Blessed 2b Home

oh, well we are finally here, Houston that is. It took us so long to get here. Poor Jo got car sick and threw up all the way here. We stopped and got him some med. but it was too late, didnt do any good. But we finally made it. Safe and sound. Jo is fine now, of course wanting to eat all the time cause he went a whole day without food, poor guy.

I am tired but excitted about the 5k tomorrow. I am not very positive about running it in a good time or anything. But its like Angell keeps telling me. This is a starting point, and plus, how many people do we know that would be up at 630 on a Sat. morning to RUN a race? So possitive positive attitude. I will be extreemly happy if I get in under 45 min. of course I will be walking parts of it.

OK.. are you sitting down? I have some excitting news! We are getting a PUPPY! I am soo excitted. I have wanted one for soooo long and now we are going to get one! (thanks Melissa!) Of course its is all because Daddy said "YES" .. I know he had a moment of weakness.. :) not really. Anyway.. the puppy is a Girl, a Carin Terrier, I am pretty sure we are naming her Ginger. I wanted something a little more fun, but Ginger is what the kids are leaning towards. I was thinking something like Martha, or Ethal, something funny and old fashioned. I would love any ideas you might have.
So right there is a link to a site about cairn terriers, I dont know if I did it correctly so heres to giving it a try!

Well I am off. (I know most of you are thinking, yes Ruth you are) .. but I mean off to get ready to help decorate for a wedding. Fun!

b2bh in houston!

ok, so I know I procrastinate about the laundry. Well.. I say I procrastinate but its more like a disdain for the washer and dryer and oh all that folding ug.. .. When life gets busy around here I always let the laundry slide, its a issue I know and I try sooo hard to keep up and not get "over loaded" (hehe) .. (wash out here come the puns,, sorry to bore you with my dryer since of humor :), but I know you will be "under..stained.. ing" .. .. oh I could go on and on.. but I will save you from the rest)... ANYWAY....
Last week I did probably 12 loads of laundry and I had yet to find time to get it folded and put away. .. long story short.. we water the yard a few nights ago and forgot our windows were open in our bedroom,, and yes you guessed it.. water through the window and all over the clean clothes.. so .. back to the laundry room they went.. ugh..
OH.. but the good news is..... (drum roll please).... the carpet was hardly even wet... so ladies,, never fret over piles of clean clothes... someday they will find a way to brighten your day :)


.. So now for the dr update.. my wrist.. well the doc said something wrong with the tendon closest to the bone.. two weeks in a splint (which is driving me crazy most of the time..) .. the blood work tests came back and I am perfectly healthy.. which is good news except I am tired and my hair is falling out.. I guess I am just getting old.. I will work on my sleep schedule.,. but not tonight :)

oh.. now for why you really came to my blog..

Nate, as I was sweeping the floor, he picked up a penny and said.. "oh we dont want to throw that away" ..
I said oh .. "no we dont"..
and then he said " but we could caues money is evil!"
I said "what.. money is evil? why do you say that?" ..
he said "cause God says to love him more than money and if you love money and not him, that is evil."..
OH wow! .. I then explained that was true but money wasnt evil.. the LOVE of money was.. " (not bad for a 4 year old)

All three kids have really enjoyed the water guns we bought at the dollar store a few days ago. Its amazing how much fun those things can be. (my flowers got a good watering too)

on the garden front.. we have 30 tomatoes planted, with marigolds beside them, and hopefully in the morning we can get the green beans in the ground, pumpkins, cantaloupe too... :) I also have sunflowers to plant on the side of the house and Morning glories for the front.. I hope they all grow!

oh.. and the momma robin still has three babies, although she fusses at us when we get close.... so I am hoping when they get a bit bigger I can snap a photo. Last I looked they had doubled in size. AMAZING!

I guess I should get off the computer and get ready for bed, OH I ran today for the first time in a week.. I did pretty well, the 5k is this Sat. I know I wont set any world records but at least I am running.. right! If I finish under 40 min I will be very happy,,, esp since I havent run but twice in the last two weeks. I figure I could just imagine some huge monster chasing me, or some crazy person, or.. hey.. yeah I got it.. a huge pile of clean clothes tumbling after me! thats it.. I will run as fast as I can to keep from having to fold those things! (hehe)

b2bh

Well.. we have three baby birds next door and a crack in the fourth! I have taken pics but need to have the time to post them.. I tell you what those babies are bald as can be.

