Today went much more smoothly than yesterday although it was still very busy. I was just updating the log book and realized that over the course of the day 18 different children were here in childcare. Then with my own three added to the group it makes a total of 21 children ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years. As I write this at 8:45PM there are still four here. Two will be leaving around 10:30 and two are staying overnight.

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A friend stopped by this morning just to say "Hi" and brought along sausage biscuits from Hardees for both of us. It was such a positive way to start the day. Since it's hard for me to get out sometimes she occasionally just stops by just to chat.

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Doug took Austin and Michael to the child/youth program at church this evening. Austin's friend Tristan went along this time. This is my weekly break from Michael, who always does wonderful and charms everyone in church and then reverts back to the same oppositional behaviour as soon as he comes home. Although the last few days he's been quick to say he's sorry after an episode, often on his own.

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Micheal and I made homemade finger paint early this morning fully intending to use it today but somehow our plans kept being derailed and we never got it out. But we sure did have fun mixing the colors anyway.

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And that's about as exciting as it gets today. I'm hoping to hear something a little more definitive about the house tomorrow. Like I said before, I am not very good at this whole waiting thing.

Notes From the Last Few Days

• The last couple days have been frustrating.
• Everything was moving along smoothly on the house we are hoping to buy until Thursday evening when we hit a snag. Now we're very hopeful but uncertain if everything is going to go through or not. Waiting for answers is the hardest part.
• Amanda and Doug were both hit by a stomach bug this week. Amanda's started Wednesday night and Doug's Thursday night. It seemed to be a 24 hour bug. They are both feeling much better now.
• Mona was not so lucky and was unable to come in to work for 2 1/2 days. But we're glad she's feeling better now.
• Michael has been beyond difficult the last few weeks and I'm at a loss to know what to do next. Consequences and punishments don't seem to work. Extra time and positve attention doesn't seem to work. Ignoring doesn't seem to work. Today has been full of multiple temper tantrums, outright defiance, even a table turned over in a rage. He oftens sneaks out the door and runs away. Doug and Mona have been trying to take him with them often to give me a break which I greatly appreciate but I'm still exhausted.
• On a happier note, we had some delicious homemade vegetable soup for lunch that Mona made yesterday so I would have an easy lunch. For dinner we had homemade pizza that I made while Doug took the little kids outside to play. Yummy!

Catching Up Again - Our Somewhat Crazy Week

This past week has been a little crazy. In some ways not so great, in other ways wonderful, but either way very busy.

Tuesday we began our homeschooling year. We had a great day Tuesday and the kids really enjoyed it even though they weren't to excited at first. Math is our biggest challenge and it is done first thing in the morning and gotten completely out of our way before we move on to anything else. The other morning subject is reading and they are both loving the books they are reading. In the afternoons we are doing Bible, Science/Social Studies (alternating days), and Literature. We are also spending about 30 minutes each afternoon watching a video from Snag Learning. We watched 3 Points and I felt it really made all of us think about how fortunate we are and what role each of us has in making life better in some way for others.

On Wednesday we had two new kids start coming to daycare. Unfortunately I got up that morning and discovered that I had been hit with some kind of stomach but. There absolutely no way I could handle taking care of the kids so I had to call Doug home from work. I felt so bad doing that but Mona (my helper) had left early on Monday because she was sick and had not been able to work at all on Tuesday. I had no idea if she was coming in Wednesday or not but even if she was she normally doesn't get here until 10AM. This was 6:30AM and I new I couldn't handle things that long. Thankfully, Doug was able to leave right away and as soon as he got home I went to bed and stayed there until about 3:00 that afternoon. Also, thankfully, Mona was able to come in for a few hours and make lunch, clean up, and get dinner in the oven, before she had to leave again. I was grateful that the mother of the two new kids took everything in stride and understood these things happen and they were back the next day to a much more normal schedule.

Thursday evening shortly after Mona left for the day she had to turn around and come back because the radiator in her car developed a big leak. So Friday her son brought a new one and Saturday Doug put it in for her - with supervision.

Another wonderful fix-it project that Doug had to deal with when he came home from work on Friday was a stopped up toilet. It turned out that "someone" (translate that to Michael) had flushed the end of a paper towel holder (that I accidentally broke the other day and should have thrown away) and it was causing major issues. Lovely!

The church we attend just finished building a new addition and this weekend in celebration of that there were a lot of ativities going on all weekend long. We've had to miss most of it because of daycare schedules but we were able to go Friday evening to a concert by No Greater Love. It was great to get out for an evening and the music and singing were beautiful. We took our kids and some their friends and they had a great time as well. Michael was even out in aisle dancing for the last half of the concert. Also wonderful was getting see for the first time all the renovations and additions that have been going and I have to say the architects and builders did a wonderful job.

