And so, after a huge break....

Oops, sorry about that! We went away last weekend, and it took me all week to catch up, so I didn't have time to post again. We had a great time with our friends, who bought a beautiful house with an awesome view. High up on the side of a small mountain, so I'd hate to be them in the winter. With my van I'd be house-bound for months.

So here are more pictures:

another mountain goat:


a break on the swings at one of the playgrounds:


getting ready to ride:



Noah


Samuel and Aunt Shawna:


Levi: Green is Good!



and a couple of pictures of my baby, just because he's cute!



Levi has actually broken this gate. It is the one into the kitchen, and he is always eager to get in and wreak havoc!

What to do? What to do?

Ok, so I got my card reader working! Woo Hoo! But now I have 3 weeks worth of pictures to post. I hate to do it all at once, and bog down page loads. Plus they're not as much fun when there are so many all at once. I will try to give you a few a day. So today, you get pictures from April 2, when we took the boys to the park to go bike riding.

Here are some of the pretty flowers in front of our house. They got prettier when the tulips bloomed, but the last thunderstorm blew all the petals off.







And here are some pictures from the park. Any sane parent probably wouldn't be letting their 19 mo go up and down the slide alone, but *sigh* Chris taught him.







And in case you are wondering what his favorite way to come down is:





Ok, I have more, but we'll leave it at that for today.

Catching Up (Again)

Ok, so Easter went fine. We took the boys over to the grandparents' for dinner and an egg hunt. The weather was beautiful, and they had a great time. MIL sent them home with bags of books and toys and candy. I forgot to bring my camera, so no pics, sorry.

Last weekend, MILs church hosted a model railroad club in the fellowship hall, so we took the boys over. They had set up an N scale layout and were running the trains and playing train sounds through some speakers. Most of the boys loved it, though Noah tried to be cool and act bored. Unfortunately it was raining very hard, so we couldn't go to the park afterward like we had originally planned.

Chris has been playing softball after work with his office team. He plays every Tuesday and Thursday evening. I am happy that he is getting the chance to get out and hang out with the guys. He's been missing that since he used to play raquetball back in college. He's grumpy, though, because he's out of shape and out of practice, and his team isn't doing very well.

Last night he came home from a late game (it was raining again, I was surprised they hadn't called the game) to tell me that I needed to drive him back out to the field. He had dropped his keys out of his jacket pocket while warming up before the game and hadn't been able to find them before everyone else left. He got a ride home from another member on his team. So at 11 pm we drove back out in the rain. It was really cold, and dark. We took flashlights and were prepared to have to drive the car home with the spare key, and come back again in daylight to see if we could find the keys. He parked the van close to where he was warming up, and got out to search the grass. I thought maybe the best plan would be to start at his car and follow his footsteps through the warm-up and then the game. He said he knew they were missing before they started the game, so it shouldn't be so hard. Well, I have to tell you, that guy is lucky he brought me out there. Where do you think the keys were? Oh yes, they were in the car. In the ignition. In the UNLOCKED car. Hello, he was not locked out, and they were not hidden under the seat. If he had thought at all to look, he'd have been home and warm so much sooner, and I wouldn't have been wet at all. Sheesh. If not for me, he'd have been out there in the field for hours in the cold rain, all for nothing. He owes me big!

We'll be pretty busy the next few days. Today I am taking Micah to have his picture done at WalMart and pick up his birthday cake. Saturday he will be 4. We'll have pizza tonight and open presents. Tomorrow Troyer and Noah are going with Chris to work, because it's take-your-kids-to-work-day. His office has a day all planned out for the kids, so they won't have to sit around bored and distracting the parents. In the evening we are going to eat a picnic dinner at the softball field while Chris plays. Friday I will be driving Chris up to State College for a meeting at Penn State for work, and then driving over to our friends' house. Scott and Debbie have moved back from New Zealand, so we are going to spend the weekend with them. We'll be back Sunday night.

I'd be posting pictures, but my portable card reader seems to be broken, and now the boys have messed up the desktop downstairs and it won't finish starting up, so I can't use the reader on that one. Ugh. I'm due for a new camera soon, and the new cameras don't use the same memory cards (smart media) as my current one, so I'll be needing to buy a new reader anyway. I guess I just wasn't planning to buy them so soon. I sure hope Chris figures out a way to fix the computer soon, so I can get the boys' school papers organized and printed off in time for the end of school next month.

It's That Time of Year Again

I often wonder, why in the world did God make me the mother of all boys? I have lots of reasons to doubt my suitability to this task, but this time of year brings up a big one: I hate sports. I don't even watch the olympics (well, ok, I watch the ice skaters, but really mostly just to see the outfits). I am so not competitive in *anything.* I do like to do my best, and I love to improve, but I hate measuring myself against anyone else. I don't even like to watch other people compete, because I don't like the whole atmosphere surrounding competition.

So here I am, with a house full of children who should probably be immersed in sports year-round, and I am a bad mother because I haven't enrolled them in anything. They are lucky to get to a gym class once a week, and swim lessons once a year. We have a lot of yard-toy psuedo-sports-equipment out in the shed out back. Bats and balls and a basketball net, and another shed full of bikes. But nothing team-oriented, and nothing competitive. I am sure there are some out there who would consider my loathing of sports to border on abusive to my sons. I am depriving them of a staple of boyhood. But yuck. It's not only the sport itself, it's the way whichever sport is current seems to take over the household of a participating team member. I cringe at the thought of required practices, and then games, and then heaven forbid, play-offs/all stars. To have to hang around at these events in a crowd of fanatical parents who soak this stuff up. Ugh ugh ugh. And the COST! Ack, don't get me started.

