Day 73

So much happened today!

First I sat Makkiah down to do his K workbook that I had recently bought him only to discover that he had finished the WHOLE thing!!

So it's on to a different one!

He just amazes me sometimes!!
_______________________________
Taniyah has learned to say her name!

You asked her what her name is and she says "tete"

It's SO cute!!
_______________________________
Went to pick up Ladaria from practice and headed home.

Was on the 94 freeway when my front passenger tire blew out.

Thankfully we have AAA so I called them.

Kristi was nice enough to come take the kids home for me while I waited for AAA.

An hour and 15 minutes later the tow truck got there.

Put the spare on, let the jack down, and pppppppppppppppppppppppffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!

The spare had a hole in it and the air came out of it as well!!

So he towed it to Sam's Club and thankfully Kristi came back to stay with me until the driver came so she gave me a ride home.

Will get the tire fixed tomorrow.

Taniyah was the only one that I kept since there wasn't room in Kristi's van for her seat.

So when I got home to feed her dinner she did this:

Day 72!

Today we went to church and stayed for a meeting until around 1pm.

Then Jaleel and I went to Walmart to get a few things and came home.

Not much happened today.

I couldn't quite get motivated to do anything.

Tomorrow starts a new week.

I think I'll start it off with a cup of coffee and a kick in the pants!!

Only 26 days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahma and Poppa will be back in TWO days.

Boy I have a lot to do before they come back-HEHE!!!!

Day 71

Today was a lazy play with the kids and with pictures day!

It was to hot to really do anything.

I did make it to the commissary so I guess I did accomplish something!

Jaleel went to a friends house and then his friend came over here to stay the night.

I have a bunch of things that I need to do.

Laundry, baseboards, cleaning up, painting the two doors that I took down, putting all the stuff that is in my bedroom back in the kitchen where it goes.

Here is my latest project:

Day 70!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!

One more milestone down!!

Getting closer by the day!!

As you can see we got our new flooring in and it's finished!!

It looks so nice!

Now I just need to get the baseboards in and I think that I can do it.

We'll be able to move stuff back into the kitchen today and then I'll have my kitchen back.

I'm tired of having the kids eat in the library and it being so far from the kitchen.

Not much else is going on here.

I've felt disabled not being able to use the kitchen or go through the kitchen to get tools that I need so haven't gotten a lot accomplished in the last few days.

Spent time with the kids instead!

Day 69!!

They installed most of the vinyl today and will come back tomorrow morning to finish.

It looks so good!

I went around and washed the walls and took down the border that needs to be replaced.

It's always easier to put up the new when the old is gone.

I also started doing the molding in the hallway.

I bought a few pieces to do the molding near Taniyah's door.

The guy installing the floor said it looked good so I must be doing OK!!

I think I'm going to do the ones in the kitchen and save John's help for another project.

I want to replace the door in Bray & Lad room so I think I'm going to use him to do that.

So much to do and so little time!

Day 68

Today brought the flooring guys who skim coated the kitchen floor.

I hurried and got breakfast stuff so that the sleeping kids could eat when they woke up.

Took the kids to the spray park at Santee Lakes.

We met some friends there and the kids played.

It costs $1 per child for a wristband to play and it was well spent.

We stayed there for 3 hours until Taniyah was ready to take a nap.

Came home and painted some of the trim in Makkiah's room.

Headed to Home Depot and got molding which I am going to teach myself to install!! We'll see how it goes.

Then I decided to play with my Photoshop Elements.

Here is the result:
For some reason Blogger distorts the picture. It looks better in Flickr. I need to rescan the pics to get rid of the drywall dust.

Day 67 Happy 4th of July!!

Today was a LONG day!!

We moved everything off the floor in the kitchen to prepare for tomorrow.

Vaccumed and scraped around the edges of the floor.

Finished 3 loads of laundry.

Headed off to the store to get stuff for the beach.

Came home and packed the cooler for the beach - chicken, chips, apples, jerky, juice, water, gatorade, and crackers. Beach towels, toys, sun shade, swimsuit, extra clothes, sweatshirts, sandals.

Loaded up the van and headed to the beach with great timing.

Loads of people were leaving the beach to go see the fireworks elsewhere.

Good, gave us a front row parking spot!!

The kids ate and played in the water until about 8:15 then got showered and changed just in time for the foreworks to start.

It was awesome - we could see 10 shows - up close!!

There were so many it was hard to see them all!! Two of the sets were in sync.

Fireworks finished at 9:30pm, we packed up and headed off to home.

Or we attempted to head off to home!!

Some teens had been pulled over on the bridge, 2 cars, 3 police cars and backed up traffic.

At 11pm when we finally got past them it was smooth sailing and we got home quickly.

I got to talk to Rod again today also!! That's always a nice bonus.

Day 66

Getting closer to homecoming day!!

We are soon to be at less than one month until home.

YEAH!!!
_________________________________
This morning I was awoken to the pound pound pound of the hammer on the roof!

The roofer's came back and finished!!!

Got all the kids up and dressed for the fair presentation.

Mailed Rod's birthday box at the post office (shhhh there's some really cool things in there and we don't want to spoil it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Went and picked up my rider and headed off to the fairgrounds.

Had the unfortunate oppurtunity to see some dancing that I don't like watching adults doing much less kids that are my own kids ages - UGH!

They were doing some things that they didn't have no business doing and the parents of the kids were there cheering them on.

When the one teen girl was movin to the point that she had to hold her shirt up and put her arms across her boobs so they didn't fall out of her shirt Marsha and I decided that the Kids Art Tent was looking really good!

We spent the rest of the time in there until our group was ready to go on.

The presentation went well and then we picked up another rider who lives out by us and needed a ride home.

I ended up with two boys staying at friend's houses and one friend staying at our house. So it all worked out well.

I think tomorrow we are going to watch the fire works at the beach. Not sure though

Day 65 - Happy Birthday Brayana!!

Today my baby turns 10!

I remember 10 years ago today when she was born and I became a Mom.

She was a beautiful, tiny little thing but perfect none the less.

She was my saving grace and I can't imagine her not being in my life.

She is turning into a beautiful, smart young lady.
______________________________________
I got two calls from Rod today.

He called this morning to say hello and wish Brayana a Happy Birthday.

I let him know that a friend of ours was also in town.

He called me later to say that he had hooked up with the friend.

They were hanging out and staying out of trouble.

Glad that he has someone there to hang out with.
_______________________________
I took the kids to the beach again today.

We got there a little earlier but still later in the day after it had cooled off some.

Jaleel met a boy his age who lives close to us and his Dad is an MA as well.

They had a blast and we exchanged numbers.

Jaleel was excited that there was someone close who is his age and a boy.

He felt like he had hit the jackpot!!!!
________________________________
I spoke with Makkiah's prek teacher for a while today and learned some interesting things.

One of his teachers (not the one that I was talking to) seemed to have a vindeta against Mak.

She wanted Mak kicked out of school and was upset that it didn't happen.

His nice teacher also went to bat many times when he was blamed for something that he didn't do. He generally got the blame because according to the other teacher "Makkiah is always the one who does it"

I'm just glad that he will be going to K next year although he LOVED his other teacher. It helped that she is a military wife who has a young child and a hubby on deployment and understand what Mak is going through with Dad being gone.

Day 64

I have pictures that I will post tomorrow but I haven't uploaded them yet.

Today I took Brayana and her Shelby, Ladaria and Taniyah to lunch for Brayana's birthday. Brayana's other friends couldn't make it so she invited Ladaria. Taniyah was a tag along cause she saw us leaving.

Brayana chose the Souplantation and we had a good time. Shelby is definetly much better behaved than Destini's friend. SHe was polite, well mannered and quiet.

After lunch we went on base and saw "Over the Hedge". It was a cute movie. Taniyah slept through the majority of it.

