Our Weekend

Oh my goodness.

It was one of those weekends. The kind that is filled from top to bottom with wonderfulness.

First of all was ANOTHER mercy ruled football game with my boy kicking 6 points on the board. And y'all, it was cold. But Lane graciously offered to stay with the younger kids and they were happier at home.

Now a small part of the fun of Friday nights has been meeting the people we sit by. LB's friend Jenni sat with us but other than that we didn't meet anybody fun. But we did sit on the 50 yard line and were in the direct line of fire for free t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing. I've been wanting one of those shirts for a long time and we scored 2 of them!

I was so surprised to see some our friends that came all the way out here (!) to help us cheer on our boy. Is that love or what? 

And then there was Greg.  He's my man's most favorite person on the earth besides us.  And while Honey gets to see him every week, the rest of us haven't seen him in a long time.  So Greg came for the game then came over after that to watch part of the Greenwood game and talk and talk and talk.  

It was a late night.  And it was perfect. 

Saturday was a cookout with neighbors, family, and friends.  It started small and grew to more people than I expected when I bought supplies.  So a trip to town was in order except that it meant an hour minimum plus extra gas money.  Now we have a little grocery store around the corner but they tend to be a little pricey so I usually just use it for emergencies and sale items.  But we decided to give it a try, just buying what we needed, to see if it would really be worth the trip to town.  

And here's what I learned.  

1. The prices were higher but not ridiculous.  I might've spent about $3 more than I would've at Aldi. 

2.  I saved an hour in my day plus miles on my car. 

3.  I saved gas. 

4.  I didn't buy anything else I didn't need.  And this is probably the biggest saver since it's so easy just to grab an extra gallon of milk or an unexpected end-cap purchase.  

So I'll be a little quicker to consider that as a good option and slower to make the big trip to town.  

Plus...my daughter just got a job there so how easy is that!!!  

Well the cookout was a lot of fun and we got to get to know some friends and neighbors better.  And there was chocolate involved so it was an especially good night.  

Sunday was church.  And I got to wear a new outfit plus the shoes I wore to Meg's wedding.  

HATE those shoes.  But they matched so what could I do?  I wore them all the way to church and back then threw them into the girls' room because I will never wear them again.  Too bad because they are soooo cute!  

Date night!  And it was my turn.  So I made Super Bowl Chicken with stuffed mushrooms and salad.  My man must've thanked me like 5 times then he mentioned it again this morning.  I guess it was a hit.  We watched some movie about monsters on earth trying to kill the guy making his way to the plane to fetch the rescue beacon.  And it was surprisingly pretty good and this comes from a girl that usually can't stay awake through a whole movie. 

And that was it.  A fantastic weekend!!  

Birthday Surprises In The Works

 

Mally's birthday is coming up next month.  A fact that she likes to mention every day. 

Her sisters have been saving old clothes in order to use the fabric to make some dolly clothes for a birthday present. 

 

Problem is.  We can't sew. 

 

Other problem is.  It's hard to pull out so much mess when you live together in the same house all the time and keep it a secret. 

 

But it just so happened that Mally was down for a nap and Grandma stopped by for a visit and to bring some snacks.  Now Grandma is a FANTASTIC seamstress.  So they pulled out the machine, the scraps, the doll, and the snacks. 

 

Grandma helped them make patterns.  Did you get that?  MAKE patterns.  Not like go buy them from the store patterns.  Then they got busy cutting, measuring, and stitching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this little doll will have a whole new wardrobe.

And the other little doll will be so surprised!

Thursday

We had a home game for Josh tonight and it was Christian's turn for chain duty. Which meant that he was in charge of that big orange marker that looks like an upside down exclamation mark with the bulls eye on top. I don't know whose idea it was to put him in charge of that but it was a good one. That way I could cheer on 2 kids at the same time.

But for some reason Christian wasn't big on that and told me the story of how the water girls told him that at every game they look for his family because every time there is a field goal we are a whole other show just by ourselves.

I had no idea.

Well today was a long day with a certain child that won herself an early bedtime.  So at 8:00 I am firmly tucked in bed with my new book, a podcast that I've been wanting to hear, and my planner. Done.

And before I could really enjoy my new book I knew I'd have to work on tomorrows plan and have it written out. Because I'm crazy that way. And I can barely make supper without writing it down first. And the most pressing items of the day turned out to be...

1. Finish the clothes exchange because I'm tired of looking at it.
2. Figure out what to do with the watermelon that nobody likes.

And the only reason I really care about this watermelon is because its tying up my favorite pot in the fridge and I've had to go with my alternate choice when making soup. So the watermelon needs to go. Which is fine since I told you that nobody even likes this particular watermelon.

Oh and guess what else? We had to buy a new fridge when we moved here and even though it was a pricey fridge it's been nothing but a piece of junk. I've lost count of how many times the repair man has come out on warranty work but he told me if we were paying out-of-pocket it would've added up to somewhere around a thousand dollars.

