I took Izzy to the orthotist yesterday.  She gained five degrees in her feet.  That is right on our goal mark.  The orthotist said that we could hope for 2-3 degrees per week and after two weeks we have five!  She is still only tolerating the afo’s about three hours at a time, but it’s working so that’s good!

Isn’t she adorable in her little hanna andersson outfit!

 I mentioned the doll Emelia and I worked on Sunday afternoon.  Here she is!  She was made from a $1.00 pair of gloves found at Walmart and her dress and bow are a mismatched baby sock we found.  We will probably stitch over the markings for her face.  Emelia wants to make more, now that we know how to do it they should be pretty easy.

Bailey has insisted on having long hair for a couple of years now.  His hair has some natural curl to it and it has gotten harder and harder to fix for school.  He was finally fed up yesterday and asked me to cut it all off.  I couldn’t have been happier as I sprinted for the scissors!  Now I’m off to get some horse supplies. I heart my horse Pinky!

Remember in grade school every Wednesday the teacher would say it’s humpday!  I wonder if teachers still say that? I wonder if the word humpday would suggest things that we didn’t even think about when I was in grade school… the good old days.  I still think of Wednesday as humpday and that means that it’s a downhill ride to the weekend.  Although being a SAHM the weekends mean less than they did when I was in school longing for the day to sleep in and not have to go to school for two whole days.  I grew to love school the older I got but in the first few years I only wanted to be home.  Or not at school.  I think the thought of a downhill slope to the weekend now makes me think that another week is about to be over.

Yesterday is a blur of craziness… Got the usual things done, got izzy to school… did mom’s hair and helped her rearrange a bit to accommodate a new find at the antique store.  I suggested that she get rid of the things that she doesn’t just love to make things less cluttered.  She did and it looks very nice.  I baked my cake for FLO while working on her hair and then had to leave to pick up Isabelle.  Amanda has applied to OU now officially and is sending her transcripts in.  She frantically texted me in the middle of the hair and furniture arranging to say that her transcript would not print at the college she is taking her concurrent enrollment classes because she owes tuition and a hold has been placed on her transcript.  She had gotten a letter awarding her a scholarship for academics when she first enrolled there and it read like it covered all tuition.  Guess not.  So today I’ll be handling that to get her transcript so she can get it mailed with her HS transcript.  I can’t believe she is old enough to be going to college.  She’s already thinking about her dorm room!  I’m holding off any sappy sentimental sadness until the very last second possible.  But ugh!

We had the FLO service last night and I think it was a success.  There was so much food.  And so many turkeys!  Bailey and Preston (my friend Miki’s son) collected and distributed turkeys.  I have a pic of them in front of the turkeys that I need to upload.  Gina made baked spaghetti that was so good!  I almost inhaled my serving for two reasons.  1. I had not eaten all day and was hungry! 2. We were told that the ‘team’ needed to have finished eating and be at their ‘posts’ by 5:30 and I arrived at 5:25 because Matt was running late yada yada yada…  It all worked out.  There were so many desserts that I (unfortunately) brought home almost an entire cake.  This is good only because breakfast is now covered and bad because now breakfast is covered. With cake!  Gina also packed up a plate of her spaghetti to send home with me since I only had time to eat a few bites.  That may be lunch :)  Today’s shaping up nicely…

Camilla and I agreed that the AFO’s appear to be helping already.  We both think that we have achieved at least the minimum we had hoped for for the week.  The orthotist will verify this Monday.  But so far so good and she did wear them longer yesterday than before.  They celebrated Veteran’s Day at school and so most of her afternoon was spent in the gym.   When I arrived to pick her up the usual four or five teachers/therapist were surrounding her.  Camilla at her feet, ranging her legs and ankles.  Margaret at her head, pushing her to make sounds.  Melanie at the other side… providing support and song.  Michelle behind her ready to help out with anything needed.  She never lacks for attention.  Never!

Last but certainly not least I want to thank my sweet friend Jodi for this award…

Thanks Jodi!

Have a great humpday Wednesday!

Emelia came home from school early today.  She called from school because she had a temperature.  She ended up sleeping almost all day.  I had a weird piercing sinus headache and Izzy didn’t seem like herself either.

