I still feel YUCKY

YUCKY

I have bronchitis, and so do all of the kids but Samuel and Rob.

Zeria and I have got the worst of it, but the other kids all sound icky, nasty.

I laid down for my normal "quick" nap and woke up 3.5 hours later.  Its a good thing my kids were watching tv. 

I'd love another one, but could never get away with it. 

The good news is there bed time comes soon. 

With the shower.  It was hot and steamy but it all went down the drain.

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Okay now you see what kind of sick humor he has.  But let me tell you showers feel very good after camping!

We came back early due to the fact that Zeria, Rainee, Jeremiah and I have picked up a nasty summer cold.  We all sound like we have bronchitis.  *ugh*

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I'm officially a registered baton coach.  I got a 100% on my test.    It was a very hard test, so I was delighted with the results.  I guess the 9 hours I spent on it were worth it.  The lady who scored it complemented me on my concise essay at the end, and admitted she very much liked my three points.  We had to right a essay on what we felt were the three most important things in coaching.   

So it looks like a team out here is a go.

The coach from Olympia finally got back to me...two weeks after I emailed her...her twins had the chickenpox.  NASTY.  So she gave me her prices, and stuff, and I answered back with what we wanted.  And now I get to wait and see if she can give it to me.

The kids and I have already choreographed our first routine.  We will be using "Its a hard-knock-life" from Annie.  Its just 2 minutes long, and somewhat simple.  I wrote it all out, so we don't forget what we did, and so I can send it home with the kids who are learning it.  I'm not sure how many we will have that want to twirl, so I can't make full plans until I see the turn-out.  From there we will move forward and go for it.   

Rob and I are both looking forward into getting more into the community.  It should be intresting too as the "mean-lady" has a daughter perfect twirling age.  I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes. 

We're home.  The performance went well.

It was very very hot.

VERY hot.

Washington (western anyhow)  just doesn't get that hot.  PERFECT weather for lake.  Not so much for fair.

We had to baby powder the kids hands so they could catch their batons.  LOL   Super nasty hot.

So after twirling we went and got something to eat, and went and did some carnival rides. 

We also peaked in a checked in on our entries.  The judge this year in photography was very very very much into abstract.  As a result NONE of us one anything.  Bit of a bummer, but it happens.

The only iritating picture was this beautifully altered computer art that was black and white with the pink cheeks and blue eyes.  It was very nice.  But it SHOULD have been entered in computer art.  Computer art was actually very small this year as a entry.  Instead he entered it as a black and white.  And got first.  Scratches head.  I think the judge didn't read the name of the catagory.  LOL

That's okay.  We did very well in the hobby & craft barn.  My scrapbook got first, so did Rainee's.  A wee crocheted wire bracelet I did got a blue ribbon, and Rainee and Kaylin's recycled sculpture art got firsts.  All three of them.  So that made them very happy.  We decided next year we will enter more stuff there and possibly skip photography all together.  I love taking pictures I do.  But entering them is a PAIN, and it gets spendy needing matting for everything, and paying for the enlargements etc.

I got a red ribbon for a small crocheted scarf I did and all in all was pleased with those.    

Tomorrow is our last performance with our old team.

I admit to being extremely nervous.  I've coached through 2 parades now, but this is my first recital.  Plus, my three girls are left to get their own costumes, and the moms who "volunteered" to help with costumes are my least two favorite ladies.  Zeria and Kaylin will just get dressed on their own, but Rainee needs help with zippers, laces etc.  And I am going to be on the stage and unable to do it.  *sigh*

So this shall be intresting.  Zeria has promised to help, but wether the ladies let her or not is a whole nother saga.

Last recital I was out watching one of the boys perform before going to help Rainee, and Rainee was in tears by the time I came back cause no one would help her with her costume.  So hopefully this goes well.

We will also find out if I did well at all in my pictures.  The photography is incredibly competive, so we shall see how that goes.

We have tickets for bracelets for the carnival, and I have full intentions of doing the hobby barn, photography barn at the very least.  All in all its gonna be a LONG busy day!

Friday morning when Rob gets home from work we are going to go camp.  So if I don't blog until Monday don't be shocked.  We are going to camp some place we've never been before...and do primitive camping.  The closest mom & pop store or any civilization will be 35 minutes away.  Its our next step in getting our kids prepared to do an overnight hike/camp which Rob and I have been dreaming about doing since before we got married.  Next summer we should finally have the kids old enough to do that, and we already have three destinations picked out.  *snicker*

For my sister.  Tubalcain, Shi Shi, and Humes Ranch are on our top 3. 

On a seperate tangeant.  Kids are all great sea lawyers.  But I'm coming to realize about 8 years too late that some of Sam's failure to obey is his stinking literal mind.

On Sunday we told all of the kids they needed to lay down on their beds for 30 minutes and be quiet.  They were all bordering on sick, and the day before we had done the drive to pick up kids from camp.  And quite frankly we needed a break too.   I told them each time they talked they would add 5 minutes to their lay down time.

As expected 3 of the kids just plain fell asleep.  They needed it badly, but you can't tell 11 year olds to nap without insulting them.  *snicker*   Samuel however was bored and began kicking the wall.  Rob told him five minutes more quiet for you.

Sam flipped.  "You told me I couldn't talk, not I couldn't kick."  He was very angry about the situation which earned him 10 more minutes before he quit arguing.   

Parents banging heads on wall begins.

As I look back on it I realize it is how Samuel's mind works.  In his mind he truely was being obedient.  We told him not to talk.  He wasn't. 

If he's sitting in the car and we tell him not to scream...he doesn't.  He just talks loudly.  In his mind that's being obedient. 

