You're only supposed to be PRETENDING to break the horses

Well, well, well, there's never a dull moment around here, I must say.

Where to begin....yesterday, I suppose :)

During "quiet time" (and I use that term VERY loosely considering what ensued yesterday), the girls were playing in their room...ahem...quietly...as I took a few moments to check email at the hall computer. All of a sudden the "quiet" was broken by wails and cries as Miss A came out of the room and over to me whilst holding onto her left arm. Hmm. Another bump/bruise/etc. no doubt. I took a look at her arm, CKB looked at it and we decided to wait and see after reading online about the symptoms of a break vs. a sprain and so forth. After another look at her arm before bed, we saw some swelling near her wrist and gave her some ibuprofen for pain.

This morning, Miss A said it still hurt and she was holding her arm at her side consistently throughout the early part of the morning and during breakfast. The swelling was less, but still there. We decided we better have her arm checked out so off to the dr. we went. After a brief visit w/the doctor, we were off to radiology a few streets over for an xray (or 2 or 3). After the xrays, we waited and played a few rounds of Uno (Miss A beat me twice!) and finally got word from the radiologist that Miss A had a fracture (compact fracture, I believe was the technical description he gave, the pediatrician called it a displaced radial fracture). Apparently this is the "garden variety" and very common with children in the warmer months as they fall off jungle gyms and the like. Leave it to Miss A to get one in the winter months :)

So, back to the pediatrician's office we go to get a splint. The smallest one they had (a "small") was too big and practically went up to her shoulder...so, off we went to a local medical supply store to see if we could get a child size splint and sling (the pediatrician's office didn't have a small enough sling either, go figure). Over at the medical supply store, a very helpful man got us all set with an XX-Small splint and sling that fit just right (and are too cute and tiny for words).
Miss A chose some candy sticks to bring home for her sister and brothers along w/the extra stickers she was given by the xray tech that she planned to share as well.

Miss A didn't complain one bit throughout the whole day and was in great spirits (especially when winning at Uno in the waiting room). She came home very excited to show off her splint and sling to her brothers and sister. Here she is :)



CKB decided to take everyong out to dinner, Miss A's choice of destination. She chose El Chico because Mr. E likes the jell-o that comes w/the children's dinners. Sigh. She is always thinking of others and is such a sweet and unselfish child.

Now, I'm sure you're just as curious as I was to find out how this all happened....well, I'm told that she and Miss E were playing horses ON THE BED and apparently Miss A fell off the bed onto her MagnaDoodle on the floor and her arm broke the fall, literally.

Please join us in praying for rapid healing in her arm and that it won't require any visits to orthopedics. We'll be checking back in w/the pediatrician on Monday. I'll try to update then on what the next steps will be, if any. Have a great, uneventful in the bone breaking department, night!

Christmas at our house

Here are just a few shots from Christmas day - I decided to just let the camera lie and enjoy watching the children w/my own eyes (not my eyes behind glass...well, more glass than my glasses usually account for, that is) and so we just have a few shots of presents being opened, but that's ok, we have quite a few of the children playing with their gifts afterward and those are precious :)

Here are some highlights -

We have Mr. E, the train boy

Mr. A, the little train boy

Miss E, the Cinderella girl

and Miss A with her new doll


The stockings were leaned by the fireplace gate with care in hopes we'd keep Mr. Baby away from there...ha ha.

and the tree finally all decorated and just before we began to open gifts...


Oh, and just in case you're still hungry after your Christmas Dinner Extravaganza, PLEASE come over and eat all of our leftovers!


There might look like there's a lot of people at this table (minus the one behind the camera), but the 4 children eat like one regular child as far as quantity...well, except for when the pie came out of the oven later on, but we had a LOT of food and still do! Oh, and for those of you who're paying attention, ahem, yes, those are carrots at the end of the table and no, we didn't boot Miss E from the family for suggesting them for Christmas dinner, after all, they are supposed to be good for your eyes, right? ;) (If you don't know what I'm talking about regarding the carrots, then go and read this: Holiday Eating Tips and then come back and say to yourself in proper Larry (VeggieTales) voice and attitude - "it's all so clear now"

hee hee

Our illustrious menu contained the following:

