Zack's Gang

Kinda creepy....

2012-01-29T16:05:00.001-06:00

We learned something a little bit creepy the other day about our new house.

No, no one was murdered in it! But if that's what you were thinking, you're not too far off.

A little background info: we are buying a house that is 5 years old. It's in a very small neighborhood (I think there are a total of 14 houses) with one street and a cul-de-sac at the end. The builder that built the house we are buying still lives in our neighborhood. Our house has a full security system on it, to include a camera that hooks up to a computer to show us who is at the front door. After speaking with several of the neighbors, we have learned that the previous owner of the house we're about to buy was a bit....paranoid. He and his family kept to themselves and were rarely seen except when going back and forth to work. In addition, he owns his own mason business (I think that's what it was) and did some of the work in several of the houses in the neighborhood, so he knew all of the builders and the developer.

We didn't think much of any of it, but then we learned something a few days ago from our real estate agent. It turns out that there may have been a reason why the previous homeowner was a bit paranoid.....

Several years ago (not sure exactly when this all took place), when the development was still new, the original developer and one of the builders had some sort of falling out. It got to the point where the developer told the builder to stay off of his property and never go on it again. The developer happened to live in the house directly across the street from the house we are building.

Apparently one day, the builder showed up at the developer's house when the developer was not home. The developer's son, however, was home that day, and he called his dad when he saw the builder on the property. The developer instructed his son that he was on his way home and then he called the police to tell them he was on his way to his property to shoot the builder!

Unfortunately, the developer beat the police to his property, and when he arrived, he shot the builder right in-between the eyes.....and killed him!

Right there.....across the street from our new house.

Yep.

Now I get to think about that every time I look out my front window........oh boy.

Currently, we don't know who is living in the developer's old house. The developer was tried and convicted of murder and is currently in jail. We don't know what happened to the builder's family. All we know is that the guy that previously owned our house and knew them both, had a security camera installed on the front door.

Kinda creepy.........

The Plan

2012-01-26T12:32:00.000-06:00

I decided to write out the plan for the next few days because I know that I'm about to be waaaaaaay too busy to blog! So, if you've been following along with the story of our big move, then here's what's going to happen next!

We have several meetings tomorrow out at the house with various people to discuss closings, inspections, final walk-throughs, finishing our basement and plans for the pool. On Saturday afternoon, I take Zack to the airport so that he can fly back to Kansas. He will be there through Monday while the movers load the truck, and then he will drive the one car that we left in Kansas back here on Tuesday. I get to try and entertain the Gang in the hotel until he returns.....thinking about checking out a cool children's museum on Sunday.

Wednesday is the big day......we finally get to close on our house! And although we won't be able to stay there at night until we get our furniture, just having the room to roam during the day will be a big relief. We close at noon and then it gets crazy! We have the carpet guy coming to tear out the old carpet at 2pm. We also have a locksmith coming to change the locks. We are hoping to get AT&T in there that day to set up our internet so that we can do school there during the day immediately. In addition, we have the contractor starting on finishing our basement that same day!!

On Thursday, the new carpet will be installed and then we have someone coming to give the house a deep-clean before the moving truck arrives with all our stuff! I am hoping to be able to spend the day at the house, doing homeschool & then planning out where I want all my furniture, but some of that will depend on whether or not we have internet.

We are expecting the movers to arrive and begin to unload on Friday, but that's still up in the air at this point.....it may not be until Saturday. As long as we have a place to spread out and spend the day, I really don't mind sleeping in the hotel for a few more nights (we have 6 full weeks of free temporary housing!).

From there, it will be boxes, boxes and more boxes! If you've ever moved out-of-state, I'm sure you can understand! If not, I'll be sure to post pictures ;D I'm looking forward to rearranging some of my furniture, and we did have to buy a few new pieces to help us fit in the new house, so I have new furniture to look forward to! The tough part will be disciplining myself to get school done for the day so that I can attack the unpacking and decorating!!

Stay tuned......

First impressions

2012-01-24T14:17:00.000-06:00

We've just begun Week 2 of our hotel adventure......I'm choosing to call it an adventure to make it seem more appealing ;D

We are beginning to fall into a kind of routine now. I get up and grab a shower at 6, and try to wake the kids around 7. We have breakfast (hot chocolate from the front desk is a Gang favorite!), get dressed, comb hair and brush teeth. We are usually ready to start school around 8:30.....

Since Sophie is still not in school, she has been helping me out by teaching Matthew his math lesson! And speaking of Sophie, thanks so much for all of your wonderful suggestions about a school program for her! We've decided to go with George Washington University Online High School for the rest of this semester, and she is in the process of applying for acceptance into the program. It's a private, online college prep school, and there is an extensive admissions process (student essays and teachers' letters of referral)....we're getting all of our paperwork together now. Their semester starts next week, so she won't be behind at all. We plan to keep our options open for next year, with a possibility of sticking with this new online school, switching to a private school or maybe even starting college early!

Emily is able to finish up her senior year online with our high school in Kansas, so she works for several hours each day as well. We were so blessed to have this option available and are excited to return to Kansas in May to see her graduate with her class! She's actually heading back to KS in a couple of weeks to take charge of the lighting for the high school's musical production....and she's counting the hours ;D

Josh and Noah are enrolled in Alpha Omega Academy online and are doing well. We work until lunch and then sometimes have an hour or so more to finish up after lunch. I try to get laundry done during the morning hours...it's costing us about $10 per day to get our clothes cleaned....ouch!

Today Josh is working on a science experiment that he has to complete outside. It's nice to get out from behind the computer sometimes!

Here's Caleb at lunch :D I'm so happy we bought a highchair for the hotel, but it's a cheapy and it reclines a bit too much....he just falls asleep in it!

After school, we usually try to do something fun, although the weather hasn't been very cooperative lately- lots of rain. Today, however, we have beautiful blue skies and warm temps, so we're spending the afternoon outdoors!

The ladies at the front desk gave us some chalk in our welcome basket (!), and they told us to go decorate their front entrance! Gotta love Marriott ;D

I have to say that my first impressions of the weather are good. I love the fact that we can usually go outside without a coat in the middle of January, and the temps are mild enough for the kids to be able to play outside most days. But when we can't get outside due to weather, there is SO much to do here for kids and families! I can't even begin to count the number of indoor play/adventure parks there are here, including inflatables. Makes me wonder if it's due to the summer heat?!

Today we found some fun little lizards to entertain us!

And I've been able to open the window to our hotel room and let some fresh air in....hmmmm, makes me wonder, if this is winter in Atlanta, what is spring like?!

And although I know it's likely to be hotter than hades this summer, I am certainly enjoying the weather right now!

We close on our house next Wednesday, and it won't be a minute too soon! But I have to say that I am really loving Atlanta, despite the living-in-a-hotel situation :D The shopping is not to be believed and it is so beautiful here! I'm so excited to head down to the coast and explore Savannah (4hr drive) and maybe even Charleston, SC, which is about 5hrs from here. I am really happy we get to live in the deeeeeeeep south, and I look forward to checking it all out once we're settled!

Sophie's Grace

2012-01-20T11:25:00.001-06:00

Update to post below:

Just picked Sophie up from school, and there is no doubt that this school simply isn't for her. We knew we were in a top-notch school district in KS, but we had no idea just how great it was. The honors curriculum here is FAR too easy for Sophie. She actually took a chemistry quiz today and had the top score in the class after no preparation at all! Sophie loves a good challenge, and I simply can't sit by and let her lose everything she's worked so hard for.....no way! Besides, I left it completely up to her and only told her that she had other options if she didn't want to go this route, and she was absolutely certain after her second day of classes that this is NOT for her. So, we're now in a desperate race to search for online AP courses, and I need all the help I can get!!! I love the comments I've received so far and would appreciate any help you might have in homeschool AP courses- I don't even know where to start! I don't think a Christian homeschool curriculum is going to have the tough courses that we need, so I need some other options! Ideas?!

Original post:

My heart is just breaking for my sweet third-born today. We knew that transitioning in the middle of the year wouldn't be easy for Sophie, but we could not have imagined the scenario that is now playing out.

Because Monday was a holiday, we weren't able to do begin the registration process for Sophie until Tuesday. In the state of Georgia, students are required to have a health and dental screening at the Dept of Health prior to even making an appointment to see a guidance counselor and begin the school registration paperwork. So bright and early Tuesday morning, Sophie & I hit the GA DOH.

I was careful to ensure that I had ALL of the needed forms to get Sophie through the health dept's process. So I was appalled to learn that Sophie needed a shot that she had already received as an infant. Sophie had been given her 3rd Hep B vaccination at 5 mos and 26 days old, and that is not acceptable to the state of Georgia, despite the fact that she has been registered in countless schools over the last 12 years with those SAME shot records and has had no issues at all. The state of GA says she had to receive that shot at exactly 6 mos of age or it's invalid. Not a huge problem, but rather annoying to say the least!

After leaving the health dept, I immediately called the new high school to schedule an appointment to get Sophie enrolled. Of course (yes, that's meant to be snarky) they couldn't see us that day, so we had to set up an appt for Wednesday morning instead....another wasted day. On Wednesday morning we headed over to the school in hopes that we could get Sophie enrolled and still have time to get her books and locker, etc, so that she wouldn't have to worry about the little things on her first day of classes.

That's when our real problems began.

I can't speak for the entire state, but this school district does things MUCH differently than we're used to.

MUCH

After speaking initially with the counselor, we were shocked to find that this school is set up on some sort of strange semester system that doesn't follow anything I've ever heard of. Now, I may not be an expert on school curriculum, but I have lived in MANY states over the years and have never seen anything like this.

The school is on a block schedule, but each day is exactly the same schedule. Now, that's more like the "traditional" high school that I attended, but this gets weird from there. There are only 4 periods in a day, and each period (or class) is 90 minutes long. Still not too bad, except then there's this......the students take the same 4 classes every day for the semester and then they don't take them again the following semester. To clarify, that means that they would take their core subjects (math, english, history, and science) for only half of the year! And, if they take a language (like Spanish), it's the same thing. Now, that may be ok for elective courses that are designed to only be a semester, but I really have a problem with them not being exposed to the core classes for 7 months out of the year!!! And when they're taking upper level language courses (like Spanish) it's even worse! There's simply NO WAY to retain everything that you've learned for that long of a time-span without having to repeat lots of things the following year. That tells me that the time it takes to review then cuts into the time for learning new things even more....and then they only have about 3 months of new learning as opposed to the 7 months (or so) they would have if they were in their core courses all year!!!

I wish I could say that was the worst of it, but it actually does get worse. As you may know if you've been reading my blog for several years, Sophie is not only a straight "A" student, but she maintains at least a 98% average in ALL of her courses, each of them being honors or AP. Sophie is incredibly gifted and works very hard to keep her GPA high. Although she was placed in all honors courses in this new school, they are very different from the core classes she was taking in KS. It will get too complicated to try and explain the differences, but suffice it to say that it's going to be an issue for her this year due to lots of repetition of things she's already covered as well as missing things. On top of that, two of her four teachers have subs because they are out on maternity leave, and there is just no substitution of an actual teacher when it comes to honors level chemistry.....in my humble opinion!

In addition, the math here is some sort of "new math," and we have yet to understand what they have done. There is no Algebra 1 or 2 and no geometry. Instead they have lumped everything together in some sort of group and they call it Math 1 (freshman year), Math 2 (sophomore year), etc. They do offer honors for each level, but it's just not the same! Sophie has been place in honors math 2, but we have to wonder if she shouldn't be more advanced, and it's frustrating to make the switch. And because they require her to take the 3 weird math levels, she will have to double up on math courses in her senior year if she wants to take any of the advanced math she has been planning to take all along.

I suppose if Sophie were an average student this wouldn't be so frustrating for me, but because I know how incredibly important grades and knowledge are to Sophie (who is leaning toward a degree in medicine) and how hard she works, this just STINKS!!!

And if the courses weren't enough of an issue, there's the sheer fact that Sophie is starting school in the middle of the year, in a brand new place. I was sick to my stomach as I left her yesterday in the guidance office, and then was very unhappy to hear that she hadn't been given a locker and was carrying 3 large books around all day. And, because she hadn't been issued a locker, they didn't even give her all of her books because she couldn't carry them all around- how does that make sense?!

So, as you can see, it's been a struggle, and I have to say that through it all Sophie has shown her true GRACE and has made me more proud of her than ever as she has not once complained about her situation. I guess God knew what she was going to need to get her through life, and the fact that her middle name happens to be "Grace" is no mistake :D

I don't mean to "knock" the school! I'm sure their program is great if you've been here from the beginning, and it is supposed to be the top high school in the area. And I'm certainly not blaming them for the fact that we moved here in the middle of the year! It's not their fault that we are having to change curriculum, etc. In fact, we did get to meet a couple of wonderful teachers and coaches yesterday who went out of their way to welcome us and make us feel comfortable....so it's not all bad.

Honestly, I'm sure Sophie will be fine in the end- we're all just in a very emotional state right now, and it's hard knowing what we left behind! I think I'm feeling a bit cheated right now, and I would venture to guess Sophie is feeling about the same. I did actually offer her the option to homeschool or attend a private christian school yesterday, and that may be where we end up if things don't work out, but she is willing to give it a few days and wants to make it work. I am very sad that she has had to drop her Spanish course to make her new schedule work (only having 4 classes is VERY limiting), and I am hoping she will be able to pick it up over the summer or something to keep it up! It's the one thing that she's done consistently since the 6th grade and was a part of the honors curriculum, and she had hoped to become very fluent in the language!

I think the hardest thing for her to give up was playing basketball, and she was really excited to be able to start conditioning for lacrosse tryouts (which are coming up next week) yesterday! Being part of a team will help her to make friends quickly and fit in a bit more, and I'm just praying the rest will work itself out.

Well, I've typed all this in our hotel room with 5 crazy boys tugging on my sleeve the entire time, so I need to get back to them and get OUT of this room ;D We can't wait to close on our house on the 1st and are anxiously counting the days!!!!

Come on in!

2012-01-16T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it! We're here in Atlanta, safe and sound. We've already discovered the unbelievable shopping the area has to offer....not that we've had much time for shopping ;D We rolled in late Saturday afternoon and headed straight to our new house to meet the pool guy. After dinner and baths we hit the hay, knowing that Sunday would be a busy day for the Gang as we had our home inspection plus meetings at the new house with 2 different builders. Needless to say, we ended up spending the majority of the day Sunday at the house, and then about 30 minutes at the car wash cleaning all 3 cars after our long trip down here ;D

Today was our first day of homeschool, and we were happy to finally have some routine back in our day! Although, I'm not gonna lie, 8 kids in 2 hotel rooms for hours and hours on end isn't the easiest way to spend the day, but we managed. I got up early and got showered and ready for the day so I could take charge of the chaos, and then I woke all the kids up and we had breakfast.....

As you can see, Jacob had a bagel with Nutella :D They do have a nice breakfast here at the hotel, but because it's an "extended stay" hotel, they don't have tables or an eating area in the lobby....you get to take it to your room. Knowing that I would need to have a place for Caleb to eat, we hit Target on Sunday and bought a cheap highchair to get us through the next couple of weeks!

Although we are a bit short on space, we fit in the two suites pretty well, and have all the comforts of home....

Well, maybe not all the comforts, but we did bring toys! Here's the Gang at breakfast this morning....

But I know what you're all dying to see is the inside of our new house, so let's get on with it!! I snapped a few pics yesterday during our inspection. Here's the front entryway....I love the double front door!

The office is to the left of the door and the formal dining room is to the right....

Next we have the main living area, and this is where we plan to put our t.v. in this house (over the fireplace)....

And although I would like to have vaulted ceilings in this area, we have a bonus room over this space instead, so I was really excited to see what they did to the ceiling in this room to make up for not having the vaulted space!!

But while I LOVE the ceiling, I'm not too crazy about the way they finished the fireplace, and we are already talking with our contractor about changing it to stone instead of the marble that's there now. And that white paint on the bookshelves has got to go :D

Here's the kitchen. I was really excited to see they had already put under-cabinet lighting all around the kitchen....now hubby doesn't have to do it! I love the granite that they used- it's that nice brown and cream that doesn't show all your food crumbs like the black that I had in our KS house did.

The only thing we plan to do to the kitchen is add a trash drawer. This next picture is Allie and Emily checking out the faucet- the area behind them is the kitchen eating space, and the area to the right of Allie is the hearth room.

Here's a better shot of the hearth area and you can see how it flows into the kitchen. It has a great vaulted ceiling and a stone fireplace!

Here's the butler's pantry heading into the formal dining room....

