Weeks in review

Ok, I have been sadly lacking in the blogging arena. I mentally blog all day long. I have had great titles like, "To train up a tomato" the best of both worlds, child training and tomato staking ! I guess you would have had to read both of those books to get the title.




So what have we been doing??

Sewing Club


We went camping a couple of weekends ago at Fernadina Beach. On the road again!


They had their Shrimp festival (ie. a craft fair with a pirate theme)












and a civil war reenactment at Fort Clinch. So, we pulled into the KOA friday evening and to our surprise it look liked Bike week at Daytona. A veterans biker club was having their reunion, live band, outside bar, AC/DC and ALL!! Quiet hour was moved til midnight for the weekend. All in all it was ok, nothing too offensive happened, we just looked REALLY out of place. The kids were disapointed that I didn't let them swim in the pool, however I saw all the biker fun happening in the pool the night before~~eewww~~~




Well we did the pirate festival, and then off to Fort Clinch for some good ol' yankee history. The Union army was in residence. The girls met nurses, cooks, soldiers and got to shoot off the cannon.

I soon realized we were within minutes of Cumberland Island, GA. The Island is renowned for it's wild horses. Well Maddy was excited, and so I said , yes I will take you all. So Liv Maddy, and I took the 45 minute ferry to the VERY primitive island. You must walk miles to get anywhere, carry in all your supplies (bottles of water, chairs, clothes, first aid kit....) Well loaded up like a pack mule, the park ranger said we had two docks to choose from to disembark. The first was the hour long park ranger led ruins tour, the second was Sea camp which led to the ocean (like a 2 mile walk) . Well you KNOW I am a homeschooler because I drug my children for some more learning! We were the only ones in the group under 50. I must say my kids must be used to it because they didn't even think to complain ,well that came later... We did see lots of cool horses (some a little too close for comfort). At the end of the tour the kids then wanted to go to the beach (at the other dock) like 4 miles away. Then the whining and moaning and complaining began. "It's hot....how much further...mom will you carry all the bags...remember the pack mule reference) We needed one of those horses! We made it and Liv (the complainer) survived.

On Mothers Day the girls made me breakfast and I caught Liv and Ethan tag teaming the laundry.













The end of a long mother's day!! They look beat, hmmm????
Fishing in the Pool, Ethan?
Now that is HOTTTT, we are in the pool almost every day... Friends feel free to drop in for a swim..

Our latest Baby Quilt

A collaborative baby quilt for a close friend. I think the quilt looks like the baby should be named Caroline or Chloe....or Tonya

Webkinz Economics 101

Maddy is completely and totally addicted to playing with her webkinz online. We are a little bit behind the craze since I only just recently allowed her to play online. She has put 6 of her webkinz online, and has bought like 10 rooms to add to her home. She is homeschooling, gardening, and decorating her babies. Today I walked by and she said that her webkinz were on a diet. I said, oh okay. A few minutes later I look at the screen and she is redecorating her house, a new couch and stuff. Well she is complaining that the house is too big, and she doesn't have enough money for all the furniture she wants. At that moment I notice that her poor baby is low on food. I think like 30%, I said Oh, she's starving feed her! 2 of her babies were sick, and she said I don't have enough money to go shopping. Well she had enough for the new couch! So she had to sell all her furniture and then we went grocery shopping.

She kept complaining how expensive it was to have 6 webkinz to feed. Yeah like you and your brother and sis are cheap? Remember this in real life! So to save on groceries she went to check the garden, well there was no harvest just weeds to pull, which she did. She does virtual chores but HELLO what about the weeds in our REAL garden?? Well Maddy is getting a dose of reality in webkinz world... I told her go get a job and earn those webkinz dollars. Until then I guess grandma (as in me) will have to make sure she not putting the kids on a starvation diet, so she can buy a new Ethan Allen bedroom set!

Being A Mom

Liv came home with a sweet Mother's Day poem from preschool.



Favorites

By Olivia Freeman



My Favorite thing about my mom is: just hugging her



My mom's favorite color is: Pink



My Mom's favortite thing to do is: wash clothes



My Mom is so funny when she: tickles me and makes me laugh

If Steph can rerun posts here is an oldy, but goody

The backdrop to this is when Ethan learned how to climb out of the crib and would NOT stay in bed and I think we were on week 2 of the struggle!!


