that girl

i was driving home with my daughter last night from gymnastics. she asked if she could call the officer. i handed her my cell phone. the officer and my son are going dirt bike riding today, so they were in the garage loading their bikes. they did not hear the phone ringing. the answering machine picked up. my daughter decided to not leave a message.

when she got off the the phone she said, "that girl said she can't answer the phone."

i am wondering who did she call? she obviously got the wrong number. then i realize.....

i said, "you know who that girl is?"

she said, "that girl always says that all the time!"

i told her that girl is me, mommy. that's the outgoing message that everyone hears when they call our house and get the answering machine.

guess she didn't recognize my voice.

i've got the hang of it now.

alright - i have the hang of the toothbrush now.

if this is the first post you've read about my adventures with my toothbrush - you can catch up here and here.

i have been doing very good with it the last couple of days - except for putting the toothpaste on the cover this morning instead of the actual toothbrush. it was an honest mistake though - i was very sleepy and was just stumbling my way through my morning routine.

i will not have to invest in those disposable bibs. yeah treasure!

still need directions

so i am continuing my quest to learn how to use my battery operated toothbrush. if you have no idea what i'm talking about you can read my first post here.

the night before last i had trouble with the toothpaste staying on the toothbrush. i put the toothpaste on the toothbrush and when i started brushing i realized there was no toothpaste on the toothbrush. i didn't know what happened. i reapplied to toothpaste and tried again. again, the same thing happened. what is going on here??? i tried for the third time - success.

i realized i was putting the toothpaste on the toothbrush, turning it on, and then putting it in my mouth. the toothpaste would flick off. i found it in the sink and on the countertop. i realized i need to wait to turn the toothbrush on until after it is in my mouth. does everyone know this? i am the only one with these problems? i feel ridiculous that - i - a 37 year old woman - cannot learn how to properly use this toothbrush.

however, i think i have a handle on it now. i have successfully brushed my teeth several times without getting toothpaste flecks on my mirror. my shirt is still another story - and i haven't found any in my hair. so if you are one of my friends and you see a little toothpaste in my hair - don't tell me. don't worry about it. i'm working on it. :)

does this thing come with directions?

just to let you know before you get into this post, reading this will add nothing to your life. it's just randomness

i got a new toothbrush. everyone in my house except for me has a battery operated toothbrush. my kids have had one for a while. they use them off and on - depending on whether the battery works. my husband bought one about four months ago. he really likes his. this past week the oral b battery operated toothbrushes from walgreens. they were $4.99 and i had a $3 off coupon.

i bought one. it sat in my bathroom drawer for a couple of days. two nights ago i decided to use it. i got it out of the drawer, applied the toothpaste and started brushing. i know this is a simple tool. stick it in your mouth and brush your teeth. i did it. however, it wasn't so simple for me. it wasn't pretty people. by the time if was finished i had toothpaste spit (gross i know) all over the mirror, sink, counter top, my shirt, my hair, all down the toothbrush, my hand and going down my arm. when i was finished cleaning everything up, i looked to see if directions came with the toothbrush. they didn't. i thought to myself that i wouldn't be able to use it if this was the result every time. who wants to have take a shower and clean the bathroom every time after you brush your teeth. now i know why there used to be toothpaste specks all over the mirror. apparently the officer's gotten it under control now because that doesn't happen anymore. maybe i should ask him for tips.

for some reason last night the officer and i were brushing our teeth at the same time. we don't do this very often because i fear the mad about you thing of getting spit on. anywho, we were brushing our teeth together and let me just say i know the officer truly loves me. he was laughing by the time i was finished brushing my teeth. once again i had it all over my shirt in my hair and running down my arm.

i'm giving myself a week. if i don't have a handle on this toothbrush by the middle of next week, i will just go back to the regular old manual toothbrushes. i'll let you know how it goes. :)

our mini art class

so for part of school today my son wanted to give an art lesson on how to draw the cat in the hat. he took my daughter and me step by step through the whole thing. you can see his original picture here.

