Please Help!!!

Did you ever go to summer camp? Did you have fun while you were there? Well Camp Awana is in the running for a 30k makeover from Sears. We are currently in 2nd place. This camp has been around for a very long time and is mainly run by volunteers. My husband grew up going to this camp. It was be a great help to the camp to have this 30k makeover. Even if our kids don't go to this camp other kids are going there and hearing about God. Just think about how you voting for this camp could help impact the lives of those kids attending the camp in future years. So here is the deal. The voting last until July 31st. You can vote one time per email address each day, so if you have more than one email address you can vote more than once a day for the next 2 weeks. Go here and vote for SCOTT LONGMIRE from Algonquin, IL. Remember to vote EVERYDAY and help Camp Awana win a makeover!!!

Seriously?!?

Wednesday nights Jeff is usually gone working with our junior high group at church. Most Wednesday nights I have friends lined up to come over and hang out while he is gone. For some reason I had a complete mental block that he was leaving last night so I didn't have anyone here to keep me company. Instead of being upset I decided that the kids and I would take a bike ride to the park. They wanted to go to the old neighborhood first and see some friends. Since we left right after dinner we had plenty of time to do both. We got the our old block and NO ONE was home, at first. Then Patti came out and we talked to her for a short time because she had a softball game she needed to get too. She just recently bought a trampoline and told me that the kids could jump on it. After she left I let the kids jump for a good amount of time. Then we were getting ready to go to the park. Monkey rode down to our old house, he wanted to climb the front tree. I went to get him and the guy who bought Jack's old house (our grandparent-like neighbors who passed away not too long ago) came home. I had heard he did a lot of updating to the house. I asked if I could see all that he had done. He isn't living there yet because the house still has more work to be done on it. As we walked to the door, GG found one of Marilyn's decorated rocks. She picked it up and just started bawling. The guy let her keep the rock, which made her day. The door that we went in is right next to our old swingset. The kids of course ran to it. Even though I told them not to. With in 30 seconds Monkey was screaming and crying because he got stung by a wasp. I told the kids not to play on it. What do you know, my little strong-willed stubborn Peanut didn't listen. Next thing I know she is screaming and crying. I run over to her and pick her up. I'm so surprised I didn't get stung. She had a wasp hanging from her arm. I shook it off. I saw 2 stings right away and I iced them. Once I got her somewhat calmed down I put her on the ground and looked the rest of her body over. She had 2 more stings on the other side of her arm. We were on bikes and I didn't bring my cell because I figured we probably won't need it but good ole Murphy's Law went into effect. The fire department isn't too far from the old house so we rode over there and had the Paramedics take a look at both the kids. We now know that neither one of them are allergic to bee stings. What a junky way to find that out! I think Peanut will be scared of any flying bugs for a very long time. I just still can't believe she didn't listen to me right after her brother got stung. I should of just picked her up and brought her into the house and not given her a choice. But I didn't and maybe this will be the life lesson that teaches her that "um maybe I should obey mom, she's got my back"

As I type this Red walks into my room on a day that is suppose to be 91 with a long sleeve shirt asking if he can wear it because he is really cold. Yeah, I have the air set at 78, it's NOT cold in here.

Other than that I have been bad at writing out our menus for the time we have lived in this house. I have made 3 new recipes. Fire roasted Chicken Salad (Everyone LOVED), Stuffed Acorn Squash, (it was ok) and last night I made Rolled Eggplant, Jeff LOVED it, I thought it was pretty good, the kids did not like it one bit, it was a little too spicy for me but not too bad.

No more summer crazies...