So with the advent of spring, said topic not only takes over households across the country, it takes over blogs. You will read post after post about baseball season, and sports camps, and fund raisers. But not here. I have nothing to post, because we will not be doing it. I feel a guilty pleasure from knowing that I, at least, will not be suffering from the myriad complaints that go along with dragging younger siblings to ball fields day after day, and having to work magic with scheduling and driving.

If you have children about to enter college and wondering what a good field of study would be, what career choice they should make, may I recommend psychology? My poor deprived abused sons will need some top-notch therapists when they finally escape my prison, er house.

Boiled Lobster Anyone?

Yesterday was gorgeous; sunny warm, slightly breezy. It was also MIL's 60th birthday. Chris called her up and asked her if she'd like to meet us at a park near her house for a little picnic with the kids. She ended up declining (he made a sad joke about forcing her to go on a hike with them) but we took the boys out anyway. Their aunt and uncle met us there for lunch, and they played on the slide and merry-go-round (yes, they are still so behind the times that they still have one of those classics-now-banned-from-playgrounds-because-of-lawsuit-potential equipment). After SIL and BIL took off, we went for the walk around the park. It's a 2 mile trail that passes through 4 different playground areas. The boys had their bikes and I pushed Levi in the stroller. Micah ended up walking because trying to keep up on the tricycle was too much for him. We stopped at each playground and let the kids play. Samuel learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He started out with Chris holding the back of the bike, but by the end of the walk he was riding alone! Woo hoo! So we were out for over 3 hours, and the sun was beautiful. None of us had any thought to sunburn. Oops. We got a little too much for our first full day out in short sleeves. My neck and forearms were literally glowing last night. They look a little better today. Luckily the boys and Chris just got pink cheeks. Time to pack the sunscreen in the van!

I'll have pics posted later, after I upload them!

I Love Flowers!

Chris brought home a bunch of stems last week. He bought some daffodils for Easter Seals, and they gave him 10 stems with closed buds on them. He felt gypped. I didn't feel much better. But I put them in a glass of water anyway, just in case. In a few days, this is what I got!



I have them sitting next to my computer, and they smell SO good!

A lot more of the flowers out front are blooming now too, they are so pretty. However, we haven't had enough warm days for me to completely get the weeds out, so they are still half hidden. Maybe it will warm up enough this weekend for me to get it done.

Bored - or boring?

*Sigh* I've been feeling bored lately. Maybe it's cabin fever, or the last clinging cobwebs of winter depression, I don't know. But nothing is stirring my enthusiasm. I've been wanting to post to my blog, but just haven't come up with anything exciting. Yeah, we all got sick a few weeks ago, and it was a viscious nasty stomach flu. Ick. But that's going around; I'm sure I don't even need to tell you about it, as you or someone you know has just had it too.

We had a big downpour on Sunday, then it was 80 degrees on Monday - wow, I didn't even realize it was so warm until almost 3 pm, and missed most of it, but I did throw the kids out in the back yard, sans coats. Woo hoo! But in typical fickle Spring fashion, it was just a tease and it's been in the 40s the rest of the week. Yup, just the same as where you are.

Wednesday was very windy, and blew my recycling container down the street before the trash collector came, so now there is broken glass all over the street. I actually went out 3 times to chase down the bucket, and retrieve the jars and bottles and jugs. But since the last time I went out the glass was broken and the plastics were nowhere to be found, I just brought the bucket back in the garage and gave up. Usually the recycling truck comes by before 9 am, but this week they didn't come until almost 4 pm. Oh well, too bad for them. I also had to chase down the lid to my trash can, but at least that was only once, since it was empty by then, and I put that right into the garage. So gosh, what a surprise, it's March, and it's windy!

On Sunday Troyer and I went over to the church for his Pathfinder project, which was to make, from scratch, 8oz chocolate covered peanut butter eggs. This group has been doing this fundraiser for 13 years, so they have it down to a science. A leader was in charge of the industrial mixer (borrowed from a bakery) to make the peanut butter mix (and ugh ick coconut, oh sorry, Chris likes it, maybe you do too?). Huge bowls of it were brought over to the "patting table" where I was stationed, along with 5-6 others. 2 adults carefully weighed out the correct amount of mix on scales, and passed the balls on to the patters, who shaped them into egg shapes. From there they moved on to the dipping station, to be coated in chocolate, and then decorated with a candy flower on top. Then on to the drying table, and touched up on the bottom by painting melted chocolate on the bottoms. Finally, they were set in individual trays and then bagged in plastic bags, and packed 20 at a time into boxes. It all went very smoothly, I was very impressed. Even so, we were there from 8:30 (oops, we got up late, we were supposed to be there at 8!) until 3:30. We did break for lunch, and some ladies from church prepared soup and sandwiches for us all, as well as cans of lemonade and soda. Finally we headed home with 25 eggs to sell (20 pb and 5 coconut). Then of course I had to turn around and go back out to do my shopping. It was a long day. I am happy to report, though, that the eggs sold really well, and we only have 3 more to go. That will probably be 2, since I really want one myself lol.





Don't they look yummy?


