Well, I treated myself tonight to a run, since it's my birthday tomorrow. It felt so good to get out there on that track . . . it's a mile to the track, so we (we meaning myself and 5 other girls) warmed up there and cooled down on the way back. It was a great little work out. Ohio has some of the nastiest, biggest bugs i've ever seen. Of course, I've never been to the Amazon, so I don't have much to compare it to, but a huge beetle flew at me while stretching on the track and landed on my tank top and I screamed for someone to "get it off". OOOO I HATE BUGS!!!!
I decided to have key lime pie for my birthday dessert and I'm going to make it myself , as I never have and want to learn. I just spent 1/2 hr on allrecipes.com trying to find the most authentic sounding recipe and I think I found it. So, tomorrow I will go to the store, armed with a list of proper ingredients and hopefully it turns out as good as it looked on the website and tastes as good as all the reviews claim! I so wish I could invite my whole family over tomorrow to help me celebrate. It just isn't a proper party without lots of people. But, the kiddos want to have a party, so we'll see what we come up with. Colin is insisting on cupcakes for the kids (we only need 5 mom).
So, tonight I was craving Chipotle for supper, and decided to make it myself . . .chicken burrito bowls. It takes a long time to make all the little sides . . . pico de gallo, guacamole, corn salsa, fajita mix, rice, shredded chicken, beans, grated cheese, etc. but oh my was it ever good. I used fresh cilantro from my herb garden for the first time, and I think that is what really topped the cake . . .it was delicious and worth all the work. I haven't cooked for a while, so it felt good to spend the time on it tonight. We eat so simple in the summer; the kids are really content with plain food; I just try to keep it balanced.
I think Rona is relapsing with her potty training. She's had 3 accidents in the last 5 days (all PooP. . .YUCKY). But, maybe she's protesting me being gone and her schedule being off. It's all happened when I've been gone, and she hasn't gone to day care for 2 weeks, since the kids are off school. I will have to give her some extra love tomorrow on my day off. She's also started biting the other kids (mostly Colin) when she wants something they have. We're working with that . . .never really had a biter, so I don't know what to do, other than put her in time out, then talk to her about how biting hurts and she needs to apologize and use her words.
Amy has been babysitting for me and will continue to thru the summer. I'm really lucky to have her . . .she knows my routine, keeps the house clean, does laundry if i'm behind and manages the kids really well. I just love her! It's only 2 days a week, but I don't worry about a thing when she's there. I've been taking 1 of the kids with me each day I clean . . .that's a great thing about a flexible cleaning job. They take turns. Colin came today, Aiden and Sylas each had a turn last week and Rona will get to come this next time. Jacklin is in summer school from 8:30-12:30, every day for 2 weeks, so it will be her turn when she's done with that. She is just not very scholastic, but she really tries hard. And, she's the only one going to summer school, and she's been a real trooper about it.
The kids have their last ball games this Friday, before the tournaments start. I still need to get that Pic of colin up here. Kenny is assistant coaching Jacklin's softball team, so they have their first tourny game on Saturday. I'm volunteering in the concession booth and Aiden is gonna help me. There's a youth conference this weekend also, so Sylas will be gone at that, along with all the other youth who could've been a potential babysitter for Rona. There's no way I could take her into a concession booth with me. She refuses to remember what the word NO means when it comes to candy, pop and snacks. Maybe her daycare lady, Gail, will take her on a Saturday morning???
Summer is really starting in with the kids out of school. We've been swimming alot and working and playing. Sylas has been pretty consistent with his mowing job. . .it only took him 4 hrs on Monday, so we're getting better. He takes a lot of breaks, but I think he's getting better at it. We still have help him a bit, remind him of his goals, mow a few strips, bring popsicles, etc. . .you get the picture. I'm hoping next week he'll do it ALL on his own. He really wants to go to Oregon, and he's paying for 1/2 his ticket, so that has been the huge motivator. The elementary school up the road from us serves a free lunch every week day (government funded), so we go there every day. It is a real blessing and saves on our food bill tremendously. Then we can play at the playground afterwards and we usually ride our bikes there and back, so we get exercise in too. I think tomorrow I'll take the kids hiking. There's a really nice park with long trails about 1/2 hour away and supposedly there's a waterfall to hike into. It would be a fun birthday outing.
