Need a Repair?

Did I ever tell you what was wrong with my garage door opener (that the guy checked for four days in a row)?  I figured it out-myself!  It didn't work in the morning (kept going back up!), but it worked in the afternoon and night.  Hmm. we have an east-facing garage, so it's in the sun.  I finally figured out it was the beam (I know, obvious, right?), but that's not all!  I got down to clean the one that was in the sun, and I could see this tiny stick (maybe just stiff piece of grass) that was only about a quarter of an inch long.  When the breeze blew it, it moved in it's spider web, and made the door go back up!  I cleaned the lens, moved the teensy piece of grass that's caused me stress since..oh..April? and Voila! It works great now!
Do you have a problem?  I'm quite the fix-it person! : )
I'm off to Bunko-I need a night out! : )  Danielle and I spent all day (10:30 till after 3!) working on tickets.  And I had Mary Claire home again-fever, again!  It's so strange-she's absolutely fine.  I took her to the doctor, and he says he's had four other strange fevers-flu-like symptoms, but test negative.  And, she's already had her flu mist over two weeks ago. She just has to stay home till she's fever-free.  We may get crafty this week!
So..I'm not pregnant-it can be assured now. ; )  I'll keep working on it, I talked to my LR doctor's office this week, and they offered more help, but I think I may try another month.  I can't decided whether to stay on the meds again this month (since they obviously didn't help last month!), or just go natural again.  I read that Clomid makes hostile mucus, so maybe that's my problem? (I know, TMI), just quit reading now! : )  On to another month-SO frustrating.  Pray for us, God's will for our family, and if it's His will, a healthy pregnancy with a healthy baby at the end. : )

Cowboys and Crafts

Howdy, ya'll!  I've been vacationing (in my bed with some good books, heehee).  I finished Women, Food, and God, finished Mini Shopaholic, and started Love the One You're With.  Is it escapist to love to read so much? : )
I found pictures I'd forgotten about in this busy week!  Last Tuesday, we had the kids with us in Bible study, and Tiffany brought a video for the kids to watch:

This is upstairs in the old church, the only room they'll loan us. : )  This is in a row of old cast-off furniture along the walls.  It kinda looks like a Furniture Dance, and these are the wallflowers. : )
Then we were at the school in the Parent Room (we even get our own room there!) working on doling out tickets to those who sent in money, while our boys played.  This is Ethan cleaning the white board of the eloquent Spanish that must be taught in there:

And here are the boys posed together after their amazingly fun afternoon!

And then on Thursday, I was back at the school reading to Mary Claire's class, as the Mystery Reader!  They had five clues who I was, and I showed up after lunch and recess to read to them.  They all yelled that they knew it was me! (Ha!) A couple of kids wanted their parents to come read, but I couldn't tell them that we were backed up all the way till spring-it might give something away! : )
Afterwards, Ethan and I went to the library to read a couple books (he loves a good library, even if it's in the school!).  Then he checked out the gigantic chair in the sitting area outside the library.  It's a great reading area, and he crawled all over the wood chair (even though it looks like it's upholstered!):

