I found them!!

Remember these?
http://lmand12js.blogspot.com/2009/02/remember-her.html

Today when I was looking for another picture, I came across my missing pictures taken during a visit from a young man from Canada that we met at our convention. (I could only find one earlier) I think our family was quite a novel thing to him, and as usual, my children did their best to make his visit memorable!
Ms. Headwig & The lady from California were in top form. I have no idea who all those other kids in the picture that were watching the activity were....I think one of my sons called in his friends or something! In one of the photos, you can see the "head" used to create Ms. Headwig. What fun memories!

Sidewalk Artist

Maybe I should let her paint on my walls...what do you think?

Feeling frustrated

• Need to finish my house projects
• A. so I can get the rest of the mess out of here
• B. so I can post pictures
• Too much going on in my brain I'm trying to remember
• A. Need to make a list
• I need to change some of my blogs around
• I'm neglecting my journaling
• I'm neglecting getting back to some correspondence I want to do very badly
• We are working on some critical parent/children ABC's
• The next two weeks are going to be SO busy & full
• I have "fun" projects I want to do
• I have a work (income) project to do
• Leon's job hours are way better in some ways, and worse in others.
• A. Now I'm a single parent all after school/evening instead of weekends
• B. He doesn't have as many hours to try and get his 2nd job done, let alone any thing at home.
• It's slowly "looking" like spring, but NOT feeling like spring & I'm COLD and want more sunshine!!
  

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Last week our kids were gone all last week for spring break. These 4 went out to stay with two of their older sisters, and our 17 yr. old went to ND to visit another sister for the week. Leon and I stayed home and had a vacation. From the kids. Not from work or projects, because we painted our living room & bedroom! However, I did not have to cook one meal for 9 days!! That was a vacation in itself! The first day they were gone I caught up the laundry so that was taken care of too. Hopefully my curtains & shelves will be back up in place in the next day or so, and I can post pictures from our week at home.
But, back to my picture here, this was taken at A&W when we met part way on Sunday to get the kids back home. A&W & root beer floats. Ummm! The best!

Tell me, What do you think?

• Do you limit phone calls after a particular time at night for your teenagers?
• Do you hear; "But mom, everyone else can talk after ......, and they're busy before then."?
  
• What time is "No more talking or calling?"
• What time is bedtime for your grade school kids?
• What time is bedtime for your teenagers?
• Do you have different times on these for weekdays, weekends, or summer?

*EDIT: I'm going to give a bit of explanation here. My younger kids do not talk on the phone, unless it is briefly, so that isn't an issue with them.
My kids do not like to go to bed at night, any of them, so it is an issue with all ages.
On school nights:
My 3 younger ones, 7, 9 & 11 are SUPPOSE to go to bed at 9.
My two older ones, 14 & 17 are SUPPOSE to go to bed at 10 (Whether they go to bed/sleep after they are in their rooms, is beyond my control. They still have to get up in the morning.)
We have an on-going issue at our house of time to be off the phone & computer at night.
Currently on school nights, the phone & computer is done at 9:30 p.m. Can anyone convince me why I should allow phone calls after that time? I constantly get "but I didn't get to talk long enough earlier, I didn't get the phone until..., My friend was busy until now.....

The Essay

I Forgot I was going to do this yesterday. This week has been filled with cleaning & painting, and now trying to get things back in order before the kids come home tomorrow, but next week I need to put my "vacation" :) pictures up, so I'd better get this done today!
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, this post follows Thursdays post below)

"Why America's Veterans Should Be Honored"

Veteran: One grown old in experience, especially in military life. Honoring: Held in high regard or respect.
However in reality, veterans and honoring is more than those black and white definitions. Why our veterans should be honored is not a question we should have to ponder on too excessively.

It has been said "Freedom is never free." Men and women in uniform have proudly stood for our country, only to be knocked down again. They've experienced what it's like to be captured and tortured to the point of insanity. We know this because of the pain that never ceases to haunt their eyes. It's a pain that's still healing. Our veterans have been driven against resistance to continue in battle as their comrades were agonizingly engulfed by death in various forms. They feel the suffering, the anguish, when in a matter of seconds a soldier that endured so many traumas already is reduced to nothingness. Those of us that aren't fighting may think; "Oh, it's just another pile of ashes to sweep up." The veterans paid the price for our freedom by placing their lives on the line. To be willing to sacrifice themselves when we are not.

Dick Cheney said that, "It is easy to take liberty for granted when you haven't had it taken from you." We haven't had our freedoms stripped and taken from us like some unfortunate victims in other countries, unable to speak or walk freely. Many of our veterans have gone through that tragic period, when their liberty was torn apart, catapulted to the ground and shattered, leaving only minuscule fragments, as if it never existed in the first place.

