JEDI Training Academy

Test

2011-08-22T23:31:00.001-05:00

Trying my phone.

Slogans

2008-10-14T20:15:00.003-05:00

Somehow our kids picked up the slogan, "Subway....eat fresh!" So, Eli treats us to this at random times. We'll be riding in the van, and he'll pipe up, "Subway...eat fresh!" We'll be eating dinner, and he'll throw out, "Subway...eat fresh!"

Every time he does this, we just crack up, so the kids started coming up with their own slogans. Here are the top two:

"Chuck E. Cheese: Come happy, leave tired."

But my favorite was this one-

"McDonalds: Kids love it, parents hate it"

Fall Update

2008-10-02T09:42:00.007-05:00

Well, we're fully into our fall schedule now, full time school, soccer practices, dance classes, and an array of classes with our home school group. Whew, it's exhausting, but for the most part, very satisfying. I just don't seem to find time to post updates on a regular basis. Sometimes, its because I have nothing to say, other times its because I have too much to say :)

So, here's a long awaited (haha) update on everyone in our lovely, little (haha) family:

Lizzie- She had more than one full night's sleep in a row since sometime in July. She goes back to the ENT tomorrow where he will hopefully decide to take her large tonsils out really soon. Brett and I walk around in a daze most of the time, fully understanding the concept of sleep deprivation as torture. She is talking up a storm, but the only kid she consistently calls by their name is Eli. She can say it perfectly and it just cracks us up. She is a tough little girl, nothing slows her down. And she is our "little monkey". She climbs on everything and she is a whiz on the playground.

Eli- This little boy just blows me away sometimes. He has a very sharp mind and has a very strong desire to learn to read. He is blasting through his "school" books and is quickly approaching a Kindergarten level. I've struggled with this because on one hand, I don't want to push him too fast and I don't want him to catch up too quickly with Gavin, but on the other hand, I don't want to hold him back. And he has some weird natural ability- a lot like Alyssa at that age. He is such a sweet brother/son. We call him "Pastor E" because he is always putting other people first- whether its giving Gavin his new Power Ranger to play with first or letting Lizzie take his spot on the couch/at the table/on my lap. He just finished his first session of "bitty soccer".

Gavin- The past couple months have been big for Gavin. He has joined Cub Scouts, lost his first two teeth, and it seems as if he's grown another three inches. We have really been working on his school work this year because I feel like I've let him fall through the cracks in previous years. As Alyssa gets more independent, I'm finding I have more time to focus on him. He is reading easy reader books without too much trouble, and we are working through our first chapter book. He's finally realizing that he can read words around him- coming up and reading my emails over my shoulder or reading signs we pass. He is making more and more connections in his school work and is starting to retain more information. He says, "Oh, I know!" or "Oh, yeah!" a lot these days. By the way, anybody want to buy some popcorn???

Lauri- Our first few weeks of school went really well, but she's been a "challenge" for a couple weeks now. "Challenge" is a nice way of saying we have days when I just want to scream and throw her on the nearest passing school bus. But, we're working through it. She is starting to realize that daily practice really does make things easier- like when I handed her a Latin translating sheet, she looked at it and said, "Mom, I know this stuff!" She is so much smarter than she thinks she is that it is a delicate balance between giving her materials that push her but still making sure she doesn't get overwhelmed. She loves her soccer team and has really benefited from playing on a team of girls her own age.

Alyssa- She is doing very well in her work, and she is becoming more and more independent. She still devours books faster than you can imagine and seems to fall in love with every new series she starts. Her preteen hormones are definitely starting full-force, but most of the time it has to do with other areas- like her siblings or chores, not so much with her school work.

Everything else is going okay- we're kept busy by evening activities and trying to keep the house cleaned up. I'm not finding as much time as I'd like for my favorite activities (running, reading), but I'm trying to recognize that this is just a hard/busy time right now, and things will get easier as the kids get older- they will get easier, right????

My Baby Boy

2008-08-20T08:05:00.008-05:00

My baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He turned six last Saturday and has been behaving more and more like a big kid. Here he is the morning of his birthday, eating blueberry French Toast.

Despite the look he's making, he really did love his breakfast.

His actual birthday fell on a Saturday, so we had a party for him at a local pool. The weatherman all week was predicting 70* and storms, but the day turned out beautiful. I never actually checked a thermometer, but I'd go with 85 and sunny. Just warm enough to swim, but not to warm not to. My not-so-baby-boy decided to try the high dive (I blame too much Olympics-watching).

Try not to notice the sad-looking cake. It was a double-layer cookie cake who's top layer didn't fair so well. Added to the fact that Daddy didn't bring home a tube of frosting that would actually work to decorate, and voila! You have a mass of blue frosting smeared over a broken cookie with a candle thrown on top.

We had promised him a dinner out for his birthday, but we ended up staying at the pool for over five hours, so we were all exhausted by the ride home. So, Sunday night we took all the kids to Mi Ranchito (yum!) for a lovely Mexican dinner. On the way there, the girls were singing Mamma Mia!, and Gavin took it upon himself to change the words, so over and over again he kept singing, "Yes, I've been broken-hearted....oooh since the day I farted!"

Yep. He's definitely turned six!

Our waiter was great (even though I only understood about half of what he said-adds to the ambiance). We told him we were celebrating Gav's birthday and this is what happened.

And then this.

The ice cream bowl was too much for Gavin to finish by himself, so Brett and I just had to help him out. Although, I think Eli might have been able to finish it if it were his birthday.

I still can't believe he's six years old and transitioning into "kid" stage. He's even about to lose his first tooth! Last night, all he wanted to do was snuggle with me on the couch, so I guess I can deal with his other "maturations".

What "war" looks like around here

2008-08-14T15:38:00.002-05:00

The kids were all playing "war" around here this afternoon which consisted of building forts and trying to capture each other. They all played nicely- no slammed doors, no one cried. They cleaned up and came down for lunch when I saw Alyssa wearing an American Girl doll shirt around her upper arm. I pulled it down and said, "Why are you wearing this?" Then I noticed in bright red marker, Lauri had written, "I am dumb" across her arm. I couldn't help busting out laughing. Alyssa laughed along (thankfully), but I reminded them, we don't write on each other.

A couple hours after lunch, poor little Lizzie, who never seems to get dressed until we're actually leaving the house, came up to me and across her back was written, "I am a dork!". My innocent victim of war. :)

And just for a goofy picture- here is what happens when you let Grandpa babysit by himself:.

Love ya, dad :)

One of us has to stay sober, right?

2008-08-06T19:23:00.003-05:00

So, if Brett's still on his pain medication, that means the bottle of pineapple rum that is calling to me in my cabinet, is still off limits.

Wow. What a crazy day and a half its been. I don't think I've even had the chance to comprehend that Brett had surgery yesterday. Seeing as our "adventure" started out at 4:30am, it has all kinda felt like a dream.

Actually, our "adventure" started more at 12:30 the night before, when I was so exhausted, but I still laid there not able to sleep. "Go check on the kids," I told Brett, "I just have this weird feeling." All the kids were fine, so I attributed it to the fact that I was so not ready to leave town the next morning. The kids were packed, food bought, but I just didn't feel ready.

When Brett woke me up at about 4:30, I knew something was wrong. He never gets sick; he never complains. When he told me he thought he needed to go to the hospital, there was no doubt in my mind we needed to go.

The ER took us quickly, the nurse in the room commented, "Holy sh*t" when she found out we had five kids, looked slightly embarrassed by her slip, then looked directly at us and said, "That's a lot of freaking kids." We smiled politely.

Luckily, Brett was never in excruciating amount of pain, so he was able to keep up conversation and his typically sarcastic comments. His parents joined us once we found out he was going to be taken straight back to surgery. The surgeon was very nice and gave a very thorough explanation for what she was going to do. He was done in the amount of time she quoted: forty-five minutes. An hour after that he was in a recovery room (shared-boo).

Brett did great and was able to come home only seven hours after his surgery. That scared me, but it turned out fine. We both slept well last night while the kids got another sleepover with my parents.

Today has been a little bit trying for me. I know I have no right to complain, but I am just wiped. And poor Brett has been just great. I feel bad that I haven't done more for him, but he just doesn't need that much. My great friends have all volunteered to entertain the oldest three the rest of the week because I feel bad they're missing out on going to the lake. Eli is literally the perfect child and just plays with his toys or asks me to read him a story. He has been the angel to my devil-baby that is Lizzie. She is definitely in the "terrible twos". She won't wear a diaper and does anything she can to rip it off, but then goes ahead and pees all over my floor. I don't think she's ready to potty train, but she sure seems to think she is. Except for the whole actually peeing in the potty thing. She fights me on every little thing and just screams bloody murder when she doesn't get her way.

I spent a good portion of the day trying to figure out what my deal is. I'm used to dealing with Lizzie, I'm used to not getting a full night's sleep, I'm used to dealing with sick people (and Brett is SO much easier than the kids). So, why do I want to curl up with my bottle of Parrot's Bay and a tub of ice cream? The only revelation I came to was that my brain was in vacation mode. This week was supposed to be our last week of relaxation before school, scheduled activities, and chaos ensue next week. I still have some planning and preparation to tackle, and now that I'm home, I should get right on that. But instead, I want to pretend its June 1st, and that we can start the whole summer over.

What's worse is that I know Brett feels bad and its so totally not his fault. And he knows this, but still. He can see the frustrations and stress popping out in the form of gray hairs and new wrinkle lines on his under-30 wife. And he hates not being able to jump up and help me. I am so lucky that way, that as soon as he does recover, he will be right there - frustrated and stressed, but at least he'll be by my side.

Now, he's probably going to hate me for posting this, but I love this picture from dinner on Saturday night.

Wiped

2008-08-03T20:41:00.002-05:00

We have been going non-stop since Friday. First it was clean up the house and catch up on laundry because we were supposed to be having friends over for dinner. Then out to run errands (birthday present shopping and doctor appointments). Then our dinner plans changed last minute, but we still had to run the girls out. Saturday morning consisted of more cleaning and getting ready to have our nephew's birthday party, picking up the kids, and then the birthday party itself.

9 kids + hose + our shady backyard = muddy mess

But, happy kids who kept busy and cool in 100* weather. And happy adults for those of us that sat inside and just enjoyed the air conditioning.

Straight after the birthday party, the kids went over to my parents for a sleepover, and Brett and I headed out for a night out. We tried a couple restaurants at the Plaza, but decided we didn't want to wait, so we headed over one of our favorite restaurants: The Bulldog. Absolutely delicious. And no wait. If you live and eat in Kansas City and you've never eaten here, you are missing out. Its only blocks from the Sprint Center and a lot less crowded than the Power and Light District. And very reasonably priced for the high quality food.

After dinner, we met up with Brett's youngest brother at his downtown apartment. We started our night at the Flying Saucer- a bar that serves over 200 beers. I tried to be adventurous and try a new kind- it was supposed to have a raspberry flavor, but it didn't. It tasted like a normal pale ale. So, I stuck to my favorite beer ever: Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. We wandered around for a little bit, but it was too hot to just hang outside. We had a nice time, but exhausting.

We picked up the kids this morning and made it to church, and then came home for naps :)

This evening we had friends from our church group over for dinner. Its now almost nine, and I'm sitting down relaxing for the first time at home all weekend. We leave for the Lake (!) Tuesday morning, so tomorrow is going to be super busy. I'm looking forward to another relaxing week down there before things get really crazy around here!

Rain Rain Go Away/ Alyssa's Schedule

2008-07-30T13:21:00.003-05:00

I know we need the rain and all that, but I'm just tired of it. A big summer thunderstorm is okay, but this constant drizzle- ick. I didn't go for a run this morning because of the storm. But I may change my mind and go ahead and go get wet.

I've been working on lesson plans for the past week. I actually don't mind doing my lesson plans. They're not actual lesson plans in that I sit down and write out everything I am going to say, do, and need. Most of materials do that for me. They are more like checklists. Taking a table of contents from a book and turning into a tidy little checklist that keeps me on track for the year.

So, for the inquiring minds who are just dying to know what we're studying this year...this is your lucky day! Well, sort of...I'm only going to post Alyssa's today :)

Alyssa (her sixth year of homeschooling!- how did that happen????)

Singapore Math 6a/6b- Singapore Math is the only real math curriculum we've ever used.

Rod and Staff Grammar: Level 6- Alyssa has gone through levels 3-5 and knows more about grammar than I ever learned in school.

Real Science 4 Kids: Biology- This our first year with a real (haha) science curriculum. I am very excited about it. The course itself doesn't delve into the human body (covering mainly plants and animal classification), but there are plenty of resources out there to help with that.

