Well, I am done with the teaching part of my co-op responsibilities! Yay! Today we talked about the moon. The first part was about the physical moon--characteristics, phases, etc.--and the second part was about the space program to the moon. I always find that so interesting, so I love talking about that. We also have lots of little metal diecast figures of the space program (an Apollo capsule, the lunar module, a Saturn 5 rocket, etc.), and the kids really liked seeing and playing with those while I talked about them. Now hopefully they will all remember some part of what I said when we visit the museum next week!
One funny thing happened today while I was teaching the first graders. We were talking about the difference between our gravity and that of the moon, and I was bounding around the room to show how the astronauts walked on the moon. One little boy said in a surprised voice, "Hey! Are you having a BABY?!" LOL! I guess he never noticed before! Either that, or he just thought I was really fat! But since I carry straight out in front, like I stuck a big basketball under my shirt, people rarely don't notice anything! I laughed though. : )
I was so tired again after we got home, and I had a huge headache. After I put Jonathan down for his nap, I took the unheard-of step of actually putting on my fuzzy warm fleece nightshirt and crawling into bed for a nap, instead ofjust sleeping on the couch! It was nice, although my headache is still going strong. I think it's actually one of those atmospheric/pregnancy headaches, since it's been cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy all day, and very windy. Where's a barometer when I need one?! Actually, I think my head could be a barometer, since it seems to be reacting to changing atmospheric pressure!
After dinner tonight we watched half of "My Fair Lady" and had popcorn. I think the boys' favorite part is when they are dancing during "The Rain In Spain" song. They laugh so hard! The L's gave us a new popcorn popper for Christmas, and let me just interject here that we are absolutely loving it! It is tons bigger than our last one, so we only have to pop up one batch for us (6 quarts). It also has this neat stirrer bar thing, and it really does seem to work to keep the old maids to a minimum. Plus, the bowl is not cracked, like on our old one (which really is old--I think it came into the marriage with Bob too, so that makes it over 12 years old!). It all adds up to a much nicer movie-watching experience!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Taking Off Your Mask
"Taking Off Your Mask" was the topic of our ladies' retreat, and the speaker was a woman named Debby Price. She and her husband used to go to our chruch, but then they moved out to Wichita, KS for her husband's job. They have 4 boys too. Both Debby and her husband are children of preachers, although she did say that her family (growing up) never thought she would ever be a speaker at a retreat, since she was not a public speaker by any means! She was very nice and friendly, with a very vibrant walk with the Lord. I was sorry we weren't around when they were at our church to get to know them more.
She gave her testimony Friday night, and then on Saturday she started talking about why we wear masks. She had a handout with 2 circles on it, both being ways to solve problems. The first way is to have a problem, respond and try to fix it (since everyone wants to be in control!). Then you either succeed or fail, but eventually you will fail at fixing some problem. Then you feel anger, shame and fear, so you put on a mask, withdraw, and feel defeated.
The second way involves responding to your problem by trusting the Lord. Then there is either success or failure, but you can be confident that "our character is more important than our comfort", and that no matter what happens, God is in control of the situation. Then you can feel peace and be open about your struggles, walking in obedience. That leads to freedom, and you see your problem as a testimony to the Lord's power and faithfulness.
She said a lot more, but this first part really spoke to me, since we've been struggling so much with the issue of our future, and what we should be doing with our house. I can really see that I am not trusting God to take care of us, but more importantly, I really am not trusting that the Lord will speak to Bob and work in his life, even through potentially bad decisions, to draw him closer too. I really want to know the whole plan--at once! Debby said once, "My future doesn't depend on me fixing it", but right now I feel like that is where I'm at, and I have not experienced peace . . . well, since we moved here! We had a time of prayer Saturday night, and that whole issue is what I asked prayer for. The ladies prayed for both of us, and it was a real encouragement to me. Of course, I went home Sunday, and Bob and I got into a raging fight about what else, what we should do with our house, and I feel like it must have been satanic! Fortunately we were able to talk about some things later, but obviously this is an issue that Satan feels he can use to divide us. Specifically, the issue is "should we sell the house sooner rather than later". Interest rates are going up, and the fear is that there will be a much smaller pool of buyers who will be able to afford our house (and a bigger pool of houses for sale) when it is time to sell (in a another year or 2?). So maybe we should try to sell now and live in a rental until we are ready to move. The only flaw in this plan is that we will be having a baby in 8 weeks, so we aren't really in a position right now to get a house ready to sell, much less pack everything up and move ourselves. So some of the conflict is that we don't have many options right now, and that leads one to look back and question previous decisions leading us to where we are now. But since we can't change those things, that is a pretty counterproductive little exercise, although it does considerably raise the tension levels!
Right now, the bottom line for me anyways is to be open to how God is leading Bob and also to trust that God has us where we are for a reason. I have been praying that God would clearly reveal to us, especially Bob, what he wants us to do, and I'll continue to pray that. But really, what it comes down to is saying, "You know what you're doing, and I trust you, Lord". That takes the pressure off of me! I still would like to experience more of his peace though, LOL!
She gave her testimony Friday night, and then on Saturday she started talking about why we wear masks. She had a handout with 2 circles on it, both being ways to solve problems. The first way is to have a problem, respond and try to fix it (since everyone wants to be in control!). Then you either succeed or fail, but eventually you will fail at fixing some problem. Then you feel anger, shame and fear, so you put on a mask, withdraw, and feel defeated.
The second way involves responding to your problem by trusting the Lord. Then there is either success or failure, but you can be confident that "our character is more important than our comfort", and that no matter what happens, God is in control of the situation. Then you can feel peace and be open about your struggles, walking in obedience. That leads to freedom, and you see your problem as a testimony to the Lord's power and faithfulness.
She said a lot more, but this first part really spoke to me, since we've been struggling so much with the issue of our future, and what we should be doing with our house. I can really see that I am not trusting God to take care of us, but more importantly, I really am not trusting that the Lord will speak to Bob and work in his life, even through potentially bad decisions, to draw him closer too. I really want to know the whole plan--at once! Debby said once, "My future doesn't depend on me fixing it", but right now I feel like that is where I'm at, and I have not experienced peace . . . well, since we moved here! We had a time of prayer Saturday night, and that whole issue is what I asked prayer for. The ladies prayed for both of us, and it was a real encouragement to me. Of course, I went home Sunday, and Bob and I got into a raging fight about what else, what we should do with our house, and I feel like it must have been satanic! Fortunately we were able to talk about some things later, but obviously this is an issue that Satan feels he can use to divide us. Specifically, the issue is "should we sell the house sooner rather than later". Interest rates are going up, and the fear is that there will be a much smaller pool of buyers who will be able to afford our house (and a bigger pool of houses for sale) when it is time to sell (in a another year or 2?). So maybe we should try to sell now and live in a rental until we are ready to move. The only flaw in this plan is that we will be having a baby in 8 weeks, so we aren't really in a position right now to get a house ready to sell, much less pack everything up and move ourselves. So some of the conflict is that we don't have many options right now, and that leads one to look back and question previous decisions leading us to where we are now. But since we can't change those things, that is a pretty counterproductive little exercise, although it does considerably raise the tension levels!
Right now, the bottom line for me anyways is to be open to how God is leading Bob and also to trust that God has us where we are for a reason. I have been praying that God would clearly reveal to us, especially Bob, what he wants us to do, and I'll continue to pray that. But really, what it comes down to is saying, "You know what you're doing, and I trust you, Lord". That takes the pressure off of me! I still would like to experience more of his peace though, LOL!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
I'm Back!
I'm back from my retreat, and Bob and all the boys survived without me just fine! In fact, Bob took all the boys to WalMart yesterday. I don't even take all the boys to WalMart on Saturdays! The other ladies were very impressed. They already think Bob is some kind of hero because he can watch all 4 boys. Most of them don't have as many children as I do (well, none on the retreat had as many as we do), and most of them have in-laws or parents close by to help the husbands out. So this has just cemented Bob's "super-dad" reputation.
The retreat was really good. The weather was beautiful, and yesterday afternoon I got to take a nap AND go on a nice walk along the beach. How relaxing! Our retreat was at a place called Sandy Cove, which is on the Chesapeake Bay. It is like a hotel, with 3 buffet-style meals a day and maid service, so it is a nice atmosphere.
The speaker was good, but I will have to write more about what she actually discussed later. We stayed up late last night, and I am just pooped! So . . . more later!
The retreat was really good. The weather was beautiful, and yesterday afternoon I got to take a nap AND go on a nice walk along the beach. How relaxing! Our retreat was at a place called Sandy Cove, which is on the Chesapeake Bay. It is like a hotel, with 3 buffet-style meals a day and maid service, so it is a nice atmosphere.
The speaker was good, but I will have to write more about what she actually discussed later. We stayed up late last night, and I am just pooped! So . . . more later!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
New Courses Offered For Men . . .
I saw this a few days ago, and it made me laugh, so I thought I would post it. Obviously, it is all sterotypical, so it doesn't apply to everyone. For example, both Bob and I hate to shop, so no problems there! And I am the one who will not stop and ask for directions. Bob on the other hand will roll down his window and ask random strangers in the car next to us, while I hide my head in the glove box. I guess I'd better sign up for Class 9. Here at home, I am doing an intensive class of my own along the lines of classes 4 and 5 (laundry hampers and dirty dishes) in hopes that my sons' wives will be the beneficiaries, and my sons will never need these kinds of classes as men! : )
WINTER CLASSES FOR MEN AT THE LEARNING CENTER FOR ADULTS. REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED BY Monday, Jan. 30, 2006
NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.
Class 1 How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays --- Step by Step, with Slide Presentation. Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 2 The Toilet Paper Roll --- Does It Change Itself? Round Table Discussion. Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3 Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub? --- Group Practice. Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4 Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor --- Pictures and Explanatory Graphics. Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5 After Dinner Dishes --- Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink? Examples on Video. Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM
Class 6 Loss Of Identity --- Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other. Help Line Support and Support Groups. Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7 Learning How To Find Things --- Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming. Open Forum Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours
Class 8 Health Watch --- Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health. Graphics and Audio Tapes. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9 Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost --- Real Life Testimonials. Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.
Class 10 Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks? Driving Simulations. 4 weeks, Saturdays noon, 2 hours.
Class 11 Learning to Live --- Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife. Online Classes and role-playing Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12 How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion--- Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques. Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 13 How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy --- Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You're Going To Be Late. Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 14 The Stove/Oven --- What It Is and How It Is Used. Live Demonstration. Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.
Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.
WINTER CLASSES FOR MEN AT THE LEARNING CENTER FOR ADULTS. REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED BY Monday, Jan. 30, 2006
NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.
Class 1 How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays --- Step by Step, with Slide Presentation. Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 2 The Toilet Paper Roll --- Does It Change Itself? Round Table Discussion. Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3 Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub? --- Group Practice. Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4 Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor --- Pictures and Explanatory Graphics. Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5 After Dinner Dishes --- Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink? Examples on Video. Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM
Class 6 Loss Of Identity --- Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other. Help Line Support and Support Groups. Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7 Learning How To Find Things --- Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming. Open Forum Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours
Class 8 Health Watch --- Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health. Graphics and Audio Tapes. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9 Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost --- Real Life Testimonials. Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.
Class 10 Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks? Driving Simulations. 4 weeks, Saturdays noon, 2 hours.
Class 11 Learning to Live --- Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife. Online Classes and role-playing Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12 How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion--- Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques. Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 13 How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy --- Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You're Going To Be Late. Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 14 The Stove/Oven --- What It Is and How It Is Used. Live Demonstration. Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.
Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.
Quick Update
It's been a few days since I last blogged. Nothing exciting has happened, and well, I'm just more tired! I've been doing so well at exercising every morning, but the downside is I pretty much have to take a nap at about 1:30. Oh well.
Teaching went really well, but I sure was tired afterwards. First and second grade teachers have my utmost respect because I just don't think I would ever have the patience to deal with 20 or more wiggly little kids for a whole day! Three hours is plenty for me! The first graders took longer to do things, so I had activities we never even got to, but better too much than not enough! The second grade boys were pretty hyper, but everyone liked talking about stars, and things went well.
Now I am moving on to the moon for next week! I'm so glad I got all of my handouts done and copied off already, so that is all set. Now I need to make a big poster depicting the phases of the moon, as well as a far-off view of the earth and sun, with the moon in the different postitions. In fact, I should be doing that right now, but you see I always pick blogging over what I really should be doing! LOL! I don't actually have all that much time to get ready before Tuesday. Tonight I have a co-op moms' meeting. I enjoy getting together with the other ladies, especially when it involves dinner! Then tomorrow afternoon I am leaving for our church ladies' retreat, and I won't be back until Sunday afternoon. Yes, that means 3, maybe 4 nights that I don't have to cook! It's the little things that excite me most at this point. LOL! I am looking forward to the time away. I'm not sure what the speaker's topic will be, but the retreat last year was really good. I hope this one will be too.
That's about all that's happening around here. I'll post about the retreat when I get back!
Teaching went really well, but I sure was tired afterwards. First and second grade teachers have my utmost respect because I just don't think I would ever have the patience to deal with 20 or more wiggly little kids for a whole day! Three hours is plenty for me! The first graders took longer to do things, so I had activities we never even got to, but better too much than not enough! The second grade boys were pretty hyper, but everyone liked talking about stars, and things went well.
Now I am moving on to the moon for next week! I'm so glad I got all of my handouts done and copied off already, so that is all set. Now I need to make a big poster depicting the phases of the moon, as well as a far-off view of the earth and sun, with the moon in the different postitions. In fact, I should be doing that right now, but you see I always pick blogging over what I really should be doing! LOL! I don't actually have all that much time to get ready before Tuesday. Tonight I have a co-op moms' meeting. I enjoy getting together with the other ladies, especially when it involves dinner! Then tomorrow afternoon I am leaving for our church ladies' retreat, and I won't be back until Sunday afternoon. Yes, that means 3, maybe 4 nights that I don't have to cook! It's the little things that excite me most at this point. LOL! I am looking forward to the time away. I'm not sure what the speaker's topic will be, but the retreat last year was really good. I hope this one will be too.
That's about all that's happening around here. I'll post about the retreat when I get back!
Monday, January 23, 2006
Preparations are complete . . .
I start teaching tomorrow, and I just finished pounding my last chip can. I made constellations by pounding nail holes into the bottom of pringles chip cans and covering the outside of the canisters with black construction paper. They look pretty neat, I must say, but I am tired of holding the nail in place! I did 18 of them (yes, we have been saving pringles cans for quite awhile, and I will be thrilled to have them out of the study!), and there are 6 different constellations that I did. I got the idea from someone on the Well-Trained Mind board several months back, and it was a good one! I think the kids will enjoy "star-gazing"' from the comfort of the classroom! It sure beats all the D.C. light pollution anyways. I also found, at the last minute, a demonstration on why stars twinkle, using a bowl of water, a mirror, and a flashlight. I had quite a time hunting up a small mirror, but finally I found one in an old compact. I managed to pry it out using a putty knife, so we're good to go on that as well. I had plenty of flashlights to choose from, though! LOL!
