The Many Faces of Rex

One of my very favorite-est things about Rex is that you can have real photo sessions with him. He will attempt everything you ask of him. In this case, however, I let him do what he wanted. And, as always, he delivered!

Warm Remembrances

For some reason, I love this picture of my boys. It somehow sums up the essence of this campfire experience. My parents just moved out to a few acres, and the kids had spent the day helping them clear branches and such from around the place, so that Dad could mow more. Daddy or Papa, one of the 2, promised them they could have a fire to burn the wood as a reward. And of course, somewhere in there, marshmallows got negotiated (and elaborated on when the guests showed up with what else but chocolate and graham crackers). Meanwhile, it wasn't exactly freezing cold outside (although it was unseasonably cool), and the fire burned really hot (but I'm sure that has nothing to do with all the other things they burned with the wood).

Here's my other favorite boy playing with fire. That just warms a mother's heart, doesn't it? Who knows? This could be the record of Sariah's glasses slipping from Bob's pocket, unbeknownst (my spell checker says this isn't a word! isn't it a word?) to him, into the fire and melting into nothing more than 2 little wire circles.
Bob was so devastated. It made both of us a little sick at heart. Fortunately, the day after we returned home, Sariah had an appointment with her eye guy, and we were able to get her new glasses within a week. Good news! Although the difference between the vision in her eyes is not lessening (which is why she wears glasses), her vision is improving, and she has a much weaker prescription now. Yeehaw!

Creation

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Made

Write about something you made as a child.

My mother was rather crafty, so as a child, it seemed like I was always making something, be it cross-stitch, macrame, needlepoint, or little crafts for girl scouts. Two things, however, really strike the chords of my memory.

The first was something we did indeed make at girl scouts for Valentine's Day. They were angels made from old-fashioned clothespins, with heart-shaped construction paper wings of pink, white, and red (what else?). We drew faces on the knobby ends of the pins. Then, Mom, who was the troop leader, sent them off to the nursing home to put on the food trays of the residents there. I couldn't have been more than 7, if not even younger, but I remember how good I felt about doing that. Oh, if only I were as inspired now as my mother was!

And second, believe it or not, was the product of my shop experience in the 6th grade. We made necklaces out of plastic pieces. Mine was exceedingly ugly, as it was orange (which, if you don't already know, if my absolute least favorite color), brown (which, then, was my other least favorite color), and aqua blue. Yeah, they were pretty ugly together. In any case, we had to glue the pieces together, and then shape them and file them down into a pleasing shape that we would turn into the pendant on a necklace, or maybe a keychain. I don't remember shape everyone else picked, but mine was a teardrop ... a big, ugly, plastic, and slightly misshapen and lopsided teardrop. But oh, I was so proud of that! It represented a lot of hard work (not unfamiliar) and patient detailing (not not not one of my talents).

As an adult, I am so very pleased that I had those opportunities for creation. I didn't think of myself as very creative as a child. Even now, my creativity is limited to certain realms (like my writing). But still I found myself a part of the creative process, and learned the joy that came from that. Even if my end-results were not perfect, they were beautiful.

My Life Is....

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Six Word Saturday

Describe your life in six words.

Chaos. Joy. Christ. Books. Children. Love.

(I think it's a good life.)

(You knew I couldn't possibly limit myself to 6 words, didn't you?)

Crisis

Okay, I'm having a little bit of a ... well, a crisis right now.

So, last night I go out to dinner with 4 lady friends of mine. Age-wise, we ranged from my own 33 to a woman in her 50s. Our cook, the big wretch, the big brave wretch, decided to serve us in order of our ages as he perceived them. I was the youngest one there by almost 3 years (although, really, what's 3 years when you're in your 30s, right?), but he still thought I was the 2nd oldest. First, he told me it was the way I dressed. Then my lack of jewelry and make-up. And finally it was my "big librarian glasses." What the heck?!?! That was really self-esteem building.

Bottom line: I have no intention of wearing more make-up. It makes my face break out, and then I look like a really old lady with acne, of all things. I have no intention of wearing any more jewelry. It's too much a hassle, and I tend to lose shiny sparkly things. My glasses? Well, first of all, they're not that big! Have you seen pictures of me from my high school years, people? And second of all, I've tried contacts, and that didn't go well. And as to my clothes ... okay, I have no fashion sense. I wear what I want to wear because nothing really looks good on me, so I might as well be comfortable without being sloppy. Although, I do get comfortably sloppy at home pretty regularly. But I digress.

Bringing it back to my bottom line: I guess I'm just going to have to look old then.

But I hope I don't run into that guy on the street sometime. He makes me really grumpy. And you never know what a crotchety old lady will do when she's grumpy.

My Honeys

Don't my kids take great pics?

Indian Cave State Park

Since we were only 4 miles from Nebraska, I felt compelled to add another state to my list. I was trying to compete with Bob, but he decided to come, and now we just canceled out our additions, I guess. Anyhow, Mom & Dad and my aunt & uncle took us to Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska.

It was a pretty awesome little place. They had a working village of sorts, with a soap maker, a candle maker, a blacksmith, and a broom maker. There was also a school house with a merry-go-round out front which entertained my children for a long while.


I think I mentioned that Grammy got to come. She was such a great picture poser!


Sariah worked hard, darn it. Check it out!


This is the Indian Cave that the park boasts. It has ancient petroglyphs carved on these walls, things like bison and eagles. We had to punish Hannah though, because we thought she made her own carvings. They read HANNAH + JUSTIN. I don't know how she got up so high to carve it where she did, and I'm still wondering who Justin is.... {wink!}


The views were breathtaking.
And of course, we had to take some pictures by the Missouri River. Where we come from, rivers this big are ... well, nonexistent.

Hannah's so awesome!

Independence Visitors' Center

While in Kansas City, we visited the Independence Visitors' Center for our church.

Sariah really liked the statue of the Christus. She kept asking to "be c[l]ose to Jesus."


Outside, there was gorgeous landscaping, and it was just the right temperature, with light drizzle, until we got into our car and zoomed off to Grammy and Papa's house. The kids humored me and posed for lots o' pictures.


Inside, they had not only some life-size representations of LDS pioneer life in Independence, but also a children's area where they could play and test things out. Sariah was thrilled!


We visited 2 other ares there. One was a photo gallery called Reflections of Christ. The pictures were amazing, and gave me all sorts of new things to ponder and contemplate.

The second was a presentation called "God's Plan for His Family," and it was also most awesome. It was a gentle reminder to me of how important family is to Heavenly Father, and how important it needs to be in my life. I walked out with a mental list of things I need to prioritize and work on, so that my family can be as important to me as the Lord wants it to be.

Kansas City

To any teenagers I know, this is proof that you don't stay young forever. Don't deny it. I used to think that, too.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a crew of middle-aged (already?) parents of, all together, 12. But really, that's not what this is a picture of. This is a picture of 5 band geeks (hey, this is a family blog!) from high school (there really were 5 of us, but that picture didn't turn out so well) who used to run around together and get into trouble and think they would never grow old. Okay, I still think I won't ever get old, but pictures like this make that really hard to maintain. But hey, at least we don't have zits anymore (most of the time), right? And still no wrinkles yet.

Before we trekked out to the middle of nowhere ... er, I mean, my parents' house in Kansas, we stopped in Kansas City, and met with my BFF from high school, Krista, and another set of friends, Colby and his wife Jennifer, who went to h.s. with us. And our friend, Jon, and his family were coming up through KC on their way back home. So we all got together for dinner (thanks Colby and Jenn!!) and good times. Had a lot of fun.

All of us had 10 year old children. It was amazing to see those 4 kids together. I so wish we'd gotten a picture. They were so different! One super tiny, one super tall, all in various stages of development and maturity. What an eye-opener.

