Will's reading party

Will finished his second level of Hooked on Phonics yesteday and his "party" was today. Here are some pictures...we are very proud of you, big boy:)

End of Season

Fall ball seasons ended today! I didn't dance on the fields as previously threatened, but I am glad to have the seasons behind us. ..Thanksgiving this week, then onto the Faith/Jesus birthday season:) Yes, she has one of those birthdays that gets lost in "The season". Normally I feel sorry for her, but she will be overly compensated this year............didn't I say that LAST year too? hmmm... I see a pattern emerging.....
So, G finished her first soccer season, Will his first tball and W and F wrapped up their soccer seasons. The last games were today, followed by the afterparties, a nap, and some pooltime. All in all, a good day. Church is questionable for in the AM. H1N1 has hit Prince of Peace in a pretty significant manner. In fact, all the children's programs for this past Wednesday were cancelled due to it.
One of my cousins has to have surgery the week after Thanksgiving. It is a pretty significant procedure from what I understand. She is expected to be in ICU for a few days afterward. So, keep Kristie in your prayers and have a fabulous Thanksgiving if I don't get back before then. See all of you, soon, in SC!

This week

Well, first, we recieved the best news we can recieve each quarter. Faith's lung culture results came back negative for anything!

We took the day off on Monday to go to the beach. It was a nice break and the day was a good one. I tried to take some pictures for Christmas card photos, but the sun was too harsh AND girls both got knocked over by a huge wave........ in their dresses. Will saw the wave and ran to save himself. Faith said she saw the wave coming, but didn't want the picture to be blurry with her movement..She is a real pro. After I rescued the girls from the surf they were both crying. I took one picture of them with "the faces" and within just a second or so, by the time I took the second, Faith had pasted her model smile on her face. It was SO funny! Like I said, she's a real pro.

On the way home we stopped at the Christian bookstore because I wanted to buy Faith a particular book (of course it cost me 2 more, too) Faith has been saving all of her money for almost a year to buy a certain doll. Her name is Violet Travollia and she is a "Life of Faith" doll. The line is kind of like the AG dolls in that each girl has a doll and 8 books about her to read. Also, they are historical and have a Christian bent. They sell them at the Family Christian Store.

So, like I said, she's been saving for almost a year. I knew how close she was to the purchase and that her allowance on Monday night would put her over the top. So, although she didn't realize she was getting the doll that night (I bought it ahead of time) I wanted her to have the first book.

Her overwhelming happiness over this doll is so touching. She keeps thanking us and takes her everywhere...even to the next room. We have told her more than once that she earned her, saved her money and how proud we are, but she still persists. That is one girl with an "Attitude of Graditude". So, now we have a new member of the family..........Violet. Here is her picture.

Tuesday and today were normal school days. Tuesday night was the last soccer practice of the season. Gracie is bummed, but I am soooo happy! Oh, on Monday night, at shower time, after Faith had gotten Violet, she took her shower in record time so that she could play with her. The babies were in the bathtub next to her in the shower (as usual) and like I said, record time.(NOT usual. Her usual is a long hot, making her Daddy crazy shower) When she stepped out, Gracie looked at her her and said, "Faith, you took your shower in a timely fashion!" Yes, she's three. How funny is that?

Today was a difficult day of school. Faith is not doing well with her time management skills. Susanne, my MIL, called this afternoon. As I'm complaining to her about what a pain Faith was being outloud it strikes me how ridiculous I must sound gripe-ing about how my six year old hasn't gotten her narration paper on The Odessey finished in a timely manner. (Wonder where Gracie got the phrase from?)

Maybe I could afford to lighten up just a little:)

Will, who is doing a fantastic job with own reading, decided he wanted me to read Hamlet (children's version) to him today. We broke it up over two meals since even the children's Shakespere is a little lengthy. As I am wondering why I am so bushed at the end of the day, it occurs to me that I have tackled Shakespere with a five and six yr. old and Homer with the six.........In the same day. Am I a crazy woman? ..........Like I said, maybe lighten up JUST a little. At least we did take the day off on Monday to go to the beach. Otherwise, I would feel REALLY too uptight:)

Gracie is going through a Mommy phase......she is almost four, and it is about time. It's very sweet, but a little cumbersome.

Will's last tball practice is tomorrow night with the last games in both sports on Saturday. Did I mention how happy I am about this? I may just have to dance on the fields after the games...........that won't embarass the kids at all, will it?

That'll be GREAT!

Wrapping up the week

Well, it's official, everyone in the Dunlap family is now in the possesion of fully intact eardrums! G's appt. went well last week. The ENT said her ears were healed and that she could swim starting this weekend. It was a little chilly, but of course she just HAD to get in, just because she could. We went to the zoo on Friday (already posted) Saturday was Tball, Soccer, the Suntree fallfest where they got to rides ponies and pet a pig! We once again, attended the Saturday evening service at church which left today with glorious NOTHING.
The only reason I even got out of my PJ's today was because we took the kids running. Faith hasn't gone in quite a while and Will and Gracie needed to work up to a mile for the Mickey Mile in Jan. There is a run here the day before F's bday called the Jingle Bell run. It's a 2 mile run that is run with everyone wearing jingle bells on their shoes. R told F about it today and she is all fired up to do it. We tried to tell her that she needed to get training if she was going to do 2 miles in December. She, recently having entered a particularly sassy phase, spouted off that she didn't need to train; that she could go out and run 2 miles this afternoon. So, her Daddy told her they would go out and see. He also told her that he was not going to let her walk any of it, which she agreed to. So, we all set out together, W G and I all ran around the neighborhood for about a 1/2 mile and circled back around to the house. R and F left us there to finish their 2.
A little while later they came back with F yelling that she had just completed her first 2 mile run without stopping once! I looked at R, who just shook his head. I asked him if he was shaking his head because she was lying or because he couldn't believe she had really done it. He said, "No, she really did it."
Later, when we were alone he said, "So, you really didn't seem all that surprised that F made the whole 2 miles without stopping." To which I had to answer. "Well, I know my girl, and I knew she'd do it or die trying, and since you came in the front door and didn't call from the emergency room...."

Zoo today

It finally cooled off enough to enjoy a day at the zoo. I took a huge risk and didn't take a stroller (single or double) into a public place for the first time in six years! Wow, it was nice and all three of the children did a great job. I figured the older two would be okay since they sometimes both walk, but as usual, GG was my wild card:) I'm happy to report that she was a super big girl. We fed deer and lories, pet an alligator and road the train. Oh yeah, I was super indulgent Mommy today.

Spreading the love..

Dad called today after a trip to the Dr. He has our virus with stuff in his head and lungs AND and ear infection! Poor Granddaddy......get well soon so you can come for another visit:)

Go WILL WILL!

The girls had soccer games Saturday morning and Will had a Tball game. He actually won the game ball for his team for his excellent fielding! Ironically, he usually hits pretty well but can't field. Saturday he was catching almost everyball that was hit. (tball players hit to the shortstop a lot)

So, we are very proud of him and there is a picture of him with his game ball on the photos section of this blog above.

Vacation contiued

Onto Washington....We arrived in the afternoon, set up the campers and went to the Mall for the evening. Of couse we were all dressed for traveling and I had no makeup on, so of course that was when the best family photos were taken:) The first full day, we did outside monuments and walking around since rain was forcast to come in on the next afternoom. The second day, we took on the Natural History Museum. All of the kids enjoyed it, but Faith was in NIRVANA! She lectured the entire time like a little professor. Of course the Ocean Hall was her favorite. We also walked around the mall some more and went to the capitol. Dad was in picture taking nirvana, himself. The next day was Saturday. R took both of the babies to the Dr...Gracie with her ears, again and Will with some unexplained rash. Gracie's ear problem from Tuesday had spread to her other ear now, so we went with yet a third antibiotic and Will's rash was a reaction to the amoxicillin. R and G stayed at the camper. Daddy, F, W and I went to the Air and Space Museum. That was Will's favorite day. (minus the Dr. visit)
R went to a hotel in DC that night to get some sleep for his race since G had him up every night that week. He got up the next AM and ran the Marine Corps Marathon, which was the whole reason we were there. By now he had the same bad cold that the rest of us had, hadn't slept, nor had he eaten well that week. Needless to say, he didn't do as well as he would've liked, but I am amazed he even does these things healthy, much less sick. We went to the American History Museum and met up with him afterwards. All the Smithsonians were great and despite the illnesses, we managed to have a really good time. On the way home however, our poor GG's eardrums both burst! She yelled "ow, my ears" and then felt much better. Of course that's when it got really scary for us. We didn't know initially that was what happened and all we knew was that greenish/brownish snot was coming out of her ears! As it turned out, that was from all the infection behind the eardrum and once they perforated, the pressure was gone. She felt better, but couldn't hear very much. So, first day back, it was a visit to the pediatric ENT. She is doing much better now. She has antibiotic eardrops in addition to the oral one she's on.
Halloween was not huge, but they did get to dress up and hand out some candy which is all that mattered to them. The pictures are on the photos section of the blog above this post. They were Charlotte, Wilber and Templeton from Charlottes Web.
We went to the Saturday evening church service, so today was a total relaxation day. We swam (yes, I said swam on the first of Nov) grilled out and played on "the monstrocity". ..the kids's, at least, played on it. Back to work tomorrow. At least we finally got all the laundry done from our trip.

