Enjoy the cartoon and smile through this story!! Okay, I get up Thursday morning with a sense of dread because it is birthday party day and all sources say we will be getting thunderstorms in the evening which is when the OUTSIDE birthday party is. Our house is only about 1500 square feet and so it is a squeeze just for those of us who live here, much less the guests we have invited. Nevertheless, I am making plans for an indoor shindig since I am thinking the weather is not cooperating. This means I must really CLEAN as guests have a way of making their way through my entire house, led by one or more of my children usually. "Come and see my Mom's closet, it is really a big giant mess." So I brace myself and clean the best I can. As I get the kitchen all tidied up, I try not to look in the living room where the kids are playing barbies.

"Mom, did you know the ceiling is dripping in here? I just sat in a wet spot on the floor and now it is dripping on my head." The roof, I think, panicking. although we are trying to save for its replacement, we thought we had lots of time. Wait a minute, even though storms are predicted for tonight, there hasn't been rain here in forever. Next thought, air conditioning central unit is in the ATTIC. Now I wish it could be the roof instead I think. There is a bulge in my living room ceiling where I can tell water is standing in the attic. Why me? Why today? I call my hubby who is just as distressed as I, but also trapped at work. He has me call a friend at church who assures me it is probably just the drain pipe clogged up or the pan rusted out. Either one is a relatively easy fix. It could be something else, but check those two first. He recommends that I climb the ladder outside and use a drain snake(which I am very experienced with since the bathroom drain incident) to snake out the pipe. First I go up into the 125 degree attic and yes, the drain pan is full to overflowing and so I decide cleaning the pipe is the way to proceed.

Now, I must tell you that I am very afraid of heights. More than that though, I am afraid of collapsing ceilings on party nights!! My first item of business though is to drill a small hole in the ceiling so that at least the water has somewhere to go besides down with the entire ceiling. Hole drilled, water dripping. Mentally preparing myself for ladder climb and working from high spot!! Very TENSE. One of my friends calls and says her husband could come by if I can't muster the courage to do it. Now I am on a timetable as he will be passing through the area at a certain time. I make Kayla and Lilly come outside with the phone in case I die and they must call 911. Erika is finishing school. I decide I will feel better if I don't wear shoes, that way I can grip the rungs better. I cautiously climb up with the snake. I reach a point where I think I can get the snake into the drain pipe. I begin to wish I had shoes on as it is very painful to stand on a ladder with no shoes. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? As I feed it in through the pipe, I begin to imagine all the possibilities of what could be clogging the drain. I say many prayers to God and reason with him that it will be hard to not freak out if some sort of bee or snake(REAL) were to exit. Freaking out on a ladder is not ever a good thing. I get the (drain)snake all the way in and then let it start coming out. Lots of water and muckety muck. That is all. I go ahead and do it again and then I climb down. Many praises to God who is so good!!

I search the yard over for children and finally find them. They were very worried about my safety(HA!). I get them back inside and go back into the 150 DEGREE ATTIC to see if I have done any good. Seems not as full but I decide I should get a glass and bucket and manually drain the pan so that we don't have to revisit this crisis until post party. After climbing attic stairs with a bucket and glass and maneuvering myself back to the drain pan, I discover there is only about an inch of clearance and the only way I could drain would be with a straw. (Why didn't I notice that before??) I take myself, bowl and glass back down the ladder and decide that is all I can do for now and switch gears back to party mode. Making the cake(as originally planned)is now out of the question so I call Sam's and order one. Later when I pick it up I will find that they made it twice as large as ordered so we have cake for 100!! It did end up being a fun party-we ate inside and then the kids were able to go play outside because the storm had blown over. By the time we squeezed in two tables and the chairs to go with them, you could hardly tell I did not clean much!! Erik took all the leftover cake to work with him so that wasn't a big deal either. I have decided no one will have another birthday party until they turn 16, but luckily this is the last one in our summer string of birthdays so I have some time to reconsider. Whew!! I am so exhausted from writing all of that, you will have to wait until tomorrow for the drama I woke up to this morning!! Here is a hint: What happens if a five year old gets a small patch of poison ivy on her chin?

I was hoping to show you a pic of me and my three sisters along with my Dad at the family reunion. Unfortunately my computer skills are as challenged as my housekeeping skills!! I want to do it well, I just lack the know-how. So maybe you will get a chuckle out of this pic instead.

Birthday party went well, I will post more about the exciting events pre-party later when I have more energy!! I am very thankful that it is Friday and that it is yucky and rainy and that we have run all week so I can justify a chillin' out day. School is done and we call it a day's work.

Have a blessed weekend!!

Waterparks Rock!

We went to a waterpark yesterday as our first homeschool field trip. It was great. Because public school had started, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. It is so cool to have a huge group of friends all in one place. In line you knew almost everybody-at the end of the slide , same thing. It was truly awesome! I was able to give my kids some freedom, even Lilly. It was only mildly abused!!

Back to work today. We are counting yesterday as PE but I don't think it can count for anything else!! Still have to catch up on our Math and such.

Been counting my blessings lately and it is quite a list. I am feeling very blessed and that makes me a little speechless. (I know!!)

My blog has been filtered the last couple of days, so I feel like I am sneaking in to post. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Have a super awesome Thursday!!

Chickenpox Anyone?

We have friends with chickenpox coming over tomorrow to share their disease. I want my Lilly to get the real thing and have lifelong immunity like my older two. Only homeschoolers would embrace this disease, we are passing it through our group!! HEE HEE! Lilly is so excited. Two weeks is incubation so we should have just enough time to get them and be done in time for first scouts meeting. Planned illness, what a concept.