On another note, did you know that in KC in the days before Independence Day, you're allowed to blow off all sorts of firecrackers? It was nuts, but somehow it was fitting. It felt like the Independence area was keeping up its rough, wild, frontier-city image (or the one I've always had in my head, anyway). Krista says it can be like living in a war zone. I could tell Bob and the kids thought this was totally awesome. I'm pretty sure they want to go back there next year, too. When we drove into town, we kept seeing all these tent sales at the churches. Here in Oklahoma, a tent sale typically means someone is selling books or shoes. I kept wondering how the churches could sell that much religious material right out of their own parking lots. Nah. It was fireworks, amazing, incredible amounts of fireworks.

I never play with fire, honest.

Independence Day 2009

This year, we celebrated the 4th of July in Bern, Kansas, where my aunt and uncle live, and near my parents' new home. If you look at a map, you point your finger north of Topeka, west of St. Joseph, Missouri, and close to the Nebraska border. That's where it is. Normally, we spend the evening with friends from church, partaking of Norman and Moore's fireworks, as well as Toby Keith's get-up, and a bunch of blasting of our pyrotechnics, as it's outside of city limits. Way fun.

Bern's show was pretty awesome. It started with a bunch of activities for the kids, like horseback riding:

There are many other pictures of Rex on this horse. I was hoping to catch him looking less ... um, awkward. But he was busy hanging on for dear life. I haven't giggled like that in a long time. It was highly entertaining, bless his heart.

There was also face-painting for the kids. I tried to get my kids to have "OU" painted on themselves, but as we were in foreign territory (and really close to Husker land), none of them were brave enough, the punks. That's a rainbow on Sariah's arm, by the way.


We had BBQ dinner, root beer floats, pie, and of course, chocolate ice cream (all after Aunt Kathie's fabulous 4th luncheon). Rex really enjoyed his ice cream.
The kids got to run all over the place, and we didn't really have to hunt them down. There were a lot of people there, but nothing like Norman's sardine can of a celebration.
It was cold. 70s and light drizzle (not heavy enough to cancel the show, woot!). It was fabulous!!!!! We had to borrow jackets from my cousin and his family. Hey! It was like 105F when I packed. How was I to know it would be downright cold on the 4th of July?
We listened to my cousin's daughter, Bethany, sing the National Anthem right before the show. She and her friend did awesome!
And then, the show. Mom kept telling me Bern put on a better show than Norman, which I have always thought does a fantastic job for Independence Day. How could I believe that of a town of 200? We live in a town of 100,000+. Surely, Bern couldn't outclass Norman, right?

What a snob I am!

I am forced to admit that Bern outclassed Norman, easily. My kids were asking to go back next year before the fireworks even started. The fireworks show was amazing, and we were close enough to feel the ground shake (but not close enough to feel the cinders, as some people I know aim for). And one of the best parts, the traffic ... well, it didn't take us very long to get home.

We had a ton of fun. Have no idea what my plans are for next year, but we made some good memories this year, and I'm so grateful for that.

The One-Minute Writer

I've been following a particular blog, The One-Minute Writer, for quite some time now.

A few months back, a friend of mine asked me what I was doing with this one talent I have, writing. And of course, I said, "Well, nothing." I am the sort of person that believes you should do something with the talents that you have, but the scope for which I have used my writing skills isn't very wide. It's pretty much been confined to my journal and my blog. I'm also the sort that buys into the "Use It or Lose It" theory. So I've been feeling like I need to practice my skills periodically.

Which brings us back to the One-Minute Writer. I came across it as a featured blog, and love the concept of it. A writing prompt is posted each day, and you are supposed to take one minute to respond to the prompt. Naturally, I have bent the rules to my needs, or perhaps more accurately, my desires. Most days, I have way too much to say to limit myself to one minute. The idea when I started was to respond to the writing prompt every day. But what can I say? I'm the mother of 5; sometimes that's just not feasible. And sometimes I just find the prompts ... overwhelming (I dread and abhor Friday Fiction). I don't know whether that's my depression, or my fear of failure, or blah, blah, blah (more psychobabble)? But the point is, I do what I can do, and I don't sweat what I can't with regards to this goal of mine.

