Our excellent adventure

**no photos to be had... camera left at home... AGAIN!!!**
So, Jeremy got home from work last night (the kids and I were out playing in the leaves) and asked if I was up for going to check out the Salmon run! Absolutely. We drove out to Footbridge about 25 minutes from our house. There is a dam and what looks like hatchery pools. We were so excited. The salmon were jumping. Even smacking against the fence (right where we were all standing). D especially was squealing with delight. As we walked further down there was a glassed area where you could see them under water. It was soooooo cool watching the kids get a close up view of the beautiful Salmon. There was also a Steelhead trout right in front of our faces. Checking out the jumping salmon again we headed out. Off to a local park that has a pheasant farm, a bear (he was inside, we did not get to see him but boy oh boy we could smell him), sheep and goats, rabbits, red golden pheasants (the most amazing colored bird I have ever seen), two bobcats, peacocks, a crazy goose (she gave D a piece of her mind), and three bucks (Jeremy said he would have shot any one of them) and two doe. The coolest part about this adventure was the eight point buck walked right up to the fence. That was so neat (this was the closest any of the kids had ever gotten to a live buck). The sheep also ate out of H's hand. I don't know who enjoyed it most but I think that saying I did would not be an understatement. The plan is that we will go again this Saturday. Grandpa and Grandma are coming. Let's just pray that the salmon are still running... it is really neat to hear the kids enjoy them!
See, there is your school day in a nut shell! Who needs school when you have my blog!
Happy day.

Weekend in review...

We had an awesome weekend. My rummage sale went great. I met an amazing woman who just happened to need little boys clothing... We have been talking often and I think she rocks!
Kari, her family and the errabundus bus stopped by on their way out of town. They gave us the grand tour! I love it!!!

The kids and I went to the local "pumpkin festival" and bought sixteen pumpkins! We love to carve them and decorate the front landscaping. We ran into a few people we knew and they pretty much thought we were nuts... whatever works.

I made round steak and gravy with mashed potatoes. Yum Yum! The kids ate and ate.

Jeremy took the two big boys with him to Fond du Lac. They are getting the deer blind ready for hunting season. Jeremy has the privilege to hunt with his best friend again this year. We are hoping for some good venison. The kids love it and it makes for many warm meals in the winter. AND with them gone, Sunday nap time was quiet and I got to rest and watch the NASCAR race all by myself.

Coughing... if you were here this weekend you would have not slept a wink. There were many children coughing ALL night. The kids said it is because they are back at school and every year we all get sick. They are correct on that matter.

It was my grandparents 60th wedding Anniversary. God has truly blessed them.

Oh and I got my van back! It seems to be functioning just fine. A huge thank you to the wonderful men and women who helped make it work right again.

The usual week to come here. I just pray that everyone starts feeling better.

Happy day!

*Wordless Wednesday*

my brother Adam and his wife Kellie, my sisters Sara and Mary, brother Noah,

D, nephew E (Sara's son), W and H

getting ready for our rummage sale and other happenings

So, I was supposed to have a rummage sale earlier this summer (everything "going" is in brown boxes in the storage room) and then life happened and the sale didn't. Well this coming Friday me and a whole bunch of ladies are having a "huge sale" at my house. I love to do them and just really don't have a enough stuff to have my own sale so I let a whole bunch know and they are bringing their stuff too. I have been pricing items all weekend. Half done, half to go. I love it. I price how I would buy at a sale... cheap... I want it ALL gone. Need children's clothing and sundries... pass the word. Kids clothing size 6months to 8 (boys) and TONS of it.
So, we drill words all the time here. W needs to repeat as much as possible and D and L follow suit. This weekend the little lady has a new word and a new sentence. "purple" and "me bite please" she repeats pretty much anything W's name, D's name, H's name (and they are really starting to sound right), dad, mom, grandpa, grandma, Mary, Cathy, and all her colors.
H finished his first reading out loud chapter book. He has been reading them all summer (he is into the Magic Tree house books) but he had to read one out loud for his homework. Took a few days but he did awesome.
W got hit in the face with the end of the rake... it was an accident by his brother. His nose has a huge scuff and a bruise across the whole thing. Big deal right?!? Picture day is October 1... we just may have to do the retake day. We will see how it heals up. Praying for a quick recovery. He had croup Saturday night. What a long night. For some reason he just doesn't get sick, he over reacts... like by not breathing... really really annoying especially for a really tired daddy.
And D, well not too much new here. He has decided that he wants to wipe himself. (our other boys were four or five when we finally put our foot down and said to do it themselves... they would probably still be calling us to help them if we didn't) D wants to do it himself, so I supervise and really, he does a great job and "washes his hands with soap and water". He is pretty excited about it. I think he is growing too. We have his well check next month, we shall see how much in the past year.
Jeremy busted his bottom all weekend only to come home sick last night and still today. He is at work, although I am unsure how usefull he is. I am really surprised that he is not back here on the couch.
Well, I am off to the shop to pick up my loaner van. What generous people they are...

