Johnsons' Journey

I thought I’d better write a post before ya’ll think I’ve decided to give up on blogging all-together. *lol*

There isn’t too much going on around here. We’ve just been doing the homschool thing. The kids only have a couple weeks until spring vacation, and are getting excited about it. (As is Mommy *lol*)

We got some scary news yesterday … Remember last September-ish when there was a cougar sighting in the woods, right behind the house? … Well, turns out that the cougar is here to stay, because it’s been sighted again… While I like the quiet of this area, I wish we had found a house we could afford in town instead. I think I would feel a bit safer about letting the kids play outside.

I guess now we know why the stray cat population has gone WAY down… Poor kitties.

We’re not letting Buddy go outside right now, because I don’t want him to become Cougar-chow… Since we still don’t really trust him, we’ve set him up an area in the pantry, for when we can’t keep an eye on him… But while he seems to like his “room”, he wants to go outside, and is starting to get whiney about it. *lol*

On Tuesday, Alicia and Amanda had their last class at Dolce Dance… In some ways I think they are regretting their decision… But in the summer months, it will probably be for the best anyway, as we would have had a hard time getting there on time, because of Joe’s schedule… Thier bowling league starts in April… If they end up not liking it, then we’ll take them back to Dolce Dance in September. (The summer bowling league ends at the end of August)

Since the kids were done with school early yesterday, we took them bowling again. This time Joe wouldn’t challenge them… Which is a good thing, because he would have lost again. … Those boys are getting to be such good bowlers!

Joe will be late coming home today… He’s going to get new tires on the Durango. We’ve been needing them for a while now, and it’s going to be nice to have them done! … Then on Thursday a friend of Joe’s (John) will be doing some other work on the Durango… Something with the brakes, I think. Joe wants to get the Durango working well before all our summer camping plans, so he doesn’t have to worry about pulling the trailer. If he pulls the trailer as the Durango is now, we’d end up with a travel emergency! … Of course, the trailer needs some work too. One of the tanks has a leak, and needs to be replaced… Wish we “had a guy” who knew how to do that too, so we could get it done cheaper. *lol*

The kids and I have been bad the last week or so… I guess we got spoiled by getting to sleep in those 3 weeks while we were on Christmas Vacation, and now we can’t seem to get ourselves up out of bed at a decent time. *lol* … So we’ve been getting a late start on our lessons all week long…

Part of me says, who cares? We’re getting school done, and the chores done, and that’s what matters, right? … Another part of me doesn’t like getting done with school later in the day… I feel like we’re behind or something. Maybe it’s the OCD in me that feels like we should be on a schedule, and if we’re not, we’re “bad” … But the lazy part of me wants to stay in bed an extra hour (OK, sometimes even 2 hours *lol*) … Gah! What to do!

Not much else going on… The girls had their ballet/art classes last night… I had a killer headache (like usual), so Joe said he would take them… This is big, because he HATES sitting in there with the other moms, waiting for class to be done. *lol* Poor Joe! … I am thankful he did it, though now he says I owe him big. *lol*

Yesterday was the cat’s birthday too… Our little Buddy is a year old now. The kids gave him (and Cuddles, to be fair) some soft cat food as a birthday treat (they usually only eat hard cat food), and sang him Happy Birthday. While the kids were singing, he looked at them like they were all off their rockers, and tried to squirm out of Josh’s arms… But then he happily accepted the treat (once Jared blew out the birthday candle and removed it from the food… He was a bit scared of that candle *rofl*).

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for weight loss supplements… Something I really need to look into!

While our personal “birthday season” is winding down, it’s winding down with a vengence! There have been so many birthdays in the last few days! The 29th was my sisters and my friend, Talitha’s birthday. The 30th was Joe’s cousin’s son, Josh’s birthday. The 31st was Joe’s Uncle Larry’s birthday. Yesterday was Joe’s mom, Elvina’s birthday. And today is my Mom, Scott, Joe’s cousin, Carol and Joe’s Grandma Johnson’s birthday (and Jared’s is coming on the 10th). Sooo….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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Happy birthday to my brother, Rudy, and to our nephew, Shandon! I wish you both lots of love and well wishes for a great birthday and year!

