Oliver Peanut

Happy Labor Day Eve, friends!  How exciting that we get to sleep in tomorrow!  And by sleep in, I mean we get to get up as early as our kids do...and make them breakfast, give them chores to do, do our own chores, and every single thing we do on normal days.  Happy Labor Day, moms!

Anyway, unrelated to all that, I need to tell you about the NEW BABY that joined our family a few weeks ago!  If you follow me on FB, you already know this news and have seen these pictures, but for the rest of you, here you go:

Meet Oliver Peanut!  Our itty bitty rascally puppy.  

 (Pardon my homeless hair, as K-Man calls it.)

(It's really my just-washed-my-face hair do.)

Oliver P. is 3/4 Chihuahua and 1/4 Jack Russel.

The perfect blend of caffeinated-like energy, shaky nervousness, and fearless disposition. 

Practically exactly the same as me! 

He even zips around the house like me, too.

AND he has no idea how small he is.

(He was a whopping 1 1/2 pounds at 8 weeks old!)

Here he is getting to know Zeke.

He was way more eager than Zeke was, trust me.

But they're friends now, thank goodness.

And Mater was very unsure about this little bug-of-a-pup, too.

But they're buds now also.

It's a regular canine love-fest around here!

 

We are all just crazy in love with him!

 

Yep, all of us! :)

 

 Welcome to the family, Oliver!  We think you're going to fit in just fine around here.

And if you'll stop piddling on the floor, Mommy will be especially happy.

My Spring Break (South of France, Food Network, Freak Flag)

Hello.  Hello?  (Tap, tap, tap)  Is this thing on?

Once again, I beg your pardon for my extreme absence.  I really should have been chronicling my life in the last week, because, wow, has it been exciting!

I'll let you try to guess what I've been up to.  Was I:

A.  Enjoying a glamorous vacation in the south of France.
B.  Busy developing a new Food Network show called, "Lori's Kitchen: How to Train Your Family to Never Complain About Your Cooking, Lest They Die".
C.  Hanging on by a mere thread in full spring-break-survival-mode (dysfunction freak flag flying high).

Ding, ding, ding!  I wish you didn't know me so well.  Yes, it's A.  I kid, I kid.  Truth is, I've been steeping in option C.  But since I don't want to show you too much of the Debbie Downer side of me, I'll stop right there.

The good news is, school is back in full swing in two more days!  And with a steady stream of coffee, medication, and a semi-normalcy, I'll be back to my old self in no time.

As for this weekend, I am putting together my weekly baked goodies order, planning/fixing weekend meals, doing laundry, taking care of chickens and children...and working at my waitressing job (the paid and unpaid one). :)

By the way, I know it's so not politically correct to use the word waitress anymore.  But, dang it, I like it.  I prefer to see myself as a 70s-type gal, ya know?

And that's exactly how I wear my hair to work, too.  (Oh, I wish!)



Anyway, that's about all that's happening here, ya'll.  I gotta get busy now or none of the above is going to happen.  Productive Procrastinator is my middle name!




Enjoy your weekend immensely, alirghty?

Love ya!

Cheap Entertainment

I have found that it's usually easier to not ask questions...but to just grab my camera.

We cleaned out a closet...and Isaiah found all new props.

Cheap entertainment via productivity!  SCORE.





Have a blessed Sunday, friends!  

And clean out a closet or two.  It's like Christmas all over again!

Family

Celebrating a life well-lived...

a dysfunctional day on the ranch

I wish I could convey to you the crazy pond of dysfunctional motherhood that I'm swimming in.

It's surreal, really.

And as much as I'd like to blame it on all the people around me,

it's all me, I'm afraid.

It's just that:

1.  I can't handle the never-ending laundry.

2.  The people here just want to eat.  Every day. I hate that!

3.  The floors, they never stay clean.  Who needs that?  Not me!

4.  My job, the pay is so low.  Let's strike!

But enough about my positive side.

Here's what we made the most of today on the ranch:

I discovered the fine art of cut-offs.

I mean, I've done this for my kids for years,

but never for me.

But look:

I think I look positively stunning in my knee-length Daisy Dukes.

Hooray for re-purposing!

I turned on the TV this afternoon for a brief moment of solitude,

only to find the channel on this:

A cattle auction.