So he was back today and on the phone with Whirlpool trying to talk them into replacing it. Now it might surprise you to know that they were not so keen on this idea. So they are sending out another guy for a second opinion. In the meantime, it's still busted.

The way of the repair man is this.... "We will send someone out sometime between the hours of 8am and 5pm."

 This put a kink in my afternoon since I was hoping to go to football practice. Thursday is Special Teams day and I've only seen it from a distance and I wanted to go so I could cheer him on and all.

Obviously that didn't get to happen, but Christian was not as disappointed as you might expect.

What I'm Loving This Week

~So remember we talked about the clothes exchange?  Yesterday I finished another box and unpacked a bunch of boys' clothes that will make my guys look simply dashing.  It's almost like Christmas... unpacking and remembering the clothes that they wore to this or that last year.  And then seeing what they've outgrown that their brother can wear this year.  That's the part of it that I love.

And I am blown away at the abundance.  Just the other day I got a familiar big family comment.  It alluded to the fact that we must be rich since we can afford so many kids.   But as I sort through clothes, it's always a reminder of God's provision.  People are very generous when they learn you have a big family and many of those clothes are hand-me-downs.  The rest were bought at the thrift store on 50% off day.  Rarely would any of my kids wear a complete outfit that cost more than $10.  And they just keep getting passed down until they are outgrown and I can share them with someone else.

For the most part my boys are very gentle on their clothes.  It's my youngest daughter that's the problem!  No one will want her clothes when she's finished with them!

~Have we talked about kale?  Not only is it a super food that's packed with nutrients, but it's super easy to grow and very hardy.  We planted kale back in April and it is still going strong even after a transplant.  I'm the only one that's a huge fan of kale around here but my family is tolerant as long as it's not the feature presentation.  I put it in smoothies and salads mostly but I'm wanting to try more ways of cooking it too.

~I can not believe there are only a few more games of football.  This has been an outstanding experience and I am so grateful for the school and this town that have made us feel so welcome.  I'm still having strangers tell me what a great kicker we have and still people introducing themselves to me around town.  My boys are happy and meeting some neat friends and getting a ton of exercise!
LOVE.

~One of the things I'm looking forward to these days is Leslie's series on BALANCE.  She is posting every day on how she is able to stay balanced as a homeschool mom of 3 little girls.   Leslie is super organized and inspires me to look around and figure out what I can label.  It's been fun to see how she is balancing her first year of homeschooling with her oldest.  Even if you don't homeschool, I think you'll like her beautiful pictures of her family and home.

~Do you need a fun book to read with your kids?  Hank The Cow Dog is our fave.  I don't think our little girls would've fallen in love with Hank without the influence of their brothers.  But something about a house full of boys makes things funnier.  Right now we are reading Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
So far it's my favorite, but I think I say that about every one of them.

~Jess and Birdy and I picked about 15 pounds of apples from our neighbor's tree.  Then my Azure Standard order came in and I got 20 more pounds.  LOVE apple season!  So this week we will be appling everything.

~And speaking of love.  I've been reviewing 1 Cor 13:4-8.  God has been talking to me about the words of my mouth lately and it all starts from the heart.  Francis Chan suggests that you read through that list and insert your name in the place of love.  Like ______ is patient, ________ is kind.   And it's not long before you feel like a liar.  So this passage plus Philippians 4 is what I'm loving right now.
Loving God and loving others with my thoughts, and words, and attitudes.

October Blessings

~This means only one thing.  The weather is perfect and it's time for the clothes exchange.

I hate this. And I love this.

I hate the work. And the decisions.

I love the organization and the cleanliness and the opportunity to share with my friends all the stuff my little people have outgrown. Every season I feel like I am able to organize it better than before.

Jes and I worked on his clothes. Summer clothes out. Fall clothes in. Orphan socks trashed. Holey undies a thing of the past. The boys' shoes have been a reckoning force since we moved here. We have one of those hang-on-the-back-of-the-door deals but no way will my guys actually put it to use. Instead they throw them in a box inside their door and it becomes a huge pile of mess. So this season I am separating their shoes into laundry baskets that slide under the bed and throwing away that box.

~I haven't seen my bees in a few weeks.  I'm itching to get in there and see what's going on in the hive. But the rain makes grumpy bees so I'll wait for the sunshine!

~This month we've had all 3 cars broken.  The kids' car was in the shop twice.  The van just got out today.   And this morning we went to use the blue car just to find out the battery was totally dead.   So we were down to one car which meant I had to take Honey to work at 6:30 and hit Walmart for another battery.

And let me tell you something.  When you shop Walmart in the early hours of the morning you have the whole store all to yourself.

 I took one look at the car batteries and decided they all looked just alike.  So I asked for help and I was sure to tell him the car was blue in case it mattered.   Apparently it worked because my son was able to install it and now we are back on the road.