And finally, Chris and I have to make dinner for church this weekend. Our church hosts a "hospitality meal" each week after the service, so visitors and guests can stay after and eat lunch, and get to talk and socialize. Our old church used to do a similar thing, a "soup and sandwich" lunch, and it was fun. They do it a bit differently here, having 2 families provide the meal, rotating the families each week. Well, back in January I got roped into agreeing to do a meal. Ugh. I am not yet a member there, as we have not transferred our membership yet. I don't know my way around the kitchen, or the gym where the tables are to be set up. I agreed on condition that we were not on our own, but that someone would be paired up with us to help. I assumed they would pair us up with a family who has done it before and knew what they were doing. Um, wrong. We got a couple who has also never hosted before. Not only that, but, being relatively new to the church, we had no idea who this couple is. Finally, this week, I got a call from Mrs. K, who it turns out has no idea who we are either, and we worked out a meal plan. We will be making haystacks, which is basically a make-your-own taco salad type meal. Very easy to set up, no cooking except for the brown rice (I don't know why, but Adventists seem to expect rice at every meal) and the beans, which I passed off to Mrs. K. Oh, and whatever dessert she chooses to make. However, easy to serve doesn't mean no effort. I have to spend this afternoon chop chop chopping. Lettuce, tomato, olives. I cheated and bought the pre-shredded cheese, so I'm good there. My feet are not looking forward to this afternoon.

So, you see, life hasn't been standing still around here. We've had the usual homeschooling and trips to the library and Y gym class, and meetings too. But it all is just seeming so boring right now. We need a vacation, to get away and do something FUN. A change of scenery, something. Even a warm up in the weather would mean we could get out to the park. The robins are here, and my spring bulbs are starting to poke out of the ground, so I know Spring is coming. But I wish it was here.


Spring is trying to come!



I found these in my backyard. Pretty! I have no idea what kind of flowers they are.

Darn, I couldn't find any robins in the yard when I had my camera out, sorry!

Caleb was just laying around this morning, bemoaning how bored he was. I felt bad, because I didn't know what to tell him; I remember so clearly lying around the house when I was young (probably my whole childhood!) bemoaning being bored! And my mother could never help me come up with anything either.

Oh, Holy Cow, I forgot! Happy St. Patrick's Day! (I'm not even Irish, and I'm not wearing green, and I don't eat cabbage or drink beer of any color. But still, I love the music and the dancing!)

A fun meme...

This one is pretty old, and I have done it before, but usually the results aren't as fun. I know a few other Gretchens out there, so really, we know they are about them, not me! *wink*

Google "(Insert your first name) needs" and list the first 10 results: (ok, I got carried away; and I tried not to cheat by using the google results that were from other Gretchens doing the search!)

1. Gretchen needs sleep
2. Gretchen needs to stop picking on me.
3. Gretchen needs relationship advice
4. Gretchen needs your help!
5. Poor Gretchen needs more than a good grooming
6. Gretchen needs our support.
7. Gretchen needs a Ricky to her Lucy.
8. Maybe Gretchen needs to go to a Sex Rehab center
9. Gretchen needs another tatoo
10. Gretchen is just what the country needs
11. Gretchen needs to take a lot of responsibility for her actions
12. Gretchen needs to prove that she can score at the next level
13. Gretchen needs to go as a cat
14. Gretchen needs more pushing
15. Gretchen needs a little poke in the nostrils.
16. Gretchen needs to assess her situation and act accordingly.
17. Gretchen needs to stop the screeching.
18. Gretchen needs Norma Price's address.
19. Gretchen needs to grow a backbone and stand up for herself.
20. Gretchen needs a low-key household
21. Gretchen needs to kick it in gear
22. Gretchen needs help finding her own reservoir of sexual energy


Now, I have to note that the majority of these entries are either about a dog, or about Danny Bonaduce's girlfriend. Hmm, what does that say about my name?....
Some of them, though, really do sound like me! (#17? #20?)

A Riddle From Troyer

Bill the cowboy rode away from the ranch on Monday. 10 days later he returned, on Monday. How is this possible?

Happy NASCAR Day!

We are not big Nascar fans in this house. We do not watch the races or track the drivers' points. I had to double check that the Daytona 500 actually WAS this weekend, LOL. However, on Valentine's Day, I gave the boys cards with chocolate Nascar candy stuck to the front. Troyer saved the plastic forms, intending to use them as molds, possibly for clay. Last year he molded some cars, put the foil back on them, and used them on his birthday cake. This year he came up with the idea of using them for Jello. His idea just happened to coincide with the opening of the Nascar season, so I said, "Go for it!"

And so, we celebrated Nascar Day on Sunday, with lime Jello race cars. Personally, I thought the whipped cream exhaust was the best part! LOL





And by the way, trying to get Jello jigglers out of plastic molds is a bear! Much harder than getting it out of a metal pan.

Brag

I know it's late, but hey, I have been lazy, er busy LOL

Last weekend, Chris and I arranged to have a weekend to ourselves. We sent ALL the kids (yes, even the baby!) a county away, split between MIL and SIL. We had 48 hours all to ourselves. We had originally planned to attend a marriage retreat sponsored by our church, but we were too slow to register and it filled up before we got around to it. But actually, being home w/o kids is almost (or actually?) better. Yes, we did have to cook rather than eating at restaurants, but other than that, it was just like being in a huge suite. We got videos, we planned food that we ordinarily wouldn't try with kids around (darn picky eaters!), we slept in and stayed up late, and could leave food and drink sitting by the tv without worry of it getting spilled or eaten. We talked a lot without being interrupted, ate without being interrupted, took showers without being interrupted (appreciated more by myself than Chris, since he's usually in and out of the shower before any of them wake up).