Ed, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and I did a reconnaisance foray to the Udvar-Hazy Museum last night while everyone else was at AWANAs to scout for our upcoming field trip there. The museum is technically free, but there is a $12/car charge for parking! Elizabeth got a hot tip that you can park after 4:30 for free (the museum closes at 5:30), so that is what we did. We had to organize a scavenger hunt for the k-4 through 2nd graders, since they don't get a guided tour, and their hands-on time is only about 30 minutes. There's some neat stuff there, especially if you are at all interested in space, but I hope it will keep the attention of the little guys!
Now all I need to do to be ready for tomorrow is type out my lesson plans in an attempt to be really organized. I suppose I should go ahead and sign off so I can get that done! You will notice that I haven't blogged for several days, but when there is something else that needs to be doing, all of a sudden I am full of words! LOL!
Ed, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and I did a reconnaisance foray to the Udvar-Hazy Museum last night while everyone else was at AWANAs to scout for our upcoming field trip there. The museum is technically free, but there is a $12/car charge for parking! Elizabeth got a hot tip that you can park after 4:30 for free (the museum closes at 5:30), so that is what we did. We had to organize a scavenger hunt for the k-4 through 2nd graders, since they don't get a guided tour, and their hands-on time is only about 30 minutes. There's some neat stuff there, especially if you are at all interested in space, but I hope it will keep the attention of the little guys!
Now all I need to do to be ready for tomorrow is type out my lesson plans in an attempt to be really organized. I suppose I should go ahead and sign off so I can get that done! You will notice that I haven't blogged for several days, but when there is something else that needs to be doing, all of a sudden I am full of words! LOL!
Let the nesting begin!
I still have about 9 weeks to go, but I am already feeling twinges of that nestin ginstinct, particularily with regards to storing up food. Now I know that reading My Side of the Mountain, where Sam details all his preparations for winter isn't helping any, but I do always get this urge to pack away tons of food in our freezers before I have a baby. I say "freezers" because one thing we have is plenty of freezer storage space! We have a lovely big side by side in our kitchen that came with the house, plus a small side by side in the garage that we got from Nana and Papa. Then we also have a big upright freezer in the garage, also from Nana and Papa, as well as what used to be our main fridge, an Amana with the freezer on the bottom, down in the basement. Amazingly, that one is also from Nana and Papa (we didn't just up and take away all their refrigerating devices--they moved into a small retirement village, and we traded our new fridge for their nicer one when they sold their house when we were stationed out in Colorado!). So storage space is definitely not an issue! As a funny aside, a few months after we moved here, some salesman called from one of those places that will bring meat to your door. He asked what kind of refrigerator and freezer we had. I rattled off all of ours, and there was kind of a stunned pause. "Umm, are you an appliance store or something?!" LOL!
Anyhow, I have been busy browning tons of ground beef and cooking and chopping tons of chicken. I've also put an extra meatloaf up, as well as chicken and black bean soup, and from tonight's meal, chili. I also cooked and mashed lots of sweet potatoes so we can make tons of sweet potato biscuits! I have plenty of other soups on our future menu, as well as spaghetti and things like that. I used to freeze a lot of casseroles, but with Caleb being allergic to dairy, there aren't as many that work now. But I think I will still have enough in the freezer by the time the baby is born to feed a small army. Which is good, since that seems to be what I am feeding every night.
Anyhow, I have been busy browning tons of ground beef and cooking and chopping tons of chicken. I've also put an extra meatloaf up, as well as chicken and black bean soup, and from tonight's meal, chili. I also cooked and mashed lots of sweet potatoes so we can make tons of sweet potato biscuits! I have plenty of other soups on our future menu, as well as spaghetti and things like that. I used to freeze a lot of casseroles, but with Caleb being allergic to dairy, there aren't as many that work now. But I think I will still have enough in the freezer by the time the baby is born to feed a small army. Which is good, since that seems to be what I am feeding every night.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Space Update
Well, for the 2 or 3 of you who are wondering, I got everything done last night for my space unit, and we were able to make the copies this afternoon. The price I paid--I went to bed at 1:30. Amy knows from college days that my brain pretty much shuts off after 11:00, so I was not all that productive after that time, and that is why it took me so long to finish! Actually, what happened is that I cut out all my beautiful timeline figures and realized that I made the Gemini, Apollo, and Saturn 5 rocket figures too big, and so all the figures did not fit on my timeline paper! Ack! In my befudled, tired state, I tried to figure out how to make our printer/copier shrink things down, but alas, I could not. Irrationally, I decided that the best thing to do was redraw them smaller right then. Yes! That was my brilliant solution! I finally got that done and the new ones copied onto the paper with the other figures (the ones that were small enough and already fit, LOL), and by that point in time, I never wanted to see anything dealing with space again. Fortunately, the boys all played and cooperated really well together this morning, and I slept in until 9:00.
At Office Depot we made a grand total of 421 copies--I told you I had done a lot of work! It took us over an hour to do so because Jonathan picked this afternoon to not obey in stores. So he thought it was hilarious to dart around display cases, creep around on his tummy, and generally make a nuisance of himself while I frantically tried to keep track of the mountain of copies piling up beside the copier. We actually had to go back out to the car after finishing the copies to "deal with issues", and then come back in to buy the rest of the stuff, like those little metal paper fasteners that you push through 2 pieces of paper and then the pieces will spin. We're using those both for a star project and a moon phase project. I'm happy to say that Jonathan was much more obedient after the intervention. LOL! I felt like a one-armed paper-hanger, though, and I'm sure anyone who saw me thought things like, "Oh, that poor overworked woman, with 4 wild Indians running around all the time!" Ahh well, keeps me humble. I can tell people that the boys are rarely in form like today, but I can tell they don't believe me! LOL!
At Office Depot we made a grand total of 421 copies--I told you I had done a lot of work! It took us over an hour to do so because Jonathan picked this afternoon to not obey in stores. So he thought it was hilarious to dart around display cases, creep around on his tummy, and generally make a nuisance of himself while I frantically tried to keep track of the mountain of copies piling up beside the copier. We actually had to go back out to the car after finishing the copies to "deal with issues", and then come back in to buy the rest of the stuff, like those little metal paper fasteners that you push through 2 pieces of paper and then the pieces will spin. We're using those both for a star project and a moon phase project. I'm happy to say that Jonathan was much more obedient after the intervention. LOL! I felt like a one-armed paper-hanger, though, and I'm sure anyone who saw me thought things like, "Oh, that poor overworked woman, with 4 wild Indians running around all the time!" Ahh well, keeps me humble. I can tell people that the boys are rarely in form like today, but I can tell they don't believe me! LOL!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Moon and Stars
I am up to my eyeballs in space stuff. I teach the first and second graders the next two Tuesdays at our co-op, and the general topic for our unit is space. I'm covering the stars and constellations next Tuesday and the moon and our space program to the moon the Tuesday after that. The mom who taught the first two weeks already covered the planets in the solar system and the space shuttle. When I was back in Ohio in October, I bought a space unit study guide at the teacher supply store, and it has some good ideas, but not enough. So I have been forced to do a lot of things on my own. I've made connect-the dot constellation pages for Orion and Ursa Major. I've made a coloring page about star temperatures and our spiral galaxy (note: spiral galaxies are very difficult to draw. Do not use mine as a model!). I made a constellation matching page wheere the kids cut out squares that just have the stars on them and glue them under the squares that have the stars with the lines all connected. I still have a few more things to draw. It's an hour and a half of teaching for each grade, and first and second grade kids are pretty active, so you have to have a lot of stuff to keep them occupied!
For the moon week, I didn't have to do as much drawing. We're going to be learning about the phases of the moon, so I need to make a model moon to use with my globe and a light. That will also demonstrate eclipses. There is already a moon phases activity in the activity guide I bought, so I just have to make copies of that. I do need to make a big poster of the moon phases for everyone to look at though. I did make a timeline worksheet that involved quite a bit of drawing. I'm going to glue a line with dates on it onto black construction paper for all the kids. I drew pictures to correspond with Sputnik, Yuri Gargarin's first space flight, the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, the launch of Apollo 11, and the moon landing. The kids will cut out the pictures and glue them under the approriate dates. You can imagine that took me forever, since I am not an "artiste"! Ahh well, I poked around on the internet, but I couldn't really find little drawings like I wanted. I am trying to get over to Office Depot tomorrow afternoon to make all the copies I need, so that's why the big push tonight to finish it all. Whew!
For our "fifth week activity" (where all the grades do something special together), we are going to the Udvar-Hazy Museum , which is the annex to the National Air and Space Museum that is by the Dulles Airport. There are lots of space things exhibited there, and a lot from the early years of the space program, so I wanted the kids to be somewhat familiar with the terms. We will all see an IMAX movie, and my grades will have a little demo time where they can touch some parts of a space suit, etc. We need to come up with a scavenger hunt-type activity for them because they don't get a guided tour--only older kids. So I guess I'll be a tour guide as well!
Now, on to the making of a Latin review worksheet. I've been making one up every Friday, and the boys have enjoyed doing them. Well, maybe "enjoy" is too strong of a term! But since we're doing it all orally during the week, I figured they need some written reinforcement each week. Goodnight!
For the moon week, I didn't have to do as much drawing. We're going to be learning about the phases of the moon, so I need to make a model moon to use with my globe and a light. That will also demonstrate eclipses. There is already a moon phases activity in the activity guide I bought, so I just have to make copies of that. I do need to make a big poster of the moon phases for everyone to look at though. I did make a timeline worksheet that involved quite a bit of drawing. I'm going to glue a line with dates on it onto black construction paper for all the kids. I drew pictures to correspond with Sputnik, Yuri Gargarin's first space flight, the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, the launch of Apollo 11, and the moon landing. The kids will cut out the pictures and glue them under the approriate dates. You can imagine that took me forever, since I am not an "artiste"! Ahh well, I poked around on the internet, but I couldn't really find little drawings like I wanted. I am trying to get over to Office Depot tomorrow afternoon to make all the copies I need, so that's why the big push tonight to finish it all. Whew!
For our "fifth week activity" (where all the grades do something special together), we are going to the Udvar-Hazy Museum , which is the annex to the National Air and Space Museum that is by the Dulles Airport. There are lots of space things exhibited there, and a lot from the early years of the space program, so I wanted the kids to be somewhat familiar with the terms. We will all see an IMAX movie, and my grades will have a little demo time where they can touch some parts of a space suit, etc. We need to come up with a scavenger hunt-type activity for them because they don't get a guided tour--only older kids. So I guess I'll be a tour guide as well!
Now, on to the making of a Latin review worksheet. I've been making one up every Friday, and the boys have enjoyed doing them. Well, maybe "enjoy" is too strong of a term! But since we're doing it all orally during the week, I figured they need some written reinforcement each week. Goodnight!
Piano Lessons
Yesterday was the first piano lesson for Nathan and Luke! You may remember that back in November we watched Anthony's dog Ned for him while he and his family went down to Texas for Thanksgiving. Our reward (and we really earned it, since it turned cold and snowy right after they drove out!) is some free piano lessons from Anthony! Anthony has developed quite the clientele of students AND a great reputation, so we were pretty happy to be able to get some time with him.
Nathan was very excited about starting lessons, and Luke's reaction was also typical of him--"Piano lessons! Oh no!" This is because 1. piano lessons are something new, and 2. he doesn't already know how to play the piano, therefore he might possibly make mistakes. But he had a really great time (they both did), and Anthony didn't scare Luke at all! LOL! So all afternoon the house rang with the notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". The keyboard has never seen so much action!
Bob never had any sort of music lessons growing up, so he told the boys before they went that he wanted them to show him what they had learned. They were pretty excited about the idea that they knew something Daddy didn't, so they were very anxious for him to get home so they could "teach" him. They even worked it out between themselves--"Luke, I'll teach Daddy this week, and you teach him next week." "Yes, but I'l be there in case you forget something." We are well on our way to being a musical household! LOL! They were both eager to practice after doing their chores this morning and before starting schoolwork. I can only hope the enthusiasm continues, and I have to give credit to their great teacher! : )
Nathan was very excited about starting lessons, and Luke's reaction was also typical of him--"Piano lessons! Oh no!" This is because 1. piano lessons are something new, and 2. he doesn't already know how to play the piano, therefore he might possibly make mistakes. But he had a really great time (they both did), and Anthony didn't scare Luke at all! LOL! So all afternoon the house rang with the notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". The keyboard has never seen so much action!
Bob never had any sort of music lessons growing up, so he told the boys before they went that he wanted them to show him what they had learned. They were pretty excited about the idea that they knew something Daddy didn't, so they were very anxious for him to get home so they could "teach" him. They even worked it out between themselves--"Luke, I'll teach Daddy this week, and you teach him next week." "Yes, but I'l be there in case you forget something." We are well on our way to being a musical household! LOL! They were both eager to practice after doing their chores this morning and before starting schoolwork. I can only hope the enthusiasm continues, and I have to give credit to their great teacher! : )
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
A Good Holiday
We had a good day yesterday, although we didn't get much accomplished. Nathan made us cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Before you get all excited, let me just say these were not Elizabeth's delicious recipe, or Quiverof10's recipe, which has won rave reviews from the ladies on the Well-Trained Mind boards (we'll try those sometime!). They were, however, ones that an 8 year old boy could make by himself, so that made them quite delicious! I'll try to remember to post the recipe at the end of the post.
Bob was home, but we had a regular day of school anyhow. I felt like we've had to take some unexpected days off for doctors' appointments and such, and since we didn't have anything special planned, it seemed like we should go about our daily routine. Bob mainly played around with stocks online and paid our bills, contributing some Latin derivatives to the discussion at various points.
The highlight of my day was being able to go to the monthly meeting of the Ashburn Christian Home Educators support group (ACHE). It's always so nice to get out of the house and socialize with other women, especially ones with whom I have so much in common. I went with Christine, so I knew someone already, and another woman from our homeschool co-op was also there. The topic for the evening was "Classroom Organization and Time Management". The biggest thing I came away with was the knowledge that I am really pretty happy with where we're at right now, and with how I keep track of what we do and plan our days. I picked up a few practical tips, but I don't have a lot of unresolved angst about wishing I was better organized in the classroom! It was kind of funny--there were a lot of women there with 2 or 3 kids, the oldest being just 5. So Christine and I, with our oldest kids being the advanced age of 8, were like the old pros! That felt so odd because I know I am NOT the expert on homeschooling. I guess, practically speaking, that I AM more of an expert than someone in their first year with a kindergartener! Still, it felt weird. It was a good time of fellowship, with lots of great food. I ate more than my fair share of cheese spread and crackers! : )
Here is the recipe for the cinnamon rolls that Nathan made. It is straight from the Jan./Feb. 06 issue of Quick Cooking.
