again so while Kyle was unpacking I came in and started to clear out our TV stand and being to put in a new one I got from my sis. We worked on that for about an hour before we headed out again (it was now 8:30PM). The kids and I have been studying the orchestra, instruments, sound etc. When we went to the music store this past week the owner mentioned that his band would be playing at the local coffee house tonight from 8-10. So we loaded up the kids and headed downtown for a cookie, tea/hot chocolate, and fun:) The kids danced all night! They had such a great time. There were only 3 men in the band and they played a Double Bass, Drums, and Saxophone. They were great and SO much fun! We truly enjoyed hearing them. I LOVE the way my kids are starting to LOVE the "unconventional" things. Not to many out there would be too thrilled to hear the word "band" and NOT see an electric guitar:) Well, off to lots of laundry, cleaning, and getting ready for the new week.......

We're all LOOSING it! LOL

So I hadn't really said anything...but I started back on weight watchers last week. My BIGGEST problem with weight watchers is not keeping accurate records. This time they offered a 1 week free trial membership (online) and I thought huh...maybe I will give that a try! IT has been great and so easy. They calculate everything for you! All I have to do is type in what I have eaten and it will total up your points, how much you have eaten, how many points you have left etc. You can add in your exercise and how long you did it etc and it will total your points for you! It will also tell you how many "extra" points you have to use. I ate all my points this week but still had a lot of "extra points" left over. Guess what? It worked! I lost 4 pounds this week! yeah!!!!!!

So speaking of loosing it......my son has 2 loose teeth! OK so they are not exactly gone yet but ARG! I am loosing my baby boy! Though I must say....I LOVE all the pics of Sanite when she had those "holes" in her mouth lol. Just too cute :)

Did I mention my daughter is Haitian?

May I introduce the Haitian way of putting your clothes away.....

I have a new niece!!!!!!!

What a gorgeous day today! It was SO NICE! 1st I want to say to Matt and Jackie!!!! They were MARRIED TODAY!!! My nephew was accepted into a program to go to Japan and Teach English for 1-3 years. He and Jackie had fallen in love and he didn't want to leave her....so they decided to go ahead and tie the knot now! There will be a ceremony in July before they leave but they actually had to be married on paper now to go ahead and apply for visas and passports. So excited!! We love you Jackie and are so glad you are now part of this crazy family! May God bless your marriage and may you be as happy and blessed as we have!
Also was able to get the kids out of the house today for our co-op....here are some pics :)
It also took me an hour to get this blog entry written...here is why.....

Tiring Day.....

We are short one day of school from last week that I REALLY need to try and make up this week...I was hoping to be able to clean carpets tomorrow but that may not happen! Either that or it may be a case of school in between cleaning...UG! Also considering changing math programs...but I HATE to change as we have already purchased this curriculum and I really don't have the funds to purchase another. I may have to do so next year though. I think I may need one that is more hands on for her....she is having difficulty actually "getting" math I believe...oh she gets the mechanics. She can memorize her addition facts and such. She does very well with it. However, I don't really think she understands WHY things are the way they are. Although I tried a manipulative based curriculum before and it was a nightmare....but that could of also been attachment issues :)


OK and these dumb little bumps that Maddie has...she had them last year..out of the complete blue when we were at Myrtle Beach....then again after we returned from Haitian camp. So now she has them AGAIN! I could not think for the life of me what it was...allergic reaction to something? But what? We have changed NOTHING! These bumps just come and go......So we meet the Michele and E at our favorite meeting place (McDonalds) and I look at the back of E's neck..I said "Michele...is this E's Eczema?????" She said "Yep!" So I called for Maddie and had Michele compare..sure enough its the same thing! At one point we had them both lift up their shirt and their bellies looked exactly the same...completely covered in these itty bitty bumps...so nice to at least have a good lead on what we are dealing with..oh except for the lady at McDonald's who came up to me about ready to lay an egg asking if Maddie has Measles I said "no....." She in turn said "Well I saw you pointing out bumps on her belly...." I said"If my daughter had measles I CERTAINLY would not bring her to play at McDonald's! lol" OK once again...trading in my life for something a little less exciting....looking for something rather dull and boring for a change lol. Alright McDonald's lady...you win the HERE'S YOUR SIGN award today........