We had a decent sort of weekend…

The Cougars; Josh, Marshall, and Jared

On Saturday the boys had their junior bowling league at Molalla Bowl… They bowled well, though Joe and I didn’t get to see much of their last game. Joe’s sister, DeeDee, and her husband, Bob, came to watch. They talked to us for the entire 3rd game, so we could watch the game. I had to keep tabs toward the end though, since I was the one writing the scores down at the end of each game.

I almost missed the scores for the 2nd game though, since I was a bit distracted… On the lane next to the one the boys were bowling on, was a group of older boys… They are 14+ and BIG. Well, this kid Dakota (who has been in the news recently), had a mishap… When he bowls he swings his arm back so high, that he almost hits the signs and screens above his head, from behind. It’s crazy!… Anyway, when he swung his arm back, his bowling ball went flying out behind him, and almost hit one of his team-mates. The kid that almost got hit is the kind of kid who has his iPod attached to his ears All. The. Time…. Anyway, he just sat there stunned and kept yelling, “DUDE! …  DUDE! … DUDE!” … Like I said, distracting!

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The Tillamook Cheese Factory

It was still wet when we got up, so we decided not to waste any time… We were ready to come home. *lol* So we had a quick breakfast and then Joe started to break camp while I cleaned the trailer one last time.

We didn’t go straight home though. We decided to go north a bit and hit the Tillamook Cheese Factory (pictures/website)… Out of all the kids, Jared was the only one that had been there before, but that was when he was 16 months old (I was pregnant with Josh), and it’s not like he could remember it. *lol*

The place sure was crowded! I think Joe almost regretted going, but then he remembered the cheese samples (he loves cheese!) and the Tillamook ice cream and decided it was worth it.

The kids were very interested in seeing how the cheese was made, so we stayed up there for a while, watching the people work… But Alicia (who also LOVES cheese) was getting anxious to get to the cheese samples, and was begging us to go back downstairs. *lol*

Getting some cheese samples...

We headed straight to the sample line, and got our cheese, and then after visiting the gift shop, we went to get some ice cream. Tillamook ice cream is sooooooo good! … The kids were tickled to have so many flavors to choose from. I got cookies and cream, Joe got bubblegum, Jared got some kind of French chocolate, Josh got cookies and cream, Alicia got caramel butter cream, and Amanda got blackberry… Amanda never finishes her ice cream cones, and I think Joe was eyeing that blackberry ice cream… But she shocked us all by actually finishing it. (She loved that ice cream)

"Yay! I finished it!"

She sure has been eating a LOT this last week. I can’t decide if she’s going through a growth spurt, or if we’re making her extra hungry with all the running around and sight seeing we’ve been doing. *lol*

After we finished our ice cream Alicia wanted another cheese sample, so Joe and the kids went through the line again, and then we left.

On the way to the cheese factory the kids had been watching movies. Well, as we got closer to Tillamook the road started getting very windy, and Jared started feeling a little car sick. We told him to stop watching the movie and had him open his window (which helped). Well, as soon as Jared got to open his window, Amanda said that she was sick. We knew she was just saying it to get her window down too, so we rolled it down and just let it go.

Well, after we left the factory (and had gone a ways), Amanda once again started saying she was car sick. Both Joe and I figured she was faking it so that she could get her window down… She always wants to roll her window down, but when you’re driving on the highway it makes your ears hurt, so we ignored her.

That was a mistake.

The next thing we knew she threw up all over herself. *sigh* Poor Pixie!

Joe pulled over and I went back to the trailer to get her some clean clothes and the wipes and paper towels. Joe and I got her cleaned up and changed, then I gave her some water to drink… Then we told her NO MORE MOVIES ON WINDY ROADS! *lol*

Oh, and she got her window open too… We ALL opened our window, because it STUNK!

She sure seemed to feel better after that. She started singing and goofing off, and was back to her normal giggly self.