2 tubes (8 oz. each) Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
Unroll crescent dough into a rectangle. Seal seams and perforations. Combine the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up jelly roll style, starting with a long side; seal edge. Cut into 16 slices. Place rolls cut side down in 2 8 in. round baking pans coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and milk, drizzle over the warm rolls.
Bob was home, but we had a regular day of school anyhow. I felt like we've had to take some unexpected days off for doctors' appointments and such, and since we didn't have anything special planned, it seemed like we should go about our daily routine. Bob mainly played around with stocks online and paid our bills, contributing some Latin derivatives to the discussion at various points.
The highlight of my day was being able to go to the monthly meeting of the Ashburn Christian Home Educators support group (ACHE). It's always so nice to get out of the house and socialize with other women, especially ones with whom I have so much in common. I went with Christine, so I knew someone already, and another woman from our homeschool co-op was also there. The topic for the evening was "Classroom Organization and Time Management". The biggest thing I came away with was the knowledge that I am really pretty happy with where we're at right now, and with how I keep track of what we do and plan our days. I picked up a few practical tips, but I don't have a lot of unresolved angst about wishing I was better organized in the classroom! It was kind of funny--there were a lot of women there with 2 or 3 kids, the oldest being just 5. So Christine and I, with our oldest kids being the advanced age of 8, were like the old pros! That felt so odd because I know I am NOT the expert on homeschooling. I guess, practically speaking, that I AM more of an expert than someone in their first year with a kindergartener! Still, it felt weird. It was a good time of fellowship, with lots of great food. I ate more than my fair share of cheese spread and crackers! : )
Here is the recipe for the cinnamon rolls that Nathan made. It is straight from the Jan./Feb. 06 issue of Quick Cooking.
2 tubes (8 oz. each) Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
Unroll crescent dough into a rectangle. Seal seams and perforations. Combine the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up jelly roll style, starting with a long side; seal edge. Cut into 16 slices. Place rolls cut side down in 2 8 in. round baking pans coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and milk, drizzle over the warm rolls.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Most Practical Christmas Gift Award
Last night, the boys were down in the basement, watching TV. Bob was on the computer, and I was trying to figure out what I was going to teach for co-op on the couch. At around 8:15, our electricity went off, so Bob went down to rescue the boys, while I searched my brain for where a flashlight could be. Then I remembered that we had bought cheap little flashlights for all of us at WalMart to put in our stockings for Christmas! I had never opened mine, but had stuck it on top of the bookcase in the family room. Yes! It was still there! And with that meager light, we were able to find 4 of the other 5 little flashlights, plus the big rechargeable one that was in the van. So everyone had a flashlight, and everyone was happy. Since it was bedtime, everyone just got their pajamas on and went to bed, instead of staying up late and watching football. That made Mommy happy! The power came back on at 11:30, which woke me up since I could now see what lights I had missed turning out, as well as hear the TV in the basement. It's been windy today as well, but not so bad, so I don't think we'll need all our flashlight power tonight. Too bad, since I have located even another one! Ahh well, I am still amazed that we could find so many of those things when we needed them. Believe me, that rarely happens around here!
Friday, January 13, 2006
Four Things
Several days (weeks?) ago, Pam over at Ramblings and Other Things tagged me, and I never got an extra minute to do it. But now we're done with school for the day, the house is clean (since Bob's sister and her family got back from their cruise last night and stayed here again before going back home this morning), and we're having left-overs for dinner. SO . . . . .
Four Things-
Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life: research assistant for the human engineering lab at Wright Pat (summer before starting college), paper-grader for Dr. Braithwaite's advanced math classes in college, American Heart Association research fellow at Wright State, and now, the most challenging and on-going, mother.
Four Movies You Would Watch Over and Over: Pride and Prejudice (BBC version), Hello Dolly, Apollo 13, Anne of Green Gables
Four Places You Have Lived: California, Okinawa, Colorado, Ohio
Four TV Shows You Love To Watch: Design on a Dime, Househunters, . . . . ummm . . . any of those HGTV shows about fixing up houses to sell . . . . sometimes I like to watch Whose Line Is It Anyways--that show can be so funny, although it can also be pretty crude . . . you can tell I'm reaching here! I just don''t watch that much TV. Before babies, I was a faithful ER watcher, but I haven't seen that show probably in 7 years now.
Four Places You Have Been On Vacation: Korea, Germany (our space-A honeymoon adventure), Telluride, Florida panhandle
Four Websites You Visit Daily: Claire Bug, Powerline, Hotel California (although I must say my brother has been less than prolific of late!), and the Well-Trained Mind general board
Four of Your Favorite Foods: chocolate . . . anything chocolate, but especially that which also includes peanut butter, or is dark chocolate, Chili's fajitas, Colonial's pizza (in Cedarville), my chicken enchilda casserole (can you tell that I crave Mexican foods while pregnant?!)
Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now: in Ohio with my parents and Amy, browsing in a library or bookstore without kids, cross-country skiing in Colorado (well, I'd have to not be pregnant, too!), getting a full-body pregnancy massage . . . . ahh, makes me relax just to think about it!
And now, I've noticed that my home-schooling friend Beverly has also been too busy to blog much lately, so I am tagging her to do this little quiz!
Four Things-
Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life: research assistant for the human engineering lab at Wright Pat (summer before starting college), paper-grader for Dr. Braithwaite's advanced math classes in college, American Heart Association research fellow at Wright State, and now, the most challenging and on-going, mother.
Four Movies You Would Watch Over and Over: Pride and Prejudice (BBC version), Hello Dolly, Apollo 13, Anne of Green Gables
Four Places You Have Lived: California, Okinawa, Colorado, Ohio
Four TV Shows You Love To Watch: Design on a Dime, Househunters, . . . . ummm . . . any of those HGTV shows about fixing up houses to sell . . . . sometimes I like to watch Whose Line Is It Anyways--that show can be so funny, although it can also be pretty crude . . . you can tell I'm reaching here! I just don''t watch that much TV. Before babies, I was a faithful ER watcher, but I haven't seen that show probably in 7 years now.
Four Places You Have Been On Vacation: Korea, Germany (our space-A honeymoon adventure), Telluride, Florida panhandle
Four Websites You Visit Daily: Claire Bug, Powerline, Hotel California (although I must say my brother has been less than prolific of late!), and the Well-Trained Mind general board
Four of Your Favorite Foods: chocolate . . . anything chocolate, but especially that which also includes peanut butter, or is dark chocolate, Chili's fajitas, Colonial's pizza (in Cedarville), my chicken enchilda casserole (can you tell that I crave Mexican foods while pregnant?!)
Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now: in Ohio with my parents and Amy, browsing in a library or bookstore without kids, cross-country skiing in Colorado (well, I'd have to not be pregnant, too!), getting a full-body pregnancy massage . . . . ahh, makes me relax just to think about it!
And now, I've noticed that my home-schooling friend Beverly has also been too busy to blog much lately, so I am tagging her to do this little quiz!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Long Day
We left the house at 9:30 and got back home at 4:15. What did we do? Well, Jonathan and Caleb both had doctors' appointments, we ate lunch at Wendy's, and we went to the commissary. And if you don't think that should be an almost 7 hour day out, then you obviously don't live in Northern Virginia!
Jonathan had what should have been his 2 year well-baby appointment, although he is now over 2 1/2. He is healthy and normal, although very small. That should be no surprise to anyone! He got 4 shots today, 2 in each thigh, so he is not a happy camper now.
Caleb's appointment was because he needed new prescriptions for all his allergy and asthma meds. I am getting tired of going in all the time for these appointments, so I wanted to communicate to the doctor that I needed more refills on each prescription. Well. Not only did I NOT communicate that, somehow I also miscommunicated the fact that I needed new prescriptions for all 4 of his medicines. After waiting forever for our name to called in the pharmacy line, I discovered that he only gave me new prescriptions for Zyrtec and Albuterol, not Singulair and Flonase. I almost cried. So now I will be going back for another appointment in less than 3 months, because that is how much of those 2 medicines I think we have left. Every time I have an appointment there, medical care immediately becomes the top reason why I absolutely do not want to stay here any longer than I have to. I can not communicate with the doctors there, and it is so incredibly frustrating.
We went to Wendy's for lunch, and my jr. bacon cheeseburger with no cheese indeed had cheese on it, so it was then that I started to wonder if maybe the problem isn't me! Maybe I speak a very garbled form of English but just don't realize it!
Anyhow, we are now back from the commissary, home from all the rain and traffic on 66, and I have $457 worth of groceries to put away. So I guess it is going to be a long night too! The one thing I did do right today was start a roast and vegetables in the crockpot this morning, so praise the Lord, dinner is already taken care of. *weak cheer*
Jonathan had what should have been his 2 year well-baby appointment, although he is now over 2 1/2. He is healthy and normal, although very small. That should be no surprise to anyone! He got 4 shots today, 2 in each thigh, so he is not a happy camper now.
Caleb's appointment was because he needed new prescriptions for all his allergy and asthma meds. I am getting tired of going in all the time for these appointments, so I wanted to communicate to the doctor that I needed more refills on each prescription. Well. Not only did I NOT communicate that, somehow I also miscommunicated the fact that I needed new prescriptions for all 4 of his medicines. After waiting forever for our name to called in the pharmacy line, I discovered that he only gave me new prescriptions for Zyrtec and Albuterol, not Singulair and Flonase. I almost cried. So now I will be going back for another appointment in less than 3 months, because that is how much of those 2 medicines I think we have left. Every time I have an appointment there, medical care immediately becomes the top reason why I absolutely do not want to stay here any longer than I have to. I can not communicate with the doctors there, and it is so incredibly frustrating.
We went to Wendy's for lunch, and my jr. bacon cheeseburger with no cheese indeed had cheese on it, so it was then that I started to wonder if maybe the problem isn't me! Maybe I speak a very garbled form of English but just don't realize it!
Anyhow, we are now back from the commissary, home from all the rain and traffic on 66, and I have $457 worth of groceries to put away. So I guess it is going to be a long night too! The one thing I did do right today was start a roast and vegetables in the crockpot this morning, so praise the Lord, dinner is already taken care of. *weak cheer*
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Books and Movies
Last night, the boys and I watched "Caddie Woodlawn", which I found on DVD at the library. You may remember that we finished reading that book aloud a few months ago, and the boys really loved it. When I brought it home, I told Bob that I am always so hopeful about movies taht come from books, but usually I am so disappointed. No matter what this one was, it would be good for the boys--either it would be just like the book, and they would love it, or it would be totally different, and they would learn an important lesson about how the book is usually so much better.
Well, this movie definitely fell in the second category! Nathan's first comment was "She doesn't look anything at all like I imagined her to look like!" LOL! The movie wasn't a bad movie at all, and maybe it would appeal if one hadn't read the book. But the book is so interesting and humorous, and the movie was nothing like that. I guess I will never understand why directors feel they need to arbitrarily change around characters, plot details, and so on. There were so many changes in this movie that added no value! People died who did not die in the book, and for no reason, really. Events happened in completely different orders, again for no reason. The thing that bugged me the most was how they changed the actual character of one of the main characters in the book. Robert Ireton was the Woodlawns' hired man. He was from Ireland, and he loved to play his banjo and sing funny songs, and tell funny stories. In the movie, however, he was an incredible bigot who spread terrible rumors about the Indians, almost massacred a bunch of them, and tried to keep little half breed boys out of the house! Umm, no. There were random townsfolks with those sort of attitudes, but not Robert Ireton. This book and movie is based on a true story--what if you were a descendent of his, and this was how a movie portrayed him, with absolutely no evidence to back it up?! That really bothered me. When we finally reached the end of the movie, Nathan said, "Why didn't they just make the movie like the author wrote it? It was a GOOD book!" I agree.
That got me thinking--what movies out there are good and faithful adaptations of the books from which they come? The only one I can think of that I have actually seen is the BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice". That miniseries perfectly captures how I imagined it should be! I haven't seen the new movie, so I don't know for myself how it compares, but I have my doubts. It's not 6 hours long, for one thing, so I know they chopped out a lot and changed around some lines. I haven't seen "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" either. I know there are some differences, but it sounds like they tried to be pretty true to the book. Directors (or whoever is in charge of these things) should not assume they could have written a better book, and so so completely change things that the final movie product bears no resemblence to the book!
Well, this movie definitely fell in the second category! Nathan's first comment was "She doesn't look anything at all like I imagined her to look like!" LOL! The movie wasn't a bad movie at all, and maybe it would appeal if one hadn't read the book. But the book is so interesting and humorous, and the movie was nothing like that. I guess I will never understand why directors feel they need to arbitrarily change around characters, plot details, and so on. There were so many changes in this movie that added no value! People died who did not die in the book, and for no reason, really. Events happened in completely different orders, again for no reason. The thing that bugged me the most was how they changed the actual character of one of the main characters in the book. Robert Ireton was the Woodlawns' hired man. He was from Ireland, and he loved to play his banjo and sing funny songs, and tell funny stories. In the movie, however, he was an incredible bigot who spread terrible rumors about the Indians, almost massacred a bunch of them, and tried to keep little half breed boys out of the house! Umm, no. There were random townsfolks with those sort of attitudes, but not Robert Ireton. This book and movie is based on a true story--what if you were a descendent of his, and this was how a movie portrayed him, with absolutely no evidence to back it up?! That really bothered me. When we finally reached the end of the movie, Nathan said, "Why didn't they just make the movie like the author wrote it? It was a GOOD book!" I agree.
That got me thinking--what movies out there are good and faithful adaptations of the books from which they come? The only one I can think of that I have actually seen is the BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice". That miniseries perfectly captures how I imagined it should be! I haven't seen the new movie, so I don't know for myself how it compares, but I have my doubts. It's not 6 hours long, for one thing, so I know they chopped out a lot and changed around some lines. I haven't seen "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" either. I know there are some differences, but it sounds like they tried to be pretty true to the book. Directors (or whoever is in charge of these things) should not assume they could have written a better book, and so so completely change things that the final movie product bears no resemblence to the book!
Pink
While Nathan and Luke were at co-op, Caleb, Jonathan and I went to the outlet shops in Leesburg. The Book Warehouse store is closing, so I thought I'd see if I could get any bargains, plus I wanted to see if the Carter's outlet there had any bigger pajamas, like for Nathan. Well, the Book Warehouse was quite a disappointment--everything good was quite picked over--and I didn't find any big sleepers either. But I did buy a few baby girl things. And boy, was that weird! I hadn't realized how much I really just look past pink things. My eyes are only drawn to the blues, reds, and greens on the boys' side of the store! After spending awhile looking around, I can say that bubble gum pink is not my favorite. I do like purple though, even purple flowers. The pink stuff was what was mainly on sale, so I tried to get stuff that was white with pink flowers or whatever on it. That makes it sound like I bought tons of stuff, but that is not the case! I bought 2 little newborn one piece footed things, two 3 month things like that, a little onesie that is 6 months, and a 9 month Christmas outfit that was really on sale. Still, it felt very odd to be carrying up all that girl stuff, so I did ask about their return policy, and it is pretty liberal--no time limit! I won't be washing all that stuff until I see for sure a little girl! lOL!
