100

Well, from what I’ve seen, it is a blog tradition to type 100 things about yourself when you reach 100 blog posts.  So, since I always like to follow the crowd, ha, here I go!  These are in no particular order, I am just adding to the list as I think of something since I know if I sat down to type them all at once I would never think of anything to say!  It is probably supposed to be things that people don’t know about me, but since I’m pretty sure my readers are all family, you already know all these things!  And, I am sure that it is supposed to be 100 quick things.  Mine will not be.  I am a rambler.  Maybe that should be number one!  So, get some caffeine to keep yourself awake and read away!

1.  I love to blog.  I wish I had more time to blog!

2.  I don’t watch much TV.

3.  When I do watch TV, the volume must be on an even number.  I will even have it too loud or too low just to have an even number.  Don’t even think about watching with the volume 21, just don’t do it!

4.  As of July 6, 2010, Todd and I have been married 19 years.

5.  One show I do watch occasionally is Say Yes To The Dress.  I love wedding dresses.  But, even after nineteen years and many dresses seen since, I still love my wedding dress and would choose it over and over again.  I guess that is why it was “the” dress for me.

6.  In another life I would love to be a wedding planner or wedding dress designer, or even a wedding dress salesperson.  I love everything about weddings.

7.  My parents and Todd’s parents were all in school together at Oklahoma Christian at the same time.

8.  Oklahoma Christian is where Todd and I met.

9.  On our first date, we determined that our mom’s both made spaghetti a lot on Wednesday nights.  This was in between him tying and untying his shoes no less that 620 times.  I decided then and there that he was the one for me since I could feed him spaghetti and he could teach our kids to tie their shoes.  Just kidding.

10.  Todd and I dated about six months, then we were engaged, then we married ten months later.

11.  I have two brothers, Todd has two brothers.  I love having sister-in-laws.  No offense guys!

12.  Todd and I have moved sixteen times.  You read that right.  Moved sixteen.  Married nineteen.  Yes, it is as bad as it sounds.

13.  If you count Edmond and Yukon as part of OKC and Nixa as part of Springfield, we’ve only actually live four different places in all those moves.  I don’t know what this means, except that I wish some of those moves would have been to some fun, exotic places!

14.  I could totally live in downtown Chicago or NYC.

15.  I think I have been to eleven major league baseball games.  Have I mentioned I don’t care for baseball?  Or hot dogs?  I do like apple pie though.  Why don’t they sell apple pie at baseball games?

16.  I love to sew.  I love to embroider.  I’m so excited I have a daughter to sew for.  At least until she tells me to stop, which will probably be pretty soon.

17.  Everyone told me that girls are easier to potty train than boys.  Guess what, they are NOT!

18.  I wish all the time I was ten years younger so I could have more kids.  I really would like more kids.

19.  I am a terrible decorator.  This worked out well when we were renting most places we lived.  I had the excuse that we would be moving on soon.  When we buy a house, that excuse doesn’t really fly.

20.  I wish I had the nerve to have a whimsical, colorful fun home.  Right now my whimsicalness sits at two chairs.

21.  I have four of the sweetest kids I know.  Ok, I’m a little biased.  But, I love them!

22.  Kellen started Kindergarten in Tulsa and was in school until November of that year, then we moved.  We’ve homeschooled ever since.

23.  At this point, I can’t imagine not homeschooling.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve gotten very spoiled having so much time with my kids.

24.  You don’t have to read very many of my posts to guess what my grades in English were.    But, I continue to write them anyway. 

25.  I can’t stand to scrapbook.  My perfectionism gets me too freaked out about the whole process.  So, I blog.  I am printing my blog so I can put it up for my kids to have someday.  They may not care, but it makes me feel better.  At least they’ll have a little notebook to put next to their spouses 65 professionally done scrapbooks of their lives.

26.  I have a tendency to be sarcastic.

27.  My parents will be married 49 years this year.  Todd’s parents have been married 48 years.  For these marriages I am so thankful.

28.  At our rehearsal dinner, Clay said he knew Todd and I would stay married because we are the two most stubborn people he knows.  He was right.  Sometimes it takes pure stubbornness to make it work.  Or maybe the stubbornness makes the work.  I don’t know.  But, we’re still here.

