Busy being fabulous

Maybe you've noticed that I haven't been writing lately...(maybe you've noticed that I start a lot of posts this way...!)  A bunch of stuff has started happening all at once after a quiet 'season'.  You know what that means...TIME FOR A RANDOM UPDATE!
- We just got back from a really awesome up north trip to see family!  It is always so refreshing to be outside up north and to build on the relationships with the people we love.  PS it was also the first time all 6 of us squeezed into a pop up camper and I'm not so worried anymore.  I think we can do it...still concerned about the food and storage aspect if we go on a longer trip, but at least I know we can all fit and be comfortable there.
- Moses can stop, start and turn on his bike!  Which means - he is completely independent when biking.  I cannot wait until he can join me for a morning run =)  He is a voracious reader and often finishes more than one book on the way home from the library.
- Dave is enjoying his summer off!  He did a few house projects, we have gone a few trips and we have had some special times w/our kids.  I think if you asked him, though, the one thing he would still like this summer is MORE.  Mostly trips!
- The garden is taking OFF - the heat has been a little harsh, but I (or a friend, when we were out of town) have watered every day except 2 since I planted.  We've eaten pounds of spinach, snipped up a lot of cilantro, enjoyed lots of peas, made pesto and added kale to our smoothies.  I really hope to make homemade mint chip ice cream!  There's a zucchini getting big and the cukes and pumpkins are not far behind.  The beans are a little slow...the bottom leaves keep dying off but the tops are going strong.  I see lots of flowers so hopefully the beans are coming!  The Brussels sprouts are holding their own...the store celery sort of got lost in the cilantro and spinach.  We found caterpillars on it!  Now that I pulled up the 'going-to-seed' cilantro and spinach we'll see if it bounces back.  Someone walking by told me I had beautiful food plots.  I think I glowed for a week!  That was the best compliment I ever heard bestowed on a vegetable gardener and I can't believe it was said to me!
- Curly Sue and Dewey are doing well.  Dewey is finally talking a bit!!  We were worried for a while...but now he loves to say car, ball, water and ARF!  If you are eating a sweet food (well, any food almost!) he will bat his eyelashes and say, "TASTY!"  Curly Sue (like all the other kids) misses gymnastics but cartwheels her way through life sometimes!  We play a lot of kickball with other families from church and not an inning goes by w/o at least one cartwheel in the outfield!  She likes to bike and see other parts of our neighborhood.
- Colleen!  There is a big post coming up about my sweet girl...maybe even tonight...She is really coming into her own.  Recently we had a follow up appointment at the children's hospital, the place where we first met her.  Being led down the hallway, being shown into a room, it was all I could do not to choke back the flood of emotions!  I don't ever want to go back to the way things were (I'm sure she doesn't either!), I am so grateful she no longer vomits or loses it as we cross the threshold of a medical facility, I can't believe how far she's come, I can't believe her legs are so long and strong, she's talking to me now, she holds my hand, she is so confident in herself!!!  AHHHHH!!!!  I swear I was going to explode from all the bittersweet joy building up inside of me! I had to remind myself to breathe!  The appointment went well and she never once seemed upset by it.  There may not be a spot in the baby book for "No longer freaks out at a medical facility, even if the appointment isn't for her" but if there was, I'd put that date down!
- Chickens - we went from 2 hens and a rooster, to 2 hens, 2 roosters and a passed-away-before-we-could-tell, to just the 2 original hens!  Pippa and Lois are such wonderful girls!  I have gotten so much more comfortable around them both - I've even been known to cuddle and carry them!  We would really like to get 2, maybe 3 more laying hens, but are just too busy lately to look into it.  Lately Lois has been taking breaks from laying - we have no idea why but so far she has come right back, so we assume she will do that again.
- Dave and I have been going to a small group at church again.  This time we are using the books based on the movie Courageous and they are geared toward making a commitment to the parenting style featured in the movie.  We've been looking forward to being able to attend and it hasn't disappointed us.
- It's one of the hottest summers...I haven't been running and I haven't been eating enough ice cream!  Don't scold me, I hate the heat.  How many days until winter?
-My hair is getting too long.  I had an appointment set up w/my favorite beautician stylist the-only-person-who-cuts-my-hair but is also my friend (what do you want me to call you??) and two weeks before that I had to cancel.  I found out she would not be available for almost a month after that *gasp!* but we got to spend a weekend w/some of the most awesome friends from college!  So the hair is still here.  I have not died in this heat w/my 4 pound pony tail, although I have considered cutting the darn thing off myself and just wearing a hat until she comes back.  Dave had to hide the big scissors.  I'd probably break one of the kid scissors trying to get through my mane!  I have already broken several heavy duty pony tail holders.  Do not stand close to me when trying to wrangle my head of hair into a small circle of elastic!  Or at the very least wear safety goggles!  I crack jokes but inside I am counting the days...the other day I had the weird CRAZY idea of just trying to hold out until Christmas...perhaps my hair would be the longest it's been in my adult life...and perhaps I would feel like Crystal Gayle or Rain Man (Gotta cut hair, gotta c-c-cut hair, yeah, 3 o'clock, time to cut hair)!  Who knows?!  I'm so boring w/my hairstyles it probably doesn't matter much either way.