I have almost recovered from the garage sale but I have still lots of organizing to do.. I guess that will be that way for the rest of my life.

We really enjoyed having Nanny and PawPaw come for a visit. The kids loved gettin a little spoiling done to them again! :) ..

I am just back from a little homeschool meeting we have once a month.. just a few homeschool moms tonight we visited about the a writing program that some of the ladies use.. It looked really good.. and of course it is just fun to visit.

I came home to some tired kids. All the friends came over and played so they are pooped out. Nathan came in and sat down behind me, looking at a book. He asked me a question, I answered it, then asked him another question.. he didn't answer.. looked back and he was fast asleep on the floor beside his book.

I finally went to the doctor today about my being soooo tired all the time and my hair falling out. I got blood work done. I am interested to see what it says.
I will also go to the doctor in the morning for my wrist.. I have no idea what I did to it, only thing I can think is I hurt it shaking down a thermometer. That happened 5 weeks ago.. who knows.. but it will be nice to know whether I will be this way the rest of my life or just for a few more weeks.

UPDATE on the birds... WE now have 4 bald as can be robin babies! The kids were sooo excited.. I will take photos tomorrow and try to post this weekend.

Funny Question:
Yesterday at HEB I had the checkout lady say : "oh.. you have your hands full!" .. speaking about the kids.. I had all three with me.. and of course they were just a joy to go to the store with.. REALLY!
I just thought it was "funny" cause my kids were behaving so well and she made that statement like it was just a chore to be around them. Now I am not saying that every once in a while it isn't work.. but the majority of the time, these days, the kids are a JOY to be around.
I just looked at my kids and smiled, looked at her and said.. something to the effect of: " Well, these kidos are so fun to be around and great helpers!" she looked at me and didnt know what to say..
I just wanted to say to her.. (over to the side of course.. privately)... " I dont what my kids to think they are a burden, and that I think I have my "hands full" .. I want my kids to always know.. like my mom said to me all the time growing up "I am sure glad I got ya!" .. I LOVE being around you and you are important to me!"

(all those years of training are showing their value these days... little rules.. like.. "we dont say.. "Momma buy me this, can we get that", nope.. not doing that.. we are getting what we need and getting home" and " we dont pick stuff up off the shelf.. we look with our eyes not our hands" .. and " walk beside me or hands on the cart,, in other words stay close" .. OH.. I COULD go on and on but I won't)

Life it so short, enjoy your kids! Every moment is a teachable moment!

"....and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up...."

b2bh

OH what a exhausting but fun last four days. Our garage sale was Friday and Sat and we sold lots of stuff, but of course still have lots of stuff left. Anyone interested in a console stereo cabinet from the 1970s? how bout a buffet chest from the 1980s? ... well no one here wants it either. hum.. what to do..

Yesterday was sweet Nates 4 year birthday! I cant believe my baby is growing so fast! :(.. We had a family get together and enjoyed homemade cake and blue bell ice cream.. he was thrilled with his legos and a remote control car.. Daddy got him a little game that hooks up to the TV, plays Miss pacman, galaxia, and others from when we were little.. I am sure by now he his better at it than I am .. AH.. all those hours at the local 7-11 didn't help me much .. but it is great fun.

Cousin C is here visiting and the kids LOVE it when he is here.. they have dug a hole almost to china in the back yard (Jessica, you and Joel can just go that route instead of paying for airplane tickets :)....

This morning K, T, and K got to come over and play, The kids had a great time with them here and it was nice that finally, after all these years that cousin C got to meet friend K. They had fun playing basketball and teamed up against cousin J. The girls helped me this morning make homemade biscuits and also enjoyed dressing up and playing barbies. I enjoyed them visiting and told T that it was like a great, wonderful Surprise! (and of course it was! they are such fun kids, we just Love them!) I told K this morning I was going to start calling her little T cause she looks just like her aunt! she just laughed at me! (she does that a lot)


All this getting organized sure makes a mess.. I am ready to just throw everything out! uhg..

ok.. so now for the part you have all come to read about:

Great kid happenings:

NATO leaned over and asked me at church on Sunday... "mom, did both the bad men die on the cross too?" great question I thought for a 4 year old.

