10 things I've done this week:

1. I've washed 14 loads of laundry.
2. I have cooked dinner in my crockpot every night this week (except Wed. when I made a quick run thru McD's). I've had one for the last 12 years and I've just discovered how much I love that appliance. It's made my life easier.
3. I spent 3 days straight at my sister-in-laws doing my own version of the show "Clean Sweep" while they are out of town. I would love to post before/after pics but I don't think she would like that too much. But let me just say that her house looks AWESOME now.
4. I've gotten only about 4 hours of sleep each night (and I can't take it any more!!)I don't fall asleep until 1 or 2 in the morning and then I toss and turn all night but then I have to get back up at 8 and I am seriously dragging butt all day.
5. I have drank (or is it drunk?) at least a pot of coffee every morning with the hopes that it will get me moving. It works for about 2 hours and then I crash and burn. (I don't have any caffeine after lunch so, no, that's not what's keeping my up all night.)
6. I've watched a total of 6 soccer games in the last 4 days. Brooks and Chandler won their first game ever on Tuesday and then they turned around and did it again on Thursday. They were thrilled and so was their coach. Shelby scored a few goals during her games and Tyler is just happy to be wearing a uniform. Who cares if he has NO CLUE as to what's going on during the game, he just loves being out there.
7. I've praised the Lord that Rachael's surgery went as planned and that she is doing well.
8. I've talked to Micah and Blake at least 10 times a day and miss them even more after I hang up the phone. I'm ready for them to come home. (13 more days!!!UGH!)
9. I've had to take the Suburban back to Toby the mechanic. It was making a loud knocking noise. They think it's just something that wasn't put back right when they replaced the transmission so hopefully it won't cost a dime.
10. I've started packing. We're going out of town (again) this weekend. We're just taking an over night trip to Memphis. Got some things we need to take care of. Hopefully it will be a blessing to us and not make things worse. (I know none of that made sense to ya'll, but it's a bit personal and I just don't feel like talking about it right now.....maybe I'll share later.)

If I could think of a title, it would go here.

Sorry for the disappearing act. But I'm back for good now. I promise! Not only were we having a hard time with our internet connection, but with all that has been going on around here, it was just plain impossible to sit down and write a blog. All that has been fixed and everything has sorta settled down some what (or as much as it can with 6 kids in the house). And now for one of the longest updates you have ever read.........

First off, let me just give a big THANK YOU for all of the comments and emails I have gotten about Chandler and my sister. We appreciate your prayers so much and need them daily.

We went to court on Aug. 21 and Jamee told the judge it would be best to let Chandler stay with us until she got the help she needed. It went a lot easier than I expected and I'm very thankful Jamee was so cooperative. Jamee has to meet all of the requirement set forth my DHS and we go back in 6 months for another hearing. The following few weeks consisted of talking back and forth with DHS, answering a million questions,bringing Chandler to some dr. appointments, having a home study done and jumping thru a few more hoops. But now we are official foster parents! Not only can we keep Chandler, but we can also keep other foster kids if the need/desire should arise. But I'm not sure we're ready for that just yet. Six kids is enough for us right now.


We had a very close call with Shelby. It involved a tree branch, her eye and a trip to the E.R. Doesn't sound very good does it? Well, it wasn't. I have pictures to prove it but I will spare you all the gore and just tell you what happened. Here is the condensed version. She was outside picking berries from a tree and walked into a broken off tree branch. It poked her in the eye. Fortunately she closed her eye just in time and it only ripped her eyelid but not the inside of her eye. They called in a plastic surgeon and he stitched her eyelid up. Just like that. Well, not just like that but this is the condensed version so I'm not going into all the details. That girl was so BRAVE! She never shed a tear. Not a single tear. She was more worried about missing soccer practice than she was about what the dr. was doing to her eye. She got 5 stitches and a pink teddy bear out of the whole deal. The stitches are now out and she looks great. You can hardly tell what had happened.

This last picture of her eye was taken about 4 days after the accident.







We also celebrated a few birthdays in September. Blake turned 11 and Brooks turned 9. This is the first year ever that the boys had separate birthday parties. Blake had a spend the night party with about 5 other boys and Brooks chose the have his birthday party at the skating rink. (I'm going to post pictures as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer.) I think the boys had good birthdays. Among other things (like a ton of money), they both got a pair of Heely's. I tried Blake's on just to see what all the hoop-la was all about. I didn't get it. I couldn't figure out how to make myself go.
Anyway, mom came down for a visit around the 16th (Sept.), stayed a few days and then headed back to IN. She took Blake and Micah back with her. They will be staying with her until I go up there to run the Louisville Marathon which isn't until October 21st. Yep, they will be gone almost 4 weeks. It's been nice only having 4 kids but I still feel like somethings missing. Well, Duh. That would be my kids. I'm ready for them to come home. I miss them so much I'm going to cry if I don't stop talking about them. Moving along....

Did I mention that I have 4 kids playing soccer this year? Yep. JM is coaching Brooks and Chandler's U10 team, Shelby is playing on the girls U8 team and this is Tyler's first year playing. That is why Blake and Micah are the ones that went back to IN with mom-they were the only ones who didn't have soccer games for the next 2 months. So we are out at the soccer fields every Mon, Tues, and Thurs. night for games and sometimes we even have practices on Weds. and Sunday afternoons. Can anyone say "we love soccer!" ? I say that to myself several times a day while gritting my teeth, looking for lost soccer socks, lacing up cleats, strapping on shin guards, and just generally trying to get everyone to where they need to be at the right time, with the right uniform on. Fun, fun, fun. No seriously. We do love it and I do look forward to watching their games. If it's wasn't fun, I seriously would not put myself thru that much stress. So far it's been good, but once the weather starts getting colder, I might change my tone.

