There aren't any plug-in's in Heaven

I just love the things kids say!!

Today Ethan was "playing" Donna's gameboy. She told me that I should let him play it, because it was ok with her. (so sweet to share!!!) Then she said, "he can play it any time he wants to, except up in heaven. There aren't any plug-ins in heaven, right mommy?"


A few minutes later she comes running in to me "Mommy, Ethan is getting leaves on his berry! I haven't ever been able to get leaves before, he is really good." 30 seconds later, "oh, it's a weed! But he is doing really good without knowing to fill the bars all the way! Now he has 2 weeds, and he is doing great at making them grow!" So sweet, to encourage her 1 year old brother to play video games.

New Years Eve

Wow, what a full week we have had!!!

I am looking forward to the next 2 days as nice quiet days. I need to run to the store later (we are down to 2 diapers in the house) but aside from that, we are planning to stay home and let the kids play with their Christmas toys. We want to have some game time too. Chloe loves games, and everytime we are on the road, she asks if we can play a game.

We have had a wonderful full year!!! We have had our highs and our lows, but in the end, we had eachother! God has really blessed our family. Ethan is such a treasure. When Alex is having a hard day, or is in the middle of a breakdown, often just seeing Ethan will help him turn around. He has a deep laugh, that is so infecious you can't help but laugh out loud with him! Last year at this time, I hadn't had more than a 20 minute stretch of sleep in the 3 1/2 months he had been here, but it was so worth it!

Chloe, She is just not herself right now. She is so full of life one minute, then you turn around and she is just exhausted. My prayer for this coming year with her, is that we can get her back. She is sad alot, and has headachs, and tummy achs so much. However, in her good stretches, she has started geting into everything again. So that is a good sign I guess. hehe

Donna, I am happy to say that she is on her way back out of super snot. I don't think we will every be out of it, but it is far better than it was! She is very helpful, and sweet. She wants to do the right thing, and I have not heard one bad thing at school. At Christmas, she was amazing at helping keep the little ones safe! I am very proud of her.

Alex, I will never be able to read anywhere close to the speed he can. And he seems to get faster by the day. He read a 548 page book(not large type) in just over 2 1/2 hours. He started doing book talks this year, and did very good at it. His ELP teacher (tag) is amazing and they get along so well. She always has something good to tell me. One day he had to answer this question: If you could bring back anyone from the past, who would it be? He answered "Moses, because people would have to believe him about God, then they could all be saved". WOW, I am so proud of him!

As for Adam and I, we are just enjoying our kids! I am becoming more patient, and taking more deep breaths. hehe I am also learning to turn to God more, and eat less. I expect that to make huge changes in our family as well. Praise the Lord, He has helped me drop 30 pounds. I am also learning to be more active, and be a more positive person.

Right now, I have to go remind my children that they love eachother.

Have a wonderful evening, and a very Happy New Year!!

Christmas Eve

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve!! Daddy still has to work today, so the kids and I will be doing some house work, and wrap some gifts. Maybe watch a movie and be at church by 3 for the Christmas Eve service. I realy hope Adam can be home from work in time to meet us there before service starts at 5.

Have a great day today, relax and remember the reason for this blessed season!

Fog, fog, and more fog

Last night we took a trip to DesMoines to do some shopping. It was sooo foggy. I went to get the tree(Chloe's gift) at Earl May which is about a mile out of town and I couldn't see more than a few feet. On the way home I couldn't see more than 2 of the white dotted middle lines at a time, and at times I could only see one. eek!

Looks like we are in for more snow today, and Chloe just may get here "noballs" for Christmas afterall!


OH, I have to tell you all about the conversation I had at Earl May. I walk in and start looking around having no idea what I am going to do for a "real tree" for Chloe, because she wants an apple tree. You can't get an apple tree this time of year in Iowa. So I am looking around and I hear a voice from the back, I can't find the person. A minute later I here the same voice say "Can I help you?". Still can't find anyone... I think they were taking a break, but it was kinda creepy. Ok, on to the important part of the story. So, I tell them what I am looking for, a real tree for my 3 year old. I don't want to spend alot, bucause I will be buying an apple tree to replace it in the spring, but it has to be a teal tree. The guy says "well, we sell gift cards" I'm thinking, "yeah, santa is going to leave my 3 year old a gift card". I tell him I don't think it will work for a 3 year old. He says, "sure it will, you can just explain what it is for". Ummmm... no. So then he says, well, you could tape a note to an apple then... ok, if she were 10, that would be great. However, she is 3. So I had to have given him a look of "do you have a clue what you are saying" and said, "She is only 3, I don't think that will work. But thank you, I'll have to think of something else." Then a girl that is much younger steps in with energy and says "I know just the thing!" She walks over and picks up a tiny "Christmas tree" that is about 5 inches tall. Then she goes over to some garland and pickes up some little red balls and says "how about this. You put the red balls on the tree like apples, and they are both on sale, 25% off." Perfect! The little tree is so cute, and if she kills it, it was only $7.

My lesson of the day: Knowing alot about plants, doesn't mean you know squat about kids. hehe

I need to go get ready for our first family Christmas now. Have a blessed and safe day!

I hurt...

On the day Alex was born, I felt that love that every parent feels for the first time. I would have given my life without a second thought for him and I hadn't even held him yet. I didn't even know he was a boy. He was tossed to the NICU doctors to work on him and save his little life. That first cry we got to hear started our hearts again after a very long wait. It seemed like hours. That love hasn't changed. I love him more every day.

I wish that other people could see, that I love him just as much as they love their little ones. What if their precious little child were the one that eveyone thought of as naughty. What if everytime you talk to your child's teacher you were told of what they did wrong. What if at every christmas program your child was passed over for parts, because they are a "naughty" child. Even if your child has an amazing skill at acting and memorizing. What if your child came home from school telling you that everyone at schools calls them stupid, even though they have a very high IQ. What if your child couldn't make friends. What if your child was made fun of by both kids and grown-ups. What if your child had melt downs and they couldn't help it.

What if your precious little angel, was that 1 in 150.

The Storm

We got hit hard by this storm. I want to put into words a bit of what I was feeling yesterday.

It was amazing as I stood in the middle of our yeard. (The only place without trees above us) and listened. I just stood there looking around at the distruction that rain could do. I could hear the rain/sleet coming down. Then every few seconds you could hear ice breaking off of a tree or power line. Every 10-15 seconds you would hear a tree break. The sound was almost eary. It sounded almost like a gun shot followed by the shattering of ice and the lound sound of the tree hitting the ground, followed by all of the ice. Then it would happen again. As I stood there, turning to see the branches as they fell, it really hit me. The amazing power of our God. He made this world, He made every part of it. 10 years agot we were hit by a straight line wind storm that took out alot of trees in town, now this. Natures way of pruning the trees. (I'll add photos later)

I am just in awe of the Power that our Lord has, yet he choose to create each of us. He choose to keep us safe in the storm, he choose to make our branch fall towards the neighbor's house, but not do much damage aside from the fence and the gutters. That is the our Father. He is sooooo big, but he makes time for us, the little. He puts our needs ahead of the trees that have been here for over 100 years.

On a side note, we had alot of fun on our livingroom camp out last night. layers of PJ's, foundue smores, lots of blankets, some candles for heat, lots of family, and extra sleep because we had no light to keep us up. Oh, and the dark. That was so amazing, it is soooo dark at night when you don't have any lights or street lights.

Thank you Lord for showing me all of these wonderful things in this storm! Please keep everyone safe as they work to clean it all up. Be with those who are still without power, keep them warm!

