Monday, March 29, 2010

Our Beloved Lilly

Our Sweet Dog, Lilly

Our sweet little dog, Lilly, died Saturday morning.

I am almost still too sad to write this.

Lilly was almost 11, and she had been a beloved member of our family for 9 years. Everyone who knows our family personally, knows Lilly was part of our family. We are all devastated and just heartbroken. She was a house dog, and wherever we were, Lilly was there too. She slept either under my bed (on top of my bed at the foot when she could still jump up there) or on Olivia's or Julie's bean bags in their rooms. Olivia's bean bag was covered with a blanket she had made. We wrapped Lilly in that blanket before we buried her.....outside the window beside our kitchen table. The children cut locks of her fur, and they removed three squares from the blanket. We spent an hour and a half petting her and telling her goodbye, and Jimmy led us in prayer....then we said our final goodbyes.

I never knew I would grieve that dog so much! Of course, we are all soberly reminded of how brief life is. How none of us know when this day will be our last, so we must make the most of every day, make the most of every opportunity. Express our love and thankfulness to our family every day. Death always puts things in the proper perspective. This has given us the chance to teach our children to draw comfort from the Lord. I have explained to them over and over again that God knows how much they are hurting. He loves them. He can comfort them. Jimmy led a song in our church service last night, Does Jesus Care?. And the answer is yes, He cares, I know He cares.

Yesterday Jimmy lovingly combed through over 10,000 pictures, selected, and had printed over 170....all of the pictures with Lilly in them. He put them in an album and gave it to the children last night. What an awesome and thoughtful gift.

I am not sure which is harder.....watching my husband and children grieve so deeply or the loss of Lilly itself.

I am really too sad to write anymore.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Happy Birthday Clay!

Clay is 11 today! Today also begins our Spring Break, so everyone is excited!

We began our day with birthday breakfast and present opening! Sam was with me when I bought one of Clay's gifts, a Toy Story Lego set. He has tried unsuccessfully to keep it a secret all week. First, he told me (when Clay was not that far away) that he would not tell Clay that his present was Buzz Lightyear Legos! Last night in bed (they share a room, so Clay was just across the room) Sam said, "I can't wait for Clay to open his Buzz Lightyear Legos tomorrow!" And today I found out that when Sam and Clay were looking at the new Lego catalog together, Sam pointed to the Toy Story Lego set and told Clay that he was getting that for his birthday! Even though Clay was pretty sure which Lego set he was getting for his birthday, he was still very happy to receive it!

the gifts

the table

Leah, Clay, and Julie playing a game while waiting for me to cook breakfast

Clay requested pig in the blankets and scrambled eggs for breakfast, pasta salad and fruit salad for lunch, and Parmesan potatoes for supper. I plan to cook a pork tenderloin and make a salad to go along with the potatoes.

Sam and Clay at breakfast

the new Wii game that my parents gave Clay

a Lego set from Sam

a big surprise--golf clubs!

Leah, Julie, and Sam playing with the golf club box. They were pretending to be a vacuum cleaner!

The children and Jimmy played the new Wii game for a while, and then I took Clay to Toys R Us so he could buy some more Legos using the gift cards from his friends. He purchased two more Toy Story Lego sets. They really are cute. He has already built one of them.

After lunch, Jimmy took Clay to the driving range to try out his new golf clubs. In fact, they are still there!

We will eat cake and ice cream either this afternoon or after supper, and spend the rest of the day playing with Clay.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Recipes

This is the delicious chocolate icing I used for Clay's birthday cake last Friday. I am making another one for our family. We are celebrating his actual birthday this Friday.

Chocolate Icing
1 stick butter
4 Tbs. cocoa
1/3 cup milk
4 cups powdered sugar.

Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. Stir in cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add sugar and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Spread over a 9 x 13 cake, or you can use it for cupcakes. I also chopped Reesee cups on top!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
1 8oz bag macaroni, cooked
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
About 2 or 2 1/2 cups of milk
1 8 oz. block cheddar cheese, shredded
salt to taste, probably about 1 tsp.

While macaroni is cooking, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk. Whisk constantly....I just add milk until I think it's about right. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Add salt. Pour the cheese sauce over the drained macaroni. Stir and taste to see if it needs more salt.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Things Children Say

One of the reasons I am blogging is to record things that my children say and do. Usually it is only Leah and Sam that say humorous things.....they often mispronounce words or use them incorrectly. However, this morning it was Clay who cracked me up. I had just finished reading aloud to the children for about an hour. We had been reading about the Civil War and then Across Five Aprils, and I thought the mood of the household was on the serious side. As I was gathering up my books, ready to begin schoolwork, Clay matter-of-factly asks, "Do you ever see faces on the floor?"