The doorway to the right is where you go down to the basement- that's where we will put Allie and Emily's rooms and a theater room. This next picture is back to the hearth room- a ceiling shot- I got a little out of order here :D

Here's a picture from the front entryway looking upstairs....

There are four bedrooms upstairs plus a bonus room. This is the bedroom that Caleb & Jacob will share....

The above picture got "stuck" to the picture right above it (during upload somehow) and I can't separate it....ugh! Anyway, it's a shot of the upstairs hallway, and so is this next picture.....

Noah & Matthew will share a room, and Josh will have his own room this time! Sophie has a bedroom on the main floor off the living room (it's actually a 5-bedroom house, but will be a 7-bedroom by the time we finish off 2 bedrooms in the basement). We're excited to be able to give the four oldest kids their own rooms this time, despite the fact that we're in a smaller house!

This next shot is of the master bath- not much too see ;D

It's about the same size as our bathroom in KS, but what's really impressive is the closet off the bathroom.....

It is incredibly HUGE!!! Tons of space! It's the length of our garage and has a window at the end....

And then it wraps back around the other side with even MORE hanging and shelf space!!!

Here's a shot from the window back into the bathroom! See Emily waaaaaaaay down there?!

And finally, a shot of the bonus room that steps up from the 3rd floor- this will be our school/playroom!

It has great windows that overlook the woods and will soon overlook our new pool!!

Well, that's the grand tour for now! Time for bed....tomorrow I have to take Sophie to the health department and then over to her new school to get her registered- we hope to start her in school on Wednesday or Thursday this week!

The BIG move

2012-01-11T14:35:00.000-06:00

Moving day is almost here. Well, I guess today actually marks the start of our big move! The packers are here, the house is covered in boxes, the boys are out of control and I'm exhausted ;D Yep, that sounds like a moving day to me!

I know my mom is dying to know what the heck we're going to be up to for the next few weeks, so this post will be just for her ;D

The plan is to have the moving company pack us for the next couple of days, and we hope to hit the road by early afternoon on Friday. We have the packers here this week, but we are going to leave our furniture, etc, in this house until the end of January when my husband will fly back to have everything loaded onto the truck. We close on our house in Kansas on the 31st of January, and we close on the house in Georgia on the 1st of February. We are being provided with temporary housing (aka a hotel) for up to 6 weeks, so we're in no hurry to have our items delivered on the other end. In fact, we are going to re-carpet the new house before we take delivery of our household goods, and then we were thinking it might be nice to have a few extra days in the hotel while we unpack some of our house....as opposed to living amongst boxes!

As I said before, we are leaving Kansas on Friday, and we plan to take 2 days to travel down to Georgia. We're going to take 3 of our 4 vehicles (one will be left here for my husband to drive back to GA at the end of the month), so we'll have quite the caravan of cars! And since the girls have never driven on such a long trip, we want to take it a little easier than we normally would! That means we'll stop about half way between here and Atlanta on Friday, finishing up our trip on Saturday....early enough to meet with a contractor at our new house to talk about finishing our new basement :D

Then, on Sunday, we have more meetings with contractors, pool companies and carpet guys! I think we have an inspection that day as well.....yeah, that sounds right! At this point, I've sort of lost track ;D My job is to keep the kids fed, clothed and alive while my husband is focusing on the "business" side of things. He just told me today that we really make a great team!

Monday will be the first day of work for Zack, and I think we're BOTH ready for him to go back! 3 months of no "normal" schedule is beginning to take a toll on all of us, and we're ready for some focus back in our lives. I plan to start the boys' homeschool program that day as well, although it is sure to be a challenge in a hotel environment. We are fortunate to have two 2-bedroom suites, each with it's own living area, and a total of 4 bathrooms. That should give us the space we need to spread out and "escape" if needed ;D

We are hoping to start Sophie in school on Wednesday. Monday is a holiday, and I have to take her to the health department on Tuesday before I can register her in public school. Georgia law requires a hearing and vision screening plus transfer of shot records before kids can even start the enrollment process. That will be fun :/

The hotel will be about 7 miles from our new house (which, incidentally, is right next to Sophie's new high school), so I will have to drive Sophie to school everyday until we move into the new house. That will be a good thing to get us up and on a schedule every morning, and once we close on the house, we can hang out there if we want while Sophie's at school!

So, that's the plan for now..... at least, that's all I can remember for now ;D

We have been blessed with incredibly warm weather the last few days (great for kids to play outside), but as I look out the window I can see a nasty storm blowing in. We are currently under a winter-weather advisory, and it looks as though we will get some snow tonight, which may make for a loooooooong day tomorrow! I see an indoor playplace in our future.......advil please!

I'll try to update my blog as I can! Once we leave Kansas, I know that things are going to get very, VERY busy, but I'll do my best :D

State of Affairs

2012-01-09T22:44:00.000-06:00

My formal dining room isn't so "formal" anymore

We sold our dining set (we are looking for something that seats at least 10!) and the room has become the "holding area" for the things we don't want the packers to pack!

The rest of the house is beginning to look different as well

Curtains are down, anything that has been screwed into a wall or ceiling has been removed- including our tv's....

Holes have been spackled in preparation for paint touch-ups...

Beds have been stripped and all bedding washed....

And our front porch has never looked so bare :(

We spent the day tying up loose ends, and we were beyond thankful for the girls' help with entertaining the boys so we could get our work done!

The weather has been so great this past week! Not necessarily "January" weather, but great nonetheless! Perfect for the boys nerf gun wars :D

Or even some lasso practice!

Allie enjoyed some Mt. Dew as she watched the boys! And anyone who knows Allie knows it's her MOST favorite drink :D

Despite the fact that today was my birthday, there was work, work, work to be done. We spent the majority of the morning continuing to pack and organize. I've done this so many times before and learned my lessons the hard way, and I understand that the work I'm doing now will make for a much smoother transition. Remembering to do things like carefully and painstakingly wrapping each one of my necklaces in tissue and placing them all in ziploc bags to keep them from getting tangled takes time and energy! And remembering to collect things that I will need (and that can't be bought in a store) for the month that our household items will be in boxes can be quite a chore!

We continue to keep in touch with people in Atlanta as we arrange for finishing the basement of our new house, set up inspections, have our utilities set up, etc. I was able to call the school that Sophie will be attending and get her registration started. I tried to get the boys school going, but got bogged down with other "stuff" and finally decided to wait until next Monday to start school instead! It just makes a lot more sense :D

We had to be out of the house for the buyer's inspection (which, by the way, went extremely well w/ very limited repairs!) for most of the afternoon, and that gave us a chance to get some errands done (like forwarding our mail).

Tonight we hit our favorite restaurant for the final time :( It's not a chain, so we won't be able to find another one when we move, and we are sad! But it was a great way to celebrate my birthday, and we ate many, many cannolis!

Tomorrow will be our final day to pack and finish up laundry. If you've ever moved with professional packers and movers, then you know that they ~~invade~~ come in your house, ready or not, and go to town! There are usually 5 or 6 packers, and they hit the door, spread out and start wrapping before you have time to blink ;D That means that you better have anything you plan to keep with you out of their reach and set aside in a ~~roped off~~ separate area! And if you didn't get it......tough. Yep, once the packers hit, you're done! For me, that means staying incredibly organized and on top of things before that moving truck ever turns down my street ;D

So that makes tomorrow the BIG day. On my list of things to do:

*clean out pantry
*clean out fridge
*finish laundry
*pack boys' clothes and my clothes
*move things to dining room
*make phone calls
*check, double-check, and triple-check to make sure I have everything!!!

Doesn't look like much, but I'm sure it will take the entire day & I will fall into bed exhausted!

And speaking of bed.....mine is calling ;D

Decision made....

2012-01-07T22:58:00.000-06:00

Wow! Things are moving so quickly now.....we drive to Atlanta in just FIVE days! Among the things that we are trying to wrap up before we leave is a decision as to which curriculum we will use for homeschool, and I am happy to report that our decision has finally been made. We are going with Alpha Omega Academy (online) for all 3 boys!

I was debating between AOA and Switched On Schoolhouse for some time, and was delighted to find that AOA actually uses SOS as one of their chosen programs! So there actually was no choice ;D The benefit to having the boys in the academy is that they have real teachers (one per subject) who will help them along the way with questions, grade their work, and keep track of all of their grades! That's definitely the way to go for us given all the chaos we will continue to have over the next couple of months. And just in case it's not what we hoped it would be, I only signed them up for one semester, so that we can re-evaluate where we are for next year.

While Josh & Noah are both doing SOS curriculum online, Matthew is actually going to be using Horizons. The SOS curriculum doesn't start until 3rd grade, so we'll be using a much more traditional route for Matthew for the next couple of years until he's capable of using the computer. I had 2 choices for Matthew, Horizons or Lifepac, and I knew I wanted to try Horizons as the Lifepacs are what I used last year for Noah, and I really didn't like them. So that made that choice easy too! I also went to Barnes & Noble and picked up a copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I've heard such good things about it that I'm really excited to give it a try! I'm even thinking I might get Jacob started in a couple of months when things settle down.

We went ahead and bought two new laptops (one for each older boy) to be used for their schoolwork. After taking online placement tests to determine exactly where to begin with them, we were able to get our curriculum shipped out in just 2 days, and it arrived yesterday! Allie is helping me by loading all the software onto each computer, and we expect to be starting school on Monday! Not too bad, given the circumstances ;D

I'm sure I'm leaving out information, and I know that some people are following me to see what I am doing to start up homeschool, so please feel free to ask questions! As I said, things are moving so quickly that I just can't get it all on my blog! I'm making so many decisions these days and having to cover so many bases....it's insane! And I always forget that anyone who is reading my blog doesn't have all the background details of my daily life ;D

I'm planning to put up a post with all the details about the move tomorrow night......I did say PLANNING ;D

Hello...and goodbye

2012-01-04T21:56:00.000-06:00

I was incredibly blessed on Monday to finally meet the NICEST most FABULOUS woman in the world! After years of connecting through social networks only, we were able to meet in person at my home for the first time ever in real life!!!!

Tonya is her name, and she is a doll! I love her honesty and her sincerity, but I am most blessed by her love of the Lord and her willingness to share her faith and her heart with people that she's never even met in real life (like me!). She has been quick to pray for me and each member of my family over the years after receiving one of my tweets, status updates or blog posts. I am so honored by her support....she has been a light to my path on more than one occasion!

And not only is she great, but (no surprise!) she also has a wonderful family!

It was so fun to meet the people I've been reading about for so long, and they were just as I had imagined ;D

You may be wondering what brought us together after all this time, and it's kind of a funny story. If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you have probably heard about our beloved old red wagon! We got the wagon back in October, and after lots of paint and a few new nails, we've been able to enjoy it on several occasions. When we initially bought it, we were determined to take it with us when and if we ever moved, but now that we know we're moving, we realize it's just not possible to take it with us. It's great to pull behind a vehicle going about 20mph, but I don't think it would survive the 14hr trip to Georgia :D

A few days before Christmas, we took the Gang out for an evening ride in our wagon, enjoying the Christmas lights and singing Christmas carols while we drove. I posted about how it would be our last time using the wagon, but I didn't mention that we had actually put it on Craigslist to try to find a new home for it. A few days after my blog post, I received a message on Facebook from Tonya asking if I would consider selling the wagon to her family.....

I was ecstatic!!! I couldn't believe someone I knew would actually want our old red wagon, and for it to be Tonya just made it even better!!! I messaged her that I would love for them to have it if they could figure out a way to get it back to their home. I knew she lived far enough away that the wagon would not make the trip on it's own and would need to be transported by a trailer. When she told me they had access to a trailer and would love to make the trip to pick it up, I just knew it was meant to be! And not only that, but it meant we would get the chance to meet :D

It was a date! And on Monday, we met and spent a couple of hours hanging out and enjoying each other's families. What a blessing! Our husbands were able to roll that big old red wagon up onto the trailer and this is the last memory I will have of our beloved wagon.....

As hard as it is to see it go, I couldn't be MORE thrilled to know where it will land! There is no doubt in my mind that Tonya and her family will enjoy it as much as the Gang did, and I look forward to seeing her post about their adventures on her blog ;D And I will never forget that it was that same old wagon that gave me the opportunity to meet such an amazing woman!

Our next home!

2012-01-02T22:19:00.002-06:00

As most of you know, we spent 4 days in Georgia looking for a new house to buy while waiting for a final offer from the company that just hired my husband. It was a great trip, and we were able to find a house that I think is going to be perfect for our family. We love the area (north of Atlanta) and were really excited when our real estate agent took us up on "the mountain" the very first day to give us a view of the area! Who knew Atlanta had mountains ya'll?!?! Here's the Gang checking out our new home.....

The kids loved the mountain, and we look forward to spending some time exploring it more!

We spent 3 full days touring homes for sale, hitting an average of about 10 per day! It was rather exhausting, but it paid off. We saw some very interesting things while shopping for our new home, but probably the MOST interesting was this cool skull the boys found in the woods behind one of the houses....

We're fairly certain it's a deer skull, but if anyone knows what it is for sure, please let me know!

The kids were troopers, and they hung in there all 3 days. We decided to extend our stay by one more day after the 3rd day. We were feeling a sense of urgency to get something nailed down before we left so that we could get Sophie registered for school as soon as possible. The last full day we were there was New Year's Eve, and our agent was kind enough to show us just a few more houses to help us make our final decision! We were able to leave both Matthew & Noah back at the hotel that day with Allie, and splitting up the group for a short period of time was good for us all ;D

By the end of that final day, we knew what we wanted to do, and we decided to make an offer on a house. After going through negotiations for a couple of days, we finally got the call today that our offer had been accepted and we now have a place to call home! While I didn't get a chance to get pictures of the inside of the house, I was able to snap some of the outside, and I wanted to post them so you all can see our new home!

This first picture is of the backyard and the woods behind the house.....

While it's not the farm that Emily was hoping we might be able to buy (!), it is a really nice lot for a neighborhood and will give the kids lots of room to roam and explore! In fact, the lot is so spacious, and we got such a great deal on the house, that we decided to put in our very own pool!!!!

The house sits up on a hill, and this is a picture of the front....

It's not as big as the house we live in now....in fact, it's about half the size....but we plan to finish the daylight basement by adding 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a t.v. area. That will make it comfortable for our family without breaking the bank! Our goal in buying this next house was to shop below our means instead of at our means! We're not only going to greatly reduce our mortgage, but we're also paying off all our remaining debt beyond our mortgage! So, while we may be a little bit more squeezed in our living space, in the long run, we believe this is a time to make certain sacrifices and begin to live more frugally.

The house is about 5 years old and is in really great shape. The landscaping is fabulous and the interior has some great features. We plan to re-carpet as we love the sculpted, stain-resistant carpeting we put in our current house, but that's about all we need to do before move in! I'm sure we will be painting rooms, but hubby is so handy when it comes to painting ;D

This last shot is of the garage side of the house. We were thrilled to find a house with a driveway that has an extended pad and will allow us to park all 4 of our vehicles without too much headache and shuffling!

We plan to put in a shed to house yard equipment, and that will free up some garage space. A swingset, pool, trampoline and basketball hoop will complete our exterior additions! We are thankful to have the space to be able to have them all. Since we are a very "outdoorsy" family, it will be nice to have such a wonderful yard :D

Well, that's it for the tour! We are still planning to head back down to Atlanta to begin our lives there at the end of next week, so I'll be able to get some pictures of the inside of the house then. I can't remember if I posted that our house here in Kansas finally sold yesterday! I'm on such a roller coaster right now, and I can't remember which things I tweeted, facebooked or blogged ;D

We are so thankful for all your thoughts and prayers throughout this process! While we were never worried because we knew God had an amazing plan if we could just stick with Him, the last few months have been stressful and trying to say the least! But now that the BIG questions have finally been answered, I'm beginning to feel a sense of excitement about the next phase of our lives. And we were very excited to learn that Georgia has free in-state tuition for residents that have been in the state for at least a year and carry a 3.5 GPA! FREE state schools for the Gang.......woo hoo!!!!

Almost home?!

2012-01-01T17:52:00.000-06:00

Posting from the road again, although THIS time hubby let me use his computer with his little internet wifi access thingy that gets service just about everywhere! Wish I had thought of it sooner ;D

Anyway, we're about an hour outside of Kansas City and planning to stop for dinner shortly, but I wanted to get a quick note up about what's been going on with us the last few days! Our trip to Atlanta was highly successful and incredibly frustrating all at the same time, and while I'm not going to get into the details now, we are so excited to share that we accepted a job offer, found a house to buy, put an offer on said house and are awaiting an answer, and SOLD OUR HOUSE in Kansas....

PRAISE GOD!!!!!

