I guess you can't really call it camping. I told my friend Kim that we should call it "outdoorsing" because we spend lots of time outside but the actual sleeping part is pretty cush. We share a camper with my brother and his wife and their family and it's very nice, indoor plumbing and the whole works. No tents for us, no way. I personally think there's just a little bit of insanity involved with people who tent camp with small children. I mean, I love you if you do it but you gotta admit you must love punishment or something. I love me my microwave for nuking those 5am bottles I shouldn't be nuking, that sorta stuff.
We brought the camper out last night to the site (right next to my parents and brother) and we'll be sleeping there all the way through to the 3rd of August! Pretty exciting stuff. On Tuesday we'll be going out on a boat all day with the whole family.....oh CRAP I still need to find somewhere for Declan to go that day!!!!!!!!!!!! Bye!!!
Edit - just called my wonderful mother in law and Declan has a home for Tuesday, yay!! Thank you!!!
Friday, July 25, 2008
I can't SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I swear, if I have to hear that ONE MORE TIME from Avery I might just flip out. She likes to sit on the couch to watch tv. (Yes, my children watch tv. Some days they watch HOURS of tv. Deal with it.) Guess where Caden likes to stand? You guessed it, Mr. Antagonizer likes to stand directly between the couch and tv, right in her line of sight. And instead of asking him politely to move, Avery says, in a big whiney voice (something she might have learned from tv, hmmm), "I can't SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Glory be child. You'll live.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
And Declan's 6 month pics
You can find them here: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbAccess.aspx?e=3955938
password: declan
Isn't he the cutest??? And yes, he is usually that smiley and laid back. I ADORE this baby!
password: declan
Isn't he the cutest??? And yes, he is usually that smiley and laid back. I ADORE this baby!
Postpartum or just depression?
Lots of you know I am a depression gal. Yeah, if you just knew me you'd think I was pulling your leg at that in my usual way but no, it's true. I struggle with it a lot.
I have bipolar disorder, diagnosed a few years ago when I couldn't explain why I yelled at a complete stranger in the street one day. Of course there were a few other things happening as well. A good psychiatrist saw what was happening and helped me piece it all together. I've been on meds for bipolar ever since (we won't talk about my one little stint of going off meds because I thought I was doing so well, but I have promised that will never happen again, and it won't).
But lately, I'm sad again. I'm not feeling the highs/lows of bipolar, just sad. Very sad. The kind of sad where it takes an effort to smile. I have talked to my doctor about it and we are working on some increase of meds - hateful that meds take so long to kick in. So we'll let it ride. I'm sharing because prayer can only help. I'm sharing so that depression isn't the untalked-about epidemic in our society.
I have bipolar disorder, diagnosed a few years ago when I couldn't explain why I yelled at a complete stranger in the street one day. Of course there were a few other things happening as well. A good psychiatrist saw what was happening and helped me piece it all together. I've been on meds for bipolar ever since (we won't talk about my one little stint of going off meds because I thought I was doing so well, but I have promised that will never happen again, and it won't).
But lately, I'm sad again. I'm not feeling the highs/lows of bipolar, just sad. Very sad. The kind of sad where it takes an effort to smile. I have talked to my doctor about it and we are working on some increase of meds - hateful that meds take so long to kick in. So we'll let it ride. I'm sharing because prayer can only help. I'm sharing so that depression isn't the untalked-about epidemic in our society.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The promised pictures!
I'm impressing you lately, aren't I? :)
Here's a picture that was taken before we even bought the house I think. It looks like there's a walkway of sorts to the front porch that I never remember being there when we moved in (1998). I got this off an appraisal website. BTW, I've heard that http://www.zillow.com/ is pretty neat if you want to check out properties, what people paid, etc. Good for us nosy folks. I used one specific to Iowa though.
The second pics were taken just a few days ago. I took the first one from the same angle as the original pic I think, but then it was too big to fit in so I backed up and took another. Forgive the messy, trashed front yard. You can see the work that needs to be done - front porch finished up, more siding put on, etc. The only way you can tell it's the "same house" is the front door and that stinkin' bay window. HATE that thing, but it was too expensive to replace, so it's gonna stay. We're going to build it up different....someday.
Here's a picture that was taken before we even bought the house I think. It looks like there's a walkway of sorts to the front porch that I never remember being there when we moved in (1998). I got this off an appraisal website. BTW, I've heard that http://www.zillow.com/ is pretty neat if you want to check out properties, what people paid, etc. Good for us nosy folks. I used one specific to Iowa though.
The second pics were taken just a few days ago. I took the first one from the same angle as the original pic I think, but then it was too big to fit in so I backed up and took another. Forgive the messy, trashed front yard. You can see the work that needs to be done - front porch finished up, more siding put on, etc. The only way you can tell it's the "same house" is the front door and that stinkin' bay window. HATE that thing, but it was too expensive to replace, so it's gonna stay. We're going to build it up different....someday.
Monday, July 14, 2008
So I told you about waiting for the house appraisal...
It came back today. $200,000!!! WOOOOO FLIPPING HOOOOOOOO!! So now we finalize and get the money and pay back all the wonderful people who helped this happen (mainly my parents, God bless them for waiting so long). So this house is considered "done". How weird does that feel after 3.5 years of non-stop working? It's so amazing to think of what's been accomplished though. Amazing. Pics to follow soon.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Twice in one day!
Our family pictures are now online. Check them out at: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?r=1&e=3939560
password is: family
We chose the very first one as the pic of our kids and the 9th as the pic of our family.
password is: family
We chose the very first one as the pic of our kids and the 9th as the pic of our family.
