A question...

Ok I thought about this in church today and I wanted to know what you guys think. Please comment in the comments section or post the answer on your own blog and leave me a comment directing me to your blog.

How can we shelter our children but also show them how to be "salt and light" to the world? We are called to be missionaries to the world but we are also called to protect our chidlren and raise them up to follow God. Unfortunatly, bad influences good more often than not especially with young children just starting out on the journey. I have a few ideas that we try to implement but Im curious if we are doing enough.

Websites/Blogs worth mentioning...

I have to update my sidebar. Add some and take away some but for now the "Brandy" link no longer works. I will be updating with her new blog but she wishes to remain anonymous so I wont be putting her name. I understand completly girl! Now onto some that I believe I will be adding soon.

My Christmas cards are almost done thanks to Organized Christmas. Also check out Organized Home for tips and ideas and free printable forms for your household notebook.
I found Organized Christmas through Lady Montgomery. I have had the most fun browsing through this site. It reminds me a lot of Lady Lydia's blog Homeliving Helper.
I also found an amazing blog and website from a momma of 8 who has goats and chickens and a great big garden..I have gleaned so much information from her blog alone that her website simply overwhelmed me. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in for some exploring.
This blog is quick becoming a favorite. I have agonized over how to raise boys. This wonderful lady has come up with a slogan and everything. For all my friends out there please notice that she has cafe press and this would be a great Christmas present. I really need a tote bag. Wink, Wink...just kidding. I would look funny running around town with this tote bag and three girls and one boy! :)
I also just re found the Welcome Home Blog. Loving it! I liked her before and now Im really enjoying her. Seems we have both done some growing in the months since I have been away.
Ok folks happy browsing!

Christmas shopping

Ok..with five children you HAVE to start Christmas shopping early. Today I spent some money from our Christmas budget and bought A LOT! I was so impressed with my purchases. I have decided to be picky about what the children would get for Christmas. For instance my girls were gonna get girl toys and my boys boy toys. And not a bunch of junk either. I found a BIG thing of the little green army men at Target for a whopping 5 dollars! I was so excited. I also got the neatest ballet set for my five year old. It has a video, a barre, a dance mat, and a ballerina outfit complete with shoes for a whopping 30 dollars. The smile on her face when she sees it will be priceless..I promise. I also broke down and bought her a Barbie..its ballerina Barbie and Kelly. I could not resist. She is such a girly girl. For my sweet little T age 4 I got I got some dollhouse furniture for her birthday dollhouse and a box of dress up clothes. I also picked up some Bob the Builder legos for my little A man. I did not pick up anything for KA today. The other day I got her a three in one craft kit. Kids crossstitch, sewing and needlpoint. Today I almost get her a Knitting Needle set for kids complete with yarn, project guide and instruction book but I chickened out. I dont know how to knit (when I tried I flopped totally.) I really need to learn though. I might go back and get it and we can learn together. :\ (BTW thats my, "Eek is that something I really want to do?"smiley!) As far as my four year old little guys I did not get him anything yet because he may go home before Christmas. (We are hoping not because we dont like him but because his mom has worked so hard and he misses her so much) If he does go home I of course will send him home with a few things from us but I dont want to be his Christmas present source, if that makes sense! I am planning on getting some wrapping paper and starting to wrap soon. Im also making a list of what Ive bought so I dont go wild. Like my little guy is just about done. A few more Bob the Builder legos and the big playset and another thing we have looked at and he is done. I want to get T the Dora dress up doll with a couple of outfits and some Dora legos and she is done. KA is getting a few more craft items, cookbook and apron, a sewing book, some jewelry, and a baby doll and she is done. KE is getting a cookbook and apron, a few craft items, some jewelry, and a baby set and she is done. Its probably a lot more than some parents would get for their children but understand this, they are fixing to loose a lot of their toys. I am implementing my clear bin toy system right before Christmas. Im so excited to be getting organized in this department.
So anyone else done any Christmas shopping? Whatdja get?

