Staying out the Way

Trying to stay out of hubby's way today. He is painting our old dining room. The house has 2 different rooms to eat in. One right next to the kitchen and then a "formal" dining room off of that. Even though I have seen my neighbors use it that way it seems to me, that is a waste. Who needs 2 rooms to eat in? I grew up with 1 just fine. And truth be known, I am not really a "formal, look but don't touch" kind of person. With our ever growing family we can use all the room we can get.

The house has 5 bedrooms. Right now we use one room as a "schoolroom" however, we don't do school in there (again a waste). We do school at the dining room table. So instead the schoolroom has become the "mess" room. It has everything from bookcases filled with reference books, art supplies, extra school supplies to baby stuff, my craft stuff, old books and everything in between.

The new plan:
The old dining room turn into the school room. It is on the main floor of the house and everything will be at my finger tips.

Old schoolroom will be turned into Zachary and Alex's bedroom.

Boy's old bedroom will be turned into a nursery. It is the bedroom closest to us.

We are hoping to start moving stuff into the "new" schoolroom this weekend. We are trying to pace ourselves so that way in late August we aren't rushing to switch all these rooms around when I am large and in charge and miserable from the heat.

Finally!!!

After having problem after problem and not having a very reliable vehicle we FINALLY waved the white flag and bought this today........

Our new ride. Best of all---it comes with a 2 yr. warranty!!!

I know some people who are cheering right now. They know first hand how frustrating it has been over the last year for us. A friend of Chris' is a mechanic, in fact, it put the new engine in Chris' car last year. He is coming this week to pick up Chris' car to see if he can figure out what is wrong with it. I am hoping it is something as simple as the starter and not the engine again. If it is the starter than it will be fixed and we will be back to multiply cars (which means I can bring the kids to church again!!!).

Chris got stuck at work (again) with the van on Saturday. He was able to get it home today. IF (and that is a big IF) it is NOT in need of a new transmission we might get it fixed one last time. I, however, do believe it is and that means BIG BUCKS which I am NOT willing to dish out anymore.

You may ask why would we want or need 3 vehicles. Well in 10 short months CJ will have his license. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! When we originally got Chris' car we decided it would go to CJ someday. Believe me, he has every intention of holding us to it (can you blame him).

The Crisis Continues.......

My sister Glenda is 10 years, 9 months older than me. By all accounts she has been the quiet, color in-the-lines, type A, likes things scheduled 5 months in advance type of person. Compared to me--I will strike up a conversation with someone in line at the grocery store with no problem, voice my opinion, selectively organized, and has been know to book a cruise 3 weeks before our anniversary (hey, you can get a great deal if you wait. My sister books hers atleast a year out). Both of us can have a great laugh about the other. We love and support each other 100%.

So imagine my surprise when a year a half ago she bought this.....


I call her it her MLC Car.....that is Mid-Life Crisis Car, she calls it her "coloring outside of the lines" car. I still get a kick when I see her pull up in it.

Well look at what she picked up today

"Who's gonna call me Granny now!!"

Yes, this is HER motorcycle!!!! Imagine how surprised I was when about 2 months ago she announced to me that her and her husband, Mike, decided to find a hobby together. This is what they came up with. I was SHOCKED!!

Glenda and Mike.

They got their motorcycle licenses at the beginning of the month. Since top speed in the class was 20 Mike drove the motorcycle up to my house with Glenda following behind in the MLC Car.

Glenda took the bike for a spin while in my neighborhood. She sure did impress one of our neighbors.

Strike a Pose!

Off for a spin.

I can't wait to see what she does next to top this. I guess she didn't hear that now that she is going to be a Grandma she is suppose to be home in her rocking chair making little booties for the baby and playing bingo on the weekends. : )

Disclaimer: Please note. This post is in pure jest to my sister. She is fully aware that I was going to be writing this. We love each other very much. I do not really think she is "old". I do, however, stand behind the statement of MLC Car. It is just really hilarious to see this side of my sister. I KNEW it was always there. And it is kind of great----She makes me look pretty tame now : )

All this, plus, she likes to tease me with homeschooling and number of children I have. I need something to even things out.

LOVE YA SISSY!!!!!

