Thursday, April 26, 2007

Job 12:10 & Hebrews 2:13

In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:10

I have been kind-of down in the dumps for the past week or so. It really stems from a bad attitude. I feel like I am always pregnant & not losing the weight in between has really taken it's toll. At first I thought the solution was NO MORE CHILDREN after this pregnancy but that seems a bit selfish, "I don't want more children because I don't want to gain weight" I have also been reading Birthing God's Mighty Warriors by Rachel Giove Scott and realize that God has chosen me to bring eternal souls onto this earth, WOW! Every time I see that positive pregnancy test, I know that God has personally touched my womb to allow life to grow! What an amazing gift he is giving me, using my body to house an eternal life. What an honor, what a blessing! My weight is my problem not my curse, it is how I deal with pregnancy, I use it as an excuse to eat whatever I want. So I have taken this realization to heart, I have started walking & eating as healthy as I know how while still making sure to take care of the little one that has been intrusted to me. So far it has been great! I started officially on Monday & have actually lost 8 lbs. I have been keeping a food journal and tracking my workout schedule & weight. I went over it all with my midwife today & she thought it was great since I was getting enough iron, folate, calcium, protein, and water. The baby's heartbeat was good and seems to be growing just fine. I have signed up for http://www.babyfit.com/ to keep track of my food intake, exercise journal, and weight. I am praying I can keep this up consistently throughout my pregnancy, I know I will feel better with a minimal amount to lose after #6 arrives. The kids are getting into the act & have taken turns walking on the treadmill or doing push-ups or squats with me, so cute! So I may still be hormonal but I have a new appreciation for being pregnant and bringing a new life into the world and I am happier overall.

Here am I and the children that God has given me.
Hebrews 2:13

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Luna Moth

Luna Moth
Actias luna
Giant Silkworm Moth Family

4". Wings pale green, each with eyespot; leading edge of forewings purple, others edged in purple and white; hindwings have very long tail. Body yellow-green. Nocturnal. Caterpillar green with yellow side stripes; red, orange, and yellow tubercles. HABITAT Broadleaf woods. FOOD PLANTS Hickories, walnuts, Sweet Gum. SEASON Mar.-Sept.

This cutie was on our bathroom window last night. I think they are so beautiful. The above info is from National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southeastern States. Photo credits go to my 8 yr old (almost) daughter Erin.


Monday, April 23, 2007

Prince Charming


Hopping Frog, Hop Here and Be Seen

by Christina Rossetti


Hopping frog, hop here and be seen,

I'll not pelt you with stick or stone:

Your cap is laced and your coat is green,

Good bye, we'll let each other alone.


Plodding toad, plod here and be looked at,

You the finger of scorn is crooked at:

But though you're lumpish, you're harmless too;

You won't hurt me, and I won't hurt you.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Budding Naturalists


Friends
by Emily Dickinson

Are friends delight or pain?
Could bounty but remain
Riches were good.

But if they only stay
Bolder to fly away,
Riches are sad.


Not a completely accurate portrayal of my sentiments but close enough. We have spent a few precious days with treasured friends and enjoyed every minute of it. I am so grateful for the effort they made to get here that I am not complaining they were only able to stay a few days. I'll take what I can get, the time with friends is too precious.
The children played & played, never fussed (well, except a few squabbles between my boys but that is just life). They dressed up and preformed a play, spent time building a house in the woods by a dried up waterfall, read books, hiked, played in the creek, stayed up late, read their Story Starters, and just truly enjoyed each others company.
I was so stressed when they arrived because earlier in the day a frozen 16 lbs turkey was dropped into my silgranite sink causing it to shatter (who knew granite could shatter????) & how in the world could I function without a kitchen sink? It literally has cracks all through (that leak) and an 8 in. triangle missing, so we stuck a bowl under it and kept on going! I had bought a new lampshade for the boys/guest room & before company could arrive, the boys knocked it over & it began to melt/ burn through the lampshade by the time I noticed.
Now, let me tell you about my friend, she is always pulled together, she always looks great, even in jeans & t-shirt, and has this fabulous knack for making things like a broken sink seem like no big deal. She is so laid back, nothing is too stressful or worth getting upset about. I wish I had her ability to let things just roll off my back. I can see this quality in her children also, they are all such a pleasure to be around.
So without much planning on our part we have managed a get together once a month for the girls to read their Story Starters, so the pressure is on to get together in May & be consistent. I think we need a few days at the beach anyway...

