Welcome to the Wright Home!

2012-01-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

I'm enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we're having lately. It sure makes it nice to take walks and be outside. I'll take it as long as I can! It's funny to see swimsuits in the store and imagine being able to skip cold weather all together. Not so.

We are getting ready to again make some changes. Although this season has been good, it hasn't been easy. I'm seeing how many loose end are held together not so well, that I really do need to spend more time taking care of some things I've let go/band-aid treated for the past few months. Plus, we miss being together as a family. So, we're making a switch in Hannah's school so we can be in OK more. We'll still be going to Branson, but will probably be going as a whole family instead of the kids and me (and the cats.) God has good things, and we look forward to when we can all be together all the time in Branson, but we'll be patient.

Today we started having PT come to our house, which will be a great blessing. There is a possibility that we can do all 3 therapies at home! Running has its benefits, but a lot of drawbacks, too. Being in one place, being able to focus on things will be great. CC will continue in Branson, and I'm very excited about all the things we'll be doing next year in our community.

One quick funny thing from Catherine, then I'm off to tackle my counters. (Pray for me!) Back in the day, your hair was all the same color, and heaven forbid your roots show. Now, with multi-colored-no-doubt-it-came-from-a-box-with-one-hair-having-mulitple-colors fashion, I guess it doesn't matter. So last night she said to me- "Mom your hair looks so nice with that color from whole foods and then your real color showing by your head!" Gotta laugh!

1000 gifts

2012-01-09T19:49:00.001-08:00

If you're like me and the days get filled with so many needs and have to's and should do's, time goes on and I forget to notice the little things. The joys that come softly into our lives. God is faithful and good, but if we don't stop to notice, we lose somle awareness of His presence and His strength carrying us through our days. So, I was reading this blog about being thankful and looking for God's love in each day. How if we find just 3 things a day, in a year we'll have seen 1000 gifts from God to us. That's pretty significant.
Can't promise I'll do it everyday and blog it, but I'd really like to open my eyes more to His goodness around me this year. I have some catching up to do.
So, here goes...
#1- help at CC that lightened my load and enabled me to enjoy my work there many times more
#2- jelly beans that helped perk up kids during Essentials this afternoon
#3- friends for my kids to hang out with who love Jesus, too
#4-beautiful sunrises on chilly mornings
#5-sunny afternoons that lend themselves to a walk home from school (remember the 1/2 mile hilly driveway?)
#6-horses that eat apples from your hands and let 4 year olds practice giving them hugs
#7-cats that have more sense than I do- pushing themselves in front of my work, so I have to stop and pet them instead of working on something that can definitely wait
#8-soft yarn and time to knit so I can share love, wrapping around total strangers needing some hope
9#-words in season that whisper His love and faithfulness
10#sleepy snuggles

2012-01-01T07:07:00.001-08:00

This morning, as we entered the New Year, my sweet Grandma entered eternity to be with her Jesus. I can't tell you how glad I was to hear of her peaceful passing and the hope that she is actually experiencing. To know that she's with our loved ones, the ones she knew, and all the babies of ours she hadn't yet met, is really a fabulous thing. My mom and 2 siblings were there before she passed, even though a snow storm came in as mom was driving into MN. How thankful I am that we made a trip last year, that Hannah and Caleb could meet her and make some memories.
With such a hope as heaven, what hope we can have for the year ahead.

2011-12-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

So far this month we had a CC party, a Sunday School class party, attended a hand bell choir concert, and listened to Christmas radio most of the day through. Tonight we went to Church on the Move's Christmas program and drove around afterward looking at lights. As we were nearing our house, the kids told us it was snowing. It was 38* out, which is too warm, I thought. When we got out at the house, behold, baby snow flakes!
We're so thankful for the truly blessed year we've had. I know it's been a sketchy year, but in and around my lack of blogging, we've had a good time.

Updates on the family-
I'll start with the biggest- Buddy. Business has been very good for him this year, which means he's away more than we wish. However, he does enjoy coming to MO on weekends he can, helping out in the parking lot at church, and relaxing with the family. Sleeping in, reading, watching football, and talking walks are his cup of tea. We did coax him into putting up a trampoline and a tire swing. Both are big hits, and we're thankful.
Yesterday gave us a little excitement. We were (big kids and I) bringing in the last of the presents to wrap for the little ones and my phone was in another room. Bad deal when your husband calls from Urgent Care saying his grinder went flying and got his toes. That morning I had been thanking God for His mercies that endure and are new every morning, not knowing how badly we would need them before many hours had passed. Thankfully, the toes are all on, and only 2 needed stitches. 9 in all. I got to help the Dr., which was actually a lot of fun. We knew the same Dr.'s from my days in the ICU. When he mentioned the need for nurses, I told Buddy I could go back to work and he could homeschool... He wasn't fond of that idea. ;) So today, he went back to work. By the time he came home and we went to the program, he was done being on his feet. Hopefully he'll use great wisdom tomorrow. The scripture that came to mind was, "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed." Lamentations 3:22. Just to think of what could have happened....

Delahne- happy knitting with a new set of projects. One of the ladies on Hannah's bus in going through chemo, and she inspired me to make lap blankets and wraps for those at her clinic. I'm hopeful they'll be a blessing. I'm enjoying the break from CC, but we're still so full of activity, it's hard to tell we're not doing it. Today we baked for our neighbors, and had a few goodies ourselves. I really enjoy cranberry season! I colored my hair for I think the 3rd time in my life. It was supposed to be "dark golden blonde" and turned out to be a bit auburn. I have red in my hair naturally, so I guess going for the most intense effect and my normal tendancies did a great work together. It's not so dramatic that people even comment, so I may try something else for fun later.

Samuel- still doing Boy Scouts. He's looking forward to a really neat adventure this coming summer in the Boundary Waters. Funny that I'm from that area and never went! It'll be a long trip, but I think he'll really enjoy it. He's working with his dad to earn the money for the trip. He also earned enough to go shopping Thanksgiving night and get his own laptop. He really likes it alot. He's making movies, playing games, and occassionally losing it for not quite the best behavior. He's reading "Mover of Men, Mover of Mountains" and "Left Behind" in his spare time. He's been a big help to Catherine in wrapping presents for us.

Catherine- having fun with her friends here and there (OK and MO) is the best for her. She's still very creative and likes music. She has a keyboard that had a headset. Frequently uses do not include music, but rather giving instructions. She has been on a roll making beautiful scarves for Christmas gifts for friends. I think she's made 4 in one week. While we were reading together, she'd be knitting up a storm. Just one more chapter! And away she'd go. She has been busy planning Christmas presents, going shopping, and wrapping most of the presents. Her kitty is such a joy to her, still. It's kind of funny watching her go get Fluffy. I'm sure Fluffy has resigned herself and tolerates being captured and wrapped up while we read, most days.

Recent reads we liked- "Calico Bush", "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch", "The Gate in the Wall", and started "The Red Badge of Courage." It's so exciting to finish a book and anticipate the good one that will follow. We've learned so much as we've read. It's my favorite part of school. Could we just read all day knit?

Hannah- has just learned how to fasten the bottom of her car seat harness thingy. She could do the top, but always said the bottom was too hard and wouldn't try. Just this week, she's figured it out and is so pleased with herself. She can write her name and count to 15, recognize most of her ABC's, and building with blocks. She likes to show her daddy how she can run and jump. We're still working on a wide variety of things with Hannah, but I believe she is improving in many areas. We're still working on her trying' to make people happy, but not communicating what's really going on, especially when she's away from home/family. "We can't help if you don't tell us whar it is going on. You won't lose it, we can just help you better. These things take time. We did do an MRI of her lower spine to rule out any issues there since there are no voluntary trips to the potty. Although she did tell me once a few weeks ago that she had to go. We're not sure why this is, but we'll get over this, too. She has a great time on the trampoline and will jump and jump for a long time. While she jumps, she sings and talks. I wish she'd keep it up when we come around, but she always stops.

Caleb- begs to do school with me. He really likes cutting and tracing, is learning to write his name, knows most of the letters' sounds and names, and could sit and "read" books for hours. It's amazing to have him be so still with books and then turn into a big ball of energy you'd like to bottle or release to the outside world. This is another reason why we're thankful for the trampoline! I told him a story tonight about someone special going to a family's house. "What was his name?" "Santa." "Hey, that's my daddy's name!" He's looking forward to having his daddy dress up in a few days. There's a little trouble understanding why he has to wait for opening presents and why they aren't all his. But, when I suggested we go through his toys and share them with other children, he was right on it and gave quite a few away. He's quite the boy.

Pets- we have no idea what happened to the lizzard. Nora is half self-cropped and looks a little silly. We haven't quite reached the behavior modification medications yet, but she does do nicely with calming treats! She hasn't quite made friends with the kitties, but we're hopeful. Thankfully, she still comes around when the kids go to bed for some attention from me. The kitties are growing and lots of fun. Fluffy doesn't want to be held, except when captured by C, but she sure likes to be petted when you're sitting still. Smokey is sweet and sleeps with us occassionally. She's Buddy's favorite.

We're headed to spend an Ozark Christmas this year, joined by my parents. We're really looking forward to this time celebrating our Saviour. We've been doing an Advent devotional this year, complete with ornaments for a Jesse tree. We don't have a big tree, but have a few live trees on our mantle. It's actually really nice. We also go a menorrah and we going to have one of our friends say the pray in Hebrew, but that didn't work out. All in all, we're just celebrating how good our God has been and will continue to be to us and all who seek Him.

Merry Christmas! (perhaps I'll post some pictures soon...)

2011-11-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Walking home after school

eating with Nana at the fall social

Happy Birthday!

View from our front deck

Fluffy and Smokey

Ready for the Fall Social

So happy to have been at the game.

Barely tolerating the new tire swing.

Lots of snuggles and reading with Nana

Typical Caleb fashion

Isn't it sad that it's been so long since I've posted that I have to type the whole website thingy in to get to my own blog? I don't even want to know how long it's been, but we have been having a reallly fun fall. First of all, fall in the Ozarks beats the ones we had in OK. Not that I don't think they were great, just that the colors and the hills and the amazing number of trees surrounding us are really fabulous to see.

So, let's see. Buddy and I celebrated in a not-so-celebratory fashion our 14th anniversary. (We didn't do anything because we were in differnt states. We do, however have plans for something lovely in the future. Oh, for a date night!) Looking back at our wedding pictures really shows the hands of time and the amazing adventure these years have been. I am truly thankful for our family, and that Buddy finally agreed with me that getting married WAS a really good idea. :)

Buddy's mom came to visit us for 2 weeks and got to spend a lot of her time here in our "little slice of heaven," as she called it. It was so nice to have an adult around during the day, some extra support when I felt like I wanted to leave the dishes for the maid, even if it took her a few months to come. Actually, I was really in the baking mood and she helped me keep up the with mess so we could eat yummy things. What a great reason to have desserts and bread products every day! The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time with Nana, and when Caleb found out Nana had gone home, he said, "That's sad!" What's really so sad is that I didn't take enough pictures of their times together. Lots of good walks and book reading. She even got to come to CC one day.

We had the best time together we've ever had and I look forward to the next visit.

Samuel turned 12 this past week. I've been seeing the dark hairs on his upper lip for some time and have been calmly ignoring them. And resisting the measurements that show he has only a few more inches until he's taller than me. He's long past my shoes but can still wear some of my hoodies. One thing I've noticed, which is sweet, is that is still likes to be near me. When I told him I was going to walk into his class at church and give him a great big birthday hug, instant panic was in his voice and on his face. Yet when we're in Walmart or doing something together, he sticks right by me. I see the push to be cool, but then he doesn't smile as much as he used to. That makes me really sad. He was blessed to go to the World Series when it was in St L, even though they lost that game. Then he was able to go to an all-night event with a friend his birthday weekend after hanging out with his old CC friends for the evening. It's great to see him growing up and being responsible enough that he's the kind of kid others want to have around. All in all, it was a wonderful way to become the big 1-2. He's a great kid, and we're really blessed to see him becoming a wonderful young man. His humor is really fun to hear, and his appetite is huge!

2 weeks ago, 2 little kittens were found behind the shop of a former non-cat person. This person brought them home, contacted a cat lady to find out how to care for them, brought them to MO so they wouldn't be alone for a weekend, took them back to the cat lady to find out further care, and asks about them when he's not with them. We decided that we needed to do something for Nora, because she was getting stressed out by all this travel and the new arrivals. So she is now the former non-cat person's companion, and the little ones are the kids' school time helpers. It's amazing how still they are when they're holding their little ones. Sometimes they come to school dressed. They're doing great. Caleb needs some gentleness training with them, but they're surviving little boy love.

Catherine is still having a great time with her neighbor friend. They really have a good relationship and enjoy many of the same things. I think she's learned how to build a fire with K's help. They can never play too long, and the time between visits is too far apart. May that help motivate for great behavior!

Hannah's having a great time in school still. I've noticed that she's gotten skinnier since she started school. I guess she's working a lot harder now that she's there with the regular class so much more. They snack morning and afternoon, but she is needing some more to chunk her back up. Some days she comes home and wants to go to bed right away, but some days she'll play for a while. After 3 days, she's pretty wiped, though. Occassionally, I'll just keep her home so she can rest.

Caleb is as lively as ever, full of energy, tough as nails, ready to race/fight/snuggle all at once. He had a blast dressing up for the Fall Social at church. Caleb figured out that kitties and dogs lick to say hi and give kisses. He decided that the way he should show his love is to lick either the cats or anyone he's around. He had a hard time understanding why that wasn't ok at first. We were glad when he finally did.

I'm back to knitting some, working on a cable knit/bobble scarf. I haven't finish my socks yet, but I plan on it this weekend when I have a few moments without distractions. Ha! I think that catches us up for now. We are looking for a new home for our dog. She's gotten so much bigger than we thought she would be, needs more care than we can give, especially when we're travelling back and forth so much, and needs more attention than she's getting here. We're hoping that she can be there soon and get the extra loving she needs. Sadly, we just aren't in that place in our lives. I did chop off a lot of hair, and now I feel like a throw back to the 80's with wavy hair and cowlicks that make my bangs have volume!

Happy week!

2011-10-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

The writings are done! I'll happily go back to editing my kids' papers after this. That was tough! I feel S's pain of writing what he thought was a great paper, only to realize you left out one word that makes all your double spacing off and you probably have to rewrite a few sentences. Oof tah!

Funny story- Last weekend I was able to go to Kindle the Flame, a fabulous women's conference. First time in years that I could go. (Thanks Buddy for watching the kids!) I got to see a friend from the big hair ORU days, which was a lot of fun. Anyway, the last night we take communion and pray for the upcoming year. I was thinking as I got my little cup of white grape juice- oh that's right, they use white so if it spills it won't be as noticable. Just then mine slipped from my hand and spilled all over my dress. Good times!

2011-10-01T09:13:00.001-07:00

Has it really been that long since I've posted? It's not as if there has not been any activity in our world.

We started our CC group, had some changes in our group, celebrated Labor Day with my parents in MO. I got to see a really cool way to make socks. I must admit that the mechanical side of it all really intrigued me, as well as a much faster way to make a pair of socks, a project I've yet to attempt. She said she'd be there until the end of September, so yesterday when H was in school and S went to work with Buddy, I took the C's and spent some time making my own sock. It is a lot of work! There are so many things to be looking for all at once. I really liked having to switch out the needles when we went from one pattern to another- knit, pearl, knit, pearl to knit 3 pearl 1. That was probably the easiest part. I thought the way they make a heel is really cool, but it turned out to be really stressful, especially when people were coming by asking what I was doing and commenting on my one mistake. THEN, I knocked over a little cup that had 33 needles in it into bark mulch! Maybe I was too optimistic of my abilities. However, when the time was done, I'd completed a sock with only 1 mistake that was easily corrected. Plus I learned about the Kitchner Stitch and how to do a Russian join. Today I go back and pick up the second one she's graciously agreed to finish for me. I'll have to close the toes, but that'll be a great challenge.

We also celebrated Caleb's 4th birthday. It was so much fun to watch him getting so excited and remembering past Christmas and birthday times. He's becoming such a fun boy. I must admit I've had some challenges with the baby adn all the changes go=that have gone on in our family in the last year, but he has a sweet heart. He tells me all the time how much he loves me and how pretty I am. Can't help but love a fellow like that! His little smile and happy attitude make days fun and the energy he has makes me wish I could bottle it up.

A few days later, it was my birthday. My parents came over and watched all 4 so Buddy and I could go out. We had a blast just being able to relax with no time contraints, a rare thing for either of us. Not feeling older, but I am now moving farther into this decade. Life is good, and God is amazingly faithful. I do treasure the friendships that have grown during the past few years and trust those will be with me as I head closer to the next decade.

Let's see, lots of trips back and forth to OK, which we're getting better at those. We're enjoying fall weather will lots of time outside. The changing leaves are some of our favorite things. We're headed to a football game this afternoon and some time with friends. Samuel went camping last 2 weekends ago, Catherine has made a new friend in MO that makes her time there really fun. Hannah is in a new class at school. She was in there only one day and was able to tell me the teacher's name. That is highly unusual for her. Most of the time if I ask her if she knows something she'll say, "yes" and then be unable to provide answers. Even with prompting I'm not always sure she knows the answer. The last thing I saw is what she'll repeat. If I change the order of the words I give her, she'll switch her answer. So, it was a big thing when she could tell her teacher's name. There is an aide in there to help her get from one place to another and to help with the bathroom. She rides the bus and is really tired when she gets home. We usually try to have some time to relax, eat, and then she's ready for bed. Caleb is has been interesting for me at CC. We have only older children in families who've never been in CC before, so all the parents need to be in class with their children. The first few weeks exhausted me as I tried to figure out what to do for him. last week I gave up and brought a movie for him and let him watch Charlotte's web. It worked. This week, Hannah is out of school, so I'll have 2 who will be in there to keep occupied in a good way!

Because I'm teaching Essentials for the first time this year, I have a bunch of papers to write. Oh, my! I think it's easier to write my kids' papers than to come up with my own. They are due this weekend. Speaking of which, I'd better make wise use of my time.

Enjoy your weekend!

2011-08-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Back packs- check
Lunch boxes- 2/3 checked
Essentials folders- check
Clothes for the morning- check
Why did I not make a list of absolutely everything I could possibly need for our 1st day of CC? I tell you what, tutoring 2 years prepared me somewhat for directing, but honestly, I have a lot of nervous moments thinking about all I need to gather. We're quite a bit farther away from our meeting location than we've been in the past. Also, in the past I've been able to leave during opening ceremony and run home to pick things up if I forgot. Now it would be at least an hour drive time to get home and back, not to mention the digging time. I've really made efforts to prepare- making lists, printing out good ideas, having supplies in one central area, but my lists are sometimes in different places. The Lord knows and will help...

...24 hours later, and our 1st week is done. The Lord was very faithful, and in spite of Buddy taking a wrong turn to our meeting place (he stopped to get a flag for us so he wasn't following us) and missing our family presentations, we had a fairly smooth day. I really enjoyed seeing the kids, basically total strangers, having such a great time playing together at recess. Being our first day, we have some kinks to work out, but all the kids did great, and from my children's reports, they enjoyed me tutoring Essentials! That was one of biggest concerns, so that made me feel much better. Now to find someone to keep Caleb company while I'm tutoring... it's a little difficult to tutor while your 3 year old is climbing on you, in spite of the back pack full of fun things to do. Something we will be working on.

