Bomb Squad....

Yesterday we had some excitement on our street.....I was hanging out doing my thing waiting on the younger kids to get home from school when the phone rang. When I answered it was Ryker's teacher from Surfside Elementary. She said she had gotten an email that said not to send any children home that lived on Avocado St., until confirming with a parent that it was ok to do so. So would you like to come pick your kids up, or let them ride their bikes?? Ummm...can you tell me what the concern is? Part of Avocado is blocked of, the police are there with the bomb squad......HUH? I walked out to the driveway and sure enough, a block farther down from our place there were police cars and a fire engine and the whole bit. I said they could ride their bikes and I would be on the look out for them. A minute later Lawson's teacher called w/ the same drill. It made me feel really good that the school was on top of things.
Ethan's school didn't make a call, he got clear down to our street and the police are like, "Where do you think you're going?" Ethan was like, dead ahead to my home. "Oh no you're not kid, you will need to go around." He was a little put out.
One of my favorite sights to see at 3:00pm - Monday - Friday.
It was 8 hours worth of excitement. Three helicopters stood their ground for several hours above our place. Here is the measly story. It was no big deal at all. But it was good drama while it was taking place. Oh the wild life we lead here in Satellite Beach. Do you know what YOUR neighbors do for fun????

Something we don't see everyday....

This was a pretty cool day at the beach. All over the beach there were jelly fish washing up. The beach was covered w/ the small clear ice looking ones. It made me curious as to what kind they were, why are they being washed up right now and dying. The kids were getting stung in the water by some of them. I asked a friend in our ward who is a scientist, or a marine biologist and he wrote back with a few tidbits. (Kevin Johnson's snippets will be in blue).

The whitish but a bit opaque jelly: (pictured above) This is the moon jelly Aurelia aurita. They have a fringe of very short, threadlike tentacles. Their sting is mild and usually doesn't bother people for the additional reason that the tentacles are so short.

The reddish-brown radiating stripes jelly: this is a sea nettle, likely a young Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Amongst these three jellies, this one is most likely the source of your sting injuries.
The crystal clear transparent jelly: This could be Solmissus, or any deeper water jelly from the area. If you google Solmissus, you will see it has long stiff tentacles, but these are fragile and break off quickly in the surf. what is left is just the umbrella (or bell) without any tentacles. This clear disk probably did not sting. I did google it and found a pretty cool site (click it) with pictures of the two clear jellies we saw -You can see all the little bumps where the tentacles had been on the photo below.

Why were they on the beach? Well, they don't want to be there because it kills them. Actually, it's not a question of want because they don't have a brain, but you know what I mean. Anyway, they are out in the greater ocean all the time to varying degrees. Once in a while the prevailing winds or upwelling currents bring them ashore and strand them. Solmissus is probably washing up due to some recent upwelling. The other two are typically near the surface and it wouldn't surprise me if the prevailing winds recently have been out of the east.

Hmmmmm, thanks for the info Bro Johnson! I love it when there are surprises like these to explore and see at the beach. It sure kept the kids occupied and having fun.

THIS just happened!

I hated to wake Lawson up in the middle of the night, but I had no choice. I was coming back to bed after a quick trip to the bathroom, remember how I wrote about our new "glorious" toilet in a previous post?, well it is still great, only there is an issue I haven't mentioned, until now because it pertains to this latest post, but come to find out when installed it was not completely sealed somewhere along the back, so we have been having quite-a-few-more visitors from down under. I am meaning roaches. Yes, it is disgusting, you always have to be on guard. Many members of the family have banned this bathroom completely because they are too creeped out. (it is going to be fixed this week). Any way, back to tonight, I went in, had a confrontation w/ a small roach or two. I was preoccupied w/ my recent struggle and practically jumped out of my skin when I am POSITIVE I saw something really huge run across the floor in front of me and out of sight in our bed room. NO WAY!!! I cruise into the boys room and flip the light on.....I KNEW IT!!....(glad I did), one of the gerbil cage lids was off. I woke Lawson up, cuz it was his cage.
Here is McCauley slumbering through almost the entire process. (Kev is still in Afganistan).
This gerbil was insane, when Lawson was on one side it would charge out the other. I have a friend that said she just couldn't stand the thought of one of these things ever getting loose in her house. Again, I didn't buy into it. I was like, they are pets, I know they are pets, I don't think it would be any big deal. Here I am wrong again. It wasn't fine with me. There was a hairy RODENT running like a mad man in my bedroom!!
I know it doesn't look like it in this photo, but it was running straight for me in this picture....believe it or not!
This is my little night time hero. (although he was the one to cause this trauma in the first place) I was still very grateful. I couldn't believe the final take down, I screamed when it was charging me and he made a huge leap for it...Man, that was pretty crazy. I was too pumped to go back to sleep right away. I actually thought it was deep into the night when this happened....it was really 12:50. What in the heck was I doing up going to the bathroom so soon???????

