Johnsons' Journey

Just wanted to drop by and let ya’ll know that I won’t be around for the next week. Joe is on vacation as soon as he gets off work tomorrow (Friday), and as soon as he gets home, we’re heading out on a week long camping trip. We’ll be back on Friday the 27th, but it may be a day or two after that before I get a chance to blog… I’ll probably be writing up blog posts throughout the week, but I will want to post the pictures onto Flickr before blogging, and who knows how long that will take.

There hasn’t been too much going on around here… A whole lot of bowling is all! *lol* … But as of this afternoon, all the summer leagues are officially over. Last night was the last night for the Have-A-Ball league (The Johnson Boys came in 2nd place for the league!), and today was the last day for the kids summer free league… Jared was excited because he got to bowl against the Hartrampfs today, who pretty much make up the dream team of bowling.   Jared’s team beat them on all three games! … Of course, it’s because they have a higher handicap. The other team actually knocked down more pins, but our team was bowling above their averages, which brought the pin count higher because of their handicap score.

I spent a good portion of yesterday baking cookies for a couple birthdays, and for our camping trip. For the first time I made peanut butter chocolate chip (I used mini chocolate chips), and I think they turned out pretty yummy! … I also made a bunch of regular chocolate chip cookies.

You want to hear something funny though… I put a bunch of cookies in a ziplock bag, to take to the bowling alley for the employees. I gave the bag to Teri (one of the owners), and she took the bag home and didn’t share a single cookie! Next time I will have to give her a bag, and then put one on the counter for everyone else!

I am just about ready for school to start… We’re going to start on September 6th… I now have all the lesson plans done for all four kids, for the entire school year. The only thing left to do is to print out the lesson plans and get the kids’ binders ready for the year. But right now I am out of ink, so it’s going to have to wait until we’re home from vacation. Once we’re home, we’ll have one full week of vacation left, and then it’s time to hit the books.

I CAN NOT believe how fast the summer went by! *sigh*

Since it’s the beginning of yet ANOTHER week, I thought I’d  better check in with ya’ll … Though, other than a whole lot of bowling (what else would we be doing?! ), there isn’t much else going on.

We’ve been to the bowling alley every day from Wednesday through last night. The kids wanted to go last Tuesday too, but Joe was super tired and couldn’t talk himself into it… What are those kids going to do when school starts back up and we won’t be able to go even half as much as we do now? They are going to go through some serious bowling withdrawals! … But maybe then we can stay home and I can actually get some work done on some of my projects, instead of spending half my time at the bowling alley.

At the Wednesday’s “Have-A-Ball” league, Josh bowled yet another new high game! His high game is now 209! Amazing! He seems to bowl best at the Wednesday league, for some unknown reason.

On Saturday we finished paying for, and got, the new bowling balls from the Have-A-Ball league… We had wanted to do it on Friday, but the lanes were CRAZY BUSY, and Shawn (the owner) just didn’t have time to drill the balls. He said he would be in at 5:00 on Saturday, so we went in there, planning on having dinner there as well (we’re eating at the bowling alley WAY TOO MUCH).

The boys, including Joe, were SO EXCITED about getting their new balls… They are nothing fancy. Just plain balls, unlike the ones we bought the boys for Christmas, which are reactive (will curve, if you hook them right), these are just for straight bowling… But that didn’t stop them from being excited. *lol* … In fact, when we got there and were climbing out of the Durango, Jared says, “Getting a new bowling ball is more exciting than having a new baby!”

I beg to differ!

Bet he’ll change his mind once he grows up and becomes a Daddy himself.

Josh… being Josh… has named his balls. His reactive ball is called “Hulk”, because it’s the same colors as the Incredible Hulk. His new ball, which is green and black, is named, “Josh Johnson Jr”, because Josh’s name is on the box the ball came in.

Anyway, Joe… being Joe… had to name his ball too. His ball is patriotic colors, so he named it “Betsy”, after Betsy Ross… OMWord, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Joe this excited about getting something new. He was teasing me that I would have to sit in the back seat with the girls, because Betsy needed to be buckled into the front seat, next to him… Then, in the middle of the night, he was busy tooting in bed. I was getting annoyed, so I woke him up and told him that to either go to the bathroom, or at least aim his rear in the other direction. He just looks over at me and says, “You’re just jealous because I got a new bowling ball!”

I swear, 99% of the time he acts like one of the kids!

Amanda’s been bowling a little more than normal… Of course, when Shelby is there (Shawn, the owner’s daughter) she doesn’t want to bowl, because she would rather play with Shelby. But on both Saturday and Sunday she bowled her free games… In fact, on Saturday she ended up bowling 5 games, which she has never done before… She didn’t bowl on Friday though. She decided she wanted to color instead. She wanted to draw me something…

Amanda: “What’s your 2nd favorite animal, Mama?”
Mama: “A cougar.”
Amanda: “But I can’t draw a cougar.”
Mama: “Well, what can you draw?”
Amanda: “Butterflies!”
Mama: “Then that’s my favorite animal.”

So she drew me a picture of some butterflies.

The girls finally got their league shirts on Sunday. We paid for them in April, when the league first started, and Coach Mick ordered them from USBC right away… But MAN, are they slow! Alicia’s been rather impatiently waiting for them since then, and was SO EXCITED when they finally came… Just in time for our last summer league night next Sunday. *lol* … But at least they will have them for the fall league.