So, the point of all this is, if you want to hear my take on the latest HP movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, you can jet on over to my other blog and take a peek here.

Disappointment

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Disappointing

Write about something you wanted very much that ended up disappointing you after you got or achieved it.

I know that this has happened to me, but pulling the memories out of my head is proving more difficult than I thought it would be. I think, though, that's a good thing, because it hopefully signifies that I'm not dwelling on my disappointments. If I spent all my time dwelling, I'd be pretty miserable.

Oh, I've got one! And it even happened this week.

We've been looking forward for months--9, to be exact, since they switched the opening date--to see the most recent Harry Potter movie. Of course, none of them have been as good as the books, but as movies they've been pretty decent. On Thursday, we rounded up 4 of our own kids, and 8 of their friends, and headed up to Bricktown to see the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was just ... terribly disappointing; that's truly the best description. It was really big on details for cinematic effect, like the owl on the podium when Dumbledore greeted Hogwarts the first day. But it was terrible for reflection of the actual and accurate substance and plot line of the book. That was disheartening, because I think Rowling's books are fabulous and adventurous and full of amazing story lines. Yes, you got to see every single character the movies have ever introduced (only a slight exaggeration there), but there was no plot or character development whatsoever.

I almost wrote that I hated it. But really I didn't hate it. I hated that I had so looked forward to it, and then was so disappointed.

When in Kansas

When you're in Kansas in the month of July, you celebrate my mom's birthday (obviously). I won't tell you how old she turned, although you can probably figure it out. She probably won't be too thrilled with this picture either--I have a much better one of her smiling. However, Sariah's help was too priceless to pass up, and we all know that Mom treasures cheeks puffed out pictures. I can't help but observe that I notice her cheeks were not puffed out. Clever of her, yes?

And by the way, birthdays in Kansas are awesome, because when you throw a party with family, sometimes, just sometimes, a local preacher drops in unexpectedly, says a blessing (a really nice one, too), shares your cake and ice cream, and talks until all of the family has escaped outside except for the birthday girl and her loving husband. What a loving family!

So, to my wonderful mother: Happy Birthday! I owe her big, because on her real birthday, I was in the ER with Caleb and his hives until 11pm, and had left my cell phone in Bob's car with the 11 other kids we'd taken to Bricktown to see Harry Potter that afternoon. So I didn't even get to call her and tell her how much I love and appreciate her. I did call the next morning at 7:30. I thought it would be commemorative of all the days growing up that I lovingly let her sleep in.

It's okay. You don't have to say it. I know I'm the most thoughtful child (and wife, too) on earth.

Anticipation

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Seat

What makes you sit on the edge of your seat in anticipation?

Since we've determined that I have depression, this is a harder question to answer. I don't really look forward to a lot of things. In fact, I absolutely dread so many things. But I am determined to put a positive spin on this, so.... I think what most makes me edge to the front of my seat is time in my own house--I'm such a homebody at heart--all by myself, with no one standing around whining, except me of course, but if there's nobody there, there's nobody to whine to, and nobody making demands on my time or attention. For some reason, I love the freedom of roaming my own house all by my lonesome, even if I'm cleaning or working on a project. That's lots o' fun to me.

See these fingers?

Yeah, she's got each one of us wrapped around one, and Daddy wrapped around all the rest. See how she has her big brother lovingly tending her baby and holding all of her belongings on the way home from Kansas? I think she's gonna be a great wife someday. ;)

Woeful

So, my blogging efforts have been woefully lacking lately. I've been really busy. I know that's hard to believe what with the migrant husband, 5 kids, 2 mischievous dogs, new house, new car, visit to Kansas, and the various medical ailments of various children, but still it's true. I've been busy.

