Sickie Boy....

So you saw the pic from Monday where the kids were back to sucking on their asthma meds and snorting nasal sprays...........Noah has been sick on and off for the past 2 weeks with either the stomach flu or now this asthma boy stuff. It has been so bad that his football team made it to the Championships and he was not able to play :(. I was supposed to head out to Bible study tomorrow night too but......Kyle has to work in the garage as he has not been out there in a week..with Christmas and other general bills we really need some extra income. If Kyle is working in the garage that either means the kids have to be outside with him or I have to be inside with them. I also could take them to the bible study but there is no other room for them to go in, so they are playing in the same room we are trying to study in...not to mention if Noah is really sick...he doesn't need to be out anyway. It had seemed he was starting to feel better today, and as a matter of fact I had told my friend Jean that I may be there after all and just bring Maddie. The older 2 could play outside while papa works in the garage. No biggie:) We had to run to walmart after church and it just seemed to hit him all of a sudden. He ended up with those *sick eyes* and pitiful face. Then he became VERY clingy......when a VERY active 5 1/2 year old boy becomes abnormally clingy you know something is wrong. In fact..he told me "mama...I think this is an I-need-to-sleep-on-the-couch night." Well...........it is now 10:30 and my boy is on the couch with a temp of 101 :( So pray for him...and if you feel up to it..send the little man some luv :)

Prayer

Please lift up our friend and sister Beverly Steward. She has had many health issues over the past few years. She just had a portion of her skin removed off of her forehead and it came back that it is indeed cancer. I will know more tonight but please lift her up in the meantime!


*edited to add* Beverly will be going in for surgery on the 13th of this month to remove more of the affected area.

Thanks!

Works For me Wednesday! Quick Shower cleaning tip...

Rocks in my dryer (http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ ) hosts a Work For Me Wednesday and I thought I would join in!

My tip for this Works For me Wednesday is a quick shower cleaning tip. My hubby works his tail off working 2 jobs. he works in a factory during the day as a journeyman mold maker and in the evenings and weekends he has his own auto body shop to where he restores cars (some have literally been hauled out of a junkyard and brought to him to fix). He does everything from engine work to sewing the interior to body work and paint. Neither one of these jobs are "clean jobs"....bringing me to my shower situation. I almost always have a constant "grease rubbing" on my shower walls (tub surround, no tile). This is almost impossible to get off if left to sit! A couple years back, I started keeping a scrub brush in the shower. Now when I get in the shower, I use my scrub brush with a little shampoo and voila!It comes off with NO problems. Not to mention it saves time being as I clean my shower while I am IN the shower....it doesn't seem like and extra chore to me:) After I clean it I take my towel and wipe it down. Simple! I don't know if it will work for you, but it certainly works for me!

The "forbidden fruit"

Or cake as the case may be..........we are trying something new and so far...it is working. I have been heavy all my life and I keep saying "Oh I can't eat that" or "I can't have that food in the house cause I will eat it all." Well I figure if I am heavy anyway....whats the difference?? So we have been having dessert every night....and believe it or not there are times when I have turned it down:) Maybe making some foods NOT so forbidden will make it easier to turn down??? hum something to think about....

Vaccinations

Since Maddie scare a couple years back with the Chicken Pox vaccine we have been a little more "active" in finding out what exactly these vaccines are made of and are they really worth it. We hadn't done the Flu shot for 2 years now and as we went to the Dr. for Sanites 8yr check up The Dr. was ready to give her the Flu shot. I wavered a bit then said no as I waned to look into it first. We had not planned on giving them the flu shot as the 1 year that we did turned out to be the worst year possible. We were at the Dr office every week for 4 months. No kidding. Between the beginning of November and the end of February Maddie had 8 sinus infections. She would get on antibiotics and within 2 days of being off of them she would start again. Then add in Noah and Sanite and their issues too. I believe that was the year I was supposed to take Sanite to a homeschool thing at Conner Prairie and she came down with pneumonia the night before. Anyway, I received a notice from our family allergy and Asthma place today (the older 2 have asthma and the youngest has RAD) reminding us that flu shots are in. I decided to get on the net and find out what I could about this years flu shot. This is one of the sites I came across http://www.vaclib.org/basic/fluindex.htm. Several of the websites I came across said studies have shown that basically the flu shot makes no difference! Ug how frustrating! And yes, this years vax does appear to contain Mercury. No flu shots for our family this year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year..........

