DVD Collection

Dh and I were talking last night about how we want to start a good DVD collection before we head out again. (I want one NOW!!:) We love sitting down to veg-out in front of a good, funny (usually mindless) comedy at night... esp during and right after a rally as we are both so drained!

Last year we picked up a bunch of videos at pawn shops basically because they were $2.00... and DVD's rarely were less than $7.00. This year we would like to have an "entertainment" budget ~ mainly to spend on DVD's (since we rarely get to actually go OUT to a movies anyway since we don't have a sitter) both for the whole family, and "grown up" ones for us to watch in our room after the kids go to bed. DVD's are better with our tight amount of space anyway ~ since they take up about 1/10th the amount of room (or less) Plus we really love the extras ~ yes, we actually seem to watch almost every extra on every DVD we own. As a matter of fact, the other night I was SO desperate for something to watch (having just watched the entire first four seasons of "Friends" again for the third time on DVD) that we watched "Monsters Inc" with the commentary ~ without the kids ~ and it was really interesting!:) But yeah, I think I need to add to our collection.

So... now I'm on the hunt for good deals and starting a wish list... Ya know how it is, when you watch previews and want to see this or that ~ but when it comes time to actually buy/rent something, you can't remember? That's me right now! I know I'd like to get some Shirley Temple DVD's for the family viewing (Abyni absolutely LOVES imitating her singing and dancing... to cute:)

Anyway ~ I need to make french bread this morning. I made lasagna last night, but just couldn't eat it without having some french bread too ~ what's the point?:) I guess I had best get myself in gear and get things done this morning...

Byn

HOLY COW!

RIght after my last post, I took some pans of lasagna up for Scott and Christine (vegetarian for her) and borrowed some foil ~ because I STILL haven't remembered to buy any... not that I've been out shopping much...

ANYWAY ~ on my way back down the drive, I notice the VAN IS HOME. Wow! Patrick got home before 7:00! Holy Cow! WHoo Hoo!!!

The job (yes, again)

Okay, he came home Monday night at 8:30 ~ happy as can be... things went well... WHEW! This was quite a relief, cuz I hate to see him miserable with a job ~ especially when it has so much of his time!

But last night (okay, technically this morning) he came dragging himself in after 1:00 a.m. Miserable and in pain. He was working out in the cold... and his joints were killing him (they've been bothering him for some time anyway, and this job isn't helping) He said that it just makes it worse that he keeps making stupid mistakes that take more time... because he's TIRED. (His words, my ALL CAPS)

Now I swore to myself that I wasn't going to lecture him this time around... that I would just keep my opinions and advice to myself, not to add to his stress with my complaining. But this was a hard one to ignore. I DID though, mostly because I know this is for three more months, then we get our "normal" life back... so I figure we can deal with anything for that long. I really hope he can see what he's doing to himself and not make himself sick over this job. That he can find some options that he can be happy with ~ and a job that I am pretty sure he could really like if it wasn't so "all consuming"... Well, that's it for now...

I started on some lasagna tonight ~ hoping to make some french bread tomorrow so we can have a nice yummy home made meal again!:)

Later!

Byn

Musings for Wednesday...

I've decided to post the "story" on its own "blogspot" ~ so you don't have to wade through all of my daily musings if you want to read it. I'll be posting one chapter per week (usually on Wednesday mornings) If you're interested...

The Always Family Adventure

My only issue is that I can't figure out how to get the thing to post them in order... it always shows the most recent entry, so as of now, you'll have to go read them backwards! Either that, or make sure you keep up, then the next chapter will be waiting for you each week! Sorry...

I'm feeling a bit better today. Whatever is going around our house (okayyy... BUS) seems to be of a somewhat tame variety compared to what I've heard from others. It just seems to be two or three days of feeling slightly under the weather, headache and general sleepiness. Oh, and a little irritability:)

I think we're about through with even that, as most of the kids appered to have their "down time" already...

Jaedin has been spending so much time reading! He has discovered now that he can read all those numerous "encyclopedia-type" books we've had on our shelves for years... and he is going to town! I have to say, I am surprised that he is the beiggest reader thus far. For being the kids who most often and vocally complains about having to do "school time" he certainly LOVES to read and learn on his own!

We made a countdown to Christmas poster yesterday... the kids are getting soooo excited!

I think Sprite needs glasses. She got glasses once before (back when we lived in the "moldy" house. They were for reading only, and the eye Dr. said that sould get better eventually... she'd out grow it. She didn't wear them for long because htose appeared to give her worse headaches. And then when we moved out of the toxic house, she didn't have the headaches anymore anyway, so I figured it was just the house environment. At any rate (I say that a lot, huh?) She's getting older ~ and now complaining about her eyes hurting after doing a lot of any kind of reading or TV. So... next month is now Dr, Dentist EYEDr. month! We'll be busy!

Gotta go be productive. I'm starting on "book 2" of the kids story. I figured if I wait much longer to start on it, I'll not only get out of the mood, I'll forget what I wrote in the first book and have to study it all over again!

Byn



Byn

My Daughter's Poem for me...

My Best Friend
by Sprite Always

My best friends who most people think are Kirsty and Kerra
Are not really my best friends at all.
Now, they are great friends, and I know this is true.
For we know each other so well we can read each others' minds
and Think each others' thoughts.

But my most best friend is someone so special
The most special person in the world that I know.
Her name is Byn Always,
And I know this is true,
For she is my mother,
A very awesome one too.
For she does many awesome things for me,
like cooking, homeschooling for me.
Like saying prayers when I have bad dreams,
Like helping me when I've got something hard,
Like buying me clothes and on special days CDs,
All I've got to do is say "please."

She wants to make me happy,
Even when we fight,
and supporting me in all I do,
Like Missions trip, COG classes too.
She takes me to really cool places
Like New York and the Zoo.

She gives me really cool birthday parties,
This year with more friends.
I'll never forget the fun things we did
Like taking pictures and singing songs.

And this is why my best friend is my mother,
the most special, most wonderful, most remarkable person ever.

Now mother I'm giving you this poem,
Iand I hope you enjoy,
For now you can see,
Just how good you are to me.

I love you Mom!

Christmas 2003
Sprite Always

***Oh my Lord... I almost cried when she read it to me. Not that "I" think I'm that wonderful, but boy is it nice to see that she really apprecates all that I at least try to do.

I video taped her reading it to me too:)

Christmas Visits

For as excited as I am about Christmas with the kids this year, I am SO excited to see my mom again after Christmas!! She's coming down with her husband on the 29th, and I can't wait! Okay, I will wait of course, but I don't want to! Its looking like Sprite's bio-dad, Steven will be coming down as well for the visit, since they all live close by each other they'll all just ride down together. I am just soooo looking forward to some girl talk and time with MOM...

Anyway, the kids and I wrote a poem for Santa yesterday, since we want Satna to take the presents up to Scott and & Christine's house on Christmas Eve. They invited us up there to open gifts, so we figured it would be just as easy to just put them therre in the first place. We'll open our gifts at "home" first and then go up there in the afternoon.

Our poem:

Dear Santa,
We ask you a favor this year,
Please don't leave our presents down here.
Just take them up to Miss Christine's house please,
You can put them under her Christmas Tree.
We will even leave yousome treats,
Don't worry, we won't leave you beets!
(We also won't leave you a Coconut Cream Pie ~
But I suppose you already know WHY:)
Thank you for bringing the presents to us,
and for working so hard to find our big bus!


**BTW ~ The pie comment is because Scott and Christine's dog, Sheba, ate the coconut pie off of the counter that I had made for Thanksgiving dinner:)

Draggin....

Ugh. I am draggin really bad today. I made homemade noodles yesterday after the COG play... and then made chicken veggie/noodle soup last night. I was hoping to help ward off the uckiness that seems to be hanging about our bus lately. Everyone has just seemed a bit under the weather... although I don't know if it has just been the actual weather, or if one or more of the kids are actually fighting off a bug... No one seems to have actually come down with any specific thing.

At any rate, today I seem to feel like several of the kids (and Patrick) have looked the last few days. Tired and blah...