Amanda has adopted a stray cat the she originally named Lola. When we realized that Lola is a boy she changed the name to Toby. It was very malnourished and starving for attention and Amanda has been spending a lot of time nursing it back to health. She even bought him special food yesterday when she went grocery shopping with Doug.

 We have five daycare children so far today and three more scheduled to come later this evening but it has still been a pretty quiet and peaceful day. Hopefully the week is that way as well.

Doug

Although I've written a little about each of us in the About Us page I thought I'd like to write a little more in depth about each family member. So I will be writing about one family member each Sunday for the next few Sundays.

I thought I would start with my dear husband.

Doug is one of the most gentle, calm men I know. He is very patient with the kids, and with me. I'm not always easy to live with.

Doug has worked as a machinest at McKee Foods for 17 years and enjoys his work there. He has an analytical way of thinking and is very mathematically inclined so is a natural at this job.

Doug is also an EMT and volunteers at our local rescue squad one evening a week as well as runs calls if needed throughout the week. His first aid and medical knowledge has been a wonderful asset here with the kids many times.

On Wednesday evenings during the school year he can be found at church, helping with the children and youth program. He is the fill in person there, helping out wherever needed.

Here at home he helps with the kids, does a lot of the paperwork for the business, takes care of all our finances, keeps all our laptops up and running, does the yardwork and the vehicle maintenance, and spends time with the family. He enjoys the Syfy channel when he has some spare time.

He makes me laugh, makes me think and makes me feel safe. I love you Dear.

Day Two of Vacation

It's day two of our vacation and I am very much enjoying it. I love my work but am beginning to realize how much I need to schedule regular breaks to refuel. It's easy to think that since I work from home I don't need those down times but that's not true.

The kids have been enjoying it as well.

Amanda had a friend over Saturday evening and she stayed until early afternoon on Sunday. Today Amanda took Michael for a walk to visit the cows. This afternoon she went on a bike ride with another friend. Otherwise she's been busy on her computer playing WebKinz. And this evening she voluntarily cleaned up and vacuumed the playroom and living room.

Austin went with the youth pastor and a few other youth this afternoon out to eat and then to mow an elderly ladies yard. This evening he went over to the farm next door to help feed calves.

Since Doug didn't have to be up early to go to work this morning he agreed to be on call with the Rescue Squad all night last night. It was actually a quiet night but knowing that he could be called out any minute kept him from sleeping, so he's pretty tired today. But he still did some mowing and then took the van to the shop and had two new tires put on.

Later in the week we are taking the kids to the zoo one day and another day we are planning to visit Doug's parents who live about 80 miles south of us.

I told the kids that tomorrow morning they have to be up by 9:00 and we are going to finish the rearranging/reorganizing project we started in their rooms. They weren't excited about that but it has to be done and it's hard for me to help them when we have a house full of daycare kids.

As for me I've been doing a variety of things - writing, cleaning, napping. Just enjoying a slower pace.

From Twitter 08-14-2010

• Good morning. I`m enjoying my 1st cup of coffee. Hubby made it and it's very strong!
• Wonder if he's thinking I'm going to need some extra caffeine today.
• Making a list and checking it twice - grocery list that is.
• I guess the water for the pasta would boil faster if I actually turned the burner ON. Oops!
• I found something that I can sit in a roomful of kids and eat witout them all begging for a bite. Spinach.
• One by one they walk by, take a look and walk away.
• Wow, it's quiet. Four little ones napping, Doug, Michael and Austin went grocery shopping. Just leaves Amanda & me. :-)
• I guess I better clean up the kitchen and start dinner while I can.
• Dishwasher emptied and reloaded, dinner in the oven, laundry switched and two loads folded and put away, fresh pot of coffee brewed.
• And the kiddos start waking up. I'm surpised they slept so long. Making up for yesterday non-nap I guess.
• Michael just seasoned the green beans with taco seasoning. Wasn't what I had in mind but it wasn't too bad.

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From Twitter 08-12-2010

• I guess this is going to be day four of my helper not coming in. :-(
• Weather forecast says today will be another hot one with thunderstorms this afternoon. Looks like another inside day for us.
• Watching landlord load his truck up with paint cans. Wish I could believe he was coming here to paint.
• I ate way too much junk food yesterday. Today I'm eating heatlhy. Beginning right after I finish this bowl of Lucky Charms. ;-)
• I am seriously considering starting a blog called The Adventures and Misdeeds of Michael. lol
• RT @foldinglaundry: Sibling love: Anna (7yo) singing to Eli (4mos) "you're the #1 tooter but I still love you."
• One of Michael`s favorite activities right now is cutting paper and string.

• I let him do it in the afternoons at nap time (since he refuses to nap) as his special quiet activity.

• I wonder why the cat is so hyper tonight. He`s running around the house like a wild thing!

