Our New Laundry Sorter Thing

This happens every day.  Laundry piles up sooo fast around here.  I do laundry every day except Sunday.  

Several weeks ago I started a new system that's working so much better than before.  Since my kids are old enough to do their own laundry, we have 2 days a week of girls' laundry, 2 days of boys' laundry, and 2 days of mom/dad/baby laundry.  When it's your day you have to do all your laundry plus any laundry that is already in the laundry room, fold, iron, put away, and clean up the laundry room.  The iron and clean up the laundry room part hasn't happened consistently...but baby steps.  

There have also been weeks when we've gotten behind for whatever reason and we just do an everybody laundry day.  But for the most part, we stick with the plan.  It's also encouraged my boys to re-use their bath towels since they will be the ones washing and folding.  

I've had my eye on this at Walmart since before the holidays.  Our laundry room is always a wreck and the only organizational tool we have is the standard laundry basket.  The space we have is long and skinny and I didn't even know if it would fit.  I thought about measuring but in my real world that would never really happen.  It was a risk but I decided to splurge and LOOK how perfect it is! 

It is the best $10 I've spent all year.  

The REAL First Monday

So remember last Monday didn't count because I was sick.  And my parents were here and we had to do some important visiting and eating and crafting and watching tv.

As you do.

I also spent a good part of not only Monday, but Tuesday-Friday napping, blowing my nose, and feeling sorry for myself.  I didn't finish my book or send notes to my foster's moms.  In fact, it was nearly impossible to get any work done because my rigorous nap schedule.

So this is the real first Monday of 2016 for me.  I feel WAY better and I'm ready to get on with life.

I woke up with a big list and a determined attitude.  Honey's car wouldn't start this morning so he took the van.  He also took the babies' car seats.  That meant I couldn't take kids to piano and writing and we had an unexpected day at home.  OH HAPPY DAY!!!

Unfortunately, my kids didn't share my enthusiasm.  They acted like it was the biggest surprise of their lives that they had school today.  I don't even get it.

So needless to say we've had a rough start.  Or rather, they've had a rough start.  Because my day has actually been great.  We've tackled some formidable attitude issues and learned some new rules. We've practiced some anger management by doing jumping jacks, running laps around our 2 1/2 acre property and writing extra sentences in nice handwriting.  The babies have learned that life doesn't end just because Momma said its play pen time.  And my teenagers figured out that chores have to be done before tinkering with the go cart.

I'd call that some fine productivity!

So my goals for this week are kinda the same as last week's....

~finish my book.

~read 2 lessons of OPE (Outdoor Power Engines)

~contact Pumba's momma because she left me a note in the diaper bag.

~check the bees

~implement some new year's ideas

~re-write and post a new schedule

~try 2 new recipes

Looking forward to a great week!!

Her First Sewing Project!

One of Mallory's favorite Christmas presents was a real sewing machine from Grandma and PawPaw.

It's so fancy looking and even has a carrying case.  

Grandma makes beautiful custom quilts for a living and her other grandma was also a professional seamstress.  So it runs in the family, except it apparently skipped a generation.

Anytime I've ever made anything, the machine breaks.  And I mess up the project.  And I have to rip it out and start over.  Again.  

I've had my mom and my mother-in-law try to teach me.  I even have friends that have sat by me patiently as I was determined to make this "simple" project.  But no.  Sewing makes me say bad words.  

But lucky for Mallory, her Grandma came and gave her a lesson.  

And look!!

By the end of the day, we had a happy girl with a pretty doll quilt and a tired Grandma! 

Thank you Grandma!  

First Monday of the New Year

Monday!  

Do you love it or hate it?  

For some of us it means not only going back to work after the weekend, but also going back to work after vacation.  That's us.  We've been off for 2 weeks and today was the day to start it all back up.  

There've been times when I was ready because I missed and craved routine.  Not this time.  I'm pretty sure I could just keep this slower pace forever.  It was an awesome vacation of home time, but now it's over.  

I used the time to write down all sorts of ideas for school for the new year.  And I was sorta excited about implementing some of them.  But I've been fighting a cold for a couple of days and today it decided to show itself STRONG.  

So I've felt crummy all day and barely got anything done.  It doesn't help that a couple of kids are sick too and didn't we just do this anyway??  It's the first cold I've had in several years so I can't complain.  Or maybe its the other way around and since I haven't been sick in so long I'm entitled to whine and feel sorry for myself even more!  

Anyway.  

Over the break, we celebrated Christmas and New Year and got a new foster baby!  I'd say that's pretty fantastic.  I've spent a lot of time with my adult kids and was reminded of just how much I like who they have grown up to be.  Of course I love them....but I really like them too.

Meg and Ethan and Christian left for a post holiday cruise.  I know they are going to have so much fun.  And they both took oils for possible sea sickness.  I knew Meg would because she's a fellow oil lover.  But my son?  I was super surprised because it was his idea and most of the time he feels like he probably knows better than his mom.  Hmmmm.  

Here's my goals for this week...

~ Knock out this cold.  And if that happens, just maybe I can get some other things done.

~My parents are coming!  That means I'm still kinda on vacation.  Fine with me.  

~Finish a book and continue with my Bible study. 

~Do something fun with Mallory...she's COW. 

~Write notes to my foster kids' moms to stick in the diaper bags.  

~Nail down my menu for all of January.  

And maybe, just maybe I'll re-watch some Downton Abbey. 