It's all about camping:)

This past weekend we went camping to celebrate Sanite birthday. We ended up at Versailles state park ( one of our favorites). We arrived on Friday around 5:30 and it was already starting to get dark. We had enough time to park the camper and get the basics taken care of (leveling and such) before darkness completely fell on us. We went to hang up our lights (keep in mind we have a pretty secluded spot so there is NO light anywhere around us...not even moonlight as we were pretty wooded) and would you believe we forgot the extension cord??? Then as Kyle was starting to get things taken care of, the lighter broke....we couldn't start a fire for dinner! so we decided to head into town (town consists of McDonald's, a small grocery, a small CVS, and lots of mom and pops). I head to the grocery and pick up a bag of chips, an extension cord, lighter fluid (it was raining) and a 6 pack of 24oz Pepsi's......the total was almost $35! Ouch! Then we let Sanite pick where she wanted to go for dinner (choices were McDonald's or Chinese lol). Chinese it was.....it was a little mom and pop Chinese place and we were like "uh...do we really want to go there???" But after we got in there it was really good! They made everything right there and it wasn't a buffet type thing (I don't like those ug). We were able to make it back, get the lights up, sing Happy Birthday, and eat some cake! We also had been teasing her all day about her gifts...we kept telling her that she wasn't getting any...of course she knew we were kidding! Do you remember when you were a kid and you just absolutely LOVED something? Let me see if you can figure out what she is really into.... she got a new outfit (shoes included), a puzzle, a Hannah Montana MP3 player, a really cool pillow to plug her MP3 player into, a Hannah Montana doll that sings, a Hannah Montana microphone/alarm clock, Hannah Montana Eye shadow, Hannah Montana lip gloss, a Hannah Montana card that plays her theme song....get the picture???

Maddie on her bike

Noah on his bike

Picture of our camp site

Maddie with a freezing Papa....

Sanite riding her bike

Introducing the graduating class of.....1892????

1st of all...GREAT time at the one room school house last week! I was able to get some pretty neat pics of the kids. here is one with Sanite and her buddy Maria. Do you see the blue rags on their desks? They are actually sitting in holes in the desk where the ink wells go. Those blue rags are what they use to wipe off their slate boards.

Here is a picture of Noah as he was singing "the good morning song." The boys had to stand beside their desks and bow while the girls stood beside their desks and curtsied.

When it came time for reading groups, Maddie and Noah went 1st. While the youngest group was in reading groups, the oldest group was working on penmanship with ink and pen and the middle group (Sanites group) was working on arithmetic on their slate boards.

Here is Sanite in her reading group....at this point everyone changed and Noah went to work on penmanship while the olders worked on arithmetic.

>

They also played LOTS of games...Here is a pic from a game called "In and Out the window." Everyone stands in a circle with one person on the inside. The children sing a song about going "in and out the window." While they sing, the one in the middle runs in and out under peoples arms. the song then says to "stop and choose a partner." The lead person then chooses a partner, they run in and out the windows, then they both choose a partner. The game continues until there is no one left on the outside circle!

Another game they played had something to do with a paw paw tree. The boys stood in one line, the girls in another. They would sing a song about a girl (the one standing in the front of the line) while she skipped around the lines. Then they would sing a boys part of the song and the boy in front of the line would skip around the boys. Then in another part of the song they would skip to the back of the lines, this time having the girls follow the girl, and the boys follow the boys. The original boy and girl would make a "bridge" and the other children would rush to get under it and back in line.

Henry and Sanite building their "bridge"

Maddie and Livie skipping around the lines

Maddie and Her buddy playing pick-up sticks...well...not really lol

Noah During his favorite subject..Lunch

Everyone singing Happy Birthday to sis :) If you can, read what is on the board behind her. It is the pledge of allegiance from 1892. Pretty cool :)

FYI.....

Just in case you ever wondered...I mean "just in case"........say you do a brand new 3 hour "do" of cornrows on your daughter.....and you just happen to go "camping" that weekend.....suppose that daughter just so happens to pick up a hair brush and comb through her hair....(screaming "OWIE" as the brush is caught is said 3 hour cornrows).........say you go back to re-do these 3 hour cornrows while on your camping trip......and lets just say that the rubber band breaks.......and for the sake of conversation...lets just say you have no more......JUST IN CASE this may ever happen to you.....a twist tie off of a trash bag works VERY well! you know....just in case........

yet another busy weekend!

