Rebecca

Rebecca is sitting unassisted, well she is still a bit wobbly but it is amazing how long she will sit up. She is also trying to go places when you lay her down, she rolls over and then starts turning in circles. So cute. Wow, my little girl is growing up, 6 months already.

It's cold..

My Canadian family is laughing at me because I'm finding MS weather cold. It is 49 outside right now, and I have all my children wearing jackets and they have dug out their mittens. Loren left early this morning when it was still 40, he was wearing his big winter jacket, but he was spending most of the day outside wiring a weather station. I do remember a time when I wore shirts outside when there was snow and my first year in the south I figured I wouldn't even need a jacket. Sigh, then comes the acclimatization. In my defense, all the children have recently had a virus and I don't want them getting a cold. Yeah, that's it, we're not cold, it's just prevention.

Got a boost

God really does care about the little things and I got a couple of boosts today.
A friend from church showed up this morning with comfort food, a big hug and a Bible Study invitation. She also said she had missed us at church. I had been thinking no one really had noticed us not being there.
None of my children are running fever, of course they are on the mend we had a Doctor visit scheduled, haha! One the way home from the Doctor we stopped at Chick Fil A and used a couple of free food coupons. Their chicken is always a big favorite in our house.
I was reading my Google Reader and found this post by Jana on marriage and motherhood. It really spoke to me, so many times i let the worldly opinion of stay at home moms influence my opinion of myself. Then you get hit by the opinions of the church that if you are just raising your family you aren't doing enough. I am serving God by being faithful in raising my children to love and serve Him.

Need a boost

I have spent significantly less time at the computer lately which is a good thing. I've met my recent deadlines but still have a couple big ones looming over my head. One will need a chunk of uninterrupted time, which is hard to come by especially when you have 3 clingy sick children. Oh, and a parrot squawking, you can't forget or ignore that annoyance. I just need a break, or a boost of energy.
We are looking at spending a huge amount of money on John's teeth, I wish I had peace about the whole decision. I really don't like the situation and of course there is mommy guilt that goes along with it.
Speaking of John, he is wanting a book read, must go.

One of those days...

I know I haven't written anything in a couple days. Thirsday and Friday I was busy getting ready for a retreat on the weekend. It was fun to see friends I haven't seen in a year, my roomie and I talked until quite late. I was a bit disappointed that most people wanted to rearrange the order of the last session and leave early. Loren was quite surprised that I was home before he was.Loren and the kids took the canoe and went on the river. They had fun and saw a couple of alligators.
We visited a nearby church, Cynthia commented that she has been the only one in her Sunday School class for the past 2 weeks. Sunday afternoon we drove another meal down to my friend's Dad while she and her mom are away.
Last night Rebecca started running a fever, I don't know if it is teething related, I don't feel anything, I suspect it has something to do with being around another sick baby this weekend. We were supposed to have a play date today, everything was fine yesteray afternoon when we arranged it, my friend said to still come over and GUESS WHAT I found when I went to go to the van?? My keys and purse were locked inside. Loren had 2 meetings plus his classes and grading exams so he can't come home. I guess I need to stay home and do laundry afterall.

more kittens

I'm hesitant to post any more about kittens, the mother brought another one to the back porch while we were at church. It has been raining and the poor little thing was quite drenched. i really do hope that morning light does not bring anymore little bundles to the back porch. Kittens are not cheaper by the dozen.

12 more days

Just 12 more days, just 12 more days, only 12 more days and I won't have a parrot shrieking at me. I am having to keep telling myself, this too shall pass, it is either that or my brain starts contemplating BooBoo's demise. He is in a foul mood today, and is making life quite interesting. Maybe he is noticing that his loyal band of followers have spent the majority of their day out with the kittens. Did I mention that the mother brought 2 more kittens to the back porch? I hope she doesn't have anymore, 3 kittens was sort of cute, 5 is bordering on panic, I'm feeding *how* many cats?
In school today we were trying to make butter, the cream got to the point of whipped cream and the children decided that tasted yummier. I had found a deeply reduced quart of heavy whipping cream at Kroger and we had lots of fun using it up today. I also had enough left over to make a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. Yummy.

BooBoo

I don't think I posted pictures of BooBoo the other day. Here he is on my shoulder and with Loren. it is amazing how his claws can send shivers up and down your spine. Loren usually wears an extra jacket because he doesn't like parrot acupuncture.

Kittens!

Well, well, well the grey cat that has been hanging around the food dish showed up this morning with three little kittens, two black with white paws and one grey kitten. I'm unsure of the age of the kittens but they have their eyes open and are quite mobile. My children, of course, think that they've won the jack pot. They have been pestering for kittens for awhile, but the questions have increased since we just got Kitty Darln payed last week. It's funny that the last thing I wanted was a batch of kittens while cat-sitting and here we end up with a batch anyway. Now the question is what to do with them, sigh!