My (short) Reading List

I did not read nearly as many books as I had hoped to last year.  I also didn't write down the ones that I did manage to read.  I made a cute page in my art journal for just that purpose and it ended up with like 2 books on it total.  Oh well.  New year.  New list of books.

My favorite book of 2015 was Wherever The River Runs  by Kelly Minter



I loved this book!  I love the way Kelly writes and how you feel like you are right there in the jungle with her.  It's far more that just a missionary story.  It's also how it affected Kelly when she came back to the states and how she was able to put her rediscovered love of Jesus into her life here and now.  And if you just read one book this year, THIS IS IT.



I always like to have some sort of meaningful or matching bookmark for each of my books.  For this one it was a Verse that Mallory had copied a couple of years ago and my favorite picture of Big Boy.

For this year, I'm still trying to come up with my book wish list.  But these are the ones I'm starting with.....

Flash by Rachel Anne Ridge

I can't remember where I learned about Flash.  But it sounded cute and I put it in my amazon cart for someday.  Then one day this week the UPS truck came and my man had a big smile on his face.  He bought it for me as a surprise!   It's a much lighter type of book than I usually read, I'm enjoying that so much.  Also, I had to make sure the donkey didn't die first.  I CAN NOT DEAL with an animal book where the dog dies at the end and I've fallen in love with him way back in chapter one.  No.  So to make sure I don't walk around the house crying for 2 days straight, I always have to make sure the animal is still alive and well at the last page.

I didn't have any donkey bookmarks so I made a silly one for fun.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People  by Stephen Covey

We recently moved a bookshelf into the house that was in the garage.  That meant a whole bunch of "new" books I hadn't seen in a long time.  This was one of them.  I read this book about 20+ years ago and Honey even went to a workshop that taught the Covey method.  I had forgotten how much I liked it until I started it again.  I'm about 1/2 through and this time I'm underlining and taking notes and coping quotes.

Here's one of my favorites:
"Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behavior of others, empowering the weaknesses of other people to control them.  Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions,by their environment.  Proactive people are driven by values-- carefully thought about, selected, and internalized values."

It's made me realize how reactive I am and how I want to make changes in that area.

My bookmark for this is just a plain white coffee filter that is folded in half.   WHY???  Why am I being so boring?  I don't even know.

Big Truths For Young Hearts is a book I'm starting with the kids next week during our morning meetings.

What Love Is by Kelly Minter is my new Bible study.  So far so good.

This is a short list that hopefully won't take very long.  So I need some more suggestions!  What was your favorite book of 2015?  What are you reading this year?  

My Recap Of 2015

This was the first time in forever that I didn't send any Christmas cards or a Christmas letter.  I really really wanted to but it just never happened.  And what's worse is that we didn't even get a family picture done!!  We tried.  But by the time we figured out how to coordinate everyone's schedules, it was too late, too cold, and everybody got sick.  And I do mean EVERYBODY.  Except Ethan.  He was the lone survivor.

But here we are at the new year of 2016 and I didn't want to leave out the highlights of last year.   It was a full, busy, fun year......

~We started out on a sad note when our precious Gram went to Heaven.  And although I know she is having the time of her life in the presence of Jesus, I sure miss her.  And Christmas wasn't the same without her.

~We took 30 hours of PRIDE training classes, 4 hours of CPR, unearthed countless important documents for our home study, filled out tons of paperwork, and readied our house to open for foster care!

~We celebrated Meg's 23rd birthday!

~ We celebrated Laney's 21st birthday!

~We celebrated Joshua's 14th birthday!

~We celebrated Christian's 19th birthday!

~We celebrated Nathan's 11th birthday!

~And to end the birthday run with a bang, we celebrated Zeke's 8th birthday and welcomed our 1st foster son (Blue Eyes) on the same day!

~We started a new business.  NewFire Athletics was launched in the spring.  We hosted two very fun seasons of soccer.  We had a great turn out and a lot of good times.

~Joshua's chickens hatched their own eggs.  Not with an incubator, but with a REAL LIVE chicken sitting on top of them!  I decided we were pretty good farmers after all.

~Except we still didn't have a good garden.  So never mind on the good farmer part.

~Our 2 bee hives came out strong in the spring and we doubled our apiary to 4 hives.  We were able to extract some honey and get some new equipment.  I even got to help a friend with her bees this year too.  I love beekeeping!

~We welcomed foster baby #2.  Strawberry Princess stayed only 2 weeks until she got to go to her grandmother's.

~We welcomed foster baby #3 and fell HARD IN LOVE with a newborn that grew into a chunky love of a baby.  Bentley stayed with us 5 months and got to go home to his momma.  Now I get babysitting privileges and the chance to spoil him, and kiss him, and love him, and squeeze him all over.  Really, I just can not get enough.

~Zeke's baseball team won 2nd place in the championship tournament!  Love that first baseman!

~Nathan got glasses and he is the handsomest 11 year old ever.   This month he will also get braces.

~Meg and Laney got wisdom teeth extracted.

~Christian and Laura both bought their first car.

~Joshua had a fun year rabbit hunting with friends.  Then he got to take a trip to Texas to hunt with Grandpa and Nana.

~We celebrated my 46th birthday!

~We celebrated Honey's 48th birthday!

~We celebrated Ethan's 24th birthday!

~We celebrated 27 years of marriage and even took a small day trip!

~Christian entered into a relationship with Haley.  She is a sweetheart.

~Blue Eyes moved out of his crib and into a big bed.  This move brought a world of challenge but we are doing better.