18 Weeks!!

Now that I am feeling better time is just flying by!! I can't believe I am 18 weeks already.
I have been enjoying the first kicks of the baby.
I was teasing Chris the other day by asking him what he has been putting in the food. I feel like all of a sudden it is REALLY noticeable that I am pregnant....and you know what......I LOVE IT!!!! All the insecurities of how "big" I was are gone. I am now embracing it. As of yesterday, the scale has me now at the weight I was the day before I found out I was pregnant. Not bad ; )

So here is this weeks picture. I hope the baby someday enjoys seeing how we grew : )

18 weeks pregnant
Oh, and BTW, Chris' answer was miracle grow in the food.

To the Convention I Go

For over a month I was going back and forth about going to this year's homeschool convention. In fact, as of Tuesday I was not going. Usually I go up on the Thursday, stay at the nice hotel (all by myself) and bright and early on Friday I am at the convention doors ready to go in. I then spend all day Friday enjoying myself and Saturday missing the kids and wanting to go home (except I always ride with someone else so this isn't possible). This year the money just wasn't there for me to be able to go overnight for 2 nights. With only 1 car, I knew I couldn't use ours to go. All this, plus I didn't want to leave the kids for what would end up being almost 3 days by the time I get back.

Yesterday I got a phone call from Wendy. She had been going back and forth about the convention too. She said she was actually thinking of driving up for the day on Friday. HHHMMM, VERY INTERESTING. This, I could actually see myself doing. I would save money by not staying overnight (hotel and food expense for 3 dinners, 2 breakfast and 2 lunches) and I would only be gone for 1 day from the kids. It would give me the opportunity to see curriculum that I have been thinking about and soak up the atmosphere of homeschooling. YES, WE HAVE A PLAN!!!

So we are a go. We are leaving bright and early and going to the convention tomorrow. I can't wait. I am going to get everything ready tonight---clothes, money, snacks--lots of snacks. I had an extremely low blood sugar earlier today (all the way down to 49). It was horrible, the worst I have ever felt. I literally felt like I was getting ready to pass out. Not good. I am doing better now. So snacks are a must, especially since I will be walking around, burring calories all day tomorrow.

Any suggestions on curriculum to look at?

The Name Game

Soon after we found out we were expecting we starting talking about names for the baby. Girls names we came up with pretty fast and we were able to narrow it down to 2. Boys names, that is tougher.

When trying to think of names we try to keep in mind the names of our other 5 children to make sure there is a flow to all of them. Chris, Zachary, Jessica, Alex and Emily. As my oldest says I have All-American "boring" names. I agree with the All-American, not so much on the boring. But I do have to agree with him on the fact that picking something more unusual would make that name stand out.

Chris came up with Nathan for a boy I was fine with that (it wasn't Jason like I wanted it but I liked it). So we were all set. Nathan for a boy.

Then we found out on April 11th that my niece Laura was expecting her first. How exciting. One of my first questions was if they had a name. Well here is where it became interesting. Come to find out that Laura had picked out Nathan but then heard through her sister, Lisa, that I had also picked Nathan (don't forget, we didn't know Laura was pregnant even though she is further along than me). Laura, than out of respect for us, changed her boy choice to Isaac. I mentioned to her that day that if we should have a girl she could always use Nathan.

On Wednesday both Laura and I had doctor's appointments (same doctor, her appointment right after mine). That morning while getting ready I started thinking about the name Nathan and how Laura wanted it and changed it because of me. Come to find out, Chris was thinking the same thing. On our way to the office Chris brought it up. He said that he thinks we should give Laura "Nathan" if she is having a boy. He feels that this being her first, she should get the chance to name the baby anything she wants. Also, he was impressed with the fact that out of respect for us she was changing it.

At the office, after all the exciting of seeing each other, Laura asked me if we have a girl if she could use Nathan. I told her that we decided no matter what she could use Nathan and why. She started crying in the doctor's office (which was followed by me crying-----HORMONES). She then preceded to call baby Nathan's grandparents-to-be and tell them his name. After seeing how excited she was it confirmed to me that we made the right decision in giving up the name. The moment was precious.

So now we are on a hunt for a boys name. I think we have one (which we are not sharing at this time). Still no middle name. We will know soon enough if we are having a boy or girl. I can't wait!!!!

History----- Help!!!!!!!

Okay, I am going to throw this out there----just promise not to throw tomatoes at the screen. I DON'T LIKE HISTORY. {duck} So I said it out loud. I know most are shocked because homeschoolers thrive on history. Believe it or not I got an "A" in high school but remember very little about it. Don't believe me. How about I didn't know that Marco Polo or Pocahontas were real people until a few years ago. I know whole curriculums have be made revolving around history. Me, I try to avoid it as much as possible. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many times I have done history with my middle three this year.

