Parental Discretion Is Advised!

a quick little funny. we were sitting in church today, listening to another great sermon from pastor felber. frankie, who has decided since he is going to try to be a better christian, and needs to be listening to the sermons, sat there, Bible opened and listened well he did! now first i must give you the information, that after the singing, the kids up to 3rd grade head out to children's church. now, that said, pastor's sermon was on Jude 5-7. he was discussing fornication and what exactly that meant, for instance if you have sex before marriage, or committ adultry, etc.... but he used the word sex alot, because....well,..... how else do you describe fornication. now gracie was sitting between me and frank, so he leaned way over with wide eyes and said "i guess this is why they send the 3 and 5 yrs olds out!!! hahahahaha! he couldn't believe pastor was talking about SEX! hahaha, i still think that is hilarious!!! but he got the message! hahahahaha!

A Reveloutionary Santa Claus and Carry On Ashes

so this was the year we told the kids about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy etc..... well the other day, frankie and i were sitting and talking about things. we got on the topic of what we would want in a new house. one of the things i listed was a fireplace. he said well we used to have one and you sold it. i said, no i want a real fireplace where you can burn real wood. he said, well you would have to have a chimney for that....yes i know......then santa would finally have a place to come down.......oh are we going to revert back to believing in santa again? he laughed and said, i have be revelutionized by santa this year, i no longer have to worry about coal in my stocking or birds watching me!!! **** we used to tell them the birds would watch them and report back to santa!

Also a funny this week, and those of you who believe i need to cut the apron strings will appreciate this one! chris and i were talking in the car (we do alot of talking in our family! lol) and he was saying that frankie said if chris was burried in ohio (where he is from) and i was burried in illinois or indiana (where i am from) then we would be too far apart. i said well the kids don't have to worry about that cuz i want to be creamated. that way the kids wouldn't have to worry about coming to a cemetary to visit especially if they moved out of town. chris started laughing and said, even in death i couldn't cut the apron strings! that poor frankie, would have to pay an extra $25 when he flew somewhere to be able to check his mom's ashes so he could take me with him everywhere! i never thought about that but what a good idea!!! hahaha! just kidding! so later we were tellling the kids this and chris was like you get one bag and one personal item free but you have to pay for anything more, i said , well i, ofcourse, would be the personal item he would keep with him........you know what my darling, sweet little child that i gave a painful birth to said next......ya, i will let gracie have all your ashes cuz she won't leave the country.......are you kidding me, this kid turns 12 and HE is starting to cut HIS end of those apron strings!!! lol

Mama in the kitchen!

ok, so i try to have a rule, that no one comes into the kitchen while i'm cooking. it's too small and i distract easily. well today was no exception. i was trying two different recipes for oatmeal cookies. the first batch came out great. the next batch, i was short 2 egss, so i had to run to the store. it was lunch time so i also had to stop so we could eat lunch, make the chilli for supper and THEN get back to it. in the mean time the whole family kept coming and going, asking and hanging out. finally i get the cookies on the tray and stick them in the oven.....melted like butter, flattened out and over the edge, so i had the wonderful burning smell.....not to mention being annoyed they did not work. i tried one more tray, and again....spread like melted butter! oh i was so mad! i was ready to go online and write a "this recipe stinks!" comment on the recipe (got it off taste of home website), chris comes in as i am scraping the mess off the second tray before it hardens and sees i am upset. he asks why they turned out like that.....ok for future reference, not the question to ask an angry woman. i threw my hands in the air and said, "i don't know, i followed the stupid recipe! i don't know what the problem is!" so he starts going down the list, and i am remembering putting everything........wait, flour? surely i put the flour in........nope, guess i didn't......cringe! so ladies let me tell you what happens when you get so distracted you forget flour....... so i added flour to the remaining dough, and wouldn't you know it! they stayed put!!! waiting for them to finish baking so i can taste them. sure hope they are good enough to be worth all this!!!