Minimus Secundus- We are hopefully rejoining our Latin co-op this year.

Story of the World: Volume 4- Alyssa is finishing this up and then at some point during the year will restart the history cycle with ancient times.

She is also participating in: Spanish class, Roots and Shoots, an advanced literature class, a Girls Club, a running club and a tap class.

Good weekend, good week

2008-07-28T09:33:00.006-05:00

Brett's high school reunion was this past weekend. We didn't go to the "formal" event, but we had a nice time at a bar Friday night. I know a couple of his old classmates, so I didn't feel too out of place. Brett got the chance to catch up with some old friends, and hopefully we'll see some of them before ten more years.

Saturday morning, we took a bike ride to the library. It was hot out, but overcast, so we didn't have the sun shining down on us. I think its around eight miles round trip, but I could be totally off base. Here's Lauri playing around before we left.

Brett was filling the bike tires up and the kids were climbing around. Eli and Gavin climbed up on Brett's car and wanted me to take their picture. Then the girls climbed up. I threw Lizzie up there too, and voila! A perfect picture. Sure they're not wearing cute and matching outfits, the backdrop is our garage, and there's a Diet Coke peeking out from behind Alyssa's shoulder, but they are all smiling and looking at the camera. I think I should get an 8X10 of this and hang it over our fireplace because for some reason, if I take them somewhere, dress them fancy, and pay lots of money then someone isn't looking or is making a funny face or whatever.

Poor Lauri had swimmer's ear all last week. She was in a lot of pain. Thankfully, she's all better now. We went swimming after our morning bike ride, and we had to get her some ear plugs. Here she is showing off her plugs.

And, despite the fact that it is rainy and icky outside, I've started the week off on a good note. I got up this morning with Brett and went for a 2.5 mile run. I've started the kids back on a couple school subjects (nothing new for the year, just some reviewing), and that is going well. I also am almost done with my science plans for the year (I'll post more on that later). I feel like we're getting in a good groove for the coming (extremely busy!) year. Also, we did some changes around the house (I'll post more on that later, too), and I'm excited about that.

So, here's to a good week!

Oh, and for those of you who may not have believed the struggles I had during VBS, here's a picture of what I had to put up with with my little monkey-

VBS

2008-07-24T19:51:00.003-05:00

Like Gavin says, "Its not Vacation Bible School, its VBS."

Every year this is the one thing the kids look forward to the most. Maybe its because its the most camp-like experience they get. Maybe its because they get to sing songs and play water games and climb on inflatables. Or maybe its because its the one week of the summer that stresses me out more than anything else.

Wait a sec, a week without my oldest three kids three hours every day? Why on earth would that stress me out? A number of reasons. One is that we have to be at church (which is 30 mins away) by 9 o'clock every morning. I am not a morning person. And I am especially not a get-five-kids-up-dressed-and-fed-by-8:30-morning person. Then, once they are dropped off, I have the two littles to contend with, and the big decision of "Do I drive home, only to return two hours later?" This year, that question wasn't too hard. With gas prices the way they are, the decision was easy.

Monday I take Eli and Lizzie to Borders. A couple hours and $25 later, we return to get the kids. I start to wonder how economical it really is to not drive home.

Tuesday, I decide on a more wallet-friendly option of going to the library. We arrive minutes before the doors open, and the parking lot is filling up quickly. I run into a friend on the way in who informs me that there is a magic show going on in the children's section. Hesitantly, I go ahead and bring the kids in. The toys, puzzles and games were all set up in the meeting room, so that is where we hung out. Free Internet access, kids kept busy, relative quiet (except for the magic show commotion), can't ask for much more than that. Except maybe an nice Starbucks frappachino, but I digress.

Wednesday I decide to try out a different (but equally close) library. As we're walking back to the children's section, a library volunteer informs me that there is a puppet show going on in the meeting room. I'm starting to wonder how much reading is actually accomplished at the Johnson County Libraries during the summer.

Today we headed back to the Oak Park Library. I actually checked out books today. Eli got bored fast and was hungry because he woke up too late and only ate some Cheerios in the van. So, I do the unthinkable and take him through the McDonalds drive through and get him some fries. Ugh. I haven't taken the kids to McDonalds in months. It kept him happy for a dollar. And they have free wireless internet. Weird, huh?

What have I learned this week?

Eli: His personality amazes me. At Borders, he sorted the Wonder Pets stuffed animals and then counted to see if there was less of one than the others (nope, same of all three). He is probably the most easy-going three year old on the planet. He just kept himself busy coloring, doing puzzles, playing with the toys for hours this week at the libraries and Borders.

Lizzie: She is quite a piece of work. She was climbing everywhere, she made about a dozen friends, and made me take her to the potty twice. She discovered her love for sinks. I discovered how big of a fit she can throw when I take her away from the sink. She loves to dance during the opening and closing songs at VBS. She knows the word "buckle" because everytime I put the car in park, she screams it.

So, tomorrow is our last day of VBS, and I couldn't be more excited. I know I sound like a whiner. If it weren't for dozens of wonderful parents who actually spend the three hours helping run VBS, my kids wouldn't have this opportunity, and I'm complaining about having to drive them there. Why do I do it? Well, my kids would've mutinied if I said no, but even more than that, I know that these memories they're making and friends they're finding will last them for years to come. I met my closest friends (oh yeah, and Brett) and that church.

$96,000

2008-07-23T10:23:00.004-05:00

"1, 2, 3....What would you do with 96g's?"

Brett and I share a passion for musicals- I enjoy all kinds; he is more of modern musical lover (RENT over Oklahoma, if you know what I mean). After watching the Tony's this year, Brett was intrigued enough by In the Heights to go out and buy the cd. Buy the cd. We have probably purchased less than 6 cds in our whole marriage. He got hooked on it while I was at the lake, and then brought it down to share with me. It is an amazing musical. I dare you to watch this link and not want more. Then, go here. And finally, here. And then, after you've gone out and bought the cd, let me know how much you love it, and I'll send you a couple more links. But, you have to appreciate the music first.

Speaking of the lottery...we bought a Powerball ticket on Monday which has prompted constant singing of "96,000" Brett doesn't seem to think "54 million" has the same ring, but to me, it sounds even better. Let's just say, "If I win the lotto tomorrow" we'll be going to NYC to see this- first thing.

"If I win the lottery, you'll never see me again..." I love singing this line to the kids.

I really can't say enough about this musical. It is what I turn on when I need a boost to clean up or just get off my butt to get anything done.

"Paciencia y Fe" is my new motto.

Just go get the cd. Trust me. It may take you a couple times through to get the story, and you may end up like me, trying to sing along to Spanish words when you have no idea what they are or what they mean, but it is worth the $16.

Update Post

2008-07-22T10:43:00.008-05:00

Here is my update from the last two months....

Running: I ran the Hospital Hill run and finished about ten minutes faster than I expected. I ended up with an eleven minute mile pace which isn't fantabulous in the grand scheme of things, but I was very pleased. I am struggling to make it outside everyday because I haven't drug my butt out of bed early enough to run and it is too hot by the time Brett gets home. I'm only going out about 4 days and still not running more than 3 miles. My time off at the lake really messed up my training. Running on the mountain made me faster on the flats, but I lost a lot of endurance by not running for as long of distances as I had been. I am scouting out some races for the next couple months to get myself back excited. If anyone has a run/cause they'd like to support financially (but not physically) I'd be glad to run it for you!

Kids:
Alyssa-approaching that wonderful phase of pre-adolescence which includes loads of eye-rolling, sarcasm, and general moodiness

Lauri-has become obsessed with the idea that she is a "tom-boy"(focusing on her skateboarding and refusing to wear fancy clothes) despite the fact she got her ears double pierced last week

Gavin-growing like a weed and struggling as a middle child teetering between little and big boy

Eli-still the same...mastering his power ranger moves displaying more and more "Mr. Monk" qualities

Lizzie- growing up way too fast, running everywhere, talking more and more, and trying to potty train herself

School:
I'll be posting a lot about school in the next couple weeks, just know we're getting ready for a VERY busy school year!

Other:
I've spent the past couple months reading lots of books and Brett and I have watched a lot of movies, so I'll be posting some reviews of my favorites and least favorites.

Playing Around With the Blog

2008-07-21T17:48:00.003-05:00

I'm going to attempt to post more. I actually think a lot about my blog more than I actually write in it. I've got some book reviews, some deep thoughts from my extended vacation, excitements/concerns with the coming school year, struggles/successes with running, and even some thoughts on food all to share.

Look for it!

And a just for fun picture from Arkansas.....

Ways to get out of a "funk"

2008-05-20T06:59:00.005-05:00

Brett and the Girls at Worlds of Fun last Friday

I was in a funk yesterday- no real reason. I went to the wrong location for an activity (it ended up fine, but I drove across town), the kids were still cranky from a very busy weekend, and I realized I didn't get any "d0wn" time this past weekend. So, by 5:40 when Brett walked in the door, I was ready to go.

I've been mulling around this idea of running a 5K. I've been thinking about it for a few months, but at the Y, I was more focused on cross-training. I couldn't stand to run on the treadmill for very long, and I wasn't quite confident in my ability as a runner. It was an easy cop-out. Thanks to a father in our homeschool group, I have been running track with the girls once a week. We meet on a high school track and run varying distances each week (none more than an 800). This has allowed me to enjoy running outside. Now that the weather has finally decided to act season-appropriate, I can get out and run. So, that's what I did last night. Brett took the kids to the Y, and I went for a two mile run. My first two mile run outside. Without stopping. Just running. In the sun. Yes, it got hot. Yes, it got sweaty. Yes, I could feel it in every muscle. But, I didn't wear myself out. Instead, I came home and felt energized. I only ran two miles because I had remembered to track a mile away from our house on the van's odometer that afternoon. I felt strong. I felt like I could take on more! Now, the idea of doing a 5K didn't feel so out of reach to me. And its still under serious consideration. I'm contemplating doing the Hospital Hill Run on June 7th. I ran again this morning-this time three miles.

So, that was step one of getting rid of a funk in a healthy way.

Step two involved this crazy little thing called the Scholastic Book Warehouse Sale. It occurs twice a year. They open the warehouse up and everything is 50% off. That stuff is usually a good deal, but a lot of times you can find those books at the Half Price Book Store or even Walmart for around the same price. The amazing part is in the back- they have a $1 section. $1 for any book back there. Sure, there's a lot of twaddle: High School Musical, Captain Underpants, etc., but there are usually some pretty great finds as well. Last night they had an abundance of novels for an adult audience that some middle school had ordered and not sold. Slaughter-House Five, One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Gone with the Wind, and many more titles. Some "bestseller" novels that I can read at the Lake. And lots of stuff for the kids, too. A neat book on the Civil Rights Movement, a pack of Dora phonics readers, a Spanish Verb flip book, a book about Kansas curiosities. It is always amazing what you can pick up for one dollar.

Eli and Gavin played soccer together last Saturday

Heard around our house today....

2008-04-29T12:48:00.002-05:00

"Mom, we're going to China!" - Lauri

"Okay, have fun!" - Me

Edited To Add:

It only took minutes from me hearing/posting this to turn and see all my ottomans, couch pillows, and blankets turn into a makeshift

"After this, we're going to Rome to fight off barbarians!" --Lauri

Let's just hope we don't reenact any Colosseum fights. :)

Why I'm a dork and why I should never have had boys

2008-04-28T17:23:00.004-05:00

Those are two different things :)

Why I am a dork...hmm...let's see...my most exciting purchase in awhile?? The white board I bought at Office Depot yesterday that stretches about 3X4 feet across my wall over our school table. I got multi-colored markers and assigned each child a color. I wrote a note to my "students" in case they got up before I did (and of course, all but one slept in).

My other exciting ideas of the weekend revolve around turning our food consumption into mainly "whole" foods. Reducing the amount of processed junk we eat. I couldn't wait to go to the grocery store. There was just this little thing called Pay Day which doesn't arrive until Wednesday holding me back. The kids and I came up with our own ideas for homemade granola bars and breads to bake.

Why wasn't I cut out to be a mother of boys??? Well, let's say this: I'm making dinner. The kids are all outside playing. I look out my kitchen window and see Gavin standing next to our shed (away from everyone else) and *ahem* "water" my dirt back there. Seconds later he is joined by Eli who is not as casual about it and completely drops his pants, joining his brother. None of the five other kids in the backyard even notice what they're doing. They both finish, pull up/zip up their pants, and run off- barefoot. Ugh. I didn't even know what to say. I didn't want to draw attention to it, and I wasn't (and still aren't) quite sure how to discipline this. Boys will be boys, right????

