Eat, Spit, Be Happy

Eat, Spit, Be Happy....that's what it says on the front of the sunflower seeds package....and that's what we did last night! It's a baseball summer at our house for sure - Andrew is on the LCS 2nd grade team, Alex is on the 4th grade LCS team, and Bruce is coaching the LCS Legion Team...so we're spending plenty of time at ball games! (Amanda is on the LCS Jr High Volleball team, too, but I think we'd probably get in trouble if we started spitting seeds on the gym floor!!)

So, we are going through plenty of seeds....in fact, Bruce bought a huge box of them at Sam's Club to see us through. Well, last night, we were at Andrew's game and Alex said "Mom, did you know that some people can put a whole bunch of seeds in their mouth and then just open them and spit out the shells...all without using their hands?" So...guess what Mr. Alex learned last night! By the end of the game, we were having contests to see who could spit their shell the farthest! Gotta love summer!!

This is where we lived when.....

We closed on our old house and were there for one last time on Monday. Sitting in our empty living room, the kids and I played "This is where we lived when..." and each person took turns filling in the blanks. It was just short of 5 years that we lived there, but SO much happened during that time, and it was really neat to reflect back with them. Here are a few of the things we came up with :

....when we got Molly
...when Amanda fell off of the rock climbing wall
...when Amanda broke her arm
...when we started the Homeschool Band
....when we started going to "real school"
...when we met Alayna (a neighbor girl)
....when we met ALL of our new Lincoln friends!
...when we got our first hamsters (also when they died!)
...when we got our aquarium

Ouch!

You're gonna love this.....

OK, last night Amanda, Andrew, and I are all up in my room about 8:00. It's the Season Premier of Jon and Kate Plus 8 (we have free cable in our new house for awhile, so we're all in awe of the shows we NEVER get to see!). Anyway, I've been watching it off and on for a couple of weeks and am have lately been reading about their marriage troubles and am anxious to see how they handle things tonight.

So, I'm in the shower and miss the first couple of minutes while Jon is talking, but I walk into the room to hear Kate admit that she "has been pretty rough on Jon". I pipe in and add my own "yeah, she's a real rip sometimes". Andrew, as usual, is in his own little world not paying attention and messing with some toy. But Amanda asks "Mom, what is a rip?" I begin to explain that she is often very harsh with him and that she is pretty controlling. Then, without a hesitation and completely out of the blue Andrew pops in with his take on the whole thing and says: "Yeah Mom, not at ALL like you!"

Ouch.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Oh, my baby is getting SO big!! Seriously, I can barely even pick him up anymore! Mr. Andrew turns 8 years old today. Can't believe it. He is an amazing little man....for all the gray hairs he's given me, there are a hundred more laughs and smiles....and even more hugs and kisses!

If you haven't heard me admit this before, I totally wanted him to be a girl....thought it would just be neat to have a girl, then a boy, and then another girl...had it ALL planned out. :-) But, God had other plans! ( and now that Amanda has hit the "wonderful world of pre-teen-age-dom" MAN am I glad that God doesn't answer to me.)

My Andrew is all-boy in so many ways, yet is still the first one to hop up onto my lap and give me a BIG hug for no reason at all. He still loves to curl and read books with me and always wants someone to play a game with him. He's also the one who can count by 9's further than ANYONE should be able to and has his piano assignment memorized one or two days after he gets it. I can not wait to see what God has planned for this kid!!

Andrew is one-of-a-kind in SO many ways and as I tell him often, "I'm SO thankful that God chose ME to be his Mommy."

Settling in

We got most of our stuff moved into the new house this weekend and are settling in. We still have lots of boxes to get unpacked, and we even still have plenty of stuff over at the other house. We don't close on that house until June 5th, so we have a whole month to finish clearing it out, so Bruce is just taking a vanload each day when he comes home from work.

This place is wonderful - so peaceful and relaxing. We have seen the wild turkeys out back several times already, and yesterday we had 4 deer walking through our backyard. One stopped to eat blossoms off of a tree, and the rest just strolled along taking their own sweet time on their way down to the creek. The kids(and Molly!!) have really enjoyed exploring through the trees and tonight they found part of a rabbit skeleton....cool stuff for little kids!