He's just so cute! : )
Then on Friday, I had a CrAzY day!  I tried Zumba with Veronica (and I laughed out LOUD when the lady was all sexy-dancing, and rubbed her hands down her body!- but it was part of the dancing/aerobics!) (you can burn up to 1000 calories an hour-and I was worn out!), then I went by the church to do the books and envelopes, then to the car wash and vacuumed out my van (Love, love, love a clean car!), then back home to discover I had another flyer to make to go home in the kids' Monday Folders!
I hurriedly called/emailed people to find out what they wanted on our flyer (had to get the games person, food person, silent auction basket person, etc!), and get to the school to copy it for the whole school, plus copy the ticket forms again, then make the third grade's copies for morning work, and Mary Claire had a field trip that there's no way I could have made it to (but her blood sugar was good after prayers on the way to school!), and I asked for help.  The best thing I've ever learned to do!  I called Danielle (my ticket partner), and asked for help, then she called her friend, and Dottie came to help (sooo sweet!), and while I was waiting, I called up front for some fifth graders, and they were all awesome helpers!!
We had just talked in Bible study about some people never letting us help, and they were robbing us of a blessing-and I asked for help, and let some people be blessed.  Boy-which is better, helping or being helped.  Hmm...
Then Saturday, Clay had his last two baseball games.  Mary Claire had been dying to go to a craft fair, since she'd never been!  (I used to go every year, but crafty things kinda went out of style...for decorating anyway.)  So, I took her and Ethan to a 'fair!  We drove around for almost 30 minutes looking for parking, and they got more and more restless.  We got in there, and I wouldn't let go of them!  It was CrOwDeD!  She got some American Girl Clothes and shoes, and a necklace (do I sense a pattern here?) and Ethan melted down while I was looking at sterling jewelry (beautiful-here's her site!), but we had to leave.  It was just too much for Ethan!  We waited outside for some kettle korn, then left.
We drove to Clay's game to watch a little (and I was going to drop off MC, but no), then we went to Party Time Ponies to take Ethan to a friend's birthday party.  It was really fun, they rode the ponies, played tons on the hay bales (the total hit of the party!), had hot dogs and cupcakes!  He'd been so excited, wore his cowboy clothes all day (it was a Woody and Buzz party!), and even had Clay make him a lasso. : )
Here's his pony ride (minus his hat):

Mary Claire loving seeing all the horses!

 But still kinda shy:

 I just loved this one, even though he wasn't looking.  He's just so sweet with his lasso:

And he looks up at me (and I'm using my lame camera-phone.  This could've been so beautiful!):

And these are the sweet birthday boys: Ethan with Isaac and Andrew, both turning four! (Ethan is behind them by a couple months):

Their absolute favorite: the hay bales!  They climbed allll over these-they were up by the roof at the top:

 Mary Claire finally on a pony (she looks bigger now!)

We fed the horse in the background, Bear.  He is forty years old, and has ground his teeth to nothing!  He ate Ethan's hot dog bun just fine. : ) (with permission, of course!) This is a dwarf horse-a random act of nature.  She's so sweet, and I forgot her name!  I bet Mary Claire will remember.  It was Tinkerbell, or Cinderella, or something Disney-like.

 This is Tuxedo, he was very patient with the kids.  They liked petting him the best!  He was so happy to be out eating fresh grass, that he didn't bother with the kids, which they liked!

What a great (yes, busy!) day.  I came home, and the boys swam.  They are swimming again today, it's the Last Day.  We are having the pool closed tomorrow, so it's the official End of Summer.  Thanks for the memories, and we'll see you next year!  (Maybe April next year?)  Happy Birthday, Isaac and Andrew!  Four is a big year. : )

Fossils and Monkeys

I really do love boys, mine of course : )  I used to think I had a preference for girls, but I gotta say, Boys Rock.  They are so sweet, and creative, and love almost everything ugly, and give good hugs, and only want time.  I love it!

Today I went Fossil Hunting with Clay.  He was so upset that Ches hadn't taken him down to the creek yet (at the back of our neighborhood, there's a park/creek/covered bridge-and he loves to hunt for stuff!).  After dinner, I took him down there.  So fun!

 This is on the east side of the bridge-but then I realized we'd have to walk through HIGH grass to get to the dry creek bed, so we crossed the street, and went down the west side.  Much better.

 Doesn't it look steep?  It is!  And I had worn flip-flops.  Not really planning ahead.

 He started looking right away.  He was also carrying his bug jar, Just In Case!  He's still looking for bugs every chance he gets as research for boy scouts.

Checking things out..

The sun began to set, and I took notice of everything around me-just beautiful.  The trees "upstream" were framing the sunset.  The sun is at the very bottom-can you see it?

