We don't let our kids get their own food if they are hungry. A couple weeks ago I noticed that one of them got into the SUGAR. YIKES! I had them all sit down until somebody confessed. Today the same thing happened and Chloe siad she got into the brown sugar. I told her thanks for telling the truth and to make sure she didn't do it again... About an hour later she came up to me and told me that sometimes she SAYS that she does stuff when she really didn't, because she doesn't want to see anybody else get in trouble. How sweet is that! I later had to explai n o her that although that is nice of her it's still being dishonest.

EXTRA Fun activities for the girls and boys

Tim and I have been thinking and after much thought we have decided to venture into soapbox racing. We think it'll be a fun thing for the boys to do. It's a fun family activity PLUS we have heard through the grapevine that kids whosoapbox race tend tp be the best drivers. I do not look forward to the day when my kids will be driving. We have our car, helmet, and other supplies all ready for next year as well as a coach.

We are also considering putting the girls in dance lessens. My parents gave Chloe a little ballerina book and outfit. It's so cute to see the girls practice their dancing. The funny thing is that the boys are right in there with them dancing. The boys told me the other day that for Conner's birthday next summer they all want to do a ballerina birthday party. They said that one of the activities should be that everybody learn a little dance. It was pretty cute.

Craigslist Fun

Lets talk about craigslist! I have found it to be my newest addiction. For quite some time I have heard people talking about it and telling me how I need to check it out. Well one rainy day after I had Isabelah I stumbled across a little PBK play kitchen in Kansas City. The seller had just listed it so I quickly emailed Tim to call the guy. Before I knew it we were on our way to pick it up. Got it for a fraction of the price with lots of extra play food. That's all it took to get me checking craigslist for other items. I have been reading a lot lately and Karen Kingsbury is the author. Before I knew it I was typing her name into craigslist and found a lady that was selling her collection. Got a bunch of great books for $1-2 a piece. Got a PBK sleigh crib for Isabelah for CHEAP. The latest deal was just a couple nights ago. Tim walks in the door and I'm telling him to hurry down the street because someone hassome dvds they want US to buy. :) We got over 350 dvds for $200. HOT DOG! Keep in mind...we will be hopping over to amazon to re-sell them. There were several repeats and some still in their package. I am hopeing to use the money I make to help pay for our family vacation next year. Kind of a fun plan!

I love my thoughtful little boys!

The boys came up with a great idea today! They know their daily schedule and usually if everything goes according to plan they can come up with a plan of their own. We got up, ate breakfast, and did school all the while the boys were planning. Jayce comes up to me after lunch and said, "Well, Conner, Blake, and I came up with a plan. We have decided, since Daddy is so busy working and paying for this house he doesn't have time to fix it up. Sooo us three boys are going to fix it up for him." (sweet) They scraped up the brick tile we had in our entryway and the main floor bathroom. Cleaned all that up and took it out to the big dumpster we have in front of our house. When they were done with that they ripped up the carpet in the basement that was GLUED to the cement floor. THEN before I knew it they had half of the paneling ripped off the basement walls. We weren't planning on taking the paneling off the walls but that's ok. I guess the boys have a different plan. :) It's the thought that counts and all their hard work. Now they can't wait for Tim to get home to see what they did to help.
We moved to West Des Moines which is about 2 hours away from where we used to live. After looking at several houses we ended up buying the first house we looked at which required a lot of work. Only the Lord could have worked out the timing of everything. The interior had to be gutted right away. We happen to make a habit of buying fixer uppers and are hoping this will be our last project. :) We closed on this house shortly after I had Isabelah. The plan was to spend a solid 2 weeks fixing up the upstairs and moving in. Well the Lord had other plans. Instead of working on our house He provided Tim lots of work. Our house is completely torn apart and hasn't been touched for about 2 months. Some days can be discouraging but I am so thankful for the Lord's provision in our lives. I like how the Lord puts things in our lives to help us learn to trust Him even more. Let's just put it this way...Some day soon I will be one happy girl. I still get to look forward to decorating and organizing. All our items in storage will be like opening Christmas presents instead of the dreadful duty of unpacking a house.

Talk about heaven

Tonight at supper Isabelah was in her little moses basket on the kitchen table. Conner was sitting next to her on the table feeding her a bottle while the rest of the kids were sitting in their chairs. Somehow we got to talking about heaven. The older kids are always telling the little kids that they're on their way to hell because they haven't accepted Christ yet. They are very concerned about their younger siblings as well as neighbors and friends. They always have a list of people they are talking about and praying for. Tonight Conner said that if he dies before me he will be up in heaven blowing me kisses. Blake said that when he gets to heaven he's running over to the toy area. It's pretty funny to hear their little perspectives on life.