Bad day

So Friday started our oldest boy throwing up. He had a visit with his mommy and of course I got a frantic phone call after the visit about how sick he was. Now I totally understand her worry, but Im not going to rush a child to the hospital after his first upset stomache. Im going to do what my mother in law the nurse suggested keep him resting, cool and hydrated. If he is still sick Monday take him to the Dr. If his temp gets too high or he gets A LOT worse take him to the walk in clinic over the weekend. So far with fever reducer and rest he seems to be shaping up. Although if it is the flu like my MIL suspects we may be at the Drs office Monday. (Or at least calling to see if he needs to be there) It has to be hard for her to see her child sick and know she wont be the one caring for him but I assured her I would watch over and care for him as if he were my own (which I do daily anyways) and so far I have. I have washed his face and rubbed his back and tucked him in and given him liquid. Right now he is playing dominoes with his "sisters" and giggling up a storm. I think this "mommy" guided by God's hand is not such a bad nurse! :)
Anyways DH came home sick. So I busted out liquids and I am heading to the store tomorrow for chicken so I can make some chicken stock. (Hint make a lot and freeze for the winters ills and chills.) Im convinced this is one of the best ways to heal - homemade chicken soup. If you are not sure how to make it go to my favorite website all recipes and type it in the search tons of recipes should appear.
The schedule when you have a sick child kinda goes down the tubes. I cuddled and nursed most of the day with him and my other two little people not in school.
Maybe next Friday will go better..or maybe not. But God will provide and things will be ok.

Friday

Here is Friday's schedule:

6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress/ all others still in bed
7:00 Mommy help A dress/all others dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy fix breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/all others free time
8:15 To school with KA and KE til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy clean up/T and C worksheets/A color
Here we either go to Grandmas to work on sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking..etc..for the day or have a fun day at home. We do grandma's every other week.
9:30 Grandma's/or a game
10:00 Granma's/or in the kitchen to bake
10:30Grandma's/or a movie
12:00 Lunch with Grandma or at home/ on the days we do not go to Grandma's C has a visit with his mom and will leave around noonish and return around 2:30
12:30 Freetime/rest mommy/A and T nap
2:30 To the school
3:00 Snack/school review/free time
3:30 Read with littles/older girls PM chores
4:30 Finish house mommy/free time all others
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bible time
7:30 Family Game night
9:00 Family reading
9:30 Free time for mommy/Bed for everyone else
11:00 Mommy bed

Friday's weekly room is:

The library/playroom

Dust- T
Clean glass - KE
Vacuum- KA
Walls/doors/baseboards - C
Declutter - Mommy

Ok so..

Obviously not a lot got done on Thurs. I had a bad migrane. The children played nicely and watched videos while I rested on the couch next to them. So I guess we will have to wait until next Thurs to see if Thurs works but I dont see any glaring problems.

Thursday

So sorry that I did not get to post on Thurs and Friday. I think we have a flu epidemic here. Not sure yet but all signs point to flu. So far I only have one child and one hubby down. Please remember us in your prayers. Pray that no one else is knocked out by this. Thank you.
Here is Thursaday's schedule. For space reasons I will post Friday in a seperate blog.

6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ All other children dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA Bible time/All other children listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast all/ Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/All others free time
8:15 Off to school the older ones go til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy cleanup/C puzzle/T playdoh/Acolor
9:30 Five In A Row all
10:00 100 EZ with C/T puzzle/A Book
10:30 100 EZ with T/C playdoh/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and colors with A/C and T color
11:30 Lunch all
12:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A nap
12:30 Mommy rest/computer time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project time/all others nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A book
2:30 To school
3:00 Library all
4:30 Mommy Finish house/KA and KE PM chores/T, C, and A free time
5:00 Mommy start dinner/KA and KE homework/Others free time
6:00 Eat
7:00 Family Time/Bible/baths
8:00 Mommy free time/KA and KE baths and read/all others bed
8:30 KA and KE to bed
11:00 Mommy to bed


Thursdays weekly room:

Bathroom
Clean glass KE
Scrub shower/tub - Mommy
Clean cabinets - KE
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T
Sweep - KA
Mop - KA
Fresh Towels - KA
Wipe walls/baseboards/doors - C
Empty Trash - T
Cat Litter 2x a week - KA
Declutter - Mommy

And the verdict for today....