Came home and Rod called to say hello. It's always nice talking to him. It's getting closer to homecoming time!!!

Around 6pm it finally cooled off enough and we went out to the beach on base. The kids have been wanting to go but it's been to hot to sit out there. They played in the water and we ate chicken.

Left there around 9pm and it was still light enough out to see but I needed to get everyone home to shower and bed. There were still quite a few people there but it wasn't crowded at all.

Now everyone is in bed and the house is quiet except for the break in silence from Mak's cough. I don't know if I'm going to make it to church in the morning as I'm trying to keep him out of the heat. That seems to make him cough worse. I'm hoping that this cough goes away without anything else happening. Dec and June have been notorious months for him. We are out of June now so he can't change the months on me now!

Day 63

The day started out at 5:30 this morning.

I had to have Makkiah to the doctor by 7:15 this morning.

He still weighs 39 pounds and we are going to leave him off his ADHD med until school starts to see if he picks up any weight.

Dr wants to see him back before school to check his weight.

He is also going to send Mak to the peds ENT for the thing on his neck. Dr thinks it might be a tract in his neck like some people have on their tailbone. He thinks that the tract might be getting infected and that's what is causing the pimple looking thing on Mak's neck.

After the dr we headed off to find curtains. We finally found some white curtains to put in Mak's room that go really well with his walls.

Then we stopped at the flooring place and I accomplished more in one day than I did with the previous place. Needless to say I'm going with the new place and I should have the new floor in the kitchen by next Friday!!

Came home and the roofers were here. They had loaded all the materials yesterday and got started on it this afternoon. They will be back either today or Monday to finish!!

Rod also called me as he is within cell phone range. I was pleasantly suprised to see Rod cell on my phone. Unfortuanetly I was talking to the flooring guy and couldn't stay on the phone long. I felt so bad but I needed to get home since I knew that the roofers were there since Ladaria had called right before Rod to tell me that they were early.

So I came home- hung Mak's curtains, peeled paint off the door so that I can repaint it, hung 4 shelves and put up Taniyah's fan. Her room stays much cooler with the fan and the light makes it seem much brighter than the other light.

So another productive day!!

Day 62

This morning I got up and took Ahma and Poppa to the airport as they head off to Oregon for some visiting up there.

Came home and got to work.

The wall in Makkiah's room used to look like this:

After spending several hours here and there scraping off the layers of paint, retexturing and priming I finally got to start painting!!

So at the end of the day this is what his room looked like:

That was my accomplishment for the day!!

Day 61

Today I took Taniyah to get pictures done.

It didn't work out as well as I had planned and I think I give up on taking my kids to get their pictures done!

I made a new appt for when Mom could go with me and hope then we can at least get some none crying faces!

Then I headed to my MOPS meeting.

It was good to see all the ladies from MOPS who I haven't seen in several weeks.

Then I headed to lunch with some Navy wives.

It was fun to meet some new people.

After lunch I headed home to prime the wall in Makkiah's room.

Mom was busy while I was gone and got curtains hung in several rooms and laundry done.

The house is definetly coming together!

Day 60!!!!

I've made it 60 days without my hubby home.

I'm still in one piece and so are all of my children!

So much has changed in the last 60 days and yet so much has stayed the same.

Things in the house are coming along well, changing and improving.

We are two children less than we were 2 months ago.

The kids are out of school, Makkiah is looking forward to starting kindergarten and Ladaria is looking forward to high school.
_____________________________________
Today I finished texturing the wall in Makkiah's room.

It's now ready for primer and then to paint.

I have the border that I'm going to use picked out for in there and now to get it .
done.

By the time I got that done and the house picked up it was time to take Tyreque out to lunch for his birthday.

He invited his friend Spence to go with us to Red Lobster.

It was so cute watching them learn how to eat crab legs and lobster tail!

We had a great time and the two teenage boys were behaved so much better than the three girls I took out for Destini's birthday.
______________________________________-
I also started a new discipline chart system.

We used to do one a few years ago until we ran into some problems with a social worker.

It really worked well for us and now that I think about it I'm disappointed that we stopped using it.

We allowed the fear from this particular person to rule our home and it really had a huge impact on our children.

Yesterday I made up a temporary chart and this morning the new chart was hanging in the hallway ready to go.

I think that today was a much better, calmer day than we've had in a long time.

People thought about how they spoke to others so they wouldn't move down on the chart and lose priveleges.

I still have a few things to figure out with it but it is working already.

Makkiah had an EXCELLENT day and stayed at the TOP of the chart ALL day!!

Yesterday was a little rough with him but I think he's realizing that he's not in charge and it has really helped him out.

I'll try to keep up with our progress with the new system on here so people know how we are doing.

Have a great day!!!!!!!!

Day 59!!-Happy 16th Birthday Tyreque!!

Today Tyreque turns 16!!

He's growing up to fast and is doing great.

He's in that limbo area between not quite an adult and not quite a kid anymore.

He's a good kid though.

He spends the majority of his time at home.

He's not into drugs, girls or fast cars.

He doesn't do all the things that so many teens get in trouble for these days.

He does have his good days and his bad days but I'm glad that he chooses to have them here - at home - where I know that he is safe.

He was 8 years old when we first met him so we've now had him half of his life.

Hopefully we've had a good impact on him and helped him to travel a road that he otherwise wouldn't have chosen.

Tomorrow I am taking him out to lunch.

He wants to go to Red Lobster!!

Should be fun!

________________________________________
As the days go up the countdown gets lower!!

It's been 2 full months since Rod left.

2 busy months!

I've gotten a lot accomplished in the last two months and I can't wait for Rod to get home to see all of my projects!!

______________________________________________________
Got a call today from Rod's mom.

She just wanted to check on us and see how Rod has been doing.

She's doing well but didn't talk for long as it was late there and she was headed to bed.

That's what happens with a 3 hour time difference!

Day 58 - New flowerbed

Today was HOT!

The wind was even hot.

During the hot part if the day I textured Mak's wall.

I think it's going to look much better when it's done.

I've had the paint for his room but needed to redo this wall before I can paint it so that's almost done.

After it cooled of some I went out and finished the new flowerbed.

It covers the space between the yard and the nieghbors fence.

We could only get 10 blocks at a time so it too several days to get all the bricks that we needed for it.

I got it finished and filled with dirt.

Planted a hibiscus and transferred some rosebushes and some other flower that was growing in the yard into the bed.

I have to say that it looks much better than the gap that was there.

The front yard is almost finished.

Day 57 - Busy days

I was brave today.

Not only did I crawl to the other side of the house in the space above the ceiling.

I crawled under the house!

It's the first time I've been under there and it's not a place that I want to spend to much time.

I know have all the outlets in my house working AND the hall lights all work.

Went to HD and got stuff to retexture Mak's wall, outlet covers and some new plants.

I got another portion of the flowerbed done.

10 more locks and it will be finished.

I also got to talk with Rod this morning.

That is always a nice treat!!

Day 56-Lights (well some anyway!)

Today I got to work in the crawl space above the house.

We had some lights that weren't working so I crawled up there, along with my trusty helper Brayana and Mom down below to flip switches.

After a trip to the store to get a flashlight and a junction box I was able to get the lights in Makkiah's room to work.

I may have also figured out why the freezer is shocking people.

There is a wire coming from the outlet into the attic that just ends.

It's not capped or anything.

By the time I got that done it was to hot to do anything else up there so I had to come down.

More on that tomorrow.

Then I went in to scrape more paint off the wall in Mak's room.

I think I have all the flaking stuff off and will be able to retexture that wall soon.

Got it all cleaned up, showered since I was dusty and then I relaxed!

Here are some pictures that Rod sent me from WOG day on the ship.

WOG day is the day that the ship crosses over the equator.

