Friday, February 27, 2009

The World's Gone Crazy

Last night, one of the local area icons died of a heart attack. Now, I have never met this man but my husband and I have listened to him in the morning for all our time together. He's been there through highschool and all the births of our kids and it feels as if we know him.

It drives the point home, you never know when it's going to be your time to leave earth and spend eternity in heaven or hell. Don't you think you ought to take a few moments to be sure you know where you are going...beyond a shadow of a doubt?

Our hearts are very sad over this 'celebrity death'. It's amazing the impact one man had on our lives whom we have never met. It makes you stop to wonder what sort of impact you are having on those around you.

He wrote this on his blog just on Monday...........

"The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make a
difference that you lived at all -- using the talents that God has given you for the betterment of others."(Leo Rosten)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Bear About Ate Him

Lately my boys have been looking through our photo albums and we came across the pictures from our first trip to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula, MI, for all you non-michiganders out there!) Our oldest boy was four and our only other boy at the time was one (THAT was a long time ago!) It was our first ‘family vacation’ and we went up to my husband’s family’s eighty acres and cabin. Our oldest was all excited as could be and my husband was more than willing to tell him all the stories of glory from his childhood there.

“See that grove of trees over there, son?”


Our oldest nodded emphatically. “Yup, Daddy, I see it.”


“Your Grandpa shot a bear out there, years ago.”


“Really? Was it big?”


“Pretty big. I wouldn’t want to see it. But don’t worry, that was a long time ago.”


“Oh.”



To read the rest, check it out on Praise and Coffee at http://www.praiseandcoffee.com/




Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Potty Training

We are potty training DS4.

It's been exasperating for me.

You have to understand son number four, he has an opinion on EVERYTHING. So, this is what happens...."Okay, honey, you need to go potty."

"Nope, I don't like to."

"Why?"

"The toilet makes my butt cold."

How do you argue with that?

He now hates to go in is diaper but refuses to sit on that cold pot. I'm pulling my hair out here!

Just figured I'd let you know what's going on currently...I'll keep you updated. It's bound to get funnier before he gets the hang of the cold potty.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Spring

I'd just like everyone to know, on Thursday it will be OFFICIALLY 29 days till spring.

Hooray hooray hooray! I am so excited I vow to not even complain about mud!

Hey, I'm still here!

Just wanted you all to know I am still here and still have new stories for you! It's just that we just got back from vacation and all the boys and I shared the same hotel room (hubby didn't want to go shopping with me, my mom, my sister, my sister in law and my sister in law's girl cousin - imagine that!) and I still haven't quite recovered from the lack of sleep I got from sharing a bed with a four year old and a three year old. Ds1 has the uncanny ability to stay up until midnight watching Man VS Wild and ds2 has the uncanny ability of getting up at seven in the morning, on the dot, because we have a free breakfast to eat at seven sharp! Do you know that my ds4 has the uncanny ability to turn himself completely around in his sleep and can still manage to kick his moma in the face? And did you know that ds3 can awaken in the night and KNOW his toy stuffed lizard he got for learning to zip his coat five days in a row at school is missing?

We had fun, but even the coffee I am drinking all day long every day hasn't quite got me caught up on all the sleep I have missed out on. And the mountains of laundry I have....it's scary.

Praise and Coffee will have a new story for you tomorrow and I have one bouncing in my head right now for her and I am sure I'll have more for you soon!

On a high note, this was the first Valentine's day in THREE years I wasn't in the hospital with one of my boys. Hooray! THAT deserved a day of shopping with my favorite girls!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Monster Trucks

This past weekend, my husband was sleeping recovering from a cold and my boys were watching Monster Trucks and jumping around and screaming. The house was shaking. Our bedroom is right next to the living room and the dining room/office is right off the living room too so my sleeping husband was bound to be disturbed by their loudness and my working on the computer was defiantly being disturbed by their rowdiness. Inevitably, someone falls into a wall, someone misses the jump onto the couch cushion and someone is running for a Band-Aid. It’s insane.

