How do you like it?

I made some changes today. Not on purpose, I was adding something and had to finish updating to the Bata version and couldn't do it without updating the template so I had to redo everything and it took me quite a while so I decided to just go ahead and change some other things while I was at it. Anyway...at least now I can see how many people actually visit my blog! Thanks Jodie :)

Sunny With a High of 59!

That's what the weatherman said anyway!

We had a great day yesterday at home with our "family". Everyone ended up staying home so we had a great big meal - I think there are more leftovers than what ate, and trust me, we ATE! - lots of games and fun and a night of movies to top it all off. We even got to spend some time outside playing croquet! Some of you might not be so amazed but if you are from the UP, and we are, it isn't uncommon to have quite a few inches of snow by Thanksgiving, which leaves playing croquet out of the question, unless you like playing it in the snow!

Jozie, Kristin, Sami, and Luke playing Swap!
(It is a pretty cool and fun game, even the kids could understand and play it pretty well.)

We played teams because there were only 6 mallets and 8 of us, here is Luke missing the ball and almost hitting John! Pretty funny stuff!

"Fore!" Oh wait, wrong game! You are supposed to keep the ball on the ground, Risa!

Did you see there is no snow?! Amazing!

Belle's turn!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Psalm that I memorized when I was younger says it all. Hope you and your families have a great Thanksgiving. :)

Psalm 136

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.

5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.

6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.

7 who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.

8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.

9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.

11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.

12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder
His love endures forever.

14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.

15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

16 to him who led his people through the desert,
His love endures forever.

17 who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.

18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.

19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.

20 and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.

21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.

22 an inheritance to his servant Israel;
His love endures forever.

23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.

24 and freed us from our enemies,
His love endures forever.

25 and who gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.

New Version of Blogger

Has anyone tried this yet? I did read that if you switch you can't switch back. It sounds neat but I am afraid that they are going to start making people pay for it or something and then I would be screwed, I am not paying to blog! Although if they do make people pay I suppose it shouldn't matter which version that you use, either way, Risa will be done blogging!

Revenge of the Golden Corral... And Missing Teeth

Sounds like a cool title to a fun western movie, doesn't it? Well, in reality it's not. It's what everyone in the house had yesterday afternoon and this morning after eating at the Golden Corral - except for Jozie! We will never be eating there again. Luke woke up this morning to a sick stomach and ended up getting sick - twice. Then he was fine by about 10:30 and wanted breakfast. What a wonderful way to start out our week! :) He is now drawing me "posters" and Christmas cards on some finger painting paper he found and he showed me one that was a car drawn with a yellow highlighter, "Pretty impressive", he says! What a boy! When he thought he was going to throw up again he asked me to pray for him so I did and it went away. I suppose that's why it's called "Faith like a Child"! Prayer does change things, just ask Luke!

On a more fun note...

Jozie has been asking for a Nintendo DS for Christmas because one of her friends from church has one. Last night she was talking to Uncle Levi on the phone and he asked what she wanted for Christmas so of course, she told him a Nintendo DS. He just laughed and said, "Well, that's pretty expensive!" And of course she giggled too and said, "Tell me about it!" apparently I have told her the same thing a few times!

On Saturday Kristin, Sami, and I were invited to a Mary Kay party so we took Jozie with us and left Luke at home with Daddy. He must have had a good time because when I got home he was on the couch watching TV and he said, "Mom, I have to watch this truck racing now!" I guess I must have been in his way!

Later that afternoon we decided to go to Applebee's for supper because I had coupons for 2 free kids meals. Luke was pretty excited and asked (while we were in the car on the way there), "Mom, do they have that pasta and sauce? Because if they do than order me that, I've been waiting for a decent meal all day! Daddy didn't feed me anything!" I don't know how much he knows about "a decent meal" but he ate every bit of his pasta and french fries!

Luke lost his first tooth last week and I almost cried! My baby is getting too big and isn't my baby anymore! :( He was pretty excited about and put his $4.19 from the tooth fairy in an old sock in his drawer. He doesn't have a piggy bank so at least we have convinced him to save it somewhere! He does like to take it out and play with it though. As I a writing this he takes his sock out of his drawer and says, "I just want to see how much it is building to..."! Sounds like he has been talking to his Amma, the MetLife Investment Representative!

