100 Things November 19, 2010

I was inspired by a friend’s recent post on her blog listing 100 facts about her.  Now, you may not be interested in this list whatsoever, but I liked reading hers and thought it would be fun to do the same.  Here goes…

1. I am a middle child.
2. I adore my brother and sister, and have so much in the past that it bordered on unhealthy.  For real.
3. I married my high school sweetie when I was 19 and have no regrets about that.
4. I feel most beautiful when I am pregnant.  I also take better care of myself, which I can’t seem to make myself do any other time in my life.
5. 2010 has been the first year I haven’t birthed a baby since 2005.
6. I am pregnant for the ninth time.  I miscarried at 7 weeks between my girls and my boys, and I was devastated.
7. I played the flute and loved it, but I always wished I had played the french horn.  I got to senior year and fell in love.  If I ever have money to waste, I will buy one of my own.
8. I am a changed woman because of Jesus Christ.  I’ve always loved Him, but my life is different because of Him and what He has revealed to me through an unexpected pregnancy and autism.
9. I always wanted to be a teacher growing up.
10. I was in the public ed classroom until I had babies, and now I teach them.
11. I always admired my dad for being a truck driver.  Still do.
12. I think that I was blessed with a mom who loves being our mom more than just about anything on earth, except my dad.
13. I miss my childhood friends, and I often wonder if they know just how special they were to me.
14. My three best friends now are not necessarily the picture of best friends you see in the movies, but I prefer what I’ve gained from them to anything I’ve ever seen onscreen.
15. I look at my kids in amazement daily that I can love so many little people so very much.  My mom has never understood how parents can favor one kid over another, and I so agree with her.
16. I graduated from Georgia Southern University.
17. I will never tell my kids that there is a good reason for owning and using a credit card.  NEVER.
18. I live in my grandmother’s house, the one where my mother spent the latter half of her childhood.  I love it.
19. I wish our yard were big enough for a swimming pool, though.
20. I love to read.
21. I love to sew, but have no time for it.
22. Family is oh so very important to me.  Mine, my husband’s, and ours together.
23. My siblings and I haven’t always been good to one another.  I want different for my kids.
24. I adore my nephews and niece more than I adore my siblings!
25. My parents and in-laws will both celebrate 40 years of marriage in the next couple of years.  I’m thankful for their example.
26. I love Beth Moore Bible studies, especially when done with precious friends in a beautiful prayer garden.
27. I wish I had been closer to my grandparents.
28. I am thankful that my kids are with theirs and my husband’s grandparents.  What a blessing!
29. I dream of a romantic second honeymoon with my sweetie one day.
30. My dream car is a 15-passenger van with heating and air, working windows, and a decent radio/CD player.
31. I have never understood some women’s fear of owning a mini-van.  I was so excited the day I got mine!
32. In high school, we planned on having four kids, three years apart.  God had a different plan.
33. Autism has terrified me and grown me in more ways than you can imagine.
34. I get annoyed by people who care enough about what people wear to post about it on Facebook.  So what if I go to Lowe’s in my pj pants!
35. I was sexually molested as a kid, but I am not a victim.
36. My childhood heroes were my parents, my brother, and my teachers, especially Ms. Griggs and Mr. Ellis.
37. I am a band nerd.  Loved every minute of it.
38. I used to wish I could go by my middle name, but now I love my first name.
39. I didn’t want to give up my surname, so I dropped my middle name when I got married.
40. I feel very much like my autistic daughter sometimes, and I understand my childhood better because of her.
41. I bought a brand new pick up truck before I even graduated college.  I always wanted to drive a truck, but I could have figured out a cheaper way to do it!
42. I am lazy, so it’s a good thing my life forces me to live otherwise!
43. I don’t want to clean my kids’ childhood away, but I need to be a better housecleaner.
44. I wish I could afford to have someone do that for me, though.
45. I love a good pair of shoes.  My favorites are Clarks.
46. I could not have imagined this life if I tried.  I love it!
47. This is harder than I thought it would be (the list, not my life).
48. I don’t remember ever not loving Jesus.
49. I loved my dogs and am very sad that my son’s allergies will prevent them from knowing the same kind of love.
50. I have been told that I have the gift of faith.  I don’t know how I could live without it.
51. I love fall.  It’s my favorite time of year.
52. I’m trying not to make these about my kids too much, but what can I say.  They are so much of who I am.
53. The scariest thing I have EVER experienced in my life is the fear of losing my oldest son.  He contracted viral meningitis at 8 days old and came very close to dying.