Good. Although we were out late last night for mom's birthday so I let the children sleep in a bit. Also I was out and about til around 2pm with some extra errands. I am learning though (thanks Lori) that the schedule is more of a guideline to keep you on track. Im not stressed that I cant follow the schedule every day. I see improvements in my home and my family so something must be going right! :) Plus I have something to blog about everyday.. LOL. Ok we are going to play a quick game of Jenga with the children before Bible and bed.

Wednesday's Schedule

Here we go:

6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian Dress/Other children dress/bathroom/room chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/all others free time
8:15 Older girls to school til 3:00
8:30 Chores all
9:00 Mommy chores/T and C worksheets/A color
9:30 Weight Watchers
10:30 Lunch out with Grandma, grocery store, other errands
12:00 If we are done with errands we come home and C and T and mommy do Bright Beginnings and A naps
12:30 Mommy computer and rest time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project/all others contnue napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C and Mommy/A books
2:30 To school to pick up older girls
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Mommy phone calls/KA and KE afternoon chores/C and T and A games and puzzles
4:00 Mommy last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/all others free time
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat all
7:00 Family time/Bible time/Baths
8:00 Mommy free time/ KA and KE reading and baths/all others bed
8:30 Mommy free time/all others bed
11:00 Mommy bed

Wed weekly chores:

In the bedrooms:

Dust - T
Clean glass - KE
Change sheets - KA
Vacuum - KA
Wipe down walls/baseboards/walls - C
Clean ceiling fan - Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Straighten closets - Mommy
empty trash can - C

How did today go?

Today went well. The schedule got thrown off quiet a bit this morning when we had a visit from the licensing worker this morning. Apparently they are supposed to make visits every other month..HAHA that never happened with our old licensing agency. (Our old licensing agency is the same agency that A is through. They have been one headache after another.)So my morning was spent making sure the children's rooms looked nice and they medicine and cleaning supplies were all put up and locked away, and the kitchen was clean. This afternoon and evening were taken over preparing for my mom's birthday dinner tonight. The children and I went and bought presents (mine was from the bookstore and the children each got to pick an item out at the good old dollar store!)Then we went and wrapped the presents and they decorated the card and we had a late dinner out with her and my brother. But for the most part I think Tuesday's schedule will work.

Tuesday's Schedule

Happy Birthday to my mommy! Not that she ever reads my blog..even though I have shown her countless times how to get here! ;)

Here is Tuesday's schedule:

6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ Everyone else dress/bathroom/make bed/straighten room
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion time all
8:00 AM chores for mommy, KA, and KE/everyone else freetime
8:15 Take KA and KE to school/KA and KE school til 3:00
8:30 Chores everyone
9:00 Mommy finish up chores/other children video
9:30 Five In A Row Lesson
10:00 100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read with C/ T and A color
10:30 100 EZ Lessons with T/ C color/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and Colors with A/T and A puzzles
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A nap
12:30 Mommy rest and computer time/everyone else nap
1:30 Mommy project time/everyone else nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/A book time
2:30 Go pick up Girls from school
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Reading with T, C, and A/KA and KE afternoon chores
4:00 Mommy one last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/everyone else free time
5:00 Start dinner with KA/everyone else free time
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Bible reading/Baths/Family read aloud
8:00 Free time Mommy/KA and KE baths/ everyone else bed
9:00 All chlildren in bed
11:00 Mommy to bed

Tuesdays weekly chores:
Our room is the kitchen!

Clean fridge - KE
Scrub Stove - Mommy
Mop - KA
Wipe down appliances - T
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T and Mommy
Straighten shelves/pantry/cabinets - Mommy
Declutter - Mommy
Wipe down walls/baseboards/doors - C

What worked what did not...

So we missed a bit on our schedule today because I had a lot of catching up to do in the house. The girls closet organizer is in so I had to work on getting everything set up in there. I think this day will work out well. I did not have any major problems. Of course I will have to go a few more weeks to make sure. Also I need to make sure I can get it all done. I know I did not today because it took longer than it was supposed to on the "chores" part. I will just make note of it and see how it goes next week.

