How Long is Far?

*warning*spell*check*is*not*working*today*

Is far......half and hour?......ten miles?......three years?......from here to N.Y. city?

How about 60 stories high and six hours?

Now for the explaination. We've had the two older kids on a public charter schools waiting list since mid December. I called yesterday to see if our position had changed. "Yes" said the nice reseptionist "I'll probably get to you by Friday." YEA! This ment that Sam would go to school by Monday....THIS coming Monday.
Now, to today. Ben called in the am to see how our day was going (we'd already had a dry run to the school and were late by ten minutes). He asked where our errends would take us. I jokingly said "New York!" Then the idea came to me to go to Seattle and visit the Space Needle as a last hurah of home school. I will be more flexable when Sis and Sam go to school, but they won't be. He (Ben) loved the Seattle idea so we kidnaped my mom and were off!

As we were getting on I-205, I remembered I'd left my camera. Fortunatly my mom had hers. She's still got the picts. stuck in her camera ;) but I'll post them when they get unstuck :)

I got a little nervous on the ride up and first step off the elevator (it was a very windy day and the elevator was slightly rocking on the 84 second ride) but I did fine.
On the drive back we nearly got stuck in snow on I-5. The weather was terrible, aside form 5 patches of sunbursts. Thanks God for traveling mercies!

What's in a Name?

My full, legal name is Kathleen Cristin. I've loved my name for as long as I can remember. I've never wanted to change it or go by my middle name. I think it's because, as a very young child, I can remember my Mom telling me why she and Dad chose my name. It was the meaning of the name they loved; pure christian. I remember feeling good to have a name of good meaning (in my memory I was about 5 years).
And when Ben and I were choosing names for the kids, we looked at the meaning first, then how much we liked the roll of them off our tongue. We also chose names that could be shortened into a cute nick-name.
Now for the reason behind this post......to share our full names, nick-names and meanings! Yup, after you read this post, you'll be part of the family!

Ben: Benjamin Dean *the leader, son of my right hand *Ben, Daddy, Dad, Babe, Hon, Knight-in-shinning-armor, and as a child.......Benji (this is what his Mom will affectionately, on occasion, still call him).
Me: Kathleen Cristin *you already know the meaning! *Katy, Mom, Momma, Hon, Babe and my personal fav., only used by Ben....Beautiful.
Es: Esther Joy *God's pleasurable, glory hidden *Es, Essy, Sis, Sister, Sue, Suzie, Sister Sue or Sister Suzie. The whole Sue name thing just came out one day when she was about two.
Sam: Samuel Benjamin *The son of my right hand that God heard *Sam, Sammy, Brother, Brother Brown and Sambo. The latter one only Dad uses and Brother Brown came out around the same time as Sue.
Zach: Zachariah Aaron *The honored one God remembers *Zach & Zachy. Poor guy! Both the twins don't really have many nick-names:( He would have had even less because I didn't want anyone to call him Zachy. He started to call himself that around the age of 18mo. and it sounded so darn cute that everyone started calling him Zachy too.
Joe: Josiah Andrew *The courageous king of fire *Joey & Joe.

I'll call all the kids dude, bud, or buddy; yes even Sis!
Now it's your turn; what's your nick-name, given name or meaning?.....or God forbid maybe you don't have a nick-name! If that's the case I'm sure we could come up with something.......

The Best Part of My Day

We got up today around 6.45. Some of us (me, Sam and Zach) wake up running with a smile on. Others (Es, Joe and *sigh* BEN!) need time and encouragement to start their day. I truly don't care one whit whether anyone is a am or pm person. Doesn't God create each for His great pleasure?!? I've learned that Ben and I balance our family better by being opposites in this way. I get everyone going in the a.m. and he puts everyone away in the p.m. :) He has, in the past, been known to be a slight bear in the morning, yet I tend to resemble the same animal in the later part of the evening. Welcome to my world!
ANYWAY...we fix our rooms, do chores and eat (in that order:).
Next come the errands. We're all in the Burban and I'm pulling out of the garage when Sam says "Mom you look good today." Truly, I did take extra time in getting ready to go today. Dangly earrings, make-up, .....shower (sadly a morning shower is an optional part of my day at times!).
Yup, this is the little Husband in training! **Side note here: Samuel is getting so big. How can it be that the Child can learn and know about more things than the Mother? In reality ALL the children are getting large. Take time and squeeze those you love today! People move away and children grow, never know when we'll hug that person again.**
And to top it off, I treated myself to a grade, non-fat, sugar-free, caramel, latte' at STARBUCKS!
Tell me true, does life get any better than this? I say, "NO!"