Now that this is the 5th week of summer break the kids summer crazies have settled down and we are getting into a routine again. This week we started "school" hour. The kids got all the workbooks from the year from school and instead of throwing them away I thought lets finish them. This is the second day and the kids are LOVING it. Even Peanut is getting in to it. After breakfast we clean up the table and the kids do the work I have planned for the morning. They haven't asked if they can go outside to play instead which means they are really enjoying it. They love to be outside with the neighbor kids but they would rather have school time with mom then be outside with them. I am loving the one on one time I am able to have with each of the kids. I'm not really teach them new stuff I am having them continue with the things they have already learned to help them retain them for next year. Speaking of next year, I am really excited for Monkey to have the teacher that GG has had for the last 2 years. I think he is going to grow leaps and bounds with her as his teacher she is just THAT good. Other than that Monkey had an eye appointment last week and was told he needs glasses for school. Neither J or I wear glasses so I had a really hard time hearing that. I kept asking is there anything we can do to help his eye sight. The doctor kept telling me no. Well she said it to quickly and without much thought that I decided to do a little research of my own. I can across a method for restoring eyesight. It is called the Bates Method. It has been recommend by a doctor that I completely trust, here is the site. He used it on his own eyesight. There is a video and then an article about the method. I am so excited to start using this with him and see if his sight improves!!!

4th of July Holiday

It is one of my favorites but also one of my least. It is my favorite because we are busy for a whole week doing fun activities but my least because I single parent it that whole week. This year I didn't take any pictures of the kids on the rides mainly because most of the rides that Peanut could go on I had to go with her which makes picture taking hard. I do feel bad for not getting the joy on their faces captured in pictures but it is etched in my memory for life. Also this is the first year we went to the Fest that I didn't have another adult with me. It actually wasn't too bad. I told the kids we all had to stay together and do the rides together. Of course, GG wanted to go on rides that only her and Monkey were big enough for and Monkey didn't want to go so the 4 of us watched her go on them a few times. It wasn't too bad. Next year I'm thinking will probably be a lot harder because GG will be too big for all the little kid rides. Anyways, one day of the Fest we got an elephant ear and a funnel cake to share and another day we got blizzards for a little treat. We saw a lot of kids from school which was fun. Last night was the last day so we stayed til it closed. About an hour before it closed I noticed my phone was missing. So we looked for it and didn't find it. I am hoping someone turns it in but I'm not holding my breath. Then I realized that I was wearing the same shorts that I had on at Disney when I lost my phone there. I am thinking these shorts don't hold my phone very well especially when I sit down. At least I didn't drop my phone in the toilet filled with urine like my hubby did! The only reason I write that is because he put it on facebook :)

The rest of this week is going to be getting back to our normal sleep hours. The kids have been going to bed at 11ish to midnight and getting up around 10ish in the morning. This morning Peanut didn't wake up until 10:30 but she did wake up at 4 something in the morning and came in my room. I took her to the bathroom and snuggled her in my bed but she was too restless and was waking J up so I took her to her bed and laid with her in there for awhile. No nap for her today and hopefully she will go to bed around 7:30 tonight. I need to reset the sleep patterns closer to school so that in 9 weeks when school starts does start it isn't so hard on all of us.

Been Awhile...

Today is the 4th of July and I am sitting in bed at 9:40am. I am the only adult home and extremely exhausted from yesterdays activities. We got up at 7am to pick our oldest up from camp, I missed her so much, then we went to "The Fest" until 11 something and got home around 11:45 last night and I'm tired! J is already at work and he won't be getting home until late again tonight. The kids and I always enjoy "The Fest" but the biggest down part is that J is there but working so he can't go on rides with us or anything else. We do stop in and see him about every hour or so. Last night was really fun. At about 6:30pm some friends (Beth and Matt R) met us there and we went on rides with them. Then they left to go watch the fireworks and our other group of friends came. I say group because it was Jason and Kristy with their 4, Amanda and her daughter, Aaron (Kristy and Amanda's brother) and his girlfriend and Sue, the grandma. You put all of them with us 5 and you got a BIG group of people. It was fun Aaron took GG on some of the bigger rides I can't do with her because I have the other kids. When we weren't on rides Aaron was being the "ride" himself for the kids and throwing them all over the place. Which of course, made all the kids jump on him for more. In the end his shorts got ripped. Still not sure how but the funniest part was that he was underwear-less. His naked butt cheek was hanging out of his pants. He only realized it when he noticed one of the carnival workers laughing at him. We went over to J's booth and repaired his shorts with a police badge and stickers. It was so funny because with the shiny badge holding the shorts together it drew more attention to that area!!!

