the back door

so in the morning my adorable little family will all pile into our cute little freestyle and head west. we are packed and loaded and anticipating a great adventure. i look forward to sharing our experiences with my blogging world when i return. i will share about mapboy's 8th birthday, fireworks at mt. rushmore, hopefully some bear sightings, and many other tales of this great road trip!!!

so if you ask my hubby i'm sure he'll tell you i'm not myself these days. i've spent a lot of time searching my heart. we are all on a journey and sometimes the trail gets a little more intense. a little more rugged. i used to love adventure. and a whole lot of me still does. but this time around i'm not so sure. there are so many things going on right now. so many big things. they seem small one by one, but when you put it all together it seems huge. i go through times when i start searching my heart. when i start remembering the past and trying to learn from it. usually, i find the answers in that. this time, i don't know if it is that it is all so big or just that i don't get to see the answers. i keep telling hubby that we need to step in faith. and i firmly believe that, but deep inside i have a great deal of fear. i always thrived on change - now everything is changing and my biggest questions are left unanswered. i see it as selfish, bu...

we have had a bountiful supply of strawberries from our little patch this summer. i had made a strawberry shortcake for some friends and myself and we have eaten lots of them with whip cream, princess's favorite. lots have gone in the freezer for smoothies. but i recently read another mommy blog and she posted about her strawberries. there was a recipe for a strawberry pie that looked simple and frankly sounded yummy. so in the midst of all my packing today (did i mention we are bound for yellowstone this week?) i decided to use the remaining berries for this pie. the kids were excited and when hubby came home from work and saw it chilling he seemed a little excited too. i had never made a strawberry pie so i wasn't sure what it would turn out like. after dinner hubby mowed, we dealt with the back-up sewage in the basement, and sat down for some pie. mapboy loved it!! chloe who loves all things strawberry picked the berries and whip cream out and left the rest. bu...

hubby takes great pride in the fact that most people are surprised that he is nearly 40. i try to remind him to be humble but well...i guess if i was nearly 40 and people thought i looked 30 i'd be thrilled too... but yesterday... we went to a wedding of one of our former youth group kids. he is in med school. apparently the bride's mother didn't know who we were and as we walked through the receiving line she shook his hand and asked him if he was in med school with groom! WHAT?!?!!!? now, i know he looks young, and sorry hubby, but 24 is not at all what he looks like!!! why is it that people always say that about him??? what makes him look so young? i mean i love his youthful appearance, but goodness.....noone ever says that to me. i think i might be jealous here!

interesting combination huh? but that pretty much sums up my thursday evening. i might have mentioned needing some girl time. i might have mentioned i was getting some last thursday night!! well, i did and i had a blast and i can't wait for another girls night. it started with trying to help dear friend get rid of her beads. she likes to get rid of things so once she opens stuff up she obsesses about how to finish using it. well, a year ago or so she got way into beading, but realizing she had made bracelets for any and every female she knows she was desparately trying to part with her bead collection. after about an hour of just gazing at them and trying to figure some of her things out, i started making lovely earrings. because we are geeky i made us a matching set. then dear friend got pretty excited when she learned i had 3 holes in one ear and 2 in the other and went a little nuts making me some more beautiful earrings. then i had to put them all in......i was a sigh...

i've been doing some internet surfing these days. now that i'm on dsl it is amazing how fast i can surf!!! anyways...i've been finding all sorts of entries on people saving so much money shopping with coupons and such. i guess i'm totally clueless because i can't figure it out. how do you find them and where do you get them and how do you use them. well, the last one is pretty much common sense, but since my little household is about to go through major changes i'm looking for ways to save money... so help...can anybody out there in blog world get me started?!!!!?!?!?

well, most likely not, but mapboy has spent this week attending our local basketball camp. he has had a blast and i have enjoyed seeing him learn some skills. the one thing i love: he is having fun. there is nothing like watching my child cheer for everyone and get so excited when he makes a basket. i like that when he misses he doesn't get mad. this morning princess and i ran some errands. when we got back to the camp he was just starting the knock-out competition. he was so excited to be in the final 3 of his group. he had the same spot for the free throw competition. there were only 6 in his group, but in the past he was the first or second one out. he is such a joy to watch. in the midst of all the chaos with sensory issues i have loved that he has truly enjoyed this camp. this is progress!!!!!

