Johnsons' Journey

Well… It looks like another week has come and gone. I seriously need to learn to blog more than once a week. *lol* When the kids were little, I was very good at blogging more often. I guess I am just getting lazy in my old age.

And yes, I know I need to do some blog hopping as well… All in good time, all in good time.

Josh FINALLY lost another tooth. It’s one that has been loose for over a year now. Yes, you heard that right, and no, I am not exagerating! The permanent tooth came in behind it in March of 2009, and he’s been baby-ing it ever since. I’m glad that it’s finally out, and now I can only hope that the new tooth moves forward some… Anyway, it came out last Thursday, on the 2nd.

The free bowling program from kidsbowlfree.com has come to an end, much to the kids’ sadness. Now there will be no more (almost) daily trips to the bowling alley. We told the kids that, during the school year, we would go on Friday nights, for them to practice. Then they have their kids’ league on Saturday, which starts up again on the 18th. Jared, Josh, and Alicia will also be doing a junior/adult league with Joe on Sunday evenings… Bowling 3 days a week is more than enough during the school year, don’t you think? … Of course, the boys don’t entirely agree with us.

Speaking of bowling, Jared had an AWESOME game on Monday. He bowled his first “clean game” … Which means that he didn’t leave any pins standing, getting all strikes and spares, and came out with a score of 245!!! … TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE!!! … How awesome is that?!?! … Unfortunately, Joe and the boys had gone alone, so I didn’t get to see it. *sigh* He always seems to bowl his best when I am not there to watch.

I wonder how long it will be before he can top that high game! *lol*

One of the things I wanted to get done this summer was to paint Alicia’s bedroom, and we finally got around to doing it this last weekend… Nothing like waiting until the last moment, huh?

On Thursday we emptied Alicia’s bedroom, piling all her furniture, etc into the living room. We were going to prep the room on Friday, but we ended up being out too late, so we got to it early on Saturday. It only took us 3 hours to paint the room, after which we cleaned up and went to the bowling alley… That night, right before heading to bed, I went to check on the room, to see if the paint was dry. That’s when I noticed that the blue didn’t all match. We had opened up a second can of paint, and used it for part of the room, and it was a slightly different shade… Actually, the green did the same thing to us, but we decided not to stress about the green, as the obvious parts would be hidden by furniture… So, on Sunday, as soon as Joe came home from work, we hauled all the paint back out and put another coat of the blue paint on the top. It was a royal pain in the other side of my lap, but it’s worth it, as it looks much better now.

That evening, after the paint dried, we got the trim up and then moved the furniture back in. By this point we were all too tired to do anything else, so I finished up Alicia’s room on Monday afternoon… Well, almost finished up. There are still some pictures to hang, and I need to sew up the valance for the window. I will get pictures of the completed room as soon as those two things are done.

Amanda kept coming into the room while we were working and going on and on about how she wished she had done horses in her room too. I’m like, “Oh no! We already did your room in Hannah Montana, and it’s going to be a LONG time before I redo your room!” *lol* … Stinker!

Anyway, Alicia loves her room, and she loves how I set it up. She kept going on about how pretty it was, and how I was so good at decorating. *lol* … I’m not really, they just impress easily.

We started our 2010/2011 school year yesterday… And MAN, did I get some grief about that on facebook! People just couldn’t believe that I would make the kids do school on Labor Day, which is a national holiday. … We have always started school on Labor Day. When I make up the lesson plans for the year, the OCD part of me HAS to have Monday-Friday weeks. I just CAN NOT do a four day week! It would mess up the flow of things, and I can’t have that! … And you know what, it has never bothered the kids one bit… It’s not like they never get time off school. Heck, they just got off a FOUR MONTH summer vacation! *lol*

So I guess I am now known as the cruel mom who makes her kids do school on Labor Day. *rofl*

Anyway, the day went smoothly enough, considering that there are four of them in school full time now. (I can’t believe my baby is in 1st grade! ) … Though, MAN, Jared has some hard school work this year! He’s in 7th grade now, and some of the questions they ask are tough! Especially in his Life Science book. School work was never that hard when I was in 7th grade. Trust me!