Music Literacy

2008-04-24T08:13:00.004-05:00

We are very informal in our music appreciation and very eclectic. One week it might be only Vivaldi playing during lunch, the next Celtic Women, and the next the radio. The kids are exposed to all kinds of music- country, pop, classical, folk, "oldies", musicals. Pretty much anything and everything. They get their dose of pop culture from watching American Idol, Food Network, and yes, the occasional Disney Channel show. The girls' two favorite cds right now are The Beatles and Fergie.

So, I finally sat down to make a mix cd last night. I have a couple *days* worth of music in Itunes, so my selection was very varied. I put in my new cd last night, and "You Give Love a Bad Name" is the first song. Alyssa looks at me and says, "I know this song, its from Jesus Christ Superstar, right?" Uhh....not quite sweetheart, but good try.

Weed of Love

2008-04-23T14:14:00.004-05:00

This is a symbol of love around our house. Every time my boys go outside, they bring me in at least one dandelion. I have collections of dandelions all through the house- a cup in my bedroom, one in the garage. I find them in my pockets all the time. I've had to clean them out of the dryer lint screen.

The dandelions drive Brett crazy. He hates the way they make our lawn look, but when he mentioned spraying our lawn to get rid of them, the boys were very upset. They think of our yard as a garden, not a harvesting spot for yellow weeds.

I think I'll try and convince Brett to let the lawn go- at least for this summer. Maybe next year, bringing Mommy flowers multiple times a day won't be as attractive to my ever-growing boys. Then we can have a "perfect" lawn.

Just because

2008-04-18T15:50:00.005-05:00

I noticed how bland my blog looks, and I don't have time to fix the blog settings. Here's a picture for your enjoyment:

Yes, we sometimes still dress alike :)

I may be a mean mom, but my house is clean!

2008-04-18T15:21:00.003-05:00

The day started off not like a typical Friday. Usually, around here, Fridays are met with enthusiasm, energy, and excitement. Today, we all woke up cranky. Maybe it was because of the cloudy, cool weather, yet again. Maybe it was because mom didn't sleep so well. Maybe it was due to a busy week. The fact is we were all dragging our heels. We got the basics done in school: Grammar, Math, and Spelling. Lauri did Science; Alyssa did History. I called it a day at that. Then I did something drastic: I locked the kids in the basement.

Okay, not really *locked* them in the basement, so to speak, but shut them down there with explicit instructions to come get me if someone was bleeding or if something was on fire and that was about it. We spent almost all of last weekend cleaning out/rearranging those two rooms downstairs, and now they had plenty to do in plenty of space. I warned them that if I was to be needed for any disagreements that I would start to reconsider our six-weeks-at-the-lake summer plan. They were bickering and pestering each other all morning, so I figured this was an opportunity to show them that they can get along.

Step two was to turn on my Ipod. I can do anything while listening to my Ipod. Especially when I had just downloaded new music on it. Sure, I looked silly dancing around my kitchen (doing a little moonwalking) to Michael Jackson, and maybe I belted out some Grease 2 songs a little too loud, but when those ear buds go in, the world gets shut out.

Step three was to try a new approach to cleaning. I am a very random person (maybe part ADD?). When I look for clothes, I dart through the aisles going back and forth. When I'm at the bookstore, I jump from section to section and back again. So, I tried this with my cleaning- start with laundry, there's always laundry to do with seven people in one house, then begin straightening my room. Go down and finish up lunch dishes, sweep real quick, then head to the schoolroom, back up to my bathroom- vacuum the girls' room so Lizzie could take a nap, clean the kids' bathroom, do a little deeper clean in the kitchen, another load of laundry, vacuum the schoolroom, finish the last bathroom, trash out, put some more things away, finish up my room, start to tackle the living room.

For anyone keeping track, the boys' room was intentionally avoided. We worked so hard last week in our room, the girls' room, the computer room, and the two basement rooms, that the boys' room was completely ignored. I desperately need to clean out their closet and dressers, their toys, their stuffed animals, but I'm procrastinating. I need another burst of "nesting". (NOT a pregnancy-induced version).

Amazingly, the kids held up their end of the bargain. They stayed downstairs, with only one instance of Gavin scaring the cr*p out of me. Imagine yourself completely unable to hear due to your Ipod blaring, scrubbing a toilet, when all of a sudden out of the corner your eye, you think you see something. And there's Gavin just standing there staring at me. He can give you this blank stare that rivals those of kids in horror flicks.

Now I'm off to make some yummy enchiladas that we'll eat after we go to the Y which we'll do once Brett is home. So, not a bad end to a crummy start of the day, just wish the sun would come out!!!

Small Victories

2008-03-06T21:53:00.003-06:00

We've had a lot of changes around here the past two months, and with those changes, we've had some great successes. And we've been able to focus more on what needs to get done. Here's a list some things we've accomplished:

*Schoolwork: Its getting done relatively easy these days. The girls are accomplishing more and more each week. Gavin has just become a star student. He is excited about learning to read and is really proud of his schoolwork.

*Gavin's Speech: He's only been to three therapy sessions at the school, but already we can tell an improvement in his speech. He really pays attention to how he forms his words, and he is much more receptive when we correct him.

*Dry Pullups: Gavin is on a streak of not wetting at night. It has taken us almost three years to get to this point. He told me a couple days ago, "I'm just not going to use Pullups anymore." We were like, uh, good. He has worn underwear for five nights in a row and hasn't wet once. Yay!

*Food: We're trying to eat healthier around here. It is very difficult to balance healthy and cheap. The kids are eating so much better. They are actually trying new foods. But,the biggest improvement is Eli. he has always been a hot dogs and chicken nuggets boy. In the past week he's eaten eggplant Parmesan, potato soup, and Mexican rice (rice, chicken, black beans, tomatoes). I never would've thought he would touch any of this.

We're on the road. I just need to remember to take it one step at a time.

My first (and maybe only?) political post

2008-03-03T22:11:00.002-06:00

I've never blogged about politics before. Honestly, it is mainly because I have been pretty uninterested for a number of years now. I don't wanted to say cynical or jaded because at 28, I would think it should be too early for that, but maybe that's the case. I used to be much more politically aware, and then it came to a point where I just didn't have time to devote or desire to care.

With the elections coming up, I've tried to become more attentive to the candidates and the political scene. Its not too hard to become familiar with the candidates since two of them have been around for awhile. Which leads me to the third, and the actual subject of this post.

Barack Obama. I'm not one who wears her political feelings on her sleeve, so for those of you who don't know this, I will come out and say that as far as political standings go, I am about as far opposite as you can get from Obama when it comes to a lot of issues. And I mean, a lot. Yet, oddly enough, I want him to win not only the Democratic Nomination, but also the office of the Presidency. Why? Well, that's what this post is about.

1. Change: Yes, I know that is basically his entire campaign in one word, but its the truth. Coming from my perspective of only having an active political memory of a President whose last name was either Bush or Clinton, the idea of fresh blood is enticing.

2. Healing: Our nation is so blown apart politically right now and there is so much hatred on both sides of the aisle, that I really see Obama being a figure of healing. He is young, he is brilliant, and just the fact that we would have a young, African-American as our country's leader feels good. No more "good ole boy" syndrome of rich white man.

3. Character: As much as I differ from him in politics, I respect him because of his accomplishments and intelligence. You can say what you want about his politics, but so far nothing has come to make me dislike him. His speeches are encouraging, optimistic, and vibrant. This may be a superficial point, but his appearance is reassuring. He can smile a big goofy smile or be serious and somber. He is the face I'd like the world to think of when they think of the USA. He is the face I'd like to see giving a State of the Union Address, or God forbid, reassuring the country after a crisis. He comes into the office with no baggage. That's not to say that things can't (or won't) happen once he's in office, but for now, he is too fresh to be disliked.

4. Politics: I think I've made my point about differing with Obama on most major issues, but what I like about the idea of him being president is that politics can go back to being about politics. It won't be about the hatred of a president (both the current hatred for George W. or the hatred out there for Hillary Clinton). It will be about the issues. And, I think that is important. It won't be about somebody coming in to try to finish what they (or their husband) couldn't accomplish. It will be purely about politics.

5. Opponents: I put this one last because I wanted to wax poetic about the tributes of Obama before I pulled the punch card of saying: I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY can't stand McCain or Hillary Clinton. I don't like their personalities, I don't like listening to them talk. They both grate my nerves so much that the idea of either of them being president for four (or eight!) years makes my ears bleed. Yes, I know that's immature, yes, I know that should be immaterial, but hey, that's why I put it last :)

Who knows what the future will hold? Who knows what type of president Obama would be, could be? Who knows how things would change once he's in the Oval Office? I sure don't, but I do know from this Conservative, Christian (no, not Conservative Christian- that's why there's a comma there), Republican (though sometimes leading more Libertarian), woman's perspective, Obama is the best candidate out there- maybe not for me personally, but for our country.

That is all.

My house is like my body

2008-02-26T13:44:00.003-06:00

Baby steps. Baby steps. Baby steps.

My house did not get messy overnight. My body did not get overweight/out of shape overnight. I cannot fix my house in one day. I cannot fix my body in one day.

Routines- take on one job and stick to it. This week it has been laundry. I finally realized that I need to do two loads of laundry every day to keep up on it. Since last Wednesday, I have made this a reality. It is amazing how much free time I have to focus on other tasks- or really, just how much I notice other tasks, when I'm not fretting about climbing Mt. Laundry. Workout thirty minutes a day. Done for nine days straight now. Do I notice a huge change in my body? No, not yet. That will come with time. But, when I ran that mile without stopping in under ten minutes yesterday, I felt a difference. When I walk past my laundry sorter and can see the painting that it hangs under, I can feel a difference.

The way my house looks doesn't affect what goes on here. This can be a tricky one. My house can be a mess yet we can still enjoy ourselves here. Just like I can do wonderful things without my body being perfect. BUT I notice when my house is cleaner, we are all happier. We function better as a family. Lost puzzle pieces are found, there is room to get out all the Littlest Pets. I feel more confident, more able to do what I need to do when I take care of myself. I have made a commitment to covering my feet in lotion twice a day. It sounds silly, but it makes me feel good.

So step by step, my house and my body are becoming more how I want them to be. I have accepting my starting points, and I have a realistic goal set in my head. My body has borne five kids, I am not going to look like a supermodel (who really does anyways?). My house holds seven of us, I am never going to win any awards from Martha Stewart. Those thoughts don't discourage me, they just keep me real.

A commitment to change makes it sound like I'm reinventing myself. But what I really feel more like is an onion with a special pearl trapped inside. I keep peeling layer and layer off (my body in pounds, my house in dirt..lol) and am getting closer to finding my pearl. MY pearl may not look like yours, but it is beautiful in my eyes.

Dessert with the Hoedls

2008-02-26T09:25:00.004-06:00

So, we're sitting around eating homemade smoothies on Sunday night enjoying a nice night of nothing to do when Eli hops up from the table after deciding he doesn't like his. He runs off to go get in his jammies. A minute later he comes back down to the kitchen shouting, "I need help with my shirt!!" He had no trouble taking his pants off, but seemed to forget to put some back on. So, here is my adorable three year old jumping up and down bottomless with his shirt stuck on his head. Brett and I both break into, "Eli! Go get some pants on!" But he's being such a goober, that its hard to look at him with breaking up laughing. He then realizes he needs to go potty and begins to shout, "PEE!! PEE!!! PEE!!!! I NEED TO PEE!!!!" At this point, any hope of keeping a straight face is gone, and laughter is coming from all of us (including Lizzie). He manages to go potty, then rejoin us in the kitchen, dancing around bottomless. We try to tell him that it isn't appropriate or funny to dance naked in the kitchen, but he replies, "Lizzie likes it!" She is cracking up at him, so its kind of hard to dispute his reasoning. Brett gets up to help him get dressed, and I find myself wondering, did I ever expect there would be a point in my life where it wouldn't phase me to have to shout, "We don't dance around naked in the kitchen!!!"

And, yes, this picture is from last summer, but its the only one I have on the laptop of my little guy.....

Blogging a Vacation: Day 3

2008-02-01T18:22:00.001-06:00

Blogging a Vacation: Day 3

Sorry this is a little late, but I typed it all up Wednesday morning, then it got erased, and I really haven't had a chance to sit and type it back up- plus, I was really annoyed that it happened.

