Both kiddos are doing GREAT in their school work.  I've had to give them both, at different times, the "You don't know everything....You WILL make mistakes...It's all part of learning" speech. They don't like "not knowing" something.  They think they should be perfect at everything. It frustrates them when they aren't.  But they are learning that learning is sometimes difficult.  They are doing well though. 

I found out today that my Papa has to have surgery on Thursday.  He has a 90% blockage in the artery in his leg.  They are going to go in, remove the blockage and put in a stint.  It scares me, but I am confident in this doctor and this hospital.  They are the ones who did the same thing for my Grandpa Calvin.  The doctor is good at what he does, and the hospital takes excellent care of their patients. 

I'm thankful that it is THIS doctor and THIS hospital, b/c this is very scary for me for some reason. I know this is a rather common procedure, but I can't help but be concerned. 

I'm not sure I can do this story justice, but I have to try.  Matt and I just came in from town and I stopped at the rose bush to pull off some "dead heads".  He asked why I did that and I explained it to him.  He starts looking for one to pull of and he says, "Hmmm, I guess they are having a good time, huh?"  Confused I look over and he has spotted two grasshoppers.... one on top of the other.  Now I'm REALLY confused...b/c my six year old shouldn't know anything about a "good time".  While I'm contemplating how to ask exactly what he means, he says, "Yep, they're having a good time.  Piggy back riding, huh guys? "  I nearly fall over laughing!  I keep a straight face....until he grabs the limb they are on, pulls it down, lets go and says, "I bet that was a good ride!"

Ahh the joys of sweet innocence!   And the laughs it gives us who aren't so "innocent" anymore!  lol 

We managed a short school day today.  Shailynn did the math paper...the one she had SO MUCH trouble with a few days ago.  She did so well.  She did it with a smile and a few giggles and she did it perfectly.  I am so proud of her.  She was very excited to get to her language arts book though. She said that she will probably NEVER be too sick to do language.  I HAD to right that down...so I can remind her of that "on down the road!" lol

Matt took a big math test.  He did it perfectly as well.  He is so good at math.  He takes after his daddy!!    In Language he had to listen and remember. NOT his strongest area! lol  He did well though.  He doesn't look like the is feeling well. I'm hoping he is just tired..and not coming down with what Shai has had. 

Shai is feeling much better, btw.  I am so glad.  Now, if I can just keep Matt well, we may be able to go on our field trip on Friday!!   YAY!!!!!!!!!!  

Shailynn is sick.  She is running a fever and has a headache.  She was burning up last night.  Her fever has come and gone today.  Poor thing.  She is handling it well though. 

We have to run to town in a bit and I'll pick up some more Tylenol and Ibuprofen to help with her fever and her headache.  We were supposed to go to our unplugged playgroup today but when I emailed her to let her know we couldn't make it, she said her kiddos weren't feeling quite up to par either..so she rescheduled for next Tues.  The kids were glad...because they hadn't been able to go last time either and they didn't want to "miss" again.

I'm hoping she is well by Friday, b/c we are scheduled for a tour of Braum's Dairy Farm.  We don't want to miss that!

We had a wonderful time at our family reunion this weekend.  WOW!  A lot of us spent the entire weekend at the Lodge at Robbers Cave.  It was so much fun.  We chatted, we played the wii, we ate, we laughed, we just had a great time.  I am totally exhausted. 

As we were leaving on Sunday Jade, Teresa, the kids and I  went up to the Caves (we didn't get to do that during the reunion, b/c Hurricane Ike decided to keep things really wet!!!).  We climbed to the cave and then we letterboxed.  There is a series of 5 letterboxes there. We found all of them!  There was a lot of water.  Matt drank out of a small "creek" like one of the "old cowboys" must've done. 

Right now the kiddos are doing their school work.  Shai is absolutely LOVING her language.  It seems so funny to me, b/c our first year doing it she cried EVERY day.  Now she'll get it out and work on it just for fun!  She HATES math though. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this.  (Actually, while I was typing this, she got in such a tizzy I sent her to bed b/c she was crying...again.  UGH)

Matt is learning number WORDS right now. He is not happy about that.  He is doing very well in his reading.  He still can't figure out why 3 isn't spelled with an "s" though! He usually loves math...but this reading that is involved right now means it isn't near as fun. He'd rather stick to the pluses and minuses.