Sad Moon River....

(photo taken by Ethan - we were on our way to scouts a few weeks back, the kids couldn't believe the rainbow cloud)

Tonight the kids and I watched Flicka for the first time. I can't count how many times the boys have talked me out of getting it from the library. I finally put my foot down and said McCauley and I are watching it....join us if you'd like. They couldn't tear themselves away from it. It was very good.

A little later after getting the gang all in bed, I came in to dig around and find some new songs for my playlist. I was having a grand time looking at all these most amazing blogs I could ever dream of, seeing unimaginable creativity, bright colorful pictures of homes and smiling children dressed in homemade attire. Moms making crafts and blowing bubbles with their immaculate children......and on and on and on. I started feeling like the BIGGEST LOSER!!!! I was starting to feel bad for my own kids.....what kind of drab, lifeless, existence do they endure??? What is going on here!? Can't I just look and be happy for those creative women that have thousands of followers and book deals and so forth? I guess not. BEWARE.....some of these blogs are now on my blog.....you can look at them if you want, I might again. Who knows. I had a lot of fun working on my playlist, one of the biggest song treasures I came across was Moon River I have always loved that song, just the melody of it, our kids have asked why I always sing it. I have no idea....I don't know when I would have even heard it, I don't think I have seen Breakfast at Tiffany's all the way through yet. I really only know the first two words - Moon River. That is it. I would sing that and then daaaaaaa da da da da the melody. But tonight that all changed, I know the words now. I sat and cried my eyes out, maybe I was still shook up from Flicka, maybe I still felt looserish from my blog envy, or maybe that song is just really full of emotion. In any case, I downloaded some new pictures from the beach and took a gander through our old ones and it made me feel a lot better. Our life is Plenty colorful. We have all we need........and even extra to share! (no one could doubt that with this colorful writing!)

Beautiful picture done my McCauley Tess.

Vita-YUMMMMM!

I thought I would do a short post about the details of our family vita-mix drinks. This is one example of what might end up in a vita mix. I love the colorful mixture, it looks packed full of nutrition and health.
I always include a bunch of spinach, at least fill to half way up the blender. I almost always add two frozen lemon wedges (seeds and rinde included), raisins, flax seed, full sized carrot, a few spoonfuls of juice concentrate, or any sweetener that you prefer, bananas, watermelon (that is all I added in this batch) any berries, yogurt, melon, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, THE LIST GOES ON. By the way, any of these items can be frozen, it makes it so easy to keep them on hand.
The most important ingredient is ICE...LOTS OF IT. I continue to add as it blends up. Taking tastes until it is just so.
The left overs store magnificent in the fridge for 24 hours. I don't like them much older than that. This is a great healthy snack or fast breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If you are in my extended family you know I am very attached to my Vita-mix blender. I take it with us when we go home to Utah. This brings loads of persecution from the in-laws, and my own brothers, but who cares?.....let them wallow in their own unhealth if they want. My sisters and I will continue to sip away. My kids get these on a regular basis, almost every day. They still try to complain and whine, but they drink them down. Kevin on the other hand...fights it tooth and nail. The kids ask all the time why I don't "make him drink them"? I wish I could, unfortunately he gets to choose for himself wether or not to be healthy. When they are grown and on their own they will also get that privilege. I will not try and push this off as a weight loss help, I had a startling realization a few weeks back. Not sure what my deal was, but I slacked off one week and pretty much replaced my daily vita mix for dishes of BREYERS ICECREAM!!! DISHES. I just didn't care. I went all in with the ice cream. I ate with out care or concern. I knew what I was doing and I did it anyway. At the end of the week, I got on my trusty scale....knowing what I was going to see, and being ok with that. It was well worth this little set back. So to my utter amazement, and bewilderment, I had lost 3 pounds. What? As delighted as I was, I was also a little disappointed to realize that ice cream seems to be a better dieting aide than my healthy - most nutritious thing I eat all day my VITAMIX. Hmmmmm. Maybe it was just a fluke. That is how I choose to look at it. In my mind though, and I may try this soon, I wonder what would happen if I did the same thing with LOW FAT ICECREAM??????

