Thursday

1. Everyone should read this article about the Bush tax cuts. Very interesting.

2. What is it about feed sacks that make racing so much fun for kids? And grandpas.

3. Is it Christmas break yet? I am so in the sewing mood. I want to sew and try to make lip gloss/chapstick and paint the ugly green bathroom.

Thursday's...Thoughts?

Howdy. It's another Thursday. Can you believe I've done this four Thursdays in a row. Amazing!

This is a picture of a sunset I took on Saturday. Lovely, eh?

 SQUIRREL!!! They are a nusiance in the garden, but I have to admit, they are cute.

My poor Rachel. Amblyopia, broken foot, horrible sore on ankle AND she is a fire ant's favorite snack. This girl can find a fire ant mound in the middle of the ocean. All the girls and my mom were on my grandma's lawn petting the neighbors' dogs when suddenly Rachel started screaming. Turns out she found the fire ants. When she gets bit by fire ants, it's not just one or two at a time, it's many, many, many at a time and this has happened to her so often that she is now developing an allergy to the bites. Her foot swelled up even bigger than you see here and the bites (or stings, really) puffed up with water like blisters. Poor girl.

 Look at my little man. Check out his double chin. Is it not the cutest double chin you've ever seen?!

 Florida wildlife: gators. Oh so friendly. I like all the signs in the ponds/lakes: DANGER: ALLIGATORS. NO SWIMMING OR FISHING. And yet people still get killed/maimed swimming in bodies of water here.

 My OB group gives these shirts out after the babies are born. The little one was for Lily, the other pink for Anna and obviously the blue for Isaac. Very cool keepsake!

 On Saturday we took the kids orienteering at Moss Park in Orlando. It didn't turn out so hot. Rachel hurt her broken foot a bit, Lily and Anna couldn't hack the walking and Isaac thinks if I'm holding him he should be eating (I was using a mei tai I made). So Del kept the older two and finished the course while Mom and I took the kids to a park. I sat in the car with sleeping Isaac while my mom braved the park and then got some water from this fountain.

It was fun to get out in the woods again. I'll be happy when all the kids are old enough to go for a hike in the woods without crying and whining and complaining the whole time. Being in the woods sure does make me miss the mountains in Colorado.

That's all I have for now. Wasn't it riveting?

Thursday's...Nothing to Say

I have absolutely nothing interesting to say. I have such a boring life, right? Actually it's not boring I'm just a poor chronicler...if that's a word. So Del bought me some flowers and here's some pictures I took of them.

 Isaac is starting to smile a lot lately. He even almost giggled today. It's the cutest thing ever, but incredibly difficult to capture on film.

 We lose a lot of pencils during school. Do you? It's really bothering me that we lose so many pencils.

 It's nearly 10 at night and my older girls and I are watching Pride and Prejudice. It's a real joy to have daughters.

 I'm ready for a trip...somewhere. I'd like to go to Texas.

Mini Post

• I broke my toe last week.  It still is quite painful when I wear shoes, but is almost pain-free without shoes.
• I exercised today for the first time in forever, broken toe and all.  I think the toe actually helped me because normally I tend to start exercising with too much gusto, end up injuring myself, and have to take another month to recover before starting the whole process over again.  Smart, huh?
• My kids are in VBS all week this week.  Why, then, am I the one who is so tired I could fall into bed and sleep for a week?
• Both my kids invited friends from their T-ball teams to go to VBS with them.  I love watching them want to share their love for Jesus with others!  I don't even mind the extra driving to pick up and drop off two extra kids this week to foster that mindset!
• I have had a half finished post showing more kitchen progress for almost a week now.  I'd love to say I'll have it up tomorrow, but I know better. ;)
• Our blackberries, the one plant we've had success with in the garden, are dying.  The only bright note to this sad story is that I think through trying to figure out why the berries are suddenly dying we've figured out why we cannot grow anything in this yard - our soil is infested with more roly-poly bugs than you can imagine!  Now I have to figure out how to kill doodle bugs.
• We got new phones last week.  I am loving being able to text, check facebook from my phone, and take great pictures with my phone.  However, they sent me a defective one, so I have to exchange it.  The battery on mine dies within 4 hours of a full charge, even when I am not using it!  The store tested the battery for me, and it is fine, which means I managed to get a defective phone.
• When my grandmother was visiting last week, she was playing "Sorry" with my kids.  After beating them pretty soundly three times in a row, Aaron asked her, "Great-Grandma, what game are you really bad at?"  Ha!  I guess now I know why my whole family is super competitive.  It has been handed down for many generations now!

