Life with four boys...coffee please!

Just Being Honest....

2012-02-10T06:07:00.000-05:00

The other night, I sent my boys to bed at seven pm.

After a rough night with them I just needed them....to go to bed.

When I went to bed, I covered my head with my pillow and prayed for a better tomorrow.

It was only eight pm.

How do I go from waiting excitedly for them to get home from school to being exhausted and frazzled so quickly?

They had come home on a bright sun shiny day. Beautiful weather. The house was spotlessly clean.

I had waited for them to get here so we could make cookies. The three youngest helped me mix them up and were super happy to eat some dough and fill the cookie sheets.

S1 was out checking his trap line and couldn't wait to get in to get a warm cookie from the oven.

An idyllic wonderful day. A blog post was forming already in my head....

But before these cookies were baked...which takes all of ten minutes...the boys had run off to play.

But instead of playing, they were already squealing. "Stop!"
"I'm gonna tell!"
"Mooooooooooooooooma...."

It went down hill fast.

By the time dinner was on the table, I was fried. I had helped with three boys homework, read two books to the youngest son, walked into the living room to find I couldn't even see the floor anymore so I just walked out, the dishwasher chose that night to break - completely - and my husband claimed I was in a "grouchy mood."

And I was.

I had just turned into mean mom and hollered to "clean up the living room.!"

"Just don't speak to your brother!"

"I TOLD YOU to SET THE TABLE!"

And so they were sent to bed at seven.

I knew S1 still would be up doing homework but I didn't stay up with him. I didn't care when I heard S3 and S4 running across the upstairs floor or coming down for the fifth drink of water and sixth pee.

I just covered my head with my pillow and pretended to sleep. I prayed tomorrow would be better.

I love my life to pieces, you all know this.

But there are times when my stress level, on a scale of 1 to 10, is high. The last couple of weeks it's at about a nine. And while I still find lots of reasons to find the silliness in the mundane...I thought I would just throw this out there to you all.

I'm just being honest.

Sometimes, being a wife and mom is tough.

Anyone else out there know what I mean?

Mom's Rock

2012-02-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

I read this today.

I needed it.

Thought maybe some other mom would too.

Mom's Rock

The Mole That Came for Coffee

2012-02-09T14:45:00.003-05:00

The other morning I woke up extra early.

Every once in a while I wake up at some insane hour and find it pointless to fall back asleep.

Because I won't fall asleep till about six am.

Which is when I should be getting up anyhow.

So this morning I decided I would make some coffee and

drink it in bed.

I never do this.

But it was so cold that morning.

And it sounded like the ultimate luxury.

I poured my coffee in my mug and went to the fridge to get the creamer.

But there, at the corner of the fridge, was something.

Something trying to desperately dig it's way under my fridge.

A mole.

I was so stunned I dropped the creamer in my hand.

It missed the mole.

How a mole got into the house is a mystery.

My theory?

He wanted some coffee.

He didn't get any.

I picked him up and let him go outside.

But first I took a picture to show the boys.

S4's question when seeing this photo later in the morning?

"Why didn't you paint your nails, Moma?'

Yes, that was so my first concern when picking up a baby mole.

After letting the little thing go and then scrubbing my hands a zillion times, I crawled back in bed with my coffee.

I haven't gotten up early any morning since.

It seems...rather dangerous...to wake up early here.

A Blast From My Childhood

2012-02-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

I think I have told you all before...but we have this super duper extremely old ancient farmhouse.

It's so old, they added electric AFTER the fact.

And....apparently they didn't think that electric would catch on. Because some rooms in our house didn't even have an electric outlet.

At all.

But I digress.

One room works in my favor though. It's so tiny it could fit a single bed and one skinny chest of drawers. And that's it. It has beautiful, girly ancient old yellow wallpaper that I can't even wash anymore because it will just wash off if I do wash it...or get it wet.

But, it fits a little desk and hides my stacks of books really well.

I have a lot of books. Sometimes I wonder if I have issues.

I haven't been in this room in forever. I drop some stuff and move on. It hides Christmas presents. I can usually find just what I need anytime because I am the only one who goes in there.

But on one snowy Sunday, with my husband off plowing snow and the boys supposedly cleaning their room, I took on the job of cleaning my little room.

The boys entered in awe...checking over all sorts of girl treasures.

Why would Moma want teacups?

Who are the people in the pictures?

Why does Moma have a picture of someone kissing? (Gross!)

Moma has really old, like really old, ugly dolls.

I tried to explain this is Strawberry Shortcake, my dear favorite doll. I remember the Christmas I got her. She still has the bald spot on the back of her head where my brother burned her hair on my family's woodstove.

My parents cleaned out their attic about two summers ago and gave me a crate of my "treasures". What do you do with the treasures??? I ended up putting a few up on a bookshelf...

...because what else do you do with "treasures"????

Sadly, I put Strawberry Shortcake with my Cabbage Patch in Storage. For, I guess, my GRANDdaughter to play with one day.

Maybe I really do have issues.

Anyhow, the room is clean. I'll spare you the humiliating details of how much dust I cleaned out of here, or how long it took me, but the end result made me smile....

And I honestly cannot wait to get in there and write and write and write and write.

(PS the pink phone? Okay, I just couldn't put it in storage. It's some plastic thing but I always said 'when I grow up, I'll have a pink phone like in the old movies.' That, obviously, hasn't happened yet, so the plastic one is sitting there. My boys think I may have in fact gone crazy from the winter....)

Snakes in February

2012-02-07T07:28:00.000-05:00

We live in Michigan.

Normally this time of the year we have knee high snow and zero degree weather.

Not lately.

And, because you all know how much I love spring and beach days and summer,

you should be able to guess how much I have been liking the great weather.

But not so much when I see this......

Yes, a snake in FEBRUARY.

And it wasn't even lethargic looking. It BIT my husband...but he had gloves on...and garter snakes don't normally do things like that.

This...this thrills me. All these pictures and this VIDEO are taken from my amazingly wonderful iphone that my hunky hubby got for me. And it posted on my blog. I literally squealed for joy.

But then when you see it's a snake you will squeal, in fear, I believe.

I thought I was taking a photo at first and didn't realize it was on video.

But you get the idea.

The boys are thrilled over a snake.

I am not.

As I am sure you can imagine, the boys wanted to keep the snake as a pet.

Thankfully, it's too cold to begin keeping them in the water trough they keep for a "snake habitat" in the sandbox mere steps away from my dining room window where I sit at the computer.

That's when the thought of keeping it in the house came to mind.

Their brilliant idea was soon abolished as they remembered they had a mama.

Oh, yah, her.

Who doesn't like snakes.

So they let it go.

Right next to the front porch.

Where it could curl up and hole up and live until spring.

In my front porch.

I may have seethed at my husband a bit at the thought that he did that to me.

Just being honest.

But the boys informed me today that Daddy just TOLD me he let it go there.

They actually let it go at the furtherest corner of the property.

Those boys of mine, they sure are sweet.

And must love their Moma a lot.

One thing is for sure, though.

If February is bringing posts about snakes,

this year is sure to have a lot of posts about lots of "critters".

Lucky all of you.

Because Hubs Said I Would....

2012-02-06T16:46:00.002-05:00

My husband informed me that I would share this with all my blogging friends.

I said I would not.

And now I am.

Once again, he is correct.

(And now he is framing this post.)

Sunday we went to church. We haven't been there in forever because the boys have been sick and I refuse to leave the house if my husband has to plow. I figure if he has to plow, we need to stay home.

Anyhow.

We have junior church duty. We had all boys aged 7 to 5. When I asked them what they could ask God to help them with, something they were having a tough time with, one little boys squeaked out, "I fart a lot. Like, a whole lot. I think God needs to help me not fart so much."

The boys agreed solemnly in unison.

It was a struggle they all had.

My supportive husband left the area laughing, I had to agree this was definitely something to ask prayer for.

We will be discussing this further next week.

Ya'll may need to pray for me on that one.

Apparently it was a great church service to miss because the congregation was feeling all convicted. Husband felt we should get the cd from the service but ignorance seemed the perfect bliss to me. I was okay to not feel convicted on my sunny Sunday.

I think we'll get the cd on Wednesday.

Apparently my husband is correct AGAIN and it's always good to grow.

(He is for sure to frame this post now. Two times I say he is right!)

I told you all that to tell you this....

Some of you may be shocked to know that at times....my boys can embarrass me.

And Sunday was one of those days.

Jake and I left the church to head for the suburban and round up some boys - any that wanted to go home with us, basically - and S4 seen us and began to wail.

Loudly.

And hold himself.

From clear across the parking lot, he began to yell in pain.

"I have to go number one and I can't hooooooooooold it!"

So what does my husband say?

"Here! Just lean against the tire and pee here."

I, mortified, got in the suburban and sat down.

My now happy son climbed cheerfully into the vehicle.

My practical husband said, "Oh, you know you'll blog about this."

"Oh no", I said, "I don't think they need to know what redneck hillbillies we are. Or rather, YOU are."

"You married me," Jake grinned.

This whole blog post makes me feel the need to shop for shoes. High heeled girly ones.

(And...all the labels were already in my list of blog post labels...pee, church, fart and embarrassing. Sigh. Welcome to my life.)

Groundhog Day Blizzard

2012-02-02T05:33:00.000-05:00

Last year, on this day, we had a blizzard. I mean, a full out blizzard, not the kind that people just say was blizzardy and wasn't.

As soon as it began to snow the evening of the 1st, my husband the snowplower, made up a thermos of coffee, kissed us all goodbye and headed out.

We had no idea when he would be home.

We had no idea what the storm would bring.

You can tell in S2's face what we pretty much all felt like but only he acted on....dread.

In the morning, I made us the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls - we pretty much survived on those (and now I am hungry). Knowing the weather was going to get bad, we had enough groceries stocked in the house to keep us feed and well for a week.

That meant a lot of coffee, folks.

When the sun came out and we felt brave, we went out to survey all the snow. The boys had never seen so much snow. All our previous snow piles were HUGE snow piles. The rock garden in our turn around was completely buried. The wind had shifted the snow around so much that in some places there was ankle deep snow and some places it was well over my knees.

We had a lot of fun taking pictures and the boys went sledding while I fed all our chickens and wild birds.

As the sun set and we headed in for the night, we still had no idea when we would see Daddy again.

It was Groundhog's Day, which is my Dad's favorite holiday and I have to admit, I'm a bit crazy about it too. It means spring is so close...but this day spring felt like a million days away.

But then, suddenly, in the not too late evening, my husband came barreling up the driveway.

The boys cheered as they watched Daddy clear away the snow. Daddy was HOME!!!!! He paused for a picture with the boys, cleaned out the rest of the driveway and our renter's drive and then literally fell exhausted into bed.

He was gone out plowing again in the morning before the boys and I even were awake.

I have a very hard working husband.

When my husband got home from that blizzard, I had the video camera going. He never knew that we were taping, he couldn't hear what we were saying, and when he seen this later it literally brought tears to his eyes.

I often find him replaying this video. It has to be one of his all time favorites.

Sorry for the weird way the pictures and words posted this time.

It's a glitch I cannot figure out so I just pushed publish.

Dentist Day

2012-02-01T16:53:00.001-05:00

Today all the boys had dentist appointments. (This is where my husband begins laughing...he is not known for his endless amounts of patience and sitting in a waiting room waiting on four boys to get their teeth cleaned is not his thing. At all.)

But that was our day.

I, personally, despise going to the dentist. I have a dentist phobia and just can hardly bring myself to go. I try not to share this sentiment with the boys but when S4 clings to my hand and begs me to go with him to the back room, then curls his toes and twists his fingers I know he has inherited my dentist phobia.

Poor boy.

We finished up with just one tiny cavity found in S3's mouth and headed to run our errands. And where, tell me, does one get such great service at the gas station?

The windows were ~~sorta~~ washed, the tank was nearly filled, the help was superb.

We then headed to Meijer to get our Tide detergent, winter boots for S2 (so you KNOW it will not snow anymore this season) and look for a vacuum. Ours broke and being without one is not pleasant.

At all.

Since all the boys were out of school, since we had survived the dentist, since I had just gotten paid, I told them we could go to the "cheeseburger shop" as S4 calls it and they could order whatever they wanted.

You should have seen their eyes.

It was priceless.

IF we happen to go to McDonald's, we order off the dollar menu and usually drink the bottled water I have in the back of the suburban at all times. Not today, no siree. It was kids meals, angus burgers and the like. And to top it all off, shamrock shakes just made their yearly debut and they know Moma couldn't resist one.....so we all got a shake.

The total?

Just over $32 dollars.

This is why we don't ever eat out. This is also why the boys told me four zillion times "Thank you, Moma!".

We visited a McDonalds with a play land...because what sort of McDonald's wouldn't have a play land? The three youngest boys then spent the next nearly two hours jumping, sliding, running and squealing with joy.

The grandparents sitting behind me trying to read as their granddaughter played were not impressed with my bunch of hooligans.

S1 looked through his new favorite book, an assortment of tools to help you survive in the wilderness. I deleted pictures off my cameras, caught up on my planner, and sat there as long as I could stand, sipping my shamrock shake and thinking it really was a pretty awesome afternoon.

So awesome, in fact, that I wore my boys out.

But, if every six months we get to celebrate surviving the dentist like this, I imagine we'll make some pretty grand memories.

Boys Are Always Boys...Even When Sick

2012-02-01T15:22:00.003-05:00

When the boys were sick, S4 asked if he could sleep downstairs.

It made perfect sense.

When I woke up very early the next morning, this is what I found.....

Apparently, even if you are sick you need....

a lantern on all night long

your nerf gun and all your extra bullets

your angry bird

your pillow pet

and blankets.

THEN you get a good night sleep.

This still cracks me up, two weeks after we are finally feeling better.

Family Dinner

2012-01-31T08:43:00.003-05:00

When the boys came home from school yesterday, they gobbled up...

Homemade chocolate chip cookies

Brownies

Bananas

I worried they might have spoiled their dinner appetite.

Last night for dinner I made.....

A large pot roast.

FIVE POUNDS of mashed potatoes.

A full bag of carrots, peeled and cooked with the roast and sprinkled with brown sugar.

Two cans of green beans with bacon.

A tube of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.

Long after the roast had been devoured, the boys were still asking for more. They literally scraped the carrot bowl clean. They fought over the last roll (I never even ate one). When dinner was done, there was half a can of beans and just enough mashed potatoes to barely top the casserole we will be having later this week.

How on earth am I ever going to keep feeding these boys?

The Heroine's Bookshelf

2012-01-31T08:37:00.001-05:00

The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love reading a back story, it always adds more the book you are reading, I think. And Erin does a great job with this book, highlighting the heroine's of childhood books.

Really, Erin had me at the first page.....

"In times of struggle, there are as many reason not to read as there are to breath. Don't you have better things to do? reading, let alone rereading, is the terrain of milquetoasts and mopey spinsters. At life's uglies junctures, they ver act of opening a book can smack of cowardly escapism. Who choses to read when tehre's work to be done?

Call me a coward if you will, but when the line between duty and sanity blurs, you can usually find me curled up with a battered book, reading as if my mental healthy depended on it. And it does, for inside the books I l love I find food, respite, escape, and perspective. I finds something else, too: heroines and authors, hundreds of them, women whose real and fictitious lives have covered the terrain I tool must tread.

Oh, have I needed some heroines in my life."

Not only does Erin do a great job of just summarizing the lives of the authoress', she also adds fun little tidbits at the end saying "read this book when....." and gives you examples in life when the heroine in THIS book is perfectly suited to this situation.

I am especially glad this book is now in our hometown library. I think the grandmothers, mothers and daughters will like to check out their favorite books "back stories".

View all my reviews

The Marriage Wish

2012-01-28T12:51:00.003-05:00

The Marriage Wish by Dee Henderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first Dee Henderson book I have read and ironically, it's the first book she wrote. This book gives me great hope in writing my own book one day.

It's not at all what I was expecting. It's an easy read that makes you want to see the couple get together in the end but the intense healing that has to take place is deep.

Final thoughts on reading it.....I'm thankful for healthy kids and I don't ever want to take for granted them or my husband.

Also, I may need a puppy.

View all my reviews

Angie's Kettle Corn for Valentine's Day

2012-01-22T16:36:00.000-05:00

I recently received an email asking me if I would be interested in trying Angie's Kettle Corn. I've been asked a few times to try something but nothing ever sounds like US...but popcorn did.

I mean, who doesn't like popcorn?

I said yes and had no idea what to expect.

On a snowy, blustery, cold day with sick kids laying all around various parts of the house, my ever so cheery and pleasant UPS man braved the snow to make a special delivery. When I opened the super light box, I found this....

I don't know what I had thought I was getting, but this was cooler than I thought it would be.

There were TWENTY bags of popcorn in this bag. And 20 stickers, of course. The stickers were all sort of whimsical. The idea is to fill out the stickers to put on the bags to give as your classroom Valentine's Day "card".

