God's Army Academy

May. 12, 2008

Reading Programs and Food

I love this time of year.  When all the helpful community workers come together to help out the parents in getting the kids "motivated" to do their Reading Programs(Braums & Pizza Hut) or Core Essentials Programs for Character Building (Chick-fil-a).  We get FREE kids food for the kids for Reading a Certain number of library books or get free kids meal at Chick-fil-A for being enrolled in the Character Building Program that they offer.

I am head of the CFA Core essentials for our Homeschool group and I make sure each family that signed up gets their coupons, and teacher books and stuff.  We sign up in the Spring, and it comes in around Fall of the following year.  Also, gearing up is Braums, and Pizza Hut.  Pizza Hut changed their's this year and we are only signing up our families as opposed to someone signing up all the HS families in our group.

At pizza hut for reading your required books, you get a pizza and after 6 pizzas or so, the kids get a "trophy".  My boys look so forward to getting their's every year.

So alot of our eating out is paid for by the FREE coupons local sponsors have for their reading programs.  I love it.

Pizza Hut is doing a summer reading program as well, not sure what the prizes will be, but MAYBE pizza.  Who knows.  One lucky winner could win $100 gift card to Pizza Hut.

Oh, and for .10 cents for a pack of coupons provided by Sonic from our local HS group, we get FREE Sundae's one topping, FREE Jr Burgers, FREE ice cream cone, FREE French Fries, FREE 44 oz Route 44.  So we may frequent any restaurant on any given day and get free food SOMEWHERE.
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Apr. 27, 2008

Our Sunday

Well I have not blogged in quite a while, and hoping I am going to be getting back to it.  We have been so busy with Co-Op, Boy scouts, Soccer, Dr. visits, Allergy Shots twice a week in a city 30 or so miles away, OH, and Homeschooling the boys when I get the chance!  LOL  No Homeschooling comes first, but we have been on the road alot getting C allergy shots twice a week.

Then practicing the piano for church, and leading a Weight Loss Bible study program called First Place, and all sorts of "busy" stuff we are doing.

So what brings me to blog THIS morning.  Sunday morning when I should be getting ready for church, practicing my solo for Church Service?  I wake to a big mess in the Living Room and I was like, I thought the boys were doing their chores every night.....what happened in the Living Room, towels all around the couch and end table.  Then I go to my bathroom to find "shrapnel" all over the toilet seat.  I asked dh if he had a "problem" and he said no.  I go to the boys room (only 2 here this weekend, 1 is at Nannys being spoiled).  I find out one of the twins, the compassionate one, had gotten sick in the night, didn't want to bother his mother or father, and left them sleeping while he threw up all over the living room and in the potty, and then went to get towels to try and clean it up, and then went to get himself a washrag to wipe his mouth, and went and changed clothes, oh and he remembered his pillow was messy, so he put it in the laundry room for later.  How do I know all this.  By his laundry basket in HIS ROOM, and the laundry basket in the Laundry Room.  I pieced together all these clues by looking around the house, and knowing my 6-year old.  Not wanting to trouble anyone.  And if you ever give him something, he passes it to either the other twin or older brother first, then waits to see if you will give him "his".  He is so giving.

All the boys have their own unique gifts.  Just speaking today on Mr. Sick J.

We are home this Sunday a.m. since he is sick, and older brother wanted to stay home and help us out.  I didn't argue as this may be contagious and the fewer of our clan at church, the less we spread the sickies.
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Dec. 4, 2007

Copied from another blog

Copied from another blog

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Tonight

Well here I am......late in the wee hours of the night....Guess I had a little too much tea (aka Caffeine) and now I am not sleepy.  I am playing the piano in the a.m. at church and a tad nervous, and I am also singing.  It has been a while since I sang at church, so my knees get to knocking and it's ok as long as it is to the beat of the song.  LOL

Well earlier tonight I finished, completed the older boys room purge, and rearrange furniture quest.  Me and dh love "change" so we love moving furniture around.  The boys really seemed excited about their "new" rooms.  And then there are less toys in B's room and the twins were excited that their room finally HAD TOYS!

I have gotten out a large trash bag of junk, and two small Wal-Mart bags to go to Nanny's house, out of his room.  I feel so renewed, and like I could actually keep house with all this organized stuff.  LOL

I even got a flight plan by the door.  Had one, but it is not working.  So I remembered K.I.S.S.  Keep It Simple Silly.  (better than Stupid) so, I got a small basket and put by the door complete with Bibles for church, their King's Kids books, and their Boy Scout books.  They can get them as we go out the door and they are not buried in rubble in the "tubs" I have sitting by the door.  And when they come "in" they can again  put their books in the basket.  I think I am going to like this.

Anyway, my brain is still on fire.  My body says no, go to bed.  But somewhere in between the two, I am up posting this blog.  LOL

Well I will go try and sleep again.

Also organizing some papers.  Everything over here is "lost" till found three days later.....so I am trying to get everything a place, and a place for everything.  So I copied my songs I am constantly loosing, and punched holes in them and put them in my notebook of hymns/choir songs.  Being organized is so much fun.  LOL


Saturday, December 01, 2007

Saturday

Working over here like crazy.  I am purging oldest son's room now.  I have a large black trash bag I am putting the trash in, and then I am still going thru toys so I have another "Nanny bag" to send to her house.  YEAH!   Went back and redid some stuff in Twins rooms, such as:  Rearrange bedroom furniture, vacuum WHOLE room without furniture, took out some stuff we are not using in their rooms and giving to friends.  An under bed drawers GONE, a computer desk GONE, and a computer out of their room, one pretend kitchen cabinet GONE.  Took some coloring books and toys from oldest room since we now have rooms for tubs under the twins beds now for their own toys.  Set that all up.  I think the boys are excited they only have their toys/color books in their own areas.

Next on my quest for cleanliness

Finish B's room (in progress)
B's closet
Living Room
Kitchen cabinets
Laundry room cabinets

The purge is still going on

Well tonight at the home of Mrs. Domestically Challenged, it finds us finishing up the purge in the little's bedroom.  I was taking summer clothes out of their dresser drawers as I am tired in the 30, 40, and 50 degree weather and them picking out sleeveless shirts and shorts.  No dear this is "winter time" we are not wearing that......tears, sniffles, I finally wipe my nose and press on.  Oh sorry.  That was supposed to be the boys crying......some days I am a no good mom.  LOL  Those little precious eyes starring at you and looking at the one they trust their eyes almost saying, but Mom, I want to wear sleeveless shirts in the winter.....what is wrong with that......and a small part of you goes......awwww innocence......yes..you can wear sleeveless......I mean....NO YOU CAN'T.....LOL

So tomorrow hopefully I will finish oldest bedroom, and all his shelves, since that is now where the clutter fest is congregating.  I am so trying to get back on track with house, children, school.....it all seems so overwhelming when in the midst, then when you are trying to "surface" and get it all going, your like, now why wasn't I doing this before?

Oh well.  The bed is calling me.  It is after 2.

I folded several loads of clothes tonight.  Along with some purge, and a 5 minute Room Rescue.  Yes for those of you who know the terminology, I am using some of FLY LADY techniques. 

Well goodnight all!


Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Deep Cleaning Purge

Well I am very excited!!!  Today I was finally home.  Monday I had a hard time getting off my computer chair.  I heard a friend once say something to the effect that if she didn't sit in the chair it would float to the ceiling.  So that was my mentallity Monday, keeping the chair stuck to the floor.  I was paralyzed from all the fear of Tuesday. 

Tuesday a.m. and afternoon we were at Doctors for the boys.  Twins for eye check, and yes their glasses prescription had gotten worse.  Alright, back to the kids.  Freckle and Jeckle now have astigmatism, (like Mike and Aunt L) and then to boot Cousin and 2nd Cousin have terrible eyesight so not sure if that is a family thing, but it is in their genes to have terrible eyesight.  2nd cousin they are worried about how BAD her eyesight is.  And she is 12.  Ok....back to Tuesday

Freckle and Jeckle's prescription for glasses changed a bit because of the astigmatism.  So new eye wear is in their horizon.  Then I had forgotten about Jeckle's freckle.  (Freckle's freckle is on his nose.  Jeckle has one IN his eye) so they had to dialate J's eyes.  Then the dr looked in there and saw it.  They even got a picture of it.  Said (like Heckle's heart) it could stay this way forever, or by the time he turns 30 or so it could be melacarsanoma.  (Cancer)  So they took a picture now so later in time, they will know what it looked like, size, color, they will know if it has changed any.  It is in his right eye.  Said he saw a lot of crossing on both boys, but Jeckle's were dialated so it was not an accurate test on J.  Freckle he saw crossing eyes pretty bad while we were there.  He said if they are not wearing the glasses 100% of the time, that that is when the crossing occurs more (seemingly) and that that could result in lazy eye, and then you get one dominant eye, and loss of vision in the other.

