Changes

Lots of changes.

I'm making this quick. I have lots to do.

We're moving.

After 10 years in this house the landlord has raised the rent tremendously.

June 1 marks a new beginning for us in a {much} smaller but beautiful place - the townhouses the church has been renovating. I am looking forward to a fresh start.

Not looking forward to having to give up our family pet of ten years. Yes, we are needing to find a home for Jewel. {this is where I beg any of you to take her or to convince your neighbor or someone else you know} to take her. I know you want to.
She comes with all the stuff you {or your friend} needs to care for her - except maybe food, depending on when she is picked up. We are running low on food and we will only be picking it up on a can by can basis now.

I don't want to have to take her to the SPCA. This is hard enough.


{Yes, I realize that I have been a terrible blogger the past few months. Yes, I realize some of you may have given up on me...}

With Age Comes Wisdom

Words of the aged came from Jellybean's mouth this morning as she spoke to her brother...

Let me recount this incredibly wise {and cute} conversation went.

Jellybean to Bug: (as she was vaccuming) Bug, let me tell you something that I learned when I was like 7 or younger. The vaccum is too small to suck you up. It can't eat you so don't worry; you are too big.

Isn't it great when siblings share knowledge like that?

I know it warmed my heart.

Looking forward

Some people spend too much time looking backward at the what-if's and the used-to-be's and the used-to-haves. Not me. I look to the now and the future. I am especially looking forward to the not-so-distant future. This weekend in fact! We are going to get to see BigB's mom and dad, and PB&J, Rush, Tuff and BabyK! I am really looking forward to it. I am not, however, wishing away the days in order to get there as I am making the best of the days I have been given and not what could have been or should have been. Look to the future; go straight up the middle and TOUCHDOWN!

Now I realize that parts of this post won't make sense to some but it makes perfect sense to me and, well, it is my blog so let's hope it does. {Grin}

Looking to the Future

Well, the not-so distant future. Our son-in-law will be coming to school in town here soon and we are looking forward to being able to have him over for supper every once in a while. It will be nice; we miss him ('them' but 'they' will not be here just 'him'). Jellybean and Bug will be excited for that to happen too.

How Do I Taste, Moby?

The evening of August 18 BigB & I watched a movie with Rush, Finding Nemo to be exact. She knows ALL the words; she can recite them perfectly even without the movie playing. It sparked some interesting conversation.

→ Rush wants to be able to sit in the mouth of a Blue Whale but only if it won't eat her. Why? So she can say "How do I tast, Moby?! Huh?".
→ This lead to a conversation about how horrible it would be to be swallowed by a whale and die due to digestion.
→ She wants to be able to eat Blow Fish because one wrong cut or mistake during cooking and it "could" kill her; she thinks that would be a thrill. However, she thinks people who play Russian Roulette are idiots. Odd...
→ She wants a salt water tank with all the main characters from Finding Nemo.
→ She named the log in her terrarium "Logwannahawkaloogie".
→ She thinks it would be great to have an animal that "could eat me walk past me, as long as they can't see me so they can't eat me."
→ Rush's comment on Darla (the dentist's niece on Finding Nemo), "If she keeps killing fish, why get her a new one? Why not buy her a hamster?"
Huh??????????
→ Quote from Rush, "I'd like to go sliding with the Polar Bears...if they can't see me. I could wear a polar bear costume!"
→ She thinks that the babies Marlon and Dory would have, if they were to have babies, would be very cute. She imagines them orange with blue stripes. "Can you breed fish?! Here, you guys, now have babies!"

But, I think the most memorable thing I got from that movie came in a quote from the movie itself (not that I like it being memorable or anything)
"Of course I like you; it's because I like you that I can't be with you."

I certainly do love my Nemo loving, Nemo quoting girl - more than she knows and more than I ever thought I could ever love...

Excuse me. Is my head on straight?

It feels like it isn't.

It took a few motrin to get me to sleep last night.

I can't think, or focus, or smile.