So, I woke up Tuesday morning thinking I'd go workout before my spa time, but then decided instead to sit and have a yummy breakfast with my laptop and newspaper. Good choice :) My appointment was at 10, and I showed up about forty minutes early. I changed into my robe and then ventured into the steam room. I had been in dry saunas before- when I was a young teen, my best friend belonged to a country club and we'd sit in there and share secrets. But, the steam was something new for me. It was interesting to just sit there and sweat. After a couple minutes, I grabbed some cucumbers for my eyes and an ice-cold rag for my face. Then, all of a sudden I heard this loud rumbling sound- it totally freaked me out. Of course, it was just the machine spitting out more steam, but that didn't really calm my nerves. I all of a sudden had an attack of thinking that I was going to get trapped in there or someone was going to appear from the smoke. I ended up heading to the shower.

From the shower, I headed to the "Relaxation Lounge" where I drank lemon water and snacked on some trail mix. Then, my lovely lady massuese showed up and I was on my way. It was a very relaxing 50 minutes that fortunately didn't fly by. The last massage I had was about two weeks before Lizzie was born. It felt awesome for my big ole pregnant body, but I had a hard realaxing. No so much a problem then.

I headed back to the "Relaxation Lounge" which this time wasn't so relaxing. There were two business guys there in their robes and they would.not.shut.up. I don't even know what they talked about- but they kept talking. Besides feeling oddly nekked in just my robe, it was weird to think that they were they same- ick. Yes, I know, I am immature.

My facial was nice- it started out with a lecture on how I am totally washing my face with the wrong stuff- heads up ladies! My facial lady says NEVAH use Apricot scrub on your face. Not good- no bueno. Then she tried clearing up some of my face- ouch!!! Not so realaxing, but then she stopped and I could relax. One of the things she put on was supposed to "get warm and tingle"- holy moley, it started to burn- but in a good way. My face felt refreshed afterwards, and then I headed back to the shower and got all ready.

Brett snuck out of his so-not-important conference and we went and had a late lunch at the sports bar in the hotel. We sat there with our paper once again, enjoying a nice relaxing lunch. We went back to the hotel and I took a nice, long two hour nap.

We headed back downtown and ate an absolutely ridiculously expensive, but oh-so-good-can-still-taste-it-in-my-mouth-right-now dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It had been almost ten years since we ate at one of those, and wow! still tasted just as good I remembered. We decided to head back to the bars, but couldn't decide where to go- Stacy Mitchart was playing again, but this time there was a cover. We really wanted to go the dueling piano bar, but when we walked in, we were the only ones there, so we promptly left. We gave the Wildhorse one more chance, and it was kickin'.

After about five minutes of watching, we decided there must've been a dancing instruction group there because all these younger men were dancing with these older women and they kept switching around. The men were all nicely dressed- there were a couple young girls dressed nicely too. Lots of two-stepping, but also some other types of ballroom dancing. They were a riot to watch. As much as the previous night we learned that everyone in Nashville can sing, we learned that everyone in Nashville can dance. Brett and I actually went out to dance for one slow song- and felt a little like sillies next to all the "professionals". "Billy Ray" was playing again. They do a great job of a mix of country covers and original songs-just found their myspace page- http://www.myspace.com/theranchhands-

We went back to the hotel to the Jack Saloon but the same lady from the night before was singing, and it was crowded, so we only stayed long enough for me to enjoy the most delicious drink ever invented- a Jack and Coke Float. Yummmm....best.drink.ever.

So, that was day/night three. A wonderful last full day in Nashville. It is so cool to walk through a downtown where there was live music every couple steps. Very neat town.

You know you're a homeschool mom when...

2008-02-01T11:44:00.000-06:00

*You're in a wonderful day spa (states away from home) receiving an amazing massage, and you're mentally critiquing your daughter's paper she sent to you in an email, deciding how to respond

*You're listening to your five year old read his sentences and you're thinking, "that's a predicate noun, that's a predicate adjective, that's a direct object" and are diagramming them in your head.

*The book you read the most while on vacation was the one your ten year old has been bugging you for months to read, and then when you finish it in the airport on the way home, you can't wait to get home to tell her how much you loved it.

Blogging a Vacation: Day 2

2008-01-30T09:15:00.001-06:00

Okay, so day two started with us sleeping in all the way to 9:30. We probably would've stayed in bed longer, but my mom called with a question about the kids schooling, so we decided to go ahead and get up.

We went to the outlet mall right next door, found a Starbucks, and wandered around that for awhile. It was nice to be able to walk through a mall, no rush, no real purpose, no kids. We debated on going to see a movie, and then ended up coming back to the hotel to eat lunch. We sat at one of the tables in the atrium, reading the paper, probably looking like an old married couple- sharing tidbits we each thought the other would be interested in. We went back to the room and I took a 2 hour nap.

We were headed back downtown and decided to visit the Wildhorse Saloon. It is a bar that we had seen pushed constantly. Line-dancing, live music, wild crowd. We ate a nice dinner, and then the band started up. The music was good- although Brett and I couldn't get over how much t helead singer looked like Miley's dad (for those of you without pre-teens, that would be Billy Ray Cyrus). We kept waiting for the wild crowd, but alas, the ginormous dance floor was bare. So, after the band's first break, we headed out on the street to find another bar.

There are a couple things about Nashville that amaze me. One being, almost every bar has live music. Two, the bands are all good. Three, even the karaoke singers rock. We headed into a little karaoke bar, thinking we would have a good time watching the singers- enjoy the good ones, get a laugh from the bad ones. Song after song after song went by and no bad singers to be found. There was an older, white-haired, business dressed gentleman, who was texting on his blackberry and fiddling with his breifcase that we thought for sure we'd get a kick out of hearing. His name gets called, and he gets on stage with his harmonica. Not only does the guy's voice just blow us away, but during the musical interludes he just goes to town on his harmonica. There was a talent scout there from Vegas who kept talking to Brett and me. He must've seen Brett's id when the waitress asked for it, because he kept referring to Brett as "Kansas" and told him to get up there and give it a try. That ended night two in Nashville.

Blogging a Vacation: Days 1 & 2

2008-01-29T08:54:00.000-06:00

So, its Day 3 of 4 wonderful days on vacation with my husband, and I decided it was time for a little update before I forget all the fun details of our trip so far.
Day One: We left early Sunday morning. Brett and I have never travelled together without the kids, so I knew it was going to be an interesting experience. I get very nervous/stressed before leaving town (especially flying), but I'm fine once we're on the plane. Our flight was easy, only about an hour to get to Nashville. We rented a car in the airport parking lot. Our hotel is only about 15 minutes from the airport. All in all- easy travel.

Our hotel is very nteresting. It is a bunch of atriums. Our room has a patio that looks out on the main atrium. We are right by the big waterfall which is very calming. Listening to it at night really helps get you into a deep sleep. The pas two days have been gorgeous in the atriums- the sun was shining. This morning as I eat my breakfast and type this up, its a little gloomy. The sky is overcast and there's no bright and shiny sun. But, it is still very pretty. I'm kind of hoping it will rain, just to see what it'd be like under the atrium.

We were good, and after settling into our room, we went and checked out the fitness center. After working out, we sat in the outdoor whirpool and took a little swim in the inside pool. The weather here has been in the upper 40s-upper 50s the past two days. We went back to the room to get ready to go downtown for dinner. Brett had picked out a bar for us to eat at and watch a couple live bands perform. We ended up walking around downtown and deciding to go somewhere else.

We went to BB King's restaurant where a blues singer was going to be playing. The food was delicious- we ordered an appetizer plate of fried pickles, hot wings, potato skins and ribs. YUM! Fried pickles are about my favorite food ever and it seems like every place down here serves them. Then, we split an entree of a spicy (though not very spicy for us) pasta carbonara. It was good, but so much food that the two of us couldn't even eat it all. We sat and listened to the live music for a little over an hour- until they took their first break- and then decided to move on. The singer was Stacy Mitchart. He's been nominated for a Grammy- he was excellent. Brett and I had a great time watching his band. His keyboardist looked like Michael Bolton on crack. He was swinging his hair and bobbing his head like crazy. The bassist who was standing next to him was about as opposite as you could get- the complete definition of chill.

We walked down to a country bar called The Stage where some guys were playing for a crowd of about 6. They were singing old school country music- like WAY old school- including lyrics such as "the nickels are for the waitress, the dimes are for the jukebox, and the quarters are for wine, wine, wine" The guys were an ecletic bunch. The lead singer looked appropriate, maybe a little young, but a laid back cowboy type. The other singer looked like the main guy from a metal band- bald with a dark goatee, wearing a black wife beater. The fiddler looked like the epitome of country- complete with cowboy hat, boots, mustache and very tight jeans. We only stayed there for a couple songs- and decided to come back to the hotel.

The hotel we're at has a bar called Jack Daniels Saloon where they have live music every night. So, we checked it out and heard the best Asian cowboy I've ever heard (okay, the only one until last night- but that's for later). His name is Luther Lewis (he has a myspace page, check him out!), and they were playing pretty much all covers. The guy can change his voice for every song. He sang Johnny Cash, Elvis, John Michael Montgomery. Every song was a perfect vocal imitation. They were a really great performance.
We were back in the hotel room and asleep by 11 o'clock (yes, we're lame) and slept until 9:30 the next morning. So nice......

This got a lot longer than I thought it would, and I'm off to enjoy a relaxing day at the hotel spa, so day 2 will have to come later. Along with pictures!!!

Our Little Monkey

2008-01-17T10:14:00.001-06:00

You forget each time how curious a new toddler is. Lizzie keeps us on our toes constantly with her climbing and exploring. It is hard to keep her trapped in any room because she finds ways to overcome any barricades. But today, she trapped herself.

Big sister tried to help her climb out, but she crawled right back in. At least she's occupied for a couple minutes.

Quick Update

2008-01-08T08:35:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don't frequent my myspace page, I'll do a quick update. A lot has changed since I last posted. For one, I've lost 17lbs and I hit my first two mini-goals. Now, I am working on dropping another 10lbs, so I can go get my bellybutton repierced :)

Another is that I quit my job last week. Nights are reclaimed for our family. The only people I'm serving are the ones that I either married or gave birth to. So far, so good.

We're back on a full school schedule this week. That means yesterday, we were going from 8:30 to 2:15 with a short break for lunch. There's a lot I want to accomplish this half of the year. A lot of "catch up".

Brett and I want to take a couple day get-away next month. We'd like something relaxing that would allow for us to reconnect. Anyone have any ideas???

One last thing, Brett and I are both receiving information on our high school reunions. Yikes! How is it possible that Alyssa is turning 10 and that its been a full decade we've been "grown ups"???

And here is a picture from Christmas....

Just Another Manic Monday

2007-10-15T08:08:00.000-05:00

Its Monday morning. I have a to-do list a mile long. I was up and out of bed 7:30am despite the fact that I didn't get to sleep until almost midnight. And my sleep bank is totally deprived from the night before.

The wedding went very smoothly!! My dad performed and beautiful ceremony and Eric and Cassy's vows just about made me cry. So did Brett's toast (that I wrote). Everything and everyone was beautiful and it really was a joyous event. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon.

So here we go- another week. We made it to the Y on Saturday morning. This morning my leg muscles are still *very* sore. Not quite sure whether its from the weight machines or all the dancing :) The scale said I dropped two pounds from Tuesday to Saturday- we'll see if that was "true" weight or not.

Goals for today: Take the kids to Jr. Fitness at 9:30 (with having gotten some schoolwork done before hand), tackle at least half of my to-do list, and clean up my room!!!!

A little later...and more on "bonding"

2007-10-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

So, this morning it was 8am when I rolled out of bed. Hey, I didn't get off of work until 11:40. But, this no drinking caffeine at work or even right before work is helping. I fell right to sleep.

Another good day at the Y yesterday. It is a lot of fun to watch Alyssa work out. She has a Disney Mp3 player that she rocks to. We've had a good time together. Yesterday, I had to tell her to be quiet though because she started singing along out loud. What amuses me so much is that if I didn't have the "social skills" to know better- I would be singing along too. :) Guess she's seen Mommy rock out while cleaning the house one too many times.

Good Morning, Fall

2007-10-10T07:37:00.001-05:00

I woke up this morning with a very cool breeze blowing throwing my open windows. It definitely feels like fall. I love waking up all snuggled in my bed- the only problem with this is that I don't want to get up. So, instead of being out of bed at 6:30 this morning, I stayed all snuggled up until 7:30. Which still isn't bad for me- considering some mornings of late its been closer to 9. But the difference between 6:30 and 7:30 for me is one thing (well- this morning, three things)- kids. So, instead of sitting here in nice silence, sipping my coffee, contemplating the day, I am jumping up to butter waffles, putting more cheerios on the highchair tray, and helping choose outfits for the day. I guess that's an incentive for getting up earlier: a little alone time.

