Date Interrupted.

It started at 7:30 this morning - My sweet DH was going to take the van to Hibdon to get the additional new tired that it needed. He took #2 with him, and Mimi and Popsy were planning to meet them to actually purchase the tires because that was a birthday/anniversary gift for us. Then they were going to borrow #3 and #2 so that we could take #4 and go to Borders to spend the Bookworm King's birthday gift certificates.

Yeah. That was our plan.

If you remember the last Hibdon story, you know that we got the front tires replaced three months ago, and that God provided wonderfully for a grand rescue from a raining highway just south of civilization.

What I didn't say in that story was that my dad rescued me twice - once from the boys during the wait on the tire, and once from a mistake that Hibdon made that was financially beneficial for them and bad for me. So, when the King and #2 left this morning, I cautioned them to make sure that the job was done right.

It wasn't. And they didn't notice.

The counter-girl rang up the order wrong and the pit crew followed directions even though they should have questioned them - so we had two new tires on the front - again - and the same old tires on the back.

The King went on to Borders because it was his money and he needed time to shop. I took #2 and #3 to Mimi and went to fix the tire problem. The funny thing is that by the time the job was done right, Hibdon had sold me six tires for the price of four and done the labor necessary four times instead of two - and then I firmly and politely asked for a discount because they had wasted my time - not once, but twice. So it came down to six new Firestone tires for the price of three, labor paid twice instead of four times. If they were trying to swindle me, I'd say I won at that game.

Ya'll I can just see my dad grinning as he thinks about it. He was mad when I told him the story, but I know he was impressed that I asked for that discount.

ANYWAY - back to the date. I met up with the King, who apologized for not checking things out and bought me a peace offering (Cinnamon latte, yum.) not that that was necessary. The date was short but sweet. We discussed his purchases and I drooled over King Arthur Whole Grain Baking and hinted that I want it ASAP (there really wasn't much hinting there.) Coffee was yummy. #4 was dozy. Conversation was nice - but the date was cut short because of the tire debacle - Mimi and Popsy need to get to the game (I'm sure their presence and the appropriate shouting of "Orange" and "Power" contributed to the 39-3 win - Go Pokes!). Got to the register and found that the birthday money was downtown at the office.

But, he and #2 were planning a trip downtown for a birthday party anyway, so it was decided that they'd pick the wallet up on the way home. I brought the babies home for nap time. (I love nap time. I had a bit of a doze myself). I made mushroom-swiss burgers for dinner with hot dogs for the kids. The King and I ate while #2 and #3 got clean in the tub. That was part two of the date - dinner conversation. About a half hour later, there was more conversation in the car on the way to Borders to actually buy the books and but on the way home we got sucked into a conversation about WHO was going to bed WHEN and with or without stories. The outcome of that - #2 was the first to bed but the last to sleep - and he did get some stories, but he had to lay in his bed and listen from afar. There was more conversation over dessert and some over laundry folding and the watching of The Pirate of the Caribbean (1), which I had never seen.

Weirdest Date Day we ever had - but it was fun. God has blessed me with a wonderfully flexible man - lends a good bit of flexibility to my daily routine.

So, in short (and in order) - children grandparented, doughnuts eaten, tires fixed, books sought, coffee drunk, kids retrieved, naps taken, birthday partied, wallet procured, dinner fixed, burgers eaten, bookworms washed, books purchased, babies tucked, stories read, boy snoring, laundry folded, movie watched, Jack victorious, hubby happy, and now to bed.

A better day.

We did something novel today.

We stayed home.

We did a bit of cleaning, a bit of cooking, a bit of school, some outdoor play, lots of indoor play, played with some friends, did a bit of mess making, and bit of napping (hallelujah!) and just enjoyed each other. This evening, we had a car picnic at Sonic and went to buy some groceries. We got home at bedtime.

It was a much better day.

That is about the most mundane blog post I've ever read, but that's all I've got. :)

Oh, what a Thursday.

Oh my.
Got up.
Got ready.
Packed for a week.
Went to the picture studio.
Did pictures.
Waited on digital stuff to load.
Waited
Waited some more
Waited some more
Waited even longer
Choose my purchases.
Waited to pay
Waited longer
Paid.
Ate lunch with Mimi and Gram at Panera Bread.
Came back (#2 went to Mimi's)
Napped the babies
Had short playdate with a new friend who has twins who #3's age
Sent them home.
Packed up again.
Hugged #2 hello.
Kissed my husband hello.
Loaded up and went to dinner and a small group meeting at a friend's house.
Dinner was tasty
Meeting was OK.
#2 did NOT have a successful evening - refused to go to timeout in his carseat and got himself into all sorts of trouble.
Came home - got kids bathed.
#3 tripped and split his chin - gaping and bleeding
Went to Children's Urgent Care.
Got him glued back together.
Came home
Put him to bed
Put #4 to bed
Ate chocolate cake
Typed this.
Answered email.
Crashed.

Our Wednesday

We got up at 3am because of a thunderstorm. Most of us were back to sleep by 5am - except for DH, who woke up at 6am as happy as a lark - because he got a full night's sleep. :) I hope it does him good. I took a nap from 6-8am. Praise the Lord for his boss, who doesn't make him keep a strict schedule.

We did school, and then the boys and I went to the library for Storytime.