That's about all I got on us. That just about brings you up to date on everything that's gone on here. I think I left out a few other minor details out. For example: our trip to the Space and Rocket Center, getting different living room furniture (notice I didn't say "new"), having a garage sale with a friend of mine, my husband joining the church again-without telling me until later (the same one we left b/c there were some issues), the power streering going out and locking up while I'm driving the Suburban, the transmission going out on the Suburban (not at the same time as the power steering but again, while I was driving), and me getting an earache so bad that I went to the doctor and she told me I had a bulging ear drum and fluid in both my middle and inner ear. But I'm fine now and so is the Suburban, in case you were wondering.

By the way, I would like to ask that you all pray for my niece Rachael and her family. Rachael has been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called Chiari Malformation. She is having brain surgery tomorrow morning. They flew all the way to North Carolina to have the surgery done. You can read about her story here.






*Edited to add a few random pictures that were already on my computer.......

The Hatfield Crew (along with MawMaw Hatfield) at the Space and Rocket Center:




This one cracks me up. My mom is wearing Micah's size 3t Spiderman shirt! She somehow squeezed into it when Micah asked her if she wanted to be twins with him:


Chandler and his sister Hannah spending some time together:


Speak no Evil, See no Evil and Hear no Evil (a.k.a. Blake, Brooks and Chandler):


And last of all, me doing what I love to do, but never seem to have enough time to do it:

It's been an entire month since I've had a chance to blog and what a month it's been! Instead of trying to think back on all that has happened, I will just give you an update on what's going on right now.

We have had some phone/internet problems and hopefully that is all fixed so I can get back to regularly blogging. I've sure missed it!

Anyway, back a few months ago I wrote about my sister Jamee and my nephew Chandler. I was concerned about the both of them. I love my sister but she has a lot of problems and I was worried about Chandler's safety and care. With out going into a lot of detail, I will say that my prayers have been answered and Chandler is now in my care and custody. It took CPS and the cops getting involved but now he's in a safer place. He has been back with us for almost a week now and it looks like he will be with us for a while. That poor boy has been through and seen so much. (If you know us personally, please just email me if you have any questions.)

I need to get off now but please keep us in your prayers!

Let the fun begin!

We are here! We got to my parents house Saturday afternoon tired, worn out from a long trip, but very excited to see them. Our trip didn't start off like we had planned. We were supposed to leave around 7:00 Friday morning, stop in Murray, Ky to measure some windows for JM's job, then drive on to my parents. We didn't leave the house until 7:00 Friday NIGHT due to some unexpected problems with the hitch on the van. It was late when we got on the road, and even later when we got to KY (like 11:30 late) and we still had another 3 hours of driving. My parents live in Eastern time zone so it would have been 4 in the morning when would finally arrive at their house. We decided to just stay in Murray. Now we're here and everyone's happy. Except poor JM who is driving all over the great U.S. of A. measuring windows in a car with no a/c. I miss you, honey!



Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the Louisville Science Center. It was very cool, as usual. We spent the entire day (from 12:30-5:30) playing and learning (well, I hope they learned something!). We also watched an IMAX movie "The Living Water" which was about ocean life. Very neat.



After we got home we did the usual. Play, dinner, baths, etc. Brooks keeps asking to walk around the neighborhood. When asked why he wants to go, he'll say it's because he likes to walk, which is a complete lie. I think he's spying on the cute girls that live a few doors down. :)I cannot believe the kids have been staying up past 11:00 every night. It doesn't get dark here until 9:30 and as Micah said last night, "We can't go to bed, it's not dark yet." He's right. It's hard to settle down and get ready for bed when the sun is still shining.



Here's what the rest of our week looks like:



Today: We are going to run some errands, get haircuts, go to the mall, stop at a HUGE goodwill store near the mall, and then go to Chuck E. Cheese.



Tuesday: Driving to Santa Clause, IN to go to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. We were going to do Six Flags but this other place has more rides that my kids are interested in (smaller, not as scary). And their water park looks alot bigger. The kids are excited about going and so am I. I wanna go on some water slides!



Wednesday: We're headed to the Louisville Zoo. Tyler and Micah have never been to a zoo before so this should be alot fun for them.



Thursday: Huber Farm and Orchard. This is just down the road from my parents. It looks like alot of fun for not alot of money!

That's all we have planned so far but that could change at any given moment. (Remember, God's in control!) I have other places I would like to go but it my have to wait until we visit again.

Indiana....Here we come!

Yippieee!!! I am so excited!

We are leaving tomorrow morning to go visit my mom and dad in Indiana. And we'll be there for 2 weeks!!

This unexpected trip came about when JM landed a big contract with Dollar General and they want 40 of their stores tinted by the end of July. A good portion of the stores are in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan so it just makes sense for us to go up and stay with my parents while the work gets done. The plan is for me to stay with my mom for a week and then help JM out the other week while my parents keep the kids. It's going to be a lot of work but the hard work will definitely pay off!

I am so excited. God has heard and answered my prayers. I needed to see my parents and we definitely needed the money. Getting this job has been a blessing in so many ways!

Anyway, I'm going to try and blog while at my mom's but I'm not going to promise anything. My mom has a ton of energy and never seems to slow down, so we will probably be on the go the entire time we're there. WOO HOO!! I CAN'T WAIT!

Water Babies

We went over to some friends of ours and swam all day Saturday in their beautiful pool . The kids (along with JM and I) had such a great time! Here are some pictures of the fun:

Micah-3 yr. Tyler-5 yr.

Brooks- 8 yr. Shelby-7 yr.