Yep you guessed it! we are on the go again this weekend! Tomorrow we head to the one room school house in Hope, Indiana (by Columbus). We have been before and had a great time. The kids will get to attend school as if it is 1903. They will have a school marm, will have to stand by their desks during roll call, say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am", use a quill and ink to write with, use the OLD readers, pump their own drinking water from the well, and for recess they will play with the same toys and learn the same games as they did back then. They also get to dress the part:) Sanite has a dress I made for her 2 years back and Noah will be wearing a pair of jeans, flannel shirt, and suspenders. We packed their lunch tonight. This too had to be suited to the period of time. They have 2 small metal buckets to carry their lunch in. They each have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apple, chunk of cheddar cheese, and a boiled egg.

On top of all this excitement...my baby girl turns 8 on Friday too!!!For her birthday she decided she wanted to go camping so that's where we are headed off to:) After we come home from the one room school house we will head out right then to Versailles state park. When we get there we will go ahead and start cooking her birthday dinner....her choice of ribs, corn, green beans, and of course...birthday cake! We picked the cake up today and it is so cute:) What is it you ask? High School musical of course! Being as I busted our card for the camera...I am headed out to buy a new one tomorrow before we head out so I will take lots of pics and post them on Sunday when we return!!

Today and hair *WHEW*

So after having 3 people sick for 5 days, things have been left askew around this house! In all of those 5 days at least 1 adult was completely out of commission and on 2 days we were both "not worth a penny." Needless to say I had some major cleaning to do today...all I did was clean, and re-clean, and re-clean. I washed about 6 loads of laundry (washed and hung on the line), carved 2 pumpkins, boiled the pumpkin, made pies out of both of them, scattered the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins in hopes of having more pumpkins grow next year, made a huge breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (this was because I found out after I started making pancakes that we neither had syrup or peanut butter lol) from scratch and sausage for lunch, scrubbed the bathrooms from top to bottom, changed the kitty litter box and scrubbed it down, did all the dishes (no dishwasher, its all manpower here:) go back and add up all the cooking then add in dishes for 5 people for breakfast lunch and dinner), I took down Maddie's hair, gave her a bath, oiled her up ( I LOVE the carols daughter oil on the skin just after a bath....it makes them smell SO yummy!) and of course we have our hair washing today. Just her time of being in the tub with stuff sitting on her head is 30 minutes....

For those curious about our "Hair Routine"- When it comes time to do "hair" in our house, we take out the old "do" and get into the tub. I heat up a Melaleuca hot oil treatment (sometimes replaced by a good ol olive oil and honey mixture...but no honey this month :( ) and place about 1 ounce of it on her head. I leave it on for about 5 minutes (sometimes with the oil and honey I put a plastic hat over her head and let her play for about 30 minutes), and then I rinse it out. I then wash the hair using the pantene for women of color conditioner. Yes you read that right...not shampoo but conditioner. To those of us involved in doing our kids hair, this is known as "no-poo." Conditioner has enough detergent in it to clean the hair but yet it is not as harsh and will not strip out the natural oils. This has worked VERY well for Maddie as she has the driest hair out of all 3of my kiddos. After I put this conditioner on her hair, I wash it like I would shampoo only I leave it on for 5 minutes after "scrubbing." I then rise the conditioner out of her hair and then put in a "deep conditioner." The best I have found for her hair is either the Carols Daughter deep treatment or using a ton of the Jamaican mango and Lime Protein conditioner. I leave that on for 5 minutes and then come in to take a wide tooth comb through her hair (this is the ONLY time I actually comb her hair). After I get a WIDE tooth comb through it, I let it sit for another 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I rinse and then add Carols Daughter Mimosa hair honey or loc butter (both work WONDERS on Maddie's hair). Hair her is then SOOOOOO soft and it smells soooooooooo yummy.

As for Noah's hair treatment- very easy...melaleuca naturals shampoo, followed by a 15 minute treatment of the Jamaican mango and lime protein conditioner. Rinse and add in Carols daughter's Mimosa Hair Honey or Loc Butter. Both work great on him! I use the Mimosa Hair honey/loc butter on him every day and it keeps his hair looking nice and shiny!