It's crazy to be turning 35. I used to think that was old, hehehe. I feel so young still, except for the forgetfulness, hearing loss, poor eyesight, and grey hair. Oh well, I plan on aging slowly by having rest in God and in doing His will in my life. There is a great peace that comes from being reconciled to Him. I also want to have godliness with contentment, because it says in the Good Book that that is GREAT GAIN. It's something that I will have for all eternity. I can't take anything from this earth with me into eternity, but what I've gained on the inside by being faithful to His still, small voice will remain. I have so much to be thankful for. "Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find, Knock and it will be opened to you." What great promises !
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Our Best Babysitter!
This is Amy, our best babysitter and Rona. Just had to put a face with the name! :)Schools Out for the Summer!!
So, we've been hearing this lovely song by Alice Cooper on the Guitar Hero around the house alot these last couple days. I actually didn't even know the song until we got the game (there's alot I don't know about these things having grown up very sheltered without TV). Aiden is quite good at Guitar Hero and actually is the best in the family. He's my gamer . . .I'm always setting time limits, like a good parent should and he's always breaking them. How did my mom ever do it with 15 kids to keep track of? I can hardly keep track of 5. Anyway, I thought I would be good at Guitar Hero because I'm musical, but I'm realizing it also requires a level of gaming skill that I do not possess. It is a fun thing to do with the kids, tho. Kenny loves playing Tiger Woods Golf PGA Tour '09 with the boys. . .they have so much fun together in the evenings.
Aiden finally got the flu/cold that went thru the family one at a time. He had such a high fever yesterday, he was quite delirious. Whenever he gets sick, he gets a really high fever and delirious. If it wasn't so scary, it would be funny. He says the most random things and his eyes are huge and look right thru you. I remember seeing weird things in my feverish state when I was sick as a young girl. Guess he gets it from me . . . He seems better today, except for neck pain and a sore throat. Kenny is working overtime today and took Sylas with him, so the house is quiet. The kids are re-discovering old Disney movies, Bugs Life anyone? They've been watching Tarzan, The emporers new Groove, among others. We own way too many movies, but most of our Disney ones are on VHS, so it's not like we could loan them out. Who has a VHS player anymore in this day and age?
I need to get out and water the garden and the flowers. I'm trying to plant a few things from seeds, that would hopefully come up year after year, like poppies. I don't know if it will work. I usually don't have much luck with seeds. I'm trying to do more in the yard this year, so we'll see.
I have a lot of ideas for fun stuff to do this summer. I really want to start camping with the kids. I have such good memories of camping as a child, my parents took us alot in the summer. We went to O'dell Lake, Elk Lake, Suttle Lake, Crescent Lake, and many others. Our favorite was always O'dell . . .and it was very primitive and rustic. Here in Ohio, we have no natural lakes; they are all man made. But, there are a few that are close to home to try camping out on, with fishing, so we'll see. There's Kizer Lake, only 1/2 hour away and Indian Lake, the more popular of the two, about an hour away. We need a tent and have been researching some of the new styles, like Cottage tents and Cabin tents that sleep 9-10 people. They have rooms and closets and a center height of 82" . . .they sound wonderful! Most of our camping stuff is still in Oregon . . .we left our tent, camp stove, lantern and accessories. They were still at my parents in storage 6 years ago, but I don't know if they have survived the clean-ups and purges that have gone on since our absence.
Well, it's been a year since Kenny's grandma, Marlys, went to heaven. She was such a wonderful woman and a good grandma. She liked me from day 1 (I think!) We shared a passion for roses and the month of June and coffee. I miss her letters and her phone calls. She always kept me up-dated on the family. She was generous and loving always. Kenny has some of his best childhood memories from times spent with her and grandpa. She was Norwegian and I had been to Norway and learned the language a bit before I met her, so I think it's such a coincidence that we had that little link. I really want to teach my kids Norwegian, as they have a bit in them. I love history and heritage. They know a few phrases already, just from me using them around the house, like "ikke gjorde det" (don't do that) , "ikke ta paa den" (don't touch that), "sett deg ned"(sit down) "jeg elsker deg" (I love you).