It’s weird to think that all the summer bowling leagues are just about over. There is only one more Sunday night “Some-R-Kids” league, two more of the Wednesday night “Have-A-Ball” leagues, and two more of the free kids league on Thursday… The fall league starts up again on September 18th.

Let’s see… What else is going on…

Oh, I know… Jared FINALLY lose another tooth. It had been almost 3 years since he lost his last one. This was tooth #9… So yes, he’s 12 1/2 years old and still has all his baby molars. *lol* … It came out faster than it probably should have… About a week ago it was barely loose. But then he accidentally wiggled it too hard. He heard a cracking sound, and his tooth was painfully much looser. Then, when he lost it, he was wiggling it and accidentally pushed it out, when he meant to push it down. He said it hurt, and it was bleeding a bit. Poor guy! … But at least it’s out!

Our newest kitten, CeeCee is SUCH a baby! … You know how some babies like to be walked, and the moment you sit down, they start to cry, and you have to get up and walk until you feel like your feet and arms are going to fall off? … Well, we never had that issue with any of our kids, but CeeCee is Just. Like. That… Seriously! She always wants to be held by whoever is standing. As soon as you sit down, she’s off and running to find someone else who’s standing/walking around. It is so funny! She will perch herself up over the shoulder, and stay there… As long as said person is upright and moving.

When we’re not at the bowling alley, I’ve been continuing to work on my heritage blog. I am currently working on typing out my Mom’s story she wrote, that is pretty long. I think it’s already over 7000 words long, and I still have some more to type out… I’ve also been googling places she mentions and getting pictures to go with it. Those pictures will go into the heritage book I am making.

Speaking of heritage books, the other day I sent an Email out to all the family on the Andersen side, asking if people would be willing to write some short stories about current families… But so far, no one has replied. I have no idea if anyone is willing to do it or not. *sigh* … Maybe they are just waiting to get it typed out, and then they will Email me?!?! … But it sure would be nice if they sent something that said they would get back to me, or that they would rather not… Whatever…. It just would be nice to know one way or the other.

I’ve also been working on lesson plans… The school year is sneaking up on us fast! … I now have the entire years lessons done for Josh, Alicia, and Amanda. I still have to finish Jared’s. I am about half way done… Then, all I will have to do to get ready for school is to get their binders ready to go, and print out the lesson plans… Need to buy ink for that first though.

Well… I suppose I’ve bored you long enough! See ya on the flip side!

I can’t believe it’s August already! … This is our last month of summer vacation. … The summer just FLEW by, faster than they normally do. Probably because we were busier this summer, than we normally are. I will be so sad to see the summer turn into a wet, Oregon fall, filled with school work and rain. *lol*

I measured and weighed the kids yesterday. I try to do it a couple times a year, but it seems I haven’t done it since last December. Ooops! … But I also noticed that I had done it last August too, almost to the day. So it was fun to be able to see exactly what they’ve grown in the last year.

Jared is now 4 ‘ 10.5″ and weighs 70.4 lbs. In the last year he has gained 3.25 inches and 8.6 pounds.
Josh is now 4′ 9.5″ and weighs 82.8 lbs. In the last year he has gained 2.5 inches and 11.2 pounds.
Alicia is now 4′ 7″ and weighs 70 lbs. In the last year she has gained 3 inches and 12 pounds.
Amanda is now 3′ 10″ and weighs 38.8 lbs. In the last year she has gained 2 inches and 2.6 pounds.

Jared is now only 1 1/2 inches shorter than I am, and is LOVING the fact that he is almost as tall as I am. Of course, he also loves the fact that he is a full inch taller than Josh, for a change… But Josh wasn’t impressed with that. He wants to be taller than Jared. (At least he still outweighs Jared by a good 12 pounds! )

On Saturday, I planned on doing some work in the classroom. I was hoping to get some work done in there, and then asking Joe if we could hit Kmart in the evening… So I got a lazy start to my morning, and didn’t really start my morning chores until 10:30, figuring I had lots of time.

Not so much.

Joe calls me from work at 11 o’clock, saying that his sister had invited us over to their house for a BBQ at 2:00, and that after that we would be going bowling.

So much for my plans.

So I finished cleaning the kitchen, did my workout (45  minutes), and took a shower… At around 1:45 we left to go to the Mewings.

I was thinking that we would be eating at 2:00… But they wanted to watch some Brooks and Dunn special that they had recorded off TV. I usually eat lunch at 1:00, as my little bowl of instant oatmeal from breakfast is long gone by then. So I was pretty much starving when we got there, and Scott didn’t even start BBQing until 4 o’clock. *sigh* If I had known they were going to wait so long, I would have eaten lunch as soon as I was out of the shower.

By the time we got to the bowling alley, I pretty much just wanted to go home. I was tired, and my feet were complaining about the shoes. I was glad when it was time to come home. *lol*

We had to be up early on Sunday, so we could get to church on time. I’ve started getting the kids up at 7:30, instead of 8:00, and we’ve managed not to be late the last 3 weeks. Yay! *lol*

It was communion Sunday, and since we had already talked about the meaning behind communion, and Jared’s been born again since he was 5, Jared took his first communion. I was so proud! He is growing up to be such a wonderful young man, and it makes my heart happy that he’s made the decision to follow Christ. … After the service was over, we went up front and I took a couple pictures. They didn’t turn out the greatest, as both Jared and I felt weird doing it, but I am still glad that I got what I did. I needed a picture to commemorate the day.