Sanite hair treatment- even easier! I wash her hair about once every week with the Melaleuca naturals shampoo and then after bath I put in the mimosa hair honey..but ONLY after the bath. I have found that I can not put hardly any product in her hair as the locs will trap it. At any rate, one does not want locs to be "soft" anyway as they will not loc up as well. During the week I spray her hair with a homemade spray of 1 part olive oil to 2 parts water. Sometimes I add a scent to it or sometimes I add in Essential oils of peppermint, rosemary, and/or lavender. They all smell yummy and help promote hair growth. When Maddie's hair is up in some sort of "do" I also use this on her hair. I wouldn't want to rub the butter or hair honey on her pretty little braids!

Pray for my good friend....

Iana (http://www.ianabanana.blogspot.com/) as she had found out she was pregnant but is now facing a miscarriage of some sort (either a normal pregnancy miscarriage or a tubal pregnancy). Please pray for this family as they go through this horrible time. Praying for you and Lane Iana!

Plans...CANCELLED

Yep you guessed it...another sickie in the house....care to guess??? ME! I was up all night acting out the Pepto Bismal theme song........this time I was up at 12:30.....back to bed around 3:15.and I was up again but don't remember the time. My alarm went off at 6 and I thought ug....let me see if I can wait it out....if I don't do some of the errands I was going to do...I could wake up at 7:30...get the kids up at 8...leave at 8:30. Around 6:15 I hear someone abusing our toilet........I knew Noah had run into our bedroom during the night as we had massive storms and poor kids was scared. I yelled out "Noah???" Keep in mind I did not have the energy to actually get up and see who it was...........I hear nothing........."NOAH????" then I hear a tiny voice..."No mama...it's me"...."me" being Maddie. Had it of just been me I would of fought my way through the day but Maddie was not feeling well. As a matter of fact, it is noon and the poor baby is still on the couch *sigh*...Sanite and Noah are awake but they are up quietly doing their chores (aren't they sweet). I call for them and Sanite takes one look at me and says "We're not going today are we???" followed by a flood of tears. I had to tell her no BUT I was able to contact the theater and get us rescheduled for the show on Monday. So today's busy day will take place on Monday....just replace the "Fall Party" with "Dance" and add in a trip to Bears fabric. I am hoping there is a way to get the older 2 to the party tonight...hopefully Kyle will come pick them up just after work and take them around 5, then pick them up. Poor guy can't even stay for the party as he and some of the other men are doing some heavy duty work on the church building!

Today was better!

Everyone was feeling sooo much better today but with my lack of sleep I didn't have time nor patience for accomplishing much. The kids each did math and it took quite a while with Sanite as she started "regrouping" today. She had several bouts of crying/frustration but eventually finished her work. She is just the type that if she doesnt get things immediately....then she just gets upset. *sigh* After we made it through that we ate lunch and had a nice long rest period today and everyone is honky Dorie again. Tomorrow we have a pretty big day as we are having yet another field trip! This one is just by ourselves....we get to go see the play Bunnicula at the children's theater in Louisville, Ky and then we are headed to The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch (a family favorite!). After that we are headed to the zoo so Sanite will be able to complete her girl Scout badge for animal science. She has already worked really hard as for an entire week she had to completely take care of our animals along with keep a journal of everything she did for them.

After the zoo we will probably do a little bit of shopping and head home, probably heading straight for Ethan's house for a fall party...ALL Of this will happen IF no one else wakes up vomiting in the night!

I hope someone last night was able to sleep!

Apparently the only person in hour house that was able to sleep was Sanite. She is the only one that was not up in the night saying she was sick. I was able to head to bed around 11, then up with Maddie from 1-4. I have to give her credit. I watched her get up from the couch (our place of rest last night) and run to the bathroom. I figured she had to potty but lo and behold I get there and she is vomiting in the toilet. the first thought that goes through my head is not....awwww poor baby...I feel so bad for her......it was actually....MY DAUGHTER IS A GENIUS! At 3 she figured out that when you need to vomit, RUN to the bathroom and do it in the toilet...this is a feat my 5 yo has not figured out yet lol. So after that I turned to awwww, my baby is sick mode. Anyhoo....to sleep at 4.....awake at 4:20....Kyle is up getting ready for work...still saying he is not feeling good (I am expecting him home at any moment as he said he was going to go in and work his required 4 hours and head home), and look up...there is my son in the bedroom "My stomach hurts!" There is no room on the couch for another person and I am not sleeping in that bed until it has been adequately doused with Lysol. I tell Noah to head back to his bed because...there really isn't anything I could do.....so lets recap---- to bed at 11-up at 1, to bed at 4, up at 4:20...up until 6:15..."mama my stomach still hurts." He says this but yet there is no "evidence" yet. "OK" I say "Head to my bed" where everyone finally went to sleep until around 8am. I woke up at 8, Sanite and Noah at 8:30, it is now close to 9:30 and Maddie is still sleeping. We are supposed to be going to a play tomorrow...I hope everyone is well enough to go!!!!

