Ze Happy Buckley Tribe

Football/Cheer Season

2010-12-29T08:37:00.001-08:00

This was a unique year. For the first time in Buckley history all of our little league kids' teams went undefeated in the regular season!!!!!

Seth #22 - Flag Falcons

Malachi #22- Freshman Cowboys

Isaiah #22 - JV Steelers

Samara cheered for both Seth's team and Isaiah's team this year. Here she is showing off her splits.

My husband served as head coach for the Freshman Cowboys again this year. His team was the only one that went undefeated the entire season, including the bowl games!!! Go Cowboys!

Nehemiah played for Newman Smith this year. They finished 4-3-0 for the regular season. Then they won the first two play-off games against Rockwall and Carter. Then lost against John Tyler in the third round. Nehemiah broke his wrist in the second to the last season game.

That sucked! He was really upset. So he was not able to play the last season game or the first two games of the playoffs. However, the doctor released him to play against John Tyler. So they put a short arm cast on him, wrapped it up, and let him play!

Go Trojans! #34 - Nehemiah

Cowboys Stadium

2010-08-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

So...now that I'm back to blogging, I'd better get started. LOL!

At the beginning of the football season we went to Cowboys Stadium. Our league held an event there for our football players and cheerleaders.

We got to tour the building. We played on the field, took our picture on the star in the middle of it and visited the locker rooms.

Fun was had by all.

Back to blogging.

2010-08-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

After talking with a friend today, I'm ready to get back to blogging. I like writing little family updates and going back later to read them. I'm excited. Hope I can keep up!

Long Story, Short Version

2009-03-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

We could no longer afford to live in the house we were in so we moved in with my in-laws. They have a beautiful (and huge) home that they were gracious enough to share with us. It is comfortable, but I can't wait to move into our own place again. If I had my 'druthers, I would just buy an RV, pull the kids out of school and move in. But I haven't won that battle with my husband yet.

Anyway, football/cheerleading season was a blast. Our Flag Panther team (Malachi's team) won first place in the Bowl Game. And our Freshman Dolphin team (Isaiah's team) went undefeated and also won first place. Newman Smith (Nehemiah's team) didn't do quite as well, but we still had fun watching him play. He started off on the B team but was moved up to the A team. So I was very proud of him.

The kids moved directly into basketball when football was over. Ray coached both Isaiah's team as well as Malachi's team. This time Malachi's team went undefeated. Woo-Hoo! And Isaiah's team lost 2 games. But they were able to place second in the Tournament. Isaiah is quite a ball player. He scored 34 points in one game! Nehemiah had a great season too. They had more wins than losses though the freshman team did not make it to playoffs. However, the Smith Varsity team was ranked #1 in the state for a while during the season. We were all disappointed though when they went to the playoffs they lost the first game. Bummer.

Both kids were disappointed that we missed the registration for soccer. Isaiah has some friends who are playing and feels left out. I told him we would watch for it next year and he could play then. Since they were feeling so strange with no sport to keep them busy, we signed them up for karate. They have only been participating in that for 2 weeks. Isaiah in particular is loving it. Malachi likes it, but I think he could take it or leave it.

Both boys are wanting to homeschool again. I am wanting the same. Hopefully I can find a way to make it work for next year. Pray for me.

Recently Isaiah went to an ice skating birthday party. He can't wait for us to take the whole family. It was his first time ice skating and he was a little nervous, but picked it up quickly and skated the whole time we were there.

When my sister came over, we went roller skating. Haven't done that it a long time. Lots of fun! I took some pics on my camera phone but they came out looking like crap cause it was dark in there.

Here's a cool pic I took (again on my phone) when we went to a neat park by our house. The park is all underground. It has little tunnels to move from playspace to playspace. There is a tunnel that leads to a castle playspace. The castle is just asking to be climbed. This is Isaiah the Conqueror on top of the castle.

Last week we went to another park/nature preserve and had dinner. After eating we took a walk through the nature preserve. It was so much fun. The kids felt like they were on a serious expedition. (It really made me miss camping, I'm ready to go again!) Anyway, we walked by a pond, if you could call it that, and threw sticks in it. Samara caught some "little fellas" (roly poly bugs) and collected some snail shells. We saw lots of spiders and Nehemiah found more than one funnel web spider home in the ground. While walking a foot trail, Isaiah, who was in front, spotted a rabbit in the middle of the trail. He immediately held up his hand, signalling the rest of us to be quiet and look ahead. We all tiptoed closer. Then Seth lowered the walking stick he had in his hand and pointed it at the rabbit. Then he made a sound like someone cocking their gun which scared the rabbit and he hopped away. Isaiah was pissed! "Seth, I told you to be quiet! See what you did! Now he's gone!" I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Isaiah calmed down quickly though because we soon found rabbits everywhere! We also walked down to a creek area and took these photos.

Long Time, No Blog

2008-11-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

2008-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-01T00:39:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-01T00:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T23:40:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-31T23:37:00.001-07:00

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.

A Week At the Beach

2008-07-27T00:45:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted.

We actually went to the beach about a month ago but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. My mom and my brother rented a beach house with us on the Gulf Coast. We visited Surf Side Beach.

Our beach house was right on the beach. Here's our view from our patio:

Our beach house is the brown one in the background. You can see our Suburban parked in front of it.

We went swimming everyday, of course. We played on the beach, found sea shells, took walks and relaxed. It was good times.

Dustin helped us build our first sand castle. Our sand castle was not very well defined. It was amateur work for sure! But we quickly learned how wet the sand needed to be to make the best castle, and that no matter how hard we tried we could not build a functional moat. Every time we dug one it looked great until we poured water into it. Then it would just disappear as all the water and sand would mix and even out.Finished product. See the added sea shells? Those are windows.

Ray literally fished all day long!He brought his catch home to clean and we oohhhed and ahhhed over how different they were from freshwater fish.Nehemiah spent some time fishing with Ray everyday. Sometimes Nehemiah would go out into the water to fish. Ray preferred to stay dry. He found a great place to fish where he didn't have to get in the water and he stayed there.
Ray also experimented with catching crabs. He was quite successful! This is one of the first ones he brought back to show us. We all peered into the bucket to look at the crab. Just then, a truck drove by pulling a trailer with a piece of equipment on it. Mom said, " What is that, a lawnmower?" Samara turned to her and said, "No, Grammie, it's a crab!"Danny showed us how to clean crab. He also told us not to keep the ones who had orange under their butts. That orange stuff is their egg sacks. Oops! Glad he was here to guide us. The crab legs sure were good!

Football Signup and Minicamp

2008-06-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

This year Ray is coaching the Flag Panthers. Malachi and Seth are going to play on his team. So will cousin Koda. Jada wants to play too. But for now Ray just wants her to cheer with Samara. This will be my first year coaching. I applied to be the cheerleader coach and Yvette is going to be my assistant.

Isaiah and Trejan will be playing tackle football. They will be coached by Uncle Jack. I guess our days will be long during football season this year!

After signing up, the kids had to run drills while the coaches wrote down their times. This is for the draft so the coaches can pick what kids they want.

Our kids were hot and thirsty after all those drills. And what a convenience, the ice cream truck was in the parking lot. I bought a small popsicle for everyone and they all cooled off in the shade.

Westlake Park

2008-06-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time to branch out and try to find a new fishin' hole. Ray did some research and learned that the best local lake for catfish was Lake Lewisville.

We looked at a map of Lake Lewisville and found the name of a park to try. It was great! We went on a Friday so it wasn't crowded at all. We were surprised at how cheap it was, only $3 for all of us! And they even gave the kids complimentary coloring books and crayons.

We found a nice picnic table right by the water and set up. We had lunch and then fished right next to our table. Sweet! We were fishing in the shade! We also looked at some of the books we recently checked out from the library.