However, I spent some time uploading all of my pics from the last 3 weeks. And now I'm feeling inspired. So, I'll start you off with a few pics from our vacation to visit family.

I wasn't trying to push him in. Honest. He believes me. I swear. :D

Just Call Us the Economy Stimulators

As I mentioned on Facebook a few days back, I don't think anyone can accuse us of not doing our part to spend more money and help our economy along.

Just this week, we bought ourselves a new vehicle. It's an '05 Suburban (one of my dream cars, along with a Mitsubishi Eclipse, a classic Ford Mustang, and a Nassau Blue Corvette). But the most important thing to remember about this new truck is that it has AC. The Nastymobile did not; it was on its 2nd summer AC-less. I was eager to get rid of it, as we were taking it shopping in last week's 100+ degree temps. Even the salesman told me he couldn't send me home in that thing in good conscience (which was another way of getting me to drive his vehicle, but you know what? I was okay with that!). Anyhow, we're really excited about our 9-passenger ride. ROTFL
Here's a picture of our old car (which is actually newer than our "new" car). I love my Corolla. It makes me very happy, especially since we didn't have to trade it in after all, which we thought we might have to do to get a decent car. This is a nice alternative for me and Sariah when we're running errands during the day when all the other kids are gone. It eats way less gas, but I think that's pretty self-evident. :)
And last, but certainly not least: my new house. It's got 2300 sq feet, an extra large garage, and a totally cool master suite. The subdivision is relatively new, so there are lost of empty lots that my kids run around in (and collect impossible-to-remove Oklahoma red dirt in their duds). It looks crooked in this picture, but that's because we live on a hill. Someday I'll post pics of the inside. In the mean time, you should consider yourself lucky to see this much of it, and thank my friend Misty for nagging me.

Attractive

Monday, June 29, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Attractive

Think about the most attractive person you know. What is it that makes them so attractive to you?

Without a doubt, kindness, courtesy, and respect always grab my attention. It doesn't matter if the person is old or young, greying or a Greek god. The way he treats other people makes all the difference.

?

Where, oh where is the new car for me? I know you are waiting for me to buy you. Where, oh where can you be?

The Shoe Files

I haven't posted one of these in awhile. Technically, this is from early May, but I've been a little busy.

The first pic are, in order, Rex's old shoes, Rex's new shoes, and Elisabeth's shoes. I just do this to highlight Rex's feet. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but this kid has the longest, relative to size, stinkin' feet I've ever seen on anybody. He's 4 years younger than Elisabeth, but his feet are the same size! Anyhow, note that Rex's old shoes weren't really all that worn out; they were just waaaaay too short!
Meanwhile, here are Caleb's latest trade in. Boys are really, really hard on shoes! They were so pretty new!

Frogtape

A note about the Frogtape I mentioned in my previous post. Do make a point to go to the website and read all of their tips. There aren't a lot of instructions on the container, and you really do have to make sure you secure all the tape with a putty knife (or in my case, something like unto it). Learn from my mistakes, and you'll be much happier. ;) Happy taping!

Reader

Sariah (also known as Cousin Itt) has a new favorite pastime of late.

Voila!

We finished the girls' room today. No pictures of my new house yet, but I do have pictures of the big accomplishment. It was hard to get a really good pic because the room is oddly shaped, but you get the general idea.

Those lines really are pretty sharp. I did some touching up, but not very much. I love Frogtape!

Oh Well.

Okay, okay, so all I got done yesterday was some laundry (thanks to my friend) and most of the stripes in the girls' bedroom. And I read a book and indulged in an ice cream sandwich and laid around for a little while. And my best friend visited, and we ate Girl Scout cookies together (I need to fish those out from under the bed, where I hid them from the Cookie Monster, a.k.a. Sariah). Not a bad day, though I didn't get my list done.

However, I should definitely finish the girls' room today. Only one more stripe to go. Hooray! Then, who knows what. My whole house has fallen apart in my absence. Haha!

