Morning Greetings

These were the first words out of my beloved offsprings' mouths to me this mornings:

Sara: I don't know what to do with my hair. (It is picture day.)
Ashley: This is what I have so far. What do you think? (She has been slightly obsessed with a number game the last 24 hours.)
John: This is stuck. (Consumed with his erector set.)
Nathan: Mom, I don't want to be nocturnal. (Well, son, I would prefer that you weren't nocturnal as well.)

Yes, good morning to all of you too....

Moments on a Rainy Thursday morning

• I just finished the dishes. My reward is this post!
• I love surprises.
• John is wearing a blue t-shirt for his spring concert on April 4. He is super pumped about this concert. It has an American theme so all the kids will be in the colors of the flag.
• Nathan was really hoping his teacher would be back today. He evidently didn't enjoy his sub yesterday.
• I had forgotten how much 18 month olds and 2 year olds have sympathy for each other. One of them is teething so the other has joined in on the complaining this morning.
• Crockpot beef stroganoff for supper tonight. Oh yeah...
• Tween drama this morning...evidently someone stole someone else's hair idea. Wow, I obviously need to expose them more to hairstyles because I am pretty sure I have seen the updo with a hair clip done before.
• The word stroganoff reminded me of Ashley's spelling bee. She placed 5th in the school bee. Not bad considering her school is grade 4th-8th. It is also not bad considering how embarrassingly little she studied. So glad I will have someone to edit my blog posts in the future. I think I have at least 10 words I've misspelled so far.
• Feeling like summer this morning since I had fresh highlights put in my hair last night. Usually only the sun in July can accomplish what Honey did in a little over a couple hours last night.
• It is quiet. Hmmm, wonder what the munchkins are up to.....
• Look Miss Karen, we found Nathan's stuffed animals. (Wish I could share a picture of them with you because they are so stinkin' cute!)
• Celebrating the news with a good friend of a new pregnancy. Ahh, I love the anticipation of new life.
• Speaking of babies...I have a new niece! A big congratulations to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law Kristen and James! Now if we could find some time in our calendar to make the drive over the IN it would be even more awesome. The calendar is looking a little grim for that thought. Major sickness at this Horn house interrupted our plan to visit last weekend.
• I love new opportunities...especially when they involve sharing Jesus with a lot of people!
  
• Singing with the Newsboys this morning...

Recent Events....

One of my favorite Christmas gifts from Joe this year was a published copy of the first couple years of my blog. I love it! And with the enjoyment of reading it came a new enthusiasm for blogging. Well, I am obviously at a different stage of life than I was back then because I just can't seem to post as often. Oh well...it is what it is. So here are the bullets for the recent events....

• I braved the grocery store for the first time with my two little daycare kids this past week. They are 22 months and 18 months. The key to shopping with these two (and any two little ones for that matter) is a prioritized shopping list and speed. A prioritized list is key so that you get the absolute necessities (like milk and eggs in this case) before any meltdowns or fights begin. Speed, because well, even I get bored and agitated when I am in a store too long. It was masterful!to brag a little. I got everything on my list and by the end of the visit I felt like Lightening McQueen "speed, I am speed."
• Nathan came home and wanted me to help him fixed his snack. I quickly obliged and as we were fixing the snack he morphed into a French accent. I looked at him a little strangely and he whispered to me (so the mic wouldn't pick it up) that we were on a cooking show. I said " Ohhh", very quietly of course and then I oddly felt myself wishing that I had put some lipstick on....
• John brought his January journal home from school. I was really excited about this month's as he had told me over several breakfasts that he was plotting what he was going to write that day. He did not disappoint...
• Ashley started her second round of basketball. I, sadly, won't get to go to all her games this time around. Funny thing...the siblings think that it is punishment to have to go and sit at a basketball game. This is a very sad thing for this Hoosier, but the hubby and I agreed that we have "tortured" the other siblings enough so we will trade off and only one of us will be at each game.
• I believe Sara has reached the age where she finds me completely embarrassing. However, she is smart. She won't admit that I embarrass her because then I might embarrass her even more. Who knows where she got that idea? I would never do that. Really!
• Joe and I have become slightly addicted to a show we discovered on Netflix. You know when we are addicted because the bedtimes get obscenely late for us and the mornings come way to soon. One of the actors is the guy who played Briscoe County Jr.. Loved, loved, loved that show and makes me sad that I can't get it on Netflix. Joe and I used to it every Saturday morning when he was in seminary. Ahh, the memories....
• I have been auditing the books for the PTA and I love it! I know I'm weird. But I really am enjoying myself. It was been, ahem, well several years since I was an auditor and it reminded me that I really did love the work and just simply hated (HATED!) the travel.

