We're Back!!

We had a great trip to Destin. The weather was great, and everybody really enjoyed themselves. Even I, the sand and sun "hater", enjoyed being in the ocean. By the end of the trip, Josh agreed with me that I basically burn and freckle instead of tan. Matt was our little fish. He couldn't get enough of the pool. He took swimming lessons last week, and he just practiced and practiced his new skills. This was probably my most relaxing trip because everybody was basically old enough to enjoy themselves, and I didn't have to worry quite so much about waves snatching anybody into the sea. Here are a couple of pictures.




I love this picture because it shows all of my kids personalities to a "T". Beth with the teenage "cool" thing going on. Matt with the crazy kid stance. And Ben with the distracted "stimming" that he does constantly.

Here is Matt and Beth relaxing on the bench in front of our condo.

In the ocean playing with the waves. Isn't the water gorgeous?! It took Matt until almost the last day to start to really enjoy playing in the waves. Salt water was not his favorite. He sure loved the pool, though. Beth loved the boogie board, and Ben did good until the last day. I think he decided he had had enough water activities.

I will be catching up on everybody's blogs over the next few days. The one and only downer to our week away was no computer access. I think we all went through withdrawal. However, I'm sure that was good for us all, too. =o)

Have a blessed Sunday!!

Destin...Here We Come

Once again, I am heading to the beach. However, this time it is a family vacation! We are all looking forward to it. My only hang up is that I personally don't care for the beach!! LOL!! I'm not a sun/outdoorsy type. However, the place we are going is just beautiful, and my kids haven't been to the beach in 3 years. My parents are taking us, which is totally awesome. They do so much for us, and we are very appreciative. I just wish we lived 4 hours from the mountains instead of the beach. LOL!! =o)

Matt has an ear infection, and I think Ben might, too, so both are going to the doctor first thing tomorrow. Please pray for a quick healing!! They aren't running fever, but I'm concerned about the doctor saying "no swimming". We'll deal with that as it comes.

So, I won't be online until Sunday. I will catch up on everybody's blogs then. I hope you all have a blessed week!

Good News!!

Oh, I just had to share some good news we found out today. My husband is a biology teacher at our local high school. His schedule has been getting more and more challenging because he keeps getting classes he has never taught before. Josh is not the type of teacher to do things the easy way, so a new class means LOTS and LOTS of preparation time. The year before was tough, but this last year was horrible, awful, and difficult. Did I mention it was terrible? Towards the end of this last school year, Josh went in to talk to his principal and told him that I was researching moving to Alaska because of the stress. The principal promised to try to find another science teacher that was capable of teaching chemistry (which is the class that made this year just awful for us). Well, we found out today that he hired someone to take all the chemistry classes!! HIP! HIP! HOORAY! This will leave Josh with just Biology, Biology Honors, and Anatomy & Physiology. My family was laughing at me as I did a major happy dance in the kitchen.

We are still decluttering. Another 4 huge bags of clothing plus several boxes were dropped off at Good Will. We've also tossed bags and bags of junk. We really wish we had weighed everything so we'd know how much we've gotten rid of.

I figured out the picture thing. Thank you to those of you who offered me assistance. It really was quite easy. I'm still looking for THE picture I want, but the one I have for now is cute.

Time to go work on laundry and more decluttering!!

A Little Blog Help Needed

How do all of you get your picture, or a picture representing you, to come up when you make comments on other people's blog? I'd like to add this, but I can't figure it out. Thanks!!

Decluttering

Just had to show you what I pulled out of my clothes closet to get rid of. I haven't gone through my clothes in years. Do you know how much this was? EIGHT garbage bags full!!! I'd say one bag was some clothes of Beth's I had planned on ebaying when I had a chance, but the rest came from my closet. Just stuff I didn't wear because I didn't like it anymore or it was dreadfully out of style. I think my house feels lighter....

Show and Tell Friday

If you'd like to participate, head over to Kelli's blog and sign in to Mr. Linky!