On another note, I made some really fun Mexican dishes this weekend. I had gotten a BH&G magazine that was 143 Mexican recipes. I made Enchiladas Suizas and Grilled Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas. Sadly, the recipes are not online, so I can't share with you. We really enjoyed them, even though the Enchiladas were a bit spicy, sometimes that just hits the spot. I'm looking forward to my next recipes from the magazine- pozole, something I first ate in Acapulco in 1993 and have been wanting to try to make ever since.

2011-08-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Working in the store they set up. They did a great job. C was just sure we would write real checks and give real money to her for the things we'd already purchased to give to her! It kept them entertained for 2 days. Samuel came up with a "yarn rewards card" that got an "X" everytime you came, and gave you 50% after your card was full. I'd come to his store a lot!Here are some pictures from our time at the Battlefield. We were a little surprised at the way the battle went, not understanding the nature of the guns and their method of fighting back then. Fortunately, we were standing right where the Confederates, who won the battle, were standing.This nice young man let Caleb hold his gun, Samuel got to see his very large knife,and everyone got to shoot his .58 caliber black powder rifle.

We enjoyed listening to these participants talk about different places they'd been and their knowledge of this particular battle. Wish we would have talked to them before...All the kids tried on hats. I think she'd make a good cowgirl!How do I look as a southern belle?Hannah had her 1st day of school today. It was nice to meet all the people who will be helping her at her new school. We actually decided to keep her in K, she had so little of it last year, and has so many skills she's sure to pick up with more exposure on a daily basis. No, her name is not Abby, but we did some switching around at the last minute, and the name didn't get changed at her table. She had fun. When I picked her up from the bus I asked her what she did. "Played." "What else did you do?" Silence. "Did you do something else?" "Go potty." Those were the highlights. :) I'm glad it was quick for her and that she now gets a few days to rest up before we start the long days of school again.

We started in earnest for the others today. Of course, we're going through the adjustments of little one needing to keep out of the way some of the time, learning to listen while mommy is teaching the others, and remembering how to play by himself. It'll come. I'm so glad we've been doing spell and reading together most of the summer. It truly would have been a shock to start cold turkey!

2011-08-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here's our silly family pic. Good times.

If it's raining outside, and much cooler than we're used to, out come the jackets- even for the animals!

I think one of the issues that you deal with when you adopt an older child is the "training," which is not the right word, but the essence is there, to please, to smile sweetly, and to say the expected answer so people will like you. In our case, H is great with new people. She smiles and is very charming in her demeaner. She answers "yes" to questions that are obviously "no" answers to those who know her because she has learned that mostly the questions require a yes answer to make people happy. We're still dealing with her being able to leave anything on her bowl/plate. There is always more for her later, and she is getting better about it, but it bothers her if she has to stop before the last crumb is gone. We recently went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Since she never says she doesn't like something (except her Daddy's oatmeal shortly after she first came home) and we're trying to see what she really does like, Buddyasked her if she wanted to try a salsa that was on the hotter side. I told her it would be ouchy in her mouth, but she looked at Daddy and smiled. She took a bite and I could tell when she wasn't looking at him that it did not feel good. He asked if she liked it; she smiled and said yes. I asked her if it was ouchy and she didn't smile and said yes. When we asked if she wanted more, she said no (after I asked her a few times and reminded her it is ok to say no) and yet when she had more on some rice, I told her not to eat it because it would be ouchy. We let her do what she wanted and she ate it, even though it hurt her. Just to get the last grains of rice.

We went to see a second ortho surgeon a few weeks ago, who gave us a different, more extreme idea for H, but also said we don't have to do anything and could just come back in a year. It's been challenging deciding what to do, but we're trusting God to show us. We've been working with the orthodics and prosthetics people to develop a shoe for her while we're figuring things out. She's so pleasant with them and "yes" to this, "yes" to that. She was actually able to walk faster with her new shoes, even though it is a little different for her. She has a flat surface for walking, giving her a better sense of balance. She still has work to do because her core strength is still low. They velcro on her feet and when they're open, her feet slide right on down into them. They are lightweight and full of cushion, which is a great change. We left there and went to the store to get dinner and some groceries. When we got in, she was crying because her feet were "ouchy." Why didn't she say that to the orthotist? We got home and Buddy asked her about her shoes. "Good," she says. Wait, I thought they hurt you. Do they hurt you? Finally, "yes." When I took off her shoes, there was no swelling or redness, so we'll try it again. Here she is with her new shoes. You can tell she's a little tired.

Another thing we're still working on is the whole communication issue. She's improving, but learning to express herself is a challenge. If things are challenging for her, she says "ouchy" and cries (for me and not her therapists.) Distinguishing between pain and it's hard or I don't like this feeling is something we're working on. Asking for help instead of crying or just sitting there not doing anything is coming along, too.

Yes, things are a lot better, and I enjoy looking at something we've worked or struggled with for a year and she's finally doing it. Sometimes in my busyness, it takes me a while, and it comes as a realization that I haven't had to remind her to do or not do something for a while. She is full of smiles and a willingness to please, tries to do whatever you've asked her, mostly obeys without complaining (although she has picked up "why" and "aaaah!"), is thankful for whatever she gets, and stays in bed after we say good night. She knows about 1/2 her ABC's and sings little made up songs while she's on the potty or by herself. These are the joys

2011-08-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of having hot weather is that I can avoid looking in the backyard at all the toys, balls, and various things that need to be picked up. A side benefit is that the little red wagon gave us a wonderful show of the rain that came last night! I was awake during the night listening the the thunder and looking at the lightening. We were all so thankful for it.

This year in CC, we're studying American History. I just like history, but in particular, I like to see the hand of God as He brought our nation into being and guided it through the years. We are blessed to be living really closely to Wilson's Creek Battlefield. When we went to check out the library last month, I saw a big poster advertising the 150th anniversary of the battle that occurred there. I planned on going with the kids, but let the date slip from my mind. Sadly, Samuel was planning on a camp out, that I agreed to, the same weekend. A friend reminded me of the event last night so I could let the Scout Master and Samuel know he'd miss out on this camp out. Seriously, it was quite upsetting to him. In the 6 months he's been a Boy Scout, he's been camping 6 times, I think, so it's a bummer to break the streak. However, I'm pretty sure that while he's watching the reenactment he will forget about his camp out and the barf-in-a-bag that was to be his breakfast.

2011-08-08T16:13:00.000-07:00

We're back to OK for a bit. We were going to leave earlier in the day, but we first did some spelling and reading, decided to try out the track at the high school (it's basically brand new and made with rubbery material, which is really nice.) I have no idea how far it is around, but I RAN twice around it. If you know me and my hate (no love at all) relationship with running- even at ORU when you were supposed to run 3 miles, I managed to get out of it with my fellow nursing students- that is a huge deal. Caleb did an amazing job. He ran around twice, too, all but the last 100 feet. He actually wasn't very far behind me. ;) Hannah made it around once, and ran for a nice portion of the way. Samuel beat us all and could've gone around again, I think. We all left with orange/red shoes, and tired, thirsty bodies.

After we had a beautiful rain during the night, we were able to continue our yard raking project. There are a lot of rocks in it that are painful to big and little feet. We decided to see how much we could get off the ground and make it more enjoyable to be outside. Of course, wearing shoes would solve a lot of that! We made some nice piles and will do more when we get back. Just looking at the piles makes my feet feel better!

Just before we left, we got a call Catherine had been waiting for. Off and on she had complained about her eyes bothering her, so I finally made the call and got her eyes checked. She needed the very slightest correction, so it was very quick to get them in. She thinks they're pretty cool, so she wants to wear them all the time instead of just when she reads. We'll see how long that lasts!

So far we've had them for 4 days and they've not been lost once! Great job, Catherine!

Yesterday we went to a big back to school bash, complete with funny family pictures, give aways, face painting, and crafts. The line was entirely too long to wait for the face painting, so I promised to do it myself this morning. Caleb wanted a tiger, so with my limited makeup, here's how he turned out.

Catherine didn't tell me what she really wanted and told me something else that made her entirely unhappy when the results were completed. Hmmm. I think there's a lesson there. Soon afterward, it was forgotten in the midst of wearing a fabulous long red dress from Grandma!

As we drove home, we hit about 45 minutes of a totally cloud filled sky and fabulous rain. The temp dropped to 72*. What a nice drive! As we got closer, the temp climbed 30*. We stopped at a friends for a little pool time and enjoyed the water. Hannah sat on the side and didn't complain once about being splashed! That's a first for her, which was so nice to see.

2011-08-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

After days and days in the 110's, I was so relieved to only see 102* on my car's thermometer today. Funny what 10 degrees can do for you! It was even nicer to drive northeast a bit and watch it drop even further. I was on a call this morning, getting ready for the school year and heard people talking about the 90's being so hot. It made me laugh. We probably would think it felt cool. ;)
I agree with one of my friends, who said one of the benefits of this hot dry spell, among other things, was that we no longer stick out on our block. All the yards look scorched.
And so, we pray for rain. God, Who created the universe, Who is said to bring rain to the just and the unjust, will hear our prayers and bring relief. I keep telling my kids they need to do this or that, because if it rains, we don't want it ruined. Maybe I should hold of on washing my car...

If God can use a donkey...

2011-08-02T06:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Catherine had the great idea of putting something large and fun on Buddy's key chain, since it is sometimes misplaced. Great idea. Kind of. Fast forward 3 hours and he needed to get something from his truck. Where are those keys? All the kids are in bed by now, supposedly asleep. We looked all over and couldn't find them. We decided to just trust God to help us. (That's what we're supposed to do, right away, right?) We stopped looking and went onto other things we needed to be doing, and in a little while I heard the dog whining at the back door. A minute later I heard keys jingle outside the door and drop. Low and behold, the dog had the keys for us. Isn't God good? Funny how He brings things about when we trust Him.

2011-07-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Update on the Wright house. This has been one wild and fun summer. I don't think I've ever had one like it. We found a house to rent, have spent each week going back and forth to different homes, done a lot of therapy, been working on wheel chair and special shoes, become the Director for the Branson CC group, and gone to some trainings. Meanwhile, in my spare time, I've been getting ready for the school year. We've so enjoyed our times in Branson and am so thankful for the opportunity to start a CC group. It's been a blessing to our family, and I want to pass it on to others. So, if you know homeschoolers in our area, pass them on our way!

We'll continue going back and forth, Buddy joining us when he can, but we'll be there more than here, except when we take breaks from CC and coming back to visit if Buddy can't come our way. I'm working on streamlining our transitions to make it more enjoyable for all of us. Chore charts and tasks are really helpful.

More has happened, but it's time to head out again. Finally getting internet access, so I can feel more attached to the world!

2011-07-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

A year ago yesterday, we came home from ROG and got to be with loved ones again. It was a fabulous, tiring ordeal. Obviously, if you've followed for any length of time, I'm not great having the camera in the same state as I'm in, nor do I put pictures on here of signifcant moments. I also don't know how to make a slide show to commemorate the journey. If you care, you can go back and look at pictures, which are fun to see.
As we were talking with a friend at gold camp yesterday, Hannah was running around the green, chasing after Caleb. Happy as can be. Amazing to think a year ago I carried her everywhere, she only got around on her knees with much encouragement. So many other things have changed in a year, sometimes it's hard to remember what it was like when she first came.
Gotta run, but thankful for the good times we've had.

2011-07-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

I got the header picture changed! Such talent, haha! Slowly but surely, I get things done.

This past week, we took off again for the farm and decided to be really brave. Buddy worked into the weekend again, so he couldn't join us. We've figured out our way around the house and the yard and are venturing out. But we haven't been to SDC since we first went over in June. Picture 4 kids and me going to the park for the day. I forgot to move the stroller into the car before we left here, so we were strollerless. Thankfully, when I explained our situation to the parking people, they let me pull up into the disabled parking (right in front of the park entrance) and we were able to rent a double stroller. We had a blast, deciding Thursday is the day to go, especially if you can go in the morning. We made our way to the local library on Friday to check it out and use their internet. (The guys didn't quite make it or bother to call to let us know they weren't going to make it to the house.) It's quite small, but was still full of books, and they can get books from the big Springfield library if we need them. (We went to the big one a few weeks ago. Quite an experience- they had a gift shop and a cafe. Small town people getting culture shock in the big city!)
We intended to have guests on Friday, but it didn't work out, so Saturday we invited some other friends. Good times in our pool, sharing some good food, and eating cherry cobbler. MMM mmm! I'm so glad I got all those cherries on sale!
Sunday after church, we weren't quite ready to go, so while the littles were resting, the big ones and I read a book about the civil war from the perspective of a 14 year old girl and planned what to do. SDC called our name, and we set out for a few more hours of fun. The cool thing is that it's only about 20 miles (like most everything else) from the house. Zip, zip, zip and we're there. I think we got everything in we wanted. C and H rode the ship that goes up and down and actually had fun. We're going to wait on Thunderation for C until Daddy's with us. 3 seems a little young, but he's big enough.
Glad to be back here where we're altogether. This weekend will be a big camping trip for Samuel- caving in the panhandle somewhere. I'm so thankful he has these great opportunities. He'll surely have seen more of OK in the time he is here than I have in the 20+ years (that sounds terrible!) since I came.
Have a great week!

2011-07-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from the photo shoot.

2011-07-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

Spent the day trying to track down wiring receipts from last year for our adoption credit. This is ending up being a lot of work! In the process, I did find out more information about H's birth parents. They were pretty young when she was born. I'm not sure how I would have handled things had I been their age and lived in their country. They were brave, and we're thankful for them.
Tomorrow morning we're going to have our family picture taken! It's only taken a year to have us all together, dressed properly, and have a photographer there at the same time. Granted, it's very early and I'm not sure how chipper we'll all be, but at least we'll all be there together. I hear photo shop is a fabulous thing. :)

2011-07-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Off for a walk First picture together in a long time. We've both greyed a bit since last summer. Having fun with the sparklers

Watching the big fireworks. As we spent a lovely weekend relaxing in the Ozarks, Buddy and I reflected on "this time last year." Last year, July 3rd we were stuck on the runway, waiting to see if our flight would leave, only to be taxiing into Houston to see our connecting flight taking off. July 4th was spent in airports, and July 5th, we saw the plane the director of our adoption agency was on when we landing, never getting to meet her face to face. However, we also got to see Hannah in real life for the first time and spend some surreal time together before heading over to court. What a whirlwind that was. As I sat in air conditioning, enjoying having my family around me, I remembered the sweltering evenings in the apartment, trying to have some contact with home.

When Buddy pulled into the drive for the weekend, Hannah threw up both hands, straight up, and was so excited to see him. I've not seen her do that before. I remember how difficult it was to raise her left one even to shoulder height. She put 6 words together into a sentence. It was jumbled grammatically, but it was 6 words. She spent part of the weekend wandered around the yard carrying a big stick, so pleased with herself.

We shot off a few fireworks on the 3rd, with the little ones in bed, but waited for the big ones until the 4th. At first, the fireworks were not a joy to H. She actually asked not to do sparklers. (We had her try one, and that was too much.) The look on her face during the first big bangs was a mix of confusion, fear, and a request for direction. I told her it was pretty and fun and we liked them. After that, all was well.

The scripture that came to mind was "He puts the lonely in families." Amazing the changes in a year. Thanking God for the good work He's done in us and in her.

2011-06-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

For the past 2 days, we've travelled into town to attend the CC Parent Practicum. During the day, the little kids are in play camp and the big kids are in logic camp. Every day, C has cried that he is NOT going to his class; this is NOT CC and he doesn't want to go. Yesterday when I picked him up, a little girl, who was as cute as a bug's ear, walked over to him, put her hands on either side of his face, and gave him a smack him soundly on the lips. She readjusted her aim and gave him another smooch on the lips. They're 3!
On the way home, we were talking about it and discussing whether or not he had a girlfriend, which he insisted she was. "She kissed me and I love her. That means I liked it." Oh, my.

2011-06-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

In the midst of one of their races... Everyone ready to go! Hannah actually ran, but on the grass.

We like our little shaded area. School on the deck. We really like the horses. They like the carrots and apples. The owners moved them to a different pasture, so we have to take a 1/2 mile hilly hike to see them. Great exercise, and great times together.

This weekend we had so much fun! The best part was that Buddy joined us. We spent a very leisurely day on Saturday, except for a trip to Wally World. While we were there, we saw the cutest little puppies that were being given away. The Sammy issue has been a challenge for us, especially while we're going back and forth. We didn't want to get him fixed because he's full blooded, but I can't chase him multiple times a day when he gets out. The other option wa a companion. So, we got this cute this puppy-11 weeks old. She's a blue heeler, australian shepherd, chow mix, and so far it's been great for the kids and for Sammy. He seems much more content. Of course, we just got home, so we'll see, but so far, very good.

2011-06-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

This traveling back and forth has been really interesting. In our little slice of heaven, we have no internet, but we do have a printer. Down home, we have no printer, but we do have internet. This past week, I managed to leave the phone at home, so we had no communication until my dad played delivery boy on his way to their property Friday night. Very odd, very quiet, not practical, but kind of nice.

Saturday, we went to visit dad and help him get some projects done. I drove his little tractor and mowed for several hours. I'm sure it was pretty comical. I forgot my tennis shoes at home and had run out of clean shorts. I was wearing his straw hat, a t-shirt dress, and flip flops. I sadly missed part of my shoulders with the sun screen and am just now getting over the painful stage! Fortunately, the kids faired much better. We hlad little chairs under the awning of their 5th wheel for the 2 littles. Catherine alternated driving the 4-wheeler by herself and giving the littles rides, one at a time. It was so fun watching their faces. At one point, Caleb wanted to ride with me, so he sat on my lap and snuggled in, holding on tight and patting my back. Samuel helped Grandpa use an auger, a post hole digger, and shovel for the pole barn they're building. By the time we were ready to go, everyone was bushed, but had had a great time. Needless to say, bedtime was pretty easy.

Sitting up on that tractor made me think of my Grandpa. He was such a neat guy. I still remember him riding the tractor, with his straw hat, chewing on a weed. My Grandma was an amazing gardener, my mom is an amazing cook, but I can drive a tractor like my dad and grandpa!

Buddy wasn't able to come for the weekend, so we left earlier than planned to spend most of Father's Day with him. Right out to the tramp they went to play with Daddy!I was thankful we still had blueberries left from our picking! I made a blueberry pie that was soooo good! That finished up the berries, so we had to go out yesterday morning. I'm not sure if we were any faster, but we did get a good amount, and decided that we were going to keep them all, and not do any on shares! A lady asked about strawberries, but the guys told her it wasn't the right season. S&C had gone off to find blackberries, which they couldn't, and came back with a bucket half full of strawberries!

I wanted to take a picture of our stained fingers. However, by the time we got home, I got things into the house, and was ready to take the pictures, the little munchkins had used hand sanitizer to clean their fingers off! Mine are the only really dirty ones. But it was worth it!This I didn't realize until AFTER the picture was taken. Little stinkers! Blueberry cobbler was our dessert last night. I made some strawberry and some blueberry jam, and froze a bunch of blueberries. The cobbler was good, but Buddy wanted that pie crust again. Guess I'll just have to oblige him!

We're getting ready to head out again this afternoon. Buddy IS coming at some point, and I believe he's bringing a washer and dryer! How nice not to have to bring laundry home, or run out of clean essentials! I think we're getting better each time. Figuring out how to pack and grocery shop is getting easier. The Lord is helping us.

