Home again, home again

Camie, Emma, and Maggie playing jail at the shed at Melissa's.

JUMPING!. . . . .

We made it home from our wonderful vacation Monday night. Matt went to work Tuesday, and school Tues. night, so we sort of jumped right back into things. Well, he did, anyway. I'm still unpacking bags and catching up on laundry. I had three or four baskets of clean clothes I didn't bother folding before we left, so despite bringing home only a few dirty items, I still had lots of laundry to finish. And now the the dirty piles have grown in the few days we've been home, so I feel like I can't get caught up.

Another day, another post, I'll give a description of our time away. It was so much fun and definitely worth the hassle of packing it took to get us there. Many thousands of thanks to my 15 year old niece Katie who went with us as sort of a nanny. Matt and and I got to go to the waterpark minus kids one night, out to eat with Mike an Kristy minus kids another night, and out to play laser tags with all of Kristy's family. She was a tremendous help with baths, feeding kids, putting them to bed, etc. She might change her cell phone number after this so I can't call her for babysitting for a while :). but I think it went well. This was definitely the way to do a vacation with little kids. More later.

Today Lauren asked me to watch 2.5 year old Michael while she and Caroline went to see if Hudson's Salvage had any good deals. The kids spent most of the hour he was here outside playing. At one point, Michael was in the Cozy Coupe car and Lissy sat down on a stump about 40 feet away, "to watch Michael" she said. "In case there are any spiders in the car. Michael," she shouted, "are there any spiders?" :)

This morning I went outside with the kids and we ended up jumping on the trampoline. I actually let them wallow on me, climb on my back and be a little rough. I typically don't participate in the roughhousing they do with Matt, but decided to give it a try today. We had a lot of fun and laughing. At one point Camie kissed me and said, "You're the best mom we ever had!" I asked why she said so. "Because you jump on the trampoline with us and spend time with us." Yes, kids do spell love "t-i-m-e." I need to remember this everyday. It's just so hard when I don't have a maid to catch up on housework for me while I'm outside playing.

I'll try to post more pictures later. But right now Camie is up and chattering beside me. Guess I'll get off and continue being the best mom she ever had. :)

Come and join our hurricane

Years ago I learned a cheesy sounding sing-along song called "Come and join our hayride." With today's bizarre weather (Hurricane Ida. . . in November) I've had my own version going through my head today. As I type, it is cool, raining, and windy. Matt built us a nice hot fire (yes, there are other kinds. There is Mississippi hot and there's Missouri hot. Ours is the latter. And then there is the not-so-nice, cool fire that Rose builds because she's not a Master Fire Builder.) so I have the window by the computer open.
I had to go to Walmart tonight (2nd time today) for something for Matt, and as a treat for myself bought the most wonderful icecream I think I've ever tried: Ben and Jerry's Apple Pie Ice cream. It was on sale and I've been eyeing it for several days. (Can you tell I've been getting ready for a major trip? Walmart sucks me into its vacuum nearly daily lately, and after tossing me around and around the store in search of things that are not where they used to be (or never have been nor ever will be) for an hour or so, finally takes all my money and spits me out the front door.) I dished some up for Matt and me and took it upstairs where he was studying. As I handed it to him I said, "It's a flavor you've never had before." He looked at it then said, "Just by looking at it, and without even smelling it, I'll guess that it's. . . . apple pie icecream." WHAT? ! ! ! How did he do that? He said my hint about his never having had it helped, but to him, with the cinnamon swirl in it, it just looked like an apple pie . He's been smug ever since. :) It's a good thing it came in only pint size, and that I got only one. It's so good.

We plan to leave Thursday for Missouri, spend a few days there with Matt's family, then drive to WI on Sunday for our week-long vacation. The kids are even more excited than they've been for the last few months. I have a countdown calendar that we're supposed to mark off each day. I usually forget so we mark of 2-3 days at the time (feels like we're getting more accomplished that way). Tonight I marked off Friday thru Monday and was amazed that only 2 more days are left. Maybe some of my amazement is that I have only 48 more hours to pack while maintaining daily house chores, kids, diapers, LAUNDRY (ugh), meals, sanity. And some of that will have to be for sleeping. Right now should be for that, but I did get the rest of my stuff packed, minus a few dirty items I'll have to get washed tomorrow. Now Matt's is the only one to finish up, besides odd-and-end things for the kids. Of course, there's things like toiletries, pillows, travel toys, food for cooler. . . hmm. sounds like I need to go to bed. The problem is that I lay there and mentally pack, going over what needs to be gathered, who needs to be called tomorrow, etc. (I think that apple pie icecream had given me a sugar high.)
I have the idea I might post some pictures while we're in WI, but that's probably not going to end up happening. So until then or whenever I get back on here, tootle loo.
Rose

One Day My Prince Will Come

Today Camie, dressed in a longsleeved tee, jeans and rain boots came clomping in from outside. She held out a little white flower and said it was for princess so-and-so (can't remember the name she made up) and that she was the prince, coming to marry the princess. I told her/him to put it on the bar and I would give it to the princess. "I will marry the most beautiful one!" she declared as she dashed outside again.

