Get out the vote

We voted!

Early voting ended today, so we finally managed to get out the door and do it. We have always taken our girls with us, at least the oldest ones. Ashlyn really wants to be able to vote, so Shane took her in and let her "help" him vote. Bethany & Hope went in with me. A young girl was in line in front of us, she was nervous since it was her first time to vote. Fun stuff!

Pregnancy update: I've had some anxiety about this labor, but it's diminished considerably, thanks to the prayer from some wonderful prayer warriors. My due date is 2 days away and I've just about come to the end of my to-do list. When we were expecting Jaybird, we purposefully didn't schedule anything near her due date. That meant we were sitting around bored enough to poke our eyes out for several weeks. I tried to avoid that this time...yet I'm getting the urge to look for sticks and my eyes are twitching.

The intense cleaning/working has started. Yesterday I made bread & muffins on top of making a crock pot dinner & the usual cleaning. Today I cleaned the kitchen really well and decluttered all my filing, oh and all that little junk that accumulates in the deep crevices under the computer desk-gone.

I hope this means you hear from Summer soon!

Almost There!

I was almost in labor last night. Almost. That's the key. I hate that word today!

At 12:30 am contractions started with a bang-every 5 minutes-and continued until about 3:30am. That's all there is. They stopped.

My OB appt. was today, so I at least held some hope that those contractions were making a difference. Ummm, nope. Nothin'. Well, okay, last week I was dilated to a whopping 1 and now it's a "1 to a 2".

My OB said that if I make it to next week (my due date plus one day) then my appt before I see her is for a sono to check several factors that contribute to the baby's well being. If all is well, she'll continue to monitor me like that until 42 weeks. If we go that far, we might have to resort to something like this (sorry, Shane is a poor influence on me-I stole it from his blog)

Shane & I went to the appt today, and out for lunch afterwards sans kids, in faith that this would be our last chance for a childless date for a while. Here's hoping!

Crafty Wendy

Ashlyn said I've been "crafty" lately...I think I get this way before a baby comes. My first on-my-own sewing attempt was right before she was born. I wrestled with a Noah's Ark wall hanging that I sandwiched & sewed together incorrectly several times before getting all the layers in the right order. I'm not much better at sewing now, but I can sew a straight seam-after I've ripped it out several times!

I made this sling and bag out of some clearance fabric ($1.25 a yard) I found online. In all the thrifty excitement, I didn't think about the print being so out of season. I worked on the bag and the sling the week my Grandma was in the hospital. It served to burn off some nervous energy. I put them away for the spring, so I had to have something for this season, right?

I went online again and found the pink & brown print (not as cheap, unfortunately) to go with the brown I already had. I sewed this bag & sling up Wednesday & last night. I messed up the handle and had to go back and fix it, then my machine started acting up so it's not as nice as I'd like it, but it's DONE (hint, hint, Audrey, you can come anytime now, everything is ready!).

We had another craft bite the dust this week. We were going to make birdfeeders out of pinecones, peanut butter & bird seed. Well, we got all the supplies out and Ashlyn rather excitedly told me the birdseed was moving! It was full of weevils! I hadn't thought of weevils since my Grandma served us cereal full of them when we were kids (buying in bulk for the occasional grandkid meals has it's low points, I suppose).

Signing out,

Seam Ripper

Meet Summer

This is my friend Summer. She blogs here-not often enough for us, but when she does, it's very good. I hope she'll be posting over here soon since her job is to update you all about labor & delivery once it starts. Again, I hope it's really, really soon. Today my ribs started rebelling against this baby in earnest. I am too short to be this pregnant...

God's Faithfulness

Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself (Exploring the Fruits of the Spirit) group Bible study has been so rich for me. I plan to study it all over again, really mulling over the parts I feel God is trying to get through to me (let's just say there's A LOT for me to chew on!).

This last week was about faithfulness. Really, I don't feel I struggle with having faith. I'm kinda simple-God said it, that's all there is to it. Let's move on.

Yet this study really hit home with the anxiety I have had about a possible C-section. It's not about how much faith I have, but how faithful God is to me (and you!).

We studied about Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27 & 28. In this passage we see God's will being brought through a scary life or death turn of events. In order for God to get the glory, the ship had to run aground.