Pictures

Pictures above of Cynthia, Jesse and John at the aquarium on Dauphin Island, goofing around getting picture in a scuba diving helmet
Below are pictures of Rebecca in my sling at the aquarium, she was a bit young for the helmet! The other pictures are Rebecca at the beach. They left me with the camera while they were splashing in the water so I was having fun. I was trying to take a picture of Rebecca just by holding holding the camera at arm's length. I think they turned out pretty good. But then how could they not with such a beautiful subject.

The Fair!

We are headed to the MS State Fair today. The kids and I went through the inside exhibits and did a couple of rides on Tuesday. We saved some of the rides they really wanted to go on until Loren could go with us. I had 4 children (1 in a sling and 1 in a stroller), there was no way to do everything. I got a couple of comments from people about how brave I was, LOL!

Cynthia is so proud, she is riding without training wheels! My little girl is growing up.

Give Away

You may be interested in this blog post. Crystal Pain, at Biblical Womanhood, is giving away 10 copies of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God Book Give Away. Very interesting review.
I've entered, will you?

I really do knit...

See, I really do knit.... here's proof!

I've thrown in a picture of my cute model. Rebecca is growing so fast. She's rolling over, pushing up on her arms and trying to crawl. It's more off an army crawl right now, hauling herself forward with her arms and anything she can grab hold off.

Disciplined

I'm trying to be more disciplined in a lot of areas; time on the computer, writing on his blog, decluttering my home, keeping up with the dishes, cooking healthy meals for my family. Whew, there are more but this seems to be turning into a to do list.
I have 2 paperwork deadlines looming for my volunteer job, they are on my to do list but I still keep procrastinating. There are so many fun things, like playing with my young children, that I want to do. I'm really praying over a lot of decisions in our family life. The answers will have to come clearly from God because I'm all in a muddle.
Off the computer now to play with my children.

Home School Park Day

We went to our second home school park day today. We had 8 families with a total of 31 children and adults last week, this week we had 8 families with a total of 28. My children have been having so much fun socializing, I honestly laugh when people bring that up as an argument against homeschooling. If we went to every available home school event we would have no time for the academics. Adult conversation is so rejuvenating!
Speaking of rejuvenating, we went to visit a Pastor friend's church tonight, their Wednesday prayer service was amazing. They truly are a church that prays, not just take prayer requests. It was good to see some friends and some home schoolers too, the last time we visited, John was Rebecca's age.

BooBoo the Parrot

As I type this there is a parrot sitting on my shoulder. I think I may lose some hearing over this parrot sitting stint. BooBoo has just shrieked twice near my ear, ouch.

BooBoo is my friend's parrot, he is staying with us for most of October. We got him Friday because another lady who had been keeping him was allergic to him. We had already planned a trip to the beach and oh boy, the parrot was not happy with us when we got back 36 hours later. He's been aggressive with me and the children, he's tolerating me right now, but he loves Loren. my friend says Loren looks like his former owner.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

In past years I've gone all out and cooked a Thanksgiving meal to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, this year we might have chicken, but I haven't made any special plans, I think the children would prefer to go to the Fair. That's all I've heard lately, "How many more days until we go to the fair?"

We got in from our trip to Dauphin Island last night around 9:00pm. The cat and parrot were quite happy to see us. The parrot was ready for some fresh vegetables and literally danced circles when he say John with the carrot bag. I guess the seeds weren't quite up to Booboo's standards or he was bored with them.

I am up early today, Cynthia woke me up around 4:30 complaining of a sore ear, she played in the water Saturday and Sunday. We had to almost drag them away yesterday. They were so exhausted that we fell asleep soon after we got on the road. I'm the only one suffering from too much sun, and really only in places that got 'missed' by the sunscreen. I had made sure Rebecca was covered and I sat on the beach nursing her and then held her while she slept. My legs are a bit sore from the knee down, I guess I got distracted while applying the sunscreen. I told Loren that I applied sunscreen to a lot of legs, and then couldn't remember if I had finished my own. I think the lesson learned is, when in doubt, reapply.

On the way out of town Saturday morning, we dropped a meal off to my good friend's dad, while she and her mom are away visiting family. On the drive to his house we passed a field and the first thing Loren said was, "Oh, what a great Mesonet site." I laughed at him and said, "Blog fodder." You can go on a weekend away but you just can't leave work behind. He's always on the scout for the perfect site for a weather station and is currently installing one up in Sturges.

The cat is asking for food, but we are taking her to the vet at 8:00 for a little operation and food has been off limits since midnight, she keeps asking and rubbing against my (sore) legs, ouch.

challenge

This post really challenged me. Can I fast from my computer for a week? I've been so guilty lately of listening but not really listening to my children. Why is it so mportant to answer the phone and tell my children to wait? I should tell the phone to wait and spend the time with my precious children.
Off to help my daughter get the parrot out of the cage, I'm parrot and cat sitting.