All This and A Bag of Popcorn Too!

Had a busy day today.

We've had a busy life these last few weeks. Surprisingly enough it hasn't been wearing on me, or my kids or hubs. I've asked them.

It's God.

Life has been so unpredictable lately. It's been busy. It's been full of change.

Perhaps it's everything happening at once and nothing has hit home yet. I just don't think so. It's God. When I got offered my new job I had been praying about it for months ahead of time. I had gotten a heads up that the position was being created and my name had come up. I didn't say anything - to anyone, not even Steve. I simply prayed that if this were the job God had for me, I knew it was headed that way, me working outside the home, and I asked the Lord that if this was where He wanted me that He would bring it to me and that it would met a few requirements that I wasn't willing to budge on.

It did!

So the addition of my job is covered by God. We're also back into having some issues with our new business. Our area/county isn't real helpful for small business. They have been making it hard for us. Looks like we have a few things that need more attention than we want to give to them but what do we do but handle it. With God.

So my busy week last week and my busy Monday today have gone quite well and I give all the praise and glory to God. He is so good. I spent much of my life doing things my way in my time that it's somewhat relaxing and peaceful to wait on the Lord and on His timing.

Frustrating, unpleasant. Yes, but worth it.

So in closing I just gotta let ya know what my day consisted of.

6:20am woke up feeling cranky and wanting to snap at everyone, I keep my mouth shut.
coffee, clean kitchen (busy Sun nite too), start laundry, get Steve off to work

8:00am kids arrive
8:30am run to drop physical form off at dr. office- sing several songs at the top of my lungs on the way and back, "This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made..." and "Rise and sine and give God the glory, glory, rise and shine and give God the glory, glory..."

8:45am run to Publix for some movie snacks for boys- popcorn is BOGO!!
9:15am 1 more boy shows up, start Lord of the Rings Fest 2007! - Fellowship of the Ring
watch TV for 3 hours and didn't finish movie

12 noon- make lunch, send one boy home
12:30pm pack all 5 boys up, take Steve his lunch and head to work
1-3 work while kids play in gym
3:15pm arrive at dr. office to find out a simple form will now cost me more headache than I want. Have I ever told you I'm not a dr. fan?

4:15pm arrive home with 5 hungry boys who pig out on ice cream
prepare for Bible study while boys skateboard and then watch TV- feed Early Bird decent food/fruit to hold him over through football practice tonight

4:30pm start dinner, something from my mom that only needs to be heated up
5:00pm 3 more boys leave
5:15pm make 2 hot dogs for Night Owl
5:30pm leave to take Steve dinner and head to football practice
5:45pm realize we forgot physical form, head back home
5:55pm just in the nick of time we made practice, I handed in form only to find out homeschool children are still considered to be on academic probation, so I fill out a form stating he's top in his class *smile*

6:05pm leave for Bible study that I should have at at 6pm to set-up etc. I hope I don't miss the babysitters!

6:15pm arrive and no I didn't miss the babysitters!!
6:30-8:30pm Bible Study, what a great night on patience- good stuff
9:00pm get kids to bed
9:30pm finish up laundry, fold and put away 3 loads, talk with Steve
10:30pm now- blog and get ready to hit the hay!

Wow! I did do alot! And if you read all that- wow- don't you have something better to do? hehe
Goodnight all.

-Michelle
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Go, Fight, Win!

Signed Early Bird up for Pop Warner football today.
Sigh.
He's getting so big, I tear up inside every time we do anything like this. He's in the highest division this year, Midgets, I love that- the largest kids are called midgets- keep 'em humble.

Anyway he weighed in at 142 and stands 5 foot 9 inches :-( What happened to my preemie?

This is our 4th year of Pop Warner and I'm beginning to feel like a veteran. I'm excited to attend practices, visit with parents, work the concession stand and most importantly I'm resting my vocal cords for Saturdays games! I have been practicing in my head the words I will utter yell each week:

"HIT SOMEONE!!!!" That's what I'm known for.

"HIT SOMEONE!!!!"