After church, Joe took us to Pizza Hut, in Oregon City, for lunch. (Yum!) Then we went to Kmart, since we weren’t able to go on Saturday… I thought it was sweet that Joe would give up his Sunday afternoon, which is his only lazy day, so we could hit Kmart.

We needed to get the kids fall/winter clothes on layaway, and Alicia has been dying to go get her first training bra. *lol*

And boy, is she happy with those bras! … At first she went to look at the ones with the A cups, and I had to tell her that she is not ready for those yet. So I found her a 2-pack of simple, cotton training bras. I wasn’t to get another set, but it was the only one in her size, in every brand… Anyway, they sure make them a lot softer and more comfy looking than my first bra! … And thankfully, the set came with a white one and a pink one. She had really wanted a pink one! … We’ll have to look at Walmart this weekend and see if we can find her a couple more, since Kmart didn’t have anymore in stock.

By the time we got back to Molalla it was 3:30, but we didn’t have to be at the bowling alley (for the kids’ league) until 5 o’clock. Joe didn’t want to go all the way home (we live 7 miles outside of town), so we just stopped by the small park in town to kill some time. The girls played on the playground, and the boys tried to learn how to play with their hacky-sack… without much luck. *lol*

At around 4:30-ish we headed to the bowling alley… The league doesn’t start until 6:00, but we figured that the kids could bowl their two free games before the league started. Normally we get two lanes, but this time we had Alicia and the boys share one lane, just to drag things out a little. *lol*

By the time they were done with the league, Joe and I were more than ready to go home. *lol* … I was thankful that Joe works late on Mondays, and I knew I wouldn’t have to go anywhere!

As for Monday, besides doing some housework and laundry, I decided to get some work done in the classroom. I had finally bought some banker boxes, so I packed up last year’s work and put that in our closet. Then I got the new workbooks put away in the kids’ cubbies, and I also put all the 7th grade stuff on the shelf. I also got the 7th grade teacher binder ready to go.

All that’s left, to get ready for school, is to finish the lesson plans and get the kids’ binders done… I have ordered those from Walmart.com (as they never seem to have enough at Walmart when we go), so I will finish that as soon as they get here.

Joe ended up working late yesterday, and he was feeling too tired to drive, so he ended up crashing at his sister’s house, which is a LOT closer to his work than we are (he has about an hour commute, one way). I was teasing him about having a sleep-over with Gene, since his sister is spending the summer at the farm, working for the Toepfers. *lol* … Turns out that Joe didn’t get much sleep at all, and while he was glad that he didn’t have the extra driving, he would have gotten more sleep at home… So he’ll be home tonight.

Well… Guess that’s all… It’s been nice boring you, but I should run! … See ya on the flip side!

Quote of the Day:

Amanda: “Daddy, can you get me a baby sister, please?”
Daddy went pale after that… I think she almost gave him a heart attack!

It seems unreal that I have been blogging for 8 years now… EIGHT YEARS! … Amazing! Who would have thought back then, that I would still be going strong 8 years later. Though, I admit, I probably would have thought that I would be getting more visitors/comments than I do now. *lol* Funny thing is, most of my loyal readers from back in those days no longer blog/blog hop (and I’ve lost contact with most of them), but I always seem to pick up new readers along the way… Crystal, I think you are the only person who has been reading since day 1, and is still here… But you’re stuck, since you’re family.

I like to go back and read through old posts. It’s like watching the kids grow up again. You don’t know how thankful I am, that I have taken the time to journal for so many years. So many memories, saved forever. Things I would have forgotten.

My plan is to put all my journaling into book form, by way of Blurb. I am working on the first book… You can add up to 440 pages, and I am on page 328. This first book actually contains pre-blog journaling (which I have also added to my blog), dating (so far) from May 1992 to April 2000. I didn’t write as often back pre-blog, so I can fit more years into the book… Though, I would fit a LOT more if I stuck with just journaling. But, you know me! I have to add pictures too! They enhance the journaling, don’t you think?!

Speaking of Blurb books, I have another one in the works as well. It’s for my family, and my Mom’s side of the family. It’s called “Passage to India … and Beyond” … It’s a heritage book on my Mom’s side of the family. I am adding family lines, photos, and stories (etc) that I have collected over the years. It’s turning out really cool so far, if I do say so myself! … When it’s done, I will buy myself and my Mom a copy, and then let anyone else who wants a copy, buy one. (Sadly, I can’t afford to buy all the Andersen relatives a copy myself.)

Another thing I’ve been working on this week is lesson plans… Every year I wait until half way through August, and then PANIC, because I start running out of time. But this year will be different. No end of summer rush to get ready for the school year. *lol* … Our summer vacation goes through Labor Day, and we start school then.

I am almost done buying the things we need for the school year. I just need more ink and paper for the printer, and I need 3 more 3″ binders. I think I need a 2″ binder too, but I am not 100%. I can’t remember if I bought one with the rest of the school supplies or not. *lol* I will have to look tomorrow, when I do some work in the classroom… I finally bought some banker boxes, so I can pack up last year’s work and put the new workbooks into the kids’ school cubbies. That’s my Saturday project for this weekend.