I'm going to laze about tonight and watch "A Christmas Carol" with the kids. I bought an older (but supposed to be on of the better ones) that was pretty cheap the other day... since they've been curious to see some different versions of it after we read it for school.

At any rate ~ off to take some extra vitamin C!

Patrick's Job

Well, for as happy as I am with my situation, my Dh seems to be in quite the opposite space. Of course, I think part of it is that he's just not feeling well... And working outside in this weather on top of working VERY LATE every night and therefore not getting enough sleep is certainly not helping.

But actually, the main issue is that he just can't seem to say "no" when it comes to his job. This is not a new thing, which only makes it worse. I had told him when he took the job (when it turned out that this was not going to be a 5 day a week, normal hours kind of job) that I would deal with it, and try not to complain to him, as long as he didn't work Sundays. I wanted the van to be able to take the kids to church... As that was one of our main reasons for staying in one place this year.

He balked at having to ask them for Sundays off... He was sure they wouldn't hire him if he asked for ONE day a week off. This is just to show what a big issue this kind of thing is for him. He did finally tell them he had to have Sundays off through December, and then asked to have them off after that as well... After I insisted that I would not let him use the van on Sundays. I had to take a stand somewhere, after already giving in on the only working five days a week thing... And this was way too important to me.

At any rate, yesterday was Sunday, his first since working there... And he worked. Now, to give him credit, he turned down assignments for Sunday, and this was just a "leftover" from Saturday night that it got too late to finish. BUT he rescheduled it for Sunday rather than Monday because it would fall on this week's pay period on Sunday ~ and he did schedule it for the afternoon. All of this would have been tolerable and was understandable...

EXCEPT this particular Sunday was Sprite's COG class Christmas Program. He has known about it since he took the job, and the kids had been practicing for over a month. Sprite had put her heart into it ~ and it was to be our Christmas surprise. When Sprite and I came home from church, he was already in a hurry... And made some comment to her that we needed to hurry and do the play or he'd just have to leave for work.

She was in tears, totally crushed that he'd agreed to work on a Sunday, especially the Sunday of her play. He did tell her he would come, but not until a time of tears and a talk with me... So she still thought he was only staying because of me. She cheered up and they did a great job on their play...

But when I went to tuck her in last night, I could tell she was upset. She had been crying because first of all she thought Patrick hadn't wanted to come... And the boys had complained about the "prizes" or gift bags she'd bought them (with her own money) ~ so she wasn't having a very good time. I told her how proud I was of her... And how awesome they all did and we talked for a while. I also told her she couldn't let other people issues and problems taint her own happiness over what an awesome thing she'd done. Of course that's a pretty difficult thing to learn, but if you're going to be happy, sometimes you have to separate yourself a bit... If only to not let others destroy your happiness over things. This issue with Patrick and his work "habits" or whatever you'd call it has been a strain on our marriage numerous times before... And this time I was determined I wasn't going to stress about it because its for a short time. I hadn't planned on the kids all reacting so strongly to it though.

Keep in mind that he hasn't seen the children except for a couple of hours ALL WEEK. They are used to seeing him almost all the time... So this is a REALLY big deal to them. And they are getting old enough to see it as at least partly a choice on his part to work instead of being home with them, and its a hurtful thing.

Top it off with the fact that the job he did last night took farrrr longer than expected. Once he finished the difficult job, had to exchange a disfunctional part, etc. people went to sign the contract and the price/quote was higher than they'd been told on the phone, so they had to call someone. THEN they hemmed and hawed for a half an hour... THEN decided they just wanted to take it out. So, Patrick would have had to rip out everything, and it was already close to (if not after) midnight. He talked them into signing the contract and using the right of refusal before their three days was up if they decided they still wanted it out, and he'd come and take it out then. So he came home miserable and exhausted (He's been looking horrible the past few days too... not well.) really late again and just upset that his job is taking over everything again. He's totally regretting taking this job ~ although as I said to him, if he'd taken the $9/hr job there would have been the opportunity for these long hours as well... And he would have felt even more pressured to work longer hours because of the lower pay.

I'm sure it will smooth out with time and lots of prayers... but boy, is it a bumpy road at the moment!

Say some prayers for our family's health if you would, and for my Dh to find satisfaction in his job without having to give up everything to do it.

I woke up late today ~ gotta go get started on school...

And I still haven't found time to do portraits ~ I'm REALLY in the mood to do them!!

What do you want out of life?

I was asked this recently from a friend... and ya know, even though I've put a lot of thought into it lately (several times over the last few years its actually been quite a big issue) I wasn't sure that I really knew... I think that is because I am already doing what I want... at least that was the first thought that popped into my head. I wasn't sure that was the "correct" answer though. Kinda threw me for a loop ~ I haven't had many times in my life when I truly felt that way ~ or even close! How sad is that?

And here is what I want out of life... or what I want to do with my life (I can't remember the exact way the question was phrased)

I want to be happy, and I want to spend as much time as I can with my family...

I want to have options and never feel "Stuck" for any length of time ~ or that I'm doing something ONLY because I feel I "have" to... or because society deems it "normal".

I want to teach my children to love learning, to love life, and to cherish the good times and learn from the bad times. I want them to have the courage to try, and not be afraid of failure. I don't want them to try to live their entire lives just trying to please others. (I believe that I am, if nothing else, accomplishing that one:)

I don't want to live my life trying to do what I think is "the socially acceptable" thing to do... I want to do what feels right to me (and my Dh) I don't want to feel that I can't try something new because people "just don't DO that."

SPECIFIC Things I would like to try... writing a book (and maybe self publishing)... publishing my writing through an outside source... as in magazine article(s), or something of that nature. I have a lot to say, I enjoy writing, and I believe that others could if not benefit from my life, they could at least enjoy reading about it for pure entertainment!

Also ~ I would really really like to work towards doing a traveling ministry. I want to sing (it is the one thing that really just gives me a deep sense of satisfaction and a true feeling of "conection" with God), to speak, to teach... I would like to live a life of faith and always feel free to follow God's lead...

I would really love to visit other countries ~ be it through my artwork and painting on motorcycles, or just sometime in the future through means I couldn't begin to imagine (Just as I couldn't imagine doing motorcycle rallies NOW as a means of traveling and exploring our country!)

Above all ~ I guess the answer is that I HAVE what I want out of life. I am DOING what I want to do with my life... I'm just not finished yet:) I want to do and try and be everything I can be.

I do NOT miss having a house... I don't want one. Every once in a while I miss some part of having a house (a nice relaxing bath, a big kitchen) but its temporary... and I don't miss everything else that goes with it. Rarely did I ever live in a house that gave me the nice "warm fuzzy" feeling every night when I went to bed... just because I loved it so much, like the bus does... weird, I know.

I know it is absolutely inconceivable to most people that I could actually LIKE living in a bus with five children... but I do, YES, ME, the person that "hated" being outside, driving ANYWHERE, the total homebody... I love it... and for now, this is where I feel at "home" this is where God has given me soooo much peace. This big old bus and my family... we are home~Wherever we go!:)

The C.O.G. Christmas Program

For those of you who don't know, C.O.G. is the name of Sprite's children church (Children of God) that she does at least once a week with her siblings. They have been practicing for a little over a month now ~ a play that Sprite wrote, and songs that they have been practicing... WOW

I am SO impressed with my kids!!! They all got up infront of us grown ups (Scott, Christine, Patrick and I) and performed this play, knew all their lines (Kainan's a pretty good little actor... they all are, but for some reason he surprised me:) They all had a solo part in a song... and they did SO WELL! I am just so proud of them.

Sprite took charge of the whole thing (it was a surprise "present" to me as well, so I didn't help at all) and organized the kids, gave them parts, helped them practice, wrote the play and taught them everything. She is TWELVE. She did such an awesome wonderful fantastic job! I'm flying high:) I just love this season!!!

Oh ~ went to church this morning, but left home Dad, Kainan, Paris and Beanie. The kids had been looking/acting "under the weather" the past few days and I just didn't wan tto take them out and about with all the flu stuff. I didn't want them to pass on germs, or pick up germs when they obviously weren't feeling quite up to normal. ANYWAY ~ the youth did the service today. The music they did was beautiful... and they did one song in sign language/dance type thing.. and it was gorgeous... moving, everything. I am so glad we found a church. Now I jsut wish we could be closer!:)

Happy Holidays!