This Week-End In Words and A Few Pictures

Well the weekend did NOT get off to a good start.....Chris was on his company conference call when a big wig out of nowhere announced they were going to phase out chris' dept by the end of next year! WHAT?!!! this is sooo not supposed to happen! all those long nights of him working, going out of town, eating crow.......for what? ....so his dept can be phased out!!!! well we immediately start planning, thinking, well atleast we have more time to prepare than most. we made plans on how we could save money, but acknowledged the money needing to be spent on further education, him to learn a new software to become more marketable to both his company and any others he may have to apply to. i decided to ask a friend (who has been laid off) if i can hire her to teach me more advanced sewing so i can take in more sewing on the side and bring in a little bit extra but still stay home and homeschool (not that i could get a job out there right now anyway). we also explained to the kids what was going on in hopes to get better cooperation with them, about all the ways we can cut back on utilities to save money. well i will fast forward to monday for the sake of closing out this part of the weekend. chris met with his boss over coffee and was told he knew too much for the company to loose and that they are hoping to develop a different dept that he will likely be asked to head up......great news.....IF it's true. for some reason i don't totally trust a company that will spring something like this on their employees with no warning.....call me a skeptic.....but for now, we have a little rainbow going , just not sure what's at the end of it, real gold or fools gold?! in the meantime we are going to forge ahead with our plans on cutting back and furthering our education!

HALLOWEEN!!! i do enjoy seeing everybody dressed up, i love creative costumes, however, my kids do not appreciate the easy costumes, usually..... this year however, frankie wanted to be a ninja, and gracie a forensic antropologist (basically a lab coat and a necklace with bones on it) so i was so relived! i was able to put my procrastination in full swing. so about a week ago i go to buy frankie's costume....i could find tons of little boy ninja's and tons of grown men ninjas, but NONE his size. i contemplated making it, but as i had waited so long, not to mention the amount of fabric it would take....well i found the smallest men's size (an extra large!) and decided with some safety pins and creative use of those red fabric tyes you put on the arms and waist, we could make it work and best thing, he loved it.


gracie, well tracking down a lab coat was not as easy as i could have hoped. but finally the day before, i was finally able to track one down, well actually 2 cuz i asked 2 friends and they both came through, well, at 3:30 that day, (trick or treating starting at 6) gracie decides with tears in her eyes, this is NOT what she had envisioned.....the guilt of being so pleased at having two such easy costumes set in. along with the guilt of talking her into another easy costume last year of the "junk food junkie" where we taped junk food wrappers onto a pair of sweats and all night long she kept loosing them and being asked what she was supposed to be. needless to say, i felt like the worst mom! so we shot out of there on the quest to find a costume she liked. 3 stores later, she decided on a hippi, which is not my first choice and not quite as hippi like as i would have gone if i had had more time to plan, but she was happy and with her latest fascination with peace signs, i guess appropriate. so i had one happy little girl and boy!

Last year
























This year











then today, we were able to take the kids with us to vote. i was super excited about this cuz they always ask us about it every year and this time, we were able to take them, explain each step and show them! how cool is that! i think that has become one of my favorite things about homeschooling, being able to take them and personally show them life experiences and be able to make sure they get the importance of it!


later we took them to get new coats. now after several years of tears and meltdowns, i have finally learned, do not start off at walmart, target, meijer etc..... anymore! they never have one that fits grace but they have plenty that she likes, and so ensues the tears, the self loathing, the frustration etc.... this year, we started at kohl's, found TWO (thank you very much) coats that she loved (she only got one) AND they were half off AND my mom had $20 in Kohl's cash she generously gave us AND if you had a kohl's card (we didn't, but mom did!) you got an additional 15% off! well as we checked out with our awesome finds and two happy kids, chris noticed the cashier forgot to ring up frankie's coat. he said "as much as i would love to pretend i didn't see this, i can't, i have to say i don't think you got one of the coats rung up", the girl was so appreciative of his honesty, she took an additional 30% off! so we got a really good deal and were able to leave with 2 great coats, a great deal and a clear conscience!!!