That is a cool card idea even I could handle.

I had to try the popcorn, of course, so I opened it up and tossed a few kernels in my mouth.

I ended up dumping what was left of the bag in my mouth to get all the sweet saltiness I could get.

Then, and I am terrible to admit this, was glad no one was feeling well to eat this other than me.

When S4 asked about the delivery, he called small bags of popcorn "crazy". He then tried it and said Daddy's was better. I was happy - more for me! - but then he didn't stop eating it. At all. I think he liked it way more than he let on and said that just so his brothers wouldn't try it.

As the boys got over their flu, they kept grabbing a bag to munch on. In two days every bag was GONE.

All that deliciousness....gone.

I have one bag hidden away. I'm afraid to get it out. The boys, all well now, would devour it as soon as I opened it, I am certain.

It is really that good.

The great news for you is that Angie's Kettle Corn is now available at Target stores - available just this month for the first time - and you can get this great bag for Valentine's Day treats for only 5.99. I didn't think that was a bad price at all - I'd spend three or so dollars on a box of cards they would just throw away at the end of the day. This is WAY cooler - and yummier. They also have other sized bags available for purchase. I think I'll need that one for me...

And who doesn't like to go to Target?

I think this is going to have to be our new keep in stock snack. It's so easy to have it in the single serve bags. But more than that, the boys have some friends with severe food allergies and when they visit I'm always nervous somehow I am going to give them something that is terrible for them. I don't have to worry about this with Angie's Kettle Corn.

On the back of the bag is the adorable story of Angie and her kettle corn. Being a sucker for such things, I had to share it with you as well.... (I actually took this right from the website, the shorter version is on the back of the bag...but this story warmed my heart even more.)

The Angie’s Kettle Corn Story

Company owners Dan and Angie Bastian began Angie’s Kettle Corn as a side venture when their 2 children, Aunikah and Tripp, were just 5 and 3. Hoping to both earn extra income for college funds and demonstrate the importance of hard work, Dan and Angie started selling Angie’s Kettle Corn at outdoor events in 2001. The couple enjoyed regional popularity at outdoor events, but all that changed when Dan and Angie decided to gift the Vikings players and coaches with bags of kettle corn after a long day at training camp in Mankato. The team was so impressed with the snack, that they soon became the official kettle corn of the Minnesota Vikings. The players weren’t the only ones impressed. In no time, fans wanted to know where they could buy Angie’s in the off-season. In January 2008, Dan and Angie made the decision to bring the operation indoors and begin manufacturing their treat for retail.

And they’ve never looked back. Ten years after their small venture began, the company has grown from the husband and wife pair to more than 100 employees producing 80,000 bags a day. Their Classic, Lite and Caramel varieties can be found in 50 states in stores including Costco, Super Target, Whole Foods, Lunds, Byerly’s and all SuperValu-owned stores.

Community Involvement

Angie’s is now the official kettle corn of the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx professional sports teams. In addition, Dan and Angie donate their time and resources to a variety of community fundraising events and programs, including March of Dimes, Kids Against Hunger, Salvation Army, YMCA, and many others devoted to supporting children and education.

For many different reasons, local and national media are highlighting Angie’s Kettle Corn. In March 2011, Food & Wine magazine featured Angie’s Lite, and founders Dan and Angie Bastian appeared on the Martha Stewart Show on the Hallmark Channel in January 2011.

Meet the Owners

From a kernel of love popped something bigger than two people. Meet the founders of Angie’s Kettle Corn, husband and wife, Dan and Angie Bastian.

Dan “Reno” Bastian:

Dan was born and raised in Minnesota. Before working full time at Angie’s, he was a high school Spanish teacher and baseball coach. He still coaches his daughter and son’s sports teams.

Angie Bastian:

Angie was raised in the Midwest and in Florida. As company namesake, her role in the business has evolved from behind-the-scenes in her spare time as a full-time nurse, to full-time President. Despite their successful business, Angie and Dan have never lost sight of the importance of family and consider parenting to be their most important and rewarding endeavor.

So, because it was so yummy, I ASKED to write this review. Try it yourself and see if you don't agree with me. I know we are now Angie Kettle Corn fans...for good. I have a sneaky suspicion the boys's classmates will all be trying it on Valentine's Day.

But we'll still be happy to have Daddy make us popcorn...

The Deliciousness of A Good Book

2012-01-21T13:17:00.002-05:00

When I was a little girl, I loved to read. My nose was buried in a book any day, often all day. If I was not buried in a book, on little pieces of orange notebook paper my uncle brought home to us in bulk, I would write out stories.

When my brother and I would play for hours at our creek or out in the neighbors hundreds of wooded acres across the road from us, I would make up amazing stories that we would be the hero and heroine of. We lived many great adventures.

On days my mom and dad would have us helping with weeding, stacking wood, shoveling manure, helping with canning, etc I would make up stories in my head to make the time go faster. Often I would tell made up stories to my siblings...especially my brother.

My brother has an incredible oral story telling ability. He amazes me. He can have me on the floor laughing or scared to death to get out of my vehicle at night...and I'm a grown woman! I, on the other hand, am the writer of my days (pretty obvious, I know) but a speaker? Not so much. Public speaking scares me insanely much.

When my boys were being born and little, it occurred to me one day for some reason that I could not even remember the last book I had read. When I dug around the house I found some book I had read...the year before. Since then I have tried to be much more conscientious of reading. Back when S2 was a baby, I had no computer (can you imagine!), no cell phone, no cable tv, no facebook, no twitter, no blogging (but journaling sporadically) and I was not reading.

Now my time is being pulled in every direction. The boys are older and one would think that would make life easier and while, yes, I'm not changing diapers anymore, I am also busier. The amount of food I make in a week is startling to me. School keeps us hopping. Work. The farm.

My husband feels reading is about as thrilling as watching paint dry. And me curled up with a good book can be annoying to him...if all he did was sharpen chainsaw chains when I wanted to spend time with him, I would be annoyed too. (Chains for cutting wood...that sounded slightly odd, didn't it?) So we find some tv series we love to watch on Netflix and spend our time at night cuddled on the couch watching tv. We love it. Who doesn't love to cuddle with the love of their life?

Alicia introduced me to Goodreads and while I am not very good at keeping it up to date, I do find it helps immensely. You can make a reading goal for the year and this year I decided to be brave and say I would read 26 books this year. Considering I had a hard time reading ONE book a month last year this was a huge commitment to me.

Alicia? She thinks she can read 75 books this year. She's a reading machine. I love this about her.

Last night, Jake had to go plow. I was not happy about this because we had a night planned - nothing big but still. I mopped floors, cleaned the kitchen, blogged...I know, I am thrilling...and when I crawled into bed I thought, "Gasp! I could read for a bit."

I snuggled into bed, pulling my special Strawberry Shortcake blanket around me and propping pillows. It was eleven. I'd been tired all evening, I'd suffered a severe headache on the right side of my head that had set my eye brow to twitching and while I was feeling fine now (and in large part because I refused to look up my symptoms on the internet, it would have me dead by morning, I was sure) I knew I shouldn't read too late.

I had read the first chapter a week or so before and thought it so so.

About four chapters in I was hooked.

I couldn't put it down. I had to know what happened. I heard a vehicle rumble and thought Jake was back from plowing perhapes...but it wasn't him. No, it was my neighbor. Leaving. For. Work.

That's right...it was nearly five in the morning.

I had no idea, and I was *this* close to finishing.

At five thirty, I finished. I closed the book and rubbed the cover. It was a delicious evening this book and I had had. I sent a text to Alicia, who I knew was just waking up. She was the one who told me to read The Hunger Games series, I shouldn't have doubted that she would know I would like this book that normally I wouldn't even bother to look at twice.

After a few hours of sleep and a *few* cups of coffee, I am still thinking over this book. That's the fun about the books - even when you are done reading you aren't done living the story.

I was thrilled and pained to see there is a second book coming out in May.

This post - rambling long as it is - isn't to tell you read this book (although I would recommend it in a heartbeat), it's just to remind you to read. A book. Not just your computer or a magazine but a book where you live with the characters.

It's a delicious thing, a good book.

I'm THAT Mom - the one of Hillbilly Recipes

2012-01-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Kellyn, you may not want to read this.

Every morning that I drop the boys off at school, a troop of boys come out to greet me at S2's classroom. I love it. There are four of them total, including my S2. S3 and S4 make a big deal out of giving all four them high fives and hugs that are so big they can lift them up off the ground - yes, my six and seven year old lifting their older brother and friends up off the ground in a hug.

Only my boys.

Anyhow, recently Jonathan - one of the four - actually stopped me before the morning greetins. "Can you tell me how to make squirrel?" he asked.

Now, there are lots of things running through my mind but the biggest was this...

I have officially become a hillbilly.

Jonathan continued...and this I loved..."Because my mom says she doesn't know how to cook it and I know you do so you could tell her how to cook it and then we could finally eat some!"

I know Jonathan's mom...and I'm sorry...I just couldn't resist. "Well, honey, you just get that squirrel as clean as you and your brothers can then you have your mom stick it in the crock pot with a bunch of cream of mushroom soup and cook it till it's tender."

His eyes were adoring. He was thrilled.

"Great!" he nodded solemnly. "Can you tell my mom that?"

"I sure will," I promised.

I did not, however, tell his mom - or Jonathan - that when one cooks squirrel like that it ends up looking like this.......

Yummy, huh?

No matter how carefully it is cleaned, when it is done cooking you will in fact find bits of hair still on it's cooked meat.

And that your boys, looking at that tiny bit of meat that doesn't even take up half a dinner plate, will think it is the best looking dinner ever.

They will carefully carve off bits of the meat and savor every bite, pronouncing they have the best cook in the whole world and their brother to be the best shot. And the cook (being the mother) will do the motherly thing and make sure all her boys have all the food they can eat - sacrificing her share of the meat to the hunter who provided the meat.

The funny thing is THE WEEK this happened to me - Jonathan asking me about how to cook squirrel - another friend sent me a picture of her son eating...SQUIRREL. She knew I would appreciate such a picture...and understand her horror.

When the weekend was over, I asked Jonathan how it had gone eating his squirrel. "Well," he said, "My mom says we would need a whole lot of squirrels to feed us all so it may take some time. But then we'll make it like how you told my mom!"

Pukes NOT Pucks

2012-01-17T11:35:00.001-05:00

(a post not for the soft stomached)

Yesterday, I left my house for the first time since Thursday morning.

After dropping the boys off at school

ON TIME

I went home to make Death by Chocolate Scones.

Then I went over the library that I love so dearly.

The library I just happen to work at.

There we ate scones, drank delicious tea from quaint tea cups with saucers and watched this movie.

I so love this movie.

I really love the book as well.

While I have read it before, I never did finish the book in time for this book club.

It was a grand time.

After the movie and chat (we are going to stick with reading woman authors and taking suggestions), we decided to read Little Women next. My ultimate favorite book. And Alice hasn't read it and this makes me a wee bit worried about her. ;)

After all that girl time, I picked the boys up from school and we headed to Meijer so they could spend the Christmas money that has been burning holes in their pockets.

S1 loaded up on clearanced hunting gear, and was shocked d things can add up to $45 dollars rather quickly. He was nearly ready to get in an argument with the cashier, but she was right, not him.

S2 got BB's, air soft bullets, nerf bullets and a target.

S3 got a new game for his Leapster and a case to carry his Leapster. It was fun to hear him say, "YES! Now I can do subtraction!"

S4 found himself a lego boat he can use in the tub (can it get any better?) and sunglasses.

I was thankful I had some girl time earlier in the day.

But it wasn't long after we were home that S1 informed me he wasn't feeling well, and it wasn't long after that he was puking.

It's been years since he has been this sick, since his Boar hunt, actually.

I don't handle puke well.

Like, at all.

Husband does things like that shockingly well.

I can change diapers, I can clean disgusting things, I can do most anything.

But not puke.

As we heard S1 puking throughout the night, husband (exhausted from hours of plowing and hours of fixing plow trucks) said sleepily, "Go help him."

To which I - and yes, I feel some shame in admitting this - said, "What am I going to do? Just let him puke it out and fall back asleep."

Yah, I'm that kind of a mom.

At around one in the morning, S2 came down and began puking too.

Thankfully, we have two buckets.

This morning I wrote a facebook status bemoaning the fact that I had puking boys.

But I wrote PUCK instead of PUKE.

Which is funny to me, hilarious really, and that could be because of my lack of sleep and the fact that I have been dealing with puke for nearly two weeks on and off.

I could well be sick of pucks.

Because this is a picture of my boys over the weekend.

And people know my boys well enough to know that they COULD have pucks IN the house and how that always seems to turn out.

I'd so much rather have that then this.

My poor sick boys. I am bleaching and lysoling and hoping that I don't catch this bug at all.

Say a prayer for us.
Say a prayer that I can handle dumping buckets of puke. I know that sounds awful, but it's really hard on me. And my two oldest boys are as pale as the snow and lifeless today, I feel so awful for them.

Feed, Korene and an iPhone4s

2012-01-14T07:53:00.000-05:00

Last week, as I was rushing to get us all out the door for school, I noticed S4 digging out two apples from the fridge.

"You only need one," I told him, silently thinking what great boys I have to want healthy food.

"It's not for me. It's for Whiskers and Bunny," he answered me.

As in, Whiskers and Bunny the bunnies that live on our front porch.

"Just give them their feed," I replied.

"Well, that's just it, Moma. Their food is kinda icky. It got wet and then it got hard," he explained.

"And things are growing on it," S2 added.

"And I am just now hearing this?" I demanded.

They nodded silently.

And I knew what my day would now entail, heading to the farm store for feed.

My friend Korene, who will be starting a craft blog soon, stopped me to see how my morning was going and I spilled this whole story to her.

She giggled. "You'll make it funny, just you watch."

And so I prepared myself for my fun surprise twist of the day.

As I headed into town, my phone rang. My cell phone. Since our house phone was down (but ATT fixed so well!). And my cell phone was acting up. The call was my husband and I asked him if he minded if I could stop in at the Verizon store and see about an upgrade. He assured me it was a great idea.

I walked in with my blackberry, with this picture as a screen saver...

And asked for help.

I have a fear of cell phone stores. I have had to deal with a totally awful one. As in, T E R R I B L Y awful. This one, well, this one had the nicest, super knowledgeable employees. They didn't just try to sell a phone, they wanted to know what would be the best fit. They listened and offered advice.

Since I was looking for the iphone anyhow, they asked me questions about what I would use an iphone for and looked at my rebate I was up for and said, "The iphone4s is for you."

I had to ask my husband first, that handsome man who loves my chickens too.

"Yes! Yes! Get it right now! That's a great price! I figured you would! Go right ahead!" he cheered me.

And so I did.

And so my day to get feed for bunnies - and chickens, wild birds and the cat - got me an iphone4s.

Korene was right, it was a great day.

And my new iphone....oh. my. goodness.

I do believe it's the most wonderfulest phone ever. I also know I just know the tiniest bit about it.

But I do know fully well how wonderful my hubby is. As in, the greatest ever.

(Even if he didn't get the iphone for me, he'd still be great. But this sure makes me grin at him a bit more.)

Snow Day!

2012-01-14T01:02:00.000-05:00

This morning we awoke to snow.

Not tons of snow but snow timed to make the roads nasty and dangerous.

Giving us a SNOW DAY!

Honestly, I didn't think we would get one. I made the boys pack lunches the night before. Clothes were laid out and showers taken. But at five am I was awake checking my texts for word of a snow day. I was watching the news...watching all the schools around us close but not us.

But then we did!

All winter we have had mild temps in the upper 30's and 40's. I have to admit, I have loved it. But if we are going to get snow, let us have the snow day!

We made waffles for breakfast and then shoveled off the vehicles and shoveled the walkways. I fed all the wild birds that were flocked at the feeder while the two youngest boys went in to get warm and the two oldest went out to see if the snow mobiles were taking the trail in the back of our property. When our tummies began to rumble for lunch, S4 suggested a picnic. And then he set it all up himself.

He was rather proud of his creativity. He had everyone spots picked out (I was to sit between S3 and S4). Dinner was tuna noodle, the food Daddy hates so we eat on all those "special occasions" when Daddy isn't home.

Do you see the bunny behind S4's foot and next to the Angry Bird stuffed animal? The bunnies. Yes, those bunnies were part of the celebration of snow day as well. They had breakfast with us. They played hide and seek. And at some point they hid so well everyone forgot they were there until it hopped up to you so you scratched it's little ears and it hopped away. The bunnies, I believe, loved snow day. I, on the other hand, believe I may not be liking that the boys left the bunnies in the house for so long today. But back to our yummy lunch.

Here I am sitting, enjoying the fun of the moment, thinking this is grand that we don't need to worry about a mess. That's when I spilled my entire plate of food on my lap. Go figure. The boys ate without incident.

