The little things

You know, the little things just make me SO happy. Here are some "little things" that have happened already this morning.

• The fire in the wood burning stove was already burning when I got up this morning. It was nice and warm for me to sit and spend time with Jesus.
• I was introduced to an absolutely great blog. It REALLY had me laughing this morning. My day was started out right with lots of laughter. Thank you to Gail for giving me the link. Click here, if you too need a laugh. You have to read the post from Dec. 12!!
• My mom called to let me know that she lost her first five pounds yesterday. WAY TO GO MOM!! It is always great to hear her voice, but really great when she is so excited!!
• The children did school with mostly great attitudes today!! (I really don't consider this a little thing, but I wanted to add it to my list anyways!)
• Joel played very nicely while school was being done.
• Joel has gotten into the stage of pretend playing. Today we shot at monsters. The joy in this was that it was all his idea. He was so serious about this.
• I actually wanted to do the dishes today. Lauren was very excited when she came downstairs and I had already done her chore for her. It is very nice to go above and beyond sometimes!
• I got two great comments from friends. Their comments really encouraged me and made me feel special. Thank you Peggy and Emily!
• Last but not least, SPELL CHECK IS WORKING AGAIN!!!

Wow what a great day and it is only lunch time!!

Dress up

Today, they dressed up as basketball players. Lauren and Joel are still wearing their outfits. I did put socks and jeans on Joel, because he just had to be freezing in this house dressed like that! I am freezing, even though I am dressed up like an Eskimo compared to them.



Amy dressed up as a waitress. She was having so much fun serving her family. Joel really enjoys pretending to eat whatever Amy gives him. Apparently it gets him in the mood to eat his real lunch, because he devoured everything put on his tray!!

Today has been an interesting day. The children got right to school and had a lot done early in the morning. It would have been a wonderful thing, if all of them would have had a great attitude though. This dress up time really took place because I was SO busy correcting a bad attitude. The girls went up stairs to "hide"/ keep busy while I was unavoidably attained! They have learned that I can correct/ discipline much better, if they are not making a lot of noise right in the next room!! Thank you girls for understanding your mommy's needs.
School is just about done and they are going OUTSIDE to play....like it or not! I will enjoy the peace and quiet while I clean something....anything just as long as it stays clean for longer than five minutes!!!
I started this post a few hours ago. It is now 2:45. I have had some peace and quiet. I am in the midst of cleaning six different things. I am a happy woman again!!! Sorry for the "venting"! Have a wonderful rest of the day.

Yahoo!

As of this morning, I have lost my first 5 pounds!!! I only have 15 more pounds to go.

Date with Mommy!

My mom sent each of us a gift card to Wendy's for Valentine's Day. Amy wasn't able to get her's on the same day as the rest of us. She got her's sometime this week. When Amy got her card, she told everyone that she was going to take Mommy out on a date and then Daddy. Well, today was my date with Amy Jo! I asked Amy what she would like for us to wear. We had to wear dresses of course, this was a date!!

This is us at the start of our date. (my double chin WILL be gone in a few short months!!!)

Our first stop was at Goodwill. We (she) had great fun playing with the toys. After the toys had been given plenty of attention, we went shopping for clothes!! Goodwill was having a great sale. We bought an empty, HUGE bag for $25.00. We were able to fill it with whatever clothes we wanted. Amy and I packed about 30 articles of clothing in our bag. Great items from Gap, Old Navy, Christopher and Banks, and I can't remember the rest, but everything was in excellent shape. We got about seven pair of jeans (one was BRAND new), several pair of wind pants, and fifteen or twenty shirts. We started out with an empty bag in a cart and finished with a bag so full we couldn't get it out of the cart!! It was SO much fun!!

Finally we went to eat! It was very special to sit and eat with my grown up little girl. She looked so beautiful to me. I couldn't get enough of her. We talked about many things. On our way out the door, I turned to Amy and said, "Thank you for asking me out on a date." Amy's reply, "Thank you, Mommy for coming!" My heart just melted. This has got to be one of my favorite dates of all time!!



Later today Emily wanted to make brownies. She asked Joel to help her. These are pictures of Joel "helping". I have a great video, but it was taking too long to download. Maybe I will try again later.

Buddies!

The cutest thing has developed in our house recently. Amy and Joel are becoming great friends. They have been playing together for two days now. As you can see in the pictures, they also make a huge mess while playing! I don't mind the mess though, as long as they are getting along and having fun!

How can they stand it?

Thanks to the invitation from Carter and Hayden, today my children went outside into the "God made freezer!!" This is no joke. It is so cold out right now. I was freezing just going outside to check on the kids to make sure that they hadn't turned into ice cubes!!! As you can see, Joel didn't freeze to death, but his poor little cheeks are still red. How can children stand playing out in this stuff?

