Every Princess's Dream

Anna has the honor of being a flower girl in two weddings next month--and they are one week apart! Saturday afternoon I spent a few hours in the crowded mall searching around for a dress for Anna to wear to the wedding of Bob's niece Christi. Her color is yellow, which apparently is not a popular color this year, since there were not many things in yellow in stores. I had about given up in despair when I stopped in Lord and Taylors. That was the first time I've ever been in the store. If I had buckets of money, that's definitely the place I would shop because it was so peaceful and not crowded, LOL. Also, it was the only store that felt like the air conditioning really was working. But I don't have buckets of money, so . . .

Anyhow, they had this beautiful yellow dress, and it was on sale for half off. Yay! Anna loved it but wouldn't stop messing with the tag for pictures.

This afternoon we had to run some errands, and when we got home, there was a package on our front stoop--it was the dress from Sarah, my cousin's fiancee! Another dress to try on! Anna was in heaven. This dress didn't have any distracting tags on it, so I was able to get a picture of Anna actually looking up, LOL.
Yes, May is definitely going to be a princess month to remember!!

Car Maintenance

We're big proponents of taking care of your car. After all, it is much cheaper to prevent problems than to fix them, right? We'd tell that to anyone! So last night we took Bob's Honda minivan in to get the timing belt changed. It just seemed like a good idea . . . since they recommend doing it at 65,000 miles, and the van now has 137,000 miles on it. Seriously, we are thanking the Lord for his mercy in keeping the belt together for so long! I guess it just never was a good time to take it in . . . Actually, we had gotten a quote from the Honda dealership down in Tyson's a few years (ahem) ago, and it was about $1300. Well, that's a lot of money (I know, I know--not as much as replacing the engine), so we just kept putting it off. The Leesburg dealership charged us right around $700. We're not sure if they're just a ton cheaper, or they lowered prices because of the bad economy or what, but we were grateful that it was half of what we expected it to be!

Is this normal all over? We dropped the car off last night around 5:00. They told us it would probably be done by 10:00, but it would at least be done by 2:00 (AM) because "that's when the second shift gets off". Second shift? It's a car dealership, not a hospital! Sure enough, there was a message on Bob's cell phone when we woke up. They called at 2:08 to tell us the van was ready. I've never heard of that before.

So, let's see . . .

Obviously being home hasn't produced a surplus of blogging. That must mean nothing exciting or blog-worthy has happened, which frankly, is not always a bad thing. But surely we've done something in the past week.

1. Right before we left for Ohio, I finally got around to making a big Rainbow Resource order. I literally have been meaning to do this since after Christmas, which is when I told Jonathan we'd start doing math as well as phonics. All I needed to do was order his Saxon 1 book! Of course there were a few other things . . . and then I might as well make it a BIG order of over $150 so as to get free shipping . . . and I just never got around to figuring out what other things I should order until the end of March. The box came while we were gone, and we finally opened it on Saturday. To say Jonathan was thrilled at having his math book would be quite the understatement. Sunday morning he was in our room at 7:30 ready to do math, LOL. I managed to convince him to wait until Monday, although it was a hard sell.

2. Tuesday was the last day of our homeschool co-op for the year. Much as I love TNT, I am always glad when we have another day in our week where we don't have to go anywhere! I've turned into such a homebody. I really never expected that. The last unit was a short 3 week unit on geography, and we missed all but the last week. I think it was a good unit to miss because the boys are pretty up on geography. For the last week, they went around to different rooms with a big salt dough map on cardboard (the salt dough was already in place for the younger kids). They went to a different room for each continent, and there they would paint and glue on features for that particular continent--yarn for major rivers like the Nile and Amazon, rocks for mountain ranges, shrubby stuff for rain forests, etc. I need to take pictures because with 4 of these big maps--well, let's just say we don't have room for long-term storage of these works of art!

3. The weather has turned nicer. This has some very positive effects, such as less laundry (yay for shorts and short-sleeve shirts!), and lots of good outdoor time for the boys. One very negative effect is that Caleb is insanely allergic to nearly all pollens, so he is so snuffly. So far not wheezy, however, so that is a good thing. I have also noticed such a change in his personality when he is suffering from seasonal allergies. He becomes so whiney and tear-prone. EVERYTHING is a huge, major drama, ending with his collapsing on the nearest flat surface in a puddle of tears. I will not be sorry to see the beautiful blossoms go.

4. Bob's oldest sister Ann and her husband Wally spent Tuesday night with us. We took them to the airport yesterday so they could fly off for a relaxing vacation near my brother's old stomping grounds of Sacramento. It turns out that Bob's mom has a brother who lives in Auburn and has a cabin at Lake Tahoe. Nice! Wally is an accountant, so he was really ready to escape from all the last-minute tax questions. Their staying the night neccessitated a furious clean-up of all the Legos on the floor of the basement. How have we ended up with so many of the crazy things?!!

5. Grace is still not walking, sadly enough. (If she had started, that would have warranted its own post, LOL.) She stands so confidently, and has been for so long. But it's as if her little feet are rooted to the ground, because even if you are just inches away, she will drop right down and crawl. She still is not crawling backwards down the stairs either. I am SO ready for her to pick that up. For awhile she was just ignoring the stairs, so that was okay, but within the past few days, she has again headed for the stairs (going down) and acted as if she was ready to just put her hand down on the lower step and start going down that way. Fortunately her brothers have been vigilant and rescued her (good thing she has so many, since obviously her mom is a clueless dork, LOL!)

Now you're caught up! And now you know why I haven't felt like there was anything worth blogging about!

Hiking at Glen Helen

The first week we were in Ohio was so cold and rainy. I found myself wishing we had brought our heavy jackets instead of just our fleeces! Fortunately things cleared up and got warmer on Friday, so on Saturday we headed to Glen Helen, in Yellow Springs, with Amy and her boys. First we went to the small raptor center there, where they rehabilitate injured raptors. There were several owls, hawks, and even a bald eagle there. Then we hiked around for awhile, thoroughly tiring out all the boys.



A big forest--plenty of room to run around and be loud!

Does anyone know why there is this big tumor on the side of this tree? I meant to look it up but never got around to it, LOL.

The original "yellow spring" perhaps?
Boys, sticks, and water . . . they could have stayed here all day.


The four girls

Anyone still out there?!

We're back!! My parents' computer is acting wonky so I couldn't blog the whole time we were in Ohio. I'm sure it seemed like we fell off the face of the earth (or maybe the dog cake got us, LOL).

The kids and I had a great drive back yesterday. The weather was nice, we only needed one stop, and we listened to Because of Winn-Dixie on CD. I really liked that book. The boys had watched the movie maybe last year at Grandma's, and they liked it, but they all agreed the book was much, much better (isn't that so often the case!). The nicest part for me was that the person reading the book made the character of a little old well-to-do Southern lady named Miss Franny Block sound exactly how my Nana sounded.

So to re-cap the trip, we had a nice time with Bob's family. The anniversary party was lovely, and we had a nice lunch at Ponderosa with the whole clan the next day before the kids and I headed to Ohio and Bob headed home. Sunday night through Thursday night we spent with my parents doing the usual fun Ohio things like Youngs, ladies' Bible study at Faircreek, and OCF Bible study. For school, I ran off a bunch of old Latin review sheets, and I brought the Spectrum test practice books that we use to review for the Standford tests they will take the beginning of May. Those things kept the boys occupied in the mornings, and I didn't feel like the whole year's knowledge and learning was leaking rapidly out their ears right before testing, LOL.

Friday night through Sunday night we spent at Amy's. The weather cleared up and warmed up, which was such a blessing, and the boys ran themselves ragged. We went on a hike and visited a big playground, as well as playing football, basketball, and other outside things. Amy and I stayed up late each night scrap-booking and laughing hilariously at old stories and memories. What fun! And I got Luke's scrapbook done for this past year, and I finally started on Anna's.

Then we went back over to my folks' house for a few more nights. This enabled me to do laundry, repack, and just get things ready for the drive back.

It was a great trip, although it was nice for everyone to sleep in their own beds last night! I'll work on downloading pictures and posting some later on. And I guess I should work on unpacking too . . . the most un-fun part of a trip, LOL.

Happy Birthday, Anna!!

