Have you ever created a wordle...check mine out...I just used words pasted from my blog...love it!
title="Wordle: wordle one"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/2533366/wordle_one"
alt="Wordle: wordle one"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Cousin Fest and other rambling thoughts...

I know I was starting to feel better from my recent sinus surgery when at 2:47 am I was thinking about writing again. I love to write! Unfortunately, for the past 2 weeks I have only graded other people's writing for work. It is fun to be back stringing together some words myself and there are no MLA citations required!

We have been shooting a lot of hoops lately (well, lately I have been watching mostly). I love this shot of ultra-competitive Daddy getting his shot in...I call it "Swoosh Slap-Down". When I am playing sports with Jeb and he gets hurt my mantra is "that is what happens when you play hard...people get hurt." So, he usually takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin since I have always just repeated that over and over. Believe me...he's not the only one that has been whacked during backyard sporting. I have had my nose wallumped, been whacked in the leg by a 5 year old with a bat, been tripped playing soccer by a golf club left out, and been thrown at while not looking myself. The joke in my family growing up was that if someone was going to get injured--it was me. ANYTIME there was a backyard game of anything I usually ended up with red marks.

My thoughts at 2:47 this morning were mostly about the hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." I started worrying about money and then feeling bad physically and then back to paying bills, then I ended up back at the hymn. Here are the words:
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with thee;
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever will be.

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided;
great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!


When I worry about finances ( we have had some large health expenditures lately!)...I always come back to the fact that God provides. The blessing that are mine are so abundant ...I came to the conclusion that If I wanted to fix things I know I could go back to work and make SIX TIMES the money I make...but that wouldn't bring peace. I want my kids to know that I would choose them ANY DAY than work and extra mula for things. I really spend very little time at night working about finances amazingly enough on a teacher's salary...but the few times a year that it gets to me I always come back to my this one conclusion about loving being home with the boys and wouldn't change a thing so I should just go back to sleep.

We had a family reunion of sorts in my sister's town this past month and it was so refreshing. We had been looking forward to meeting our new, sweet cousin, Sarah. She exceeded our expectations and was so precious. We were so sad when the trip was over. You can see that the boys enjoyed crabbing and Uncle Jonas was so good to get the materials, set it up, and help them with their new found hobby. I think they would have crabbed for days on end. We did a lot of biking and all the cousins that were Jeb's age enjoyed spending the night with us in our new camper. We also got to see Bob-O's new boat (and Nana's too). The boys enjoyed exploring it and we even got to see a dolphin in real life at the marina. Jeb was THRILLED. We made some great memories at the beach and the fall weather could not have been better. We even had a Bday party in the jam-packed weekend. Noah had his first "real smore" and Meggie went to the beach for the first time! They both loved their new experiences and it was fun to be part of it.

entertaining boys

I discovered a new way to entertain boys for at least an hour. Fill a giant tub with water and bubbles and then hand each of them a spray bottle. It worked for me! These are some pictures and memories I NEVER want to forget. A stay-at-home Mom has to get created when Daddy says he won't be home until later!

































































































We had fun at our family Thanksgiving in Sept! It is a much better time to get together than in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Jeb and Cay had a blast with their cousins.

Cocka doodle--doooooooo

Rooster. That is what we call our 2nd born child. Strange I know. This blog is for my little Rooster. No, not Elvis our real Rooster, Caleb our child “Rooster”. Jonas has always called Jeb Knothead because he is so tough. But, Caleb came out with red hair (even though it all went away) and still kept the name Rooster. Now, we had no idea why he kept the name until about 6 mos. Ago when we got chickens. Now, we REALLY know why now that we have Elvis. The two souls have found each other. Caleb lives to go down and be with his chickens. There are a few ways that the two are like in more than name. For starters, roosters (esp. Elvis) is small but he is cute and he thinks he’s all grown up—like Caleb. He keeps all his hens in line and tries to be the boss of the place…like Caleb. They both wake up in the morning and start crowing…very early. Both are crowing and running around like crazy by 6:30 a.m. For both Roosters and Caleb you can’t act scared of them—or they know it and chase you! Ha! Elvis is mild and sweet and Caleb can be too—when he wants to!
After about 10 mins in the coop I usually say things like are you ready to go play in the tree house and he replies--"I'm fine..." In 10 more minutes I say are you ready to go for a golf cart ride and he screams NO WAY! 10 more minutes go by and I say..it is time to go...and the pictures show what that looks like--screaming and falling to the ground and melting down. There is some serious anguish about leaving the chickens...just look at those faces. Literally, he cried for an hour the other day after leaving his friends. When I find Elvis in the box shaking and hiding from Caleb in a laying box I tell him that it is time to go. Elvis has had all he can take. He replies quickly and with no hesitation, "he's my buddy." He crawls in and out of the coop (see pics) like one of them and mostly chases Elvis around and picks him up. I anyone is going to contract bird flu in America this year...it will be my child. Watch out world!









A few other random things at two that I never want to forget about you when you grow up:





You love music (see pic of you jammin' that je-je took!)

You love to sleep on the floor for nap...I can't figure this out but I can't keep you in your bed.
You love chickens...as stated above.
You love animals ...even Josie who is mean to you...
You are not scared of anything...slides, people, new places/things...
You are hard to keep up with...at the first opportunity you DART away and never, ever look back..






You are funny and fun to be with.
You are opinionated and you love to say No WAY! You think you rule this roost.
You wish Je-Je could come home as soon as we drop him off or you wish you could go to school with him.





