kids poll

What is your favorite book?
L: The Hunger Games series
M: Cat in the Hat

What is your favorite song?
L: It's On (Camp Rock)
M: Victorius

What is your favorite food?
L: PIZZA
M. Chicken

What is your favorite color?
L: green
M: lime green

What is your favorite outfit?
L: anything comfy and not stiff
M: Tank Top and shorts

What is your favorite thing to do?
L: anything electronic ie...DS, computer, TV
M: watch i Carly

What are you excited for school this year?
L: after school clubs, extracurricular activities
M: gym time

What will Mom do while you are school?
L: read
M: go to work at hospice house

What will Dad do while you are at school?
L: work
M: work at church

Anything else we should know about you?
L: Wishes he was still at our old house so he could go to middle school
L:

September Memories (part three)

Ed is doing well, although his heart is really attached to his members. If they hurt... he "has a lot on my mind". I am praying he learns to Shepard without taking so much out of him. Or just the amount God wants for him. He is really happy with where God has led us and enjoys the fun times and co- coaching Luke's soccer teams.

Luke is adjusting to being a 6th grader. The first few weeks were hot without conditioning and knowing that public didn't start until 10 days later. He also thinks his teacher is too hard this year... although he has reflected this now on his parents... since I told him this is what we asked her to do. I am happy the school has high expectations of it's student!

Leah loves First grade and is READING. She is a great speller and is so excited to bring back her homework! I haven't heard if she in trouble for chatting with her neighbors yet. She started her team gymnastics program, 2 days a week and loves it! We are going to start really slow with competitions for at least this year.

Bandit and Skittles are enjoying the cooler weather, and that Mom opens up a back window so they can watch the bird feeder "LIVE TV". No comment from the birds!

Communication

Dad observes Maleah has a new airplane, that looks like one Luke owns. Luke suddenly has money that is burning a hole into his pocket until can get to Target.

Dad.... "Luke did you sell that airplane to Maleah?"

Luke... "NOOOO, I gave it to her"

Maleah... "Only after I had to give you money"

I am still barely able to hold back giggles.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2010

BACK THEY GO.... BACK THEY GO!

This is a perfect description of how they felt!

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde


No sleeping in on our vacation. We left very early for every minute we could spend at Mesa Verde. No, I haven’t developed a sudden love of Cliff dwellers, as fascinating as the sites are… Steve and Wendy from Sem. City drove from their home in AZ to see us. They graduated the year we left for Vicarage, so it has been 2 years since we have had a chance to visit. Steve and Wendy were also at our field church and were able to stay local for Steve Vicarage’s, we developed a close relationship for 3 years and miss them and their son, Dom. Dom couldn’t come, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and touring the cliffs. We toured the Cliff Palace and it’s is fascinating that in 1200, natives could architect and build such beautiful, purposeful and strong dwellings. Life must have been rough, yet one can imagine the multiple clans living and surviving the harsh life there. We highly recommend this national park to anyone. The air is thin here, in Durango (6500 feet) and especially high in the mountains (8000 plus). I’ve needed my inhaler and lots of water and rest. It would help if I was thin…. But too late for that now! Besides Steve and Wendy, Ed’s Aunt, Uncle, cousin and her daughter(age 7)came as well. We had a wonderful time!



Mesa Verde

Being Nice

For a while now I have realized my children do not understand the concept of enduring and the desire to endure. Or course, they are young... but still they need to learn this to mature and hopefully find confidence and success in life. Today, Luke began to whine from the back seat of the van about feeling too warm. So, no time like the presence to discuss other options he has and about learning to endure life's hardships. First a definition... "Learning to cope with life's problems to become a strong and more capable person". For an example, I brought up how Midwestern people have endurance to deal with the ever changing seasons and hard winters, and this makes them stronger and brings pride. Both are listening intently.... so I push on how Midwesterners are also honest and nice people. A huge sigh from the back seat..... Maleah cries out " I try Berry Hard to be Nice... but it's HARD!!

Uncle Lance's Wedding

Wedding


What a wonderful weekend! We get go to Packer country and Ed gets to marry his brother, Lance and new sister in law, Jennifer. Lance has had a horrible year after being burned in a power line, but a silver lining is that he reconnected with Aunt Jennifer and we Love her! Maleah finally gets to be a flower girl! She is so happy to get to wear her ordination dress again, as it fits Jennifer’s colors perfectly. Luke is ring bearer and he’s up for the job since it’s been 5 years since his last uncle was married. Because of the distance and that it’s still winter - only cousin, Jess can come. But my kids adore her and love to be with Uncle Don and Aunt Brenda who live in Packer land too! This was one of my favorite weddings. It was small, but so much fun. It was so nice to witness Ed’s first wedding, and Lance and Jennifer are so much in love. I had a delicious veggie supper and decided to kick off my heels and have a great time on the dance floor. Too bad I didn’t consult Leah! The look on her face was priceless! Half shock/ half horror - just what was her Mom doing?! Evidently only young and cute people could be on the dance floor?!? Of course, I was a good Mom and sat back down - doesn’t Maleah wish! I had fun with all the silly dances and a few of the fast dance. Of course, I love the slow dance (thanks Hubby)! Leah got over it and fun was had by all. One great moment was when favorite Aunt Brenda danced as well. She is so inspiring as has been deaf since birth… but can feel the rhythm through vibration!

Mean Mom

I found one negative to our new home. Since it's Iowa (which we love!), our neighborhood is flat! Not all of Iowa is flat, but our neighborhood sure is ~~~ thus no sledding hills. Now I'm the mean Mom that won't allow my kids (and the neighforhood pack) to slide down our 7 foot deck steps!

Baking cousins

I was ambitious this weekend... maybe a little too ambitious! If you are family and these show up on the goody table... be cautious, more flour than dough was used. Of course most ended up on their clothes, hair, the floor and curtains!

Fall frustrations

A gentle breeze is a fallin... bringing down more golden leaves.

The kids are frustrated... they are raking the lawn clean for some much desired DS game.

Preservere children! Your momma will give in soon!

Note to darling children

Dear children: We all know your mother is not a natural cook. Baking is great yes.... but not the same as cooking. We all know this!


For future reference..... When you see this plate,



Mom has actually thought about a plan, implemented this plan to prepare a delicious, nutritious, cost conscious and home cooked meal. This might have taken her all afternoon. You will not utter the words "YUCK" "I wont try it" "Why do I have to eat this", or vomit your bite (yes this has happened). You may do what Mommy did as a little girl and coat her meat in ketchup.



If your plate looks like this....



Feel free to complain all you want. But you won't because it is probably pizza, spaghetti, fish sticks or hamburger helper. You guzzle this right down, which doesn't hurt my feelings because it was probably decided a half hour before supper time.

On a side note.... when googling a picture of the dirt cheap plates I bought at the seminary for $5 for a microwave sized box full of these "just pretty" dishes that I liked..... I discovered a single plate sells for $18 on ebay. Wow. I gave away the salt and pepper shakers because they don't match "my real china" and I'd never use them with their little plastic stopper bottoms anyway. I should have googled them first. Oh well, since they are going to be used to highlight a whole afternoon's worth of planning and effort to "torture" my children, I'll probably keep them!

Camera trouble

Sorry no pictures for the last posts. Long sad story... and I don't want to get
even more irritated :-) Just think of 2 little gremlins taking a video to summit to America*s Funnei*st Home V*ideos. Yeah..... gotta love them. Pictures are still taken, but have to be edited due to a black shadow across the top. I'll add them to the posts later. Breathe Mom, Breathe.

Watch Out for the ICE

Well the storm did hit. But it did not leave 6-12 inches of wet snow. The warmer roads melted most all and the mushy dusting on the grass melted by mid day. Ed was able to complete confirmation. Now the children are just being pelted with little torpedoes of ice falling off the trees and roof. Weird!! Hopefully spring is just right around the corner. Spring for Easter would be great!!!!

BEDREST

Ed gave me Kate*Gosslin's book for Christmas. She had a section on bedrest,turns out she always imagined a mother on bedrest getting a perfect breakfast in bed, bluebirds out her windows and a perfect manicure. Turns out bedrest was nothing like that for her.. or me! I was most looking forward to recovering at home..... nothing fancy. Basically sleep when desired and watching some TV.

My first day started with a ice storm and 2 hour delay. Good thing school was actually cancelled as my 5 year old was dressed in Tasha's cowboy dance costume. She did have pink tights with florescent hearts on them. They were perfect, because the cowboy print skirt had slits up to her hips! Sleep was interrupted by "JUST WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR FUN??" "I WANT TO DO GIRL STUFF!" "I WANT MY TOES PAINTED!" "I can't find my Mermaid movie!"

I chose my best parenting tool to keep the fights on the low end.... separate televisions in separate rooms. I know ---- ingenious!! But that means no Mommy TV shows. Turns out today, Leah is a big fan of the Wiggles! In fact, she watched the same show 3 times in succession! The third time, Luke (but he'd never admit it) came in to watch as well. Of course that sends Leah into hysteria, because my bedroom is only for girls! GOOD TIMES!

After Ed came home, everything was much better!! Lots of birthday cards in the mail, presents, cake and a homemade dinner not home made by ME! Turns out meals will be coming in for the next 10 days! YIPPEE!!! There's no ice predicted for tomorrow... so I get to try the recuperating thing at home again. Today was actually a wonderful day with wonderful phone calls! Thanks ladies, you made my day much better!!!!

Heat wave

No more negative temps. Well maybe the wind chills, but we stopped listening to the news. Especially after city's 10 to 15 degrees warmer cancelled school. But not our tough town. We want to belong....so are buckling down too!

Today Luke woke us up at 6 to not be late for 8:30 first basketball practice. Do you think he's excited? He sure didn't do this for football! It's fun to watch though....even if a little early. Warm gyms beat ice cold bleachers any day!

Right now I'm catching up on laundry and scrapbooking. You don't even have to guess which one excites me more! I can hear Luke upstairs having a blast with his good friend B. The amazing part is B still lives in Seminary City! That's right....they are playing a Pokemon DS game via WI FI over 500 miles away. Their voices come over the game boy and little annoying sister stills likes to bug B and Luke! Technology amazes me! I'd never dream of this in my childhood.....I never even dreamed of this when my baby was born!!! Just imagine the next decade!! Stay warm!

Happy New Year!

We are slowly returning to normal. Ed and Leah are sick. Ed has been sick for almost 2 weeks and is going to the Dr. today. Leah is showing similar symptoms, so she is going to. We had a wonderful Christmas, but missed Daddy (as he had 2 funerals to do.) It was probably best as he just slept in between services and preparations....but it definitely is not Christmas without Daddy. We saw lots of family.....and Baby H was new to the celebration. We missed Baby E and her Mom and Dad (but spent some time chatting on the web cam on Christmas) We spent lots of time with my sister and boys.... doing a little to get ready for a baby niece in a couple of months....but lots of playing too!


We came home on New Year's but brought Lightening Mc Queen and Snuggle Bug with us. Lightening Mc Queen is almost 5. Snuggle Bug is 21 months but needs a new name. Compare pics! I don't regret giving my crib away! Toddlers are hard when you aren't use to them. He is so lucky he is adorable... because he is messy and a Houdini!! On day one he figured out how to crawl through the cat door in the laundry room and loved pouring out their water bowls! He is so quick! Saturday, we met his Mom and Dad halfway and skated home on ice. The rest of the weekend was spent with laundry and trying not to get sick. I went back to work today. It's nice to be back, but the whole class....students, teachers and nurse are rusty at class routine! I'm sure we'll be back to normal tomorrow!

Christmas Tradition

We normally spend Christmas Eve at my in laws. This started when Luke was a little guy and my in laws wanted to spend Christmas morning with him....(not having his mother bring him over at almost noon when she is awake enough to shower and travel!) It has been wonderful-- cheese, crackers and wine after Christmas eve candle light services and waking up to see what Santa brought while still in my pajamas (although I have to keep dodging my father-in-law's camera). This year Ed needs to preach Christmas AM so we won't arrive until afternoon. I will miss spending the night and making Christmas morning easy! It started me thinking about our traditions we will always continue. One is the 7 day nativity that we will start on Thursday.
If you have young children....I highly recommend the story and nativity. Both of the kids love it! Leah's preschool pageant used the story as their program. (Be sure to see post below).