So, we did rejoin the YMCA yesterday. My humbling realization being that I need to lose 31 pounds. That is my goal. I'd like to drop 11 by my birthday (the end of November), so we'll see how that goes. I'm getting ready to look now to see what time we'll head over there today. Alyssa is able to work out now too, so it was actually a good bonding experience for us.

Water Gremlin

2007-10-09T06:56:00.001-05:00

First off, let me say, it is 6:45am as I write this post. I haven't seen 6:45am in awhile now, but Brett convinced me to get up early this morning to see if that helps start our day off right. Coffee is brewing and none of the kids are awake (yet!). Of course, it does help that I was home from work by 10:15 last night and asleep before Conan started.

Anyways...on to my story......

Brett and I are brushing our teeth last night when he looks over at our bedside table. There is Eli, dressed only in a Pull-Up and t-shirt downing a bottle of water. He had been asleep for two hours already, but woke up, walked into our room, didn't say a word to us, and proceeded to chug half of the bottle. He was sucking down the water so hard that the bottle was crinkling up. He didn't even stop to take a breath. Brett and I walked out of our bathroom, trying to hide our laughter, and he looks at me and says, "Mommy" with his half smile. Brett called him a little "water Gremlin". He then crawled up in the middle of our bed and went back to sleep.

On to my day, we are rejoining the YMCA after almost a year of non-membership. The kids are mostly excited (Alyssa is *very* excited- she can use the equipment this year). I am going to try to schedule this into our day EVERY day. Today, we're scheduled to go in a little before 2, so we can sign up and still have time to work out, drop by the store on the way home, have time for me to fix dinner, shower, and be ready for me to leave for work by 5:30. This means, our day up until 1:30, needs to be run a little smoother, hence my sleepy self sitting up, trying to wake up, typing this before 7am.

Scene of the Day

2007-08-06T11:32:00.000-05:00

I'm told to sit on the couch to watch Lauri's play.

I watch her hula dance in a bathing suit to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" while Eli does somersaults off of our ottoman in a Power Ranger costume that is three sizes too big, Gavin semi joins in dancing (shirtless, of course), Elizabeth crawls around on the floor with a big smile on her face, and Alyssa sits in the big chair wearing one of my sister's old dresses with a bridal veil on singing along to the music and rereading her favorite parts of Harry Potter 7.

Yes, summer is still in full-force here.

Random Posting

2007-07-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, my post Thursday night was pretty random, but hey, I felt like blogging, so I did.

My Friday night off was spent by first *gasp* having dinner as a family. I decided I would cook up these frozen Tilapia fillets I had bought at my new favorite store (Aldi's). To say that Brett and I aren't fish people is an understatement, but I thought I'd give it a try anyways. The kids did much better than Brett and I. We each managed a couple bites, then I had the privilege of Gavin being stupid and spitting all over my plate, so I just *had* to be done.

Our night continued with an all-family movie. "High School Musical" was my choice- in anticipation of the sequel due out in a couple weeks. It was a riot to watch my little Eli sing and dance along. I have no idea when or how he learned the entire soundtrack, but he knows it pretty well.

Brett and Alyssa headed off to the Borders Harry Potter party at 9pm, I put the other kids to bed and then stayed up reading until they got home....at 1:45 am. I decided to reread #5 and #6 before reading #7, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it. Alyssa has (of course) finished #7 already.

You know its your 8th shift in 7 days when....

2007-07-19T22:18:00.000-05:00

*You have the sweetest couple in the world leave you a crappy tip

* You had a seven-top of the oddest assortment of people who don't leave 10%

*You end your night being hit on by a drunk 400lb man

Whoo hoo....I have tomorrow off!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running Just As Fast As I Can....

2007-04-19T10:11:00.001-05:00

This is DAY FOUR of my attempt at running. I have no long-term goals just yet- my only goal right now is to be out running/walking for 15 min per day, 6 times a week. I know its not a lofty goal, but it is realistic for me right now. I started with 5min of walking, 5min of running, 5min of walking on Monday. Today I ran for 7min in the middle of walking. I even did it with out my new stylish IPOD NANO that Brett won for me last month :)

I checked out two books about "Running for Women" at the library yesterday. I"m hoping to get a better long-term goal set up after reading those. I don't know how hard or how fast to push myself, and I definitely don't want to end up hurt or burnt out. I never pictured myself as a runner, but life is full of twists and turns, and this is what I feel called to do right now- don't know why.....

Life Happens

2007-04-12T22:53:00.000-05:00

Which is why I haven't blogged in awhile. But as I'm laying here typing with one hand while nursing Elizabeth in my bed, I thought I'd write a note.

Poor Gavin is crashed in his bed- the girls are in bed but not yet asleep. They're still settling down from a double-play date. They're laying in their beds whispering to each other. Its so hard because I want to yell at them to quit talking and go to sleep, but this is the one time of the day when they whisper and tell each other secrets and grow that sister bond. So, I'll let them whisper a little longer before hushing them to sleep.

I'm laying here watching our newest acquisition from our biggest indulgence- Blockbuster.com. The movie being South Pacific. I love this movie. I love the songs. I love the drama. I love the cheesiness. I love the sincerity. I love the way they change the colors of the scenes for the moods. Rent it sometime.

Paging Dr. Hoedl, Dr. Elizabeth Hoedl

2007-02-20T09:39:00.000-06:00

In Honor of Valentine's Day....

2007-02-14T19:26:00.000-06:00

I'll share some stories about Brett. Hard to believe, but these are all just from tonight.

So, Brett decides to teach Gavin a new game. It's called, "See who can hit the softest". If you've ever been duped by this game, you know that you let the other person hit first so they'll hit you softly, then you respond by hitting as hard as you can with the victorious shout of, "I lose!"

How many times did it take Gavin to figure this out? Well, let's see- after Brett "losing" about 6 times, Gavin was still asking to play it 100 more times. So, either the poor guy didn't understand the concept, or he was just so excited to be "winning' a game that he didn't care.

Brett finally stopped, worrying that Gavin might develop bruises on his arms from "winning" so much. :)

After way too much sugar for the evening, the kids were a little wound up, and when are kids get wound up, you practically need a bullhorn to get their attention. They were running around screaming, while Brett was holding Elizabeth. Once they were all on their way upstairs, Brett says to me, "I finally figured out how to get Elizabeth to go to sleep. Anytime I'm holding her and having to yell at the kids, she just falls straight to sleep." Great honey, next time at 6am when she's being fussy, we'll just wake one of the kids up to yell at.

Brett had the "big V" a couple weeks ago. Each of the kids got varying degrees of information about what type of surgery it was. They all knew that Daddy's "privates" were going to be sore. So, while kissing the kids goodnight, Gavin asks, "Daddy, do your privates still hurt?" Brett responds with, "No, I"m feeling better now". Lauri has to chime in, "Why don't you just call it what it is a p-i-n-e-s-s. Isn't that right?" To which Alyssa answers, "Not even close Lauri." Lauri quickly responds, "Whatever. Whatever its called. Why don't you just call it that long thing between your legs?".

As I said to Brett, "At least she said "long"" :)

(Side note- the girls observations on anatomy come from their two not-so-modest little brothers.)

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Back from a break (from blogging)

2007-01-23T10:27:00.000-06:00

We are back in the swing of things around here. We had a round of fevers (thankfully avoiding the baby), Lauri's eye surgery, out of town visitors, and two weekends with snow/ice. I'm ready for a little peace.

Of course, Brett takes his first business trip tomorrow, leaving me alone for 3 days 2 nights with five kids, we have Eli's birthday this week, Alyssa's next, and Brett's having surgery.

That's life, right?

Here are some pictures from the snow this past weekend. We had a perfect hill to go flying down. The kids had a blast sledding with Grammy and their Florida-born aunts.

From SNOW

We also had our fair share of wipe-outs. Papa was supposed to be catching the sledders from the utter doom of the creek behind him, but sometimes they were going a little too fast.

From SNOW

We had a full schedule day, but we still managed to have time for snowball fights and snowmen.

From SNOW

Poor Elizabeth didn't get a turn this year.

From SNOW

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T21:21:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!!!

We celebrated this year by hanging out at our house, just the seven of us. Lauri made us all party hats for our party. We feasted on pigs-in-a-blanket, mozzarella sticks (deep fried in daddy's new fryer) and chili dip.

The majority of the night was spent with our newest toy- a Wii. I was really surprised at how family-friendly it is. As you can see, Gavin and even Eli were able to play games. We just had to tell Eli to do his "Power Ranger moves" for the boxing game.

Here's Gavin testing out his golf swing. He's not quite the next Tiger Woods.

Lauri played us some songs on her new guitar.

And, ever the party-animal, Alyssa spent her time between Wii turns re-reading Peter and the Starcatchers.

The kids stayed up to watch the ball drop over NYC. We celebrated with a grape juice toast. After that it was off to bed, but not without incident. Lauri was carrying Brett's half-empty (or I guess, half-full) beer upstairs for him, when she tripped, hit the beer on the stairs, and splashed beer all over herself. Like I told Brett, I guess it's not a New Year's party without someone smelling like beer. I just didn't think it would be my 6 year old.

So, here's a final toast to a great 2006 and an even better 2007! Cheers!!!

Baby's First Bath

2006-12-29T16:54:00.000-06:00

Here's little Elizabeth all snuggled up, belly-full, sleeping not knowing Mommy and Daddy were getting ready to wake her up........

....to this......

She did settle down after a few minutes, right as Daddy was done washing her. She looks rather pensive in this picture, no?

Here she after the trauma- all wrapped up in her towel. In case we had forgotten, the towel reminds us that she's a "BABY" in cute heart letters over her forehead.

Christmas

2006-12-26T21:58:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve- setting out cookies for Santa

Christmas Morning- before opening presents

Our Christmas Angel

The kids' castle that Grandpa built for them

one happy family

2006-12-20T19:32:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth Mae

2006-12-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

This is the Christmas blanket and hat the hospital gave us.

Here is a close-up of our princess.

My girls

A rose among thorns

Favorite Christmas Songs

2006-12-01T17:13:00.000-06:00

I had to subdivide these into my own categories:

Favorite Traditional Non-Religious Song:

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by anyone

The line, "Next year all our troubles will be miles away" offers such hope :)

Favorite Non-Traditional, Non-Religious Songs:

"The Hanukkah Song" by Adam Sandlar

This one just cracks me up every time I hear it.

"Mele Kalikimaka" by anyone

I like this because it takes me someplace warm.

Favorite Non-Traditional, Religious Song:

"Mary, Did You Know?" sung by anyone

This has become one of the girls favorites too, but I have to stop them when they start singing it to each other- it becomes rather silly when they respond with, "Yes, I did know" in a falsetto voice. Also, they need to learn the real words because we end up with, "Mary, did you know your son was gonna save us?" and such like that.

Favorite Traditional, Religious Songs:

"O, Holy Night" by anyone, but especially Josh Groban

I love to belt this one out whenever I hear it. Doesn't matter that I can't carry a tune- I just belt it.

"O, Come All Ye Faithful" by any church choir/congregation

For some reason, this song always brings tears to my eyes. During the line, "Sing choirs of angels, sing in jubilation, sing all ye citizens of heaven above" I can always picture my departed grandmothers along with Brett's departed grandmother in robes just belting this song out- kind of the way I do to "O, Holy Night" :)

Anyone care to share theirs?

Some Pictures

2006-11-27T12:10:00.000-06:00

Here is our family at Thanksgiving.

Here are the kids dressed up for the wedding:

Turkey Talk

2006-11-23T20:51:00.000-06:00

We've had a rather quotable Thanksgiving today, so I thought I'd share my favorites....

"It's a mix of red and blue."

That was Brett's smart alec answer to Alyssa's question, "What's The Color Purple?" Of course, she was referring to the Broadway musical that was performing during the parade this morning. And daddy knew that....it's no wonder our 4 year old knows the meaning (and proper use) of the word "sarcastic".

"Am I sick?"

This was Gavin's question after Brett and I were commenting on his sideways viewing of the tv. He seems to prefer watching television out of the side of his eyes- left or right. it's rather amusing to watch, we're just starting to wonder if there is a reason for this.

"Now, it's going to hurt you."

