happily random

Talking

I just love listening to my kids as they're learning to talk. It's the sweetest thing listening to them try to pronounce new words and sounds. At 2 1/2, Ty has had some cute ones. For example:

• Peter butter = Peanut butter
• Or-gen = Orange
• Bubba = Beka (he does now say "Beka" for my dd's name, but it was so cute when he called her Bubba)
• Goo = Luke (it took him a few weeks before he learned "Luke")
• Sunny = Sammy (we still call Samantha "Sunny" as a nickname)
• What does that say? = What color is that? (that one took me awhile to figure out)

He's very articulate for 2 1/2, but he still has his quirky way of saying things. I just love hearing him talk, as I did all the kids when they were this age. Of course, when he gets whining, it's like nails on a chalkboard. :) But most of the time, his chatter is pretty sweet.

Jailed!

My dogs that is! We let our dogs roam free on our property. We have 8 acres of forest, that's plenty of room, right? WRONG!

Our oldest dog, Shadow, who's about 12, used to just hang around the house, must be going senile. He goes off into the forest every morning and barks and barks and barks and barks. It wouldn't be so bad except he's waking up our neighbors at 6 a.m. Oh and what's more is that now he's going to that same neighbor's house and getting into his trash (now, don't get me started on WHY he doesn't have his trash in containers when we have bears).

Then there is our 2 other dogs, Bailey & Dakota. They're both about 1 1/2. They wander off to points unknown for hours a day. Won't come when you call and they come back with stuffed animals. Our neighbor over the hill has 2 Goldens of her own (our dogs are Goldens too) and just LOVES Goldens. It's actually kind of spooky. Anyway, she treats our dogs, so of course they like to visit her. Hey, if someone gave me chocolate every time I came by, I'd go back too! Oh, and our dogs steal her dogs' toys, hence the stuffed animals. She buys stuffed animals at the thrift store for her dogs to chew on. Great idea if you DON'T have kids. Our dogs can't tell the difference between their stuffed animals and the kids, so no stuffed animal is safe around here.

Anyway, all three of them are "terrorizing" the neighborhood. I don't know what's gotten into them this summer! So, we started tying one of them up. We noticied if one of them was tied up, the others stuck around. But then they figured out how to get out of their collars. So we got a harness. THEY CHEWED THREW IT IN THREE DAYS! So last night, Joel built them a small dog run. They're jailed now and can only come out one at a time with supervision. Shame, shame. Well, they brought it on themselves.

I tell you that to tell you this. Joel built the doggy containment unit last night after the boys were asleep. So when they saw it this morning Lucas said, "Ha! Doggies are in jail!" And then Tyler, who's just 2 1/2 adds, "Nanny-nanny boo-boo!"

LOL.

Kids & vanilla

What is it about going into the bathroom that gets my kids attention and makes them follow me it there? Is their a siren that goes off in their brains, "Mom is leaving to be by herself for a few minutes... GET HER!" LOL. And yes, I have tried shutting and locking the door; they just bang on it. We're working on privacy issues right now. :)

The summer is definitely growing long. Just a little less than 2 weeks left until Rebekah & Lucas start school. They're really looking forward to it. Lucas had his class picnic on Tuesday and got to meet his teacher. He'll be in pre-K 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. Rebekah will be starting 1st grade and will go 4 days a week ALL DAY, from 8:45-3! *sigh* 4 days a week is very nice; it gives me a little more time with her. They go to a private Christian school and the entire school, which goes through 5th grade) is just 4 days a week.

I learned something interesting last night, which I think is kind of SBR (scrapbook related). Did you know that artifical vanilla is made out of lignin? I was making brownies last night and the recipe called for vanilla and I made the remark, "Why would anyone use artifical vanilla?" I mean, the do still sell it in stores. There is also an artifical vanilla that is a coal/tar deritative. Ick. :P Anyway, here's where I got my info if you're curious. I'm definitely sticking to the real stuff!