Daily and weekly chores.

Monday is Living Room Day here are the weekly chores for the Living Room and who is in charge of that task
Dust - T
Wash glass - KA
Clean Ceiling fan- Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Wipe down tables with Murphy's oil soap- KE
Wipe down walls/doors/baseboards- C

Our daily chores are listed below along with who is responsible:
Living Room
General pickup - T
Vacuum - KA
Clean off dining table - C
Wipe off dining table - Mommy
Pet hair sweep- KE
Clear off desk and coffee table- Mommy

Kitchen
Dishes- Mommy
Counters- KA
Sweep- KA
Spot Mop- KE
Clear table by door- Mommy
Empty trash- Mommy
Clear off children's table - C
general pick up - T

Bathrooms
Swish toilet C (just taking the brush and running it along the sides)
general pickup T
Wipe counters/sink/toilet KA
Spray showers Mommy

Playroom/Library
General pickup All (but T is in charge!)
Straighten bookshelves C

Bedrooms
make beds all
general pickup all

Monday Schedule

Im trying to figure out how to get this posted and it look like its supposed to..not sure if thats going to happen! :)

Anyway, here is Monday's schedule. I will bold what we actually got to do.

6:30 Mommy up/shower/dressed Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy dress Adrian Children dress/straighten room/bathroom time
7:15 Mommy makes breakfast KA reads her Bible, the other children listen to the Bible on CD
7:30 Quiet time for Mommy/breakfast for everyone else (I eat my breakfast while I have my quiet time)
7:45 Devotion and Breakfast clean up
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/other children play quietly in playroom
8:15 out the door to school
8:30 Mommy and three younger children do daily/weekly house work/KA and KE are at school til 3:00
9:00 Mommy finishes housework/T and C do worksheets and A colors
9:30 Five in A Row or just plain family reading
10:00 Slow and Steady Christopher/T colors/A does puzzles
10:30 Slow and Steady Tamara/C colors/A reads his books
11:00 Slow and Steady with Adrian/C does puzzles/T reads her books
11:30 Lunch time
12:00 Lunch clean up/Bright Beginnings with C and T/A lays down for nap
12:30 Mommy computer time and rest/nap time everyone else
12:30 Mommy project time/everyone else still napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A gets free time
2:30 Go pick up older girls from school

Here is where the schedule differs
Every Monday the two older girls have a therapy appointment. One has one every week the other has hers every other week. So some Mondays we have to be there right after school and some Mondays we dont have to be there until 4.

3:00 Therapy OR snack/school review/free time
3:30 Leave for therapy
5:30 Make dinner/ school girls do homework/other children have free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bowling (DH and I bowl on a Christian bowling league. Sometimes the children come with us and sometimes my mom watches them)
9:30 Bible/Bath/Bed
11:00 Mommy to bed

A whole lotta nothing....

Ok so I have been MIA these past few days. Do you realize I can get ready for a weekend trip in about two hours but it takes me like three days to recover from one?! Where is the logic? I finally have caught up on laundry and the house is..well its presentable. :) The children are almost down from their highs. I think we are almost all caught up on sleep. My four year old little guy slept from about 5pm last night til I woke him up at 8am this morning. He slept right through dinner and everything. He got a little extra cereal this morning. :)
We have officially turned in our application to become an adoptive home. Now we wait!
My mom just finished classes to be a Guardian Ad Litem. This is someone whose sole purpose is to advocate for the foster children. The advice I have given her is to try to get her visits done before 5:30pm (when all the GALs seem to converge on my house!) and to never think she can go into a room with a child and shut the door. I believe I blogged about this once. I was furious. I understand they have to take time to talk to the children..and I dont mind if they go in their rooms but do not shut the door! She has agreed. I think she will be a great GAL.
I am going to be posting my schedules next week on the appropriate day. I will also tell what worked with the schedule and what did not. Of course I will have to revise my schedule when I bring the girls home from school after the adoption.
As for the great weigh-in....I have lost 2 pounds. Thats even with going to Disney last weekend and having to eat in the park TWICE! This week I am working hard to hit my five pound mark. (I get a book mark!)
Ok so now that I have written about a whole lot of nothing I guess I will go! Im heading over to my mom's house and we are going to sew up some skirts for the girls.

