snaggle tooth

this kid has wiggled her teeth nonstop. it takes her FOREVER to actually get them pulled. the last time she had 3 loose teeth, the permanent teeth were coming in behind the baby teeth & her baby teeth were turning black. i ended up holding her down one night & pulled all 3 of the teeth. you would have thought i was murdering her that night.
anyway, today she found herself with a very wiggly upper tooth again. she was scared to show me for fear i would snatch it out of her mouth. i held my hands behind my back & she let me look...and sure enough her tooth was way wiggly & even bleeding. so i told her i wouldnt pull it as long as she worked it.
we went to skinny dip yogurt this afternoon for a family outting. we got back & abigail had to potty. while she was using the bathroom she pulled her tooth. she was sooooo proud & well, she should be.

here's my little snaggle tooth. she pulled the right "eye tooth"

be good to yourself

Be Good To Yourself
Journey

(dont forget to pause the music at the bottom so you can hear this song)

Runnin' out of self-control
Gettin' close to an overload
Up against a no win situation
Shoulder to shoulder, push and shove
I'm hangin' up my boxin' gloves
I'm ready for a long vacation

Be good to yourself when, nobody else will
Oh be good to yourself
You're walkin' a high wire, caught in a cross fire
Oh be good to yourself

When you can't give no more
They want it all but you gotta say no
I'm turnin' off the noise that makes me crazy
Lookin' back with no regrets
To forgive is to forget
I want a little piece of mind to turn to

Be good to yourself when, nobody else will
Oh be good to yourself
You're walkin' a high wire, caught in a cross fire
Oh be good to yourself

Be good to yourself when, nobody else will

I LOVE this song. Not because I want to be selfish and have it all be about me, but the Bible - God - commands us to love others as we love ourselves.

Galations 5:14 "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself."

and that's just one of the many places that we are commanded that in God's word. But if we dont love ourselves, or basically, are good to ourselves, how can we truly love others?

just a mulling it over these days.

btw, if you listen to any secular music, this is our "family" band. they are, in our opinion, the best band ever! BUT only if Steve Perry is singing with them (in our humble opinions of course).
even Esther knows who they are when they come on the radio or when we pop in their cd. Abigail pretty much knows all of the words to their greatest hits album along with Clay, Rachel & Myself.

choose life

ok so i know i've posted before on this subject but it is one of those issues that doesnt go away for me. i lay awake at night & cry thinking of the misinformed young girls who murder their babies without realizing that one day they will have to face that decision, look that decision in the eye, and deal with it within themselves. i can not imagine the trama that will be brought to them if they have any type of conscious or knowledge of God.

 it seems the "pro-murder your child in the womb community" will lie, cheat & steal to keep young ignorant women uniformed and to keep the option to forever cause heartache for them in place.
here in Virginia, there has been a law passing....yes PASSING through our General Assembly that states that it will be mandatory for all women or little girls who try to play like women to undergo an ultrasound before a woman or woman-child can murder her unborn baby. i cant understand for the life of me why that would be a problem. isnt it better to be fully informed of your decision before you make it?
now the pro-kill your unborn baby side of this issue is saying that the bill calls for transvaginal ultrasounds. now i may be ignorant or missing something, but no where in the bill does it call for a transvaginal ultrasound. It calls for an "ultrasound".

here is a link to the bill as it was introduced on January 11, 2012
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?121+ful+SB484

now we are hearing in the news that those crazy pro-lifers (yep that be me!) want women to have to undergo evasive procedures that are likened to rape. this is what i cant understand. even if the requirement was for a transvaginal, with the prob put up in there type ultrasound, would that be more invasive then having a vacuum put up there and a defenseless, innocent baby ripped from their warm, home - the safest place they will ever know & ripped limb from limb? that's not invasive but a prob that tells you that "yes there really is a baby in there, with a beating heart, a soul, a future, Virginia" is invasive. i'm not digging the logic in that.
it boils down to choice. the abortionist want to keep women uninformed as they are making millions and millions of dollars on murder in this country. if the women are uninformed then they dont really feel they have a choice. in actuality...which side offers choice? choice for all involved? surely not the abortionist.

and our Governor....Bob McDonnell...i have lost so much respect for him. He, with the White House in his sights as he is being considered to run for VP, has backed down from this fight. Our "Pro-Life" governor put his political ambitions ahead of standing up for life. all he had to do was stand behind the bill & sign it. it was set to pass. now it is being "re-written". what a joke. i am disappointed. i have no other way to look at this situation with Governor McDonnell. I did call his office and offer my opinion. I have written emails.

and on another note concerning this matter, now it's coming out how caring Planned Parenthood really is...how they generally give ultrasounds before abortions anyway. Really? so if that's the case why are we having this fight to begin with? something doesnt wash. and if Planned Parenthood & the Pro-murder your yet to be born baby movement really believes what they state - that they want the amount of abortions to be reduced also as they are not good for women - then why would more information be a problem. sounds fishy to me.

