Rain, Rain, Go Away - Garage Sale Blues

Well we tried to have a garage sale this weekend. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We went ahead and opened the garage sale anyway, but we only had about five customers and sold ONE item. LOL.

But the kids got out their umbrella and had great fun sitting at the end of the drive way with garage sale signs trying to lure in customers.

Granny and Papaw came and we had a good time sitting in the garage and visiting with them.

Donuts - $12
Garage Sale Signs - $8
Ad in the Paper - $14
Proceeds from Garage Sale - $5

Fun day with the kids in the rain - Priceless



A few more pictures of the fun.



Libby escorting Granny in the rain. Granny has lost 23lbs...doesn't she look great!!!

Snack Wars – Part II

The next issue we had with snacks was over snacks stored out in the garage. I have a shelf that sits in the garage right outside the door to the kitchen. When I have extra food items, I’ll sometimes store them out there.

I had purchased a case of apple sauce in individual containers from Sam’s Club and stuck them out on the shelf. Then one day in the garage, I notice that there are empty apple sauce containers out there.

I’m telling my Mom on the phone about the empty containers I found. She always tries to stick up for Frank and Libby. So she says “Well maybe some mice got into your garage and ate the apple sauce.” Ummmm….last time I checked Mom, mice don’t use red plastic spoons to eat apple sauce!!!!

So that evening, the whole family is in the kitchen area getting ready for dinner. I casually mention to my husband “Bob, be sure that you don’t give any of that apple sauce out in the garage to the kids, because I accidentally dumped a bunch of it in the cat litter and got cat pee on it. I’m going to throw it away.” Frank and Libby’s eyes got as huge as saucers. And I haven’t had any trouble with them taking snacks out of the garage since then.

Imaginary Friends

Some people’s children HAVE imaginary friends. My child WAS an imaginary friend for a while. I was concerned for a little while that she might have the beginnings of Multiple Personality Disorder!

Last summer Carlie had just turned four. Our Nanny at the time (Loretta) would tell Carlie stories about things her children had done when they were little. Some of Carlie’s favorite stories were about Loretta’s daughter named Krissy.

So there for a while… Carlie BECAME Krissy. When we were talking to her, we never knew if we were talking to Carlie or Krissy. Krissy was 15 years old, and Krissy was Carlie’s cousin. Carlie liked Mac & Cheese, but Krissy did not. Krissy liked to play on the swing set, but Carlie was afraid of heights.

If Carlie was in her Krissy persona, then she would not respond to the name Carlie. So I’d holler “Carlie, it’s time for dinner.” And Carlie would just sit there like she hadn’t heard me. If I stepped it up and raised my voice, she’d cut her eyes over at me and ask why I was calling her Carlie when her name was Krissy.

If we asked Carlie to come inside and take a bath, we’d be informed that “Krissy” didn’t like to take bathes. Krissy should also have a later bedtime because she was after all, fifteen!

It was an interesting summer, and like most imaginary friends, Krissy finally disappeared

You aren't a real Dad until you've been puked on!

Father's Day was just a week or so ago, and I want to take a moment to brag on my husband. Bob was about 33 when we met. He'd never been married. He'd spent his whole life focus on sports and coaching.

We met in September 2000, got engaged in November 2000. Got married June 3, 2001 and got Frank and Libby July 17, 2001. We'd barely been married a month. within a year Bobby went from being a committed bachelor to being married with two kids.

Madi came along in April 2002, and Carlie in March of 2003. In two and a half year, he went from being single to being married with four small kids!!! That couldn't have been an easy adjustment.

When we first got Frank and Libby, Libby would eat anything and everything in sight. She would scavenge for food in the trash cans, under the couch, anywhere she could find it. She would also sometimes eat until she threw up.

We'd only had them a few weeks when we decided to go eat Mexican food and then go to Walmart. Libby ate and ate. When we got to the store, Bob and I each put a kid in a shopping cart. I had Frank in my cart and he had Libby in his. He said he was going to take Libby and go look in the sporting goods section.

