Mother's Day 2014

A record of our weekend for journaling reasons.  Many broken/run on sentences for all of my grammar queen friends.





I saw it coming.  The calender said 'Dig your heels in and prepare yourself!'.  Life, on the other hand, decided to proceed in it's own direction while I merrily followed along.

We have had torrential rain this past week.  It will storm, drown the yard, overcast, sunny, storm, drown the yard, etc.  The kids have been playing outside every chance that has been offered knowing that rain, hail, freak snow storm?, might ensue at a moment's notice.

I noticed on the calender that Mother's Day Weekend was going to be go go go.  Friday we had our final homeschool coop which was a fun day filled with field day activities, bounce house, prizes, and all of the lovely stuff that follows the end of school year.  Saturday was our coops end of year program with hand bells, recitation of memory verses, what we worked on, invite the grandmas, sit and mingle and sigh with a big mixed emotions that our year is done.  Afterwards we were to high tail it up north to grandmas for her Mother's Day get together.  Sunday we have Sunday school, big church, lunch, naps, play, dinner, bed.  Go to bed exhausted and get going again Monday.  Whoa.

However, those were only plans.  And God's like "You can have goals, but plans? Muahahahahaha."

THURSDAY- "Mom!  There is water everywhere in the basement! COME LOOK!"  Are you kidding me.. Thankfully we had everything up off the floor, in totes, or not in the area that the water was located.  All of that rain water had run out of places to go and apparently my basement looked good.  Only one book and some cardboard boxes used for fort building were captured by the arms of gully.  A good friend offered to come over and work on some projects (putting together car seats that had been pressure washed since the washing machine is for 'normal people' and not families with children who enjoy smearing jelly into car seat upholstery) while I pulled up a rug to dry out side and clean up the living room.  My home owner came over to get his rent check that day and being the nice guy he is, he commented that "Hey it looks good in here!".  Ha, if he'd been over that morning, not so much.  Love that guy.  Now, to prep for Friday: Set out clothes for tomorrow, clean out the car, pack in extra clothes (mud puddle prep), and a full diaper bag.  Bring. It. On.

FRIDAY-  Let's go!  Get going to coop, enjoy the festivities, take lots of pictures, enjoy the bitter sweet moment that this is our last coop morning, go out to eat afterward to celebrate, hugs, naps, prep for Saturday.  Oh my word, this was work.  I had been hole punching art work and hand outs to put into three ring binder with each kids name on it as their This Is My School Work binder.  Gather some of their work books and binders, put in a bag, into the back of the van you go.  Gifts for my friend, gifts for the grandmas, getting it all together, extra clothes (darn you mud puddles!), camping chairs for grandma's house, load all of it in the car, everyone TAKE A BATH and please use soap-WASH YOUR HAIR! and "You didn't even get your face wet?!?", did you brush your teeth?, you smell like soap, thank you!, attend Ladies Night Out at church, enjoy friends, come home, clean up dinner, take a look around, call it good-enough, go to bed at one.

SATURDAY- Up and at'em at 6 o'clock!  Is everything in the car?  What did I think of last night?  Chairs and hairs.  Make sure the kids camping chair made it into the car and nobody took the camping chairs out, and Eleanor has to have her special hair pretty in her hair.  Coffee!  Someone eat something!  Ethan, make sandwiches for breakfast- please and thank you!  Where are the meatballs?  We need more bbq sauce!  Everyone in the car, load up.  Where are Emma's shoes?  Do you  have shoes?  Why aren't you wearing underwear?!  Everyone needs socks, where are your socks?  No they don't have to match just be clean.  Hey you look great, good job!  We have to donate some bags at the thrift store, we are stopping there first.  No we aren't getting ice cream.  What, you didn't even play with that puzzle, are you serious?  No, I'm not getting that puzzle back you never even played with it.  For crying out loud.  Sweet, we are super duper early to our coop program, everyone run around in the parking lot and burn your energy, have our program, program went smooth, let's go up north to grandmas house, hey lets take the back way, oops I think I turned too early, was that a black bear?!??!!  Nope, it was a long and lanky black dog, but that was fun thinking we did see a black bear.  Make it to grandmas, shoot our guns, eat bbq, play in the dirt, chase kids, take many pictures, "Mama I hit the target!" (gotta love those bb guns!), run and play and get filthy, sunburn!, we are all so tired, CAR WON'T START, jumper cables right where I knew they would be- love being organized!, starts up, made it 200 feet down the road and calling Kendall (in his truck behind me) "It's not working!", jump it again, this time two miles down the road, smoke?! (fan quit working), make it back to grandmas, watch wheel of fortune while grandpa and Kendall mega charge the battery with a fancy car  battery charger thingie, "You'll make it home, just don't use the lights or anything extra", we made it home, order pizza, sweet sleepy children in bed, Kendall and I play Cranium and by golly I know what he is drawing- even figured out Grand Canyon on the pictionary card.  We decide it is the alternator. (Which Amy, Angie, and I had discussed a few weeks ago when my battery light came on)...  Nobody was in a bad mood, no cussing or fussing.  It could have been way bad.  We made it to a parking lot and a driveway then back to grandmas.  The roads up north don't have a shoulder and I was saying out loud "You'll never leave us you'll never forsake us" the whole way, reminding myself that God hasn't left us and 'forsaken' us.  It was a good learning moment for the kids and myself.