Potatoes

So, today I was picking up the house (trying to find it back after the looooong weekend) and I took a quick break to send Adam an email. I look up just in time to see Ethan running past the with a bag od potatoes trailing behind. The open end is away from him and as he is running, his "load" is getting lighter. Chloe quickly confiscated them from him (thank you Chloe!!) However now I need to add "find potatoes" to my "to do" list. Which is good, because it is only #24. Obviously, I didn't have enough to do. The other things on my list are things like "clean the whole house" "solve world peace" "rearange all the bedrooms in our house". I should be able to get it all done today don't ya think? haha

I also wanted to give everyone an update on Chloe. She hasn't been herself in a few weeks. I did the math, and it started after she hit her head. So, I took her back to the doctor. She has PCS or postconcussive syndrome. It will go away on it's own, but can take from a couple weeks up to years before she is back to normal. For now, if she is tired we have her rest/sleep no matter what we are doing at the time. We try to keep her life stress-free, and we wait and pray. Those are the big ones. So she can really use your prayers! It has been so hard watching her become a totaly different child. (her personality has also changed, she is very moody etc.)I watched this with Alex 7 years ago, so this has been very hard. I know Chloe WILL go back to normal in time, but it is still very hard!

ok, I have to get back to work and get the kids fed. haha Ethan is now in the kitchen, he sees a sippy cup on the counter and he is in his tippy toe and still can't reach it. He is thinking of how he can get it down. He went and got a video tape to help him. haha I have to stop watching and go help the boy.

Have a great day!

Christmas is not so far away

I was just thinking today, that I have to finish one of the big gifts I am making by this weekend, or it will never be here in time. In fact, it may not be in time for our first Christmas as it is. ugggh I planned to make this a few weeks ago, and just never got to it. I wish I had a time without the kids "help" to do it. But it is going to take a couple hours... I guess I know what I am going to be doing in the evenings.

Meetings... How can a sahm have soooo many meetings in the evenings? I have one every night this week, and all of next week also. Then I have to finish memorizing music and lines for the Christmas musical. Why do we do this to ourselves? We have so much "stuff" going on that we don't have time for the fun. Well, this is just depressing me, time to go be joyful as I wash my sink full of dishes and try to finish the laundry and make lunch before I pick the kids up from school and head to the crosswalk for the night.

If you are putting off Christmas gifts, start on them now!!!

My blessings... Chloe is standing on the table in the other room singing "hallelujah, He reigns!". It is one of the girls favorite songs. Oh, and I see Ethan found her popcorn bowl and he is stuffing popcorn in his mouth as fast as he can. He keeps looking in to see if I am coming in to take it away and then he shoves more in.

Teething

Last night, Ethan was sooo grumpy! I took Donna to dance, and Ethan threw a fit the whole time I was gone. He kept going to the door yelling. I get home, and he keeps throwing himself on the floor having tantrums. After 30 minutes of that, I was thinking "get him to bed!" Well he kept crying, but went to sleep rather quickly. Then a couple hours later he woke up screaming again. After we had tried everything we could think of, I just held him while he yelled. That is when I noticed he was chewing on his fingers. I checked that side of his mouth, and sure enough. His molar is almost in and his gums were sooooo swolen and splitting. The poor boy! So we gave him some meds, and let him play for a half an hour, then back to bed. He kept wimpering through the night, but he slept.

Well, it is time for me to try to get a few more minutes of sleep in.

Ethan's eyes

The other day I looked at Ethan and his eyes were not blue. They were a very bright green. It totaly took me for surprise! When Chloe was little, they were blue the first 3 months, then turned black till she was about 6 months when they started to turn green. They were fully green by 9 months. So Ethan's eyes have always been a bright blue. After he turned 1, I noticed they were not as bright, but didn't think much of it. Well, now they are green, not always a strong green, but never a bright blue either. I was just looking at this picture (posting a link so you can see it full size) http://www.cahillplace.com/images/Fall2007/Ethan_escape.JPG In that picture, you can see they are green, not blue. So we have 2 light complected blue eyed kids, and 2 dark complected green eyed kids. It is so fun to watch them change!

Best Christmas gift!

We JUST got the best Christmas gift that we could get. Adam's mom called to set up when we have Christmas. She also said that Asa (Adam's sister) and her family will be here for Christmas this year!!! I was so excited when Adam told me I felt like jumping up and down. Then we told the kids, they are all on top of the world. They were all talking about how old Ava is and how much fun it will be to see her. It will also be the first time for them to meet Ethan. I am soooo excited for him to meet his cousin that is his age. I still can't believe that they will be here! Yeah!!!!!! So we will get to have Christmas with all of our out of state family this year. We just got it worked out that my brother and his family will be back the week before Asa. Have a merry Christmas everyone!!

Back-forward

Sorry, I do so good at the beginning of every month, then do nad at the end.

I have always been the type of person to help kids speak corectly starting out young. I even do with Ethan already. When he says something, I repeat it anounciating it carefully. Chloe started speaking differently about 6 months ago. As soon as she really started to understand what she was saying, she would use words differently. It is so cute! However I have always told her the right word without pushing it to much. (Sorry, long story to get to the cute part)

So Chloe has started saying something, that even I don't corect. I need to, I do now and then, but need to start doing it everytime. When she is watching tv or a DVD and she wants to see a part again she asks us to "back-forward it" It is just so cute the way she says it! "Mommy, I missed part of Little Bill, will you back-forward it for me?" How can you not back-forward it?

Also, on the way home from school, I asked the kids what they think we should get as a gift for the whole family. Without letting me finish, Alex says "a kitten", Donna says "a kitten" and Chloe says "A roller coaster so we can go around and around as a family and Granny and Pa and Grandpa-Pat and Grandma can go with us too."

So, a roller coaster it is! I think we may ahve enough pop cans to turn in for cash so we can get one.

I am very thankful tht Ethan went back down after picking up the kids today!!!(poor boy never gets a full nap in one stretch)
I am also very thankful for my awsome kids!!!

Snow - "finally"

It is snowing today, and I am just amazed at how beautifuly the Lord made our world.

Anyway, I call to Chloe and Reed(my friends 3 year old) to come look out the window and see what was outside. Chloe runs up and says "know!" Then she looks at Reed who is a couple feet away still and says "Look Reed, know outside. Finally" Like she has been waiting years for it to snow. She then asks if we will be able to make "knowangels" today. Awwww, just want I needed to remind me of just how wonderful our Lord truely is. I am not a huge fan of snow, but I think that if we get enough snow, Our whole family is going to have to go out and make "knowangels" in the snow.

Thank you Lord for the fresh white snow that is covering my dirty yard, and thank you for how you make my dirty heart fresh and white just like the snow!

Went to see santa

The thursday before Thanksgiving our town has a big Living Windows on the square. It is an open house to let people know what our town has before Christma, but it has turned into more of a big party. Santa comes in on a fire truck with the lights flashing and the siren blaring. (He came in on a helicopter when I was a kid)

So we went to see him last night. Alex has known for years that santa isn't real, and Donna does also, but she doesn't want to take a chance that he may be real and she didn't tell him what she wants. It was so cute to watch Ethan clap and cheer when he had no clue what was going on. He also spent most of the night singing to the music. I'll post pictures when I get a chance. It was such a good feeling to know that my kids have each picked out 2 things that they want, and that is it. They aren't greedy with a huge long list that they feel they should get. They each picked out 2 things. I didn't prompt them to do that, it is just what they did on their own. Santa was a bit shocked when he heard Chloe's request. lol "know balls and a realy tree." said with a very proud grin. He looked at me like, "is this kid for real" and I repeated it to emphasize it. lol Then after he had talked to Donna and Alex and the kids were walking away, he said "you have a very musical Christmas". Oh, Ehtan is no longer asking for pom-poms, but still says "cars and dad" every time. lol he has no clue, but it is so cute! He will get cars and dad for Christmas. That one is easy.