But we're going to have to move quickly because we want to get ourselves back down to Atlanta as soon as possible to get Sophie in school! School doesn't start back up there until January 10th, so we have a little more time than our schools in Kansas, but she will still be starting several days after the local kids return. Thankfully, she's incredibly bright, and we know she'll do just fine missing a few days. Emily, on the other hand, is finishing up her senior year, and we've worked it out so that she can finish up her studies through on-line courses and will be able to graduate with her class from Kansas in May!

Zack starts work on the 16th of January, and while we're still working out the details (it's a good thing we've had this trip home to discuss all of our plans!), we are anxious to get back down to "Hotlanta" and get started making a new life for our Gang! Our current plan is to be packed and ready to drive at least 3 of our vehicles back down to Atlanta at the end of next week (the 12th), and then to have my husband come back to Kansas near the end of the month to be here when the moving company packs our house. We will be in temporary housing (a hotel) until we are able to move into our new home......yes, I do believe the HARD part is still to come!

Thanks so much for all your prayers! As several have mentioned to me on Twitter and Facebook, God always comes through in the end, and although the road has been incredibly rough and I'm quite certain it's not over yet, we are thankful to be in the place we're finally in! I promise to update more as I can (I actually have some pics of the house we hope to buy!)....but I've got packing to do and plans to make for temporary housing! Keep checking back....it's gonna be quite a ride ;D

So, while we're almost home today, in just a few more days we will TRULY be almost home :D

Heading to "Hotlanta!"

2011-12-27T11:23:00.001-06:00

Hey from the road! We're somewhere in Illinois ....almost to the Tennessee border, on our way to Atlanta to look for a house & accept the job offer that finally came through :D

I'm posting from my phone, so I'll keep this update short, but I wanted to let everyone know that things are moving right along ....guess slow and steady DOES win the race!

We have an offer on our house ....it's low, but we countered back & are now leaving it in God's hands. I'm quite certain this entire experience is God's way of building my character .....not to mention teaching me incredible patience ;D And it's working! Rarely do I feel anxious or nervous about our current state, but more often I find I have a sense of excitement about the work that God is doing in our lives! He is good, His plans are good & I stand in awe of His ways :D

We have the whole gang with us & we're looking forward to 3 days of house hunting!?!? I'll take lots of pics & post them and you can help us pick our next home ;D

That's all for now!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T21:41:00.000-06:00

Here are some of the pictures from our Christmas Eve!

We spent the day finishing up Christmas baking.....

The kids did a great job decorating the cookies!

After church and dinner out, we opened our Christmas Eve gifts....

It's a new pair of jammies every year!

After our baths, we headed outside to throw down some homemade reindeer chow! We want to be sure that Santa can find our house ;D

Then we tried to get a few pictures of some very wound up little boys before heading off to bed....

Most of the boys have dreadful head colds right now, so we lined them all up to hand out medicine!

Then we set out our Christmas cookies and milk for Santa....

And headed downstairs to bed! The boys all wanted to sleep in the basement with the girls so they could all be together! I snapped a couple of shots of the girls while we were down there!

And then everyone went wild! Don't you wish you were here?!?!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!!

A Kansas Sleigh Ride

2011-12-23T21:41:00.000-06:00

Ever since we bought a little wagon from a Missouri farmer, we've been trying to think of fun ways to use it! We originally purchased it to use as a hay ride for our annual Halloween party, and it was a HUGE hit! And now that we know we have an out-of-state move in our very near future and won't be able to take our prized wagon with us, we wanted to use it one last time.......

Sooooooo, we hooked up some lights and bells......

Made lots and lots of hot chocolate......

Gathered ALL of our spare blankets.....

Dressed the kids in REALLY warm clothes (this is my dad getting Caleb's snow pants on him).....

(And Jacob all bundled up!)

(Noah's ready!)

and headed out!

We spent almost an hour driving around the neighborhoods near us, singing Christmas carols, enjoying the lights & shouting Merry Christmas to everyone we saw! It was a great time and will always be a great memory :D

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Christmas placemats

2011-12-17T19:49:00.001-06:00

My parents arrived yesterday to spend the holidays with us, and we've had lots of kid-related activities going on since they pulled in the driveway. Basketball games and Christmas shopping are filling our hours, and tomorrow night we head over to Missouri to see The Story Tour!

So, lots going on around here, but I wanted to take a minute to share a fun craft that the kids just finished! I'm sure many of you have seen these before- they're super simple and a great keepsake you can use for years to come :D They're Christmas placemats......

Each of our children now have one, and we keep them in our Christmas decorations and only use them for the holidays. The kids love making them- it's a great way for them to be crafty and add they're own personal touch!

You start with a piece of poster board cut to a reasonable placemat size. You can use colored or white. You then take some of your old Christmas cards (hopefully you've saved them over the years!) and let the kids choose some to cut and add to the front of their mats. You can use the whole card or cut pieces of them. We like to use stickers too!

In the past, we've written the kids' names on the back to identify the placemats, but this time we wrote their names on the front with glitter glue!

The best thing about this craft is that there are so many different ways to do it....no ONE right way! Just have fun with them and let the kids make something they will really love. When you're all finished, you can laminate the boards so that they are waterproof and easy to clean. We have used contact paper on ours in the past, but I wasn't able to find any at Wal-Mart today, so I'm going to check a craft store tomorrow (the laminating stuff can get pretty pricey).

Enjoy!

Homeschool help!

2011-12-14T13:27:00.003-06:00

Ok....it's official! We've decided to pull the boys out of school when the semester ends next week. We know that if we move we will NOT be able to afford private school, and I refuse to return my boys to public school. So, based on all of the information that we currently have, we made a decision to not start the boys back at their current school in January. It makes sense to us to use Christmas break as a natural transition, and it will make it easier on the school too. Even if we are here for a few more months, it will be easier to start homeschool now than in the middle of a semester!

The boys are excited..we'll see how long that lasts! So the next big hurdle is curriculum. Since we're starting mid-year, there's no way I'm going to try to piece things together, so I've decided to go with a complete curricula choice. The best part about whatever we choose is that we're only stuck with it for the rest of this year if we don't like it. I know that I can expect to have to experiment with different things and that each child may have their own preferences, so I'm trying not to get too hung up on my choices. That said, I still want to get off to a good start and keep the kids happy!

I'm currently looking at A Beka Academy (the videos) and Switched on Schoolhouse (computer-based learning). The reviews are good, and I know that the Duggar Family is currently using Switched on Schoolhouse, so that gives me some confidence in the program. I know that Josh (7th grade and has ADHD) and Noah (3rd grade) prefer to learn with something that's a little more exciting than me sitting there trying to teach them out of a book. We figured THAT out last fall when we tried homeschool and ended up with lots and lots of tears.....most of them mine ;D So we definitely need some sort of online program. I'm having a hard time finding online demos of the Switched on Schoolhouse, so I'm not able to completely commit to it yet. I found great examples of the A Beka videos, and we like the fact that the child watches an actual teacher teaching an actual class, but the videos are really dated, and I'm also unsure as to how the child's portion of the work is completed.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions or have actually used either of these programs I would LOVE, LOVE any advice you might have :D

On another note, we decided to take the bull by the horns and start making some decisions about what WE want to do instead of waiting on (what feels like) the world to call us back with answers. So, in addition to pulling the boys out of school, we just finished planning a house-hunting trip to Atlanta for the week between Christmas and New Year's. We decided that we have nothing better to do, and the company that wants to hire my husband has offered to pay for gas and hotel to get the whole gang down there for a few days....so we're going!

Nice to finally have some plans!

State of Affairs

2011-12-13T14:03:00.001-06:00

My husband just got off the phone with a real estate agent from Atlanta. She called him because the company that he hopes to work for in Atlanta contacted her and asked her to call him. She wanted to know when we could come out and start house-hunting. He tried to explain to her that we don't even have a job offer from them at this point so it's a little hard for us to even think about looking at houses until we get something nailed down, to which she replied that they are DEFINITELY going to offer him the job....they're VERY excited to have him work for them.

Welcome to my daily life.

It's so chock-full of thumbs up and thumbs down, of highs and lows, of good news and bad, that I can't even remember what a normal day is like anymore.

And this call from the agent today is just one example of the weird things that keep happening! I've tried to refrain from posting daily about all the stuff that's going on, in hopes to spare all who read here from the insanity, but I continue to receive emails and tweets from readers asking for updates, so I'll do my best!

Currently, we are still waiting on an offer for the job in Atlanta, and that's where we THINK we want to be, so I'll start there. I posted almost two weeks ago about receiving a call from the company in Atlanta and having them tell us that they plan to give us an offer after they finish interviewing the remaining candidates. We had hoped that would be happening last week, but then last Thursday we got another call saying that they still had not finished interviewing due to scheduling conflicts. They were desperately hoping that we could be patient for just a short time more and begged my husband for the second time not to take any other job offers without first talking to them. While we are certain that a job offer is forthcoming, we are still unsure as to what the financial details will be. The initial interview revealed that the job has a significantly lower salary than where we currently are.

Obviously, a job is a job, and we will take anything that puts food on the table at this point, but because there is relocation involved and the sale of our house in a very bad housing market, we have to be careful with how low we go. Sacrificing and downsizing can only get us so far if we lose all our equity on our house, have to pay for our own move, end up with a much lower base salary and have a much more limited bonus potential. Without going into all of our personal finances, suffice it to say that, while we can certainly scrimp more than we currently do, we also have many, MANY children heading to college in the near future!

So, while there's little doubt that we could be moving to Atlanta, the question has now become do we WANT to move to Atlanta.

Some have asked about the job in New Hampshire. My husband had completed his 3rd round of interviews and was expecting an offer when another really strange thing happened. I'm not going to go into all of the details, but it turned out that he uncovered some really troubling things during his interview which he pointed out to top management at a later time (having to do with the job he was interviewing for and it's core purpose). After considering his revelation, the CEO's decided not to move forward with hiring anyone until they have ironed out some issues. They were incredibly thankful to my husband for bringing so many things to light, and were incredibly apologetic for the chaos. We decided we had probably narrowly escaped a very bad situation and were happy to walk away.

Weird.

Since we have no firm feelings about the Atlanta job, my husband continues to interview and look for other positions. He is quickly moving up on the short list for another job that would involve living in Chicago, New York, or Boston (our choice) and then traveling to the other two territories. It's a BIG job. But it comes with BIG pay. We're expecting about 25% travel. Don't like that. In fact, that's one of the main reasons we left Montana. Quality of life is just too important to our family, and having my husband gone so much is too hard on us. We'd much prefer to be rich in family, not in our wallets!

So, while we had hoped to have some answers by Christmas, and were even planning a house-hunting trip to Atlanta sometime next week, we are now left in limbo, unsure as to how long we'll be stuck here. And even if everything ends up working out with Atlanta and we do accept an offer, we still have to sell our house!

That brings me to the weird thing that happened with our house.

A couple of weekends ago, we had a family that was from Atlanta look at our house. Not only that, but they have 7 kids. Not only that, but they're from the EXACT area north of Atlanta that we've been looking at living! Not only that, but they already live here, just sold their own house in Atlanta, and they love our house!!! Unfortunately (because it wouldn't be "our life" if it was EASY), the sale on their house is being held up due to issues with their appraisal. So, until they are certain their house will be able to sell, they don't want to make an offer on our house.

But....(because there's always a BUT when it comes to us)

.......there may be another buyer for our house.

Our agent got a call the other day from a family that looked at our house over Thanksgiving and was asking some follow-up questions about it. Our agent sounded positive about the conversation, so once again, our hopes are up......

up, down, up, down, up........down?

The worst part about all of this, of course, is the kids' schedules. I met with Emily's counselor yesterday, and we came up with a plan for her to finish up her senior year online, and we plan to come back from wherever so that she can graduate with her class, but it's still really tough on her. Allie had to take next semester off from school since we don't know where we'll end up, and we didn't want to pay for classes and then leave mid-semester. Then there's Sophie, who is on the high school basketball team and who loves to play lacrosse in the spring. Even if the transition academically isn't too tough, it's all the activities that become the issue. As far as the boys go, I am planning to homeschool them when we move, so that's a whole new ballgame in addition to all the stresses of moving to a new place. But that's for another post! I'm still researching curriculum (in my spare time!) and am open to suggestions!

While I don't have all the answers, there's one thing that I know for sure.....things are changing. It's incredible to think that we're going into this Christmas vacation without knowing anything, but by the time it's over, we could be preparing to move instead of returning to school.

At least it's not boring around here ;D

Meeting baby Jesus!

2011-12-13T11:14:00.000-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, we went to a Christmas celebration at our church. There were lots of crafts and games to play for the kids, but Caleb was still a little young for most of the activities. In an attempt to keep Caleb from ~~screaming bloody murder~~ causing a commotion, Zack took him out of the craft area to try to engage him in something a little more on his level. It wasn't until later that I found out they had actually gone to meet baby Jesus and even have their picture taken with him!

"On"

2011-12-11T12:07:00.001-06:00

A Wii game is being played on my t.v.

A child sits on my couch

Sophie

Zack

and Josh are working on computers

Caleb is on the stairs

The start of a collection of Christmas cards we've received so far is on my front door

My grocery list for today's trip to the store sits on my computer

My crockpot is turned on and is filled with lasagna for tonight's dinner

There are towels waiting to be washed on my laundry room floor

A yummy soap sits on the kitchen sink counter

A German advent calendar filled with chocolate sits on top of my refrigerator

A candle burns on my kitchen counter

An elf sits on my wreath

A child plays on my floor

A University of Montana sweatshirt is on my second-oldest child

Chris Tomlin is on my Ipod

God is on my mind.

Christmas 2011 home decorations

2011-12-08T16:20:00.002-06:00

I was planning to hook up with Kelly's Korner for SUYL Christmas decorations, but I just checked and it turns out that she's actually got that on the schedule for next week......oops! Guess I'll link back to this next week ;D

Anyway, I was going to wait until tomorrow to put this post up, but then we got a call for a house showing tomorrow at 11am, so I guess I'll be spending the morning cleaning! Needless to say, trying to sell your house during the holiday season is far from ideal :/

In fact, I'm desperately trying to finish a batch of cookies that I have to have done for a cookie exchange tomorrow night as I type up this post since I can't do it tomorrow....multi-tasking at it's best! And of course our schedule tonight is crazy with basketball practice for some, rehearsal for others, and a Christmas concert for more!!

So, without further ado, here are my decorations for the holidays *yes, I did decorate much to the deep chagrin of my real estate agent I'm sure!

Caleb was having a complete fit that I went outside!

The formal dining room

The chandelier above the dining table....if you look closely, you can see the Elf on the Shelf hiding in the garland :D

The front entryway...

I have garland EVERYWHERE I can stuff it :D

The stockings on the stairs.....all 10 of them are up there!

The formal living room....

If you're wondering, the answer is YES, I do have a terrible time keeping the boys away from those candles ;D

We have a fresh tree in our formal living room this year that we found at a tree farm an hour away! In hindsight, we probably could have gotten a very nice tree from the local grocery store, but I do love this one and it was worth the hours of travel and the gas it took to drive two cars all that way!

The mantle in the hearth room....

When I decorate for the holidays, I like to replace things in the house with holiday deco, so I end up with lots of my non-seasonal stuff in the storage room. The picture below is replacing another picture I normally have over the mantle.

And here's the room I like to call our sunroom....

The Christmas quilt on the couch was made by my mom!

I have a basket of Fisher Price Christmas toys for the boys and we get it out each season- they love it!

We also have a wooden nativity set the kids can play with....

And finally, a basket of Christmas books that we only bring out over the holidays....

Here's the area in the hearth room where I keep my computer....

I have some fun little cookie-cutter decorations hanging from the knobs on the cupboards....

I always have these bottles on the counter, but they usually have dried flowers in them....

Our kitchen table is adorned with a red table cloth and the chandelier is covered in garland....

The kitchen jars have been replaced by several Santas.....

Here's the window above the kitchen sink....

As you can see, I like to decorate with a country Christmas theme :D

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Matthew's mouth

2011-12-07T12:42:00.000-06:00

Poor Matthew! After recently undergoing not one, but TWO baby root canals (a.k.a. pulpectomy), on Monday, he had to have one of his molars pulled!

And it gets worse.

Next Monday he returns to the dentist to have yet ANOTHER pulpectomy!

I know you're wondering how on earth this child's mouth is in such bad shape, and at the risk of having CPS (Child Protective Services) called on me, I'll tell you.