Planned Parenthood is an evil organization. i despise them. i curse them everytime we ride by their offices. i hope they lose all funding and go out of business everywhere. i pray for their buildings to burn and their doctors to lose their licenses. and believe me...i am being nice in expressing what i really wish for them.

anyway, this is an ultrasound picture of twins at 12weeks 2 days gestation. most pregnancies are terminated between 6 & 12 weeks. how can seeing this be bad for a woman? i could cry looking at it & these arent my babies nor an ultrasound on me. and the really sad thing is...a woman isnt made to look at the ultrasound. she doesnt have to look at the pictures. she just has to be informed that there is a living baby in her womb.


to be fair here is Gov. McDonnell's statement concerning his withdrawal of support:

Statement of Governor Bob McDonnell on SB 484
RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell issued the following statement today regarding SB 484, a bill before the General Assembly that would require an ultrasound prior to an abortion being performed.
“I am pro-life. I believe deeply in the sanctity of innocent human life and believe governments have a duty to protect human life. The more our society embraces a culture of life for all people, the better country we will have. Over the course of my 20-year career in elected office, I have been glad to play a leading role in putting in place common-sense policies that protect and defend innocent human life in the Commonwealth. One of those bills was Virginia’s informed consent statute, of which I was the chief patron in the House of Delegates, finally seeing its passage in 2001. This session, the General Assembly is now considering amending this informed consent statute to include a requirement that any woman seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound in order to establish the gestational age for appropriate medical purposes, and to offer a woman the opportunity to voluntarily review that ultrasound prior to giving her legal informed consent to abortion.
Over the past days I have discussed the specific language of the proposed legislation with other governors, physicians, attorneys, legislators, advocacy groups, and citizens. It is apparent that several amendments to the proposed legislation are needed to address various medical and legal issues which have arisen. It is clear that in the majority of cases, a routine external, transabdominal ultrasound is sufficient to meet the bills stated purpose, that is, to determine gestational age. I have come to understand that the medical practice and standard of care currently guide physicians to use other procedures to find the gestational age of the child, when abdominal ultrasounds cannot do so. Determining gestational age is essential for legal reasons, to know the trimester of the pregnancy in order to comply with the law, and for medical reasons as well.
Thus, having looked at the current proposal, I believe there is no need to direct by statute that further invasive ultrasound procedures be done. Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state. No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure.
For this reason, I have recommended to the General Assembly a series of amendments to this bill. I am requesting that the General Assembly amend this bill to explicitly state that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily. I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age. Should a doctor determine that another form of ultrasound may be necessary to provide the necessary images and information that will be an issue for the doctor and the patient. The government will have no role in that medical decision.
I have requested other amendments that help clarify the purposes of the bill and reflect a better understanding of prevailing medical practices. It is my hope that the members of the General Assembly will act favorably upon these recommendations from our office. We will await their action prior to making any further comments on this matter.”

spray paint

Ok so I have serious issues. I have an addiction problem. Maybe you know this, maybe you don't. And it really doesn't matter much what it is..if it strikes my fancy...well....there you go....addiction. but I can honestly say that alcohol or drugs have never struck my fancy. Not to say I have been an angel by any stretch...but those 2 vices have never had a draw for me. I like control too much and with drugs or alcohol that isn't the case.
Now babies, fabric, sharpie markers, heirloom vegetable seeds, chickens, yarn, embroidery thread, sewing machines (I only have 5 of those & 1 is actually a Serger so I don't know if that can be classified as an addiction).....shoes...I am addicted to them all.
But this new found addiction is so different, eclectic, fun & all of the children helped. I found a DIY decorating idea off of Pinterest (my favorite website besides Backyard Chickens). It requires the old brass candle sticks & spray paint (ok add spray paint to my addicted to list). Basically every thiftstore in the country sells the old brass candlesticks for CHEAP!  I'm not a brass dealer but I am pretty sure most of these are solid brass.
Anyway we (ok I dictated the colors) picked out different color spray paint & started painting them today. A very shabby chic type of look. All of the kids had a ball. And when they are dry & finished we will decorate around the house with them. Here is a sneak peek. There is also a desktop mirror tray that we are spray painting the brass edge on & a picture frame that I found for a special picture.
Asher even got into it. He of course.helped with the big blue candlesticks & wants them to go in his room when they are finished.
And the watermelon pink jewelry box is Esther's.

