Ugh.

Tomorrow I will turn 39! Yippie! I am not at all unhappy about my birthday. I am nearly 40, as my children keep reminding me. My daughter said goodbye my 38 for me before she went to bed.

We still don't know where we will move. But, Los Angeles has opened up. Its actually on our dream sheet, because we expected it. Its possible that we could live near my brother. And, near my mother, when she moves there. She is planing to move to southern California this summer (maybe). I am not a country girl. But, I am not a city girl either!! That is why the UGH.

It would be wonderful to live near family. That is very true. However, I would make a strange California girl. Really strange, I think. I homeschool, I try to be frugal, and I think quite differently than my brother and sister-in-law. That doesn't make them bad or me good, or visa versa, just different. Think the city mouse and the country mouse. I am somewhere in between, I guess.

We want to sell our car (one of them) and live near the air station. Well, the air station is in LAX. The airport. The huge international airport. So, we can't live really far away from LAX and provide my hubby with a great cycling commute. Ok, he will prove me wrong on this. I know he will. I just keep picturing couches on porches with bars on the windows.

But, hubby wants a safe place for us to live. I have no doubt about that. We will need to find a place that we can own a big dog and bird. A safe place to raise the kids. I have a GPS, at least.

I am torn- I really want to go there, and I really really don't want to go there. I lived in Jersey for 20 years, so why am I anxious about this? I guess, cause I would have never thought about living in Newark. Ok, if you aren't from Jersey, you don't know what I'm referring to. Newark is the smelly congested place where the international airport is. So, I'm making a comparison.

I can drive like a crazy driver, I don't do that anymore, but I haven't forgotten. I can learn to live in a new place. I am glad this is not my decision, but up to God (even if the CG believes its up to them) "Home is Where the Coast Guard Sends You" I have a decorative wall plaque that says that. But, truly, its where God sends us, cause we are keeping it in prayer, for His wisdom and direction. God is bigger than the Coast Guard.

It is so hard to wait and wait and wait. Oh, yeah, wanna buy a house? I've got a nice big house here in Northern Michigan for sale. LOL!

A wonderful evening

We had a great date night for our anniversary! After dropping the dog off at the kennel, we pick up my husband at work. And, then we headed downtown, so that I could buy a new dress or outfit. I love the Raven's Child in Traverse City. I bought a dress there a few years ago (also for our anniversary). So, my hubby walked around with the kids, while I had fun playing dress-up. It was way to expensive, but hey, it was our 10th anniversary, and I wanted to look great for the best husband in the world!


That's my new dress! Isn't it cute? I wore it with tall boots. This is the only picture that I could find of it.




We brought the kids to a friend's house, and he showed them his Star Wars pinball machine, lego models and nerf guns. They were quickly sold on the idea, and I was too. He even had an oversized bean bag chair that they could jump on.




So, we went to the hotel, got changed for the evening, and had a wonderful dinner at "The Cook's House". Yummy! Then, we ran over to the State Theater, and watched "The Prairie Home Companion" a live broadcast. This radio show is so funny! It is lovely to go on a date with the man you love! And, oh I love mine to pieces!!!

In the morning, we picked up our happy children. They had a blast too. They made cookies, and dunked them in milk. They ran around in the yard with flashlights. My daughter slept in the giant bean bag chair. They shot nerf guns, pretended to be dogs, and played video games.

Everyone was tired on Friday. My husband fell asleep on the couch and the kids watched a Sponge Bob video and laid around. I made a pie for my hubby to take to work today (he had duty). And, I got the food shopping done for the week. I made the tortellini soup.

Today, after swim lessons- we did Saturday school to make up for Friday. It actually went really well! And, now at 10:30 PM I am remembering that I haven't reviewed tomorrow's Sunday School lesson, and I'm the teacher! Opps!

Muffins and Our Anniversary

We had almost a dozen eggs, that were going to expire today. First, I boiled a half-dozen, and then, I baked. It was lovely! The house smells so good. I made a couple kinds that I can eat, they are fairly low in sugar. I think a 1/4 cup across a dozen isn't too bad. One is whole wheat, and the other is very similar, but with cinnamon and granny smith apples. Then, I made oatmeal muffins that I will not eat, they have a half cup of brown sugar. But, the family can enjoy these things, and I will freeze a lot. I have been trying to bake and cook more, instead of eating out and buying snack food. It is much healthier for the kids to eat a pumpkin muffin or whole wheat muffin than sugar cereal or fruit snacks.