In Honor of McDonald's lady today HERE'S YOUR SIGN



Oh and by the way....Sommersby...I love that movie! Watching it now....wiping tears from my eyes........."I never loved him the way I love you" boo-hoo.....

Thanks to Lori....

For encouraging me to change the look of my blog. How do you like it? Its called "Chocolate beach" two of my favorite earthly things lol. One day maybe I can become more "computer savy" and do some other stuff but for now....these little additions will have to do!

So anyway...took the kids to Cincinnati today to a clothing outlet there....man did I do good :) All 3 kids decided to jump up a size almost overnight! Sanite is solidly in a size 8, size 8-10 in shirts and dresses (WOW!). Noah is not solidly in a size 7, but all the size 6's he owned were too small. I bought him 2 pairs of short that were size 6 that seemed a bit big and 3 pairs of 7 which seemed just right. Miss Maddie is solidly in a 4t wearing some 5t in shirts. Its a good things no-ones feet grew! LOL

I DO have to brag a bit...I ran into a woman with locs in the store. I commented on how nice and neat hers were and of course she saw Sanites and said what a good job I had done on them (whoo hoo...pat myself on the back..) and she asked what I used on them and was very impressed. How nice! OK all done bragging LOL.

I have told you about my "exciting week" right? Let me add...I drive 1 1/2 hours to this store in Cincinnati...after putting $75 in gas in the car.....I arrive and see a sign that says "NO CHECKS." I KNOW last year when I was here I wrote a check and could even go back and find it if I wanted to.......now I have a debit card BUT we only keep the amount in there that we NEED...no extra..if we need we just transfer later. So the account started off with no $$ BUT Kyle had deposited his paycheck..so here I go calling the bank..if a check is direct deposited into the account then it is automatically available on a debit card...if a person walks into the bank to deposit a check (such as my husband does) it is not available on the debit/credit card for 24 hours. So here I am, 1 1/2 hours away.....and no $$? Oh the kids are gonna LOVE that we drove all this way for them to NOT get the clothes I said we would....oh boy.....needless to say I drove around and found a bank (keep in mind that the only thing I about Cincinnati is how to get to the store LOL) I was finally able to get some $$ out of the ATM but this cut 1 hour out of my shopping :( (I only had 3 hours to begin with!). God did a great job taking care of me as He KNEW that I could not afford another trip over there (either by time or $$$). Sometimes it is so easy to forget that God will take care of us in even the littlest of things!


On a side note....every Friday the kids have to say their memory verses for Kyle and he grades them on it as a "test." I would like to brag that my kids (yes Maddie included!) were able to repeat James 1: 1-22 tonight all from memory! We had to help Maddie and give her a few words here and there but WOW did Noah and Sanite really surprise me :) They didn't even slip up or need ANY help...Great Job guys:) We love you and we know that you have certainly made Jesus happy!!!!

Trading in my exciting life....

