Ebeth's 4 and no more

*Conserving water is just NOT gonna happen when my family is around! I am pretty sure my kids have taken more baths and showers then in the entire month while here! We were "upgraded" to a room with a king sized bed and a shower for wheelchair needs. This basically means the entire bathroom is tile floor, contains a portable shower head and just plain kid fun. Post FREEZING swim I took with kiddos all three of us girls had a warm up party in the shower. #3 took his purchased rocket in the other room bath tub more times than I can document too. * Disney is not for wimps should be one of their slogans Getting to the parks when they open means taking the magical express bus and hour before start time, which means getting up EARLY! It is one thing to know this in your head, it is quite another to live it day in and day out. In hindsight though having the first hour or two in the park before the masses is totally WORTH it! * Florida is NOT hot in January Ya know I looked at t...

Ok so when I thought of Disney magical, unbelievable and amazing are the adjectives that came to mind. In my dreams I expected my kids to be head over heals excited to find out we were flying there, like America's Funniest Home Videos 10,000 winner excited. Next, I pictured from the moment we stepped foot on the ground again every step would be spectacular and momentous. NOPE! My bubble was burst before it even started as my kids were less than emotional. Really, the anticipated we were renting a car so turning to the airport equalled that. When they determined a plane was involved they looked more dumbfounded then anything else. It wasn't until I stated my expectation that #2 in her total girl way let out a fake scream. *sigh* Next a good surprise was a gift from Aunt Net and Aunt Linda. Thanks to their generosity combined with faraway bestie the kids had money to spend and we had money to cover the many "get ya's" Disney had in store for us along the way.  #1 ...

Those that know me personally are quite aware Disney is upon us. We head out in 1 hour and 55 minutes. While there is a few last minute things like taking a shower impending to do I woke up knowing how I wanted to document a bit of my day yesterday. Life is full of obstacles, opportunities, challenges. (Ya love my constant positivity he he). Being that I am responsible for a decent amount running smoothly at my church, and my teaching job I had things that had to be completed before we leave. Once all kid were dropped off at their 3 schools along with taking time to ooh and aah youngest son's 100th day project I made my way to church. Wednesday mornings are my day to set up there for the weekend. About 5 miles from arriving the battery light (ya know the one that looks like a battery) appears and the steering turns difficult, like hugely difficult causing me to use both hands for basic curving in the road. I call my safety net when it comes to cars my dad. He doesn't answer,...

Help!                                                    I hid my candy corn bag from my kids and cannot find it.  Yep I am serious. I fasted candy for 8 days as part of a fasting and prayer time with my church. Ha! That didn't do much for me in the way of my addiction either because it took one day to be back into the swing of desire to eat it. Thankfully I do not have stashes in every random place so desire without resources is a good thing.  Anyway, apparently I do not really like fresh candy corn. It tastes different after the bag has been opened for awhile. Today I forgot to eat breakfast, didn't have much for lunch since I packed my own in a huge hurry and was home for 10 minutes before leaving again to PTO meeti...

Yay today: Snuggle/one on one time at bedtime with kids was met with many special moments. #4 asked me to put my head on her shoulder as I sang Hush Little Evangelene with her and doted kisses, and kind words like any good mini momma would. Laughing with her quite possibly cures all ailments. #3 snuggled like little man always does more concerned about my comfort and well being than his own. We did have to chat about lying/half truth kinda stuff he has come to readily do but that too was a 2 way conversation. #2 snuggles up close and personal as her love language is CLEARLY touch and words of affirmation. She chatted about her friends and boys they like including her own feelings. I love watching her cautious words, pauses in between waiting for me to drop the ball and act too parent like. Instead I know to listen more to insert advice little in this moment. I am after all setting the ground work for teenage years and a comfortable trust for us two. #1 well he sneaked in on every r...

Ah yes, Dr. Dobson enlightened me let me tell you when he explained about the hormones and their effect on girls/boys brains during this trying time for kids. I think the part that sums it all up most is that they will turn on a dime. They are responsible and grown up but all of a sudden it is as if they reverted to years younger and throw a fit, or just act clueless only to turn it back on again and be their age. I recognize this in my oldest so often lately. He seems to get it, I mean really get that attitude counts and he has to be aware of others and surroundings. But then BAM he smacks his brother or breaks something and I blow up. Well, yeah no use in sugar coating it. The toddler like meltdown of him and his 7 year old sibling and/or 3 year old sister usually puts me over the edge too. I get too stern and lose my patience. But as I am pushing them to work on these things I am too. I force myself to snap out of it and apologize praying that my humanity speaks to theirs and we le...

