The big announcement

Well, I guess it is official now. The sign went in the yard on Wednesday. We are moving. We will still be midwesterners, but no longer in the same state. We've never sold a house before so we are experiencing all kinds of things we never have before. So are our kids... And I'm still not sure they've completely grasped what moving means. John was very concerned yesterday "Do we need to move the toilet?" We assured them there would be toilets at the new house...

The Horn Family Dictionary

I 've come to think that we need our own dictionary. My kids have developed their words for certain things and without a dictionary some people may have a hard time knowing what they are talking about. Here are some of the words I would include:

hopper sore
noun, a canker sore; ulceration in the mouth
Origin: Ashley--she just decided that they should be called this because canker is too hard to remember

vent
verb, rent; sample sentence: "Are we going to vent the movie or buy it?"
Origin: Ashley

swinging bed
noun, hammock
Origin: John (I think)

washdown
noun, a car wash facility; may also be used to describe any type of facility that washes any type of vehicle including trains
Origin: John through watching way too much Thomas the Train

tic tattoo
noun, a child's temporary tattoo; they generally feature cartoon figures including Cars and Hello Kitty
Origin: Ashley--I've tried to explain, but she insists this is what they are called

The Redneck Retro Rocket Train Ride

About this time yesterday my kids were in the basement (our play room). I was in the kitchen doing something-can't really remember what but I know it must of been important. Evidently while they were in the basement John decided to get creative. He put in his hillbilly teeth (AKA bubba teeth) which I knew he was doing because I helped him find them. Then he took Nathan's retro rocket and set it on the train table. At this point he decided to go for a ride on the train table. It was one of those moments that I really wish I had a picture of--I'm sure it would be priceless. But, alas, all I got to see of it was the busted top lip when he crashed down off the table. Needless to say, I think he's learned his lesson and probably won't be going for any more redneck retro rocket train rides in the near future.

Excuse me, mom, I speak whinese

For the Horn side of the family, Joe wanted me to title this "Excuse me, ma'am, but I speak jive." But I've never seen the movie Airplane and didn't find it near as funny as he did. Maybe you will get it if you were born a Horn... Anyway, on with my post. One of my favorite books is Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel. She gives very creative ideas on how to correct some common childhood errors. I tend not to be very creative in that department, so I find it very helpful. A year or two ago, we had a whiner develop in our house. I was at my ropes end when I consulted Lisa's book. One of her suggestions, which I loved, was to tell the child that you can't understand him/her because you don't speak whinese. I loved the idea and immediately began to use it. And it worked great!!!! Well, in the last couple of weeks we have had a new whiner develop. (You would think after having four children I would know what breeds whining by now, but I don't...) So this morning I decided to try my foreign language bit. So I said, "I can't understand you. I don't speak whinese. In order for me to help you, you have to talk like a big kid so I can understand you." The child stared at me blankly and then proceeded to restate the same thing in the same language--whinese. I told the child that I didn't understand. (I was beginning to think that said child didn't undertand english) But then, just as I thought all was lost, another child began to interpret "Mom, (the child) said..." So glad at least someone in the house can speak whinese...

Mulch

I think I'm addicted to mulch. I've had this spot in my front flower beds that has needed mulch all summer. I have two peonies next to the driveway and a big rain storm swept away most of the mulch that was there. So every other day I have to go out and pull weeds. Now pulling weeds is very gratifying because you can see what you've accomplished. However, nothing can be that gratifying when it is 95 degrees with 95 percent humidity outside. So Joe went to the store and got me 4 bags of mulch. Actually, he got both of us 4 bags of mulch. I had to share because he wanted to put some around our tree in the backyard. So I got 2 bags to myself. The place where it was needed didn't need the entire 2 bags so I decided to do a little touch up in some other flower beds. Funny thing that happened though, the more mulch I laid the worse all the other mulch looked. And, thus, I had to drive to the store, buy more mulch, and ended up spending my afternoon mulching all of my flower beds. Maybe my other trees need mulch too....

My Kindergartener

My youngest daughter, Ashley, has a gift of drama. I really do think it is a gift and at some point in her life will be very useful. But, currently it explains why the last couple of weeks when she has told me that her teeth hurt I didn't really pay attention. I mean, why would your teeth hurt? I was also a little reluctant to touch her tooth yesterday when she told me it was wiggly. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be. Much to my surprise, it was extremely wiggly. Then I felt like a bad mom, because it explained why it would have hurt over the last couple of weeks. It was soooo wiggly (and the tooth next to it) that Daddy was able to pull both of them out this morning with no tears from Ashley. So now she is officially looking like a kindergartener.

When you ache so bad you can't move...