While S4 has a bit of cheesy grin here, he was truly happy with the way this all worked out for us. He loves picnics and that everyone did just what they should do and sat in just the spots he chose and the bunnies were in on the fun...well, this was the best snow day ever for him, i do believe.

After lunch S1 plowed the driveway with his snowplow he built for the tractor he and my dad built. I don't think any boy has been happier plowing snow.

After we had cleaned the junk drawer - S4 now deems it the clean drawer, it only had 6 years of collection in it (haven't cleaned it since I was nesting last) - we took down the Christmas decorations. My sister in law called and ended up stopping with her two boys on the way home from the vet.

My brother just purchased this adorable Pomeranian puppy for her.

The puppy, you must know, is only two pounds. Full grown she will be ten pounds. She pranced around the floor and was a great delight to us all. I believe I said, "She is just the cutest! And look at her cute curled tail!" a zillion times. S2 was sure the puppy knew his voice and was just the most amazing puppy in the world. Jr - my nephew - would then tell us all how to properly care for the puppy.

It was a really great time.

Even if this picture captures them all looking a bit crazy.

YOU try getting a good picture of six boys and puppy!

My husband arrived home from plowing snow exhausted and hungry. He was going to bring us pizza but it got too late for that so we had leftover lasagna and birthday cake. You really can never go wrong if your first thought for dinner is ice cream - and you then you have ice cream.

The boys and I stayed up late watching a movie all cuddled on the couch, bunnies tucked away in their home outside. I painted my nails - because you all wanted to know that sort of information - a bright sparkly glitter pink.

Why yes, it was a rather perfect snow day.

All I Want is a Stapler

2012-01-13T06:23:00.000-05:00

Back in October, when we asked the boys what they wanted for Christmas, S3 put at the top of his list "stapler".

I thought that sounded pretty cute, and silly, so I tweeted it.

It cracked me up that he wanted a stapler, a pencil sharpener and a calculator.

He got all those things.

But what I didn't expect was to get a tweet from Paper Pro.

https://twitter.com/#!/WeArePaperPro/status/128254966866518016

PaperPro@WeArePaperPro

Following

@life4boys Can we make a Xmas dream come true? Follow & I'll send you free PaperPro stapler! RT S3 made a Xmas list. asked for a stapler.

I have to admit, first I thought it was a joke.

But my husband shrugged and said, "What do you have to loose?"

So I followed, they asked for my address and then direct messaged me to see what color S3 would like.

I thought it was sweet of them to ask something like that.

And blue is by far S3's most favorite color.

Then, Paper Pro stepped it up.

"We're going to send you all a stapler!"

Since these were going to be Christmas gifts (stocking stuffers), I couldn't tell them how excited S3 would be.

So I made sure to take a picture of his beaming face when he opened that gift on Christmas.

But when I opened the box of staplers they sent me,

that they tweeted to let me know was sitting at the door waiting for me,

I was blown away.

There was no way for them to know that S1's favorite color is green.

There was no way for them to know that S2's favorite color is red.

There was no way for them to know that S4 loves all animals.

And they even sent me a pink stapler.

Being pink, the boys will be sure to leave it alone.

In the box of staplers they sent a HANDWRITTEN note telling us to have a Merry Christmas.

I was so touched.

But what PaperPro couldn't imagine is that the boys all love their staplers.

It's as if they have such the grown up gift.

The crafts S3 and S4 make now!

The homework S1 and S2 can staple now!

This was BIG doings!

Yesterday I was at our local Meijer store and I happened to see a PaperPro stapler for sale. It made me smile. I checked the price. Not a bad price at all for a stapler that staples a stack of 25 papers. That looks cool. That is ultra light.

Not a bad price for a company that truly gets how to care for their customers.

Or make a boy's Christmas extra merry.

PaperPro didn't ask for a blog post about them...but how could I not share about a great company!

Just Because It's Still His Birthday

2012-01-12T19:33:00.001-05:00

In case you were really wondering how s4's day was going.

He chose lasagna for dinner, thought his cake was cool and hasn't stopped carrying around the angry birds stuffed animal he received.

Here are some pictures from tonight.

Happy Birthday S4!

2012-01-12T09:18:00.001-05:00

So today is the big day.

S4 is sporting his new shirt...that looks like Daddy's.

He has eaten his fair share of donuts - with cream in the middle.

He is home today so he can finish his fort in the woods before the snow gets here.

I'd say so far his birthday is going pretty dandy.

Tomorrow We Have a Birthday Boy

2012-01-11T20:39:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow our baby turns six.

So I went through my computer, that isn't old at all, to see what my oldest photos

are of my youngest boy.

I recognized all the clothes we have passed on.

And was surprised to find the oldest photo when he was still in diapers.

He kinda has a look only a moma could love.

He tends to get super duper dirty.

And when mud isn't available, he finds other means to get messy.

His smile can melt snow.

He is a fine judge of cookies.

He loves his brothers, his cousin, the dog and his stuffed animals.

Competitive to beat his brothers.

The biggest fan of Cars...the original Cars, not so much Cars 2.

He can give the most odd grins.

And doesn't much care for change, like when moma did that crazy hair dye thing.

He looks for flowers and brings me smiles.

He growls with no fear at his big Daddy.

And I cannot believe he will be six.

12 Days of Christmas

2012-01-09T06:08:00.000-05:00

My husband doesn't seem to especially like Christmas.

I'll let you all try to take that information in.

So one year, for some reason I can't now recall, I started the twelve day of Christmas for him.

What I would do is on the day after Christmas I would give him a gift to say "Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas!". For instance, this year it was one big giant hershey kiss.

Then every day I give him a gift that coincides with the number, and every gift has some silly little poem or clue with it.

It's usually just practical gifts, but the way they are presented makes it fun. The second day, for instance, was a new pair of gloves.

The third day of Christmas was a new picture frame.

It's to continue our "wall of love".

I started this a few years ago for one of the 12 days of Christmas and have just picked up the frames as we needed. The frames just come from Family Dollar, cheap frames that hold a priceless memories. Every one of the pictures shows some happy memory with the two of us. The oldest picture is one where I am just pregnant for S2, I haven't found any older than that. But it's fun to be headed out for something and say "Hey, this should go on our wall!".

But some of the gifts are silly.

I found this sign (We Accept Cash) when we went down to Shipsiwana. I knew my husband, being the Dutch man he is, would love this. And, because he likes to be practical, it would work well with our farm business as well.

Anyone who arrives at our door, knowing us well, is going to crack up.

This picture is still making me smile.

On the 12th day of Christmas I give him a 12 month planner. This year they were nearly impossible to find - and I was looking BEFORE Christmas. I found one not as great as the others in the past. But then I go through the planner and write all sorts of dates down for him, stuff that is only important to us. Some of it's practical, other's just silly. But it's sweet to him and I.

When the 12 days are done, it seems so sad.

Last year I did not go through the trouble of doing the 12 days of Christmas. I thought maybe he was burned out on it since the year before he didn't seem that "into it". But he moaned and whined (did I just say that, really?) about how much he missed it.

It takes a long time to figure out what to do! I carry a notebook with me and am constantly jotting down ideas down. I began this journey for 12 days this fall. I wish I had started earlier.

It's a silly fun way to show him how much I love him. I think I enjoy it as much as he does.

I always miss it when it's done too.

A blogging friend of mine did a Twelve Days of Christmas this year too....ranch style. Every day since Christmas she has listed some thing she is thankful for in ranching according to the day. It's been fun to read them on the days I hand over my gifts. You can check them out at Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch.

PS
Just got asked to give more ideas. Here is what I did for the 12 days this year...

Day 1 - giant hershey kiss
Day 2- a pair of gloves
Day 3- our 3 picture frame
Day 4 - 2 pair of tall wool boot socks
Day 5 - a book on cd
Day 6 - underwear
Day 7 - his cash sign
Day 8 - a box of turtles
Day 9 - a cd of 9 songs I made
Day 10 - 10 pairs of socks
Day 11 - a cd
Day 12 - his planner

The cd I made him was a new idea and way so much fun (thanks, Morgan, for that idea!). I usually fill in gift cards on day five and ten but this year I had too many other ideas. I also have gotten us romantic something or another, not to be mentioned :), on a specific day. But mostly, it's just practical stuff with a silly poem to go with it. And sometimes, the poem doesn't even rhyme.

Another idea I have tried - and failed miserably at - is then celebrating the 25th of every month. Jake is notorious for letting me know how many months till Christmas because he knows I hate winter. It's his little way to tease me. But I usually end up forgetting his 25th gifts of the month - those were just the same sort of thing, gift cards or a special candy, his favorite dessert or some such thing.

You are only limited by your creativity. I am not so creative so I have to start EARLY and am always looking for new ideas. Give me some of your ideas!

AT&T

2012-01-08T18:43:00.001-05:00

Last week, S3 took his new leap frog to church and forgot it. He wasn't supposed to bring it and was devastated he forgot it. Because we ended up not going to church Sunday night, I sent a text to Morgan who texted her brother who was at youth group to see if he could find S3's game. He did.

But we didn't know that until Monday night when S3 called to see if they did. He had been in torment wondering if it was lost for good but when he called on Monday night they assured him that it was safe and sound.

After he got off the phone, I went to call my mom and the phone didn't work. It sounded like we hadn't hung up a phone or the friends we had just called had forgotten to hang up on us.

But Tuesday morning, our phone still didn't work.

Because I worked all day I didn't get around to calling about it until late evening. Because cell service isn't wonderful in my house, it dropped the call. On Wednesday, I was out with friends all day and when I arrive home, the phone worked! I figured it must have just been a glitch, my husband made a call with the phone and it worked great and all was well until...well, we realized the phone was as dead as before.

On Thursday I looked up AT&T to see how to trouble shoot any problem with the line. I filled in my information and tried to look for what they said to look for but the phone still didn't work. Frustrated, I sent out a tweet letting AT&T we were still without phone service.

Between Thursday night and Friday night, I had FIVE calls from various AT&T personal letting me know they were working on our phone and that someone would be fixing it shortly.

Now, you know I have had great customer service at AT&T. I've talked about my ever so pleasant conversation with another mom of boys and how we connected. We used to have AT&T service when we moved into our farm all those years ago but when we got our internet service through MEI, we went with their wireless phone service for our home phone. We never could get the wireless phone service to work well here...but their internet service is great (we still kept that)...and their customer service is truly top notch. And local. I can rave about MEI to anyone, they are THAT great a company.

So AT&T had big shoes to fill.

We were told that our line would be worked on Sunday...keep in mind how long we had been without phone service now, thank goodness for internet connection! Had this been our busy growing season, I'd have been pulling my hair out but it's slow this time of the year...sometime between 1 and 5pm. My husband and I joked it would be 5pm probably.

But as soon as we had finished Sunday dinner, as though they had an innate sense to have perfect timing, Brian(?) called to say he was on his way. And he arrived moments later.

He was nice and polite and felt awful when our screen door slammed (it's broken, we're used to it). I have no idea WHAT he did, but he fixed our phone just as quick as can be and now our phone works wonderfully.

I'd say that is pretty great service.

And I'm thankful to have been treated so well from a large company after loving the small town care of our small company.

Happy Birthday To My Mom!

2012-01-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday.

How is she celebrating?

By taking down her Christmas tree.

A real live Christmas tree.

She assures me it is not dead yet.

Still VERY beautiful.

But it's getting kind of embarrassing to keep it up.

This is yet another reason why I love my mom so.

She keeps her Christmas tree up until her birthday.

I have had people say that I look like my mom did when she was my age. I have had a complete stranger stop me in the store and say, "Oh my, you MUST be Deb's daughter, you have her exact smile." If anyone says I am a good mom, I owe it to MY mom. If I have a good marriage, it's because I have great parents, still married, who gave us a great example.

My mom and dad, they don't like to hear such things. They assure me I am doing a great job and better than they did. But I know, it's them. They built a great foundation for us four kids.

My mom is one of my very best friends. Growing up I honestly did not think we would ever get along - and when I recall those moments I am again grateful for boys -. I can go a week without talking to my mom and know all is well. We do spur of the moment get togethers. She will randomly stop by with a coffee for me.

Even though I'm "all grown up" I still am and will always be their little girl. My parents know me in a bad mood and a silly mood. They know my strengths and weaknesses. They see the potential in me that I am too exhausted to see.

I am blessed with phenomenal parents.

But today is my mom's birthday. She is the one whom I cannot just call "mom". I have a special nickname for her and any note I address to her always uses just her nickname. I call her when something super silly happens or when I am crying and on the edge. She loves each of her four kids with all her heart and tirelessly helps us, feeds us, encourages us.

She is on her knees in prayer for us.

We can get the giggles and drown ourselves in coffee like few others can do.

She can camp ten days straight with me and we still are sad to part ways.

I am forever grateful for my mom, my best friend.

For my parents.

Here is a song that I am dedicating to her today. This girl is way younger than me and watching this I suddenly feel OLD but, I love it. I think it's a great song for moms and daughters.

I also really like how so many of the videos are taken at the beach or pool. I'm not sure what the mom of the singer felt about this, but I love it. I can call my mom and just say, "We need a beach day" and she KNOWS what that means. In the summer she will call me with all the possible dates of potential beach days for the week. We have a photo of our two beach chairs at our favorite lake - it's one of my most favorite photos.

It's funny because I don't like to swim. I am not a water person at all. My mom is half fish.

But a beach day with my mom? I can't turn them down! They are always my most favorite days with her.

I love you tons and tons, Mugsy! Have a most wonderful birthday! I'll see you soonishly!

Girl Day

2012-01-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

I looked around the suburban where the boys were being loud and talking guns and pretending to fart just to get a reaction and I said to my husband, "I love you all a lot, but I am really looking forward to some girl time."

He was quiet a moment. Then he returned with this gem. "That's true. You can go days without seeing another girl if you don't leave the house - and you don't much. How lucky are you to not have to deal with girls? I mean, do you know how great that is?"

This is when I knew it's been way too long since I have been out with just girls.

So today has been circled with exclamations points. It's GIRL DAY!

Sue and I met up with two friends who we've been saying for forever "let's get together sometime" and not. When I threw it out on facebook again (since we do not have each others phone numbers, although we do now...) Lorilee said, "January the 4th work?" And, YES, it DID.

We finally decided to meet at Schuler's where we thought we'd chat for a bit. We filled the parking meter for the two hours max thinking that would be plenty.

After two hours, we went back and filled it up again.

And after that two hours, we were out of change and standing on the sidewalk watching our vehicles that were out of time.

Schuler made basically no money on us. We drank their never ending cup of coffee, ate a pastry, drank a ton of water and bothered the poor guy with the gray and black striped sweater for the bathroom key so we could pee a zillion times - after we figured out how to use the key. I nearly couldn't figure out the key and was about to ask the guy if he would open the door for me and how humiliating would that be? But I (finally) got it figured out.

We talked (obviously), laughed, shared, giggled, dug deep, prayed, encouraged, inspired...it was wonderful.

In fact, it was more than just wonderful but a great word to describe it is not coming to me right now.

When Alison left us, she left me with a to do list, and I love her for doing that to me. I needed that.

And, thanks to Alison, I am writing "Talk to Jesus" on a paper and hanging it above my sink because I loved the way she said that.

Sue and I left to grab some lunch where our minds were still spinning from all we discussed. Our ride home was too short, we had more to talk about.

I walked in my home's door and in the bathroom hung my Christmas present...a full length mirror. For the first time I will get to see if my shoes really do go with my outfit. My friends who have received pictures of me standing on a chair so they can see the outfit but not my head or shoes will so appreciate this news.

A full day with girls, a full length mirror.....ah, it was the most perfect day. Soaking deep into me. Making me talk my husbands ear off with giddiness. Girl day's rock.

Now I'm off to cook frozen hamburger for sloppy joes for dinner. With tater tots. Because when Moma is gone all day, dinner suffers a bit. But I think the super happy Moma is gonna more than make up for the so so dinner.

First Day Back to "Normal"

2012-01-03T17:29:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day the boys went back to school. It was also a work day for me.

Last night I had the boys find their back packs (they were gone for good, they were sure, assuring them that they could stay home longer. Amazingly, S1 and I found them. Also, we found the lunch boxes. One was hidden, I kid you not, behind a ten pound bag of potatoes.), pack their lunches, pick out their clothes and reacquaint themselves with soap. Then we all snuggled on the couch, I got out a box of chocolates for the boys to pick through and I read aloud to them from a silly book we have been reading.

We all are really enjoying this book.

AND the main character is a girl....AND I did NOT pick it out (but I was pretty happy they did).

It was a good last night of vacation.

But this morning we woke up to temperatures colder than they have been all season - who wants to wake up to that? - and S4 literally bawled from the moment he sat down for breakfast until he sat down in the suburban. We made it to school on time, braving roads of sheer ice, only to realize S3 forgot his book, S4 forgot his lunch AND his boots.

