Yummy Medicine?

I looked out my kitchen window to see Liana giving Adam underdogs on the ropeswing, and hearing Adam scream his complaints... He isn't our daredevil. In fact, he's kind of a chicken when it comes to that kind of thing...

Anyway, the next thing I knew, Adam was coming inside telling me that Liana wouldn't stop pushing him when he asked, and that he was asking her to please stop but she wouldn't and blah, blah, blah.

I suggested that the next time she got on that swing to give her a dose of her own medicine.

"But, Mama," he said, "She likes that medicine."

Barbie and the Diamond Castle

A friend recently handed me an ad for a pair of Barbie dolls. Apparently, there is a new Barbie movie coming out. The two stars of the show are: Princess Liana and Princess Alexa! Can you believe it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_and_the_Diamond_Castle

(Sorry, don't know how to add links that work yet. Oh, Johhhhhhn!!)

By the way, we saw the dolls at the store, and while they were indeed beauties, they sing rather annoyingly, and they would never make it a day without Mama hiding them forever...

Crayola Craziness

I love school supplies. I love the smell of them. I love organizers for them. I love pencil boxes and pencils. And glue bottles. And neon erasers. And *washable* markers. And crayons that come with their own sharpeners. And folders with Cinderella on them, and notebooks with Spiderman.

And so, when Walmart had a sale this weekend, and the aisle was packed with other frenzied moms getting last minute needs for their new grade-schoolers, I caught the bug Bad. Well, I guess I must have. I didn't realize how glazed over and put-it-in-the-cart-ish I was until I hit the cash register.

The lady got half-way through checking me out, and then stopped suddenly and said, "Uh, this isn't for a tax exemption, is it?"

That's how many school supplies I bought.

It's a sickness I tell you.

(Might be headed back this afternoon... I forgot the sticky tack and scissors...)

Please send help.

Backyard haven

It's been a while since I had a picture of all four kiddos on here. It's hard to get 'em all in one spot, actually. But in the evenings, if there's fair weather, and not much going on, we try to all hang out in the back yard. It's my favorite place on the planet. Before living here, we really haven't had a "back yard" so to speak. The last place we lived had a fabulous front yard, and even woods on both sides of us. But nobody really played "in the back."

A front yard is great and all, but hanging in the front yard means to the world, "Come on over and talk to us!" Which is WONDERFUL. But, it means fewer chances to hang out as a family and know it will be "just us." Our last yard was the neighborhood hang out in many ways, and while I loved that, I do admit that my introverted self really loves the privacy of this back yard haven.



I love a nice fire, and I love squealing kids, and I love catching my oldest boy going ga-ga all over his baby sister, and I love rope swings that hurt fannies. (Ok, well, I love watching everyone ELSE on said rope swing...)



Anyway, nights like this one will be what I reflect back on when I'm eighty remembering "the good old days." It won't be too long before my kids are all grown up. *sniff, sniff*, but meanwhile, I'm going to relish every spare second outside with my family.

Go hug someone. Time is short...

The Pioneer Woman

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I don't really read others' blogs a whole lot. The exceptions are those of you who leave me comments - I often pop in and see how you are doing. I like to get to know those who consider me a "friend" enough to keep reading my story here. Otherwise, I don't get around a whole lot. There are literally SCADS of other "homeschool mom" blogs that I really don't get into for some reason. After a while they all start sounding the same (no offense all you homeschool moms; you know I love ya!) It's just that nobody's has me hooked is all.

How Ever.

Have you ever heard of "The Pioneer Woman?" I heard of her via another homeschool board, but I don't read her because of any "homeschool-y" reason. She is just a complete HOOT. Her story has me hooked completely, and her writing is hilarious. Plus, she takes incredible pictures. (I mean INCREDIBLE). Here's her story; She's a doctor's daughter. Grew up on a golf course. Took ballet all her childhood. She went to college in Los Angeles. City-slicker who loves Starbucks. That kind of a gal.

And then she fell in love with a rancher. Like a several-generation Oklahoma rancher. And now she lives among the cows and the horses and the cowboys and the mud, and the grime. And the four children! And her life just isn't what she figured it would have been, but she loves every minute of it, and the glimpses she gives us of her life are heartfelt, touching, and very often have me giggling in my computer chair and I have to make John come over and read it too. Go check her out. I bet you'll love her too! http://thepioneerwoman.com

Dirt diggin'

Lazed around all day enjoying some of the last seconds of the summer. The girls fixed me up with a pretend restaurant meal on the front step. Complete with dandelion greens, grass, dirt and mud for the different courses.

