Summer: Organize, Relax, Play

I didn't post anything last week because it didn't seem like we did anything!  After the painting adventure, I went straight for organization.... in a laxadazy way. {Is that a work? I guess it is now!}  We worked on the girls' room last week, plus the usual stuff {laundry, cooking, trying to keep up}.  So far the kids are keeping their "new" rooms rather tidy!  Every morning we have a race: BOYS AGAINST GIRLS!  Most days it is very close.  They stakes are high {Hershey's Kisses} and they are doing a great job!  This week my focus was BATHROOM DRAWERS.  Each bathroom has 6 drawers.  The worst two were mine, of course.  I threw away old beauty products, gave away a few extra hairbrushes, and made some stuff that was formerly on the counter in a basket to fit in a drawer.  Now I have all the miscillaneous "littles" to deal with.  You know, parts of who-knows-what {and if I throw it away, as soon as the trash man drives away, I will figure out what it went to and wish I hadn't thrown it!}Oh, and how many pencils and pens does one need in the BATHROOM????  {Blame it on homeschooling!}  I know I should be getting more done each day, but it is my summer break, too, right?!




On Sunday, June 26 was the annual Dale Family Reunion.  I didn't honestly expect anyone to show up to "nowhere" Iowa, but we actually had a great turn-out!  All of my {living} siblings were there and several of my nieces and nephews and their kids.  There was LOADS of food and so many people I couldn't talk to everyone!  I guess that's a good thing!  My Mom started the reunion journal in 1968.  it is fun to read through the years and remember the good ol' days {and miss all those who have gone before us}.  My dad was the middle button of 11 children.  He has been the oldest for quite some time and the two youngest are still living and one other aunt by marriage.

{top} My Dad with my niece Jenny who drove up from Sedaia, MO

{second} My Dad with My nephew Nick and his new girlfriend, Teresa

{below} My niece Tina with daughter Elisabeth and boyfriend Mike

Yesterday Dallas got off work before noon, so we met  him in Des Moines and went to the Iowa Historical Building.  This is the Mammoth display, very impressive! {HUGE!!}

There was a lot on display this time which I had never seen before!  We used to go every year or so and see the same stuff, it was worth the wait!

This is just one example of the MANY taxidermy displays that are set up at theIowa Historical Building.  Each animal is given a number and each display has a list, naming each animal and sometimes even the age of the animal.  Some of these animals were stuffed in the 1920's!

The Grant Wood display at the Iowa Historical Building ;-)

June 12-18

Well, this week we mainly did one thing.  Paint.  This is Corah & Mary & Leah's wall before.  We had never painted in the 11 years since our home was built.  I am not much of a DIY (do-it-yourself) but I actually did most of this.  It went a lot better, however, because Dallas was on vacation so he was home to help!  Corah helped with painting the furniture.

 Grafitti: "Joseph ZADER" ;-)

This was our growth chart.  I  copied it onto a long piece of rolled paper.

Monday we moved furniture and stuffed a lot of things in the closet.  The girls slept on their mattresses in the living room for 3 nights.

We painted the walls, the bed, and a bookshelf.

the  bookshelf

TA-DA!!!  The finished product!  Isn't it cute?!  I NEVER would have picked these colors, but the girls love it!  Notice, Leah is in the bottom bunk.  {That means Mom & Dad get their own room for the first time since.... I don't know, its been a while!;-)}  Oh, and I might add that it really looks like this, too.  I didn't have to shove stuff out of the view of the camera or anything! {And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property for sale down in Arizona...}  Ha-ha!

Let's see, what else did we do this week?  Dallas & the boys fished... a lot! {While the paint was drying, of course!}  We went to the drive-in movie Friday night, "The Green Lantern" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".  The kids had their last homeschool softball game with a picnic on Saturday.

{Ain't he cute!}

June 5-11

First thing Sunday morning Peter lost his first tooth!  By the time his Tuesday softball game, he had lost its neighbor!

Speaking of teeth...

Corah got her braces on her top teeth on Tuesday!  This is phase one of a two-year process. {Isn't she so cute!

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I love "no school" times.  There are just soooo many things I'd rather do than school!  But taking sick kids to the doctor and changing 300 diarrhea  diapers isn't on that list!  But, being the mommy, that is what I did Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Mary had all the symptoms of strep throat, but with a test and a culture, neither showed up.  She is on antibiotic and is better, but was not comfortable to eat for 4 days!  Leah, on the other hand, had diarrhea for two days for no apparent reason.  Her poor little back-side was so sore, I had to spray her off each time with the shower hose. {I love that thing}

Thursday was a very special day for Leah {despite the diarrhea}.  It was her second birthday!  We went to Grandma & Grandpa Dale's house {Pa-ka & Ma-ka as Leah would say, sort-of backwards *cute*}  They would be here by breakfast time on the kids' birthdays if they could drive!  So we take the party to them!