A few weeks ago, my friend, Annika, said that she would like to see an updated version of one of my “Day in the Life” posts, since it’s been 5 years since my last one… So, one day soon, I will be working on that, so you can sort of see what it’s like to be a homeschooling family of 6.

One realization hit me today, and that was I am going to have to learn to blog in the evenings again. I now have no more time for morning blogging, or anything else for me, for that matter. *lol* … After this weekend, there won’t even be any sleeping in until Thanksgiving vacation. *sigh* … We have to get up early on Monday-Fridays for school. Then, starting on the 18th, we have to get up early on Saturdays, for the kids’ bowling league. Then, of course, there is church on Sunday.

So… For now on my blog posts will be written at night… At least until next summer.

So… Hmmm… Is there anything else going on? … I don’t think so! So I’ll catch ya on the flip 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

We got Josh’s room painted yesterday.

I had gotten it prepped the night before, so I was able to get in and get started right after breakfast (Joe was at work). I started painting at 9:30, and only stopped for lunch. Joe got home at around 4:30-ish (I think), and then he helped finish it up, though there wasn’t too much left to do… By 6 pm we had it finished and everything cleaned up.

And man, was I tired! *sigh*

I remember when I could paint a room 100% by myself, and not feel a bit tired or sore when I was done… Of course, that was when I was in my 20s, and not so… well… round as I am now.

‘Cause I sure was pooped last night.

I ended up in bed, sound asleep, by 9 pm. That’s practically unheard of from me. *lol*

Jared, Josh, and Alicia got their state test results back yesterday.

Overall, Jared got a 90% on his test, and is testing at the 9.7 grade level (he just finished 5th grade). On all the individual tests he scored in the 80s and 90s, but in Language Mechanics he only got a 55%… Looks like we need to focus on English next year, and get that grade up! … Funny thing is, while doing lessons he always says that math is the hardest, but his highest score was a 96%, which he got in Math Concepts.

Overall, Josh got a 96% on his test, and is testing at the 7.4 grade level (he just finished 3rd grade). His worst was Language Mechanics too (that’s not a good sign, is it?!), in which he only scored a 42% …. We seriously need some help in English! … And his highest was Vocabulary, which he scored a 99% in.

Overall, Alicia got a 99% on her test, and is testing at the 4.9 grade level(she just finished 1st grade). Her worst was Mathematics Computation (she doesn’t so much like math *lol*), in which she only got a 73%. In all the other tests she got 96% or higher. She got a 99% in both Comprehension and Language Expression. (She got a 98% in Language Mechanics, so at least she’s doing well in English. *lol*)

So, other than the boys’ Langauge Mechanics scores (which is probably more my fault than theirs), they are doing really well. They are all scoring 3-4 grade levels above their actual grade… I am so proud of them!

It appears that our kids are losing teeth left and right… Well, except for Jared. He hasn’t lost a tooth in ages! … Anyway, on Saturday (the 2nd) Alicia lost her 5th tooth… She finally lost a tooth on the top. *lol* … Remember back in ’06 (when we lived in Sandy) and Jared accidentally slammed the bathroom door in her face and the tooth died? The entire tooth has been a little dark ever since… Anyway, that’s the tooth that she lost. She now has a big gap on top, and she looks adorable! … She is also talking in a slight lisp because of it, and it’s beyond cute.

That tooth has been pretty loose for a while now, and I kept telling her that it needed to come out… Anyway, she was eating a bowl of cereal, and that’s what finally knocked the tooth out. *lol*

Then on Monday (the 4th), Amanda lost her 1st tooth.

My baby lost a tooth!