Totally Random Tuesday

• I didn't get up a Mini-Post Monday because I was too busy getting ready to go see Joanna!!!  Woo-Hoo!  I leave Thursday morning, and I cannot wait!
• My middle son turned five last week.  It just isn't possible! 

Ethan got to open two small gifts first thing on his birthday morning.  And, yes, Joanna, he is wearing an Ohio State shirt.  I didn't plan it that way, he just really likes this shirt! 

• The key to a successful 5 year old boy's birthday party is to over plan.  Otherwise, much wrestling ensues.

Notice how neither of the girls that were invited to the party participated in this activity...I let them be a bit more rowdy than our normal house rules allow since it was a birthday party and all.  And look at the smiles - they had a blast.
• My big boys now have the nicest floors in the house.  Jerry finished putting down Hickory hard wood floors in their room since we had to throw out the carpet after the melting snow leaked in and caused mold to grow everywhere.  I wish I could put it everywhere - it is so beautiful!!!  They love it because they can slip and slide across the floor now.  Hours of entertainment, I tell you!

Ooh, aah!  Isn't it lovely?
• It is ant swarm season.  I hate ant swarm season.  Since none of our windows actually fit well enough to keep ants out, we kill tons of ants every day.  These are huge winged ants, too.  During the height of it, the one window they prefer to swarm will have hundreds of them each day.  We spray around the inside of that window, so they're dead as soon as they come in, but still!  I don't really like vacuuming up hundreds of huge, winged ants every day.
• Joanna asked what the asterisks marks by some of the books in my reading list were, so I thought I'd post that just in case anyone else was wondering.  Toward the end of last year, I challenged myself to break out of the reading mold I am most comfortable in and start reading more noteworthy books.  I rarely read non-fiction, and I want to read more classic literature so I can be better prepared to go back to school for my Master's degree someday (big dream...may not happen, but a girl can dream, right?).  I decided it might motivate me if I could actually see the distinction in my list, so each book with asterisks is either non-fiction or of some literary significance.  I am interested in pursuing a children's literature degree so I am trying to read through all the Newberry award winners, and then the others are considered "classics" by the powers that be.  There.  Now you all know.  Don't you feel better?

Andrew gets this super smile every time I give him an oatmeal cookie.  I think I'm packing 10 of  these for the plane ride to Joanna's house...
• I prefer peanut butter with chocolate over any other chocolate combination I can think of.
• I need some coffee.  Strong coffee.
• I need some ideas for how to celebrate my birthday next month.  How does one celebrate the big 33?  Send any and all ideas to my sweet husband, okay?
• Our allergies make birthday cakes pretty much out of the question, but it turns out that as long as the birthday "cake" item has some frosting and a candle, no one cares!  By the way, these allergy friendly oatmeal cookies are the best oatmeal cookies I've ever had!  Not all allergy foods are gross.

Random

I actually feel quite bad that I don't post here more often. Not because I think all 4 of my adoring fans really want to hear more from me, but because I have a deep desire to stay connected to good friends, and usually feel disconnected from them. Specifically my dear friend Joanna, whom I love and miss. A lot. Anyway, there is a really good reason I don't post daily, though. Namely, my life is way too boring for that. Just to prove my point, the following is a collection of could-have-been posts from the last week. Note the amazing excitement of my life as you read them. *Ahem*

"Today for science we collected a pile of leaf litter from our flower bed, brought it inside, and examined it under a magnifying glass. It was teeming with tiny life! I am extra excited that we saw a baby earthworm. It was only as long as my thumbnail and as small around as a thick piece of hair. If it hadn't been moving, we never would have seen it. If I actually knew how to take good photos and had a decent camera, I would have taken a picture. Ya gotta love homeschooling!"

"Today I gave myself a shot for the first time, and you know, it's really not hard or scary at all! I am thankful that I can get some relief from my allergy shots and not have to drive the 25 minutes to the allergists office multiple times a week to have them shoot me up! I've only done it once now, but I am really impressed by myself!"

"You know those nifty heat-resistant, black handles on most cookware? If you apply direct flame to one of those handles for a while...oh, say, 15 minutes or so...they turn to ash. They also make your smoke alarm beep with fury. They also fill your house with a horrible, terrible, armpit-of-a-trash-heap smell. Don't ask how I know."

"Went to a wedding today...bickered with my husband the whole way there. Isn't a celebration of marriage beautiful?"

"Did you know that one frozen rabbit costs $30! I don't even know if I like rabbit, so I am not about to pay that kind of money for a rodent. Where's the neighbor I used to have who kept rabbits for the express purpose of making rabbit stew out of them when I need him??"