Byn

Wow. I am so WIPED OUT! I'm afraid Kainan is fighting off some bug ~ he's been in or near tears wayyyy too many times the last couple of days to write it off to anything else... other than lack of sleep. I let him open one of his presents early from Grandma Barb (Dh's mom) because I knew what it was... and that it would keep him still and resting for some time ~ The complete Davy Crockett TV series on DVD. He's now in the bus lazing around and watching TV until his "early" bedtime tonight. Abyni has been extra cranky too. To ward off any colds, flu, etc. I caled Patrick to bring home some OJ and chicken broth. I thought I'd go up tomorrow after (or maybe before) church and whip up some homemade pasta and make some good Ole Fashioned chicken veggie noodle soup. At any rate, with this bleary-icky weather today, it sounds good at any rate.

The kids are going to put on their "Christmas Program" tomorrow afternoon. I am SO excited to see it:) I've caught Paris and Abyni singing their songs every once in a while, and it just sounds SO SWEET!

Anyway, gonna go get some girl talk and go to bed early myself! Dh should be home at a decent hour tonight ~ he got to work close by all day! Wow:)

Bye!:)

ATTENTION READERS

To anyone reading the story I've written... please read this disclaimer (I've had some peple concerned that the children actually got lost... guess I'm a pretty good author:):

***Disclaimer:The
Always Family Adventure is
completely and totally imaginary, made up, not at all real, not even remotely possible in this world as we know it…
Except, of course, for the few parts in the first chapter or so that are indeed based on their real life and circumstances. The children did not and have not ever gotten lost in the woods... especially not to the extent they do in the story:)

Good News ~ Bad News

Don't you hate hearing that? My husband called last night around 8:30 or so to say he'd be home late. This was when I got the good news ~ bad news question. I said, I don't care, just give me all the news quickly... I got the bad news... "I won't be home until midnight or maybe a little later, and I'm only getting paid $50.00 for today because I'm training again."

WHAT????

BUT the good news is... {CELL PHONE STATIC} UGH! Can you hear me now?

It was so bad, I couldn't understand ANYTHING...

BUT this morning I got to hear the good news... he will be making TWICE as much per (most) install! He only worked three days this week, but they went out and inspected his work, and apparently liked it a lot. They asked him to train with one of the "higher level" techs (can 't remember the phrase he used) to install a new product `Think Super Cable, Hi Fi, etc.` that pays twice (for base install) what a "normal" base install does!

So at least that was really good news:) We could use the extra income to get ahead on things and pay things back! Whoo Hoo!

Of course I am sure even with that, I'm going to get to the point where I want him HOME. The kids haven't even seen him for two days, and won't see him until tonight... assuming he gets home early enough. They only got to see him for a few minutes the night before. Not going over well with the kids. Especially Abyni, who has had him home pretty much 24/7 for the last year+ She's not sure what to think!

Anyway ~ have a blessed day!

What a day!:)

Well, we mangaed to somehow get in a full school day... at lunch the kids got a treat of grilled cheese sandwiches (even THAT was considered a great treat!) and put the chicken on the stove to simmer in enchilada sauce for supper (YUM!). After "school" I sent the kids out on a nature walk afterwards with their sketch books since it was such a GORGEOUS day! They had to find and observe at least two things that we have recently studied in Science, and draw or write about it. They all came back so excited to show me what they'd found... Jaedin especially, but all the kids were pretty excited to have found things that we so recently learned about in books!

While they were out, I made ENCHILADAS for supper ~ I can't wait! The rice is cooking on the stove, and the enchiladas are in the oven (S&C let me use their motorhome for the oven, since its right next to our bus... pretty cool!)

I finished editing the boys' story ~ so it is all done for now... until I start on part II! Now I just have to paint a picture of Paris as a princess for the cover art of her book, and do some quick sketched illustrations for my nephew Dallas' book! I'm getting there!

I also found some canvas yesterday at Walmart, so I can finally get some more painting done. Hopefully this weekend I can carve out some time to myself.. and get some ink for my printer so I can actually print out the photos and not have to keep them up on my screen:)

Had a great day ~ I'm finding it odd how quickly I fell back into "stay-at-home-mommy" role again ~ and its so much better this time because I'm not getting bummed out that things will never change! I'm getting SO much done, and staying on schedule, it makes things soooo much more satisfying that way.

I do miss my hubby though. He's been home after 8:00 each night, and I don't like that at all. I don't enjoy having to go to bed on my own. Even movies aren't half as fun... At least we know this isn't forever either... and at least he isn't here to distract me. That's probably why I'm getting so much more done:) I don't "waste" as much time just hanging out, but avoid going to bed because I know he's not there... and I get up early in the mornings easily because he's not there to snuggle with.

Odd how things work, huh?

I get to call my mom tonight ~ yayy!!

BUSY DAY!!!

Holy COW! I thought I would have a nce relaxing day today! Christine asked me to go shopping with her today, and Sprite offered to babysit the older ones. I wasn't going to go, but since we REALLY needed food, I decided I had to at least find a way to get SOMETHING... I had used the last of our canned food from the food pantry today, and that wasn't saying too much:) Although we've always had something to eat, we were down to some bread and the rest of the beef "stew" concoction I had mixed up... and one loaf of homemade bread as well.

Anyway, although I had no money, I went. Sprite said she'd prayed for God to help us with our finances and get some food, so I went ahead with Christine. Abyni came along too, with her $3.00 and a Christmas list (which she read outloud all through WalMart, wearing her Dora backpack ~ she is SO cute!) ANYWAY ~ God answers prayers!

We stopped first at the post office, where we were expecting a money order (yesterday) borrowed from MIL to help pay our car ins. untilDh gets his first paycheck ~ that STILL was not there...(we don't have the greatest luck with "next Day" type mail...) YIKES!

Christine sent me to get the mail from her mailbox in the other room, and I went, feeling pretty dejected. Now I'd have to borrow Abyni's $3.00 and buy some pasta and tomato sauce (thank goodness I'm really good at making decent meals with next to nothing to do it with:)

Lo and Behold, there was a Christmas card from Grandpa Carlson (my Dad) with CASH ~ enough to buy some decent groceries (lasagna, enchiladas, chili, potato soup ~ good and yet still inexpensive meals.... but far better than we've had lately!!! YAYY!!) AND I got each of the kids a little present from Grandpa ~ AND we still have enough left over to pay the registration for our vehicles ON TIME!! (WHich was becoming a pretty big issue... since if its late, they wanted us to come IN to do it ~ in Oklahoma)

I know the money was intended for more "gitfy-type" things, but right now, this was a pretty big gift to all of us! We'll make up for it later with something "from Grandpa" ~ as it is, the kids REALLY appreciate Grandpa's gift of "new" yummy food:) And I said a prayer of thanks when I saw it... and almost cried, I just felt all emotional AGAIN ~ imagine that!

ANYWAY ~ I was feeling pretty good, very blessed and happy (and Christine bought us more supplies for bread, cinnamon rolls and stuff... I love having people to cook for!) And on the way home, got a call to let me know Kainan had his first basketball practice tonight!

He was SO excited! He was a little nervous though too... so I borrowed S&C's truck and took him. He was REALLY shy ~ which was kind of odd for him, and was almost ready to leave. His coach wsa FANTASTIC though, and made him feel welcome. I stayed and watched, and he was warming up and within fifteen minutes was having a BALL. He chattered happily all the way home about how great his coach was, and how much fun he had. I am SO glad that we were able to do this for him!

AND... at the practice, I met some other moms ~ who gave me info for cub scouts local troop as well as introduced me to yet another woman in charge of Brownies (for Paris) and I am just going to be BUSY this winter! Both Scouts have independant programs as well ~ where the kids will be "official" scouts without having to belong to one troop... but can participate in different troop acitivities when we are traveling... and can participate here, while we are still around.

Isn't that just wonderful? All the kids are so excited... and I am so happy to be able to find all this in one spot so fast! Hopefully we can find the girls groups to participate in close by too! (AND that Patrick's job can let him off early enough to help with some of the carting around!)