Today I feel very blessed to have my husband. He has been very good at giving me compliments the last week or so. I haven't even asked him too! I also feel very blessed to have my kidos. They are my world, and keep me on my toes.

Shooting Star

It's 2:00 in the afternoon and I am driving accross town to WalMart with Chloe, Ethan, and my friends little boy Reed. Chloe very excitedly starts yelling, "mom mom can you see that? Can you see the moke for the shooting star? It goes all the way down to the ground and started in the middle of the sky. It is really cool!"

I love how her little mind works!

Chloe

Okay, This is my last blog for today. The last 4 were to get caught up on pictures, this one is to catch up on life.

In the pictures out at the lake, you will see that Ethan has a goos size owie above his left eye. He was in nursery, and fell off a chair and hit his head on the table. He was havign fun coloring before that. They said he didn't cry for more than a couple seconds. He is a tough little guy!!!

Then on Wednesday, we were at the Cross-Walk. I was alone with the kids working on the meal for that night. Chloe was laying accross the back of the couch, and she fell off. She has done that many times, so I felt bad for her, but wasn't worried. She landed with her face straight down. She looked up at me, and I could see it dawn on her that it hurt. She got up and started to come to me. She got about 5 feet and I saw her eyes start to roll around, then she lost her ballance. She leaned to her right, and down she went. I went running over to her, thinking she was going to be crying and she is a breath holder when she cries. She was just laying there all slumped over, so I blew in her face to make her breath and cry, nothing happened. I picked her up to force her to breath because it still freaks me out when she does this... nothing happened, then I noticed that she was floppy. She was unconscious! I sat her down on the table we were by and saying her name, nothing. Then I started to worry, and yelled for Alex and Donna ro pray while I carried her over to the couch and started trying to dial 911, I dropped the phone and couldn't get the number dialed. That is when she moved her head a little.

Long story short, we later took her to the ER where they did lots of test, and a CAT scan. Everything came out good. Praise The Lord!!!!! Thank you Alex and Donna for praying with me for our little Chloe!!! She still isn't back to normal. She is extra tired, and still a bit sore, but doing lots better. (The last 2 days she would only play for 5-10 minutes at a time before she had to rest, also taking 3-4 naps)

So today I am feeling so very very blessed to have my sweet little Chloe!!

Fall leaves

We planned to go to the park for fall leaves pics, but we seem to have missed them by a week, so we headed out to Red Rock.We hiked along a trail and then climbed down a rocky ledge to teh water. It was so beautiful!! Here are 5 pictures. (I can only post five per entry) If you want to see more, check out our website. http://www.cahillplace.com click on the "picture" tab at the top.

This is the kids looking out over the water sitting on the ledge. The wind was blowing the girls hair.

This is yet another pic of Ethan licking something. haha

Chloe, it shows her personality!

Donna, so sweet.

This is great of Alex, he was being so good that day.

Halloween part 1

Lego minifig Alex

Island Princess Donna

Tinkerbelle aka Chloe

Chunky Monkey Ethan

looking at the camera for once, this costume atracted the leaves!

Halloween part 2

The kids Trick-or-Treating Ethan and I are still by the house.

Power Team

We went to see the Power Team in October. They were in town from the 24-28th. They are a group of awsome men with amazing strength. They use their strength to get you to come to the evening crusade. We had 1090 people give their life to Christ before the last night. I was an alter worker and boy, it was wonderful to be a part of God's work in our town!!! Here are a few pics.

Kevin blowing up a hot watter bottle. (The most dangerous thing they do)

John blowing up the water bottle, it is to big for him to get his arm around here.

The girls with John. He was so good with kids!

Craig rolling up a frying pan in each hand. We got one of these to hang up.

"I want to be a mom!"

The Power Team is in town this week. They do school assemblies, and crusades every night. They bend steel bars with their teeth, break stacks of bricks with their elbow, lift telephone poles, break huge blocks of ice etc.

So they were at the Kids school today, I had been asked to go to it and pray during it. At one point they ask the kids what their dreams are, what they want to be after they are out of school. Donna was one of the 8 kids they asked, and she beemed as she said "I want to be a mom!". Wow, what an awsome thing for your child to say, and in front of the whole school like that!!!

Thank you God for the wonderful reminder of what is truely important in life. I feel so very blessed to be the mom today!!!

Dad is home this week **Pictures**

Adam has vacation this week. The kids so love having him home in the mornings. I don't think they have even noticed that it is different for him to be home, they are just glad he is here. Chloe and Ethan both ask for dad most mornings and we have to call him a couple mornings a week because they want to talk to him so bad. Next week will be interesting when he isn't here... For me it has been so nice to have someone to help get the kids off to school, and not all the kids have to get up, and get ready by 7:40. Chloe is sleeping in right now while Adam in taking Alex and Donna to school. It is amazing how much easier it is to get 2 kids ready than it is to get 5 kids ready.

As a reward for reading about my feellings on Adam being home, you get to see some more pics.




I love this one!

anf my very favorite one of the day!

Iowa beach in October?

I have been working around the house most of the day. Adam has today off, so he has been working on sanding and priming the dining room. Poor Chloe just really wants to do something fun as a family with Dad home today. She caught me sitting down and walks over. She swings her hip off to the side in this adorable way, and says "Umm, can we go to the beach?" I have no idea where that idea came from, but it actually sounds like alot of fun if I didn't have to get so much done and Donna to dance tonight.


Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch. It was very late in the season to go, but the kids had alot of fun. Ethan was so cute and wouldn't stop wandering around long enough to get a picture. All the pictures of him, are facing the ground so that he didn't fall as he ran. We do have one super cute one as he licked the stem of a pumpkin. hehe I will have to put them up later tonight or in the morning. I'm back to laundry and dishes...

Tricky Ethan

Ethan has a couple afghans that he got when he was born. They are "blankie" to him and he would have them with him 24 hours a day if we would let him. He loves to use them to play peek-a-boo! He also broke our safty gate a couple months ago. I wasn't home at the time, but I think Adam said he was pulling on it and splintered the wood. (I know these have nothing to do with each other, but you need to know them before I tell you about what happened today.) So now we have a large rubermaid container to block off the stairs. Somehow, Ethan has not figured out how to get over it... He will very soon.

This morning he and I were downstairs, the other 3 kids were upstairs, and Adam was gone. After a while, he got tired of playing with me and went off to play alone. About 10 minutes later, I look over and see him working on the rubbermaid moving it little by little. He had it to the point that he could squeeze through. So he starts to make his move and I tell him to stop. He waits for me to turn away, then goes for it again. This time I say the dreded "no". He curls his lip under and sits back. I kept watching him out of the corner of my eye and he would think about it, get the nerve up and lean forward. He would look over at me, and I would say his name and he would stop. After a couple minutes of this I notice he starts grinning... Well, he may only be one, but he is a smart little thing. He loves to tease me, and I knew that look. I keep watching him, without letting him know I was. He puts blankie over his head, looks at me, then turns and works his way through the gate.

I can't see him when we play peek-a-boo with blankie over his head, so if he puts blankie over his head he can get through the gate without me seeing him.

Adam and I joke often about "only 18 years untill I can have a break" when the kids get into stuff etc. Now I know that when your 1-year-old is trying to out-smart you, it is going to be a very very very long 18 years.

Christmas is coming.

Today on the way home from school, Alex told me he knew what he wanted for Christmas. He told me he wants a microscope. Then Donna told me she really wants a guitar. Then Alex remembered he wants a guitar also. Donna told me she still wants grow with me puppy. So I asked Chloe what she wants, she said "trees that are alive". I asked if she wanted anything else. She said "'yahw', I want 'noballs'(snowballs)so I can juggle". So I asked Ethan, who has been odly quiet for the last 5 minutes, "Ethan, what do you want for Christmas" He pipes right up with "pom pom". I said you want a pom pom? He said "yeah, I want dada...cars!". So I would have to guess that he wants daddy and cars, not so sure what pom pom means in his world yet.