Other then the Holiday activities we have been busy doing work outside in the yard. I have pictures of before and after that I will hopefully get up soon. We got some new neighbors who moved in to the house that is kitty corner to us with 3 kids. 7 yr old boy, 5 yr old boy, and 3 yr old girl. The only thing that would make it prefect is if they had an older girl for GG :) The kids have been hoping the fence and having a good ole time playing with each other. Almost everyday this week they have gotten to play together. I do think it is quite funny that the neighbor kids stand at the gate when we aren't outside and yell "DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?" over and over until someone comes out to play with them. And we are outside A LOT so it happens usually when we are eating.

Stealing

I'm just going to link to my hubby's blog because I am too lazy to do what he has already done!!! Here are the pictures of the house updates so far. Just need to wait for a little more money and off to the next area of updating. Check it out here... there are I believe 3 separate posts of house updates.

Summer Vacation!

We have just finished the second week of the kids being on summer break. I would like to think that so far they have had a really fun, activity filled break. So why are they bouncing off the walls??? Since they have been out of school we have had 2 play dates at our new house, gone swimming at least 5 times, went to a Flyers Baseball game, watched J play softball two weeks, gone to Great America, went to the Arboretum and just had house guests (my mom and 2 of my siblings) for the last two nights. In a few days GG is leaving for sleep away camp. I just can't believe it is already that time for her to leave for camp. I feel like this summer is going to slip away from us if I don't slow it down. But when we are home they bounce off the walls! We have had a LOT of change in the last few weeks so I am hoping once it all settles down things will get back to normal. Here's to hoping ;) Also we get internet tomorrow. We have been without it for 8 months and we are looking forward to actually having it again!!!

Been awhile..

I haven't really blogged much because most of the stuff going on with us has been about settling in and getting projects done. We are so close to being finished with the living room. All we have left are to buy the trim and crown molding which is easy to do we just have to pick them out and buy them. I absolutely LOVE the colors we choose for the living room. I can't wait to actually show you those pictures! We need to get internet first.

As for summer activities Monkey started basketball camp at school and he is really enjoying it. Tonight starts the first night of baseball with our church league, we're all excited about that. And GG goes to camp in a little over a week. Man do I love summer and all the fun it brings with it.

Just for my record

I'm sitting outside on this beautiful day going through some boxes in our garage when I hear the neighbors playing basketball no big deal right? Well I had to put some stuff in the van and when I walked to the end of the drive way I could see the people playing ball. There were a few boys ages 10 to 11 playing with their shirts off. GREAT. This should be an interesting summer trying to keep my 9 year old innocent. In the time I have been out here I have only heard one swear word so that is somewhat promising but not really. I think I am going to be spending a lot of my summer outside supervising and just when I thought the kids should be old enough to be outside with out me there, oy! I posted this to my facebook status but I wanted it in blog form so that I can look back on it in an easier format. Well time to go get the two oldest from school.

update

Well this will be the 3rd consecutive night we have stayed at the house. We are far from being unpacked but we are functional in all the rooms! Tonight is the first night that we are J and I are sleeping on a bed and not an air mattress. I LOVE our new bed and pillows. It would be nice to have couches but we don’t have the living room painted yet so there is no rush. It works for us at this point because we don’t really ever sit down unless we are eating and we have a table for that. We have been so blessed by my parents housewarming gifts. Yes I said GIFTS. They got the kids each a mattress and they bought the girls bedding (the boys already had some), a lamp for our bedroom, and a dining room table (it seats 10 with the leaf). I wanted to get a big table that sat 12 but I really think we could probably squeeze 12 in this table if we needed too. I am very happy with the table size. I am just very happy to be home. I can see us living here, Lord willing for at least 30 years if not longer. I shouldn’t gain weight with all the stairs I will be doing...laundry is in the basement and the bedrooms are on the second floor! Let’s see this afternoon I was able to pull J away from working to go to a wedding. It was a really beautiful outside wedding. Afterward, we went out with a few couples for dinner. Tomorrow we are going to the other house and grab the last of our things and clean. We hope to hand over the keys and move on. The couple who own the house are just the sweetest people and we have really enjoyed being their neighbors, I’m actually kinda sad to leave but the commute was killer. Plus, it was only a 2 bedroom house so we were a little cramped. In other news the kids finish school next week I believe their last day is the 9th but it could be the 10th not sure?!

Packing Packing Packing then...