When we got to Woodburn we had lunch at Taco Bell, and then Joe ran into Wal*Mart to buy some groceries to get us through the rest of the week. I stayed in the Durango to keep an eye on the trailer (Joe didn’t trust that neighborhood), plus I still needed to finish my lunch (Joe inhaled his at lightning speed *lol*).

We were sure glad to get home. It was an awesome vacation, but it’ll be nice to sleep in our own beds and it will really be nice to be able to shower whenever I want to and be guaranteed a hot shower!

I had to use the restroom, so the first thing I did was to go in our bathroom, where Buddy was… Oh my word, he grew so much in one week! He’s a little taller, and a whole let heavier!… I gave both him and Cuddles the same about of food and he ate twice as much (at least) as she did (and she’s twice as big as him!)… I also noticed that he had scratched some fur off the top of both his ears… Do you think that was an anxiety thing with us being gone so long?

Both of the cats were VERY happy to see us. Cuddles cries every time Jared leaves her sight, and I don’t think Buddy has stopped purring since we got home. *lol*

Just two more days and we’ll be heading out on our vacation… We’ll be hooking up the trailer and heading out early Saturday morning. Can’t wait! … We’ll be gone until the following Saturday (though I probably won’t get a chance to blog until Sunday the 7th, because I’ll want to get the pictures onto Flickr before I post).

I was hoping that Joe would get the trailer brought down to the house by Wednesday, but he didn’t get it here until this evening (it’s been a LONG week for him, work wise). So tomorrow is going to be a busy day… Since it’s the first time we’ll take the trailer out this year, I have to clean the entire inside. Plus I need to get all the laundry washed, get our bags packed, and get the trailer packed… Joe wants to have the Durago hooked up to the trailer and everything ready so we can leave as soon as we can on Saturday.

Soooo… I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to post before we leave, but you can watch my sidebar —-> for twitter updates, as I’ll probably be able to at least post on there before shutting down the computer.

Just pray that the kids are feeling better, so they won’t be sick on vacation… All four of them have colds, and the boys both had a fever today. I gave them some Tylenol, and they both seem to be feeling better now… We’re making sure to bring both Tylenol and Pediacare with us on the trip.

Since we can’t trust Buddy in the house, he has to spend the week in our bathroom… But don’t worry, our bathroom is pretty big… This will be the longest time we’ve left Cuddles (and Buddy), and I was hoping that they would be able to keep each other company… But the way that they’ve been acting with each other lately, it’s probably best that they are separated. They’ve been fighting again, and Buddy chases poor Cuddles through the house, while Cuddles hisses and growls like crazy. All Buddy wants to do is play with her, but Cuddles won’t let him near her. *lol* … I have to admit that it’s funny to see her running from a cat that is half her size.

Joe’s sister, Debbie, is going to stop by and check on the cats… Though as skittish as Cuddles is, she’ll probably hide the entire time that Debbie is here. *lol*

Well, if I don’t get a chance to post before we leave, I hope everyone has an awesome week!… I’ll be taking the laptop with me and I draft up a post for each day’s activities, and will post them when the pictures are posted.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Why is it that I don’t seem to be in the mood to post every day anymore? … Why am I getting so lazy? *sigh* … Guess it’s time to play catch-up… AGAIN! … Get ready for the most BORING post ever! *lol*

We took the kids to the pool again on Thursday… It’s becoming a Thursday “thing”, though we won’t be able to go this coming Thursday, because they are having a pizza party/dinner thing at Joe’s work (They do this once every few months if there hasn’t been any accidents)… Joe is not about to miss out on free food, so he will be staying there for that. *lol*

Anyway, Scott, Debbie, and the kids came again, and the kids exhausted themselves, playing hard with Jamie and Jacob… Though one of the pastimes that the twins and the boys enjoyed was seeing how long they could hold their breath under water… I put a stop to that because it scared me to see them under so long! I think they were a bit annoyed (not that they would say anything, but they did seem disappointed that they had to stop).

Debbie told Joe’s parents (well, they are her parents too *lol*) about us taking the kids swimming, and now Joe’s dad wants to come watch them swim… Funny thing is, they don’t actually swim, just play in the water. But if they want to come, then why not?

