7 quick takes ~ unplugged

1.

The kids are doing much better;

whining, crying, and bickering have definitely decreased.

2.

creativity has returned

3.

to the kids.

To mom? 

How would we know?

I cheerfully grudgingly set my ambitions aside

to help kids with their pursuits.

4.

Leap Pads

fall under the category of electronic entertainment,

even if they were purchased for educational purposes.

5.

I think being unplugged was harder on me

than on the kids.

First off, it's just plain easier to say 

'go watch a movie'

than, "sure, you can paint." 

Secondly, I felt really disconnected.

Which,  I was...

6.

Actually, I cheated.

Kelle posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I know this.

So I knew

there were two posts waiting for me yesterday.

And I read them.

I had to; 

Nella is going to stand - alone -

and maybe even walk any day now

and I couldn't stand not knowing...

(she's not doing either yet)

7.

I'm not sure what I was thinking,

but I had aspirations of accomplishing all sorts of things

while unplugged,

but the truth is

I didn't really find I had extra time at all.

you threw off my groove

This heat

is really throwing off

my laundry groove.

I'm used to throwing a load in the washer

before I head to bed

but lately

when I've gone to move it to the dryer

in the morning,

it's been

stinky.

Good thing clothes are smaller in the summer...

probably had to be there...

The totes of diaper fabric were sitting on the floor

and on the top of one of the boxes,

visible through the clear lid,

was a scrap of fabric from suits I'd made for the girls.

I'd kept it, thinking it would be good 

for the side panels of the training pants

I designed in my head

but never got around to making.

Lexi looked at it and said, "My suit's in there."

Then she turned to me,

scrunched up her face and growled, 

"Why did you put my swimming suit in that box?!"

I opened the box and handed her the scrap

and said, "Here, try it on."

The look on her face was priceless.

She moaned, "o-ohh. It's broken."

oops - hadn't expected that...

I quickly showed her that her suit was

 in fact

not broken.

The boys and I laughed for a full minute.

Definitely one of those times

you wish you had a camera rolling!

unplugging

We're feeling the need to unplug for a bit.

As is often the case,

too much electronic entertainment

and screen time

leads to 

self-centeredness,

laziness, lack of creativity

 and discontentment.

I tend to do better at enforcing

'none at all'

rather than

'a little bit'.

And a little screen time

always seems to beget more screen time.

I may or may not be posting;

this blog is a family journal, after all,

so it doesn't fall under the unplug category,

but I won't be visiting any blogs

or keeping up w/ facebook

or e-mail

so if ya need me  - call.

But you may have to leave a message;

who knows what we'll get into this week...

silly little nut

I could hear her playing right outside the (locked) door

and called out, "That you, Lex?"

"It's not Lexi. It's a banana." she replied.

"A banana??" I asked.

And she chuckled,

"I was just teasing. 

It's not a banana.

It's me. 

It's Lexi."

~

silly little nut

not my best moment

I'm not so sure about me and running.

I think

maybe I am too stupid to run.

Let me back-track just a bit

and say I broke my favorite jar 

within 2 minutes of getting up this morning.

That was a sign of things to come....

I had planned on taking the kids to the FLC to train

yesterday evening, cause running in the morning

clearly wasn't going to work.

Tyler didn't want to do that,

so I decided I'd just take them this morning.
Since

we would be running inside

(can you see where this is going?)

I didn't feel it necessary to get going first thing.

And I had to get over my broken jar....
Yes, I cried.
more than once.
I really liked that jar.

While showering

(because we would be running inside

and I wouldn't get too sweaty...)

I thought maybe I ought to call the church

and make sure there was nothing going on in the gym.

It was 11:00 by then.

That was my one smart move of the day.

The FLC was, in fact, occupied.

Well, crap!

We had to train today;
you aren't supposed to go more than 2 days w/out training
and I hadn't taken my poor kids running since Sunday.
And by golly Thursday is when I'm supposed to run
and we all know that I am a rule follower!
So we drove to the park.
I thought I remembered there being lots of trees around the track.
There were.
But by the time we got there,
it was nearing noon.
high noon.
Which means not much shade on the running path.
I told the big boys to go on
and I'd handle the 4 little ones.
I am a good mother like that.
May I just say
the next 27 minutes
did
not
go
well.
Lexi ended up in the carrier
(thank God for ERGO!!! seriously!!)
before we'd even finished the warm-up.
She cried every time I ran.
And Lily.
Lily is off the Run for God Team.
As I should be.
I'm not sure God wants the likes of me on His team!
I was one of those horrid mothers who yells at her children.
For being hot.
And not keeping up with her old, fat mother.
And wanting to hold my hand
while I was sweaty.
Not my best parenting moment for sure!
I gave up when my app told me to run one last time
and we headed for the car for the cool-down.
Hallfway hone, once the air kicked on in the car,
and I wasn't quite so hot
I apologized to her for being impatient and unkind.
Of course, she forgave me.
And then she said,
"Well, I wasn't being very patient or good either."
Maybe I'll let her back on the team after all.

