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This is nothing special, well to you anyway. I'm not a scrapbook type, or a baby book writer, or even a picture printer. I'm terrible at recording memories. This blog is my attempt at holding on to some of my life as a Christian, a wife, and a homeschooling Mom of 5. I am a country girl that lived in a big city for 14 years, and moved to the Deep South for quiet, quaint, small town living.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Campaigning in the news

Troy's campaign is going well.  He sign waves in the morning before work, posts yard signs after work, and/or door knocks, and/or goes to various meetings to get his name out there.  He is just going, going, going.  We miss him, but he somehow makes his time at home quality time and not just vegging and crashing.  I don't know how he does it!

Here is Troy being interviewed on channel 2 ABC.  Yup, he is on the Tel-O-Vision!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

He said what?

Troy and I heard this in the car the other day.....

Liv- I can see Jesus
George- No you can't.
Liv- I can.  I can see him in my heart
(Awwwwww!!!!! Melt my Heart!)

About 2 mins later

Troy- George, did you hear me?
George- Yes.
Troy- Well, why didn't you answer me?
George- I did.  I answered you in my heart.

Huh? Nice try, buddy.

Attitude adjustment

We have had some trouble with having happy hearts.  Troy and I try to instill the importance of Joy in your heart, even when doing something you don't want.  Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit after all, so we read that we need, and can ask God's help with that.  We put this is practice by stopping the kids mid complaint and pray about the state of their heart (although not as consistently as I should).  I know they are getting the message, but sometimes they need a little more motivation.  It is hard for a 2, 4, and 6 yr old to be happy about cleaning up their toys all the time.

In desperation, I hastily createded a chart to keep track of rewards.  Each kid can earn stickers when caught doing something with a happy attitude (randomly, because I don't want it to be complete bribery). They can also lose stickers if they haven't shaped up after a warning. 

I have a page of stickers clipped behind the chart, the chart in a plastic sleeve protector for easy removal, and the chart clipped to the fridge where Ginnie can't tear it to shreds like I know she can.


It seems to be working.  Liv has earned 2 prizes (3 silly bands/ filled column) and George and Virginia have both earned 1 (silly bands for George, mini M&Ms for Ginnie).  I think the key is to give out stickers all day long.  I have found that the kids lose them quite often, so it doesn't mean treats every day, more like every couple of days.  Or maybe my kids are just baaaaaaad.  They get that from Troy.

Stop looking at me like that.  I'M Practically Perfect in Every Way.

Ahem......

Actually, I might be reminded to have a better attitude if I was promised chocolate also.

I wonder if I should make a chart for me?

I wonder if the kids would be fair in dolling out stars to Mom?

I think I have to do this now!

Or I could just eat the chocolate.

If it wasn't a spiritual growth issue, I would totally just eat the chocolate.

Ugh, Growing is soooooo hard!

That doesn't count.

Crabby Birthday

Ciacie is a year older.  And that means summer party!  What is a summer party without crabs, corn and Smith Island 10 layer cake?  Uncle Ray, Grandpop, Ciacie and (soon to be) Uncle Justin came over to celebrate.  I love it when they come up, and it is a trek for Dad- 3 hrs one way.  That is love!

Now she is just a year younger than me!
Next year we will be twins.
Confused?
You obviously didn't get the memo that Ladies don't turn 30.
Some how we had about 50 crabs left in the bushel!  No way did we predict that!
Troy and I sat and picked most of them one night, and saved the meat.
You can ask Ginnie what she did with some of that meat that we thought was safe in the fridge.
Grrrrr.

We had a lot of claws.
This is only a few.
Troy kept the kids busy so I could crack them.
Yeah, I'm that good.
Don't count the full, whole claws....
I had to eat the ones that came out partial. 
I didn't want my kids to think I was anything but a great crab picker.
I AM from the Eastern Shore, after all.
Have you ever had the crab claws at Bahama Breeze?
Oh yum.
Yum. Yum. Yummy!!!
and SIMPLE to make!
Approval. 

Happy Birthday Sissy!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Weekend Family Fun in PA!

Nana and Pop Pop's.

Doughnuts 
dirt piles 
relaxing time 
Aunts, Uncles and LOTS of cousins 
lots of fresh fruit 
building projects 
gifts 
a BIG dog named Gidget
room to run and play with a big target clearanced toy that we put a hole in after a couple of hours
feeding the fish

Isn't that about 2 and a half Haikus?

























 Good Memories made that weekend!

Big girl bed

So Mrs. Virginia learned how to climb out of her crib. 
Oh heaven help me.

I took one of the gates from down stairs to put in the girls' bedroom doorway.
Could you imagine the terror she would wreak unattended upstairs?

The first day was 15 mins of screaming at the doorway until it got quiet.
Quiet is never good with Ginnie.

This is what I saw when I went to check on her.



That was Monday.
Today is Wednesday, 8:45 AM
Where she begged to go "night night" in her room at 8:45 AM.
Yes- A.M.
(She slept soundly in bed until 6:45, and Liv and I were already up)

I don't get it, but heck- who cares! 
She likes her big girl bed!

And the gate is not up.
Of course I ordered another one last night.
Figures.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Family....