These little angels are so perfect. I love them. I spray painted them with a brushed nickel finish. we have a very dear friend who has brushed nickel on everything...door knobs, light switch plates, ceiling fans, etc. Her house is so pretty. Anyway, she just had a birthday so I figured I would do these for her. She might hate them or even put them back in the thrift store but i thought they were sweet...especially if they are used at Christmas. And the brushed nickel is fast becoming a favorite of all of my girls.

Now on a super sweet note. Rachel was teaching Levi tricks to night. We don't have any one trick ponies over here so she was teaching him to hold a quarter on his nose. He was so funny. He did it at first but was so excited to show me that he could do it that he would whip himself around and the quarter would fly off. He would laugh and start over...and always with a smile.

Lapbooks

I don't know how many moms use lapbooks during their schooling but we like them. They are a different way of learning - multisensory..visual & kinetic all at the same time. Knowledge Box in conjunction with CurrClick is giving away a fun free Presidential Election Games & Trivia lapbook.

Check it out here:

http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=22329&it=1&affiliate_id=12443

It retails for $25.99.

levitical law

today went where? someone tell me...quick...because i have NO CLUE! how does that happen? whole blocks of time just disappear & disintegrate before we know it. at least i feel that way. there were 3 dentist appointments today. abigail was gone all day to "ninja camp". i had an appoinment and then went and purchased some baby sign language how to's for Levi as per his pediatrician. it might help with either him speaking or communicating. either way it should be a win.
i picked abigail up from "ninja camp" with some new found mad ninja skilz! then we stopped at the grocery store to get rice krispy cereal to make rice krispy treats for dessert. yep...sadly this ad for how NOT to do weight watchers was craving some rice krispy treats (and in case you didnt know who i was talking about...ummm me! i am failing weight watchers at the moment).
then we came home and i fixed supper (potato soup ---- oh goodness, it was DELICIOUS!!), now the children are in bed...mostly asleep. and i am cold. we didnt get any snow but it is cold. my feet are cold. that is miserable to me for me feet to be cold.
anyway so since i'm not on facebook anymore i plan to blog a bit more. i also plan to send email pictures to my mother a bit more. i'm so slack about that with facebook & even blogging but it's life.
anyway, went to see what pictures were on my camera because a lot of times i get inspiration from a picture to blog about (wish i could post the picture of my friend's new little girl Isabella AddieSelam from Ethopia, but that's not allowed until she goes to court in Ethiopia which should be in about 8 weeks - so exciting!). there werent many new pictures that matched any of the goings on around here so i am just going to post a few random shots that rachel took. as a matter of fact i am going to go charge my camera batteries. i plan to be using them a lot more.



yes that is a headband you see in her hair. but she was playing so it didnt stay. and this picture was obviously taken before her haircut yesterday. look at her dimples. she is so cute!

this boy is nuts - but in a sweet 5 year old boy nuts kind of way. he is really sweet and very gentle with me. he got this whoopie cushion at the dentist for not having cavaties. thank goodness it didnt last long because he was having way too much fun with the whoopie cushion.

spiderman giving us the peace sign. this spiderman is from the spiderman 2 movie. he has 67 points of articulation. each finger bends & is moveable. he's one of the coolest action figures i have ever seen. he is 18" tall & obviously can stand alone in cool poses. asher told rachel today that usually spiderman stands on his dresser watching levi at night. now if it were me...having spiderman watching me sleep would freak me out a bit...asher calls it "protection". now how sweet is that. he purposely sets spiderman up to watch his baby brother sleep to keep him safe. now i can go 2 different directions with that. either the boy is...i'm going to put it nicely...very dilusional in his understanding of the toy spiderman and his abilities...or he is just so sweet that he is using all the resources he thinks he has to protect his baby brother. either way, it endears him to me more & more.

