Yesterday

Well, we ended up going to the museum yesterday; and I am SOOOO glad we did! The kids and I ALL had a great time! We met my friend Cindy (who is actually their pediatrician) there and her kids. The kids got to play, and although Cindy and I didn't have much time to chat, it was still nice to get out of the house and spend some time with a friend :)

We went to the planetarium and they turn the lights off so you can see the stars, then they turn the lights back on slowly. Our foster daughter's skin color is a light toned African American... when they turned the lights back on, she looked at her arm, turned it over and looked at it, then looked up at me and said "hey, I'm brown" - LOL, LOL!!! It was like it was a revelation to her. Oh my gosh, I laughed so hard!! You would have to know her to truly appreciate this. I am not picking on her AT AlL, she is just hilarious.

They also had one of the bounce houses with velcro where you wear the suit and stick to the wall. I tried my BEST to get Ty to do it... as small as he is (he is only 43 lbs at 7 years old - Lauren is only 44, they have just always been small - except when they were born), anyway, as light as he is and as acrobatic as he is, he could have seriously done a flip and stuck to the wall upside down. That would have been SO cool! But, he wouldn't go for it.

I left the baby at home with Matt, which made our trip a lot easier. I called home and asked Matt "how is it going there" MEANING... "how is the baby"... his reply - "not good at all, Miami is losing, and they are doing it to themselves, they just can't get anything right today, etc., etc., etc... I said "I MEANT how is the baby"... his reply "OH, he is fine" LOL Matt is definitely devoted to his football teams - lol.

Well, gotta go look over stuff for school for this coming week.

Duke update

OK, if you are not a "pet" person; or if you don't know me and know Duke, you might just skip this post.

I got a message from the vet today, she called on Thursday, but I just got the message today. Cell phones frustrate me in that way. She got the results of Duke's pathology report - he DOES have breast cancer. She told me the day she removed the tumor that she had never seen a male dog with breast cancer. I have just finished trying to find info on the internet; and I am not finding much. The only thing I have found over and over is that it is very rare - about a 2% chance; and it is usually very aggressive in male dogs. His first signs of a tumor were about a year ago; and the vet told me then that it was just irritation from him laying down so much... in fact, when I showed her the smaller knots on his other breasts she said again that those looked like irritation from laying down so much. Arghh!! Anyway, it wouldn't have really made a difference, I guess... Anyway, it is what it is. But he has had if for a year now; and if it is very aggressive, then I am guessing that it has already spread. I will be calling the vet back on Monday, and hopefully I will have some more answers then. Our biggest question remains - is he in pain; is there any reason that we don't need to let him just continue living like he is. We don't want him to be in pain; and we don't want to spend a lot of money because he is almost 13 years old and has had this for a year now already. I love him, and would gladly spend the money to have him treated no matter the cost if it would prolong his life. But he could die of natural causes tomorrow - he is already WAY past his expected lifespan. I wish that I could keep him forever, but I know I can't. All the years he has loved me unconditionally, and been the best dog ever - I want to do what is best for him. But I have no idea if this will affect his quality of life or not...??? He hasn't had a good day today with his hips and joints - but tomorrow, he may be getting around just fine; that is what he does. Just when I think he is in extreme pain, he will have a few days where he looks like there is nothing wrong with him.

Our "puppy" who is taller than Duke now, is finally calming down some. That is a good thing. I wanted to get another dog before Duke dies so that I wouldn't feel like I was "replacing" him - but I have tried twice in the past few years, and neither time has worked out well. The first dog we got was full blooded Rottie, and I gave her to a friend of mine after about 10 months because she was jumping on the kids and scaring them - she never intentionally hurt them; but I couldn't have the kids be so scared of her; not to mention she dug up the yard so bad that we could almost see China - lol. Then we got our current puppy. You can look back and see pictures of him right after we got him last February (I think). We still have him, but after about 3 months inside, he got put outside because he kept jumping on Duke and the kids. And now he chews up everything. We can clean the yard and think there is nothing for him to get, and walk out the next morning amazed at what he has found to chew up. I feel bad, because I know it is just that he is bored and looking for attention. Madi and I have tried, in the past, to go out and play with him, but he would bite our shirts and tear holes in them. Never bit us - just our clothes. Just recently we have both been out to play with him/work with him and he has pretty much quit jumping up on us and has not bitten our clothes. So, I need to work with him, reconnect with him.

Again, I know this will seem really stupid to most of you. But to those who love my Duke, you will understand.

today???