Yes well naptime came about 12:45 when we came home from preschool. Ethan's eyes were rolling back into his head in the car, but I perversely made Olivia keep him awake until I got him into his bed. Well at home he seemed to pick up a second wind and did not eagerly snuggle down in his bed. He climbed out of bed 15 times, with eight of those meeting a rap with the wooden spoon. Well he won the naptime battle. I tried to get him to lay down with me in my bed but he was not having it. So, I gave up put Maddy in charge and decided I would at least get a nap. WRONG! As I was laying there I heard

Maddy: Olivia wash your hands and brush your teeth before you touch him that has peanut butter in it.

(Ethan has a p-nut allergy_Ok, I have to get up and investigate because there should be no peanut items in my home. Well a package of Nutty Buddy cookies snuck in somehow? So, I try and lay back down while thinking would Maddy recognize anaphylactic shock or would her eyes be glued to the TV ignoring her brothers gasps just 2 feet away . So I get back up and make sure the TV is off and Maddy is aware of what shock looks like and find the epi pen and set it out just in case. I lay back down, the phone rings, it's a girlfriend and Maddy is letting her know that her mommy is sleeping (right), should I feel guilt? I don't usually take naps, I should be watching the kids, doing my 500th load of laundry this week, or weeding the flower beds. Nope, I am going to nap and try not to feel guilty. Then I doze off for a few minutes to be awakened by little hands shaking me and staring into my face :

Olivia: Mom are you sleeping?
Me: mumbling sleepily, I was, what do you want?
Olivia: Can I swim?
Me: Should I say, No, stupid have I ever let you swim while I am asleep?
Me :No Olivia Where is your sis?
Olivia: I don't know (and she leaves)

Well 2 phone calls , 3 Ethan tantrums and Maddy complaining about watching baby shows later I have not had a nap. I am worse off than when I laid down and my house is TRASHED. My dear husband walks in and says, "Why are you taking a nap?" I think he wished he had never asked if you know what I mean. Well after our talk about how MY day went he just asked what take out we would be ordering for dinner....I think Stavros sounds good.

Chicken Parmesean

I just made the best dinner ever. I made The Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Parmesan. It turned out so easy and a favorite at our house, now.

Recipe
3 eggs
All purpose flour
Italian bread crumbs
salt & Pepper
water
Chicken breast pounded to 1/2 inch thin
favorite oil for frying in the pan. I used grapeseed oil.

Pound out chicken, dip in the flour, salt and pepper, then dredge through the beaten eggs and a tablespoon of water. Then dip in the breadcrumbs. Then into the hot oil 1/2 inch thick in pan. Cook til done and crispy brown on the outside.

I added Prego sauce, spaghetti noodles, and garlic bread... Yummy

Happy May Day

I finished my mom's birthday quilt

What a sweet smile!
Spring has arrived

Ethan and Liv were playing baby on the stairs. Yes that is a paci in Liv's mouth

We also have a maiden of mowing in training. Her poor daddy had to walk beside the mower.

I had to remind him that once she is trained in mowing, then it pays off!!!



The latest food prices and rice shortage made me go a little crazy! I stocked up just a tad, so never fear our house will have bread and rice!

He thinks I am going to remember to put these bags in my car and then try and stuff all my groceries in them????


Liv helped make the garlic bread..(prior to me getting out the camera she had the tray on the floor buttring the bread)

Icecream for breakfast, YUMMY

Mom, you ROCK!
The camper has been calling to us from the back yard! So we are heading out of town for the weekend. See you all on Monday!

Happy Birthday Mom, and Grandma Ann, they both turned 45 today!!

Slowly crawling back from the dead!

I am recovering from a NASTY virus. It knocked me and my family on our butt!!! My poor husband has the best immune system ever. I could have Ebola, blood shooting from my eyes, and he could cuddle up next to me and never catch it!