Budding performers....

I can easily say that my Mac is one of the fun details of our family life. Photo shop is a favorite past time for the kids, and maybe you have noticed, I use it frequently as well. This is a sample of one of their master pieces. (maybe I am exaggerating just a tad) I wanted to have success loading a video on my blog, I have tried several different video clips but nothing is loading. This did load but the time is very sped up, and most of the voice is cut. Aubrey, please give me a shout out if you know why.

Saving Spree.....

This is my latest SAVING SPREE at Publix. I am not real happy with the pictures and the fact that I can't seem to get a good shot of the receipt. My camera just makes it blurry and my Mac takes it backwards. But what it says is : spent $21.37/ SAVED $128.96 WHOOHOOO! This was a great trip. Keep in mind that I used expired Publix coupons (at my store on A1A store coupons NEVER expire - these are the coupons with the L.U. # on them). I also used the the SUPERDEALS thread on Iheartpublix.com - the link is on the right hand side of my blog. All the deals are set up for you. I just add the happy extra touch of expired coupons whenever I can. My next coupon post I promise to keep better track of the exact coupons I used for the best deals I get.

Been thinking about sneezing lately...

I just got in bed, but then thought better of it, I have been thinking how crazy sneezes are lately. What brought it up, was that the other morning the timing was just right that when I went in to wake the boys up for school and was opening the blinds I had a massive sneeze. It couldn't have been done on purpose if I had tried. It was sheer luck. But they were all bothered and annoyed, saying that it really wasn't a sneeze at all, that I just came in there and yelled. OH, Please. Sneezing seems to be a fairly common topic in our family. Kevin is always trying to make me change how I sneeze. I like the way I sneeze. It feels good. It roughs my throat up and I love it. He wants me not to sneeze through my voice box. Then what's the point?! You know what, his sneezes are not a walk in the park....he always has to sneeze 4 x in a row. I used to interrupt him in his sneezing attacks. I could make it so he wouldn't be able to get all four out. It really upset him. Well, YAH! People are attached to the way they sneeze for a reason. So I stopped distracting him, and wait for the episod to pass. I know why he is bothered somewhat w/ my sneezing, because I have a public sneeze and a family style sneeze. In the picture above would be an example of my public sneeze, it is like a small dainty cough. achew. There is NOTHING satisfying about it. There is no point to it. I do it because I am in PUBLIC. I do feel for my family, growing up, and to this day I REALLY, REALLY don't care for the way my parents sneeze. My mom's is the worst....it is soooooo loud, it is a full body tremor, grab the table kind of display. You always have the urge to ask, "GEESE, are you alright, did you hurt yourself?" The difference between she and I is that she only has this one style of sneeze. It is quite the show stopper. Kevin should feel privileged that I feel comfortable enough to sneeze the "real me" sneeze in front of him. Goodnight.

Unwanted Love Notes....

After the first week of school I was reading on someones Facebook about how her little daughter's favorite part of her day at school was receiving the special "love note" that her mommy had made for her and tucked into her lunch. I felt awful after reading that post. What kind of a mom am I not to have thought of that? Who am I not to do all that I can, and more, to make my kids feel extra special? I vowed then and there to get on board w/ the surprise love notes in the lunches. When the kids were sleeping I made my special notes, nothing too extravagant.

The next day I sent them off, excited for their return, and to hear their surprised reactions. 3pm came and I met them outside. They seemed a little put off.....didn't want to make eye contact. I was curious about this. After a snack, and not one of the kids mentioning the notes, I knew I was going to have to start digging. McCauley was cleaning out her backback, and took out her leftover lunch sack. She took out the small note and was like "What in the world was this? None of my friends and I could read it. (It said, I heart (the shape) McCauley, love mom) Why did you put it in there?" ok, that was not as expected. I was with Lawson a few minutes later, I asked if he found his note. YES.....WHY'D YOU DO THAT? I pulled it out and everyone started yelling and laughing and trying to grab it, but I shredded it before anyone could take it. Gall, don't do that again. K. Ryker was the most bothered, he said roughly the same thing, when the other kids saw that he had something on paper in his bag, not food, they pounced, "Ryker got a love note, Ryker got a love note". He was so embarrassed. He asked me please never to do that again. Man those school kids are VOLTURES. A friend told me that her son did not like her to send in notes to school.....I hadn't understood why until now. She throws in a hershey kiss or something to remind him that she loves him during lunch. I think I will give that a shot.