SUNDAY- Dad drops us off at Sunday school, he goes into town to get an alternator, we attend Sunday school which is sooooooooo amazingly good, our church uses Answers in Genesis and the kids are never bored and we have all learned so much about creation.  Dad picks us up, comes home, boys and I clean the kitchen, dad replaces the alternator, Ethan helps dad, car starts immediately, everyone clap for dad!, to be continued.

Still sending letters

Dad passed away in 2007 and mom moved and got rid of their old email account.  However, I still write to that old email address.  It seems to still go through, nothing is sent back.  Usually, it's complaints and life chit chat.  It's "I wish this" "Wouldn't that be nice?" "Maybe some day" and so on and so forth.  I miss my family.  I miss feeling like I have a home.  I miss not having that "I can always go home" sense in life.  Growing up, dad always said, "No matter what happens or what has been done, you can always come home".  Wow, right?  Just wow.  That was definitely some of the parenting-to-do that I have in my mental file folder to say to my kids.  Always know you can come home.  It's hard now in life's circumstance to not have that open invitation.  To not be able to call my dad for advice.  To call mom twice a day and hear about the latest in home nurse care provider or how people have been visiting the house.  I miss my home.  It is in the front of my brain to have a childhood so pleasing that when my children and grown and gone that they look back and miss it.  My husband doesn't remember much of his childhood.  That, in of itself, is a whole other chapter in his life.  However, how can you not remember your childhood?  How can you not want to hear your parents voice and to check in?  Different upbringings and different cultures.


Remember that your kids grow up.  Remember that they will one day look back and think of you.  How do you want to be remembered?  I want them to tell their children of all the adventures 'grandma and I experienced'. 

Not going down without a fight.

Or so it seems.  K was able to back his truck out of the driveway, get to the nearest town south, only to have his boss text him to stay home.  Oh how I have to laugh at it because right now that's about as much as anyone can do.  A two hour late start was scheduled only to have school completely cancelled.  Not that it has any direct effect on us but my goodness this is what we are dealing with. 


All six of us were outside shoveling and snow blowing thinking that PJ wouldn't come until after he got off work, PJ the home owner.  I did get to use the snow blower and my oh my the power rush that comes with it: "Take THAT you evil snow! BEGONE FROM MY DRIVEWAY! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" (This is the state of most if not all of Minnesota's mind set at this moment)  However, PJ and some unnamed dude who looked much like an Alaskan fisherman came and saved the day with four wheelers equipped with fancy plow thingies on the front.  Praise the Lord I'm going inside!


Kendall is home so production is shot.  "I want to play with dad!  Let's wrestle!" though K thought he'd get some computer work done and the family was banned from our bedroom for the better part of the day.  We did accomplish some work, the basics like math and writing.  We are currently reading, wait for it.... The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I've held out for four months.  FOUR MONTH of these so very cold temperatures.  Where sprinkled days in the 20's and 30's are a glimmer of hope, I will hold on!  Yet, now all I see is white.  The whiteness.  The cold. It's all I see.  Things are so very cold...  Wait, what? 


The highlight of winter was I purchased an amazon prime membership because I need things like a vacuum filter and mattress cover and if I can sit and analyze at 11:30 at night in my warm house without dragging four children whom HALF won't keep their gloves on, so help me, then I'm all for it.  Amen.