A few minutes later, the princess (aka Camie), who bore a striking resemblance to the prince in both dress and features, entered and happened to notice the single flower laid on the bar. She casually asked why the flower was there and I told her that the prince had come looking for her to marry her. "Oh, I've wanted to be married for years!" was her delighted reply. She slipped off to the playroom and came right back with a dress-up wedding dress and veil. I laughed and said I guess she had been ready, if she already had her gown. It was handmade, by herself, she informed me, and took a lot of work. Guess you gotta start early if you're going to have it ready for that unknown day. She chattered about marrying the prince so I asked her if she thought she ought to at least meet him first. "You might want to find out what things he likes, how he acts." Unconcerned, she answered, "I'll be able to do all that after we're married."

While I was in the kitchen she said she was going to "ask the prince." Thinking she had reconsidered my advice about premarital acquaintance, I said, "ask him what?" "To marry me!" A minute later she flew in and squealed, "He said YES!!!" (I think by now Micah was the prince.) "That's great! When's the wedding?" I asked. "He didn't say, so I guess it's today."

Again I suggested she might want to find out if he has a job or a home, since those things are needed when you're married. "I pretty much know all mens have jobs." Can't reason with a girl in love. :)

Micah and Lissy came in a little later and I asked him if he was marrying Camie. He was being Robin Hood Little John. I guess he's heard us sing the Disney Robin Hood song, "Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest" but didn't hear the "and". He said no,"we maowied a wot and a wot:I maowied Tissahwee (Lissy Marie) and she maowied me." I took pictures of the princess bride and Maid Marion (Lissy), as well as RHLJ with all his guns. Maybe I can get them uploaded to this post. I was having trouble with it earlier, so we'll see how it behaves now.

Well, here's the wedding picture. Guess that'll have to do.

Rose

Blogging is a favorite past time of mine. . . reading other people's blogs, that is!

Camie and Lissy surprised me one morning by stocking the pantry with groceries from the laundry room . Here you see how it looked. . . .after they were done. I smiled and thanked them, even videoed it. Too bad I didn't get a before picture.





Here's Felicity holding up her coin rubbings (boy didn't that dollar bill rub well?) when we were doing the letter C.

Camie the cook, with cookies we made. The icing was very good and hardened to a nice glaze. Note her left arm. She's getting much better muscle tone in it and can almost turn her wrist so her hand faces completely up. Here she's being a little goofy; it doesn't stay in that awkward position. She just can't bend it very much at the elbow. We thank the Lord for the healing He's done in her.

Being silly one morning (I told them to make silly faces. Micah looks like a mafia man) :

And not-so silly:

I have more pictures on the camera, but am out of time now. Cassie is doing well. She weighs 15 lbs. 8 ounces now, can get on her hand and knees and rock back and forth, is learning not to grab sisters' hair, and loves Daddy very much.

Matt's night classes are still going well. He has a 97 average (maybe 96, but I know it's an A) in his online math, and has gotten A's in all his weekend classes. Thank you Lord! We appreciate all you who have prayed for us.

I've been trying to juggle housework, kidcare and kindergarten/preschool with the kids. And still be a happy wife by the time Matt comes home. Don't always succeed there. It's nice when he comes home for lunch and I'm not already mentally beat. I'm supposed to play the violin with our church's ensemble group at the Fall Festival Saturday. Practicing about once a week has been a fun stress-reliever for me. I want to get my cello out soon and see if I can learn some songs on it. One day. . .

Fall is coming! I saw some red leaves on the trees in the backyard today and a little patch of yellow amidst the summer-green leaves on the sweetgum tree. And I noticed a splash of bright orange in a popcorn tree on my way to town today. Today is rainy and about 70 degrees. The kids still have summer clothes in their dressers because we never know when they'll need them. I usually just leave a few pair of shorts and lots of tee shirts in there anyway because Matt builds some might warm fires in the winter. We step outside on the porch to enjoy the pleasant 30 degree air sometimes.

And here we are, the last week in October, and I have to continually remind the kids to wear shoes when they go outside in the grass. Yesterday Camie and I printed a line drawing of a pair of shoes and I taped a copy by each door as a reminder for them to put shoes on. It worked. Yesterday after nap Felicity saw it and dutifully put hers on. Camie went out only once in the grass today barefoot. We're making progress! I'm being very picky about this because our vacation to Wisconsin (or Miss Consin's as Lissy calls it--I think she thinks we're going to some lady's house.) is coming up in about two and a half weeks, and I DO NOT want any of us to be sick.