Monday, January 09, 2006
The Difference Between Hymns and Choruses
When we were out here visiting and househunting, and we went to Reston Bible Church, their worship leader read this to us all one Sunday, and we thought it was so funny. I actually tried to find it on the internet when we got back home, but I never could. I was happy to see someone post it today on the Well Trained Mind board, so I thought I would share it with you all now, if you haven't already seen and read this.
The difference between hymns and choruses
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like hymns only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer said, "Well it's like this: If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn', well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Martha, Martha, Martha Oh, Martha, Martha, MARTHA
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows,
The COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, in the corn,
Corn, CORN, CORN, COOOORRRRRRNNNNNN;
Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing three or four times, well that would be a praise chorus."
Amazingly enough, on the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the farmer's small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different, though. They sang hymns instead of praise choruses."
"Hymns?" said his wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like praise choruses, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well, it's like this - If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn', well, that would be a praise chorus. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wonderous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain?
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God's sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
and I no longer see those fould'd cows in the corn.
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and do a key change on the last verse, well, that would be a hymn."
The difference between hymns and choruses
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like hymns only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer said, "Well it's like this: If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn', well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Martha, Martha, Martha Oh, Martha, Martha, MARTHA
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows,
The COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, in the corn,
Corn, CORN, CORN, COOOORRRRRRNNNNNN;
Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing three or four times, well that would be a praise chorus."
Amazingly enough, on the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the farmer's small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different, though. They sang hymns instead of praise choruses."
"Hymns?" said his wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like praise choruses, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well, it's like this - If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn', well, that would be a praise chorus. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wonderous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain?
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God's sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
and I no longer see those fould'd cows in the corn.
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and do a key change on the last verse, well, that would be a hymn."
Sunday, January 08, 2006
A Few Random Thoughts
I haven't blogged lately, but that's just because, well, nothing exciting is happening. Pam tagged me again to answer a few questions, which I WILL do, but I just haven't yet. I'm a procrastinater after all, I guess! Here are some random thoughts:
1. We have been eating a terrible diet the past few days. I haven't cooked! We had grilled tortillas Saturday night for dinner and frozen pizzas Sunday--what is the world coming too?! Monday we will be back to our regularily scheduled dinners. Also our regularily scheduled exercise. (*Update: I actually started this post Sunday night, but just to let you know, yes, we had a perfectly normal, healthy dinner tonight. It was well-received. LOL! And I rode the bike for 20 minutes in the morning and rode the Gazelle-thing for 20 more this afternoon. Whew! Now I don't feel like such a slug!) I did have my glucose tolerance test on Friday. Maybe my terribly unhealthy diet is a suble rebellion against that. Hmm. I should know the results by the middle of the week.
2. I did some scrapbooking this weekend! Now I am only a year and 5 months behind! Wow! Thanks again to Pam for motivating me to get going again by sending me some pages that already had borders on them.
3. Bob's sister and her family came Friday night and spent the night. Bob got up early Saturday morning to take them to the airport. They made it onto their cruise boat, and they fly back Thursday. We had a great time staying up late and visiting with them. The cruise talk really put a bee in Bob's bonnet that he wanted to go on one too. Unfortunately the next year is pretty much out, since I'll be nursing a baby, but we're tentatively planning to go November 2007. Anyone else in? LOL! Nothing like planning ahead, I always say!
4. Nathan and Luke had dentists' appointments this afternoon. I had been concerned about one of Nathan's permanent teeth, his upper right incisor. It is really small. The x-ray showed that, in fact, it is really small. LOL! There's even a name for it, but since I didn't write it down, I can't remember it. The gist of it all is there is nothing to do now, but when Nathan is an adult, if it bothers him, he can get cosmetic dental surgery to build it up to a wider size. This is great news, because now I don't have to worry about seeing an orthodonist, dealing with United Concordia, etc. Yay!
5. Bob left this afternoon to drive up to his sister's house in PA. Her custody trial is tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. Please pray! Bob will drive back leaving early Wednesday morning.
I guess that's it for now!
1. We have been eating a terrible diet the past few days. I haven't cooked! We had grilled tortillas Saturday night for dinner and frozen pizzas Sunday--what is the world coming too?! Monday we will be back to our regularily scheduled dinners. Also our regularily scheduled exercise. (*Update: I actually started this post Sunday night, but just to let you know, yes, we had a perfectly normal, healthy dinner tonight. It was well-received. LOL! And I rode the bike for 20 minutes in the morning and rode the Gazelle-thing for 20 more this afternoon. Whew! Now I don't feel like such a slug!) I did have my glucose tolerance test on Friday. Maybe my terribly unhealthy diet is a suble rebellion against that. Hmm. I should know the results by the middle of the week.
2. I did some scrapbooking this weekend! Now I am only a year and 5 months behind! Wow! Thanks again to Pam for motivating me to get going again by sending me some pages that already had borders on them.
3. Bob's sister and her family came Friday night and spent the night. Bob got up early Saturday morning to take them to the airport. They made it onto their cruise boat, and they fly back Thursday. We had a great time staying up late and visiting with them. The cruise talk really put a bee in Bob's bonnet that he wanted to go on one too. Unfortunately the next year is pretty much out, since I'll be nursing a baby, but we're tentatively planning to go November 2007. Anyone else in? LOL! Nothing like planning ahead, I always say!
4. Nathan and Luke had dentists' appointments this afternoon. I had been concerned about one of Nathan's permanent teeth, his upper right incisor. It is really small. The x-ray showed that, in fact, it is really small. LOL! There's even a name for it, but since I didn't write it down, I can't remember it. The gist of it all is there is nothing to do now, but when Nathan is an adult, if it bothers him, he can get cosmetic dental surgery to build it up to a wider size. This is great news, because now I don't have to worry about seeing an orthodonist, dealing with United Concordia, etc. Yay!
5. Bob left this afternoon to drive up to his sister's house in PA. Her custody trial is tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. Please pray! Bob will drive back leaving early Wednesday morning.
I guess that's it for now!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
A Year-End Meme
I've been tagged by Pam with an interesting set of questions. I'm kind of doing this off the cuff, without thinking over my answers much, so we'll see how I do . . .
1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before? Cooked a meal at my house for my in-laws--they had never visited us before last February, although we've been married now for over 12 years.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Hmm, as a rule, I don't make New Year's resolutions. I always want to exercise more and eat in a more healthy manner though, and this past year I have had good months for that, and also bad months! I have been using whole wheat flour more often, as well as milled flax seed, so that is a start.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I can't think of anyone right off the top of my head . . .
4. Did anyone close to you die? Well, the L's lost their baby in July, right after we found out we were expecting. That was a very difficult time.
5. What countries did you visit? No countries this year, other than in books. Sigh.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A clearer sense of what we should do after Bob retires, and where we should go, if anywhere.
7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 22, when I had a positive pregnancy test.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Hmm. This is really a tough one because I am not really in a position right now to achieve big things. I made a great cheesecake on my first try? I organized the garage so we could fit both the van and the Pathfinder in there? I guess I'll have to stick with "I fed and clothed and taught my family for the year, and they all know that I love them"!
9. What was your biggest failure? Well, I never did potty-train Jonathan even though he showed lots of interest twice this year. I didn't take away his pacifier either, so next year will probably be more difficult because of those things, LOL! Also, I never got the boys (and me) on a consistent cleaning schedule. I'm trying again this year though (hey, maybe that's a New Year's resolution!).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Well, we were all so very sick after Bob's family visited us in February--I thought we would never all get better! It was a bad pneumonia thing. I think I broke a rib from coughing, because it hurt so badly for so many months after. By June, I could finally lower myself back down to the bed without wincing! And of course there was my pregnancy rash thing a few weeks ago. Praise the Lord, it has all gone away now, and I'm not itchy. Funny aside though--now, whenever Jonathan isn't feeling quite right, he'll always say he's "itchy". I guess he heard me complain too often, LOL!
11. What was the best thing you bought? The 5 double bookcases from Sams! I still absolutely love these, and I love rearranging and ordering my books on them!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My cousin, James, who graduated from Air Force pilot training. That merited a huge family reunion down in Texas!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Bob's sister's husband. They are going through a messy divorce instigated by his affair, and he is being such a jerk about custody issues and well, everything. The custody hearing is next Tuesday, actually. Bob will be going up there to support her, and we would appreciate your prayers.
14. Where did most of your money go? Well, our house payment, I'm sure! LOL! We took a big trip to CO this summer, but that was a TDY. We got a great deal on our room in Texas, so that wasn't as bad as it could have been. I have bought a lot of books this year, although most were second-hand !
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Having another baby. Also our trip to Texas. I was so excited to see my brother and his wife, and their new home, as well as my aunt and uncle who we rarely get to see! And my parents were there too--it was wonderful! I'm still excited about it! : )
16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Hmmm . . .I'm drawing a complete blank here. I can't think of a one.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
I would say a) about the same b) MUCH fatter, due to the presence of another human being in me
c) Monetarily I would say about the same but spiritually I would have to say FAR richer! (I'm stealing your answer for that one, Aunt Claire!)
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercised.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Snapped at the boys over little, inconsequential things.
20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve? We spent it at the house of very good friends, with other good friends from our Bible study. We ate and talked while the kids played. It was very fun and relaxing.
21. Did you fall in love in 2005? With my husband again. As we talk through all these possibilities for the future, I'm glad we'll be in it together.
22. How many one-night stands? Well, none. Never!
23. What was your favorite TV program? I guess "Design on a Dime", since that is the only one I really ever watched this year! That is on in the afternoon while I exercise. Otherwise, I am not a big TV watcher, and I rarely do it.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No, I can't really think of anyone I hate. People I don't care to associate with on a regular basis, but not hate.
25. What was the best book you read? This year, I would have to say Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick. It really challenged me to see what I really worship (security). Also, this isn't the best written book (readss like you're at a seminar!), but Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs really illuminated some problem areas of our marriage, specifically the patterns in which we respond to each other, and how to break that "crazy cycle".
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Beethoven's Wig CDs. The kids love them, and hey, I do too.
27. What did you want and get? The Message Bible and Climbing Parnassus
28. What did you want and not get? I can't think of anything.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? Besides the Lone Ranger and some new Veggie Tales, I can think of no movies I watched. LOL, I'm not much for visual entertainment, am I?!
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went back to Ohio right after it, and I went to the ladies' retreat at my old church with my best friend Amy. It was so much fun! I was 32.
31.What one thing made your year measurably more satisfying? Cell phones! We finally got some the end of May. Wow, what a difference!
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? Pregnant. Comfortable. Not caring a whit about what the neighbors think if they see me getting the mail in my sweats (and wearing a plastic tiara, LOL!).
33. What kept you sane? Knowing that the Lord has a plan for my life, and that he loves me unconditionally.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Umm, the Lone Ranger? LOL, see #29!
35. What political issue stirred you the most? Gay "marriage" and the relentlessly negative portrayal of pretty much everything by the liberal mainstream media.
36. Who did you miss? My family and Amy. And I was so sad to not get to see Pam when we were out in Colorado. She and Bill were gallivanting around Ireland, lucky ducks!
37. Who was the best new person you met? My civilian OB doctor! Seriously, it took so long for the approval to come through--I didn't think it would ever happen!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005. Enjoy where God has placed you right now. You don't have to assume you'll stay there forever, but while you are there, make the most of it. See what there is to see! Impact people!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. This is from Tree 63's song "Blessed Be Your Name". It's the whole first verse and chorus, but I really love this song.
Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out, I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord, Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name.
1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before? Cooked a meal at my house for my in-laws--they had never visited us before last February, although we've been married now for over 12 years.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Hmm, as a rule, I don't make New Year's resolutions. I always want to exercise more and eat in a more healthy manner though, and this past year I have had good months for that, and also bad months! I have been using whole wheat flour more often, as well as milled flax seed, so that is a start.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I can't think of anyone right off the top of my head . . .
4. Did anyone close to you die? Well, the L's lost their baby in July, right after we found out we were expecting. That was a very difficult time.
5. What countries did you visit? No countries this year, other than in books. Sigh.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A clearer sense of what we should do after Bob retires, and where we should go, if anywhere.
7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 22, when I had a positive pregnancy test.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Hmm. This is really a tough one because I am not really in a position right now to achieve big things. I made a great cheesecake on my first try? I organized the garage so we could fit both the van and the Pathfinder in there? I guess I'll have to stick with "I fed and clothed and taught my family for the year, and they all know that I love them"!
9. What was your biggest failure? Well, I never did potty-train Jonathan even though he showed lots of interest twice this year. I didn't take away his pacifier either, so next year will probably be more difficult because of those things, LOL! Also, I never got the boys (and me) on a consistent cleaning schedule. I'm trying again this year though (hey, maybe that's a New Year's resolution!).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Well, we were all so very sick after Bob's family visited us in February--I thought we would never all get better! It was a bad pneumonia thing. I think I broke a rib from coughing, because it hurt so badly for so many months after. By June, I could finally lower myself back down to the bed without wincing! And of course there was my pregnancy rash thing a few weeks ago. Praise the Lord, it has all gone away now, and I'm not itchy. Funny aside though--now, whenever Jonathan isn't feeling quite right, he'll always say he's "itchy". I guess he heard me complain too often, LOL!
11. What was the best thing you bought? The 5 double bookcases from Sams! I still absolutely love these, and I love rearranging and ordering my books on them!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My cousin, James, who graduated from Air Force pilot training. That merited a huge family reunion down in Texas!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Bob's sister's husband. They are going through a messy divorce instigated by his affair, and he is being such a jerk about custody issues and well, everything. The custody hearing is next Tuesday, actually. Bob will be going up there to support her, and we would appreciate your prayers.
14. Where did most of your money go? Well, our house payment, I'm sure! LOL! We took a big trip to CO this summer, but that was a TDY. We got a great deal on our room in Texas, so that wasn't as bad as it could have been. I have bought a lot of books this year, although most were second-hand !
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Having another baby. Also our trip to Texas. I was so excited to see my brother and his wife, and their new home, as well as my aunt and uncle who we rarely get to see! And my parents were there too--it was wonderful! I'm still excited about it! : )
16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Hmmm . . .I'm drawing a complete blank here. I can't think of a one.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
I would say a) about the same b) MUCH fatter, due to the presence of another human being in me
c) Monetarily I would say about the same but spiritually I would have to say FAR richer! (I'm stealing your answer for that one, Aunt Claire!)