29.  This may be a list of 29 things.  I don’t think I can think of 100 things to write about myself!  I will need at least one more, I can’t end on an odd number.

30.  Todd and I have only had one pet.  Well, we had some fish when we were first married, but then we moved, and well, they didn’t make it.  Abby was our one and only.  The sweetest little daschund .  She was not supposed to be a miniature, but she never got over 9 pounds.  We had her sixteen years.  She moved and moved with us and never seemed to be bothered by it.  She was bothered when we had babies.  She was bothered when we tried to get a second dog for her to play with.  Needless to say that friendship didn’t last long and we found a good home for the new dog.  But, moving didn’t bother her. 

31.  I would have loved to have named Callie Abby but everyone thought it would be too weird.

32.  I am a nervous wreck about having a daughter.  I have no idea what I am doing!

33.  I love pink.

34.  Lucky for Todd we had a girl.  This last moved I changed the color of our bedroom from pink and white blue and white.

35.  Todd always said he wanted three boys and a girl.  That’s what he got. :)

36.  The boys were born in Oklahoma City.  Callie was born in Iowa.

37.  All of our kids names had to have double letters, to go with our last name that has double letters.  Daddy’s idea.

38.  If you look in the right baby name books, all of our kids names are Irish.

39.  Even if we had more kids we could only have about four more since by the time you take out all the baby names that don’t have double letters and are not Irish, you are only left with four.

40.  I love to buy shoes.  It’s not fun to buy shoes for myself anymore since I have to start with comfortable and work my way down.  So, I buy shoes for Callie.  :)

41.  If I won the lottery the first thing I would do would be hire someone to clean my house, regularly.  I am so over cleaning.

42.  I love to fly.  In airplanes that is.

43.  I love to travel.  The second thing I would do if I won the lottery is buy a bunch of airline tickets to all kinds of places.

44.  I spent six weeks in Europe in between my junior and senior years of college.  Loved it!  I was part of a mission group with Let’s Start Talking.  We spent five weeks working with a church in the Netherlands and a week traveling.  One of the best times of my life.  I would love to take my kids there.

45.  Sam’s will not allow employees to take more than a week of vacation at a time.  So, even though Todd has four weeks vacation, it doesn’t do us much good when it comes to traveling great distances.  Unless I go by myself, which I have been known to do!

46.  Tulips are my favorite flower.  I would love to visit the Netherlands when the tulips are in full bloom, except that I am scared it would be too commercialized and then I would be disappointed. 

47.  I am not a fan of Disney.  So, a trip to Disneyworld if about last on my list.  That probably makes me un-American.  Oh well. 

48.  The commercialization of things drives me nuts.  Why does EVERYTHING have to have a sponsor?  I know, because someone has to pay for all the “stuff” that people enjoy, but it is all just too much these days.

49.  I have a terrible memory and that makes me sad.  I wish I could remember every little detail of my kids lives, but I can’t.  Bits and pieces jump out to me every once in a while, but that is about it.

50.  I will not ever win the lottery because I don’t buy lottery tickets.  But, it’s a nice thing to think about sometimes!

51.  I think my second dream job would be to design children’s wear.  I don’t know if anyone would buy it, but it would be fun.

52.  In sixth grade, we had to make a poster titled something like “About Me”.  In the part where we were supposed to draw a picture about what we wanted to be when we grew up I drew me feeding a baby in a high chair.  Being a mama is all I ever wanted to do.  So, I guess my actual dream job is coming true!  Of course now I realize being a mama is way more than one job!

53.  In sixth grade I rode a bus to another school to be in a gifted and talented class.  We were a mixture of kids from all over town that got to be in the most wonderful class with the most wonderful teacher.  I know, how did this happen?  What can I say, I can take tests!

54.  I pretty much didn’t like school except for sixth grade.  I was so very shy that any thing other than sitting at my desk doing schoolwork was torture.  I even volunteered to wash dishes in the school cafeteria so that I wouldn’t have to go to recess.  Should I even admit that?  I guess it doesn’t hurt for people to know I have been weird all my life!

55.  I can’t draw to save my life.  I wish I could.  I wish I was an artist and super-creative.  But, I’m not, I’ve learned to deal.  I’m glad my kids are creative in spite of me!

