Sunday, September 21, 2008

Can you feel the love?




We took some pictures to send to Daddy since he's working down where the hurricane hit to help restore power. Midge is sending her love in this pic. Can ya feel it?

Keaton, on the other hand had his own special way of sending his love. He is such a weirdie!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Science Class in our Kitchen....




Okay, so I may be the coolest mom ever. I am not
totally for sure on that one.
But I did take the whole
homeschooling to another level
when I allowed for a 3 foot tall
milkweek plant to be planted in
a five gallon bucket and brought into my kitchen for a week and a
half. We found a
friend (the kids named him "Monnie") and he turned into
something pretty cool overnight. Unfortunately, he never became what was on Midge's shirt. For some unknown reason, he chose to stay inside his little house and not venture out. Maybe he was a home body. Maybe he was scared to death to come out after listening to our loud and crazy household for a week. We will never know I guess. But we will try again the the spring. This prompted me to buy a butterfly cage, some milkweed seeds to grow our own plant, and we have a coupon to send off for a half dozen larvae when we see fit to try again. Rest in peace Monnie! Thanks for the memories!


Pass the jello and the soup please!


Miss Abby is gonna have a difficult time eating anything for awhile. She lost her top 3 teeth all in one night. The tooth fairy was a broke lady after that night! She will not be eating corn on the cob anytime soon, that if for sure! She sports the toothless look very well! Put some baby powder in her hair, draw some wrinkles on her face, and you will have a good idea what she will look like at 90. I can only hope I look that good!

Fall Fun Fest 2008

Pictures from Uncle Jim's Wedding....

Monday, September 15, 2008

More stuff from our house....

Been a hectic few weeks. Kirk made it home for Jim's wedding. He was a riot! Gave a great "toast" and did his silly entrance when they announced the wedding party. He had everyone laughing. I was cracking up at him! Didn't get much time w/ him since he was on best man duty the 48 hours he was home, but all went well. The wedding and reception went very smoothly and we all had a great time. (I will upload some photos soon!). He left at 4 a.m. the 7th and is still in Louisiana doing hurricane relief work. His little company is fairing very well, ranking in the top 4 companies down there doing repairs to the electrical system. He says they will be one of the last dismissed to go home, which means he will likely be gone a minimum of 3 or 4 more weeks at least. Will be a long month I am afraid. Don't know how single parents do it! I am exhausted! But we will make it! Thanks heavens for the cell phone--that's all I can say. We talk to him all the time--which makes it bearable.

What else? Pressing on w/ the homeschooling. Getting a rhythm so that is good. Kids are participating in a couple groups w/ other homeschooling kids. They really enjoy it. Keaton is now taking drums, piano, and starts a hip hop dance class tonight. Kyle is doing guitar. Abby and Midge are just trying to keep up with the two of them, like me. I think it will be good for them.

We just got back from our yearly pilgrimage to Southern Illinois for the family reunion. We were very excited as we finally won a trophy in the children's parade for our costumes (6 years in the making....tried every year and were defeated!). We were very excited about our victory! The trophy is displayed proudly at Grandpa's house on his mantel. It was a very muggy weekend, but it was great seeing everyone.

Kyle experienced his first official overnighter at church as an jr. higher. He almost stayed up all night (guess he fell asleep at 6 am). He missed the family weekend, but I think it was good for him to go. He had a great time.

Got a call at 10 pm on Thursday night asking me to take an emergency placement for foster care. Being that we were headed out of town for the weekend and Kirk was not home, I told them no. Thinking that Kirk should be around for the first placement. But felt a little bad doing it. Oh well. My plate is pretty full right now.

