Not Me! Monday

This was supposed to be posted on Monday; I wrote it, saved it and then tried to publish it for 3 days but Blogger decided it didn't like the color of my space bar or something else totally ridiculous and refused to let me make any postings. So, here we are posting Not Me! Monday on Tuesday evening.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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It was not my child who thought it would be funny to switch the splenda and salt containers from their normal resting places to try and trick me when making my morning coffee. And it was definitely not me who ignored all signs that my spoon full of splenda seemed heavier and quite dense but then dunked into my morning coffee anyway. After I took a nice big swig of coffee I most certainly did not spray it all over the sink and surrounding countertop because that would make a tremendous mess; nope, not me.

One warm evening Matthew played outside and came in drenched in sweat. When he ignored my instructions of showering before bed I made sure he clearly understood he must shower in the morning before school. Of course, it was not my kid who blew me off again as I was crazy hurried trying to get everyone off to school and field trips and get Matthew to the allergist on time. While sitting in the waiting room I smelled something not so pleasant and promptly leaned over to sniff the top of my young son's head. Yep, my suspicions were confirmed; he didn't shower as told. So after getting into a room and passing the nurse's exam there is no way I would have my son bend his head over an exam room sink and proceed to wash his hair with hand soap (hey, it was even moisturizing!) and then dry him with paper towels. Good thing the doctor took 3 hours to get us out of there, otherwise Matthew might have gone to school with wet hair. You know, if I did do something like that.

chains

I think we need to install a few chains on the doors and additional locks on the windows. I can already see that boys will be looking for ways to get in to see our girl; good thing there is a great daddy to stand in the way!

Boy, oh boy

I wish Matthew would come out of his shell more.

Maybe even become a dare devil.

And try things that none of the other kids would while running through the sprinkler.

I mean, really show us some personality.

Maybe when he comes out of his shell his personality can really come through in photos, just maybe.

the oldest birthday boy

This handsome young lad is the newest 12 year old in the house! I can't believe he turned 12 today; it seems like only a short time ago I was trying to make his crazy, cowlicked blond hair lay flat. He's nearly completed his first year of middle school and I couldn't be more proud of his achievement and poise.

He chose a homemade marble cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday celebration. He is now set for the summer after receiving many large books (Jacob loves to read!) and the new Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii.


Whoa, that is a lot of candles on that cake!
Making his wish before blowing out the candles.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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A couple of weeks ago it was not me who struck up a conversation with a lady shopping with three children, two of which were adopted from China; no, that would seem downright stalkerish and I would never do something like that. I would never obtain things like her name, website, email and church name in just under twenty minutes; who do you think I am, a detective or something? If I did do something like that I might come home and immediately Google her church and find where they meet and what time.

I did not warn all the children Saturday night that we were trying out yet another new church and lay out their clothes with explicit directions for Sunday morning. Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed for church; got it? Somehow we were all ready for church an hour early so we ran an errand beforehand to save time in the afternoon. Of course, I double checked the directions to the church before leaving because I would never assume that I instinctly knew where the church was located because I had been down that road several times. No way, I always familiarize myself with addresses and directions before taking off somewhere new; I can't rely on my friendly GPS anymore, remember?

After driving around for half an hour I might have admitted that I really didn't know where the church was. After deciding to abandon the search for that church we decided to return to one that we've visited several times before. Upon pulling into that parking lot we realized that something wasn't quite right; the parking lot that is usually packed at 11:00 was now nearly deserted. By this time we may have been driving around for an hour and one child in particular was starting look a little green.

After all of this we did not completely give up the idea of worshipping God in a church building and decide instead to take in His beauty at a park playground with the kids dressed in church clothes. We did not get any funny looks about having two girls frolic around on playground slides with nice dresses and white shoes on; nope, that is completely normal. Right?

A pot of gold

Happy Birthday to my baby boy! I can't believe you are already 8 years old; it's obvious that the age-freezing potion I spiked your cake with last year didn't work. You are a ray of sunshine in the life of everyone you meet. The Lord certainly blessed all of us with your birth.