I started this in a really good mood...and thanks to Shai and MATH I am now frustrated.  There HAS to be a better way.

Today, while I was fixing my kids lunch, I heard Matthew say to Shai, "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours."  It didn't take but a moment for that to sink in..even though I have a ton of stuff going on and have only been half listening to them most of the day.     

So what do I do?

 I raise my head up, look over at the table where both kids are sitting and watch my son show his sister what cards he is holding in his hand, and she in turns shows him hers!  He showed her his and she showed him hers....and they continued their card game! LOL

We will be going to pick up my new van today.  I am so excited. 

Tomorrow we are heading to the reunion that we have spent the last several months planning.  It is going to be missing something great...my Great Aunt Dot.  She was very excited about this reunion and was working really hard to make it a reality.  She will be missed.

We are going to have so much fun though.  If we can just keep the rain from spoiling it.  Friday night we are supposed to be cooking out....but that'll be a bit difficult if it is pouring down!  Today has been filled with "back up" plans....trying to figure out what to do IF it is raining. It'll work out.

Well, I have LOTS to do before tomorrow.  So I'm off....

Matt and Shai are doing school work.  Matt is learning number words, one, two, three, etc. 

He wants so much to do it WITHOUT looking at the words although I've told him, I don't care at this point if he needs to look at them.  But he is enjoying learning and he wants to sound them out and right them down. 

I told him to write 3.  So  he starts sounding it out.  In the meantime, I go to the restroom, the phone rings and I start a load of laundry.  When I come back Matt is still working on writing three, and I KNOW he hasn't looked....because he has written "swe".   Sound it out.....sounds just like he says 3!!!!   Isn't that adorable.

 I'm going to start posting a lot of this on my blog.  That was it's original intention....to help everyone keep up with what they are doing in school.   Keep me accountable on this. Ask questions.  NAG me, I don't care.  I want to keep you informed...I just forget.  I giggle about their antics, but I forget to write them down. I WANT to write them down, b/c I WANT to be able to look back someday and REMEMBER!!!  

                                                                                                            


Today is my sweet husband's 33rd birthday.  (Sweet for the moment anyway!  lol) 

I've had plans on what I wanted to get him for weeks now, but of course I put it off until today.  *You aren't the least bit surprised, are you??*  So the kids and I got up...piddled around the house and waited ( I have no idea WHY I put things off to the very last instant) until we only had 2 hours before Jade would be home from work. 

So we rushed into town,picked out a cake (the kids opted for the Iron Man cake), took a little time to find just what we wanted and then rushed home.  As soon as we hit the door I called Jade to see if he was on his way home yet.  *He'd been working late all week...so I thought, "...maybe...." but no such luck.*  He was 5 minutes from the house. 

We threw his gifts ( a really cool tackle box, and 2 new ties...the kids each picked one out )  into gift bags, (Shai stuffed hers with toilet "tissue", I stuffed the tackle box gift with Wal-Mart sacks and Matt stuffed paper towels on his.  No time to search for REAL tissue!  lol) We placed the cake on the table, put the gifts behind it and then while I placed candles on the cake, Shai watched the front door.  (She wanted to jump out and yell "Surprise!" )  

As soon as he came in we lit the candles...and that is a LOT of candles. Let me tell you something I learned today.....when you have 30+ candles, those "magic re-light" candles are NOT a good idea.  Shai really wanted to get them for him...b/c he has done that to them a couple of times.  I thought it was only fair.....but that was BEFORE we nearly burned down the house!  Picture 33 candles blazing on top of  a cake and they will NOT go out!!!   We ended up having to get a bowl of water and it took Jade and I both carefully but quickly removing the candles and tossing them in the water to make them go out.   On a positive note...the cake should stay good for a little longer...it has a nice waxy layer on top!!!!!  