I got fed up. It was too noisy. You can only take screaming fans, a yelling broadcaster and the major rumble of engines blaring from your TV for so long as your kids stand on the arm chair or the coffee table or the stairs and fall onto the couch cushions they have removed from the couch to the floor as well as every pillow they can get a hold of just to see if they can ‘bounce’ when they have hit the now cushioned floor. They have never ever bounced. This has never ever stopped them.

To read the rest....visit Sue at http://www.praiseandcoffee.com/

Thanks and happy revved up reading! :)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Chickens and Tomatoes

Today, our youngest asked me to make up a new song with him. He wanted it to say something about chickens and tomatoes.

I imagine he was was trying to make me laugh so he could make up for this morning. He and his brother rolled a two gallon sized jar down the uncarpeted steps to get it downstairs into the carpeted living room faster. It broke - imagine that - in a million trillion little glass shards. I was hollering at them to stay upstairs while I cleaned it up and he was at the top of the stairs crying down to me "it my fault, Moma. It my fault." To which is older brother was pointing at him and saying "It was his fault, Moma, it was his fault, not mine!"

So, my youngest and I made up a new song that he will be singing outdoors today - because that is where the boys are headed on this first 60ish degree day in many months.

"Here on our farm we grow tomatoes and chickens and boys covered in mud!" The boys are marching around the house in cowboy boots and underpants (because I haven't gotten around to getting them dressed yet so they can go outside) singing "Here on our farm we grow tomatoes and chickens and boys covered in mud."

Just a glimpse into our daily life for ya'll! :)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Just ANOTHER Sunday (again).............

Well, Sunday has arrived again. We had lovely weather again, truly spring like which is wonderful after this long winter. Church was wonderful. Dinner was scrumptious (steaks on the grill). We all - all six of us! - took a nap. We relaxed, it was wonderful, like I've said often.

As I was cleaning up the kitchen, I noticed a mini van moving very very very slowly by our house. It was odd enough that when my husband came in from throwing wood in our outdoor wood stove (we use it year round to heat our home and our water), I mentioned it to him too.

"Yah," he agreed with me, "I thought that was odd too."

Mere moments later, Josie, our dog, began barking meanly and ferociously. It was all I could do to call her in. "Hon!" I called my husband from the paper he was reading "someone is stopped in front of our house. I don't know what it's all about!"

Since we have had a few drivers last year go off into the ditch about that same spot, he hurriedly put his boots back on and his coat and ran outside to help. I went back to cleaning, until I noticed how slow the cars were going.....and how bright the outdoors was now.

There were about five pick up trucks, nine vehicles with sirens, one fire rescue ambulances, two firetrucks (an engine and a tanker) all sitting in our driveway, our neighbors driveway, the road......

I started looking around to figure out which neighbors house was on fire.

But they all left quickly, much to the boys disappointment. All four boys were plastered to the windows and the dog was barking and growling.

My husband came in chuckling. Apparently, the mini van (we must assume) called the fire department about the smoke from our wood burner, thinking our house was on fire.

I kid you not.

Now, why the driver didn't stop in to see if we were okay, why they drove by a house with every single light on (because if we are home, it never fails that all the lights are on) but thought they should still call the fire department, I have no idea.

However, it seems this is what we get for trying to spend a nice Sunday evening at home together - even when this family is minding their own business, relaxing, excitement seems to find us.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Buck Howdy

Have any of you heard of Buck Howdy? You can check him out at http://www.buckhowdy.com/. I have gotten his cds from the library before and currently we have the album called Chickens playing to and from school in the suburban. Actually, it plays wherever we go but back and forth to school is a constant trip. Anyhow, he is just great. He sings songs like “Don’t let Granny in the door” and “Big John” and “Hey, you, get off of my cow!” and “You are my sunshine” and “Chickens, chickens, shore do love my chickens!” and “Baa, Neigh, Cock-a doodle-doo”. Okay, you get the idea about him just from the song titles ......................

to check out the rest of this 'catching' story, head on over to Praise and Coffee!

http://www.praiseandcoffee.com/

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Just Another Sunday

Sunday's are always insane here. Are they for you too? I think it is pretty typical. Being in a house full of boys, I like to dress up. I like to wear dresses, I like getting all made up...I think it's from being around boys all the time and the fact that I am typically in jeans and a t-shirt and sometimes, as a girl, you want to be glam.

