One of those days

Have you ever had one of those days?  You know the kind I am talking about...where you drag yourself out of bed and labor all day to keep your eyes open.  You need to get ahold of people on the phone and nobody is where they are supposed to be.  Today was one of those days.  After a whole morning of trying to get ahold of people in England, I gave up since it was evening their time.  I couldn't get the kids to concentrate in school and I had a hard time staying awake.  Then the upstairs toilet overflowed.  Not just a little overflowing, but a huge gushing flood of water everywhere.

As Brittany and I were mopping and bleaching and washing towels, Bela came upstairs screaming.  I was sure that the end of the world had come for this screaming was ear drum-piercing.  When I asked her what was the matter she screamed, "Gabby's going to tell on me and I didn't mean what I said, Everybody always thinks I mean what I say!!!!!"  As calmly as possible under the stressful situation, I asked her what she said.  "I said you were stupid, Mommy, but I didn't mean it!! Why do people always think I mean what I say??"  After a long talk about not saying things you don't mean and NEVER using the word stupid (how many times have I said that now???) I went downstairs to find Gabby standing and laughing at Danijela who was sitting in a pile of Cheetos covered  from head to toe.  Since I had already changed her earlier from being covered in Yogurt and lunch was yet to be made, I set Gabby to the task of changing her. 

I am in the middle of making lunch now and still have a half a day left.  I think I need a nap!

Art

Tonight Gabby was saying the Lord's Prayer.  She decided to tell us what the words meant.  She didn't get too far before we all cracked up laughing.

Our Father (that's God)

Who are in heaven (that means, God is in heaven and he made the earth which is ART)

Do you think we ought to tell her the truth?

Weekend fun and a new job

Friday night Brittany and Gabby stayed the night at a friends house down the street.  We took Kassie, Bela nad Dani to the movie Robots and then to Famous Dave's Barbecue for dinner.  It was a fun evening.  Bela and her Grandpa got up early on Saturday and took the cat to the vet.  Then they went out for a special breakfast.  On Sunday we took the girls to Gettysburg to learn more about the Civil War.  They had so much fun and learned a lot too. 

Today David started his new job and I began the process of finding us a house.  It won't be long until we are settled again.  I will try to post more pictures up here soon, some from Dani's birthday party and some from Gettysburg. 

Yay for job offers!

David had three job offers this week.  Just in time for him to get out of the Army, as today is his last day officially in.  Timing is everything and we don't believe that is left up to chance!  We are waiting for the packets to get here to see which one is best for us, but we don know that they are all three here in Virginia.  One down south where he had the interview March 22nd and the other two are here in this area.  Wish us luck in making the right decision!

I guess she wanted to read

I woke up this morning to Danijela standing over me with a book.  I was tired and couldn't see very well because I have been having terrible trouble with my allergies, so I told her to read to me.  The next thing I knew my glasses were being put on my face.

I guess she wanted me to read to her.

Time flies

The days get away from me.  We have been very busy and before I know it, it has been days since I blogged.  Here is a short recap.  Saturday night David and I went out.  We had Mexican food and watched Sahara.  It was a good movie.  We didn't get in until about 2 am.  Sunday we had a birthday party for Danijela who was to be 2 on Monday.  We took the kids to Chucky Cheese they had a blast.  Moday was Danijela's birthday and we had a full day of school.  The kids keep me busy during the day!  Today we did all of our school and this afternoon we went to the library and out for ice cream with some friends.  Our days go very fast and I can't believe how time flies. 

Dani's sick

Yesterday I fell down the stairs.  Well technically I slipped with Danijela in my arms.  She was okay, but I hurt my back.  In the afternoon I took a muscle relaxer and laid down on the bed to relax.  Danijela came in the room to climb in bed with me and she was burning up.  She had fever earlier in the day and I gave her Motrin and it went away.  This time her fever was 102 and I noticed a rash all over her body. 

We went to urgent care and the doctor diagnosed her with ear and throat infection and said that the rash was a viral rash called Roseola.  She prescribed antibiotics for the infections and told me to give her benadryl for the rash and tylenol and motrin for the fever.  She had her first night of good sleep in days and with the muscle relaxer that I took, so did I. 

Brittany and Gabby got to go ice skating yesterday with their new friend from down the street.  They stayed with her on Thursday night and then went with her on Friday morning.  They had so much fun.  I am glad to see them meeting new friends and having fun with the neighbor kids. 

David had an interview yesterday that went really well, he has now had a few offers and just waiting on a couple more interviews to make a decision.  I can finally see the end of the tunnel.  I am hoping for him to be settled in a job and for us to have at least picked a house by my birthday in May.

Danijela's second birthday is Monday, we will celebrate tomorrow at Chucky Cheese.

