I've started several posts in my head lately, but I have never gotten around to actually typing them. And for those of you who aren't my facebook friends and assume you are missing vastly exciting things that I am only posting on there--wel, I haven't updated my status either, LOL. Sometimes it just seems like too much effort all around! So here are a few random and undeveloped thoughts of late.
1. Our big project last weekend was my desk. When my family moved to Ohio from Okinawa, my parents bought me a big antique oak teacher's desk at a sale that, if I recall correctly, was at the Springfield Mall, of all places. The desk has a huge oak top with 3 drawers on the left side, one same-sized drawer on the right, a big double-sized drawer also on the right that you can put files and folders in sideways, and a skinny drawer for pencils. When I was on college, Tram, the Vietnamese man who lived with my parents, made Amy and me both hutches to go on the back of our college desks. We use one of the hutches on the back of this big desk now. So, this desk that is over 100 years old has had a good long life--but let's just say it was not made for a military life! The only way to move the desk is to unscrew the top from it, and each time we have moved, it has become less and less stable and secure. The last straw was when we thought we were moving to Guam in Dec. 09, and we got new carpet put in our downstairs. When we put the desk back together ater that, the drawers one by one starting falling into each other and not sliding in and out. So we solved that by just stacking the drawers in various locations on the floor of the study! We knew that eventually we needed to tackle the desk and give it one more shot, and that was last weekend. We took it apart, and Bob used this nylon clamp thing to wrap around each section of the desk. He glued and nailed, and eventually the desk shaped up! I started putting the drawers back in--until I realized they didn't fit! They had also succumbed to old age and started sagging, so Bob had to get back out the clamp and wrap them up as well. So finally all elements are nice and tight again, and we are just waiting for another weekend to put it all back together! Maybe then I'll get around to taking a picture.
2. I never got the vomiting bug that the kids got, but Wednesday I did not feel well at all. I didn't throw up, but my stomach roiled around all day. So we did a minimal amount of school, and I laid around on the couch the rest of the day, reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein. It was an interesting book, but I wasn't too alarmed at any of her findings. My girls love princesses and dressing up, but I am not worried that they will "give up everything for a man", a la Ariel, or that they will emulate the latest "older" Disney girl, like Miley Cyrus or whoever. That's where, to be honest, it's really nice to homeschool and not watch much TV, where these things are blasted at kids. I'm definitely a "moderation" mom, so I'm not going to allow anyone to become obsessed about anything. She did have some interesting, if questionable, points. She said that babydolls were invented essentially in the early 1900s as a way to "revive the flagging maternal instinct of white girls, to remind them of their patriotic duty to conceive . . ." Really? What about all those colonial corncob dolls? Girls have always loved babies! Aso, she is definitely not one for traditional values or feminine roles, which is not too surprising considering she is definitely a liberal (always clear to point out how she hopes her daughter explores all of her sexual options, etc.).
3. Micah has been so much happier this past week! Even though he has a little cold right now, he's been sleeping well and playing so nicely, even by himself. Of course, if we don't hear little noises anywhere, that is our clue to jump up and check the stairs--he loves climbing them! Since I realized that he just hasn't gained weight since he started crawling, I have been making a concerted effort to give him tons of extra stuff. So he has been happily munching on whatever table food I can give him, plus English muffins with honey and butter, toast and jam, regular muffins, fruit, whatever. I do think that he is sensitive to milk. It's been tricky to tell because he is also sensitive to hot and cold things, and he'll get a little rash from things like little pieces of ice or rice cereal that is a little too hot. But like I gave him some cornbread (made with milk) last night that was not wam at all, and he got a hive on his cheek--there have been a few things like that lately that have made me think he is reacting to the milk. So that rules out things like yogurt and cheese. After the freedom of this past year of being able to cook whatever without worrying about subbing milk, I am not looking forward to going back! I'm definitely not even going to try peanut butter or any nuts. I need to get a jar of sun butter next time I'm out. I don't really want to start him on soy butter, like Caleb likes.
So there are a few random thoughts to get you caught up on our busy life! You can fill in the rest of the time with school, laundry, cooking, and running people around to various basketball practices and Civil Air Patrol. That's my life!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, January 27, 2012
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Catching Up
I've had a bit of a chance to take a breath here this Thanksgiving break, and it has been so wonderful. I am REALLY looking forward to the Christmas break, where we'll have 3 weeks off from our co-ops. Anyhow, I realized I haven't been blogging very much, so I thought I'd go back and catch up on a few things I missed.
1. Nathan got his expander put in a week ago. Now we can once again experience the lovely sucking noise that we used to hear from Luke, as Nathan tries to clear food out from on top of it! Ah, how we've missed that noise . . . LOL. We are faithfully turning the key each night. Nathan's mouth doesn't have the obvious things wrong that Luke's did, where teeth were popping through really high up because there was no room, so we're not going to have the dramatic results. But his bite will be aligned! Now Jonathan on the other hand--he is another one with the really narrow jaw, and teeth popping out in weird places. I foresee an orthodontic visit for him sometime in this upcoming year. Whee!
2. We are getting ready for the basketball season to start. Caleb and Jonathan are going to be on the same Upward team, practicing on Thursday nights, and Bob is going to be the assistent coach. Fun! Nathan and Luke are playing in the house league where they played football this fall. Luke's team is all set, but for Nathan's group, they had more boys than they had anticipated, and they didn't have enough coaches. Sooo . . . after the commissioner kept calling and asking parents for help, Bob, who has never played or coached basketball at all, is going to coach Nathan's team. Should be interesting! And once again we are running out of nights of the week, with Civil Air Patrol, Bible study, church small group, etc. I keep telling myself, this is just a season of our lives! At least for basketball, once the games start everyone will only have practice one night a week, as opposed to 3 for football.
3. Micah has become much more confidant in his crawling. Now he crawls around the house looking for me. He's really not that much of an explorer though, unlike Faith. He is also pulling up on whatever he can, giving him many more opportunities to knock stuff off higher surfaces and generally wreak havoc. He has a terrible diaper rash right now, so he is not a happy camper. Bring on the Desitin! I'm hoping it's not as a result of the cranberry sauce I've been letting him have. He just seems to have sensitive skin like his brother Caleb. Will he also have the food allergies? We shall see!
4. We just spent a fun evening with the L's son Zachary, and his fiance Karybeth, talking about marriage. Ed and ELizabeth are doing some premarital counseling with them, so they had prepared a list of questions for us to talk about. It was fun and rewarding for Bob and me to think back over our 18 years of marriage as we answered questions like, "What did we not find out in our pre-marital counseling that would have been good to know ahead of time?" or "How would you describe your first year of marriage?" It was good to see how we've grown as a couple, and how the Lord has used hard times and conflicts to bring us closer together.
Now the break is just about done, and it's back to reality. I've been working on Latin and science, getting ready for Tuesday and Wednesday. I had some time over the break to go through some papers (we bought a new shredder!), and I am quite happy to say that the main level of the house looks cleaner than it has in a while. Yay! That is a good way to start off, although I anticipate falling behind quickly, LOL. Just 3 more weeks until Christmas break . . . I can do this . . .
1. Nathan got his expander put in a week ago. Now we can once again experience the lovely sucking noise that we used to hear from Luke, as Nathan tries to clear food out from on top of it! Ah, how we've missed that noise . . . LOL. We are faithfully turning the key each night. Nathan's mouth doesn't have the obvious things wrong that Luke's did, where teeth were popping through really high up because there was no room, so we're not going to have the dramatic results. But his bite will be aligned! Now Jonathan on the other hand--he is another one with the really narrow jaw, and teeth popping out in weird places. I foresee an orthodontic visit for him sometime in this upcoming year. Whee!
2. We are getting ready for the basketball season to start. Caleb and Jonathan are going to be on the same Upward team, practicing on Thursday nights, and Bob is going to be the assistent coach. Fun! Nathan and Luke are playing in the house league where they played football this fall. Luke's team is all set, but for Nathan's group, they had more boys than they had anticipated, and they didn't have enough coaches. Sooo . . . after the commissioner kept calling and asking parents for help, Bob, who has never played or coached basketball at all, is going to coach Nathan's team. Should be interesting! And once again we are running out of nights of the week, with Civil Air Patrol, Bible study, church small group, etc. I keep telling myself, this is just a season of our lives! At least for basketball, once the games start everyone will only have practice one night a week, as opposed to 3 for football.
3. Micah has become much more confidant in his crawling. Now he crawls around the house looking for me. He's really not that much of an explorer though, unlike Faith. He is also pulling up on whatever he can, giving him many more opportunities to knock stuff off higher surfaces and generally wreak havoc. He has a terrible diaper rash right now, so he is not a happy camper. Bring on the Desitin! I'm hoping it's not as a result of the cranberry sauce I've been letting him have. He just seems to have sensitive skin like his brother Caleb. Will he also have the food allergies? We shall see!
4. We just spent a fun evening with the L's son Zachary, and his fiance Karybeth, talking about marriage. Ed and ELizabeth are doing some premarital counseling with them, so they had prepared a list of questions for us to talk about. It was fun and rewarding for Bob and me to think back over our 18 years of marriage as we answered questions like, "What did we not find out in our pre-marital counseling that would have been good to know ahead of time?" or "How would you describe your first year of marriage?" It was good to see how we've grown as a couple, and how the Lord has used hard times and conflicts to bring us closer together.
Now the break is just about done, and it's back to reality. I've been working on Latin and science, getting ready for Tuesday and Wednesday. I had some time over the break to go through some papers (we bought a new shredder!), and I am quite happy to say that the main level of the house looks cleaner than it has in a while. Yay! That is a good way to start off, although I anticipate falling behind quickly, LOL. Just 3 more weeks until Christmas break . . . I can do this . . .
Saturday, August 27, 2011
"Twas a Dark Yet Not Too Stormy Night"
Here we are, listening to the rain and wind from the outer bands of Hurricane Irene. Once again Capital Weather Gang called it, as far as how our little area was going to be affected (or not affected) by this storm. They're amazing! Our power went out once, briefly, but other than that burst of excitement, it hasn't even seemed very windy!
I noticed that I have neglected to update my blog all week, which might lead one to believe that we had a relaxed, restful week, but of course that was not really the case! While at home, I've been trying to get ready for school starting next week, as well as the co-ops starting Sept. 6. But we've also been rushing around too, especially in the evenings, when Nathan and Luke both have football practice from 6:00 to 8:00, but not in the same place. Exciting times!
Monday: Nathan mowed my friend Lynnea's lawn. He has been gainfully employed this summer by ,mowing their large lawn once a week! And while he was doing it this week, the girls, Micah, and I visited with Lynnea and her 3 girls (and 2 bunnies). I always enjoy visiting with Lynnea! In the afternoon I had a chiropractor appointment, first one since before we went to Ohio in June. I want to start the school year off properly aligned!
Tuesday: The kids and I went off to a local park to hike on a trail. I am teaching in the "trees" unit for the elementary co-op the end of September, and I am hoping to take my classes over to this park, which is close to the church where we meet, so they can identify some trees. The kids and I walked up an easy trail, but there wasn't a lot of tree variety--mainly oaks and hickories. I think we're going to go with it though. The girls (and Nathan) were very whiny, so I am going to have to go back by myself to really prepare what I am going to say! The weather was gorgeous though--sunny, breezy, and not very humid. A perfect day for a hike!
Wednesday: I taught Latin at 12:45, and then we all headed over to our church so we could do a dry run test for Rivendell. Now that Siri is over in Hawaii, we had to make sure that we could have 2 computers in each location, and both sets of computers skyping each other. I am happy to say it was a great success! Whew! Hopefully things will go that smoothly when we are actually having classes!
Thursday: Luke had an orthodontist appointment, and then he and I went to Walmart to get school supplies. I think we got what we need for the year, and we also went to Sams to stock up before the great storm. A big afternoon of shopping! I am still hoping to make a commissary trip next week before school really gets going.
Friday: Other than taking Caleb to his book club over at the McC's house, we didn't have to go anywhere today. We spent some time putting all our plastic yard toys under the deck and policing up the yard (which should make our neighbors happy, LOL). Then the younger kids and I went to Bible study, while Bob dropped both boys off at their practices, stayed at Nathan's, and went to a parents' meeting when it was done, while one of Luke's coaches dropped him off where Nathan's team meets. Having 2 boys playing on different football teams has been quite a time so far! I don't know how other families do it!
Saturday: This morning Bob and I looked at a set of bunk beds a family on the homeschool email loop was selling. The bunk beds have a trundle bed that rolls out from underneath, and I thought that might work for the girls' room, since that is a small room, and we weren't sure how to fit everyone in once Faith is out of the crib. The set also came with a chest of drawers (we can always use more dresser space!) and 2 desks, one with a hutch. We ended up buying the set for $475, including 3 twin mattresses. It's on the older side, and not really feminine or anything, but it is very sturdy, and it should work just fine. We mde 2 trips to get all the furniture home, and on our way back we ran into Walmart to buy 3 twin sheet sets. Walmart was a zoo, as people were buying bottled water and toilet paper, LOL. We were trying to beat the heavy rain, but since that never really materialized, I guess we could have dilly-dallied a bit more! Luke had a football scrimmage this afternoon (in the rain), but after they came home and ate dinner, the boys helped Bob set everything up. Bob got the bottom bunk set up, but when he went to put the top part on, he realized that part of one post was broken, so he will need to fix that tomorrow. So for tonight, Anna is on what will be the bottom bunk (where Grace will normally sleep), Grace is on the trundle part (where Faith will normally sleep), and Faith is still in her crib. She is VERY excited about sleeping in a big girl bed, however, so hopefully it will be an easy fix tomorrow.
