News from us

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. I would love to tell you it's because I have been cleaning house and organizing my life but, if you know me you know it not true. The truth of the matter is that I had a new book. Well, really I had two new books. I have become addicted to a series of books that Caleb reads called "Pendragon". It's Sci Fi/future/time traveling sort of fantasy books. Anyway, if you know me...you know that when I have a new book, I am useless until I have finished it. I got the latest one on Tuesday around 2:30...it's now Thursday at 4:00 and I just finished. I would have been finished sooner but I had the whole "work" thing and taking care of the kids thing to do. Boy, they sure are annoying! Hee Hee. Well now that I have finished I can not look around my house and see that I have housework, homework to grade and a family to feed. I also have to find a rodeo outfit to wear to work tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day when I have to stick the bandanna in my back pocket and run around like a cow in front of the whole school! The kids have to catch me and get the bandanna. I'm sure good old BFF Amy will have her camera snapping LOTS AND LOTS of pictures of me running around like a cow!!!!!! It should be a blast. I only had two break into tears on Wednesday when we practiced!!!! They didn't like the running around and they got bumped into! I only lost half of them on the way back to the classroom also. They are quick little buggers! Anyway, we are also going to the rodeo tomorrow night. The kids love it! They do very well there and never have been bored yet. The only thing you have to be able to handle is the play by play commentary from Jared. He NEVER stops talking the whole time! Last year he sat by a stranger and he TALKED the whole time to her. I had to finally bring him up to sit by me to let the poor girl enjoy her date. I really think that Jared was more interesting that her date though.
Well, the week has been really uneventful for us. Just homework/basketball/ and soccer. This is the last weekend for basketball. The kids will have an awards night on Sunday at the church who does the Upward league. It should be fun. They show a slide show of the year and will have a guest speaker.
I went today to visit my brother Bill in the hospital. He had a total knee replacement done on Tuesday. He is doing great! At least I'm impressed anyway. He is off his pain pump and spinal block and is not crying like a baby. He walked down the hall today and was upset that they wouldn't let pass an 80 year old lady! He said he thought he could have taken her in a race. He will hopefully get to go home tomorrow. Well, I have to call out spelling words now so I guess I should go. They are condescending,clairvoyant,procrastinate and other words that I can't type let alone spell! Bless the dyslexia boys heart! He has most of them down!

Here is Caleb's Rodeo Clown outfit! He is wearing grand dads blue jean shorts and Brian's Socks. I still marvel that we can put together outfits like this with the clothing in our house! How nerdy are we?????

Jared and Aaron at our AWANA Rodeo night. They dressed up like Rodeo Clowns. They were very cute!

Me and my boys at Joshua's Eagle Scout Award. It was at a church and then we had a reception afterward.

Aaron is a writer!

Can you read this letter???? Aaron wrote: Dear Mom. I love you more than my favorite color. Love Aaron. He sounded it out and wrote it himself. I must get at least 4 letters a day like this! He loves to write.

Can you read Aaron's letter?????? It says... Dear Mom I love you very much. I hope you love me back. Love Aaron

O.K. I told Aaron I wanted him to write something in marker and I would take his picture of his writing and post it on my blog. I wanted to show off his new found writing and spelling abilities. He asked, "What do I write?". I told him "go write a letter". This is what he came back with!!!! It's the letter "A"! I wanted a letter to a person! Hee Hee Haaaaaa Haaaaaa LOL x 10!!!! Kids do exactly what you tell them to do!!!!

A Blur!!!!!!

We are offically in the middle of basketball/soccer crossover! What's that you ask????? Glad you asked!!!!! Well, in our wisdom as parents we decided to allow Jared to try basketball this year. Our hope is that he will like basketball sooooooooooooo much that he dumps soccer. Well, in order for our plan to work we had to sign him up for basketball, knowing full well, that it will overlap soccer for about two or three weeks. Welcome to the OVERLAP! We have basketball on Monday, Soccer on Tuesday, AWANA on Wednesday, Soccer on Thursday, and Caleb's Basketball on Friday! We are the house of the running blurs! How do other parents handle this???? Tonight the boys are in full swing digging through the house looking for clown costumes! We have Rodeo Day at church tomorrow night and the boys want to dress up as Rodeo Clowns. GrandDad brought suspenders in for the boys to wear and we are on the hunt for crazy socks/big pants/ and goofy hats. It shouldn't be hard to find in this house! I will get lots of great pictures to post! This weekend was fun. We started off with a progressive dinner with our Sunday School class on Friday night. We went to 4 different houses and had great food at each one. By the end of the night I had way too much food and way too much caffeine and so I had nightmares and tossed and turned all night! Saturday we went and watched Jared score 6 points in basketball. He is doing really well but LOVES to dribble! He dribbles so much that he forgets to shoot! He cracks me up! Caleb did not play this week because we went to go and watch our cousin Josh get his EAGLE Scout award. They had a whole ceramony and cake and punch afterward. We are so proud of him! I can't believe he made it the whole way! It's hard getting to that point! He did so well. After the awards, we came home and had a family night Valentine's Dinner. The boys wanted Spaghetti and Meatballs while watching a movie. It was a fun night. Sunday was church and a long nap. No, not during church!!!!! I did take a long nap in the afternoon which caused me not to be able to go to sleep until 4:00 the next morning! So much for beauty rest! I looked like a Zombie for work on Monday! No more long naps for me!!!! Well, I had better run. Time to cook dinner so Brian and Jared can eat after soccer! Love you all!