~My parents bought a house about a mile away!  This meant that we got to see them a whole lot more last year and hoping for even more this year!!

~Laura Beth played volleyball for Charleston High School for the first time.

~Joshua started piano lessons.

~We entered the county fair and struck it rich.   Mallory won a blue ribbon for cookies.  I won a blue ribbon for honey and we both won fifty nine cents!  Joshua won 3 first prize and 2 second prize for his chickens.  Strangely enough, he did not win fifty nine cents though.   We also hosted a booth for NewFire.

~Jesse and Joshua both played football and we spent many Thursday nights cheering on our Tigers!

~In addition to Laura's job at the school, she also started teaching tumbling once a week.

~Most of us are beginning a new venture and studying to be able to repair outdoor engines.  We are hoping to start business #2 this year.

~A new children's home opened about 2 miles from our house.  It was fun to get to watch and be a small part of it from the beginning.  Now Laney and Ethan are both working with teenage boys at Maggie House.

~We celebrated Laura's 18th birthday!

~We welcomed foster baby #4.  Ellie came to us at 6 days old weighing just a little over five pounds.  Such a tiny little baby girl.  She stayed with us 6 weeks until she was moved to another foster home with her sister.  Her new foster mom and I text and Miss Ellie is doing great.

~We celebrated Jesse's 13th birthday!  4 teenagers at once.

~We celebrated Blue Eye's 2nd birthday!  A fun party with the family AND his sister!

~We celebrated Mallory's 10th's birthday!

~My nephew, Tate, came to visit all the way from Arizona!

~Laney and Christian finished their 3rd semester of college and Laney was accepted into the graphic arts program.

~My parents came for Christmas for the first time!

~And right before Christmas we welcomed foster baby #5.  Pumba is a sweet one year old that loves to snuggle.  Blue Eyes is starting to have fun with him.   He came to us sick and we all caught it just in time for Christmas.   And even though he has felt horrible most of the time he's been here, he has still been a sweetheart and hardly cried.

So that's it for us and 2015.  Thank you for being a part of our great year and for reading about it all the way to the end.  We love you all!!

An Almost Christmas Post

I've taken a month long blogging break and I think I'm ready to jump back into it!
Kinda weird to jump back into something at the end of the year I know.

Anyhoo.

It's Christmas time.  And I was thinking about how our family has expanded from 12 of last year to 17 this year.  This includes our fosters, Christian's girlfriend Haley, and Bentley's family.  So much blessing! And to add to it, my parents came here for Christmas this year!!  It was a first.  And I don't know about them, but we had such a great time with them.  Plus they cooked all the food.  ALL THE FOOD!!

A couple weeks ago a great thing happened for this guy.  His case was closed and now he's with his mom and brothers for good!  And I can also show him off.....

This is Bentley.  Our precious. 

And even though he is finally back home, he likes to come for sleepovers.  Isn't he lovely?  I am totally in love with this little baby.  He gets absolutely anything he wants when he's here and never touches the ground.  

About the same time our sweet Ellie got moved to a home with her sister.  So we were down to just BlueEyes for a couple of days until placement called again. This time it was for a one year old little boy who had been bounced around for a few days and needed a permanent placement.  And a place to spend Christmas.  And some love,  

So we welcomed Pumba into our lives Monday night.  He's the snuggly-est little guy with blonde hair and big brown eyes.  He's not feeling good right now but you would never know it.  He's a sweetheart and has been a dream of a baby.  

So yeah, Christmas morning is going to be awesome with these little people.  And big people too.  

My man is on vacation for the rest of the year and we are just being home, wearing out the XBox, and kissing our babies.  

Smiles Of This Week

Have I told you lately that my family is AWESOME?
Honey and the kids took the late night feeding last night.  Then Christian came in late/early from a movie and took the next feeding.  And that meant I got to sleep until almost 5am!

Now everyone is still asleep.  The house is perfectly quiet.  I was able to read my Bible, write a couple of emails, and now blog a little bit too.  I might even get a bit of menu planning done if I can be quick.

Here are a few things that made me smile this week....

A costume party at Meg's!  Since we are not Halloween fans, she decided to host the first annual costume party complete with games and food.  The catch is that nobody could spend more than $5 on their costume so we all had to be super creative.

I was proud of how my kids pulled this together ALL BY THEMSELVES with what we had at home.
And even though Honey and I weren't really part of the party, we knew it would delight the kids if we dressed up too.  So we came up with this Incredibles outfit that I made from red t-shirts and a construction paper logo.   I kept it super secret all day so they were very surprised!

Aren't these flowers pretty?  

Meg bought them for me last week and they are still beautiful.

Now I know I'm not supposed to post pix of my fosters on social media.  But does my blog count?  I don't know.  Besides, he's not really my foster baby anymore anyway right?  

So this guy got sick this week and his mom took him to the walk in clinic where Honey works.  He went down and held him for about an hour while his mom filled out paperwork and waited.  I could look at this picture forever.  I love it.  Look at his poor sick little eyes.  

Remember when Mally and I won ribbons at the fair for cookies and honey?  Well who knew there would be REAL MONEY involved?!

It's true.  We both got a check this week for fifty-nine cents.  FIFTY NINE WHOLE CENTS TO SPEND ANY WAY I WANT!!  Honey said the bees were finally bringing in an income!

