Monday, January 31, 2011
I'm wrapping up this month with little energy.
My lovely husband and children have shared their cold with me. I'm sure
I'll survive, though. Caleb had a great time at Amplify this weekend.
We went to an amazing "Miracle Service" at church last night. I'm
excited to see God answer the requests I and SO many others prayed for.
We actually went to someone else's home for a change on Friday instead
of having people over. It was nice just visiting with friends. And
Thursday I received the honor of being assigned a session to teach at
the Encounter. I'm really looking forward to it. If February is at all
like January, I better be on my toes. Should be good after the exciting
start we've had to 2011.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Caleb seems to be the center of attention this week...at
least now that we seem to have gotten somewhat past the terrible
tantrums phase Garrett was going through. That child does NOT like to
not get his way. He has this crazy idea that he is in charge of his own
life! Maybe when he's 24 he will be, but not at 4. Anyway, back to
Caleb. The blizzard a couple of weeks ago caused the orthodontist to
have to postpone his appointment, so he got braces this Tuesday. 45
minutes later...one of the brackets had popped off and another one
yesterday. He went back this morning and got them fixed. He is being
very responsible about the whole thing. We're learning what he can and
can't eat and HOW to eat, not to mention how to take care of his teeth
and braces. It's actually a bit of an adjustment for all of us
especially considering we have to allow additional time for him to do
this. He's doing great so far, though. Also, last week Pastor Eddie
presented all the kids in the middle school ministry with a challenge.
The first four kids to memorize John chapter 15 would have their trip to
Amplify (COG Winterfest for middle school) paid for. I asked Caleb if
he was working on it and he replied, "I just thought you were going to
pay for it." I explained to him that even if he wasn't one of the first
four that he wouldn't be going unless he memorized the passage by the
deadline. This was last Thursday. And HE DID IT! He was actually one of
only 2 kids who did it. He memorized and recited John 15 in less than a
week on top of all his other responsibilities and obligations with
school, braces, church, and chores. I couldn't be prouder. The really
neat thing is that yesterday he was explaining to me what he thought
some of it meant. How cool is that?! We'll miss him this weekend, but
I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
We have had a busy few days. I started another Beth Moore Bible Study Wednesday night.
This one is on Daniel. I think I'm really going to enjoy the study
& the participants. I had an Encounter meeting Thursday night which
was really great. I'm already excited about the Encounter next month.
Caleb went to a middle school ministry event at church last night. He
had a blast. Today we're looking forward to catching up on some
housework, doing some shopping, and Dewayne & I are going to see a
friend in a play.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
We had an interesting, relaxing weekend.
Caleb had a friend over Friday night and then he went to his friend's
house Saturday night. Sunday, he went to church (at North Cleveland)
with them and back to their house. Dewayne finally got to go back to
work yesterday. Thank the Lord! Today was the first day we all went to
work/school. Caleb did have to be checked out early, though. He had his
annual visit to the pediatric surgeon. She determined that his pectus
excavatum had gotten deeper since last year, but he doesn't meet the
criteria for surgery. He has an appointment for next January. That's
another thing to thank the Lord for.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
We had a hint of normalcy today. I went back to work!
The schools are closed until Tuesday (Monday is MLK day, so they were
already scheduled to be out.) & Dewayne checks each day to see if he
can work. This is the longest he has ever been out of work when we
weren't on vacation. Garrett will go back to daycare as soon as Dewayne
goes back to work. We really have had a great time being together so
much. We have had very few incidences of the children not getting along
and the house isn't destroyed. We had worked really hard over Christmas
break to get caught up, and we've done a fantastic job of maintaining
it, which is unheard of for us. Almost makes me feel like I'm doing
something right around here. I have NOT, however, made the boys study or
read as the School Superintendent and Caleb's principal have suggested.
My reasoning: They both brought home report cards on Friday with
straight A's, they hurry home from after school/my office every day and
do their chores, they are at church every Wednesday night, and during
soccer season (which doesn't start for a couple of months, I know) they
have somewhere to be three nights a week. I figured they could use the
down time. They HAVE done their part to keep up the house this week.
Sometimes they really drive me crazy, but this week they've been
fantastic!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
We have been quite out of routine the past few days.
We got more snow than I have ever seen here in Cleveland. EVERYTHING
has shut down. Fortunately there have been no power outages in
Cleveland. We went sledding yesterday and today at the church down the
road. It was a lot of fun. We have watched movies and TV and played
video games mostly. Dewayne and I have both been off work, and Caleb and
Sam have been out of school. The daycare was open, but of course we
kept Garrett with us. School is closed again tomorrow. The church opens
at 10. I introduced the boys to snow cream finally. They LOVED it!
And one cute thing from Sunday: I told Garrett to go get his hair fixed and he said, "Nah, I'm okay with it, I think." Where does he come up with this stuff?
Monday, January 10, 2011
Here's a video of our crazy boys in the snow.
And one cute thing from Sunday: I told Garrett to go get his hair fixed and he said, "Nah, I'm okay with it, I think." Where does he come up with this stuff?
Monday, January 10, 2011
Here's a video of our crazy boys in the snow.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
I took the boys to the movies today for their report card rewards.
Gulliver's Travels wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it was ok.
Caleb enjoyed getting to have the popcorn one last time before getting
his braces.
Friday, January 7, 2011
The boys got report cards today.
Caleb received all A's: 94 in Language Arts Honors, 95 in TN History,
98 in Science, 99 in Art, 100 in Community Wellness, & 100 in Math
Honors. Sam received all A's: 96 in Math & in Social Studies, 98 in
Language Arts, 99 in Reading & in Science, & 100 in Spelling.
His teacher wrote "Sam does excellent work and is very intelligent! I
really enjoy having him in class!"
The Stricklands came over tonight. We made tacos and played Kinect and Scattergories. They are a lot of fun to hang out with.
The Stricklands came over tonight. We made tacos and played Kinect and Scattergories. They are a lot of fun to hang out with.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
I had my first Encounter team meeting tonight in preparation for the February Encounter.
It was really wonderful to be a part of it again. Dewayne was fantastic
and took care of the kids and some of the housework. Sam is still up
(9:30) working on a 3-5 minute speech on the NO oil spill. Believe or
not, he chose the topic!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Dewayne had what he described as his "worst day ever" at work today.
For a guy who never complains about his work, that's saying A LOT! He
worked outside in steady rain for about 12 hours. I can't even imagine
what that must be like.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The boys & I all survived our first day back, though they did have a hard time getting out of bed this morning.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The boys are feeling much better today. We'll return to our routine tomorrow.
We went to Sam's and Publix this evening. Recently Sam's rewarded us
for being loyal members by giving us a free annual renewal and
membership upgrade. I was of course very happy to hear that a perk of
this level of membership is additional "coupons." Through the e-value
discounts we saved an extra $8.00. Maybe watching "Extreme Couponing" on
TLC the other day rubbed off on me because at Publix we got 13 boxes of
cereal (in addition to the 4 I got at Bi-Lo yesterday), 12 boxes of
Pop-tarts, 10 boxes of frozen vegetables and a bunch of other stuff. My
total before savings was $178.44. I saved $82.42 in sales and $26.50 in
coupons for an after amount of $69.52. That's a savings of 61%. I
somehow managed to find room for all of this stuff. The cashier was more
eager to see how much I saved than we were!
Garrett just said to me out of blue, "Hey, Mama, seriously, capes can fly."Monday, January 3, 2011
I looked over at him and he was playing with a batman key chain which had apparently gotten him to thinking on this issue.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Well, today wasn't anything like we expected it to be.
After spending 2 1/2 hours at the walk-in clinic this afternoon &
nearly an hour at the pharmacy, we are treating Sam for strep and
Garrett for strep and ear infections. I was supposed to go back to work
tomorrow for the first time since my break began on December 22, but
that will have to wait until Tuesday. Fortunately, the big boys don't
have school until Tuesday, so Sam won't miss any school. On a positive
note, I went to Bi-lo tonight and got $154 worth of stuff for $71.53.
That's a savings of 53.55%.
Saturday, January 1, 2011Happy New Year! A new year calls for a new way of doing some things. With our crazy busy life and the many hardships we had in 2010, the blog I did for a while just became too much to keep up with. This claims to be simpler. I hope it's something our family will enjoy doing and others will enjoy reading.
