Life happenings

At long last a new post has arrived (warning it is very long to make up for not posting for however long it has been since I last posted - if you read fast you should make it to the end before the music stops). Why may you ask has it been so long? Okay you probably aren't asking and probably don't care but I'll tell you anyway. We've been doing this thing called life, it gets a little busy now and then.

We had our fabulous family reunion and had heaps of fun. The weather was atrociously hot. Since we don't have air conditioning we did the next best thing...go over to people's homes that do! As well, we bought a ridiculously long roll of plastic and made a slip and slide out of the hill outside our house. What fun, I'll be posting pictures of that later. I learned important lessons from that experience.

1. A great idea only becomes great when acted upon. We've talked about doing it and then actually did, and everyone had a great time.

2. A t-shirt and shorts is not a good thing to try sliding you don't exactly slide but come to a painful and grinding halt immediately after take-off which results in bruised ribs. I will not mention who learned this valuable lesson.

What else have we done? Oh yes, we moved my parents out of their home in the city and sent them packing off to the country. While my husband and son carried boxes I got to visit with a dear friend whom I haven't seen in months, what a lovely time that was.

Then we had a beach day/bbq/worship night with the youth and young adults. This, too, was a great time and more valuable lessons were learned.

1. If you don't want to hurt yourself on a tube ride, don't get on in the first place!
2. Don't go tubing in the late afternoon after the wind's picked up a little and there have been a lot of other boats on the lake...it makes things a little choppy.
3. It is very difficult to get back on a tube once you've been flung off in the middle of the lake.
4. Being the new person on the block can garner you crazy initiation type rides, designed to fling you off in the middle of the lake.
5. It is a good idea to let go gracefully when you feel like you're being stretched out on a rack and your shorts feel like they just might fall off.
6. Your arms will hurt for days afterward, stirring for any length of time will be painful.

And then...our dear friends came to spend the week of DVBS with us. I will mention now that they have 5 kids. Add that to our 6 and you have 11 kids and after the other daddy left 3 adults - 1 of whom headed out to the field early in the morning and came home early the next morning, so he doesn't really count. Make it 11 kids and 2 moms - the odds are not in our favor. HOWEVER, we have survived and had fun doing it. Somehighlights of our week. . .

1. Late night snackies after everyone is finally in bed, sleeping and the temperature has dropped to a comfortable level.
2. Going to the ladies time out every morning without any of our children in sight for at least 3 mornings - fun crafts, great desserts and excellent video speakers every day.
3. Going for slurpee runs.
4. Reading "Hank the Cowdog" book to the boys every evening - if you've never read one, you should, they are very funny.
5. Setting up the slip and slide (make sure your kids wear clothes that cover their bodies completely the next few days afterward or someone might think you are beating them)
6. Sending the four oldest boys off on their bikes for a grand adventure that kept them away from home for a good three hours.
7. The birth of new kittens. (whom the mommy moved after everyone kept bugging her and now we can't find them)
8. Watching our oldest sons parade around in their underwear every night of which we will post pictures if they do not immediately go to bed and quit reading over our shoulders. These pictures are not pretty - viewer discretion advised - GO TO BED!!!!!!!!!!
9. Watching Holly fall asleep watching a movie.
10. Folding approximately 17 loads of laundry in three days.
11. Watching Elizabeth play in the mud puddle.
12. Combining our first field (yes harvest is in full swing)
13. Taking my first farm wife meal out to my husband all by myself and not getting lost!
14. Visiting with Sonya, Kelly's younger sister who also was staying for the week with her three little ones (not here, that would have been really nuts)
15, A lovely evening stroll that turned into a panicked run as Abby came running down the road yelling, "Mommy, mommy!" As I ran toward her thinking the worst she finally shouts, "Can we give Elizabeth a bath?" Be still my beating heart.
16. The flooding of our steps, entrance and animal food bin by three little boys with a dangerous hose.
17. Leaving Sam behind because we forgot to count heads.
18. Picking up boys along the side of the road on our way into town. They didn't quite make it all the way there after they decided to walk in.
19. The garden did not stop for VBS and we had to take care of apples and beans in the midst of all this.
20. A disgusting science experiment that is currently sitting on our counter. How gross will a bag of buns in really hot weather get? We're gonna find out...
21. Test driving 2 three year olds at VBS - it didn't work.
22. Setting up my new laptop in the boys room so that they could watch Pirates 2 in "secret".
23. The scent of body spray all over the basement. and rotten eggs in the kitchen.
24. Did we mention the loads of towels? There have been at least 2 more since that last entry.
25. Remarkable amounts of fruit, cereal, meat, ice cream and cold cuts consumed.
26. Daily runs to the grocery store.
27. Loud meals that got louder every day.
28. All the kids have been out on the combine with Kelly at least once.
29. There is a lot of life going on here right now and as we all now, life is messy and tiring! but it sure is fun...and did I mention messy.
30. Following a standard bedtime routine every night made bedtime remarkably easy for 2 of us trying to get 11 kids down.
31. Shared chores made meal time preparation and clean up much easier and the kids didn't even complain a whole lot. (Each of our kids has a corresponding 'twin' in CWG's family - except for Elizabeth whose twin is on her way - we'll just say that in faith, why mess with a good pattern - so they just doubled up on their chores.)

That's probably enough for now. We've had fun and it's almost over. Why were they here? Because we wanted them of course! And CWG was doing some work in their house that was easier to do without 'help'. See his blog for some pics of what he was up to.