It happened

I had blogged awhile back on the problems I had been facing with Laurelin becoming potty trained. I knew and she knew - that she was ready to start using the potty, but she seemed rather content to go on with life in her Princess pull-ups. That is until last week. For some reason out of the blue she started using the potty all by herself! No prompts, no bribes. She would come running to us and tell us she used the potty. In fact, we failed to realize that we had gone to church with no pull up and that she was still wearing her panties, which made me worry that she might have an accident at church, but no nothing. We were all so surprised how easily she picked it up, she was even out and did #2 in the potty, something we can't get her to do in her diaper. Of course she has had an accident or two, but overall she is pretty well potty trained. I guess we just needed to leave her the hell alone and she would get to it when she was good and ready! Oh the many joys of strong-willed stubborn children!

It's arrived!

What has become one of my favorite times of year, is new school material time. 
We just received our shipment for next years school supplies. All the books and materials necessary to teach four school aged children. {Gulp} I sorted through everything and separated them out by grade. That actually isn't all of it since I have some of the girls stuff that I bought awhile back. As you can see reading is a big thing with this curriculum, I think we are pretty close to having a full size library. I am so thankful that I can look at all of that and see how God has provided for us.

Split Pea Soup

This has become one of my favorite recipes, it is yummy, nutritious, and cheap. Three musts for me! On top of that it can be prepared in the morning in your slow cooker and dinner will be ready by evening!
Ingredients:
1 pkg. kielbasa 
2 carrots
32 oz. chicken broth (or if you are cheap like me I use half broth half water)
1 medium onion
1 pkg. dried split peas
salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp. marjoram (not necessary, but makes it taste yummy)
1 tsp. celery seed (you can add actual celery, but I am not a big fan, so I use the seed instead)


Cut up the kielbasa into bite sized pieces and brown in a pan. While that is cooking, chop up the carrot into bite size pieces and dice the onion. 
Then place everything in the slow cooker, and set it to low, and cook for about 8 hours. 
Serve with crusty bread. It is quite yummy, and I have even served it to my kids when they were babies and just starting to eat lumpy food. 
This is a family favorite now, kids look forward to having it served, and I have even taught my daughter how to make it also. 
Enjoy!

A new Tradition

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite. (Thanksgiving is up there too.) I of course am so thankful that we have a day to celebrate the fact that our Lord and Savior died for us, but also that he was risen from the dead and conquered death for all eternity! Yeah!! What can be better then that? My sins have been washed clean with his blood, and now I know I can spend eternity in heaven.
Besides that part, I love the Easter outfits, so pretty and colorful. And all the springtime flowers. Just a great time to be joyful. And lets not forget all the Chocolate waiting to be eaten! It seems like Americans have alot of Easter traditions that we do every year. Easter egg hunt, pictures with the Easter bunny (not our thing), dyeing of Easter eggs, Easter baskets, Easter dinner, new Easter outfits. I do enjoy all these things, but with six kids that adds up to alot of money! The other day I was loading up my cart with all the goodies I would need to create six baskets of candy for the kids. And as I was figuring the number in my head, I was getting annoyed that I was spending all this money on candy that in a matter of a few days, they would be on sale! So I got to thinking yesterday about how I try to teach my kids about the real meaning of Easter (although the actual word "Easter" is used for the pagan holiday, so Derek wants us calling it Resurrection Day), and not so focused on all the other stuff, although that is alot of fun.What could I do to separate the two? Well I decided that Sunday would be sacred to us, only focusing on the Resurrection, but the FOLLOWING day we would celebrate all the bunny and eggs things. That way I could go out early Monday morning and snag the Easter items on sale!! I know, I know... seems awfully cheap of me, but I know the kids dont care if we celebrate it a day later, as long as they know they are going to get  it, and it will help us keep our budget, and I can feel good getting good deals. Wahoo!!! 