To go along with my blond-haired boy's heart of gold I made him rainbow cupcakes to take to school.

What's that? You have a child with a heart of gold as well? Well, let me share the love and show you how to spend 3 hours in the kitchen making them rainbow cupcakes too!

Ingredients:
2 boxes white cake mix
Items needed to make cake (eggs, water and oil)

I made the cake mixes according to the box but of course, the rebel bit of blood running through my veins means I had to change it a bit. I cut the water down from 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups and used 1/2 cup of vanilla coffee creamer and I also added a bit of vanilla extract just to make it extra yummy.

Mix it up good and then let it sit for a few minutes while you get your mixing bags ready.

Divide the cake mix among ziploc bags. I used five colors, technically not a scientific ROYGBIV rainbow but I was getting tired. Little did I know, I was only beginning.

I mixed the color into the bags and then zipped them closed to mix.

Cut the corner of the bags to fill the muffin cups; I put just a thick enough layer to cover the previous color.

Bake according to the box temperature and time.

Frost with your desired frosting and sprinkles, if you'd like.
To make this frosting I mixed 3 sticks of butter, a splash or three of milk, two dollops of cream cheese, some vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make it all stick together. It is very tasty!

Mother Earth

I love Earth Day; and just to celebrate Mother Earth, I made cupcakes.


OK, so I was really making cupcakes for Matthew's birthday treat at school (which I will show you tomorrow) and with leftover cake batter I made these cupcakes. I'm so tickled with them that I'm thinking about making a whole batch of these next year and send them to school with the kids.

Flower War

It all started as a photo idea; let's sprinkle the flower petals from the cherry tree over Claire while mom takes her picture.
OK, let's do it!

It didn't take long for Claire to show her disgust with this idea.

Matthew figured out he could shake the branch and make more petals fall.

Claire started hiding handfuls of petals behind her back to try and ambush the others.

That provoked Emily to start scooping up her own handfuls off the ground.



Matthew started getting a bit sneakier and hiding a bit more.

Claire thought long and hard...

and decided her best tactic would be to hide.

When that didn't work she resorted to gathering up her own handfuls.


Then it was a free for all with flower petals!




Toby checked out all the action but quickly decided this was too much, even for him.

Soon the patio looked like this,

and the grass was carpeted with a beautiful shade of pink,

and the petals followed everyone inside.

You might notice that Jacob is absent from these photos. We convinced him to join us outside for the fun but after a few handfuls thrown his way he was convinced that flowers being thrown on him was not the ideal way to spend the evening. If you look closely in the 6th picture you can see him standing behind the tree.

You can also see a few more pictures from the flower war on Claire's blog.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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Ever run to the mailbox in your pajama shirt sans bra and hope nobody was peeking out their windows, put the kids to bed half an hour early and say they get a full half hour of reading time for their good behavior when really it is because you were so tired you couldn't make it another 30 minutes?

Well stop feeling guilty and join in on "Not Me" Monday where we can be brutally honest about our imperfections. Ready? Here we go.

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It was not me you saw at Lowe's watching one child, then two crawl inside a dog house. I would never let my children do this to occupy them while my husband pondered over weed killing products.

And I was definitely not me who actually encouraged three children, then four to cram inside the dog house just to see if they'd fit. When given weird looks from other customers I would never say something like "hey, want to see if you can fit with them?"

Nope, not me.

And just in case you are wondering and don't have four children to cram in a dog house- Yes, four children can fit inside a dog house, together; and it also keeps them busy while picking out weed spray for the lawn. Just in case you wanted to know.

The chair

The dentist.
One word, seven letters and half the people who started reading this post have now quit.

Why did I have to inherit teeth that rot a hole when I look at a cookie? I mean, I love you unconditionally Mom and Dad and when I get told I'm too young to have 4 children and even when a teacher at school says there is no way I could be Claire's mom because I look 20, I actually do pass the compliment onto you; telling them that I was blessed with the youthful look DNA. But these teeth? Damn, they suck.