Stranded...*UPDATE*

So, after leaving a nice message (I do mean nice...hey, I need something, I am surely going to leave as sweet a message as possible). The lovely people over where the van has been sitting since Friday... are lending me a van until mine is fixed... Happy, relieved, shocked, not so angry, not so stranded! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Well, my van finally "puked" the transmission is shot (by no fault of my own, someone over at the lube shop messed up and the company will be footing the bill). My van was in Tuesday night into Wednesday midday when they gave it back to me telling me "bring it back when it acts up again". Well, Friday was the last straw. Jeremy brought it over (we did not want anyone to have to call the police) and they called Saturday telling me that it would not be ready until maybe Monday. Yah know what that means?!? We are stranded. Jeremy is working all weekend (no complaints here) and we don't all fit in the car anyway. We are making good of it. Playing in the sandbox, basketball, with a gigantic ball that ended up in our yard, eating, riding bikes, raking leaves, fighting, wiping noses, playing UNO, "writing" in notebooks, wrestling, reading books, giving nebulizer treatments ALL night, eating, fighting, making "ports", doing laundry, running through the cleaning laundry on the line, did I say eating...
All in all as long as they make good on fixing my van I will be okay. I am a bit angry but I will get over it when I can be confident that I wont go into "limp home mode" on the highway.... again.
Happy Sunday to all of you.

Urgent prayer request *UPDATE*

Mitch's dad passed away this morning. Praising God that he was awake for the last few hours of his life. His grandchildren were able to visit with him and sing "Jesus loves me" to him. Please keep Mitch, Elizabeth and their families in your prayers during this difficult time.
Our good friend Mitch's dad was diagnosed as terminal with cancer. Unable to fight infection after surgery they have decided to take him off all tubes. The doctors told them it is now only a matter of days until he will pass away. Please pray for Mitch, his wife Elizabeth, his dad and their entire families. That they may find their peace in the Lord.

*Wordless Wednesday*

"Not me!" Monday hosted by MckMama

So today we are going to play along with another blog that I enjoy as she is hosting "Not me!" Monday. If you would like to read her original post...makes me laugh all day long...

I certainly did not:

• pick my daughter up by her ankles and hold her upside down to get the sand out of the cuffs of her pants.
• completely enjoy myself with NO guilt while my parents had our children so we could go on a "date"
• get tipsy hammered on my "date" with my husband...
• whine as I tried to walk barefoot back to the hotel carrying four cupcakes for the littles
• take a nap on the love seat while my littles napped.
• allow my sister to pick the boogers out of my son's nose instead of volunteering to do it myself.
• come home and check my email and the blogs I follow making my son wait to read his book to me
• feel a little bit "poor me" and jealous when hearing about two wonderful ladies who are due when we were supposed to be due.
• ignore shaving my legs for nearly two weeks. only to do it because I had a "date" and wore a dress.
• lust over my husband as I watched him dance...even danced with him... hey! he can really dance...

Nope, wasn't me!!

Additional prayer request

Please, when you say your prayers today add Elizabeth and Mitch, his dad is terminal and in need of Jesus as his Savior. Offering up a fervent prayer would be such a relief to Elizabeth. She and her children are headed to him for the weekend.
Thank you all so much. I appreciate you.

Finding success!