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercised.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Snapped at the boys over little, inconsequential things.
20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve? We spent it at the house of very good friends, with other good friends from our Bible study. We ate and talked while the kids played. It was very fun and relaxing.
21. Did you fall in love in 2005? With my husband again. As we talk through all these possibilities for the future, I'm glad we'll be in it together.
22. How many one-night stands? Well, none. Never!
23. What was your favorite TV program? I guess "Design on a Dime", since that is the only one I really ever watched this year! That is on in the afternoon while I exercise. Otherwise, I am not a big TV watcher, and I rarely do it.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No, I can't really think of anyone I hate. People I don't care to associate with on a regular basis, but not hate.
25. What was the best book you read? This year, I would have to say Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick. It really challenged me to see what I really worship (security). Also, this isn't the best written book (readss like you're at a seminar!), but Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs really illuminated some problem areas of our marriage, specifically the patterns in which we respond to each other, and how to break that "crazy cycle".
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Beethoven's Wig CDs. The kids love them, and hey, I do too.
27. What did you want and get? The Message Bible and Climbing Parnassus
28. What did you want and not get? I can't think of anything.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? Besides the Lone Ranger and some new Veggie Tales, I can think of no movies I watched. LOL, I'm not much for visual entertainment, am I?!
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went back to Ohio right after it, and I went to the ladies' retreat at my old church with my best friend Amy. It was so much fun! I was 32.
31.What one thing made your year measurably more satisfying? Cell phones! We finally got some the end of May. Wow, what a difference!
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? Pregnant. Comfortable. Not caring a whit about what the neighbors think if they see me getting the mail in my sweats (and wearing a plastic tiara, LOL!).
33. What kept you sane? Knowing that the Lord has a plan for my life, and that he loves me unconditionally.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Umm, the Lone Ranger? LOL, see #29!
35. What political issue stirred you the most? Gay "marriage" and the relentlessly negative portrayal of pretty much everything by the liberal mainstream media.
36. Who did you miss? My family and Amy. And I was so sad to not get to see Pam when we were out in Colorado. She and Bill were gallivanting around Ireland, lucky ducks!
37. Who was the best new person you met? My civilian OB doctor! Seriously, it took so long for the approval to come through--I didn't think it would ever happen!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005. Enjoy where God has placed you right now. You don't have to assume you'll stay there forever, but while you are there, make the most of it. See what there is to see! Impact people!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. This is from Tree 63's song "Blessed Be Your Name". It's the whole first verse and chorus, but I really love this song.
Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out, I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord, Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name.
Ahhh . . .
. . . that sound you are hearing is the sigh of contentment as we get back into our regular schedule! We started school back up yesterday after 3 weeks of break, and it was nice. It turns out the boys remember their Latin vocab pretty well. They've lost some speed on multiplication facts, though. We started a new handwriting program for them, Handwriting Without Tears, and I think I am going to be very pleased with it. Luke in particular has picked up some terrible habits, so hopefullyt his curriculum will help with that. Nathan is learning cursive. He's been just doing a big handwriting workbook, but I think the new approach will be better. I've heard good things about this program, especially as it relates to boys, so we shall see if it lives up to what I've heard! Handwriting is definitely a weak link here, so pretty much anything will be an improvement!
I started going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Caleb again. We started this in September, but he really wasn't that interested, and it wasn't making much of an impression on him so I stopped. Since then, he's become a lot more interested in reading himself, so I think it will go better this time around. He's also doing the first pre-Explode the Code book, and he's having alot of fun with that.
We're in the middle of My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George as our read-aloud. We are really enjoying learning about how to make acorn flour, bathe with slippery elm bark, and in general survive in the woods. Fascinating! I can't believe I never read this book when I was young, but it is definitely a book with a lot of appeal for boys.
I think that is a good, albeit brief, update. It feels good to be back in the routine. Sometimes I wish AWANA and co-op would not start back up! I'm not that motivated to get back into those things right now! But since I am teaching this unit (space) at co-op, I guess I'd better get on the stick.
I started going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Caleb again. We started this in September, but he really wasn't that interested, and it wasn't making much of an impression on him so I stopped. Since then, he's become a lot more interested in reading himself, so I think it will go better this time around. He's also doing the first pre-Explode the Code book, and he's having alot of fun with that.
We're in the middle of My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George as our read-aloud. We are really enjoying learning about how to make acorn flour, bathe with slippery elm bark, and in general survive in the woods. Fascinating! I can't believe I never read this book when I was young, but it is definitely a book with a lot of appeal for boys.
I think that is a good, albeit brief, update. It feels good to be back in the routine. Sometimes I wish AWANA and co-op would not start back up! I'm not that motivated to get back into those things right now! But since I am teaching this unit (space) at co-op, I guess I'd better get on the stick.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year!
I tried to post this last night, but somehow the post disappeared into nothingness . . . oh, well!
We did get over to the L's house New Year's Eve, and we had a wonderful time! Our whole Bible study was there, and we had lots of great food, so it was a fun night. We counted down at 9:00, and then we left after 10:00. Bob and I stayed up until midnight though!
The daily devotional from Dec. 31 in My Utmost For His Highest really spoke to me in light of my previous ponderings. I guess we'll always look back and wonder if we made the right decisions, but Oswald Chamber's words were comforting to me:
We did get over to the L's house New Year's Eve, and we had a wonderful time! Our whole Bible study was there, and we had lots of great food, so it was a fun night. We counted down at 9:00, and then we left after 10:00. Bob and I stayed up until midnight though!
The daily devotional from Dec. 31 in My Utmost For His Highest really spoke to me in light of my previous ponderings. I guess we'll always look back and wonder if we made the right decisions, but Oswald Chamber's words were comforting to me:
At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the
future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays.
Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of
yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and
He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of
spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get
into a shallow security in the present. . . .
As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of
impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive
thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel
will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is
true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can
transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the
future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.
Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step into the Irresistible Future
with Him.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Thoughts on 2005 and 2006
As I sit here smelling the ham cooking that we will take to the L's house tonight, I've been thinking back over our year. We didn't move last year, and I feel so much more connected here now. But moving did occupy many of our discussions around here. We discussed moving locally, which I was not in favor of. We almost signed a contract on a new house back in May, but I am glad we didn't do that, with the downturn in the housing market. We talked a lot about whether or not we would move after Bob retires in another year and a half. Although there are many good things about the NOVA area, I really do not want to stay in such a crowded, high-traffic area for the long term. It just stresses me. But that brings up the question of where we might go? Huntsville, AL is still a big possibility, since there are a lot of space jobs moving down there, and Bob is pushing for a warmer climate. When we took the quiz over at findyourspot.com, Colorado Springs showed up in first place. That is certainly always on our list, since we loved living there, and loved being back there this summer. Ohio is on the list too, since family ties pull there strongly! But obviously the Lord has not given us clear direction yet, and we're still praying for that.
In the mean time, we have a big house and an ARM mortgage. Should we sell now and rent for the remainder of our time here? Do we just trust that the Lord showed us this house, and he will sell it when we're ready to move? Hard questions. We want to use our house to minister, and to that end, we might have another family live in our basement next year. They are old friends, and he is going to a one-year school at Bethesda starting in May. It would provide companionship for me, and a mentoring opportunity as she starts homeschooling, much as the L's did for me when they lived with us so long ago. We're all praying about that.
I do feel confident that being here in D.C. is where the Lord wants us right now. We have grown closer to Bob's family this past year. They even visited our house, which hasn't happened before. We don't know how much time his parents have left, so we are glad for the time we have now. We've been able to be a support for Bob's sister as she goes through a messy divorce and custody trial. I know that wouldn't have happened if we had moved farther away.
We're also not sure what Bob should be doing after retirement. This past year he got his real estate license--should he do that full-time when he retires, or get a job somewhere else and do it on the side for more time? Is real estate really what he wants to do after retirement in the first place? We talked a lot about these things this past year too, and we don't yet have any clear direction on them either!
Looking towards 2006, we are so excited about having another baby in March. It was not incredibly easy to get pregnant this time, so we are even more thankful for this blessing. When I feel her (?) move inside me, I just think about what a miracle it is that another little person is living there!
Well, I need to start basting the ham with my glaze, so I will stop the reflecting for now. I think that next year is shaping up to be one that teaches us more about faith and trust, as we let go of our strong desire to have everything all laid out in front of us in a neat little package. Instead, we have to put our hand into the Lord's and let him lead us, trusting that he knows what is best for us, even when we don't see the path clearly.
In the mean time, we have a big house and an ARM mortgage. Should we sell now and rent for the remainder of our time here? Do we just trust that the Lord showed us this house, and he will sell it when we're ready to move? Hard questions. We want to use our house to minister, and to that end, we might have another family live in our basement next year. They are old friends, and he is going to a one-year school at Bethesda starting in May. It would provide companionship for me, and a mentoring opportunity as she starts homeschooling, much as the L's did for me when they lived with us so long ago. We're all praying about that.
I do feel confident that being here in D.C. is where the Lord wants us right now. We have grown closer to Bob's family this past year. They even visited our house, which hasn't happened before. We don't know how much time his parents have left, so we are glad for the time we have now. We've been able to be a support for Bob's sister as she goes through a messy divorce and custody trial. I know that wouldn't have happened if we had moved farther away.
We're also not sure what Bob should be doing after retirement. This past year he got his real estate license--should he do that full-time when he retires, or get a job somewhere else and do it on the side for more time? Is real estate really what he wants to do after retirement in the first place? We talked a lot about these things this past year too, and we don't yet have any clear direction on them either!
Looking towards 2006, we are so excited about having another baby in March. It was not incredibly easy to get pregnant this time, so we are even more thankful for this blessing. When I feel her (?) move inside me, I just think about what a miracle it is that another little person is living there!
Well, I need to start basting the ham with my glaze, so I will stop the reflecting for now. I think that next year is shaping up to be one that teaches us more about faith and trust, as we let go of our strong desire to have everything all laid out in front of us in a neat little package. Instead, we have to put our hand into the Lord's and let him lead us, trusting that he knows what is best for us, even when we don't see the path clearly.
Library Statistic
During this bout of sickness, I had some time to catch up on my reading. One thing I read was the latest Reader's Digest, where I found this interesting statistic from the American Library Association:
Speaking of libraries, I went yesterday afternoon since Bob got home early. The bad thing about this sickness was that I hadn't been to the library before it all hit, so I didn't have any new books for myself to read. Well, actually that's not true--I was THRILLED to receive Climbing Parnassus for Christmas from Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim , but that is a book I want to read with a highlighter in my hand, not my head in the toilet! LOL! What I really wanted was some cozy brain candy--hey, if my stomach can't handle candy, my brain still can! I was forced to reread some collections of Christmas short stories that I had around the house. Nothing makes me more Christmas-y than reading Victorian or Regency stories set at Christmas time, preferably at a nice house party in a large estate in the country. Ahh, it sounds so fun! Going out and gathering all the greenery and mistletoe, finding a Yule log, making wreaths and garlands, going wassailing, sledding, skating on the frozen pond (there's ALWAYS one of those, as well as lots of snow, you know!), church at a cute little coutry church, having a huge Christmas feast that the cook makes and the servants serve and clean up . . . sounds great! Just the thing to escape vomit-filled sheets and my own sad lack of servants to wash them! LOL! Anyhow, I was glad yesterday to get some fresh books to read. Still nothing too challenging though--I even found a "cozy" murder mystery set during Christmas! Just the thing to read during Monday's football extravaganza!
Ohio residents check out 14.6 items from the library each year. TheI'd like first of all to thank my mom for personally raising that statistic in Ohio--I'm sure she is the reason Ohio is so far out in front! But secondly--14.6 items per year? That is the highest? Doesn't that just amaze you? The library is FREE, people! Take advantage of it! Wow. I should look up all the states, because I am curious as to where Virginia rates. We have pretty good library systems here in NOVA, and all my friends check out tons of books too.
national average is 6.9.
Speaking of libraries, I went yesterday afternoon since Bob got home early. The bad thing about this sickness was that I hadn't been to the library before it all hit, so I didn't have any new books for myself to read. Well, actually that's not true--I was THRILLED to receive Climbing Parnassus for Christmas from Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim , but that is a book I want to read with a highlighter in my hand, not my head in the toilet! LOL! What I really wanted was some cozy brain candy--hey, if my stomach can't handle candy, my brain still can! I was forced to reread some collections of Christmas short stories that I had around the house. Nothing makes me more Christmas-y than reading Victorian or Regency stories set at Christmas time, preferably at a nice house party in a large estate in the country. Ahh, it sounds so fun! Going out and gathering all the greenery and mistletoe, finding a Yule log, making wreaths and garlands, going wassailing, sledding, skating on the frozen pond (there's ALWAYS one of those, as well as lots of snow, you know!), church at a cute little coutry church, having a huge Christmas feast that the cook makes and the servants serve and clean up . . . sounds great! Just the thing to escape vomit-filled sheets and my own sad lack of servants to wash them! LOL! Anyhow, I was glad yesterday to get some fresh books to read. Still nothing too challenging though--I even found a "cozy" murder mystery set during Christmas! Just the thing to read during Monday's football extravaganza!
Speaking tentatively and quietly here . . .
I think I can say that we are out of the woods now! No one has thrown up for 2 days, and no one had diarrhea yesterday. Hooray! I did NO laundry yesterday! Instead I spent the day coaxing Jonathan to start eating again. He was really the only one I was worried about. Last October (over a year ago), he got really sick and vomited at night for 10 days. We took him to the doctor a few times, but they said it was just a virus and he wasn't dehydrated. That was true, but he also lost a LOT of weight since he pretty much stopped eating, and he was skinny to begin with. I was very afraid of that happening again, and indeed, he sort of just stopped eating after he threw up the second time. He would have maybe 2 bites of applesauce a day, but he would drink water. And once he stops eating, it is so hard to get him started again. He's 2 1/2 and MAYBE 27 pounds, probably less now, so he just doesn't have any fat reserves there! He was just laying around yesterday morning, with not much energy at all, which obviously worried me greatly. So I held him on my lap and spoonfed him yogurt after it was apparent he wouldn't be eating more than a bite on his own. For lunch I made his all-time favorite--hot dogs. For dinner I "made" tuna and noodles, another favorite. And he ate them! Today he was back to normal, eating cereal at breakfast and chattering happily away. Amazing how getting a little bit of food in you really revs you back up!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
The virus is still winning
Yesterday morning Jonathan threw up again in my bed (was it just last week that I was laughing at Melinda for changing her sheets so often?! LOL! Now I'm changing them every other day!), and he was generally crabby all day long. He didn't want to eat rice, toast, soup, etc. No, what he wanted was cake and cookies, and he was not a happy camper when I said no to them! Caleb woke up with diarrhea. I felt pretty good during the day. Bob brought home Boston Market chicken for dinner, but by then I wasn't feeling all that well again. I ate a little bit, but before the boys went to bed all of that came right back up again. Sigh. So I guess I'm back to toast and soup today. I'm so glad Bob's family isn't coming today! When we talked to them on Monday, I couldn't imagine still being sick by Thursday--surely everyone would be done with this by then! Now I'm hoping and praying we're well enough to go to the New Year's Party at the L's house Saturday. Nathan and Luke are SO looking forward to this. We went there last year, and we counted down at 9:00, then blew noismakers, threw confetti, etc. Nathan and Luke thought that was about the most fun you could have legally! You can tell they had the misfortune of being born to a boring mom who doesn't do parties! : ) So I do hope we are able to go--maybe we just won't be able to eat anything! Luke is still holding out, the lone one who hasn't been sick at all. Who knew he had such an iron stomach?! I'm praying he won't get sick now, at this late date! I think that would really throw me into the looney bin.
