sick kids

We had a good weekend. I don't have any new pictures. The batteries on our camera go dead all the time. That is one thing I have to buy before the adoption is a new camera that actually doesn't need new batteries every other day. So annoying.
Aaron's parents were here over the weekend. I worked 7-3 Friday, but actually didn't get done charting until 5pm. Which is very unusual for me. Normally, if I have a bad morning and don't chart as I do it, at least I can chart in the afternoon, but rarely am I there late. Needless to say, I was questioning my abilities by the time I left that day. It was bad. Aaron's parents were here When I got home and knowing they were coming and I might be working all weekend, I went ahead and bought a bunch of easily prepared food for Aaron to cook. I have ended up not working since Friday, although they have called me twice since.
Natalie woke up with a sore throat/fever Sunday morning. Her good friend at church had strep throat, so I assumed that is what it was. I was going to take her to a walkin on Monday, but couldn't find one open, so I decided to just take her to her doctor yesterday> Well, he and his wife (the other doctor) are on vacation until the 9th. We drove to the nearest walk -in about 25 min. away. It was so full, I had to park around back, so I called from my car to make sure the crowd was for the actual walkin instead of the doctor's office next door. They were already full, so I drove to the other one on the other side of this town and we went there. I left the house at 8:40 and didn't get home until 12:00. What a morning! She didn't have strep, but her lymph nodes were swollen and he gave her some antibiotics, saying she had pharyngitis. She woke me up about 5:30am burning up with fever again, so maybe in the next 36 hours, the antibiotics will kick in. Madelyn started complaining of a headache and sore throat last night. Still no fever this morning, but this is how Natalie's started. Aaron's parents were considering taking the girls home with them for a few days, but Natalie's sickness changed their minds.
I sent me and the girls' applications in for camp yesterday. The girls don't want to go unless I do, and since it is 5 hours away, I don't feel comfortably leaving them for a week. So I applied for a counselor job for the 1st and 2nd grade week. It is the last week in July. I have 4-5 weeks to get in shape. It is 5 hours straight south from here and sooooo hot and humid. And if I am a counselor instead of the nurse like I was last year, I won't have air conditioning. But I really don't want to be the nurse for that age. I didn't even mention it to the director of the week that I was a nurse. I suppose if that is my last choice I might do it. If they already have enough counselors and a nurse, I told them to not sign up the girls either. We already have 2 VBSs planned to go to, and that doesn't include 2 of the churches we went to last year.
Our cat is about to pop with kittens. Yesterday I made her a bed that is partly covered, that I am hoping that she will have the kittens in. We'll see. She checked it out. She has been a homebody the last few weeks. She used to go on walks with us, but now she just watches us walk away. It rained all day yesterday, so she sat in the garage looking out, and it has already started today. Anyone have any way of telling that delivery is imminent? I really want to watch. If she will let us. I never had cats growing up. I will be sure and post the pictures when it happens. Got to get some more batteries.

Snakes

Yesterday, the girls came running in saying there was a snake in the back yard. Aaron had just left for Walmart, so I yelled for the girls to bring me the shovel. I thought it was a copperhead, and was too scared it would come back to just let it go. I wacked it a few times with the shovel, but I guess because it was on top of a tiny pile of leaves, it didn't hurt it. It was just biting the shovel like crazy and finally slipped down into our window well. I stood there waiting forever for Aaron to come back home. And when he did, he correctly identified it as a corn snake. I felt bad for trying to kill it. So we took it out and turned it loose in the field behind our house. He seemed to recover well from the wacks with the shovel.

No word from the adoption agency last week, other than they are supposed to be having another conference this week to discuss the closing/keeping open of the program. Keep praying that they let us have a referral. There have been two boy referrals this month, of course that has nothing to do with our number on the list which is still 11.

Last Friday was our last coop classes for this year. The girls have really enjoyed them. Madelyn was in a play "Peter Rabbit" that she had started working on in January. She had a speaking part and did really well. She loves performing and even though she gets a little nervous, it doesn't keep her from doing it. I don't think they are going to offer a drama class next year, and I am sure she will be disappointed. She was Flopsy. She wanted Aaron's parents to come watch, so they drove down early Friday morning, watched the play and then drove back after we went out to eat for lunch. They had some old friends in town that they had to get back to.

Saturday, there was an Indian Festival about 15 min. from here, so we went to it for about 3 hours. There was a lot of Indian Dancing. Hannah wanted to dance with them from the time they started. We went to a different Indian Festival back in the fall and she got to go out there and dance with them then. So, finally, the last song they did, they invited people to come out there with them. Madelyn and Natalie refused to go, but Hannah ran. She went up to the "scariest" looking Indian who was dressed in a Warrior outfit and apparently wasn't scared at all. It was cute.