Okay so it has been two weeks since I quit drinking soda and started watching my calorie count (for real, I had always thought about it but this time I am holding myself accountable). I stepped on the scale today and have lost six pounds! I can not believe it! We walk or ride our bikes every day to and from school (and on the way home in the morning I go as long as I can...today I even got a half mile jog in *felt like I was going to die so I slowed to a brisk walk again). I have begun to feel so much better. Quite honestly, I don't care what the scale says. I just want to feel great again. I had begun to feel and look (in my eyes) like I have four children and "old". Getting up every morning crabby and sore. Staying crabby through out the day. Eliminating all the sugar has really helped. I have not bought any soda in a two weeks (which means Jeremy has quit drinking it too... although he has made up for it with the "pork chops in a can", with everything going on around here, I can't say I blame him), it feels so good. I have gone back to enjoying a cup of hot tea instead of a Mountain dew (oh I do so love Mountain dew and Coke classic). It has been really hard. The way I look at it, I want to get into better shape. I would love to look like I did before I had babies but I am not going to fool myself, I would settle for looking like a healthy beautiful MOMYS. So, today I found success, not only in the scale but in the short jog that I was able to accomplish. D shouting out with glee "faster mom, faster" really made me feel amazing.

So, I need you to offer a prayer up for Kelly (and her dad), the sweet family who has chosen me to keep their sweet baby who are due next week, my brothers and sisters and their families, the people who still have no place to go because of the Hurricanes, and Jeremy who dropped an angle iron on his foot yesterday at work...it is not pretty.

Praising Him today for: H having success at swimming class, W thriving in Kindergarten, the girls that remind me once in a while that I matter as a friend... LOVE YA!, giving me the strength to smile even though I just want to crawl into a hole and stay there. I am happy because He loves me.

Happy day to all of you.

A little shuteye...

is hard to come by...

J dozed off on the couch the other day. H was watching cartoons and W was driving a car on the back of the couch...

D hoped on his lap and the nap was all over...
Up hops L to make the crew complete...
Say "CHEESE!"
Really though, I don't think he minds at all!

*Wordless Wednesday*

Coming soon....

• Photos of our Labor day adventure... as soon as I figure out how to do a slide show on this fabulous page.
• Photos of Quary Quest. Boy oh boy did we have a blast!
• and of course random blabing... hey, it's my blog, I can do what ever I wanna!

Please pray for my girlfriend Kelly (and her dad who is extremely ill).

A dear friend who is due in Mid March with their first baby!

Baby Stellan and MckMama

My parents who this past week were married for 38 years!

Walgreens trip $10 off $40 coupon

First transaction:
Excedrin tension headache 3.99 (MIR)
(2)Advil liquid gels $6.99/13.98 (RR)
Advil capsules $6.99 (RR)
Crest pro health mouthwash $4.49 (RR)
(2)Colgate toothpaste $2.99/5.98
Pert Plus $4.99 (MIR)
(2)Seventh Generation cleaners 3.36/6.72
Glade fabric spray $2.99
(2)Oust Spray 2.99/5.98
insoles for shoes $7.99
TOTAL= $64.10
-$1 glade walgreens coupon
-$2 oust walgreens coupon
-$2.99 bygo crest walgreens coupon
-$2.00 pert plus mfc
-$.75 crest mfc
-$1.00 crest mfc
-$2.99 bygo oust coupon mfc
-$1.50 glade spray coupon mfc
-$3.00 (3)advil coupons mfc
-$2.00 (2) seventh generation mfc
-$1.00 walgreens RR
-$10.00 walgreens coupon
total coupons =30.23
total $33.87
received $14.50 RR
mail in rebate $3.99 (excedrine)
$4.29 (pert plus)
TOTAL OUT OF POCKET=$11.09

Second transaction:
(3) dozen eggs $.99 (ON SALE!!!)/2.97
energizer batteries $4.99
Total $7.96
-$2.00 walgreens coupon energizer batteries
-$.75 energizer MFC
Total $5.07 paid with $4.50 RR
total out of pocket = $.57
Total out of pocket for my day... $11.66 .... you all may think I am a little nuts for doing this...but it has really begun to pay off for our family.
Happy day.

Finally able to add some words!! it's Thursday!!!*Wordless Wednesday*

I just wanted you all to know that I did NOT do this to this blued eyed girl. A wonderful friend gave all four kids these sweat bands. She puts it on herself and wears it all over the house. Really, honest, she does it herself. She pulls it on...down her face and shoves it back up. Absolutely hillarious...as you can see. (and no, I don't let her leave the house like that).

My kindergartner!

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

*Wordless Wednesday*