As if you all needed proof......

You May Be a Bit Borderline...

Your mood swings make a roller coaster look tame! When you're up, you're a little bit crazy... And when you're down, your whole world is crashing Scary thing is, these moods can change by the minute!

What Personality Disorder Are You?

Wordless One word Wednesday

Wishing.....

Ok, I'll just share a proud mom moment of mine. I started the kids blogs with the hopes that they learn to love to write. I love writing and was hoping they would do the same. Desti has been the only one who has seemed to pick this up. She like writing on her blog. Yesterday J-Bell wanted to write on her blog so I logged her in and didn't give it another thought. This morning when I read it I was really proud at how she is expressing herself, and even using emoticons! There's hope! Today I get to go with Poppy and see that little baby she's carrying. I don't know why but I am SO excited. Maybe it's just spending time with her. She's so fun.

We are going a little stir-crazy in this house. I don't think the kids have it as much as mom and dad.

We wanted to take them to Action City this weekend but when we looked on the radar we realized that we were going to get all the snow that was predicted for us. (I guess that is one for the weatherman) We ended up surprising the kids with a night at the Americinn in RL. It was so fun!

I packed everything up while they were playing games and then sent them to do their chores so I could get it in the van. We told them we were going furniture shopping. We are looking for a couch so they were asking about that. We told them we were going to look at beds.

When we pulled into the hotel they still thought we were just furniture shopping but looking at the beds in the hotel. Knight went in while the kids and I waited in the car. I gave them some story about we need to find out what room is available to see the beds.

Then, since J-Bell and J-Bird were in the back seat I told them there was a blanket in the trunk and I would like it.

They look in the back and ask "why is there a suitcase back here?"

Desti gets impatient and adds, "(deep sigh) Just get the blanket!" still not realizing why we would have pulled up to a hotel with a suitcase?!?!?

It didn't take long to figure out what was going on, but it was great to watch them realize it. Once we got upstairs the asked if I brought their swimsuits too. Then they were REAL excited when they found out I am smart enough to remember that they may want to swim.

I did forget one swim suit and the pool toys but since the hotel is 6 miles from our house we ran home and back. Good times had by all, thanks to Knight. It was his idea.

The homeschool group went bowling today. It was a good time. Everyone had bumpers so even the moms did well. I think I only used the bumper once. That's pretty good considering I'm down to bowling once a year. If you want to see the individual pictures they are in the web photos on the side bar.

Akiane Kramarik - Spiritual Young Artist

Twins--

Born 2 1/2 years apart to 2 different mothers.

Twiggy had her mom call and ask if Rara would wear the outfit they gave her for her birthday so they could be twins. Such cute twins. I think I need to keep twiggy at my house. She is such a sweet girl and so much fun to have around. In fact I'll keep Daisy and Rocky too!

Rara has this thing with walking around with her hat turned backward saying "Yo, Yo Dude!" She flips a sign with her hands. She has also been practicing her beatboxing lately. So what does a loving mother do? I look at her and tell her to look in the mirror. She gets there (with Desti in tow) and stares. I ask "what color is your skin?" With all sincerity they are trying to figure out what I mean and want to know if I mean that her cheeks are pink. What innocence.

Some of my favorite things...

Black tea

The laptop

A nice bath

Then I decide all three will be even better! So without further thought (oops) I heat up a large cup of my tea to boiling, run my bath, grab the laptop and set it on the john. (no I am not stupid enough to try balancing it on the edge of the tub. I sit down and start clicking away and Knight walks in. I move the computer, grab the tea and shut the curtain (I don't care for that kind of splashing when I'm in the tub). When done he walks out with the laptop back in place and I move the curtain back. That is where my brain should have been working. The tea was on the curtain but now has fallen into my bath, burning my leg and making me drain the water losing my bubbles. Honestly I can't believe how badly it hurts even after another bath and time to heal (an hour). Will that teach me? Probably not.

I am reminded that this blog is supposed to be about our family life instead of life in YouTube so here is our update.