But speaking of the bees.  I'll give you a quick update.
My favorite way to winterize is to surround all the hives with hay bales stacked 3 high on 3 sides.
We doubled our apiary this year to 4 hives and all that hay was pretty expensive.  A couple days later we looked out the window to see my neighbor's horses sticking their necks through the fence and feasting on my bee's hay!!!   Next year I'll have to think of something else.

We got into all the hives to check their honey stores before the cold set in.  Everybody looked strong and healthy with plenty of honey.  But just to be sure, I added some dry feed to the tops in case I can't get back in there for awhile.  I was also able to pull 4 full frames in a super they weren't able to finish and froze another frame that was 1/2 full.  I'll extract those frames this week and I already have buyers for the honey. 

Here I go again with another possibly forbidden picture.  Just in case, you might not want to mention it to your friends at DHS.

Anyway, a lot of our kids have a cold and couldn't come.  But for Funday Friday I wanted to take some kids to the lake.  These were the only 3 that were able to come.  We didn't get to stay long because it was colder than we thought and BlueEyes had a short fuse.  But it was a fun few minutes! 

What's Up With The Babies

A LOT has been up with the babies!  And most of the reason I just can't blog as much as I'd like.  My afternoons are not what they used to be.

I'll start with sharing what I posted on Facebook.  A little lazy?  (sorry) 

Everybody says they couldn't do foster care because they would never be able to let the kids go. You guys, IT IS REAL. Today we say goodbye to our sweet baby boy. However, I am hoping that this is just the beginning. God has allowed me to slowly build a relationship with his mom over his four months of life. We text back and forth, send pictures of Little Man, and she asks if I'll babysit (YES!!!). She even texts about other things in her life.

I can't even tell you what an amazing blessing this precious baby has been. And now I'm looking forward to a continued relationship with him AND his mom. Everyone knows someone with a foster care horror story but God has allowed us to be part of a success story.
My heart is selfish and mean and it is nothing we have done but EVERYTHING He has done.

It still hurts. But God sure has a great way of softening the blow.

I am so grateful for all the support we've received on their behalf. A friend gave me bags of clothes with lots of winter clothes that I can send home with him. Another friend gave 2 twin beds and new bedding. Someone else has donated a bag of clothes just for the mom. And notice the great 31 Tote to pack up his clothes. And none of these friends have ever met her!! That's not to mention all the prayer support and love. Thank you all for loving us so well and loving our baby and his mom!

Update:  He's doing great and he got to come over for sleepover last week!  Oh how we missed Mr. Chunky Love.  

We had a week with just us and BlueEyes.  I was enjoying the slower pace, the little extra minutes in the day, and not having to tiptoe to bed at night.  I told everyone I'd probably just keep it like that for awhile.  

BlueEyes is a work of his own.  We've had a few HUGE poop smearing parties that have left me furious and done for the rest of the day.  The bedtime battles have been intense and I've had to give up the fight for naps.  We fight over face cleaning and getting in the car.  And getting out of the car.  And if my hands are on the shopping cart or stroller.  A typical almost 2 year old except with some extra drama. So we installed a spy cam in his room.  Seriously.  

But then there are those blue eyes.  And that blonde hair.  And those cute little words.  And those times when he brings me books and kisses me and leans back on my chest.  

Our days are spent taking turns with him outside, trying to talk him into using the potty, and answering "no" to the 100th request of "eat?" after he just had another snack.  We read books, sing songs, play cars, and have conversations about moving him back to a crib.  And we clean up a lot of poop.  

His family situation is still very much unsettled though it does appear that Mom is trying.  

So yeah, I had decided that was probably enough for awhile.  He is so much work and I want to be available to babysit our cutie pie if his mom needed us.  

Then the placement center called.  

And ya'll.  I didn't even hesitate!  I acted like I had been waiting for them to call all day.  I am so ridiculous.  

The first call was for a 3 week old baby girl who was placed in an foster home that was on overload.  Everything was fine, it's just that the family was full.  But when I called that foster mom to ask about Baby's temperament/habits/schedule, she had NO IDEA they were going to move her.  She had just bought all new clothes and was looking forward to her staying for awhile.  

I called the placement center back and they decided to leave baby where she was. 
A couple hours later they called again and I wondered if they'd changed their minds.  Nope, but they were looking for placement for a 1 week old whose mom got picked up for theft.  

My man's response?
"We can't help them all.  But we should help the ones we can."

OK then.

One of my favorite things is waiting for a newbie.  Of course this is only my 4th time but it is SO EXCITING!!!  I can hardly sit down.  We start thinking of what we will need.  Wondering what she will look like.  Thinking of what we might call her.  Because her name?? NO.  Just no.

Hours later the investigator comes with a tiny 5 pound baby girl with lots of pretty brown hair.  I didn't even ask her birth weight so I had no idea she'd be so small!  She's the tiniest baby I've ever seen in real life.  So petite and thin.  But yet so strong and healthy.  

"Ellie" is just perfect.

I wish I could show you beautiful baby girl pictures because she is just gorgeous!!  We are all in love.  Again.

This afternoon I got a text from Mr. Chunky Love's mom.  Can we babysit Thursday night?  Another sleepover?   9 bios, a 2 year old, a newborn, and a 4 month old?  Well yes.  Yes we can! 

That Time I Decided I Hated My Pantry

I desperately needed to do some shopping prep and clean out the fridge and pantry.  The refrigerator is easy to clean.  It's bright and pretty and spacious.  I don't let it get gross so it's just a matter of pulling out old food, consolidating containers, and wiping down.