~Look what was in our yard!!   Apparently this guy is lost because the only water feature on our property is the dog's bowl.  

~This month marks 2 important dates in our family.  The one year anniversary of moving into our house AND Meg and Ethan's wedding anniversary.  We are blessed! 

What's For Dinner?

We have 3 different mission opportunities at church this month...

1.  Dixie Jackson
2.  Clearing House
3.  World Hunger...love those little bread box banks!

We had a wonderful guest preacher on Sunday talking about Matt 28 and about how Jesus commanded us to be involved in missions.  I was praying this morning and felt like I needed to impress this point on my kids individually and not just count them in on our family contribution.   My younger kids don't have much money so I have offered them a weekly job for $5 to give to the mission of their choice.

And the only thing this has to do with my menu for the week is that Jess will be making breakfast all week and ZBoy will be making lunch.

Sooo I've come up with some simple stuff that I can help them do.  It's a big way to contribute to our family this week while at the same time "working unto the Lord" in a different kind of way.

Jess' Breakfasts...

Cereal.  He hates making this but did it tonight with a good attitude for us to have tomorrow.
Cinnamon toast
Eggs.  He loves making eggs but makes a HUGE mess so my kitchen cleaner was protesting this one!
Apple muffins
Blueberry muffins

ZBoy's lunches.....

Tuna and crackers with carrot sticks and dip
Nachos
Peanut butter rice cakes
Bean burritos
Grilled Cheese

Mally and I worked on our dinner menu for the next 2 weeks.

Date night (x2)
1. Honey's turn.
2. My turn...superbowl chicken and creamed spinach

So Mally said, since we bought tooth picks can we have sandwiches?  My kids love sticking an olive and toothpick in a sandwich and it's immediately elevated to the Super Shaggy sandwich from Scooby Doo.  That's what they'll be having for date night.  And they will eat quite a bit just to be able to do the whole olive and tooth pick thing.

French Toast and bacon (my man's special request)
Enchiladas and spanish rice
Artichoke Ravioli and summer salad
Burgers (x2) ...every Saturday night thanks to G'pa and Nana!
Pizza (x2)
Farmhouse Chicken and green beans
Tuna Melts (for a TKD night) and potato salad
Spaghetti and salad and banana pudding (for a Sunday lunch I think)
Chicken and dumplings

Freezer cooking... morning glory muffins and maybe some apple dumplings.   We robbed our neighbor's apple tree this weekend so I should probably make her some apple dumplings too!

Of Birthdays And Fancy Folks

This was a special week over here.  We spent 2 days celebrating this guy.

Jess turned the big eleven.  Monday was the real celebration with no school and presents and no school and lunch out and no school.  Then he wanted Grandma to cook him dinner so that was a good night of steak and ninja cartoons.  What could be better?  

Wednesday was the actual birthday so even though we already officially celebrated, everyone knows you still can't do school on the real day.

Look here.  New Awana boys for meeeee!!  Notice the Duck Dynasty shirt?  I could tell right off the bat this was a kid with exquisite taste for the finer things in life.

I had 2 helpers this week which meant everyone got a little extra one-on-one and we got a lot accomplished.  LOVE my 5th graders.  Truth be known, I just love working with unchurched kiddos.  They are my unreached people group.

Take a good look. 

This is what Joshua wore to bee club.  And this is after I sent him back to change out of his John Deere "Can You Dig It?' shirt.

When we got home he said, "I didn't see anyone else dressed up in nice church clothes tonight.  Just me."

And Meg said this would happen if we moved to the country.

So I guess wearing this fine t-shirt and tennis shoes instead of crocs made him feel rather dressy.  And it stands to reason that since you might find me in my favorite green t-shirt from Thrift Town on any given day that we are some very fancy people.

Bedtime Weirdness

It was a lazy rainy Saturday that included a bath and a nap that lasted over 2 hours. Oh and some DD thrown in for good measure.

Perfection really.

And after all that hard work it was time for bed.
Have you ever looked over a recipe and been disappointed that you didn't think of that first? Well that's how all the discontentment started. Recipe creation envy. Because I could totally have done that.
It was a Pinterest recipe named something like dreamy bedtime drink and the pictures were cute.

I even got out of bed to try it. Except that the recipe said to heat the milk to almost boiling (on the stove I assume) and I decided there was no reason to do that. So here's my lazy version. And if you're in bed I suggest you hop up and give it a try because its completely worth it. I promise.

Get out your favorite coffee cup and pour some almond milk into it. I suppose you can use whatever milk you have but almond milk is perfect for this. Except I don't think you should use rice because its too thin... Just my opinion. Then eyeball about a tsp of honey or maple syrup into that with a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Stir it up and microwave it.

So there. I tweaked it and renamed it to Creamy Dreamy.  And now it's mine.