We are in the process of remodeling our front room, which we used as a play room and a living rm before. It will become an entry with a hall and closet and an office/guest rm. We realized in our remodeling that our existing living room has about 3 different kinds of base boards, because it has a lot of the original 100 year old wood work. They tried to match the base, but when you look closely, it is different. Kenny just found a ton of base in one of his buildings in the attic that is real wood and very similar to what we have. He is getting that base today, as the attic isn't part of building that will be remodeled. They will just seal it off, so he's allowed to have the base boards for free. I'm really excited about it . . .it is beautiful dark and wide. We're going to redo the living room with it and if there's enough, the new entry. We were going to do the newly remodeled dining rm with it, but it's more of a modern room already, so we're gonna keep that one with simple base and trim. So far we have been able to do the remodeling fairly cost free, as Kenny and I have done the work ourselves and he gets alot of material from work. I'm so glad he is so handy; and he's very meticulous, so it gets done right. In our new dining rm. we took two rooms and made 1 big room. It's a really functional room now.
Well, this blog is getting quite long as I haven't written all week and had a lot to say, I guess. We got the kids a pool, and it's set up. It is small, because our yard doesn't have much room for one and I want Rona to be able to feel confident and touch the bottom. It's 12' x 33" , but they all love it. On those really hot and humid days, it's just nice to be able to get wet . . .it cools you down so nicely and we don't have any shade in the back yard. And, you can only eat so many popsicles in one day. We tried sprinklers that last couple years, but Aida chews them up. So, I think they'll be happy with it for this summer. We go once a week to the Eubanks (a family in our church with an in-ground pool with a deep end) and swim, so they are really looking forward to that too. I have to go check the chemical level in the pool now, so they can swim.
Aiden finally got the flu/cold that went thru the family one at a time. He had such a high fever yesterday, he was quite delirious. Whenever he gets sick, he gets a really high fever and delirious. If it wasn't so scary, it would be funny. He says the most random things and his eyes are huge and look right thru you. I remember seeing weird things in my feverish state when I was sick as a young girl. Guess he gets it from me . . . He seems better today, except for neck pain and a sore throat. Kenny is working overtime today and took Sylas with him, so the house is quiet. The kids are re-discovering old Disney movies, Bugs Life anyone? They've been watching Tarzan, The emporers new Groove, among others. We own way too many movies, but most of our Disney ones are on VHS, so it's not like we could loan them out. Who has a VHS player anymore in this day and age?
I need to get out and water the garden and the flowers. I'm trying to plant a few things from seeds, that would hopefully come up year after year, like poppies. I don't know if it will work. I usually don't have much luck with seeds. I'm trying to do more in the yard this year, so we'll see.
I have a lot of ideas for fun stuff to do this summer. I really want to start camping with the kids. I have such good memories of camping as a child, my parents took us alot in the summer. We went to O'dell Lake, Elk Lake, Suttle Lake, Crescent Lake, and many others. Our favorite was always O'dell . . .and it was very primitive and rustic. Here in Ohio, we have no natural lakes; they are all man made. But, there are a few that are close to home to try camping out on, with fishing, so we'll see. There's Kizer Lake, only 1/2 hour away and Indian Lake, the more popular of the two, about an hour away. We need a tent and have been researching some of the new styles, like Cottage tents and Cabin tents that sleep 9-10 people. They have rooms and closets and a center height of 82" . . .they sound wonderful! Most of our camping stuff is still in Oregon . . .we left our tent, camp stove, lantern and accessories. They were still at my parents in storage 6 years ago, but I don't know if they have survived the clean-ups and purges that have gone on since our absence.
Well, it's been a year since Kenny's grandma, Marlys, went to heaven. She was such a wonderful woman and a good grandma. She liked me from day 1 (I think!) We shared a passion for roses and the month of June and coffee. I miss her letters and her phone calls. She always kept me up-dated on the family. She was generous and loving always. Kenny has some of his best childhood memories from times spent with her and grandpa. She was Norwegian and I had been to Norway and learned the language a bit before I met her, so I think it's such a coincidence that we had that little link. I really want to teach my kids Norwegian, as they have a bit in them. I love history and heritage. They know a few phrases already, just from me using them around the house, like "ikke gjorde det" (don't do that) , "ikke ta paa den" (don't touch that), "sett deg ned"(sit down) "jeg elsker deg" (I love you).