When I arrived home to get myself ready for work - and find all the lost items I would now be dropping off at school - my husband called to chat with me and ask me to go out and check our outdoor wood stove. I did, got myself dressed in layers of clothes to ward off the cold, and headed to work.

As I was driving there, I realized something smelled burned just terrible. I figured it was my coat from throwing wood in the fire, but it seemed worse than that. I let out my hair from the bun it was in and then I realized....I had seriously singed my hair when I threw wood in the furnace.

The pharmacy was out of sudafed for my cold so I dropped the lunch and boots off, hurried into work and told Alicia my sad tale. Because she is such a good friend, she painstakingly cut out just the single burnt hairs - as well as she could - so I wouldn't have to chop a huge chunk of my hair off.

My husband, who I had called so he would know my disgust rather than just sending him a text to tell him, laughed hysterically. Alicia and I did not find it funny in the least. Alicia painstakingly cut each individual piece of singed hair for me so I wouldn't be missing such a huge chunk. When she was sure she had most of it she said, "I am so sorry. Maybe heavy duty conditioner will help it?"

After work, I picked up the boys. S1 was groaning over the pain of having homework again, S2 was starving and needed cereal post haste, S3 was jumping for joy to go home and S4 informed me he needed a little nap and time with his train tracks but he was NOT tired.

We had to stop at Weicks, the local grocery store, for sudafed for my now throbbing head. But thanks to all the meth heads, they can't sell me any until the government gets some program done. The pharmacist showed me the third best medicine for my sinus cold (since the second best was sold out) and wished me luck.

While I was doing all this, I told the boys to get themselves some bag juices for lunches. I knew we were low. S1 mentioned Little Debbie snacks and I just waved a "fine" to them.

As I was standing in line to pay I looked for the first time what they were having me buy. Four boxes of pop tarts (real blueberries in two boxes, but chocolate fudge and s'mores in the other two), cloud cakes (think twinkies), chocolate chip muffins (for a healthy morning snack), zebra cakes, frosted fudge cakes and oatmeal cream pies - gotta have the healthy oatmeal.

But, just being glad we survived the day thus far, I paid and we headed home where S1 retreated to his new office spot in the landing upstairs, S2 devoured two bowls of cereal, S3 and S4 checked on the bunnies and are now building an elaborate train track.

I, my dear readers, am waiting for the third best cold medicine to kick in while I am hunkered down in the laundry room with seriously singed hair. Yes, the laundry room. It's the warmest room in the house and I am terrible cold. I also have been so on top of my laundry I have nothing soft to sit on. But it's worth it to share with the world how my day went.

Oh, and S1 just found me. I have to think through my foggy brain to figure out decimals. Happy first day back to homework for me too.

How did YOUR first day back to "normal" go?

Winter Magazine and One Word

2012-01-02T05:10:00.000-05:00

The Magazine is HERE!!!!!

I am soooooooooo excited. I always am excited when a new issue of our Praise and Coffee Magazine is out. But January makes it even more special, I think. New year, a magazine centered on new beginnings...I just love it.

And I happen to super like the cover as I am watching HGTV and Rose Parade today...it just seem so fitting. And that blue? Just about the exact same color as my dining room...which happens to me where my computer is so it's where I blog my heart out to you all.

Alece has an article in the magazine about One Word. It's a challenge to focus on One Word for the whole year. I love this idea. I also love that Studio Jewel has jewelry she will happily make for you with your one word inscribed upon it.

I was all about this.

Until I began to think about the word I wanted to center on. My favorite word was WRITE. I really want to focus on writing more this year. I want to write notes, stories, and many more blog posts. I was happy with the word WRITE. It seemed so right for me. (pardon the pun)

When I went to check on what others were picking for One Word, they seemed to be digging deep. Really praying and working hard on this One Word. I sorta freaked out a bit and tried to think of a spiritual word. I came up with SIMPLIFY. It just worked with everything, you know?

Then my friend Alison had to talk to me. Her One Word is HOPE. Just to hear the word makes her cry. She informed me that when you heard that One Word that was suppose to be yours, you would know.

That sorta freaked me out, I'm gonna be honest.

So I prayed about it, still happy with my WRITE word for the year.

And then, as I was washing dishes, I was hit with the word GRACE.

I could not get away from it. It was on the songs that played. It was in the services. It was on the radio.

And here's this honest confession. I don't like the word grace.

I think it's overused. And I think it's meant to cover all. I mean, at church it's always being thrown around. "Know God's grace." "I'll pray for His grace." "May God's grace be with you." We sing songs about grace. But what's it supposed to mean?

While I'm thankful for God's grace, the word being thrown around all the time makes me roll my eyes. Think me evil if you want, I'm just being honest. I did NOT want this word to be my word.

So I asked my husband for a Word. He didn't think long. "Your word should be LUCKY because you are married to me."

True....but not really what I was looking for.

I ended up looking up the word GRACE. This is what I found....

grace (grs)

1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

3. A sense of fitness or propriety.

a. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.

b. Mercy; clemency.

5. A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.

6. A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.

7. Graces Greek & Roman Mythology Three sister goddesses, known in Greek mythology as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm and beauty.

a. Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.

b. The state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God.

c. An excellence or power granted by God.

9. A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.

10. Grace Used with His, Her, or Your as a title and form of address for a duke, duchess, or archbishop.

11. Music An appoggiatura, trill, or other musical ornanment in the music of 16th and 17th century England.

tr.v. graced, grac·ing, grac·es

1. To honor or favor: You grace our table with your presence.

2. To give beauty, elegance, or charm to.

Sorta encompasses a lot.

And so this year, while I will agree I am LUCKY to be married to Jake, while I do want to SIMPLIFY, and while I fully plan to WRITE as much as I can....I do believe I will work on understanding the word GRACE. Perhaps it will teach me something, perhaps I will learn something profound, but at the very least I hope I can understand something about the word I did not know before so I don't cringe at it.

What is YOUR One Word for 2012?

And please please tell us what you love most about our Magazine!!!

We love to hear what you think!

Happy New Year!

New Year Blahs

2012-01-01T15:34:00.001-05:00

It's January First, the happy New Year Day.

But the sinus cold/headache/misery from 2011 has followed me into 2012.

Ugh.

On Friday I walked into the small town pharmacy where Chris knows everyone's name and whom I trust exceptionally well. I said, "My husband (uh, I should give the disclaimer here he swears this cold did not come from him, he says my cold is WAY worse than me) gave me a stinking cold and I hurt from here to here." Pointing my cheek bones to my forehead. He handed me sudafed and after giving him all sorts of information so the government doesn't thinking I'm making meth (sheesh, have you tried to buy sudafed lately? It's insane!) I was told to drink lots of fluids and get some rest.

Coffee counts for fluids, right?

And rest? Hahahahaha! The boys were watching me take yet another dose of sudafed (S3 helps me keep track of when four hours are up) and asked me why I needed so much medicine. When I told them I was sick, S4 asked paniced "Wait! Who is going to take care of us if you are sick?"

"I'll take care of you," I assured him, "It's what Moma's do."

"But," he asked after a moment, "Who will take care of you, Moma?"

That's the million dollar question. I seriously considered calling my mom and begging her to come take care of me...which would mean, of course, taking care of me and FIVE boys.

I just didn't know how good I had it when I was little and sick.

I never thanked my mom enough for being such a great mom.

And I don't think I'll ever outgrow needing my mom.

Hubs just told me take a nap...but there's too much to do. I told him there is much to do and it would make the day go too fast...church in the morning and then if I take a nap all I have time for is church at night. He told me today may be a day I want to forget anyhow.

I can't disagree totally. My head is stuffy and hurts. My throat is sore. It's so windy I can feel the wind entering our drafty farmhouse. It's beginning to snow and I vehemently despise snow. My knee hurts, I fear it's a sign of getting old.

I know I am whining.

Maybe today would be a good day to forget.

But the rest of 2012 has to get better than this.

Tomorrow, though, TOMORROW the magazine comes out. Tomorrow is the Rose Parade and I LOVE the Rose Parade. I watched it on RFDTV last year and was so impressed with their coverage and farm tid bits that I am planning on watching it on that station again. Then I have to immediately flip the station over to HGTV because I find great joy in watching the new Dream House and seeing where they have built it and what someone's idea of a dream house is. I love these traditions on New Years Day. I always end up taking down Christmas decorations and in the feel of a new year, I start washing the walls and windows to start the new year all sparkly clean. That's New Years to me.

This icky snowy day with an intense football game (Lions versus Packers...I have family on either side) does NOT feel like New Years to me.

So I'll just pretend the new year starts tomorrow.

Works for me!

Hope your New Years is going grandly though!

Catching You Up on Christmas Vacation Happenings

2011-12-29T22:55:00.000-05:00

It's Christmas Vacation, and therefore it means it's been forever and a day since I have blogged "regularly."

Or so it feels like it's been forever and a day.

The boys are pretty happy it's Christmas break.

Or at least I think that's why S3 and S4 look so silly.

It's been amazing mild wonderful weather the last few days.

So nice in fact that the boys spent it outdoors playing like it was spring.

Which meant they got super muddy.

And S2 couldn't figure out why no one wanted to ride with him...nor did he realize the yard is nothing but mud on the trail that he created.

You can watch one of his jumps HERE on youtube.

But he was exceptionally happy with it all. And I was happy for him...and all the boys being able to play outside.

Until they took my bath towels to clean off the mud. Then I was glad I had stocked up on Tide before the break.

The weirdest and silliest and saddest thing that happened to the boys when they were playing outside was when S3 found the Christmas mole.

Technically, he did NOT find it but our dog did. And after researching it on google it was found that moles do not, in fact, make good pets. They are very shy and do not like to be handled. They also carry parasites.

If the mole falls on your bare feet, you will be shocked at how the nose is as cold and feels as squishy as it looks in the picture. Take my word for it.

I recalled a movie I watched once with S4 where a mole was trying to take over the world using kitchen appliances (I musta been being a great mom to have watched such a movie with him) but the mole looked pretty harmless to us.

But we let it go. Today, a few days after these photos were taken, the boys found a dead mole. Certain it was THIS mole, S3 and S4 held a funeral for it, burying it and leaving a stake for the headstone with a paper they had me write on reading, "Eli and Abraham's Friend Dead Mole that is right here".

It's been a great Christmas break that is going by much too quickly. We have been the normal insanely busy and then had slow moving days (like today).

I have been used as a shield by my husband as he was having a nerf gun war with the boys. I felt ever so loved and protected then.

My husband got me a fancy spancy new camera and I haven't yet downloaded the pictures from there to the computer. I should probably do a post of all the silly pictures you take as soon as you get a new camera. I am sure you all will appreciate the nicer quality photos when I get the time to play with it more.

The magazine comes out in a few days - squeal! In the magazine there is an article talking about One Word. It's when you take a word and think on it and concentrate on it for a whole year - brining meaning and being like a resolution. I can't figure out what word to use at all. It's driving me INSANE. I broke down and asked my husband. He told me I should choose "Lucky" because I am married to him. I then told him how true he was and decided to ask someone else.

We just finished up the last of the groceries that the Christmas Stranger purchased us. That still can bring me to tears.

It's been a great Christmas, as I hope it has been for all or you as well. Even with the lack of snow, I believe this to be the best break and Christmas in, well, maybe ever. Yes, that good.

And I just wanted to take a moment to say hello to you all. How I have missed blogging! But it has also been so great just vegging with the family and visiting with friends these past few weeks.

Tell me how you all are! And I promise to be blogging regularly again very very very soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

'Everyday, I am inspired by this boy'

2011-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

There is a little boy in our school that was born with half a heart.

Over the years, S2 has mentioned him as they are in the same grade. And being in a small school you sorta get to know people even if you don't know people.

At the beginning of the school year, when the boys were decked out in football gear, we took a field trip. S2, Jakob and Jonathan were all in the same seat - as usual - and I sat across from them with the little boy with half a heart.

The ride was long and I dug around in my huge purse for crayons, paper and pens and passed them out among the four boys to help them kill the time. "I wish I could play football," little Owen admitted to me.

I wanted to say, "That you are playing and at school and ALIVE is more than any old football game!". But I didnt' say that. I just said, "There is so much you CAN do."

"Just soccer," he muttered.

And that was the end of the conversation.

Shortly thereafter, we heard about a contest Owen's mom had entered him in. American Eagle was giving a scholarship to a deserving kid. I voted on facebook for him daily and encouraged everyone else too.

I checked with his Dad - who I see nearly every single morning but still don't know his name nor hardly ever talk to - nearly every day to see how the contest was coming.

When he won, HE WON, S2 and his buddies figured Owen got all the luck.

When Owen's Dad told me that Owen had won, I was so thrilled I did a leap in the middle

of the elementary school hallway. And then I hugged him. The dad. So overjoyed,

I hugged Owen's Dad.

Seriously.

And when I got back in my vehicle that morning, I called my husband.

"I hugged Owen's Dad this morning and I figured you should know.

It being a small town and all."

To this day, weeks later, I cannot hardly look at Owen's Dad for hugging him.

But you all should expect this of me.

American Eagle 77 Kids came out to see Owen and present him with the 10,000 dollar scholarship. It was a huge deal and I made it to school just in time to see it.

The school also received a 2,000 dollar gift, which Owen decided the school should use for new indoor recess games (you should have heard the cheer) and a snow cone machine...most kids didn't know what that was, soon they will be cheering that too.

Owen being presented with the scholarship at school.

I love Owen's big grin here. The Check is WAY bigger than him!

Owen standing with the PTO.

High Five'ing with American Eagle 77.

It was such a great story, Owen, in and of itself. That he won an award out of all the kids with amazing stories across the nation - complete strangers all over voting for him - is just another amazing part of the that story.

And American Eagle 77 Kids did an amazing job and I wanted to personally thank them.

If you would like to "meet" little Owen and his family....here's a video clip from a newscast.

I apologize for taking so long to post this great story!

And I hope Owen's Dad knows I was just thrilled that Owen won and that's why I hugged him.

I had to set that record straight! ;)

The Gift of a Stranger

2011-12-23T21:53:00.001-05:00

Someone - who I don't know - has become the Christmas angel to our family today and will be the heroine of our family history stories.

Today I loaded up the three youngest boys and headed into town to get groceries. I went into our nearby town of Wayland hoping to find some great fruit.

For Christmas every year I try to make something extra special for dinner and this year I was determined to have a big fruit salad. It being Christmas time, fruit is through the roof in price and I had made out very specific list of only the items we NEEDED for the next three days of festivities.

There were some basics we needed but mostly it was all fun food we don't normally buy (soda, water chestnuts for a family appetizer, bacon for breakfast...). The boys were being great helping me find things and not asking for all the other things that looked good (to boys, nearly all food looks good) and so I had let them each get a donut. They were thrilled, donuts are a big deal.

Making sure I had everything on my list and being thankful I found it all and kept to the list, I went to check out. Amazingly, there was no one even to wait behind and we unloaded the full cart.

I watched the total add and add. This was going to be expensive.

A lady came up behind me and got a divider out to begin putting up her few groceries. I made little small talk with the cashier (Yes, these are all my boys. No, one more isn't with us (he was on a special Christmas run with his Daddy). Yes, all boys.). I told her this was our last stop and we were headed home to enjoy Christmas.

The woman next to me in line seemed to be standing exceptionally close to me. There was no one behind her but she seemed to be really close to us, just the same. Not annoyingly, just enough to notice.

The bill was over 200 dollars.

I dug out the cash I had set aside for the groceries, wondering what I had to add to the 2 one hundred dollar bills I had in my hand when the woman next to me suddenly grabbed me in a hug.

Think about that.

A stranger just hugged me.

And then she began to whisper in my ear.

Because I was in shock at first of what she was doing, I can only paraphrase what she said. But it was basically this...

"Please don't make a scene but please put your cash away

and let me pay for your groceries.

I went to pay a layaway off and it was already taken care of so I want to do this for you.

You just take the groceries home and have a wonderful Christmas with your boys

and Pay It Forward yourself."

I began to cry.

She scooted in front of me and swiped her card.

I think the cashier's jaw dropped.

I hugged her again and thanked her.

I hugged her another time as I cried.

"Please," she whispered, "don't make a scene."

So I nodded and said, "Thank you."

The cashier handed me the receipt. Her voice was halted as she brokenly said, "Have a Merry Christmas."

I hugged the lady again, thanked her and she told me "Merry Christmas."

S2 wanted to know why I was crying and hugging a stranger.

I got in the suburban and posted it on facebook from my phone. Late tonight I seen the 50 some comments.

Later today, as I was still tearing up over the incident, I found the receipt. It was for $210 and some change. At first I had posted it was $225, guessing what the total had been because, honestly, that moment was a bit of a blur.

At various times today, as the boys and I made and frosted Christmas cookies, they would say, "That was sooooo nice of that lady. You really didn't know her, Moma?"