So that's what we've been up to. I've been busy drawing a map of Europe on a piece of posterboard for me to use for mapwork at Rivendell this year. I've finished drawing it, and now I need to outline it all with a sharpie, and draw in the lakes and rivers. Then I'm going to draw a second one for Christine to use for history, and get them both laminated at the teacher store not too far from here. That is a goal for next week!
But now, as I listen to the wind actually pick up a bit, I think it is time to go to bed!
I noticed that I have neglected to update my blog all week, which might lead one to believe that we had a relaxed, restful week, but of course that was not really the case! While at home, I've been trying to get ready for school starting next week, as well as the co-ops starting Sept. 6. But we've also been rushing around too, especially in the evenings, when Nathan and Luke both have football practice from 6:00 to 8:00, but not in the same place. Exciting times!
Monday: Nathan mowed my friend Lynnea's lawn. He has been gainfully employed this summer by ,mowing their large lawn once a week! And while he was doing it this week, the girls, Micah, and I visited with Lynnea and her 3 girls (and 2 bunnies). I always enjoy visiting with Lynnea! In the afternoon I had a chiropractor appointment, first one since before we went to Ohio in June. I want to start the school year off properly aligned!
Tuesday: The kids and I went off to a local park to hike on a trail. I am teaching in the "trees" unit for the elementary co-op the end of September, and I am hoping to take my classes over to this park, which is close to the church where we meet, so they can identify some trees. The kids and I walked up an easy trail, but there wasn't a lot of tree variety--mainly oaks and hickories. I think we're going to go with it though. The girls (and Nathan) were very whiny, so I am going to have to go back by myself to really prepare what I am going to say! The weather was gorgeous though--sunny, breezy, and not very humid. A perfect day for a hike!
Wednesday: I taught Latin at 12:45, and then we all headed over to our church so we could do a dry run test for Rivendell. Now that Siri is over in Hawaii, we had to make sure that we could have 2 computers in each location, and both sets of computers skyping each other. I am happy to say it was a great success! Whew! Hopefully things will go that smoothly when we are actually having classes!
Thursday: Luke had an orthodontist appointment, and then he and I went to Walmart to get school supplies. I think we got what we need for the year, and we also went to Sams to stock up before the great storm. A big afternoon of shopping! I am still hoping to make a commissary trip next week before school really gets going.
Friday: Other than taking Caleb to his book club over at the McC's house, we didn't have to go anywhere today. We spent some time putting all our plastic yard toys under the deck and policing up the yard (which should make our neighbors happy, LOL). Then the younger kids and I went to Bible study, while Bob dropped both boys off at their practices, stayed at Nathan's, and went to a parents' meeting when it was done, while one of Luke's coaches dropped him off where Nathan's team meets. Having 2 boys playing on different football teams has been quite a time so far! I don't know how other families do it!
Saturday: This morning Bob and I looked at a set of bunk beds a family on the homeschool email loop was selling. The bunk beds have a trundle bed that rolls out from underneath, and I thought that might work for the girls' room, since that is a small room, and we weren't sure how to fit everyone in once Faith is out of the crib. The set also came with a chest of drawers (we can always use more dresser space!) and 2 desks, one with a hutch. We ended up buying the set for $475, including 3 twin mattresses. It's on the older side, and not really feminine or anything, but it is very sturdy, and it should work just fine. We mde 2 trips to get all the furniture home, and on our way back we ran into Walmart to buy 3 twin sheet sets. Walmart was a zoo, as people were buying bottled water and toilet paper, LOL. We were trying to beat the heavy rain, but since that never really materialized, I guess we could have dilly-dallied a bit more! Luke had a football scrimmage this afternoon (in the rain), but after they came home and ate dinner, the boys helped Bob set everything up. Bob got the bottom bunk set up, but when he went to put the top part on, he realized that part of one post was broken, so he will need to fix that tomorrow. So for tonight, Anna is on what will be the bottom bunk (where Grace will normally sleep), Grace is on the trundle part (where Faith will normally sleep), and Faith is still in her crib. She is VERY excited about sleeping in a big girl bed, however, so hopefully it will be an easy fix tomorrow.
So that's what we've been up to. I've been busy drawing a map of Europe on a piece of posterboard for me to use for mapwork at Rivendell this year. I've finished drawing it, and now I need to outline it all with a sharpie, and draw in the lakes and rivers. Then I'm going to draw a second one for Christine to use for history, and get them both laminated at the teacher store not too far from here. That is a goal for next week!
But now, as I listen to the wind actually pick up a bit, I think it is time to go to bed!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
A Few Random Pictures
Looks like being done with testing did not lead to lots of time to keep up with the blog, LOL. We've done some things that warrant their own post whenever we get around to it (Nathan's O-ride for CAP last weekend, for one), and otherwise we've been busy doing things that are routine and boring and do not warrant any kind of post at all. Like school. So here are a few random pictures, just to catch up a bit.
Speaking of riding, here is our own little cowgirl, Anna. She was invited to a western-themed birthday party for one of her little co-op friends, Amelia, yesterday afternoon. To say she was excited about it is putting it mildly! As soon as she received the invitation a few weeks ago, she was planning out her outfit and present! The kids all dressed up for the party, and Anna looked so cute! It is definitely a benefit, when dressing for a western party, to have had 4 older brothers, all of whom went through a big cowboy phase. Oh, and the oldest 2 of whom were actually born in Colorado. We probably have 10 pairs of cowboy boots, in stairstep sizes, as well as 2 complete vest and chaps sets, and numerous cowboy hats and bandanas. If you need cowboy dress, we're the place to go!
Here is a picture of Anna holding Micah, just because I thought it was cute. Micah is continuing to grow and grow. He's about 14 pounds, and he's getting so long too. I think he might actually outgrow the infant carseat before he's a year old, which will be a first for us! His skin has gotten a lot clearer, finally. He kept on waking up at 4:00 in the morning, so a few nights ago I started just giving him the binky then. He's taken it no problems and gone right back to sleep, as have I. Very nice! The he wakes up again around 6:30 or 7:00, a much more civilized time to begin the day, LOL. This makes for a much happier mama. You can't say he is lacking for food!
Faith has discovered this lovely, vibrating recliner, perfect for reading! She turns on the vibrating feature herself before climbing in and getting comfortable, LOL. Summer days are made for relaxing . . .
Here's one last picture of Micah. He is smiling more, but overall, he is a serious baby, always looking like he is pondering deep, complex thoughts!
We had a nice Memorial Day cookout with our Bible study Friday night, and we are relaxing for the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow I need to start getting ready for the trip to Ohio. It will be the first time I drive the big van out by myself, so prayers for a safe trip would be appreciated!
Bob put up for the weekend the big wooden horse that Aunt Ann and Uncle Wally gave Jonathan last year for his birthday. The only branch it works on is on the tree in the front yard, and with the trampoline-hating neighbors next door, you can imagine it can't stay up permanently! With the big van in the driveway, however, you can hardly see it from their house!
Grace and I were inside yesterday when all of a sudden she looked out the window and got so excited. "Daddy is getting out applesauce!!" she exclaimed as she raced outside! I was confused--applesauce outside? How messy! And unlike Bob! But it turns out the kids and Bob have named the horse Applesauce, like in the Apple Dumpling Gang, and I was just out of the loop entirely on that one. Anyhow, much fun has been had riding on Applesauce this weekend.
Speaking of riding, here is our own little cowgirl, Anna. She was invited to a western-themed birthday party for one of her little co-op friends, Amelia, yesterday afternoon. To say she was excited about it is putting it mildly! As soon as she received the invitation a few weeks ago, she was planning out her outfit and present! The kids all dressed up for the party, and Anna looked so cute! It is definitely a benefit, when dressing for a western party, to have had 4 older brothers, all of whom went through a big cowboy phase. Oh, and the oldest 2 of whom were actually born in Colorado. We probably have 10 pairs of cowboy boots, in stairstep sizes, as well as 2 complete vest and chaps sets, and numerous cowboy hats and bandanas. If you need cowboy dress, we're the place to go!
Here is a picture of Anna holding Micah, just because I thought it was cute. Micah is continuing to grow and grow. He's about 14 pounds, and he's getting so long too. I think he might actually outgrow the infant carseat before he's a year old, which will be a first for us! His skin has gotten a lot clearer, finally. He kept on waking up at 4:00 in the morning, so a few nights ago I started just giving him the binky then. He's taken it no problems and gone right back to sleep, as have I. Very nice! The he wakes up again around 6:30 or 7:00, a much more civilized time to begin the day, LOL. This makes for a much happier mama. You can't say he is lacking for food!
Faith has discovered this lovely, vibrating recliner, perfect for reading! She turns on the vibrating feature herself before climbing in and getting comfortable, LOL. Summer days are made for relaxing . . .
Here's one last picture of Micah. He is smiling more, but overall, he is a serious baby, always looking like he is pondering deep, complex thoughts!We had a nice Memorial Day cookout with our Bible study Friday night, and we are relaxing for the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow I need to start getting ready for the trip to Ohio. It will be the first time I drive the big van out by myself, so prayers for a safe trip would be appreciated!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Random Post-Partum Thoughts
I really haven't disappeared, but I am enjoying this "babymoon"! We've sort of taken a 2 week spring break, with minimal school especially for the younger kids, and it has been so nice. I've actually had time to have some random thoughts!
1. Micah is coming right along, as far as sleeping. He had a few nights where he basically only got up once to feed. I fed him around 11:30, then he was up again around 4:00, and then again at 7:30ish. The last 2 nights he's been up twice during the night, but still . . . I can't complain. He's awake for much longer periods during the day too. He has a really strong neck, so he is always rearing back to look around at things . . . or I should say faces, since those are what usually surround him. He has his 2 week well-baby appointment on Monday, and I'll be curious to see how much he weighs. He's a good nurser! He had his first bath yesterday (his cord fell off Saturday). I love snuggling with a clean baby who smells like baby shampoo!
2. There's a lot I greatly dislike about the first few weeks of nursing, but one thing I do like is all the time to read! One book I just finished was Three Cups of Tea, which is timely in light of the controversy going on right now about whether Greg Mortenson lied about what he has done, and if he spent the money donated wisely. My opinion, for what it is worth, is that people sure are quick to judge Mortenson and treat random people from Afghanistan and Pakistan as worthy and reliable witnesses, with no real evidence to do so! From reading the book, it seems that the reason people didn't like Mortenson, or found him hard to work with, was because he was scatter-brained, had no concept of time, and did things on his own schedule. I can see someone like that telling stories but not getting all the details completely right--compressing stories, mixing them up, etc. I've known people like that! And I think that is also the culture he is working in, so that's probably one reason why he fit in there. I'm not sure all his critics really understand the difficulties of working in a culture that is so different from America? I don't know--it just seems like a lot of what I have read has been unreasonable expectations, flavored with a bit of sour grapes. But now the Montana governor has opened an investigation (which will hopefully be more even-handed than one led by sensationalistic 60 Minutes!), so hopefully any real wrong-doing will be exposed, and any unjustified criticisms will also be revealed, although I'm sure those will never get any press (did everyone notice that Gen. McCrystal has been cleared of wrong-doing? Yeah, that didn't get the big headlines. His career was ruined by a left-leaning rag, with no real evidence . . . ).
3. Another book I just finished was called Birth Day by Mark Sloan, a pediatrician in Roseville, CA (did you know him, Melinda? : ) The subtitle says, "A pediatrician explores the science, the history, and the wonder of childbirth". It was so interesting, and Sloan is a pretty funny writer as well. The chapters on the history of pain medicine in labor were really fascinating, and as usual, I am left wondering why hospitals in America don't get on the nitrous oxide bandwagon for pain relief. One quote that I thought was interesting was, "Here at home the goal of hospital labor pain management is often the complete obliteration of pain; in Europe and elsewhere, particularly in countries like England, where most uncomplicated vaginal delieveries are performed by midwives, the objective is "good enough" pain relief." I would have been interested in something that briefly took the edge off of my most difficult transition contractions, but went out of my system a few seconds after I stopped inhaling it. I was absolutely not interested in something that would make me nauseous and woozy and would affect my baby, especially since I realized, even if the doctor didn't, that I was almost ready to push. Anyway, I think because the author is a pediatrician, and not an OB (or a midwife, for that matter), he was able to be a little more even-handed about the managed hospital births that generally take place here in America. There was a TON of evolutionary biology, which is so speculative, and I did not enjoy that, but overall the book was really a good read.