I was immediately in love with this and carried it back to bed to settle into some reading time.

But there was nothing I wanted to read except that I wanted to read something.

My book on Ps 23 wasn't what I had in mind.

Great Expectations has complicated vocab and after such a tiring day I didn't feel up to it.

The Jordan Rubin book is at a boring part

And the new Crazy Busy book my man and I are reading was not what I had in mind since my activities of the day would indicate that I'm doing good on that front.

I was kinda in a fiction mood except that I don't have much in that genre. Then I remembered Lucille and decided to see what kinda kindle freebies I had stored up.

I have a fiction category with a whole 4 books to choose from. Stupid ones too like something about 13th century England with Scottish names. Who cares about that? And then there was the complete Sherlock Holmes treasury which makes me think that Lucille was hijacked by my daughter for a certain time and none of those 4 books were my doing.

So there I was.

I pulled out my phone and started checking my blog friends and stumbled on the perfect thing. Better than fiction... A whole blog series on cleaning house that I'd never read. So even though I laid around all day I could live vicariously through someone who was actually productive and who can take pretty pictures of organized pantries.

I love those kind of people.

The Day My Pride Took A Nose Dive

I was out for my morning walk and ran into my neighbor, Ellen.  I petted her tiny dog, Gracie, and we talked about her pecan trees.

As I was leaving I was looking at the pecan tree and not paying a bit of attention to anything else.  And here's where it all went south.  Literally.

I stepped off the part where the street meets the grass in a drop off of about 6 inches and bit the dust.  My pants didn't have pockets so I had my phone in one hand which meant I didn't even catch myself right because apparently I place more value on my precious phone than on my body parts!  So y'all, I went all the way down ON MY FACE!!!   So when I say I bit the dust, I mean it in the most literal sense.

And my only thought was "I hope Ellen went in the house and didn't see this!"

But no.

And here's what you need to know.

She didn't even laugh.

Which explains 2 things.
1. The excellency of my neighbors.
2. The reason we could never be close friends.  Because it was funny!

But instead of laughing, I hear her shout,  "BLESS YOUR HEART!!  Are you ok?"
Which might be something I might've said if I saw that happen, but you can be sure I would've had a hard time getting the words out between the fits of laughter.   My grandmother tripped and rolled down a hill about 20 years ago and we are still laughing about it today.  Because nothing is funnier than seeing your grandmother rolling down a hill.  And she gets it.

Anyway.

Other than some minor road rash and damaged pride, all is well.  And I took my embarrassing moments to a whole new level.  

Why I Don't Mop And Go To The Library

~Here's how the day started.  I slept in.    Maybe b/c of what I ate yesterday, maybe hormones, maybe weather, maybe getting up in the night with a sick kid.  Who knows.  And it doesn't matter.  I slept in and made all the kids get their own breakfast.

But it turns out we had a terrific school day with good attitudes and hard workers even though our late start meant the loss of PE time.  Thank you kids!!  And grammar has been hilarious.  We use a program called Easy Grammar and I use it for 5 kids at the same time.  I write 10 -12 sentences on the white board and each kid gets to pick a sentence and label the parts of speech.  But if they get stuck someone else can steal it and get the next sentence as well.  It's fierce competition with lots of shouting, laughing,   and high fives.  And even my littlest is pretty preposition savvy because he desperately wants the steal.

~I tried and tried to think of a way to go grocery shopping.  First because it's pay day.  And second because we are down to a bag of grapes, 3 pickles, and a 1/2 jar of mustard.  It's time y'all.

Problem was that we were short a car because the kids' car was in the shop.  We are thankful for this car because it gets you (or them) where you're going.  But it hasn't been such a friendly ride.  Its one of those cars that has random warning lights pop on while the dash lights barely work at all, you have to keep a knife in the glove box in case the seat belt won't work, and you need to put it in neutral at red lights so it won't die.

So grocery shopping wouldn't work out and my kids got to practice patience in dealing with the lunch fare.  But the good news is that this fix was only $69 to hopefully stop the dying problem.  The lights and seat belt issue can wait.  And now we are back in business.

~I have a confession.  I haven't mopped my kitchen floor in a week.  It's all because the boys' potty overflowed all over the floor and we used the mop to clean it up.  So then I had to throw that mop head away because OF COURSE!  And  I couldn't go grocery shopping and get another one.  So tomorrow...well the list is getting longer.

~September was "Food For Fines" month at the Charleston library.
I haven't been able to show my face in there for some time due to this unreasonable rule they have about returning books when you check them out.  And I don't know exactly how much my fines were but my son was guessing in the $40 range.  Somehow I doubt it but I couldn't be sure.  So all month long I was planning to take in a bag of food and hand over my library card.  Or more like I was going to have my son do it because a part of me was worried that they'd just keep my card and revoke all my privileges because of the last Hank The Cowdog book.   All month long I forgot until last night about 5:30 and a few minutes before they closed.   I swung in at the last minute and I am proud to say that
my card is all clear and I can freely check out any of the 27 books lined up against the wall.   I'm guessing the library will consider canceling their Food For Fines program since I moved to town.