56.  I was deathly afraid of the dark growing up.  I have outgrown it, a little.

57.  Easter is my favorite holiday.  Three reasons:  Jesus, new clothes and the beginning of spring!

58.  Fall is my next favorite.  The temperatures are just right and even though I would not care if I ever watched another football game on TV, the thought of a high school game with a marching band just makes me happy.

59.  Next would be summer.  I love the freedom.  Don’t love the heat.

60.  I really could live someplace that didn’t have a winter.  I despise being cold and despise snow.  My Iowa friends can attest to this, since I complained the entire time I lived there.  Sorry about that!

61.  I also love to buy socks.  I can’t stand to wear socks, but love to buy them.

62.  I once took a sack with 102 pairs of socks to Goodwill.  In my defense, there were a lot of little baby socks.  My boys never really wore them since they were spring babies, but apparently I couldn’t resist buying them!

63.  I was born in October.  During the OU/Texas football game.  I think that was an omen.

64.  We have four OU football season tickets that we never use.  Don’t worry, we sell them, but it would be more fun to use them!

65.  My parents live in the same house that I grew up in.

66.  Todd’s parents live in the same house he grew up in.

67.  Our kids don’t know where they live.

68.  In the third grade I got chicken pox and glasses all in the same week.  Not a good week.

69.  I have a college degree in Physical Education.  I never wanted to be a teacher, I wanted to work in fitness or physical therapy.

70.  My first job was at Presbyterian Hospital in the Oklahoma City Center For Athletes.  I know what you are thinking, right up my alley.  It was a semi-fun job that only lasted nine months because we moved.

71.  My next job was for an eye doctor.  I decided then that I wanted to work in the optometric field.  That lasted seven months.  Then we moved.  Can you see a pattern here. 

72.  I have a terrible time making decisions.  Big decisions, little decisions, it doesn’t really matter.

73.  We were married six years before we had Kellen.  We wanted to be “ready” before we had kids.  Of course we soon found out you are never ready.

74.  We would have loved to have our kids close together, but God did not have that planned for us.  I think I will trust His judgment.

75.  I really, really try to trust God and His plan for my life.  It is not easy.  I’m a tad controlling.  I would have never laid my life out like this.

76.  I have a pretty good life, so luckily someone else is making the plans!

77.  I don’t remember when Clay was born, I was only 22 months old.

78.  I remember every detail about the day Ryan was born.  I was seven.  While I was initially a little sad he was not a sister, I got over it very quickly.

79.  I am now very glad he was not a sister.  There are some advantages to being the only girl.

80.  Ryan had long curly hair as a toddler, so I curled it and fixed it for him.  The next best thing to having a sister.

81.  People always thought Clay and I were twins.  He was tall, I was short, and we were dressed alike a lot.

82.  I sort of bossed them around a lot.  Sorry about that.

83.  Clay and Ryan both work in public education.  I do not.

84.  Clay and Ryan both live in Oklahoma.  I do not.

85.  Todd still says we will end up in Oklahoma City some day, for good.  I’m beginning to think that is not in the plans.

86.  If we could, we would move back to the first little house we bought in the Village.  We LOVED that house, still do.  Of course, we have added two more kids since then, so it might not really work out.  But, that was the best house.

87.  The second house we owned was in Iowa.  We loved the space.  I loved the laundry chute and laundry room. 

88.  The house in Iowa was supposed to be a work in progress while we lived there.  But, we didn’t live there long enough.  So, it became a major stress to get it done and sell it. 

89.  Todd never saw the finished product.  I wish he could have.  It turned out really cute.

90.  Thank the Lord we sold it in three weeks.  I couldn’t take that house anymore!

91.  The third house we have owned is the house we are in now.  It is new.  Or was new.  We’ve used it now.

92.  It is sooo boring.  Maybe if we built it ourselves, it would not be boring.  But since we just bought it this way, boring.  It is boring because I’m afraid to touch anything.  Something about having an old house makes me think I can fix that, make it look better.  Here, it’s hard to change anything since it is new.  I don’t know if I ever want a new house again.  But, I’ve learned to never say never.

93.  I know I am blessed to have this home, don’t get me wrong.  I am thankful for it every day.  Just bored with it. 

94.  Or maybe I’m bored because I’m not pregnant or packing.  Or pregnant and packing.

95.  I wish I knew the Bible better.  You’d think by going to church my whole life and taking Bible classes in college I would know it better.  But I am finally realizing that you have to actually study it, not just sit and listen about it.

