The kids had fun too (they’ve recently informed me that staying in a hotel is awesome).

 These planks are one of those “why didn’t I think of that toys” and our kids totally loved them.  We have a small set at home and they have gotten them out over the past couple of weeks and enjoyed building with them.

But we definitely don’t have enough to do this:

The owners of this booth made an opening for Zoe to walk through and then they got to tear it down.

Conveniently located next to this booth was the chess booth.  Liam planted at a table and waited ever so patiently for an opponent.  He loved chatting and talking to his worthy opponent (actually it was a kid about his age and Liam was enjoying patiently teaching him) and my nerdy heart mama melted.  But not enough to try and figure out chess.

We had planned a trip into the “city” to attend a free concert in which a guest Irish Fiddler would be presenting.  So, we got up and as I was preparing breakfast, Liam hobbled up to me and cuddled under my arm.

 He whispered that it hurt to walk.  He couldn’t even walk up and down the steps without being stiff legged on one side.  If you’ll recall, last year after Malachi was born we ran in to the same issue and he had an infection that settled in his hip so he had to be on “rest” for a few days.  This is Liam.  Rest is not easy for him.  I checked out his hip to make sure there were no problems there.  There weren’t but it did warrant a call to daddy to get the final opinion on whether to take him in or not.  We both agreed it was a good idea to see the doctor.

Zoe and I hurriedly made lunches.  I put Malachi down for a brief nap and called the doc.  The appointment was for late afternoon so the kids worked on school while I finished our grocery list for the rest of the month.

We loaded up and were out the door close to 11:30 and made it just in time for the concert.  I spent most of it correcting and pointing and using sign language and batting hands away from Malachi who would have been content to just listen to the music had his brothers and sister thought it would be best if they played with him instead of listening and watching.

We finished up at the concert and headed across town to Wally World…I promised the kids if good behavior ensued we would go somewhere fun before Liam’s appointment.  In and out in under thirty minutes meant a trip to the playground was in order.

We played at the playground for an hour before heading out to the doctor.  Dr. B didn’t notice the same things that brought us in for leg pain but she did notice something that could be causing it.  Liam is flat footed and as such he has been overcorrecting make his feet turn in.  I noticed the tread of shoe was worn on one side and wondered about that. He’s also pigeon toed but that will correct on it’s own.  Dr. B said he needed good tennis shoes with good inserts and suggested we head to a certain store to be fitted for inserts.

Back in the car we went.  We stopped off at a local sports store and picked up a good pair of running shoes and then raced across town (again) to the special shoe store before they closed.  We made it (just barely) and the amazing salesman/owner worked wonders.  He didn’t do inserts, however, he put him in some shoes and then put inserts in those.  He informed me that the cost of inserts compared to just getting the shoes with a bit of inserts around the arch and heel was going to be about the same.

By the time we finished at the special shoe store,  Mark met us and we headed to a food eating establishment and grabbed supper (since it was pushing 6).  We got home, picked up and Mark took off with Ace for a grand finale of our frozen yogurt date nights brought to you by special daily deals!  But, before he left, he discovered there was a nail in the tire of a car that a friend had loaned him to drive until we could find him another one (that’s a whole ‘nother story).  So, Ace and Mark headed to the tire place and then to yogurt.

I bathed the six other kids (well, several of them don’t need me to bather them now) and nursed a sweet almost walker and now all is quiet.

This is what happens when Mom gives the kids a bath…funky hair dos.

I’m tired ya’ll.  But, there is nothing I would not do to help my babies in any way I can.  Paying more for shoes than I ever would for myself (or anyone else) is one of those things we do.  We make sacrifices.  That’s what we do as moms and dads.

I have to surrender myself daily to God and his leading.  Some days I realize that He has given me a most important job and I need to allow Him to work through me.  But some days, I realize that I’m too selfish and too unsacrifical.  But when I give it to Him.  Give it all to Him.  I receive no greater reward than to know I am walking in His light, authority and protection.

Now where’s that bed…I need to snooze.

January saw a huge blessing for our church.  We closed on a property for us to have a permanent home for the church!  It’s a three acre property and includes a house and outbuilding.  Since we’ve been attending the church, we have been meeting in a office building and slowly outgrowing it.  God has truly blessed our church and provided just what we needed when we needed it.

