Lovin' Summer

I love the laid back days of summer.   As of last Thursday I kissed 5:45 goodbye until the Fall.   YEA!   Now 7:30 or 8:00 feels like I'm living the dream of sleeping late.  So far I've checked the public library offerings.   There are a ton of fun things to do.  Yesterday we went to the library and checked out a ton of books.   After we schooled in the afternoon, the kids had a quiet afternoon of reading.  

After our reading time, I made my daughter help me clean out her side of my studio.   What a mess!   It is so much better now!   We are ready to start making more messes!

I've got some fun fabric in my studio that I need to use for something.   I'm planning a quilt for a cousin.  It is in the colors of lavender, green, and brown.   Hobby Lobby has some cool fabrics, so I'm going to check those out.   I have the aforementioned fabric because I asked the cousin and didn't hear for about a week as to her color choice for this little one.   So I did the logical thing and bought pink and brown.   The  next day she e-mailed me her colors: lavender, green, and brown.   The pink and brown is so versatile I may turn it into pillowcases for gifts.   I'm heading back to Hobby Lobby to see if I can find fabulous stuff in purple, green, and brown.  If I don't I'll head to Joann's next.

I've been up an hour and have accomplished nothing but drinking my morning cup of coffee.   I'm off!

Animal Crackers Breakfast

Yes, I just ate animal crackers for breakfast.   We are grocery poor here.   We've been so busy with company and sick children that I have not made it to the grocery store.  I could've eaten Cheerios like a good little girl and gone on with my day, but I couldn't do it.  I plan to go to the grocery tomorrow after I drop my daughter off for her last day of Kindergarten.   She has been sick, but seems better today.   I'm hopeful she'll get to enjoy her last day of school.   She and her brother are upstairs playing right now.

I've been thinking about the summer and how to be purposeful.   My goal this summer is to not fritter the days away.   I plan to go to the library every two weeks and find some new and exciting books.   The Outdoor Theater always has fun kids stuff.   This weekend marks the opening of the public pools and splash pads.   I want to have low cost FUN this summer.   We won't be going to the zoo.   I let our membership laspe with New York having over our heads as a big question mark.   We plan to make a trip to Alabama this summer for the annual family reunion.  There is a local theater company performing two shows at our church this summer, so I hope to make that as well.   I think I may try and make the museums on free days.  Living in a large city, I need to take full advantage of the museums.   The free hours are usually only a couple of hours, but that is all the kids usually last anyway.   I've missed my daughter while she has been in school this year.   I hope to have a blast with both of them home this summer.  

Carpe Diem!

A Pile of Receipts

I sit here with a pile of receipts in my lap.   My husband and I track our spending down to the penny.    Life has been crazy that I think I have about a month's worth of receipts to enter.   I try to do it about once a week.  My plan was to go to the grocery store this morning and do this later, but my daughter ended up with a fever this morning.   She is home from school and I'm staring at a pile of receipts.   I've thought about those people who don't spend but about $100 in a month as a challenge.   That would cut down on the receipts, but what would we eat?   Tracking our spending is good because we can plug holes where money runs out and it shouldn't.   It is painful to do all the leg work for it.   I guess it is like going to the grocery store and spending $30 on $200 worth of groceries.   You have to do the leg work to get the reward.  

So today, I will review our spending and play UNO with a sick little one.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it".  Psalm 118:24

We are also praying through a big decision.   Please join us in praying for God's perfect will.

What to Say on a Sunday Night

It is a quiet Sunday night here.   My son has a stomach bug, I think.   He threw up twice Thursday, but has been fine until this evening when the other part started.   Of course, I find this out after we've been to family birthdays.   Hopefully no one else will come down with it.  My daughter seems to be fine.

I was hoping for a quiet week.  I wanted to work on some stuff to finish up a card project for Kidslink Downrange that our MOPS group is doing.  I actually got on the computer to cut out some hearts with my digital die cut machine, but instead I found myself reading blogs and looking at FB.

It is rodeo time where I live.   We watched the rodeo parade on Saturday.   It was a long parade, so we didn't stay until the end.   We did see several floats, marching bands, and trail ride teams.  Jason and I are thinking about taking the kids to the livestock show.   The rodeo itself can be pricey because the ticket to the rodeo also gets you into a musical performance.   I'm not sure that the kids would be able to handle all that.   Sitting on tractors and petting animals is more their speed.

Our car is working now.   I'm not too confident in it continuing to work, but time will tell.  Jason and I were hoping to start remodeling the house, not buy another car.  I may be living with paneled walls and a 1960's kitchen a little longer.   I am just thankful to have a house regardless of how it looks.   I look at the pictures from Haiti and Chile and see people's lives destroyed and I am thankful.