I'm trying. To smile, that is.

I'm trying. To think straight, that is.

So. If you would be so kind, can you tell me when I haven't put my head on straight? I need to adjust to a new normal that I don't like. one. little. bit. It sort of feels like open heart surgery without the anesthetic (not that I have had open heart surgery with or without it).

I am turning to God for strength but I think there may be road construction or something, as there seems to be a bit of a delay.

So...? This is what it's like living with boys...

Jellybean & Bug came running out of the bathroom, toothbrushes in hand, laughing like hyenas. Through squeals of delight Jellybean finally managed to squeak out that Bug had just drank from the toilet.

As BigB tried to explain to him how disgusting and unsafe that is, he told Bug that some people have even died from the germs found in toilets.

Bugs response?

In 20 days? They die if they do it for 20 days?

After reassuring Bug that he didn't mean he would die. Bug sprinted back off to the bathroom, where we encouraged him to brush his teeth AND use listerine!

So, can anyone seriously tell me why burping, farting, and, now, drinking toilet water (oh and let's not forget licking toilets) are so incredibly funny?

Earlier tonight, one of the family members passed gas and Bug says "If there were a trophy for worst farts, you would get it! You have the worst farts in the universe!". He then proceded to laugh to the point where we thought he may actually pee his pants.

Boys! What a strange species...

I 'Twit'

Yes, I do and yes, I did. I 'twit'. I didn't twit as in 'twit'; I twit, as in the other day Bug asked me if I had "twit" my job yet since Daddy got his new job.

The answer is, yes, I did just "twit". I will need to make a bit of money but I will only work in the mornings - unless BigB & I decide that I will take in 2 or 3 children and babysit.

Regardless, I get to be home with Bug in the afternoons; I get to be home when the girls get home from school. Heck, I even get to pick them up! I can take care of my children the way I want to! This makes me uber happy! I can't even begin to describe how happy I am. I'm all this is too good to be true but then I'm all oh no it isn't! I have waited SO long to get to this point!

So there you have it; I twit! I am a twitter. And although I could mean this, what I actually mean is this

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It is most certainly Not Me who has discovered that raising a child truly does mean your heart is not your own, and sometimes you will see your heart walk around you not knowing where it will go, who it will see or if it will come back in one piece. It is Not Me who has learned that THAT is the most tired you will ever be. I always thought that it was the sleepless nights of waking babies and breastfeeding...It's Not Me who was completely wrong.

It is Not Me who wrote an incredibly depressing Not Me and deleted most of it. It is Not Me who is not going to air this "basket of dirty laundry" right now. Therefore, it is Not Me who is asking you to remember our family in prayer, to ask for strength and wisdom. It is Not Me who is asking you to lift our hands...It is, then, Not Me who is moving on to better things to focus on.

It is Not Me who got to go to a neighboring city with 3 of my fantastic kids and my wonderful husband, and enjoy a day of shopping and eating. It was Not Me then, who found a great deal on a new dress coat and a lovely orange, silk shirt. It is Not Me who went to Lush and bought a great sugar scrub and has a wish list for the next time I go there; it is also Not Me who took my 8 year old daughter in with me and have created a monster - she has her own wish list; she is the girliest of girls that I know.

It is most definitely Not Me who is sitting here watching a spider crawl over my printer, trying not to SCREAM. LIKE. A. GIRL and wondering if I should find something to squish it (even though it has done nothing to me) or leave it (since it has done nothing to me). Friends, I am torn...

'It' has finally happened!

What 'it'? You mean you don't know? Seriously? You have no idea what I am talking about? Oh. Ok. Sit down, grab a coffee or a Dole tangerine sparkler, put your feet up and I will enlighten you.

For the last year or so I have really been struggling with this whole 'getting up, working all day, sending my kids to a sitter, relying on Rush to make supper' existance that I have been living.

Some of you will know (Facebook) but others still have no idea so, let me share my fabulous news with y'all!