Another thing I would like to do tomorrow, if we have time, is make a trip to Kmart… A few weeks back Alicia wore a shirt that was a little smaller than she normally does, and I noticed that we need to start thinking of getting her some training bras. I figured we still had a few more months, and I also thought that Alicia would not be impressed with having to wear one… But I was wrong! … When I told her, she got all excited. She wants a pink one! And she wants them NOW! … She’s been bugging us about it ever since, and is DYING to go to the store to buy some.

Who knew?!

We also need to buy the kids some fall/winter clothes… They’ve been wearing short this summer, so you don’t notice how much they grow… This morning, Amanda came out with a pair of jeans on. Now the last time she wore them, they fit perfect. She came to me, asking me to button them… But they wouldn’t even come close to buttoning, and were an inch or more too short. … I told her to put some shorts on… Time to move her up into size 6 clothes! (Just in time for her 7th birthday! *lol* … I can’t believe she’ll only be in size 6, when she’s 7 years old… She sure is tiny!)

We, of course, have spent a lot of time at the bowling alley this week… One thing is for sure, all this free bowling, thanks to kidsbowlfree.com, has been great practice for the boys! … On thier Sunday league, Jared got 5 strikes in a row, and ended up with a 199! It’s not his high game, which is 203, but it’s his high league game. We thought that come this Sunday, Jared would probably win the blockbuster award for highest-over-average game… That is, until Wednesday… When Josh bowled a 206 at the Have-A-Ball League!!!! TWO-OH-SIX!!!! … How awesome is that! It’s his highest game ever, and he even beat out Jared’s high by 3 pins! … That kid was on cloud 9, trust me.

We didn’t do too much else this week… Jared and Josh spent Wednesday night with the twins, and then the twins came here on Thursday night… Oh, and tonight Scott, Debbie, and the twins stopped by, after we all went bowling, because Joe was giving Scott some yard stuff… So we bought some ice cream and visited for a while.

Well… Not much else going on. Think I’ll run for now! See ya on the flip side!

I can’t believe how fast summer seems to be zooming by! … Those long, lazy days of summer have come to an end. We’re always so busy now… Mainly with the bowling alley, that it makes the days seem to go by faster. *sigh* … The next thing we know, it will be time for school to start up again.

Speaking of school, UPS brought the rest of Jared’s homeschool books yesterday. It looks like math, literature, and life science are going to be his tough classes this year. The other subjects seem like there are less lessons, which isn’t hurting Jared’s feelings… And the fact that there is one less subject isn’t bothering him either. *lol* … This year his subjects will be; Bible, Math, Literature, Writing and Grammar, Vocabulary, World Studies, and Life Science… Jared’s looking forward to the chapters on wildlife in his science book. Those are always his favorite.

Now that the rest of the books are here, I need to finish up the lesson plans for the year. I also need to write the letter to the school board, telling them of our intent to homeschool. You have to do that every year.

Last Sunday we had our picture taken at church… They have this board in the church, with pictures of everyone who attends. It’s like a church directory, only without addresses and phone numbers. *lol* … Anyway, one of the deacons, Lee Christopherson, took us back into one of the Sunday School rooms (which doesn’t seemed to be used… The congregation is much smaller than the church building *lol*) that has this background set up, for taking these pictures… Well anyway, when he was done I gave him my Email address and asked if he would Email me copies of the pictures he took. I wasn’t expecting too much, as his camera looked kind of sad… But I was hoping for better than we got… I don’t know if he resized the photos, or if his camera just doesn’t take them in larger resolution, but these are so small you wouldn’t even get a decent printing in a 4X6. *sigh* … Oh well… I looked so round anyway, that it pretty much ruined the picture anyway.

Did I mention that our dishwasher is on the fritz? It’s been broken for a little over a week now… It’s amazing how dependent you become on an appliance. *lol* … I’ve so not been enjoying having to wash the dishes by hand all the time. … We’re hoping to get Joe’s BIL, Gene, over sometime soon to look at it… Gene is the family handyman.

The kittens are still doing well… And are as cute as ever! … But CeeCee is still being whiney. … Even though she was almost 8 weeks old when we got her, I think she wasn’t ready to leave mama kitty yet. She still wants to nurse a lot… She’s learning that she isn’t going to get what she wants from us but, unfortunately, Tootsie is a very mellow kitty. When he’s laying down to get a snooze, CeeCee will go try to nurse on him… And he just lays there and lets her. We’ve tried pulling CeeCee away from Tootsie, but she cries so pitifully that we give in… I told the kids that it was like when they were toddlers and sucked their thumbs for comfort.

We, of course, did a lot of bowling this week … Well, they did. Amanda and I didn’t bowl. … Joe got off work early enough on Tuesday to go, which made the boys very happy. That morning Jared had come to me and told me that his hand was starting to act up, as he was going through bowling withdrawals. *lol* … Then Wednesday they bowled their two free games, and the Have-A-Ball league. Thursday was the kids free league, and today we went just to bowl their free games.