For one that is SO much more boring!So on top of the exciting past few day as I had an exciting day yesterday also. Yesterday the neighbor man thought it would be fun to come over and cuss me out because "my dog" had spread trash all over their yard. At first he didn't even tell me who he was, or what he wanted. I had Maddie in bed and was having afternoon reading with my older 2 when we heard a knock at the door. I answered the door and this man that I had never met before was standing there. He said "You need to come over to my house and look at something!" I was thinking "huh? A strange man is at my house demanding I come with him....is he nuts?" I just kind of stared back at him in disbelief...then he said "I live next door and I want you to see something." I started looking around like he must of had something in his hands. He said "No! You need to come and look at my yard and see what YOUR dog has done to it!" I told him that I couldn't because I had three children in the house...oh and let me add he was puffin away at a cig and blowing it in my face. I kept trying to back away as I and all 3 kiddos have asthma....He said fine and continued to use a couple foul words to which I had to continually point inside and say "three kids in there..please don't use that language..."He then proceeded to tell me that my dog was spreading trash all over his yard. I was like huh? 1st of all...for all y'all who don't know..I have a little 15lb beagle....the other dogs that run loose are labs and chows....now who do you think is going to go to a trash can and knock it over?? I 15 lb beagle or a lab or chow. Well to top it all off y'all....he was yelling cause my dog was running loose and his dog got pregnant. He never came out and said it was my dog but...OK y'all ready for this one...the pregnant dog is a lab and I have a beagle less than 1/4 of its size....2nd..ok ready...MY DOG IS A GIRL! I said "you have got to be kidding me LOL" I KNEW it wasn't my dog. He said "Well I keep my lab tied up so things like that don't happen." I said "You live in the country, you have a dog that goes into heat...and you think putting a rope around her neck is gong to keep male dogs out?????" For one y'all even IF all the dogs within a 5 mile radius were tied up.....WE HAVE WILD DOGS ROUND THESE HERE PARTS! UGG..I must be getting on PMS as I am telling this guy "HERE'S YOUR SIGN." So here it goes...HERE'S YOUR SIGN

Never a dull moment....

So like I said...never a dull moment around here.....As most of you know, I watch 2 kiddos after school (they ride the bus to my house). We are good friends of the family and have known them since the oldest (now 12) was 2. The bus ALWAYS gets to my house at 3:27...I just glanced up at the clock today and realized it was 3:31 and no kids yet. I thought...hum that's odd...but on occasion they may end up at a grandparents house...but normally they call me. So I stood at the door and waited....and waited.....and waited....I finally went back over to my laundry and started folding again. Noah was standing at the door saying "The yellow bus is coming! The yellow bus is coming!" I walked over and sure enough the bus was coming. I left the door open and walked back over to my laundry. I saw the bus stop and suddenly heard the 12yog start yelling "T! get to the house! RUN! GO! GO! GO!" I ran to the door wondering what in the world was going on?!?! It was starting to rain so I wondering if she was just yelling for him to hurry up (It was lightening and thundering). They are literally BOOKING IT to my door. As they get closer I see that C (12) was crying hysterically. I then looked at T's red face (9yo) and noticed he was crying and shaking. I run on the porch and pull them inside and say "what is going on?!?! Whats the matter?!?!" C continued to tell me that some kid on the bus went BALLISTIC after having his glasses broke. He turned around, busted out 2 of the bus windows, and was then yelling at everyone on the bus that he was going to kill them all the following day. This kid is only in middle school but was so severely out of control. Apparently several of the high school kids went and sat by his seat to make sure he wouldn't get out and hurt anyone but himself. What did the bus driver do? He pulled over at one point and told him to "settle down." he radioed back to the school and the school sent the police. When C and T came in and were sitting on the couch, they just kept saying "I am NEVER riding the bus again..I am NEVER riding the bus again" Both were crying in hysterics while I called the super's office. I said "I have 2 children who are on bus 17....." she said " Oh yes they are running a few minutes late but they will be there" I said " I don't think you understand....I am not WAITING for the kids to get off the bus....they are here in my living room crying and shaking because some kid was threatening to kill everyone on the bus." Silence...........She then asked me how old the kids were, grades, high school/middle school?elementary etc. Then she said "the director of transportation wants to speak with you" and she gave me his number. I called him directly and told him what I had told the school. I was told that he was on his way to find the bus and that the police had been called to remove the child from the bus. So in the meantime....this was almost 4:00 now and these kids had been on the bus for almost an HOUR! To me this is so ridiculous! Why wasn't something done sooner? Why didn't the driver turn around and take that kid back to the school? Or better yet to the police station? This would of been MUCH quicker and the other students would of at least felt safe. Needless to say.... we are praising God tonight that #1 all the children on this bus are SAFE and #2 that He laid it on our hearts to homeschool our children...had that not of been the case my 7yo would of been on the bus too!