Joy of Kids

Ian: GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY
We have been building a wall in between the kids rooms. I taped some plastic to the wall in order to keep the dust to a minimal while sanding.
Me: Did you pull down my plastic?
Ian: No, I didn't.
I pick up the phone.
Ian: You calling the police?


While I was cooking supper, Nia & Ian started playing school. This was not your typical school.
Teacher Nia: Turn to Proverbs 8:24. You will have to write this in cursive and I will test you on it. He made a 75 on it.
Teacher Ian: Turn to chapter ?. Read this and we are going outside. Outside is over - us in chapter six - okay, us done, us going outside.

Scary teacher face!

This was Ian's cursive that he made a 75 on.

We've Had A BREAKTHROUGH!

Both of my kids suck their thumb. When Nia was little I encouraged her (what was I thinking) to find her thumb because I was tired of getting out of bed every few minutes to put the paci back in her mouth. As a result, I have an avid thumb sucker. We have tried everything from nail polish to hot sauce to cinnamon oil (which later learned it will burn your sick so I had to remove it quickly) to taping it to gloves to points off of her behavior chart and so on and so on. We thought she would have quit by now because everyone said, "they will quit when they start school". Pre-K & Kindergarten - nothing!!!! Maybe 1st grade!

I picked Nia up from school today and after asking her what happened at school, this is what she said, "Anakin & Jada made fun of me because I suck my thumb. I don't even like to suck my thumb it's just really hard to quit. It really hurts my feelings when people make fun of me." Of course you don't want anyone making fun of your kids but after telling her that that would happen I was encouraged to think this might be what makes her stop. I guess I need to be thankful it's not her big toe.

Dreams

Nia woke up early this morning and came to my side of the bed crying at 5:15 a.m. because she had a scary dream several times in the night about a monster that killed kids who were loud and it got one of her friends named Cheyenne. She brought her blankets in my room and slept on the floor but she wanted me to pray for her before she went back to sleep. This morning after waking her up this is what she told me:

"I dreamed that I was with Jesus in heaven and we were playing games. Chutes & Ladders, dominoes, & Guess Who and Jesus won Guess Who."

Ian was hearing the conversation in the next room and said, "Me too". So I asked him what his dream was and he said the exact same thing except it wasn't with Jesus, it was with little bears.

Activity Never Stops

I found myself, as I was away from my family, by myself, occasionally hearing my name called, looking over my shoulder in the car thinking they were there, and pointing out that it was weird to be without them. It was a great get-away for me but I was ready to get back home. About 30 minutes after I got home Ian came to me wanting me to put his clothes back on him and I noticed something in his mouth but before I could get to it, he started gagging. He lifted up his head, with tears in his eyes, and said, "I swallowed a penny". The activity never stops at my house. Ohh, how I love being a mommy - the memories made.

Women's Retreat

I went with FBC Spur this weekend to San Antonio for a Beth Moore conference. It was absolutely amazing! Beth Moore has been a Bible teacher for over 10 years. She writes books and has DVD Bible studies. She spoke from Psalms 16 and provided eye-opening Biblical truth. We had a group of 19 total. The fellowship was great - lots of laughter. Romeo was willing to stay home with the kids in El Reno for 4 days to allow me to go. He did a great job.

Is this Chicken Pox?

Nia came up with a spot on her chest and she said the cat scratched her. It has since gotten bigger and looks to us like a ring worm so we have been treating it as such (the biggest spot in the middle that looks different than all the rest). However, in the last couple of days she has run fever constantly, had severe headaches, and more spots are developing on her neck/chest area. We looked online at the look of chicken pox and it is identical. She only has 10 spots though and it has been 2 days since the other spots came up. She is up-to-date on all her shots. Not sure what to think!!?

Conversations with a 3 year old

Ian: You in my heart.
Me: Oh, thank you! I hope I never leave your heart.
Ian: My heart sticky. You stick on my heart.
Me: Really
Ian: Me chew gum all the time (pause) my brain sticky too.