She is the only one of my kids who lost one before she turned 6 years old… Anyway, she had been wiggling that tooth a lot lately, but she didn’t mention it often, so I didn’t think about it often. Then on Monday she just came over to me all excited and said, “I pulled my tooth out!” … Leave it to Amanda to be the only one of my kids who didn’t shed a single tear over her first lost tooth. *lol*

After I took a few pictures with my camera, I took out my cell phone and took a couple pictures of her with that. Then I texted Joe a picture and wrote “Her 1st lost tooth” under it… He never replied to the text, so when he got home I asked him if he had gotten the picture I had sent to his phone. He told me that he did but that he couldn’t figure out why I had sent it… Turns out he thought the picture was of ALICIA, and the tooth she lost on Saturday… That picture didn’t look even remotely like Alicia. … How can he not tell his daughters apart, especially when they look so different?!

On another note, I was paying bills yesterday, and working through our budget… I was hoping that we would have enough money to be able to sign Jared up with the online course at Bob Jones, but alas, we don’t. *sigh* I am totally bummed about it too! … You see, the catalog said that there was a payment plan, but when I looked online, it said that you had to be getting it for at least 2 students to be able to take advantage of the payment plan. *sigh* BUMMER!

I am determined that next year we will sign him up though. When we get our tax returns I will put enough money in savings to pay for it (and the other kids’ workbooks as well).

We’re getting Josh’s room ready to paint (and boy, does that room need it!). Yesterday we pulled everything out of his room, and it’s now all over the living room… It’s amazing how many things came out of that bedroom! *lol* … The kids were excited about helping take things out of there, but none of them were as excited as Josh. He’s been SO PATIENT, waiting for us to be able to do his room, and he is beyond happy that we are finally doing it.

As we were clearing things out of there, he was begging me to let him be the one that vacuumed his room. *lol* I was like, be my guest!

I am going to get his room prepped today… Tape the door frames, cover the floor, etc. Then tomorrow morning I will start painting. We’re hoping to have it finished by Saturday night.

Josh is going with a wolf theme. He picked out the coolest wolf wallpaper trim, and the bottom half of the room will be a dark green.. Almost a forest green, only it’s called “Adirondack Green”.

Yesterday I told Alicia that it was time to do her chores, which is to empty the dishwasher… When she does this, she always piles the dishes on the counter, and once the dishwasher is closed, then she puts the dishes away. So yesterday I could see a few crumbs from when the boys made sandwiches, so I told her to clean the counters before she emptied the dishwasher…

Well, she went on a cleaning spree. *lol* The next thing I knew, she not only had the counters cleaned, but she was cleaning the front of the cabinets and appliances, and she cleaned and organized the kids’ food cupboard. *lol*

I think a little bit of her Mommy is coming out in her.

I wish we could afford to finish our fence (and that Joe actually had time to work on it when the sun is shining… He’s currently working around 60 hours a week) … Because the other day Jared told us that someone had spray painted something on the back of our shed. Grrrr! … I have no idea what it’s supposed to say, and I sure am glad it’s not very noticable… But still! How rude! … Kids these days, they sure should have been brought up with more discipline!

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!

Today I feel Fine
Reading: “Love Takes Wing” by Janette Oke
It is currently sunny and 76º

Conversation of the Day: (from yesterday)

Jared: “Mommy! You didn’t even make your bed yet!”
Mommy: “That’s because I’m washing the sheets… What are you, the bed police?”
Jared: “Yes!”

We’ve had a pretty nice day around here today. Joe worked at Target today, and not Crinc, so he was home before 11 o’clock. After visiting for a few, he headed outdoors to start staining the patio cover… Some of the wood they bought was a darker color, so we wanted a dark stain so that everything would match… But we weren’t quite expecting it to be as dark as it is. *sighs* But I think it is lightening up a little as it dries, so I don’t think it’s going to be too bad. Joe got about 1/4 of the way done.

