Nothing profound

Hello everyone!
I find I have little motivation to write on the blog now that I can't post pictures of the kids! That was 50% of the reason to blog, so I really ought to get moving on trying to find a network with password protection. Things have been a little busy, though! :)

We had an open house on Saturday, to which no one showed up. That's a nice waste of a very clean house. Oh, well. I did enjoy my Sunday afternoon nap in my sparkling house! Roscoe had a beauty treatment at Petsmart so even he was clean. He tried to take advantage of it by jumping up on my bed. Ha! It only worked for about ten minutes or so. :) We had a "preview" this evening where an agent came by to see if the house would suit his clients before they actually took the time to come out. