Goodbye 2014

And with a blink this year is ending.....here is a few snippets of the last couple of months....

I had surgery in October to remove some scar tissue from a previous surgery five years ago.  It went well be I got what my husband liked to call a "two week medical vacation". Hopefully, this won't become an every five year thing.

Soon after my medical vacation was over we ended up in the ER with Ashley with a possible appendicitis.  After a couple of weeks of gross tests by the GI doctor, we found that she has an intolerance to some foods, ulcers in her stomach and GERD.  Poor thing has a three month diet of nothing acidic so her stomach can heal....and yes chocolate is very acidic.

We've had a couple of band and choir concerts, including John's first band concert at the Christmas one.  It is always so fun to get to watch them play and sing.

We spent Thanksgiving at my sister's house this year with her family and my parents.  We figured it had been 9 years since we had all been together at Thanksgiving.  That one was at my house when we lived in Iowa and my youngest and her oldest were both newborns.  When two families are in ministry and one family is in the Air Force that is what happens...we had a great time this year.

We didn't have our Christmas open house this year because, well, it just didn't happen.  We did have a fun month celebrating our Savior's birth though.  It included many evenings out with friends, fun and games with our kids, a night of progressive dinner with the youth kids and another trip to my sister's to celebrate with my family.

Celebrating Christmas with our kids was so fun this year.  I think they all got their most wanted gifts..except no iPhones or smartphones generally, but I don't think they really thought they were going to get those. Nathan has joined his brother in the Lego craze and the girls are definitely showing their age by enjoying everything that teenage girls do....clothes, make up, music, decor for their rooms, shoes,etc. We've played lots and lots of board games and hit the movie theater a couple of times.  We haven't seen The Hobbit yet and that will get done before we return to our regular schedule.

We have had a really sweet time celebrating Christmas with Joe's family after Christmas.  It has been three years since we've all been together.  It is somewhat bittersweet because in the back of our minds we all know why Joe's sister and our brother-in-law and their three girls are in the states. It has been fun to get to know some dear friends of theirs from China who are visiting as well.  The language barrier is definitely there, but non-verbal communication speaks loudly sometimes.  Please continue to pray for our brother-in-law James as he battles lung cancer.  He had a scan this week.  Many of the tumors were gone or had shrunk Praise God.  But there was one in his lymph node that had grown a little.  They meet with the oncologist next week to determine the next steps.  

And with that I will say goodbye 2014 and see you next year!

Veteran's Day 2014

I love what my kids's schools do to celebrate Veteran's Day. The older three are involved in a club that organizes a breakfast and then they hold an assembly. At Nathan's school the 2nd and 3rd graders walk to the cemetery to watch the ceremony. This year Nathan was also able to attend the assembly at the older threes' school.  Nate's school is raising money for the honor flight and he was chosen to attend and help collect money.  

As part of the assembly they chose students to share their essays on what veterans mean to them.  Ashley was honored to be chosen to share hers this year.  Here is her essay:

When I thought of what to do for a Veteran's Day project, I first thought of who veterans are.  That's simple.  I thought "a veteran is a person who has fought in a war."

Honestly, though, I think that people sometimes take seriously the importance of veterans, but undermine the importance of war.  When thinking about battle, we occasionally replace gore with glory. We see photographs in history books of George Washington kneeling proudly at the front of a boat with a cape draped over one shoulder, and his chest puffed out. We see pictures of men pushing the flag of the United States to an upright position.

We neglect, however, to remember the gross, gory, humbling moments that form the honorable men and women.  We forget the times these people were in knee deep in mud, watching grenades explode as sweat and blood drip down their calloused skin. We forget the bombs and bullets that pierce the hearts of people who lose loved ones.  We forget the tears shed in an attempt to fill the void where loved ones used to be.

Veterans themselves, have to sometimes live with the fact that they took another person's life.  That was someone's mother, or father, brother or sister. That was someone's best friend.

Veterans, though, keep me safe.  They fight for every citizen so others don't have to.  For that, I am eternally grateful.  They keep America beautiful.  That is why, for my Veteran's Day project, I decided to explain what a veteran meant to me.  I will always appreciate veterans because of what they do to protect my country from sea to shining sea.

Here's some pics....A huge thank you to my friend Kelsey for taking pics and video for me since neither Joe or I were able to go!

Nathan at the cemetery with his class.