After watching them dance, we went to the tiny ampitheater where there was a little girl singing song after song. Thankfully, I had brought our cooler full of drinks, because we had only brought $6. We used $5 to buy 2 hotdogs and 2 chips that the girls split. I had also brought a box of granola bars which we all snacked on earlier. Aaron noticed that they were starting the Civil War reenactment where we had just been, so the girls and I stayed and watched another girl sing song after song after song, while Aaron went over to watch the reenacters alone. The girls were fine with that I think, because they kept shooting cannons off and it was so loud, even across the pond, that you couldn't help but jump every time they did it. While waiting for Aaron, Hannah began to get very whiny, and therefore causing me to have a meltdown. Just kidding! -Although I was very ready to leave by the time that Aaron got back. We went home and spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy, then the evening we played outside with the girls. Mostly badminton and frisbee (or crispy as Madelyn used to call it)

Sunday was church and I actually cooked a roast in the crockpot starting Saturday night. Sundays are so hard to plan lunch because we are usually starving when we get home from church. Even with cooking the roast, I still had to cook side dishes to go with it after we got home. Many Sundays we succomb to the pressure and just go get fast food. I actually soaked some beans this morning and have them cooking. Cooked some cubed steak and have that cooking in the crock pot. I am fixing to make some cornbread, and some mashed potatoes. Won't Aaron be surprised? When we lived in SC, I cooked all the time. I was always trying new recipes and I actually made lunches and desserts and sold them to people that worked in this doctor's office. But for some reason, since we moved, I have lost my heart for cooking and poor Aaron, who people used to be jealous of because he got to eat so good all the time, is now yearning for the old days. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I just can't get into it. I am trying I miss Krogers. Here, we have two "family" owned grocery stores. and a Super Walmart. Aaron brought up a good point about it. That I have to go to 2 different stores to get a full fridge. I don't know if I have ever bought ground beef at Walmar that didn't have some kind of hard peice in it. Gag! So, I buy nonground meat there, but usually end up going to one of the family stores for most of my meat, but everything else is so much cheaper at Walmart. I even had a dream the other night that I happened down a road that I hadn't been on yet since living here and found a Kroger. I was so excited to tell Aaron when he got home. Pretty sad when you dream about an old grocery store that you used to love.

Weekend in Review

Took the girls to their weekly coop classes on Friday. It lasts from 9-12 and usually, I sit in the gym on the bleachers the whole time. I normally take a book to read, or write letters, make a grocery list, anything to pass the time. Sometimes, there are other moms there who are talkative and that really passes the time if there is someone to talk to. Since it is getting towards the end of the year people have been putting curriculum and books out to either sell or give away. I got a free book on homeschooling since I forgot a book this time. Thankfully, I grabbed it early b/c I was asked to go sit in on the chess class. Talk about excitement. It was 7th 8th grade boys and there were only 4 of them. They were very well behaved and nice. The rule is that there has to be at least 2 adults in every class. I told them that I didn't know how to play chess and had probably played twice in my lifetime. They said the adult in their class didn't know how to play either, she had to read a book. I thought that was funny.
I decided since I had been extra lazy with my work last month(I only worked 12 hours) That I needed to get on the ball this month. So, I worked 7-3 Saturday. It is a change to go from evening shift to day shift, but nice. Nice to get up early and be home by 4, instead of when I work 3-11, I get up at normal time, try to get a nap in, and then leave for work after being awake half the day. Then not get home until after 11:30. I like day shift b/c it helps to stay on a better sleep schedule, but when I work evenings, I feel like I miss less family time. I leave for work at 6:30 at night and the kids start going to bed at 8.
They begged me to work at least 4 hours on Sunday, so I agreed to work 3-7. It was a tiring weekend b/c we were up untl about 1am Sunday morning. After getting up at 5:30 am Saturday morning. There were terrible storms coming through and I was wanting to stay up at least long enough to watch the major danger blow over. We put the girls to sleep in the hallway in sleeping bags, which they found exciting. Whenever the weather radio alarms, Hannah says "are they going to save us?" She asked where Aaron and I were going to sleep since the hallway was full. I told her our bed, and she was like "but what if a tornado comes and gets you and then we won't have any parents any more" It was sweet and sad at the same time.
After Aaron got home tonight, he challenged me to a game of badminton after supper. So, after warming up with the girls on our team, where Madelyn does pretty well as long as she doesn't have to move her feet, and Natalie has the same underhanded swing no matter how the birdie comes over the net and I just know that someday, I will get it on the chin from her wild swing. (we are normally on the same team, they fight over who gets to be on Aaron's team. I don't know why). We have got to get another racket for Hannah to carry around. Oh, Aaron beat me 15-5. We really don't know how to score badminton since we left the directions that came with it out in the rain, so we just scored like we were playing volleyball. I'll beat him next time.
Only 1 person signed up for our biweekly ladies' lunch tomorrow. Now, normally about 3-4 people sign up, and last time< I think only two people signed up, so on Monday, I spent a bunch of time calling around and sure enough, we had about 8-9 people. But I had already spoke to a few regulars on Sunday that couldn't come and with only one person signing up and me calling the other regulars who can't come, I decided to cancel. I hope no one shows up tomorrow, but SIGN UP already. Of course if people can come at the last minute and didn't sign up, I want them to come, but it is so hard to plan if I have no idea how many are coming.
I scheduled a Tastefully Simple party at my house for June 6th. I hope to have a good group for that. I am supposed to meet the consultant in a few weeks to get the invitations to send out. I went to a party at my sister's in law Cathy a few years ago and loved the product. It was a nice little party too.