Blake- 10 yr.

Blake and Brooks showing off their diving board skills:

This is what a full day of swimming will do to a 3 year old:

The kids are back. And a few other things.

They got home from camp on Saturday. Stinky, smelly, tired, but full of stories. They had such a great time. We were a little worried about Brooks. He called home Monday night (their first night there) and already wanted to come home b/c no one was playing with him. He said he was being left out of everything. We told him to just stick it out and if he still wasn't having a good time, he could home on Wed. He ended up staying the whole week and he had a good time.
After they got home, unloaded all their camp stuff, JM reminded them that it was Saturday and the yard still had to be mowed, even if they were tired and worn out from being at camp all week. Brooks said, "yes sir" and then muttered, "I wanna go back to camp". Who can blame him?

While the kids were at camp, I had to get rid of Sadie, the basset hound that we got back in March. Why did I have to get rid of her? Long story short: she stinks, howls waaaayyy too much, hates being inside but runs away when we let her out, tore up the carpet in our living room, tore up the linoleum in the kitchen, and the hair. Oh, the HAIR! That dog sheds sooo bad! I couldn't stand it anymore. She was stressing me out, and I am already stressed out enough as it is so I took her to the pound on Friday. I paid them to take her. I also gave them 3 bags of puppy food so I don't feel bad about leaving her there. Also, the kids were begging me to get rid of her. She had become a pain in the you-know-what.

Now this week we are getting back into the swing of things. I am trying my hardest to stay on a regular school schedule. I have been struggling with a few personal issues ( depression, anxiety) and it's been hard to get done what needs to be done. JM said something the other day that made me want to snap out of the funk I'm in (it's not working yet, but I'm determined to get there). He said, totally out of the blue, "I think the kids need to be enrolled in school this year." I didn't say anything. I didn't feel like fighting with him about it (plus the kids were in the car with us) so I kept silent. I just hope and pray that it doesn't come to that. My kids have no desire to go to school. Except Shelby, she is just curious about it but I think her curiosity would fade the first week there. Anyway, just hope and pray that this will all work out. I think I would just sink further into depression if my children were sent away all day.

Thursday Thirteen: Why I home school

Here are just 13 of the reasons why I home school.

1. I feel that is what God has called me to do.

2. We can spend more time together as a family-my children are each other's best friends!

3. We can go on vacation whenever we feel like it.

4. My children don't have to deal with peer pressure.

5. I don't think I could get all 5 kids dressed, fed, and out the door to catch the bus at 7:15 a.m.

6. We finish most of our lessons by lunch time every day and I don't have to deal with homework every night.

7. I don't have to worry about bomb threats, assaults, or school shootings.

8. I can keep my children as far away from drugs as possible.

9. I know what they are leaning and it's so much fun learning new stuff together as a family!

10. They're developing very important life skills such as cooking, cleaning, organizing, and money management just by being at home.

11. They learn how to socialize with people of all ages, not just their peers. It's amazing to watch a 10 year old hold a serious conversation with someone 4 times his age.

12. I enjoy being around my kids.

13. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely what works for our family.

Pardon my mess

With Blake and Brooks away at camp and Shelby staying at Mawmaw's house for the week, I decided to do something I have been putting off for looong while.

Clean and Re-Organize the little kids room.

I say re-organize because, believe it or not, it was organized at one time. But that was a very long time ago. And things had just kinda got outta control. The room turned into a Disaster Area! Then I just pretended I didn't see the mess in there. Denial is sometimes a good thing.

See what I mean:

Pretty bad, huh?

We (meaning Tyler, Micah and I) spent the better part of the morning going thou all of that stuff. I found 4 sippy cups, 2 lost shoes, the remote to the dvd player that has been m.i.a. for over 2 months, and a few other things that I will not mention here. I threw away 3 huge bags of broken toys/trash and have 5 bags of stuff to take to the Salvation Army.

After going thou and sorting stuff, I put it all away. Then I moved the beds, dressers, and toy boxes and vacuumed under everything and along the baseboards. I even washed all the dirty walls! Hadn't done that in a while.

All that hard work, I think it looks pretty good.

Now if I could just get it to stay that way!

Happy Father's Day

Here is the Father's Day letter I wrote to my dad, but did not send. I decided to post it on my blog for him and the world to see......

Dad,

Well, since it is Father's Day I should wish you a "Happy Father's Day". You know how I feel about this so-called holiday, that's why you're not getting a card from me. (I think you should honor and love your father every day not just one day out of the year, and I do.) But it dawned on me that I don't tell you how much I love you often enough. I love you and all that you have done for me. I love you for putting up with all the crap I have put you and mom thru these last 30 years.

You have taught me so much. Like how to ride my bike, how to skate, how to drive, how to work hard and how to take pride in everything you do. You even taught me how to make the most delicious chili in the whole wide world.

I have lots of great memories with you like camping when we were little, riding "inside" the corvette, and you taking off work to drive me to Memphis just to see some boy I was crazy about. But my favorite memory was the last time we were in South Dakota. We sat up until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing with Cookie and Gary. You told stories I had never heard before. It was so much fun!

Anyway, I hope you know I love you! And thank you for being my dad!

Love,

Amber

p.s. Thank you for sharing your Bing bars with me. (You did know it was me who kept taking them, right?)

Here are some of the pictures I have, but mom has all the good ones!

I know this last one was taken before you were a dad, but I found it when I was going thru my pictures and I couldn't resist posting it! I don't know why, but it cracks me up! :)

My Five Senses

Here are some of the things that I'm.......