This was Brett's comment to Eli as we were trying to give him a haircut this morning. My aunt's wedding is this weekend and his hair was sticking straight up. Brett always cuts the boys' hair, and Eli usually loves it, but this morning he decided it was hurting him and proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs. And, once you star a haircut, it's pretty impossible to just stop in the middle. Brett got frustrated with Eli's scrreamin and squirming. I mentioned quietly that that may not have been the best way to settle him down.

"Yeah, but what were you for Halloween?"

Another Gavin quote- this one is response to my uncle who was a life-long fireman telling Gavin that he used to be a fireman. Gavin was less than impressed, I guess.

"You need to pick out your wrapping paper now"

From one uncle to another aunt, after we were teasing her about her age. We were all sitting around my other aunt's house where my grandparents happen to reside. My deceased grandparents. They now reside on my aunt's entertainment center in nicely wrapped boxes- floral for my grandma and a more regal, manly stripe pattern for my grandpa.

But, my favorite quote for the day was Eli:

"Happy Thanksgiving, LaaLaa"

This was at about 7:15 this morning. What made this so delightfully amusing was that we thought he was sound asleep. He was laying on his belly, clad only his diaper, in the middle of our bed.

Overall, it was a very pleasant Thanksgiving. It began this morning with the all of us sitting around eating breakfast watching the Macy's Day parade, then heading over to Brett's parents for a turkey lunch, then out to my aunt's for visiting with my family and a little dessert. Poor Gavin crashed in the car on the way home. The girls are now in bed asleep, Eli is of course still wide awake, and Brett and I are flipping between the end of Grey's Anatomy and the Chiefs' game.

So, what does it mean when....

2006-11-17T16:09:00.000-06:00

....the drive-thru lady looks down at you and says, " Wow! How far along are you?" To which I politely reply, slightly exasperated, "34 weeks" "MAN!" she says "That's a really big belly for 34 weeks!"

Bragging on my baby girl

2006-11-15T11:28:00.000-06:00

I try not to post too many "Mommy brags" on my blog, but with how hard I've worked with Lauri to get her to write, I deserve this brag as much as she does- well, maybe not "as much", but close.

We are working on pronouns right now, and her grammar lesson today required her to write three sentences on a woman from the Bible using her name once and then the pronouns she and her. This is what she wrote:

God made Eve the first girl alive and the second person alive. God told her to not eat the fruit from one tree. She ate that apple from the tree and God told her to go out of the garden forever. She went out of the garden like God said.

She wrote this all by herself, without asking for any help at all. Progress!!!!

TV Watching

2006-11-06T12:36:00.000-06:00

Last year, Brett and I never really watched tv. We couldn't follow a show for the life of us. This past spring we picked up Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy- it was a nice end to the weekend for us to relax watching these shows. This year, with Brett being in bed by 8pm, I've joined him and started picking up some new shoes to watch, so our level of "television involvement" has increased. Plus, for some reason, it seems that during pregnancy I can't focus on reading- not a clue why- I can usually read through a couple books in a month, but I just think I don't have the energy that it requires anymore :)

So, last night, we're watching Desperate Housewives, and I am actually shocked by what happened- that doesn't happen to often- and I actually laughed out loud at a couple quotes. The one that sticks out in my mind though, is when Lynette's husband (talking about taking custody of his daughter from a previous relationship) says,

"I thought you didn't want five kids."

And Lynette quickly responds,

"I didn't want the first four either, but they're starting to grow on me."

I looked at Brett and just burst out laughing :)

By the way,the show that follows DH, Brothers and Sisters, is very good. Something about the way the the characters are written-the family dynamic- something- it is really good tv.

Not exactly the type of book club I imagined.....

2006-11-03T08:26:00.000-06:00

but still a lot of fun.

I picture a book club as a group of people sitting around with coffee and snacks making pithy comments about wonderful classics.

Tonight, it was sitting around in a circle sharing our favorite book title, drawing a book cover with construction paper and crayons, and playing a game of "pass the book". This was Alyssa's book club that she designed for us. She planned this out all day and made up little cards for us to fill out.

We had a lot of fun sitting around for about 20 minutes going over our favorite books and showing off our drawings.

Halloween Pictures

2006-11-02T11:42:00.000-06:00

Nothing like celebrating Halloween with your cousins :)

We have a pink Power Ranger, Robin, a blue Power Ranger, Buzz Lightyear, another blue Power Ranger (from a different season), a Mickey fireman, and a cowgirl.

The kids stayed out for quite a long time. They were frozen by the time they got home, but they all had fun. We now have a grocery paper bag over halfway full of candy. It may not sound like much, but trust me: it is.

Check out the Power Ranger poses from two and the goofy smiles from the other two:

My Boys

2006-11-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight Gavin came busting into our room while Brett and I tried to take five minutes to talk without interruption (a very rare occurrence in our house). He came in a started singing and dancing around. I could barely keep a straight face. We finally managed to kick him out when he came twirling back in a minute later with his "beebee" covering his head. On top of that was Alyssa's American Girl top hat (a sparkly pink) and he was carrying the matching dance stick. He continued to sing and dance around our room, so by this point we gave up talking. He is such a performer its ridiculous.

Eli gets to sleep by laying in our bed at night, and he was in a particularly goofy mood while we were trying to settle him down, so I was asking him all kinds of questions. I asked him, "Are you a baby?" "No" "Are you a big boy?" "No" "What are you?" "Eli boy" He's still awake right now making monkey noises (thankfully quietly since daddy is already asleep) and licking my arm as I type. Side note: We managed to get rid of his "Paby" (pacifier) without any fuss from him. He hasn't even asked for it. Woo hoo! Hopefully, he'll forget all associations with it by the time his little sister is born in 6 1/2 weeks. (YIKES!)

There's Just Something About A Sleeping Baby....

2006-10-19T21:57:00.000-05:00

That makes you forget you spent an hour and a half trying to get him to settle down. Eli is now sleeping soundly on my pillow, on my side of the bed. It hard enough to settle him down when he is tired, but when he gets silly, it's almost impossible. How do you look into an almost two-year old's eyes and tell him to "Be quiet, daddy's trying to get to sleep." when all he keeps saying is "I love you too!!! I love you too!!!" And then his eyes go all silly and a smile peeks out from underneath his "paby". He finaly gave in, with two of his doggies by his side. Now, to just transfer him to his bed without waking him up or breaking my back.

Our Baby Girl

2006-10-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture from our 3D sonogram this morning. She is definitely a she :) She is also extremely stubborn, and would only show us her full face briefly. She prefers to nuzzle into the placenta or cover herself with her arms and even feet. This is a pretty clear shot of her face.

This one is a little bit harder to tell, but that is actually her foot poking herself in the eye. You can see her nose and mouth right below.

The technician was impressed with her chubby cheeks and fat rolls :) You can kind of see how she already seems to have the "nursing cheeks"

Not quite a cold winter's eve, but still...

2006-10-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

A good night for hot chocolate. At least for the kiddos. My pregnant body has an internal temperature of about 110*, so although the windows are open (despite the rain) and that it's only 54* outside, I am sitting here sweating, while the littles enjoy their hot chocolate. Poor Eli just gets his "pabie" (that's slang for pacifier around here) dipped in the other kids' cups.

Then, we're downstairs to watch Sleeping Beauty. Why oh why would I subject myself to that after the Little Mermaid incident? Well, I don't have quite the emotional attachment to Sleeping Beauty (or, as we call her around here: Sleeping Booty)

Brett is in bed (been there since 6pm) due to an awful headache and (I'm sure) pure exhaustion. No painting tonight. I'm not quite sure why I'm giving the kids chocolate and marshmallows when I'm ready for bed myself. Maybe the kids take after their father with an immunity to caffeine. Maybe.

Watching The Little Mermaid with my children...

2006-10-10T12:33:00.000-05:00

This movie came out when I was about 9 1/2 years old. I consider it a movie from "my childhood". A classic Disney film- the movie that brought back animated features- etc, etc.

So, I was pleased to share it with my children for the first "real" time. They've seen clips of it before, read the books (Disney versions, of course) and are very familiar with the storyline and characters. But this was the first time sitting down actually watching it. I must say, the Disney people did a great job of restoring the color to this movie- it looks fantastic!

What are my children's thoughts on this timeless classic from my childhood?

Alyssa: "How come when Ursula gets ploinked by Eric, it kills her?" Ploinked? Where on earth did she come up with that word. I prefer to say "shish-ka-bobed".

Gavin: "I'm gonna puke!!!!" complete with jumping up from laying down and grabbing his throat (for Gavin to move at all when watching tv is a big deal). This comment came during the "Kiss the Girl" scene just as Eric leans over to kiss Ariel. Sometimes, he's such a boy- those would be the times he's not dancing around singing "Popular" from WICKED or playing dolls with his sisters.

Lauri: "Ursula has huge bo*bs!" She had to repeat this numerous times, and once even added, "They're bigger than my head!!!" That's my little princess.

The kids seemed to loose interest by the very end, although they all wanted to know if Ariel was going to come out of the water naked. Ugh. Brett and I ended up having to tell them to be quiet just so we could enjoy the final scene.

They all asked to watch it again soon- it a Hoedl childhood obsession- watch a movie once, then proceed to watch it as many times as possible in the next two weeks. I think next time we put it on, I'll skip it- maybe Brett and I can watch it in peace and quiet one night :)

Back to Blogging...

2006-10-10T09:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy month (!) since I've last blogged. Our Disney World vacation was awesome- I'll try and post some pictures this week, but our computer is taking too long to process things these days.

We are redoing the kids' rooms in preparation for the new baby- so our house is in chaos.

Brett started an early morning job requiring him to get up at 3am five days a week.

Lots to do and we are on an official countdown of 10 weeks from today until our newest family member arrives!!!!!!

I'll blog more later- a couple funny stories to share. :)

Sappy Mommy Post

2006-09-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

Brett and I are constantly asked, "How do you.....???" As in, "How do you deal with four kids?" "How do you homeschool with four kids?" "How do you get any quiet time?" "How do you handle it all????" "How do you keep things organized?" "How do you not forget about things?"

These questions are always interesting to me. Mostly because, like most parents, you don't think about the "how", you just do it. Sure, every once in awhile, when I'm around people who aren't used to kids, or are maybe just used to 1 or 2, I'll think about what it must be like to not be used to our chaos. But for the most part, we just do it. Then we go to sleep, wake up, and do it again.

Brett has a friend with one child- a 3 year old daughter. I've only met her once, but she seems like a pretty normal 3 year old girl. Sweet, not too much trouble. They have a 7 year old nephew staying with them for a couple weeks, and Brett's friend text messaged him last night: "I have a new respect for you and Wendy. I don't know how you do it with four." Brett looked at me and said, "I don't even know how to respond to that."

We've never had the opportunity to settle in to a routine. By the time we feel like things have worked themselves into a groove, we've added a new member of the family. I can already feel our groove being set right now, and it just makes me laugh. What? I'm getting all the schoolwork done I planned and then some? I'm keeping the house (somewhat) clean? We're having time to spend together as a family? Oh yeah, this is all happening because in three months we'll have another child.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want it any other way. I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way. Our life is just that- OUR life. It sometimes amazes me that Brett and I are responsible for bringing these four absolutely amazing people into the world. And we're going to have one more.....

Weirdness Continued...

2006-09-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't forgotten about my youngest child. He is definitely weird, too. Sometimes I think there are too many moments to blog about.

After 4 kids, you wouldn't think too many childish things would be new to us. But, Eli has found a way to be unique (besides his blue eyes). He refers to himsef constantly as "ELI!" Everything he says is "ELI go!" "ELI book!" "ELI shower!" And he emphasizes so much on his name that you think he's going to pop. ELI!!!! He also loves to repeat whatever the kids say, so when I sarcastically asked the kids yesterday if they were ready to go do work, and they all sincerely answered, "YES!" (another weird moment ;) He was right there screaming with them. This does have its benefits. On our way home from our first co-op this week, where I taught all 3 hours- leaving Eli in a separate room, I asked the kids, "Who had fun this afternoon?" All four of them responded with a resounding "ME!!!!" Of course, Eli's was a, "ME! ELI!"

And, on another aspect of our "weirdness", it is a race now in the house to see who can memorize all the songs in "WICKED" first. Yes, the musical is three years old, but it's only a week old to the Hoedl family. Hey, it's a step up from "High School Musical" :)

Eli has discovered....

2006-08-31T13:25:00.000-05:00

peanut butter.

Yes, we know the "ruls" about not starting peanut butter unti at least two years old.

BUT

His diet was beginning to consist of chicken nuggests, yogurt, and fruit snacks. Literally. That is all he would eat. So, we decided to introduce a new staple. He loves it. He is eating peanut butter on Ritz crackers right now for lunch, and he has peanut butter all over his mouth....kinda like a goatie.