Jozie lost her 4th tooth today. She has been nursing it along here for about a month and a half and finally today she convinced Amma to tie a string around it and slam the door to get it out. The first attempt was unsuccessful, the string was too long, so the wrapped it around a few more times and tried again and out it popped. They had to search for it on the floor but a few minutes later Jozie came down and showed me that it is gone. None too soon either, you can already see her new tooth coming in! She says she keeps forgetting that it's gone and tries to wiggle it every so often!

Aikido Lessons

Some of these are a little blurry because of the low lighting and we didn't want to use the flash during their class.

Here are my Aikido kids! :)

A rare moment for Jozie, I think she is actually paying attention!

Jozie and Sam (the oldest boy in their class) about to practice their newest "moves".

Luke taking some instruction from Sam. When it's time to get partners, Luke is always the first one at Sam's side! They are quite cute when they practice together.

Warm-up exercises with Sensei.

Crazy Hair Day

The pictures say it all...

Potawomi & Fur Traders Field Trip at Baily Homestead and Chalburg Farm

Luke in the woods, I love this picture, I wish it wouldn't have turned out blurry!

Jozie and her friend, Gabby, they were holding hands almost all day on this field trip!

Some of our homeschool group that came to the Bailey Homestead field trip with Ranger JP.

My terrified children trying to pet the sheep that they just fed. They thought the sheep would bite them!

Belle with one of the horses on the farm. He came over for a scratch when we came to the fence.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I am going to attempt to catch up on what has been going on here without going onto too much boring detail...and spending too much of my limited time on a long update! :)

• My job at the greenhouse has ended for the season. I'm not so thrilled because I really enjoy working there but I'm glad to have more time at home with the kids. Jozie never really got used to me being gone so much and she is sleeping better now.
  
• I got a new job (sorry Joz!) at the local school. I am a substitute bus matron. It sounds cheezy but it's really fun. I ride the bus with special needs students (no, it's not a "short bus"!) and keep them quite, interact with them and make sure the little ones are in their car seats or safety vests (a seat restraint that is for bigger kids that don't stay in their seats to prevent them from roaming around the bus and hurting themselves). I also strap in wheelchair for a few children. They are so much fun and I have fallen in love with one in particular. He has the bluest eyes that I have ever seen (except for maybe Bobs) and he is always smiling. His name is Chester and he is 4 - or so he says. :)
• The kids and I took a trip to Indy to meet Amie and her family at the Children's Museum. The kids had fun and it was nice to see Amie and Miah. Jozie kept asking me, "Why won't those boys talk to me, Mom?" :) She loved Jonah, I must admit he was pretty cute, and had to take a few pictures of him. Luke had fun running around with Elijah through the "underground" tunnels and slides.
• My "man hands" are gone! But I now have about 12 2 gallon mums to plant so I'm sure they will be back by the end of the week!
• I just got some free pictures from Shutterfly. They turned out really nice and you get 15 free when you join (shipping is free on these too!). It's free to join. They have borders that you can add to your pictures at no extra cost which come out pretty cute. Jozie chose one of her pictures of Jonah for her scrapbook and we put a border around it. I am tempted to just send it to Amie...we will see what Jozie says though! :)
• I also got some free Christmas cards from them. I did have to pay shipping on them but it was worth it. I haven't gotten them yet but I'm sure some of you will get to see what they look like when they come in the mail to you! :)
• I got 30 free pictures from PhotoWorks. I just ordered 15 prints of one picture of each of the kids. I figure they will do for "school pictures" this year since we haven't had any professionally done for who knows how long - probably about 2 years! I suppose I should get on that but when you have a digital camera and can do so much with them who really needs more pictures of the kids? I will probably be sorry when I'm old though!
  
• I got 10 free pictures from WalMart.com with some batteries that I bought, I will probably wait for a rainy day to do those ones. I'm all pictured out for today!
  