My plans for going to a ladies event and my friends church has been cancelled.  We are supposed to go to Mall of America tomorrow with family, will the roads be bearable?  After this huge snow dump we are falling into to the teens, single digits, and delight of delights the negatives once again.  This is why I cut back on my calendar.  Wednesday night church?  It was fun, but not in the negatives.  Tuesday morning Bible study?  I'm trying, really! However it is a morning of not accomplishing much of anything at home.  Play dates and story times?  See you when the snow melts!  Oh Minnesota, I love you and hate you all at the very exact same time.

As much as I enjoy Facebook

Sometimes I feel like I need more than a quick facebook post to explain how I feel or what I'm going through at any given moment.  This is one of those moments where this whole blog post could be a facebook post but I'm saving the masses and making a post.  You're welcome.








1. Tomorrow it is going to maybe-quite possibly- we are all crossing our fingers be in the 30's!  As my sweet five year old neice says: HOLY MOLY COW!  School will be sweet and simple then off to the sledding hill for an hour, or until Emma and Eleanor start crying, of sledding fun.  I am planning on making hot chocolate and bringing it in the thermos, chili in the crock pot, and have a wonderful day absorbing Vitamin D naturally and enjoying natures beauty.  The sledding hill is "in the city" and faces the river and trees, so pretty!  Sweet little Ernest is a natural and zooms down, he can't get enough of it.  Eleanor can be pretty hardcore and likes going down on the sled, especially with mom.  Emma, welllll.... Emma gets put in the baby sled and I pull her down to like a tow truck of sleds.  The hard part is carrying Emma, my sled, and Emma's sled back up.  I wonder how she'd do if I sat her in front, then Eleanor, then myself. 








2. The basement is coming along incredibly well.  Sometimes I really do believe American culture makes it hard on itself.  We put ALL of our dressers down stairs next to the washer and drier.  Go downstairs, get your clothes, come up stairs, find an empty room or the bathroom, change clothes, if you can wear your pajamas again they go on your bed, if not they go down the laundry shoot.  No more taking loads up two flights of stairs.  Then finding time to fold.  Then finding time to sort.  Then finding time to actually put them away.  Boom. DONE.  Why does everyone have to have their dresser in their room?  Or NOT in the basement?  I'm sold on it and it's not changing.  The laundry chaos is enclosed in the basement where no guest can see, no piles on my bed, living room floor, couch, or anywhere else.  Sold!








3. Our house hunting is also on hold, kinda sorta.  We took on some debt ON PURPOSE to make some Gander Mountain purchases (need I say more?) and we have decided that we would rather pay them off first rather than save for a down payment.  Why not do both at the same time?  True. We are focusing our normal paycheck towards GM and not towards a down payment on a home. Our conviction is to not have outside debt such as a Kohl's card or a Discover card debt that we have used to go out to eat or whatever the case may be.  This is our own conviction to not have that type of debt.  However, we have decided to take on a mortgage (yes, it is a type of debt) and pay it off as QUICKLY as oh so humanly possible.  Once again, this is our own conviction thankyouvermuch.






 

A crafty November Wednesday

I was up before my kids.  Whenever I am up and at'em before the children are up and needing me, my day goes amazingly smoothly.  I think I need that time to put my ducks in order in my head mentally, accomplish a task (ANYTHING, even if it means taking my vitamins, lifting some weights, or checking my email), say a prayer, and begin my day slowly.  As time marches on I'm noticing my processing is slowing down every so slightly, my body has to let its engine idle gracefully and not wake up to demands.

Since I was up before my sweet babies, my day was going swell, so I decided what-the-hey and we accomplished three fall crafts.  This is big yall. 



Soap carving went surprisingly smooth.  We read a book named "Workshop" that goes over some old fashioned tools and describes them in perfect personification.  It is easily one of my four year olds favorite books. Then we went to Walmart and I decided, on the fly, lets make soap carvings!  One extra trip down the body was aisle and here we are.  My visual learners do much better when they watch a youtube demonstration, backed by mama repeatedly saying "Chisel is patient, chisel is slow, chisel goes bit by bit" along with "Watch how mama (YES I TALK IN THIRD PERSON TO MY KIDS, I'm telling ya, something about it makes them grasp my words better than "Look at me") does it.  See how the knife is pushed away from my fingers?".  We watched a youtube video about a man demoing a bird soap carving, therefore we made bird figured soap carvings.  The extra shavings will be made into body wash, the birds will be given as Christmas presents or used at home as our 'guest soap', and we all learned a new life skill. 

