Long Time, No Blog

Things have been unbelievably busy lately. We are remodeling the house. The kids started school and football. I have started teaching a pre-k class two days a week. And I'm coaching a pee-wee cheer squad. It's been crazy! So I haven't found much time for blogging.

I thought I better add a few lines of life to the blog.

The boys are all enjoying their football season. Here's a picture from Nehemiah's first high school football game. He's the one in the center of the photo who is facing forward and you can't see his jersey number.

Here's Samara, Malachi and Seth at the first flag football game of the season.

School is getting easier for both of the boys. I still hate the schedule though.

I really love Malachi's teacher. She is very good. I can tell she puts a lot of effort into her class.

Malachi brought home a "surprise" for me the other day and placed it in the fridge but told me not to look. So I waited a few hours until he told me it was ok to open the fridge. By that time the surprise was gone. We looked and looked but were unsuccessful. Come to find out a few days later, Malachi's surprise was a flyer about boy scouts. I wondered why he put it in the fridge but discovered the answer when I found another flyer at the school. The flyer had instructions to "Take this home, show your parents and put it on your refridgerator". LOL!!!

Yesterday was Isaiah's homecoming game. Here's a picture of him escorting his cousin Jada across the field during the halftime show.

After the game he was given a goodie bag full of candy. He shared with his siblings of course. He gave Malachi some gum. While Malachi was in the back of the truck chewing his gum, he thought it would be a good idea to take it out of his mouth and stretch it out. Then he thought it would be a cool necklace so he wrapped it around his neck! Poor thing, he couldn't get all that gum off. We stopped by Taco Bueno to grab a bite to eat before going home and he was walking around with his shirt pulled up over his head. He said he didn't want anyone to see his neck. I reassured him and we sat in the back corner. I just love that kid.

Stupidity

Saturday night we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. We decided to bring a couple of wine coolers. Ray and I stopped at the QuikTrip to pick up a drink on the way. I helped Ray carry one of the wine coolers to the register. The employee asked for our I.D.'s and Ray quickly produced his. I didn't have mine so I told the clerk I didn't have it with me. He immediately grabbed the drinks and moved them off the counter while telling us he could not sell to us. I know he was just doing his job but it really pissed me off. I know why the laws are there, but just because I was standing there, Ray could not buy the drinks. Is that crazy or what? I mean, had I waited in the car then he could go ahead and make the purchase. It seems to me that the law is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. If I had thought like a criminal in the first place then I could've just sent my husband in to buy but instead the law prevents someone like me, a 32 year old Christian woman with 5 kids who rarely drinks, from buying a drink.
NOW THAT'S JUST STUPID!

A Little Better

OK, I feel a little better.

Last night Ray could tell that I was pretty stressed out. He suggested that we load up all the kids and go feed the ducks. So we did! It was lovely weather and though we didn't spend a whole lot of time at the park, we were able to spend time together and with nature. That was SO GOOD for my soul!

Now I can face another school day.

SCHOOL!!!

After much debate, we've decided to put the kids in public school this year. I'm not necessarily against public school but I am really grieving in this decision. I love having the kids home with me but I have to admit I am ready for a break. This summer has been pretty stressful. (That's a whole 'nother story.) Anyway, if I was financially able, I would definately home school again. But public school is a free place for them to go, make friends, and learn while Ray and I work...so we will do what we have to do. Yay! I'm working part-time and will be able to drop the kids off at school and pick them up after school!

I pepped the kids up for the school year. The twins are thrilled to be in pre-K. Isaiah and Malachi enjoyed the first two days. Now they are ready to homeschool again.

But today I was very frustrated. The twins go to a pre-k school, Isaiah and Malachi go to an elementary school and Nehemiah goes to high school. The pre-k gets out at 3:10. So does the elementary school. Our family only has one car. Therein lies the problem. So Ray and I decided to pick the twins up first. Yesterday we arrived at 2:40, thinking that would give us plenty of time to get to the front of the line to pick up kids. Boy were we wrong! The line was already wrapped around the school parking lot, out onto the street and backed up several hundred feet onto the adjacent street!!! We could not believe it. We waited for about 15 minutes before deciding to leave this school and pick up the elementary kids first. Then we rushed back to the pre-k, only to find that we were still at the end of a very long line! With more cars behind us! By the time we actually picked up Seth and Samara it was 3:50.