All the people who haven't yet crossed the equator are called "pollywogs" and those who have crossed are called "shellbacks".

The day goes back to the story of King Neptune.

It's all a day of fun (at least the shellbacks think so!)

At the end of the day they throw their clothes overboard and have swimcall.

Day 55- Projects and patience!!

I actually got something accomplished today!!

First I got a phone call from PCO saying that I had been referred to the PQR board due to the number of children in my home and Rod being gone.

I know that I've heard those words before and I'm SO tired of that social worker!

I will NEVER take any of her kids again!!

How can someone come to my home one time and determine that I'm overwhelmed and have to many kids?!

She has an obvious prejudice and I hope that she is dealt with accordingly.

So now I'm on hold until at least July 5th when the board meets.

They will decide if they want to meet with me or not.

After that I started scraping the paint off of Mak's wall.

Somehow that turned into pulling the tile out of the hallway.

I wasn't sure what I was going to find underneath but was pleasantly suprised when I found hardwood floors.

They need to be redone but they were a nice thing to find under there.

Taniyah wouldn't walk on them at first, but quickly decided that they were ok!

Then I called the criminal psychic.

She gave us some information, some that we hadn't thought of in a while but was pretty accurate, other info that was new.

I'm not going to put that info on here as I gave the info to the detective and don't want to mess anything up.

Hoping to get more work done this weekend but it's supposed to be in the triple digits - YIKES!!

Day 54-VTC Day!!

WOW!!

I can't believe it's been 54 full days that Rod has been gone.

I can't wait for him to get back home!!

Today we got to go do another VTC.

It was so good to see him.

All the kids were so excited to see him, they all were trying to talk at once, getting mad that they coudl do it and they hadn't had a turn yet and wanted to tell Dad their whole life story since he's left.

It just doesn't work when you have 7 people and 30 minutes.

I'm so glad that I got to do one by myself (well I had the youngest two but they were quickly drawn to other things in the room!).

Then I headed back to the dentist.

Tyreque had his cleaning with no cavities.

Bray and Mak got thier fillings done so I'm finished again for 6 months!

We raked all the straw out of the yard so it's strawless now.

Don't know that I can say much more for it!!

We have about half of the new flowerbed done.

It will nicely cover the gap in the fence between our yard and the neighbors.

Should be able to get it done within the next few days.

Day 53- Dentist

Well, it was dentist day today.

I left baby Vinnie and Taniyah home with Ahma and Poppa.

Tyreque was in school so I took the other 5 kids to the dentist.

3 of them had great check ups.

2 of them had a total of 5 cavities (although small ones) and will be going back tomorrow when Tyreque has his appt.

Then I took the kids shopping at Walmart so they could spend mre of their gift cards from Grandma Bernice.

Three of the kids still have money on their cards and the other four have spent all their money.

Can't believe how long it takes them to shop for nothing.

Up and down the aisles, back and forth, up and down and they end up with, well, nothing really!

A pair of sunglasses that cosst 88cents, an ice cream, and some army men. Ladaria bought a CD player with some of her money but still has most of her card left!

By the time they get all of their cards spent it will be time for Christmas again!!

Day 52-Happy Monday

I'm babysitting for Linda, who is babysitting for Cindy.

So baby Vinnie has been here since last night.

I forgot what it was like to have a baby in the house!!

Put him to bed and putted around on the computer.

Laid down in bed and he decided that he needed a bottle.

So no sooner had I laid down that I had to get back up!!

Oh well, still beats the attitide, back talking and stealing that comes with some of the older kids.

He is a good baby when he's not itching.

He has really bad excema so I've been putting Makkiah's lotion on him.

It seems to be helping!

We have decided to put a new flowerbed in the yard so will be doing that project over the next few days.

Will post pictures of it when we are done.

In the meantime here is a picture of Taniyah!

Day 51 Happy Fathers Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my hubby who is the best Dad in the whole world to his kids!!

I sent Rod a package for Father's Day and I gave Poppa a new shirt that says "Navy Dad" on it.

Since hubby wasn't here I really didn't have a whole lot to do.

We went to church and then lounged around the house.

It was a lazy sort of day.

Day 50!! Happy Birthday Destini!!!

Today Destini turns 9 years old!!

Instead of doing a big party this year I am taking the birthday child and 2 friends out to lunch.

Destini invited two girls from her class to go to the Home Town Buffet.

They were also invited to go see the movie The Wild with us.

Three girls who think they are teenagers but are only 9 was more than interesting!

Destini opened presents and they played for a little while before heading off to lunch.

At lunch they ate lots of ice cream and french fries.

Then we came home and waited for the movie.

After having them unlock the door and telling them that they needed to dance with ALL of their clothes on I decided that we should head for the movies.

The two girls decided that they were going to go put on makeup in the bathroom instead of watching the movie.

I had to go herd them back inside and let them know that I would take them home before the movie was over.

They decided that they would like to watch the movie instead.

After the movie they wanted to know if they could stay longer and play.

My response "Sure, until your Mom's come to pick you up at the scheduled time!!"

I was ready for them to go home!

I sure hope my kids don't act like that when they go somewhere.

Day 48 - Ladaria's promotion

Today was Ladaria's promotion ceremony.

It was really hot and we were far away.

I didn't get any really great pictures but I did get some decent pictures.

There were a LOT of people there and lots of teenagers.

So she is officially a high schooler now. She has left her middle school days behind her and she is moving up!!

Then I came home and slept!

I was so tired.

I haven't slept well since Rod's been gone so it was nice to just get some good sleep!

Day 47- Makkiah's promotion

Today was Makkiah's promotion from Headstart.

They had a nice ceremony at the park for all the kids.

Here is him with his "diploma" .

He goes on Monday for his Kindergarten testing and I'm confident that he will do great.

Mom discovered the teacher that Makkiah has a "personality confilct" with and it didn't take her long to figure out why that is.

Makkiah's teachers thought that Tyreque was my brother and couldn't believe that he is only 15.

They thought that he was several years older.

I put him to work at the end and he helped clean up and pack up tables.

While we were at the graduation Poppa went to have a meeting with the manager at Home Depot about our lawn mower.

Rod bought a lawn mower in March but I don't have a clue where he put the receipt.

The second time he used it he thought he had bent the blade but he didn't get a chance to return it before leaving.

So Poppa tried to use it and discovered that the motor mount was broken.

They wanted more to fix it than we payed for it and it wasn't our fault that it was broken.

I don't think the little bit of grass that we had at the time would do that to the lawn mower!

Poppa had his meeting and we ended up with a new lawn mower.

He didn't want another of the same one so he upgraded for us!!

Now we have a self propelled bagging mower. THANKS POPPA!!

Then Mom, Poppa and I went to a support group meeting.

We were the only ones there.

I think I'm going to be done with it.

It's pointless to go when noone shows up.

If they hadn't of come with me there wouldn't have been anyone there.

(Pictures from Makkiah's graduation can be seen by clicking on his picture)

Day 46 - Fair Day!!

Today we took the kids to the fair.

The ACTION team was presenting so we got into the fair without cost.

Each of the kids had an adult chaperone, Destini got a free ticket for reading 10 books, Taniyah and Makkiah got in free. So no charge to get in.

Poppa bought all the kids, Ahma and me bracelets -THANK YOU POPPA!!- so that the kids could ride all the rides.

The presentation went well and we rode LOTS of rides.

Even Mom got in on the action and rode some rides.

Poppa told the guy selling the tickets that he was "too damn old to ride those rides!!"

Poppa pushed the stroller, watched Tete and had refill the water bottle duty.

Tyreque and Ladaria went with their friends to ride and we headed to the Kiddy Zone.

I think we rode just about every ride that they had there.

Then we went over to the Fun Zone and rode some of the bigger rides.