Also, on Friday, the start of our weekend, Chris came home from work with a bag of valentine candy, and a bouquet of peach colored roses. This was special to me, because he hates the idea of cut flowers which will just die in a few days; he'd rather get me a potted plant that I have to, er can water every week and enjoy the withered brown, er blooms over and over. Personally, potted plants are a burden to me because I am forever not getting around to them in time and they wilt, then I have to coddle them back to life, then they wilt. I rarely get any more blooms on them once the original ones fall off. I like the ease of enjoying the bouquet and then getting to throw them out when they are done. Considerately, Chris acknowledged my preference, and the roses he got were beautiful.


The last remaining bloom
Points to anyone who can recognize the glass it's in!

The only snag was the snow. We had planned to go out to eat both Friday and Saturday night, since I never never never get to go out to a sit down and order from a menu and have my meal brought to me by someone else and have the plates taken away rather than have to carry the tray to the trash can restaurant. But alas, when we got to MIL's to drop off the kids, she had ordered pizza and guilted us into staying to eat, so Friday night was out. Then Saturday the snow came. It started about 4, and we had planned to go out about 6 or 7. Well, by then we didn't want to risk going out and then getting stuck trying to get home at 8 or 9. Chris came through, though, and cooked up some chicken quesadillas which turned out pretty yummy, and were very filling. Then on Sunday morning we didn't really get to sleep in as we would have liked, because we had to go out and shovel so we could leave in the afternoon to pick up the kids. So overall, it would have been better without the snow, but it still turned out pretty nice. We definitely need to do it again - maybe in September for our anniversary.

Roll Call

Rachel, I think it's kind of rare to find "our" name spelled with an 'a;' it is almost always misspelled, though, perhaps due to a famous actor's spelling? Anyway, congrats on your upcoming #3! Here are our boys' names, to give you inspiration:

Troyer Christian
Noah Jonathan
Samuel Jeremiah
Caleb Josiah
Micah Joel
Levi Benjamin

Troyer is my maiden name, and we had fought over names up until Chris offered it up as a joke to me; but the joke was on him, I liked the idea! LOL We used Christian instead of Christopher because he didn't want a namesake.

All the other names came out of the Bible, and we tried to use names that were not too common (Chris hated having 6 other kids in his class with the same name, some of whom were girls lol)

Some names I liked but got voted down: Tobias, Matthew, Andrew, Timothy, Peter
Some names I knew we could not use, with our last name: Hannah (how's that for almost hyperventilating, LOL); Heather actually isn't as bad but again, we nixed the alliteration.

By the way, when I have to give people my name (over the phone or to receptionists) they often mistake it for Rachel, and Rachel is the alternate name we have had in reserve since #1, for when we got a girl!

Good luck and best wishes on your coming new addition! Let me know what you ended up choosing!

Oops, I've been neglecting my posting duties

Not much is going on here, other than fighting with my laptop. Chris installed an updated version of Norton and now I can barely get my email, and even more rarely send any out. It's frustrating, so I have been avoiding it altogether. We are going to look for a new ISP, as we suspect that is the real problem.

Troyer is away on a campout this weekend, with his Pathfinders group. He's up in the mountains, so I hope there is some snow for him to play in. The boys have been really disappointed at our mild winter (I, however, LOVE IT!) and whine about no snow. They still have 2 months or so left of winter, so they may yet get their wish.

Today was so nice we drove over to MILs just for a visit, and while there FIL asked if two of the boys could stay for the week. I agreed, as long as Noah would do the school work I assigned him (he has to research snakes online and draw me a diagram of snake guts - we had been having a discussion about it earlier in the day) and read a book and write me a report. Homeschooling is so nice! It's no big deal to just adjust the work when we need to so they can go have fun!

Ok, that is about it, just wanted you all to know that I'm still around!

I'm Weird

Ok, since I've been tagged twice, I guess I'd better do this meme LOL

Five weird habits of yourself:

“The first player of this game starts with the topic ‘five weird habits of yourself,’ and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says ‘You are tagged’ (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.”

1. I hate taking showers. I do it, so don't worry about getting too close to me, I keep clean; but I hate it. It's not the getting wet part, I don't mind that at all. I like the hot water warming up my cold hands and feet. It's the getting out part I hate. I hate having to dry off. I hate when my wet hair drips down my back and gets my shirt wet. I hate being cold again as soon as I open the shower curtain. I hate having to choose something to wear, when I hate all the clothes I own.

2. I eat icing from the can. In particular, Duncan Hines Buttercream. I don't like chocolate frosting.

3. I wish I could have 6 more kids. *Some* people don't think that's weird, but most do, so I'll include it.

4. I have selective OCD. I can let most things go, but there are some things that I do compulsively. For example, I always hang up my towel the same way, with the fold to the left and with the tag at the back. I also fold my sheets a certain way every time (actually this is because it makes it easier to put them on the bed when I get them out of the cupboard.)

5. I hate to throw up. I will swallow bile for hours trying to avoid it. I've never thrown up with morning sickness in 7 pregnancies, and I think there have been a total of 4 times in the last 20 years that I have tossed my cookies.


There you go. It took me over 2 days to come up with 5 things. I think of myself as a generally weird person, but I guess that's an overall weird, and not anything specific.

I don't have anyone to tag who hasn't already been tagged. If you feel like you're a pretty weird person, go ahead and do this one!

OK, I've finally got pictures to post!

