Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Congrats to Miss A!


As we zip along through our math program, Miss A finished up the Primer level today!

She will begin Alpha when we return from our Thanksgiving trip (so she'll get to take tomorrow off since we leave the day after that!)

Congrats Miss A - you're doing a super job!!!

We even made a special "web use only" copy of her certificate of completion to share with y'all :) Her permanent copy naturally has her name on it :)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Turkey Anyone?

Well, this year I don't have to worry about cooking a turkey. Why, you ask? Because we'll be with my parents and that's their job...to cook a turkey...or not :)

For those of you still on the fence about whether or not to cook a turkey....watch this!

Hotels are for smaller families only apparently

This has happened OVER and OVER since we had our 4th child. I go to look for a hotel online and enter in 4 children and 2 adults and get a list of hotels - I glance at them hopefully looking for a decent place to stay on a trip only to be met w/the following notice on each of them "guests entered are more than room allows" or some such.... "Max occupancy for room is 2, 3, 4, every once in a while 5).

If you need a room for 6 - you might as well forget about it unless you're in a BIG city or want to pay an arm and a leg.

If I had the $$, I would start my own hotel chain - it would cater to families first of all and make sure to accommodate larger families IN THE SAME ROOM.

Ok, that said, I'm going to get something on the table for dinner since I spent WAY too long trying to find a hotel we could all stay in on our trip - finally found one that would work, only to go back to the site and it wasn't on the list of available rooms any more. My laptop battery died. I screamed a silent scream, took some deep breaths, prayed, got the power cord, powered back up and started all over again.

Thank God, it was on the list again when I finally got back to the site w/the note "1 room left" - ACK - hurried through the booking process, pushed the enter button and held my breath waiting for confirmation that it went through and someone didn't type faster than me and get the room - YES - got it. Whew. At least we only have to stay in a hotel for 1 night on our trip. The other nights will be w/family and friends and then a cabin in the woods.

Fall, fabulous Fall!

I just had to take a moment while the house is semi-quiet and say that Fall has to be my absolute favorite season! This morning the boys and I went to the store to pick up some things for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip and the Fall color is absolutely beautiful. Even though the leaves are starting to fall off the trees, there is still so much color to be enjoyed! As we drove home from church services yesterday, CKB and I talked about how beautiful the trees were this year - all the varied shades of yellow, orange and red. Some trees we passed now and then looked as if they were painted, surreal even. I imagined our Lord making these beauties for us to behold and am so thankful we took the time to notice. So often we're all so busy, but when we stop to see His glory shown around us in the smallest things, we are so blessed. God is good! We had a wonderful day in the Lord yesterday with the Madisonville church. I pray you did as well!

CAB

Just another day in ....paradise?

Well, we've all been sick w/some sort of cold or other this past week. On this particular day, Thursday or Friday (you can't expect someone w/a fever of 102 to remember the exact day, now, can you?) it was evening, after dinner. A few months ago we rearranged the girls' room and it ended up not working out as well as I'd hoped, so I had asked CKB if we could put it back the way it was and he said, "Yes dear" - well, not really, but he said we would. So, for some odd reason in the process of doing a little cleaning up in the girls' room he decided it was time. So, with my lovely 102 fever, I proceeded to try to help. At the same time, Mr. E was in the bathtub having a bath in the bathroom right next to the girls' bedroom, Mr. Baby was in the pack 'n play to the other side of the girls' room playing and tossing toys out left and right...literally. The girls were helping put things away alternating with trying to help keep Mr. Baby happy.