Lovin' the rain

Not often will I or can I say that I am lovin' the rain, but today I am! It is not too bad outside right now. It is raining and it is cold, but it is NOT SNOWING!!! It feels wonderful to have it rain, when the alternative is snow. One more example of perspective!
My diet is going great. I love Weight Watchers! You can choose whatever you want to eat. Each food item is worth a certain amount of points, there are some that are even worth zero points! Some of my favorite things that I have eaten so far.......homemade chocolate chip cookies, cheese filled ravioli, water, bran flakes, and string cheese sticks!! This is making me hungry. I better go eat something. I will stress that at the point level that I am at right now, I actually don't need all the points, but real soon I will be dropping a level and then things will get TOUGH!!!

DIET DAY!!!

My mom and I are losing weight together! We have started today! I have 211 days to lose my 20 pounds. (notice the countdown on the left side of page) In 211 days Emily and I will be flying out to Arizona to spend the week with my mom. If we have lost our predetermined weight then we get a brand new outfit. We both are very excited to be doing this together!
Congratulations Mom, you are on your way to a healthier you!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our morning consisted of eating heart shaped french toast, posing for pictures, and opening cards from Grammie (with an awesome gift card to Wendy's for each of us).

Family fun!!

Jeff worked 20 hours this weekend, so today was his day off! We decided to have some family fun. This morning we did school and then after lunch we ALL went out to play in the snow.




This is basically what Joel did the entire time he was outside.....ate snow!!







This is the hill right out our front door. Not nearly as fun as the tubing hill though!!




Emily wasn't much into playing today. She laid in the snow A LOT!




Daniel just enjoyed being outside and NOT doing school! Which reminds me....he never did finish his school work for the day. His motto is....Do everything you can to avoid getting school done!

Lauren and I were out there, I promise! I never take pictures of myself and the picture of Lauren did not come out too well. I may not have a picture of me, but I do have an exact quote of mine while playing in the snow. I was being hit with snow balls and I yelled out for ALL to hear......Stop snowing throw balls!! We all had a great laugh and from then on snow balls were called throw balls! What a special day of making memories!

Humor me!!

I just had to write something today, because of yesterday's post. It was very hard to see the top of my blog saying, "Counting my blessings" and the first post talking about my bad attitude. I didn't realize how convicting the title would be for me!!

I read a blog yesterday that did something VERY fun. I am going to copy this great idea, because I am out of my own creative ideas for the day. Recently when I get on my blog page, I see that the "you are number" counter has gone up alot!! I am very excited about this, but I have NO idea who you are! I would love it, if ALL of you that read this blog would post a comment on this post. It does not have to be today, but as soon as your read this. When you comment, please leave your name, where you are from and your favorite season of the year. You do not have to sign in or have a blog page to do this, you can just use the "Anonymous" button when you are done posting. I will know who you are, because you will have left your name anyway. PLEASE EVERYONE DO THIS.....FOR ME!! (even you Dad!)
My goal is to get at least 15 comments posted. Okay out there, who are you?

My attitude

Why is it that some days I am just plain "GRUMPY"? Today that is me!

• It could be the fact that I had to set the alarm every hour on the hour lastnight. Everytime the alarm went off, I got up and put more wood in the stove. The freezing temperatures makes keeping the stove going a necessity!
• It could just be "hormonal".
• It could be that my house is a complete mess. It doesn't take 7 people very long at all to destroy a clean house. It also doesn't take those same 7 people long to clean it, but today is game day. That leaves Amy, Joel, and I to clean it ourselves. YIPPEE!
• It could be that I wasted my weekend and I am feeling guilty for doing so. I accomplished absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.....making meals, watching movies, sweeping the floors, doing laundry and taking care of the kids. I could have done so much more with my time and I should have.
• It could be that I didn't spend time with the Lord this morning.
• It could be that I am sick of being in my house, but it is too cold to go out.

Whatever it is. I hate days like this, but thankfully tomorrow is another day and another chance to do the right thing!

MY NEW DESIGN IS HERE!!!

It took me this long to know what I wanted. Brandy was SO great to work with. She was patient with my lack of direction and her goal was to totally please me!! She was willing to do whatever I asked for. She is very good at what she does. Let me encourage you to look her up, if you are wanting to get your own blog design!!!! You can click on her name at the begining of this post or there is a link on the bottom left hand side of this page.

Here is a little glimpse into the process of this new design.