My show and tell today is my dog Toby. He is a maltipoo (Maltese poodle mix). This is him really needing a trim! He will be 2 in September.

We didn't have him as "our" dog as a puppy. He was our pastor's dog. I saw him one day up at the church office and just fell in love. I told Pastor Diane that if she and Pastor Bray ever needed us to puppysit when they went out of town, we'd be happy to. Well, four days later, she called. From that moment on we were "THE puppysitters". We loved to keep him. I told Pastor Diane she didn't even have to ask, just call and tell us when and where to get him. Now, our pastors travel a lot and are just plain busy. Last summer we had Toby for almost the entire month of June.

In September, four days after we adopted a new kitten, Pastor Diane called and said that they knew they just couldn't keep up with Toby's needs and their busy lifestyle and did we want him? Well, of course we said yes. He is exactly what I want in a dog.

This is Toby after a trim. He needs to be cleaned up occasionally, but I really prefer his messy look!

We really became even more thankful for him the other day because he almost drown in our swimming pool. We have one of those Walmart above ground pools. It had slumped over for a couple of days, and apparently Toby kept jumping in. We didn't even think about it when Josh got the pool back in order and started filling it up again. Ben came running from the back of the house yelling, "Dad! Toby is in the pool!" He had jumped in because the sides still weren't up very high while the pool was filling, but then he couldn't touch bottom to jump back out. We don't know how long he was swimming before Ben saw him out of the window, but we are very grateful because it could have ended up with a very sad ending!!

So, Toby is my show and tell for today. You should see him and the kitten play!!

Oh What Fun it Was!

Well, I'm back. I had such a great time. It was just so wonderful to get together with all of the teachers and staff and get to talk to them and spend time with them instead of having one minute conversations in the hall as you hurry off to class! It was so fun to see people's personalities come out in a relaxed atmosphere.

We basically had the same schedule every day. We did whatever we wanted until 6 pm. We'd walk, swim in the pool, go shopping, and such. I actually did not go to the beach. Yes, I know. Some of you are scandalized by this. I love seeing the ocean, but I am not a sunbather. My skin is too fair, and all I do is burn and freckle. We had to drive to the beach, and I just didn't want to stay out there for 4 hours. However, the pool was just downstairs, so I could come up when I wanted. I would have made myself go, however, except that my family is going to Destin in a couple of weeks, and I will get plenty of the beach scene then.

In the evenings our director did our ministry time. The first night we did a personality profile. That was not only informative but also hysterical. The point was really for us all just to recognize how everybody handles situations differently because we have different personalities. It was a lot of fun. Then the second night we talked about the fruits of the Spirit...and then we evaluated ourselves. Ouch!! As we talked through it, many of us could hear God pinpoint the areas we needed to work on individually through the others. It was hard, but good. We ended with an affirmation circle, which, of course, uses up tons of kleenex!! This was the best team building retreat I've been on. Plenty of time to relax and have fun, but then enough ministry for God to speak to you and show you what to work on without feeling overwhelmed.

I've missed a lot of posts on your blogs, so I will be working my way through them over the next few days. Now, I guess since I've had some time off, it's time for me to get working on projects. I think I will tackle the clothes closets first. If I don't make it back for awhile, you know I got buried in an avalanche!! (Listen closely for cries of help....) =o)

Going to the Beach!

I just wanted to let you know that I'll be on a blogging break for the next few days. I will be on a school retreat at the beach. We are leaving right after church tomorrow and won't be back until Wednesday. Sounds just awful, doesn't it?! My school is taking all of the staff on a team building retreat to Orange Beach, which is on the Alabama/Florida boarder. We'll be (cough! cough!) working (ahem!) for the next few days. Hehehe!

Josh will be in charge of the kids. He does a great job...except he forgets to feed them. I'm about to go show the kids all the groceries I bought so that they at least know what to ask for.

I hope everybody has a great few days, and I'll catch up when I get back on Wednesday. TTFN!!

A Recipe For You

I've acquired several new recipes since entering Blogland, so I thought I'd share one of my family's favorite summer recipes. It uses lots of fresh veggies and is just superb (in our humble opinions). I got this recipe from my mom, and I can't make it often enough.

