Called Home

Sep. 5, 2008 - Happy 5th Birthday Son

Today is my youngest son's 5th birthday. I wrote about his "unusual" birth here.

He is a character! He can be as shy as can be. They still wonder if he can talk at church and we've been there 4 months. Yet at home I'm constantly (or it seems that way some days) telling him to quiet down.

He loves puzzles, dot to dots and legos. He just started Kindergarten and begs to "do school" each day.

Baby Boy, you bring joy, laughter and craziness to our lives. May you grow and mature into a Godly man and fulfill all the purposes He has for you.

Happy Birthday to my freeway baby.

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Aug. 31, 2008 - Beach Day (or at least a few hours)

Summer is about over and we have only been to the beach once!

Well, we did go one evening to watch the sun set and collect shells but my kids informed me it's not a trip to the beach unless bathing suits and getting totally wet are involved. Silly me. I was trying to avoid the applying of sunscreen, sand in the sandwiches, sand in the van and sunburn.

I couldn't avoid it any longer so Beach Day was announced.

I do have to admit I enjoy the surf, sand and sun.

Youngest Dd had her first experience with boogie boarding.

Do you think she liked it? She had a blast, and in only about a foot of water,
which means mom had a blast too!

Oldest Son had load of fun too. I know the picture is a bit far away but
that water was COLD. I didn't go far out. BRRRRR.

And then there's the safest boogie boarder around.

We came home a bit sandy (ok, the tub had a giant ring around it and tons
of grit in the bottom), a bit sunburned, and a bit exhausted from our outing.

But our beach day was a blast.

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Aug. 31, 2008 - lazy summer days......

Why do they call them "lazy summer days"?
I think a kid coined that phrase. If a mom said it, it would probably be "summer daze".
We've had a few of those days (daze) lately .

We went to the Wild Animal Park. Now the reason this trip was a "daze" is that we combined it with school picture day. You see, school pictures are about 30 minutes away and that's half way to the Wild Animal Park, so I thought....save gas, got free passes, not too hot today....lets go.

So the morning daze began with getting everyone bathed, brushed and dressed accompanied by many admonitions to "not get anything on that shirt! " Add in packing a lunch and remembering the forms for pictures, directions to the park and the camera with extra batteries and the daze begins.

Pictures took all of 7 minutes (good thing I combined the trips- I would hate to drive 30 minutes each way for 7 minutes of posterity). Then lunch in the car (didn't want to pack it into the park- my stroller is in storage) and we were in.

DD couldn't wait to pet the deer.

Good thing it was hot and they were lying down. Youngest son would have freaked with
trying to pet a deer that was taller than him.

We took the tram and saw lots of neat animals up close.

I let the kids get wet in the water area since it was hotter than I thought it would be.

And then there's all those photo opportunities.

He may be getting a bit big for this.
That's also why you don't see oldest DD. For some reason I couldn't convince her
to try out any of the neat stuff!

I was exhausted by the drive home and three of the kids slept the whole way home but
the shirts survived until pictures, everyone smiled and the Wild Animal Park was just as
hot and fun as it used to be.

Lazy summer days at our house continue.....

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Aug. 10, 2008 - still waiting....and celebrating

We are STILL waiting to hear from our short sales.....but while we are waiting we've been celebrating.

Celebrating Gods grace and our anniversary.

Yes, hubby and I have been married 21 years! We were able to get away for 3 days and go to Indio, CA.
(outside of Palm Springs). I know....you're thinking desert....in summer....!!!!!
Well, it was 116 degrees but that's just an excuse to go shopping!

We were able to take the tram up to the top of the mountain. It was 106 degrees at the bottom ...

and 72 degrees at the top.

Now that's a temperature change.
It was really pretty up there. A completely different climate.

I just realized these photos are just like our honey moon photos.
A picture of me...alone.....and then a picture of him......

alone. Maybe I should learn to use the timer on my camera.

We stayed up there a few hours. (didn't want to go back to the heat too soon).

We went hiking....

and then headed back down to the desert floor.

Going down, by the way, was decidedly more scary than going up! The tram
rotates as it goes up and down and sure did seem to go faster going down.