I just wanted to write a quick update.   I am hopeful that my son's illness passes quickly...no pun intended.

Never a Dull Moment

In the space of a weekend, one car has some electrical issues going on which has rendered it useless.   The other got as screw the size of Texas in the rear tire.   Tonight about 10:00 my hubby and I changed a tire together.   It was fun to joke about a normally not fun situation.    He was headed to work to attempt to get a couple things done for a morning meeting.   He parked in the parking garage at work got out and heard hissing sound.   He got back into the car and drove home.   Thankfully, he was able to get it home before it was completely flat.  So the question remains, will it is a fixable tire or do we have to spring for 4 new tires?   We were trying to eek about a few more miles on the current ones.  Will we also have to buy another car this week or can my hubby get the electrical issue worked out.  As he works on the car, I'll get to be the assistant.   I am working on a skirt for my daughter, but I don't think I'll get much done on it this week.  Sigh...

My daughter said the funniest thing the other day.   She said, "Girls are so much more dramatic than boys."  In her case, yes.   Sometimes, I think my husband is a bit more dramatic than me.  My son was pretty dramatic this afternoon.   I am training for the Aid Sudan 5K.   My husband was heading to the auto parts store.   I took the kids to the park to run.   My daughter rode her scooter, my son, his glide bike because I just didn't want to deal with the big boy bike while I ran.  I wanted to put him in the jog stroller, but he wouldn't agree to it.   He didn't want to go to the store with my husband because my run would put him home sooner than my husband's trip.  In truth, he really wanted to sit upstairs and play with his tractors and not go anywhere.   I won the battle, but not the war.  We made it to the park and he is going slower than humanly possible on his bike.   I keep shouting encouragement to him, circle back to him and talk to him...no dice.   He is not interested.   Finally after one lap around the park, he starts crying and whinning.  I call my husband in desperation to see if he can rescue me or if the run is just not salvageable.   Jason hasn't let our house yet and comes to pick the kids up.    My daughter decides that complaining was just contagious and she can stay with me until I finish my run without complaints.  So we finish.   My son wants to stay, but doesn't.   I finish my run and my husband has not left yet with my son.    My son finally decides it is ok to leave me and that we'd meet again at home.  Lesson learned, the kid is going in the stroller, like it or not.  My daughter and I had a great time together.   We decided that next time she would ride her bike because I run faster than she can scoot.

I need to finish my Bible study I was working on before the tire change interruption.   Then I'll head to bed in time to be woken up again when Jason returns home.   At the end of the day, God is still good even through trials.  At least we have two cars when one car dies.   Yes, God is good.  :)

He Rides!

My son told us this weekend he wanted to a bike with petals and no training wheels.   The reason for his strange request was that he has been riding a glide bike for the last 9 months.   It has no petals or training wheels, you use your feet to push along the ground.   The need for speed encourages the kids to ride faster and learn balance.  They are unusual bikes, but are used a lot in Europe to teach kids to ride a bike.   We told him when he was ready for petals we would get him a bike with petals.   On Sunday, we went to the store and bought a lighting fast, Lighting McQueen bike.  After a few days of us holding on to his shirt while he was riding, Jason let go tonight.   He has the balance thing down.  He rode to the park near our house and back.   He rides so fast on the thing it scares me.   I'm waiting for the first big crash.  He is outfitted with a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, hand/wrist pads, but the thought of another broken arm makes my blood run cold.  I guess I just need to let him fall out of the chair at dinner again to break his arm again.    Gymnastics and glide biking didn't do it the first time, it was falling out of the dining room chair.  :)

Waiting

I'm waiting on a video to upload to fb.   I'm waiting for Jason to finish talking to his brother.   I'm waiting for a headache to go away.   While I wait, I'll tell about a fun thing we did today.   My daughter was invited to a party at a rock climbing place.   I was a bit skeptical that she would enjoy it.   She is never one to miss out on a party, so we went.   She LOVED it.   Surprisingly, she was good at it as well.  She scampered up the wall several times.  She almost made it all the way to the top that last time.  I did not climb because I did not wear the proper footwear.   I couldn't imagine climbing in loafers.   I rock climbed years ago and remember it being fun.  She can't wait to go back...I guess I'll have to see how I do since I am now 10 years older than the last time I climbed.

I also picked up up a two tier bookshelf on the side of the road today.   This week is heavy garbage pickup.   Every other month residents can put out large items that will not fit in their regular can.   The alternating months are for tree waste.  This month is residential garbage.  As I was zipping down a road close to our house, I saw this shelf that looked decent.   Of course I had about two seconds to evaluate it.   I didn't have time to stop, so I called Jason and sent him after it.   He picked it up.   When I got home today, I looked at it and it looks like it has potential.   It needs some minor repair work (Jason's job) and a coat of stain and poly (my job) and it is good to go.  Of course,  I don't need another project, but who can pass on a free shelf?