 This is our covered bridge-so pretty.  We'd originally planned to build right across from it, but they took so long finishing the road, we settled for a house up closer to the front of the neighborhood!  And now, they are building on the old lot we loved. (but they cut down the trees, and it's lots less amazing now!)

Fossils.

Looking west up the dry creek (silently thankful it's dry-I was worried about falling in on the steep banks, getting my shoes wet, snakes, and the fossils were WAY better on the bottom!)

This was a pretty tree (overgrown bush-thing?), I'm sure it's poisonous, but so beautiful with all it's bright red berries.

Then we came home, and it was still kinda light outside.  Clay's been wanting to show me how he can climb our trees (that our builder cut all the low branches off of!), and I just had to see it.  He throws up his soccer ball until it gets stuck, then he has to climb up to get it.  It's about 20 feet up in the air (or more!) so it really worried me!

Here he gets started shimming up the trees.  (I used to do this in my doorways at home!  I had to leave my socks/shoes off to get traction, but he is doing fine!)

 Almost there..

My other monkey!  He is up there, getting the ball down.

Then he slide/climbs back down the other tree! (only some bark was lost, Ches!)

He's so happy-Victory!

I love my sweet boys-they are just precious!  And they love time alone with us.  Today Ethan and I did a puzzle, and he just wanted me to watch him play on the driveway.  It is seriously the little things that matter to them.

Tonight I took soup to church for the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults-people who are converting to Catholicism)-I love to cook (when I can!), and to have people to eat it-*Bonus*!  I'd made brownies (with mini-chocolate chips and pecans) yesterday, and I made some chocolate chip cookies to take with the soup.  Not hard, but when someone lets you help out, it really does bless you.

We talked at Bible study yesterday about people who are nice, but won't let you help-that robs us of a blessing!  When you let us help-think of the joy we get too! : )  Don't be selfish, let us help.  That's my slogan, hahaha! : )

My baby is asleep under my bed, again.  At least he's asleep, unlike last night.  He kept waking up at all hours yelling that he wanted to read a book-so funny (and frustrating!).

Love on your boys, and hug on your girls-they all need love just like we do!

Picture Perfect

The big news isn't decorating or Bible study, or even the Hoedown...the biggest news is that I got my bottom taken care of (kinda!).  It was driving me bananas to go tinkle!  I was itching, hurting, etc!  I went in to my regular doctor's office, and they did a urinalysis.  BUT-there were no white blood cells in my urine, so No.  Then they gave me some dye for my urine (seriously-it's dark Kool-Aid orange! and they told me my sweat would be that color too! Eww..!)  So, then they gave me some steroid cream.

So..hours later, still bugging me! What the heck is it??  My specialist in Little Rock was also recruited. : ) It may be the progesterone tablets (Prometrium) they are giving me.  Hmm..they are switching me to oral progesterone, but I have to take twice as much-400mg a night.  Apparently not as effective this way?  She also said that it'd make me feel sleepy and drunkish-so I am supposed to take them right before bed.  Can you imagine?

So..Play-Doh makes me happier! (love/hate relationship over??) I had an idea..Outside Play-Doh!  And it soo worked.

I think he even enjoys it, what do you think? : ) (he loves the "factory" and the horse-he makes her grow green hair and a green mane, cuts it off and does it again!)
(I'll let you know what happens when you don't clean it up...)


I did a tiny bit more decorating-a mantle, my mirror, cleaned up some tubs, spread leaves around-still not done.  I need more summer tubs! : )

Try this at home:

Easiest decorating ever: Dry Erase Marker on Mirror. : )  I had to turn on the dining room lights to light it up a little, otherwise you see right through it.  Fun! I did another mirror, the front door-total overkill!


I'm thankful for friends, for perseverance, fun work (counting tickets with Danielle and letting the boys play-totally fun!), for great schools for the kids, dry-erase markers, music, and sweet kids (even though they had picture day today, and I totally forgot-and they were not so cute today-they have all these new clothes, and looked so . . what's the word? . .not dressed up!).  Still thankful for the clothes they have to wear! : )