The only rides that Makkiah didn't ride are the ones that he was to short to ride.

We ended the day with a ride on the water log ride and headed home.

By the time we got home all the kids were ready to head to bed.

If you click on the picture below it will take you to slideshow of pictures from the fair.

Day 45 - Floors

Tyreque pulled out all the tile from the kitchen.

It was put in about 2 years ago but it was defective.

It cracked and we are starting to have pieces missing in the tile so it really needed to be redone.

The neighbor has a roll-off bin and said that we could put the tile in there.

That means that we get to dispose of it for free.

Mom and I went to Carpeteria and picked out vinyl.

Rod and I had discussed putting in vinyl that looked like wood floor.

The guy at the store suggested against it since we have so much wood already in the kitchen.

He said that it would clash so instead I picked out a vinyl that looks like tile.

It's a similar color to what we pulled out but it won't crack and break.

It should be easier to keep clean as well.

There was mildew under the tile where it was cracked and had gotten wet.

Luckily there was a moisture barried between the subfloor and the tile so the subfloor is fine.

They are coming on Friday to measure for it and it should be installed next week.

YEAH!!

Day 44 - Cleaning

My Mom decided that she was going to do some cleaning today. She got out the vacuum and the cleaners and she cleaned. She also assigned me with chores to do!! BUT I had the camera!! We cleaned out the fridge, under the fridge, the trash compactor, the base boards, the drawers. Things today are cleaner than they were yesterday.

After our cleaning spree we headed off to Wallie world. We took Taniyah and Makkiah with us. As we were looking in the cologne section Makkiah points and says "I need that". My Mom looks at what his attention has been drawn to. It was Jovan Sex Appeal for Men!! We laughed along with everyone else who was around us. It was pretty funny!!

Day 43 - Hair Day

Today after church we relaxed Ladaria and Brayana's hair.

Mom and I tagged teamed it and got it done.

We started out with Ladaria, who has long, thick hair.

It took both of us putting the stuff in to get through it in the 8 minutes that was allowed.

Afterwards we did Brayana's hair.

She has less hair but also less time to get all the stuff in her hair.

The other thing with her hair is that the total time that you leave the stuff on starts when you start.

I think that thier hair turned out well. They both have pretty straight hair now!

Day 42

Went to VBS training this morning for a few hours.

It's that time of year again.

I'm teaching the 1st and 2nd grade class and Ted is helping me.

We'll have lots of fun!!!

Then I took Destini to the store to buy a birthday present for her friend.

Dropped her off at the birthday party and then came back home.

She went to a chocolate obsession birthday party.

Lots of girls, lots of chocolate!!!

Went and picked her up from the party and fed the kids dinner before heading off to the movies.

I took the kids to see "stick it".

It was a good movie and Taniyah did well for most of the movie.

Towards the end I stood in the back with her.

They had an area boxed in, I'm not sure what for but it worked well for a playpen!!

The kids really enjoyed the movie.

Day 41 - Awards

Today was the monthly awards assembly at the elementary school.




Brayana got an award for
perseverance. She didn't think that she was going to get an award this year. She has done really well but had not recieved and award and was upset. She was really happy that she got one today.











Destini also got an award for
perseverance. She also got a thank you certificate for working in the cafeteria during the year. She only worked in there so that she could get free snacks!! But hey she helped, without whining!!








After the awards assembly I went and got my haircut. I love it. It's right above my shoulders and layered. Really brings out the natural wave in my hair and is much lighter and easier to take care of.

Poppa cut the plywood to go into the new access hole in the ceiling. Now I just need to paint and it will look like it always belonged there!

Mom took her nighttime pills in the morning instead of her daytime ones so she dozed most of the day - OOPS!!!

Day 40!!!

Today was a busy and productive day.

Mom and I headed off to Walmart to do some shopping. Fringe, pillow stuffing, a new pair of sandals and moth balls!

Then we stopped at the farmers market to get a few things and headed off to pick up Makkiah from school.

After coming home Mom and I reupholstered the bench that I bought last week at the thrift store. I also made some pillows to go on it with the extra material.

Poppa bought some molding and is making a new access hole in the ceiling where our hole was. It's easier to make an attic access that to try to patch it.

I will caulk it and then I will be able to paint the ceiling white. All one color of white instead of the 5 or so different colors and finished of white.

Mom also fixed the clock that Rod bought when he was on his last deployment. So now it works again - YEAH!

Then Mom and I made dinner and fed the kids.

Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Day 39

Today was a pretty laid back kind of day.

Took Makkiah to school.

Found orange cat a home! I took him to Makkiah's school and someone there wanted him. I'm so glad that I didn't have to take him to the shelter. I don't know if I could have left that poor, little innocent kitten at the place. It's a great place but I still don't think I could have left him there.

Then Mom and I took apart the old crib and put the new crib together. It looks really nice and the side rail goes up and stays up!! Taniyah likes her new bed!!

Made dinner and went to a meeting. Not much happening here today!!!

I'll leave you with a pitcure of Ladaria and Taniyah!!

Day 38 - VTC!!!!!!!

I got to "see" Rod today!!!!!!!

We did a video teleconference and it was awesome.

Taniyah and Makkiah came with me since the other kids were in school.

I did get to video tape it so that the other kids could watch it.

We may get to do another one since so few people have signed up!

It was so great to be able to see him AND talk to him at the same time.

Taniyah was so cute.

In the beginning she just STARED at Rod.

She could figure out WHY it was that he was on the tv talking to her.

Then she decided that she would wave at him and say hi.

By the end of the 15 minutes she was clowing him kisses!!

We brought the tape home and she was waving and blowing kisses to him on the tape.

The kids all loved being able to see Dad on the tv even though they didn't get to talk to him.

Maybe in a couple of weeks.

Day 37- Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!

Today I turned 29!

For a few weeks I'm the same age as Rod.

Then he will turn 30!

Yes I will be 30 next year but he is 30 first - HEHE!!!

My Mom gave me a coffee cup with the kids picture on it.

I love it!!

Then I got cake and ice cream - Thank you Poppa for going to the store to get me a cake!!

After cake and ice cream Mom gave me a beautiful bracelet.

It has the words - loving, daughter, forever on beads with some white and pink beads.

It really is beautiful!!

I also got a call from Rod and he told me Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow is my VTC with him!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!

Day 36

Went to church this morning and worked in the nursery.

Still no change in the status of the Children's ministry.

Amah, Poppa and the kids all sat in the sanctuary.

After we came home I went grocery shopping.

Two stops and three carts later me and the boys were headed home.

When I got home Tyreque and Ladaria had a relaxing time prepared for me.

They had bought some ice cream and had it in my bathroom.

Soft music playing and candle lit.

Bathwater ran with bubbles in it!!

They told me to relax and take my time.

They would unload the van and put all the groceries away.

So I took a nice long relaxing bath!

They are so sweet!!

Day 35-Hot, busy day

We got up this morning and headed off to the La Mesa Flag Day Parade.

It was SO hot.

They say that it was over 100 degrees outside and I believe it.

Thankfully we brought lots of water!

Brayana played the flutophone with her classmates.

We walked along behind them and tried to keep from melting!!

Then on the way back we saw these ostrichs in the parade!

We left the parade and went to get lunch before heading off to pick up Mom and Poppa from the airport.

We got there just as they came out from collecting their luggage!

Great timing.

I put some new pictures in my Flickr account.

Day 34

Today I returned my camera which had decided to stop working.

Since I've not had such good luck with Sony I got a Nikon instead.

It takes nice pictures.

You can set it to take black and white photos.

Or color, as well as several others.

Then I noticed that my nutty cats had once again been out to the beehive! Here is a picture of carmel who looks like he had a bad reaction to a collagen shot!

Day 33

Today I took Taniyah to the park because we were bored.

There was nobody at the park for us to play with either!

