It's pajama time

Look what arrived!

Our school material came yesterday! I really enjoy getting big boxes of new books. ☺ I was missing two workbooks though, but it sounds like they will be in stock and shipped to me before we are scheduled to begin. School starts September 8! (Even Princess Ali had to check out the new items.)

Weekly Poll

My last poll concerned a topic very close to my own heart: kid food! As my husband has told me many times I am basically a big kid. I hope that you all were able to enjoy your favorite kid food at least one time this past week. I am sorry that I didn't include more choices. After I made the poll I thought of french fries, and then a friend suggested Mac 'n cheese. I can't believe I had forgotten about those two, especially mac 'n cheese. Had that choice been on there I might have picked that. But instead I chose chicken nuggets. Corn dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches were tied with 3 votes apiece. No one chose fish sticks. Poor fish sticks. One time I made fish sticks for lunch, and because I like to include some kind of vegetable at lunch and supper, I made baked beans with them. Dave came home from work, and he just quipped, "Fish sticks and beans..." That was all he said. LOL! So now if I make fish sticks I almost have to make baked beans with them, just to be goofy. They are kind of odd together, and yet it tastes good. ☺

In keeping along the lines of food my next poll will be about kid cereal. I will do research before-hand though so I don't forget any favorites. Enjoy!

*Update: Okay, after doing some online digging I realized that I could probably have 15 different choices for kids' cereals so I am only going to list some more popular brands or ones that I grew up with.

Shoulda brought a camera

This past Saturday my girls and I visited my mom and spent the day with her. She decided that it would be fun to go to Minneopa Falls (nearby natural waterfall). She packed a picnic lunch for us, and we set off.

It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, there was nary a cloud in the sky, and it was 80°. As we entered the state park (the falls are in within the park) we came upon an area of wildflowers, and among the flowers were hundreds of Monarch butterflies. What a breathtaking site! They were flying all around the flowers, and often we would see 4 or 5 of them clustered together on the purple blazingstar. It was one of those moments where you tell yourself, “I wish I had a camera.” Did I have one? Nope! But I always have along a tiny camera phone.

We walked to the creek that flows above the falls, and, thanks to a month of literally no rain, it was very shallow. The girls were able to play in the water.

We took the trail down to the falls area, and my mom and Paige and Emma explored the territory around the water. Paige found many acorns, and Emma found a crayfish claw. The falls are so beautiful. My camera phone can’t do them justice so I didn’t even bother. ☺

After walking some of the trails we had our picnic lunch. Then we visited the nature center, and we finished our time at the park by watching the butterflies. The girls collected some flowers, and Paige found a dead butterfly.☺ That reminds me: does anyone know if it’s illegal to pick Minnesota wildflowers? We were unsure.

All and all a great day.

Yay AND Nay

This weekend Abigail learned how to climb the stairs!! ☺ I thought she would probably be able to do it, so I showed her legs how, and then she mimicked it herself. She quickly became proficient at it.

With this new-found ability I have to be more diligent about putting up a gate at the bottom of the stairs that go to the 2ND floor. Thankfully the basement steps have a door at the top of them so I don't have to worry about those.

Unfortunately though I forgot about the gate tonight, and I was in the kitchen when we all heard a LOUD thud immediately preceded by crying. Poor Abby fell down the stairs! I had set a small item on the steps about 6 steps up, and she saw it and wanted it. So up the steps she went to get it...and back down she came. Now she has a sizable lump on her forehead. But still--thumbs up to her for learning! ☺

A Change In Plans

Wednesday night I went to bed with a thought for a post for the next day. I had it all planned out what I wanted to write about: David had prayed at supper about how God is good and He always provides for us. His prayer hit home for me especially because I have been getting anxious regarding our finances lately. Dave sells cars as extra income, and our current car had been for sale for almost 5 months. That's a longer time than we normally have a car. (I am reminded of Philippians 4:6a--"Be anxious for nothing", but I struggle with that command so much.) I wanted to write about how God IS good, and even though we don't always see the goodness from our point of view, He cannot do anything besides be good to us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." I needed that reminder through David's prayer about God's provision for our family. We aren't destitute, by any means. We have a lovely home, we are all clothed, and we have food to eat. And besides that, I know that ultimately our cars always sell; sometimes it just takes what seems like a long time (in my opinion). But it will sell in God's time which is always the correct time. ☺

Thursday morning came, and I woke up feeling ill. I was agonizing about how I was going to take care of my girls yesterday when, providentially, my mother-in-law called me before I had even gotten out of bed. When she found out I was sick she offered to watch the girls for me so I could sleep and try to get better. God provided her assistance in my time of need. ☺ He is good.