Unpacking unpacking unpacking that is what we have been doing. One night we stay at the “old” house the next we stay at the “new” house. I can’t wait until we only have one place we lay our heads, not that I’m not grateful to have the other house to live in and get healthy again in.

Can I just say that I hate funerals? Especially when they for family who are so young, in the last post I said she was 20 I was wrong she was 22 not that it makes a huge difference she is still gone. The only nice part about something like this is getting to see extended family even if everyone is crying. At the luncheon a girl I used to play with during the summers was telling me she thought she saw me at Disney in September. Her face was priceless when I told her I was at Disney in September and told her the dates I was there. She said, “Then I wasn’t crazy for thinking I saw you. Cause I really did.” One thing I wasn’t aware was going to happen to me was seeing my grandpa’s brother Larry (they look very much alike) at the wake and missing my grandpa so much I just started crying. Just thinking of that encounter is making me cry. Lastly I want to write my most vivid memory of my cousin Jessica. She is 9 years younger than me and in the summers when we went to my grandparents farm you weren’t allowed in the house unless you had to use the bathroom. My Aunt Penny and Uncle Mark lived at the house at the farm. One summer my Aunt Penny let me be her mother’s helper with Jessica (the baby of 4) she was about 2 years old and was on a medication for some sort of sickness. My Aunt told me not to let her have milk because of the medication she was on. Well Jessica wanted milk for breakfast. She had a bowl of cereal (not sure if she got it for herself or I got it for her) she also had an empty cup. She wanted milk in. I told her she couldn’t have milk and that her mom said she could have orange pop. She let me pour her the pop and then dumped it in her cereal and then demanded milk in the cup. She never got the milk but she did eat the cereal. She was definitely a girl who knew exactly what she wanted. I am happy to know that she is once again able to dance, run, talk, and do all the things she has missed out on the last 7 1/2 years since she was in a horrible car accident. She is resting in the arms of Jesus with her best friend Jackie, who died in the car accident.

Life right now...

is totally and utterly crazy. In trying to prepare myself for all the work that was going to ensue after we bought our new home I fell sort. BIG. TIME. My feet ache like never before and all the muscles in my body are sore. Since closing on this home we have ripped out carpet (J), put in hardwood (J and his dad), painted the girls room and boys room (J and I). Put together our new table (J, Red and I), vacuumed the 4 bedrooms, stairs, living room, dining room, kitchen and family room (me), mopped all the above rooms except dining room and living room (me), wiped down all the kitchen cabinets etc. (me). We hope to get a truck on Friday night at get all the stuff out of storage and into the house. We have our bed coming on Saturday so we will be sleeping on the air mattress one final night. Throw in the mix that my cousin (20yrs old) passed away and going to the funeral for that this week life has just been BUSY. Even through all this busy-ness I still feel so blessed. There have been times where J has said to me, "This house will either make us stronger or brake us."

This just keeps getting better!

We had our closing this morning. The sellers were there which is unusual. We had some small talk before everything began and then all the signing began. Once the signing was done we were waiting for the bank wire to go through. During that time (about 25 minutes) we talked to the couple who are in their 80's. They have been married for 57 years and have 3 kids but no grandkids. They were just the sweetest, nicest people. Red was wearing one of our church shirts and the wife asked about it so we told her about our church. Since they have moved they haven't been able to find a church. We invited them to come to our church since it is only about 15 minutes from their new home. I think it would be really cool to have them attend our church. The husband gave J his business card, yes he is still working at 80, and told him to give him a call and he would come over and show him everything about the house. I am hoping that when he does come his wife will come too and she can tell me about the flowers in more detail. We did talk plant/flower/trees but it would be nice for her to point them out. Anyways, the reason it was taking so long was that the money wire got messed up and they sent the money to the right bank but wrong account. They told us it could take up to 6 hours to straighten it out. Which meant we wouldn't own the house for 6 more hours. Also during that 25 minute period they handed over the keys and garage door things. Their attorney told them that they didn't have to hand over the keys because it wasn't ours yet but they said we could have the keys anyway. It wasn't like they didn't know where we lived :) About 2 hours later we got the call that everything went through and it was officially our house!!! After the closing we didn't waste any time, we went and got stuff out of the storage, dropped Red off at school, and went to the house. I cleaned the entire upstairs. I wiped down the windows, vacuumed the floors and then mopped them. J went to get the hardwood floors we had ordered. When he got back a man pulled into the driveway. It was the son of the sellers. He welcomed us home and talked to J for quite awhile. He was a really nice man and he was so happy that we were moving in with our 4 kiddos. We didn't end up getting as much stuff as we wanted to get done but we made a pretty good dent in the things that have to get done before we move in. J ripped up the carpet in the living room and I helped get the staples out. We picked the kids up from school and got more stuff from storage, came home, kids did homework, we had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and out the door we went. J had a surprise for us. We went to see a women's basketball game. It was pretty cool. We didn't stay until the end because it was getting late but we watched 3 quarters. Now the kids are sleeping and J is taking another load of stuff over to the house. I need to go make lunches then I am going to back another long day tomorrow. We are painting the white walls. I need color in my life!