As Aleksa served me my mud, she said, "Don't worry, Mama, this isn't from the sandbox." I was relieved - they aren't allowed to lug sandbox dirt all over the yard... Then I had to ask her where she got it. "Oh, I dug this dirt out of the yard."

Such a relief it wasn't from the sandbox.... lol!

Poor, bugged Adam!

It isn't often anymore that we hear real doozies from the kids as far as language oopses.

Today, however, Adam came in the house telling me, "Mama, Liana and Aleksa are bugging me around!"

Hate when that happens.

Busy summer!

Don't know about anyone else, but this summer has been the busiest summer of my life! Every single weekend except one has been filled with trips or visits of some kind. (Not all the fun kind either~ lots of extra trips to take care of my parents' estate.) Looking forward to a calmer September, although with school starting it will be far from "calm" around here! Then I'm hoping to get lots of company in October and November!

It has been "peach" season at our house. Lots of canning, freezing, and making peach butter out of 100 lbs. of peaches. Very glad to be done with that for the year! My poor kitchen has probably never been stickier! It has been fun to have the chance to do it though. I've had access to all kinds of fruit again this summer, and my freezer and pantry are full again. I have strawberries, blueberries, bing cherries, pie cherries, apricots, and peaches. I still have plums and pears from last year. I've also made lots of jam and jelly this summer - we go through a lot! Our "pie cherries" come pitted in a bucket and frozen... After I put up the cherries, (made some cherry pie filling), I took the juice from them and made the most DELICIOUS cherry jelly! Never had that before, but oh, it is good (if you like cherry pie, that is!)

Actually got a good night's rest last night.. Baby only up twice. The night before, Abby was up three or four times (she cut another tooth yesterday!), and then Liana had nightmares and woke me up twice to tell me about them. I was rather a zombie yesterday. All I accomplished was some laundry and scrubbing down my kitchen (again)... Otherwise, I sat around in the back yard playin' with the kids. Abrielle loves it outside, and the kids love it when Mama watches their tricks. Even swung on the rope swing yesterday. That seat is still hard on the tushie, though now I'm the only one who thinks so. Adam asked if it was because my bottom is "so much bigger" than everyone else's. I used to really like that kid.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Four Years Home!

No. Way. Jose. Four whole years. Were they long, or were they short? They've always been here, haven't they? Life didn't start 'til they came along, seems like. Isn't that strange? I don't know if it was a conscious effort, or unconscious, but I seriously don't remember a whole lot from before the kids "came home." The contrast in how my life is between "before" they were here, and "after" they came home is too great. It's like Dorothy going over the rainbow and winding up in technicolor instead of black and white. That's exactly how I feel.

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate today (ice cream cake, but other than that, it was pretty low-key. Hey, we've been busy, man!) But we did talk off and on all day about how they've changed, and how much of a blessing they are to us, and how thankful we are to be a family. Adam out of the blue thanked us for adopting him and giving him a family. Awww. That boy can melt this mama's heart in about two second flat. He's such a great kid. Not kidding. He's just flat-out nice.

I should do like the "old days" and give a recap on each kid. Haven't done that in a long time.

Adam. Oh, Adam. He's come soooooo far! Remember when he couldn't count to 14? *shudder* He can now. Numbers and math are still soooooo hard for him, but he has come a long way. The move this summer to a house so near a store (we have a convenience store down the street and around the corner, and a grocery store across the street from that...) has been a blessing in helping him understand money. We lived so far from civilization in our last house that he didn't have the chance to get to the stores very often and fully grasp the "money concept." This summer we have let him take a few bucks to the store to get XYZ, and let him pick up stuff for himself too. He's still fuzzy on things, but I just took him back to Kwik Trip the other night and explained what he could get for a buck, and talked him through tax, etc. (all WITHOUT the girls, which I think was what the missing ingredient to all our previous trips). We literally walked through the whole place and talked about what a buck could buy, etc. Numbers/money has been that tough for him. What seems "no duh" to everyone else, is really, really NOT for our Adam. I'm confident, though, that by sending him to the store often enough will let it sink in, slowly but surely...