Roast Duckling with onion, carrots, garlic, celery
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole with pecan crumble topping
Fresh, steamed green beans
Brown gravy
Jellied cranberry sauce
Cranberry sauce with whole cranberries
Black olives
and yes, baby carrot sticks and carrot slices
yeast rolls
and wassail for CKB and I from a little shop we stumbled across recently

CKB pronounced dinner a success and Mr. E said "this orange stuff is tasting good"

;)

Afghan update 1

Ok, here's the first update on the afghan -

Chained 184 (methinks it's going to be a tad too big after lying it across the bed - oh well, better too big than too small)

This pic is about 3 rows of double crochet plus the starting chain row (which is a tad too tight, but oh well, I'm not about to start over - it should be fine in the end and I'll just put that row at the foot of the bed :) )

So, now that you know how imperfect it is, here is a picture!

I'm using Red Heart yarn in Bay Print.

Ta-da!
Oh yes, and last night I timed myself to see how long one row was taking and it took about 40 mn. - ugh - of course, I was a little distracted and paused here and there, but still, next time I time myself, I'm hoping to get a whole row in 30 mn. - still, it's going to take awhile to get this done at those rates! New Year's completion.....maybe not.....

American Girl....or not!

Well, Christmas has come and gone now and I can post about this without fear of a little girl or two coming up behind me and seeing it!

The girls, Miss E especially, have become interested in American Girl dolls after Miss E read Samantha awhile back and then later saw an American Girl catalog that came in the mail. Miss E told us she would like the Samantha doll for Christmas. Hmm. We thought about it and thought about it and were decided just about to get it, then rethought it and decided $87 for doll and first book was just toooo much for an almost 7 year old for a doll - especially with Mr. Baby afoot! Along came the Target ad a few weeks ago and solved our problem!

Our Generation dolls made by Battat - 18" just like the American Girl dolls and adorable, additional outfits galore and some fun accessories like horses, bathtub, bed, wardrobe, etc. Hooray! And, drumroll please, the dolls were on sale for $20! Well, guess what we did? :) Yep, a trip to Target was in order - CKB went to toys whilst the rest of us perused the food section and picked up a few things - CKB found a lovely doll which resembled Samantha and we were set!

Oh yes, Miss A also decided she would like a doll - she has always liked playing with dolls so this was no surprise - the doll she wanted was Elizabeth (friend to Felicity, American Girl) - well, there just happend to be an Our Generation doll that resembled her as well - hooray!

Whew! Saved by Target once again :) And both dolls for LESS than ONE American Girl doll - hooray!

Did the girls like the dolls - YES, YES AND DOUBLE YES - that was alllll they wanted to play with yesterday - changing their clothes, acting out "scenes" as Miss E explained, and so on (and the extra clothes sent by Grandma and Grandpa were a big hit!) They even decided to name them after the American Girl dolls they like - Samantha and Elizabeth :)

All this to share w/anyone with a little girl who might be interested in this type of doll soon - YOU HAVE OPTIONS :) Also, there are A LOT of sites out there where people make clothes for 18" dolls - and they're pretty affordable - we're so thrilled the girls like their dolls - whew!

Here're some pics - you decide :) These dolls are so precious :)

Here's the American Girl doll, Samantha

The Our Generation doll we got for Miss E:



American Girl doll, Elizabeth:


Our Generation doll we got for Miss A -


Well, I've gotta run for now - hope you had a Merry Christmas!!!

Are YOU part of the "chain gang" too?

Well, CKB has been teasing me about being the cobbler's family that had no shoes lately - no, I'm not making shoes on my oh so small amount of spare time - ha ha - but have been learning to crochet. I have made a few afghans of various sizes and given them to friends and family as gifts. I guess seeing me making these afghans and running across a yarn that he liked and saw me making into something for someone else finally caused CKB to ask when I was going to make something for us....so he asked for an afghan for Christmas. Now, as you probably can see, it's Christmas Eve. Yesterday, I chained 184 and began - sigh - but at least it's started and MAYBE it'll be done by New Year's...maybe :) It is going to go on our bed and so it's going to be rather large to be used as a blanket - but I have the fantastic "S" (speed) hook on my side and am using 3 strands of yarn together throughout, so it should go rather quickly.