Guess that about does it for now! I will be posting pictures soon so check back!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The latest and greatest from our house

Happy day after Labor Day! Had a hectic weekend. Went camping out at the land Friday night with our crew and our friend Perry and his two kiddos. We haven't camped but one other night so we are still trying to get a rhythm as far as bringing all that is needed when camping. We had a funeral to attend Friday morning ( a childhood friend of Kirk had passed of Urosepsis. He had a history of a brain tumor and never really recovered from that either). Then we rushed home, tried to pack appropriately, drove the hour to the land, and learned we did not pack appropriately --namely we forgot the poles for the tent. Good thing my hubby is handy and cleaver. He and Perry rigged the tent under some trees using rope and we were in business. Weather cooperated. Was a bit cool over night, but tolerable under the sleeping bags and on the new air mattresses. Kirk and I "bonded" as we had no choice. Our mattress didn't hold the air as well as it could have, creating a "bowl" effect and we both sank the the center of the queen mattress during the night. It wasn't the Tempurpedic Mattress we have recently grown accustomed to, but we did get a little sleep. Saturday, Kirk and Perry hoisted the kids to the 22 ft. platform (using Kirk's rock climbing equipment and fastening one end of the rope to the truck that Mom would drive forward to hoist them up) and down the zip line into the pond they went. What is next? Pogo sticking over the campfire? (I better not mention that one! He just might try it) Saturday afternoon, Kirk got the call he was going South for the Hurricane relief efforts. So that news cut our camping trip short. He is currently in New Orleans. Last he heard, over a million without power. Still waiting to see what else comes their way with the continued storms. He will fly home for a very short weekend as he is one of two best men at my brother's wedding on Saturday. My kiddos are all in it as well. I am reading a verse. I had thought about forgoing the prewritten verses and coming up with my own dialogue for the special occasion. Not sure if my bro and soon to be new sister in law would appreciate that. I had visions of doing the speech given by that crazy bishop looking guy in the movie "The Princess Bride". Remember that one? "Wuv (love), true wuv. Wuv is what has brought us togever (together) today." I would crack up but would likely be the only one.Probably cuz I am old and the only one who would even remember that movie. So maybe not.


What else...we are officially licensed foster parents. Got the license in the mail last week. Still no placement or call--but we are ready for whatever comes along. So, we will see what doors open.


Speaking of doors, can you believe I got hit in the driver's door again in the Cavelier. Literally the third time this year! And, of course, not my fault....AGAIN! I could have been very dishonest and let this poor soul who hit me think the dent there was from her (we never fixed the dent from the ice truck hitting me in accident number 2) and would be a thousand dollars to fix. I was honest though. She did scrap the door though, but not bad. I called my "brilliant" husband for advice, and he suggested I call the cops. Officer Jerkbutt (you will see why I named him that in a minute) must have been a very green cop as it took him literally 45 minutes to fill out the paperwork. Turns out I forgot to put an updated insurance card in my glove box and I ended up with a ticket that I get to appear in court on Monday for (the card in the glove box was 28 days past expired). FANTASTIC! I was only a mile from my house and could have gotten it, but apparently he needed a donut break or something cuz that wasn't gonna happen. I got to thinking maybe he was just crabby cuz he was constipated. Seriously! I am serious as a heart attack. I noticed he had a large bottle of Benefiber on his front seat and a bag of dried fruit. I kid you not! Gave the lady a ticket for hitting me too. So, got my very first ticket EVER for something incredibly lame. I wanted my first ticket to be something really cool, like going 50 miles over the speedlimit or jaywalking or streaking. I was so ticked I called the assistant public attorney office down town and told him my sad story and asked if I could just come down and prove I am insured. He checked into it but couldn't do anything for me. So, I will go and waste the court's time on Monday (as well as my own) and clear my good name. (Hopefully by then the officer had luck "clearing" himself!) Officer Needs-to-poop is not my favorite person at the moment.


On the upside--we have new life in our home. NO, I am not pregnant. We captured a Monarch caterpillar on Saturday, brought it home, dug up a milkweed, put it in a 5 gallon bucket, and perched our new friend (along with another new furry caterpillar friend) on the milkweed. We now have a shiny green crystalis and a furry friend. I have since ordered a butterfly net pop up house and am hoping it comes soon as I do not want a butterfly flying around my home. Kinda fun! The kids are stoked about it. Pretty exciting.


Well, that's the latest. I am officially ready for bed. Til my next rant.....