The only downside was that I had all these ingredients, and no time to cook:( Tomorrow though, watch out!

Love to All ~ Happy Holidays!!!

ARGH! Business cards!

I have been looking (several times actually) for the company that I ordered busniess cards from last year. I used one of their designs... and was veyr happy with the cards (both quality and price) so I wanted to oreder form them again. I can NOT find the company. Not once in any of the five boxes of cards that I ordered was there a card or flyer from the company, I can't find any billing or receipts from it in our files (we were in quite an odd spot at the time I ordered them... not even living in the bus yet) SO now I am at a loss. Guess I'll have to take my chances with yet another new company... ugh!

Anyway ~ good morning! Off to cook some oatmeal for my hungry hungry kids!

Byn

Christmas Candy!!

Today Christine hinted that they might like some bread again... and since Sprite was doing her C.O.G. class from 9:30 - 10:30 this morning in place of todays Devotions and Lit (which we actually still did later because the kids are so "into" Lancelot at the moment) I took Abyni up to their house for my helper, and Abyni and I made bread and candy fillings.

Then after school at 3:00, Paris and Abyni and I went back up and they got a treat of Nick Jr. while I made up cinamon rolls and a few loaves of bread... then rolled and dipped some of the candies... oh, the taste of Christmas!! YUMMY!! (And I was good, believe it or not, I only had one small piece of candy, and one small cinnamon roll... and brushed my teeth thoroughly right afterwards!:)

At any rate, then we came down and Grandma Barb (Dh's mom) sent her three boxes of Christmas gifts for the family... the kids were so excited to see all the pretty wrapped packages. There was also a bag of dress up clothes handed down from a relative that the girls LOVED and have been playing with ever since.

AND of course, the traditional chocolate dipped ponge candy that Patrick and I fight over and gobble up every year. I tried to tell him that none came this time, but he didn't believe me... guess I'll have to share.... of course, he doesn't know how MUCH came, right?

Happy Holidays everyone!:)

byn

My Favorite Homeschool Links and stuff

The curriculom guide is really nice and reassuring
(for me anyway, seemed more set for "real" life than
some I've seen.
lovetolearn

And I like the look of some of this stuff on this site:
belovedbooks
**Kainan has been hooked on the Sugar Creek Audio books for years now ~ and has started reading the actual books.
**We have all listened to some of the "Your Story Hour" dramatized history on the radio here and there and thought they were fantastic , the kids loved them as much as I did.


And BTW ~ finally found the starfall website ~

AWESOME! Paris is READING!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm a little
excited ~ two weeks after she decided she wanted to
learn, she is reading a FEW sight words, "The" "a," etc. and simple three & four lettered
phonectically correct words!!! (Cat, sat, hat, man,
can, sit, get, hot, dog, etc! ~no, she's nto ACTUALLY reading the abbreviation for etcetera, but you know what I mean) I am so excited...
when that girl puts her mind to something... boy! I
never realized she was so SMART. I thought she was
destined to be "The pretty one" ya know, she always
just liked to act so ditzy and "cute"... horrible of
me, huh? And she's a really good artist too!

I LOVE HAVING THE NET BACK!!!

Book Excerpt #2

Chapter 2

***See December 4, 2003 for Chapter 1

See how good I am at keeping my promises? Here is the first adventure! I’ll tell you about the first time Kainan and Jaedin got themselves lost in the mountains of Tennessee. And by lost, I don’t just mean a little tiny bit lost, but more lost than you (or they) would even imagine they could get!

It was time for the family to settle down for the moment. Now that winter was coming, and their need for travelling had come to an end for the season, the whole family had been invited to stay in Tennessee with some friends. So they drove their big old bus there, all the way from southern Louisiana. And after a few attempts and some help from the neighbor’s big old tractor, finally made it up the long and extraordinarily steep driveway on the side of the mountain and parked for a while (whew!). These were pretty awesome friends, with some property up in the foothills of the smoky mountains.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Smoky Mountains or not, but if you haven’t, you really should go! It’s one of the prettiest places in the whole country. All those beautiful mountains, almost always surrounded by a nice topping of clouds (which makes them look so “smoky” I suppose) with waterfalls here and there and more trees than you can imagine. And I won’t even get myself started on the peacefulness and the tons of little critters you can see if you sit very still and very quiet for a time and just listen and watch…

Anyway, The whole family was there; up in the mountains looking around at all the beautiful fall colored trees. Their new friends, Mr. Scott and Mrs. Christine, pointed out over all the land around them and told the kids that they could go anywhere they could go without running into a fence and they’d still be on their property.

Those kids (and the mom and dad too) just looked and looked at all that land, mountains covered with more trees than you could count in a month, and stood for a little while, their eyes wide with pure happiness, and a little excitement too. They all loved the mountains, and were looking forward to going on some nice long hikes. They all (yes, even mom and dad) liked to get out in the middle of the trees, where you couldn’t see any houses or roads or fences, and just imagine they were living back in time, on some land they could build on and make their own. Now if only there was a mountain stream they could find they’d all surely feel like they were in heaven!

So anyway, they all got settled in, got the bus plugged in and their things situated, and it wasn’t long before the boys wanted to build themselves a clubhouse. Since they were finally staying put, in just one place, for a while, their dad told them if they could find a good place to build one, he’d help them make some sort of clubhouse to play in.

So one day, not long after getting to Tennessee, Kainan and Jaedin had finished their clubhouse plans, and decided they were going to go out into the woods and build themselves a clubhouse that very day. Well, they were at least going to start on it anyway. They wanted to do it all by themselves, though, with no help from Dad. Kainan wanted it to be far enough away that it could be a surprise that mom and dad wouldn’t see them working on, but close enough so they would still be able to go and play in it pretty much whenever they wanted. Jaedin didn’t much care where it was, as long as there were plenty of dead trees lying around the area so he could find plenty of bugs and things to feed his salamanders.

Mom said they could go play in the woods for a while, and said that maybe they could even find a place to build their clubhouse (at which they both looked at each other with a secret kind of smile). They packed everything they thought they might need for a day of scouting and building.

The important thing was they wanted to pretend that they were going to be back in the “old days”, and have a log cabin-like clubhouse, and do things the old fashioned way. So Jaedin wore his coonskin cap, his “Davy Crockett” coat and the moccasins he’d helped his mom make for Christmas. Instead of a backpack, the boys used their new leather pouches that their grandma Sue had helped them make.

Jaedin packed his compass, his canteen, some matches (although he did take his flint as well, so they could try to light the lantern the old fashioned way first.) He also grabbed one of their Mexican blankets to spread on the ground, or maybe use to keep warm with, since after all it was November.

Kainan packed some rope, some trail mix and beef jerky, and because they weren’t sure how to make a roof the old fashioned way by themselves, their mom gave them one of the sides off her old work tent to use for a roof. Then put his best pocketknives and hatchet put into his tool-belt.

They also took Jaedin’s lantern, with yet another talk with dad about fire safety, and instructions only to use it if for some reason their flashlights broke or wouldn’t work. They both took whistles to signal each other in case they got lost.

Well, as we all know, sometimes kids have a bad sense of distance ~ when it comes to figuring out how far is too far. So, like kids will do, those boys got so involved in trying to find the very best spot for their club, that they didn’t pay a bit of attention to how far they had gone. They walked and walked… and walked some more. Jaedin kept getting distracted by salamanders scooting across his path, so Kainan had to keep coming back and dragging his attention back to the task at hand. Finally they started to get a little tired, and a little hungry, so they started to look for a nice little clearing or rock to sit on and have a snack. Just a little farther down the mountain, there was a nice looking rocky place. Kainan thought that it looked like a great place to sit, and Jaedin thought he saw a great big salamander scurry over that very same rock, so he was all for using that as their resting place. They both started heading for the rocky area.