• We went on a field trip to the Garwood Apple Farm a few weeks ago. It was lots of fun and the kids got to bring home apples and pumpkins. We got to see a Hail Cannon, it's a very interesting machine that changes the weather for about a mile around it when there is hail in the forecast.
• Kristin and I decided to do something fun and color our hair. We used those non-permanent kits from WalMart and it turned out to be a waste of $5 for me. I chose "Electric Black" thinking that my hair is such a dark brown that there wouldn't be much of a change. I was right. There was really no change, I don't know what happened. I followed the directions and the only thing that happened was that it turned my shirt purple after I had rinsed it all out. I'm going to complain and see if I can't get my money back or something free out of the deal at least!
• I went shopping with Kristin at the outlet mall in Michigan City a couple of days ago. I found some good deals - mostly Christmas and Birthday gifts. The only thing I got for myself was 3 bras...how fun!
• I have started teaching children's church during our Sunday morning service for the 2 and 3-year-olds. Sami and Kristin are going to be helping me. I wasn't really sure I wanted to do it but I know that they needed help and since I have done this kind of thing before I decided to go for it. It's now almost 8:30 on Sat. night and I haven't really looked over the lesson for tomorrow yet. Better wined this thing down so I can go do that!
• The kids started Aikido a couple of weeks ago. Jozie was the social butterfly of the class, talking to her little girlfriends while the class was going on and Luke was shy and didn't do much but watch for the first half of the class the first couple of weeks but after being talked to about that they have buckled down and are really starting to learn some stuff. They got their gie's (the outfit) last week and were really excited about them. I will have to post pictures of them from their first class with them on next week. Luke has a partner in his class who is a Senior at the local High School named Sam. Every time they have to pair off and help eachother I sorta feel bad for Sam because Luke picks him. But I guess he was in Karate before and knows a little about what he is doing so it's really good with Luke. I'm glad, Luke really tries hard with the older boys and responds well to their instruction and Sam seems to be a good teacher. Jozie still talks a lot but she's learning some. I think if I had to pay for this (it's a free class for the kids) I probably wouldn't put her in it, only Luke, just because she would do better in something like Girl Scouts where she is allowed to be social most of the time! :)
• It was Crazy Head day at AWANA last week - I think they do it in place of a Halloween party because most people there don't celebrate it, including us - so the kids wanted their hair done crazy. Luke chose to have his standing straight out, though it is getting a little long to do it, we accomplished it, but he REALLY needs a haircut! Jozie's was another story though. I separated it and braided it into 4 braids with pipe cleaners then bound them together and made it stand straight up with more pipe cleaners (I think we used about 20 or so!) so she looked like Cindy LooHoo from the Grinch that Stole Christmas! She was so cute! I told her she was JozieBella BooHoo :) She didn't like that much but she did win for the craziest head! She was pretty excited!
• I will post pics later...Hopefully sooner than a couple of weeks from now though!
  

Man Hands!

Ugh:P Today was a "working in the garden and moving 17 cubic feet of dirt" day! As Jozie would say, "I feel like a wet rag, Mom!" (she says that when she is "tired" but really doesn't want to do her school work!) John ordered dirt for the garden earlier this week but unfortunately the rain got to it before we did. I got to use the rented tiller (note: the guy in the picture has at least a hundred pounds on me! That picture doesn't do it justice! It was a "killer" - Luke asked Papa John where he got the huge "killer"), which was a GREAT stress reliever. Actually the whole day I worked like a horse because I was just really tired of hearing everyone else complain about how much work there was to do...I just wanted to get it done and I was having a hard time enjoying it with all of the whining!

So, now I have "Man Hands"! Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's date could rip lobster claws like it was nothing? She was a really good looking woman but she had these huge, calloused, dry and cracked, with nasty nails "man hands". Well, I wore gloves to avoid such a travisty but to no avail. They are swollen beyond recognition - blistered palms, broken nails - and quite dry from the dirt. I love working in the garden, normally this would have been a happy post, but I am not that right now because of the state of my hands. Worst of all, I haven't got a manicure in the budget this week! Can things get any worse? (Now that I've said that I will probably regret it about midnight when my body feels every shovel full of dirt I moved and every row I tilled!) Ahh! The wonderful feeling of a job well done! :)

Indianapolis Children's Museum Pics

Jozie in the Dinosphere...The look of awe. There were actually fossils there, not just casts.

