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Sunday, January 4, 2004
One last thing...really
I wanted to let ya'll know that there are a total (right now lol) of *4* posts I made today...so don't forget to scroll DOWN to read them all...
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:49 PM CST
One more thing...the cute stories!
I nearly forgot...I have to post a few of the "cute" kid stories.
First, while I was terribly ill, B was the last one to get it and thankfully barely got sick. However, during the time that I was sick the children had received their Christmas cards from Grandma & Grandpa. Even though they had sent the kids tons of gifts they threw $5 into each of the cards. The kids get so excited over anything like that of course. Later that night dh and B went out to the store, and when they came home B handed me a bag...I was confused and asked what it was and he said something he bought for me. With his $5 from Grandma and Grandpa. I looked to dh who said that B had said he wanted to get me something special and that dh said that HE would be paying for all of the Christmas gifts for me from the children and that B said that he didn't mean something for Christmas...that he wanted to give me something special because I was sick and wanted to make me feel better and know how much he loves me (I'll pause here for the inevitable AWWWWWW you all want to say)....so he used his $5 to buy me a little basket with bubble bath, bath pearls, a big sponge, fizzies, and soap in it. It was THE sweetest thing in the world and wow...I tell you some little lady out there is going to be SO blessed to have MY son as a husband! Dh is such an awesome role model and B is shaping up to be just like him...well, you know I just am so proud to have a child who is so selfless and thoughtful!!!
On R's b-day when we went to the movies, the place where the theatres are is the same place where our Toys R Us is. We let her take her money she had gotten as gifts...she ended up with ALOT of money!! Well, all on her own and out of the blue she tells B & C that she would buy THEM something with her b-day money. She ended up buying C one of those electric kitties like she was getting herself and B a video game he had been wanting!!! It was THE sweetest ever. Well, and I guess I am so proud to have ANOTHER child who is so selfless and thoughtful!!!
And not to leave my littlest C out of the "selfless and thoughtful" catagory--when we were at R's b-day party one of her little friends (a boy...I'm not sure yet if that was a factor or not lol) had used up all of his tokens. C had several left. She pulled me aside and said "Mommy I want to give J a token because he does not have anymore" and I told her that would be a very nice thing to do. So she sits for a few minutes waiting for him to come back, and then she tells me, that she actually wants to give him THREE of her tokens--at which time I told her how VERY generous that was and that I was certain it would make him very happy. So when he came back to the table she called him over and gave him the three tokens and he thanked her and hugged her really big and she was just GLOWING. It was so sweet and surely it could be that there's a little "crush" that prompted her to give them to him but it was so precious none the less.
What else...oh...while my parents were here we kept the back door open alot as it was SO nice out...I need a screen door but THAT is another topic...my cat Casper went to the door and was sniffing as there was another neighborhood kitty in our backyard and they were saying "hello". My cats are declawed and I'm pretty sure this one wasn't so I wouldn't want them to get into a scrap so I shooed Casper away from the door and started clapping my hands and running off the other cat. Well, he jumped up onto our wooden privacy fence, climbed it, got to the top and leaped off...I hear this gasp (lol) behind me and C is standing there in awe! She says she has never seen anything like that and told us that it was just like Spiderman!! We talked about it and she said she never knew cats had claws in the front so they could climb like that lol it was SO cute and I'd never realized before that all of the cats she knows are all declawed lol
One of C's newest favorite foods are pistachios (I think I spelled that right) and she can't say the name without laughing. Last night while the girls were taking a bath me, dh and B layed in our bed and watched "Back to the Future 3" together. When a commercial came on B hugged me and his Dad and said "I love this!". =o) While my Mom and Dad were here R's legs started hurting (she gets the worst growing pains) and as we were getting ready for bed she noticed my Mom's leg pillows. She asked my Mom what they were for and Grandma told her they helped her legs. R wondered outloud if the pillow might help HER legs. Grandma told R she could sleep with the pillow that night and see if it helped her legs or not. So R took it upstairs to get ready for bed. A few minutes later R comes back downstairs with the pillow and says "Grandma I don't want to keep your pillow because you might forget it tomorrow if it is up in my room"...Grandma then GIVES the pillow to R--telling her she has another one at home. R ended up sleeping with the biggest smile on her face you've ever seen lol The night before Gma and Gpa left my Mom asked for an extra pillow to sleep with...C heard and she offered her princess pillow and her little princess throw pillow to Grandma. She said they would help Gma sleep GOOD!
I'm sure there are more priceless stories that I am forgetting to post but I'll post new ones as I recall them. =o)
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:46 PM CST
PS
I wanted to tell ya'll that I will be working over the next few days to get pictures uploaded! I haven't forgotten, I have OODLES to share so stay tuned for those! Read on!
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:16 PM CST
Where am I?
good question...well, I am HERE obviously. Whew...we have had one CRAZY holiday season. First we all ended up sick. I got the flu first, thanks to Mamaw P finding out some info for us about what to take it never hit the "oh my goodness just put me out of my misery" stage lol but the icky stuff did hang around for longer than I would have hoped and STILL I do not feel like I have 100% of my energy back yet.
I had more "good intentions" for this holiday season than you could shake a stick at which were completely derailed thanks to all of us becoming horribly sick from a week before Christmas through the New Years--we had sinus infections, strep throat, ear infections, brochitis, you name it we had it--we were all equal opportunity virus/bacterial infection carriers lol--the countertop that should have been holding my freshly baked cookies looked more like the back room of a pharmacy. We had more bottles of antibiotics, cough syrups, and tylenol/motrin medications than Walgreens. ~sigh~ In fact, dh joked one morning that the pharmacy had called, I was concerned thinking something was wrong with one of our meddies, and he says "they wanted to know if they could borrow some tylenol because they were running a little short. Haha VERY funny.
So then you take all the meds that were littering the countertop and match that with the 8 DOZEN homemade strawberry cupcakes, and six batches of peanut butter, chocolate, and maple walnut fudge, and homemade banana/pineapple bread (in Christmas shapes no less) which were sitting on the OTHER counter which we had made for some eldery folks we NORMALLY deliver gifts to Christmas Eve but didn't get to this year (too scared to make them all sick ya know), and a "sweet swap" with our homeschool group that we did not get to attend because we were so sick...and well...we could have opened up our own bakery, but none of us had any energy lol So...we ended up sending heaps of the cupcaked back to dh's boat for the crew, which earned us tons of "thank you SO much"es...and then we took the leftovers and took them to R's brownie meeting and shared them with the girls for R's b-day (a day late)...they all LOVED them. So that was a neat way to share them. The banana bread ended up going bad, which didn't surprise me it is very moist and won't last more than a week--and I didn't think to freeze it so we could deliver it. We ENJOYED the fudge so much and I made HUGE containers of it to give away. We could NEVER eat that much fudge lol. I sent some with my Mom and Dad as they went to New Orleans this past week...speaking of which they actually got to visit our house for the first time. Total they visited for 6 days but I gotta tell you, that it just didn't seem like that long...I could literally live with my parents. I enjoy them so much and we have SO much fun together that I think I could just live with them all the time. We played card games (rook & our house rules UNO--you get to TAKE someone elses hand if you lay down a 7--so if you have 8 cards and someone has one and you play the 7 you get to take their one card and they are stuck with your eight!), we talked, watched movies (Rat Race!!) and had just such a wonderful time. Thanks Mom and Dad for being so awesome!!!