Lunch time rolls around and Dave comes home. He graciously attends to me, and as he's walking out of the room he says, "Don't get your hopes up, but someone is coming to look at the car today." How could I get my hopes up? I'm ill! *wink* But I wouldn't have had my hopes up anyways as I had been mulling over that very issue since the previous night. I knew that if God wanted the car to sell, it would. End of subject. So I prayed that whatever happened we would be thankful to God, no matter the outcome.

Mid-afternoon I get a phone call from Dave....THE CAR SOLD! I couldn't believe it. Even looking back on it I am just amazed. "For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." [Romans 8:28] So my post about how 'God DOES provide' and 'He is good no matter what' turned into an answer to prayer. God sold the car, and even if He hadn't He still would have been and continues to be a good God. And He is always providing; in the form of supplying our physical needs as well as our spiritual ones. PRAISE HIM!

Saturday at the fair

Abigail waiting while the girls go on a camel ride
Paige and Emma on the camel; about to go on their ride

Riding the camel

Riding the Ferris Wheel--it was a little frightening for my mom and I as the girls weren't very secured in the seat. And Emma kept sitting forward to get a better view.

The Scrambler--they really enjoyed this ride.

Sorry these pictures aren't very big. I took them with my camera phone.

Icky, Gross Bugs Poll Results

Well my last poll sure gave me the "heebie jeebies" (as my brother used to say). It was gross! Just thinking about all those creepy crawlies made my spine tingle.

Scorpions, spiders, and cockroaches all garnered one vote apiece. I agree that they are horrific. Dave's uncle, who lived in Texas, had a scenario where he went to put on his shoe, and he discovered a scorpion inside!!! AHHHHHHHH!! I can't imagine the terror in finding that. And if I remember correctly my mom said that when she lived in California her landlord would have to come once a month to spray for cockroaches.

Three people found silverfish the worst, including me. I know they are harmless, but it is just so nasty when you open the shower curtain in your bathroom to take a bath/shower, and there in the bottom of the tub is an inch long bug with antennae! *sticks out tongue while making "bleh" sound*

And the winner with 4 votes was centipedes and milipedes. I don't think we need to describe what makes them so disgusting: two words--MANY LEGS. If you've ever see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom you might remember the scene were the lead actress has to help Indy when he's trapped in the booby-trap room, and she has to reach her hand into the hole in the cave wall, and while she's doing it a HUGE centipede crawls into her hair?!? AWFUL!

Phew! Enough talk about those things. I know they are God's creatures and all, but I just can't make myself like them. Feel free to post a comment about which creepy crawlie you chose and tell me what you don't like about it. If you have a story that would be even better!

On a more joyful note, my next poll is about "kid" food. ☺ You know what I mean: foods that most children generally like, and if you prepare it for a meal you can guarantee a positive response. But I know that grown-ups enjoy kid food just as much as children do. Unless that's just me... ;-)

Brown County Fair

On Saturday my mom took the girls and I to the county fair. We had lots of fun. The girls rode on about 5 rides, they played some carnival games, rode a camel, fed the animals in the petting zoo, toured a one-room school house and a log cabin, visited a fish pond with all the varieties of fish found in the Minnesota River (which runs along-side our town), and ate lots of fair food. It rained on us for about a half an hour, but it was a light rain so it didn't bother us too much. Pictures will follow.
*Note to Dave: If you are reading this I really need those pictures off your phone. ☺

Having fun with the webcam

I was checking my emails with Abby in my lap, and I thought, "Hmm...let's take some pictures." So I turned on the webcam and got these shots.

Abby was waving bye-bye in this picture.

Girls' Puppet show

In this 3 minute video we see a different side of Hello Kitty: she is shockingly violent!