Anna is now 2 years old! It seems like just yesterday when I was writing her birth story. We celebrated tonight at Bible study. We celebrated with Amanda L., with whom Anna shares a birthday! Isn't that special?! I actually watched the L's kids when they went in to the hospital at USAFA to have Amanda, never dreaming that 8 years later, I'd be having a girl on that same day!
Anna enjoyed the cake. She looked like a disreputable miner, LOL.
Grace also enjoyed the cake, obviously. Good practice for her birthday in May! She thought she was a pretty big girl, sitting up in that chair eating cake!

This is jsut a quick post--tomorrow we drive to PA for a 60th wedding anniversary celebration for Bob's parents. On Sunday, the kids and I will drive to Ohio for a week, and Bob will brive back down here. So I've got tons of packing left to do, and it's already late!!

Anna's Cake

I made this dog cake to celebrate Anna and Amanda L's birthday. Amanda requested it, and while Anna doesn't like real, breathing dogs, she loves dogs in pictures, stuffed dogs, etc., so she was quite excited about the cake when she woke up and saw it this morning. I actually cut and decorated it last night, and let me tell you, I don't do my best work at night. I had a really hard time with it, and the snout is still too long. I cut too much off the sides of the face, so it started looking more like General Grevious (of Star Wars fame). I put the side back on and secured them with toothpicks (!), something I've never had to do before. Measure once, cut twice and all that. Ah well. The ears gave me a hard time too, so I built them on in 2 parts. That would be fine except for that pesky thing called gravity, so I had to put a little piece of extra cake under them to prop them up AND put half a shish-ke-bob skewer in each one to secure it. Geesh! But it was a success, so I'll stop nit-picking, LOL.

Belated Birthday Present

For Luke's birthday, we wanted to get him an Eli Manning jersey. (He and Nathan sort of fancy themselves as the Manning brothers, and once they even asked Bob if he thought they could both still be in the NFL, since he (Bob) hadn't been, LOL). Of course, since Eli's Giants won the Super Bowl, we were not the only ones with that bright idea, and there was nary a youth medium Eli Manning jersey to be found anywhere at all on the internet in February. We finally ordered one from Dick's Sporting Goods that would ship the end of March, and we printed off a picture of it and gave that to Luke for his birthday.
The jersey finally arrived, and everyone was very excited. Nathan is dying to wear it. Luke was going to wear it on Friday to Bible study, but then he decided he'd save it for Saturday. But he didn't wear it then, because he wanted to save it for Easter. Except then he decided that would be a weird thing to wear (not to church of course, but afterwards) on Easter, so he'd save it . . . Well, finally today he wore it to co-op. He was quite nervous about it, because I think he thought people would notice it and so then he would be the center of attention (bad). There was much discussion about what pants to wear with it. He has no jeans that fit his waist, so sweats it had to be. Finally he decided on dark blue ones, I think because they don't draw attention to themselves. After co-op, I asked if anyone had said anything. "No," Nathan says. 'He never took off his jacket." LOL! He is so much like me. I can totally see myself behaving this same way back in elementary school. But he does like it, and he wants to wear it again tomorrow . . . and Friday to Bible study . . . and next week, if we do make a quick trip out to Ohio . . .

This week at co-op was the last week in the current unit, which is "Jewish Feasts". It has been an interesting unit for the boys, and they have all learned a lot. They covered Passover, Feast of Booths, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashannah, and today they covered Purim. The neatest thing was when Nathan came home after the Passover week so excited about how Christ perfectly fulfilled all the requirements for the Passover lamb, and how his sacrifice was just like that of the Passover lamb. He had never connected those things before, and it was so neat to see him excited about how God had obviously planned everything, even back in Exodus, to point directly to Christ.

Here's a bonus picture of Grace. She placed a lovely chunk of banana in her "hair" this morning--just like a bow! And banana is sticky enough to stick to peach fuzz! : )

Happy Easter!!

What a wonderful day to celebrate Christ's resurrection and victory over sin and death!!

We went to church this morning. I worked in the nursery, and Bob taught children's church, so we didn't hear the sermon. But it is better for people like us, who have heard the incredible news, to be serving, so that others can hear!

After church, we rushed home and gathered up a bunch of food, and then we headed over to the L's house for Easter dinner with 6 other families. There were 37 of us all told, with 23 kids. Well, only 13 of those were 10 and under. It was so fun! There were many arms willing to hold Grace, even though she was very tired, so that was such a nice break for me. Zachary L. was especially gallant, and held her quite a bit at the end.

We had mountains of food, although we had a small army of people, so there wasn't much left! We brought a ham, spinach strawberry salad, sweet potato biscuits, and watermelon. There were also smoked turkeys, courtesy of Ed, sweet potato casserole, potato casserole, cooked carrots and green beans, another green salad, more fruit, whole wheat bread, and a raft of desserts as well. We were all well-fed, and no one left hungry, LOL.

We also really enjoyed the good fellowship. Most of us are Air Force, and then one family had no military ties whatsoever, and there was one token Army family, so there was some ribbing about that. Lots of funny stories and laughter. Like I always say, a fore-taste of heaven!

I hope you all had as enjoyable an Easter as we did!

Ice Skating Fun

Today we went ice skating at the local ice house with a group from church. We went during the normal open skate time, so it was fairly crowded, but the boys had such a great time. It turns out that Nathan and Luke are really good skaters (who knew?), which tells you right away that they did not get that gene from me, LOL. They skate once a year at the co-op ice skating party in December, but I've never actually gone and seen them skate. I've always stayed at home with my little ones and Christine's as well, and she takes the older ones. My convenient excuse previously has been that I was pregnant, so I couldn't be the one to take them. Caleb actually has never been skating before that we could remember, so I was very surprised to see him do so well out there. He has really good balance, and he just whizzed steadily around the rink, not holding onto anything, and maneuvering around like a pro. As I think about it, the 3 older boys do a lot of roller blading, so I am sure that helped things a lot.
Luke looks really natural out there. He fell the least, and at the end, when everyone else was pooping out, he and Bob had a big game of tag out on the ice.
Nathan's a pretty confident skater too, although he fell once and hurt his hip. I think he's going to be black and blue there tomorrow! It didn't seem to slow him down much, although he did stop skating earlier than the other boys.

You notice there are no pictures of Jonathan. He did actually skate, but he was very hesitant out there, and one time Nathan took him around, and he fell. After that, he was not too eager to get back out there, LOL.

The girls and I (and sometimes Jonathan) hung out at the pizza place in the lobby, snacking and talking with the other church folks who were taking breaks. It was really fun for me--much warmer and more comfortable than the cold rink, or the cold ice!

Commissary Trip and Future Meals

Yesterday was one of our big commissary trips, so that meant that Tuesday night I had to prepare. I always go through my recipe box and write down menu ideas for the next 6 weeks. I try to get a variety of dishes in there: different meats, some crock-pot, some 30-minute quick ones, some soups, etc. I don't designate which day gets which meal, so I have a lot of flexibility, but I can know at a glance what meals I have all the ingredients for. Then I make my list to ensure that I have all the ingredients needed for all these meals (except maybe fresh vegetables, which I get in the other weeks at Sams or a local grocery store).

A few weeks ago, a friend of Michele's inspired me to put my commissary list on the computer. Before, I would always spend forever organizing my list into the order (as best I could remember) of the aisles in the commissary. It was a real pain, but it was certainly better than wandering back and forth trying to get all the items on my list. This time, I had already made a list of 3 columns of most of the things I might normally get there, plus blank spaces for me to write in meats, cereals, etc. I printed one off, circled what I needed, and voila! I was good to go! How nice is that! I should have done this a long time ago!

After we got home from the commissary and unloaded everything (notice I did not also say "and put everything away", LOL), I started on the second part of my big shopping day. This involves meal prep for future meals. I start browning ground beef and putting it in quart-size ziploc bags to freeze. I browned a little more than 9 pounds, putting 2 pounds per bag plus one smaller bag that we'll use for tacos. We never seem to eat 2 pounds of taco meat, LOL. So that's 5 future meals right there. While I was browning, I also cooked up a bunch of boneless chicken breasts (4 packages, I think--they're pretty cheap at the commissary). I just put all the breasts on a big 10x15 pan, sprinkled them with Mrs. Dash, and cooked them at 350 for about 35 minutes or so. Then I chopped those up and put them into 4 bags to freeze as well. Usually this is also when I thinly slice beef for stir-frying and put it in a ziploc bag for marinading in the freezer, but there were no beef stir fries on the menu plan for the next 6 weeks. (Although that sounds good right now, LOL) I also try to put some chicken breasts in Italian dressing or some other marinade to freeze before grilling at some point down the road. This is all tiring, and it does take a bit of time, but it really does save so much time later on, like when I'm deciding what to have for dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon! I haven't been very successful at "once-a-month cooking plans" or things like that, but this is a good compromise for me.