I see how it is.
You all harass me about not blogging, so I do and then NO ONE comments. Phooey on you.
In all seriousness, I assume it's because you think you have another 2 weeks before I'll check back again, right? Surprised ya!!
Right now I have 8 children in my home. It's crazy, but lots of fun!
In all seriousness, I assume it's because you think you have another 2 weeks before I'll check back again, right? Surprised ya!!
Right now I have 8 children in my home. It's crazy, but lots of fun!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
HOLY SMACK, has it been that long?
I tell you, I keep forgetting about this place. My poor neglected blog. Maybe it's a good thing I DON'T get paid to blog or we'd be pretty destitute!
Things here are good overall. We've been enjoying summer and I just can't believe how fast it's going! Caden and Avery are enjoying bickering with each other all day long which is oh so fun for mommy. James and I were just talking about that last night. I think Caden "brings out the worst" in Avery in some respects. She is capable of being sweeter and asking nicer and being more mature, but she sees Caden "be allowed" to be immature and whine for things instead of ask (partly because he just does that, partly because we allow it too much) so she follows suit. It's frustrating, and sometimes I feel bad asking her to check her manners every few seconds, but she has got quite the attitude if left unchecked. Caden is sweet as pie but man, he can be a pushy little dude. I've asked several people this about Avery - how do you punish a nasty tone of voice? Seriously, that child can ask you for something with a "PLEASE" that would knock you over it's so testy. I suppose she gets that from her animated mama. Oops!
Declan. What's not to love? He is seriously the sweetest, biggest baby ever. Ok maybe not the biggest, but he IS the sweetest. He's big though too. Probably 20 pounds now and he'll be 6 months on the 17th. SO different from my first two. He has rolled over a few times but nothing much yet. He of course rolled over for my parents on the 27th of June when they had him overnight.
He was there overnight and Caden and Ave were at James' parents overnight because the 27th was our 10th wedding anniversary! So James and I went overnight to Des Moines. We had a great time and it was fun to be carefree for a while. It lasted until the next morning when we met James' parents and our kids (sans Declan) at Adventureland, a local amusement park for the day. We found out that Caden, our master spinner, doesn't like rides. Go figure! And Avery, our cautious-of-everything worrier, loves them. GO FIGURE!
This morning at 9am is our house appraisal. I found out about it only yesterday at around 11am so needless to say yesterday was a whirlwind of feined cleanliness. It was good for me to see how much I CAN get accomplished instead of sitting at the computer (yes I know, you'd think if I am on here all the time I could at least update my blog every week or so, I hear you). James got home late last night and then he had the audacity to sit around and read books to the kids while I kept working. And I had only told him about 10 times during the day that when he got home he was going to be work work working! So I was tempted to be rrrrrrrrrrreally grumpy with him. I muttered to myself, "Yeah, he isn't going to do a dang thing for this appraisal" and God smacked me with reality - Honey, he's done 3.5 years worth of work ON THE HOUSE for this appraisal to even be happening! So true. Sorry James. I didn't mean to be a grump with you. Our last house appraisal (before THE ADDITION started) was 80,000 for the house and land. We shall see.....
Things here are good overall. We've been enjoying summer and I just can't believe how fast it's going! Caden and Avery are enjoying bickering with each other all day long which is oh so fun for mommy. James and I were just talking about that last night. I think Caden "brings out the worst" in Avery in some respects. She is capable of being sweeter and asking nicer and being more mature, but she sees Caden "be allowed" to be immature and whine for things instead of ask (partly because he just does that, partly because we allow it too much) so she follows suit. It's frustrating, and sometimes I feel bad asking her to check her manners every few seconds, but she has got quite the attitude if left unchecked. Caden is sweet as pie but man, he can be a pushy little dude. I've asked several people this about Avery - how do you punish a nasty tone of voice? Seriously, that child can ask you for something with a "PLEASE" that would knock you over it's so testy. I suppose she gets that from her animated mama. Oops!
Declan. What's not to love? He is seriously the sweetest, biggest baby ever. Ok maybe not the biggest, but he IS the sweetest. He's big though too. Probably 20 pounds now and he'll be 6 months on the 17th. SO different from my first two. He has rolled over a few times but nothing much yet. He of course rolled over for my parents on the 27th of June when they had him overnight.
He was there overnight and Caden and Ave were at James' parents overnight because the 27th was our 10th wedding anniversary! So James and I went overnight to Des Moines. We had a great time and it was fun to be carefree for a while. It lasted until the next morning when we met James' parents and our kids (sans Declan) at Adventureland, a local amusement park for the day. We found out that Caden, our master spinner, doesn't like rides. Go figure! And Avery, our cautious-of-everything worrier, loves them. GO FIGURE!
This morning at 9am is our house appraisal. I found out about it only yesterday at around 11am so needless to say yesterday was a whirlwind of feined cleanliness. It was good for me to see how much I CAN get accomplished instead of sitting at the computer (yes I know, you'd think if I am on here all the time I could at least update my blog every week or so, I hear you). James got home late last night and then he had the audacity to sit around and read books to the kids while I kept working. And I had only told him about 10 times during the day that when he got home he was going to be work work working! So I was tempted to be rrrrrrrrrrreally grumpy with him. I muttered to myself, "Yeah, he isn't going to do a dang thing for this appraisal" and God smacked me with reality - Honey, he's done 3.5 years worth of work ON THE HOUSE for this appraisal to even be happening! So true. Sorry James. I didn't mean to be a grump with you. Our last house appraisal (before THE ADDITION started) was 80,000 for the house and land. We shall see.....
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