every year grandma hosts a tea party. she invites the granddaughters for an overnight visit. princess is all pumped up because this year she likes real tea and has made a request for real tea. she has also told me it is a secret what she will eat and what they will do to their faces. she is very excited and counting down this next hour. mapboy is pumped too...this gives a good excuse to hang out with the one and only boy cousin on that side. nothing like a mcdonald's lunch and a round of putt-putt!!!! and then tonight - it is my much anticiapted girl time!!! i'm getting out to visit my dear friend. no kids (atleast not mine!) and no agenda. maybe craft, maybe chat, maybe watch a good chick-flick. i don't care - it is time that is all mine!!!!!!!! i'm thinking i sound like a 2 year old there!

do you remember that quote from field of dreams??? well, dear friend quoted that to me again in regards to our nature center we added to our house. i got a chuckle out of it. and yes, we built it they came.. recent sightings: a family of chickadees perched on our branch. very cute. a robin family teaching the little one to fly. a family of bunnies that oscar almost got. we imagined the conversation at bunny home that night. my spider friend the snake - did i mention the giant snake i almost stepped on?????? and finally a turkey!!!! do you also know that i live one block from downtown???? this is the second turkey sighting. earlier this spring a deer tragically ended it's life when it jumped from the train tracks onto a construction sign on main street!! that was quite a sight as well..

so i really wanted to write a post on my father...and i will, but in light of our morning here i wanted to share about how my husband is quite the hero in our little world. i was taking my shower this morning. all was uneventful. i was pondering a few recent happenings and just enjoying the morning quiet. i grabbed my towel and started to dry off. i felt a poke on my elbow and thought that was odd. for some reason it was odd enough that i turned to look down. what i saw FREAKED ME OUT!!! i screamed - well i think it was one of those almost silent inhale type screams. it was a giant, black, hairy spider. no kidding...atleast 3 inches!! and very hairy. i threw the towel around me and jumped out of the shower. i ran into our dining room, still draped in my towel and rather wet, and yelled for hubby. he was upstairs and asked what i needed. i think he did sense the tension or fear in my voice and came quickly down followed closely by mapboy. he looked at me a bit odd and then ...

i have to giggle over this one!! although i confess it also warrants great concern over future years... this afternoon turned ugly here. the kids have done okay playing all summer. not great, but okay. we have our daily shares of arguments, but for the most part they have done okay. awful needy, but okay. so anyways.....they were playing outside in the water when mapboy came running in. he headed upstairs. princess followed him in and upstairs. now, normally, i hear a scream from mapboy to get out and a cry by princess as she stands at his doorway. i've been trying to teach them how to speak with respect to each other. so, today, mapboy very nicely said, "i would like to play in my room with my trains alone please." WOWZERS!! i was so impressed. he was getting it... however, princess has not gotten it yet. she is supposed to say, "okay, i understand." instead, she did what she normally does. she cried!! for a good hour!!! on her bed!!! i offered...

about a year ago we broke down and bought a new computer. it of course is absolutely amazing and now that i'm dsl even more amazing. but over the course of the year i have rubbed the m almost completely off and the r and t are close behind. does anyone know how i can replace them?? is there something i can use to write the letters back on. we have a black keyboard with white letters. i know where they are, but well, the kiddos don't have the keyboard memorized quite yet!!!

so this summer is definitely a lot different than summers past. i had definitely enjoyed some time to myself and have found none yet. although i knew that would be the case, i don't think i was prepared for really missing that and deeply craving it. this has been a year of a lot of changes and struggles. all have definitely brought me closer to God and further on the path He has for me. but i realize now how much that quiet time kept me centered during this year. and right now, i feel far from centered. it wasn't much, but having that cup of coffee once a week with a great friend really helps keep things in perspective. having an adult to talk about life with (without children interupting) was so good for me. being able to just be quiet in my own house and ponder the life God has for me was so comforting. He spoke to me in that quietness. now, it is temporarily gone. although it actually has been a good summer so far, i am definitely sensing the lack of quiet in my lif...