So now you know my secrets for meal planning. I'm sure they aren't anything new and original, but maybe someone will benefit from some little nugget!

Quick Question . . .

Has anyone ordered pictures from Snapfish?

Usually we get ours printed from Sams, but I had a bad experience there today, so I'm looking at other options. I uploaded 15 pictures last night to Sams and ordered them printed with the 1-hour option so I could pick them up today. Usually I choose the 2-3 day option, which means they are sent away for processing. I'm not sure if that is the difference. Anyhow, when I picked them up today, the pictures were not good at all! The bottom part of them was cut off! It was really obvious because you can just see the top part of the date stamp, but you can tell from the pictures themselves that they are totally off (people's heads are cut off, the bottom of cakes are missing, etc.). So I went back by myself tonight to see if they could correct that, but the guy showed me their computer screen, and the pictures looked exactly like his screen. He said he could only print off what his screen showed. The thing is, MY screen doesn't look like that--all the pictures look perfectly normal, even when I go back and look at them in the album on samsclub.com! So I'm not sure what the deal is, but I am definitely not happy.

Any other options out there?

Bionicle Birthday Cake

Today we finally were able to bring Luke's birthday cake to Bible study to celebrate. It is a Bionicle character who I thought was named "Visok". I searched around the internet to try to find a picture and description of this character, but I was totally unsuccessful, and all the boys are already asleep. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to shed more light on the guy, and at least make sure I have his name spelled correctly. I know he's a bad guy though.

**Update** The cake is a Piraka named Vezok, and you can read all about him here, at the Bionicle Encyclopedia. I'm sure you will all rush over and increase your knowledge level right away!!

The cake was met with mixed reviews here at home. Nathan, always the encourager, said it was "really pretty good". Luke, ever the perfectionist, allowed that he didn't think anyone else could have done better, so it was okay. More of a "you did the best one could expect" reaction, LOL. I reminded him that I had said it would be really hard to make anything Bionicle, and he said, "Lesson learned!" LOL! I guess he won't be asking me for anymore of these particular cakes! At Bible study, however, people were impressed, especially the McC boys, and now there is just a little chunk of the middle left.

To make the cake, I baked a 9x13 cake, as well as 2 pyrex bowl cakes. The larger bowl cake sat on top of the 9x13, which I trimmed in the back to make the sort of correct shape of the head. Then the smaller bowl cake sat on the back part of the 9x13 to make where the Bionicle pieces would connect the head to the rest of the body. The spike out the front is a graham cracker that I gently cut in the shape of a spike and stuck way into the cake.

Easing back . . .

I think things are returning to normal around here. Jonathan's eye is a lot better, thankfully. Luke (and Bob) are the only ones who resisted the pinkeye. I thought Luke might have been coming down with it as well Monday, but his irritation never turned into anything. The girls and I all got colds though, so we have been battling coughs, snottiness, and other assorted annoyances. But snotty noses are much better than snotty eyes!!

After a complete week off of school last week, we started back up Monday. Things were sssslllllloooooooowwwwwwwww. Even Luke took forever! Today was also very slow. This is why we never take vacations, grumble, grumble. Just kidding! We are getting everything done, though, so if they want to still be doing their stuff at 5:00, then hey, whatever. Just as long as my part is done way before then!

Last week it was fun to see what they came up with to amuse themselves, since we didn't have any new library books, and I wasn't feeling like providing anything creative to occupy their time. One thing they rediscovered was a book on making paper airplanes,which they recieved for Christmas a few years ago. They made all the paper airplanes in the book and had various trials to determine the best design. They also spent some time watching the military channel, and so a whole new interest in World War II has opened up. Since we are heading into that time period in Story of the World, that was timely. They also played some games like Yahtzee, which is great because Caleb and Jonathan can play too.

Grace has started just standing up by herself in the middle of the room. She must have super strong thighs, because she'll just be squatting there, and then she'll straighten all the way up! She will stand there a little bit, but so far she has not showed any inclination to move her feet.

Anna is finally saying more words (understandable ones, even!). I will have to say that none of my kids have been any sort of early talkers, although Anna did babble a lot more than the boys ever did. Right around 2 is when they finally start saying more words. I love to hear her say the boys' names. She calls Luke "Ducky". It's so cute! She's great with the "n" sound, so she says "Na-nan" and "Jon-na-nan" quite clearly. She has a harder time with Caleb's name. I can tell that's what she's saying, but it doesn't really sound like Caleb, LOL. And of course she's got "Dacie" down pat.

So that's a brief run-down on what we've been doing, non-sickness-wise. Tomorrow is that dreaded pilates class, unless someone else gets sick between now and then . . . could happen . . . .

Deja Vu All Over Again

We had a lovely weekend. We enjoyed going back to church yesterday, and our pastor preached an excellent sermon on suffering from the book of Habbakuk. (I think you can go to that link and download it if you want to listen.) He's in the midst a series overviewing the minor prophets. We had a relaxing afternoon, and we didn't go back for evening service because we were just all still tired and recovering. But it was a refreshing day . . .

And then at bedtime, we noticed that Jonathan had a big piece of gunk in the corner of his left eye . . . . . . . . Sigh. I really couldn't believe it. At least we already have antibiotic ointment for eyes, so we put that on last night. This morning I washed all his and Caleb's sheets and pillowcases again. He won't be able to go to co-op tomorrow, and I really am hoping I don't have to move my pilates class again on Thursday. The people in the office are really going to think I am totally just afraid of the class--I mean, what kind of a family could possibly have pinkeye for 3 Thursdays in a row?!

Laundry Inspiration

Bob made it back safely yesterday! Yay! This morning he has taken the 4 boys plus Anna first to the Lowes kids' project class at 10:00, and then on to Nathan's last basketball game at noon. After that, they may go out to eat. I am here enjoying the quiet while Grace naps and attempting to make headway in the huge backlog of laundry that has built up over the last week. Then I basically was just washing towels and washclothes, and that was all I could handle, LOL. So I thought this was the perfect time to share the inspirational laundry mountain speech from Lord of the Rings--don't you remember that? I got it from someone on the Well-Trained Mind board awhile back . . .

Aragorn's Laundry Mountain Speech

"I see in your eyes the same mountain that would take the heart of me. A day may come when this laundry pile of mine overwhelms me, when I forsake clean towels and break all scoops of soap, but it is not this day. An hour of soiled shirts and dirty pants, when the laundry room comes crashing down, but it is not this day. Today, I fold! For all of the children in my house, and for my dear husband too, I tell you I will sit, and fold my laundry!"

Pictures

Here's a visual, although it's hard to really see how swollen it is without seeing it in person, and comparing it to the middle finger of my other hand! This was taken after I'd been on the antibiotics a day, so the swelling had already diminished a lot. The dark spot is where the doctor lanced it. Yesterday it was more swollen, with a white ring around the nail bed, and then a very red part around that. and that was the part that was spreading down my finger. It's still a little red, but the colors have muted a bit now, LOL.
My position of choice over the past few days. Nice. But I really had no choice, as I could not bend my finger at all! The swelling now is down such that I can bend it a little.

Last Doctor Update, Hopefully

So, by afternoon yesterday, my finger was still not improved one tiny bit. I called my physician's assistant pastor's wife Karen again to see what she recommended. She said I clearly needed another stronger antibiotic, and she couldn't figure out why the doctor had prescribed Bactrim in the first place. She asked if I could go in again Friday morning, and I told her I really didn't think I could face the Fairfax Clinic for a third morning in a row with all the kids. I said I figured I'd just wait until Saturday and go to the ER at Bethesda while Bob was home with the kids. She immediately asked if there was anything she could do to help to make it so I could go in sooner --like tonight. Could she watch the kids for me? I told her I'd think about it, which I did for about a second, and then I called Elizabeth to see if she would mind coming over after the kids went down, while I went. She has older kids and lives so close, so I figured it would be a little easier for her than for Karen. She was a true loyal friend and said yes, even though she knows how long military ERs can take! Almost right after I hung up with Elizabeth, Johanna called to tell me about her son's infected foot, and how they let it go a little too long, and he was admitted for 8 days for IV antibiotics. Well! I took that as a divine sign that I was doing the right thing, LOL!