54. I love Facebook.  It allows me to “talk” to adults (which I don’t currently do that much during this season in my life), reconnect with old friends, and pray for people at a moment’s notice.
55. I love my brother-in-law as if he were my own brother.  We have a different kind of relationship, where I don’t feel comfortable saying things like that to him, but I hope he knows it anyway.
56. I like to build things.
57. I love home decor and organizing magazines, but they are so unrealistic!
58. My favorite foods are anything my mom makes (pretty much), and my Nannie’s and uncle Charley’s homemade chicken and dumplings.
59. My wedding was perfect.
60. My marriage has been even better, yet not always perfect.
61. My mom, my dad, and me all picked out my wedding dress independently of each other and picked the same one!
62. They bought it for me on my 18th birthday, while I was in my senior year and not even engaged yet!
63. I love that my brother told my mom early in my relationship with my then-boyfriend, now-husband, that he was the one.
64. One of my most treasured gifts from my husband is a musical figurine of the Genie from Aladdin that used to play “You ain’t never had a friend like me”.  He gave it to me our first Christmas as a couple.
65. My hair is finally long enough for a ponytail for only the second time in my life.  It was always short as a kid, and I hate having it on my neck.
66. I love music.  Torture to me would be life without music.
67. I have so many moral issues with the new show Glee, but I love watching it simply for the music.
68. I get choked up in movies at moments that I know my brother would get choked up.  As different as we are, it is eerie how alike we can be, too.
69. I value modesty.
70. I used to think Disneyworld obsessions in grown ups were ridiculous.  Then I went and had a moment there with our autistic daughter that showed me just how magical that place really is.  I’ll have to post about that one some time.
71. I had an emergency c-section with my last baby, who flipped between my appointment that morning and labor and delivery that night.  It is common for women like me to have a breech baby.
72. I’m not going for a certain number of kids, but I feel tremendously blessed by every child He adds to our family.
73. I am too hard on myself sometimes.
74. In my first year of marriage, I wanted us to come up with our own name instead of me taking his.  I was fiercely loyal to my family and my identity in them.
75. It is so freeing to now know that my identity is found in Christ alone.
76. I love to homeschool my kids.  I wish more parents realized how wonderful it can be and just how capable they are of doing it.
77. I count down until my husband gets home.  I miss him when he is gone.
78. I feel so blessed to be loved by such a wonderful man.  I know he is a gift.
79. I wish I were more fluent in scripture.  I know a lot of what the Bible says, but I’m not good at quoting chapter/book/verse.
80. I love to learn but did not love going to school.  I have ZERO desire to go back and acquire another degree, but I’ll read a number of books and do research on any topic that interests me.
81. I realized at my 10 year reunion that I grew up on what some people would call “the wrong side of the tracks”.  I didn’t care.
82. I love living where I currently live, even though I am a racial minority.  I don’t ever get weird looks or get ignored in my community.
83. I like camping, but doing it with many little people kind of intimidates me.
84. I love the beach, and I crave a trip during every pregnancy!
85. One of the most freeing lessons I ever learned was that God doesn’t need my help judging others, but He does demand my help loving others.
86. Looking at your baby for the first time never gets old, no matter how many times you do it.
87. I love to host my family for holidays and special events.  I just wish they enjoyed it as much as I did!
88. I was on the swim team in high school, but I wasn’t very good.
89. I love to sing.
90. I’ve always wanted to move away, but I don’t think I could bear being so far away from family.
91. There are days I wish for a few hours at home without the kids here, just so I can get some things done uninterrupted.
92. I believe in the power of prayer.
93. I still get butterflies when my husband leans over to kiss me in a movie theater.
94. I remember the band competition where he first held my hand as if it were yesterday.
95. I also remember the first time I got to see him after he left for college (I wasn’t allowed to go with his family to drop him off) like it was yesterday.  He was in his marching uniform for an exhibition at a band competition.
96. I don’t remember all of my children’s birth weights, lengths, or times, even.  I do remember their birthday, though!
97. I was surprised this Mother’s Day with an iPod.  I love it.
98. I can barely stand still when I attend our worship service and hear our praise band play.
99. I miss my college buddies.  I didn’t love school, but going through it with them made it better.
100. I found this list really hard to do!