Anyway...hmmm...what else? Well, we had Christmas--the actual "surprise" Christmas part of Christmas on Christmas Eve DAY...if that makes sense because dh had duty on Christmas Day and since we were all sick we knew we wouldn't be able to go to the boat to spend the day with him. It ended up being really cool as the kids had NO idea we were doing that...so when they woke up that morning all of the toys were there and they were just in awe and so EXCITED! They don't "do" Santa anymore...but they are JUST as excited as they have ever been which was good for me and my guilt factor over not breaking my promise that would never intentionally lie to my children and anyone who knows my little R knows how totally inquisitive she can be so NATURALLY this year she asked ALL and ANY questions she could think of to figure out this whole "Santa" thing and I answered her as round about and HONESTLY as I could in all areas. The result was that she "got it"...and yet...nothing at all seemed to change about the whole holiday lol SO...I have spent the better part of the last 10 years worring about telling my children the "facts" about Santa and the truth is--it really didn't seem too big of a deal to them...and R told me that she "knew" that but just wanted to know if she was right...B had figured it all out a LONG time ago and just hadn't told the girls--he and I had talked many times about it and this year he even got to help me do some of my "santa" stuff, and was SO excited about being a "Secret Santa" this year! It WAS nice though that they just seemed to totally enjoy and be so excited even though that "fairy tale" part was not there. Sure didn't make any difference as far as I could see and dh and I got all of the hugs and praise and thanks that would have normally been reserved for Mr. Clause. lol We were rewarded with a FULL week of dh being off work while they worked on their mess deck floor--which was SUCH a treat! He went to work yesterday and today and lemme tell you I MISS him. I am soooo spoiled when he is home!
So now, we are all starting to feel human again...and I am SO thankful that we weren't MORE sick!!!!! I have been so happy that we STILL celebrated the birth of Christ even though things didn't work out the way *I* imagined...instead of the crazy hustle and bustle, running to this event and that, and the normal hectic pace, the week leading up to our Christmas found us all taking long naps together in the afternoons, cuddled up for hours reading or watching movies together (the favorite had been The Santa Clause 2) and spending TIME together. So, I pretty much decided that perhaps the Lord knew better than US what would be a fitting prelude to Christmas and worked it out for us at whatever cost necessary. =o) I hate to admit this, but being sick is probably the only thing that would have slowed us down...it's so easy to get caught up in all of the "gottados" here and there ya know?
We had been working hard on a project called the "Jesse Tree". It is awesome!!! It turned out to be the CENTER of our daily events before Christmas and still is! I could go into the details but I will just point to a site that gives some info. We ARE running a little behind--normally you start this on the last day of November and it ends on Christmas Day--but thanks to us being sick we didn't get to finish it so we are STILL working on it now. It is no less wonderful without the idea we will be finishing "on" Christmas. Here is the url to learn more. This site has all of the patterns and pre-written lessons to go with it--which worked well for me since this was our first year doing it. I hope to expand on this as the years go by and eventually would like to have more elaborate ornaments that we could use each year over and over. We just printed the images out on cardstock and then have colored them and hotglued them to felt and then embellished them a bit with glitter glue and sequins and such. I'll post a pic later so you can see what I am talking about!
http://www.rca.org/worship/material/advent/jessedevotions.php
It really IS a powerful way to teach the kids about the meaning of Christmas and is a visual outline of the lineage of Jesus. Here are a few pictures from a few weeks ago of the beginning of the tree:
This is a pic of the whole tree, I made it out of felt (should have ironed it huh?)--and just hot glued it all together.
This one is about God's promise to us...Genesis 6:11-14 etc
This one represents the journey that God asked Abram to go on and the fullfillment of the promises that God made and kept.
This one represents that God made everything--and as such even though there is some icky stuff in the world--God STILL loves us enough to give us the gift of the world.
This is the first one you make--it is based on Isaiah 11:1-2 "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots" Of course that is David, and eventually the Messiah. The basis of the whole "Jesse Tree"
This one was the entrance of sin into a perfect world. The emphasis is that in spite of our sinful nature, God still loves us totally.
Probably more than anyone wanted to know but I can't tell you how blessed we have been from this project! It is so much fun to do too, and my wee ones (well, okay so I can't say wee in reguard to my 10 year old B really lol) have been VERY involved and do most of the work on the ornaments. I admit--there is that perfectionist in me who wants to do it all myself so that it's "just right" but my years of teaching my children at home have finally given me the ability to see how absolutely PERFECT "their" way is in most all things!! The ornaments they have made are beyond belief and the information they have absorbed is just awesome!
And let's see...oh yes, can't forget that my "little" R turned SEVEN years old!!!!!!!! Can you believe it!?!?!?! I can't!! I am just in shock! She was SO sick on the day of her b-day that we canceled her party and rescheduled it for this past friday. She wasn't TOO upset about it but the sweetest thing was that on her b-day she didn't want to get any of her presents she wanted to wait the 5 days to get them at her party!! Isn't that just so sweet. That's how she is. SO on her b-day we gave her a few small gifts and we went to the movies to see Brother Bear. We had her party on Friday and it was just wonderful. We had a total of 9 children there and it was just so much fun!!! She got some of the nicest gifts and she was just so happy. I love that! B had a friend spend the night on Friday night and then last night we just hung out and watched movies. I am supposed to go to Girl Scout training for the next three days and I have to tell ya'll...I am having second thoughts. It occured to me what a HUGE committment this is...not just for one year but basically for many years to come. I *know* that I *could* do this...I even know that I would LOVE to do it and that it would make me SO very happy to do this!!! But I also recognize that I have a pretty full plate and have to acknowledge that I am a human...I could do this but it would cost...of course not for my children, as I have them as top priority always, so I know that their education and such would not suffer...no...but I know that I would have to take the time, effort and energy from SOMEWHERE in my life--and the truth is God revealed to me that the only "spare" time, effort, or energy that I have that would not steal from my children is "MINE". ?? I'm not sure it would be worth giving up the quiet afternoons we spend cuddled together on the couch reading, or the hour long bubble baths, or the few hours a week I devote to my business, or shoot, the time I spend updating this journal....or the time I spend helping people with their websites, or the warm sunny days we jet off to the park for hours, or the weekends we shut ourselves in and hide from the world so we can just ENJOY each other....well, you know that's ALOT to give up...and if I thought that my girls would suffer I would be a little more convinced to commit to this, but the truth is they are in a WONDERFUL troop right now, and I LOVE the leader, and I DO volunteer heavily...I attend every meeting, and have gone through the process to become an "official" volunteer--I work at EVERY meeting, I am this years COOKIE MOM (anyone want some GS Cookies??) and I help out ALOT--I am totally involved, and I think I might be doing "enough" without taking on the additional responsibilities that being a Troop Leader would require of me. Whew. That was hard to say. You have no idea how hard it was to say. It takes alot for me to sometimes admit I don't have a red cape that lets me fly lol Ah well, I know that I will do the right thing and right now the right thing that I feel God has led me to is to just continue to be a full time volunteer for the Troop we are with and not worry about becoming a leader until we are somewhere that I *need* to do that.