i love this picture. elizabeth and abigail "playing" barbies. basically they set the house up and no one is allowed to touch it. did you do that with your doll houses when you were little? i did. i still do if given a chance. we have a very old Hello Kitty doll house that isnt sold anymore. it's not "VERY" old...maybe 10 years old. anyway we have all of the furniture pieces for all of the rooms...multiple hello kitty dolls & clothing, shoes, coats, food, furniture....so the other day esther had it out & it was everywhere. so it's now back in my room where it sat for years in my closet...up on my dresser. one day when i get time i'm going to "set" the hello kitty house up & dare anyone to touch it. for now it's in the rubbermaid container we keep it in. i went against my better judgement and let the 2 younger girls play with it. i had it up forever and then abigail sweet talked her way into it. it's one of those doll houses you put in a curio cabinet set up because it's unique and quaint. that didnt happen.

my flashy. there are no words to tell you how special this dog is.



ok, now you may say, that's not one of Wendy's kids...and you would be right. That is Nixie or Tullulah Luettger. I'm not sure which. They were hear with their mother when she came over to our house with our Dave Ramsey small group a few weeks ago. the kids played all over the house. Come to find out Erin & Matthew's twin girls love dress up. so esther obliged them and here she is. So cute. she loved the wigs & the outfits. My girls havent been crazy over the wigs or the princess dresses. i may need to pack it all up & give it to them if they will appreciate it. 



so now i'm probably off to bed. i need to work on my seeds and i need to work on my sewing... but i'm really cold & tired so i'm thinking that will win!

ok before i go....i got an idea. Pastor Craig has been talking about getting the Toxic matter out of our lives. Basically anything that separates us from God...get rid of it. I did a search on google & actually dinged this blog that had this list that i found interesting & kind of funny in the way the writer, Sam Flanders, commentates on the subject at hand. i wont actually put the link to the blog i found because he is a prohomosexual lifestyle guy and i disagree with his overall take on scripture but i thought this list was interesting and he actually had a point when posting this list. why do we pick & choose what is important to follow concerning God's law? why do we eat shellfish when God clearly shows us it's bad for us & yet despise the homosexual lifestyle (yes i eat shellfish & despise the homosexual lifestyle - not the homosexual).
but be warned there are a few mentions of things that are ...for lack of a better word - crass - on the list.

i do find it interesting in what we do & dont do under the guise of "religion" or our "relationship" with Jesus. how much of this matters? what is our standard....really should we not cut our hair? is birth control sinful (and i seriously deal with that all the time)? are we sinning in what we eat (i'm not talking about how much!) it's a lot to think about. i realize we are under Grace - not Law...but does the Law get thrown out?? I dont think so.
anyway, i think Pastor Craig's sermon is dead on accurate with Lent coming...for our family anyway.

ok here you go. i have taken a moment to ponder what our responsiblity is now - today - concerning Levitical Law.

Here are some things that are technically banned by the Bible. (All quotes are translations from the New American Standard Bible, but, because I'm actually trying to maintain serious journalistic integrity here, I cross-referenced several other translations to make sure I wasn't missing the point.)


1. This bowl cut is a guaranteed one-way ticket to sin.

Round haircuts. See you in Hell, Beatles... and/or kids with bowl cuts or surfer cuts. Leviticus 19:27 reads "You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard."













2.Football. At least, the pure version of football, where you play with a pigskin. The modern synthetic footballs are ugly and slippery anyways. Leviticus 11:8, which is discussing pigs, reads "You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you."

And you're doubly breaking that if you wake up, eat some sausage then go throw around the football. Or go to the county fair and enter a greased pig catching contest.

3. Fortune telling. Before you call a 900 number (do people still call 900 numbers, by the way?), read your horoscope or crack open a fortune cookie, realize you're in huge trouble if you do.

Leviticus 19:31 reads "Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." The penalty for that? Check Leviticus 20:6: "As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."
Seems like a lifetime of exile is a pretty harsh penalty for talking to Zoltar.

4. Tattoos. No tattoos. Leviticus 19:28 reads, "You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord."

Not even a little butterfly on your ankle. Or Thug Life across your abdomen. Or even, fittingly enough, a cross.















5. Polyester, or any other fabric blends. The Bible doesn't want you to wear polyester. Not just because it looks cheap. It's sinfully unnatural.

Leviticus 19:19 reads, "You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together."

Check the tag on your shirt right now. Didn't realize you were mid-sin at this exact second, did you?