Amanda is all signed up and scheduled to take her ACT in December.  She was very sick the day she was supposed to take it.  She has decided to apply to OU and is planning to room with her friend from school.  I like this friend and they are both very studious so I think it’s a good plan.  Senior year is crazy!  Yearbook $80.  Each ACT pop is over $50.  Cap and Gown $200.  Senior pics $100 so far.  College Apps. $40 and up.  It’s something every few days!  Better get started on a post for promotional pens.

We had a meeting last night about our monthly “for ladies only” service.  This month we’re giving away turkeys to single moms.  So we discussed collecting and distrubuting the turkeys.  We serve dinner to any ladies (and their kids) who attend the service.  I look forward to it every month.  Bailey is going to help collect turkeys and then carry them to cars for the ladies.

I’ve been really touched by BigMama’s posts from Dominican Republic.  She is with the Compassion team.

I’ve picked a little six year old girl from Haiti to sponsor.

It is seriously raining like crazy tonight!  Even some hail.  Great sleeping weather.

Good night…

Whew… what a week, or half a week.  Saturday night Emelia came into my room about 3 a.m. and touched my feet to wake me up, she was sick.  I had taken half a muscle relaxer because I woke up Saturday with a really bad backache (in my lower back).  I was in and out all night because medicine makes me so sleepy (I rarely take any).  So Isabelle is sick too that night.  Twice.  She had been running fever Saturday and slept all day.  Sunday we were all wiped out from no sleep etc. so we stayed home all day.  Emelia slept most of the day and Isabelle ate normally which made me realize she was just having issues with congestion.  So… Monday Emelia went to school for the afternoon and I kept Izzy home to make sure she was well.  She again slept most of the day.  Tuesday I decided to take her to school.  She slept soundly as I got dressed.  I took her anyway, thinking that she would wake up.  She slept through most of the afternoon.  At school.  Getting her in and out of her carseat was a painful experience for me.  I winced in pain and blinked away tears.  Stupid back.

Sweet Melanie ran out with a “for no special day present.”  I am so dingy I thought she was singing something about a snow day present?  I have no excuse… :)  She is Izzy’s teacher and at the pumpkin patch I remarked about the beauty of the white pumpkin.  The kids couldn’t choose a white pumpkin, and even if they could we would have to hike a fair distance to get one.  Anyway, we stopped at her house to see a pond that she had installed recently in her back yard (it was very pretty!) and she had a white pumpkin on her porch.  I joked that I was going to swap Izzy’s green pumpkin for that white one :P… I didn’t.  But she brought me this (Isn’t it cute?)!  It’s the pillow with a white pumpkin on the front.

My friend Kari sent me a Fall card (that she made) and then a Halloween card (she made it too!)  I told Amanda yesterday I need to buy a homemade card to send to her and Amanda suggested I make one.  I guess that’s an option but compared to hers I’m not sure… Haley also sent me an adorable Halloween card and Emelia looked at it and can’t remember where she put it.  So it’s not pictured.  But thank you Kari and Haley!  You guys are so talented and so thoughtful.

It’s really raining this morning.  It’s also thundering loudly!  I love it.  I am really enjoying the Fall preview with cooler weather.

When I picked Isabelle up yesterday (from school)… Camilla put her into the car for me.  So sweet.  She even emailed her cell phone number to me so that I could call her when we arrive so she could help get Izzy out and into her stroller.   Aren’t they just the best?  I am so blessed to have these friends at Izzy’s school.  I am seriously praying that my back gets better today.  I have to admit I had to fight back tears this morning when I realized it was still hurting.  But I won’t be defeated and I am speaking against the pain!  (and have an ice pack on my back as I type…)

Hope you have a great Wednesday.

p.s. I blogged on the internet cafe yesterday.  I forgot to tell you.  Sorry.

Today is day one of Fall break.  It is a perfect start to the Fall break… it was 53 degrees and rainy when I left home at 11:30 a.m. to get my hair done.  53!  Love the cooler weather.  Of course I dressed appropriately in shorts and a t-shirt… and flip-flops.  I wanted to really FEEL the cold weather.  I felt it.   So yeah, I got my hair done.  Just more blonde highlights and trimmed.  Nothing major.  I’ve been clipping on my bangs so it’s good to have them done right.  It’s hard to cut your own bangs, or it is for me anyway.  I have trouble doing it in the mirror and have trouble taking the scissors the right direction.  Scary!