I got some paper scrapping done in the morning, then after taking a shower I worked on the newest quilt some. I now have it about a third of the way tied. I was hoping to get it done today, but Amanda (who had been outside with Joe) wanted to come in, and she needed a bath in a bad way. Then, after her bath I wanted to snuggle with her, and she ended up falling asleep. But instead of putting her to bed, I just let her sleep in my arms… So, needless to say, the quilt didn’t get done. BUT, I am determined to get it done tomorrow, as I want to mail it to my cousin on Friday.

I am almost done with my paper scrapping. I started my digital scrapbook pages with January 1st, as I already had everything through the end of December printed. Once December is done, then I’m going to pack all my scrapbooking things up and put them in storage. (I’m stuck on digital scrapbooking) I am now scrapped through December 14th, so only half a month more to go. I’m hoping to get it done before Amanda’s birthday party, so I can get my scrapbooking table out of the living room.

I got a bunch of digital scrapbook pages done last night. I think I added 12 new layouts. I am now caught up through the end of April!!! Slowly, but surely, I am getting caught up with my scrapbooking.

Did I tell you that Joe and I are officially Sunday School teachers? We were supposed to take over the 0 to 3 year old class next Summer when Grandma and Linda moved to South Dakota. But the teachers for the pre-primary class (4 through K) quit, and they asked us to take over. ACK!!! We did it for the first time last Sunday, and we were AWFUL! We need to seriously get organized! Next Sunday we will be better prepared, as we know more about what we’re supposed to be doing with the older kids. (Too bad Rudy and Crystal are gone, I could have used some help from them… They are born SS leaders!)

Now that we are taking over Josh’s class, he doesn’t want to be promoted at the end of this month. He’s not going to be happy to move out of the class. Both he and a girl named Megan will be moving out, and Alicia will be moving in… Our church is so small, that for the most part, we probably won’t have more than her in class.

Joe got his birthday present a little early… I wasn’t really planning on him getting it early, but it came UPS today while Joe was here, and they didn’t even disguise the box. So Joe was very happy when he answered the door! I got him a boom box from eBay. He’s been wanting another one, as his old one bit the dust. He likes to have music playing when he’s outside.

Well, I have some stuff to do on my site, so I’ll let you go for now! Have a great day!

Today I feel  Tired
Reading: “More Than a Dream” By Lauraine Snelling
and “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman
Today it was beautifully sunny, and in the low to mid 70’s

 First off, I’ve been tagged by Jenn, so let’s start with that:

1. Total number of films I own on DVD/video… Do I really have to go there?! I have to admit, that I have hundreds of videos and DVDs… Maybe more than 300. I can’t even count them all, because there are two or three boxes of them in the attic… And those 300+ don’t include what we’ve taped off TV. *sighs* We’re very naughty.

2. The last film I bought: “Father of the Bride – Part 2? (Off the $7.50 rack at Wal*Mart)

3. The last film I watched. “Lucky Seven”, which I borrowed from my SIL.

4. Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order)… Does this mean my favorites? Hmmm… I LOVE “Ever After”, and “Anne of Green Gables”. Also love “The Prince and Me”, “Kate and Leopold”, and “Half a Dozen Babies”… And so many more!

5. Tag 5 People… I don’t know if I can… How about Antonia, Tammy, Dani, Sue, and Mardell.

I’m very tired this evening. I think I’m going to hit the hay as soon as I’ve finished posting.

We all spent the day outside in the back yard today. The sun was too glorious not to be out in it. Joe and I got some serious yard work done, and now my lower back is aching… But things are beginning to look nice.

Joe started working on a brick patio that we want to make, so that we can have somewhere to put the kids pool, that won’t kill the grass. He got it lined out, and started pulling out the grass and stuff. It’s going to be a lot of work!