And speaking of... He must have come a long way, because there is NO WAY he could have been trusted for such errands when he first came home. Mr. Sticky Fingers would have found the temptation too great to put things in his pockets. Or walk home with strangers. Or follow a butterfly and get lost on the way home...Or... You get the picture.

We still let him read books "late" every night (late as in after the girls go to bed), and he has relished the privilege and he goes through piles of books that way. While I had great intentions of doing school (math and reading) through the summer, I wised up and ditched that idea altogether once I unpacked our first box, and let the kids just read what they wanted to, and just enjoy their new house/yard/etc. Thankfully Adam has caught the reading bug and he hasn't missed much.

My buddy does, however, like to get away with stuff if he at all can... (He's pretty normal, in other words!) The kids have nightly "bathroom chores" and he loves to not do his and then hope I won't catch him. We had to institute a new rule recently because of this. If they don't do their bathroom job, and I catch them, then they have to do EVERYONE's bathroom jobs for a whole week. Ouch. We'll see if that curbs the slacking or not!

Adam loves to help though. We just finished a week of VBS, and he was a chief helper - he helped me in my classes, and in craft time, and helped in the kitchen - wherever. He loves people, and loves to roll up his sleeves and help others. I think that's my favorite thing about him!

Liana next! I just shared a bunch about how she's doing on her birthday. She is such a little American girl lately! Tonight a friend of mine asked me if she could give Liana some of her earrings, and Liana asked "Are they from the eighties?" LOL! She had gone through my jewelry box and saw a bunch of clunky, nasty, gaudy three-inch earrings that are the epitome of ugly, and I'd never be caught dead in them now, but I had explained to Liana that that's what we wore "in the eighties." Thought that was pretty hilarious.

She's still my right-hand helper both with Abrielle, and with the kitchen. She has a bread recipe that she throws together for the family a few times a week (makes the dough in the bread machine), and we all love it. I even made a little baking corner/cupboard for her where she can keep her flour, sugar, oil, and bread machine, etc. She loves the attention and praise, and we love the bread! :o)

Here's her recipe (I happen to know it off the top of my head, so here ya go!)

French Bread
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
2 Tbs. oil
2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour
1 Tbs. yeast

Make into eight rolls, let rise a bit (don't over-rise!), and bake at 400 for 25 minutes, or into two loaves of bread (not in pan - this is french bread, put them on a cookie sheet). Cut three slits in each loaf, let rise (these rise quickly - only about 20 minutes should be sufficient), and bake 400 for 25 minutes. We've used the rolls as hamburger buns (YUM), and hard rolls, and we've especially enjoyed the loaves of bread hot out of the oven with butter, or cold with cheese for a snack. The dough also makes a wonderful pizza crust, we've discovered! Num, num, num. We've also used the baked french bread loaves cut horizontally to make pizza that way. That was waaaay delish too!

Anyway. Liana is growing up, and I hate it, and love it at the same time. She's just a sweetheart. Love her to pieces. She's got a heart the size of the Pacific and loves everyone. I especially love that she loves people that other kids might not like because they might think they were "different" or whatever. She goes out of her way to love people and has commented to me that she just thinks to herself, "That's the way God made them" and goes ahead and looks for a way to connect to them. She also loves to make newcomers welcome. She's the epitome of hospitable. Wish I were more like her. I've said that before and I totally mean that with all my heart. She teaches me so much...

Aleksa Lu. My Lu-la. Poor girl has gotten lost in the shuffle a bit, I think, since Abrielle has shown up on the scene. Been trying to remedy that a bit, but she flies so low under the radar (I've said that lots of times before), that it makes it harder. She is easy to please, and while they all need their daily hugs, I think she needs them most in many ways. Well, Adam might too... I'll have to think about that... Leks just needs to be assured that she is loved. Loves that extra tickle, or hair tousle, or wink, or whatever. She just needs it. It has been easy for us to group her with the older kids, and forget that she's still "only" eight or "only" seven, or whatever. She's definitely getting older though *sniff, sniff* I miss the days when she pretended everything was food and that she was cooking it and did we want to try it... *waaaaah* I want my little la-la back!!! She's definitely stuck in "not little and not big" land. Hard place to be sometimes.