96.  I desperately want my kids to know the Bible.  So, we start our homeschool day with Bible and I am learning right along with them.  It’s the best part of our day.

97.  I love my kids.  I can’t even describe how much I love these four people in my life.

98.  I love my husband.  I am so thankful for him.  He has put up with a lot from me and is still here.

99.  I love God.  I am so thankful to Him for blessing me beyond what I deserve.

100.  I love you for actually reading to the end!  Ha!  Unless your like me and you read the end of the book first to see if you actually want to mess with reading the whole thing.  If that is the case, don’t bother going back to read the list.  It will be ten minutes of your life you’ll never get back!

Legos

The kids and I started August off with a road trip to Lego Camp.  More specifically MU Neuro-LEGO Robotics Camp.  I kept calling it Legos camp, then Kellen informed me that people were giving him a hard time about going to Lego Camp.  I think that probably sounded like a they were just going to go and build towers or something.  But, I was trying to keep it light, so they wouldn’t think I signed them up for something where they were going to have to use their brains during summer vacation!  Which is actually what I did! :) 

The camp was at the University of Missouri, about three hours away in Columbia, Missouri.

Finally, something I signed them up for this summer was a huge success!  They all loved it and learned sooo much that we would have had a hard time doing at home, or at least knowing where to start from at home. 

When we were in Iowa Kellen was set to be on a Lego Mindstorms team, where they build robots and take them to competitions, but we had to back out since we were trying to move in the middle of all of this.  I was really disappointed as I knew this was something he would enjoy and would be good for him!  So, I started researching here and found this three-day camp.  

Our hotel was right next to the campus and the football field.  The boys got a kick out of seeing the college guys practicing.  We almost wrecked with one trying to get this picture.  Kellen asked me the other day how I ever got a driver’s license!  I told him you only have to drive good one time!  (No, I was not driving and taking photos, Kellen was taking the pictures!)

  
Garrett on the first day.  Just walking into this computer lab with all the computers and rolly chairs was worth the trip for the boys!


Kellen and Gannon were partners on the first day.  The second and third days they moved the lower grades to another room so they could all learn at their own levels.

Garrett and his partner receiving some instruction.

Kellen and Gannon trying out their robot on the first day.

Gannon and his partner Lexie.  This was their “free-for-all” robot at the end of the third day.  It won all the challenges!  She was the sweetest girl.  God was really looking out for Gannon at this camp.  He is shy and takes a little time to warm up to new things, but he got to be with his brother the first day then with Lexie the second and third days.  It would have been very easy for her to take over the robot and do all the fun computer stuff, but she didn’t.  She made sure he had a part and took turns with him without him having to be demanding (which wouldn’t have happened!).  Such a blessing!

Gannon and Lexie getting their robot ready for a challenge.  The challenge was to try to push the other teams robots over the black like before their robot got pushed out.

Garrett and Kellen trying out their remote control robots.

On the last day the big kids had to give a presentation about their final robots and had a little power-point to go with it.  We haven’t had many opportunities to get up in front of strangers and speak, so this was a bonus!  Here is Garrett giving his presentation.

Kellen giving his presentation.  Love the hands in his pockets.  So much like his daddy!

The end of the camp.  Callie decided to get in on the action.  She was a trooper.  We made lots of trips back and forth and just killing time around town.  We did some back to school shopping, found some huge fabric stores, and just hung out.  I wish it hadn’t been so hot!  I had plans to take her to the park and places that two-year olds enjoy, but it was just way to hot for hanging out outside!  We would pick the boys up at three each day then mess around, eat dinner and swim at the hotel.  By bedtime the boys crashed!  They used a lot of brain power!

The guys with Beetle Bailey.  The creator of the Beetle Bailey  cartoon character was a graduate of the University of Missouri.  They were doing major road construction on the campus so it took us two days to find this little guy!  I was obsessed once I read about it, Beetle Bailey is one of Grandpa’s favorites!

     

Of course one of the fun things about visiting a new town is seeing what you can find to do and places you can eat.  We were so excited to see they had a Noodles!  We miss Noodles from Iowa!  I think we could have eaten every meal there!