Crazy Crazy

What a crazy afternoon we had dealing with Crazy (aka Matthias).  In the past few years we have dealt with alot of problems with running away, I mention it now and then and ask for prayer with our daughter Katie. If anyone has had a child run away, they know how hard and stressful it can be. Thankfully Katie seems to be doing better as of late (praise God!!!) but we had such a scare today! 
The kids and I went shopping today and had a pretty good time and came home this afternoon. As is the usual hub-bub after shopping everyone was looking over their treasures. Matthias had gotten a new baseball since he has just recently started T-ball. So Sarah and him went outside to practice throwing and catching. I went upstairs to try on my new clothes. (Yeah!) When I came back downstairs I saw Sarah inside and asked where Matthias was at, she said that he ran off outside, and she didn't know where he was at now. Matthias does tend to get annoyed sometimes with Sarah, so I figured he was around the corner fuming about his sister. I went outside and yelled for him, but he didn't come. The other kids came out and we started yelling for him, but no answer. I went and got Derek and we started walking around looking for him. By this time everyone was starting to get worried, since he never goes outside a small area around our house, and has never ran out of the yard before.  After we walked around for awhile, Derek and I got in the car and drove around the surrounding neighborhoods calling for him. Now we were starting to panic, this was not like him at all, and of course I start wondering what kind of mother I must be to have my children run away so often. By the time we came back, our neighbors were out looking for him, and we were considering calling the MPs. When I came inside, the girls and I were all talking wondering where he could be, and we heard something. I yelled out "Matthias if you are in here, you won't be in trouble, but you have to come out."  Matthias was curled up under our little living room table!!!!!  What the hell??!! I was so relieved but so mad too. Didn't know whether to kiss him or spank him. I did talk to him and told him how scared I was, and told him he had to go to his room as a punishment for not coming when he knew we were all looking for him. Sarah on the other hand spoke up and said " Oh, I saw him come inside earlier, but didn't know where he went in the house" Now that made me furious!! She also is sitting in her room as punishment, for not telling us. Good grief, what an afternoon!!  I am going to curl up and eat some chocolate, and watch a good movie, and enjoy the silence of having only four kids for the afternoon. 

Short lived

I have had a desire to have Laurelin use the potty for quite awhile now. I know she is perfectly capable of using one if she wanted to, the problem is that she seems perfectly content using her pull ups. So I have let the battle rest, knowing that she would eventually go, when she chose to go. (No children have gone to High School in diapers right?) 

Well the other day I decided to broach the subject with her when we were talking about her upcoming birthday in May. I told her that she was going to be three years old, and that three year old girls use the potty, and that she should try using the potty too like a big girl. She agreed, and said she wanted to use the potty. So I went out and bought her a cute little princess potty for her to use. When I took it out of the box she was rather excited, and we showed her how to use it, and she even sat down on it. And that was about all. She wanted her pull up back on and she was content to yank it off when she was done. 

Over the past couple of weeks the girls and I have tried to convince her to use the potty, but it has mostly gone unused. Until today, when I brought it downstairs for her to "try" while watching tv. An hour or so later she came to me and told me she had used the potty, and she did!! We were so proud, we gave her a round of applause on her accomplishment.

After this I had visions in my head of her wearing cute little panties, and using the big potty, and no more diapers during the day. We continued on with the homeschooling and a little while later, Laurelin came over and laughed, and pointed at poop on the ground. 

"Poop!"

 "Laurelin did you poop on the floor?!" 

"No Joey did" 

"Laurelin!!!" 

So that was rather a short lived victory in regards to potty time. As we speak Laurelin is happily wearing her pull up once more. 

Hairbrush

"Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where is my hairbrush?" 

That seems to have become my morning mantra as I get ready these last few mornings. The little song from Veggietales  playing through my head as I search for my missing hairbrush.  I have no idea where it could have gone, where would one hairbrush decide to go if it wanted to? I of course had to lose my hairbrush at the sametime that my children's hairbrush broke in half (no I did not spank them with it), which in and of itself is a mystery, but never the less we have no hairbrush, except for one.... Jessica's High School Musical hairbrush featuring Troy {sigh} and on the back it actually says " I Love Troy". Who knew that by the time I was an adult I would be reduced to using a teenage heartthrob's product on my hair? Well I can say I didn't, but I have to admit Troy has good hair, and the brush is quite nice too.

                                                                        

knock at the door

Last night while I was playing Mario Kart, there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to find two ladies standing there. They wanted to inform me that they were going to have a party across the street and that they might get loud later on, but that I could just come over there and let them know and they would calm down. I have seen these ladies before, but have never personally met them, as I try to avoid most contact with neighbors, but I did know them from their crazy parties in the past. And honestly I don't mind people partying, it isn't my business, just like anything I do isn't their business. I do have a problem though of having my kids wake up in the middle of the night because people are screaming, bottles are crashing and motorcycles are zooming up and down the road, then I get annoyed. I told the ladies that I didn't really care except that I did not want my children woken up, and they should consider that. They assured me that they would do their best. I let it go and closed the door. I had become slightly intoxicated by the amount of alcohol I could smell on them while they were talking to me, so I wanted the conversation to be brief. I started thinking though later. Why should I have to go over later on and tell them to be quiet, shouldn't they already try and do that? And should I really be that stupid to go over and tell a bunch of drunk people to quiet it down? I have done that once, and some guy almost charged me, so I learned my lesson. Why couldn't they just go to a bar or club to get their drink on, since they were celebrating her birthday?  I just felt like if they let everyone know they were going to be wild, then we should just accept that. I don't like that attitude. "Sorry sir, I am going to slap you across the face, if that hurts just let me know?"  Does that justify slapping him since I already warned him. I told Derek that maybe I should go over to their house this morning, and let them know we were going to be really loud and obnoxious and if they had a problem they could just come over and tell us. A blow horn would be a nice touch. Honestly though, I didn't hear anything, and when I went downstairs to fill up Laurelin's bottle in the middle of the night, I didn't see any cars, I guess the party kind of fizzled up. I guess it wasn't as bad ass as what they thought.

Commissary etiquette

Okay I have a problem that I have to get off my chest, and this is directed at anyone that uses the Military grocery store (anyone) called the Commissary. I understand that the Commissary works a bit different then a regular grocery store, but the same principle still applies, when a lane is open you move to the next one. Rather simple I think, but for some people they seem completely baffled when they get to the head of the line and can't figure out where they should go next, although they are looking at lanes that are pretty much empty, they will still stand and look and wait, until the magical little machine lights up with the number and tells them "next customer in line please". Now let me tell you, you don't have to wait for the machine! You are free to move forward at any time, and not cause a huge back up of people behind you wanting to get in and out as quickly as possible. Try it the next time you shop, no one will rush out from a check out line to tell you to go back, the cashier will be happy that you were able to do this all by yourself without them stopping to push the button for you, and the baggers will be happy that you were able to move it along faster for their tip. (Don't get me started on that). I know for new people it is confusing and strange how the commissary works, but I just needed to clear this up so the next time you are standing in line, you won't look behind you and see me staring at you gesturing you to move (For the love of God move!!!). And just for the record I have not seen any of my friends actually do this, because if I had, I would have yelled at you from the back of the line "HI! Nice to see you, now move it!!" No just kidding I wouldn't, but I would think it. :D