Happy Monday!

We had such a great week last week with my mom visiting that this week will seem boring in comparison.

~Charleston pulled out another huge win over Danville making them 4-0 and winning the conference opener.   And the great thing is that all 3 of Christian's grandmothers were there this week to cheer him on.  

Meaning they weren't paying a bit of attention to me when disaster struck since I was sitting behind them and between 2 total strangers.   I was watching the game and felt something hit my hair.  At first I thought it was some kid throwing something.  But no.  

It was a BUG!  In my HAIR!!!!  

And it wasn't coming out even though I was shaking my head around like a lunatic.  The lady beside me took notice and asked what it was.  A BUG!!  In my HAIR!!  

And you won't believe this but she pulled it out of my hair with her bare hands!  

And the world was set right again.  

I'm still impressed with her bravery because if the situation had been reversed, bless her heart....let's just say that the lady beside her might have taken that opportunity to visit the concession stand at that point.  

~LB had a sweet 16th birthday and finally got her ears pierced!    I'm looking forward to watching her enjoy all kinds of earrings....because believe me, she will.  

~Our friends Don & Marianne were out of town this week and Honey and I got to fill in for them at church.  That meant I got to teach 1-2 grade Sunday school.  LOVED it.  I've actually wanted my own Sunday school class for some time but right now they are all full of wonderful teachers.  It was a lot of fun to fill in for Ms. Marianne though I know I paled in comparison.  We learned about Zacchaeus and memorized Luke 19:10..."The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost."   When I wrote it on the chalk board the homeschool mom in me had to resist the urge the label all the parts of speech.

~ And now this week is full of usual regular type of everyday stuff.  But really the usual regular type of stuff is special too and I'm trying to savor it and enjoy it instead of navigating and surviving it.  I'm memorizing Phil 4:8.  I've learned its a form of loving God and loving others even with our mind as I learn to notice and praise the things that are worthy.  Even in the everyday.

 Phil 4:8..
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 

Birthday With M&Ms And Football

I have a fun size bag of m&ms on my nightstand that is driving my kids crazy.  Each one of them have asked me like 50 times if they could have it and who's gonna get it and what's it for.  Who knew that 17 m&ms in a tiny bag could cause such a stir.  So I'm leaving it there to torment them because that's the kind of mom I am.

And it's not like they haven't had enough sugar.  My freezer was full of ice cream and that was BEFORE Grandma came to visit.  When Mom got here she made sure they enough for unlimited banana splits with all the toppings.  So yeah, they're good.

G'ma's visit has been lots of fun.  Shopping, eating, going to the park, gaming, story telling, and tonight is

GAME NIGHT!!

Then tomorrow we have a birthday!!  16 years of sweet Laura Beth.  

Isn't this so cute?  She was 8.  So that was 1/2 her life ago.  

And now...

Isn't she so beautiful?  

We have a big day planned of lunch with Grandmas and Dad, balloons and presents, ears pierced (!), and 

GAME NIGHT

again.

We went shoe shopping for our football players because boys just need shoes all the time.  I've had the same shoes for 8 years so I don't know what their deal is.  It might have something to do with all the disappearing food in the kitchen.  But in any case, their new shoes are sharp.  Just hope they are good for field goals and PATs.

Chance and Christian.  

I could watch this every day. 

We Found It!!

After the Gentry game I was getting ready for bed and OH NO!!!  My earring was lost!  GONE!!  

My favorite. 

They were my grandmother's. 

I loved them.  

I looked all over the floor, took off my shirt, shook out my hair, re-traced my steps back into the house, prayed over it, looked in the car, and made the kids search the driveway.  

Nothing.  

Which could mean only one thing.  I lost it at the game.  Two hours away.  On bleachers.  Or underneath probably.  I called the school but figured it was lost forever.  

But today!!  I was working in my closet with 2 of my kids and I looked down and THERE IT WAS!!!  

Oh happy day!   

Our Football Experience

Some of my friends have been asking about our experience with football this year and I realized that I'd hardly even blogged about it.  Where have I been??  This has all been so new for everyone involved and we didn't even know anyone who had taken this route before. 

So here's what happened. 

The boys were minding their own business this summer playing soccer together in the front yard like usual. 

They had no idea they were being watched.  

But apparently the kid next door took notice of Christian's kicking skills and the wheels started turning in his head.   Our neighbor, Chance, is a senior this year at Charleston High where football is quite the big deal.  For the whole town.  And Chance is a super star.  (He's also Christian's holder and #11 in all pics)

Next thing we know, there is a knock at the door from a guy introducing himself as the high school football coach asking if there would be a chance that Christian would consider kicking for them this year.   Under the Tebow law, homeschoolers are allowed to participate in public school sports.  Interestingly, he'd never seen him kick.  