I know Alex has always picked-out his christmas gifts in the summer, but this is the first time that everyone knew right away what they wanted as soon as I asked. It is also by far the earliest I have ever asked. Don't tell the kids, but I already picked out the guitar for Donna this weekend. ;)

He will be missed...

Today I sang at funeral of an amazing man.

Bob Wegter is a huge part of why our Church is what it is today. He was an amazing man of God that always remembered everythign about you and made you feel like you ware talking to a close friend. He could always put a posative twist on anything, and he had a heart for lost lonely and broken people. Our Praise Team was asked to sing at his funeral today. None of our guitar players could get the day off work, and we only have one good acapella song. It is a very upbeat song, but we were told it would be fitting of the celebration of his life. Little did anyone us know that the song revolves around his favorite verse in the bible. God is amazing!

Thank you Lord for bringing Bob into our lives. Thank you for the way that he touched so many of us. Help us to continue the good work that he was doing. Please be with his family, and bring them peace at this time. Thank you so much for your faithfulness Lord!

my Help

I blog often about my "Help" from Chloe. SO I thought I should also tell you about my true help from her. I sat down to atempt to climb Mt. Laundaris, and Donna plops down on the peak of it and folds one pair of her panties and announces she is done folding, but that she isn't moving off so that I can get to the clothes easier... When Chloe heard Donna, she came over and picked up a pair of shorts and took a few steps away and folded it the best she could and brought it to me without a word. I thanked her and she beamed with pride as she picked up a skirt and took it a few steps away again and folded it. She kept doing that untill I took a break to make lunch, and when I stopped, she told me she would help again when Ethan was down for his nap. She will be an amazing housewife once she can pull her creative ness in. She will be more than happy to do the painting, cooking, laundry, cleaning, and she loves to help in the garden and with yard work. She is a great little helper... we just have to find ways to control her "creative" side. hehe

My little chef

I was once again at my desk (I should know by now never to sit at my desk when Chloe is awake!) and I hear something from teh kitchen.Without looking I say "Chloe, what are you doing?" She comes running in to tell me she had added sugar to the crackers, "to make them taste betterer(yes, I spelled that one the way she said it). I know that the "crackers" she is talking about are the bulk sized bag of animal crackers that Adam had opened last night and poured into a tupperware container. So I asked what sugar did you pour in it, knowing that the baking powder is on the counter. She runs to the kitchen and back to me to show me her hand. I can only guess that she touched her hand to the "sugar" to bring some back so I can see it.

So I walk into the kitchen thinking I would have to pour the animal crackers in a strainer and shake them out a bit/ I know there wasn't much baking power, so I'm not to concerned. THAT was a mistake. (Honestly, you would think I could learn by now!) I smelled something, but wasn't sure what it was. She likes to "wash" her hands with hand sanitizer, so I assumed that is what she had done. I got to the cookies, which she had closed the lid to hide her work, and take one out. It looked fine, and I thought maybe we avoided a mess by all of the "sugar" hitting the floor and counter. I thought I would taste it to see how bad it is. It has a very odd flavor... kinda tangy lemony with a clean after taste. Yes, that is honestly what went through my head.... hmmm there has to be more than just "sugar" on these. Yep, sure enough, as soon as I tipped the container so I could see the bottom I see blacck and yellow specks. Lemon Pepper, well that explains the lemon, the baking powder explains the tangy, but what about that odd after taste.... I glance down and the hand sanitizer. I wonder what it would taste like... SO I look closer at the crackers. Sure enough, they have "damp" spots. So I hunt Chloe down (she ran to "watch t.v" aka hide from mom), so Chloe, did you put any of this in the crackers? I see a coy grin... as usual, she is proud of herself... Ugggh

Oh, and for those of you who think she gets away with all this stuff, a quick story that Adam and I chuckle about from time to time. One time Chloe had gotten into something, I don't even remember what it was, and Adam told her that if she did it again he would spank her. So 10 minutes later, she had done something different, but just as naughty. We asked her if she had done it, and she started to cry "I don't want to be spank-ed" she said. 15 minutes later, something different. "Chloe, did you color on the walls?" Again "I don't want to be spank-ed" "I'll take that as a yes then?" hehe the poor girl.

Ethan, why are you making a mess?

I am atempting to get some work done in peace while the kids play in the other room. I hear Chloe say "Ethan! Why are you making such a mess?" I didn't think much of it as he is always into everything. 5 minutes later they come in by me and Chloe tells me she is hiding from Ethan. They play hide and seek often, so I didn't think anything of it. Soon Ethan comes toddeling in with his blankie over his head. I say "where's Ethan" and we play for a couple minutes while I am still working away. I noticed after a couple minutes that he is holding a yougart carton, it is empty... "Chloe, is that your yougart carton?" "No, it is Ethan's." "Chloe, how did Ethan get one?" I asked. "He was trying to get mine, so I got it for him" I don't say anything... So she goes on (with lots of hand motions) "He wanted it, so I got it, and opened it up and sat it down for him" "So, let me get this straight. Ethan wanted yougart, so you got one out of the fridge, opened it and sat it down in front of him while he is sitting in the laundry basket full of freshly washed clothes so that he didn't eat yours?" She just grins at me with a "Aren't I smart" look on her face... what do you even say to that? lol I said "I guess I should go do some more laundry" She says, "he got it on my blankie to, you need to wash it also."

I still chuckle when I think of her asking why he is making a mess right after she hands him a full yougart carton in the laundry with no spoon. Bathtime for Ethan... if it wasn't storming outside.

My new PC desktop

Thanks to http://www.shabbyprincess.com/

Cell phones

Daddy brought home cell phones for the kids last night. They had my 2 old flip phones, and my really old one that is the size of a home phone. However they now have more. Ethan LOVES to "talk" on his. He fights and fights to open it, then puts it to his ear and in this sweet high pitched perfectly clear voice says "Hi!". Then he makes sure someone is watching a grins and giggles.

I moved Ethans car seat last night also. Alex carried him to the van today and stood him on the floor by his seat and Ethan looked at his seat and knew something wasn't right. He looked back and forth between me and it for 30 seconds, then saw his puppy and grabbed it with a huge grin. (the puppy is a tiny littl stuffed McDonalds toy we got a while back. We have 3 of them, and he LOVES them.) I sat him in his seat and he looked up with me with a huge grin. He felt like such a big boy. We played peek-a-boo (his favorite game) in the rearview mirror and he LOVES it. He kept looking up and grinning.

I just put Ethan down for a nap with a bottle (He isn't feeling very good) and have Reed watching Sesame Street, so I have a huge blessing of quiet time! So I am off to spend some time in prayer before tackeling Mt. Laundaris(my clean laundry that needs to be folded)

Deer

Adam sent me a text at 6am from 15 minutes away from home. The Rideshare van hit a deer. Everyone is ok, but I think they may be a little bit late for work today!

For those that are reading this and know that Ethan's party was set for this past Saturday, we had to move it. Donna had a fever of 102-103 and Ethan was just miserable from his alergies. Donna is back to her old self, and I haven't given Ethan any meds in over 24 hours. I guess we will just have to stretch out his birthday.

Today I am so very thankful for the rain in my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU&mode=related&search=

Mercy Me - Bring the Rain

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

I am yours regardless of the clouds that may
loom above because you are much greater than
my pain you who made a way for me suffering
your destiny so tell me whats a little rain

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty
I'm forever singing

everybody singing
Holy holy holy
you are holy
you are holy

Birthday Pictures!