Whoa....hold on a minute....

Yesterday was a great day. Really nice. Relaxing. I look forward to next time. Well, a friend of mine called at one point. (I don't think I am supposed to use other people's name on my blog w/out permission, so I will call her......Mina). I was telling her what a grand time I was having with my new found freedom. Being honest, and saying that I can't even believe the stage I am in right now. Do other moms actually go to the beach and hang out and stuff?? She was like, "Sure, only most the moms I know are at the tennis club, they hang out all day, drink martinis, whatever." I am like this is crazy! I could get away with anything I want. She was all, "Well, now is the time for you to go volunteer your time to the community and to your kids school." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am all.. Hey now! Slow down little missy. I just barely found this stage YESTERDAY. Can I have a little time to enjoy this stage? I says, get off your high falootin "Captain of Volunteerism" soap box and let me take my time... WOULD YA? I didn't say this to her, but in the homeschooling world there is a time period known as "de-schooling"....at least I think that is what it is called. It is a space of time for kids that are taken out of public school, to take some time to de school.....relax a bit and get out of that mode, and prepare to begin a new one. So I am taking my time and going through my de - homeschooling period. I am almostpositive that there will come a time when I am board of only serving myself, and that the sheer guilt of it will drive me out of it before I need Mina to force me into it too early. I will when I am ready. Geeeeeeez. I'm going to the beach now. (ok, not really).

I did it....!

I made a goal yesterday....I take my goals seriously....today I completed that goal. I went to the beach ALONE. By myself. It was wonderful! I burnt my cheeks, yep those. At 9:45am, the beach was mostly deserted, just as I had hoped. Even still I walked down quite a ways to be ALONE. I listend to my play-away book and didn't worry about a thing. There was a nice breeze, a few times I walked down to the water and had aspirations to go in up to my shoulders, you know, be daring, but I thought I felt something like a crab pinch at my foot, so that was waaaayyy toooooo creepy to go in any further than my shins, especially ALONE....NO WAY. I beat it out of the water fast after that and just hung where it was safe on the sand.

At one point my phone rang, thought sure it would be a friend, was excited to brag about where I was....what the?...oh, oh, boy. It was Kevin. For a second I felt like I had been caught red handed in the cookie jar. He was calling from Afganistan, he had to ask a few times...."You're at the beach?....ALONE?" ha, ha. yep. "Cool, so you're getting all tanned up for me huh?" PHEW. yes. Yes, that is what I am doing today...that is my assignment for myself.

Now I just need to get that massage booked....busy, busy.

Just talking out loud....

Well, week two of public school starts up tomorrow. I can't believe we are already two weeks into it. So far we are all really enjoying ourselves. The kids are on this crazy adventure. They are so serious and responsible with their homework, and cannot believe the kids they see at school that "don't even do it", they see some kids in class that just hurry and fill in the answers when the teachers go over their work. They are flabbergasted and just don't get it. I am really proud of all their efforts.

Myself....I was really panicked as to how I would handle my alone time. After seven years of having my whole gang home with me and working together on their education, I was terrified to see a huge chunk of my identity marching out the door. Who am I now??? What makes me amazing and special without the fact that I gasp....HOMESCHOOL my children!!!!?. Now I am just a normal mom. I am regular. Anyone can be a mom. I am coming to grips with my normalness. It (embarrassing to admit) makes me think back to High School.....feeling so average and invisible. What would it take to stand out from the crowd and be a unique and interesting individual. Not being the head cheerleader, or class president, class clown......etc. Religion was not something that could help me stand apart, because growing up in Utah EVERYONE (except for the few that stood out cuz they weren't) were also LDS.

Anyway, in all truth, I am loving my time. I have purposefully been staying quite busy. Surprisingly enough the days are flying by way to quickly and I am finding myself racing home to beat the clock, or finish my latest project by the 2:30 deadline so I can be fully present when the kids get home.