Well.  This is certainly something we'd never thought of.   

But Christian was interested and it sounded like fun.  Besides, we figured we weren't married to it so if it turned out to be anything other than great, we could step out.  

We bought a football.  Or actually Grandpa did.  

And Christian put his little brothers to work chasing down imaginary field goals while the neighbors watched and hoped this was their chance to turn around a poor kicking game.  

A couple weeks later Oakland Raider's kicker, Eddie Carmona, came by to take a look and work with him on his kicks.  Eddie is a former Charleston Tiger.  He came over a couple of different times and we all thoroughly enjoyed him and appreciated his willingness to work with our boy.  

Summer practice started and Christian got a chance to meet the team and work muscles he'd probably never even used before.  

Meanwhile, I was learning what all was going to be involved and asking some homeschool mom-ish questions.  Like ..... does he have to have a shot record?  do I have to turn in grades?  are there attendance requirements?  ...stuff like that.  

I called the superintendent and he was full of answers.   In fact, he was very eager for Christian to come on board.  He offered the use of the library, any resources that I may be interested in, AP classes, college classes, and everything that would be available to any other student.  In fact, he said that Christian could come and go as he pleased using it like a college campus.  If he wanted to enroll in any class and didn't like it, he could just drop it without it being recorded on a transcript.  He said he wanted to be a help in any way he could and they were working to re-write the school's by-laws.  (This was a first for them too.) 

The things that were required

1. a physical

2. a current standardized test score 

3. enrollment in 7th period athletics  

That was it.  

At this point I was starting to see just what a big deal football really was around here.  Several times I would need to make a phone call or run an errand and someone would say...."Oh, you're the new kicker's mom!"  

Hilarious! Like he was famous or something.  

A couple weeks later we were texting back and forth with the coach about Josh playing on the 7th grade team.  Now I was more apprehensive about this one since he's so young and not quite as "fully baked" as his brother.  Lots of thoughts like.... influence of the other boys, whether he knew the game well enough, the responsibility of it all, and if he was just ready for such a thing at this point in his life.  

We've had some iffy moments but so far so good.  We set some rules with him and he's doing great.  

We are about 3 weeks into the season and this is every bit as much fun as soccer ever was.  This town and school has been so welcoming and more than accommodating in every way.   The principal even gave all our kids free passes to every home game to save us some money every week.  

Friday nights are a blast!  The lights.  The announcer. The band.  The excitement.  The stands are full and at the away game our visitor side has more fans than the home team.  And at every game so far, someone has come and introduced themselves to me.  

And now for some pics....

A good block.  Josh is #81.

I can't get over how big some of these kids are!  What do their mommas feed them? 

But look at the determination in those eyes! 

And now with this guy we've gone from this...

To this.. 

One of my faves....

Be still my heart. 

Our Weekend

I am sitting in an empty house.  The only sounds are the humming of the dishwasher and the crickets and frogs singing through our open windows.  I don't think I could ever get used to this.  I enjoy quiet moments as much as the next momma but it doesn't take me long to miss the kid noise.  Even the un-sweet noises of my kids.

It's date night and my in-laws offered to feed the kids dinner tonight.  So my man and I had our own dinner and he left to go pick them up.  I'm sure they are having a blast and aren't missing us a bit.

Did you have a good weekend?

Here's a little of what we did...

2 bubs sharing granola bars

A box!  The mailman came early with presents!  A new phone for Lane and some DD shirts all from Nana and Grandpa.  Now that's the way to start the weekend!! 

Future Charleston kicker?

We love these. 

Our older girls have been so helpful this week as the rest of the crew was battling sickness.  So their daddy wanted to do something special for them....like ice cream.  I suggested he buy those little individual ice creams in those fancy flavors.  But he wanted something that the whole family could enjoy.  He came home with 3 (three!) different ice creams.  Blue Bell no less!

Later Lane was saying how happy she was that everyone got to have ice cream because it made her feel like she was a blessing to the whole family.  Oh yes, Love you are!!  

My Favorite Things This Week

~Lane and I got to work at COTS (church on the streets) Saturday and meet some new friends.  Like 125 or so including lots of sweet kiddos and a newborn baby girl.  I do believe those will be my favorite Saturdays.  I had a picture but my computer decided to delete it which is ok because it wasn't a good picture anyway so you're not missing anything.  Lane took her puppet and delighted the kids.

I passed out food and held the baby and cleaned up trash....but not at the same time.

~Oh my goodness gracious.  I LOVE this boy.   And I think he looks terrific in his football clothes.
Game night was as much fun as my neighbor said it would be.  And Y'all, the whole town was there it seemed.  Did you see the video on Facebook?  I've watched it like a thousand times.  I have every nuance memorized.  Charleston won something like 42-19 and 6 of them were Christian's points.

