I got this in an email and thought it would be kind of fun to post...its alway interesting to see other peoples answers so if you decide to do it let me know...and I'll go read about you.
1. What time did you get up this morning? which time...12, 2:15, 4:30, 6:30 and 8:00 - no joke...I wouldn't joke about something so serious as sleep.
2. Diamonds or pearls? been more of a pearls gal in the past, but diamonds are growing on me :o)
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I can't even remember - how sad is that...
4. What is your favorite TV show? Hell's Kitchen...that chef needs anger management classes
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? an english muffin
6. What is your middle name? Erin
7. What food do you dislike? cantaloupe - don't even like the smell of them
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Seeds Music, Seeds of Encouragement - I know its a kids cd but its good.
9. Favorite sandwich? a club
10. What characteristic do you despise? pride
11. Favorite item of clothing? pjs
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Italy
13. Where would you retire to? I have no idea - its too far away to even consider it a possibility, plus I really have no job to retire from currently...
14. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I guess last year cause it was the 30th.
15. When is your birthday? Sept 6
16. What is your shoe size? 6 1/2
17. Pets? are you kidding, I've got kids to clean up after...why add to the fun?
18. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? what are you implying?
19. What did you want to be when you were little? a photographer for Nat'l geographic
20. How are you today? Tired and weary
21. Favorite flowers? mums - I'm serious, cause they are the last bit of color before winter.
22. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Sept 28th cause Steven leaves on a week long business trip and I plan to purge my house of stuff...have to do it while Steven is gone cause he will dig it back out of the trash
23. What are you listening to right now? Huston and Isaiah playing army men
24. Hair color? boring, blah brown
25. What was your favorite toy as a child? I didn't have favorites...I loved the neighbors pool in
the summertime
26. Summer or winter? neither - too extreme on both ends of the spectrum
27. Chocolate or Vanilla? vanilla cause you can add so many things to make it even more yummy
28. Coffee or tea? tea - iced though, not hot - that's just not right
29. Do you want your friends to email you back? no never, I don't need adult conversation,
really...I'm fine.
30. When was the last time you cried? Friday cause my husband was a mean guy.
31. What is under your bed? lots and lots of dirt I'm sure.
32. What did you do last night? went to my folks house to watch olympics and then really nobody ended up watching...
33. What are you afraid of? what this world will be like when my kids are living in it as adults
34. Salty or sweet? salty usually
35. How many keys on your key ring? one - unless your talking my church key ring then its 6
36. How many years at your current job? almost 7 at being a mom and almost 4 at the church? maybe...I've lost track
37. Do you make friends easily? I make acquaintances easily, friends - no.
38. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes, its dirt that I can store away and use against them later :o)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Back to Reality
I think summer is officially over. Steven's mom, Gloria, heads back to school for meetings today - so there is no longer the grandma factor - she loves having a few of the kids with her on her days off - when she can - we usually swap them in and out so that they all have a chance to be with grandma. So no more vacations from home for the boys...and everyone was in their own bed last night...(and yes, that's the best picture I could get of Huston, he just wasn't cooperating.) I was ready for them to be home, I missed the crew being together.
The end of the "vacations" means the beginning of routine again. We have been out of it for about a month now - on and off - and I am ready to get back into a bit of predictability. We will have to transition into it a bit though - both Huston and Avery are slightly under the weather. Avery was in bed for his nap by 10:00 which is quite unusual. I think they are fighting a cold - or it just might be allergies, who knows for sure?
Isaiah was with grandma the longest so he kind of has to get used to having siblings again. He reacquainted himself with his sister this morning. Lillie has be hopping around in her jumper this morning and she enjoys it quite a bit...she enjoys it even more if someone gets down there with her and swings the thing around!
The final thing we will have to get back on track are the boys' rooms. We started off this mini vacation with me going out of town and the boys staying with a babysitter, and it seems all the house rules that involve the toys went right out the door with mom...here is what I came home too...
And while these pictures do may not show "terrible" messes - the room has now reached that point. Looks like a small army invaded and blew up a castle scattering little tiny pieces of toy rubble everywhere...still have not motivated myself into getting up there with the children to sort through the debris yet - but it will have to be done soon - tiny pieces are being lost forever the longer I wait...why must toy companies create such small toys with even smaller pieces that can be removed and lost the moment your child plays with it? I know, job security...but I'm not falling for it - I'm ready to just throw them all away and give the boys a stick to play with.