Monuments Museums and ER's

We are back from our family vacation/Richard's marathon and still trying to recover. Laundry coming out the ears and so forth. Two days before we left, the kids came down with some cold/ick thing. Are we the only ones that happens to? It was really good to see Richard's family on our stop to DC. Unfortunately, they were left in the wake of germs and they got sick too.The trees up north were beautiful and it was nice to have a little autumn. Daddy went with us and I think he had a good time too. It's always a fine line between loving the grandkids and having enough of them for a while. We were happy to have him along just for the visit, but his help turned out to be invaluable. R said yesterday on the way home that he didn't know if we would've made it there and back without him.So, where was I? Oh yeah, sick kids, long car rides. Another benefit to having Daddy along was that he drove his motorhome so the kids and I had the luxury of having a kitchen, a bathroom and all the comforts of home for the ride. Most helpfully, Faith could do her breathing treatments and vest on the road so we saved that time on the trip.After we infected the family in SC we drove up to Colonial Williamsburg. It was a really cool place, but a bit anticlimatic if you weren't a true early American history buff.(my husband) The kids did pick up some knowledge and thought it was cool to be "back in Felicity's time" They actually remembered some things from there that they were able to put together with the trip to the Smithsonian American History Museum. The worse thing about Williamsburg really had nothing to do with Williamsburg. It was the night trip to the ER. (Although I have to say that it was the nicest and quickest ER I've ever been to) GG was just getting worse as the trip progressed and her fever was spiking way high. Tuesday night she was just staring into space and not answering my questions so we took her in. That Dr. said her cold turned into a left ear infection and that the Amoxicillin the pediatritian put her on was not working (no duh) So we got a Zpack from there and went onto Washington the next day. I will continue this a little later. Right now there seems to be some crisis involving the "slaying of the Minotaur" in Faith's room...

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Boy!

Well, it's official, my baby boy is 5. Not really a baby boy anymore, is he? Daddy came down for his birthday. We went to Medieval Times last night for the dinner/jousting show. All the the kids had a blast! It was a very long night (didn't get home until 11pm) and yes, we paid for it in drama today, but how many fifth birthdays does a little guy have? This afternoon we had cake/presents/cookout/pool day. I uploaded the pictures to my photobucket. Hopefully they are scrolling over this post as you read.
Will had a tball game that conflicted with his and the girls' soccer games yesterday. Daddy and I took W and R took the girls. No choice really, since he coaches both soccer teams and Dad filled in with his assistant coaching with the tball team. He hit the ball very well. R said F's team got creamed and that she is a little afraid of the big kids she's playing against this season. (8 yr olds) He did say that GG did a much better job of getting into the mix.
All in all, it was a really good weekend. We are off to the busy-ness of next week and somehow have to fit packing for DC into it since we leave on Friday.
I have suspended our history curriculum for the last/next few weeks in favor of American History and a bit of civics, due to the trip.
So, happy birthday "Joy Boy", Mommy loves you!

Where do they get these things?

And why didn't I ever think of them. In retrospect, it seems perfectly logical. I took F to SWAP at church. R stayed home with the babies. He had them out in the front yard playing. Of course they had gotten into the garage. Why? I don't know. They have a whole cul de sac to themselves, but they always find more interesting things to do in the garage. So, apparently, this was one of those times. R told me they put on some lifejackets and got into the disassembled dog box to pretend they were at sea in a storm. After that game faded, W put on his bicycle helment (which of course means G did too) and decided he was playing football. Afterall, he had on his "pads" and helmet. So, now they are out in the front yard and cul de sac with the football playing their newest game. For those of you that don't know. Will has been enamored with Boise State every since he saw their blue turf on the fb field. W tells R "I'm playing football for Boise State!" R said G looked perplexed for just a moment then came out with "and I am playing football for Girlsy State! "
In less comical news we took all 3 to get their flu shots today. After a two hour wait, we finally got in to see the nurse. G was superbrave last year. She volunteered to go first and barely whimpered. Faith got all psyched up and had a drama event. G has been tormenting her for a year now about how she was brave getting her flu shot and F wasn't...trust me, she finds a way to work this into conversation very frequently. So, yesterday F decided she would go first. She had a little last minute anxiety and insisted that it be done in her leg (to quote her "where there's more meat"), so I held her. Anyway, she jerked, but barely make a sound! So now it's G's turn now she's insisting on having her's in the leg also, and she has the drama episode! Of course she wanted her Diddy Daddy to hold her through it all. I'm thinking W saw all of this and is really worked up by now. That little boy stepped right up, got into R's lap (who was still on the table. I had taken G for him) R: Okay big guy, do you want the leg too? W: No Sir, arm. He looked at me across the room, shot was given, and he didn't even make a face! R and I were floored with pride. I asked him, "Are you almost 5?, that was super bigboy!" He was absolutely beeming with pride over the fact that he had "manned up". As I type this story, he has gotten up, is snuggling here next to me in bed with his baby and thumb in his mouth. Alas, maybe there is still some little guy left in him afterall....I'm so glad!

Will Spelling

I was looking over W's shoulder the other day when he was writting the word car. It was spelled c-o-r. I thought it was a penmanship problem and that he had forgotten to put the line on the side of his "o". I asked him... "Will, what letter is that suppose to be?" Him: "an O" Me:What word are you trying to spell? him:Car Me: And is that how you spell car? Him: yes ma'am. Me: Listen, Will.......(saying it very slowly) CAR. Is that what you've spelled? Him: yes ma'am. Me:Are you sure about that? him: yes ma'am. Me:I think you should look at that again...Are you SURE that's how you spell car? (again, very slowly) Him, very earnestly and confident: Yes Ma'am, they tried to trick me in that book over there by putting an "a" in the middle of the word, but I KNOW it's an "o" because it has the "aahh" sound. Me: Will, "that book over there" is your spelling book. They will not try to trick you, it is there to teach you how to spell correctly....WOW, and I thought FD couldn't be told anything! At least she's never questioned the validity of published work! Wish me luck, I will need it with that boy! On the same but different note, he read his first library (non HOP) book today...it was a Dr. Suess. "GO Dog Go!" I was very proud of him. There were a lot of words and letter combinations he hadn't had before, and he did a good job. It is a much longer book than you think, at first.
It was overcast today and the air was cooler than the water......yaayy, solar power, just in time!

Soccer season debut

It rained for Will and Gracie's game then cleared for Faith's. The rain was less miserable.

BRING IT!

All three children had their first soccer games in Melbourne this morning. It was Grace's first ever. For a little girl that bugged us to play for 2.5 solid years, I have to say her performance was less than enthusiastic.

Faith moved up to the league that uses a goalie. She is the only girl on her team this year and not happy about it, but today she scored the first (and only) goal until someone else scored right before it ended. This seemed to make her feel better about the situation. She is in the 6-8 age catagory and I gather not the only 6 year old on the team that is used to dominating the game. I heard more than one complaint from her teamates to their parents that they hadn't scored enough. One little boy that did end up scoring at the end was still mad because he didn't score "a bunch of goals." It's tough going back to being the little fish in the big pond. Oh, Richard yelled at Faith for five minutes to "play defense" before she came to the sideline. When she got there, I gave her water, did her hands and asked her if she knew what defense was. Exactly as I suspected, that part had not been explained to her! So, Mommy explained what the word meant and how to play it. Things seemed to make a little more sense to her after that:)

As for Will, my sweet boy. Well, what can I say about him.... He's still the prettiest and least motivated boy on the team. I think he's going to enjoy tball much more than soccer. One of the reasons he's never played before is because I knew he would. I've been saying for years that boy is just too lazy to run an entire game.

so, here are some pictures. If you are on facebook, these and more are all in an album titled "soccer" on my wall.

I told you, DEFENSE!....."yes sir"

What in the hell does that mean?

Ah ha, now I get it. What happened to just "going for the ball?"

Our first Official Field Trip - KSC

Today was the beginning of Brevard Co. appreciation weekend at the Kennedy Space Center. All residents get in free. Of course we went today to avoid the pig flu crowds tomorrow and Sunday.
Also, the kids all have soccer games in the AM. Gracie is pretty fired up about her first big game, but I digress.
The kids all had a blast and were actually very well behaved. I was proud of them all. It was a VERY long day for everyone.

This first picture is one of the old lunar landers. There were actually people getting to and from the moon in that piece of tin foil.

Below that is the old Saturn 5. It went up right before I turned one.

One of the launch pads from a viewing platform.

3D glasses for the IMAX movie. Gracie was so funny. She kept putting them on, reaching out to touch things and taking them back off trying to figure out why she wasn't able to grab it. She did that through at least the first half of the movie.

Early lunar rover

These are some pictures taken at the Memorial Gardens. Three pictures down is the actual capsule the first 3 went up in. They laid on their backs, but in a sitting position. The two below are the kids sitting in the mock-up. The first, they are sitting as the astronauts did.

Will finished his first level of HOP a couple of weeks ago and we finally got around to having his party. Yaayyy Will, super job, big guy!

Will's first oil change

Dad (Granddaddy) introduced Will to the manly world of auto mechanics....his first oil change!

Mom Memorial Video

Mom

Mom finally lost her battle with cancer early Friday morning. The funeral is Tuesday.

WARNING: The Bible is NOT for children!

David (of David and Golith) grew up. His best friend was the King's son, Jonathan. He had also distuguished himself in battle. That's the background. Now for the story: King Saul wanted David to marry his daughter. This was actually the second daughter that he had offered to David, but David (I'm sure very politely) declined his generous offer of the first. The King's second daughter had fallen in love with David so the King made another offer. ...he really wanted David to be in the family..... In these times, David has to pay a dowry to marry the daughter. Well, if you remember from the children's story, David grew up a poor shepherd boy. This was the Royal Family...what to do, what to do? So, the King sends his emmisaries. His offer: David was to bring him the FORESKINS of 200 philistinans. Yes, I said foreskins! So David goes out, kills 200 philistinians, and brings the foreskins to the King. He marries his daughter and if you want to know whether or not the couple lives happily ever after, you should really read the book for yourselves.
And where did I hear this quaint little bedtime story you ask? In my six year old daughter's bedroom at 2AM night before last.
You see, a couple of years ago I bought Richard the entire bible on CD as a gift. He spends so much time in the car, you know. It was the NIV version...perhaps the NIV isn't the New International Version, but the Now Inappropriate Version . Well, my budding little theologan likes to listen to them at night. It never occured to me that this should be a concern. Afterall, it's the word of God....
So, two nights ago, she was having a particulary difficult night with her coughing, so I went to her room to sleep with her and this charming little gem was what was playing on her CD player.
So, in closing, just to warn you again.....THE BIBLE IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!
BTW, what did the King DO with said foreskins?