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Edited to add photo.

After two days that looked like this . . .

. . . I was glad today was sunny. The kids really needed to get out in the yard and run off some energy.

Austin had a molar surgically removed today. I was so afraid his experience would be like mine when I had mine removed. It was awful for me. I had a bad experience with the removal and lots of pain afterwards. But he is doing awesome. After sleeping off the effects of the anesthesia . . .

. . . he's been hard to keep still. He wants to eat, wants to be up doing things and has very little pain. And he's enjoying his ice cream. His friend Aaron is here again for at least the weekend (I wouldn't be surprised if he stays until school starts) and they are keeping themselves occupied watching movies and looking up trading cards on E-bay.

Yesterday was a day of change with it being the first day in childcare here for one child and the last day for another. Welcome to our group Sebina and Gabe we will truly miss you.

We had a total of 13 kids in childcare (not all at once) today ages 5 months through 11 years. It was a busy day but good.

Fingerpainting, building,playing with the tool set, playing outside and finding lots of bugs (we had lots of school age boys today) were some of the fun things we did.

Yesterday evening Doug took Austin and Michael along with him to do some mowing at our rental house. On the way home they passed a tractor trailor that had tried to make a turn and went off the side a road a little. When the truck went off the road a tire on the trailor blew, causing the the truck to slide part way down a bank. They went back to see if the driver needed help. No one was injured but they stayed until help arrived and the truck was back on the road. Michael was one tired little boy when he finally got home and Austin was tired of taking care of Michael while they waited.

After the kids went to bed last night I did some cleaning. To keep myself awake and moving I listened to an audio book online. I found this site that has lots of older books recorded and archived. I listened to all of
A Message From the Deep Sea by R. Austin Freeman 

Not a whole lot has happened today. I think the most exciting thing was when we heard Michael run a paper through the paper shredder and then figured out it was one of the monthly invoices that Doug had gotten ready to send to Social Services. So now I have to call the social worker tomorrow and ask her to send a replacement invoice for us to fill out. It should be interesting explaining this one to her.

And that's about as exciting as it gets today. But tomorrow is Monday so I'm sure I won't get this lucky two days in a row.

Daily Adventures at Rose's House Saturday July 17, 2010

Amanda is just loving Little Red, the guinea pig. Technically this is Doug's pet, but . . . we'll see.

Don't you just hate it when vacuum cleaner belts break?

A little math practice.

Coloring pictures to go with our Bible lesson - Jeusus Baptism.

Some imaginative play.

Perler beads remain a huge favorite with the older kids.

We had a good, fun day. More adventures tomorrow.

Daily Adventure at Rose's House Friday July 16,2010

Gluing the story cards and coloring the picture from our Bible lesson this morning.

Here Tristan is showing some of the other boys some card tricks. In the background is my wonderful helper.

We were treated to quite a concert today when the kids made microphones out of Legos and sang into them at the tops of their lungs.

Gianni, CJ and I played several rounds of Go Fish this afternoon.

Amanda finally saved enough money to buy the new cage she wanted for her pet rats so Doug took her to PetSmart this afternoon to get it. Then, after dinner, she and Doug put it together.

The rats love it. It's about four times bigger than the one they were in.

This was not in the plan, but somehow the trip to PetSmart also resulted in a new pet to add to our menagerie.

Meet Little Red, the guinea pig.

The cat was very interested in this new addition.

And so were the kids.

She's supposed to be Doug's pet but we'll see how that works out with Amanda in the house.

It's been a busy interesting day. More adventures on the way tomorrow.

At one time Michael took his naps in his room in his own bed but now he has to take them in the playroom on a mat on the floor.

Why?

Because he decided that it would be fun to open up these windows, you know the ones way up high on the second story and lean out and yell at everyone going by. Oh and it wasn't in the room that opens over the porch roof, it was the room with a drop straight to the ground.

And when Doug installed stops on the window frames so that windows could only be opened far enough for ventilation but not far enough to lean out of, he decided to throw out all the contents of his room that he could fit through the available space instead. These windows do have screens but I've watched him slide the tabs on either side of the screen and slide it right up.

At night I sit with him until he falls asleep but in the afternoon there are other children that need my attention as well so now he has to be where I can see him.

It's For You

Amanda and Austin are on vacation with extended family this week. Michael was excited to be able to talk to them on the phone when they called at lunchtime Wednesday.

Caterpillars

A few of our trees have been invaded with what I believe are Eastern Tent Caterpillars.

Austin and Tristan collected a few and said they are going to "take care of them like babies!" This should be interesting!

Discovering the Joys of Paperwork

Doesn't she look grown up?

This week Amanda has been learning how to fill in the daily logs for the USDA food program that we are enrolled in as a Family Daycare Home. She's learning fast and doing a great job!

Walking With Daddy