Off to finish up laundry and clean up the house. Have a great week!

2011-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

What do you know? We left the camera in Branson. We have no internet there yet, and so I'm posting here without pictures. Our move was so smooth and easy, good help on both ends, plus the Lord doing the biggest share in giving us strength and wisdom. By Saturday, we had all but a few boxes of toys/school things for while we're there put away. It was amazing to have things all put away, the weather be beautiful for being outdoors, (we're very shaded and have an almost constant breeze since we're up on a hill) and a good book for reading. We went for walks, played in the pool we set up, fed the horses all sorts of lovely veggies someone had so kindly given us when we moved in. I'm not sure that was the intended use of organic celery and tomatoes, but the horses didn't seem to mind. (We had to have a little talk about asking me first before the horses were fed.) The kids did a great job keeping things clean and neat, so when it was time to come home, pick up was pretty fast.
I have to share a cute thing Hannah said one of the first days we were there. She is having to learn to navigate around a different environment, which is not always fun for her. Not that she can't do it, but since it's a new thing, it's challenging for her to figure out she can do it. She was crying one day while I was bringing her outside and showing her how to get down the steps. I tried to distract her, which doesn't alway work, but talking about the horses. "Hannah, look at the horses! What do they say?" "Quack, quack." "No, Hannah. Horses say neigh." We walked over to where they were eating grass. "Neigh eat ground!" "Yes, Hannah, the horses are eating grass."
The marraige meetings were great. I was so glad I got to go to 3 of the 4 nights I could have attended. Buddy came for the men's night, but had to go right back for work. It's a good thing he did, because our ac leaked and caused the ceiling above our fridge to fall in. (I had taken the only key to the car that was parked in the garage, where our attic access is, so we cut our time short by a day to bring it home.) When the repair guy got here, they found between 30 and 40 gallons of water in the piping, just waiting to fall. However, I believe God had His hand on us preventing the damage from being worse. Needless to say, coming back to that from our peaceful paradise was not as exciting as going. However, we needed to do laundry, pick up Samuel from his week at scout camp, clean up the aftermath of the the ac mess, do thereapy, and spend some time with friends.
We found a place not too far from my parents where we can pick blueberries. It sounds like so much fun, so we're going to head out tomorrow morning and fill up some buckets of goodness. I'm not sure if we're going to pick for them and us, or if we'll just take all the fruits fo our labors home with us. I'm sure looking forward to eating a bunch and freezing some, if there's any left. Oh, the possibilities!
We'll head back to Branson in a few days for a few days, which will be Samuel's first time seeing it with all our stuff in place. He was so disappointed to not be heading immediately there after he got home from camping!
Off to make lunch and finish up laundry.
P.S. Catherine is having so much fun, she stopped chewing her nails. We got some press on nails with pretty stickers. You should see them. Well, you could if I kept my stuff together!

Moving day is coming!

2011-05-31T14:26:00.001-07:00

Finally, after all the trips to Branson, all the times staying in someone else's house, packing things back and forth- we found a house! It's a rent house that will suit us just fine while we go back and forth. There are so many great things about it that I could go on and on. But for less than the cost of a week in a hotel, we have a cute cottage in the woods, kind of. It's on 108 acres that include 8 horses we can spend time with. I'm so excited for the kids to be able to explore the outdoors without the concerns of traffic or them being too far out of sight. We have a 1/2 mile driveway that's paved to ride bikes and scooters. Lots of trees to climb. A rope in place for a swing. The stove is gas, which I've wanted for a long time. It has 3 bedrooms, so we'll have room for everyone. We've been packing in a leisurely fashion for about 2 months, but now it's time to start in earnest. Mom came over to help today, which was fabulous. My grandma is in assisted living, so she has no need of things at her house. Last fall when we went, we were able to get some fabulous treasures. One was the contents of her utensil drawer. Perfect for our new little house.
God has been in this all the way. It was so easy finding it, the price is fabulous, the placement is 1/2 way between Branson and Springfield. The things we need to make it homey we've either had enough to have some here and some there, we've gotten at really good price, or been blessed with. I'm so thankful for His leading in all this. The facts that we have a church family there, great friends, my parents have land not too far away, and that we've had that as a desire for several years make this a very special thing.
I tell you what, packing after living in one house for over 12 years with 4 kids, all kinds of pets, and grat memories is challenging. We will be there about 1/2 time, coming back for therapy and times with family. Buddy still has a lot of work here, so we'll be commuting both ways. With his busy schedule, we don't see him very often most of the time. It'll be nice for him to have a place to get away to all the work of getting away. I'm looking forward to sitting on the front porch, listening to the crickets chirping, looking at the stars, smelling the horse smells, and enjoying it all with my family.
Another nice thing is that we'll be back and able to spend time with friends when we're back here. Plus our Sunday School class is here! We'll figure it all out
So, if you're in the neighborhood, here or there, we'd like to get together! (Cammie, that means we won't be running in and out so fast that we won't be able to coordinate meeting!)
Better get back to packing!
If you're handy on Thursday evening, come on over for a load-the-trailer party!

2011-05-19T18:10:00.001-07:00

From the birthday party- C had his face so close to his plate so nothing would fall off his fork. H picked up the plate and licked it to make sure she didn't miss anything!

Lots happening around the Wright house.

Found a baby bird under the car yesterday, so did the dog. It got away and made it into the garage. Catherine made a little box for it, complete with a lamp and a towel. We asked in Petsmart how to care for a baby bird, looked it up online, and came up with sugar water. It was so cute to see it open its mouth and take those drops in! Samuel named him Pico, and he was a constant distraction from anything they (mostly C) was supposed to do. She spent a lot of her free moments out there looking at him, holding him, etc. We had to run around a lot today, and he wasn't looking so swift before we left. You guessed it, he was gone by the time we got home. C was heart broken and cried and cried. It didn't help that we're finishing up Where the Red Fern Grows. (Can you believe I'm 40 and just now reading it?) We were both mild basket cases while we read aloud to each other this morning. Not a great combination to have to deal with in one day. If only I could have eaten worms and thrown them back up to feed it... Thankfully, we have a bird feeder that we can fill to attract more birds. We just won't be holding them and caring for them like we did Pico.

The plan was to finish reading the book and watch the movie tomorrow night. Now I'm wondering....

C had her end of the year recital on Tuesday. It was really amazing to see these dancers'

progress! She came a long way this year, even since November, the last time I got to observe in class. They had some of the older dancers performing, as well. It's so beautiful to see them on pointe! Amazing to think that will be her in just a few years! Now we have a little break from dance running. Her teacher is leaving, which is really sad. She's been C's teacher for 3 years, and is really talented. We'll miss her.

For some reason, going to the Home school convention gets me excited for what more we can learn. Silly me, I think the end of the year is time to crank up and see what else we can do before we finish for the year. So, we started Botany 2 weeks ago. We've been having fun looking at leaves and seeds. We started a germination experiment today, which should be fun to watch. I'm sure we'll do some on and off over the summer, but I really am winding down.

Another end of the year gear up is an accelerated reading program. I enjoy reading so much, as does S. C has recently started not just reading because I tell her to, but for fun. I'm excited to see what is in store. It's a good way for me to be reading some classics.

As we move into summer, I'm sure we'll do some math, spelling, and reading most days. We'll stick some science in occasionally, too.

Caleb got a little Lego set with Jesse and Bullseye yesterday. He is having so much fun with it! The cutest thing is that he keeps saying "Eye ball" instead of "Bullseye."

We made a trip to the orthodics place again today. They had 4 people come in and talk about what to do. They made a gooey mix that is the same as what is used to make retainers, so it smelled minty fresh. Then they had her stand in a bucket full of the mix, one foot at a time. When it firmed up, they had an impression they poured plaster into and made a little Hannah foot. She was so tired, she willingly put her head on the back of the chair in between each thing they did. The plan is to make something that will be formed around her foot, be opened on the top with a velcro closure. Something flexible, cushioning and supportive. How they'll do it, I'm not sure, but with 4 people collaborating on it, they should be able to do amazing things. One thing the surgeon didn't think we needed to do was take x-rays of her feet. However, we're going to do that next week to get an idea of what's going on in there.

Looking forward to a nice mostly quiet weekend. Have a good one!

2011-05-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

It was my mom's birthday on Friday, so we had the clan over to celebrate. We had a great time, with 9 kids together, what's not to like? It was the 1st time in a long time that I'd cooked for so many, but it turned out really well. I made wacky cake in mini-bundt pans, with a mini-loaf thrown in. Help was needed to blow out the candles.

We celebrated Hannah as well. She's getting the hang of the tissue paper process!Just a silly picture of C from last weekend.

Off to another great week!

2011-05-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

I should be going to bed instead of posting, but we had such a great weekend! We went from thinking of a hotel, to camping, to camping in a friends back yard, to crashing in their house. The kids had a fabulous time the whole weekend. We did make it to SDC for part of Saturday. We saw an Austrian yodeler, an Irish harpist and a tenor, an Indian band, the Russian circus, Canadian dancers and fiddlers, and lots of people! No rides this time because we had an agenda! It was the kids' choice to just see shows and eat food. Fine with me.

The kids gave me presents before we left- C made a fun bracelet and necklace out of colored paper clips, S made a card that had a cute picture of us together (me barely taller than her is.) H brought some bath salts and a card home from school. Both she and C made a cute craft at church. I got flowers to plant, a good book to read (an American leader's bio) 1/2 my kids with me, and a nap! Awesome day!

One of the most exciting things that came out of the weekend is going to have to wait. Suffice it to say, I am so happy about this, and everyone else is pretty excited, too. Stay tuned for more information...

When we got home, Caleb cried when he saw me. I was so tired, it was ok. H was not crying, it was no big deal I was home. That Grandma is amazing! What's to miss about mommy when you've got someone as fun as she is? She righted my house and took awesome care of the kids. What I would do without her, I don't know. I am truly blessed with my parents- my dad had to agreed to let her go for the weekend! Thanks for life, mom!

2011-05-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Hannah! Today is Hannah's golden birthday, her first birthday in America, her first in a family. Last night we had a party to celebrate Buddy's birthday, and today it's about her. This morning we had the traditional candles in the oatmeal moment, which she wasn't able to blow out. Both because she couldn't get her breath going in the right directions and because a little "helper" stepped in and took care of it after she had a little time to try. Off to school she went, and when she comes home, she'll have a weekend with Grandma! Mom is coming to stay so the big ones of the family can go to SDC and camp. A little challenging with little ones.
Yesterday we went to an orthodics place to see if we could find something to help H. Of course, this is a huge challenge. What they decided to do was find something to cushion during weight bearing, and a separate something to stretch her feet during the night. Great idea! I also found out there are at least 2 different people who do serial casting in town, instead of the 4 hour round trip journey we thought we'd be doing originally. We go back in 2 weeks to have 2 people work on her feet to try to get impressions and design the best thing for her. She continues to get more mobility in her feet, so it's all good. Not the original time frame, but it's going to be fine in the end.
Have a great Mother's day to all the moms who have children in their arms, in their hearts, and in Heaven.

2011-05-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of Stanford testing done! It was a good one, but I didn't take lunch, since we usually finish early. Sadly, I think I was the hungriest and couldn't wait to run for lunch! S was having too much fun to stop to eat, and C was having fun running back and forth with her friends, but did pause to eat. One more day and we're done for the year.
This past weekend was the homeschool convention and Samuel's campout. We forgot a water bottle and I think that was it, as far as he was concerned. Lesson learned- he needed some better hiking boots, and he should have kept the raincoat out and packed the jacket when it was time to pack up. Needless to say, he was cold, tired, and wet when I picked him up. While he was there, he had a great time, as usual, and got to participate in some fun activities.
I found some good things for next year, which I'm looking forward to already! WE're not done yet with this one, and I'm anticipating what's coming. The best purchase of all" My wheelie cart! For the past 2 years, I've been dragging at least 2 bags, lunches, and my purse up the stairs to my class each week. Silly girl! Now I'll be ready for next year and any adventures between now and then that require a little help on wheels.
Caleb is managing at Grandma's again for a few days. Spur of the moment while we were at church, so no "b" or anything else special. So far, so good.

A few weeks ago, we were driving to church and the conversation went like this-
Caleb: What class is H going to?
me: What class do you want her to go to?
C: Mine
me to H- Do you like to be with C?
H: Yes.
C: She's smart!

Last week while working on geography, the laptop fell from a desk to the floor sadly shattering the screen. Thankfully, I've borrowed a monitor for the side work I've been doing and can hook that up to the laptop. Today I found out I can buy a new one and have a connection to get it replaced! Thank God for help when you need it! New battery, new hard drive, now a new screen. I think I'm set for a while!
Have a great evening!

2011-04-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

It was so beautiful yesterday, and playing outside was on the agenda. C & C made a house under our swing.

Caleb grabbed the camera while we were doing school.

Here's our lizzard. Can you see him in such a great jungle environment? A few days ago, Caleb was "helping" me with my hair. He kept asking if it was "comfyble." (Sometimes he's a little rough with me, so I tell him to be gentle.) When he was all done making me look beautiful, he said, "You look like my best friend!" What a sweet boy!

This afternoon Samuel goes off for more camping with scouts. The weekend will be full for those left behind, but lots of fun for all.

Off to the school room...

2011-04-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, after much thinking and hesitations, our 16 year old cat went to kitty heaven. I had such a dilemna about him about a year ago- making messes he never made before, frequently. I knew he was getting old and that his time was near. I tried him on some psych meds that seemed to help. All was well. Crisis averted. However, after we got Sammy, we knew we couldn't keep Nikki at our house anymore. He was too old and didn't like the trama of a dog barking at him when he went about daily life. So, to my parents he went where it was much quieter and he has a tea cup poodle to contend with. He was such a great cat- full of personality, still acting like a baby in ways, that he won my dad over. That's saying a lot because my dad is NOT a cat lover or even a cat liker. They got to be good friends. However, he was getting really cranky, losing weight, just not himself, and making messes again. I think he was having kidney failure. It was time. I'm really thankful that I had time away from him before he was gone, otherwise it would have been really hard. I'm thankful for all the great memories and all the years of companionship he provided. I knew him longer than anyone in the Wright household. He is missed!
On a happier note, S, C & I were playing Yahtzee tonight when, all of a sudden, Samuel spotted Catherine's lizzard in my philadendron! How long ago was that that he escaped? How did he survive that amount of time with no crickets to eat? He did look a mite thin, but still full of energy. I think the enclosure may be a bit for him to get used to after freedom in the house. Where was he that we never saw him/ vacuumed him/ swept him up? Or that Sammy didn't get him? Makes me wonder what else I've missed around here...

He is Risen!

2011-04-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

And because He is, life is worth living.
This is how we started the morning. Who is the biggest character in our family?

We had a wonderful Easter service, followed by lunch at my parents' with some friends added in. We did an inside, one room egg hunt, and even Samuel enjoyed himself.
Looking over the spoils... They had such a good time finding the treasures.

Caleb was so tired, he fell asleep with his "back pack" clutched in his hand before we'd been gone 10 minutes.

We went to the zoo on Friday with H's class.

Look what these silly boys did with soapy water! Those were supposed to be eyebrows on S.

Enjoying the resurrection power that can change lives and transform our days. May you enjoy it, too.

2011-04-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is a rare smile from S. I really enjoyed seeing it. They both look so big!

From our kite flying adventure, just before the kite took off for other destinations.

This is typical C- always on the go! H can handle some jumping now when she's on the trampoline.

H is done, and C is still going!

Look who got out! We came home from church and little guy getting busy exploring the outside world. He gave S quite a chase and didn't want to go back home.

This morning I grabbed my camera so I wouldn't miss yet another moment. She really likes the bus, and the ladies are really nice. Sadly, those are about the only pictures I've taken in the past few weeks. My camera is having moments, so I know it won't be long until we need to get another. Hold on, little camera!

2011-04-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday sneaks up on my so quickly sometimes! Blink and the week's gone. This week we had S & H's Dr's appointments. S, so he can go on scouting trips, and H, for an orthodics referral. We're looking for some shoes that will support her feet, cushion them, and allow for continued movement as they loosen up, which they are. We have our appointment with them in 2 weeks. I'm excited to see what they can come up with. H started riding the bus Thursday. It's pretty fun to watch her get on, but it's about 15-20 minutes earlier that we would normally leave the house, and the times are different on different days! We'll get it down. Thursday was therapy, so no bus ride home. Friday, she got home at almost 4:30. It took her a bit to recognize me, but she got really excited once she did. She wasn't home long and off we went to our closing ceremony for CC. School is not out for the summer, but we're done with CC, so they got to do a song and history sentence for family and friends. This morning we took S to a scouting job- he gets to work at a dog show and earn money toward scouting equiptment. Very exciting. He will be in for a long day, but it should be a good experience for them. Meanwhile, it's off to dance and then a nice relaxing day at home for the the rest of us. There are a few cleaning moments we could/should have, but that won't take long. By the way, our great little peat pots were left out last night (my fault) in the cold weather. Some parts aren't looking very good right now. The troopers are the peas, apple trees, and tomatoes. We shall see what survival of the fittest 2011 end up like!

2011-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day at our house. Memory Master testing. The test of all the material we learned for 24 weeks of meeting at CC, in random order (unlike I've been quizzing them at home) and with a different person. At home, all was good. At testing, we had some difficulties. C was a huge rattle-it-off kind of girl, but had some hiccups. As she got more upset, she couldn't calm herself and got even more upset. Rests were given. Coaching from me. Lots of encouragement and support. Another chance. By then, nerves were shot, but she refused to quit, given the opportunity by me and another tutor. Finally, we called it quits. Associative, commutative, identity, and distributive laws were all jumbled in her head and would not come out. How old was I when I knew Newtons 3 laws of motion and 3 laws of thermodynamics? 40. She knew THOSE, but those math laws wouldn't come out. It was painful for all involved. I so admire her tenacity and desire to get it. (She's a bit like me.) I can relate to the pain of feeling like you just couldn't quite live up to the ideal. We are separated by 31 years, but we still feel the same feelings and have to go back to those same basics- We are loved, we are valuable, we matter. We fail, but God is faithful to love us in spite of what He already knew we'd do and be. The lesson of relying on Him for strength when we feel we can't go on, instead of falling apart while we try to make it on our own is one needful at all ages. And of remembering His love for us is greater than anything else in life. May we (she and I) learn it once and for all. And soon. And so, lots of tears and hugs later, we went to Big Lots. Yes, the land of a good bargain, and many times an organic snack for cheap prices. We happened upon something I think is called Rob's Good Stuff- blueberry flavored tea and Brazilian orangeaid. MMMmmm! After the little ones were in bed, we celebrated more with apple oat bars and coconut milk chocolate ice cream while we watched Little House on the Prairie. (We only have 3 episodes left! What will we do next?) Some fun Hannah things- she literally ran out of the house, and down 2 steps in our garage without pausing Sunday morning when we left for church. She put her shoes on by herself. She didn't cry when I told her we needed to leave and she didn't have time to finish her breakfast. She's had smiley faces everyday at school, imagine that. By the way, Samuel passed his tesing, although he was quite concerned about 13's, 14's, 15's, and cubes being asked in random order. I appreciate his calm, cool approach to things. It's all under control. Going to get through it just fine. For the most part. He was very sweet and encouraging to Catherine instead of boasting or rubbing it in. Handled very nicely Where's Caleb in all of this? Back at home with us. Being the funny kid he always is. Today, he spent most of the day in his doggy hat. The one that's supposed to cover his mouth. When a mouth moves as much as his does, it's difficult to keep it covered! I told him at lunch that he needed to finish his apple and THEN he could have a few chips. He finished his apple. I was outside reviewing with the big guys when he came out with his many chips. He could barely see from under the bill, but he was so pleased with himself. That changed quickly. Oh well. One of those things. And Sammy. Oh my. 3 days, 3 times running around the neighborhood. We found the hole and fixed it for now. I'm so thankful the collar is still attached nicely so kind people can call me and let me know they have my cute dog. Cats are decidedly easier, but what would we do without this guy?