6.Divorce. The Bible is very clear on this one: No divorcing. You can't do it. Because when you marry someone, according to Mark 10:8, you "are no longer two, but one flesh." And, Mark 10:9 reads, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

Mark gets even more hardcore about it a few verses later, in Mark 10:11-12, "And He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.'"

7. Letting people without testicles into church. Whether you've been castrated or lost one or both testicals to cancer isn't important. The Bible doesn't get that specific. It just says you can't pray.

Deuteronomy 23:1 reads (this is the God's Word translation, which spells it out better), "A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off may never join the assembly of the Lord."

Oh, and the next verse says that if you're a bastard, the child of a bastard... or even have a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild of a bastard, you can't come to church or synagogue either. Deuteronomy 23:2 reads, "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord."

8.Wearing gold. 1 Timothy 2:9 doesn't like your gold necklace at all. Or your pearl necklace. Or any clothes you're wearing that you didn't get from Forever 21, Old Navy or H&M.

"Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments."


9. Shellfish. Leviticus 11:10 reads, "But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you." And shellfish is right in that wheelhouse.

Lobster, shrimp and clam chowder: All banned.
Leviticus 11 bans a TON of animals from being eaten (it's THE basis for Kosher law); beyond shellfish and pig, it also says you can't eat camel, rock badger, rabbit, eagle, vulture, buzzard, falcon, raven, crow, ostrich, owl, seagull, hawk, pelican, stork, heron, bat, winged insects that walk on four legs unless they have joints to jump with like grasshoppers (?), bear, mole, mouse, lizard, gecko, crocodile, chameleon and snail.

Sorry if that totally ruins your plans to go to a rock badger eat-off this weekend.




What say you??

footnote

and to make matters worse....our favorite male duck died today Shoes...he was a blue swedish. so now we have NO DRAKES!! not good. so we will be looking for a male soon!

and to top it all off.......a chicken that we hatched out just a few months ago, died today also. she was a nice little Rhode Island Red.

we have had 3 ducks die in the last 2 months. i am not happy. i love our ducks.

also, flashy ate to fast & threw up all in his kennel. we are trying to bulk up their food intake. they seem to be starving - the dogs...we tried to be good pet owners and measure out their food and feed them once a day. we started now giving them 2 helpings a day...the dogs just eat way too fast. anyway i had some left over grits & corned beef hash so i mixed it & gave it to flash & readen....poor flash vomited all over his kennel.
it's been a rough day with our animals.

so a gloomy sunday indeed.

gloomy sunday

yes i know that is the title to a hungarian suicide song that the great billie holiday made famous back in 1941. while i am not suicidal i am not happy either.

esther decided after 4 1/2 months of trying to grow her hair out, to give herself another hair cut today and this time...i laughed....and then i got mad.
i laughed because i couldnt believe it.

and FOR THE RECORD...i was in the bathtub. she was under Clay's watch this time.

here is the picture i got after i spanked her good. and it's not a great picture. i took it with my cell phone. i didnt want to glorify what she had done.

yep, right up front. a bald spot...no bangs.  i showed her this picture & i asked  her if she liked it & the way she looked & she said "no mommy, no..."

thankfully i can brush the remaining top hair & it looks like we are just brushing it to the side. i tried to put a clip in it & man she flipped. so we will see. i'm going to have to gel it or either force her into cute hair clips...but there isnt much you force Esther to do.
she is the most willful child i have ever known. but even as i type that....i am so proud of who she is.......so proud that she knows her own mind, that she stands her ground - nothing changes her mind unless she is ready to change it.

i love that she seems to fit the character of her biblical namesake:

Esther 2:7 "And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter."

i dont know why, but i do know that esther is here for a purpose & that one day she will recognize what her purpose is. Thank you Lord for my precious Esther. I wouldnt change her for anything!

Esther 4:14 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

i'm easy like Sunday morning

yep, it's Sunday morning & we are home. no one is sick. no special circumstances. actually we went to service last night. very different for us...to go to our Sunday service on Saturday night. BUT...we could wear jeans (in our mind it was allowed) and it was a really good service....great message.
so today we are home....driving each other crazy. the little kids are driving Mom & Dad crazy is more like it. it's 11:41 & only Levi is dressed. well Clay is too. but we have intermittenly had breakfast & we are actually watching Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures about hyenas.
it's cold, rainy & overcast. we are suppose to get snow tonight. abigail is suppose to go to Ninja Camp tomorrow but i fear it might be canceled & she will not be happy.