I'd post a picture of it as it stands right now, but I'm tired and going to go to bed instead - the children will be up early tomorrow and I have to get SOME rest, right? :)

I'll try to post some pics of my progress as I'm able to - I'd love to hear from other members of the "chain gang" and hear about your projects, etc. :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

A little Christmas music to get you in the mood

Thanks to Leah for this fun find!

Boom Boom Aint It Great To Be Crazy

Ok, so we like to be crazy sometimes...not often, but sometimes :)

Every now and then we have what the children call a "crazy dinner" which usually consists of breakfast for dinner or SOMEtimes it's a bowl of whatever odds and ends we can find like popcorn, crackers, raisins, etc.

Well, yesterday we had a crazy lunch - this time it was what the children wanted to have - they asked for a bagel, a marshmallow on top, chocolate syrup (which became choc. syrup and strawberry syrup), yogurt covered raisins, chocolate chips, regular raisins...and I think that's it...no wait, a mini nutter butter bite on top!....what did it look like, you ask? Glad you asked, here it 'tis...




Sing with me....boom boom, aint it great to be crazy....boom boom, aint it great to be nuts....silly and foolish the whole day through, boom boom, aint it great to be craaaaaaazy :)

I am *so* out of it

As I was driving back from a quick trip to the post office whilst Mr. Baby was napping and the rest of the crew were having "quiet time" (and for those who might be concerned, NO they were not at home alone - CKB works at the house and he was on high alert for Mr. Baby sounds emitting from the monitor at any moment because Mr. Baby has some sort of insane baby radar that knows when I leave the house and that is the ONLY time he wakes up early early early from naps!).

But, I digress...I'm driving along listening to the radio for a change (not a Thomas video or the like) and there's some Christmas music on - a "do wop" sort of version of "Let It Snow" came on and I will admit I kind of liked it and wondered who the singer was...our Saturn van has a nifty feature on the radio where you push the "i" button for info. and if the station has the info. available (I'm sure CKB could explain this more technically) then you will see some info. about the song; like the band/singer name and the title of the song.

I saw this:

KSOMETHINGOROTHER STATION RICO

pushed button again to get more info.

CHET LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW

Pushed the button a couple more times to see it again and thought, hmm, what was that name? Rico? Ok, Rico Chet, I'll have to remember that.

The song finishes up and the DJ comes on and jabbers a bit, I don't know what about and then I catch her say "That was Ricochet with their version of Let It Snow!"


Oh, DUHHHHH, I actually have heard of Ricochet, but w/it broken across two lines of text on the radio display, I thought it was some guy named Rico Chet.

I had a good laugh at myself and decided I'm officially "out of it" as far as radio music goes - I never listen to the radio any more - if it's not a CD or a DVD playing in back for the children, I don't hear it. Ah well, maybe if I got back to the treadmill and listening to the radio on the mp3, I might know what was going on a little more in the world of music - we'll see :)

-cab

Hot Cocoa

Inspired by the hot cocoa we enjoyed at our niece's house a few nights ago and a show I saw yesterday, we had hot cocoa tonight.

The show was Barefoot Contessa - if you know why on earth the show is called that, please do share, but I digress - here is the recipe she used:

Holiday Hot Chocolate
Copyright 2005 Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
See this recipe on air Monday Dec. 24 at 12:00 PM ET/PT.
Show: Barefoot Contessa
Episode: Holiday Surprise
4 cups whole milk
4 cups half-and-half
1 pound white chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans
1/4 to 1/3 cup orange flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

In a saucepan on medium heat, heat the milk and half-and-half to just below the simmering point. Remove the pan from the heat and add the white chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, add the vanilla, vanilla bean seeds, and 1/4 to 1/3 cup orange liqueur, according to taste, and whisk vigorously. Reheat very gently and serve.



I, on the other hand, didn't have this handy dandy recipe from the web in front of me and improvised :) Here's what I did:

2 cups half n half
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup semisweet morsels
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat half n half and whipping cream - add semisweet morsels and stir 'til melted (or almost all melted as I didn't have tons of time to get this done :) ) Add vanilla and stir. Serve!