The band and choir performed Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Ashley is singing in the front row and Sara is in the blue hoodie playing her flute.

Nathan with his fellow third graders getting ready to collect money.

Ashley reading her essay.

Speech Districts 2014

Ashley and John both are participating in speech this year.  I am a huge fan of speech because I think it teaches and helps kids speak in front of a group of people.  It really helps their confidence.  Plus, my kids that participate LOVE it!  John did a solo performance this year.  Our family rule is that the first year you participate in speech or any type of solo and ensemble type of competition, you do a solo.  If you do a solo, you truly know what you are capable of doing.  You don't have any other variables.  So John did a solo.  Ashley did a solo and a duet this year. 

My battery died out on John's solo.  Yes....mom fail.  I wasn't even working the week they had the competition so I can't use the excuse that I didn't have time to check it.  So that is why there are two videos for John.  I am also posting Ashley's solo.  I didn't get to see her duet as it was at the same time as John's solo.  Joe recorded her duet and I smartly uploaded it from his phone to my YouTube account only to then realize that I posted a video of the dog instead.  So the duet with get posted at a later time...

Homecoming

Our homecoming parade was a few weeks back.  It was the weekend after my surgery.  Fortunately, my parents were here and I was able to venture out to see the parade.  All four kids were in it this year.  Here are some pics from the day....it was beautiful!

 This is the girls' band...CEC.  John is in band this year too, but only 6th-8th grade marches.

 Ashley led the band.  She is on the color guard and was voted by the fellow members of the color guard to lead them (there is an odd number of them).  She was pretty nervous, but did a great job!

 Here is Sara leading the flutes.

 So I promise that John is on this float.  He is on the other side and if you know him really well you can probably spot the back of his head.  We called his name, but John was in the zone and we all know when he is in the zone he doesn't hear anything!

And, lastly, here is Nathan on his float.  Fortunately, he was on the right side...or maybe I should say we were on the right side!

The agony of de"feet"

So as I mentioned in a previous post, we had a rainy morning the other day.  Joe and I needed to make a trip to the store.  As we were making our list the subject of Nathan's shoes came up.  That boys goes through shoes like crazy and he had developed a hole in his current pair. We checked and he had also grown out of them so we measured to see what size he would need.  A size 8 folks...a men's size 8. And, yes, he has a birthday coming up, but he is 8. Years. Old.  So in the spirit of friendly competition ( because family competition is always friendly, right?😉) we decided to have the kids compare feet.  First up, the eldest son...

Nate is on the right. John is on the left and 21 months older than Nate. Yep...Nate wins. Poor John.

Nate is again on the right.  Big sis is on the left.  This is the oldest sis Sara...she's 13.  Yep...Nate wins again.

And this is Nate on the right with Ashley in the left. While Ashley wanted to claim victory, I think this was officially called a draw by the judges.  And, unfortunately (or fortunately since she is a girl!), Nate has the advantage since she is 12 and her feet haven't grown in a year.

And, finally, the big dog.  Dad is still significantly ahead, but again Nate is 8.  Someday I am sure Nathan will pass him up and Joe will suffer the agony of the de"feet". 

A rainy afternoon and a chuckle....

Today we have all been home with nothing to do.  Do you have any idea how rare that is.  So we measured feet this morning. What? That isn't what you do on a rainy day.  That post will be later.  Sara headed over to our fitness center for a class this afternoon and a joe and I made our way to the grocery store.  Aldi had honeycrisp apples for 99 cents a pound and galas for 50 cents a pound and joe wanted to see how I would do in the car. And Nathan needed a new pair of tennis shoes. Sadly...not good on the car front.  But we have tons of apples. I was able to peel some this afternoon. They are in the crockpot smelling yummy for some applesauce.  Most of the afternoon has been spent reading and listening to some Norah Jones.

We were just settling in for some family time of Once Upon a Time when someone commented on being excited.  I started singing "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it".  Sara say "that should be a song." Obviously we need to expose her to some more of the classics...sigh.