Let's get this out there, in case you missed it, I don't want a C-section. Not one bit. I could take up the position of "faith" saying I know I won't have to have one but that's not truth. I've HAD one. People have them all the time. There is nothing evil here the Lord must save me from. My feelings against a C-section can not be taken as fact. My thoughts are not his thoughts after all. Just because I don't want one that doesn't mean He doesn't have a bigger picture in mind for me.

Deliverance does not mean ease. He can delivery me from this situation in any way he wants. I may have another C-section. I may not. Either way, I want him to have the glory. I just need his peace (which I feel like I have now).

An interesting point Beth brought out is that not every Bible promise to every person applies to us today. I have thought this for years but I continue to hear Christians claim some random promise God gave to a specific person in a specific circumstance. She says, "We must seek His heart to know if a particular assurance is ours to claim in a particular moment."

One promise we can stand on is this: Our faithfulness does not equate with his. In other words, he doesn't base his faithfulness to us on our current faith level. Praise God-that's refreshing news!

Here are some other notes I wrote in the margins:

God desires to turn a weakness into a strength and that comes from going through not being delivered from.

If we feel defeated on a consistent basis, we are listening to the enemy on a consistent basis. (This one was very good for me to hear!)

The enemy wants to set a trap that can not be altered (Daniel's story of the law about praying to anyone but the king), but nothing he does can not be overridden by God.

He's been faithful in every previous crisis, won't he be faithful in this one?

This week has been a small spiritual journey for me-nothing huge, but I don't want to take the Lord's work in me lightly.

I started the week a little concerned about this baby's delivery. There were no signs of progress when I saw the doctor Monday. Since Jay was 13 days late, her cord, placenta (where she gets all her nutrients) and her skin were dried up like raisins. My great labor & delivery nurse friend, who is normally very laid back has begged me throughout this pregnancy not to go late again. Our friend who will also be Audrey's pediatrician agrees.

The problem is that I just can't have a traditional scheduled induction because of the prior C-section with Bethany. The drugs used for induction can cause a scarred uterus to rupture, which can be fatal for mom and baby. There are some techniques for getting labor started (breaking the water is one) but there are no guarantees. If the water is broken and labor doesn't start, a C-section is in order.

I know C's are all the rage, with some doctors allowing elective sections. I can't jump on that bandwagon. My recovery was hard, the incision was tender even two years later if I was under stress or tired. It would make my 3rd abdominal surgery and I'm not keen on all that scar tissue. I know some of my recovery issues were my fault-I rearranged my hospital room while Shane was not looking, so I know I must have done too much at home. How would I avoid that with 5 children to take care of? Not going to happen.

So, back to my spiritual journey.

Actually, I'll get back to it-tomorrow. The Lord has shown me some cool things about His faithfulness but I need to get my thoughts in order. I'm also trying to keep (get?) my posts shorter...so until next time...

PS-I sent out an email to some prayer warriors asking that they pray I go into labor on my own soon, feel free to pray for me in that way if you're a prayin' kinda person.

PSS-If you're one of my local buddies who wants to get "the call" that we're going to the hospital/had the baby no matter what time of day or night it is, you need to tell me. If you aren't my parents/inlaws, my emergency ride to the hospital, or my babysitter, you won't be called until daylight hours.

See you tomorrow unless y'all's prayers work extra fast!

Blog Links

Just FYI-I put Ashlyn & Hope's blog in the links to the right. If you want to read it and haven't already been invited, email me at allgirlhomeschool@yahoo.com.

Shane's is also added to the sidebar, but read at your own risk, lol.

What I'm learning...

I feel the need to blog (you know it's just free therapy, right?), but my thoughts are scattered. I think I can tie them all together by saying I'm learning a lot right now.

From my sweet aunts (my grandma had 3 daughters and my dad-all the girls were here this last week caring for my grandma): Titus 2 women indeed. My anxiety level goes up significantly when called on to help an elderly person with anything medical. My shy side comes out fast. Watching my aunts gently tend to my grandma, especially as they were so kind to her when she was confused, was beautiful. I hope to be as good a caregiver to my mom some day, should she need it.