Weight Watchers

Hey guys check out the weight loss. I'm standing at 12.4 lost after 1 month and 4 days. I'm right on target with what I have done in the past and my jeans are starting to get very loose. Time to go down a size in the jeans and get them tighter. I would love to burn the big jeans but I just can't see wasting the money. Anway, I'm having good results but it's still not easy. My kids at school gave me Sonic card, Starbucks cards and lots and lots of candy! I sent some with Brian and gave some to the kids. I'm trying to be good but it's hard this time of year!!!! Oh who am I kidding.....it's every time of the year! Caleb was home sick today with the tummy bug. I guess Jared did have the bug! Now I figure it out! Don't you just love figuring things out 2 days late! Anyway, he is better and I think everyone will go to school tomorrow. We are getting ready for a big progessive dinner for Sunday School tomorrow night. Our part is main dishes. We are doing a taco bar. It's a challange to figure out what you can do that will stay warm and not dry out to form rubber. I hope it's OK! I have not a clue what anyone else is bringing. We have an appetizer stop, a salad stop, a main dish stop and a dessert stop. It should be fun and hopefully won't put on the 2 pounds I lost this week! I will be strong.....I will be strong.....I will try and be strong.....Hee Hee! I'll let you know how it goes!!!!!! Love to all! Happy Valentine's Day! I received some georgous Tulips from my hubby! Hope your day was special too!

News from the weekend

Hey guys! How was your weekend? Mine was fast and furious as always! Jared went to the doctor on Friday morning with Brian and was feeling better by Saturday. He even played basketball on Saturday morning. He did do a lot of walking down the court and wasn't as "off the hook" as he usually is but still felt well and scored 6 points! Fastforward to Sunday morning at 3:15 a.m. when he starts throwing up and complaining of stomach pain while spending the night with Me Maw. Who knows what is going on with him! He laid around all day and felt and looked weak and wiped out. I don't have a clue really. I called the doctor and he said might just be a tummy bug. Who knows????? I couldn't find a sub for work tomorrow so Me Maw is coming to the rescue again and will stay home with him. The rest of the weekend was filled with Mrs. Albie's funeral (the boys didn't go, they just couldn't handle it) baking for a dessert auction for kid's camp at church, church, delivering cookies to shut-in's (our members who can no longer come to church) and the dessert auction. We raised $1,275 auctioning off cakes, pies, cookies and other various fattening things! One cake sold for $100! Caleb made a Mississippi Mud Cake, fudge, and Chocolate Krinkle cookies. I can't remember how much they sold for but he did good. Aaron and Jared made things with Me Maw and sold them too. Our church is so good at supporting our kids. They are such a blessing! Oh one funny thing to tell on Aaron... he was getting his hair cut the other day and informed the lady (Kim from our church) that Shelby was his "true love". Shelby goes to church with us and also is in his Kindergarten class. We really thought they would have found their way to the principle's office by now but so far so good. Anway, after telling her that Shebly was his true love, he then told her "I hope when I kiss her the first time she hasn't eaten at hamburger or her breath with smell!" I asked him when he was planning this kiss. I told him of course you have to be married before you can kiss! He told me "your either married or your really old and in love!" So I hope he defines "old" as a least later in the future. My worry is that he will announce he kissed Shelby next week because he is old ENOUGH! Hee Hee........... We also found him walking Shelby down the sidewalk after church on Sunday real slow. When asked what they were doing they said "practicing our marriage walk"! HEAVEN HELP US!