We're really enjoying being so close to school, too. I let the kids sleep all the way to 7am today and we were home by 3:35. I used to wake them at 6:15 and we'd get home a little after 4:00. I was able to spend the afternoon at home, too.....so now my part- time job is officially more part-time! Fun changes!

SOLD!

We put a for sale sign in our yard last Monday afternoon. This morning, only 7 days later, we signed papers to sell it.

Our realtor had told us that average time to sell is 25-45 days, so we were mentally prepared for several weeks of keeping it "showable". And, after taking about 3 years to sell our house when we left Beatrice, I suppose we were mentally ready for even more. But, not this time!! One tiny little week....only 2 showings and an open house and we got an offer, sent a counter-offer, and signed. We still have a 12 day inspection period, but otherwise it is a "done deal"....amazing!

We move into our new house on May 1st and are looking forward to it for SO many reasons! It is a cute old house on a beautiful 3 acres of trees and critters. But, mostly it will be nice to be SO close to school! About 2 1/2 minutes!! Today Alex was sick, and I couldn't justify the hour-long trip to bring him home (only to go BACK and get the other 2 kids), so we made him a bed in the van and he and I hung out in the parking lot for 2 1/2 hours. Plus, we're going to have an extra half-hour in the morning and an extra half-hour in the afternoon, too. And, my part-time job will now be more "Part-time". I will be able to go home when I am finished teaching which I really haven't done all year long. Bruce will have a drive, of course, but he is already planning to work from home one day a week. Exciting changes for us all!

A bright green cast

Yep, a bright green cast....that's what Amanda chose for her broken arm. Her first cast....after she was JUST telling Grandma the night before that she's never had surgery and never broken a bone.

The Lincoln Christian Parent Teacher Fellowship sponsors a few roller skating nights throughout the school year and Bruce took our kids on Thursday night. ( He is SUCH a FABULOUS Dad!!!) Anyway, partway through the night she fell and tried to "catch herself" with her right hand....then she skated around the rest of the night holding on to it because it hurt. Then, about 1:00 in the morning, she woke up just screaming in pain. We got her Tyelnol and ice and she got through the night, but took her to the doctor the next morning. Sure enough, 6 weeks in a cast for her. And, of course, it is her right hand....so we'll see how much "normal stuff" she can do....school, trumpet, piano, basketball.

A.W.O.L. Blogger

Wow, I have been AWOL for a LONG time, huh? Sorry. It really seems ironic to me that all the time that I was posting entries every few days, there really wasn't much going on. And, now that we have TONS going on, there is little time to post pictures or write about it. I have a ton of pictures on my phone that I could post....if only I could figure out how to get them off of there!

Most of our goings-on these days revolve around school. Alex's class continues to go on lots of field trips and have tons of fun. They went to Ag Awareness day last week and are going to the capitol building this coming week. I think they have 3 or 4 more scheduled before school gets out. Amanda is doing lots of extra chores and saving $$ big-time. She thinks she wants to buy a bass guitar, but has also talked about a laptop or now I'm hearing talk about a horse! She is in an Extended Learning program at school and has enjoyed running the "Crusader Corner" Store. They applied for a bank loan, posted collateral, ordered inventory, priced items, and run their own little store after school a couple of days a week. Mr. Andrew is a busy, busy little guy. He (and Alex, too) are taking piano lessons from a super cool 16 year old guy and they are both LOVING it! We have the electric keyboard in the living room, so often there is one boy practicing on it while the other one is practicing on the piano at the same time. It's chaos, but is literally "music to my ears" that they are practicing just for FUN!

The biggest news at our house is the contract we signed last night to sell our house. We have decided to continue at Lincoln Christian in the fall and are wanting to move closer. There will be a sign in our yard on Monday morning and we are hoping for it to sell quickly. We found a house only 3 minutes from the school that we just love....and MAYBE I can post some pictures of it soon!

The BIG day!

Andrew got up early Saturday morning and came into the living room with his eyes half open and still snuggled up with his stuffed dog. He curled up with me and said, "Mom, this is THEE BIG DAY, isn't it?" He was barely awake, but he knew what day it was and he was SO excited! The 2nd graders had a basketball clinic that afternoon - and it was the biggest day in his little 7 year old life! Such simple pleasures!!