After a while, I took the four youngest and we headed to the beach area to swim. It was just a short walk away. We had a blast in the water and it gave Ray and Nehemiah a chance to fish without little "helpers" and constant cries of "I'm snagged!" or "I can't get this fish off my hook!" or "I hooked my own shirt!" or "Help me hook this worm!"
On our way to the water we found a dead fish which we promptly inspected using a stick. We also saw a catfish head. When we were in the water we saw several grasshoppers. Samara and I caught them and put them on our heads. We declared ourselves "Grasshopper Princesses"! All of us looked closely at the grasshoppers and talked about how long their legs are and how far they can jump. We talked about their antennae and how they can sense things compared to how we sense things. We also talked about where grasshoppers live. Seth and Samara assumed they must live in the water since that's where we found them. Isaiah and Malachi knew they lived on land and explained it to the twins. One of the big ones jumped on Seth and scared the crap out of him! Poor baby! He's the most squeamish around creepy crawly things and they always seem to head for him! We saw some minnows swimming around us and wondered what other things were swimming close to us. The kids wanted to know why there were cold spots in the water which was something I couldn't explain. We performed tricks for each other, stuff like handstands and flips. Malachi got some water up his nose and said he wished he didn't have a nose. I laughed and told him that then he couldn't smell and that would be weird! We made jokes about all the situations he might be in where he would hate the fact that he couldn't smell, like smelling good food or cake, or freshly cut grass, or poop! We all had a good laugh about that one.
Since this was only a day use park, we had to leave by 10pm. When darkness came Malachi caught a small toad. Samara loved it and wanted to bring it home with her.

We stayed as late as we could as you can tell. Here's Nehemiah's silhouette still fishing in the dark.

Happy Birthday Jada!

2008-06-22T23:34:00.000-07:00

Jada turned 5! To celebrate we went to the Rosemeade Rainforest Pool.

Here's me and Jada standing peacefully.

Suddenly, a downpour!

Caused by this:

Here's the gang hanging out in the lazy river. (Which Jada called the "Lazy Liver". Guess we've been fishing too much lately. She knows Uncle Ray sometimes uses liver for bait.)

I love this pic of Jada and Yvette:

Malachi and Isaiah racing down the slide:

Now it's the girls' turn!

Watch out! Nehemiah will spray you!

Peek a Boo!

Cousins

2008-06-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

On Father's Day all the cousins on Ray's side of the family were at Grandma's house.

Nehemiah (14), Jalen (13), Trejan (7), Isaiah (7), Malachi (6), Jada (5), Seth (3), Koda (3), and Samara (3).

Imaginary Play

2008-06-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

I love to watch the kids use their imagination. Just the other day they were playing outside with several of the neighborhood kids. I saw some of them on the trailer "casting" out different ropes and dog leashes. They were pretending that the trailer was a boat and they were fishing. Some of the other kids would crawl around on the ground and then tug on one of the "fishing lines" pretending to be fish. They would go through all the motions of trying to reel in the fish. Sometimes they would ride their bikes around in the yard. Isaiah told me they were pretending that the bikes were jet skis!

Cherokee Cycle Park

2008-06-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we drove down to Milano, TX to visit the Cherokee Cycle Park.

The first thing we noticed when we got out of the truck was the dung beetles. All the kids gathered around to check 'em out while Ray and Nehemiah unloaded the trailer.

They are incredibly strong! We saw a single beetle rolling a turd twice the size of himself. And what is really weird is that they turn backwards to roll it, with their front legs and head on the ground and their back legs up against the turd! I tried to get a good picture but this is the best I could do.

Isaiah recently got some new riding gear so using the Hand-Me-Down-Method so common in this family, Seth got some new gear too! We're still working on getting Samara some pink gear. She's waiting patiently. She was so excited to wear this helmet. It was hot outside but she refused to take it off even when she wasn't riding!

Malachi, Seth and Samara, relaxing between rides:

Nehemiah ready to ride his dirtbike:

Nehemiah took Tina for a ride on the 4 wheeler:

This place has lots of trails but not a lot of jumps. Which was ok with me, since I won't be jumping anyway. But the boys had to practice some jumping. I had a little trouble getting the timing right but here's some pics a captured of them on a small jump.

You can only see Nehemiah's front wheel in this one but I like the shadow:

After Ray taught Tina how to ride, she didn't want to get off. Here she's taking Samara for a ride:

While Tina was out riding, Seth took her shades. I had to snap one of him looking cool!

No, Malachi didn't really drive this one. He did go for a ride on it though. But you should have seen him on the Yamaha. (The small white/blue 4 wheeler in the other pics.) He was riding it like I've never seen him ride before. He said he had it full throttle in the field area!

When I saw the twins on the fallen tree, I couldn't resist a snapshot.

We had a lot of fun! It's been a while since we've been riding. And it was fun to go somewhere new!

Since we didn't bring a tent we decided to get a room and splash in the pool to cool off. We stopped at a little cheap motel in Waco. Since I didn't swim, I was able to get a few more pictures. Yay!

Malachi jumping in:

Malachi holding on to the side of the pool:

Seth jumping in:

Two at once:

Tina and Samara:

Nehemiah doing a front flip into the pool. (Yeah, he landed just how it looks he will, on his back! He said he was glad I captured it because he wasn't doing it again! It stung!)

Cannonball!

Splash!

Another cannonball!

Leapfrog, anyone?

And what would a trip to the pool be without someone "playing dead"?

Another Reason Why I Love My Husband

2008-06-20T00:46:00.000-07:00

I always know I love him but from time to time he does something that reminds me all over again. Recently we were headed out to the pool toting along a few extra kids, as usual. We had not yet had lunch so we stopped by Little Caesar's to pick up some $5.55 Hot and Ready Pepperoni Pizzas to take to the pool with us. I stayed in the car with the kids while Ray headed inside to buy the food. I saw him walk over to a van that was parked a couple of parking spaces over and start talking to the driver. The lady's van wouldn't start. Ray lifted her hood and began inspecting. Then he pulled out the jumper cables from the back of the Suburban. He jumped off her van, refused any payment and went inside to buy food. Well, before the lady was able to drive off, her van died again. Ray came back outside and explained to her that it may be her alternator but patiently pulled out the jumper cables again.
I was so proud of him for helping her out. Not that it's unusual, he always stops when he sees someone in need. But that doesn't make me any less proud. Not to mention the fact that the kids witnessed this and learned a lesson in kindness.

BMX Riding

2008-06-16T12:22:00.001-07:00

Isaiah has been working on jumping his bike on his friend's ramp. He wanted me to take a picture of him.

Think she'll do it?

Here's a picture of Bruce jumping it too:

More Coppell Fishing

2008-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

We went fishing again in Coppell. This time we took Marcus, Bruce and Trent.

Seth caught the tiniest fish ever:

Malachi caught the biggest fish of the night. Unfortunatley I didn't get a picture of it because my hands were all messy and I didn't want to touch the camera. By the time I was ready to take the picture, Ray had already helped Malachi get the fish off the hook. But we did measure it. It was 16 inches!

I tried to take a picture of a spider web on the pier but it didn't come out too great. But I still like the picture anyway.

Brotherly Love

2008-06-16T12:03:00.001-07:00

Malachi has had a loose tooth for a while now. He was very excited when he finally pulled it out. The only problem was...he lost it. He dropped it somewhere and couldn't find it again. I told him to look for it so he could put it under his pillow and I went on about my business. When I finally walked into the kids' bedroom that night, I heard Isaiah consoling Malachi. They didn't know I was listening. Malachi was crying because he was not able to find the tooth and he thought that the tooth fairy would not bring him anything. I overheard Isaiah say, "It's ok Malachi, when I lose my next tooth, I will give it to you."
I thought I was going to cry too!
I reassured Malachi that the tooth fairy is magic and that she would still be able to find his lost tooth.
Luckily, she did, and Malachi woke up to find $5 under his pillow! (Dang, that's a lot of money!)

Making a Car

2008-06-12T15:37:00.001-07:00

Since Seth took off his training wheels, Malachi has been playing with them. Malachi decided he wanted to build a "car" with a piece of wood and some training wheels. Ray and Alex helped him decide how to do it. Malachi went to Home Depot with Alex and picked out some screws and washers to build it with. Alex built Malachi's design with Malachi's input.

