The Adventures of Karen

The Differenes Between Men and Women

2012-01-26T14:08:00.001-05:00

Mike grew up in an ultra-clutter-free home. Wrapping paper is immediately thrown out into the wastebasket on Christmas morning. I grew up in a home where the Christmas morning wrapping paper was allowed on the floor until all the presents were opened. Then, we picked up the paper. There was something festive about the various brightly colored papers strewn about the floor in reckless abandon. This may possibly cause the difference in the way Mike and I view messes, but I think it has more to do with the fact that men and women view things differently.

The male members of my household like to take off their socks in the evening and go barefoot. The problem is that they take their socks off in the living room or family room and leave them lying on the floor. The females (except for one) take their socks off in the bathroom or bedroom.

Before we moved here, I spent months putting multiple layers of primer and paint on all the walls and ceilings in this house. We will have lived here 2 years now and there are a few places on the walls that have marks. Mike has been putting up wainscotting on the walls of the stairway and mudding the walls above the new woodwork. It looks beautiful and I'm really excited about how well the project is looking. He had some leftover mud from the stair project and decided to repair all the spots on the main floor of the house. Every main floor room has white patches on the walls. I hadn't planned to paint the walls until spring and had only planned to repaint the family room. The wall damage bothered Mike. The white patches drive me crazy. Obviously, another male/female difference.

I've been working on scrapbooking and card-making recently. My supplies are on the dining room table during the day, because I work on my project whenever I have a few minutes. Mike finds my craft supplies annoying. He doesn't complain, but avoids being in the dining room.

While working on his stair project, Mike needs a lot of tools. There are tarps on the carpeting, nails, hammers, levels, yard sticks, drills, ladders, and dry wall supplies. He faithfully cleans up the tarps, and dry wall tools each time he works on the stairs. The other tools are left in the laundry room, on shelving in the living room and resting on the overhead-ledge in the stairway. I avoid the living room and frequently drag the ladder out to the shed. It annoys me to trip over his tools, but he's working on a big project that is primarily too make me happier about the way the stairway looks. Still his mess is annoying, but mine is work in progress and confined to one area of the home. Another difference of opinion.

I'm so blessed to have a husband who works hard all week at work, then comes home and works on household projects to make me happy. He also doesn't complain about my messes. It amuses me that we can look at projects and messes in completely different ways. I see walls the same color.....he sees walls with flaws. I see huge white patches, while he sees smooth wall surfaces. While tools strewn throughout the house seem haphazard to me, Mike knows where his tools are and the location makes sense to him. He sees a dining room table cluttered with papers, scissors, glue and markers. I see a craft area where work is being created.

Men and women have different priorities. Mike is supportive about my projects, so I keep my opinion about his messes to myself. Being inconvenienced by a few tools in the wrong rooms is a small price to pay for having projects get completed around the house and living where quarreling is not normal behavior. Now, if I could only get the guys in this house to put their socks in the laundry basket.

Finally Caught Up

2012-01-23T17:07:00.009-05:00

It took me over a week to get caught up on the laundry, ironing, cleaning, and school prep that fell behind during my week of extra practices and competitions. The kids did great. Paige and Allie's competition was fun. The crowd was not too large and the various events took place at the same time, so we didn't wait to long between seeing our children compete.

Allie's division was up first.

She ended up with third place for the Walk of Confidence. It seems like a silly event, but Allie is shy around strangers. She practiced this event frequently over the last few weeks. I was so proud of her during the competition. She spoke clearly, loudly and looked the judges in the eye. It was a huge accomplishment for her.

Paige's first event was also the Walk of Confidence.

It was fun to watch her. She approached the judges confidently, spoke VERY loudly (we heard her clearly on the other side of the high school gym) and maintained great eye contact. She won first place!

The next event was the Kata. Allie did her Kata well, but did not win a trophy. She was disappointed and had tears in her eyes when she returned to await the next event. We talked about doing our best and realizing that everyone wants to win, but sometimes the trophy goes to someone else. I also talked about being a good loser. We had this discussion while Paige was being judged on her Kata. Paige won a trophy. After taking her picture, I told her how proud we were of her, but asked her not to make a huge deal out of her trophy when Allie was around.

Neither girl got a trophy for their board breaking. Allie managed to break her 1/2 inch board on the first try. Paige couldn't break her 1 inch board and ended up breaking it on cinder blocks with her foot. She was a little frustrated, but laughed at her inability to break it with her hand. The girls were given their broken boards as souvenirs.

The last event was the obstacle course. Allie won second place which didn't surprise me, because she's so quick.

Paige didn't win a trophy, but had a great time.

I really struggle when my children compete at the same time. I dislike comparisons and competition between siblings. Mike and I were happy that both girls had a great time and showed improvement and confidence. As an added bonus, both girls won the same number of trophies!

At the awards ceremony last Thursday, we learned that both girls passed their exam and are now yellow belts.

End of the Season

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

Paige and Allie have been taking self defense classes this fall. They started out in the cheerleading classes, but decided that they wanted to try self defense. It's been really good for them. I was a little apprehensive after the first lesson when they came home and explained how to break someone's nose. During the last few months they have grown in self confidence and learned how to get away from attackers. This weekend the two girls will participate in their first tournament. They are a little nervous, but looking forward to judging. When we arrived at class this week, we learned that it was testing day. The girls will find out next week if they advanced to the next level. They are both pretty excited about getting their results.

Madelyn received a phone call on Monday asking her if she would be able to fill in as a flyer for the cheer leading division above her group. Flyers are the girls who are thrown in the air and caught by her team-mates. She's been practicing the new stunts that she will need this Saturday at the state competition. Another team will be loaning Madelyn a uniform to wear at the competition for the new level.

Next week is the last week of classes for cheer and tumbling. The evening will end with tryouts for placement in higher divisions and a potluck. The cheerleading potluck and the self defense potlucks take place at the same time. I'm going to attend the self defense potluck and am hoping to get Mike or one of the older girls to attend the cheer potluck with Madelyn.

Saturday is our big competition day for Madelyn, Paige and Allie. Mike took the day off of work, so he'll be able to watch the competitions with me. Sunday, I'll drive Madelyn alone and we may even try to do a little letterboxing on the way home. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate wi th dry roads.

The next season begins in February. It's not a long break, but we will enjoy a few weeks of family time on Thursday nights in front of the fireplace.

Counting My Blessings

2012-01-12T20:35:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks have been difficult. The winter depression has hit me particularly hard this year. A good night's sleep been non-existent. I'm lucky to get 4 hours of sleep per night. In between crying jags, I was dwelling on how yucky I felt. Then the phone calls began.

My cousin died in Afghanistan this week.

A homeschool friend from the town where we previously lived lost a son to suicide.

My neighbor filed for divorce and was later arrested during a domestic altercation.

A dear friend is also undergoing extreme stress.

My little troubles no longer seem so important. Loneliness will not kill me. My children (even when they drive me crazy) are reasonably healthy, happy, and enrich my life on so many levels. I may not spend as much time with my husband as I would like, but we have a rock solid marriage and still love each other after all these years. My children who are searching for employment have taken part-time work and fill their spare time with productive endeavors.

The depression is still here, but it seems so much easier to count all the wonderful blessing that God has given me.

Another New Year

2012-01-05T11:18:00.000-05:00

Snow finally arrived a few days ago. The children have been snowboarding, sledding, and tubing. We used to go sledding together as a family, but now that so many of the older children have work and activities, they go with friends or just a few of the kids will go together. Yesterday, Katie went sledding with a couple of friends in the morning. Steve went snowboarding with friends in the morning and afternoon. Joe and Madelyn walked down to the nearby park and sledded after lunch. Paige and Allie were picked up by a friend's mom and taking to a nearby tubing park. It's a little sad that we didn't all go together, but schedules just didn't fuse together well.

One of the things I'm hoping to do this year is to carve out time for us to all spend time together. It probably won't happen frequently, but it's something that's important to me. Our children have a huge age spread. The older children will be in their own homes in the near future. I'd like to have the younger children have memories of fun times together as an entire family while it's still possible.

Mike and I spent some time planning a family vacation for this summer. It's our 25th anniversary this year and we had originally thought about going to Europe, but decided that we would rather take a family vacation in the summer and a couple of weekend trips for the two of us.

Our Mountaineer car seat 9, but it's a very tight squeeze. Katie and Amy stated that they would be willing to drive one of their cars too, so we will be able to travel in comfort. The extra truck space will also be good. We're going to visit Virginia Beach. The route to Virginia Beach will be through Ohio and Pennsylvania. We'll head home through Tennessee and Kentucky. Mountains and an ocean should meet everyone's desires.

Mike and I will be headed to Chicago the last week of February for our first get-away. There is a letterbox event that I'd like to attend being held at a Chicago pizza restaurant. The pizza will keep Mike happy and the letterboxing will be fun for me. We're going to see a couple of shows and visit some museums while we're there. The day we get home will be out actual 25th anniversary.

The other trip that we are planning as a couple is in the fall. We've wanted to take the Canada color tour 24 hour train trip for several years. The longest train trip that I've ever taken was a 20 minutes Amtrack trip. This should be a completely new experience and the colors will be phenomenal.

Our plans aren't exotic or globe-trotting, but I think they will be fun and a little outside the norm for our family.

Happy Birthday Steve!

2011-12-30T19:51:00.000-05:00

Steve turned 17 today. How did that happen? He still looks about 13, so he's not usually thought of as being his actual age. Today it hit home. He spent several days this week with a friend from our previous congregation. They went snow boarding (on man made snow) and did some furniture moving for his friend's parents. I picked him up around noon and took him to the Hobby Lobby in Kalamazoo. When we pulled into the parking lot, I recognized Mike's car. Why would Mike be at the craft store? Amy had borrowed his car and was purchasing more jewelry making supplies. Steve quietly walked up to Amy and gave her a big hug, startling her in the process.

He spent our time at Hobby Lobby being a pest....trying to embarrass me by acting like a little kid. When we finally left, after making the cashier laugh, we headed to Walmart to purchase food stuff for his supper. He chose tostados for supper with ice cream Sundays for dessert. My boys almost never choose cake for their birthdays. Everyone is so tired of sweet baked goods by the week after Christmas.

Mike and Amy have to work this evening, but Steve has some friends over this evening and one of them will be spending the night. I'm sure that he will continue to spend the evening driving me nuts (it's his favorite thing to do lately). It's difficult to get angry when he's being annoying, because he is so silly that he makes me laugh.

Happy Birthday to a wonderful boy, who ALWAYS livens things up.

Happy Birthday Joe

2011-12-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

My youngest boy turned 15 today! Joe decided that he wants to prepare his own birthday supper. We'll be having home-made ravioli with two different fillings,a sausage and cheese filling and a ricotta filling. He wanted to make pirogies as well, but I didn't want the mess of these two dishes. Joe doesn't want cake, so we'll be enjoying chocolate milkshakes instead.

Happy birthday Joe! I can't imagine our lives without your sunny disposition.

Running Behind

2011-12-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well, I had thought that things were under control. School was moving along comfortably and 70% of the gifts were bought. There were only 2 Christmas cards to finish making before heading to the post office. Then the terrible bug that has been floating around our home decided that it was my turn. The stupid virus knocked me out for over a week. I no longer feel that things are under control.

Most of the presents were bought on Thursday and Friday. My fever had broke, so I ran to Kalamazoo and finished up the kids. The following day, I purchased Mike's gift. Still nothing has been made or purchased to put in the stockings and 5 presents left to buy for the gift exchange. Mike may be hitting the mall next week to finish off those things for me.

I plan to finish the remaining two Christmas cards and get the dropped off into the mailbox by the post office tonight. Our Christmas cards NEVER go out this late. Even the year that I gave birth to Allie on the 12, the cards were in the mail on the 14th. They will probably not arrive before Christmas, but at least they will be postmarked before Christmas Eve.

Yesterday, I managed to sew four Christmas gifts for the girls. The items turned out really cute and I hope that they are enjoyed. I had planned to make more items this year, but the week in bed has changed my plans. I can always make the other items in January.

My mom let us know when she expects us for Christmas at her home. She suggested 2:00, after we've all had dinner. I need to plan for a 2 hour drive each way due to traffic and weather problems, so we need to leave by noon. It's not going to be possible to eat our normal Christmas dinner and get out of the house on time. My children are really disappointed. We've decided to eat Chinese food instead. I'm hoping that the ethnic cuisine will be so different that everyone will throw themselves into the fun of eating egg rolls, instead of focusing on the loss of ham and mashed potatoes. If Mike gets home early from work on Christmas Eve, I will probably serve our traditional Christmas dinner that night.

Our church had it's children's service today. The service was okay. All the traditional Christmas hymns were sung by the congregation. The Sunday school children sang "This Little Light of Mine" and other simple, cutesy songs with hand movements. Madelyn went to the first practice and begged to be excused from participating. We didn't make her because she is 4+ years older than all the other children.

The Sunday school teachers chose the music for the service. They said that regular Christmas hymns were too difficult for the students to learn. Quite often people assume that learning songs or memorizing things is hard for children. My experiences have been different. Any time we have consistently sang a song or hymn together regularly as a family, my children always learn the words from memory before me. Their little brains soak up information so quickly! They also relish the fact that they learn it before me. Why do well meaning adults expect so little from children?

After church, Joe and Madelyn went caroling with the youth group to a couple of nursing homes. I didn't go, because I can't sing at all yet. My children were the only youth group members who went. The youth group leader and an elder from choir also went caroling. I asked my children if they were uncomfortable about the small group. Joe responded that he sang loudly and compensated for the missing people. A couple of the elderly ladies kissed Madelyn, which made her uncomfortable because she didn't know them. Joe said that Madelyn didn't act like she was uncomfortable until they returned to the car.

Cheer Competition

2011-12-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

Last night, we went drove up to Madelyn's cheerleading competition. Mike was helpful and got out of work early, so I wouldn't need to do the long drive home in the dark. My night vision isn't what it used to be. Competition was long, with her division taking 4 hours. Madelyn had fun and her team did really well, finishing 2nd.

Madelyn is lifted by her team on the far right.

Madelyn is on top in the center.
Madelyn is the main flyer for her team. The flyer is the person who gets lifted, thrown, and caught by her team-mates.

Here she is after the competition. Her hair that had taken 2 hours to make super curly has fallen and her make-up was changed from tasteful to sparkly by the coach. She had a great time and will now be heading to the state competition in January. After checking my calendar, I realized that it's on the same day as Paige and Allie's karate competition. I'm hoping that Mike can get that day off of work.

Do It Yourself Dentistry

2011-12-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

This is major confession time. No, we are not bad parents, nor do we avoid dentists and doctors normally. We do live on a budget and don't have a lot of extra for out-of-pocket dental bills.

When Amy was in late elementary and junior high, she was getting more of her adult teeth. Unfortunately, her baby teeth were not coming out. The permanent teeth were coming in behind the baby teeth. Our dentist charged over $60 to pull a baby tooth. We didn't have any dental coverage at the time and my friend, who is a pediatrician, showed us how to remove baby teeth ourselves. Amy had two weeks to work on loosening her baby teeth and then we tied string around the tooth and pulled it. There is a definite trick in regards to the angle necessary to remove the teeth. Amy wasn't thrilled, but did appreciate the $10 we paid her for each extraction. This was in the early 90s, so $10 went pretty far.

Last January, I had a retreat on a root canal on a tooth with a crown. Our insurance only pays a small portion on a crown, so we have invested heavily in this molar. The specialist who did the retreat used up $200 of my dental benefits from last year and ALL of this years benefits. The retreat did not include putting a filling in the crown. I've been trying to not eat with that tooth, but eventually the temporary filling wore away. About 3 months ago, the crown started falling out. I have been able to put the tooth back in position, but eventually it would fall out again.