Which reminds me, I made brownies from SCRATCH last night. I was craving some, looking in the pantry and didn't have a mix. I've never made brownies from scratch before. They turned out quite yummy. I see a layout coming. :)

Sophia posted a blogging challenge in the Pub on Tuesday and I'm finally remembering to do it.

1. The Book That Changed My Life - The Bible, of course!
2. A Book I've Read More Than Once - The Lord of the Rings (I'm actually reading it again right now!)
3. A Book I'd Want With Me on a Desert Island - The Bible
4. A Book That Made Me Laugh - Calvin & Hobbes, any of them
5. A Book That Made Me Cry - Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
6. A Book I Wish Had Been Written - Any sequel to LOTR but unfortunately Tolkien didn't finish any other books in that line except The Hobbit before he died
7. A Book I Wish Had Never Been Written - Mein Kampf
8. A Book I Am Currently Reading - LOTR, Breathe by Keri Wyatt Kent, Creative Corrections by Lisa Whelchel, & Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge
9. A Book I Am Meaning To Read - Just one? Everything in #8
10. My favorite book of all time - I think it's prettty clear, after the Bible, LOTR

God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. Psalm 18: 20 (The Message)

Thoughts

I wanted to start off by tooting a bit for my husband. Well, today he is going to be interviewed by the Coeur d'Alene Press for his story in Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul. He was interviewed by the Spokesman Review last week, and now he's being interviewed by the Press. All this fame from just one little story. :) Yeah Joel!

A couple weeks ago I blogged about my devotional dilemma and finding a good time to have my quiet time with God. Well, it looks like I've found it. I just do them first thing in the morning while I drink my coffee. I get the kids all settled with a cup of milk and a cartoon and then I sit down at the kitchen table. They usually leave me alone long enough for me to get my reading done.

Which brings me to today. I was ready Acts this morning (10:1-23 to be exact) and how God spoke to Cornelius and told him to see Peter. That got me thinking, that I would like God to be that obvious to me. I would like to be so in tune with Him and listening to His voice that I can hear Him when he speaks to me. I want God to be obvious to me in my life. So, that is what I am praying for, for God to be obvious.

Well, the children have had enough tending to themselves and I've gotta get dressed for the day...

Ugh, Mondays

Garfield was right... Monday's suck. At least they do in my life. I don't know what it is, but the kids are always more trying on Mondays. Maybe it's the coming off the weekend with Daddy headed back to work? I don't know, but yesterday was definitely one of THOSE days.

I decided to take the kids school supply shopping, thinking it would be fun picking out their school supplies. WRONG!Instead I spent the time picking them out myself and trying to wrangle all the 3 of the older kids to stay with me. I think they need leashes sometimes. Ugh! I was one of those women you feel sorry for, or despise, who is calling for her kids the entire time at the store because they won't behave. Is it too much to ask for them to just stay near the cart? Yesterday, I guess it was.

Oh, and if I get one of those GIANT carts, you know, the ones that hold 2 bigger kids as well? Not enough room for the three of them, so first they fight over who gets to sit in it. Then I get to listen to the one walking complain about how tired they are from walking (pul-lease!). And then of course I get the "He's touching me!" or "He's on MY side!" from the ones in the cart. Samantha's the only one who is quietly sitting, observing the craziness. It's probably a great show for her. LOL.

I have GOT to come up with a good way to keep the kids in line at the store. Any ideas? I watched this show about this family with 16 kids (the Duggars) on Discovery Channel. The kids are amazingly well behaved and everyone is so polite. Maybe it was just for the cameras, but I don't think so. I think that if they were really bad, I'm SURE they would have put that on TV, right? Anyway, I'd love to hear her secrets.