All done...except for the paint:

Now to test out the finished product:

They spray painted it later but I didn't get a picture.

Seth can ride without training wheels!

2008-06-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Seth came up to me and asked if he could take the training wheels off his bike. I told him no but he insisted. He continued to ask and threw in a little whining to get his way. Finally I agreed, but warned him that I was not going to put them back on in five minutes after he has fallen a few times.
Alex was outside and took off the training wheels for him. Alex held the back of the seat for Seth on his first attempt. Then Isaiah helpe him get started as can be seen in this video:

After that, Seth was on his own! He can get himself started and can turn around without help!

GO, SETH! GO!

Hickory Creek Camping

2008-06-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping at Hickory Creek on Lake Lewisville. We were glad to have the pop up to keep us in some air conditioning and keep us from sleeping on the ground.

But unfortunately, we drove all the way to the campground with the crank still in the back of the camper. So when we arrived at our campsite and got ready to pop up the camper we discovered that we had no way of doing so. Crap!

There was nothing to do but go back home. We got on the Internet and found a place that sells the cranks! Phew! Thank goodness we were able to buy one that fit for only $14. So we headed back to the campground with the utility trailer loaded with bikes and fishing gear and chairs and the grill and coolers and anything else we thought we couldn't live without.

Once we got set up we had a great time. Our campsite was right next to the bathroom which was very convenient. We went on a walking trail, tried fishing (no luck), rode bikes and swam in the lake. They even rode bikes in the lake! It was very windy and there were a lot of waves making very difficult to stay upright on a bike. But it sure was fun trying. (My camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get any pics of the bike riding in the lake.)

The first night we were there, there was a fireworks show on the other side of the lake. We sat outside and enjoyed the show.

The next day, Ray had to leave to go to a minicamp for the upcoming flag football season. I stayed at the campsite with the kids. Ray came back with a surprise! He brought two of the boys who live on our street back with him. Marcus and Bruce are our new friends. They are visiting their mom for the summer. They came to spend the night with us at the campground. Nehemiah is in the red shirt. Bruce is holding the meat up front. And Marcus is dancing while turning the meat over on the grill.

"Sea Shuttles"???

2008-06-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

We tried a new fishin' hole in Garland. We didn't get a lot of bites but the ones we did get were nice sized catfish. Since the fishing was slow, the kids put down their poles and played around. Isaiah pretended to be the leader of the army and led the others with "Hut...two...three...four...Hut...two...three...four!". They each had a good sized stick in their hands which served as a rifle. If Isaiah thought an enemy was near he would hold up his hand as a signal for everyone to "get down" and "be quiet"! They would all crouch down on either side of the sidewalk or sometimes hide behind a tree. I enjoyed watching them while waiting for the fish to bite.

They also found lots of snail shells that Jada called "sea shuttles". No matter how many times I corrected the terminology they continued to call them sea shuttles. Here's a pic of their discovery.

(No Seth does not have a Charlie Chaplin mustache, he fell on the concrete last week while playing basketball with the big boys.)

They also found a little baby turtle shell. They wanted to know why the turtle died if it was only a baby.

And what would a blog be without a pic of someone "throwing up" a peace sign?

Slip N Slide

2008-06-05T18:26:00.001-07:00

Ahhh...childhood memories! I remember loving my slip n slide when I was a kid. Of course the one we had only had enough room for one kid to slide at a time. Now there are deluxe versions! We bought one at Walmart that has room for three kids to slide at once. We took it over to Grandma Rachel's house and had a blast! Jada was a little scared at first but soon gained her confidence. Samara tried and tried but never did make it to the end of the slide. And afterwards, all of them had redness and little scrapes on their tummies! Ouch!

After dark, everyone dried off and went inside where Nehemiah and I were transformed into "horsies" that took all the kids on rides.

The kids sang "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" and "This Little Light of Mine" for Grandma. She loved it!

It was a great day!

Pics from fishing

2008-06-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

I finally got the camera and the computer to make friends...

So here are some pics from recent fishing trips:

A cottonmouth snake eating a fish that we caught and threw back in the water:

Jada's first fishing trip with us:

Jada, my niece:

A beautiful evening sky:

Malachi casting:

Seth relaxing:

A mama duck and her babies:

Fishing

2008-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

We went fishing again. This time we took Ray's sister, Yvette, and her daughter Jada. Toward the end of the trip we saw a cottonmouth snake in the water eating a fish. He had moved onto some moss at the side of the lake in order to swallow the fish. It was facinating! I took some pictures but I haven't figured out how to upload pictures to the computer from our new camera.

And Samara learned how to cast! Now she just needs to learn how to hook her own worms and take a fish off her hook and she will be an independant fisherman, umm, I mean, fisherwoman!

I Quit!

2008-05-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

Ok...some say I'm crazy and maybe I am. But I needed a break from the long hours of employment before we move. So...I resigned.

And I have really been enjoying being with my husband and kids.

We have spent time out mowing lawns and/or handing out flyers and trying to get more yards to do. Trent even went out with us to do this. Trent had us all laughing because he was too afraid to knock on people's doors. The one time we convinced him to knock on a door he argued with us that no one was home. Then he rang the doorbell and walked about halfway back to the car with his back to the house and waited to see if anyone would answer. What was so funny was that he turned his head slightly and then cut his eyes back to see if anyone was opening the door! Ya just gotta love Trent. He's hilarious.

One day we went to Sonic to eat. We were all sitting in the car looking at the menu when someone spotted a duck. It was funny because we never see ducks at Sonic. We always see grackels or crows but never ducks. It was a beautiful duck with a green head. The kids took off their seatbelts and moved around so they could see the duck better. Then Malachi said, "Look, a chicken!" I told them it couldn't possibly be a chicken and looked where he was pointing expecting to see a crow, but there was a chicken! It was so weird. The carhops were just walking around like it was normal.

Samara has learned how to hula hoop! Her friend Jada, who lives across the street, let her borrow a hula hoop. I guess Jada showed her how to do it. Samara came home proud to show off her new skill.

We finished reading "James and the Giant Peach". It was the first chapter book that the little kids have ever finished listening to. Their favorite part was when the centipede had purple paint dumped over him and he said:

"The paint is drying! It's going hard! I can't move my legs! I can't move anything!"

At which point the Earthworm said, "You can still move your mouth, and that's a great pity!"

The kids asked me to read that part over and over and over again. They loved that part!

After we finished the book, we bought the movie. It was a terrible movie. It did not have any of the parts of the story that we were looking forward to seeing. The movie did a good job of casting for Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge though.

We have since finished 2 more books. "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson was the next book we read. After reading it, we watched the movie. We liked this movie a lot more than the James and the Giant Peach movie. This movie stuck with the book as much as possible. We just finished "Hank the Cowdog" by John R. Erickson. The kids are already asking if there is a movie about this one!

We have really been busy since I quit. I know it's been forever since I last blogged. I'm trying to remember everything we've done.

Isaiah and Malachi have been going great with our schooling. I have more energy to put into it and I help make it fun.

We've also been going to parks and playing outside a lot! The kids ride their bikes everyday! Seth is ready to start learning how to ride without training wheels.

We have also been going roller skating. It was so funny at first because the little ones couldn't even stand up without falling. But we've been going every week and now they are getting pretty good at it! Well, Seth is still struggling...but Samara can move herself slowly, almost robotic-like. She doesn't bend her knees. Isaiah can skate fast now! Malachi can go around and around the rink without falling! Nehemiah always gets inline skates. I don't know how anyone can skate in those!

We've also been fishing a lot. We like to go to this place in Coppell. It has a great little pond that we get lots of bites. There is a nice walking trail all the way around the lake. The kids like to ride their bikes around while they take turns fishing. There is also a basketball court near the pond and we often bring our basketball. Ray has taught us all how to fish. The twins can't cast yet but they can catch fish! Most of the fish we catch are small perch or baby catfish that we throw back in. But one day we caught a big catfish! We caught a few others that were big enough to bring home. That night, Ray taught Nehemiah and I how to fillet fish. We had a fish fry the next night. It was delicious. There is just something special about catching your own food.