- Dave and I have been staying up late working on puzzles.  We blew through a bunch of them!  The next one has 1500 pieces...
- We recently sat down w/2 families who sound pretty serious about signing up to do foster care.  Talking w/them really got us thinking about what to say to people who are serious and ask questions.  Most of the time people don't ask, or if they do, they really only want short answers...it's easy to point out a few good and challenging things and move on.  This conversation was different - there was a lot we wanted to tell them!  and they wanted to hear it!  I am planning a post including as much as we can think of about foster care soon...I really want to be prepared w/a more concise and accurate answer(s) for people who seriously ask in the future.
- This blog is coming up on 500 posts...I feel like I should do something fun or different to celebrate!  But oddly I've got nothing.  No ideas.  The only thing I could think of was an ask anything type of post but since I share a lot about myself and my life on here, I doubt there would be much left to ask!  I don't know...if you like that idea and have a question, leave me a comment here, on face.book, email or whatever...or if you have other ideas, let me know.  Thanks!
-PS about the post title - we are not too busy being fabulous like the song implies, I just thought it was a fun song title.  We are busy and of course fabulous so it fit in name only.  =)

Who knew?

Tonight at dinner, I busted out the unGame cards.  (For those that don't know - it's basically a bunch of cards w/questions.  There are no right or wrong answers.  You can advance along a board and everyone wins!  Usually we just use the cards.)  I thought it would be fun to hear the kids' answers.  Some of the questions start w/"If" while others ask you to describe something.  There are various types of cards and various versions of the game.  Some of the Mo's answers were surprises so I thought it would be neat to record/share them here.  (I don't feel comfortable sharing Curly Sue's and Colleen usually copies someone else's answer or makes up something she is thinking about.  She's a concrete thinker and this game doesn't work well for her!)
The first question was, "If you could have anyone famous for parents, who would it be?"  Without hesitation, Moses said, "Mick Jagger and Pepper Potts."  Um....?  I understood the Mick Jagger thing b/c of the 2 current pop songs w/his name in the lyrics, but who is Pepper Potts?  Ironman's girlfriend!  HA!  I must say I didn't expect either of those answers.  I doubt Mo knows who Mick Jagger is.
Another question sort of dated the game.  "If you could make any long distance call, to whom would you call?"  He chose some friends that we knew from college.  They used to live in TX (we got to visit them twice!) and have since moved back 'home'.  Again, I didn't expect that one, but I must say, I'd call them too!  We don't think much about long distance calls these days, especially since we can make video calls for free and our cell phone plans have a lot of inexpensive minutes.
When asked if he had to move, what 3 things (not toys, my addition to the question!) would you take, Moses said, "A weapon, food and drink."  Okay....I guess he was thinking like a survivalist for that one!
I thought this one was pretty special too.  "What makes a happy family?"  Moses immediately responded, "Compassionate people."  After a few moments of thought, he added birthdays!  =)

Garden update - end of June 2012

Lots of hot weather and some rain has really helped the garden!

Peas and carrots

Spinach, cilantro and celery

A pot of chocolate mint

Curly kale, beans and Brussels sprouts

Squash and pie pumpkins

Cukes and zukes

Basil and Russian kale

Since I took these photos, the plants have shot up even a little more!  We've been enjoying spinach salads, kale in our smoothies and mint in our water.   I had to add a fence to the box that contains the green beans - the bunnies ate the tops off nearly half of them!  Luckily we had the chicken wire fencing in the garage already.  I had already put the puny decorative fencing around the smaller boxes and that seems to work just fine.  Nothing has been eaten from those boxes, even though there are carrots, peas and spinach in there!  I'm hoping there will be no more crop loss for the rest of the season.  Today we found a cool looking caterpillar on my celery, which seems to have slowed in growth.  It is yellow, black and white - Dave seems to think it will be a monarch!  We stuck it in a container with some milkweed leaves and we will see.  At least he is no longer making his home in my garden!

13

The 13th amendment outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.  At 13 weeks pregnant (which I am not) fingerprints have formed on the baby.  There were 13 original colonies that were the beginnings of our country.  There are a handful of (yucky!!) movie titles w/the number 13 in it.  In Judaism, the age of 13 is when a boy matures and has a bar mitzvah celebration.  At the last supper of Jesus Christ, there were 13 people around the table, including the 12 disciples and Christ himself.  Both Dan Marino and Wilt Chamberlin wore jersey #13 and had it retired.  There are 13 playing cards in each suit.  Apollo 13 was the only unsuccessful mission by the US intended to land on the moon. Aluminum is element #13 and is the most widely used non-ferrous metal.  In some countries and cultures, 13 is considered a lucky number.  In others, it is considered unlucky.  There is even an actual name for the fear of 13 - tridecaphobia.  When I was in my freshman year of high school, I had an Earth Science teacher who 'celebrated' any 13th day of the month by giving us all a blue dot on the backs of our hands, saying, "A blue dot for a sure shot!"  On Friday the 13ths, he would give us a dot on each hand.  We always thought he was a tad bit looney but since he
wasted
took so much class time on it, we were more than happy to listen and let the time pass.