A bunch of sickies live here...........

My day started at 4 this am as my husband was getting ready for work. I normally just sleep through this am believe that anything I remember when I awake must of been a dream as there is no person in his right mind that would willingly wake up at 4am........however, this morning was different. I kept hearing kyle running back and forth to the bathroom...huh???? I got up and asked if he was ok....to which he replies "I am not sure." Let me say that it is never a good thing when someone says that they are not sure! Around 4:50 (he has to be at work at 5) I ask if he is going to work today. Again I hear "I am not sure." Ok, once again, NOT a good sign. Needless to say he stayed home today. Lucky for him today was library day and we would be gone the majority of the day. I take the kiddos to the bank, then to the library, then to lunch at the school with Ginny (lunch by the way was great! I love the schools chili and pb&j). Maddie says a couple times (in between running around the classroom) that she has to go potty. I think nothing of it as this is her usual response when she is bored. I take her to the bathroom before we leave and guess what...yep she has it too.

We head out to come home and I need to swing by CVS as we have 1 roll of toilet paper (which is rather important, especially now) and I walk in noticing that my back hurts a little. I then notice that my throat is hurting quite a bit.....and yes I am dong the big AHEM clear my throat...ug...no....sick husband + 1 sick kid + 2 possible more sick kids (Found out Sanite was exposed to chicken pox last weekend and Noah has had the "Asthma boy cough"...you know...the dry nasty hacking i-am-going-to-cough-up-a-lung type of cough) all this together does not = a relaxing time for mama! This mama does not have TIME to be sick!

As for church tonight.....it is 5:40...and honestly...yes I am going to say it... "I am not sure." Maybe that is just a clue that we should all stay home!

Before you put your kids to bed tonight....

Make sure you kiss them and hug them and tell them you love them . Read this blog http://ashleyadamsjournal.blogspot.com/ and pray for her. After that pray for your own littles (not matter how old they are *wink*) and praise God for their health.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday..I am pretty sure this was all just one day

Things were so busy this past weekend that am pretty sure my days just ran together! We started off last Friday but doing lots of errands (running to consignment shops, grocery shopping, paying bills etc) and we came home just in time for Maddie to fall asleep. When Maddie awoke we were running out the door again trying to head out to some friends house for an annual homeschool campfire/weenie roast. We arrived there that night and several families were already there. The kids excitedly dumped us to go play with their friends (once again, mostly girls lol however more boys showed up that night to make it interesting!). Before long they were becoming those begging little urchin's wanting food (imagine that?). So they quickly grabbed the hot dog spears and headed over to the fire. Sanite did a great job cooking her hot dogs. She was patient and held them above the fire. Noah on the other hand wanted to eat his raw. I told him no, you need to cook them. Needless to say he would up eating a little hot dog with his ash as he couldn't help but to stick the hot dogs right on the burning wood. After that it was time to play again...then time for marshmallows, then time for play, then time for more hot dogs, then time to play, then time for more marshmallows...get the picture? By about 8:30 it was pitch black and everyone was ready for the hayride. Keep in mind they live on a ridge and it was supposed to get to be about 40 Friday night....this is going to make one COLD hayride. I have 3 kids going every which way and I am trying to search for jackets (they were still in the car along with our blanket). As Maddie goes running for the hayride I ask Kyle to get the coats out of the car and bring them to us as I don't want Maddie sitting up there by herself. An great big okie dokie was given by the man 1/2 so I bust over to the hayride. I am sitting, I am sitting, I am sitting....I am waiting, I am waiting...I am waiting....I see Kyle standing over by the fire looking at us so I figure he is just waiting for us to ride by to throw our coats at us. We start to drive by and I realize he has nothing in his hands.....he sees me and then the expression on his face says "Oh yeah! I remember what I was supposed to be doing!" Needless to say he didn't make it in time and we were on the hayride without any coats or blankets....can I say brrrrrrrrr?????The kids were fine but this ol' mama was FREEZING! We finally make it back to the house and I immediately run in for a cup of wassail before heading out. By this time it was almost 10:30pm....it takes about 30 minutes to get home and Kyle has to be up at 4am the following day, I have to be up by 7, and the kids need to be up by 8.