Yesterday, the tooth kept falling out. I considered just having the tooth stump in place, but feared that the shape of my gums and position of my other teeth would change, thus rendering the crown unusable. I was tossing around ideas on ways to keep the tooth in place. Wax would probably melt, clay could possible be toxic or damage the crown, tape wouldn't stick. Amy got on the internet and looked for possible treatments. Hurray! There is a product that is used for temporary fillings. This afternoon, I reattached the crown and filled the hole in it. All for $5. It was an easy repair and I feel much more confident knowing that my tooth won't fall out at any moment.

Next time, I'm going to check the internet for possible solutions immediately.

Music, Music, Music

2011-12-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to be more vigilant about giving piano lessons with my children. It seems that music lessons are one of the first things that get dropped when we get super busy. Alison is making slow steady progress. Paige is flying ahead. She began lessons in October and is already playing chords. She has wanted lessons for a long time, but I failed to follow through on her request.

Joe has also been practicing the piano quite a bit. He's been working on several new pieces and it's been a joy to hear him. When Joe was younger, he learned to play the pan flute in a homeschool music class. He's asked for a pan flute for his birthday (Dec. 27), but we'll have to see if I can find one. Joe is also singing int he choir at school. Last year, he sang with me in the church choir, but isn't this year. I think he enjoys the social aspect of singing with his peers.

Steve has been working hard on both the piano and guitar. Almost everyday, he works on some new song. I'm not able to help him with the guitar and he hasn't had private lessons. It's amazing to hear him play, because he is displaying a lot of skill. Steve is also singing in the high school choir. Usually, students need to spend one year singing in the high school before they can audition for the highest choir. Yesterday, Steve came home from school and announced that he has been asked to sing in the highest choir! I'm so happy that he is finally finding his niche at the high school.

All of these people practicing makes a lot of music in our home. Mike was home yesterday and mentioned that the piano never rests. He gets tired of hearing it all day long, but I love it!

Straight No Chaser -- "Jingle Bells" -- Hershey

2011-12-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

A Charlie Brown Christmas - Christmas Time is Here Song

2011-12-04T20:54:00.000-05:00

What do you get a wookie for christmas ( When he already owns a comb)

2011-12-03T20:50:00.001-05:00

This little Christmas gem come to you highly recommended by my nerdy daughter....you KNOW who you are!

It's a Matter of Priorities

2011-12-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

The difficulty is that there are so many hours in the day and too many things to do. The children can be well educated, the house clean, creative projects can be completed or I can play on the computer. Lately, the domestic/educator side of my personality has kicked itself into high gear. It's a very good thing.

Since Paige and Allie have returned to homeschooling we've been incredibly productive. For the most part, we're treating their public school time as a mini-vacation and starting their real school year on October 31. The girls have been very motivated to get their school work done early in the day. I admit that I'm letting them play a ton of Wii in the afternoon or play outside if the weather cooperates.

They are having so much fun together, that they keep getting up earlier and earlier each day to finish school. I overslept last Tuesday and didn't drag myself out of bed until 9:30. Once I realized the lateness, I ran into the family room. The three girls were on the couch together. Paige was helping Allie complete her math assignment. They think that 6 pages of math is one days work. In reality, one days assignment is 2 pages. (Thank you public school for endless ditto pages to keep children busy!) I taught them English and realized that they had already done all the rest of their school work. About an hour later, a public school friend called to ask if they could play. The public schools had a snow day!

Paige and Allie are currently getting done with a full days work by about 10:30 on a normal day. Madelyn's work takes longer, so she doesn't finish up until around noon which still leaves me time to clean and cook in the afternoon.

During the evenings, several Christmas presents have been sewn, cards have been created, Bible classes and choir practices have been attended, and games have been played with the kids.

All this is a wordy way of stating that I'm having a difficult time keeping up with email-loops and my poor blog. I'll probably just do a weekly post for the next few weeks, then regular blog posts should return after the holidays.

The Muppets: Ringing of the Bells

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! Time to have some holiday music by polished performers. Enjoy!

Yummy Recipes

2011-11-30T15:32:00.000-05:00

Over the Thanksgiving holidays, I was blessed to receive two recipes for dishes that my family loves. The first is my mom's German Potato Salad. This is a traditional recipe handed down in my mother's German family. It's my husband's favorite dish.

German Potato Salad

2 pounds potatoes
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 Cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Cup water
1/2 Cup vinegar

Cook the potatoes until not quite done, peel, and slice. Cook bacon until crisp, drain and crumble. Reserve 1/4 to 1/3 cup drippings. In the same pan cook onion in drippings.

When tender, add water, vinegar, and sugar. Cook for two minutes, add bacon. Pour over potatoes. Put in top of double boiler or crock pot for 1-2 hours.

Serve hot.

The second recipe, my family enjoyed during coffee hour at church. It's similar to my Dutch Apple Bread, but has a tart-like texture.

Dutch Apple Coffee Cake

Batter
2 1/2 Cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbls. sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, slightly beaten
6 cooking apples, sliced.

Topping
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. cinnamon

Sife dry batter ingredients together; cut in butter until crumble. Add vanilla to egg and then blend with flour mixture. Press evenly onto the bottom and sides of a 15/10/1 inch pan. Cover dough with overlapping layers of apple slices.

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.

Serve warm or cold with whipping cream.

Field Trip to Kalamazoo Valley Museum

2011-11-21T10:19:00.000-05:00

Mike and I took the girls to KVM the first week in November. We hadn't been there for several years and enjoyed seeing the changes that have occurred since our last visit. Paige and Allie really enjoyed the computer generated art exhibit.

One of the long time favorites still captures Paige and Allie's attention. We love the tornado creation exhibit.

The Egyptian Mummy exhibit added greatly to our study of Ancient Egypt.

We had a great time together and the younger girls are already asking if we can take another field trip to the museum. Next time, we'll be sure to visit the planetarium!

First Snowman of the Season

2011-11-20T10:08:00.003-05:00

We got some snow last week. Madelyn and Paige felt the need to make snowmen.

Katie Turns 19

2011-11-19T10:07:00.001-05:00

Katie's birthday was Friday. She had recently watched Outrageous Foods on the Food Channel and noticed that they were featuring a restaurant in Michigan. As a special treat for her birthday, we drove up to Muskegon and ate at Papa Bear's Restaurant.

When we located the restaurant, we weren't sure if we wanted to eat there. The restaurant still looked like someone's house. It was sort of run down and probably not a place we would normally eat.

After driving 3 hours, we decided to go inside and be adventurous. This is the entry rug, which Madelyn, Paige and Allie thought was fabulous.

Katie wanted to order The Grizzly, which was featured on Outrageous Foods. The Grizzly is a large meat, pepper, onion, cheese and egg filled hash brown, covered in cheese. Only four people have been able to eat this entree since it was placed on the menu.

Katie trying to eat her Grizzly.

After four people had dined on Katie's entree.

We brought home enough food to feed everyone breakfast tomorrow! We probably will never return to Papa Bear's restaurant, but the portion sizes are generous and the staff was friendly. I can see why so many locals eat there. The cost of Katie's Grizzly.......$16.

Nostalgic Christmas Gifts

2011-11-16T09:11:00.000-05:00

My oldest daughter asked for a Nintendo NES for Christmas. It was the first video game system that she remembers playing as a child. When she mentioned it last week, the system was selling used on Ebay for about $25. Yesterday when she was gone, I tried to purchase the system on Ebay. We still own two controllers, the gun and a dozen games, so I only need the actual system. The NES is now selling for $50-$100. Yikes!

I waited until she came home from work and asked her how much she wanted the NES? She looked at me strangely, so clarification was necessary. After learning that the system is now substantially more than it was last week, Amy decided that reliving her childhood wasn't that important.

It would have been fun to have the game in the house again, but I think we can wait until January or February to relive the past.

Toe Surgery

2011-11-10T19:30:00.000-05:00

Steve's been struggling with a lot of pain in is left foot. His two largest toe nails were ingrown. Mike had many problems with ingrown toenails as a teen and had them all cut out. (He really hates the way his toes look.) A few years ago, Steve had the two largest toe nails on his right foot cut out, but it was time to get the other foot done.

Mike took him Tuesday after school. Steve had a much more difficult time with the left foot. He did manage to get hot pink bandages though, which improved his spirits. We allowed Steve to stay home from school on Wednesday, but shipped him back today.

I was meeting with his counselor to work on next semester's schedule, so planned to take in the note for his absence. The school dean called me before the appointment to clarify that Steve had permission to miss school. The dean excused the absence, but wouldn't mark it as a medical excuse unless I bring in paperwork from the hospital. I guess looking at Steve's feet isn't good enough proof. :) Mike turned in the paperwork to the insurance company, so Steve will need to settle for an excused absence.

He's still hobbling around the house and probably won't be doing too much walking, running, or skateboarding any time soon. Even though we got snow today and the skateboard season has ended, he'll be much more comfortable when the toes are fully healed.

Musings

2011-11-07T07:38:00.000-05:00

The attendance at our church has increased since the pastor has left. For the last two weeks, a retired pastor has been filling in as a guest minister. We have enjoyed his sermons and it's wonderful to have so many more voices heard when we sing. I have noticed that EVERYONE sits in the back 1/2 of the church. Even the families that normally sit up front. Back when I took public speaking classes, it seemed more difficult to talk to a group that was separated by rows of empty seats. Mike and I have decided that we are going to sit up in the front of the church in the future. We may even spread out the family and take two pews!

Steve needs to have foot surgery this week on his toes. He has another in-grown toe that needs fixing. Mike had work done on his big toes when he was young. Maybe it's hereditary? Steve hasn't been able to talk without pain for a week, but kept hoping that soaking his feet in Epsom salted water would help.

The little girls, Amy and I went for an afternoon of walks in the woods and cemeteries. In other words, we went letterboxing. It does me so much good to get outside in the sunshine for several hours on the weekends. This is going to be a priority for me in the future. My outlook is much more optimistic after getting a good dose of vitamin D and fresh air. It's well worth the slightly messy home when I return.

Paige and Allie miss a few of their school friends. These are children from broken families and it's been difficult to make play dates because they are at the other parent's house midweek and on the weekends. My heart aches for all the children who lead such fractured lives. Madelyn has a friend who came over before she went to her dad's house last summer. The girl was crying because she didn't want to go. She had just returned from a vacation with her mom and now she was off again. The friend wanted to spend time at home and see some of her friends.

I think that it's wonderful that her dad wants to see her and spends time with her regularly. The father-daughter relationship is important. Unfortunately, the constant upheaval in the daughter's life is sad and painful.

Our Home School Journey part one

2011-11-05T09:07:00.000-04:00

Someone suggested that I talk about some of the ways that we have homeschooled over the years. It's taken me some time to think about how our philosopy has changed. Our reasons for homeschooling have also had some changes. When we began our homeschool journey, I was a reasonably young mom to three children. Our oldest daughter, Amy was 7 and had been attending the Lutheran Elementary School at a church in Otsego, MI. We lived in Battle Creek which was about 35-45 minutes away. Katie was 2 years old; Steve was 6 months old.

The younger children would spend 3 hours each day in the car, while I drove to school twice a day. Steve was young enough to sleep during most of the trips, but Katie hated to spend time in her car seat. She would scream and cry almost all of the afternoon run to school. It was nerve-wracking to drive with a screaming child, but I persevered. On Amy's last day of 2nd grade, my car broke down on the morning run to school. This was before cell-phones were "must have" items and I was stranded by the corn fields. I unloaded the three children from the car and prepared to walk 2 miles back to a gas station with a phone.

After a short walk, someone stopped to let me use his cell phone. I called Mike and asked him to come and pick us up. Mike was the only person at work and couldn't leave until someone else arrived. The kids and I returned to the car and waited. Mike eventually arrived and I drove him back to work, then traveled to Amy's school. It was almost lunch time when we arrived and I still needed to deal with the abandoned car, so I decided that Amy would just pick up her things and be absent for the last day.

On the journey back to Battle Creek, Mike's car broke down. Katie was screaming in the back seat, Steve needed to nurse, and Amy was disappointed to miss the last day of school. Eventually, Mike left work for the day and we dealt with the cars issues.

After that experience, we decided that the journey back and forth was too much for us at this time. I didn't want to face another year of screaming kids for hours each day. It also wasn't fair for the younger children to be stuck in the car for so much time. They deserved to play and run around. We would have to find a school closer to home.

I spoke with some of my friends who were teaching in the Battle Creek schools and we quickly realized that Amy was far ahead of her public school counterparts. She was going to be bored in public school. There were no local private schools, so we couldn't figure out a solution.

While shopping for a replacement car, the salesman mentioned that his wife homeschooled their children. Hmmm. I had never thought about homeschooling as a possibility. Mike and I talked and prayed about the situation for several weeks and finally decided to try home schooling the next school year. How much damage could I do in one year? Even if our experience was a flop, Amy wouldn't be behind academically after one year.

At that time, homeschooling was done quietly. There had been some nasty legal battles in Michigan and many people were afraid of attracting the notice of the local ISDs. Finding information about purchasing homeschool materials was difficult. Eventually, I called the car salesman and asked if there were any homeschool organizations I could join. He provided me with the numbers to a couple of support groups and I made some phone calls. One of the groups sent me an information packet and I discovered some homeschool suppliers.

I ordered too many materials and set up a classroom in the basement. Before getting married, I had completed the classes for an elementary education teaching certificate, so my instinct was to do school at home. Most of the materials I purchased were traditional textbooks, some project idea books, and lots of literature books.

At the end of August, one of the support groups hosted a homeschool workshop. During the workshop, one of the presenters asked what we planned to do during the upcoming school year. She used me as the example of what NOT to do. It was embarrassing to be singled out as the bad homeschool teacher, especially since we hadn't even started school yet!

I learned about other methods of homeschooling and was intrigued by the unit study approach. Several of the history topics we were covering that year could be done as unit studies! One homeschool presenter talked about unschooling. She used real life to teach her children. She suggested that I consider joining 4-H as a way to add more educational opportunities for Amy AND as a way to add more socialization.

I couldn't understand why various speakers were so harsh about other homeschool methods. Wasn't there room for different opinions? Was one method more valid than another? Why were the different speakers so defensive? I left the workshop excited about the upcoming year, but a little nervous about the various camps that seemed to exist. Homeschoolers seemed to be a fractured group instead of a homogenous groups of people.

Fall Hike and Cheerleading Stunt Clinic

2011-11-03T17:09:00.000-04:00

These are some photos of the girls when we were hiking recently. I missed most of the beautiful fall days this year. When there was time to enjoy a forest walk, the weather didn't cooperate. I'm so glad that we were able to spend that weekend outside.

Paige and Allie resting on a wooden fence. The trails in the park are wonderful. They are well groomed even in the winter!

Amy, Paige and Allie

Paige and Allie headed off into the swamp on floating docking. The snakes were near me, just off the main trail.

Madelyn playing around at the rest area on our way back from Stunt Clinic.

The easy pose when Madelyn is at the top of the pyramid. She prefers the throw and catches in the V-sit position. Parents weren't allowed at the clinic, so I only have her description to know what is happening. I'm still not sure if it's better NOT to know exactly what she is doing.

