shower time with jesus

The following is a conversation I just had
with Brenden, via Facebook:

Brenden:
"I NEED!"

Me:
"That's pretty cool!"

Brenden:
"It's perfect for shower time with Jesus! :) This is
a legitimate request, btw."

Me:
"Shower time with Jesus? I've heard it all now."

Brenden:
"You should try it sometime.
In the mean time, get me that Bible. :)"

Me:
"Well, I'm pretty darn happy with the
sit-down-in-a-chair-and-read sort of thing."

Brenden:
"You can put a chair in the shower!"

Me:
"Again, I'm good with the traditional method.
But thanks for your creative suggestion.
I think."

Brenden:
"Suit yourself.
Now how 'bout that Bible?"

Me:
"Maybe for Christmas."

Brenden:
"But I need shower time with Jesus NOW!"




And on and on it went.



Heaven help me, please!

a conversation {husband and wife}

So as a stay-at-home mom,
my biggest weakness (and there are many) is to procrastinate.
There are two main areas where this is a problem.

Let's review:

1. Anything administrative (paying bills, hubby's bookkeeping, etc.)
I hate doing those things.
I hate them with all of my heart.
I would rather be milking my chickens than sitting down flipping through papers.
And don't be silly, I don't milk my chickens.
But I'd rather.

2. Cleaning bathrooms.
I think this is self-explanatory.
I hate it.
And it shows.

So anyway, BOTH of these areas NEED to be taken care of
immediately.
As in, yesterday.
Actually, the day before yesterday.

So tonight I sat down and wrote out a schedule for myself
for tomorrow.
I decided to treat my day as if I worked in an office or something.

And then I said to my dear husband:

"Honey, I made a list of things I MUST do tomorrow...
please hold me to them.
Hold me accountable, okay?

Him:
"OK."

Me:
"No, really...you need to tell me I will get fired on the spot
if I don't get my list done."

Him:
"OK."

Me:
"Seriously, get tough with me and tell me that I am replaceable."

Him:
"Wait...did you say I can replace you?"

Me:
"Yes."

Him:
"Really?"

Me:
"Yes. Please replace me, please."

Him:
"OK."



Problem solved.

See, young girls, this is how you hold a good marriage together.
Or something like that.

a day in the life of me

Remember that remote control helicopter Eli got for
his birthday?

Well, there was a freak accident.

He flew it straight into Lucy's head and it
got so twisted up in her hair (that hadn't been combed for the day yet...
adding to the mess) that it took me nearly 10 minutes
to get the darn thing out.

Just another day in the life of me.
And my 268 children.

Or something like that.

mood-of-the-day {your que}

As a continuation from my post the other day,

I would like to write this letter to my family:



Dearest Family,

It has come to my attention that my perimenopausal moods
seem to be effecting morale around here.

For that,
I am very sorry.

Actually, no I'm not.
Not at all.
Deal with it.

However,
in order to give you a heads-up regarding what my
Mood-Of-The-Day may be,
I've devised this little system that will be sure to give you fair warning:

When Mommy makes you breakfast,
and it goes like this:

Cereal boxes slammed down on counter,
followed by the milk jug,
followed by bowl/spoons that give a chilling rattle,
that's your que that Mommy isn't feeling so well.
Don't ask for a single thing.
Don't even look at me.
Eat quietly, as you know how the sound of chewing
is like bamboo shoots under my fingernails,
put your dishes in the dishwasher and walk away
as quietly as you can.



Now, if Mommy actually asks you which cereal you want,
and pours it for you...that's your que that Mommy
is in a semi-human mood.

You can relax just a bit and maybe we can enjoy a
little conversation.
Maybe.



BUT,
on mornings when you smell French Toast being made,
with Mommy's homemade bread,
and you actually get it served
to you with powdered sugar and a cold glass of milk,
why,
that's your que that Mommy is in a mountain-top mood.
Ask me for anything.
A car.
A new wardrobe.
An all-inclusive vacation to the Caribbean.



So there you have it.

Simple, right?




And aren't you glad that today was a French Toast day?

Me too.

Now go pack your bags...we have a tropical vacation to go on.
*I wish*


Love you all...with all my heart.
Even on slammed-on-the-counter-cereal days.

Really.

happy birthda, eli!

Yesterday was Eli's birthday!!

Big 13!!

I now have four teenagers.

No wonder I can't sleep at night.
No wonder I have a gazillion gray hairs
No wonder I am spending millions of dollars on groceries.



These first pics are from last Sunday when
my parents came for the birthday celebrations...

Eli got a really cool remote control helicopter.
He loves it!
And so far it has journeyed far and wide.
Got stuck in a tree and on top of the roof, lost a wheel,
and yet keeps on going!

And here are pics from his actual big day!

Every morning it's just Eli and me up first because he catches
the bus really early.

So I surprised him with a candle in a big chocolate muffin
to kick off his special day.

Then after dinner he opened presents and enjoyed cupcakes!
(Yes, as a matter of face I do package my homemade baked goods
and put a bar code on them).

After all was done, he came up to me and thanked me and
gave me a big hug.

The first hug I have ever received from him.

Love that.

what's going on?

I'm almost 43 years old.

And I swear to ya,
I'm a blender-full of whirling hormones.
And it's killing me.
Along with everyone around me.