All the kids were home all day.  Matt went to work.  We stayed in except for my solo trip to do hair.  It was just too cozy inside to go anywhere and we have food so no reason to make any food runs.  Emelia helped me make a huge batch of tuna salad.  8 cans of solid white tuna (can’t stand the other stuff… although I don’t eat it much anyway), a dozen eggs!, a small jar of sweet pickles, mayo, mustard, onions (dried), dill weed, salt & pepper.  Emelia chopped boiled eggs and pickles.  She likes to be a helper.  She also made earrings for me.  She likes to make jewelry.  They are pretty.  But really heavy black beaded hoops.  I tried to explain that they were dragging down my earlobes but she didn’t agree.  She thought they were light enough and is insisting I wear them to church tonight.  I’m hoping she is distracted in the next hour and forgets.  I think I would have whiplash.

I went to FLO last night.  The Biggest Loser didn’t record on TIVO.  Matt says he didn’t cancel it.  I am trying to believe him.  I heart that show so I was dissapointed this morning.  I watch the shows that record the night before early in the morning while I am feeding Izzy breakfast.  Today we had to watch the news.  Funny, none of “my” shows recorded last night!   Speaking of believe… my secret sister (from church) gave me a big believe stamp and stamp pad.  So cute.  Anyway, dad was here while I was looking at it so when he leaned over the therapy table to kiss Izzy I stamped him.  Right on the back… so my daddy has a believe tr@mp stamp.  Then I got Emelia and Amanda.  It’s washable. Chill out.  Emelia laughing said, “well if I lean over at school and my shirt comes up a little at least they’ll get a message.”  I’ll be having fun stamping “believe” all over the place.  BEWARE

Humpday again.  Funny how humpday doesn’t carry as much weight when you aren’t in school and you aren’t eleven years old and you aren’t longing for Saturday so you can sleep until your eyes open… or until your mom insists you get up and dust the furniture.  That was my Saturday job.  All my life!  I dusted the furniture, cleaned the glass, and cleaned the baseboards.  It’s a joke around mom’s house that those baseboards haven’t been cleaned since I left home, although she does enlist the help of my kids when she can talk them into it pay them enough. The house had to shine before we could do anything fun on Saturday.  This wasn’t hard because our house was always clean to begin with, but chores were just no fun!  The other rule was that no one relaxed in the evening until the kitchen was clean.  I have gone so wrong with my child raising in this area.  I am the one left with the messy kitchen… and cleaning on the weekends while my kids are off having fun.  What is wrong with me and why didn’t I learn from my childhood?  I did have a convenient digestive system that was always in place when it was time for the dishes to be washed.  I can’t remember a night at home that I didn’t fix the glasses and set the table though…  it was definitely a group effort.  Me and mom were the group.  Mike (brother) didn’t mind helping too much.  He liked to cook.  Still does in fact.  The weird thing was his food combinations.  He spiced up a can of spaghettios to the point of making them unedible!  He has a severe aversion to eggs so he liked making them for others.  Me.  He didn’t realize omelets needed to be cooked in the middle.  Mike has come a long way in the cooking area and is now the cook for his little family of four and does a great job.  He can make a delish pecan pie!  We usually swap out food, it goes like this:  mike will say, “what are you bringing to dinner?”  I’ll say, “spinach dip, or corn casserole.”  He’ll say, “I’ll make you a pie if you make extra.”  and I do and he does and we swap.  It is a good system!   I spent yesterday afternoon helping watching Mike move into his new house. Technically I did help a little, I assembled Katie’s daybed almost all by myself.  I put her dust ruffle on and put the laundry soap and stuff in the laundry room.  See, I did help.  Mostly I let my muscle man help.  He is a great lifter and he took the day off to lift heavy furniture.  They got almost all moved in.  Just bits and peices left to do today.  We came home at 9 p.m. and still went for a walk in the dark of the night.  It was really dark, with stars and everything!  Pinky was glad to see us and has gotten more and more friendly.  He runs (gallops) to the fence for nose petting when we walk by.  I heart that silly horse.  Now I’m off to write about treatments for acne.

Wednesday again.  It was a long weekend.  Matt was off Friday - Monday and then came home for a while Tuesday to eat and check on some things.  It’s hard to get anything done when the “man” is around huh?  It is for me!  I played catch up all day yesterday.  I started the day by making a pot of spaghetti sauce… dad gave me a bunch of red/purple/green/yellow peppers from his garden, so I sauteed some with garlic and onion, added some lean ground beef and tomatoes… I let it cook with Italian spices all day and then made some penne pasta.  It was done enough for amanda to have some for lunch  before heading to her college classes.  Later I mixed it together, covered with freshly grated parm and put it away until dinner.  I popped it in the oven with some garlic bread and dinner was a cinch!