Although our last years QB isn't returning so Early Bird is considering trying out? He's tall, he's smart, afterall he's homskoled homescooled homeschooled, and he has a pretty decent arm. Although as I write this he informs me that no, he'll probably stay with his other positions, afterall he likes to hit.

Yes, my gentle little man likes to hit, and like his momma says:

"HIT SOMEONE!!!"

I've loaded up on ice packs and water bottles, sunscreen and red and black outfits. We are the Cudas, Barracudas that is, and the red and black rule the field!! My umbrella has been located, a new football item I was unaware of being from the north. For those of you that are wondering Saturday games in the south are hot, hot, hot- so to protect ones self from the Florida sun one brings an umbrella to the stands.

So the football basket is out, ready to house the cleats and the pads and the helmet and all the other football gear.

And in the midst of all this, the reality of life has hit home. Children will grow up and one day, in the not so near future I'm afraid, mine will be gone.

Until then, my vocal cords are ready, my outfits are clean and I'm ready for some football !!

-Michelle
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For you viewing pleasure, and to put a little fear in any Div 1 Pop Warner teams in FL, here's a barracuda, a mean fish in our sea.

Lovin' Every Minute of It!

Currently we have about 3 dozen tennis balls on the back porch, spray painted, lined-up. Several other dozen await at a friends.

Our house, this Thursday tennis ball war.
Ahhh, life with boys!

-Michelle
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Workin's Not Bad

Started my new job last week.

It's my first real job in a long time.

The whole staying at home thing has certainly been a full time job these last 14 years and I love the job of mothering and parenting, even consider more kids so I can keep doing it *smile*

The new job. Th one outside my home. Great!

I like my new job! I couldn't ask for a better fit, actually I did ask- I actually was praying about this particular job for months before I was even offered it. So anyway I like my new job!

I get to set my own hours, work from the office or home and will even be able to home school the kids at the office! I love it!

I just feel so blessed. With the boys getting older and more independent, us needing some extra cash, and my desire to step foot outside my house for something besides grocery shopping, this job fits.

I'm blessed.

-Michelle
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My Soap Box... for a minute

We don't have cable.
Or dish network.
We have an antenna.
Old school style.

When we travel the kids don't have a portable DVD player.

My kids are good travelers.

I bring this up because recently I've had several conversations with moms who say they just can't live without TV for their kids. Thinking of a trip in the car without the DVD player on is a form of torture for some moms. An afternoon without a movie playing freaks them out!

Are you kidding me?

I didn't realize we as moms had become so wimpy. Yes I'll most likely get some slack form this but those that know me know I don't expect you to behave as I do. Believe me my children will be lined up for therapy as soon as they leave my house.

But com'on. You're child needs to watch TV while traveling to the grocery store, that is, if you are brave enough to take them- but that's another post.

How did our grandmothers make it, or our great grandmothers? Heck how did Noah's wife do it with her 8 children and all those animals!

I encouraged a friend this week to not take her DVD on the plane for her 3 young children. She freaked at first but I received an e-mail explaining that she successfully did it!

Can you imagine that. Her children survived on a plane for 2 hours without watching TV! Good job!

So let me step on my soap box for a little bit. When our children are allowed to watch a screen everywhere they go they will miss out of the beautiful scenery that God gave us to enjoy on road trips. The experience of flying, looking out the window observing the sights and sounds around them are missed when DVD's are on the plane.

I am of the mind set that televsion numbs the brain, puts it to sleep.

Misbehaved children, antsy children, whinny children often times don't know how to entertain themselves, or be alone wiht themselves for 2 minutes. They depend on mom or TV or something to entertain them. Have fun when they grow up.

Turn off your TV's parents and sing with your kids.

Play I-Spy,
search for road signs and license plates.

Spot tiny buildings and house outside plane windows.

Enjoy your kids! One day they will be gone.

Stretch minds, awaken the brain cells and teach your children to be satisfied just as they are with nothing else. To be satisfied and happy without all the extra junk.