We had a good Christmas. I think my efforts to make it fun did help; I hope next year will be even better. (I still have some cookies to bake, lol) The boys were happy with everything; they got lots of Legos, Ninja Turtle themed stuff, and the youngers got Thomas and Hot Wheels. Note the lack of anything pink ;-) (a short aside - some have been complaining about how cheap Barbie stuff is and how it breaks and gets lost; well, I think it might be a nice change here to lose or break something pink instead of the usual! Hot Wheels and Ninja Turtle and yes, even Legos, break and get lost too!) No new Muppets this year, but Troyer did get to add to his Herbie/VW collection, plus we restrung a guitar for him and got him an instruction kit with a book and audio CD. He's been begging for guitar lessons for a few years. Chris got some movies from me and an ornament for the tree. His parents were very generous to "us" - they spent a few hundred $ taking his riding mower in to get serviced, and bought him a new recliner. They also gave us a gift card to WalMart. I got a cheese knife. In fact, the cheese knife was the only thing I got to unwrap. Chris gave me a new keyboard for the laptop he passed on to me, but since I knew it was coming, he didn't wrap it. He didn't get the boys anything to give me. Not even a card.

I'll admit, this time of year is hardest for me because his family all gathers and there is lots of laughing and lots of gifts flying and oohing and ahhing, but I sat there with a cheese knife. It is not totally MIL's fault; she doesn't know me well enough to be able to shop and just find things that she knows I would love. She did try in past years, but nothing was ever "right." So I don't blame her for the gift card. But if I still had my mother, we would still go do a family thing at her house (my dad stayed hiding out in Florida, sent up $25 for each of us and called himself done) and she would have found some cute little knicknacks and silly things that I would have loved. She might also have offered to take me out to eat alone, w/o kids or something like that. MIL took Chris out to see the Narnia movie. She didn't ask if I wanted to go. Of course, he is her son, and it is natural for her to favor him over me. But it still hurts to know that I don't have anyone anymore to love me the way she loves him. My Dad behaves toward me and my sisters more like an uncle than a dad. That's the way he is, and I accept him that way, but it still means that at Christmas time the lonliness gets rubbed in.

Here are the pictures:
Christmas Breakfast


Levi's Breakfast


Boys Waiting


A Full Tree


Levi Unwrapping


A Budding Star


Happy Boys

Everything Old Is New Again

For Christmas, Chris got himself a new laptop computer. He actually got it a few weeks ago, and has been spending his time transfering his files and settings from his old one. So for Christmas, I got a laptop! (Yeah, just a hand-me-down; the boys aren't the only ones in this house who suffer this fate) This means that I am spending loads of time transfering files and settings. We have also been moving files from the kids' computer onto my old one, which meant I had to wait my turn to move my stuff over onto the laptop. All this has meant that I haven't been blogging, or even loading up Christmas pictures from my camera, so I haven't been able to post. We're just about done with everything, so hopefully I'll get some pictures of Christmas morning up here soon!

We Did It!

Finally, after almost missing another appt due to illness, we got the kids out to WalMart and got the portraits done! Woohoo! It was a close call, since even yesterday Troyer's eyes were too red for pictures, but phew, this morning he looked good. I never got around to giving him a haircut yesterday, so I did it quick this morning and threw him in the shower. We scrambled for another 2 hours to make sure all outfits were clean and dry, found socks and shoes for everyone, and actually got into the van ON TIME! We met Chris there, and then had to wait about 20 minutes because the poor girl at the studio was running behind. She was the only one working there, when I know the studio is supposed to have at least 2 people working at all times during the Christmas season, but she was great and got the baby ahead of our group through super quick, and she got us done fast too. The kids, with promises of candy bribes, did great, and we're done! I am so happy to have a picture of all the kids including Levi. We didn't do pictures last year because of the whole moving thing, and I hated not having a group picture of them.

So, here it is, the Annual Holiday Portrait:



Now to go get my christmas cards addressed and in the mail, and my dad's gift mailed, and christmas cookies baked, and the kids' gifts wrapped, and ... and ... LOL

Congratulations!

My cousin had twin girls last week, Charlotte and Kate. Aren't they beautiful?



It is all I can do to keep from jumping in my car and driving over to see them and hold them. Ok, I'll confess, I am somewhat tempted to run home with them too! LOL I've been longing for twin girls since, oh, boy #3 LOL. Seriously, I am really happy for my cousin, but maybe I should change the color of the title of this post to green?

Snow!

It's not officially the first snow of the season, we did get an inch or so a few weeks ago; but this is the first snow-pants-worthy snowfall, and the boys were excited! They couldn't eat breakfast fast enough to get out the door and play. We got about 6 inches, but it's powdery, so they are disappointed they can't make good snowballs. I think once the sun shines on it, it might firm up a little though. They will need to enjoy it while they can today; it is going to be 40 degrees tomorrow, so it will disappear.


Snow Angels (and a Snow Devil?)


Caleb


Micah

Also, since I managed to get my photos out of my camera and onto my computer, I will share some other pictures.