We are certainly having a break from schooling! I hadn't planned on doing anything formal, but now we're mainly . . . not doing anything at all. They have watched a lot of videos and played a lot with their Bionicles and Playmobil. I have definitely noticed that when we don't have any real goals for the day, then there is a lot more bickering and complaining, so I am hoping we can get back into a more regular routine next week. I would love to send them all outside, since we're feeling a bit cooped up here in the sick house, but it is raining, and I don't feel like dealing with pneumonia on top of everything else! It has been funny to see what things the boys come up with on their own. Nathan has wanted to write some letters (!), including one, of his complete own volition, to Thangaraj, our Compassion International child from India. They are the same age, with birthdays only a few days apart, and I have done a lot of encouraging Nathan in the past to take more of an interest in writing him, so I was pretty excited when he came up with that! Nathan has also been organizing some stamps for his stamp collection. Since that involves sorting and organizing, Luke helped too. When my family first lived in Ohio, we lived in a huge old house next to another huge old house, where a childless widow lived. She gave my brother a big envelope with all sorts of old stamps in it. They've all been canceled, but it is so interesting to look at them. Many are from old Communist countries that no longer exist. Dan passed them all down to Nathan, along with ones from my mom and dad's amazing collection of international friends, so we have plenty of stamps to sort through and put in his album! It's a fun hobby for someone who likes history and geography as much as Nathan does.
Well, everyone is playing very nicely right now, so I am going to go read the paper. Wow--what a plan! : )
We are certainly having a break from schooling! I hadn't planned on doing anything formal, but now we're mainly . . . not doing anything at all. They have watched a lot of videos and played a lot with their Bionicles and Playmobil. I have definitely noticed that when we don't have any real goals for the day, then there is a lot more bickering and complaining, so I am hoping we can get back into a more regular routine next week. I would love to send them all outside, since we're feeling a bit cooped up here in the sick house, but it is raining, and I don't feel like dealing with pneumonia on top of everything else! It has been funny to see what things the boys come up with on their own. Nathan has wanted to write some letters (!), including one, of his complete own volition, to Thangaraj, our Compassion International child from India. They are the same age, with birthdays only a few days apart, and I have done a lot of encouraging Nathan in the past to take more of an interest in writing him, so I was pretty excited when he came up with that! Nathan has also been organizing some stamps for his stamp collection. Since that involves sorting and organizing, Luke helped too. When my family first lived in Ohio, we lived in a huge old house next to another huge old house, where a childless widow lived. She gave my brother a big envelope with all sorts of old stamps in it. They've all been canceled, but it is so interesting to look at them. Many are from old Communist countries that no longer exist. Dan passed them all down to Nathan, along with ones from my mom and dad's amazing collection of international friends, so we have plenty of stamps to sort through and put in his album! It's a fun hobby for someone who likes history and geography as much as Nathan does.
Well, everyone is playing very nicely right now, so I am going to go read the paper. Wow--what a plan! : )
Monday, December 26, 2005
Well . . .
Caleb only threw up one more time last night, so that was a huge blessing. But he ran a little fever and generally had a restless night, so Bob and I kept popping out of bed to run check on him in case he was about to lose it all again. I doubt Bob and I would have slept all that well anyways, because we both realized that our stomachs were not feeling so settled. All through the night I kept saying that I didn't think any of my food had digested at all--my stomach felt so distended and horrid. Bob finally got sick around 6:00, and I around 9:30. And I was right--considering that it had been over 12 hours since I last ate, there was still tons in my stomach. All that they say about the digestive systems of pregnant women being slow is right!
Nathan was a real help today, getting everyone dressed and generally fed. Caleb wasn't that hungry, and neither was Jonathan, which was a big clue. Bob and I just stayed in bed while they all watched videos all morning ("Mom, can we watch ANOTHER Lone Ranger?" "Yes. Whatever you want." " Yay!!!"). In the afternoon, they all played with a new play-doh set also from Aunt Melinda and Uncle Dan, as well as a construction flannelgraph set from Pam. I guess the benefit to having both Mom and Dad being sick at the same time right after Christmas is that there are new toys to occupy everyone very nicely. Finally Bob and I made it downstairs to eat toast. Quite a change from our feast yesterday!
Jonathan was very whiny as bedtime approached, and he said he didn't feel good, so I figured his time was coming as well. He didn't eat much today, but he did drink a lot of soymilk, and that all just came back up a few minutes ago, poor guy. We're praying it will be short-lived for him too. So that brings us to our tally of 5 down, one to go. I wonder when Luke will start? We are supposed to have 2 of Bob's sisters come here Thursday night with their families, but now that is obviously up in the air. Bob thinks if they come at all, then they will get sick too. We'll see what happens to Luke, and also what they want to do. Ann still wants to come, but I don't know if Rose will.
*Update* At 10:45, I again got the "Mom" call from upstairs--surprise! It was Nathan again. Since we figured he was over and done with all of this, he was sleeping in the top bunk, and he managed to throw up not just all over his top bunk, but also all over Luke's comforter below. *big sigh* This may come as a surprise, but I am so tired of cleaning up vomit!!! I am really not dealing with this well now, so I'd appreciate your prayers that no one else throws up again tonight, and that this virus will just pass from our house--SOON!
Nathan was a real help today, getting everyone dressed and generally fed. Caleb wasn't that hungry, and neither was Jonathan, which was a big clue. Bob and I just stayed in bed while they all watched videos all morning ("Mom, can we watch ANOTHER Lone Ranger?" "Yes. Whatever you want." " Yay!!!"). In the afternoon, they all played with a new play-doh set also from Aunt Melinda and Uncle Dan, as well as a construction flannelgraph set from Pam. I guess the benefit to having both Mom and Dad being sick at the same time right after Christmas is that there are new toys to occupy everyone very nicely. Finally Bob and I made it downstairs to eat toast. Quite a change from our feast yesterday!
Jonathan was very whiny as bedtime approached, and he said he didn't feel good, so I figured his time was coming as well. He didn't eat much today, but he did drink a lot of soymilk, and that all just came back up a few minutes ago, poor guy. We're praying it will be short-lived for him too. So that brings us to our tally of 5 down, one to go. I wonder when Luke will start? We are supposed to have 2 of Bob's sisters come here Thursday night with their families, but now that is obviously up in the air. Bob thinks if they come at all, then they will get sick too. We'll see what happens to Luke, and also what they want to do. Ann still wants to come, but I don't know if Rose will.
*Update* At 10:45, I again got the "Mom" call from upstairs--surprise! It was Nathan again. Since we figured he was over and done with all of this, he was sleeping in the top bunk, and he managed to throw up not just all over his top bunk, but also all over Luke's comforter below. *big sigh* This may come as a surprise, but I am so tired of cleaning up vomit!!! I am really not dealing with this well now, so I'd appreciate your prayers that no one else throws up again tonight, and that this virus will just pass from our house--SOON!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas!!!
We had an absolutely lovely Christmas, starting yesterday, and I hope you all did too!
Nathan threw up for the last time at 2:00 AM Saturday morning, with no signs of troubles yesterday at all. Yay! I was able yesterday morning to get out to Target and the dollar store and get a few things for stockings, which made me feel better. Ed stopped by in the afternoon to drop off presents, and they ended up coming back over here with KFC for dinner after the candlelight service at their church. We decided not to go anywhere, so the boys just played here and I baked some cookies (another new recipe) and made some sugared almonds and pecans. YUM! It was very relaxing, and then we had a great time visiting with the L's over dinner and dessert. Nathan and Luke were particularily thrilled to see Zachary and show him their new "Visorak Battering Ram", which is a Bionicle contraption that Uncle Dan and Aunt Melinda bought them for Christmas, thereby ensuring themselves "Most-Favored Relative" status for the upcoming year. LOL! I stayed up late baking a cake for Jesus' birthday cake (just a round one--Jesus doesn't get a theme birthday cake!) and putting together an egg/hash brown/sausage breakfast casserole (but no bread--I don't like soggy casseroles).
This morning we all woke up around 9:00. Even Nathan and Luke have been sleeping late since we got back from Texas, which has been nice, but we never open gifts or stockings really early anyways. I put in the breakfast casserole and made oatmeal muffins, and then the boys opened their stockings. At the dollar store I found these great plastic cowboy rifles, which even make a cheesy loading and shooting sound, and I know you will all be shocked by this, but the boys absolutely loved them. Jonathan carried his around all day. Unfortunately they are made with the high quality you might expect from something you pay a dollar for, so Bob has had to take all of them apart at one time or another today to reconnect wires, ect, even at one point doing some impromtu soldering. He's a regular gunsmith! Fortunately the boys love them even when they don't make their cheesy noise. We also gave them some cheap little flashlights from Walmart and little "Wooly Willy" things, where you move the magnetic shavings around to make hair, beards, etc. on a face. That was a big hit too! They also got ring pops, some chocolate bells (or Starbursts, if you are allergic to chocolate!), a candy stick from Cracker Barrel, and a candy necklace, again courtesy of the dollar store. What a great place! Mom filled her own stocking with dark chocolate squares from Target . . .
After breakfast, we opened our presents. Bob's mom always sends money for us to buy the boys something, so yesterday I had the brainstorm to go to Target and buy a Playmobil knights set. It was just a small one, with 3 knights, and then I also bought 2 separate knights on horseback. The boys were excited about them, and they have played with them much of the day. I had hoped they would use them in their big cardboard castle that we made this summer, and that's exactly what they did! Bob got me a "Message" Bible, which I've wanted for awhile, and I bought him a John McArthur Bible commentary, so between the two of us, we gave the Christian bookstore some good business! Pam surprised me and sent a package a few days ago that I opened today. I was so thrilled to find scrapbook pages and borders that she made for me! Now I am actually excited about doing some more scrapbooking, if I can just force myself to make the time! The L's bought us a beautiful, huge new popcorn popper, which I know will be put to good use. Our old one is pretty small, and the bowl has a crack, so a replacement is very welcome!
We had our Christmas dinner at a normal dinner time, and I just baked chicken breasts for the main course. I also made mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing (which was just Pepperidge Farm, so I spent no time on it, but as it seems like always happens, it received rave reviews. Go figure!), broccoli, and a strawberry jello salad that I only rarely make but is my absolute favorite. I spent much more time on it than on the dressing, but it only received a lukewarm response. Caleb, Luke, Bob, and I liked it, but Jonathan and Nathan didn't. Ah well. After dinner we read the Christmas story, moving the felt characters on our background around, and then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and ate our cake. By then it was getting late, so the boys went off to bed--a great Christmas day!
As I thought back over this whole Christmas season, I realized I actually liked the way we did it this year, with having 2 separate gift-opening times. After we opened gifts in Texas, the boys played with new toys, read new books, and played new games in the car on the long ride back home. Then after we opened gifts today, they spent most of the day either playing "Lone Ranger" with their new guns, or playing with their Playmobil knights. So you can definitely say they were able to appreciate all of their gifts this year, unlike some years when it seems like we just have to rush them to keep on opening presents, and some presents kind of get left behind and ignored!
Just to let you all know, the day didn't end on the best of notes. Caleb threw up while getting ready for bed. Oh no! Unlike Nathan when he was sick, Caleb has eaten a ton of food today, and much of it pretty recently--lovely stuff like strawberry jello with lots of fruit and chocolate cake. So if he throws up as often as Nathan did, it has the potential to be a very messy and long night. I am so very thankful, however, that the Lord allowed us to have Christmas Day without anyone being sick during it!
Nathan threw up for the last time at 2:00 AM Saturday morning, with no signs of troubles yesterday at all. Yay! I was able yesterday morning to get out to Target and the dollar store and get a few things for stockings, which made me feel better. Ed stopped by in the afternoon to drop off presents, and they ended up coming back over here with KFC for dinner after the candlelight service at their church. We decided not to go anywhere, so the boys just played here and I baked some cookies (another new recipe) and made some sugared almonds and pecans. YUM! It was very relaxing, and then we had a great time visiting with the L's over dinner and dessert. Nathan and Luke were particularily thrilled to see Zachary and show him their new "Visorak Battering Ram", which is a Bionicle contraption that Uncle Dan and Aunt Melinda bought them for Christmas, thereby ensuring themselves "Most-Favored Relative" status for the upcoming year. LOL! I stayed up late baking a cake for Jesus' birthday cake (just a round one--Jesus doesn't get a theme birthday cake!) and putting together an egg/hash brown/sausage breakfast casserole (but no bread--I don't like soggy casseroles).
This morning we all woke up around 9:00. Even Nathan and Luke have been sleeping late since we got back from Texas, which has been nice, but we never open gifts or stockings really early anyways. I put in the breakfast casserole and made oatmeal muffins, and then the boys opened their stockings. At the dollar store I found these great plastic cowboy rifles, which even make a cheesy loading and shooting sound, and I know you will all be shocked by this, but the boys absolutely loved them. Jonathan carried his around all day. Unfortunately they are made with the high quality you might expect from something you pay a dollar for, so Bob has had to take all of them apart at one time or another today to reconnect wires, ect, even at one point doing some impromtu soldering. He's a regular gunsmith! Fortunately the boys love them even when they don't make their cheesy noise. We also gave them some cheap little flashlights from Walmart and little "Wooly Willy" things, where you move the magnetic shavings around to make hair, beards, etc. on a face. That was a big hit too! They also got ring pops, some chocolate bells (or Starbursts, if you are allergic to chocolate!), a candy stick from Cracker Barrel, and a candy necklace, again courtesy of the dollar store. What a great place! Mom filled her own stocking with dark chocolate squares from Target . . .
