Car fun

Today my hunny had taken the day off in order to go with the kids to the annual AWANA race day. Shelby and Bryce and painted and decorated their cars and were ready to race. We hopped into the car and although the engine turned over, the van wouldn't start. Mmm... Hunny turns to me and asks the obvious question (you know I'm forgetful!), "did you forget to put gas in?", to which I replied I had remembered-yellow dummy light very helpful! Where to go from there? He checks a few things, then calls his dad. They do a troubleshoot together over the phone and determine it's probably the fuel pump. Ok, so where's the pump? Googling, we find the spot. Of course it's in the middle of the van under the carpet (in gas tank). His brother shows up and they double check everything and come to the same conclusion. So, off they go to Auto Zone for a new pump ($100+) After some jury rigging (can't find anything online to show HOW to take the old pump out) and 2 hrs later, they replace with new pump. Steve (brother) inserts the key to start the engine. It still turns over, but does not start. He tries about 5-6 times and notices that the little green key light is blinking. We check the owners manual. It says that our key with the electronic chip is NOT recognized, and therefore not starting. ARGH! 45 min later Pop-a-lock dude confirms-key is going bad. Not that it was a bad day, but I could have found a much better way to spend the $250 we ended up spending in car. After all said and done, I checked the owner's manual troubleshooting guide, and it said to check to see if the correct key was being used. (Of course it was, I just used it that morning!). Maybe they should have mentioned that the key could possibly go bad. Or maybe we should have looked for the little green light.
Anyway, to combat the tears shed over missing race day, I had to promise a trip to Chuck-e-Cheese....a very expensive day indeed:)

Colorado Springs

(Note: this trip happened back in 2010, not sure why I didn't upload. Don't want to lose it, so I'm uploading now) As I said, we have been on the road, air and boat (ok, no boat) the last couple of weeks. The first of March brought us (adults) to Colorado Springs, and the kids were scattered from the south to the north with family. We spent several lovely days at Family Life's A Weekend to Remember, and then back to Tanny's for sightseeing. The weather during our weekend was in the 50's, but before we left, it began to snow. 

Updating

Well-my camera is full, so I guess it's time to update. It's seems we've not stopped in days, and the next couple of weeks is just as busy. Thank goodness we can school on the road! Did I show you my hunny's first woodworking project? I think he did pretty good. (me, not so good...see the unfinished painted wall in the back? I STILL do not have it finished!) He's in trouble now, I have lots more in the future for him to put together!

Postman

This morning the door rang, and Aidan raced to the window to see who it was. I opened the door to the mailman. He had several packages in hand and gave them to me. I took them and shut the door and handed Aidan one of the packages that had his name on it. He looked at it; dropped it and wailed in his little 2 year old voice: " I wanned pizza!"

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Home Depot we go!

the loading of the car

Ok, so I would not define our trip to Home Depot as an exciting undertaking or experience, but an adventure nonetheless. Hindsight I wondered why we decided to all go, knowing that we would have to bring a fair amount of lumber back with us (Dad's workbench). Not to mention, the fun (not) of dragging all the little people back and forth thru the store, as we went by our list and not by what is in the section that we needed off the list, which meant we went from one side to the other about 5 times (don't forget bathroom breaks!). Plus, every time Daddy went ahead of the rest of the group Aidan got very upset (loudly). Still, amidst the chaos we got all that we needed to get, and it only took my hunny about 20 minutes to get all the lumber and kids in the car; with just one piece sticking out. With help from Kathy, the check-out associate, we got the string we needed to keep the wood and stroller from bouncing out down the road. Thanks to Papa for teaching knots, I got it tied down enough to get us home. It did, however, bruise my hunny's man feelings that I tied the knots, which he admitted with a grin as we were heading home (the man should do that, haha). I recently read Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger's book; The Duggers: 20 and Counting, and he had written about when there were only 8 children, but all were very young (8 and under). They were driving somewhere and Jim Bob looks back and sees the van full of car seats and little faces. He turns to Michelle and tells her "that these are the best years of our lives and we don't even know it." As I walked back to the van from the store and viewed the bobbing heads in their seats and my hunny meticulously fitting the wood into the trunk, I totally understood what he meant:)

Aidan is a big helper!