Forgot a pic November 7, 2010

…in our October Happenings post.

Yep, that's two lines

Turns out we’ll have to get an extra pumpkin for painting next Halloween!

October Happenings November 3, 2010

I love the fall.  It is my favorite time of year.  While we aren’t football junkies, we love to watch a game here and there.  When we attended Georgia Southern University, we rarely missed a game.  We even traveled to the away games (using credit cards, which was STOOPID)!  We met in marching band in high school, so even though we don’t attend many games any more, just the smells and the crisp feeling in the air warm my soul.  This is the time of year that began life with my one true love, so of course it is my favorite.  Oddly enough, it is the only season I haven’t birthed a child in yet.

We have lots of fun in October.  Here are some pics of some of our favorite happenings this year…

got a new room

a bonfire with old neighbors

playing at Grandma's house

The Blue Angels

 

The Rock Ranch

 

It was the Day of the Cowboy, which had this Cowgirl in heaven!

 

our friend Amanda, who lived with us for the weekend for her cross-cultural experience

Fall Festival

She was a veterinarian. Suprised?

the other two girls were fairies, along with their best friends

Andrew Peterson held a concert at our church. Awesome.

Family Sunday

We shared Communion as a family for the first time since the girls' baptisms.

Halloween with the grandparents

painting pumpkins

with the great-grandparents

Happy October!

 

 

The words I couldn’t find September 17, 2010

My friend, Preacher, who is oh-so-good with words, has posted something about my sweet Cowgirl’s baptism.  Now, I’m again blowing our cover a little, but it’s for Jesus, so that’s okay!  She said it all WAY BETTER than I ever could have.  Fair warning, grab a tissue before you get started.  I must also note that Preacher is no longer our church’s children’s minister, due to this crazy idea to pursue a master’s degree in the Jesus field.  🙂  She returned to baptize Cowgirl, and our very new children’s minister went down front in the old people’s traditional service barefoot with Cowgirl to take her confession, risking judgment for such an act by people who barely even know her.  My heart was so full that day.  Read about it here.

I hope to always remember September 6, 2010

I don’t know if it’s having seven kids or if it’s because beyond their first year, I feel the information is insignificant, but I can’t keep anyone’s birth weights, lengths, or times straight.  Sometimes I can remember weights, but I often get them mixed up.  We even have to think a second when you ask for birth dates, not because we don’t know them, but because we have to remember whose is whose.  We have three in April and two in June, so it requires a little brain power to keep them straight.  We at least get the May and December ones pretty quickly, but we usually have to do a little math for the year.  Anyhow, I am completely digressing here.  The point in my ramblings is that I am not great at remembering things that most people have etched in their memory.  I wish I could remember their sweet little voices as they are first saying mine and Superman’s names, Mommy and Daddy.  But more than that, I hope to always remember the sound of their voice when they say the most important words they will EVER say in their life, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Our youngest daughter was baptized today, and that girl gave her confession of faith loud and proud with a tone that said, “What else is there?”  Next Sunday, our middle daughter will do the same, and just six and a half months ago, our oldest daughter led the way.  I can still hear her sweet voice from that day.  I hope to always remember their voices saying those words, although I’m sure I will forget.  I can’t describe the flood of emotions I feel when those words are spoken in the average church member, so you can imagine my feelings hearing them from my own children.  Each of their baptisms are special for unique reasons.