here's the picture he drew today. i love how small the hat is.

here's my picture. i am NO artist and if i don't say so myself it looks a little like me - sans the beard.

and last but not least, my daughter's

i won't tell you how much it bothered my son that my daughter colored the cat in the hat's hat pink and white and his "beard" red. it was almost too much to bear.

she's thinking....

sunday night we are headed home from church - which we did not have. last sunday night the officer went to church with my son. i stayed home with our sick daughter. the officer didn't hear anything about there not being church the next sunday night. sunday i went to church, well i went to sunday school and then i had to work in the nursery for worship service. i didn't hear anything about there being no sunday night activities.

the officer gets home for work and gets ready for church. he's been very excited about the revelations class he has been in and doesn't like to miss a sunday. we all head to church - very early. the officer wants to make sure he gets his front row seat. church classes start at 5:30 p.m. and we arrive at 5:02 p.m. there's hardly a car in the parking lot. this week is spring break for a lot of people and there was the time change. this next week our church is having vbs. when we get inside we ask someone if there are church activities going on tonight. he said, "no, we are only setting up for vbs tonight." 25 minutes there and 25 minutes home, no church. it's okay. we get to spend an unexpected evening together. we ate our one our favorite chinese food places and had a lot of fun.

on the way home from eating, my son says, "i think i remember my sunday school teacher saying there was no church tonight."

hmmmm.....

i also hear my daughter say, "mom, i have something on my thinking. nevermind."

i think she means, "i have something on my mind."

i ask her, "what is it?"

she replies, "well i have something on my thinking and it's about parents and babies."

please don't let it be that question again, please don't let it be that question again!

"what is it?"

she asks, "how do those babies get out of the mommy's tummies?"

it's that question again.

so we go over it again. i tell her while she listens intently and while my son talks to himself with his hands over his ears because "i've already heard it once, i don't need to hear it again!"

alright - we should be good for another month or so on that question.

she plays hardball!

the officer and my son often wrestle. my son loves it. tonight they decided to sock fight. have you heard of it? well.... it's when you get one pair of socks. you roll one sock up into a ball and stuff it down into the toes of the other sock. you swing the sock (with the balled up sock in it) around and hit the other person. there are rules - no hitting in the face and other certain areas.
my daughter and i usually sit it out and watch with amusement. sometimes they try to drag us into it, but we don't get as much enjoyment and bonding out of it as they do.
my daughter didn't really want to get in the middle of it, however; i guess because of all the laughing and giggling she wanted to participate somehow. she went into her room. she came out of her room with a sock in her hand.

she yelled something like, "who wants to get it? i have a sock with a roll of pennies in it." and smacked it against the wall.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!!!!

she apparently doesn't know all the rules.

the officer politely informed her that we do not put anything hard in the socks! definitely no rolled coins. i think he might be a little afraid she might put a roll of silver dollars in there next time.

we all feel it

so yesterday was not such a great day. everyone in the household was a little.....
grumpy!

i was cleaning a house and trying to do the homeschool thing at the same time. usually this goes alright. not yesterday. one of my children did not want to do their work. on top of that, i'm trying to clean a house so my full attention was not on that child.

i won't lie, the thought "i am so failing at this homeschool thing!" went through my mind several times.

my daughter is sick - she has double ear infections and "a touch of bronchitis". i also admit last night i just let the officer take care of her (even though he had to go to work today- thanks honey). the previous two nights i slept with her - coughing in my face.

by the grace of God though, no one else has gotten sick and she is on the upswing of it.

i am tackling our game/puzzle/craft/coat/video camera/bunch of other stuff i had no idea was in there closet. do you have one of those? i can't believe how much was in there. yes, i stopped in the middle of what i was doing to write this post. needed a quick break.

anyhow, if you've been feeling the funk lately - you are not alone. i'm in it too. this morning i read mrs. troop, and apparently she's in it too. her blog is always a source of real-ness and encouragement for me.