Once on their way, they realized it was going to be a little harder to get to than they thought. But since Jaedin still wanted that salamander, and Kainan really wanted to climb on that big pile of rocks, they kept on working their way closer. As they got closer, they realized that there must have been a big rockslide or something here at one time. It looked odd and out of place amongst all the trees. There were huge rocks piled together, looking as if some giant had just thrown them down in a big tumbling kind of pile. The wind and rain had obviously eroded them quite a bit though, so in places they looked almost like they were made to fit together, almost like enormous puzzle pieces. The boys figured it was pretty safe to climb on the bigger ones, so they headed up the pile. Half way up, they saw an interesting looking tunnel formed between a couple of the big stones and, since it seemed to be a much shorter way than climbing all the way over the top, they started to crawl through.

As they were crawling through the tunnel, they felt the ground start to rumble slightly, and started to crawl as fast as they possibly could. They crawled really fast, but it felt like it was taking them forever to get through what should have been just a short little tunnel. Suddenly the rumbling got louder, it sounded like thunder in their ears and they felt like they were falling through the air.

Jaedin reached out and grabbed on to Kainan and they both screamed as loud as they could until suddenly, the noise stopped, the falling sensation stopped, and everything was quiet. It wasn’t as if they had landed or anything. There was no crashing stop, just no longer the feeling of falling.

My Dream...

I think Dh and I have definitely cemented our future goal/dream... we've talked several times of living in the mountains ~ kinda in the middle of nowhere. Of course we've been talking REALL out in the middle of nowhere(kinda like a fantasy kinda thing) of living off the land, building a cabin and literally "escaping" from society and everything for a while. The kids love the idea (especially Jaedin) Now of course we have no current plans to disappear from society...

But we are thinking that we will work towards buying some land in some obscure place in the mountains, where it doesn't cost $30,000 an acre:) And still living part time on the road, and part time on our land. At this point I am SO happy wiht our current situation, having the bus and an extra unattached activity/computer/laundry room, that we wouldn't even need to worry about a whole house, just a septic tank and RV hook ups. (Which is a lot of expense, but a lot less than adding a house as well) ~ and of course when we could afford it, a "garage" or extra building. That would be a good place for off season work as well.

That is down the road, of course, (therefore why its called a "dream,") because we are not going into any more loans in our current lifestyle! We are thisclose to having our van paid off and then we're DONE with loan payments (except paying off our old debt of a credit card for a couple of thousand dollars.) I am so looking forward to not having that huge payment looming every month!!! (And I'm sure the bank will have a PARTY when its paid off since this past year we've been late at least 9 of the months and had to defer a couple of times late last year with all our house issues.)

Anyway ~ have a WONDERFUL DAY!!!

Good Night All!

Just heading off to cuddle with my Dh ~ who is home again from another good day at his new job. That is just SUCH a relief to me. Even knowing its temporary, its so nice to know that he won't be terribly stressed all the time about a horrible work situation, and will have some nice "alone time" working and just doing his thing.

In spite of numerous troubles with friends, I'm feeling very hopeful and positive for everyone ~ and very happy in my own life ~ for whatever reason, my faith has kicked in and I feel that everyhting is going to be all right....

Night!

Good morning!:)

Started writing down our "story" ~ ya know, the whole story of how we came to be living in a bus with five kids... I'm thinking MAYBE I'll submit it for publishing to a magazine of one sort or another. It's certainly an interesting story at any rate:) I've typed for just a bit and already have a good 1,500 words. Now I just need to buy that book "Magazine Writing for Dummies" or whatever its called... I love those "For Dummies" books... is that a bad sign?

Anyway, off to make a "real" breakfast and have school with the kids ~ TTYL

on a happier note...

My Dh had a good first day at work... he thinks the job will be pleasant and pay well... Which is really nice. Now if only he would get paid before Christmas... Oh wel, you can't have it all!

My teeth are killing me ~ but tis the season for my famous home-made Christmas candies:( Geez, what's a girl to do? I'm trying sooooo hard to avoid making it ~ cuz I know once its there I'll have to eat it... and then my teeth will REALLY punish me AND my pants will no longer fit either. My teeth would all fall out, I think, if I were to punish them that badly! Then I'd be a big aching whining toothless roly-poly chick... wearing a mumu or something... not a terribly impressive vision Think we'll skip the candy for now.. at least until I can get to the dentist!

I know, fuss fuss whine whine... I'm done now, and I feel so much better:)

Stressful day

just in case anyone is under the assumption that I'm hopelessly deluded and think my children are always little rays of joy and sunshine and never cause me stress... I had a horrible morning... (See? feel better?)

After cleaning for two hours yesterday (tearing all the mattresses off the bunks, sweeping, sorting through ALL the kids things to clean up before the holiday influx of more stuff... ) And mangaing to keep everything clean for the rest of the day (amazing ~ whether you realize it or not:)

AND Sprite and Paris took it upon themselves to clean up the activity/laundry room we use here ~

I managed to miss the chalk they left all over the sidewalk outside. I noticed it when I got up and came out this morning at 7:30 ~ but figured I would make them pick it up before school instead of doing it for them. Kicking myself because I hadn't noticed it last night.

Anyway, Scott and Christine had customers coming this morning, so they were upset that the kids left a big mess outside their shop ~ so, feeling like a heel, I was SO frustrated with the kids (and myself) and so annoyed about the whole deal... WHY can I NOT get the point across to PICK UP THINGS???? So at any rate, I just felt like a big bother to Scott and Christine... and felt like a big pain in the neck all day.

I made the kids get out of bed and pick up the chalk and grounded them from going outside while the customers were here... the last thing I needed was them having a spastic day and running and screaming around someone else's expensive motorcycle or whatever. Anyway, the customers were here til five, so the kids are just now going outside and playing. I have been a big ball of stress all day ~ just felt crappy (and here Abyni would say "That's a BAD WORD MOMMY!" So, okay, I felt horrible all day. ugh.

I hate feeling like I'm in the way and especially when the kids are being "in the way"... It wouldn't have even been a big deal except we ARE at someone else's house/business... and its hard to keep the kids always on "best behavior" but too stressful not to. Thankfully they're really good kids the majority of the time.

AND ~ (need one more gripe?) Abyni (and sometimes Jaedin) just will NOT get the point that they need to wear socks and shoes outside. Its COLD!! Abyni will run around naked if we don't stop her (and sometimes even when we try, she seems to think she has to take off every stitch of clothing to go potty). ACK! So ~ short of gluing or sewing her clothes ON ~ any suggestions? I've tried tights, but they are so hard for her to get off, there goes the potty training she had conquered...

The Good Ole' Days

Mom ~ if you're listening... we had salmon patties with mac-n-cheese and pork-n-beans ~ our old cheap dinner that I used to hate (fortunately my kids love it so far:) Every time I've cooked it, it has reminded me of the "good ole days"... then when talking to you, realize that my fondest childhood memories come from times when money was tight and things had to be so stressful for you... if it helps, I didn't even realize we were "poor" ~ and seriously, those were the happiest times in my childhood "memories":)

Also ~ remember making home made play dough ornaments? I found the last surviving one that I have from way back when... a Santa that you painted. How long ago that seems... wow. Now I have a handpainted ~ hand crafted ornament by a famous artist:) I love you!!

If anyone else out there is on a tight budget (or just curious)
Salmon Patties ~
*Can of Salmon
*couple of eggs
*saltine-type crackers
~mix to make a meatloaf type consistency, cook in your skillet/frying pan, or whatever you call it... and then you have to make mac-n-cheese and add some pork-n-beans to it once its on your plate... adds to the whole "feel":)

Okay ~ so I just wrote this wonderfully (long) nice Christmas thingy... and my 3 year old (Abyni) came by JUST as I was clicking "post and publish" and UNPLUGGED THE COMPUTER! AAAAAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!!

So anyway... ugh. I hate trying to recreate something I was just typing from my heart as I went. Especially now that I'm annoyed and irritated. Doesn't go over well with writing something uplifting and positive. And Abyni was so proud of herself too... She's just getting too ornery for her own good:)

Okay ~ my wonderfully emotional self (Hey ~ I was right, my last post that DIDN'T get published was entitled "My Overly Emotional Self" ~ guess this is prove that its not just one emotion at a time:)

So the whole point was how great it was this morning to see the kids participate in the Christmas program at church. We just found the church three weeks ago, so it was pretty awesome for them to get to be in the Christmas choir at such a late date. Their teacher gave them a CD to practice with, and they have been working really hard to learn the songs and the motions. They did great. It made me all tear eyed... (that is part of the overly emotional me thingy)

I've been getting tear eyed over everything... be it good emotion or sad... seeing the displays at Walmart, seeing our little Christmas setup in our bus... and the Christmas play this morning... sheesh! I was about crying over that! And no, its not just PMS... although that did make it worse, that was two weeks ago:) I've just been a constant basket case lately over things of any kind of Christmas-y theme.