Seeing:
~ Blake and Brooks trying to do a science experiment at the kitchen table.
~Tyler watching the boys trying to do a science experiment.
~Micah, sprawled out in the middle of the floor, "reading" a book.

Hearing:
~ Shelby coming in from outside.
~Blake saying, "Rubix Cubix" over and over and over. I have no idea where in the world he got that from or why he keeps saying it. It's annoying everyone. (That's probably why he's doing it.)
~Tyler whistling from the other room.
~Micah saying, "Give it to me!". "Give it to me now". "Give it to me now PLEASE!". Tyler must have something he wants b/c now he's crying about it.

Feeling:
~Tired and Yucky Blucky. I have no energy to do anything.
~My head hurts. I've had a headache since Monday. I hope I'm not getting sick.
~Hungry, even though I ate. I'm craving chocolate. Seriously, I could easily down a whole bag of Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips right now.

Smelling:
~Burnt popcorn from last night. The trash needs to be taken out!
~My own stink. I need a shower.
~A smelly boy standing next to me, reading this as I type it. ( Hi, Brooks!)

Tasting:
~Sprite that I've been sipping on.
~A B.L.T. (minus the "B") sandwich that I just got done eating.
~That bag of chocolate chips I was craving. (Ha! I only wish I had some to taste!)

WFMW: Lost Toy Basket

Here's my first attempt at doing a Works For Me Wednesday post:

Having five kids means having a lot of toys and kid "stuff" in the house. Neither of which I mind. The one thing I do mind is having the living room full of toys and stuff.

So I came up with a rule to help keep the living room clutter free and to help the kids remember to put their stuff away when they are done with it. The rule is: You may play with your toys in the living room as long as you put it away (i.e. back in your room!) when your done with it, otherwise if you forget and I have to pick it up, it gets put in my "Lost Toy Basket". The LTB is a mesh basket that I keep in my laundry room. Anything that gets put in there has to stay in there until the 1st day of the month. Then I empty it out and give them their stuff back and we start all over.

The first few months the basket was over-flowing by the end of the month but now they all have gotten the idea. Even my 3-year old is getting better about picking up his toys when he's done with them.

It works for me!

For more WFMW ideas, head on over the Rock's in my Dryer!

It's official

School is back in session and I am now homeschooling ALL 5 KIDS AT THE SAME TIME!!! Yikes!

Micah was beginning to feel left out whenever we did "school" so I bought him his own book. Can you tell he's excited?

Can you guess which side of the bed *I* sleep on?

I was making our bed this morning and noticed just how many books had piled up on my side of the bed. I thought it was funny so I took a picture. And yes, I am currently reading all of them (well, at least the ones on the top).

Running Plans

As some of you may know, I'm a runner. Not a very fast one, but a runner none the less. I like running but I'm not very disciplined at it. I have to have a race to look forward to in order to get me out the door in the morning because other wise I would just turn off the alarm clock, roll over and go back to sleep. yep, I can be lazy.

So to keep me motivated here is my "race schedule" for the next 6 months:

July 4th-
Green Street Mile- a 1 mile run-as-fast-as-you-can race in downtown Tupelo. (I'm a slow distance runner, so I will suck at this but I'm going to do it anyway!)

August-
Nothing planned for this month. I will probably be doing most of my running on the dreadmill in the comfort of my air-conditioned home. It'll be way to hot for me to race. I'm such a wimp.

September 2, 2007-
Tupelo 14.2 Miler- This is another local race that I've never done. It's got hills (I don't like hills) and it also starts at 5:00 A.M.!! (I'm also not a morning person) so I'm not going to sign up just yet. I want to do it, but I'm just a little nervous.

October 21, 2007-
Louisville Half Marathon (13.1 miles)- Since my parents are now living in Indiana (but only a 20 minute drive to downtown Louisville, Kentucky), I'm going go up visit them and run this race while I'm there. It's a race along the Ohio river so it sounds like a beautiful run.

November 2007-
I don't have anything planned for this month either. I'll probably be getting ready for my BIG race in December.

December 1, 2007-
St. Jude Memphis Marathon (26.2 miles)- I ran the half-marathon last year and I loved it! This time I'm going to do the full. I'm also going to be a St. Jude Hero while I'm at it. I can't wait!

Well, that's my running plan. Hopefully I can stick to it!

Inquiring Minds wanna know

We went to Sonic the other night and ordered root beer floats. Their advertised special said "Old-Fashioned Root Beer Floats Only $.99".

As the kids were all sucking down the sweetness, Shelby says, "These are yummy but I wonder what New-Fashioned root beer floats taste like."


Hmmm, I wonder?? :)

Dental issues

We should get frequent visitor points from our dentist because we have been to the dentist a combined total of 13 times in the last 2 weeks. And we have 2 more scheduled appointments within the next 2 weeks. Think we have bad teeth? I'm beginning to wonder.

Each of the kids went in for cleanings. That counts 5 of the visits. Then we went back last week so they could do 1 filling each on all 5 kids (that makes 10 visits, for those of you that are keeping track). Then we went back today so Brooks could have a tooth pulled and Tyler and Micah both had another cavity filled (3 more visits for a total of 13!). Brooks came out of the room with his eyes glazed over and a wad of gauze in his mouth. The dentist said he did great, handed me some more gauze and his tooth and told me to change out the pads every 30 minutes. Brooks had no clue that they had pulled out a tooth until I showed him the tooth. He said he didn't feel a thing. To me, that's the sign of a great dentist!

We go back in a week so Micah can have one more spot fixed. His dentist thinks he has an enamel deficiency and that's why he is so prone to cavities. Poor kid.

Then we get to go back one last time (until Nov. for cleanings again) so Brooks can have a "space maintainer" put in. I have no idea what the heck that is except that they glue it to his teeth and it goes on the top of his mouth.