They did say there was no changes in Heckle's heart.  One change in legalisms, is the American Heart Association and the FDA had gotten together and decided that patients of aortic stenosis no longer needed antibiotics to get dental treatment.  So I guess it is good one stress taken off,.....or is it?  LOL

Tuesday night I came in and spent SOOOOOOOO much time cleaning.  I worked on the dinning area, took down the green/orange stuff and put up red C'mas stuff, and had table cloth and place mats with santas, penquins, and trees and such.  Worked on the dishes, and cleaned off the counters in the kitchen.  Tried cleaning in the living room......we just picked up around the boxes (christmas boxes all over the living room) I tried to make it look better, and the boys worked in their rooms.

Wednesday I had made plans Thanksgiving day with Angie and Grandma to go to G'ma's Wed.  I woke and remembered I was meeting a lady in Brownsboro to pick up some Mary Kay books at 1:00 and I tried to cancel on g'ma, then she said before I said much about not coming, are you still picking up Mrs. M.  Then I remembered I had also invited Mrs M on Friday of last week to go with me and boys.  So I was sinking fast.  Then I called the lady I was meeting, we rescheduled to today.  SO I was calling Mrs. M, g'ma, and the lady several times before I got out the door.

Then sis-in-law had wanted a C'mas list of boy stuff so I sent that right before I walked out the door.  Complete with links of the type of toys they were interested in.  I always like shopping when I know what something looks like.  So I got that off.

I walked out the door at noon.  Ran to Mom-in-laws, then to Chick-fil-a then to Grandma's where we all 7 of us had a very good time.  It was fun for the older ladies to get to visit.  And the younger "kids" visited, me and my cousin, all while the boys played.


Then tonight I am so excited while Mike was watching the Cowboy game, I purged the twin's room.  The whole room.  I got out 5 bags of trash, and gave my Mom some toys.  I huge tub of a train, and 2 Wal-Mart sized bags of other toys.  I am so excited.  YEAH ME......I need to keep on this purge fest.

Next room.......Oldest son's room.  Oh yeah....and his closet, and the living room!

It is taking me a while to do this.  But slow and steady gets it done.

I have done my bathroom, bedroom, and closet.  Working on kitchen, living room, and oldest boy's.


Monday, November 26, 2007

The new cooks of the family

Well last weekend we had a soup dinner at the church, and so the boys all helped me cook/bake last weekend.  We had to make 5 cakes and they weren't just cakes, then also cornbread.  I was amazed at how much HELP they really were.  I got 5 cakes made in record time, cuz once I got them what they needed in the bowl, 3 were being made while I washed up dishes from the last thing we were stirring.  It was awesome.  Don't know how I did it all those years before with out the little guys.  Then Freckle said "Well we baked these cakes and they are going to like them."  It was funny.  I know he meant they tasted good, and we had made them, but it came out more like we made them and they WILL like them.

I need to go now and get dishes cleared from this weekend.  Me, mike, jeckle, freckle, and Heckle all made dressing Saturday night.  Mike made some kinda of soupy-gravy.  It was good.  Loved it all, then we all sat down and ate, the boys ate more than usual.  Mike said something about cooking it must make it all taste better.  The soup gravy was actually that, it had Cream of Chicken soup, and some broth, and then he cut up giblets of neck and liver and cut up eggs and put in it.  Reminded me of my grandfathers gravy from days of yore.  It was delicious.

It was a fun four day weekend with dad here 24/7.

Tuesdays Plans

Just wanted to ask for prayers for B for in the afternoon.  B has a pediatric heart dr appt and it is one month early as he has twice been complaining of heart pains.  He will be seen around 3 o'clock "Tx time"  (LOL)

For those of you who don't know he has sub-aortic stenosis, (copied from web site) What is aortic stenosis?

Aortic stenosis is abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve. A number of conditions cause disease resulting in narrowing of the aortic valve. When the degree of narrowing becomes significant enough to impede the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the arteries, heart problems develop.

Also, on a side note.  Allergist called me Wednesday to tell me he had misread the CAT Scan on October 20 and that he did in fact have a chronic sinus problem that had been on the scan and he missed it.  Somehow nowdays you can find out about sinus with a CAT Scan.  So from that day forward, he has been scratching his head wondering why the child is still coughing from July, with no real answers.  He put him on Azithromax for 10 days on, 5 day off, 10 days on, 5 days off, and 10 more days on.

Anyway, pray for this child.  Oh and before we load up to go to a city 2 hours away, we have to take the twins in for a scheduled eye appt for their eye problems.  Caleb will def need a new pair of glasses.  He broke the first pair and was without two weeks this summer.  Then right now I am just praying they stay together a bit longer.  This kid is hard on glasses.   Caleb has one "lazy eye" that at times almost crosses, and they both have Nystagmus.  Joshua's is worse he can wiggle his eyes on command.  Dr says that they have Nystagmus and when you look in their eyes like dr's do, he can see them wiggling like turning a doorknob.

So put these 3 boys and their doctor appts on your prayer list for tomorrow.  We will be busy.  My mom is keeping the twins during the 2 hour there 2 hour back and the actual dr appt in the middle.  And pray for our travels that we would be safe on the road.


Thursday, November 22, 2007

Bread Starter

    Today is Day 8 with Friendship Bread
Today is day 2 of Sourdough Starter

Monday the 26
Friendship Amish Day 3
Sour Dough 6


Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Wednesday

Read Bible Genesis 19-21
Day 2 of sd starter
Day 7 of Friendship Starter

Need to
 wake
Shower
Prepare Breakfast
Eat
Wipe down dinning table
Start laundry (Reboot if necessary)
Fold Laundry
Dishes start (or unload as needed)
Feed pets
Practice Piano
Prepare for Cub Scout meeting
Prepare FIAR/Craft for Co-Op
5 minute Room Rescue house
Work on Cub Scout plans
Declutter Desk
Start making lesson plans for Jan
Boys Room clean for sure
Grade B's Books

Home

wake
Shower
Prepare Breakfast
Eat
Wipe down dinning table
Start laundry (Reboot if necessary)
Fold Laundry
Dishes start (or unload as needed)
Feed pets
Practice Piano
Prepare for Cub Scout meeting
Prepare FIAR/Craft for Co-Op
5 minute Room Rescue house

Monday
Do Kitchen, Dinning Area, Laundry Room, Master Bedroom/Bath Boys' Bath clean

Swish swirl swipe counters, sinks, toilets
Sweep
Mop


Tuesday
Living Area, Boys bedroom
Vacuum


November 19

Tuesday

wake
Shower
Prepare Breakfast
Eat
Wipe down dinning table
Start laundry/reboot
Paid D F over phone
Vacuum house
Pick up Living Room mess
Dishes/loaded/unloaded
Living room
Practice the piano (church/Co-op)
Made tea
Boys Meds
Ate lunch
Ran A's popcorn to her mom's house
Ran Mel's a desk
Fold laundry
Church
Stirred Friendship bread
Started Sour dough bread
Fed pets
Meds Boys p.m.
Paid 2 bills online
Got checking account in order

Need to
Work on Cub Scout plans
Declutter Desk
Start making lesson plans for Jan
Boys Room clean for sure
Grade B's Books

November 19

Monday

Got up earlier than usual
Showered
Took bathroom trash out of bathroom
Cleaned up bathroom counter
Rebooted laundry/Started laundry
Called Credit card co about over the limit fee assesment (was on hold over an hour)
Boys up/breakfast
Called dr office about transferring twins to one office with older brother (call back in 20 minutes) 10:40
Made the last of the bran muffins
Hung up/put away Sunday dress, shoes, etc (Never do it on Sunday.......don't know why)
Ate muffins/took small break sitting on couch
Called dr back only to find out I needed to call a different dr
Called 2nd dr left message
Got dishes in dishwasher
Boys working on schoolwork
K called about Rain Gutter Regatta got that taken care of
Talked to another credit card co for over 20 minutes
Hand wash large dishes not fitting in d/w
Pick up Dinning table stuff/took off table cloth/washing it/wipe down table
Reboot laundry
Emailed recipe to Sue
Finished with Dr about switching dr's for the twins asthma
Got down Christmas dishes
Day 5 of Starter - add stuff to starter on counter
Lunch going now....after 2:30
Make lesson plan sheets for Co-Op Story time/FIAR
Swept the kitchen/dinning area
Reboot Laundry/Start another load
Finish cleaning my room
make bed
Work on Cub Scout plans
Practice the piano (church/Co-op)
Went to Scouts
Fold laundry 3 loads
Paid Electric Bill

Need to
Pick up Living Room mess
Start making lesson plans for Jan
Start sour dough bread starter

November 15

Purging

I am not the greatest house keeper in the world.  So since most of our family comes to my house with the holidays, I have been trying to purge clean most of my rooms, drawers, and closets.  Working my way through the house babysteps at a time.  Trying not to burn out this time.  Trying to stay focused.  Wanting everything pretty and sparkly when the guest arrive.

I am up now as the boys are mostly sleeping and when else can I get a good throw away, and clean session except when they are down. 