So this is what it feels like to be full-time

So this was a crazy week and I am still having to remind myself that it was technically just a four day week since we were all off for MLK day. I added a couple of extra kids this week to my daycare and wow, was I busy. But I loved it and at the end of each day felt so blessed that I could work at home. At the end of February this will be the normal for me as one of the mom's I watch for will be headed back to work after her maternity leave. A few observations from my week:

• I once again proved that if you want something done, you ask someone who is busy. I stayed up with the laundry and the housework better than I typically do. There is something about being busy that just keeps me focused and more disciplined.
• Even though I did shed a few tears when my last one was completely potty trained (I'm weird, I know), I was reminded that those tears were not because I enjoyed changing diapers. However, I am extremely thankful for wipes and disposable diapers. I really can't imagine dipping that many diapers in the toilet to get them clean. ugh....and I apologize to anyone who just read that and was either preparing to eat or had just eaten.
• There are few things in life that can make you feel like superwoman like getting four kids to nap at the same time for at least an hour. Yes, I did that...four days in a row.
• Afternoon snuggles with an 18 month old on a cold, snowy afternoon are really great.
  

Birthday Fun!

John kicked off what I like to call our "quarter of birthdays" this last Tuesday. We celebrate three birthdays in our house over the next three months. John turned 8 years old which is a huge milestone for us because that means (drum roll, please....) no. more. booster. seat! Yeah! We are down to one car seat in our van. Here is John's stats for his 8th birthday:

Favorite meal....pizza. And not the gourmet variety. He requested Totinos for supper. So, yeah, we are raising a boy with real particular tastes. He says he wants to be a pastor when he grows up so at least we know he will be able to afford his favorite foods if that is what he ends up doing.
Cake choice....chocolate. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate was what he wanted and I was very happy to supply it. He also took chocolate cupcakes to school in our handy, dandy cupcake carrier. (Love that thing!!!)
Presents....he got a scooter for his birthday. He also got books (a lot of books and I think he has read over half of them at this point and they weren't little) and Kinex.
Favorite pastimes....legos and anything that requires building. He spent most of the day today in his room building a roller coaster.

The blessings of today

• What made me smile: the little boy I babysit...his toothy grin as he tries to charm me into approving his disobedience.
• What gave me warm and fuzzies: snuggling with a five week old little boy. Oh he was so sweet.
• What made me cry: reading Nathan's birthday card that he wrote for John's birthday next week. My paraphrase (you can't really get the full effect until you see his little handwriting on his crinkled up paper): " You are the best brother any brother could have because of the love you show me." Making me tear up again...
• What made me sigh: the snow and the cold. It was sigh of relief and blessing that I didn't have to go out in it today. To again paraphrase a friend: "I know winter is late, but does it have to arrive so grumpy?!"
• What amazed me: Our dinner conversation. Ashley was explaining electricity to me and how dryer sheets work. I don't think I've ever been told how dryer sheet works. How did my kids get smarter than me?
  