I left at 9:30, and when I got to Bethesda and was getting my temp, etc. taken, the lady who was doing all that warned me that there were people who had been waiting "since 3:00" to be seen! This surprised me, as I didn't actually see anyone else waiting in the waiting area, but I looked sad and went into my tale of woe--I have 6 kids (6 KIDS?!), 4 of whom have strep and pinkeye, and we've spent the last 2 mornings at the Fairfax Clinic, and my husband's TDY, and I just didn't think I could go back again in the morning, blah, blah, blah . . . The lady said well, she didn't think it would take ME that long to be seen; she just wanted to give me a head's up, but she recommended jsut going out there and waiting for a little while and seeing what happened. Well, yeah, that's what I had planned to do, LOL. I guess she was trying to weed out people who didn't really need to be there?

So I got called back at 11:30, after only an hour of waiting. Whew! The doctor was really nice. She looked at my throat and agreed that I had strep based on all the pussy stuff back there, and she was surprised the other doc had prescribed Bactrim as well. She said my finger was way past that. She asked if I had been soaking it, and at my completely blank look, asked if the doctor had even mentioned that? No. He hardly even looked at my finger, much less give me any positive things to do about it! She had to lance it and drain it, and let me tell you, that was one of the most painful things I have ever had done. Remember I can't let anything touch it, since it hurts so badly, even a bed sheet. The actual lancing wasn't too bad, but then she squeezed the pus out. Oh. My. Word. I thought I was going to vomit. I almost passed out. The room spun, and I saw stars! Really--give me childbirth any day. She kept talking but everything was all blurry and buzzing. Eventually things cleared, but I had to lie down as soon as she left to get my discharge papers written up! She started me on Zithromyacin, gave me tylenol with codeine for last night to help me sleep, and gave me more motrin. I was home by 1:45. Thank you Elizabeth for staying up so late for me!!!

My finger is already much better. It doesn't throb anymore, and the swelling has gone down quite a bit--I can even bend it some! What a huge relief! I am so thankful we live in a country with effective medicine readily available.

Another Day, Another Doctor Visit . . .

I decided last night that I would go ahead and try to get 4 appointments today so that Luke, Caleb, Jonathan, and Anna could get throat cultures. Our pastor's wife had called, and she is a P.A., so I asked her if the antibiotic I am taking for my finger would also work against a strep infection, if I did indeed have one. She said yes, so I'm not worried about me at this point. It was such a blessing that Karen called, because I had been wondering who I could call and ask that question to!

As it turns out, Luke, Caleb, and Anna were all positive for strep, and Anna also has an ear infection. Jonathan was sad that he didn't need any medicine--feeling a little left out, LOL. Hopefully now that they all are on antibiotics, everyone will start really getting better.

My finger is still very red, swollen, and painful. There definitely hasn't been any improvement, and I would actually say it is worse, as it seems like it is swollen further down my finger now. I have no fingerprints because it's so swollen! I can't stand to have it touch anything, which makes it hard to keep with with dishes and the massive amounts of laundry that we produce. Since I am allergic to penicillin and am also nursing, there aren't a whole lot of antibiotic choices for me. I know the sulpha drugs are slower-acting, but I am really ready for some improvement here! The nights are the worse because it just throbs, and I can't let the sheet or pillow touch it. Maybe tomorrow it will be better . . .

Tomorrow will be better, since Bob gets home then! He is supposed to land at 4:00. Yay!

From Bad to Worse . . .

This has been quite the week! Only Luke and Jonathan went to co-op yesterday. Caleb's eye was better, but his throat was still hurting. Nathan's eyes were a mess, and he was still running a fever, so that was an easy decision. Anna and Grace also had very gunky eyes yesterday, and the pinkeye spread into their other eyes. My other eye also got infected. Sigh. All that handwashing for naught!

Today I did make an appointment for Nathan and me at the clinic. What finally made me go in you ask? Well, last week I had a hangnail. And on Saturday I started putting neosporin on it, as it was getting infected. It was a case of "too little, too late", however, and by yesterday the finger was swollen, red, and very painful. I have to wake up at 6:00 to call and make an appointment, but I was glad I made the effort--by morning, the poor finger was hugely swollen so that I couldn't even bend it, and I about went through the roof if anyone touched it. The boys said it looked like a hot dog, LOL. Good thing we're not a crass family, as it was the middle finger of my right hand! And since I had to go in, I decided I may as well have Nathan be seen as well.

I had quite a time getting to the clinic. Sometime in the night I guess, since my eye was bothering me so much, I must have rubbed at it. Anyhow, when I woke up, I realized that it was scratched, so my vision for the right eye was a blurry teary mess. I was a little aftraid to make the big journey to the clinic on the Beltway, as both eyes would start watering fiercely at times, but the Lord kept us safe. I don't think I even changed lanes though!

My appointment was first, and after getting over his astonishment at the sheer number of bodies in the tiny exam room, the doctor prescribed antibiotics for my finger, and an ointment for my poor eye. I could not wait to get either one, LOL!

Nathan's doctor did prescribe an antibiotic ointment for his eyes, and she did a throat culture after I asked her to. She said she didn't think it would be positive, and I said I didn't either--I was sure he had the same sore throat/pinkeye thing that I and the others had, but I just wanted to make sure. Nathan was the only one who ran a temperature. You guessed it--the rapid test was positive. So now I am totally wondering if I and Caleb actually had strep as well. My throat is still a little sore, but Caleb's is all better. But I didn't think to ask my doctor for a culture, and frankly the thought of getting another appointment and driving there tomorrow almost makes me cry. All told, our trip today took 3 1/2 hours. Now I am pooped, and my eyes are both killing me! One girl is down, the second will soon be as well, and I will hopefully be able to take a nap. I am so ready for this week to be over!

Hey, I'm going to try to post a YouTube video! This is the wrong season for it, but I tell you, this is exactly what our shopping trips are like! We've heard every single one of these comments many, many times, LOL. I'm quite impressed that they got all their kids to say their lines at the right times. Don't be expecting a music video from us, however. This family may call themselves the "Von Tone Deaf Singers", but I think we would win first place for that title, LOL. All except for Anna maybe. You can't understand her words, but she seems to be able to carry a tune, so we can usually tell what song she is singing. Anyways, fun video! (And you can tell we aren't doing school today, can't you? I have nothing better to do than sit around, find funny YouTube videos, and figure out how to post them!)

Odds and Ends

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment: Nathan swallowed a Motrin pill!! Believe me, this is a HUGE deal. I thought we were going to have to keep on giving him liquid medicines until he got big enough to down a bottle in one sitting. Whew! We averted taht! Amazingly, he did better by drinking no water with it. After many non-successful attempts, I finally told him that he swallowed bigger chunks of carrot, apple, etc. when he ate, than that tiny pill! Finally he got it down, and he was a very happy camper. Us too.

When I say "Yesterday's Big Accomplishment", maybe it would actually be more accurate to say "Yesterday's ONLY Accomplishment". Caleb and Anna were the only kids who even got dressed yesterday, a fact which was remarked upon time and time again by Nathan and Luke. They couldn't believe they were eating lunch . . . eating dinner . . . etc. still in their sleepers! I guess I've been a stickler or something. It never occured to me that not getting dressed would be a red-letter occurance, LOL.

Bob got off to the airport this morning for his week TDY. I sent him off with plenty of food. This is a sort of compulsion of mine. I can't stand for any of my loved ones to be without food on a journey. Maybe I'm secretly an Italian mama or something? That's why there is a permanent snack tub in the van, and whenever we go anywhere there is a possibility of getting stuck in traffic, I always bring a water bottle. The only thing worse than being stuck in a car without food is being stuck there without water, I always say! (Well, not really. But I live that way!) Whenever someone has to go the the ER, I always pack granola bars and other snacks to tide them over, and when our whole family flies, I practically bring a covenience store, it seems. I've searched my memories, and I can't recall any instance where I was trapped without food or had to go without for a number of days. Maybe I've blocked the memories . . . Anyways, I sent Bob off with a huge turkey and spinach sandwich, a baggie of pretzels, a cheese stick, 2 zucchini-chocolate chip muffins, and an apple. No way I'm letting my man wither away on a hostile airplane, LOL.

Today is scheduled for a "getting well" day. No school. We'll just read aloud or something. I'm hoping that tomorrow some contingent will be able to still go to co-op. Right now Luke and Jonathan have never been sick, and Caleb is pretty much better--just a little matting when he wakes up, but nothing during the day, and his eye isn't red anymore. Nathan still looks like a puffy-eyed racoon, and he is still running a fever off and on, so I'm saying it's pretty unlikely for him. We'll see what tomorrow brings . . .