From my brother: He's younger, but sometimes way cooler than I am. Okay, he's probably always cooler than me...he's really into cast iron cooking right now and he told me how to season my cast iron skillets. I knew using the SOS pad was not right, but I didn't know the right way to clean them. When I mentioned to Shane that once you season cast iron, you don't really wash it, he was mortified. I was wrong though-you do wash it, you just don't use soap. My brother never liked soap anyway ;)

From Beth Moore: Sometimes I pray and ask God to reveal my sin with a yellow highlighter. It makes me feel good about myself that I am so willing to be changed. Uh yeah. Let the Lord work through Beth Moore and you won't leave feeling so good! If this study has shown me anything, it's that Paul was not the chief of sinners, I am.

From Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest entry yesterday was very good for a legalistic girl like me. Oh boy do I like the outside to look right-with the right religious activities and all. I was especially challenged by the "soaking in" part-like we are a garment set to soak. How often would we sit long enough, be still long enough to soak? But if we can check Sunday School, Worship Service and a little quiet time off our list, we think we're good to go.

From Shane: Our girls sometimes get a little carried away in their plans and schemes. I get frustrated being asked for the 75th time how they can earn money for this or that. Shane has to remind me that unlike me, this home is just about the extent of their world. Their ideas for activities that fill their little lives need to be nurtured by me...more of that Fruit of the Spirit stuff-thanks Beth Moore!

Whatever is going on in your life, I hope you're learning as well. The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing-and what I do know, I will probably mess up! Can you identify?!

Update

Just popping in to give a quick update.

My Grandma is doing better and may very well pull through this health crisis. She's still struggling a little to breathe, and is a bit confused probably due to the strange surroundings, the pain meds, and her lack of good sleep. Most of the time she's pretty with it and can hold up her part of the conversation until she drifts off to sleep.

My gut tells me she may have preferred to go on to her heavenly home, but I don't know...it's hard to live in a culture that doesn't value it's elderly. It mixes everything up.

I'm trying to be home as much as I can instead of just hanging out at the hospital. The hospital is probably a little bit of an escape for me-adult conversation with aunts & family I don't see often is nice even under the circumstances. My girls need me to be home, though and I'm not really needed at the hospital-you know how it is in our generation, the adult kids haven't quite graduated to an active helping role. I am sure learning a lot about generous care as I watch my aunts take care of their mother.

Everything for Audrey is just about ready. I washed up her stroller that I bought at a consignment sale last week. Her car seat is ready by the door. Her cloth diapers are in but I've just stored them until I decide it's time to switch her from disposables. Our bags are all packed. I plan to get her cradle out today or tomorrow but I have to clean out a spot so I can rearrange some things and move it all around.

I've had some pretty hard contractions. The ones that stop you in your tracks, but nothing with any regularity. My doctor offered to strip my membranes this next week but I'm not sure I want to-not only does it just make me crampy all day but with all the family hovering at the hospital (not my hospital), I don't want to rush this baby here. I think I'll just let the Lord work until we're a little closer to the due date. If she comes on her own right now, I won't be too upset though-I'm emotionally ready though I feel fine physically.

Okay, over and out y'all! Have a blessed Sunday!

Legacy

My sweet Grandma has been on a little bit of a roller coaster since Tuesday night. We got the call this morning that she may be at the beginning of the end with congestive heart failure occurring. A couple of hours later the phrase "she may not make it through the night" came into play. Why is it only the night-we never say they may not make it through the day...anyway...

She's been talking to us, she knows who she's talking to and she's even bringing family colloquialisms into her conversations. Is there a better name for those? Those little sayings only a family understands. She wants her glasses on so she can see all of us. After I left this evening, I heard she and her daughters were singing hymns (at least I know she was singing in her heart even if she didn't have the breath to sing).

Earlier today I was thinking about my grandparents. Although they're all very different, my grandparents have left neat legacies for us.

My mom's dad died first, when I was in Jr. High. He lived out in the country in a house that was built into the side of a hill. His screened in porch was on the outside, but the further you walked on the cement floors, the further you walked into a hillside. That porch was the place to be for cards and home made hand cranked ice cream! The pond was always stocked with fish we got to feed with bread crumbs. Family reunions were a blast-camping out in the tents by the pond or sleeping on a cot next to snoring Uncle Bob! Unique, outdoor living was the legacy he left.