Monday, April 16, 2007

Blah, blah, blah

I am just going to ramble a bit today & then leave a more organized post for another day. It's actually not too early this morning & sweet hubby is on his way to work. This cold weather is about to make me crazy, I'm pregnant, I'm supposed to be hot. We were at my parents this past weekend and when we packed for this trip I checked the weather, 70's, so I packed accordingly. But we never saw 70 or 60, I'm not sure if we even saw 50 but we did see some spitting snow, ugh! If I wanted cold weather I would have stayed in Michigan! So I'm freezing while I type, of course, I could turn the heat up but I'm trying to make a point, it's April, I should be flipping on the air or at least opening the windows but instead I am bundled in sweats, eyeing the fireplace, and thinking about nice warm oatmeal for breakfast. Enough whining about the cold...

My oldest took a sewing class during our visit to Chattanooga. I do NOT sew at all so this was a great opportunity for Abby to get started with her new machine. My mother was teaching the class & my niece was also in the class. I could not believe they finished a whole skirt in their first class. It was so cute. The only thing missing was the hem but other than that it was complete. It is an ankle length, straight, knit skirt absolutely adorable. The fabric was so easy for her to work with & looks so cute on her. She wore it yesterday. I was thoroughly impressed! Isn't it adorable...

While they were sewing, my sister & I had a play date planned at their new neighborhood playground. It was freezing & my kids were wearing shorts & short sleeves. I did have a few jackets for them but it was still cold. Luckily, it started to rain so we could drag their cold tushies inside. The kids played & were warm while we had a nice visit & enjoyed our cozy, warm Starbucks. Eric drove up after work on Friday & helped my dad tear down his deck, they are having a new one built today. We had a family day, our belated Easter/Esther's b-day celebrations...

On this week's agenda, friends from AL are heading this way for a few days, we are so excited! And the weather is supposed to warm up. So things are looking up. I don't have a lot of plans for us, just lots of time for the kids to play and lots of time to visit and maybe walk to the end of the street to check out our neighbors horses. It's times like this I wish I knew our neighbors so the kids could pet & maybe feed the horses but everyone around here keeps to themselves, I've only seen them a few times but we do enjoy watching their horses...

OK, I'm off to make my to-do list for the day...

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Nature Study















Brown and Furry
by Christina Rossetti

Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.














A photo update








These are pictures from our trip to Alabama last week & one from Easter. Enjoy!