Holy Hot-ness Batman!!!

It isn't even June yet and we have had to turn the a/c on. This is going to be a hot summer and I am so glad that I decided to go ahead and buy the pool passes for this year. We are actually putting them to good use today. The kids and I are meeting some friends at the pool after school. It is going to feel so good to be in that cool water. This morning we went to some other friends house and the two littlest played on their slip and slide. Anyways J and I decided that we were going to drive together today and J doesn't get off of work until 7:30 tonight so we are swimming to kill time.

Tomorrow is the BIG day. You know the one where you sign on the dotted line that you are going to pay X amount of money for a house which you end up spending double that amount when all is said and done. Don't let that above sentence fool you. I am so excited. It is almost like it is too good to be true. The kids are really excited about it too. They have been such great troopers through this whole thing. They have been sleeping on air mattresses for almost a year now, 8 months to be exact. They are really looking forward to having a real bed again just like J and I are. Over the last few days it is cool to hear them talk about the new house and the things they are looking forward to about it and the things they like about it. Now I just have to wait an hour for school to be over so I can get in the pool :)

On the wire...

I have had about a dozen thoughts I have wanted to blog about when I sit to write I either have forgotten them or they don't come out right so I have stayed away from even posting them. I do want to write about two things that happened yesterday. I'll go in order of when they happened. I got a call from our mortgage broker. We are doing an 80 10 10 loan which means that we put 10% down and take out two loans one for 80% and the other for 10%. The two loans are from two different banks. Our first loan which is the higher percentage has cleared for closing this Thursday. The other small loan has not yet. Well the interest rate dropped for the 1st loan from 5.125 to 4.875 and she was calling to see if we wanted to try and change our rate on the first loan. Here is the catch it might not get approved by Thursday and do we want to take that risk? The second loan hasn't clear yet so there is a chance we still might not be closing on Thursday due to that situation. Add to the fact that J's work schedule once June hits is jammed packed with stuff because it is the end of the school year. In the end we decided to stick with the rate we first got and if for some reason there is a major issue with the second loan and we aren't going to close Thursday then she is going to put the lower interest rate through. We just really want to move on from all the craziness and stress of this last year. But I am just so happy and feel so blessed to have had this house we are staying in to be able to heal and get better. What a major year this has been for our family.

The second thing that I feel is blog worthy is we had our final walk through yesterday and the kids came with us. It was AMAZING to show them their new bedrooms and see them run around the house and be so excited about moving in. It was like a little glimpse of what living there is going to be like and I just can't wait to make it our home. This house has a lot of storage space and closets and what not...so they were playing hide and seek. While we were there 3 of the kids had to use the bathroom and none of them had to wait for a toilet!!! J and I were talking on the way home about how this house has all the criteria we were looking for in a home. We feel so extremely blessed. God is so good! Now we just have to wait out the kinks in the above situation and we are good to go :)

Busy Busy...