Picasso has been thirsty for Him ever since I can remember.  The girl wanted a Jesus-themed birthday party one year, I think maybe when she was turning four.  She made her decision quite carefully, though, because although she was certain she wanted to follow Him, she was timid about getting up in front of the church to give her confession.  Not because she wasn’t sure, but because she’s a little bashful.  Hearing her say it was big because I knew it was so tough for her to get up in front of everyone, but she got to a point where she just didn’t care.  She was ready for this even if it meant doing something hard.  She was our first child baptized into His kingdom.  Huge for us.

Giving her bold confession!

Mary Lou’s baptism was special for a few reasons.  When we asked her who she wanted to baptize her, she said Roomie’s name without a seconds hesitation (for those of you that don’t know, we have our Children’s Ministry intern living with us, which was a summer arrangement, but it worked so well that she’s staying through the remainder of this year).  We first met her when she started visiting our church when Mary Lou was only three years old.  She also assisted in the preschool class where I taught Mary Lou that year.  Shortly after that, she became an intern in our children’s ministry, and she babysat for us when her school schedule allowed, so she’s very near and dear to our hearts.  The kids actually count her as a member of the family now that she is living with us!  Our church’s practice is that any believer can baptize, so she was chosen.  The cool part was that this was her first time.  It was also our new Children’s Minster’s first time taking a confession of faith from one of the kids in our ministry.  And to round out the morning, the old Children’s Minister, our friend Preacher, popped in after driving 10+ hours through the night from Arkansas to be support for Roomie and Mary Lou.  It was a beautiful event.  What stood out the most, however, was her certain, assured, and bold repetition of that confession.  It reminded me of the day I said my vows to her daddy.  There was no hint of doubt.

I’m sure that next week, I will be able to share how special the event ends up being for Cowgirl.  I can say this already, though.  An autistic child, who struggles with abstract concepts and things unseen, being so certain of knowing and loving Jesus just makes it special enough.  She’s been talking about baptism since Picasso took the step to obedience, and I tried to make sure she was ready.  Out of the blue the other day, she just said, “Why do I have to wait?  You didn’t make Picasso wait!  I’m ready to be baptized!”  I knew that I couldn’t hold her back any longer.  I can’t wait to share the events of her special day with you.  For now, I’ll leave you with a few more pics of our special day today.

A New Creation!

Roomie and Mary Lou

Days like this (lots of pics) August 24, 2010

We get asked “How do you do it?” a lot.  The first thought that pops in my mind is “frequently”, thus the seven kids.  I jest.  I know they really want to know how we juggle it all.  There are days I want to know how we juggle it all!  We have a lot of days that are tough, and we usually drop something (don’t worry- it’s never a kid).  However, it is the days like today that remind me that it is worth every second of struggle or difficulty.  When I woke up this morning deciding to just be mom today, instead of working on prep for homeschool, housework, home decorator, craft planner, etc., the morning was a much better start to our day.  We decided to meet Superman for lunch because I had to go to the School Box (right near his bank), and I was going to have him help me with the kids.  The plan was McDonald’s with the awesomely huge playground, but when Superman got there to order ahead (one of our out-to-eat strategies), there was no playground.  They had torn it down!  Now, kids don’t do well with “We were going to go to the playground but now we’re not.”  However, today I got no flack from anyone!  Smiley (3) said, in his sweet little voice, “Hey, I have an idea!  Let’s meet Daddy at the Zaxby’s table!”  So we did.  And those perfect little angels grabbed their buddies’ hands and waited for me to unload the baby before crossing the parking lot.  It was a Duggar moment, if we ever had one!  Lunch was pretty calm and uneventful.  I decided to do the School Box without Superman, since our meal plan adjustments took a little extra time.  They were a little chatty, but quiet in their chatter.  Bulldozer put the stuff away that he picked up as we walked past it without me having to pry it out of his hands.  Bonus.  They were patient as I picked out our wall calendar for school, offering their opinions, but not getting upset when I went with something different.  They didn’t beg for me to buy them anything at all.