Leah & her cake

Leah & Mommy... Love the expression on her face!

Good cake!

Grandma and Grandpa are soooo kid crazy!  They enjoy our visits so much.  Being older, they thought they might never meet my little ones, so every visit is extra special.  I am very thankful they have lived to their ripe old ages!  Dad will be 91 this week, Mom is 85!

 Mary, Grandma Mary, Leah

Me & my Momma

Friday was the first day of the NICHE Conference. {Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators}  I LOVE going to NICHE and now that Corah is getting older, she can go with me!  We have such a good time together, one-on-one, can't beat that!  I so appreciate the encouragement and education I get there.

When we got home, I got to find out everything that Daddy did while I was gone.  I heard about how the kids drove him nuts {hmmm, welcome to my world!}, but he also moved the boys into their new room! {Jordyn moved out and they inherited her room}  Exciting!  And then "the news"....  "Dad painted our room... CAMMO!" {hide freaked out feelings}  "Oh, really?  SHOW ME!"

OK, well that wall is 90% doors.  They LOVE it!  And then Mary said, "Now wait 'til you see your bathroom!" {Oh, no!......  OK, its not cammo.  just some dots like that only tan.  ONLY tan.  Not sure what he was thinking, but the whole room needs paint, anyway, so... oh, well!

Saturday night EVERYONE was home!  Tyler {and his girlyfriend} and Jordyn, plus all of us.  I was beat from NICHE and all the guys {+girlyfriend} went fishing.  I collapsed on my bed and put in a "Love Comes Softly" video.  *Sigh* Chick time.

Week of May 29-June4

I am just not very good at keeping up with this blog thing.  Things happen and I think, "I am going to blog this!"  Then I realize I forgot to take pictures, so it just won't be as fun.  Well, we're {ah-hem} "done" with school for the summer, so I can try harder to get into the blog thing... with pictures! 

Some weeks its seems so ho-hum.  Get up, feed the kids, wash laundry, clean the house, break up fights, dry laundry, correct bad behaviors, fix lunch, hope the girls take naps, fold laundry, have a coffee, wish I could get more done.... boring!

This week we had something almost every day...

Monday (Memorial Day) we cleaned for company in the evening, had a dog funeral in the afternoon (the puppy was hit by a minivan!) then we had LOTS of fun with our friends from church.  We had invited 4 families but only 2 could come.  It turned out to be just the thing.  Not too crowded, a good opportunity to get to know these people we sit in church with at a more personal level.

Tuesday was the ACTS Academy concert.  The director asked that each child wear a different color of polo shirt.  It looked really cool!

Then Ethan {Jordyn's boyfriend} preached... this is the first time an alumnus (sp?) was chosen (by the seniors) to preach the graduation sermon!  He preached at his church today, today... hmmm... wonder where this is going?????

Thursday was the last day of ACTS.  The kids were supposed to bring treats.  Well, since we are 25 miles from an affordable grocery store, Corah made cookies! But she Leah refused to be left out!

Friday was a park day with local homeschoolers at the Prairie City park.  It was the first of the season.  I was busy getting the picnic lunch ready, the grocery list for afterward, and my newly "remodled" roller skates and I forgot the camera.  The skates are working GREAT!  But it was soooooo windy, skating into the wind is quite a workout!

Saturday while Daddy & the kids went fishing, I planted a few rows of the garden, hauled a couple loads of grass clippings from the back forty {of our 5 acre yard} and hauled countless 5-gallon buckets of water.  Whew!  I took breaks because I am such a whimp.  Corah learned how to make iced coffee... what a refreshing break!!


Saturday night the "guys" {Dallas, Joseph & Peter} went to a demolition derby so we had a princess party!  We all got dressed up in our "princess attire" and had a "tea" {chololate milk}party and watched "Beauty and the Beast"!

The princesses with the "Queen"

The tea set

 Princess Leah {She'll be 2 on Thursday!}

 Princess Mary Elisabeth

Princess Corah

Don't forget Princess Jordyn! {comedian!}

What a Day!