On Friday, after Joe came home from work, we went to Oregon City and met Joe’s parents at Pizza Hut for dinner. They had been gone on Mother’s Day, and we had a gift for Elvina… Anyway, we had a nice evening with them… After dinner they took the kids to their house and Joe and I went to K-Mart. We went there to get one thing… Hair color… and ended up spending a little over $100. Crazy! (But we did buy a couple Christmas presents for Amanda and Alicia, so that’ll be a help this fall ) … We spent the rest of the evening at Jim and Elvina’s house, while Joe helped Jim put a new tail-gate on his truck, and Joe also mowed their front lawn.

Yesterday was a bit of a busy day as well…

First off, Buddy had his appointment with the vet to get neutered. He had to be at the vet sometime between 8 and 9 am, so Joe requested to be off work by 8. He took Buddy (in his kennel) to work with him at 4 am (he left Buddy in the Durango, which can be seen at all times from the gas station), and then took Buddy straight to the vet in Woodburn when he got off.

In the mean time, the kids and I spent the morning cleaning the house, and then at 11-ish Joe’s sister, DeeDee, stopped by to color my hair, and to give me and the kids hair cuts. (I’ll give Joe one this morning sometime.)

While we did that, Joe took advantage of the sunshine and got the lawn mowed, weeded the garden, changed the oil in the Durango, and he and the kids washed the Durango as well… He got a LOT done in a few short hours, and you should have seen how FILTHY he was when he came in! *lol*… Not to mention TIRED.

But… No rest for the weary… We still had to go get Buddy.

We picked him up at 4 pm, had dinner at Shari’s, and then did our grocery shopping at Wal*Mart.

Amanda sure likes to be the center of attention. You should see her! No matter where we go, she always has to talk to SOMEONE. She’ll tell them her name, she’ll inform them that she has a loose tooth, she’ll ask them if they like her shirt, ANYTHING to get the attention on her. *lol* (So much like her Daddy!) She wouldn’t leave the waitress at Shari’s alone… Though the waitress did seem to enjoy it, and was quite animated right back at Amanda.

Joe’s sister, Debbie, gave me a challenge…

Her kids had gotten their spring pictures taken at school, and Jamie’s came back with a glare on one of the lenses on her glasses. They don’t do re-takes on the spring pictures, and Debbie hadn’t bought the fall ones, because she usually likes the spring ones better.

Anyway, she knows that I know a few tricks in Photoshop Elements, and so she asked me if I could scan the picture and remove the glare. I wasn’t sure if I could, but I got to work on it anyway, and was quite pleased with the outcome! (I did find a tutorial on it, but I couldn’t figure the tutorial out, so I had to wing it. *lol*)

What do you think?

Oh… I almost forgot…

A few weeks ago someone found my blog via a Google search of Volbrecht Nagel, who was my great grandfather. This person left me a link to this video:

This video features a song written by Volbrecht Nagel (the poster of the video is not a relative, and it was someone else entirely who sent me the link)… Anyway, someone (who turned out to be my Mom’s cousin, Pauline) had already commented on the video, saying that Volbrecht had written the song. So I (not knowing it was Pauline) replied to her comment, saying that Volbrecht was my great grandfather… Anyway, then someone else entirely saw my comment and sent me another link, this one to a pdf file that is a Sunday School lesson about Volbrecht!

How cool is that?! … They have some of the names spelled wrong, but the entire lesson is really interesting… If you’re interested, you can find the lesson here, and the flashcards for the lesson here… I saved both of the pdf files on my computer, and printed them as well.

I also had a 4th cousin from the Evans side (my Dad’s paternal side) find me on ancestry.com, and she contacted me yesterday too. I am very excited about this! It’s cool to find new family members! I love getting to know new cousins, and it’s nice to get some gaps filled on the family tree… Usually it’s people from Joe’s side who find me, so it’s awesome that this time it’s someone from my side.

Alicia, our little toothless wonder!

On Thursday we took the kids back to the pool… While we were in route, we decided to call Debbie (Joe’s sister) and invite them to come join us, and they excepted (They live just a couple minutes from the aquatic center).