Soon my hot husband and I will be married 13 years.  Which may not sound like many to some of you, but there are few things in my life that I can say have lasted that long.  There were jokes around the 7th year of marriage about the 7 year itch or something...and now it's the 13th year, but lucky or not, we're happy to be starting another year together!  You know I like lists...

13 of the best things about our marriage so far (in no particular order)

1) Together we are parenting some amazing kids

2) Together we have seen so much of the world

3) Together we have made this house a home

4) Together we learned, studied, taught

5) Together we have tried a lot of new stuff

6) Together we follow Jesus

7) Together we have weathered some pretty stuff 'storms'

8) Together we do puzzles, crossword puzzles and sudokus

9) Together we jumped into foster care and adoption

10) Together we enjoy photos and videos of those that we love

11) Together we sing at the top of our lungs when there is no A/C and we're driving in the Arizona desert w/the windows down

12) Together we do our best to make it to all extended family gatherings

13) Together we cheer for the Badgers and Packers (and sometimes the Brewers too)

I love being married!  I love you Dave!  Happy anniversary!

Random stuff I did today

In no particular order, today I...

• Washed dishes
• Made a kefir, honey, kale, banana, apple smoothie
• Said, "Get down!" approximately 147 times
• Ran/jogged/lagged behind after my kids on bikes for 1.2 miles, wearing the wrong shoes and running attire
• Ate a re-vamped local restaurant
• Mowed all but the back 40 of our lawn - we really need a new mower!!
• Nearly mangled a baby squirrel?bunny? w/the mower
• Screamed for my life for about 3 minutes while I could not remove my shaking hands from the running mower
• Stuck my head out of a missing window
• Administered at least 4 band-aids
• Planted some more seeds and a celery bottom
• Drank more glasses of water than I do most weeks
• Remembered what it was like to have a huge head of thick coarse long hair in the summer
• Felt like Wonder Woman  (I know what you are thinking, I already am.  But do you think Wonder Woman ever really felt like she lived up to the hype?  Today I did.  Live up to they hype, that is.  I...AM...THAT...HEROOOOOO!!!!)  
• Blogged twice
• Contemplated going to bed at 4pm and not getting up until tomorrow!

PHEW!

My kind of manicure!

There is still black wet dirt under my fingernails.  (Sh!  Don't tell my husband!  The keyboard isn't getting dirty, really it isn't...!)  This year's garden is in our front yard.  We are doing the square foot garden beds again.  I have planted 13 different vegetables and only 1 was not from seed!  I planted the bottom of an organic celery head from the store.  It already had a few leafy shoots so I figured I'd give it a shot!  Here's a list of what I planted, grouped by box.

• Basil and kale 
• Brussels sprouts and beans
• Spinach, cilantro and celery
• Carrots and peas
• Squash and pie pumpkins
• Zukes and cukes 

I also have 4 watermelon starts in the house.  I have no idea where they will go!!  I really aspire to grow some onions and garlic too, but there just isn't space right now.  Now the fight against the bunnies begins!  In the past, I had success just using hot chili powder.  They hate it.  But this is probably the most I've grown and especially the most that they like.  So...we'll see!!  I have no pictures yet, but I did notice that the cukes are already coming up!  That means it is not a 100% failure.  There will be SOME success =)
As I type this, Dave is working on other projects.  This weekend has been pretty busy w/all the work we are doing!  It's exciting.  I know that I should get a tree fort and chicken update on here, but I just haven't had the time.  I finished my online course work (FINALLY!) though, so there should be more time soon. If you have a garden report or any other projects you've been working on, please feel free to share!

Surprise!

This has been an interesting morning...I already took a pop quiz.  

Question: How many years will a crib withstand your own kids, foster kids, babysitting kids, etc before it is officially broken?  

Answer: Almost 7.  

Question: If you fail to put a diaper on the baby, ANY diaper, what will you find in the morning?  

Answer: You will find yourself cleaning a large mess.  

Question: How many more online courses that scramble your brain and make it difficult for you to function normally will you take?  

Answer: Zero.  

Question: Are you ready for summer vacation?  

Answer: If you don't already know that answer, you failed this quiz!!!

We have been flooded w/appointments lately and I've been working hard to complete an online course to renew my teaching license.  We are almost done w/our foster care license renewal.  We have a stack of paperwork to fill out to renew our adoption license.  There's a list of things we'd love to work on over the summer vacation!  Now we can add crib shopping to that list =)  My brain has been on overdrive lately...I miss writing in this blog!  Hopefully I will have more time to write soon.  Most of the time I feel like there is nothing interesting to write, it's business as usual at our house, but not today!