As a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, we usually just, you know, stay home.  We do school.  We go to Academy two afternoons a week.  We go to church.  We go to the grocery store.  But today was different.  My [very brave] neighbor watched my 5 kiddos so I could go to Ethan's (Jordyn's boyfriend's) graduation from wonderful Faith Baptist Bible College (my alma mater!).  The grduation was at 11a.m. so I promised to be gone only from 10a. to 2p.  True to my word (and my personality) I rolled in the driveway around 2:12.  I was greeted at the door with a desperate, "Do you have a minute?"  While all our children had been playing in their barn, one of her daughters fell and possibly broke her arm!  So she was going to take her daughter to the doctor for x-rays while I took her kids for the afternoon!  That was fine, as long as she was back in time for me to go to the same clinic for Leah's strep re-check and my back adjustment at 4:45.  Everything went great, except that her 2-year-old would't take a nap and she got back just in time for me to leave for my appointment!  {If the arm is broken, it didn't show up on x-rays so she has a re-check in a week.}  My [very, very brave] neighbor took Peter & Mary {after all she'd been through!} while I took Leah, Corah & Joseph stayed home to do homework.  Leah tested positive for strep after 10 days of antibiotic!  So then I had to go to the pharmacy, which is in the next town, another 5 miles, one way.  As I was heading home at about 6:15 I realized.... it was suppertime!  I have been gone most of the day and have nothing prepared!!  So we had a "clean out the fridge" night, whew! {my next cooking adventure is going to be "once-a-month cooking" so won't that be nice on a busy day like this to just pull a meal out of the freezer instead of wondering what to do?}  So now I am home for the evening.  The kids must be tired too because Peter asked if he could "please get ready for bed".  {I should take his temperature!}  Sounds good to me, too!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................

Heart & Home Clean Sweep: Summary

Well, with the amount of mess in my house, I kinda knew I wouldn't be able to truly "succeed" in getting it all done in 6 days. (After all, it usually takes all summer!)  But it does feel good to have a clean kitchen, and we made GREAT progress on our master bedroom!  We spent our cold, wet Friday sorting, purging, organizing, and... are you ready for this?.... PAINTING!  Yeah!  We have lived here 11 years and never painted our bedroom.  I have always dreamed it could be a beautiful, relaxing, and elegant room.  But when you have 8-9 people in a 3 bedroom ranch, well, things get a little crowded.  If we weren't so crowded, we probably wouldn't have the family computer in there... or the baby's bed and all her stuff!  Sometimes we are lucky to have paths to our sides of the bed and the bathroom!  Oh, well, one day it will be just the two of us, and we will have plenty of room, and just wish we had some kids to come and mess it up for us!  So until then, I will keep the broom handy, the washer & dryer going a few times per day, and working on my on-going "to-do" list! Check back with me... I just might take a picture of the finished product!

Day #2 Results

Wellllll...........   My results were not as drastic with my living room as with my kitchen!  I spent a lot of time trying to KEEP my kitchen clean (HUGE JOB!!)  I also was behind on laundry, so I folded about 6 loads of laundry. 

I did, however, put away Mary's winter clothes which have been on our loveseat for going on 2 weeks.  I washed nine children coats, which I will Space Bag today. (I love those Space Bags for winter coats and snow pants!)

 I also went through a basket, formerly known as a laundry basket (turned JUNK basket) which has been collecting junk in our bedroom for about a month.  (The sad thing is, I have another basket in the basement with the same problem!) 

I still tackled the top of the TV, which was covered with DVD's, CD's, and a nice layer of dust; and the piano, also covered with a nice layer of dust and dry plant leaves.

Somewhere in there I found time to make supper and walk Mary to the neighbor's to play.

My devotion time went well, I am reading in the Psalms.  However, by the time I crawled into bed at night, it seemed like last week since I had done that!

Rather than choosing music to listen to while working, I have been listining to the audio book The Duggars: 20 and Counting!  What a blessing that has been!  I am refreshed with renewed inspiration to teach my children more consisently about living for and loving our Saviour Jesus Christ and Christian character.  I also have a load of new child training insight, which is ALWAYS helpful!  I now believe there is hope for the Leah monster! ;-)

I am planning on working on the master bedroom for two days instead of doing the kids'room tomorrow.  We did it not too long ago, and the master is... scary!  It seems what I would consider a good time to clean my room, either Hubby or Baby are sleeping in there.  I am doing good to get the laundry put away the same week it is washed!  The scariest part will be pulling out the bed to clean and dust underneath.  Hubby gets to help with this!

Sorry, but photos would be to humiliating!  Maybe later!