Defining JOY

We have had a VERY rough week at our house. Each day of school is still a struggle for us, and after having been home together for 2 full weeks, it was incredibly difficult to go back and face the next semester - especially for me. I just enjoyed being home with the kids SO much and realized how good we had it "all those years." I have been praying for God to help me not take things for granted and he has certainly answered that one! (Another lesson in "be careful what you pray for!)

I have to admit that I didn't feel very joyful this week at all. I felt like I was on survival mode to just get through each day. I worked hard to keep my focus right and to look for truth past my emotions and hormones. I asked God to show me what He was doing and I hid under the umbrella of my amazing husband. Then, one day, for some reason, I looked up JOY in the dictionary. I found this:

JOY –noun

1.	the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.

2.	a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.

3.	the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.

4.	a state of happiness or felicity.

Well, I didn't have delight, or happiness, I didn't feel satisfied, pleasured, elation, my son was NOT succeeding, I didn't feel appreciated, glad, gay, or felicity...whatever that is! But, because I looked it up on dictionary.com there were lots of ads on the page, too....including this one:

How to be happy
Watch this short video on the key To happiness and joy in knowing God
www.HappinessAndGod.com

Well, I didn't even click on it to check out their video....just seeing those words was all that I needed. Through all of my crazy hormones and emotions, I still know that God sent us to school this year, that He has a wonderful plan for us, and that He will go before us and see us through. And THAT gives me satisfaction, gaiety, elation, pleasure...and JOY. And peace. And strength for the next day.

5 addictions

My dear friend Tami at The Next Step tagged me to post 5 of my addictions. I LOVED reading hers and am checking on everyone else that she tagged so I can read theirs, too, so I'm game to play along! It's been really interesting as I've tried to nail down 5 - and it was fun to ask my family to get their input, too. So, in no particular order, here goes:

1 - SNUGGLING. With my hubby, my kids, my dog, my cat, or even just my body pillow....just love that feeling of snuggling up tight!
2- My FIREPLACE....which goes nicely with #1.....snuggling BY the fireplace! This is the first house that I've ever lived in that has a fireplace and I just LOVE it! My Dad, bless his heart, supplies us with free wood and delivers it right to our garage! I have seriously been known to turn the a.c. up in the summertime so I could build a fire without frying everyone in my house!
3 - MAKING LISTS. On paper or just in my mind - they're everywhere in my house and in my office! I often make a list of the lists I need to make. A little anal, you think?
4 - FOOD. I love to eat out and I really enjoy cooking, too. Mexican, Italian, sweets, salty, healthy food, junk food, meat and potatoes, pastries and desserts, fruits and veggies...you name it, I like it! At our house we TALK about 'eating to live' instead of 'living to eat', but I'm just all talk on this one.
5- MY HAIR. Its the only part of me I've ever really liked. The gals in the office at school have asked that each time I come through their door, I would walk in slow motion and flip my hair from one side to the other - ala a shampoo commercial. I know that at some point, I ought to cut it off, but I've never nailed down an age for that....40? 50? 60?

OK...I made it! Thanks, Tami...it was good for me to get to thinking a little bit while I'm on vacation and my brain is otherwise in neutral. :-)

I'm baaaack!

OK, after a friendly reminder from my friend Beth that it's been a month since my last post, here's a quickie! The kids don't have school today - they're still in bed and I can't WAIT to tell them!! There is a broken water pipe in the elementary so they get the day off....I still have to go teach Jr High and Sr High, but I'm excited for them.

Lots and lots of stuff going on, but there are only so many hours in the day and I'm really having to prioritize....and blogging is not too high on my list these days. I'm wondering if I'm going to get to Christmas cards ( or Christmas shopping! ) and I don't remember the last time I got to the Y to work out. Really, though, lots of "newsworthy" stuff going on...and maybe I'll get caught up over break. Some of the highlights, though, were Amanda singing with the Lincoln Symphony at the Lied Center (which will be broadcast on NPR on the 21st) and Molly having an epileptic seizure....who has EVER heard of an epileptic dog!?!? Scared us SO badly!!!

Facebook!

OK...here's the new fun thing - facebook! I only wish I had been on it all those days I was "stuck" at home with no adult conversation! :-)

Busy, busy, shockingly busy

Can you sing it like Madame Blueberry? "You've no idea what I've got to do....." (I LOVE Veggie Tales!)