I am sick. I don't get this sick that often, but for whatever reason it always seems to happen on a weekend. I suspected that something was up yesterday but kept trying to convince myself that it was allergies. At 2am it was very evident that it was not allergies. You don't get a 100 degree fever with allergies. You don't ache so you can't move either. Joe convinced me this morning that I needed to go to the doctor. Well, he didn't really convince me--he just made it very evident that I didn't really have a choice. I had a hard time swallowing my oatmeal because my throat hurt so bad. Now since it is Saturday my only real option was the local immediate care. I hate the local immediate care, but I decided to be proactive this morning. Since it was early, I figured I could get there right when it opened and not have to wait at all. Sounds like a good plan. Right? So I called at 7am thinking to get their answering machine. I did--and it told me that I needed to call back during office hours. Okay--so when are office hours? It didn't tell me! So I had to guess when their office opened. I tried at 8:05 & yes they were open. So, my plan was already somewhat falling apart--I should already be there! So I quickly put Nathan down for his nap, brushed my teeth (I would hate for the doctor to have to smell that!), and ran out the to car. It was 8:22 when I pulled into their parking lot. And there were already 5 cars in the parking lot. My plan was completely falling apart. So I went and checked in and sat down for the wait-a-thon. And it was that. There wasn't even anyone entertaining to watch while I sitting there--just a bunch of other sick people. I finally was called back, explained to the nurse what was going on, and then waited a little longer. The doctor came in, I explained everything to her, and she looked in my throat. "Ohhhh, wow, that is bad." Now for most people that wouldn't be good words to hear, but for me it confirmed that someone else with a degree in medicine could tell that I didn't feel good. I'm always afraid that I will go in there and he/she will look at me like I'm an idiot and say "Now I know you said it hurt, but I don't really see anything." So it kind of made me feel better that it looked bad. It felt really bad, so I figured it might as well look bad as well. It would be a waste of pain otherwise. So, anyway, they did the strep test. And five minutes later I heard the words that everyone dreads "It came back negative. You just have a virus." Translation of doctor talk: "We have absolutely no idea why you are so sick. Take two aspirin and call me next week if it doesn't get any better." I was so glad I spent 1 HOUR and 42 MINUTES to hear that. So I went to the nearby drug store, bought some more ibuprofen and 600mg later I felt much better!

The popcorn muncher

Okay so I'm not going to be able to earn any money as a photographer. You have to admit it is rather funny with his eyes shining and the popcorn in his mouth making him look like frankenstein. I did find out that it doesn't matter how many times you use the red eye correct on the photo software that they will still glow in the dark. Anyway, I've digressed--significantly. The point of the photo was Nathan's new favorite snack. Popcorn. He loves it. And his favorite way to eat it is with his daddy. His daddy is sitting next to him on the couch, but it wasn't a very flattering picture (he looked worse than Nathan-imagine that). Nathan also doesn't like to share. This evening he was sitting on my lap with his bowl which I happened to take a couple of kernels out of, and he immediately moved to the floor where he could eat in peace. You learn early in our family how to protect your food.

Our house

Joe & I have an old house. How old you may ask? Well, I think there is documentation that it was one of the first houses built on the 8th or 9th day after the first week of creation. Okay, so maybe not that old. I think it officially dates to the 1930s. The longer I live here the older it feels. Don't get me wrong--it has been a HUGE blessing to us and its quirks are growing on me. We've had to do some--shall we say, updating to the house. The decoration style was not exactly what we would of chosen. Seriously--who would paint the entire bathroom pink including the door and the claw foot tub. I'm a girl, but it was a little much. So in the last five and a half years we have painted or wallpapered all but 3 rooms--the kitchen, the laundry room (it has wood paneling that I wanted to paint white, but Joe vetoed) and one of the bedrooms. To put this into perspective, our house has 11 rooms--4 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a finished basement--almost 2700 sq ft. That's A LOT of paint. Our biggest project was our attic--you may remember the air compressor incident. Well, I am pleased to announce that our attic is officially finished. As is all the painting that we wanted to do. I've decided I'm not painting anything until at least a year from now. We've met one of our goals for the summer--having the inside of our house the way we want it (or will at least like it for a year.) I decided I would share some of the pictures with you of my two favorite projects to date--our attic and our bathroom. You really can't appreciate the attic if you didn't know what it looked like before Joe started on it. I tried to find a before picture and had no success so hopefully you visually minded people won't mind a written description--it had no railing (yes, somewhat dangerous with small children), the stairs were a light pine color and in horrible shape (thanks to Dad Snow for his help in fixing the stairs!!), there was just drywall boards hung, there was no trim anywhere and the floor was just sheets of plywood--well, actually I don't think it was even plywood, I think it was just old wood with some missing pieces if I remember right. Anyway, it wasn't pretty and we used it as a storage place before it became our bedroom. Enjoy the pics:

In case you are wondering, no, it is not fun stripping 90 year old stairs, but it is a good work out. I didn't want to stain them, but am glad (once again) that I listened to Joe. Don't they look great?

Yeah! We now have a railing so no one is in danger of falling 15 ft to their demise.

We hang out up here A LOT!!!

My awesome red bathroom. Joe had to convince me that it would look right. I'm so glad he did. I love it now and so does he. He really wasn't into the pink theme.

Hmmmm......maybe that fourth bedroom would look good in lavender...

Happy 4th of July!!!

I really am not sure there is a better way to appreciate our country than the way it has come to be celebrated. We did the fireworks thing last night. We live near a larger city on a river and every 4th they shoot the fireworks off on the river. From what we've heard, it is crazy to get home from. So for about 3 years, we tried to find good fireworks that required no traffic jams at 10:30 pm. Last year we found them at a small town not to far from here at the county fairgrounds. It was great last year and it was great this year. I'm from a small town so maybe I'm a little biased, but I don't think there is any better way to celebrate the fourth of July than to experience the following:

• watching the fireflies come out over a field of corn (there must have been thousands)
• smelling the smells of farm life
• counting how many pick-up trucks you see with people riding in lawn chairs in the bed
• hearing John ask "Are those the real fireworks?" while the nearby people shot off bottle rockets
• knowing that you are going to have to wash the van because of all the dust from the gravel roads
• the warm heavy air that fills the midwest in the middle of the summer
• enjoying the fireworks because there is something in it for everyone--the gold ones (that look like rain according to Ashley) and the ones that make the big booms (Daddy's favorite)

Happy Birthday America! Truly the greatest country in this world!