Jared’s been really doing well this week, most of his games being 150 to 194! … He was really going wild on Thursday, and ended up bowling EIGHT games! In a row! … And he probably would have kept on bowling, had Joe let him.

Joe and Alicia both have new high games this week… On Wednesday (during practice, not during the league) Joe bowled a 194 and Alicia bowled a 103… Alicia was flying HIGH with happiness, and Joe was pretty much in shock.

Lately, when we go to the bowling alley, the owners, Shawn and Teri, are both there and they bring their kids, Blake and Shelby… Amanda and Shelby just LOVE to play together, and call each other their best friend. It’s so cute, and they are adorable together. … Anyway, when we go there, we don’t see much of Amanda. As soon as we get there, those two are off and running (all the workers there know us well, and help watch over both the girls). Their favorite place to play is by the lockers, for some reason… Shelby was sure disappointed when we had to leave today. Poor sweetie!

I do know one thing… We’ve GOT to stop eating dinner at the bowling alley! We ate there on both Wednesday and today. *sigh* … If we keep eating there, and I keep getting hamburgers and jojos, then I won’t be losing weight very quickly. *sigh* I’m going to need a weight loss dietary supplement if we keep it up. … I’m down 53 lbs now, but I seem to be stuck here… I hope I lose another pound soon, so I don’t get discouraged!

We had to make sure to leave the bowling alley by 6:50-ish, because tonight Jared had his very first youth group outing at church… Well, it wasn’t really an outing, but you know what I mean. *lol* … Anyway, they had a Youth Group Movie Night. I don’t know what they are watching, but I do know that they will be having pizza and other snack items to munch on during the movie… They were allowed to bring a friend, so we invited Jamie and Jacob to go with him. They seemed pretty excited about it. … Since we live 7 miles out of town, Debbie offered to pick the kids up when it was over, and just take Jared home with them to spend the night. Jared LOVED that idea, because for the first time since he was a toddler, he will have both Jamie and Jacob all to himself.

Both Joe and Debbie were worried about Josh’s reaction to everything… Joe thought Josh would be upset about missing movie night, and even wanted to ask Boone (the youth pastor) if Josh could stay anyway. As for Debbie, she was worried that Josh would cry if Jared got to spend the night there, and he didn’t… But I held firm. I told them that Josh needed to learn that Jared, as the oldest, sometimes would get to do things he wasn’t old enough for yet (like getting his own cell phone)… I didn’t think it would be fair to Jared, if Josh got to do a youth group thing, when he wasn’t in the youth group… But there was no need to worry… Josh wasn’t upset at all. He did say it was weird to have Jared gone for the night, when he was home, but other than that, nothing… I knew that Josh would take it like a man. He’s a good kid!

One of our neighbors had told Joe that there was another park in Molalla, called Wilhoit Springs. So, after dropping Jared and the twins off at the church, we decided to drive out there really quick, to see what it was like… We had found it odd that no one seemed to know about this park… Well, now we know… It isn’t much of a park. … It was more like a semi-big field with a few trees and picnic tables. There was a path to the “springs”, but the springs weren’t much to speak off. Pretty small, actually. There wasn’t a playground, and the parking lot held a grand total of 3 cars.

It was pretty though, and would be a nice place to go take pictures of the kids. I got this really cute one of the girls that I just love.

Oh.. One more thing before I sign off for the night…

Alicia lost another tooth today! This is tooth #8… She has now officially lost more teeth than Josh, and the same amount as Jared. … Yes, Jared, who is 12 1/2 years old, has only lost his 8 front teeth. Josh has lost 7, though #8 is loose. (Amanda has lost 6.)

Alicia’s top teeth are coming in pretty crooked. I have a bad feeling that she will be ending up with braces, as they don’t look like they are going to straighten out on their own, like Jared’s did… I’m NOT looking forward to paying for those, especially since Josh may end up with them too. *sigh*

Well… I think I may go grab one of my 100 calorie bags of popcorn and watch an episode of Smallville… Catch ya’ll on the flip side!

I’m sorry I haven’t checked in sooner… I’ve been working on my heritage blog, and couldn’t pull myself away from that to post here on my real blog. … You know me… When I get lost in a project, I tend to lose sight of everything else. … But I told myself that I wasn’t allowed back there until I had posted here and caught up on my blog hopping.

The new kitten is doing great. … CeeCee has stolen my heart. She is just so cute and sweet, and she always comes and wants to snuggle with me. … Of course, she isn’t a lap cat. She’s a shoulder cat. *lol* Every time I pick her up, straight to my shoulder she goes. She either perches up there and looks around, or she snuggles in and takes a nap.

She is also the whiniest cat EVER. She meows over EVERY THING. You so much as shift her a centimeter, when you’re holding her, and she meows. She meows when she eats, plays, and even when she’s using the litter box. *lol* … There is a gospel singer called “CeCe Winans” … Well, we’ve taken to calling CeeCee, “CeeCee Whiners”.

She is also NOT the brightest color in the box… When you’re holding her and she decides that she is hungry, she will start rooting around your neck, like she is wanting to nurse. So I put her on the floor, so she can go eat… Only she just keeps crying and wanting up. I actually have to pick her up and take her to the food bowl, so she can eat. *lol* … I am beginning to think that CeeCee should stand for “Clueless Cassie”, instead of “Cotton Candy”.