I get sad at the thought of knowing I've not spent more than $5.00 on each of the kids (and for some, that's a generous amount) but then knowing that I've worked really hard writing them a story ~ and that, knowing them as I do, they will really really be appreciative...

Reading a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens to them this year made me tear eyed, because on one hand, I felt like the cratchet family with meager food supplies ~ but in our house we don't have the trauma of having a sick child... and we still have all the love and happiness and all that mushy stuff... Everywhere I turn, no matter how depressed I may get over some "money" thing or another, it doesn't take any time at all to feel just Soooo lucky for what we have... I just don't know which way to turn:) At least it generally ends in being happy. I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for what we have (although I wouldn't mind being a LITTLE less in debt sometimes!:)

And the kids are going to be BLOWN AWAY on Christmas morning when they see that "Santa" really did visit. Thanks to our hosts... who have volunteered to be Santa... the kids will get something that they wanted. They are going to flip ~ because they really aren't expecting much at all, knowing that we just don't have a lot of money this year. I am so glad that they are getting blessed so much this year. They have really stayed faithful and have been happy and appreciative of everything, they've been good and just kept such a positive attitude this year. Much more so than us "grown ups" Sometimes I wonder...

We've been blessed as well though, in spite of our lack of faith in the hard times. One day this year, on the way to a rally that wasn't working out half as good as it "should" have ~ I was praying so hard... really just felt in my heart that I needed to strengthen my faith, but not really "feeling" that I had enough... I don't know... oomph... to get it going again... Ya know? I just had so many things that I let drag me down little by little, and pretty soon, no matter how much I tried to "get in gear" ~ or rather, feel "inspired" I just couldn't. So, even though I knew I didn't "deserve" it, I asked God to bless us, bless our family just to let us know He was still there, watching over us.

Kinda silly I suppose... I know we don't ever get blessed because we "deserve" it or
whatever... but that is how I was feeling/praying that day. That was the day that Christine invited us to stay here this winter. When she invited us, I didn't see it as a possibility ~ I did send up a little prayer of thanks... because I did see it as a "sign" or whatever that God was thinking of us.. but I didn't really see how we could get here and stay here all winter. First of all, I figured Patrick would balk because of the cold (He HATES cold weather) Then, we weren't sure if there were going to be any jobs... yikes... and I just wasn't sure about taking someone's "charity" or whatever you want to call it. We'd had a REALLLY bad experience with that earlier this year... and made me extraordinarily leery...

But, in the end, it was the only thing that felt "right" to us. There were other, more "reasonable" or "Sure" options... but none of them even began to feel right in our own hearts.

So, here we are, and we are feeling more and more blessed. I fully believe that because of their generosity that God will be blessing Christine and Scott for being so wonderful to us... at any rate ~ thank you thank you thank you!! I have to try not to feel guilty when they are doing so much for us ~ and right now there isn't really much I can do to repay them... other than cook for them when they want ~ or when they'll let me:) Anyway... I guess that whenever we have the chance in life to bless others, we'll take every chance we get!

DENTIST ~ I have got to get to a dentist soon. Ugh! part of one of my teeth broke off about a month ago when I bit down on a pit or something in the Cranberry Crunh cereal (didn't know thered'd be THAT much of a crunch!) Anyway ~ I've needed to go for a while now wnyway, my teeth are not terribly healthy anyway genetically, and 5 pregnancies didn't help that much. Besides the fact that I eat far too much sugar and whatnot. I hate going to the dentist though. The thought terrifies me. Probably why I have rarely been in the last ten years.

Anyway, that's on the top of our list once Dh's job starts actually generating a "real" income... which will be early next month. Not looking forward to that in the least, but I really can't let this go anymore. That whole side of my mouth needs serious help ~ ouch!

Anyway ~ thought I'd throw in some grouching and complaining to round out all those mushy holiday thankful entries:)

Speaking of which, its REALLY nice to have Dh home! Especially since it got SOOOO cold last night! I needed a nice warm body to curl up next to to keep from freezing! I slept better last night than I had all week.

My Hubby is home! Whoo Hoo!! I did fine (and stayed BUSY!) while he was gone, but as soon as he pulled up.... it was really ncie to have him HOME! Abyni ran up and hugged him for a full two minutes, near tears, she was so happy. Kainan about knocked him off his chair ~ and the other three just smiled and said, "Oh hi dad!" (They were all busy working on invitations to their Christmas program they've been pracitcing for the last month for Sprite's COG class).

Anyway, gotta go dig through my nearly bare "cupboards" and find something to fix for supper other than sugar cookies:) Tomorrow is grocery shopping day!

My hubby comes home today!! Yippee!! He's sounding much better ~ more hopeful about the job now that he's gotten several different opinions from other workers aboutt eh potential hours and whatnot. Sounds like it will be a good thing. They've got several branches of this company all around here, so it will be wonderful if its a good job that makes him happy (and decent money) we'll have something to fall back on for next winter!

Abyni comes in the activity room every morning when she wakes up (I pretend I don't notice) and she'll come up to me and tap my leg... at which point I turn and exclaim "OH Hi! It's my GIRL!" and give her big hugs and kisses. Yesterday she came out and tapped my leg and said, "Hey! Where's my Daddy? I been looking all over for him!" I think she's beginning to think I've stashed him somewhere. Glad he'll be home today. She has not been happy about him being gone. Not after having him all to ourselves for almost half her life!

THE BOOK!!!The Always Family Adventure Tale

Chapter 1
The Introductions

Chapter 1
The Introductions

***Disclaimer:The
Always Family Adventure is
completely and totally imaginary, made up, not at all real, not even remotely possible in this world as we know it…
Except, of course, for the few parts in the first chapter or so that are indeed based on their real life and circumstances. The children did not and have not ever gotten lost in the woods... especially not to the extent they do in the story:)


Now, if you’re terribly impatient, and think you already know all there is to know about the Always family, and don’t need any explaining as to whom they are, you can skip this introduction. For the rest of you though, I guess I’ll need to briefly explain who the Always family is. Don’t worry, I’ll make it as quick and painless as I can.

I know the name “Always” is strange, but it is their real, honest-to-goodness name. Sprite, Kainan, Jaedin, Paris and Abyni are the Always children. They aren’t aliens or from a far away place, their mom just happens to be a little strange about names (and a few other things I’m sure) so some of them have unusual names. You couldn’t just name your first child after a soda and then give all the rest completely normal names. That would be terribly unfair. As it is, the children are each strange themselves in their own ways, so it just wouldn’t do for them to have normal names anyway!

So anyway, to get to the point: Sprite, who has recently turned twelve, is the somewhat bossy (oops, I mean has strong leadership skills) yet mostly pleasant and really nice, creative older sister.

Kainan, age 8, and Jaedin, age 7 are the brothers, definitely the “boys” of the family. They are the stereotypical boys in a lot of ways. Kainan is totally into sports, TV and video games (when and if he’s ever allowed, which is very rare, which he, of course, thinks is completely unfortunate). And Jaedin takes over the other stereotypical boy habits of having his pockets full of treasures and his hands full of lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, basically anything he can find.

Paris is the self-proclaimed “princess” of the family. Although with her tendency to hang out with Jaedin and get muddy in the constant, never ending search for another critter, she tends to appear a tomboy much more often than a pretty princess does.

Abyni is the littlest one, the “baby” of the family who has recently outgrown baby status with the event of her third birthday party. She’s the drama queen, the little girl who sings almost every request she has, including “I have to go to the baaath rooooom!” She’s the entertainer, the amusement for everyone when times get rough, and everyone is feeling grouchy. Except of course when she is the grouchy one…

This very odd family lives in a big old bus (I’ll have to write an entire other book to tell you all about that) and travels around the United States of America most of the year. They get to see and explore all kinds of places that they normally wouldn’t have even gotten to see, much less spend a lot of time exploring!