So now we are home, the little ones are crabby/hungry/tired but cannot eat anything b/c their mouths are still numb. I think I'm going to let them try and eat some pudding and then put them down for a nap. Maybe they'll feel better when they wake up.

Back Seat Driver

Micah-3yr. has discovered the world of traffic signals. He even knows what each color signifies. He will tell you that red means "stop!", green means "go!", and yellow means "slow down". I don't know where he learned this, as I did not teach him these rules of the road.

Whenever we are in the car, you will hear him shout, "Green means go!" or "Red means stop!" as we pass a traffic light. At times, when the car is moving past a big intersection with several lights, he will shout all in one breath, "Redmeansstopgreenmeansgoyellowmeansslowdown!" The kids and I get a kick out of him when he does that.

At first I didn't mind his babbling in the waaayy back of the van (I can hardly hear him back there) but now it has gotten kind of annoying. Because now whenever we are sitting at a light, he will chant "Red means stop! Red means STOP! RED MEANS STOP!! ", raising his voice until the light finally changes green in which he then proceeds to chant, "Green means go! Green means GO! GREEN MEANS GOOOO!!" until the car in front of me gets out of my way so I can GO already!

Brooks said he would make a good traffic cop someday. :)

Shelby's 7th Birthday

My one and only girl celebrated her 7th birthday this past Sunday. She picked Raviollli, salad and garlic bread for her b-day dinner. She opened presents her daddy and I gave her and then she made her brothers eat princess cupackes. She had a great day but the real fun hadn't even started yet.





She had her actual party last night at Club Libby Lu's. If you have never been to Club Libby Lu's or one of their parties, put that on you're list of things to do before you die. It's definatley something every girl should experience. That place screams GIRLY! The entire place is pink and purple, smells like cotton candy and the floor is covered in glitter. So awesome!

Shelby picked the "Rock Star" theme so the girls were all turned into rock stars for the night. Complete with rock star clothes and their very own microphones.

Here she is before they glammed her up and then after they got done with her:









It's hard to see in these pictures, but their heads were covered in glitter. They all sparkled from head to toe! They smelled like cotton candy, too!

After they

transformed into rock stars, the b-day coordinators (yes, they have coordinators so all us moms have to do is sit back, watch, take lots of pictures and think to ourselves "Why didn't they have something like this when I was a kid?") taught the girls a dance that they preform outside in the mall. Shelby was not to crazy about learning some new dance moves so she opted to just do the Hokey Pokey.

After the party, the girls and I walked around the mall, rode the carosel, and stopped by the cookie factory. As we were walking one of the girls said, "People are looking at us because we look like rock stars. What if they ask us for our autograph!"

As we were walking back thru the mall a few of the girls had to us the bathroom, one of them really bad. Shelby told everyone that "Rock stars walk slow so everyone can take their picture while they are walking." The other girl (who need to go) said, "Well,rock stars walk very fast like this when they have to pee." It was so funny.

As a sort of last minute idea, I let all the girls spend the night. Blake and Brooks stayed with their friends so they wouldn't be bombarded with all the screaming and giggling. Tyler and Micah were in bed by the time we got home from Shelby's party. The girls all camped out in the livingroom and watched chick-flicks all night (well, at least until 11:30 when I turned off the t.v. b/c everyone but my daughter was asleep.)

So Happy Birthday Shelby-Girl! I hope you had a birthday you'll never forget! We love you!

Kelsey (Holy Mama!) is writing a book and is asking for what she calls "book research". She wants to know if anyone has ever had to have their ring cut off by medical personel. Here is what I emailed her:


I had only been home from the hospital about a week from giving birth to my second child. I was home alone with a 2 year old and a newborn. Hubs was at work in another town about 30 minutes away. I was getting dressed for the day and saw my wedding rings in my jewelry box and decided that most of my pregnancy "swelling" had gone down and it would be safe to put them back on. (I guess I should tell you that I had gained 70 pounds!!!! during my pregnancy thanks to daily trips to Sonic for fries and a hot fudge sunday. My fingers had started to swell around my 4th month so I had to take them off then, which mortified my mom every time I saw her. "People are going to think you're not married and have two kids out of wed-lock!" she would tell me. Sorry ma.) So I see the rings in my jewelry box and remember what my mom kept telling me so I put them on, all three rings (the actual wedding ring and two bands). As soon as I put them on I knew I shouldn't have. What was I thinking!?!?My fingers still looked like fat little sausages. I knew I needed to get them off NOW!
So I start calmly but gently tugging away. That didn't work. I grab a bottle of lotion, lather my entire arm in it and pull. Again nothing. Only now my finger is turning a deep reddish color. So I run downstairs into the kitchen and grab a bottle of dish soap and douse my finger in it and try twisting and turning those cursed rings! They aren't gonna budge. By now my 2 year old watching my with big eyes and the baby is crying and hungry, wanting to nurse. And now my finger is a weird shade of purpley-red. And it's sorta numb. And I cannot see the bands on the underside of my fingers. And my entire hand is throbbing. I start to panic. I called my husband. "Cut it off" he says. I know we do not own anything strong enough to cut a ring off, besides some hedge clippers. Haha No way. So the only thing I can think to do is load my 2 year old (who is still in mis-matched p.j.'s, with wild hair and a dirty face from breakfast) and a screaming hungry newborn, who needs a diaper change, into the car and drive myself to the E.R.
I make it there in less than 5 minutes and march in there with my crew and plop my fat purple finger up on the counter and tell them I need to see a doctor. NOW. I sign my name on the paper and continue to just stand there. Waiting. Surprisingly they take me back right away. I'm not sure if it was because I had a "true" emergency or because my 2 year old and newborn were screaming their heads off. The triage nurse looks and my finger and had the nerve to ask me what happened. Well, duh! Can't you see that I tried to put my rings on when I knew they were still too fat?? By now I am in tears too. It hurt. and I was scared. She takes me to a room 2 seconds later a dr. comes in with some tools. He takes my hand and proceeds to bend my now very dark purpled finger back so he can see where the rings are. OOWWWWCHH! He then pushes this tool up under my ring and it clamps down hard on the ring and then SNAP. He pries the first one off my finger. And then he does it two more times. Finally some relief. But I still couldn't feel my finger and it was still purple. The dr. reassured me that the feeling should come back with in an hour but it might be bruised for a while. I fed and changed the baby before we left the hospital and then we drove home. I called my hubs (and a few other people) and told them about my day. Everyone laughed their heads off at me. I didn't see what was so funny. I lost my wedding rings and almost my finger. I didn't see the humor in any of it. My finger stayed bruised and sore for almost 2 weeks. I had some broken blood vessels that were pretty gross looking but other than that, I was fine. I got my rings fixed but it was another 8 months before I would try them on. My mom just had to get over the fact that I looked like I had two kids out of wedlock.