Here is our tree, before decorations:



Of course, each boy wanted his picture *alone* in front of the tree:



And, just so you can see how long it's been since I emptied my camera, some pictures from early Fall:


Proud Builders


Ready to Mow!
Seriously, I may be biased, but I'm convinced he is the cutest thing ever! LOL

The Holidays Have Officially Begun

Well, Thanksgiving has officially ushered in the holiday season for 2005. We all drove down to my sister's for dinner, and we had a great time. Being 2 hours closer is very nice, as it made it a decent day trip. I was having such a nice time that I would have liked to have an excuse to stay overnight, but I think Chris was happy to get home and to bed. Driving makes him tired. Well, not driving exactly, since I did all the driving, but riding in the van/car/whatever-vehicle-he-is-traveling-in. My sisters and I noted that in spite of the insult by our non-attending father, we probably had a better time because he was not there. He has never been good at being part of the group when we are all together. We had lots of girly giggle fun, with our husbands all looking on and rolling their eyes, lol, and didn't have to worry about someone who needed hard liquor, who needed to sneak off to the garage for a cigar (yuck!), or who was bothered by the noise of all those kids. Chris was great about chasing Levi around much of the time, so I could spend more time talking with my sisters.

Chris had Friday off of work, so I, totally not thinking, decided it was a good day to go out and shop for a tree, since he finally gave in and consented to let me get an artificial tree. I took two boys with me, thinking what a nice person I was for taking them off of his hands, and drove the van, since the car is still at the garage getting the wheel fixed. On the way down the road I realized what I had done. I was attempting to do shopping on Black Friday. OMG. I am stupid. I usually hide in the house for that whole weekend. I don't like the crowds and parking is always at your own risk, nevermind with a full sized van.

As it turned out, parking was just as scary as I imagined, but shopping wasn't all that bad. The stores were crowded but not crazy, and by 4 pm when we headed home, the roads were not slow at all. I guess everyone else was out early for the sales and went home after lunch. I did find a tree, and brought it home. I also did a bit of grocery shopping too. We were home just after 5.

I set up the tree on Sunday. I guess it takes some practice setting up a fake tree. For sure it is easier than doing a real tree, because the needles can't poke the heck out of you and you don't get sap all over, and there are no needles to vacuum up afterwards. But I did find getting all the branches straightened to be more of a nuisance than I imagined. This tree is a pre-lit, which means that some minimum wage ignorant had to wind strands of lights around the branches before it was packed, so it is harder to position the branches because they are tied together by the light strands. I have to say, I am sure I would have chosen a different path for those wires than the factory person did. Some of it just did not make any sense and branches that are not next to each other are tied by the strings. It was frustrating but I finally got it done in the end. I went back out on Sunday and got a tree skirt and some garland, and I have to say I am pretty pleased. Chris' only comment was that it didn't smell like a Christmas tree. I told him I'd spray it with pine scented air freshener lol.

I have a few pictures of it, even though I don't have any ornaments on it yet, but I have to edit them before I can post them.

The other news of the week is that we've had a tenacious cold going through the house. Poor Levi has had it over a week, and I caught it on Friday night, and a few other boys have stuffy noses. It's not really bad, for the most part, but breathing through the mouth is a drag. I did miss a lot of sleep on Sunday night because of a throat tickle that kept waking me up. I ended up giving up and staying up until 5.

So the holidays are here, the boys are counting down until Christmas, we are playing Christmas music on the stereo and plans are in the making for 8 batches of Christmas cookies (maybe more if I am brave enough to try a new kind). This is the first year in a long time that I am in the mood for it all. Mostly I just dread the effort and mess, and the clean up afterwards. For years it has seemed not worth the effort. But this year I finally am looking forward to making it fun again.

In spite of this, I have also been fighting off some depression. I'm not sure what it is, if it is just a seasonal thing, from the colder weather and the shorter days, or if it is more, but ugh, it's bugging me. I do not want to give up and wallow in it, but it is pulling me down and sapping my energy, and I hate it. The other times I have had it, I gave in to it without a struggle, but this time I'm trying to fight it. Still, it sneaks up on me without warning and suddenly I just feel like crying. Ugh I hate it.

Sorry I've Been Quiet

It's that time of year again, and I just can't work up any excitement for blogging. I call my sisters and we gripe about how life can be unfair, and talk about how we wish things had worked out differently.

This year we are planning to get together for Thanksgiving dinner, and that will be fun. Of course our Dad will not come. He pulled out his lame-o excuses why it will be better for him to spend the day with his ex-girlfriend rather than with the only family he has left. Good for him. He'll probably wonder why no one cares after he is gone.

Sorry for the Break

Last week Troyer got a belated birthday present from his aunt, a Robots DVD plus a Robots joke book and story book. All week I've been hearing jokes out of the book. I don't think it fair to post someone else's jokes, but yesterday he came up with another one of his own, so here it is:

Q: Why did the idiot go to the basement to go shopping?

A: Because someone told him the cellar was down there!



We have watched the movie several times, but we have also had something else new to watch. A few weeks ago we signed up for Netflix, for a free trial. We don't usually watch a lot of movies here, other than the kids' stuff we own. Some of it is the cost, more of it is the limited selection at the video store, but mostly it is the hassle of having to go out twice, once to rent and once to return. Netflix had a huge selection, and no due back date, free postage (the movies come in the mail, and you return them in a postage paid envelope) and a monthly fee for unlimited rentals, so we decided to try it. So far we love it! The first week we rented the first season of MacGyver. I have to say both Chris and I didn't remember it being quite so corny, but boy was he hot (ok, Chris doesn't remember that part either LOL). The boys loved all the stunts. I like to say it's kind of a cross between Indiana Jones and Bill Nye the Science Guy LOL

This week, after sending MacGyver back, we got Count Duckula! Chris used to watch this cartoon after his classes in the afternoon when he was at college. When he found out we could rent it, he got very excited. Of course the boys were game for any sort of cartoon. They have watched about half of the episodes and they love it! They were laughing their heads off yesterday. Chris is seriously considering buying the DVD for Christmas.