Joseph "hey mom, you know why I let my friends play my video games lots? .." NO .. why joseph" ... "Cause when they play they are sometimes better than me and it unlocks some more mini games and I get farther in the game.... plus... it is sharing,, and that is good".... (so I guess he's figured out.. why do all the work when friends can do it for him"

Nate asked on the way to church sunday: "mom are we going to get to play in the chair place today?" .. (ok.. So that means can they play hide and seek in the auditorium like they did after church on Wednesday..)

and as this time I cant think of any fun or unusual things cat has said lately, oh wait.. Here's one

At our garage sale NaNa came over and looked at our stuff.. she of course found a door hanger that said "home is where you hang your heart" .. well.. she picked it up and told cat.. "I gave this to yall so I am going to take it back... cat said.. "well.. thats fine but you have to pay for it.. this is a garage sale" .. (we thought that was pretty funny.. )

Bird Nest UPDATE:
one egg has a crack in it.. they are starting the hatching process.. HOW EXCITING!.. I am going to take pics if the mom bird doesn't attack me in the process.. so far she has been very tolerant of us.. (of course I am sure she is like.... " i will never put a nest in a hanging basket ever again in my life!") ...

Well I am off to get more organized.. and I still have to run today.. (only ran once last week... that 5k is going to kill me if I don't get my self in gear!)

I don't know how it happened! I really don't! I have been living here for two years, keeping house, cleaning everyday...., but I woke up one morning and we had toooooo much stuff! I don't consider myself a pack rat or anything, and it seems I "declutter" my house atleast once every three months... but it still happened, junk falling out of the closets, and having to stuff the drawers closed! The garage sale tomorrow is a welcomed event and I hope that people will come and TAKE IT ALL AWAY!

Well, I am tired again, most of the time, and this morning even more so. Nate was up coughing most of the night, but this morning seems fine, guess I will give it one more night and see how it goes, then off to the doctor I guess. Its just soo interesting that HE was the one coughing all night but still woke up bright and early, with a smile on his face and acting like he slept for 12 hours. Amazing.

Well.. cat is waiting to get on the computer to write on her blog. So I guess I should go get some more stuff to the garage while she writes.

b2bh

Money. For some it is everything, for others it is nothing. I think of people who live in poor countries, some people who have never had a cent to their name. Money is such a driving force in our society. I wish it were not so. The barter system sounds like a great idea. I trade my talents, my gifts, for yours. My tomatoes for your homemade bread, my hard work for your knowledge and experience. I know most of you are thinking I am crazy, "What is she saying, life like that would be wired, we couldn't live like that, it would be a waste of time." But if you think about it, bartering is also about communicating, its about relationships too. It's also about using what you have and what you are good at. Call me crazy, I guess I was just born in the wrong century.

OH yesterday was a pretty good day. I did get a little down about how unorganized I am but then again, I am getting closer and closer to my goal of being decluttered. It does just get overwhelming, esp. when you have three creative, helpful kids coming behind you and "helping" organize too! :) So, all this to say, we are having a garage sale this weekend, and I am getting rid of soo much stuff!
After Daddy came home we were able to get a tiller and as he worked on the garden areas I worked on putting up our big tent for the kids to play in. (we have had the tent for almost a year and never put it up.) You should have heard the kids scream when they saw how big it was, esp compared to our 4 man pop tent they are use to. They played and played in it last night while we worked and of course first thing this morning, before breakfast, there they were... in the tent.
I am so thrilled we have a garden with fresh tilled dirt, I am wishing I could just be outside all day working on the garden. Daddy did such a great job tilling, and he extended the size of the area a bit. I just love working hard in the sun with my husband!

I have taken photos of the robin eggs, etc and hope to figure out in a few days how to post them... wish me luck!