Beeboons (balloons--another Lissy-sim) have been the toy here of late. We had two huge bunches of them from a party and the kids played with them for several days. Even when they no longer floated they could be batted around. And when they got wilted looking, they could be squeezed into odd shapes. And then, best of all they could be popped. Sort of reminds me of people on a farm butchering a pig. EVERYTHING was used. These balloons were worth every dime that was spent for them.

A girl after Sara's own heart

All through my growing up years, I can remember Sara's struggle with getting people to spell her name right. She would get so indignant when someone mistakenly put an "h" at the end of her name. Kind of like "Anne with an 'e' ". She even signed her name for a while as Sarah and then crossed out the "h" in a fancy circle and slash, so as to educate the poor ignorant people who thought her name was spelled like 95% of all the other Sara(h)s in the world. This way she got her point across, yet the unsightly "h" didn't mar he name. Now that I've picked on my sister for a while, I'll move on to Camie. Before she was born, Matt and I were discussing how we wanted to spell her name. I jotted different spellings down on a scrap of paper (maybe even the back of an envelope?) and we compared them. We like the "ie" ending, but Matt thought having double 'm' would give her fits when she had to learn cursive. So that is the story behind why Camie isn't spelled Cammie, as most people assume it is. And she's begun getting a little put out when people spell it wrong. We came home from MOPS the other night and noticed her correction on the back of her craft (crossing out the wrong spelling hasn't occured to her yet, obviously):



So Sara, she's continuing the tradition for you. :)

Rose

Yummy

I was searching for a recipe online and ended up at this site. I've not tried these homemade girlscout cookies yet, but they sure do look good. Might have to give it a shot. Anybody else want some Samoas after seeing that picture? Mmmmmm.

Off to try to catch a quick nap before kids wake up. Matt is at school today, so don't know how long I'll be holding down the fort alone. La cooked lunch for us today, so we had a fun morning over there.
Rose

Ramblings of a Sleepless Mom

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Hattiesburg zoo while Mike and Melissa were here.

It was hot, but thankfully, the Lord sent us some rain to cool off with. That's partly why Micah's hair is wet, but also he wanted his sippycup of water poured on his head. (I think Aunt Melissa inspired all 3 of our older ones to do this when she got too hot and used her water to cool off.)

Getting ready for the most exciting part of the trip: the train ride. Micah sat beside me with his hands clasped together, very intent on taking in everything we passed.

(Mike, Maggie (2), Camie, Emma (3), Micah, me, Cassie, Melissa holding Abigail (9 months), and Felicity)

We were working on the letter C this past week. The kids glued orange paper shapes together to make carrot, Camie and I made cookies (and iced them. Turned out well, and I'm pleased that I finally did something so motherly with her. I like baking, but doing it with the kids tends toward stress for me. But I made an effort to just relax, and even let her sample pretty much all she wanted while we mixed and rolled.) Mam took Camie to the Courthouse while they were in town one day. We sorted and counted coins and then I let them use some to "buy" cookies from Mamma's Cookie Shop (conveniently located at our kitchen bar). Then they did coin rubbings (didn't work out very well. Coins kept moving, but they thought it was working, and that's what counts.) Camie cut hers out to use for pretend money. She loves paper scraps and empty boxes. I'm sure her money is put away somewhere in a box I tried to throw out and she salvaged from the porch.

This week the letter is K. Since we got up late and lunch wasn't too far away, we just ate cereal for breakfast. Special K cereal, that is, with frozen blueberries. (And who do you think requested the empty cereal box? That's right. Camie. And even wanted it taped shut so she could use it in their toy kitchen. Afterward they colored a picture of a kangaroo and then we cut it in 9 pieces which they glued in order onto a piece of construction paper. While they were coloring I remembered a movie Sara and I loved as kids, "Dot and the Kangaroo." I found it on YouTube and they watched it. We had to skip a few scary parts. Lissy got terrified of the Bunyip--some sort of Australian legend about a ghost or monster or something like that-- (don't know how it's actually spelled) while I was trying to fast-forward past it. She basically fell out of her chair trying to get away from the computer and started crying. I thought maybe she was hurt from the fall, but as she stiffly clung to me I realized that she was VERY scared of the movie scene. Micah and Camie bravely declared they weren't scared and wanted to watch it, but I told them we were skipping it anyway. Here's one of the songs I remembered parts of and the kids liked too. (This is for you, Sara.) :)

Well, I wasn't sleepy when everyone else went to bed, so I stayed up reading about travel ideas to use for the long trip to WI in November. Now it's past midnight. Starting to feel a little sleepier. I'm sure I'll feel very sleepy at 6:30 when Matt's alarm goes off. Oh well. Only 14 more hours till naptime. :)
More pictures for later. I tried again, for the 3rd time, to post them but for some reason it froze up.

Rose