I really did not. I really do not think I could pick her out of a line up.

As we bowed our heads to pray for dinner of hotdogs and fried potatoes...bought for us by a stranger...Jake asked a special blessing upon this woman.

We talked again what a gift she had given us.

I don't even begin to know how to Pay if Forward.

We did nothing. I went to the store for groceries. I stood in line. And someone just bestowed upon us a gift.

Not much unlike the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Christ came to earth to save us. He gives us a gift, offered it to us to take - that gift of Eternal Life, the gift of a Savior - all we have to do is accept.

And be forever changed and blown away by the gift of it.

John 3:16

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Please, find a way to Pay It Forward.

Not just at Christmas but any day.

I can tell you, the gift of it is amazing.

My Boys Asked Santa if He Drinks Beer

2011-12-17T07:38:00.000-05:00

Today, I get to go to work and work with SANTA....I really know him!

It's bound to be a memorable day...because last year when the boys met Santa, they asked him if he drank beer.

I wasn't sure if Santa would come back...or ever take the boys off the naughty list...but he did take them off in time for Christmas last year and he is coming back. And my boys will be there ready to chat with him again.

But all day, I'll be waiting for it to happen all over again.

Here is last years incident........

Sunday, December 19, 2010

My Boys Asked Santa if He Drinks Beer

On Saturday, our awesome little library received a call from Santa Claus asking if he could stop in and say hello to all the good little boys and girls in our town. Our librarian sweetly told him that cookies and good boys and girls would await him. On Saturday morning, Santa flew his reindeer into town, bedded them down at one of the farms and hitched a ride with a farmer just to say hello to all the good boys and girls at the library.

Then he met my boys.

Our boys have never sat on Santa's lap. They are not sure about the whole Santa thing and the last two years we have just sort of gone along with the fun, not really mentioning Santa but not saying Santa isn't real either.

Well, S4 is convinced. Santa is real. He knows this because

A. Santa has a real beard (Not like the one on Elf who has a fake beard).

B. He has Santa's signature. Really, he does.

It was fun to see Santa walk in, watch all the boys and girls eyes get huge and run up to him to hug him and just be in awe that Santa was THERE, in the SAME ROOM as them...in the library they visit EVERY Saturday for story hour!

Because shyness soon swept over the kids, Santa began to flip through a book that was laying out on one of the study tables. My youngest two (only three of them came along, S1 was busy helping Daddy with wood) were sneaking alongside Santa, not saying a whole lot.

Yet.

This was the book Santa looked at....

Santa mentioned he remembered drinking Coke out of a glass bottle but he supposed that these little boys next to him didn't remember that.

S3 chirped right up. "No, but you can drink beer out of a bottle."

Nearly.

Died.

"Yah!" S4 agreed, "You can! WE can't drink beer but sometimes our Daddy can."

"Yah, but not so much anymore." S3 added. "Do YOU drink beer, Santa?"

They.

Did.

Although I wanted to haul them out and....wait, no, I wanted to NOT claim them.

Do you drink beer, Santa?

Santa realized he probably needed to find a seat and sit down and try to leave this conversation. But the boys kept up with him, continuing to chatter away at Santa. He finally told them that, "No, Santa does not drink beer. It would be a crazy ride with the reindeer if he did and that just would not be good."

I hurriedly tried to get the boys to color pictures and let the other kids get some time with Santa. It took some doing. But I think I might have seen a look of relief in Santa's eyes. And maybe even a "I'll be sure to bring a little something special for you dealing with these boys all the time" wink. (well, I can hope!)

Then S3 asked for a BB gun. I hoped Santa said no...he didn't say yes so that is good. Santa did tell him he seemed young, he couldn't be shooting helpless animals or brothers. S3 informed him you CAN shoot birds. Santa told him he couldn't. S3 disagreed. I am pretty sure it won't be under the tree from Santa.

And then S4 asked for a "Piddow Pet" and if he can't find one, they are at Target. Lots and lot of them. Then S4 let him know there would be cookies and chocolate milk and white milk waiting for him and special sparkly oatmeal for his reindeer he arrived.

If he gets here.

And there won't be beer.

A Praise and Coffee Night

2011-12-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

Last week we had our Christmas Praise and Coffee Night.

Sue was giving her testimony and I was nervous for her. I know her story, but I know it here and there and I knew it would be hard for her to share it all in front of everyone in one story.

But the day was rough on me. I may have at one point in the day been on the phone crying to my husband. It was just a bad day, a down day, a day I literally was crying as I was baking cookies.

Just one of those days.

I would have rather curled up in pj's and snuggled on the couch with a book or movie but I knew I had to be there. I dressed in my favorite clothes - my husband can say what he wants, clothes do make me feel better - and determined I was going to go and have fun and be happy.

And then God just gave me this awesome gift and had it so my husband and I were going to pass each other on the road so we met in the bar parking lot just so we could get a kiss in. I love that man, and I love how God just timed that perfectly.

Here I am kissing my husband in the parking lot with the Tavern sign glowing down on us. Oh, it was so romantic!

With my hands wrapped around a short triple breve with caramel, I listened to Sue pour out her heart with my friends A and Morg at the table with me.

Every time Sue took a deep breath, I wanted to go give her a hug.

When her amazing testimony had people with tears in their eyes and her analogy of having God saturate our lives, everyone began to break up in designated groups on specific topics. Morg, A and I...we didn't budge. It was like we knew, we were not in a "group" mood.

We were in a friend mood.

Sue came and sat with us and the four of us laughed to the funny stories Morg had for us. We connected with bits and news that we are always to busy to share when we are passing each other in church or just in sending a quick text.

I sat there soaking it in, looking at these friends I love so dearly and thinking how different we all are and how we are all brought together on this night. I thanked God for soaking me in His grace...in the gift of this moment.

We packed up all the pretty finery and left over cookies of a beautiful evening and headed for home.

Except I didn't get home for a good long time.

Standing out in the parking lot, I had a heart to heart with a friend. We hadn't planned on talking the night away, but in the moment of just us we laid out the things heavy on our hearts...sisters sharing a burden and knowing the trust we had in each other.

And isn't that what Praise and Coffee Nights are all about? Sharing with a friend and giving praise to God and growing in our relationships?

Not a day has not gone by since that Praise and Coffee night that I haven't prayed for the friend I chatted the night away with. I am still giggling over the funny stories we shared at the table. I am still so proud of Sue for sharing her testimony.

And I am blown away by this group of women God brought together. Our friendship makes no sense on paper, but in life it is the perfect blend.

Some women are afraid of starting up a Praise and Coffee Night...it's too big a task, they fear. But Praise and Coffee was held at a table with four women and in a parking lot on an "official" PC night. It's girlfriends and sisters sharing the moments of life they are in and being prayed for and looking to God for the answers. It's connecting. It's encouraging. It's inspiring. No matter how big or small the gathering.

And all that was flooded into my life on a rough day that ended with a great night.

Things I Learned Over the Weekend

2011-12-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

I have stumbled upon the most phenomenal beauty secret that I must share with you all.

But in order to get to that, we have to start way before to the beginning of the story.

The beginning of the story is Saturday morning, my handsome man's birthday.

I made a big breakfast and then set to getting all the potluck food I needed for the next day done so my hair did that stylish sloppy pulled back tight bun look I never can rock but always do.

I had to stop at the grocery store and we needed milk - as usual - and as I was picking up the milk to put it back into my cart as we were checking out of the store, it slipped.

If a gallon of milk slips from your hand and falls to the ground in the check out line (with the owner of the store ringing up your bill), THIS will happen......

It will explode into the largest white firework of milk ever.

I am serious.

It rained milk, people. RAINED milk.

In the check out line.

I was drenched.

But through my milk soaked eyes I seen the rest of the milk pouring out to form the ocean of milk so I quick picked it up and tossed it into a waste basket behind me because thankfully no one was checking anyone out next to me.

Even the boys were speechless.

And I was mortified, I must admit.

We arrived home - a very short two minute drive - and I got the blow dryer out to dry my milk drenched hair.

I didn't have time to wash it because we were going to my parents for Hubby's birthday.

My hair looked....amazing.

I put a little hair spray in it and all night my hubby told me how great my hair looked.

Because we got home late, I fell asleep minus a shower and in the morning as I stumbled for the kitchen to start the water boiling for my cup of coffee, my husband said...."You look...."

I braced myself...

"...Great. You look really great. You don't even need to wash your hair, it looks so great."

I sorta thought he was teasing. But he was right.

This has NEVER happened to me.

So I bunched it up, showered, and then just shook my still dry hair out, sprayed it a little and went to church.

All day people commented on how nice it looked.

The phenomenal beauty secret?

Drench yourself in exploding milk and then don't wash your hair.

It will look amazing.

Of course, did we get ANY photo of my amazing hair?

Or, more importantly, of my husband and I on his birthday?

No.

Not a single photo.

So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Happy Birthday to my Husband

2011-12-10T09:41:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Hunky Husband!!!!!

I am ever so thankful for you.

Thanks for marrying me a zillion years ago and thanks for being a ton older than me.

I love that you hold me in your strong arms and then "rest your eyes" watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies just cuz you know I love them so.

You are THE hardest working man I know, and your giddiness to work makes me giggle. Still.

It's so much fun to see you play with the boys and hear you spend hours talking to them.

Your growth in knowing God more blows me away.

You are so opposite me you make me better.

And I am most thankful for....

You are so much taller so I get to wear big spiky heels.

Thank you for that.

I love you from the tips of my bare frozen toes to the top of my strawberry scented hairspray head.

I am ever so thankful to wake up next to you and sing happy birthday.

And I hope I get to do that for another fifty years or more.

What My Boys Are Up To Today

2011-12-09T16:39:00.000-05:00

Thought you would enjoy this!

It's the first snow at our house and they had to celebrate it!

My Husband Was on the Red Green Show

2011-12-09T07:26:00.000-05:00

On Thanksgiving, the boys were watching the Red Green Show.

Because they wouldn't be caught wasting their time watching the Macy's Parade with their Moma.

Anyhow, my husband suddenly asked the boys to rewind it a little. And then he hollered for me to come see this too.

They had finally made a character that was my husband nearly to T. Seriously.

My husband has this weird love affair of Buick Century's. We currently have FOUR in our yard.

And he also has this thing with disposable coffee cups. You know, those "to go" cups? Yah, he loves those too.

We have talked about his love of coffee before.

And here was a skit on the Red Green Show that had us all laughing.

So, I took out my flip cam and taped it off the tv because I couldn't find it on youtube or on Red's website. Sorry for the graininess of it, we have an ancient old tv. Literally.

But you'll get the idea.

Enjoy!

And for a blast from the past, read our post about when We Met Red Green.

What Happens When We Befriend a Stray Cat

2011-12-07T14:38:00.001-05:00

The title is one that my husband came up.

And I started giggling all over again when he stressed the "befriend" part.

Cuz this story....I think this could only happen to us.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a yellow tom cat hanging around our house. It was normally found over by the chicken coop, sometimes in the shed, but I noticed it was getting more and more brave and getting closer to the house.

When I fed the chickens some scraps one morning from the kitchen door, the cat was there amongst them all waiting for the scraps too. I think he thought I wouldn't notice him if he were surrounded by my beloved chickens.

I told my husband that I'd seen the cat a lot more and if he didnt' want it to end up in the house, he'd better drop it off somewhere. "You know me..." I told him, which means he needed to interpret that my heart would melt for the poor thing some wet cold day and let it in. And if I didn't, I knew four boys that would go so far as to trap the thing and haul it in the house to love on.

On a sunny day, my husband opened the kitchen door and there was the cat. He picked it up. It instantly curled up next to my burly husband's chest and began to purr.

We fed it some cat food, pet it a bunch more, and sent it on it's way out the door.

Since then the cat has been really hanging around by the house.

You can't really blame it.

On a dark night as I was standing at the sink peeling potatoes, the boys tumbled in the door from a game of football in the side yard and began to call the cat. The three little guys would call the cat in a few steps more and then glance at me to see if I was hearing them. I just kept on peeling potatoes...keep in mind if I stuck my leg out I could have touched each of them. Our kitchen is tiny...there was no way to keep a secret in there.

But the boys thought they were pulling a fast one on me.

Suddenly S4 exclaimed, "Quick, shut the door!"

The door was slammed and the big tom cat was scooped up in someone's arms and the boys ran for the living room.

I finished peeling the potatoes and went in to check on them. Three boys and one cat were curled up in the lazy-boy chair, the cat was purring and being loved on like it hadn't in probably forever.

"See our new cat, Moma? Can we keep it? Please? It's so nice! Please, Moma?"

I told them they would have to ask their Daddy.

Their faces fell.

Then I told them we might as well show it the house an feed it so they took it to the kitty litter box, where the cat, being the gentleman he was, peed. Then it ate all the dog food in the dish.

When the dog food was gone, they moved the cat to the laundry room to see where all the cat food was at. Fernie Cow, our princess cat, was not impressed with a visitor. Especially when he ate all the cat food in the heaped full dish.

At dinner, S4 fed the cat I don't know how much chicken.

Then the cat curled up behind the washing machine and dryer and fell asleep in the nice warm spot.

Later, my husband walked in. He'd been out for the day and I had called it an early night and was all curled up in bed already when he entered the bedroom. "What is THIS?" he asked, holding the cat.

"Um, a really nice kitty cat?" I offered.

S1 walked had walked in with his daddy and he laid across the bed retelling the story how his little brothers had coerced the cat in. Meanwhile, the cat had curled up next to me and was purring sleepily.

"I have never seen such a fat cat!" My husband said, rubbing the cat's enlarged belly.

"Don't do that!" I gasped, "Do you know how much this cat has eaten today?" I began recounting all the food he had eaten as my husband rubbed the cat's tummy roughly again. I slapped my husband's away while the cat suddenly stood up.

"See, he doesn't like that," I said as the cat began to squat down again on the bed.

"Well, he does seem like a nice cat," my husband began to cave as I cocked my head in concern as the cat seemed to be taking an odd stance. And it was a new cat.

I pushed it off the bed.

It began to squat again. And suddenly it hit me.

"No!" I squawked and flew the blankets back. Never mind that S1 was laying across the bed and I was just in my panties and t-shirt.

I picked the cat up as fast as I could and held him as far away from my body as I could as I ran for the bathroom.

There was poop literally hanging from the cat's behind.

A little dropped on the floor as I dropped the cat in the kitty litter box. My husband and son, who were wondering what on earth had suddenly possessed me to go screaming from the bedroom with the cat, figured out quickly what was going on. In one quick swoop my husband scooped up that cat and tossed it outside.

I began to giggle as I cleaned up the poop.

My husband looked at me like I all my exhaustion had finally caught up with me and made me truly insane.

"Come on!" I giggled, "You have to admit it's pretty funny. Here we are going on and on how great the cat is and how it uses the litter box and it tries to take a dump on our bed."

He grinned a little.

"Yah, only we would befriend a cat that would try to crap on our bed," he snickered.

It's been two days. The cat has been skittish at best when I have managed to catch glimpse of it.

But I'm sure it won't be long before we let it in again.

Maybe.

Moms Of Boys Connect

2011-12-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

I sighed as I opened the bill for our AT&T service. I keep forgetting they have my name misspelled...badly enough no one could find us in the phone book if they needed to.

If anyone uses a phone book anymore.

I figured I had better get the call over with while the boys were gone at school and dialed the customer service number...that did not have "misspelled name" as an option...and was put on hold for the "next available representative".

Sigh. You know how long THAT takes.

But then I was connected to a woman named Sylvia (I think, not ever sure, sadly) who said "Hello, Mrs. Bekstra, what can I do for you?"

She worked quickly and efficiently to change my name, she was so sweet about it we got to chuckling over how badly it was.

She asked for my email to verify the changes and I said "It's all spelled out, life with four boys...."

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped, "I have four boys too!"

I then spent the next couple minutes chatting with her over boys, sports, feeding them, the dread of cleaning their rooms.....

We giggled and laughed and "oh, I know!" and so on and so forth.

Her boys were older and she had all kinds of advice for me. She was the sweetest.

My first name is her middle name.

It was all too funny.

She made the changes to my account, found a way to bundle our cable and phone together for a cheaper rate, was pleasant and as friendly as she was efficient at her job.

The best twenty minutes I have spent on the phone with a "available representative."

Us moms of boys, we connect.

Even if it's over a misspelled name on a bill.

Life of a Mom

2011-12-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

"Moma?" S2 asked as I drove he and his brothers to school, "What do you do all day when you are home and we are at school?'

I didn't answer for a moment.

Then I said, "Well, I make dinner, wash clothes and clean the house so you can all come home and eat all the food, give me more dirty laundry and mess up the house so I get to do it all over again tomorrow." I gave him a grin.

He grinned back. "Oh."

S4 quipped up from behind me, "Moma, we like to play with our toys because we can't play at school much so thanks for letting me play trains and blocks."