My Grandpa died two years ago this Fall. His wife is the one in the hospital now and we live in their home. He had business cards made with the Gospel on them! He was known for whistling those same hymns his daughters were singing tonight. He could recite poetry that has become family favorites (The Raggedy Man, anyone?). He was a craftsman but sometimes didn't think a project all the way through-like when he built the bathroom cabinets before he considered how much room the toilet would need. Anyone who's used our bathroom and had to squeeze their knees into the small space knows what I mean! He bought lots of items on sale, just because they were on sale-prune juice on sale! Yeah Buddy! He'd also sneak out and buy hamburgers when he was supposed to be on a diet.

My Grandma, who everyone has called "Miss Clara" today, is the prayer warrior of the family. I know her prayers ushered me into the Kingdom. She's been active in every way until Saturday. She knows all about politics, she's an avid reader, and she even volunteered at the Pregnancy Resource Center until about 10 years ago She taught Sunday School to Noah, I'm sure-well, not Noah but almost every adult in town! She shared the bounty of her garden and she loved a man who struggled with dementia till death they departed.

My mother's mom is still alive and living on her own in Oklahoma City. She narrowly escaped the Federal Building Bombing in OKC, she water skied until recently but can still tent camp and hold her own out on the lake. She raised a big family alone (she & my grandfather divorced) in the big city and is still very independent.

Not only do I want to pick up traits from each of these people in my life, I want to give a great legacy as well. When there's so many ways to entertain the grand kids (cartoons, the web, game stations, movies...) it takes extra effort to sow into their lives. My cousins would all agree that my grandparents sowed into us richly. I want to be that way with the future generations!

Just Plain Weird

Okay, weird may be the wrong word, but right now it fits so I'm going with it.

The Holy Spirit is just weird to me sometimes. Like today.

Let me back up. Last week in Life Group I mentioned that my typical behavior is to feel a niggling in the back of my mind, dismiss it, then realize too late that I should have heeded that pause. I almost always realize too late that it was the Holy Spirit trying to speak to me.

Tonight my schedule was double booked with a memorial service for a sweet lady from church and a Meet & Greet Dessert with a PRC Director from Bolivia our PRC helps support. I really wanted to be at each event but something kept telling me I didn't need to go to either one. I usually am motivated by a strong sense of duty, but even that couldn't be conjured up today. I just couldn't get a peace about leaving home.

So, I thought, "This is it, the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me something. I need to just be still and not make plans." Of course I didn't really be still, I asked God all day if my water would break tonight or if one of the girls was about to get sick.

Instead, about 4:30 I got a call from my Mom that my 89 year old grandma (Clara for you all who know her) was not doing well. She fell Saturday head first into her little flowerbed behind her assisted living apartment. She was bruised up pretty good but also sustained some compression fractures to her osteoporosis ridden spine. They were keeping her in the hospital to recover with pain meds. Tonight she took a turn for the worse. She couldn't breathe well, was afraid she was dying and later became very confused. It turns out she had a lung full (literally) of blood from the fall. They drained it this evening and she's already doing much better, but earlier in the evening her children were making those hard decisions about DNR orders and ventilators.

Now she's just mad at us for letting them "treat her this way", lol. By morning her thinking should be back in order now that she can get some oxygen in her body.

Am I glad I heeded the niggling tonight? You betcha. Will I do it next time? I'd like to say so, but really y'all, I'm so bad about it I might not. I feel like Paul-doing things I don't want to do and not doing what I know I'm supposed to do. (Insert positive, uplifting comment here...)

Blessings to you as you follow the Holy Spirit-hopefully better than I do!

Just Plain Rude

I'm sure you've noticed my blogging has been a little slow these days-that's because the rest of my life is so fast! I've really been getting some things done (ahem, nesting) like loading Audrey's chest of drawers, washing her car seat cover, packing and repacking our hospital bags and deep cleaning the house. We just finished changing out all of our spring/summer clothes so now we're just waiting on sweater weather. I got some great sweaters for about $1.50 a piece at a thrift store and I can't wait to wear them (of course the weather & my shape must both change first!).

