Swamped!!

Craziness...that's my life right now. I am keeping my head above water, but there's been a lot of treading. Today was the craziness of craziness...all the children were crazy - Huston at his whiniest. Isaiah very emotional. Avery constantly bringing pulling stuff out of the cabinets and sticking toys in the toilet. You know, the usual. I have lots of deadlines coming up at work - VBS for around 200 kids to plan - 5 weeks or so to go...Baby Dedication sunday on Mother's Day...3 new babies in the congregation last week- trying to provide meals for their families and no one wants to cook (what's with people being too busy to take a meal?)...and then just the week-to-week responsibilities too.

I've had lots of topics pop into my head to write about, but for now they will just stay in my head (maybe - lots of stuff gets lost in there these days). Think the end of the week will be a bit calmer or I will have tons of time to blab about when I am thrown in the loony bin.

See you on the other side.

Random Answers #8

Quirkiness - that's the theme for this round - I have to spill all the weird and strange things that make me me. So here it goes...

What quirks do you have in the following categories? (Or tell on someone else if you want!)
1. Home (cleaning, order, furniture, yard, etc.)
2. Personal (get-ready routine, clothes/shoes, hate feet?)
3. Relational (high-maintenance proof, personal space, parental/spousal habits, etc)
4. Food (ways you eat, ways that annoy you about how others eat, can't mix foods, etc)

Ok here it goes - with stuff about the home, I have let a lot of things go or I would have gone crazy a long time ago. I do like to organize the stuff in the pantry (not alphabetically - I'm not that bad, just by categories - grouping all the soups, all the veggies, all the fruits, etc.) but now Avery goes in and reorganizes. I like all the silverware in the dishwasher pointing up not down (Steven!) and I like the sink cleaned out - not bits of food and junk splashed all over the sides (Steven!)...but I have gotten to the point where I can over look such offenses, although I occasionally still get pretty annoyed. I also hate cleaning the bathrooms and will leave it until the very last task and will take a shower after it is done (I know, but it creeps me out!)

Personal hygiene stuff - hmmm...I think I am pretty normal in this area - I am quite low maintenance. My short do can be done in seconds (wetting down lumps) or in minutes (totally dippy-doing it so that it has that "natural" tossed look). Some days I do make-up, some days I don't. Some days I wear my glasses, some days contacts. I get ready first thing, or not until I have to leave the house. I am pretty unpredictable. I never want anyone to touch my toothbrush though...especially Avery! I wear the same sandals nearly every day of the summer (Teva brand - will have to find replacements soon!). And sometimes I hate all of the clothes in my closet and sometimes I like them....hmmm, can you say fickle?

Relational - I like my personal space - don't want anyone touching me when I am sleeping, cooking, and no one is allowed in the bathroom when nature is calling me (that's what locks are for). I hate it when husband passes gas in the bed...that's like the worst thing to me. (sorry, you asked - sort of). No one can touch my feet, especially my toes. (I don't know why, it feels weird) I also do not usually get along with folks that talk about themselves all the time and then do not pay attention to anything your saying when your not talking about them too.

Food - its all about how it looks - if anything about it looks questionable, I can resist it - for example my fruit needs to look good - no squishy grapes, bruised apples or brown bananas. I don't do leftovers usually - especially if they've been in the fridge for more than 3-4 days (unless its something that gets better after a day - like soups and chili). I don't like any of my dairy to be room temp. - cheese must still be firm and cold, milk must come straight from the fridge, and yogurt too. And I am a water snob, I have been spoiled by my Culligan system and it too must be ice cold - in fact if my cup has been sitting around and the ice has melted, I dump it out and refill (I know, I know, its wasteful - I tell myself that every time I watch it go down the drain)

Ok, I think that's enough - I am depressing myself. I am much more quirky than I expected. Maybe I should just embrace it cause it's not going away.

He's Back

Isaiah has been waiting rather anxiously for the return of a fun friend...and yesterday we spotted him. "Twisty" the turtle emerged from wherever he had been hiding this winter and early spring. We met him last year - a box turtle that has made our backyard part of his territory. We enjoyed seeing him off and on all last spring and summer and would greet him with strawberries and tomatoes and I may have been imagining things but it seemed to me that this turtle knew that if he came to our back patio he would be greeted with food...maybe.

Here is a picture of Huston and Avery last year, feeding Twisty his treat.

Not only did Twisty return yesterday, but he was seen with a friend. Isaiah thinks this friend was a different turtle that came by last summer that he named "Boxy" - I am not so certain, I think this a totally new turtle neighbor, but anyway they are calling him Boxy none the less. Now the interesting thing is that Twisty and Boxy were quite chummy...they were following each other and climbing over each other and it seems to me that we may just have to stop calling one of them a "he" and hopefully be searching for a turtle nest here pretty soon. I may be wrong, I am certainly no Missouri backyard wildlife expert...but one of our friends at church is in fact a Missouri Conservationist - I will have to research this possibility and pick his brain for some turtle facts.

