Blessed 2b Home

Daddy and Jo reading together.

Shine- the Ms Beta they gave us when they moved away .. photo by Cat

Kids at the Puppet show we did .. holding the puppets they made.

Jo and Nate being Star Wars characters.

Well, its official. Jo asked Dad to take the training wheels off and boy can that boy ride on two wheels! It is great to see the excitement and joy in that sweet boys face when he rode for the first time. I do have pictures (of course) but will post them later!

Nate fell Wednesday after church and bonked his head pretty bad.. no stitches required (thank goodness) .. the funny story goes though.. I asked later when we got home and before bed, "Nate- .. what made you fall?" .. I was expecting him to say.. I tripped on the sidewalk or .. "so-in-so tripped me".. but not Nate... he looked up and me and answered... "GRAVITY MADE ME FALL".. well I guess that lesson last week stuck when we talked about gravity, and that educational dvd stuck when the lady said "Instead of saying the apple fell.. you should say .. Gravity pulled it to the ground".... not bad for a four year old!

Cat has finally found another series of books she likes.. she was "into" Magic Tree House Books but lost interest. We found the "American Girl Series" and she is almost finished with the first book about Kaya.. a little Indian girl from the 1700s...

I have made a change in my schedule and I think it will stick.. I have been getting up at 6 every morning to get my weightlifting or running over before the day gets started. The days have been going by so fast now that we have started our learning adventure again. So many things to do and see and talk about.. sometimes I wish the day would never end.. Especially when those sparks start to fly and the kids are having fun.

On a more "house" worthy note.. we have discovered a leak from our shower and will have to redo the bathtub shower combination in our bathroom. UGH>. cant it just fix itself? I'd rather spend the money on gas money to go see my friends! OH well .. such is the price of home ownership right?

My Friday night art classes start tonight.. we are doing "pop" art.. the kids will draw ice cream, eat icecrean, pop bubbles, draw bubbles, and of course talk about the artists of "PopArt"

Can you guess the picture? What could it be?

Can you guess what TV show the boys are watching? (actually its a dvd)

I am happy to announce my latest garage sale finds!
a microscope
"The annotated Mona Lisa" .. a art history book a librarian in the childrens department recommended to me..
Discovery Toys Tangrams..
Clothes for Mom.. (woooo whoo!)
I love garage sales!

Friends..
I am still sad my friends have left. Em and her family left a few weeks ago..and then the Ms... I am still adjusting to life without my friends.. .. But I look forward to seeing them again soon.. It seems like everyone leaves our town.. .. I really think we will be here for always :) .. I an so thankful for the internet and phone (sprint to sprint) so we can keep in touch!

Heres some things that are driving me crazy lately.

trying to load pics on the computer and it not working

wondering what to fix for .. b, lunch and supper..

EVERYTHING.. well almost everything as far as food.. having something in it that is BAD for you.

TV... it's a "waist" of time.. (get it)

TV .. the commercials are HORRIBLE! ("kids close your eyes!.". thats what I have to say sometime and we are only watching wheel of fortune!"

My Memory.. .. uh.. but I cant remember why.. :)

Clothing sizes: so when I got married I was a size 9... well that size nine skirt (my going away outfit) which I still have has a 27 inch waist band.. the clothes I wear NOW are size 6-8 and they have a 32 inch waist band.. WHAT HAPPENED! I am smaller, but bigger.. its like alice in wonderland or something!

Clean clothes on the floor of the kids closet.. I REFUSE TO WASH CLEAN CLOTHES!

People who talk hateful to their own kids, telling them to shutup, and calling them names.

Kids who talk to parents like the parents are idiots.

Parents who say NO! and then after a few minutes of begging on the kids part.. "ok.. here! have it!!!"
(k-those last three.. been to walmart to much lately)

so My focus for the next few days.. "Do Everything without complaining".. we sing a song in our family when someone complains.. do you think strangers would mind me singing it to their kids while I am shopping? .. How about over the PA system! (that would be fun!)

What in the world do I have to complain about! I love my life! I am so blessed!
B2BH

Its hard to believe but the Ms are actually leaving! They are leaving today for the final haul to the mountains! We are so sad to see them go, because we love them so much, but we know they will really enjoy this new adventure!
Lets not be sad cause you are leaving, lets think how happy we will be when we get to see you again!

Group HUG! (well almost!)