And Bob has finished weeding the flower bed and disposed of all the cardboard boxes (from the dining set) around our front yard, so I should be able to take some decent pictures today. We'll see about that, eh?

And P.S. No unplanned trips to Lowe's or Home Haynes. No planned ones, either. :D

Agenda

As to yesterday:

• Painted the girls' room: check. Now, it's on to the stripes. And no I'm NOT bitter that we discovered the hard way that our walls are NOT primed.
  
• Picked up the van: check. Still hate it, especially after spending more money on it, but at least nobody can hear us coming from a mile away anymore.
  
• Laundry: check. Sort of. I guess according to the parameters of my goal, 2 loads count.
• Netflix: check. Bonus: I even bought stamps and mailed all my bills, too!
• Library: check. I only took 2 of the kids, but that's okay. We'll probably go back today, too. Note to self: NO MORE NEW LIBRARY BOOKS FOR ME! My stack is growing out of control. Must finish the ones I have. ROTFL

On the agenda today:

• Painting stripes in the girls' room.
• More laundry. Maybe I better set an observable goal, as in clear my bathroom floor of dirty laundry.
• Doing the handwash dishes. Ugh. I hate that.
• Hanging blinds in the kitchen, study, and entryway.
• Another trip to the library with the rest of the children.
  

Yep. That oughta keep me busy for awhile.

Agenda

On my agenda today:

• Painting the girls' room. They're ready for furniture given that we found a scorpion in their room last night. (Not that that would prevent a scorpion from climbing into bed with them....)
• Picking up the van from the mechanic. The brakes needed repair. And then it's time to hunt for a new vehicle. You know, one with AC and no monthly repair bills. Although, I guess there's not a whole lot of difference between a monthly payment and a monthly repair bill. Except the security and peace that comes from knowing you're WAY less likely to break down on the side of the road. But I digress....
• Catching up the laundry. Okay, okay, not really. More like doing SOME of the laundry. We just need clean underwear, right?
• Mailing back my Netflix flick so I can get a new one. I would ask for suggestions but my queue is about 100 movies long right now. And growing.
• Taking my kids to the library, so they can have new books, which means the girls, at least, will quit following me around asking what they can do. For some reason, they never want to clean the bathroom, do the dishes, pick up dog doo-doo, or vacuum.

Wow! I'm not sure I will accomplish everything on this list today. I get distracted so easily. It's the 5 kids, I think. :D Hugs to all!

Overdrive

I think I'm headed into overdrive, and I'm not sure how to stop. Wait, scratch that. I AM in overdrive. I need to stop. But I think my brakes are locked. I don't even know if that analogy makes sense.

The cream of the cake came this morning when my dog bit me. Not Jonah. Junebug, the "obedient" one. I don't think she meant to. I think my leg was just in the way. She couldn't get to a loose dog because I had her on a lead, so she tried to get to Jonah, who was also on a lead, instead. And I was in the way. It was the last thing I expected in a very long week of unexpected things.

I'm really cranky. It's why I haven't been blogging. I'm exhausted. It's why I haven't been blogging. But I miss my "old" life. Not the old house, but the structure and order (believe it or not) of knowing where everything was and where everything should go and what needed to get done at a particular time. I miss not having to go to Lowe's or Home Depot or Ace every day. I miss blogging regularly.

I know things will get better. They really will. It's just a matter of getting there intact, right? So in an effort to achieve that, I'm going to try to get myself back into the swing of things I really love, like blogging. Just bear with me for a little why if my posts are gloomy and grumpy. You don't even have to read them. Come back in a few weeks and see if things are perking up, as they are bound to do.

Hugs to all!

Sigh.

I think I live in a state of perpetual exhaustion these days. If it's not one thing, it's another. Oh, and meanwhile, I'm living in boxes. I promise pictures of the new house, my babies, and all those cool things we've been doing. Now, if I can just find my camera.... :)