Homeschool materials

One of the fun things that I have found from homeschooling, is the fun of picking out all the materials necessary to homeschool each child. When I first started looking into homeschooling there  were a few things that I required:
1. It was a Christian based curriculum
 2. It had to be textbook based, I didnt want it to be straight from the computer
 3. It couldnt be very expensive.
Those were the main points that I really tried to stick to. I was surprised at all the different options there were for homeschooling!! I always pictured homeschooling as being a small minority of people, and maybe just a few choices out there, but I was wrong! After going through a search engine and picking through all the many choices, I found one that stuck out for me.www.sonlight.com . They seemed to have everything that I needed, and it was all laid out for me in an easy to follow lesson plans. Since i was rather new to this whole experience, and suffered from panic attacks of teaching my kids everyday for a year, I had to have something that would help me step-by-step. Within a week all of the supplies arrived, and in rather large boxes! I tried not to panic as book after book was pulled out. I organized everything into piles and made sure I had received everything. Then I took out my big binder that scheduled everything and was surprised to see that even I could figure out what was going on! As we first started, we were stumped and confused a little, but after a bit, we got the hang of it, and found things that worked for us and didnt.
 This school year I added on Matthias, and even attempted to do some pre-k with the little ones and our neighbor girl. I enjoyed that everything was laid out for me, and I had a peace of mind knowing that I was on schedule for what was to be taught in a year. We even added some extra "classes" to our school day. We are studying spanish, taking music, and art. Rather in a laid back form, but it gives the chance for the kids to experience everything and see what they are good at or what they dont enjoy. I have just put my shopping cart together for the next school year, and I must say I think I am more excited then the kids to get started on next year and learn even more.

Healthy Eating

Matthias has recently started a unit in Science on the food pyramid. He is learning about what foods are healthy and what foods are not. I am starting to think that he might be taking this knowledge a little too far. He is now aware of what foods are good for you and how they work to help you grow, such as proteins and carbohydrates. What has me wondering though, is the fact that every meal I serve him, I now have to tell him how each item is healthy and what it does for his body. If I cant explain how an item might be healthy, he questions my food. Thankfully I am very careful about feeding my kids healthy food, but I don't like each item held up and questioned. Oh, and also each thing I am caught eating is questioned on its health value. "Mom are those cookies healthy, or do they have alot of sugar?" "Thanks Matthias for ruining that treat!!" I guess I should be really worried about our next science unit which is on germs. I can just see him looking around questioning my cleaning skills next.

Military kids

I have never really given much thought about how different it is for children who have parents that are in the military compared to children who have parents in the civilian world. Although we do deal with deployment problems, I guess I assume that overall there isn't much difference. While I was taking Derek to work this morning, I did realize that somethings are in fact greatly different. While I was waiting at a stop light, kids were waiting to cross over to go to school, and on the other side soldiers were doing their morning PT with full battle gear on, and their guns at their sides. What a strange thing to witness, the innocence of children, and the realization of war and violence all on one crosswalk. Of course in retrospect I might have to be more worried about the children, then the men carrying loaded weapons.

One of those days.....

Here is a day in the life of a mom with six kids.....

Sat down on the couch this morning to take a couple minute break, only to discover that someone peed on the couch, when mentioned to the children about the couch being wet, I get the response "yeah, Laurelin peed on it". Thanks for letting mom know.
Had to go dig out my little green cleaning machine because now that the pee was set in, the couch had to be deep cleaned, when I went to the room to pull out my cleaner, I found a pile of toys and garbage that my child who is in charge of cleaning that room has been piling everything, so once I yanked out all the dolls and stuffed animals and found my cleaning machine, I saw that the machine was dirty and I had to take it outside to clean. When I pulled the cleaning compartment out, all the nasty gook came out and ended up all down my legs and feet, thank goodness I was outside when this happened. After swearing at the machine a few times for being a poorly made machine that does not allow you to clean it out very well, it was time to actually clean the couch.
I was proud of myself for getting the cushion all cleaned up, and decided to clean my rug off as well, as I was really scrubbing it, I looked over and saw that all the dirty water that was supposed to pour into the compartment, was actually pouring all over my floor!! Off to get rags to clean that mess up. At this point I think the house is actually more dirty then when I started, and once again I am realizing that cleaning this house is a waste of my time and sanity, and decide to store everything away, and just take out the can of "Oust" and start spraying everything down.
If anyone thinks "wow Jennifer has it all together" I laugh in your face, I absolutely dont, but my house does smell fresh!!