I got a LOT of weeding done, and we’ve started to add a brick border along the flower garden. We also thinned out the tiger lillies. They are beautiful, but they were getting VERY thick. We still have a lot, though I must have taken out about half of them. It was kind of sad to see them go, but I admit, it does look better.

The kids really enjoyed playing in the yard while we worked. The boys spent half the day playing “space travelers”. They were pretending that the swings were space ships, and they were going to Mars and Jupiter, etc. The faster the swings went, the faster their space ships were.

Alicia pretty much amused herself. She played with Amanda some, and played on the swing-set some. She played in the dirt a LOT! Very typical!

Amanda played in the playhouse quite a bit, then eventually made her way to where I was. She sat next to me, and “pulled” weeds too. It was so sweet. I kept giving her hugs, and kissing my little helper… A little later she gave me a heart attack, by climbing up the slide on the swing set… The slide mind you, not the steps leading up to the slide. When she got near the top, she got too scared to move. Silly girl!!!

Well, I think I’m off to catch me some Zzzzssss… Have a great one!

Today I feel  Content
Reading: “A Land to Call Home” By Lauraine Snelling
Today it was fair and and probably in the mid to upper 60s

Gene, LeRoy, Tim, Jared, and Joe worked hard all weekend, and got the cover over the patio!!! Yay!…. It’s still not 100% done. We need to stain it, and put some of that water repellent stuff on it. Plus, Gene is going to install an outdoor patio light, and an outdoor electrical outlet for us, and they are going to install gutters on it too…. But who cares, it’s lookin’ AWESOME! Wanna see some pictures????

Here is what it looked like on 7/14/2003, when we first came up with the plan and came up with the dimensions for it:

Here it is on 5/9/2004, when Joe had it ready to pour the concrete:

We poured the concrete on 6/26/2004:

This is the “Before” picture from yesterday:

And here is the finished product this evening: (The ground is slanted where I am standing, so that’s why it doesn’t look level in the picture.)

We are going to make a 6 to 12 inch bed around it, with decorative rocks. Then I would like to try and find 4 of those kits, where you can make your own stepping stone. I want to have each of the kids make one, with their hand print, and their names. I would like to buy a couple planter boxes to put in front (one on either side of the entry), and have some hanging baskets too.

We are going to borrow Joe’s parent’s pressure washer, and clean off the patio. Then we’ll put everything back on. We’ll have the BBQ, the fire-pit, the picnic table, the kid’s playhouse and the kid’s picnic table on it. We need to clean everything before it goes on too…. It’s going to be AWESOME!

Oh…. Antonia mentioned wanting to see a new page I had in the works, when I finished it…. The thing is, I am finished with it, and have been. Silly me thought that I had already posted about it, but when I went back and checked, I could see that I had a brain freeze or something. Anyway, it’s called “A Day in the Life of the Johnson Family” (I’ve had it done since the 14th… YIKES!) Anyway, it shows you what our typical days are like around here… For those of you who wonder what it would be like to be a homeschooling Mommy of 4. So, if you have the passwords, you can visit the page here.

And another thing I forgot to do… While we were all sick, I took a picture of Amanda, and made a recording of her “I’m miserable” cry. I meant to add them here, and I forgot all about it… Anyway the picture was taken on Friday the 11th, when Amanda’s fever was so high, that all she did was sleep for most of the day. She was too miserable to even cry. I made the sound clip on Sunday the 13th. She was still miserable, but feeling better enough that she could cry about it. But it wasn’t a normal cry. It was a whiney, I feel awful sort of a cry… I am hoping that it comes up. It was acting funny when I was loading it onto my site. Please let me know if it doesn’t come up for you, and I will try again. Anyway, hear her sad little cry here: :: 2005-02-13-Sound01-AmandaCries ::

I didn’t get much scrappin’ done over the weekend, like I planned. I was much to interested in watching the patio come together, that I couldn’t really concentrate. Plus, after lunch on Saturday (I made the guys homemade beef enchiladas) I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies for the guys. Gotta keep the workers happy!! *grins*

Not much else going on… I need to get to bed, so I should go. I am going to try and get up at 6:00 in the morning. Since I am feeling better, I want to get back into working out every morning. Let’s just hope I wake up. Either that, or I will have to do it after the kids have had breakfast, but that makes us late at starting school. I would rather get it done before they get up. Makes the day flow smoother… Anyway, have a great night!