"No problem," I answered him.

I thought of that a lot as I cleaned the house. I scrubbed the tub, no one will notice. I spent way too long cleaning the toilet, under the toilet, the cracks of the toilet. They'll never notice. I wrote our schedule on the newly washed mirror as I always do...before the end of the night the boys will write all over the mirror - smiley faces on days they like the "to do"'s of, silly messages to Daddy or pictures and no one will notice the sparkle it has right now.

I forgot my coffee on the counter as I cleaned and warmed it up a bit in the microwave. I scrubbed even the top of it yesterday and not a soul knows but me.

When the boys get home, I will still have piles of laundry. Although I mopped, the floor will be littered with dirt, pine needles and dog hair. There will be clutter everywhere. I'll have the dishwasher full of dirty dishes and will be tired.

They'll wonder what I did all day long.

Isn't that life though? I'd rather show them all how much I love them in the little things they may never notice....I think of them as I scrub and put away and sweep and mop and wipe down.

It's a thankless job.

And one I would never trade. Not for a moment.

Even if, every once in a while, it feels I am forgotten. Invisible. Misunderstood.

It's the life of a mom.

And I'm ever so thankful it's my life.

My husband, my boys, how I love them so.

Excuses to Be Late to School

2011-12-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

This is a BONUS post because not only was I late to school - I was late getting home.

The other night, a winter weather watch was issued. Some places were getting tons of snow, some places would not get any snow. The boys were SURE that we were the place where ALL the snow would dump.

And some places did get snow. My parents woke to a winter wonderland and they are just a couple miles away.

We got....

None.

Not even a little dusting on the grass.

Not a single bit of snow at all.

S2 woke up, seen this, and was not at all daunted. He was CERTAIN we had a two hour delay, if not a full snow day.

I pointed to the fact we had No. Snow. He pointed to the tv where there WAS snow, somewhere. For all we knew, it was piled high at school, no way to get in!

He was so convincing that at the marked time for us to leave, his little brothers were just getting cereal. They really thought we had a two hour delay.

So we left a bit late.

We arrived at school at 8:02. School starts at 8:00. I did not even acknowledge the staff in the office - but to be fair, it was pretty busy in there with other late parents with kids.

I figured out how I could get them to class the fastest and was dictating directions when S1 remembered I hadn't signed his planner. No signed planner means loosing recess time. No boy ever wants to loose recess time! Where had his planner been all evening? Upstairs in his room.

Every day I sign his planner I try to sign something fun. I really do not like signing the planner but I guess the teacher has to sign 28 or so of them every day so I can sign one once a day. Today I wrote, "Super Late Moma". I don't even think S1 noticed.

I sent S4 to the bathroom to wash his hands and I dropped his stuff off in his locker. My happy boy I had left in the hallway walked into the classroom, head down, tears dripping from his eyes. I glanced at his teacher "I'll try to fix this" I whispered as I grabbed his hand and headed to S3's class.

Some boys in the bathroom told S4 his hair looked funny. I told him EVERYONE's hair looked funny when they took their hat off. And then I worked on smoothing it down.

S3 was still high five-ing friends in the hallway and still had his boots and coat on. I opened his back pack to put his things away and found - wadded in the bottom of his backpack - the homework he didn't tell me he had to do. And, the homework he HAD done last night was not in the back pack.

Ugh.

Hugs and kisses to him and I literally shoved him on into class before he forgot and wandered off to meet us at S2's class.

S4 and I arrived at S2's class where he, Jonathan and Jakob met us at the door. Every day these three meet us and I always take a moment to talk to them all. But today we were so late and I always fear I may get them all in trouble so I reminded them how late they were. They were not all concerned about this as they wanted to know where S3 was, wanted to show us their cool coins and needed to know what I was making for dinner.

I think nearly the whole school knows what we are having for dinner every day.

S4 and I got to giggling as we walked with super speed to his class. I dropped a happier boy off to class and all seemed well with the world again.

When I went to start my suburban to leave the school, it just went 'tic tic tic tic tic tic tic tic'.

My faithful suburban has never ever let me down. Never once.

But amazing bus driver Mandy was there, and dear Alicia who's husband was home for the morning so I knew they would help me. Mandy hopped in to fiddle with it and started the suburban right up. I have no idea how.

But un-makeup-ed, little coffee-ed, hair uncombed, teeth still feeling the garlic bread of last night, me hugged her in all my joy at the soothing hum of my running suburban.

And so I drove home on our unsnowy roads to share this all with you.

In case you need a new excuse to be late to school - try the whole "Snow day" when you have NO snow excuse.

And - think of your friends close to you and be thankful for them. Friends are treasures indeed.

Want a Colonoscopy?

2011-11-30T07:26:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer!!! This blog post was approved by my husband before it was posted...I do not want you to think I'd post this without his approval.

And now... Want a Colonoscopy?

I mean, I'm sure you have heard of them. Know what they are. Plan to avoid them at all costs.

Well, my husband couldn't.

He'd been feeling a bit ill and found blood in the toilet - okay, a lot ill because he went to the doctor's and he never does that - and they sent him to see the specialist who said, "Well, young man, I think you should go for a colonoscopy. And an endoscopy."

He nearly skipped out of the doctor's office he was so excited.

Obviously, I am being sarcastic.

I have to admit, as I snuggled next to my husband that night I felt like we were old for the first time. I was suddenly worried about his health and these procedures just made me feel like we were suddenly old. Like, skipped way past middle age old. Our grandparents did things like this, not us, right?

He's only 38.

The day before the procedure my nervous hubby went to work. There was no way he was going to stick around the house and dread the time of the night he would have to drink the nasty awful drink.

The pharmacist had told me that my husband, the big 6 foot 3 inch guy that he is, was going to fall hard taking this stuff. To say I was a nervous girl would be an understatement...but I was being all cheerful and happy to be as supportive as possible.

I did supportive things like make tuna noodle casserole for the boys and I. Jake despises tuna noodle casserole, that's the most loving thing I could have done for him. Had I made t-bone steaks, he would have strangled me.

He couldn't eat a thing all day but jello. Jake's not a big fan of jello. And when he began to drink the nasty awful stuff, he gagged like it was the nasty awful stuff he feared it would be.

This was the part of the procedure he was dreading the most, he knew he'd be knocked out and not remember what happened to him the next day.

When he began to drink the awful nasty drink, it was like watching someone and waiting for them to just morph into the sick person you knew they would become. I had flashbacks to being pregnant and people watching me just assuming that baby was gonna drop out of me at any moment.

He drank one glass. Ten minutes later (after he added the lemon lime flavor) he drank another glass. He was pouring the third glass when he ran for the bathroom.

Our only bathroom.

This is when I sent the boys to bed.

And he didn't leave the bathroom for a good long time.

This is what he had been dreading...the cleaning you completely out part...but it surprisingly went better than he thought it would.

The next morning I was armed with books and a lunch for a four hour wait as my husband drove to the appointment. He was as nervous as could be...even if he said he wasn't.

The nurse we had first was friendly and chatty and discussed what would happen and so on and so forth. She handed him a gown and asked him to change. He went into the bathroom and came out looking unlike anything I have seen him look. He needed me to tie up the back and I may have teased him a bit about this, keeping things light and all.

Then they gave him an iv.

My husband cannot even stand to watch tv when they show needles and iv's. His big strong legs came right up in the chair, a fetal position he was attempting to take, as they stuck that needle in his vein. But she got it in right away and all was well. I'm pretty sure the front desk got a view of the family jewels.

It was then they walked my husband back toward the surgery room.

And there he went, my big strapping husband, the one whom I depend upon. The protector of myself and the boys, walking away in a hospital gown.

I went back to the waiting room and downed a cup of the nasty office coffee, a whole water bottle and a no bake cookie. I'd been afraid to eat or drink in front of Jake and was famished and parched.

After sending out some texts, I settled in to read one of the three books I had grabbed, not minding at all that I had some quiet time alone. Before I could even finish one chapter, they were calling me back to tell me he was done.

They looked at me a little odd with my bag full of lunch and books but I had thought I was there alone for four hours. Not that I minded.

My husband was asleep, but when I sat down he turned and winked at me. The doctor came up and to talk to us. They had found a polyp - which was very surprising to him - and removed it. But it was Jake's esophagus they were concerned about, it was torn up badly from his constant heartburn he has been struggling with.

Jake was looking at the doctor but it was obvious he had no idea what he was saying. He kept asking him if he could drink gallons of coffee. Then he'd ask if he did a good job with the cleaning out. Then he'd ask if he could have gallons of coffee again. Then he'd ask if they took all the cancer out (obviously, he was more worried then he had let on). Then he'd ask again if he could have gallons of coffee.

No gallons of coffee for him. Not for a very long time, if ever.

The idea is so preposterous to him that apparently he could not grasp the idea.

Him with no coffee?

Even I cannot grasp the image.

The doctor smiled sympathetically and told me I was in for a long day.

My husband laid back in the bed, arched his back, and let out the loudest fart I had heard him let out. As he farted, he groaned a groan no grown man should moan in public. "Oh, that's good. That's really good," he moaned.

And then he winked at me.

With that, he fell asleep - sorta - until he farted and the moaning and groaning began again.

The older man across from me who was sitting with his wife began to chuckle.

A nurse came in to give him some food. He chose a turkey sandwich and the nurse carefully squeezed out some mayonnaise for him. Just a few thin slices of turkey on wheat bread (which he hates) and a bit of mayo. The man thought he was eating food from heaven. "This is the best turkey sandwich I have ever eaten," he said between rolled back eye moments of delight. He sucked the orange juice they gave him dry with the straw, making loud sucking noises.

And then he farted some more.

A new nurse came in and looked over his chart again. "We can go home now, right?" Jake asked.

"Well, how are you feeling?"

"Great!" He declared.

So she told him he could leave. He immediately stood up and whipped the hospital gown right off of him.

And there stood my husband, naked as could be, in the middle of the six bed recovery room. The nurse whipped that curtain shut so fast it about made my head spin. I pulled out Jake's clothes and handed him his underwear (grundies, as he calls them) and he stared a good long time at them.

It was apparent that I was going to have the dress him.

"I'm feeling great!" he told me as I tapped the leg he needed to lift. "Really great."

I pulled his shirts over his head. He couldn't find the arm holes.

"Did the doctor come in here?"

"Yup", I answered as I pulled up his jeans.

"He said I could drink gallons of coffee now, right?"

"Um, not really...."

He began to weave a bit. He sat down on the bed and was back asleep faster than I could imagine a person could fall asleep.

He even snored.

The nurse peeked in the curtain a few minutes later, avoiding a glance in my husband's direction. "How are we doing in here?" she asked cheerily.

"He's dressed," I said simply.

"Oh good!" she blushed. She then asked him if he felt well enough to leave and he was up and ready to go. He stood up fast, wobbled a bit, took my arm and waved farewell.

He was still in his socks. The nurse asked how he was going to walk to the vehicle in his socks and I could tell, the thought had not occurred to him. The man wanted out of there!

We walked into the waiting room, where our coats and his boots were. My six foot three husband said in his booming voice to the two men sitting there drinking the bad coffee and watching worse t.v., "You do NOT want to go in there!"

Seeing they had a good one to tease, the men chucked and mentioned they'd been eyeing his blingy black cowboy boots, they wanted to know if he was going to go eat a good meal now and they wished him well on his way out the door.

The men and I had a good chuckle.

As we walked out the door, Jake began to pat his butt until he pulled out his wallet. He opened it, looked inside at the money and then put it in another pocket. Then he began to check his back pocket for his wallet and panickingly pat his body to feel his wallet. "Did you take my wallet?" he asked.

He found it, checked the money, put it in another pocket and then he started all over again, searching, asking me for it, finding it, looking at the money and moving it to another pocket.

By the time we got to Wendy's - his choice for a first meal - I picked his wallet out of his hand and said, "See your wallet, honey? See me putting it in my purse? See how it's safe? Okay?"

He nodded.

Then he asked me if I was going to take all his money.

As I helped him across the parking lot, I had an image of us growing old together.

It'd be a new blog.

We went in to get the meal where he waved to an elderly couple we know from church. He then began to sway in line and repeat himself over and over and I am quite certain that the people in line thought he was drunk. He chowed his food down, declaring it to be the best meal he's ever eaten, and we headed home.

When I stopped for gas, I took the keys out. I was afraid he'd forget where we were and leave me.

We arrived home nearly three hours after leaving, and I tucked him into bed where he slept for just over six hours. When he woke up, he didn't recall anything but the turkey sandwich and the dinner at Wendy's.

To celebrate his survival of his first colonoscopy the next day, he grilled t-bone steaks.

All in all, he is glad he had the colonoscopy and endoscopy. The blood turned out to be hemorrhoids, and just so you know, we all have them (the doctor told us so). Sometimes they just flare up and are bad, as they were with Jake that week. With proper medication the doctor feels the badly damaged esophagus will heal...as long as he stays away from triggers that cause him heartburn. As for the polyp, it was nothing...but he will have to go back in five years to just make sure all is still well. And then we'll go through this all over again.

Because he's the love of my life.

He has a lot to live for - and we want him healthy for the adventure our life is.

Snowed In

2011-11-29T18:52:00.001-05:00

We aren't.

Snowed in.

Yet.

My husband would want you all to know that technically, I am NEVER snowed in without supplies because a fully stocked store is just down the road. But let me tell you...if the weather man says it's bad out and don't go on the roads...I am snowed in. I can go days without leaving the driveway. My husband, who is hardly ever home for a full day, shakes his head in wonder at me. I know how to be snowed in.

But we are getting our first snow scare right now. We've had a bit of snow so far this season but there is some weird storm going through where my sister may end up with 6 inches of wet sloppy snow and I may get a dusting of wet sloppy snow.

By Wednesday afternoon it should be all melted and the sun shining again.

That's weather in the Mitten, folks.

I worked today (at my job at the library that I LOVE) and everyone was talking about the weather and snow days off of school and so forth.

It got me thinking....

What is your "supply list" look for when you know a storm is blowing in that keeps you in your house?

I always have to have pancake mix (Krusteaz, it's the best) and syrup. One can live a good long time on pancakes. And there are no limits to how many ways you can make them.

Milk, bread, eggs.

And coffee, of course. I have been known to misjudge how much milk we may need but not the amount of creamer for my coffee. Yes, my boys have eaten cereal with half and half before - they need their Moma sane with coffee.

And, hidden in the dark recesses of the deep freezer where only I know, wrapped in a bag so it looks like nothing at all but a discounted meat I found, is a big bag of peanut butter m&m's. One can survive much with m&m's.

How about you all? What do you always try to make sure it is in the house when a storm is headed to your spot in our world?

I may need some new stocking up foods.

Looking forward to what you have to say...but right now I have to run. The boys are supposed to be taking care of laundry. All I know is that I hear loud thumps and our dining room light is swaying now....good indication they are NOT taking care of laundry upstairs.

Stay warm, my friends (and my friends in Arizona and Australia...I do not need to hear the temp. I know it is warm. Please don't remind me right now as I wear wool socks, two sweaters and am still cold.) !

He Wants A Sister

2011-11-20T16:25:00.001-05:00

We are in Big Trouble

S4 is feeling a bit better...enough to get back to his normal funny self...just a little bit.

Since he woke up at three this afternoon, he has been calling me for toast or to let me know he could read a word from his favorite movie Cars. At one point I poured him some medicine and as soon as he drank it down he said "Could I have some more, please?"

"No...that's all you get for now."

"But, Moma," he said, "I still feel sick."

Sheesh, how do explain the medicine will eventually make him feel better?

Anyhow, he just came to hunt me down.

"Moma," he says, "I've been thinking. I've been thinking I would really like a sister."

I nearly choked. Currently, they have a "No girlz alowd" signs all over their room and stairway. To further prove the point, they have named the only two girls they know, Lauren and Elle. (Although, if said girls showed up, they would quickly tear those signs down to play with them, I'm sure. It just seems funny when no one else can see it. And, they assured me that I can still come into their room. Phew, what a relief.)

Anyway, he just asked for a sister.

"Why would you want a sister?" I asked.

"Well, I like to play house and you can only really play house with a sister so could you get me one, please?"

Oh, wait till his Daddy hears THIS one.

Leaf Jumping and Growing Up

2011-11-20T11:25:00.001-05:00

It's Sunday morning here and we are not at church.

I have to admit, I'm thankful for the quiet day.

But the reason we are home is not a fun one. S4 woke up with the flu. He had tons of fun a friends house yesterday, he played hard all day and fell asleep exhausted in the middle of the living room last night. This morning he woke up and said his tummy hurt.

Since then he has gotten sick four times.

He is the most pitifully sweet sick kid. He apologizes for throwing up, he smiles sadly at my worried gaze, he says please and thank you like he is some sort of inconvenience.

As if.

