well, since i last wrote on ash wednesday, i figure i'll update you on our lenten experience thus far. the boys did well in the service last wednesday (although they were sitting in church doing homework... we have to get creative with busy schedules and heavy workloads!) and they were fascinated and freaked out a little about getting ashes on their foreheads. truthfully, i know they don't really get what the service was about, but it was a good introduction for them.
we've all chosen to give something up for lent (new for the boys): ed has given up chocolate & ice cream, drew - sweets and soda, taylor - legos and "doodling" in school, noah - sweets and evan- chocolate. for my part, i'm working on giving up my kneejerk reactions and giving grace... real grace, as in, when it isn't deserved and i don't want to give it! this is even harder for me than giving up chocolate in years before!! i'm sorry to say that we've each slipped up but we're pushing on and giong to try to make it to easter. i just know things are going to get ugly in a few weeks!! :)
this season (lent - easter) is usually pretty wacky for me at work as we have lots of events/services going on at church. i'm doing my best to delegate work in order to not have to carry the burden so much myself. i'm also trying to work ahead as much as possible. i've been doing pretty well with keeping my hours (not working later than i'm supposed to) but this season will be the test for me. so far, so good... we're only into the first week!
non-lent-related: we finally finished with the dentist yesterday (ev went 4 times in 8 days!)... now we get a break until august. phew! everything is good. they need to get started on braces (should have already, we're told) but their mom's new father-in-law is an orthodontist, so they will go to him and save everyone a lot of money! yeah!!
speaking of money, we're focusing on teaching the boys about managing money and because they don't quite have means to make money, we're going to go back to giving *meager* allowances (they tell us all the time how much more $$ their friends get... our offer is "take it or leave it") to the boys. every week they'll figure out savings, tithe and spending money and they will have to start using their own spending money. the older boys will be able to add babysitting money to their income, so its a really good time to start teaching them to manage money responsibly.
this allowance thing stresses me out. i didn't grow up with it (neither did ed) and i really don't want the boys to make an inaccurate connection between chores and allowance. we're specifially emphasizing that the boys are NOT being paid to do chores (taylor asked me today if he could not do chores and not get allowance...) we've told them that the two are not related and chores have to be done regardless of receiving money. however, ed has promised me that we're not shelling out allowances if chores aren't done. anyway, the allowance starts next month... so far, it looks like we won't have to pay much because if things continue as is, the "no chores, no allowance" punishment will save us money!
that's it for now. i'm off to tackle some filing... good times.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
my mundane life...
our small group (bible study) has decided to shift to wednesday nights during lent in order to attend a special teaching/potluck dinners at the church together instead. it should be a nice break to have a few thursdays open and not have to worry about the condition of the house. of course, that might be dangerous for me too...
anyway, there is no dinner at church tonight (ash wed) but we're all meeting at our house for dinner first and then going to the service. that's 14 for dinner and i haven't cleaned my kitchen or prepared my lasagna yet! augh! this is one of those frustrating things about work... i have to be here because its my job but i could be so much more productive if i were home right now!! (to make matters worse, i'm waiting on others' information & write-ups in order for me to meet a deadline and there isn't really much i can do while i wait. so, i'm reorganizing & cleaning out files i've found from the past two decades!!!) oh well.
the boys and i have spent quite a bit of time at the dentist this week - cleanings for all four on monday, then drew & taylor went back yesterday for sealants while ev was there yesterday getting cavities filled (baby teeth, thankfully!). ev & noah both return friday for more work. (fyi, ev's repeated visits are not necessary because of bad dental hygiene (although he's 9 and care for his teeth isn't at the top of his priorities...) but it turns out he's got a tooth that has no enamel on it. this was probably caused when he was in the womb and will someday be "corrected" with a crown. but, until he stops growing, we have to make repeated visits to try and cover/protect his "special tooth" as best we can.) that's it for now. (fascinating, wasn't it?!)
anyway, there is no dinner at church tonight (ash wed) but we're all meeting at our house for dinner first and then going to the service. that's 14 for dinner and i haven't cleaned my kitchen or prepared my lasagna yet! augh! this is one of those frustrating things about work... i have to be here because its my job but i could be so much more productive if i were home right now!! (to make matters worse, i'm waiting on others' information & write-ups in order for me to meet a deadline and there isn't really much i can do while i wait. so, i'm reorganizing & cleaning out files i've found from the past two decades!!!) oh well.
the boys and i have spent quite a bit of time at the dentist this week - cleanings for all four on monday, then drew & taylor went back yesterday for sealants while ev was there yesterday getting cavities filled (baby teeth, thankfully!). ev & noah both return friday for more work. (fyi, ev's repeated visits are not necessary because of bad dental hygiene (although he's 9 and care for his teeth isn't at the top of his priorities...) but it turns out he's got a tooth that has no enamel on it. this was probably caused when he was in the womb and will someday be "corrected" with a crown. but, until he stops growing, we have to make repeated visits to try and cover/protect his "special tooth" as best we can.) that's it for now. (fascinating, wasn't it?!)