Today I had a good friend want to come over and help rescue me from my home.  She worked on dishes and counters and folded laundry, while I kept laundry going in washer/dryer, kept the boys busy.  Jeckle actually got in the tub and scrubbed with baby shampoo, and worked on the bathroom counters/sink, while Heckle and Freckle worked in the Master Bathroom.  Heckle since he is almost 2 years older got to take everything OFF the bathroom counters, while Freckle wiped down the counters with baby shampoo, then Heckle put everything back on the counters.  Then they helped put up their laundry, and towels.  They were so excited about cleaning and helping, it was a pleasant change.  LOL  We worked for 2 solid hours, the kids not so much, but they did work hard.  Then we all took a 30 minute break.  After the break I looked at my friend, and said I'm getting fidgetty.  So off we went to the worst part of the living room.  Where the Mother Pile was at in front of the fireplace.  We made the raft system (R-read, A-act, F-File, T-trash)  It worked so well for me.  I got out 2 large trash bags of trash.  I am hoping by this time tomorrow that I will too have taken care of this room and it too will be sparkly.

Why do I hate cleaning, or keeping things looking neat and tidy?  I have no idea.  Possibly because my kids are so young.  So many of them...LOL  Could be because I feel homeschooling takes so much time, time I want to spend with them, and feel I can't pull my self to do ONE more thing???   I have no clue why things are the way they are, but am hoping I will change.  I will make a difference this time.  I really don't go around saying "this is not my job" or "I shouldn't have to pick up Johnnie's socks"......so not sure my underlying reason.  I think most of mine is I just really am never home.  Seems to me those never home would never have time to mess it up......but that is not the case.  LOL

I know there is not a magic pill, but keep hoping I will THIS TIME make a change in my "habits".

I just need to fine tune a schedule and keep it ever before me.

Working on that now.


November 13

And yet another Tuesday, another dr

Oldest birthday was Monday.  We had so much fun.  We left around 1-ish
after I had taken care of some stuff around the house, phone bill,
etc.  Then we were going to go to lunch, later with Pepop/Dad go to
Olive Garden (Birthday Boy choice) and pick out a toy for the three
boys for Heckle's bday since all 3 boys got something for Twins
bday.....crazy I know.  Then Heckle for his bday was told by me/mike that
he could have dr.pepper/tea with the day and also chocolate.  So he
got a cookie cake with rainbow words Happy Birthday Heckle.  Then into
town we go.  Mike calls he is going to meet us around 2-ish somewhere
for lunch as we had not eaten.  So Mom pulls an audible and says Well
Pepop won't mind, let's just meet at Olive Garden now and we can have
cookie cake with Pepop later.

So off to Olive Garden we go.  I contact the dr for Heckle's heart and she
calls while in route to OG.  I tell her with church Tuesday night
special for T'giving it will be hard to make the 3:30 appt and get
back for church at 7 with 5 o'clock traffic, etc, so we switch it
after many more phone calls to 2:45 cuz I had to settle with Mom/Mike
that the twins had their eye glass appt at 8:40 a.m. that same day
(27th)  (again I say CRAZY!!!!!)  So we eat at OG.   Enjoy ourselves
immensely.  Then go to Toys R Us for our bday search for the perfect
toy.  Then while there I decide to look at something they asked Santa
for.  It is being phased out (Game Boy) but there is a "newer"
Nintendo DS that is "replacing" the Game Boy, oh and they also had
tons of pink ones Santa could have gotten.  LOL

Back to the story.  Then we after TRU, go to Gree's house for cookie
cake it is now after 5, Heckle goes over to a pic of Sister O(our official cousin--his 2nd cousin) and starts his sniffy sniff with his nose saying he misses sister Sister O.  He then wants to call her.  O's mom ends up inviting us over to come see O.  So we take what is left of our cookie cake and head out after
festivities to go see O.  We got there a little after 7 since we
had finished up with Gree/Nanny/Pepop after 6 and that is when he
called O.  So we go.  They have a curfew of 9:30 O is in bed, so
we left a little after 9.  We shared our bday cake, I told B have
Birthday Cake will travel.  LOL  (Mom got a HUGE rectangle cake, now I
know why....LOL)

We scooted out there.  The kids played and played x-box games, etc.
Adults all had a great visit, we skipped Boy Scouts for sure.  The
lady was not too pleased with me, but oh well.  A lady that helps with
Mike in Heckle's class, said family comes first, so I am glad the lady that
works with Mike was not upset we were not coming.  The "head honcho"
at Scouts, well of course she would have the mind-set to get upset,
that is her "job".

All in all a great day, but I forgot to mention that at Gree's house,
Freckle came to me and told me his ear was hurting.  I kinda forgot
about it.  Bedtime rolls around after midnight since we got in after
10 and we still had to wrap presents here with paper M picked up early
yesterday while out by hisself.  So Heckle got our presents when he got
home.  Then he wanted to see them open.  Time got away from us.  But
back to Freckle.  So he comes to me at home and said his ear was hurting
again.  I held him in my lap for a bit, I asked him if it hurt a
little bit or a lot, he said it hurt VERY Bad.  So I called the
pediatrician line  and booked him an appt at 10:30.  Bad news, it is not with his dr, she is off on Tuesday.

So, I will let you know what they say later.  I figure it is a double
ear infection.  He pointed to his skull behind his ear on  the "good
ear" and said it itched back in there.  Both were very red and he fell
asleep on me on the couch last night.  We gave him some Baby tylenol
stuff to ease the pain.  He was not doing good last night.

I have not taken off my tennis shoes since last night's sleep.  I fell asleep with Freckle in my arms with jeans, tennis shoes, shirt, makeup, and no brushing teeth, and Mike never woke me till this a.m. at 6:30 a.m. so I was not too happy.  I
still have not taken my tennis shoes off.  I hate the nights I fall asleep on couch and he never wakes me so we can go to bed.

Then this a.m. Heckle came in and said with tears in his eyes, and said his ear was hurting very bad.  I got him dressed, called the dr and said they would try to work him in with brother.  All in all over 2 boys and we have 3 ear infections.  2 on Freckle, and one on Heckle, but Heckle's is so bad the pediatrician made me promise I would have a follow up visit with our pediatrician to make sure his ear was doing better.

Heckle is on his 3 meds for reflux/sinus, and now is taking antibiotic, pain meds
Freckle is doing his asthma meds and antibiotic, dimetapp, and motrin/tylenol for pain
Jeckle so far is doing great. 

We all got in around 2-ish and we all took a much needed nap.



November 6

More dr visits

Ok...so today Mike called in sick again.  So he is home.  Well Heckle yesterday went back to his allergist/reflux dr and got all NEW meds.  Then, I go and get them from the Rx and got most of them not all.  We were not home long, and ate supper and Heckle was throwing up in the bathroom.  OH MY!

Back to today, so I asked Heckle how he felt today.  Not so great he says.  My heart is hurting again.  So I called 2 doctors, the one for his reflux, thinking it is related, and his primary.  Well they want us to take him to the ER.  So off we go AGAIN to the ER.  We were there from 1-4.  All I find out is nothing shows on his EEG or his X-Ray.  So we have to see our primary tomorrow, and he is not to exhert physically.  Well he evidently doesn't have boys in his home.  LOL

Anyway.  Here we go again.



November 4

This weekend

I have been home today as dh called in sick, and boys have been sick since last Sunday. Last Sunday Freckle had been on steroid for 4 days and started getting sicker with his asthma. Then before Sunday School was over, dh walked Jeckle over as he had thrown up in SS twice before they could get him home. We have not been out of the house much this week, just to take Freckle to the asthma dr Monday, and we did go to the Fall Festival at the church Wed night.

Dh had jury duty Thurs. Friday he called in sick, and has been sick ever since, so he got someone to preach in his place today, so we all stayed home. Jeckle has a cold in both of his eyes, waking every a.m. to crusty stuff in his eyelashes, and needing warm washrags to get all the crusty stuff out.. I know TMI.

Then each night he has weepy yellow stuff seeping from his eyes. He really has not been "sick" other than Sunday but Mon/Tues he lost his voice and has been very hoarse.

Freckle is doing better with his breathing treatments (inhalers) the dr Rx Monday. He seems to be doing better with his croupy/syrupy cough he has.

Heckle has been over the last three weeks been seen by an allergist and he, they think has acid reflux, so he is on restricted diet, and can not eat Chocolate, Fried Foods, carbonated drinks, tea (caffeinated or decaffeinated) and many other things young kids like. But we are all getting accustomed to the restricted diet and he seems to be doing better now.

So all in all, seems we have been sick on and off and on and off since July. Which is when Heckle's cough first started. And then Freckle followed suit with his cough as well.

Anyway, today we are all home. I am the only one on this "round" that is not sick. I decided to stay home and help dh who is sick with the boys who are "healing finally"

I have taken to the cleaning bug. I think with me and dh being "older" with young children, I think we are going thru the "mid-life crisis". But we are doing it together. Him being 41 (Jan 42) and me just turned 40 over summer, we are like is this how we want to live for the rest of our lives....and in 10 years is this how we want our lives to have played out.

I get so busy with boys and our obligations, that sometimes I forget the day-to-day dishes/laundry/clean-up etc.

So about 4 weeks ago, my dh while I was out taking oldest to the dr, he shoved everything OUT of our bedroom. Well that was quite a bit of stuff with an already cluttered living room. So last night I worked on the living room a bit....and tiny bits over the last couple of weeks, and have been trying to keep up with laundry (folding it as it comes out of the dryer, and putting it AWAY in it's place) and keeping up with dishes, etc.