The pantry is a different story.  It's dark.  No light at all.  The shelves are deep and who knows what's back there.  It's impossible to organize and it's ugly.

My mother-in-law is having us over for dinner tonight so I had some extra time to figure out the pantry situation.  I decided to pull it all out and move all the food to the regular kitchen cabinets above the dishwasher.  That space wasn't being utilized to its potential anyway.

But first off I had to make lemonade.  A new pantry calls for a lemonade celebration and I had a new recipe that I am WEARING OUT because we love it so much.

So I relocated the cans and boxes and bags and jars.  I wiped down the shelves and called Zeke in from outside to climb up and do the high ones.  And let there be light!!  I can see everything.  It's organized and pretty and should've been done 3 years ago.

But now I have a huge mess of everything I pulled out of those shelves and put on the counters.
And then I spilled the lemonade.  But since we have someone in our house who cries over spilled milk anything, I need you to know that I only spilled about 1/4 cup and not the whole thing.  Anyhow it added to the mess.

I cleaned up the lemonade but at that point I ran out of steam.  So I shopped Amazon and bought myself a new book instead.  Maybe it'll explain why organizing has to be so messy.

A Talk About Chapstick And Other Happy Things

Did you have a good weekend?  My parents were in town and that always makes for a happy weekend for us.  And all day I've been thinking it's Monday because I was going to do a "from the weekend" post and I guess my Monday totally slipped past me.  The only thing I even remember about yesterday was the BEDTIME DRAMA from BlueEyes.

But it was good even though I didn't get to write about it. Except the bedtime business.  That's never good.

Look who's in town!! TATE!

He just showed up at the game with G'ma and G'pa and we had no idea.  My kids are super excited to see their cousin.  Except there have been a few complaints...something about Christian hogging all the Tate time.  And actually BabyB might have something to do with that since Tate is totally smitten with him.  Tonight we are taking dessert over and trying to squeeze in as much time as possible since they all leave for AZ this week.

The weather has been perfect in our neck of the woods and that means lots of outside time.  Walking the babies (and the cat), soccer, and just fun outside play.  BlueEyes behaves a lot better when he's not in the house.

I found myself to be almost completely out of all chapstick.  I know.  

There aren't many stores that carry my beloved Chicken Poop Chapstick so I thought I'd try out something new.  Or three somethings new.  I bought 3 different ones that I'd never tried before.

First this one.  (Sorry about the sideways horrible pictures.) 

I HATED this one!  I hated the way it smelled and felt.  In fact, I wiped it right off my lips.  It reminded me of little kids' toothpaste.  No.  I gave it to Meg. 

Now this one.  I got it because it was kinda like EOS but cheaper.  I've never had EOS but I kinda like the soft looking egg shape and would like to try it.  Turns out I don't particularly like the shape and in fact, my husband asked if I was smearing deodorant on my lips.  Anyway, it's a keeper but not my fave. 

Now the 100% natural caught my eye on this one.  And I have to say that it's not bad.  Except that it has a gritty feel going on and I don't like that.  Still it has a nice neutral natural type of scent and it'll do in a pinch. 

But then the most wonderful thing happened. When Nana came, she brought me THREE Chicken Poop Chapsticks!  And now I'm all set and I don't have to make do.  

Pictures of the Season

Or more like three. 

We have 5 kids playing 3 overlapping sports right now.  

It has never been more fun or busy. 

Laura Beth was on Charleston's first ever volleyball team.

She loved it all.

The girls played hard but didn't win much since it was their very first season to play. 

It was also LB's last season to play since she is a senior but she's hoping to play a little in college. 

Speaking of college, she just scored a 31 on her ACT!  

She's not content with that, however, since a 32 will give her more scholarship opportunities and she may be looking at med school.  Sooo, December is her last shot to get that extra point. 

We are so proud of her! 

And of course, FOOTBALL. 

Our junior high Tigers are playing hard and that kicker is amazing! 

I love this shot. 

And this kid. 

I'm pretty fond of this one too. 

And he has good hands for catching that football plus a pretty smile. 

Or maybe I'm a bit partial. 

This is our second season of our NewFire soccer league. 

We opened it up to 3-4yos and OH MY the cuteness!

We have about 100 kids participating again and everyone seems to be having fun. 

The parents are happy too and that makes a very positive atmosphere. 

Joshua has gotten to earn some money referring this season. He's at the age where he wants to earn money but is too young to actually be hired for anything.  So this is perfect.  It helps us and it helps him.  Win Win! 

10 Things Of Late

1.  The fair was a great success.  We managed to spend almost the whole weekend going back and forth and tag teaming the babies.  Our booth turned out the be the most popular because of the soccer goal and there were all ages shooting goals all weekend.  We won some ribbons and lost the raffle for the calf that we REALLY REALLY wanted.  It was a great time.

2.  Our dishwasher broke.
OUR DISHWASHER BROKE

OUR DISHWASHER BROKE!!!

Not only that, but it broke when it was full of dishes AND there was another sink full waiting.   So we washed and washed and washed.  All day.  Because after that mess was cleaned up there were more dishes waiting from all the time it took.  12 people means you almost have to run the dishwasher if you just make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  It runs at least 3 times a day and I have never missed it more.

My father-in-law came to look and couldn't fix it.  My husband was swamped with work and other stuff.  I called a neighbor and by this time 24 whole hours of washing dishes by hand had passed.  So I told my man that if Howard couldn't fix it, I was headed to Sears.  Immediately.