All in all this was a huge success!  We are so excited to explore the Lego Robotics and see what else is out there that we can participate in.  Thanks daddy for letting us go and being ok with us traveling by ourselves.  I loved having this little break with just my kiddos.  The kids and I did a lot of traveling when we lived in Iowa and it was always so nice to just concentrate on kids.  I’ve missed that.  Even though I am home with them every day, life happens when we are home.  Things have to be done so I can’t always just concentrate on them like I would like to.  (They are probably glad about this! ha!)  So, having some time to just hang out, listen to our favorite songs, eat at our favorite places, have conversations without being interrupted by things…so much fun!  Life is going by way to fast to not have some of these times to just stop the usual routines and enjoy each other.  I am so blessed and times like this help me realize that.  It’s easy to have pity parties about small stuff when the days are flying by at the speed of light!  Here’s to a successful end of the summer, and successful beginning to the new school year.  Life is good!

Budding Artist

I am not an artist.  I wish I was.  My mom is an artist.  My brothers are both good at drawing and “arty” things.  Apparently I missed that gene!  I am also not so quick sometimes.  Let me explain…

Kellen and Gannon both love to draw and do a great job.  Garrett does a great job drawing, but I wouldn’t say he loves to do it!  So, being the not–so–quick homeschool teacher that I am, it never occurred to me to push some sort of art besides drawing, painting, etc.  Garrett is very much a hands on person.  You need a cabinet built, he’s your man.  Need your pencil sharpener fixed when your two old tries to sharpen something besides a pencil, again, he’s your man.  (This has happened so much at our house I think he could go into business fixing pencil sharpeners!)  Need someone to work hard until the job is done, he’s your man. 

Luckily, the co-op leaders are smarter than I am!  All the art projects they have worked on this semester are hands-on, right up Garrett’s alley.  These are the projects he has brought home so far.

Garrett’s planet Saturn.

Garrett’s horse head made out of clay.  I am quite impressed, he was really attentive to the details and it actually looks like a horse head!  If I tried this, you would not know what it was!

He made this at home with Play-doh a couple of weeks ago.  I think this is so cool!

Hopefully we can find a creative niche for him now that I see what he really enjoys and is good at.  I remember my brother Ryan sitting for hours making things out of clay.  He would have whole dioramas set up, just for the fun of it!  Tiny little people and battles and whatever else went with the scene.  He really could have gone into business doing that, if there is a business doing that! :)

So, I am just so excited for Garrett!  And I am excited for me!  It’s good to wake up and figure something out once in a while!

Our Typical Day

Ha!  I decided to take part in Kelly’s Korner Show Us Your Life/Your Typical Day.  I wish we had a typical day, oh how I wish.  But, it is not to be.  I have four kids and a husband that works retail, so luckily I am flexible!  And really, I don’t really know if I want a typical day.  I like unpredictable, spur-of-the moment days. A good thing with Todd’s unpredictable hours!  The problem with this is that there are things that do have to be done on a typical day: cooking, cleaning, laundry, schoolwork…the list could go on and on.  So, we have our set things, then try to just have fun in between. 

We go to church Sundays and Wednesdays.  We are so happy about our church here.  It is a growing church with 350 or so members and lots of kids!  And counting us, there are four home school families that I know of.  That is such a blessing for the kids.  It’s always nice to not be the only ones!  And, we have friends with similar schedules, even better!

Since moving to Nixa we have joined a home school co-op.  In all our years homeschooling we have not ever joined a co-op.  The funny thing is that before we moved to Iowa, we were talking to the leaders about joining this co-op.  Then we came back to this area and were still able to to join.  It has been such a blessing.  The kids loove it!  Well, I know Kellen and Garrett do.  Gannon does on most days and as long as Callie has Play-Doh time in her class, she is happy!  The boys participate in all types of classes from science to art to P.E..   We do this on Tuesday afternoons.

On Thursday afternoons the boys go to home school P.E. at the YMCA.  They love that too!  Some friends from church and co-op recently joined so I have been walking with their mom while the boys play.  So I enjoy getting in shape and chatting!

