Rock Painting

Yesterday we went outside and painted some rocks. Granted, I didn't have the right kind of paint, but we still had some fun. Here are the children getting in on the action:












Here is H, intent on painting her rock:
















Even J had some fun concentrating on turning his rock a different color:
















G was much more interested in trying to suck on the paint brushes!













 

Learning about Liberty

This week we talked a bit about The Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell. Here are a few pictures I took of the children. J has his classic face, showing off the picture he colored of the Liberty Bell. Doesn't H make quite the Lady Liberty? And I had to get G involved in the
action.



 

Flower Power

This is about the only thing in my yard that is pretty. When we first moved in our yard was lovely. I do not have a green thumb, nor time to putz around outside. I do, however, want to make some areas in my front yard a bit more pretty. Right now the weeds abound! But, I love these flowers! I also have some white ones and some lilac colored ones, though they don't stick out as much as these. I see these in abundance down here! This is one plant that I won't be chopping down as I redo my areas (when time and money allow). I just pray it will all look ok when all is said and done. Of course, anything has to look better than how it looks now!
*Note: You can see the 'weeds' in the pictures with the children painting rocks above. I should have tried to take the pictures elsewhere;)

Smiles Through The Trials

Monday's lately seem to be doomed for our household. I am not sure if it is just trying to get back into our weekly schedule or what. Today I dealt with Mr. Cling, Mr. Tantrum and Ms. Attitude. It was fun. Why does it always seem that when you are reading your Word, sure that you are chewing on some new meat, learning to lean on God that trials hit you in the face. And you fail. And fail. Will I ever learn to truly yield to Him and lean on Him so I CAN get it right? Anyway, here are a few smiles through my trials:

• When J gets sad or pouts he gets this look about him. Well, his daddy can make the same look. Tonight Zach was imitating J perfectly on the look and it had me rolling. I need to snap a pic of them together one of these days just so you can see. There is no doubt who's son J is!

• Tonight at dinner H asked what we are going to do when the Pilgrim's move here. She asked if we were moving when they came! It was SO funny! Where do these kids come up with this stuff?

• J tries so hard to be like daddy. You should see him 'put up his dukes' and start punching the air. It is SO cute! He really looks like he's concentrating hard and ready to fight! What out boys!

• G loves to kiss. He puckers up his little lips and makes a smacking sound with his lips. He kisses mommy, daddy, his animals, the wall. He needs to give daddy numerous kisses before bed at night.

• Speaking of kisses, last week J said to me with the most serious look on his face, "Let's kiss!" He just wanted a kiss, but to say it like that...you gotta love them;)

• G is getting into that stage where he says "Hi" and "Bye" to everybody and everything. It is so cute when they do that!

• Tonight we prayed for some Christian widows in Nigeria. H prayed for one of the ladies, who is blind in one eye, to get a new eye and a new husband, because she wanted one! You just gotta love the prayers of children!

Just a few things to make me smile as I unwind this Manic Monday night!!! Thanks for listening, er, reading!

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion.You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party.Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences.But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness.You're generally good at balancing work and play.When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism.You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic.Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy.Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low.You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable.You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea.While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

The President of the United States in MY Back Yard!!!

Well, not quite my back yard, but pretty much. Here's the scoop:

Today I had a playdate with a lady I've been wanting to get to know for quite awhile. Normally on a Wednesday I do NOT go out at 11 am, but this was special. H has been wanting to play with the little girl for awhile now, and finally it worked out. So, as we're driving to their house I pass a police car and I see one parked on the road. I'm thinking, "Well, that is weird. Wonder what they're looking for?" Then I see these people sitting on the edge of their yard with a sign that read, "Thank you President Bush". Hmmm.....I'm wondering if I'm in a movie now. What is going on? Now keep in mind that I don't watch TV, I don't really know the local news or anything like that. So, as I'm coming to another 4 way stop I look down the road and see police cars (both marked and unmarked) at like every corner. Ok, now I say to myself, "Is the President going to be here?". I figure that must be what it is and I phone my friend who seems to know all the happenings. She asks her hubby, who is a Marine and he says that yes, the President is supposed to be here. Wow! I was shocked! Now I know after the hurricane he came down, but I always seemed to miss when he was coming. And he had gone to Gulfport and Keesler Air Force Base, but not here.

I am so excited by this point that I call my mother in a crazy frenzy. Typical woman! I get to Betty's house, now keep in mind I don't really know her, and I pretty much run in and tell her we have GOT to go to MY house! You see, about 3 blocks behind my house is this tiny airport. You know the kind, where they fly private planes and give flying lessons. Well, I had put two and two together and figured he must be flying in. So, we grab our 6 kids, throw them in the vehicles an drive back to my neighborhood. We sit in somebody's driveway and wait. Luckily the weather is warm!

Finally we see these helicopters fly in. There must have been 5 or 6. About 5 minutes later the motorcycles zoom by, followed by police cars, suburbans, vans, cars, an ambulance, etc. Which one was our President in??? I'm sure not the ambulance! We were pretty excited and waving and snapping pictures! We went back to Betty's house, had lunch and drove back down to see him leave. By this time Zach was home and another friend and her children had joined us. It was fun. Exciting. It was neat to see the Bomb Squad come and check the mailboxes that were on the street, the ditches, yards, houses, etc. The security was amazing. I didn't get to 'see' him, of course, but I think I did pinpoint which vehicle he was in on the way back. And when the sun hits those windows a certain way you can see in there. Many of the people in there behind those tinted windows were waving back. I have to be honest, I think I was more excited than my kids. H was sad that she didn't get to play at Rebekah's house. Oh well, there's always next time. It's not every day that our Commander in Chief lands in our back yard! Just had to share my excitement! And pardon me if I sound like a child. After all, where I am from the only people that visit you are Toivo and Eino, eh.