What? What in the world are you talking about?

He continues, "You know, pictures of faces in the hardwood floor." I still do not know what he means, but his sisters chime in saying, "Yes!" And then they all gather around different spots on our hardwood floors, showing each other the "pictures" they see....faces, animals, etc. Wow! How creative?....how loony?....Next the girls ask Clay if he has seen the animals and faces in the shower?!? We have the same tile in all of our showers, so they all rush to the closest bathroom to compare notes. They have all seen the same "pictures" in our bathroom tile! Wow again......a buffalo (the girls called it a woolly mammoth), a whale, a face, etc. I have really creative children!

Now, here are some more normal funny things my children have recently said:

Leah calls a small piece of pie or cake a slither of pie. As in, "May I have a slither of pie?"

Sam loudly sings, "There's no God like Jehobah!" (Jehovah). He also says her instead of she, every time! Just yesterday he told Clay, "Don't hurt that knife Julie crocheted for me! Her worked hard on it!" He also pronounces crochet with the emphasis on the second syllable....croCHET. It really is funny! And yes, Julie croCHETED Sam a pocketknife yesterday. He is very proud of it, and he intends to cut wood with it!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Clay's 11th Birthday Party

Last night Clay invited 5 of his friends to spend the night and celebrate his 11th birthday. The guests arrived about 4:00PM, and they immediately went to play in the woods. Sam joined them, and they had a ball, running, hiking, and building various structures. Around 5:30, I rang the dinner bell, and I took their pictures as they approached the house.

Ryan and Clay


Ben K., Carson, and Ben B.


Sam and Parker

I instructed them to take off their boots, hose off, dry off, and wash their hands before entering the house. Then Leah and I served the men (Jimmy was home from work by this time, and Olivia and Julie spent the night with Ben B.'s sisters) spaghetti and bread.

The Hungry Crew

Clay wanted a rock themed party, so I covered the table with a brown tablecloth to look like dirt. I used silver, gold, and brown paper goods, and I scattered rocks from Clay's rock collection all over the table.

Yum! Yum!

After the boys finished their supper, I sent them all back outside while I cleaned the kitchen. Leah and Sam helped Jimmy do some outdoor work, and the boys played basketball, rode scooters, roller bladed, played in the sandbox, dug in the dirtpile, and played in the woods. Typical boy fun! They stayed outside until after dark, and then they all came in even dirtier than before, hungry for cake and ice cream! They washed off again and changed into their pajamas.


The Rock Cake

I did make this cake myself. It is a chocolate cake mix with homemade chocolate icing and chopped Reesee cups on the top. It is supposed to look like rocks in the dirt. I served this delicious chocolate with vanilla ice cream.

Happy Birthday Clay!

When the boys were through with their cake and ice cream (they ate almost the whole cake!), they played in the schoolroom and storage room in our basement. Clay had prepared the schoolroom for them to sleep in.....he moved the table and chairs to one side, and they covered the floor with sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows. I put Leah and Sam to bed (upstairs!), and then went to bed myself around 10:00. The boys were quiet, and I thought they were going to sleep!

Wrong! Clay later informed me that they slept from about 3:00AM to 5:00AM!! He said that they spent all of that time playing hide and seek! In two rooms!

I awoke at 6:30 this morning to our inside dog, Lilly, barking her head off in the garage (underneath my bedroom, but a mere 4 feet from where the boys were). I went down there, and found all 6 boys wide awake and playing. They said they didn't hear Lilly! I let her in....they had let her out earlier. Then I fortified myself with coffee and began preparing a breakfast of bacon and a mountain of pancakes. The boys played outside until I had breakfast ready....and came in dirty...again! After washing up, they wolfed down the pancakes and bacon, and began playing hide and seek all over the house. They played this for about an hour, until I sent them outside! There they played until their parents picked them up (about 9:30 AM).

