Watch out for rogue agents!

Last night before bed, Jeremy and I watched a couple episodes of Burn Notice. BIG mistake. Suddenly in the middle of the night I got a wild elbow to the face. Hard. I slowly sat up and calmly asked Jeremy why he did that............ Yeah right! I sat up and screamed at him for an explanation. It took him a few seconds to shake himself out of his dream enough to tell me he thought he was a CIA agent. Yeah, I don't care who you think you are, do that again and I'll roll you onto the floor.

Food for thought

Last night the kids and I watched the documentary, Food Inc. Very interesting indeed. A lot of what was said were things that I had already learned recently (such as how corn is in EVERYTHING from poptarts to diapers), but there were a few things mentioned that really surprised me. One thing I found incredibly heartbreaking is that today, minority children have a 1 out of 2 chance of developing type 2 diabetes. 1 OUT OF 2!!!! That is sickening to me. The documentary interviewed a minority family, who showed why fast food seems like the better short term option, but once in that rut, it becomes very hard to break out. My kids were pretty shocked by what they learned, but shocked in a good way. I recommend others watch this film. Our country is getting fatter and sicker every year, and it's important to understand why and how this is happening. Do you really know that's in your food?

The wait is over!!!

Jeremy and I have never put much time into our bedroom. Wherever we have lived, it's usually the last place to get put together, and rarely decorated. With all the other things that have to get done, it just doesn't make our list of most important things to do. Two years ago, shortly after Nahshon was born, Jeremy and I decided a room switch around was in order. At that time Jeremy and I moved into one of the smaller bedrooms, which was once the girl's room. The room was princess pink with it's fair share of "wall art" from a young Bella just discovering the joy of hiding markers in her room for bedtime entertainment. We certainly didn't enjoy the pink, but didn't really have time to care. It was just a place to sleep. Well, after 4 homes and 8 1/2 years, we have finally created a nice bedroom for ourselves! Yesterday Jeremy brought home a beautiful new bed for us. (the only bed frame we've ever had has been those metal ones they give you with the purchase of a new mattress) He also brought home a can of paint, bye bye pink mess! After dinner he cleared out the room, patched up the walls, primed, painted, rearranged the furniture, built our bed, cleaned up the mess, and had us snoozing by our regular bedtime! We went shopping for new bedding too, but the search is still going. He also got me wall lights for above the bed so I can read at night without disturbing him, and now it will actually be comfortable to sit up and read in bed thanks to the nice curved back bed frame! :) Slowly we will replace the rest of the furniture in our room too, but this is an awesome start. I love my new room, thanks hun!

Fine, I'll go shopping

After cleaning out our entire room last night, I have decided our camera cord is just gone. I'll send Jeremy to get a new one within the next few days. Prepare yourselves for picture overload!

Will I make it to the end?

Yesterday, as Bella was rounding hour 13 of her chore (Yes, 13 hours, spanned over two days, to sort and put away 3 standard size loads of clothes; one of which was just bath towels!) Elijah ran through the living room and stepped through a couple of her piles as he did it. In her very best southern drawl, she called out "Don't step on my clothes, they're prize winners!" Curious, I asked her exactly what prize they had won. Again in her new southern character, she replied that "they won the prize for laziest clothes in all the land." So, you mean it's not YOU that's lazy and won't put away the clothes, it's the CLOTHES that are lazy? "yup mama, that's right" All I can say to that is Bless Her Heart, and I mean that in it's truest southern form, if ya know what I mean ;)

Reality TV, here they come!

Fat bellies beware! After watching the Biggest Loser, Bella has decided to add personal trainer to her resume. (this may come in handy when she opens up that sweet shop) She had the other kids pumping iron (5lb weights), doing sit-ups, obstacle courses, yoga, and what I can only assume were supposed to be push ups. Honestly it looked more like they were practicing their belly flops. When she wanted Elijah to hold the weight with both hands and lift it over his head followed by a sit up, he complained it was too hard. He walked off and she shouted "well, see you later big whiner!" Move over Jillian, here comes Bella!

If you are a fan of American Idol, then you know Simon will not return next year. Many papers are speculating about who might replace him and what might happen with the show, but I think I have just the right man; Micaiah. I know, he just a baby, but hear me out on this. He was watching the show with me and the girls last night, and every single time a bad singer came on he burst into tears. Not just tears, but screams! When they stopped, he stopped. When the good singers came on, he'd close his eyes and nearly drift off to sleep. No mean commentary necessary. If you make the baby cry, you are out. If you put him to sleep, you are in. He's perfect for the job. We'll be waiting for your call, Fox.

where did the year go?

On Thursday Nahshon will turn 2. It seems like it was not that long ago that he was turning 1! Why is it that the older I get, the faster time seems to go?