Uncle John...Guess who I am sending her to when she starts asking these questions for herself?

First week down

The first week of school went very well. We had a schedule, stuck to it and got everything on it accomplished except the science experiment on Friday. F saved that to do with her Daddy on Saturday. They are growing bacteria in petri dishes......maybe now you get the picture as to why I encouraged her to do this experiment with her Daddy. Afterall, we wouldn't want him left out of these oh so special schooling moments:)
Mom continues to get weaker. She had a total body petscan on Friday and she gets the results on Wednesday. She is scheduled for an Avastin treatment next week then they are coming here. I hope to have some quality days with her and give my Dad a break. I will encourage them to stay as long as possible.
W has asked to play tball this fall, so R registered him for that tonight. They will all 3 play soccer. F wants to dance and do gymnastics too, but the homeschool class didn't make at the Satellite Beach Rec. She also wants to join a musical/acting group at church on Wednesday nights. I would like R to take the babies to Awana that same night at another local church, but this is getting all very overwhelming........Is this the age that we are to become slaves to the kids schedules? Afterall, one of the reasons to homeschool is to NOT be a slave to their schedules. R is volunteering to coach and asst. coach for all sports teams and I am volunteering for the church thing. Depending on when they practice, it is possible to have something every night! Yeah, somthin's gotta give....
GG can't decide if she's 3 or 13. One minute she wants to be "a teenie, tiny baby" and the next, she's insulted not to be called a big girl.
The kids and I are taking over the bulletin boards at church. The lady that is in charge of the children's ministry is a little overwhelmed at the moment and has asked for help in some areas. I figure it's a good art project that I won't be able to put off and they get to serve at the church at the same time. Win, win for all. So, send your creative ideas this way!
The CF center called with her followup test results. There are some crystals in her urine which may indicate kidney stones. So...for now it's more tests...
I'll keep you updated
Tomorrow is our nephew Jackson's birthday. He is turning five. W is only two months behind!
Oh, and their Great Gommer on R's side is turning 85 on Sunday.
So, Happy Birthday Jackson and Mammy!

School days

First day of school

First day of school, lunchroom

playset, (latest addition to my "guilded cage") almost done

Why, yes, that IS a bay window in the back!

Crow's nest

Yes, those are GG's feet half way to the moon

School officially started yesterday. I have my letter of intent into the superintendant and everything. Faith has a pretty full schedule of Language Lessons, Language Composition, Spelling, Reading aloud, math, science, history, typing, and geography. Will has reading, writting, and 'rithmatic. Oh, and spelling and some geography too. Gracie has a workbook, but a very bad attitude to go along with it, so not much is getting done. I've told her that she doesn't have to "do school" if she doesn't want to, but that she is not allowed to distract the big kids.

The playset is done and they LOVE it! That's where they spend their 20 min. morning breaks...a recess if you will. These first two days have been completed by lunch, so the afternoons are pool/playset time. This is a good schedule and I'm hoping not to lose the pool time since it's about a thousand degrees here! So, now you have our latest. I'm attaching some pictures..

Another month?

Wow, another month has gone by without a blog post. Most of it was spent with all the usual, plus helping to take care of my Mom. (and Dad) They were here for about 2.5 weeks, then the kids and I went there for another week. We rode home with them in the motorhome. The kids thought that was a blast. F said when we got to PC that it was the shortest trip we'd ever made there and that it was a much better way to travel.... That's my girl. High standards that she doesn't even realize she has yet. Do you know that girl orders a Filet Mignon every chance she gets? Mom had an MRI that last week that showed a shrinkage in her brain tumors from the Avastin treatments. She still isn't strong enough to handle another chemo treatment, so she is now in physical therapy trying to get there.

I finally settled on an outdoor playset for the kids and talked R into the purchase, so we are in the middle of putting that together. All those mornings at Home Depot are paying off now. W is being a lot of help. The girls mostly swam, but when they found out it was a photo op, they had to get in on the act. I will post some pictures. The monstrosity (which is what R calls it) is off to a good start from the weekend, although we are only about 1/3 of the way through.

All of the kids are swimming well now. Even little GG can swim the length of the pool. It is a relief not to constantly worry about someone falling in and not being able to get out. They are all very excited about the playset.

F has her quarterly appt. in Tampa this week. It is actually the one where she has to go to the hospital and get all her yearly tests so the whole family is going instead of just the 2 of us. She seems to be doing really well and staying healthy, but still, the thought of tests always makes me nervous about bad results.

Here are some cute pix from building....

We're finished throwing up!

Well, Mom's birthday was a success. I think everyone had a good time and no one stayed too long so that she could get some rest afterward.

It was great to see my sister and her family. I don't get to see any of them nearly enough. The girls are getting so big.

When we were all there Dad had what he thought was a pinched nerve.......turned out to be Shingles! So, now he can't take care of Mom because she can't be exposed until he's no longer contagious. The good news is that he seems to have gotten his meds at just the right time and is healing nicely. Melissa is riding down here with them in the motorhome on Tuesday, then flying home. Mom and Dad are going to stay for an extended visit (until she has to be back for her next Dr. appt.)

In addition to all the shingle drama, we all, except R, had some sort of stomach virus this week and the entire week was spent with one or more of us throwing up in 48 hr. increments. Poor R was so tired one morning I was trying to get W to eat a cracker at about 6am in our bed (where he had "slept") R rolled over, looked at us and asked if I had given him his enzymes before I fed him that cracker! Now, mixing up which one of your kids has CF...........that's tired!

Wednesday, F had her first ballet class since she was 4. She was so incredibly excited. She loves ballet. It is a 1.5 hr. class. They do ballet 30 min, tap 30 min. and gymnastics the last 30.

I bought new patio furniture today. It is one of those all weather "wicker" conversation sets with the loveseat, 2 chairs and little coffee table. I have been looking at them for at least 6 months now and the sale was really great. (R calls that woman math......"Don't look at what I spent, honey. Look at all the money I SAVED buying this set")

They are all making leaps and bounds with their swimming. F and W go to the bottom of the 8ft side to fish out diving rings now.

It is so hot here! I went to the grocery store Tuesday. One of the things I bought was cresent rolls.......lots of cresent rolls (sale again) from the freezer section. As I stepped out of the store.....didn't even get to the curb, I heard a POP! One of the cans exploded from the temp. change. Two more popped while I was loading the groceries into the car, and another one popped taking them into the house! That last can, we had with dinner, the other 3 were trash.

Faith's vest is on it's last leg. I emailed the vest company tonight. Hopefully it will hold out until we can get another one delivered.

Yaayy WW

Self fullfiling prophecy!............that's the term I was struggling with last night to describe my GG.

Given the fact that R and I are both Pisces, it shouldn't be any surprise that I gave birth to fish..., but it was to me.
More swimming today W was able to jump into the deep end of the pool and swim the distance lengthwise by himself. I am so proud of him. He has been the one that has had to overcome the most fear about the whole swimming thing, but he did it today. He also read quite a bit of his HOP this morning. At first he wanted to call Daddy and Grandaddy to tell them. He told Daddy by phone, but decided to wait to surprise Grandaddy this weekend.....(Dad, if he loses his resolve to wait and calls you, the swimming is what he is talking about)

I think our GG has an iron lung. She hasn't figured out the whole come up for air then go back under to swim thing, so she just swims underwater all the time. Never wanting to be outdone, she swims over half the length of the pool underwater. She can hold her breath longer than any of them. Oh, she is also the only one that swims without goggles and a nose plug. None of those sissy crutches for her! Of course she is still the most brave (foolhearty) one, so now she thinks she can really swim and will get into trouble easily. None of them want to ever wear their swimmies any longer, so my stress level has increased trying to watch them all at the same time.

R called me today to ask me what I thought of Detroit and/or Philly......Are you serious, really? We just closed on the house in Atlanta last week! Besides, neither one of them can compare to Melbourne, house situation not withstanding. He said he wasn't REALLY considering anything, but it was nice to be asked.

That was our day. Love to you all!

I'm Baaack!

A friend of mine emailed last week to see if he was having techincal problems with the site because the last posting he could read was at the end of April. It's been a tough couple of months. In May, I went to PC to help take care of my mom for two and a half weeks. That was REALLY hard. My MIL (the greatest MIL in the world) came to help R take care of the kids while I was gone. It was hard to see my mom in her condition and it was really tough missing my babies. I haven't ever been away from any of them for even half that long before.

Mom is still hanging in there. Daddy is taking really good care of her with "shifts" of help from one of my aunts, my sister and me. My aunt came when I left and my sister arrived today with her family. She will stay two weeks. Her family will stay one. We are all going up later this week to celebrate Mom's bday on Saturday and be with Daddy on Sunday for Fday.

I do finally have some good news to post....we closed on our house in Atlanta last week! Yaaayyy! There were some last couple of weeks melodrama involved because the LP HOA was insane enough to approve a reality show being filmed in our neighborhood. What idiots! The pictures are unreal of what they've done to one of the streets. ..one that you have to drive down to get to our house. Anyway, we were really afraid that the buyers might back out if they drove in for some inspection and saw the debacle. They didn't though, and everything closed as planned. I think as far as home sales go, it was a really smooth one. There are some real nightmare stories out there right now of buyers asking for totally unreasonable and unheard of things, but they were really nice. Of course we lost money, but that was expected since we bought in 2004. There was a page of things found by the home inspector......most minor. They asked that we fix the 2 major ones, we agreed and that was that. It was nice to cancel that autopayment out of the checking acct..