So we will see how well the routines return, probably will depend on how much of my sanity gets lost with the castle pieces...
The end of the "vacations" means the beginning of routine again. We have been out of it for about a month now - on and off - and I am ready to get back into a bit of predictability. We will have to transition into it a bit though - both Huston and Avery are slightly under the weather. Avery was in bed for his nap by 10:00 which is quite unusual. I think they are fighting a cold - or it just might be allergies, who knows for sure?Isaiah was with grandma the longest so he kind of has to get used to having siblings again. He reacquainted himself with his sister this morning. Lillie has be hopping around in her jumper this morning and she enjoys it quite a bit...she enjoys it even more if someone gets down there with her and swings the thing around!
Here she is jumping out of the camera's frame....
The final thing we will have to get back on track are the boys' rooms. We started off this mini vacation with me going out of town and the boys staying with a babysitter, and it seems all the house rules that involve the toys went right out the door with mom...here is what I came home too...
And while these pictures do may not show "terrible" messes - the room has now reached that point. Looks like a small army invaded and blew up a castle scattering little tiny pieces of toy rubble everywhere...still have not motivated myself into getting up there with the children to sort through the debris yet - but it will have to be done soon - tiny pieces are being lost forever the longer I wait...why must toy companies create such small toys with even smaller pieces that can be removed and lost the moment your child plays with it? I know, job security...but I'm not falling for it - I'm ready to just throw them all away and give the boys a stick to play with.
So we will see how well the routines return, probably will depend on how much of my sanity gets lost with the castle pieces...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Not Many Pictures
We have been busy the last few days - summer time will do that I guess - but I don't have many pictures to chronicle our times....maybe I'll post some tomorrow.
Isaiah has really taken off with his reading. He is almost to the point of being able to figure words out (you know the tricky ones too) without needing me to decipher it for him. But he is still at that really slow, laborious reading pace - so reading is not quite "fun" for him yet. He does do well on the little books and enjoys reading them to his brothers. A gal from our church just got a job as a reading recovery teacher for a neighboring school district and has been given the assignment of administering the reading test to in-coming 1st graders for practice. So she asked if she could use Isaiah as a guinea pig and I said come on over. This will help me as much as it will help her. It will be nice to get her opinions. My goal in homeschooling is not to get Isaiah to learn as much as he can in the shortest amount of time. I want him to stay with his peers academically. I have been pushing the reading lately cause selfishly it would be so much easier for me if he could read independently before Huston starts kindergarten. Then I would be able to manage homeschooling two kiddos a lot easier.
Friday I was out of town all day for a meeting. The other children's minister Katelyn and myself went to Quincy, IL to observe her home church. They are larger and are doing many of the things (as far as curriculum and format) that our church will be attempting to implement shortly. So its nice to go and talk to people that have been there and done that. I took my camera but didn't pick it up once, and I should have. The meeting was in the morning, so after we were done we stopped through Hannibal, MO and shopped their downtown strip for a bit and we also hit some sidewalk sales and a great restaurant in Quincy too. It was a fun day and it was a great time for me to get to know Katelyn a bit better. She's a fun gal to work with, which helps a whole lot. The meeting has given us big ideas that will take time and money to implement - so it looks like some more projects to tackle now - but that's really never-ending.
Saturday it was old home weekend. Steven had guys he has been buddies with since jr. high come out for a visit. Mark now lives in St. Louis and has a little girl, so they don't get back this way as often as they used to - its just a long day of travel when there are little ones involved. Matt lives here in town with us, in fact less than a mile up the hill from us, but we just don't cross paths as much any more. Steven is married with 4 kids and a such and Matt is single and going to school, plus he likes to run and train for marathons in his spare time...(crazy guy). So it was fun visiting with them - a nice afternoon of laughter. I love laughing.
The boys are doing great with their swimming lessons. Isaiah is really getting the hang of his front stroke - he just needs to float a bit higher in the water. Huston went under the water the last practice - which is huge for my steps-of-the-pool-clinging "swimmer" but he still has a lot of timidity to get over still. He hangs on to the instructor for a lot of the exercises.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday - it was pretty low key, Steven's family was a bit out of pocket last week so we couldn't really plan any sort of "party" for her day. So I just made her some dinner and we crashed over there to eat and watch the olympics. She tried to go get a manicure and pedicure for her day, but the place was closed with a sign that read "We open late today." So no pretty nails, but she'll have to try "later."