I feel like my world is spinning around but I’m not getting sick! We have so much going on right now that I am so glad that I am able to keep it all straight. The craziness really started last weekend. My hubby left town for a training camp Friday night and got back Saturday at dinner time. Monday was Red's birthday so we celebrated with a dinner. Wednesday was a field trip for Red's class that I went on, his teacher was hospitalized on Monday afternoon she we had a sub, but everything went smoothly. Today was the day we were suppose to have our financing squared away for the new house which we have been working on getting all the stuff the bank has wanted so hopefully everything is a go. I also got all the supplies for tomorrows party. Friday is the three oldest kids birthday party. It is a combined one so there will be lots of kiddos running around. Should be fun. I also have my last Bible study but I don't think I am going to make it with all the craziness that the day will bring. Though I think I got everything I need for the party taken care of. Saturday J and I are going out to look at mattresses for our beds and then out to dinner. Sunday is a Ladies Tea at church. Monday is our final walk through. Tuesday we need to make some calls to get utilities set up in our name. Thursday we close. Then it just gets crazier from there with house improvements and moving!!! See we have been BUSY and we are going to stay that way for a few more weeks. Then school will be out and we can have some pool/park/summer/friend fun!!!! Do you feel as tired as I do by reading that?!?

Menu May 17th - 23rd

Monday: We celebrated Red's birthday at Photo's (his choice)
Tuesday: Baked Chicken with mashed potatoes and strawberries and blackberries
Wednesday: Chili Rubbed Beef with salad and apples with dipping sauce
Thursday: Spinach Patties, brown rice and mashed potatoes
Friday: kids big ole party (Pizza)
Saturday: The kids and sitters are going to have the leftover Pizza and J and I are going on a date!!!
Sunday: breakfast foods

My Sweet Red

Today is Red's 5th birthday. It is just so crazy how fast these 5 years have flown by. He has certainly been a great addition to our family. He challenges J and I in ways we NEVER imagined possible! But even through the hard times with him I couldn't imagine life without him. He came into this world our smallest baby 6lb 2oz at 35 weeks, considered a preemie. Now he has broken another record in our family as the biggest 5 year old we have had so far. I highly doubt that his baby sister will be bigger. He is a pro at tying his shoes and he is learning to ride a bike without training wheels...that scares him a bit. Once he gets a few successful runs under his belt he will excel, I have no doubt! My prayer for Red is that he grows to be a strong, caring, loving, and compassionate man we lives for Christ and puts others first. We love you Red! I wish I had a baby picture of Red but they are on the other computer that is packed up. I just checked back and I can't find his birth story or any baby pictures from 5 years ago :( I am going to go through some more archives and see if I can find something to link too either picture or birth story. I found his birth story! HERE

Popularity

The other night I was talking to a mom whose son is in Monkey's grade. One of the subjects that came up was popularity. I never given much thought of this since my kids are only in 3rd and 2nd grade but I guess that notion starts that early. One of the things I realized in thinking about this was that this subject to me seems so high schoolish. I feel like the kids don't really care about their popularity as much as their parents. For example, there is a kid at school who is pretty hard to get along with, he kind of has a temper issue along with some other social issues. The mom knows this to be the case with her son so she sets up tons of play dates with kids in the school trying to get people to like him, at least that is the goal I think she has! Monkey has never been in class with him so he has escaped the whole aspect of "let's have our boys play together so he can have friends" issue but I have seen it/heard about it. I actually just met and started talking to the mom this school year through a mutual friend. That is a bit awkward for me, especially since her son kick Monkey in the face the first week of school out on the playground. I just try not to think who her kids are...is that bad? Anyways, I would be lying if I didn't admit I would like my kids to be well liked (popular). But it really got me thinking about what I want my kids to really be...and the main goal isn't popularity. It maybe a by-product of their personalities but I don't want it to be their goal. I want them to put others needs above their own and to be kind to the unlikable. Pretty much I want Christ to shine through their words and actions. They really are good kids and as far as I can tell they have good solid friends at school and at church. All I can do is teach them at home how to care for others and befriend people the rest is up to them.

Menu May 10 - 16

Monday: Pizza (this was a treat)
Tuesday: Rutabagas and Mixed Veggies
Wednesday: Pancakes with homemade apple butter and strawberry/blueberry blend (Jeff's special sauce as he calls it!)
Thursday: going out (the kids have a concert at school)
Friday: Boneless Garlic Chicken with a salad
Saturday: Herbed-seasoned Turkey Patties
Sunday: Chili Rubbed Grilled Beef with fruit

Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday are new recipes!