Today I feel Better
Reading: “New Day Rising” By Lauraine Snelling
Today it was fair and windy, and had a high of 62º

Conversation of the day:

Daddy: “Jared, you just have to learn that when it comes to Mommy, you just have to shut your mouth.”
Jared: “Then why don’t you?”

The temperature actually got up to 62º today, but yet I was freezing for most of the day. Why is that? I had Joe’s fleece pull over on, my cozy slippers, and a quilt, and yet I couldn’t warm up. So weird…. And after Joe got off of work, he and our BIL, Gene, went to go buy the lumber and stuff we’ll need to build the cover over out patio. Afterwards Joe bought some pizza and invited Gene to stay for dinner. Joe decides that he wants us all to eat outside… I’m sitting there freezing my fanny off, and he wants me to eat outside in the wind?! No thanks! So Pixie and I stayed inside to eat, while Joe, Gene, and the other kids all ate out in the wind. Silly creatures!

Gene, his son LeRoy, and Joe are going to start the cover for the patio on Saturday. I can’t wait!!! Then on Monday Gene and Tim (A guy that Joe and Gene work with.) are coming over to do the roof part, while Joe’s at work. Tim has done roofing professionally, and is the one that helped Gene and Joe put the roof on our house a couple years ago… I guess Tim has plans on Saturday, so that’s why they are coming over on Monday. As soon as it’s up, and the wind stops blowing, I want to have a wiener roast!!!! (We have an outdoor fireplace thing.) I’ll post a picture of the finished product.

Amanda is saying a few new things. She can now say, “What’s that?”, “Kitty”, “Tummy”, “Two”….. I think it’s going to start being hard to keep up with the new things she is saying, because she is starting to repeat the things we say.

She is still climbing on everything. She can get up on the couch and chairs and things, but she still isn’t brave enough to get back down, so she gets stuck. Today, Jared and I were in the dining room doing his lessons, and I thought Amanda was in the boy’s room with the kids. (It had been very quiet in the living room for quite a while.) Then I heard her cough or something, so I went in to check on her. She had gotten on the couch, and gotten stuck up there. When I found her, she was fast asleep, leaning against the throw pillows. It was so very cute!

Her nap got interrupted today. Right before Joe and Gene left to go to Pizza Hut to get the pizzas, he told the kids that they were going to eat outside, and then told Alicia to get her shoes and socks on. I wasn’t even thinking. Before I knew it, Alicia had barged into the room to get her shoes, and Amanda woke up in tears. Poor little thing!!!

Alicia is funny when it comes to her brothers. When she is talking about them, she rarely uses their names. She calls them “those boys”… “I’m going to go play with those boys.”, “I am mad at those boys!”, “I am going to tell those boys it’s time to eat.”, “Can I sleep with those boys?”… It totally cracks me up. Sometimes she says it with such disdain in her voice! You gotta love her though, she is adorable!

She is so independent too. She refuses help when getting dressed, and likes to do things for herself. When Josh was her age, he tried his hardest to get other people to do things for him. She is a very bright little thing too, and I think she is going to excel in school, like Jared does. She is my little lovey-bunny! (Always call Josh my cuddle-bunny) Where Josh and Amanda like to cuddle and snuggle, it’s Alicia that doles out the hugs and kisses…. Jared, on the other hand, spends his time finding new ways to zing his Daddy! (That kid has more brains than we know what to do with! )

Got a couple more pages scrapped this evening. I thought about going back to it after I posted and did some blog hopping, but my book is calling my name. So, I will more than likely read instead. We shall see!