BigB has, just today, signed the paperwork for a new job that is in town and a bit more than he was making before! (Can I get a hallah in da house?!) This means that I can change my hours here at work OR, if that isn't feesible, get a different job where I am only working mornings! No more sitters (except for maybe an hour during lunch)! I get to be home when my kids come home from school; in fact, I get to pick them up from school! I can have suppers made and snacks and clean my house and all those things that have been taunting me with my working full-time and having the schedule we do!

I am so excited by the possibilites BigB has with this new job, that I will have as a result of his new job and of the things that we can give to our children because of this new job! Thank you, God! You get ALL the credit on this; Your hand is through it all!

You're my Superman

Someone thinks her daddy is very, very special. Someone thinks her daddy is just like Superman.


Someone drew this very lovely picture for her daddy.


Our children should look to us as their role models. Why should we leave it to the teenybopper star of the week or the super hero of the year to be our children's role models? Have you not glanced at the covers of those rag mags while you are standing in line at the grocery store? Do you really want your children looking up to them?

Give your child a godly influence to model themselves after. Make your life a life they should and will want to be like. Show them, with your example, what and who we are to be like by being a living breathing example of Jesus to them. Don't leave it up to the flavour of the week to influence your sons and daughters...it will only leave them heartbroken, discouraged, doubleminded and exasperated...

Another Super Saturday

This past Saturday was a nice family day. We had no plan, despite our attempts at figuring out what we were going to do. No one could think of anything we would all like, our town is a little lacking in that area unless you can get out to one of the many gorgeous lakes, unfortunately that wasn't a choice for Saturday.

We left our house, flying by the seat of our proverbial pants. No plan. No clue. We were just leaving.

We drove to Extreme Pita to have a quick, healthy lunch. It was delish! The 2 youngest kids had a ham & cheese pita with their own version of the works; their meals came with drinks and a cookie. What more could a kid want? We don't need no stinkin' Happy Meal to make us happy. The food was delicious. Rush had a grilled chicken pita; BigB had a Mandarine Chicken pita and I had a, mmmmm, yummy Mediteranean pita. It was so yummy. Have I mentioned that the food there is very yummy? I did? Oh, sorry. To finish off our meals, as we were still jsut a tad hungry, we split a package of freshly made garlic pita chips with hummus. Well, I had hummus; everyone else had Ranch. How boring.





Just look at that face as Jellybean bites into that pita. Isn't she just screaming, "MMMMM this is delish!"

From Extreme Pita we walked over to the pet store which was a big mistake. HUGE! Here we held some bunnies & some hamsters, checked out some fish, and fell in love with an adorable Boston Terrier pup & an equally adorable soft, fluffy grey kitten with gorgeous blue eyes. This is when we left the store, empty-handed with long, sullen faces.



Rush with a cute little hamster she decided to call Hernado or Fredrico; she couldn't decide.


Tell me how you could resist this adorable face? Tell me! Seriously! TELL ME!


Or this one?! Look at that face! {sigh} What cuties! Now you can see why we left so forelorn with empty arms...

The boys played football while we sunned ourselves and made funny faces at mom whow was always holding the camera...

And then we hopped on the swings to swing the heat away, and to giggle uncontollably as dad gave pushes.



We finished off the day with a family movie and some snuggling. I love days like these...

Does somebody have a cell phone? Anybody?

Family Camp is next week. The 21st to be exact. Bug's birthday is the 21st. BigB & I couldn't get that time off work so no one was going to go. A very, very dear friend offered to add our 3 kids to her 5 kids (WHAT!? Perhaps our very dear friend is flippin' nuts! Nah! They are all good kids and J1 and Rush will be lots of help with the kids I know.)

Needless to say, the kids are all super stoked about going! However, this is what I overheard this morning:

Does somebody have a cell phone?! Anyone?! Does someone have a cell phone that I can use!? I will need to call my mom and dad every morning and every night so I say good morning and good night to my mama and daddy! And I won't even be with my mom on my birthday!"