So that's my 2 cents.
-Michelle
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A Day in the Life

*and yes it's my fav Beatles tune

Summer's going good, this week. While today I am writing about the good days, know there are bad ones too! We rely on God on those days *smile*

Anyway, this going good. Today we had to go do Early Bird's lawn account. He has 3 lawns that he mows, and being 13, mom is the driver and the fill in! So the the oldest boy i watch mowed for him. First I dropped him at the lawn, showed him what to do and then took the other 3 to the park. We played, mainly in the shade, after all it was 9:30am and 83 degrees!

40 minutes later we did a drive-by too check on him before "pokin' around" the Goodwill. Each kid had a quarter and Night Owl also had $2 and bought a box of legos; the red lego box, valued at $9.99 or more!! Boy do we know a Lego deal when we see one!

Went back to the lawn where I did my usual weedwacking and edging. We hauled it back to the house where we showered and had lunch before I headed to my 2nd day on my new job! I spent 2 hours there and then came home.

Now the children are gone and it's just my fam!

God has blessed me with such a peace I can't explain it. Don't get me wrong at times I look around that the storm around me and panic, my self is strong- God is stronger! and that Rocks my friends! That's real power and strength!

On a lighter note, some other fun summer facts are:

-i'm seriously thinking about getting 6 Rhode Island Reds, that chickens for all ya'll city slickers- eggs to eat and sell
-we catch an average of 2-5 grasshoppers a day
-we catch an average of at least 1 other bug a day
- we store these creatures in an old peanut butter jar, the first pb jar used up this summer!
-i had the chance to make a pit stop, long weekend that is, in my hometown in new england. it had been 2 years and it was strange being a stranger in my own hometown- a small town of around 6,500 people.
-we're going to be having our annual Lord of the Rings Fest- a week dedicated to watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies back to back ALL. WEEK. LONG. Fun, lots of fun- so to my runaway child, yes you know who you are- the only other one of my type i'll claim, anyway you are welcome to come- i hope you do. sniff, sniff
- we have not given our kittens away, yet? any takers?
-if last year was a summer of knowledge, this summer is the summer of videography. They play outside great still, trampoline the best thing for active children, but when they're in it's either PS2, computer, DS, movie editing, movie producing

Just another recap of my day,

-Michelle
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WOW! 10-Year Anniversary!

We will start our tenth year of homeschooling this fall.

Did I tell you I'm not old enough to have been homeschoolng for 10 years?

Well I am.
Kind of?

Anyway, it's back to my fun time in planning; the scheduling!
I function well on a schedule, so do my kids, especially my active one!

Although I usually end up so far away from the schedule by years end that when summer comes, we're well inot summer mode.

I'm also in the process of deciding what curriculum to use.
I'm more of a lax-homeschooler, as in relaxed. I haven't always been, there was a day when I had it bought and planned and ready to go, then we found this way and right now- it works!

So here are some thoughts...

History. Using the 8th grade ABeka History DVD curriculum with Early Bird's bbf. Using this for both boys, grades 6 and 8. I think the 6th grader can do the 8th grade work no problem. Going with a Christian based program as I want History taught from a Christian perspective. Plus it come HIGHLY recommended, this teacher and this class.

Math? Still unsure if I want to leave Saxon for math? It's good stuff and works well for Early Bird. As for Night Owl- well he gets the old Saxon, we own it, and he learns from it just fine; actually he prefers textbooks right now. I have and love the D.I.V.E. CD's that go along with Saxon, but Night Owl doesn't care for them- so I'll teach 6th grade math.

Language Arts. Again, still stumped. For 6th grade I think I'll try P.A.C.E.. Night Owl did LifePacs last year and we survived- I think the P.A.C.E. books will work better for him, again he has asked for this type of schooling. As for Early Bird I'm thinking one of the Florida virtual schools. He likes the computer based classes; last year he did S.O.S. and it worked well. The self paced, "do it when I want" works well for him. He quickly learned: get up and get it down so you have time to work and have fun! Yes he works, a job, or two, and he likes it!

