I had full intentions of starting to pack for our month-long trip to California at least a week ago. It is 5 days before the trip now and I haven't even gotten the suitcases out of the attic!
I think this is a bad habit left over from college when I would do all the easy homework before tackling the big project right before it was due. . . . now I am consumed with daily life, last week's yard sale, this Saturday's Women's tea, etc, and I haven't packed a stitch of clothing yet!
This morning it is 5 a.m. and I can't sleep since all of these thoughts are running around in my head. I got up and rotated the laundry that is a week behind so I wouldn't lie in bed wondering when it would actually get done once the kids were awake. Now I am thinking of cancelling Sarah's orthodontist appt. today so I don't waste 2 hours driving back and forth twice to the Gramma sitters and an hour at the ortho. Ramblings of a tired mom at 5 a.m. . . .
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Climbing a Mountain While I'm Sitting Still
They say that when you are pregnant, your body is working as if you are climbing a mountain, even though obviously, you are not. Now that I am done feeling "uck," though still fighting my pregnancy-lactose-intolerance, I am supposed to be in the energetic second trimester. As of yesterday I am 18 weeks along and the desire to "nest" or clean up my house is there, but the actual energy is not! I told Marc's grandma Sally that I wondered where the energy I was looking forward to was. She said, "Why did you think you would have that when you are taking care of 5 other kids every day?" Point taken. I guess with the first few kids it was there. Now I wonder if I'll even get off the couch past 30 weeks now that I am pregnant with #6! Guess I'd better get all my projects and beach trips done by then! At least I can say for this week that I:
1. Moved 1/3 of the kid's books to the kid's book area so now they are all in one place!
2. Color coded the bindings of my Sonlight Curriculum homeschool books by year like I was supposed to do starting 3 years ago! Yeah-now we can tell which books are for school or not!
3. Sorted the house for yard sale items.
4. Cleaned the garage so people don't ask to buy the stuff I am NOT selling.
5. Got Sarah to clean out her desk and hutch to sell at the yard sale!
6. Climbed up in both attic spaces to find yard sale items
7. Remembered my 5 year old's play date 20 minutes south, even though that non-pregnant mom forgot!
8. Made dinner every night but Wednesday. ( I wasn't this good when prego with #1!)
9. Took Leah to get her 18 mo. pictures today.
10. Did the "usual," laundry, homeschool, observe chores, prep kids for AWANA and Latin, diapers, potty cheerleading, discipline, talk to husband, go online, watch favorite TV shows.
So why couldn't I fall asleep for a nap today??????
1. Moved 1/3 of the kid's books to the kid's book area so now they are all in one place!
2. Color coded the bindings of my Sonlight Curriculum homeschool books by year like I was supposed to do starting 3 years ago! Yeah-now we can tell which books are for school or not!
3. Sorted the house for yard sale items.
4. Cleaned the garage so people don't ask to buy the stuff I am NOT selling.
5. Got Sarah to clean out her desk and hutch to sell at the yard sale!
6. Climbed up in both attic spaces to find yard sale items
7. Remembered my 5 year old's play date 20 minutes south, even though that non-pregnant mom forgot!
8. Made dinner every night but Wednesday. ( I wasn't this good when prego with #1!)
9. Took Leah to get her 18 mo. pictures today.
10. Did the "usual," laundry, homeschool, observe chores, prep kids for AWANA and Latin, diapers, potty cheerleading, discipline, talk to husband, go online, watch favorite TV shows.
So why couldn't I fall asleep for a nap today??????
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Easter, Eggs and Naples (and I Don't Mean Italy!)
"The Lord Is Risen, just as He said!" Lizzy let me know that I had her memorize the WRONG verse for Cubbies. I guess I missed the memo that said we were doing the special Easter page in the back!We had a wonderful week of celebration in honor of the Lord. Spending time with family and friends who share your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is such an encouragement!
Our family was invited 2 1/2 hours away to Naples, Florida, to celebrate Grace Bible Church of Naples first Resurrection sunday! Marc preached there over the course of the fall and winter until their new pastor arrived in February. On Easter Sunday they welcomed in their first group of members, h
ad an enormous meal with all of us and thanked Marc and Matt for being their fill-in preachers. When they gave us a signed picture of all of them, I got goosebumps for the testimony of God's work around and through us.
ad an enormous meal with all of us and thanked Marc and Matt for being their fill-in preachers. When they gave us a signed picture of all of them, I got goosebumps for the testimony of God's work around and through us. We typically spend Easter with the Wragg crew and since we were going to be out of town, they rearranged our egg hunt tradition to Saturday before we trekked to Naples. This was Leah's first hunt and after the first few eggs she finally figured out that she should collect them and not just shake them! There were over 200 eggs for about 13 kids, so the pickings were plentiful! Our kids also received their baskets on Saturday since we didn't want to stuff them in the car for the trip. As you can see in the picture, Sarah got an extra special basket stuffer of the matching outfit to her American Girl doll. She already had the doll outfit and when the girl outfit went on sale, we splurged.