Isn't it amazing how life can turn on a dime? I mean it is after all the little stuff that is really the big. Friday started out like sheer joy, the whole family together for 3 days! But wait, 3 days together no breaks?! Ah yes I should have spotted the problem right there from 13 years of marriage but nope a rookie we still were. I pray our vacation, 7 days of togetherness no breaks is met with more stress free time since we have no other obligations to distract or weigh us down. Not that there ever really is perfection with 6 people together. Saturday went well as we took my nephew for what could be his last birthday lunch in awhile as he enters the Air Force soon. This included an impromtu snowball fight in the parking lot which was priceless for the memory banks. Next we headed home and shortly after hubby was off to help with the bus ministry at church followed by the rest of us to work at Saturday night service. For the first time since I started this job I didn't leave...

SO, despite my words of trying to not "figure" IT out I apparently played it out in my head and heart. Ya know when you have your heart set on one thing so when that doesn't happen it feels like a direct blow. The kinda blow that knocks the wind out of you. That is exactly what I felt like today. I teach at a Lutheran School. While I am non-denominational I never got the impression that there were sides in this God life. I look at Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran etc as people who have various interpretations of the Bible. I have not personally researched the differences because honestly I know my beliefs and that is what matters most. In the end I do feel as long as any of those "labeled" people have accepted Christ as their Lord they too will meet me in Heaven some day....End of Story in my book. Silly, naive as that was it is simply how I felt with people of faith, real Bible based faith anyway. Then no surprise will be seen when I tell you that today the line...

In celebration of Michael! In the effort to bring my family together, motivate the good stuff and all around bring attention to details I enacted a competition. Everyone in the house would strive to be the kindest possible for the remainder of the year (as this started the last 12 days of 2011). I made a chart with all our names (Mommy and Daddy included) and copies for each car and house (Gma and G's plus ours). Everytime someone did or said something nice they could be given a mark from anyone. There also was a column for the opposite actions. My theory was that you cannot be mean without leaving a lasting mark for the other person so you should get credit for that too. Then after the time was up we subtracted the bad from the good and landed a winner. The winner was King/Queen for a day. They did not have any chores, and were to be served for that small amount of time. I wanted that reward! My dear friend happened to be in town for 8 days of that time and she competed along ...

Maturity is when your son stops to help his little sister off the slide at church on the way to the car despite all the other siblings disappearing. ESPECIALLY when he normally is tunnel visioned. It also is when he listens to teaching about rebellion and parenting with you then responds appropriately later when corrected. These moments are becoming larger in number and more frequent. While they make me proud they also make me sad because he is growing up and having to encounter the hard stuff of life.  Today when all kids were sent to their rooms to rest ie sleep I had the house to myself. I decided instead of listening to music, tv or computer I would listen to Joe McGee Smart moms cd set In it he gives some pointers such as our job is to not simply raise kids but to train them. Raising is to clothe, feed, nurture them, training includes providing correction. Another valuable insight that I replayed about 3 times, then 3 more with my oldest son who actually set his al...

Tonight I met a 72 year old momma/grandmomma to 10 kids (12 if you count the two who died). She was mostly in shape, and elegantly older. I mean she clearly was full of wisdom and life experiences but didn't scream old lady. She walked and talked with clarity and sound mind, she was rational and amazing. I feel blessed having chatted with her for just 10 short minutes. Not only that but it is assurance for me that my vision of aging with my kids can look just like that! I am in awe at her stability and words. I am pretty sure she enjoyed my sincere compliments at her wisdom too. Isn't it funny how we go about life and never notice the strangers we come across. I mean I try to smile, nod and get off the cell phone but I don't always look at the faces I see. Here she has been, at this place crossing my path before but never did I take a minute to see her. This thought reminds me of a song Listen I think if I would get on board with this kind of thinking it would help me be...

This year has kicked off with accomplishment.... I had a couple things I was hoping to get done this winter break. One is the organization of the preschool supplies at church. Since I am in charge of preschool for both campuses, and in that time we had to move storage out and into a new building. It was imperative to have it all accessible for us to keep cost down and make best use of things. That I completed this past Tuesday. It only took me 5 hours even!  BEFORE  The only thing left was my own personal storage area. It basically is the only room which doesn't have drywall, and really could be a very small bedroom. Once upon a time it was to be hubby's work space, then my craft space, then random mess. Like really I let my riffling through teaching supplies turn in to a take your life in your own hands kinda experience. As shocking as that may be to those who have spent time with me here is photo documentation. You just never know what is behind closed doors right? A...