How could you NOT love that face? (And, of course, the faces of his lovely sisters.)

Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out...GTO

My family ♥ cars, well, not just cars; we ♥ good ole American muscle cars (except for Rush; she ♥ them too but her favorite is the 2009 Acura NSX and if you were to ask her, she would even add silver on there because it doesn't hurt to be too specific).

BigB and I took the younger two kids to a small, local car show yesterday and, more often than not, the thing we heard most from their adorable faces was "OH! I LOVE THAT ONE! THAT ONE'S MY FAVORITE!". We have discovered that Jellybean loves Challengers (any year) and if they are purple that makes them even BETTER. Bug loves Challengers, Mustangs, GTOs and, pretty much anything that screams American muscle car. His favorite seemed to be a '71 Boss Mustang, orange in color but I didn't end up getting a picture of him with it.



We found the cutest Austin Mini Pickup that the kids HAD to get their pictures taken with it as they were almost taller than it.

At this point I think they were distracted by a lime green Challenger.


"Heh! Yook (look) at dat Mustang!"

Mama's favorite...

I have stalked coveted loved this car from the very first time I saw it, about 10 years ago. Now, don't get me wrong, I still love me some muscle car and I ♥ the Challenger and the Mustang but this car, {sigh}, she is SO pretty!!!!

As much as I love that beautiful navy blue 1932 Buick, as we neared the end of the vehicles, I gave my ♥ to another but check it out! How could you not love this big ole boy?

A Boss Hoss with Nos (and no, I am not channeling Dr, Suess.)


C'mon Dad! There's lots more to see!

And just like Bug rockin' the faux hawk, these cars ROCKED (according to my 2 young children - um, and me...)

Fun with a Bug and...a Jellybean

The condensed version of our family (even sans Rush who was working this weekend) had a fun evening out together and it went a little like this...

We spent some time at a local, annual car show (more on that later, perhaps tomorrow)




We found the most darling Bug in a tree.



We threw the kids on the back of a cube van. I am not even joking...




After eyeing up the artwork on this fence since, well, many, many years, we stopped to take some pictures in front of it. (You can't tell from this picture, but I will post more later, but this is a beautiful painting of a train on someone's fence.)


We spent time hanging out at the train yard playng on the trains and on the tracks...





We had a really fun evening and the kids went to bed smiling and exhausted. BigB and I got to spend some quiet time together. You want to know how we took advantage of that? We threw in an old movie (Son-in-Law with Pauly Shore; I used to love that movie. Funny how our tastes change. Now I think there is far too much swearing and sexuality in it for us to keep this movie in our house. It was great to go down memory lane though and it did show us that we have changed, a lot.). Oh yeah, back to what we were doing. So we watched the movie, chuckled at parts of it ad sat on either end of the couch snuggled up, each with our own laptop looking like a couple of geeks. Me, I was editting photos and BigB was doing some research for different projects he is working on.

It was a nice quiet night spent with some of the people I love, love, love. Did I mention I ♥ them? 'Cuz I do! (Really missed Rush tonight though)

Happy Canada Day from our house to yours

I did manage to get those pictures uploaded so here it is - our celebrations. Hope our fellow Canadians and Canadian transplants had a great day! Tomorrow we send wishes of a Happy 4th of July to our fellow Americans and American transplants. (BigB & I were in Missouri for Independence Day a few years back and we had a great time; you guys know how to throw a party!)

Anywho, here's a little photo look-see of our Canada Day.

We got ourselves all tattooed up (some of us weren't as willing to show off our tats as others were)

We enjoyed a feast of grilled steaks, corn on the cob and citrus spinach salad (yum! That is delish in itself: spinach, canned mandarine oranges, dried cranberries, almonds, feta cheese and tuscan italian dressing. First time we ate that salad Bug said "WHY are there oranges in dis salad?! There are oranges in here! WHY?! Now he says, "This is my FAVORITE salad!)