A CATTLE AUCTION!

on some kind of cowboy station that K-Man had been watching late last night.

Naked bovine everywhere.

I was horrified.

Later on...

I let Isaiah use chop sticks for lunch.

And I tell you what, if this Chinese-Kansan calls them CHAP-sticks one more time

I'm going to revoke the Chinese clean away from him. 

A few hours later, our UPS man mysteriously left us a package at the end of our driveway.

I think he must have been sort afraid to have me sign for it or anything,

lest my crazy be unleashed on him.

Because it was filled with our homeschool books!

The kids were beyond thrilled.

No really, they were!

Hip-hip-HOORAY!

I can already taste the savory flavor of a structured routine.

And look at these two.

They dove right in with both feet.

How adorable and obnoxious.

Don't worry, they'll outgrow those over-achiever attitudes before long.

I'll put my money on...let's see, September 23rd.

Then after all of that, I made a very bland pork loin for supper.

Heavy on the bland.

Just my way of weaning my family off of my flavor-filled goodness.

You know, so they don't take me for granted or anything.

And on that note, I have dishes to do, children to nurture, a husband to pamper,

and some sanity to recover.

daily-grind [summer schedule]

So I've figured something out.

Delegating housework to the children is a fabulous idea.

And they do a good job!

And that means LESS for ME to do!

And, why didn't I do this a long time ago!

Well, anyhow.

I've also learned that having a planned-out daily schedule makes things so nice.

And there's a lot less standing around!

And they know what's coming next!

And they know when they can kick back and finally watch TV!

So, here's my really simple plan o' the day, written on my kitchen-cabinet chalkboard: 

(Morning activities haven't hit the board yet.  But they will.  Oh, they will.)

This particular day's chores were way easy.

But don't you worry, I kick it into high gear on some days.

Indeed, I do.

But in all seriousness,

I have found that with older adopted kids, they desperately need structure and routine.

It's hard to understand sometimes,

but they are most often completely lost if you give them a full day of free-time.

This plan is helpful to avoid that lost and bewildered behavior.

And Lucy and Isaiah looooove this, too.  

Lucy is a list-person (like her mama) and she eats this stuff up!

So, now I'd like to hear how YOU handle the daily-grind of summer.

Do you have a similar plan as mine?

Do you schedule lots of activities for the kiddos?

Do you hide in your laundry room, nursing an endless cup of coffee?

Do tell what works well for you and yours!

cute and modelesque

My fabulously wonderful grandpa and his fabulously wonderful wife

came for a visit from Alabama!

I adore them both so much!!

I tell you what...my Papa defines what a fun and loving grandpa is.

He adores his grandchildren...and great-grandchildren!!

Here is Nick during their visit, post surgery.

It's the only picture I have been able to sneak of him

with his injury.

I don't even have a pic of him in his football costume.

Darn it!

And lastly,

I must share a picture of my mother.

She will cancel all my Christmas presents

after this,

but I think it's worth it.

Because it absolutely explains ME.

She's cute and modelesque.

It's been nice knowing you all.

all alone!

Oh golly, I need to do a blog post,

but I got nothin' much to say.

So, real quick I'll just tell you that I am

sitting here ALONE in my house.

(Oh wait, Brenden is asleep in the basement.)

I am sitting here ALONE on the first level of my house.

That hasn't happened in, let's see...

a million years.

And here's what this Prov. 31 gal as done already 

since children went to school today

(and it's not even 11 AM):

1.  I sold 8 dozen eggs.

2.  Dusted furniture.

3. Swept and mopped my wood floors.

4.  Cleaned my kitchen.

5.  Fed/watered chickens & gathered eggs.

6.  Sat down to write a blog post.

And next, a friend is coming over to get a highlight.

So, all that to say this.

These kids hold me back, man!

Oh but, I do love them around me most of the time.

(In case they are reading this.)

And just so this post isn't without a couple pics,

here are Macy and Nick on their 

first day of school last week.

Cute, right?

So cute!

Awww, I miss them.

Now I must go.

I have things to do!

less crazy-eyed

I found this pic the other day as I was going

through my millions of photos.

Oh my heart.

Look at that little tiny round-faced Lucy-bug.

She's just the absolute cutest thing,

this side of the Great Wall.

In my opinion.

And look at out less crazy-eyed I was back then.

Good times, good times!