2011-04-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Without my usual wake up from Caleb crawling into our bed at some unreasonable hour, I overslept! No big deal normally, except Hannah has to be at school! We made it with a few minutes to spare. Whew! It was so quiet with 2 little ones gone most of the day. I did pick H up early from school for therapy, so she missed out on recess and other activities. I'll have to see if we can switch her times up a bit so she can be at school longer. When it was time for bed I asked her if she wanted me to read her a story or to just go to bed. She did not want a story and hopped right into bed. After therapy we were going to head to the library. However, we saw the town museum was open. After living in this town for 12.5 years, you'd think we would have already done that. But, no. What a nice little place it was. The fun part was there were cool things from WW II, the Civil War, things from the 1800's. Just good fun. Then we went to the library for the first time in months. Something about the book that disappeared while I was in ROG and the fine that resulted made it not so fun to go. Got that cleared up and we can now begin enjoying the benefits of it again. On a funny note... Last night I watched Hoarders, which is absolutely shocking. After that I watched Extreme Couponing. Hmm... they looked kind of similar...

2011-04-06T15:53:00.001-07:00

Hannah had her first day of school today and did great! She was ready for anything, as usual. I sent her in a zip up sweater- it was cooler and very windy, and she refused to take it off all day. It ended up being in the 80's and she had nice rosy cheeks with her sweater all zipped up! She told me she ate and played, and the people there were teacher and teacher. (I think there are 2 helpers plus the teacher with her all day.) She said she was tired, but made it through the evening just fine. (The picture is on my phone.) My mom came to watch the kids while I did errands and hung out with Charissa for an hour. Caleb wants to go to Grandma's house most of the time that we see her, so the plan was for her to take him home for a while when she left today. Hannah was so confused about it all. She was sure she needed her "b" and some clothes, that she would go to school at Grandma's. No fussing though when Grandma left. I think she was too tired! Tomorrow is another day of school and therapy, so it will be full for her. A few things she's progressed on lately- she took a shower with no crying and is doing her full potty routine with no help. I still have to tell her when to go, but after that, she's doing is all. I put up a picture in the bathroom with the steps for her to see, and I think that finally made it click. What great progress.

2011-04-05T12:54:00.001-07:00

We had such nice weather over the weekend! We decided to go to the park and try out the kites. However, it was REALLY windy, and Caleb wanted to fly , Samuel's. Sadly, the handle broke for me, and there wasn't really anything to hold onto while the string wanted to keep unwinding. The first time it flew over the fence, Samuel was able to climb over and get it. The second time, the kite went into a backyard- 3 houses from the park. We really had a nice time in spite of it, and were able to retrieve the kite. The kind people put it in front of their garage and secured it with some rocks. We saw a lady who had come by our 1st garage sale, way back in 2009! It was fun to fill her in on what has happened. She was so happy to see Hannah in the flesh! Monday was our last day at CC, which was really sad for us! We enjoy our group so much and look forward to it. It helps us keep our focus in schooling. Although we'll still get together, it's just not the same as having the whole day Monday together. Both Catherine and Samuel tested for memory master, which is when a student can recite all the "pegs" of information they've learned over the school year, which ends up being somewhere around 500 facts. I was happy to see how well they both did. We have one more week before our final testing, so we'll have to get cracking. As promised, we stayed after to play and didn't get home until when I normally would have put the little ones to bed. Fun times, but a little messy with tears (Caleb) when we got home. This morning, I had the IEP for Hannah. The ladies were all very sweet, and I look forward to the benefits she'll receive working with them. H will end up being in regular Kindergarten for about 40% of the day, and in her special class for the rest. I'm sure she'll have fun and make even greater leaps. Amazingly, she'll start in the morning! In a while she'll have the bus coming to pick her up at the house, but for now I'll take her. Fortunately, she'll have 2 familiar faces in her class, since 2 of the Urbans are in the same class. Now, to get her school things. What's kind of funny is that I dread having to get up and plan lunches and have ourselves decent by 8:15! We'll still take her to her therapies twice a week, so she'll miss some school, but it'll be ok. I made an appointment for her to get some orthodics while we're working with her feet so she can have better shoes. She drags her feet a lot and wears out her shoes quickly. We have an appointment coming up soon, so I'm looking forward to what they can come up with. Dance and scouts tonight, then staying home tomorrow! Looking forward to that very much.

2011-03-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Samuel survived the weekend, albeit a bit cold. Great experience and new friendships made. Hannah had her eye appointment this afternoon and everything looked just fine. The Dr. was sure it's a language thing and not a problem with vision. This morning we got in the Sub., everything loaded and ready to go. Except, that is for the Sub. Dead battery, I'm assuming. However, we still have another vehicle and we piled into it, making it in just enough time to get everything done I needed to do before school started. On a happy growing note, a lot of our seeds have started sprouting! I'm glad we started this early, inside.

2011-03-26T18:13:00.001-07:00

Samuel now has a warm blanket, a heavier coat, hat, and mittens. I forgot the long underwear, but at least he'll be warmer. I don't envy those boys, but I know they're having a great time. Have at it!

2011-03-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

Spring is definitely in the air around here. Things are greening up, including the weeds, sadly, and our red bud is blooming. We found some garlic cloves sprouting when we were going to make hummus. What is there to do but plant them! From there, it was only a small step to hitting Walmart for some sees and peat pots, which we've never done. I do believe this is the earliest we've started doing any gardening, so I'm hopeful THIS year will be the best yet. We bought green onion, peas, beefsteak tomatoes, broccoli, and cucumbers. We also kept some seeds from 2 kinds of apples and planted them as well. So far, it's just some condensation on the lid, but I'm looking forward to seeing some sprouts. Interestingly, we found a watermelon plant coming up from last year's seed while we were weeding this week. Sadly, I found it AFTER I pulled it. I quickly tucked it back in, so I'm hopeful it may survive.

We also took advantage of the weather to meet the Urbans at the park for a play date. What fun to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air with friends. I think we need to do that much more often!

Samuel went off to his first Boy Scout camping trip yesterday. He was excited, and I was not sure what to think. First time he was on his own- no parents are needed because the boys are on their way to becoming responsible men and have the opportunity to practice it more each time they go out. Of course, the scout leaders are there, and some parents do go for the fun of it. When I got up this morning and saw 44 degrees, my first thought was about whether he'd packed well enough to be warm. I do believe he has enough layers to be just fine. (I think I started packing winter things away too soon.)

A few weeks ago, we had Hannah evaluated for school. Next Tuesday morning is the parent meeting with all the therapists, counselor, and nurse. It's kind of funny to think about the meeting, because H has already gone beyond what she was doing when I first spoke with the Speech Pathologist. One thing we need to take care of is an eye appointment. When we first visited the Dr, we weren't really able to assess her vision in the office, but it appeared not to be a problem. However, when we had some follow up with the school nurse, her far vision testing was really all over the place. She could identify the shapes close up, but when it was far away, she was touching shapes some shapes appropriately and some not even close to what she should have touched. Monday we'll get that taken care of. Amazing to think they can tell without verbal responses what some one's vision is!

For all these months when we'd put her in class at church, we put her with Caleb. She knows him, they play together all the time, and it was more her developmental level. Her vocab is increasing and she's done really well in the 3's. This Sunday, I'm going to try her in the 4's to see how she does. She's not rowdy at all, follows instructions, and likes to be with other kids, so I think she'll be fine. (It'll be interesting to see what Caleb does.) It's amazing to think she'll be 6 in 6 weeks!

Last night was a fun Mothers' Night Out with our CC group. So nice to get out without having an errand to do and just enjoy being an adult! It may be I'm the only one who feels like that, but I'm quite comfortable admitting I need it and need to do it more. I'm glad we have a great community that does things like this and helps keep in mind what our goals of home educating are and that none of us is Super Woman, but God's leading us and helping us along our path. It's going to be good when we look back and see what He's done and where He's brought us.

Off to enjoy our Saturday. Have a great weekend!

2011-03-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

It's official- Samuel is a Boy Scout! Tonight was his Arrow of Light ceremony, where he crosses from being a Cub Scout to another leg of the journey to manhood. That was a tearful thougth for me. How can this be happening? He's only 11! One of his accomplishments was earning all 20 merit badges during his time as a Webelo, which is pretty rare. It was down to the wire, but we got it done! He looks so serious in all his pictures...When the ceremony began, the Scouts were each called out and 4 "warrior" were sent to "bring me this brave." (My camera was acting up when S was taken.)They were stripped of all their Cub Scout symbols and asked if they accepted the challenge of the arrow. Some of the boys were a good 6 inches shorter than S, and appeared a bit intimidated! When they accepted, they got some face paint.They had to say they had done their best when holding this arrow, representing their past, and pledge to do their best in the future- holding the peace pipe.Still very serious standing in front of the Chief.Then they took a walk over a bridge, saying good bye to their former Cub Masters first, and stepping over to their new Scout Master. Then the received their new Scout neckerchief and shoulder thingies. Samuel was so pleased! It was the best, longest smile I've seen on him in a long time.Saying the Scout Oath with some of his new Troop's members and leaders.In the words of Larry the Cucumber- "I laughed. I cried. It moved me, Bob."
We're off to the races with a campout this weekend! Let the fun begin!

2011-03-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's not even 8 pm and all is quiet! I'm looking forward to watching Chopped All Stars and cutting things out for my class tomorrow. The kids had a fun weekend with the grandparents- Samuel went with his cousin and Grandpa to the hunting land and did boy things I'm sure he would never do if I was there, and I'm so glad he can. The younger 3 went to Grandma's house to hang out and get spoiled for a few days. I went to a friends house and spent 2 nights having fun, relaxing, talking homeschool, going along for the ride with what their family was doing. It was fun for all the Wrights!
A couple of things I got from being their were: homeschool ideas, what a family of 6 looks like to an observer, and allowing the grace of God get you through daily challenges. They come to everyone, and the bigger the family, the more. But God's grace! (I like those 1st 2 words- but God. What would/ could life be like- but God in His infinite love and mercy...) Probably noone else in the whole world could relate, but there are times I forget to lean on Him and trust Him to be. Be what? My everything. And the cool thing is, He's not ticked at me when I do. In fact, I'm sure He's up there saying, "Delahne, I love you! You can trust me to carry it for you, to give you the wisdom you need, etc." Good reminders of that throughout the weekend.
It was great to see the kids again, to be home, to look forward to walking this week out with my eyes in the right direction.

2011-03-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Caleb and Hannah were racing across the living room while I was getting some work done this morning. "Come on, Cheese Pasta!" C called to H.

Yesterday, out of nowhere, Samuel sat down and started playing piano. He took lessons for a few months in 2nd grade, and I taught them a bit when we first started homeschooling, but nothing beyond that. He played and played last night. Then this morning, he and C started playing again. So much fun to hear them actually making music!

Our little lizzards are doing well, but we need to hurry to the pet store for some more crickets.

On Monday while I was teaching my class, I happened to look down into the gym and saw C & H's class down there playing. We've been working really hard to help H gain balance and not shuffle when she is standing. Behold, she help a basketball, bent her knees, and threw the ball WITHOUT MOVING HER FEET! That is huge! I was so excited to see that. When I told her PT on Tuesday, she told me how much strength she's gained.

The sun is shining, and I've got some rose bushes to plant. Have a great week!

2011-03-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last week, my computer crashed! So sad not be able to be online. Good news is- it's better than ever thanks to one of my friends! AND I can put pictures on here! So....

Doesn't he look so cute and sweet? So happy to be in our new room? Well, this happy little guy has gotten a new whiff in the air lately and has taken off every chance he can get through our little wobbly gate to run around. Well, Thursday he got out and we didn't realize it until too late. We went around the neighborhood, with no signs of him anywhere. Friday, we walked around the neighborhood, and talked to neighbors who might have seen him. Yes, some had- and the animal control people. By the time we got back, it was closed, so I left a message. We had just made a tag for him, but it fell off before he left and hadn't been found yet. This morning we got a call that they had our little boy. Would you believe he ran off twice as soon as I set him down! We made good efforts to fix it, but weren't very effective. I got some help this afternoon, so now we're sure the back yard is safe. Now, we have to remember to shut the door going to our school room if the garage door is open, so he can't go out that way. Looking forward to spring scents to leave the air.

This is our future school room! We're ready to go...Here it is! We still have some things to do, but this is a good start.

We like to take walks together when it's nice out. Hannah actually likes to walk, and can walk pretty far. I always take the stroller for when she gets tired. It's pretty cool how she's doing lately. She hated me touching her feet, but has had such a shift in the last feet. She is able to joke with me and stay distracted while I stretch them, instead of panicking because I've looked at them. She really enjoys playing out in the school room- we have a play kitchen out there, and she and Caleb have had fun playing with play dough. She brings us food to eat- globs of dough that are delicious! Her balance and coordination are really coming along a lot. Such a pretty picture of Sammy.

Hannah really likes tattoos, and especially the kitty ones from her sister rewarding her for doing what she says.

Back in the beginning of February, we had snow! Hannah was mixed about it, but here are some pictures of their fun. Samuel and Caleb enjoyed sparring with their gear. Sadly, we've had to decide what to cut out of our busy schedule, and karate was the thing that first popped up. So, sparring will have to be done at home right now. (What a bummer that I had to go buy that all important piece of protection for boys!)

Our little memorial to the late Frenzy. However, our 2 new lizards are doing beautifully, and have so much energy that they have gotten out of the little holes in the top of their habitat and taken a tour of the living room! No worries, they are in their proper homes now. I'm a bit shocked to say I have worms in my house, voluntarily! Evidently, they need crickets and worms to complete their diet, nicely dusted with calcium so they can be digested. I'd put a picture of them on here, but they don't say still very long.

Before we totally cleared the drift, we got to take a picture. Caleb likes that hat a lot, and wears it even when it's really warm out. He is a little puppy who is sooo cute! I've been searching for some organizational things for our rooms and just around the house. Yesterday, I employed my drill and put somethings together that I think will be really helpful. Unfortunately, there is chaos when you organize, but we are coming out of it surely.

That's about all there is to tell. We're doing well and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.

Have a great one!

2011-02-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

To say this has been a tough past 2 weeks is just being truthful. Not getting much sleep, taking care of the kids while they took turns throwing up (Samuel got sick again Saturday night, which I think was dehydration related), trying to keep up with school and therapy appointments, took a toll on me. I'm thankful for my mom and dad taking the little kids for a few days to let me sleep through the night, get some things done, and relax a bit.

It was odd not having 2 little ones around. We keep missing them and the silly things they would say and do at certain times. However, it was a lot quieter, there were a lot less interruptions, and we got some projects done in our school room we probably couldn't have. We put down the carpet moved in the desks, put up our big world map, brought in a book shelf, and planned what we'll do next. It really gave them a boost in looking forward to doing school. They're so excited to have their space and to see how quickly we could finish IF we stay focused. Hoping this will last...

We were gone a long time today, which would've been rough on C&H, so it was good they could rest at grandma's house. When we came home, we found little Frenzy not breathing. We'd noticed that he didn't look very good, wasn't eating very much, color wasn't so good, and just not much activity for the past -maybe week. Honestly, I think we didn't notice too much while everyone was sick. So, today was pretty sad for Samuel. He found Frenzy on a scouting trip in September and kept him alive so much longer than we thought he would. We did the appropriate burial, with last words, putting the dirt back on him, the marker and rocks. According to samuel it was the worst thing that's happened. Thankfully, the tears didn't last too long, and he was quickly on to what kind of lizzard he was going to get next. I think this was our first pet death. Wish we knew what happened to pets after they died. I'd like to be able to tell them we'd see them in heaven. We will know one day, and I guess for now we don't need to know for sure.

Looking forward to a great week. Hope yours is blessed!

2011-02-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

It's time to head to the accountant's! I'm looking forward to having this year's tax season be done! It's always so fun gathering self employment taxes together. I do believe I did a bit better throughout the year to make it smoother at the end. Of particular interest is getting our credit for the adoption, which will allow us to actually pay it off.
After the fun is over, we're heading to my parents for dinner, complete with a dessert, I'm told. Tomorrow will be lots of fun with dance, Awana games, and Blue and Gold banquet, the decorations for which I haven't finished. Hoping to make it to the Shriner's Circus on Sunday. Still recovering from round 2 of the yuck, but doing much better. I'm thankful I've been able to stay healthy through it. PTL!

2011-02-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

This past week has been rough! We went for our quick overnighter to Branson, came back to quickly take care of things and get ready for our CC day. Then, Monday night, Catherine came out and told me she wasn't feeling well. Not too long after that, she started throwing up. Sadly, I was so tired, and she was so quiet, that I only woke with her a few times to help her out. The next day, she was a little slow, but doing better.

That evening, Caleb got up on the couter and into our, thankfully, pretty empty cabinet where we keep vitamins and medicine. He got into my folic acid, taking an unknown amount. Quick call to the poison control center, whose number I at first, sadly had incorrectly and got a very bad place. No harm, give him water and he may have a tummy ache. He was fine. The next night he woke up crying from his legs hurting him terribly. Everything was fine the next day.

Then on Friday night, Samuel starting throwing up just as I was going to bed. He, unlike C, was not so quiet about his need to have me right there with him everytime! Finally, he was done, and Caleb started in. All night long was one then the other. Both boys were perky the next day. I did wonder at first about Samuel being sick because he ate a huge meal, then ran all over the place and jumped on the trampoline. However, when C started, I knew it was some bug. Hannah seemed just fine, and I was quite relieved.
There is a lot on my plate right now including getting taxes together, getting ready for Samuel's Blue and Gold Banquet for Scouts, which meant he had to finish up all his requirements for his 20th badge. We went to a pool and completed his swimming test on Sunday, while the others got in the pool and played, too. Hannah got a little water in her face, but did ok.

We were all ready for bed when it was time. However, shortly after I went to bed, in comes C informing me H was throwing up. Shoot! We didn't dodge it with her. Mom to the rescue! We had CC yesterday, and with me tutoring and 3 kids well, I needed to go. Mom stayed with her while we went to school. I ended up taking C home so he could nap as well. Bless her, she stayed while I took a nap.

Today, everyone is back to normal, as evidenced by the noise level and the amount of bickering going on. I should count that as a good thing? If only I could feel caught up on my sleep!

Dad brought a big cabinet with shelves, so we can start our reorganization! School stuff in the school room, house stuff in the house. However, we have to wait until we get home from therapy and errands to really get into it. Looking forward seeing what progress we can make.

2011-02-18T13:09:00.001-08:00

One of the great benefits of wrist braces? You have a straight wrist with which to guide your fingers into that all important orifice- your nostril! Oh, dear! Now I have 2 who have an affection for this special spot!