Recovery

So my surgery was Wednesday and I have been in recovery mode since.  I won't go into detail on what all the doc did.  To summarize, he basically put two holes in me...one for the camera and one for tools, did some things and then stitched me up.   The first 36 hours I was flat on my back.  For those who have had laproscopy done before, you may be familiar with shoulder pain afterwards.  Flat on the back is the best way to deal with it.  Now that the shoulder pain is gone, I have been sentenced to the couch.  The sentencing is for my protection....so I don't tear something and then they have to go back in to fix that (according to my protective hubby). So today I have painted my nails, played some Kingdom Chronicles on my iPad, watch some NCIS marathon, gotten text updates on the boys' football game, and am currently introducing Ashley to Ocean's Eleven. We have been super blessed by meals of lasagna and meatloaf.  And my parents have been a huge help in playing taxi for my kids.  It has been awhile since I've had a stay at home vacation, so I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.

And the answer is.....

....we always visit Arby's after I have had a hospital visit.  It started with the birth of my first born.  I had horrendous acid reflux and heartburn and didn't really enjoy food the last trimester.  As we headed home with Sara it was near lunchtime.  Joe asked me what I wanted to eat, we happened to be drivin past an Arby's and it sounded good to me.  And, thus, started a tradition as there just happened to be an Arby's near the hospital where I gave birth to the last three kids.  About 5 years ago I had a benign tumor removed and Joe ran me through Arby's on the way home.  So it has happened 5 times in the last 13 years.

So, tomorrow, as you have probably guessed, I am making another hospital visit.  Evidently that surgery 5 years ago left some scar tissue.  It has really started to bug me so them good doc is going to  go back in and do whatever they do to get rid of it...hopefully without causing more scarring; not really sure how that all works which, as they say, is why my doc gets the big bucks.  And now it is off to bed I go as I get one last refreshing drink of water...no food OR drink after midnight....sigh.

Arby's here we come...

So here is a little blog trivia for your Monday afternoon.   After a certain something happens in my life, my hubby runs me through the Arby's drive thru for a beef 'n cheddar hold the Arby's sauce.  A hint would be that this has happened 5 times in the last 13 years.  It is going to happen again this week. Any guesses?

No practice?!

So this is what happens when my boys have a free evening due to yucky weather and no football practice....

Nathan got a new Kindle because, sadly, his other one was stollen.  As he was trying out his new features, he and John realized they could enter each other's Minecraft worlds.  So while it looks like they are completely consumed and in their own little worlds, they are actually in each other's worlds.  They were having so much fun I couldn't bear to enforce our normal electronic time limit.  Every so often you would hear one of them say "this is so fun!  I love playing this with you!" Seriously, what mom can stop any activity that creates that kind of sibling play enthusiasm?!

The week is almost over....

It has been a fairly normal week here full of practices....football and speech...meetings, homework and, well, life. And sometimes this is what life does to us...

This is where I found sweet Ashley around 4 on Tuesday. And, no, she hadn't been hunting. It is spirit week at school,and Tuesday was camo day.  Evidently camo day wore her out.  Poor thing fell asleep on the kitchen floor.

My new favorite mug...

This is my new favorite mug....

It is from China.  It say "The Foreign Wife" on it. My sister in law Kristen (Joe's sister) happens to be the foreign wife.  "The Foreign Wife" is the name of the restaurant my brother in law James and his wife Kristen have recently opened in China. This mug is in my hand everyday reminding me to pray for James throughout the day.  He begins his chemo and radiation treatments today.  It will be a long few weeks for them and their three girls. The treatment will last until around Thanksgiving. Will you join me in praying for them today and through these weeks of treatment?

If you would like to follow their journey so you can pray more specifically, check out their blog at http://www.followthehes.blogspot.com.  If you live in the Indianapolis area and would like to help out with meals or anything else, there is a link to their care calendar on the blog.

Win! Win!

We had a whirlwind weekend with my sister and her kids visiting.  It was my nephew Luke's birthday and it was so fun for him to be here to get to celebrate with him.  We've never gotten to do that before because of where they have lived.  They came in Saturday to catch the boys' football games.  And both the boys' teams came away with wins!  It was Nathan's teams' first win so it was very exciting. Here are some shots from Saturday....

John lined up on the O line.  He is the second one from the right.

The birthday boy trying on Nathan's pads

And trying on the helmet too

John and his cousins "enjoying" Nathan's game.  In fairness to them, it was pretty warm.

Nathan getting ready to hike the ball. 

Nathan on defense lined up as nose tackle.  (that is across from the center (the opposing team #72)  for those of you who may not know football positions)

Middle of Football season!