I felt with the upcoming holidays and usually my family all comes over here as we have the young kids (which are not so young anymore) but their toys are here, and TV and games.....so most times family comes here.

I have finished Kitchen, My Room, My Bathroom, My Closet, and working on Living Room. Next will work on Boys room (purge toys for upcoming new toys...LOL) So Heckle's room, and twins room, and Heckle's closet (as the twins closet is not usable, it is our Seasonal CLoset with all the Halloween decorations, easter Decorations, Christmas Decorations, and we have a village of It's A Wonderful Life we always put out, and with Easter Eggs plastic ones, and Easter Baskets, and Halloween Baskets and Thanksgiving Decorations, their closet is very full.) But Heckle's closet really is not workable either as a closet as that is where I stash all our school books, journals from past HS years, and glue, crayons, markers, weather posters, all sorts of stickers, board games, so he has several shelves in his closet for bins. So neither one of the boys rooms are using their closet for "normal" stuff. But living in a Mobile home, we have no garage, nothing to speak of for storage such as attic, or whatever.


Halloween Night

 We had a fling at the church tonight.  One came home with 4 pieces of candy.  One came home with a whole huge "pail" full of candy.  Ok...well the twins racked up.  I think Heckle was busy "visiting" and not playing games.  Me, I was working the welcome table, and every now and then played a quick game of cake walk with one of the kids in tow.  We came home with 3 tins of cookies, one cake, and tons of candy.  And the door prizes were to die for as well.  I won a HUGE Chick-fil-A stuffed cow, and Jeckle got an I SPY Halloween book, Freckle got a picture frame, We had Chick-fil-A people here cuz one of our members works there, so there was a wheel of fortune to spin and you could win Chick-fil-A prizes (cups, small stuffed cows, footballs, or cow (paper) fans) or food, from waffle fries, dessert, chicken, drinks, etc.  So almost everyone either got a "toy" or food.  We were there almost 3 hours.  Our Nanny came out and helped us with the cake walk and seeing to the boys.  Mike was busy getting sponges of whipped cream thrown at him, and who doesn't want to hit the preacher with a sponge full of whipped topping!  LOL

We had free food hot dogs, drinks, chips.  And of course cookies, cupcakes, cakes to win at the Cake Walk.  Heckle asked me last night if we were really walking on squishy cake with our stinky feet.  He is so funny.  

All in all it was a great night.




October 29

Freckle, Jeckle, and Heckle and the not so great weekend

Freckle has been on 2 tsp steroid for 5 days, for his dry hacking cough.  Saturday a.m. his nose started running clear (allergies) then by Sunday he had a croupy syrup-y sounding cough.  I have scheduled for this afternoon to take him to his asthma dr as with him being on steroid AND worsening, the dr wants to see him.

Then add to the mix.  I stayed home from church/playing the piano Sunday, and a little after 10 a.m. (during Sunday school) Mike marched over to our house, Mr. Jeckle cuz he had thrown up twice in little of ten minutes, and after returning home got sick one more time here. By night fall he was eating peanut butter sandwich.  He and Freckle are not up yet, so not sure how they are perculating this a.m.

Freckle last night said his tooth got wiggly by eating a cracker, so he lost a tooth in the front bottom last night.  Freckle tried calling his Nanny at work, but would not ask for her by her real name.  I said to him her name, and  he said into the phone, "IS THAT NANNY?"

I wanted him to tell you about getting tooth fairy money.  He called Dad.  Said I got money from the tooth fairy.  It was JUST a DOLLAR.

Oh well.  That is all his brother got too, so guess it is only fair....but Freckle thought for sure tooth enamel was on the up swing of inflation.

Freckle's cough sounds terrible.  he just let out a loud booming crud moving cough.  Pray we can once and for all get these boys well.

With Heckle's new "diet" or restricted foods, we have had some interesting conversations.  We went to Chick-fil-A and instead of French Fries found out they can order fruit.  So I get it thinking we will just pick out the citric acid fruits (oranges) and be done.  He had set out grapes and oranges. I was like Heckle you can have grapes he was like No I can't.  I tried and tried to understand why he thought he could not have grapes.  Finally he said remember Mom it said Grape Fruit.  (grape being a fruit to him was grape fruit.....not grapefruit!)  He is so funny.  Argues with M all the time about what he can and can't have.  His attitude is so totally different than before.  More of a pleasant child.
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Oct. 17, 2007

Another Tuesday with a dr

Here is our yesterday.

Got up, showered, B did school. Out the door by Noon to be in another city by 1:00 which was 30 minutes before our 1:30 appointment.  This was for the allergist to see Heckle for his cough he has had since July of this year.

We had lots of paper work to fill out, and I believe we got to the back after 2:30.  Then the dr comes in FINALLY after 3:00 and then the nurse called him out of the room 2 more times for NOT our patient, so we had TONS of interruptions.  Then he comes back, talks to us some more, and then finally leaves and says he wants a cat scan of Heckle's sinus.  The nurse comes in and says do you know where Open MRI is, and I say yes, and she says well go over there and get his CT scan done.  I said ok, can he eat "lunch" before we get over there. It is now 4:00 and she says, NO you need to get over there and get his scan and get back over here BEFORE 5 so we can prescribe your medicine based on the findings of the CT scan.

So I start out speeding.....then realize, why am I falling into their trap, he has had this cough for 3 months.  This is not life or death.  I will get meds when I get meds.

Then we get to the CT place.  They tell me the confirmation number they had from our insurance was not correct, and that could I come back Thursday a.m. for the test.  I said sure.  So we left.  I called dr back and said I needed to now get son "lunch" and if they did not need me to come back, I would go home.  They said did you get your prescriptions?  I said no since the CT scan was (in their words) hingent upon what prescriptions they were giving. 

So I go thru McDonalds drive thru and grab me a hamburger/french fries, and tea, and Heckle a kids meal complete with Chicken Nuggets/french fries and sweet tea.

We go back to the dr shoving food in our mouths in the parking lot.

We go back in.  They take us right back to a room.  We did not wait long and a Nurse is talking my ear off about him (she is joking) saying he would have to quit smoking, and no more alcohol.  Then she added but he could continue cursing.  I explained while laughing that his dad was a Baptist preacher.  We both laughed.  Then she started with her list.  He can not have

None of the following:
Alcohol
Coffee/tea (decaffinated or caffeinated)
Carbonated Drinks
Fried Foods
Citric Acid Foods (oranges, grapefruit, tomatoe)
No Onions
No peppers
Spices
Chocolate

I'm sure there were others, but Mike took the list to work, cuz he was going to call the dr.

More on page 2.

Then highlighted all over the place was

He is now on:

Ayr (saline rinse several times a day)
Nasonex (2 times a day 1 spray per nostril)(of course the label reads 120 metered sprays:  inhale EVERY spray in each nostril twice daily )
Prilosec (30 minutes to 1 hour before eating in the a.m.)
Dytan taking twice daily 1/2 a pill  (I paid $36.00 for this med, to find out later in the consult with the pharmicist that it was like Benadryl.  DH was not real happy since Benadryl is only 4.00 or so....)

Then the Nurse tells me not to pay full price for the prilosec and gives me a generic name of prilosec.  Come to find out AT THE PHARMACY, that has to be prescribed by a dr.  I paid $15.00 for 14 pills.  WOW!

So I repeat to her before ever walking out of the dr office.  So I need 4 meds at the pharmacy.  If you could have seen the chicken scratch of writing all over this paper with heavy yellow highlight, you would have been questioning it too.  She almost rolled her eyes like I was a moron.  She finally said yes.  So off I go to the Pharmacy.

Leaving the pharmacy it was then 6 o'clock.  I had a meeting in our city with the other parents from Boy Scouts.  So I rushed over to the Boy scout meeting place, and we have out meeting.  Then I go by Sonic,  it is after 8:00 p.m.  I left the house at noon?  WOW!  So I grab dinner.  Wait on dinner to come to the window.  Get home, it is now close to 8:50.  I then realize everyone ordered tater tots and got french fries.  I ordered a salad and no where was there dressing, and I got 3 kids meals and only got toys for 2.  I called Sonic to which she explained she would hold a toy for me under my name.  I said what about my dressing, I am just hoping I have ranch in the fridge, she said she would TALK to her people so this didn't happen again.  GREAT customer service by the way.  LOL

Then I get home with said paper work from Dr.  I find at the top of the page there was supposed to be an antibiotic....or wait since it wasn't highlighted could it have already been on the form before they started writing my son's information down.  It said take medicine till he was well for greater than one week.  Ceftin I believe it was.  SO are we without some meds the dr wanted us taking?  Hmmmmm.

Then looking down to the lower corner of the paper covered in highlighter and hen scratching, I see they want to do an allergy test on Heckle but he is going to have to be off of antihistimine's for more than 10 days.....now my question is didn't he just PUT HIM ON antihistimine?

Anyway, enough dr rant for the day.  I am just wondering if he even has been out of school a week at this point. 