We are suppose to hear soon on our houses (all I want is one!) so we would
appreciate your prayers. This is taking much longer than we planned and
although we've been totally blessed with great friends to stay with ....I need to
start school soon and need my stuff.

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Jul. 23, 2008 - belated birthday, bugs and shameless cute photos

We are in our 10th week of w.a.i.t.i.n.g. to hear from the banks on the homes we have offers in on. They are "short sales". Enough said.

Anyway....while we are waiting, we have been somewhat busy.
Oldest son celebrated his 13th birthday.
We took him, a few friends and their dads to the Miramar Speed circuit.

They (big and little) had a blast.

For men and boys what could be better than driving fast, wearing headsocks and the
smell of gasoline.

Happy 13th (belated) birthday my son. You bring joy and laughter into our hearts. May you continue to
follow God with all you have and grow and mature in Him.

We've also been to a beach baptism where my son created some "art".

Had a bug live on the front door for almost two days...

They named it "steve". Anyone know what it is???

And the kids have been enjoying our friends dogs. (and they keep praying for God to give
us our house so WE can get a dog too).

I have to admit.......who could resist this????

So, thanks for making it to the end of this post about our life in the
waiting room.

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Jun. 19, 2008 - I found a little baby bumblebe......

Our latest lapbook was on bees.
We did the frog one since we were frog sitting and the bee one also came about that way (sorta). NO. we were not bee sitting. However, just days before we were to start house sitting, they found these in their back yard.

Yes, that's what you think it is. Many, MANY bees swarming on a tree.

Can you believe she got close enough to take these photos!

Apparently each spring the new queen (or is it the old queen) leaves the hive with a few
thousand worker bees and looks for a place to start a new hive.

Well these were properly disposed of, (no, not killed). The bee guy came and took them away and is now probably selling their honey for mega money!

Then, they noticed bees coming and going around their shed. Many bees. So bee guy comes out again and has to dispose of them too. Sorry, these were killed. There were too many and in a hard to get at place.
So hey! I've got a bee lap book on my computer. Let's study bees. And (bonus here) bee guy is coming again ($$$$) to take out the hive.

Here's what we did.

Youngest son made a version too.

And here's what we saw when bee guy came back.

He (only) had to cut two holes in the floor of the shed to locate it.

And the third hole was necessary for easy removal.

(It's dark due to all the poison they had to spray before removal).

Bet you've never been as close as we were to a bee hive! And we weren't even wearing attractive
protective gear.
It was sooo neat. We may have freaked out bee guy as all 5 of us crowded into the shed to see
what he was seeing and then take pictures.
He took out a large trash bag full of honeycomb.

Science at the end of this school year has been life inspired lapbooks.

Got any interesting creatures at your house?
We'd love to house sit.

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Jun. 15, 2008 - from virtual to real

I arranged to meet someone who I have only "talked" to online, in person (kids, don't try this at home).

When I first started blogging I "met" a really sweet lady. We actually tried to meet up before when she came to DC for vacation but it didn't work out. Well, she came all the way across the country to meet me. Well, actually she came all the way across the country to go minister to people in Mexico but she did take time out to meet me! (I feel so special!).

We arranged to meet up at Seaport Village the day they flew in from the midwest.

She is so sweet and pretty. Her family, she has four adorable girls, is picture perfect too.

It was such a special treat to finally meet my bloggy virtual friend.

� Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Jun. 7, 2008 - froggie, froggie went to school.......

Last week or so (they are all starting to blur together) we made a frog lapbook. We were frog sitting (while we were house sitting) our friends 50 or so pollywogs, frogletts and frogs (all in various stages) so I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

I got all of the templates off of Homeschool share.

It was just right for my first grader.

It even had some of the answers to the booklets typed out so she could just
glue them in when she got tired of writing.

I even made a pocket in between the file folders to hold some of the extra worksheets
that she did about frogs.

Isn't science fun!

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Jun. 2, 2008 - How a boy spent a Sunday afternoon

The really nice, giving, hospitable, loving and kind friends we are staying with (HI!!!) have a rabbit problem.

Since he ...(and his partner in crime)

already "disposed" of one rabbit, they decided to try and get rid of them more humanly.

Enter the trap.