2011-02-16T19:35:00.001-08:00

We're having so much fun with this warmer weather! Not that we didn't enjoy the snow and all, but it's nice to wear a t-shirt and have a snow ball fight. The snow is almost completely gone and our back yard is a mud pit in some areas, which is just fine with a certain 3 year old boy! He has been busy making tea for us, using whatever he can find to stir the snow into the muddy water. I seem to be missing several wooden spoons, but the stalk of a sunflower works, too.
Today we had races and games of tag in the back yard. Hannah doesn't quite understand the whole game idea, but she did run around some. At first she wasn't happy about going outside and cried when told to get her shoes so she could go outside, but after some convincing, she had a great time. Both she and Caleb came in with a lot of mud on them. Sadly, so does my carpet. The door was open for a good chunk of time and the requests for taking off shoes was a little too much. We ended up taking a walk and having a late-for-us dinner, since it was so fun to be outside.
We are doing a fun Bible curriculum that has object lessons along with it. I'm not much of an object lesson kind of person because it takes me out of my routine, which I happen to like! Anyway, they've been pretty fun. One day we all had parts to read in a play. Today we make cupcakes with a piece of chocolate hidden in the middle. The point was that by following directions/God's plan for us we would be able to enjoy the good things He has for us, but if we don't follow, it just won't turn out right. We all enjoyed this quite a bit. I thank God He loves us enough to speak just the right way so we can follow Him. Step by step, it'll get clearer and clearer.
Since we have friends helping us on our project, it's coming as the weekends come around. We do have the padding down, and await the carpet install, which should happen this weekend! Then we can begin moving things out, which will help us know what we need to reorganize in the rest of the house. Looking forward to that.
I've also had to get serious about doing our taxes. Part of it is done, but the tedious part is left. Having a busines of your own has benefits, but this time of year, it's not as evident. Soon it will all be over. Which means I have to stop watching Food Network! Sadly, and I knew it would, having u-verse for a trial messes up my evenings! I should be accomplishing things and end up wanting to see what the next great creation is, or who is sent home. Terrible. Self control has started to kick in, and we've started watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie before bed. Brings back some good memories of our black and white t.v. that only got 1 channel, with our very limited amount of viewing each day. Didn't hurt me a bit! Ok, off to accomplish some more tax work...

2011-02-11T07:56:00.001-08:00

Great news! After having the heater on and blowing under the washer all night, I was able to run a small load with no leaks! Now, to get all the laundry done...

2011-02-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

Baby, it was cold outside! This morning when I took S&C to the dentist, and H to therapy, my car thermometer read 2*! Haven't seen anything like that for quite a while, which hasn't bothered me in the least! We have our first required filling. Interesting to note when molars are formed, they don't always join properly, leaving a tiny hole for bacteria to camp out in. That was the issue with S. He's pretty disappointed. At least it'll be white.

We're planning a quick trip to Branson for a special service at the church we attend when we're there. To help smooth things out, I started laundry today. Great idea, except the washer had some funking display when I tried to run it. I followed the directions in the handbook and made sure there was nothing kinked, and all the hoses were in place. I started it again and went off to do more school with the kids. When I went into the kitchen, I noticed some water on the floor in the laundry area! Oh, dear, it went into the garage, into a storage closet, and was under the washer. I called a friend who lives close by to help, but he wasn't available. On I went with my day. Nothing I could do about it. Not long after that, here comes my friend's wife to help me out. Funny thing was, we couldn't find a flashlight that A) had batteries, or B) had all its parts, or C) worked when you cranked it. We needed to look under the thing we made to raise the w & d and give us storage. We ended up using Samuel's Lego key chain! (Guess what's on my list for my next Walmart run?) No solution has been reached today, but when I talked to my dad, he thought it was a frozen place in the pipes that drain the washer. Who knew that that "leave faucets dripping" sign was for houses and not just for apartments? I know now. Thankfully, we hadn't put the carpet down in our school room, which is on the other side of the wall from the washer. Plumbing first, then carpet.

For dinner, after all this snow and cold and being stuck inside, I decided to make a soup out of left over veggies we'd surely end up wasting. At first I could hear the turned up noses in their voices when they saw it. However, not too many bites later, Samuel jumped up and got a recipe card so I could write it down. I must say it was pretty tasty. It was left overs, so there were no amounts measures, just pieces used. Potatoes, celery, carrots, onions, tomatoes, yellow pepper, and brown rice. I used a vegetarian bouillion cube and some salt and pepper for seasoning. Cooked it for about an hour, and served it with flakey wheat biscuits. Sadly, in Catherine's rush to help me out cleaning the kitchen, the lid on the container didn't quite get closed, and a large part of our soup ended up on the counter. We still have some left, and I'm sure it'll be better tomorrow.

Looking forward to some warmer weather next week!

2011-02-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

Why have I not blogged in ages? Well, to be honest, I don't like to post without pictures, and I still don't have a solution for that, but here goes.

You may be wondering why we haven't started the casting process for Hannah yet. I intended to start almost a month ago. However, realizing the logistics of driving 2 hours each way in the worst travelling weather we have, I decided it wasn't so smart. Am I glad I followed that smart leading! 2 days we were scheduled for appointments would have been impossible to drive in, which would mean H would be stuck in the same casts for 2 weeks, delaying our progress and prolonging her time in casts that much, too. We will be starting in a few weeks, and I must admit I'm feeling both good and bad about it. Good because I know it's moving toward her having more mobility and freedom. Bad because I realize what a big change that will be for her in terms of mobility and independence for a good 3 months. She used to be afraid to many thingsthat are no longer an issue. With castings, she'll be totally dependent again. Bathing will be a huge issues because our counter has 2 sinks, leaving very little space for her to lie on. She isn't fond of being on new surfaces. Her tendancy is still to sit and not join in on play or initiate it, although she's come a long way, and I don't want her to regress back to being content to sit and watch the world go by. It's also the travel with 4 kids and waiting room time. However, it's short term, and the end results will be good. And, just like everything else, we'll get through and be even better on the other side.

She did get some pretty purple hand splints today! They took a while to come in because there are actually 2 H.W.'s who are both 5 and needed splints. A little confusion in the order ended causing about quite a delay. But they're here now. She's very excited about them. The purpose is to keep her wrists from rotating out and under, which will be much better for her joints. I take them off 2 or 3 times a day to do some range of motion, which she's not fond of. Not sure how long she'll have those, but they do make lovely accessories!

S & the C's have enjoyed the snow, although some days have been so cold, it's not been fun to even leave the house. One day, Caleb was out the longest, and spent the majority of his time "skaping" in the snow. He also had a nice time eating the snow. No problem sticking his face right in it. Of course, I made sure it wasn't the spots Sammy had visited. We've baked cinamon swirl bread, rosemary, garlic, and onion bread, ginger snaps, apple date bars, rice krispie treats with chocolate and raisins mixed in, and other goodies. We've put together puzzles, plugged away at school work, and gotten our little school room painted! Now it's down to getting the carpet in our room so we can move our stuff in! Looking forward to that. We've had things that only work if they're on the wall for all our homeschooling time, and can now put them up!

We've only ventured out of the house a few times in the last week because of the beautiful snow, and one of them was today. We headed for the Urban's house. Fun was had by all as we spent most of the day together. There was at least one snowman built and a lot of talking happened between adults! What heaven that was. Thanks so much, guys.

However, we had a little of the I've-been-nice-to-other-people-all-day-and-I-don't-have-anymore-to-give-to-the-ones-I-should-show-the-most-love-to attitude. Early to bed after a nice discussion of why that wasn't ok. I used to see that all the time when they were in school, but haven't so much since we've been home.

There's a lot more silliness that's gone on, but pictures would show it best. Alas...

Have a great week! We're looking forward to even more snow this week. The first snow last week made drifts close to 4 feet high, and the snow was at least 20 inches. For once, the no school thing really made sense, except for homeschoolers. I'm thankful for 4 wheel drive, but I still stayed close. We'll see what this time brings...

2011-01-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

It took a little longer than I thought to have my little treat, but I finally had it today and slowly enjoyed it all day long. Literally. I started at 9 AM and finished at 9:30 pm. I think I'm good for a bit!
Ok, so the project we've been working on is a school room built into our garage! We only put one car in, anyway, and we needed more space with little investment right now. Dad helped my brother do it in his garage, so he already knew what I needed. One of my friends from babyhood and his wife came and helped, too. It's taken 3 partial days of work, but we've got the walls up, sheetrocked, insulated, and 1/2 painted. I have a door into the garage so we can go through, still, and the door I thought didn't open going outside is functioning and the nasty paint on the window is gone! Sunlight! (Insert singing.) The great thing is that I found the money stashed away in a kitchen cabinet to cover anything we didn't already have to use at home. God is so good like that. We even have carpet and padding we'd used for the kids' rooms left over to use for the floor. So, in a few days, we should have it all together and begin the process of moving things out of the house and scattered closets and into one room. The thing I'm excited about? My big white board! The thing Catherine is excited about? Hanging up her work on the wall. Samuel isn't so excited, and Hannah doesn't comment. Caleb just wants to be out playing in the toy nook we made. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
We enjoyed beautiful days last week, and tried to take advantage of it. We took walks and played outside. It's so good for Hannah to be out in the back yard "racing" with the others across the yard. She actually walked pretty far the day we took our walk. She's been sleeping very well as a result!
The snow is headed our way this week, so that all stops. Buddy got a fast sled for the kids to use, so we're eagerly awaiting the first use. Sammy had a blast running around in the last snow, but he got a little too excited about his freedom and ran farther away than I'd have liked to chase him. I'm thinking this week might be good for playing games we haven't in a while, reading good books, baking, playing, and organizing.
Anyone have good tips on training Sammy to NOT chew on everything he sees? There is not too much sacred to him, and he's 2 1/2. We have bones, balls, toys, stuffed dog toys, but he finds pens, crayons, little figures, paper, ziploc bags, ANYTHING that might be left on the floor briefly. We're working on little people picking things up quickly, too.
Have a happy one!

2011-01-24T14:48:00.001-08:00

One thing I've discovered in my reflections of how I live is that it's ok to have a treat for myself once in a while. I always felt guilty if I had something that I didn't share with everyone, and would do without rather than not have enough for everyone else or even eat after the kids were in bed. Sounds good, self-sacrificing, and all that. However, with a busy schedule full of demands on me all day (and most nights) by the 5 humans and various animals, it's something that I decided was ok. We need to refresh ourselves through time alone, time with God, and times when you say- God wants me to enjoy good things just because He loves me. One of the things I discovered is a salted carmel hot chocolate at Starbucks. Not too sweet and just the right balance of flavor. Of course, for my sugar avoiding diet, it was a bit of a shock at first. However, I had a second one a few weeks after the first, and it was still as good as I remembered. Tomorrow, when my parents come over to help me finish a project, mom and I are going to sneak out and get one together. Everytime I've had one, it's been over good, refreshing conversations. Tomorrow will be no exception. So, next time you need a little pick me up, head on over, or find that secret stash of chocolate (or the wacky cake on your counter- mine has a fabulous glaze on the top) and have a bite. It's good for what ails you. :)

2011-01-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

So, after such a long break in blogging, I have a bit to catch up on. Where to start? Time has flown by so quickly that it's hard to remember, sadly. I do have pictures, but I'm having a hard time downloading from my card. Doesn't this sound like a recurring theme?

We had a fabulous Christmas- we were blessed with a get away for a week in a beautiful condo, coming home Christmas morning, driving through snow. Perfect! Hannah enjoyed all the presents and spent a lot of time figuring out what belonged to whom. Good memory for that! She really liked opening the packages and got excited about the opening equally as the actual present. It seemed like everyone got just what they wanted. Pillow pets for the younger 3 were a huge hit. The only exception was Samuel, who did not get 1 Lego set for the first time in probably 6 or 7 years of birthdays and Christmases. He did get some really neat camping things, though that he'll be using in Scouts, so that was very nice. We got blessed with a cute little Cocker Spaniel named Sammy. He's 2.5 and very sweet, great with the kids, doesn't bark much or drool, hasn't had any accidents at our house, and fits right in to the family. Right now he's an indoor dog, but Samuel and Grandpa worked together, actually all the kids had a hand in helping a little, to make him a really cute house. The cats aren't so pleased, but we're working out the differences.

We were very happy to be back with or homeschool group, although we really enjoyed our time on break. We baked and cooked and played outside and used a lot of Grandpa's tools every chance we got. It's so helpful to have a routine that we use to keep us on track. Things go by the wayside too often if we have too much time on our hands with no real necessity to get them done. School balances us. Starting the year out, I really evaluated how things were going in our house and what I could do differently, and what each person's responsibility could be in the home to make it run more smoothly. We at down and talked it out, wrote out what we needed to do each day and week, and it's helped a lot. There were days I felt so overloaded with all the responsibility I have of caring for a family of 6, homeschooling, and helping with business. It was more than I needed to be carrying, and it was my choice to let things go as they had. I have very capable children. I wasn't making the best used of their skills and this developmental time in their lives. Habits formed now will make a huge difference in their futures. They are responsible for many things around the house, and for the results of their choices to care for others in the family or to add to others' loads. We've been working on that the past few weeks and I see a big improvement in not blaming or making excuses like they used to. They still try, but don't get away with it as much as I used to let them. Even Caleb is having to step up and do age appropriate things. How does Hannah fit in this? She's a very eager helper, so given the chance to be part of any project, even those beyond her, she's all for it.

Catherie turned 9 last Saturday, and we celebrated with a baking party. (Why can't I get the pictures to open!?!) 3 of her friends came over and make mini cupcakes from scratch, donuts, and jumbo lemon-poppy seed muffins. What a great time they had. The time flew by so fast, I wasn't ready for it to be over when it was! Of course, chatting with the moms was great for me.
I've watched C really come up over the past few months. She's becoming a sweet little lady, fun of life and a cute sense of humor. I'm glad she still likes to snuggle, for my sake!

Tonight is the city-wide finals for the cub scouts pine wood derby. Samuel designed his car this year and did most of the work himself. While he didn't do as well as in past years when Buddy did the work for him, but he was quite pleased. One of the dads let him run his car for the finals. He was so excited and blessed.

I'm sure there are many more things to share, but wanted to at least get into the groove again.
Have a blessed week!

2011-01-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

A good book, a candle, a hot bath, a cup of tea, a quiet house.... These are a few of my favorite things. Off to enjoy them all at once!

2011-01-03T14:30:00.001-08:00

We're still alive, not in hiding, just been a very busy month. To top it off, I misplaced the charger for my camera. Seems to be a reoccuring theme, sadly. However, it was discovered over the weekend, plus I swiped some pictures from my mom's camera!
Hannah thoroughly enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a Wright. It was cute to see her reactions. She's going through a "mine" stage, so this was extra special as she opened presents or we bought things at the store. She's very good at pointing out what belongs to whom.
We had some good adventures and learning times over the past weeks, and some fun experiences to share, too. However, children are needing me, and I've got some other work to do.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that you new year is blessed beyond measure with all the good things God has in store for us.

2010-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last week the kids had their Christmas program for CC, which was a lot of fun. My little class of girls did a fabulous job, and S & C did a great job, too. Caleb was my little clingy shadow, and H was thrilled to be sitting with Grandma!
We got to decorate for Christmas, H & C were not as thrilled about seeing as I'd anticipated. Lights, ornaments, the whole shebang should have just wowed them, or so I thought. Now, it's keeping hands off the pretties!
Caleb has been entertaining us with his carols. "Jingle bells...on a farm it is to ride in a one horse ony say." "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy menu!"
H's version of Jingle Bells is "Janna nall," which she will sing over and over.... She's enjoying all the pretty lights we see on houses. She's always enjoyed lights being on in our house and thanks me for turning them on, so when she sees houses decorated, she thanks me really enthusiastically! She's learning that it's to celebrate Jesus.
That's all for today. Have a great one!

2010-11-29T17:46:00.000-08:00

Me: What does a cow say?
Hannah: Meow

Finding the humor in life is a great thing. Counting even the smallest blessing enlarges our lives exponentially. Realizing the steadfast love of the Lord NEVER ceases changes our lives.
Remaining thankful....
D

2010-11-24T06:10:00.001-08:00

It's after 8, and the 1st child has risen. We'll see how long that lasts... Normally, we're all up before this, but that's fine. We're finishing up delivering pop corn today, doing a little bit of school, and meeting my mom to let C spend the day and night with her and a cousin. Grandma needed some helping getting things ready for Thanksgiving, and 2 sweet granddaughters perfectly fit the bill. I know she's excited about it. Samuel is stuck with me, but he did get to spend the day with Buddy on Saturday, supposedly working, but the rumors I heard sounded pretty fun.
I got to spend time with H at therapy yesterday. Mom came to watch the other 3 while we were there. I thought I'd get some errands done, but it was great to watch what they do with her. I was pleased to see some progress, and got to talk with the therapists about how she seems to be gaining in some areas, but losing a bit in others. She remembers more of her routine, but is forgeting words to songs and prayers. I know it'll come back, but it's sad to see her losing anything she has to work so hard to gain. Great news is that if we can distract her, I can work with her feet without her realising I am. This is so great, because it was not fun for her. However, both PT and the Dr. say to keep doing it, so we will. This is just an added bonus.
It's going to be fun watching H tomorrow with all the excitement of the day. We're planning on being at my parents' for most of the day, which will lots of time to be with cousins and get to know them better.
I started working on a hat for H. Now that the sweaters are done, the afghan can be done in squares, and I'm finishing up on another project I'm challenged on, this is perfect. I'm using the smallest needles I've used, with very delicate yarn, so it feels like a big project! If I'm diligent, I'll finish by this weekend. I should work hard and finish it before the very chilly Thanksgiving Day we'll be having!
How exciting to spend our first holiday together, and what a perfect one to share. We're so thankful to see our family together, how far H has come, and to think in advance of the things this next year will bring.

2010-11-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

Our former middle child has been on and off indifferent about the younger ones. Sometimes she has a great time with them (mostly if she's bossing them around) and other times is really bothered by them. The past week has shown a big jump in caring and kindness. She's been taking them into a bedroom to play school or music. (Is that an effort to get out of doing school work?) For today's activities, she got them to race stringing beads (great for H's hands) and to race across the living room floor to get a certain color of beads. Then it was races across the room just for the fun of it. H is even trying to jump during Simon Says. Parachute play and bean bag toss, too. Of course, every effort was rewarded by prizes/junk that I've been trying to get her to get rid of. She is! Only now I have to figure out how to get it from 3 people instead of just 1. They is pleased with the results.
What a fun way to pass the day!
While they're playing, it's laundry and knitting while listening to Christmas music. Yup, I gave into the wonders of celebrating our Savior's birth a bit early this year. Not ready for decorations yet, but this is a good way to get my mind in the right direction of the season.
Hope your Saturday is going well.

2010-11-18T12:19:00.001-08:00

Well, it turned into more of a deal than originally anticipated. 8 silver teeth, and 2 white caps for the front 2 teeth. It actually made it a qucker process. She did well through the procedure, tolerating the mask for the laughing gas, but did NOT like the shot. Thankfully, it was only one. The teeth were just too bad to do individual fillings. She woke up really easily, even tempered, and didn't get sick. We got home and everyone was impressed by all the metal in her mouth. She looked pretty pitiful with her little dry lips and her dazed expression. An hour later, she's doing better.