K.. so I guess I really dont have time to sit here and type.. so off I go..
oh.. also ... Cat has asked for her own blog.. so I will get her set up this morning. What a great thing for learning grammar, spelling, etc! Can't wait to see what she writes about! Cats Happy Place will be the name of it. (great name huh?.. she made it up)

OH I love spring!!!

This morning as I was out watering the grass I had a humming bird come to the water hose and take a drink! Now those are amazing creatures! I told the kids I needed to get out our feeders so we could watch them.

The Mother Robin has laid four eggs and every time we go to see she is sitting on them. She will fly away and them come back sit in the tree right above us and fuss at us.

I have been helping Daddy work on the yard, we pulled up grass from the side of the house where our rose bushes are and we are planning on planting our tomato plants in the same area. (putting in flower beds is hard work!)

The kids are currently dressing up like Indians, I am sure they plan on using the feathers from the turkey PawPaw Vic shot the other day. Of course the most fun they have is in the drawing on themselves with markers, putting on their war/hunting paints. OH no.. now they are discussing what kind of cat they want Tanner to be, will be interesting to see what he ends up looking like. OH.. Jo just came in and showed me his dress up.. "Hey, Mom, look, I am an African person!" He had marks on his face and a scarf over his shoulder and tied at his side. He also had a huge walking stick. (I just love the creativity!) He was so proud! Now he is off to build his hut.

Yesterday morning before church Daddy was in the living room sitting on the couch with the windows open and there were lots of birds in our red oak tree singing. Nate walks in the room and hears the birds and says to Daddy: "I just love the sounds of nature!"

You should have heard the kids discussing the issues of whether yellow #5 was worse than "x" pounds of sugar. It was decided that one million pounds of sugar was probably just as bad as yellow #5 but I think they have left the debate open for discussion later.

We are hoping to get a tiller today and get our garden turned up so we can plant. We havent decided what to plant yet but for sure will do water melons and cantaloupe, which both did great last year.

We have decided to start going to church closer to home. It has been nice the last few weeks to walk to church. I grew up walking to church so it brings back those memories of trying to walk in my Dads footsteps :) . What great memories. Cats class is learning the beatitudes, and walking home yesterday she was reading them to me, she soon figured out it is hard to read and walk fast. Jo and Nate like their classes too. It is nice to have a short walk to church as opposed to a 20 min drive (esp with the cost of gas these days), and lots of people in our neighborhood are there too! Of course an added bonus is NaNa and PawPaw, Uncle D and Rose, and T all attend there too~

I guess I should go and clean the breakfast dishes, get some clothes on to wash and get things ready for our garage sale.

b2bh

As I sit here, wind a-blowin' 40 miles an hour outside and my body telling me I need to take a nap. Instead I will blog a little. The time change has thrown me off wack yet again this year.

Here are some things that struck me as I went about my days.

It is amazing the amount of concentration it takes for a 3 year old to open a band-aid.
Its amazing how long it takes to eat a serving of sunflower seeds (still in the shell).
It's interesting to me that the books the kids lean to at the library are lots of times ones we have already read.
Interesting how long it takes to get organized. (a.. like NEVER)
Funny how our tastes change. Use to drink DP all day.. now I cant stand two sips.
It is so amazing how excited grandkids get when grandparents want to play board games!

Yesterday we spend a while at the library. Cat checked out some magic tree house books and wants to reread little house. Jo and Nate got books about the zoo, some picture books by ed young and Jo just had to get a little pocket guide to seaside life. (hum).

They woke up this morning and played a round of checkers. Cat finally won against Jo. I hadnt realized that the kids hadnt learned how to play checkers. When we got the game out one of them asked.. "where's the queen?" .. use to chess I guess.
I have worked most of the day trying to figure out what to do for art camp this summer. (more on that later).
Cat is doing here math as I write and just stated "I am now skip counting by my favorite number!" (5's).. She is now well into multiplication and doing well.
The boys are in the den playing the piano.

Well I need to go get this house straightened up. Double load of dishes and laundry are waiting.
I am so thankful for running water, soap and not having to go down to the river to wash. Who am I to complain!