One of the most favorite places they’ve found to be is the Smoky Mountains. They’ve been to South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee this year, and spent time in and around the mountains all those times. If you look on a map of America, you’ll see that those three states kind of all run up against each other, and right there is where the Smoky Mountains are. This story is going to take place right around the eastern part of Tennessee.

This has led to a lot of imaginary adventures and fun, one of which I am going to share with you now, if you are very good and promise to eat all of your supper and share your candy with me. Oh, all right, you can read the story even if you won’t share your candy with me (although I really do love to eat chocolate in case you’re feeling especially generous) but I would appreciate it if you would eat all of your dinner. It will, however have no bearing whatsoever on whether or not you can read this story, or just listen to your Mom or Dad read it to you, whichever the case may be.

Boy. What a lot of rambling on! I suppose you know all you’ll need for now. I promise I shall get on with the adventure immediately!

Amazing Children.

My 12 year old daughter's assignment yesterday was to write one page about out last year. She could writ the things she liked most, the things she didn't care for, why she liked something or not, etc. It had to fit on one page, though because I wanted to be able to copy it with stuff from the other kids on the other side. (Printing out a short newsletter with our life gets a little harder each year!)

Anyway, here's this almost teenaged girl, taken from her "home" that she loved, moved away so she never gets to see her friends, but twice a year... living in a bus (and not a terribly snazzy one either) and her page ends with "This has been the best year of my life." I actually asked her WHY?? because I was surprised, not that she's acted ungrateful ever ~ but to say the greatest year?? That surprised me.

She told me that she's gotten to do so much this year, see so many places that she never thought she'd get to see, and meet so many new friends that she now has as pen pals... things she'd never have gotten to do or see living in a house somewhere.

The things she listed as NOT liking... "Things I didn't care much for: Disney World, and driving through Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah." (Which we did in a one LOOONG driving stint over 2 days. There was NOTHING to stop for, no campgrounds, nothing on the route we took.)

Am I blessed, or what? I love this time of year!!! That girl is just amazing... she is going to do something incredible with her life...

Oh ~ speaking of which, she raised enough money last year and will be going on her second missions trip to Mexico with KidsNmissions (now called R.O.C.K. missions) in March of 04. She has had her heart set on this since the last one was cancelled last spring. Keep her in your prayers, she has a lot of studying to do for the trip, and to make up for the school she'll miss while she's gone.

Whoo Hoo! I'm done with the kids book!! Its 209 pages thus far, (in book form that is... it has 32,783 words) and all I have to do is go back and edit it. I ran out of time to really finish it. There are many more stories too tell, but I don't want the book to be too long so this will be the first installation of this particular tale... Its a story about the kids finding a time travel-tunnel in the mountains here in Tennessee and they go back to the late 1700's early 1800's time period. They come back and get the rest of the family, but then can't get back into the future, so have to make a go out in the wilderness. That of course leaves plenty of room for fun adventures and lots of work.

Anyway, I'll finish up the second book at a little slower pace and see where that leads. Its been great ~ and I know the kids will love having their very own story for Christmas. Whew!

I feel so GREAT having accomplished that much!! Yippee!!

Oops! Got go to school!

byn

Warning Just Cute
ABYNI Stuff

Abyni came into bed with me at about 4:00 this morning ~ it started raining again and woke her up.

She banged on my door, "Hey Mommy! I want to cuddle with you, open the door!"

So I opened the door and said, "Hey there's my little teddy bear! Did you come to cuddle with me?"

She responded as she always does (no matter what I call her ~ Pumpkin, Beanie, Angel, etc) "No, I not you teddy bear, I just ABYNI."

At any rate, she climbned into bed, gave me a bug hug and rolled over to go to sleep, suddenly turns over and says, "Hey! That could be my new nick name!"

I said, "What?"

"I can be you teddy bear, Mommy. It can be my new nick name." Then put her arm around my neck and was snoring about a second later... Apparently Sprite or one of the other kids have been talking about nicknames lately. It cracks me up when she picks up on the big kids phrases.

SCHEXNAYDERS~ Speaking of which, when we went to Louisiana, and went with the Schexnayders there for trick or treat, their daughter Blair dressed up as a dead cheerleader (don't ask me, its a teen thing I guess:) At any rate, Blair walked around singing this bizarre little ditty "I'm dead, I'm a cheerleader" In this VERY teen--ish preppy type tune...

Yesterday (or the day before) Abyni was playing with playdough with Sprite and started walking around (with playdough as glasses ~ Blair wears glasses) singing, "I'm dead, I'm a cheerleader...." Ack! She does sing very well though, even though its been a month, she had the tune just right on! We've encouraged Jingle Bells instead though...

Ugh. I think I'm crashing from my sugar rush... We went up to Christine's at about 3:30ish and I started baking sugar cookies (from the dough I mixed up last night) while the kids and Christine decorated the tree... Then the kids helped frost and add sprinkles ~ no fancy frosting this year... don't have the supplies anymore. Abyni and Sprite helped with the cutting out and all the kids helped get lots of sprinkles everywhere (and plenty on the cookies too:)

The kids watched Daddy Day Care while I baked about, hmmmm... Well, a LOOOOT of cookies. Then Scott brought home two large pizzas that the kids all seemed to inhale (I was putting away cookies and almost missed getting ANY pizza at all!

Anyway, it was a nice cozy evening that made me miss having a house. I don't get that craving too often, but I'm finding I miss it this Christmas. I still wouldn't want all the cleaning and bills that come with a house... but boy I am appreciating having the use of one occasionally! The kids are liking it too. Its very nice to have such a nice place to bake and just feel "homey"

Now, don't get me wrong, the bus is becoming very Christmas-y... Mom sent some ornaments and craft stuff for Christmas. Our bus is decked out in lights on the inside. With garland, ornaments and tinsel hanging from our ceiling:) Its festive and I love our bus... its just not terribly roomy to say the least.

I find I don't mind that either. I love my tiny cozy little bedroom, sitting at night and watching our tiny TV (that doesn't really seem all that tiny in that small of a room) with my husband. It just feels "snug" ~ and I love the warm fuzzies I feel every time I cuddle up at night with him to just "Wind Down" after a busy day. Its really odd how I can find such a tinyspace with this many people comforting. Partly though, its because I can come over here in the morning (still in that first-ever-in-my-life new habit of waking up every morning at 7:30 or earlier) and just hang out, write in the kids book, and catch up with email.

I'm feeling very mellow and happy tonight ~ can ya tell? And to think that my Dh accused me of turning into a major ball of stress during the holidays... Apparently not this year, I'm just feeling mellow and happy... I'm probably just exhausted from too much sugar and getting up at such an abnormal time each day!:)

Anyhoooo ~ Off to get my night done. The kids want to hear a chapter of Lancelot tonight as we didn't get to it today. **Oh, we did make some of our snowmen garland this year too even Abyni made some... and we fit it (the activity) in the bus:)

SNOWMEN GARLAND:
*Take plain white paper plates (I prefer the smaller ones, but big ones work too)
*TEAR out "carrot" noses from orange construction paper.
*TEAR out Black coal eyes and small black coal "dots" for the mouth
*TEAR out black hats and red and green strips to go on the hats
*glue together each individual snowman head ~
*Punch 2 holes on each side of the snowman's head
*Use Christmas ribbon to tie together in a long "garland" ~ I tie the ribbons and then split and curl the ends with scissors. Tie an extra ribbon on each end to hang, and viola!

Even my 3 year old loved doing this project ~ and didn't need much help.

Well, hey all!

I'm going to get the ingredients today to make some of my traditional sugar cookies... and Christmas candy:) YUM!! Christine and Scott are letting me use their truck sometime. I need to get some real groceries as well and get some wrapping paper. They are being so wonderful, I'm beginning to feel spoiled. I hope we can manage to pay them back for all this generosity some way or another. Its been really nice to be invited into their family, and basically just being made to feel so comfortable while we actually just butt into their lives everyday. They have just gone out of their way to make us feel at home, and it has really restored our faith in human nature:) First Bobbi and Richard in Louisiana, and now these guys. I didn't think there were any people who'd be happy welcoming a family of SEVEN into their homes... Especially pretty much strangers... Its been a blessed year. The good has definitely outweighed the bad. And that's the important thing, right?