Weekend Update

First, the fun part of the weekend--I went to a girls' sleepover Friday night! Four of the ladies in my Tuesday evening Bible study were going to a ladies' retreat at a big church not too far from us. The retreat was Friday night and Saturday, so Elizabeth decided to have a sleepover on Friday night. She also invited the women from our couples' Friday night OCF study. I decided I wasn't up to a big conference, but the sleepover sounded fun. Christine and Dawn, 2 women from the Friday night study, also just slept over.

I got to Elizabeth's house a little before 7:00. I was the first one there, and it was so nice and quiet. Ahhhhhhh. I brought some scrapbooking stuff and actually finished several pages before Christine and then Dawn came. We snacked on chips and dip (using Amy's good recipe, which was a hit) and talked.

The other women came back from the conference aaround 10:00, and then we brought out the rest of the snacks--a trifle, brownies, veggies and dip, strawberries and chocolate fondue . . . yeah, we were living it up, LOL! We talked and laughed for awhile, culminating in the decision to play the game where everyone tells 3 statements about themselves, 2 true and 1 false. THat was a lot of fun, although I was battling this head cold and had a stuffy head. I could not think if ANYTHING remotely interesting to lie about. I went last, and hemmed and hawed around for awhile. Eventually I came up with 3 things, but they weren't my best work. I went to bed at 12:15, and others stayed up and watched a movie until 2:30. I enjoyed an uninterrupted night of sleep until 8:20 or so, when I realized I'd better get up if I wanted to say goodbye to Elizabeth, since the conference was starting up again at 9:00! Dawn, Christine, and I had a leisurely breakfast, including Elizabeth's homemade cinnamon rolls, and then Christine and I stayed and talked until 11:30, when I realized I needed to get home before Nathan's basketball game!

Back at home, Bob was dealing with more sickness. Caleb and Grace still have pinkeye, although it hasn't been a very gunky, nasty deal. But every morning, they wake up with their eyes matted shut, and each one has had the virus spread to their other eye. Nathan also was running a fever when he got up Saturday. We gave him some Motrin, but still sent him to his game, since the season is almost done, and he really wanted to play. He even scored, so he was very happy he didn't miss!

My eye has also been bothering me, so I guess I have pinkeye as well. It mainly bugs me at night, when it waters and gets a little gunky, but it's not too bad. This cold I have is another story, however. I have a stuffy head and a sore throat, and naturally Bob is going TDY next week for the whole week. Oh well, we'll survive. He let me just stay in bed this morning, in an attempt to fight it. Anna woke up with her eye gunky, as did Nathan, who is still running a fever, so needless to say, we did not make it to church. I'm sure everyone there will be thrilled when they find out we did not expose them to all our various diseases and plagues, LOL.

Bob's not feeling 100% either, so we're praying he doesn't get sick during the TDY. Maybe getting away from this house o' germs will be just what the doctor ordered! We really haven't been sick at all this winter, so I guess we are due.

Pinkeye Update

Caleb's eye is so much better! He got up once during the night, but by morning, it was not anywhere near as red and swollen or gunky. I did indeed have some breast milk handy, so I put some of that in there (thanks for the idea, Carri!). I called it "medicine". He did want further clarification, though, because he was a little worried it was "regular milk", to which he is quite allergic. I told him it was breastmilk, and he was fine with that--anything as long as it's not regular milk, LOL. His eye looks great this evening. Praise the Lord!

Grace had some gunk in her eye tonight after dinner and before bed, so I put some breastmilk in there too. Hopefully that will prevent anything from really developing. We'll see! So far everyone else has clear eyes. I have a terrible head cold though, so I am not feeling my best. But as I keep telling myself, at least my eyes aren't all swollen and itchy!!

In other news . . .

Well, the only thing marring Luke's birthday celebration is the fact that Caleb has come down with pink eye. Ack!!! He came in this morning saying, "Hey, Mom, my eye is all gunky!" Words to strike fear in any mom's heart, especially one with lots of kids. Sigh. I'm pretty sure it is viral, not bacterial, so there's no point in going in to see anyone. We've instituted strict handwashing protocols, but it will still take a miracle for everyone else to escape unscathed.

The other problem with this little outbreak is that we spent yesterday morning at our homeschool co-op, and yesterday afternoon over at Johanna's house. Johanna has 3 boys and is about 35 weeks pregnant with a little girl. And her husband is deployed. I brought her a gift of dinner . . . and I am hoping and praying we didn't inadvertantly bring her a very unwelcome gift of pinkeye!!! (I'm so sorry, Johanna--Caleb was fine yesterday! I had no reason to think this was coming at all!!!)

One reason we went over to Johanna's was so that I could borrow her pilates DVD. I was supposed to take that class tomorrow at lunch time. Well, I've rescheduled that for next Thursday. That will give me some more time to figure this pilates stuff out, LOL. We all did the abs workout last night, and let me tell you, that was a riot! It was a little embarrassing to realize that although you once used to be able to do things like roll yourself up to sitting, there is no way that you currently can do that without a good deal of reaching and grunting, LOL. Definitely not with grace, like the lovely teacher, who has probably not had one pregnancy in her life, not that I am resentful of her perfect abs or anything, LOL. Who knew my midsection was so incredibly weak?! I really was surprised. No wonder my pelvis shifted out of place! It's a wonder it didn't just fall out altogether! So now I have a week to improve before facing a class situation . . . I'm off to the basement right now to do some more. Nothing like being in front of a group for motivation!

Happy Birthday, LUKE!!!

Luke is 9 years old today!! We're going to celebrate with ice cream tonight, and then we'll bring a cake to Bible study next Friday, since we don't have Bible study this Friday. For his birthday dinner, Luke has requested . . . (be prepared for a gourmet dinner menu) . . . tuna and noodles. Yes, that's right! Out of my whole repetoire, he selected a meal that I make when I am totally rushed for time. It's out of a box (well, lots of boxes, LOL). Sigh. Caleb did a similar thing on his last birthday. I'm not sure why I bother with more elaborate meals, LOL. Oh well, anything for the birthday boy.

Of all my kids, Luke so far is the most like me in personality. The things that bother me about him are weaknesses of my own! He is still really shy, but this year has been a year of growth for him. He conquered his fear of riding horses, as well as climbed all the way up the rock-climbing wall at White Sulphur Springs this past Fall. I've seen him become more comfortable in his class at co-op, and he was a very confidant soccer player during the season. Who knows what this next year will bring?!

It's so nice to have another detail person in the house. Luke is my go-to man whenever something is missing. It is wonderful to have another set of eyes to help! Believe me, so far no one else in the house really gets all that concerned when things are missing--not anywhere near as concerned as I always get! He is a great big brother for the girls too. He loves to get Anna and Grace up from their naps. He is Anna's car buddy, and he is a tremendous help there, keeping her entertained.

Luke is such a blessing to our family. I am so glad God put him in our family 9 years ago, and I'm especially thankful for the Lord's care and mercy during his first few days of life, which were scary.

Working Together

The boys had a good time working together to make these kits from Lowes. We got them from Chik-Fil-A, where we went for dinner Thursday evening. Thursday night is Family Night there, and that night they had someone from Lowes helping kids make things. We didn't make the stuff there, but we took home 4 kits. The boys made 2 flower pot holders (what you see in the picture), as well as a picture frame and a desk calendar holder.

And here you can see what the girls accomplish when they work together. In our coffee table, we have a basket which holds ziploc baggies of all our various card games. Monday night, the night before the appraisal so we can refinance, when I was frantically running around trying to make sure all the last-minute cleaning was done, Anna opened all of these baggies and dumped them out. Grace thought that was a great idea, and she helped by flinging all the cards all over the place, so that they were good and messed up. Note my very disgruntled expression. It took me quite a long time to sort out all those decks of cards. Our kids all work so well together! LOL

A Big Day For the Kitchen

Look! A new dishwasher! Bob got it in and working today. We've already run our first load!! Its a Bosch SHE45M06UC, and we got it from Lowes. It is REALLY quiet, and it fits a lot of dishes. We are quite pleased. Bob was able to install it himself without too much hassle. I'm so thankful I have a handy husband!!


Here is our other new kitchen feature: a pot rack! We ordered it from Sams, and Bob put it up this evening. I am so totally thrilled to have another cabinet free, now that most of my pans are hanging. We will be able to store the coffee pot in the kitchen, instead of down in the basement like it is now! (Can you tell we are not coffee drinkers? We normally bring it up when we have company, LOL.)