And his other new "discovery": cereal with milk. Specifically, Honey Nut Cheerios.

He's got a wet paper towel right now, trying to figure out how to get the peanut butter off of his fingers.

Good luck, buddy.

Don't Be Afraid....

2006-08-29T15:03:00.000-05:00

To leave a comment or two :)

Comment lines are open for everyone- no need to register!

My Weird Children: Part Three

2006-08-28T18:15:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, I don't have to make these stories up. I guess enough odd stuff happens when you have four kids. This story is straight to the computer I'm-stopping-cleaning-the-kitchen-to-come-blog-because-I-can't-stop-laughing. Lest anyone think I'm a prude, the following words are blanked out so no one can find this story looking for less than appropriate web sites.

Gavin is standing next to me as I get him a popsicle out of the freezer. He is doing what some might call the "peepee" dance. "Do you need to pee?" I ask him.

"Nope" he replies.

"Is your p*nis bothering you?"

"No"

"What are you grabbing yourself?"

"I'm just enjoying my p*nis"

I am *so* not prepared to be a mother of a little boy..............

Funny Email Subject Line of the Day

2006-08-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

I have an email account that I use mainly for signing up on other websites, for promotions, etc. I always get some weird spam, but today I got an email who's subject line made me laugh:

"Ever wish you were home more often with your kids..."

My Weird Children: Part Two

2006-08-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

Lauri loves spelling tests. I don't know why, but she just does. She gets so excited when its Pretest or Posttest day. We were on her first review lesson today, and I thought I'd go ahead a quiz her over all of her words- all 75 of them. When I passed this idea of mine on to her, her face lit up with joy.

"How many words?"

"75"

(Insert wide grin here)

"I'm going to need two pieces of paper for that!!!!"

She went on to only miss 4 out of 75.

My Weird Children: Part One

2006-08-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

We can start with my oldest, darling daughter: Alyssa

She was on he way up from playing dress up in the basement when I accosted her with, "Hey, Alyssa! I have a special job for you!!!"
Usually this is meant with groans, but so far she was receptive. "What?" she asked cautiously

"Peeling potatoes!"

How might you expect a "normal" 8 year old to respond to this? Running the other direction? Tears and screams of protest? Nope, not my girl.

"YES!!!" she shouted and immediately went to find the bag of potatoes and the peeler. :)

Lauri's Work

2006-08-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Yea! Blogger finally worked for me! I'm not sure how easy this will be to read, but this is Lauri's history narration from Monday. :) I think I need to set my scanner settings darker.

Week 4

2006-08-21T11:56:00.000-05:00

Week four is off to a good start. I learned that we can survive a week with a doctor's appointment, a birthday, and preparations for a birthday party. We managed to finish everything I wanted to once again!!!

The most exciting news of the day is that Pete's Pond is back up!!!! We spent many hours last year listening to the squawk of birds and watching patiently for a giraffe or warthog to visit the pond. Most of the time its just gazelles and various birds, but it's still neat to have a "window" to the other side of the world. Yea!!!

I'm trying to upload some of the girls' work, but blogger is being dumb, so I'll try again later.....

You Know It's The Day After A Birthday When....

2006-08-17T12:28:00.000-05:00

....the kids all sleep in because we didn't get home from dinner until 10pm

....you let the kids all play at the train table for an hour after breakfast because they're all getting along with no fights

....you only get the basics-math, grammar, spelling- done today (making up for not taking off his actual birthday)

....you were tempted to eat leftover cookie cake for breakfast :)

You Know It's a Birthday When....

2006-08-16T07:33:00.000-05:00

....You actually wake the birthday boy up when he's finally sleeping in because daddy has surprises before he leaves for work

....Breakfast: Donuts

....Lunch: Pizza

....Dinner: A restaurant

Happy 4th Birthday Gavin!!!

The Tie Is Broken...

2006-08-16T07:31:00.000-05:00

And the girls win!

The kids were *very* excited to learn that they are getting a baby sister. Now they are obsessed with names. Brett and I are kind of stuck on names, so we are open to any and all suggestions.

Boys vs. Girls

2006-08-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

Here are my boys:

And here are my girls:

In less than 4 hours until we find out which side is going to win :)

Starting Week Three...

2006-08-14T19:47:00.000-05:00

And so far we've been very successful. I thought I might take the opportunity to share what curriculums we are using this year. A lot of what we use is based on recomendations from The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.

Gavin started his first real year of school this year. He is working on a PreK/early Kindergarten level. He is working in Rod & Staff Preschool ABC Series, Phonics Pathways, Handwriting Without Tears (currently in the orange book, but we'll probably repeat it), Go For the Code, and various other materials pulled from websites and books. He is still enthusiastic about his work which is encouraging.

The girls are using the same curriculums just at different levels, so I'll list them together (Lauri/Alyssa):

Spelling :Spelling Workout (level B/level F)

Grammar: Rod & Staff (grade 2/finishing grade 3-soon to be starting on grade 4)

Math: Singapore Math (2A/4A)

History: Story of the World Vol 2 (we are about halfway done with this)

Science: We are doing a review with materials and assignments I have pulled together myself. We are quickly going through types of animals, the human body, and earth science before we start on early Chemistry.

Latin: We are joining a newly formed Latin co-op using Minimus Latin. This will start mid-September.

This pretty much covers it. We are also going to be loosely studying American History this year. I'll try and post some of the kids' work, but I'm not sure how the scans will show up on this site.

Oh Say Can You Sing

2006-08-11T10:57:00.000-05:00

We are working on our heritage Award for Campfire this year. It requires the girls to learn all about our country. Things like: who the current president is, what the original 13 colonies were, be able to recite the Pledge. They also are supposed to learn the words to the Star Spangled Banner. We practiced it a couple times with our poster this morning, and then we moved on to learning the meaning of the Pledge. Eli didn't want us to stop singing. He grabbed the poster and started screaming. He sat there and made us sing two more times before he was satisfied.

I know this picture looks staged, but it's mainly because Eli says "cheese" every time he sees a camera.

Book Report

2006-08-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

I've read a couple good books recently, and I thought I'd share. Two of them happen to be children's books.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson: Somehow I missed this book as a child. I read it the other day because I have heard such good things about it, and I want Alyssa to read it this year. I am trying to do more prereading of her material. This was an amazing book, but incredibly sad. I finished it a little after midnight one night, and I proceeded to bawl my eyes out. Maybe part hormones, but mostly incredible writing.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Decamillo: I read this right after Alyssa did. It only took me a little over an hour. It reads like a wonderful fairy tale and has a moral equivilant to an Aesop fable. It is such a beautiful book. It describes love in a most unusal way. I'm planning on reading this to Lauri and Gavin this week.

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice:Brett read this awhile back, and he kept bugging me to pick it up. I did, and I managed to finish it in about three days. You definately have to read this as fiction, but it is still amazingly spiritual. Rice's writing flows well, and it is encaptivating to enter into a child Jesus' thoughts.

I need to decide which book I'm going to pick up next. I'm debating between prereading The City of Ember (by Jeanne Duprau) for Alyssa's September book club or Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. I may just go ahead and start both. Since they're so incredibly different, I can't imagine that I'll have any trouble keeping them separate :)

Side note on movies: Brett and I watched Rumor Has It last night with Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston. A rather odd plot, but we enjoyed it. Shirley MacLaine was hilarious. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night. Tonight we're watching Flight of the Navigator. Somehow, I missed this as a child (it came out in 1986), but luckily I'm married to the king of 80s juvinile SciFi movies. Pretty funny that I don't remember this movie, especially since its set where I actually lived in 1986. The girls are really enjoying it, but poor Gavin fell asleep about 20 minutes into it.

Taking Matters Into My Own Hands

2006-08-05T11:11:00.000-05:00

After being harassed all week by a black and orange spider that made its home in our office window, the battle is done. I emerged victorious. It wasn't bothering me so much when it kept its home in the windowsill, but once it tried to expand its horizons to hanging down the ceiling right by our desk, I knew it had to end. This was no simple house spider. It would freak out everytime the kids would play the keyboard- sticking out one of its legs like it was going to attack. When it was hanging down the ceiling, it doubled it size.

So, with a bottle of 409, I attacked it in mid-air. About a half a bottle later, it began to weaken and gathered enough courage to take a strike at it with my shoe. Aaaah, sweet victory.

What is it about spiderwebs that once your skin touches even the tiniest bit of one, you are then condemned to feel as if spiders are crawling all over you for the rest of the day. Ick. The price I must pay, right?

Why I let my kids arrange a "sleepover" on a school night....

2006-08-03T19:04:00.000-05:00

....they cleaned up all the little toys and trash off the floor to make room for their mattresses

....they have voluntarily put themselves to bed at 6:56 (with a special treat of a vcr tape on our portable tv)

....the three of them agreed to the set-up (and the movie!!!) without the slightest hint of an arguement

....all three of them will be sharing this room soon enough, so let it stay special while it can :)

"How do you spell.....???"

2006-08-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

I hear this often throughout the day, "How do you spell...mammal?" "How do you spell heaven?" I hear this probably twenty times a day.

BUT....

"HOW DO YOU SPELL......HOW DO YOU SPELL SPAIN?"

is what Brett and I heard last night as we were settling down for bed. Seems poor Lauri was having some type of dream (nightmare?) about writing something on Spain. Which is odd for two reasons: she keeps telling me how much she loves to write reports and we barely even mentioned Spain yesterday except for a quick note on where it was on our Middle Ages map. Then again, dreams aren't supposed to make sense :) As someone who has the craziest dreams while pregnant, I should know that better than others.

Whoo Hoo! Whoo Hoo Hoo!

2006-08-02T17:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's the Vonage theme. It's often a celebratory song in our house.

Today its because we got a new stove. We went to THE MART last night, and it was delivered today. Brett just walked in, so now I get to try it out with french fries and potatoes. Yum.

That's our exciting news for the day, so once again.....

WHOO HOO! WHOO HOO HOO!

The Second Day

2006-08-01T16:22:00.000-05:00

The first day went well. The second day also went well. We've accomplished everything I've planned and then some :)

Attitudes are a little bit crabbier on the second day for all of us- although my body seems to be adjusting to waking up early, my mind last night was not remembering to go to sleep early.

Gavin is still enthusiastic about "doing school". I've been impressed with Lauri's handwriting and her enthusiasm for writing papers. Alyssa is getting back in the swing of things. She loves the new keyboard we got and practices on that whenever she gets a chance. I need to find her a teacher, I have no musical skills.

Brett is enjoying his new job. He seems to be adjusting fine. I am looking forward to hearing how today went, since yesterday was a lot of orientation.

So far, so good.

The First Day

2006-07-31T07:36:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day of Brett's new job.

Today is our first day "back to school".

Today is Gavin's first day of "doing real school".

Today is our first day without digital cable (or cable of any sort).

Today is the first day in a long time that I arose at 6:15am.

Seeing as it's 7:30, the kids are dressed and fed and anxious to do school, we're off to a pretty good start.

Dinnertime Dramatics

2006-07-28T08:22:00.000-05:00

Eli is now 18mos old, and he acts mroe and more like a 2 year old these days. We were sitting at dinner last night, and he was eating his food until he saw his big brother eating a Rice Krispy Treat. He threw a fit pointing at the treat and screaming towards towards Gavin. Brett told him "No, you have to eat your food" and then the waterworks came. He stuck out his bottomw lip and began to sob. He threw his hand up on his forehead. Then he froze like that not crying anymore with his eyes closed. We all just burst out laughing. He kept peering out of his eyes to see if we were watching him. Then, Gavin being the way-too-sweet big brother that he is, walked over and gave him the rest of his treat. Brett said, "Gavin, don't you like it?" Gavin replied, "Yes, I love it, but I want Eli to have the rest of mine." The second Eli put it in his mouth, his tears disappeared and he smiled huge :)

~It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year~

2006-07-26T14:08:00.000-05:00

It's the last week of July!!!!!

For me I've double-whammied myself into a lovely predicament. The Jedi Training Academy will be opening for its 5th official year of school next Monday. WOW!!!! That's hard to believe that we've done four full years of homeschooling. Time really flies by. Traditionally, the last week of July is always something special around here because its VBS. 400 kids come to our church every year for three hours in the morning to learn about Jesus, sing, play games, make crafts, and drive me crazy :)

So what does this lovely equation of school starting + VBS = ? Complete exhaustion and mental chaos. We've had to be out of the house earlier than I was waking up last week. Then I spend three hours hoarding kids around from area to area. We get home in time for lunch and then I collapse....... into lesson planning. I've been preparing lesson plans all week (almost done). I am trying to be much better prepared this year. I already know of some major detours during our schooling (trip to Disney, relative's wedding, and oh yeah- a 5th child), so I'm trying to factor all of this in. I've been typing so much (yet here I am blogging) that I think I'm developing carpal Tunnel.