Clay had a super time at his first ever sleepover party!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Letters

I just read my sister-in-law, Megan's, recent blog post about the treasures her family is finding as they go through her grandparents' stuff. One of those treasures is letters. It got me to thinking about the box of letters that I have in storage. Letters that Jimmy and I wrote to each other when we were dating. We dated a little over two years before we were married. During that time we wrote letters to each other whenever we were apart.....during Christmas break or Spring break (this was during college, and we lived 4 hours apart when we went home), during the summers, and especially during the last year of our dating/engagement--Jimmy was in his first year of medical school, and I was a senior at Mississippi State. We were 2.5 hours apart. This was 20 years ago, so we didn't have cell phones or texting, no email, and long distance phone calls were very expensive. So we wrote letters. About two or three each week. And I have all of them in a box. I wonder if my children will consider them treasures when they read them one day, a long time from now, when they are going through our stuff.

They are treasures to me now!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Daily Mile Dot Com

I would like to share a neat website. It is called DailyMile.com. It is an online community (kind of like Facebook, but on a much smaller scale) where you can log your daily exercise. It takes just a few moments to set up a user account, and then you can begin posting your running, walking, biking, aerobics classes, strength training, etc. You can even ask other users to be your "friends". Each day that you exercise, you enter in the type of exercise, how far, how long, how you felt, etc. Then DailyMile keeps a record which is displayed as a graph. It also tells you how many calories you burn and various other things too. If you choose to have friends, you can encourage them and comment on their workouts too.
It's a neat way to record your workouts. If you join, ask me to be your friend!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A New Look

Well, do you like it?

I am still rearranging my sidebar items....but this was the easiest blog background change ever! It literally took 20 seconds, just like the LeeLou site says. And I did not lose one single widget!

This week has been hard! Mondays are always difficult, because we have to adjust to school after the weekend, and we have to leave the house at 1:40 for piano lessons. Yesterday was hard too, because I overslept (still trying to get used to the time change), and I did not get to run before we started school. I ran after lunch, and we were scurrying around trying to leave at 2:45 for cross country practice. We were a few minutes late for practice, and I was unable to prepare our supper before we left. We arrived home a little after 6:00, and I had to go to Plan B for supper. Chicken tacos. After a night of cleaning the kitchen, watching American Idol while folding a ton of clean clothes, and getting the children to bed, I finally got a shower at 11:00 P.M.

I determined that today would be better! I got up when my alarm clock went off at 5:20, and I spent some time reading encouraging Scriptures and praying. I adjusted my attitude. I mentally listed many, many things that I was thankful for, and then I ran 5 miles. This was a much better start to my day! We had a really productive school day, and we are currently reading another fabulous book, Across Five Aprils.

As we are approaching the end of our school year (we will finish on the last Friday in May), I am already thinking about next year. What will I change? What will stay the same? I plan to post about my curriculum decisions after I finalize them.

Julie is cooking our supper tonight, and I am really thankful for the good day we have had.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Chores

I have made a few changes recently to our household chores routine. Leah is now old enough for more responsibility, Sam is old enough to officially have chores, and I now have a housekeeper for 3 hours a week. This is a rundown of what we are currently doing.

I created new chorepacks for Leah and Sam. I have had the book, Managers of Their Chores for a few years now, it is a super resource for learning all about chores.....what chores should your children be doing, at what age, how often, etc. It also includes a great resource for managing and checking the children's chores. My older three children are now capable of remembering and completing their chores without the aid of a chorepack, but Leah and Sam still need them. Young children think the chorepacks are neat! The Duggar Family (of 19 Kids and Counting on TLC) uses chorepacks too.

Daily Chores, Morning
Sam, age 4: feed and give water to one inside dog (Joy), empty dishwasher with Leah (I put away all sharp objects and plates, glasses and coffee cups that are stored up high. This leaves them with plastic dishes, cups, storage containers, and silverware. All of these items are stored within their reach.), make bed, get dressed, brush teeth
Leah, age 6: feed and give water to one inside dog (Lilly), empty dishwasher with Sam, make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, put Bible lesson materials on kitchen table
Clay, age 10: make bed, get dress, bring dirty clothes to laundry room and sort, tidy room and boys' bathroom, feed and water outside dogs, water two plants on front porch
Julie, age 12: dress, brush teeth, tidy room and girls' bathroom. She and Olivia alternate the following chores, one week at a time: one of them does all of the cat care, and the other one makes the bed (they sleep together) and brings dirty clothes to laundry room and sorts it.
Olivia, age 14: same as Julie
Mama: wash clothes, clean kitchen, make bed, tidy room and bathroom