Matt and I have been walking.  A lot!  Well maybe not a lot to most people, but it seems like a lot.  The weather is just great right now for getting outside and enjoying the fresh air.  We walked twice Monday and twice Tuesday.  About an hour each time.  I have to be creative with dinner to have that much time to just walk!  I love how Pinky (the horse) comes to the fence when we walk by to be petted… You know my trash aversion… well last night everyone had their trash rolled out so I spent the time trying to walk as far away from the trash containers as possible.  It is amazing to walk in the dark and look up at all the stars!  I had this song in my head… (if you listen, stay with it until past the halfway mark… and I couldn’t find many videos except church dramas like this one).

We came in and had a devo with the family before bed.  We even snuck in half of the biggest loser before sleeping.

We had a good devo last night and one of the questions was, “What do you want God to help you with?”  The kids all gave different answers…

Amanda said, “homework.”

Bailey said, “getting all my school work finished.” and

Emelia said, “helping a boy at school who is a sixth grader and doesn’t believe in God to believe in God.”

I thought it was good to hear their answers to all the questions and when I woke up early I had things to specifically pray for them because I knew what they were needing from God.  We end our devo (FAT-family altar time) by having a chain prayer.  Emelia always prays that we keep doing our FAT time.  They never protest when we say, “time for devo.”

I have Miki’s cabbage stuff in the crockpot… I hope I remembered her verbal instructions correctly… she said, “cut a head of cabbage into chunks, lay in bottom of pot (I put them in the crockpot); mix lean ground beef with rice and onions (I added salt, pepper and garlic), roll into meatballs and lay on top of cabbage… pour a can of tomato juice and a can of tomato soup on top…  I hope it’s  yummy.  I like cabbage rolls so this sounds like that without all the rolling cabbage…

I’m sleepy today.  Matt woke me up after midnight because I was kicking him… my legs were jerking probably from all the walking?  They do that from time to time and it is so annoying but I was sleeping through it.  He woke me up a few hours later when he had a bad dream to make sure all our guns were locked and secured.  I was irritated to say the least.  I love sleep!

Happy Wednesday! (Today is Kat’s birthday… Karen’s was Monday!)

I haven’t been much of a blogger this week… there’ve been too many things going on and then not much at all if that makes sense?  I rarely read books lately, I feel like blogging is my me-time… but I started the Twilight book and when Bailey read it before I finished I decided to finish it and we have planned to see the movie together.  I started the second book and read it in a few days so now have been reading the third book, “eclipse.”  They are interesting books and I can see why there are so many people in to them… but I always feel guilty when I read books like that.  I tend to devour books that I’m interested in like someone hungry devours a good meal.  It makes me feel bad for not being that hungry when I read the bible.  It makes me feel like I’m not doing what I should be doing which probably means I’m not.  Do you ever feel that way?

Anyway, Izzy was really congested yesterday.   She went to school and had a good day but was very sneezy and snotty.  She came home and just kinda layed there.  She was tired and limp.  I could tell she really didn’t feel well at all.  She slept pretty well although I could hear her trying to breath all night.  It was loud. Today she seems a little better.  I’m hoping she feels like going to school… I don’t think she has a temp.  I’m having trouble finding fall clothes to buy for her.  I bought a few outfits from Kohls the other day that are just cotton and comfortable… but not that cute.  I like Gymboree for her and have seen a few things that are okay.  I think as she gets older it’s harder to find the right clothes.  Camilla likes her to wear cotton soft clothes, like leggings and t-shirts.  I know it makes it a lot easier to work with her when she dresses the right way and I really try to dress her that way especially on her pt days (I really do Camilla!)… I looked at kid gap online and at old navy but only saw one or two things that weren’t that cute.  Any suggestions?

I have so many things on my to do list today.  I want to clean out the bottom cabinets in the kitchen, weed the front flower beds, finish a load or two of laundry.  Pick up and wash kid’s bedding, write a post on acne… Get dinner going early since church is tonight… Get izzy to school, go to the store, possibly meet Melody for lunch…  I need to write a devo for the internet cafe that is due today.