So, back to my bad Monday. Afterwards I took the kids to the park (actually, we went to Sears next to see if they had any more uniforms in for Beka... no size 7's... STILL!) and were there are about 45 minutes. Rebekah ended up in time-out for pushing Ty, and then when I gave then their ten minute warning she complained about how she needed more time than that because she hadn't had any fun yet. :P

Got home, fed the kids, put Samantha down for her nap & the boys down for theirs. I ate my lunch and just as I'm finishing up, Sam wakes up. 35 minute nap, were usually she sleeps 2 hours. Ugh.

And did I mention it was 100 degrees yesterday with no A/C?

The afternoon went okay, but then about 4:30 as I'm washing the dishes, the water in the faucet slows to trickle... and then stops all together. It's been a dry summer and we are on a well, so I assumed that we were low on water (which has never happened to us, but happens to our inlaws all the time). I couldn't get ahold of Joel to ask him what I should do (I have no idea) because he was at a job where they have no cell service.

At about 6 my neighbor comes home and calls me, "Do you have water?" he asked. He shares our well with us. "Nope," I said. So he came up to check it out. I guess the pump regulator went out. He went to Loews to get a new one. Well, just after I got all the kids in bed (Joel was still not home), he showed up with the part and had to turn off our power to fix it. And of course, the kids freaked out. Their noise woke up Samantha. So there I am, sitting in the living room for an hour in the semi-darkness with the kids.

It took me about 45 minutes to get them BACK in bed after he was done (we DO have water again! YEAH!). Just as I finished getting Samatha back to sleep at 9 o'clock, Joel walked in the door. What a day.

And if you read all that, you deserve an award. LOL.

Despite all that, I have so much to be thankful for. I am so thankful that the well was not running dry, but instead just needed a cheap part. So thankful. I'm thankful that it's only supposed to be 89 today (yesterday the forecast for today was supposed to be 99) and there is a 50% chance of rain. We so need rain. I'm thankful that all my kids are healthy and, although they can be trying, happy. I'm thankful for this beautiful house God has provided for us. God has blessed us so richly, I guess I can handle a Monday every now and then. ;)

Today is our last free movie day of the summer: March of the Penguins.

Weekend Review

Great weekend here in the Doherty house. Saturday Joel & I did some heavy cleaning. We got rid of one of our couches that our dogs had chewed up when we were on vacation & rearranged the living room. It's now on a diagonal. Love it! It's so fun, and hip too. ;)

Yesterday we loaded up the kids and our new canoe (new to us, anyway) to take it for a test run. While we were loading up, poor Sammy got her thumb stuck in the cat door. It was closed up tight with the tip of her little thumb in it, all red and purple. Of course, I was freaky out trying to get it out, she was screaming, and Joel was frantically trying to take the door off it's hinges to get her thumb out. We ended up just having to shove the door open and it popped out, but not without scraping off a hunk of skin in the process. Poor little girl! It just makes me cringe just thinking about it. But she was quite the little trooper. Once we got her out, I sat with her on the couch and nursed her while Joel tended to her thumb. She didn't cry about it at all after that.

I'm just like every mother out there: I want to spare my children pain. I would have much rather have been the one that got her thumb stuck in the cat door and cut myself than it happening to poor Sammy-Girl. I want to run out and fight their battles & take on their injuries and make the world 100% safe for my kids. But, I can't. And in a way, that's good. The way we face the bad things that happen to us in life seem to shape us as a person more than all the good things. I just wish my kids didn't have to go through them too to learn the things that I did. Like being teased as a kid... junior high was THE WORST for me. I would gladly spare them that. But with experience hopefully comes wisdom. My goal is to raise them the best I can, protect them when I can, teach them when I can, and PRAY. Pray a lot. All that from a hurt thumb....

So, yesterday afternoon we took the canoe out to Killaney Lake. Actually, Joel took Rebekah, Lucas & Tyler on the lake. I stayed on shore with the kids. Looks like our $60 canoe that Joel bought at a garage sale is a keeper. It's water-tight, plus it can carry us all. And we managed to only have one kid fall in: Tyler. He decided to get into the boat will our backs were turned. Thank God for life jackets! Oh, and Tyler held on to the boat for dear life. That kid is surely our adventurous one.