We have gone riding about 3 times. Nehemiah is almost clearing the finish line jump at Shady Grove! And Isaiah can jump high on his 4-wheeler!

The above picture is of Josh and Isaiah. Isaiah has looked up to Josh since he was about a year old. Josh can clear the finish line jump with no problem. He's been riding since he was little too. Isaiah wants to be just like him when he grows up.

The kids finally finished up their football seasons. Nehemiah played in a 7 on 7 touch football team. They played in a tournament at Ranchview High School and Nehemiah played quarterback. They played 4 games that day. His arm was tired after all that! Isaiah had a tournament that same day. Isaiah's team won the first game so they played for the championship later in the day. (Which means that we sat through 6 football games all in one day and I got a sunburn!) Isaiah's team was undefeated for the whole season but lost the championship game. Isaiah cried along with several of his teammates. :(

My best friend LeaAnn got married on the 18th in Austin. We took the whole family to the wedding. It was really nice. She looked beautiful. It was great to see her family and several of our friends from high school. LeaAnn got married by the pool. (Isaiah was ready to jump in!) The kids looked great all dressed up. I took some pictures but then lost my camera while we there. So I don't have any to post. Thankfully, my mom went too and took lots of pics so when she sends me some copies I'll add some.

Nehemiah plays percussion with the DeWitt Perry Band. The band played at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. It was really cool! They played early in the morning so I left the kids at home asleep with Ray. My mom went with me to watch the performance. They placed 11th out of 30 bands. But about half of the bands were high school bands so they did pretty good!

One day Ray's sister Yvette came over and brought her daughter Jada. We decided to do something fun so we picked up our nephews Jalen, Trejan and Koda and took all the kids to Chuck E Cheese. That is a total of 9 kids with 3 adults! It was great to have them all together! We haven't done anything with all the cousins in a long time. I wish I had some pictures!

Malachi turned 6 on May 21st!!! It was a weekday so we were going to wait for Nehemiah to get out of school and then celebrate. But we forgot that Nehemiah had another band concert that night. So we went to the concert then came home and had cake and ice cream. Yvette and Jada came over to celebrate with us. So did Ray's mom. Malachi opened his presents and enjoyed the day.

Last Friday, the 23rd, Nehemiah didn't have school so we all went to Six Flags! It was the perfect time to celebrate Malachi's birthday as well as mine that was fast approaching on May 26th. It was so much fun. The kids are finally old enough to ride some rides outside of Looney Tunes Land. Ray doesn't ride anything at all. You gotta love him for coming anyway. I know it was hot and boring for him. Nehemiah saw some of his friends there so after he spent some family time with us, he left to go ride some bigger rides with his friends.

Saturday the 24th was the opening day for the Rosemeade Rainforest Pool so we HAD to go! The kids have been asking to go swimming for a couple of months. Ray didn't go because he had to put new tires on the Suburban and get an alignment. The kids played on the slides and jumped in the water and had a grand time! And the best part about it is that we won a family season pass to the pool! So we went for free and will be able to enjoy it all summer!

Life is good!

Shady Grove Motocross

2008-04-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we ventured out to Shady Grove in Irving again. The kids are really getting good at riding their bikes and four wheelers.

Here's Isaiah:

Here's Nehemiah:

Here's Trent:

Newest Happenings and Dallas World Aquarium

2008-04-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while...

so I just thought I'd write about what we've done since the last blog.

Samara has learned to blow bubbles with her gum, a feat that no one else in the family under the age of 7 has learned to do yet. Although all of them can blow bubbles of spit upon request!

To celebrate Trent's birthday, we loaded up the dirt bikes and four wheelers, bought a box of chicken and headed to the track. We spent the day riding at Shady Grove in Irving. It was great, we basically had the track to ourselves.

On another day, we visited the Dallas World Aquarium. The little kids had never been there before, neither had Trent. We were surprised by how hot and humid it was inside the building. But it was really cool being able to walk around the 3 story building with birds flying freely all around us. We looked and looked but weren't able to find the sloth. The three-toed sloth is also roaming freely in the branches. We did see several small monkeys who were in the trees though. Some of our favorite animals were the stingrays, sharks, and the manatees! The manatee was huge. Here's a photo of the kids up close with one of the manatees:

There was a really cool tunnel that we walked under where we could see the sharks. We also walked outside to see the African penguins! It's weird to see penguins outside in Texas!
We also saw a tarantula that was bigger than Nehemiah's! I was interested in the bats though no one else found them that interesting. We all had a good time watching the workers feed the vipers. There were three viper snakes in the exhibit so while one worker was feeding a snake, the other worker use a poker to hold down the next closest snake to prevent a bite. Those are poisonous snakes! We thought it was weird that they would feed the snake in the manner that they did. They had what looked like a huge pair of tweezers which held a "pinkie" mouse. The worker held the dead mouse right in front of the snakes face, which was too close and the snake would back up. Then of course the lady would force the mouse closer to the snakes face again and the snake would move away! Nehemiah and I thought this was ridiculous. The snake wants to attack the food, not be fed. Anyway, the snake eventually took the food. I guess it works!

Yellow Belly

2008-03-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Ray decided to get the kids out of the house while I caught up on sleep. His cousin Bryce came over with 2 of his sons, Jake and Cody. Our neighbor Alex came along too. They headed out to the drag strip with the 4 wheeler and Nehemiah's dirt bike.

Everyone laughed when they saw Bryce trying to race the Raptor against a car. But Bryce is a rider! He's the one who taught Ray to ride motorcycles. Bryce spanked those cars! He beat them so bad, he had to turn around to look back at them!

Bryce was able to finish the 1/8 mile strip in about 9 seconds.

This was the fastest car out there. It was able to finish the 1/8 mile strip in about 5 seconds:

They spent some time admiring all the show cars and bikes:

There was also a grassy area where you could ride. It wasn't very big, about the size of a football field. But they took turns riding the dirt bike and Raptor.

Ft. Worth Zoo

2008-03-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

After being cooped up in the house due to weather. We got out the first day we could. Ray and I surprised the kids by taking a trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo. None of the kids have ever been to this zoo, so it was quite a treat! And we've been studying big cats so a trip to the zoo was very appropriate.

Samara loves pink so of course she loved the pink flamingo. We saw several of them napping. They were each standing on one leg with their head tucked under their wing. We tried standing that way but determined we would never be able to sleep that way, let alone stay that way for over a minute. We also thought it was funny that their knees bend backward.

Then we saw the gorilla. He looked us in the eye! But I felt sorry for him. He looked like he wanted to get away from all the people staring at him.

Here's a pic of Samara and the lion. He was really active despite the fact that we just learned that lions sleep up to 20 hours a day. He did a lot of roaring! Really cool.

We were all horrified to see that this rhino was eating his own poop!

Here's some pics of the kids climbing on African Termite Mounds.

Trent was able to climb up on the tallest one.

This orangutan was so interactive. Every time someone would walk by with food in their hands she would reach out to them as if she were asking for a bite.

Everyone was excited to see the cheetah, since we recently learned they can run up to 70 mph. Cheetahs are the fastest land animal. After we learned this fact in our homeschool, we wanted to see how fast we could run so we headed to the track with our stopwatch. We ran one lap and timed it. Then (assuming that we would be able to keep up that same pace for the remaining 3 laps) we multiplied our time for 1 lap x 4. Then we divided by 60 minutes. Here are our times:

Isaiah 10.5 mph

Malachi 9.5 mph

Samara 7.1 mph

Seth 0 mph (Seth decided not to finish any laps. He was coming in last so he turned around and walked back to me with tears in his eyes. My poor baby!)

None of the kangaroos were up and hopping. They were all relaxing for a nap in the sun.

Isaiah and Malachi on a komodo dragon:

Samara and Seth on a komodo dragon:

Let's see: who can look the coolest sitting in this rocking chair?

I wanted to take a picture of Seth sitting on this crocodile but he was way too concerned about this girl "who wouldn't move" so he could sit at the front!

I finally got some of the kids in the picture. But the girl is still there!