I feel like I have a totally new kitchen! How exciting!!

"Fitting In"

Nathan and I listened to Adventures in Odyssey last night on our way to basketball practice. We rarely listen, but this episode really bothered me. So here's the story: a boy named Freddie wants his dad to change jobs so they would have to move. It turns out that he is getting bullied at school, has no friends, and the reason it takes him an hour to get home from school in the afternoons is that he is taking this long, circuitous route home so he won't get beaten up. The dad talks to the principal, who is sorry and will discipline the offenders but said it wouldn't really make that much difference, since he can't watch over Freddie all the time. The parents decide to send Freddie to a private school, although the dad doesn't want to teach Freddie to "run from his problems". Poor, poor Freddie! Nathan and I were quite sad at this point, and I was glad that Nathan wouldn't have to face that sort of treatment as an elementary age student!

So then Freddie went to the private school. His teacher asked him to stand up and talk about what he liked to do. "Collect butterflies" was his answer. Everyone laughed. The kids also laughed at how he combed his hair when he first stood up. Then his teacher asked about an interest in music, and Freddie said he wanted to learn how to play the harp. Yeah. Through a conversation with another kid later, we also find out that Freddie wears pants that are too short. Freddie tries to change his hair, but he still ends up getting beaten up at the new school. The parents are full of platitudes such as "Well, we think you're great just the way you are, Freddie! Why should you change your hair and clothes?" Eventually the dad has a talk with him about how no matter what he does to the outside, the inside will always shine through (which must have been so depressing to a kid who can't find a friend anywhere!) Now Freddie eventually accepts Christ as his savior and is going to let Christ work in him, so it ended up okay. But I was very bothered by the story on many levels.

First of all, if you as a parent are going to send your child out into the wide world all by themselves, then I think it is up to you to teach your child a few tricks of how to relate and get along in social situations. It cracks me up that people always think homeschoolers are so unsocialized, and actually my fear was that they were going to start homeschooling this poor geeky kid (which wouldn't have been a bad option for him), thereby adding to the myth of the unsocialized homeschooler. Obviously this boy's problems started earlier, and the parents never helped him see that you don't try to make yourself stand out in hostile situations? That you wait until you get to know people a bit before telling your big dreams, especially if they are what others might consider weird, like a boy wanting to play the harp? Why let your child MAKE himself into a walking bully target?! And make sure your child is not wearing clothes that are way too small and has totally geeky hair!

Obviously, there are going to be people out there who are just bullies no matter what you do, and of course there are areas that you should not change, no matter how you are bullied, but just leaving it as "Well, we like you!" seems to me to be a bit of a cop-out on the parents' part when there WERE legitimate social areas they could have helped their son develop in that would have made him not be such a target.

And the whole thing about "not running from your problems"? Good grief! The kid was obviously in late elementary school. I'm sorry, but life just should not be so dreadful for a CHILD at that age. Parents should be helping him avoid those kinds of problems, not letting him potentially be scarred for life! Take the kid home, teach him some social skills, let him enjoy life and whatever his interests are at his own pace, and then when he is older, let him find people out there who share his unique interests. By then, a person is much more confident in himself, and there are just more options for finding like-minded people than when one is in grade school.

Boy, the whole thing made me glad to be skipping the public school stuff though. Children's hearts are tender and precious. I don't want my child's heart out there, being stomped on daily, and me feel like there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

Funny Caleb Story

One of my friends from co-op called yesterday afternoon. She wanted to discuss a First Lego League team, which I think Nathan and Luke would really enjoy. She was also Caleb and Jonathan's teacher at co-op on Tuesday, and she had a funny story to tell about Caleb. She was talking (the subject this unit is "Jewish Feasts"), and she noticed that Caleb was leaning over and smelling the hair of the little girl in front of him! She caught his eye, and he sat back and grinned, obviously not at all bothered that she had caught him. Then, a few seconds later, he leaned forward and took another big whiff. What a goose! I'm not sure what this all means. Although Lisa didn't specify, I think I can guess who the little girl is--Taylor, who was also in his class last year, and who he hung around with on the playground during soccer saeson while we waited for the later practice to finish up. She's a sweetie. I guess her hair smells really nice too! This must be what happens when you grow up with only older brothers, and ones who could care less about taking regular baths. I certainly haven't noticed anyone burying thier noses in Nathan and Luke's hair and breathing deeply! LOL!

Lunar Eclipse

I'm a little late in getting around to posting this, but we were able to watch the lunar eclipse Wednesday night. We had a co-worker of Bob's over for dinner that night. His wife and baby daughter are down in Texas still sorting through things after the death of her mother, so he was lonely. We had a great time, including a game of Scrabble, and when he left, he mentioned to Bob not to forget about the eclipse. Which of course we totally had, LOL. We got Nathan and Luke up and we all went out to the deck to watch. Amazingly, the sky was pretty clear, so we had a great view. I think we came in a just the right time--the moon was still lit a little bit by the sun, but it was getting darker. We stayed out there with the boys until the moon was all the way dark and red. They were pretty impressed.

Back on Jan. 20, 2000, when we were stationed at the Air Force Academy, Bob and I watched a lunar eclipse. (I remember the date so clearly because I have a page in my scrapbook devoted to the event, LOL.) Because we were in Colorado, the eclipse seemed to be clearer, and the colors more vivid, but this one was nicer because we had Nathan and Luke to watch with us. Fun! I really enjoy sharing things like this with them!

Chiropractic Update

This evening I had my fifth chiropractic treatment. All I can say is--wow! What a difference! My shoulder is so much looser and less tense. It's absolutely amazing. The doctor has given me several different exercises to strengthen the shoulder/back muscles to keep the shoulder from rolling forward. I've been doing them, and I have been so surprised at how weak that area is when isolated. No wonder I've had so many problems!

My hip is improving as well. Apparently my pelvis just got really twisted in this last pregnancy, and after I delivered, it stayed out of place. I could tell it was really off because I couldn't even comfortably cross my right leg over my left one anymore--it was so painful. Sometimes it hurt even just to walk. I was sure my hip was going to go into arthritis at the ripe old age of 34.

I really feel the Lord led me to the right chiropractor, one who specializes in skeletal-muscular issues. I can't believe I am feeling so much better! It feels like a miracle to me, because I really just thought I would have to live like this for the rest of my life.

Today the doctor was talking to me about what I do to exercise my abs. I told him I do sit-ups, crunches, etc. He asked how effective I thought they were, and I told him not at all, LOL. I always tell Bob that I feel like I could do sit-ups faithfully forever and still have the same saggy, poochy tummy! He told me I was exactly right, and that my weak stomach muscles are the ones underneath the outer "6-pack" layer". Those ones are pretty much shot after all these pregnancies. So the doctor told me he wanted me to go to one of their pilates classes (for free!) so I can learn those exercises and do them at home. He thought I was "self-disciplined enough" to do them at home. Well, hopefully so, especially if there is a chance that they might help my tummy, as well as helping my hip and shoulder stay in the correct alignment! So I am signed up for a pilates class next Thursday from 11:45-12:45. I must say this is incredibly out of my comfort zone. I am definitely an "exercise on the treadmill or bike in the privacy of my own bedroom" kind of gal, not one who does anything in front of strangers. I need to get a video out of the library or something so I'll at least know what to expect. (This is the exact sort of situation where I am reminded how very much I am like Luke, LOL.) I need to line up baby-sitting as well. I tell you, if this class wasn't going to be free, I would definitely just never get around to signing up for it!

A Dishwasher Saga, Ongoing

So I wrote a while back that our dishwasher up and died Friday, February 8. Bob and I looked at new dishwashers on our weekend away, but we still do not actually have a dishwasher. It's been quite an experience. Here's what's happened, and is happening, for those (like Melinda!) who are curious.

We read the Consumer Reports article on dishwashers at the library on Saturday, Feb. 9. Their top recommendation is the Sears 1374. We finally decided we would get that one (as opposed to the cheaper Whirlpool that was a Best Buy, but not so highly ranked) on Sunday, but when we were in the process of buying it, the not-very-helpful Sears salesman Derek told us we wouldn't be able to get it until Tuesday. Well, that stunk, since we really wanted to pick it up Monday so my dad could help Bob put it in. We were really hungry, so we just left without buying it then.

Bob went back to Sears on Thursday, Feb. 14, to actually buy it. Derek was still there, and this time he told Bob we couldn't get it until Feb. 23. This was frustrating, but oh well. We laid in a stock of paper plates and prepared to wait things out.