In all this cleaning out, I had 3 large black garbage bags full of stuff for the local thrift store. I was dropping it off today when a car pulled up behind me. I am always worried about being in some one's way, so I felt bad that I had several things to unload and here was a car waiting behind me in the alley.

A woman gets out of her car and asks me about baby clothes. I couldn't hear all she said, so I asked if she wanted to know if the thrift store took them. She said, "No, I was wondering if you had any you could just give me for my grandson." I was a little perturbed and said, "Well, I really would like mine to go to this store because the money from them goes to hospice care, besides, I really have mostly big kid & adult clothes in here." Then, spying the stacks of disposable diapers still in my car from my shower, she said, "What about those diapers, can I have them?"

Oh my. Is that the rudest thing ever? I do believe I'm noticeably pregnant-is it such a stretch to think I might be using those diapers? And even if that didn't occur to her, is it ever appropriate to ask a stranger for brand new diapers you see in her car?

I am still stunned at the audacity. You can't get much cheaper in our town than the Hospice Thrift store, yet she felt the need to circumvent the system and get the goods before they got in the back door. I wonder what prompted her to follow me there in the first place-is she like an ambulance chaser-just with a thrift store twist? Too weird.

Okay, so there's my vent for the day. Count yourself lucky-I could be blogging about the aches & pains of late pregnancy!

Oh, and I know you're probably thinking about that poor woman who has a naked and cold grandson because she couldn't get the cold hearted stranger at the thrift store to help her out. There are a plethora of resources for her grandchild in our little town and if she's willing to chase down cars in the alley, she can find them!

Edited to add: one of my friends, who is much sharper than I, made the point that I don't have clothes for a grandSON anyway, so it's not like I could have helped her, lol.

Gifts & Frugality

I was just scanning my Google Reader before getting ready for bed and as I read D's thoughts on being financially skinny during gift-giving times, I thought I'd post on the subject as well.

Not only do we not have the fundage for big parties and lots of gifts, but we don't have the room to house the said gifts. We keep our kids' birthdays simple with family parties and a couple of gifts from us. Sometimes we have a friend or two over, but we still keep it simple. Oh, and we don't do overly practical gifts, but we don't do frivolous stuff either. We try hard to keep all gifts we give meaningful & useful to the receiver.

Christmas is a bigger deal-not that we buy more for our kids, but that it's even more important for me to keep it scaled down. Two years ago I counted up how many people usually give our kids gifts. Then I multiplied that by how many children we had at the time (4) and the total was about 60 gifts. Sixty! All of which have to go in ONE bedroom!

After she picked her jaw off the floor, my mom thankfully responded very well and has worked hard at coming up with gifts the girls like that don't take up much space-their favorite magazine subscriptions, for example. Last year she bought them each a cool beach towels-which they needed, but again they didn't take up much room.

Other family hasn't been so responsive. They have the strong opinion that kids need the thrill of opening lots of gifts, even if the gifts aren't especially needed, age appropriate, or in line with the decor or themes of our home (especially their room). I struggle with this, but I know their hearts are pure...they love our kids and want to bless them. They struggle with our minimalist giving so I guess we're even :)

With 60 gifts pouring in for our kids-more this year since Audrey will get some-what do we buy for our kids? Next to nothing! Aren't we terrible?!

We do some stocking gifts, and about 3 gifts a piece under the tree. The three gifts are of good quality, they are probably something the girls have asked for like books, games, or movies. I also try to do something sentimental. One year I did homemade aprons for each one, sometimes it's matching clothes...and then there's the Daddy Gift-he picks out one great gift, something like what Santa might bring. That's it-which is fine since even the stuff we get them gets lost in the pile of presents from everyone else.

One thing we try not to skimp on is gifts to each other. I know there are different ideas on this topic, but Shane & I have always bought each other gifts. We don't buy ourselves a lot during the year, so we save up those special purchases for Christmas. We still keep it simple, just a few items but with much thought and awareness of what the other one would be blessed by. We see it as a tangible statement of our love for each other displayed in front of our children. We all open gifts one at a time (at our home, not everywhere we go, much to our regret). We savor it and it takes a LONG time to do our 3 or so gifts each. We love it this way! We really want to see if the receiver likes our gift, we tell the story of how we picked it out, simply enjoying the process of loving on each other through gift giving.