We took the kids to the beach on Saturday. It was the first time since my last post of their ingratitude. The big thing that day was that we saw a sea turtle swimming about 10 yds out from where we were. I don't think I've ever seen one at the beach before, R neither. F wanted to make sure that I included that in my blog tonight. She is going to write about it in her journal tomorrow. She occasionally makes entries and always says she's blogging like Mommy.

Today's big event was W's first trip to children's chapel. It was sad, but not the melodrama that F's first visit was. He had a great time and wants to go back too.......booo! I guess it's a little easier to let go of the second one, plus, he was walking out hand in hand with F so it wasn't like I was throwing him to the wolves. I knew she would take good care of him. My lap was emtpy since both of "mine" were gone. I tried to get G to sit in my lap, but she wouldn't. Her behavior made me wish she was old enough to go, herself....probably not going to have a hard time with that one when she turns 4:) Occasionally, F lifts her hands during the singing in church (not as often as before) but it's so sweet when she does. G raised one of her hands during song today...the one that was holding her baby. For some reason, instead of the vision of the godly servant praising her Lord that F seems to look like, I got this visual of G at a rock concert holding up that baby yelling "Freebird!" Wow, I am really burdening her with some low expectations for life. I should really raise my standards for her before she live up to the potential that her mother has put upon her......and we end up paying for some REALLY expensive therapy:)

Oh, big news on the swimming front. F swims without her floaties on a regular basis now. She jumps in and swims across the pool on her own. I no longer worry about her falling in and drowning. W and G are coming along pretty well too. They can both swim half way across (lengthwise) on their own. G totally underwater and W a little of both. Of course this is really the dangerous time for them to be unattended or sneak out on us because now they all have some sort of false sense of security thinking they can really swim. At least before, they knew they couldn't swim and were afraid to go near the pool without lifejackets or swimmies on. Thankfully, R and I are both really paranoid/overprotective parents............see, I knew those traits would end up as positives sooner or later.

F and R went to their first father/daughter dance a week ago. He took her to her favorite "straunt" the Red Lobster for dinner beforehand. I will post a picture. They were both precious.

Mom, Dad and Aunt Charlene came the same weekend for a few days. It was super to have them here. I am hoping that Mom and Dad will come back after my sister leaves to stay with us for an extended visit. Mom was reluctant at first, but the visit went so well, I'm hoping she will be open to coming back for a longer time. I will post a picture of them from their visit too.

Oh, the funniest thing! The babies have new nicknames. Last week we were discussing chimpanzees. They wanted to see pictures, I found a website of a chimp sanctuary with several pictures. There were a lot of chimps. I found 2 girls and one boy.....all born in the same years as the kids and showed them the pictures. F's chimp is Charlotte, W's, Nelson and G's, Lily. Now they say that they ARE the chimps and call each other and ask others (us) to call them the names too. G messed up the word chimpanzee, so now they are Charlotte, Nelson and Lily

Ch PON' zee. (rhymes with Fonzie)

Also, I think there has been a couple of zoo visits since the end of April, so you can see a pic of that too.

That should just about bring everyone up to date. Hopefully, I can post again in a more timely manner.

Sunday night

Well, I figured out last night that the CF walk, here is Saturday! Yeah, I kind of let it slip up on me this year with everything else going on. Oh, well, we do what we can do....go to the fightcfforfaith link (above) to donate, in case you are reading this and didn't get the email.

I discovered last Thursday the length of time that it takes for the honeymoon to wear off for the beach and children. Approximately six months. These are a few of the things I had to listen to after I loaded up half of this house to take those ingrates to the beach: "It's too hot" Will won't share the shade"(of the umbrella) "Sand is on your hands, I'm gonna get a sandrash" (applying sunscreen) "I don't want any suncream" (different child) "There is sand in my potato chips"...Yes, that's what happens when you dump the entire can into the sand..........FOUR times! "I wanna go home!" That last one was G for the last 25 minutes we were there.......wailing at the top of her lungs. Oh, yeah, and this is a good one.. Me:"Of course there's sun, of course there's sand..........it's the beach! What did we come here for?" Faith:"to bodyboard and go swimming" Me: "Well then, GO!" All 3 in unison: "the water's too cold" I would like to point out that these are the same maniacs that were swimming in the Atlantic in December!

I guess they have aclimated to being true Floridians and now it's too cold at the end of April:)

Friday, we went to the library. They are so funny to me: Their favorite section: The nonfiction science. F wants all the ocean books right now and W wants all the space books. I know it's the area we have moved to. I heard another Mommy at the park on Friday tell someone that her daughter wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. I can't say I really heard that a lot (at all) in Atlanta. Oh, this is the cutest and funniest thing. G wants to be a "Stilts Person" when she grows up. Ask her why, "Because I want to make people smile" Isn't that the sweetest, odd little girl in the world? Oh, I LOVE three! It's my favorite age.

Friday night I went to a clothing exchange at church. I met a few other women there and am feeling a bit more like I'm not completely alone here. (Except for R and the babies, of course)

Saturday we all just lounged by the pool and enjoyed a nice relaxing day.......Those are few and far between around here. Today, church and yardwork....oh, I saw another snake when I was weedeating. It wasn't a poisonous one, but still. What is that? Two snakes in 3 weeks? Gage was a total pain in the ass, but at least we didn't see any snakes while he was in the yard!

Maybe there's a service where you can just rent a hunting dog for the day to run through your yard....Of course, that would mean it would kill all our cute little bunnies. They are pretty brave, but not brave enough that I worry about the kids getting too close to get bitten or anything. Actually, the snake was trying to get away from me (well, the weedeater) when I saw him too. It was a big joke when we moved here, but now, I'm a little worried about the rainy season and alligators in the yard.

Lung culture results

The CF center called with F's lung culture results. She, once again, only grew out normal lung flora.....YAAAYYYYYYY!
Mom seemed tired, but not yet sick from her ordeal today.
The floors are ALMOST done on the other side of the house.
All good news for today

Floor pictures

Here are the floor pictures, as promised. Now, F's room is done, minus the closet, W's room is done, and G's room is 3/4 done. I painted the quarter-round to put at the edges, but none of it has been done. Overall, R's done a fantastic job!

Reality check: I'm not being too strict a disciplinarian for insisting that they NOT throw food at one another at the table am I? I didn't really think so. What are those people thinking? I know who's coming to mind here.....W and G...........Nope, it's F and W! F is going through some particularly rebellious phase right now. Not sure why, but hope I figure it out soon before I have to do bodily harm:)

Mom re-starts her chemo tomorrow. I spoke to her tonight and she is in good spirits about the whole thing. Please pray for her and my Dad.

Dr. Appts.

F and Mom both had Dr. appts. yesterday.
F is up to 42 pounds, her allergies are bothering her, so Zyrtec has been added to her regiem. The PFT machine was down, so no scores there and we have to wait until next week for her lung cultures. Overall, I think it was a good appt. since they scheduled her next one for 3 months. If there were something that concerned them, we would be due back sooner. Her next appt is the yearly with all the tests at the hospital.
Mom had a somewhat positive appt. She still has cancer in 3 lymph nodes and the ribs, but is starting chemo on Monday. It is still too soon to Petscan her brain since that radiation just ended, but her swelling is down so much that they are taking her off of all the steroids. She will do chemo in 2 wk. increments instead of the normal 3. Then petscan again in 6-8 weeks.
F's bedroom, and the hall are done with the wood. We started on W's tonight. I am so pleased with the floors. I know it will not only be more pleasing to the nose, but will be so much healthier for the kids. W's allergies have been really bad every morning lately and even G has had some sniffling. I took pictures and will try to post them soon.

Happy Easter

Christ has risen!...The Lord has risen indeed!

Hope you all had a good Easter. We began with the standard basket, chocolate celebration; then on to church. Why do we do that to our kids? Give them chocloate for bfast, then expect them to sit still in church for an hour and a half? After that it was lunch, egg hunting, swimming, trip to Lowes. We went to Lowes to get the wood flooring for R to install on the kid's side of the house.

Here are some pics of our day:

Maundy Thursday

Well, happy Maundy Thursday, and you're probably reading this tomorrow, so Happy Good Friday. MUST we call it that? I always have a difficult time with that name. F asked me this week why we call it that. I himmed and hawwed over some official religious explanation someone told me once, but the truth is, I feel the same way, so I don't think I was that convincing. Our new church is hosting an Easterfest on Saturday for the community complete with an egg hunt, bouncy house, clowns, face painting and pony rides etc. The kids (my baby goats, I hate that word everytime I use it for them, but it's so common....) and I volunteered at the church today stuffing candy bags and preparing flyers for parents about the church. I was so proud of them...yeah, I know, one of the seven deadly's....but they really were extraordinary. F and W actually finished a job that I wasn't even sure they should've been entrusted to handle together in record time. Even GG was helpful once I gave her direction that a three yr. old could understand.
We colored eggs today...2 dozen. We are providing potato salad and deviled eggs for the above event, so I figured we could use them for that. They wanted to "play" with them afterward, so we went to Target to get plastic eggs for playing. As you know, all the packages come in the same colors: blue, orange, pink, purple, green and yellow. Of course our babies immediately divided by color. The color coding in our house does help to make life easier in a lot of ways, but sometimes it gets annoying. Oh, funny F story...she is such a literal child. I told her today to fill the bags at church with one piece of candy in every bag. She actually opened a snack package of Easter M&M's and started putting one M&M in every bag! Poor legalistic F. She is too much like me sometimes. I remember when the nurse told me to breastfeed on each side for 20 minutes with her. Of course, I did, for 20, ............everytime...not 19, not 21, but 20 exactly. I think I was actually on the second child, W, when it occured to me that the 20 minutes was an "about" 20.
Oh, I have to share the most moving youtube video with you I have ever seen. It's also very appropriate to the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naajYZSbWdw
Please go to this link and take the few minutes...it will be worth it.
We missed out on the range. The guy sold it to someone else before we were able to get it. I am dissapointed, but am trying to see it as God intervening to save us from ourselves. We all need that sometimes.
I do still want the floors done.
Well, happy Easter in case I don't get back before then.