4. I LOVE the nursing camis that Target sells! What a great idea! They are comfortable, they layer well under shirts, and then when you nurse, you don't have to pull up your shirt and expose your belly that has the stretch marks of 8 pregnancies for all the world to see (theoretically, of course)! I only bought one, but I'm going to get some more. I think I'll wear them for all my in-public nursing!
Hmmm . . . I am sure there are more things I was going to post about, but my brain is still a bit mushy . . . We are still battling the ants, who have opened up another front in our pantry. We are enjoying tremendously all the delicious meals friends from church and co-op have brought us. I am very blessed to have generous friends who are excellent cooks! And we are looking forward to my dad flying back here Saturday. He flew back to Ohio last Saturday to take care of some business, and he had a little scare with some chest pain/pressure. He was hospitalized for 2 nights while they checked into things. Nothing showed up as wrong with his heart, which was good, but now he has to follow up with his family doctor.
1. Micah is coming right along, as far as sleeping. He had a few nights where he basically only got up once to feed. I fed him around 11:30, then he was up again around 4:00, and then again at 7:30ish. The last 2 nights he's been up twice during the night, but still . . . I can't complain. He's awake for much longer periods during the day too. He has a really strong neck, so he is always rearing back to look around at things . . . or I should say faces, since those are what usually surround him. He has his 2 week well-baby appointment on Monday, and I'll be curious to see how much he weighs. He's a good nurser! He had his first bath yesterday (his cord fell off Saturday). I love snuggling with a clean baby who smells like baby shampoo!
2. There's a lot I greatly dislike about the first few weeks of nursing, but one thing I do like is all the time to read! One book I just finished was Three Cups of Tea, which is timely in light of the controversy going on right now about whether Greg Mortenson lied about what he has done, and if he spent the money donated wisely. My opinion, for what it is worth, is that people sure are quick to judge Mortenson and treat random people from Afghanistan and Pakistan as worthy and reliable witnesses, with no real evidence to do so! From reading the book, it seems that the reason people didn't like Mortenson, or found him hard to work with, was because he was scatter-brained, had no concept of time, and did things on his own schedule. I can see someone like that telling stories but not getting all the details completely right--compressing stories, mixing them up, etc. I've known people like that! And I think that is also the culture he is working in, so that's probably one reason why he fit in there. I'm not sure all his critics really understand the difficulties of working in a culture that is so different from America? I don't know--it just seems like a lot of what I have read has been unreasonable expectations, flavored with a bit of sour grapes. But now the Montana governor has opened an investigation (which will hopefully be more even-handed than one led by sensationalistic 60 Minutes!), so hopefully any real wrong-doing will be exposed, and any unjustified criticisms will also be revealed, although I'm sure those will never get any press (did everyone notice that Gen. McCrystal has been cleared of wrong-doing? Yeah, that didn't get the big headlines. His career was ruined by a left-leaning rag, with no real evidence . . . ).
3. Another book I just finished was called Birth Day by Mark Sloan, a pediatrician in Roseville, CA (did you know him, Melinda? : ) The subtitle says, "A pediatrician explores the science, the history, and the wonder of childbirth". It was so interesting, and Sloan is a pretty funny writer as well. The chapters on the history of pain medicine in labor were really fascinating, and as usual, I am left wondering why hospitals in America don't get on the nitrous oxide bandwagon for pain relief. One quote that I thought was interesting was, "Here at home the goal of hospital labor pain management is often the complete obliteration of pain; in Europe and elsewhere, particularly in countries like England, where most uncomplicated vaginal delieveries are performed by midwives, the objective is "good enough" pain relief." I would have been interested in something that briefly took the edge off of my most difficult transition contractions, but went out of my system a few seconds after I stopped inhaling it. I was absolutely not interested in something that would make me nauseous and woozy and would affect my baby, especially since I realized, even if the doctor didn't, that I was almost ready to push. Anyway, I think because the author is a pediatrician, and not an OB (or a midwife, for that matter), he was able to be a little more even-handed about the managed hospital births that generally take place here in America. There was a TON of evolutionary biology, which is so speculative, and I did not enjoy that, but overall the book was really a good read.
4. I LOVE the nursing camis that Target sells! What a great idea! They are comfortable, they layer well under shirts, and then when you nurse, you don't have to pull up your shirt and expose your belly that has the stretch marks of 8 pregnancies for all the world to see (theoretically, of course)! I only bought one, but I'm going to get some more. I think I'll wear them for all my in-public nursing!
Hmmm . . . I am sure there are more things I was going to post about, but my brain is still a bit mushy . . . We are still battling the ants, who have opened up another front in our pantry. We are enjoying tremendously all the delicious meals friends from church and co-op have brought us. I am very blessed to have generous friends who are excellent cooks! And we are looking forward to my dad flying back here Saturday. He flew back to Ohio last Saturday to take care of some business, and he had a little scare with some chest pain/pressure. He was hospitalized for 2 nights while they checked into things. Nothing showed up as wrong with his heart, which was good, but now he has to follow up with his family doctor.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
On the Other Side
I am happy to report that I am have survived these past 2 1/2 weeks of the "cold that wouldn't leave", as well as all the appointments every day. I am finally feeling better! Last Wednesday was the worst day--I was certain the whole thing was turning into a sinus infection because my face felt so heavy and full, and my teeth were hurting so badly. Fortunately, Thursday was a better day, and things seemed to finally really start draining. It took the weekend for me to actually start feeling better, though. We were supposed to go to PA to visit Bob's family last weekend, but we ended up not going. It was a hard decision, since his sister Rose drove in with her girls, and his sister Ann was going to ride up with us, so we would have seen all the siblings, as well as Bob's parents, but it was the right one. I was still feeling so miserable, and the kids were mostly all snuffly and hacking away with coughs as well. Not good to travel with (or sleep in a hotel room all together!), and certainly we didn't want to pass the love onto all Bob's family! So we just hung out here at home and rested. It must have worked because I think we are seeing the tail end of this dreaded head cold!
I am so glad to be done with all these random appointments as well! The last 2 weeks I have had at least one appointment every day, and occasionally two, and that's not even counting our two co-ops or the Latin class! Teeth are cleaned, Anna's tooth is fixed, the pantry is full, my back is aligned, Nathan's eyes haven't changed since his last eye exam (and 2 new pairs of glasses are coming our way, since he was down to only one pair), we got pictures of all the kids done, and Luke's braces are adjusted. Whew! And this morning I had an OB appointment where everything looked good. I'll go back in 2 weeks, when I'll be 38 weeks. And right now, I have no other appointments on the calendar until that one! Woo-hoo! It will be nice to actually stay home and have uninterrupted time to do school, especially with Anna and Grace! I haven't exercised very consistently the past 2 weeks either. Part of that is just because I felt so crummy, but most days it was because I really didn't have time. So it will be good to start walking on the treadmill regularly again too. Got to keep the baby moving down! Less than 4 weeks to go!
I am so glad to be done with all these random appointments as well! The last 2 weeks I have had at least one appointment every day, and occasionally two, and that's not even counting our two co-ops or the Latin class! Teeth are cleaned, Anna's tooth is fixed, the pantry is full, my back is aligned, Nathan's eyes haven't changed since his last eye exam (and 2 new pairs of glasses are coming our way, since he was down to only one pair), we got pictures of all the kids done, and Luke's braces are adjusted. Whew! And this morning I had an OB appointment where everything looked good. I'll go back in 2 weeks, when I'll be 38 weeks. And right now, I have no other appointments on the calendar until that one! Woo-hoo! It will be nice to actually stay home and have uninterrupted time to do school, especially with Anna and Grace! I haven't exercised very consistently the past 2 weeks either. Part of that is just because I felt so crummy, but most days it was because I really didn't have time. So it will be good to start walking on the treadmill regularly again too. Got to keep the baby moving down! Less than 4 weeks to go!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Bad Mom Award
Yesterday was a busy day! Caleb and I made what is hopefully our last trip to the commissary before the baby comes. Now Caleb has actually come down with the cold I have, so we were a snuffly bunch, and we brought a ton of kleenexes in with us!
Actually, our main challenge came when we drove up to Ft. Myer and realized that the gate we usually enter was "closed for repair". That did seem like a good plan, since the gate was a pile of rubble, but nonetheless, it was a total surprise to us! That particular gate had been completely remade not long after we moved here, so maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I never dreamed it would be redone again so quickly. Since it had been closed awhile back, I knew there were other gates, but I was stuck in the van with no map, no GPS, and no real memory of how to get to these other gates. And the problem with being down in Arlington is that you pick the wrong road and suddenly you are headed somewhere you really don't want to go with no possibility of recovering, so I was quite hesitant about trying to wander around and find the gate on my own. I told Caleb we'd try one thing, since I had vague memories of a gate being off of Rt. 50. Indeed, there was a gate there, and it only took a few missed exits (and lots of prayer, and a phone call to Elizabeth L.) to get to it, LOL. It's technically off of Clarendon Rd., just for my future reference . . .
So eventually we got there and got all our stuff. This was indeed a big trip--almost $900--and we are hopefully set to eat for awhile, as well as have this baby! I got a ton of newborn and even some size 1 diapers.
We arrived home around 2:30, and we started unloading. Finally all the stuff was out of the minivan (although not stowed away), and I was working in the garage to put away to freezer and extra fridge stuff. I heard Faith fussing away by the van. She was upset because I had closed all the doors, and she wanted to go back in there. I left her there and went back into the garage. Finally I finished up and collapsed on the couch for a few minutes before our afternoon Latin class. Luke and some of the other kids were playing outside, but eventually they came in and Luke shut the garage door. (Do you see where this is going . . . ?)
After resting about 15 minutes, it dawned on me that I should put Faith down for a nap . . . she had been getting crabby, so why wasn't I hearing her anywhere? I asked where she was, and no one knew, so we all leaped up and started looking. I went out the front door and some of the boys went out the garage just as the McC's were pulling up for Latin. Fortunately, Caleb happened to glance in the minivan window. There was Faith, who obviously did manage to open the door for herself at some point, sound asleep in her carseat. She had even buckled herself in! Whew! I think I lost 10 years off my life in those few minutes! She ended up napping for a good while during Latin class, while I sent boys out to check on her every few minutes.
I was already a candidate for the Bad Mom award earlier this week, as I left Grace's little Beanie Baby puppy, the one I used as a model for her 2 year birthday cake, in Philadelphia. Ooooooops! Thankfully it was found and is supposed to be on its way back to us. We've been praying every night for safe travels for Grace's doggie, LOL. She has actually been remarkably philosophical about the whole thing. Luke was generous to let her have his old Beanie Baby elephant that he used to sleep with, and that has helped.
So I have definitely not been on top of things this week! Less then 5 weeks to go . . . but unfortunately, as others have so rightly observed, those brain cells that turn to mush during pregnancy never really return!
Actually, our main challenge came when we drove up to Ft. Myer and realized that the gate we usually enter was "closed for repair". That did seem like a good plan, since the gate was a pile of rubble, but nonetheless, it was a total surprise to us! That particular gate had been completely remade not long after we moved here, so maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I never dreamed it would be redone again so quickly. Since it had been closed awhile back, I knew there were other gates, but I was stuck in the van with no map, no GPS, and no real memory of how to get to these other gates. And the problem with being down in Arlington is that you pick the wrong road and suddenly you are headed somewhere you really don't want to go with no possibility of recovering, so I was quite hesitant about trying to wander around and find the gate on my own. I told Caleb we'd try one thing, since I had vague memories of a gate being off of Rt. 50. Indeed, there was a gate there, and it only took a few missed exits (and lots of prayer, and a phone call to Elizabeth L.) to get to it, LOL. It's technically off of Clarendon Rd., just for my future reference . . .
So eventually we got there and got all our stuff. This was indeed a big trip--almost $900--and we are hopefully set to eat for awhile, as well as have this baby! I got a ton of newborn and even some size 1 diapers.
We arrived home around 2:30, and we started unloading. Finally all the stuff was out of the minivan (although not stowed away), and I was working in the garage to put away to freezer and extra fridge stuff. I heard Faith fussing away by the van. She was upset because I had closed all the doors, and she wanted to go back in there. I left her there and went back into the garage. Finally I finished up and collapsed on the couch for a few minutes before our afternoon Latin class. Luke and some of the other kids were playing outside, but eventually they came in and Luke shut the garage door. (Do you see where this is going . . . ?)
After resting about 15 minutes, it dawned on me that I should put Faith down for a nap . . . she had been getting crabby, so why wasn't I hearing her anywhere? I asked where she was, and no one knew, so we all leaped up and started looking. I went out the front door and some of the boys went out the garage just as the McC's were pulling up for Latin. Fortunately, Caleb happened to glance in the minivan window. There was Faith, who obviously did manage to open the door for herself at some point, sound asleep in her carseat. She had even buckled herself in! Whew! I think I lost 10 years off my life in those few minutes! She ended up napping for a good while during Latin class, while I sent boys out to check on her every few minutes.
I was already a candidate for the Bad Mom award earlier this week, as I left Grace's little Beanie Baby puppy, the one I used as a model for her 2 year birthday cake, in Philadelphia. Ooooooops! Thankfully it was found and is supposed to be on its way back to us. We've been praying every night for safe travels for Grace's doggie, LOL. She has actually been remarkably philosophical about the whole thing. Luke was generous to let her have his old Beanie Baby elephant that he used to sleep with, and that has helped.