I should probably also disclose the following:
I wouldn't take the kids running last night at 9:30
because it had only cooled off to 91.
No.
instead I took them at noon.
When the 'feels like' temperature was 104.

Like I said, I may just be to dumb for this running thing.

a few seconds of your time??

I introduced ya'll to Heather several months ago

when her boys were doing a read-a-thon.

(let me just say, those boys read a little lot more

 than I anticipated and we shelled out quite a bit of dough :-)

I really like Heather,

what I know of her from her blog, anyways....

and if I were being perfectly honest,

I would admit

that I am a teensy bit envious

of the work she gets to do with Heartline.

Lovingly educating pregnant and new mommas? 

Right up my alley.

Could you take just a few seconds,

go here

and click the 'vote' button on the left side of the page?

Better yet,

take a couple of minutes and actually read the page

and /or watch the video.

But at least vote.
Please!!

Your vote could help Heartline win a $50,000 grant.

Of course, Heather can tell you a bit more.

thanks, ya'll!!

lex's dress

ooh - she looks like a baby doll ~ I could just squeeze her

This is my favorite dress on Lexi right now.

I found it at a yard sale for 25 cents.

There was a hole on the side of the bodice 

where a tie had been

and on the other side, the tie was cut off,

but not neatly.

It was in kinda rough shape,
but it was so soft and lightweight

and feminine

and cool.

And I knew that the colors, 

while not exactly Lexi colors,

would look great on her.

 I washed it, 

picked the seam apart and took the tie out proper-like,

re-stitched both side seams,

and excitedly put the dress on my girl.

It choked her. 

Even with the top button undone.

And I knew 

she was never going to wear this dress.

 darn.

I really liked that dress!

 So I cut the neck opening bigger

and used a bit of fold over elastic

(love that stuff! good thing; I've got a ton!)

 and now I try to talk her into wearing it suggest she wear it

every time it's clean.

Fortunately,

she does like wearing it now.

But not nearly as much as I like seeing her in it.

Momma loves you, Darling Lex!!

~

many thanks to Brandon for the pictures!!

big fat D minus

Tyler got me up at 

O-dark-thirty this morning

to go run.

He'd been running his mouth last night

about me not being able to hang with him.

Whatever.

I kept up just fine on the group run Sunday

and I even had to carry Lily on my back part of the time.

Guess what?

I couldn't hang w/ him.

I only jogged the full 60 seconds one time.

I thought I might just die

right there in the cemetery.

It was so humid out there

I could not get a good breath.

Forget talking - even during warm-up.

The only reason I scored a D-

and not an "F"

is 

because Tyler thought I looked 

good

from the backside.

(not that I was in front of him all that much!)

He was grading on a curve

;-)

cutest.runner.ever.

Make that 7 runners, not six.

She needed shoes, too....

 I told Tyler it was money well spent

even if she doesn't end up running;

She just looks so darn cute!

 He said I'm such a girl.

meet the newest addition

to our addition...

I have been looking for a typewriter off and on

ever since reading this post

over two years ago.

We've got a few things listed for sale on e-bay,

so I decided to check there

and lo & behold,

I found the typewriter of my dreams.

And

I have a place to put it!

~

She was supposed to be green

but, as you can clearly see, she is blue.

(the seller maintains she is green... we are in negotiations...)

 Which is okay, too ~ but I would've preferred green...

She does look lovely in here, though.

I am loving how this space is coming together.

e.t.a.

run run, as fast as you can...

So.

Our church is hosting a Run for God

running / Bible study program.

The running part gets you 

'from couch to 5k' in 12 weeks.

Six of us signed up for it.

Six pairs of running shoes?!?!

What were we thinking??

sixty second s'mores

work for me!!

best. s'mores. ever.

you can thank me later :-)

~

oddly - Always Save and Dollar General brand cookies

beat out all the brands we've tried, including Chips Ahoy.

Lexi the story-teller

In keeping with tradition,

Lexi always asks, "Do you want a story?"

when she sits on the pot to pooh. 

I always say "yes" 

and settle myself on the step in the hall to listen.