The kids were thrilled to have their cousins there to swim with, and all 6 of them had a great time… I don’t think they were ready to leave at 5 pm when all the kids started coming for their lessons.

It was nice for me too, because I got someone to talk to while Joe and the kids swam. *lol* Debbie and I sat on the bleachers and chatted while we watched them swim.

At 5 pm we bid them goodbye, and then buckled the kids into the Durango… We were all getting hungry, and trying to decided what to make for dinner. Both Joe and I decided that we would just eat out, because we hadn’t pulled anything out for dinner, and everyone was pretty hungry. We also decided just to grab something fast and take it home to eat it.

Now there isn’t much to choose from in Molalla, for fast food. You either have McDonald’s or Subway. Well, not a one of us wanted the golden arches, so Subway was decided and we headed over there… When we pulled into the parking lot, who should be there but Debbie and the kids! (Scott hadn’t come to the pool because he had still been at work when they left.) The kids all thought that was cool, and while I stayed in the car, they all went in with Joe to say hi to Jamie and Jacob while Joe got our dinner.

As you know, I spent the entire day on Friday painting Josh’s room, then I fell into bed exhausted by 9 pm…

Josh loves his wolf border!

On Saturday I got the wallpaper trim up in Josh’s room… I think it turned out pretty nice! I can tell that Josh loves it, if him kissing the wallpaper trim is any indication!

After Joe got home and I BBQd some chicken, potatoes, and corn-on-the-cobb for a late lunch, Joe and I got Josh’s furniture put back in his room. After the heavy stuff was in the room, Joe headed to the bed and his TV set, and Josh and I started getting his toys and things organized and put in his room… We only got around half of it done, because I was quickly getting out of the mood. *lol* … I convinced him that it would be a good time to settle in with a movie (by then it was around 8:30), and I ended up going to bed early on Saturday as well.

I woke up early on Mother’s Day, and turned on iTunes and vegged in front of an episode of “In Plain Sight” while waiting for the kids to wake up… Joe was at work, though he did send me a “Happy Mother’s Day” text.

After all the kids were awake, Josh and I got the rest of his things put away in his bedroom… I don’t have any pictures yet, because we haven’t had a chance to hang his pictures/posters yet… But as soon as we do (Joe always helps with that), I will be sure to take some and post them… I also need to make the valance for his window, and runners for the dresser and the bedstand we want to buy him (his old side table lost a leg *lol*).

Joe got off work at 8 am (he requested to get off early), and he went to Wal*Mart to pick up a few groceries (and a last minute Mother’s Day gift *lol*)… When we were last at Wal*Mart, I had pointed out a couple DVDs on the $5 rack that I wouldn’t mind having (Ever After and Aquamarine), so he picked those up along with Bedtime Stories for the kids to give me as a gift… I think he grabbed that one because he’s a big Adam Sandler fan. *lol* … But I did want to see that one too.

Debbie, Alicia, Amanda, and Jamie

At around noon we packed up the Durango and headed to Feyrer Park (a campground which is 5 miles from the house). We met Scott, Debbie, and the kids there for a Mother’s Day BBQ. We had a really nice time, just chatting and relaxing while the kids played to their hearts’ content.

You can tell that the kids are all growing up… It used to be that the 6 of them would spend a majority of their time on the playground equipment, but not anymore… Now only Alicia and Amanda are interested, while the boys and the twins would rather do things like volleyball… It’s kind of sad to see them leaving the joys of childhood behind… *sigh*

After a couple hours we put everything away in the SUVs and walked down to the Molalla River. We stayed there for a while, and let the kids play along the river bank, while we talked some more… We headed home at around 4:15.

There should be 5 candles. *lol*

Sunday was also Cuddles’ 5th birthday … It doesn’t seem possible that we’ve had her for almost 5 years now (we got her when she was 6 weeks old)! … As per tradition, we had to celebrate her birthday with a can of soft cat food and a singing of Happy Birthday. *lol* … The kids would be very upset if we forgot to celebrate her birthday… In fact, they had been telling her “Happy Birthday” all day long.

And yes, Buddy got a can of soft food too.