Conversations with my kids

Micah-3yr. and I were walking into Wal-Mart and I had a tight hold on his hand and he says to me "Mommy! You're choking my hand!"


Tyler-5yr.: Mommy, what was your name before you were a mommy?
Me: My name was Amber. And that's what other people still call me.
Tyler-5yr.: Oh. Can I call you Amber, too?


Brooks-8yr. comes running into the house and announces, "I have the power of healing! Micah just threw a brick at me and it didn't even hurt!"

Micah singing Bon Jovi's song "Shot thru the heart":

Chocolate a heart!!! (Shot thru the heart)

And you're toooo late!!!!!! (And you're to blame)

Narlin' you give love (Darlin' you give love)

A bad day. (A bad name)

He sings this so much that I catch myself singing it right along with him, his words and all!

I'm back, again...

Our computer got struck by lightning a week ago so I have been unable to get on the internet. Up until yesterday when we replaced the fried-up modem, I've been wondering around in circles, wringing my hands, wondering what to do with myself since I couldn't get on the net and read blogs. Not Really. Actually, I have been very busy. I did miss getting on the computer but I've had a lot going on these last few weeks to keep my mind off not having a computer. So here is another long update.

~I finally got into the eye doctor and I can finally see again!! I got new contacts and I even ordered some glasses to have just in case I might need them. I swore I wouldn't wear them b/c I'm not a big fan of having something on my face but I have been wearing them a lot more than I thought I would. See, for cheap plastic glasses, they're not so bad.

~I ran another 10K (6.2 miles) last weekend. I did OK considering it was VERY hot and there were some other issues. This topic will get it's own blog entry because I've got a bone to pick with the race directors.

~Sunday we went to JM's parents church (the same one we left) so he could see his dad who had just gotten back from Bulgaria and to see his mom on Mother's Day. Then we drove down to my parents house were the whole family was there, except my dad, who is in Kentucky working. The whole family hasn't been together since Christmas so it was nice. JM took the older boys and my brother to see Spiderman 3 so it was mostly just us girls and my mom. While the boys were gone, Jamee and I made dinner for everyone. We all ate and sat around talking until it was time to get back on the road. That was probably the last time we will all be together like that for a while.

Here's the whole family in front of the house we grew up in. It's official. The house is sold and my parents are moving.

~I'm not a big believer in Mother's Day (I think you should honor and love your mother everyday, not just one Sunday a year) but my kids still got me a very sweet card and a beautiful necklace that Blake-10yr. picked out. Those kids know how to melt my heart!

~My brother left for South Dakota this week. I think he is going to be working at the zoo but he's not sure. He just wanted to get the heck out of Mississippi after he graduated and he loves S.D. so that's where he went. I already miss him.

~We went Memphis for Blake's appointment with the allergist to find out why he is still breaking out in hives all the time. It was a long trip and one I'm sure Blake-10yr. wishes he could forget about. I loved the doctor, he was very laid back but very through, asking us every detail of Blake's daily routine. They did the food and environment testing on him (59 shots in his back!!!) and it showed nothing. He has out grown all of his previous food allergies he had when he was a baby. I felt totally helpless standing there watching them stick my boy over and over, him jerking with every stick. After the 5th stick, he broke into tears and so did I. To make it even worse, they had to stick him 4 more times to see if he was allergic to himself. You read that right. You can be allergic to yourself. Who knew? Anyway, he's not. So they stuck him yet again and took 4 viles of blood to be sent off to see if he has any underlying problems (like mono or lupus) that could be causing the hives. Then we were sent home with 3 different types of meds, another Epipen, and Blake with a very sore back and arms. We go back in 6 weeks. Blake says no way.

~Brooks-8yr. and Micah-3yr. stayed in Columbus with my mom Sunday thru Wednesday night. It was so much quieter in the house without my loud, energetic little Mikey. Chandler-8yr. is also gone to visit his Mamaw in Arkansas for a few weeks. So I only had three kids Wednesday. I didn't know what to do with myself. Blake suggested that we go to Toys-R-Us. So we did. And I actually had fun and didn't have migraine when I walked out of there 2 hours later.

~Without going into too much detail I'm going to tell you what has been keeping me so busy. And stressed out.

My sister.