Saturday morning rolls around and Kyle is gone, I am up, the kids are up at 8. In efforts to try and save on the electric bill we are currently hanging all our clothes on the line. We have 1 hour before we need to leave and I have 2 kiddos who have wet the bed *sigh*. Rush rush....Noah ready for football...rush rush...Maddie and Sanite dressed...rush rush....2 loads of laundry done...rush rush....throw food at the kids....rush rush....teeth brushed and hair sprayed....rush rush AGH! where's my coffee???? rush rush...out the door, Noah's drink in hand, at the football field by 9:30. Practice from 9:30-10, then game fro 10-11:15. After that we had back to the house (get back around 11:45) only to shove food in the kids faces (again) and Sanite and I head out for girl scouts.

We arrive at the park to caravan around 1:00. We head to Cornucopia Farms http://www.cornucopiafarm.com/ for a day filled with, petting zoos, hay houses, pumpkin patches, corn and soy bean mazes, and other "just plain fun" stuff. What I find so interesting is how my daughters brain works.....when you go into the corn maze there were 12 check points and you have to write down information from each check point. After about an hour I was ready to quit...ok that was fun....lets head back.....when our girl scout leader asked how many wanted to head back and go on to other things 7 out of the 10 girls raised their hands. My girls was one who did NOT raise her hand. huh???? She wanted to stay in the maze and figure it out. We hung in there until her feet were (finally) hurting and she was ready to be done...however she was quite unhappy that she did not finish the maze! She is a puzzle type of person...I was ready to give up...she "couldn't" quit....she does 500 piece puzzles....I am like *ick*....whats the point lol. She loves things that take loads of patience and brain power. Me, I choose to use my brain as little as possible..... (let the evidence show....................)

We left the farm at 5:00...heading home....kind of....we back to Madison (swinging by Sonic on the way home) to go to a football appreciation night for Noah. We arrive at 6...watch the tackle football play a part of the game....watch my son sit on a bench....watch the tackle football teams play a little bit more....watch my son sit on the bench. At 1/2 time of the 1st game they introduced the flag football teams by team and then individual. They would announce the team, then call out the team members names individually. As each team members name was called they would run out onto the field and hang with their team (keep in mind that this was at the high school field...not the pee-wee field we are usually at so we had real scoreboards and real announcers over the PA on a huge field with loads of people staring at them). They call Noah's name, I jump up..say my "yeahs!" and then say "are we done here?" While I enjoy a good football game as much as the next guy....I would love to see what my home looks like...so I thought. Head home...have everyone pick out clothes for the following day....tell Noah to make sure he gets out his black socks for church the next am (this will later become an important part of the story) go to sleep as we have a very busy day the next day....

Wake up at 7...go for a 2 mile walk....head home to shower and wake everyone up in the house at 7:30. it is 7:30, we don't have to leave until 9, that leaves us 1 1/2 hours to get everyone ready. Should be easy as everyone has picked out clothes for the following day right? (insert laughter from the national sarcasm society here). My son somehow didn't feel like getting his black socks out for the following day so guess what he did? for 1 1/2 hours he searched for black socks. Guess how many he found? 1. Oh well...you only have one sock to wear...teeth are not brushed...hair is not done.....breakfast is not ate. Literally in 1 1/2 hours all he did was put on underwear, pants, and a shirt (mind you clothes that he had already picked out the night before). Everyone else was ready so we head out.....Church was great but we were chomping at the bit to get out of there....places to go, people to see, things to do...you know how it goes.......