The kids found a record album, actually it was "Foreigner" (I think they picked it up because our memory verse last week was "we are no longer foreigners or aliens, but God's people and members of God's Household" Eph. 2:19 - and it had the word "foreigner" in it. It took them a while to understand what a foreigner was. Which really is weird since we live in FL and we have a lot of immigrants and tourists here - which is how I tried to explain to them what a foreigner was; they never did truly "get" it). Anyway... they found this record, and Madi says "WOW, daddy, that is a BIG CD - ROFL!! :) ;)

We have to get out of the house today. I had made plans to meet a friend at a museum; but I am SO tired, I just don't know that I want to drive there - about 30 - 45 minutes away. Considering a park or Chuck E Cheese. We have all been sick again this week, and that just seems to do me in. After a week of everyone being sick; I have NOOOO energy left whatsoever. BUT the kids REAlLY need to get out of the house today, we have kinda been stuck inside most of the week today, other than our trip to the river on Monday.

kids

I wish I could tell you more about my foster children - because I love them, and they are such a big part of our lives... but because of confidentiality rules, I can't. But I am going to share some stories today, just can't tell u names, or show pictures.

Our foster baby has started taking his diaper off REPEATEDLY - duck tape here we come! (To hold his diaper on - just clarifying - lol) Today he somehow managed to take his diaper off while leaving his clothes ON!!! We were in the room with him and I looked and saw his diaper laying next to him, but he hadn't taken his clothes off; I have NO idea how he did that!!!

He has also started saying "hi" lately. The past few mornings when he wakes up he has pulled the wires out of his monitors making them alarm; then when I walk in the room he looks up at me, smiles, and says "hi". Little stinker!

Our foster daughter is a mess, she is so cute and I love to see her smile. But oh boy is she keeping me on my toes - lol. Also, I can't mention specifics, but just please pray for her - God knows what she needs.

Lauren has started taking ballet lessons. We weren't sure if she would actually go, because although we are close by, neither Matt nor I are actually in the room with her, neither of her siblings are with her, and it is not with church people that she knows. That is WAY out of her comfort zone!! But she is going, and she LOOOOOVES it!!!

Tyler lost another tooth yesterday - I haven't taken any pictures yet. He STILL hasn't gotten his top two teeth in yet! The first one was knocked out when he was 3, and the other one came out a several months ago. The dentist did x-rays and it showed that his teeth are there, and that they should be coming in soon, but that was about 3 months ago, and still no sign of them coming in. Hmmmm??

Madison is very anxious to start back taking horseback riding lessons. The place we were taking lessons from, the instructor left and they haven't found another one yet. So.... we are waiting. A friend from church told me about a lady that teaches at her house (I think); I really need to call and check on that. To be honest, I have kinda been putting it off until it cools down some. I LOVE riding horses too; but it is just so hot still!

We have finished the first 2 units/chapters of homeschool. I am using "Weaver" by Alpha Omega, and we are all really enjoying it! It takes longer to finish each day than previous years with different curriculum; and there is a little more preperation on my part, BUT the kids are really applying everything they learn to their lives - that is SOOO worth it!

It is almost 3 PM, and I am still in my pajama's. We have all been sick this week; and I am exhausted on top of being sick myself. One of the rules we have is that we will all get dressed before we start school; but NOT TODAY ;)

Labor Day Weekend

monkeys - but not "my" monkeys ;)









Nature pic








House Matt and I would like to get for a vacation house - LOL hee hee... but if anyone would like to buy it for us, we will let u ;) ;) ;)








Caleb swimming back from the rope swing - Matt had to pull ty and la across in the tube because they were scared of the manatees in the water. It didn't help either that some drunk guy told them "there are alligators in the water, but don't worry they are only 6 ft - they won't bite u" He was just messing with them, there were NO alligators around; the river was FULL of people... but Lauren FREAKED out!! The kids all had life jackets on, but it was quite a trek to have to swim and pull them in a tube! Matt was pretty tired when he got back. I also realized (again) that my children are a bunch of wimps (I mean that will lots of love - lol). I know I have made them that way by being protective and possibly paranoid at times - BUT I will do WAY more things than they will. Anyway, Caleb is the only one other than Matt that actually used the rope swing when they got over there.







Mikayla (Madi's friend) she is such a sweetie.








Caleb and Lauren










Madi




We had a great weekend (a few setbacks on Sunday, but it all worked out). Caleb ended up spending the weekend with us, and he was SUCH a sweetie and such a helper. The kids had a great time. I enjoyed getting to spend some time with Matt, and also some fun time with the family

So Soon??