We are right in the middle of the boys' football season here!  Last night was so much fun.  Nathan's team got to scrimmage with a neighboring communities team at their high school field, under the lights with AstroTurf!  And, while they didn't win, they played by far their best game yet.  The high school band needed practice, and so we even got to have them play for halftime.  It was so. fun.  And I had these fabulous pictures of the evening and managed to delete them this morning.  Don't ask me how...it is still too painful to talk about.  So let your imagination run wild and that is what the pictures looked like.  Here are some pics of my boys.   I am going to try to get some more action pics of them tomorrow and will, hopefully, manage to post them before I delete them.

Oh goodness...the handsomeness of this picture.  And they look so huge in their pads!  And trust me when I say you do not want them to hit you unless you are also wearing pads!

"Big John" and "Big J" is what he is known as on the football field.  He plays offensive line and has been playing a little on the defensive line this year as well.

"Big Nate" (notice a theme?) and "NateO" is what he is known as on the football field.  He plays center on offense and defensive line. 

Nate is number 57 this year.

This pretty much sums up the girls at football games...snack time!

John is number 76

A date...

I got a phone call yesterday afternoon from this handsome man....

inviting me on a date.  It was kind of a miracle...we actually had a couple of hours where we were both free.  When we have had time lately, we've been enjoying some local spots....partly because i don't want to spend time riding in the car and partly because we have some really yummy places locally.  Last night we hit a small town nearby and had some fabulous burritos and then chilled out at the local coffee shop.  It was such a great evening.  I have such a great man and it seems my kids agree....

A Sunday

Sundays can be crazy days at our house, but several years ago The Lord made the importance of sabbath and rest so clear to both Joe and I. So when we get home from a long (but good!) morning and early afternoon (our small group meets after right after church) with our church family, we hit the bed for a nap. I LOVE naps..it is one of my favorite hobbies and I don't get to enjoy that hobby near enough.  And then this is typically where you find us....

You can't tell, but that is football on the tv. (The Broncos are getting whipped up on, but if anyone can bring them back it would be Manning.)  I don't even get up to make supper.  On Sunday evenings we have the same thing for supper every week.  It is a special I like to call " get your owny".  I try to ignore any laundry or dishes and chill out.  Hoping your Sundays are filled with as much relaxing and resting as ours is! (It is certainly much easier to rest at our house when the Colts are playing as well as they did today!  ;) )

Oh the things they say and do.....

**So this morning my gate wasn't working.  We have a gate that keeps the dog in the kitchen and the daycare kids out of it.  I got a brand new one this year because I think all of us had suffered some sort of injury the past year climbing over the other one.  Our family is obviously not made for running the hurdles.  So I invested in a really nice one that has a swinging gate.  I. Love. It.  And it wasn't working this morning.  I couldn't/didn't have time to fix it.  So I mentioned to Nate (the only one left at home) that it wasn't working.  Within two minutes Nate had it fixed for me without me even asking him to take a look at it.  So I gave him a huge hug and was having a mom moment...ahh my son is growing up and maturing....what a wonderful moment.  In the middle of the hug and compliments and I love you's Nate pipes up and says..."You're welcome.  That will be a dollar mom (long pause while I look down and give him a raised eyebrow)....or love, lots of love)".  Sigh.....I gave him 50 cents for making me laugh.

**we have been going through Genesis in our family Bible time.  We are at the point where Jacob has left with his entire family and possessions and is about to see Esau again.  Yesterday Joe read about how Jacob asked God for help and then sent everyone ahead of him to meet Esau.  Then Joe asked the question...What did Jacob do that was good?  There was silence for a time and then Ashley spoke up complete with jazz hands, "Well, he provided entertainment for the entire desert. It probably looked like a circus." 

**yesterday was picture day for my older three. My girls were having a slight, ahem, discussion about shirts and whose were whose,etc.  Somewhere in the discussion the subject of a white turtleneck came up.  Nathan had been observing and listening and decides to join in....."I LOVE turtlenecks!  They are super yummy!" He's says with that everlasting twinkle in his eye.

****with a family of six and then having six additional kids coming in and out of the house with my daycare, my kids have gotten used to me going through for or five names before I get to theirs when I am talking to them or simply being called a name that is not their own. I called Ashley "Amy" yesterday...just flat out, didn't even stumble over it.  There is no one that goes in and out of my house everyday named Amy.  I have a good friend named that, but know no children named that. I have no idea where it even came from and neither does anyone else.  The whole room went silent as all the kids just looked at me and the look on Ashley's face said it all "Amy? Mom? really?!"  It was like they were ok with all the other names, but I had definitely crossed a line.