Lucky for him, that means he gets to be the sick caretaker. He finally told me yesterday that He could not do my job. While Mike was folding laundry, Ethan smacked his sister with a marble trophy on the head. I stumble out of bed due to the shreiking in the living room, calm Liv down, and Mike says, "I can't do the laundry AND watch Ethan". HMMMMM... The urge to laugh was strong (except for the excruitiating pain in my throat), the urge to take the marble trophy and whop him on the head was strong, the urge to crawl back into bed and let the strongest survive won over!

I actually feel sorry for him, sort of. He is going stir crazy having to stay and do housework and childcare all day. He is VERY eager to run out to the drug store or walmart.

We missed Olivia's talent show last night, I didn't tell Liv so I am hoping she will forget about it.

I have watched more TV this week than I have in years. I usually choose to watch History channel, Discovery, National Geographic...etc.. Well it is Earth week and I have been completely indoctrinated. I will just recap for you uninformed what is coming in the future. Which in some ways could be liberating. I mean why worry about schooling our kids, don't stress all your kids need to know is survival skills and they will be fine!

* In 2016 gas reserves will run out, mass panic, (teach your kids how to ride a bike)
* A 2-3 degree warming is coming with horrible flooding (Move to Canada it will be the new Florida) a possible 6 degree increase may happen where we all DIE, even if you live in Antartica
* Yellowstone is due for a mega volcanic erruption anytime! (Volcanic winter kills off most vegetation and could cause a nuclear winter, which might counteract the global warming??)
* The west coast of the US is on the Cascadian fault that is due for a mega super earthquake which should be a 9+ on the Richter scale and cause massive tsunamis. (Personally I would not be overly devastated if California fell into the ocean...something like Sodom & Gomorah...)
*Global warming....blah...blah...blah... Recycle....don't wash your hair....get worms and put all your trash in a worm bucket.....use cloth diapers....ok, well the worm idea sounds cool for the garden

***Ok if you can't tell I am a little over the green eco drama! I love the earth too, but must I hear about every possible eco disaster and how it can all be linked to man, (ie fat lazy americans and their SUVs) I can't take any more, and to think they teach this garbage as accepted fact to our kids! The main thing I got from their warming and cooling charts were that this is a normal cycle for the earth!


I am off to nap, Ethan rode with Mike today so I have a few free hours

Letting Go

I haven't really blogged in a couple weeks because the craziness of my life. I have made 2 twin size quilts, supervised Maddy's spring quilt which is halfway binded (did I mention it is a double king ;0), been entirely busy with house projects, church projects, homeschool projects, discipline projects and a total confusion of how to reign everything back into control!!

I NEED A TIME OUT, just so I can catch up....

Well I have come to a peace about stepping away from some leadership roles I perform at our church. I realized that I gave up my job last May in order to create less stress and be with my kids full time. Well the time I freed up I have systematically filled with ministry and projects outside my home! I am sure there is some psychological statement in there somewhere, but I don't care to ponder on it.

I thought I might feel regret with leaving these ministries that I helped build, but suprisingly I feel only peace and relief about the change. I need to stop the business of all our obligations, and I say that in a loose manner since my only true obligation is to my family, and focus on what MY family needs from me.


Well I am off to rock my baby to sleep and read a bedtime story to the girls.

Family Visit

Mike's parents stopped by on their way home from a cruise to stay a couple of days. We celebrated Grandma Annes birthday while she was here.

Quilting Help~~ Opinions needed

Ok here is a quilt I am giving as a gift. I cannot decide if I should leave it as is, or add a floral or solid border? Please weigh in.. Also if I add a border, should it be the solid red that is in the first border or a lime green with tiny rosebuds (it is also in the patchwork)

My Spring Block, I can't decide if I want to stitch all those ditches!!

Dress Up

Homeschool Roller Skating ~~FUN
Camp Allegro

Green Meadows Farm

Tomato Staking

I have really enjoyed Elizabeth Krueger's blog, and she finally has written a book, Raising Godly Tomatoes, which is a play off of "tomato staking" as a discipline tool. I just ordered the book. If anyone is interested in reading it together let me know. Her blog site has alot of great insights and application check it out.

Baby Got Book ~