We tried baiting it with a carrot but apparently rabbits don't really like carrots.

Then we tried lettuce. Rabbits DO like lettuce. Three pieces were stolen by the
lightfooted rabbit until we thought up a solution.

Enter mr. sit really still and quiet and wait for the rabbit to take the bait and then trigger the trap.

It worked.

The kids named it Diamond for the diamond shaped white spot on it's forehead.
NO. We did NOT keep it.
It was set free in greener pastures. (and the kids prayed that it wasn't lonely or eaten that night).

Today, the lettuce was stolen again.

We are back to sitting quietly and waiting.

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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Jun. 1, 2008 - I know it's late but I've been house hunting, house sitting, and home schooling...

How's that for a title.
This is how we spent our Memorial Day.

Notice I'm not out there paddling or peddling anything on the water.
I really don't DO water. And, being water nervous as I am, the little ones were not out there either.
They stayed on land in the sand.

Can't beat kayaking and paddle boating on the San Diego Bay. (ok, an inlet of the bay on the Marine base to be exact)

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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May. 31, 2008 - a misnomer, $4.09 for gas and all we need is one!!!!

Short Sale. Ever heard that term? If you are in the market for a home lately you should be really familiar with the term. Now you'd think what with the words SHORT and SALE together it would mean that the SALE of the home would take a SHORT time. wrong. SO. Wrong.

Short Sale. In real estate, a short sale is when a bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic hardship on the part of the mortgagor. The home owner/debtor sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender in full satisfaction of the debt. In such instances, the lender would have the right to approve or disapprove of a proposed sale. (thank you Wikipedia)

Notice the words lender....discount balance..........and approve...in that paragraph. Lender meaning bank full of bank workers involving lots of paperwork, several departments and agreeing to take less money than is owned on the loan. So a short sale is really a long process of the bank agreeing to take LESS money than the mortgagor owes. (here is San Diego it means the home was purchased 3-5 years ago for mega bucks - in the 600,000 range - and now they can only sell it for the 375-400,00 range) The price is good for us but the time period....60-90 days...is not good for us.

ANY WAY, so we have spent much time and gas ( at $4.09 and up a gallon) driving around looking at homes (short sale and bank owned) like these.

(nice yard, nice house, nice distance from neighbors..waiting for approval)

(totally had everything on our list of wants....missed it by a few hours)

(personalized sink.........)

(huge yard....green pool...needs work)

(master bath......don't ask)

So....all we need is one. We'd appreciate your prayers.

© Copyright 2008 Called Home

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May. 26, 2008 - Yellowstone National Park

While we were moving across country we were able to stop at Yellowstone National park for a couple of days. Ahhh...the benefits of homeschooling. We went at a time of year that was beautiful! All the animals were coming out of their winter homes. All of the tourists were still in their homes because their kids are in school!
We drove from the north entrance (which God had just opened up due to a late snow!) to the west entrance the first evening. That was THE time to see all kinds of animals. The next day we spent driving around and walking around to the many geysers and hot spots. It was beautiful.

Again, another slide show for you to enjoy the photos.

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May. 20, 2008 - the first place we stopped the easy way...

The first place we stopped on our trip across this great big country (besides multiple hotels, rest areas, flying J's and fast food places) was Mt. Rushmore.

It was really pretty (especially compared with Rapid City SD....but that town is a whole other entry!!! )
We got there after the NPS museum closed so we didn't get to learn much about it except what the brochure said but we did get to shop for souvenirs. (they close the visitor center early but the store stays open....there's priorities for you)

The easiest way to show it was a slide show....so here you go.

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May. 18, 2008 - where we are, why we went that way and where we ended up.

For anyone still interested......here's the rest of our cross country trip and where we ended up. (Your guesses were a bit off but I understand why you guessed what you did)

If you can't read this sign..it says Utah.

Welcome to California!!!

And our final destination......San Diego!!!!

Now if you're wondering if we took a wrong turn somewhere in Iowa, the
reason we went the northern route was this.

And this.

And once I quite living out of suitcases, do tons of laundry and my head
stops spinning, I'll post some neat stuff we saw at our stops along the way.
For now, I'll leave you with this question.