And these pictures are a reminder to me that my girls really do love each...they were hanging out together yesterday afternoon.  Sara even had Ashley look over her math for her. (They are basically in the same math class). Cannot even express how much I love these moments....

A long weekend.....

We had a long weekend.  It started like this on Thursday evening...

Joe's grandmother passed away this past week and so we took off work and school early on Friday to head to the funeral.  Soooo we had to work on catch up homework Thursday night since they were going to miss some classes.....chemistry.  Do you know how long it has been since I have done chemistry?  It has been a loooonnnngggg time, so Sara and I read the book together to figure it out.  I was feeling very accomplished hat I figured it out. It was 8th grade science so I am not really sure what that feeling of accomplishment says about me.  Maybe it doesn't take much for me to feel accomplished..

Friday around lunch we left for our native land.  After a brief greeting of extended family, the kids and I went back to the hotel and they got some swim time in.

Ashley and John really enjoyed the whirlpool....especially after I turned on the bubbles.

On Saturday we attend Joe's grandmother's funeral.  This was really the first funeral our kids have ever been too and it was really a good one for it to be their first.  Joe's grandmother was a strong believer and a woman whose life reflected her beliefs.  Joe did the message for her funeral and did a phenomenol job of sharing the gospel message.  His grandpa and grandma would be just as proud of him as all the family members who were there to hear him.

There were a couple of silver linings to a sad weekend.  We got to visit with many extended family members on Joe's side.  It was wonderful to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins.  The kids enjoyed meeting all of them and hearing stories of days' past.  We also got to see Joe's sister and family for the first time in 2 1/2 years.  They are here from China so my brother in law can get the medical care he needs.  We were able to reconnect with our nieces, hug the necks of those we love dearly, and spend a short but quality amount of time with them all.  It was so great to sit at the dinner table with all of Joe's siblings and his parents and all the kids....it had been too long. It is one of those weekends that completely drains you, but you return home with your soul feeling full and missing them already.

....a special hello to all those relatives out there from across the country who we talked to this weekend and are now reading this.  We love you and miss y'all already!

Of gusts of wind and snakes...oh my!

The week started out interesting. On Monday I was still enduring the effects of my sunburn from the weekend. Evidently my lips suffered the brunt of it.  The blisters were out in full force by Monday. The kids claimed that my lips had also turned a lovely purple color.  I had developed a nice head cold, so eating wasn't nearly as exciting as it is normally.  It hurt to open my mouth and once the food got in my mouth I couldn't taste anything.  Needless to say, Monday was a long day and I fell asleep on the couch sooner than I normally do.  I think by 8:30 I was dead asleep.  Joe woke me around 10:00 and told me it was time to go to bed, so I roused myself, brushed my teeth and headed to bed.  I pulled my covers back and mid yawn I look down and see this in my bed.....

One of my crazy kids thought this would be hilarious.  And it was....the next morning.  That night it took me until I got to the living room to realize that it was a rubber snake and not a real one.  I was fully, fully awake. It took quite a bit of time to get my heart rate back down let alone go to sleep. 

It seemed like I had just fallen asleep and I was up again to some loud noises.  It took me awhile to become conscious enough to realize it was hail and then it took me a minute to remember that hail is bad and maybe I should get up and see what was going on.  It was 4am and it was a doozy of a storm.  We found just how much of a doozy it was when the phone rang at 6am with the announcement that school was cancelled.  Fortunately we were blessed that we didn't have any wind damage. The north side of our tiny town had 80mph winds with lots of trees down and no power for a couple thousand people. So thankful that there were no injuries and definitely thankful that it is almost Thursday and Monday and Tuesday are behind us.

Game day....

The Colts and Broncos are playing tonight. For an Indiana native it doesn't get much better than that. But that isn't the game day I am talking about.  Joe had his annual game weekend with his college buddies this weekend.  One of his friends got is a new game that we pulled out this afternoon for family night.  Here are some pics.....

Our new game Saboteur.

 

That is Nathan photo bombing with the football...

Me and my mini me.  Love this girl!

Are you ready for some football?