5 Love Languages

The Five Love Languages is Dr. Gary Chapman's book, "The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate".

I read it years ago, then gave it away. But I don't remember taking a quiz. A friend recently had this on her blog so I took the quiz. Interesting.

My primary love language is Acts of Service with a secondary love language being Physical Touch.
Complete set of results:
Acts of Service: 9
Physical Touch: 7
Words of Affirmation: 6
Quality Time: 5
Receiving Gifts: 3

I sound so practical when you look at my results.....I guess I've always been and 'actions speak louder than words' kinda' girl!

You can also take the quiz.

What a Man

I will affectionately call my wonderful husband his full name on occasion. Most of the time it's when I'm laughing hard at his quick wit!

Today is his birthday.......Thirty-three.

For those of you who don't know about, or not a lot about, my husband, I'll fill you in. He's:

**the person I've known the longest (aside from my family, God and one friend.), 11.5 years.

**my Hero. He's worked long, hard days to solely support me and the kids for 9 years. And some wonder why I call him my Knight-in-shinning-armor?

**considerate. He opens doors for me on dates. Car and building doors. What a gentleman!

**loving. One of the first things he said this morning was "Is there anything I can do for you today?" And at the end of his long work day he always (not exaggerating here) calls to ask if there is anything I need, any errand he can run for me. My heart is all warm and fuzzy just thinking about that!

**compassionate, ever-thinking, wise (in multiple ways), faithful, honest, gorgeous, long suffering (es. when it comes to me!), witty, hard worker.....the list is never ending!

Hon: These past three years have been rough. Yet, you remain my Knight-in-shinning-armor. There is no other place I'd rather be than in your arms. Thank you for this amazing journey, this life you've given. I am humbled by your devotion to God and faithfulness to us. You have made us victorious. You complete me and I will always love and respect you.

With gratefulness and a happy heart, your wife, Beautiful

A Walk in the Cold

These were taken Thursday night. They speak for themselves. Can anyone say SUMMER?!?

Sometimes You've Just Gotta Hunker Down

Now is one of those times, hunker down I mean. *sparkling smile* I'm disclaiming right now that there are probably scores of grammatical errors in this post, oh well!

Not that I or anyone else likes to 'hunker' down, but sometimes, hunker we must.
Yeah, it'd probably be nice to know what I consider 'hunker down' to mean, huh? To your great confusion, it can mean several different things depending on the day or moment. Nice of me, I know.
Sometimes this means locking myself in my home and organizing for a whole week.....yet other times it could mean that I need to, yet again, become consistent with parenting and discipline.
Today it means sticking to a budget. Yow!
For the past three years our budget has been simple: J.D.S.; meaning Just Don't Spend!
This currant planning came about through a class our church offered. It's called Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. After watching a preview of the classes to come we were glad we'd already signed up.
The classes total 13 consecutive weeks. The average student (mostly couples) saves $2500 and pays $3800 to debts....in 3 measly months!
Last week was the first class. I felt like the amount of $ we paid was recuperated with just the first class! Yes, it's that good.
Ben and I hope to be completely debt free in three years. Debt free=no credit cards, lines of credit, family loans or mortgages. With that commitment came some heart wrenching decisions, at least for us they were.
Until all debt is gone: 1)no vacations (sniff....this includes our 10th Anniversary Hawaii trip:( 2) no elective surgeries, a.k.a. plastic surgery or Katy's dream-to-look-like-no-multiples-ever-dwelt-within-her-body 'procedure' :) 3) selling our home and renting until we have %50-75 of the purchase price of our next home. 4) My getting a job (although this was an easy decision for me....not so for Ben.) 5) Kids going to school so I can keep a job. YEA! Can you tell I'm at my limit with homeschooling? The sooner they go to school, the better. I will miss them terribly though.
I think that's all the changes we've made, other than sticking to a budget:)
I thank God for showing us how we can change our future and thus our children's future. Therein lies the reason for our 'hunkering down'. Proverbs 13:22a "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children..."
May God lead and help us!

The Mud Stain Song

I was doing the dishes this morning and overheard the following conversation:

Es (8)- Sam, remember that song we made up yesterday?
Sam (7)- Oh, yeah.
Es- Let's sing it again.
Sam- Okay.

This 'song' is sung to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth and they each had a separate part. I heard Es once singing the word mud, then they'd switch to Sam singing that word.

Mud, mud, mud, mud. Stain, stain, stain, stain! Mud, mud, mud, mud....stain, stain, stain, stain....etc.