THANKFULNESS JOURNAL

I have so many blessings in my life. Seminary City had more blessings than we could see at that time in our life. And at this time -I am really trying to see all of our blessings as they are gracefully given by our Lord. One blessing I have never praised God for is that my children can communicate. In fact, any one who knows my children in the real world.....knows they can communicate very well, exceptionally well. They have practiced practically every minute of their life!!! Anything you want to know...or didn't know you needed to know; Luke and Leah are happy to announce!

The past 3 months, I have work in a Autistic classroom. All of the teachers...there are 3 plus me, are so excited when a word is spoke!! One little girl has been counting and saying Mommy and Dad!! WHAT JOY!!!!!! Seriously...there is a CELEBRATION and recorded for home. It is hard to feel like you are doing the best job you can, when your communication is so limited. My student signs a few words....but somedays is so distracted.

I am thankful my children can tell me their needs, feelings, love and excitement! I can truly be apart of their world and it is a GIFT!

Crying for.....

Leah woke me up at 3:15 AM, crying. Scared? NOPE. Sick? NOPE. Missing me? NOPE NOPE NOPE. "I miss Angie my babysitter!!!!!!" Angie has watched the kids a total of 3 times since we moved here. We are so grateful for babysitting, after 3 years at the sem when time and finances did not make date nights easy. We are able to take more time now -- but we don't. I'm not really sure why. But, as I think about it....I feel guilty pursing more date nights... unless it's Grandma and Grandpa. I just feel like the babysitter would be watching the clock...wishing I'd get home already. I don't know why this is the case. When I babysit....I never thought this. We pay good. I know date night is good for marriage and enjoy time with my husband. I guess I also worry the kids are 'missing out' on fun or taking something away from them. Guess I can't worry about that anymore, especially when Angie is around. Angie does seem to enjoy them and readily agrees to babysit everytime I ask. Yesterday, Leah asked me to make sure I took a long date!!! Time to schedule more time with my husband!! We had the best time eating at Olive Garden, browsing a Christian book store, shopping for warm sweaters and finishing a Star.bucks. Next time, we'll go to a movie. Wild nights, I know.

ED COME HOME SOON!

I am so grateful for Ed! I am so grateful that I am not a single mother. Ed has been gone the last 2 days. Last night..... someone rang the door bell at 9:30, and disappeared. I ran around and secured all of the windows and double checked the doors, with Ed on the phone. Yesterday the garage door broke and we had to unjam the door to release the cars. So, I'm outside (in my winter PJs) trying to lock the door since it's an attached garage. No go, so I get a ladder and rejam the door mechanism. Now no one is getting in or out until Ed returns. I call my neighbor who assures me that "it's just kids being stupid"...and "no I would not be out of line" to just have the police drive by the house. So I call the non emergency number, and whether or not they did....I felt better. I still heard every little creak and at around 11:30 willed myself to go to sleep....but couldn't find Checkers. Of course she had gotten out into the garage (for 2 hours) with 2 boxes of DECON!!!!! So the next couple hours I researched every possible horrible reaction to DECON, and followed Checkers around the house. She was freaked out over being locked in the garage (and her crazy nurse mom trying to check her out) Finally, I called the animal poison control 1 800 number who said nothing would happen until 72 hours. So to bed I go...and the thunderstorms started and the kids crying. I could finally sleep though with Leah in my bed...but morning came really early.

Checkers is still OK and Ed and my mother-in-law are positive she wouldn't eat DECON. They are probaby right....because our little unwelcome visitor last month preferred peanut butter to DECON as well. Our vet said to wait, but to check for bleeding and call ASAP with problems.

Of course we had our busy day of school, preschool, helping out with the obstacle course at preschool, another visit to our friendly (but highly incompetent) phone company, swimming, supper, laundry, hair straightening (while watching a new Dancing with the Stars :-)), interrupting fights and constantly checking out Checkers....who seems to be fighting with Skittles kitty a lot tonight. ED COME HOME SOON!