Oh and another kicker.  He is being treated (hence the prilosec) for reflux AND Sinus.  Now if he takes all these meds and get better, how will we know if the GERD meds worked or all the sinus meds?  Ok...really rambling now I am sure.

So we have a Thursday a.m. appt for a CT scan.

Also, did I forget to mention at the Scout meeting I caught two boys on two occassions getting Heckle in a corner?  The last time I just told Heckle to come out of this room and stay by my side.  They had him cornered once and were doing something to him.  They were both bigger than him.  So that made me mad.  Ok...really stopping the Tuesday rant.
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Oct. 11, 2007

Tuesday Night

Well Tuesday night finds us having a happy "5" being home around the dinner table and eating and talking.  After dinner, B announces his heart hurt him.  Now this is the child that A) has subaortic stenosis ( a small narrowing of the blood vessel that leads into the aortic valve.) and B) as a younger boy, his ear would get red, he would rub and rub on it, and I would take him to his pediatrician, to which she would exclaim, IS he NOT JUST screaming in pain, his ear drum is about to burst?!!!  I said no, he showed no signs of pain, just red and seemed to be itchy ear.

So when this child approaches me to tell me his heart hurt, not once but twice during dinner, and after dinner, I get VERY CONCERNED!

So I call Ask-a-Nurse.  They said you can either go to the ER or Call 9-1-1.  Well I did indeed call 9-1-1 at the advice of my dh.  Guess what.  They come and announce as they walk in they are ready to transport.  Transport?  What do you mean transport?  Well they advise me they do not have the necessary equipment to tell me if he is having an actual heart problem, and especially aortic stenosis problem.  Ok....they put leads on him and see that his heart is beating ok, but again tell me if I decide to take him to the ER by my own vehicle that he could possibly die in transport......etc....etc.....etc.  We had to sign papers saying we had declined "services" and then I loaded up in our van and went to the local hospital.

There I am informed that aortic stenosis will never cause pain to the child.  So is this to say if the "narrowing" on his aortic valve gets any "tighter" I may never know till he wakes up dead?????????  OK....well this "new" news, really helped MY HEART!

OK....back to the ER visit.  I love dr's and medical staff....LOL...they are so "candid".

So, they take him down to x-ray and he gets 2 chest x-rays, and later in our "room" he gets a heart monitor all set up on him and she listens to his heart.

Then the Dr comes back in.  Says B has Splenic-flexure syndrome that is comparable to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  I tried to call his dr today and let her know, and see if she wants to schedule a gastro dr visit or wait it out.

Dr said he found the reason his heart was hurting, or the reason B thought it was his heart.  His colon was filled with air and enlarged a bit, and was pushing against his diaphram. 

Did I mention that there is never a dull moment at my house.

Then today, since we were at ER from 10:30 till 2:30 when I drove in the drive.  B did not settle right down and go to sleep, but the twins woke him around 10 and I was dead to the world as well, so I got up, made French Toast for breakfast and then by noon, we were all down again.  I don't think B slept much this afternoon, but I sure did.  Then we got up and started getting ready for church tonight.  (This is thursday a.m. but since I have not gone to bed officially, it is still Wed night to me....LOL)  So I went to pick up a friend, went out the front door, and Jeckle was sort of running to the car, and fell, and rolled a couple of times.  Freckle said they hit heads and that is why Jeckle fell.  I did not see it happen, but B was going to save the day, so he took off running, and guess what.....YES!  He fell onto the ground.  I really thought he broke his arm as he came up "holding" his arm.  By second glance, I saw blood, and he got by with just a scrape on his elbow, and Jeckle only got two scratches.  Praise the Lord!

Well and I forgot my main problem today.  I had gone into the kitchen to get a 2nd glass of milk for Jeckle this a.m. with our French Toast, and managed to get some sort of thorn/sticker in my foot, and I could not manage to put any weight on it, and everytime I tried to pick it out, seemed I could not find it.  So after church (yes ALMOST 12 hours later) I had Mike help me fish the splinter out.  It hurt so bad.  But finally all is well at Soldiers of the Cross School for boys.  LOL

Well my little blog buddies, I hope you all see that just daily praying for this household will sure be put to good use.  LOL

Hope this finds all of my friends well.

More later
I am sure......we are never bored here at SotCSfb.  (Soldiers of the Cross School for boys)

over and out!
Me
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Sep. 5, 2007

Well today was our 2nd Day of drama class for our Homeschool Class.  It is weekly on Tuesday....I am writing this Wednesday.

They wanted the class to be broken into sections....one for pretending to play the keyboard, one playing drums, and one singing.  They were pretending to be a Rock 'n Roll Band.

So they had the "brothers 3" broken up into each section.  So Jeckle....also known as bruiser cuz if there is an accident within a 20 mile radius....it is going to be him.

So back to Jeckle being a Rock 'n Roll singer (you know what they say about preacher's kids....)so he is doing his "singing"  and was supposed to move to the left of the stage,......and then right......well he falls down....straight down on his nose....with glasses in place....and screams.....blood curdling...raise the roof.....screams.  Well it barely bled, came to the edge of his nostril...and stopped....so I had no idea the extent of his damages.....and it seemed minimal.  Later we were home around 3 p.m. class is from 12:30 - 2:00 so this happened somewhere around 1-ish.  5 o'clock his whole nose is purple....and he had managed to leave his glasses on all day.....and so it was swollen AROUND his glasses.  I took his glasses off....managed to "pick" his nose with a Q-tip to get out the blood.....it was still freshly bleeding....I called the ask a nurse from our pediatrician line....they started....could it be broken...does it look straight....(I am sorry once swelling starts on something supposed to be "straight" it appears NOT straight any longer.  So they started asking if I thought he might be hemorroging (spelling I know is not quite right) and that his nose might have on impact pushed into his brain.....and then do we think it is broken, etc....I did not know the answers to these questions...so she said I would take him in...and by the way the last Dr office closes at 8:00 and it is 7:00 p.m. and I live almost 45 minutes away from the next town....so I had to jump IN THE CAR immediately.....and did I mention my dh is in El Paso.  So I am home alone....with 3 kids....one needing medical attention.....what to do?  what to do?

So into the car we go.....They took 4 x-rays of his head, said his nose was not broken, then the dr that was in there had not looked at the child, explained he would look up in there.....and looked at the CHILD, and said Oh MY!  I am not looking in there am I?  I said, well I wasn't going to tell you NO, but I was wondering how that was going to work.  He said, WOW That is really swollen, and I said, That's why I came in, I was afraid it was broken and it being so swollen I could not tell if it was straight any longer.  He said put ice on it for 3 days and if in 7-10 days if the swelling is not better I have to take him back in.

The darker it got last night the more purple and larger his nose got.  The whole "middle" section of his nose is purple....or it was last night.  He slept elevated on his Spider-Man couch, so maybe that will help.  I explained I had "picked" his nose with a Q-tip and there was still at 6 p.m. fresh blood. etc....making more sure I wanted him seen.

Anyway, another trial in our household.  Another Jeckle moment.  Life is not dull at our house.....my kids keep me busy!
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Aug. 6, 2007

Monday

Today finds me with a "new job".  I am keeping 3 kids in my house, brother/sisters and I got up around 6:25 a.m. and showered.  Then I got the kids, and before my kids woke, I decided to clean the kitchen while the other kids watched a movie.  I got the kitchen all bleached, and before 9 made eggs, and toast.  Fed 6 kids, and got the dishes all cleared and dishwasher unloaded/loaded.  I have worked and worked on the kitchen.  It is all "sparkly" now.  I am so excited.

I just got news my friend got hired for a job.  CONGRATS!!  I am so excited for her.  I will be keeping her kids while she works.  YEAH, K!

Last night I worked on the house before bed, worked on the boys room, and living room.  I am so very excited about my clean house.

We played before lunch, and took a nap (well not me!) and then got up and went outside, came in and made a craft for Mom and Dad, and then had a popsicle snack, and then played some more and now they are watching a show.  The day seemed to pass pretty quick.  Only a few casualties!  LOL.  Oldest girl got a sticker burr in her foot, broke her flip flops earlier, and she got bitten by a hamster first thing out of the bag.

Well all in all it was a good day!
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Jul. 31, 2007

What goes up must come down

NOTE:  This is not for the weak or faint of heart.  If you quesy easy, this is not the story for you.  This is only for the strong Mom's who have picked their children's noses at least once.

Today in our Homeschool Science Class we learned about going up....and gravity getting it down.

Jeckle came to me this a.m. saying there was something in his nose.  Well we have all had colds, flu, what-have-you, so snotty noses were nothing new for this week.  So I (as gross as this is) got a Q-tip (I know nothing bigger than a bread box in their nasal cavities....but oh well.....the story gets better as it goes along.....hang on!) and I went to dig out the aggressor.  He kept saying you are hurting me....I knew a soft cotton laced Q-tip was not hurting the small child....so I said, No honey Mommies not hurting you....he kept insisting....Yes you are.