Visited the Stouffers in PA this past weekend.  Had some awesome family time. 
There is one thing that needs to be said.....
For one of the tens of people who read this....
I can't even remember why I am supposed to say it.
Ready?
Here it is....
*Hayley is AWESOME!*
And don't tell Sean!

Who is your favorite now, Hayley?

Friday, August 13, 2010

I'm blue on Blue day

This is the last of our color days.
It is also the lamest.
Well, Blue is HARD!

My cake pedestal is broken, but really it would have just held a bowl of blueberries.
I told you.
Lame.

I tried to get the kids excited, but they didn't care anymore either. 
They even fussed about finding blue clothes. 
(This was THEIR idea, remember!)

I made Blueberry Smoothies for breakfast.
I put in some frozen bananas to make them colder and give a nice flavor.
Livia: "Why are you adding bananas?  They are yellow."
Me: annoyed- "Well, they have the same first letter as the word BLUE."

I blended, poured into blue cups, and even added blue straws, only to hear this-

George: "But these smoothies are PURPLE!"

If he wasn't a little kid...
and I needed to show the love of Jesus....
AND in reality it would be me who would have to clean it up....
He would have worn that smoothie!

I did smile at the thought though.

The kids went on to play with blue playdough they made at VBS and we called it a day.  
Not even any pictures.

And you didn't believe me.
L A M E

Behind the scenes of Purple Day

This is the usual scene after a couple of meals and snacks.
I would love to clean after each meal, but I usually have a baby in one hand.
I was delighted to have a few mins to clean up before Troy got home.
The baby was sound asleep in her bouncer.
I had tried to lay her down all morning,
But a certain someone kept waking her up.
ANYways....

 After a rush of speed cleaning, it looked like this.

I was so happy.
Most of the dishes were in the dishwasher
(the few int he sink were waiting on round two of washing)
Eggplant was peeled, sliced, salted and draining for dinner.
The leftover watermelon was cubed, bagged, and refrigerated.

I was just about to take out the trash...

When I heard a BANG!
(in the dining room)

Followed by a startled baby cry.
(in the living room)

A little girl ran passed me as I went to check out the damage.
No one knows how Ginnie did it.  
Note that Livia was reading the magazine when it happened....
RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER.
Sigh.

Maggie had to keep on screaming for a few mins while I cleaned it all up.

I got glass in my foot.

One more day.....
Just one more Color day!

Purple Day

Yeah, since I loathe football, I had no idea that it was a Raven's football game day and it was a Baltimore Purple day too.  
I told the kids it was because everyone wants to be like us.  
I kind of believe that.... My Dad told me!

We got our purple gear on....
We talked about some purple foods and agreed that we would pass on the purple cabbage.

I introduced them to a Bloxom favorite


Made homemade french toast with grape whipped cream.
(Freshly whipped cream with a little melted grape jelly)
Frozen berry popcicles
(love that any drips won't show on purple clothes!)

George drew a purple picture


Then Purple day started to go down hill....

Blue and Red make purple.
That doesn't mean blue food coloring on red watermelon make purple designs.
It doesn't look soooo bad in the picture, but in real life it looked gross.
We tossed these pieces and just ate the watermelon plain.
The kids dared to complain that we should have had that on red day.

They are happy to have survived Purple day.

Then Purple day got down right nasty.

Melted purple butter on popcorn.
Kind of like colored popcorn balls, right?
Nope.

Blackish, melted, shriveled up popcorn that even Ginnie wouldn't eat!

Purple popcorn= Fail.

Did I mention that I'm tired of Color Days???

Oh, but Troy, Ginnie and I enjoyed eggplant parm for dinner.  My fav!  
Liv and George decided that is was ok, but the salad was better.  
It was just a plain lettuce and tomato salad.
Oddballs.

Yellow day

I cheated and we had frozen waffles.  They are yellow.

By frozen, I mean not even thawed out before the kids ate the whole box!  Now, before you jump to conclusions that I'm an unfit mother, know that I was BFing the baby (i.e.- stuck in a chair),and our sweet little Virginia got into the freezer and opened the box.  They begged to eat them frozen like they do freezie peas and freezie corn.  Since I wasn't able to toast them properly, I said Bon Apetit.  

The little boogers scarfed down the whole box!

NOW you can conclude that I'm an unfit mother.

We did make fresh lemonade later on, but never got to our pineapple.
It is still on the counter.
The thought of cutting it intimidates me.
We also had company that day.  CT, Bella, Carmela and Ciacie (Carlie) came over for a visit.  
Carlie unexpectedly sported a yellow shirt too!
But I took the picture before she came over and forgot to take another.
Once again.... I have no idea what happened after everyone left. 
Sigh.

Rojo

The kids were arguing about what color day it should be, so I let Ginnie choose.  
She chose the red ring.

We did not dress in red.  I can't remember why.  Maybe because we stayed in jammies all day????
We did the celery in colored water trick.
The kids think I'm magical.













After a lunch of ham, apple, tomato, (plus some cheese and pretzels)
We enjoyed some cherry flavored rice pudding!
(I just added some maraschino cherry juice to the pudding)

And we started to make some red themed art, until the baby got fussy and I left the older kids to free play with the art materials.  George decided he wanted to be an elf.
Whatever- it is red.

And since I'm writing this 3 days after the fact, I can't remember anything else.
I'm getting tired of color days.