Bryce says " I can do it all by myself!"

Garry of course, is always there to help Dad:)

Sick Kiddies

The thought had just come to mind that the kids hadn't really been sick in a while, when low and behold, we were hit. First it was sniffle y noses, and last week Shelby started another round when a trip to the toy store went horribly wrong.
Here's how it went: We head into the store, and as usual, the older three are all talking to me at once about what they want to see while we are in there. The 4th (littlest) is screaming because he does NOT want to go into the shopping cart, and I am trying to make him and I happy (does that happen?) with the least amount of noise, but I am determined to put him in the cart because I do not want to carry or corral him in store. At that point, I send the oldest 2 down the next aisle so they can look at Lego's; Bryce is now bouncing around the cart antagonizing Aidan (still screaming) and I realize I possibly forgotten something that I needed and am searching my small on the outside but cavernous on the inside purse. I had a fleeting moment to just pack all up and call it a day, but I had been putting off this particular store about 2 weeks and did not want to come back (kids had money to spend).Quietly (threatening) trying to calm the 2 smaller boys, Garry and Shelby came running up and STOP in front of me. Trying to comprehend what Garry is trying to tell me over the noise of the other two, Shelby demonstrates by throwing up all over the floor. So here I am, telling Garry to take Shelby outside and he just looks at me. Finally he starts moving and I tell Bryce to follow behind, he whines and says he wants to stay with me. I give him the "mommy look" and he reluctantly heads outside. I look around and it seems to be everywhere (thank goodness she missed all the toys!). The clerk sees what happens and heads over with paper towels and Clorox clean up. Another employee heads to the back to get the mop and gloves (she didn't find any gloves), so I grab the towels and get down and start cleaning up--Aidan still screaming. Garry heads back in with Shelby in tow, and I (growl)ask him to take all the kids out to the car. As always, Garry dutifully does what I ask and drags all out to the van while I finish cleaning up the mess. And I was dressed so nice that day, pink heels and all:)

Meet the latest and greatest...

for the creative chaos we call school. At least for me. Let's face it, I am not the most organized person on the block. I like the idea of organization, but for whatever reason (me not being diligent?) not much is organized here. The only thing that keeps me from looking like one of those houses that are stuffed to the gills piled high with stuff is that I have no problem sending off to Goodwill when I am thru with it, or at least, tired of looking at it! This year is the first I've had more than one kid schooling to deal with, and the first part of the school year, well, um, we didn't get much done. October and November left me with a lot of time to think and pray about several problem issues around the house (ha, I have more than one!). I love it when exactly what I need just seems to fall in my lap. I really have no idea how I came across this, message board perhaps, but it is for me! May I introduce: Sue Patrick's Workbox System.
Here's what is said each day:
Garry- "Mom, how much school do I have to do?"
Shelby- "Mom, how much school do I get to do?"
To both of them, I would answer, I dunno. Why? Organization issues, of course. I didn't know what I wanted to teach them, and by the time I got my act together, the day was shot. So here how it goes. Garry's boxes have a blue number, Shelby's green. The boxes are put in numerical number and each box holds a worksheet, subject, craft, etc. The object is to go in order thru the workboxes, remove them from the shelf and work whatever is in box. From there, they empty box in the pink crate to right, and so on and so on. When they run out of boxes, their day is finished. I have a master list that shows me what subject goes in each box each day (each day is different, I generally load them before I go to bed), and overall we have been able to study more and have actually get to some of the fun things I wanted to get to but couldn't because we were struggling just to get the basics in. Now, in just a couple of hrs we get it all done, much of it can be done without me standing over them, and more importantly, it's not a huge hassle or big mess (everything has it's place). We've been using this for the past 2 months, and it is definitely a life saver in this house! And even though we have to keep the boxes in the dining room ( I tried the garage but it's just been too flipping cold to go back and forth), because it's so self contained, it doesn't get in the way. Thank you, Sue! For those who read her book, she can be a little daunting, as she feels there is only one way to use the system (her background is a challenged student). However, with a little tweaking, I found the basic information very sound. A lifesaver in this house:)