Saturday marked the first day of tackle games for our boys.  Here is the gang getting ready to head out and watch "big John" play...seriously that is what his fellow players call him.  Friday night when he was hanging with his buddies at the high school game I heard variations of Big John and Big J as they were sitting in front of us.  He is one of the bigger guys on the team.  In years past he has been the biggest in height and strength.  I noticed this year that he is becoming the shortest.  In fairness there are several boys a year older than him on the team. He is still by far one of the strongest.  He is part of the wall that is there offensive line.

This is my new JFL hat; unfortunately it is a little big so it has become Joe's hat.  One of my favorite necklaces is draped around the hat.  

John's game was the first one of the day and wow did they start the day with a bang.  It was one of the most exciting youth football games I've see. And it certainly helped that John's team won.  It was a last seconds touchdown...4th down and inches and they made it happen!  22 to 20!

Nathan's first tackle game of his life was the last game of the day.  It was a hard fought game that they lost by 7 to 0.  The major bummer of the game was that one of his best buddies was taken away on a stretcher towards the end of the game.  He is fine and they did it strictly as a precaution, but it certainly and understandably shook up Nathan quite a bit.  But he's ready for practice on Tuesday to get ready for the next team on Saturday.

Just a side note....this is why you wear sunscreen even if you start the day in jeans and a sweatshirt.  I somehow managed to spend 2 weeks in Florida and 2 weeks in Jordan..in the desert! and didn't get burnt, but send me to the football field behind my house and it is the worst burn I have had in a long time!  As you can see there was a nice glow from the stage during worship this morning.  Sigh.

A full week....

This was a full week of the normal.....

**Three football practices

**Anticipation of Junior Madrigal auditions next week.  Ashley is so excited to audition to be a part of the high school madrigal dinner.

**Studying for spelling tests, social studies tests and science tests

**Learning a trick from Ashley (which she learned from her math teacher) on how to remember the negatives and positives of multiplying integers.

**Battling hay fever and now a cold...ugh

**Trying to figure out how the new confetti, glitter nail polish got all over my bathroom including my towel and then somehow ended up in my hair.  At least I was sparkly on Thursday.

**Owing the world of Facebook a big thank you for convincing me that I don't have to wash and air dry my son's football pants everyday.

**Fun preparations for Joe's annual guy's game weekend.  We are hosting again this year and looking forward to the guys hanging out here.

**laughing as Sara mentioned that John playing his trumpet sounded like an elephant dying.

**loving watching my son's eyes dance as he described a scrimmage with the team above him at practice in which he made the first tackle and it was behind their line

**wondering how in the world I am going to convince my son that he needs to sleep tonight so he can have enough energy for his game tomorrow

In the midst of all that I paused this morning when I heard John getting ready for school belting out "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective singing along with the radio.  It has also been a heavy week. In the past 7 days we have come to realize that Joe's grandmother will soon be with Jesus and my brother in law was diagnosed with cancer.  He is the husband of Joe's sister, Father to three little girls and a mighty man of God. Yesterday I was thankful that an early morning thunderstorm gave me reason to skip my morning walk and spend more time in the Word.  During the heavy weeks in my life I have learned how much His Word can soothe the soul.  I have been working my way through the Bible this year and on Thursday I happened to be in Psalm 119.  I love the reminders of the benefits of His Word.  I am so thankful that His "word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Thankful that His Word gives life and reminds me over and over of His steadfast love.  And as the song says:

In the silence, You won't let go

In my questions, Your truth will hold

Your great love will lead me through

You are the peace in my troubled sea

You are the peace in my troubled sea

My Lighthouse, my lighthouse

Shining in the darkness, I will follow You

My Lighthouse, my Lighthouse

I will trust the promise, 

You will carry me safe to shore 

Of dogs and brussel sprouts and ornate toes....

,So Joe took the dog to the vet today.  Joe hates taking her to the vet. If it wasn't for my job we would probably play rock, paper, scissors to see who had to take her...loser would obviously be the one taking her.  Evidently she has horrible teeth and this is causing her a lot of pain. It is so much pain that she gained 3lbs since last year.  And she wagged her tail when the doctor wiggled a loose one.  Sigh...I know I should have compassion and agree to have two teeth pulled, but the quote of $250-$400 for the procedure pretty much zapped my compassion.  Holy cow...that is more than it costs to pull a human tooth.