Our social worker came for our 3 month visit, which was just a bit late, about 20 minutes after we got home. Where did the time go? It'll 4 months tomorrow, date-wise, and it was so busy last month, we got a bit behind. H had her smile ready, as always.

The Dentist was really sweet and had some ideas for adapting her toothbrush. He said they really have no pain after something so major, and it's so much better than what they were feeling, that it's not a big deal. She may have the feeling of a "pizza burn" around her gums, but that's it. She was ready for bed very quickly, after drinking some clear liquids, and slept through the night. It's a new day, and she's back to herself! 1.5 hours of therapy this morning, plenty to eat and drink. Wow! If only I had had that great of an experience!

2010-11-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Big change of plans for today- I got a call yesterday that H can go to the Dentist today! Her procedure is at 3:30, so nothing to eat after breakfast. Thankfully, she's still an out-of-sight, out-of-mind girl, and if I can keep her out of the kitchen and distracted during lunch, we'll be just fine. So thankful they can get her in early.

Catherine pulled out another tooth today. She's decided this is fun, and is very excited about the next ones to depart.

We started brushing (deep pressure) H yesterday after our OT session. Supposed to help her with her sensory issues. Boy, does that 2 hours go by quickly! Off to do more brushing.

Pictures!

2010-11-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

Picking up sticks for the bonfire we, sadly, never got to enjoy.

Dora and Boots at the Mall of America! Intently working on opening the blocks. Having fun with Grandpa.
Caleb's sweater is all done. He will be able to wear it for another year, thankfully.

Caleb enjoying the great outdoors of MN.

A treasure found in the woods. Hannah wasn't able to take walks with us out there this year. Next time. The wonders of birch bark!

Samuel's sweater, finished, but not blocked, and one loose strand on the pocket, which is now fixed.Hannah at the dentist's.

Hannah update

2010-11-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Sadly, my camera remains with my mom. Happily, news doesn't need a camera.
Getting up early was a bear, but H did great. No complaints as I wisked her out of bed into a dark, damp morning. We ended up waiting for over an hour to be seen, but met some nice people while we waited. The staff was really friendly, and I liked Dr. Davey. Of course, seeing a patient who hasn't had their feet corrected until this age is unusual, and he did think they were pretty bad. The rest of her is fine, he didn't seem to think her wrists are very bad, but he did prescribe the wrist splints to help her keep them not so twisted.

We talked about the Ponseti method, which he thought worked well- for babies. Normally, if the feet have been neglected this long, this method won't have the follow up care necessary to maintain the correction. He didn't think that was the case with us. He said no one in our area does castings, and since he's in the OKC area only visiting here once a month, he doesn't have the capability here, either. Of course, I'm of the mindset of doing the least invasive and, in my mind, better in the long run procedure. I'm thinking if we can get her feet moved enough, the final surgery will be minimal, with less scarring and less for her feet to recover from. I want to be open to the possibilities and what will be best for H, so I asked him if he'd rather do the traditional surgery instead of casting. After a pause, he said if it was his daughter, he'd want to try the casting, too. That made me feel better, because that's what I really wanted to do. I've been so encouraged watching another little girl in Florida going through the process, with huge improvement. It gives me great hope for H.

When I got home, I made the call and set up 8 trips to OKC for castings, starting mid January. We could start in December, but we'll miss time for holidays, plus we have a developmental specialist to see, her teeth to take care of, and some therapy to fit in somewhere. He doesn't think it needs to be done right now, since it's gone on so long already. I'm going to have to figure out how to do school on that day, since it's going to be at least 5-6 hours away from home each trip.

When I went to the OT eval, the OT was thinking she probably has some issues with auditory processing and visual processing simply because of her sitting and not being very stimulated for her first years. When I go back, she will get a "sensory diet" for each day that should help her out. I can tell sometimes when she's not able to take any more when I'm explaining something to her, or when she misses out on all but the first and last words of something I'm telling her to say, and the last sounds of single words. She's still working on understanding the need to look at what she's doing to be able to do it right. (Put something where it goes, pull on her pants, etc.) It's getting better all the time. She's also getting better at letting me stretch her feet (which the Dr. wanted me to continue) without getting as upset. We work on counting and naming things, singing, and learning new sounds. Much better this week.

She's getting better at retaining information, too. It took a long time to remember any colors, or to be able to repeat the name for the 2nd item with that color, but she's getting that now. She doen't have to be told "pee pee and poo poo" every morning, either. Now when I tell her to go potty, she tells me what to do. The rest of the process needs a lot of reminders, but she'll get it. She's really fun to listen to when there's a lot of activity/excitement going on around her. She doesn't understand what we're talking about a lot of times, but she repeats words here and there to be part of it. Her noun vocabulary is growing, and she's adding some adjectives with them. Very few verbs at all, but is adding "da da da" between her nouns, which shows me she knows there should be something there.

She's still very content to sit for hours on end, doing nothing unless directed, but will go play when you tell her to. I know that's years of training, too, so we work on that.

I think that about covers everything. It is good to look back and see how far she's come in a short time and imagine what will come in the near future.

2010-11-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

Early day for us tomorrow- Hannah and I will be on the road by 6:30 to get to the Ortho clinic by 7. It's an odd deal- 1st come, 1st served, and only once a month. It'll be great to hear from him what he sees as the plan for her. We also had our OT and PT evaluations this week, and our 1st actual ST session. No news on what OT and PT plan will be, but the OT did mention a brace for her wrists that will help her turn her hands in the opposite direction and relieve the strain on her joints. We keep reminding her, but a 5 year habit is a big one.
I'll get my camera back tomorrow! Catch up will be fun.

2010-11-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

I forgot the momentous occassion that occured while we were gone--- Catherine pulled out her own tooth while we were driving, and didn't even cry! The first one ever! What a big girl.

2010-11-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

I'd like to post pictures, but my camera ended up in my mom's purse. I'll see her by the end of the week, so I'll do it then.

A short recap, because I need to get busy getting my kids fed and in bed for tomorrow. We left last Friday and went to Minneapolis. Honestly, I don't remember what we did Saturday morning, but Saturday night was my cousin's wedding. She looked so beautiful! It was great to see cousins I haven't seen for 6 years! Samuel got to hang out with my youngest cousins, boys 1/2 my age! Sweet guys who were kind to include him in their activities. He was thrilled to show them his LEGO's. Which helped me remember what we did that morning. The Mall of America was just down the road. What was there? The Lego store (under construction, so a much smaller version) and the American Girl Store. Such heaven for children! It was Samuel's birthday, and I'd finished his sweater on the way up. He really liked it a lot! Now, it needs to be washed and blocked.
Sunday, after spending some time chatting with family, we took off for our next stop. Next door to where my dad grew up. We stayed with his oldest brother and his wife, saw a cousin, got to explore the woods and find cool things like mosses and birch bark, observe decomposition in the trees, see some deer (perhaps in their last few days of life, if my family was successful), and visit with a friend I've known since Kindergarten!
Off on Wednesday to see the house I lived in growing up. It's fun to see the changes and tell stories the kids can now identify with the actually places. We went to see more cousins by Duluth, and stayed with my mom's next youngest sister. My cousin, Lindsey, stayed over a few extra days so she could see more of us. It was really nice for my kids, getting to play with her, and making memories. Caleb would talk to Buddy and tell him he was at Lindsey's house. Catherine kept asking about Carrie, who had just gotten married. Samuel didn't really have a preferrence- they had Lego's to play with! We managed to get some school in everyday, which they tolerated nicely. Not as much as if we were home, but we gave it a good effort.
One of the nicest things about our time there was our visits with my Grandma. She's almost 83 and is having some drastic changes in her mental state. I wanted my kids see her, and have some memories together. We weren't sure how she'd be when we got there, but it was actually a very nice time. Caleb found a beach ball at the care center, and wanted to play catch with G'ma. She perked up the best she'd been during our visits, and seemed so much more of her "old" self. We helped her go to bed before we left and sang songs, at Caleb's request. It was sweet to hear him talk about Grandma V after we left and ask what she was doing.
We left from for home, via the IKEA store in Minneapolis! My first time there was a thrill! I had looked at a catalog YEARS ago and dreamed of using all their great organizational devices. It was really hard knowing I could only bring a few things home, since we were stuffed like sardines in the Suburban. It did help me get in the mood, though, and I spent part of today organizing in the boys' room/closet, and planning new things to build and do with Buddy.
Glad to be home, and looking forward to a great week. The kids did awesome, Hannah was a hit with everyone, and was her charming self. Still working on boundaries and such, but she traveled great, as did Caleb, and handled each long day and different bed like champs.
Now, if I could just find my pillow....

We're Home!

2010-11-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

2 days of travel each way, 5 beds in 9 days, tons of fun, most everything put away within just 2.5 hours of being home, dinner made, kids in the tub, and I'm ready for bed!
Lots of fun pictures that I'll post when I'm ready.

Alice- I knit hats in the round, but I really should try sweaters that way.
Leslie- I'm sure you were awesome and all went well. Looking forward to being back. Thanks again!

2010-10-28T16:47:00.001-07:00

4 crowns, 6 other fillings, and deep sedation are the results of the Dentist visit. She did really well, thoroughly enjoying her "lellow" glasses and the chance to be the center of attention. It's pretty funny how she doesn't like other people to talk around her and makes sure they remember she's there! She's just so cute and sweet, it's easy to remember. I was a little torn while I was there- they told me they could take care of her on Monday. Great! Except we'll be in the frigid North in possible snow. Then I thought again about leaving Buddy, of missing having Samuel's birthday all together, the great speaker on Monday, etc., etc. Then I thought about not seeing family I've missed out on for years, and the opportunity to see my Grandma again. Not easy for this person who wants everyone happy and hates tough choices where someone might feel left out. So, we're going, and Hannah will see them again a month. Not bad. They said the decay was not so bad that it would cause her pain while we wait.
Now, it's time to get busy on the packing! We had a nice family dinner, complete with cup cakes that were big enough to make a meal out of. Kind of nice to have so many celebration of your day!
While I was waiting for Hannah appointment to be done, I managed to attach the hood and one arm, sew up one side seam, and get ready to close up the arm. I just may be able to finish before we leave. May being a VERY strong word.
School stuff is packed and ready, snacks are ready. Kids are packed. That just leaves me and the clean up of the aftermath of massive amounts of laundry, searching for our very warmest clothes, and trying to get 5 ready to leave for a week.
Have a great weekend!

2010-10-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Great news! All the parts are ready to put together on BOTH sweaters! What I'm finding is that finishing up is more challenging than all the work in between. Isn't it like that in so many areas? I'm just ready to be done and let Samuel enjoy his gift, and hope that Caleb will fit in his, since it seems a bit on the large size. Oh well, something to grow into.
We had our ST eval today. Taken a long time to get it going, but I think it was ok, allowing her to adjust and gain some more English. She drops all her end sounds and has some other issues that I'm sure they'll be able to help. So, 2 days a week we'll be seeing Ms. Alisha. Caleb sat in with us and was answering the questions before Hannah could. After a few times reminding him that Hannah needed to answer, he was quiet and played nicely with some cars. When we get home, we'll have our OT and PT evals. The goal is to coordinate our times there so we don't make a bunch of trips each week. It's only about 4 miles from our house, but interrupting school, packing everyone up, and keeping them focused on their work would be the challenging part.
I made it to the yarn store today and got help on my hold ups. (I was up until almost 1 last night working on C's because I was stuck on S's.) Got to visit with a friend while I waited for the store to open, then zipped home to take S and 2 friends for a little outing to celebrate his day. The boys were so well behaved and won some nice things from all their tickets.
Back home to pick up Catherine and off to Awana.
Still so much to do to get ready to go. Plus, we finally got into the Pediatric Dentist. I'm so interested to hea what they say and find out how they can help her. Hopefully that will help with her chewing.
Off to attach a hood and sleeves...

family pic

2010-10-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

So, not great but at least you see us all together.

Good news! I found Caleb's sweater pieces and am ready to put it together tonight. Tomorrow, I'll go to the yarn store and get some help so I can finish Samuel's. Meanwhile, we need to finish getting ready to leave for a week, run errands, take S and some boys to play before we go. Trying to get some cookin and baking done for Buddy to have while I'm gone. Lengthen my days, Lord!

2010-10-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

So, we needed a new dord for the laptop so I could just put my card in to download pictures, finally got it, but then Buddy went out of town for 4 days and I got busy working on Samuel's sweater, made a huge mess with the hank of yarn, which took 6 hours to unravel, only to find out I don't know how to attach the pocket! Back to the sweater I almost finished for Caleb before we left for ROG, only to discover I can't find all the pieces in my whirlwind packing! What a deal.
Great day at CC. Hannah is enjoying her class, and we're all enjoying our time with friends.
Just a few days and we're off to MN for a week, minus Buddy, plus my parents. Lots to do to get ready.
Promise to post more thoroughly later.

2010-10-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today was our 13th anniversary, and we finally got a picture of the six of us. Not the greatest, but we sure tried. I'll post tomorrow. I'm so thankful for the past 13 years and all the Lord has taught us and brought us through. Trusting Him for even greater things the next 13.

2010-10-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Quite the pair.

C enjoying our new spot.

Apples and tea!

I think she's been on long enough!

The Store

My khachapuri...

Samuel at work, always with his right knee under his chin,

"Feeding" the animals sawdust Who says an almost 11 year old can't have fun in the sand?

Not wordless, and not Wednesday. But, now you're caught up.

2010-10-13T18:49:00.001-07:00

More victories are happening here, and I'm quite pleased to share.
Today Hannah realized that there was no need to get hysterical if we were working with her. "If it doesn't hurt, you don't need to cry. Mommy is helping you. Does this hurt?" (Stretching her leg.) "No." "Good, no tears." And she didn't cry at all. The whole day. With any excercise we did. We just talked about numbers, letters, named her body parts, and doing some signing. It was our most pleasant day together in a while. I give God all the credit. He's really helped us all.

The past 2 or 3 days I'd left her to play on the trampoline when no one else was outside. She started standing up and walking a few steps at a time before falling. Remember how she is now bending her legs (thanks to having her do squats)? She actually figured out how to bend her legs and jump today! She was so pleased with her discovery that she had to show everyone. We cheered and clapped and she did it some more.

The weather continues to be quite nice, so the kids are out as much as possible. And I'm the broken record that keeps saying, "Shut the door!" However, I now don't need to say it, because Hannah has heard it enough to remind everyone, "shudada." One less thing for me to do.

It was dark out when we went to pick up Catherine from Awana tonight, and sadly, Caleb has not seen the moon enough to know what to look for in the sky. It was so funny watching him move his head around looking at everything BUT the moon. Catherine gets enough time at "A" to play and do her memory work before I pick her up. It's working very nicely, so I think we've found a happy solution. Tonight, she finished a Discovery and started on the next. It feels so good to accomplish things. Samuel also finished one, got a bunch of extra point, AND the boys beat the girsl, so he was pretty pleased himself.

Little Caleb story: He likes to sing Jesus Loves the Little Children before he goes to sleep. But he wants to sing by himself sometimes. One time went like this... "Jesus love a lil childen.... wait, wait, wait. ahem. Jesus love a lil ... wait, wait, wait. ahem." No way to not laugh at this silly boy!

Since Samuel was 4, I believe, he's been a Lego nut. We have Legos in every room of the house, and he knows just where to find the tiniest one in his many pieces. He's decided to add something new to his ATAV's (all terrain assault vehicles) and other Star Wars/City/Miner creations. He made Jesus and some disciples. They fish in a boat, switch hair, and have miracles happen. That's one bit of creative juice I won't shut down. My dad came over yesterday for a bit, since he was helping a friend in a neighborhood nearby. He got to endure the very thorough explainations of features in all Samuel's latest designs. Bless him. He's such a patient man!

I'm also pleased to say that Buddy is almost finished with school. He finishes class time this week, then goes out of town a few day the following week, and it done! This has been a much better round of it, since he's not working an hour away. We see him much more, and he's not as tired.

As for me? I finished Mansfield Park, which I did enjoy. I think it was harder for me to follow because I got sooo interrupted when I started, I kept forgetting who the characters were. I was happy with the ending, which was just as it should've been. Because of the weather changing and my 2 unfinished knitting projects, I need to get buy with that and stop reading for a while. There are days I can do them at the same time, but I'd rather not pull out any rows, if you know what I mean.

Golly, I write little novellas every time I blog. And no pictures! I WILL remedy that soon.

2010-10-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

To say the new play area is a hit would be an understatement. The little ones spent at least 2 hours out there in the morning, and the big ones could hardly stay inside to do their school work! It's really been good.
I decided to do some baking, since I had already done the mountains of laundry on Saturday. I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookie/bars. Too much time to scoop them into cookies, and much easier to just make bars. They're almost gone. Then, I felt the courage to try making khachapuri. I had gotten a recipe when I ordered my Survival Georgian book, but never tried it. Of course, nothing close to the right kind of cheese, plus using some white whole wheat flour made it a very different eating experience. Sadly, Hannah didn't show any recognition when I told her what it was. I'm sure I'll try again.
Better get off to school...