1. I had to find a digital scrapbooking kit that I liked. (I found mine off of Scrappinggarden.com)
2. I emailed the title of my favorite kit to Brandy.
3. She bought it and downloaded it.
4. I emailed her the pictures of the children.
5. Brandy went to work on it and sent me a proof of the header.
6. I was able to change anything I wanted. (Did I mention how wonderful she is to work with?)
7. Next she got to work on the background.
8. She sent me a proof of the finished product.
9. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.
10. She then put it up on my blog page. (Thank you Brandy!!!)

Once I finally made up my mind, this whole process took less than 24 hours. It might not be that quick for everyone. Brandy just seemed to know what I wanted and we didn't have to change much at all!!!

No joke

Here are some fun facts about our week....

• We consumed at least 15 pounds of apples.
• We are eating our second ten pound bag of potatoes. The children were introduced to the joys of baked potatoes and they are loving them!
• I have no idea how many bananas we have eaten, but I know that it is bunches and bunches and bunches.
• Amy now knows that Eskimos are people and not just something you do with your nose.
• Joel takes his nap everyday in our bed. This morning I had put the phone down on my bed and forgot about it. During Joel's nap today, he had rolled over on the phone and turned it on. We didn't find out about it for at least three hours! That was why my computer wouldn't dial up!
• Someone dances with Joel before every nap. Jeff started this new tradition. It is called the Binky Dance. Whomever the lucky person is at that moment, Joel grabs their hands and together they jump up and down and they both chant...The Binky Dance, The Binky Dance...! It is a cute thing to behold. After the dance is done, Joel gets his beloved binky and off to bed he goes.
• Joel went blind today. Okay, not really, his hat fell over his eyes while outside playing and he couldn't see a blessed thing!
• Joel requested that Amy get a break from school. He said to me, "Bwake Mommy, bwake!" He wanted her to play with him. It worked, Amy was soon free to play with Joel.
• Vick's vapor rub is one of my best friends.
• One of the children that I teach on Thursday night, thought that Emily was ME! Emily had walked past this child and she called out to Emily, "Miss Judith, Miss Judith?" It was so funny to hear her doubt that Emily was me. At that point I walked past the child and said, "Hi, Gabby!" You should have seen her face. She had this very confused look on her face and then a huge smile!
• Jeff and I are babysitting tonight. He is at home with nine children and I am next door at Karen's house watching her three. Yes, this is fair. Most of Jeff's children are old enough to take care of themselves, NOT SO at Karen's house!!

Should I be concerned?

Okay all of you out there in blog land, should I be concerned about myself. Should I go to the doctor's and have him check my head? Am I just really stressed? Or am I losing my mind? You decide! Here is what happened to me this week. I promise that this is the absolute truth. When we returned from North Carolina we noticed that our DIGITAL kitchen clock was off by 5 minutes. It was so annoying to me. Everytime I wanted to know what time it was I would have add 5 minutes. The children were constantly saying, "What time is it really?" I was very bothered by this inconvience. I started to dislike this clock very much. We all would look at the computer clock any chance we got, because it was correct!! This went on for TWO weeks! Tuesday I was talking to a friend of mine. In the midst of our conversation I said, "I should just change that clock to the correct time." I sat their amazed at the wisdom that just departed my mouth. I promise you!! It NEVER once crossed my mind, in those two weeks, to fix the clock!! Should I be worried?
I did fix that clock by the way and it took me less than 2 seconds to do so! I once again like my kitchen clock!! I like all my clocks and appliances for now. Oh I take that back. I don't like my stove right now. It did something really weird the other night. While we were using the front left burner, it made this awful ZZZZZZZZZZZZAPPING sound and the entire coil turned this REALLY bright white!! It reminded me of some space ship movie I once watched. It was so strange. The coil now has a hole in it and we are not allowed to use that burner anymore. (My only big burner!) Cooking is getting very interesting in our house. Maybe this whole burner thing explains my clock problem. I have just learned to live with inconviences. We don't have the money to just go out and buy something else just because it would be more convenient!! I didn't even think of fixing it, because technically IT WASN'T BROKEN!!! I feel so much better now!!

Incentives

Today was a lesson in the importance of incentives. I learned today that I do not offer my children enough incentives.

School is such a battle in our house some days. Some school days bring me to tears and today was one of those awful days. Two of my children just wouldn't do school without complaining constantly. It didn't matter what I said or did. School was just "TOO HARD" for them to do. I kept telling them that it was not too hard. Their real problem was that they didn't WANT to do it. To make my point, I offered Amy a Hershey's kiss if she could get one section of her English done in under two minutes. I was told it was too hard to do that fast, but for the kiss she would try. I set the timer and she feverishly started her work. Guess how fast she did this "difficult" work......1 minute and 18 seconds. She didn't even hesitate at any of the work. She flew through it. I knew she could do it, so I wasn't the least bit surprised. I was kind of upset at her though. I really didn't want to give her the kiss, in my mind she didn't deserve it. She should have done it that quick without an incentive. Right!