But Howard did fix it!  And I couldn't be more grateful.

3. This is what happens when your toddler sneaks out of bed.

And not only did he pull all the wipes out, he also tore them into little pieces. 

It's a good thing he's cute.

4. HUGE blessing!!

My parents brought meat!  This is only a small part of the steaks. 

And LOTS of hamburger!!  

This also makes menu planning more fun.  

5. I just finished this.

This was my least favorite of all Margaret Jensen.  It was still good.  And I'm always interested in more snippets of Mama's life.   My favorite quote.... "The discipline of the ordinary day makes room to think and plan."  Oh yes, it does.  

6. My new book from the library.  I'm eager to start it.  

7.  But not only that, I learned to get a library book on my Kindle!  I feel so smart.  And when you borrow a library ebook there are no late fees.  For some of us that's a big deal. 

8.  Nathan took his library card to the library, checked out his own books, and brought his library card home without losing it.  If you've ever tried to teach an 11 year old personal responsibility, you will understand that this is a big win.  

9.  My moms came to visit! And my dad too!  I love that they have a house here now.  They buy us food, babysit, let me drive their car, and spoil us rotten.  I could get used to this in a hurry! 

10.  Today was 1/2 price ice cream cones at Sonic.  7 ice cream cones later and it was almost time for lunch and football.  It didn't make sense to drive home, unload babies, eat fast, load up babies, and drive back for football.  So I sent Jes and Josh to school for lunch with LB.  Then bought everyone else burgers.  It was the most beautiful day to eat outside and it was a fun treat.  

It's That Time Of Year

It's fair time y'all! 

And you may remember when I said I'd never do the fair again.  My opinion hasn't changed....about the Ozark fair.  But the Charleston fair?  I am ALL OVER IT.  Unlike my fair experience of last year, this year has been super simple. 

Joshua has entered 5 chickens for show and will sell one at the auction. (Look how he's holding them!)  And perhaps I'm a little more fair savvy than last year because I didn't miss the chicken blood test day AND I reserved the cages IN TIME.  Unfortunately they do not give ribbons for jumping through the proper  hoops.  

Mallory has been excited about the fair ever since the schedule came out in the paper.  She's been thinking and planning on what she could enter.  Yesterday, she made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies all by herself and even took them out of the oven without me.  Taking anything out of the oven has been a big deal for her.  

She packaged them up according to proper fair regulations and we dropped them off. 

BEST DAY EVER!!  She was super excited and couldn't wait to get back home to tell all her siblings about the fun of "being in the fair".  

So all weekend we will basically live at the fair.  New Fire Athletics has a booth and we will be playing games, giving out candy, and hopefully getting a few more sign-ups for the upcoming season! 

Grandmother's Cranberry Cuss Word Story

Yesterday was Grandmother's bday.

When I was little, her name was MeMaw. But (I still remember the day) when I got older, she decided that I was too big to call her MeMaw and she changed her name to Grandmother. Not Grandma or Granny or any short cut. But the whole long name of Grandmother. And she's been Grandmother ever since. (I still prefer MeMaw but don't tell her I said that.)

So anyway it was her bday and I called her and we all sang Happy Birthday over the phone because she lives too far away in Texas.

Every time we talk she has a new story.  And when she told me that something happened so terrible that she hollered out a cuss word, I knew I was in for a treat.

The doctor told her to drink more cranberry juice.  She bought a new cup and filled it up.
Well it was the kind of cup that has a straw that pops up when you push a button.  She pushed the button, the straw popped up, and cranberry juice spit out all over her!   All over her blouse, all over her chair, all over everything.

She was surprised and mad and hollered out  BLEEP!!!! 

And just then her sister called. " Isn't that how it always is?", she asked me.

But Aunt Roxy just had to wait on the phone while Grandmother cleaned up the mess, changed her shirt, and treated everything with Spray & Wash Worsh.

Bra Shopping

Boy moms understand.

It is HARD to buy new bras and underwear because the intimate apparel section is the last place you want your sons to be wandering and waiting.   Girl moms....you got it made! 

But I was down to 2 bras if you don't count the emergency one.  That's the sports bra that doesn't have a clasp and just fits over your head and you have to squeeze into it.  The problem is taking it off. Especially if you are hot and sweaty.  That's when you start looking for the scissors.  

But today I got to leave the boys at home and go bra shopping.  I didn't realize how long it had been until I actually starting looking at all the different bra possibilities.   There were thousands!!  Seriously.  All colors of the rainbow INCLUDING the rainbow, plus the moon and stars and flowers and stripes and everything else you can think of.  When did we get so many options?  Then there's the ones in the boxes and WHY EVEN?  

Did you know there's bras that decrease arm flab?  But that's not the best part.  Did you know....

Did you know? 

There's even bras to minimize back fat.  BACK FAT.  I had no idea that was a thing.  

Apparently if you struggle with back fat you have no need for a complicated diet, just buy the fancy bra.  

So yes, I had plenty of options.  Except I didn't.  Because sometime between when I last bought a bra and today, boobs exploded into huge sizes and they no longer consider that SOME girls just don't have all that.  

But if you are a 38D you are golden.  Because there was lots of those in every color and pattern and fat shrinking abilities.  

Girl moms and 38Ds have it so easy.  