Lessons From Disney World

We are back safe and sound and full of stories. We had a great time. The children really enjoyed it and we learned some lessons. I will share them all with you!


Lesson number 1: If the guide says small children will be frightened...um...believe it! We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday and there is a 3-D movie called Its Tough To Be Bug. Well Dh and I decided that we could just hold the small ones and they would be fine. How scary can it be? Well when the acid spitting bug spit water onto us the 2 year old crawled on top of my head screaming bloody murder! The four year old did one of those runs where you are running so fast your feet move but nothing else does, to get into DH's lap. I left at this point with a two year old sitting on top of my head and poor Dh was left with the other four children. They actually were scared but not doing to badly until the end when they excuse the roaches and maggots and the seats had something in them to make it feel like they were crawling over you. Apparently little girls ages, 8, 5, and 4 do not like this sensation and will end up on the ceiling....screaming! Of course had momma not left a few minutes before that she might have joined them on the ceiling...two year old on her head and all! :)

Lesson number 2: If you have five children and try to ride a ride with a moving walkway that makes you step into the ride...you will have to endure the stares of people when the ride grinds to a stop to allow you on and off access. We rode Tomorrow Land Transit System which is basically a little ride that takes you through Tomorrow Land attractions. You step onto this moving walkway and then into a car. Sounds easy right? Well with five children we ended up getting on ok though there were some moments of panic when a child was running alongside yelling, "Give me a hand up!" I felt like we were in the old west trying to rob a train. Now getting off proved to be a disaster. Once again the ride slows..some..... and you step onto the moving walkway. I had the bright idea that hubby, who of course was seated on the opposite end of the exit, should crawl over everyone and help us off. Would have worked had not all the children tried to clamor off at the same time and become wedged in the door. So alas we ran out of room and they had to stop the ride so we could get off. Of course the man on the loud speaker says, "Please remain seated. We are experiencing a slight delay and will begin moving shortly." Have you ever been a slight delay? One of my more humbling experiences I must say.

Lesson number 3: Every time your child sees a new restroom he/she (mostly she) will have to use it! I truly truly think we spent more time checking out the restrooms then anything else. Either my eight year old has serious bladder problems or she has no patience for just standing around looking at a map. Methinks it is the second choice. Do not despair she did not get to go every time she asked. :)

Lesson number 4: No stroller parking zones! This is going to be one of my favorite stories of the trip..I think! We wanted to go on Its A Small World. Very worth it to see the children's faces. Well. We parked our stroller in what looked like a stroller parking lot at the entrance. You know the first thing you see to a ride and think oh I should go on this ride? Well we get off the ride and cant find our stroller. It was not too big a deal. We left our light jackets in there and my mom's cane. We were a little miffed that we did not have a stroller to finish the night in with a two year old. We looked around some more for the stroller but could not find it. (By the way this was a rented double stroller because I forgot ours!) Finally DH went to report it to the people at the entrance of Its A Small World to make sure we did not have to do anything. Well he is told that all the strollers were moved to the Stroller Parking area. Apparently we were not in the stroller parking area AND the stroller parking area was at the EXIT to the ride..because that's the first place you go when you want to ride the ride so of course you should see the stroller parking! (Sarcasm!) We find our stroller among the hundreds (may be an exaggeration) and hubby says jokingly to the Magic Kingdom stroller parking employee that they should have a sign. He is then blasted with venom as the employee tells him that they have a sign but obviously they need a bigger one with flashing lights. (He was being very sarcastic) Now if you know anything about hubby and I, we don't deal well with people talking down to us. So of course we traipsed back to the entrance of the ride to find "the sign". Ok let me tell you it is dark! There were a sea of strollers parked at the entrance when we got there and parked ours. If there was a sign I think it was underground because we never found it. The closet thing we found to a sign was at the EXIT of the ride that said stroller parking. I personally believe that if there is more than a few people parking in the no stroller parking zone that it is not the fault of the stroller owners there must be a reason NO ONE out of the hundreds of strollers he had to move were parked in the right spot. Hmm?