It was actually really nice to have them do their baskets on Saturday because then we had no distraction from Christ and church as we prepared for our time of worship. The kids thought they were on vacation since the church put us in two hotel rooms. I don't think they have stayed in a hotel room for over 2 years and they thought it was awesome! It was just a holiday inn, but we did realize that we need to be on the first floor next time for my husband to maintain his sanity. The kids kept running and he was concerned for the people below us.
Anyhow, I got a picture of the kids as we headed off to church, but Leah didn't want to stand still and get her picture taken(18 months with a 2 year old 'tude). Excuse her scream!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Fish Tale
I had one of those mom moments I hope I don't soon forget. It was just so funny! As a mom of 5 it is SO easy for me to forget what I'm doing. I find 1/2 finished tasks all over the house and realize it was HOURS ago I worked on them. How could I forget for so long?
So when it comes to cleaning out the fish pond in the front yard, I try to always set a timer so I don't pay for hours of water running from the hose. We bought 20 new feeder goldfish a few weeks ago and we couldn't see them anymore because the water had become murky. The way I clean our pond is to overflow it with the hose. I was concerned the newbie fish would flow out with the water, but I went ahead with my plan to clean it and set the timer in the house for 12 minutes.
Well, lets just say I didn't hear the timer go off. By the time I realized the pond was still "cleaning," the whole ditch in the driveway was filling with water! I ran out to turn off the water to the now crystal clear pond and saw a glint of orange in the floating mulch!!! Oh, no! The fish DID flow out! I ran back in the house for the little fish net and back out to the yard. I saw two gold fish and one white one. I chased them with the net-trapping them next to rocks and such. They were determined to evade me! After getting the 3 fish into the pond I started running my fingers through the floating mulch to see if I could find more fish. Since it was late afternoon most of the fish were hiding in their pvc tunnel, so I had no idea how many of the 14(those that survived living in our pond)
had escaped! At this point my neighbor "D" came over to see what in the world I was doing frantically looking through my mulch! It was too funny, really! I spent 20 minutes searching for 13 cent goldfish because I couldn't stand the thought of killing a living thing that wasn't a bug! I knew the kids would be so upset if one of our fish died because it ended up flopping around in the mulch in suffocation! After a while we gave up and I am happy to report that the next morning at feeding time we counted 14 fish!
I have included a picture here of our pond with Domino the cat and Leah. Thankfully in almost 5 years of living here, only Lizzy has fallen into the pond-and that was a month ago when she was trying to help Jacob get his ball! Yesterday we went to my cousin's baby shower where they had vases of dyed water with goldfish in them. Guess who's daughter's brought home 11 more fish for the pond???? Yep, I am the proud owner of 25 pond goldfish, 3 betta's, a Florida box turtle and one very independant cat named Domino! This is the life!
So when it comes to cleaning out the fish pond in the front yard, I try to always set a timer so I don't pay for hours of water running from the hose. We bought 20 new feeder goldfish a few weeks ago and we couldn't see them anymore because the water had become murky. The way I clean our pond is to overflow it with the hose. I was concerned the newbie fish would flow out with the water, but I went ahead with my plan to clean it and set the timer in the house for 12 minutes.
Well, lets just say I didn't hear the timer go off. By the time I realized the pond was still "cleaning," the whole ditch in the driveway was filling with water! I ran out to turn off the water to the now crystal clear pond and saw a glint of orange in the floating mulch!!! Oh, no! The fish DID flow out! I ran back in the house for the little fish net and back out to the yard. I saw two gold fish and one white one. I chased them with the net-trapping them next to rocks and such. They were determined to evade me! After getting the 3 fish into the pond I started running my fingers through the floating mulch to see if I could find more fish. Since it was late afternoon most of the fish were hiding in their pvc tunnel, so I had no idea how many of the 14(those that survived living in our pond)
had escaped! At this point my neighbor "D" came over to see what in the world I was doing frantically looking through my mulch! It was too funny, really! I spent 20 minutes searching for 13 cent goldfish because I couldn't stand the thought of killing a living thing that wasn't a bug! I knew the kids would be so upset if one of our fish died because it ended up flopping around in the mulch in suffocation! After a while we gave up and I am happy to report that the next morning at feeding time we counted 14 fish!I have included a picture here of our pond with Domino the cat and Leah. Thankfully in almost 5 years of living here, only Lizzy has fallen into the pond-and that was a month ago when she was trying to help Jacob get his ball! Yesterday we went to my cousin's baby shower where they had vases of dyed water with goldfish in them. Guess who's daughter's brought home 11 more fish for the pond???? Yep, I am the proud owner of 25 pond goldfish, 3 betta's, a Florida box turtle and one very independant cat named Domino! This is the life!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Cheaper by the 1/2 Dozen???