Today I feel  A bit on the queasy side
Reading: “The Far Side of the Loch” by Melissa Wiley
It rained today, and was in the low 50s

Since Jenn and Antonia expressed an interest in my sad old graphics, I thought I would blow the dust off them, and add them to my server… I didn’t do too much, and to be honest, they weren’t all that great either. But if you’re dying to see them, here they are… This is my VERY first attempt at anything in PSP. It’s terrible really, but hey, I was learning! So click here to check out my Noah’s Ark Set.

My second set was a baby girl page, and I used Alicia as my inspiration… Click here to see that page.

These are some of the sets that followed: Teddy Bear, Halloween, and Little Feather…

I then made my Winter/Christmas Collection and my Valentine’s Day set… For a couple of the graphics (The kids and the standing penguin) I used some rubber stamps as inspiration, but later found out that that was a no-no…. Drew them myself, and did all the coloring, but I did look at the stamps… So, even though I was proud of these, I don’t know if I can count them or not….

So, that is that…. Nothing too exciting, really.

On to other things….

We got the kid’s Hallmark Christmas ornaments today. We get them two every year (since they were born), and when they are grown, they will be able to take them with them. I choose them to fit with what’s going on with their lives… Well, Josh was so upset… Hallmark had a Spiderman one for Jared, a Disney Princess one for Alicia, and a Tinkerbell one for Amanda, but they didn’t have an Incredible Hulk. So Joe found a cheap (not to mention ugly!) one from Target, and picked it up for him. (The other kids didn’t seem to notice that Josh got 3 ornaments this year.)

Hmmm… What else is going on?….

OH! Yesterday Amanda said “up” for the first time. Now she comes crawling toward me and says “up!” when she wants me…. And I don’t think it will be too long before she is pulling herself up to standing. She will get up to her knees on the couch (or wherever) and then pull one knee up and have that foot on the ground. Her muscles are getting a little stronger every day, and I’m glad that we didn’t put her through the physical therapy, as I know she wouldn’t like strangers messing with her…. I sure wish Dr. Gyerko would have run tests on her though, so we would know what is causing the weakened muscles…. It’s hard when people imply that she’s not up to standards, and wonder out loud what’s wrong with her. Pixie is perfect, just the way she is!!!! So what if she’s a little late in her gross motor skills, she’s right on track everywhere else…. I just hate the thought of someone thinking she’s not good enough… Very defensive Mommy! *sighs* Don’t be messing with my baby girl!!!!

She really is the sweetest little girl. She’s so cuddly, and full of sunshine. She giggles and laughs and snuggles, and has us all wrapped around her little finger. Joe and I are always saying what a good baby she is, and wondering how she got so cute!!!!… She does have a wee bit of a temper though!

I think Josh is about to go on another growth spurt. I can’t keep that kid filled up! He’s ALWAYS hungry. The other day he ate TWO hamburgers!!!! Every last bite of them too. That and sloppy joes are his favorite. Oh, and French toast as well. Can you believe that in 2 1/2 weeks he’ll be 5 years old??????? I sure can’t! We’re going to get him a remote control truck for his birthday. He’s been wanting one for A LONG time. He’ll be thrilled, to say the least…. I already have his birthday page and 6th year pages for his site done. Just need to add the pictures when the time comes….

… When it comes to the boy’s pages I feel bad for them. The girls (mainly Amanda) get a lot of hits on their pages, where the boys don’t get many at all. Why is that? Is it because they are older? Because they are boys? For Josh’s 5th year page, that has been up for almost a year, he has only gotten 39 hits. While Jared’s 7th year, which has been up since last January, has only gotten 17 hits…. But Alicia’s 3rd year one got 104 hits, and her 4th year one (which as only been there a couple weeks, and doesn’t even have any pictures on it yet) has already gotten 13 hits. Amanda… Now she’s the one who’s popular (Being the baby, I suppose). Her 1st year pages got 325 hits, while her 2nd year pages (which have only been up for a couple months) have already gotten 66 hits!!!… Like I said, I feel sorry for the boys. But I keep working on their pages, as I’m really doing it for them as an ongoing album to remember everything. (I don’t have time to keep up their individual scrapbook albums like I wanted too, the webpages are MUCH faster!)