It has just been crazy busy around here...ever since school started, it seems. And, I guess maybe it's really not that hectic of a schedule, just that we're STILL adjusting and it's exhausting. There has been lots and lots going on, though....first school pictures, field trips, first report cards, concerts, halloween, a camping trip....and I even have taken pictures of some of those things...just don't ever find the time to sit down here and write it all down.

The highlight for me lately has been getting report cards. As a homeschool Mom, don't we always kind of, in the back of our mind, wonder if we're TOTALLY screwing our kids up....well, at least I did. So, to get report cards in black and white, filled out by someone other than me, saying that they actually have learned something over the past several years, was a great relief. And, they all did pretty well....mostly just a few behavior things we need to focus on and I'll let you guess which kid that is! :-)

School really does seem to be going better. No more tears or tantrums, no more being locked in a bathroom stall. I find the kids laughing and being silly with their friends, and they're signing up to do "extra stuff" that they don't really have to do. We still talk about going back to homeschooling and are weighing the pros and cons of each....and there are many. I am hopeful that God will show us very clearly what our next year will bring - just as clearly as He did this with this year.

Ready for Christmas?

It's Monday morning and I'm getting around to head back to school....and guess what I'm working on all week!! Yep, Christmas music. It's not even Halloween yet, let alone Thanksgiving, but we're playing O Holy Night and Sleigh Ride today. The only people who start on Christmas earlier than retailers are Music Teachers! :-)

The coolest new thing!

We just thought of something that will be THE COOLEST new thing for us at school this year - a SNOW DAY!! When you are homeschooling, those don't really ever happen.....you hear other kids talk about them and you see them on TV shows, but it's not quite the same. I'll bet you'll be able to her the whoopin' and hollerin' from our house the first time we see the name of our school scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen!

A quick update...

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been on here, huh? Again, there is SO much going on to write about, and my camera is FULL of pictures, but I just don't have the time to sit down and put it all together. Actually, maybe I do have the time...what I am lacking is energy. :-)

School is going better - for all of us. We are nearing the end of the first quarter and still hanging in there. I was just reading James in the Message Bible and it says ...."don't try to get out of anything prematurely...let it do it's work in you so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.." I can see that we are ALL learning valuable lessons through all of these trials, and if it had been up to us, we certainly WOULD have pulled out prematurely. God knows so much better than we do!

We have a nice short week and are SO looking forward to a little vacation. We get out early on Wednesday and are going straight to pick up some friends and then heading to the Children's Museum until they kick us out at closing time! We're gonna stay up late, sleep in, snuggle up by the fireplace, spend time with old friends...and if the weather would cooperate, we'd go camping.
And, maybe I'll find time to get those pictures off of the camera so you can see them!

Dirty and Happy!

Look at our dirty, stinky dog!! We took her with us last week to Mom and Dad's house in Pawnee and she LOVED it out there!! She had acres and acres to run and run, and when she got hot and tired, she went straight to the mud to cool down! And, it hadn't been raining, so it wasn't just ordinary mud....it was sewer mud - and it was S-T-I-N-K-Y!! Bruce hosed her down and got her all cleaned up...and then a few hours later, she did it again!!! She came home a tired and happy, happy dog!

Gonna need a bigger boat!

Mr. Alex is growing up all too quickly and is into "scary movies" lately. He and Bruce watch them together whenever they get some time to themsevles, and lately it's been JAWS. Last night, there was a midnight showing of it at the Grand Theatre downtown - and they went!! They've been talking about it for weeks, but we didn't know if Alex could make it that late. When we got home from school, he curled up to take a good nap so he'd have a fighting chance (and of course I volunteered to snuggle up and nap with him!) and he made it! They were both up when the rest of us went to be at 10:00 and I heard them come home at about 2:30am!!

Go Cart

Uncle Jerry bought the kids a go cart to have at Grandma and Pa Stallbaumer's house. It's going to be GREAT fun, but for now they're just a little bit too small for it. They can't quite reach the pedals enough to control it well and it goes fast enough that it's pretty scary. It's very safe (which I am THANKFUL for!) because it's really wide and very low to the ground. There are miles and miles for them to ride out there, so once they grow just a couple of inches and get the hang of it, they're going to have a blast. Bruce rode it and had a great time, although he is just about too big for it. Thanks, Uncle Jerry!!