And then you have today which has been a really lazy lazy day so far even though I have a million things calling for my attention you have found me HERE...typing out this enormous message because while the dishes and laundry and the other demands on my time are certainly worthy of my attention and have their place in my schedule--today I wanted all of YOU to know that YOU are so very important to me and that I wanted to share the last few weeks with YOU more than anything. I know, I know...OF course I wanted to do this more than the dishes lol but you know what I mean haha It is a real challenge getting on here and writing all of this stuff lol
I love you all very much and really do hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and know how often you are all in our thoughts, prayers and hearts!!!
~A
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:15 PM CST
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Catching up on lots of stuff!
Okay I know it's been forever since I updated so I will real quickly try to get caught up to the present.
First, at the end of October B and Daddy went on a camp out trip with the Scouts. Fun was had by all who attended as you will see below =o)
B shooting the sling shot
B shooting bb gun
B making his tye-dyed shirt
By far his favorite activity--sliding down the overspill section of the lake!
Then we had Halloween--(duh) and we took the kids around our complex. There weren't a whole lot of people with lights on, but there were enough to keep us out for about and hour and half and we came home with more candy than we could ever eat. We sorted it and sent a ton of it to the boat. We STILL have a whole bunch left lol Here are a few pics of the kids in their costumes!
B was a ninja turtle...and no...he was feirce in green so we didn't get any great shots of HIM.
R was a princess on a flying unicorn--I'm almost positive that there is an official name for them but I can't think of it...hmmm...a pegasus is a flying horse but they don't have a horn, and of course a horned horse is a unicorn so what in the world is something that is both? Ehh...I have no idea but I don't have enough time to spend on that quandry--I have too much updating to do here lol
C was a princess. What ELSE? She was "C as Swan Lake" lol and she was just a doll.
We had a lot of fun with that. Then we went straight into November which turned out to be a flurry of a month. The first few weeks were ladened with Scout meetings and such...R & C both earned their Girl Scout pins by learning their Girl Scout Promise:
R getting her pin
C getting her pin
This was a BIG deal. R is pretty easy about things like this--she wasn't too nervous, but whew...C was VERY nervous and ended up locking up when her leader asked her to say it...thankfully her leader is very understanding and she let C do it quietly by herself later. =o) The girls are LOVING Girl Scouts. C is a "tag along" because she is not 5 yet...however...I go to training next month to become a Daisy Scout Leader =o) I will only be doing the Daisies (5-6 year olds) my first year and then later I will do the Brownies and then R will be in my troop. Until then I am keeping her in the troop she belongs to right now.
Let's see...then came our BIG WEEKEND. Some of you may have heard me talk about our BIG WEEKEND. Maybe you haven't--but you'll have to hear it now! Okay so our troop decides we're going to take the girls on a fall camp out. We are going to go camping from Friday evening through Sunday morning. I'm a wee bit nervous at the length of time for a "first" time camp out...but hey--I'm not in charge. The girls are beside themselves with excitement, and our boys are excited to because as it turns out they have a Cub Scout event the same weekend. They will be attending the Fishing Rodeo and then plan to camp out at a local camp ground Saturday Night. Cool. A few details--Girl Scouts don't really camp in tents, at least not here--so we will be camping in a cabin. Cool. Cool for me...because I'm not sure I would have gone otherwise. Cool for the girls because they'll get to go lol It is NOT mandatory that a parent attend. In plain speak that means Mom's and Dad's were welcome to drop their wee ones off with us and we'll take care of them until Sunday. Our Troop Leader is a doctor. She is also a vegetarian. Trust me this is all VERY important information. Okay, so the ribbing and harrassment from my dh and son started early on that week. The "camping is in tents not cabins", "you aren't going 'camping', you are going 'cabining'", "don't get burned by the HOT showers you'll be taken", "enjoy your refridgerated food"...oh there were some evil looks cast about, trust me.
Of course, my primary response and the one that usually shut the clap-trap tightly was pointing out the fact that while my dh is totally dedicated to taking our son to his events and I appreciate that totally, there seems to be a pretty big difference in what I am doing since I am taking not ONE but TWO--and mine are a 6 and 4 year old girls--not ONE TEN YEAR OLD BOY. He really was left defenseless from that--and eventually told the girls that he was just kidding and all because THEY started saying they weren't really going camping and by golly, we'll have NONE of that talk. In all fairness, dh didn't think the girls were taking him serious about it.