Thankful

2011-11-02T21:20:00.000-04:00

The girls are enjoying their first week at home. We've played with friends and went on fun field trips. God has blessed the girls by having their best school friends continue to be a part of their lives. I was nervous that Paige and Allie's best friends would no longer be able to play with them. Their friends' parents are teachers at the school the girls no longer attend. One of the moms has asked if the girls could have a regular Wednesday play day! She also offered to bring information about community activities, so my girls don't miss out on soccer, baseball or art classes.

I'm also thankful that the girls have been industrious with their schoolwork this week. They have worked diligently on their assignments, so we have been able to have fairly short school days and lots of time for other interests. We're hoping to be able to go visit their grandparents over the next couple of weeks. We haven't had time to see either side of the family recently. I know everyone will enjoy a nice long visit.

Mike called me this afternoon to tell me that my sewing machine is repaired! It's been several months since my machine was in working order. On Friday, I will have a newly cleaned, working machine. Time to do some serious sewing! The best information was that it was less than $100 for the repair! Mike and I were afraid that the repair would be several hundred dollars. What a blessing! Let the sewing begin.

Changes at Our House

2011-10-28T16:24:00.000-04:00

Today was Paige and Allie's last day at the public school. We told the girls last night. There were a few tears, but the girls seemed to accept the situation. We stressed that they had not done anything wrong and that we weren't upset with the school or their teachers. We explained that we felt that their educational needs were best served at home.

The girls came home from school with lots of notes from their friends. Both teachers invited the girls to come visit some time. The principal spoke with the girls about today being their last day. The teachers sent home some of their partially used workbooks. We will probably use the penmanship and vocabulary workbooks next week, just to have some familiarity in the first few days.

Stephen's counselor called to let me know that he will be required to take tests for all his homeschool classes to receive credit. He has two weeks to take 16 tests. I explained that Steve won't be returning next year or getting a diploma from the high school. The counselor is going to talk to the principal to determine if he can attend classes the remainder of the year without taking the tests. If he is required to take these tests, he will also be returning home.

Stephen has a high GPA in his current classes. He is demonstrating that he is capable to doing the work at grade level. If he is getting an A in 11th grade English, why does he need to take a test to prove that he is capable to doing 9th grade English? It seems like a lot of jumping through hoops for the sake of filling out paper work. What a waste of time!

It will be lovely to have the girls home next week. I'm looking forward to spending time with them and watching them flourish educationally once again.

Chicago (the cat)

2011-10-26T14:39:00.000-04:00

I'm not a huge cat fancier. The smell of a litterbox makes me nauseous, even one that is cleaned everyday. Cats aren't as easy going as a dog. A dog will love you when ever you give him attention. A cat needs to be courted on a regular basis and even then, may not want to be petted and cuddled.

Katie received a cat when she was 9. She named her Chicago and at first did a brilliant job of caring for her pet. Eventually, Kate decided that she didn't want to feed or water her pet and completely ignored the need to police that cat's commode.
We spent a lot of time reminding Kate, but frequently one of the other children or I would take care of the cat's needs.

Chicago became a "family" pet and Steve took over the day-to-day responsibilities of cat care. Chicago loves Steve and will spend hours wrapped around his neck or cuddled inside his hoodie. The younger children have always wanted to play with Chicago, but she doesn't like young children.

Since several of the children are at school or work, the cat has started to crave attention. From anyone. She immediately sits on someone's lap as soon as he sits down. She rubs up against my legs when I am cooking or ironing. She's constantly underfoot. I can't decide if it was better when she ignored everyone or not.

Paige and Allie love that Chicago wants to spend time with them now. They make forts with blankets and curl up with the cat. Sometimes they even sneak her up to their bedroom to sleep on their beds at night. Most of the family has mild cat allergies and the cat isn't supposed to be upstairs at all. So I try to shoo her downstairs each evening before I go to bed.

We've had the cat for a long time now and she's never been one to climb on tables or the counter......until recently. When we got our larger dining room table, it had a cherry top, without any laminate. I don't want it to get scratched with daily use, so it's always covered with a table cloth. Chicago thinks that the table cloth is an invitation to sit and rest. We are constantly having to shoo her off the table and change the table cloth. A plastic, wipe able table cloth was purchased a few weeks ago, which I thought would solve the problem. It hasn't.

Chicago has been a mixed blessing over the years. She keeps our home mouse-free and the children all love her. Will we get another cat, when Chicago moves out with Katie or passes away? Probably not, but she's pretty cool......for a cat.

Weekend

2011-10-24T19:01:00.000-04:00

The two younger girls, Amy and I spent most of Saturday planting letterboxes in the woods about 30 minutes from our home. We had such a good time, hiking, collecting leaves and acorns, looking at snakes, etc. I've really gotten tired of the rain we've had during the last two weeks.

Everyone was in good spirits and enjoyed each others' company. Paige and Allie got to see a field of cranes and hundred of crows fly over our heads. During the walk through the second park, Paige and Allie decided that they wanted to do reports on their forest trips. They snagged some rocks, pine needles and pine cones to add to the already gathered leaves and acorns. When we returned home, both girls gathered paper, glue, scissors, and writing tools. They happily spent over an hour putting together their report and making a sample board.

On Sunday, Mike, Madelyn and I headed up to Mount Pleasant for a cheerleading stunt clinic. Madelyn is in the competition cheerleading team and this clinic works on throws, pyramids and tumbling. The coaches were surprised that Madelyn was already able to do the tumbling tricks. She did some back flips and was told that she isn't supposed to know those until she is two levels higher in competition.

Madelyn was made the flyer for her team, which means that she gets tossed into the air and caught by her team mates. She also gets to stand at the top of the pyramid and do various poses. Her team mates dropped her three times during the clinic. She was pretty sore by the time we reached home Sunday night.

While she was at the clinic, Mike and I drove around the area and did a little letter boxing. We planted a couple of boxes and managed to find a few. There aren't many boxes planted in the Mount Pleasant area. I'll probably plant several more in the spring when we return for another clinic.

I felt so much better after spending most of the weekend outside. The fresh air and exercise was just what I needed.

Yummy, Moist Coffee Cake

2011-10-21T21:24:00.000-04:00

I'd post a photo of this fabulous coffee cake, but the family ate it up before I found the camera and batteries.

Cinnamon Yogurt Coffee Cake

1 cup softened butter
2 3/4 cups sugar, divided
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups yogurt
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla and beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture, alternating with yogurt. Beat just enough to keep the batter smooth.

Spoon 1/3 of batter into greased tube pan (we used 10".) Combine the cinnamon, nuts, and remaining sugar. Sprinkle 1/3 over batter in pan. Repeat for 2 additional layers.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan.

We made two of these. One with vanilla yogurt, the other with blueberry yogurt. Both cakes were delicious. The blueberry cake was a slightly strange color, but the taste was superior to the vanilla yogurt cake. Better taste or more eye appeal....decisions, decisions!

Prayer Request

2011-10-21T19:44:00.000-04:00

The church that my family has been attending for almost 2 years is making some changes. We received a letter informing us that there are negotiations between the pastor and the elders to determine a severance package before the pastor resigns. If negotiations are not successful the church will be rescinding the pastor's call.

We were shocked and saddened to hear about this situation. I'm not sure what has happened to reach this point, but I do know that the pastor and his wife are both having health issues. Please pray for our church and the pastor and his lovely wife.

Woo Hoo!

2011-10-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

Joe finished 6th in the regional meet on Thursday! There were 68 runners in his race. He's been working so hard this season and it's wonderful to see his hard work pay off.

More Free Time on my Hands

2011-10-18T12:10:00.000-04:00

Having one homeschooled student is fun. We accomplish everything early each day. We have time to talk, play games, clean the house, cook real meals. On the other hand, Madelyn isn't used to having or desiring her teacher's undivided attention all day. She's taken to hiding out in other rooms to do her assignments instead of sitting at the table, where I wait patiently for her to complete her work.

To give her a break and bring her back to the dining room table, I've been doing letterbox trading cards or LTCs. After providing instruction and doing a few practice problems with Madelyn, I work on trading cards while she does school. She really appreciates NOT being the center of attention and I get to be a little creative.

LTCs are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch cards that are stamped with a hand-carved rubber stamp and then decorated using various craft techniques. Each LTC trading tracker consists of between 12-50 participants. Each person makes enough cards for each person signed up in the tracker. The cards are then mailed to one person, who divides them among all the participants and then mails them back.

After creating and stamping all the LTCs, I plant the stamp with a logbook for someone to find as a traditional letterbox.

These are some of the LTCs that I've made this week.

More on Spelling

2011-10-18T11:49:00.000-04:00

Paige has continued to bring home incredibly difficult spelling words each week. We're still spending hours each week studying spelling. They do not do any spelling in the classroom. I've fumed to my family, but have not spoken to the teacher about the ridiculousness of these lists. Obviously, I'm not the only parent upset by all the homework. Monday, Paige's teacher sent home an information sheet about her expectations with assigned homework.

The children were given a placement test at the beginning of the school year for spelling. After the results were tallied, the students were divided into various groups based upon their skill level. Paige is in the top group. The students in each group are provided a huge list of words. Each child chooses 20 words for the week. If a child misses any of the words, they are placed on the following weeks list. PAIGE has been choosing these words!

We had a (reasonably) calm discussion on choosing words for her spelling list. She can pick 3 very difficult words each week, MAXIMUM. The rest of the words need to be middle difficulty words. I won't force her to pick what she calls the "baby words". Hopefully, this discussion will greatly decrease the amount of time we spend of learning new words each week.

Btw, Paige's teacher is thrilled with Paige's spelling ability! She should be. We've worked hard enough! :)

Trick or Treat

2011-10-16T08:32:00.000-04:00

We are Christians who regularly attend church. We let our kids trick or treat. I've tried to steer our children away from dressing up as witches because I don't want them to take witchcraft as a joke. Usually, my girls have wanted to be various princesses or cheerleaders. Steven always wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, or Link. That was easy because the basic costume didn't change too much. Joe always wanted to be something fairly easy. He's been Inspector Gadget, a pizza delivery guy, etc.

This year, everyone wants to dress up as zombies or vampires. I know that these creatures have been in a lot of popular movies and books recently, but I don't want my 6 year old dressing up as a vampire. The Twilight saga just seems sick to me. The relationships twisted and unhealthy. Most of my children haven't seen or read any of the Twilight stuff and just hear about cool vampires.

Here's what my kids want to be this year, either for trick or treating or for various parties that they will be attending:

Allie-vampire
Paige-vampire princess or a witch
Madelyn-zombie ballerina
Joe-zombie
Steve-Waldo (thank you Steve!)
Amy-zombie

Katie has school that night, so she isn't planning on dressing up.

I don't know what everyone will use for their costume yet, but I'm not happy this year. Princesses and Star Wars characters were fun and innocent. Zombies and vampires are dark characters.

Life's Little Inconveniences

2011-10-11T11:32:00.000-04:00

Sunday after church, I took the kids to a nearby park to do some hiking in the beautiful fall weather. The colors are popping in our area and the temperature was around 80. Some of the kids were less than enthusiastic, but I wanted to spend some time with them anyway, so I forced them to come.

When we reached the park, one of the children offered to put my purse in the under-seat storage container. He had a difficult time getting it to close and forced the seat down.

Some of the kids were disgruntled during the walk. One child refused to climb a steep hill until we left her behind. Another child repeatedly complained about hunger pains. A third child grumbled about the sun being too hot. When another child whined about the stick-tights, I decided to end our wonderful family bonding experience.

I planned to stop at the grocery to pick up chips to go with our sandwiches for lunch. One of the kids tried to open the storage container and couldn't get it open. The child pulled harder and harder, until the strap broke off. A couple of the older children and I tried to get it open, but were unable to find a way to undo the clasp. We returned home without chips.

Our misadventure of the afternoon left me a little depressed. I don't see the children too often now that they are in school. It would be nice to enjoy our time together. Mike suggested that he and I drive down to Indiana to get pizza from a restaurant that boasts the best pizza in Indiana. The drive was only about 45 minutes and we could talk and enjoy the scenery on our journey.

The trees were beautiful and the sunset spectacular. When we reached the small town and located the restaurant, we discovered that it was not open on Sundays. We decided to try one of the several local pizza places that we had passed on our trip. Unfortunately, it was getting later in the day and the local pizza places had closed before we reached them on the return journey. Eventually, we ended up at our local Mancino's and ordered pizza.

While we were gone, I asked one of the boys to make spaghetti for everyone. He couldn't find the sausage....or the angel hair pasta....or any hamburger. The kids ended up eating tri-color rotini with meatless spaghetti sauce.

Mike tried to get my purse out of the storage locker without any success on Sunday night. The kids had doctor appointments on Monday and I knew that I would need the insurance card in my purse.

We have been unable to find local doctors who are able to schedule appointments in less than 4 months. I've called all the doctors in the large city to our north and cannot get appointments in a timely manner there either. The school system would not allow the kids to attend classes after October unless their shots are current. Eventually, I called our former pediatrician in Battle Creek and was able to get everyone in promptly.

We woke up early for the appointments. One of the boys laid on the floor of the SUV and tried to pry open the storage container. He couldn't get it open. About 1/2 way through our 75 minute drive, we all switched places so Mike could work on the storage locker. He wasn't able to open it and we went to the appointment without our insurance card.

I always knew that my purse contained important information, but not having access to my purse made getting through the day difficult. My debit card and checkbook were both inside. Would a policeman understand if I got pulled over and couldn't produce the license that was inside the vehicle. Happily, that situation didn't occur, but I was a little uncomfortable thinking about the possibility.

After the appointment, we headed to Yankee Springs to have a picnic and do a little letterboxing. Mike stopped in Hastings and picked up sandwich supplies. The park was almost empty. We ate our picnic at the water's edge and there was no one in sight. After lunch we drove over to some hiking trails. We were getting our bearings and had started reading some clues to the letterbox.

One of the children decided to be as difficult as possible. It was kids stuff, but incredibly annoying. After awhile, I was out of patience. I couldn't think about the clues with someone singing loudly in my ear. It's difficult to read when someone is throwing stick-tights in your face. Eventually, we headed back to the car without finding any boxes. Why do children want to be "fun-suckers?" I've decided that I am through taking that particular child anywhere for a long time.

This morning, Mike was able to get my purse out of the storage area. My children did all get their physicals and shot, so they can remain in school.

Educational Philosophies

2011-10-05T09:06:00.001-04:00

We sent several of the kids to traditional school this year. Some of the experiences have been successful, others have been less positive.

I'm currently annoyed with spelling. Granted, I have a lot more time on my hands to get upset about things, but poor Paige is beginning to believe that she is a weak speller. What irritates me so much is that she is a good speller. She can spend 5 minutes looking over a spelling list and spell all the words correctly. She hasn't just managed to put the spellings in her short term memory for a test. She consistently spells the words correctly in her writing.

Last week, Paige brought home her list of words for the week. I was a little surprised at the list, but we worked every night on these words. Some of the words seemed silly to me for a third grade child. Here are my personal favorites:

absolute location
direction words
relative location
geography

Her list was made up of 20 words. Five were "normal" third grade words. Two were super easy words. Three words were challenging words. The remaining words were very difficult. I looked up the very difficult spelling words to check the spelling grade level. The words ranged from 7th-9th grade. No wonder it took so long to learn how to spell them!

I like to challenge my children and don't have a problem with them learning to spell difficult words. My gripe is that spelling words should be made up of words that they actually use in their normal vocabulary. Spelling words are even more meaningful if they consist of words that the child uses to write. I can't remember the last time that I used absolute location in a sentence. Wouldn't it make more sense to learn the differences between they're, there and their? We spent about 45 minutes each night studying these very difficult words, breaking them down into syllables that she could sound out.