I was laying all curled up in the chair watching over him as he dozed back off to sleep for a bit on the floor and happened to look out the window.

Outside S1 and S2 had gotten the pickup untarped from the leaf job Jake and did yesterday. While the boys were gone we went and cleaned the leaves out of a sweet old lady's yard. She believes only my husband can do the job right and just has the biggest crush on him. When she met me for the first time yesterday she said surprised, "Oh, I know you! I've seen you on tv!"

That was a first.

Anyway, it was dark and spitting rain when we got home. We had pizza to bake and were starving hungry so we had just left the leaves for today.

S1 and S2 untarped them and then wandered off. S3 took one look at that huge pile of leaves and knew just what to do.

I watched him as he scaled the side of the big dodge and poised himself just right to dive into the leaves.

Over and over again he climbed the truck to jump in the leaves. He would scale different sides of the truck to get an all over leaf experience.

It was the funniest thing to watch as I lay curled in a chair waiting to see if my youngest was about to be sick again or just going to sleep.

And then I wondered, at what point did my two oldest get so old that they would not see a truck bed full of leaves for the fun it is?

I watched S3 throwing leaves up in the air and letting them fall down on him, not caring who seen him or if he was the only one in the bed of the truck, he was just taking the fun moment for what it was.

And my two oldest were "too old" to have this fun.

When did we all get too old to have this simple fun?

How did this happen?

Excuses to Be Late to School

2011-11-18T15:40:00.001-05:00

I haven't had an installment of Excuses to Be Late to school in quite some time...because we have actually been on time.

I will let you take in that shocking bit of news for a moment.

Over the shock now?

One or two of those days....we were EARLY.

I know, it is difficult to believe.

But that went amazingly the other way today.

I had to debate long and hard to tell you this story though. It tells some pretty awful stuff about this family. But, to understand this story fully, you must hear it all in it's embarrassing horrific details.

My boys rooms are a disaster area.

There, I said it.

I scrubbed their rooms clean in September. I sorted every single article of clothing. I dusted every surface. It was spic and span.

And since then they have gotten it messy and it's been easy for them to clean up.

But of late, it's just awful. And I haven't had the heart to go back and clean it again.

To clear S1's name, I must say his side of the room is always totally spotless and it drives him batty to live with his brother's sloppiness.

This morning, early early early (so early I didn't even look at the clock), S4 crawled in bed with me. I awoke with my alarm to a pillow pet, a stuffed dog and an elk in my face...and in the middle of all that was S4. It was so sweet.

Because at five in the morning - yes, five - I heard S1 roaring down the steps...he is usually my latest sleeper...and S2 squeal with giggles of uncontrollable laughter.

"YOU!" my oldest, neatest, most responsible son roared, "You KNEW it was there! That's why you shut off all the lights and ran!"

S2 could only laugh hysterically.

I heard some more commotion from the boys and could tell they had moved to the bathroom. I could not muster the awake-ness to check on them to see what was going on.

Soon I heard the story...our dog who has recently began having issues (as in the dog that would not poop or pee all day if left alone (as rare as that would be) now sometimes cannot make it through the night. And instead of waking me, she just goes on up to the boys room and leaves it there in hopes no one will notice. I'm pulling my hair out over this new development.) left a pile of poop in the middle of the room. S2 seen it on his way down the steps and quickly formulated what he was sure would be the best of plans.

S2 went upstairs - leaving the poop - and jumped on his oldest brother hollering he was late for school and he had better get up and Moma was storming mad he wasn't up. When S1 began to waken - slowly - S2 ran for the door, shutting out the light and stumbled down the steps giggling.

S1 mutteringly got out of bed, made his way through his spotless side of the room, side stepped the pile of toys and papers S2 has on his side of the room and began the careful cross through S3 and S4's side of the room to reach the door - in the dark - and turn on the light switch, located at the door.

He then stepped in something wet and cold.

And realized immediately by the smell he had been dooped by his brother.

He managed to pummel his brother, clean up his foot, pummel his brother again and then he went back to bed - because he realized it was just after five and even his moma wasn't stirring yet. He did holler at his brother to clean the nasty mess up. S2 seen the pile of poop on the clothes and realized his good luck of not having to clean the carpet this time - he just threw all the clothes away that the dog had pooped on.

See, I'm telling you, utter humiliation here.

All the ruckus woke S3, who really did think it was time for school and got himself all good and ready for the day. He then spent his time drawing pictures. He then taped the said pictures all over the window next to my computer desk.

S1 ended up unable to sleep anymore and laying in bed thinking what S2 did to him just disgusted him so he decided he might as well get up and start the day.

S2, of course, also got already for school and settled in to read.

But about 6:30 this all was getting boring and they began to wrestle. play football, chase each other through the house.....

I just stumbled for the shower and mumbled something about making sure S4 was out of bed on time.

I should have thought that through a bit more because all three boys took great delight in waking S4 up.

S4 did not find it humorous at all. He had to recuperate from their rudeness, so he went back to sleep.

And then the brothers did it all over again.

We then had 15 minutes before we had to leave for school. The three brothers who had been up for forever at this point, went outside to play and wait while this moma was frantically trying to get S4 ready for school.

Outside, S3 decided to chase his brothers with sticks. S4 went out to put his packed back pack in the suburban and ended up diving into the back of the suburban to get away from his brother. He was so sure he would get caught by his brother he just ducked down and hid in the suburban.

Which did wonders for the moma who was trying to get him ready for school.

We finally got everyone in the suburban, buckled, and took off down the road....

Only to have the back doors of the suburban fly open.

I had to brake fast and pull into the neighbors to shut the doors.

Apparently, when diving into the back of the suburban to hide from your brother you do not think to pull shut the doors behind you.

And then there we were, one of the last families to arrive to school.

Even though they had gotten up at five in the morning.

I am thinking of issuing a new rule - no one gets out of bed before six thirty in the morning.

And that is our newest excuse to be late to school as well as our awfully embarrassing family story.

I'm now off to clean my boys room. Again.

(In whole other news...Fox 17 will be airing our digital detox story again on Saturday at 10 pm because they liked it so much. Woohoo, how cool is that?!?!?!

I told you Sarah did a great job with it :) )

Fame on the Day After Our TV Special

2011-11-17T09:13:00.001-05:00

I am writing a blog to you all and I want you to know just what a sacrifice that is.

Because if I wasn't doing this I would be folding clothes and cleaning.

And the folding clothes is really an issue because no one even is looking in their dresser anymore. And the cleaning is important because it is scary to see what might fall on you as you open our fridge.

But my loving dear husband has only said, "You've done a really good job making good meals this week," so I know he is willing to overlook the mess - a little - as long as I keep everyone well fed.

But the mess is making me crazy so as soon as I finish this post, it's off to work I go.

Making a good dinner. THIS, in fact. It's my family's favorite and on this blustery cold sorta snowy day it should fill their tummy's with warmth and let them know I love them all. Because I do. And because the way to show love with them is good food. It just is.

Yesterday the boys went to school after their big tv special. I told you how S4 had to change his pants SIX times before we left for school, and the pair he wore were literally his play ripped up no knees pull on camo pants. You just have to go with it sometimes.

I was all excited to see how their day had gone. Here are the reports....

S1 was asked for his autograph. All. Day. Long. He was totally mortified and also thought it was totally cool and extremely silly at the same time. They watched the news special in his class and the were impressed I have a mac book pro - well, that was thanks to Fox 17 giving me one and the only way I could have ever gotten one. Truly. And further evidence why I love Fox 17 so. When he got home from school, S1 went to do his homework, giving the deer hunting a break for the evening.

S2 was a star all day and beamed with pride from it. At the end of the school day we had to turn in his football gear and he got his football trophy and football pictures. He was told not to smile for the picture and so it is the ultimate in seriousness.

Once he got his trophy he beamed, and for the rest of the day light he played football or was begging his homework laden brother to play football with him.

All night he looked at his picture and his trophy. Happy or proud is still not a good enough description of him.

S3 said people told him all day that they had seen him on tv. He just grinned. At home he just wanted to bug his brothers.

S4 came home and was shortly thereafter sent to bed because he couldn't stop crying. He slept for nearly three hours.

Then we all ate meatballs and mashed potatoes and the boys all went to bed at seven thirty because they were all that tired and Daddy and Moma snuggled on the couch with a movie.

I spent the day with Sue talking about and laying out ideas for our Winter edition of Praise and Coffee the Magazine. We drank our fair share of coffee and hardly stopped talking all day. It was a great day.

People often ask us - with Morning Mom and with this too - what we "get" out of the deal. They think we must be famous.

We get great friends. The boys get to think they are the amazingly special boys they are even if they were never on tv. We get people we run into every single day telling us the special was cool.

We do it because we are happy to do this. It's a lot of fun, I'm not gonna lie. We have so much fun with Fox 17 and we have so much fun as a family. It was a great weekend for us - THAT was what we got out of it - cuddles in the morning, silly moments we are still giggling about, a pile of wood next to the outdoor wood stove and a pantry with a ton of canned pears from that weekend. I have more people saying they are thinking of taking the digital detox challenge, and that is a win for everyone.

I am sooooooo very thankful that Sarah asked us to take the challenge on. I'm thankful we had enough adventures in a weekend for her to put a story together. I'm thankful for a news station that is willing to take an entire month to focus just on relationships.

And with that I will end. Because I have a house to clean - as I said before - and cookies to make for an afternoon snack for the boys. Speaking of cookies, I made these last week. They were huge. I had to HIDE them to make them last TWO days. These boys, they can EAT.

Also, it's National Home Made Bread day. And I have to celebrate that.

That's a good thing though.

If you would like to see our digital detox story

click HERE. Enjoy!

Did You See Us on Fox 17?

2011-11-16T10:59:00.001-05:00

We were on Fox 17!

If you would like to see the video (who am I kidding, I'm sure you are all so wanting to see this! ;) ) you can click HERE and it will take you to the link.

Getting a lot of feed back of people wanting to do a digital detox day or weekend after the special. I think that is sooooooooo cool.

In other news....we attempted to have the three younger boys take a nap so they could stay up and see themselves on the ten o clock news....it did not work. When we went to wake them up, they couldn't wake up. When they woke up this morning, they were devastated, which is why I am so thankful that they had the story on this morning...and because they had the link so they could see themselves before school started.

But the excitement caused some over tired boys...S4 changed his pants SIX times today (mother's of girls, how do you do it?) and is now, at this moment, at school wearing pants with big holes in the knees because at least then he is dressed.

Ug.

So excited about the story, so happy the way it turned out and now you all know how handsome my hubby is. ;) Hubs wants you to know he cut wood...but you all know that already because if you read the blog, you seen it.

Thank you so much for sharing our Digital Detox weekend with us!

Fox 17 Digital Detox Monday

2011-11-15T07:50:00.000-05:00

I realized I never told you about Monday.

And since our story airs TODAY at 10 pm on Fox 17

I thought I'd give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

Here is my desk.

See the blue notebook?

ELEVEN pages of notes from the weekend.

I like to write.

A lot.

I don't, however, know how to unclutter my desk. So anyone who wants to send me tips, I'd appreciate it. I need to frame the pictures, I suppose.

It was soooooooo odd to not have the news on Monday morning. Sorta like knowing you will have a test and not knowing what it will be on. Sarah was headed to our house, and I had no idea what had happened on her four hour morning news show, no idea what the weekend news stories were. Jake and I had both agreed that going a weekend with Digital Detox would be WAY easier than any week day.

Just before Sarah was to arrive, S3 and S4 got into a nice big argument. I'm not sure what about. I just know the house was full of lots of nervousness and they took it too far so they had to sit on the couch, hold hands, and think of five things they liked about each other.

They were not happy with this arrangement but it totally worked.

And then Jason the camera man (who was WAY nice and I so wish I had gotten a picture of him with all of us because, really, he was just the nicest....) and Sarah were here and we interviewed again. (I hid the unfolded clothes in the laundry room). S2 nearly bombarded Jason asking him all sorts of questions about the Lions game he had missed the night before.

Sarah took a minute to take a few pictures with us. Other than the fact that Andrew closed his eyes, I really like this picture.

And here is Sarah and me and the scarf I should have worn the whole interview.

Jake wanted a picture of the Fox 17 vehicle IN OUR DRIVEWAY. He was totally bummed he missed all this and for some reason he wanted this picture and Sarah was sweet enough to take it for us.

It's been a few weeks since we did our Digital Detox and when I look back over it I was wondering if we had changed anything since then. I do keep my cell phone on ring only at night so the texts/fb/twitter dings don't pull me away. I do, however, still check it during the evening.

The boys made a fort with an old bench swing that has a canopy over the top of it during the weekend of our digital detox and they still will play with that fort until it's so dark I wonder how they can see out there. They pretend they are surviving in the wilderness and that's all the shelter they have.

On Sunday mornings, we haven't watched tv. This has also gotten us to church on time...and that is really kind of unheard of for us.

But movie night with my hubby when we are curled up on the couch together and the boys are upstairs watching an old VHS tape....still the best. And this weekend all six of us crammed on the couch and watched Tangled (that is love because they know it's Moma's favorite movie).

The thing I MISS about the detox...the morning all the boys cuddled in bed with us. Crazy, huh? I guess because I know that this brief moment in our lives when they want to cuddle up with us is fleeting at best. And I want to treasure that.

Our Story Airs TONIGHT, NOVEMBER 15th AT TEN PM on FOX 17.
You can see it HERE.

Fox 17 Digital Detox

2011-11-14T17:49:00.000-05:00

TOMORROW our special airs.

I am ~~totally~~ a wee bit nervous.

I mean, even if it weren't bad enough you will all SEE what a Redneck Girl I am (which is bad enough in humiliation aspect...but this is my life too so if you know me, you know this already....).....

But we don't know what the special will show.

The commercials are airing and saying "Will they become closer or fight?" S2 looks at me and says "What did they say about us?" and I shrug and say "I don't know."

Because I don't know.

Because we did both.

But you all know how we love Fox 17, you all know what great friends I consider them to be, so I am quite certain they will make us look good. Sarah will take great care of us, I am certain, and she told me that she is happy with how the four minute segment turned out.

This morning on the biggest country station on this side of the state, they mentioned our story on air. Then I am hearing throughout the day of more stations mentioning it.

The boys think they are soooooooo super cool.

And that, I must admit, is fun to watch. I hope they think they are amazing cool when they see themselves on tv.

But I hope they mostly know that they are amazing cool EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

They just get to show off some coolness for tv.

But I must admit I am thinking....I never did take care of all that laundry, the boys did act a little crazy when the camera was on, I did get ticked at Jake that he thought four bushel of pears would be a cinch for me to get done, we were exhausted after hauling seven loads of wood, the cider was good but can they see the dark circles under our eyes?....

Stuff YOU all know about us, but lots of other people don't. Hopefully they'll love us as much as you all do.

If you would like to see the special, you can click on --> FOX 17 <-- here and it will take you to the home page, where you can watch it LIVE on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15th at 10pm.

(November 15th is also opening day of gun season...but you all should be inside by then drinking coffee and telling your hunting glory stories. So there really is no excuse to miss it. :) )

If you would like to read up on how the weekend went...you can catch up on the posts I wrote AFTER the digital detox was over.

Could You Digital Detox?

Friday, the First Digital Detox Day

Saturday, the Second Day of Digital Detox

Saturday, the Second Half of Digital Detox

Sunday, the Last Full Day of Digital Detox

Surviving Sunday Night of Digital Detox

(You can view the story HERE)

Date Weekend

2011-11-10T13:49:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, when the sun was shining brightly and fall seemed like the most wonderful season that it is, my husband and I went on a date.

He had driven past a place he wanted to take me and since I am always up for a long drive with my hubby, I was more than willing to tag along.

He took me here....

Robinette's.

He has been driving past this place in his big truck and keeps thinking he wishes he could stop.

And being all farm market minded like we are, we like to see lots of markets.

We dream about farm markets, I'm not even kidding.

But this one has to be one of the best family run farm destinations.

First they have amazing donuts and such.

We had driven all this way for donuts. Seriously.

We are serious about donuts. Everyone should be.

And these smelled heavenly as we pulled in. Jake got some cinnamon sugar coated one and half of my flakey apple turnover sort of thing that was scrumptious.

Since I don't do corn mazes...at all...we wandered around to see what there was to see.

And we ended up wandering over to this barn.

I'm still kicking myself for not getting pictures of the inside...or of us and Audrey.

Who is Audrey, you ask?

Just the most cheerful, cutest, adorable girl.

She works in the wine tasting section of the barn. The part of the barn that housed horses.

Seriously.

My husband was instantly checking out all the beams and all that barn stuff.

It was rather obvious we had never been there before.

Audrey sarcastically asked us what took us so long to get there, and then followed that with a sweet "Hello, and welcome to Robinette's."

She had us pegged for fun, I think.