It’s a good thing she’s sweet and adorable!

Last Sunday we spent the day cleaning and organizing our two sheds. It took us something like 5 hours, but they look great now! … We still have a big pile of things to go to the GoodWill, and a big pile of things to go to the dump, but other than that, that’s two more things checked off my summer worklist.

We’re still going to the bowling alley all the time. … The kids are going to go into bowling withdrawals when summer ends and they no longer get all the free bowling coupons from kidsbowlfree.com. *lol* … But all this practice is really helping their bowling skills! … This last week, Joe and both the boys have bowled new high games! … Last Wednesday, during their free games, Joe bowled a 177. Funny thing is, the game started out just awful, for the first  6 frames, and then on the last 4 frames he got SIX STRIKES IN A ROW!!! (He got 3 strikes in the last frame.) … If he had bowled better in the first 6 frames, his score would have been much better… I think he was in shock for the rest of the evening. It took a while for it to sink in.

Then, that same night, during the Have-A-Ball league, Josh bowled a 182! … Guess he didn’t like that Joe had beat his top score during practice, so he had to make sure to beat Daddy’s game.

The next day, while playing the free games (after the free summer kids’ league), Jared bowled a 203!!!!!!! … And it was almost a clean game too! … A clean game is where you don’t leave any pins standing (no open frames). If you get all strikes and spares, then they consider it a clean game… Well, he got strikes and spared on all 10 frames (more spares than strikes), but when he bowled his last ball, after the spare on the 10th frame, he only got 8 pins down. Scott says that it doesn’t count, and that it’s still considered a clean game… But there was 2 pins left standing… So I don’t know… *lol* … But a 203! How awesome is that?!

Oh… And last Sunday (the 11th), Josh and Alicia got their trophies for the Pro-Am game they bowled in June… Josh had bowled AWESOME that night, and got 2nd place for the kids 10 and under… As for Alicia, we’re a little confused… She actually didn’t bowl well at all. Her average (on the bumper league) was in the upper 70s, but she didn’t get to use bumpers during the tournament. So she was only bowling in the 40s, which was UNDER her average… I know she has a really high handicap, but that usually only helps if you bowl over your average (which Josh did… He bowled WELL over his average!)… Anyway, Alicia won 1st place for the 10 and under kids, and bumped Josh to 2nd place… It makes no sense. *lol* … I am happy for Alicia, but I think that Josh deserved the 1st place trophy… And Alicia thinks so too!

On Monday the boys got to go to the farm again… Their cousin, Leann, was going for the day and she came and picked them up and took them with her… Leann’s mom, Dorothy (Joe’s sister), is staying there for the summer, helping out with things around the farm… Dorothy is a teacher, and has summer vacation off work… Anyway, she is doing things like painting their house, and helping with the garden, etc… Jared and Josh helped in the garden some too, and that evening they all took a walk to the top of Black Tail (a big hill on the property). They also played some board games… They seemed to have a good time.

I am annoyed by one thing this week… Our dishwasher is acting up! … It only runs for a couple minutes, and then it stops. It stays on, and the heating element stays hot, but there is no water running… Josh had loaded it on Tuesday night, and when we opened it on Wednesday, we thought that Josh had forgotten to run it. So we turned it on again, and dirtied up more dishes when we ate breakfast… By Wednesday afternoon we had figured out that it was broken, and that I would have to wash everything by hand… By then there was 2 loads of dirty dishes! *sigh* … So after spending FOREVER washing all the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, I couldn’t convince myself to make dinner and mess the kitchen up again… So we ended up eating dinner at the bowling alley, before they bowed the Have-A-Ball league.

So… Until Gene (Joe’s BIL) has a chance to come out and look at the dishwasher, we’re having to do all the dishes by hand… And trust me, these kids go through a LOT of dishes!

We found out on Saturday that there was another cougar sighting in the neighborhood!!! That makes 3 in 10 months. *sigh* … I am beginning to wish we had a place in town, instead of out here in the boonies… No matter how much I like the quiet! … Anyway, this one was seen running along the tree line, out past the houses. Not too close, but close enough!

Now I have to keep Alicia and Amanda closer to home… They like to run around the neighborhood with their little friends, but now they have to stay in the yard. They are not liking that too much. But it’s better to be safe, than sorry… Especially since the kids love to play in the field… The tree line is just a few hundred feet from the field, with just a small fence between them.

Since I finally got a few assignments from PayU2Blog, I actually got $50 from them on Friday… So I transferred it to our checking account, and on Saturday Joe and I went to Walmart to buy some school supplies for this year… So, I now almost have everything we need for the school year… I need four 3-inch binders (to put the kids worksheets, lesson plans, tests, grades, etc in for the year), and they only had 1 in stock. So I still need 3 more of those. But we have everything else we need. … Now that I got the banker boxes, I can pack up last year’s workbooks, etc and get this year’s set up… I also need to finish up this year’s lesson plans… I have Josh’s done, and Jared’s 1/2 done.

When we went shopping, we left the kids at home with Jared. Joe and I went to the GoodWill first, and then stopped by Taco Bell for a late lunch/early dinner. It was nice having some time for just the two of us… … It sure is a lot cheaper to eat out with just the two of us, instead of paying for all 6 of us!