Boxy is on the left and Twisty is on the right...

Twisty is the turtle that Avery used to spin on the patio last year, so I think he remembered Avery quite well cause he was closed up tightly while Avery was around. And you can see that Avery had no fear in greeting him.

So anyway we will keep you updated on our turtle family - Twisty was out again this morning, but no signs of Boxy - maybe "he" is the "she" - who knows? I bet our friend will.

Lillie Pad

Steven likes for Lillie to practice sitting in her Bumbo seat for a few minutes most evenings...I snapped this picture last night and love her expression - Steven says she looks like a little frog...

Ears and Aches

Avery has been having problems clearing up an ear infection - that's not good. He started in with it a couple of weeks ago and I took him to the dr. when his sleeping started to become restless - cause trust me if he's not sleeping, then I'm not sleeping ;-) Anyway when we went in 2 weeks ago his little ears were so full of wax and junk that the dr. couldn't even see the ear drum. So that meant that we had to hold the little guy down on the examining table and while the dr cleaned out his ears with the long hooked stick thing (I'm sure that's close to the medical term for it). It blooded his ear and totally made him hate the dr's office that much more - but there was success in that doc was able to see down in there and determine yes in fact the ears were infected - so medicine was prescribed and we were sent on our not so merry way (it took 3 hours for the boy to calm down).

One week later the sleeplessness crept up again for Avery and the whining about his ear hurting...so back to the dr we went. Avery was not too willing to let them come near him to put it mildly, so once again we had to hold him down on the examining table (this time an additional person was required to achieve this) and again the nurse practitioner in this case, looked into his ears and the were too full of stuff to see the ear drum. Knowing how much he hated the pointy stick approach to cleaning them out, and also noticing that his ear canal was still healing from the previous week, the nurse practitioner went the water pick route and we held him down while she cleaned out his ears with the water. Once again we had success, the ears were still infected, stronger medicine was prescribed and we went on our not so merry way.

Today was the recheck appointment. I walked into the lobby with Avery and he immediately began to cling to me very tightly. After signing him in we sat down to wait to be called back and Avery curled up into the fetal position in my lap and grabbed my hand and placed it over his ear...and there it was to stay for the remainder of the time in the office. He would not let me put my hand down. Here he is in the waiting room...













So the moment we were called back to the examining area little Avery started to whimper...ever have to take a nervous puppy to the vet? Believe me, if Avery had fur he would have been shedding it all over me. Just to take his temperature in his ear was a small ordeal. We were taken back to the examining room and waited for the dr. Here is how Avery dealt with that...


And eventually he just decided that it would be best to hide totally...

So long story somewhat shorter, the dr. came in, we wrestled Avery down to check the ears - they are now perfect and we are praying that he doesn't have to return for a very long time. Avery was absolutely giddy to be home and even was thrilled at the suggestion of an early nap. He laid down to sleep, Lillie was sleeping, the older boys were with Grandad - so I figured might as well join the crowd and I napped too. A pretty good end to a traumatic morning.

I Won A Major Award...

Don't you hear the voice of the father in "A Christmas Story" when I say that - I love that movie! But seriously, I am very honored and thankful to RK for choosing to pass this award on to me...(this is my first blogger honor and I am indeed honored)

Here are the rules that come with this "major award" -

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.

4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, (that must be Italian....sorry, couldn't help myself) so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

So ok, here is where I may have to cheat a little with this award. I have linked Ms. RK above and her fun and wonderful mommy blog Just RK, as the rules state - I will also link to her little cutie Braska, who has so many fun adventures to keep up with and together these two have taught me sooo much about Downs Syndrome and RK and her little community of mommy bloggers have taught me so much about how families grow, learn, and are truly blessed by all their little family members that have been given something extra special. So many of these folks are dealing with things I have never dreamed of dealing with and they do it with positive attitudes and determination. They are all inspiring to me.

Now the difficult part is that I am really new to blogging and for the most part, thus far, I have been an eavesdropping blog-hopper. I have not really gone out there and hob-knobbed too much...so I am going to give you five sites that I like checking on relatively regularly that I have found through my leap blogging. I won't officially tag them - cause it seems wrong to do such a thing when I hardly know them at this point - I think introductions should probably be made first, ya know...anyway here they are -

Check out Michelle and her little Ruby - this family has a lot on their plate and they handle it all quite amazingly....
Then there is Jen and her 3 sweet young boys - she is a witty mom that makes me laugh and totally just tells it like it is concerning her adventures in her testosterone rich household....
Next pop over to ~Melissa~ and her awesome, down-to-earth family and all the creative things they keep busy with...

Finally these last two I am choosing totally for their entertainment -
Kim Ayers is a Scotsman with a wonderful gift for storytelling...
and Mary is an American living in Scotland that has seemed to have lived everywhere and experienced everything and she too will keep you looking forward to her next posts (plus as you will see, she has great taste in blog templates!)...

So there are my picks for the blogs I love to check out - believe me, there are many others out there - hop around sometimes when you have a moment or two - its like getting a nice letter almost everyday!