I'm not sure they knew it was Beethoven they were singing to, but I'm sure they did him proud. Either that, or he's rolling in his grave!
It sure made me laugh. Partly 'cause they carried on for about 5 minutes!

You know you're having fun when.....

.....you get to take your pick between three toddlers to cuddle and have girl talk all in one afternoon! That right folks, I did just that today, and it was so fun!
I visited a friend for lunch and had a play date for the kids. Nine kids all together and no serious kid problems....serious. They did sooo good.
I LOVED spending time with Kristi and her Babies (all 5 of them!). Though, it did almost make me want to have another baby of our own......I said almost. Reason being: it is, to me, the best thing ever to hold a little body and have them snuggle into your neck. Ahhhhh, this must be what heaven is.
Whenever you need a sitter, Kristi, just call :) Thanks again!

How to Fast Like a Grouchy, Mean Person

That's not exactly the title you'd find at your nearest Christian book store. Let me explain....

....our church is promoting total (meaning water only until the 5th day) fasting between the days of 1/6 and 1/26. Our Pastor urged us to seek God as to what our participation should be. I felt like God wanted me to fast from Monday to Friday, breaking the fast with breakfast on Saturday.
Monday sucked. Totally. I was craving food so bad yet I wasn't really even hungry until dinner time. I was going to quit, but instead I drank a v-8 as a compromise. Oh, yeah, and I would snap at the kids....ugggg.
Tuesday there weren't as many cravings, but my stomach was grumbling all day long. I drank two v-8's. I was more patient and peaceful, yet would all-the-sudden snap and get mean.
Wednesday was the breaker. Ben was asking my input about some decisions (sweet of him) that needed to be made and I was so brisk to him even I couldn't believe it.
*side note* It's SUPER hard to be in the kitchen and touch food for almost 2 hours total every day and fast. If you have small children I'd recommend fasting from tv or something :)

I prayed for a while. I knew my attitudes and actions were not at all godly, yet I didn't want to quit just because it was hard. I felt the voice of God whisper to my heart....."Is this what it's all about? This is not My plan for your fasting."
So, yesterday, at 2pm, I broke my fast with a piece of pizza. It was glorious! The Mother was no longer grouchy.
I have, as yet, to find a way to 'comfortably' fast. I'm not apposed to discomfort, but crossing the line to harmful is not good and defeats the purpose. I'd hate for my kids to remember these last few days and hope they never fast. Oy! I'm praying that it wasn't too traumatic on them.
I did get something good out of all this. In the past I'd get busy doing my Mom things. If a kid had a question I wouldn't even look at them in their face as I listened and answered. I was just too busy for eye contact, I reasoned. Now, I guess I've just slowed down. I play more with the kids and realise somethings just won't get done today. I'd rather be kind and polite than check another item off my long list.
Anyway, this is how not to fast!

Ending the Curl Experiment

These pictures tell all. We finally got the results that we were looking for!
I ended up mixing the advice you wonderful commenter's gave.
I put a slight amount of mouse in her damp hair. Then rolled a greater amount of hair in a larger curler.
I'll post later how well the curls lasted.
Thanks to you who advised us.

The Curl Experiment

Thanks for all the curl advice. I've decided to just try all the different advice given and some more ideas of my own. This is now what Essy and I call...dun, dun, dun... "The Curl Experiment" (imagine that the last sentence was spoken in an echoy sort of voice).

I told her this morning that we are like scientists trying to discover the way her hair works and the way the curls work with her hair. We know the way it won't work, (or at least the way we don't like it to work) so we're actually closer to the way it will work. She loved that analogy. Mark my words......she'll be a scientist someday. She LOVES experiments especially when they pertain to girly stuff.

Here are the latest results from our experiment. We used medium-large hot rollers this morning.

Is it just me.....are is my little Essy looking more like a 'tween? *sigh*sniff*

-update- these curls just don't last:( It looked great for a half hour, but now 2 hours later....there is little evidence there were curls at all!

Library Cards and Curly Top

The Twins got their library cards today. This is a big deal for our kids, to get library cards. The child has to be six and have the ability to write their first and last name unassisted. Zach and Joe have been practicing for weeks on their names. Way to go!

And the next section of this post we'll call "Advice Needed".
Essy loves her hair curly. This past Sunday she wanted curls for church, so I put her freshly washed, damp hair in the spongy curlers. In the a.m. we unrolled the rollers and her hair was a curly mess! I didn't brush them, just put a little gel on my hands and ran my fingers through her hair.
My dilemma.....how do I get softer less tight curls? Larger rollers??? drier hair??? smaller amounts of hair for each roll???Please help!

Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR!