Padawan: "I'm glad God put people on this earth because I really like some of them. I'm really glad God made toys because they are really fun....I just LOVE GOD!!"

1.) Tomorrow, JellyBean and I will fly to Oregon to visit my family for (parts of) 5 days. It will (almost) seem like no kids at all, just having JellyBean. I don't have to prepare meals for her (she's still nursing exclusively), she doesn't get into arguments with anyone, she doesn't accidently wet on the floor, etc. I'm looking forward to this!

2.) The last time I took a vacation like this was 5 years ago when I went to Belgium for 3 weeks (!) to be with Jaymarie when she had Zoë. Jim took the time off work and stayed home with our, then, two kids ages 2 & 4 (almost (3 &5). He's taking care of the three kids this time too.

3.) I worry a little bit about having some kind of accident and leaving the other three kids motherless. Other than that, I don't feel too selfish about taking this trip!

Labels: three things thursday

I need a title for this story... any suggestions? Thanks, Dad!

On Sunday BonusBoy was given hand-me-down toy from our friends. It's been raining the last couple of days so he hasn't been able to play with it. Today (sunny) he was looking out the front window and asked, "Can I ride on Cubby?" I was momentarily confused by this request because I wasn't sure what he meant by asking to ride on our older cat, Cubby. Then, in a flash, it came to me. I said, "Do you mean you want to ride on your scooter?" "Yes", he said. Poor kid, he got a scooter and a Scooter within 6 days of each other. Must be confusing!! :-)

Scooter "came to his senses" (Luke 15:17) and returned to us this morning. PonyGirl heard a miaow and jumped up and found him at our back door. Amazing! I figured that he was too little (8 weeks) and hadn't been with us long enough (less than a week) to find his way back home. PonyGirl is "happier than I was when I first got him." We are all happy right along with her. I just wish Scooter could talk and tell us where he's been. I guess we'll never know.....

In an effort to keep my kids a little safer I have decided to eliminate the use of their real names on this website. I am going through the posts a little at a time and switching the names and deleting any comments that have their names in them. So if I delete your comment, please don't be offended. I know this is probably closing the barn door after the horses have gone, but I'm doing it anyway.

p.s. padawan = an apprentice Jedi

...you find yourself dressed up in ways that produce blackmail pictures for the years to come.

Labels: kids

1.) When I'm eating popcorn, I have to distribute the kernels evenly in my mouth. If I get three kernels on one side of my mouth, the next three kernels must go on the opposite side.

2.) I must know when I'm taking the last bite of my food. I hate it when I don't know that I've eaten the last M&M, last bite of cookie, pizza, pasta, whatever.

3.) I love cold pizza. Straight from the fridge. It's great!

Labels: three things thursday

PonyGirl got a new kitten (isn't he cute?) Monday night and she is SOOOO happy!



Because of Scooter, I was able to eat my lunch today without having to hold onto JellyBean. She was marvelously entertained. (See him climbing up the screen door?)



Here's a couple more pictures I took of BonusBoy and JellyBean:





If I can get this to work you should be able to click here and see a 15-second silent video of Scooter. (If the link is broken use this one)

I'm absolutely horrified. I never dreamed it would happen to ME! I used to give my mom the hardest time when ever I would visit and I found dust on hers. "How can you stand this, mom? This is horrible." I wondered how she could ever let it get this way, it was a crying shame. I just sat down to use mine... it was dusty, gritty, even, under my fingertips. It actually almost made my cry because it's a testament to the turbulence of my life right now and it made me sad. I bet my mom can guess what I am talking about without clicking here to see the picture.

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In other news, I thought this was kind of funny, in a sick sort of way.

Okay. I think I may have now, finally, seen it all. Any guesses as to the function of these little objects?? Click here to find out. What did you guess that it was?

Labels: fun, huh?

My Mom taught me:

1.) To love line-dried towels
2.) The joy and fun of doing things for other people
3.) To memorize scripture

oh, but there's more... so here's a bonus three:

4.) To love the ocean
5.) That there's more than one side to the story
6.) The enjoyment of a well done task

I love you, Mom, Happy Mother's Day!!!