Grocery Shopping Prep

Sunday is not my favorite day to grocery shop.  However, it sure beats hauling 5 kids with 2 babies along!  Since school started, my older kids are gone all day.  That means anytime we go anywhere everybody gets to come along.  Unfortunately for Honey, that means date night will be grocery shopping night.  But he's a good sport!

So today I'm getting ready.

~Finalizing the menu
~Finishing the lists
~Making the plan
~Cleaning out both refrigerators.  (This is easy because they are practically bare!)
~Reorg of pantries
~Making sure we have plenty of Aldi sacks in the right car

My dad also told me that he is coming tomorrow with lots of beef for my freezer!!  My parents are THE BEST!  So today we are also defrosting the chest freezer.  It's perfect timing.  I only have 6 bee frames in there that need attention anyway so it'll be short work for one of my sons.  Then we will have a freezer full of meat to feed these hungry babes.

I also have a lot of peppers from the garden  my friends' garden that need some love.  So today I'll have a couple of kids seed those and get them ready to can tomorrow.

The chickens will be happy!

What's Up With The Babies?

Baby 3 had court this week.  His ad litem could not make it and there were 3 in his place.  After much whispering in the court room plus a recess, the judge decided to postpone until next month.

Mom has done pretty much everything necessary and it looks as though the next step is showing stability.  Case Worker thinks she'll get 3 more months to prove she can keep her job and show herself reliable. Talking with mom in the waiting area, she thought the judge was going to award weekend visits.  I'm sure she was disappointed.

I'm still unsure if Baby's case is liked to his brothers'.  CW was trying to separate them.  I really hope mom doesn't get all 3 back at the same time, even if only for weekends.

DNA testing was ordered and a staffing before next court.  It all took about 5 minutes after the recess and it was over.

I asked CW about the smoking.  Mom smokes.  It's obvious.  And if foster parents have to sign all kinds of stuff saying we don't smoke AND we won't have baby around smoke, then won't DHS have something to say about a mom who smokes with a BABY?  He didn't know but promised to find out.

My thoughts.....
My hope is that the judge will move slowly and award weekends with one or both of the older kids first.  She hasn't had custody of her kids in 15 months.  She's out of momma mode.  Her kids don't know how to behave around a baby.  It would be A LOT for her.  However, she desperately wants to be a good momma.  She adores him.  She does everything she can to take care of him with what I pack in the diaper bag for visits.  He never comes home hungry and he's always clean.

Baby 3 is the best baby ever in the history of the world.  He doesn't cry.  He is happy and sweet and precious in every way.  We will miss him soooo much!!  But I do hope God works in his family to bring healing and restoration.  I also pray we can continue to be in his life.  I wonder if I can get weekend visitation??  :-)


As for Baby 1 (BlueEyes) , all is the same.  Mom is coming to visits but the supervisor told me she doesn't play with him or his sister.  She just sits there and watches.  Baby 1 is always happy to see her now.  I know that makes her feel good.  She brings snack and drinks which shows some forethought.

She has a job.  That's a big deal.

Another big deal is that she is expecting again.  I told CW to let me know if that baby will come into care.  Maybe if Baby 3 goes home, I can save that spot for the new one.

My thoughts.....
She admitted to me that she hasn't ever taken care of him much.  Mostly dad did.  She doesn't know about his poopy diaper issues or milk sensitivity.  She didn't know about his baby formula.

I'm not sure she has what it takes.

Visit days are horrible.  Sure, BlueEyes acts ok around her.  But when we get back home, he is a nightmare.  Of course there are the fits.  But it's more that that.  He does this stress thing where he frantically tries to get into and mess up anything in front of him.  If you hold his hands, he will try it with his feet.  He won't listen and he goes for it (whatever it is at the moment) as fast as he can.  I consider this his most dangerous time.  This is the time he would grab knives or drink bleach or throw glass.

I hate visit days.  He is not himself.  And I know it's because his life is whack and he doesn't understand....yet at the same time he does understand that it's just not right.

Saturday

Did it rain at your house this weekend? Because it did at mine. And I am just THRILLED because it is a good start to a fall honey flow for my bees and I also like the cooler temps. As it turns out, it's also good for sleeping.

So about 11am I checked out. As in I WENT AND TOOK A NAP EVEN THOUGH BLUEEYES WAS STILL UP.

I know.

I laid there for about an hour listening to everyone before falling asleep to the sound of rain. Bliss!

When I came out at 1pm Laura asked me how long I actually slept since I had been in my room for 6 hours.
And this comes from a kid that wears a watch non stop. Somehow on her fancy watch, 6 hours and 2 hours are the same.

I spent a great amount of the rest of the day cooking dinner and loving on a fussy baby.

Baby had shots Friday and since he's in foster care I don't have a choice in the matter. I HATE putting such a stress on a brand new immune system. Friday night was terrible for him but once I got him to bed he slept great. Today was better but nowhere near good or normal. My poor sweet baby.

And while we are on the subject, Baby has court next week. I would appreciate your prayers as this could either be a big day of change or a continuation of the same. It's hard to have his future so up in the air. Most days it seems like he will be here forever and it's as normal as can be. But then as we get closer to court, the reality of the temporary nature of this relationship is brought front and center. I am so torn. But I rest in the assurance that God loves him more than we do and I pray for God to work for Baby's good and His glory.

A Little Bit Of Lately

I took an unintentional break from blogging but now I'm back!  Unfortunately the blog tends to be the low hanging fruit when life gets hectic.  And I hate that because it's a good way for me to record life and unpack my thoughts.  But sometimes you just gotta be living life instead of blogging about it I guess.  