So we went shopping instead!

I love going to the thrift store and finding great deals.

While I was there Mom called to get my address.

Taniyah sang for everyone.

And then threw a tizzy because we had to pay for her purse!

She thought the guy was going to actually put it in the bag instead of giving it back to her!

Went to a foster parent meeting.

It was potluck and socialize night.

It was fun and we laughed a lot!

Only two days intil my Mom gets here.

Only five days till my birthday!

Day 32-Heading into a new month!

Heading into our third different month with Rod gone.

A busy month to be sure.

All the end of the school year activities.

Birthdays.

Stuff, lots of stuff to do.

Making Poppa's list of stuff that I need done also.

Mom and Poppa will be here on Saturday.

I'm eagerly counting down the days until they get here!
____________________________________
Today was a pretty quiet day.

I went to the association office to fill out some paperwork

Got Makkiah from school and attended the parent meeting.

Got all the details about his graduation ceremony.

Made dinner.

Cleaned the cats cage, again.

Gave the cat a bath as he was being eaten alive by fleas. Poor thing

Had out AWANA awards ceremony. I'm so glad it's over and we can start planning for next year!

We will get a nice break for the summer and hopefully with the support of the church we will have an even more awesome program next year.

We had a great group of volunteers that made it run but just something about the support of the church that makes it better.

Other than that, not much going on!!

Day 31-The girls are gone

The SW came and got the girls this morning.

I was sad to see them go but after the last few days with them it was almost a relief to have them gone.

They had short timers - BAD!

It's been so quiet around here.

When they left this morning I had to bite my tongue.

I don't know why their new social worker has to make everything a battle.

She's really got to have the upper hand and she doesn't hide her prejudice at all.

She didn't want to take the girls "junk".

Now mind you it was not JUNK.

It was their toys.

Their baby dolls, barbies, princess house, books, puzzles, etc.

Things that they deserved to take.

But the social worker didn't want to take it because she didn't want to create a safety hazard in her car.

Well phooey on her.

We got it all packed into her trunk and she was dumbstruck!

I wanted to laugh in her face but I was respectful and waited until she left.

It really irks me because they compalin about how foster parents don't send their kids with anything and then this social worker tries to tell me that their stuff will just have to stay here.

I don't think so, it's theirs and they have a right to take it.

She really is a very arrogant person.

I'm glad that I no longer have to deal with her.

It amazes me that she can come into a unit and play god like she is doing.

The scary part is that she can do it without anybody else blinking an eye.

I feel sorry for the parents who are getting them because I know that they were not given accurate, truthful information.

I know how they were the last few days thinking that they were going to grandma's house (yes I did try to convince them that they weren't). They were more than a handful.

I just hope that these parents are willing to stick it out with them. They will need lots of love and patience, LOTS!

It's been pretty quiet around here.

No fighting, no name calling, no little fingers in things that aren't theirs.

But they will still be missed!

Day30!

It's been thirty days already and I feel like I've gotten so much accomplished!

Today I painted the front door.

It was white but you have to paint it for the warrenty to be in effect.

I've had the paint just not the time.

I need to get a sponge roller to put the last coat on but other than that it's done!

I also painted the little desk that I bought but,

Angie peeled the paint off the seat.

She's got short-timers, BAD,

and she's killing me.

She thinks that she is going home to her mom,

instead of to her new mom and dad.

She is going nuts.

Hate to see how she is when she figures out that she is going to someone elses house.

I got all theri stuff packed and ready to go.

They will be leaving tomorrow morning.

I will wish them luck.

Them AND thier new parents!

Day 29

I talked to Rod this morning for just over an hour.

Started my day off great.

He's in port right now and hoping to do some sight seeing.

We're almost down to 2 months left until he gts back-WOOHOO.

I primed my front door and the desk I bought.

The primer is pink and the kids think I'm going to have a pink front door.

WRONG!

It will be a burgandy color but I had the primer tinted so it won't take so many coats.

I think it will look good when it's done.

The other doors need to be stripped and repainted.

I think I'll wait to do that after Mom gets here!

The previous owners didn't do a very good job on them and they look really bad.

That and the molding on the doorways and floor.

Need to paint it as well.

That can only be done at nap time though!

Day 28

I finished painting the girls room today.

It looks REALLY good.

Got a picture to put on Taniyah's shelf that is really cute.

Her room is almost completely done!
___________________________________________

Went to Big Lots today and got a few things.

I saw a bench that I thought would look really good in the hallway.

It was $100 and I didn't have it so I passed on the bench.

Went to the throft store and they had a long bench for $20.

I can buy some coordinating fabric for a few dollars at Walmart.

Recover the bench for less than half of the new one.

I also got a childs desk.

I'm going to repaint it and put it either in the living room or on the front porch.

It was really to cute to pass up and goes with my antique, country theme.

At least it will when I am done with it!

I've got kids in bed and I'm going to go start painting the front door.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Day 27-One month!

Rod left one month ago today.

The time has gone by very quickly.

Much quicker than I remember it going the last time he was gone for this length of time.

I've gotten a lot accomplished around the house in the last four weeks.

And much more on my to do list left to go!

Today I painted the hallway a nice sunny yellow color.

It makes the hallway look much better.

All the different shades of white are covered and gone- YEAH!

I'm almost done painting the baby room where the cabinets and new door went in.

Next will be hanging pictures on the wall!!
_____________________________________________
I put new pictures in my Flickr.

You can go to them by clicking on the Flickr badge to the right of the screen.

Here are a few of the ones that I put on there.

Here is a picture that Rod sent to me from the ship.

Here is the "Table set for One" from the Vietnam Traveling Wall. It was modified to include a cover from each service.

A picture of the team when they had the chance to present at the Moving Wall. It was an honor and a privilege for the team to present for the veterans who served.

Day26- Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Today would be Jeremy's 34th birthday.

I sure do miss him.

I have an appt set up with a criminal psychic to see if she can help us out.
_____________________________________________

Got to talk to Rod this morning.

I must say that it's nice being able to hear from him more than twice in a deployment.

Some jobs have great benefits!!
_____________________________________________

The girls went on their visit today.

While they were gone I called and talked to her supervisor.

I let her know that I would not be fighting the removal.

I could, don't know if I would win or not, but I could hold it off.

I'm trying to look out for the girls and not fight over them.

I did let the supervisor know that the SW was discriminating and she agreed to look into it.

She said that having a large family is NOT a reason to not allow adoption.

We had a long conversation and I was able to clear some things up with her.

I think I will take a short term baby.

They are so much easier!!

Day 25

Today has been a long exhasting day so I'm not going to write much.

We did find out today that our 2 little girls will be leaving on Tuesday for thier new adoptive home. It saddens me.

God has it all in control and I won't give me any more than I can handle, I know but it still saddens me.

Day 24- A breakthrough

Makkiah went to school reluctently today.

He was fine until we got there and then he didn't want to stay.

I did convince him to stay and knew he would do alright.

When I went to pick him up I got good news and not so good news.

One teacher he really likes and he does well with her.

Her hubby is on deployment and her son is the same age as Makkiah,

so she knows what he's going through. She tends to be on a better wavelength with her.

The other teacher, well, he's never really cared for her and tends to ignore her most of the time.

She told him to do something and he told her that he didn't want to listen to her! Oops.

BUT the good news is...

He got upset because he wasn't the first one outside to get the ball and...

instead of throwing something or YELLING,

he told his teacher (the one he doesn't care for) that

He was angry!!!

I'm so glad that he used his words and expressed that instead of the alternative!!

Our company left this morning and we were blessed to have them.

Other than that nothing much happening around here.

Day 23-Company

I got the new wall in the babies room primed an a few spots in the hallway.

Why do my children feel the need to drag their hands, pencils, toys, markers, shoes, etc down the wall? Why can't they keep those things to themselves, where they belong?