Yesterday was a great blessing with the weather turning and I was able to kick the kids outside to play. I told them to go out and I headed upstairs to clean the bathroom. As I was washing the window I saw my children outside. The first day out in a long time and they chose to wash the car! I figured it would be a little cold for that but it really needed it, so why stop them. Pretty soon they were complaining that they felt frostbit and wanted to come in. At least they got some outside time.

Other than that not too much going on. I have slowly started my spring cleaning. We decided to move Knight and my bedroom upstairs. I have to admit I didn't go upstairs very often at all. Moving up there made me realize that I needed to be up there more. So I have my to do list to get this place more organized but with all the daily stuff to do, it takes so much more time to get things gone through.

There is a peek into our house. Not real exciting. That's why I call it Paradise.

Beatboxing flute inspector gadget remix

this is talent

sleeping in a chair prank

Ok, so this made me laugh so hard. I know it's mean but if you need a good laugh, here's one

This is ridiculous!

Last Friday we went to the library to do my returns and to pick up some movies. I picked up the movie Flight Plan to watch this week. I have wanted to see it since it came out.

It's in my house. I can watch it when ever I want. I even homeschool so obviously I have all day to watch this movie. Now comes to today. The movie is due tomorrow. Would you like my review of the movie? Well, I don't have one! I haven't watched the movie yet and honestly don't really plan on watching it today. Oh well, at least it was free.

On another note last night was "red night" for the kids at church. The kids were supposed to wear red. So I made up some face paint, and painted the kids' face, hair, and hands. Here is a picture of the kids ready to go. The paint did end up staining the face a little so poor Riah (in the purple shirt) had to go to school like that this morning.

On my last note. Congrats Dahls on your package! Think Barbara (Barbie)!!

Ok, so here is complete naked honesty. I react to hormone levels. I can tell you when my estrogen is high, when it is low, etc. I get in wierd moods (yes, even more than normal). Close to my monthly visitor I can't stand the thought of being "romantic".

Now here comes Valentines day.

The pressure is on. The hormones are high. Not a good combination.

Then Aunt Flo shows up. Ahhh. I have never been so happy to have a visit from her. There are days that I wish her monthly visits would just stop and I could have my hormones consistant but I do love to blame her for things too. So for this month I will just say, Welcome Aunt Flo.

Yes, I know, TMI (Too Much Information) but since I really don't think many men read this anyway I thought most of you would understand. And if you are a man reading this, just ask your wife, mom, sister, or neighbor lady who Aunt Flo is. :-)

Here's a quick history lesson on Valentines Day.
The holiday's roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day. Which St. Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery: according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.
It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance.
In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day. In "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are linked:
For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.
Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are valentines.
Personally I think Al Capone knew how to celebrate this holiday the best.

Expanding table

I know it's just a table but I love it! This is so cool. Now I think I need a dining room that would fit it.

We finally finished celebrating Rara's birthday. We had some people over for dinner on her birthday and then this weekend we went down to a hotel with a little water park and met up with the cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It was a short trip but the kids had a good time and were able to brush up on their swimming skills a little before summer. It is so nice to have all my kids be able to swim enough to enjoy the pool without life jackets or floaties. I am able to sit by the side of the pool and read a book if I want. It's amazing but I didn't get in the water at all. I love the water but between visiting with people and disciplining my children I was not able to take a dip. It is a blessing that I had something to read. I have been wanting a new book but every time I go to buy one I can't find anything that looks good. On my way down to the hotel we went to church where a friend had a book and valentines day card for me so I was blessed to have something. Here are some pictures of our time(s) celebrating this week.

8 things for my 8 year old

1.Eight years ago today your Daddy and I became outnumbered by the kids.

2.Eight years ago today you entered the world with only one push.

3.Eight years ago today when you entered the world you were bright pink and you scored the best possible score on the Apgar scale.

4.For the last eight years we have witnessed you grow up to be a sweet girl who tries to be positive and doesn't like to say the word no.

5.For the last eight years your personality has come out and you love to be in front of the camera posing just so you can laugh at the picture.

