Belly Button Wax

Joshi got some money for his birthday. He spent some and then had over 20 dollars left that he hadn't been able to make a decision on. Until the other day. He saw some nasty kit that you make gross things but then they are edible so after you make the florescent green brain you get to eat it. I don't understand this. And until today I thought maybe it was a boy thing. Now I know it is a boy thing.

Here is how it went down.

Mike and the boys and I were in the car.

Josh- "Can we go to Walmart so I can buy the gross make it and eat it kit?"

Me- "Honey I know it looks cool but I am sure it isn't as cool as it looks and wouldn't it be nice to use the rest of that money to buy some....say nice winter boots instead?"

Mike- " Son your mom is right. Let me tell you when I was a boy I had this wax melting kit. You would put these wax pieces in and it melted them into a mold. You could make these little race cars that really worked. And that was cool until the wax was all gone, then......"

Joshi- " Couldn't you just use some ear wax or belly button wax and put it in there?"

Me- "Oh my!"

Mike- "Belly button wax? No you couldn't use that, but any ways we finally tried to use other things like crayons and stuff but it never worked the same, Once we used chocolate that really didn't work. So we put it away and after a while we got it back out again and tried it out with some other stuff....man it was pretty cool I wish I still had it."

Seth- " I wish you still had it too, it sounds cool!"

Me- thinking, what just happened here? We started out alright but something has gone terribly wrong!

Josh- "Sooooo...can we go get the gross make it and eat it kit?"

(this is where I took over)

Me- " Honey we are going to use the rest of the money for some cool winter boots, okay?"

Josh- "Okay."

Done.

Kristen

Barbecue and Baptism

Yesterday was an incredible day. It has taken me until almost two o'clock Monday to be able to start assembling my thoughts into words. I still don't think I am quite there yet. I have never experienced anything quite like what happened at the Barbecue and Baptism yesterday.

Church was awesome yesterday morning the band was hot and the teaching was excellent. Then we grabbed something to eat and headed back for the barbecue and baptism. There were jumpy things and such for the kids to play on and I got to talk to so many people. Lots of great conversations and even met a couple home school moms new to The Orchard!

Then the food, which was out of this world. It was catered, no scary pot luck meals, and so delicious. My boys licked their plates! After about 10 minutes of eating there was a pretty serious cloud burst which had my husband scrambling, for the speakers set up outside, but everything made it out okay.

After some serious prayer about the weather the clouds moved out and the sun came through and we headed next door to the water park. It shut down for the evening and Orchard took over. Mike and I got to help to baptize some of the over 100 people who took the plunge yesterday. It was incredible. I don't have any other words to describe the look on these people faces as they came up out of the water. Awesome. I feel truly blessed and honored that I was allowed the privilege to take part in this day.

The joy, the tears, the life-change, incredible.

Isn't Technology Great?

I got to see and talk to my girls today with a little video chat! Man, I think they have grown!

They are having a great time with their Nana and Papa and being utterly spoiled. But it also sounds like they are helping out. Mom and Dad just bought a new house so there is lots to be done. Kylee has been out in the yard with Papa preparing it for grass and plants and Faith has been inside helping Nana clean and cook.

8 more days and I get them back!!

Kristen

Tapestry of Grace

I got my new curriculum on Friday. It is very exciting. I took my first real look at it this morning after Mike left for work. I didn't get very far when I realized I would need close to 30 books per week from the library. Not such a big deal, we go to the library a lot. But just about all of those books need to be put on hold from other libraries. I was in a bit of a panic when I went to the library this morning.

I asked the librarian what their policy was on holds and when I explained to her my dilemma she told me about the down town library's home school program. I had heard briefly about it before but didn't think it was worth the trek. But what she told me today made em reconsider my opinion of it.

Not only do you get a special library card that allows you to keep the books longer but if I give them a list of the books that i need they will compile them for me and have them ready for me to pick up!!!!

Sign me up!

Kristen

I Saw a Bear and I Almost Threw Up...

Mike and I were blessed this last week with the an awesome gift. We received an overnight stay here.

So after church on Sunday Mike and I loaded up the kids, our suits and a ton of junk food and headed out of town. Grand Bear is in Starved Rock, not too far from our home. I quickly decided as we drove into town that this has got to be our next camping destination. It is really a pretty area.

Our family suite had two queen beds and a pull out couch, a mini fridge, and microwave. We didn't want to spend a fortune on food so we loaded up our fridge with drinks and snacks. After we settled in a bit we headed to the indoor amusement park. This is where Mike and I discovered that we are no long kids. I know that at some point I was able to ride rides that twirled you in circles. But apparently, I can't any more, so the boys were on their own. Mike was a trooper and hung with them as long as he could with out hurling but I could not ride any the first day. Pathetic!

We quickly decided that our focus here was going to be the indoor water park. So we changed into our suits and headed under ground. We had too much fun at the pool!! It was great. Not too crowded and lots of fun things to do. Both our boys are great swimmers so they just had fun swimming and playing.

Sunday evening we had a smorgasbord of microwave nuggets, chips and cheese dip, cookies, pudding, crackers and cheese, and the all important twizzlers. And the highlight, I let them eat in their bed. Hilarious! I wish I had a picture but unfortunately I forgot the camera.

On Monday we spent most of the day at the water park again having fun, splashing and playing. We decided to give the amusement park one more try. Before lunch. So we got cleaned up, dressed, and walked over to the Enchanted Forest. I rode one ride and was out for the rest of the time. I know I am so lame. But Mike hung on and rode three or four rides with the boys. We convinced them to go and have lunch seeing that it was almost three o'clock. I made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the car and we found a gorgeous spot for a pick nick right next to a canyon with a waterfall. Before we left I remembered Mike brought the Mac so we got one picture of the kids and I by a bear.