My intentions were to finish priming after the I picked up the kittle kids from school but that didn't happen.

That didn't happen.

Instead we got company.

ACTION camp is this weekend and the team from headquarters came in today from Branson MI.

They were on the road for 30+ straight hours.

I get an e-mail last night asking if anyone had a spare room for a couple and thier 3 children.

I said that I had a spare room even though I am a little out of the way.

I got an e-mail this morning that they would probably end up sleeping on Linda's living room floor since they wouldn't be getting in until after 10pm and they would be up and leaving early.

As I left at 4pm to take the kids to practice I got a call that they were less than 1.5 hours away, they were sleep deprived and they wanted to use our room.

Turns out that they had slept in the van (I'm not sure exactly how many of them but I wouldn't want to sleep in a van with 3 kids after driving that many hours) and they were tired.

I gave them directions, told them that I left the door unlocked and to make themselves at home.

When I got home Jenny had dropped them off. So they are sleeping in our guest bedroom tonight - two ACTION interns as well as their 3 children ages 5, 3 and 4 months. They were so glad to be able to eat a nice dinner, shower and sleep in a real bed and not on a floor. I'm glad that I could accomodate them!

In less than two weeks the room will be used again for our long term guests!!! I can't wait for them to get here. I love having company!

Day 22 - Happy Sunday

Not much happenin around here today.

Went to church.

Took the kids to see Ice Age 2 at the base theater.

It was a good movie and all the kids did great.

Even the babies sat through it.

I found out today that I'm teaching 1 & 2nd grade at Vacation Bible School.

I told them I would do it as long as they had appropriate childcare for my babies.

Angie and Makkiah have their own class so I don't have to worry about them so much.

I know there is something wrong with my page but I'm not sure what so I don't know how to fix it!

Guess I will have to research it a little.

Day 21-Halfway Party

The ships halfway party was today.

We had a lot of fun, going to the park and meeting other spouses from the ship.

It was hot though and I burned my face pretty good, I should have put sunscreen on.

I took some pictures from today which I uploaded onto Flickr but thought I would share a few of my favorites.

Here is Taniyah playing with her shadow.

Here is Taniyah and Ellie making Rod Father's Day cards.

Taniyah was so serious about making her card and she didn't want anyone to touch it. Ellie scribbled for a few seconds and was done.

There was a clown who came and made the kids balloons, did magic tricks, and painted faces. Here is Makkiah showing off his sword and shield.

After we were done there we went to Faith Community for their annual fundraiser. The ACTION kids who were going to camp presented 4 songs and the other kids played games. It was fun but by the end I was tired and burnt. We headed home, made an easy dinner and everyone went to bed. That's where I'm headed!

Day 20- Another bathroom painted

Today the advocate came and took the girls to the park.

She wanted to put the sleeping baby in her bed but I graciously declined!!

I don't want her going any farther than the front.

Gives her less to complain about!

While the girls were gone I changed the light fixture in the kids bathroom

and rehung their mirror since the other one I have is to small.

Put the shelves back up and thier bathroom is looking good!

I also painted the bathroom in the baby girls' room.

It's now a light lilac color instead of stark white.

I must say that it does look better.

Next project will be priming the new walls and painting the hallway.

I will be so glad when my hallway is one consistent color!

Oh and my camera has been found.

It was returned to me desk by whoever "borrowed" it.

So I will be able to add pictures again.

I did upload some new pictures to Flickr.

I'm waiting for others to put new pics up there also - hint, hint!!

Day 19 - Makkiah read a book!!

Had my second parent-teacher conference for Makkiah and Angie.

Angie is doing better at paying attention and participating.

Makkiah is just blowing his teacher away!!

She doesn't know what to do with him anymore.

He read a Kindergarten phonics reader today.

He sounded out the letters, put them together and read the words.

I was so impressed with him!!

_______________________________________________

Angie started to not feel good at school and was asleep before we got home.

At least I didn't have to hear -"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED!"

when it as naptime.

Hope she feels better by tomorrow though.

_______________________________________________

Took Destini, Jaleel and Makkiah to the Open House at school.

Brayana played on her flutophone with her class.

We walked through the art show and the book fair.

Went and visited all the classrooms.

Then Brayana started crying because she had a headache.

So I took her home and headed to my meeting, which I was late for but, oh well.
__________________________________________________

Got to my meeting and there was the trainer and one other person - UGH!!

Tell me why I do this again.

When we try to get rid of it people show up.

When we try to keep it going no one shows up.

I think I may just cancel it.

Afterwards I headed to Walmart to get childrens tylenol.

What a way to spend away from home when I finally have a babysitter!

Day Eighteen

Got the kids ready for school and walked them down to the bus stop

only to hear a few minutes later

"Dad's on the phone" from Ladaria

who was at the end of the driveway talking on the phone.

I had to yell down the street three times-

the first because a car drove by and I couldn't hear her at all

the second because a car past and I thought she said that Dad was on the phone

and the last because I wanted to make sure that she said Dad was on the phone.

I ran back to talk to him. He needs me to scan something and e-mail it to him. I didn't care what he needed, it was just good to talk with him.

Makkiah got to talk with him also for a minute.

He ended up getting angry at school and got sent home.

We talked about Dad being out to protect us and keep us safe -

Makkiah asked me how he can keep us safe if he's not here?

How do you explain that to a 5 year old whose Dad has been away only a few days total since he was born?

He drew Rod some pictures and mailed them.

That seemed to help, guess I better stock up on stamps!!

The rest of hos day was pretty good.

I'm trying to make sure that I give all the kids extra hugs, letting them know that I love them, that Dad loves them.

I'll be glad when my Mom is here with extra arms to give hugs with and extra arms to just sit and hold little ones who need some extra comfort.

This is a totally foreign concept to them and I'm feeling it.

Day seventeen

Not much excitement today.

I spent the day doing the mundane things around the house -

watering the flowers and the grass,

dropping kids at school,

picking kids up from school,

cooking,

cleaning,

playing with babies,

talking with Ms. Joyce,

checking email,

and trying to read the papers from the last two weeks.

Nothing exciting which is ok in my book.

Oh, wait, I did have something that I wanted to write about last night but I forgot.

Makkiah and I were sitting at the table last night.

He cut a little piece of paper, wrote on it, glued something and gave it to me.

It had a heart that he had cut out and he had written the word MOM on it.

I asked him what it said -

He says "It says MOM for mothers day!"

He didn't even ask me how to spell it!

I put it on the fridge so I can marvel at it.

It really is the little things that make me happy!!!

Day Sixteen

Another day down!

I think I had such a hard day yesterday so that I could get it done with,

in order to deal with the majority of my kids having a bad day today!!

Taniyah was very clingy today and whiny,

unless I was holding her she was screaming,

and

since Taniyah was clingy Ellie had to be also,

because if one does it the other follows.

I went to pick up Ang and Mak at school,

Ang was wet and sandy,

all up her backside.

She didn't want to listen to the teacher and kept taking pitchers of water onto the slide,

then sliding down it.

Had her stand by the door while I went to get Mak,

who also had a bad day,

hitting and breaking down because somebody sat by him,

and

BUMPED him!!

I guess he was really upset and hard to calm down.

Discovered that Brayana has a book report due tomorrow,

and not just any kind of book report,

more of a project book report,

and she wasn't happy about having to do it,

while we played at the park while Tyreque and Ladaria were at practice.

Destini decided that she didn't feel well at the park,

and that she was tired,

and she didn't want to be there,

so

she was very WHINY,

and asked me every 5 minutes if,

it was time to go yet!

For TWO hours!!!

Jaleel decided that he was going to get upset about EVERYTHING.

Tyreque and Ladaria on the other hand were great today!!

I didn't get a whole lot accomplished,

except keeping peace and tearfree kids.