So anyway that's what has been going on. I have other things floating in my head to share, but no time to sit down and do it right now. Hope to get some pictures of everyone posted soon too. Hope you are enjoying your summer months!
Isaiah has really taken off with his reading. He is almost to the point of being able to figure words out (you know the tricky ones too) without needing me to decipher it for him. But he is still at that really slow, laborious reading pace - so reading is not quite "fun" for him yet. He does do well on the little books and enjoys reading them to his brothers. A gal from our church just got a job as a reading recovery teacher for a neighboring school district and has been given the assignment of administering the reading test to in-coming 1st graders for practice. So she asked if she could use Isaiah as a guinea pig and I said come on over. This will help me as much as it will help her. It will be nice to get her opinions. My goal in homeschooling is not to get Isaiah to learn as much as he can in the shortest amount of time. I want him to stay with his peers academically. I have been pushing the reading lately cause selfishly it would be so much easier for me if he could read independently before Huston starts kindergarten. Then I would be able to manage homeschooling two kiddos a lot easier.
Friday I was out of town all day for a meeting. The other children's minister Katelyn and myself went to Quincy, IL to observe her home church. They are larger and are doing many of the things (as far as curriculum and format) that our church will be attempting to implement shortly. So its nice to go and talk to people that have been there and done that. I took my camera but didn't pick it up once, and I should have. The meeting was in the morning, so after we were done we stopped through Hannibal, MO and shopped their downtown strip for a bit and we also hit some sidewalk sales and a great restaurant in Quincy too. It was a fun day and it was a great time for me to get to know Katelyn a bit better. She's a fun gal to work with, which helps a whole lot. The meeting has given us big ideas that will take time and money to implement - so it looks like some more projects to tackle now - but that's really never-ending.
Saturday it was old home weekend. Steven had guys he has been buddies with since jr. high come out for a visit. Mark now lives in St. Louis and has a little girl, so they don't get back this way as often as they used to - its just a long day of travel when there are little ones involved. Matt lives here in town with us, in fact less than a mile up the hill from us, but we just don't cross paths as much any more. Steven is married with 4 kids and a such and Matt is single and going to school, plus he likes to run and train for marathons in his spare time...(crazy guy). So it was fun visiting with them - a nice afternoon of laughter. I love laughing.
The boys are doing great with their swimming lessons. Isaiah is really getting the hang of his front stroke - he just needs to float a bit higher in the water. Huston went under the water the last practice - which is huge for my steps-of-the-pool-clinging "swimmer" but he still has a lot of timidity to get over still. He hangs on to the instructor for a lot of the exercises.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday - it was pretty low key, Steven's family was a bit out of pocket last week so we couldn't really plan any sort of "party" for her day. So I just made her some dinner and we crashed over there to eat and watch the olympics. She tried to go get a manicure and pedicure for her day, but the place was closed with a sign that read "We open late today." So no pretty nails, but she'll have to try "later."
So anyway that's what has been going on. I have other things floating in my head to share, but no time to sit down and do it right now. Hope to get some pictures of everyone posted soon too. Hope you are enjoying your summer months!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Four Stages of Huston
Once again, Huston became upset at something one of his brother's did or said (can you say "middle-child"...hmmm?). I had my camera in my hand so I started snapping pictures. At first he objected, then he was fighting back a smile, then he was trying to give me a mean face, then he couldn't help it anymore and became silly Huston again - he just can't fight his true nature...thus the 4 stages of coping with adversity for Huston.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
No Naps *Sigh*
We are going through another stage of developmental change in our household lately, one that I have not been looking forward to....the out-growing of naps. Avery, for the past week, has refused to nap...Huston had already been hit or miss - so now with both his younger and older brothers not napping, he of course will not sleep either.
Isaiah was an awesome napper for a very long time. I remember when Isaiah was young and our only child, other moms would tell me how their children didn't nap. I would sympathize with them as I would think to myself (in a very prideful manner!) that those poor parents just don't have things figured out! (Isaiah was a "sucker" baby - sucked us into thinking that his "good baby" qualities were due to great parenting...)