this is what we played with at OT this morning....mapboy loved them and i could his body totally relax each time he picked one up! it was amazing!!! we also played on the ball, trampoline, and weighted swing. we did floor exercises and tossed bean bags. we picked up beans with our pincher fingers and held them in our palms. we sat on a dome like cushion and had way too much fun!!! we learned that our sound making is a result of needing to work the jaw muscles. so he gets to drink out of a coffee stirrer often, chew more food, and blow on a whistle or kazoo! sounds rather interesting. when i want to calm him down he gets chewy things, when i want to wake him up he gets crunchy things. when i want him to do seat work he gets to sit on the ball and listen to classical music. he gets to swing and jump!! all in all - i saw first hand that this is a real issue and certain "therapies" really do work! i have renewed hope that all will be well - but i am going to have to stay...

this week when i was at aldis i noticed they had boca meatless burgers. they were about half the price of the regular grocery store (i really dont' know why i know that but i do.) so being the healthy one that i am, i decided at that price i could give them a try. last night hubby was gone over supper. so i roasted squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and peppers in italian dressing and tried to figure out what to fix with them. i decided on hamburgers for the kids and that i would try the boca burger. the one i bought was soy protein. once i got past the odd color of it, i loaded it with reduced fat provolone cheese and A1 sauce and slapped it on a bun. before i could really think about what i was eating i took a bite. honestly, it wasn't too bad!! i don't know that i would eat them daily, but when the family has hamburgers i could probably deal with this. mapboy and princess enjoyed their real burgers. although i might argue that because they will only eat the frozen pat...

so this summer i am more determined than ever to teach my kids how to help around the house. they often help with dusting and picking stuff up, but not a lot of the major things. frankly i decided they are old enough to pitch in more! so yesterday we had a big outing to wal-mart. yes, i know most of you know i'm banned from that store, but i had too many things to get for the church and it is so much easier to use the tax exempt card at that store than anywhere else in town. so...off to wal-mart. i had decided one of the chores for our kids as to daily sweep out kitchen/dining/entry area. in the past i have used a swiffer thing. that works okay but it doesn't do well at picking up the grass the kids drag in or on our dining room rug. i found one of those "vacuums" like you often see at restaurants. it picks stuff up without battery or cords - pure motion. so i bought it and brought it home. mapboy couldn't wait for me to get it open. it happened to be li...

so, i was fixing dinner and trying a new recipe. i had to call my mom to ask about a substitution. she asked what i was fixing. i told her asparagus. i think i heard a chuckle. she calmly asked me when i started eating asparagus. i told her it was my recent favorite and couldn't get enough of it!!! anyways - at supper we all sat down. i set the tray of asparagus(by the way it was super yummy this new way) and both kiddos said, "do we have to eat asparagus?" i said no and walked over with the leftover corn on the cob for them. it needed eaten and i'm an asparagus hog. but for whatever reason, mapboy decided halfway through supper he wanted to try it. he gobbled up the first piece. i had left 3 in the tray. that meant there were 2 left. he kept looking at them and finally asked if he could have another. so he gobbled that one. then he asked for the last piece. now it gets funny - princess decided she wanted to try it. hmm..go figure! so anyways i broke...

so i vowed to keep this updated more for my dear friend. i guess she feels like she will suffer withdrawal or something. needless to say i'm not off to a good start. so even though i'm ready to have couch time with hubby i'm going to fill you all in with a few odds and ends to the past 5 days... 1. my aunt died on saturday. my other aunt is obviously here and i haven't seen her for about 12 years. it has been fun to see her and introduce my family to her. 2. also on saturday we spent the day in michigan (minus the kids) with some old friends. walked the pier, ate ice cream, and yummy hamburgers!! topped it off with starbucks on the way home with a very friendly barista! 3. began summer - day 1 was good, day 2 was good, day 3 - well, summer is starting to hit! 4. put together a schedule and chore chart - already failed to keep at it today, but there were some family issues that took precedence! 5. realized if i want to go around the block with my kiddos on th...