So I have definitely not been on top of things this week! Less then 5 weeks to go . . . but unfortunately, as others have so rightly observed, those brain cells that turn to mush during pregnancy never really return!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Visit With Jasmine!
On our way home from Great Wolf Lodge, we stopped in Richmond to visit Bob's niece Christi, her husband Andres, and their brand-new baby Jasmine! Jasmine was born last Friday night at 11:08 PM, so when we saw her on Wednesday, she was less than 5 days old! Jasmine is a beautiful baby with a head of dark hair. I enjoyed holding her, and so did Caleb! The girls loved looking at her.
Faith was particularly taken with Jasmine's cute little baby toes. "Toes . . . ba-by toes," she kept saying. And she kept wanting to take her hat off to see her hair as well. She was very interested in the baby! She'll be a good big sister too, I'm sure! But she won't get to see any newborn baby hair though, LOL--that's not how we grow them!
Here is a family picture with proud Grandma Ann, Bob's sister! We were so glad we could stop by and meet Jasmine while she was still such a tiny newborn. So precious and sweet! Saturday, December 11, 2010
We're still alive . . .
I'm sure you have all been wondering if in fact we all did succumb to whatever was wrong this weekend, but in fact, we all recovered perfectly well, LOL. We've just been insanely busy with the holiday season, and that has shown up as "no blogging".
I ordered a ton of chocolate from an online place, and that arrived early this week. So Wednesday and Thursday we spent making peanut butter cups, more peppermint bark, and more butter toffee. I always think it won't happen, but every time it does--after spending a day in the kitchen dealing with chocolate, I truly have no desire for it. Of course, that only lasts a night or so, LOL.
Friday morning we had our co-op ice skating party. This is always eagerly anticipated by all the boys, and Nathan was able to go as well. Last year the kids and I were in Ohio for it, except for Nathan, who was back here helping Bob and my dad get our house ready to sell so we could PCS to Guam . . . ah, what a difference a year makes! The year before that, Caleb got a lovely goose egg almost as soon as he set foot on the ice. Thankfully, we had no such incidents on Friday! Everyone had a great time, even Anna, who got to ice skate for the very first time! Christine watched Grace and Faith for me, and I drove her boys. She let Anna borrow a pair of strap-on double blades. Those were amazing! Anna was so confident in them! She steadily plugged away, around and around the rink. At first the boys took her, and then several of the girls who are a little bit older were around her like a bunch of mother hens! She had a ball. Christine, Bob, and our Polish friend Ania all said they learned how to skate with those same kind of double runners. They are such a good idea!
Friday afternoon I baked a bunch of Andes mint cookies for a cookie exchange this afternoon with some ladies from church. The exchange was a lot of fun. It was a smaller group of ladies--only 6 of us--but sometimes smaller groups are nice because you can really get to know people more deeply like that! I took home a bunch of cookies, and now there are only about 10 left. They were all delicious, and we have a bunch of eager samplers here at home!
This morning we had a workday at our church with our little junior high co-op families. We were only there for a little over 2 hours, but we really got a lot done! The menfolk all worked outside for the most part, cleaning up leaves and stuff like that. We ladies worked inside deep-cleaning the baathrooms and kitchen, as well as the nursery, and Christine and Theresa bagged a ton of bags for the food pantry Christmas service, which is going to be tomorrow. The younger boys eventually came inside and helped us wipe down baseboards and walls. After we were done, we went out for pizza with the McCs. Our 2 families demolished 4 16-inch pizzas! There was none left over!
So now you have an idea of why I haven't had time to blog at all! Next week promises to be busy as well, but then things should settle down the week before Christmas.
I ordered a ton of chocolate from an online place, and that arrived early this week. So Wednesday and Thursday we spent making peanut butter cups, more peppermint bark, and more butter toffee. I always think it won't happen, but every time it does--after spending a day in the kitchen dealing with chocolate, I truly have no desire for it. Of course, that only lasts a night or so, LOL.
Friday morning we had our co-op ice skating party. This is always eagerly anticipated by all the boys, and Nathan was able to go as well. Last year the kids and I were in Ohio for it, except for Nathan, who was back here helping Bob and my dad get our house ready to sell so we could PCS to Guam . . . ah, what a difference a year makes! The year before that, Caleb got a lovely goose egg almost as soon as he set foot on the ice. Thankfully, we had no such incidents on Friday! Everyone had a great time, even Anna, who got to ice skate for the very first time! Christine watched Grace and Faith for me, and I drove her boys. She let Anna borrow a pair of strap-on double blades. Those were amazing! Anna was so confident in them! She steadily plugged away, around and around the rink. At first the boys took her, and then several of the girls who are a little bit older were around her like a bunch of mother hens! She had a ball. Christine, Bob, and our Polish friend Ania all said they learned how to skate with those same kind of double runners. They are such a good idea!
Friday afternoon I baked a bunch of Andes mint cookies for a cookie exchange this afternoon with some ladies from church. The exchange was a lot of fun. It was a smaller group of ladies--only 6 of us--but sometimes smaller groups are nice because you can really get to know people more deeply like that! I took home a bunch of cookies, and now there are only about 10 left. They were all delicious, and we have a bunch of eager samplers here at home!
This morning we had a workday at our church with our little junior high co-op families. We were only there for a little over 2 hours, but we really got a lot done! The menfolk all worked outside for the most part, cleaning up leaves and stuff like that. We ladies worked inside deep-cleaning the baathrooms and kitchen, as well as the nursery, and Christine and Theresa bagged a ton of bags for the food pantry Christmas service, which is going to be tomorrow. The younger boys eventually came inside and helped us wipe down baseboards and walls. After we were done, we went out for pizza with the McCs. Our 2 families demolished 4 16-inch pizzas! There was none left over!
So now you have an idea of why I haven't had time to blog at all! Next week promises to be busy as well, but then things should settle down the week before Christmas.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
The Leaves Are Changing . . .
. . . the bruises are fading . . .
(One day after the 3 hour test)
(This afternoon, five days later--and no, I don't know the results yet, LOL) 
Sunday we had our annual time of fun at Chuck E. Cheese with our Friday night Bible study group. The kids all had a blast! I enjoyed the fact that they could all run around without me, while I sat and visited. Next year I'll be dealing with a 6 month old again . . . 
. . . here is Grace, as a lovely ballerina, although I think her leotard is actually on backwards. This is another one from Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. I tell you, Anna and Grace have LOVED the stuff they have passed on to us!
And lastly, here is a picture of Faith, fresh from a nap. She is eating a Tootsie Roll that Luke bought for her out of his Chuck E. Cheese winnings. (He got 301 tickets, and everyone else combined got 318 tickets, LOL. Of course, Jonathan drove the average down, as he seems to have spent all his allotted tokens on things that take pictures. He has 13 pictures from Sunday night! Ah well, the prizes you can buy are nothing to get excited about, so whatever makes him happy!)
(One day after the 3 hour test)
(This afternoon, five days later--and no, I don't know the results yet, LOL) . . . Ah, it must be fall.
I think football ended not a moment too soon. We bundled up for Nathan's playoff game on Saturday. Isn't Luke's reflective jacket nice?! He won't get hit by a car playing in the snow, if we get any snow, that is. Nathan's team lost, and I was sad for them . . . but happy to have our evenings and Saturdays back!
Sunday we had our annual time of fun at Chuck E. Cheese with our Friday night Bible study group. The kids all had a blast! I enjoyed the fact that they could all run around without me, while I sat and visited. Next year I'll be dealing with a 6 month old again . . . When people ask me about what we do for Halloween, I like to point out that our kids dress up all the time! That's nothing special! Going to Chuck E. Cheese, however, is a once-a-year thing, and they REALLY look forward to that, LOL. I did have to run to Walmart Monday, so I did pick up some half-price Halloween candy. We discovered over the weekend that Caleb likes Twix bars, when a neighbor girl down the street gave him one. The first chocolate thing he has liked! So I bought a bag of those, and I'll put one in their lunches for co-op day for the next little while.
And in the spirit of dressing up . . .
. . . here is Grace, as a lovely ballerina, although I think her leotard is actually on backwards. This is another one from Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. I tell you, Anna and Grace have LOVED the stuff they have passed on to us! 
And lastly, here is a picture of Faith, fresh from a nap. She is eating a Tootsie Roll that Luke bought for her out of his Chuck E. Cheese winnings. (He got 301 tickets, and everyone else combined got 318 tickets, LOL. Of course, Jonathan drove the average down, as he seems to have spent all his allotted tokens on things that take pictures. He has 13 pictures from Sunday night! Ah well, the prizes you can buy are nothing to get excited about, so whatever makes him happy!)Happy Fall!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What's New?
(Besides a job, I mean . . .)
1. Grace has some sort of wierd tummy thing going on. She woke up last Monday night starting at 4:00 and vomited 4 times. It was like her food from dinner had never digested one bit! Since then, she has woken up almost every night, usually somewhere between 4:00 and 6:30, and heaved up a bit of stomach acid. This is very disturbing, not only for me, LOL, but also Anna, who sleeps with her. So both girls have been very crabby this week. Grace had been just fine during the day, but today she moped around and hardly ate anything. She is one of my "5th percentile" kids, so we certainly don't want her losing any weight! My mom suggested possibly reflux of something. If she keeps on with this pattern, I'll try to get an appointment maybe on Thursday.
2. I can't take her in tomorrow because I have my second OB appointment. I took a 1-hour glucose tolerance test last Thursday, so I am assuming I'll get the results of that. We'll see if all my exercise is paying off so far. I also need to call to schedule my 20 week ultrasound. Wow! Time is flying! I'm only 14 weeks, but I definitely (as always) look bigger than that. That's why I no longer take belly shots until I'm maybe 30 weeks along, LOL. Then I finally look the right size for how far along I am! I'm feeling lots of little flutters and kicks now.
3. I had a big day on Saturday--I drove down to Richmond for my niece Christi's baby shower! Bob's sister Ann did such a nice job with the food and all the other details. There was an excellent turnout too--around 40 people! Christi got a ton of lovely and practical gifts, including lots of diapers and wipes! It was fun, and I was so glad I was able to go.
4. Our church picnic was Sunday after our morning service. The weather was absolutely perfect! We ate tons of food and visited for a long time. We got there around 1:30, and we didn't leave until 6:00! Bob actually stayed later and played some soccer and football. I had whiney dirty kids in my car, LOL. I was glad we didn't take baths and showers Saturday night, as we usually do. They all needed something when we got home! Craig McC had taken Caleb, Jonathan, and some of his boys down to the Potomac for awhile, where they had an absolute ball catching tadpoles, clams, and a dead crayfish. They wanted to take the tadpoles home for pets and dissect the crayfish! I was so tired by this time--the last thing I wanted to deal with was how to get tadpoles and a dead crayfish home, mush less actually dealing with them AT home, LOL! I already had several leaf-laden twigs for my science lesson today that had fallen around the playground in my hands--and those were much less messy. Ha! We finally made it home, sans animal life, where I collapsed. But it was so wonderful to get all that visiting in!
5. Another successful week of our Rivendell junior high co-op is in the books! The moss I collected a week and a half ago did manage to survive in the tub on our counter, and after our class today, I planted it in our front area. We'll see if it takes. I love moss! The focus of the week was plants, and so we did alot with leaf characteristics. Brought me right back to botany class! I searched around our yard and the walking path through the woods behind our neighborhood to find all sorts of samples of various leaf possibilities--simple, compound, oppposite, alternate, pinnately compound, palmately compound. I am happy to say I found representatives of all, even a horsechestnut for the palmately compound! I knew that would be the hardest! Fall is the perfect time to look for leaves, since so many are already on the ground. I switched the order we are covering several of the chapters in the book, and I was so glad I did. I think in another week or two it would have been to hard to find good leaf specimens.
As part of the memory work time today with the younger kids, we made salt maps of Israel, to help them get a good idea of the topography of some of the places we've been learning about in our mapwork. The kids all really enjoyed it. We mainly focused on the Coastal Plain, Central Mountains, Jordan River Valley, and the Valley of Jezreel. I stayed up way to late last night making 5 batches of salt dough, LOL.
So now you know what I've been up to, and why I've been too busy to blog! I have really been tired in the evenings, especially since certain parties ("Grace") keep interrupting my sleep. I am definitely one who notices when I don't get several hours of unbroken sleep each night. I am starting several canker sores in my mouth, which is always my first sign that my body is running down. So with that, I am heading off to bed! Hopefully I'll blog again before this time next week!
1. Grace has some sort of wierd tummy thing going on. She woke up last Monday night starting at 4:00 and vomited 4 times. It was like her food from dinner had never digested one bit! Since then, she has woken up almost every night, usually somewhere between 4:00 and 6:30, and heaved up a bit of stomach acid. This is very disturbing, not only for me, LOL, but also Anna, who sleeps with her. So both girls have been very crabby this week. Grace had been just fine during the day, but today she moped around and hardly ate anything. She is one of my "5th percentile" kids, so we certainly don't want her losing any weight! My mom suggested possibly reflux of something. If she keeps on with this pattern, I'll try to get an appointment maybe on Thursday.