In between all of this we live our lives.  We have our schedule for chores, school etc.  If we stick to those, things go pretty good!  But, we have been known to drop everything and go play, redecorate a room, visit family, you name it!  This is one reason I so love homeschooling.  The flexibility was not on our list when we first started this journey.  But it so is now!  I can’t imagine living by someone else’s calendar.  I guess we live a little by Sam’s Club calendar if we want Daddy to join us, but he doesn’t always get to join us, and he’s fine with that.  I know this life is not for everyone.  I have many friends that would panic if they didn’t have more of a routine, but I panic if I don’t have some time to be flexible!

So, a typical day?  We don’t have those, even by my standards!  The only typical is that we are flexible and always together.  Sounds like the perfect day to me!

You can find other peoples "typical days" here:

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/03/show-us-your-life-what-is-your-typical.html

It's always fun to see what others are up to!

Once-A-Month Cooking

Well, I did it. I've talked about for years. My sister-in-law Kerry and I used to discuss it, but we never got around to making it happen. When I was trying to get our schedule together for the new year, it seemed like meal time was always in the way. Don't get me wrong, I like to cook most of the time. What I don't like is going to the store with four kids. I don't like being busy up to meal time and then trying to get it all together. I bought the Once-A-Month cookbooks a long time ago. I've had them a while, I know I bought them in Iowa at least a year ago. Anyway, while I was organizing my kitchen, I saw them and decided to go for it. So, after much planning and making lists, my fridge went from this:

to this in my freezer:

The grocery shopping was never ending. I hit Wal-mart, Sam's, and Aldi. Once the shopping was done, there was no turning back!

It was the longest day ever! I messed up by not following all the rules. Does that surprise you? The cookbook gave all these helpful hints and one hint was to wear comfortable shoes. I didn't wear shoes at all and I paid for it. My back hurt for days!

I had help, of course. This was our school for the day. Lot's of math!

Callie just stole bites of food. Especially the freshly grated cheese!

Gannon did a lot of supervising and sampling!

I planned to take pictures of things as the day went on, but there wasn't really a stopping point! Once you start, you just have to keep at it. Too much money goes into buying a months worth of food for six people. I wasn't about to waste anything!

We learned a lot that day about what to do differently next time. We have a list of things to try and buy for next time that will make the job easier. A lot of dishes can be frozen in 9x13 dishes. I was going to just buy a few more at Wal-mart, but they are more expensive than I remembered. I don't know if I have ever even bought one. I think the ones I have now were wedding gifts! So, we're going to look for some at garage sales and places.

I have planned (but not cooked) weeks of meals at a time for a while. I have cooked more than one meal sometimes, or cooked and frozen a few things, but never a months worth. I even included some stuff for lunches and breakfasts when we cooked. So, it was a LOT. One reason I had put this off for so long is that I thought it would be a lot of casseroles. It's not. I made very few. So far we have like most of what I made. We mixed some new recipes with some of our tried and true go-to recipes. Now that I have the idea of how this works, it will be simpler to do with almost any recipe.

In the end, it has been soooo worth it. The pluses are having a meal plan, I know what we are having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner up until Valentine's Day. I have most of the food in my freezer and fridge. The only things I don't have are the few fresh items that we pick up each week. Another plus is the amount of time I spend in the kitchen at dinner time. I am still cooking, but it is quick. Think Hamburger Helper, but good and healthy. I am spending more time on side dishes, which we are enjoying. My favorite is that there are very few dishes after dinner! We are able to put what we use on the table in the dishwasher and we can go to bed with a clean kitchen. (I do not hand wash dishes!) I am loving this part of it. I like to be done after dinner. Of course, a mom is not done after dinner, but at least the cooking and cleaning can be done! Also, I tried to make sure and make the recipes so that we would have enough leftovers for Todd to take a lunch, so another bonus!

But, the absolute best...I haven't been to the grocery store with four kids in weeks! I have hardly been to the grocery at all. Woo-hoo! Now that I haven't been, I realize that this is really what has been stressing me out. I love to shop, don't get me wrong, but not for groceries. It is so nice to have all the time that I would have normally been going to the store. I am thinking it is probably saving us money too. I haven't set down to figure that out yet. I need to get through a whole month and see what I spent all together and compare to another month where I didn't do this.

So, we will probably try this again. I already dread the day of cooking! But, this time I know the reward will be worth it. Think there could be a lesson in this?

In A Pickle

Long time no post! Again...