Hopefully tomorrow is better for ALL of us!!!

Day fifteen

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.

Today was probably by far the roughest day I've had.

It was emotionally draining to me.

I had to keep myself busy - grocery shopping, doing dishes, making dinner, doing laundry.

Otherwise my mind wandered.

Today I really missed Rod and felt really lonely.

I called my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and that made me feel a little better.

I guess it's just been "one of those days" where the weight of it all is being felt.

I'm sure that tomorrow will be better,

sunnier skies,

bluer horizons.

I guess I kind of got the feeling of what it is like to be a single mother on Mother's day.

Whether you are a single mother through divorce, death or temporary seperation - it's tough to be alone on Mother's Day.

And I wasn't even really alone, in the sense that no one was here, because I had eight of my children home all day.

I guess it's hard to describe what I mean.

Anyway, I hope that all you mothers out there had a wonderful day today.

Day fourteen

I started off my day with a phone call from Rod.

He's rockin and rollin out at sea.

It was 9am Sat here and 1am Sunday where he is.

Didn't get to talk long but...

he's doing good,

enjoying his job,

and I have a better idea of when he will be home!!!

He says this is the best job he's every had.

Made the kids pancakes and eggs for breakfast.

I really need to go to the grocery store but haven't managed to do that yet.

Maybe tomorrow.

I mudded the drywall on the halfwall that John and I built.

After sanding it I will put the second coat on and attempt my first shot at texturing.

We'll see how that turns out.

I also scraped some more in Makkiah's room.

There are so many layers on the wall I'm wanting to redo.

The main thing is getting all the loose stuff off of the wall.

A few more scraping sessions and it should be ready to retexture.

Add four loads of laundry and it equals another busy day.

Day thirteen

Rod's been gone for two weeks now.

I'm staying busy so the time is going by quickly.

Today I went to the awards assembly at the school.

Jaleel got an award for honesty.

It was given to the two people in each class that consistently tell the whole unedited truth.

They put the wrong assembly time on the paper so I got to sit through the 3-5th grade assembly.

Then they had a reception thing with donuts, cookies and muffins before the K-2 grade assembly.

By that time the babies had been sitting in the stroller for over an hour.

We stayed until Jaleel got his award and then we left.

The little ones were done sitting by that time.

After we left there I took the four little ones to the sitter.

I went to the church to work on ID badges.

We need 100 made before Sunday so I got those printed and lamentated and headed back to the sitters house.

Cut all of them and hole punched them.

Came back home and headed off to home group.

Afte home group I went to Wally world to get some ribbon for the ID badges.

Then finally came home to eat something.

It was a long day.

I'm tired!

Day twelve

Today we (meaning John and I) rebuilt the halfwall at the top of the stairs.

I had built a halfwall after taking down the spindle railing but it wasn't as steady as it could be.

John was nice enough to come over, again, to help me with this project.

We dismantled the wall I built and used the pieces from it to rebuild the new wall.

We started around 10am and by 130pm we had a new drywall covered halfwall.

Now I need to spackle the screws and the seams, prime it and paint.

When that is done John is going to come back and finish the top with a piece of wood that we can paint to match the boys room.

It will be more durable on the top than drywall but I need to get the other stuff done first.

After we finished that I did some laundry and made dinner before heading off to a children's ministry meeting.

I've been tasked with making 100 ID cards for Sunday for our check-in/check-out procedure.

Everyone is in bed and I'm going to eat dinner.

I was going to paint another bathroom tomorrow but I think that I will be laminating instead!

Pictures from yesterday's projects

The kids bathroom
The new door into the babies room

Day eleven

No pictures of today's project as my camera is MIA.

And I got a lot done today!

I had a guy come drywall the door area in the baby girls' room.

It looks good and will look even better when I get it primed and painted.

I painted the kids bathroom.

It turned out really good.

All the kids think it's really cool so I must have done alright!

To bad I can't find my camera.

Tomorrow John is going to come over and help me do the halfway in the the oldest two boys room.

Starting to get some color on the walls and it's continuing to look better.

Our attorney is filing our court papers this week regarding the house.

Then we just have to wait for Rod to get home so that we can get this stuff finished up.

Hopefully I can find my camera (I put it somewhere but don't remember where that where is!)

Day ten

Hmm, did i do anything interesting today?

I mowed the grass.

At least I suppose you can call it that.

The last time Rod used the lawnmower he damaged the blade.

I shook and shimmed all over the place trying to cut the grass.

I got the main part done before I noticed that the mower had vibrate a screw right out of the gas tank.

It is being held partway on by the other screw which didn't vibrate all the way out.

Oh well, at least I got the large part of the yard done.

Scrubbed the wall in the kids bathroom,

which I now realize was smoke soot,

most likely from the fire that the sellers say never happened.

I'm going to try to get a little painting done tomorrow.

Signed lease papers for the condo - yeah am I glad that's done.

Hopefully these two guys stay for the whole lease.

This renting out thing sure is harder than I thought it was going to be.

Hopefully we have some great new tenants and I don't have to worry to much about it.

Ang and Mak went on their fieldtrip to Seaworld today.

They told me about seeing the sharks, dolphins, and whales.

I think they had fun.

Ang fell asleep on the bus before they were out of the parking lot.

Note to self:still need to take care of the cats, have Poppa replace the blade on the lawnmower and screw the gas tank back on, get at least one thing painted tomorrow

Day Nine

Not really a whole lot to talk about today.

I got the lock put on the sliding glass door - FINALLY.

I had to buy three different locks to find one that actually worked on our door.

Now I need to put the door handle back on but I don't remember where I put the screws!

So now I have to buy new screws before I can put it back on.

I also rearranged the baby girls' room.

We scooted the closets out some before putting the door in so I have a little more room in their room.

I hung up the valance in their room which has been sitting on the windowseal since I bought it months ago.

It's up also - FINALLY!

I took off the rest of the wallpaper border that Ellie has been tearing down.

It came down a lot easier than it went up.

Moved the cribs around and plugged the freezer in where our washer is plugged in.

Took Ladaria to practice and decided that due to gas prices I would hang out on that side of town.

We went to Walmart.

And picked out paint for - the kids bathroom, the babies bathroom and the hallway.

I don't think I'll say what colors I picked out.

I think I'll just post pictures when I'm done!!

After much tears and gnashing of teeth between Angie and Makkiah who wanted everything in the store - including the ABC gum we headed over to pick up Ladaria.

Then headed to get gas in the big van - $75.00 for 3/4 of a tank. Thankfully there was a 1/4 of a tank already in it!

Headed home to make dinner to discover that the freezer that I had plugged into the GFCI outlet was not working.

Plugged it into a different outlet - it tripped also.

Tried a different extension cord - tripped again.

Gave up and plugged back in where it was - no wondered it shocks you if you don't have rubber soled shoes on.

Scheduled an appt to have Sears come out and look at it.

Will try a different extension cord tomorrow.

Made dinner, did devotions and put the kids in bed.

Tomorrow Ang and Mak are going on a fieldtrip to Seaworld.

Note to self: Treat the cats for fleas!

Day nine

Got a lot accomplished today.

Went to church and worked in the childcare room. Arrived to four kids in a room playing with play-do and no adults in the room. There were two moms who walked in before me to pick up their kids from the previous class and weren't to happy about their kids being in their with no supervision. Hopefully that will change soon.

Met with Pastor J after church to find out what had been decided in the meeting that they had Friday morning. There will be an application and interview process that starts Mother's Day and goes for two weeks. There will also be a meeting this Thursday with IE and Pastor Jeff that I was invited to.

Came home so the kids could eat lunch and headed for HD. I got a different lock for the sliding glass door, a scraper for Makkiah's wall, a watering can and a door handle. Got home in time for John and Liz to come over and help me put up a new door.