I had the foresight this time to record the story as she went:

Once upon a time it was raining and pouring and we went swimming in the kiddie pool. It was green and somebody needed to dump it out. A monster dumped it out and watched a movie. Winnie the pooh. And we were scared. The monster was nice and we were kind and we weren’t scared any more. And we went to momma and we all hugged. And we jumped on the trampoline and it was fun. I was jumping too high. I love aliens. (Do you want to listen to the rest of my story?)    There was light in my room and a good monster in my room. He looked like a girl. He dressed up like me. And that was funny. 

Speaking of stories and Lexi ~ here's one on her:

We quit nursing when she was 22 months old;

I was ready - she was not.

She still asks to nurse occasionally.

Yesterday at nap time,

she was talking about nursing with such fondness

and her eyes were so bright and sparkly,

"When I was born, you used to nurse me.

You pulled up your dress and pulled out your booby

and I drank momma milk. 

I would (she pursed her lips and made slurping sounds)

like Tom.

I like momma milk."

I would have loved a video of that!

And then last night, after swimming,

she gave me a hug

and said, "Thanks for letting me drink momma milk!"

She's 2 1/2 and she remembers this??

from 8 months ago?

Needless to say, she had to check and make sure

that the milk was really gone

and I wasn't just holding out on her.

squeeall!!

Look what we found in the top of the crepe mrytle!!

I'm a little frustrated with myself;

I spotted the nest over a week ago,

but forgot to show it to the kids until yesterday.

Truth be told - I didn't really expect to find anything

in

the nest,

it being almost then middle of July.....

Tony had to stand on the top rung of the ladder

to get these pictures.

I think we should get a cardinal cam!

weird

Speaking of yard sale finds...

Saturday

Tyler snagged a doorknob

(a locking doorknob)

for a buck.

I couldn't think of any doors lacking a doorknob....

"What's this for?" I asked.

"The bathroom."

"The bathroom?!?"

It never occurred to me,

not one single time,

that we could replace our non-locking knob

with a lock-er.

We haven't  had a locking doorknob for the bathroom

since we left Fayetteville. 

sixteen and a half years ago.

And now we do.

And it's just kinda weird.

mmm

When you try to feed your kids healthy snacks,

fruit is a pretty good option.

(I'm sure open to suggestions in the healthy snack dept!!!)

but - everyone knows that fruit

ain't cheap.

(When you are feeding 9, nothing is cheap.....)

So to save a bit of money,

for the past several years

I've rarely eaten my own piece of fruit.

(big fruits, not things like grapes or strawberries)

I figure some of the kids

are going to leave some of their fruit

some of the time.

The rule is

'don't throw fruit away when you're finished'.

Sometimes they offer it to me as soon as they're finished;

sometimes I just find a half eaten apple lying on the counter.

It's a pretty good system

and I get plenty of fruit too,

for free :-)

Except that babies are getting bigger.

We just bought peaches for the first time this year.

And I haven't gotten any half peaches.
or even quarter-peaches.

I walked in the kitchen

to find one lone peach sitting in the fruit basket.

And so I ate it.

All by myself.

Nita and Becky

Nita and Becky are two ladies I am privileged to know.

I dearly love them both,

although I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time 

with either of them.

Nita and Becky,

while both being equally wonderful,

are so different from each other.

One is structured 

and very organized,

the other is not.

That sort of thing.

I've spent a good chunk of my life

being a Nita,

wishing I were a Becky.

In fact,

I've tried so hard to be a Becky,

that I've not been a very good Nita.

And what I need to do,

is recognize

that being a Nita

is every bit as wonderful 

as being a Becky.

It's just different.

I can see it in the two of them;

why is it so hard to accept for myself?

recent yard sale finds

I have long loved old ladders.
Someday I want an herb garden on a ladder.
$5 - should have asked if I could have it for $4
but they were cute little old ladies.....

25 cents
I have big plans for this sweetie!
Tyler found it for me :-)

I've got a whole slew of thrifty finds waiting for a coat of paint,
but since my primer is oil-based
and clean-up is a bugger
I wanted to get them all done at once.
The living room is overflowing again...

Tyler wants me to paint the ladder
(can you believe it??)
but I'm not so sure I want to; I kind of like it as is.
Crazy woman.
What can I say?
I know what I like.

1/2 dollar - not sure what I'm doing with this yet.....
something amazing, I bet :-)

she may just be a visual learner

The girls were watching Blue's Clues

and Steve started singing the 'Blue's Clues' song.

"... To play Blue's Clues 

you gotta find

a  ___________"

And Lexi shouted, "Crayon!"