Anyway, I found the aggressor, tried to pry it out with my q-tip.  Once again....Ouch!  I said ok....I will close off this side of your nose, and we will get that booger out!  BLOW HARD OUT YOUR NOSE!  He did.  What happens next not any mother would ever want to witness.  Something white and long shoots out of his nose.  It is something from an ink pen.  A plastic mechanical piece that helps the clicking pen pop out and go back in.  I started screaming.  JECKLE, how could you.  When did you....why did you WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????

Well we all lived thru the day, contrary to what the neighbors thought.  No one was injured or mamed in the retelling of this story.

Just another Home School Nurse to the rescue!  I get to be teacher, principle, nurse, home room reader, cafeteria lady(well maybe not the image you have in your head with slop in one hand and hair net on her hair....) and Mom all wrapped up in one loving package!
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Jul. 30, 2007

Last two weeks

Well this week finds us catching up once again with my dear friend named Blog.  We have spent the last two weeks at church, which is not a bad thing.....just a busy thing.  The first week we had Revival and what a great one it was.  My cousin, Byron was holding our revival and boy can he preach up a storm.  LITERALLY!!!  He brought his wife Kim with him and their lovely daughter.  They are the greatest!  We ate out with them on Wednesday Night after church at our local Mexican restaurant.  WE love that place.

This past week found us with VBS each night.  We had an average of 13 (with adult teacher/teen leaders total of 32)kids for 3 nights and 18 kids (total with teacher/workers 36) for one night, and the last night was Family Night where we had 38 in attendance Friday Night.  We had fun.  The church surprised me with Birthday Cake on Friday night since I was mourning all week the passing of my youth on my turning 40 on Saturday.  I was in shock over them getting me a cake and keeping it a secret.

Saturday, I woke, got all the boys to lay in bed with me and we had "Family Bed" for a while, hugging and loving on each other with the boys and Dad and Mom.....we played around a bit, then got out of bed and started getting ready for our day.  We were to go to Red Lobster and meet my parents, and then another secret, we went to my Mom's house for birthday cake, and there was Byron, Kim, Olivia, Eliz, Angie, Gree, and my parents, kids, dh and ME!  I got a new dress for my birthday, and I got to wear it to church on Sunday.  Church, out to eat with friends, and then home, worked on some songs we were to sing in the evening service.  B sang a solo, M sang a solo, I sang 2 solos, and the Family sang a song together.  It was fun!

Today a friend came over in preparing for our September Wednesday Night Class for kids.  We are excited to start off this new program.
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Jul. 11, 2007

Days of our Lives

Well here we are once again.  Updating the old blog.  I have left this for all of our busy-ness of summer.  This is the first summer where we actually have been gone most of it.  Here is a small summary of what all has been going on.

I signed the twins up for Drama Camp and they were there around 1 1/2 hours for Drama and during that time they learned Drama things, had snack and then played Drama games, and then went home.  I stayed the entire time as by the time I would have gotten somewhere to accomplish something, it would have been time to head back to pick them up.  They enjoyed Drama, and were in a play called Snow White and the several dwarfs.  C was Bashful and got kissed by Snow White(Teenager) and said "Aw shucks, Doc, I just hope she kisses me again."  Then J was Hungry, and anyone that knows him well knows this name is very fitting.  They had a great time, and Nanny, Liz, Ang, and Mom and Dad were in attendance Fri night during their performance.  It was great!

This was our first summer to be enrolled in Boy Scouts.  B has gotten thru Wolf level in around 2 months.  It was tough a time or two, but we got all things accomplished to get him to the next level before summer.  Then the opportunity arose that I would be able to shuttle some kids in my van if I was willing to drive near Dallas back and forth daily, and the boys all 3 of them could attend.  I told them there was no need in my coming home, and that I would be willing to work.  Well work, they had.  I had the biggest class out there, over 13 kids each day.  Ranging in age from Tiger Cub (where they have to be at least entering 1st grade) up thru 3rd or 4th grade, cuz I also had Wolf Cubs and later found out I had one Bear Cub.  They finally took the one Bear and promoted him up to the next teacher.....but it was fun.  One day they had the firetruck come out and hose down the kids to cool them off.  The boys enjoyed that.  Then they also participated in Archery, BB Guns, Roping Cattle, Shooting off bottle rockets, Swimming, Crafts and Games.  They got to earn their pins and belt loops in swimming.  I was one proud Momma.  LOL  We were even in the local paper showing off their Archery Skills.  It was neat.  I think the boys learned alot, and they had fun.  We nearly almost lost C on the last day.  He started getting weak I noticed, was unable to hold the BB Gun, the instructor called me over and told me something was wrong with him and to check it out.  He could not pull the trigger at all.  I looked him in the face, his lips were very pale.  Since I am unfamiliar with heat exhaustion/heat stroke, I asked some of the other adults standing around, who had brought a car to this far away section so no one got shot with a BB Gun, if he would mind driving me son around to the section for the sick kids.  He said no problem.  They pumped him full of Gatorade and Water, one of the instructors out there said they walked passed him and said, "C how are you doing?"  His answer, "Awesome!"  They thought that was pretty cool for a 5 year old, who was unable to hold his own head up and barely able to sip small drinks.  Then they brought him to me about an hour later.  He said he needed to potty, and I took him.  He starts throwing up in the bathroom there next to the park,  I with all my Motherly wisdom, hollered out the door for HELP!  LOL  The men who had been watching him earlier, came running over and I told them he was now throwing up to which one of the men put C on his back and carried him down to where they were stationed before.  He slept most of the car ride home about an hour and a half, and the man told me he might not eat or act like himself till the next day in the afternoon. Thank God we did not have to wait that long, he was back to his old self by nightfall.  THANK YOU GOD!

Then the following week was B's Drama Camp.  They did the Gilligan's Island.  B was Native 3.  He said Oogga Boogga twice, and told the other natives they were strange men, strange talk, with strange weapons.  That was his BIG line.  Oh well.  It was a life experience.  I keep telling myself that.  Don't know if it was more a life experience for him or me.  I had just started taking meds for a condition I am finding more about lately, so I was very emotional and in fact ran in the bathroom to cry, so no one in the room saw me crying that my son read a different character before break, and she even asked him if he would like to be THAT character he read for before the break to which he said YES!  And then he did not get the part.  He started almost screaming, no I read ____ part.  I am ____.  It broke my heart.  Part of me wanted to snatch him up and take him out of there.  But it seemed God was speaking to my heart and he said to me, "This is a life experience, if you snatch him up cuz he did not land the part he wanted, what has he learned......NOTHING......stick it out.  That's what this is about."  It was a hard pill to swallow, but I did walk out of the bathroom with renewed enthusiasm, and I walked in that room, sat next to my son, who by now was in the fetal position saying No I am ____.  I said, sit up!.  YOu have a choice.  YOu can walk over to the teacher and tell her we are NOT coming back, or you can sit up here and let's work on our lines.  He said No,  I don't want to leave.  I said then sit up, and let's do what we came to do.  Be a part in a play.  He agreed.  I helped him with a line.  He looked at me and then the teacher and he said I like being Native 3 it is fun.  God was working there on an almost 40 year old......and an almost 8 year old.  I am not too prideful to say I did not handle it correctly, but with God's help I came out the other side a better person for our life experience.  See in Homeschooling, sometimes the parent's learn more than the children......or at least along side them at any rate.

We had the performance to his play that Friday night.  complete with 2 cockateils who whistled during the girls performance.  It was funny.  And our tarantula was in the play as well.  One of the songs talked about a Black Tarantula.  So I told them I had one.....and Juicy the Tarantula was there to hold down his part in the play as well.

Then we are just about up to date with the exception of last week.  Mom and Dad once again took us on vacation with them.  We went to LBJ Library and learned all about Lady Bird Johnson, and Lyndon B Johnson and all that lead up to his decision to become President and all sorts of good stuff.  It was a very neat and educational Museum.  It is on the 3rd, 4th, and 10th floor.  The top floor is set up like the White House Oval Office.  The boys liked being there and asked all sorts of questions.

We also went to 2 Caverns.  One was Inner Space Cavern and the other was Wonder World.  I will stop here to tell this story about Wonder World.  We went in to this Wonder World, and rode a train, feed deer, saw tons of animals in their environment.  Left there and went back to the main building to wash our hands from the deer eating out of our hands.  There was a bunch of little girls in the bathroom and as we walked in they had just run out of paper towels.  The girls were slinging their hands in the air making the water fall to the floor.  The tile floor was getting slick with all that water.  Josh had been standing near the sinks waiting our turn, when Nanny said if you need to potty let's go now.  Turned around and Caleb had followed her and next thing I know Josh had turned rather quickly and was going to follow too.  Mom did not see what happened next.  Josh's legs went completely out from under him BEHIND him.  He fell completely head first on his forehead on the right hand side.  He completely bent his glasses and they were almost straight.

