Busy... &, did someone say babysitting??

Wow... life is going by faster than i have time to update. Before i get an update posted, i need to "update" the update.

I was going to update last week that i had agreed to babysitting again in September (this is the three kids i had since April), and i was also asked if i'd take the other two little boys one day/week to give the new mom a break (her baby has been pretty fussy)... so i agreed to that as well. So the newest update is that the mom of the three kids called this morning and asked if i could take them back sooner. She said the kids are just more pleasant when they've been staying here, and they ask to come here... i guess they really like it here. I'm wondering how much of it is the adjustment of a new place... but whatever... I agreed... but because we're busy quite often in the next two weeks, i won't have them until the 11th. Oh, she said she would most likely be done work by the end of August, until spring, so then i don't feel so bad for not taking off the rest of the summer.

We did have a wonderful weekend away at family camp (Ranger Lake Bible Camp). I'll try to get some pictures up of that (eventually). Jonathan was blessed to get Friday off so that we could be there for the full long weekend (Thursday night til Sunday afternoon). My sister & bil were there as well with most of their crew (one of the foster children was with his family for the weekend), and my other younger sister joined us.

I think i sort of surprised myself by actually going on a trail ride (like, on a horse). Maybe my sense of adventure is improving/growing?? (preparation for our trip to Ethiopia??). Jonathan got the first horse in line up, then they said "one of the moms" for the next horse, and i thought it was kind of big so i'd pass and let my sister take that one, but then i thought i'd like to be near Jonathan, so I went ahead. And I'm sure it ended up being the biggest horse in the group... but he was just fine ~ one of those "gentle giant" types. I even managed to get up on my own.

The last night at camp we had a thunder storm ~ all night ~ it was still thundering when we got up in the morning, and 10min. before breakfast, the power went out. By lunch time the sky had cleared up beautifully (power was back on after breakfast sometime).

Coco was happy to see us when we got home. I was so concerned for her because she gets so depressed when we go away (we seldom go anywhere overnight) she doesn't eat or drink properly, and she's a bit finicky about who takes care of her (usually my younger sister does that, but she was with us at camp).

Today i got out for a bit of shopping (didn't get everything done ~ again ~ just not enough time ~ lol), and planned to be home by 3, but wasn't home til 3:40 when Darwin reminded me (i had totally forgotten) that he was working today. Yikes! I got home just in time to take him to work.

And now i've got 3 of my sister and bil's older kids over for the week (minus 2 days when all the kids are going to "cousins camp" that my sister is doing for them ~ i'll be helping at least on Thursday).

Anyway, looks like it's time for me to go... more (pictures) when i get a chance.

My haircut on Tuesday was fun... I really like this hair stylist, and my first hair cut was free (well, with a coupon ~ and we paid for the coupon book). After cutting (trimming) my hair, she took a straightening iron to it and straightened all my hair. I've never had straight hair before, so it was very different ~ it was funny seeing some reactions (if i can figure out how to post a video, i'll share Jonathan's first reaction).

Sorry this isn't a great picture, but it's one of the better ones (if nothing else, i've had a few compliments on the smile ~ lol).

Maybe one day i'll get a straightening iron... my hair felt so super soft and it was so easy to do for a few days. It's curly again today :-)

K, so the week is almost done again...

... and i don't feel like i've gotten much accomplished ~ lol. Ended up babysitting on Wednesday, and have 2 or 3 kids for the day tomorrow as well. Today I went over to my sister & bil's right after VBS to stay with her brood while she went to pick up two more foster children (in case she isn't busy enough?? lol... ).

Tuesday was my day in the city ~ i had booked an appointment for a hair cut, so i thought i'd take advantage of the day to do a big grocery shopping (it ended up even bigger $$ than i anticipated), and pick up a few other things... although i really only got the one other big thing done, and that by the grace of God.

Janique has a beautiful dress that she'd like to wear to her cousin's wedding this summer, but by our standards of modesty, it wasn't "complete." (It needs a "top" of some sort). The color and type of fabric is kind of unique, so i figured my best bet would be to check out a fabric store and ask for suggestions (pattern & fabric). I haven't been to a fabric store in YEARS and i had less than an hour to figure it out ~ at first i thought that'd be enough time, but in hind sight, it wouldn't have been if God hadn't sent help ~ lol. I walked in, began looking for patterns, was wondering about the first one i found... and a friend walked in with her daughter. They both know sewing well, so i asked for some help. I pulled out the dress to show her what we're working with, and she quickly found a pattern that would work well (she quickly agreed ~ when she saw the one i'd been looking at ~ that i didn't know what i was looking for ~ lol). Then she offered to help me find fabric as well. She was SUPER helpful! I was so blessed! Really, the odds of meeting in that place at that time... thank You God!