We found the coolest “art cart” at the GoodWill (a local thrift store) …. It was $20, which seemed like a good deal to me! …  We picked it up for Alicia, and now I have all her craft things all organized in the cart… She loves it! It’s perfect for her things.

On Sunday, Jared made another step in his journey to adult hood… He is now an official member of the youth group… Our church doesn’t have a separate junior high group and high school group, as there aren’t enough teens. So the youth group is 7th to 12th grade… Anyway, Jared has been telling me that Sunday School is getting boring, because he keeps hearing the same stories over and over, and since he will be in 7th grade in a couple months, I decided it was time he moved up… He wasn’t too impressed at first, but I think he was just scared about trying something new. Once class was over, he told me that it was fun and that he was sorry for being a baby about it.

The only thing Jared doesn’t like, is the fact that he’s the youngest and smallest one there… He’s the only 7th grader, and he is VERY small for his age… But Jared is mature for his age, so I think he’s going to fit right in. He just needs to do some growing, physically.

Anyway, the youth pastor, Boone Noble, gave Jared a binder. They are working on something called “Setting You Free to Make RIGHT CHOICES”. It’s a 7 week course, with daily lessons/devotionals. I guess they started in 2 weeks ago, so Jared has to catch up on the last couple weeks. Last night, without anyone even having to say anything, Jared brought his binder to the table and started working on it… He’s going to do 3 days every day this week, so he will be caught up by next Sunday.

I’m glad he’s enjoying the class already. … And Boone is a great youth leader… He’s going to be going to the seminary this fall, as he wants to be a Pastor someday.

This Friday he has his first official youth outing. … They are having a “Youth Movie Night” on Friday, at 7 pm… They can bring friends, so Jared is going to take Jacob and Jamie… I think that Jared likes that Josh and the girls are too young to go, especially now that he will miss out on the children’s day camps. (Of course, even Josh and the girls will miss the next one of those, since we will be camping that weekend.)

Well, I need to eat breakfast, do my workout, shower, and start laundry… So I will get to the blog hopping some time this afternoon.

Since we’re on Summer vacation, and now that the wedding album is complete, it’s time to get to some of those extra projects that I don’t really have time for during the school year. (I am not one of those super moms who can homeschool 4 kids, and do everything else too. )

The first project I tackled was the master bedroom and closet… While the rest of the house tends to stay picked up and tidy, our room always seems to become the “dumping grounds” for stuff we don’t know what to do with. … So (on Saturday, the 3rd) I completely cleaned and reorganized our rather large walk-in closet, and cleaned our room from top to bottom. I even managed to get Joe to clean the windows… They are thinner than they should be, and tend to get moldy. I can never seem to scrub them clean, so I get Joe to do them.

Anyway, it’s really nice to have our room back to tip-top shape… And I hope we can stick with NO MORE DUMPING. *lol*

My next room to tackle will be the laundry room… Today I worked in their for a while, but what it really needs is new paint. I am hoping to buy some next payday, and get that taken care of…

Another summer project, that I do every year, is homeschool lesson plans… Every year I tell myself that I will get them done early, and every year it’s half way through August before I even start, and then I am in a panic, trying to get 4 sets of lesson plans done before school starts. … But not this year! I have already started working on them… Luckily, for Josh and the girls, I just have to pull up an old set from that grade and change the dates, since we use the same curriculum. But with Jared, I always have to start from scratch.

The first subject I worked on (since I don’t have them all yet) is Math… We just got it in the mail, and when I opened it, Jared about had a heart attack… The 7th grade math text book is about twice as thick as the 6th grade one! Each lesson has around 50 questions on it! … Yikes!… Math is one subject that Jared really doesn’t care for, and he IS NOT looking forward to that book!

When I showed it to Josh, and told him that he would someday be using it, he said, “Can I go back to kindergarten?!”

Summer seems to have FINALLY arrived in Molalla! … In fact, we’re going through our first heat wave. … It even got up to 93 yesterday… And no, I am NOT compaining! I am so happy to see the sunshine, that I don’t care about the heat. *lol*

While I admit that our house is nice and cool, I have been out in it too, and I promise that I didn’t complain about it being hot. I just enjoyed it.

Speaking of air conditioning… We have central air in our house. Mostly I like it, but what I don’t like is the location of the vent in the classroom… There is only one place in the classroom that my desk will fit into, thanks to the air hockey table… And the heater/air conditioning vent is right where my feet go… Now in the winter, when the heater is running, I LOVE IT… I tend to get cold easy, and I love having the heater right there, keeping my tootsies warm. … But I DO NOT LIKE having the AC right at my feet… Half the time it’s in the 90s outside, and I am FREEZING inside, thanks to that vent. I keep it at 75-76 degrees, so that it’s comfortable in the rest of the house, but it’s just too darn cold at my desk. *lol* … So here I sit, with the temps in the 90s, snuggled under a blanket at my desk. *lol* (Oh well, at least everyone else in the house is comfortable )

Jared and Josh are gone right now… They are spending Wednesday through Saturday with Jamie and Jacob… They usually spend Wednesday night over there, so that they can go to the free kids summer league on Thursdays (Joe doesn’t get off work in time to take them)… Well, tonight the girls are having a slumber party, and the boys didn’t want to be here, so we made plans for them to spend the night with them tonight too… Well, Josh didn’t think there would be any use coming home on Thursday, just to go back over on Friday. *lol* … So, since Debbie didn’t mind, they made plans to spend all three nights, much to the delight of Jamie and Jacob.