Here is my big 1-year-old on his birthday eating his cake. He was so cute, he looked at us like he was asking if it was ok before he started. Then at the end he gave me a big blue hug!

We went to the Dr. yesterday. After thinning down some from walking and not eating and being sick (thanks to alergies) he weighs 29 pounds and 14 ounces. He is a healthy little boy aside from his alregies. The Dr. and the resident both commented on how strong he is! They checked him for signs of Autisum, and he passed with flying colors! He is walking everywhere and is getting so much more personality.

OH, last night he fell asleep singing about daddy. It was so very sweet!

I posted more pictures if you look at my last blog entry.

Lot's more pictures

An Adventure

We spent our morning running all over getting stuff done. We took Donna and Alex to school, then went to the Dr. for Ethan's one year check.(He is doing great) Then we went to WalMart to pick up some meds for his alergies so we can all sleep better at night. Next we went to Fareway for food to make tonight at the cross-walk. (Hot dog burritos and mac & Cheese) Then off to the school to add money to the kids lunch accounts, and we dropped the food off at the cross-walk. We pull in to the driveway 3 1/2 hours after we left thismorning. Chloe gets out of her seat and comes up to the front and looks me in the eye and says "That was a berry long aventure, wasn't it mommy!" Why can't I see things that way. I am exhausted and thinking of everything I need to get done still and stressed that it took so long, but she reminds me that it was a lang adventure.

I have been telling Adam that I need so badly to get a vacation in, even if it is just for a weekend. However if I changed my way of thinking, everyday could be an adventure, then who would even want a vacation!?!?

I am blessed to have Chloe remind me of the important things in life!

P.S. I will put the pictures up later, they were fun and came out cute!

Big Day!!!!!

So, today Ethan turned one! I have never been one to be sad for the baby days to go. I have always been excited to see what the new stage had in store. I am a bit like that with Ethan...however he is my last little one. It is a bit sad to know I will never have another baby again. So for the first and last time I will say, "My baby turned one today!"

I have been singing to him all day. It's so cute to watch him bop to "Happy Birthday". He started singing it with me now. He will say "happy day" and make up "words" for the rest as he claps along. He picked out fish sticks (as much as a 1 year old can pick out food) for lunch. He is very very tired and getting ready for his big boy nap.

I just don't know how the past year has gone by so fast, but I'm sure the next year will go even faster! I'll put pictures up later. We are planning to do a "photo shoot" later with a blue frosted cupcake. (Thanks Asa for the awsome idea!)

In other big news today, Adam's sister, Alicia, called last night to tell us she is engaged!!! Yeah!!! I am so happy for her! Kory is an amazing guy, and they are so sweet together.

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging well lately. So much cute stuff has been happening, but I just never have time to get on-line anymore. Here I thought life was going to slow down once the kids were back in school.

Well, my little blessings are yelling from the diningroom for more food. SO I will have to try to get back on later with pictures.

Word of the day

Ethan learns words so fast. Most days he learns 1-5 new words.

So, the new word for yesterday was "disgusting" LOL It was soooo funny. He had just eaten and was covered in food. Adam asked who was next for a bath, and I said "Ethan has to be next, he is just disgusting!" to which he looks at daddy and says "disgusting" and giggles. It is so funny to hear him at such a young age talking, but to hear him say something like disgusting is just to funny.

Chloe has been into make-up and nail polish all day. I need a week of being home alone just to find it all and clean it up. Everytime I turn around she has found some different make-up. I caught her putting lipstick on Reed's leg earlier... no idea why lipstick on his leg. She has about 10 different colors of eye shadow on herself.

I haven't been typing in my blessings because I have been in a hurry. I know it's bad, so I am back to my blessings today!!

Today I feel very blessed because my husband has vacation next week!!! Also, when he put in for his vacation, I asked him to put in for the weekend before and after as well. That means he doesn't have to go in to work for 9 full days!!! He told me yesterday that he told them he was not going to answer his phone this weekend either. Yeah!!! I get a full saturday with him!

quiet day...

Today was the first time I have had time alone with just Ethan during the day. Donna and Alex have school from 8-3 and Chloe has school from 8:30-11. I didn't have Reed, so it was just me and Ethan. I made some phone calls and got a few little things done while playing with E. Then after I put him down for his nap, I looked around that house at all the work I needed to be doing... and I did nothing! It was amazing!!!! I just sat on the couch and watched a few things on the DVR (it was 98% full and had about 6 hours of stuff to record today)while I checked out a few things on-line. That was it. For a full hour, that is all I did... My house is still a pit, however I feel so much less stress!

Now I need to get to work and try to get the house pulled together. Adam has vacation next week so we can try to get the den cleaned out and the wallpapper stripped off. Then the next week is Ethan's birthday party. I think I'm going to go wash some laundry and hang it out on the clothes line. It is a beautiful day!

My little artest strikes again.

The pink chair is now green... It seems that when I told Chloe that she couldn't use the paint ever without mom or dad, she took it as the pink paint, not all paint. So she used 2 different green paints and the fabric stay. This time she didn't get as much on her clothes, and she didn't paint the door, or handprint wall paper. However she did find the baby powder and pour it all over the floor. I'm not even going to go into details about the children's Tylonal and Children's Motrin.

Today Ethan and I were playing Peek-a-Boo, and he started saying "I see you". I have a feeling that a year from now Adam and I aren't going to be able to get a word in at all.

Chloe was in the bathroom, which I should have taken as a sign.... but I didn't. When she came out the whole house had a "stench" with it. It seems that she found my perfum, all of my perfume and used it, ALL.

We will see if I can get the house picked-up a bit so that I can fold laundry this afternoon.

pink chair...

So, I was trying to get everything done. I have more work to do in the next 24 hours than I really want to think about. I have an appintment at Alex's school in an hour and I have to pick kids up at 2 different school between 3 and 3:15. Needless to say, my head wasn't in the game. Chloe has been very good the last couple days, so I had let my guard down. BIG mistake. I got Ethan up from his nap so he could eat before we go get the kids (He fell asleep right before lunch) and as I walk into the dinningroom I smell paint. Yep, she got to one of our dinningoom chairs, the seat is now pink. I had to make a judgment call. It was try to save the chair, or save everything else... so we will be sitting on a pink chair for meals now. I did get the table and the finger prints off the other chair. I got the bathroom cleaned up and the clothes in the wash (why was she not wearing pink today of all days?) and I got her in the bath. Now to finish feeding Ethan and get eveyone out the door...


Adam, I posted this as a warning for you... I'm sorry. I hope you like pink. It honestly isn't that bad.... or maybe I am just telling myself that. Maybe I will let each of the kids pick some paint and they can each paint a chair. They would "match" that way!

Ethan - big man!

This weekend, my brother and his family came down. Our kids had so much fun playing and it was wonderful to get to spend time with them. While they were down here, my parents took our 3 oldest kids twice. Ethan LOVED it! He needed that alone time more than we knew. He is still a different boy! He started to walk more after Saturday evening. Adam and I played with him for a good hour straight. We had him walk back and forth between us, and just did what he wanted. Sunday night we had our big waterfight(Adam got out our spotlight so they could keep playing after dark). Ethan was inside entertaining the grown-ups. They taught him to say chip. He says it with a spit for the "ch". After we ate, all of the kids except Ethan went to sleep at Garnny's house. Ethan again got time alone with mom and dad. He was all over, showing such confidence, and kept coming to me to lean his head against me. (He NEVER gives me hugs!)