So, the dentist. Probably one of the people I love to hate the most. And, I have to pay her money, actually a lot of money just to hate going by her place for a visit. Now, my dentist as a person? She's great. She's frugal so we talk about saving money, she's a mom to girls around the same ages as my kids so we talk about expensive girl things like American Girl dolls and stores (which goes into the being frugal conversations), she bought a foreclosure home and remodeled it so we talk about that, you name it, we talk about it. Sometimes I think she clears out the next appointment when I come because between her, me and the assistant we talk away half an hour in no time.

But, to sit in her chair and keep my mouth open without talking? Thank the heavens God gave someone the medical geniosity of anti-anxiety medications. And that's all I have to say about that.

Bad Mommy

Feeling like such a good mom, I took all the kids to a lake today where we met J for a picnic lunch and they got plenty dirty and wet played on the beach, then goofed at a waterfall where they tried to climb everything while I tried not to freak out about the thought of broken limbs encouraged their exploration skills, then went to a school where they played on the playground. When two kids had to potty that meant we had to take a trip to Target, because you know, they are the only ones with bathrooms. Actually, the kids got some gift cards from Meme for Easter so I let them go and spend them. I consider it a successful trip because I made it out with all 4 kids and nobody cried. Woohoo!

So, to end the day we went through McDonalds for an ice cream cone. I ordered one for each kid and one for myself and then pulled up to the window where she hands me 4 ice cream cones.

Me: Um, did I only order 4 ice cream cones (as I realize I just handed the 4th one back and she didn't imply that any more were coming my way)

Her: Yes

Me: Oh my, I meant to order 5.

Yes, I actually forgot that there were now 4 children sitting behind me.

Motherhood FAIL

Eventful night

Last night I was typing up a post about the dentist, which was flowing well after the consumption of pain medicine. But not much later the pain medicine didn't sit well in my stomach so I saved the post and promptly went to bed. About an hour later I awoke to the weird sound of water trickling right next to my bed. Hmmm, that is one of those sounds that isn't supposed to be in your bedroom.

So I sat up and over the end of the bed I see my youngest son standing there in proper position and peeing all over my clothes I just placed in a storage container. "Matthew, what are you doing?!" is probably what squealed out of my mouth which was returned with a blood curdling scream from him because I just scared the daylights out of him. J came running up the stairs and directed Matthew to the proper vessel to receive such pee and then we both couldn't stop laughing.

Like a true gentleman, J carried the pee soaked container down to the laundry to wash them; I don't think they include jobs like that in marriage counseling but I suggest they start.

This morning I pointed Matthew towards the laundry room and asked if the storage container brought back any memories for him and he said no. "No memories? Like peeing on all my clothes last night and then screaming as loud as you could when I asked you what you were doing?"

"Oh yea, that was my dream last night!"

No, no, no my young son; my pee soaked clothes were certainly real and not a dream.

Not Me! Monday

We were away from the house for 9 days and the first weekend we were gone we encountered the daylight savings time change. We all moved our internal clocks forward one hour and by the time we got back home a week later we were all readjusted to the new time.

We drove straight home yesterday, only stopping once for a quick break. I, in no way held off my kids with snack food instead of feeding them a real lunch so we could eat once we got home. This snack would never consist of chocolate frosted cake donuts from Casey's which just happens to be one of my least favorite foods in the world. Since it is one of my least favorite I would never buy one donut for each of them and two for myself. Nope. Plus, I'm starting my diet again for the 129th time today so I would never try and eat two chocolate frosted cake donuts the day before.

Once getting home we unpacked the van diligently and I even unpacked all of the kids' clothes the same day we arrived home (this doesn't always happen, OK fine, it rarely happens.) Everyone got a bit hungry so I made a quick skillet of fried rice around 7 pm then promised the kids a treat if they were quick in putting on their pajamas. Oh how happy I was when all the kids were clean, dressed, and in bed by 8:10; only 10 minutes off their scheduled bedtime but about 1 to 2 hours earlier than their bedtime this last week while vacationing.