I love her but she has so many problems. I want to help her but she doesn't want the help. She is Chandler's mom. My nephew who has been living with us since November. She has a daughter that she has already had taken away from her and now she is going to get Chandler taken from her. I don't know what else to do. I even let her move in with us so she could get her life straightened out and get away from that psycho creep she calls her boyfriend. That only lasted 4 days, I kicked her out yesterday. My only concern is the safety and well-being of my nephew. He has already seen, heard, and been thru so much. He misses his mom but she won't act like a mom. So I'm going to fight for him. I just hope I'm doing what's best for him.

~That about sums everything up. I think hubs and I are going to be able to get out of town for a quick getaway this weekend. We are just going to be gone Sat. and part of the day Sunday. He has a job to do up near Memphis so I'm going to help him and then we can enjoy some much needed time together. It will be fun.

Camping Pics from 2 weeks ago....

Remember I told you about my 22 year old brother coming up a few weekends ago and babysitting this crew of 6 on Friday night and then taking the older 4 kiddos camping Saturday night? Well, here are the long awaited pictures!

Sunday JM, I and the little kids came out to the campsite and then we went on a long nature walk looking for a good place to fish. We never did find a good spot but we all sure had a lot of fun!

Mitch (my brother), Micah-3yr. and Chandler-8yr. getting their poles ready for some fishing:

Following Daddy:

Shelby-6yr. being Daddy's girl:

Miss Know-It-All

Here is a little conversation I just had with my sweet daughter.

Shelby-6yr.: Mommy, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

Me: Why? I'm not so great.

Shelby-6yr.: YES you are!!

Me (smiling): Really?? Ya think I'm great?

Shelby-6yr.: I don't think, I know.

I've been having issues with my contacts lately. I need to get into the dr. for a check-up so I can get a new prescription and order a new box of contacts since I have none left. I'm down to wearing only one contact in my right eye. Not good considering I'm extremely near-sighted and I can't see anything unless I squint real hard and hold whatever I'm trying to see right in front of my face. And no, I don't have any glasses to wear. I don't like them and won't wear them so I don't waste my money on buying them but now I wish I had an emergency pair for times like this. I've been one-eyeing everything for over a week now. Again, not good but I can't do anything about it until next week when I go to the eye dr.

To make matters worse, my left (and only) contact started bothering me this morning. My eye was watering and I couldn't stand it any longer so I had to take that one out too. So now I am completely blind as a bat while my contact soaks in some solution for the day. I have had that thing in my eye for over 2 weeks so it was time to take it out. I know, I know. I take such good care of my eyes.

The kids all know how blind I am. I've told them how everything is just a big blurry blob and I have a hard time seeing faces. So Blake-10yr. and Brooks-8yr. thought it was a perfect time to play a trick on me. They had already gotten dressed for the day. Blake-10yr. in a white shirt and Brooks-8yr. in an orange shirt. I was at the computer and I called them to come do something for me. They came in the room (but were still standing far off so I couldn't "see" their faces). I said something to Brooks and Blake, while wearing Brooks's shirt, answered me. Uhhhh........what's going on?? Then I realized that they were trying to trick me into thinking Blake was Brooks and Brooks was Blake. They were just giggling their heads off, thinking they had fooled me. Sorry guys, I may be blind, but not that blind.

Time for another rambling update

It's been a whole week since I've blogged anything. I guess I should let ya'll know what I've been up to. Let's see.....

~My brother came up for a visit last weekend. He was kind enough to babysit ALL 6 KIDS so JM and I could go on a date. We drove around for over an hour trying to decide what to do. We ended up at Wal-Mart. Talk about romantic. It was my idea.

~My awesome brother also took the 4 older kids camping last Saturday night at the state park down the road from our house. The kids all had a blast with him. I've got lots of pics that I will post later.

~JM also talked me into joining our local Wellness Center (similar to the Y.M.C.A.) with him. So I did. Now I'm getting up every morning at 5:30a.m. to go work out with him. It's nice having that alone time with him every morning, even if I'm still half asleep. I don't care so much for the whole waking up at the crack of dawn thing but I'm getting used to it and it's worth it to spend that time with him.

~We actually had school everyday this week, with the exception of Thursday b/c I was out of town hanging out with my mom and brother (but that's a WHOLE 'nother story). Not that my kids don't learn everyday, we just don't always crack a book or open a workbook on a daily basis.

~My parents sold their house and are moving to Indiana in less than a month. The movers are coming to pack up their house on the 19th of May. I'm still in shock. I'm so not ready for them to move. I'm a 30 year old woman with a family of my own. Would someone please tell me why I need my mom so bad?

~My mom and niece Hannah-5yr. (Chandler's-8yr. little sister) came up for a visit this afternoon. The kids played outside for a while then my mom had the bright idea to take them all to Wal-mart and buy them something. Hannah-5yr. and Shelby-6yr. stayed home with JM because they were to busy playing baby dolls to go shopping. So it was just mom and I and 5 rowdy boys in the toy dept. of Wally world on a Saturday afternoon. Fun. The kids all left that place with something in their hands and a smile on their faces. Mom and I just left with a headache.

I guess that just about covers it. I'm going to bed now. I'm exhausted from all that excitement.

Cool Picture of the Day

The kids came running inside to get me so they could show me this cloud they saw in the sky.

Brooks-8yr. said, "Do you think it's a sign from God?"

I've got a ton of thoughts running thru my head so none of this will probably make any sense to you (you being the one or two people who just happen to find my blog and actually stay and read it) but here I go anyway.