Foster Care Awareness Month

My brother and sister-in-law informed me that the month of May is Foster Care Awareness month. They are currently fostering 4 little boys with the hope of eventually adopting them. It has been quite a ride for them over the past year and a half when they began this journey. I read about a month or so ago in the paper that the state of Missouri is ranked second to last among the states in the amount of financial support they offer to the foster family. The system is messed up - most people who have never even had first hand experience with foster care sense that is the case, and those that have had experience with the system know that truth even more. Keep all those kids and the families in your prayers - its sad to see so many kids in the world that are neglected and not cherished as they should be, and even more sad when you see the large number of families that wait months and even years to be able to adopt said children.

Turtle Time

It's that time of year again. Huston, Lillie and I were on our way home from picking Huston up from preschool and we found a turtle on the road near our house. It was a water turtle this time, not the usual box turtle we have found in past years. I am a fan of the turtle, so I turned around and scooped this one up and brought him home for the boys to look at for awhile.


The boys enjoyed playing with "him" - (who knows what it really was!) - and gave it strawberries, pulled it along in their wagon and sprayed the grass with water so it would have a nice wet place to hang out in for a bit.

After Avery woke up from his nap he also went out to play with the turtle, and that's when we determined it would be best to go ahead and take the turtle back to the creek a little sooner than planned. That boy knows no fear with animals - he picked that turtle right up, shook it around, patted it on the back rather harshly - no matter how many times you told him to be gentle and over all just smothered it with his presence. Last year when we found a box turtle in the yard Avery, even at the age of 18 mos, would take the poor turtle and spin him on the patio - needless to say he was not allowed to touch the turtle without a bit of supervision!


So we said bye to "Watery" as Huston had named him (what can I say, my boys have quite the creativity for naming things :-) and drove him back down the road to the creek. Isaiah cried and managed a good bye in between sobs...guess we'll have to look into some kind of pet for him - he wants so badly to take care of something.

(The right picture shows the turtle in the bottom corner of the frame and his happy creek home at the top of the picture among the bushes...)













It was fun to have Watery with us, even if it was for only a couple of hours - we enjoyed noticing the differences between the two kinds of turtles...in the end I think I prefer the box turtle myself.

That's Avery...

Avery is by far our goofiest kid. Even at the age of 2 1/2 he keeps us laughing with his expressions and even by what he says...case in point:

Steven's dad gives us his copy of the Missouri Conservationist when he is finished with it...we look through it, mostly glancing at the headlines and looking at the pictures - we really aren't avid "outdoorsmen" type people...but anyway the latest copy happened to be sitting on our kitchen table tonight. While Avery was waiting for his dinner to be presented before him he started flipping through the pages of the magazine. All of a sudden he stopped and began to say, "Whoa, whoa..." like something he saw was just astonishing. I walked over to see what brought on such a reaction and got there in time to see Avery point at a picture in the magazine and say, "Whoa, BIG Grandad" in his most deep and fearsome voice. So here is the picture he was looking at and here is a picture of my dad, you make the call. We thought it was kind of funny. (By the way, I took dad's picture just tonight - its not the best picture of him, but he was dressed kind of similar to the "big grandad" don't you think)

"Big Grandad"

Real Grandad

If you kind of tilt your head to the right, squint your eyes and nod all at the same time you might see the resemblance. :-)

Cousins Lunch

Today was the forth Monday of the month and that means its Cousins Lunch day in Troy - the scheduled meeting for all of the remaining "cousins" of my grandma. Since Grandma now lives with my folks here in town, it is hard for her to make it to the luncheons because she isn't comfortable driving herself anymore. So Isaiah, Lillie, and I piled into the van and drove GG (short for Great-Grandma) to see her cousins. I secured a sitter for the middle two - I'm not that crazy.

Here's the gang - from left to right are Isaiah and Lillie's great-grandma, great-great-great Aunt Ruth, great-great Aunt Joyce, cousin Ruthann (Ruth's daughter), great-great Uncle Jim (GG's brother, husband to Joyce), cousin Larry (he has the most pretty hair - I don't know if you should call a man's hair pretty - but his is sooo white and its got this curly wave to it...the picture doesn't do it justice!) and his wife Louise. Then you will see Isaiah and Lillie posing with the group to prove they were there :-)



















It was a nice visit - a long drive for a lunch I must admit, I'm a little tired, but we were glad that GG could go visit her family (I know they are ours too). Truthfully I don't know these folks very well. So it is a great opportunity to go and get to know them a bit better. The kids did really well, the traveling went smoothly, the food was good and all the cousins were in good health. It was fun to watch them visit and catch up - it was especially fun to watch them try to talk in a low voice about a gal that had just left the restaurant - they had to repeat themselves several times because their low voices were too low for each other to hear! I know, I know, I will be there at some point myself.

We will be trying to make it next month too so that we can also take GG to decorate the family graves in the cemeteries along the way. I think I will probably stick to only taking two children once again, we'll see how brave I become in a month!