Okay so, me, the girls, and about 150 pounds of supplies make a trek up about 45 minutes from our house to the Girl Scout Camp. This is Friday night, and it was dark when we arrived. The cabin turned out to be fairly large--had a bathroom with three sinks, showers, and stalls. The kitchen was fairly large, had an ice machine, fridge, stove, full sink, and lots of counter space. The cabin had a huge wrap around porch and a view that would be worthy of poetry. It faced a lake. Gorgeous. So that night we had some pizza for dinner, told some stories, went over all of the safety rules (buddy system, no leaving the cabin without your whistle, no going near the water, etc), got everything set up and sleeping bags laid out and such. We "adopted" a young lady named April who was there by herself and set her up with us. We got all the girls settled down about 10:30...I'd like to report that everyone went to sleep and we all slept peacefully. Eh. Riiiight. What really happened was the girls giggled, and then they giggled some more...and eventually the giggling tapered off and what we were left with were the ongoing cough attacks of about 3 young ladies who's Mommies were not present and had not sent in any meddies for them. Did I mention that we were all in ONE room together? And that while it seemed to be a big room, once we all laid down it seemed incredibly small. You could hear breathing...snoring...coughing...sighs, constant rolling and shifting...and THEN the ICE MACHINE made the loudest crashing noise possible which ended up with nearly all of the adult present sitting straight up in bed wondering if a bomb had just exploded. We unplugged the ice machine for the night. The next morning saw me and three other ladies who were in charge of breakfast awake at 5:15. AM. I know some of you will have a hard time believing it but I tell you it's true. I really DID get up then...and I got dressed, drank some of my sweet tea that I had stashed and only shown to a few like-minded ladies and took a vivarin because I knew this was going to be a LONNNG day. We let the little ladies sleep until about 7 and then we got them all up. Children have alot of energy. Seriously. So then there are about 9 adults and about 27 little ladies--and we had a day FULL of activities. Most of them involved walking. We hiked, and then we went on another hike later, and we even went on a hike again to where we would have our bonfire, and then we hiked back to the bonfire that night and then hiked back to our cabin afterwards...we must have hiked 5 miles total over the day. And to be honest, I was amazed how great all of the girls did. They really were a great bunch of troopers! We also played games like jumprope, and red light green light...we had lunch...interesting. My daughter C, she is a Mac & Cheese LOVER. She LOVES the stuff and would make it her solitary food for life if I allowed. We were having Mac & Cheese for lunch this day--I'm outside singing the jumprope song...ehh...one of them we rememebered from when we were little when I hear something about vegetables. Cool. I like vegetables. I EAT them. I've got no problems with veggies being served with lunch. I catch a floating comment about the vegetables being IN the Mac & Cheese. DO WHAT?? I promptly turned over my rope to another young lady to go investigate--while a movie of the future ran through my head of the little girl who was only hours before kissing the boxes of macaroni & cheese in the kitchen having a heart attack when she looked at her plate filled with mac & cheese with veggies mixed into it. Did I mention the cool liberal open kitchen policy that was set? If a girl did not like something that was cooked she was free to make another choice--they provided peanut butter and jelly and lots of fruit and such for alternatives. (that is important) So...I make it to the kitchen were the Troop Leader (remember--she's a doctor AND a vegetarian) had just added three cans of mixed veggies to the pot of macaroni & cheese. Flash to my horrified face. Flash to her surprised face. Flash to me telling her that I appreciate the effort to make a healthy lunch--but it might have been a better idea to put the veggies on the side. Flash to her face that says "what you mean every 4-9 year old doesn't like veggies in their mac & cheese"...I think you get the picture. So for the next fifteen minutes you would have seen me picking out the veggies from a bowl of mac & cheese. Now, I know some Moms might have said "she'll eat what she's served and that is that"...I'm afraid I've never really been one of those kinds of Moms and didn't plan to start on a weekend that I wanted to be full of wonderful delightful memories with my daughters. Perhaps someday I will become more of a "my way or the highway" kinda Mom...nah...I doubt it. And yet, I digress. My oldest daughter actually looked at her plate of de-veggified mac & cheese and asked if she could make a pb&j sandwich lol I told her certainly and made myself one too. My C of course at the Mac & Cheese, because hey as long as it IS mac & cheese that is what counts.
The day was mostly uneventful, and we had the most wonderful time. I enjoyed my daughters SO much and we had such fun on all of our hikes and things. Then came dinner. Did I mention that our Troop Leader is a doctor and a vegetarian?? Oh well, if not she is and that is important. For dinner we would be having spaghetti noodles with baked beans over the top of them. I'll pause here for that to sink in. Seriously, think it over. No, there was no sauce involved. No bread. Just noodles and....baked beans. While anyone who knows ME will already know the implication of this statement, I might have lost anyone who doesn't know me....so--let me explain. I can not think of a single food item which brings about in me a more passionate and deep rooted LOATHING than beans. Seriously. Now, I'll admit it's probably psychological--I distinctly rememeber a soup bean and ketchup incident from when I was a child but at the mention of beans on spaghetti I was able to push past that memory and actually try to figure out what kind of person might come up with that kind of combination? Oh my. Now my youngest, she's an adventure eater. She's like her Daddy. That kid will try ANYTHING once and I *love* that about her. And the good news is she likes roughly 98% of anything that she tries so shoot, beans on noodles is NOT going to be hard to give to her. My 6 year old--now she...she is like me...she's a very selective eater lol she has a fairly simplified palate which she is perfectly happy choosing food items from and frankly, she's not really interested in experimentation with food. She wants traditional foods, and even if she likes a food and has eaten it before--if it doesn't LOOK like the same food she'll hesitate to try it. I knew there was NO way I was going to be able to pass this off on her. She would not even hear of it. She asked me what was for dinner and I told her pb&j. She looked at me rather quizzically--she's way to bright to fall for that--and I tell her what they are serving for dinner and then tell her that is why she will be having pb&j. She agrees. I actually thought once I saw the noodles and beans that *if* I liked beans it wouldn't have been TOO gross. I however melted some butter and added a bit of parmesan cheese and put it over noodles. Of course during our breaks we went into the bag that Daddy had sent along which he had supplied us with oreo cookies, nutter butters and beef jerky. LOL While after a while pb&j's started looking kinds sick to us, we didn't starve thanks to dh.
So that night we hiked to our bonfire, and yes it was a bonfire. It was awesome. We sang songs...lots of great songs, and then we played games, and made smores...and it was such a great night!!!! We hiked back to our cabin and then we wanted to get the girls who had not showered the night before into the baths. R was one of those. I had just gotten her in there, she was about the 8th girl to take a shower, and had started shampooing her hair when we lost hot water. What's a mom to do??? I have to FINISH the shower even though the water is cold. I can't leave the bubbles in her hair. This did NOT go over well with my daughter and thus we had alot of tears and such. I felt awful but I couldn't have done any different. Of course, it doesn't help that my daughters are both spoiled rotten by hour long bubble baths with pillows and candles and soft music at home...lol This might equal my beans and ketchup memory for my daughter. God love her...she may grow up to hate showers and pools lol
That night after the bonfire several of the families went home and we ended up with 5 adults and about 10 children. We also had a box fan and remembered to turn off the ice machine. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!! We all slept MUCH better that night. We got up about 6 am and started breakfast. After breakfast we made yarn dolls, and then we started cleaning up. We made piggies in a blanket for lunch and I actually tried a veggie hot dog. Not to bad. We went on a short hike. We cleaned and cleaned and eventually we all went home. Whew. It was a weekend to never forget and while I doubt my girls remember much of it now (besides the cold shower lol--but shoot she may not even remember that)--I know that it was meaningful to them, and priceless to me.
Okay I just found out that the pictures I want to post haven't been transferred from disk to the computer so I am going to do that and will be back to post the pics and continue my update.
Love to all!
Posted by Angelbaby @ 11:08 PM CST
Thursday, October 16, 2003
How do the days pass so quickly?
I'm continually amazed at the time that seems to so quickly lapse between when I get here and when I don't. It seems to go so FAST! Seems to me time is going much faster these days and I have such a great desire to just S--L--O--W everything down. Shoot, I even type at warp speed so who am I kidding?