Friday, February 16, 2007
weekend update... the long version!
well, its been a regular whirl-wind around our home lately. first, we've made some alterations to the living room paint and now it looks fabulous!! ed has done such a great job and has really worked hard and it has paid off!!! we love the room and are anxious to get the dining room painted now that the living room looks so good. you know, fixing up a really old house was on my "list of things to do before i die" so i'm trying to remind myself of that when i get frustrated with the never-ending projects. of course, i should mention that i don't actually do much of the fixing up anyway. ed does most of the labor while i watch. truthfully, its probably better that way.
in the past several weeks, the boys have had A LOT of time off from school. first they had every other monday off in january, then they got 3 or 4 snow days + a few delays because of weather. this is crazy! i distinctly remember gateway NEVER having days off for weather!! sure, it happens now with my kids... so i have to get creative with my work schedule or strategically arranging play time at friends' homes! oh well. the boys are loving it (and getting so used to it that when they had to go to school at the normal time last friday, they were totally out of whack.) surprise. surprise. they have tomorrow off too... wouldn't want to spend president's day learning about the presidents or anything! sadly for them, mondays are "no electronics" days at our home so they will have a long day of homework, games & puzzles & playing outside and no tv, computer or video games. oh, and the day will be broken up by a visit to the dentist for all 4. good times. :)
this weekend was crazy busy (when aren't we crazy busy?!) with sleepovers for ed and noah (that's right - ed. he had an overnight with a new bible study group of guys), so i took the other three to a movie. drew & i stayed up late watching a movie at home and around 12:40 am, the phone started ringing. having been a teenage girl myself once, i was certain the calls were for drew. (anyone remember the call to 3ws "for mike & mike from buffy & jenny"?!?!) sure enough, by the 15th hang up i answered the phone and heard "um, is drew there?" i was so frustrated by the constant phone calls (hang ups after giggles) but i didn't want to do anything to embarrass drew. so, i said "if i let you talk to him, will you please stop calling?" she replied yes & he took the phone. i listened as he replied with a monotonous "no" to a number of questions and then he hung up. turns out he was being questioned about his opinion of each girls' "hotness". ahhh, to be 13. (by the way, this is a good time to publicly thank my parents for their "no calling boys" rule. i think fear of getting caught "chasing a boy" probably spared me much humiliation!!)
after the late night calls, taylor had me up by 8:30... on a saturday morning. ugh! so, i made cinnamon & orange rolls and we did breakfast in bed - again with a movie. :) ev joined us and we had a lovely morning. finally, everyone arrived home & drew woke up and we tackled a cleaning day (1/2 hour of cleaning followed by 1/2 hour of breaks for the boys to play until the house was clean - not a bad arrangement!) before our big fondue night. our "fondue friday" had to move back a day because of the overnights. we did our regular chicken & steak fondue with cheese fondue with break & broccoli. this is a definite favorite meal in our home!!
today was just as full - drew babysat at church last night and taylor took his turn this morning (both in the preschool room), we got to witness the baptism of our good friends' baby (mark & crystal's baby, ava) then rushed noah to a birthday party before stopping in at ava's baptism party. we ducked out of that party to head over to the hodils' home for the annual daytona 500 party. the abbotts are not really nascar fans, but bryan hodil makes the race fun with contests for "the big prize" (won by noah two years ago!), so we get into the race because of the contest. it was totally fun, as usual!! unfortunately, the abbotts didn't win this year but the winner (dave, the "fun, big kid" according to the boys) graciously shared his winnings with some very excited boys. finally, we left that party and headed back to church for the worship concert being put on by our friends on the music team (ed wasn't drumming for this one). the boys were not quite as into this part of the day, but ed & i loved it. it was an incredible concert and we were glad to experience it. now, we're home and relieved about the no school day tomorrow (although i'm a little anxious to get to the office in the morning... i could use a break!).