When Huston came into the picture - he too was a good baby, very easy going, slept through the night the fastest of all our children, but he was a bit more ornery. He and Isaiah shared a room and Huston could often be found out of his bed goofing off after we put him down for the night! Of all the nerve. Isaiah had never done this - he was content to stay in his bed until mom or dad went to get him and tell him it was time to get up...(some of the initial cracks in our "great parenting" facade :-)
Now Avery is a different matter entirely. He has NEVER been a good sleeper. He has always been very loud (his cry would be so loud and grating it would immediately send me into a fit of irritation...) and restless. His sleep even now is usually fitful and he often cries - you could even call it screaming/yelling - and does it all while his body is sound asleep. After bing tucked in, he usually gets out of bed repeatedly - until it is well "past" his bedtime and usually arises very early - full of energy... The only comfort I had was to think he would be laying down in the afternoon for his nap and I would get my "break" from him then...well it looks like those days are winding to a close.
So admittedly these days are a bit hard. I require quite a lot of sleep, and with Lillie routinely waking up at 5, Avery staying up a bit later and a different child being restless or needing something on any given night, I feel like I am just napping my way through life right now. So my brain cells seem a bit fried and my disposition can at times be irritable and my communication terse with the kids...but really I think my body is starting to adjust some. And as the season of napping in this house lasted all to briefly....so will this season of sleep deprivation, right?
On the upswing, Grandma took Avery and Lillie home with her on Sunday and kept them overnight. The spoiling and lack of schedule they received actually has (on the surface) seemed to have done Lillie more good than harm...she "slept in" until 6:00 this morning...which was quite shocking!
And also the "no-nap" day allows for some fun Avery times - cause he is a kid full of fun (and mischief)...so I will leave you with some photos of Avery and dad taking a walk to the creek on a "no-nap" Sunday afternoon...
Isaiah was an awesome napper for a very long time. I remember when Isaiah was young and our only child, other moms would tell me how their children didn't nap. I would sympathize with them as I would think to myself (in a very prideful manner!) that those poor parents just don't have things figured out! (Isaiah was a "sucker" baby - sucked us into thinking that his "good baby" qualities were due to great parenting...)
When Huston came into the picture - he too was a good baby, very easy going, slept through the night the fastest of all our children, but he was a bit more ornery. He and Isaiah shared a room and Huston could often be found out of his bed goofing off after we put him down for the night! Of all the nerve. Isaiah had never done this - he was content to stay in his bed until mom or dad went to get him and tell him it was time to get up...(some of the initial cracks in our "great parenting" facade :-)
Now Avery is a different matter entirely. He has NEVER been a good sleeper. He has always been very loud (his cry would be so loud and grating it would immediately send me into a fit of irritation...) and restless. His sleep even now is usually fitful and he often cries - you could even call it screaming/yelling - and does it all while his body is sound asleep. After bing tucked in, he usually gets out of bed repeatedly - until it is well "past" his bedtime and usually arises very early - full of energy... The only comfort I had was to think he would be laying down in the afternoon for his nap and I would get my "break" from him then...well it looks like those days are winding to a close.
So admittedly these days are a bit hard. I require quite a lot of sleep, and with Lillie routinely waking up at 5, Avery staying up a bit later and a different child being restless or needing something on any given night, I feel like I am just napping my way through life right now. So my brain cells seem a bit fried and my disposition can at times be irritable and my communication terse with the kids...but really I think my body is starting to adjust some. And as the season of napping in this house lasted all to briefly....so will this season of sleep deprivation, right?
On the upswing, Grandma took Avery and Lillie home with her on Sunday and kept them overnight. The spoiling and lack of schedule they received actually has (on the surface) seemed to have done Lillie more good than harm...she "slept in" until 6:00 this morning...which was quite shocking!
And also the "no-nap" day allows for some fun Avery times - cause he is a kid full of fun (and mischief)...so I will leave you with some photos of Avery and dad taking a walk to the creek on a "no-nap" Sunday afternoon...
Monday, August 4, 2008
Do You Need An Example?
Are you needing a shot in the arm and a reminder of the power of God and how awe-inspiring it is that He listens to our prayers? Read this update on little Emma....
Prayers for Emma
Today is Emma's open heart surgery - the drs are working on her as I post this...keep her family in your prayers today....go here for updates...
Friday, August 1, 2008
Strange Child
So after you finish your bowl of Trix cereal, if you are still hungry, what do you crave? Well Huston had this dilemma this morning. His belly wasn't full after his small bowl of cereal so I told him to go grab some fruit. Huston went to the fridge and decided upon the bowl of leftover black olives from our Mexican meal the other night...Trix and black olives - the new breakfast of champions.
Avery seemed sold....
Don't think this will be a taste sensation that will sweep the nation...
Avery seemed sold....
Don't think this will be a taste sensation that will sweep the nation...
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