Today was filled with errands, but unfortunately the one I was so bent on getting done DIDN'T. ~sigh~ Nothing like that to make you want to go curl up into the fetal postition and wait until the dawn brings a new day lol
At any rate, we HAVE been exceptionally busy. Our schedule right now has us having one BUSY week and then one home week. The busy week has all of our Scout meetings and this week was it. The girls had their meeting on Tuesday--they are doing so great...both are working on memorizing the Girl Scout Promise right now and have done so great! R is just BLOSSOMING into the most amazing little Brownie ever and her Leader even commented on what a fantastic young lady she is and what a wonderful loving girl she is. =o) (proud Mommy moment in case you missed it!) And of course there is C who has been slowly working her way into this whole thing and I think now has decided that it is worth her time and effort. You know...she wasn't going to "join" Scouts...they were going to "have" her. lol Don't know if that makes sense or not but she's they type to just wait to make sure she is going to like something BEFORE she fully commits herself to it. This has been no exception. She has REALLY been enjoying it so much and yesterday she asked me when her next meeting was! lol she was disappointed when I said two weeks. That's a sure sign she is loving it totally!
B had Scouts yesterday and they worked on their physical fitness badge. He is doing really great and has finally found his place among the boys which brings me a big heap of relief. On the one hand B is a very social kid, he likes to meet new people and enjoys good friends, and once you are his friend, that's it...your friends forever...on the other hand, he is NOT like most boys his age who are constantly in that "boy" mode where they harass, yell, fight, and see who can be the grossest. Now, he *can* be gross...lol just ask his sisters HAHA but he isn't the type to act out like that in a Boy Scout meeting or anything...only with people he trusts I guess. Anyway, this year seems to have brought him to his place among the group as more of the boys are maturing...where they see that he gets a lot of respect for his attitudes and willingness...and instead of thinking "eww" they are all thinking "cool" and want to be more like him. I am happy that he is happy and that's all I really care about. He is having the best experiences with Scouting. Of course our popcorn sales didn't go as great this year and I really doubt he will be 1st in the pack this time...as they raised their prices and most people just didn't want to spend so much money. We are going to consider a different fundraiser next year...I mean, I know that we have to do SOMETHING to help...but shoot, this year was like pulling teeth and people really DO want to support the Scouts but feel overwhelmed by the prices.
Let's see where am I with everything else? School is going great! We are busy with our Creation unit study...B is doing a study on the Eagle right now, he is reading CONSTANTLY (just finished his second Star Wars book), has been trudging through his math...but understands WHY he is doing math which is more than I had this time LAST year lol His handwriting is better than mine which really is kinda embarrassing to say...he is working on a fantastic art program and is so talented. He has also been outlining his Scout book to set a path that will assure him his Arrow of Light award. He has totally committed to doing it which I am very happy about. I work his projects for Scouts in with our curriculum as much as I can so it doesn't feel like he's doing a hundred different things...so far it has been pretty painless lol The girls are doing all sorts of activities...I am working on phonics with Ray and she is doing SO GREAT! Of course, I think I know the vision most people get in their minds when they think of "working on phonics"--so lest I give anyone the wrong impression--I am not a drill sargeant and we don't do a whole lot of "program" but more hands on and "life" drills as it were. For example, we are working on A...as such we have made a poster that we have been actively adding pictures of all things that start with the sound of A (either aaah, AYE, or ahhh--c'mon say it out loud...aaah in cat, AYE in cave, ahhh in all), then we play games like "I spy" except we have to use things that start with our letter sound...we eat as many things as we can that start with our sound...like apples, apricots...etc. We also do a different "feature" each day so we have done or will be doing fingerprint apple trees, studying the alligator, making heavenly anchor paper chains, learning about the armadillo, the ant, the anteater...in addition R does an art program which is fantastic. C listens in on most anything but is able to leave anytime she wants. I give her tons of fun cut/paste activities (I put them in R's folder too because she still totally enjoys them in her spare time)...B has been reading out loud to the girls from a book about ocean mammals, and as a family we have been reading "The Magician's Nephew" by CS Lewis. Let's see...what else? rofl I could list a whole ton more but the point is...we don't just "do" we live and that's the beauty of it. The neatest thing we are working on this year so far though has to be the kids "scrapbooks" that they are putting all of their work into. I can't describe how totally cool these are right now but I promise I will.
Dh has been underway since Monday and comes home tomorrow...SO you know what I am off to do--the quick before he comes home tidy so that I don't have to worry about a bit of it when he gets home!
Oh...and I just have to share this little tidbit...anyone who has followed our life will laugh at the irony here. We got a letter from the Coast Guard last week...well, it was the CG but also "Homeland Security"--to which I was ACTUALLY thinking--cool that's the first time I'd seen that--very nice looking seal and whatnot on the envelope. Trust me that magical moment was fleeting at best!
Inside we found a $900 bill from the Coast Guard for our move from CT to here. As it turns out we went over our weight limit and they have FINALLY now...two years later...TWO YEARS after our move finally gotten around to finding out how much over we were and billing us. The ironic thing???? They took two years to bill us...and yet...the bill said that it was due within 30 days of the date of the letter, not when you receive it mind you, when it was MAILED. They really are nice aren't they?? (hey if you are wondering if that was sincere or not ask my Mom...she'll give ya an ear full) Dh called me today and let me know that the finance center has been "kind" enough to allow us to make payment on their stupid $900 bill so we will see $100 less a month for the next 9 months because why??? BECAUSE THEY SUCK. That's about the most foul word anyone would ever hear out of my mouth but hey...the shoe fits...and all those other over used cliches here. I "get" the logistics of the whole thing...I even "get" that they have the limits but the problem is they are not based on how many people are in your family or whatnot, they are based on RANK. Well, I also "get" the whole "rank has it's privledges" thing too...but guess what? I'm not in the CG. My dh is and I guess it's their full expectation that if we were going to go over that we'd just stay behind or deal with paying outrageous bills from the CG for moving across the country so my dh could fullfill his duty to our nation. The really interesting thing? How in the world would anyone know BEFORE how much their household goods weigh? Well, geegolly, I guess there really IS no way to know...so what happens? They put your stuff on that truck because I don't care what they want to believe you really don't have a whole lotta choice in the matter--and THEN they tell you that you have went over your weight...and that is THAT. You don't have any option of unloading anything and paying $85 to rent a U-haul so you can carry the extra weight down yourself...nope...you can't do ANYTHING about it at all. And they sit and charge me $900. Well, after having realized what the letter was I wasn't nearly as impressed with their new, bright, shiny stationary that says "Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard"...because of course I realized *I* am paying to change it over from the normal USCG envelopes and letter head they used before. Yup...there ya have it.
