Glee makes me ohsohappy!

Yeah, the music from Glee makes me ohsohappy! I'm listening to one of the cd soundtracks and feeling happy even though I feel oogy right now. My allergies are just kicking my butt today, every time I sneeze, it feels like my ovaries explode! :( Despite that slight complication, I managed to get two rooms cleaned and overhauled today, 6 loads of laundry washed (seems like my kids like to hide dirty clothes at the foot of the bed under the covers, and in closets - ew), dinner made, and a trip to the library on top of it all.

Yesterday my middle child asked me about 9-11. I wasn't sure what to tell her, so I chose my words carefully. She promptly told me, "I don't believe people can be that evil." So together, we watched a video on youtube of the towers falling... and she sobbed openly. After we watched it, she said, "Mommy, I wish you hadn't showed that to me now. I want to un-know it." My heart broke for her. Now she wants to learn all about it, the events leading up to it, and what's been done about it since it happened... she checked a book out of the library today that was written to explain the tragedy to kids, and she read halfway through it before she wanted to discuss it. I answered as well as I could, and when I couldn't find the words, she called her Grandma to ask questions. I'm glad she's so curious about everything and that she takes the initiative to research and learn, but at the same time I am so sad that she had to learn about this. Frankly I'm sad to live in the kind of world where something like this even happened... and I remember that morning as I raced to get my oldest child from the babysitter's house (Bud was 11 months old then): "What kind of world have I brought my child into?" I keep my kids pretty sheltered - that was part of the point of my homeschooling them - I could control what information, music, tv, etc went into their little heads. I could pour in all the good they could hold, and there would be no room for the bad. Unfortunately, I know it's not possible. I guess I just want to keep them innocent for as long as I can, since I know that once they hit the outside world without me, they're not going to be innocent for long. Our culture pretty much sees to that even just sitting at home in front of the TV. I hate having to distract them when there's an inappropriate commercial or something on. I protect my kids, and I am unapologetic about it.

My stepdaughter got on a plane this morning from Germany, headed towards US soil. She was supposed to call us as soon as she got here, but so far we haven't heard anything from her. I am hoping that she's okay and will call us soon - I told her to call no matter what time it is, and it's 11 p.m. now.

On a lighter note, my 4 year old is totally in love with Justin Bieber! HA! All 3 of my girls love his song "Baby." Our summer playlist is as follows so far:

1. "Baby" - Justin Bieber
2. "Bulletproof" - La Roux
3. "Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum
4. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper
5. "If We Ever Meet Again" - Timbaland f. Katy Perry
6. "That's Not My Name" - The Ting Tings
7. "Funhouse" - Pink (clean version)

Every summer we have a certain set of songs that the girls want to listen to repeatedly - so far it's these 7. In all fairness, all 3 Glee soundtracks should be listed up there too, especially Vol. 1, since it's particularly Rachel-heavy and they LOOOOOOVE Rachel, lol!

The moral to this whole story/post? I have AMAZING kids. Even when I complain about them. ;)

Tuesday blahs?

I woke up with a weird feeling today. Not a bad one or anything, just weird... does anyone else do that? Sometimes I get the feeling I've forgotten something important, and it eats away at me until I remember what it is. Sometimes I get a funny feeling and it lasts and lasts until I go to bed, and then somehow it's magically gone. I know it's all in my head, but still.

So this is shaping up to be a busy week for us. Yesterday the girls and I went outside and put the canteloupes, watermelon, and corn in the ground. They were all 3 inches tall or taller, so it was time. Today I have to go out in the heat and put the tomatoes in the ground - I HAVE to, or they'll die. They're running out of room for their roots in the containers they're in right now. My garden is starting to take over my back yard... right now there's: rosemary, greek oregano, common sage, sweet basil, mint, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, canteloupes, watermelons, corn, and cucumbers. Now I have to make room for the lettuce, onions, lavender, thyme, chives, parsley, and carrots. Sigh. I have a feeling I'm going to be giving some seedlings away - anyone interested? ;)

Tomorrow I take Lulu in the morning to take the NNAT to see if she gets into the gifted program at a local school. If she doesn't (which I am sure is unlikely, I have the utmost faith in her), then the girls will continue to be homeschooled next year. If she does, then she and Bud will probably go to the school, which is a little ways away from us. We should know something by the end of this week, supposedly.