From there, we were supposed to drop by the park, but I could tell they were tired, and I don’t like meltdowns farther than 10 feet from my front door.  I took them home instead, which again, they did not complain about.  I said that we might go later, when Daddy got home, and they were fine with that.  We played outside ALL AFTERNOON, watching the tree guys cut down some trees in our neighbor’s backyard (the house directly behind us, not the mean neighbor, although he finally took down his tacky yellow string divider between our yards).  We came inside just before Daddy was to get off of work, and I knocked out baths with the boys, which Superman normally does at night.  I think I was his favorite person today.  We didn’t go to the park, but they didn’t complain!  If I could sum up the day, I would say that it was a day of contentment in this family, which is a struggle with little kids who have no concept of that sort of thing.  If I could sum it up with pictures, you’d have this…

Smiley

couldn't get all 7 on at once

Dozer and Smiley

Earnhart, driving something, of course

He kept wanting me to take his picture!

He's not always smiling...

She loves all of them so much.

He thought this was a cool trick.

Popsicle break

Sweet Earnhart was helping Smiley ride his bike.

Even Tipper joined us outside.

Now, I did not get anything done in the arena of preparing for school, besides buying the stuff I needed from the School Box.  And I did punch out the numerous squares that come in the calendar packets.  The house isn’t any cleaner dirtier than it was when we left.  No dinner was fixed for later in the day.  No laundry done.  No floors swept.  However, I was reminded by an old high school friend on Facebook tonight, that what we did today is the stuff that matters.  I don’t remember the moments my parents buzzed around the house “getting things done”, but I have lots of memories of time spent together.  I read a beautiful note on another blog I love, A Holy Experience, that put it beautifully.  (I’ve tried summarizing it and just keep deleting it, so maybe you should read it here.  It’s in the gray box at the end of the post, signed by Anna Margaret of Louisiana.)  I love days like this.

The Living/family/play room August 1, 2010

If you know me well, you know I change things up around the house a bit.  I don’t just rearrange furniture.  I rearrange rooms.  It started out of necessity.  We were an eight-member family living in 1,100 square feet.  In older homes, floor plans are more flexible.  So, the living room had been a bedroom, a bedroom became a family closet, and the kitchen was often a laundry room.  Now we are in a larger home, but an old one still, so there is lots of room for flexibility.  I moved into this house thinking that since it was bigger, I would be able to have what “normal” people have in their house, and I would still have room for the kids.  So we started out with a pretty living room with boring neutral colors.  It is the biggest room upstairs, but it was supposed to be mine and Superman’s space, with the kids’ space being in a room off of the back of the house used as a playroom.  Since it was a playroom, its walls were painted vibrantly, including one “pumpkin spice” colored wall, an almost turquoise wall, a nice earthy green wall, and the brick wall, still unpainted.  It also had a really cool ramp in it from when my grandmother lived here.  The boys loved rolling their cars down it and riding their ride-on toys down it.

before we removed the railing

I would have pretty things in my living room that would not be touched or broken because the kids would not be allowed in there except to watch t.v.- without toys and without food or juice cups.  Yeah.  You are exactly right in  your assumption.  It didn’t work.  Our kids enjoy being with us, and we enjoy being with our kids.  Not to mention, our dining room was small, and once we got a table in there big enough to fit all of us, you couldn’t take a breath too deep or you would crack the plaster wall behind you.  So we changed it.  Because you know what???  We live here.  All nine of us, and ten now, if you count our college friend, Roomie.  The people in the magazine don’t live here, so it doesn’t have to meet their approval.  And while a certain relative of mine pours herself into making her house meet the latest trends and suggestions, she has no one come over to see it.  Ever.  What’s the point?  So this is what we have in our house.  The rooms may not be the same as yours, but that’s okay.  We live here, not in your house, and you live in your house, not in our house.  We have a living/family/play room.  The kids still call it a play room, but it is where we veg on the couch, watch t.v., and just plain play.  It is where we live, although our definition of living is so very different from many others’.  The wall colors are still the same, and we are hoping to paint the brick a bright red to go with the other vibrant colors.  It would match this beautiful fabric from IKEA.