Entirely true,

but the next word in the song is

"paw-print"

look at the time

The power went out for a few minutes yesterday,

nothing major.

I actually didn't even notice til it came back on...

When I woke up this morning

I looked over at the clock.

My eyes about bugged out of my head

when I read 12:47.

Holy Cow!!

I'd never re-set the clock.

do you love Me?

Feed my sheep.

~

I confess.

I don't always open every request for money 

that comes in the mail.

There are just so many of them.....

But ones like these?

oh, 

they get me.

Choke me right up, they do.

The baby ?? Lexi's age. Our sweet precious, plump Lex's age.

I read the letter to the kids at lunch time,

which, in retrospect, may have been poor timing;

there was a lot of food left on plates.

I reminded them that

guilt

doesn't feed the hungry;

giving does.

Let me tell you,

my kids can give!!

That gets me, too.

If you would like your $ to be multiplied 5 times

go here - watch the video - and give

oops

We make a lot of bread around here.

Tons, actually.

(before baking)

If you think it always turns out beautifully, 

you are wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Forgot the oil and honey ~ oops!

red red wine

So.

Tyler and I have been trying to find a red wine that we like.

You know - health benefits and all.

We keep saying things like

'how do people afford to drink this stuff daily?'

and
'why would they want to??'

I chuckled a bit yesterday

when I was moving things around in the fridge

and I found 4 bottles of wine!

It looks like lushes live here. 

We're thinking we may not be wine-drinkers....

The other day,

Tyler poured me a cup

(yes - a coffee cup ~ we are so classy)

and I took a sip

then he handed me another cup.

I drank from it.

"Now, that one's not too bad," I said. 

"Which one is it?"

He looked a little sheepish and started laughing,

"I added Capri Sun."

Blue Capri Sun at that ~ I just don't think you can get any more

'kid'

than a blue beverage from a silver pouch.

I'm thinking - maybe we aren't wine drinkers?

the F post

Our fabulous friends came over for festivities on The Fourth;

it goes without saying the we had a fantastic time!

It got a  little crazy there for awhile

with 8 boys firing off fireworks all at once...

When we were finished, 

somehow

we missed sending them off with a proper goodbye

- which consists of everyone in both families yelling "goodbye"

as long and loud as possible -

 (the neighbors love it!)

Maybe they will find it in their hearts to forgive us, in time....

~

Probably part of why we forgot the send-off

was Tyler was working figuring out a deal with the kids

regarding trash pick-up from all the firework fallout.

$.02 for little stuff - $.05 for big - $.10 for extra big

~

So,

I'm looking at the snap dragon mess on the sidewalk this morning

and do some quick calculations.

There are fifty pops in a box.

A box costs a fourth of a dollar

They'll get paid a full buck ($.02 x 50)
for a box's worth of snap dragon trash.

They think that's pretty fantastic!

7 quick takes ~ early summer

I know it's time to post 

when Tyler asks if I've posted yet

when he knows full well

I have not.

1. 

This has been kind of a rough week for me

and I'm not quite sure why.

But I have discovered that when I'm not doing well,

it's really better if I keep my trap shut.

2.

Fireworks.

It's that time again.

Even though I have discovered that I like going with them,

I wanted to just send Tyler with the kids

(see #1) but he pretty much made me go along, too.

I'm glad.

I do enjoy the whole process!

Even if he wouldn't drive us all over creation 

to save two cents per item this year.

3.

I realized today that I haven't yet procured childcare

for a wedding Saturday evening.

(Lana?? I'll msg ya)

4.

There will be dancing at the wedding

but with my blasted back

and Tyler's bum foot

(he hurt it when we went to the river

and is hobbling worse now, than he was a week ago.)

I don't know that we'll get to do much dancing.

boo.

5.

Tyler took me dumpster diving last night.

He sure knows how to show a girl a good time!

Seriously - it was fun.

The boys were pretty excited about our loot.

6.

Tyler was reading to us from Philippians a few nights ago

and asked the kids, 

"What are some things we have confidence in?" 

and we talked a bit about that....

then he asked,

"What's something we don't have confidence in?"

Jeremiah thought a minute

and replied, "Our toilet."

Yeah, I bet that's one all the kids are saying...

7.

Tony took the boys to see Cars tonight;

it's only the second time Jeremiah and Josiah 

have been to the theater.

They went to Goody's afterwards

(which is apparently totally awesome, as was the movie)

and everyone got whatever they wanted.

Pretty good 'brother time', I think!

~

Well, that ought to keep me out of trouble

with Tyler and Uncle Guy

for a few days at least... ;-)

For more quick takes, visit new mama Jen