2010-10-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

10/10/10 is a pretty cool thing! I didn't realize what the date was til part way through the day. Anywho.
What have we been up to? The fair was fabulous fun for the whole family. Buddy got to go with us for a bit, which was a huge help, especially the petting zoo area. Hannah wouldn't have been able to see very well had he not held her. (pardon all the alliteration!) She got to pet a goat, which she really enjoyed. There was so much to see! Caleb saw how other children were using the little shovels that were tied to the fencing to feed the goats. Since I hadn't purchased any feed and there were saw dust chips all over the floor, he figured that was what they would eat. He kept trying, but they knew the difference, and didn't want anything to do with it. We did find some feed, and he got such a kick out them eating!
The best parts of the fair for the kids were getting a yard stick and the play area where there were blocks, a huge sand box, little cars, bubbles with giant wands, a jungle gym/ball pit kind of thing, and science stuff. They big boys of CC made a city, which got partially destroyed by a cute little girl, and then the boys finished it off. Sad moment after all their hard work. I do have pictues, but don't see my cord.
Mom came to pick up the little ones so they could have naps, and we could keep going. We hit the big expo buildings and saw all the booths. It was fun, but after 5.5 hours, I was done for. So happy to come home and just sit down with the kids. We watched Knights of the Round Table to go with our history, (or maybe just because it kept everyone occupied while I made dinner.) 1954 had some good effects! I liked them seeing the story while avoiding all the bloody images a 2010 movie would have shown them.
Yesterday was dance, a nap with Caleb, who wanted to "snuggle on your belly," and hanging out at home. The kids made up some cute skits, with a store in the trampoline. The sweater I made this year was for sale for $15!!! I felt a little cheated after all the time and effort I put in, but I got over it.
Catherine has a way of getting the little ones to do what she wants, so yesterday afternoon, she had the littles racing around the back yard. Of course, H was a little slower, but if her face was any indication, she was going like the wind! Earlier, she and Caleb played by themselves outside and were on the trampoline, went down the slide, played on the teeter-totter, and she even tried to sit in the swing. Right now, she doesn't like being swung much, so that was huge. It was the most independent and adventurous I've seen her. Very fun to watch unawares!
It was also a big day for Samuel. We've been working with a different math curriculum, which I see the beauty of, but have only experienced the drudgery of so far. However, Samuel made a turn around yesterday! He did 400 math problems in less than 18 minutes, with only 1 mistake! I was so pleased with his progress. He's dreaded it, complained about it, avoided it, and now he's almost conquored it! The goal he has right now is to do all 400 correctly in less than 20 minutes without mistakes. (100 of each math function.) Catherine caught on that division was reverse multiplication, and she has begun to do division. I had her do it one day just to try it. We did about 15 problems together, but then she was ready to go on her own, and has done it every day since! She had been struggling with subtraction and has made a huge turn around there!
Hannah today, for the first time, said, "drink, please!" We've been working since I got her to ask for things with a please. Most of the time, it's just been the thing she wants, with no please. Fabulous moment! We made such a big deal out of it. We were later out in our new play area and Caleb had a bag of carrots. Hannah would say, "carrot." So, Catherine would ask Caleb for carrots, with a please, and he'd give them to her. Lights clicking on, I guess, and she would then ask right. We had to keep repeating the process, but I think she's got it. Well, with carrots, at least, and maybe drinks. ;) We were driving around yesterday, and Caleb had the first words book we'd used in the past to teach her some signs. She saw the pictures of table and chair and told me what they were. I see her catching things and it's really neat to watch.
One thing that we have to be dilligent about, and I was given some great info earlier in our journey by one of my readers, was how important consistancy in stretching and exercise is for Hannah. I'm seeing that more and more. She's gained a lot of strength over these almost 3 months. However, she really doesn't enjoy most of the things that make her work. She cries a lot, and loudly. If we don't work with her, she'll lose her independence and abilities, which I know she'd probably not like. So, almost every day we do exercises. We have skipped a few days and felt it the next day. She particularily doesn't enjoy us stretching her toes or legs. Remember how she couldn't wiggle her toes at first and then gained that ability? Well, we stopped stretching her toes and feet because she cried so much. This morning, I asked her to wiggle her toes, and they barely moved. Guess what it was time for? If we didn't love her, we'd leave her to herself and let her go, but we can't. We see her potential and know that if we help her now, she'll be so much farther ahead. It doesn't take long to do, and we can see how it's helping her. If we can keep her talking and distracted, she does much better, but if I'm by myself, it's a lot harder. In comes Catherine, again! Hannah actually bends her legs now when she walks. Before, it was like she was on stilts, but now I see her moving her legs at her knees. She's more stable when she walks, she can stand on the trampoline for longer without falling over, she can grip my fingers and pull herself up when she couldn't even squeeze my fingers before.
Our new play area is in our garage. We have a small house, 4 kids, and we homeschool. It's so easy to get things messy! Today we decided to move some things around in the garage and set up a play area. We have a salon, a kitchen, a tool box, table and chairs, coloring books and crayons. We did it during nap time, so they were thrilled to come out and find their new spot. This will keep them out of older siblings' things, and help them keep their rooms neater. It's nice weather now, so it works. When it gets cooler, we'll use our portable heater, and see how things go. I'm pleased, and I think everyone else is, too. Their rooms look a lot better! 3 have 3 bags to go to GoodWill tomorrow. :)
Ok, time to hop off the computer and get back to Mansfield Park.

2010-10-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Random musings for the day.

I need a little help with planning things out. See, we have a lot of construction going on in our neck of the woods. I try really hard not to be late to things.... not really early, but just on time. Pull into our chairs as it's starting kind of thing. Only the "thing" that I'm really having trouble with is ballet. We're car pooling, so at least 1/2 the time Catherine is on time. The other half, I have not found a way to get us all out of the house, other to our friends' house, through the traffic that may be down to one lane, may be 2, alternate routes that end up also having construction or traffic back ups. Oh dear! One week, it took 45 minutes instead of the usual 25. Today, we had the privaledge of Buddy coming into town with us, so we went to an appointment, then dinner at Qdoba, and managed to find 2 ways we shouldn't have gone to get 3.5 miles. Only 7 minutes late this time. What a bad mom! Plus, we missed Saturday, since we were in Branson, and will probably miss at least 2 classes when we head North for a cousin's wedding. It's the really good school, so I hate to be starting out so poorly.

Hannah has had a huge improvement in her speech. She had such trouble pronouncing most letters, but "W" was never a problem. Isn't that interesting? We were doing the littles' school work this morning, and I was so pleased to see how well she was doing. She is used to sitting still, and Caleb is used to being on the go. Definitely one of those moments you wish he would pick up on her habits!

I really like fall. Did I mention that? It was 71 degrees in our house this morning, which is chilly to us. So, on went the sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt! However, by the afternoon, I was thinking shorts would have been more appropriate. It's the best of both worlds in one day.

I'm looking forward to heading to the fair in 2 days. We went last year with our CC group and saw a baby chick hatch from its egg. What an amazing process! I really wanted to help the little guy out, it seemed so painfully difficult! This year, I think Buddy will join us for a bit, then take the littles home so Grandma can watch while the big ones and I explore a little further. The last time I really enjoyed the fair was when I was 6 months pregnant with Catherine. Time to see some more!

Calebisms:

My eyes were a little blood shot one day, and Caleb asked me if we needed to go to the store and buy some new ones.
He told Grandma I got married the other day, but daddy didn't.
God made the lizzard, but the lizzard can't eat God.
God has good plans for me, but He doesn't give me treats.
Sorry if those are repeats. I keep meaning to write them down and forget.

Have a rest of the week.

2010-10-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Home on the range! Just got back from a quick weekend in Branson with the big kids. I had received an email about a homeschool weekend at SDC, so, of course, I wanted to go. However, Buddy had to do things for work and school, and couldn't get away. I didn't think I was up to taking 4 kids by myself on this adventure, but in stepped my mom to save the day! We decided Thursday night that I could go. We got up early (for me) Saturday am and were out the door by 7. Mom came and watched the little ones while Buddy went to work. We got to see this beautiful sight, something we haven't seen in a long time.One thing we haven't been able to see before is Marvel Cave. It's 450 steps down and 150 up, with many small, uneven areas. We could never take a stroller through, or ask Caleb to walk through. Hannah would not be able to make it at all. So, this was our golden opportunity! First thing we saw was a dead cat that had fallen through the sink hole. It's obviously very dark, so pictures didn't turn out very well, but this was the Liberty Bell, complete with a crack. The rest of the cave was a really neat experience. I'm so glad we went. It was the highlight of our time there, in Samuel's eyes. In fact, he told me the next time we're there, I can take the littles somewhere else, and he and Catherine will take dad in the cave. The park was full of artisans, and we were able to talk with quite a few of them. This gentleman used to paint murals on silos, but worked his way down to little pictures that were 1 inch x 1 inch, in some cases. He drew a butterfly on C's thumb that stayed on for a while, but S's disappeared when he blew on it a bit too moistly, and then accidently rubbed it on his pant leg while he walked. There was another guy, Tom Crain, who had been painting in acrylics for 38 years.

It was a pleasure to get to talk with some of them, learn more about them, and why they chose the field they did.

Oh, the best thing at SDC for me was the square dance! The band played fun country music, and at least 10 couples, none younger than 60's, were out on the dance floor. I had a blast watching them scoot around, some fancy, some more shuffle than dance, but it was thrilling to me. That sounds strong, but really, watching people enjoying their lives and each other, who knows how long they were married, made my day.
We stayed with our friends and had a great time together. Church today, and lunch afterward with another friend. When we got home, Buddy said I looked more refreshed that he felt. That was the goodness of God and the benefit of time with great people.

Hannah was so funny when she saw me, like it was no big deal that I was home. Unlike when daddy comes home. "Hi, Doddy!" in her most animated voice, and when he goes into the garage 2 minutes later and returns, it's the same reaction. However, she did tell "Doddy" I was home and seemed quite excited to tell me all about her time with Grandma, and "side," and "jump, jump." Sweet.

Here's a picture of the 2 good buddies after they discovered one of Catherine's toys...

You can't tell from the picture that well, but Hannah's shirt is inside out, her pants are on backward, and she did it all by herself! I just told her to get dressed, and she picked out her clothes and did it! Way to go!Glad to be home, but the scenery was so beautiful, the weather so perfect, (except I forgot my jacket at home and had to wear Samuel's wind breaker. Yes, it fit me, but was just a little short on my arms.) The leaves were starting to turn in the Ozarks, and it made me smile.

Looking forward to another great week.

2010-09-27T14:21:00.001-07:00

Fall is in the air! I really like the colder weather, which is funny, because I don't like to be cold. It's the sweaters and sweatshirts, the cozy fires and the soups, pumpkin spices, etc, that are so much fun. We look forward to getting together with family, even though we get together with them as often as possible. (Also not having a ton of bugs fly in the house when the children repeated fail to hear, "Shut the door!")

Our first taste of it was this weekend. Unfortunately, Samuel was camping with his cub scout pack equipped with shorts, t-shirt, and a rain coat. I was trying to get him ready while I was getting Catherine ready for dance, mixed in with a few errands, and didn't take time to check the weather, since it was so nice outside at the time. Oh, dear. I felt so badly when I got up Sunday morning to temps in the 50's! When he got home, it was time for a hot shower and sweat pants.

He brought a tree lizard home with him. What an education we received at the pet store! Thankfully, my brother had almost a complete set up, and we only need to get a different light. I was hoping for some powdered food we could put in the bowl. Nope. Live crickets that ALSO need to be fed and watered, in their own special habitat. We'll see how long Frenzy makes it...

On the way to church, I told Caleb and Catherine you can't sneeze with you eyes open. To which Caleb responded- "I don't sneeze in my eyes, I sneeze in my nose!"

Thanks to Bobby for an honest comment. "either because of the addition, tiredness, just plain orneriness, or whatever else you can think of" from the previous post referred to ALL the children, not just Hannah. Do we regret our adoption of Hannah? NO! Of course not. Is it true she's going through adjustments and that other family members are going through it, too? Is it true that even with the addition of a baby, life is not always beautiful until you figure each other out? Is it true that at times, after each of my 3 births, I wondered if I was in over my head in responsibility and duty? Yes, yes, yes, and many yesses! Same thing with an adoption. There are things I never imagined, in spite of reading books and adoption education.
If you've been following us for long, you are aware it was 2.5 years of great pains in even getting her here, which was all I could focus on. Kind of like marriage. Planning for the wedding day and not realizing everything that comes after.

Should I pretend it's all beautiful? Maybe I shouldn't mention any not so beautiful moments, but I also think the honesty I read in others' blogs helps me realize what I'm going through is quite normal. To see the progress she's made is great. Is it without pains? No, but we ultimately know it was God's design and leading that brought her to our family and His wisdom and help that will help us smooth the rough places we face. I regret it may come off as wishing things had stayed the same in our family. Definitely not my real feelings. Guess I need to learn a bit more discretion and be slower to share our lives.

So glad for another wonderful day in CC. I'm enjoying hearing the older sharing about their days and being creative together as they plan and discuss different things. It's also fun to hear Hannah and Caleb, especially H, get so excited to see me after just 2 hours apart. I know they're having a great time in their music class and play time. I'm also pleased to see that Hannah is playing with the other kids and being verbal with them. It's refreshing to hear the comments about her progress. She's doing so well, I think we'll be putting her in the morning class with the 3 and 4 years olds! I know she gets bored sitting in my class where she sits still and has to listen. If she was with Caleb, she'd be enjoying all their play and learning time more on her level. She enjoys our school time together at home, so I'm sure it'll be lots of fun for her.

Hannah has found 2 things that she can get for comfort, which is really great. Not the things we brought home with us, but a little afghan my mom made, and a little bear we got the first night we were home.

Well, it's off to make dinner. Thankfully, we have no activities tonight! It's so pleasant to just have a night together where we can relax. I'm rethinking activities and think I've found one solution. We shall see. On one hand, I regret not letting them do fun, learning things, and on the other, if we have to pay for it the next day, it's just not working.

Have a great week!

2010-09-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Some days are not so pretty here, either because of the addition, tireness, just plain orneriness, or whatever else you can think of. However, today was a beautiful day! The weather was nice, children behaved, tried almost their best, and played nicely together.
Hannah is getting more and more mobile and independent, which is great to see. It opens so much more to her. I can still see some tendancies to sit and watch the world go by, but with only a little prompting, she's ready to go outside and jump on the trampoline or play on the little slide. I think this past week was a big turning point for her. We've not had much crying, and much more being part of the family and doing what everyone else is.

Have to share some Caleb'isms before I forget.
I walked out on Sunday morning and he said, "Mom, you've got sprinklers on!" My shirt had sequins.
I told him God had big plans for him, one night. The next day he told me, "God has plans for me, but he doesn't give me treats."

I'll have to think about the others. Some really funny ones.

For my birthday, I got a gift card and some cash. Mom came over yesterday to watch the kids while I shopped. Sadly, I haven't done it in such a long time, I had a hard time finding things I liked or that fit. I did find some really good deals and got a few things and still had money left over! That means I'll get some more practice in sometime soon! I'm really thankful mom has been helping me out. I'm able to get some errands taken care of, and she is a favorite of Hannah's. It's also good to hear what she sees in H's progress. Good to get an outside opinion to help you appreciate changes.

Thanks for the good book suggestions. Agnes Gray came in first, so I'm already partly into it, then Mansfield Park, followed by some Charles Dickens. Fun, fun fun. Also, for fun, one of my fellow CC'ers asked me to parse Ephesians 6:1-8. My goodness! That's some complicated stuff! Good for the brain. I like those kinds of challenges!
Off to another wonderful school day...

2010-09-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

What a sweet day for me! I woke up to "Don't come out, mom." I happily complied with their wishes. In come the kids with breakfast in bed. Our traditional oatmeal with a candle in it. In this case, there wasn't a 4, so 4 individual candles and a 0. Followed by a fairly good morning of school, including being seranaded by fellow CCers, thank you very much! Catherine and Samuel made our lunch, followed by a brief bit of school, a movie for fun, and a mandatory rest for me. They were working on a surprise, but needed quite a bit of advice, so I eventually got up, cleaned up all the many measuring spoons, cups and bowls, finished making the cake Samuel started, and completed the dinner Catherine started. So glad we could be all together for this day. Can you tell who decorated the cake? Pretty ingenious, I thought. Cake and ice cream, Kung Fu, and some Survivor top off the day.

Funny comment about the day- Catherine said, "You don't look 40. What do people look like when they're 40?" Sweet girl!

The big 4-0

2010-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with my family, and is all about me. Why? Because this is the eve of my 40th birthday. What did I expect in turning 40? Nothing really. It's such a wierd thing, since my life is so different from my parents', who had an empty next by the time they were this age, and because I look so radiantly young! Really, though, it's hard to feel old when your youngest is 3! I have at least until I'm 55 before it'll time for everyone to scoot out on their own. Considering Buddy's age at the time, I'm a spring chicken! ;) (Don't tell him I said that.)

I'm really thankful that God gives me the strength and energy to keep up with my life. Some days, I rely on Him more, and I have the peace and the wisdom to deal with all my life entails. It's those days I get too busy, too impatient, too self-centered to look beyond myself to the inner strength He wants to give that I have the worst times. So, you can tell what my quest/need for the coming year is.

A haircut was in order. Starting with a change for the next 40 years sounded great. I was conservative, since I know Buddy doesn't like it very short, and only cut off 2 inches. No one even noticed, which tells me I should've been braver than I was. Next time...

I finally read Jany Eyre for the first time. It really was fun to stay up until 12 and 1 am to finish it. I was trying to tell Buddy the story, and he didn't get into it as much as I did. But to find out the customs of the day, stretch my brain (I should have had a dictionary nearby) while I was learning new vocabulary, and read a story that was over 160 years old was fabulous! One of the draw backs of going to a little school was not having to read classics. I'm up for another, this time with either a notebook to write things down, or a dictionary at my side. Any suggestions? There are all those parenting/self improvement books that I have on my bookshelf, too.... I think a classic is calling a little louder. :)

There is a lot to be thankful for on this birthday. I'm surrounded by blessings and love. I've had great adventures so far, and trust God to bring even more my way. My plan is to live to be quite old, but not the old, wasting away kind of old, which gives me time for lots of living. Won't it be fun to look back after another chunk of time has gone by?

The boys are out now shopping for my present. It's going to be fun to see what they come up with and how the kids mark the day. They told me that because it is my birthday, they decided not to do school. My thoughts were in a little different direction- because it's my birthday, you should do a really nice job and not make it rough on me. I'm sure it'll be the way I planned.

Hope you enjoy your day as much as I do mine. And, please, have some cake or ice cream to celebrate with me.

Celebrating Caleb

2010-09-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today was our family get together to celebrate Caleb's birthday. At this point 3 years ago, after being in the hospital all day, we were debating going home or just staying through the night and inducing in the morning. I was in no pain, just wishing this boy would make up his mind to get serious about meeting us. Happily, just 14 hours later, he did make his entrance. Caleb means bold, Joseph means and addition, and that he is. This little guy is full of personality and energy, not much slows him down. He loves life and being in the middle of all the activity, yet he loves snuggles with his mommy and tickles from his daddy.

One of the funnest parts of today was that Catherine and her cousin Alex made salad outside, which included the fronds from my asparagus that had gone to seed, leaves from my lavender plant, totally decimating it, and leaves and flowers from the crepe myrtles. After they made the salad, they bagged it, even ate some of it, (not the crepe myrtles) and had Buddy and I reenact our wedding. Dad was the minister, as before, but this time, Samuel and Gabe, his cousin, gave me away, Caleb just stood by me, Alex and Catherine were flower girls (crepe myrtle blossoms,) mom was the photographer, and Hannah was the guest. Very funny!

At the end of the day, the new scooter from G'pa and G'ma was quite a hit, and everyone wanted to play in the moon dough, making animals for the farm. Really fun toy, slightly messy, but lots of fun.

We're so thankful for our littlest munchkin!

2010-09-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Working on making a list of Hannah's English progression:

Mommy, Doddy, Shanno, Catawi, Cala, kitty, Nikki, Nora, eat, drink, sleep, outside, car, yellow, jump, thank you, please, potty, all done, Grandma, good job! shoes, uh oh! apple, banana, Jesus, me, no, yes, Bible (parts of Jesus Loves Me.)

Yesterday was raining, an Hannah was quite disappointed. Why? Because on Tuesday, she figured out how to go outside by herself. If she has her shoes on, and even when she didn't, she would open the door, walk across the porch and head out into the back yard. The trampoline is out there, and she's figured out how to get on by crawling on the little slide we scooted over so Caleb could climb on. She can also climb off by herself. I really like the independence she's gained! It's good for her, and I know she doesn't get as bored when we're busy and can't pay attention to her. She's never been distructive, just obviously bored and wanting the attention on her. She also likes the little tykes car we have and can get in and out.

There are still times she'll do things and I wonder what's going on in her head. Take for instance this morning. Caleb had woken up during the night twice crying really hard, , and I'm sure I will for a long time, saying his foot hurt. There was nothing on it, no redness, so swelling, nothing I could feel or see. The second time, he kept saying, "take it off!" So, with about 5 hours of sleep, I wasn't ready to get up at the normal time and asked Samuel to let me rest for a bit. He did; an hour later I got up and Hannah was still in bed. She never called out to get up, or even sat up in bed while she patiently waited. Only when Samuel said her name did she respond and was ready to get up. Now, if all my kids were like that...

