Another Long Break

This time for an unwelcome reason, ants. Icky icky ants. Last week we discovered them in the dining room and in the toybox (no surprise there, since Levi has a habit of carrying around food and then dropping it in there when he gets distracted. Nothing good, of course, just a scrap of old pancake (no syrup) and crumbs of cereal (dry)). So, after vacuuming and cleaning out the toybox, I sent Chris to get some ant traps. He came home with 2 boxes of poison bait, which I then hid in the corners and expected would work within a day or so. This was on a Friday, as it happened, the Friday I left to go out to Aimee's for the weekend. No problem, I thought, it means I get to miss the ants! They should be gone by the time I get back. I left in blissful ignorance.

When I got home Sunday night, I came to a kitchen full of ants. Ick ick ICK. My helpful hubby wiped off the counters and swept the floor. Good start, yes, BUT. Yes, but. He didn't take the various tins and bins off the counter and wipe behind them. he didn't even wash the dishes that he put in the sink. HELLO? Ugh. I then found out that he had bought the cheapest kind of bait out there, and the ants were totally ignoring it. They were just walking right around those bait traps and carrying off food from my counter. Ugh. So I washed the dishes and wiped down the counters and the sink. Then I went out and bought better bait traps. The kind with bait that actually appeals to ants. It still took another few days to work.

Finally, yesterday, we noticed that even after cleaning all the surfaces, it still smelled funny in the kitchen, and decided it was the drains in the sink. We poured bleach down the sink, and that seems to have taken care of the problem. So far today I have not seen any more ants. Let's hope, please, that they don't come back.


And on to more fun topics, we had a fun weekend in Ohio. It's a long trip (7 hours) but I had Troyer and Noah to keep me company, and they are good travellers. I had a lot of fun with Aimee and her kids. Her church had a street fair on Saturday, which was completely free, even the food and soda, and the boys brought home a bag full of prizes they won at the booths. It was really cool. Even better, most of the people at her church didn't realize she had a twin sister or that we look so much alike, so I was stopped often by people who were then annoyed because I had no clue who they were. Not that they believed me, but they thought I should be getting the inside jokes and have answers to questions. Aimee was working a booth, so I was wandering with the kids. One mom assumed I'd be watching her kids because I was standing next to them. Not that I had a clue who her kids were! LOL When we got together to eat lunch a lot of jaws dropped and eyes popped. It was fun!

This Wednesday was Caleb's birthday. Thank goodness the ant problem wasn't very bad at that point, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with a cake if I couldn't put it on the counter. I'm happy to report, no ants in the cake. Caleb didn't have the best day, though. For a boy turning 6, he acted a lot more like a boy turning 3. Or maybe 2. There were lots of fights and crying and screaming and chasing, not to mention defiance and refusal to do chores. Because of the ants, I was adamant that there would be no party if the room wasn't clean, but even with that incentive, he complained and whined. So after finally getting the house clean, we went ahead and had cake and opened presents, but he was not allowed to take any of the toys out of the packaging. They are in a bag in my room. You'd think that would be good incentive to behave the next day, knowing all the good stuff he can open, just if he's good. But no, last night he was mad about something and went out to the back yard in a huff. When we went to call him for dinner, we couldn't find him. He had left out the gate and gone to talk to the boy next door, in their front yard. He didn't tell anyone he was leaving the yard, and he didn't come when he heard us call him. So he didn't get to open the toys yesterday either. I'm hoping for today, but who knows. sigh.

_______

Ok, so here's more pictures. I have pictures from Caleb's birthday, but I still haven't posted the pictures from Micah's birthday last month. Oops. Well, I'll catch up eventually!

The weekend before Micah's birthday we took the boys over to their Grandma's church. A local model railroad club had set up an N-scale track in their fellowship hall and invited everyone to come see it. Chris loves model trains, and I like them too, so we took the boys over. It was a nice track, the kind where it's layed out in a circle with a hole in the middle for the operators to stand in. They had 2 or 3 tracks, and 2 trains running in opposite directions. The boys liked best the part when one of the trains derailed LOL.


Samuel


"I can't see!"


"I can see! Thanks Troyer!"


Caleb and No-Take-A-Picture-Of-Me


Samuel and No-Take-A-Picture-Of-Me


YES! ME!


Troyer


Troyer and Caleb


Caleb

He really had the best time of all the boys. That is probably because of all the boys, he is the one who gets along best with older, grandpa-type men. Whereever he is, he gravitates toward the older men and talks them up and wraps them around his finger. No idea how or why, but he charms the socks off them. Since this was a group of grandpa-type men having fun playing in their retirement, it was the mother-lode for Caleb!



Noah The Grump
The only shot I got of Noah, because he kept running from the camera.
He spent the whole time pretending he was having a bad time.


My cutie Levi, getting a ride with Daddy.

Next time I will have pictures of Micah's 4 yo birthday.

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