Enjoy - it was RATHER chocolately and very thick and creamy compared to what the store-bought mixes are like, but YUMMMMY :) Next time, methinks I'll thin it down a bit - wowee!

Oh yes, and serve with some of those fantastic little cookies you can buy that are little round circles w/cute pictures on top :) We had snowmen cookies tonight - so easy and delicious and perfect for a busy mama!

Holiday Eating Tips

Found this on a friend of a friend's blog tonight....I need to go to bed!
Enjoy!
-CAB

Eating Tips for the Holidays

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an 'eggnog-aholic' or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it! Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand-alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, pumpkin and mincemeat - have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert -- Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips: Start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Expelled

Ran across this recently - take a mn. and go and watch the trailer for this movie - looks like it will be interesting. http://www.expelledthemovie.com

Can you pass 8th grade math?

Just for fun -

Care to play and post how you did in the comments section? Have fun!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Morning math musings

Picture this - family gathered around the table for breakfast - conversation ensues:

Miss E - 1 pound is the same as 16 oz., right Mama?

Me - Yes

Miss E - What is 43 x 16?

Me - Hmm, why do you ask?

Miss E - Just because

Me - Ok, but why? Did you see something that is making you ask?

Miss E - Just because...

Me - (pulls cereal bag over to look at the measurements of weight for the bag to see if this is why, then it dawns on me) Is it because you want to know how much you weigh in ounces? :)

Miss E - (shyly) Yes

Me - ok (cell phone happens to be on the table so I use the calculator) 688

Miss E - Ok, wow, that's a lot! What if we add 5 to it?

Me - Why 5?

Miss E - When we were at Grandma and Grandpa's the scale said 43.5

Me - Ok, but that was in pounds, to get the .5 you need to add 8 since half of 16 is 8, right?

Miss E (thinking)

Me - You would either need to add 8 or 1/2 of 16, which is 8, right?

Miss E - yes

Me - So, that would be 696

(about this time CKB arrives at the table to eat breakfast)

Me - Tell Daddy...

Miss E - (smiling) Daddy, I weigh 696 ounces!

CKB grins

Me - Welcome to morning math!

Dinnertime Math

We're all sitting around the table tonight after dinner talking and CKB asks Miss A if she knows what half of 14 is. She says no. CKB proceeds to explain how to find the "half" of something - the conversation goes something like this:


CKB: "Miss A, if you have 1 cup of something and another cup of something, how many cups do you have?"

Miss A: "2 cups"

CKB: "Ok, if you only want half of them, what do you do?"

From the corner of the table where Mr. E is sitting finishing up his dessert we hear:

Mr. E - "Complain"

:)

CKB and I laugh for a bit as Mr. E continues eating his dessert oblivious to how funny he has just been :)

Miss A got the answer right after she had a chance to give her own reply :)


- CAB

New Niece

Posting to let you all know that our new niece has been born! Praise God for her safe delivery!

Copying in the info. as received from my brother, Matthew minus last names :)
Please join us in a prayer of thanksgiving for this new little one.

- CAB




Naomi Jubilee
"Pleasant" "Joyful celebration/Shout of Joy"

Naomi Jubilee (last name omitted) was born into this world on Friday, December 7, 2007 at 1:15 AM. She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. As you will see from the pictures, she has dark brown hair, thicker around the sides. Both mommy and baby are fine. We arrived home on Saturday, December 8, 2007 around 5 PM.

She has already brought so much joy into our lives. We are so very thankful to God for our sweet little miracle and can't wait for all to meet her. We deeply appreciate all the prayers that went up on our behalf. We are confident that our heavenly Father up above heard and answered those prayers.


All our love,
Matthew, Rebecca, and Naomi

Ps 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Oh how the days fly by!

It's been almost a month since last I blogged....we've been busy! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving trip, which I hope to spend a little time writing about later. We've also been sick off and on since about a month ago - I knew it'd been going on for a long time, but it wasn't until I thought about 2nd Sunday coming up and remembered we were sick LAST 2nd Sunday when down in Madisonville. Whew. I am TIRED of being sick, but this too, Lord willing, shall pass. We were getting better around about the time we left for our trip last month, and then apparently after coming in contact w/so many different people along the way, we picked up some new germs and passed them around for the past few weeks. Currently CKB and I are still feeling a bit crummy, but the children are feeling their oats quite nicely :) and are more resilient than us "old folks" I guess.