Being as Kyle is getting busy in his business we occasionally will have to go transport a vehicle. Today was one of those days. We had to drive about 2 1/2- 3 hours away to pick up a car. we drive up there stopping at a few places along the way. We finally arrive around 4, then Lori and I trying to figure out how many men it takes to hook up a trailer. After watching one man go to two, the two men go to three, then having to add a woman into the deal (finally they got it right! LOL j/k!) the trailer was up and running for the most part. The truck was loaded onto the trailer and we were off for dinner! I rode with Lori, her 3 littles, and nameless while we talked about nameless and the meaning of 2.5 kiddos...which half do you get on the last one???? Spike rode with Kyle and our 3 munchkins as we all headed off the Cracker barrel. Dustin also met us there at Cracker Barrel and although they have only seen him maybe a handful of times, they knew exactly who he was! In fact whenever we talk about Lori, Spike and the kids it is always, Kiara, Karleigh, Ruby, Brit...and Dustin..DON'T FORGET DUSTIN Noah adds.....Dustin...Noah is pullin for ya bud lol. The boys just have to stick together in the midst of all the Estrogen. Dinner was great...we headed home....all crashed in bed...then this morning it was speech therapy... rush rush rush again...

National Sarcasm Society?

I didn't even realize their was such a thing LOL At any rate....there is a store in a town called Vernon that always has a funny saying on their sign. Every time we go through this town we HAVE to see what the sign says. On times when I find myself traveling alone towards this area I always text the "saying" to kyle just so he can get a laugh at work. This week the sign read

National Sarcasm Society

Like we need your support

Maybe it is just my sarcastic personality...but I ROFL at this one!

I've been tagged (again)

OK so after reading Lori's blog I am once again tagged

What I was doing 10 years ago: 10 years ago I had NO children and was a newly wed. Kyle and I would of been married a whole 2 months. We had our kitty precious and our dog Andy who was a min-pin. We lived in a fairly big apt. downtown and I was attending IUS to major in Elementary Education.

What I was doing 5 years ago: 5 years ago I would of been smack dab in the middle of adopting Noah and Sanite. By this time in 2002 we would of been pulled out of IBESR TWICE getting ready to go into IBESR for the 3rd (and final time). Of course everything had to calm down and the Director had to make up her mind that that it was in the best interest to actually let Americans adopt Haitians.

What I was doing 1 year ago: 1 year ago I was schooling a 1st grader and a preschooler and trying to keep up with a very busy 2 year old. As a matter of fact, it was just around this time last year when I had Lori's 3 girls here too as the whole family had gone to Haiti. So I had 1 7year old, 2 4 year olds, a 3 year old, and 2 2 year olds. I looked a little white haired lol.

What was I doing yesterday: Is this a trick question? I am not sure if I remember...oh yeah...Yesterday was Sunday so of course we had service in the am and then we headed off to a football game for Noah in Charlestown. Noah played and then I had some shops to do. So we went to Bass pro, Lowes, Papa Johns, then headed home. Noah fell asleep in teh truck. We arrived at church just on time for the night service. Noah stepped on foot out of the truck and he says "eww...I'm wet." So we left and headed home for a nice relaxing evening.

5 snacks I enjoy: m&m's, Reese's (pieces and peanut butter cups), grapes, apples and peanut butter, and yep I love those nasty black jelly beans too!

What I would do with 1 million dollars: Give to the Church in Haiti, Give to the Church here, Give to IDES, and use whatever was left to pay ourselves out of debt.

5 places I would like to go: Hawaii, Haiti, Australia, Alaska, Ghana

5 bad habits: disorganization, spending too much time on the computer, forgetfulness, being disorganized (oh wait, did I already say that?), not taking the time to think before I talk.

5 things I like to do in my free time: Camping/vacation, taking the kids on field trips, cross stitch, snuggle with the babes, read

5 shows I like to watch: SURVIVOR!, Reba, CSI, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Cosby Show

5 things I hate to do: clean the gunk out of the sink after you wash dishes, vacuum, hang laundry on the line (are we seeing a pattern here?), Say "no" to anyone, confront someone!

5 biggest accomplishments: doing my best to keep myself on track, my family, my education, learning control over self (that last one counts for two...its not accomplished quite yet but when it is I say it counts for 3 LOL)

We made it to 100!!!!!