On Monday evening. We were setting the table, and Ethan followed Adam into the bathroom. Adam came out, but Ethan didn't. I went to the door and called "Ethan, where are you?" He said "I'm comming". I said "You're comming?" he said "yeah" as he walked out the door(holding onto the wall). It was sooo sweet. He has grown up so much this weekend. He talks some from time to time, but normaly doesn't. It was fun to hear how much he can talk when he wants to and has the chance to.

Handprints on the glass

After we dropped Donna and Alex off at school, we went to the church. I needed to talk help get our Food Bank order ready. As usual Bruce handed Chloe and Reed a nice big handfull of candy, no joke. The candy he had were "stampers". It is a stamp that you lick the end to make the "ink" wet, then you can stamp the picture on whatever you want. So Bruce tells them to stamp their face etc. Chloe was actually kinda neat about it (If you can call a dragon on your forhead neat), but Reed was just a big blue dripping ball by the time we left. Of course they each picked the blue one to start with.

Oh, did I mention that Chloe had used lipstick (no idea why it was in the van) as lotion and had it all over her body when we got there? She even had a chunk, yes a chunk of it in her hair. So when I got done with the list, we got ready to go. I stopped to talk to George for a minute and Chloe and Reed went out the first set of doors. They were quiet and Ethan kept laughing at them, so I let them stay there. Chloe would back away from the window, then run up to Ethan and he would slap the glass and laugh and laugh. After a couple minutes, I noticed that we had many lipstick handprints all over the glass from Chloe. Reed was leaving sticky blue candy handprints, and Ethan had spit/drool prints he had smeared all over the door. The price I pay to talk to someone. (I wish I could add smileys, I would add a grin here)

I grabed some windex and cleaned the glass doors before leaving, but they had to keep hitting the door to make new handprints. As I cleaned one spot, one of them was on the other side of the other door. Next time I will rememeber to bring windex wipes and wipe it as we are walking out into the parking lot. I think it took me about 5 minute just to wipe down the 2 glass doors. I really need to remember to send a thank you to the Peterson's for all the work they do cleaning!

So we get in the van and Chloe says "Do we have to go home? I like it there, or even we could go to Donalds. I have a money back here."(yes she said A money) Nice try, but I don't think a single penny is going to pay for "donalds".

We get home and Chloe has a pocket full of candy stamps that I forgot about. So as I am typing this, I just look in and see her sitting on the floor covering her legs and any uncovered skin with more stamps. I better go save Ethan before he gets into the stamps.

Today I feel blessed by being able to enjoy my youngest 2 kids.
Oh, and I am really feeling blessed that Adam mowed last night!!! I came out and finished up the mowing while he did some other yard work.

click click click

Ethan learned how to click his tongue. He does it all the time. He does it when he is bored, when he is happy, when he is mad, when he is screaming, when he is blabbering, when he is eating. It doesn't matter what he is doing, he clicks along with it. I didn't know it was possible to click your tongue while yelling. However he does it.

It's so cute! (for now) He is grunting and clicking right now. I thought it was someone else clicking, but it is him. hehe

Breakfast....

Alex has strep I think(it is going around the school)or something like it, and he didn't get his meds last night. The 2 together would not have been fair to send him to school. I don't think he got more than an hour of sleep last night. So he stayed home, and today is the last day before Donna is going everyday. So I have all the kids home today. Alex has been in bed all day sleeping, poor boy.

So I make frozen waffles for the girls. They asked if they could do it alone. I thought about it, and let them. (I know, what was I thinking!?!?!?) Well, they made some for me and Ethan also. He was just waking up and very happy to get breakfast in bed! Oddly, my kids aren't big fans of syrup on the frozen ones. I think they just love being able to eat infront of the TV. Anyway, they do great, and ask if they can have more. So they go open a new box and make more. (I assumed they would make 2 more, but instead they made 8 more. They ended up eating them all though.) So they bring in more on a platter. I should have known something was up, but I didn't. They brought me one, and insisted I eat it. So I take it off the plate and smell something different. They had used garlic pepper seasoning salt like it was suryp. mmmm mmm blueberry frozen waffle covered in garlic pepper seasoning salt! Chloe was so proud as she told me how she had "fixed" it. Donna told me thay had a little to much, so they had shaken it off of them onto the plate. I'm scared to see if we have any left in the brand new jar. Just so you all know, I did eat it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My guess is the pride on the girls faces, took the flavor away. Ethan didn't eat that one though. He threw it at me and laughed.

My headache isn't going away. It is some better, but I still have a stabbing feeling every so often. Chloe is back to normal, and I am not reminding her that she had to miss orientation last night. 2 of her friends from last year are in her class again, and someone I have known for years is her new teacher. I think she is going to have a great year! She is soooo ready to learn.

I want to tell Smiling Moon, that I have no idea who you are. Every time I read a comment from you I think I know... then I think of someone else. I am seeing the comments, just perplexed on who you are. Keep up the comments, I love to read them, and hope it will give you away as well!

Well, God is talking to me today, I am just a bit weary of if all I am hearing is from God, or if some of it is from my own head. I am not telling anyone what I feel God telling me, then if someone says anything I will know it is confermation from God.

Today I am feeling soooo very blessed that it is Donna's last day home!!! She has lost her inside voice, her tact and her love for her sister. She also seems to have forgotten who the mom is. If she wasn't back in school tomorrow I think I would send her to work with Adam!
I am also feeling very blessed to have the meds for Alex. I am not glad that he missed it, but missing a pill made me see just how much it helps! I am just amazed at how much one dose matters!

School Pictures

I'm back home!

I got home on Sunday night. The kids were at my parents, so I went over to tell everyone hi. I walked in and Donna said "Mom!", then they were all back to what they were doing. I tried to give Ethan a hug, and he turned away from me and put his hand in my face. I'm glad they didn't miss me to bad hehe.

So many cute things have happened and I have so little brain space to remember them! I woke up with a migraine yesterday, and I still have it. Let me see if I can remember any of the extra cute things they have done...

Yesterday when I felt so awful, I was laying on the couch. Donna got some craft stuff out, and put it on the coffee table, and put a chair between me and the table. Then Chloe did the same thing. They sat there for 2 hours being very quiet working on their craft stuff while I dozed. (Ethan was napping) Every now and then, Chloe would put her blanket beside me and lean her head against me. It was so very sweet. They didn't even make much of a mess, Donna had gotten her small trash can and sat it between the 2 of them so they could throw away their "mistakes" as they went.

Well, I am not remembering much right now, so I will talk a bit about my trip.
I had an amazing time, and really felt that we were being used by God. (I am sure my migraine is satan attacking me as a result) We walked the streets talking and praying with people on the streets on friday evening. On Saturday we went to a corectional facility, then we went to a homeless shelter. I fell in love with a little 2 year old named Caleb. He had a 5 year old brother Jaden. These boys just broke my heart, they were so sweet. They reminded me of my own kids and just how innocent these homeless children are. It really hit home. I wanted so badly to just take them home with me.
Next we went to a food pantry to hand out food for 4 hours. I have to comend people that work at food banks(especially the ones in an inner city!), that is HARD work! Those boxes are heavy, and then once you are done you have to clean everything up to get ready for the next day.
We went on a prayer walk that was done differently than I had in the past. It was a wonderful experiance. We were encouraged to look inside the windows as we walked
Then we met the creater of Abide ministries. He has been open to hearing what God wants him to do and has been so very blessed becouse of it.
On sunday we went to a church for homeless people.(When we walked up to it, the first thing I saw was a man in his "sunday best" with a watch on his arm. He looked so proud, when I looked at the watch, it was missing the face and clock works. It had an open whole where the face of the clock had been.) They each get a hot meal and bag of food after the service. God was really speaking to many of us there. It was awsome to talk to these people that have so very little and hear how happy they are. When they praise God, they open themself up and give Him everything. After the service, we handed out food. I am still in awe of how they dressed up the best that they could for Jesus, and we so often just put on whatever is the most comfortable...
Then we headed off to Salem Baptist Church. I think we may have been the only white people in the church. It was fun to see all of the beautiful clothes they wear there with the matching shoes etc. Also, the music was AMAZING!!!!
I think it was a great eye opener to us on how we are as a church. The 2 churches were night and day different yet so full of the spirit, I feel that our church is in the middle of the 2.