OH>> the robin still has two eggs, we are hoping for at least one more.. two weeks to hatch! how fun it will be to see them so close up! AND.. our flowers are STILL alive! (amazing what a little water will do)

b2bh!

Just a quick blog before I go read to the kids.

This morning the kids and I watched the full hour of "the Nubians: a lost civilization" .. it was great.. the nubians were a group of people who lived a long time ago in the area of the Sudan. Archaeologists have uncovered some temples, etc and are learning more about these people. One interesting note, they still havent figured out their written language. They are hoping to find a "Rosetta stone" of sorts to help them read their carvings. The lead archaeologist thinks she will be working to uncover this sites secrets for atleast 20 more years! thats how big it is! (wow).
On a lighter note Nate as sitting in my lap while we watched and as they were digging at the site, a sand storm blew in. Nate turned to me (his confident 3 year old self he is) and said:"mom, I am really glad we dont live THERE!". (little does he know that tomorrow we will have a dust storm ourselves, according to the weather guys)

The rest of the day was filled with Math, playing outside (they pretended to be archaeologists for while), and then constructing some kind of obst. course. We also worked on getting organized. In the process of which I smashed the whahooey out of my thumb (it doesnt look like I am going to loose my nail thank goodness).. I am getting closer and closer to being caught up on laundry, AND our flowers are still alive!! (yipee)!

Aunt R.M. has a hanging basket that has a robins nest inside it. The basket hangs about eye level. We went to look at it today and the robin had laid the most beautiful blue egg! we are hoping for a few more tomorrow. (do they lay one a day? hum..)

On the five K front, I did 2.3 miles yesterday, jogging 1.75 miles of it! I was happy. I hope to finish the 3.1 miles on race day in under 35 min. (we'll see). The main thing is that I just keep working out.

Cats "lessons" for the day: (this was all said on the way to the grocery store last night)
Me to Cat: "Don't roll the window down any farther cause the cars might throw up a rock and come in and hit you" .. Cat: "I didn't know cars threw up!"

Me to Cat: "You can never have a motorcycle, they are too dangerous, I just dont understand how we have a law that requires us to wear our seat belts in the car, but they can drive down the road on a motorcycle at 60 miles and hour and it be ok.. I mean LOOK.. that guy just stood up to pull up his pants and he's going forty, driving down the road with no hands! "
Cat to me: " Uh.. Mom, if his hands aren't on the bars, then he is NOT driving! He is riding."

Well they are in bed, waiting to hear some of Caddie, I better go read :)

b2bh

k---- so I am sooooo tired tonight.. what a day.

I had forgotten how tiring pulling up san augustine grass can be. We put in a new flower bed in the front yard and got flowers for the rest of the yard AND got everything done and planted before dark! YOOHOO>>! Now if we can just keep everything alive.

The kids are really happy right now, Daddy is fixin them some ice cream with m&ms. (its been a long time so they are HAPPY!).. I am thinking once a month is ok. (not really)

Now to the fun stuff..

Nate: "Daddy, God made the trees that make the wind blow..... well.. actually the trees don't MAKE the wind, but they move cause the wind blows, God made the wind."

Cat: (to Nate as he had his fork holding his roll and trying to take a bite)... "If it's too hot for your fingers, then it is too hot for your mouth."

Jo: "Mom!, I took my bandage off!!! " (OH we threw a big party on that comment!) "I didn't hold anyones hand either! just did it all by myself Mom!"

The kids and I were entertained by a mom robin and her baby she was training to hunt for worms. The little baby would follow her around and sqauk and sometimes the mom would dig up a worm and put it in the babies mouth and sometime she would dig one up and leave in on the ground for the baby to pick up himself. I could just hear that mom. "now son, you are older now, not a baby anymore, watch me and I will show you how to get your own worm." and the baby: "BUT MOM!, it tastes better when you fix it for me!" What a fun few minutes we had watching that mom train that baby.. isn't Gods creation amazing!.

Well, the night is young, but I am not. We loose an hour tonight, to which I joke "only an hour"! I am use to loosing atleast three a night! I am going to be soooo well rested at church tomorrow!

b2bh