We drove home to a very grateful Jasmine who our neighbor very kindly had let outside twice while we were gone. She missed us though and stayed attached to the boys all night.

We finished up the weekend with a little shark week television viewing until bed time.

I feel so blessed for this gift. It is definitely something we wouldn't have been able to do for our selves. It was a much needed break. We missed the girls coming with us but loved the one on one time we never get with the boys.

Kristen

Blast from the Past

This is too cool. I have a friend in Arizona that I have been friends with since I was Faith's age, her name is Amy. Even through moving and going to different schools we always managed to keep in touch while we were young. Then she got married and I got married and we kind of lost touch.

Well, when I was in the hospital after having Faith Amy called my dad at home to try and get in touch with me again. He told her I had just had my first baby and she called me at the hospital. She had a nine month old girl at the time, and we agreed to get together.

Ever since that moment our families have been great friends. She has four kids just like me and we even both home school our kids! Unfortunately, we left AZ when Ashley and faith were still little so they didn't have much of a chance to grow a relationship.

Well, last year when the girls were in AZ they met up with Amy and her kids and they and really hit it off. Faith really wanted to see her oldest while she was in AZ this year and Amy and Brandi have arranged for the girls to be able to sleep over at Amy's one night this week!!!

Kristen

Cukes

I love to garden. I didn't say I was very good at it but I love to do it. But my favorite thing to grow isn't flowers or shrubs, I love to grow things that you can eat. There is something satisfying about growing a plant that is not just aesthetically pleasing but provides food. You can't get better than that.

There wasn't a lot of growing of anything when we lived in Arizona. We were really lucky to have a small patch of grass with a couple of dessert plants around it. But when we moved it North Carolina I discovered that i really like to play in the dirt.

My first couple of veg. gardens didn't turn out so great. But the third one was awesome. For me. Maybe not for an experienced farmer but for me I had a pretty nice yield. There, in NC, we had a couple of acres to work with so I had plenty of room to mess around with gardening. When we moved to Il our little suburban lot definitely was not big enough for a big old southern garden. But, I think I have made the best of it. WE have cukes, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, green peppers, strawberries, cantaloupe, two apple trees, one Cherry tree, dill, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, and LOTS of mint. Just about my entire back yard landscape is edible. And it is all so pretty right now!

Things are finally starting to come in but the cukes are the big producer this season. I don't know what happened to them but I can't keep up with them. There are only two plants but there are tons of cucumbers!! And they are big and out of hand! Mom Jones just sent me a recipe for grandma's awesome relish and I think while the girls are gone I am going to be making some. These are the ones I just picked today and I can't tell you how many we have eaten already!!

Kristen

It's a Dry Heat

After a half hour delay for take off and a packed plane ride the girls made it to AZ.

Their Aunt and Uncle and three and a half boy cousins have them for a week, then they will be spending ten days with my mom and dad.

I talked to the girls when their Uncle Keith picked them up from the airport and they were pretty ramped up.

When I asked Kylee how the plane was she said, "Hot!" I thought she must have heard me wrong and thought I meant AZ! (It was 103 with 70% humidity yesterday, they don't tell you about the monsoon season there do they? ) So I asked her again and emphasised "on the plane" she said again, "Hot!" I asked her why she didn't just turn the little air thing on herself and she said she couldn't reach it....I don't know.

But it is a tad bit funny because I tried to convince her to wear her sandals on the plane which she refused. She hates sandals and wears tennis shoes everywhere she goes. Her reasoning was that her feet get cold. (the real reason: you just can't run in sandals) So after realizing it was a losing battle and not a hill I wanted to die on I conceded and let her wear her tennis shoes. Funny, I have to wonder if, just maybe, she hadn't had those socks and tennis shoes on if she wouldn't have been a bit cooler on the plane.

Yes, these are the things I think about. That is what makes me a mom.

Kristen

The Girls Leave Today!!

Today the girls leave for their trip to AZ.

I am missing them already!!

They will be gone for two and a half weeks to visit family. I wish we all could have gone. But I know the girls will have such a great time.

I still remember the summers that I went to stay with my grandma and how much fun it was. We never really did anything exciting, just hanging out was great.

So instead of being focused on sadness that they are gone I am going to channel that into preparing for the coming fall school year. I am hoping to have everything ready to go by the time they get back. We shall see. I am sure I will have a lot to write about once I get my new curriculum and start planning for it.

Kristen

Por Favor!

I received an email the other day from this home school group that we have been involved with. Included on the email was a notice that there will be Spanish classes offered for the fall. I thought the prices were reasonable and figured it might be a good idea to start Faith taking Spanish. But I just didn't think we could afford lessons for all of them. So I talked to Mike and he agreed that it would be a good idea for Faith to start them.

So before I signed her up I called her into talk to me.

I said, "I would like to sign you up for Spanish classes, is that something you would be interested in?"

She said, "No."

Okay. Now, she had some lessons when she was littler and I don't think she enjoyed going to them so much. But I assured her that this would be different.

"Are you sure you wouldn't be interested?"

She said, "No."

Okay. So I explained to her that she will have to have some language classes before college and I really think it would be a good idea if she started now.

She said,"No."

Okay. Well I certainly don't want to throw money away so I thanked her for her time and sent her back to her school work.

I then called in Kylee. I told Kylee that she had the opportunity to take Spanish lessons if she would like.

She said, "Yes."

"Okay. Great I will sign you up."

She ran in the next room to tell her sister and brothers.

Then came running back in and said, "Faith wants to take Spanish lessons also."

Seriously? That's too bad!!

Oh, did I also mention that Seth is now crying in the next room because he desperately wants to learn Spanish?

Just a day in the life of Me.

Kristen