Monday, April 9, 2007

Global Warming, sunburns, and COLD weather


All I can say about this weather is "Thank Goodness for Global Warming". Can you imagine how cold it would be if the ozone layer was intact and the earth wasn't warming at such a dangerous rate. We would all be frozen after this past weeks cold spell. We have gone from 80+ degree days and nights when the a/c had to be turned on to stoking the fire & cranking the heat. This is April for crying out loud! OK, enough whining about things completely out of my control. Maybe I will be grateful if this slows down the mosquito population for the upcoming year.
Anyway, feeble attempts at humor from someone who has been up since 2:30 am! Eric couldn't sleep so he decided to get up early & head off to work by 4:00 am. I should have gone back to bed but didn't, the coffee smelled good and the house was so quiet.
So, here I am trying to figure what this post will be about. How about a sneak peek at the prints I just ordered. These are by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. I have a frame that holds 8 4x6 photos so I thought we would put his prints in and enjoy them all term.
I love artist study, I wish I knew more before I had children so I could have been a better resource to them but I do enjoy learning with them.
Last week was very busy, we spent Monday & Tuesday deep in school & preparing to go to AL. Wednesday we drove, Thursday we continued packing up the "beach cottage", did a little shopping, visited with our friends, and were absolutely wiped out by the end of the day. Friday was the best! We were supposed to go on a field trip but it was cancelled due to the weather & the ferry to take us to Dauphin Island was closed. The weather was windy & chilly, brrrrr! We opted for a picnic with friends instead. It ended up being a great day. Katy & I walked away with MAJOR sunburns from sitting outside all day. It never even dawned on me to use sunscreen or cover-up since it wasn't hot (duh!). But we had a blast, the kids just played & played (in the dirt, of course!), they spent time in the glen, testing the Loquats, across the street to the playground, discovering dead "bobcats" (not really but a bobcat, just a domestic cat that had seen better days). We finally called it a day around 5:00 and said our good-byes (so hard!), headed back to the "beach cottage" to load up the vehicles & head home. We drove back to GA and made it in by 2:00 am, exhausted but glad to be home. Eric & I slept most of the day on Sat, Eric wasn't feeling well and I had the chills from my sunburn. The kids had full run of the house and they didn't disappoint! The house is a disaster, I think the boys pulled out every toy they own & dropped it on the living room floor and then spread it through the rest of the house. I have a hard & fast rule that toys are NOT allowed in my room but somehow a wooden castle has found it's way into my bedroom, which I stepped on trying to get out of bed this morning, not one of my happier moments! So, guess what we're doing this morning! Throwing away toys...I wish. No, I'm such a sap for their toys that I will help clean them up so they can be dragged out another day.
Easter was such a beautiful day. We really downplay the Easter bunny nonsense and even though we have forgone the whole day in years past we decided to do small baskets (VERY small) and dye 10 eggs & do a small egg hunt. I try not to link this to Jesus resurrection in any way since I really do not believe the disciples were out hunting for eggs and passing out candy filled baskets claiming to be overgrown rabbits as they celebrated the resurrection in their years of spreading the gospel. So why even celebrate at all? I don't know, I'm weak. I am sucked into the commercialism of it all and feel like a bad parent if I ignore a holiday that will be fun for my kids.
We have finally decided on colors for the girls room, yahoo, progress! Blue w/ white trim (like the sky & clouds), the loft bed painted nutmeg brown (like a tree for my outdoorsy chic), with a green comforter (green leaves & such from a tree). Erin wants her bed painted white (when Daddy gets a chance to build the frame, we have the headboard) so it will look like a garden gate and her comforter will have flowers on it. They are hoping to make their room feel like the outdoors, did you get that impression? They are so cute! It did take some tweaking on my part because originally Abby wanted it to be an underwater scene with blue walls and fish, dolphins, etc painted on the walls. Sorry, but that is just not going to happen! So she decided this was the next best thing.
I have pictures of our trip & Easter hullabaloo but have not downloaded them yet so I will try to post those at some point.
This week's agenda is MT&W school, clean up this messy house, prime the walls in the school room & the girls room, organize cabinets in the kitchen, unpack our stuff from the AL house, leave for Chattanooga on Th for the weekend. Eric is going to meet me there & bring my treadmill back (we had let my parents borrow it but they didn't use it as much as they had originally thought they would & we didn't have room for it in the AL house) YEAH, I can't wait! I will get to see my sister on Friday!!!!! And spend a family day with my parents & my sisters family on Sat! Looking forward to that. So, lots to do this week.
Have a great week!

Monday, April 2, 2007

Diamonds are a girls best friend?

Not if you ask my daughter! She is 9, almost 10, and her Daddy bought her a rifle this weekend. She was ecstatic! Personally, I am terrified of guns. I don't know why, left-over paranoia from my liberal days living in New England, I guess. In theory I am all for people owning guns, we have the right to protect our families and hunt. We currently live in the woods and Coyote have been spotted in our area, my husband thought it would make me feel safe. I will get used to it I'm sure but for now I have this insane image of it falling out of the closet & shooting my child (You do know guns have a mind of their own, don't you? I mean we've all heard it, Guns Kill, not people, GUNS) So, of course I am little apprehensive. Luckily, I have been able to hide my fear so as not to pass it on to my children. I even fired the evil thing a few times. My poor dog, she'll be fine though, just a flesh wound. (That was a joke BTW)
What else have we been up to this past weekend? Oh, I know, yesterday I washed my husbands bonus check. Isn't money laundering illegal? I hope that doesn't extend to checks! Corny, I know, but it's early & this is my feeble attempt at humor. I taped it back together & pray the bank will still let me deposit it.
We have been drudging along decorating the house, prepping the girls room to paint (sort-of), working on school, clearing a spot for our garden, etc. Busy but not a lot of interesting stuff to blog about. We did take pictures of the flowers & trees blooming on our street & in our yard so I am scattering those throughout this blog for your enjoyment. I love Spring!

We are off to our beach cottage for a few days this week, it will be nice to get back to the ocean & friends even if it is for just a few days. That "beach cottage" comment is a joke BTW, I am referring to the dump we rented & still have 2 months left on the lease. That is where my poor hubby stays during the week while he is working. But we really are looking forward to visiting friends and I have a surprise field trip planned for the kids, they will be thrilled to see their friends and spend a day at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Estuarium.