After breakfast, we opened our presents. Bob's mom always sends money for us to buy the boys something, so yesterday I had the brainstorm to go to Target and buy a Playmobil knights set. It was just a small one, with 3 knights, and then I also bought 2 separate knights on horseback. The boys were excited about them, and they have played with them much of the day. I had hoped they would use them in their big cardboard castle that we made this summer, and that's exactly what they did! Bob got me a "Message" Bible, which I've wanted for awhile, and I bought him a John McArthur Bible commentary, so between the two of us, we gave the Christian bookstore some good business! Pam surprised me and sent a package a few days ago that I opened today. I was so thrilled to find scrapbook pages and borders that she made for me! Now I am actually excited about doing some more scrapbooking, if I can just force myself to make the time! The L's bought us a beautiful, huge new popcorn popper, which I know will be put to good use. Our old one is pretty small, and the bowl has a crack, so a replacement is very welcome!
We had our Christmas dinner at a normal dinner time, and I just baked chicken breasts for the main course. I also made mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing (which was just Pepperidge Farm, so I spent no time on it, but as it seems like always happens, it received rave reviews. Go figure!), broccoli, and a strawberry jello salad that I only rarely make but is my absolute favorite. I spent much more time on it than on the dressing, but it only received a lukewarm response. Caleb, Luke, Bob, and I liked it, but Jonathan and Nathan didn't. Ah well. After dinner we read the Christmas story, moving the felt characters on our background around, and then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and ate our cake. By then it was getting late, so the boys went off to bed--a great Christmas day!
As I thought back over this whole Christmas season, I realized I actually liked the way we did it this year, with having 2 separate gift-opening times. After we opened gifts in Texas, the boys played with new toys, read new books, and played new games in the car on the long ride back home. Then after we opened gifts today, they spent most of the day either playing "Lone Ranger" with their new guns, or playing with their Playmobil knights. So you can definitely say they were able to appreciate all of their gifts this year, unlike some years when it seems like we just have to rush them to keep on opening presents, and some presents kind of get left behind and ignored!
Just to let you all know, the day didn't end on the best of notes. Caleb threw up while getting ready for bed. Oh no! Unlike Nathan when he was sick, Caleb has eaten a ton of food today, and much of it pretty recently--lovely stuff like strawberry jello with lots of fruit and chocolate cake. So if he throws up as often as Nathan did, it has the potential to be a very messy and long night. I am so very thankful, however, that the Lord allowed us to have Christmas Day without anyone being sick during it!
Friday, December 23, 2005
Christmas
I'm having a bit of a dilemna regarding Christmas right now. When we were down in Texas, we opened presents and basically celebrated Christmas with my family. So that leaves me a little unsure of what exactly to do on the actual day. Nathan is still excited because we have stockings, but he doesn't know that, well, I really don't have anything to go in them! Usually we have some little things, and some candy, but this year all we bought were little flashlights from Walmart. And I don't have any special candy for them either, so anything food-related is going to be the same things they have been snacking on as we drove across the US! I am disappointed that almost no churches around here are having services actually on Christmas morning. There is a little church not too far away that celebrates Mass in Latin, and we have talked about visiting there, so we are going to try to find out if it has a service on Christmas morning. Maybe we will go there. If not, I think I will at least make a special breakfast dish, although there are not many of those that don't have a lot of cheese in them, making them not edible for Caleb! I am also at a loss as to what to do for Christmas dinner. We might possibly have 2 of Bob's sisters and their families come for a few nights next week, so I was thinking that I would make a ham and have a traditional dinner while they are here. For one thing, my ham is not defrosted, so I couldn't make it Sunday even if I wanted to! But what do I make to make it seem special? I can't decide! I am planning on baking a cake tomorrow so that we can do our traditional celebration of Jesus' birthday. We'll read the Christmas story while we put up the figures on our flannel background, and we'll probably sing some Christmas carols or something. Then we'll sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and eat his birthday cake. Still, it doesn't seem that special of a day, and I can't think of anything else to do. It doesn't help that we are all just so tired from the drive, so no creative juices are flowing!
Update: maybe we won't be doing much at all, even tomorrow, when we were planning on going to a living Nativity at a local church. Nathan has just thrown up for the second time. The first time, we all just assumed he had eaten something this morning at Sams' (we had tons of free samples!) that hadn't agreed with him. The second time, however, makes me think it is a bug, possible the one that was going around our homeschool co-op before we left. Apparently there were kids vomiting all over the place, and many families were affected, even the L's. Weird that it would start for us so much later, and after a few weeks of no exposure to any other kids. I guess no matter what, this will indeed be a Christmas to remember.
Update: maybe we won't be doing much at all, even tomorrow, when we were planning on going to a living Nativity at a local church. Nathan has just thrown up for the second time. The first time, we all just assumed he had eaten something this morning at Sams' (we had tons of free samples!) that hadn't agreed with him. The second time, however, makes me think it is a bug, possible the one that was going around our homeschool co-op before we left. Apparently there were kids vomiting all over the place, and many families were affected, even the L's. Weird that it would start for us so much later, and after a few weeks of no exposure to any other kids. I guess no matter what, this will indeed be a Christmas to remember.
Tire Excitement
I mentioned that Dan and Melinda seemed to have been cursed with tire problems, and it looks like they rubbed it off on us! As we were driving through Arkansas on Wednesday (we seem to have problems mainly in Arkansas, lol), I pulled off at a rest stop to go to the bathroom. I was changing Joanthan's diaper in the van when a lady and her husband came up and told me that our back right tire was very, very low. I told Bob when he came back out, and they were quite right. Fortunately, they had one of those little guys in their car that blows up tires, so they tried to reinflate the tire. It got a little bigger, but it was obvious we had a pretty big hole, which Bob found by running his hand over the tire. We were able to make it to the next exit, where we found a can of Fix-A-Flat in our back. That enabled us to limp onto 40 more miles to a WalMart that had a tire center. When we got there, the mechanics took the tire off to patch it and found a huge goose-egg bulging out on the inner sidewall. They told us it could have blown at any time, but we would never have been warned about it if we hadn't had the leak, since we would never have seen anything suspicious. Wow! The Lord was really watching over us, and we're so thankful that he answered our prayers for safety that morning before we left. So we got a new tire, and while they were putting it on, we bought a package of turkey, some cheese, a loaf of bread, some chips, and a half-gallon of orange juice (it was a Super-Walmart, obviously!), and we had a little picnic back at the tire waiting area. What an exciting dinner stop!
We're home!!!
Here is the trip summary--3700 miles driven in 10 days, one new tire, countless M&Ms, cookies, crackers, raisins, etc. consumed, and 6 all-too-short days spent with family!
We had such a great trip. We left Tuesday, Dec. 13 and drove to Nashville. The next day we drove on to the Dallas-area, to Dan and Melinda's house. We did run into a huge traffic jam on the west side of Memphis, so we took a sudden 30-mile detour to try to get around it. That led us through many poverty-stricken little Arkansas towns such as Earle, which looked as though every building in it should be condemned. Wow, you don't see those things from the interstate. A sobering perspective.
Thursday Dan worked half a day, and then we started down to Corpus Christi in a caravan. We again ran into a traffic jam in the middle of Dallas, and we rerouted ourselves for another detour when Dan's tire blew out. Not to worry! We all pulled off between the highway and an exit ramp, and Bob and Dan changed the tire like a pair of pit stop mechanics. The detour led us through Grand Prairie, which reminded us somewhat of an urban "Earle". We also ran into lots of traffic in Austin, leading us to conclude that we are magnets for traffic tie-ups, while Dan and Melinda are magnets for flat tires, since that was their 4th in a year. We had a lot of fun caravaning with them. Melinda rode in the minivan some, giving her practice in being the "stewardress of the van", the person responsible for picking up dropped toys, getting new books for people, choosing new music, distributing snacks, etc. It's a full time job! We ate dinner at Cracker Barrel and got into Corpus pretty late.
Friday was the day of the big ceremony! It was freezing cold and rainy, but we (the boys especially) had a great time sitting in James' airplane. The ceremony was at 3:00 in the afternoon. I was concerned, since that is naptime, but the boys did okay. Jonathan and Caleb were very wiggly, but there were a lot of other kids there who were crying, etc., so it was fine. James looked so handsome and distinguished in his uniform with his wings pinned on! We were so very proud! We all went out to Olive Garden to celebrate. THere were 18 of us there, so it was quite the party!
Saturday we went to the Texas State Aquarium, which was very nice. We were thrilled to find out it is a reciprocating member of the American Zoological Association, so we were able to get half off admission with our membership card from Boonshoft. My personal favorites were the jelly fish display, and also the seahorses. They are just so cute, and you probably know that female seahorses only carry the eggs to the father--he fertilizes them, carries them until they are ready to be born, then he pushes them out by contracting his body. Very attractive species, especially to a pregnant woman!
In the afternoon, we all went back to our hotel and watched football in our room. We got an amazing room--it was literally the size of two rooms, and we had 2 king size beds, plus a pull-put couch, 2 easy chairs, and 2 poofy chairs that went around a little table. There was a ton of empty space in the middle for the boys to play in as well, and it was obviously the best place for everyone to gather and socialize! We ordered pizza and had a regular party there! We were really thankful for the perfect room that the Lord provided!
Sunday we drove back to Dallas with Dan and Melinda. As we were heading out of Corpus, we stopped to get gas, and I realized that I had left a folder with driving instructions and more importantly, the extra pictures of the boys from WalMart that I had been handing out. Bob and Dan volunteered to go back and try to find them (which they did, praise the Lord), and Melinda rode with us again. Bob thought maybe I left them there on purpose so Melinda and I could have more time together, but I can assure you that I did not! I did really enjoy riding and talking with her though--it made the miles pass quite quickly! We met up with Mom and Dad at Cracker Barrel, and Bob and Dan caught up to us there too, and we all ate lunch. Then we did a little bit of shopping at the San Marcos Outlet Malls. The only flaw in our plan was that it was the last Sunday before Christmas, and they were PACKED!!!
Monday I did laundry, and in the afternoon Mom and I ventured to Lewisville to a homeschool resource store that I had heard about on the Well-Trained Mind board. It was fantastic, but I will devote another post to it. I had too much fun! That night we celebrated Christmas together and opened our presents. Tuesday we got packed up while the boys played with their new Bionicle toy and watched Lone Ranger videos. Wednesday morning we said sad goodbyes, drove to Nashville, and then got home yesterday at about 9:30. We're all so tired, but it was an absolutely wonderful trip. My family is so spread out that we all get together so rarely, and when we do, it is a very precious thing.
We had such a great trip. We left Tuesday, Dec. 13 and drove to Nashville. The next day we drove on to the Dallas-area, to Dan and Melinda's house. We did run into a huge traffic jam on the west side of Memphis, so we took a sudden 30-mile detour to try to get around it. That led us through many poverty-stricken little Arkansas towns such as Earle, which looked as though every building in it should be condemned. Wow, you don't see those things from the interstate. A sobering perspective.
Thursday Dan worked half a day, and then we started down to Corpus Christi in a caravan. We again ran into a traffic jam in the middle of Dallas, and we rerouted ourselves for another detour when Dan's tire blew out. Not to worry! We all pulled off between the highway and an exit ramp, and Bob and Dan changed the tire like a pair of pit stop mechanics. The detour led us through Grand Prairie, which reminded us somewhat of an urban "Earle". We also ran into lots of traffic in Austin, leading us to conclude that we are magnets for traffic tie-ups, while Dan and Melinda are magnets for flat tires, since that was their 4th in a year. We had a lot of fun caravaning with them. Melinda rode in the minivan some, giving her practice in being the "stewardress of the van", the person responsible for picking up dropped toys, getting new books for people, choosing new music, distributing snacks, etc. It's a full time job! We ate dinner at Cracker Barrel and got into Corpus pretty late.
Friday was the day of the big ceremony! It was freezing cold and rainy, but we (the boys especially) had a great time sitting in James' airplane. The ceremony was at 3:00 in the afternoon. I was concerned, since that is naptime, but the boys did okay. Jonathan and Caleb were very wiggly, but there were a lot of other kids there who were crying, etc., so it was fine. James looked so handsome and distinguished in his uniform with his wings pinned on! We were so very proud! We all went out to Olive Garden to celebrate. THere were 18 of us there, so it was quite the party!
Saturday we went to the Texas State Aquarium, which was very nice. We were thrilled to find out it is a reciprocating member of the American Zoological Association, so we were able to get half off admission with our membership card from Boonshoft. My personal favorites were the jelly fish display, and also the seahorses. They are just so cute, and you probably know that female seahorses only carry the eggs to the father--he fertilizes them, carries them until they are ready to be born, then he pushes them out by contracting his body. Very attractive species, especially to a pregnant woman!
In the afternoon, we all went back to our hotel and watched football in our room. We got an amazing room--it was literally the size of two rooms, and we had 2 king size beds, plus a pull-put couch, 2 easy chairs, and 2 poofy chairs that went around a little table. There was a ton of empty space in the middle for the boys to play in as well, and it was obviously the best place for everyone to gather and socialize! We ordered pizza and had a regular party there! We were really thankful for the perfect room that the Lord provided!
Sunday we drove back to Dallas with Dan and Melinda. As we were heading out of Corpus, we stopped to get gas, and I realized that I had left a folder with driving instructions and more importantly, the extra pictures of the boys from WalMart that I had been handing out. Bob and Dan volunteered to go back and try to find them (which they did, praise the Lord), and Melinda rode with us again. Bob thought maybe I left them there on purpose so Melinda and I could have more time together, but I can assure you that I did not! I did really enjoy riding and talking with her though--it made the miles pass quite quickly! We met up with Mom and Dad at Cracker Barrel, and Bob and Dan caught up to us there too, and we all ate lunch. Then we did a little bit of shopping at the San Marcos Outlet Malls. The only flaw in our plan was that it was the last Sunday before Christmas, and they were PACKED!!!
Monday I did laundry, and in the afternoon Mom and I ventured to Lewisville to a homeschool resource store that I had heard about on the Well-Trained Mind board. It was fantastic, but I will devote another post to it. I had too much fun! That night we celebrated Christmas together and opened our presents. Tuesday we got packed up while the boys played with their new Bionicle toy and watched Lone Ranger videos. Wednesday morning we said sad goodbyes, drove to Nashville, and then got home yesterday at about 9:30. We're all so tired, but it was an absolutely wonderful trip. My family is so spread out that we all get together so rarely, and when we do, it is a very precious thing.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Just to mix it up a little
The boys were unloading the dishwasher this morning, and Luke was complaining about all the mixing bowls in there. Nathan rather condescendingly pointed out that it was because we had done lots of baking lately.
Luke: "Duh."
Nathan: "Luke, you don't always need to say, 'duh'."
Luke: "But I don't!"
Caleb: "Yeah, sometimes you should say, 'for Pete's sake'."
Luke: "Duh."
Nathan: "Luke, you don't always need to say, 'duh'."