Well, like I said, Sunday's go crazy here. We are NEVER on time, we are always in a rush, it's never a nice, fun Sunday. I decided that THIS Sunday, it would be different. This is what happened....

I got up early. Like WAY early. I like nice quiet mornings to myself, enjoy the solitude, amazed at what can get done. But I do not like to get up, at all. I prefer my nice warm bed and my second day of the whole week to sleep in. But this morning, I had the bacon going while I was in the shower, I had my make up on and hair done by the time I started the pancakes, the boys were dressed, the coffee was made, poured and savored. It was beautiful.

Until I didn't know if I should wear my all black dress that comes to just above my knee with my black boots that come just below my knee without black tights in the first weekend of February. I went to ask my husband his opinion, but, that's kind of pointless so I had to call my mom. It goes like this, "you know my black dress from title nine?...." It helps that my mom is very familiar with all my clothes!

To pull off the tights I had to get a slip because the tights pulled on the dress and it was just a mess. But, I got it together, we were still just going to make it.

Until the youngest (ds4) filled his diaper, and pants, and it was nasty. This, mind you, hasn't happened in AGES.

We were late for church.

But not too late.

Sunday school over, we moved to church and all was going smooth. My handsome husband is ushering and all is sunny and bright and the boys are behaving so well.

Until I looked at the third (ds3). Something blue and glittery and sticky - very sticky - is on the bottom of his cowboy boot. Nasty. I am debating what to do, I don't want to get up and cause a scene. He looks over his boot, tries to take the sticky stuff off his boot, looks at the matchbox car in his hand....and I so knew what was happening next. His thinking process is like this...if my boot sticks to the floor, this car would stick to the bottom of my boot and then I could roller skate!

Keep in mind, my husband is ushering.

So, the sticky stuff is over the pew now, the matchbox car, the carpet...we had to make a move to the bathroom and FAST. Leaving the two oldest behind in the pew, I take the two youngest with me. I'm in there, scrubbing the nasty something off his boot and the car and explaining that this is not a good idea at any time but especially not during church and I literally hear snickers in the stalls. I thought we were alone.

I send them out of the bathroom, telling the to go QUIETLY to Jr. Church. DS4 looks back and yells "I'm the fastest!" as he runs full throttle for the gym. Everyone hears, of course, because the ushers are headed back in the church doors for church.

Sigh.

Church was good, dinner was good, I got a nap and all seemed well. My husband took the two oldest boys to a nephew's hockey game and I had a meeting at church I took the younger two to and all was sunny, bright and good.

Until I got home. There, in my window box, is an opossum. It is blocking the door, I'm scared to death of the nasty rodents, and all my manly men are gone. However, I can't very well let it get away because we have a chicken house full of chickens. I will always defend my chickens!

The opossum was even more scared and pulled the, "I won't move and they won't see me" approach. I hollered at the boys to stay put in the suburban, told my dog (who travels with me all the time, in the front seat) to guard the boys and ran for the back porch for the broom - it's my weapon of choice. It's the only one I am an expert at using.

In the meantime, my ds3 gets out of the suburban because he is sure I have purposefully left him behind. He is wailing and screaming about how he wanted to see me and walks right past the opossum and into the house and turns to see it staring at him. He screams, slams the door and when I make it around the corner to him he is on the porch, staring out the door screaming, "I don't like that oposum!" Meanwhile, ds4 is still buckled in the car seat screaming "LET ME OUT!" at the top of his lungs.

The opossum is snarling.

My husband is now rushing home because I have called him and he was nearly home already.

I am standing the middle of the driveway, armed with a broom, in my Sunday clothes, glaring down an opossum saying things "you don't look at me like that!" and the sheer humor of it hits me and I start laughing - hard. How can you not?

This, THIS is a typical Sunday, where the day turned out to by perfect, here with four boys out in the country.