whew...I feel better. The other major frustration I have experienced is with our Dish Network. We have that PVR that you can record movies on. We had about 32 of our 36 hours used up with movies we had recorded and kept...we had the following recorded: "101 Dalmations: Patch's London Adventure", "Stuart Little 2", "The Wild Thornberry's Movie", "Piglet's BIG Movie", "Hey Arnold: The Movie"--golly, I know there were more of these--all of which were recorded from PPV which we paid $3.99 for each movie...then the ones we recorded for the kids off of HBO and such like "Cadet Kelly", and "Jimmy Neutron: The Movie", "The Extremely Goofy Movie", "The Even Stevens Movie (if you have never watched that show you are MISSING OUT!)", and several more that added up to 32 movie hours!! Well, the day before yesterday they all disappeared. POOF! Gone!! They were ALL protected movies, and they disappeared while we were out...when we came home the power had went off and the movies were all gone. DN trouble shot the issue and told us a few things to try and have decided that it was a "bad drive" and are sending us a replacement PVR. My issue?? Great that they are replacing the faulty equipment but what about all of my MOVIES?? Well, apparently they are beyond gone, they are GONE...there is NO way to recover any of them...so what does that mean to me? I just lost a bunch of MONEY...that's what. Well, apparently they have to get the "defective" PVR to their "technical" people who will verify that the diagnosis was correct to verify the product was under warrenty...I suppose THEN they will be willing to talk about giving me some kind of compensation for the money I just lost because of their faulty product. ERRGGHHH...I wouldn't care if they were MY movies, but they were some of the kids favorite movies! Some we had on there for TWO years...they were so upset when they found them gone because there are ALOT of times I won't let them watch TV but will OK them watching one of the movies I trust...poor kids. Makes me mad...and today is Thursday and I got my WEDNESDAY sale ads in my box TODAY. hmmph.
Well, better get to doing my ten minute tidy (ala Big Comfy Couch...I loved that show...PBS should be shut down for taking it off)...I love you all so very much and hope that everyone is so blessed!!!! I have a gift waiting at my parents house from my Mamaw Moreland and I am SO excited about it!! She has made these scrapbooks for me and all of my cousins. They have tons of pictures of all of us, our families and all of our relatives...some I have never even met. Pictures of my Mom and her sisters and brother when they were younger and of my Mamaw & Papaw when they were just babies and everything! I am just beside myself about getting my hands on it!!! She even wrote in it about the pictures and everything. Talk about a TREASURE. Words could never EVER express my gratitude for such a thoughtful, loving, and simply perfect gift. She's just that special though...a blessing to anyone who has the chance to meet her...and shoot...she taught me and my daughters how to can pickles that turned out so good I have people offering me MONEY to make them for them!! (REALLY!)
I really am going. However, one should understand that once you start writing it IS rather hard to stop.
--me...
tearing
myself
aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy....
Posted by Angelbaby @ 11:14 PM CST
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
This n That & Biblical Holydays
We had a really busy weekend. B went to spend the night with one of his Scout buddies so he was gone all afternoon Saturday and almost all day on Sunday. Since the girls had been begging to have one of their friends over we decided to do that...so we drove 40 minutes to pick her up and bring her down for the night. We painted fingernails and put on lotion and they must have watched "Barbie & Swan Lake" a million times lol It was fun...so Sunday we drove up there and took her home and by the time we got home and picked up Brandon and actually got HOME HOME it was 7:00. I really wanted a nice relaxing weekend lol hahahahaaaaaaaaa right.
SO...today I had lots of stuff planned but didn't get as much done as I wanted to. That always seems to be the way...and let's face it--It's a really good thing I am not obsessed with perfection or I would have driven myself mad with all of the things that get moved from today's "to do" list to TOMORROW's "to do" list lol It's definately a never-ending story there.
One thing I am working on right now is with our Church School to have a curriculum share & swap. That has been taking up a bit of time and ALOT of effort thanks to people who are supposed to do "this n that" but don't always do either of them lol we are also working on a project called "Operation Christmas Child" which is just AWESOME!!!!!! Check it out HERE. It is a really neat project and the kids are SO totally excited about it! I could write a ton about it but you should just go to that link and see how wonderful and powerful this ministry is!
Oh, and we brought the JEEP home yesterday and today dh went and GOT THE TAG on it. I know, I know it's just too hard to believe lol Well, we're supposed to be selling it for some much needed money this week, and wouldn't you know it the blue car wouldn't start for dh after work today. Hmm...if I were a negative thinker I might be a little worried right now...but I'm thinking it will all work out. Dh thinks the blue car's problem is the spark plugs and the only worry he has is that he can see three but the other three are out of sight which means more thank likely they are rather difficult to change. UGH. The good news is of course I have NOTHING to do all week so whatever else we have two cars and it's a low stress week so it's not the end of the world right now. Of course, I'll only keep that attitude if what dh has said is true and it's only a minor repair...lol I'm sure I'll rant here first if it turns out to be otherwise.
What else...well, we just finished a wonderful celebration for the Feast of Trumpets. For anyone unfamiliar with this celebration go here and here to learn more about it! We put a lot of our focus on the fact that it was a "new year" and as such we had the blessings of God to look forward to all the wonderful and sweet things that He would supply us with this year. Our meal consisted of honey ham with brown sugar glaze, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, sweet cornbread, and apples with honey dip. I didn't get to talk much about this before when we did Passover so I'll just go into it a little bit here...we have purchased special plated and glasses and such that we only use for these celebrations. The plates are really bright colors and shiney and the cups are those plastic fluted glasses that have the stem on them and they are in bright pink and blue. We have bright colorful platters and bowls and such for serving the food...and we have been working on special objects to use in our centerpiece for each feast. So...even if I haven't had the chance to talk much about the feast BEFORE our big meal...the children know now that if they see the special plates and such coming out that we are going to have a very wonderful time! So when they sat down the first question dh asked them is what all the food had in common...they all said "it's all SWEET!!"...which was exactly what we wanted them to say. We talked through the meal about what the significance and meaning was--they ask the best questions and we always get to learn so much as a family. It was a great treat!
Well, I am off to bed for another big day tomorrow!
I pray for His blessings on each and everyone of you!
~A
Posted by Angelbaby @ 12:10 AM CST
Friday, October 3, 2003
That song...that song...
I'm listening to the song from "Moulin Rouge" (is that how that's spelled?)--it's called "Come What May"...awwweee it's the sweetest song...
Well, let's see...this has been another busy busy week. We had the last session of the kids gymnastics on Monday which they are doing SOOOO great!!! They have improved SO much since we started. I am really amazed! We are skipping this next session because of all of the other committments but I'll get them back into the session after this. On Tuesday the girls had Daisies/Brownies. That is always such fun and they really do enjoy going up there and doing it. They are learning the girl scout promise right now and are wanting to have it done before next month when they can earn their pin for knowing it.
On Wednesday morning we went up to a corn field (about 45 minutes from home) where they have one of those corn mazes and kiddie rides and all sorts of things. I was hoping dh would be off work to go with us but he couldn't get off. It was their homeschool day and there must have been over 600 people there! It was crazy but so much fun and yes, we got totally lost and had to be led out lol OF COURSE. It was a ton of fun though! I think you can go to www.cornfieldmaze.com and look to see if they have any near you! We had a ball and you know I was totally surprised to see how many of these there are out there! They have some AWESOME designs too!