I sure miss them, but I know that they are having a good time.

We did get to see the boys on Thursday though! … We wanted to go into town on Thursday… Joe wanted to take his 3 girls out to dinner, and we wanted to let the girls each pick out a movie to rent for their slumber party… The best place in town to eat is the bowling alley, so we went there for dinner and to let Alicia bowl (she really, really wanted to bowl her free games).

Anyway, when we got there, the league was just finishing up. So we got to see the boys! Yay! … I went to give them a kiss on their heads, and was a bit grossed out by how sweaty poor Josh was. *lol* … There is no AC at the bowling alley. While I was OK, the boys were bowling, which made them even hotter. Poor kids!

Josh bowled a new high during his league! He got a 174!!!

I have to tell you that it was REALLY STRANGE to go order food for the girls and us, and not for the boys! We felt so bad about it, we asked if they at least wanted french fries, but they had eaten before they came and weren’t hungry.

Today is the day that Alicia and Amanda have been waiting for, for a few weeks now… The day of their very first slumber party! … We have 5 little guests confirmed, and they should be here between 4 and 5 o’clock…. They day is going by quite slowly for the girls!

We spent the morning getting ready for it… Getting the house all cleaned, etc… Now they just wait.

Buddy and Tootsie are friends and playmates now. … Cuddles still stands alone and won’t have anything to do with any other feline in the house, so it’s really nice to see Buddy and Tootsie playing.

We also have one LAST addition to the family… One more stray kitten has been rescued from the streets… Amanda told Daddy that she didn’t have her own kitty, like her brothers and sister do, and that she really, really wanted her own kitty… So Joe gave in… He never can say no to his girls.

So let me introduce you to Cotton Candy… Doesn’t she look like a big fluff of cotton candy??? … Anyway, we call her “CeeCee” for short.

And yes, CeeCee makes FOUR!

I CAN NOT believe we have four cats! … It’s a good thing we’ve run out of kids to sucker Daddy into saying yes! If we get anymore cats, people are going to start calling us those “crazy cat people”.

So now… Cuddles is Jared’s cat, Buddy is Josh’s cat, Tootsie is Alicia’s cat, and CeeCee is Amanda’s cat. (Though Amanda usually calls her Cotton Candy, instead of CeeCee like the rest of us.)

Cuddles and Buddy haven’t given CeeCee so much as a second glance. I guess they figure, “What’s one more of the little rugrats?” … As for Tootsie, he is ONE HAPPY KITTY! … Another kitty to play with! They were instant friends… Though Tootsie tends to play harder than CeeCee likes, and she meows at him a lot… But I noticed that she meows a lot in general. She’s a cute little whiney thing. *lol*

She looks bigger and older than she is, because she is very fluffy. She’s 7 1/2 weeks old (while Tootsie is now 10 1/2 weeks old)… I am thinking that she had still been nursing, because she always climbs onto my shoulder and starts rooting around at my neck, under my hair… Which totally tickles and makes me laugh. *lol* She gives up after a minute, and then ends up perched on my shoulder, fast asleep.

Anyway, I told the girls NOT TO BEING ANYMORE KITTENS INTO THE HOUSE! I am sorry about the other stray kittens, but Daddy and I DON’T WANT ANYMORE! … They each have one now, so that’s more than enough!

Well, better go make the final preparations for the slumber party… It’s almost time!

(And look! Two posts in one week! I am on a roll!!!)

Man… It’s so depressing how much homeschool books cost! We’re about to go broke, buying Jared’s school books for 7th grade. I couldn’t believe the cost of some of those text books… Until the math one came in the mail. MAN, that thing is HUGE! Jared about had a heart attack when he saw it! *lol* (And every lesson has about 50 questions!)

Then, not only do we have to buy the curriculum, we have to buy all the other school supplies too. Mechanical pencils, paper, binders, crayons for the girls, rulers, etc… I need to find some kind of wholesale distributor that sells these things cheaper! *lol*

But you know what… It’s all worth it in the end.

Now that Jared is getting closer to high school, he’s going to have to start thinking of what he wants to do, career wise, once he finishes school. That way, we can do school work with his career choice in mind, and be able to pick the right college (or trade school, or whatever) for him to attend… Like, say he wanted to go to law school and become a lawyer, then he would have to get some LSAT prep… That sort of thing.

Right now Jared thinks he may want to work with animals… Not so much as a vet. He wants to work with wildlife, in some kind of reserve or something that protects wildlife… There is a wildlife reserve here in Molalla. It’s called “American Wildlife Foundation” … We haven’t been to it, but we want to (though I doubt it’s as nice as places like Wildlife Images, etc). Anyway, Jared is hoping that maybe he can find out if they have a volunteer program, and maybe he can volunteer there in a couple years…

Even though we have a pretty darn cool classroom, sometimes I imagine how much better it could be, if only we had a bigger room and more money. *lol* … I imagine computer desks (with computers) for all four kids, lots of book shelves with tons of books, and a big “L” shape desk for me… I’d sure be spending a lot of money at the office furniture store, if only I could have my dream homeschool classroom. *rofl*