On Friday, all three girls have dentist appointments in the morning for their 6 month checkup. Then in the afternoon, I have to take Bud for her yearly checkup at the pediatrician - which actually works out really well, considering that she has a plantar's wart on the bottom of her foot that needs to be burnt/frozen off, and she's started to have tiny bumps all over her face. I don't know if it's the beginnings of acne, or if it's heat rash.

Tonight we're going to the library. It's time to sign the girls up for the summer reading program, like we do every year. And my husband (God bless him) volunteered to cook dinner tonight for me - BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and baked beans... his favorite meal, lol.

But for right now... we're all camped out on my bed, watching a rerun marathon of America's Next Top Model... lol!



parsley



lettuce



lavender




L-R: rosemary, sweet basil, greek oregano, common sage



L-R: common sage, mint, pumpkins, squash



L-R: pumpkins, squash, zucchini, cucumbers



L-R: cucumbers, canteloupes, watermelons, corn.



Chives.



Chinese Lantern flowers.



Carrots.

3 day lapse

COUNTDOWN TO STEPDAUGHTER ARRIVING: 23 DAYS.

Wow, I've been really lax about posting for the last three days. I can't help it; I've had so much to do around the house. And on top of everything, my allergies have been kicking my butt. I stepped outside the mudroom door yesterday afternoon, and my eyes immediately starting itching, burning, watering, and swelling up. I was miserable.

Today was good. We got Papa Murphy's pizza and took it to the in-laws' for Sunday lunch, and hung out for a while playing with pictures and whatnot. I love my mother in law, and I love that she likes messing with pictures on the computer. Then we went to my niece's dance recital, and she did so well! It was a lot of fun. I like stuff like that, though - dancing and singing and theater-type activities. :)

Right now my head is pounding though, and even though I took two ibuprofen during the intermission of the recital, it still hurts. I am going to hop offline and relax for a while. Good night, people in blog land!

Super Saturday... it's so not.

My girls have given names to certain days of the week (usually to do with our homeschooling):

Math-y Monday
Terrible Tuesday
Wacky Wednesday
(Thursday has no name)
French-y Friday
Super Saturday
Spectacular Sunday

So can you tell that Sunday is their favorite day of the week? LOL. It's because we spend all day Sunday at Grandma & Papaw's house (my husband's parents). Today is not such a Super Saturday for me. I am cranky, achey, irritable... can you tell what time it is for me? :P

I have done probably 10 loads of laundry between yesterday afternoon and right now, and I still have a ton to do. It piles up with 5 people dirtying clothes, I'm telling ya!

I don't really feel like doing much else today. I may go and make myself a root beer float and sit on the porch - NOT. It's way too friggin' hot to sit outside right now. I barely lasted the 5 minutes it took this morning to check on my plants! (I have 4 chives, Lexi now has THREE chinese lantern flowers, lettuce, lots of thyme sprouted, and now 6 pumpkins are in the pot. I really, REALLY need to start getting my plants transplanted from pots to the ground!

Fabulous Friday... not so much.

My middle baby is sick. She was running a fever of 101.9 last night, and she has been congested and coughing. My youngest baby has been congested too, but luckily that's it. I hope they both start feeling better soon... my middle baby doesn't even feel like eating anything, which sucks because I just baked two dozen chocolate chip cookies, and we're having Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner tonight (a half cheese/half pepperoni pizza for the two younger kids, and a taco grande pizza for me and my oldest girl - SO GOOD).

My oldest and I went outside today and watered my plants - saw that now I have three green somethings in the chives pot, the corn is getting taller, and I definitely need to be transplanting my tomatoes into the ground within the next few days. Middle baby now has TWO Chinese Lantern flower plants sprouting in her pot, which makes her SOOOO happy, since we waited for over a month for them to start growing. She told me that it just goes to show that patience pays off... I agree. I just wish I had more patience.

My yard is growing out of control. If you read this blog regularly, you know I blew up the only lawnmower we had access to. I have no clue what we're going to do now - the neighbors on both sides have mowed their yards TWICE in the last week, and my grass looks terrible! It looks like no one lives here! :(

Youngest baby is finished with speech therapy until the fall, which is awesome. She was both happy and unhappy about it - she loves going, but she was glad not to have to. Silly girl.