B has been going out and selling popcorn for the last few days, he only has 2 weeks to go now...so he's in a hurry lol He is doing good, he works so hard for this and I am proud of him for working so hard and sticking to it! After our trip to the corn field we went to Cub Scouts and then home again. Dh brought us dinner from the boat which is always a treat because *I* don't have to cook lol
Yesterday Dh DID get the day off, the one I wanted for WEDNESDAY but I was happy anyway! We went to the homeschool park day and then had a picnic lunch. I ended up babysitting a friend's children because she had to go to the doctor...but we were at the park so hey, that was GREAT entertainment for all of them! Later yesterday afternoon we took them all (6 children total) to Baskin Robbins for icecream and then last night I worked and WORKED and....WORKED on several website projects that I had to do. I am happy to report that I have one site waiting for the thumbs up to publish as I type...as soon as I hear from my client it will go live and YEEHAW go into my portfolio...we do still have some work to do on it but the site is basically done except for the information that needs to be put in. I also worked on another site I am hosting for a wonderful Christian woman who couldn't afford her hosting any longer. I have that one ready to publish as well and am just waiting for the thumbs up. I am going to put a section on my site (truelightcreations.com) for the sites I am so happy to be hosting so they can get some visits from all of you too! I have two that I am hosting like that. So as for work I kinda feel caught up but not entirely. I have work to do for the marketing company I am working for but the login information they sent me isn't letting me get into the site...so I am waiting for that...which is something ick cause I really wanted to finish before this weekend. I also have a new client who runs a home business...her dh is in the Army I think in Germany and they are fixing to move back to California right now. She is a PAYING client (thankyouverymuch) lol Hey I have THREE paying clients right now. No...I haven't gotten paid yet lol but I will, I will! =o)
Of course...I would be remiss not to mention what ELSE happened last night. I guess I spent a good 4 solid hours working on "my" work. When I am working on websites and things I really do tune out everything around me...so you know I wasn't paying ALOT of attention to what was going on. I guess I stopped working around 11:00 and when I turned from the computer I nearly fell out of my chair. My kitchen looked like a grade school food fight had taken place in there. I mean a MESS and a half...counters icky messy, dishes piled a mile high in the sink. Dh had made banana bread....need I say more?? Then I walk into the dining room. The kids had pulled down their school boxes and there were blocks, colored fish, flash cards, lacing shapes and strings, sorting bowls, and a plethora of other "educational" products scattered all over the floor. Among these were a few items of clothing that the children had discarded sometime in the evening. Next the table is covered with tiny bits of paper and scissors from my youngests obsession with CUTTING everything. There are empty juice bags, dirty napkins, mixed with markers, pencils and paper. The living room looks like the mob had visited looking for something with pillows all over the place, tv trays pulled out (and keep in mind we don't have THAT big of a living room!) and lo and behold if my wonderful, precious, adoring dh isn't ASLEEP on the COUCH. Hmmph. The same dh would slept a full 2 hours longer than I did that I had to WAKE up yesterday morning...Of course it sent me into the typical speech of "this is what happens when I devote time to work...everyone forgets how to clean up after themselves, how to put things back where they got them....I don't want to do websites if it means I have ten times the work to do around here for it...respect me... be helpful...NO SLEEPING...noone is going to bed until I can WALK in here" I think you get the drift. Who could have known my children could work so fast? Dh did a point and direct approach, in fact, I am almost certain he wasn't awake through this 20 minute period and probably wouldn't remember it right now if I asked him about it. I let the dishes sit in the sink, and unfortunately they are STILL there right now, only compounded by the ones from today. SO...I guess you all know what I am fixing to go do right?
No...not the dishes...I am going to go wake up dh from a nap I sent him to a while ago because he was falling asleep reading lol He has to take B out to sell more popcorn! THEN I'll do the dishes and THEN I will make dinner and dirty up MORE dishes. I know most of you know the routine!!!
Oh...and one more thing...I am thinking of becoming a Daisy Leader. I know I've lost my mind. We'll see. haha AND oh one more thing...I *can't stand* my mailman...I just abhore him...despise him...wish the infestation of a million fleas and the smell of a camel on him. I haven't gotten my sale ads this week. I also haven't gotten my homeschool newsletter that EVERYONE else has received. I know I need to get a grip but c'mon I NEED those ADS! How can I be a frugal shopper with out them? I CAN'T...I neeeeeeeeeed them. Not to mention how totally ILLEGAL what he is doing is. Grrr...I am tired of complaining because nothing seems to be getting done about it and I dunno who to talk to anymore about it. ~sigh~ *kick* ++scream++ Jerk.
Okay okay, I'm off to be an adult, but that 3 year old temper tantrum moment was brought to you from the dedicated workers at the United States Postal Service. Not the ones in GEORGIA of course =o) I'm related to and know too many of them!!! (love you guys!) Just the backwards ones HERE!
Be blessed!!
~A
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:30 PM CST
Friday, September 26, 2003
Yay for my girls!
The first big news is that the girl's Brownie/Daisy exhibit won FIRST PLACE at the county fair!!!!! Our Troop Leader called to tell the girls and they were so excited and happy! All of the hard work paid off =o) Also, the awesome thing that happened is that someone put up netting over our exhibit. We don't know who did it but it was so very thoughtful and I have to think they will be blessed for helping us out that way!
We have been busy as usual. School is going fantastic...best ever! We have met so many new people in the last few weeks and are getting involved in helping set up a park day for everyone to get together.
Saturday we are going to the Biophilia (a nature center) to attend a "Caterpillar Circus Club" which is a club for learning about all the different kinds of caterpillars and to see all kinds of them in different forming stages and LOTS of newly hatched butterflies. We are so excited! We have been catching them for a few weeks now and three of ours have already went into their chrysalis. They are SO cool. We have one little furry fellow we are going to take with us to see if they can help us identify him.
My big project right now is to go through all of our clothes to get rid of things we don't wear. We still have a little bit before we have to start thinking about winter clothes, but all of our drawers are full and the kids have outgrown SO much this year. We are also selling POPCORN again. Anyone who is addicted to this stuff let me know and I'll sell you some of it lol B is a little more excited since he talked to our Pack Leader about the fact that he liked getting gift cards--and they weren't offering them this year--so they said that B could have WHATEVER he wanted for a prize =o) Now he's raring to go of course!
R is still learning letter sounds and actually is "reading" our little "BOB Books" that I used to teach B to read. She is doing SO well and is so excited to be learning. B asked when she would be ready to read the book he is reading and I told him not for a few years yet but that his confidence in her was precious. We went for a walk yesterday around the complex to check out the work they are doing. They had closed the pool by our house and I actually thought they weren't going to reopen because they are building a BRAND new one behind the office. We have 3 other pools but the one by my house was JUST so close and convienant. As it turns out they ARE replacing our pool with one that is HUGE!!!!!!! I couldn't believe how big it is. They have also been redoing the sidewalks...making them bigger and flattening them all out completely. The kids can't wait to ride their bikes on them. Of course one section we passed some kids had messed up the concrete. I was kinda irritated aobut it because now they will have to go back and cover it up or leave it alone and have it look ugly. I don't understand kids doing that and to tell you the truth I would be happy if they found out who did it and made THEM do the work to replace it. Thing is they didn't just mess up ONE square...they messed up about 15 of them. I wonder where their parents were and if they would even care about this. I am HAPPY about the changes they are making, everything already looks so nice and pretty and they are doing such a good job...it's a shame some people have to ruin it.
