Random Tidbits

* If you are a part of our family, almost all of your pants, shorts, and capris will be denim, navy or khaki. It's not that I have no imagination, it just works out that way and it's easy to match stuff. Sometimes I have to laugh when I hang out the laundry. Okay, maybe I don't have much imagination. But at least our shirts are all different colors!

* Logan - now 5 years old - still takes naps a lot of the time. If he doesn't, he sometimes falls asleep at the supper table - which is what he did at his birthday supper before he even opened his presents.

* I have 10 gallons of blueberries in my freezers! Thank you, Jesus! And thank-you Twila and my in-laws for giving us some of them!

* If I pick any more berries, I can sell them for $35/gallon. Anyone want some?

* I've entered that stage of pregnancy called "really nice hair"!! I really enjoy it because I know it will fall out like crazy when "Little Herman" is about 5 months old. :-(

* The baby's name (until it's born) is Herman. Like it?

* In desperation, we came up with a new child-training technique. Boys who fight will eat oatmeal for the next meal. We are seeing results, and I just pray I can keep being consistent with it. There was a day or two when they had oatmeal for two meals!

* Josiah says lots of words now: airplane, truck, please, thank-you, bread, bottle, to name a few. He often mimics words which is so cute.

* Josiah is also getting to the "so you really think You're the boss, eh?" stage. Lord, give me strength!

* In the past three weeks plus a bit, we have: sent Keith and Caleb to a reserve up north for three days, left the kids with sitters and gone to Winnipeg for a 2.5 day conference, planned and executed a "big" birthday party for Logan's fifth, gone to Church camp-out for the weekend, had company for 3 nights, and picked a pile of blueberries. Maybe that's why I haven't blogged much!!

* After months of fatigue and sporadic exercise I'm trying to get back into a regular exercise routine.

* Life has slowed down a bit and I'm actually getting caught up around here. I have this week to get my act together (hahahaha) and then we start school.

* This coming Friday we have a baby-sitter lined up and some of us ladies get to have a whole day of kid-free scrap-booking. Yippee!

* Even though I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant, I still need a nap almost every day. Is it because I'm older or is something else going on??

* Caleb got out the Monopoly game this morning and we started a game before church. It was the first time he played and the first time for me in years and years. It was kinda fun. Especially since I smoked him. :-) (And I wonder why he's so competitive?!?)

* After what seemed like weeks (probably wasn't though) of various kids waking up during the night for various reasons, the last 4 nights have been blissfully quiet and Keith and I have been sleeping like absolute rocks for the most part. It's so wonderful to wake up feeling rested!

* My garden has been woefully neglected this summer. Why do I even try to garden?

* The porch renovation that was started in May is not completed yet, but the end might be in sight. Although Keith informed me that it won't get stained this year. I suspected as much.

* Me to Keith yesterday: "One thing I've learned in the last seven years is that I'm NOT superwoman!"

* I'm going to bed now!

I Don't Get No Respect Around Here

Here's a rough reconstruction of a recent conversation around here...

Caleb: "Mom, what does it feel like to be an old lady?"

Me: "I don't know. You'd have to ask one!"

Caleb (with a mischevious grin): "I just did."

Me: "I don't mind because I'm so much smarter than the young people." (I figured that would get his goat!)

Caleb: "Well when you're so old that you forget everything, I'll know more than you."


I can't win!


Well, just so you all know, I'm still alive and well. The summer madness around here is starting to slow down and I've been able to catch my breath a little. It's bedtime now, but soon I will post more details and pictures of what's been going on around here. I know you just can't wait - right, Lisa?? :-)

Because I'm Crazy

I shouldn't be doing this, but here's just a little post to let you know what's up. Keith and I are leaving in 4 hours to go to Winnipeg for the Leadership Summit. We've been planning to go for a long time, but it kinda snuck up on me. :-/ Anyway, my "not caring" last weekend is catching up with me. Oh well, some stuff just won't get done. I'm looking forward to the time alone with Keith and hopefully relaxing some, although the Summit schedule is fairly intense. So, now I need to finish packing, orchestrate lunch, run some errands, take a nap and get out the door to deliver the boys to sitters by 3:00. Hahahahahaha. Talk to you later!

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

Sing with me now... "Our Bible School is over and we are going home. Good-bye. Good-bye. Be always kind and good!" Remember that song? No, we didn't sing it. But, VBS is history for another year and it was good. We had a team of two girls from CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) who did the teaching and games. We were responsible for snacks, crafts, and taking care of the kids. It wasn't a big crowd (27 at the most) but the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I was amazed how they sat and just drank in the Bible stories and teaching. They heard the gospel very clearly. We have a few little boys who want to start coming to Sunday School which is exciting. One is a neighbor just down the road.

The team's supervisor was here for a few days and stayed at our house. It was good to have her here and get to know her. Last night she and the team were here for supper. Afterwards, the girls played and played with Logan. He thought he had the world by the tail!!

This week Keith decided to go up north to a reserve and help our friends, Arthur and Iris, build their house. They left yesterday morning and will come back some time Monday. John M., a carpenter from here also went along. Leonard H. (IA) went in there for the week. We decided to send Caleb along too, which of course, is very exciting for him! Two plane rides and he gets to play with his friends! And of course, Logan was very sad that he couldn't go! How do you decide whose turn it is??? We promised him fun stuff here and maybe chicken hunting with Daddy in the fall.

This morning we tried Iris' 3-grain pancake recipe. I thought this was a good time since I'm pretty sure Keith wouldn't be into trying a new recipe (he's the Sat. morning pancake maker around here.) It was pretty good, but I don't think Keith will be convinced to switch from his whole wheat buttermilk recipe.

The next fun thing we did was have a nice long visit with Twila (formerly from here, now living in IA). That was so nice!!! We ended our visit with lunch at the Chip Van (and Josiah wouldn't eat fries!?!?!) and plans to maybe pick blueberries on Monday.

After our naps, we went out for ice cream (one of Logan's bribes). :-) I found out that when it's 80 degrees and sunny, it's impossible for me to eat an ice cream cone faster than it melts! Logan was an absolute mess! It was pretty funny. I put them in the tub as soon as we got home - and then Josiah pooped in the tub. Sigh. That's life, eh? We're going to have tomato soup from a can for supper! Yeah!

I decided that this weekend I'm going to ignore the list of things I "should" do and just do what I want to do. :-) Well, I will change diapers, feed the kids something, and get ready for leading worship tomorrow. If I list all the things I'm not caring about it will make me feel good, so here goes: fold a load of laundry, clean anything, cook real meals, cut the boys' hair, work on the budget, put stuff away from VBS, assorted paperwork, weed the garden and thin the carrots and beets, sign up for DSL internet (well, that one actually sounds like fun so I might do it! Yay, we're getting DSL!!!). Instead, I think I might pick blueberries, finish a swag I started 3 years ago, and put some old black & white pics in frames and on the wall - another project I started almost 3 years ago. Why does it take so long to get some things done?? Anyway, I think it would be really fun to get those two projects done tomorrow afternoon/evening. We'll see. It would also be fun to watch a movie. I bought "Anna and the King" somewhere for really cheap and haven't watched it yet. Anyone wanna come watch it with me tomorrow night? We could make peanut butter popcorn! I think I'll call my sisters-in-law... (The ones who live here. Sorry, Rhonda and Darla) :-(

Are you bored to tears yet?? I need to go make that can of soup since it's 6:40! I'm sitting on the patio with the lap-top while the kids play outside. How cool is that? And I just looked up at our apple tree and I see apples on it that look almost ripe! Neat! Okay, that's really all for now.