Oh, what to see the reason I didn’t post last night? I was playing in PSP:

This looks darker than it really is…. I made a large copy of it to print for our Halloween cards this year, and they printed really nice. For some reason, on this shrunk one, the bats (on the background) don’t really show up, but they do on the cards. And Jared doesn’t blend into the background on the printed pictures… I had to print them on my computer, and I was so worried that I would run out of ink before they were done. I have been getting a lot of low ink warnings, but I keep on printing, and it keeps on running. One of these days my picture is only going to be half printed, if I keep ignoring that warning!

The mask on Josh’s Hulk costume hurts his face a little, so on payday we are thinking about buying him one of these cheap, black Halloween wigs and some green face paint. That way he’ll be more comfortable all weekend. We’ll be taking them (and the twins, our niece and nephew) to the zoo on the 30th for the Halloween scavenger hunt, then to a Halloween get-together at Joe’s parent’s house. Then we have the Harvest party at church on the 31st…. It’s going to be a busy weekend!

About a year and a half ago (June 2003) Joe’s BIL Gene helped Joe put a new roof on the house. We had been having troubles with the rain leaking into the bathroom, from the ceiling. It was so bad, that there was a small hole in the bathroom ceiling…. It took Joe over a year before he even went to repair that hole, and he finally got it started this summer… Though he never has finished it. He got the new sheetrock patch up, and mudded/sanded it a couple times, but that’s how it’s been for a few months now….

…. Today I was using the bathroom, when I happened to glance up at it… THE DARN THING IS LEAKING AGAIN! IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT!! (Darn is NOT the word I want to be using) What is up with that? We put a new roof on, it shouldn’t be leaking already! Joe thinks it’s where the gas pipe goes into the house, but they took special care to do that extra good when they put the roof on…

… To say the least, Joe went to bed in a VERY bad mood. Not only do we have to try and fix the new leak, we have to deal with the new water, and the repair job he did do on the ceiling is probably ruined again. Makes me want to scream!!!! And who knows how long Joe’s going to be in a mood about it… He’s good at dragging these things out. Grrrrr…. Why do these things always happen to us? *sighs*

Once again, I am in the middle of the dreaded 2 week wait. My cycle is due to come on Tuesday, and it’s driving me crazy!!! I *think* I might be pregnant… I sort of feel pregnant… But then, I have *felt* pregnant before, and have not been, so who knows. But I have had a few symptoms over the last few days. I’ve been slightly nauseated today, and every once in a while my breasts get tender. I’ve been extra tired, and going to the bathroom more frequently. I’ve also been eating more than normal… Let’s hope that my weight doesn’t climb sky high! Have to curb the food intake….

… OH! I hope I am pregnant!!!!!! I want this so badly!

I told Joe the other day, that as much as I want to be pregnant, I am afraid about telling his family. Do you know what Joe’s response was? “I can’t wait to tell Bob!”… I swear, that man gets such a kick out of teasing Bob!

Lord, please let Joe’s family accept our decision to have another baby, even if we are living in such a tiny house!

One of the first things I’ll have to do, if I get a positive response, is get me some maternity clothes. With the girls I started showing very quickly, and I got rid of ALL my maternity clothes. For one, I honestly thought that Joe would never let me have another baby. Plus, I’ve lost over 60 pounds, and my old ones would be too big on me… Not to mention that after four pregnancies, they were getting more than a little worn out.

Well, it’s almost 1 in the morning, and we have church in the morning, so I best get my round rear to bed.