Cookies

I found this cookie idea at the Family Fun Magazine website. I love that website, they have party ideas, crafts for every season and age group. I think the website is familyfun.com. I had planned on making the sugar cookies this morning, then taking the cookies, icing and the candy to make butterflies to Daisys. Now there are bad storms coming, they have let school out early, Madelyn's Brownie meeting is canceled, and we are going to cancel Daisys too and meet next week instead.

So, I decided we would make cookies anyway since the girls were a little disappointed that we won't be having their meetings today. I thought they turned out cute.

My book discussion class is going well. We are on chapter 12 and moving right along. We had to cancel one due to lots going on that day with church. And we changed our last meeting to Monday evening since it was another busy day at church. There were only 3 of us and I figured that there might be 4 at the most. But it was a good meeting and we are all enjoying it (at least the ones that showed up Monday night) I will probably start another one when this one gets close to wrapping up. If I remember right, there are 24 chapters and we usually do 2 chapters a meeting.

At church, they just started a new Wed. night class for those 20-40. I went last night and I think it will be nice. I hope that we will all start doing stuff together. I have been making friends better since starting this book group and since starting the every other week lunches at church, but Aaron hasn't made many close friends yet. Men don't need to talk as much as women, and Aaron doesn't talk as much as most men, so he doesn't make lots of conversation.

We put up a badminton net in our back yard a few weeks ago and have had so much fun playing with the girls. I joked with Aaron that we needed to have some people over for a badminton tournament. Natalie didn't play to much for the first few weeks. She had trouble being able to actually hit the birdie when if came by and I understand - it isn't fun to play when you never make contact. But the last few days, she actually has been making contact and most of the time it goes off in a weird direction, not over the net, but it is a start and she actually wants to play now. Madelyn of course, just took right to it. She loves to do anything that has to do with sports and she usually picks it up real quick. She is actually good competition for Aaron and I. I think she would be great at tennis. Hannah of course, just stands there dangerously swinging the racket and getting in the way. I actually hit her in the face with my racket the other day and thankfully, I barely skimmed her forehead with it. If either of us had been closer, I think there would have been blood, because I was swinging pretty hard.

Our Tuesday lunch with the ladies is next week. I was really hoping for more older ladies, I mean elderly. Maybe eventually they will come. I hate to think of them being in the house all the time. I hope that the summer time will bring more people. Lots of women at church are schoolteachers, so if they aren't out of town on vacation, maybe they can come.

Pretty Girls

I thought the girls looked especially pretty yesterday - all ready for church.

We had a good day yesterday. We went to church services in the morning and came home, ate lunch, the girls played outside for a while, then Aaron, Hannah, and I went and took a nap while Madelyn and Natalie played on the computer. We went back to church early last night for a meeting to plan for our VBS this summer.

I am hoping to be busy this summer like last summer. We went to 3 different VBS's and a week at camp. It is nice in the summer to break up the days especially if Aaron is on a fire and out of town. Something about staying in the house from dawn to dusk, without Aaron coming home from work to break the day up - makes for a very long day. Last summer, it was hard when Aaron was gone. The girls and I had gone to camp on Saturday, Aaron called on Friday to say he was leaving Saturday to go out west, so we sped home Friday evening and got to spend about 12 hours with him before he left town for 18 days. So we got to spend about 12 hours with him in the period of 26 days. But thankfully, both weeks he was gone, two churches in town had their VBS and that helped pass the time while we missed him.

This summer, I already have 2 VBS's on our calendar and that doesn't include two of the churches we went to last year. I am very seriously considering going back to the camp that we went to last year. Last year, I was camp nurse for the Jr. High week. This year, I hope to go to the 1st and 2nd grade week as a counselor. I haven't called the director yet, but plan to do so today to see if he needs a female counselor. I don't really want be the nurse again.

I spoke to our adoption agency last week, and she urged us to stay where we were and to hope and pray that the person that is in charge in Vietnam decides to honor what they had said back at the beginning of the year. That everyone with their dossiers in by a certain date would eventually get a referral even if the adoptions close in September. Hopefully, we will get a referral even if Sept.1 comes and goes. She said that the dates weren't set in stone right now, and to not give up hope yet.