Well, I am going to go get busy...I hope you are all totally blessed!
~A
Posted by Angelbaby @ 06:42 AM CST
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Oops forgot a pic
Meant to add this to the other entry...but Sunday afternoon we got to missing C...now she loves to play by herself so it's not unusual but we were fixing to eat lunch so dh and I went upstairs to get her...she wasn't in her room. Odd. So we went to looking in the other rooms...we found her in B's reading cubby...this section of his room that is under his bunk beds where we have books and pillows and all sorts of things that make it a comfy reading nook. Well, she was in there and had brought her baby's bed in there and was IN the baby bed with a notebook and pen and was "writing" a story. lol We couldn't resist snapping a pic so here it is...
Hey, she's a living doll so it's no big stretch for her to be in a doll bed =o)
Posted by Angelbaby @ 06:01 PM CST
Let's see...first a bit of an update...we had some of dh's family visiting us this weekend and we had the most awesome time!!!!!!!!! I have to say that anytime we get the chance to spend time with family that it is always so hard to say goodbye and even more makes me yearn to just live near everyone so that we could see each other all the time. We are blessed to live this close though, I do know that--expecially after living in CT a full two day drive to get home. Anyway, we had a wonderful steak and seafood dinner, then dh cooked his awesome ribs one night...we kept our neices both nights and the kids had an ongoing slumber party. There was swimming, talking, hugging, smiles, and just that "it's so good to just be here" feeling all around. It was a WONDERFUL weekend.
The only negative thing? Caffiene. Yeah I would have to say that's it. Generally, I only have sweet tea when we go out to eat or whatever, but at home when we make my tea we use decaf tea bags...the caffiene is horrible for me and I have a hard enough time sleeping without it. Well...we stocked up on two gallons of tea from Chick-fil-A. Oh...it's SUCH good tea. I also slept a combined total of about six hours in three days lol Yeah yeah yea.....well...last night we made some of my normal tea and I slept VERY well last night! I didn't think about it until Sunday night when I had fallen asleep and no more than 15 minutes had passed and suddenly I was laying there with my eyes wide open. Figeting. Hmm...I got up and cleaned the house thoroughly and watched a movie lol At least I am productive if not tired right?
Yesterday saw us head up the road to a little town where they are having a fair this week. Our Brownie troop has been working on a project to do a display up there. All of the girls worked sooooooo hard and the booth turned out just gorgeous. R worked all day on Sunday. Our theme was recycling and she used a ton of "throw away" items to make a bunch of animals. She did all of the work on it except for some of the glueing (we used a hot glue gun so it would dry before Monday)...it turned out SOOOO cute!! Here's some pics!
Last week at our meeting they had started work on the project...C did hers there and that is what the next picture is of. They filled up jars with different kinds of beans and then painted a paint stick green, took a picture of each of the Daisies (the younger girls) and then the girls glued white petals onto the pictures to make the flowers. They are SOOOO totally cute...and it was such a fun project to work with them on.
I know you can't tell but C's is the one in the middle. Tooo cute. I don't think this pic even does them justice. They are absolutely adorable. The girls did it all themselves except for hot glueing the picture onto the paint stick.
Now for my rant. This is the first year our troop has done this event so we really didn't know what to expect. As it turns out there are lots of girl scout and brownie troops participating--turns out all of the booths are unattended. Most of the other people put up some thin netting type material across the front of their booth to keep hands off the display. We of course did not know about this. We talked it over (there was myself and the assistant troop leader there setting it up) and she said our troop leader was going to be going there today and that she would bring net to put up. I get a phone call today from the assistant leader about picking up the exhibit and I ask if the netting got put up. Now keep in mind that I am concerned about both of my girls projects because we put alot of time and effort into them and I think BOTH of them lead themselves to children walking up and grabbing stuff off of them. R's project is right on the table, kids eye view, and frankly I know without the netting that half of the stuff on there will disappear and be torn off by roaming hands. The flower pots that the Daisies did are the same way...at any rate...she tells me that no, the leader did not make it up there today and probably won't be able to go until tomorrow. Riiiggghhhtttt...okay now I asked if they wanted me to take care of it YESTERDAY while I was still out running around but no....they were going to take care of it. Well, you know what? They may not care about getting their projects back but MY children really DO want theirs, and I have this sinking feeling that they are not going to put up netting even if they DO go down there tomorrow. =o( I hope I am wrong...but c'mon ya'll look at those projects! Think about how kids do things and tell me that all of those animal puppets aren't going to be totally destroyed by Sunday. I hope I'm wrong, in fact, I PRAY I am wrong!
In other news, I am working on several projects right now with work, two clients in Texas (both referred to me by my sweet Brother! OXOX). Another of them is a website for a homeschool mother who publishes a newsletter filled with wondeful advice and helpful hints. I have always been blessed by it and a few months ago she sent out word that her site was going to have to be taken down because they could not afford to keep it up anymore. She was hosting with homestead and they were raising their prices again. I wrote her and told her I would do her site for her and that she wouldn't have to worry about paying me anything that it would just be a blessing to me. She was so happy so I have been moving that over for her and should have it done by tomorrow. She sent out a message to her newsletter today about the site and gave a link to MY site and would you know that I have had three people contact me already today? =o) Indeed when you give you WILL receive! I am also starting work on my Mom's website as she has finally agreed to let me move her off of geocities to my service lol YES it did take this long!
Dh left this morning but this will be an easy trip as he's only gone until Friday. I admit I already miss him though. B has been working on the computer with Microsoft Power Point and making a project about himself. He got interested in it when his cousins were here and ended up spending the last few days learning how it works and such. He's got more of it figured out than I do lol and he has a pretty neat display about all of his favorite things that actually plays music and everything. Very cool. It is amazing how quickly kids learn, especially when it's THEIR idea to do so lol Well, I am off to do some house stuff and to start dinner.
OH and for anyone who knows the guy we refer to as "cable guy" round here (lol) you will all know how long we have been talking to him and praying for him and witnessing to him. The other day he left a message on the machine and after his message he said "oh, and God bless you guys too". I know that doesn't seem like alot but you'd just have to know the situation to get how awesome that was. It wasn't mocking or condesending or anything, he was totally genuine and actually oddly enough sounded perfectly natural coming out of his mouth. I am praying that God will continue to open this young man up to his Glory. That's one of my praises right now though...God is ever faithful.
Gotta run! I love everyone dearly!!
~A
Posted by Angelbaby @ 05:53 PM CST
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