Here is the newest little Wraglet! Marc has made me keep this a secret for so long, it seems weird to announce it now when I am just starting to actually feel a little better! Our new little addition will arrive near September 23rd which makes me currently 14 weeks! The kids were thrilled, especially my Sarah. Lizzy asked if we could have a chocolate baby(our cousin recently adopted a Jamaican/Chinese baby girl) and Dan is praying for another brother. Jacob and Leah are oblivious!I have been so encouraged by the verses we have been memorizing in my Wed. night Bible study: Job 42:2b ". . .no purpose of Yours(God's) can be thwarted." and 2 Chronicles 20:6 "Oh Lord, God of our Fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In Your hand are power and might, so that NONE is able to withstand You." Isn't that SO powerful?? Think of all the wombs in the Bible that God closed and opened: Hannah, Rachel, Sarah and the harem, Mary, etc. What a treasure it is to be so blessed by the Lord with all these children! I am thankful for his bountiful gifts to unworthy clay vessels and I praise Him for His daily sustaining grace to hold me up each day as I live and serve both Him and this family!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
3 year old compliments . . .
Today while at the Chiropractor I had a blazing headache. He was nice enough to crack my neck while I was still on the treatment tables and turn down the lights. I sure felt like I was being pampered! After receiving my full treatment, I heard my friend and her daughters come in the back door-her father-in-law is my Chiropractor. Anyhow, I went into the hallway to say hello to her and her girls. Claire, the 3 1/2 year old looked up at me in my teal hospital gown and said, "Mrs. Jill, you have a very pretty dress on." She was so sincere! I told her thank you but that I thought hers just might be prettier! Her mom and I got a hearty kick out of that one. So my pampering was more than getting my spine realigned, my headache on its way to removal and my muscles massaged on the hydrotable-I even got a compliment on my hospital gown!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I've Been Missing In Action
Some people would say I have a good excuse, but not adding to my blog sits in my thoughts almost daily! That's what I get for signing myself up for "blog accountability!" Anyhow, I put off blogging until I had some pictures to put up, but today I give up and am blogging without a picture!
A month or so ago I set up a small rectangular table in my bedroom, spread out some pictures of the baby, moved my rolling scrapbooking tote into my room and figured I'd get more scrapbooking done if I actually had a place to lay it out that it wouldn't have to be put away every evening for meals. The horror of it is that I didn't ONCE use the table! There it sat collecting dust until this week when I moved it into the garage to become a 6-laundry-basket holder for sorting folded clothes. Laundry won over scrapbooking-sigh!
My poor baby is 1 1/2 and I'm only 1/2 done with her 1 year scrapbook! Now some of you might say this is not unusual or you haven't even started, but I know how busy I am and the memories don't linger long anymore to journal in the books. Each of my other 4 kids have a 35 spread (70 pages) scrapbook of their first year. I made a POINT to make them all equal. I cannot let Leah be the one to sacrifice-she is too cute for that! There is hope, though. I got her first 35 pages done last summer when I attended an 8-week weekly crop with my sister-in-law on Wednesday nights after AWANA finished for the year. There is hope that I can finish Leah's and start her toddler book during those weeks. My other goal, for the 4 other kids books, is to at least get their birthdays scrapped and put in their yearly photographs. If I do nothing else, birthdays are the most important! After all, I put so much time, effort and money into making the parties as success and special, those those memories, at least, should be recorded! I hope your memory making is succeeding!
A month or so ago I set up a small rectangular table in my bedroom, spread out some pictures of the baby, moved my rolling scrapbooking tote into my room and figured I'd get more scrapbooking done if I actually had a place to lay it out that it wouldn't have to be put away every evening for meals. The horror of it is that I didn't ONCE use the table! There it sat collecting dust until this week when I moved it into the garage to become a 6-laundry-basket holder for sorting folded clothes. Laundry won over scrapbooking-sigh!
My poor baby is 1 1/2 and I'm only 1/2 done with her 1 year scrapbook! Now some of you might say this is not unusual or you haven't even started, but I know how busy I am and the memories don't linger long anymore to journal in the books. Each of my other 4 kids have a 35 spread (70 pages) scrapbook of their first year. I made a POINT to make them all equal. I cannot let Leah be the one to sacrifice-she is too cute for that! There is hope, though. I got her first 35 pages done last summer when I attended an 8-week weekly crop with my sister-in-law on Wednesday nights after AWANA finished for the year. There is hope that I can finish Leah's and start her toddler book during those weeks. My other goal, for the 4 other kids books, is to at least get their birthdays scrapped and put in their yearly photographs. If I do nothing else, birthdays are the most important! After all, I put so much time, effort and money into making the parties as success and special, those those memories, at least, should be recorded! I hope your memory making is succeeding!