Oh, and one last picture: Rebekah has lost both of her top teeth. She lost one about a week and a half ago and the other one last weekend. Isn't that the cutest smile? It's funny that now I have 2 girls 5 1/2 years apart that both are cutting front teeth. Hee-hee.

Thought I'd mention really quick, I have a toot. Cantata Books picked up 5 layouts of mine for an upcoming book, plus I got 3 assignments. I really needed that. It's been awhile since I've had any calls (although, it helps if you SUBMIT to them, right?). I've been submitting quite a bit over the weekend, so I'm hoping my phone will start ringing soon. :)

Here I am! PM post

It's become increasingly difficult to post in the morning like I was. I know it's going to get even tougher when school starts in 3 weeks. So, I'm going to try alternative posting times. :) Joel just picked up the older 3 to run some errands and I just put Samantha in bed, so I'm all alone. Delightful.

The last week has been busy. I did manage to finish my KI Memories album. Yeah! I did a big chunk of it on Sunday, a few more on Monday afternoon and then stayed up till, no joke, 3 a.m. getting it all wrapped up. Then Tuesday I printed all my scans out and labeled them, decided that I didn't like one of the pages in the album so I redid it, and then mailed it all out Priority Mail yesterday afternoon. I did it! YEAH! And I must say, my album rocks. I am very excited about it. The design and the topic were a blast and I really enjoyed making it. So, even if I don't win, I am very proud of my work. But I'd still like to win.... ;)

MOPS retreat was Friday night and was extremely encouraging and uplifting. I had been feeling really down about leading another year and this retreat really perked me up. Fresh ideas are always good. We have added quite a few new members to the team this year and their excitement is definitely rubbing off.

And you know what, I've decided that I definitely say the word 'definitely' too much. I've had to stop myself from writing 'definitely' 5 times in this post so far. Luckily, I've managed to control myself thus far, but it's definitely a word I need to definitely weed out of my vocabulary. Definitely.

Most assuredly (see, replacement word), this has been a good week. I have been getting into the Word when I can, and it has helped. I have also been working on one of the Fruits of the Spirit. Two, actually, when I think about it. I am trying to be kind and to be patient. I don't know what it is, but I have found myself being a bit snotty lately, especially to my kids. I know a lot of it is stress-related, but that is NO EXCUSE. What's worse is I've seen my bad attitude mirroring itself in my children, especially Rebekah. Well, that has to stop. I love my kids and I need to treat them like I love them, right? So throughout the day I have been praying for God to help me to be kind and patient. Whenever I've been faced with a tough situation, I haven't yelled (which I have been doing too much of lately) but instead prayed a quick prayer for help, taken a deep breath and calmly dealt with my kids. It's just been one day, but I can definit... certainly (thank you thesaurus!) see improvement already.

Oh, it looks like we have adopted a new cat. Actually, it's adopted us. Joel found it in the garage last week. It's a juvenile, most defin... assuredly, and a female (we think). We posted a FOUND sign, but still no callers. She's too friendly and too well-fed to have been a stray, but who knows. We live in the boonies, so I can't imagine she's traveled here from too far. But then, if that movie Homeard Bound has any truth to it about pets traveling cross-country, who knows? But we may have ourselves ANOTHER cat. This one is staying OUTSIDE.

Joel was called by the Spokesman Review, one of the local papers, to be interviewed last week. He had a story published in Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul and they wanted to interview him about. Cool, huh? It was in the paper on Sunday, which we didn't know until today and haven't see yet. I thought it was pretty neat though. I know he's very proud to now be a PUBLISHED writer. If he could do anything for a living, writing would be it. Hopefully someday. :) He's really good.

Well, that's all the news for now. New profile pic up on the left. Joel took that of me today. Can you tell he was standing ON the table to do it? ;)