This is the only picture I got of the bear. There were actually 2 bears in the habitat. The really cool part was that the zoo staff came by to feed the bears while we were there. They have this little tunnel that's shaped like a hollow log and they put food in there to draw the bear to the tunnel. Small kids can climb inside one side of the tunnel to see the bear up close. (Don't worry, there's a cage in the middle of the tunnel to prevent your child from becoming the bear food!) That was really cool.

Up close with a mountain lion! We just watched a show on tv about a man who was attacked by a mountain lion. Scary!

Look at the size of those paws!

Here's the jaguar. He was pacing back and forth looking into the cage next to him which held the coyotes. Isn't he beautiful?

Next we saw the peregine falcon. It was awesome because she wasn't in a cage. She was being held by a zookeeper who was able to answer all out questions about her species. Peregrine falcons are the fastest animal on the planet. When they are diving they can go up to 200 mph!

The zookeeper held her on a special glove to keep his hands protected from her talons. He said she only weighs about 2.5 lbs.

Isaiah's "wingspan" is the size of a barn owl.

By this time we were getting tired. So we all loaded up on the train to ride back to the zoo entrance. We could see this longhorn from our position on the train.

SNOW!!!

2008-03-04T20:42:00.001-08:00

It's an unusal thing to have snow in Texas, especially in March. So even though it was 10pm, we got all dressed up and went outside to play in it. Seth came running in the bedroom to tell me that "Santa brought the snow!!!!" Here's a picture of the Suburban:

And one of the toys we left outside:

Here's the four youngest playing in the snow:

Here's Samara making a snowball and Seth throwing a snowball at Daddy:

Here's Isaiah and Malachi holding the biggest snowballs they've ever made:

Here's Nehemiah and Susanna (girl who lives across the street):

The rest of the neighborhood came out to play too. Here's a picture of Alex and Trent. Those big boys were throwing snowballs as hard as they could. I tried to stay out of the line of fire.

Look at Seth's rosy cheeks:

We didn't stay out very long. It was time to come in and dry off and get ready for bed.

Sidewalk Chalk and Bike Riding Fun

2008-02-28T16:47:00.001-08:00

Today I took the twins with me to the grocery store. After arriving home, I went straight to the kitchen to unload and begin cooking. Malachi helped me unload groceries and start the food. The rest of the kids were outside playing. Isaiah and Samara drew rainbows on the sidewalk.

Then we got out the bikes and started riding. Everyone but Samara wanted to show me what tricks they could do. Here's a picture of Seth riding as fast as he can!

For some reason, Samara didn't want to ride her bike. She was just bouncing around and being silly. And she wanted her picture taken, as usual!

She also wanted to race next to the boys while she was on foot and the boys were on their bikes, as you can see in the video clip below.

ATV Riding

2008-02-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday Ray took the kids riding at Rocky Ridge in Decatur. Trent, Nehemiah, and Isaiah now have dirt bikes so this was the first time they got to go play with them. They brought Jonathan with us too. He recently bought a dirt bike too but it's not running right now. So he brought his Polaris 4-wheeler. The twins went to play all day with Aunt Vette and Jada while I stayed home and slept.

The next day, we ventured out again, this time I got to go. Nehemiah chose to stay home, he said he had homework. :( This time we went to 360 in Ft. Worth. We didn't stay long, it's not a real track and it was extremely bumpy. I rode Jonathan's 4-wheeler and took the twins with me. Ray rode the Raptor. Trent rode his own bike. Jonathan rode Nehemiah's bike. Isaiah took Malachi and rode the little 4-wheeler.

On Wednesday, we all went out to Shady Grove Motorcross in Irving. Isaiah and Malachi took turns riding the little 4-wheeler and giving the twins rides. Trent and Nehemiah rode the big track. When the little ones were waiting their turn to ride, we read a book called "Cars and Trucks and Other Vehicles" and we played with rocks. First we threw the rocks then we used them as math manipulatives. Malachi and I practiced addition and subtraction using the rocks. Then we lined them up in rows of 10 and counted by tens. We had 120 rocks! You can see Seth sitting in the trailer counting the rocks in this first picture:

FUN WAS HAD BY ALL!

ALL ABOARD!

2008-02-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a book by Rebecca Rupp called "Getting Started on Home Learning, How and Why to Teach Your Kids at Home". She is an unschooler and suggests that parents keep journals of what is going on in the homeschool in order to clearly see what is being learned. I've enjoyed reading samples of her journal so I think I'll try to be more detailed in our homeschool journey through my blog.

Wednesday was a lovely day, despite being a bit cloudy, so we decided to get out of the house. Ray invited our friends Tina and Shawn to go on our little outing with us. And of course Trent tagged along. Nehemiah was at school.

So we started out by driving up to the Carrollton Transit Center to catch the bus downtown. We rode together in the back of the bus...all 9 of us. Isaiah pointed out that this must be what it's like in an RV, except there would be beds, a kitchen, a couch, etc. How observant! (It was kinda hard to imagine an RV while we are looking at rows of occupied seats.) When we arrived downtown we caught the DART train to Plano. Here's a picture of the kids on the train.

When we got off in Plano, we were all starved. We saw a small burger joint across the street called "Ye Ole Butcher Shop" so we headed over. The kids and Trent waited outside at the outdoor picnic table, while Ray and I went in to order. There were some Plano officers inside the restaurant who had just finished eating and as they walked out, they stopped by to talk with my kids and give them some "Jr Officer" stickers. Seth has his hand over his sticker and Samara's head is blocking Isaiah's.
We took the food back across the street to the park and had a lovely picnic. The hamburger was delicious. The kids played for almost an hour at the park. Here's a picture of Samara, Malachi, and Seth sitting on a large horse that was between the train station and the playground.

Isaiah wanted to take a picture by himself on the horse. He amazed me at how he can use his body to imitate anything he wants to. Doesn't he look like he's racing that horse?
We also went to the Interurban Railway Museum that is located near the playground. It's a small museum that's housed in a building that served as a primary stop on the Texas Electric Railway that ran from Denison to Dallas beginning in 1908. It stopped running in 1948. We were the only guests and the guides were excited to have us. They gave us an individual tour. First we looked at the model train exhibit. The kids were facinated with the small scale of everything there. Seth loved the pond with the man fishing. Isaiah wanted to know if the "water" in the model was made of glass. Malachi spotted a model man lying on his back in the grass looking up at the sky. This was something that even our guide had never noticed before. Then we moved on to another model train exhibit that had actual moving trains. The trains had lights on them and the windmill was turning. We watched this for a while as the kids asked more questions and pointed out their favorite parts. Then we moved on to a life size model of an engineer and it had sound, you could hear the engineer talking but he didn't move. Then the guide enlisted the help of the kids to press the buttons to light up a large replica of a train motor. The guide explained how it worked. Then he allowed us to make our own electricity by turning a crank that provided electricity to a light bulb. We talked about what it would be like if we had to stand around and turn that crank everytime we turned on a light at home. We also held some railroad ties and talked about what a big nail it has to be in order to hold down the rails. Finally, the guide took us outside to tour a real train that used to stop at this railroad station. We learned that the tracks went through a lot of countryside since Dallas wasn't near as built up at that time. The front of the train had a "cowpusher" on it, that removed anything off the tracks that might be in the way. The back of the train was a mail sorting and delivery area used by the United States Post Office. The front of the train was used for passengers. Above the passenger seats were several antique ads. The guide asked the kids to see if they could recognize them. Malachi recognized "Heinz" as ketchup, even though the ad was for Heinz vinegar. Each of the kids took turns sitting in the engineer's seat. Samara climbed on one of the antique passenger seats that were roped off and not to be sat on. She didn't understand why she couldn't sit on it. It looked similar to the seat she sat on while on the DART train! Malachi was laughing when we learned that the bathroom on the train had no holding tank. When one flushed it, the toilet opened up and dropped the waste on the tracks!

We thanked the guide for our tour and headed off to catch our train ride home. We were all tired by the time we boarded the bus and every one of us dozed off before we arrived home.

Sick!