I could go on and on, but I’m going to go work on that list.  Happy Wednesday!!!

I just realized I didn’t post anything yesterday!  Weird.  This has been a semi-busy week and for some reason I’ve just been so sleepy.  I took Izzy to Bear on Monday and afterwards she was really cranky so we stayed home for the afternoon.  Tuesday she went to school, I almost didn’t take her because she hadn’t slept well. (Bear really gave her a good work out!) but I decided she would be just as comfortable there.  When I picked her up I was happy to hear that she had a great day and really participated in the activities.  She put stickers on a paper.  Camilla said when she was given the sticker she tried standing and pushing it forward onto the paper.  She pouted when a toy was exchanged for another.  That is pretty huge because finding something to interest Izzy is a great challenge.  She was happy when given back the toy frog.  They said there were lots of smiles and lots of good attention to things going on. I love when she has great days and expect more of the same.

Last night was FLO at church (for ladies only).  It was the first flo for the year.  Beverly Barker (sp?) came to do signing to music and when you hear that you think, “ya’ right.” but it is amazing.  She really is a cool lady and I enjoyed visiting with her at the dinner before the service.  I was in a strange, quiet mood and dreaded doing the announcements in front of everyone but it worked out okay and I got through it.  It ran a little late, and Izzy wasn’t happy about that and as a result no one else was … but it all worked out.

I made the pasta salad that Sheryl posted.  It was yummy.  I may have that for breakfast :).  AND the cowboy stew was really really good.  Maybe better than I hoped.  The best part was that everyone really liked it and ate it all!  That’s always a plus.  Good, easy, fast and well recieved.

Matt’s neck is much better and I think Bailey’s poison ivy is just about gone.  It’s raining here and is only supposed to be in the 70’s today.  Should be a great day!  Hope you have a great Wednesday too!

Cell phone vs. Bible

 Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

 What if we carried  it around in our purses or pockets?

 What if we flipped  through it several time a day?

 What if we turned  back to go get it, if we forgot it?

 What if we used it  to receive messages from the text?

 What if we treated  it like we couldn’t live without it?

 What if we gave it  to our Kids as gifts?

 What if we used it  when we traveled?

 What if we used it  in case of emergency?

 This is something  to make you go….hmm…where is my Bible?

 Oh, and one more thing.  Unlike our cell  phone, we don ‘ t have to worry about our

Bible being disconnected because  Jesus already paid the  bill.

(this came in an email from Betty this morning and I thought it was interesting!)

My first thought this morning… headache!  Ouch.  The weather is weird today, that may be the culprit… but seriously.  Ouch.  It’s humpday.  Again!  These weeks are zooming by. I know I say it every week, but time is in fast forward for me.  I just looked at the weather radar, at Matt’s prompting (he’s very into looking at the radar and/or 7day forecast)… and see that Gustav may be knocking on our door today.  The high is supposed to be 70 degrees, which is about 20 shy of what it has been and at 7:00 a.m. it still looks dark outside.

Bailey stayed home to nurse his poison ivy yesterday.  I think it’s much better, but he was still pretty miserable.  I snuck in a hair appointment which was greatly needed.  He’s been sporting some pretty long locks for some time now and I did a quick trim the other day but he wouldn’t let me “finish.”  He was afraid I was going to cut it too short.  So he looked kinda wonky.  I think he looks better and it is shorter than it’s been in at least a year.  So, no more comments about him looking like a girl… for now anyway.  He’s such a sweet guy.

The Labor Day weekend was uneventful.  We did have the cook out at Mom & Dad’s house Monday evening.  Matt stayed home and kept warm compresses on his neck.  He is scheduled to see the surgeon on September 9th.  I’m hoping & praying it dissapears before that date so we don’t have to go.  We have to go before the board or presbyters or something Saturday for final approval of his ministerial certification.  I think it’s kind of a big deal.  Hmmm…

Izzy had a fun day at school yesterday.  I’m telling you those people are great!  Melanie (v.t. and her teacher) brought several different dress up items for izzy to choose from.  Izzy was wearing a purple outfit so of course she chose the big clip on rhinestone aka plastic heart earrings.  She wore them until I picked her up and when the were taken off she didn’t take her eyes off of them as the other teachers took turns trying them on.

What’s going on in your world this Wednesday?