I am still just in awe of everything I got to experiance this weekend. I can't wait to see how God uses this event to change our lives and the community of Knoxville.

Oh, and I'm sorry I haven't gotten the pics up yet. I'll do that now as long as our internet doesn't drop.

The people that live at WalMart...

Sorry it has been another week. ugggh I keep making plans to get on here, but never get logged in before something comes up.

So, last night Chloe ripped a box that Donna's Disney Princess markers had come in. She was very frusterated, but took it well. About 5 minutes later Donna walks into the room and says "Mom, you know those ppeople that live at WalMart?" I said"You mean the people that work at WalMart?" She just looks at me. Then "Do you think those people that live at Wal MArt could give me a new box if I asked them, I don't need the markers, just to box. So we shouldn't have to pay money for it" "Donna, Those people just work at WalMart like daddy works in DesMoines, They have homes that they live in, just like daddy lives here with us. But he goes to work everyday. The people at WalMart are the same way. They work there, but go home to their families at the end of their day. Also, we may be able to buy you a new box of markers if I can find one, (I think we only have 2 of the 8 left anyway) but we can't have just to box hon." She stood there looking at me like I was nuts for a minute. Then rolled her eyes and stormed off.

Later I asked Chloe to help pick something up. She didn't want to help, she kept playing while everyone else pick-up. I called her in, so I could talk to her. She comes in the room full of additude and puts her hand up infront of her and says "Noone can talk to me, and I will not listen" put her hand on her hip and sauntered off.

Ethan has started walking. He is getting into everything and has started to fight back when his siblings try to make him do stuff. We were at WalMart and in the check-out line. We were in a hurry (I know, shocking) and I was trying to get everything up on the counter so we could get checked out. Donna kept picking at Ethan and holding his hand still. He finaly got fed up with her and chewed her out! It was so cute, if only it hadn't been loud enough for Adam to hear from home. lol

Well, I better go, it seems that the girls left cookies in Ethans reach and he is "leaving a trail" everywhere he goes.



Today I am very thankful for another school year!! (don't judge me untill you are home with my 4 kids everyday alone for a summer, ending the summer with 2 more boys as well)

I am very thankful for Alex's teacher! She is working hard to help Alex and make school work for him, while not calling attention to his special needs. I am loving her so far.

I am thankful for time alone with Ethan. We kept him up after the other kids went to bed a couple days ago. He is such a fun little boy when he can be.

P.S. I'll try to get pictures posted later of Donna and Alex on the first day of school.

Chloe, Chloe, Chloe....

This is going to have to be fast, I need to leave the house in 10 minutes for Casting Crowns, and I'm not ready yet.

Chloe has hit a stage that is driving me nuts! She gets into everything! You hear people say that they are having a day so bad they should hae stayed in bed... If I did that, I would have no home left!

Today when I got up, I found the bill for our home owners insurance cut into shreds so tiny we will never find them all with a pair of infant nail sissors. While I was cleaning that up, she found my only good lipstick and colored our 40's green sink with it. (the sink looked better that color...but my lipstick was gone). She broke Donna's pearl necklace, at some point, and while I was in the shower she tried to change the vacuum bag. It was the last bag we had till Adam got paid, and she tore it while taking it out of the vacuum. So I had to empty it and try to make it fit back in with very damp clean hands from the shower.... I am sure glad I love her so much!


Today I am very blessed to get to go see Casting Crowns at the state Fair with 6 of our best friends!
Also, we finaly got Alex's medication straightened out and I can pick it up in the morning. It sounds like it should kick in fast also, so he will hopefully feel it by the time school starts Wednesday.


Again, sorry I haven't been blogging. It seems that when I take time for this, Chloe tears the house apart.

Been busy the last week

I spent the weekend scrapbooking. Adam took off Friday so that I could go to a 2 day retreat. (I have another one in september) It was nice that when I came home and saw the big mess I needed to clean up(not that our house is always clean when I'm home!), Adam told me I needed to get a Full time job. My heart dropped and I had no idea what to say... Then he told me "There is no way I can let you deal with this every day!"



We almost have Alex's room ready to move his desk up. We need to find some spare cash so we can buy him a new bookshelf. I want to get him one that has room for some of his toys on it also. He is to old for a toy box. As soon as we get his desk moved, I can strip the wallpapper off that wall in the den. I have been talking about doing this for so long, I am not sure it will really ever happen. However We are planning to move his desk tonight! If we do, I want to have the wallpapper off that wall, and the wall scrubbed tomorrow.



As for today, I am running around after Ethan who is learning that he can get into about anything he wants.
and a full bottle of Dawn sitting on my window sill. (Chloe did the dishes for me a couple weeks ago the day after I bought a new bottle... I didn't have a drop left in the bottle when she was done. Of course I did 3 loads after that using the "water" left in the "clean" dishes. hehe)

What does this say?

Chloe asked me last week if we could buy some abc soup. Today I made it for lunch. As I was feeding Ethan, trying to make up words out of the letters the girls were finding, and working with Donna on letter recognition, Chloe gets up and walks over to me. She holds her hand out and says "what letter is this momy?" I look down at it and it is a potato. I look at her and say "That is a potato, babe" She goes back to her seat and brings me a different piece of potato. "What does this one say mom?" I'm still not sure if she was teasing me, or wanted to know what shape her potato was in. After that she finished eating in silance and asked to be "scused" then walked in and sat on the couch watching the blank tv while everyone else finished.

Today I want to share a bit about how God is working in my life. I have no idea where this will lead, but God has brought 2 friends into my life. We have spent that last couple weeks praying together on wednesday evenings. Last week we all really felt God tell us to do something. We are now on a path that we don't know where it is leading. God knows, and we are trusting in Him. I am excited to see where God will lead us, but know I need to be careful and wait for His leading now. God is so good!

Ethan could use your prayers. It seems that his alergies are acting up again.

Chloe met a firefighter today.

I had just gotten home and was trying to get some laundry started. The girls wanted me to read to them, and my mom wanted to make meal plans with us. My Dad wasn't answering the phone, so I asked Alex to walk over and ask him to call me. About 5 minutes after Alex came home, Chloe walks in and tells me the man needs to talk to me. I looked at her and said, "what man, is someone at the door?" She says "yep" and walks off like it was no big deal. So I head to the door. I got into the next room and hear the doorbell ring followed by pounding on the door, then the bell rang again before I could get there. I was very annoyed by that, so I open the inside door and ask if I can help him. Then I notice he has a police/firefighter hand radio in his hand and he is talking on it.

It seems that Chloe folloew Alex out the door(he never closes the door). She wanted to go to see Pa also. Alex met her, and told her to come back home and left her on the sidewalk. Well, this off duty fireman saw her walking alone. He called another fireman and then they called the cops. A few of other people also stoped to help. Chloe told me he told her "Go get your mommy and bring her to me". So she turned around, came home and told me that the man wanted to talk to me.

So back to when I go to the door. I look out and see a truck in our driveway, a van infront of the house, a car in the street across from us, as well as about 5 more on the street. Then the cop pulls up.... I had to explain to each car of people that she was my daughter and that she must have slipped out to go to my parents house. ugggh the look I got from some of the people. The cop seemed the most understanding. But now half the town knows that my child was just walking around by herself.