Palm Sunday

Happy beginning of Holy week! We began the day with church and ran some errands afterwards. R is considering laying hardwood himself in the kid's wing and our room. I am really happy about the prospect of having it done, but am not sure how he's going to do this and work too. We should make friends with this project taking a while:) I'm not sure how I ended up even searching this, but I found a gas range on Craigslist that I am in love with. Me! In love with a range....actually, as soon as I saw it, I thought "Oh, R will LOVE this!" http://spacecoast.craigslist.org/hsh/1092828651.html
R called the guy today and apparently the reason this 8000.00 dollar range is available at this low price is due to a home forclosure. They must have been some of the people who's homes we looked at when shopping for a home that were forclosures and gutted as much as possible by the former owners. Of course the main problem with this range is the extended size. We will have to cut out counter and cabinet space. Then, the rest of our appliances are white, and will have to be changed to stainless. This will force the cabinet upgrade, too, then the countertops will need to be granite..... You can see where this is going, can't you? It will be "the range that the whole kitchen is designed around". We wanted to make all these changes when we bought the house anyway, so this is not completely out of left field, but all home improvements were put on hold until our house in Atlanta sells...........and yes, it hasn't sold! So, we may just get it and set it in the garage for a while. Replacing the carpet is the priority right now. Although I don't like an electric stove, I can live with the one I have more than I can live with the carpet.

We went to the beach yesterday afternoon. What a relaxing afternoon...but only because I had the beach bag packed ahead of time. I have decided to just keep the bag packed except for the cold water the same way I used to keep the kid's backpacks packed in Atlanta so that we could leave at a moments notice if need be. Also, I finally got around to finding the library this afternoon and getting a card. The children are so funny about new library books.......it's like Christmas around here. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they love books so much and that something free can make them so happy. It's just funny to me.

Catching up.....Once again

Well, last week was a nightmare. We found out that Mom's cancer has spread to her brain and almost lost her at one point, but she's a fighter, she was back and decorating before you knew it:) So, we are home again this week. My sister is with Mom and Dad. Also, my Dad's sister came to help.

F and I are both on antibiotics for some sort of throat thing.....hers has been accompanied with lots of "snotty" too. You haven't lived until you've seen a person with CF and a cold do a sinus rinse. It' hard to believe that all of that is in that child's head! G is trying to catch it, but can't really decide what she's going to do. W is surprisingly the healthy one this time.

R is back to work and things here have been pretty slow since I'm trying to nurse F. I thought I had Easter outfits picked out, but have changed. I wanted to make a bunch of pillowcase dresses for the girls to put on coming in and out of the pool, and leaving the beach. So, I got on ebay and started looking for inexpensive vintage embroidered pillowcases. I found a lot of cute ones this time including the ones I made into Easter dresses. Here are a couple of pictures:

Isn't that the most precious little pillowcase ever? It's hard to see as well in these pictures, but it has lavender crochet along the bottom and picture in the center is Jesus with a lamb in his arms and one sitting at his feet. Since they were pillowcases, there were two matching ones which was perfect. I went with lavender for the ties at the shoulders and found W the only lavender polo shirt on the entire internet in his size. So, now it's decided, lavender is the color for this Easter. What in the world will R wear?

F has her quarterly appt. in Tampa the week after Easter. I hope she is over this cold by then. I don't think I've ever taken her to this new care center without one. What an awful mother!

Summer came down with a case of tonsilitus the same day my throat started hurting so bad, so we really haven't spoken this week. Isn't that funny? She emailed me the night I couldn't speak to tell me that she had it and couldn't call the next day.

It's been really hot here this week and the pool is finally warm enough for Mommy to float on her raft IF no one splashes her:) Of course that's a big "if". That's about it for now.....I have to catch my Duggers!

Happy Birthday Aunt Joey!

After a tirade to the fence salesman and someone on his staff on Monday, the fence is finally done! Yaaay! Why do some people insist on not doing the right thing until I have to get ugly? The dog ran away, TWICE today. The first time he came back on his own in about 5 minutes...I don't go after him anymore. The second time (and I was sure he was gone for good this time) some nosy do gooder neighbor brought him home. How in the world did she find us? There are no tags on his collar! At the risk of sounding ungrateful, the poor woman went door to door until she found someone that told her they thought he was ours. If the kids hadn't been behind me in the doorway, and I'd have been a little faster on my toes, I would've said "No, I've never seen him before in my life."
G has 2 favorite new songs. One is the Veggie Tales theme song and the other is Zacchius. She loves for you to sing her the song, then read the story. It goes"Zacchius was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sicamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the saviour passed this way he looked up in the tree, and said "Zacchius! You come down, for I'm going to your house today" W heard me sing the song to her this afternoon and exclaimed, " That's just rude, telling somone you're going to their house when you haven't been invited!" How funny is that? I know Jesus has been thought of in many ways, but up until now, I've never heard him be referred to as rude!
The last two days of school have been rather light. Maybe we all need a Spring Break, what a great idea! Why didn't I think of that until now? I think we are all suffering from the lack of a grandparent in the house. We have had one or two with us since Christmas all but about 2 weeks. Come on grandparents, don't you want to come live in paradise? There is a house for sale in our cul de sac......

Sunday

R's mom left this morning. It was great to have her here......come back soon, Shoes! After that it was church and home for the afternoon of hanging out by the pool. Something remarkable happened this morning in church. You probably all remember the heart wrenching Children's Chapel post.....well, except for when we were out of town, she has chosen to go back every week. (BOO!) However, she is painfully shy and hasn't really spoken to anyone all this time. Well, after a pep talk from Mommy, yesterday, and a prayer this morning to Jesus to give her the strength to be brave enough to speak to another child, she came back a different child. When the kids come back into the sanctuary they all go to the front and talk about what they did and learned that morning before coming back to their seats. Needless to say, she has not chosen to participate in this little performance in front of the whole congregation and just sat off to the side. This morning she came in last, right in front of the teacher and I figured I was going to have to give the speech about how God always answers prayers, just sometimes he says "no" or "not yet". When they got to the front, they all stayed standing while the teacher asked them prompting questions. Well, she raised her hand for them all, and answered as many as the teacher would call on her to answer. Then.....THEN, she "passed the Peace" to the whole congregation. For all the non Anglicans/ Episcopalians/Catholics that's where normally the pastor says "May the peace of the Lord be always with you" and we all answer "And also with you" and then turn to our neighbors and wish them peace individually. In Baptist terms, it's more like when you are called to say "Good morning" to those around you. So, today, F was the one that said "Peace of the Lord be always with you"! Into the microphone and everything! Wow, when Jesus answers HER prayers, he REALLY comes through! Of course we (R and I) teared all up etc.....Apparently she made friends with a little girl named Sarah during CC, too.

G decided to trust her arm floaty things today. She said she wanted a pair (like her "pig kids"....no, not a typo, that's how she pronounces it) but wouldn't get off the steps with them on until this afternoon. I'm sure her "Diddy Daddy" jumping into the pool with them to play had a lot to do with it. BTW...he's a crazy man....that water is still COLD! W enjoyed playing in the pool, but other than that, had a bit of a whiny day. It started out badly when he forgot to bring his baby to church. (never had to get through a service without it before) Then lunch was a hassle, jumping in the trampoline was dramatic (still never found out what that was all about) and dinner began with tears too. He did finish strong and got a peanut butter milkshake for his reward. So, the pool was his only bright spot...poor little guy. Tomorrow is G's real bday. I cannot believe she will three. It seems like only yesterday I had three, three and under. We are going to have a light school day and then a trip to the beach.

Mom had her first chemo yesterday. (Well, for this round, anyway) She seems to feel much better with the drugs they are using this time. When I called to check on her last night, figuring I would just be talking to Daddy while she was passed out with all the subsequent drugs for nausea etc., but no, she was up.....couldn't come to the phone to speak to me because she was in the middle of cooking dinner! So, I called again this morning and spoke to her. So, all in all, a good day and fun plans for tomorrow.

Happy Third Birthday G O'Darby!

We had G's little party today. She was very pleased with everything and we all had a good time. R put up the trampoline for her today, F and I went to AG bookclub this morning, and other than that, it was a really laid back day. Here are some pictures.

Getting ready for the big bday

G's main present came in the mail today. I am so excited about this. She told me she wanted a girl Eddie for about a month. (She was putting in the context of when we go back to the baby hospital..) For those of you who don't know, Eddie is W's Cabbage Patch (splash) kid. I think, sure, how hard can that be to find? I am so glad I got on this last week because they have stopped making the things! I found two on amazon for 125.00 a piece and one on ebay with a 6 day auction. I emailed at the beginning of the auction asking for a BIN price because I didn't want to cut it so close to her bday. The owner emailed back saying there would be no BIN price for the item. So..I wait the 6 days and some odd hours which ended Sunday night. I came on with a couple of hours left before the end of the auction and was very pleasantly surprised to see that no one had bid on the thing all week! Of course I was still nervous for the next two hours thinking the bidding would go crazy in the last few minutes. BTW, the thing ended at 1130pm! Long story long, I ended up being the only bidder and got it for her starting price. I bet she was UNhappy. Of course I ended up paying more for the priority shipping that I needed at that point, but it was still a good deal. New and in the box! I hope she is excited as I am about the thing. I went to Target tonight and picked up a few more things for her.
G wanted to ride bikes this morning, so I took them out after we finished up with school. It was still in the AM and I was frying on the driveway pavement. Finally, I said, "Well, you kids let me know when you get too hot out here and we will go to the back and swim." Of course they all jumped on that, so it was much more pleasant after that. My point........it's only March and I was frying on the driveway like that egg (brain) on drugs! The county still hasn't come through with the building permit on the fence, so I'm annoyed about that. That's about all since yesterday.