Paige took her test Friday and missed absolute location and relative location. She wrote the letter c backwards. She came home from school crushed and cried when she showed me her spelling test. Her teacher had said that Paige hadn't studied the words enough last week. I understand that Paige was incorrect when she wrote the letter c backward, but the words were actually spelled correctly. The teacher should have focused on the penmanship aspect of the error, instead of assuming that Paige hadn't spent time learning how to spell the words. I was there.....we spent plenty of time on these words.

I hate to see Paige getting discouraged, but I know that she expects to always get everything right. There is a learning curve to adjust to the traditional school procedures and ways of assessing progress. Paige needs to learn that she will make mistakes and how to shake off her feeling of failure.

The girls are getting more and more homework each evening. This is a typical evening's homework assignment:

Read for 20 documented minutes-Paige
Read a book 5 times for testing by a classroom helper the next day-Allie
2 pages of math-Paige
1 page of math-Allie
2 pages of penmanship-Allie
2 pages of English/writing-Paige
30 minutes of outside activity with a family member (must be documented)-both girls
study spelling words-Paige
write sentences-Allie

To me, the amount of homework seems excessive. What are they doing at school all day? Why do the young elementary students need to spend 1-2 hours doing homework after being in the classroom for 7 1/2 hours? When do they get to be children?
There isn't much time for playing outside, helping mom cook, listening to stories before bed, or even keeping their bedrooms picked up.

Children need balance in their lives. Endless hours spent doing busy work deprive children of their ability to solve problems and think outside of the box. Growing children need time to run, jump, shout, imagine and absorb vitamin D.

I am struggling to accept that the kids no longer have time for family activities. My girls are missing their dad and wanting to cuddle with me more than usual. We are missing our time together.

Philosophically, my priorities for our children are different than the public school's emphasis. I resent spending all our time together doing homework, especially when much of it is busy work. Filling out endless paper irritates me.
We just began our second month of the public school experience and I'm beginning to think that the benefits are outweighed by the negative aspects.

Another Normal Day

2011-10-05T08:14:00.000-04:00

Mike was home from work yesterday. He had some projects to complete and I wanted to do a thorough house cleaning, so we didn't see too much of each other. First thing in the morning, Mike went outside to clean a part on Amy's car. He needed a small brush and decided to use his toothbrush, which we planned to replace later in the day.

A few minutes later, Madelyn came up to me asking if I had seen her purple toothbrush. I checked in the toothbrush cups downstairs and asked her to recheck up stairs. After several minutes of searching, she went outside to ask Mike if he had seen the missing brush. There she discovered that Mike was using HER toothbrush to clean Amy's car. Madelyn was very indignant and after much apologizing, Mike stated that he would replace her toothbrush.

After Madelyn returned to the house, Mike began thinking. He took the toothbrush from his toothbrush cup. Why would Madelyn's toothbrush be in his cup. He has been finding his toothbrush on top of the counter after he thought that he had put it away. After a short conversation with Madelyn, we discovered that they had been using the same toothbrush for the last 4 months! Madelyn was extremely grossed out.

On his way to the store, Mike asked Madelyn if he should pick up one or two toothbrushes to replace the one used to clean the car. She was NOT amused!

In Search of Lost Items

2011-09-24T18:43:00.000-04:00

All the kids needed and purchased new shoes at the beginning of the school year. Paige and Allie wanted the sparkly, light-up canvas Skechers. Mike and I refused to buy them. I just can't see spending $40 on sneakers that will look trashy and have holes in them before the end of one month. Instead, the girls got athletic shoes which should last them until winter. Allie's shoes are hot pink and Paige's shoes are brown with pink stripes.

We told the younger girls that their new shoes were for school. They were to wear their old sneakers for play. Everything was going well, until last Tuesday. Paige couldn't find one of her school shoes. We spent an hour looking Tuesday morning, but couldn't find it. She asked if she could wear her church shoes to school. I made her wear her play shoes and told her that we would look for the school shoe when she returned home from school.

We have been searching for this stupid shoe all week with no success. Last night, Paige asked if we could get her new play shoes because they pinched her toes. Mike thought that maybe someone had teased her at school about her brown shoes and that she didn't like them any more. I talked to her about that Friday before sending her to bed. She claimed that she liked the shoes and wanted to wear them to school.

Saturday morning Paige, Madelyn, Allie, and I spent 6 hours looking. No brown shoe. We had emptied out all the closets, cupboards, and drawers. We searched under couches, beds, and chairs. The laundry baskets were dumped and the trash can was gone through. Still no shoe. In desperation, I asked Joe to make one final check of the girls' room. Five minutes later, the shoe was found.

I can in all honesty admit that the location of the missing shoe was one that never entered my mind. Where was this excellent hiding spot? Under her pillow on her bed! She has been sleeping on it since Tuesday!

Next time, Joe will be helping to search immediately. His mind is obviously the most creative for lost items.

Christmas Crackers

2011-09-23T17:56:00.000-04:00

My children have all loved the Harry Potter movies. Each time they watch Harry and his friends opening crackers at the dining table, my children want us to have crackers at Christmas dinner. I've made them several times using tissue paper, but the mess becomes a problem. This year I decided to make crackers using Christmas printed material scraps.

Supplies:

Fabric scraps from Christmas prints
ribbon
empty toilet paper rolls

Cut a square from fabric about 4 inches wider than the width of the empty toilet paper roll. It doesn't need to be exact. I eyeballed all the measurements for this project.

Cut two pieces of ribbon approximately 12 inches long. Set aside.

Roll the toilet paper roll tightly in the fabric, making sure that the "right" side of the fabric is facing outside.

Use the two pieces of ribbon to tie one side of the cracker. Place surprise treat inside the toilet paper roll. I use holiday candy, small dollar store toys, special pencils, junk jewelry and of course silly hats.

Tie the other side of the cracker. This fabric cracker will not work for using the popping noisemakers.

Tie the other side of the cracker.

Learning to Navigate the Public School

2011-09-22T22:19:00.002-04:00

In Paige's class, the teacher has given each child a card with his name. Each time the child misbehaves, a marker on the name card moves down the bottom of the card. After 4 times, the name card is "flipped." Paige was appalled the second day of school when a classmate flipped his card.

Tonight at bedtime, Paige remarked that she is very tired during the school day. She stated that it would be nice to miss recess and take a nap. I said that I didn't think the teacher would let her skip recess. Her response? "She will if I flip my card!"

Missing Summer

2011-09-22T09:31:00.002-04:00

I uploaded a ton of photos from Madelyn camera. There were many photos from our summer. I hadn't realized how much I miss summer and having the children around, listening to the play together, watching them be silly together, and spending time with them. Only 9 more months to go. Come on summer!

First Day of School Photos

2011-09-21T22:04:00.001-04:00

Like any other proud mother, I took photos of my children as they went to their first day of school. Some of my children were a little older and a little taller than most children on their first day, but I needed to capture the milestone just the same.

Creepy Crawlies

2011-09-21T21:31:00.000-04:00

We had very dense fog the last two mornings. The children that attend school even had two hour school delays. By mid-morning the fog was burning off and we saw that the spiders had been really busy during the night. Madelyn spent part of her morning locating all the webs in our yard and taking photos. I guess I can count it as nature study for school. :)

Yard Work

2011-09-21T21:22:00.002-04:00

Our backyard looked pretty sad this summer. I didn't have the money to do some of the major projects that had been mentally earmarked to be completed. The stone seating area that was to encircle a huge maple tree will need to wait until next spring. The additional patio space didn't get installed either. I'm still hopeful that I will find the time, money and appropriate weather to paint the outdoor fireplace this fall.

We did manage to get two gardening spaces prepared last spring. We were able to put up some tomatoes, broccoli, herbs, green beans and onions.

We ate tons for fresh peppers, lettuce, radishes, beets, and peas. The other large project that we accomplished was to haul in three trailers full of compost. It was back-breaking work, but well worth the effort.

This afternoon, Steve raked the soil out for the final time and planted shade, high-traffic grass seeds. Joe watered the seeds well and I'm hopeful that we will have grass later this fall. I find patches of bare dirt in the middle of lawns depressing. You would think that I would be used to it by now, but it still remains a constant battle to have a thick lawn.

The city is supposed to cut down two of our smaller trees and trim the branches on one of our 150 year old maple trees. The tree trimming truck came through last week and cut two branches off of one of the smaller trees. I'm hoping that they will return soon to finish the job, before all the leaves fall. Our leaves are already changing colors and we have a light dusting of covering all the grass.
It will be interesting to see if we can find enough time to keep up with the fallen leaves this year. Last fall, we took a few days off of school and dealt with blowing and raking.

Cartoons and Society

2011-09-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

Cartoons have changed since I was a child. I'm not referring to the addition of adult cartoons, although The Flintstones was originally for adults. Cartoon shows from my childhood are still being made today, but they aren't as wholesome. This morning it was cold inside out house, so Allie, Paige and I were snuggled up on the couch under blankets. The girls had control of the remote, but I asked them to find something we could all enjoy.

The girls turned on Looney Tunes. I loved Elmer Fudd, Bugs, and the Road Runner! After watching the beginning of the show, I was surprised. The opening scene was Daffy Duck standing outside a door speaking to his girlfriend who was holding a baby. Daffy was moaning about how much he had trusted her, how he never wanted to see her again, and how she had betrayed him. The girlfriend told him to take it easy, because she was just babysitting her sister's child. I wasn't expecting Looney Tunes to use this type of humor. It seemed a little adult for the under 7 crowd.

The middle of the show portrayed Daffy and a Mommy and Me class. Daffy joined in complaining about how difficult it is to be a mom and complaining that Dad's don't do enough to support the moms. The "poor women" message wasn't appropriate. The cartoon is rated for children under 7. Shouldn't impressionable children be allowed to believe that BOTH dad and mom are important. What about the poor dad who goes to work each day, so that mom can stay at home. I also noticed that the mom had money to take the infants to the movies and to Mommy and Me class.

The show ended with Daffy deciding that he loved being a mom. Daffy turned to his girlfriend and said that he wanted them to have children. I realize that I'm in the minority in this country, because I believe that two people should be married before they have children. Still, the comment seemed inappropriate.

The show didn't need these moments. The humor associated with Daffy caring for an infant could have happened without the adult-type of banter and the evil-men agenda. I'm disappointed that Looney Tunes isn't the same mindless, silly cartoon from my youth. It's too bad that the creators of children's programs feel the need to indoctrinate instead of entertain or educate. I won't ban the show from our home, but I'll probably find other things for the girls to watch when possible.

Tears, Grumpiness, and Exhaustion

2011-09-13T08:22:00.000-04:00

The kids made it through their first week of school. Monday morning, Steve wasn't thrilled to go back. He's grumpy and doesn't appear too thrilled with the "school" experience. Unfortunately for him, I'm mean and am making him stick it out. He doesn't have to return next year, but he made a commitment for this school year. He's also gotten really grumpy. Steve's normal personality is cheerful. He loves to make people laugh. That isn't the case right now. He shares minimally about his school day, so I'm not really sure what is going on at school. Hopefully, we'll get this figured out soon.

Last night, Allie began to cry. She misses me. She asked if she could not go back to school. We talked about the friends that she had made and the book that her teacher was reading aloud to the class. I mentioned how much she enjoyed recess. She still wants to stay home. It was tougher, but I am going to make her go back to school too. Part of her problem is that she's exhausted. The younger girls are in bed by 8, but the early morning isn't giving them enough sleep.

When the girls get home from school, they change into play clothes and immediately head outside to play with friends. I call them in for dinner and then they race outside again. The weather is so perfect right now, I hate to make them spend time inside. They will get enough inside time this winter! I think that I'll take the kids for a picnic and hiking day over the weekend. We won't letterbox, but simply enjoy being outside. I would enjoy spending time with the kids and it might help Allie.

Poor Joe is constantly on the go. Yesterday, he woke up at six, went to school, then had cross country practice until 5, raced home to eat, left the house at 5:45 for a choir performance, got home at 9 and did homework until 11:40. Today is just as busy. He is so tired! School has been good for him. He's happy, organized, and applying himself to all his interests. I can't express how much I enjoy watching him mature.

Madelyn is working hard on her school work and has decided that she wants to be a contortionist. She was already pretty flexible, but now it's scary. Amy has been spotting her while she works on new positions. I don't know how long this phase will last, but it's fun to watch her.

First Week

2011-09-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

Several of my children headed off to school Tuesday for the first time. The only child remaining at home is Madelyn who is in 8th grade. I wanted to start the new school year off well, so I woke up at 6 on Tuesday and made breakfast. A big family breakfast. After the boys left for the school bus, I cleaned up the kitchen. We had tons of bacon, eggs and toast left over. Normally, bacon and eggs are served for lunch or dinner around here. We usually eat cereal, oatmeal, coffee cake, or bagels in the morning with fruit. I'll be able to serve all the leftovers as a dinner for 6 members of the family. It's nice to know that I don't need to get up and cook breakfast any time soon!

I knew that my days would have a different feel and that the house would be much quieter with most of the family gone. What I wasn't expecting was to get so much accomplished and have so much energy when our school work was completed. Here's what was completed Tueaday.

5:30am: Woke up and called children. Began cooking 2 pounds of bacon, 14 slices of toast, 1 dozen eggs.

6:30am: Serve breakfast. Brushed Paige and Allie's hair. Got dressed. Took pictures of the boys before they left for the bus.

7:00am: Cleaned kitchen and dining room, wrote names on backpacks, started load of laundry, ran dishwasher.

7:30am: Walked Paige and Allie to school, received classroom assignments, met principal, spoke with teachers, walked home.

8:00am: Flipped load of laundry, taught geography, washed dining room windows and door.

8:30am: Folded load of laundry, started new load, taught English and writing.

9:00am: Taught pre-Algebra, flipped a load of laundry, folded laundry.

10:00am: Flipped another load of laundry, taught Spanish, sorted out 2 shelves in the old school armoire.

10:45am: Taught science, sorted out 2 more shelves in the school armoire. Filled empty shelves with fabric. Flipped another load of laundry, folded clothes.

11:30am: Took 2 bags of trash out to garbage (from school armoire) swept bathroom floor, flipped laundry.

12:15pm: Folded laundry, took laundry to appropriate rooms, cleaned downstairs bathroom, taught literature.

1:15pm: Went out to lunch with Madelyn and Mike.

2:15pm: Vacuumed master bedroom, took Madelyn to purchase bicycle. Washed dining room and kitchen floors. Swept deck and patio.

3:00 Started dinner.

The kids came home from school around 3:15. The house was clean. The laundry wass done. Madelyn finished all her assignments. I wasn't tired. My brain didn't hurt! What a huge change from our normal homeschooling day!

By 8 in the evening, I was ready for bed. We don't usually get up that early and my body couldn't go to sleep before 3am on Monday.

The kids all seemed to enjoy school. After the first day, I started getting up at 6:30 and wasn't quite so tired by early evening. A few more weeks and we should all be in sync with the new schedule. Paige and Allie didn't get much work accomplished this week. They did math twice and reading once. They learned a ton of school, classroom and library rules. They watched movies and had lots of recess. Hopefully, this was not a normal type of school week. Allie had a few moments of unease, but struggled through. She has met some kids that she is hanging out with during the school day. Paige loves school. She is the first person up each morning and ready to leave for school half an hour early.

The boys didn't do too much at school either. They had to read one chapter in one class and do a logic worksheet in their math classes. We still haven't found out if Steve's credits will be accepted. The boys have met some kids. Each boy is being pursued by a different girl. Neither boy likes the pursuing girl.