Having boy/girl twins, I knew the day would come where there would be the issue of one of them "liking" the other one's friends. But.... I thought that day would come when they were teenagers. Not so - it seems that at SEVEN years old, we are already there.

Tyler has a friend spending the night tonight, and Lauren has been VERY open about her feelings for Caleb - lol. Caleb is tolerant, but does not feel the same way - HELLO he is a SEVEN year old BOY!! It really hasn't helped Lauren's ambition though, that his grandmother has told her that it would be neat if they grew up and got married, then Lauren would be her grand-daughter in law. (I say that with a smile on my face, this is all quite amusing to me)

Lauren drew a picture yesterday of the 2 of them sitting on a swing wearing "I love Lauren" and "I love Caleb" tee shirts. Oh what am I going to do with her when she IS a teenager??? She took the picture and put it on the window before Caleb got here, and I did talk to her about how he was coming to play with Ty, and that although she could play with them; she was not to make him feel uncomfortable with this stuff, and I made her put the picture back on her school desk. She did seem to understand, and "for Lauren" she actually obeyed quickly, without trying to argue with me. She did, however, make sure that when he arrived she was "ready". She fixed her hair, put on WAY too much body spray, and has made a point to make sure she is SEEN by him - lol. Poor Madi is sitting between me (who has muscle cream on my back and smells like menthol) and Duke (the dog) then Lauren walks in with a wall of perfume smell surrounding her; Madi was like - arghhh!!

(By the way Madi, I know you read my blog now - this is my place to write, and you can read it, but you don't have to share everything you hear or read with everyone) :) (I guess I said an ugly word a few weeks back, and I REALLY do NOT remember saying it, but Madi says I did, and made it a point to TELL several people about it - luckily it was just Jenn and Matt (that I know of anyway). I really don't use bad language on a regular basis, but WOULD own up to it if I recalled doing it ;)

Just last week, Tyler passed up an opportunity to go play with Caleb after church when he found out that one of Madi's friends was spending the afternoon at our house. I guess he likes "older women" - lol. He is not as verbal, and would NEVER admit that he likes her; but he moved Lauren's plate so he could sit by Haley at lunch, and he hasn't stopped talking about her. I did tell my friend Sharlene that at least he is getting closer to someone his own age; because before Haley, his secret crush was Sharlene's daughter Tori, who is 15!

Oh my goodness... good times ;) I really do like this age, it is fun. Madi is already in the "pre-teen" mindset, which is fun too - but different. Don't know what I will do when I have 2 pre-teens! Or what about when Madi is 16 and the twins are 13!!!! It will be fun too - but could you all start praying for us now?? ;)

How does he do that??

As we were doing math today, Tyler had a word problem and it went something like this:
Jane had $534 in her checking acct and she spent $295 on a couch out of her checking acct; how much $$ did she have left? He wrote the answer down. Not the problem written out.... just the answer. Madison said - "is that right" I said "I don't know! I will have to work it out on paper" Yep, he was right. He is AMAZING when it comes to math and numbers. Downside to it is that he gets VERY frustrated when he doesn't understand something right away. He is 7 years old!!! How am I ever going to teach him when he gets older???? With God's help, that will be the only way! That and virtual school - lol.

Other kid updates - Lauren is doing SOOOOOO much better in school this year. I think she really just needed an extra year to be ready. I am so proud of her! She is also becoming more compassionate lately, and that makes me even more proud.

Madi is doing better in school too! So far we have not had any fights between the 2 of us ;) We have had to butt heads several times to see who was going to be the 1 in charge. I won. Madison is just amazing. She is so grown up, so helpful, compassionate, loving, and sensitive. Lord knows she gave us a hard time when she was younger; but I am so proud of the person she is and is still becoming.

I LOVE my homeschool curriculum this year. It is Weaver by Alpha Omega. It takes me twice as long to finish school; but the kids are learning 5 times as much, so it is worth it. Not only are they learning more; they are applying it to their lives. THAT is what I want to achieve as a mom and a teacher.

Duke is doing better.

Matt has started back to school. And it is football season AND soccer season - so our lives are even more crazy busy.

I have not been feeling well the past few weeks. Extremely tired. Lots of people asking about me at church - I think I must look like I have been hit by a mack truck ;) I am FINALLY starting to feel some better. BUT... I do need to go to bed now. That is part of my problem if I don't get enough sleep. And with school in - I gotta get up early.

Oh, and I gave all the kids a hair cut tonight; I think Madi's came out really cute. I will have to put a pic on here soon. Nothing fancy, just cut it shorter; but it is very cute.