Daily Chores, Afternoon
Sam: put away clean laundry, tidy room, tidy den, give Joy water
Leah: put away clean laundry, tidy room, tidy kitchen table (she draws, cuts, colors, etc. there all day!), give Lilly water
Clay: take out trash, put away laundry, tidy room, tidy upstairs den
Julie: help Sam tidy den, put away laundry, tidy room
Olivia: put away laundry, tidy room, clean off bar in kitchen, tidy schoolroom
Mama: fold clothes, clean kitchen, vacuum kitchen ( a few times a week)

Additional Weekly Chores
Clay: Monday--clean out van and vacuum; Tuesday--empty trash cans throughout the house; Wednesday--clean off all porches, gather up all boots, blow off porches; Thursday--take trash cans to road, burn paper trash; Friday--bring trash cans back to house, mow grass (seasonally)
Julie: Monday--dust her room; Tuesday--dust Leah's room, bookshelves in upstairs hallway; Wednesday--vacuum rugs in boys' room, Thursday--clean out something in her room (a drawer, crocheting stuff, shelf, etc.); Friday--help clean girls' bathroom
Olivia: Monday--dust her room; Tuesday--dust boys' room; Wednesday--vacuum Leah's rug and upstairs den rug; Thursday--clean out something in her room (a drawer, crocheting stuff, shelf, etc.); Friday--help clean girls' bathroom
Mama: Monday--clean boys' bathroom; Tuesday--vacuum and mop stairs to basement and all basement floors; Wednesday--vacuum and mop all wood floors upstairs; Thursday--clean school bathroom, dust schoolroom and workout room; Friday--vacuum kitchen and den. Actually I vacuum the kitchen and den at least 3 times a week.

My housekeeper cleans the main floor of our house each week. The girls do most of the work upstairs, and I do the rest. I will pay the children to do any of the chores that I have assigned myself, from $1-2 per chore, depending on how long it should take them to complete it. Clay can also earn extra money by gathering brush in the woods and burning it, and the girls earn extra money by ironing.

I give the children an allowance each week. The older three get $5 per week, and Leah gets $1.25 per week. They divide their money into three categories: giving at church, savings, and spending. They use their spending money to buy things like yarn, stuffing, books, birthday gifts for friends, keychains (Clay), etc. The extra money they make is either saved or spent--whatever they choose.

I expect morning chores to be completed before breakfast. I do check to see if they are done, but for the most part, the children are very dependable. The consequence for jobs forgotten or done poorly is simply a redo. Either right then if I am not ready to begin school, or done during the first available free time. I am currently supervising Leah and Sam pretty closely while they are doing their chores. The chorepacks keep them on track. If the older girls are not done with their chores and ready to begin our Bible lesson at 8:00 AM, they are not allowed to use the computer during their free time that day. I really don't have a consequence for Clay not being ready by 8:00, because he is always ready.

The weekly chores are done anytime after school. The afternoon chores are completed before supper. I call this time the 5 O'Clock Tidy, although it is sometimes done at 6:00!

Whenever I add a new chore I spend some time teaching the child how to do it.

One last thing--since I usually do my long run on Sunday mornings before church (so I have to get up really early), I usually rest on Sunday afternoons. I spend this time blogging, catching up on reading blogs, reading, clipping coupons, etc. Therefore, by late afternoon, (since my children enjoy an afternoon of resting and playing too) my house looks like a stuff bomb exploded! So either before our evening church service or later that night after our Sunday Cereal Supper, we all pitch in and do a whole house tidy. In about 30 minutes we can tidy the whole house!

I think that's it! I have all of these chores typed and taped inside the pantry door, and also taped up in each child's room. Routine is the key!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Just Journaling

Saturday we attended Jimmy's cousin Warren's 40th birthday party. We had not seen Warren, Holly, and their children since before Christmas, so it was nice to visit with them. Holly is one of the main people who got me started with couponing, so we shared our latest money saving stories. She had more great advice for me!

Also Saturday, Jimmy, Clay, and Sam planted 3 trees--two pecans and one maple. Yesterday, they planted another maple and I think they transplanted a little Magnolia tree that was growing on the edge of our woods.

I finally got the boys' room and closet all cleaned out. I boxed and bagged many things to give away, and of course I had one huge trash bag too. Next, I gave their room a thorough top to bottom cleaning!

Yesterday Clay, Julie, and Leah woke up at 6:15 (and it was not even a school day for them--Jimmy was off work), packed a breakfast, and headed out to the woods. They have been building some sort of "house" out there. I had to give Leah and Sam a bath before lunch. They were too dirty to do anything inside!