He started screaming terribly bloodcurdling screams, and did not stop for several minutes, the whole while I was running him thru the souvenir shop trying to make it to the snack shop where I could get ice.  He still continued screaming.  Then one lady came over and brought him a sucker, telling him it had some medicine in it and he would feel better once he started eating the sucker.  It worked.  She checked on him twice to see if he was feeling better and if the sucker was working.  I had to fill out an accident report which I was very nice and told them they had an excellent staff who was ready in an "emergency" to make it all right.  Told about the sucker lady and how awesome she was.  They came around later and (of course they gave us ice and a glass of water---he was so pale he went completely white in his lips--I thought he would faint for sure but he did not.  Praise God!)  But they came around later and wanted to know if we wanted to take him to the local hospital up the road and have him get skull pictures to make sure there was nothing broken or anything "worse" that it appeared on the outside.  We said no, that we felt he was fine now.  So they were very nice to us.  I know they were scared that we would sue or something.  We will not....I really think he is fine, and this did happen like Tuesday I believe.  He was remembering brothers' names....he said the brothers names and included his own.  LOL

We went to a Park in Austin and walked a wonderful 4th of July display.  We walked and walked to get there, and it was well worth the walk.  We had fun.  We ate and ate and ate on vacation.  We took naps, well the adults did, not the kids....LOL.  We went to a local mall on Thursday and looked all around for all sorts of bargains.  It was neat and a great get-a-way.  Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with again this year.  We left out Sat night late, and got back in Friday afternoon.  It was good to have a break.

Now we are settling in.  I have woke up Tuesday with a bit of a cold.  I have also been trying to get my house in order Mon-Tues before I got completely sick.  Today (Wed) I have not done much of anything but napped some more.  My nose is constantly running, and today my dr called me to explain to me that I am having ovarian failure.  I am not sad that I can't have kids, no that is not it.  I have my "quiver full"  LOL....3 is enough for me!  I am just sad because they are saying I am 15 years ahead of my time in having bone density test, and all the other test the 50-ish women have.  I am a bit scared, but I know God is in control of whatever he puts me thru.  I just worry about my children....and what Mother doesn't.  But I worry that if something happens to me, what would happen to them.  But I can't think about that now.  Just put one foot in front of the other TODAY!  That is all I have is THIS MOMENT.  Nothing more.

Make the most of you moments.  Don't waste them with I'll do that tomorrow, for tomorrow may never come.
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May. 4, 2007

Friday

Well this a.m. we found ourselves getting ready early and getting out of the house for a much needed field trip to a Train Museum in town.  It was fun.  We met one other family there and we got a history lesson for sure.  It was cool, he talked and talked about being in the military and being in England.  He told all sorts of stories about the Gold Spike and all sorts of wonderful History Lessons he told.  We could have sat there for hours.  The kids had all sorts of fun looking at all the older model trains, seeing currency from all over the world, a 1917 License Plate, one from Iraq as well and all the many wonderful things that we saw.  Thanks Mr. Harold, we had such fun.

Then me and the boys left there and went and grabbed some lunch, and we went to our grandmothers house(their GREAT grandmother's house) and we ate and visited for a while, then left there and went to get some Draw Right Now books to complete our set we had at home.  Thanks Grandma!

Then home and we got busy cleaning and purging.  I had last Wednesday cleaned out a closet while dh was away on business, and with the hospital visit towards the last of the week and packing for this visit and knowing my mother was keeping the twins, and packing them as well, etc, I have put this "closet" sitting in my living room floor for over a week on a back burner.  Such as Monday I was out of the house, Wednesday afternoon I was out of the house, and Thursday Night I was out of the house, not including Monday evening, and Wednesday Night church.  So all in all with the weekend, and Sunday church and baseball, etc.  I have had no Free time to work on this silly clutter fest.  So finally today I decided (or rather since we are having company spend the weekend here with us....it was now or never!!!) to get this out.  I took out 2 bags of trash, gave away 3 boxes of stuff and now feel I am on the road to recovery.  Hoping now I can try and keep my house a little better.  Like FLY and everyone says, You Can't organize clutter, you can only get rid of the clutter.

I hope this finds me at a better place in my life.  I am tired of living in chaos.  Ready to rise above the ashes (clutter) and be a better person!  I promise to make baby steps to recovery.

thanks for letting me vent!
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May. 1, 2007

Today

Dear Blog,

Today finds me at peace.  Today the eyeglass shop finally called and said Freckle's eyeglasses were ready after a whole month of being without them.....today he and eyewear were reunited.

Today also, our primary pediatrician called to say that Heckle was NOT having....repeat NOT HAVING seizures.  I shouted it from the mountain tops and called all my friends.  I was so excited to share this wonderful news.

Praise the Lord from whom all Blessings flow.  Praise His Holy Name.

Thanks be to God for our answered prayers.  Not just this ONE....but the other 3 million 472 thousand and 34.

I am relieved on the one hand.....and confused on the other.  But all in all this Mom is HAPPY!

Well, tomorrow finds us busy, busy, busy.  We are getting much needed rain, and ready for it to stop so we can get on with our lives and our outdoor activities.

The boys got school done.  I am still purging quite a bit from our closet purge....it is not yet completed.
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Apr. 28, 2007

April 28

Well here we are again.  Guess what....I'm back.  Maybe not for long.  I have been very busy.  Trying to change the name of my blog....from Domestically Challenged to Domestically Changed!  LOL

I have been trying to keep up daily with laundry, lessons for 3 boys, dishes, and in between time finishing up a job I had for almost a year.  Things have changed some in our home over the last month and now I am trying to keep up with the house DAILY, and also on top of boys working on lessons, which before was never getting done without me screaming at the top of my lungs, because they were interrupting my "computer" time.  Well that no more is the case.  I am trying to step up and remember WHY I wanted to Homeschool our young boys.  It was not to be the classroom bully, which I was turning into....I was trying to up my post on several forums.  Be top poster....cuz that was important.  No more is that the case.  I have given up almost completely on one forum and cut back tons of post on another forum.  Oh I still read ONE....just not posting.  But now I am trying to become a good mother, teacher, mentor, friend, example to my kids.  Before I was not being the best I could be.

Now dh comes in and the dishes are already cleared from breakfast AND lunch....not lying around waiting on someone to do something with them where we had eaten the last two meals.  The laundry I am also trying to not let it reach the ceiling before I do something with it.

Then we last week went to Children's Hospital and had some test run on oldest to see if he is indeed HAVING seizures.  He had an EEG and MRI both on Friday, and we are awaiting results.  Hoping by Wednesday that I might have some answers.  Also by Wednesday am also hoping that middle child will get his glasses back.  It has almost been a month since he broke them "adjusting them" so they would be tighter, and he was experienced in this area since he had watched his father and the tech's at the eye glass place wiggle them and they would then be perfect....so of course he knew exactly what he was doing when HE tried to adjust them.  He is complaining about not seeing stuff on labels, and getting real close to papers just to "see" what he is supposed to be doing for schoolwork.

Also another reason I have been blog and forum challenged is Oldest son has joined Boy Scouts and now our "free time" is spent doing Boy Scout stuff so he can get checked off on his Bobcat & Wolf Badges.  We have been working hard together to get some of these knocked out.  B and I and B and Dad have taken alternate times with him to get him to where he is today.  I believe he will be getting lots of badges and patches Monday night at Boy Scouts.  The Cub Master thinks we can do it all by year end.....would that be August?  WOW!

Anyway, staying busy just being a MOM. 
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Mar. 14, 2007

Mrs. Domestic

Ok...ok...ok....everyone is on the declutter bus. Get rid of that, trash that...don't buy two of those....I am still in the process of purging my home of unwanted clutter. It is a daily, weekly, hourly challenge.

Don't print that off the computer...will you really ever read it again, or will it just add to the piles of paper stacked up on the left hand side of my computer desk?

Which brings me to my next question. I know several online cleaning helps, tell you to clean things BEFORE they get dirty. So how often is too often? Are we expected to clean things weekly, bi-monthly? What to do. How often do you scrub your tubs? Weekly, every two weeks? What is normal? And especially in this house...and most homeschooling Mom's barely have time to potty by themselves let alone scrub the whole house before the dh comes home from a hard days work....and we are supposed to look like June Cleaver before he comes home, during our cleaning with pearls on and dress with heels, all the while bent over at the waist scrubbing the ring around the bathtub with bleach, and how do you KEEP bleach off yourself without changing the color of the dress....of course back in June Cleaver's day they only had black and white tv's....so maybe it was harder to see the bleach stains on her dress when it was just black and white and not color.

So all this wondering just makes me wonder....do I clean with bleach before I get showered and dressed to pearls? do I clean WITH THE PEARLS? I do good to get makeup on most days....and now all this stress of when to clean, what day, pearls, no pearls, dress, heels. What is a girl to do.

I am trying to make some changes here at my home. Starting with my house. I am in a 30-day challenge of trying to keep one room clean for one day....then next day clean another room, then that day keep 1st room clean along with 2nd room. Day 3....3rd room, all the while keeping room 1 & 2 looking good.

I have so many piles and somethings in my home don't have "homes" or places they really "go" in the house. It has just been stacked on that particular item for so long, it seems a good place for it. But I know if a cleaning crew came in, that would be the first to move to a "home". You know a place for everything and everything in it's place.....well a few things here at my house, have lost their place, or never had one. I am an out of sight, out of mind person. So once it goes behind a cabinet door, closet door, or drawer, I never think about it again. How does someone like that fit in this new clutter free home world? I often wonder how the old-timers are really getting along in this world today. Are we that much different than our fore-mothers and fathers? Why in this time, are we all hanging onto clutter so much that we have several reality TV shows of purging your homes. There is neat, Mission Organization, just to mention a few, and on the net there is FLY Lady, Oraganized Home, Clean Heart , Clean Home. All of which I am a part.