We all enjoyed a dipped cone from Dairy Queen before heading to the river for the Canada Day festivities (and by that I mean rolling down the hill, doing interpretive dance to really off key singers, trying to figure out new and creative ways to not actually have to sit on the portapotty seats - yuck - and...people watching)

Hill rolling which soon turned into little boy squishing...
*Disclaimer* No little boys were hurt during the documenting of this adventure.

Part of the interpretive dance

This photo is VERY similar to the one where he was on his knees, looking directly at a couple as they passed by crooning at them. He is his father's son (or is he a lot like me? Perhaps both)

Bug and Jellybean doing their best interpretation of a Toyota commerical (from my youth) "What a feeling! Toyota!"
Fireworks then off home for our own sparklers and some nachos! Yummy!

That's kind of exciting!

Well it is! Are you arguing with me?! Seriously?

Ok. I am done being silly. I am going to blame it on all that totally cool thunder we are getting today! I always get in a goofy mood when there is a thunder storm and the better the storm, well, the goofier I get. It seems to stir something up in me because I feel so energetic and like a ball of live wires or something but I digress.

Wow! That one was so close and loud it made me jump! Too cool! (Digressing again...)

Let me get to the point of what is kind of exciting. Rush is turning 16 this summer.

{16?! Seriously, when did this happen!? I mean wasn't it just yesterday she was a chubby faced, pigtailed 2 year old taking her poodle/terrier, Princess, for a walk? Wasn't it just last week that she cried when her Papa Ray told her that his sprayer killed weeds and she cried and begged him to promise to NEVER KILL WEEDS AGAIN!? Wasn't it? It wasn't really THAT long ago that she strutted out of her Kindergarten classroom proud as punch over the fact that she had met the Queen of England? (Really it was the school secretary dressed up as the Queen but there was no telling my Rush that. She met the Queen and that was THAT!) Has that much time really passed since we found her fixing Pa's swather with a yellow and green handled chisel? Wasn't it last week we took these pictures?}

Yes, Rush is turning 16 years old this summer and she has morphed from an adorable little girl with the biggest, bluest eyes and biggest heart to a beautiful young lady with the most beautiful green eyes and the biggest heart. (Yes, I am aware her eyes went from blue to green.)

So, as her mom, I want something special for my daughter's Sweet 16, from gift to party. (By the way, her Dad wants these things to; it's not just me.) I am not telling the gift as I don't know how often she reads here but I can tell you about the party. (Do you guys know how much I LOVE to plan parties? I love, love, LOVE it!)

The afternoon of her party is going to spent at the Spa with a few of her close friends and, of course, her mama. When we are done there, we will be going to our house for a family supper and her "bestest" friend will most likely be spending the night.

The invitation parts are now printed on their appropriate page color (vanilla; I didn't have any caramel left); I will then be putting them onto a chocolate background and finishing them off with a nice green ribbon and I have printed spa information on kiwi paper. Supper invites are on the kiwi green and I will finish those off with a chocolate ribbon. (Rush loves green.)

I have plans for refreshments at the spa (including fruit with dip, cheese, crackers, chocolate and some cupcakes ~ yummy!)

I am so very excited and I really hope it all goes off the way it has played out in my head several times since planning it.

Now, it is time to get planning Bug's 6th birthday but first I need to contact his buddy's mom to see if she wants another joint party this year (since their birthdays are only days away from each others). It seems he is wanting to go to the park for an all out run around and play, weiner roast kind of day. Easy enough.

You Give Me Fever...

This handsome, fun-loving...

...and kind young man

is sick.

He woke yesterday morning with a fever; it started to come down slightly. When I got home from work it was almost 41 degrees Celsius (not entirely sure what that is in Farenheit - about 104). A lukewarm bath brought it down to a not too bad level. I was told he didn'thave a fever when going to bed last night; he woke this morning and it was 38.5. He snuggled with his brother LilB grinning like an idiot that he was really here (yesterday must have been fever induced dream like); I talked to Jellybean on the phone today and she informed me that Bug was outside with LilB working on our car. I received a text from BigB saying Bug was even playing this morning.