FREDRIKA fabric from IKEA

We have an office in our former dining room.  It has a love seat, two bookshelves, a desk with too many papers piled on top, and a file cabinet.  It is open into the dining/school/music room.  Superman’s great-aunts gave us a large dining room table with eight chairs, and we moved it into the biggest room we had- our former living room.  We could move around the table and just spread out.  The two leaves to the table stay in at all times, and we have extra chairs.  We eat, craft, color, read, draw, play cars, and we will be doing school there in about two weeks, all around the big table.  This room also houses our homeschooling supplies.  It is the home to the player piano that my aunt graciously gave us, which I hope the kids will learn to play someday.  We are also planning to do the majority of our school work in there, and we are hoping to build a nice bench seat in front of the large windows that look straight into the trees.  It would give us somewhere to crawl up with a good book, away from the television.  We’ll also use this room to teach the kids their instruments.  It will be filled with sounds of the violin, recorder, and guitar in a matter of weeks.  We have four rooms currently being used as bedrooms: the girls are downstairs in the biggest room in the house with three loft beds and their very own stage; three of the boys in the room my mom lived in after her sister went away to college, on two cool sets of bunk beds from IKEA; Roomie’s room, which is the room that belonged to my mom before she got her sister’s room; and our bedroom, which is also home to the baby’s bed.  We have a spare room downstairs that is in need of some improvements that we have neither time nor money for right now, and the half of the basement that is unfinished, which houses our laundry and has the potential to become a great playroom one day.  It is also where we store our extra refrigerator, our extra food shelves, and an upright freezer.  Right now, it stores everything else that doesn’t have a home.  We’re working on it.

We also have the potential for three bathrooms.  They are small ones, mind you.  Two upstairs, which work fine, but are ugly old tile and quite cozy, and a third one downstairs, which needs to be completely gutted and renovated.  The two upstairs share a wall with the plumbing for the sink, so my dream is that we move the plumbing and knock that wall out to make one big bathroom.  One day…

We do have a kitchen, which no longer has to be a laundry room, and we are hoping to one day knock out the wall between it and the office to increase our kitchen size and capabilities.  Maybe by then, that spare room downstairs can be renovated and become our office.

You won’t find our house in a magazine, unless it’s a “This house needs a makeover” edition!  But it works for us, and I guess since we are the ones that live here, that’s okay.

Theology Barbie July 2, 2010

By the way, my friend Preacher has a blog out there, too.  I linked it up on the right side over there, but if you want the easy route, then just click here.

Lots of chaos lately June 24, 2010

I’ve tried to post and just can’t ever seem to finish one.  Either something interrupts or I can’t find the words.  Or, I feel super guilty about all the other things I SHOULD be doing and I just shut down the computer.  In order to complete this post and move on to the other stuff, I’m going to use the bullets today.

• Lots of stress at Superman’s job.  After being told a few months ago that his hours and time at the bank were up to him, as long as work was done and boss-man could get what he needed, he got a complete 180, with his boss demanding that we do some soul-searching and decide if he still wants the job.  Ummm, okay?
• Our tenant is not renewing her lease in our old house, and she gave us a September move out date, which we found out last night is being moved up to July 31st.
• Our neighbor hates our yard and came over at bedtime one night to tell us.  When SM said he couldn’t talk to him at the moment, he decided to come back a few days later at a very inconvenient time (see below).
• SM went into the hospital with severe swelling and shortness of breath.  After being told at one hospital that his vitals were fine and he’d have to wait behind the other 11 people in the ER, we left and went to a different ER the next morning.  They admitted him and discovered three days later that he has post-strepococcal glomerianephritis, a condition rare in folks his age where the antibodies produced to fight the strep overload the kidneys, which fights and creates the high blood pressure, which led to the swelling.  Weird, but that’s the way we roll.
• We had to cancel the autistic child’s birthday party because of all of this.  She’s handled it well, but it still sucks.
• While SM was on his way home, the neighbor visited again.  After explaining our situation, he refused to leave me alone and left our conversation about my BACK yard with the statement that I gave new meaning to the word trash.
• In the meantime, the laundry is backed up, the stuff I brought home from the preschool still needs to be organized and put away for us to use around here, and I am just plain exhausted.  The boys are constantly at each other, and the baby doesn’t like to be put down right now.
• I’m experiencing dizzy spells, I think due to dehydration.  My mom thinks I’m pregnant again, which the boss who “didn’t sign up for seven kids” and the neighbor who hates looking at our outside toys will just love to know, if that is the case.  I’m hoping I’m just dehydrated.
• The good news is that SM starts to teach his class at our local college tonight, which he is nervous about, but oh so excited!