After that, Bob thought that maybe we should get stainless instead of black. Saturday we all went back to Sears to look at the stainless one and see if we should change our order. Well, Derek told us this time that we couldn't get a stainless one until March 1, either pick-up or delivery. Forget that!

Coincidentally, my brother Dan and his wife Melinda down in Texas were also looking for a dishwasher that same day! They decided they wanted a Bosch, so they went to Lowes and bought one, getting it price-matched to the cheaper Sears price. After we left Sears, we headed over to Lowes to check out Dan and Melinda's model, since we're nosy. Nice! Very nice! Quieter, with a stainless steel tub inside, and a Bosch name. Hmmmm.

After the kids went to bed Saturday night, Bob got on the computer. We didn't think there were any other Sears really close, but it turns out there is another one not too terribly far away. On the Sears website it showed that they had the stainless one in stock and available for store pick-up the next day. So Bob bought that on-line. Yay! Well, the next day I stayed home from church with the girls, and around 1:00 we got an email from Sears saying that, lo and behold, that model of dishwasher actually was NOT in stock, so they cancelled our order. When Bob got home, he called that Sears. Ahmed, the salesman at that store, told Bob that we actually could pick one up at their distribution warehouse (the same one that the Sears close to us uses) on Thursday, Feb. 21. Well, that's a whole lot sooner than March 1, but Bob asked him how come they have a "next-day delivery guarantee" on their website. Ahmed eventually said that was only for delivery. Bob said he'd much rather have them deliver it--he only said pick-up because he thought it would be faster, since the web site had said "available for store pick-up"! So then Ahmed said that it could be delivered Monday (yesterday). Bob signed up for that deal, but the whole exchange left us scratching our heads:

1. Why was the other store able to get things so much faster than the times Derek was giving us?

2. Why did it seem like if you said the magic word ("Next-day guarantee"), then all of a sudden you moved to the top of the list? Why did no one at either store ever say anything about this?

3. Why didn't Derek at least check around with other stores? If they all share the same warehouse, and evidentally there were ones in the warehouse, then . . .

4. Was Derek's lack of desire to expend any extra effort at all for us indicative of what we could expect for future customer service from Sears, especially in the hopefully unlikely event of there being a problem with the dishwasher? (Actually we had some other concerns in this area. Until the time when we brought in all the kids, Derek had a bit of an attitude with us. When Bob went in on Thursday to buy it, Derek said, "Hey, aren't you the guy that needed it in such a hurry on Sunday?" When Bob told him that is was because his father-in-law was in town, and he was hoping for his help, but now he had gone, Derek said, "Well, that's good, 'cause you're not getting it until Feb. 23!" Definitely not feeling our pain, LOL. Also, when just Bob and I were there, I was looking at cooktops and overheard a really weird phone call that Derek was having with a dis-satisfied customer. It was obvious she wasn't happy, and then Derek started dropping the phone on the counter! It was so bizarre! He would say something like, "I don't know what happened . . ." but there was a group of salesmen standing around snickering. Yeah . . . not sure what his deal was, but I didn't really look forward to dealing with him anymore.)

So, long story short, Bob and I just really didn't feel comfortable with the whole Sears situation. We ended up cancelling the delivery that would have come yesterday, and Bob went to Lowes and bought the same Bosch dishwasher that Dan and Melinda just bought. We'll have dishwasher twins, LOL. It should be delivered on Thursday. I'll let you know if it actually happens. Totally weird.

Teething Troubles

Grace and Caleb are both teething. Grace is getting in 2 more teeth on the top, and this means that she has a runny nose, a killer diaper rash that is just now starting to clear, lots of droll, and extra crabbiness.

Caleb's bottom 2 grown-up teeth are coming in, and this means he has turned into, I don't know, a moth. Or maybe a silverfish. Or just a plain old beaver. Whatever. He is chewing holes in all his shirts. It is driving. me. crazy. He came to the dinner table several nights ago, and I stared in horror at his shirt. It looked like the sleeves had turned into Swiss cheese !! There must have been 10 little holes on each sleeve, plus the hem was so frayed and gnawed! I asked him what on earth happened, and he couldn't really give me a straight answer, but when I went to the computer after dinner, there was green thread all around the computer chair! Good grief!! I pass down all the shirts, so really he is chewing up Jonathan's shirts, which made me even more displeased. So I put him on long-sleeve probation, and he is having to wear short-sleeve shirts until further notice. I still let him wear his jacket, although he was chewing on that last night as well. Grrrrr. Dan and Melinda got Grace some lovely little teething rings for Christmas. I'm thinking of tying them around Caleb's wrists. And I guess I will be looking for used 4/5 shirts at the consignment sales next fall. These ones we currently have are headed for the garbage can, I'm afraid.

Ear Problems

Well, last night is was Anna's turn to be the one keeping us awake. She has had a bad cough/runny nose thing going on for a little while, but last night she cried from 1:00 until 3:00. Not steadfast crying of course. No, the kind where she fusses around for a bit, then is quiet for just long enough that you start to drop off to sleep, and then she fusses around some more, so you constantly wonder if you should go do something, and if you do get up, what should you in fact do. Not much sleeping was done, either on her part or on ours. I went in several times with water, motrin, etc., but I will say that my parenting was not the best. I am exceptionally crabby in the wee hours of the morning, especially when I can't tell what the problem is and how to solve it. She wasn't running a fever, but I think that she might have an ear infection. She was tugging on her ear some this morning. I don't want to camp out in Bethesda's ER, so hopefully she'll kick it on her own. I put some olive oil in her ear, and she was much happier after that. She seems to be having a good nap now. We shall see.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was the recipient of not one but 7 Valentine balloons, one from each child plus Bob! We had a really nice dinner here at home. Bob grilled steaks in the kitchen. Our cooktop has a grill attachment, which we've never before actually used. To our surprise, it worked really well, and the steaks turned out great! (We were so surprised because 2 of the burners don't work so well, and the cooktop is about 15 years old--we figured something like the grill would for sure not work!) We also had baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, and heart-shaped sweet potato biscuits, with heart-shaped rice krispie treats for dessert.

We ate this grand feast on fancy paper plates because we are still without a dishwasher. Bob bought one from Sears tonight while Nathan was at basketball practice, but it won't be in stock and ready for us to pick up until next Saturday (as in Feb. 23 just to clarify). So in the meantime we'll stick with paper plates. I know, I know--we're just like the pioneers . . . roughing it. Actually it hasn't been too bad. The boys have been good about rinsing cereal bowls, etc. out really well and just reusing them. We use these plastic bowls with built-in straws from WalMart, and each child has their own color. That makes it easy to keep track of!

I hope you all had good Valentine's Days with your sweeties!

The Reptile Man

Today at our homeschool co-op, we finished off the reptile unit. The units all have 4 weeks of teaching, and then something special for the 5th week. For this fifth week, the Reptile Man (Mr. Michael) brought a bunch of reptiles to visit us. He talked from 10:30-12:30, and the kids were all very quiet and enthralled. The first thing he brought out was an alligator snapping turtle named Alexander. He put on a show by stretching his neck all over the place while opening and shutting his jaws. Next was a Mexican beaded lizard, which was quite a large lizard. After that came an alligator, which was only a few years old. This picture is of the assistant, Mr. David, holding the alligator. As he was getting the alligator out of his box, we got to hear the alligator hiss!

After the alligator, they brought out a crocodile, which was also only a few years old. The girls and I missed him because we went home so Grace could take a short nap. After the crocodile came the snakes--2 milksnakes, an anaconda, a copperhead, a rattlesnake (which actually did rattle), 2 cobras, and an albino python. That was where the girls and I came back in. Here is a picture of the python.

The kids all got to touch the python if they wanted to. Here are all the boys touching it. They all thought it felt really neat--soft instead of hard.

The man was really interesting and well-informed about reptiles. I, however, will never share his dedication and enthusiasm about reptiles, and I am just as glad to have this unit be over!

Rest and Relaxation

Well, I must say that I am feeling rested and refreshed. It all started Friday afternoon, when I went for my first chiropractic appointment. I have had chronic pain in my right shoulder ever since May 95, when I had surgery to remove my right first rib after all my blood clot problems. We moved almost immediately after the surgery, and I never had any kind of follow-up with physical therapy or anything, and I have had such problems with that shoulder--hot, burning pain when it is stressed, and just sort of a dull ache most other times. Things that set it off include nursing, carrying a baby around, etc., so obviously things that don't impact my daily life. LOL!! You may wonder why I never got help before, but frankly, I think I have a high tolerance level for pain, and also I didn't know that anyone could really help me. I just thought it was my cross to bear, so to speak. Also, the military doesn't cover any sort of chiropractic care, so that never even really option. When we were in Colorado, I did get massages frequently from a massage therapy school, and those did help manage the pain.