2. I can't take her in tomorrow because I have my second OB appointment. I took a 1-hour glucose tolerance test last Thursday, so I am assuming I'll get the results of that. We'll see if all my exercise is paying off so far. I also need to call to schedule my 20 week ultrasound. Wow! Time is flying! I'm only 14 weeks, but I definitely (as always) look bigger than that. That's why I no longer take belly shots until I'm maybe 30 weeks along, LOL. Then I finally look the right size for how far along I am! I'm feeling lots of little flutters and kicks now.
3. I had a big day on Saturday--I drove down to Richmond for my niece Christi's baby shower! Bob's sister Ann did such a nice job with the food and all the other details. There was an excellent turnout too--around 40 people! Christi got a ton of lovely and practical gifts, including lots of diapers and wipes! It was fun, and I was so glad I was able to go.
4. Our church picnic was Sunday after our morning service. The weather was absolutely perfect! We ate tons of food and visited for a long time. We got there around 1:30, and we didn't leave until 6:00! Bob actually stayed later and played some soccer and football. I had whiney dirty kids in my car, LOL. I was glad we didn't take baths and showers Saturday night, as we usually do. They all needed something when we got home! Craig McC had taken Caleb, Jonathan, and some of his boys down to the Potomac for awhile, where they had an absolute ball catching tadpoles, clams, and a dead crayfish. They wanted to take the tadpoles home for pets and dissect the crayfish! I was so tired by this time--the last thing I wanted to deal with was how to get tadpoles and a dead crayfish home, mush less actually dealing with them AT home, LOL! I already had several leaf-laden twigs for my science lesson today that had fallen around the playground in my hands--and those were much less messy. Ha! We finally made it home, sans animal life, where I collapsed. But it was so wonderful to get all that visiting in!
5. Another successful week of our Rivendell junior high co-op is in the books! The moss I collected a week and a half ago did manage to survive in the tub on our counter, and after our class today, I planted it in our front area. We'll see if it takes. I love moss! The focus of the week was plants, and so we did alot with leaf characteristics. Brought me right back to botany class! I searched around our yard and the walking path through the woods behind our neighborhood to find all sorts of samples of various leaf possibilities--simple, compound, oppposite, alternate, pinnately compound, palmately compound. I am happy to say I found representatives of all, even a horsechestnut for the palmately compound! I knew that would be the hardest! Fall is the perfect time to look for leaves, since so many are already on the ground. I switched the order we are covering several of the chapters in the book, and I was so glad I did. I think in another week or two it would have been to hard to find good leaf specimens.
As part of the memory work time today with the younger kids, we made salt maps of Israel, to help them get a good idea of the topography of some of the places we've been learning about in our mapwork. The kids all really enjoyed it. We mainly focused on the Coastal Plain, Central Mountains, Jordan River Valley, and the Valley of Jezreel. I stayed up way to late last night making 5 batches of salt dough, LOL.
So now you know what I've been up to, and why I've been too busy to blog! I have really been tired in the evenings, especially since certain parties ("Grace") keep interrupting my sleep. I am definitely one who notices when I don't get several hours of unbroken sleep each night. I am starting several canker sores in my mouth, which is always my first sign that my body is running down. So with that, I am heading off to bed! Hopefully I'll blog again before this time next week!
Jehovah Jireh
"And my God shall meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 19
So Bob retired from active duty on 1 August, and he was already engaged in job-hunting at that time. He learned quite a bit about resume-formatting and searching for jobs on the internet! Finally just a week or two ago, things started to come together. He received an offer from one company, for a job down at the Pentagon. He decided not to take this offer because 2 other jobs looked very promising. One had given him a contingent offer, and another one had told him twice on the phone to expect an offer. Unexpectedly the first compnay came back last week, after telling Bob they were moving on if he didn't sign their offer, and they increased their offer! After we talked about it for awhile Thursday night, Bob felt like the Lord was leading him to take that offer. So he faxed in the paperwork Friday morning--about 30 minutes before the contigent offer company emailed to say someone thought they needed a guy with more hands-on experience with some program, so that didn't think Bob was the right guy after all! And we never did get the offer from that 3rd company. It could come sometime, sure, but I don't think either of us would really have any confidence in the company or their word at that point! This first company really wanted Bob, and they wanted him to start work today. It seems like this is the job God has provided for right now.
Bob did have an interesting point to make about the job search last week. He told me he had been approaching it with sort of a "marriage model" mindset, but really that wasn't the case. He doesn't need to find the one true perfect job that he can commit to for the rest of his working life (or even 23 years, which is how long he served on active duty!). But he does need a job right now, and this job seems like a good fit. He liked the people with whom he'll be working. The one big drawback is the commute. Today was his first day (just inprocessing stuff right now), and it took him a long time to get down there. He's still working on the best route to take and time to go in (early!). So we'll see how it goes, and we are very thankful to the Lord for providing a job in this uncertain economy!
This time without a job has helped both of us reflect on how it really is the Lord who provides for our needs. I know for me it has always just been the thought of "the Air Force" as the one supplying us. Taking that away, with nothing in its place for a few months really helped me see the hand of the Lord in our lives, and he takes care of the family he has given us.
We really cut back spending, starting in July to just bare neccessities. That is always a good thing to do! We even started doing things like make our own pizza, which was fun and something we will definitely continue doing. But even in little things, God was providing things for us. For example, as a sort of frivolous thing, we had already signed Nathan up for football several months before Bob retired, not having any idea of how long it would take to find a job. In July we realized he would need some Underarmour type shirts to go under his pads. When we visited my parents in Ohio, we found a long-sleeved one and a short-sleeved one at Once Upon a Child for just a few dollars each! What a savings! And when I went to see what sort of fall/winter clothes I had for Anna in the tub of clothes that various people had given us, I realized we don't need one. single. thing for her this winter. We have everything we need from all our friends' generosity! And Nathan hasn't grown a ton, so he should be okay too. First boy and first girl--that's really all I need to worry about, clothing-wise, LOL. Everyone else gets hand-me-downs. But our neighbors down the street, after their garage sale a few weeks ago, gave us all their boy clothes that didn't sell--a whole bunch of shirts that fit Caleb and Jonathan. So now I can be done with any shirts from Nathan and Luke that are just too ratty! How exciting!
It also has been a refreshing time to have Bob not work. He and I have gone on walks many mornings after the kids got started with their school. We would often run errands together--cheap date! He was able to take some of the kids riding on the bike path sometimes, which was a special treat. And he got a lot of things taken care of around the house. Which brings me to another thing the Lord provided--that 40 foot ladder we found by the curb, waiting for the trashman back in July. We have certainly gotten a lot of use out of that, as Bob has repaired a lot of trim, and unfortunately has a lot more to do. (And by "we", I mean "Bob", since I have only set foot on the bottom rung of the thing to steady it, LOL.)
I know a lot of you have been praying for Bob's job search, and we are so thankful for your prayers. We don't take this job for granted. We have friends who have been out of work for a year or so. It's sobering to even think about. Hopefully Bob will be a blessing in this new job, and we are thankful to the Lord for providing for us in this way.
So Bob retired from active duty on 1 August, and he was already engaged in job-hunting at that time. He learned quite a bit about resume-formatting and searching for jobs on the internet! Finally just a week or two ago, things started to come together. He received an offer from one company, for a job down at the Pentagon. He decided not to take this offer because 2 other jobs looked very promising. One had given him a contingent offer, and another one had told him twice on the phone to expect an offer. Unexpectedly the first compnay came back last week, after telling Bob they were moving on if he didn't sign their offer, and they increased their offer! After we talked about it for awhile Thursday night, Bob felt like the Lord was leading him to take that offer. So he faxed in the paperwork Friday morning--about 30 minutes before the contigent offer company emailed to say someone thought they needed a guy with more hands-on experience with some program, so that didn't think Bob was the right guy after all! And we never did get the offer from that 3rd company. It could come sometime, sure, but I don't think either of us would really have any confidence in the company or their word at that point! This first company really wanted Bob, and they wanted him to start work today. It seems like this is the job God has provided for right now.
Bob did have an interesting point to make about the job search last week. He told me he had been approaching it with sort of a "marriage model" mindset, but really that wasn't the case. He doesn't need to find the one true perfect job that he can commit to for the rest of his working life (or even 23 years, which is how long he served on active duty!). But he does need a job right now, and this job seems like a good fit. He liked the people with whom he'll be working. The one big drawback is the commute. Today was his first day (just inprocessing stuff right now), and it took him a long time to get down there. He's still working on the best route to take and time to go in (early!). So we'll see how it goes, and we are very thankful to the Lord for providing a job in this uncertain economy!
This time without a job has helped both of us reflect on how it really is the Lord who provides for our needs. I know for me it has always just been the thought of "the Air Force" as the one supplying us. Taking that away, with nothing in its place for a few months really helped me see the hand of the Lord in our lives, and he takes care of the family he has given us.
We really cut back spending, starting in July to just bare neccessities. That is always a good thing to do! We even started doing things like make our own pizza, which was fun and something we will definitely continue doing. But even in little things, God was providing things for us. For example, as a sort of frivolous thing, we had already signed Nathan up for football several months before Bob retired, not having any idea of how long it would take to find a job. In July we realized he would need some Underarmour type shirts to go under his pads. When we visited my parents in Ohio, we found a long-sleeved one and a short-sleeved one at Once Upon a Child for just a few dollars each! What a savings! And when I went to see what sort of fall/winter clothes I had for Anna in the tub of clothes that various people had given us, I realized we don't need one. single. thing for her this winter. We have everything we need from all our friends' generosity! And Nathan hasn't grown a ton, so he should be okay too. First boy and first girl--that's really all I need to worry about, clothing-wise, LOL. Everyone else gets hand-me-downs. But our neighbors down the street, after their garage sale a few weeks ago, gave us all their boy clothes that didn't sell--a whole bunch of shirts that fit Caleb and Jonathan. So now I can be done with any shirts from Nathan and Luke that are just too ratty! How exciting!
It also has been a refreshing time to have Bob not work. He and I have gone on walks many mornings after the kids got started with their school. We would often run errands together--cheap date! He was able to take some of the kids riding on the bike path sometimes, which was a special treat. And he got a lot of things taken care of around the house. Which brings me to another thing the Lord provided--that 40 foot ladder we found by the curb, waiting for the trashman back in July. We have certainly gotten a lot of use out of that, as Bob has repaired a lot of trim, and unfortunately has a lot more to do. (And by "we", I mean "Bob", since I have only set foot on the bottom rung of the thing to steady it, LOL.)
I know a lot of you have been praying for Bob's job search, and we are so thankful for your prayers. We don't take this job for granted. We have friends who have been out of work for a year or so. It's sobering to even think about. Hopefully Bob will be a blessing in this new job, and we are thankful to the Lord for providing for us in this way.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
A Few Random Thoughts
Today has been a deluge of Biblical proportions, which is nice if you don't have to go anywhere. I like sitting here in a quiet house, listening to the rain fall outside. And since it's dark, I don't have to look at the back yard and see the puddles turning into lakes! Here are a few random thoughts from the past week:
1. We had all sorts of technical difficulties getting ready for science on Tuesday. I was doing a demonstration of anaerobic respiration with yeast, involving a bottle, 2-hole stopper, thermometer, and glass tube. Monday night I tried to put the thermometer and the glass tube in the stopper--no way, even with copious lubrication. I asked Bob for help after I snapped a glass tube. After suggesting we drill the holes wider (which I shot down right away), he struggled manfully until he broke a thermometer. Sooo . . . before we broke anything else, he drilled the holes bigger on the second stopper, and I decided we would not have any control bottle. That worked fine.
Today I finally got around to emailing Home Science Tools, which is where I ordered all my stuff, and I asked them what they thought the problem could possibly be, since I didn't think my technique was wrong, and I had never had any problems inserting tubes into stoppers in all my previous lab experience (*massive run-on sentence alert*). Well, a very nice lady called this afternoon, and she told me that after she read my email, she had grabbed several stopper and measured the holes--they were all almost 2 mm too small (they should all be 5mm)! So they are going to talk to their supplier to correct this, but in the meantime, she was refunding what I paid for the stoppers, as well as sending me a new thermometer and glass tube! I was so excited! I had heard that this company had good customer service, but now I really believe it! I was also just glad to know that I wasn't crazy, LOL. There really WAS a problem!
2. After Tuesday, my left foot has been really hurting. I couldn't figure out what I possibly did to it, but today I wore my good running shoes to exercise, and after that, my foot felt better. But when I put my old tennis shoes back on to run to the post office and library . . . my foot started hurting again. Hmmm, might be time for new shoes. I remembered I had posted about buying this pair of shoes back in November 2007, and I said there that I usually wear shoes for 2-3 years. It'll be 3 years in November . . . call me Nostradamus!