The plan was to proceed directly to Borders (it's Educator Sale week) to spend my birthday gift certificates. But there was great hunger in the ranks that caused monkey-like behavior in the library, and so we stopped at Arby's on the way and then had a picnic-in-the-car. Then they managed to behave like human beings in Borders. I rewarded them with a snickerdoodle in the cafe - and treated myself to a cup of maple-white-chocolate-coffee yumminess. Then Drew hid from me and lost all his privileges. (Imagine?!)

I redeemed my birthday bucks for:

Handbook of Nature Study
Nourishing Traditions
Geography of the World

There are so many books on my list, yet most of them are available through my beloved local library. It's hard to figure out what books I want to own and which ones are nice to borrow. I've been thinking about these purchases for two weeks.

It's been a whole month...

I'm not a very good blogger, as a blogger must blog to be a blogger, and I've been good at a lot of things, but blogging hasn't been one of them.

HOWEVER, I've been busy with the important work of motherhood, and I've been instructed by my husband to take better care of myself, which has meant more rest and reading in the evenings and less time blogging. I'm a bit rundown after two pregnancies in two years. Mostly, I've been enjoying my children and teaching and training them and loving them and laughing with them and being amused by them. (Who would fail to be amused by a five-year-old singing, "And this next song will be the best song I ever made up..." in the back of the van?)

So, (in no particular order) the things I've been up to...
1. Homeschooling - #2 is enjoying his trip through the US and the books from Sonlight Core C. He's proud of his Trip notebook, his reading is improving rapidly, and he's memorizing lots of scripture for Awana. He's fallen in love with Math-U-See.

2. Cooking from scratch - my stomach is not appreciating corn to an entirely new degree, so I'm having to be more careful about what I eat. #2 has been showing major behavior improvement with the decline of preservatives and additives in his diet, so that has me wondering. #3 does my heart good by eating everything and asking for more. #4 is a little chowhound, too. The whole mess has me spending more time on food prep than I really have time for, but a system is in the works.

3. Bible study - My group started the new version of Beth Moore's "A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place." There might be several posts on that forthcoming if I get regular time to blog.
I also have weekly memory work to do because I'm helping in a class at Awana.

4. Childcare - with a five-year-old and two babies, this is taking most of my time - but it is fun (mostly).

5...

Oh my, there is so much more, but it's past my bedtime, and there is no telling when I'm going to be summoned by someone.

Love letter

Dear King of Bookworms,

I've tried to call you several times to tell you that the dryer won't stop running unless the door is open, but the nice lady who answers says that your number has been disconnected.

Would you please look into this - the phone, that is, because since you aren't in the office today, it would be nice to know that I could contact you in a emergency or to remind you that Bookworm #2 and I need to be at Awanas at 6, so dinner will be at 5pm tonight - though I would like your permission to call The Appliance Guy about the dryer - the whole dryer problem frustrates me because six weeks ago, when the troublesome washer died and the wonderful, never-gives-us-a-problem dryer was dutifully spinning when asked and resting when it wasn't needed, we could have purchased the dryer to match the washer for $500 more than we paid for just the washer, and because we didn't, and now, if The Appliance Guy can't fix the dryer, we'll have to pay $800 for the same dryer we could have gotten for $500 six weeks ago - not that we had the $800 or the $500, but at least we wouldn't have to worry about the house burning down because someone forgot to leave the dryer OPEN. So, can I please pray that The Appliance Guy can fix the dryer cheaply (like under $100) and then call him to come fix it?

Of course, right now the dryer is supposed to be running because it is full of fluffy clean diapers. And then it can run for another 40 minutes to fluff up our nice clean clothes. It's a regular Fluff and Fold in our house today.

The sweet baby just smiled at me, and I know that you will still come home for dinner at 5pm in spite of this email (which is about to become, with your permission, a blog post that will cause moms to smile because they have been there and done that) and just knowing you'll come home makes me swoon.

I love you very, very much.

Queen of Bookworms

So much to blog, so little time.....

OK - I don't really have time to post anything, but I wanted to make a list of things I'd like to write, and it makes sense to make it here.

1. #3 and the Italian cream cake
2. Photo updates
3. Summer reading update and Book reviews
4. Greek chicken recipe for Barbara
5. Basic school subject plan
6. Reviews of HOAC Little Miss Muffet, Katy and the Big Snow, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and Beginning Reading (gee, that's list in itself)
7. Review of Language Lessons for Little Ones from Queen Homeschool
8. several posts for the Flat Stanley project
9. The Oklahoma Unit

And since I'm writing, I'll tell you that #2 is very busy as usual, #3 is developing a naughty streak that is pretty darn cute - it's difficult not to laugh at him, but I try hard, and #4 is very sweet and getting big and getting grumpy because he's been laying in my lap as I type.

Here's #2 in a very appropriate shirt. (It says, "THIS is my secret identity.")

#3 signs adamantly, "More PLEASE" (with both hands) because he LIKES Italian Cream Cake even if it has more chemical ingredients in it than he is usually given.














And here are #2 and #3 making #4 smile. Isn't he a cutie! (By the way, he's sporting a Bumgenius one-size diaper - if you are wondering how the BG1 fits a 15 pound boy, rest assured that it fits pretty well.)