Checkin' out things underground to see what the dino's feet look like and the other little things on the ground.

(This one is actually at Conner Prairie) Luke showing is true colors!

Bob wanted me to blog this...he needed a bit of help to get out of there. :)

This was on the underside of the Fireworks of Glass. Very cool and just beautiful. The colors were amazing!

Conner Prairie Pics

Luke grinding corn.

Jozie and Red the cow.

Jozie's horse ride.

Luke the "Sheep Whisperer"!

I think this one speaks for itself...

Blog Contest!

Here is a contest you can enter to win something! Check it out quick because it ends at mid-night tonight!

http://bluebirdblogs.blogspot.com/

Have fun and good luck!

Water Clocks and Tractor Parades

We ended up spending our Anniversary weekend (6 years) with our kids and Kristin in Indianapolis. We had a great time and went to the countries largest Children's Museum and Conner Prairie - a living history museum.

It was the Country Fair at Conner Prairie so we got to see all kids of cool things. There was a bearded lady, the Tattooed lady, the worlds old Lady, a mermaid - all of those different sorts of things that would be seen in the "Tent of Wonders". We visited the Temperance Tent and took an oath to never let alcohol pass our lips and got to wear ribbons to show our support of the Temperance Movement. There is a town that is set in 1836, and there is a sign that says, "You are now entering the year 1836".

Luke's favorite part was the tractors and the hay ride. We got in line for the hay ride, which took you around the tractor demonstration area and took what seemed to be about 15 minutes - but when it got to be our turn we ended up in the tractor parade! We would have liked to SEE the tractor parade but not be IN the tractor parade! It took almost an hour - or so it seemed - to go the route that they were taking before. We were going so slow that the tractor in front of us was doing donuts!

Jozie got to ride on a great big black horse named Gypsy - that was by far her favorite part! We thought for sure she was going to fall off though! She had on a scort that had little shorts under it - I guess they call them a scooter - but she was bigger than some of the other kids and the guy had a harder time getting her up there so she kind of got up there funny - half on - and the horse started moving! I almost freaked out because I thought for sure she was going to fall off but she grabbed hold of the handles and pulled herself up on it like she was belly surfing on the thing and grinned all the way around! :) She had a great time but I almost fainted!

The Children's Museum was HUGE! There was a ton to see and do. It had this cool clock in the lobby that was all glass tubes and beakers filled with blue liquid. It kept time by pumping the liquid through the tubes into chambers for the hour and minutes. It was pretty interesting.

I think Luke had a hard time deciding which part was his favorite - the Dinosphere or the Science and Technology area where there were 2 huge water areas. He threw a fit right there in front of everyone when we said it was time to leave...leave it to Luke!

Jozie liked the Fireworks of Glass and the water areas too. She also liked the " Mysteries in History" area where you got to explore early pioneers cabins, kitchens, and an Indian tepee. We got to see a play in the Cabin about the Underground Railroad and Levi Coffin. She liked that too. We decided we are going to try and make a trip to Levi Coffin's House here in Indiana sometime soon before we move.

I would have to say that I liked Conner Prairie better than the Children's Museum. I love seeing those historical places - it makes me long for a simpler life. I know I could have easily lived in that time period and enjoyed life so much more. I love hard work and making things on my own and doing all those things that a woman did for her family back in those days. I wouldn't even miss my computer or TV! Sometimes I think I was born during the wrong decade! :) Someone blessed us 2 free tickets while we were standing in line so we only had to pay for the kids to get in. It was only $14 but if we would have had to pay for Bob and I it would have been close to $40! I was trying to figure out how I was going to ask Bob if we could become members because for only $60 we could have gotten in free for a year and it would have made us have to come again to make it pay for itself. It would have been worth it to me but I couldn't argue that $14 was a lot cheaper than $60. I'm sure we will go back again, it's just a matter of when and with whom.