Bailed Thunder out. He was home for about an hour before he nearly broke the door running out. Next time they haul him to the big house, we will forward all his papers and hope his new owners have a nice securely fenced in backyard(not with gaps a determined doggy can poke himself through). He is a great dog, neutered, shots, doggy tags. It is only when you spend money on them that they begin to be trouble!!

Family reunion was awesome!! We had relatives from Missouri, California, Illinois, Florida, Michigan and of course, KY. I will post pics my cousin burned on a disc for me if I can find them ( : I'm fun like that!!(Losing stuff I mean) We had 4 generations present. Pretty cool!!

Thunder(my dog) is a persistent felon, jailed again. Someone has it out for him though. we were told he would not be picked up if properly tagged. Apparently the person that has it in for him knows this, because his tags were removed. Now I have to decide if it is worth the battle it will continue to be with this unknown neighbor to keep him. We do love him, he is the best natured dog I have ever met. He has no enemies-human, dog or cat-except the dog-hating nazis. He doesn't even bark. People are so annoying. We are out in the coutry but too darn close to suburbia I guess!!

Yesterday was Erika's tenth birthday!! We ate at Applebees and we were going to go see CARS but alas, we have waited too long and it is no longer on. Yes, we are cutting edge!! So, She did almost an exact repeat of Kayla's birthday, jungle golf, animals, go-karts. We talked the guys into letting her drive her own cart since she is ten despite the fact she is still not 54"(she is about 52"). I don't usually push limits like that because I know it is for your own safety-but it is a go-kart and a five year old that is tall could drive-so why not my ten-year-old??!! She can't help it that God put her in a small package. It was a fun day and I am glad the birthday book is nearly closed!! (still have the party and then that is all till next year-June, July, Aug parties all in a row-wheew!!)

Gotta go, everyone is diligently working on schoolwork but that will change oh so quickly if I don't reappear quick enough!! Spell to Write and Read is awesome by the way!!

Day two, day two...

...now is through. Today was a little tougher. I was such a slacker last semester that I will pay a penalty while we get back to school this year. We are putting more time in and doing a slightly "more intense" curriculum. Never fear though, I plan to actually do the fun science experiments that have been hanging out in my closet for two years as well.

I am so excited about tomorrow!! It is my family reunion and this year will be very well attended. I plan to get up early with the girls and yard sale on the way to my dads. Erik is off tomorrow but he will have to drive as well because he has a gig tomorrow night. Hopefully he won't burst my yard sale bubble!! We have not gone in quite a few weekends.

Gotta go, must make yummy food for tomorrow! Hope you all have an awesome weekend!!

School started today and it was a good day. I am glad to have it over and done. Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart. I love my children and I love teaching them, but some aspects are just not fun. The number one issue we have is that I am not a "teacher"-defined as a stranger one tries to impress all year. All three of my girls have honest-to-goodness "teacher's pet" in their blood. They get it honest. When I think of school, regardless of the grade, I think of the teacher and incidents that happened with teachers first. I don't know what we studied in fourth grade, but our teacher, Mrs. Butler, read us lots of books and poetry. I love her still. I love every teacher I had, well there are about 5 that should really have pursued other career paths in my opinion, but I was a brown-nosin' teacher's pet and I loved it. You are so surprised I know!! One of my college professors gave me a "C" in a class I should totally have flunked. We hung out and talked before class about politics and everything else under the sun. He overlooked my lousy performance and told me not to worry I had a good solid "C" in class. I did not ask any questions because I was on my own, working 2 jobs, AND carrying 15 hours. Color me grateful. I am mildly ashamed, not really.

My pulse quickens and I get a big goofy grin on my face when I run into a teacher from my school career. The grin is even bigger and goofier when they remember me too. Some of them are friends of mine as a grown-up-but I still call them Mrs. Cope, Mrs. Nelson, and Mr. Wright. I tried really hard to call Mr. Wright, Eddy, but I just felt like a little kid trying to sound grown-up.

I DIGRESS, as always!! SO, all of that to say, my kids want to impress me of course, I have alot of power in their lives. But are they frantically trying to "WOW" me with their carefully labored over schoolwork? NO!! "Here Mom, am I done yet?" "Is this good enough?" "Do I have to do ALL of them?" I never should have sent them to public school. EVAH!! But I did and this is the consequence. Lilly on the other hand finds me totally amazing and LIVES to impress me with her super-skills. The girl is five and she can add. and subtract. She also knows all the sounds the letters make. When reading clicks for her, there will be no stopping this kid!!

I hope the new emphasis on developing Godly character helps all of us. We could sure "esteem one another more highly than ourselves" around here-myself included! I am looking forward to DAY 2 tomorrow and mostly the weekend!!

Mel Gibson should totally be exonerated...because...he was not drunk...he was drinking tequila. That is not drunk. Tequila is a mind altering hallucigenic(sp?). No one should ever be judged in any way responsible for actions or comments made while under the influence of tequila. I HEAR that it is some bad stuff.

We went to an outdoor wedding tonight. It was so pretty. It was a shame we all melted in the heat into little puddles of ooze. Just kidding-it was the shortest ceremony I have ever been to and we all rushed into the air-conditioned reception. It was fun and I am so happy for Joe and Jackie!

I have so been stressing over my girls scouts earning a bronze award. Every detail from the project to the order we have done the work and all points in between. Last night instead of sleeping like a normal person, I looked over the exact requirements for the award and discovered-hold onto your hats-we have already earned all the things we needed to. Since I very seldom read through the badge requirements, we accidentally earned the proper badges and awards without knowing it. I love this so much!! Now I can't wait to see about some silver for my cadettes, maybe they already have earned them...hee hee!!

Can't spend to much time on here...gotta hubby plant to water. ( :