Last night I took the girls to our monthly Keepers At Home meeting. Jimmy, Clay, and Sam worked on the backhoe until dark. Sam was asleep when we got home. Playing outside all day without a nap and just worn him out!

Today I caught up on about 25 loads of laundry---washed, dried, folded, and put away. It really wasn't 25---but I am guessing it was 10 or 12 loads! Done! Now, if no one will get any more clothes dirty for a few days! Since we have had nice spring-like weather up until today, the children have gotten their clothes filthy playing outside.

Tonight was our homeschool group's annual Father/Daughter Banquet. Many, many ladies work very hard to prepare for this special event. Everything was just beautiful!

Here are some pictures from tonight.



Jimmy and the girls



Can you tell that Leah's tooth finally fell out! It came out during our evening church service Sunday.

While I was delivering some food for the banquet, and also helping out a little bit with last minute preparations, Sam and Clay hung out with their friend, Jonah. They waited patiently, and then I took them to Chick-Fil-A for supper.
A fun night!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Menu Monday

roast beef sandwiches with gravy (the roast was frozen...leftover from the last time I cooked 2 roasts in the crockpot....already shredded and ready to eat!)

Chicken Packets, roasted asparagus, peas

baked fish, baked sweet and white potatoes, steamed broccoli

chili

chili dogs (not very healthy, but an occasional treat!)

Tuesday the girls will be attending our annual Homeschool Father/Daughter Banquet. After helping for a little while, I plan to take the boys to Chick-Fil-A.....mother son dinner!

Chicken Packets
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken or 2 cans of chicken, drained
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 Tbs. milk
garlic salt to taste
3/4 cups crushed crumbs (either bread, cracker or crouton)
3 8oz. packages crescent rolls
1/2 stick butter, melted

Combine chicken, cream cheese, milk and salt with a mixer. Add more milk if it is too stiff. Unroll crescent rolls, dividing them into rectangles. You will have 12 rectangles total. Divide the chicken mixture among the rectangles, fold the dough over the filling and pinch to seal. Dip each packet in the melted butter, and then coat with the crumbs. Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

For more tasty menus, please visit Org.Junkie.

Friday, March 5, 2010

A Day in Memphis

We spent the day in Memphis today. Our first stop was Target! When you don't have a Target in your town, or anywhere near your town, visiting Target is a must do when you are near one! We spent about an hour or more there looking around at everything, and I bought some spring clothes for some of the children.

Our next stop was the Zoo! Sam has been really looking forward to our zoo trip. He planned to feed peanuts to the elephants! But, we explained to him repeatedly that you could not actually feed the animals at the zoo. Sadly, by the time we got to the elephants and giraffes, they had gone inside for the day! However, we viewed many other entertaining animals.

Jimmy and Sam looking at the monkeys

Leah, Julie, Clay, and Olivia

Leah and Sam waiting for the sea lion show

We were near the sea lions just in time for one of their shows. It was great! The four sea lions did all sorts of tricks.

still waiting....

Here we are waiting too

By the time we finished touring the zoo, it was almost suppertime. We decided to try out Gus's Famous Fried Chicken. We had heard great reviews about this restaurant, but we have never been before. It is located in downtown Memphis. I was trying to explain to the children that sometimes the best restaurants aren't that fancy, they may even be a little bit rustic.....I said sometimes we call them a hole in the wall. But usually those places have the best food!
When we entered Gus's, Leah looked around and said, "Mama, I don't see a hole in the wall!"



Sitting around our table in Gus's.

Shortly after taking these pictures, Sam climbed onto my lap and fell asleep. He slept through the entire meal, dessert and all! We put his food into a carry out box, and he ate it in the car.


The walls of Gus's were adorned with many humorous signs and various posters and advertisements.
This one is the funniest of all!

When we finished our delicious (but extremely unhealthy!) supper, we went by Rhett and Amanda's house for a short visit. The children enjoyed playing with their cousins--it was a nice little visit.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Mexican Chicken Stew

I tried this recipe last night, and while it took a little more time to prepare than I normally like to spend, it was delicious! And it really did not have a Mexicany flavor--I love Mexican food (my family does not love it as much as I do), but this had a different sort of taste. It really was good.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces. (I use kitchen scissors to chop it)
1 1/2 Tbs. flour
2 tsp. olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into little cubes
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cups water
1 28 oz. petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
salt to taste
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. minced garlic (from the little jar)
1 can corn, drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Chop the chicken, toss with flour, set aside.
2. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Does anyone have any tips for peeling sweet potatoes? It is so much harder to me than peeling regular potatoes.
3. Chop the pepper and onion and put it into a bowl with the sweet potatoes.
4. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoon on olive oil in a non-stick stock pot.
5. Cook the chicken, stirring often in the pot for about 5 minutes--until done.
6. Remove the chicken from the pot.
7. Add another 1/2 teaspoon of oil to the pot, then add the potatoes, onion, and pepper. Cook, stirring often for 7-10 minutes, until it appears done.
8. Add chicken and all remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15 or so minutes, until the potatoes are done.