Tyreque, Ladaria, and I had to move one of the cabinets out of the hallway, so it's now in our storage room.

John measured and thought and measured and thought some more. Then he went outside and built a wall with a door opening in it. So here it is laying on the walkway.

Then John and Liz carried the wall in while I directed and took pictures (I have to have something to show!). Then John and Liz manhandled it into place. It definetly went in easier than the cabinet came out!

Shimmed the door, screwed it in, screwed it out, reshimmed, etc, etc. I had to laugh at the two of them. Just like married old people. I'm sure that Rod and I sound the same!! The door just wouldn't fit right (must be that the floor is not even in this old house) so John solved the problem by cutting the bottom off of one side of the frame. Put it back in, shimmed, screwed, and wala! - A DOOR!

John put on the new doorhandle, then fiddled with the latchplate until he could easily open and close the door. So the two babies now have privacy in their bedroom! I'm sure all the privacy that two baby girls need!!

Went to the store for milk and hamburgers. It's the first time in over a week that I haven't cooked. I had something out to make for dinner but the door took longer than expected. Oh well.

Day eight

Today was a busy day.

Stuartand Jessie graduated from Christian Heritage College and I watched Cindy's two babies so that she could watch them walk.

Vinnie (the little baby( has pretty bad exzema) and Cindy had given him benedryl to help with the itching. He lasted about 15 minutes, had a bottle and slept until the came back.

Lib cried for a few seconds when they left but then was happy and playing.

Ellie thought that it was all good and enjoyed playing with Lib.

Taniyah on the other hand was not impressed with that other baby that I was holding and she let us all know her feelings on the situation!

After Cindy, Rosalie, and Samuel came and picked them up we headed off to the presentation. The team presented at the Vietnam Wall Dignity Memorial in Balboa Park. It was an awesome privelege to be invited to go to this and honor our fallen military members.

Destini and Jaleel did rubbings of names of the wall and I was able to explain to them what all those names represented. I was so proud of how well behaved they were during the event. So many people who were there who had lost somebody in that war.

The team did an awesome job and we got many compliments about the pieces that we did. It was incredible the number of people who sat and watched the whole thing. Hopefully it was able to minister to them in the way that they each needed it.

We got home, did dinner and the girls made slushies. Then we waited to see the kids on the news. I fell asleep and missed them. I think only Tyreque and Ladaria saw it. Somebody taped it so I will try to get it. I also forgot my camera but Kristi is going to send me pictures. I will post them when she sends them. I was in such a hurry running around to get people ready that I forgot the camera!

Day seven

Today started EARLY. Or should I say that yesterday extended into today, yes I do know that this is the way it normally works, and the day started WAY to early.

Taniyah went to bed in my room.

She tried to throw herself off the bed while in her sleep which effectively woke her from that sleep.

I didn't want to wake the rest of the house SO I decided to let her stay in my bed.

At 1am I had my sweet little 3 year old who came into my room to find the gum that I had moved. Since Taniyah was not asleep, neither was I when my little darling came in. Needless to say she was suprised when I hopped out of bed.

Put her back to bed and turned off all the lights that she had turned on while making the journey to my room.

I tried to bear with Tete. Really I did, but after several hours of her patting my face, kicking me, feeling my nose, etc I just didnt care if the rest of the house was up. At 2:57am, yes that does say AM, I took my lovely little baby to her own bed in her own room. She fussed for a few minutes and then fell asleep. I fell asleep shortly after that. 6am came shortly after that.

After I got everyone off to school I took the youngest four kids to the zoo.

We went through the Children's zoo area and they had fun. I like going on the weekdays as it's less crowded. Today proved that. It was nice and quiet.

Taniyah kept trying to get the goats in the petting zoo to come to her. She would bend down, and pat her legs and "cluck" to them. They weren't impressed but it sure was cute.

Day six

Anyody getting tired of my counting of days yet?!

Today was a pretty typical day.

Getting kids ready for school,

making doctor appts,

making dentist appts,

fielding phone calls,

changing diapers,

cleaning house,

checking e-mail,

making dinner,

doing laundry.

Rod sent me his e-mail address. If you want it e-mail me and I might be nice and give it to you. He's doing well on the ship and has pissed off most of it. They were without a chief master at arms and now he is there doing his job. They don't really like that to much.

He e-mailed me and told me that he was doing daily birthing inspections with the XO and she is really great to work for. I told him that I had hoped there wouldn't really be need for those types of inspections on his ship. He thought it was funny but he really meant berthing inspections.

Not much excitement here but it's good therapy for me!! Since I don't have Rod to talk to about how my day went I can share it here in cyberspace for all to see!!

Day five

Another day, another set of stuff to do.

After getting all the kids off to school I started scraping the wall in Makkiah's room.

All of the walls in his room are plaster but one wall in particualr has issues.

When we bought the house it had boards in some kind of mosaic style.

Those boards came down thanks to one upset teenage son.

So I've decided to scrap the wall and refinish it.

The layers are:

1)plaster

2)paint

3)wallpaper

4)drywall compound

5)paint

6)adhesive

ALL of the layers have to be scraped down to the plaster. I did that for 1.5 hours and got a bucketful.

Then I picked up Ang and Mak from school and headed to the sitters house.

Mak had a pulmonary appt at 2:30 which went well.

A few adjustments in his meds, school action plan and a new diagnosis.

Dr W thinks that we are looking more at allergic croup and told me what to do when he gets croupy. We are really trying to stay away from the high dose oral steroids when possible so we'll see.

Headed off to the pharmacy where we waited for an hour and a half for the eight meds to be filled. Took longer for the meds than it did the doctor visit. AND

we don't have to go back for 6 months!!! If he keeps vomiting and spitting up after we make one med adjustment I do have to call him back so we can look at changing that treatment since he isn't gaining weight very well.

Went and picked up the babies from the sitter and came home in time to pick up the other kids and head off to AWANA.

Another busy day with a few things accomplished. I think Friday I'm going to take the younger kids to the zoo. A change of scenery will be good!

Day four

Today was a great day.

Makkiah had a great in school.

Angie actually brought me candy that she found instead of eating it!!!

Mrs Joyce came so my house is nice and clean.

AND the investigator came out.

She is closing the case with only a few minor violations-

1)the outlets which are fixed

2)the cleaning closet door which is fixed

3)the garden tools behind a locked door which is in progress

4)a door on the babies room which is in progress and

5)the kickwall in the boys room needing to be better stabilized which is in progress.

She told me that when I got these other things done to call and let her know but they are a huge deal as they aren't really safety issues and we are in the process of fixing them. They are actually issues that we created because we are doing work on the house which she understands. SO that is all taken care of. Now the only thing left to worry about is the girls adoption worker and advocate.

Pray that we get a large, family friendly adoption worker so that we have a chance at adopting these girls.

The ship is already nearing their halfway point. Pretty good for us since Rod just left.

Tomorrow will be a busy day with a trip to the pulmonologist for Makkiah.

Day Three

Today was a long day.

I got a lot of little things accomplished while the girls napped.

Cleaned the front porch,

Put the cable wire under the stairs.

Taped some wires down,

Discussed a door for the girls room with John,

as well a post upstairs to stabilize the wall,

folded ACTION shirts,

and generally picked up.

Then I got everybody ready for the ACTION fundraiser and showcase.

Still did get it taped.

They sent my camcorder back but didn't fix it.

They cleaned it and serviced it.

Did a full diagnostic, but didn't fix the darn thing?!

Talked with the girls social worker-

this is going to be a long, uphill battle.

I'm off to bed.

He made it

Rod called this morning to let me know that he had made it.

The ship is underway so it was a short call.

Long enough to hear his voice,

know that he made it safe,

and to say I love you.

Oh and to find out what time it was here and which day of the week!