And we're "past" bed-time again... but everyone is still up, so they might as well pack their lunches for tomorrow (one less thing to do in the morning since we'll be babysitting by then). If the 8yr. old comes, i think she'll feel lost without Janique home... so i'm thinking up some possible "fun" things to do.

What a strange feeling!

This morning I drove all the kids to VBS for the day. It's a new experience for them in a few ways... it's not our church's VBS (so new faces and in a new place) and put on by a conservative Mennonite church. Also, it's all day (from 9:30-3:00), and open for children ages 5-15! Our church used to have a longer program, but several years ago shortened it to just the morning, and that's the way it's been since then.


Our church is planning VBS for next week, but they're doing the Veggie Tales program "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Besides the fact that our personal convictions don't hold up Veggie Tales in high esteem (not sure that we're adamantly opposed, but mildly anyway), our VBS is only up to age 12, and Janique was rather disappointed that her last year was going to be a Veggie Tales theme, and Reagan didn't really sound too interested either. Brenden & Darwin are both too old, so it's kind of neat that they all get to go to this other one. Reagan was most apprehensive ~ guess he's really not used to new group settings ~ and I wasn't going to "make" him stay if he really didn't want to, but he seemed fine with it by the time i left. Friends of our have their kids there as well, but only the older kids are in the same classes... the others are all in between ages. After I left, I realized that i hadn't connected with Brenden's teacher/leader ~ to let him/her? know where Brenden's "academics" are at (just in case he's asked to read or write... stuff like that)... Ooops! Oh well, if i was really concerned, i could've gone back (i'd only just left when i remembered i could've mentioned it), but i'm confident that Brenden & Darwin together will figure out how to manage that.

Unfortunately with the kids all being away all week, we'll be working hard to get Brenden's program done after VBS. I doubt we'll get through it all, but we'll focus on the more important parts.

Oh, i think i'm babysitting on Friday (the new babysitter for the last job i had will be away). Hmm, that could be a different kind of day ~ babysitting without my kids home.

Anyway, I got a chunk of weeding done this morning before i got too hot... so i'm taking a break. I have PLENTY of housework to do anyway!

But first it's lunch time...

All done babysitting?? lol...

Today i watched the two boys who we had more regularily last year til earlier this year (their mom is on maternity leave now).

And I guess we're having my newest nephew over tonight (sounded like they wouldn't be back for him til midnight, so i offered to keep him overnight instead ~ rather than stay up that late).

BUT, today is the first day that Brenden & I got all of his program done (except for the part Jonathan does with him, and he shortened his "trampoline" time because of rain)! That is a pretty big accomplishment for us! He didn't get as much math done as we've been aiming for, but he's just been very slow with it, so he more than filled the time allotted for that. The important thing there is to have him understanding the concepts... and then perhaps we can work with the speed??

Anyway, i guess i better get ready for the baby ;-)

All done babysitting

Well, like i said to my kids... "all done 'full-time' babysitting... for now." The last two weeks we've had more days off than not for our regular family, but we've had other kids too so it's been busy anyway. By Friday night last week i was feeling very "DONE." But i realized too that i'd gotten myself to that place, and so on Saturday, when my sister called and asked if i'd be honest about whether or not i'd be interested in having 5 of her kids overnight, i told her i'd likely not be honest... so that pretty much answered her question. I really felt bad turning it down, but she is so understanding and had no problem saving their "event" for another time. I just wasn't at a place where i could've really enjoyed having them (i likely would've been less patient and more grumpy)... all while trying to get ready to teach Sunday school the next morning, and feeling sunk in the disorder our house has become in the last several week.

By Monday (i had the day off ~ nice surprise Sunday night) I finally felt like i was getting it back together a bit. Still haven't been feeling on top of the world ~ or anything else for that matter ~ but I'm learning things about myself and I think i'm identifying the greater sources of my stress. Knowing that makes it easier to now figure out ways of dealing with those stresses.

One stress, and probably the underlying stress, is program with Brenden. I guess that doesn't totally surprise me considering how i found it 7 yrs. ago when we tried this program with him, and i am really thankful that it's not worse now than it is! Truth is, I think we're probably doing a better job of it this time around than we did back then. I really have to be careful not to beat myself up when we don't get it all done, but at the same time, i want to be committed to it! A big part of it is just sticking to it and DOING it.

Anyway, not sure if i'm making much sense... but it's getting late and i've been way too tired lately, so i'm off :-)