GG's new hair

Keeping up with the "Joey's"

Well R's sister, Joanna updated her blog since her last posting on Halloween. Now the pressure is on. My MIL has been here for a week. We are all so happy to have her. The kids all love their "Shoes" and it has been a huge break for me! (oh yeah, I love her too:)) Thanks to Mom and Dad giving us their pool blanket, the kids have actually been swimming this week. Saturday was a day at the beach (literally) complete with sunburn! It was the first time they have really gotten to use the bodyboards they got for Christmas. F has a big motivation to stay healthy these days since she can't get into the water if she's sick. We got to go out w/out the babies on Saturday night, too, thanks again to Shoes. G's bday is the 16th, but we will celebrate this coming Sat. so that R's mom can be here for the party.....she is leaving Sunday...BOOOO! Thankfully, G's favorite color is "geen" so it's really easy to find decorations and such this month:)

Mom and Dad are still in Houston waiting for test results. Keep praying for good news.

Here are a few pics taken at the beach on Saturday.

two weeks later...

We were at Mom and Dad's for the past two weeks. No blogging..no time. Here is a picture that was taken on their livingroom couch. While we were there we went to the kids favorite park in the whole world.....Under the Oaks. Where not just one, but TWO coughing kids decided to latch onto mine. I know I made the mom of the first mad, but what the heck? We went during the afternoon on a school day hoping to miss that sort of thing. My theory: The only reason he was there was because he was too sick to go to school that day! The other big event for them while there was getting to ride in the motorhome to the AFB for some errands. Mom is doing well, considering. She was in a lot of pain when we first got there, but once the radiation kicked in it seemed to lessen. She has an appt. at MD Anderson in Houston on friday. Pray for her.
Today was spent just trying to get into the swing of things. While we were gone W's first spelling book came in the mail, so he was anxious to get started on that first thing this morning. Well, our "first thing in the morning" at least. He did a really good job and it was nice to see him so excited about it. Coincidently, he was up to his next HOP book, so he had a pretty huge day. We did our first science experiment today. She worked up to it while we were there, but one of them involves keeping a running temp. chart, so we waited until we got home so that we didn't have weather from two different places messing it up. History was done up to a craft activity, so that waited until we came home too. So, F did a little spelling, then the rest of her day was just the fun stuff. R taught them how to play kickball in the cul de sac yesterday so we did a little of that too. I cut G's hair last night. It's in a short little bob like last spring and is so cute! Her hair get so ratty as it gets longer. She really looks better with it short. Shoes (MIL) comes on Wednesday and we can hardly wait! We haven't gotten to see her since the end of last summer. She hasn't ever gone this long without seeing the children. I hope she recognizes them! Anyway, she is staying almost two whole weeks. Maybe R and I could actually get away one night and go to dinner or something. Coming home to the carpet in this house has given me a renewed sense of urgency to replace it. It is so disgusting! As you can tell, my thoughts are a bit scattered tonight. I think I'll end this now and put us all out of our misery:)

Alarm!

So, tonight is the first night without R and an alarm system. I didn't really expect to be nervous, but with disgusting predators just coming in and taking kids out of their beds at night, here, in central FL..........I wish I had the alarm is all. Thank goodness we didn't buy in the Orlando area.
I am trying to get everything together to get us all to PC but I forgot a major snag in my plans until the last minute. R is not here to pack the car! That has been a major setback.
We started the new science program today. I am having second thoughts about putting W in with F in the program. I had to do a LOT of "getting him up to speed" to do. He did learn a lot, but it was a concept that with all her prior knowledge of the subject would've taken about 5 minutes to do with her. Maybe I will just not worry about him getting it all. Just let him listen in, and put him through, again, with G when it's her time. They are closer in age and by the looks of things will be a lot closer to the same level until W gets over his testosterone and makes up the time. He read a whole page of his HOP and did really well today, but I have to admit that I shouldn't try to sit with him through it without my medication:) The attention span of a four yr. old boy is alarmingly PAINFUL! And I am in love with the little guy! My heart really goes out to elementary teachers that have a whole classroom of them. I should go to bed now to wait on the middle of the night G visit and the subsequent meltdown when she is reminded that her "diddy daddy" is not here.

Rest of the week

Well, the other 2 ended up getting F's cold and we couldn't go to PC on Friday as planned. Not only did it move our trip back, but poor Shoes has to move her trip back, also. So, mostly this week has been snot and fevers for everyone. Gage ran away one day. He ran straight to where the kids were having a picnic in the backyard and left the food there to get out of my reach! So, it was just like in PC, minus the canal swim. He went around the back of the cul de sac in everyone's yards, then out onto the next neighborhood street. At that point I just said "Have a nice life" and the kids and I went inside. I was thinking.......we're new here, no one knows us, no one knows our dog, he has never been on a neighborhood walk, so that will be that. The kids and I came in and were cleaning their rooms when F yells out "Gage! Gage is in our backyard". Her room is at the back of the house and faces the tree where we tie him and let him back into the enclosure. She saw him out of her window. I told her to go out and get him if she could, thinking he would run away from her too as soon as he saw her. ...Well, as it turns out, he was just waiting at the door of the enclosure to be let in! So, not only am I aggravated at him, nothing unusual, but now I'm mad too. A lot of times when he gets on my nerves it is hard to actually be mad at him because afterall, he's just a stupid animal and can't help it......Not anymore! He just ran the neighborhood until he got tired and came home for a drink of water. That's not stupid...stupid is not being able to find your way home........in a new neighborhood no less. (Did I mention this is a new neighborhood for him?) That's just bad..........a bad bad dog! The good news, R did our taxes this weekend and we get to have the fence built! I have been organizing the babies clothes. A job that's needed to be done since we moved here. I really just threw everything in the closets and decided to sort it all out later.....Well, now is later. This weekend has been very low key trying to get babies well. R has a national meeting this week, so he won't be here to help after tomorrow morning. Pray for us all:)

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our wedding anniversay. Eight years! It seems like only yesterday....well, actually, it seems more like 2-3 yrs. When R and I first started dating and he was so wonderful I always told him "Of course you're great now, it's still in the first 6 months......Anyone can behave for 6 months." Then very shortly after the 6 month mark we became engaged. Then I told him he was just being wonderful because we were engaged. Engaged is the best, isn't it girls? So, after we got married and he was wonderful I told him one day that it was just because we were still on our honeymoon.......I was still waiting for that other shoe to drop. He told me that day " You know, we could be married for 50 years and I remain as just as I am now, and you would say to me "yeah, well it's always that fifty first year that it all goes to hell!" So, he committed to the 50 year "I told you so, then."
This morning we woke up and said Happy Anniversay, then he said "Only 42 more to go until I can say 'I told you so!"
So, Happy Anniversay Lovie and I'm still waiting for you to blow it on that 51st:)
We went to the park yesterday to meet up with some other homeschoolers. It was nice, but the group was actually a little too big to get to know anyone. One funny thing did happen, though. W got his first "boy scolding" and you should've seen the look on his face! There were only 2 big kid swings. Another boy, a little older than F was on one. F ran over an got on the other one. W wanted to swing and F wouldn't get off and let him have it. I was watching from the edge of the playground. He was talking to her in his unkind voice telling her to get off and let him have the swing. He then picked up some mulch (this playground's covering) and threw it towards her. It didn't go very far since he thew it into the wind and he got more than she did. I got up to go over and have a close face to face about mulch throwing and just as I got there the other boy was saying to him (in HIS unkind voice) "Hey, don't you throw that at her. That's not nice. You leave that little girl alone and let her swing!" I'm not sure whether or not he realized he was rescuing her from her own brother or not, but I really seemed to have an impact on W! Oh, and he's REALLY embarassed about the whole thing, so if you see him make sure you ask him about it:)
F woke up really snotty this morning..... The a reason I don't like crowded playgrounds. I am starting on the whole aggressive treatment thing today. More later..

Big Milestone

We passed a major milestone in our family today. We let F go to children's chapel during church. Yes, I finally caved to all you crazies who keep telling me that she needs more friends than just W and G. I had a talk with the teacher before the service, of course, but still........it's not like I KNOW her! It seems like just yesterday, when we did we did VBS, last summer. I called my friend, Summer crying from the church because everyone was just dropping their kids off with me and the other teachers.....and LEAVING! Those people didn't know me! How could they do it? So, church today. The kids come in for the opening prayers and songs, they all leave during the sermon then are brought back for communion. I was telling F during the opening prayers that if she got scared at the last minute and wanted to stay with me that it would be perfectly fine. R heard me and scolded.......said I wasn't being supportive or some nonsense. Anyway, it came time for them to all leave, AND SHE DID. Just left with all the other kids! I was watching her walk out and beginning to cry. Trying to stop myself, I looked over to R for some assurance that she would be okay.............and HE was crying! Not a lot of help! So, we alternated going back to peek into the classroom to check on her.