i guess i can start checking off my list of things to do but in reality i want to just sleep. i'm cold. i'm tired. i feel a depression sinking in on me like the snow clouds settling in on us outside. ugh!! i have to shake it off. it's choice...this mindset...i believe that.

anyway, lent starts on wednesday. do you do lent? we are in talks with the children as to what we are going to sacrifice this year for 40 days. rachel is considering meat. if you know her then you know that will be a huge sacrifice. we are considering television...but that would be hard during the morning hours with the little kids or when i am away and rachel or elizabeth are having to babysit. i do know that we can keep that in the forefront of our minds and watch in moderation. its not like the adults watch that much tv anyway ...or rachel & elizabeth...well they dont get to watch "their" shows anyway.
i'm just not sure.

and i will be deactivating facebook this evening. i've done it before and i think it's time to do it again. i will miss my friends, old and present. i will miss my family.
but it's just too toxic right now for me. clay & i fight about it. while he's not a big talker when we travel or go anywhere - as in holding a conversation with me but he gets annoyed if i look at facebook on my phone to pass the time. he likes us both to sit in silence rather than to feel like he is 2nd class to facebook. i dont know. it's silly.
i cant seem to keep my opinions to myself which can cause interesting exchanges. and when i do keep my opinions to myself and post just normal, every day life post, it can still cause exchanges that i end up getting private messages about. it's that old adage i guess "damned if you do, damned if you dont." so it's easier to just take a long break. and quite frankly...facebook isnt my life. i have a life. i dont need facebook.
how did we all survive without facebook?? but we did didnt we! and probably without a lot of unneeded stress & commentary.
i will peek in every now & again to keep up with certain people. and really i needed to delete people but i feel bad doing that. i feel bad just unsubscribing people...but anyway...it's over! done deal as of about 10PM tonight and guess what.....LIFE MOVES ON!!
and life is moving on here...big time.
we have 3 dentist appointments tomorrow...1 ninja camp....2 well checks on wednesday....homeschooling....cooking...cleaning.....garden care.....piano lessons...karate lessons.....i have 30 eggs in the incubator so we are turning eggs daily....sooo much. life is busy here.

here is a picture of rachel on her birthday...and a slew of other pictures of all of her siblings. why is it that the boys look clueless all the time? and the last picture of me, Esther insisted on taking. she's a funny girl.

Rachel - 17 years old

Asher - 5 years old

Esther - 2 years, 10 months

Abigail - 6 years, 10 months

Levi - 15 months old 

Elizabeth - 12 years old

Wendy - old & tired!

busy-ness - as usual

i finally made a list today of all the things that need to get done. i am so shocked at how i have to put some of the most asinine things on the list, but if i dont put them on the list i will forget to do them. i can barely remember my own name, much less things that need to be done. i seem to be constantly tired with a constant headache. fun times. i do not relish the idea of correlating these symptoms with my age and my lack of a healthy lifestyle...but i fear that is the real problem...i'm old, fat & out of shape. man getting old sucks. but on a good note, our vitamix blender will be here by weeks end & our treadmill & total gym is once again starting to get a work out -even in a very mild form.
anyway, this isnt a whiny post. i'm actually excited about writing my list. what will be even more exciting is to start checking the list off!! woohoo! so to give you insight into my life, here is my beginning list for the spring (remember some of these items are "wishes" & not necessarily going to be top priority):

-plant strawberry roots (50 of them!! i'm so EXCITED!!! IF YOU COULD SEE ME, I'M ACTUALLY SMILING AS I TYPE & I FEEL GIDDY AT THE THOUGHT!! fresh strawberries all summer - i only bought everbearing strawberries)
-get lattice for clothesline ends (adding a trailing flower of some sort to the ends to make them prettier - even tho i think they are gorgeous as they stand)
-put playmobils back together (long story but Asher basically tore Abigail's princess castle apart...into their original individual pieced, pre-put together condition) 
-plant garden seeds & set in window (basically set up my greenhouse)
-build a chicken tractor (actually i need 2 now but dont tell Clay. we have about 30 polish chicken eggs in the incubator set to hatch at the end of the month)
-build 2 top bar bee hives (so excited about getting bees!)
-clean sewing room (basically needs reorganizing)
-finish 2 quilts
-dig big hole to make trampoline an inground trampoline
-build or dig inground fire pit
-build whelping box for calpurnia (cant wait to have yorkie puppies!)
-start entering recipes into database to make recipe book for my children
-research treating/feeding/pruning fruit & nut trees
-start downloading all Home Video VHS footage to computer harddrive
-start ripping all music CD's to computer harddrive
-spray paint candlesticks, picture frames, decor
-paint canning cabinet
-get back door gate for dogs
-mulch flower beds
-get big rocks for gutter/downspouts
-find another black mission fig tree to purchase
-find 2 more blueberry bushes to purchase
-find bird netting to keep off fruit trees (blue berries, black berries, strawberries & fig trees)
-get Readen set up for being spayed & shots up to date ü