Can you believe it? I finally made it to 100 posts. I never thought I would make it. Ok so it may have something to do with practically not writing anything for about ...um....7 months or so? SO here is the update on my "100th post." This weekend the kids and I went to see my nephew, Tyler, play ball at Hiram College in Ohio. It was about a 6 hour drive and beautiful. I love the drive..it is similar to the drive I have to my aunts house every year. Anyway, He didn't get to play much but we (me AND the kids) would get really excited every time we would see #11 head out to the field. We caught up with him afterwards and were able to talk. The first thing I said to him was "I would know you ANYWHERE!" He looks just like my brother, and in return my brother looks just like my father. Tyler just has lighter hair. I could just leave it at "Tyler has hair" as my dad had none lol. He talked about his school a bit and how they generally go for so long, then they are off for a week. He said that he is going to have 2 spring breaks because of the schedule and he will only be able to go home for one, so I invited him to our house for the other. Noah was sooooooooo excited to get to meet a real football player. It was funny because the kids didn't hardly say 2 words to him (they acted shy...for those of you who know my kids know that is the farthest from the truth) but he is all they have talked about for the next few days and are asking when we are going to see him again. Here is a pic of the crew :) Oh and uh....Tyler is the on in the football uniform (in case you couldn't figure it out)

IT'S ON!!!!!

Ok since Lori posted that PRIVATE picture of me...I am going to share with you a jewel....yes a jewel from Loris youth. This is Lori's second grade pic. She was SUCH a pretty young thing! A little shave, some dental work, hair plugs, and now new glasses and she is just picture perfect!

The renaissance festival...

It was so much fun! Last Wednesday we headed out to Ohio for the festival. We didn't dress up (no time or $$to make costumes) but as it turns out it was ok as the majority of people there were not dressed up. Noah thought the jousting was awesome. The riders came in and he said "oh! look at the horses!" After a while they both walked to their end of the poles, then ran toward each other and CRASH!!!! they went! Noah JUMPED out of his seat and yelled "WHOA MOM DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!?! He HIT the other guy!" Followed by bunches and bunches of laughing and "aww man"'s lol.

Here's our dude...he was the looser...go figure

Kyle had the soup in a bread bowl for lunch...doesn't he look thrilled?? And that's AFTER I said "smile"

Ethan looking like he was ready to "take a bite out of crime"...so to speak

Here is Sanite enjoying her turkey leg WAY too much

When the kids misbehaved we had them try sleeping in the beds the renaissance kids had to sleep in when THEY got into trouble....

Unfortunately they thought it was funny?!?! At any rate, by the end of the day at least 1/2 of our crew was dead tired (including me)

The other 2 were comic relief for on the way home!

Where have YOU BEEN????

OK yes, admittedly, I had once again fallen off the face of the earth! Between schooling, football, church, field trips, and just being absolutely DOG TIRED I just really have not had the energy. I have been in bed between 9-10 and sleeping until around 7-8 in the am along with a nap in the afternoon. Today was the first day in probably about 2 weeks where I haven't had to nap! As for if the meds worked or not...I don't really know and wont know for sure for at least a couple more days. If not, I have been doing lots of reading on Red raspberry leaves, chaste tree berry, black cohosh, false unicorn root, Evening primrose Oil and several others that seem to help so if this fails I may be going that route next:)

PLUG- For any of you women out there....if you don't subscribe to the magazine Above Rubies then stop what you are doing and subscribe! www.aboverubies.org It is a great magazine focused on being Godly wives and mothers. I received my 1st issue this month and it has taken me days to get through this 30 page magazine because I can't stop crying! LOL At any rate, go to the link and subscribe. It is free and they depend on donations so they send out a magazine whenever they have money for printing.

Kyle is once again busy in the garage and so we are unsure if he will be able to make a trip with us this weekend. We are headed up to Hiram, Oh to see my nephew Tyler play football (Noah is just WAAAAAAY too excited!). Tyler did tell me that they are playing a VERY good team so he is not thinking a victory may be in his future. That's ok:) I just want to see the nephew I haven't seen in probably 8 years (my kids have never met him or my brother for that matter)! At any rate remember us as we travel. We have hotel reservations at a fairfield in that has an indoor pool. If Kyle does no go with us we will probably head out around 10 or 11 am and hopefully arrive at the hotel around 5 (it is supposed to be a 5 1/2 hour drive to the hotel then another 30 minutes to the University). I will probably just order pizza for dinner and let the kids swim in the pool. Out of all activities they ever want to do its, can we go swimming? lol With any luck either my brother or sister in law will be up for the game. I am hoping to meet up with them either Friday night or sometime Saturday so we can "catch up" a bit. *insert big fear* Last time they saw me I didn't weight quite so much:( I hate being so big :(