For now, I’m praying for contentment through all of this mess.  I am also praying that SM will kn0ck the ball out of the park with this teaching gig and get offered a full time job doing it.  If you’ve got a minute in your day (I know they are hard to find in mine), then pray with me, please.

And just to leave you smiling after such an overwhelming post, a picture…

Let’s make this easy May 29, 2010

If I do it that way, then I can successfully get a post up!  I have plenty to say, but not plenty of time to say it.  And when I have the time, I’m tired.  So if I make it easy, then it at least lets you know I’m alive and why it is that I can’t get it together enough to blog.

• SCHOOL IS OVER!!!  If you haven’t been reading along, you need to know that we participated in a homeschool co-op this year, which translated to four hours, four days a week, and 28 lunches a week!  I have much to say about why I am excited about it being over, starting with the lunches, but that is for another post, when there is more time.  It boils down to the fact that co-ops are not for us right now.
• We are more than halfway through birthday season.  One next week, and another two weeks from now, and we are done with the kids’ birthdays until December, when lonesome ‘ol Tipper will turn one.
• Earnhart has allergies, confirmed by a not-so-pleasant test where they poked his back in about 16 places and inserted allergens, along with three shots in the arm with higher concentrations of some allergens.  No dogs, cats, dust mites, red oak trees, and ragweed for this boy.  Yep, we covered spring and fall, along with some year round loveliness, on top of the eczema we treat with tons of stuff daily.  Poor kid.
• We have a summer roomie.  Our children’s ministry intern for the last three years, and our friend and occasional babysitter, is crashing with us over the summer, and we are all quite happy with the arrangement.  And, I know what you are thinking, but no, she doesn’t babysit for us all the time.  She’s done it once in the three weeks she’s been here.  We refuse to take advantage of her!
• We are going with a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling next year, and we can’t wait!  That lady was so smart, and I am enjoying reading through her works.
• Superman will be teaching a class in the next couple of weeks.  He’s excited about getting started, and we hope this is a door to something new and different for all of us, but especially him.
• We are making progress on the home front, but there is still much to do.  We moved one year ago this weekend, and there are things that still have not been put in place.  The pregnancy, c-section, and part-time teaching job, on top of the full-time mommy ‘o 7 job kind of delayed getting settled.
• We have a vacation planned for September.  It’s the first official vacation we’ll have taken since I was pregnant with Earnhart over four years ago.  We planned it for Destin, so we’re really hoping that the oil spill gets resolved (for many reasons, but selfishly, for this one).
• Tipper is getting so big!  He is loving his toes and hates lying down.  His abs are going to be rock hard from all his attempts to get out of the infant carrier!
• Smiley has officially aged out of Babies Can’t Wait.  I love that organization and what it has done to help my kids.
• I love my family, even though caring for them is so much work right now.  I would not trade my babies for a second of anything else.  I am soooo excited about our new school plans and can’t wait to get started.
• We started doing some read-aloud with the whole family today.  We’ll be reading Little House in the Big Woods (1st of the Prairie series) at lunch and The Chronicles of Narnia after bath time in our big King-sized bed, which doesn’t feel so big with everyone piled on it!  These will be such fun adventures for us to take together!
• Picasso has lost her two front teeth.  She is so adorable!
• The girls are finally riding bikes without training wheels.  Woo-hoo!!!

That’s the best I can do today.  Don’t give up on me.  I’ll get this thing on a schedule with the laundry and other stuff, as soon as I get all that on a schedule!  🙂