Next up, we made the cutest birthday cards for my baby nephews birthday.  Not only did we excel in a hands on craft, we were able to check off some extensive handwriting/phonics school work by repeatedly writing our names, my nephews name, and "Happy birthday".  Little Ernest is on a roll with his handwriting and is excited to use a dry erase board to practice on.  No pictures posted since the party is this Saturday.  We used three different types of stickers, some construction paper, and plenty of love.

Finally, I finished the day with our corn craft, thank you Pinterest!   Pick some neutral-earthy-corn-colored paints, cut out a blank corn canvas, cut some q-tips in half, tell them to have at it.  Wall-la!  Instant adorable autumn paint craft and now I have some lovely new decorations! 

November will be Gluten Free

I am not one to come up with catchy blogpost names.  So yes, gluten free November.

Here is the update on my thyroid showdown:

I have been putting EndoFlex on my neck every day, sometimes twice a day. Endoflex is a natural essential oil, you squeeze the ingredients enough and this oil substance appears then you bottle it up.  It said to help support the endocrine system. 

The endocrine system, in short, makes a series of hormones that keeps your innards balanced and working together, like a team! a community!  Gooooooooooooo Endocrine!  Hoo-rah!  However, if Mr. Thyroid decides he doesn't want to do his part, the other members of Team Endocrine have to step it up a notch thus wrecking ball havoc on your body.  You can't take out the rotors on a car and think you're going to be driving to the city.  Same thing with the endocrine.  Also, while it's nice and all to take a supplement to help out Mr. Thyroid, I can't help but think it'd be wiser to sit him down by a relaxing fireplace with a cup and tea and go over his reasons for hiatus.  Why are you on strike?  Do you not realize how important you are?  My hair is jumping ship because they miss you.  My metabolism sits and cries when you are gone.  I'm cold and lonely, come back Mr. Thyroid, we miss you.

Whatever.


I read on some blog somewhere that some chick cut out gluten and is all happy happy happy now.  I figure, why not?  Apparently gluten isn't every one's best friend and some, maybe me?, really don't digest it the way they should therefore it wages war on the inside and people don't even realize it.  On one hand, I'm not allergic to anything.  On the other hand, maybe I am and just don't realize it. 

One month, I can do that.  Anyone can do anything, for a short amount of time.  I can give birth, for one day (Lord willing, about an hour).  Every day?  Calm down, I said ONE day.  Ethan can do his two pages of math, four? No, two.  Big things in short time spans don't overload peoples heads.  Break it down and it just seems like it can be conquered.  That said, one month?  Sure, I'll give a dog a bone and do it for one month.

Gluten free plus endoflex plus good ol' Synthroid (which the reviews are looking  a bit fifty fifty on whether it works well or not but it appears to be the go-to drug of choice as far as hypothyroidism goes) should- in theory- make my body jump for joy.

Day one.  Cereal for the kids, eggs for me.  I see many in my future since they are quick, nutritious, cheap, and easy. 
 

Raising Husbands and Wives

Jokingly, I have made remarks about who I want my kids to marry.  Namely, my girls. :)  There are some very well behaved, God-fearing, raised along our beliefs, boys who I have seen interact with my kids and I have said "Marry HIM Eleanor! I like his parents too!" Hahaha :)

Just recently I received a cute message that a friend's daughter has made a remark- or two!- about marrying Ernest.

I've suddenly had a realization:

I am raising someone's future spouse.

A whole new set of "Don't drop the ball on this one!" has revealed itself to me.  And now I look around and see who I would rather have them not marry as well.

Am I teaching the girls to be respectful?  Are there kind words on my tongue?  Are they being taught to be kind?

Are my boys looking for opportunities to build their head-of-household skills?  Are they developing a skill at all?  Are they go getters and learning to work with the mindset of working for the Lord and their family?

I know my friend's children, we are already as close as family.  I love these sweet little girls with their crazy hair, pretty eyes, and sweet coyness.  I want them to marry Godly men who love the Lord first and are looking for God to show them who to be their spouse.  If one of them is my boys then I want it work out well and not be full of desperation and resentment that could have maybe-possibly been taken care of when they were younger and their hearts were softer.  Know what I'm saying?

Ernest and her would make a pretty cute stinkin' couple though....

*I already pray for all four their future spouses*

And they lived happily crazy after.  The end.