We have been in a pickle, a big, 5-gallon Sam's jar of pickles to be exact! Todd left on September 5 to start his new position with Sam's in Springfield. (Yeah!) We worked our hearts out before he left, our house was not finished. My mom came for a week and worked her heart out, still not done. So, September 6, the kids and I started out on our own to finishing remodeling our house. The quicker we got it done, the quicker we could list it and move on. Easier said than done. I tried to call professionals to come do the work for us, but they all said they couldn't get to it until this date or that date. It seemed like it was going to take too long to get the job done, so I figured we could get it done quicker. Do you see where this is going? First mistake. Should have just let the workers come and put my feet up somewhere. We were in over our heads. Now, let me say, we are pretty good at figuring stuff out, but when you are in a rush, there is just not time to figure out how to do things you have not ever done before. We just kept plugging along. Our realtor here is a friend from church and I think she could tell this was not going to work. So she and her husband showed up one day and started helping. Friends started keeping my kids when they could so I could work in peace. Friends showed up to paint, bring lunch, whatever they could do. Our realtor is from church, so she put the word out at church and we had people come over and use their talents to finish projects that ranged from putting up trim to cleaning my oven. The clock was still ticking but, we were making progress. We missed our daddy, but we were so busy we didn't have time to dwell on it, which was a good thing! On top of all this was planning the move to Springfield. When were we going? Where would we live? On and on. A stressful time to say the least!

But, we did it. We did it with a lot of help! I am not one who likes to ask for help. Can't stand it actually! I like to think I can do everything myself. Guess what, I can't :)! The last few weeks I have just accepted it. I went to bed every night overwhelmed with people's generosity with their time. Time is such a valuable commodity this day and age and people willingly gave it up for us. Our house looks nice. We have it listed. We have had a few showings and an open house. I just hope it will sell sometime! I know this is the winter season (we've already had snow in Iowa!), not the best time to sell a house. I think it will sell someday. It is a desirable neighborhood and a nice size house with lots of "new". That has to count for something, right?

Kellen commented a few weeks back that "this is why it is good to believe in God and go to church because your church friends help you". He is so right. Our church here has truly treated us like a family while we've been away from family. I have tried to figure out for years how to teach my kids to serve. I wondered if we should go feed the homeless, if we should go to nursing homes, on and on. While all those things are wonderful and are still things I hope we can do, there is nothing like the example we were shown the last six weeks. When you are on the receiving end of service, you know how it feels. You know how it feels to feel like there is no way this is going to work out and then people come to your rescue. I always say we have had many lessons and blessings everywhere we have lived. This has been the biggest one here. Everything we have gone through here has been worth it for my kids to learn the lessons they have learned these last six weeks. The lessons were not anything I can teach out of a book, not anything they can learn without going through it. I hope that I have also taught them how to graciously accept help and thank God for all he has done for us. I can truly say that at least for the boys, all I will ever have to say is remember how we felt in Iowa, when we had help beyond measure? They will always remember and be ready to serve. I know I will.

Summer Fun! (Lots of pics :))

We are so excited to be in a neighborhood with so many kids. We have never lived in a neighborhood with this many kids, and most all of them are boys. What are the chances? School is out for Bettendorf so activities abound outside. We weren't planning to be done for a couple of more weeks, but things aren't going so well now! We were planning to "have school" a day or two a week all summer anyway, so that may be starting now. It is too hard to sit at a table for a few hours when the sun is shining and kids are having fun right outside your window! But, that is the beauty of homeschooling, we can be flexible! I love it!


So far all the kids around seem to be nice kids and so far they are all getting along. They bigger boys are all so nice to Gannon, making sure he is included. They are even nice to Callie when she ventures out in the mix. We are truly so blessed to have found this house that fits our family and has a great yard to play in. I am always so happy when I feel like I understand a little part of God's plan for our lives. Kellen and Garrett really needed a "gang" to run around with. They have friends at church and from some of the outside classes they go to, but it is not the same as the neighborhood. This came along at just the right time for them. Funny how God seems to know these things!

We have had, almost, a couple of Terry Smith episodes. I won't go into details of that story to protect the people involved (my mom:)), but at least my brothers and mom know what I am referring to! Let's just say, the kids are feeling comfortable enough to just come on in when they come to the door. I am glad about that, but not used to having anyone besides just us wandering around my house! Poor Terry Smith, he was the neighbor kid who wandered in our house when I was young, I don't think any of us will forget the last day he did!