She knows what she wants

The other day we were getting ready to go out to DC.  I knew we would be doing a lot of walking and I knew I would be wearing the sling.

I said to David, "Today would be a good day to own a stroller!"

Danijela looked at me indignantly and said, "Sling!"

A grateful heart

Yesterday I was chatting with a friend of mine and she asked me my opinion on how to make your child grateful for what they have and not wishful that they had more.  I pondered this thought for a couple of days and I came up with two thoughts on this subject.

1) To teach your children to be grateful you must show gratitude.  I don't just mean with other people, but with them and with each other.  Be thankful for all the little things you have and don't be afraid to show it.  I never miss an opportunity to say how thankful I am for my husband, my children, our family, and all the little things we have.  Some days I just say, "I am thankful for the sunshine." or "Isn't it wonderful that we have enough food to eat, think about the poor children who don't".  Make sure you are truly grateful and they will be too!

2) Teach your children to give with an open heart.  When your children learn to truly see someone's needs they will learn to be grateful for what they have.  If children begin to look at other people as other people in need, they will begin to see that they aren't the only ones who don't have everything. 

Thankfulness is learned by example.  A grateful spirit rubs off on those around you.  A giving heart is watched and noticed and also learned.

Solutions

Sunday morning Brittany and Gabby were fighting, of course they turned to me to settle their differences, as usual.

Gabby: MOOOOOMY!!  Brittany stepped on my book!

Me: Gabby, isn't there any problem between the two of you, that you can solve  yourself???

Gabby: If you'd let me I'd punch her!

Cherry Blossom Sunday

Today we went to DC to see the cherry blossoms.

Dad enjoyed his time with his girls.

We visited George Washington...

Thomas Jefferson...

Abraham Lincoln...

And George Bush...

We played and enjoyed the sunshine. 

There are lots more pictures in the album on the left of the page entitled Spring 2005, including pictures of Easter and more from today.

Amazing

So Gabby's art has amazed me once again.  This is a picture that she copied from a sketch of David when he was a baby.

Not too bad for a ten year old with no art instruction at all.

Lazy day today

We made it back from our fun trip to Tennessee.  It was a long ride, 12 hours there on Friday and 12 hours back yesterday.  It was good to hit solid ground again and I am sure the kids felt the same way.  Today is 85 degrees and sunny so the kids have spent the day out in the hot sun.  We will start school back up tomorrow.

I spent today getting their reenrollment information together for Christian Liberty Academy so I can get their stuff for next year.  I will be testing Gabby to skip 6th grade so I can school her and Brittany the same next year.  If she can't skip the whole grade they will let us combine some classes like Math and Science.  She is ready for those things and it will make it easier on me for lessons and grading.

So far this year, the girls have made a huge amount of progress and I have enjoyed teaching them.  Next year, at least Brittany will be in pre Algebra and I am hoping for Gabby too.  Since Bela started her first grade in January, she will be on a different shedule than the rest of the girls and will probably start 2nd grade in the middle of the year next year.  We still aren't sure where we will end up, but it is looking more and more like the East Coast area.  I will keep you informed.

Fun with old friends

Our trip to Tennessee has been so much fun!  Yesterday was so warm and sunny, we bought a couple of buckets of chicken and had a picnic in the park.

The kids had fun playing on the playground equipment.

David poured water down my shirt, resulting in a chase in which he took a tumble head first and slid down the hill.  I wish someone would have thought to get a picture, but they were too busy laughing.  This was taken afterward while he was cleaning up.

The chase between David and I also made the kids want to get involved, so they all had a water fight.

Brittany got soaked.

Kassie was too "cold".

Even Danijela got in on the fun!

After the park, we went and visited a Civil War monument with statues made by a local man.  I will post pictures of that later since I am on a laptop and a slow connection.  We all came home with sunburns and the kids were happy and didn't fight the whole evening.  They went right to sleep at bedtime.

It's Me you ninny

On our VERY long trip from Northern Virginia to Tennessee to visit a good friend of mine, we discovered that Danijela likes to tell knock knock jokes.

Danijela: Gock, Gock, Gock

Me: Who's there?

Danijela: Ana (her name for herself)

Me: Ana who?

Danijela: ME!!!!

Fun new game

After watching Jay Leno tonight, David and I discovered a new game called
"googlewhacking".  To be a "googlewhacker", you must go to google.com and type in two words.  The way to win this game is to get 1 hit and no more from two words.  We played for about a half an hour and David won, the best I could get was 14 hits.  His two words were magnetohydrodynamics ureters and he got one hit.  I challenge everyone to play this game and let me know if you win with anything.  Now that I put those two words on my blog they will never again be a "googlewhack".  Enjoy the game.