The fun part of trying to prepare your children's education on such little stamina and brain power is the little mistakes you make. Luckily I've caught some before printing anything out, but I'm sure around October I'll be finding typo I didn't catch this week.

Typo #1- Typing up the word worksheet as worksh*t quite a few times on Alyssa's Grammar Lesson Plan.

Typo #2- Typing "Learn Proper Use of Communism" as a lesson title for Lauri's "Use Proper Use of Commas" Grammar lesson plan.

Spoken Mistake- Of course, when I told Brett last night that I thought I was developing corpral Tunnel.

How long till the weekend??????????

Almost

2006-07-13T12:04:00.000-05:00

All week I've been looking forward to coming here to post, "THE SCHOOL ROOM IS CLEANED UP AND CLEANED OUT!!!!" Well, the best I can do is say, "The school room is at an acceptable level of disarray."

We've been working all week on packing up old workbooks, throwing out ones we don't need anymore and getting rid of all those broken crayons, dried out markers, etc. My book cabinet (where the kids keep their stuff) now has a feeling of order . Sure, the Little People are still strewn about the floor right next to some Backyardigans books (courtesy of Eli of course), but the little counting/color bears that I've been stepping on all week have finally found a home.

I've actually started scheduling and have picked a first day of school. It is a lot earlier than last year, but I seem to be hearing "I'm bored" and "I have nothing to do a lot more", so I decided an early start is a good idea. Plus, I'm sure once Thanksgiving hits our school year will be a wash until after New Years. Well, depending on when Baby #5 shows up, it could be Valentine's Day.

Saying Goodbye

2006-07-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

We came home from our lovely 4th of July vacation to a sad discovery- our hamster of almost 11 months had died. We had given him plenty of water and food (we'd left him this long before), so we're not really sure what happened. This hamster was a gift to Gavin for his birthday last August. Nobody asked for him, we weren't ready to care for a pet, but we did anyway. Gavin was less than thrilled with him at first, bu he grew on all of us. Lauri and Eli really loved him the most. Eli would just sit and watch him run around his cage shouting, "PeeWee! PeeWee!"

We weren't quite sure how the kids would take it, but we didn't want to postpone telling them. We told Gavin first. He burst into tears. He is our extreme emotional child. When we bought hermit crabs that bored the kids and only lived a month, he bawled for days. Everytime he'd pass the empty case int the garage, he'd start crying again. We told the girls and they took a little logner to come to tears, but soon we were all crying (save Eli and Brett).

We managed to cheer the kids up with ice cream.

They are now asking for new pets, but Brett and I have put a hold on any pet shopping until the end of the summer. Whatever we do get, IF we get something, will once again live in a cage/tank of some sort and not require too much effort. After the bawling fest on the couch that night, I have no desire to have another pet ever, but I'm sure I'll lose out in the end.

Harry Potter, Yoda, Mommy Bad Luck, and a Peach

2006-06-29T09:29:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter Hide-N-Seek
What does it mean that there are now six Harry Potter books released, and we own each one? Well, last night it meant that as we searched for Book One, we found Book 5 on top of the refrigerator, Books Two and Three actually on the shelf, Book Four downstairs in the tv room, and Book 6 in the bathroom. But Book One? It was a mad hunt for about 10 minutes, before I finally said, "Didn't you leave it in Dad's car?" "Oh yeeaaahhh" was the reply, and the book was quickly found.

Why was there a mad hunt for Harry Potter Book One? Well, Mom here finally decided to join the pack and read the books. Good summer fare, right? And why were the books scattered through the house? That's thanks to our lovely eldest daughter who is habitual re-reader. She will read her books over and over and over again. She grabs one flips it open to her favorite spot and then, of course, leaves it where she may.

The wisdom of Yoda?
We have a talking Yoda who will answer your yes or no questions. Alyssa was messing around with him yesterday. Question One: "Will I have fun today?" "The answer you seek is: Yes" Question Two: "Will I get a rabbit or puppy?" "The force is strong on this one: No" Question Three: "Will I have a baby sister?" "Not even I can answer that one"

I had to smile :)

Bad Luck Streak Over!
Lauri started softball this summer. Not my favorite sport, but she seemed to enjoy it. Some of the games were dreadfully long, but Brett or I were always there cheering her on. Of course, the games where I wasn't able to make it, Lauri hit s couple RBIs and made it to home base. The games I attended she had a couple foul tips, but no actual hits. We decided that I was bad luck.

Well, all that changed last night at her last game :) She had two great hits and made it to third base both times. She also made a couple good runs for the ball and throws. It was a good final game :)

Peachy Keen
Lauri has been reading James and the Giant Peach for a couple weeks now. It is her main summer book that I want her to finish. Every day it is a struggle to get her to read aloud to me. She complains that she doesn't like the book, and is focused on playing outside with the neighbor girls.

This morning she had a really long chapter to make it through before going outside to play. She came and sat down next to me and started reading aloud. She made it through two pages with very minimal mistakes, and at an appropriate pace. She continued on to finish the other six pages without so much as a fuss. She even stopped a couple times real quick to comment on the characters. When she finished the chapter, she said, "I love this book! It's really funny!"

Finally.

Style Challenged

2006-06-22T10:07:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures of my new yellow bedroom :) I am trying to decide if the comforter that I picked out matches the wall color. Any thoughts?????

Back To Posting

2006-06-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

After a couple months break- I'm back on blogging. Here is what I've been busy with the past couple of months

Here's baby "Tie" as in tie-breaker. Not sure if the boys or the girls will win this (FINAL) round. S/he was so cute. The second s/he came on screen s/he was waving to us. You can see his little hand right above his belly. S/he was showing off for us. Considering that s/he is only about two inches longs, this is pretty incredible. Even this being our fifth time around it doesn't cease to amaze me.

Oh, by the way, the sonogram gave us a due date of December 26th- lovely :)

Our New Neighbors

2006-04-17T15:16:00.000-05:00

Here are our new neighbors

They are kind of hard to see all nestled in there- this picture was taken when there was only three, now we are up to ten. Here's an outside shot of their new abode~

Yep, that's our grill. Our grill we won't be using at all this Spring due to our new neighbors. I watched them slowly move in, piece by piece not thinking much of it- then BOOM- eggs. The nest is pretty elaborate. Brett and I wouldn't dream of wrecking it- at least not until the baby birds have flown the nest :)

Here's are other addition to our backyard.

And that's Brett hiding an egg by the rim, not trying to take a cheap shot :) We have really enjoyed the hoop a lot already. It was great yesterday for our Easter get together- we played a fun game of three-on-three.

Sidenote: Don't EVER play basketball barefoot on concrete, my feet are still killing me!

Suffering Suffragettes

2006-04-07T09:22:00.000-05:00

If you've ever seen Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" then you know that people can say/do the stupidest things in front of a camera. Here's a clip that supports this- (just fyi- this site has some inappropriate clips on it, but this clip is completely clean)

http://www.break.com/index/suffrage.html

I'm not one to brag on my kids a lot- but I watched this clip with Alyssa. After the first two girls, I paused it and Alyssa if she knew what suffrage was- She said, "I read that book about the suffragettes. They were the ones who got women to vote. " Then she burst out laughing at the remainder of clip- figuring how these girls were signing to give up their right to vote.

Those Pics I Promised

2006-03-30T10:26:00.000-06:00

Here's the birthday girl~

Here's Gavin not so happy. Our food took quite awhile, and the atmosphere's neatness wore off

quickly. He said, "(insert mad voice) I'm hungry! Where's my food? (insert silly voice) What did I order again?" He has absolutely no patience. Brett and I joke that he's like that lady on the commercial who orders a latte and then and soon as the guy turns around to make it says, "Where's my latte?"

All is better here after his belly was filled with pizza, pasta, chips and of course cookie cake.

Blogging a birthday

2006-03-29T12:23:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Lauri's 6th birthday. We started the morning with donuts (of course). She insisted that they have the day off of school, so our morning began cleaning out her closet. She was excited to go through old winter clothes and left over summer clothes, to make room for the tub of clothes we just got out of storage.

We finished that and had some free time before lunch, so I asked her what she wanted to do. She is not as into tv as the other kids, so I was surprised when she said she wanted to watch a movie. Okay, I say, which one?

Titanic.

She has become very interested in the Titanic recently after Alyssa had her own little burst of interest. She has been pouring over books that show pictures and drawings of the Titanic and its' sinking. So, I put it on, and we watched the first hour. I tried to explain how the story of the characters isn't real, but a lot of the stuff that happens is real. I think she got it- sort of.

After lunch, we went to the YMCA for a tumbling class and to swim. When we returned, we finished watching the movie (skipping over some less than appropriate scenes).

We had dinner last night at the Rainforest Cafe at Oak Park Mall- after going to make a chick at Build a Bear. Lots of fun :)

I'll post some pictures later-

For all my homeschooling friends....

2006-03-22T09:20:00.000-06:00

Go and read the post titled "It all begins with me", about halfway down the page, on a blog I frequent- Mental Multivitamin.

Homesick

2006-03-22T09:12:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, the middle kiddos went down to the Lake with Grammy. They've done this before, and they always have a great time. This time was no different except one thing. They called more times this weekend then ever before. Gavin has repeatedly told me, "I missed you when I was at the Lake, Mommy". He's said this before, but now he has a name for it. "I'm sick." he keeps telling me. "What's wrong?" I ask. "I'm homesick." I then remind him that he
can't be homesick when he's at home.

Last night was the kicker though.

Saturday night Grammy had 3 extra kiddos at the Lake house for a sleepover, including Gavin's best little buddy- his almost 3 year old cousin (A). He said last night, "I hope A's not sick." I said, "I don't think she is. Why?" "Because she spent the night at the Lake house with me, and I was homesick. I hope she isn't homesick too." I tried to explain to him that being homesick isn't contagious.

The mind of a 3 1/2 year old.

Just for DeeDee

2006-03-16T12:20:00.000-06:00

Since I've been personally requested to update my blog, I guess I should get back on. No real reason for not posting in the past couple weeks except for busyness. We had a minor catastrophe last week when Gavin lost Beebee for a week. We searched the house up and down, in and out. Finally, Sat night, he came up to my work with Grammy and bought a new one. Of course, when cleaning up her room Tuesday Alyssa found it. Stuffed inside a tiny little doll backpack.

I thought for sure he would abandon the new beebee, but now he has "The Beebee Brothers". He carries them both around and sleeps with both of them. He constantly reminds me that they are both boys.

Eli has really started talking more. Anytime someone walks into a room, they get a double handed wave and "Hi hi hi hi hi". Same if someone leaves "Bye bye bye bye bye". It's pretty cute.

I went for a health assesment on Tuesday. They weighed me, took my body fat levels, tested my heart, flexibility. Let's just say I have a great heart :) Everything else needs some work. I knew that already, but this gave me some more motivation.

I'll try to post a picture of Gav with his Beebee Brothers later, and I still need to get our school and office pics up.

How do YOU celebrate???

2006-03-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

And no, I'm not talking about Ash Wednesday. Yes, we do celebrate Ash Wednesday, complete with the Imposition of Ashes. Yes, it is a very special day marking the beginning of Lent- a season when we celebrate our Lord's triumph over death.

But- today is not only Ash Wednesday. It is also National Pig's Day. Every March 1st. When we discovered this last Fall, preparations were already being made. A list was drawn up, "What To Do On Pig's Day". While I don't think we'll get to all of it (I'm not real keen on the idea of a mud fight), we did start out with the appropriate Pig's Day Breakfast. That's a pig made out of a donut and donut holes.

During breakfast, we had a wonderful Latin lesson- Pig Latin, that is. We've got a stack of pig books to read and we may even make some pig crafts in a little bit. And of course, to finish off the night, Pig in a Blanket for dinner.

Sidenote: Fell asleep after folding laundry last night at 6:30. So, we did not finish the basement. Soon. Soon.

Basement Remodeling...

2006-02-28T11:17:00.000-06:00

We are *almost* done with our basement. The walls are painted, the carpet is laid, the furniture is in. We just need to stock the bookshelves, hang the posters, and keep organizing the toys. I am very excited at the way it all turning out! Hopefully I'll have pictures to post by tomorrow!!!