She's a good helper with Abrielle too, and will entertain the baby nicely for short periods of time... Now that baby is crawling, it is easy to lose track of her... ;o)

She's a great reader, does great in school, and her strong reading has helped her really excell. And her love of geography has made for some fun stories and pretending... "This dolly is from Zambia"... It's been a while since I've heard a magic carpet story; I'll have to ask her if she's been traveling lately...

This school year has snuck up on me entirely too fast, but ready or not, here we come! Still doing a lit-based curriculum for history/geography/reading/bible/read-alouds, but have switched to a more workbook approach for science, language, and the rest. Seems to work the best for us. This year we've also joined a newly-formed homeschool group here in our new town. Very excited about the possibilities there!

That's the kids in a nutshell... Abrielle is a teeny thing, just 16 1/2 lbs or so. Feather-weight for a nine-month-old! But, she's jabbering (says "mama" and "papa" now!) and is getting into everything, crawling all over the place, and loves to practice walking. She wants to walk *really* bad. It won't be long!

Four years. My how the family has changed!

___

Edited to add: I can tell I was exhausted last night when I typed this up. I waxed eloquent with the first two, then got too tired to say much about the last two... I really do love 'em all, folks; I just need my beauty sleep is all! ;o)

Congrats, Sis!

Just got the most wonderful news! My sister and her hubby are going to do foster care! (And let me just say, she is the most AWESOME mama!!!) Can't wait to see how the next few months play out for them!

Congrats, Sis! You're making the world a better place to live in... Buckle your seatbelt!!!

Birthday Busyness

We had such a fun weekend!!!

Saturday we had a little party for both girls (Sunday was Aleksa's birthday). Auntie Sharon and Uncle Lyle drove three hours to come see us. They hadn't seen our new house yet, but of course the main attraction was the kiddos. (It was rather gratifying to be able to show off my hard work of getting the house unpacked, and getting some painting done this summer).

The kids did a pinata in the back yard and we ate our cake and unwrapped presents back there too. Auntie Sharon came through for all FOUR of the kids! Bike lights for Adam (he's been asking me to get him some), hair duds and a toy for Abrielle, a watch for Aleksa (she kissed it she was so excited!), and new earrings for Liana. Very happy kids...

John and I got the girls some "horse stuff" - stuffed animals, wallpaper border (I'm going to paint their rooms after VBS and canning season). Also got them matching comforters for their beds. Pink, of course. ;o)

Speaking of VBS, it started last night. John and I are really involved in it this year. Things seemed to go well last night. Of course, after I was done teaching my two classes, I got to go play in the nursery with the littles while John and Everyone Else got to go corral crazy kiddos, so I was a happy girl. :o) Just kidding, the kids were all wonderful, but I do love playin' with those babies!

Leks turned eight yesterday... *sniff, sniff* She woke up SOOO happy! She said, "Mama, I'm eight! I get to get rid of my booster seat!" She's thrilled to not be a "little" girl anymore. I even had to go out to the van and look at what she looked like without the extra seat... lol!

Fun week, but crazy busy with all the doings. Trying to enjoy each day, but I admit, I'll be relieved when things calm down a bit!

Happy Birthday Liana!!

My Liliana is 10 now. *sniff, sniff* How can that be!!??

She and her sister are celebrating their birthdays together on Saturday, so it was rather a low-key day... EXCEPT!

Except that I took her in to get her ears pierced! She's been DYING to get her ears pierced ever since the first day I've known her... and I've always told her that she needed to learn to take better care of herself (remember to brush her hair without being told, etc.) Well, I do believe my girl has arrived. She makes her bed, keeps her room picked up, takes care of herself... It was time. And I am so glad we waited so long, because let me just say, it made it all that more delicious for her to finally have it done. She was on Cloud 900 all day yesterday. Kept checking her ears in the mirror to make sure those ears were still pierced and she didn't imagine it, etc. It was so fun to be a mom yesterday!!! I got all teary watching her hop up on the "piercing chair" - she went from being a "little girl" to a young lady, just like that. I'm so proud of her! She really is a sweetheart. Times like this remind me of the meaning of her name, "My God has answered me" and then of course her middle name is "Valentina." So, "My God has answered me with a Valentine." He really has. She's a gem.