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." (Jose' Narosky) It doesn't matter how long those veterans live, they will never forget the trial and tribulations, where horror and fear were every day acquaintances. It's the pain that binds them together. We are not the ones that made a commitment to defend this country whether it meant standing steadfast and strong when bombs pelt from the sky like raindrops, or not. Our veterans have fought, and continue to fight for this beloved country; for us, to keep it from crumbling, to keep our hearts beating as one. The least we can do is honor them, to respect and to pray for them. To help them conquer the difficulties caused by the struggles for our homeland's freedom.

*Meshayla J.
age 14/8th grade
October, 2008

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Back in October, Meshayla wrote and entered a writing contest for "Patriot's Pen Competition sponsered by the VFW. She loves to write, so her biggest problem in writing the essay was that it was a 400 word limit. She loves "descriptive" words, and when she asked me to help her cut it down to 400 from her rough draft, it was very painful!
Last month I got a phone call-"This is (___) from the VFW, and we are calling to find out how many of you will be attending the dinner for the contest winners. ?????!!!! I had no idea what she was talking about, as my daughter totally blew it off after the teacher told her she was one of the winners and she had forgotten to tell me! I think I was more excited than she was!
Anyway so last week we went to the dinner and got to hear the winners read their essays. In this particular contest, there was 167 entrys, and Meshayla's essay was 5th place. She won $20
I was very proud of her, not only for being one of the winners, but she did an excellent job of reading the essay in front of the crowd.
*EDIT* I'll post the essay tomorrow for anyone who wants to read it.--

A beautiful day!!

What a beautiful day it is today! No matter that the calendar says the first day of spring is Friday, for me it's today! It got up to 79* today, and we have enjoyed all the windows open while working on our house project!
This morning as I looked out my kitchen window to the back yard I could see a hint of green in the grass for the first time! The bushes all of a sudden are loaded with buds. The birds are singing and pecking around the yard. It reminded me of this song! Spring has arrived. Even if we get more snow or cold weather, spring is here!!

Spring Break!

My kids are on vacation, I'm on vacation.
Probably Lynisha is NOT on vacation.....Our 4 younger kids went to visit their two older sisters in Sidney for a week, and Relyssa went to ND to visit another older sister and gets to babysit her little niece for the week while she's there!
My vacation is being at home while the kids are all gone. I have a lot of stuff to do while they're gone. As usual. Probably way too much. As usual when this happens. Last year the kids were gone for the week too, and Leon and I re-did the office/scrapbook room. This year we are re-doing the living room. Took the wall-paper off, and we're going to re-paint. One thing leads to another, and since we were planning to paint the living room, and would be "in the mode", I wanted to paint the bedroom which we've never done. To do that, I had to do some cleaning in there, which meant that I had to clean the closet out, which has been very neglected & stuffed full of everything & anything for the last ?? years. So, that fun little story, "if you give a mouse a cookie"....yeah. Anyway, this is my idea of a great vacation. Kids gone, projects to do. No meals to cook, no kids to keep track of, no kid generated laundry or messes. No schedules except my own. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. But, I'm going to LOVE my vacation too, even working every minute of it! The Closet After cleaning, re-organizing & new shelf/rods:
You don't want to see it before. Trust me.The Living room Before the painting project: Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have "After" pictures to post!
Colors we're working with for the living room paint:

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This is my middle boy. The other day he was just 2, running around getting in to everything he could find. Running outside down the asphalt street in his white socks *AGAIN.* The one who refused to cry if he got a spanking, and the only way I could punish him was to sit him up on a high bar stool in the middle of the floor & he couldn't get down. Today he came over to see what we were doing, and it seems like everytime I see him, I do a double take. How and when did you get so tall. So grown up. Just the other day you were my baby, and now you're a head taller than me! I love you Ryan, and am so proud of you!

The puzzle

This is the puzzle we worked on. Sorry, it was hard to get a picture of, and I kept getting a glare on it. 750 pieces, and the kids loved working on it. We hadn't done one in years. Did you try the link below with the picture of the puzzle there? I've had some fun with that. Lots of different ones, and you can choose the amount of pieces & shapes of them too.

10 of 52

Meshayla's artwork

Views from our weekend

I honestly think these are the best I've ever made! (See HERE)

Getting ready for our painting project at spring break time.

750 pieces. This puzzle was alot of fun! The first puzzle we've put together for years.
Oh! Brother!! They love to pick on Relyssa!

But it's o.k....she's got Mark to protect her. Yup, it was one of *the* weekends again :D

My sentiments exactly!

"How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?"

My mom found this, and posted it on her facebook. How true.

Now, mind you as much as I dislike winter, and the long days of Jan. & Feb; as much as I am and looking forward to spring; and happy to see the end of Feb I have to agree with the above.
Now, my whine for the day is "I HATE daylight savings time" and I was reminded it's only a week till it change. NOOOOOoooooooo!