All was going well, then CKB asked me to get something to cover the sharp corner on the rails of the bed we were going to be moving...so I zipped off to the kitchen for some old rags and packing tape to wrap around it - no, it would not look lovely, but it would prevent any more scrapes and scratches from the children bumping against it (yes, 2 of them had been wounded on said corner that week!) As I return, I look in on Mr. E and he's happily playing in the tub...Mr. Baby is playing in the pack 'n play and the girls are doing something....I start wrapping up said corner and taping it when I hear Miss E hollering about NEEDING TO GO POTTY AND MR. E IS IN THE BATHROOM!!!!! I go into the bathroom, pull the shower curtain over so Mr. E will have privacy as well as Miss E and tell her to get in there and go and for Mr. E to stay behind the curtain :) I return to my taping when I hear more screams from the bathroom - there's a BUGGGG in the TUBBBB - ACK - I return, tape in hand still, and see a lovely critter walking along the wall above the tub, I reach for some toilet paper to abscond the disgusting intruder, whereupon I discover the toilet paper roll is empty - AGH - I don't want the disgusting intruder to get INTO the tub w/Mr. E so as I glance madly around, I think, hmm, the tape! I can at least immobilize it while I go for some paper towels or something, so yes, I ripped off a long piece and tapes it to the wall of the shower/tub. I know, I know, yuck. I then get a roll of toilet paper for Miss E to finish up and get out of there. Mr. Baby is singing a lovely tune by now because he's been abandoned by his admirers and that just adds to the fun! I let out a scream of my own, which of course prompts CKB to call out "what's wrong????" - I try to explain that I just needed to scream for once and return to my taping and wrapping of the bed rail corner.

Hmm, the bug. I remember the disgusting bug and holler at Mr. E to let me know if he sees it moving. Yes, I know, ugh. So, Mr. E continues his bath, playing happily along and I ask every few moments about the bug. Happy with the continued replies of "it's still there" I finish up my wrapping job. Then, you guessed it, Mr. E screams out "IT'S MOOOOOOOVING!!!!" That figures. CKB runs in and exclaims at the sight, pulls Mr. E out of the tub, wraps a towel around him and sends him to get dressed. He later tells me that whilst removing the tape, said bug was NOT in fact dead, but simply trapped and it proceeded to fall into the tub (yuck) and CKB removed it and disposed of it.

mental note - sterilize the tub TODAY

So, we DID manage to get the girls' room rearranged again. Mr. E needs ANOTHER bath since he never actually got any soap on him due to being removed from the tub before the "wash down". The bug was sent to a watery end down the toilet. The exterminator is due back on Wednesday. Mr. Baby got to get out of the pack 'n play and romp a bit before bed. All is well in...paradise :)

(for those who care, we live in a rental house right now and we will all be thrilled when we are able to find some land, build a house and MOVE - the prior tenants did NOT have an exterminator...' nuf said)

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Hotel Hijinks

We travel a lot. As a result, we stay in a lot of hotels. The last time we were in a hotel, CKB brought the luggage in on a luggage trolley and Mr. Baby immediately decided it was not a luggage trolley, but a train! He climbed right up and cried out a loud: "TOOT TOOOOOOOT!" and grabbed hold of the front and made ready for the "train" to roll on along! Well, that little cherub's smile was too much for us, so CKB proceeded to take Mr. Baby on the first train ride ever in a hotel room.

Of COURSE, everyone else had to get on board as well :)

No wonder the children always want to stop and stay at hotels!




All Aboarddddd!

Getting underway!

Stopping for more passengers.....


Day 2 (departure morning)
Mr. E missed having a ride the day prior, now it's his turn!
(of course, Mr. Baby was back on board!)



Mr. Baby gets off the train..I mean, the trolley...as the remaining passengers smile their goodbyes.


Toot! Tooooooot!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Ramblings on Friday

Well, it's Friday. Seems like this week has flown by. Mr. E and Miss A have been a tad sick for the past few days; today Mr. E has a 102 temp. Miss E is also now showing some signs of coming down with the same things as well. Please pray for them all to recover soon (before we leave on our trip next week would be wonderful!) and for Mr. Baby to stay well!



We watched Miss Potter last night - I really enjoyed it - thanks again Leah for the recommendation! Why can't there be more "nice" movies? I would have to say it was positively delightful :) Would that I could sit on a hill in the English countryside!


A cute story from Mr. E - I was looking at some old photos on the computer yesterday and one popped up of Mr. E and his Daddy - the one time we tried (unsuccessfully) to get Mr. E to drink from a bottle. Mr. E exclaimed: "Look, Daddy is putting milk in my mouth!" :)

Then, a few pics later he laughed quite gleefully at another picture of himself and said "I have red eyes!" - uh huh, not one of the better photos I've taken ;)

Mr. E is getting SOOO big!

That's it for now!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Laundry can wait....or can it....


Just another quick movie review - we watched Ratatouille (SP?) last night and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect much from it, and it turned out to be pretty cute. Not for the children, but better than I had expected. Who knew?!

Next up in our queue from blockbuster is Miss Potter, recommended by my friend Leah, it better be good missie! Ha ha ha!

Ooops, gotta go, something is moving in the laundry room, I think....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Well, it's beginning to feel that way anyway, yay!

Christmas was always pretty warm for us the past 7 or so years, well, except for the 1 year we had snow - that was pretty nice!

Here we are with our snowman (Christmas 2004) ! And yes, they're barefoot, the temp was nice and warm by midday on Christmas Day :) Go figure!




We've been in the Christmas mood really early this year...not just starting today, but for weeks now. I'm not sure what it is, but it didn't bother me to see Christmas decor in Wal-mart even before Halloween for a change - maybe it's just the weather being so mild and an early cool front that we had...who knows, but we've been listening to Christmas music and I'm ready to put up some lights just for fun!

Is it just us? :)

We are still looking forward to Thanksgiving and our trip, though, lest you think we've forgotten about that!

Cheers!!!

Report: Aqua Dots Recalled for Possibly Containing Date Rape Drug

Just an FYI:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309318,00.html

WASHINGTON — Millions of Chinese-made toys for children have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

Follow link for full article.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Congrats to Miss E!



Well, today Miss E finished another level of math. For those who don't know, we're using the Math U See curriculum. We ran through the Primer level about 2 years ago in a matter of weeks. It was all review except for learning about tally marks and brushing up on clock skills. For the past 1.5 years off and on we've been going through the Alpha level when we had time and Miss E officially finished it up today. Tomorrow she starts Beta! She is very excited and we are very proud of her!

Congrats Miss E - job well done!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

More than meets the eyeeeeeee




Ok, last night we sat down to watch the Transformers movie. It's been sitting on the counter for a few days now, just waiting for the right night to be watched. I have to admit I wasn't all that excited about watching it, but didn't want CKB to have to watch it alone, so I sat down brimming with skepticism and we started the DVD. I half expected to go and get some crocheting to work on after the first few mn. if it was completely boring, but was surprised when it was over and I had actually enjoyed it. Hmm. Who knew? It was alright overall, with a few exceptions. Again, who knew? So, if any of you gals have a husband wanting to see this, it's not that bad and you just might enjoy it...so give it a chance. Hey, you'll even know who Optimus Prime and Megatron are after it's all said and done - useless knowledge to be sure, but hey, you never know when it might come up on Jeopardy...or not.

Making things easier...I hope!

Ok, after some thought, I've decided to make the blog public, so you don't have to enter a login and such in the future.

Now, the BLOGARITHM thing over there on the top right should work if you have already signed up for it. If you haven't, please do and it'll save you coming to check the blog when I haven't had time for an update. It's a simple process :) I highly recommend it!

Hmm, other changes, no more using the children's names - if you comment on the blog PLEASE don't use their names - they will heretofore be referred to as:

Miss E
Miss A
Mr. E
Mr. Baby

My sweet husband will be CKB and I will probably just be me, I or CAB.

Hope that doesn't get too confusing for anyone - figured it might be easier than:

Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
Thomas (the Tank Engine)
Curious George

That was another option ;) Might switch to it at some point - who knows!

Ok, that's it for now - I have tons to do and haven't done any of it!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Good weekend

Good Monday morning! If it is a good morning, which I doubt! (can you tell we read some Winnie the Pooh last night starring Eeyore the sad donkey?)

Anyway! We had a good weekend over in Ft. Worth on Saturday at the annual meeting at Old School Primitive Baptist church. Eld. Mike Montgomery is the pastor there. We were able to be there for Sat. morning and afternoon services. Preaching Sat. morning by Eld. David Montgomery (San Antonio) and Eld. Bill Walden (Stratton). Saturday afternoon, preaching by Eld. Tommy Sarber (Indiana) and Eld. Mark Rowell (Houston). Some wonderful messages, reminders, admonitions were to be heard. Also, some fussing from Mr. Baby during the second sermon in the afternoon. ;)

(you can click on the picture to see it larger)

