Day 654

Hannah got 'lost' for a while at church last night. It was a scary time for us. She thinks can do more than she should. Today we practiced walking around places and not running off. She did really good. The farthest she got away from me is 5ft, but I told her to come back and she did. Here is Hannah at Freebirds on our lunch break.

Thursday 2/25

Day 653

Tonight our Gathering rehearsal was up in the youth area. It is a pretty cool spot, but gosh....everything is so loud up there.

Day 652

Snow....really....again! sigh....I know it is beautiful, but I am so over all this cold weather. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it would have snowed during the day--or if it would have stuck so the kids could really play in it. Even getting to build a real snowman would have been nice. Ok, not to be such a downer-I am just always cold and can never warm up. I have lost my "mojo" so to speak for running outside. I just can't get over the coldness. Usually by now we have 70* temps, but as you can see by the snow it is NOT 70*. LOL To my northern friends, I understand we don't get the same amount of snow as you folks. It also falls and doesn't ever stay around long...this snow never even stuck. Hopefully this will be the last cold snap of the season.

Day 651

I know it is impossible to tell, but that little red blur in the middle is Caleb. What you can't see from this picture is that it is nearly 7:00 pm and the temperature is in the 40's with some wind. You can't see my numb fingers either. Baseball season is not supposed to be like this! Well, it is what it is and we must show up! Caleb is doing GREAT! He is such an athlete, but I am sure those of you who know him can "see" that about him. He is MUCH improved over last year. It is going to be a fun, but busy season (Josh is also playing). It would just be wonderful if we had baseball weather and NOT hockey weather.

Monday 2/21

Day 650

We haven't seen Meema in a while. She has been too busy and tired on the weekends. The kids miss their Meema. Sunday after church Meema wanted to go to lunch. I only use cash these days thanks to Dave Ramsey, so I wasn't prepared for lunch. I dug out every dollar from every nook and cranny in my purse and only came up with about $20. I am sure you know $20 doesn't feed me and 4 kids!!! Well my sweet mom said she could cover the rest, so we went to Cafe Adobe for lunch. It is only about a block away from the church, but the last few times we have went it is been well...dead. This time was very different! There were church people everywhere. I only saw ONE table of people that we couldn't place at church...it was kind of funny. The service was HORRIBLE, but the kids were so good! I have been praying and God is answering! Things have actually been relatively quiet in this house...well as quiet as it can be with 4 kids and baseball season and music lessons and church...activities every day. Never a dull moment here.

Sunday 2/10

Day 649

These are photos Josh took to prove to his dad that he did indeed do his kitchen chores. Why would he need photo proof? Because we have a large family! Once lunch AND dinner are eaten in this busy room it looks like a tornado hit.

2/19

Day 648

The details behind these photos is here. This is Hannah sitting in Caleb's recliner of a carseat which is temporarily in my living room floor. The last picture is of the kids new seating arrangement in the car.

Thursday 2/18

Day 647

This is a no photo day. :( Today I got fitted for contacts...a whole new experience for me!!!! It took me 20 minutes to get just 1 in. Then I kept dropping them when I tried to take them out. We finally got all set up and I was about to leave, but I looked down and couldn't read clearly. Distance is my problem, not up close. Back through the whole process again. I can say it is a very odd feeling, but I hope it will be worth the trade off since I HATE glasses and only wear them when absolutely necessary!

Wednesday 2/17

Day 646

Gotta love my new glasses!!!! LOL Not really, but I did have to wear them for a while. Go figure....the day I need to get my eyes dilated is one of the only days of SUN we have had this year. My eyes are fine. My prescription changed a little in one eye, so I have a Rx for new glasses, but I am going to get fitted for contacts first. Being a fairly new glasses wearer, I just can't get used to them and rarely wear them--only when driving, and events like the hockey game where I couldn't see the action without them.