Madelyn has been able to get all her work done each day before 1 o'clock. She's been doing Joe's papers, so she does those before the at-school kids come home. She is missing her siblings, but I'm trying to do fun things with her each day, so homeschooling doesn't get monotonous.

Each day she accomplishes these subjects:

Bible (with the little girls before they leave for school)
Spanish
pre-Algebra
English
Spelling
Writing (currently poetry)
Latin
science
geography
literature
home economics

Embalming

2011-09-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

Madelyn has been asking all week if she can help me embalm some more. Some more? It took me ahile to figure out that she wanted to help with embossing! Much more fun and less gross!

Things Are Changing

2011-09-03T12:16:00.001-04:00

Last week, I went to the local high school to register the two boys. I've mentioned before that Joe wanted to meet more kids and be involved in the cross country team. We filled out paperwork, but weren't able to sign up for classes because the school had to decide what credits they would accept. Both of my boys are young for their school grade. Their birthdays are in late December and our state cut off date is December 1. The boys and I discussed the grade issue and decided to register the boys in the grades that would have been in had they gone to school from day one. Essentially, both boys lost credit for a year of school. The decision made Joe a freshman and Steve is now a junior.

Our thinking did not necessarily overcome all obstacles. The school isn't sure that they will accept all of Steve's credits. They may require him to take tests for most of his other classes or retake them. I mentioned to the counselor that Katie had transferred in as a senior and ALL of her credits were accepted without any problems. The counselor explained that the new principal has a different view of homeschool credits and doesn't believe that the homeschool work is an rigorous as public school classes. Ha! She hasn't seen my requirements! Steve and I decided that if his classes aren't accepted, I'll bring him home next year and graduate him as a homeschool student.

Katie was able to get 12 credit hours at a community college in a nearby town. I wasn't sure if she would be able to find enough classes that had spaces available, but thankfully it all worked out. Nothing like procrastinating until the very last minute. She finished signing up on Thursday evening for next Tuesday's classes. She's nervous and excited about starting. She's now trying to organize her work schedules at two different locations around school.

Monday night, Paige started crying because she wanted to go to "real" school this year. Of course, Allie chimed in that she wanted to go too. Mike said that he and I would discuss the idea and get back to them. There are pros and cons to both educational options.

Pros:
1. We'd like the girls to participate in more community activities, but the information is spread through the public school system. We once again missed out on soccer this fall.

2. The girls would get to know a wider group of children.

3. My workload would decrease. (Mike feels that this is a huge benefit right now. I'm starting to develop some health issues that could be alleviated with more exercise and I should be more available to help my mom.)

Cons:
1. The girls would get to know a wider group of children. The will be sick more often and will pick up bad behaviors.

2. Mike isn't around on weekends or evening until after 10 p.m. due to his work schedule. The girls wouldn't see him very often. (This is my biggest concern.)

3. We will need to live our lives around the public school schedule.

After lots of discussion and thinking, Mike decided that the girls should go to school this school year. I have some reservations, but understand his reasoning. We are doing this for one year and will reassess in June.

Wednesday morning, I took the little girls down to the local school (two blocks away) and registered them for fall. Paige and Allie are excited to be going, but my heart is a little heavy.

Madelyn will still be homeschooled this year. We should be able to get through a ton of things this year. Her days will probably be quite a bit shorter than normal, because she will have my full attention. I like that Madelyn will have so much one-on-one time. She's been a little short changed with mom time because of her spot in the family. She's already asked if we can go letterboxing or to do other fun things after she finishes her work. We're already planning on doing lots of cross country skiing this winter in the early afternoons.

Tuesday will be strange. One child will officially start college, and four kids will go to "real" school for the first time. Is it to weird too take First Day of School pictures of my high school kids?

Mechanics

2011-08-30T19:05:00.001-04:00

There were a few quirks with Amy's car when she bought it. Overall, the car was solid and had reasonable mileage at a good price. Mike worked on her car and thought that he had solved the problem. She got stranded at Walmart and had to walk home. Michael worked on her car and thought that the problem was solved. Amy got stranded 30 minutes from the house. Mike worked on the car and thought that the problem was fixed. Amy was stranded 20 miles from home. Amy refused to drive her car until it was completely fixed. I asked Mike to take it to a mechanic to fix the stalling issue.

Mike to the car to a local mechanic (right down the street from our church) and told them what he had done. The mechanic said that Mike had done the right things and offered to give Mike a few more suggestions. Mike told them to find out what was wrong and give an estimate. The mechanic called late the following day. They couldn't get the car to stall! I offered to send Amy down, but Mike went instead. He took the car out and the mechanic followed in their truck. After it stalled, the mechanic said that it was one of two electronic gizmo. He used the correct name, but I've forgotten what they were. Mike was quoted a price of $175 to fix the car. Mike gave them approval.

The following day, I took Amy to the shop to pick up her car. The final bill was $90. The mechanic had changed both electronic gizmos and discovered that one of them didn't need replacing. He put the original back into the car and charged Amy for the one that needed to be replaced.

Obviously, they have our future business. How refreshing to find a mechanic who isn't out to over charge or replace unnecessary parts. The mechanics in this shop look a little scary. Their language is foul. The signage on the building is poorly hand painted. That old expression of not judging a book by its cover is very applicable in this instance! It would have been easy to drop Amy's car off at the local Ford dealership, but we've never had good experiences with dealerships for car repairs. Instead, Mike took a chance and we found honest workman with an entrepreneurial spirit. Amy's car has been running perfectly and she's almost lost her fear of being stranded. I figure another week and she will feel reasonable secure in her cute little Ford.

Mom to Four Teens

2011-08-29T17:23:00.036-04:00

Our oldest daughter, Amy is 5 years older than her next sibling. She is followed by a child born every 20-24 months for 4 years. When Amy was younger, she was the big kid and the other children were the little ones. Amy is now 23 years old (for a few more weeks) and the group of four were followed five years later with two sisters who are 20 months apart. The little ones have become the big kids. My youngest big kid is now a teen. For the next year, we will have 4 teenaged children.

The teen years were much more challenging and rewarding than I thought. Our teens are so much fun to be around! They are so capable, helpful and have the ability to make me laugh.....even when I'm trying not to laugh. There were a couple of challenging years when I worried more than normal about the choices they were making. It's difficult to keep my mouth shut and let them make decisions that I don't think are a good idea. Not sinful decisions, but choices that may make things more difficult for them later.

The older children are focusing more on specific interests and getting involved in fewer things. Steve is still very focused on skateboarding. He would spend 16 hours a day at the skate park if I let him. Joe is excelling at running and really enjoys his workouts. He also loves to read and invent things. I'm impressed that he already has an educational goal. Madelyn is not as much of a specialist as the older teens, but I'm sure that it will happen to her as well. She still has many interests.

It seems strange to have so many older children. Even my babies are not so little. Paige is going into 3rd grade this year; Allie is going into 2nd grade. I loved the baby stage with the special sweetness and delight in every new milestone. The toddler and pre-school stage is fun. Watching the children develop individual tastes and talents. Enjoying the funny antics and make-believe play was a joy. Paige and Allie still play make-believe games, but I realize that these days are numbered.

A nice thing about having older children is that they don't need constant supervision. I love letting the younger girls play outside without needing to be outside with them. I seem to be providing more guidance and less protection. No longer is it necessary to keep the kids from stuffing beads up their noses or eating toadstools.

I loved having younger children, but I think that older children will be just as rewarding. The next 5 years will include many changes in our immediate family circle. Most of our children will be adults and many of them will have moved on with their own lives. I intend to really savor these years before it is too late.

Madelyn Turns 13

2011-08-28T17:22:00.000-04:00

Madelyn turned 13 yesterday. It's such a big birthday to her. She is now officially a teenager. It was a quiet birthday. She had wanted to do a sleepover, but we don't do Saturday night sleepover parties. I don't want to miss church, nor do I want other people to miss church.

Mike was able to come home from work around 5, so we didn't let her open her presents until he got home. She chose egg rolls, chop suey, rice, chocolate cupcakes and Sundays for her meal. It was just a little rich, but delicious.

We watched the new Doctor Who episode that we had been waiting for all summer. I tried to get pictures of her opening presents and blowing out her candles, but the lighting was horrible, so I'm not posting them.

Happy Birthday Madelyn. I hope your teen years are happy and filled with laughter, wonder, and growth.

Cross Country Meets

2011-08-26T20:48:00.016-04:00

Joe had his first two cross country meets this week. He injured is ankle on Monday, but ran in both meets. He's supposed to ice it frequently and take the weekend off from running.

The first meet was an invitational pre-season meet with 10 schools participating. Joe's team came in first! He finished in the top 25% with an injury. We were really proud of him for pushing on throughout the race. Joe had a great time at the meet. We were able to watch him at various points during the run, but forgot the camera to get a picture.

His second meet was Thursday. Unfortunately they lost this match. One of the runners got mixed up on the course and ran further than planned. I missed the meet because one of the girls was running a high temperature. Mike was able to meet some of the other parents. He also learned about a potluck dinner that the team hosts for another team towards the end of the season.

School Preparations

2011-08-25T20:48:00.000-04:00

I took the boys to the high school to register them for school this morning. We had to fill out tons of paperwork. Mike came along for moral support. I've heard that the new principal isn't receptive to homeschooled children. Katie had no problems getting any of her homeschool credits accepted by the last principal. Another student who had been educated at home registered in the fall and NONE of his credits were accepted. It could be that the parents had not prepared an appropriate transcript or it could be that the new principal didn't want to accept non-accredited transfer credits. The school will be doing an audit on my children's transcripts and will let us know their conclusion on Tuesday when we meet with the academic adviser. I'm praying that there will be no difficulties.

Most of the girls homeschool lesson plans have been prepared. We will probably slowly get into the school term next week. I'm leaning towards doing half days Monday through Thursday and a full day on Friday. We're going to be adjusting to a huge change in our time to get up each day and I'd like it to be as painless as possible.

Ack!

2011-08-25T20:39:00.000-04:00

What do you say to a child who judges the excellence of his nap upon the size of the drool stain on his pillowcase?

A Conversation

2011-08-23T12:39:00.001-04:00

We were talking in the family room this morning about Joe's trip last week.

Joe: "The guys on the cross-country team think that I use big words. Easy words, like reprimand. I had to explain what it meant to one guy 5 times. He said that he was going to write it down in case I used it again."

Amy: "Just think Joe, you can help raise the team's SAT vocabulary scores this year."

Joe: "After I had explained another word to someone, another team-mate had said, 'We weren't all home schooled you know."

It's good to know that at least his vocabulary skills are up to par.

More injuries

2011-08-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

My left foot has been bothering me for the last couple of days. I woke up and found that it was painful to stand. My foot was fine when I went to bed, so I ignored it and continued on my day, hobbling for one thing to another. It didn't improve the next day and my foot was turning blue. This morning, Mike and I were trying to figure out what had happened and I remembered that I had stumbled over an antique wooden crate in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom. I was half asleep and forgot all about it the next day.

After an x-ray, I learned that I've broken the two smallest toes. I won't mention how many times I've broken toes in the last 10 years. Obviously, my days of running around in sandals or barefoot need to end. My toes are tied together and should heal in the next 3-4 weeks. Bummer!

Joe is Home!

2011-08-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

Joe has been gone to cross country camp for the last 5 days. He had a great time and met many new friends. When Mike went to pick up Joe, the coach walked over and spoke to Mike about the trip. He complimented Joe on how well he fit in with the team and how much the adults appreciated Joe's helpful attitude. Joe also stepped on a nail, so I need to get him in for a tetanus shot tomorrow. It was so much fun listening to Joe tell about all the fun activities and watch him laugh about some of the crazy things the boys did during the trip.

Tomorrow is the last practice before the team's first meet on Tuesday. The meet will take place in our town, so Mike and I will be able to watch. I managed to see the schedule for September and we will be very busy this fall. It's Joe's time to shine.

Too Many Balls in the Air

2011-08-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Life seems to be spinning out of control. The kids are all being helpful, I'm just struggling to keep track of everything. Joe left for cross-country camp this morning. Steve still isn't able to walk, so Madelyn is delivering Joe's papers, taking care of the cat and dog, and mowing the yard.

After I dropped Joe off to leave for the U.P, Madelyn was invited to go to the beach with some friends. She received permission and was gathering all her things, when I realized that I didn't know if she was going to the lake that is 10 minutes away or the lake that is 30 minutes away. I asked her where they were going and she ran next door to ask where they were headed. She ran to our door and called to me through the screen that they were going to Lake Michigan. I distractidly told her to have a good time. About 20 minutes later, I realized that the beach they were heading to was 2 hours away. She had papers to deliver in 3 hours. Oops!

Madelyn doesn't have a cell phone and I don't know the neighbor's cell phone number, so I couldn't call her. I frantically asked Steve and Kate if they knew which houses to deliver. They didn't. We searched high and low for a list of houses that take the paper without success. Steve offered to bag all the papers so they would be ready when Madelyn arrived home.

There is a 3 hour window to deliver after the papers arrive at our house. Madelyn reached our house just before 4:30 and Katie is now graciously driving her through the route, so the papers are delivered before 5:00. They should make it in time. Now if I can just remember that Madelyn needs to be home in the afternoons the rest of the week!

Mom Update

2011-08-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

My mom completed her new chemotherapy treatment last week. She managed to get through the month of weekly treatment fairly well. Her biggest fear had been the side effects that happened with her normal chemotherapy treatment. The new treatment made her tired, but she didn't lose her hair, have the terrible nausea, or get as depressed as she has in the past.

Today, she went to her cancer doctor and learned that the lumps have disappeared and her blood work looks good. She returns to the doctor in 2 months for another assessment. The plan is to continue with this new treatment every 6 months for the rest of her life. The normal chemotherapy doesn't put her lymphoma in remission as it does for 90% of lymphoma patients.

I'm so thankful that this treatment seems to be something that she can tolerate and will keep the lymphoma from spreading throughout her body.

Cars

2011-08-16T16:10:00.000-04:00

Amy purchased a car recently. It's a Ford mid-size sedan...I don't remember the model. She was so happy to finally find something reasonably priced and in good condition. The car has actually been in storage for the last 9 months. We drove around and found insurance for her. (Mike and I have decided that the adult children will have their own insurance policies.) There are a few minor things wrong with the car, but it's a great deal.

Katie also found a car last week. She purchased an older model Volvo. The owner came down to almost $1000 under Kelley Blue Book value. The car has really low mileage and should be a good first car for her. We took her to get insurance and she was shocked at the cost. Our agent spent some time and eventually found a policy that was $400/6 months less that originally quoted. When Mike and I got information about our policy without the girls, we we thrilled to discover that we're going to pay $1300 a year less for our insurance. Yahoo!!!!

Today, Mike drove to a nearby park to pick Joe up from cross-country practice. The Mountaineer didn't start. So he called me to come get them in his Altima. Mike's Altima is on its last legs. He has put 400,000* miles on it. The exhaust fell off a few months ago and we don't want to invest any money in that car. So whoever is driving the Altima needs to remember to coast past police cars, so the car isn't ticketed for lack of an exhaust. I try to avoid driving Mike's car.

While I was getting dressed, Amy called. She was in Kalamazoo with Katie. Her car had stalled and wouldn't start. I told the girls to push the vehicle off the road and Mike would be by to pick them up soon.

When I reached the park, we tried to jump start the Mountaineer. It didn't work. So we all piled into the Altima and drove back to the house. Mike dropped Joe and I off, then headed to Kalamazoo. I called the girls and explained what was happening. Mike wanted them to keep trying to start Amy's car. When he arrived, they got it started and drove back to our small town. They stopped off at AutoZone and had a diagnostic test ran on Amy's car. The discovered that a wire had become unattached. It was an easy fix and everyone was quickly on the road again.