After kissing the last child, Matthew, I did not look at his clock and think I was losing my mind when it said 9:11. "What, these clocks are wrong... what does that one say, as I glanced into Emily's room? 9:11" Hmmm...
It was then that I may have realized that I was looking at the stove clock all evening which hadn't been moved forward. Hmph.
RIght about then my hand may have moved from patting myself on the back.

Do you?

Do you have $38 a month?
Do you have room in your heart to pray for and love a child on the other side of the world?

Compassion is a Christian organization that sponsors children around the world. That is an easy sentence to write but really, it means so much more than those 11 words. Here is a bit about what they do with the $38 a month.

They provide healthy food to children who may only eat scraps of garbage riddled with bugs.
They provide shelter to children and their families who may live in nothing more than cardboard held together with what they can find.
They provide medical care and education about disease prevention to children and their families.
They provide clean water to drink so they aren't drinking water that has mixed with the raw sewage running directly behind their tin hut.
They provide education and necessary supplies or uniforms for the school.
They teach families how to help lift themselves from poverty to break the cycle for the next generation by teaching them a skill they can then use to produce products to sell and earn a living.
But you want to know the biggest thing Compassion does?

They bring the love of Jesus to people who would never feel that love otherwise.

Compassion brings the reality of the lives children are living in other countries to us by sending bloggers on trips to experience the lives of these children up close and personal. By reading the blogs of the people traveling they hope it will spark more people to sponsor children who desperately need it. I've been following a couple of these blogs over the past few days. Sponsoring a child has been something I've considered for several years but quite honestly I didn't do it simply because I didn't take the time to research which organizations were trustworthy. I had too much on my plate; or so I thought.

On Tuesday I decided enough is enough. We live a life of utter luxury compared to the stories I was reading about the children in Kenya. I wasn't putting it off any longer. I went to Compassion's website for children available for sponsorship in Kenya and spent a few minutes reading through the profiles of the over 800 children available. I chose one, a 6 year old little boy named Kevin who lives with his 5 siblings and is being cared for by his grandmother.

We will sponsor Kevin indefinitely and he will become a very real member of our family, albeit a long distance relationship. We will exchange letters and gifts with Kevin and get to know his family in Kenya as he gets to know our family here through our letters and pictures. With our mere $38 a month Kevin will be provided things in life he otherwise never would have gotten.

The bloggers currently in Kenya visited the largest slum in the country; it houses 800,000 people in 3 square miles. The ground is made up of decomposing garbage and the sewage runs between the huts. Smack dab in the middle of this slum is a school and church run by Compassion; the love of Jesus is in this slum.

Here is a blog post about the slum.
Mathare Valley
Then read these two blog posts about a young man who's been sponsored by a gentleman in California. He's lost his entire family to disease and the only reason he's still alive is because he's been sponsored.
Full Circle
Father to the Fatherless

To sponsor a child through Compassion, follow this link where you will be able to view pictures and information about available children. You can sort by country, gender and even age to find a child that fits your family.

Sponsor a child.

Birthday girl

Last week another one of my children entered the double digits; Emily turned 10. She's growing into such a lovely young lady. She has a heart of gold and enough hair for 4 women; yep, she comes by that pretty honestly. The hair, I mean.

Her favorite color is turquoise, followed closely by lime green.
She loves crafts and always has. She has many half-finished craft projects hidden in her room.
She is an excellent student and a teacher-pleaser.
She is a very loyal friend.
She is an awesome daughter and I love her so very much.

I'm feeling pretty old now having two children in the double digit ages. We've traded well-baby appointments and play group dates for orthodontist visits and swim team meets. Good thing I have siblings still having babies because now I get snuggle them, then buy the loud annoying music makers and send them home. Love you all!

Adding a 4th

What happens when you add a 4th child to the family?

You have try even harder to get all sets of eyes looking at the camera and that task alone makes you give up on everyone smiling. All 4 together in one location? Get the camera and snap while you can!

In control

Is there one clear person who is in control in your marriage or do you have a nice 50/50 split? I think I've figured out who is in control in our marriage and I have to say I'm not too sure that is a good thing to realize.