Hubby on the other hand, LOVES history. Like I am talking about he will put on the history channel just for fun. The first 3 years we homeschooled he was in charge of teaching it to CJ. As Zachary and the other kids came along and life got more busy, I took over. This unfortunately meant that CJ did history (Abeka) on his own and the younger ones hardly get any.

I do try. I start with Leif the Lucky and move forward. However, each year we stop around the Pilgrims and the following year we start all over again with Leif. I have to tell you, I am sick of reading about Leif and Columbus.

So this is where I am hoping that someone out there can help. I know there has to be others that don't find history enjoyable but they found a curriculum they like. I am looking for suggestions. got any??

Doctor's Appointment Update

Wednesday I went to the doctor's for my 16 week appointment.
Blood Pressure--128/70
Weight---+3

While the morning sickness is FINALLY better (almost non-existing), two other issues have arised. First, my blood sugar keeps dropping. I am talking about, if I wait 3 hours between eating it is low and I feel horrible. I find morning gives me the biggest problems. I will eat breakfast and then get busy with the day. By 11-12 I am down. Luckily, my appetite has picked up----ALOT----and I don't usually have as much of a problem in the afternoon Though yesterday it dropped 3 times!! I felt like all I did was eat-eat-eat. I told Chris that is my new hobby---eating.

The other problem I am having is my heart rate keeps racing up past 100 (even when sitting doing nothing) and short of breath. This also happened with when I was pregnant before. That time I put on a wrist monitor that recorded my heart rate (which would sometimes reach 145 at rest) and did an EKG. I was also put on medication for it. I have an appointment in a few weeks with a cardiologist. Until then, I am *trying* to take it easy.

I am finding out on my birthday, May 13th, if we are having a boy or girl. I can't wait. Now to decide on a name. We have it narrowed down to 2 girls names. We have not settled on a boy name and we have no middle names.

I am feeling better with my self image. I am feeling more pregnant than fat. Here is this weeks picture.

17 weeks and growing...

Happy Family News

Last weekend was full of fun for my family. Sunday was Alex's 7th birthday. I can't believe that next month will already be 5 years that he came into our lives and became part of our family. The day was laid back. The kids played and then we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (I can't believe I left my camera on the kitchen table). He was so excited. To my delight they were able to get us right in (I guess not too many people like steak on Easter) and we were a party of 10. The kids behaved extremely well. In fact, the waiter gave us one of the kids meals for free because I kept things so organized and easy for him.

Saturday was my niece Lisa's wedding reception. Lisa moved to Florida about 2 1/2 years ago. Last month she got married down there, just the two of them. Her husband is going in the Army this month and before he left we all wanted the chance to meet him. While the two of them were up here my sister gave them a beautiful wedding reception dinner for just close family and a few friends. Honestly, it was so Lisa. Simple, beautiful and relaxed. Everyone had a great time. My sister, Glenda, did a fantastic job with it.

The Newlyweds, Lisa and Martin

I lead everyone in "The bride cuts the cake."

I guess it should have been "the bride wears the cake". : )

While at the reception we learned that my other niece, Laura (Lisa's sister) was pregnant....and I mean VERY pregnant. Come to find out Laura is due 3 weeks before me!!! She was 19 weeks. My sister wasn't too surprise, in fact, she had said to me over a month ago that she wondered if Laura was, but blew it off. I felt bad that Laura didn't tell us sooner. She was scared to. That broke my heart. You see, to me it was a missed opportunity to show Christ's love for her.

After the news came out, the out pouring of support she got from the family was (I am sure) overwhelming. Talk about relief. She could now enjoy the rest of the pregnancy and let us all share in the joy.

Funny little side story----it is a good thing I found out on the Saturday that she was expecting because come to find out that not only do we go now to the same OB but we BOTH had appointments on Wednesday---hers right after mine!!!

On Wednesday Laura (and Brandon too) found out they are having a baby boy!!!! How exciting!!! My sister and her husband are over the moon. Here's a picture of the proud parents-to-be showing off baby's picture...

Laura, Brandon and a picture of baby Nathan.

This is a very exciting time in our family. 2 babies to prepare for. You want to here 3 things that are so awesome. First, Laura's baby make 5 generations alive at the same time. Nathan, Laura, Glenda, our Dad and his mother. WOW!

Second, my mom (and dad too) with become a grandmother (again) and great-grandmother within weeks of each other.

Third, my my mother and sister will both have grandchild born in the same month.

I will have to tell you the "name" story sometime this week.