I made swiss chicken and green beans for dinner, and of course muffins, and the next recipe will be spinach and tortellini soup. But, not for tomorrow, because . . . .

Tomorrow, I will have been married to my love for 10 years!!! He is taking me out on the town! He is wonderful. Simply wonderful. He found a sitter, and the kids will stay overnight. They are delighted, the sitter is excited about it, and I get a full night off. I will even drop the dog off at the kennel. The plan is to see a live broadcast of "The Prairie Home Companion" at the State Theater, and he made dinner and hotel reservations. I am so excited!

I tried on my dressy clothes, and guess what? Most of my clothes are too big! My favorite dresses, they are too big! And, I even tried a few on from 8-10 years ago (I kid you not) and they are too big, well and a couple were just really out of date. They looked much better in my memory and on the hanger, than on me. This is because I have lost 45+ pounds in the last year. It is very satisfying to have to shop for pretty clothes, and not plus size pretty clothes.

So, tomorrow, after school, I will drop the dog off at the kennel, meet my husband- who will watch the kids, shop for a new outfit (downtown, I think), bring the kids to the sitter, go to the hotel- to get ready for my hot date!!!

I really would rather be out with my husband than anyone else in the world. He is wonderful, and the love of my life. I love him even more than the day that I married him. Our love has just grown deeper. I really am thankful to God for giving him to me. I couldn't imagine life without him.

Stargazing

We had a fun evening. We took the kids to the Observatory in Traverse City, and looked through some telescopes to see Jupiter with 4 of its moons, and our Moon. It was really a nice night, and my daughter was impressed. We can actually see more stars at home, in our own backyard, but we don't have a gigantic telescope. My son, told me as I put him to bed, "I didn't get to see all the cool stuff." I thought he was referring to falling asleep on the car ride home, but no, he was expecting to see ALL of the planets. He knew there were 8 (or 9 if you count pluto) and so, he felt gypped. But, we will go back, and maybe next time, we will see some other planets.

One little boy announced, "Well you know, the moon is made of Cheese!" He was going to view the moon through a telescope. It made me think of Wallace and Gromit. Perhaps you're a fan too.

Our school day went well. At one point, my daughter wanted to finish first, so she insisted on completing Reading, Vocabulary, and Social Studies without a break. She was motivated, so we did it. Then, she drew cute pictures of me and wrote stuff like, "Mom is fun" and "I love my mom". This was a nice treat!

Earlier in the day, she told me that she noticed her birthday party was going to be very short. (The invitations read 2-4 PM). She explained that it was simply too short, and that I was ruining her party! LOL! Well, we are inviting 10 kids (plus my two) so I don't think that I am ruining anything. I think 12 kids running around with Zhu Zhu pets for two hours is plenty of time!

My son did great on his vocabulary assessment. Every two weeks I check to see if he has an understanding of the words we have been learning in Wordly Wise 2000. He got every one! During the last two assessments, he barely participated and barely answered me, so I was starting to wonder if I was losing him with this program. But, we had success today, so we will continue!

I am desperately waiting to see a picture of my niece! She was born on Sunday. If you are reading this Mom, let Jim know that I want pictures!!!

Beautiful Sunny Morning!

It is a bit cool outside, but sunny and beautiful! What a beautiful morning, God made for us! I am so thankful!

My muscles are starting to crave exercise. The morning workout wasn't so great, the heat came on and blew hot air in my face at the first mile mark, and I got winded really fast. I closed the vent, but then I was thirsty, hungry, and fatigued. And, honestly, I didn't like getting up at 6:15 AM at all. But, by yesterday evening (with no morning workout) I wanted to walk! And knee lifts felt really good! My body just needed to stretch and move! So, it will be back to when I put the kids to bed, and more often than every other day, because it makes me feel really good :)

I eliminated McRuffy Phonics and Reading with my son, and we have just been working on Starfall.com this week, while I wait for Explode the Code. He loves it, and it makes him laugh. The school day has been much more pleasant since we made the change.

I looked at Christmas gift ideas for both kids. My daughter wants lots of Zhu Zhu pets and accessories. She also wants this Barbie doggie swim school. Its a pool with diving boards for pet (plastic) dogs. Barbie is their swim teacher, I guess. And, she wants more Littlest Pet Shop Stuffed toys. They have an online world - so at least its more than a weird looking stuffy. And, really, they are strange looking. Here's a picture of one.