He'd only been gone a few minutes when he showed back up at my side with a look of panic and disgust on his face. The first thing out of his mouth was "What do I DO???" He'd been pushing Libby in the cart and she'd leaned forward and puked all over his feet. He was wearing flip-flops!!!

So I'm standing in the middle of Walmart with a 2 year old covered in puke and a husband covered in puke. Bob took Frank and went into the mens room to wash off his feet and shoes. I bought Libby a new set of clothes and paid for them in layaway, then took her into the bathroom and changed her clothes.

And I told Bob that he was now officially a Dad, as he'd been puked on!!!

My Cherokee Princess

We have always told Madi that in the summer time, she gets as dark as a little brown nut. They went to the swimming pool yesterday. As they were taking off their bathing suites to get in the tub and wash their hair, Madi says "Mom, it's weird. The more that I go swimming, the whiter my butt gets!!!!"

Do they arrest parents if their kids cause a Train Derailment???

My parents dropped by during the day today to visit with the kids. They were on their way to a doctor's appointment in Wichita. While they were here, Frank and Libby showed my parents a bag of railroad spikes! There is an active railroad track that runs around the backside of our neighborhood. Apparently Frank and Libby along with the neighbor girl, Krystal, had spent the afternoon pulling up railroad spikes! They had a bag containing THIRTY EIGHT of them. Granny asked how they got them up, and Libby said "They came up really easily. We just pulled them up!"

When I got home, I told them that those spikes are what holds the railroad track together, and if they pulled too many of them out that the rails would come apart and the train would derail. Libby's eyes got as wide as saucers.

Not to mention the fact that they were playing on the train tracks at ALL.

So DO you think they put parents in jail if their children cause a train derailment????

The Snack Wars - Part I

For some reason, it is very very common that children who have been abused and neglected will horde/sneak/steal food. Frank and Libby have both struggled with this issue over the years. It goes away for a while, and then will come back suddenly with a vengence.

We've tried creative ways to resolve this over the years. And please note that healthy food (ie apples, oranges, bananas, cheese) is ALWAYS available in my house, and a request for a healthy snack is seldom turned down.

This past school year, I had three kids in elementary school. I decided that it was too expensive to buy them all a hot lunch every day, so we'd begin packing a lunch. I bought little bags of chips and Pringles. I made it clear to everyone that these were expensive and were for school lunches ONLY.

A couple of months went by and I cleaned Frank's room out. Behind his bed, I found a MOUND of empty wrappers from candy, snacks and chips. He was sneaking them out of the cupboard and taking them downstairs to eat them. We'd had this problem in the past, so it wasn't a big surprise.

So I showed Frank that I'd found his "Stash". And I told him there'd be consequences the next time I found empty wrappers down in his room. A few days went by, and I found a second set of wrappers in his room. I showed them to Frank, and he tried to tell me they were from a long time ago, and I just hadn't found them when I found the other wrappers. I know this wasn't true, because there was a half eaten powdered donut in the pile, and I'd just bought them the night before. I was also finding wrappers in Libby's room, but in a much smaller quantity.

So I thought about it all that next day at work. Grounding him from snacks hadn't worked, time outs hadn't worked, spanking him hadn't worked...so it was time to try something new. Most of what he'd been sneaking were the bags of potato chips and Pringles. So I went to Dillons that day on my way home from work. I bought $75 worth of chips and junk food....twinkies, ding dongs, candy bars, chips...the best. I also bought a small plastic container and filled it full of the snacks. I placed the container in the cabinet. I lined all four little kids up and told them that they could have as much stuff from the snack basket as they wanted (imagine cheering children)....there was only one condition.....they must STEAL the snacks from the basket without me catching them doing it (now imagine four kids with their eyes bugged out of their head). My intention was to take the thrill out of stealing the snacks. When they stole something out of the basket, they had to bring the empty wrapper to me the next morning.