We opted for a real Christmas tree this year - the house we're renting has low ceilings and our artificial tree would've been touching the ceiling for sure. I have to say, I'm enjoying the wonderful aroma wafting through the house - we may never go back! I'll post a pic once we get it decorated. As of now, it is in the stand, has one string of lights on it and that's all we had energy for last night.

That's all for now - we *are* anxiously awaiting news from TN though - today is the day, Lord willing, that we'll hear news of our new niece's birth! More to come when we hear the news!

- CAB

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 :)

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)

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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

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!

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 :)

Site I ran across today

Well, when I should've been resting today and trying to recover a bit from whatever this is that I have that is making me feel run down and feverish, I ran across a site that looks promising and the blog that goes along with it.

The site is: home

I haven't looked it over very much yet, so I hope all is well on it.

What caught my attention just now was the link to the "blog" and a post the lady put on there which was actually a letter she received from her mother regarding the upcoming holidays. What a gooooood reminder for those of us who always want to "make things perfect" - (clearing my throat). I am one of those who wants to try to clean the house up just right, etc. etc. etc. and with 4 cyclones, I mean, children here all day every day it just never happens like I want it to, so this was a good reminder for me :) Enjoy!

I received the following email from my mother:

Dear Duncan and Malia,

I know that having us there on holidays takes some planning and I thank you for all you do. Hopefully, the time spent with Grandma and Granddad will become part of the "good old days" for the kids. And for us (Grandma and Granddad) they are truly the golden days right now. You make that possible. What a blessing it is for both generations. As a Son or Daughter who is also a Mom or Dad you are a link between those two generations - the bond of love that connects sthe history of your parent's life with the incredible potential of your children. These gifts shared during the holidays and any day we come to visit will be enjoyed by us and hopefully treasured by your children for many years to come.

So looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas with you and the wonderful grandchildren.

With love,

Grandma and Granddad

Now isn't that sweet? Let this be a reminder that it is not about your house, your homemaking skills, your cooking, your linens, or whether you have that perfect guest bedroom (we don't). Holidays are about nurturing relationships.

Malia Russell, director

Testing 1...2...3

Ok, so this blogarithm thing (which was SUPPOSED to make things simpler) is instead taking up a lot of my time as I try to figure out why it's not doing what it's supposed to do.


Excuse me whilst I scream.





Ok, I'm back. So, this is a test. This is only a test. Designed to see if I get a notice that I've updated the blog. La la la. Only a test.

...we'll be back.

Sigh...

I think I'm getting old. Are you? Do you look over and see KIDS driving cars and think they look WAY too young to be driving? Do you go to a fast food place at 1:15 and see the carhops working there and wonder why they aren't in school in the middle of the day?

Anyway, I guess I'm getting old.

Apparently memory loss is part of it too. Last night I sat down on the couch and noticed the sound of the dishwasher and couldnt' for the life of me remember putting soap in the dishwasher nor could I remember actually turning it on after I loaded it.

If I am truly losing my mind, y'all pray for me. I hope it's just due to tiredness and a touch of a cold I seem to have. Maybe if I just would get to bed earlier....

Follow-up to Communion article

I don't normally do this sort of thing, but I felt impressed to write to the columnist and thank him for his respectful article. He replied w/in the hour:


Thanks for reading my column. It was a privilege to write because of the experience of sitting in on the service and then talking with some of the good people who are a part of the church. I've receive(d) much response from people of all faiths. Jim Jones


Makes me wonder what other articles he's written :)

Communion

This past weekend, we attended the annual communion meeting at Fellowship Primitive Baptist Church in Madisonville, TX (where we are members, well, all but Mr. Baby, that is :) ) and had a wonderful blessed meeting. Services began Saturday morning - preaching by Van Quick and eld. Pat Young. Saturday afternoon - preaching by eld. Chris Blevins and eld. Tommy Hart. Sunday morning - preaching by eld. Chris Blevins and eld. Lindsey Blevins. After services and lunch, we entered into communion. Our pastor, Lindsey Blevins asked eld. AnthonyBlevins to take the footwashing part of the service, eld. Chris Blevins to speak on the bread and eld. Lindsey Blevins spoke on the wine. It was a beautiful communion service. This was our eldest 3 children's first communion service to participate in since joining the church this past summer. They have witnessed many in their young lives - always sitting on the front row to observe. It was a wonderful blessing to wash my little girls' feet and to have Miss E wash mine, Miss A wash her Granny's and Mr. E to wash his Daddy's and his Granddaddy's, as well as his uncle's. Such a blessing to see the little ones in the church. If you're ever down Madisonville way, I know the saints there would love to have you visit.

Here is a picture of some of the ministers who attended the meeting:


Back row: (eld. Stumball, eld. Lindsey Blevins, eld. Chris Blevins)
Front row: (eld. Jeff Moseley, Van Quick, eld. Tommy Hart, eld. Pat Young, eld. Ron Smith)
not pictured: eld. Anthony Blevins

Also, when we arrived home last night, there was an email in my inbox sharing an article from the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. The topic? Footwashing! Please take a moment to read it if you can:

http://www.star-telegram.com/living/columnists/jim_jones/story/282299.html

I've copied it in below in case that's easier for some:

In His Footsteps

Jesus once told his followers to wash one another's feet, and modern adherents say it is a humbling experience

By Jim Jones / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Foot-washing is a symbolic act of love and humility that many believe was ordained by Jesus on the night before he was crucified.

He took off his robe, girt himself with a towel and washed his disciples' feet, according to John 13. He told the disciples to follow his example and wash others' feet.

I first heard of foot-washing years ago when I lived down the street from a Primitive Baptist church in my hometown of Bowie. My dad told me these were "foot-washing" Baptists. I was intrigued by the idea of grown-ups going into their church, taking off their shoes and socks, and washing one another's feet.

I later came to learn that this humbling act of servanthood reaches deep into the heart of the Christian faith. A growing number of Christians in other denominations are starting to embrace it.

On a recent Sunday I had the privilege of witnessing a foot-washing service for the first time. It was held at the Indian Oaks Primitive Baptist Church in Lake Worth.

Males were on one side; females on the other. About 60 men, women and children seated in a circle took turns kneeling before small basins of water and washing one another's feet.

It was a moving experience just to observe the event, which was a part of the church's twice-a-year celebration of Communion.. Coincidentally, one of the men leading prayers during the service, Elder Frank Baker, 84, once was pastor of the Primitive Baptist in Bowie that I remember so well.

Love in action

Elder Larry Webb, pastor of the church, told the congregation that the service was about love.

"This is a time when we can show our love, not only for the Lord, but for one another," he said. "But if it stops here, it's all for naught," emphasizing that Jesus urged followers to go out and serve fellow human beings.

In an interview, Webb said that washing someone's feet is a sacred act that can change a person's life.

"My heart hurts for those who don't get to experience this," he said.

Webb's father and grandfather were Primitive Baptist preachers. His grandfather, the late Elder James Albert Webb, celebrated his 100th birthday by preaching a sermon at the Fireside Primitive Baptist Church in Dallas.

Broader popularity

Today a few denominations besides Primitive Baptists -- the Church of God, Cleveland, Tenn.; , Seventh-Day Adventists and some other conservative groups -- include foot washing as a regular church practice.

It also is practiced on Maundy Thursday, an Easter week event commemorating the Last Supper, in many Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and in a number of United Methodist, Episcopalian and Lutheran churches. Some pastors and bishops use the foot-washing rite when they ordain ministers to emphasize the servant leadership role.

The growing popularity of foot washing goes along with a search for more tangible and meaningful spiritual practice, John Thomas Christopher told the Washington Post. "You can sanitize baptism and the Eucharist, but it's pretty hard to sanitize feet," said Christopher, author and professor at the Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tenn.

United Methodists at their 1992 general convention sanctioned foot-washing, and that led to several congregations initiating the practice, including Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, which has a foot-washing service on Maundy Thursday.

"It certainly is a humbling experience," said the Rev. Stephen Swisher, chief operating officer and executive pastor of Lovers Lane.

Primitive Baptists

Origin: Primitive Baptists, meaning "original" Baptists, trace their beginnings to Jesus' time and birth of the Christian church. In 1832, many Baptists who believed in missionary projects split with "Old School" Baptists, later called Primitive Baptists.

Membership: Estimated 126,000 members in 3,000 churches -- including about 20 in North Central Texas -- although there is no accurate count.

Beliefs and practices

Seek to neither add nor detract from New Testament church practices.

Most don't use musical instruments in worship.

Most don't have Sunday schools.

Most ministers are self-taught and don't rely on seminaries.

Feet washing is taught as a command of Jesus in most congregations.

Most use real wine, not grape juice, during Communion.

Believe that God, before the foundation of the world, chose a definite number who would be saved and that salvation is eternal.

Easier way to know when the blog is updated!

Ok, so it's kind of a pain to just keep checking people's blogs every day/week/whatever to see if maybe they've updated thing, right? No? Well, you must have a ton of time on your hands! But, for the rest of us busy folks, it just might be! So, now, you can just sign up over there on the right, at the top....yes, there! Enter your email address and you SHOULD get an email telling you I've updated the blog when I actually do update the blog! Fun, huh? Everyone should have this on their blog, don'tcha think? (thanks Angela, I saw it on yours and remembered how wonderful it is to have this! I just haven't had a lot of time for blog design/formatting yet!)

Where does the time go? Yes, yes, I know, if I'd just quit eating bon bons and lounging on the couch all day, I might have some time, right? Ha ha ha!!!

So, go, NOW, sign up! Make things easier! And, if you don't feel like it's working, let me know and I'll get my computer guru husband to help me figure it out!

TTFN!

Oh yes! And the new blog design...while I like it colorwise, etc., I don't like how it's making the text hard to read, so I will be changing it at some point...when the bon bons run out perhaps...until then, bear with me :)

The Grocery Game

Well, I bought the biggie paper (2 bundled together) for the past 2 Sundays in anticipation of actually giving this "grocery game" a try. Today, I signed up for the trial. They have my $1 and Wal-mart has my $4 for the 2 sets of papers. Now, it's time to save big, right?

So far, I'm $5 in the hole. We'll see how it goes. I have to admit I'm a SuperWalmart/SuperTarget sort of gal. If the store doesn't have the monster carts that fit 10 children, then I don't enter the doors, so that limits my options. I'm wary of this grocery game, I'm afraid it's going to be the stressful timesucking game, but we'll see.

I'll keep you updated!

If you want to try it out, let me know and I'd love to send you a referral ;) so, in case this actually works for us, I might get a free week or two!

Cheers!

Highchair Hostage and other H's

Yesterday, I needed to get some cooking/baking done for the meeting at Fellowship PBC (Madisonville, TX) this weekend and as you may know, we have a 1.5 year old. Well, he cannot be trusted on his own pretty much anywhere in the house, except maybe in his crib...even there I'm starting to wonder if he'll be the one that tries to climb out - sigh - anyway, so I set said baby in his highchair to witness my culinary technique. He was not impressed. Every little thing I gave him to entertain him was tossed to the floor w/glee in a matter of moments. I found a short respite by giving him some plastic animal toys I found at the $1 section at Target recently and managed to finish up a few things. Then...you guessed it...one by one they met their doom, tossed to the floor by the Highchair Hostage! Much more squawking ensued afterward which was answered by a trip to his bedroom for a much needed nap!

Do you have a highchair hostage? Baby jail? A tot you can't trust alone for more than a nanosecond w/o worrying what on earth he/she is getting into in the ill-fated silence you hear (or don't hear...)? These times will pass, to be sure, but for now, my highchair hostage will have to understand that on occasion mama actually has to get a few things done and not worry what disaster he might be creating in the next room :)

Ah yes, and the other H's....yesterday on the way home we spotted Halloween lights - ha ha - and Halloween trees. Some people decorate for everything! We later talked about maybe actually putting Christmas lights up this year to which I replied that I'd rather put them up inside the house so we could enjoy them ;) We'll see....

Snow day!