What tipped me over to really look into chiropractic care was that last March, when I was 7 months pregnant with Grace, I started having real problems with my right hip. It felt like I had pulled something, but I just figured it was pregnancy-related and would go away after I had the baby. But it didn't. In fact, the pain got worse, and I felt like I was sort of hobbling around. Well, at this point I thought I was well on my way to becoming a crooked little old woman, and I was pretty desperate for relief. Also, this all came to a head in December, when I wasn't getting any sleep, and I thought I was going to have some kind of whole-body breakdown! I started asking around for chiropractor recommendations, since I was pretty worried about getting some crazy neck-cracker. I dithered around for awhile, but eventually I settled on a man that several people in our homeschool co-op go to. His website talked about the technique he specializes in, and it was for soft-tissue injuries such as chronic muscle problems. Hey! That's me!

When I found out my parents were coming, I sprang into action and scheduled my first appointment for Friday afternoon so they could watch the kids. The appointment went really well, and I finally have hope that I will be able to find relief from all this pain. He did a lot of stretching and muscle manipulation, as well as electric stimulation of the muscles, both in my shoulder and my hip. He did some adjusting, but nothing violent. I really felt a difference after he finished, although the problems are not completely gone. He said that after maybe 2 or 3 weeks, I should be straightened out enough that he can give me exercises to do to strengthen my shoulder muscles so they don't roll forward like they have been. Also, he said that it is very common for your pelvis to rotate and shift during especially the last trimester of pregnancy, and that is what happened to mine. It just never shifted back.

So I was feeling pretty relaxed and happy by the time Bob came home. The only fly in my ointment was that our dishwasher had chosen Friday morning to give up the ghost. What timing, although is there ever a convenient time for a dishwasher to go out?! We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, where Bob and I split a salad so that we would have room for us to each get a piece of cheesecake for dessert. As Bob said, "This is not the 'Chinese Chicken Salad Factory'; it's the Cheesecake Factory!" So we both thoroughly enjoyed cheesecake: caramel pecan turtle cheesecake for me, and chocolate coconut creme for Bob.

After dinner, we checked out dishwashers at Best Buy. Then we came home so I could nurse one last time, and when we set out again, we looked at Home Depot and Lowes. Hey, that might not seem very romantic to you, but let me tell you, anything that keeps us from having to bring all 6 kids to several different stores, just for us to look around and get an idea of prices and features is VERY romantic in my book! Then we had a very restful night of sleep--from 11:00 to after 7:00 with no interruptions!! I will cherish this memory . . . sigh . . .

Meanwhile, the kids reprised their night-time restlessness for Grandma and Grandma. First Anna and Grace fussed around off and on for quite a while. Then Jonathan was up to his old early morning stand-by-the-bed-for-attention potty routine. Caleb got up a little while later feeling wheezy. After an unsuccessful search for his inhaler, Grandma sent him back to bed. Obviously he must not have been too bad off because he did go right back to sleep. The other boys took turns coughing through the night as well. At least Grace (who had gotten shots Friday morning) did not wake up in the middle of the night wanting to be nursed! She did very well with a sippy cup.

After Bob and I had a nice big breakfast at the hotel, we were off again, this time to Sears for more dishwashers. The good news is I think we have narrowed down our choices. The bad news is, if we get one from Sears, then we will probably wait until Feb. 15 to get one, since the salesman told me they were having a 15% off sale starting then. Mom and Dad will be gone by then (and Dad happens to have experience installing dishwashers!), and I am not looking forward to another week without a dishwasher. Even with paper plates, 8 people use up a lot of dishes! But I am looking forward to a nice, new dishwasher. Ironically, a new dishwasher has been on our list for quite a while already. Our old one, a GE, has been recalled for some kind of electrical problem, and we also were having some problems with the seal. New ones are so much bigger and quieter. Almost anything we get will be a real step up! Of course, as long as the old one was still working, replacing it just didn't have the same sense of urgency that it does now, LOL. Hopefully I will have something concrete to report to you within the next week. In the meantime, I am hoping for another restful night sleep, this time in my own bed. We'll see . . .

Grace at 9 months

Grace turned 9 months old on Feb. 1, and she had a 9 month well-baby appointment Friday morning. Since my parents were here, I was able to just take her! How nice! She weighed in at all of 14 pounds, 2 ounces, which puts her under the 3rd percentile, so she is still officially a peanut. The doctor didn't give me too big of a hassle about her, since she is obviously alert, healthy and active. The one big beef I had with the doctor was when she found out I was still breast-feeding, she told me that I was only breast-feeding for comfort now, not nutrition, and I should start giving Grace milk in a sippy cup. Well, I don't have a problem giving Grace milk in a sippy cup, but I certainly know that breast-feeding is still the best thing nutritionally! Even the American pediatric doctor society (whatever its acronym is, LOL), recommends breast-feeding until a year. I guess this doctor didn't get that memo. I went back and checked Luke's baby calendar, and he was 18 pounds, 1 ounce at 1 year. Grace, being a girl, should be a bit smaller, but she is definitely on the same pace as he was (is).

So what else can Grace do now? Well, she has mastered climbing stairs, a feat of some significance since 1. she has not yet mastered going down stairs without falling, and 2. we have 3 sets of stairs in this house. Everyone is on high alert to grab her if she should happen to start climbing. In my spare moments, I am working on teaching her to turn herself around to go down. With all the spare moments I have, she should be good to go . . . in a year or so.

She will also stand for a minute unsupported, although she still will not move her feet. She will cruise around a bit on furniture, and she loves to walk holding on to someone's hands. She also loves to clap her hands, especially at Nathan's basetball games.

She is mainly eating table food now. I still give her baby food, especially at lunch, just to make sure she gets more, but she also eats sandwiches and pretty much anything else we are eating. She picked up on feeding herself pretty quickly. I think that's a survival technique for #6, LOL. I certainly don't have time to just sit there and keep spooning food into her mouth!

Grace is a happy girl with a big smile, who is fortunate to be adored by 4 older brothers and one older sister! She leads a pretty great life right now!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Wow, another birthday for me! For all those who have sent me cards or wished me a happy birthday, thank you very much! I did have a very nice day! My friend Johanna came with her 3 boys after her midwife appointment, and they played here the whole afternoon while Johanna and I visited. My boys had such a great time. Johanna and I went to high school together, and it is so fun to still be in touch with her and realize how much we have in common!

My parents drove in from Ohio this afternoon in time for dinner. What a wonderful birthday present! But wait--it gets better! Tomorrow night Bob and I are going away while they watch the kids--all 6 of them! I was trying to remember the last time Bob and I were able to spend the night away from the kids, and I think it was when we went up to Amish country with Amy and Jason back when I was 35 weeks pregnant with Jonathan. So I guess you could say we are due for another night away! I am so looking forward to a night of uninterrupted sleep, and a morning of sleeping in. Although our issues of the past few months seem to have resolved themselves, there are still times when Grace wakes up earlier than ideal, or someone else has some other personal problem. Hopefully I can get all the recharging I need out of one night away, LOL!

After a spaghetti dinner tonight, we all had ice cream to celebrate (remember, cake is not my thing). It was a great birthday, and I'm looking forward to a great birthday weekend as well!

Mama's Kind of Birthday Treat

I am not a cake person. I know, I know--I make all those elaborate cakes for the kids, but for me, I really don't love cake. So to celebrate my birthday, which is next week, I made something different to share at Bible study tonight:

. . . chocolate-covered strawberries. Mmmmmmmmmm. I double-dipped 2 1/2 quarts of strawberries this afternoon in the good, good chocolate that I use for my Christmas candies. I left the other 1/2 quart updipped so Caleb wouldn't feel left out. I did half in milk chocolate, and half in dark chocolate. Personally I thought the dark ones were the best, but some others at the study preferred the milk ones . Regardless, they were all VERY yummy, and they all disappeared in a very short amount of time. Good thing I had also brought some chocolate oatmeal walnut bars left over from a co-op moms meeting last night! I am thinking I will go for the chocolate-covered strawberries each year now. That sounds like a wonderful tradition to start, don't you agree?! Much less complicated and better tasting than elaborate Star Wars cakes!