It all started back in June. We took the kids in for their usual six-month dental cleaning and check-up, and 3 of them (who shall remain nameless, with the exception of Matthew!) ended up with cavities. We usually have at least one of the ten in our family needing some work, but three was a little high! Unfortunately, all three needed several appointments to solve their individual issues, and somehow in my scheduling, I neglected to get Matthew set up for an appointment. Even worse, Matthew needed the most work!

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago.....

Matthew started complaining about a toothache one night, and was in so much pain that he couldn't eat dinner. I got him in to see the dentist the very next morning, and after viewing the x-rays, we knew it was bad! Matthew had a gigantic and visible hole in his tooth that I could see just by looking in his mouth! It was so bad, in fact, that it had abscessed and was infected. The dentist decided he needed to be on antibiotics for a week to get the swelling down before work could even begin on the tooth. In addition, the dentist was unsure as to whether or not he would be able to save the tooth!

We got Matthew started on meds and took him back a couple of weeks later to do a pulpectomy. At that point, two of his teeth were bad enough to need the root canals, although the dentist was able to save the tooth that had abscessed. Matthew was a trooper, and did incredibly well during the whole procedure! An appointment was made to bring him back in this week, and we headed home.

Fast-forward again to this Monday :D

My husband took Matthew in at 7:15 to have his 6-month cleaning and then to have 2 additional fillings done. We thought the worst was over, and this would be a much easier appointment, but we were wrong!

It turned out that the two teeth that had only needed fillings just a few short weeks ago when we did the initial x-rays, were now so bad that one needed to be pulled (it too, had abscessed) and the other needed a pulpectomy!

My reaction when my husband called to give me the news was shock, horror and disbelief!!! How had I dropped the ball so badly that my child now had to suffer to this extent?!?! And how on earth had two cavities completely blown up in such a short time?!

Still stunned, I hung up the phone and cried. I knew it was my fault. My child had fallen through the cracks, and they were MY cracks!!!

So now, poor Matthew needs a spacer to maintain the space where his molar should be for another 7 years. We've decided we might as well just hand over our ENTIRE bank account to the dentist cuz this is gonna cost us big time! In the end, Matthew will have one pulled tooth and 3 root canals.....all because I forgot to schedule an appointment!

As much as I'd prefer to sweep this under the carpet and pretend that it never happened, I wanted to share it with all you moms of little ones out there in hopes that you will heed this warning......

*Never assume it's ok to let those small cavities go because they are in baby teeth. It's precisely the fact that they WERE in baby teeth that became the issue!

Apparently, baby teeth are much softer than adult teeth and a cavity that can literally take years to develop in an adult tooth can explode in just weeks (even DAYS) in a baby tooth! Of course, I knew this to a certain extent, but I never realized just how quickly it could happen! And while we never decided to just leave the cavities alone (in our case I simply forgot to schedule an appt), I know that there are some out there that decide to wait because they're just baby teeth.

So please, please have your child's teeth checked EVERY SIX MONTHS and don't let those little cavities go to save a couple of dollars......it could end up costing you big time!

An early gift....

2011-12-06T09:17:00.001-06:00

I was so excited when I saw Angie Smith's most recent post! She talks about going to see a show called The Story in Atlanta on her blog. Curious about the show, I clicked over to the website from the link on her blog and quickly realized what the big deal was!

Not only is Selah performing (Todd Smith is Angie's wonderful husband!), but the show tells stories from the bible and features many great Christmas songs! I love Selah, I love Christmas music, and I can't imagine a better way to celebrate the holiday!

Here's a quick excerpt from Selah's website:

THE STORY Tour, presented by World Vision, is a Christmas spectacular featuring many of your favorite Christmas carols and a musical journey from Genesis to Revelations. Todd and Amy are joining Steven Curtis Chapman, Newsboys, Francesca Battistelli, Natalie Grant, and Anthem Lights with special guests Max Lucado and Randy Frazee.

As I checked out the information, I realized that while I couldn't attend the show in Atlanta, it's actually coming to my area on December 18th (Independence, Missouri). I was trilled to see it would be here, but after checking ticket prices I realized there was just no way (especially this time of year and with hubby still technically jobless) that we could afford to go with ticket prices at about $40 for ~~nosebleed~~ general admission seats! It's one of those events that I would love to take the whole gang to experience, but it would cost us about $400....too bad.

So you can imagine my shock and surprise when Allie & Sophie came bursting into my room at about 9:30 last night holding some paper in their hands and wearing some very proud smiles! Turns out that my beautiful girls bought Zack & I two tickets to go to the show as an early Christmas gift!!!

I'm SO excited!!!

A little sad because I can't take the kids, but excited nonetheless!!!

Thanks girls! You've made your mama so happy :D

If you're curious to know if the show will be in your area, click any of the above links and you can get to the show's main website! Tickets seem to be selling out fast, so don't wait!!!

A very busy weekend!

2011-12-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

Wow....what a weekend! We were so busy! I could probably do 5 separate blog posts filled with pictures from all our activities, but I decided to just condense it into one post and be done.

Friday night was basketball practice for both Sophie and Josh, and then we headed out to dinner to celebrate Emily's 18th birthday. We always try to go out to a special place for dinner with each child, and since Em's birthday was in the middle of the week, we had to wait until Friday to go out. She picked a new barbecue place we had never been, and it was really good!

Saturday morning started nice and early with basketball practice for Josh at 8am. Sophie had her team pictures at 9 and after picking the two back up, we all loaded into the van to head to church for a Christmas event. We were so excited when we arrived to find a mini petting zoo!

Our church had an event called A Very Merry Morning, and we got to do lots of fun things to prepare for the upcoming Christmas holiday! We started with the cookie decorating station....

Then we headed over to make ornaments for our tree....

We were able to participate in lots of other fun crafts and activities and finally ended the morning watching a show about the birth of Jesus!

The rest of the day was spent secretly prepping for Sophie's big surprise party that night (yes, this is the 2nd weekend we have had a surprise birthday party at our house in a row!) and doing some Christmas shopping! We ended up at the mall in an effort to get Sophie out of the house so Allie could decorate and get kids in to surprise Sophie. When we arrived home, Sophie headed downstairs, completely unsuspecting of what was about to unfold....

I was SO thrilled to be able to pull off ANOTHER surprise party, especially since Sophie had been in on helping plan Emily's party the weekend before and we did almost the exact same thing!

It was a great party and she was completely shocked....YAY!!! I love it!

Sunday was Sophie's actual birthday, and we woke her up with one of her most favorite things....

An Edible Arrangement!

We got one for her last year as well, and I think it's quickly become a tradition for her birthday!

Unfortunately, Sunday morning was spent cleaning house as we prepared for an open house. We decided to open Sophie's gifts after dinner ....

She was really excited about a clock that we got her (Moshi) that is voice directed to tell you the time, temperature, set your alarm, and a whole host of other fun things! (ThinkGeek.com if you're interested!)

After we cleaned house, we headed out to pick a Christmas tree and cut it down while our open house was going on....

Sadly, the tree farm didn't have any firs left, and I really didn't want a white pine, so we headed to another farm.....

We ended up driving about an hour away from our house, and still didn't get to cut our own tree! Apparently, there was quite a drought in our area this year and many of the tree farms had to ship in pre-cut trees. Turns out, I should have gone to the tree farms waaaaaaaaay back in September or October and selected a tree to cut down then! Who knew?!

Anyway, I was excited for the kids to have the experience of choosing and cutting their own tree down, and we drove a looooooooong way to get what we could have gotten in the local grocery store parking lot ;D Oh well! Here's the gang watching our tree "get bagged!"

We got home late after making a stop at Red Robin for Sophie's birthday dinner.

We threw up the tree and then opened Sophie's gifts....

and then we vacuumed the floors for the second time that day :D

Good news!

2011-12-02T10:20:00.001-06:00

Today we're decking the halls!

Well, actually, we're helping dad outside while he hangs wreaths, garland and lights!

Well, it's more like we're hanging out in the trees while dad does all the work ;D

But at least we're keeping him company so he's not too bored while he's up on that big ladder!

Today is our last chance to get it done....the bad weather is rolling in!

It looks like this will be the last time we decorate this house.....we got some good news yesterday.....

While there's nothing in writing yet, we're expecting a job offer in the VERY near future! Praise God!!!!

More details to come as we get them, but if all goes as planned, it looks like we'll be calling Atlanta our new home :D And that's enough to put a smile on ALL our faces!

God Is SO Good !!!!

Birthdays, birthdays galore!

2011-11-30T21:12:00.000-06:00

Today was my 2nd born's 18th birthday!

We celebrated as a family today with cake and presents :D

She already had her big surprise party over the weekend, but we are still planning to take her to dinner on Friday night at Oklahoma Joe's (she loves barbecue!)!

Jacob celebrated his 4th birthday yesterday.....

He's very "into" Transformers these days ;D

Transformer balloons, Transformer cake, Transformer decorations and even a Transformer scooter from big sister Sophie!!!

He's also loving trains these days, so big brother Noah got a fun train game for him!

Oh yeah, and Mighty Machines! That was Emily's gift for Mr. Jacob :D There's no doubt we have boys in our house!

We celebrated Jacob's birthday on 2 different days (we seem to do a lot of that). We did cake and presents at our house on Tuesday, but we also went to Chuck E. Cheese's on Sunday!

We used to go to Chuck's all the time, but I quit going about 2 years ago and after Sunday's visit I remember why......

But I'll just leave it at that ;D The Gang had a good time, and we got it out of our system (read....I have NO plans to go back ~~ever~~ any time soon!).

Caleb was a first timer.....

And Jacob was treated like royalty ;D

But the big event of the evening was the famed Ticket Blaster....

Now, you may be wondering why that's a picture of Matthew in the Ticket Blaster and not Jacob......

Mr. Jacob refused to go in! Poor guy, he really wanted nothing to do with Chuck E. either, but he did his best to try to put his brave face on and go over to get his crown from him! There was no way that he was going to step foot in that blaster though ;D

Instead, he settled for some cotton candy while big brother Matthew took his place!

And he ate the WHOLE thing :D

You might be thinking wow, that's a lot of birthdays, and you would be right (Allie's birthday was November 4th).....but we're not done! We still have Sophie's 16th birthday coming up this Sunday ;D

That's FOUR birthdays in ONE month's time :D

I know, I know......what WERE we thinking?!?!

Just because......

2011-11-30T08:24:00.002-06:00

It's raining shingles.....

2011-11-29T11:03:00.000-06:00

This is how the outside of our house looks right now.....

And my husband is in Atlanta interviewing for a job, so I'm on my own in dealing with all of this!

Everywhere I look I see ladders....

and pieces of our old roof hanging from trees.....

It's dangerous to walk out the door due to falling items.....

and nails all over the ground where we walk! I'll be glad when this is over......hoping that's tomorrow at the latest! Still hard to believe all the hail damage we sustained this past spring. Between that and our "flood" inside, the entire house is practically brand new!

The outside of the house will get a new paint job as well, but we're not sure that will happen until spring.....if we still live here then.....

Surprise!!!

2011-11-28T09:10:00.001-06:00

We've spent the last couple of weeks planning a surprise party for Emily for her 18th birthday! On Saturday night, we were finally able to put our plan into action! It was a tough weekend to plan a party as so many people were out of town for the holidays, but with the help of one of Emily's best friends, we managed to wrangle up a small group of girls!

We took Emily & all the boys out to "run errands" and eat dinner, leaving Allie & Sophie home to hang decorations and hide the guests as they arrived......

We decided to have everyone hide out in Em's room because we knew she would probably head in there first when we arrived home.....

Allie took all the pictures for me since I wasn't there when Emily walked in!

Sophie flung open the door & they all shouted "SURPRISE!"

And

think

pulled

off!!!!

Happy 18th Birthday Emily!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2011 with The Gang

2011-11-26T22:17:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been crazy busy for us with Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, Christmas shopping and a big surprise party for Emily (details to come in another post!)!

When we first talked about celebrating Thanksgiving this year, I had my mind set on NOT doing any of the cooking, opting instead to have dinner at Cracker Barrel ;D

That didn't go over too well with the girls.

After lots of complaining (me not wanting to cook with no extended family coming to visit and the girls not wanting to eat out!), I grudgingly agreed to have our Thanksgiving Day dinner at home, provided the GIRLS do all the work ;D

And they happily agreed!

Of course, I was still around to supervise, but it was nice to begin to pass the torch a bit! I handed out the cooking assignments...... Sophie got the stuffing and the sweet potatoes......

Allie had the potatoes and creamy corn.....

Zack got to do the turkey!

He had a very captive audience for the carving ;D

Jacob & Matthew were so excited to add the brown sugar, marshmallows & pecans to the sweet potatoes!

Emily was assigned the pumpkin pies & cranberry relish which she was able to prepare the day before, so she was able to enjoy the parade on t.v. for a while....

With her new pet at her feet (Caleb thinks he's a dog these days!)....

The kids did some fun arts and crafts while we waited for the turkey to cook! This hand tree was Sophie's idea :D

And of course we had hand turkeys!

They also played some games.....

We ended up eating dinner earlier than planned (like at noon!) because hubby put the turkey in super early....

YUMMY food :D

Sophie has been playing with her olives since she was about 3 years old!

After dinner, we headed out to see a movie..... a family tradition that we started when the girls were little. This year, we saw Arthur Christmas! It was great, and I would recommend it if you haven't seen it :D

When we got home, Sophie whipped up some cream.....

to top off our homemade pumpkin pie!

Caleb loved it!

It's the ACCESSORIES that count!

2011-11-22T09:04:00.000-06:00

When you have older sisters...

you quickly learn...

that it's...

the ACCESSORIES...

that make...

the outfit!!

Our barf bowls runneth over....

2011-11-20T10:03:00.000-06:00

My reason for having a blog is to document the good, the bad, and sometimes the very ugly....

That's just some of the laundry from Thursday night's round of illness. It got worse....

Matthew was so bad he ended up on the floor by the bathroom, although he rarely made it all the way to the toilet, opting for the blue bowl instead. Jacob stayed in his bed, but after burning through 2 sets of sheets, he ended up on towels....

This has been quite an event for our family! Generally, when there is a virus that hits our home, it only attacks about 50% of us, but not this time.

Nope.

This time it hit 9 out of 10 of us....that's assuming that I don't get it ;D

That's a pretty incredible statistic as far as I'm concerned!

Really....what are the odds of us ALL getting sick?! That would have to be a pretty powerful virus!

But after what I've witnessed over the last 3 days, I'm convinced it was some sort of terrorist attack on our family ;D Either that or we were being filmed for an episode of Punk'd!

The details have already begun to blur in my mind, but I do remember that it was the baby that showed the first symptoms last Wednesday when he threw up his breakfast all over my car.

The next to fall was Jacob....I believe....followed by Matthew and Noah, then Zack and Allie joined the ranks. The last to suffer were Sophie, Josh and (just today) Emily!

One thing I clearly remember was being in the bathroom on Thursday night as the boys lined up to bring me their vomit bowls to have emptied and rinsed. First Jacob, then Matthew and finally Noah. I washed their bowls, cleaned their faces and sent them back to bed...the routine nature seemed almost comical at the time! I gave myself a proverbial pat on the back for a job well-done, and got ready to head back to my own bed.

On my way, I remember going to tuck Jacob in and noticing something all over his sock. At first I assumed it was vomit, so I took his sock off and went to the bathroom to get a washcloth. As I walked into the sink area, I noticed something all over the floor. Closer examination led me to realize it was diarrhea. I was trying to figure out how I had missed it, but then I remembered after I had cleaned the vomit off of Jacob he had headed over to the sink for a drink.

Now, I don't have a stool in the boys' bathroom, so when they want to get a drink, they jump up on the sink and hang from the counter. Apparently, as Jacob was doing that this time, the diarrhea came pouring out of his pants and all over the floor!

I stared at the mess in amazement as I realized how lucky I had been that the mess was only on the tile floor and not on the carpet...also thankful that I had somehow managed NOT to step in it! And, believe me, I stepped in PLENTY of bodily fluids that night ;D

Needless to say, Friday was spent doing loads and loads of laundry.

In the beginning, we were hopeful this would be one of those 24-hour illnesses. After 24 hours had passed and kids were still vomiting, we found ourselves hoping it would be a 48-hour thing. After 48 hours, we began to realize this nasty virus was going to give us a run for our money! It starts off with the vomiting and then moves to the diarrhea stage.....Caleb is STILL suffering from the diarrhea!

It seems to have hit the little ones the hardest :(

Honestly, Thursday night was so bad that my husband had to help me out even though he was just as sick as the kids. He would be cleaning up something from the floor and have to pause to go throw up in the toilet himself and then back to the cleaning!

On top of all the sickness, we got a call on Friday night that our house was scheduled for a showing on Saturday morning at 8:30.