Mike drove out to the Mountaineer and pulled the battery, which he brought home to charge. The battery wasn't the problem. Mike then pulled the started and took it to AutoZone for testing. We were praying that it wasn't the starter. Mike discovered that it was a simple $2 part.

The day has been hectic and stressful, but God is so good. None of the repairs were expensive and everything was put right. I think that we will have an early night tonight and hope tomorrow is an easier day.

Garage Sale Time

2011-08-15T21:35:00.000-04:00

I decided to begin to tackle the basement today. Mike was supposed to sort it out this month, but he has been busy searching for cars, repairing cars, and taking me letterboxing that he won't be able to get it sorted out. I don't want to begin another fall and winter with a basement cluttered with stuff.

Madelyn and Joe hauled 8 boxes of Fisher Price Little People sets up for me. We have two different sets. Amy and Katie had the original sets that they loved. Neither of the girls wanted to get rid of their sets and the other children loved them, so I never got rid of them. Madelyn, Paige and Allie all received sets of the newer style of Little People as gifts. The sets are cute, but don't allow as much imagination as the older sets.

During our 3 hour sorting session, we managed to put all the correct pieces together for each set. Paige and Allie asked if they could play with the "peoples" but I meanly wouldn't let them today. No one wants to get rid of any of the sets, so they were carefully labels and found a storage spot in the basement.

I did manage to collect 1 plastic tub full of toys that we can get rid of without tears. My first inclination was to take the toys to the local Goodwill Store. Madelyn begged to be allowed to have a garage sale. We don't have a garage sale, so any sale will need to be held on our front porch and in the front yard. It's much easier to have a garage sale, especially if it rains. But, I allowed myself to be talked into letting her have a sale. We're going to spend the rest of the week sorting out cupboards, closets, drawers and the BASEMENT to prepare for the sale this weekend. Wish me luck!

Boo Boos

2011-08-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

Amy hurt her wrist playing volleyball with Joe. Her injury keeps getting aggravated at Dairy Queen when she is making Blizzards. They make a lot of Blizzards and the repetition of movement made it necessary for her to wear an arm brace.

Saturday, Steve was skating and twisted his ankle again. It's a horrible sprain. He staggered home (because he didn't want to bother me!) carrying his skateboard and dragging his bike. The ankle swelled to three times its normal size within 20 minutes. It will take 4-6 weeks before it if fully healed. I wonder if it didn't heal completely from the last sprain.

Somehow I sprained my upper thigh and am hobbling around. Amy has decided that we look like our family was involved in a car crash. She began to stagger around the living room this afternoon, mocking Steve and I. It was so funny. We really needed a good laugh. Hopefully, we will return to our normal healthy bunch soon. But until then, we're a pretty funny looking group.

Cross Country

2011-08-13T18:23:00.000-04:00

Joe and Steve will be attending our local public school this year. Joe had expressed an interest in running on the cross-country team. He went to practice on Tuesday and learned that before he could practice, he needed a physical. Physicals are not something that a home school mom normally thinks about at the beginning of the school year. After making numerous phone calls, I learned that there are NO appointments available for sports physicals within a 50 mile radius. What's a mom to do?

After a few more phone calls, a solution was found. Joe was taken to a urgent care facility and had his sports physical. Monday will be his first practice with the team. On Wednesday, the team heads to the upper penninsula for 5 days of team building and practice. This will be a great experience for Joe and a good opportunity to make some new friends before the school year begins.

The coach has been very welcoming and is excited to have Joe on the team. The 5 day trip will be at his cabin near Paradise. There are several other adults who will be along to supervise the team. There are a number of hiking paths and sight-seeing places that the team will visit. I'm so happy that Joe has this opportunity.

Family Dinners

2011-08-12T18:14:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make. Mike and I don't usually eat dinner with our family. Not because we don't like the kids, but because we can't fit 9 people at the table. When we eat together, some of the kids end up eating on nearby TV trays. The TV tray kids don't feel part of the family and it's an awkward arrangement.

Today, that has changed. A lovely man who works with Mike is moving into a smaller home. He and his wife no longer need a large dinner table. He graciously gave the table to Mike. The table seats 10 people comfortably. We can even have a guest sit at the table without squeezing everyone. This is such a blessing for us.

The table arrived this afternoon and we spent a few hours rearranging the dining room. I can hardly wait to sit down this evening and enjoy some family conversation.

Can I Bake Something?

2011-08-08T22:16:00.000-04:00

I'm running really low on groceries right now, but it's been hard to schedule a trip to the store. Joe asked if he could bake something after dinner tonight and I told him to see what was available.

He decided to make crepes with the choice of 3 fillings and 4 toppings. Joe prepared all of the filling and toppings from scratch. I had a cream filled crepe with a cinnamon/chocolate glaze. It was yummy. He had made enough for second helpings and I almost tried the strawberry filling with the caramel glaze, but managed to not eat two servings. Gotta love this kid. My poor diet!

Letterbooxing with Kim

2011-08-08T10:59:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, Mike had the day off and wanted to work on Amy's car, so I had the opportunity to go letterboxing with the friend who introduced me to letterboxing. We headed up to the Grand Rapids area and spent the day gathering boxes from cemeteries and a few parks. One of the parks was in Hudsonville. It had a baseball field, picnic area, small hiking trails, playground equipment, streams and a gazebo. I was surprised to see so many people wandering around with cameras. It seems that this park is the local place to take photos of family members. One person was even carrying a quaint chair to use in photos. Briefly, I considered gathering up my crowd and heading to the park for our yearly photos. The scenery is amazing. Then, reality set in. There is no way that we could all ride somewhere in the SUV for 2 hours and arrive with everyone's hair and clothing ready for photos.

One of the series of cemetery boxes had stamps from the Adam's Family. It was a cute idea and the carves were well executed. I'll probably return again another day with my children to let them collect these boxes. They would love to see these stamps. I can hear them now singing the song as we travel from box to box.

Kim and I had a lot of fun and it was wonderful to have a day of adult conversation, boxing, and laughter. Thanks Mike for making it possible to do this guilt free!

Working Outside

2011-08-01T20:31:00.000-04:00

I've been forcing myself to work in the garden lately. The heat has been terrible, but my enthusiasm has waned on the garden. I enjoyed preparing the beds, planting the seeds and plants, and watering. I even didn't mind weeding.....at the beginning. It's a good thing that my children are excited about all the produce we've been picking lately or the garden wouldn't look as good as it does.

The reason for my lack of enthusiasm finally occurred to me yesterday when I walked into Walmart. I didn't plant ANY flowers this year. Beds of black-eyed Susan's, brightly colored morning glories and other flowers lift my spirit when I'm outside doing mundane tasks. As much as I love fresh green beans and ripe tomatoes, they don't make my heart rejoice like roses and snap dragons.

Walmart has shipments of mums at all the entrances right now. It's time to clean out the lettuce patch and plant some flowers!

Busy, busy, busy

2011-07-31T20:03:00.000-04:00

Mike and I have been busy searching for cars, driving to look at cars, and test driving cars. All of this car shopping isn't for us. Our two oldest daughters are both car shopping. Their price range is similar enough that they are often considering the same vehicles. So far, we haven't had any problems. Both girls are trying to sound out each other before they make arrangements to go see a possibility. Neither girl has had any success yet, but we are persevering.

My mom is having her last chemotherapy session tomorrow. This chemo series appears to have been successful. Her lumps are gone and her energy has remained fairly high. I'm so thankful that she hasn't gone through as many problems this time as she has had on her previous chemo sessions.

I ~~forced~~ asked all the children to go letterboxing with me a few days ago. Steve spent most of his time trying to be irritating. Unfortunately for him, I find his antics humorous. We successfully located two boxes before the heat and mosquitoes forced us to quit for the day. We haven't been able to do much boxing this summer. The heat has been prohibitive and sharing my SUV with 2 other drivers has left me home-bound. A dear friend and I are going letterboxing on this Thursday and my kids have volunteered to go boxing with me all day on Saturday for my birthday. Okay, I bribed them by promising them pizza from our all-time favorite pizza place in our former town. I hate to think of the calories, but it will be my birthday, so they don't count.

Our family begins our annual organize, throw out, and clean the house job in August. Mike has offered to take care of the basement, which really needs a thorough sorting. I'll be culling through books and resources for school, deep cleaning my bedroom, and working in all the shared jobs. The kids will all be tackling their bedrooms. Everyone (except Mike) will be organizing the kitchen, family room, linen closets, craft areas, living room, and dining room. I'm planning on getting it all finished by the end of August. It's so relaxing to start the new school year organized in a very clean house.

Amy helped me make artist cards today. She's not a paper-craft person, so it was especially nice of her to bond with me this afternoon while embossing paper for me. She has been really tired. It's been weeks since she had a day off of work and she's working 9:00 am until midnight 5-6 days a week, between her two jobs. The lack of sleep was causing her to be pretty silly this afternoon. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I'm really enjoying my children right now. They are such interesting people with such distinct personalities. It's nice to be beyond the point where all my time is spent on crowd control and cleaning.

Paige and Allie have been learning cheers from one of their neighborhood friends. The neighbor's sister will be a cheerleader next year and taught her sister some of the cheers. Paige and Allie entered the family room when everyone was watching Doctor Who and began to do some cheerleading routines, including towers and throwing each other into the air. It was quite a show.

Joe has developed a huge interest in playing volleyball. I thought that he interest would wane after a week or two. He is still constantly looking for volleyball players. It's been fun getting outside and playing with him. Several of our neighbors come out to watch us whenever we play. I would gladly not have an audience, but will put up with it for Joe's sake.

The Tooth Fairy

2011-07-26T00:34:00.000-04:00

We don't make a big deal out of the tooth fairy, Santa Claus or the Easter bunny around here. Most of the children have believed or wanted to believe that these make-believe things existed until they were around 4. We never encouraged or discouraged the kids' belief. When the children asked if the tooth fairy was real, I always said that only if they wanted him to be real.

When Joe was 15 months old, he tripped with a kazoo in his mouth and knocked his two front teeth out. It was a scary experience and involved an emergency visit to the dentist, followed by a solid week of pudding and applesauce for Joe's meals. His gums were black and very tender for a long time.

While at a play date, the other mom asked about his tooth loss. After explaining what had happened, I stated that I had been really generous with his tooth fairy money. Unfortunately, her 3 year son had entered the room unexpectedly and overheard my remark. I felt terrible about my spoiling the tooth fairy for her son and apologized profusely. Later that day, I received a phone call from the mom. Her son's belief in the tooth fairy wasn't shaken. He believed that he had figured out that the "real" tooth fairy was Joe's mom! He spent over a year telling all his friends that I was the real tooth fairy. No wonder so many children liked me!

School Planning

2011-07-24T13:15:00.000-04:00

The younger girls have been at V.B.S. this past week from 10 am until noon. The other children have been sleeping late, due to the heat. What have I been doing with these quiet mornings? Working on next year's school plans! The year is going to be unique because there are only 3 children in our homeschool next year! I'm trying to do as much with the three girls together and have a lot of variation in how we are learning.

The three girls will be doing Bible and music together each morning.

Allie will be doing phonics, math, and spelling with me.

Paige's individual subjects will be math, spelling, and phonics.

Paige and Allie will do Spanish, English, Latin, and science together.

Madelyn individual subjects are language arts, math, science, Spanish and Latin.

The three girls will be doing a variety of unit studies on various subjects throughout the year. We will also be doing history and geography lap-books. I'm planning on covering music theory, art, art appreciation, and group piano sessions, as well as, individual piano and flute lessons.

Obviously, we won't be covering every subject every day of the week. So far, the schedule looks good. I'm getting excited about the new year and love coming up with fun projects and activities.

My boys will be getting on the school bus at 7:00 a.m. Our family used to begin school around 9. With the boys leaving so early, I'm planning on the rest of us starting piano practice around 7:30, so our school day can begin at 8. It would be wonderful to finish earlier in the day next year. I would love more time to do things in the afternoon with the kids. It's going to be a great year!

Heat Wave

2011-07-20T21:48:00.000-04:00

My exciting new baking business is off to a slow start. The day after I started tweaking recipes, a heatwave hit our area. The temperature hasn't been below 93 since then, so baking is on hold. The air conditioners are working hard enough right now!

The kids have been playing in the sprinkler and spending more time playing Wii and indoor games. It's been nice to see the board games and cards come out again. My youngest girls discovered the joys of playing Mille Bourne, which is a French card game that is distributed in the U.S. I received it as a birthday gift when I turned 10. My friends and I used to stay up all night playing Mille Bourne and Monopoly. After I had played a few games with the girls, they taught some of their friends and Mille Bourne is now the "hot" game in the neighborhood.

Steve hasn't been to the skateboard park as much as usual. He usually heads down there in the late afternoon for a few hours. It's unusual to see him around the house so much during the day. I had forgotten how much I enjoy his sense of humor during the day.

Joe has been on a volleyball and running binge. He runs just about everyday for an hour. I've been pushing liquids and trying to get him to cut down his runs in this extreme heat. We purchased a volleyball for the Fourth of July. Our net poles were broken, so a clothesline was hung across the yard that we use instead. Joe had a blast playing volleyball and is constantly getting neighborhood games going. Yesterday, he wore out the neighborhood children, exhausted Amy and Steve, and then tried to talk me into a game. Poor kid!

Madelyn has been playing a lot of volleyball with the neighbors and Joe, riding her bike, and helping keep the garden watered. The garden is needing water at least 2 times each day. The high temps are going to stick around until next Thursday. I hope the plants and veggies survive.

I'm spending much of my time organizing the school supplies for next year, planning our school year, and yelling at the kids to close the doors.

Baking

2011-07-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

I really don't enjoy cooking, but I love to bake. Getting out of bed in the morning and making eggs and bacon doesn't appeal to me, but making muffins or quick bread is something I enjoy doing in the morning. I don't bake a lot of cakes, except for birthdays. Pies are my winter dessert of choice to make during the afternoons for a yummy end to the day. During the rest of the year, I bake cookies. Not just the normal chocolate chip, oatmeal, and sugar cookie varieties, but many different varieties. It's not unusual for me to bake 2 double batches of cookies each week. That may seem like a lot of cookies, but we have a large family.

I've been looking for some type of home-based business that could add to my family's income and would be extremely flexible in regards to time spent on the business. Mike discovered that I can bake cookies and pies in my own kitchen without a health inspection and sell them to people. It's allowed under the cottage law. There are restrictions to the types of foods and the amount of gross sales that are allowed. The products can not be sold through businesses owned by other people. Even with the restrictions, Mike and I think that this is a business that I could do from my home, without losing the freedom that I need to keep our home and homeschool running smoothly.

Today, Mike ran to the store and bought me a cookie scoop and new cookie sheets. It's hard to believe, but I have always made drop cookies using a teaspoon from my silverware drawer. Using the new cookie scoop, my cookies are a beautiful uniform size. My children will no longer need to spend time comparing all the cookies to get the largest cookie in the batch. The scoop also made getting the cookie dough out of the bowl and onto the cookie sheets much quicker! I love new gadgets that make life easier!

Today, I perfected my crispy gingersnap recipe and I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It went so quickly using the cookie scoop and parchment paper on the cookie sheets. My kids are going to love eating all my cookie experiments over the next few weeks.

It's Here!