Sleep is a gamble each and every night.
Last night I was so blasted hot
I wanted to climb into my deep-freeze but there wasn't room,
what with all the chicken and roasts and all.
If only the people here wouldn't insist on meals.
Darn it all!
So I was on a slow simmer until around 3 AM.
Then had to get up at 6 AM.
The math just does not work in my favor.


Anyway, I don't know what's going on.
*Well, actually I suppose I do*
I just want it to get over with.
I'm okay with not being able to have babies anymore.
Believe me, I'M OKAY WITH THAT.
And I'm okay with everything shutting down and drying up into a fine dust.

Let's just get on with it, already.




And how was your day?

macy's sweet 16!

I am a lazy blogger.
I am.

I should have already posted this post.
But I didn't.

Anyway, here we go.

Sunday was Macy's
SWEET 16 BIRTHDAY!!!
I can't believe it.
My little 4'11" 75 pound girly is a big ol' 16 years old!

I wish I could say that we had a gigantic bash with loads
of friends and family,
inflatable bouncy things,
and a buffet of endless food...
but we didn't.
However, we did have a lovely, quiet celebration at home.


Me, cooking biscuits and gravy.
We all love this often-cooked Sunday night supper!

Macy opening gifts...
that's what's really fun, right?

Macy chose my famous cheesecake as her birthday cake of choice.
She chose this last year too.
It's a classic.
And you simply cannot go wrong with this kind of deliciousness.

Her daddy is sure proud of her!

Nick is....well, being Nick.

Lucy and Ninny.
Adorable girls!

Macy was trying to take a pic of Nick and me.
And my dad got in the way.
This reminds me of the time we went skiing and he had
his lens cap on his video camera, in the bag, by his side...but the camera on as
he skied down the side of a mountain.
Guess you had to be there.
It was hilarious.

Here we go.
Kind of an abstract photo, of sorts.

And this is the way K-man loves on his son.

Anyway,
it was a great little birthday party.

And Wednesday is Eli's birthday!
Which will be fun cause it's his first b-day in America!!

what to do, what to do?

I need your advice.

Here's the deal...Eli loves school.
Great, I know!
But when he is home, he is often "lost" much of the time.
He loves to watch TV and play video games,
but we try to limit those things, for obvious reasons.
He likes to draw, and does that often.
He also plays outside a lot.
BUT...other than all that, if the other kids are busy doing
their own thing... he will just stand/sit around with
nothing to do.
A lot.
A lot lot.

So...

I am trying to think of things he can do to stay busy.
We are giving him a big set of Legos for his birthday coming up...
which I know he will love.

But can you all give me some other ideas of things
for him to do?

I feel stupid even asking that because...duh...we have two older boys.
It's just WAY different!

Today Macy said,
"Well, maybe it's because he's Asian."
Bahaha!
Not sure what difference it makes what culture you're from...
a kid is a kid, so you'd think.

He needs some direction...and I would like to be able to say to
him, "Hey, why don't you go play with Legos...or this...or that...or
that, that, that."
Ya know?

Ok, now shoot me some ideas.

Thank ya!!


Oh, and please don't say jigsaw puzzles.
Though that's a great idea...with these little kids around,
it would be a set-up for failure, I'm tellin' ya!

back to normal

Here's another random post for you.

A potpourri of tid-bits, if you will.


My college kids left yesterday.
I was well prepared, or so I thought.
I felt kind of ready for them to leave...well, not so much them,
but all their stuff.

Anyway,
I was majorly sad.
I even cried.

"OH, Mom," Brenden said.

I adore these kids.
They are such godly young people with hearts bent on
serving the Lord.
And they are fun beyond measure.

It pleases me SO much that Brenden has such incredible discernment
on picking good friends.



So here's a pic of our last dinner.
I whipped up some Parmesan chicken.
They ooohed and ahhhed.
I'm gonna miss that.

Even with the leaf in the table we couldn't fit everyone...
(Eli is on the very end but you can't see him beside Nate. And Macy and
I were sitting at the grown-up table.)

*****************


Isaiah.

This kid is all boy.
And he's adjusting into our family so well.
But he still has anger management issues.
Nothing major...just meltdowns.

So anyway, we do time-in's, which work REALLY well for him.

And this is his usual time-in spot,
right by me as I'm doing laundry...

And the thing is...he loves it.
In fact, he wasn't even in trouble for these pics.
He just saw me doing laundry and wanted to sit in his spot.

All boy, I'm telling you.

And yes, we had him tattooed.
We're so cool that way.



Well, I need to get Eli off to school now.

Have a really great Wednesday!!

Oh my goodness.

What a weekend!
And it's continuing on until tomorrow night!

You know,
when Bren told us he wanted to bring friends home,
we were thrilled...but I braced myself
for the fact that they would be on the go much of the time.

I prayed that we could have a least a little bit of quality time with them
while they were all here.

Turns out,
these kids have barely left the house!

It is SO FUN!!

Here's just a few things we've done...


Picnic.

Gun shootin'.
It was quite loud.

Yes, even I got in the action.
*Confession...I didn't really shoot the gun...I just wanted a pic.

Brenden levitating.

Haha, not really.
He's walking on a slack line!
Cool.

He's changed his major to circus stunts.
Just kidding.
I think.

Almost everyone got in on it.

Yep, even me.
:)

Now I need to get back to my meal-planning for all these kids!




*Macy and Eli were with my parents...that's why there's no pics of them.