~This has been what's been going on like 19 times a day.  Chess.  And I don't get it.  But they do and love it all of a sudden.  I'm more of a Go Fish girl.

~We started Spanish last week and I can say 3 words.  Soup, Rock, and Shoes.  So I go to church and practice them on Edgar and he tells me how I say them all wrong and makes fun of my accent.  But won't he be surprised next week when I pull out some impressive word like Toothbrush.

~My man planned date night this week.  He cooked a fancy dinner all by himself and even included apple juice in fancy glasses.

~I won $22!!  TWENTY TWO dollars!!   Jes and I won the 50/50 split at bee club last night.  I'm saving for a honey extractor.  Only $80 more to go....I need to win more splits.  Like the football one that's like $400.  Jes was so excited!

Bee meeting was terrific with a whole honey extraction process set up and 3 different uncapping tools to try.
There was a smoker lesson just for me and an example of what not to do....that would be me too.  I learned that there are 300 bees in 1/2 cup which is how many you need to use when doing mite testing and why first year beekeepers usually have a high failure rate.   Yes, it was a great meeting.   

Farm News

Guess what happened?

Well we had this watermelon sitting on the table for 2 days.  Just sitting there waiting for a spot in the fridge.
So I walked by the table and OH MY WORD!!

The watermelon puked!  All over the table and on Josh's math book.  And it smelled horrible just like real puke.  I didn't even know that watermelons knew how to puke.

~  Our garden is on phase 2.  That means that we didn't water it enough and ran out of energy and Momma got busy with school and football started and it basically died and we all got in trouble.  It was a special day.

But for the record, it would've happened anyway because spring gardens don't last all year but some of us are in disagreement over that one.  Yeah, it was a special day that required some Duck Dynasty therapy.  And some Star Trek for date night.

So we cleaned it up, tilled it, and planted some fall seeds.

~I read the article in Time magazine about the bees disappearing.  And really I'd rather stay in the dark regarding that kinda thing.   I mean if you have added supers and done everything you can and your bees still swarm there ain't nothing you can do about it.  But now I'm really antsy waiting for Monday for my next hive inspection.  A couple weeks ago I had them checked by the Arkansas apiary guy from Little Rock.  He said they were perfect.  (I agree!)










~Isn't this a pretty sight?  That means eggs!

We are getting about 5 a day now and it's still exciting every time.  

But the roosters are another story.  Mean and noisy.  Yesterday one of them drew blood on my sweet Nate.  It is time for them to go. I found a guy to buy them and he can not come soon enough.  

Back To School

I've been wanting to blog all week.  But do you  know what happens when you have a back-to-school party?  You have to go back to school.  Like full time.  Not just when you don't have enough cucumbers to can that day.  Why do I always forget that part? 

And if that wasn't enough you have to clean house too.  Like all the time.  Especially when you add in more school stuff .... even though you have purchased every organizational storage tool imaginable.  And THEN!! These people still think they need to eat.  Multiple times a day.  

But here I am.  And I've been wanting to tell you about our back-to-school party.  

First off my kids all made a wish list which started with socks and underwear and ended with every type of snack food they've ever eaten.  It was extensive.  

Lane and I always have the best fun doing this together.  We leave everyone at home and we shop shop shop for all those fun supplies.  The younger kids are the most fun to shop for.  Art kits and sticker books, colored pencils and Transformer backpacks.  LOVE.  I have to be more creative with the older ones to try to find something new they'll like.  We filled up the cart and checked off the lists until we ran out of school money.  

After breakfast the next day, everyone went to their rooms and waited for the bell to ring.  Meanwhile Lane and I set every body's new stuff at their spots and made it look cute.  

Then SURPRISE!!

He loves his new calculator! 

I try to get them one "big" present and then all the littler ones.  The younger kids got backpacks, the older ones got lap desks, and Mally got an art kit.  

I'm pretty sure only homeschoolers get this excited over school supplies.  Maybe?  

But the fun wasn't over this time.  Nana wanted to be involved in our back-to-school and she came the next week.  So the kids revised their lists with the things that Mom didn't buy and Nana took everyone shopping... 2 stores even, and lunch!  Hobby Lobby was one of the stops of the day and we didn't even break anything.  Aren't we growing up?  Thanks to Nana our back-to-school fun was doubled! 

So the last couple of weeks we have been back at it with a new gusto.  We've added Spanish, piano, art, and a new history/geography program.  2 of our kids are taking a writing class from our piano teacher. Everything else is at home. 

It's shaping up to be a good year! 

Our (3day!) Weekend

I'm sitting here watching my clothes fly on the clothes line and waiting for it to rain.  How I hope it rains...but can it just wait until my clothes are all dry?

We started the weekend with a big breakfast complete with lots of ketchup.  Nothing needs ketchup more than breakfast foods at our house.  Lots of music.  Lots of dancing.  Lots of food.  Lots of ketchup.