So today, we arrived at the pre-k at 1:50. There was already a line of about 4 cars in front of us. I did some reading while Ray took a nap. All the while thinking that this is a ridiculous situation. It shouldn't take an hour to pick your children up from a local school. Some of the parents tried to park and walk up to the school, but the principal would not release the children. The school rule is that the kids either have to ride the bus or be picked up by car. No child can leave with a parent who is walking. Craziness! And then I overheard the principal saying something to the effect that she could not believe that parents arrived before 2pm to pick up their kids! Well, what do you think they should do? There are about 300 pre-k kids in this school and none of them can be walked home!

Then I come home to find out that Nehemiah's coach is making the football players stay until 8pm tonight to sell fundraiser stuff. They did not tell us that this would be happening. I don't know if Nehemiah knew or not. But the tardy bell at his high school rings at 7:30am. School ends at 2:30 but he stays after school for football practice. So he leaves school at 5:30pm. Then he rushes home for food and begins homework before leaving (on Tues/Thurs) to go to Malachi's football practice, where he is an assistant coach. He has a full plate.

Man, how to people keep up with this public school craziness?

Weekday Riding at Shady Grove

We like to go to Shady Grove during the week because it's not crowded at all. It makes me more comfortable knowing there are not bikes everywhere that could hit one of my precious little ones! On this trip there was only one other group of riders, a father and son! It was perfect! We had someone to talk to and I felt safe letting little riders ride.

Here's Malachi taking Bruce for a ride:


Marcus and Nehemiah, posing between rides:

Isaiah doing donuts:

Children will find things to do even if you don't make any suggestions. While waiting their turn for a ride on the four wheeler, Jada and the twins did this:


Among other things, they picked up litter and threw rocks too. I love to watch them live life to the fullest. It really helps me remember that the best things in life are free.

Fun at Football Practice

While Isaiah, Ashton and Trejan were busy with an official Dolphins Football Practice, Ray started working with Malachi and Tristen on the three-point stance and a blocking drill.

The twins tried to do their own blocking drill but just ended up on the ground.

Soon Koda showed up with his mom and Tori. He's proudly sporting a mohawk haircut!

I haven't seen Tori in so long! She's growing up so fast! I had to get a picture of her.

Here's a group of Dolphin player siblings keeping occupied until practice is over.

Free Stuff on CraigsList

If you've never been to craigslist.com, then you're missing out. We found a free slate pool table that we couldn't resist. It was in decent shape when we got it. But the dang thing was so heavy that we tore it up trying to move it to our house.

So we used the handy, dandy Internet to research how to fix it up. We bought some felt and contact paper for just a few bucks and voila!

Now...if we just had a place to keep it...

4th of July

I love Independence Day! I really do! So we always go to more than one celebration each year. Even if Ray decides not to go with us. (He doesn't see any reason to get stuck in hours worth of traffic for July 4th celebrations.)

This year Yvette and Jada went to Addison's Kaboom Town celebration with us. We also took Marcus and Bruce. Ray stayed home to enjoy some rare peace and quiet.

The kids played in the water.

And enjoyed some volleyball:

The music was so loud that we had to yell at each other just to make conversation.

There was also an airshow for us to enjoy. One stunt lady stood on top of a propeller plane while it performed tricks in the air! Amazing!

When Samara saw these planes in formation, she said, "Look! That Mama plane has babies!"

When darkness came, we sat down for a great fireworks show. The only bad thing was that we had positioned ourselves right behind a tree that blocked some of our view.

The next night Ray went with us to see fireworks in Lewisville. There were no other activities other than the fireworks so we parked a short distance away. Ray's mom, Rachel, and Yvette and Jada went with us to see the show.

Fishing Storm

We took another fishing trip to our new spot on Lake Lewisville (Westlake Park) to show Ray's sister how nice it was. We were surprised by how crowded it was! There were very few empty picnic tables and the water was full of boats, music and swimmers! It was nothing like the quiet spot we found during the week. We decided we could still have fun though! Here's a picture of Yvette and Nehemiah getting their poles ready.