The rest of the gang accompanied us, and Aleksa has decided that she *never* wants her ears pierced. Ever. She didn't like the look of that piercing gun One Bit. Or the sound of the shot. Or any of it. No thank you. lol! (I'm relieved because there is no way she's ready for it anyway, and her birthday is Sunday. Didn't want her expecting a surprise trip to get hers done).

Adam didn't like Liana getting her ears pierced one bit either... He had to walk around and not watch. He hates when his sisters get hurt. Like *REALLY* hates that. But once it was over and he saw an absolutely GLOWING little sister with sparkly earlobes, he was really happy for her and told her how pretty she looked. It was so sweet. I was proud of him for that...

Abrielle slept through the whole thing... She's been taking crash and burn naps - she's Quite Busy when she's awake. She is determined to teach herself to walk. She does crawl, but she uses her crawling skills to take her to the nearest thing to pull herself up on to stand. Yesterday I was loading the dishwasher, and looked down to see her standing next to me taking dishes OUT of the dishwasher. And when I was done filling the dishwasher, I noticed that I needed to take out some pop beads from the dishwasher that she had deposited. There's a first for everything I guess!

(Ain't she a sweetie?!!)

She crawls!

Well, Abby is now a crawler! She scrambled from one side of the kitchen to the other last night trying to get at my cup of water (which she LOVES). She also wore pigtails for the first time yesterday, and I must say, she is the most adorable little 8 month old... *sigh*...

I would post pictures. But since we moved, I can't find the cord to my camera to download into my computer! Argh. I'll look again.

Happy Birthday to me!

I love being a mom on my birthday...

Woke up with shrieks from the kids to "go back to bed!" - So. I did. :o)

When I *HAD* to get up and get Abby changed and bathed, etc., I poked my nose out, asked for permission to leave my room, and was escorted to the nursery and then bathroom. I was NOT to peek in the kitchen or livingroom. Okie dokie. After that, they walked me back to my room, where my bed had been made for me, pillows fluffed, etc. I got breakfast in bed, a la Adam. Eggs. (*note to self: Adam needs more egg-makin' lessons... these were rather blackened) Liana made the coffee. While I ate, the kids put on a puppet show for me.

I also got to open presents from the kids... three homemade crowns (had to alternate wearing them.), and lots 'o crayon drawings, folded up and sealed with at LEAST three rolls of packing tape. lol!

Then, after breakfast, I was escorted down the hall to the kitchen, where my kids wowed me with their cleaning capabilities. My kitchen, which was trashed last night, was spotless. Floors done, dishwasher running, counters washed. Liana and Aleksa the whirlwinds struck while Adam cooked up breakfast... (it sure pays off in the longrun to teach your kids how to clean!)

And THEN, in the middle of all the festivities, my brother called to wish me a happy birthday and to tell me that he is BUYING MY PARENTS' HOUSE!!!! Talk about a happy Shelly!!!

Then, last night, when John got home, he surprised me with a firepit! A perty one! And! He bought me a DQ ice cream cake! (I mentioned that I didn't feel like making a cake when I had leftover cupcakes my sister brought me Saturday). And! He bought me candles for the cake! And! He bought me a wireless router for Dad's computer (which he had left to me) so I can get it all hooked up to the internet. And! No blenders or vacuum cleaners or whatevers! Talk about comin' through! :o)

We had been planning on going to the park for a picnic, but since I had a firepit and an ice cream cake, I wanted to stay home. We had SUCH a fun night of gathering sticks and burning sticks, and eating bagel sandwiches, and feeding the baby ice cream cake, and having everyone getting sticky from cake and sweat and smellin' like smoke, and needing showers/baths because of it, and taking turns on the rope swing, and watching Abby in her swing, and sitting on our park bench, and enjoying the beautiful weather, and, and, and, and....

Very nice day. Loved every minute.

PS.. Abrielle cut her first tooth on Saturday! No fussin' or anything! Shocked us to death! My only hint (seeing in retrospect) was that she had had extra-poopy pants for a couple days... Very good baby. :o)

Goings on

John went shopping for my birthday present tonight! I wonder what he got me!!! I'm thinking he went today because a few days ago I announced that it was "Only 9 more shopping days 'til my birthday!" and I have been counting them down (sometimes rather obnoxiously) ever since. He prolly wants to put a stop to that by just shopping now instead of later. Hmph. I can always use stocking stuffers, can't I? Oh yeah, it's not Christmas time. Bummer.