Ministers in attendance: Eld. Keith Ellis, Eld. George Walker, Eld. Mike Webb, Eld. Ed Kirkpatrick, Eld. Mike Montgomery (pastor), Eld. Chris Blevins, Eld. G.H. Crain, Eld. Bill Walden, Eld. James Henthorn, Eld. Tom Hart, Eld. Ward Rowell, Eld. Clifford Gowens, Eld. Mark Rowell, Eld. David Montgomery, Eld. Travis Brown, Eld. Tommy Sarber, Eld. Larry Webb and Eld. Greg Dorough.
(picture by bro. Ronnie Mallow)

After services we drove home and rested awhile before getting up the next morning (Sunday) to drive down to south Dallas and attend services at Bethlehem PBC (pastor is Eld. Dan Newman, incidentally he is the preacher who married CKB and I) :) CKB was called on to preach after introduction by Eld. Newman. CKB preached on oaths and the importance of keeping our word in promises. Also, that we shouldn't think of practice vs. doctrine, but that practice is an extension of doctrine. They aren't two separate things at all. Would that I could more eloquently explain that. I wasn't able to record services yesterday, but this has been on his mind for a few weeks, so I might have a recording from a different Sunday on a similar strand if anyone is interested.

We stopped off at Cracker Barrel on the way home for lunch - 20 mn. wait - ugh - 4 children 6 and under waiting in a crowded store full of gizmos and gadgets - double ugh - requested non-smoking and were put right next to the smoking section which was simply separated by a "wall" of lattice work - um, yeah, that's going to help. Anyway, I'll stop there as the games continued and we were just glad to get out of there. Lesson: Don't go to CB when it's crowded and busy - this is the 2nd time we've made that mistake and had a horrible experience - hopefully we won't make the same mistake in the future and will instead just go to Sonic, grab food and go eat in peace in our somewhat quieter (ha ha), devoid of smoke, van :)

Ok! Enough negativity.

Now, on to happier things - I just have to say, I am SUPER excited about our upcoming Thanksgiving trip! We are going to have a combined trip which will include a church meeting in MS, visit w/a friend in MS on our way to TN, visit w/family in TN and a cabin mini-vacation in AR on the way home - I CAN'T WAIT!!!! I plan to clear my memory cards and have TONS of pics to share when we get home - we leave a week from Thursday!

Ack! I have a lot to get done! I better run for now!

Grace and peace,
CAB

Friday, November 2, 2007

Back to boring for awhile

Well, I finally got tired of looking at the messed up images on the blog (ie, flowers covering the text up and making it hard to read), so I got rid of the blog layout. Back to blah, oh well. Maybe I'll come up w/something on my own pretty soon, but for now - it's plain jane at the Old House Spill!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Hooray

Well, lots to be thankful for today.

1. I woke up feeling TREMENDOUSLY better than I did yesterday - still a bit congested, but I don't feel totally crummy - yay! (and it lasted all day, the feeling better thing)

2. Our niece, Virginia, gave birth to her 3rd child today. Congrats to her and the rest of the family!

3. I got some awesome portraits done of the children today after wanting to do so for a LONG LONG time, but putting it off and making excuses about space issues for setting things up how I wanted to, taking the/finding the time to set things up, trying to coordinate clothes for all of the children, etc. etc. etc. This after, in a moment of feverish insanity, yesterday morning when I was in Wal-mart buying candy and a few other things, I noticed there wasn't anyone in the Wal-mart photo place and went in and (gasp) had a "portrait" session done of Mr. Baby. UGH. I don't know why on earth I thought that would be a good idea - the girl was horrible - Mr. Baby just wanted down off the table the whole time, I had Mr. E w/me too and he was a big distraction for Mr. Baby, of course :) I *had* to get the "package" of the first shot and ALWAYS the ones after turn out better/cuter/etc. All I really wanted were some nice shots of Mr. Baby w/his sweet, long baby hair, but instead I spent $$ on useless pictures that were horrible. ACK. At least it prompted me to get myself in gear and do my own like I should've in the first place!

I'll post one example - I need to do a little editing on it, but you'll get the gist - this one is of my little girl who is growing up so fast, Miss E.


So, what do you think? :) Oh, and we painted pumpkins yesterday (each of the children had one from our pumpkin farm trip, which I'll blog about one of these days...) and Miss E's is next to her in the pic :)