Tuesday 2/16

Day 645

I have no photo today. I was somewhat out of my mind. I have had a headache that will not go away since Feb 3. It has caused horrible nausea and my eyes have been bothering me too. Well, in the middle of the night I woke up in severe pain with nausea and dizziness. I couldn't go back to sleep and actually hyperventilated. Marc told me to go to the ER, so that is where I spent the night. I got home at 6:30 and went to bed. A little before 9:00 Samantha's friend's mom called to set up a play date. So I jumped out of bed to meet up. Samantha went on her very first play date without me. She even rode in someone elses car. If you know me then you know that is a HUGE thing for me. I can count on ONE hand how many people have driven my kids around and that includes me and Marc! After we dropped her off, the rest of us went grocery shopping. I did manage to doze for about an hour in the afternoon. Anyway, Samantha had a great time! Hannah missed her "mantha." Caleb had to be the funniest of all. In the car he just stared at her empty chair and made up a "I miss Samantha, it is not fair" song. He sang it the WHOLE time we were in the car.

Monday 2/15

Day 644

At the Marathon expo Josh spun a wheel and won 2 free hockey tickets. We thought PERFECT!!! Marc likes hockey and can go with him. It didn't work out that way since it was President's Day weekend and Marc had to work longer than usual hours. Josh had a great time. I on the other hand spent lots of time grimacing because hockey seems to be so violent. There was even one fight! (picture below).

While we were at the game, Meema, Caleb, Hannah, and Samantha made some Valentine's Day cupcakes. They were a big hit!

Sunday 2/14

Day 643

Have you ever opened your freezer and wondered what on earth? I had that moment today. I opened the freezer to find some frozen veggies....I know, just taking the easy way out tonight. Ok, not really since I am making lemon/lime chicken and brown rice. On a side note, my freezer is not normally this disorganized. Samantha made a weeks worth of pitas and just tossed them in the freezer. Can you tell what doesn't belong in the freezer? I know it does depend on who you ask. Caleb swears this penguin belongs in the freezer, because penguins need to be cold. DUH mom!!! Yes, that is a penguin for those of you like me who must not know what penguins look like. He made it a week or so ago at school...guess the teacher figured it would fit right in with all these crazy cold temps we have had. He brought it home and put it in the freezer. Why did I not know this??? Simple because the freezer is usually organized and all I do is reach in and grab 3 sandwiches/pitas off the top shelf every morning. I am still sleepy and it doesn't require me to look at everything in there. While we are looking at strange this in the freezer, I am also not quite sure why there is an empty glass in there either. I guess Marc and Caleb think alike.

Saturday 2/13

Day 642

Last night was movie night! Marc had mentioned a few weeks ago that there was going to be a Robin Hood remake. WHAT???? I am sorry, but that Russell Crowe guy is NO Kevin Costner!!!! The kids and I sat down last night to watch Robin Hood, it was a hit with everyone except Hannah. Well, since I have not sat down to watch this beloved movie in forever we don't own it...well we do on VHS. Thankfully Netflix lets us stream to our Blue Ray DVD player. I absolutely LOVE this feature. Anyway, the kids and I are sitting there watching the movie and there are some things that I don't remember. Let me just say, I used to be able to quote this movie! During my sophomore year of HS we had this thing called Spirit Week. Our section of the hall was decorated like Sherwood Forest. Marc commented of these scenes also. We got to watch the uncut extended version...didn't even know one existed! Well, that sure explained some things to me! LOL

Friday 2/12

Day 641

No more pigtails for my little dude. Tonight I took him to get his hair cut. Of course it is still long, but not quite so much. :) Here are his before and after shots. He was unhappy in BOTH picture, that is why he has a goofy look. The first picture he was mad because I told him he needed to pick up his mess and put away his laundry. The second photo he is mad because he got in trouble for running around the clothes racks in the store.