I think I only have a mole hill of laundry instead of Mt. Everest as of tonight. Feels good, though I still have a ton of ironing to do. Hate that. Since we've moved, our laundry is now in the basement... haven't ever had to deal with "basement laundry" since living with my parents. I have been spoiled all these years and didn't know it. It was much, much easier doing laundry when it was on the main (only!) floor. Takes me forever now, and I've had to shake off my fear of wrinkles and deal with letting the dryer stop (for a long time) before I can get to the clothes. Doing lots of ironing now. Not my favorite task in the world, as John can attest to since he's been scrounging for shirts with the fewest wrinkles to wear to work as he waits for me to get around to ironing the rest. *sigh*

So, having a *much* bigger house has it's pluses and minuses... Harder to keep clean (uff da is there a lot of vacumming and dusting now!) I constantly feel behind, but I need to remember that I have FOUR kids, and will be behind for the next I-don't-know how many years. I will feel better though, when I can wake up and know that there is a good routine already in place and I don't have to fret about it. I'm a frettin' type of a soul sometimes. But oh, am I loving that I can send the kids to a different living level to get out their squirmies. Or outside to a fenced yard. Such an enormous relief to not worry about where they are or what they're doing.

John put a seat on the rope swing tonight. We've been hearing complaints of the knot in the rope hurting people's fannies. John kept tellin' 'em that the knot was for their feet, but they weren't havin' it. So, since we care so much about the fannies around here, they can now sit in comfort as they swing through the trees...

We've had some really busy weekends lately. Family gatherings, and also getting back to Dad's house and doing some cleaning up and cleaning out. Hard stuff. I had a melt-down last weekend going through Dad's house and worrying that things were just going to be stuck in a dumpster. And also thinking that "my home" was being dismantled never to be reassembled. Kind of like saying good bye not only to my dad, but also to my mom (again), and then to a whole childhood of memories. It was the only house I ever knew. Talk about compounding my loss. Uff da.

Speaking of my parents' house, I commissioned my nephew, who is a studio artist to sketch and paint it for me. It is FABULOUS. Who better to do the job than someone growing up seeing it also... He "crazy quilted" the different eras of the house into one sketch. The old bushes were brought back. The handicap ramp was ditched to reveal the steps and the rail that used to be there. The new shed was left, and Mom's rock garden was brought back. The impression of long grass was kept as well. (Dad hated to mow, and the neighbors just loved him, I'm sure!) The original color of the house was kept, and while there were no squirrels in the yard as I grew up, there have been plenty in the past ten years or so, which Dad fattened up rather well on corn cobs. There's a rather portly squirrel in the pic. I can't wait to get this on my wall... It will be one of my most prized possessions for years to come.

Hope you're all having a good summer... It's been the best worst summer of my life. Best because of the new house, and worst because of the loss of my dad, which is rehashing the loss of my mom, and the loss of my life-long "home."

Four Miracles

Had the sweetest thing said to me this weekend... After meeting my Abrielle for the first time, she thoughtfully said, "Oh, so you're a mom to FOUR miracles now!"

I like that.

Rope Swing!

Well, today was a dream-come-true kind of a day for John. (Feels funny to call him John - I always call him "Fisher.") (I don't know why. Just do.) (Maybe because my brother's name is John?) *shrug*

Anyway, back to the dreamin' and stuff.

Fisher put up a rope swing for the kids tonight! I'm glad I was inside when he did, because when I took a looksie outside to see it, I about fell over seeing how high he had to have climbed to get that thing up there! It's a humdinger, lemmetellyawhat.