Who DOES that?!?!

Josh had a choir concert Friday night, so we cleaned the house the best that we could before we had to leave, with the plan to mop the floors first thing Saturday morning. Having been up all night Thursday night, we fell into bed Friday night and slept soundly, thankful that no one was vomiting....or so we thought.

It turned out that Josh had thrown up all over his carpet in the middle of the night. I vaguely remember him coming in to our room to tell us, but Zack & I were SO exhausted that we just sent him back to bed, not realizing what we were doing!

The next morning, we had to get up at 5:30 to get the (sick) kids ready to get out of the house by 8:15 for the showing. We knew we needed to mop, but we weren't expecting to have to get the carpet cleaner out to clean up all the vomit by Josh's bed!!! And with diarrhea running rampant down the little kids' legs, it was not easy to keep the house clean as we raced to get ready to leave!

I had candles burning EVERYWHERE to try to rid the house of the horrific smell! Truly, it smelled like death.

Poor Josh, barf bowl in hand, was green as we headed out to Panera for breakfast. None of the kids had much of an appetite, but we had to have somewhere to go while our house was showing.

I only wish the people that looked at our house had some idea of the sacrifice that was made to accommodate their schedule.

Today, we seem to be turning a corner (with the littles at least). I am giving the smallest of the gang probiotics to try to ease the diarrhea and spare their poor little bottoms from more soreness! Emily is sick this morning, but the rest of the older kids are back to eating.

All through this horrible experience, I continually reminded myself that this too, shall pass.

I know that God uses all of these things to strengthen us spiritually, and I refuse to let our circumstances get the best of me. I continue to look for the joy and humor in the situation, thankful that God loves us and is taking care of us through this storm.

I know that so many people are praying for us during this time of joblessness, illness and turmoil, and we are so thankful for all your prayers! God has such a great plan for us, and I truly believe that the struggles we experience in this life are preparing us for an eternity in heaven!

State of Affairs

2011-11-17T19:32:00.002-06:00

My husband is throwing up in the toilet.... Jacob is throwing up everywhere else.

The baby's diaper needs constant changing due to the non-stop diarrhea.

Must remember to apply cream to his butt EVERY time.

The girls are all out for the night, leaving me to deal with the above A-L-O-N-E.

Just had to pause so I could hold the bowl for Jacob to throw up in.

Candles are burning on every level to rid the house of the horrible smell.

Baby won't eat food but thinks he needs to nurse every 5 minutes.

Matthew keeps begging me to take him to Dairy Queen.

Still no job offers.

No house showings.

No interest on my part in celebrating the holidays....although I did buy a turkey today.

I have cramps.....that time of the month.

Made a nice dinner....nobody ate.

Matthew needs a pulpectomy. He's on antibiotics for an infection in his decaying tooth. He has a hole in his tooth....you can see it, plain as day.

I can hear hubby barfing upstairs.

Gross.

Now I feel sick.

Guess I'll go nurse the baby.

Then maybe I'll throw up too..........

P.S. After I typed this, I sat down to nurse the baby, who, after 10 minutes of eating, sat up and proceeded to barf ALL over me.....seriously?!?!

P.P.S. Update to the drama.....now 3 hours since I originally typed this up and we can add Noah & Matthew to the sick list! That makes 5 of us.........

Oh to be little....

2011-11-15T16:31:00.000-06:00

and sleep

anywhere

you want ;D

Allie's birthday!

2011-11-14T11:31:00.000-06:00

On November 4th, we celebrated the first of 4 birthdays in our immediate family that fall within ONE month of each other! Allie was born on November 4th, Jacob on November 29th, Emily on November 30th and Sophie on December 4th! In addition, my mom's birthday is December 6th! It gets hectic, especially when mixed in with all the fall holidays and Christmas, but we always manage to make each individual birthday a special occasion :D

Allie's birthday fell on a Friday this year, and my mom was here to help us celebrate. We decided to have dinner at a FAVORITE Italian buffet-style restaurant. We had the whole gang, gramma and Allie's boyfriend Jake with us....

He gave Allie some cute new penguin earmuffs.....we all know how much she loves penguins :D

We had a fabulous private room reserved at the restaurant....

Everyone loves pasta!!!

Caleb even discovered cannolis!!!

Sophie couldn't get enough cannolis ;D

Josh & Emily having fun!

Some of the boys.....

Allie & Jake

Sophie hates hugs, hence the fact that she looks as if she wants to escape!

Allie opened her gifts at the restaurant...

Sophie did most of the wrapping.....

Since gramma was here and everyone's birthdays are so close together, we went ahead and opened gifts from gramma & grampa....

Sophie got some oils so we're ALL expecting a wonderful painting as a Christmas gift from her ;D

And the Gang gave gramma a shirt for her birthday so she can stay a cool, young gramma!

We ate way too many cannolis at the restaurant, so we waited to have cake at home until the next night....

You might notice Allie's hair got considerably shorter from one day to the next!

She got her hair all chopped off on Saturday morning!

A month of Thanksgiving

2011-11-12T09:28:00.000-06:00

After the Halloween decorations come down, I like to drag out the turkeys! It seems more and more that people are going straight from Halloween to Christmas when it comes to decorations. So many of our neighbors already have lights on their houses (turned on!) and Christmas trees shining through their windows, and I just have to wonder how we've come to this. Yesterday, we were at Wal-Mart and the Christmas music was playing over the store. While I was irritated about the music being played in early November, Emily was quick to point out that AT LEAST the store is playing CHRISTMAS music! Agreed ;D

But, around here, we celebrate Thanksgiving!

I have quite a collection of turkeys and little reminders of the season :D

I hope to instill the spirit of the holiday in my children, so I try to keep the decorations fun!

Like I said....we have many, many turkeys ;D

But the best decoration we have to celebrate the month is our Thanksgiving Tree!

My mom gave it to us last year (I believe it's from Pottery Barn Kids), and it has quickly become a family favorite.

The tree is covered with pockets that hold cards....

(Sorry this next one is sideways!) We decided to take turns filling out cards (oldest to youngest), one each day....

Then, when the tree is full, we remove all the cards and Zack reads them out loud while the kids try to guess who wrote what! It's lots of fun...a great family tradition, and a way to remember that there's a reason for this season in between Halloween and Christmas!

State of Affairs

2011-11-10T10:51:00.000-06:00

Hey there! Lots of updates today.....I've fallen a little behind ;D

My mom has been here for the past week, and we've been busy hanging out! When you only see your mom every few months, you tend to let other things go in order to spend time with her!

Of course, in the short time that she's been here, everything that could happen has happened! Here's a run-down of some of the medical stuff:

Emily was diagnosed with mono yesterday, just as Allie is finally getting over it! Em has been feeling run down and tired the last couple of weeks, but we chalked it up to her working so hard after school to get ready for the big show that opens tonight. It wasn't until she started complaining about a sore throat that I finally decided to have her tested, knowing of course that Allie has had it for several weeks now. And sure enough, we got the results yesterday and will see the doctor tomorrow to be sure her liver and spleen haven't been affected.

In addition to Emily's diagnosis, I am now on my second round of antibiotics due to a new bout of mastitis! I was just finishing up the first course when I noticed the other side was feeling really sore. My doctor insisted I come in to check for an abscess, but it turned out to be a new infection that happened to be resistant to the antibiotic I had already been taking.....so now I'm on a new 10-day course to get rid of infection #2. It's a good thing I enjoy nursing so much ;D

Caleb is teething and hasn't been sleeping well, so we've had some pretty short nights.....or long, depending on how you look at it!

Fortunately, everyone else seems to be fairly healthy despite the constant runny noses that just seem to go with the season.

We took advantage of having my mom here to try to get some family pictures...maybe even a shot for our Christmas card. Needless to say, it was a circus.....

as always! I get so frustrated that Allie & I can get great photos for other people, but never seem to be able to get a decent shot of our gang ;D My poor mom did her best, and we are thankful to have what we have, including a new picture a me and my man....

It was nice to have the opportunity to get some shots of Gramma and The Gang as well.....

I can't tell if there are eyes closed in this shot, but I don't have time to figure out which ones are good, so I'm just throwing it on here for now!

Yesterday, after 4 weeks of no showings on our house, we got a call at 9am asking if we could show the house at 10am.....are you kidding me?!

I was in complete distress! We pretty much assumed no one would be looking anytime soon, and we had just let some things go....more specifically, we let Allie's room go! I ended up getting a huge storage tub and chucking all of her laundry, photography supplies, Halloween candy, etc. into it! She's not the neatest one in the bunch, and she tends to let things in her room pile up (especially since she's sick so much of the time), and the mono has really set her back lately. We also had to wipe bathroom sinks, clean floors, windex mirrors, light candles, turn on all the lights, and get boys ready to walk out the door!
On top of all of that, we sent my mom to the store to replace a lightbulb over our kitchen island that had burned out....good times :/ I was thankful to have both my mom and husband home to help me get ready!!! I honestly don't know what people are thinking when they schedule showings with such little notice!

We also decided yesterday to drop the price of our house. We are accepting the fact that we will likely loose quite a bit of money when we sell the house, but we are feeling the need to do what we must to get out from under it. Ironically, we had just gotten off the phone with our agent when we got the call for the showing and before the price had been adjusted on the listing , so the showing had nothing to do with the new price. We haven't heard anything since, so we're just in wait and see mode.

Hmmm, we seem to be in that mode quite a bit these days.....

I was feeling upset after talking to our agent and having her insist that we bring in a "stager" to "fix" the house in addition to dropping the price. She's CONVINCED that will make the difference, but if you read my blog, you know that I am of a different mind.....we shall see. I'm trying desperately to remember that this house is just that.... a house. And in the near future it won't belong to our family anymore. I know it will mean taking down decorations and not being able to decorate for the holidays, and of course all of our personal pictures will have to be removed, but it's only for a short time. I just have to remain logical and not involve my heart......

not easy to do when there is already so much stress and uncertainty about our future.

And that brings me to my update about my husband and his search for a job. It's been about a month since he was "downsized," and he just attended his third round of interviews on Tuesday for a new position in New Hampshire.

Our prayer has been that God will open the door that we're meant to walk through and close any other doors. Well, He seemed to slam the door shut on this job in New Hampshire with a BIG bang ;D

After speaking with the CEO's involved in the hiring, my husband quickly realized this particular job was not for him. There were several issues, but the fact that the CEO's insisted on trying to talk him out of taking the job at all and the fact that they kept telling him he was over-qualified, quickly led my husband to the realization that this door wasn't open.

Sometimes, RECOGNIZING that God has a plan for our lives and being willing to walk the path that He has laid at our feet, DOESN'T necessarily mean that we don't have a temper tantrum or two along the way.

I'm not gonna lie....it's tough to watch job after job fall away for one reason or another.

It sucks.

But we take comfort in knowing that God doesn't let anything go to waste, and we realize that the opportunity to interview in New Hampshire was great practice for my husband! It was also an opportunity for him to see his mom (who live in Massachusetts) briefly, and that doesn't happen very often.

So we begin today anew.....looking forward, yet again, to what our future holds. There are some new opportunities for us in Nashville and Knoxville, as well as Atlanta and even Washington state.....

wait and see mode......

Prayers for our patience much appreciated ;D

God's plan

2011-11-08T09:11:00.000-06:00

Waiting for God's plan to unfold in our lives as Zack interviews in New Hampshire today. Praying for peace with whatever our future holds. God is good!

Baby games!

2011-11-07T16:10:00.001-06:00

19 years

2011-11-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

19 years ago today we welcomed our very first child into our lives.

We named her Allie and gave her the middle name of JOY.

She has been a most amazing and incredible gift and blessing from God.

And we love her so very much!!!!

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY Allie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crock pot faves!

2011-11-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I'm completely addicted to using my crockpot these days!!! Not only is it quick and easy, I'm finding recipes that are to die for, and we've been able to explore a whole new menu :D

I wanted to share a couple of favorites, since I know how nice it is to have good recommendations!

Tonight we are having Drunken Roast, so I'll start with that and then share a couple of others as well:

Drunken Roast:

*4lb chuck roast
*can beef broth
*can beer
*pkg dry onion soup mix

~place roast in bottom of crock pot
~pour beef broth over
~pour beer over
~sprinkle onion soup mix over
~cook on low 6-8hrs until meat breaks apart
~can serve on french rolls with mozzarella cheese on top and dip into remaining juice as a french dip!

Chicken Dish:

*6 chicken breasts
*6 slices bacon
*1 can cream of mushroom soup
*1/4 cup sour cream
*1 package dried beef
*1/4 cup flour

~arrange dried beef on bottom of crock pot
~wrap each piece of chicken in bacon & place on top of beef
~mix soup, sour cream and flour and pour over chicken
~cook on low for 8-10hrs or high for 3-5hrs
~serve over rice

Lasagne:

*2lbs hamburger
*3 cans tomato sauce (15 ounces each)
*2 tsp dried basil leaves
*1/2 tsp salt
*2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
*15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
*1 cup grated parmesan cheese
*15 uncooked lasagne noodles

~cook beef, drain, stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt
~mix 1 cup of mozzarella cheese with the ricotta and parmesan cheeses
~spoon 1/4 of meat mixture into crockpot, top w/ 5 noodles (break to fit)
~spread half of cheese mixture and then 1/4 of meat mix
~top with 5 more noodles, remaining cheese mix and 1/4 of meat mix
~finish w/ 5 more noodles and remaining meat mix
~cover and cook on low for 4-6hrs
~sprinkle w/ remaining mozzarella cheese and let stand for 10 minutes before serving

Now, if you're like me, you may be leery of cooking noodles in the crock, but don't worry! I've tried this and it worked perfectly!!! No mushy noodles ;D

One other thing.....I have been using crock pot liners to ease the after-dinner clean-up, and I LOVE them!!! Reynolds makes them and they're called "slow cooker liners." I found them in the aisle with the plastic wrap and tinfoil, and I am amazed at how well they work! Now I won't cook without them!

Now go get cookin' ;D

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

For us, Halloween always begins with each child carving their own pumpkin :D

We try to let them choose what they would like to do and then do most of it by themselves! We often end up with lots of mistakes, but it's the trial and error that they learn from.....right?!

Sophie & Emily have become very proficient with their carvings, and we really enjoy seeing what they will come up with each year!

Allie, on the other hand, is great with paint designs! She did this "Z" for me....

Emily had a cute idea this year! She did a big pumpkin that ate the ear off of the baby pumpkin next to it!!!!!

Jacob wanted a spider man pumpkin to go with his costume, and he decided to enlist the help of big sister to get the job done!

Sophie carved a wolf on the front side of her pumpkin and trees on the back that made a really neat shadow against the rock when lit!

Here are random shots of the kids' costumes in no particular order ;D

And the big candy dump at the end of trick-or-treating!!!

Halloween Bash 2011

2011-11-01T13:28:00.000-05:00

Friday night was our annual neighborhood Halloween party. We've been hosting this party for the last 4 years and have really come to enjoy it! This year, knowing that it will likely be our last time throwing a party in this neighborhood, we wanted to make it the biggest and best bash ever...I think we succeeded :D

We spent the entire day getting ready on Friday....tons to do like hanging ghosts....

making punch....

setting up the hayride....

We pulled the wagon with our van, and this is how we decorated inside the back of the van...

Sophie sat in the back and read a ghost story as the hayride went through the neighborhood!

Here's the front entrance of Emily's much-anticipated haunted house....

Sophie and Allie decided to dress up as nerds! Here's Sophie....

We added dry ice to the punch bowl (it actually sat under the bowl) to give the punch a spooky feel :D

Here are our nerds doing what they do best....

Here's how the punch looked inside the bowl...

This was our setup in the backyard. We hung lights in the trees and threw some hay on the ground to give it a festive feel!

The neighbors showed up with some yummy treats....

And we enjoyed all the fun costumes!

Matthew got his costume when we were in Washington D.C. this past summer at the Air & Space Museum!

Josh tended our fires where the kids were roasting marshmallows!

Here's a shot of the yard as the party was just getting started....

The kids invited some of their friends from school as well! This is Emily & her friend Courtney...

And Allie with her good friend Emma....

Allie was in charge of the face-painting station....

Here's Sophie and her friend Lauryn (who agreed to be our witch in the haunted house!)....

The big hit of the party was the hayride! Here's one of the groups about to head out....

And Sophie & Lauryn sat in the back of the van to tell their spooky tale...

I took this when the party was in full-swing! It was quite a crowd!!

We played fun games...one of them being the Mummy Wrap....

Allie wrapped up her boyfriend Jake.....

Everyone had a good time!

Here are some of the kiddos making s'mores....

And finally the haunted house opened.....