Wall - Day 1

Mom & Dad have come to see us on Labor Day 2 years in a row now so we decided why stop this year. My dad is always very kind and wonderful to come up and help us with some home improvement projects. This year we wanted to put a wall in between the kids rooms. When we moved in, there were 2 bedrooms but the wall adjoining them had been torn down so their rooms were joined. At the time it was perfect but now they are getting older and needing their privacy. Romeo decided to do what he could so that Dad wouldn't have to mess with the easy stuff. Well, turns out, it wasn't that hard (according to Romeo) and he got a lot done today. No this doesn't mean dad is off the hook. I have many projects in mind for Labor Day weekend.

Beginning of day 1

End of day 1

Big Head Deflated!

Romeo was doing some work in his office this evening involving needle-nose pliers. He was pulling a zip tie with the pliers to tighten it and it slipped, stabbing him in the forehead. I wish I could have seen that one.

The Good Samaritan

Each day, I pray with Nia before she goes into school. This morning I specifically prayed for others to see Jesus through Nia. I picked Nia up from school today and she said she made a new friend. She doesn't know her name yet but she asked her if she knew that Jesus died on the cross for her and then she taught her a game. Nia named the game "The Good Samaritan". Don't ask me how to play - I don't know. I am guessing she told her the story and they acted it out. In VBS this year we had a lesson over this and acted it out, so maybe she got it from that. Who ever said that children can't be a witness for Jesus???

First Day of School

Nia started 1st grade today. She has been talking about it all week.

Here are some things Nia likes:

Riding her bike, playing in the sand box, playing with Hunter (neighbor), catching bugs, playing games such as Bible Trivia, Guess Who, Charades, Chutes & Ladders, & Old Maid. She likes playing softball with me & dad. She is a great batter & thrower. She makes relationships with everyone from the aisle in Walmart to her teachers at school. She is a talker. She loves family devotional time, singing, dancing, pretending to be a different member of the family at dinner time (usually mom), movie night, Webkinz, laughing with her daddy & watching TV. We love Nia dearly and are truly grateful that God has placed her in our family. I dread sending her to school for 6.5 hours each day. We miss her tremendously when she is gone. Ian went with me today to drop Nia off at school and as soon as we got back in the car and started to drive away Ian said, "Me miss Nia alweddy".

Hair Cut

For several months many people have wanted to buzz Ian's hair. Personally I like the longer look and wanted it to grow out and had gotten my way for a while. But I agreed that it was time for a cut. This is what it looked like before:

And After:

He looks like a totally different kid.
He really likes rubbing his head.
Romeo said it looks like there is a head in the trash can.

Red Ant

While at Mema's, Nia ran in from playing outside. She was shaking her hand up and down, up and down, over and over. This was the conversation:

Me: What happened?
Nia: A red ant bit me.
Me: What were you doing?
Nia: Trying to catch them.
UHH DUHHHH!!!
I bet she won't do that again.

My Grandma!

Saturday we got to go see my grandma in the nursing home. A couple days before we went and she remembered that I was her granddaughter but she didn't say my name so we weren't sure if she remembered it. This time, she remembered my name. I was really surprised. She wanted me to sit in her lap. She said "I thought this morning - I hope my daughter will come to see me today - and then you came" She was thrilled we were there. Mom asked her if she needed anything and she said that she needed her to come see her. My heart broke. I can't imagine being in her position. I sure wish I was closer so I could go see her too. I remember so many great times with my grandma. She was super at card games. I remember cheating just so I could win at Pounce. I stayed with them in the summers sometimes and I remember bringing Grandpa (he has been gone for almost 8 years now) his coffee and together they would read the Bible and pray for the missionaries who had birthdays on that day. Grandma was so loving. She would stand at the door when Grandpa would leave for work and stay there and wave until she couldn't see him anymore. Throughout the years Grandma has done so many funny things. I wouldn't even know where to start. We love Grandma dearly!!!

Click on Mom's blog in the right hand column to read more about Grandma.