At Home

Good morning everyone! I am at home finally today and get to spend the whole day at home! I am so excited! This is a rare occurance in my life lately. The reason I am home all day is the fact Jared is home with me. He came home from school yesterday fine and by 5:30 he had a fever, chills, cough, and runny/stuffy nose! Boy it hit him fast! I don't think it's the flu however which is good news. We have been giving him over the counter stuff and motrin for the fever and he is doing well. I called the doctor this morning and they recommended that we stay away from them and treat it at home! That's how bad everyone else is in this town! I see germs everywhere! The last couple of days have been rough on our household. Mrs. Albie a little lady from our church passed away Monday night. The kids were so close to her. She was the nursery worker for our church and raised all three boys from newborn until they were 3 years old. She also worked as a grandparent aide at Jared and Aaron's school. They would see her everyday and would give her hugs. Aaron got in trouble many times when he would run after her to give her a hug and forget he was suppose to stay with his class in a straight line. The boys took the news very hard. I can actually say that I know what wailing and mourning sounds like. In the bible it talks about how people would "hire" mourners at funerals to follow the funeral procession and wail and mourn for the person. All I can say is that our family would have been RICH in that day and age! Bless their hearts, I hated this feeling. Unable to take away their hurt and grief. Daddy did all he could and fixed the problem the best way he knew how.... he went for ice cream! $6.00 worth of ice cream later the boys had calmed down a little and were able to go to bed. Of course, Jared and Caleb had to fall asleep together in our big bed. They are so sweet and caring. The funeral for our little Albie will be on Saturday. Caleb wants to go for sure. I'm not sure if Jared and Aaron will or not. It's hard figuring out what is best for them. I guess it will depend on if Jared is feeling better. The one thing that makes all of their grieving better is the fact that Mrs. Albie is in Heaven with Jesus. The bible tell us to not grieve as those who have no hope. My boys know they will see Albie again one day in heaven and they know that next time it will be FOREVER and not just a little while! Thank you Jesus for that hope and that future. It makes times like these so much better! Love you all!!!!!!!!

And the World Spins Around and Around

As I am writing this I am trying not to fall out of my chair! My world is spinning today! Literally! I woke up sooooooooooo dizzy today. It's all about when my neck gets out of place. Nerves get pinched or whatever and I get dizzy. I'm sure it can't have anything to do with the fact I pick up 8 kids per day to lift them onto a changing table that is waist high! I'm lucky I can even move! Other than that....the last few days have been great. Yesterday was awesome! The kids didn't have much homework and it was 86 for a record high. They went outside played in the dirt. Ran like crazy and I didn't hear a peep from them for a looooooooooooooooong time! YES! They were all pretty wiped out from staying up late at the Superbowl Party at Pam and Greg's. We always stay until the end! They handle it pretty well but the next night they have to be in bed early. Did you like the game????? I screamed my head off! It was great! Go Giants! I tried to stay away from the kitchen as much as possible. There were 5 different kinds of dips and chips, cookies, cakes, brisket, beans and the works! I did pretty well considering all the temptations ! Well, I had better run. I'm going to eat with Amy. She is driving my dizzy self to eat!!!! Hee Hee

Hey Guys

Hi everyone! It seems like the time between posts is getting longer and longer. I think it's because my days have been getting longer and longer. Hee Hee! This week has really been pretty low key. Caleb's homework has been managable. We've had no major happenings and things have been running pretty smoothly in our house. Aaron had a 100 day of school project he had to do. He finally choose to put together 100 paperclips and arrange them to write "100" on a poster board. Jared lost a ticket at school this week for throwing food in the cafeteria at school. He said a little boy DARED him to do it and he HAD to because it was a DARE! I got to use the old tried and true lecture about, "if he dared you to jump off a building would you"? His answer of course was NO! Then I countered with of course not.....you have a mind.....you have the Holy Spirit....you Have to make good choices in your life. You wonder why in the world EVERY child in America has to hear this speech? Jared is the one who doesn't get into trouble at all and it's easy to forget he has to learn lessons too in life. He's so smart that sometimes I just expect him to "get it" and not have to learn it. OH Well, one spanking later and he "learned it" the hard way! I doubt he will make the same mistake again soon. Last night I went to Tracy's house for a "Tastefully Simple" party. A lady in our church has started selling it. You can buy spices, dip mixes, dessert mixes and lot of easy to prepare pantry items. It was great food! I did good and bought the spices instead of the caramel creme latte drink mix that I really wanted! It was too many points! I told her I might be able to do a show for her soon, so I will look at the calender and get invitations out! Well, I had better run. Caleb's basketball game starts soon. Jared won his game and scored 6 points this morning! He was sooooooo excited on one basket that he stopped and started talking to me about it during the game to make sure I saw it!!!! Hee hee LOL~!!!!!