Now to teach him how to hear the nuances of the words.  Rather then the literal.  A battle that he'll probably deal with all of his life. 

Good morning

Got all my stuff entered into the Fair yesterday, along with the kids stuff.  It only took about 2 hours.  LOL  So much paperwork.  The kids hung out in the fair green doing cartwheels and summersaults and eventually ended up finding one of their friends from church who was also bored.  The girls that were entering stuff came with me, and then would get sent back out after they had done the filling in on the paperwork that they could do.  I figured they should share in the misery. 

The funniest part of entering things was in the Art barn.  Zeria had colored a picture she wanted to enter.  The people in this barn tend to be a bit umm snobbish, but she really wanted to enter, so I let her.  When we got in there two of the ladies were using typewriters to fill out paperwork.  Zeria stared at them and said.  "What are those?"

I just laughed and laughed, and so did the ladies there.  One of the ladies had Zeria come over and she showed her how it worked.  Zeria was very impressed and thought it was quite cool.

I won't tell her the kind of type writer I learned to type on.  My mom bought me a true antique at a garage sale and I spent hours playing on that thing.  It was a manual, that you threw the thing back itself, and was made in my mind in the dark ages.  *snickers* It looked very much like this.  She would have been truely impressed by it.

Isn't it amazing how technology changes?

Both my mom and dad lived in houses that didn't have running water or electricity until the 8th grade.  Its astounding how much things change, and yet how much they stay the same.

Today is my last day of leading baton in practice.  Thursday is the recital at the fair, and then the moms in Port Angeles are on there own.

Phew I made my final decision about which pictures I'm going to enter.  I printed seven out, which of course changed the dynamics of how they looked, because how a image looks on the computer versus printed is astounding.

And then I stared at the Premium Book to figure out how to get three people pictures.  Cause I thought there was only 2.  But realized they had a bw catagory for portraits.  So drum roll please.

Can you stand the anticipation.  *snicker*

I know many voted for the starfish picture...which looks phenomenal on the computer.  Printed out its still pretty, but it just doesn't jump out.  Its hard to explain.  And amazing how hard it was to pick four.

I finally decided to pick the ones that spoke told some form of story, and so we have the four.  Thanks everybody for expressing their opinions. 

Our County Fair starts on Thursday, so today I am running a bunch of pictures to the fairgrounds.  My four, Four of KK's,  and Two of Zeria's.  Plus a couple scrapbook pages of Rainee's. 

The boys don't have anything its not there thing.  LOL

Its a long drive, and I'm not thrilled about it, but I'll kick myself if I don't go in. 

We are all so tired if I was even remotely start we'd skip church, but we won't.  So hopefully this afternoon most of us get some down-time.  (not me LOL) 

The rain has gone and cleared up, and the sun is shining.  This is GOOD news.  And now to show you KK's entrys in the fair.

My girls are home from camp.  The 9 hour drive (that would be 4 plus each way)  was exhausting.

We were sitting at a park at noon time after picking up the girls eating lunch, when the gray sky got darker, and then suddenly the flood waters opened and flooded us.  In the time that it took to get from the grass to the car we were just SOAKED.

It has lessened off and on, but most of the drive it just POURED.  POURED.

Stand in a shower with all of your clothes on, and you'll know how we felt.

After 2.5 hours of sitting in the car we knew we had to stop again.  The kids and us all needed a break.  But we were driving up the 101 coast and its very barren in Washington, no malls and indoor kind of entertainments.  So after nixxing the beach.  I prefer my showers with warm water.  We decided to do a small hike to the worlds largest spruce tree.  Something Rob and the kids had never seen, I'm assuming I saw it as a child, but it was a long time ago.  It was a .3 mile hike.  Not bad about the right amount of wiggle.  When we stopped it was raining.  But the heavy trees in the rain forest stopped most of it.  As we arrived at the tree it turned up several notches.  The tree was in a field so we got very wet observing it.  I have pictures, that I'll share later...when I can get my camera in the dry.  LOL

The rain then turned up about 6 notches, and we just got DRENCHED SOAKED, SOPPING NASTY WET.  The rain was just pouring down.  It was like dumping a tub full of ice water upside down and watching it go sloosh.  Only the sloosh didn't let up.  The .3 mile walk back was done in HUGE puddles, the water dripping in our hair, down our nose trying to drown us.  So awful.

I can't begin to describe the level of rain coming down unless you've lived in a rain forest like we do.  LOL

The only good news is it wasn't side ways rain like we get here in the winter.

It is a hike that will be remembered. 

The girls had fun, and are exhausted (tis normal)  And life moves on. 

Headed to find my girls tomorrow.  It will be a early leave.  We have to be out of here by 6:30 in order to get to camp by 11.  And even at that its going to be close, but Rob doesn't get home from work until then.

Kids did very well at home this week.  I was extremely nervous as to how Samuel would handle the responsibility of being the oldest.  But he did very very well.  So well I told him so, and he just beamed.

Oh he wasn't a saint...but as close to sainthood as Samuel gets.

Yesterday he had a major boo-boo too.  Jamari's pony decided to dump Samuel into a very tall bush of Himalayan blackberrys.  He has some impresive battle scars, and I pulled over 30 stickers out of his arm/neck/shoulder/ears. 

There's probably still some in there, but I got out what I could see.  HE earned much sympathy from all of us as a result.

I'm still torn about baton.  I will make the decision after talking to the girls when they come home. Prayers are appreciated.  Its so hard to decide how to do this.

Do I persue it because my children are truely good, and make the sacrifices needed to get them what they need, or do I direct them to other areas that are less expensive, and closer to home, etc.