2008-01-31T00:33:00.000-08:00

So I thought I had the flu...
I was miserable. Fever, headache, runny nose, fatigue, sore throat, body aches and more! Absolutely awful! I actually had to call in to work for 3 days straight and since we're so shorthanded, that means that each day I called in, 2 other people were forced to cover my shift so they had to work 12 hours that day instead of 8. That made me feel even worse.
On the third day, I developed the worst sore throat I've ever had in my life...so I went to the doctor. Turns out, it's not the flu, it's a sinus infection. But the doctor was more concerned with some other problems I'm having. My blood pressure is too high (135/100). And I've gained 14 pounds since the last time I saw the doctor 6 months ago. So now he's sending me to get bloodwork done to check for thyroid problems, diabetes, liver problems, etc. And he gave me a prescription to take care of the sinus infection.

After starting the meds, I was still having extreme pain in my throat, so I looked online for a home remedy to help. I tried drinking warm water with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. It worked! The pain came back, but there was definate improvement for a couple of hours.

Further home remedy reading caused me to find that meditating can improve blood pressure. I've never meditated before but I knew my dad has done it to improve his health so I gave him a call. He praised the practice, stating that it did help his high blood pressure and also caused him to have more energy when he meditated routinely. So I decided to try it. Ray saw me sitting up in bed in the dark and became concerned. He wanted to know what I was doing and when I told him, he thought I'd gone crazy! He asked me not to do it because it's too weird! (I'm sure he imagined a person meditating making a humming noise and levitating in an Indian style sitting position while thinking profound thoughts about the universe and the meaning of life!) But I assured him that I wasn't doing anything weird, just being quiet and relaxing with a blank mind (as blank as possible). I sat for 20 minutes in a relaxed position and let thoughts run through my mind without concentrating on them. I began to feel like I was spinning, not dizzy, but freely spinning like I was floating. It was not unpleasant. After I opened my eyes, my body felt so relaxed and so heavy in it's position. It was nice. I'm planning on experimenting more with meditation and moving up to meditation using visualization. I've realized that this is not my first time meditating: I did it during childbirth using the Bradley Method, relaxing and visualizing my cervix was a flower that was opening up and blooming. And also during a cool down period of a dance class I had in college in which the instructor walked us through a deep relaxation. I just never knew that's what meditating was.

So hopefully something good will come out of this bout with illness. And I thank God that no one else in the family has gotten sick! I pray that good health stays with all of them~

LOVELY HUSBAND AND JOYFUL KIDS

2008-01-19T18:29:00.001-08:00

Haven't had time to blog in a while. But I just wanted to put down a few of my thoughts before I forgot about them.

The other day I was running late for work. I barely had time to jump in the shower, never mind eat lunch or dry my hair! But as I rushed to my bedroom after showering, in walks Ray with a plate full of food and a hairdryer in his hand. I sat on the bed and ate my lunch while Ray dried my hair. That, my friends, is one of the many reasons why I love my husband!

On another note...my kids also bring joy to my life. The other day my friend Jenny and her kids were at our house. We all had dinner together and just hung out, watching tv, playing toys, listening to music, checking myspace...when out of nowhere Malachi stops to ask me, "Mom, is this a party?" The little comments like these just melt my heart. He was having so much fun with our friends that it seemed like a party to him. I am glad that our regular family life with it's friendships and activities are so exciting and fulfilling for him.

Thank you God for my family!!!

From the Mouths of Babes

2007-12-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Malachi has been sick for the last 2 or 3 days. It's his asthma again. So he and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. He started coughing a little but exaggerated it. I looked down at him, smiled, and asked him what was wrong with him. He responded, "I have asthma, duh!"

Thanksgiving

2007-12-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

We decided to go back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving to see Ray's family again. Ray's mom, sister and niece were going too. They were leaving before we were. They asked if they could take Samara with them and we would just meet up with them when we got there. Hey, works for us! That way Samara and Jada (neice) could entertain each other during the trip. It was a great idea so I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was having Samara that far away from me. She's spent the night with family before, but it was always close enough that I could go pick her up if needed. As far as I can tell, she didn't have the same discomfort.

After Samara left, we took the boys fishing. There's a nice little pond we like to go to that has a walking trail around it as well as a basketball court nearby. After fishing for a while we walked over to the basketball court and played for a while.

The next day Ray and the boys left for Mississippi. I had to work that day as well as Thanksgiving day so I stayed behind. Ray's sister left her SUV for me to drive while she was gone, she's so nice! Anyway, talk about weird! I haven't been home alone in so long I can't remember! I had planned on doing some extensive housework since I had an empty house but opted instead to spend time with my mom and Rich. We went out to eat and then I went home with them. We stayed up late talking and watching t.v. It was so relaxing. I realized I really needed the break.

On the day after Thanksgiving, my mom took me to the airport at 5:45 in the morning. Crazy that people are up that early! I flew to New Orleans where Ray, Nehemiah and Billy Ray were waiting for me. We went straight to Mrs. Harper's house to visit and meet up with Rachel, Yvette, Jada, and Samara. The rest of the boys were there too. We had breakfast of grits, eggs, and sausage, Yummy! After visiting for a while, it was time to go get the hotel room. We were staying in Gulfport. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool and I was so disappointed that I didn't bring our swimsuits. I didn't have the heart to tell the kids that there was an indoor pool. Malachi started getting sick. Ray stayed on top of his breathing treatments every 2 hours. We were really concerned and considered taking him to the hospital. Thank God we didn't have to. He probably wouldn't have been able to go swimming after all.

The next day we went to Pascagoula. We stopped at Pizza Hut to eat. Then visited the Scranton Nature Center. They had several diaramas, some live snakes, a live baby alligator, and some birds and rabbits. The tour guide took the baby alligator out of the cage and let the kids pet it. After the tour, we went outside to play on the playground. There was a walking trail but we didn't get a chance to walk it.

That night, we drove to Wiggins to visit with Ray's dad's family. They cooked a big meal and there were lots of other family members there to share it with. Ray's sister Brittney, Ray's brother Bryan and his girlfriend and her two kids, Ray's sister Ernestine and her daughter were all there. Of course Scoop came over too. We stayed late, playing cards and putting up the Christmas tree. All the while, Malachi getting his breathing treatments every 2 hours. Poor guy. We played outside a little bit, but it was a little too cold. But the kids had to spend some time playing in the bus. Here's a picture of Seth on the bus. The next picture shows Malachi "driving" the bus and if you look really close you can see Samara's hair right next to Malachi.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed, watched t.v. and played on the laptop. Ray bought snacks for all of us. Nehemiah got a bottle of root beer and I took a picture of him drinking it...

We had planned on making our trip home an adventure. We were going to stop by a zoo, go to a childrens museum, and stop at anything that looks interesting. But the weather was cold and Malachi was just too sick to do any of those things. We did stop in Vicksburg and took a minitour of the town. It was really cool! Lots of steep roadways that lead right down to the river. We stopped at the Coca-Cola Museum where Coke was first bottled. Isaiah found an antique baby high chair and he was amazed!

On the way home from Vicksburg, we stopped at a gas station with a Whataburger attached. We were already in Texas but I can't remember the city. Anyway, it was the coolest Whataburger I've ever been to. They had a real Harley Davidson on display, as well as a full set of drums, and guitars and records hanging on the walls. Ray got our Coke out of a really cool soda fountain next to the register. If you look closely at the guitars that the kids are standing to you can see that they are actually signs for the Mens or Womens restrooms. Cool, huh?

Most Recent Events

2007-11-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

A week ago Wednesday, we took the family to go see my dad while Nehemiah was in school. It was a great visit. Celeste and Dustin were there too. I wish Nehemiah could've gone with us. Though we weren't there long, it was a lot of fun. I've decided we need to do this more often!

Last Tuesday we took the 4 little ones to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. I took some great pictures but my camera's memory card has since gone "Ka-Put" so I don't have any to share. Anyway, they had several bounce houses/slides, a hay maze, a hayride, a playground area, a pig and tortoise to observe, and of course pumpkins. The kids had a blast. And to top it all off, it was FREE! But we did purchase some of the tiniest pumpkins ever. The kids decorated them with markers when we got home.