Sleepover

Beth's oldest boys, Will and Hunter, came over for a sleepover on Friday night. The kids wanted to play Rock Band, but they felt they needed to dress up first. So here they are in their prospective costumes. [Hunter, Paige, Emma, Will]
Will

Disappointed

When I started to read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", I figured it would be a funny parody of the original novel only with zombies around. I was disappointed. The mention of zombies aka "unmentionables" was too numerous to be funny and just got old. The author seemed to try to insert them whenever he could. For example: the ball where Lizzy first meets Mr. Darcy ends with an attack on the poor attendees. Also, for whatever reason, the new author altered all the character's personalities and made most of the people into zombie fighters. Elizabeth and her sisters have all been trained by Shaolin monks and possess incredible fighting skills, Mr. Darcy likes Elizabeth because of said skills, and even Mr. Bennett doesn't care about his daughters marrying (of course) but instead he just hopes they will survive the zombie threat. DUMB! And the dialogue was incorrect as well. Mr. Bennett called his wife an "insensible cur"! He would NEVER call his wife a dog even though he DID find her very silly. *sigh* I had to put it down. "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" will be released in September. I might have to skip that one. On to the next book...

Book Review

Check out my latest book review on "The Fellowship of the Ring" here.

Baby Disease

About a month ago Abby started to pull on her ears. Naturally, I assumed she had an ear infection as she had been fussy, too. I took her to the doctor, and she did not have an ear infection. The doctor's diagnosis: she had a buildup of wax in her ears that was bothering her. The doctor recommended some home remedies that I could try.

I tried his suggestions, but Abby’s ears must still have been bothering her because she kept grabbing at them. I would often discuss her ears with David, or I would comment to myself about her ears whenever I saw Abby grab them again. Paige and Emma were usually around during these conversations and moments.

So today then, we were at a park, and Paige walked up to where I was sitting and said, “My ear hurts.” And she started to grab her right ear. Emma had run up to us by this time, and she responded, “Maybe you got Abby’s disease.” And she ran away. ☺

It's good to be home

Tonight we had our 2nd book club meeting at 6 o'clock. When we ladies get together and start talking, well, it's difficult to stop. ☺ It's just so much fun talking about books and our lives in general.

I didn't get home until 10, and of course the girls were already in bed. I went into Paige and Emma's room to see if maybe they were still awake, and Emma was. She was so sweet. She had to tell me all the things that she did while I was gone. She whispered to me, "We cleaned the toy room and the back yard and the fort in the basement and we folded all the blankets in the fort and we cleaned this fort as well [the fort that she had made out of her bed on the bottom bunk with her bedding] and then we got to watch TV!" She was very animated by this time, but she was still whispering. "We got to watch the new iCarly movie!" ☺

I went to simply give Paige a goodnight kiss as she was sleeping, and she woke up and said rather dejectedly, "You've been gone a long time." I guess four hours seems like an eternity to a child, doesn't it? ☺ But she was very happy to have me home. I agree. ☺☺☺

My Next Read

My sister-in-law, Bethany, discovered this book on Barnes & Noble's website, and knowing what a huge Jane Austen fan I am she told me about it. I laughed heartily, but was actually intrigued. I checked my local library to see if they had the book (as it has just recently been published in April), and they did(!!!), but it wasn't available yet as it was being catalogued. I put it on my "hold" list anyways, and now it's finally come in! ☺ I finished "The Fellowship of the Ring" last night, and I plan on starting this promises-to-be-funny novel today.

A Morning at Home

Two things I have learned about Abigail:

1. Abigail is attached to me; seemingly more than the other children were. If I put her down and walk out of the room I immediately hear a "shrieking of eels" coming from her mouth. She wants to be held and carried around the house or at least be crawling by me.
2. When you want her to fall asleep in the car while driving somewhere you can be assured that she won't. This is most cumbersome on Sunday mornings. We leave for church at exactly the same time as she would normally be going down for her morning nap. Each time we leave I am hoping that she'll fall asleep on the drive over to church (20 minutes drive), but she never does. We make it to church, and by that time she is very tired but wide awake. I proceed to try many ways of getting her to sleep to no avail.

Because of those two things I usually end up missing almost all of Sunday morning service. I am hesitant to put her in the nursery for fear of her crying incessantly, and the crying would be magnified by how tired she is. I try to keep her in the pew with me, but she likes to talk loudly, or she will start to fuss so out we go.

This morning then when Abby started getting fussy by 9:30 I told myself to just forget going. There wouldn't be enough time for her to nap before we left, and I already knew what would happen at church. So now I am at home with all my girlies, and Abby is sleeping peacefully. ☺

A Tagged Survey (I Really Like These ☺)

I have been tagged by Rosebud which is great because as I was reading her entry I was thinking to myself, "I am going to fill this out, too!" I wrote down the first thing that popped into my head after each topic.