So, I know, what you're thinking.........."Enough about you, how did SHE do?" Well, that's the worst part........she had a great time and wants to go back next week. This is where it all starts, isn't it? Tomorrow, off to college........... CChurch is for 4-6 yr. olds. Now W wants to go, and of course she wants him to go with her. R doesn't want him to because he doesn't want her to have that crutch. Can you believe? Her own brother and best friend.....a crutch. Who is this man that just wants to throw my baby to the wolves? And what has he done with MY husband? Also, some scank..uh, I mean little girl in cc asked F when W was coming! What interest would she have in my WW coming? Tramp! Nothing good can come of this.....I still can't believe I let this happen. What was I thinking? Oh, and the best part.......when we were riding home G turned to her and asked her (in her best 2 yr old scolding voice) "F, why did you go off with strangers by yourself?" I said, "Thank you, G, I was just thinking the same thing!" F just turned to her and said, "I wasn't by myself, God was with me." Why didn't I think of that? In church of all places! It was only the other day, possibly my last post, that I she spoke to another kid on the playground besides W and G. Now, she's just going off with strangers. BTW, in case you didn't know, none of them have EVER done anything that R and I didn't involve ourselves in and had them in sight at all times. So, that was her (our) big milestone for today. As you can tell, I am much more scarred by the whole thing than she is. We spent the afternoon just hanging around and doing some yard work. Mom, we finally freed the oak trees from the neighboring vines at the back of the yard.


That's about all we've been up to. Oh, yesterday R took them all to the "doughnut straunt" for breakfast then to Home Depot for the monthly build. Now, that's REALLY all we've been up to the last couple of days.

School update (bragging)

We've been busy rededicating ourselves to our studies this week. I went to a park this morning to meet up with the Brevard Co. HS group. We were the only ones that showed. We had record low temps last night, so I warned the kids ahead of time that might be what would happen. Another family did show that we met, though. They just moved here from Columbus, GA, had a little girl, almost 5 and a little boy that looked to be a little younger than G. Anyway, they just moved to Suntree (renting while house hunting) from GA and the dad sells medical supplies in basically the same territory as R travels. ...Different products, not competitors. Small world, huh? I was so proud of F, she went right up and introduced herself, they played and when the little girl was leaving, she told her it was nice meeting her. We've been really working on her painfully shy nature lately. Maybe some of it is finally paying off.

Will is doing very welll with his reading. His concentration still isn't what I'm used to working with.............I know, I know, don't compare them.........but he is doing well...........slowly but steadily. He is up to 5 books with his HOP program. I finally realized that he does much better first thing in the AM, so I try to catch him then. We also work with his numbers 1-100. I am going to order his first spelling book this afternoon. .....oops, maybe we should work a little more on handwritting before I start throwing written spelling work at him. I guess he reallly is doing very well for his age, and with the handicap of the testosterone, is remarkable:) G is working diligently with her ABC's. She came up to me two nights ago and said "There are too many books in here that I can't read!" She was so indignent, like there were some that she COULD read, we just didn't own them. I explained that that was the reason we did ABC's and that she could start trying soon. She really is pretty amazing. I lay out all the cards and ask her to give me a specific letter. When she picks it up, she has to tell me the sound and a word that starts with that letter. She can do that with almost all of the upper case; we haven't started lowercase yet. I don't remember exactly, since that time is all such a blur, but I think that puts her about on track with F. Now F... As I type this, I am giving her the last spelling test for the second grade. It's Homonyms......hole, whole, dear, deer, right, write. etc. She already knew them all when we got to this lesson. I'm not sure how except from just all the reading that she does (the worst punishment you can dole out to her these days is to take away her reading time when she goes to bed)and asking here and there for some clarification. I know we've never sat down and had a discussion on the subject. She's over half way through first grade language, chpt12 in first g history, and somewhere around the end of second grade math. (She's gotten into multiplication) I picked out a sciene program that is for age ranges 5-8 and I am going to start her and W together on that. Also, she knows more geography than most adults...sadly that doesn't take much these days. Now that I think about it, W may know more than most adults:) G is so funny. She is the only two year old that goes around discussing ancient history in the middle of Target. F insists that if she is going to go around saying their names that she must know who they are.......therefore, she goes around yelling Shamshi-Adaad- ancient Assyrian ruler.....Hammarabi-ancient Babylonian ruler! The only thing funnier is to see the looks that we get from fellow shoppers!


Went to Old Navy yesterday because W needed jeans and khaki pants and it finally occured to me that it would be a good place to find some decent, plain, girl LS and ss tshirts. (see earlier post) So, if you are having the same problem with your little girls, you can go there....they do still have the "stylish" (trash) but you can find some cute, decent things there too.


Must go now, the natives are getting restless........

email change

We left comcast in the move, so if you didn't get the email address change yet, my new email is dunlappartyoffive@cfl.rr.com . Make sure you save it in your contacts..........

Odds and ends

We rented a movie last night that I HAVE to tell everyone about. Move over "When Harry Met Sally" and "An American President" I have a new all time favorite movie! The name of it is "Fireproof" and I cannot say enough good things about this movie except that you HAVE to see it and if you need to use the bathroom, pause it and come back. Don't even miss a minute! I had heard extraordinary reviews on it, but never really imagined that it could live up to them. Well, it did and more. Everyone should see this movie, but if you are married, you can't afford not to. So, run, don't walk to your local store (skip the rental and just buy it......you'll want to anyway) and get this movie.

This is my SUPERCOOL new soap dispenser for the kitchen. I just found a wine bottle that was the right size with a label that I really liked ( this wine is called "the 7 deadly Zins" and in lighter letters that you can't see in this picture, it lists the 7 deadly sins.....hilarious) and put in a pourer that you can find in any barwear section.
Instructions:
Drink wine
rinse bottle
put in soap
put pourer in the top
Super simple, super cool and really pretty





I recovered the diningroom, kitchen and familyroom chairs (the two at the two desks) I love this fabric, and am very happy with the way they turned out.











Did you wonder why there where SO many of these beachcomber hats in the bathroom? I ordered them from Oriental Trading Co and they had to be ordered by the dozen. I left 3 out because this is just too funny! They wear these around the house singing "Welcome to Hawaii. Welcome to Hawaii" doing the hula.

Yeah, I know the post started with this paragraph, but I wanted to make sure that you read it, whether you came in on the beginning or the end.

We rented a movie last night that I HAVE to tell everyone about. Move over "When Harry Met Sally" and "An American President" I have a new all time favorite movie! The name of it is "Fireproof" and I cannot say enough good things about this movie except that you HAVE to see it and if you need to use the bathroom, pause it and come back. Don't even miss a minute! I had heard extraordinary reviews on it, but never really imagined that it could live up to them. Well, it did and more. Everyone should see this movie, but if you are married, you can't afford not to. So, run, don't walk to your local store (skip the rental and just buy it......you'll want to anyway) and get this movie.

from 5 to 6(slut)

We went to the mall today to take R's shoes to the cobbler. While there, I decided to go look for a few things for the kids. Between my sewing and hand me downs, I can't tell you the last time I bought any of them clothes. (besides sweats at walmart)
So, I was hit with the style change that comes with the move from the 2-5 girls clothes into the 6-10. Wow! What a huge difference! I don't even know where to begin. I guess first of all, it was a bummer that G and F couldn't just get the same outfits in different sizes to match. That however, was not the major dissapointment. When was it decided that my baby, barely 6, should put on these clothes? I couldn't even find a decent pair of shorts with a matching tshirt! I went to Macy's (which was actually the best place because they still grouped 2-6) Dillards, Children's Place, Gap kids and JCPenney. I was so discouraged that no one got anything. Will really needed some new shorts and shirts, but by the time I got around to him, his behavior prevented him from getting anything.
So mom's.......where do I go to get my baby some clothes (besides dressy dresses) Just some playclothes.....Just a tshirt for that matter without the horrible graphics?
Something without sparkly stones or smartass sayings on them. Let me guess............the boys dept., or have the powers that be even ruined them? So, you all get the gist........I guess you even got it by the title of this post and there was no need for my further diatribe tonight.

Mom

I have been debating on this post, but I guess if you read us on a regular basis, you should know something this significant.

My mom has been diagnosed with stage 4 breastcancer. It is in her bones now. She will start radiation in early February, do that for 3 weeks then onto 6 months of chemo to try to put it into remission. Yeah, it sucks as badly as you can imagine it would. Please pray for her and my dad during this time. Here is a picture of her playing "Sorry" with my kids on Christmas.

More catching up

Okay, enough house stuff. You've seen the whole thing except our bedroom and a couple of boring bathrooms. Our bedroom isn't done and probably won't be until 3 months before we end up having to move from here. (That's what happened in Atlanta)

So it was the Saturday after Faith ran the Mickey Mile. We took the kids to the Magic Kingdom. Faith's favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh house, Will's favorite thing was getting to hug Tigger and Gracie will tell you that her favorite thing was riding the monorail. They also really enjoyed the parades. We took them on the Pirates OTC ride specifically for Will because he had decided to be a pirate when he got older. About 1/4 thru the ride, not only did he no longer want to be a pirate, but he was ready for even the ride to be over. I sat beside him with my arms around him. The poor little guy's heart was about to beat out of his chest!

They also like the Swiss FR treehouse, since they know that story. Faith will tell you that she liked the "ballerinas" What are the ballerinas you ask? The Disney Princesses. Since we don't do the DP's because of their poor example, they had no idea who they were. The only frame of reference she has of girls in dresses like that is at the ballet. So, she called them the ballerinas and we went with it.

John and Kristen met us there with BabyDow and Madison. The whole reason for the weekend, in case I didn't say earlier was that it was race weekend. Richard and John ran the Marathon on Sunday. We loved being able to catch up with them a bit. BDow has gotten so big and Madison and Mary are just grown! Richard finished his marathon in four hours and eight minutes. I thought it was a super time! Well, I thought just finishing the thing was superhuman to be honest. So, now we are blessed with two winning runners and W and G are already talking about when they can run the MM. G is still a little too young and let's face it, W's too lazy. I will love giving him the chance, but he moans and whines about having to ride his bike a mile. When we would go hiking in GA, he was always the first one to start complaining. We'll see how things go when push comes to shove.