My son, wants Kung Zhu pets and accessories. These are little motorized hamsters that wear battle armor and fight. They are very silly looking, but not as girly as Zhu Zhu pets. And, he wants more Geotrax. He doesn't want any of the GeoAir (add ons to fly planes and helicopters), but just the train layouts and trains. Below are pictures of Kung Zhu pets, oh my!





















I am in the mood for soup. I am making an Asian Chicken Noodle soup this morning. Its wonderful! I can't wait. But, I will cook it and save it for suppertime. Then, when we finish that, I have a Chili-corn soup with chicken and black beans. And, I will make homemade biscuits. I have never made "real" biscuits. I have used Bisquick, but then they have this "Bisquicky taste" I don't know, its kinda like how all the refrigerator biscuits kinda taste the same. So, I will try this out. I have a recipe for Ham and Lentil Soup with Tomatoes and Arugula, but I could not find Arugula. It looks like spinach, but I would guess they taste different. I have one more store to check, before I give up on that one. Its hard to find Arugula in the middle of nowhere, where we live!

I hope that you have a lovely day!

Its Fall!

I love this cartoon!!! Happy Fall everyone. Yesterday, we took out the leaf blower and rakes, and the kids jumped in a huge pile of leaves. I had my husband home to help, which is very unusual. He is usually out of town in the Fall. I told him that it was just a sprinkle of leaves. The trees have a ton of lovely leaves on them, it is so pretty!

I did not do school on Saturday. And, I didn't do school on Sunday either. We were just having so much fun! On Friday, the Air Station had a morale event at Pebble Creek Mini-Golf. We played 5 rounds of mini-golf with the kids! It was a blast. And, both kids got to ride the go-carts with Daddy. We had the afternoon, just to ourselves- just Coast Guard families. It was so relaxing and fun. Then, we went to a neighborhood park, and joined friends for a birthday party. It was another homeschooling family. The mom homeschools 8 kids! And, two other homeschooling families joined us, so we had a big crowd. We even brought Scotty, and he got lots of attention from everyone. He doesn't usually come with us, and was a good dog.

On Sunday, we went to church as a family. That is always a treat, because so much of the time, my husband is away or standing duty. Our friend that we bring was sick, so she could not join us, but hopefully she can come back next week. After church, and lunch, we went to Hoxie's Orchard. They have a corn maze, hay barn, wagon ride, pumpkin picking and apple picking. We did it all! Including donuts and cider. I didn't have a donut or cider, but I ate a delicious Honeysweet apple. Yummy! Then, we went into Traverse City and bought a Mac Mini at the Apple Store!! Hooray! We have a new computer :) My father-in-law gave us a computer monitor, so we just needed a keyboard and Mac Mini. It works great, and I will have so many more options for homeschool.

This morning, I am sitting here drinking my coffee (decaf) and thinking about changing my workout to the morning. Currently, I exercise about every other evening, doing between 1-3 miles of walking using a Leslie Sansone DVD. Actually, I have a collection of DVDs, so I alternate. But, my daughter wanted to walk with me this morning, and so we walked at 9 AM. I did the one mile, and she lost interest, but my whole body feels great! I seriously feel awesome! So, I am thinking, what if I could feel like this EVERY morning? I am going to set my alarm for 6:15 AM tomorrow. I will walk for 2 miles, shower and start the day. I have to finish before Arthur at 7 AM, because its my daughter's favorite show. But, this could be a very good thing! My days generally begin very sluggish. I have wanted to change that forever! So, I'll keep you posted!

I am going to check out Explode the Code online for Gideon today. It is a 12 month subscription, and costs around $70 for the year. It looks like a fun program, and I think it will solve the writing issues. He will type in answers, rather than print them, and it will move at his pace. McRuffy Reading is just too hard for him right now. If the program doesn't suit him, then I'm out $70, but I think my daughter can use it, and she could move through it quickly to her level.

Mmmm. this coffee is good! I think I've pushed past my cravings for "sweet" coffee, and I don't miss the sugar or splenda too much. I have given up artificial sweetners for a few weeks now.

Soon, my kids will have another cousin! I can't wait! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are expecting any day now. Her due date is Sunday, I believe. We live too far away for a visit, but hooray! We will have a new little one in the family soon. They will make great parents. And, they are close enough to both sets of grandparents, that this baby will see lots of family. I am so happy about that! I am waiting for you Babykins!!!