Science. Again last year the S.O.S. worked well, so maybe Florida virtual school- not sure because I want Science taught from a Christian perspective? It's also be nice to do this together. Maybe co-op this too? Lots of thoughts on this one?

Foreign Language. Rosetta Stone: Greek- both boys. They will also hopefully, Lord willing, be able to spend time with their Papou, Greek for grandfather, speaking with him in Greek. I've also asked Papou to only speak to the boys in Greek once they decide to learn the language, he agreed! Anyway, I've also suggested busing tables at the Greek restaurant in town. Night Owl said, "No way, I don't even like cleaning up my own dishes, no way am I doing someone elses."

Guess that's a "No!"

Bible. We are doing an inductive study of Jesus together- the three of us. I should have listed Bible first, save the best for last!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the ramblings of my homeschool life!

I can't believe I will be starting my 10th year of homeschooling! Beside my marriage this is the longest thing I've ever done! Hip, Hip Horray!!

I really love my job!


-Michelle
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Arriving Home

Tonight I went out with my girlfriends. We were celebrating a birthday.

It's time to get going when the birthday girl says- "I'm not going home after this, I'm going out, anyone wanna come?"

One friend jumps in on it, after all a night out for her certainly requires arriving home after the twins, age 5, and the little one, age 3, all boys mind you, are tucked nicely in bed.

They decided they will go to... are you ready...

Wal-mart!

Yes, what a sad place we live in that Wal-mart is the after party for a group of us 30-something mamas. But... Birthday girl had been instructed to not come home without baby wipes- so Wal-mart it was.

So we did it. We spent over an hour walking around Wally World.

Got the wipes, browsed around crafts, a little slice of heaven at Wal-mart, lingered through housewares and the books. Discovered that we cannot purchase the longer lasting, energy efficient light bulbs for night lights, talked extensively about the games we needed to buy for our next game night, and ended up buying Don't Break the Ice- twin Mama did, not me, and then spent too much time mulling over the sunblock.

So I made it home to find hubs passed out while the kids waited up nicely in bed for their Mama to arrive home.

I got 20 questions.

From a 13 and 11 year old. Boys, both of them.

They asked things like what did she get for her birthday? What kind of cake and ice cream did she have? (they were disappointed to hear it was Key Lime pie- yum, yum) They even asked how the fellowship was? Did I enjoy my friends? and What took me so long?

What sweet boys I have. Sniff, sniff. That they care enough to wait up for me and ask me about my night.

It was good night and I didn't mind Wal-mart, afterall it's the company you keep not the place one goes. It was free and I got to talk and enjoy my friends. They inspire me. To, spend more time with them, to overcome fears, to be a little more concerned about things- although I may just tear a playing card for the fun of it (inside joke). Seriously the fact that these people will walk around Wal-mart with me for an hour just blesses my heart.

I love my friends.

I'm blessed.

-Michelle
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When I was a little girl, I was a daddy's girl.
After having 2 boys, I was a breath of fresh, pink air. I think we bonded instantly.
One of my favorite things to do with my dad was to go get milk with him.

We lived in a rural town and my father owned the local sawmill. One of the benefits was we traded product for all kinds of things- including milk. A local farmer, my bus driver and my dad's old bus driver, had cows and my dad traded sawdust for cows milk. Fresh, unpasteurized, milk.

Most often we'd head out after dinner to go get milk. I'd hop in the front seat of my dad's green pick-up truck, stand next to him on the seat, put my arm around his neck and talk steady. It's a running joke between us that it wasn't all those years in a sawmill that made him hard of hearing, it was in deed all that talking I did directly into his ear.

I can still see the trip to the farm. The high ridge we drove along, the field where the deer could be seen eating, the old Quaker meeting house and the barn.

The barn. I can still smell it. We'd usually enter after dark and while my dad loaded up the glass milk jugs into our milk carrier, I'd sneak to the other side of the room, open the door and see all the cows. Nestled nicely into the barn, chewing their cud. The smell of the cows was one of my favorite smells, the little babies were my favorite sight and the big bulls made my eyes open wide with awe. I began to fall in love with God's creation on those nights.