We have had great weather here this week. I can't believe how warm it is, and it's November already! Today it is supposed to be in the low 70s, wow! I am sooo glad we moved, lol. Back where we used to live, they had 4 inches of snow the week before Halloween Bwaaahaaahaaahaaa.

I Had to Share This

One of Troyer's assignments this week was to write a poem using the Japanese Lantern format. He was given an example, and used it to write his own. You need to know that he loves cats, but hates dogs. I think he would have written about cats, if not for the fact that the example was already about cats. So here is what he wrote instead:

Dogs-
stupid
ignorant
things that like to
drool


My apologies to all you dog lovers out there!

Some Halloween Humor:

the kid never stops!

Q: What do female ghosts like to wear?

A: Ghoul-ery



bwaaaahaaaahaaahaaa

Another Joke of the Day:

Courtesy of our resident Joke Man

Q: What is the heaviest part of the human body?


A: The skeleTON

har har har har

I Almost Cried

I gave Micah a haircut last week. Over the summer his hair was nice and curly, so short enough that I could get away with not cutting it. Those soft red curls were soooo beautiful! But as the weather turns cooler and less humid, his curls disappear, and then his hair just looks a mess, so I knew he needed it cut. But it was a sad day LOL

Before photos:




And After:

What a difference!

I hated having to throw it away:

Here They Are

Pictures from Troyer's birthday, finally LOL. He has 3 collecting themes, and he got a little something for each: Indiana Jones, Kermit the Frog and the Muppets, and Herbie the Love Bug. He had a great time and loved everything he got. His cake had a big VW Bug on it.


The whole group


Levi enjoying some birthday pizza


Troyer in his Indiana Jones hat

Troyer's Joke of the Day

What did one whirlpool say to the next whirlpool in line?


Be patient! I haven't finished my turn yet!


I have to say, putting up with years of jokes that just didn't make any sense at all is beginning to pay off; this summer he has started coming up with some that are actually kind of cute!

So Close and Yet So Far

This weekend my BIL participated in a race out in Nevada. It wasn't your ordinary car race; this race had no drivers. The cars drove themselves through the course. They are officially called autonomous vehicles, and they have computers and sensors; they are programed and then sent out to see if they can get from start to finish without mishap. The race is called The Grand Challenge, and is put on by DARPA, an agency of the government in charge of developing new technology for the military.

The first Grand Challenge was held last year, and none of the vehicles made it more than 7 miles, on a course of over 100 miles. It was exciting, but disappointing too. This year, being the second year, drew more contestants, and better vehicles. BIL, heading up a team sponsored by his employer, ENSCO, entered last year, and did a good job, though he didn't get the farthest on the course. Officials at the race did note his strategies and ingenuity and remarked to him that they were impressed. I would note that the vehicle that did get farthest kind of cheated by hiring a plane to fly over the general area of the race and photograph a "map" of the area(I say kind of cheated because it wasn't prohibited by the rules, but was clearly not in the spirit of the contest; each team was not supposed to have any foreknowledge of the course) and spent a truckload of money on their vehicle. (They had also been working on this type of vehicle for several years, before the race was thought up.) If you were to rate the success by cost effectiveness of the technology, they would NOT have come in first.

This year a lot of the same teams were back, as well as some new ones. BIL and his team designed a whole new vehicle, which they named DEXTER, and had a great start. They did well in all the trials and earned a pole position of 10 out of 23 vehicles. Each vehicle would leave their chute at a staggered start time. No one was really sure if anyone would finish again this year or not, but expectations were higher this year. I was impressed with how well everyone was doing compared to last year.

DEXTER

The race was on Saturday, and DARPA had live time coverage on their website, Darpa Grand Challenge . I was glued to the screen watching. BIL's vehicle was doing great, it passed 4 vehicles and was in 5th place. Then they passed #4 while it was still running! So they were #4. They got through the toughest part of the course, and were averaging the best time. Things looked so good! But then, aaarrrghhh! The vehicle got a flat tire, and officials were forced to have the vehicle shut down. Waaaahhh!

the ENSCO team with DEXTER

As it turned out, the first 3 vehicles did finish, and were followed later in the day by one more, and a 5th vehicle on Sunday, which put DEXTER in at 6th. They did get the farthest of the teams who did not finish. What a disappointment, because of a flat tire! So aggravating. Still, it was very exciting, and again, officials are impressed with BIL's approach so may still want contact with him in the future to discuss developing some projects. But the $2 million prize money would have been nice too LOL

It's been a busy week

So I haven't really had time to post like I've wanted. I have a lot of pictures (last week was Troyer's birthday, plus I did haircuts) but I haven't even gotten them out of the camera and onto the computer to edit. ugh. Maybe this weekend? *sigh* maybe

Look How My Monkey Has Grown

Remember that monkey chair I got last year from my aunt?




Here it is one year later:



Can you believe that is the same little baby???


And I guess I have another Computer Addict in training (guess who he inherited that gene from? ;-) )

I'm So Popular!

Wow, I just checked my statcounter, and found out I have been getting lots of hits from people I don't know. I followed some links there and found out that I am listed in link lists on lots of blogs! Wow! I had no idea my readership was so wide! Now I feel doubly guilty LOL. The pressure is on - how will I entertain all these people?