So, is that frugal? I don't know...we don't charge our gifts, we try to use cash only. We keep it within a budget and we shop sales. We do homemade gifts when appropriate. We don't buy our little babies much-they don't know!

So, how do you do frugal gifts? Do you throw caution to the wind and do a big Christmas no matter what?

Field Trip!

So, big homeschooling family goes to the dentist...this shouldn't be a big deal. You'd think we all had green hair or something!

No, it wasn't that bad, really. It was funny that we had 2 hours of two dentists' schedules blocked off for us and we brought in another adult for crowd control (thanks Andrea, we sure needed you!). Since we saw a couple of dentists and their different assistants, we got to explain several times that the girls weren't really missing a day of school today and that yes, this baby really is our 5th daughter.

Just think how it will be when Jaybird and Audrey are old enough for their own appointments! We'll have to book the entire morning for our family alone, lol.

Some of us had no cavities (way to go Mom & Bethany!), and some have follow up appointments :( Dad has the most work to be done, but he swears the dentist said it's not his fault, it's that some prior work was completed so very close to his other teeth and there is no way to clean it well.

A huge blessing was that today's visit didn't cost us anything! I was prepared for a steep price with all of us in there, but since today's work was all preventative, the insurance will cover it all! Yippee!

What's in a name?

He's not sure if it's pure peer pressure of if he actually likes the name, but Audrey's middle name is Shayne.

Summer initiated the idea, but it spread like wildfire to all my friends both far & near. Everyone thinks it's really cool (and so do I!). Thanks for wearing him down, girls!

I pined to be named after someone, so I'm glad this baby has a name sake! Very cool.

I did get a song, though:

Windy by The Association:

Who's peeking out from under a stairway
Calling a name that's lighter than air
Who's bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it's Windy
Who's tripping down the streets of the city
Smiling at everybody she sees
Who's reaching out to capture a moment
Everyone knows it's Windy

And Windy has stormy eyes
That flash at the sound of lies
And Windy has wings to fly
Above the clouds, above the clouds
Who's tripping down the streets of the city
Smiling at everybody she sees
Who's reaching out to capture a moment
Everyone knows it's Windy

Sorry Audrey, I think I just made this post all about me...

Mr Allgirlhomeschool

See him over on the right? Let me tell you just a little about him.

First know that I love him more than I could have imagined when we married 13 years ago.

Good, now the nice stuff is out of the way ;) Just kidding...

When I talk about hula hoops in odd places, just know that Shane has a totally different reaction than I do to that kind of stuff. Along with sibling rivalry, messy bedrooms, and sisters staying up too late snuggled together in bed chatting about only they know what, Shane takes the road less traveled. He adores it (mostly). He would see the hula hoop and smile. He'd think about how blessed we are to have a home full of girls. Then he'd ignore the hula hoop and probably leave his dirty clothes right next to it on the floor...

I'm glad he has a balancing perspective, but I sure wish he'd pick up his dirty socks sometimes. :)

It's also important to know that if Shane likes you (my friends, I'm talking to you) he'll tease you. The more he teases, the more comfortable he feels with you. This is ironic because I grew up so terrified of my friends' dads, especially if they were teasers. I just never knew how to take them. Now I'm married to a guy just like that.

So if you're a new volunteer at the pregnancy center and Shane gets you on the phone and tries relentlessly to order pizza, just play along-and tell him you'll put anchovies on it for no extra charge. If he calls you to say you two have an issue to settle-don't sweat it, he has a blessing in store. Either way, it marks the fact that you've made it past his highly sensitive discern-o-meter and you're approved. It's a rare place to be-not sure I've made it there yet!

Oh, and one other thing. He has way cooler music on his blog (posts-not so much!).

Hula Hoops in the Bathroom

Okay, this staying home thing might just drive me crazy. Okay, crazier.

My laid-back-cause-I-have-four-kids-and-have-to-be nature is colliding with my type A side...Shane would actually say I have no laid back part, but truly I do.