Joshua 1:9
"Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

resurrection eggs

have you ever seen the resurrection eggs? it's a great way to teach the easter story. you start this 11 days before easter. we did this last year and we will do it again this year. it's a dozen plastic eggs. each egg has a symbol of the easter story. it comes with a booklet that tells you what to read each day. the book is in english and spanish. i have heard people have purchased them at wal-mart, but you can probably purchase it at mardels or online here. they are anywhere from $10-$12.

starting from day one and going on, there is a donkey, several pieces of silver, a goblet, a set of praying hands, a crown of thorns, a nail/spike, a cross, a dice, a spear, a piece of cloth, a tombstone, and the best part is the last egg is EMPTY!

if you want to purchase this and do it on a daily basis before easter, buy the eggs and get started on march 24. we did this every morning so that on easter morning before we went to church, we opened the last EMPTY egg.


do you have any other great easter traditions? i'm always on the lookout for great easter traditions that help emphasis the story of easter. leave a comment if you have a suggestion! we made resurrection cookies several years ago too. i can't remember if i've already posted about that. i have to find that recipe.

edmond historicial society museum

we had a very fun field trip last friday. first of all the weather was beautiful! we went to the edmond historical society museum with our homeschool group. they had some neat exhibits. the museum is free.

there was the one room schoolhouse/church.

there were several other exhibits, but the biggest hit was the children's hands-on area. they had an old time grocery store, jail house, bank, vegetable garden, a house with a ton of dress up clothes, and a room with two train tables in it. there was also an area to draw pictures. grandma kathryn came up to the museum to visit for a little bit too.

kids who stole money were put in jail. i'm not sure if there wasn't a kid there who didn't steal the money from the bank vault.

of course the other favorite part was the park that was right beside the museum. the weather was perfect and the kids loved playing outside.

kind of funny - this picture represents their personalities perfectly.

free dunkin donuts coffee or iced cofee.

hello blog friends. i wanted to let you know you can get a free dunkin donuts coffee or iced coffee on mondays in march. you can head to the dunkin donuts site to get more information. they will be giving away free coffee/iced coffee on mondays through out the month of march.

this is a great way to not have to spend any money but be able to try something you haven't before. you might make sure you ask your local dunkin donuts if they are participating in this promotion before you order, or at least be prepared to pay for it if they are not.

if you have trouble with this, please some back and comment so i will know. thanks.

art - all in the eye of the beholder (or their mother)

my kids love to draw pictures. their artwork can often be found on the refrigerator or taped up any number of places throughout our house.

my son recently started an art class with our homeschool group. the paid art class was a bit much for him. with 15 students of various ages (6-13) in the class, he didn't feel like he could keep up in the class. he decided to go to another art class. he enjoys it very much! this was one of the first pictures he drew. can you guess who he is?

pretty cute huh???

on another note, i clip coupons. when i clip them, the kids like to look at the pictures. theres often a funny picture or a picture of someone they like (i.e. dora, buzz lightyear, transformers). last week when i was clipping out my coupons, there was a picture of a dog that cracked my daughter up. it was a picture of a dog with a huge smile on his face. it was advertising dentastixs. the reason it was funny was the dog had human teeth instead of k-9 teeth. my daughter immediately hung it up on her wall above her bed. by the time i was finished clipping my coupons, she had four pictures of that dog.

the other night when i went into her room, i looked up at the pictures. she wanted to explain them to me.

she said, "see the dogs are funny because they have human teeth and not doggy teeth. this one has human teeth, this one has human teeth, this one has human teeth, and this one has human teeth with braces."

"cute! wait - what? human teeth with braces on a dog?", i said.

"yep! don't you like it?", she asked?

she put braces on the rest of her dogs. here's what they look like.

yes, indeed i do like it.