Yeah, I Know, it's Been Forever...Next Topic

This week I went to the Weather Museum with my daughter.   I didn't know there was a weather museum, but it exists.  It was pretty interesting.  I enjoyed three things.  First they had the kids pretend to be Metorologists.   They stood in front of a camera with a green screen behind them.   Next they attemptted to point to stuff by looking at the computer monitor in front of them.   Another cool thing was the tornado maker.   The kids could put their hands inside and feel a mini tornado.  Lastly the pressure experiments were very cool.  We went to the weather museum because my daughter's class is studying weather in school.   All the kids know a cumulonimbus cloud thanks to the movie UP.  They are learning high pressure, low pressure and precipitation.  Cool stuff!

While I was at the Weather Museum,  I picked up a brochure showing all the different museums in the museum district.   It gave their hours, cost, and free days.  I think I may try to take my son on a few more "field trips."

Tonight my MOPS group is making cards for an organization called Kidslink Downrange.  The idea is to send 8 cards in a packet to to kids whose parents are deployed.   As a group, we pledged to make 50 cards and have supplies to make 120 cards.

I'm off to prep something to mail.   I enjoy selling things on e-bay and getting rid of them.  I don't enjoy going to the post office and waiting in line FOREVER!

I'm in the Mood to Post

Yes, I've been quiet for a while.   I've had sick kids and other obligations pressing.   I will say that I found a blessing in having sick kids, we got to unplug  for a few days.   It was actually restful that my daughter couldn't go to school because of a fever.  I didn't have to get up 5:45, which means I reverted back to getting up when the kids get up.  Of course dealing with sick little ones was not fun, but at least I was more rested to do it.  My daughter is well and back at school.  My son has been fever free throughout the entire illness, but he has a nasty cough and a nasty attitude to match.   My dear hubby now has the yuck.   He also has a nasty cough, but no fever.   His attitude is fine! :)

My Mom has been gone this week taking care of my Grandfather.   He lives alone about five hours from us.   He's been dealing with gastrointestinal difficulties for about a month.   She called and offered to help him out.   At first he refused, then he accepted.   He is now hospitalized because the problem has gone on so long that he lost 17 pounds.  He is not a big man to begin with, so 17 pounds is quite significant.  He is supposed to be hospitalized through the weekend.  Pray for her and him.

Today we are enjoying cooler temperatures.   I love the Fall.   I love the crisp weather, I do not love 90 degree temps in OCTOBER.    I lived up north just long enough to come to love the seasons and cooler temperatures.   I will not get a beautiful Fall show of foliage, but I will take cooler temperatures.   I actually liked winter up north.   The snow was pretty, the city kept the roads cleared pretty well, and my husband shoveled the driveway. :)   In my defense, I did shovel a few times, but he was the more efficient one.   I had a nice warm winter coat to wear and watch my class at recess when I was teaching.  The rest of the time I admired the snow from the window.   One thing I will never forget is building a six foot snowman.   We were due to move to Florida the next day.   My husband and I went outside with our 9 month old and decided to play in the snow one last time.  We discovered perfect snowman snow.   The snow literally rolled up like carpet.   We took turns holding our daughter while we rolled snowballs around in our yard.  We made three huge snowballs and stacked them.   I remember how hard it was to get the last on on top because it was so heavy.  We added sticks for arms, rocks for eyes, and a scarf.   It was quite funny to see a snowman taller than us.  Two days later we were taking our daughter to the beach for the first time in Florida. 

I need to get off the computer and homeschool my son today.   We are on the letter F.  Our last name starts with F.  I talked to my son about that and spelled our name for him.   I said our name and emphasized the "F" sound.   Later my husband came home from work and asked our son if he had an F in his name.   He hesitated.   I called out from the other room, "Son don't embarrass me now!"   He then smiled and said I have an F in my last name.   That's my boy!

Taking a Breath

Since school started I have felt like I haven't been able to catch my breath.  So, I'm taking a minute to take a breath and post. 

We have been working hard to build a fence.  The fence was to enclose our boat so we didn't have to pay to store it.   Long story short, although Jason measured carefully to ensure that the boat fit, when we tried it, it didn't.  We lacked about 6 inches.   This antidote happened while Jason was working on the fence last week and I was at Beth Moore. 

The kids were playing on the fence supports and my son slipped and bumped his head on the neighbor's concrete driveway.  Naturally, he started wailing.  My daughter then started wailing as well.  My son stopped crying and looked at my daughter with a surprised look on his face.  My daughter then wailed, "I feel so badly for my brother."  My son then resumed crying.  Empathy at its best.