For instance, there are things I can walk past for days-weeks even-and ignore. Like when we were given some very cute clothes my mother in law found at a garage sale. They are too big for Hope and too small for Ashlyn, but are worth holding on to-they are "so Hope". Yet the box they belong in is on the very bottom of a stack of about 5 full, heavy, totes in our storage room. Although it bugged me, I closed my eyes every time I saw them stacked on the bar. For two weeks. At least two weeks. Finally this week I'd had enough and I begged my sweet husband to pull out that bottom tote and fill it to the brim with cutie pie hand me downs.

Yet today, as we're cleaning (aka: nesting), I come into the mostly clean bathroom to find a hot pink hula hoop in the floor. Oh my. This drives me nuts. Why do toys just fling themselves out of the girls' room and into the rest of the house? You know, nobody did it, it just appeared. Very much like the dishes that never make it to the sink-yet everyone claims they took their plate not only to the sink, but they're all sure they scraped it into the trash first. Yeah.

So how can I be so laid back about some stuff and my blood pressure skyrockets with one bathroom visiting hula hoop?

I have a vision for my house-I read it elsewhere, but it's too perfect not to share: I want my kids' room(s) to look like a monk's room with Elmo sheets. Okay, Dora sheets but you get the picture. I finally have one child on my side, she's joined the Tosser's Club. We're conspiring to get a bit closer to the monastery look before Christmas. Of course, it's in vain since some of the grandparents think Christmas needs to look like a bomb went off in a toy factory, but hey, there's always Goodwill.

We found this poem in our school assignments last week-it so fits our family-except that my housecleaning isn't so fun-but the part about the Mother & Father is so true:

I Like Housecleaning by Dorothy Brown Thompson

It's fun to clean house.
The food isn't much,
And paint's all about
That we musn't touch;
But strange stored-away things,
Not like everyday things,
Make marvelous playthings
From attics and such.

The boxes come out
From closets and chests,
With odd sorts of clothes
Like old hats and vests,
And photographed faces,
And postcards of places,
And cards left by guests.

Then Mothers says, "Throw
The whole lot away!"
And Father says, "Wait-
I'll need this someday."
But either way's meaning
A chance to go gleaning
Among the housecleaning
For new things to play.

Missed Me?

After the last post, which was pretty heavy, I've not been too inspired to blog. Honestly, I've still been mulling over what all that post means...

And packing my hospital bag. You'd think that after this many children, I'd know exactly what to pack. I feel like I'm forgetting something. I went online and found a list-and wouldn't you know, according to that list I'd forgotten my talisman! No kidding-like a rabbit's foot or something!? My dad had a little black statue of a pot bellied man with crazy surfer hair standing next to a surf board-should I borrow it?

My focus has been on getting ready for this baby, clearing out clutter for an impending move and just simply keeping my head above water as we wrap up our 5th week of school. We're taking the week off next week in exchange for a family dentist trip, an OB appointment and a group thrift store excursion. At least the dentist is over on the first day! The poor receptionist had to block out two hours on two dentists' books for our family! That doesn't even include Jaybird!

I did have a blog-worthy Saturday night-a surprise baby shower! I was so very naive that even upon arriving and seeing friends there that are usually not part of the "couples night" we thought we were going to (I should say "I thought" since Shane was in on it) I didn't get it. The pink cupcakes didn't even do it for me, my friends had to spell it out for me. The funny thing is (and I hope I can say this clearly as the quick thoughts of this girl are not always logical), I'd been there a few minutes when Summer appeared from the bedroom. Shelly looked at her as if she were waiting for some news (like if the shirt she was trying on fit or something) and then Shel said, "Well, are we going to tell her we're having a baby shower?". My first thought was that Summer needed a shower-that she was pregnant. In the next instant it all came together for me, but what a wild thought!

So, I had a great surprise shower-my friends worked their tails off to get me a bundle of cloth diapers-I can only imagine how some of the women felt giving toward that gift! I bet I'm the only one they buy cloth diapers for in their lifetime! Thrown in were some cutie pie outfits and a large amount of regular diapers, too. I am blessed! Oh, and I ate sugar-lots of it. More on that later :)

Be blessed my friends, I'll chat with you here later :)