When the cows stirred enough to my satisfaction, I'd hurry back out, usually just in time to help grab the last bottle from the cold water of the old coke chest that held the milk.

We'd load back up in the truck and I'd resume whatever story I had been telling as we drove down the drive, past the old farmhouse onto the road toward home.

It was usually on the way home that the deer would cross the road and we'd have to slow down and I'd beg him to stop until they were out of sight. Many times he'd pull off the road and shine the lights into the woods until their little beady eyes were long gone.

I have the opportunity of still being close to my daddy. This memory is one of many, many that fill my heart and mind. I am excited to also have the opportunity to go back to see my dad this weekend.

Thank you daddy for being my dad. Among all your imperfections and mistakes you are the best! As a little girl growing up you showed me the love of Christ more than anyone else. I love you dad. See you soon!

-Michelle
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My Nana on the 4th

So we're relaxing after our 4th of July lunch when my 85 year old grandmother wakes up and starts reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

We just ended up cracking up. We laughed our heads off. It was a classic moment.

This is my family- and I love them!

-Michelle
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Lego Land

After years of having legos residing on my dinning room table we enclosed our garage to make a lego room. Crazy you may say.

Well...Welcome to our personal LegoLand!

It's a platform the size of a queen size bed. sits about 18inches-2 feet off the ground. Most of the platform is covered with lego boards.

Sometimes it looks as though it makes no sense, messy; until you look closer.

It has a Johnny Appleseed Park and a fenced in field: A statue:A store (left) and a bar (right) and yes that is Yoda at the bar- how else can his speech be explained:
A hospital (right)
Radio tower and highrise apartments and a portal to another world (see bottom left black arch)

Viking Ship, every town needs one

A movie theatre, see the large black screen- and a park with water feature (right middle)Extra building supplies reside under the table.

Michelle
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It Began From...

*this is from years ago-a past journal entry from when I was struggling with a pit I called home

I gasp for a breath.
Just one.
Just one breath is all I need.
To live.
My life , where has it gone?
How did I end up here? Alone yet surrounded by people, surrounded by everyone who thinks they know me- but have no clue.
I walk around, not wanting to be someone I'm not, just not being all I am.

A lie is best hidden between two truths. My reality is hidden between the other truths of my life.

I made the choice before.

I stepped out of my pit.

The air is so much fresher out there. Cleaner. Brighter. Bluer. With white puffy clouds and flowers that smell.

I did it again.

I jumped.
Back into my pit.

I learned early to hide it form the world. To show it only to those who accept others for who they truly are. or so I think.

This jump was fueled by happiness. It threw me off. In the past it's been the pain, the suffering, the rejection that was my springboard. This time it was happiness. or so I thought.

I just need to breath.

I need to breath.

I need more than a breath. A breath only lasts so long down here before my lungs can't take it- I sit gasping...

The walls of this pit are damp and the air is thick. Breathing it is hard- not fresh.
The pictures and walls were suppose to comfort me, I've tried to make this place seem like home. The comfort of being here itches away at me as I claw and dig to get out. I fail.

There's a hand.

A nail scarred hand.

It's grabbed for me before. I've reached before. It scares me.

If I chose it, it'll be hard.
My wounds will be opened. Exposed.

The bandages I've used to covers my wounds are ready to be changed. The pain oozes out, the blood seeps through-

I'm tired of changing the bandages- each time I'm faced with the pain it never looks any different. What I'm doing isn't working.

Grab My hand. Find comfort in My arms.

God often speaks most clear to me when I'm down here. I fear I will not hear Him when I leave.

Lame excuse.

It's time.

Expose the wounds and let the true Healer do His part.

Stop hiding. Start breathing.

Get out of this miry pit. The air is fresh, the skies blue, the flowers - oh the flowers. The are life. They are a gift God put outside my pit to make me smile, to show me His unfailing love.

I'll take Your hand Lord. I'm ready for the process to begin.

-Michelle
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