A half hour ago, LilB text me to say Bug's fever is back up to 38.5 and he is, once again, lethargic (but not as bad as yesterday).

There may be a trip to the doctor planned AND I think I will be excusing myself from tonight's Youth Group waterfight and watermelon eating contest to "nuggle" with my sick boy. BigB and LilB are more than capable and I will be where my heart longs to be anyway, caring for my children (well, one anyway - the others, that are here, will be in the midst of waterfights, watermelon and BigB's devotional "Being Drenched in the Spirit"). I think I will send my camera along in hopes that one of the 3 capable of picture taking will snap a photo or two of the watery fun!

Hello, 911?

That's what he said and I am NOT making that up!



Today Jellybean & Bug were playing "Truth or Dare" (and I thought that was a scary game when played by Junior High aged girls). Word to the wise, people, if my kids come to your house to play do not, I repeat, do not let them play "Truth or Dare" with your kids.



You may be asking yourself 'why?'; you may be thinking 'it's just an innocent game' but, when my kids play, someone ends up licking the toilet.



"What!?!" we said, as they retold this story through fits of giggles and gagging. "Do you know what you just licked!? Do you know you could get really sick from doing that?! Do you know how GROSS that is!?"



As this all sank in, Bug's face foreshadowed some insight into his toilet licking escapade his Denis the Menace charm and he picked up my cell phone , pretended to dial, and said...



..."Hello, 911? I just licked the toilet...my sister dared me. Please, send an ambulance. Thank you!""



To which, he looked over at us with more mischief than our neighborhood punks the biggest, goofiest grin he could muster, gave us the "eyebrows" and burst into Abs of Steel making laughter.

It's Been Kinda Dry at our House

But boy, oh boy, are we ever glad. It has been a time of celebrations and high-fives, and a time of rest for our washer & dryer. You see, my 5 year old has had difficulty in the wee hours (no pun intended but now that I type it out it is very funny) of the night waking enough to realize he has to go to the bathroom.

We tried every trick we could think of:
-No liquid after 6 (or if he was really thirsty, we limited him to a medicine dropper full - I only kid on that but we would seriously only give him a mouthful or two, if he was very thristy).
That didn't work.

-We tried the let's be cruel and wake our poor boy in the middle of the night to drag his zombie-butt out of bed, somehow manage to steer him to the bathroom and coach him into remembering how to take off his underwear (or where they even go) in his sleepy, half awake, mostly comatos state just so he could go to the bathroom and wake up dry! (Whew! Must take a breath after that run-on sentence).
Guess what? That didn't work either. Most times we just wound up frustrating ourselves and confusing him because after sleeping soundly for 4 hours he understood about as much English as an undiscovered tribe of pigmys (Do you think I am kidding?! Nah uh!) adn I usually had a toilet or a bathroom floor to clean the next day because ones aim is not so good when their eyes are closed and they don't comprehend their native language.

-We tried the "let's make sure he goes to the bathroom just before he goes to bed" route and...
...That didn't work either.

-We tried every possible combination of the above attempts and came up short or, as the case may be, wet. Wet and disappointed and embarassed; well, only Bug did.

For a stretch there the only laundry we were washing was his bedding and it was getting frustrating for all involved - including and especially our handsome, young man who was trying his very best to not have accidents and would pray every night to God to help him.

Our morning routine changed considerably: get him out of wet clothes, wash him up, strip the bed, leave it to air dry, hopefully throw his bedding in the washer right then (if we had the time and if not right after work), spray his dried bed with febreeze, wait for that to dry, make his bed and know that it would start over in less than 12 hours.

We have now had 2 weeks of dryness in our house! Bug is so happy and he is so thankful that God has been helping him to not have any accidents. Every morning he wakes up and joyfully tells us how many days it has been and we all celebrate with him - not because it means less work for us but, because he is so thrilled.

So, when I say our house has been kinda dry, it's a good thing (no Martha Stewart reference implied).