Well, the Lord would have none of that attitude. He reminded me of how much I NEED incentives! For instance...my mom and I are losing weight together. I will get a brand new outfit from my favorite store, if I lose 20 pounds by September 13th. Now that is incentive that will motivate me. Shouldn't I lose the weight without the motivation? Yes, but I don't!! I LOVE to be motivated and rewarded for the things that I do. Why do I find it SO hard to motivate and reward my children for the things that they have to do? Don't get me wrong. I am not meaning offering Hershey kisses for doing school everyday, but it sure did work today. What I am meaning is that I need to work on coming up with some incentives for doing school with a great attitude, BEFORE the crisis comes!! Maybe even on a regular basis, but change around the incentives to keep them useful! I have no idea of what incentives to offer, because I am SO bad at this. I just expect them to do what I say and then I become VERY frustrated when they don't obey with a great attitude.
I need help!! How do you motivate your children or how were you motivated when you went to school? I really want to make school more fun for everyone!!

The "eyes" have it!

I took a whole bunch of pictures of the kids yesterday for my new blog header. I was messing around with the pictures and trimmed a picture of each child to show just their eyes. I thought that it would be fun to see if you can figure out who they are. Don't go ahead to the next one, until you have figured out the one you are on. It makes it much more fun that way!!! For those of you who do not know the names of each child, here they are......Emily, Amy, Daniel, Lauren and Joel. The answers are at the bottom of this post!


1.








2.









3.









4.










5.

We had fun with this at our house. Joel knew who everyone was. It was SO sweet!!!

Answers are....1. Daniel/ 2. Lauren/ 3. Amy/ 4. Joel/ 5. Emily

Please comment when you are done and tell me how many you got right.

I WON!!

I entered at least 50 blog giveaways this week. Each blog was offering something that I could use or just really wanted. Here are a few of the things that I signed up for....a $100.00 Amazon card, a digital camera, lots of different gift cards, several total blog design makeovers, a magnetic chore chart for the kiddos, slippers, a prayer basket filled with journals and pens, a DVD and the list goes on. Well, I won one of those awesome prizes!!! This great prize will not clutter this already cluttered house. This prize will be shared with everyone that visits me here. I won one of the blog MAKEOVERS!!! I am SO excited. I prayed if I was going to win a makeover I wanted to win this one from Brandy! Thank you Lord!!
Hey do any of you have ideas of what my new blog should look like? I would love to hear them!! The only thing that I know is that I want black and white pictures of my family in the header.

Ooohhhhh.....that's why

Today we did some major cleaning upstairs and some minor cleaning downstairs. It took us most of the morning, but we got it done!! After all the stuff, on the floors, was put away I was able to vacuum. There was A LOT that needed vacuuming. When I was done upstairs, I vacuumed downstairs. The floors looked so much better. I was getting ready to put the vacuum away, when I noticed that my bagless vacuum canister thingy in the front was EMPTY!!!



I realized immediately that we had a problem. That canister should have been almost full. I remembered that Joel had been playing with the vacuum the day before. I figured he had messed something up. I rearranged the canister, but that wasn't it. I investigated a little further. I pulled out the hose from the back of the vacuum. It was FULL of stuff. Some how we had totally clogged the thing up.



It took me about ten minutes to clean that hose out. I was very thankful for our untwisted, metal coat hanger. It did the trick like magic!! You may think this is gross, but I just had to take a picture of all that junk in the hose. I couldn't believe all that was in there.



I don't know how long it had been clogged, but when I vacuumed again after the cleaning....it worked like brand new again.

What did you say?

A quick note to let you know that Joel and the rest of the children are much healthier now. Thank you so much for your prayers. We NEEDED them!!

Joel's vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds recently. He no longer just gives us those quick one word answers of yes and no. Our most recent example happened first thing today.
When he woke up this morning he looked a little lost. Being the GREAT mom that I am, I asked him, " Joel do you want something?"
He immediately replied, "Eat!"
Okay, I am a smart mom. I knew what that meant. He was hungry. He had been so sick this week that his appetite had really changed. I wanted to make sure that I got him exactly the thing that he wanted to eat.
I asked him, "Joel, do you want cereal?"
"No."
"Joel, do you want oatmeal?"
"No."
"Okay, Buddy, do you want toast?"
"No."
"Joel David, what do you want to eat?"
His reply, "BRESSFIST!" (Translated....breakfast, for you non mommy readers)
Just in case you are wondering, "bressfist" this morning consisted of two bowls of oatmeal and a piece of toast. Apparently a big vocabulary calls for a big appetite!