After he opened his gifts, he said he was hungry so we headed out to eat.   We ended up at Olive Garden and enjoyed a nice leisurly meal.  ( Shai and I told the waitress it was his birthday, so she brought ANOTHER little cake and several ppl sang ...very loudly....to him.  It was so fun! He turned a "little" red.  )

Afterwards we had to run an errand, and so we got the kids a haircut while we were nearby.  We've been home for less than an hour now.... Jade is snoring on the couch, Shai is reading a book and Matt is watching something about Bigfoot. 

We are such a wild-partying group of people.

So much to say.....and so little interest in typing it all out!  

I have to share a few funny things that the kiddos have done lately....if nothing else. 

As you know...I recently had a minor surgery.   My house is in a total state of disarray right now.  2 kids, 1 husband and 1 dog and NO ONE to clean up after them.  It's kinda scary!

Okay...not QUITE that bad..but close.  I've picked up a little (very little) and the kids are fairly good at picking up after themselves.....after I remind them two or 3 times.  That just leaves Jade and Cricket...and as Cricket only has a couple of toys and doesn't make much mess, I guess that means this entire mess is Jade's fault.    Yep...sounds good to me!

Annneeewayyy......back to what I STARTED to say.   Our house is on well water.  I love well water, for the most part...but this water tends to be a bit...."dingy".  It leaves a dingy residue in the toilets, etc.  And while I was down with my surgery (and I'll admit....I'm not the best at keeping up with "toilet cleaning") the toilets got a bit...well, dingy.  I finally got tired of it and cleaned them. ( WOW! I know I know....bear with me.....I know this toilet cleaning thing isn't all that big of a deal...considering it took me about 5 minutes total..to clean 2 toilets...but I'll get to the good part in a minute, and it is WORTH IT.)   The kids were gone to their GG and Papa's house when the urge hit me to clean the toilets.  And when they did come home...at least one of them recognized all of my hard work.  Matt came looking for me...and he had a question for me... concerning the sparkly toilet.  He said, "Mom, did you clean the toilet?   How did you do it?  Did you use MAGIC???  Because you had to use magic to make it THAT clean!"   Yup....made me feel like a terrible house keeper/mom/wife/human being.  But it also made me laugh like a crazy person.

Shailynn has already written letters to Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and Clarice.  (For anyone not aware of the "goings on" at the north pole, Clarice is Rudolph's girlfriend.   By the beginning of July she had written each a letter and colored them a picture.  She IS expecting return letters...since it isn't their BUSY time of year! 

I love my children!  REALLY, I do. 

Although..........

 

By 10pm last night I was ready to strangle two very short people.   I love them dearly…but they were seriously trying my patience…plus I was well beyond tired.  By 9:00pm they were grounded for 2 days.  By 10:30pm we had bumped it up to 3 days. Shortly after that….they were out of bed again…but this time I couldn’t do much about it.  Matt had FINALLY lost his tooth.  (Why doesn’t that ever happen at a convenient time?)  Soooo, what ensued was an all night ordeal.  And unfortunately I have to take credit for at least part of it…..although I really don’t want to.  You see, when Shai lost her very first tooth…it was a VERY BIG deal.  Our baby had lost a tooth.  And believe me, it isn’t that we weren’t JUST as excited when Matt lost his first tooth….it just so happens that my explanation must start with the first tooth Shai lost.  The tooth fairy thought it was a really big deal too, and did something that seemed like a really COOL thing at the time. (hindsight leads me to issue warnings to any parents of young children!!)  She left a note for Shai about how exciting it was to lose her first tooth, keep brushing, yada yada.  Shai, of course, LOVED the letter…and expected one each time.  So, of course she got one, regardless of the time of day or night she lost the tooth and the amount of sleep the Tooth Fairy had to lose in order to write these letters. And then Matt started losing teeth too.  I remember one week I think we had 3 visits by the tooth fairy.   For some reason, I was VERY tired that week. 

My children get very excited when the tooth fairy is coming.  And they both have VERY BIG hearts.  And if the tooth fairy leaves THEM a letter, then they MUST leave one for her too.   And then there is the thing about leaving cookies and milk out for SANTA.   Shouldn’t we do something like that for the Tooth Fairy????   Of course we should.  So we always do.   It’s just nuts.  The Tooth Fairy must really LOVE stopping at our house, late at night. 