Luke: "But I don't!"
Caleb: "Yeah, sometimes you should say, 'for Pete's sake'."
Sunday, December 11, 2005
It finally happened today . . .
At church, a friend was introducing me to her mother. She said something about the one in my tummy being a girl, and the mom said, "She won't be there much longer, I'd reckon!" So now I have proof that my belly is huge, and I look like I could deliver any day, while in fact, I am only almost 25 weeks along and still have a good 3 1/2 MONTHS left! Sigh. Where is the chocolate? LOL--just kidding! See, that's the kicker--I haven't actually gained any more weight than I ever have at this point. I have gained a respectable 17 pounds, which is not super great, but it's certainly not obese either. I am right on track to gain my usual 35 pounds. But I look as big as I did when I went into labor with Nathan. I think this is just another example of how people aren't really used to seeing women with big families. You can be cutely pregnant with 2, even 3 pregnancies, if they are spaced far apart. Then you can wear those modern maternity fashions where your shirts hug and accent your poochy little belly. When you are carrying number 5 in 8 years, you outgrow those shirts at about 4 months, so what's the point of buying them?! Those stomach muscles are permanently damaged!
In other news, our garbage disposal broke this afternoon. I was grinding (is that the right verb?) some cereal that didn't get eaten before church when there was a tremendous clunking, big-broken-metal sound. At least I know it wasn't because I was putting some hard thing down there! That cereal was beyond soggy! The dispposal is not a huge priority before we leave, but hopefully Bob can replace it when we get back. At least it is something he knows how to do!
I am pleased to report that I am mowing my way through my to-do list before we leave for Texas on Tuesday. I mailed off a package to Bob's mom yesterday, I got all of our Christmas cards done and stamped, all our presents are wrapped, and I've started laundry and packing.
Also, for those we will be seeing in Texas, be prepared for Luke's hole-y grin. His second front tooth came out just a day or so later than the first, so he is definitely speaking with a bit of a whistle. Feel free to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", but don't expect that he hasn't heard it before! LOL!
In other news, our garbage disposal broke this afternoon. I was grinding (is that the right verb?) some cereal that didn't get eaten before church when there was a tremendous clunking, big-broken-metal sound. At least I know it wasn't because I was putting some hard thing down there! That cereal was beyond soggy! The dispposal is not a huge priority before we leave, but hopefully Bob can replace it when we get back. At least it is something he knows how to do!
I am pleased to report that I am mowing my way through my to-do list before we leave for Texas on Tuesday. I mailed off a package to Bob's mom yesterday, I got all of our Christmas cards done and stamped, all our presents are wrapped, and I've started laundry and packing.
Also, for those we will be seeing in Texas, be prepared for Luke's hole-y grin. His second front tooth came out just a day or so later than the first, so he is definitely speaking with a bit of a whistle. Feel free to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", but don't expect that he hasn't heard it before! LOL!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Well, now we know why I had my blood clot . . .
. . . it's something beautiful people have troubles with! My brother was kind enough to send me this article link , which discusses Miss Indiana-USA. She noticed her arm was purple and swollen last week, and she was admitted to the hospital. The doctors found a blood clot, and they also did surgery to remove her first rib. Here is some more information on Paget-Schroetter syndrome, which is exactly what I had, although my doctor never called it that. He always just used the more generic "thoracic outlet syndrome", but Paget-Schroetter syndrome is evidently a specific manifestation of thoracic outlet syndrome. Interesting. My clot was in the subclavian vein, and my symptoms were just as are described in the second link. And I too felt "like an elephant kicked me in the chest" after my surgery. Wow, we have so much in common! The picture in the first article looks just like me too. . . LOL!
Monday, December 05, 2005
Christmas Letters
Yay! We finally got our Christmas letter done and copied! I guess we just weren't really inspired this year--I felt like pretty much everything we're doing now is what we were also doing last year. We are having another baby, but let's face it--it's not like that is exactly an unusual occurance based on past newsletters either! So our update is pretty brief, but at least it's done. Also, I didn't want to buy any more paper this year. Each year we buy a pack of 100 sheets, and we use about 70 or 75 of them. We faithfully save the rest, which really adds up after awhile! I decided that we should try to use up all these odds and ends this year, which required some different formatting for various "editions". We're using 3 different types of papers--one with snowflakes, one with a ribbon around it, and one with some greenery. So now you all can just wait and wonder which one you'll get! What excitement! I would love to get these out before we leave for Texas, so I think I will sign off and go fold some letters. And if you are someone we are planning on seeing in Texas, then you can just expect to get yours there! : )
I can't wait to start getting everyone's newsletters and Christmas cards. So far we've gotten a grand total of two! I have never understood those people who hate them. I love them! We have enough friends that I know we won't see anytime in the near future, some we probably won't see again until we meet in heaven, and I absolutely love to hear what they and their families are up to. We usually get such boring, non-personal mail, but December is a great month!
I can't wait to start getting everyone's newsletters and Christmas cards. So far we've gotten a grand total of two! I have never understood those people who hate them. I love them! We have enough friends that I know we won't see anytime in the near future, some we probably won't see again until we meet in heaven, and I absolutely love to hear what they and their families are up to. We usually get such boring, non-personal mail, but December is a great month!
Saturday, December 03, 2005
A Crazy Night with Friends
We usually have Bible study at the L's house Friday nights, but last night Ed has his work Christmas party, and we're between books, and it's almost Christmas, so the rest of us met over here for pizza and fellowship. Tim and Amy stopped by Costco and picked up three of their take-n-bake pizzas for all of us (3 families--6 adults and 10 kids). We cook the take-n-bake pizzas from Sams all the time , so we fired up our ovens and popped 2 of them in. About halfway through, we noticed smoke coming out of the top oven. We looked in and found that the crust was pretty "done", although the rest of the pizza wasn't. That's odd. We turned the oven way down and kept watching it. A few minutes later a blob of something actually caught on fire on the bottom of the oven, so we had to rescue the pizza quickly before it really burned! In all that excitement, we noticed smoke coming out of the bottom oven--what is up with smoking ovens?!! So that pizza had a burned bottom crust too. Good grief! Can I just say again that we NEVER have had problems cooking pizzas (or really anything else either) ever before?!!! The third pizza was just fine however (are we stuck in Goldilocks or something?!). Fortunately none of us are too picky, so we did a good job on all the pizzas, burned or not.
Then the kids went downstairs and the adults sat arounds and talked. Soon we could hear Caleb wailing downstairs. To my expert ear, it sounded like someone had taken something away from him, so I wasn't too worried. It turns out that he uses the same cry for both small and big things, however, and he and Luke had banged heads pretty hard. He just had a bump, but Luke had quite the swollen and bleeding upper lip. And that tooth that was loose is now VERY loose! Luke was crying too, but fortunately I had some medicinal chocolate Snickers cheesecake on hand, and that made a cool, soothing compress. : ) It was my first attempt at a cheesecake, because I don't really LIKE cheesecake, but this one was all chocolate with a chocolate crust and cut-up Snickers bars in the filling as well as on top, along with drizzled chocolate sauce. YUM! (My oven did NOT burn the cheesecake or even the chocolate crinkle cookies I made earlier that afternoon, I am pleased to report. So evidently the oven became possessed sometime after 4:00 Friday afternoon. LOL!) The cheesecake was a big hit with everyone, as were the cookies and also the buckeyes that Amy brought.
After dessert, the kids disappeared back downstairs again. Soon one of them came upstairs to tell us that the glass in our coffee table had broken because "they were trying to put it in right". Bob leaped downstairs to clean that all up. We never did get a satisfactory story for why the glass was OUT of the coffee table, but I will say that our kids did not appear to have anything to do with it, as they all had believeable alibis at the time of the incident! I never really cared for that coffee table--another thing that Bob got I think when he graduated from the Academy in 1987, and frankly once you have kids, a table with glass in it will NEVER look clean. But still, now we have to replace it, although it is pretty low on the priority list.
So the night was full of excitement, as well as good fellowship! I guess this is why I don't as a rule throw any formal parties! LOL!
UPDATE: Luke did indeed lose his first tooth last night (Saturday) while watching football. And the 2 right next to it are also pretty loose, so I expect it won't be too long before they are out too. It was quite a hit he took!
Then the kids went downstairs and the adults sat arounds and talked. Soon we could hear Caleb wailing downstairs. To my expert ear, it sounded like someone had taken something away from him, so I wasn't too worried. It turns out that he uses the same cry for both small and big things, however, and he and Luke had banged heads pretty hard. He just had a bump, but Luke had quite the swollen and bleeding upper lip. And that tooth that was loose is now VERY loose! Luke was crying too, but fortunately I had some medicinal chocolate Snickers cheesecake on hand, and that made a cool, soothing compress. : ) It was my first attempt at a cheesecake, because I don't really LIKE cheesecake, but this one was all chocolate with a chocolate crust and cut-up Snickers bars in the filling as well as on top, along with drizzled chocolate sauce. YUM! (My oven did NOT burn the cheesecake or even the chocolate crinkle cookies I made earlier that afternoon, I am pleased to report. So evidently the oven became possessed sometime after 4:00 Friday afternoon. LOL!) The cheesecake was a big hit with everyone, as were the cookies and also the buckeyes that Amy brought.
After dessert, the kids disappeared back downstairs again. Soon one of them came upstairs to tell us that the glass in our coffee table had broken because "they were trying to put it in right". Bob leaped downstairs to clean that all up. We never did get a satisfactory story for why the glass was OUT of the coffee table, but I will say that our kids did not appear to have anything to do with it, as they all had believeable alibis at the time of the incident! I never really cared for that coffee table--another thing that Bob got I think when he graduated from the Academy in 1987, and frankly once you have kids, a table with glass in it will NEVER look clean. But still, now we have to replace it, although it is pretty low on the priority list.
So the night was full of excitement, as well as good fellowship! I guess this is why I don't as a rule throw any formal parties! LOL!
UPDATE: Luke did indeed lose his first tooth last night (Saturday) while watching football. And the 2 right next to it are also pretty loose, so I expect it won't be too long before they are out too. It was quite a hit he took!
Jonathan--another one like me
First, as funny story about Jonathan from a few mornings ago while we were eating breakfast.
Jonathan: ROAR!!
Luke (in a kindly, big brother voice): Are you being a lion, Jonny?
Jonathan (still roaring): NO! I'M A BUTTERFLY!
LOL! Luke pointed out to him that butterflies don't roar, but he was unconvinced.
A few days ago I wrote that Luke was a lot like me. Well, it turns out that Jonathan also shares some of my personality traits. Specifically, he is very picky about some anal little things. For instance, he has particular ways that his shoes must go on, and they absolutely must not be "too tight". It never fails that when we are running late, all I hear is "Too tight! Too tight!" along with lots of fussing. So I have to make a big show of undoing the velcro strap and then redoing it so that the shoe will be acceptably loose. When I was a little girl, my particular bugaboo was "shoes that slide up and down on my heels". I have distinct memories of some mall in L.A. with a Buster Brown shoe store, and us walking around trying on shoes, but me always saying "No, not these--these slide up and down on my heels". So I guess what goes around, comes around, although ironically my shoes could never be tight enough.
Jonathan's other particular idiosyncresy is that his pant legs must always be down, NOT hitched up at all on his socks or by his knees. This normally doesn't present much of a problem, but recently we've been on a real "Lone Ranger" kick around here, and so he wants to wear his cowboy boots pretty much constantly. And when you wear sweat pants and cowboy boots, it's almost impossible to keep your cuffs down around your ankles! A good deal of my time seems to be spent carefully folding over his pants cuff, then carefully inserting them into the boot, taking care to keep them as far down as possible. It's quite a process, and it rarely works to his exact satisfaction. And you can tell that my argument of "You NEVER see the Lone Ranger fussing about his pants cuffs and boots" just isn't convincing enough. I wonder what Jonathan's kids will be like? LOL!
Jonathan: ROAR!!
Luke (in a kindly, big brother voice): Are you being a lion, Jonny?
Jonathan (still roaring): NO! I'M A BUTTERFLY!
LOL! Luke pointed out to him that butterflies don't roar, but he was unconvinced.
A few days ago I wrote that Luke was a lot like me. Well, it turns out that Jonathan also shares some of my personality traits. Specifically, he is very picky about some anal little things. For instance, he has particular ways that his shoes must go on, and they absolutely must not be "too tight". It never fails that when we are running late, all I hear is "Too tight! Too tight!" along with lots of fussing. So I have to make a big show of undoing the velcro strap and then redoing it so that the shoe will be acceptably loose. When I was a little girl, my particular bugaboo was "shoes that slide up and down on my heels". I have distinct memories of some mall in L.A. with a Buster Brown shoe store, and us walking around trying on shoes, but me always saying "No, not these--these slide up and down on my heels". So I guess what goes around, comes around, although ironically my shoes could never be tight enough.
Jonathan's other particular idiosyncresy is that his pant legs must always be down, NOT hitched up at all on his socks or by his knees. This normally doesn't present much of a problem, but recently we've been on a real "Lone Ranger" kick around here, and so he wants to wear his cowboy boots pretty much constantly. And when you wear sweat pants and cowboy boots, it's almost impossible to keep your cuffs down around your ankles! A good deal of my time seems to be spent carefully folding over his pants cuff, then carefully inserting them into the boot, taking care to keep them as far down as possible. It's quite a process, and it rarely works to his exact satisfaction. And you can tell that my argument of "You NEVER see the Lone Ranger fussing about his pants cuffs and boots" just isn't convincing enough. I wonder what Jonathan's kids will be like? LOL!
Friday, December 02, 2005
Doctor Update
I had my doctor appointment this morning, and it went pretty much as I expected! Everything looks fine with the baby, and I told her about my rash. She looked at it, said "Hmmm . . . " and then said there were lots of pregnancy-related rashes, but it was very unusual for them to start this early and to not be on my stomach. Exactly what my research said. So she didn't have anything new to suggest, and she wants me to go to a dermatologist. Which is easier said than done! I don't have authorization to go off-base for anything other than OB care, so I think I will have to call the Fairfax Clinic, which is my primary care provider, and then see if whoever I see will refer me to dermatology at either Ft. Belvoir or Bethesda. Then I will have to try to get an appointment there. If I'm extremely lucky, I may be able to get seen before the pregnancy is over! (You may think I am joking, but alas, I am quite serious!) So I am not counting on any relief or answers in the near future, other than miraculous relief from the Lord. I have found something that does numb the itching--it has as the main ingredient camphor, and it gives a nice icy/hot sensation. I use that before I go to bed, and that does help. Right now I am praying that the Lord will just take the rash away, and that He will enable me to deal with it until it is gone, whenever that may be. I guess this is fair play, since I have never struggled with morning sickness, heartburn, varicose veins, etc. that so many other people suffer from during pregnancy!
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