PS I tried to upload some pictures but it was taking way too long. We got a new pic. card for a camera this week - a 1G one - and we can take over 500 pictures on the highest setting. So these new pictures are pretty big. Anyway, I don't have the patience for it tonight and will try again tomorrow so the pictures are still to come...

Back to the Mums :(

Well, I started my new job yesterday and quit today. It wasn't a bad place to work but there were a few things that they should have made me aware of BEFORE I stared working. I went for orientation yesterday and found out that I have to pay for my own TB Test, a drug test, a physical from a dr, and my own CPR training and any continuing education classes I take - we are required 12 hours a year. They will pay for half of the drug test but if you quit within 6 months than anything that they pay for comes out of your final check. And that is only the beginning of it. The lady told me during my interview that she could get me $7 an hour - which isn't much but it's more than I make watering the mums - and when she called to offer me the job she said that she could only get me $6.75. I didn't say anything at the time but didn't think much of it either. When they hired me they said I would be working m-f 1:45 to 6:00 but when I went in there to work yesterday they said that they wouldn't be needing me until 3. So I also had my hours cut within my first few minutes of working. I wasn't happy. I decided to stay since I was already there but quickly found myself ALONE in a classroom full of 4 and 5 years olds, none of which I knew their names, and just having woke up from their naps, were having "free time". The girl that I was supposed to be working with kept leaving the room to check on her daughter who had just started there that morning and wasn't doing so well with the transition. I understand, I would have had just as hard a time had it been my child, but the least the could have done was send me someone to show me what I was supposed to be doing. It was all I could do to keep the peace! They also told me that they pretty much didn't want me to bring my kids with me. One of the big reasons that I took the job was because they seemed excited for me to be bringing them when I interviewed but then told me yesterday that they didn't really have a place to "put" them. Well, Bob will be gone by 3:00 EVERY day, if not early most days so I planned on bringing them with me most days. So, I just called and told them that I didn't think it was going to work out. They didn't seem to care why, didn't give me a chance for an explanation, just said, "thanks for calling, good buy" and hung up the phone. I guess if that's the way they are going to be than I really don't want to work for a company like that.

So, I'm back to watering the mums....at least Larry seemed happy to keep me there...now, if I can just get him to give me another raise...Ha! That'll be the day!!!

Popcorn Pandemonium!!!

On Saturday we did end up at the Popcorn Festival. It was pretty interesting - about as many outdoor vendors as you could find in one place outside of a flea market - but there wasn't much there that was about popcorn. I thought it would have a bit of history, something about how it was grown and made, etc. but it was only a theme for the parade and a couple of the booths. We did successfully spend a lot of money on food and we got to spend the day shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers with not much breathing room. The parade was ok, it was just a small town parade and they didn't even throw candy, they handed it to the kids, those who even had candy. I got a cute anclet, some nice smelling oil, and some Watkins cough syrup like I used to take when I was a kid. Jozie ACTUALLY LIKES IT! And it really works. It just so happens that she has had a little cough for the last week or so and it's helped a lot. So I guess there was a point to going and she is feeling better.

Oh, and there was 2 very tasteless groups in the parade that I wasn't thrilled with. One was just plain weird that I didn't understand at all, they said something like "Even the Aliens live in Valpo" or something like that with these star trek type of characters dancing around. Strange. The other one I "Booed". I was disgusted they were even there and almost covered my kids eyes. They carried signs that said "Out of Iraq" and sported rainbows and peace symbols while waving the peace sign at the crowd. I couldn't believe - and on the verge of 9/11 - these people would even show up. To show their unappereciation for the people and families that have given so much for us to still be free. I was utterly disgusted. Bob and I weren't the only ones, there were plenty of other boos in the crowd. I understand there is "freedom of speech" but if it wasn't for those people that they were disrespecting, they probably wouldn't have that freedom.

Luke @ the NIPSCO booth, our local gas/electrical company booth.