We are very blessed

When Jeremy and I decided to jump into the world of homeschooling, we went in completely blind. We did not know anyone that homeschooled, we just knew it was the best choice for our family. I knew we wanted to join a homeschool group, and so I just googled for homeschool groups in our area. Google returned a list of options, and I chose one at random, Homeschooling His Way. This turned out to be one of the best homeschool decisions I could have made for our family. The people we have met through this group are not just casual friends we go to parks with, they are true friends we go through life with. They are the type of people that make me feel like we are better for knowing them and being able to share in their struggles and triumphs, just as they do with us. I'm so thankful God has brought these people into our lives. Thank you HHW families, you bless us in so many ways.

a beautiful reminder

Psalm 127:3-5 (New International Version)

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

status update

Since many of you have been kind enough to ask, I thought I'd just post 'em

Micaiah Gregory

*8 months old

*25 lbs (same weight as his almost 2 year old brother)

*wears size 18 months

*crawling army man style, and pretty darn good at it

*two bottom teeth

*sleeps through most nights

*smiles all the time, he's a very jolly little guy

*shakes his head and says no, usually for what appears to be no reason

*2 in. scar on his tummy has faded significantly and really isn't that noticeable, but does cause the skin above and below it to roll over the scar when he sits. At this point it's not really noticeable because has has a few other non-scar related rolls on his tummy too :)

*loves food and gets very mad when you don't share with him

*thinks splashing in the tub is the coolest thing he can do

*loves to cuddle with Elijah, and usually ends up falling asleep on his chest

*loves electronics (camera, cell phone, Flip video camera, etc....), always wants to hold them, thinks it's hysterical to watch himself on the flip (which he insists on holding while he watches), and then gets mad when you take it away

*plays cars/trucks/trains with the big boys

He is such a joyful part of our family and I'm so glad he's ours

♥

5 faves

Recently I was just chatting with Isaac, and started asking him about his favorites.....

What's your favorite color?

Pink!

What's your favorite food to eat?

Spaghetti!

What's your favorite animal?

Teddy Bears!

What's your favorite movie?

Thomas the Train!

What's your most favorite thing?

Lightning McQueen Race Car!

And then, I decided to ask......

What's mommy's most favorite thing?

Money Dollars!

Say what now?!?!?! Gee, what a nice (and VERY untrue) thing to say about your mother. I think we're done here.

Christmas gift review

Since I'm STILL looking for my camera cord to download Christmas pics, I thought in the meantime I would post a review of one of gifts Elijah got. Jeremy and I have a sort of a system when buying Christmas gifts for the kids. They get something they want, need, wear, and read. (and 1 gift from the big man of course) This cuts down on spending, unneeded junk, and makes them think long and hard about what they really want. As well as makes us be very selective in what we buy because we don't want to buy them something with a big wow factor that's going to sizzle out after 2 days. Somehow I came across something out there in internet world that was talking about this product, Snap Circuits. It sounded very interesting, and when I found it had great reviews on Amazon and free shipping, I knew that's what I was going to get for Elijah this year. I ordered him the SC 300 kit, and it is hands down awesome! It's educational and entertaining. Elijah absolutely loves it, and it's fun for Jeremy to do with him, which makes it even better. The product says it's for ages 8 and up, but even Isaac likes to help, so I think with supervision, little engineers will have fun with it too. Elijah has had no problems following the instruction manual (it comes with a manual that has 300 projects) and building creations all on his own, and the other kids are always very excited to see what he built. So far he has built a light switch, an AM radio, a speaker system, an alarm, a fan, and a number of combinations of these. We will definitely be adding on to this kit, and I think our next one will be the RC Rover. If you have a young one that like to build things and put things together, I highly recommend the Snap Circuit systems.

He's my little cutie

In other news, stupidity is on the rise

Do you ever read/watch the news and wonder what in the heck is going on in our country? Case in point,

Chicago police may scrap entrance exam in order to hire more minorities . I think anyone that has beyond a 3rd grade education can see what a horribly bad idea this is. This is very simple folks. If you want to hire more minorities, but they can't pass the basic entrance exam, you send them for an education. What you don't do is pat them on the back and hand them a gun! Rather, point them in the direction of the nearest community college. They can improve their reading, writing, and math skills, and maybe even take a few law enforcement classes while they are at it. Doing this is not unfair because more than likely they will get their education for free. Then what you have is people who worked hard to get a good job, will be proud of that work and will probably be a better employee for it, and will be a contributing member of society. Easy as pie people.

To further illustrate my point, I give you the following:

Woman goes crazy for hamburger

woman punches window for nuggets

911 McNugget emergency

punched for place in line

It's barely even real food! What is it about McDonalds that makes people act like this?

It's a scary, incompetent world out there.

Note to self: don't use sarcasm with a 3 year old

Today Isaac came in my room to show me his latest trick. The problem was, he came in speaking loudly and scared Micaiah out of his nap, which of course led to Micaiah instantly screaming. Out of enormous frustration, I said to Isaac "hey hun, next time could you please just come in and yell as loud as you can?" Isaac just said Ok, and then turned and walked out. Once he was 3 steps out of the room, he turned and came back in YELLING at the top of his lungs "HEY MOM, WATCH THIS!" And again showed me his trick. Well, I guess that's what I get for being snarky with a 3 year old.

Yeah, you're funny

Isaac's newest knock-knock joke:


Knock Knock

who's there?

I don't wanna say

Christmas and stuff

I just realized it's been almost a week since I last posted, sorry. I was very sick for a while, and I'm just now starting to come out of the fog. I will post Christmas pictures soon, I just need to find my camera cord.........