Speaking of Grandma, she got to come for another visit. She was here almost a week. The boys were begging for us to do something fun instead of "always making her work". I don't think I exactly make her do anything! But, she offers, like I'm going to turn that down! We had a nice time. Not too much work:). We hung curtains and blinds, finally! Went through books and fabric. I definitely needed help with that. I can't let some things go. I rarely find a book that I don't like, especially for kids. But, we managed to take four boxes to Half Price Books to sell. Yahoo! She also loves to take pics and has a reeeeally nice camera, so I'll have a lot more pics to post thanks to her.

Here is the gang playing basketball. Kellen, Gannon, and Garrett are the three to the right. The little ones, of course :).




Garrett with the ball. They said his nickname is "The Baller". Apparently that is a good thing.




I love this one. The big boys are holding Gannon (red shirt) up so he can dunk it. I am far away so I don't embarrass my boys by taking pictures of them playing outside. I'm sure that is not cool!



We had a clothesline in the backyard that had seen better days. Todd took it down last week when he mowed. Thanks to Grandma it became a fort. I had a dental appointment so she was home with them. She said they were getting a little rowdy with sticks so they decided to build a fort with a campfire. What a novel idea. If would have been here I would have yelled at them for playing with sticks and made them all sit down. ;)

Kellen with the cord from the clothesline.

Callie is ready to help!

Would someone please e-mail her daddy and convince him she needs a swingset/junglegym!

The finished product. See, I knew it would come in handy to leave the sleds out even after the snow had gone!


Callie trying on her brothers shoe:).

Some kind of pow wow with Kyle and Amanda, our backyard neighbors. No, Kyle is not trying to suffocate himself. The boys said he had the mesh ball bag and was being a cat :o).

I'm pretty sure she is trying to order someone to push her around in the wheelbarrow.

Enjoying the Jeep. How do those knees taste Garrett?

Maybe it's just me, but I don't know if I like that daredevil look on his face!

Now maybe it's summer time!

Well, nice weather has finally hit the Quad Cities. I guess better late than never! We were wearing jackets and sweatshirts to all the ballgames lately, yuck! I really need to move south! I think it is finally time to plant without a chance of frost so the kids and I got busy doing yard work. It was such a nice day! We had our lessons in the morning then spent several hours working in the nice spring weather outside. Our neighbor on one side is apparently really good and knowledgeable about plants, growing things, etc. I am not. I try, but my memory is terrible, I can barely remember what plants are called let alone what to do with them! Well, she was out and came over to give us some help. Do you think she could tell we were desperate? She said she has been itching to come over and take care of some of the stuff in our yard for years. Apparently the previous owners were not taking care of some things "horticulturally correct". Not even sure what that means, but some of our things are looking better! She was a great help and really taught the boys the proper way to do some of the yard work, it was like a field trip in our own backyard! The boys had a great time sawing, digging, etc. We found the hugest worm I have ever seen. Garrett had just studied worms at science last week so he enjoyed telling us all about it, actually pretty gross. Then it was off to Garrett's ballgame. They lost but he got a great hit. I think he is finally getting the hang of kid-pitch. He is scheduled to pitch in their next game. That makes me a nervous wreck, but he is excited about it!

Kellen and Gannon


Garrett with his safety goggles. Safety first!

Kellen pruning a bush, tree, I don't really know, but it's outta here!

Can you tell she just woke up? Looks a little dazed!

These are the looks I get when I try to take her picture. Any time she sees the camera she just runs up to me. Ugh!

This is Callie watching her daddy mow. She was done with her dress so she was wandering around with just her bloomers on. Too cute! This is not the floor she is standing on, she is up on the window seat, even though she knows she is not supposed to. I guess it is too tempting!

This is another mama creation. I love the pattern, it was a new one for me. It's called a bubble dress. I'm not crazy about my fabric choices. I like the fabrics by themselves, but not really together. I just thought she needed more pink so I added pink to the top! I probably should have just used yellow all around. It's also a little big, oh well. It's hard to measure and try on clothes with a seventeen month old!

She apparently was starving after we got home from church and eating lunch, so she is eating bread with peanut butter. My only hope for getting her still for a picture was to bribe her with food!