I didn't last long fishing because all the little ones kept getting snagged in the rocks. I quickly tired of freeing their lines. So I opted to just jump in and go swimming with them! They like to fish, but they LOVE to swim! It was Jada's first time to swim in a lake instead of a swimming pool and she was very nervous about snakes that might bite her or fish that might touch her or water too deep for her, etc. Poor baby! I wanted her to be informed, not scared!



Soon we started seeing lightning in the distance. I decided we had better get out of the water.


Before long we could see a dark cloud moving over the lake.


We watched in awe while the sky literally opened up in front of us! (All the while Ray was still fishing, of course!) In this pic, you can see the ducks flying for cover and the boat racing to get out of the water!



We decided we'd better put everything in the truck in case the rain came. We left only our fishing gear out, hoping that the storm would pass. This looks like an evening shot, but this was early afternoon!



When the rain finally came, it hit hard! We ran to the truck with our poles and praised ourselves for being so smart as to put away all of our other belongings before the storm hit! We made it to the truck safely but it was raining so hard we couldn't see through it to drive!


So we had to wait it out. Luckily it wasn't long before the worst of it was gone.

More from the Beach Trip

I had a few more pictures from the beach trip that I just had to post. (By a "few", I mean, ahem, a lot!)

I love this one of Isaiah and Samara walking along the beach.

And this one of the birds flying in a straight line:

As I was looking through the pictures, I was shocked to see this one of Samara in the water with the mouth of a Great White Shark in the waves not too far away!!! ("It" is in the upper right hand corner where I drew a circle around it.) I kept looking at the picture trying to figure out what it was.

Finally, I realized it was my brother with a white t shirt over his head! Whew!

I was surprised with how much the kids played with the wagon we brought from home. I originally brought it thinking it would help tote things to and from the beach. But it ended up being the best toy we brought! Even better than the boogie boards!

They raced with it, pretended it was a surfboard (it floats), pretended it was a boat and "fished" from it.

In this picture, Samara is on the "boat" and she is "fishing" with a toy shovel as her fishing rod. Seth is the fish.

One day we challenged ourselves to walk to the end of the jetty. It seemed like it was neverending!

It was weird being that far out into the ocean coupled with reassuring signs like these:

Yay! We made it to the end!

We found another family who was willing to snap a group picture of us:

Now for the long walk back!

We were lucky enough to see a couple of ships come in! When we would see them coming in, we would jump in the car and drive down the beach to see them up close.

See that boat behind the ship? That one looks tiny but actually is good sized too! It's bigger than any boat I've ever been on.

The kids began picking up rocks and throwing them into the water. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't pick this one up:

And since my aunt lives in nearby Clute, lots of family members stopped by to visit.

Here's Aunt Ellen and Nehemiah:

My mom, Ellen and Seth relaxing:

Uncle D waiting for a fish to bite:

Shanna, Mom and Ellen:

Jessica, Mom and Shanna:

Laura and her son William:

Laura's son Randall:

Shanna and her husband, Danny:

Shanna's son Riley and daughter Alyssa:

My cousin David brought his family by to visit too. But we were on the beach and for once I didn't have my camera. (See why I like to always have it with me?)

We found lots of shells and rocks. We even found one that looked like poop that we just had to take a picture of!

On our way back home, we stopped at the Sea Center.

It's a really cool place with lots of hands on stuff to do. They have a touch tank with lots of little critters. And the staff was really great too. One of the staff members picked up a blue crab (part of the claw was removed for the touch tank) and explained to us that if their claws are orange then it is a girl. Just imagine that it is fingernail polish. The boys have blue claws. Cool, huh?

There were several aquariums too. Here is a picture of a nurse shark. It is a very unusual shark because it can use its gills to breathe while sitting still. Most sharks have to swim in order to breathe.

There was also an outdoor wetlands area that we walked around hoping to see some wildlife. We saw several birds and turtles and bugs. We were hoping to see a snake but were disappointed. Isaiah really enjoyed looking through the various telescopes in the wetlands area.

Malachi was a little too short so he looked through it backwards and admired the clouds.

And I got a cool shot of this dragonfly.