We drive a Toyota Sienna mini-van (with which we are completely happy with) and it's starting to age. We've had it for a little over 5 years and we've racked up around 87,000 miles in that time (oh the joy of living far away from family.) It is setting a new record of "longest car we've ever owned" with each new mile on the odometer. The darn thing just won't break and go to van heaven. But, Toyota released a new, redesigned Sienna so of course we are nosy curious to find out what is different than ours. So, one day after work J did just that; he stopped at the Toyota dealership to check out the new vans.

So the salesman calls last week, I didn't answer the phone and let the answering machine get it. When J got home from work I told him about the message and he basically told me that he was just being nosy curious and didn't give the guy any indications of buying.

Mr. Salesman called back today and I decided to pick up.

Mr. Salesman: Hi, is J.... there?

Me: No

Mr. Salesman: Oh, this is Mr. 'bug the crap out of you' Salesman just calling about the 2011 Sienna he came to look at.

Me: Yes, he stopped in after work one day just to check it out; we are not looking to purchase at this time.

Mr. Salesman: So he didn't like it?

Me: That isn't what I said. I told you we just wanted to see what was different from our van right now and we will not be purchasing.

More questions, more of me telling him we don't want to buy right now.

Mr. Salesman: Can you have him call me?

Me: (Mr. Salesman just said the wrong thing; this is where I figure out that I might have a control issue) No, I will not tell him.

Mr. Salesman: What?

Me: The last time you called I told him and his words to me were "I was just checking it out" so no, I won't tell him to call you; we will not be purchasing a new van.

He promptly hung up and I'm sure called J's work number as fast as he could.

A bit of advice for other Mr. Salesmen; don't assume the man makes all the financial decisions in the family. You may just encounter a head-strong woman who will plant her feet securely in the sand just because you asked "will you have him call me."

Maybe I need some control therapy.

Random thoughts

Jet lag sucks. Just as I thought I slept all night and made it through the day without getting tired I was wide awake at 1am last night. At 3 am I rolled over and my husband was wide awake as well. He said "man, they were right; this sucks!"

He went to work at 3:30 am since he was awake with hopes that he could catch up.


I've worn the same clothes 4 days in row but I did wash them. I think they might wear out soon.
No, I didn't wear the same underwear all 4 days and yes, I did shower. I think.

My van is covered in so much salt that it is starting to look (and feel) like I've started a crystal growing experiment. Maybe I should wash it soon or maybe I can secretly hope the rust will magically appear and make all the body panels fall off then I can really have a good reason to get a newer van.

I have always known having two boys four years apart that there would be a period of time where they both will eat everything that doesn't move and our grocery bill will rival the national debt but now I think Claire might have them beat. I feed this girl every couple of hours- like a lot of food and then she's hungry again in a very short time. Where is she putting it? We've gone through a big bunch of bananas in only 2 days.

The souvenirs from China are still spread all over the dining room table. I have grand plans of separating them into bags of who they go to but just haven't gotten there yet.
Our suitcases are still spread all over our room. I did get Claire's put away soon after we got home but ours? Not so much.

Claire is still sleeping on the elevated twin air mattress next to the bottom bunk which Emily sleeps in. I think we might try and move her into the other bunk tomorrow night. She slept in our room the first two nights and then wanted to be in their room. She goes to bed extremely well.

My stomach is having a hard time adjusting back to American food. I assumed the opposite would happen and thought for sure I'd be really messed up while in China but it's been reversed. Maybe this is a kick in the pants to eat healthier all the time instead of being lazy and only eating healthy when I feel like it.
With that sentence I just got an email from Weight Watchers; I think they have my computer bugged.

Wordless Wednesday

er, Wacky Wednesday.

Emily and Matthew had wacky Wednesday today for spirit week and I was able to snap a picture of Jacob with Claire's tiara on just before he took it off.

I didn't realize the picture of Emily and Matthew was blurry at the time but it's the only one I took and their outfits simply can't be missed so I used it anyway.