So it took a MILLION years for them to get everything together for the Tooth Fairy last night.  And it took them FOREVER to go to sleep.  I even snuck in to read their letters to the Tooth Fairy (You never know what kind of vital information they might hold) and accidently woke up Shai. So I tiptoed back out and read my book in the living room.  It seems Matt left her Apple Juice, and pennies, in case she needed to buy things in Tooth Fairy Land.  And he had LOTS of questions for her, such as, “How do you get in?” and “How do you get the tooth without waking us up?”  Shai left her an Apple and play money and told her to feel free to take a nap, watch TV, use her lipstick, etc.   (The kids thought it funny that the Tooth Fairy had so much to do while she was here that she didn’t have time for a nap or to watch TV!!!) Eventually they went to sleep.  I’m guessing the Tooth Fairy showed up somewhere between 4am and 4:30 am …b/c I didn’t climb into bed before 4 am.  (I had an urge for apple juice and an apple, myself, and I had a couple of letters to write of my own.)  At 4:30 am Jade raises up in bed….I was just drifting off…and says, “Are the kids awake?”  His way of saying….get up and go check on the kids.   I get up, the lights are all on and Shai and Matt are running all over the place.  I asked the obvious question….WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP?   They smiled…very excited little smiles…and told me they were looking for Fairy Tracks!

So I smiled, told them to hop back into bed.  I climbed into bed beside Jade and told him, “They were looking for fairy tracks.”  He grunted okay, and we all went back to sleep!

Well, it is Saturday.  I had my gall bladder surgery on Thursday.  I feel pretty good considering.  I was told to wait at least 48 hours before I took a shower.  I tried. I’m about 4 hours shy of 48 hours.  Lol    I just got out of the shower.  I feel better, at least!  These crazy incision bandages are WEIRD.  They are clear…so all seepage/blood is clearly visible.  And they aren’t well sealed. I know some water from the shower got inside the bandages.  I couldn’t see any way around it.  I tried putting some “Spiderman” band aids over the “holes”, but it didn’t seem to help at all. So for now, I feel clean, and I just put some gauze over the “leakiest” of the 3 incisions.  When Mom gets up, I’ll get her to look at the other 2 and see if she thinks they need the extra gauze as well.

Jade is still in St Louis with Clif and Lora.  Things have gone from bad to worse there.  When they got to the house they were supposed to be moving into…well, long story short, it was a nightmare.  So they REPACKED everything back into the moving truck and found a hotel. Today they are going to try to find another place to live.  I worry about them….but one of my sweet aunts reminded me today to stop worrying about them, take care of myself and let God take care of Clif and Lora.  So that is what I’m going to try to do today. 

And why is it…when you CAN’T do anything that you suddenly get the urge to do everything.  I need to add water to the fish tank…but I can’t do that at the moment.  I desperately need to sweep my floors, and I can’t do that right now either.  I also realize that once I AM able to resume completely normal duties, I’ll have lost all interest in these things and will have to make myself do them! Lol I am so hopeless!  Hehe

My computer is also on the fritz.  I don’t know if I have a virus on here or what, but it is so incredibly slow.  UGH.  It makes me crazy. 

Shailynn is writing a new story. This one is about a puppy.  I have no idea what made her decide to write another story, but she is.  She didn’t win the contest that she entered.  She got her certificate in the mail, for entering, the other day though.  She was excited about that, although she would have preferred the new laptop or tv or MP3 player!  Lol I can’t say that I blame her at all! Hehe

My mama has been a real champ, staying with me, taking care of me and the kids.  I have the greatest parents.  My daddy NEVER calls me, yet he called me yesterday to check in on me.  He is not a “phone person”, so it meant a lot that HE made the effort and called me.  I need to kick my Mom out of here by tomorrow though.  She has been on the go for quite a while now, and I know she’s ready to get home.  For some reason she and Daddy like spending time together…so I know they are missing one another. I love having her here…and she is a tremendous help…but I know that she probably wants to be home.