Then on Tuesday night, Nehemiah played his last 8th grade football game. My dad even made it to the game! We lost again, but the Eagles put up a good fight. Nehemiah didn't play as much as he usually does. I couldn't figure out why. But after the game, Nehemiah told me that his coach selected him to be Eagle of the Year. Actually about 5 kids are selected throughout the year. Anyway, Friday night he and another student will be going with the coach to the Smith-Turner high school football game. They will get a chance to meet the high school coaches and get a tour of the facilities.

Wednesday night was HALLOWEEN! Samara went as a beautiful princess. She was so proud of her painted nails, makeup and body glitter. All of the boys became scary monsters. Each boy picked out a mask and a fake knife at the store. Ray bought a jar of fake blood to add character. Then we went home and found some old clothes. We let Isaiah, Malachi and Seth cut some holes in the old clothes, then they went outside and painted blood on the clothing. They looked so great when they were done. And it was special because they each made their own costume.

Isaiah lost his first tooth!

2007-10-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight while we were at Nehemiah's football game, Isaiah lost his tooth! It's one of the bottom teeth. The one right next to it is very loose too.

He was shocked that he was bleeding and was amazed at how small the tooth was. He asked me to carefully place it in my coat pocket so he could put it under his pillow tonight. And he wanted to know if the tooth fairy has wings.

Isaiah thinks he's kinda ugly now. He's been worried about losing his teeth because he likes to look good. I think he's an adorable snaggle tooth boy!

Can't wait to see what she brings!

Parents Nite Out!

2007-10-23T21:46:00.001-07:00

Ray had a great but simple idea. We should sometimes go out WITHOUT the kids. Good thought, sometimes difficult to accomplish. Anyway, Saturday night when I got off work, Ray had everything arranged. Ray's mom watched the kids while we went bowling with some friends. Our friend Tina and her fiance Sean, my brother Dustin and another friend of ours named Vanessa came with us. I had my first Long Island Iced Tea. It was pretty good, but strong, I only needed one drink! Anyway, I rarely drink, so though I wasn't drunk, everything was extremely funny. So this is why people like to drink! It was a blast. I told Ray we need to do this at least once a month. Here's some pics:

Eisenhower State Park

2007-10-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, October 13, after Malachi and Isaiah played their football games, we headed north to Eisenhower State Park. We already had the trailer rented and packed so we were able to go immediately after the game. We rented a screened in shelter since we tore up our tent this summer at Rocky Ridge when we were out riding 4 wheelers. It was a good thing too since it poured down rain the last day we were there and due to the shelter we stayed dry and comfortable. Ray thought ahead and brought the microwave so we just heated up our leftover hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links and had a delicious meal. We had a picnic table in the shelter too. We played Uno, talked, laughed, listened to the rain, hung out and just did nothing. It was great. We had fun before the rain too. We went fishing, rode bikes, played at the playground, rode 4 wheelers, and found spiders. Isaiah hooked his own worms and caught several fish. One of the perch he caught was big enough to bring home and eat. Trent caught the tiniest fish I've ever seen on a hook, it looked like a fishing lure. I think he was mad. I rode Nehemiah's bike for a short time. Malachi told me I looked funny on a bike. I slowed down to stop and talk to him and when I leaned over to put my foot down, my jeans got caught on the pedal and I fell to the ground. How embarrassing.
We met another family with small children when we were fishing at the pier. Samara, being the social butterfly, walked right up to the other kids and made friends with them. She introduced them to me as her "brothers". I guess in her world, all her closest friends are her brothers. Anyway, Ray overheard her telling them that they are her friends but they "can't come to our house because we live in a porch"! She was referring to the screened shelter! How funny.
I guess everyone liked the shelter. When we were packing up to leave, Malachi told me he didn't want to go. He said he liked it here in the "stick house" and thought it would be ok if we were to move to another "stick house". Funny how they like things like that, even without t.v. or video games or computer.

Samara gets her ears pierced!!!

2007-10-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

On October 9, Samara chose to get her ears pierced! She was so excited and eagerly walked around the store picking out all kinds of dangling earrings. I had to explain to her that she wouldn't be able to wear that kind of earring yet. I also explained that the actual piercing may hurt a little. But she didn't back down. She boldly sat in the chair and hugged the Claire's boutique bear. She chose the pink earrings which represented the October birthstone. (I thought it was perfect, knowing how much she loves pink and how she unknowingly chose the earrings that stood for the month in which her ears were pierced.) When the first ear was pierced, she jumped a little and then slowly reached up to feel the earring. She didn't cry or move and wasn't afraid to get the 2nd one pierced. I am so proud.

The rest of the Mississippi Trip

2007-10-21T14:01:00.001-07:00

I apologize for taking "forever" to post the rest of our trip. Believe it or not, our trip was only 2 days! We left Texas on Sunday, September 30 and came back home Wednesday October 3.

Anyway, the second day, we went to visit Ray's paternal grandmother, Mrs. Laura. She suffers from Alzheimers and did not recognize Ray and was not able to talk to him. But she was willing to pose for this picture. Sorry about the quality of the pic, it came from my cell phone and I didn't realize that I was able to change white balance, etc on the camera phone.

Several other family members were there. Aunt Mae, her daughter Sheeka and Sheeka's twin daughters. We also saw Uncle Jimmy Dale and Aunt Laura. Here's Ray with his Uncle Jimmy Dale. One of his dad's brothers and the one who looks most like Ray.

Here's a picture of Aunt Mae and Sheekas twin girls sitting on the porch with Samara.

After visiting with Ray's family, we headed to the coast to ride on a shrimping boat. Ray's sister Brittney came with us. It was cool because there were only 2 other visitors on the boat. So we got an up close and personal tour! Here's Nehemiah, Isaiah, Malachi and Samara on the upper deck of the shrimp boat.

Here's a picture of our shrimping guide. He explained everything you ever wanted to know about shrimping. He had lots of pictures on the boat of things they've caught over the years, including a sea turtle. He also had before and after pictures of the area due to Hurricane Katrina.

We were disappointed that we only caught a handful of shrimp. There were a few other fish and lots of jellyfish and "sea sourcrout". Here's a picture of one the shrimp we caught and threw in a tank.

But the good news was, we caught some small non-stinging jellyfish and the fisherman gave one to each kid to hold.

The twins posed for a silly picture while sitting on the back of the shrimping boat.

Here's Ray sitting on the lower deck of the boat.

Next we headed to the beach. Here's Brittney and the twins walking along the beach.

Then we rented jet skis. Brittney did not want to ride. She said she can't swim and didn't feel comfortable riding out in the ocean. We tried to convince her but to no avail. We rented two 3 seater jetskis. They let us put 4 on each jetski since we had little ones. Trent, Isaiah, Malachi and Nehemiah rode on the first one. Ray, Seth, Samara and I rode on the second one. The twins were having a blast, laughing and carrying on, until Ray tried to turn the jetski and we flipped over. Then they were both terrified and screaming. The lifeguard guy rode his jetski over and helped Ray to flip our jetski back over while I held onto the twins. Ray climbed on first, Samara hesitated but was convinced to get back on. Seth refused to get back on, instead crying and clinging to me. I finally pushed him back up with the help of the lifeguard. We headed back to shore and Ray and the twins got off. I got to ride alone for the rest of the trip. Trent was able to keep his jetski from capsizing, but rode too fast on the waves and knocked Nehemiah off the back! Of course Isaiah and Malachi were terrified that they just lost their brother in the ocean! Nehemiah was able to climb back on before the lifeguard guy was able to rescue him. Here's Trent and Nehemiah after they dropped Isaiah and Malachi off on the shore.
Me on the jet ski.

Here's a picture of the bridge that crosses over the Mississippi River. We took this pic on the way home. Goodbye Mississippi! We'll be back soon!

While on our way home, Ray saw his dream bike so I took a picture of it. A picture of the stretched Hayabusa for all to enjoy. Thank you stranger for letting us take your picture!!!