Anyway.  

The pool has been FUN.  And since we drained the water and started over, it has also been a breeze to maintain.  

Pool games!  They look like synchronized swimmers! 

And just take a look at the prettiness!! 

We didn't harvest much but I needed to make some space for the fall.  So we took four shallow frames and I got to work with the uncapping fork for the first time.  I loved it.  

I also had the opportunity to help a friend with her bees.  She had caught a swarm and just put it into some mismatched equipment and walked away for about 2 years.  It was a fantastic experience to dig into it and see some things that were completely different from my hives.  We harvested some and tried to replace it with some better equipment.  

See the darker honey in the quart jars?  That's some of hers.  Different bees.  Different place.  Different flowers.  Different honey.  So neat! 

The Friday before school started this girl got some wisdom teeth taken out.  

She did great and is pretty much back to normal.  That's a good thing because school has started back strong and my kids are busy with another semester.  

Days before my birthday, Nathan was telling me how special his present was.  It was soooo pretty and I was going to love it.  He was super excited to give it to me.






































He was right.  I couldn't love it more.
But then I wondered what I could use such a fancy notebook for.  I certainly didn't wanna just use it as an ordinary planner.  I wanted to find a special purpose for it and I wanted to remember his sweetness every time I opened it.

So I decided to use it to record LOVE moments in the day.  I'm calling it my LOVE project.  I think back on the day and the small and precious moments with my kids that I'm likely to forget.  Like this....



The way he belly laughs with total abandonment while kitties crawl over him!!  Swoon!!
And when Joshua trusted us enough with a confession of his heart then ended it with hugging me LONG and TIGHT.  I want to look for the good and not forget it.  It's easy to see the frustrating and irritating and the work of it all.   But I want to look for these moments, treasure them, and focus on all the reasons that I'm crazy in love with these kids.  .....and my man.

You may have guessed.  FOOTBALL is here!!  

I won't bore you so early in the season, but suffice it to say we are excited to have 2 boys playing this year!  Tiger Football....BRING IT.

Fun Fridays And Homeschool Art On The Cheap

Fridays are going to be a little bit more special this school year.

Friday is our house cleaning day.  With all of us working hard together we usually get it knocked out pretty quick.  It will also be our art day and tea party day.

Mallory loves getting out the pretty tea dishes.  I do too.  But I don't like the clean up and the putting them away.  It's just easier and quicker to grab regular dishes or paper towels or coffee filters for our snack.  But tea parties are special and I have a little girl who loves them (the boys do too) so it is worth the extra effort now and then.

So Friday afternoons will be our tea party day.  The house will be clean.  We will have a snack and some kind of drink.....not usually tea.  And I will read aloud while they act all fancy and try not to break the thrift store pretty dishes.

It'll also be our art day.  I've been looking around and thinking about how I wanted to handle art.  I've decided that Pinterest and the library is going to be my friend!!

I'll use the library to pick out books about famous artists, art history, drawing, painting, etc.  I'll use Pinterest for some fun ideas and projects.

I snagged a couple of cases of the seventeen cent spiral notebooks at Walmart and passed one out to each of the kids this morning.  While I was reading the Bible aloud they were decorating their notebooks and being far more attentive than when I have them just sit.  This notebook will be their planner...the place to log their work, their chores, their assignments.  I want them to make it theirs and use colored pencils/pens and decorate and organize it just the way they like.  They can also use it take notes about our read alouds or Bible and illustrate whatever I'm reading.

So our first art day will be super simple and just an example of some fun doodles that I printed from Pinterest.  They can copy these in their notebooks, color them, and embellish them however they want.

I am looking forward to Fridays!

This Week's Goals

Saturday turned out to be a great day for a reboot. 

We had 3 crock pots going at once, 5 loaves of bread baking, and muffins for Sunday morning.  In addition to that, I even came up with a menu.  Wonder of wonders! 

In the meantime, Honey had the boys washing windows and doing outside chores.  I can't even tell you what a difference the clean windows make.  I had no idea they were so disgusting. 

Yesterday, Laney and I spent the whole morning in town shopping.  We did the huge grocery haul and finished the back-to-school shopping.  So now  I have a plan AND I have groceries.  That simple thing has given me such peace. 

I also came up with some goals for the week....

~Fire drill.  One of my foster care requirements that I haven't done in 3 months.
~School lunches
~Swimming! This is the free time activity I've chosen for everyone for the whole month of August.  After swim season, they can choose their own.
~Work on some school stuff.  Our back-to-school party is Friday!
~Teach Zeke to care for the roses as one of his new chores.
~Write notes to both my babies' moms telling them how their baby is doing. 
~Finish reading aloud Trumpet Of The Swan and pick our next book.
~Tea party during read aloud time Friday
~Pick Sharon's garden while she's on vacation.
~Baby visits Tuesday and Friday

And here's our 2 week menu...

BLTs with potato salad
Crockpot chili dogs
Beef stew with cheese toast
Tuna melts with apple salad
Pizza Pockets - a new recipe we will try out for the college kids' lunches
Crockpot Ziti
Meatball Sandwiches
Smothered Chicken with rice
Big salads with chicken
Tomato soup with cheese toast
Black Bean enchiladas with rice
2 date nights
Tacos on Sundays

Other stuff: energy bites, chocolate smoothies, watermelon, morning glory muffins, carrot cake

Almost everything is a crock pot meal on this menu.  August is just like that!!