Love those Kidos!

I think he got all of it in but the kitchen sink!

Back to School Pool Party! Also a going away party for the Ms :(

.. Here is a updated photo of the mural.. I decided to make the pond bigger..

Here is Cat standing by the storm cloud in prgress.. when this wall is finished it will have horses running and the storm cloud will go all the way up on to the ceiling (right now it is just white)

I never thought I would say this but here I am ready for fall! you know those crisp fall mornings where it is just cool enough for a light sweatshirt.. well I am ready!

Went to the store yesterday and I just cant get over how many food have food coloring or preservatives in them! I really try not to get too frustrated.. but CANT I JUST HAVE GROUND TURKEY? JUST PLAIN TURKEY.? I guess everything is so marketing driven they even think they have to add coloring to make ground turkey look pretty.. UHG!

Well.. on the body for life end of my life.. I have completed my first 12 week and have already begun my second twelve weeks. It is so nice now to have exercise be a habit again. I just dont feel good if I dont lift those weights or run on that treadmill.. now I just have to get my eating program to be a habit and I will start seeing more results of all this hard work! .. I haven't measured but I started the program a size 10 (tight) and I am now in a size 6 (tight).. not too bad for 12 weeks.. progress not perfection RIGHT! I am just happy I am strong enough to pick up my 6 years old son who weighs 70 something and get a good hug from him!

I have all the kids down for quiet time,, had a fun day today and I can see that once we get a few weeks under us it will be like a well oiled machine around here! :)

Off I go to fold clothes!

b2bh

So.. Live on the farm is kinda laid back.. (sure wish I lived on that farm!) .. Things have be busy around here getting ready for school to begin and getting the house organized. I have set my schedule for the next six weeks of friday night art classes and I am looking forward to those. I am soo happy to be back home and and really getting a good hold on the house. I have cleaned out four closets and am almost caught up on laundry (again).

Isnt if funny how being away from home makes you love being home when you get here.. even if your house stinks when you walk in the door. Yes.. our house was little musty after being gone for a week. But there was also this strange smell in the air I could quite figure where it was coming from. Now mind you, I am only human and not a super mom, I do forget things every now and then.. I usually dont forget them for a week! Well I finally figured out I had left.. yess.. you guest it! FOOD IN THE MICROWAVE! .. It just so happened to be broccoli, carrots, and squash I had heated up and FORGOT to eat for lunch before we left. Well.. it was so horrible that after bleaching, lemon water cooking, and sitting baking soda in it for 12 hours the smell would not come out.. So... Out went the microwave. So I guess I have learned another lesson, ALWAYS check the burners on your stove and oven to make sure you turned them off, and now.. make sure your microwave it EMPTY before you leave to go out of town.

The trip to Fiesta Texas was good. The kids had a great time except for the time when Nate was kinda sorta going under--- RIGHT IN FRONT OF A LIFEGUARD!!!--- Needless to say I was not too happy! .. and OH the other time when Jo stepped on a BEE! (I was ready to go home after that.. those two things happened like 20 min apart from each other!) Jo, who gets car sick only threw up ONE time! And I think we only had to turn around twice on the trip. Not too bad huh?

I do have a funny thing to add about Jo and Nate:
In the car driving from one town to the next Nate says out of the blue:
"Its weird how grandpaw got buried in the ground to get to heaven! I mean, your in the ground! and HEAVEN is in outer space and your body is buried.. I MEAN... only your SOUL goes to Heaven but your body is buried!"

Nate pauses and then says:
" God could hold up the Earth without NOTHING!"
Jo says: Yeah .. Its like .. The earth is small to God! Like a SPECK of salt!"
Nate says: "NO... Like a grain of sugar!... I mean sugar is TEEENNNEEY Tiny!"

Oh the deep conversations they have! What fun! What Joy to listen to them talk to each other!

Well Cat just invited me to a dog show.. I guess she has been working with Trixy and wants to put on a show for us..

More later..
Oh.. and please dont tell anyone about my microwave story.. its sooo embarrassing! :) HEHE..
b2bh

Here' s fun picture of the kids in front of the flowers..
Have a happy Day!