Enjoy!
This would be very good served with homemade bread---except I don't know to make it!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Thanksgiving Produces Joy

I know I have said that many, many times, but it is so true! I first read that little saying in Debi Pearl's book, Created to be His Helpmeet. Think about it. Thanksgiving produces joy. It does. No matter how dire your circumstances may be, or how overwhelmed you are by your daily work, or how bored you may be with your ordinary days, being thankful for each little small thing will bring you joy! We are commanded in the Bible to rejoice in the Lord always. God's Word does not give any conditions for us to rejoice, just to rejoice. Always.
Each morning as I begin my day, I list 5 things that I am thankful for in my Bible study journal/notebook. This daily list helps me to focus on the good things in my life. When we choose to be thankful for what we have, instead of grumbling about what we do not have, our days will be so much pleasant. Our attitude about our circumstances affects everyone around us.

Here are some things that I am thankful for today!
  • Jimmy is off work for a few days. That means that we will take a break from school and spend time working around the house (inside and out) and playing, together. All 7 of us.
  • coffee--in the morning, in the afternoon, sometimes after supper--coffee!
  • My parents kept my three younger children while the rest of us ran the half marathon last Saturday. I am so thankful that my parents are healthy and able to visit and help out. Daddy helped Clay and Sam burn brush and trash for a couple of hours, and Mama kept the house picked up and folded lots of clean clothes!
  • my health, Jimmy's health, the children's health. I am extremely grateful for my children's good health. I think it's been over 4 years since I have taken any of them to the dr. for a sick visit! Sam has not been to the dr. for a sick visit since he was about 14 months! Of course they have colds and stomach viruses periodically, but nothing to warrant a dr. visit! I guess playing outside in the freezing cold without a coat, hat or shoes does not make you sick!
  • homeschooling my children. I really, really love homeschooling! I am so thankful that I can do it.
How about you? What are you thankful for today?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

My sweet friend (real-life friend), Connie, from Meal Planning with Connie awarded this Blog Award to me. Let me first say that I really appreciate this award! I am honored that Connie thought of me and my blog when she was choosing bloggers to give it to. But, I must also say that I am terrible when it comes to chain letters, recipe trees, and now blog awards. I have good intentions of participating, but usually I just get too busy, time slips by, and then I break the chain!

Not this time! I am going to follow the rules that Connie listed with the award.

The rules for accepting this award are:

1. Post the award.
2. Thank and mention the person who gave you the award.
3. Pass the award on to seven bloggers whom you think embody the spirit of the Kreativ Blogger Award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that others don’t know.
5. Don’t forget to notify the seven Kreativ Bloggers about their award and post a link to their blog.


1. Done
2. Done
3. I think everyone is a Kreativ Blogger! So I am going to pick some bloggers that I know personally....ladies that I really enjoy reading about, and I know that you will too! This is hard to limit it to 7.....I think I will just go down my bloglist and pick the first 7 bloggers that I know in real-life!
4. Seven Things About Me:
  • I twirled a rifle in my jr. high school and high school band.
  • I was EXTREMELY sick with all 5 of my pregnancies. I had hyperemesis gravida, which means throw up all day every day. I took any and all medications my doctors offered me to combat the nausea, but nothing really helped! I was either hospitalized or treated as an outpatient for dehydration with every pregnancy. (Except with Sam--I had this Zofran pump, a continual infusion of Zofran.....it kept me from getting dehydrated and having to get IV fluids, but I still had that awful, awful nausea!)
  • I went to nursing school for one day before quitting, going back to Mississippi State, and completing a degree in elementary education.
  • I like to do counted cross-stitch, however I haven't worked on anything since Olivia was born.
  • After I was married, but before Olivia was born, I played on a ladies' tennis team for 2 years. I won only one match the entire time!
  • I have worn contact lens for 28 years.
  • I am not really an animal person, but somehow we have 7 pets! Four dogs and three cats!
5. I will notify the lucky recipients now!