The official start of a new year....for me at least

For me the new year never seems to officially start until the kids go back to school. I know...it's a bit odd. This year what make it really odd is that the kids didn't go back until today so that leaves 8 days kind of in year limbo...they still felt like 2011 to me. Anyway, we are back at it here at our house although my kids have definitely had a begrudging attitude towards the return of school. One I think is, in fact, in denial. She got home from school and wanted to immediately start watching a movie series that we hadn't quite gotten concluded before the start of school. Somehow she forgot that she has homework, a flute to practice, AWANA verses to review, and a girl scout meeting tonight. And leave it to my boys to decide that the one day that they are going to start actually sleeping in is the first day back to school. Everyone was moving a bit slow this morning and seemed to be in quite a fog. Fortunately, I could move slow. I had only one child to babysit today and she didn't come until 8:30.

I've added another full-time client and one of my part-time clients has gone full-time so come the end of February I will be full. Yeah! Such a blessing from the Lord. I haven't advertised and now I have a waiting list. Looking forward to seeing God's mercy every morning in this coming year. He is so good.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I didn't stay up to see the New Year in this year. Honestly, it didn't even cross my mind to stay up and say hello at 12:01am. I realized the next day that I didn't even consider it. We were at my in-laws celebrating a wonderful and rare Christmas in which all the Horn children were in Indiana. I think we figured out that it had been five years. One of Joe's siblings lives in Asia so it is indeed a rare event. We returned yesterday and I woke up this morning in full organizational mode as the count down to the end of Christmas break has begun at our house. (This should be in no way compared to the count down to the beginning of Christmas break...not nearly as fun.) I started with my lists around 7:30 this morning. (My husband got up with the kids this morning and let me sleep in. He is so. awesome!). I got kind of nutty with my lists. I figured I was close to crossing the line into crazy list lady when I thought about making a list to organize my lists so I didn't. I just kept them organized in my head. This evening I feel very accomplished as there have been many things crossed off the lists. I think the kids got everything crossed off of theirs. (I certainly can't leave them out of list mania.) If I had put "read The Help" (my mother-in-law let me borrow her copy) and "take a nap" on my list I would be feeling even more accomplished. Wow, that nap felt really good. And to put a cherry on top of an already great day, my husband is out with my grocery list doing my shopping. He is so. awesome!

Duct Tape? Really? Who knew...

So I headed off to the doctor's office this morning to have some warts removed off my foot. Ashley has an appointment this afternoon to have one taken off her foot as well. But wait, before you judge, this is not due to my housekeeping skills. According to an extensive conversation I had with my doctor this morning (because what else is better to do on a Friday morning than talk to your doctor about warts and I needed a diversion between the freezings) most people are carrying the wart virus in their bodies. The virus actually resides in your spinal column (ahhh?!) and the warts emerge when you are under stress or your immune system is compromised. Then they hang out for awhile and eventually they do go away by themselves (my doctor did say you may have to wait several years...)

Now if you don't want to wait 40 years for them to disappear, you can have them frozen off like I did this morning. Or you can use duct tape. You might be saying "What? Duct tape? Seriously?". Yep...it is what my doctor recommends. You place the duct tape over the wart in the evening, sleep with it on, and then remove it the next morning. If you can tolerate it, put another piece of duct tape on it in the morning and remove it at night. It creates a skin irritation and eventually your body gets the message that there is something up with that area of skin and your immune system goes to work on the work.

So now that you know all about warts....Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend saying goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012.

my strong will power

So I am sitting here in my PJs at 8:15 this morning enjoying my grapefruit. I don't really need to be anywhere today so I'm thinking about just staying in them. They are comfortable and warm...both a priority for Christmas break. I was thinking through my accomplishments of the last week or so and there is one accomplishment that stands out above and beyond the rest. On Monday I didn't eat one cookie! This was quite an accomplishment since over the last month I have lost track of how many dozens of cookies I have made. We are (well, were...I disposed of them this morning) completely surrounded by cookies. So the fact that I didn't have one on Monday is HUGE. I'm sure it was all will power on my part that kept me from the cookies. I am sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I wasn't home most of the day. Nope....definitely my strong will power...