And we spent the next half hour, I'd guess, chatting and hearing her gush about the wonderfulness of her job, of the family, of the farm, of the history, of the people who visit....

We left feeling like we left a friend.

We then became the biggest fan of Robinette's ever.

Seriously.

I mean, why else would we pose in front of the sign a million times for a picture?

I may have had so much fun that I literally skipped with Jake to the suburban.

I may have kissed him right there and said "Thank you for the funnest day!"

I may have literally squealed with joy.

And I owe that to my hubby who stopped here, and to Audrey who had us laughing.

And to the amazing Robinette's who brought us all together.

But the day wasn't over.

We headed up to Rockford to the Corner Bar.

For YEARS and YEARS Jake has told me about their amazing hot dogs and since I am one of those people who really find hotdogs super tasty, I've been asking for forever to go.

The place was so busy when we got there that there was a long line out the door.

But that didn't stop my husband. Oh, no. He was starving and wasn't going to wait in line.

He walked right up to the empty bar and asked if we could sit there and order hotdogs.

The bar tender agreed.

And my husband was happy.

If you eat 12 hotdogs you get your name on the board. I don't know why he hasn't done this.

I ordered the famous Rockford Corner Dog dog and it was good.

Jake ordered two corner dogs and two sauerkraut dogs.

And he ate one of my hot dogs too.

See, he could be on the board.

And I'd have a famous hubby.

With a shirt to prove it.

Afterward we wandered around, looking at the famous Rockford Dam.

It was so pretty and we had to snap a few pictures of us grinning ear to ear on our fun day out.

I noticed the pretty planters they had around, and my husband knew you could eat the kale.

Is it kale?

I don't know...but he picked it and...

Ate it.

Apparently the hot dogs didn't fill him up.

We took so more pictures, really, it was so pretty out.

In this photo he says at least I have a great picture of him.

We had a super great time.

I really wanted to find the store Herman's Boy, but we couldn't find it.

We could have asked but we had reached the time to head for home.

I guess that means we will have to back again.

I'm sure you know I'm dreading that trip.

haha

I did find the store Jade.

I have wanted to go there for forever.

So hubby came in with me.

Where he was the best looking guy in the whole store.

Cuz he was the ONLY guy in the whole store.

It is a great store.

Like, super great I wish it were all in my closet great.

It was truly the best day in forever.

We ended it by buying groceries, because we knew we were going home to four boys who would need food - and a lot of it - this week. But after too much time not spending time together,

it was so great to just hang out together.

All day long.

And I think my brother and sister in law are going to have us watch their boys now that they watched - and fed - all four of ours.

I'll be happy to.

Thanks for the great weekend, Hubs, I love you!!!

Icky Day Sunshine

2011-11-09T09:22:00.001-05:00

Today is an icky cold dreary rainy gray dark blustery day.

It ain't pretty.

The boys woke up at five. I know this may sound odd to the lot of you, but I ENJOY sleeping in until my alarm goes off.

And it doesn't go off at five.

I gave up and just began the day. It's pretty much impossible to go back to sleep with two extra boys in your bed.

My boys wake up like they have had a pot of coffee by iv before their eyes fluttered open. It's hard to handle the extremeness of them...they are running and squealing and playing and climbing up Daddy to get his phone to play Angry Birds and eating cereal and fighting over their favorite bowls and chasing the dog with a nerf bow and it's insane.

I haven't even had a cup of strong coffee yet. Heck, it isn't even brewed yet.

But as I watch the boys get those extra minutes with Daddy before he leaves for work, as I watch them tease and giggle, my heart can't help but melt.

I stand in the kitchen inhaling my french press coffee and think about what a dreary long day this is going to be.

And catch my boys attempting to escape outside.

Here I am all sad about the mud and the cold and the darkness and the thought of winter too quickly approaching....

...and my boys are trying to get outside to run and play in the puddles and attempt to slide all over our slippery slimy wet deck.

Perspective.

It changes an icky day to a bright one - even if the sunshine doesn't shine.

Yup, we've got Icky Day Sunshine here today.

And I need another strong cup of coffee.

Surviving Sunday Night of Digital Detox

2011-11-03T15:49:00.000-04:00

Sunday night Hubs and I went back to canning pears.

And had a heart to heart.

I was amazed how differently we viewed the weekend.

Where I found the weekend relaxing, he found it stressful. The keeping the boys busy all the time wore him out. I found the no tv, no stress of answering messages was surprisingly stressless. However, had I not had a notebook for therapy I would have gone a bit crazy I think.

Jake thought I was crazy for carrying around a notebook.

Which I literally did.

I think a person can not fully function in this society now without being digitally connected. Whether you like it or not, facebook and texting is what people use to pass on a message. Cell phone numbers are stored in cell phones...not home numbers. My address book hasn't been updated in ten years.

My husband disagrees. He thinks a person could be business savvy to survive just fine without technology. I do not see this...he fully does.

I am all for doing this again - for a night. I think it would be good for our family. He disagreed...and he is totally against doing another weekend like this. He agreed maybe a night...if we could have a radio.

We had a long talk about technology and relationships....

I had recently read a link Diaper Diaries had posted about marriage...a post she had stumbled upon but found convicting...from Jon Acuff. It's called How To Improve Your Marriage Instantly. I had worked on taking it to heart, keeping my phone plugged in at night when Jake was home from work. I could tell he was irritated when it went off.

And that said, I didn't harp on him if he was on his phone playing Angry Birds or checking some new app.

We use our smart phones and computer for totally different things...mine to connect with the blog and so forth, him for the techie stuff. But both things pull us apart.

He sincerely believed this weekend he would prove a point. He would hold over my head that I can get so much more done if I am not on the computer. Shockingly, I got less done then either of us supposed I would.

The book I am reading? I only finished TWO chapters...how sad is that?

The thing that shocked us both the most in the same way, however, is that as much as we love the boys, as much as we wish we could keep them home with us all the time, as much as I hate to have them gone at school days on end, as much as we love them.....we liked the break we got from them.

We used the tv to babysit them.

This came as a surprise to us both.

Even today, I am writing this blog post on my first day off of the detox while it is all fresh in my head. And the boys are watching tv.

But tonight? Tonight I'm shutting it down and spending the night with them.

I was surprised how smoothly it went with them in some aspects. I didn't forget to get them a drink, distracted by something else. I could hear the argument they were having before the tattling began. It was a good time to "just be" with our boys. It was funny the stories they brought up to remind us of, the songs they sang - and most the 'songs' they sang were tv jingles.

This from boys who get to watch tv on the weekend only. And live to play outside.

That said, next weekend they are going to my brother and sister in laws for the weekend and I am ECSTATIC to get my hubby allllllll to myself.

Today, while blogging and reconnecting, the boys settled in to catch up on some tv. And soon after they were bored of it and went out to play. It wasn't as grand as they thought it would be.

I was overwhelmed when I opened up my computer and found all sorts of messages from friends letting me know how much I meant to them, how much they missed me. I can thank Sue Cramer for getting that great gift of words.

It is hard to put into words how disconnected I felt from my friends. How much tweeting and blogging and facebooking helps me share the time I am blessed to spend with my boys....and how much I need that girl connection when I feel like I am drowning in boyness.

I think, in the end, the digital detox is going to have a lasting impression on us. I am curious what we will think of it in a week or two or three from now.

I wouldn't be surprised if we did it again....for a day. Only a day.

We're too connected to do it much more than that.

Our Story Airs on Fox 17's 10pm News on Tuesday, November 15th.

You can view the story HERE.

Sunday, the Last Full Day of Digital Detox

2011-11-03T07:47:00.000-04:00

I woke up to my phone's alarm Sunday.

I had every day of the weekend. I had forgotten to unset it.

As soon as it went off I quickly shut it off, shut the phone off...

And before it went totally off I heard the chirps and dings of unanswered messages.

Sigh.

I miss my friends.

Usually when I wake up in the morning I lay in bed for the first couple minutes waking up and checking updated statuses, what new messages I have and so forth. The not knowing what is going on in my friends lives bothers me. Not because I am nosy, because I honestly care.

Again, no cuddle time. Boys are already filling up our bed.

And S1 was headed out to hunt before church.

I started the coffee and tea and cocoa I make in the morning, I started the oatmeal and the normal getting around stuff while Hubby sent S2 out for the paper.

We needed our news fix.

As we started dissecting the paper, S4 caught sight of the toy catalog from Toy R Us.

He was quickly surrounded by brothers. A morning that we would normally never run on down to grab the Grand Rapids Press cuz we were too busy watching tv made for one of my most favorite pictures of the weekend.

We hurried around to get ready for church....and here is one of the things that rather surprised me...we still had a hard time making it out of the house on time for Sunday school.

Even though....brace yourself....Jake MADE DINNER.

He did! I had the roast all ready for the crock pot but he added it, he added the potatoes he peeled, he put the squash in the oven.

He was amazing....

And he let me know it. When he was at church I was bragging on him, he followed it with "It was a piece of cake, I don't know why all these women complain about how hard it is to cook."

And yet I love him....

Being in church was odd. We were hearing snippets of stories (snow? war? fire?) and didn't know any of it. For someone who follows the news so much, it was odd to be on the outside of it all.

I felt like our family was living in it's own little bubble.

I also missed my friends in a bad way. When S3 couldn't figure out my black nylons - whispering to me if they were socks - I thought it would be a great tweet. My girls would appreciate this moment.

Boys don't get girls. At all.

But boys get boys, no matter the age. One of my friends dad's took pity on sports crazed S2 and offered to tape the Lions game for him. It made S2's day, who had been totally devastated over missing it.

When we got home, Jake had S1 take a picture of us.

I guess I forgave him for the mean "women complain about cooking" comment.

As we were getting the table ready for dinner, Morg stopped in. I hugged her in complete joy. A girl! My friend! I had to find out if she was an aunt yet? How was her weekend? What was she up to?

I missed being connected to her life.

After dinner we all took a nap. Hello? Still exhausted from the wood and pears and all that.

Here are some of the notes I wrote from Sunday....

"Our phone hasn't rang since my mom called Friday." (Think about it, who has your home number anymore, it's all cell phone connecting now....)

"Without the computer on my desk, my desk is really cluttered looking. Like, super bad. I need a decorate-ista to come help me."

"Had to use a phone book. ALL my contacts are on my phone or computer."

S4 said "There is pretty much nothing to do if you don't watch tv. But if you play there is really all sots of things to do."

"S4 has itsy bitsy spider stuck in his head. No one can think past it to give him another song. Argh!"

"The boys have found Jake and my secret stash of peanut butter cup pumpkins. This won't end well."

"I like life to have a soundtrack."

"Tried nutella. The boys and I were surprised we liked it. Jake shudders and wouldn't even think of trying it."

"S4 just said to me from the toile he's perched upon. "I'm not blowing out poop, Moma, I'm blowing out little color things and you should probably come see this." Then, a little while later, "Is #3 diarrhea?" That then led to the discussion that even if he didn't know he was going to be sick, God did so that's okay."

"Just had to yell "Hey, you are NOT kick-boxers!" The boys find this hilarious. I am serious."

"Our house is suffering - it came unhinged. Literally. The cupboard door literally just fell off the cupboard. Greeeeaaaaaaat."

My friend Korene called to see if we were still alive....and then I just gave up and called my mom.

I had to get a news fix. "Just tell me the most important news...."

I'd missed word of a huge snowstorm. What??? Yes. It had hit my friend, Karen, I'd find out later.

There had been a fire where my Dad works and they lost three barns. I think I should have been called immediately with that news story.

A friend had had her baby girl and she was beautiful.

I felt so disconnected.

Our Story Airs on Fox 17's 10 pm News on Tuesday November 15th.

You can view the story linked HERE.

Saturday, the Second Half of Digital Detox

2011-11-02T18:47:00.000-04:00

When we arrived home from cutting wood, Husband exhaustedly said "Let's just see what's on tv"...and then realized what he had just said as he went to turn the tv on.

While we waited for Jake to grill his famous cheeseburgers, S4 killed time for us doing animal charades. He was absolutely hilarious. Do you know how many different birds the boy knows? Do you know how many guesses we had to come up with think of all the bird names?

And the best part was that S4 started the animal charades from telling us he loves pimple dogs.

Huh?

It took us awhile to figure out he meant PIT bulls.

That would have been a great tweet/facebook post.

After a scrumptious dinner, we headed out to make cider.

The neighbors on the other side of us raise apples. And if you come over and help them press cider, you get to bring some home. This works great for us.

The boys immediately run for the hay bales, where they run and jump and have all sorts of fun.

Meanwhile, Husband gets to work making cider with the crew in the back of the tiny cider room.

The apples are dropped into a grinder and literally ground all up. The apples are then dropped into the tin bucket.

Then it's sent into buckets....

Where it is dumped onto the press's heavy duty cheese cloth type material, where it pressed until it makes juice that we all love.

Here it is beginning to be pressed.

Jake told me to tell you it's like a snow plow motor, just keeps pushing up. He figures the guys will understand this. All I can tell you is it OUD and the shorter the tower becomes, the more juice you get until there is no more.

The room is so tight, it's hard to get any great pictures of anything that is going on. The guy in the yellow rain pants heads up the operation. It was his brother in law who started this tradition....it was his brother in law who died suddenly this year.

So this year with all the kids around making cider with neighbors was bittersweet.

The old man in the John Deere hat...I have no idea who he is but he is ALWAYS there. And he has the strongest accent (Dutch maybe) and we just love to hear him talk. I have never seen him not smile.

Here is the beautiful wonderful cider coming out of the press!

It's then run through something or another to this barrel, where only the man in the yellow pants is allowed to touch the cider or pour the cider. Everyone brings their own jugs to get filled up.

Everyone loves cider time in our little farming neighborhood.

But you recall all we did earlier today, correct? The seven loads of wood?

Yah, all that work and the cider had caught up with us. It was all we could do to stay awake for showers and baths so we could get to our beds and pass out from exhaustion.

It was only 9:30 at night when we were all tucked into bed.

And that cuddle time hubs had promised me the day before?

Never happened.

There's always tomorrow.....

Our Story Airs on Fox 17's 10 pm News on Tuesday, November 15th.

Saturday, the Second Day of Digital Detox

2011-11-02T08:16:00.000-04:00

Saturday dawned too early.

Way too early.

Because we went to bed early, the boys got up early.

And since they couldn't watch tv, they all - yes, all four - crawled into bed with us.

That cuddle time Hubs and I were looking forward to? Gone.

Even when he tried to shoo them from the room with "Why don't you go do something - like homework?"

You know they were all jumping over that idea.

Knowing I would have a flipcam on me during the day at some point, I decided I'd better do the whole makeup thing. And since I had FOUR BUSHEL of pears to can, I figured I had better do the hair up today too.

Before I could do any of that though, Hubs thought it would be fun to flip cam me right away.

He's so sweet like that.

For breakfast, we all sat around and looked at the newspaper. We were ecstatic with it's arrival.

That has never happened before.

We searched weather and news and sports...and comics, of course.

We are news geeks, we have concluded, as well as comic nerds.

We totally rock.

When we found my husband's missing wood cutting helmet in my crock pot - no joke - I knew I would need much much coffee on this day.

I also found out that with no distractions, little things irritate you more. That said, you deal with them right away...and then it's over and life is sunny happy again. It's an amazing thing.

Hubs and the boys loaded up and headed out to cut wood while I started on the first load of pears.

I wrote this "The boys are all cutting wood with Jake. The silence is deafening. I can hear every click of the stove top, the fan running on low in the other room, the dogs steady snore, the chirps of the birds outside, the scratch of the chickens, the passing gof the vehicles by the house. The silence is deafening and the click click of the clock seems mocking."

I guess I don't do alone well. I grew up in a loud house. I have had a hard time adjusting to the boys all being in school. If I'm home, the Pandora is on or the tv. The empty house bothered me. A lot.

I heard the squeak of the mail lady's breaks and here she drove up the driveway, delivering a gift from Rebecca in Texas. I nearly cried. Her gift could NOT have been any better timing.

Silence does weird things to you.

I started writing down the texts I would send my mom if I could...like "I miss you" and "I need cinnamon" and "did you buy bulk allspice". I think in spices, I guess.

When hubs arrived with a load of wood, he had to snap a few pictures, thinking me adorable.

He's sweet like that.

When the one canner load of pears was done (finally), I had baked a cake and loaded up all the baked goods I could find in the house and drove over to meet the boys cutting wood with my neighbors.

It was odd to try to try to connect minus us being able to friend request on facebook or show off the blog. It was awkward odd. When she asked for the apple pie recipe, I had to write it down by hand and hand deliver it to her.

That said, Michele and Rod kicked butt helping us load wood - SEVEN truck loads of wood we hauled home and added to our pile. SEVEN.

And we had a great time getting to know them more.

Sometimes, maybe a hand written note is better than any facebook message.

Our Story Airs on Fox 17's news at 10pm on Tuesday, November 15th.

You can view the story HERE.