We all have colds (again) this has been the worst winter for them that I can remember. How ironic, since we now live in the warmest climate ever, for us? It is going to be 80 on Thursday! We went to the beach yesterday for a picnic and let the kids run around. I dressed them in clothes because it's been unusually cold here lately. (The man next door said it was the coldest he's seen since he's lived here.....20 years!)

We went to a new church this morning. I think we all liked it and will probably try to stick with that one for a while. It is an AMIA church named Prince of Peace. (POP) For those not familiar, the AMIA is the Anglican Mission in America. I started to try to explain it here, but decided to go the website and just copy/paste what it is........lest I really screw it up and never hear the end from John Richardson:)

The Anglican Mission in the Americas is a bold missionary strategy born seven years ago in response to a crisis of faith and leadership in North America. We are driven by a compelling vision of reaching the 150 million individuals in the U.S. and Canada who have yet to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by building communities of faith and transforming lives.

The crisis of faith and leadership in North America it is referring to the Anglican Church in America (AKA the Episcopal church)

It is getting late, so let me post some pictures from Disney and to to bed.

The children's bathroom!

Finally, my favorite room in the house it done..........the kid's bathroom. This is the most fun I have ever had doing a room (and I was pretty stoked about Will's HD room) The pictures loaded backwards, so bear with me. This first one is the soap dispenser. I wanted a close up because it's so cute and you may not see it in the other pictures (there's a lot of other stuff going on:)) The next two are the little rugs I found. Have you ever seen a cuter bathroom rug than that little woody with the surfboard on it? Of course, the other one is a surfboard rug. The next one is from the bathroom door, then so is the next, but with the door that opens onto the enclosure. After that is the shower curtain that I found the fabric for and made. It is hot pink with light pink hibiscus and green, blue and red/yellow surfboards all over it. I also bought white towels and washclothes and sewed the same fabric onto the ends. The next few are pretty self explanetory, but see the coconut on the back of the potty? Shoes and Juddy mailed that to Faith from Hawaii when she was a baby. The other side of it actually has her name and our PC address written in magicmarker. The 3 white picture frames around the round mirror are of of 3 of them taking their first baths. They were up in the Atlanta bath. I replaced the stickers on them and now the tops say Riding my first wave with the names on the bottom corners. The white board almost at the top of the ceiling is some weird thing that I've never seen before. There are floresent lights in there and it deflects the light from coming straight down onto you. Anyway, across that board is stenciled Surf City......2 girls for every boyyyyyy! I was planning on doing some song lyrics there, but I had more of "Surfin' safari" or "Catch a wave" in mind this whole time. For some reason "Surf City" just came to me out of the blue the other day and when I got to the 2 girls for every boy part, I thought.."Perfect! That's what it HAS to be. On the shelf below the round mirror are their 3 teeth brushing cups. I found these neon green, blue and pink shot glasses at a party supply. They are little tiki poles, and so cute. Yes, I know, shot glasses? Really though, they are a great size just to rinse your mouth with after brushing.

2 long days

Wow, the last two days have been long ones. Why is it my children insist on behaving inexcusably awful for about 3-4 days a month? Why is it always around the same time? Maybe it's the lunar phase........hmmmmmmmmmmmm:) Yesterday G refused to eat her breakfast, threw her food on the floor, smashed her brother across the nose with a soccer trophy that left a nice gash and pee'd in her pants TWICE! Then proceeded to pour a cup of water all over the kitchen floor and herself while I was on the phone complaing to my Mom about how awful they were behaving! F broke a lamp, so now there's glass on W's floor that I can't clean up because the vacumm cleaner that I ordered last week still hasn't arrived. His room is off limits to them all until it comes in. Will is just his usual passive/aggressive self with a lot of whining today because he got up at 530 this morning. He threw up before breakfast, but has been fine since.It really must have been something in the air because Aunt Joey called and said Jenna (G's soulmate) was having the same kind of day.

Today was a little better until I decided to take them out in public, then it was just one embarassing moment of threats and disobedience after another. I watched the inauguration today. Faith actually acted like she was 16 instead of 6 and took care of the babies for me because she knew I wanted to see it. Wow, President Obama can sure deliver a speech! Did you notice he bungled the oath, though? I am still not sure how I feel about him. I want him to be everything he seems and not the antichrist, but now Newt Gingrich is on board with him! Newt Gingrich for crying out loud! That's just another brick in the antichrist wall testifying to his charisma and how EVERYONE will buy into him.

Anyhow, here are some more pictures of the house.
These 3 are obviously of the kitchen. The red wall runs the length of back of the house. It looks burgundy in this picture, but it is really Cranberry...REALLY cranberry:)

These are the diningroom. the one facing the chinacabinet is the view you get to your right from the foyer. We brought the cranberry from the other room into here below the chair rail. I have to recover the diningroom chairs.

This is the entry foyer.

These are the livingroom. It is to the left from the foyer. The one facing the couch is taken from the familyroom. The one facing the familyroom (fireplace) was taken from that couch. The plaid chair and recliner are in the livingroom. The chaise is in the familyroom to tie the two together.

I took some more the next morning. As you can see, the familyroom is open to the kitchen. There are two sliding doors on this wall. One from the familyroom and one from the kitchen.

These are on the back porch. Top left is right outside the kitchen door taken toward our room. Our room is the third slider onto the lanai. The small door with the smoked window is the kid's bathroom.The other 4 are, obviously, the pool.

It is not heated, so I haven't been in, but my penguin children braved it the first week.





So, that's it for tonight. More later

As promised

Welll, I made it back in less than another month, just as promised:) Where did I leave off? After F's race with pix, I believe. I wanted to go back to tell you a little about how the house turned out. I took some pictures tonight, but keep in mind, it's night and the kids rooms were picked up by them and the beds were made by them too. I have been wanting to take some pictures in the day to post, but the messy rooms are even worse then. These pix are after bedtime pickup. The first ones are of W's room. I really love how it came out. His theme is tools, specifically, Home Depot.These first 2 are as you are standing in the doorway. I re-did that dresser to look like a tool box and found the craftsman logo to stick in the right corner. Those brown pieces the tools are hanging on are pegboard, just like a real workshop. I put the real, more dangerous tools at the top, a couple of his projects that he has done at the HD, and his play tools at the bottom. You can't tell from the picture, but that is the cutest little toolbox lamp on the corner of the dresser.

t

I took the next one from sitting on the bottom bunk of his bed towards the closet, and the last is right next to his bed with the doorway just to the right. There's not one from the closet back to the bed, but it's just his bunkbed with light brown corduroy looking covers and pillow. There is a HD apron hanging on the corner of both the top bunks. This next room is G's. Of course the walls had to be painted green, but I chose what shade. She inherited the dollhouse bookcase and all of the white furniture and accessories.

This next one is from the window looking back at her bed. Daddy hung lattice work and we wove a little rose garden vine through it. The quilt is sort of a Shabby Chic patchwork with little roses. This was F's bedroom set at one time and before that it belonged to Madison....thank you Aunt Kristen. (I brought clothes for BDow to Orlando and forgot to give them to you)

These next two are taken from her doorway.

The pink and yellow is, of course, F's room. The first 2 are taken from the doorway, the next, from the closet corner (next to the Babycare center) She has butterflies and tulips. I should mention here, that every picture, shelf, curtainrod, and cornice you see was hung by my Daddy. If you know us though, that news won't shock you. There's no way we could've done all this by ourselves. That does it for the kids rooms. I'll do the living space next time.

Where to start?

Okay, I know it's been a while and it might take me a few of these to catch up. When last I blogged, we were in house negotiations that got a little ugly. We ended up getting the house and closed on Dec. 19th. (Friday) We also celebrated Faith's bday that afternoon on the back porch. She had a totally Kailey (AG) birthday.

The next day, we all packed up and went to PC (the kids and I) and to Atlanta (R to meet the movers and work like a dog for the next 3 days)He came to PC on Christmas Eve, we had a great Christmas with Mom and Dad. I will post catch up pictures, too. Of course the kids got way too much. Thank you to everyone that contributed!

Right after Christmas we all came back (Melbourne) including M&D to meet the movers here. The next two weeks were nothing but a blur of boxes. We all got sick with wicked colds, (thank you patient zero.....Gracie) but didn't stop. My poor parents worked like illegal immigrants getting the house set up for us before they went home on Friday. It was all worth it in the end. I love the new house, even though it needs a fence around the yard and a heater for the pool. One reason M&D stayed until Friday was because F had a Dr. appt. in Tampa on Thursday. They stayed to watch W and G for me. They got to go to the zoo and to a park at PAFB. They left not long after we did and didn't get home until right before us. Anyways, they all had a blast, Gommer and Grandaddy, included, and were all bushed....including G&G:) F had been pretty sick and they had called in an oral steroid for her inflamation. BTW, it's not pretty! I kept waiting for her to start her period any moment with the mood swings and unreasonableness. Yes, I know unreasonableness is not a real word, but that was what she was. She had gotten mostly better by the appt., but they still put her on an antibiotic and we are giving her the adult doses of Albuterol and Pulmicort during the healing. The good new is that when I called today for her culture results, they were completely clean again! Even for the MRSA. I just knew it would rear it's ugly head since colds usually start a flare up. So that was super news! This past weekend was race weekend at Disneyworld...yes, DISNEYWORLD. Faith ran the Mickey Mile on Friday. (mom and dad stayed to watch, then went home from there) She did really well, esp. considering that she had been sick and not run but once since leaving the camper. I ran with her that day, and was sore for a week:) So, F and Daddy ran the Mickey Mile together. Of course we wouldn't have let her run alone (up against 13 yr olds) but it was a good thing he went for an unexpected reason. Apparently, some little boy was hitting on her during the race. Yes, I said DURING the race. R said he finally had to get between them running to get rid of him. Oh, and he was older too....at least 8 or 9. Is no where safe? I will post some pictures of tonight's diatribe and continue another time.