Day 640

This picture is not really from today (Wednesday 2/10). It is from today...this morning in fact. To understand this (actually not sure if you can), this is Josh standing at the bus stop in the cold rain. I am sitting in the car right next to him with the heater nice and toasty, yet my son chooses to stand outside in the very cold rain. This is not really what I was going to blog about though. My picture for the day was going to be of the nice relaxing room where I got my facial, but it was too dark and I didn't want to turn on the light and spoil the relaxed mood.

My Josh story is amazing...to me, although it should not be. We had dinner at church...like usual. We were much later than normal because my son went to PE with his sweatshirt on and when he got in the car we all quickly realized he needed to go home put on deodorant and change shirts. The joys of getting older..... Anyway, as we were trying to get ready to go to choir I was trying to chat and get the table cleaned up. I was getting a little angry because Josh seemed to be ignoring my request to help get stuff picked up. I went over and asked what was up. He said the "church guy" asked him to go on stage during the prayer. I said ok and went back to the table. A few minutes later Josh is on stage with the one of the ministers. He asked Josh his name, then he said, "OH you are part of the xxxx family. This family drives from xxxx, a long drive every Wednesday and every Sunday." Then he asked Josh to do the prayer. It was quickly obvious to me that he had NO idea he was going to be asked to pray. His eyes got kind of big and his face got red. LOL I was so proud of Josh. He prayed for the meal for about 100 people and he didn't break into the "God is great, God is good...." prayer. He prayed a real prayer. So proud of my son! He is growing into a wonderful young man.

Day 639

Today the kids went and picked out Valentine's for their class parties. Here is my little dude Caleb writing his name on all of his.

Tuesday 2/9

Day 638

Today I thought I would take a picture of Josh. For some reason he is never around during all the picture taking. Of course he no longer feels the need to push his way into photos either. If you saw the video you would know what I am talking about. While I was making the video Josh was sitting on the couch next to me. Well, I took my picture of Josh and emailed it to myself. THEN I walked into my bedroom and found Hannah jumping on my bed.....I nearly fell over from laughing so hard. Just look at the photo of her! How could I NOT put it in here?

Day 637

Totally LOVE this little guy! I got him dressed for church this morning, but he decided he wanted to add to his outfit!

Day 636

Today I thought I would make a quick trip to the grocery store...sure, if you can imagine doing anything quick on a Saturday...before the super bowl, with 4 kids in tow. Only 1 of my kids got a dirty look though, so it was a good day. The look wasn't even for doing anything bad. Some lady decided she wanted to read the label of a bottle of dressing, but she stopped herself and her basket right in the middle of the isle. I was stuck behind her. Samantha was holding the side of the basket like she was supposed to, but she had to move over a little to let a man (with a much smaller basket) get by. In doing so she bumped into this lady. The lady turned around and gave her a dirty look. Geez, then I got one too. At least she then had to sense to get her cart out of the way. Anyway, on the way home I decided to get on the freeway. BAD move!!!! I only had to go about 1.5 miles. I get on the freeway and it stops...I mean really really stops! I look ahead and it looks as if NO cars are getting around this wreck. Then I see a tow truck drive by me with a boat. Turns out the boat used to be attached to one of the wrecked cars. It went flying across the freeway and might or might not have ended up on the other side. We couldn't figure out why it had to drive to the accident scene. Here are some photos from our drive by...followed by a video of Samantha playing around on the piano. Of course I can't do only 1 kid with a camera! Everyone wants to be a part! LOL....don't forget to pause the playlist music at the bottom.

Day 635

Tonight was movie night. We watched Karate Kid 3....Caleb didn't make it through the movie. Well, he never does. I love this little guy!
Friday 2/5

Day 634

Just another evening reading in our house!

Thursday 2/4

Day 633

Hannah strikes again! Well, I decided today would have lunch at school with Caleb. It was nice! His teacher came up and talked to me about how Caleb was doing. She also told me that all the adults in the building were praying for the little dude! It was way cool! Hannah stayed at home with Marc while I did this. When I came home I found a glittery mess. Our carpet was sparkling. Turns out Hannah decided to use 4 bottles of glitter...oh well.