in the past several weeks, the boys have had A LOT of time off from school. first they had every other monday off in january, then they got 3 or 4 snow days + a few delays because of weather. this is crazy! i distinctly remember gateway NEVER having days off for weather!! sure, it happens now with my kids... so i have to get creative with my work schedule or strategically arranging play time at friends' homes! oh well. the boys are loving it (and getting so used to it that when they had to go to school at the normal time last friday, they were totally out of whack.) surprise. surprise. they have tomorrow off too... wouldn't want to spend president's day learning about the presidents or anything! sadly for them, mondays are "no electronics" days at our home so they will have a long day of homework, games & puzzles & playing outside and no tv, computer or video games. oh, and the day will be broken up by a visit to the dentist for all 4. good times. :)
this weekend was crazy busy (when aren't we crazy busy?!) with sleepovers for ed and noah (that's right - ed. he had an overnight with a new bible study group of guys), so i took the other three to a movie. drew & i stayed up late watching a movie at home and around 12:40 am, the phone started ringing. having been a teenage girl myself once, i was certain the calls were for drew. (anyone remember the call to 3ws "for mike & mike from buffy & jenny"?!?!) sure enough, by the 15th hang up i answered the phone and heard "um, is drew there?" i was so frustrated by the constant phone calls (hang ups after giggles) but i didn't want to do anything to embarrass drew. so, i said "if i let you talk to him, will you please stop calling?" she replied yes & he took the phone. i listened as he replied with a monotonous "no" to a number of questions and then he hung up. turns out he was being questioned about his opinion of each girls' "hotness". ahhh, to be 13. (by the way, this is a good time to publicly thank my parents for their "no calling boys" rule. i think fear of getting caught "chasing a boy" probably spared me much humiliation!!)
after the late night calls, taylor had me up by 8:30... on a saturday morning. ugh! so, i made cinnamon & orange rolls and we did breakfast in bed - again with a movie. :) ev joined us and we had a lovely morning. finally, everyone arrived home & drew woke up and we tackled a cleaning day (1/2 hour of cleaning followed by 1/2 hour of breaks for the boys to play until the house was clean - not a bad arrangement!) before our big fondue night. our "fondue friday" had to move back a day because of the overnights. we did our regular chicken & steak fondue with cheese fondue with break & broccoli. this is a definite favorite meal in our home!!
today was just as full - drew babysat at church last night and taylor took his turn this morning (both in the preschool room), we got to witness the baptism of our good friends' baby (mark & crystal's baby, ava) then rushed noah to a birthday party before stopping in at ava's baptism party. we ducked out of that party to head over to the hodils' home for the annual daytona 500 party. the abbotts are not really nascar fans, but bryan hodil makes the race fun with contests for "the big prize" (won by noah two years ago!), so we get into the race because of the contest. it was totally fun, as usual!! unfortunately, the abbotts didn't win this year but the winner (dave, the "fun, big kid" according to the boys) graciously shared his winnings with some very excited boys. finally, we left that party and headed back to church for the worship concert being put on by our friends on the music team (ed wasn't drumming for this one). the boys were not quite as into this part of the day, but ed & i loved it. it was an incredible concert and we were glad to experience it. now, we're home and relieved about the no school day tomorrow (although i'm a little anxious to get to the office in the morning... i could use a break!).
Friday, February 2, 2007
making progress
you know, we often feel like we take a step forward and then 2 steps back... however, as of last evening (about a half hour before our small group arrived!) we have a newly painted living room!! yeah!!!!! before i went to work in the morning, ed & i agreed to a sand color for the walls and a deep, burnt red for the fireplace and our "someday" entertainment center... then i got a call from ed saying that he came home with a green color for the walls! anyway, my major fear was that our living room would be "christmas colored" and i wasn't crazy about that. but the shades of both colors are not at all holiday like and they really look nice together. (at least, that's what we think so far!) so, the room is painted and looks so different - it's wonderful! and if we do determine it looks "christmas-y", then we don't have to do as much to decorate in december!! :)
i think our next goal is to complete the dining room. that will be fabulous when we're done with it! now, if we can just keep up our momentum!
other than that, we're just carrying on. we've got a long weekend because the boys don't have school monday, so i'm taking some comp time to be home with them. i like that idea - not working from home, but taking the day off. (sometimes it pays to have to work some weekends!)
i think our next goal is to complete the dining room. that will be fabulous when we're done with it! now, if we can just keep up our momentum!
other than that, we're just carrying on. we've got a long weekend because the boys don't have school monday, so i'm taking some comp time to be home with them. i like that idea - not working from home, but taking the day off. (sometimes it pays to have to work some weekends!)
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