Happy Birthday Alex--7!!!!

Happy Birthday to my little cutie Alex. He is 7 today. I love you so much. Your smile warms everyone's heart.

16 Weeks!!

Yesterday made 16 weeks. While at my niece's wedding reception I had my honey snap a photo. Up to this point I have been hiding from the camera.

I have been a having a huge self-esteem issue with the pregnancy. My other two pregnancies I didn't. I have been trying to figure out why this time around is different. I've come up with a few reasons why, the biggest being my weight. With CJ I was about 20 pounds less than when I started this time. With Zachary, I weighed the same thing. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why then it is bothering me so. I think I got it.

Maybe you can relate, so here goes...........I hear so many people talk about how they could where "regular clothes" until they were like 6 months pregnant when at 3 months I no longer fit into any of my clothes. Or people talk about how they only gained 10 pounds. It makes me feel like a moo-moo cow. Can anyone relate? Why do we, even during pregnancy, do we make each other feel like this (or allow ourselves to)?

To my surprise, both the mid-wife I saw last month and my regular NP I saw 2 weeks ago actually WANT me to gain weight. Both have said to aim for the pound a week goal. This SHOCKED me!! I figured this would be too much with my starting weight and they both said they are more concerned with a healthy baby then my number. I have to tell you, it was been tough watching the numbers go up at the beginning of this month. I was weighing myself every day and getting upset to see the scale change 0.2 pounds. About a week and a half ago I decided (with my hubby's persuasion) to stop weighing myself so much. I am aiming for once or twice a week and that is it.

I have my OB appointment on Wednesday so I will let you know how that goes.

Being Thankful

Have you ever noticed how things all happen at once. I am not necessarily talking all bad things either. Just things you have to deal with. For me, April and May brings about a whole host of events: my niece got married last month in Florida. Saturday my sister will be hosting a reception for her. Next month Chris' cousin is getting married and he is going to be in the wedding. Easter. Birthdays---Alex, me, Mom. Mother's day. Homeschool Convention. CJ going to Worldview camp. See.....all great things! But with each great thing comes expenses. Weddings= wedding gifts (usually cash). Being in a wedding= expenses like wedding attire (which we are not sure what it is going to be at this time because they keep changing their mind). Birthdays=dinner, gifts. Homeschool convention= do I have really say anything about that one!

I was alright with all of them, in fact, I am looking forward to each one. But then the unexpected happens------the van breaks.....again. I rented a car yesterday so we could get the van to the mechanic. After he had it ALL day yesterday, he said he couldn't find anything wrong. I drove the van today to co-op and I found out (the hard way) that there was definitely something wrong. Back to the mechanic the blue beast went. He called. There is a problem but he just isn't sure yet exactly what (he narrowed it down to 2 things). He won't know until he starts taking the motor apart. You know what that equals........BIG $$$ just to diagnose it.

Anxiety started kicking in-----BIG TIME! How was I going to do it all? Where was the extra money going to come from? I was getting myself all worked up. Then I had to stop. Refocus.

I had to put things in perspective. First off, I told myself that there are people with far worse problems than me right now. This was small.....very small in comparison to them. They wish a broken car was the least of there problems. Next I had to ask God to help me through this. I told Him I knew that with him all things are possible. Then I had to look at what was coming up. Are there things that I might have to give up......yes there are. Maybe this year I won't go to the convention. Will the world stop spinning? Nope. Will the sun still rise? Yup.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful husband that goes out of his way to make me comfortable during my pregnancy. He is a fine example of a man loving his wife as Christ loves the church. We have been able to rent this 5 bedroom house for the last 2 1/2 years. It gives us plenty of space to spread out. We have food in our cupboards. Chris has job---how many people are either losing there job right now or they are under-employed. Thankful. Very thankful for what I have.

After setting my mind straight I made a phone call. I called our car insurance company. See, 2 weeks ago Chris was rear-ended after driving CJ to the high school. Nothing big. He was in a line of traffic due to road work and the kid behind him hit the gas a little too hard thinking they were going to get further then they did. Well this little fender-bender is bringing us a check. Could we get the dent fixed. Sure we could. But honestly, the van is 8 years old now and in the next couple of years we will be trading it in. Fixing it wouldn't make that much of difference in what a dealer would give us for it. So we decided (before the van even broke) that we would hold on to the money "just in case". Well it seems that the check was issued today!!!! We should have it by Monday (if not sooner)!!!! This money should cover the cost of the van being fixed.

God is good.....all the time.