Labels: three things thursday

Check out PezMama's list of house cleaning tips.... This is too good for me not to pass on to you.

Labels: general

Study: US mothers deserve $134,121 in salary

Mother's Day Paycheck

Mine came out to $144,456.00 Wow! Wouldn't that be nice?

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Matthew 6:20 & 21 - But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

3 John 1:4 - I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

Here are a couple of pictures of my son, Padawan, and my dad on Bright Sunday:



Ahhhh... Better than any paycheck!

Labels: fun

Three places I'd like to see:

1.) England
2.) Ireland
3.) The holy land

Labels: three things thursday

Most of my blogging as of late has been the reading of others' blogs. That I can easily do while nursing my little one or eating my lunch (finally, at 1:30 pm). Typing with one hand is cumbersome and I get tired of it very quickly. So I'm a reader and not so much a writer at this point.

That said, I have been enjoying more and more the blog The Common Room. The mom of this homeschooling family (5 or more members of this family post on the blog) is prolific in her writing and I learn so much from almost everything she says. Since I feel so busy, overwhelmed, and inefficient lately, this particular article of her's really hit home with me and I've been thinking about it ever since. Here's an excerpt:

Sewing machines and washing machines radically reduced the workload of the average mother of children, and at the same time, they radically increased it in different ways...

I'll leave you with a quote from one of Beverly Lewis' books (I have too many to search through them and find out which one) : "We must free ourselves of things or we will spend our entire life tidying up."

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Update: I couldn't stand it. I looked through my 13 Lewis books and found the right one, The Redemption of Sarah Cain. (Actually, I didn't have to look through all 13 but that's how many I have. I love this author!)

I've been (and continue to be) so busy that I do not have much time for posting anything to my blog, much less writing anything of length or anything that requires much thought. (I'm sure that sentence was much too long but I don't want to figure out how to fix it!!!) However, this poem keeps running 'round my head and I wanted to share it since I'm sure I'm not the only one who has days (weeks!) like this:

The Old Sailor- A.A. Milne

There once was a sailor my grandfather knew
Who had so many things which he wanted to do
That, whenever he thought it was time to begin
He couldn’t because of the state he was in.

He was shipwrecked and lived on an island for weeks,
He wanted a hat and he wanted some breeks;
And he wanted some nets, or a line and some hook
For the turtles and things which you read of in books

And, thinking of this, he remembered a thing
Which he wanted (for water) and that was a spring;
And he thought that to talk to he’d look for, and keep
(If he found it) a goat, or some chickens and sheep.

Then, because of the weather, he wanted a hut
With a door (to come in by) which opened and shut
(With a jerk, which was useful if snakes were about),
And a very strong lock to keep savages out.

He began on the fish-hooks, and when he’d begun
He decided he couldn’t because of the sun.
So he knew what he ought to begin with, and that
Was to find, or to make, a large sun-stopping hat.

He was making the hat with some leaves from a tree,
When he thought, “I’m as hot as a body can be,
And I’ve nothing to take for my terrible thirst;
So I’ll look for a spring, and I’ll look for it first.”

Then he thought as he started, “Oh dear and oh dear!
I’ll be lonely tomorrow with nobody here!”
So he made in his notebook a couple of notes:
“I must first find some chickens” and “No, I mean goats!”

He had just seen a goat (which he knew by the shape)
When he thought, “But I must have a boat for escape.
But a boat means a sail, which means needles and thread;
So I’d better sit down and make needles instead.”

He began on a needle, but thought as he worked,
That, if this was an island where savages lurked,
Sitting safe in his hut he’d have nothing to fear,
Whereas now they might suddenly breathe in his ear!

So he thought of his hut…and he thought of his boat,
And his hat and his breeks, and his chickens and goat,
And the hooks (for his food) and the spring(for his thirst)…
But he never could think which he ought to do first.

And so in the end he did nothing at all,
But basked on the shingle wrapped up in a shawl.
And I think it was dreadful the way he behaved-
He did nothing but basking until he was saved!

(I'm not sure why my hand looks bluish-purple?!?)