Tree decorating...

Christine invited us up tomorrow afternoon to help decorate their tree (as we don't have room for one in the bus, we just strung some green "pine-ish" garland with lights and ornaments form the ceiling) So we'll have a nice Christmas-y afternoon with Christmas candy and cookies and decorating! The kids will have a blast.

Christine is from Canada, so she has a good friend who knows Santa (You know, being so much farther north and all) so she had all the kids write "dear Santa letters for her to give to Santa. That way Santa will know to bring their presents here:) And since the kids have such a good "connection" this year, I bet they actually get something off of their list.

Sprite only asked for one thing though, told Santa to give everything else that he might have given her to other kids who needed it more, because she already has everything she needs in her life and feels really lucky already. (Which about made me cry ~ we definitely are not the family who many would think have even 'enough' much less everything, and I think it is so wonderful that the kids are not only happy anyway, but feel that they are "lucky" and blessed to have everything.

Its true when they say kids know the real deal. My kids know we don't have much money, but they're happy and appreciative for what they do have, and that is so nice. It is awesome to know that they have what is really important. A loving and happy family ~ and lots and lots of creativity:)

Sprite and her COG class (her children's church she does with the siblings ~ children of God) are doing a Christmas Surprise program for us at Christmas. Sprite wrote a play (that I've not seen or read yet) and they have been practicing that as well as songs for weeks now. She is SO excited to show us our program! We'll have to video it for the grandparents:)

Anyway, just feeling very blessed today ~

Byn (To think, I wasn't going to do one of these journal things, because I never had anything to say...Can you tell I miss having a phone that works??)

P.S. Just had a POP UP ad pop up that said "I Hate Pop Ups! Go to KILL-POP-UPS.com! LOL:) Guess that'd be the best way to do it...

Hey all ~ just heard from my DH again. He's at training, and bored quite a bit ~ but happy. He found out that it is a good seasonal job ~ and they're happy to have him work from October/November through March and have him back the next year during the same months, as that is their busy season.

That's great and relieving news for us. We've both loved being in this area ~ and although we wouldn't be staying in exactly the same place, there are plenty of campgrounds here now that we know our heat is functional and sufficient even in below freezing:) It will be nice to know that if we want to come back to the area next year, Patrick will have a job waiting!

When we've ever talked about settling somewhere (ya know, like normal people:) even just for the winter months/off season, buying a house/ladn/whatever, it's only ever been the Smoky Mountains that inspired the thought as a realistic possibility. I'm thinking of all the places we've been, it'd have to be East TN or Western NC or SC that would get us to settle any time soon!

Anyway, Abyni just came up to me wearing Jaedin's big fur hat with flaps, trying to tie it, and said in her little girls voice "Mom, can you help me? I'm having issues with this right now." I just love her voice lately. I don't know what has changed lately, but her voice, her overly exact enunciation is just so CUTE! And lately everything is "next year" as in "My socks are dirty now, so maybe we can wash them next year, okay?" or "I really like songs, so can we listen to some now, or next year?"

And her hilarious habit of singing every other thing that comes out of her mouth. "I need to go to the bathrooooom!" etc...

Anyway, goodnight all... see you in the morning. Off to watch a show or two from my Season 4 of Friends one last time before I finally have the $$ to buy season 5! (I would be asking for it for Christmas, but not sure I can wait that long!:)

Some of the more memorable Places we stayed/Visited on our travels in 2003:

Places:
* Fountainbleu State Park & old house museum
* Grayton Beach State Park**
* Manatee Springs State Park**
* Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL
* Daytona Beach, FL (kids & Patrick) as well as other beaches in the area…
* Florida Caverns State Park (with a cave tour)
* Eufaula, AL (state Park & lake)
* Waterfalls in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in SC**
* Had the great experience of Boiled peanuts I think its an aquired taste, and not one we've aquired....
* Smoky Mountains (both in NC & TN)
* The Old Grist Mill in Cherokee, NC
* The Mountain Farm Museum in Cherokee, NC
* Patrick Henry’s Estate *Red Hill* self tour in VA
* Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, VA (dating back to the Revolutionary War)
* Hershey Museum & Tour in PA
* The Smithsonian (3 days of Museums… Museum of Natural History. The Museum of American History and the Museum of Air & Space) as well as the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument & the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC (and we got to ride the metro “train” too!)
* Niagra Falls (Patrick, Kainan, Jaedin, & Paris)
* Niagra Power Dam hydroelectric… thing (Patrick, Kainan, Jaedin)
* A FIRST Airplane Ride (from Ohio to Tulsa, OK)!! (Byn & Kainan)
* The House on the Rock (Jaedin and Paris with Grandma Sue)
* The Rocky Mountains
* The Dinosaur Museum and Park (Patrick, Kainan, Jaedin, and Paris)
* Yellowstone National Park (4 days of intense sight seeing)
* Rodeo in Cody, WY
* Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas
* Cave *spelunking* at Devil’s Den with Patrick, Sprite, Kainan, Jaedin, Paris, and Steven Garner
* Civil War re-enactment & Beauvior museum


Jr. Ranger Programs completed (by Sprite, Kainan, Jaedin, & Paris):
* Mississippi Gulf Coast
* Natchez Trace State Park (TN)
* Yellowstone National Park
* The Smoky Mountain National Park
* Florida State Park(s)

Hey all ~ just trying to figure out the ins and outs of online journalling. Its getting a bit hectic trying to keep up with emails, when pretty much everything wants to know the same thing:)

Anyway, as soon as I can figure out the best way to upgrade and have a photo-friendly thing going here, I'll start posting some photos... so especially you grandparents out there can see what the kids are up to!

I'm enjoying being "just" a mom again for a time. Although there was a time when hearing that phrase made me really annoyed, now it fits a little better, because to me it means that I'm not the one bringing in the bacon, so to speak.

I love the travelling, and the rallies are interesting. It's fun getting to paint and create to make money ~ but BOY is it stressful to have that be our sole source of income! Having the comforts/necessities totally rely on my ability to sell my artistic abilities gets a bit much for me after a while.

It was getting better by the end of the season. More people were getting to know me, and my name was alreadygetting around, so business was picking up significantly.

I'm really looking forward to starting next season. We'll be starting out this year caught up on bills and have most of our vendor fees paid before the season starts. That will be much less of a strain than last year when we started out so far behind, we spent the entire season playing catch up!

At any rate, I am so completely enjoying being "just" the mom. We're getting into our new school routine, learning about all sorts of things. I find the whole thing so fascinating. Its amazing to me to watch the kids take hold of somehting and learn it and learn to love learning. The boys are so into reading now that when "quiet time" come sat 8:00 they are up in their bunks without a complaint, buried in their books! Jaedin seems to go into his own world, lost in his books. Kainan has to come and tell me each time he finishes a good chapter. They are both so excited to have reached the place in their reading skill that they can read books they've been wanting to read without help for a long time.

All of this is inspiring Paris to learn to read as well. School is so much FUN!

We'll be staying put here until the first of April. Then it will be off to the rallies again. Christine and Scott are being FANTASTIC hosts/friends for our family and spoiling us quite a bit. (I get to COOK often ~ and use their oven for home made bread!:) The kids love being here ~ and having access to pets. Its turing out to be a great experience. We are definitely feeling very blessed in our lives right now!

ANYway ~ I'd best get back to writing my stories. Almost all of my CHristmas gifts this year are hand-made. The boys are getting a book with an adventure story with them as the main character. Paris and my nephew Dallas are getting shorter books about them on little adventures ~ and everyone else will probably get artwork, videos or writing of their own. Next year maybe I'll actually be able to afford shopping:)

Hopefully I can get my thoughts organized a little better before continuing this online journey ~ but at any rate, now you know the "real" scrambled me!

Byn (I'm on page 175 of the boys' CHristmas present-book today!)

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