Josh took his role as a spooky prisoner in the jail cell VERY seriously ;D

And Lauryn was the witch at the end of the haunted house!

It ended up being a great night (for our family anyway!)! We hope everyone enjoyed it.....maybe we'll end up somewhere where we can do it again.......

Fessin' up Friday.....

2011-10-29T07:54:00.001-05:00

one day late ;D

Yesterday was the big Halloween party that we've been hosting at our house for the last 4 years, and with parent/teacher conferences in the morning and prep work all afternoon, I simply didn't have time to breathe......let alone post on my blog!

So, here's the latest on my diet:

Weight Watchers points left over for the week: 18
Activity points earned for the week: 35
Weight loss of Week 2: 3 pounds!!
Total weight loss: 6 pounds!!

I know it's the exercise that's making the difference, and I'm addicted! My husband and I are walking at least 5 miles each day, and I love what it's doing for me! Honestly, I haven't changed my eating habits all that much, but I have definitely cut back on "popping" things in my mouth without thinking :D I'm looking forward to another week of losing....sad that I wasn't able to walk last night and will have to miss again today as we are headed out to an amusement park with the gang for the WHOLE day and night!!!!!!!!

(I'll try to get some pictures up from our Halloween party tomorrow!)

Empowering our kids

2011-10-27T10:37:00.001-05:00

Recently, I've been faced with several situations where I feel the need to step in and advocate for my children because I am the adult and have a slightly different view than my child who is in the center of the issue.

I am beginning to realize, however, that this isn't always the right thing to do when it comes to our children, and that sometimes it's more important to use these instances to teach our children to advocate for themselves. After all, we won't always be there for them, and giving them the tools they need to problem-solve on their own is critical if we want them to grow up to be strong in faith, morals and character.

Let me give you an example of one of our recent struggles. My 3rd oldest child, Sophie, is an incredible student! She has a work ethic like no other and has the grades to prove it. She is incredibly smart, talented and driven, and she won't let anything stand in the way of achieving her goals....with the exception of a teacher who asserts their POWER over their students.

Sophie maintains a straight "A" average in all honors classes with her lowest grade being a 97% and her top grade being above 100%. She prides herself on always striving to do her best work, but despite her effort, she continues to struggle in her advanced Spanish class when it comes to accumulating "speaking points." A small percentage of her grade in this particular class is based on the amount of Spanish that she speaks while in class, and she is expected to attain a certain number of points per class period to get full credit for that portion of her grade.

From the moment she walks into her Spanish class until the time she leaves, Sophie is careful to speak ONLY Spanish, going out of her way to address classmates, friends and even her teacher in Spanish. Her hope is to get the most points possible each day, however, while her efforts remain the same each class period, her speaking points can range anywhere from 10-30 per day. This has caused Sophie much stress as she fails to understand what she is doing differently and the reason why she ends up lacking in points some days.

Although she feels she is doing her best each day, her effort is being valued in different ways....this is tough when she expects so much from herself and doesn't get the intended results no matter how hard she tries. In addition, other students in the class sometimes receive more points than needed for doing the same or even less speaking in Spanish. We've addressed the issue with the school counselor, but the answer has been that this is what works and they have no plans to change the current system, despite the fact that many other parents have expressed their concerns on this issue.

Yesterday, I picked Sophie up from school and asked her how her day was. I could tell immediately that she was upset as she began to tell me that she had a miserable time in Spanish and wasn't able to get the points she needed for the day. She tried to hide how upset she was, but I watched her wipe away the tears as they began to flow, and it broke my heart. Here is a child who is talented, respectful, kind and just simply AMAZING (sorry, that's the bias I'm allowed as her mother!)...the kind of child ANY teacher would love to have in their class...and yet she is being made to feel awful.

Let me stop for a second because I know what many of you are thinking.....yes, I DO teach my children that sometimes, despite our best efforts, life is simply unfair. And obviously, this is the perfect example of that! It's important that Sophie understands that although she has done her best, she will not always be rewarded in the way that she would prefer. And believe me, I used the example of my husband loosing his job recently despite the fact that his job performance was outstanding and he was a valued employee....life isn't always fair.

But that's not what this is about.

This is about Sophie and her ability to feel empowered and to speak out when she feels that life IS unfair. I believe that it's important for us to be able to question and speak up, even if our efforts don't necessarily change the result. In other words. Sophie has the right to question, in a respectful and kind way, the decisions of her teacher, possibly saying something like this:

I really enjoy your class, and I want to do my best. Can you tell me what it is that I need to do in order to get all of my speaking points each day.

I believe that in doing so, Sophie would be able to alleviate some of the frustration that she feels and maybe wouldn't have such a sense of fear from the authority she is feeling under this particular teacher. But when I asked her yesterday about speaking to her teacher, her answer was simply that it wouldn't change anything.

My reply is that it would....it would change Sophie's response.

Instead of feeling as though she has no control, she would begin to develop a confidence in herself through standing up for herself. Questioning authority isn't a bad thing. It's a right that we have in this great country, and it's one that we, as parents, are not teaching our children. Instead, we have taught them to respect the status quo. We have taught them to be "politically correct." We have taught them to be followers....not leaders.

We have taken away their voice.

When I think back to my days as a young adult, and I remember the things that I allowed adults and people in positions of authority to do to me because I was simply too young and too naive to know any better, I realize that I missed out. Those were opportunities for personal growth...situations that could have changed my life if I had let them. Instead, I chose to look the other way and accept my fate. In truth, those people that I allowed to affect me, often in negative ways, were just.....

people.

Not kings, queens or gods...no. Just people.

That's the lesson that I want my children to take away from this. Your teacher, coach, troop leader....all just people... trying to get through life, the same as you. YOU give them the power they have over you. You can choose to let them make you miserable, or you can choose to question and stand up for yourself, becoming a stronger person in the end.

One day at a time...

2011-10-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Never has that phrase had more meaning to me than now as we wait ~~ever so patiently~~ for a job offer.

Not that we're anywhere NEAR a job offer.

Yet, this is still not the time to panic, although I must admit, it gets a little harder each day as we begin to realize how much time has elapsed since my husband lost his job (it will be 4 weeks on Friday).

Which is why I am trying so hard not to get ahead of myself and let myself drift into the possibilities of the what-ifs!

I just keep telling myself that I must remain calm, hopeful and unbelievably patient as we wait out this situation.....

ONE day at a time.

Currently we have no offers on the table, however there are multiple leads, and recruiters continue to contact my husband every day. Some jobs we are able to cross off the list immediately, although we are trying our best to remember that a job is a job and we have to leave our "pickiness" at the door as we have 8 mouths to feed!

We are willing to go anywhere we need to go. My husband is now in his third (and hopefully final) round of interviews for a job in New Hampshire, and while I never dreamed I would EVER move back to the east coast, it has become a distinct possibility.

The only thing we won't consider is a position that requires overnight travel. Been there, done that, and it was miserable! That was the main reason we left our family in Montana and moved to the state of Kansas four years ago. We spent many years trying to survive my husband's horrendous travel schedule, and we finally came to the conclusion that, for us, it just didn't work. We would rather take a pay-cut or move to a different place than have to go back to that particular way of life. Our family time is just too important for us to make that sacrifice again, and we definitely learned from our mistake of trying to hold a job in a large geography that has over 50% travel!

So, here we are, almost 4 weeks later, the holiday season drawing near, trying ever-so-patiently to wait and not think about the future and only focusing on what is RIGHT in front of us...

not easy, but it's the only way to survive this time in our lives.

Life on the farm?

2011-10-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

No, we don't live on a farm......

but we're beginning to think maybe we should! Especially since we now own a hay wagon!

On Friday afternoon, we took the whole gang out to an old farm in Missouri to buy our very own trailer.....

Just perfect for the hay rides we have planned this weekend at our Halloween party :D

And for only $70, we now own our very own amusement ride!!! After a thorough cleaning and several new coats of paint, it's a sight to behold ;D

We still have plans to stencil "The Gang" on the sides, but for now, it's perfect for our planned hay rides!

We just need a barn to house it! And, truth be told, we've decided that when we move, we will definitely be looking for a home with land......and maybe even a barn! It just suits us :D Sort of like the splatters of paint that seemed to find the boys clothing all weekend long!

We love to be outside, dig in the dirt, get our hands dirty....

And life in the country is sounding better and better all the time!

Not only did we work on the wagon this weekend, but we also finished off some other projects for our big Halloween party this coming Friday......

We are so excited to host this neighborhood event, and since it's likely to be our last big party here, we planned lots of fun activities for our friends! We worked out a schedule today, and we are looking forward to having face painting, spooky hay rides, s'more roasting, fun games and a haunted house!!! I'll be sure to get LOTS of pictures :D

Today was also the perfect day for making caramel apples!

And we didn't just make boring old apples this time! Sophie wanted to try something different, so we did some with caramel only, some with caramel and crushed oreos....

And then we did some really amazing ones with white chocolate and crushed oreos!!!

Um.....YUM!

Fessin' up Friday!

2011-10-21T10:31:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new Friday series to keep me honest in my attempt to lose some weight, and I'm gonna call it Fessin' up Friday! I'd love to hear your weight loss tips and confessions (!) if you want to share, so feel free to leave me comments :D

One week ago today, I signed up for Weight Watchers Online. I didn't think much of sitting down and signing up, but once it was done, I found myself in panic mode as I was hurled into a whole new weight loss learning curve! The one thing I hate most about weight loss is the effort I have to put in to the diet itself. I'm fine with eating healthy and exercising more, but I strongly dislike having to figure out what to eat and when to eat it....I like simple. And I like something that doesn't take time out of my day!

So, after spending my first day in a tizzy, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the diet I had chosen was much easier to follow than I had anticipated. I'm doing the new Points Plus online version, and I was thrilled to learn that fruits and veggies are "free" ;D So I stocked up on bananas.....

and grapes....

and tons of veggies!

All that food....no points! If you haven't heard about this diet, I'll give it to you in a nutshell. You give Weight Watchers your height and weight, and they tell you how many points you can have each day. Stay within your points and you lose weight! Pretty simple! And everything you eat has a "point value," so it's not a problem to keep track of your daily points. I was thrilled to find that lots of products in the grocery store already have the points figured out for you and are printed right on the packages!

So I can eat that rice pudding and it costs me 2 points. For the foods that you eat that don't have the points listed on the packaging, Weight Watchers has an app for your phone to help you figure out the points by entering some simple information per serving (fiber, carbs, protein, and fat). So when I'm at the store, I know instantly whether something is worth buying or not!

But I must admit, WW has made it easy by providing lots of foods with their logo and points!

And the whole Smart Ones line is by WW, so they have the points plus on their cartons as well.....

Just flip them over and check out the back!

And they offer everything from pasta to desserts, so you really don't feel deprived!

Most of the meals range from 6 to 8 points, and they make a great dinner for me when paired with a point-free salad :D

Not only do you get so many points per day, but you also get a point allotment for the week. So, in my case, I get 29 points per day, and I get an additional 49 points for the week that I can use anytime I want.
I can even use them to eat an entire tub of ice cream if I feel so inclined ;D

And, if you're wondering, YES I did! It cost me 16 points, but it was worth it! Honestly, I could have easily stopped eating halfway through, but I was enjoying the fact that I could eat it because I had the points and it was more of a nah, nah at my diet!

See, look at me! I can eat a whole carton of ice cream! Nah nah na nah nah ;D

But it gets better! You see, I have an unbelievable sweet tooth and would MUCH rather spend my precious points on sweets than on real food. So I tend to eat lots of veggies and use my points to get my chocolate!

Gotta love Atkins!!!! These wonderful treats taste SO good and are only 5 points each!!!!!

On top of all that, I'm still able to enjoy my Starbucks! I could save some points there, but I've been choosing to skip breakfast and have a venti nonfat mocha in it's place! Total points.....8! Then I just eat veggies for lunch and an apple or something.....total points= 0!

I LOVE this diet! It allows me to do what I want and not feel like I'm sacrificing! Actually, I even ate a small piece of homemade banana bread yesterday, and it only cost me 4pts!

Oh, and I almost forgot, you can also earn even more points through exercise!!! I've been able to earn 5 points per day by walking 4 miles, giving me extra points beyond my daily and weekly balance.

So, it's been a week. I weighed in this morning and guess what........

I LOST 3 POUNDS!!!!

Not much, but it's a start, and it's certainly better than the 1-2 pounds expected on most diets!

Here's what my plan looked like after one week:

I started with 29 points per day and 49 additional points per week (to be used each day if I went over my daily allowance).

I exercised each day and earned a total of 35 additional points (to be used after I went over my additional weekly points allowance).

By the end of the week, I had used all my daily points and I had 18 points left over from my 49 weekly points. I also had ALL of my activity points left over!

I ended the week with a net gain of 52 points :D

Sadly, those points don't roll over to the next week, so I get to start all over, but that just encourages me to keep up with the exercising! And knowing that I can lose weight and still satisfy my sweet tooth.......priceless!!!!

Emily's first Homecoming!

2011-10-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, Emily attended her first-ever Homecoming dance :D In the past, she really hasn't had any interest, but this year, her friends persuaded her to go! And it didn't hurt that we promised her she could get some brand-new cowgirl boots and wear them with her dress ;D

She wouldn't let us put makeup on her, but she did concede to letting Allie fix her hair!

I was so excited to be able to help her shop for a dress, even if it was last-minute! I'm pretty sure the last time this kid wore a dress was when she was about 5 yrs old ;D

Emily went out to dinner and then to the dance with a nice group of girls. They all decided to meet at our house for pictures before dinner. Here's Caleb greeting the girls as they arrived!

But that wasn't as bad as the football game my husband had going on in the front yard the whole time we were trying to snap pictures! He was even tossing it to the girls ;D

Yeah, we like to do things a little differently around our house! And while I'm not sure I'll see Em in a formal dress again anytime soon, it was so fun to experience a slightly different and more elegant Emily!

The girls went out together in one of the girl's brand-new truck!

And it was the perfect place to snap a few pictures!

We were laughing about the diversity of the shoes!

And we were sure to get the ever-popular staircase shot!

Emily had a great time with her friends, and I'm so proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and giving something different a try!

I still can't believe that my second-born is about to graduate....where, oh where does the time go?!

Hump day...

2011-10-19T16:29:00.000-05:00

About half way through the week now, almost dinner time on a Wednesday.

We'll be having buffalo chicken sandwiches for dinner....straight out of my beloved crock pot. A neighbor told me she tried it, so I googled it and couldn't believe how simple it is.....chicken breasts in, dump on some hot wing sauce, pour a packet of dry ranch dressing mix over and cook on low for 7 hours.....shred and serve on rolls as sandwiches! Yummy! I'm going to get slightly creative and add some blue cheese to mine ;D

Today I took the littles to Wal-Mart to pick up some more hot sauce so I could get dinner cooking, ran over to Bath & Body to use a coupon I had on some hand soap, took Matthew to school and then helped Allie with a photography project.

She had to show stopped motion using her film camera (which she'll develop in the dark room at school), but she wanted to use her digital cameras first so she could get an idea of which ISO and aperture to use. I got to help her by chucking a handful of rocks into a glass of soda!

Cool! That was taken with her digital, and then we did about 24 more shots with a film camera...she's hoping she got as good of a shot on film.....we'll soon find out ;D

Then I headed out to pick up kids from school, leaving a sleeping Caleb......

and a sleeping Jacob....

at home with daddy ;D

He worked in our home office while they slept in the most uncomfortable positions I've ever seen!!

Tired of waiting on God?

2011-10-18T10:39:00.001-05:00

Isn't it funny how we go to church only to listen to the message and think that was directed RIGHT at me?! It happens to me more often than I care to admit, and I suppose that's the whole purpose of church.....none of us are perfect and most of us are struggling with lots of the same things....whether we want to admit it or not!

Since I subscribed to Proverbs 31 Ministries a while back, I've been experiencing this same phenomenon (pretty much on daily basis!) as I receive emails each morning with stories and reminders about God. And today was no different. Today's message talked about being patient and waiting for God to answer our prayers, and I found it to be a great reminder during this time where my husband continues to be without a job, and we have no idea where we'll be in 6 months!

I wanted to share this with you, so I copied the excerpt below......enjoy!

*Do you ever get tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers? Recently, I began to feel a sense of frustration with the wait, and also a little bit tired.

Tired of saying the same old prayer day after day, month after month, year after year. Tired of telling God about the same old problems still going on. Tired of hearing myself pray about the same old problems, leading me to wonder if God was as tired of hearing my prayer requests as I was of praying them.

So I bowed my head and admitted to God that I was simply tired of the wait.