~Blake-10yr. woke up this morning covered with another rash. He said he woke up last night b/c he was itching and rashy and he came and got me and I gave him some benadryl and told him to sleep on the couch and wake me if it got worse (what a run on sentence!!!). I don't remember any of that b/c I had taken a Lunesta before I went to bed. One of the side effects is memory loss. Anyway, we headed to our family doctor about 40 minutes away from us, in another town. Let me just say that I just can't seem to find any doctors, dentists, or veterinarians I like around here so I'm willing to drive to where they are. She puts him on a stronger steroid and tells me that we might need to do some allergy testing but his system needs to calm down before that can be done. I'm supposed to call her Monday and we'll go from there. In the mean time, I have to deal with a very hyper, hungary and itchy boy.

~After we got home from the doctor, hubs was home 'cause nothing was going on at work and he was bored. I was still feeling the effects of the Lunesta and was extremely tired so as soon as I walked in the door, I went straight back to the bedroom, curled up on the bed and drifted off to sleep. I slept for the next three hours. Micah some how ended up in there asleep with me. While I was sleeping, my house somehow self-cleaned. Actually, JM was still home so he got the kids to clean for me. They even put the dishes in the dishwasher and then even started it! Now I'm thinking I might to that more often. It sure makes for a very happy mom!

~Last night we went to a meeting at our former church. The same church we got kicked out of. Actually we left and then 6 months later they kicked us out from lack of attendance. Oh, and my father in law is the pastor there. But we are all on good terms with everyone (they are all mostly family). The church has been doing missionary work in India and one of the men came over from India to speak about all the work that has been going on. It wasn't anything formal, just dinner and then he spoke and showed us a DVD he had put together. So, I just wore what I had on that day. Jeans and a t-shirt. My hair was in a pony-tail but that is my normal hair "do". I even put on make-up so I didn't think I looked too bad. Obviously I did b/c while we were in the buffet line fixing our plates, my mother-in-law says to me (rather loudly, I think), "Have you been running Amber?". Uh. No. Do I really look/smell that bad? I didn't know what to say so I just mumbled, "No, I always look like this." and walked away. I guess the way I was dressed was a little offensive to some people and my mil felt a need to bring that to my attention. I should mention that one of the reasons we left the church was b/c they believe that the women should alway were dresses, especially to church and my husband and I don't feel that way. Last night I was the only girl (besides my daughter who was also wearing jeans) who had on pants. Everyone else had on a skirt. I guess I'm just a rebel. Actually, I'm not. I'm just me and I don't plan on changing that.

~I'm so glad that Sanjayia got voted off A.I. I'm so sick of that kid. He's got great hair but he can't sing!

~I can't sleep now since I took such a long nap this afternoon. I could be folding laundry but it's more fun to read blogs. If I had a laptop I would sit on couch with my lap top and read blogs while folding laundry. But I don't. There goes that idea.

~My parents are moving away and that is starting to bother me. I have never lived more than 3 hours away from my parents. They are moving almost 8 hours away. It's going to suck. I can already tell.

~Sadie, our new bassett hound puppy is so cute but she STINKS so bad! I bathe her at least twice a week but it seems like my efforts are in vain. It's so hard to love on a stinky puppy. No one wants to sleep with her anymore b/c of the smell so she is forced to sleep alone.

~I desperately need to get caught up on my laundry so I can get out everyone's summer clothes. The kids do have some summery stuff but now their drawers are overflowing with sweaters, t-shirts, shorts, and jeans. Too much of a mix. I need to weed out the stuff they won't need until next winter.

~I'm going to go fold some laundry now. Hopefully that will make me sleepy. If not, I'm going to take some benadryl. :)

What a night!

I was on the computer last night (around midnight), lurking around in bloggityville when I hear one of my children get up to use the bathroom. Then that child came over to me and said, "Mommy, some thing's wrong with me." That child was Blake-10yr. All the lights were off in the house, but from the glow of the computer screen, I can see that something, indeed, was terribly wrong with my child. I turned on the lights to get a closer look at him. He did not look like the same boy who went to bed a few hours ago. His ears were swollen, his left eye was almost completely swollen shut and he was covered, head-to-toe, in big, red,whelps. I knew immediately that he was having an allergic reaction to something so I gave his a large dose of benadryl. I asked him if he could breathe ok and he said yea but that his throat felt funny. I woke hubs up and told him what was going on and that I was taking Blake-10yr. to the ER right away.

As soon as we walked thru the ER door, the nurse took one look at him and whisked us down the hall and into a room. They strapped him to the oxygen machine to see if he was pulling in any air. His sats were at 98 so that was good. But they went ahead and gave him a shot to stop the reaction in his body. After the shot, the dr (who by the way could have been Dr. McDreamy himself!) said he wanted to keep an eye on him for a while, so we tried to settle in for a long night. And a looonnnnggg night it was! We were in a private room that was at the very end of the hall. You would have thought we could've gotten some sort of rest. No. Every time I or Blake dosed off, someone would come in and do something totally unnecessary. Unnecessary as in empty the trash, get supplies that they didn't have in another room, or put clean linens in the cabinets. Surely all of that did not have to be done between the hours of 1:30a.m. and 3:45 a.m. It could have waited. And we could have slept.

So at 4:15 the nurse comes in to take one last look at my boy. The meds were working and the rash/whelps had gone down so she said we could go sleep in our own beds. They send us on our way, but not before collecting my co-pay and giving my a load of steroids to keep my poor child up, climbing the walls for the next week, and an Epipen jr. to use if this reaction thing happens again.

I did get to sleep for about 3 hours before the rest of the kiddos were up, totally unaware of what had gone on last night. We had a very important-or-I-would-have-cancelled-it-and-slept-the-rest-of-the-morning dentist appointment so we were out the door by 9:30.

It's now 12:30. We are home. Lunch is over. The house is a mess. But this momma is one tired gal so she's going to round up the little ones and take a very long nap. :)