Monday was a snow day....well, not really, but it sure LOOKED like it would snow any minute! I got up and peered out the window on my way to get Mr. Baby from his crib and it was gray, misty and COOOOOOL out! Yay! FALL IS HERE! FALL IS HERE! (imagine the groundhog from Bambi!)

Anyway, everyone else was up pretty soon thereafter and having breakfast whereupon the head of the household proclaimed we take the day off and get out of the house - we're weird that way - gloomy/rainy weather and we like to get out sometimes :) Other times we do like to stay in by a nice fire, but we'll get to that later!

So, we finished breakfast and headed out...to the car whereupon we had to decide where to go...I suggested Turner Falls since I had been hoping to get up there and see some fall color on the trees around the Falls, CKB agreed and off we went. The drive up was nice and peaceful - the children happily engaged in a movie in the back of the van, CKB and I talking some, listening to the movie some and just enjoying all being together and the cool weather which for a change did not require blasting the a/c so high we couldn't hear the movie :)



We arrived at the Turner Falls area and there is a spot to pull off and see the Falls from a nice high vantage point - I had prepared myself that there might not be much color, if any, and it was a good thing because there wasn't much...as you can see. Oh well. We decided we wouldn't pay admission to enter the park since it was rather windy and downright
chilly and silly me didn't wear any sort of jacket. So, we decided to go and see what the town of Davis, OK was like since we hadn't ever done that. We headed off and ended up turning down a road that touted the Arbuckle Wilderness in its direction...we found it and I think we were the only people around that day - we opted to continue on the same road and went for miles and miles and miles without a single sign to indicate what road we actually were on....we laughed and said we were having an adventure to be sure! FINALLY, we
reached civilization again and found we
had been on highway 110 all that time
heading south and ended up at Davis
after all, who knew! We headed east to
Sulphur after seeing signs for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (I've mentioned it before and said we had hoped to go there again some day....well, this turned out to be the day!).

Upon entering the town of Sulphur, we saw a sign welcoming us from the Sulphur Primitive Baptist Church and proclaiming it to be just a bit farther on, so we detoured to see where it was and then headed on toward Chickasaw again.



We made it there after a short stop at the information area for a map. I had hesitated in the decision to go because I was thinking we ought to get home, but I'm SO glad we went on instead because it was so beautiful - trees everywhere, a lovely creek and have I mentioned the crisp, cool weather?







We drove through w/the windows down and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation. (and yes, we turned off the movie while we were driving through ;) ) Toward the end of the perimeter drive, we stopped to get out and find "Little Niagara" - we all enjoyed that - I took a few pics and then the battery on my camera died! Ack!!! Oh well, good reason to go back again as soon as we can!












We had a nice drive home coming through Gene Autry, OK, stopping by the museum (which was closed) and then back over to the main highway to pick up dinner to eat on the drive home.

Back at the homefront, CKB built a fire in the fireplace and we relaxed a little while longer before the children's bedtime (and ours!).

If you have an opportunity to take the day off sometime, DO IT! The next day we doubled up on some schoolwork and had a quiet day at home! Hope you enjoy the pics! I would've taken more, but there was the whole battery thing - ugh (and yes, I had a backup battery, but ...uh...it helps to make sure to CHARGE the backup too - ugh)





Cheers!

Homeschool Humor

I ran across this today whilst the rest of the household had an afternoon nap :) There is alot of humor and some truth in this! (no, we don't do school in our pjs....but we could if we REALLY wanted to, I suppose ;) )

(click on the image/cartoon to see a larger view that you can actually read!)

Late nights...

Do you have these too? When you needed to run a few errands and as a result the children get to bed later, so you stay up later in order to have a little time to do some things you want/need/etc. to do? This makes night #2 of staying up 'til midnight - eek - after a trip to the pumpkin patch today and dinner at El Chico, it was a great afternoon/evening. Hopefully I can post some pics soon....well, as soon as I actually transfer them to the computer and look at them, that is!

Stay tuned.....I'm still trying to play catch-up! This weekend, Lord willing, we'll attend part of the meeting at Dixie PBC up in Whitesboro. We're looking forward to it - please pray for the meeting!

Have a great weekend!