Wednesday 2/3

Day 632

Today was NOT a fun day for me. I have goals, so I am in save money mode. Well after many many months washing dishes by hand, I finally caved and agreed to get a new dishwasher. I already had it planned to get the cheapest I could, so I wouldn't have to spend too much. Well, while I am waiting on Marc to get home so we can go look I hear BANG, followed by a bump, bump, bump, bump. Well, my washer decided it was a good day to collapse. I use that word because the bucket part literally collapsed into the washer. We did buy an extended warranty, but it wasn't long enough. So we called to have someone come look at it. While we wait, we hit a few stores to find a dishwasher. I wanted cheap, Marc got sidetracked with all the fancy buttons and nice looks....we got cheap. I didn't want to pay to have it delivered and didn't think nearly $100 was a good price to have the thing installed. So, we got our dishwasher and left. I came home and started unhooking the old one at about the time the washer repairmen show up. From the utility room I hear "I have never seen this happen before." Yeah, I know that is NOT a good sign. First impression was that we would need a new washer. I can live without a dishwasher...I can NOT live without a washer! Anyway, I go back to fiddling with the dishwasher while the guys try to find all the missing parts inside the washer. I get frustrated because I can't figure out how to disconnect it from the power supply and I can not find the instructions. I send Marc out to get the instructions for the new one. He can't find them and must have ignored me when I said they were INSIDE the dishwasher. Meanwhile the guys find all the parts to the washer. They are stumped. They get it all put together and it works fine. They come to the conclusion that it was not put together properly from the factory because there is no explanation for what was wrong and how it was wrong. Whatever...I am just happy it works and I don't have to buy a new one! Marc will be calling Maytag tomorrow to complain though. Well, since they were here Marc decided to have them install the dishwasher too. YAY! I have working appliances...for now. Here is a photo of the new dishwasher....told you it was nothing fancy.

Day 631

The kids went outside to play today...not an unusual thing. I went to switch out the laundry and saw Caleb out the window playing with his "sword and shield"....just had to take a picture of it. Then tonight after our family devotion, the song we picked from the hymnal was "Deep, way down"--we sang it normally, but it just so happens that I have this song on the computer. I put it on and Caleb busted out doing hand motions to it. So funny I had to video it. Samantha saw the camera and spazzed out for the camera. To hear it just pause the playlist music AND ignore my singing. I was barely at a whisper in hopes of the camera not picking up my voice, but it didn't work and I have no idea how to edit me out.

Day 630

Anyone want to play with bubbles???? Yesterday when cleaning out the cabinet, I found this bubble gun. Josh got it for his 2nd birthday. I remember putting it up there way back when, but I don't remember why. The kids tried it out and it makes HUGE bubbles. They used every ounce of bubble bath in the house...it is not like the boys can take a bubble bath anyway, so it was just sitting around.

Sunday 1/31

Day 629

Today I sent the kids to their rooms to clean up....they had other ideas. They all came out dressed up....well, not Josh. My funny story has to do with Hannah and her monkey. After she had been wearing this costume for a while she realized it had a tail. She came running out "MOMMY, monkey poop." Of course knowing she is wearing panties and only has ok days with potty training, my first thought was OH NO. I tell her to come here and feel her rear and it is fine. She said , "no mommy...monkey poop" and she grabbed the monkey's tail. I about fell out of my chair laughing so hard. She thought the monkey's tail was poop. When I was done laughing I explained to her that it was not poop and that monkey's have tails. Her reply was a happy "oh" as she bounced back off to the other room. LOL

Saturday 1/30

Day 628

Today my day started around 4am. It was about that time my two younger kids came into my bed because they were terrified of the thunderstorm going on. That went on for about an hour. After I got the kids off to school, I hit the gym. Then Hannah and I kicked back for a lazy day. We played a few games and watched a movie. I finally received everything I needed to do our taxes, so I did those. Josh had social night at school, so we just did nothing. LOL After we picked Josh up we had our movie night. Just a regular Friday around our house.