The little girls really weren't interested one way or the other. Frank was absolutely FURIOUS. He said he would NEVER steal a snack out of that basket, and I couldn't make him. I calmly replied that was fine. Libby just couldn't believe that she could steal something out of it and wouldn't get in trouble. She asked me several times "And I won't get in trouble, right?"

Libby "stole" something out of the basket two nights in a row, and brought me the wrappers. That took all of the fun out of it for her, and she didn't bother it for a long, long time afterwards.

Since Frank was the one who was taking the chips in great quanities, I had additional things planned for him. Later that night I fixed a good meal of lasgna...which is one of Frank's favorites. I fixed a big plate and set it in front of each girl. When it was Frank's turn, I fixed a plate heaped up with potato chips instead. I told Frank that since he had such an uncontrollable desire for potato chips, that as a good Mom, I was going to ensure that he got all the chips he needed. Frank would eat chips for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner until he got his fill. Again, Frank was FURIOUS. He pushed the plate away and would not eat a single chip. When he got up for breakfast the next morning, the little girls all had a bowl of cereal....and Frank had a bowl of chips. He absolutely could not believe his eyes when I set the bowl of chips in front of him. Again he wouldn't eat them and started crying. He wailed "Moooommmmmmm......could I PLEASE just have some healthy fooooooddddd????"

So we talked about it a while, and he decided maybe he COULD exert some self control were the chips were concerned and not steal them out of the cabinet any more. And I gave him a nice healthy bowl of cereal to eat.

Opera Girls

For some reason, both Madi and Carlie have decided recently that they are Opera Stars. They have learned to sing with vibrato, and now feel the need to sing everything instead of speak it. So now conversations in our house often sound like this.

Mom: Madi, please set the table.

Madi: OKKKKKAYYYYY! Okay, Okay, OKKKAAAAYYYY! I WILLLL Set the taaabbbbblllle."

Carlie: "But I want to set it TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I said it FIRRRRRSSTTTT."

Mom: It's a one person job, Carlie. I asked Madi to set it.

Carlie: "Then can I please go outtttsiiiiiiiiiiiide!!!!"

Mom: Why are you singing everything?

Carlie: Well, its Opera, you are opposed (supposed) to SING everything. (Accompanied by her best Duh look)

Madison Days - 2008

This is always a big event in my family. We had a great time this year. There were train rides, turkey legs, face painting and lots and lots of candy at the parade.



Freight Cars



The Caboose!!!



Granny with a turkey leg in each hand!

May Quotes

We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands. - Unknown
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What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? - Unknown
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Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
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There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein

Storms and Stitches

Bob runs the weight room for the High School on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. On those days, he needs to leave just as soon as I get home in order to make it on time. Well Thursday, they'd been predicting bad storms all day long. I got home at 5:30pm, and Bob was heading out the door. The storms had already hit Wichita and were quickly heading our way.

Frank came upstairs and asked me if he could go over to the neighbor girl's house. I told him that he needed to stay home. He whined "Well, LIBBY is over therrrrreeee." I told him to go and get Libby, because I wanted them all home when the storm hit.

Well I went ahead and started unwinding from my day, checking the mail, etc. I didn't realize that Frank had never come back from the neighbor girl's. I'd just been home a few minutes when Carlie starts crying in my bedroom. She hardly ever cries when she gets hurt, so when she does cry, I know it's serious. They'd been on my bed playing, and Madi and pulled Carlie by the arm and she hit the post on my bed

LIBBY is also in there with the little girls. I asked her what she was doing in there and she said she'd been asleep in my bed. It briefly registers in my brain "Well, where's Frank then?" But I am trying to take care of Carlie and see where the blood is coming from. She has a hole in the corner of her upper lip about the size of the end of my little finger. It's going to need some stitches.

I'm not freaking out, but there is an edge of panic there. My two-seater sports car is parked behind the SUV. So I decide that I will take Carlie in that to the ER to get stitches. I put her (bleeding and crying) into the car, and then Madi and Libby run out and ask "But what about US?" I realize that I can't leave them there alone...especially not with a huge storm coming. I don't know what I was thinking. So I get Carlie out of my car and into the SUV and get Madi and Libby loaded up and realize that Frank is missing.