3. Anna has been bugging me to paint her toenails for quite awhile, so tonight we had a little party up in my bathroom, and I painted hers, Grace's, and mine. Faith was quite upset about being left out of this girly fest, even after my explanation of, "You just have to get potty-trained and start wearing big-girl panties!" The funny thing is that this afternoon Luke took it upon himself to put her on the little potty several times, and she did indeed produce pee (she was very proud of herself and we all celebrated with M&Ms, as usual). But she is nowhere near being ready to potty-train. Maybe next summer, I am thinking. Seems like she will be motivated, though!
Hmmm, I thought there was more I was going to mention, but I can't remember. My brain is such a sieve these days! We have been enjoying the break in football practices with all the rain. Otherwise, we are just busy doing school, laundry, trying to keep the house from becoming a disaster area, and the other usual stuff. I am actually putting off reading through the next science chapter by doing all this blogging. I guess I should at least skim it before turning in!
1. We had all sorts of technical difficulties getting ready for science on Tuesday. I was doing a demonstration of anaerobic respiration with yeast, involving a bottle, 2-hole stopper, thermometer, and glass tube. Monday night I tried to put the thermometer and the glass tube in the stopper--no way, even with copious lubrication. I asked Bob for help after I snapped a glass tube. After suggesting we drill the holes wider (which I shot down right away), he struggled manfully until he broke a thermometer. Sooo . . . before we broke anything else, he drilled the holes bigger on the second stopper, and I decided we would not have any control bottle. That worked fine.
Today I finally got around to emailing Home Science Tools, which is where I ordered all my stuff, and I asked them what they thought the problem could possibly be, since I didn't think my technique was wrong, and I had never had any problems inserting tubes into stoppers in all my previous lab experience (*massive run-on sentence alert*). Well, a very nice lady called this afternoon, and she told me that after she read my email, she had grabbed several stopper and measured the holes--they were all almost 2 mm too small (they should all be 5mm)! So they are going to talk to their supplier to correct this, but in the meantime, she was refunding what I paid for the stoppers, as well as sending me a new thermometer and glass tube! I was so excited! I had heard that this company had good customer service, but now I really believe it! I was also just glad to know that I wasn't crazy, LOL. There really WAS a problem!
2. After Tuesday, my left foot has been really hurting. I couldn't figure out what I possibly did to it, but today I wore my good running shoes to exercise, and after that, my foot felt better. But when I put my old tennis shoes back on to run to the post office and library . . . my foot started hurting again. Hmmm, might be time for new shoes. I remembered I had posted about buying this pair of shoes back in November 2007, and I said there that I usually wear shoes for 2-3 years. It'll be 3 years in November . . . call me Nostradamus!
3. Anna has been bugging me to paint her toenails for quite awhile, so tonight we had a little party up in my bathroom, and I painted hers, Grace's, and mine. Faith was quite upset about being left out of this girly fest, even after my explanation of, "You just have to get potty-trained and start wearing big-girl panties!" The funny thing is that this afternoon Luke took it upon himself to put her on the little potty several times, and she did indeed produce pee (she was very proud of herself and we all celebrated with M&Ms, as usual). But she is nowhere near being ready to potty-train. Maybe next summer, I am thinking. Seems like she will be motivated, though!
Hmmm, I thought there was more I was going to mention, but I can't remember. My brain is such a sieve these days! We have been enjoying the break in football practices with all the rain. Otherwise, we are just busy doing school, laundry, trying to keep the house from becoming a disaster area, and the other usual stuff. I am actually putting off reading through the next science chapter by doing all this blogging. I guess I should at least skim it before turning in!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
A Good Day
It's late and I should be in bed, but I figured I'd take advantage of the quiet house and blog really quickly! Nothing red-letter is happening, but today was a good day, so I thought I'd write about it.
1. A friend of ours from way back stopped by with 4 garbage bags of hand-me-downs this morning! It's been like Christmas here, as the girls especially have excitedly pulled out dresses and other clothes to try on! Mark and Lori have 6 kids, and their youngest is a girl a year older than Anna. So the sizes are perfect, the clothes are cute, and the girls were in heaven! There were shoes too . . . too much excitement! There were boys' clothes too, but somehow the boys just weren't as excited, LOL. I am always so thankful for clothes we can use! What a huge savings!
2. Nathan just missed one on his first life science test! He's got this really great teacher, you see . . . LOL! No, the material is not that difficult so far. But I'm glad he is remembering it!
3. Caleb drew this really great map of the the world (well, technically it was yesterday), with all the continents and everything labeled. I know that was a result of the time last year in Classical Conversations, so I am glad to see fruit from that! Then he made up his own continent, divided it up into countries, made a flag for one country, and stationed armies in various places in it, LOL.
4. I got my maps laminated today! I spent a good deal of time drawing 2 maps for the memory work/mapwork part of Rivendell. One covered the Mediterranean area all the way over to India. On the back of it, I drew a close-up of Israel. I put all the cities, mountains, and rivers that we'll be learning on the maps. I also already had a map I drew of Greece (for the Greece unit in the other co-op several years ago, when I was pregnant with Grace), and on the other side of that is a slightly closer view of the Mediterranean area. I added cities and features to both those maps, and then I started asking around for places to laminate them. I made a big map of Africa and the Mediterranean last year for CC, and I never laminated it, and by the end of the year, that poor map was looking a bit wilted! People on my homeschool email loop recommended Staples, Office Depot, and a teacher store about 20 minutes away. Staples quoted me $20 EACH, Office Depot said $1.99/sq. foot (each sheet of poster board was less than 2'x3'), and the teacher store said $1.oo per sq. ft. Clear winner there, so I drove out there this afternoon. The girl at the counter told me she couldn't work the laminator, so they'd have to take my maps and call me when they were done. Ack! I need one Tuesday, and I really hadn't planned on driving back out to the store to pick up the things! But what could I do, so I left them. I went outside and called Bob to relate my tale of misery. As we were talking, he told me the store was calling our home phone, which for some reason was the number I had given them. I ran back inside, since I had never left the parking lot, and there were my maps, all done! I'm so glad I took my time leaving! And the grand total was only $5.25! I'm not sure exactly how they calculate the square footage, but I'll take it! They look great! (Well, as great as hand-drawn maps can look, LOL.)
5. Tonight Nathan's team got their jerseys. Well, they aren't really the permanent jerseys. Because his team is an expansion team, they get new jerseys, and apparently the jerseys are journeying here from the factory by mule train, because the coach thought we'd have them by last Monday. The first game is Saturday, so they are using some other team's old jerseys (Steeler colors, woo hoo!). Nathan got to pick his number first because he had the most "leadership points". These came from times when he led exercises and what not. Sometimes the coaches picked him to lead, and sometimes the other team members picked him. That was really cool! He picked #7, which is Ben Rothlisberger's number, LOL.
6. I got to talk to Amy tonight! It's been several weeks, but that always makes a nice end to a day! It was great catching up with her!
So that's where we are. Still no job for Bob, so keep praying! And now I really must get to bed, or I will REALLY be sorry in the morning!
1. A friend of ours from way back stopped by with 4 garbage bags of hand-me-downs this morning! It's been like Christmas here, as the girls especially have excitedly pulled out dresses and other clothes to try on! Mark and Lori have 6 kids, and their youngest is a girl a year older than Anna. So the sizes are perfect, the clothes are cute, and the girls were in heaven! There were shoes too . . . too much excitement! There were boys' clothes too, but somehow the boys just weren't as excited, LOL. I am always so thankful for clothes we can use! What a huge savings!
2. Nathan just missed one on his first life science test! He's got this really great teacher, you see . . . LOL! No, the material is not that difficult so far. But I'm glad he is remembering it!
3. Caleb drew this really great map of the the world (well, technically it was yesterday), with all the continents and everything labeled. I know that was a result of the time last year in Classical Conversations, so I am glad to see fruit from that! Then he made up his own continent, divided it up into countries, made a flag for one country, and stationed armies in various places in it, LOL.
4. I got my maps laminated today! I spent a good deal of time drawing 2 maps for the memory work/mapwork part of Rivendell. One covered the Mediterranean area all the way over to India. On the back of it, I drew a close-up of Israel. I put all the cities, mountains, and rivers that we'll be learning on the maps. I also already had a map I drew of Greece (for the Greece unit in the other co-op several years ago, when I was pregnant with Grace), and on the other side of that is a slightly closer view of the Mediterranean area. I added cities and features to both those maps, and then I started asking around for places to laminate them. I made a big map of Africa and the Mediterranean last year for CC, and I never laminated it, and by the end of the year, that poor map was looking a bit wilted! People on my homeschool email loop recommended Staples, Office Depot, and a teacher store about 20 minutes away. Staples quoted me $20 EACH, Office Depot said $1.99/sq. foot (each sheet of poster board was less than 2'x3'), and the teacher store said $1.oo per sq. ft. Clear winner there, so I drove out there this afternoon. The girl at the counter told me she couldn't work the laminator, so they'd have to take my maps and call me when they were done. Ack! I need one Tuesday, and I really hadn't planned on driving back out to the store to pick up the things! But what could I do, so I left them. I went outside and called Bob to relate my tale of misery. As we were talking, he told me the store was calling our home phone, which for some reason was the number I had given them. I ran back inside, since I had never left the parking lot, and there were my maps, all done! I'm so glad I took my time leaving! And the grand total was only $5.25! I'm not sure exactly how they calculate the square footage, but I'll take it! They look great! (Well, as great as hand-drawn maps can look, LOL.)
5. Tonight Nathan's team got their jerseys. Well, they aren't really the permanent jerseys. Because his team is an expansion team, they get new jerseys, and apparently the jerseys are journeying here from the factory by mule train, because the coach thought we'd have them by last Monday. The first game is Saturday, so they are using some other team's old jerseys (Steeler colors, woo hoo!). Nathan got to pick his number first because he had the most "leadership points". These came from times when he led exercises and what not. Sometimes the coaches picked him to lead, and sometimes the other team members picked him. That was really cool! He picked #7, which is Ben Rothlisberger's number, LOL.
6. I got to talk to Amy tonight! It's been several weeks, but that always makes a nice end to a day! It was great catching up with her!
So that's where we are. Still no job for Bob, so keep praying! And now I really must get to bed, or I will REALLY be sorry in the morning!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Quick Update
I'm stealing the idea from my friend Beverly and doing a quick "Seven on Sunday" update.
1. Nathan's bites are almost all gone, for all who have been asking! We'll just write this episode off as another one of his crazy skin reactions, and I'm glad we didn't bother taking him in!
2. Caleb and Jonathan are back home! I wrote a long, informative blog post about their time in Ohio and drive back with the L's in my mind last night before falling to sleep, but we'll see if that ever actually get's translated to real live typing, LOL. My brain is just so darn mushy lately, and I can't remember anything!
3. I gave all the kids haircuts last night. Nathan has needed one for a long time, as his cowlick in the back had become quicky spiky. With football every night, however, I never could fit one in. I seized the day yesterday! I gave the girls cuts as well, but that was a bridge too far, LOL. I was too tired! I told them that in the future I will have to have haircut night for boys and a different night for girls. I am still not very satisfied with Anna's hair. Grrr.
4. We had a wonderful day today! Suzanne, a good friend from way back (she and her husband actually met when they were both living with my family in our big old house in Ohio back in 1987!), was in MD visiting her family with 5 of her 7 kids. They drove down from MD to go to church with us, and then we all headed over to the L's house (also friends of Lee and Suzanne from way back!) for lunch and visiting. It was so fun to catch up!
5. We're starting back to school tomorrow. I've gotten the school books organized, so hopefully everything will go smoothly! Our jr. high co-op (Rivendell)starts next Tuesday, and our other co-op, for the younger kids, starts back up after Labor Day, so we have a week to ease back into things. I've finished my first 2 lessons for life science (in Rivendell), and I want to finish the next 2 as well. That 3rd and 4th week of Rivendell are when I am teaching chemistry in the other co-op to the 5th and 6th graders, so I need to finish getting those lessons together. I'll be glad when September is over!
6. Caleb has his milk challenge Wednesday morning at 8:00. He is off his antihistimines this week, since last Wednesday, actually, and he is really starting to suffer! He is also very allergic to ragweed, which is in its prime right now. His eyes are getting all itchy and puffy, and there's not a thing we can do except put cold compresses on them! Poor Nathan is also really suffering this year. He has been a snuffly, sneezy mess for the past 2 weeks. I am thinking I might make an appointment for him this week so he can at least get his own allergy med prescriptions.
7. Hmmm, what else. Faith is developing keen interest in shoes, like her big sister Anna. She is always trying on their shoes (and anyone elses!). She is wearing a size 4, but I got down the size 5 pair of pink crocs (knock-offs of course, LOL) the other girls wore. She LOVES them! They're a little big, but she thinks she is hot stuff in them! She wants them on all the time!
Well, that's an update on us. Now Bob and I are going to take a quick walk before it gets too dark!
1. Nathan's bites are almost all gone, for all who have been asking! We'll just write this episode off as another one of his crazy skin reactions, and I'm glad we didn't bother taking him in!
2. Caleb and Jonathan are back home! I wrote a long, informative blog post about their time in Ohio and drive back with the L's in my mind last night before falling to sleep, but we'll see if that ever actually get's translated to real live typing, LOL. My brain is just so darn mushy lately, and I can't remember anything!