So far, Buddy hasn’t had anymore “spraying issues”, but we aren’t taking any chances. We’ve moved his “snip-snip” appointment from the 23rd to this coming Saturday… That will give us 2 weeks of observation before our vacation, to see if we’ve nipped the problem in the bud… Or he may be spending the week in the bathroom, which I really don’t want to do, but I will if we have to.

For now, he’s being watched All. The. Time… At all times one of the kids is on “Buddy Duty”, and if we’re all too busy to watch him, he goes in the kennel.

Here’s praying this ends soon!

In other (bad) news, we’re having troubles with the Durango… For a while now it’s been making some strange noises… Since we’ll be pulling the trailer quite a ways on our vacation, Joe wanted to get it looked at before we headed out, so last night he took it to a place in town. They messed around and told him it was his transmission. I guess where he took it don’t do transmissions or something, so they suggested a place in Sandy… When Joe went to leave Eriksons, the Durango started making a terrible noise… To make a long story short, the people from Canby had to have the Durango towed to their shop. *sigh*

What really sucks is that it’s going to cost $500 ALONE, just to have them take the transmission out and see what’s wrong. Plus we’ll have the cost of the repair on top of that. *sigh* … If our vacation wasn’t already reserved and paid for, we probably wouldn’t (shouldn’t) go… Mainly because the money for the car repair has to come out of our line of credit… It feels wrong to be going on vacation when we can’t afford to fix the car.

BUT… We haven’t had a “real” vacation since before the kids were born. We’ve gone on a lot of camping trips (4 days at the most, but usually just weekend trips), but this is the first time we’ll be gone for an entire week, and we had lots of things planned (which I will get into AFTER we come home, the internet being what it is)… The kids are REALLY looking forward to it, and we feel like we can’t cancel now… *sigh*

Pontiac Grand Am

Anyway, since our only vehicle got towed, Joe had to rent a car from Ericksons… I guess they were out of the $25 a night cheap cars, so Joe ended up with a red Pontiac Grand Am (for $35 a night)… When Joe got home the kids ran to the door to see what car Daddy had rented, and Amanda came back to me with a snicker in her voice…

“Daddy bought a girl’s car!”

Snicker

Most unaltered male cats will start spraying (marking their territory) at around 6 months, so vets recommend that you get them neutered at 4-6 months to prevent it.

Buddy is 3.5 months old. He’ll be 4 months old on the 19th, and already has an appointment to be neutered on the 23rd.

Tonight he sprayed in Josh’s room.

*sigh* … If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen to me.

Up until today he’s been very good about using the litter box, and he’s used it since… but now I feel like we can’t let him out of our sight until he’s neutered, because I DO NOT want him spraying anymore!!!

What scares me is that a week after he gets neutered, we’ll be gone for an entire week for vacation… What am I supposed to do about that?!

ETA @ 9:03 am 5/8/09

I was in Josh’s room, about ready to start painting when Buddy came in and did it again in the SAME SPOT… Now that I think about it, that’s where Cuddles hides every time we have company (the bed is usually there)… Do you think that Buddy is trying to claim it as his own?… Do you think putting some major carpet freshener on the floor there (not to mention new paint on the wall) would help?

I really don’t want to have to find a new home for Buddy (because I am really attached), but I can’t let this go on…

Have I been a slacker, or what?! … Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote a decent post. I honestly just haven’t been in the mood… But I don’t want to make a habit of that, because I am writing this blog for the kids, after all. (Hard to preserve memories when you don’t write them down!)

Let’s see… I last wrote on Wednesday morning, so I guess we’ll catch up from there.

We didn’t do much on Wednesday… The girls were happy to be un-grounded, and spent most of their time in their rooms, playing happily with each other… Alicia is trying hard to keep things picked up (so as not to get grounded again)… Amanda, not so much. *lol* (I guess her excuse is that she’s 5 and spoiled. )

On Thursday we took the kids back to the pool for some more swimming… We discovered that Thursday is a great day to go… The first time we went was on a Friday, and the pool was pretty packed. On Thursday we practically had the pool to ourselves. It was SO NICE. (Well, Joe and the kids had it almost to themselves, I didn’t swim.)