2011-07-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

The older 5 children and I are getting ready to head to the movies to watch The Deathly Hallows part 2. Amy purchased our tickets over three weeks ago. We're a little excited. The younger two girls are staying home with Mike. The 12 A.M. show is too late for them. They would probably stay awake during the movie, but be really cranky tomorrow. I am also concerned that the movie may be too intense for them, especially on a large movie theater screen.

Paige and Allie are quite disappointed about missing the movie. We don't do a lot of movies in the theater so it's a big deal to miss out on one that everyone else gets to see. I plan to take them to see Cars 2 next week. Cars is a little more their speed and we can attend a matinee. Mike also took them out for ice cream this evening. They really enjoyed going to Dairy Queen and purchasing ice cream from their sister.

Now we need to run to the store to purchase Jelly Belly jelly beans for the show!

Bloody Nose

2011-07-13T23:04:00.000-04:00

Allie was outside playing ball with Paige and several neighborhood children. I heard Paige start screaming and saw her race into the bathroom for toilet paper. By the time I reached the front door to see what was happening, Madelyn and Allie were coming up on the porch. Allie's nose was bleeding profusely. We tried various remedies that I had learned in first aid class to stop nose bleeds to no avail.

I have NEVER seen a nose bleed this bad. It was a steady stream of blood that filled 5 washcloths in just a few minutes. Katie ran to the freezer to get some ice that we applied to the top of her nose. We were still changing out washcloths after 25 minutes and the flow had not lessened. I had Katie call Mike on his cell phone to see how far he was on his journey home from work. Katie offered to drive us to the hospital, but Mike was 5 minutes away so we waited. By the time he got home, the flow was down to a trickle and it eventually stopped 15 minutes later.

It was a very scary experience. Allie was questioned about what had happened. The other girls were playing with her and confirmed what had happened. She was not hit by a ball nor was she picking her nose. She thought that she had stepped on a bird and screamed. She had actually stepped on a stick. Then, her nose began to bleed.
This is the second unexplained nose bleed that she has had since Christmas. Any ideas on why this might occur? Anyone else experience such a huge nose bleed.

Thankful

2011-07-11T16:19:00.000-04:00

Things to be especially thankful for today.

Our electric power is back on, so dinner preparation will not be as problematic.

Our huge maple trees did not fall down. Mike and the boys did a great job trimming them earlier this summer.

No one was injured when two large trees fell through two neighbor's roofs.

Time to play card games with my younger children during the power outage.

A clean house.

Silly teenage boys who make me laugh.

Garden fresh salad, green beans, peas, and broccoli.

My mom's good chemotherapy session.

Sewing

2011-07-07T17:36:00.000-04:00

I normally spend a lot of time sewing during the longs days of summer. The kids are outside and I can whip up some Christmas gifts, make some summer and winter clothing, and even do a few fun projects. Four summer tops were made for Paige and Allie in May and June. Two dish towels were whipped up a week ago and then my sewing machine died. I have no clue what is wrong with it. We made a huge investment in a high quality machine 6 years ago. I even remembered to take it in for servicing. Now it won't turn on. Bummer. There isn't enough money to get the machine fixed right now, so I'll be packing up my material and sewing supplies and putting them in deep storage. The "new" space will get filled with projects that I can complete with hand sewing and other crafty supplies. Out of sight....out of mind. Hopefully.

Mocha Brownies

2011-07-04T10:52:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to do more experimentation in the kitchen. The kids and I were throwing around ideas for different types of brownies and I realized that we had never had mocha brownies. I started with our favorite fudgy brownie recipe and took out some of the cocoa, added some instant coffee, and removed some of the vanilla extract. The final product was sensational! These will definitely be made again and again.

Mocha Brownies

1 Cup butter
3/4 Cup cocoa
1/4 Cup Folger's Instant Coffee Crystals, crushed with a spoon
2 Cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease 13"x11" pan. Set aside. Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Add flour and stir until incorporated. Do NOT over beat. Bake in 350 degree for 27 minutes.

YUM!!!

Fort Wayne Letterboxing

2011-07-01T17:30:00.000-04:00

I managed to sneak away on Wednesday and do a little letterboxing with my good friend Melinda. We haven't seen each other since October! Life keep getting in the way whenever we planned to see each other.

We decided to drive down to Fort Wayne, IN. It was one of the few places where neither one of us has boxed yet. Before reaching Fort Wayne, we located a few boxes in Angola. There are four boxes in a public library in Fort Wayne that we decided to find next. We planned on taking about 30-45 minutes to find the boxes. It took longer.....a lot longer. Two of the boxes were easy to locate. The other two boxes were hidden in the stacks. I won't say how long it took us, but it was A LOT longer than it should have taken.

Fortunately, the library was fabulous! I loved the set up and the creativity that went into the design of the facility. They have tons of resources and books. It reminded me how much I miss the library in our former city.

This is the reading tower for children between the ages of 7 and 12. My children would have loved finding a cubby and reading in the tower.

This globe is inspiring. It's huge! I hope that someday I can take my children to spend an afternoon here. They would love it!

After finally locating all the boxes, Melinda and I decided to head back. We managed to try and collect a few boxes on the way home. One box was missing, but the other box was in a beautiful cemetery. We drove past a few more boxes on our way home. We'll have to head back soon to get those. Maybe we will be able to plant some boxes also. It was a wonderful day filled with laughter, silliness, and conversation. Just what I needed.

Boys in the Backyard

2011-07-01T17:20:00.000-04:00

The boys recently purchased some more pvc pipe and pool noodles to make boffers. They covered the boffers with duct tape to make them stronger. It reminds me of when they were little boys playing with their light sabers. After that they were in their fencing period. They alarmed many moms in the neighborhood when they had fencing matches with their foils in the yard. Now they are back to a goofy combat period again.

The boys took Buster outside with them while they were jousting. Buster was very upset that they were hitting each other. The poor dog didn't know which boy to defend. He solved the situation by barking and jumping on whoever was hitting the hardest.

I really enjoyed watching the boys horse around in the backyard together. I know that those days are numbered. Right now they should be savored.

Not Being Bored

2011-06-30T16:03:00.000-04:00

The previous owner of our home built a deck over part of an existing cement patio. The deck is open on the bottom and leaves often get stuck there. We have used the leaf blower to clear out the sticks and leaves several times. It was time for another clean-out, so I asked Joe to blow the leaves into the yard.

About 45 minutes later, Joe asked if he could clean all the dirt that was matted down under the deck. I told him it wasn't necessary, but he wanted to make it "spic and span." After about 1 1/2 hours, I walked outside to ask him how it was going. Joe was no where to be seen, but the flower beds around the deck had about an inch of rich, black soil on them. There was also some black soil on the bare spots in the lawn, underneath one of our huge maple trees. Suddenly, a hand gripped the edge of the deck and Joe came out from under the deck. He was covered with dirt, leaves and spiders. I asked if he was having fun. He responded, "I'm being NOT bored."

Cheese

2011-06-25T17:37:00.001-04:00

My family enjoys cheeses of all kinds, especially melted cheese. We usually make home made pizza once a week. Several years ago, I started purchasing the pre-shredded cheese because finding block Mozzarella was difficult. As our family grew, the amount of cheese stretched to 3 large packages for pizza night.

A few weeks ago, I got a great deal on chunks of Mozzarella cheese. The kids had fun shredding it and the pizza tasted wonderful. While gathering up the empty wrapper, I realized that we had used 30% less cheese on our pizza. The pizza had tons of cheese, possibly even more than normal. I had always know that corn starch is added to shredded cheese to keep it separated in the packaging. The amount of starch came as a surprise. Those "cheaper" bags of pre-shredded cheese end up costing me 25% more every time we eat pizza. Wow!

Yesterday, we had pizza for supper. I ran out of chunk cheese and had Madelyn walk to the store and pick up a small package of shredded cheese for the second pizza. I ate one slice of pizza from the first pizza. YUM! Gooey cheese. Slightly tangy flavor. What could be better?

Then, I had a slice from the second pizza. The flavor was not anywhere near as good as the first slice. Even keeping in mind that a lot of my taste satisfaction was met with the first slice, the second pizza was not as good. We will no longer be purchasing pre-shredded cheese around here. The easy-to-use product convenience isn't enough to offset the loss of flavor and added expense. Try this yourself, I'd love to hear if you had a similar experience.

Visit from a Friend

2011-06-25T17:21:00.000-04:00

This morning we had unexpected visitors. Kim and her family were returning from the lake and were driving almost right by our house, so they stopped to visit. It was such a wonderful surprise! One of the best parts of my entire week! Kim and I were talking in the family room, when she jumped up and said that someone had just hit her car. We quickly went out front. A neighbor was backing out from their drive and backed into Kim's van.

The neighbor immediately pulled over to the side of the road to inspect the damages. The van had a hole in the front bumper from my neighbor's truck hitch. Kim called the police to get a report for insurance purposes. When she gave the address, Kim was told that our intersection did not exist. After a short discussion, dispatch said that an officer would arrive soon.

I felt terrible that my dear friend's van had been hit in front of my home. A month ago, her van needed repairs from being hit in a grocery store parking lot. Maybe she should paint her van day-glo orange? I wonder if she has an invisibility cloaking device and doesn't realize it?

Kim stayed for a nice long chat after the police left. It was such a wonderful surprise to see her. Hopefully, she hasn't been scare away from coming again soon.

School Plans

2011-06-24T16:50:00.001-04:00

A decision has almost been reached for next school year about what to do with the children. We've decided to keep them.....just kidding. The two older boys will probably attend the local high school, while the younger three girls will homeschool. It was a difficult decision and may still change depending on circumstances. Joe has wanted to attend school for the past year. He'd like to meet more children his age and would like to not be thought of as "Steve's little brother." He also wants to do some sports and public school would give him that opportunity.

Steve would like to attend public school, but doesn't want to take the bus at 7:00 a.m. I think it would be good for him to work with other adult teachers, meet firmer academic deadlines, and experience group learning. He has pretty much worked on his own for the last few years, with occasional assistance from me. I think the experience could make the transfer to college a little easier.

The three younger girls would like to go to school also, but Mike and I have too many concerns. Paige and Allie are still to easily influenced by their peers, They also don't have penmanship skills that are up to their public school counterparts. Academically, they are ahead of the public schools, but I don't spend a lot of time on penmanship in the early elementary years.

Madelyn is entering 8th grade. There is nothing meaner than a group of 8th grade girls. I'd rather not have her start her school experience this year. Madelyn is still VERY small for her age, about 4'7" and 50 pounds. It would be easier for her to have another year to grow.

Next year will be quite different for us. With only three students, we will complete our school day much earlier. It will be lovely to have afternoons to do more art, music, exercise, field trips, and fun. Hopefully, the lighter school load will give me some relief from the high stress that I've been under the last few years.

I'm going to try to combine as much work as possible with the three girls. History, geography,science, literature and writing assignments will be easy to combine. Using unit studies might be a fun way to combine much of their learning. So many decision to make! I'm also considering using lapbooks. We haven't used them in a long time. It's been so long that I'm not even sure if Paige and Allie have done any lapbooks.

Letterboxing

2011-06-23T16:08:00.000-04:00

Mike and I took the three youngest girls to Lake Michigan on Tuesday. We planned to letterbox and let the girls swim in the lake. There were 6 boxes that we were going to find. We didn't get any. The first set of 4 boxes were at a county park. The walk through woods to get to the lake was 90% uphill. The scene overlooking the valley was beautiful. There were a ton of mosquitoes. We walked at a pretty fast clip, because we had forgotten to bring bug spray. The trail eventually took us to the top of a massive dune overlooking the lake. The view was gorgeous!

The girls were hot a sticky, so Mike suggested that we take them down the dune to the lake and let them swim for a little while. The walk down the dune was difficult due to the extreme steepness. We made it to the bottom of the dune. Mike and I sat on the sand while the girls swam. The biting flies attacked us, so we spent a lot of time swatting them back and forth between the two of us. After about 30 minutes, my legs were bleeding, so the girls were told to gather up their things.

The box we wanted to find was at the top of the dune. As I looked up the HUGE dune, I realized that I was going to struggle. It was awful getting back us that hill. Everyone had to rest several times during the climb. While we rested the biting flies were attacking us. Eventually we had it back us the dune. Everyone was tired, sweaty, and bleeding. I suggested that we forget about the boxes and head back to the SUV.

Mike had read the clues and knew that we were fairly close to a couple of the boxes, so he persuaded us to venture into the woods to the side of the trail. While we stopped to reread the directions, the mosquitoes and biting flies were working together to make everyone miserable. Allie was frightened when she saw the blood running down my back and legs. After reassuring her that everything was ok, we continued to follow Mike. Finally, I suggested again that we skip the boxes for the day and return in the late fall. The bugs should be gone at that point. We could also avoid the walk up the dune, so we wouldn't be so tired.

We stopped at McDonald's for sandwiches for Mike and the girls. I had a yogurt parfait instead. McDonald's always puts my little girls in a good mood. It's such a big treat for them!

Although we didn't get any boxes, I did get a really good workout. My calves were are still a little sore today.

Small Towns

2011-06-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was not a great day around here. It was incredibly humid. I'm on the 3rd day of my diet, which is never pretty. About mid-morning, I noticed a truck parked in front of our home. Someone was inspecting our property. She walked up on the front porch and I opened the door. The woman was from the city. They was not take down our two smaller trees and trim another huge maple. She wanted me to sign a form, giving the city permission. I told her that I wanted to speak with Mike about it before making a decision. The two smaller trees are the trees that my little girls love to climb. The branches begin fairly low to the ground and they are spaced perfectly for small girls. These trees also shade the master bedroom and the older girls' bedroom.

While I was at the store, another city inspector arrived. We put up our 48"x18' pool a month ago. Three sides of our yard are fenced. We also remove the ladder when the pool is not in use. The city stated that we needed a building permit ($15) to install the pool. They want 4' high fencing and self-locking gates around the entire property. We will need to get a separate building permit to put up the additional fencing. I do understand why we are supposed to have the pool fenced in. There are 6 taller pools on the block that do not have any fencing, but that is beside the point. What I don't understand is why we need a building permit to put up an inflatable pool. It is up for about 90 days and is nothing is dug. The swing set required a more permanent installation. We dug holes and poured cement to anchor it to the ground. Seems a little strange to me.

The building permit inspector stated that the city received an anonymous report about our pool. I don't understand the amount of calls to the city and police in this community. My neighbors on each side have had the police at their home a dozen times each this summer. Thankfully, we haven't had any. Are all small towns so "call the authorities" crazy? Is it because there aren't many things to do, so people need to create some excitement?

We lowered the pool to 28" so that we are within the legal height requirements until I can scrape up the money to purchase the remaining privacy fence. Now the pool is low enough for a two year old to fall into if he hangs over the edge. I'm feeling much less secure about the pool now, but we're legal.

I think I'm ready to move now.

Innovative Cleaning

2011-06-20T22:13:00.000-04:00

Steve's solution to sweeping when he'd rather be skateboarding.

Water Fest 2011

2011-06-18T20:04:00.000-04:00

Friday was arm-band day at our town's big summer celebration. Katie was working, so I took all the other kids over to the carnival during the afternoon. While everyone was getting their arm bands, I took Paige and Allie over to ride the train.

After the ride, my two youngest girls patiently explained to me that they were really too old for this ride. Due to their extreme age and sophistication, I suggested that they go on the Scrambler next. I expected them to get a little scared and maybe be a little less sure of themselves. It didn't work. Everyone had a blast. Paige and Allie have also grown since last summer and are now allowed to ride on most of the "big kid" rides by themselves. They didn't want anyone to ride with them on the Scrambler. Halfway through the ride, I noticed that Paige was up on her knees with her hands in the air. I shouted to her that she had to sit on her bottom or they would stop the ride.