This week I am going to try an experiment, I am going to see if I can relax (just a little), and go do some frivolous activities without feeling too guilty. I think I have it in me to go all alone to the beach and read. I have always wanted to. I also have three one hour massages that I purchased at our last GNO burning a hole in my wallet. I am making my schedule now.

One Detail I will NOT miss...

This is Herbie, she is six years old, but it feels like we have had her since time began. I am not a dog lover. Yes, it was me who caved and let the kids get her, I felt guilty, like our kids were missing some kind of right of passage. Also, I had heard dogs are great for teaching responsibility (to who??? moms!?). I have been trying to get rid of Herbie ever since....so far with no success. She is a huge trouble maker, money waster, bowel challenged animal. She is way to aggressive w/ visitors and on and on. The trouble is our next door neighbor has adopted her as his own, (except that his wife will not let him have a dog in the house). They are an older (in their late seventies) couple. We are trapped and stuck with the old girl. I say we, but really I should just say I am stuck. We all know who does all the clean up when the dog has an "accident" and uses the new carpet as a personal toilet. Who takes the little fella to the vet. Is the only one that can hear her pawing, whining, and scratching at the glass door wanting to be let in. Is the only one that sees Herbie fling her food dish across the kitchen tile saying she is starving. But when I say it is time for her to go, time stands still and suddenly she is the best, most lovable, wanted dog in the world. Whatever. One day I am going to act.

Anyway, late last night, deep in sleep, I was abrasively awoken and scared half out of my wits by loud panicked Herbie barking right outside our bedroom slider. Knowing that she is 100% def I was trying to see what had awoken her to such a frenzy. I saw nothing, so I gave Herbie the signal to get back on her pad. She looked at me, squatted, and peed on the rug. Oh my heck I really hate her.

Details I will miss....

Each year while we were schooling at home I would have the kids do a self portrait. This is McCauley's first attempt. This is her to a T. I love the details of the arm bands, and SHREK head band. She is definitely a detail girl.
OK, this is Mister Lawson's second go at his self portrait. He really stressed over these things. He was so nervous. Didn't want to get it wrong. I think he came up with a pretty good likeness. The hair is spot on.
I love this one of Ryker. No matter what age he was, Ryker never left off his trade mark chin mole. It makes him unique and extra special.
We have had a blast with these over the years, just put the new creations on top of the old. They are hanging in the hall. Ethan has come a long way baby. Looks like he is really getting the hang of these things. This reminds me of the Mona Lisa portrait....I can't quite decide on what emotion he is feeling. Is that surprise?? Just serious thought? I don't know.

All shiny and NEW.....

Look at this beauty! Just had this bad boy installed today. Thank you Tom Wilson. He had a heck of a time since he was dealing w/ our precious stone aged home. Water valve shut offs and such were crumbling off in his hands. A simple (I hear) project turned into a pain pretty quick. But it is in. I feel very strong and powerful when I flush this guy. You would to if your old toilet only flushed every third flush, maybe, if you were lucky and all the stars aligned just right. My poor kids got into such a habit of not flushing after every use, you know, "if it's yellow let it mellow", kinda thing. Plus our old toilet used over 3 gallens of water per flush, and if you think about having to use several flushes to make it happen. Yikes! It makes me cringe at the waste. Come visit...feel like a KING on this Throne...I went all out and got the raised seat. I think Kevin will appreciate the extra thought when he gets back into town.

Thanks to my friend Aubrey

This is my first real true attempt at blogging. I have tried and cried and given up in the past. Can't believe all the ins and outs of a sweet blog. I didn't want this attempt to end the same as times past, so I asked my friend Aubrey, who happens to have a beautiful blog, if she would mind being my tutor. She said yes!!! THANK YOU!!! I am happy with my start, and cannot sleep now. I have so many bottled up blogging ideas I want to get going on. I am excited to document and share the fun details of our lives.

First Day of Public School

Whoo hoo first day of public school!!

Well, this is it, after seven wonderful years of schooling at home with the Florida Virtual Academy, they are headed to school. Our oldest, Ethan, is missing in these photos, he is at DeLaura Middle School. These three are attending Surfside Elementary.

Ryker is in grade 6.

Lawson grade 4.

McCauley is in Kindergarten.

Mom loves the FREE BREAKFAST....whoohoo!!