I don’t think they are learning much, swim-wise, but they are having lots of fun. They completely wear themselves out, and fall in bed exhausted in the evening. *lol* … While wearing their life jackets, the boys will “swim” all over the pool, getting lots of exercise with all the kicking and stuff (which makes me wish we could get over there more than once a week)… Alicia gets a lot of exercise too.

Alicia did give me a bit of a scare though. Joe and the boys were over in the deeper water (the boys had their life jackets on, and Amanda was on the steps). Alicia took her life jacket off to try out the kick board we brought. I was standing on the edge of the pool and told her to swim toward the wall, but instead she started going toward the deeper water (Alicia and the boys can stand up in the shallow end). I called to her to turn around and come back, and when she did the kick board came out from underneath her and started to float away. She started kicking her feet, trying to swim to the side of the pool, but her confidence gave out and she stopped. If she had kept on kicking, she could have actually swam to the side, but instead she stared to go under. I was about to jump in clothes and all, but then she remembered that she could just stand up, and she made it to the side in a couple seconds… It did scare both of us a bit though, and she was quick to put her life jacket back on, and she didn’t try that kick board again.

I’m thinking that we will try to get the kids into lessons this fall (with Joe’s vacations in the summer, and longer work hours, we can’t do it then)… I really want them to learn, and Joe and I are pretty much clueless as to how to teach them. *lol*

On Friday we took Buddy to the vet to get his second distemper shot. He goes back in on the 23rd to get his last one, his rabies shot, and to get neutered… I don’t think he’ll be too happy with us after THAT appointment. *lol*

After we left the vet we had some dinner at Arctic Circle, and then got some groceries from Wal*Mart… We also bought the paint for Josh’s room, and I’ll be starting his room by the end of the week. (I have to wait for Joe to get Josh’s bed and dresser out of the room. I’m not strong enough to move them. *lol* … Not to mention that the bed needs to be dismantled.)

On Saturday we went to Exodus Books to get some of the school books we need for next year. We got almost everything we need for Josh, Alicia, and Amanda… I need to get two things online for them, because Exodus was out of stock (the new math teacher book for Alicia, and the phonics workbook for Amanda).

We didn’t buy anything for Jared yet because we just might be able to sign him up for the online course at Bob Jones!!! *hoping, hoping, hoping* (If not, we get his stuff next payday.)

The kids were sure funny about getting next years’ school books… When they first heard that we were going there, they were all bummed and didn’t want to even think about school books… But once I started pulling out workbooks, they were all over their books, looking through them, and pretending to do school. *lol* They have a table in the back (and a couch and toys), and the kids had all the books spread out over the table. It sure was cute!… I wish I would have taken a picture with my phone. I didn’t even think of it. … Too focused on finding things in the new store (they’ve moved since we b0ught last years’ books).

When we were done there, we went to Value Village… The boys have been getting bigger pants, and I wanted to get them each a used pair for when they do “dirty work” outside with Joe, that way they won’t ruin their good jeans. We also got the girls some shorts for this summer.

Then we met Joe’s parents at Izzy’s Pizza for lunch… Jim and Elvina’s anniversary is tomorrow, and so we bought them lunch… It was Josh’s idea to go to Izzy’s. The kids love it there because it’s a buffet, and they can pick what they want to eat… it’s nicer now that the kids are older. Now the 3 older ones can fill their own plates, instead of me and Joe trying to balance 3 plates each. *lol* Josh and Alicia both happily got up to get their own seconds and all three of them also went and got their own deserts.

We also hit K-Mart, trying to find some jeans for Jared… Jared needs the slim ones (Josh wears regular), and Wal*Mart didn’t have any slims in stock in Jared’s size. I had wanted to buy 2 pairs, but they only had one in stock. so we bought that. I also found a Hannah Montana shorts set to put away for Amanda’s birthday. I got a bigger size so she can wear in next year too.

We didn’t do much yesterday… I put a roast in the crock pot and then we all just bummed and did our own thing for the rest of the day… It was nice!

OK… Guess you’re all caught up now! Catch ya on the flip side!