In a heavy state of emotional tiredness, I turned to the crisp, white pages of my Bible. I was hoping God would illuminate a few verses that would jump out of the book and straight into my heart.

I began reading about when Isaac’s wife Rebekah gave birth to twin sons. One particular sentence caught my eye and I read it again and again. My heart leapt as I realized God was using this one little sentence to speak hope into my spirit. He used His spiritual highlighter just as I had wanted.

Genesis 25:26 tells us that Isaac was sixty years old when his twins were born; a simple Bible fact, yet profoundly meaningful to me on this specific day. You see, Isaac had been patient for the Lord to provide the perfect wife; he was forty years old when he married Rebekah. If you do the math you realize Isaac waited twenty years for Rebekah to bear him children! He could have chosen a concubine to bear him a son. But he was a man of great patience who waited on God. Eventually his patient faith was rewarded.

Isaac never gave up hope that his Lord could make the impossible, possible. He had learned that his Lord would provide. So he continued to pray the same desperate prayer for a son, day after day, month after month, year after year. In fact, we learn in Genesis 25:21 that “Isaac pleaded with the Lord” (NLT), meaning he earnestly and strongly prayed about his problem. He did not half-heartedly ask God for a son, he pleaded! He begged. He poured his heart out.

I can envision Isaac passionately pleading to God throughout those twenty years, with out-stretched arms and a tear-stained face pressed against the hot, dirty soil, begging God to answer his prayer.

Isaac was surely tired of the wait, but he never stopped praying or believing that his dreams could come true. And in God’s perfect timing, they did.

If you are tired of the wait, you may be pleading to God just like Isaac. It may take twenty years for God to answer our prayers, or it may only take twenty minutes. But today, let us find comfort in remembering Isaac’s patient faith and take hope in believing that God is not tired of hearing our prayers. Instead, He is simply waiting for the perfect time to answer.

Dear Lord, please help me have patience and faith while I wait to hear from You. Help me live in excited anticipation for the day when I will see how You answer my prayers. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.*

Donuts, haunted houses & school spirit!

2011-10-17T11:37:00.000-05:00

Another busy weekend! I love fall, but I have to be careful to take time to enjoy the activities instead of just being in a rush to get through them so we can move on to the next ;D But with hubby out of a job, we've done some cutting back this year and are sticking with the activities that don't cost an arm and a leg, giving us more time to actually enjoy each one!

For the last 4 years, we have been hosting a neighborhood Halloween party at our home, and since this will likely be our last year here, we wanted to make it the best party ever! Emily has been re-designing and perfecting her haunted house each year, and the new additions this year are going to be awesome! She and her dad got a good start over the weekend with some of the new plans....

Of course, all the gang was there to watch, even if it was a little loud!

Not only do we have big plans for the haunted house, but we also have some fun activities for the kids that we've never had before! I'm not going to give them away on my blog just yet, as many of my neighbors read here, so you'll have to check back in a couple of weeks to see what we did :D

I do love that my kids are so willing and able to use tools and build things! What a great skill to learn!

Even the 3yr-old is learning how to use a tape measurer :D

The girls spent a good part of the day Friday (no school) working on the party...

And then Emily & some friends decided to deck out our van for the big Homecoming game!

They got so many compliments on it and it's even going to likely end up in the school yearbook as the yearbook staff was excited to take pictures of it!

The girls added all the players' numbers on the sides of the van- too fun!

And it ended up being a great game with our school winning big! Nice since they've only won one other game this season (this is only the second year the high school has been open so it's a new program)!

On Saturday morning, Sophie & Noah decided to bike a few miles down the road to Dunkin' Donuts and spend their own money on donuts for all the family (obviously NOT me!)!

It was a nice treat that everyone enjoyed!

While two were gone getting donuts, two more were heading out to a cattle-drive/trail-ride! Allie had been hired by some friends to do some event photography out on their ranch, and Emily went along!

Here's Caleb waving "bye" as the girls are taking off :D

Allie is still really struggling with the mono, and has missed several of her classes at school, so she wasn't able to stay for the whole day to take pictures, but she was there for a few hours and got some great shots.

Caleb LOVES to see everyone off as they leave the house!

The rest of Saturday was spent at Josh's lacrosse game and then getting Emily ready for Homecoming! I have a post planned for tomorrow with pictures from her very first Homecoming- it's the first time she's had a dress on since she was about 5 years old ;D

Sunday was spent cleaning house to get ready for an open house in the afternoon. Josh had his final lacrosse game of the fall season during the open house, so it worked out well. We went straight to church from the game and heard a great message about finding JOY in your daily life....The Legacy of Laughter! Reminded us to stop our whining and get over ourselves ;D Then it was home for baths and bed!

Prayers appreciated for Allie as she struggles yet again with a debilitating condition that is keeping her from enjoying life (mono). I don't know how much more one person can take, and I fail to understand why Allie continues to suffer, but I know that she is in HIS care, and that HE is working on her as she goes through all of this stuff, but that doesn't make it any easier for her! I know she has a hard time with the "why me" and I pray that yesterday's message at church gave her some peace......after all, her middle name is JOY!!!!!!!!!!! We're still chuckling about that irony ;D

Take my poll!

2011-10-14T10:39:00.001-05:00

We got a call from our real estate agent last night. She wanted to know if I had taken a look at the feedback we had received from our realtor open house on Tuesday.

I had.

It made me mad.

We've been through this before. The feedback is always the same.

Gorgeous house. Shows well. Too many personal pictures.

And of course, she wanted us to take them down from the walls and remove them from dresser and table tops.

I was mad. In fact, this is the most upset I've been about anything since my husband lost his job. I was willing to pack up my family and move to New Hampshire. I was even willing to homeschool all my kids. But this was one thing I wasn't willing to do. I don't want to turn my house into a morgue.....to make it look as though I don't live here.....as though we haven't brought home 2 of our newborn babies to this house.....as though it's not our house anymore.

There....that's the problem.

After going all over the house on a rant and tearing pictures off the walls while I sobbed, it finally hit me that the real reason I don't want to take the pictures down is because it means the house won't be ours much longer. There's no going back this time.....we don't have a choice. We can't take it off the market, we can't find a way out of this.

We have to let it go.

I know, I know, it's just a house! But that doesn't make it any easier, and I'm sure many of you can relate!

So, even though I now understand why I'm so averse to taking all my pictures down, I do have a question for all of you!

Seriously, I want to see how many of you actually pay attention to the number of pictures in a house when your house-hunting!

And just to give you an idea of what we're talking about, here are some examples of the pictures in our house that I still haven't removed!

This first one is of the sitting area in our basement.....

This next grouping is from the wall in the office at the front entrance of our home....

And this is the hallway on our third floor, just outside of our master bedroom, where I USED to have one picture of each child in their baptism outfits hanging......

Pretty sad looking wall if you ask me! But I want to know what you think, so please go over to the left sidebar (right under the advertisement) and vote!

State of Affairs

2011-10-13T14:54:00.003-05:00

Somedays, when I have nothing nice to say, I choose not to blog.

Well, I've had nothing nice to say for the last couple of days, but I finally decided I needed to blog anyway. I mean, what's the point of blogging if it's all going to be about sunshine and rainbows, and most of you know, my life is far from that :D

I just don't want to sound like I'm complaining. This is a season of life, and just as the sun comes out after a rainstorm, so too will we weather this storm.....just hope it doesn't turn into a flood first!

So, if you want the rundown on the last few days of drama, keep reading.......

Allie has mono. Yep, it's true. Confirmed with blood work.

Nice.

Not only that, but we're pretty sure it's going through the family. Matthew has been sick with a fever and terrible cough. Sophie is tired and has a very sore throat. Jacob has a fever and has been very sleepy. And now Caleb has a cough and a fever and keeps following me all over the house saying "mamamamamamama" in a very pathetic voice!

Obviously this isn't the first time we've all been sick together, it's just not the best timing ;D

The thing we've learned about mono is that it can present in many different ways, and the only way to know for sure if that's the diagnosis is to do blood work. Well, I'm not going to go have everyone tested....it just doesn't matter. And honestly, our pediatrician told us that the little kids are much better off getting it now as opposed to getting it in their teen years. When they're little, the only experience mild symptoms for a couple of days. In the teen years, however, it can be very debilitating. That's what Allie is finding out now as she struggles just to stay awake! We just received the diagnosis yesterday, but last week we thought maybe we were dealing with pneumonia or bronchitis. We ruled out the pneumonia with a chest x-ray, but then she got a very sore throat and is exhausted.....

mono.

Just what she needed, right?!

So, besides all the illness going on right now, my husband is quickly running out of job options. It seems crazy that it's already been 3 weeks since he lost his job!

That's kind of scary actually.

And it seems as quickly as the job possibilities come open, there gone again before we know it. We're really down to just one option right now. My husband is currently facing his third round of interviews for a job that would require us to move to New Hampshire by Christmas. He's already interviewed with the CEO, but he still has to interview with 3 separate panels and will be up against 2 other candidates (we think), so we're desperately trying not to get our hopes up.

Actually, as much as I want my husband to have a job, I'm none too thrilled about a move to New Hampshire...but I've made up my mind to do what I have to do to make it work if that's where this all leads.

Our house has been on the market for 2 weeks now, and it's only shown twice. Well, not including the open house we had on Tuesday for all the area real estate agents. And we are having our first public open house this Sunday, which means we have to spend Saturday cleaning so that we can be kicked out for the whole afternoon on Sunday.....good times.

Unfortunately, I've been under so much stress lately, that I'm not eating well, and I've managed to gain about 7 pounds. So now, on top of everything else I'm dealing with, I have to try to lose weight! Too bad I'm one of those people that eats for comfort when I'm stressed ;D

Knowing that I can't lose weight without help, I signed up for Weight Watchers Online today....only $60, so it seemed like a good deal. The problem is that I don't think I have the time to try and track all of my stupid points! I tend to eat in a hurry and this seems like it's going to be a nightmare. I'm one of those people that likes to eat a meal replacement bar and call it good. I don't want to think about what I'm eating or how to make it healthy so I keep my points low! If anyone has ANY good tips for me, I would love to hear them!!!!!! I've already wasted several hours today online trying to figure out what I will be able to eat and stay within my points. UGH :/ I don't have time to be creative and clever when it comes to my food!

   "For I know the plans I have for you,"
   declares the LORD,
   "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
   plans to give you hope, and a future."
   Jeremiah 29:11

I know, I know......... ;D Thanks for listening though!!

Sleepy boy....

2011-10-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

There is so much going on in our lives these days, that's it's nice to take some time and enjoy the things that are happening right in front of us ;D

There's nothing cuter than a baby trying to stay awake.....or in this case, maybe it's trying to fall asleep!

Weekend without daddy

2011-10-09T14:35:00.002-05:00

Every time my husband is away, that old saying absence makes the heart grow fonder runs through my head. And you know, it's so true! As soon as he leaves, I quickly realize that not only do I miss the pair of extra hands when it comes to chores, but I miss the love that he brings into all of our lives....and I can't wait to have him back ;D

A few months ago, we decided that Zack's birthday gift this year would be a trip back home to visit his best friend from high school who happens to have season tickets to see the Patriots! At the time, we weren't expecting that we would be jobless and house-hunting the very same weekend! But the timing has actually worked out well for us as Zack was able to land a second interview with a CEO for a job in New Hampshire while he's there visiting. The game is today (Sunday) in Massachusetts, and the interview will be first thing tomorrow in New Hampshire. Zack will return home (hopefully- who knows with airlines these days!) late tomorrow night....just in time to help me get ready for our realtor's open house on Tuesday morning!

So, what do we do while dad's away?

Well, we hit Sonic for Happy Hour on Friday after school, and the boys had a blast hanging out in the back of Emily's best friend (Courtney's) truck!

Actually, Zack was still here at that point, and he was even able to join us :D

But after he left early Saturday morning, Emily and I decided to do some boot shopping! Em has been wanting cowboy boots for a LONG time, and her grandparents offered to get them for her birthday coming up in November. We decided we needed to get them ASAP since Emily was finally talked into attending her first-ever HOMECOMING dance next weekend! She's never been a big fan of school dances, but Courtney convinced her to take advantage of this last opportunity in her senior year and just do it!!! The problem was going to be Em's feet- not only are her toes an issue, but she wears a size 11 shoe, and I'm not about to buy shoes that only ever get worn once......enter the cowboy boots! I mean, why not wear boots with your semi-formal gown?! Makes perfect sense to us ;D

So, we loaded up all the boys (Sophie was at her cross country meet & Allie wasn't feeling well) and off we went to Shepplers. This next picture is from my cell phone, but you can tell that she found her boots!

From there, we headed to the Halloween store to browse, and then over to Target for a few groceries. By the time we were done, Sophie was ready to be picked up.

Next on my list was a trip out to an outlet mall....I had a Gap outlet coupon set to expire and I was determined to use it! Somehow, Caleb has ended up with absolutely NO size 2T hand-me-downs for fall/winter. We have lots of stuff in that size for summer, but nothing for winter! I can't begin to imagine what happened to those clothes! I know that at least one of the boys would have been a size 2T over the winter months, so it doesn't make sense that we have nothing in storage.

Anyway, there's nothing like a coupon at the already-great-deals that Gap outlet has to offer......especially when your hubby is out of a job! I love getting shirts on clearance for $6 and then getting 30% off of that price :D We picked out a few things and then headed over to Gymboree, where I never have much luck, and found some things there as well. Wow! I was able to get outlet overalls for under $10 with a coupon I had for Gymboree! Great shopping day!

The outlet mall happens to have a T-Rex Cafe (same company as Rainforest Cafe), and Jacob was so excited to get to make his very first build-a-bear....except in this case it was a build-a-dino and he actually made a woolly mammoth!

Here he is pushing the pedal while the nice lady stuffs his mammoth for him....

And here he's giving his woolly a bath....

Next he got to name his new friend.....

He was pretty excited about his choice!

After our trip, the girls headed out to school. Emily was head lighting-tech for the school show, and Allie & Sophie were going to see the show. That left me with 5 hungry boys! Noah had a party from 6-8, so I fed the little kids while he was at his party and gave them baths. Then I headed back out to get Noah, and put the little kids to bed while he and Josh got themselves ready. I went to bed about 10....a pretty normal night for us.

Caleb slept until 7 this morning, so I did too ;D We spent the morning playing with legos and playing the Wii (which we only allow on weekends), getting dinner ready for later (we're having chicken & dumplings) and making rice krispy treats!

Here's Emily cutting up a Costco chicken for dinner tonight....

And Caleb entertained himself with Jacob's build-a-dino box....

Then Sophie enlisted the clean hands of Jacob to help make some treats :D

It's early afternoon now.....I'm nursing Caleb as I type this, Allie is getting ready to go do a photo shoot, Emily just left to go dress shopping, & the rest of us will be leaving soon to go to Josh's lacrosse game. We decided to skip church tonight as two of the girls have activities and Zack is gone, but maybe Sophie and I should go and take the boys......free babysitting ;D We'll have a great dinner when we get home and then we're excited to watch Storm Chasers tonight on Discovery! Yeah, we're geeks ;D

A different path

2011-10-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

The following was taken from the Proverbs 31 Ministries Daily Devotion. It spoke straight to my soul as I realized that my husband's job loss is not only part of God's plan for our lives, but it's an opportunity for change in our family that is desperately needed. I may think I don't want to go down this road, but I realize that's all the more reason that I should......

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Yesterday I went into a job interview—junior high substitute teacher; how brave am I? When I walked out of it, I had a whole new calling.

Thing is, I don’t want a new calling. I like the ones I’ve been living with—wife, mom, novelist, children’s author. I didn’t think God had anything else up His sleeve, and I was okay with that. I’m not a big fan of change.

The man interviewing me told me he has a gift of discernment. Then he did something I’ve never seen or experienced: he spoke a word over me.
This kind of thing didn’t happen in the church in which I was raised. To me, a gift of discernment meant having a reliable sense about whether or not someone’s teaching was biblical, or if someone was telling the truth. It didn’t mean God could give someone else a glimpse into His plans for me. Yet what this man told me fit, like the one missing puzzle piece, into the changes I’ve been going through lately on both a personal and a professional level. As he spoke, I knew that what he was saying was truly from the Lord.
But I didn’t leave his office glowing with excitement. In fact, I wasn’t excited at all about what he told me, despite the fact that it spoke directly to my heart. It would require that I open my hands and release things I’ve been holding too tightly. And I’ll be honest, part of me really doesn’t want to.
I like my life just as it is. Remember, God, how I’m not a fan of change—even when it means seeing another dream realized?

The bottom line is this: I struggle with trusting God.