For those of you who know me well, you know we arent really "into" Barbie at our house. Infact Cat use to have 4 or 5 Barbies but decided she didn't want them anymore.. so now we have one. One day at the library the kids found a book celebrating 50 years of Barbie, mind you this was an ART book so we checked it out and took it home. The artist made their own pieces of art out of, about, or with Barbie as the theme. There was one photograph that had a 50 foot Barbie, on a city street. Cat asked if it was real and I told her it was just a camera trick.. Well.... what better way to explain something than show her! .. So I got out my little digital camera and asked her to grab her Barbie. These are the pictures I took, and the kids got a kick out of it.. especially when I would say.. "The other day Barbie came to visit out house, First she washed the dishes, wasnt that sweet of her! Then she decided to go outside and play on the swing set and monkey bars. She really was a great guest!"

I took pics of the kids sitting on the big swing with her but I am weary of posting images of the kids. I also made cat into a popcorn head.. she thought that was sosoooo funny. Anyway.. here ya go... when you get board, or you really want some company but dont want to have to clean house for them.. just invite Barbie!

Oh my .. I am sooooo happy it worked! I will keep you posted on the progress of the mural and cant wait to have it finished. All four walls and the ceiling will be transformed into a country seen with one wall being a log cabin....
I am so glad I have figured this out that I have posted another picture that Cat took .. it is of Goldie.. our Goldfish.. she is the only survivor of 6 goldfish we bought for 28 cents each.. she is huge now! I thought Cat did a great job with the picture.. even captured the smudge prints on the fish tank!



I will post more tomorrow.. Lots to tell, to much to get done between now and when everything needs to be done :) .. I am happy to be home from my travels and thankful Jo only got car sick once....

b2bh

Ok.. so the above is my first try to load a picture on the blog.... I am not sure if I have done this right so here we go! ... If this is correct and you DO see an image.. it is suppose to be of the first stage of the mural I am working on in the kids room.. :)

Well. I tried to post yesterday but the system was slllllloooowww for some reason. so I gave up.
We had a GREAT day yesterday. After worship I made fried chicken nuggets from scratch, mash tatos, rolls, gravy, and fresh tea... Now.. let me tell you.. I havent had that kinda meal in a long time. It's been at least 6 weeks since we have eaten homemade fried chicken,,, and yummmmmmy it was good.

After lunch I painted on the kids room. The mural I am working on is coming out nice, although I am still shocked at how I can just pick up a paint brush and look at a blank wall and BOOM<.. there it is.. a few trees, hills, sky with clouds, pond with cattails, ... I tell you what.. it is definately one of my gifts cause I had little to do with it.. I mean I have NEVER painted a ten foot tree.. one that goes from the floor onto the ceiling.. and there it is.. looking like a tree.. (once I figure out how to post pictures I will post some for you)

After a few hours M and M came over with all thier kids and we had a great visit. I just love the fact we can sit and talk while the kids play with no fussing or anything, they all get along so well, I am so sad M will be moving to Colorado. And at the same time my other friend E is moving to Denton! ugh..

The kids bathed and got into bed and read for a while to them. I am reading E. Nesbits book, "The Enchanted Castle" .. and oh.. it is great so far. Nesbit was CS Lewis' favorite fairy tale author.. ... Needless to say we are definately getting a HUGE dose of fairtaleness. :)
Well... Nate feel asleep first so I stopped reading and Jo and Cat and I played "fortunatly, Unfortunately" where you start a story and go around taking turns adding something to the story. Joel said when he was little there was one they did where they said.. "the Good thing was... the Bad Thing was" ... Anywho.. the kids LOVED it.. we had a cat and a dog fighting in one story and a man who was a giant .. sitting on his fish tank and didnt even now it..it was like a germ compaired to him. "


while eating supper last night the kids were taking turns picking which left over chicken nugget they wanted.. .. well.. I was getting bed ready for them when I heard them singing.. "Do everything without complaining, Do everything without arguing, So that you may become Blameless and Pure. Children of God." .. ITs a song M taught me and I sing it when my kids complain.. works great by they way..
Anywhay..... I asked later why they sang the "complaining" song and Cat said that Jo was fussing about not getting the nugget he wanted. :).. WEll.. I am assuming everyone got happy cause Jo was singing loud and clear to.. :)

WElll we have a big week planned.. we are going to San Antonio, Houston etc .. The kids won free tickets to Fiesta Texas on the Book-it program. So we are going there on Wednesday.. we have never been so it should be an experience. (( I think I would rather be fishing in Colorado,)