Kids update

Jayce is now 9 years old. He is very responsible and mature. He loves to learn and soaks everything up that he can.
Conner is 8 and loves his baby sister. He is always stopping by her to give her a hug. He still thinks he is going to marry me when he grows up. I picked him up this afternoon and held him like a baby. He just layed there all relaxed and thought it was pretty funny. Some friends of ours just adopted a baby so we went to the court appointment when the adoption was finalized. We tried to explain to the kids what adoption is but they couldn't understand the concept. The were more concerned that they might get adopted out. :)
Blake is 6. Tim and i have both noticed a change in Blake. Over night, almost literally he has learned how to be kind and care for other people. He is very proud of his loose tooth right now.
Chloe just turned 5. She is the baby's buddy. The whole time i was pregnant she couldn't wait until the baby was born so she could hold her and feed her. Shortly after I came home after having herChloe had her first bout of responsibility. I asked her to feed Isabelah, She started to feed her and then it was just killing her to sit there while the others were playing. She then decided to give her baby to Conner so willingly. She didn't want that responsility.Funny girl.
Alaycia is 3 but looks like a 2 year old. She's a little short thing and has a munchkin voice. I just cut her a couple weeks ago into a bob abd she loved it. Every morning before church she asks me to put her hair in 2 braids. I always have to tell her hair that it's just too little but maybe someday I'll be able to put a braid in. She is finally potty trained except at night and hopefully that comes soon.
Parker is 2. Poor little guy had to have stitched a few weeks ago and he was a tough little thing. We had to take him to the er and he did a great job. It has healed great but it's looking like it will be a scar. We call him our sweet little baby. He is the sweetest little thing and when he gets in trouble he takes it pretty serious. Adorable!
Isabelah is now going on 3 months. Boy does time fly! She has little dimples that are so cute! She does not sleep through the night anymore. Yep! Not anymore! She used to sleep good at night but not so much anymore. She is a very alert baby and loves to smile.

Blog Subject

I've put a lot of thought into what my blog is going to be and I have come up with a plan. I am going to blog about my life. You will kind of be reading a diary of my life. It should be fun and entertaining. You'll read about funny things my kids do or say, my home school journey, crazy days, trials, and blessings.

WOW it's been just about a year since I've posted anything. SHAME ON ME! I'm starting to have a little more free time so I think I will put a bit more effort into this. It's fun for me to look back (on whole posts) and read some of the stuff. Tonight is not the night to begin but perhaps very soon. That was for you Lynn!!

Now I have a funny story! I just thought about his yesterday and everytime I think about it I can't help but laugh!

April and I went to Waterloo to get Tim some supplies at Menards. Tim really thought that April and I could handle this little project. First we had a hard time finding the stuff he needed. One of the things he had us get was a long metal pipe that was about as long as a car. Well maybe it wasn't quite that long but it was pretty long. As we were walking through Menards we had a hard time carrying it and not hitting people with it because it was so long. After buying it we headed out to the little car to try to figure out how we were going to fit this thing in the car. Finally we decided that we were just going to put it in through the back 2 windows of the car. Imagine us driving down the interstate with a pipe hanging out both sides of the back windows. It didn't last for very long. We about took up 2 lanes where ever we were driving. The funny thing is that a couple months ago I saw a police car doing to same thing that April and I tried to do. We at least had some guy tell us that wouldn't work before we left the parking lot.

Last night I came to terms that I have strep. My neck and throat hurt so bad! Although I'd rather have strep than the flu. :)
When I was pregnant with Parker I was very sick with kindey stones and in the hospital about 9 times. My kids handled it pretty well but I never realized how serious they took until last night. After Tim layed the kids down for the night we heard one of them crying so Tim went to go check on them. Down comes little Jayce just sobbing. He couldn't even gain his composure he was crying so hard. He was worried about his Mommy and didn't want me to get sick like last time. It's always nice to see compasion in your kids. It took him a couple hours to calm down and then he woke up crying about it again. What a sweetie!!

Here are a couple of the things he said . . .
1) He never wants me to die
2) He never wants to grow up
3) He is never going to be naughty ever again
4) He will always take care of me
5) He loves me very very very very much!
6) He never wants to leave me
7) He loves his Daddy, Mommy, Grammy, and Papa very very much
8) He will always protect me

After many people encouraging me to get into blogging I've decided to do it. This is going to be so much fun!
Let's get going! First let me introduce you to my little kiddos.
Jayce is 7 and is excited to now have Jesus in his heart. Today he was talking about getting baptized. He also said that he would take care of his brothers and sisters if anything ever happened to us. After talking about that with him he went to work helping the girls get their jammies on and collecting everybody's dirty clothes.
Conner is 6 and very tender hearted. He likes being around him Mommy and Daddy and is quite a hard worker. Jayce and Conner are both being taught at home. Our kids all have a buddy brother or sister which means they take care of each other. Conner takes care of Chloe and they are quite the little match. They both look a lot alike and have a lot of the same mannerisms.
Blake is now 5 and likes to wrestle with his brothers. He looks a lot like Tim and has the cutest dimples. His buddy is Parker but he's not too into babies yet. He'll grow into his responsibilities. :)
Chloe is 3 and is all girl. She can't wait to be a Mommy so I can be Chloe. She's going to take care of me someday when I'm little. She can be a little bossy and likes to tell her brothers what to do. Sometimes they do it. :)
Alaycia is 21 months and is always smiling. She really wants to talk but just can't quite get it out the way she wants to. Sometimes we have conversations with her and she thinks we really understand her. She's a little short thing but has no problems eating. Her thighs prove that. They're so cute! Jayce takes care of Alaycia. He's just does the job and moves on to his next project.
Parker is 4 months old and just sleeps, cries, and eats. He loves to be held and it's really easy to get him to smile even when he's crying. Most people say he looks like Jayce and Blake.

I'll post pictures as soon as I find them on our computer. :)