In my novel Composing Amelia, Amelia struggles with the same thing. She’d rather stay with what is familiar than trust God to give her a calling she’ll love but can’t envision right now.
I don’t want to be like Amelia. I don’t want to be short-sighted, dubious of God’s desire or ability to bless me, or resistant to the future He has for me. But my lack of trust, fear of the unknown, and reluctance to give up my comfortable life are threatening to hold me back from obeying Him. And that’s definitely not good.

So I have a choice to make. Will I believe that God’s plans are better than my own? Will I risk stepping out of my comfort zone? Do I believe the growing pains I’ll face will be worth the blessings that will come? Do I trust God to really take care of me? Or am I going to cower beneath my desk with my fingers in my ears and pretend like yesterday’s meeting never happened?

What about you? What changes is God nudging you towards that have you digging in your heels and tightening your grip on whatever you know you need to release? Do you believe the rewards are worth the pain? Or that God’s perfect plan is worth leaving your complacency and comfort behind?
Do you trust Him? Or are you hiding and hoping He passes you by?

The unknown is scary. But ultimately—for me anyway—it’s scarier to think of what I might miss if I don’t let go. And so I say a prayer, open my hands, and peer beyond the edge of what I know, into the vast expanse of the future where a giant question mark dominates the landscape. Do you see it, too?

Today let’s choose to trust God and not require that we like or even understand what He is calling us to do. Let’s submit to Him, believing that the path He calls us to take will always be worth the change, worth the risk, worth the effort, simply because He has chosen it for us.

Dear Lord, I praise You for Your love and for Your desire to see me grow. I thank You for the promise in Scripture that You are always with us, every step of the way, regardless of whether or not we see or feel You there. Forgive my uncertainty and doubts about the future, and give me the strength to take the next step You are directing me to take. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Caleb's first haircut

2011-10-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

It doesn't matter how many children you have, they each have their own distinct personality!

Some of them LOVE to get their hair cut.....and some do not!

But either way, it usually turns out ok!

Especially when there are lollipops involved ;D

Complaint

2011-10-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

I feel like all I do these days is complain.

Several of the kids are sick, and I spent the day yesterday at 2 different doctor's offices and at the hospital for chest x-rays. Allie is really sick with what may be bronchitis (x-ray ruled out pneumonia), and she is also in intense pain from her cycle.....not a nice combination. She missed her class yesterday, and will miss her class again today.

Unfortunately, all she wants to do is sleep, but she will be stuck running errands with us as we have a showing this afternoon and have to get out of our house.....guess she'll have to sleep in the car.

I'm trying to get ready for today's showing. That means cleaning all the glass in the house (mirrors, windows, etc.) that has fingerprints or toothpaste splatters, vacuuming the floors, mopping the floors, turning on all the lights, and then keeping it all that way as I shuffle the kids out the door. Fortunately, Zack is here to help today. Unfortunately, he won't be here to help this weekend when we will likely have several showings. His birthday gift this year was a trip back to his home state to see the Patriots play football and hang out with an old friend. When we booked the trip, we didn't know he would be out of a job and we would have the house on the market. So, while I'm happy that he gets to go, I'm feeling a little bad for myself....and rather stressed out at the thought of prepping for showings and having to be out of the house for hours at a time without him.

And speaking of jobs, many of the jobs that we were hopeful about last week have not panned out, and we are down to just a couple of options at this point. One of the jobs would be a complete lifestyle change for us as it is on the east coast (New Hampshire), but it would be a great opportunity for Zack's career. The other option may be to stay here, but we would still have to sell the house to make ends meet. It's still possible that something else will come along, but we don't have too much time to wait....I can't believe it's already been two weeks since we got the news!

Josh has been having a problem in school with bullying.....he was being bullied by a group of 4 boys in his art class and it got to the point that Zack had to meet with the principal and the art teacher to resolve the situation. Yeah....that's exactly why we put our kids in a private christian school......so they could be bullied! I'll write more about it later, but for now, that's what we're dealing with, and it makes me question my need to homeschool all over again.....more stress.

I find myself so exhausted that I can hardly keep my eyes open even when I'm in the middle of an activity like vacuuming. I know it's the stress that's doing it, but I can't control it and it's so horrible! I am struggling with having no real routine these days and feel as though things are so out of control. I also feel like my brain is straining just to keep up with everything that's going on....it's so overwhelming! I'm trying to keep track of all the things I normally have going on, plus deal with real estate agents, new job possibilities, thoughts of homeschool, house-hunting in other places, sick kids and upcoming holidays and birthdays!

And yes, I do know that things will work out. I know that this is God's plan. I know that I shouldn't worry, be scared or be stressed.....

but I am.

His wandering ways...

2011-10-04T10:53:00.002-05:00

Jacob.

Baby #7.

Tender-hearted, yet bold.

Sweet & mindful, yet adventurous and confident.

I adore his spirit.

I love his willingness to explore without fear.

I love the fact that he's riding without training wheels at age 3!

But as much as I love the excitement he has for the new freedom that his fast bike has given him....

I find myself completely overwhelmed by his wandering ways!

Jacob began riding without training wheels several weeks ago, and ever since he has been venturing out more and more on his own. We never used to have a problem with him exploring the neighborhood, or for that matter, leaving our front yard, but now that his bike can take him down the road at lightning speed, he seems to have the compulsion to want to GO!

It's become such a problem that I've had to punish him more times than I can count, with punishments ranging from time-outs to taking his bike away to spanking. He no longer thinks twice about hopping on his bike and disappearing off down the road, completely out-of-sight....never to return....

And not only does he leave our house, but he has taken to visiting all the neighbors.....riding his bike to their houses, dropping it in the middle of their driveways and then proceeding to ring their doorbells and disappear inside! Quite often before I even have a chance to realize that he's left the yard!

We've tried to explain to him that it's not safe. Tried to reason with him that he can ride if he first gets permission so that we know where he is.

But he just doesn't understand.

Either that or he doesn't listen.

Or worse.......

I'm beginning to find myself wondering if he has ADHD as this is so reminiscent of Josh at the same age....

OH MERCY!!!

State of Affairs

2011-10-03T10:52:00.001-05:00

Fall is always such a wonderful time of year with so many fun family activities, but honestly, our weekends get so cram-packed that I often find myself wondering where our days have gone! Fortunately, I have pictures to remind me ;D

Saturday began early....like 5:30am early! Sophie had to be dropped off at the school at 5:40 to catch the bus for her cross country meet in Peculiar, Missouri. She was racing at 9:30am, so we had to be there by 9, which meant having the whole gang up, dressed, fed and ready to roll by 8, since it was a 45-min. drive (and I always like to leave a little time built in for "emergencies!").

The meet went well. Since they were running in Missouri, it was a true 5K, and her time was good considering they don't normally run quite that far! She placed 3rd for her school and somewhere in the low 100's overall for the girls' varsity race. But given that there were hundreds of runners, her place was very respectable, and we are very proud of her for continuing to do so well for her first year ever running cross country ;D

The rest of Saturday was spent paying bills, making a grocery list and shopping, so we were looking forward to a day of rest and fun on Sunday! Our church throws an annual fall festival that the kids love to attend, so we spent a couple of hours there yesterday. Here's some of the gang on the choo-choo....

It's a great event for us because it's all free... we love that word!
Sophie & Josh had fun trying to "out-do" each other on this blowup....

They were trying to see who could get the farthest while wearing a harness!

I forgot my camera, so these are cell phone pics with no flash, but they're not too bad!

Ah, brotherly love! Caleb is so into hugging and kissing these days :D

Noah, Josh & Matthew climbed the rock wall....

Josh & Noah were climbing up the front at the same time....Josh sort of had the advantage!

Matthew was wearing flip flops, but he did his best!

And when he couldn't go any higher, he got a little help from his big brother....

On our way out, we stopped by The Shack. Our church pastors have pledged to spend 100 nights in a shack out in front of the church to help raise 1 million dollars to fight poverty!

The boys got to go inside The Shack and write messages on the wall to the pastors!

When we got home, we decided to do one of our favorite fall family activities....

Painting pumpkins :D

Despite the weather-proof, non-washable paint, the kids had a great time and we avoided any major uh-ohs ;D

When they were done painting, Allie enlisted the kids help for a photography project she had to get done for one of her classes. Here are some of the fun "action" shots she got....

When the pumpkins were dry, we put them out in the gardens in front of the house!

This haunted house was Josh's creation...

Here's Noah's pumpkin....

And Matthew wanted to make a Frankenstein pumpkin.....

This post is so random today :D Here are some more of the action shots that Allie was trying to get! I took these while she was using a film camera to capture the shots that she needed for her assignment. Here's how it looked from far away....

And up close :D

Poor Josh! But what a good sport!

We were hoping for a showing or two of the house over the weekend, but I guess it was just too soon since it didn't end up in the MLS until Saturday. No worries though! I'm sure we'll have some soon, and then I'll be complaining about having to deal with them ;D

Zack is at his office this morning cleaning out what's left of his personal items. He has some interviews lined up for this week, so I'll keep everyone posted as we begin to get some idea of where we may be headed! Right now, it's just one day at a time.

Thanks again for all your votes for Top 25 Big Family Blogs! The voting ends today at 5pm, and it looks like we will keep our position in 3rd place!!! Woo hoo! But you still have time to ensure that we stay in 3rd, so click the button above to vote one final time!

Things that don't belong...

2011-09-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what doesn't belong in this picture?

If you guessed that ugly lock box.....YOU'RE RIGHT!!!

And can you guess what doesn't belong in our yard?

If you guessed that ugly old "for sale" sign then YOU ARE RIGHT AGAIN!!!

It never feels real until you see that sign sitting in your yard. And today I'll admit, there's a fine line between feeling hopeful and totally freaking out....

and I'm trying really hard not to cross it right now.

Life goes on...

2011-09-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that my husband lost his job almost one week ago, the world is still spinning and life goes on!

I wanted to thank everyone again for voting.....we're in the homestretch now with only 4 days of voting left! We've stayed in the top 3 this entire time, but I did panic a bit yesterday when I saw the 4th place blog seemed to be closing in ;D It doesn't really matter at this point- we've made it to the top 25! But after being in 3rd place for so long, it would be nice to finish 3rd! Don't forget, you can vote once each day until October 3rd, and, as always, you can click on the button above to go vote for Toddlers, Teens & In-Betweens! Thanks again!

I also wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who has been sending me emails and tweets with offers of prayer and even jobs ;D I just can't thank you all enough for your continued thoughts! I was so blessed yesterday when my sweet, sweet neighbor (Courtney!) came by with a Starbucks gift card for me! She knew I needed to de-stress and wanted me to go have some coffee and relax ;D That touched me so much, and I can't imagine trying to get through this without the amazing people that God has placed in my life :D

And, as I said before, life goes on......

Saturday was Sophie's 4th cross country meet of the season! It was a HUGE meet out in Lawrence at Kansas State University, and the whole gang went to cheer her on. It's been held since the 1970's out at an old farm called Rim Rock Farm, and the course was challenging to say the least.

There were over 60 schools competing from states as far away as Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma! This next shot is of the runners lined up for the varsity girls' race....

Caleb hung out on his daddy's shoulders to watch the start of the race!

Sophie started strong and stayed strong all the way.....

Over the rough terrain, across the old wooden bridge....

Past her fan club (that would be ME!) ;D

And up the hills.....one of them fondly named "suicide hill!"

Just to give you an idea of the steep terrain she had to face, here's a shot of the boys coming back up the course after watching her cross the bridge!

And she did GREAT!!!!! She finished 4th for her school and in the top 50 for the whole race! I'm not sure of the exact number of runners, but it was in the hundreds! Her time was 18:11....not bad for a first-timer! The top scores were in the 16-minute range, so we were thrilled with her time!

Someone pinned her number on Caleb's back and off he went!

Here she is after the race with some of the runners from school....

And her brothers love stealing her snacks and water- that's the only reason they go ;D

I'm always amazed at the sea of tents that are set up by the schools- it's so funny to see the kids napping and hanging out under their school's tent as they wait for their event or relax when they're all done!
Of course, they end up being there for many hours, so it's nice that they have a place to relax!

One last shot of Sophie by the school flag....

It will be interesting to see what flag she's standing under one year from now......!

Boys will be boys

2011-09-28T09:51:00.001-05:00

If you run with the philosophy that boys will be boys....

then you simply understand that....

the harder they play....

the harder they fall ;D

This is Jacob 4 days after being hit in the eye with a rock shot from a slingshot! He's looking much better today than he did on Sunday after our trip to the emergency room where he had to have an IV and be sedated so they could get a good look at this eye! While the bruising is getting worse, I'm happy to say that his eyeball is looking a bit better today. For the last 3 days the white part of his eye has been solid red and nasty looking, but today I can see more white.....progress, although he still has problems with it watering and tearing quite a bit!

On another note....I just checked the voting, and while we're still in 3rd place, the number 4 blog is coming up fast behind us! I would love to finish in the top 3 since we've been there so long, and with only 6 days left to vote, I think we can do it!!! If you haven't voted yet today, here's the link....

Just click the button above and go vote for Toddlers, Teens & In-Betweens! Thanks!

Many thanks!

2011-09-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

I have been completely overwhelmed with the emails that have flooded my inbox over the last couple of days!!!! I wanted to just take a minute to thank everyone so VERY much for your thoughts, prayers and even job offers ;D We would love to live in every state that has been offered up (and there have been many!), but we have to go where there's a job that my husband is qualified for!

In all honesty, while we are certainly feeling a bit frazzled with real estate agents and trying to sort out the job situation, we are not fearful. We know that this is all God's plan, and He is in control. I'm not gonna lie.....I was full of fear and panic on Friday, but it quickly subsided and I'm resolute to let God lead us where He wants us to go. I simply pray every day that God open the doors for us and show us the way. No fear.

If you are praying for us, I would like to ask especially for prayers for our children. This transition will be the hardest on them, and it's always tough for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My biggest concern is the school situation. Emily is a senior, and I'm not sure of her options at this point. Sophie, who is a sophomore, will have a much bigger challenge than anyone as she is very involved in sports, and it's tough to go to a new school and step into those programs. My other concern is that private school is no longer going to be an option for the boys as it's incredibly expensive in the areas we're looking (Nashville & Dallas)....about $30,000/year for the 3 boys! I'm already researching homeschool options again, and am completely open to that path, but it's very overwhelming and I would appreciate prayers in this area!

We listed the house yesterday, and our hope is to get is sold and have a job lined up by Christmas as that is the best time to transition the kids. Of course, we all know that this is God's plan, and our hopes may not be the best path ;D

Thanks again so much for everything! I feel so blessed to have this blog as a resource, with fellow blogging buddies all over the country, and I will keep everyone updated as much as possible!

Downsized....

2011-09-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

On Friday, my husband went to work, just like every other day. By 10am that morning, he learned he no longer had a job....his position had been eliminated....the company was downsizing.

We've seen it happen on t.v. and in the movies, we've even seen it happen to friends and colleagues...

but it's never happened to US.

On Friday, I went through periods of sobbing, followed by stretches of panic and then calm, only to start all over again. My husband had us both up at 4am Saturday- he couldn't sleep and, thanks to him, neither could I! We sat in our home office and worked on our computers.....he was looking for jobs, I was looking for houses.

Saturday was Sophie's cross country meet. It was weird. We are in a new stage of reality, and yet things continue as though nothing has happened.

Sunday our real estate agent came over. We're using the same agent that helped us buy our house almost 4.5 years ago, and we're thankful to have her. She's a very positive and focused person, and we need that right now.

Today started like any other Monday. I dropped the kids off at school, and my husband headed in to work.....but this time it was to clean out his office.

He talked to human resources. There will be compensation. He's been a vice president of sales with this company for 3 years, recruited by them from his job as a district manager with Pfizer. We thought it was an opportunity to grow when we left Pfizer....leaving behind a pension and 10 years of service. We thought we would be opening new doors to better things.....being downsized wasn't one of them.

We have little hope of finding a job in the Kansas City area, and honestly, at this point, have little desire to remain here. The cost of living is high, and we are ready to move on. The original plan when we left Pfizer 3 years ago was to get on with this company and eventually end up at the headquarters in Nashville, TN. There is still a possibility that we may find a job within this current company in Nashville, and that is one of our options.

We are also looking at Texas (the Dallas area) as we've lived there several times and love the area.

My husband plans to go to Nashville tomorrow. He already had a sales meeting planned there this week, and he is going to go as planned. It's an opportunity to look for jobs within the company and network.

We hope to move around Christmas. We plan to list the house this week. We want as little disruption to the kids as possible, but unfortunately, it's Emily's senior year.

Lots of questions.....few answers.

God knows.