Flying in

His Motorcade coming in

His Motorcade returning to the airport

These were the only 2 black suburbans that I remember. I think he was in the second one, but of course we can't be sure! 

Good-bye Mr. President! Thanks for visiting!

Blogger Barf

Well, not sure what was going on with my blog, but I sure am glad it is working again! I was getting some forbidden message. Other blogs were working though. Weird.

It is about 80 here! It is lovely, but I am sure the gnats are awful. One disadvantage to the south are those pesky gnats.

We went to a different church yesterday. We've never really found a church home since we moved here. Not like music is everything in a church, but hymns just don't cut it for us. Well, it has been probably 2 years since we heard non-hymn music in church- not since North Carolina. It was nice to hear some praise songs. They had a bit of a southern twang to them or something, but the people were praising! The church had a special speaker, so we didn't get to hear the pastor preach, but we really liked it. We will continue to go and 'test the waters', so to speak. I just want a church home and some fellowship already! The special speaker was Ashley Smith, the 'Unlikely Angel' from the Atlanta hostage situation that took place last year. We bought her book and had it autographed. What a powerful testimony she has! Now I have to admit that I hadn't heard her name before, or if I had I didn't remember it, but I did know the name Brian Nichols.

Tomorrow I will join a Bible study from the church we were attending and where the children go to Awana. It is called Conversation Peace. I realized I have not been in a Bible study for myself since we lived in North Dakota! It will be nice to be a part of a Bible study again and hopefully it will help me with some of my faults!!!!

Speaking of Awana, J's got 12 Bible verses memorized from his Cubbies book! And he can't just tell you the latest one- he has to tell them all! It is so awesome to see my little guy memorizing the Word of God. And H is cruising through her Sparks verse and memorizing many verses too! She usually polishes off about two a week! I am so proud of them!

I am going to try to make these Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies in the near future. They look SO wonderful! You gotta love Allrecipes!

A Funny

Large Family

A large family, with seven children, moved to a new city. They were having a difficult time finding an apartment to live in. Many apartments were large enough, but the landlords objected to the large family. After several days of searching, the father asked the mother to take the four younger children to visit the cemetery, while he took the older three to find an apartment.
After they had looked most of the morning they found a place that was just right. Then the landlord asked the usual question: "How many children do you have?" The father answered with a deep sigh, "Seven...but four are with their dear mother in the cemetery."
He got the apartment.

March Madness

Yesterday was a fun day at Park Day with our homeschool group. Afterwards we picked Zach up from work and ate dinner at McDonald's. As we piled out of our car (we drove our tiny Focus), a black man was sitting in his truck next to us. He asked Zach if we had 2 kids in there (the car) and he answered, "No, 3". The man began to talk to H and J, then told how he is retired from the military. He then takes $5 out of his wallet and gives it to my children! How sweet was that! I just wanted to cry. First of all, down in Mississippi you normally don't see this kind of treatment between whites and blacks. Second of all, to be seen and recognized positively for serving our country is sometimes few and far between these days. I am proud of my husband for serving in the Air Force!

As I ordered our food I looked at the clock. 4:00. I place my order, and a few people are behind me and place theirs. I see cars go through the drive thru. People are waiting for their food. I stand there. H comes to ask me, "Mommy, how many minutes has it been? Where is our food?". These ladies behind me that ordered had 'special' orders (no salted fries, etc). This worker who looked like she had no clue what she was doing was trying to get them their order. Meanwhile all I have on my tray is 2 orders of French fries and 2 drinks. By this time it has been 15 minutes! This is FAST food people! I am watching as the workers put the same food that I ordered into bags and give it to the people in the drive thru! If you know me you know that I normally never speak up about these kinds of things. But, its now 4:20, H has been by about 3 times asking what is going on, other people are asking to see the manager and commenting on how long I'm standing there. I am furious. I speak up. I tell them I've been there for 30 minutes now (which by this point its gotten there). They are so confused about what foods to put on our tray. How hard can it be? I've never worked at McDonald's, but I could have gone back there quicker than that to get my own food! Finally, after I had ranted and raved quite a bit (I was MAD and I could tell my face was RED), I had my food on my tray. Then I got quite a refund back (I think we only ended up paying for Zach's meal). All in all we were in McDonald's for a stinkin' hour! It was unreal. Oh well, I got my food and it is over now. Supposedly we'll be getting coupons in the mail to eat there for free.

Today is our 100th day of school. H has been in kindergarden for 100 days. I have been formally teaching her for 100 days. Hard to believe. She made a hat and some 100 glasses. We sang some songs. We colored 100 days of school pictures. We will probably play outside again this afternoon, but I'd like to celebrate somehow. Maybe I'll take the munchkins out for ice cream! I am proud of H, for all that she has learned in this time. It is amazing to watch them grow right before your eyes! She was in speech therapy last year and I decided not to put her in it this year. I am glad of that decision, for I have seen so much progress just by teaching her to read.

 

 

 

 

God's Creation

What a gorgeous day! My windows are open all throughout the house. I hear the birds chirping and singing. I hear the bugs humming and speaking. The fresh air feels wonderful as it seeps into my home! The sun basks down upon me and my boy as he sleeps in my arms. Once in awhile I feel a light breeze, as I watch the branches dance to its beat. The sky is so blue, with not a cloud in sight. It is glorious! Spring is in the air on the Gulf Coast! Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful day!