Extra Zero

Has this happened to you? You put an extra zero when cooking in the microwave? These potatoes were supposed to be for the kids and were to only cook for 3 minutes. Instead of 3:00 it was 30:00 and we didn't know it until smoke started coming out of the microwave. Me and mom were talking and cooking at the same time. On top of that the steak fingers got burned while we were addressing the potatoes in the microwave and a paper towel got a little too close to the stove. We decided that we should have gone out to eat. The food was great but that certainly was "one of those days".

"Mema Camp" The Details

Well, I am home now after being in Texas for 9 days. I went for many different reasons: April Lewis - a friend from high school and a bridesmaid at my wedding - had a baby shower. She is due in November (I think). Another reason was for VBS. Mom was in charge of it this year and asked me to teach the 9, 10, & 11 year old Bible study lessons, so I did. VBS was in the morning and after that we did "Mema Camp" activities.

Day 1: We went to Silver Falls to "climb mountains". The kids had a great time here as well as myself. Silver Falls is a rest stop on the way from Lubbock to Dickens (were my parents live). It is a really cool place to picnic and explore. It was about 102' degrees outside so we thought we might stay for an hour or so. Everyone gets out of the car and Mema says, "Oh, my goodness!" She had locked the keys in the car along with her cell phone. I went and used a man's phone in the office and called dad. He was in a meeting and wasn't able to send anyone for help until 3 hours later. We were exhausted. Here are some pictures of Silver Falls.

This picture is at the discovery of the locked keys.Ian fell asleep on the way home. The black stuff on his fingers was tar from the road.
Day 2: We went to the swimming pool in Crosbyton - sorry no pictures. We had a great time. I thought it would be stressful having to keep my eye out on 7 kids but Madisyn, Maci, & Shannon all were good swimmers & helpers at times to the 4 that couldn't swim. Nia is 6 and is fine in the part she can touch so she wasn't that hard. The 3 littles ones, Ian, Kori, & Emi all couldn't swim and could barely touch the bottom of the pool. They were good about staying in their floaties. We had lots of contests. Most of the kids got to stand up on my shoulders and do tricks. I had such a good time there, I know the kids did too. These pictures are the sleeping arrangements.
Well now we know that Emily (2.5) & Nia (6) are REALLLLY GOOD friends. It was so cute to see them together.
Day 3: We decided to stay home to allow naps for the little ones and me. After naps we had a Talent Show. We had a big & small group so that the little kids wouldn't be competing with the bigger ones. The categorizes were:
Playing an instrument won by Madisyn & Emi
Singing won by Nia & Ian
Funny Faces won by Shannon & Ian
Paper Design won by Madisyn & Emi
Dancing won by Nia & Ian
Fashion won by Maci & Kori
Hair Design won by Maci & Kori & Emi
Drawing won by Shannon & Kori
Pictures would have been cute for this but unfortunately I didn't take any. Sorry!

Day 4 (last day) we went to Joyland!!! All week long we had been cramped in Mema's car so we decided to take the church van to Lubbock so we would have enough room. Here are some pictures.



Becky & Kori had an incident on a ride. They are both doing better now. The process of how it happened & the ride are to hard to describe. Thanks Mema & Papa for letting us have this camp. WE HAD A BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Mema Camp"

Apologies to those who view my website frequently. I have been at my mom's enjoying and helping with "Mema Camp". This was intended for all grandkids to spend a few days at Mema's & Papa's house. Tucker didn't want to be away from his mom (Becky, my sister) for that long and Nate (Kevin, my brother's youngest and only son)just turned a year old and we didn't think he would be able to do all the activities we had planned. So we had 7 kids: Madisyn (11), Maci (10), Shannon (8), Nia (6), Kori (4), Ian (3), & Emi (2). On top of that mom was in charge of VBS this week so needlessly to say, WE WERE BUSY!!! If you were to ask right now if "Mema Camp" was going to be on the agenda for next summer, we would tell you to ask in a couple months. Right now we are worn out. I will post pictures later.