Seashell Salad

2 cups sea shell (small) macaroni (uncooked)
1 bag frozen peas (thawed)
2 cups chopped cucumber
2 cups chopped tomato
2 cups chopped celery
1 purple onion (medium) sliced and separated (optional)
2 to 3 cans tuna

Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Cook seashells 10 minutes, rinse with cool water, drain. Mix all sauce ingredients together in small bowl. Combine cooled seashells, vegetables, and sauce in large bowl.

Of course, you can adjust this to your own taste. We really like it juicy, so many times I double the sauce mixture...but that adds calories, so use your own judgement. The purple onion adds color and taste to the salad, but delete if you don't like that raw onion taste. I like things peppery, so I put in more pepper. This makes a bunch, but I usually double it for a HUGE batch. It lasts my family about 2 days when I do (but they eat it for lunch, supper, and sometimes even breakfast). It's great for a potluck or gathering. I hope you enjoy it!

Show and Tell Friday

Kelli is hosting Show and Tell Friday once again. If you'd like to participate or see the other show and tells, then visit her site to see all of the particulars.

I'm sliding in with my show and tell a little late, but it's still Friday in my time zone. I wanted to show the first thing I ever collected. I've never been big into collectibles or nick-nacks, but when I saw these in a local jewelry store, I fell in love. Over the next year, I collected as many as I could before the jewelry store no longer had them. I don't know who the artist is, but each piece is initialed, dated, and numbered. I just thought they were precious. So, here are my angels.

Happy Hearts!!

Beth (14), Matt (7) and Ben (12). I know I've posted this picture before, but it's one of my favorites of all my kids and especially shows a great picture of my "special" boys!! (Click on it for a better view.)

I am behind in my posts, once again, but I did want to give a quick post before I go to bed. Both of my boys had their yearly cardiology check-up today. Matt (who has the major heart condition) is doing just fine. He is on a 24-hour monitor to check his heart function since he's been telling me that his heart has been "beeping" fast occasionally. After he finishes up the 24 hour monitor, he'll be on an "event" monitor for several weeks. (When he feels his heart beating fast, he presses the button on the recorder so it records the episode.) Although I am slightly concerned, his heart function and everything looked just fine, so I feel good about that.

Ben's heart (who has a more minor condition that has not needed any intervention at this point) looked fine with everything being the same as last year. I was feeling a bit worried about him, but all seems to be well. I was afraid of the "surgery" word. He doesn't even understand that he has a heart condition. We just can't tell him because his autism would cause excessive worrying. I am so relieved I don't have to tell him anything at this point.

So, basically, all is well. God is good.

Here is a picture of Matt with his 24 hour monitor from last year. He doesn't like it, but he deals with it like a trooper! He's been counting the hours until we can "unpeel" him. =o)

Weird Pet Behaviors

Beth and I made a discovery this weekend. My cat, Pipsy, kept digging in the bottom of my pantry, and we couldn't figure out why. She also kept chasing something around on the kitchen floor. Eventually we saw her drag a baby sized marshmallow out of the bag she had put a hole in, and carry the marshmallow in her mouth. She then put it down on the floor and batted in about. It then "disappeared". We're pretty sure she ate it. She did this all weekend. If I closed my pantry doors, she'd try to get it open or just waited for one of us to get it open, and off she was again. Now, I never SAW her eat the marshmallow, and Josh says the dog probably got to it and ate it, but I haven't seen him be all that interested in marshmallows before. My theory is she played with it and ate it. I'll be looking to prove my theory. She was so determined to get those marshmallows...it HAD to be more than a toy.

(5 min. later) Ok, my theory was wrong. She didn't eat them. My hubby came to inform me that after sweeping in the kitchen, he discovered "a million" marshmallows under the stove and refrigerator. BUT, she still dug them out of the bag and played with them...and boy, was she determined.

I love pet stories. I'd love to hear about some of your funny/weird pet moments!