After the ride was over and my heart had slowed back to its normal pace, I asked Paige why she was not sitting properly. During the ride, she was sliding into Allie. Paige thought that she would be able to move over more easily on her knees. It was good to know that she wasn't trying to be naughty, but I mentioned that I wanted one of the older children on the rides with the two youngest.

Everyone wanted to go on the Tornado next. Steve gets motion sickness, so he and Amy rode with Paige and Allie. Joe and Madelyn wanted to spin a lot, so they rode together. Madelyn is also fearless. When she wasn't spinning the ride, she was riding with her arms and legs hanging out of all sides. She doesn't get that from me!

Everyone humored me by going on a "wimpy" ride next. Not the masculine pink dragon that Joe and Madelyn are using.

Time for the merry-go-round! Did you know that the merry-go-round uses seat belts on all the horses and sled? Where's the excitement in that?

Fun house.

The Ferris Wheel was a huge thrill for Paige and Allie. Amy doesn't like heights (she's like me) but rode on it for Allie's sake. Steve also endured the ride for Paige. What a great sister and brother!

Joe and Madelyn wanted to ride on the boat ride. The ride takes the boats up into the air and then spins the boats on their sides. Luckily, Paige and Allies weren't tall enough this year.

Everyone had a blast during the afternoon. I let the older children return after dinner to hang out with their friends. I'm so glad that we went first as a family when everything was new and exciting.

Kindness

2011-06-18T19:30:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago, I received an unexpected card in the mail. A lovely woman who reads my blog sent me a beautiful note which really brightened my day. It's been hectic around here the last few months and I've been feeling like I'm stranded on an island in the middle of a large ocean. I can't express how touched I was by her thoughtfulness. She also sent a generous check with instructions to buy a treat for our family or do something fun.

We spent a happy hour trying to come up with an idea that everyone liked. Mike came home and suggested that we try to spread the treat as far as possible. Thursday night, we bought marshmallows and roasted them around a bonfire in the backyard. The fire was rather bright at one point, so everyone made puppet shadows on the side of the house. Allie didn't get the idea right away and tried to act out her idea like she does when playing charades. Then, we told ghost stories for over an hour. We considered singing songs, but didn't want to wake up the sleeping neighbors.

Last night, we rented a movie for the family and cooked popcorn. The kids brought their blankets down from their bedroom and spread them out on the family room floor. The movie wasn't my personal favorite, but the kids laughed out loud and I enjoyed watching them snuggle up on the floor together.

The kids are making lists of ideas for the remainder of the money. It should be a blast.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

2011-06-16T19:05:00.000-04:00

I was involved in a secret Santa exchange last Christmas. Along with the small gift, each participant included their favorite Christmas cookie. We tend to do mostly decorative cookies at Christmas time, so these were first made in January. They were a huge hit with most of my family. They are rich, but not as much as I had feared. The dried cranberries provide the needed tartness. They are a nice change from regular oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies, without a lot of fuss.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degree. In a large bowl, combine the sugar brown sugar and butter; mix well to cream together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Add cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour. Mix well. Fold in the oatmeal, cranberries, and white chocolate chips. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place 3 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges are lightly golden.

Extreme Couponing

2011-06-12T12:17:00.000-04:00

I watched a few episodes of the Extreme Couponing show. At first, the amount of money saved amazed me. How can someone purchase $400 worth of groceries and only pay $40? After a couple of episodes, I was no longer impressed. Why would someone need 24 bottles of fiber medication? Is the intent of manufacturers to provide 24 bottles of their product to one person free? Especially since that one person bought every bottle in the store? I don't think so. Manufacturers want consumers to try their product and become a repeat customer. They don't want to provide free product to one person for the rest of his life. How long does it take for someone to go through 24 bottle of medication anyway? Probably a lot of product expires and goes to waste. How much extra is average customer paying because of all the products that has been received free by extreme coupon people?

As a large family living on one income, we try to budget our money and resources carefully. We need to stretch each dollar as much as possible. In the past, I've tried to use coupons. The coupons were clipped out of newspapers and printed on-line. When I reached the store, I discovered that I could purchase other similar products cheaper without a coupon. Too many coupons are for over-processed, heavily-salted items that my family doesn't eat. Almost all of the coupons that I had clipped remained unused at the end of the shopping trip.

The people on the Extreme Couponing show shop at stores that double and triple their coupon value. There are no local stores that double coupons. The only double coupon store in our county is 40 minutes away. The Extreme Couponing people use in-store coupons and manufacturers coupons on the same item. The store that doubles coupons in our county recently changed their policy. Store and manufacturer's coupons may no longer be combined. I think that the show is actually making it more difficult for the extreme coupon people to continue to ~~use~~ abuse coupons.

I learned a few things watching the television show and will probably watch more carefully for the few items that we actually purchase normally. Maybe, I'll be able to save $25 each week. There is no point in hoarding items simply because they are free or only a few cents each. My family doesn't need poor health due to eating nominally nutritious foods nor do my children need to drink tons of sugary drinks.

The Extreme Couponing show will probably not be watched again at my house. The practices used by the participants seem unethical and wasteful. Not something I want to emulate in my life.

Garden

2011-06-12T11:40:00.000-04:00

Our garden is flourishing! We harvested a lot of lettuces and radishes this week. A few of the lettuce leaves were bitter, probably due to the excessively hot weather recently. The onions have large tops. Paige and Allie are anxious to pick them, but they aren't ready yet. The pepper plants are flowering. We had some sections of the bean rows that didn't come up. Beans aren't a favorite vegetable around here, so it's not too big of a loss. The tomatoes and broccoli are filling out nicely. I'm so excited to be able to grow vegetables for us again.

Madelyn and I spent a few hours weeding this weekend. I'm going to force the other children to help us finish it off today. The temperature is so cool that it's actually fun to be outside weeding!

The big disappointment this year is our herb container garden. In the past, I've always purchased our herbs as plants. This year, I tried seeds. Very few of them germinated. It was very cool here in May, so I haven't completely given up hope. Maybe, I should check out the green houses for any leftover herb plants just to be safe.

The Decorating of the Graduation Cake

2011-06-06T18:43:00.000-04:00

Katie has always loved Spiderman. When we were planning her graduation party, she asked if she could have a Spiderman party. Of course, I agreed. After all, it's her last party as a "child". Her boyfriend, Woody is a wonderful artist. He has given her several drawings and asked if he could decorate the cake.

When I ordered a full sheet cake without any decorations, the bakery thought I was a little strange. When I picked up the cake, the baker looked at the cake and remarked that they had forgotten to complete the cake.

Saturday night, Woody came to our home to decorate the cake. He had underestimated the size of the cake, so it was necessary to redraw the design on the cake box lid.

The black outline is complete and the blue color has been added.

He did a marvelous job. Katie framed the cake box lid as another memento of her graduation.

After Party Recovering

2011-06-06T08:11:00.000-04:00

Katie had her graduation open house yesterday. The weather was perfect with comfortable temperatures, a gentle breeze, and sunshine. It was a hectic week as we prepared for the event. Katie wanted to have the party at a local park about 3 blocks from the house. There is a picnic pavilion, walking path, playground equipment and skate park nearby. After we started hauling in extra tables, Mike realized that there is also a canoe portage and swim area in the river that flows through the park. Mike was able to speak with a few canoe groups and learned about a few easy 3-4 hours canoe trips that we can take over the next couple of weeks.

Even though the party was to be held at a park, I still wanted the house perfect. On occasion, we have had people drop by our home before and after parties. I wanted to be prepared. The kids and I have been working frantically to clean out closets, organize school supplies, paint walls, complete unfinished projects.

Mike offered to cook almost all the food. He barbequed 60 pounds of pulled chicken, prepared way too much coleslaw, fried tortilla chips, cooked 2 gallons of homemade salsa, and made 4 gallons of baked beans. My contribution to meal preparation was jello salad and 2 dozen cupcakes. Mike loves to cook, so he enjoyed all the cooking, even though he didn't realize how long it would take to cook large amounts of food.

During cooking day, the house got trashed. Food and serving dishes were from one end the house to the other. Woody came by to decorate Katie's cake, which created a frosting mess in the kitchen (where the frosting was made) and dining room (where the cake was decorated.) It took hours for us to get everything in order before bed Saturday night. The boys and Madelyn ran errands, supervised Paige and Allie, and cleaned.

Everyone helped haul everything to the park. The boys and I decorated the picnic pavilion. Everyone also pitched in to drag everything back home to our immaculate home. No one dropped by the house, so some of my children feel that all our deep cleaning was worthless. I still see the value.

I promised everyone that they could sleep as late as the want Monday morning and had an absolutely free day, to do whatever they wanted. There were a few disagreements and a few tears last week, but I was so proud of how everyone worked together. The kids have certainly earned a few days of recovery.

We probably won't get back to finishing our remaining school work for this past year until next week. I'd like to get a few summer outfits made for the younger girls and everyone needs a small break.

Graduation

2011-06-04T21:15:00.001-04:00

Katie graduated Friday night. The ceremony was......memorable. There was the normal entry of the seniors to Pomp and Circumstance. As the last 10-12 seniors entered, it became obvious that there were not enough seats for the senior class. The band continued to play and the remaining seniors were left standing in the aisle. Everyone was looking around for someone to do something. Finally, the band director began to get some chairs from a supply closet. A few other faculty members helped set up chairs as the band continued to play. Eventually, everyone was seated.

The class officers gave speeches and then the new principal gave a small talk. Her first comment was that the seniors must have played a prank, so that there were not enough chairs. The class began to line up row by row to get their diplomas. We weren't able to get very good pictures, due to our nose-bleed seats. As the last few students approached to get their certificates, one goofy class member acted as if he wouldn't shake hands with the superintendent. After his silliness in the receiving line, he was supposed to walk down a few steps and join him classmates. He tripped and fell down the stairs. The entire audience gasped and the young man remained lying on the floor for a few seconds. Then, he bounced to his feet, arms in the air to huge applause. I'm not sure if his fell on purpose or on accident, but he certainly made a memorable evening.

We were able to get some photos of Katie after the ceremony

Katie and her siblings, except Amy who had to work.
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Katie, her boyfriend Woody and her siblings.

Cleaning and Organizing

2011-05-31T22:49:00.000-04:00

WhooHoo! I completely emptied out the school armoire and found new locations for the school supplies. There were also 4 small bags of papers, empty glue bottles, died up markers and crayon nubs that were pitched into the trash can. Now, what would a person with four boxes of material stacked in her bedroom do with an empty armoire? Four drawers were used for material and some crafting supplies. The two huge shelves were filled with piles of cottons to be used for some summer shirts, skirts, and quilting.

There is nothing like organized supplies to encourage a new project. I can hardly wait until Kate's open house is done, so that there will be time to do some serious sewing. There are several projects that came to mind while I sorted out the various prints. It would be wonderful to make a few new summer shirts for me this year. Most of last year's summer wear is too large and I don't want to invest in new clothes from a store. Paige and Allie would like some new summer nightgowns. Both of the girls have grown so much this year that their nightgowns are much too short. Mike and the boys could use a few pairs of summer weight lounge pants.

None of these projects are involved, so I'm hopeful that they can all get completed in a few weeks. What will I do with the extra space after I use up the fabrics? Hmmm. The possibilities are endless.

Kids!

2011-05-31T13:12:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, my youngest girls played with Barbie dolls in the pool, which is still filling. It was extremely hot, so I let them wade and play while we tried to fill it to a reasonable height. Katie watched them and then mentioned to me that when she was 3-4 years old, Amy would only play Barbies with her if Amy was allowed to chose how they played. Amy is 5 years older than Katie and had just read The Diary of Anne Frank. Poor Katie was forced to play "Gas Chamber" with Amy. Their dolls were always hiding from the people who wanted to throw them in the gas chambers. Katie just realized that she had been playing holocaust.

I'm always amazed at the amount of carry-over from lessons or readings that my children bring to their play. After all these years, I should be prepared for these glimpses of learning, but they always surprise me. I should also do a better job of seeing what they are playing, especially when it's quiet.

Churches

2011-05-29T22:50:00.001-04:00

My two youngest daughters cried this morning when I explained that we would not be going to church today. This is the 3rd week that we have missed church. A few months ago, we began to visit a WELS church in a town about 30 miles to our east. The worship service was excellent and the members welcoming. So far, we haven't found any objections to the service. The problem is the distance and the price of gas. It costs about $20 to drive one round trip. Mike works on Sundays, but in the opposite direction of the church. So he needs to leave the service early to get to work on time. We can't afford to take two vehicles to church.

On Tuesday, Mike ran into the pastor from the Missouri synod church in our town. We had liked the church, but there were some things that bothered me. I feel that it is the pastor's calling to read scripture to the members. This church has older women read the scripture readings. There are a few other more minor things that bothered me, but it was a matter of my personal preference. Then the church, at the pastor's insistence, began to hold a contemporary service on Saturday (with a praise band and leader) and a folk service on Saturday morning. The traditional service was pushed to the earlier time of 8:30.

I've already discussed my concerns about the new types of worship that the church was offering and my increasing level of discomfort. The last time we attended was the Sunday that the pastor used the folk service instead of the traditional service with no prior notice.

During Mike's conversation with the pastor on Tuesday, we learned that the other services have been discontinued. The pastor stated that the members were not ready for alternative styles of worship. But, now I'm in a quandary. Do we return to attending the Missouri synod church because we can attend services each week and be involved in choir, youth group, and confirmation. A church where attendance isn't a financial burden? Or do we consider joining the church 30 minutes away, recognizing that we won't be able to attend each week and will not be able to participate in anything except worship service? I miss attending church each week. My soul yearns for communion on a regular basis.

Mike doesn't care what we do, but doesn't want us to join a church where I have reservations and am waiting for the next problem to appear. Why is finding a church home so difficult?

Home Repair Update

2011-05-29T15:40:00.000-04:00

Katie's graduation open house is next Sunday afternoon. We have rented a picnic pavilion at a nearby park to hold the event, but won't be surprised if some of our extended family decide to stop by the house to visit before or after the event. Mike and I have been using the open house as an incentive to complete some of the smaller projects that weren't competed last year during our major renovations.

We had a few problems with the toilet paper spindle. Someone was using the toilet paper holder as an arm rest. The holder was reinstalled twice in slightly different locations before the culprit stopped accidentally pulling it off the wall. We were left with some unsightly holes. A few months ago, the holes were filled in and the multiple layers of sealer dried and were sanded. Repainting the bathroom wasn't high on my priority list, so we had beige walls with white patches for several months. Last week, Mike found some paint that matched the downstairs bathroom. I spent Tuesday morning repainting the entire bathroom. It looks really nice. Beige isn't my favorite color, but it is lovely to have walls that are all one color again.

When Mike replaced all the dry wall in the family room, he never got around to putting the trim around the sliding glass doors or the windows. We had purchased, stained and varnished the wood, but it rested on the floor behind chairs and couches for the last year. While I was painting the bathroom, Mike installed the window trim. It looks beautiful! I love the finished look and the missing boards on the carpet.

If there is time, I'd like to get the stairway repainted. There is paneling on the walls and I put 3 coats of primer and paint on the paneling as far as I could reach. The top portion still needs to be finished. With my tremendous fear of heights, the remainder of the painting needs to be done by someone else. I won't be too upset if it isn't done before the party, but I'd really like it to be done by the end of June. Mike has some outside projects that he wants to complete, so the hall will probably wait a few months longer. Still, it's wonderful to see some of the smaller things get finished.