Well, just a little something for those of you curious about what it's like to live in a house full of boys:

Caleb (5 yo) just announced a few minutes ago that he is starting a new club up in his room this afternoon. It is going to be The Disgusting Club, devoted to nasty bodily noises. He demonstrated with a huge burp. Yuck! LOL

Feeling Guilty

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I updated. Well, not much is going on here besides trying to kick this darn cold out of the house (Levi is doing great after his round of meds, but Micah and I are still suffering, and Chris isn't fully recovered yet either) and washing size 3T underpants. Ugh. Potty training is NOT going well.

So, to assuage my guilt, I am posting some pictures I took today, to show you what is going on in our house:

3 of the 4 Computer Addicts; this is the first place they run once schoolwork is finished:


I will admit, it works well as an incentive to get their work done.

Here is what Caleb was busy with today:


He ended up making a pretty cool scene with several buildings and sidewalks. Samuel also had a good building up yesterday, but obviously it had to be pilfered to create the new one. Troyer is still working on his last page of schoolwork. He spent too long this morning sketching robots in his sketch book.

And here is our baby:


Just the cutest thing ever! Ok, maybe I am a little biased ;-)


If I could figure out how to post links here, (I know, it's not that hard, I'm just too lazy to figure it out!) I would direct you to a neat website I found today. It is called "It's Good To Be The Queen" and is a site for moms with houses filled with boys. A girl here or there is allowed, but it is about being surrounded by testosterone and all that entails! I thought it was funny, since long ago my boys crowned me "Good Queen Mommy" LOL

Yesterday Was a Loooong Day

I mentioned before that Levi had a cold this weekend. Well, on Monday night he barely slept, so in the morning I called the doctor and brought him in. It turns out he has pink eye and an ear ache, in addition to his cold. So from the doctor's office, we went right to WalMart to fill his two prescriptions. The pharmacy there was very busy, since the day before was a holiday, and it took an hour to fill the Rx's. We managed to waste the time by going through the clearance toy aisle, and then through the movies. We ended up picking up 4 dvds, to put back for Christmas.

After WalMart, I decided that we should run over to BJ's, which is a warehouse store like Sam's Club or Costco. I had a one day pass that came in the mail, but I had already decided to buy a memebership, because I learned that they accept coupons. We got there and got in line at the service desk to get a membership, and had to wait almost 20 minutes. There were 4 people on line, but no one at the desk. Finally someone came, but then a man walked up to the counter to ask a question and then had the girl leave the desk to help him find something. I thought it was very rude for him to not wait on line to be helped. By this time Levi was very cranky and crying because his eyes itched but he couldn't rub them without it hurting badly. Poor baby. After we finally got the membership card, I ran through the store picking up what I wanted. I had just been in a few days before to price things, so I knew just what I wanted and where they were.

Back home, we only had an hour to get lunch and get some eye drops in Levi's goopy eyes, before we had to head back out to the YMCA for homeschool gym. Our Y offers a 45 minute class once a week for homeschoolers, and I signed up Troyer, Noah, and Samuel. They have a class for 5 yos too, but it is not at the same time, and I just didn't think Micah and Levi wanted to wait another 45 minutes for Caleb to have his own class. The boys ended up having a good time. While we waited, I took the stroller out back. I had been told there were walking paths in the woods out behind the building. Well, there are, but they are dirt and on a steep hill. Ick for a stroller! Plus, in several spots just in the first 10 feet down the trail I saw poison ivy, so we turned around and put the stroller back in the van. I ended up letting the kids play in a side room while we waited for the class to end.

We got home just before 3 and I put Levi down for a nap, with more drops in his eyes. Initially the drops make his eyes water, so they were goopier than ever, and they stung a bit, so he hated them, but I could already see an improvement by this morning. By 4 I needed to lie down too. I had only had 3 hours of sleep the night before, and was running the whole day. Chris got home while I was napping, and I thought he was fixing dinner, since he usually does on Tuesdays. I came out to the kitchen to find flowers and candy, and a card for me, for our anniversary. :-) But no dinner. I started fixing chicken nuggets and french fries, and then suddenly realized that it was Tuesday! With the holiday weekend, my mental calendar was off. Troyer's first Pathfinders meeting was at 6:30. Oops. So I turned dinner over to Chris and ran out the door with Troyer to get him to church.

Troyer wasn't so sure he wanted to sign up for Pathfinders, mostly because he didn't know what it was. It is a cross between Boy Scouts and youth group. It is a scouting program run by the church, with uniforms, a pledge and law, and lots of camping and service programs, but it is co-ed. Since so many scouting programs conflict with the Sabbath, this is a great group for our kids to get involved with; run by the church, so it will always coordinate with church services. We got to the meeting almost a half hour late, but settled in ok. I left Troyer to his group and then had to waste time until 8:30. I will have to get him a uniform, but at least he already has socks and shoes. They gave him his t-shirt while he was there.

When we got home, Chris had 3 of the boys in bed, but Levi was still up. That was good, since I had to give him his medicine, but while I was getting Levi settled down, Chris went to bed. He didn't even wait up to hear how the meeting went. I was hurt that on our anniversary he didn't wait up to talk for just a few minutes. He said he was really tired, but hey, I was too!

I ate a late dinner, got caught up on some things that I hadn't gotten to during the day, and then washed the dishes (so the boys could have bowls to eat out of for breakfast!). I think it was 1:30 before I got into bed. I'm glad trash is delayed a day after holiday weekends, or I would have had to collect the trash and take it to the street too! As it is, I am now 2 days behind on laundry. It will be a busy day again today, trying to catch up. And I have my first exercise class tonight at the Y. I will be sore tomorrow!