Our garden is still mightily producing.....

This is what I picked on Monday.  I was feeling so guilty about not having time to get the green beans picked that I finally pulled all my green bean plants.  In the left side of the bowl you can see brussel sprouts.  My kids LOVE brussel sprouts.  So I planted some this year.  Some equals 16 plants.  That was an accident.  How was it an accident?  Well, it becomes an accident when you don't pay attention to how many plants are in the flat you purchased.  I roast them with salt, pepper and olive oil until they are crispy on the outside.  Yum!

Here is the finished product:

So I will leave you with a closed captioning typo...or maybe someone thought no one was reading what he was typing at 4am.  Yes...I was awake around 3:30 this morning. My allegies are really making me miserable. So I got up so my sinuses could clear out. I turned the TV to Fox News and they were carrying the live press conference with President Obama and the Prime Minister/President of Estonia (not sure which it is...the news scroll said Prime Minister, but our President addressed him as Mr. President). Anyway, the leader of Estonia was speaking about how much they appreciate being in NATO and appreciate their allies.  What he said was "our NATO allies"; however, he stumbled over the words a little. What the CC people typed was "ornate toes allies". I was literally laughing out loud in my living room at four in the morning. It struck me really funny.

Labor Day...

Labor Day as a day full of......labor!  Our weekend did not go as planned.  We were hoping to have a relaxing, long weekend with all of us at home. This is something we haven't had in a long time.  And it wasn't meant to be this weekend.  Joe had to make a quick trip to Indiana on Saturday.  And due to the heat and rain the grass was super long. So on Monday morning I tackled the yard with Nathan and then I helped Joe with this:

We have desperately needed new flooring in our hall and bedrooms for a long time.  We have Nathan's room and the hall done (I should say Joe got those done since I contributed absolutely nothing to those projects).  The goal for our weekend was to get our bedroom done.  Because of the shake up of our schedule, that pretty much left Monday for that project.

Here is the before:

Pictures don't really do the grossness of this carpet justice.

We actually made a pretty good team.  Joe ran the pressure hammer gun (I actually have no idea what he actual name of it is) and the rubber mallet.  I unloaded the wood floor out of the boxes and laid them out on the floor.  AND I ran the saw! Yes...I ran the saw.  I got really good at it.  We are almost done with our bedroom and then we just have John's room left.

Here is the lean, mean, floor laying team.....

Bullet Point Friday!

**So I bought some microwave popcorn last night.  I am a fan of caramel corn and kettle corn.  This had the words "salted caramel" on the outside of the box so I assumed...YUM!  Well, it tasted good, but barely had any caramel taste to it at all.  J.D. saw the box this morning and asked me now it was.  I told him disappointing and told him why.  He suggested that the next time I should read the ingredient list before I buy it.

**we have a dog...a miniature dachshund...she's little. And she is fast..  So something got into her yesterday and she decided to take off down the street.  Nathan and tried corralling her for awhile.  The little stinker would come just to where we could touch her and then turn around and run.  Sara stood at the door laughing at us. She said that she wished she had it on video so she could share it with the world.  Yet another reason my kids don't have smart phones!

**i bought my kids pop tarts as a treat for breakfast.  They were thrilled. They always feel like the pop tart setting is a waste on our toaster because we NEVER have pop tarts.

**Ashley went to the store with me last night.  As we were leaving I realized I forgot to get eggs. I mentioned this to Ashley and she said can't you just use banana as a substitute.  To which I replied...not for scrambled eggs.  I don't know why not was her response.  And she wouldn't understand since eggs and bananas are number 1 and number 2 on her dislike food list.

**I. Am. So. Excited!  One of our kids has decided to follow in his mother's footsteps and play the trumpet.  I pulled out my trumpet for him last night and began reminiscing about the fun that trumpet and I had together.  Then I had a brilliant idea!  I haven't really touched my trumpet much since I graduated from high school.  Sooooo...I suggested to him that I pick it back up again, shake the rust off my playing and then we could do a duet together.  His answer...."ummmm, no" partnered with a look of complete disbelief that I would even suggest such a thing.  I was almost to the point of begging, when he looked at me again and said "that is not going to happen."  Sigh....but I haven't given up!

I will leave you with a shot of two of the three handsome men living in my house:

(We've decided Nate's football nickname is "Heinz")