Friday 1/29

Day 627

OMGoodness...baby girl LOVES to dress up! I am in the middle of giving Caleb his bath when I turn around and see Hannah smiling VERY big walking towards me. She is such a cutie!!! After I snapped this picture she went and got Josh to dance with her. It was the cutest thing.

Thursday 1/28

Day 626

Today was a Wednesday. I went for a run and nearly got run over by an armored truck...nice. I also cut in the car rider line at Josh's school. Let me clarify by saying that the teacher get really really mad when parents just park in front of the door and don't pull all the way forward to the stop sign. I am guessing this one parent (it is always the same car) really really wanted to be in front of the door. We were a little late and tons of cars had filed in behind it and parked. The line was to long for my liking, so I pulled into a spot in the 100+ yards behind the two cars who know how to follow instructions and the guy who insisted on being by the door. I started a trend because that spot filled up quickly after I did it! LOL

1/27

Day 625

Today I went to return my new running shoes. They were a bad fit. While I was literally running around Market Street trying to find the perfect shoe, Hannah was playing at home. Marc was supposed to be watching her. I called him to tell him to take her potty and this is what he walked in on. That used to be the inside of a HUGE stuffed snail. I included a video of Hannah playing in her mess. :) Just pause or turn off the playlist music

Tuesday 1/26

Day 624

I had a photo last week on facebook of Caleb wearing pigtails. It was our way of keeping his creams out of his hair...it did work! Today I found a better more masculine way! LOL No more creamy greasy hair!!!!

Monday 1/25

Day 623

I have no photo to be found...I can bore you with facebook status updates though.... LOL

Jennifer-is getting everyone ready for church while listening to praise and worship music...love it!!

Jennifer-Day 3...please keep praying! He is doing better! (referring to Caleb)

Jennifer- Wouldn't mind watching the kids ride bikes outside if the wind wasn't so cold and blowing so hard

Jennifer-what happened to the nice warmer weather???? I am cold! :(

Jennifer-s listening to Samantha read Nancy Drew to me...about to start Caleb's bath. Prayers would be appreciated for a smooth bath, cream, and wet pajama night. He is not liking it.

Sunday 1/24

Day 622

Just a fun Saturday playing outside!

Saturday 1/23

Day 621

Today we spent an eternity at the dermatologists office. They were WAY behind! Anyway, it was quite the adventure with my two youngest. I think Caleb has a crush on his doctor. He was his usual Caleb self, but when the doctor came in he went over the top! He was eating the paper off the table. He then tried to see if he could spit it to the ceiling. OMGosh....I was so embarrassed. It was just horrible. Of course all the while he has his giggle on....I think that is all I am going to say about that. You can see my specific prayer request from that visit HERE. I do NOT have a photo because the second I was about to take one of my two youngest rolling around in the mirror room, our pager went off.

Friday 1/22

Day 620

Tonight was science night at school. Normally I would have just skipped this event, but Samantha was chosen to represent her class and be a helper. We visited a few tables. Here is Samantha telling the boys how to make her classes project.

Hannah was just kicking back while we waited. Yes, she IS wearing a Santa hat...I can't explain why though. She has now arrived at the school wearing a Santa hat, fairy wings, Cinderella dress, AND 'glass slippers'.....

Thursday 1/21

Day 619

Well, remember that thing we had at church called "Celebration?" Tonight was the cast party aka Chilly bowl! It was quite funny. Santa came back in from Florida. We had Tommy the Intern chat with Darth Vader....the new intern. LOL Do you remember the camel story or Caleb's camel video? Well, we had the camel come and put on a show too. It was hilarious and filled with some pretty cool dance moves...before it fell across Stephen and John. LOL

Wednesday 1/20