More of the Mississippi Trip

2007-10-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

After visiting Mrs. Harper and Rev, we stopped by Ray's dad's house. We visited and went outside to ride 4 wheelers and bikes. Here's a picture of Ray's sister Brittany, step-mom Faye, and Ray sitting on the tail-gate.

Here's a picture of Isaiah riding his bike in Grandpa's front yard. See the bus in the back yard? Grandma Faye drives the school bus and gets to park it in her front yard each and every day! Is that cool or what?
Of course, Malachi and the twins played in the bus for hours on end. They pretended to go to school. They had to climb on and off the bus to get "lunch money" and pick up their "homework", etc. They took turns being the bus driver and Malachi observed that he could not see if kids were walking in front of the bus! How cool is that? Seeing things from another perspective is really educational! Here's a pic of Malachi and Samara standing on the bus.

Here's Samara and Aunt Brittney.
Samara and Grandpa Billy Ray.

Seth and Grandpa Billy Ray.

Nehemiah learned to ride the Raptor. Here's Nehemiah taking Malachi for a ride.

Trent taking Isaiah for a ride.

With all the motorized vehicles moving about, Grandpa pulled out his "zero turn" lawnmower. Ray and Nehemiah took the mower for a ride. Difficult to navigate but fun once you learn how.

There were little bugs everywhere! Faye said they were called Love Bugs. Seth caught some and wanted to take a picture.

That evening, we went out to eat at the "Western Sizzlin" Restaurant. Dinner was delicious. Ray's other sister, Ernestine, also showed up. Here's a pic of Faye and Ernestine's daughter.

Mississippi Trip

2007-10-05T20:09:00.001-07:00

We had fun visiting Ray's maternal grandparents. This is a picture of our family with Mrs Harper and Rev. They live in Gulfport, Mississippi. Mrs. Harper gave all the kids a stuffed animal to bring home with them. Thank you! Wish we could've stayed longer to visit!

Game 2

2007-09-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

Isaiah and Malachi each had their 2nd football games on Saturday. This time we spectators found a place in the shade to watch the game. It was much more comfortable but harder to see the game. Malachi played first. They lost 33-0. When the game was over, I asked Malachi if he had fun. He replied "kinda". So I asked if he won the game and he enthusiastically stated, "Yeah!". He had no idea! But Ray did, with his blood pressure up, he wondered if he would be able to finish out the season. Isaiah played next. They also lost, 26-6. But Isaiah played a great game. He sacked the quarterback! Whoo-Hoo! And he made a couple of other tackles too! I was very proud. He was beaming!

Samara, oblivious to the games, found a friend on the sideline. Another mom, searching for shade, was sitting very close to us. She, too, had 2 sons playing in the league and they were at different age levels, so she had 2 games to watch. She also had a 4 month old son named Boston who Samara fell in love with. Samara played with him, fed him a bottle, and even got to hold him! I posted a picture of them.

JEN'S PARTY

2007-09-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Jennifer invited us to a party at her mom's house. Her brother and his family would be there as well as several other friends. Grandpa sat outside with us, watching us swim until it started sprinkling on us. They he moved up under the covered porch. We had so much fun! Ray brought some of his famously "hot" hot sauce, very yummy. Jen made some tasty layered bean dip. And Chris fired up the grill, making chicken and hot dogs. They smelled so good! But I didn't get to eat any because I had to leave for work before they were done. :( But we had a blast. I only wish we could have stayed longer.

Here's a picture of Ray and Nehemiah.

Seth with a silly face!

Chris and Mandy's kids, Micah and Marley!

Malachi and Isaiah, too cool!

Zack and Jennifer!

PERRY FOOTBALL

2007-09-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Nehemiah played his first 8th grade football game Tuesday night. I was so excited! He is playing starting quarterback for the A team. We played the Polk Panthers. They whopped our tails. It was awful. Nehemiah played a good game, but our team just isn't ready and our coach doesn't seem to realize that this is a strategy game! It's very, very frustrating. The worst part was the fact that we threw the ball away several times due to our offense running shotgun and the center throwing the ball way over the QB's head! Even when Nehemiah could jump up and get the ball, that wasted precious time causing us to get tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Anyway, we lost 27-0.

Ok, enough ranting and raving. We had fun overall! Isaiah and Malachi played football in the grass while the game was going on. On the bright side, Grammie, Rich, Aunt Vette and Jada all came to watch the game! Samara and Jada were terrified of our Eagle mascot. Very funny. Here's a pic of Jada, Grammie and Samara. Sorry about the picture quality. It was taken at night on my camera phone.

Football Fever

2007-09-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

The boys have been practicing 3 nights a week in preparation for this season's games. Saturday was the big day! Malachi's first flag football game and Isaiah's first tackle game. We played the Rowlett Mustangs. Malachi's team went first, he had fun but we lost 21-7. Ray was just sick. He had to go sit down, take a breather, let his blood pressure go back down. Then it was Isaiah's turn. They lost too, 13-0. But Isaiah made some great tackles. Nehemiah was the great big brother, as ususal, he ran the chains for both of his brothers games. Gotta love this family!!!

Homeschooling - Week 1

2007-09-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

We have completed week one! It is so much fun.
Reading/Phonics: short vowel sounds
Math: one to one correspondence/counting
Writing: Practice writing vowels
History: Genesis, Beginning of Time, Creation
Science: None yet!
Art/Music: Painted with apple halves, made "Apple Jack" necklaces, painted white igloos on black paper
Lots of reading together and individually "reading" books.
Malachi has spent hours building ships out of Legos.
Isaiah drew up football plays after studying a book about John Madden and the history of football.

I am getting to know my kids in ways I didn't think was possible. I mean, I thought I knew them and spent a lot of time with them. But this is different. Isaiah is very precise and is a perfectionist. Malachi tends to take care of the twins. He offers to share his supplies with them. Malachi is quite good at coloring too!

Well, hopefully I won't take so long to write before next time.

Growing Up

2007-08-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

I still feel quite young so it was surprising to find 2 gray hairs on my head this morning! Aaaahhh! It's actually pretty cool! I feel like my life must have meaningful so far, it means I've experienced something enough to go gray! Woo-Hoo!

Swimming, swimming and more swimming!

2007-08-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Actually only 2 days of swimming. But it was a lot of fun. Monday we took the whole family to the public swimming pool. Then we went again on Wednesday night to meet my mom and the group of kids who were going with the church group. The city recently upgraded the pool to be like a mini water park, lazy river and all! Nehemiah took off to go off the diving board and be with his friends. Ray and I stayed in the shallow pool with the younger kids. I had a lot of fun watching the twins jump into the water from the edge of the pool and watching them go down the slides. Isaiah practiced swimming underwater from one end of the pool to the other. Malachi practiced going under water and jumping in. The twins scared me once when they decided to come back to the shallow pool (they were at the table talking to my mom) and jump in on the deep end! It's only 3 ft and even though they can reach the bottom, they are not tall enough for their heads to be above the water! Both jumped in without me or Ray being there! I swam over as fast as I could and rescued Seth, while Nehemiah saved Samara! Whew! What a relief! Gotta watch those little ones closely!

What the heck is a blog?

2007-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

My husband asked me, "What the heck is a blog anyway?" I tried to explain it was an online journal, a place to post thoughts, pictures, etc. He responded by saying it has the right title, it's just a bunch of "blahg, blahg, blahg". Ha, ha! He's so funny.

Anyway, I heard a song today that I haven't heard in a long time but it brought me to tears. I don't know the artist or the name of the song. But it is one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard. The chorus goes:

If you get there before I do,
Don't give up on me,
I'll be there when my chores are through,
I don't know how long I'll be,
But I'm not gonna let you down,
Darling, wait and see,
Between now and then,
Until I see you again,
I'll be loving you,
Love,
Me

Well that's all for now!

First Posting

2007-08-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here it goes. The beginning of a story. Well, our life has been going on prior to this blog, filling our days with joy, frustration, happiness, and anger and all types of other things. I just decided to start blogging so that we can record all these things. So, I hope to keep ya posted!