so that's the beginning of my list. while that may seem crazy or stupid to you, it's what our list is for around here.

it doesnt include:
-doctor's appts (there are no less than 13 on the calendar for the next 4 weeks)
-karate (regular classes & special classes)
-homeschooling (including Rachel's co-op classes & extra curricular things we are doing - Rachel is doing a mock legislative session with her Generation Joshua group)
-piano lessons
-cooking
-cleaning (the house needs a thorough wiping down with vinegar or clorox)
-laundry (the laundry never ends!!!)
-taking care of our animals
-get togethers with friends
-special occasions that may arise
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
 now i have to go take 2 of my children to 2 of those scheduled well check up doctor appointments before we go to our weekly karate lessons.

before i do, here are some great shots of Esther.

her sneaky face:














her sad face:

her mad face:

her happy face:

my personal favorite is the "sad face" but over all...her face is pretty darn cute!

blessings!

valentine's day - a day early

clay took me out for a valentine's dinner tonight. we cant go tomorrow as the older girl's have piano lessons & we have missed so many lessons lately due to illness that i didnt want to reschedule (but what is funny is the piano teacher texted me tonight & moved the lessons to thursday because her small group is meeting earlier tomorrow & she cant do lessons. oh well!)

anyway, unknown to me, clay had arranged for us to have a private table at his saturday morning breakfast place. Angie's Family Restaurant....a very popular, local Chesapeake restaurant with homestyle cooking. so popular that we saw Bobby & Linda Hartman there. i havent seen them in ages. they looked so good.

he had flowers on the table, lindor truffles & best of all...he had arranged with the restaurant for me to drink unending diet mt.dew..which is my favorite drink.(but i have cut way back!). most restaurants NEVER sell diet mt. dew. so that was a good surprise. and the children killed the bag of lindor truffles when we got home.

he knows that my favorite flower bouquet is a wild flower assortment. these are gorgeous & smell wonderful. and the vase is tinted pink even!

it was a nice, quiet evening. the meal was good. he had the fried seafood platter & i had a nice, medium rare delmonico steak.

we got home around 6:45PM and put the babies to bed.

here are a few attempts from rachel to take pictures of us before we left.......the first one was the last one...the 2nd one was what happened as soon as we sat for the picture.

(notice Asher's very pleased expression..Abigail peeking from behind, Esther upset because she knows Mama is leaving & Levi really not having a clue as to what is going on...all he knew was his Mama was sitting & Esther was trying to get in her lap so he had to claim his spot)

and in a very narcissistic moment....man i have a fat face. i have been trying to lose weight but when i see pictures of myself i am just astounded at how fat i look. just call me shrek! ok...no comments please...it's how i feel but i know i dont look like shrek...i mean, for real...my skin isnt green!

and for added cuteness

here is where Levi likes to eat or sit or play or just be in the way:

please dont call social services on me. yes i realize it's been like 40 degrees outside & he is half dressed with only 1 sock on. he looks very unkept...but the dishes were clean & being unloaded.

and super duper serious cuteness:

yesterday after church Esther wanted to run around in her slip. no biggie. but then she slept in it & ran around most of the day in it. when i went to help her change clothes she got very upset until i promised her to wash it so she could wear it again. she is soooo darling!

and i do plan on posting pictures of rachel when she was a baby. i just have to download them off of an external drive & i have been so super busy. i think i even have to update her birthday right? i'm so behind & feel like i'm getting even more behind as the days go by.

***editted: ok just so Clay wont get a bad reputation because there wasnt a "big" gift (which he did fine in my book...the surprise set up & flowers were nice & he said we could go see "The Vow" tomorrow since piano got cancelled...2 nights of Valentine's)...we did order a Vitamix Food Processor/Blender to help with our eating habits. we both agreed on it & the stinking thing - refurbished - still cost $425.