 Here’s the church “house.”  Eventually this will be classrooms, Awana room, office rooms and our kitchen, etc.  All the ladies in the church are excited about having a real oven instead of having to make crockpot meals.  Priorities people

 This is going to be our meeting building after a bit of changes/demo.  It’s about the size of our meeting area now.  The outbuilding goes a bit of a ways back so there’s plenty of room.

We look forward to seeing how the Lord will use the property and our church to share Christ’s love.

Soon after Josiah, the five year old, came downstairs and told me, “Mom the dryer light stays on when you close the door.”  That means either a five year old or seven year old made it in to the dryer and closed the door.  Despite being told not to.

Fast forward to Tuesday.  Another Laundry Day.  Liam’s laundry day job is to move the close from the washer to the dryer and from the dryer to our bedroom (where we all fold them at the end of the day).  Liam swaps the clothes and starts the dryer.  When it finishes, he went to check on them.  Still wet.  I thought that was odd since we had just purchased this “new to us” dryer and it had been running so smoothly for over three weeks.  I followed them upstairs to make sure they had it on the right setting.  They did.  We went about our business of morningness and in the afternoon I remembered the dryer and asked Liam to swap it.  He obliged but then quickly came down to tell me they were wet.  I trudged up the steps and investigated.  Sure enough, the clothes were very wet.  I started the dryer and it came on and was heating up, but when I opened the door, the clothes had not moved.  The drum belt was messed up.

I quickly called Mark and alerted him to our dilemma and then set to work to start drying the two loads that had been washed.  I was very grateful that our “mother’s helper” was there that morning. 

This is what we came up with:

We covered the entire upstairs in clotheslines.  At first, I couldn’t find rope so we went with the verse, “a cord of three strands is not easily broken…”  and twisted together three pieces of yarn.  While wandering around in our bedroom, I found rope.  Paracord to be precise.  Paracord, for those that aren’t hip and in to survival bracelets, is a super strong rope used to make survival bracelets.

So intricately woven were the clotheslines that the kids had to do some crazy obstacle moves to get to their rooms and the bathroom.  By the way, I ran the cords/string/yarn between doorways and tied them at the hinges.

So, I went to the boys room and used the paracord to make this:

After some activities that evening, we came home and Mark moved this clothesline set to our closet.  I didn’t get a picture of that but it was quite humorous.  I also took a load of clothes to Kristina’s to get dry.

So Mark took the dryer apart and found that the belt was not broken (thankfully).  It had just slipped off the drum.  He put it back on and we were back in the clothes drying business.

And Liam learned:  40 something pound seven year olds do not need to climb in to a dryer made for 12 pounds of clothes.

 We didn’t have snow at Edventure but we did have it all around the zoo!  The kids were thrilled to see the tiny bubbles floating down.  We couldn’t really build a snowman but they could at least watch it fall.

 There was a lit up toy soldier.  Then five little soldiers had to get in line too.

He bit her finger off!

And now for a new one.

I know you guys all think I’m pregnant.

I’m not.

Sorry to disappoint.

But I am now joining the league of at home consultant/moms.  A little over a year ago, I saw a review for these clips called Lilla Rose.  I thought they were gorgeous and just wanted to try one.

And I did.

And I loved it!

I purchased one for my niece and around Christmas last year, got another one for my nieces and one for Zoe.  When I saw that they had a home business program I was intrigued.  Unlike me, I waited and prayed (usually I just jump in with both feet).  I finally felt led to join in the fall but continued to wait until we got our ducks in a row from the move and starting school and…well, living.

But here it is January.   This week, I just decided to do it.

Let me tell you a tidbit about the clips and then to get more info or check out their fabulous sale going on now, pop on over there.

The main draw are the flexi clips.  These are figure 8 style clips that come in sizes from mini to extra large (for the people with lion’s mane thick/Crystal Gale length hair).  They can be used on drop buns, half up, and twists (french and a poofy twist) styles.  These clips really, truly serve both form and function.  They don’t cause a headache like the giant plastic claws and they stay put!

Lilla Rose also sells some adorable headbands, bobby pin holders, o-rings (for pony tails and half up hair styles), and sticks (for buns, etc).

And for today only, they are offering 15% off select styles of flexi clips.  They also have some o-rings, and bobbies on sale too.  So, hop on over and check out what we have to offer!

Please let me know if you are interested in hosting a party (online or in house) or just have questions.  I’d love to help.