A Saturday morning trip to the feed store was in order but after they got there they found out we had a totally flat tire.  Then it turned into a trip to town, a box of Little Debbies, a lot of money later, and 2 new tires.  

Mowing is always on the Saturday to-do list.  And now the yard looks pretty.

Did you hit the Savers sale today?  We went right after church...well the ones who couldn't get out of it did.
That would be the boys.  This was the yearly boys' shopping trip looking for clothes.  You can imagine their excitement.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate to shop with more than 2 people under the age of 20?  One time in Colorado we went shopping with 14 people at Walmart.  On a Saturday.  That has to be some sort of record.  Up and down each aisle all fourteen of us.  Why?  I don't even know.  And now when I go to Walmart with a bunch of kids I feel like I should look up the manager and apologize in advance.

Well clothes shopping with boys is actually easier than Walmart.  There is nothing more they'd rather do then hurry up and do something else.  It was beautiful chaos Y'all.  And fun.  I'm not sure that the other shoppers would agree.  The girls disappeared and I only saw them at the end when they had their cart full of stuff.

So I got all the jeans 4 boys will need for the winter, 3 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, and whatever the girls got for $54.

Meanwhile, Honey and Christian escaped to Sams and came back with Season 3 of Duck Dynasty!  Because he said, "Duck Dynasty covers a multitude of sins."  .....lets just say I wasn't too happy with him before that....

Moving on.

By the time we hit the road to go home it was almost 2pm and those of us who didn't pack a lunch were lamenting our bad decision .  And somebody had the great idea of invading Grandma's house.  That always means food.

We went home first to unload the car and change clothes.  And I decided to stay home and get some things ready for school tomorrow.  So I gave the how-to-behave-at-Grandma's-house-when-mom-isn't-there speech to couple of kids who needed a reminder and they were off.

And I was alone to wash new clothes and clean the house and look at school.

OK just now Honey called and GASP!!  I went to answer the phone and noticed that it was sprinkling outside on my clothes!  So I had to make a quick rescue and dry them the old fashioned way in the dryer.
But you know what he said?  He said that Grandma offered to keep the kids for date night and he was on his way home!!  

Grandma is awesome.

What I'm Reading

I have several books I'm waiting to read.  Problem is I've been a slow reader this year and have a few  books that I'm taking my sweet time getting through.  I want to finish some of these up before I start something else....like Great Expectations.  Since I watched the movie, I'm eager to read the book. 

So here's my current reading list......

Do you do the 1 year Bible reading plan?  Have you ever started and then got so hopelessly behind that you just gave up?  While I usually like to have a goal to shoot for, the reading the Bible in a year seems almost impossible to me.  I almost did it once but managed to stretch it out to two.  Then I did it 2 more times each time taking about 2 years.  Now I'm on my 4th time around and have taken the scenic route of 4 years.   Every time I change it up some.  Once I did it chronologically.  Once I did it from Genesis to Revelation.  Now I'm reading whole books but in a more chronological fashion than cover to cover.  

If you're at a point of giving up reading through the Bible, I want to encourage you to stick with it.  But feel free to change it up, slow down, and make whatever plan you like be yours. 

 Right now I'm reading Ezekiel.  And this morning there was this great passage that I'm praying for my Awana kiddos ....

"I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak."  Eze 34:15

Awana starts in only 6 more days.  Can't wait to see my boys again and meet some new friends!  

Oswald Chambers never disappoints.  For such a young man, God gave him so much wisdom.  When I was a new Christian this book was hard to get through.  Now it's one of my morning faves, though sometimes oftentimes he still speaks over my head!

I love the issue of poverty alleviation.  And I love Shane Claiborne's take on it all.  I started off strong with this book and couldn't put it down.  Then about 1/2 way through it started getting heavy and I had to really think through what I was reading.   

Here's a quote I like... " We have not shown the world another way of doing life.  Christians pretty much live like everybody else; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way.  And doctrine is not very attractive, even if it's true.  Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers them only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.  ........

and the kingdom that Jesus speaks so much about is not just something we hope for after we die but is something we are to incarnate now. Jesus says the kingdom is "within us," "among us," "at hand," and we are to pray that it comes "on earth as it is in heaven."  

  

Our current read aloud.  Following the time period we are studying in history and a break from Hank The Cowdog.  We are all loving it and we are at the exciting part where she unlocks the secret garden.  

"One more chapter!!!"  

Love me some Duck Dynasty!  This book has a lot of business and hunting info and probably speaks to those that know more about that kinda thing than I do.  Still it's good, just slower going than the first Duck Commander book. 

  

Have you watched the 99 Balloons video?  If you haven't, grab some tissue and click on the link.  So sweet! 

This is Matt Mooney's account of his son, Eliot's, life.

He is a fantastic writer and this is a wonderful story.  

So that's it for now!