Jozie and Me at the Popcorn Festival! Jozie didn't want her picture taken...



A popcorn float at the popcorn parade.

Dairy Free is the Way to Be!

I got Luke some Dairy Free ice cream today that is actually very yummy! It has a very smooth texture, almost like custard. He loved it and was SO excited to have ice cream - it's been a couple of years! He had Tofutie ice cream bars this summer at Uncle Levis and ate almost the whole box in 2 days but this stuff is WAY better! Its called So Delicious Soy Ice Cream. I got him the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor. It's kind of a tree hugger company, which makes me sorta not want to support them but when you have to be Dairy Free for allergy reasons, sometimes you have to make exceptions.

Now, if we could only figure out how to make good creamy mashed potatoes dairy free...

Changing Gears

Welp, I had a job interview on Tues. at a daycare and I got the job. I am pretty excited about starting something new but I can say that I will miss working for Larry - a little. Especially come this spring when it's time to plant and see all of the new little flowers grow. I did, and still do, feel a little guilty about leaving him. I really do enjoy working at the greenhouse but the season has almost completely ended and after I am done watering the mums there isn't going to be much for me to do. At my new job I will be working in the afternoons so that will leave my mornings free for school, something that we had a hard time with last spring when I was working so many hours. And I will be working Monday through Friday and no weekends. Which is nice too. I will just have to see about getting off a little earlier on Wednesday so we can get to AWANA on time.

Which brings me to my next point...AWANA started again this week. The kids were so excited to see their friends again and Luke has been reading the verses in his AWANA book from last year the last couple of days. He is so excited to get his new one he keeps wanting to work in his old one - and he did the review in it so he's already gone through it twice! What a boy. Jozie is still kinda stuck on the 23rd Psalm. I think that's kinda my fault because I always forget to study for it until the day before. I think we are going to use AWANA for our Bible class this year and work a little on memorizing and reading in it everyday. That way we will accomplish 2 things at once.

We HAVEN'T started school yet...it's really rather frustrating. I have all of Lukes Paces but still need Jozie. My dad has been paying for the kids books but he has been laid off since July and just got his first job in months this week so he hasn't had the money to get Jozies for us. At least Luke didn't quite finish first grade last year so we still have a little to work with for him but I really don't want to start with him and not her. So we are still waiting. Hopefully in the next week or so we can get them ordered. If not I'm not sure what I am going to do!

Tomorrow we are going to go to the Popcorn Festival. Did you know that Orville Redenbacher was from Valparaso, Indiana? So every year they have a festival to celebrate popcorn. They say it's the nations only parade for popcorn...the kids are excited and looking forward to a good time so naturally we are too. Unfortunately Bob has to work (what's new?) so I will be taking the kids with Kristin and John and Sami. Hopefully we can get along for the afternoon! That might take some doing though...

Here's my seal! I put our school name on it but I didn't want to publish that on my blog because it has our last name on it. That was fun! Thanks Amie! Oh, here's the site... :)

Marshmallows for Ammo!

This morning we went to the European Market in Chesterton where the kids discovered marshmallow shooters...They were an immediate hit with them. They had a ball shooting eachother there until they ran out of marshmallows! So on our way home, Mom made a stop at the grocery store and got a big bag of them - you know, the cheap store brand ones that don't taste very good but they worked really good as Ammo! We went to the park and used almost the whole bag there, the raccoons will have a feast there tonight! I should have gotten like 3 bags. I would highly recommend them to anybody with kids, they are easy to use and don't hurt - unless they are used for hitting, of course! And they are fun for adults too!

I also got some huge green - 3 of them, red, yellow, and orange peppers and a gigantic sweet onion - all for $3.75 Cheap! - so we will add chicken and have some really yummy fajitas tomorrow for dinner. It's been awhile since we had those. There was all kinds of fruit and veggies for great prices, I wish I would have brought more money! I would have stocked up! :)

At the European Market

Jozie with her Marshmallow shooter - scratching her leg...

Flowers at the European Market

Luke in action with his Marshmallow Shooter