He never came back from the neighbor girl's. By now, the storm is really close. The wind is blowing and it's dark. I drive to the neighbor's house, but no one is at home!!! I have NO idea where Frank is. Again, for a split second I think about just leaving him. LOL. I decide that I will drive through the neighborhood looking for him. The winding is blowing, and I'm driving around shouting from my car window "FRANNNKKKK....Where ARE YOU?????" I run into the older lady who lives across the street. She's walking her dog. I ask "Have you seen Frank?" She says "He went that way. He said he was looking for Libby." I go down a few houses and another set of neighbors are sitting out on their porch watching the storm roll in. They again point me in the direction Frank went. Eventually, I catch up to him, and get him loaded into the car.

We make it to the ER right before the storm hits. By this time Carlie has quite crying, and she's completely calm, cool and collected. Much more so that I am!! She was SO brave at the ER. She told the ER doctor, that she wants to be a doctor too, but she only wants to take care of 1st graders! They put a stitch in her lip and send us home. She did not move or make a sound as they gave her a shot in her lip and sewed it up.

On the way home, I call Granny to tell her what's happened. She is on her way to the cellar. The storm has just hit their area. Granny and Papaw had just made it to their cellar when a small tornado went over their house. It brought down one of their trees along with tons of other big limbs. It lifted up the edge of the roof of their house as well. But they were lucky they were in the cellar and there was no other damage.

By 8pm it was all over. Whew!!!

Seven Years Ago Today...

Bob and I were married. I can't believe it's been seven years, it doesn't seem nearly that long. I think that's a good sign??? It's been a really, really good seven years.

Happy Tenth Birthday, Frank the Stank!!!

It's hard for me to believe that he is 10 years old today!! We are so lucky to have some of his baby pictures provided by his Birth Dad. I love you, Little Man. Here are some pics of Frank through the years.

The Cemetery Party

Bob's family has a private family cemetery out in the country at Redden, Oklahoma.

The property has the original one room school house where many of the older generation when to school. Every year on Memorial Day weekend, the family gathers for a big reunion. When Frank and Libby were little they called it "The Cemetery Party". It made sense to them, we went to the cemetery and had a big party!!! There is always lots and lots of food, lots and lots of kids and lots of fun.

This year it was a little sad as Uncle Paul passed away last December. His wife and kids and grandkids didn't attend this year as the memories were just too hard. And we missed them.




This year for our vacation, we camped for a week at the family's private camp ground. We got to fish, swim in the lake and eat lots of junk food. Mom even got to sleep in most days!!!

One day Libby, Carlie and I went fishing with Pepaw on the boat. One of the distant cousins who is Frank's age went with us. The kids were getting restless and bored. Carlie was whinning to go home. I told her if she didn't quit whinning, I was going to throw her in the lake to cool her off. Well Nick said HE wanted to be thrown in the lake and stared whinning like Carlie. About that time Pepaw pulled in one of his jug lines and it had a dead Gar on it. If you aren't from Oklahoma a Gar is a long skinny fish that has a long snout with lots and lots of sharp teeth. It's very scary looking. I told Nick that if he got in that water one of those Gar would bite his ying-yang off. Carlie was listening quietly and piped up "Yeah, and then that would turn you into a girl and you'd have a VAGINA!!!" Pepaw laughed and laughed.

Graduates - A High-Schooler and a Pre-Schooler

Well I had two of my five kids graduate this year. JB graduated from High School by the SKIN OF HIS TEETH, but he made it!!! We had a graduation party at our house afterwards, and I got to meet his Mom (Debbie), sister (Ariel) and his baby half brother (Caden).



Carlie graduated from Pre-School. I can't believe that my baby is going to Kindergarten next year. She is so excited. Her Kindergarten Round Up results came in the mail the other day and she got Exceptional on all things except for cutting with scissors and handwriting. She even got the E's on things like sharing and taking turns which are usually not her strength. LOL.