Lesson number 5: The lady standing beside you when you are waiting to pay thousands of dollars for your Disney souvenirs will jump in front of you and not so much as blink an eye! Yes here I am at 11pm with my arms full of Disney parahernalia just praying that we can check out soon and I can get off my aching feet! There was a lady that walked up beside me and acted like she was looking at something on the counter. I thought nothing of it. She put her coffee cup souvenir on the counter and made like she was just browsing then the very second the guy in front of me finished she slid her cup up there. Now you think this is the worst but OH NO! she was not finished shopping. She sent her boyfriend on many more excursions while the cashier was ringing her up. I stood there mouth open and had a...well..an actual confrontation with her back. I remember at one point these words exited my mouth, "Gosh if I was going to jump in front of someone at least I would be ready to check out and not still shopping." I was getting louder and louder with every comment coming out of my mouth. I was so mad! I know I know not a very nice thing to do but I was tired, achy and just plain ready to go. Now get this, at one point she told her boyfriend to go find the white cup with nothing on it! WHAT!?!?!? I believe my comment to this was, "Go to Walmart! They have tons of white cups with nothing on it!" She never even turned around. There was another line right beside ours and I looked at this man next to me and said loudly, "Watch out someone will try to break line if you aren't careful! It happened to me and now I have to wait for her to finish shopping." I just kept going off. Fortunately my children were not around to see mommy turn into a bad word. My mother however told me to shutup a few times.

Well that's really all the lessons we have time for tonight. I know there are more and I will share them with you as I think of them.

On the plus side I did finish working out schedules this weekend and will post those soon. I took a page from Lori and actually scheduled each day. I think this will work out better for me.
Ok folks good night!

I Forgot Some Cool Websites.

For all of you hungry people out there I found this website called Hungry Girl. Its so great. She gives the lowdown on a lot of products!

Also dont know if you read about this..but here is a link to my hero! When I grow up I want to be just like her...I have a good start at 5 right?

Checking In

Hi to all. Wanted to check in. Here is what is going on at our happy home!

I joined Weight Watchers with my mom on Wed. I will not tell you what my weight is but I will tell you that my goal weight is between 135 and 145. I am hoping to be between 20 and 25 pounds thinner by the first of the year. I will keep you all informed.

A has a court date on October 18. Not sure what this one is for but I think it is just a preliminary to the actual Termination of Parental Rights hearing. I believe at this hearing she will be given the option of voluntarily signing over her rights. Should be interesting if nothing else.

This weekend we are going to Disney World. I am so excited. My mom is taking us. Hubby and I are paying for the hotel room (which mom actually got a really good deal on a three bedroom condo!). I have not been to Disney in a few years and I am looking forward to experiening it through my children's eyes. Of course my sweet Princess girl is all in a tither about seeing Cinderella's castle. :)

The girls' adoption seems to be on track. We are supposed to get a call for an adoption homestudy any day now. Please keep praying we can get this all finalized by Christmas. Im so anxious! :)

Ok I guess I better finish dinner. If you dont hear from me again before this weekend, I will overload you with news of our trip next week.

Boot Camp Day 3

OK we are back up and running! Yesterday I was nursing not one but two sick little people. They awoke this morning to assure me that all is well. :)
Boot Camp Day 3:

I have a few minor things to finish in the kitchen. Such as organizing the pantry, cleaning up the appliance shelf, and laying down more shelf coverings in the cabinets. I am teaching my five year old to sweep and swiffer mop this month. My four almost five year old boy is learning how to wipe down the counters. They are all so eager to learn and work.
In the boys room I have to fix the drawer that fell off of the dresser, show them how to make up their beds properly, and move a few things out of there and it will be nice, clean and ready to vacuum when the eight year old gets home from school.
I have given up on the girls' room until dad gets the closet organizer up. There are clothes everywhere.
The children's' bathroom needs a good scrub down and I think I will do that while they are napping.
Im going to clean up our bedroom, at least on hubby's side of the bed.
I will let you know tonight or tomorrow morning how much I got accomplished.

I challenge you this week to pick one project in your home that you have been putting off and just spend the rest of the week working on it whenever you get a few minutes. I have accomplished a lot in the past few days just doing it in little pieces.

Have fun! And remember lets make our homes beautiful!

My Summer Ride

Thanks Allison for this cute quiz. I do think if I was single and money were not a big deal I would like one of these. I think they are cute.
Oh we are back to boot camp today so I will post a little later.

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

Im going crazy!!

Do you see the sidebar at the bottom of my blog?? My template has not changed at all does anyone have any idea why it jumped to the bottom??!?!

This is cute...

See what Brandy did to me now???? I have no one to tag..sigh..if you want to do this on your blog ANYONE send me a link and I will post it. Its actually kind of cute and funny!

1. Search your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (this is meant to say something about you).
4. Post that sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
6. Tag five people to do the same.

Here is the fifth sentence from my 23rd blog post.

Dated 7/7/2005
Titled The Simple Life (My post on being Amish!)
"They hold marriage and family in such high regard."

Now I must go to sleep. We had fun in Tampa this weekend our goddaughter is absolutly beautiful!

Python eats gator!

Not for the faint of heart...but quiet interesting if you ask me!
Python eats gator

Also here is orca cam..I think I like wild cam better but orca cam you get to see some neat fish.. :)

I am eating lunch right now so I get to surf for a few minutes.. the kitchen is coming along nicely.. :)

Boot Camp Day 2!

Clean this house boot camp day 2! Well the kitchen looks great. I did all that I wanted except the cabinets. I did clean out my big scary cabinet where all our pans and casserole dishes are kept. I found my wok which I thought I'd given away so Im pretty excited about that. Today I am going to do upper cabinets: clean them out and rub them down with Murphy's wood cleaner..I love the smell and it makes everything so shiny! I will then clean and scrub the fridge, straighten up and declutter the baker's rack that holds my cookbooks and baking stuff, clean off my appliance shelf, and clean our mail table (a little table by the back door that catches EVERYTHING! After all this is done if I have time I am going to straighten up the pantry. If not I will leave it for tomorrow. Also today I am going to get the boy's room completely cleaned up. It really needs a good scrub down! This is the plan for today. This house will be spic n span by the end of October! :)
For those of you wondering we had to postpone the potato fire..it will be held on a day when hubby is home and the fire extinguisher is near by. Thanks and have a great day!

Boot Camp

Ok here we go! Its the October Clean Your House Boot Camp. With fall in the air...everywhere but good old Florida I have this bug to make my house warm and cozy..even with the air conditioner on!
Im starting today in the kitchen. So far I have all the dishes done but one teensy little pile that I think I will let my eight year old work on when she gets home from school. Im in the process of cleaning off all the counters. This is going to take a day or two because I am putting everything that sits on the counters on my children's' picnic table in the middle of the floor. When I need something it will go back on the counter. If I do not reach for it this week it is going on the appliance shelf. Im afraid this means the toaster wont be on the counter but we NEVER use it. Why is it taking up space?? Next is the stove. I am going to clean the vent out and scrub all round the hood and top part really good. Also the wall above the stove needs a good wipe down. I have a smooth cook top so I will take my cream cleaner and scrub it down nice and shiny. Next I need to flick on the self cleaning oven button and see how well that works.. I have never used it before. Probably what I remember most from my moms it the house was incredibly hot and it stunk. Sounds like fun! Im cleaning and reorganizing cabinets getting rid of old junk...Monica if your dad still needs anything let me know and I will see if I have it! I am also moving the medicine to the medicine closet. Right now it sits in a cabinet near the stove..convienient, yes.. but I really want all the meds stored in one place for quick retrieval. Makes sense, right? I think this is all I will get done today.

Humor... here are the words to Jingle Bells as sung by my five year old...

Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
Jingle All the Way
Old McDonald had a farm eieio!

Problems at school?!

So ever since we sent the eight year old to school we have had behavior problems with her..not really bad ones but things that need to be dealt with now so they dont manifest. I think they have been manifesting for eight long years. She has had inconsistent to harsh discipline her whole life so now we are trying to win her with consistency. She is also not doing well in school. She is on medication for ADHD which she is supposed to be coming off of at the end of the year, praise God. We are at this point trying to teach her that she is responsible for her actions and that she cant rely on her medication to make her do well in school or to be good. She has been taught for so long that her medicine is a crutch. And her teacher makes sure to ask her daily if she has taken her medicine..especially on days she gets in trouble. "Hey lady!" I want to yell," Can you work with us to get her off of this crutch? Can you help us teach her to be responsible for herself?" No of course she cant she has 20 other students that she has to figure out if they are on their medication. No offense to the people who take it and might need it but my eight year old sure does not. I hate it when she is on this stuff. She acts like a total zombie! She was on Strattara read this article to find out what mood altering drugs can do to our children! Anyways I digress. It is hard to be consistent with her when she leaves me at 8:15am in the morning and returns home at 3:00pm in the afternoon. Then I get these vague reports of how she did during the day..,"She talked during a test. She tied her shoe laces together...etc... " Im not sure if Im hearing the whole story. Im not sure what the child was doing...its hard to punish or know how to punish when you have no clue what was going on! Also its hard to be consistent..she is not allowed to do something at home that may be perfectly acceptable at school. Where is the consistency?
Another problem is what my child is bringing home from school (aside from head lice..weekly!??!?!?!??!?) The other day she informed me we are part of the ape family..."no dear," I calmly explained. "Oh yeah, we used to be apes..." "My love, someone is teasing you! The Bible says God made us as man and woman." I tell her ever so gently... for those of you who know me you know my head was spinning and flames were shooting from my ears. I had to keep reassuring the child she was in no danger but that she should definitely tell her teacher to hide under her desk for the next few days! After we cleared up that neither she nor I nor her little brothers and sisters looked, smelled, or talked like apes therefore we must be different she and I explored the story of the creation in the Bible .I think she is a little more comfortable with it now.
KA's reading which she was doing well with at the end of the summer (B.U. before us) has just gone down the tubes! She is doing well with spelling but her reading comprehension is deplorable. Some weeks she does great other weeks I just sign all the "F" papers and remind her she has to focus and not talk or play around. We are fighting an uphill battle. One we are prepared to win!
So what should we do about little Miss "I really need some help here guys!" ? Well hubby and I have decided that as soon as the adoption is finalized she is coming home. We wanted to wait until next year so as not to disrupt her too much but the longer I wait the more problems pop up. When I take her out of school we will focus mainly on reading and comprehension and some math. For the months leading to next August that is it. I will use The Well Trained Mind method of reading, dictation, copy work, and working with manipulatives in Math. Simply addition and subtraction for now because I dont know that she has a firm grasp of it. I think I will be using the Five In A Row books for her for the rest of the year to give her some reading practice and for a laid back approach as she and I adjust. I dont know yet about the kindergarten. She is doing well in school so we might prayerfully consider letting her finish the year.
At this point I will be starting my soon to be first grader in Saxon 1 Math next year and the almost third grader in Saxon Math 2. I will also be using the Story of The World book 1 for both of the girls. WTM recommends starting at the beginning of history no matter where you come in and it makes it easier to have the two of them on the same schedule. These are the two curriculums I have almost completely decided on the other subjects are up in the air at this point..Im still researching. A lot has been going on to make my head just spin with the knowledge being poured into it. Im excited and apprehensive at the same time. The message boards at WTM have helped me immensely. So far they have not laughed at any of my questions. Well I guess I have babbled on enough about this today. Im so excited that you will probably see it popping up around some more here though!

Glad to see you guys having fun!

This is the most action my blog has seen...does anyone know what happened to my sidebar?!?!? Its gone and I dont know why..
Anyways.. I have to know who anonymous is in the country quiz. I love the fact that they are Texas! Thats the funniest thing..even I, no great student at geography (or spelling!) thought this was priceless. So I have an idea who it is but please email me if you dont want to say on the blog. That is so funny! :)

There is actually a state quiz but I was embarassed to be Rhode Island so I did not post it! :)

This is great

National Geographic has a webcam set up at a water hole and you can see all sorts of neat animals. So far today we have seen a group of warthogs and some crocs! I love this thing.