We are in the process of remodeling our front room, which we used as a play room and a living rm before. It will become an entry with a hall and closet and an office/guest rm. We realized in our remodeling that our existing living room has about 3 different kinds of base boards, because it has a lot of the original 100 year old wood work. They tried to match the base, but when you look closely, it is different. Kenny just found a ton of base in one of his buildings in the attic that is real wood and very similar to what we have. He is getting that base today, as the attic isn't part of building that will be remodeled. They will just seal it off, so he's allowed to have the base boards for free. I'm really excited about it . . .it is beautiful dark and wide. We're going to redo the living room with it and if there's enough, the new entry. We were going to do the newly remodeled dining rm with it, but it's more of a modern room already, so we're gonna keep that one with simple base and trim. So far we have been able to do the remodeling fairly cost free, as Kenny and I have done the work ourselves and he gets alot of material from work. I'm so glad he is so handy; and he's very meticulous, so it gets done right. In our new dining rm. we took two rooms and made 1 big room. It's a really functional room now.
Well, this blog is getting quite long as I haven't written all week and had a lot to say, I guess. We got the kids a pool, and it's set up. It is small, because our yard doesn't have much room for one and I want Rona to be able to feel confident and touch the bottom. It's 12' x 33" , but they all love it. On those really hot and humid days, it's just nice to be able to get wet . . .it cools you down so nicely and we don't have any shade in the back yard. And, you can only eat so many popsicles in one day. We tried sprinklers that last couple years, but Aida chews them up. So, I think they'll be happy with it for this summer. We go once a week to the Eubanks (a family in our church with an in-ground pool with a deep end) and swim, so they are really looking forward to that too. I have to go check the chemical level in the pool now, so they can swim.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
only 3 days more . . .
Until schools out! I'm really excited to have them all home for the summer. They need the de-tox from school; it starts to wear on them after a while. This week is all make-up days from overages on snow days, so they're doing NOTHING. Jacklin has her field day today, and I'm going to "help". Also, Colin has an end-of-the-year party from 1-2, so I'll be at the school all day. I went on Aiden's field trip yesterday and we had a lot of fun. It's fun to get to know his friends better and riding on a school bus is so nostalgic, hehehe. We went to the Westcott house in Springfield, which is designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright and is over 100 years old. That guy was way ahead of his time, because that house was so modern looking still. It was restored about 2 years ago to the original look and it is just gorgeous. Has a lot of Asian zen feel to it, with reflecting pools and gorgeous gardens and verandas.
So, we got the van fixed. We ended up having it towed to another shop, because the one place couldn't figure out what was wrong. It ended up being a wiring harness behind the motor that had melted and was short circuiting. So, sometimes it ran and sometimes not. But, now it runs like a dream. We only had to dump a little $$ into it, but there went my trip to Oregon to see my siblings graduate. Oh well. That is how life is. I think it's a sign that it's their turn to come visit me! I really miss them all. I'm the oldest sister in a family of 15 and some of them are just like my children. I had a lot to do with raising them and love it when they call me or text me and we chat. Oh, I miss them so much!!!!
Well, I should be getting out the door. Jacklin is wondering if her forgetful mother is going to show up today or not. Gotta love her, she keeps me on my toes.
So, we got the van fixed. We ended up having it towed to another shop, because the one place couldn't figure out what was wrong. It ended up being a wiring harness behind the motor that had melted and was short circuiting. So, sometimes it ran and sometimes not. But, now it runs like a dream. We only had to dump a little $$ into it, but there went my trip to Oregon to see my siblings graduate. Oh well. That is how life is. I think it's a sign that it's their turn to come visit me! I really miss them all. I'm the oldest sister in a family of 15 and some of them are just like my children. I had a lot to do with raising them and love it when they call me or text me and we chat. Oh, I miss them so much!!!!
Well, I should be getting out the door. Jacklin is wondering if her forgetful mother is going to show up today or not. Gotta love her, she keeps me on my toes.
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