You like to try to figure things out and play with odd things...like salad spinners (see pic). You love tools like this.

You think Jesus lives in your legs.
You are starting to pray and this is what you thank God for: your chickens and your "rooste evis", "twee house", "da da", and "sawa belle", and the "shop". I have a feeling you will spend many hours there with Daddy working with tools.

















There is nothing more refreshing after chasing chickens and pitching fits for a while than a nice, cold Popsicle.





























































































P.S. Daddy had a good fishing trip last Sat.

The start of fall and a birthday reflection

As all blog entries of mine go this is going to be quite random.

Today is my birthday and I am immeasurably thankful for my 30-something years of life. God has fulfilled every dream I ever had for my life: salvation and eternal hope,peace in hard times, joy in bad circumstances, the Bible, help for my sinful self; a godly,selfless, loving husband; two fabulous healthy/fun/cute love bugs; a wonderful family; a great church family/friends; animals to love and a farm to enjoy; good health; a nice home; a mini-van this year; an education/job to use it; getting to stay home (mostly) and raise my kids (His provision amazes me); and a new camper to enjoy this year! I could not ask for more. I am super thankful for another fabulous summer to live and make memories with my family. I live for summers. I know there won't be winter in heaven--hee hee.









Soccer has started. I don't like the craziness of getting Jeb there, but the Mighty Mite (as I call him on the field since all the other kids tower over him, but he still gets right in there with them scrapping for the ball) enjoys his time there. The first night of soccer there was the usual screaming match to eat/get out the door on time (ha ha) and then we have done better since then( that is Jonas and I a screaming to clarify--seriously). Jeb is really getting into sports in general. He asked me to get him a REAL basketball so he could work on his dribbling. He also loves to play baseball in the evenings with Jonas and me. We set up our real bases and everything and it is fun to watch him improve. Since we last played tennis (over a month ago) Jeb's backhand has really come along. I was amazed to see that he can now hit balls that would actually go over the net from both sides! We even have Bailey almost trained to pick up all the balls and bring them to (not in yet) but to the bucket! I am going to take him to the REAL courts soon I hope. Caleb enjoys playing with A (see picture) during soccer and generally running around everywhere.


The boys have been busy, busy working at the tree house. They are doing a lot of practice hammering and have installed a new slide with Daddy's help. It is an "extreme slide" b/c it is so steep. I think we need to make a height requirements sign for the new thrill attraction out there.






Caleb is working on learning all his letters and what animal corresponds with the letter. He can read all of Alligator Alphabet to me and it is so cute to hear him say "newt" and "umbrella bird". He is singing the ABC song almost in tact with some jumbling in the middle.
Jeb is still reading Level 1 books to me and working on telling time these days. Reading is becoming so much less of a chore for him and it is really a joy to sit and listen to him figure words out.

I am enjoying my time with Caleb even though he has a bad attitude some days! He tells me "No WAY" often and just today when the carpet man was here he pranced in after noticing the wet carpets and said, "did that man mess my room up?" He is a loner really and enjoys working all the time (see pics) and weed eating "like Daddy" /mowing/digging/using tools/loading and unloading his vehicles and watering plants. He lives to hit the tree house and get to work. If I ask if he'd like to jump on the trampoline with me or play baseball he looks annoyed and says, "I'm busy." Still, before I send him out to work each day I make sure we snuggle up and read some books! I don't know when he will ever learn his colors...despite me going over them a hundred times a day in a hundred different ways he so far thinks most everything is green and he does know black and white. Oh well! He still loves Sarah and sometimes if she is just laying in the yard looking bored he will go to her lean over in a sweet high pitched voice and say, "Are you okay...are you sad?" and pet her for reassurance. When we drop Je-Je off at school he says, "can he come home with us?" I think he really misses him. His other new past time is learning to ride his bike. He is getting faster by the day!

Jeb is enjoying school. He was really enjoying drinking two milks a day until I busted him! He does not understand why he has to sit on the carpet so much and his mouth sometimes aches from "holding his bubble" and he really dislikes computers, but I think that recess and PE make up for all that in his book. He has enjoyed making a necklace, drawing pictures, meeting new friends (even if 2 boys there are just bullies as he says it), and earning race tickets. He has had a smiley every day so far and that thrills me! He is chewing a lot of gum because of it.

We got 6 new chickens and a new rooster, Elvis. I will put a picture of him up soon. He is flashy! Caleb and Jonas and I are eating so many eggs these days. It is fabulous. The boys look forward to getting their eggs and going down to check on them and throw them scraps almost every day. They get in the little chicken tractor and "pet" them. The boys have also memorized "Amazing Grace" thanks to our Survivor Chicken--Grace. We had no idea when Jeb named this chicken Grace, how fitting it would be. She has been attacked by dogs, outlived her two sisters (for various reasons), and then almost hen-pecked to death by our new set of chickens. We have her out in her own suite now and she is being pampered and staying away from our big dogs (but considering she only has one good leg that is not that tough since she stays in one little area due to limited mobility)...anyway, despite all her trauma she laid a pitiful little anemic egg the other day and is showing signs that she is going to pull through. It has been AMAZING to watch Grace press on and even lay eggs despite her lack of tail feathers. I am quite attached to the poor little chicken. We have been getting lots of books about chickens at the library: Little Chicken Chicken and Dottie and Zinnia are some of our favorites.


Small group has started up and we are doing a series on worrying and one on trusting God in hard times. Nolan entertains the kids afterward (see pic).



We had a fun tubing trip with our neighbors this summer! It is fun to have some boys near us to get dirty with.