6.In the last eight years you were my easiest to potty train, you have started to read chapter books, write cursive more ledgeable than your sisters and today you are done with car seats!

7.Eight years ago I could kiss you and you wouldn't wipe them off, but as soon as you could let us know how much you didn't like spit you have wiped off any kiss you have recieved. (I hope this is a trait you keep until you are married!)

8. There are so many special things about you that I love. You are a beautiful, talented girl and I am thrilled that God has let me be your mommy. Happy golden birthday my precious 8 year old.

The people that know me also know that I am not the most adventurous eater. I know what I like and tend to stick with those foods. I have been trying to make some new stuff lately, in part to use up some leftovers in the fridge, partly because I am just bored of the food we eat. Anything I make that is different is met with my children making faces and finding something wrong with it. It tastes funny, has an aftertaste, didn't taste the way they expected, etc. I have taken this as a challenge to get them to eat new foods with a better attitude so I am making new dishes more often and making them eat it. They are not happy but I guess I have to be a mom and make something other than the family favorites so they will broaden their tastes. It is teaching me many things that the Lord needs me to learn. So here I'm going to say, Mom, I am SO sorry for making your life just a little more frustrating by being a picky eater.

As things happen that makes me feel out of control of my life I react by doing something new and different. You know how it is. "Oh honey, I think we need a puppy. I know we don't want the mess, the added responsibility, the potty training, chewing, barking. But it will be fun. I need something else to think about than the everyday stuff that is in my life year after year." I am a MASTER at justifying these decisions. Yesterday I was looking forward to closing a chapter of our life because there was going to be an auction to forclose on someone that owes us a lot of money (at least we think it's a lot of money) and this chapter was going to be done. Well, the guy did the one thing he could do to drag this out longer. Now, I know that the Lords timing is perfect. I know that He will take care of us. I also know that this would not have been the best timing for us to have had the auction. Knight handles the news by talking to anyone that he can. He will talk and talk and talk for three days then he will get over it. We have seen a pattern in the past on how he handles this type of stuff. Me, I just find something new to occupy my brain. So what do I do? I make blogs for each of my children. When KInight comes home and asks why I decided to let each of them have a blog I pulled out my great excuse book. "I really want them to learn how to express themselves with the written word. It will help with spelling, grammar, and writing." He just replied "Ok, Teach." Hee Hee, I AM good.

As "us locals" are doing our best to stay indoors and stay warm I thought I would share some interesting facts to think about. Some you may know, some may surprise you, some I just don't know if I believe but you know that everything you receive in a forwarded email HAS to be true! Here they are:
Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton
The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) Paper.
The dot over the letter I is called a "tittle"
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and Down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top
40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine
Leonardo DA Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time
There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos
The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before
By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand
Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples!
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher
Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most Often stolen from Public Libraries.
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.

Doesn't that look like such a nice day? The sun is shining, a thin layer of snow on the ground, it looks nice and crisp. Is it? NO! It is -25 degrees. Schools are closed, Knights truck took an hour to get started, and I had to get out of bed. Poor Knight has to load truck in this. But I am thankful that I have a furnace. Until it warms up I am doing my best to not leave my house. Brrrrrr!!!!!!!

Ok, Dahls posted about a blogging contest and so I linked over and was impressed with what I read. There is a contest and it looks fun. Click here if you want to enter. It looks like a fun blog.

Yeah!!!! The rat groundhog did not see his shadow so spring will be here in 2 weeks! I am so glad God gave a rodent the ability to forcast the weather! Just makes me want to go rent Groundhog Day. On another note, the Murry Quad is being born today, so please pray for safety during delivery and fast growth for those little boys.

Confession:
I spend way too much time on the computer. I really didn't think that I did. I check in throughout the day but I get my stuff done. Not THAT much time, so I thought. Last night I had a dream that I was interested in. It was exciting, dramatic, fun. So in my dream I started clicking fast forward with my mouse so I could find out the end. I guess I DO spend just a little too much time on the computer.