We're almost done with our first full week of commitments. Normally, it's CC on Monday, with scouts that night. Catherine started ballet this week and really enjoyed her class yesterday. Last night was AWANA, tonight is karate for the boys, tomorrow is nothing, and Saturday we're back at dance. I'm rethinking how great I thought the schedule was, since we like to be able to go on the weekends to Branson. What WAS I thinking? I may have to talk to her teacher about switching classes, which will mess up the car pooling we'd planned. We'll figure it out.

Everyone is in bed, and it's time to relax! Have a great evening.

2010-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Samuel took this shot of the stormy sky one night last week. What is Labor Day, and why do we celebrate? Well, to be honest, we usually don't. We end up working on a project and that's about it. This year, we made a very good effort not to do that. The day started out with Buddy letting me sleep in, thank you very much. Then Catherine and I hit Wally world all by ourselves. We wanted to have a picnic, but knew that it would take too long to pack up and go where we wanted, because we were really hungry. So, the picnic was in our back yard. Everyone had fun. Followed by some serious swinging.......while the other 2 read.Then it was nap time for the littlest 2, and the big guy who was supposed to be watching a video for school. The kids and I played some games while the others snoozed.

When they were done, we headed to Will Roger's birthplace. It's just down the road about 20 miles, and we went during swim lessons. It was a bit windy (our stroller ended up halfway across the yard on the other side of the house while we were inside) which kept us feeling much cooler. There were stroller pushing contests...moments of silliness,some pitiful looking animals,some pride eating moments (why didn't I take 2 minutes to put on makeup!?!)and some joys in meeting animals.

On the way home, I dropped Buddy and the kids off at the park and went home to start dinner. It was so nice to have all this play time! After the little ones had their baths and were in bed, we got some ice cream and ate in the back yard. We put the tent up so S & C could have a fun adventure for the night. They came in at least 3 times before they were finally done for the night. I think they're sleeping, but who knows. At least they'll have had fun. Tomorrow starts dance for C, so we may need to make time for resting during the day. Looking forward to a great week.

2010-09-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

So, where've we been? Getting our car serviced to sell, running around doing errands, having happy hearts doing our school work, learning to obey quickly with a happy heart, and so much more that's not really blog worthy. Read as down right boring!
Buddy did start school last week. He only has 7 more weeks and he'll have finished all his courses. So far, he really enjoys his classes. It's broken down into one teacher, all day, for a week. Then another teacher for the next week. Each emphasizing a different aspect of missions training. Very interesting, he says.
We're enjoying the weather and being able to be outside. We sat out in the front yard watching chocolate balls melt in the sun while reading about the sun. It was really neat to see that they were soft in the middle, even though not melted on the outside. We didn't have a magnifying glass, so we used a glass jar and moved the chocolate ball to where the light was focuses. Lessons in improvizing, I guess.
We went to my parents last night to spend time with them and my brother's family. It's been since the end of school that we've all been together. Such craziness! It used to be that summer was the time when we got together more than ever. Well, life has a way of making it challenging to get 15 people together at the same time.
Currently, we're having a 3 year old wish to revert to diapers. Why?!?! He was doing such a great job! Not even wearing diapers at night for several weeks. I imagined we would have some serious reverting going on when I got home, but he did really well. Now, I can't see to wash fast enough to keep him in dry pants. Samuel used to get distracted and forget to go because he was so absorbed in his play. Not so with C. We'll get through this, too.
On the knitting front, I'm almost done with the front of the sweater! Then it's sleeves and putting together, and I think I'm done. I just don't see going to all the work of a hood and him not wanting/using it. We'll see how motivated I am. My eye is already wandering to other patterns, but I haven't picked Caleb's up to finish it! Goodness, I don't like doing things like this.
I've been working on the hidden accomplishments in our home- cleaning the pantry, organizing our hall closet, (games, Legos, business storage) organizing my part of our closet. What amazes me is, although you work so diligently to make things nice, you create soooo much chaos, and then when you're done, no one knows. Maybe I'll get my seen things organized soon....
It was so nice to be home together today, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. No plans, just want to maybe labor lightly and then spend the majority of the day enjoying each other. Naps don't last long enough to get in a long game, so we may have to put some children down early. We tried to play Cash Flow for Kids, but were really distracted keeping hands out of the game pieces. I didn't end up playing, but was banker and guard. :)
Everyone else is watching Kung Fu, season 1, so I think I'll join them. Not feeling very quick or as wise as Grasshopper, but maybe I'll learn something.

2010-09-02T06:12:00.001-07:00

Standing takes more energy than sitting. So, if it's 11 pm and I'm eating honey puffs standing up, does that make it better? I was playing solitaire on my iPod, which should definitely help, too.

2010-08-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

Not everyone is thrilled about having a picture taken. Not sure how the lens got so dirty!

Remembered my camera yesterday, so here's a beginning of the year picture. The boys were teasing Samuel about being handsome, which helped me get a good smile out of him. Notice Caleb with his lunch box. Notice, also the chopped bangs Hannah has. I was fixing my cutting job, since I don't usually cut bangs, and had to leave to ref the older ones. When I came back, Caleb informed me he had cut her hair. Oh, dear! At least it doesn't have that far to grow to match the rest of her bangs.

I keep forgetting how the time has gone by since Hannah came home. 6 weeks ago was the 1st breakfast together. I will stop saying that eventually. ;)

We had a great day in school yesterday. I was able to sit in Samuel's class, happily knitting, while seeing what we need to be working on at home. C and H went to their little play place after lunch and did well without me. I'm sure music was great, and when I asked H about it later, she said, "alligator." That helps them remember 4 quarter notes. She showed me how they did "fast" and "slow" with the plates they fan themselves with to the beat of the music. (That's a lot of prepositional phrases!) One thing I'm dealing with is that I can tell when H has an attitude, but no one else hears it. So while I'm trying to teach, she wants things and I tell her to be quiet or that she can't have it, she lets me know she doesn't appreciate what I've told her. Once I tell her to stop it, she smiles her little smile- I know there are people around and I just want to see what I can get away with. Doesn't really bother anyone else, but I think she's doing well enough to pursue getting her into the nursery/preschool area in a few weeks where she can be playing and moving around instead of sitting in her stroller at the table.

Mom came for lunch, actually to pick up her chicken order, and told me how good H looks, how much healthier. I'm so glad to hear that. You know when you see it every day, it's harder to notice the changes. I really need to go back to look at pictures from the first days. Anyway, H walked all over when the chapel was mostly empty and walked to her class. She is very capable, but I think she waits for the permission as well as the requirement to do more.

They all did much better on the fighting/whining front last night, praise the Lord!

Buddy took S to scouts last night, and the little ones were in bed by 6:30, so Catherine and I had a great time playing with the sidewalk chalk (made the solar system somewhat to scale) and some card games. It was very nice to relax with each other.

Buddy took the suburban to work, since he has some things that need to be done on his truck. So, we're homebound today, which is just fine with me. I think it sounds like a good day for reading and playing educational games. After we get some work done! Speaking of which, it's time to do some educating!

Found:

2010-08-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

the missing walkie talkie that everyone was sure they put right where they were supposed to. And while we were finding that, we found the remote and another library book!
Sadly, also found is a fascination with dumping out soap bottles and unrolling toilet paper/putting the whole roll in the toilet.

2010-08-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

It's quiet here- Buddy went to work for a bit, Catherine is at a sleepover from last night and so is Samuel. Caleb went to bed at 7 and slept until 8:40!

Buddy and I went on a date last night while mom watched the little ones. We tried a little Thai place in town that has really good spring rolls, and then went to a new frozen yogurt shop. It was so nice outside and so nice to spend a little time together without anyone demanding anything of us! The yogurt shop was crowded, so we walked around and tried some chairs Pier 1 had sitting outside their store before we went shopping inside. We only lasted 2 hours and came home. Sad, I know. But I hadn't talked to mom for a while, and Buddy wanted to watch our usual Friday night church service online.

Fun things about C and H. Yesterday, C pulled his chair at the table over beside H's. I had been in between so I could help them both when they needed it. However, he wanted to be by his buddy. This morning while H was eating (C was still sleeping), she had a little teddy bear she'd been given when we 1st got home on the floor by her chair. She told me her bear was crying. She's been carrying it around the last day or 2, which is really amazing, considering she didn't hold anything when she 1st came home. She's been getting on the potty all by herself, with no crying, not even needing me to be in there with her until she's done. It's really cute to hear her say, "Good job, Mommy!" after she's gotten on the potty. Then I wait for the "Mow dah" to tell me she's finished. I wipe and she gets down and tells me, "Good job, Mommy" again. C has picked up on her grunting for communication, which I'm not appreciating very much, so we're trying to teach her a better way to get her point across. One thing we're teaching her is, "May I have it, please?" Which comes out "maya maya pcheese." Cracks the kids up, and C does a funny job immitating her. Yesterday when it was time for C to play in his room, he wanted H in there with him. I usually put the gate up so I can keep him there while I do school with the big kids. However, I didn't so H would feel ok. But, they asked for it to be up. They did well. I'm so glad to hear them playing more than fighting now.

Buddy and S are really enjoying karate! They've done 2 nights and are excited about going back. Buddy is feeling the pain, and Samuel is just enjoying the whole process. Good for them to have time together in such a manly way.

Time to go collect big kids and get on with our day. I'm hoping to hit the farmers' market this morning, then a fishing party with the scouts this afternoon. I'm sure we'll call it a day a little earlier, since I'm sure both big ones didn't get much sleep!

Found the camera!

2010-08-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

This is how Catherine did some of her school work today. I think she had 3 dress up outfits on before I called an end to it. Yes, that is Caleb. Girl dress up clothes are just more fun, or maybe we need to go find some better boy dress up stuff.

C was leading the races between the boys. Little C's lead kept getting bigger and bigger, but S could always beat him. They had a blast! There he is, all serious about his racing. He's growing into a man!

After a bit of squabbling when we got home on Monday, this is what Caleb did with Hannah.

It's fun to see them playing together more and more in nice ways. Caleb shows her how to do things and she helps him when she can. A friend gave this salon to us for the girls way back when. So glad we didn't get rid of it while we waited. It was a great source of entertainment while we cleaned the car on Sunday. Hannah thought she was something with Catherine's sunglasses and Caleb's hat. (We were cleaning the car to get it ready to be sold, so those yucky mats HAD to get cleaned.)

Caleb was so excited to have his lunch box! He hardly could leave it alone on Sunday. I'll remember next week to keep it out of sight! I forgot to have a show and tell item for his class, but he was fine because he got to show what was inside the lunch box.

2010-08-25T07:20:00.001-07:00

In true form, I forgot to bring my camera to the first day of CC, which stands for Classical Conversations. It's not a drop off and it has a "community" feel. I tutor for the 5-7 year old girls, who are amazingly sweet. 2 of the girls never gave a presentation last year. (Every week they have a topic they are given the option of talking about in front of the class for 2 minutes.) This week, they both did. One was really short, but the fact she was brave enough to do it was really big. Hannah did well while she was with us. She wanted to be a part of everything the rest of the girls did, even though she had no idea what it was all about. We do science experiments every week and a fine arts project. This week, we had to go outside for science, which meant a trip on the elevator! Of course, everyone wants to push the buttons, so we now have to go with an alphabetical order system so everyone gets her turn. Our class is on the 2nd floor, so going to class, coming down for lunch, and science that's outside and occasionally art as well, will now mean using the elevator. Lots of oportunities for good times. When we were done with our work, we had some time before lunch. We sat around and the girls asked questions about Hannah- why her hands are like that, why her mom didn't take care of her, and the amazement that she walks on her ankles! She showed them how we sign Jesus Loves Me, and really enjoyed the attention!
After lunch, I was in charge of 8 little ones for 2 hours while their moms got to go into the Essentials class. There was another mom, whose children are taking art and music, who stayed with me for part of it, then after a while another mom popped in for a bit. Nice not to be alone with all of them in a small nursery room!
All in all, it was a good day, but I did miss sitting with my friends in EEL and our time after when the older kids had art. However, it's our new normal and it will be great.
Everyone was tired and a little touchy for a bit when we got home, so we sat down and read about Charlemagne and Henry VIII to allow for a little down time. So nice not to have dance and scouts on Mondays. This year, it's just scouts. Samuel has 3 badges to complete until he's earned every badge possible for Webelos! He only has a few things to do on each, so it should be a pretty quick process. Then, it's meeting new troops to decide where to go as a Boy Scout. After February, when he is a Boy Scout and we can drop him off!
Buddy and I made a deal that since he and Samuel are doing Karate on Thursdays, I'd take Samuel to Scouts. That way, each of us have an evening with Catherine. So far, so good.
Yesterday was a beautiful homeschooling Tuesday, compared to some in the past. Maybe the Omega 3's are kicking in and helping things be more peaceful...
As we were eating dinner, Catherine had to tell Buddy how she hadn't chewed her fingernails and only popped her knuckle once that day. Samuel said he hadn't picked his nose all day, and Caleb said, "I didn't eat any bergers today." Samuel piped up, "It's true! He did pick his nose, but he wiped it on a kleenex."
Today, I'm trying to get back into the swing of butter making, bread baking, yard work and laundry. While doing homeschool and my version of PT with Hannah. Think I'm taking on too much? It's after 4 and I'm just now done with a shower and feel like I could hit the hay. That may have something to do with staying up to watch Pride and Prejudice and get to the next part of my knitting directions...
I do have some pictures, but the camera is ...

2010-08-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

Back packs packed, teeth brushed, lunches made, all my stuff together (I think) and we're off to CC! "Is it time to see my friend Joe?" This makes Caleb very happy. Hannah just wonders why she was rushed through breakfast.
Just think, 5 weeks ago, the big adventure for Hannah was riding on the plane and meeting her new family. Now, she's getting ready to have a new adventure with a bunch of people, learning to sit quietly while I tutor, and making new friends.
I'll post pictures when I get home.

2010-08-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday started with music class, proceeded to a very ugly melt down by one, followed by a chiming in just because, and a 3rd feeling the need to make his voice heard. Thankfully, the eldest held it together for me. The first mentioned child and I had some quality come to Jesus moments that really helped shift the day into much better directions. During nap time, Caleb decided to eat the toothpaste instead of sleeping. Thankfully, it's totally herbal and wouldn't hurt anything except the bacteria in our mouths. It sure was strong, and he didn't like the taste at all. I thought he was going to toss his lunch. Made me wonder how well he chews.... Anyway, it never happend, PTL.

Mom gave us a picture book for Hannah, and I was using it to teach her some signs. Caleb and she sat on the couch after "naps" were finished. It was so sweet to hear him telling her what the pictures were and doing signs for them. After their reading time was up, they each took turns sitting in a little chair. Samuel really wanted a hair cut before CC starts (and before karate class, I think) so I took our stool out onto the back porch, since I'd just scrubbed floors. It sounded like a great idea, but turned out to be really warm! Caleb jumped on the trampoline while Hannah played in the sand table. "Short, mom." That's S's favorite request. Lately, it's all about whether his hair is sticking up, and taking scissors himself to remedy the situation. Then Caleb wanted his cut. Then Catherine wanted hers cut short. Hannah watched all this and soon she was asking for her turn, too. Look back at that 2nd picture of her and you can see what had to happen. It looks better when it's combed, I promise. Everyone was pleased with the results. Caleb was a little clown, as usual, and it took quite a few shots to get this one.

All that before we were to leave for my mtg and the boys' karate class. Pizza to the rescue! Bad mom, I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I had a great time being with my friends again. So thankful to feel the love and support again. Funny how I missed it over the summer! Thanks for the offer of chocolate, Leslie, but I'll have to decline. You do want P to learn something, don't you?

The boys had a blast, and Samuel got to see several people he didn't expect to see also in the class. He was a little nervous about going, but it turned out really well. They were both sore today, but Samuel was pumped about it all. I don't recall it ever being that way in TKD, so this is a good sign. I was thankful mom could watch the younger ones so I could stay a little longer and chat.

Another day today with all the colors of the rainbow in our day, so we'll be doing some school work tomorrow. We ended by watching some Drive Thru History and putting the little ones to bed. After that, Catherine put together an obstacle course and we timed each other while we ran the race. I won. By 25 seconds. Good way to end the day.

Looking forward to a nice weekend. No plans, just time together, which is just fine with me.

2010-08-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

Caleb got the camera yesterday and this is what he found.

Really? 4 days? Well, life has been full and then not so much to blog about. We've had some interesting days that we'll just file away for now and let time smooth over in our memories. Then we've also had some really nice times that I'm thankful for.

I'm enjoying my kitchen, but have yet to achieve perfect clearness on the counters. See, I'm not the only one who lives here. Enough said.

We've had some hurdles I think we've made some big progress on, even though it was a challenge to gain some victory in. Last night, I think we turned a corner. Probably never share about it, but that's ok.

Hannah is making efforts to walk all over the house. Yesterday, she walked from her bed to the bathroom with no help, then from the bathroom to her chair at the table with no help. Our house isn't big, but that's a huge step. I didn't ask her to, she just did it.

Yesterday, Catherine had music class for the little kids. It was really funny to listen from the other side of the door to their play. When I peaked in, C & H were sitting side by side with their "batons" to direct the orchestra. Hey, they are learning something! When they came out, they each had a little WM bag with their treats for doing such a great job. (I think it was junk C was pawning off on them. One man's trash...) This morning, even before breakfast, they're right back at it. Amazing how C can get them to do what she wants! This is the first time they've done this in weeks. I'm glad to see the fun of our new sibling coming back.

Amazingly, the fun of the year starts back up tonight! Mom's meeting for me, and karate for the big boys. Yes, Buddy is going to pull out the gee he wore probably 20 years ago or more, and have some time with Samuel. For Samuel, who was a brown belt in tae kwon do 2 years ago, this won't be such a stretch, but for the big guy, I'm anticipating the need for some herbal muscle massage! Mom is coming to stay with the other 3, which will be fun for C. As soon as the littles are down, she gets grandma all to herself! Fun all around. Oh, that's right. I'm in a serious meeting, not a fun get together! I wonder if there will be snacks... Actually, it would be best for the new families and the moms in my class if I stay away from any sugar.

Monday starts CC and scouts. Thankfully, dance is on a different night this year, and doesn't start until after Labor Day. I think I'm ready. I'm actually nervous about a new class, even if they are the sweetest, cutest group of girls you ever saw!

OK, time to start the day for real.

2010-08-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, Buddy does granite fabrication for a living, not just a hobby. He's very particular and does an excellent job. For a free estimate, call....

He's such a funny boy... He says he's Bob Beardo.

After he got the granite in, he needed a little help from my dad for the plumbing part. I really like my deeper, bigger sink, but it did make things difficult to reconnect the plumbing. Hannah was really happy to help Dad out, and he didn't mind at all. He's so patient with all his grandkids. It took almost 9 hours to get the kitchen and one bathroom sink, mixed with a delicious dinner mom brought for us, connected again. So thankful for their help. While we were waiting for the boys to come back from yet another trip to Lowe's, the girls worked on our handwork. Catherine is learning to crochet, Mom is working on an afghan for another granddaughter, and I'm still working on Samuel's sweater. So much fun to have that special time. Samuel had a blast working with the guys, problem solving, and being a big help.Catherine wasn't feeling very well when she went to bed, but felt fine this morning. Samuel felt fine when he went to bed, but felt terrible this morning and ended up getting sick. Thankfully, he's feeling much better now.

Now, to bring the house back to normal...