I am: really tall
I think: AFTER I've spoken
I know: ♫ whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able... ♫
I have: a lot of bills
I wish: upon a star. Okay not really.
I hate: when I am wrong.
I miss: the days of no responsibility
I fear: bugs and spiders and snakes
I feel: tired
I hear: my girlies talking
I smell: cereal
I crave: chocolate, especially 3 Musketeers bars
I search: online
I wonder: when I will get to go to Mankato today?
I regret: many things that I have done.
I love: my family!
I ache: in my head right now because I hit my forward on the edge of the wall on Wednesday while going up the stairs. Clutsy!
I am not: a big fan of this weather today [it's raining and it's windy]
I believe: in miracles. (Wow, where did THAT come from? I actually only believe in miracles that happened in the Bible.)
I dance: only at weddings
I sing: ALL THE TIME!
I cry: every once in awhile or when I hear other people's tragedies.
I don't always: read my Bible as often as I should
I fight: pretty much never
I write: out cards
I win: when I play Boggle
I lose: every other game
I never: get to go recreational shopping...except for this afternoon *wink*
I always: bungle my words while speaking
I confuse: events/memories from the past
I listen: to classical music while driving
I can usually be found: reading or using the laptop
I am scared: of failure
I need: more time
I am happy about: my children
I imagine: a world where chickens can cross the road without their motives being questioned
I am wearing: a hooded sweatshirt and jean capris
I look forward to: when Dave comes home from work for the day

That was fun!

A conversation with Paige

The girls and I were on our way to water flowers at Luke's grave when the following conversation occurred:

Paige asked me, "Why do we have to go water flowers?"
"Because it hasn't rained in awhile." I replied.
"Yes it has. I remember."
"No, it hasn't...well, okay it rained the other day, but not enough. It only rained a little." I said.
She retorted, "Yes, it did. It rained a lot. It rained 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 days in a row!"
"When did it do that?!" I quickly asked.
"The other day. You don't remember. You have a bad memory. I have a great memory. I have the best memory in the entire world. I have a better memory than Daddy even. I was grounded one day, and he let me go outside. And I was still grounded though, and I remembered that I was grounded, but I didn't tell him because I didn't want him to remember so I could go outside."

Outsmarted once again by a 7 year-old. ☺

My rant for today

Isn't it annoying when you really like a product, and you have used it for a long time, and then one day you go to the store to purchase it, and THEY NO LONGER SELL IT?!? Ooh that frustrates me.

A few weeks ago David got a hole in one of his favorite shirts. I had previously bought this Champion® t-shirt in a package of two from Target several years ago. He liked them so much that I went out and bought him a second package right away. Admittedly he's had these shirts for at least 3 years. Anyways, I went last night out to Target to buy him another package to replace the shirt with the hole, and of course I couldn't find them. I was dejected. Where were they? I scoured the men's department, but I saw nothing that even vaguely resembled this t-shirt. Needless to say I came home empty-handed (except for all the other items I purchased *wink*). I vowed that I WOULD find these shirts.

So today I went onto Champion's website, and I looked at their selection of shirts. Guess what? They didn't sell the one I was looking for. *Sigh* I wasn't about to give up, though. I checked a different section: Underwear. "It could be there...I guess? I mean, people could wear this UNDER another shirt." I thought to myself. And low and behold there it was! *Ding Ding Ding* I was so happy! Now comes the waiting for them to arrive. *sigh again*

Girls and I from my cousin's wedding

My sister-in-law, Yvette, is in the background. She did my hair. Her son, Nathan, was there, too.

Emma was a flower girl, I was a bridesmaid, and Paige handed out programs. They did a great job, and they looked so precious while doing it! ☺

Weekly Poll Results

This past week I was curious which phrase most people thought they would end up using or currently say to their children. I am sure most of us grew up hearing our parents saying these exact things to us, repeatedly. And then when WE become parents those are the clichéd sayings that we use with our children despite having told ourselves, "I will NEVER say that." Yeah, right. ☺ It's laughable really. Although I have never said to my girls anything about "turning the car around and going home", but David often tells them that he had to eat what was on his plate growing up, whether he liked it or not. Rough.

I chose "Shut the door." because I say that every day to my girls. They remember about 75% of the time. Make that a realistic 65%. And here's the kicker--they remember to shut the door when I actually want it left open because the air/heat isn't on! Oh well. Kudos to them for trying. ☺


My next poll is all about yucky bugs because yesterday while I was sorting through my mail I discovered a SILVERFISH in my mail basket! EEEEKKKK!