Anyway, how often do you all clean your home? Weekly, twice a week? Monthly and keep everything else straight?
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Mar. 12, 2007

Days of our Lives

WE have been busy, busy, busy and it isn't slowing down anytime soon.

Mr. Domestic was off today for rain.  His 2nd job he is outside so when it rains, he isn't getting paid.  We ran around town today, took some stuff back for the church, exchanged for something else, ran other errands, ate lunch out, bought some needed items to get thru the week.

We have been doing school for 3 weeks now with a new thing to our family, Five in a Row.  I even this last week got the cookbook, Christian Concepts taught with each lesson, and bought some books that go with each lesson.  Each week you read one book for 5 days, and do different things with each book.  Some include Bible, Cooking, Science, Social Studies, History, Math, Music, and Art.

We have all been having fun with these lessons, and made our first "lapbook" this last week on our 2nd book in our series.

This past weekend was Jeckle's turn at Nanny's and he wanted to invite his "friend" Heckle.  They spent a great weekend with Nanny, except she was sick and did not want me to come pick up the boys.  Praying here that she was not contagious.

Well Since last posting our dwarf hamster died.  I need to post pics of our new dwarf hamster.  Her name is Snowball, she is white with red eyes.  She is sooooo cute.

We still have Tarantula, Beta, 3 turtles, 6 crabs, and the hammie.  So we are a well rounded family.  LOL

We are fixing to start a season of soccer and Drama is by the end of the month coming to an end.  This is Heckle's 2nd season of Drama, and Soccer Heckle has been involved in 4 or 5 seasons of soccer, and the twins have been involved with 3-4.

They are all excited about all the new things happening around our house.

We went to the Neurologist last Monday, and found out that he has 4 more appts to help us find out what is wrong.  Poor Heckle.

Guess that is all for now!
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Feb. 26, 2007

Feb 22 & 23 Thurs Friday

have tried different curriculum over the years....I am in my 3rd year of HS'ing...and a friend had borrowed FIAR and I just got them back this week. I have done Thurs/Friday starting with Lentl. We are having so much fun....but I also fear that I am "missing something".

Thursday, talked about Social Studies, Geography (locating place on map - placing disk the kids color on the map.) Then we also talked about the artist, how he drew the pics they were all pencil(no color at all) and shaded...and about the grumpy Mr. Sneep, how he was jealous and have you ever been jealous.

Then we got (me and ds7) the twins(dss5) on the couch and each of us listened to them read....or attempt....and sound out words letters....etc. So ds7 was my big boy helper.

Then I got an idea, I wrote AT on a piece of paper, took another piece of paper, wrote C,B,S,F,H,M,P,R,S,TH,V and they made words and we talked about WHAT the NEW word was.

Now ds7 is making them do "spelling words" with cat, bat, sat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, that, and vat. Then beside their spelling words they are drawing a picture of what each word is. They are having fun. I am working on laundry, dishes, lunch right now while they are working.

We also made Lemonaide for lunch, to go along with the lesson. Later we watched Magic School Bus talking about Solar System, and "science-y" stuff.

Friday we did our Lentl book again, talked about the flags on each page where the Col was coming home. That led into us talking about the American flag....50 stars represent 50 states...counted the states on the map(50)...13 stripes were for the 13 original colonies....then they wanted to know what the TX things represented on the flag. I looked up. All I saw was the star was for the lone star state....but I am printing off State stuff like state flag to color, state flower on a paper to color, bird: Mockingbird to color, and we will talk about tree, song, and some other things....I also printed out Ohio state shape,....so we could talk about our library book again.

Oh....in the library book they sang She'll be coming around the mountain...so we sang it which led into why would she be driving (he was thinking about DRIVING and was wondering how that would work!)six white horses....so we looked online and saw horse-drawn carriage and we talked about that a lot. They were loving that.....We sang the song and did the motions.

Then I got on a web site that the kids could do an interactive letter drag to make new words to match the pictures...it reinforced yesterdays at, cat, hat, bat, sat, rat, etc....then I kinda introduced an: can, fan, ran, pan.

We read with them again today.
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Feb. 14, 2007

February 14

Today we had our Valentine party complete with *homemade* Subway Sandwiches that we made….

The boys had made out their Valentine Cards all by themselves complete with the TO:  FROM: section…..all by themselves….Caleb kinda got confused and did the TO: section to himself and the FROM: section to the kids he was giving the cards to….LOL

Everyone got 21 cards as there were 22 kids and 7 Moms at our party….but Caleb got 22 cards as he made himself a card….TO: Caleb FROM: Caleb.

They made GIANT cookies in a pan, complete with frosting, colored sugar, sprinkles, all kinds of goodies on the cookie.

Thanks Everyone for making this possible.  This was WAY TOOO MUCH FUN!


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Feb. 14, 2007

February 13

Well we had some errands to run today, and gearing up for Drama. ds7 is going to be a Dragon in the next play. He was fitted for his “head gear” and looked oh so cute as a green little dragon. I got several shots of him with his “mask” on. The whole head piece is cut out so it covers his hair and ears….you can see his face. He has ridges going down the back of his head. He was so excited about being a dragon.

Then we went to McDonald’s with Nanny, and wouldn’t you know it, the Doctor I have been waiting to call me for over 40 days calls while we are out.

Then we stopped and got the twins hair cut. It was time…..very much time…..LOL

Not much else today. An easy day!


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Feb. 14, 2007

MOnday, February 12

Today we did not get much accomplished. It was raining outside and the boys wanted to play inside. We had Little Bill here with us and we are preparing for our Valentine’s Day Party, plus oldest ds is learning lines for Drama, and practicing the piano for later this week piano lessons.

We had a quick thunderstorm blow thru, so I got out the “old Childcraft” from when I was a kid, and we read up on Thunder, Lightening, and What makes rain.

They enjoyed our Family Unit Theme, LOL

We normally watch Crocodile Hunter during our lunch break, or Jeff Corwin Unleashed, and somedays ds7 pushes for LINGO, the game show. So there is Science and Language Arts all wrapped up in one. LOL…ok…two!

Then we had a written lesson. I had typed out a list of children in our HS group we were exchanging V-Day Cards with at our party, so I had the kids write their own cards…and their own name. ds5a wrote his name in the TO: part…and put the person it was going to in the FROM: part. Oh well he is just 5. LOL

Why is it ds5a and ds5b did the cards exactly as Mom asked? And ds7 wrote out 4 cards to each child, and wrote TO: FROM: the same on all 4 cards……and even gave each child 4 of the exact same cards. WEIRD…..

Well I need to get to bed. Busy day tomorrow. Will post about it later.

We are reading about Farmer Boy in our Story Time.


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Feb. 9, 2007

WHAT A WEEK!

This week based on Last Wed EEG results, showed that Heckle was having seizures. We are waiting getting in with a Neurologist about 2 hours away. No luck so far. Meanwhile, I know he is having these starring moments....and what am I supposed to do. So one week after the test and two days into my finding out the results of that test, here is what my night composed of:

I was getting ready for a Bible Study in my home Thurs evening, even baked a fresh batch of cookies. Two ladies showed up so I asked the boys to go to their room and play since the ladies were here....waiting on the Nursery worker (or their Dad) to do something with them. The Nursery Worker was not here yet and their Dad just said he was walking over to the church for something. The two ladies were in the Living Room, and a thought struck me. We had stayed out of church Sun a.m. because B had a bad cough and still has it, so I was going to tell him if he wanted to stay home in his room, the twins could go to the Nursery. I walk in their room, B is laying on the bed, looks like "playing asleep" complete with his head on a pillow. I go to "pretend to wake him" he is stiff, and not waking up. I immediately think oh great he is having a Grand Mal seizure, and I start screaming, panicking, calling his name yelling and yelling my friends name in the Living Room. Well the 2 ladies in the living room thought I was "funning" with the boys, and she did not come immediately.

She came in the room, carried him to the Living Room, while I am running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. (I am not a good "stress Mom" and it comes from 2 generations before me.....LOL) I call EMS on the phone, finally dh comes home and the twins were in the hall "tattling" on one another. Come to find out, one of the 5 yr twins and him had been fighting over a "Pirates of the Carribean" toy, complete with it's head off, with the head off, it has a ball, that usually keep it's head in place. (without it's head, looks something like a kid "weapon") and Jeckle had struck him in the back with the "head part" that looks like a ball, and it had caused him to loose his breath. His lips were turning blue. I had always thought that meant their lips turned blue. Well last night on my child, complete from under his nose to his chin was turning blue.

EMS I told NOT to come out, because by the time I was getting them on the phone, dh was seeing the area on his back where the other twin had shoved the figure. So they never came out. And he was coming around.

I found out later even dh thought when he walked in and saw B that he was having a Grand mal seizure. Thank God it was just him passing out. It was a terrible night, and I have a stress headache right now.

Going to take Ibuprofin and go back to bed.
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