He's been dreaming about a rope swing for his kids ever since we were married. It is so fun to have our dreams realized so fully and in so many directions... Great kids - and a bunch of 'em! Great house (have I mentioned the closets?) Great yard -and now we even have a rope swing. What more could we ever want? *bliss*

Happy Fourth

We took a trip up north this weekend. We were going to hit two "parties" but got too late of a start Friday morning so it wound up only being one... (So sorry, Uncle Wally, we really did want to come this year!) Always so nice to "get away" by going up north. Those north woods and Grandma's kitchen are always a balm to the soul. Or somethin. ;o)

Speaking of Grandma's kitchen, I got to play Tom Sawyer! I noticed that Grandma's wallpaper in the kitchen was still not hung (it has been half-torn-down since Christmas), and so I asked Grandma if someone was going to put it up. She didn't know who or when or if it would ever get put up, so I said, "Hey, Cara, (John's sister) you wanna put up Grandma's wallpaper?" And she said, "Sure!" And then I stood back while she and a bunch of cousins finished ripping down the rest of the wallpaper, and then I said, "I wonder how we'll get the wallpaper up around those hinges on the cupboards," and suddenly the guys were taking down cupboard doors and John's mom was scrubbing them down. And then the next day when we started I said, "Ya know, I'm really short. You should get those high places, Cara." And so, she got those. And then the baby kept getting hungry. And fussy. And tired. And so I had to get called away several times. Or, I got to sit back and say, "Wow, am I getting tired, John, you should go get us a Caribou Coffee," and he did. And then I got a big "attagirl" for the wallpaper getting put up yesterday. Aren't I nice? :o)

It was nice to get away though, and sort of leave the trauma of the last few weeks behind. Unfortunately, we're back to Kansas though, and we get to start up "normal" again tomorrow. Or try to.

Settling in

Long day... Long week! ;o) Been trying to figure out where things are yet (we're still unpacking over here from our move!), and trying to settle in. Hard to do, but everyone will be a lot more relaxed and "happier" when their stuff is out and put away right. While it was a hard move, I'm so thankful we moved in the middle of the month instead of the end. Can't even imagine how Nutso I'd be right now if we'd have done that...

So thankful the kids are at a good stage too. They're such sweet kiddos. Really, they are. If all this had happened two years ago, I'd be pulling my hair out! lol! Several times since this weekend, Adam has put his arm around me and said he was sorry that my dad died. As much loss as he has endured in his own life, it amazes me that he goes so out of his way to comfort others when they are sad themselves. Great kid, that Adam.

Anyway, not much to say. Just wanted to check in. Thank you again, everyone for the kind words and thoughts...

Dad update

Back. I've been back in my hometown since Wednesday... Stayed the night with Dad at the hospital, and kept telling him to hold on 'til midnight when it would be his birthday. (He'd been wanting to hit 80 for the last ten years!) I started at six o'clock saying "Ok, Dad, you've got six more hours. Six! You hear that? You hold on!"

Dad did hang on.

He hung on through the night, and the next morning, they released him to go home. The whole family came home to have a big birthday bash for him. I mean Big. There are seven of us kids you know. ;o) And grandchildren comin' out your ears. :o)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him, gave him balloons, etc. And we were able to talk to him. While he couldn't speak back to us, we do know he was listening and understanding everything. For example, I was sitting next to his bed and said, "Don't worry Dad, I'll take care of that John for ya." (John my brother, who has been Dad's right-hand-man for the past several years). Dad grunted. :o) And seeing that he was "in there," I added, "Do ya think there'll be coyotes in heaven Dad?" (He's been hoping to get a shot at one for several years now.) He grunted again. :o) After that, I had the chance to really say goodbye to him, tell him I loved him, thank him for being such a great dad to me, etc. What a blessing. I never got that with Mom. I think we all got that opportunity.

Dad made it until shortly after midnight. God let him enjoy every second of his 80th birthday. :o) As he took his final breaths, he kept saying, "I'm free... I'm free.. I'm free... I'm free..." And then he died. What a comfort to us all to know he knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and trusted him alone for his salvation... There is no doubt where he is right now.

Sunday the family gathered to start cleaning out Dad's house. Which was also Mom's house, so it was a double-grief of sorts, as we had to say good-bye to her all over again too. That was by far the worst day ever. Seven kids have seven personalities, and well, uh. Yeah. ;o)

Today (Monday) was the funeral. He had military honors, (Dad had been in the Navy as a young man), and the flowers matched the flag. It was gorgeous.

After the meal, John and I drove back into the cemetery for a last goodbye, and I saw that one of my siblings had beat me there... They had written "I love you, Dad" in the dirt on his grave...

Thank you so much, everyone, for the condolences... it means a lot.