3. I gave all the kids haircuts last night. Nathan has needed one for a long time, as his cowlick in the back had become quicky spiky. With football every night, however, I never could fit one in. I seized the day yesterday! I gave the girls cuts as well, but that was a bridge too far, LOL. I was too tired! I told them that in the future I will have to have haircut night for boys and a different night for girls. I am still not very satisfied with Anna's hair. Grrr.
4. We had a wonderful day today! Suzanne, a good friend from way back (she and her husband actually met when they were both living with my family in our big old house in Ohio back in 1987!), was in MD visiting her family with 5 of her 7 kids. They drove down from MD to go to church with us, and then we all headed over to the L's house (also friends of Lee and Suzanne from way back!) for lunch and visiting. It was so fun to catch up!
5. We're starting back to school tomorrow. I've gotten the school books organized, so hopefully everything will go smoothly! Our jr. high co-op (Rivendell)starts next Tuesday, and our other co-op, for the younger kids, starts back up after Labor Day, so we have a week to ease back into things. I've finished my first 2 lessons for life science (in Rivendell), and I want to finish the next 2 as well. That 3rd and 4th week of Rivendell are when I am teaching chemistry in the other co-op to the 5th and 6th graders, so I need to finish getting those lessons together. I'll be glad when September is over!
6. Caleb has his milk challenge Wednesday morning at 8:00. He is off his antihistimines this week, since last Wednesday, actually, and he is really starting to suffer! He is also very allergic to ragweed, which is in its prime right now. His eyes are getting all itchy and puffy, and there's not a thing we can do except put cold compresses on them! Poor Nathan is also really suffering this year. He has been a snuffly, sneezy mess for the past 2 weeks. I am thinking I might make an appointment for him this week so he can at least get his own allergy med prescriptions.
7. Hmmm, what else. Faith is developing keen interest in shoes, like her big sister Anna. She is always trying on their shoes (and anyone elses!). She is wearing a size 4, but I got down the size 5 pair of pink crocs (knock-offs of course, LOL) the other girls wore. She LOVES them! They're a little big, but she thinks she is hot stuff in them! She wants them on all the time!
Well, that's an update on us. Now Bob and I are going to take a quick walk before it gets too dark!
Friday, July 23, 2010
On our way to a new life . . .
Busy week! We are slowly transitioning off of active duty. We all went to Ft. Belvoir this morning to get new retired ID cards. That took awhile. Since Bob doesn't actually retire until Aug. 1 (a Sunday), the lady did not really want to give us retired ID cards, and put him in the system as retired. Well, due to Nathan and Luke heading off to Camp Caleb in the next few weeks (2 different weeks), this was the last day we could get these done! And Bob has already out-processed at work, so he doesn't need his CAC card anymore. Finally she did it, although it was after another more competant woman came in and gave her advice. Hopefully there won't be any problems next week--I have a doctor's appointment for me Monday, and an allergy appointment for Caleb Tuesday. I guess I'll take a copy of Bob's retirement orders just in case!
Bob also went to the DMV for a VA driver's license. Based on my unfortunate numerous dealings with the DMV, I knew this process would be much easier if he had his active duty ID, so I had mentioned that last weekend as we were driving to PA. Then we both forgot about it, until Bob remembered it this morning. I am so glad he was able to go before turning in his AD card! He has a PA license, but it has been expired for many years. PA makes it very difficult--practically impossible, in fact-- to renew for out-of-state residents (not a real military-friendly state), but Bob's expired license is good with his AD ID card. Without that, however, he would have had to take another test, at least the written portion, and possibly the driving part! Phew! And of course he had to take in a whole raft of documents including bank statement, leave and earning form, birth certificate, shot record (just kidding on that last one!). VA is one of those states with real new-fangled fancy-looking licenses that get mailed to you, so Bob is now the proud possessor of a piece of paper declaring him legal to drive, LOL. He is well on his way to becoming a real VA resident!
Bob went to a job fair last week, and 2 more this week. He has also been looking at jobs online. As it turns out, this is not the best time to be looking for a job, LOL. We didn't feel like the Lord was leading us down to VA Beach with that assignment, so if He wants us to stay here, or if He wants us to move somewhere else, He'll have to provide something! In the meantime, we're trusting Him to provide for us and lead us. We'd appreciate your prayers though!
As for the rest of us, the boys all had dental appointments on Monday, and I had one myself Wednesday. Caleb and Jonathan are taking swimming lessons in the mornings this week and next, which they are thoroughly enjoying. I had noticed at the hotel pool how well Caleb was doing--he just needs to learn how to breathe to the side. They seem to have a good teacher, so I am sure by the time next week is over, they will both have learned even more!
We were invited for dinner at the house of some friends from church Tuesday. The wife's mother, who is Polish, was visiting, and she made us some AMAZING Polish food for dinner! We all ate until we were stuffed! I want to try red cabbage like she made it--it was so good! She chopped the cabbage, boiled it for about 20 minutes, fried some chopped bacon in a pan, then sauted the cabbage in the bacon grease along with some sugar and vinegar. It was REALLY good, and I thought I didn't like cooked cabbage!
We take Nathan up to Camp Caleb at White Sulphur Springs on Sunday afternoon. Since this is the highlight of his year, this week has been taken up by packing, checking the list, and packing some more. He is really looking forward to the week! Luke will go the second week in August, which is originally when Nathan also was signed up to go. But Nathan will start football practice on Aug. 10, and they practice every night, so he couldn't very well miss the entire first week! Fortunately WSS could switch him around. There was no room for Luke that week however, so we have to make two trips up and back to PA. We pick Nathan up Friday, and then the kids and I are planning on continuing on to Ohio for a week. We will see my friend Amy, as well as my Aunt Claire, who is flying in to visit from Utah! Then we well drive back to WSS the following Sunday to drop Luke off. Then we'll head back here. One last week of vacation before we hit the ground running with our new co-op, as well as our old co-op and all our regular school work! How can the summer be almost over already?!
Bob also went to the DMV for a VA driver's license. Based on my unfortunate numerous dealings with the DMV, I knew this process would be much easier if he had his active duty ID, so I had mentioned that last weekend as we were driving to PA. Then we both forgot about it, until Bob remembered it this morning. I am so glad he was able to go before turning in his AD card! He has a PA license, but it has been expired for many years. PA makes it very difficult--practically impossible, in fact-- to renew for out-of-state residents (not a real military-friendly state), but Bob's expired license is good with his AD ID card. Without that, however, he would have had to take another test, at least the written portion, and possibly the driving part! Phew! And of course he had to take in a whole raft of documents including bank statement, leave and earning form, birth certificate, shot record (just kidding on that last one!). VA is one of those states with real new-fangled fancy-looking licenses that get mailed to you, so Bob is now the proud possessor of a piece of paper declaring him legal to drive, LOL. He is well on his way to becoming a real VA resident!
Bob went to a job fair last week, and 2 more this week. He has also been looking at jobs online. As it turns out, this is not the best time to be looking for a job, LOL. We didn't feel like the Lord was leading us down to VA Beach with that assignment, so if He wants us to stay here, or if He wants us to move somewhere else, He'll have to provide something! In the meantime, we're trusting Him to provide for us and lead us. We'd appreciate your prayers though!
As for the rest of us, the boys all had dental appointments on Monday, and I had one myself Wednesday. Caleb and Jonathan are taking swimming lessons in the mornings this week and next, which they are thoroughly enjoying. I had noticed at the hotel pool how well Caleb was doing--he just needs to learn how to breathe to the side. They seem to have a good teacher, so I am sure by the time next week is over, they will both have learned even more!
We were invited for dinner at the house of some friends from church Tuesday. The wife's mother, who is Polish, was visiting, and she made us some AMAZING Polish food for dinner! We all ate until we were stuffed! I want to try red cabbage like she made it--it was so good! She chopped the cabbage, boiled it for about 20 minutes, fried some chopped bacon in a pan, then sauted the cabbage in the bacon grease along with some sugar and vinegar. It was REALLY good, and I thought I didn't like cooked cabbage!
We take Nathan up to Camp Caleb at White Sulphur Springs on Sunday afternoon. Since this is the highlight of his year, this week has been taken up by packing, checking the list, and packing some more. He is really looking forward to the week! Luke will go the second week in August, which is originally when Nathan also was signed up to go. But Nathan will start football practice on Aug. 10, and they practice every night, so he couldn't very well miss the entire first week! Fortunately WSS could switch him around. There was no room for Luke that week however, so we have to make two trips up and back to PA. We pick Nathan up Friday, and then the kids and I are planning on continuing on to Ohio for a week. We will see my friend Amy, as well as my Aunt Claire, who is flying in to visit from Utah! Then we well drive back to WSS the following Sunday to drop Luke off. Then we'll head back here. One last week of vacation before we hit the ground running with our new co-op, as well as our old co-op and all our regular school work! How can the summer be almost over already?!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Family Reunion
We spent this weekend in PA visiting Bob's family. They had their annual family reunion on Saturday. We've been going for the past 5 years, I believe, and we have really enjoyed getting to know members of the other branches of Bob's dad's family. I still really would like to bring a piece of posterboard with the names of the 6 siblings (Bob's dad and his brothers and sisters) so everyone could fill in their names and how they fit! Our next one is going to be in 2 years at the house of Bob's brother Paul. Maybe I'll have my act together by then and remember the posterboard idea. I'm remembering a lot more names, but I still get confused as to which branch some people belong to!This year we had a smaller turnout than previously, but it was still a very good time, with plenty of good food and conversation. Bob's sister Jane and her husband Terry were in charge this year, and they did a great job! They had it at a public park really close to the house of Bob's parents. Bob spent a lot of time growing up at this place--it has ball fields, a big grassy area, playgrounds, a swimming pool, a skating rink--it has it all! We had a nice pavilion for the picnic. The weather was noticeably cooler and less humid than in Northern VA, and there was a lovely breeze all day, so it was a nice day for a picnic! We were all feeling the heat by the end of the day, though, LOL.
We always play a game sort of like musical chairs or something, where you pass a wrapped present up and down the line, and when the music stops, that person unwraps one layer of paper. You keep on doing this until every layer is unwrapped, and the lucky person who unwraps the last layer gets whatever is in the box! Bob won last year, and he won a softside cooler that we really like. This year Jane had t-shirts embroidered with "B__ Family Reunion 2010". The main reason I'm posting this picture is because the girl opening the present looks so much like I used to! When I first was uploading the pictures on my computer, I saw the picture and though, "Who took a picture of me?" And then I remembered that I don't wear my hair back like that anymore, and I have gained weight, and I was wearing a dark pink shirt . . . It gave me a start though! A view of my younger self in profile! The girl, Holly, is the newest member of the family, having married into it in May.
Here we have Bob's brother-in-law Wally getting the annual auction off to a rousing start! Everyone brings unwanted stuff and people bid on things in an effort to raise money to cover the reunion. Don't scoff--this made close to $120 this year! Plus, it's a lot of fun. Jane's husband Terry gave Faith a dollar, and she "bid" on 2 purses, which she then won. I had seen them but assumed Anna and Grace wouldn't be interested because they weren't pink and frilly. Ha! Shows what I know! They spent the rest of the day with their purses (poor Faith didn't stand a chance, LOL). I think they like them even better--these clearly look like grown-up purses! We also won some boxes of pencils, which we were all inordinately thrilled about. Every year right before standardized testing time, we have to run out to Walmart because we don't have any #2 pencils. We usually use mechanical pencils on a day-to-day basis, and Faith loves chewing off erasers of the regular pencils she finds around. So hopefully we can keep these pencils away from Faith, and we'll be all set for a few future testing dates! We also picked up several candles, a nice bowl that will be great for potlucks and Bible study desserts, and a few other odds and ends. And all for bargain prices! Bob finished out the auction, and he did a great job. The boys were surprised at how well he did, but I knew he'd be naturally good, LOL. He's funny and a good salesman!
I have other pictures from Aunt Peggy, and I'm hoping to get some more from at least Ann. Then I'm going to put them all on snapfish so everyone at the reunion can see them and make prints if they want to.
The kdis played a bunch of games--soccer, kickball, races, and other games. They were so hot and tired when it was all over! Bob gets the "Good Effort" award for rounding out the soccer teams and being goalie in his flip flops. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel. Faith was asleep before we left the parking lot! She revived enough to swim in the hotel pool before we went to bed. Unfortunately she was still tired, and terefore clumsier than usual. She fell trying to climb up on the fold-out sofabed. She got quite a raspberry on her chin, and she cut her lip also. I had quite the time getting that to stop bleeding, and the room looked like a crime scene with bloody washclothes and pillowcases all around! The raspberry is still there, and her lip is still a bit swollen, but neither thing seems to have bothered her again!
Sunday morning everyone swam again while I showered. Then we headed over to Bob's parents' house to visit for awhile. Most of the rest of his family had gone to an amusement park in Pittsburgh for the day, but we knew that would be WAY too much for all the kiddos, especially the girls. It was nice just to relax and hang out. The boys played cards with Bob's dad, who taught them a new game. The girls played very nicely all together with toys inside, and I enjoyed reading their newspaper, since our subscription to the Washington Times has finally run out, and they raised the rates outrageously on us! I was admiring all their tomatoes when I remembered that I had wanted to take a picture of the shed all the kids bought for them back in March. It's really nice, although I do not have a photographer's eye--if I had, I would have taken the picture more from the side so you could also see the row of windows along the side. It's really a nice shed, and I think Bob's dad is really enjoying it.
After we visited and ate lunch, it was time to pack up and head home. For this short trip, we stopped 2 times! We were trying to use up some McDonald's coupons that we had bought for $1 back in March, so we stopped 2 different McDonalds. The coupons were all for free stuff for kids under 12, so we got several free hamburgers, apple juices, apple dippers, and ice cream cones. Eleven total free things, and we used up all the rest of the coupons! Woo hoo! Monday, May 31, 2010
Happy Memorial Day!!
Since this is Bob's last Memorial Day on active duty, you might think we would do something really patriotic to celebrate. You would be wrong, however. We have wanted for a few years now to go to the free Marine Corps concert at Wolftrap which is always the Sunday before Memorial Day. Instead, last night Nathan went to a conditioning workout thing (more on that in another post). It was soooo hot and humid yesterday that I was really not that enthusiastic about an outdoor concert. Maybe next year . . . which is what we've said the past few years, LOL.
Yesterday was already busy because after church I had another co-op meeting for this new little junior high co-op we're planning for next year. It looks like it is going to be so good!! One family dropped out, the other family from our church with 5 boys. They live the farthest out, and they also have never done a co-op before, so it was just a bridge too far for them. The mom was just getting too stressed about it all. But that's okay, and we still have enough people! Yesterday we hammered out which literature books we would be covering from Tapestry of Grace, and we talked about the history books too. Siri is going to teach 2 years of Spanish, so she showed us the resources we'll be using for that. I had already sent out an email with all the science books/specimens needed. It was so exciting! I just really like these other 3 ladies and their boys, so I think it is going to be so fun!
Today we woke up without any real plans (other than for sleeping in, LOL), but when we found the driver-side front tire of the Sienna completely flat, something was put on our agenda. We knew it had a leak, but it all of a sudden became more of a priority! So Bob and I dropped it off at Walmart this afternoon, then we contiuned on in the big van for a hot date at Wegmans. I know our amazingly romantic life makes all of you jealous out there! We brought home 2 enormous pizzas from Wegmans for dinner, so we didn't even do a traditional barbeque! Bob did get some corn on the cob, so we will have that later this week.
Yesterday was already busy because after church I had another co-op meeting for this new little junior high co-op we're planning for next year. It looks like it is going to be so good!! One family dropped out, the other family from our church with 5 boys. They live the farthest out, and they also have never done a co-op before, so it was just a bridge too far for them. The mom was just getting too stressed about it all. But that's okay, and we still have enough people! Yesterday we hammered out which literature books we would be covering from Tapestry of Grace, and we talked about the history books too. Siri is going to teach 2 years of Spanish, so she showed us the resources we'll be using for that. I had already sent out an email with all the science books/specimens needed. It was so exciting! I just really like these other 3 ladies and their boys, so I think it is going to be so fun!
Today we woke up without any real plans (other than for sleeping in, LOL), but when we found the driver-side front tire of the Sienna completely flat, something was put on our agenda. We knew it had a leak, but it all of a sudden became more of a priority! So Bob and I dropped it off at Walmart this afternoon, then we contiuned on in the big van for a hot date at Wegmans. I know our amazingly romantic life makes all of you jealous out there! We brought home 2 enormous pizzas from Wegmans for dinner, so we didn't even do a traditional barbeque! Bob did get some corn on the cob, so we will have that later this week.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Something Rare . . .
. . . A family picture with all 9 of us in it! We went to a wedding Monday afternoon of 2 people in our church. We were all cleaned up, so we figured this was as good a chance of any. If only Faith was looking, LOL.You can see our boys wearing blue polo shirts and khaki pants. The McC boys were all wearing blue sports coats and khaki pants. Together, they all looked like some kind of boys school, with the casual everyday uniform, and the dress one!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Busy, Busy!
Well, you can tell our sno-cation is over by the sad lack of blogging. Yes, we are back to real life here. This past week was the last week of basketball for both Nathan and Luke. Nathan has been playing on a jr. high team from a Christian homeschool co-op. Several friends from our other co-ops were also on the team, and Nathan has had a really fun season with them. They played in their end-of-season tournament, so they had games Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Then they also played in a little tournament at a near-by Christian school on Saturday. The host school played the weakest team (and won handily) at 9:30. Then Nathan's team played another homeschool team at 10:45. Nathan's team lost to this team twice during the regular season in 2 close games, but they were able to beat this team on Wednesday in the first of their playoff games. So the other team was out for blood. It was a really fast-paced and close game, but Nathan's team lost. So then Nathan's team turned around and played the other losing team at 12:00! Even though the other team really was a weaker game, the score was closer than you might think because everyone was tired! Plus, Nathan's coach let all the non-starters play most of the game because he's a really nice guy who is not out to blow other teams away. The host team played the team that beat Nathan at 1:15--and guess what? They won by a huge margin! The other team was exhausted from the game against Nathan's team, and they didn't have many subs at all. The whole thing was a little rigged! Still, a fun day of basketball. I enjoyed visiting with several of the other moms, including one from the losing team, who we used to go to church with.
Luke had his last Upward basketball game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00. He is on a good team, coached by the dad of someone in our co-op. His team was undefeated! (Not that that matters in Upward, LOL) He definitely enjoyed all the winning, and he was a big part of his team's success. He was very faithful to practice his shots outside--at least until the hoop was surrounded by many feet of snow.
Grace has been progressing very well with her potty-training, I am pleased to announce. She has not had an accident for several days. Although she still does not like to use public toilets, she can hold it a really, really long time, so she hasn't even gone in her pull-up when we've been out. I put her in a pull-up when we went to the commissary Wednesday (we finally did have to stock up again after all our snow storms!), for all the basketball games, and for church today. Otherwise she's been in underwear. She is still resistant to pooping on the potty, but lately she was holding it in as opposed to going in her underwear. Now that obviously is not a workable long-term plan either, so I was very thrilled when she said she had to go last night and pooped on the potty with me not promting her. Hopefully this will get more comfortable for her, and we won't be dealing with big constipation issues. Those are no fun!
Another big project of the past week has been preparing for a house appraisal. We decided to try to refinance, since we locked in a great rate. Also, we got our tax assessment for our house, which was a ridiculous amount. We figured, even if our house doesn't appraise for what it needs to, then we will show our appraisal to the county, and they will have to lower our assessment! We can't lose! LOL, we really would like to refinance, so we'll see what happens. Bob got busy finishing up a bunch of these little projects around the house, and the rest of us cleaned. The dining room, in particular, was still an absolute mess from all the December new carpet/tile/paint work. It got easy to just throw every loose end thing from around the rest of the house in the dining room on top of all the stuff that never got moved back to wherever it came from, and it all looked pretty messy. When Bob talked to the appraisers last week, they said they were going to come oout next Saturday. They were running behind because of all the snow, but that didn't leave us enough time before our rate lock ran out. So then they said they would work up in Monday. But yesterday afternoon they called right after I left to go too a baby shower and said they were going to come today, Sunday, between 8:00 and 10:45!! Ack! Bob and I stayed up VERY late last night finishing up the cleaning, and for Bob, finishing up some painting. The good news is that we had small group over at our house right after church, and the house has never looked cleaner! The appraisers actually called at 7:30 this morning to say they were on their way. They arrived at 8:00, before the kids even had a chance to mess things up! Anna and Grace were still asleep, in fact. I just opened their door, and they slumbered through the whole thing, LOL. So we don't know how we did, but at least the house is clean.
One thing that put a very somber spin on this whole week was a phone call I got on Wednesday afternoon as I was taking Nathan to one of his basketball games. It was my friend Christine from church. She has 2 little girls, and back in May 2007, before the birth of her first daughter, she came over to talk about labor and delivery. Since then, we've become good friends. Her 2 daughters are about the same ages as Grace and Faith. Two weeks ago, right as the first blizzard was starting, she was in terrible abdominal pain. Another friend from church, who is an ER doctor took her to the ER while her husband stayed with the girls. It turned out that she had a large ovarian cyst, which had ruptured. She had immediate surgery, and the doctors couldn't save the ovary. She got the biopsy report on the ovarian cyst on Wednesday, and it was cancerous, so she has ovarian cancer. This was a tremendous shock to everyone, including her doctor. She has had 2 appointments with oncologists this weekend, and she is facing major abdominal surgery next week, where they move all the organs around to see exactly where if anywhere the cancer has spread, and where they want to do a complete hysterectomy. Then she will start chemo. If the cancer is an early stage, then they will give her maybe 2 weeks to recover from the surgery, although it is going to be so major that she won't be able to lift anything for 6 weeks. If it is more serious, then they will start chemo immediately, and they will do the chemo every week, instead of every 3 weeks. I just can't imagine how dreadful this is going to be. We are all praying fervently that the cancer is first stage and hasn't spread. But no matter what, she is going to feel so terrible for so long, and it is going to be so hard for her and her beautiful girls. Please pray for Christine, Jeremy, Anna, and Bethan. Life can change in such an instant.
Luke had his last Upward basketball game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00. He is on a good team, coached by the dad of someone in our co-op. His team was undefeated! (Not that that matters in Upward, LOL) He definitely enjoyed all the winning, and he was a big part of his team's success. He was very faithful to practice his shots outside--at least until the hoop was surrounded by many feet of snow.
Grace has been progressing very well with her potty-training, I am pleased to announce. She has not had an accident for several days. Although she still does not like to use public toilets, she can hold it a really, really long time, so she hasn't even gone in her pull-up when we've been out. I put her in a pull-up when we went to the commissary Wednesday (we finally did have to stock up again after all our snow storms!), for all the basketball games, and for church today. Otherwise she's been in underwear. She is still resistant to pooping on the potty, but lately she was holding it in as opposed to going in her underwear. Now that obviously is not a workable long-term plan either, so I was very thrilled when she said she had to go last night and pooped on the potty with me not promting her. Hopefully this will get more comfortable for her, and we won't be dealing with big constipation issues. Those are no fun!
Another big project of the past week has been preparing for a house appraisal. We decided to try to refinance, since we locked in a great rate. Also, we got our tax assessment for our house, which was a ridiculous amount. We figured, even if our house doesn't appraise for what it needs to, then we will show our appraisal to the county, and they will have to lower our assessment! We can't lose! LOL, we really would like to refinance, so we'll see what happens. Bob got busy finishing up a bunch of these little projects around the house, and the rest of us cleaned. The dining room, in particular, was still an absolute mess from all the December new carpet/tile/paint work. It got easy to just throw every loose end thing from around the rest of the house in the dining room on top of all the stuff that never got moved back to wherever it came from, and it all looked pretty messy. When Bob talked to the appraisers last week, they said they were going to come oout next Saturday. They were running behind because of all the snow, but that didn't leave us enough time before our rate lock ran out. So then they said they would work up in Monday. But yesterday afternoon they called right after I left to go too a baby shower and said they were going to come today, Sunday, between 8:00 and 10:45!! Ack! Bob and I stayed up VERY late last night finishing up the cleaning, and for Bob, finishing up some painting. The good news is that we had small group over at our house right after church, and the house has never looked cleaner! The appraisers actually called at 7:30 this morning to say they were on their way. They arrived at 8:00, before the kids even had a chance to mess things up! Anna and Grace were still asleep, in fact. I just opened their door, and they slumbered through the whole thing, LOL. So we don't know how we did, but at least the house is clean.
One thing that put a very somber spin on this whole week was a phone call I got on Wednesday afternoon as I was taking Nathan to one of his basketball games. It was my friend Christine from church. She has 2 little girls, and back in May 2007, before the birth of her first daughter, she came over to talk about labor and delivery. Since then, we've become good friends. Her 2 daughters are about the same ages as Grace and Faith. Two weeks ago, right as the first blizzard was starting, she was in terrible abdominal pain. Another friend from church, who is an ER doctor took her to the ER while her husband stayed with the girls. It turned out that she had a large ovarian cyst, which had ruptured. She had immediate surgery, and the doctors couldn't save the ovary. She got the biopsy report on the ovarian cyst on Wednesday, and it was cancerous, so she has ovarian cancer. This was a tremendous shock to everyone, including her doctor. She has had 2 appointments with oncologists this weekend, and she is facing major abdominal surgery next week, where they move all the organs around to see exactly where if anywhere the cancer has spread, and where they want to do a complete hysterectomy. Then she will start chemo. If the cancer is an early stage, then they will give her maybe 2 weeks to recover from the surgery, although it is going to be so major that she won't be able to lift anything for 6 weeks. If it is more serious, then they will start chemo immediately, and they will do the chemo every week, instead of every 3 weeks. I just can't imagine how dreadful this is going to be. We are all praying fervently that the cancer is first stage and hasn't spread. But no matter what, she is going to feel so terrible for so long, and it is going to be so hard for her and her beautiful girls. Please pray for Christine, Jeremy, Anna, and Bethan. Life can change in such an instant.
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