The thing about a small town, everyone cares and wants to take care of the small child walking alone down the street. The bad thing is, they all feel they have a right to tell me how they feel about that.

I feel very blessed today that God kept her safe when she crossed the street. I am thankful that someone safe found her and brought her home. I am thankful that she didn't have a clue that she should have been scared, but that after we talked she could understand without being scared.

Ouch

Today Chloe was watching a movie, and went to lay down on the floor. She hit her head on the coffee table very hard. When I got to her to check it only 30 seconds after it happened, she had a HUGE bump. It is side to side 3 inches long by 1 inch up and down and is sticking out a good inch. The poor girl even sat still with ice on it watching tv for 2 hours after it. That is something that just doesn't happen with her.

Today I feel so blessed, Ethan wanted to cuddle!! He NEVER wants to cuddle with me. He fell asleep in my arms, which was so very sweet. I really needed that reminder of how much God loves us and is there for us. We can always cuddle up in God's arms to rest in peace.

No cute stories today

Just an update on our weekend. We have had lots of techs come out to work on our cable internet, but they can't find the problem. So today a line tech was supposed to come. He hasn't made it yet. Anyway, our internet is still hit or miss. More misses at times than hits.

Friday was my birthday, we changed all our plans to wait for the cable tech... My mom did come over and fold laundry with the girls. That was wonderful! When you fold laundry with the girls, you end up refolding alot.

Saturday was Omega's game day (paintball team). One of the guys brought his church youth group. It was a beautiful day for paintball. After that we went to Ames to visit Adam's grandpa in the hospital. We also got to spend a little time with his aunt Angelia.

Sunday, Adam planned to go into work right after church, but he ended up not having to. So we had a bit of a lazy day. It was much needed after all the late nights the last few days.

So far today, nothing big has happened. I wanted to go to DesMoines to get some stuff from Target, but I think I will do it later this week instead.

Today I feel blessed by time with the kids. Right now Chloe is sitting with me and we are under the blankets and cozy.

To Girly For Me

(This is Thursday's blog. As soon as I tried to post it our internet went down again, and I couldn't keep it up long enough to post after that)

For some reason, we go through clothes faster than a super modle on the runway. So today I tell the girls to go outside and as usual, they have to change clothes first. Donna gets ready and heads out, Alex comes down stairs after getting dressed, and Chloe needs help getting on some new panties. So I find some for her. They are a pair that were Donna's and we are transitioning over to Chloe. She looks at them and says "no way, those are to girrrrly for me to wear." I say, "well, aren't you a girl?" She said "No, I is a Chloe Irene!"

County Fair

Tomorrow is the last day of the Marion County Fair. This is also our last fair in probably 18 years that we don't have anyone in our family showing anything. So we went to watch some of the swine show (a must every year) and do a final walk around all the stuff. Of course I forgot the camera, I could have gotten some priceless shots. Now that I am thinking about it, the camera was in the van the whole time.

We started out by having lunch. One of the local churches was serving a spaghetti meal, with bars and brownies larger than my hand. With it being the fair, I let Chloe skip the spaghetti and go straight to her cookie bar. A mistake that I don't seem to ever learn from. She was telling me how hungry she was 30 minutes later...however she may have just been wanting to get the ice cream now that I think about it. We watched some of the swine show, where Donna asked me lots of details about how the kids learn to make the pigs go where they want to, "especially that little boy". She points to a young man shorter than she is. Kids never pick the easy times to ask these questions, so I explained a little bit to her about "little people" aka dwarfs. Then we went on to check out the open class and 4-H exibits, try to get some ideas for next year.

We had the most important part of our trip to go. Picking up cotton candy for daddy. Every year when we go to the fair daddy asks as we walk in the door "did you bring me any cotton candy?" so last night he gave Donna some money to buy him some cotton candy. She holds up her "dollar" ($5 bill) to the man and said, "I need to buy my daddy some cotton candy!" We could get 2, so instead of fighting over which color to buy we got him one of each. They were also selling ice cream bars, and the kids were very good about not begging so I asked them if they wanted to get one. You would have thought I told them santa was coming twice this year they were so excited. Chloe needed spiderman with gumball eyes, Alex would take one of those also, and Donna wanted that push-up thing. The lady at the stand came out of the trailor to talk to me and told me that she was so impressed at how well behaved the kids all were. She said she had been watching them, and after that week she could tell when a child was well behaved and she wanted me to know that they were perfect.

As I looked down at my 4 kids:
Alex who was trying to find a way to throw the gumballs away without me seeing
Donna struggeling to get her push-up to push up
Chloe with this red and blue mix running down her arms (it's 92 degrees with 75% humidity)
Ethan sound asleep with a mix of food, spit, and drool all over him
And I feel so very blessed to have my 4 wonderful rag-a-muffins!

I did learn today however that my kids need to have push-ups more often! Those were the big thing when I was a kid, and Donna couldn't figure her's out. I also learned that my kids are better behaved than I think they are, and that God can use a food vendor to help me see that. Oh, and that if I take the kids out in the hear and wear them out, they will come home and watch a movie quietly!

Blessings:
I am blessed with a van to drive my kids to the fair. 2 years ago I had to walk and have Adam pick us up when he got home.

Another library day

We are getting ready to go to the library for "make your own monster story day" for Alex. He read 3 books in less than 20 hours. The shortest one was 150 pages. I need to start having him read to me! I am such a slow reader. The girls each "read" 2 books last night also(thanks dad!!!). And Ethan was beside them, so I am going to say it counted for him also. Reading to him is fun, he wants to eat the book, not listen to it.

Ethan got another unplanned bath today. Adam thinks that He is going to learn that if he has a dirty diaper and makes a mess, he will get a bath. I sure hope not! He is sooooo happy as always. I feel so very blessed to have him. Aside from nights(and diapers) he is the perfect baby. I'm guessing I will pay for it once he can walk.

Today I feel blessed in so many ways. I feel this peace inside as so much is going on around me. I feel very blessed that God has given me Christian friends that I can look to in the hard times. I am so very thankful for answered prayer. I feel that I am in the midst of having a long time prayer answered in an unexpected way. As I reread this... I realised I am watching 2 long time prayers being answered. God is so good! And the best blessing of all, I am able to see these blessings.

My first blog

I have been thinking about how to be able to update people on our life, and this just kinda came to me today. Actaully I opened the freezer door to get some ice and found a pencil in the ice tray. lol I just thought "If I had a blog, I would title my day "pencil in the ice tray" so I came over and signed up.



We had the normal day, everyone fought most of the morning. When they weren't fighting, they were loving eachother like crazy. After luch we got ready to go to the library. It was Alex's day to "Read to King" King is a sweet lovable dog that loves kids. Once a week, they have kids read to him. As we were walking out the door, Ethan did the normal fill the diaper trick. So we finaly get in the van, and he spits up all over. As he does EVERYtime we fasten him in his seatbelt.



We got to the library, and Alex read to King. We picked out our books, then it was time to get Donna her own library card! She is old enough, now that she is 5 and she is proud! I wish I had brought the camera to take a pic of her signing her card. (Oh, and Ethan figured out how to climb the full flight of stairs while we were filling out the paper work)



Once we got everyone settled down infront of a new movie (checked it out at the library) and Ethan down for his nap after yet another diaper and clothes change, I went to get a drink. I opened the freezer, and there was the pencil. lol the thing was, I didn't even find it odd that it was there. Such is life with 4 children.

Shannen



My blessings:

I want to try to always say at least one blessing every time I post here.

I am so very blessed to have my 4 children! After talking with friends last night that are done after 2 children, I feel very blessed that God gave us 4 amazing children!

Also my husband. Adam is an amazing man, and I love him more every day.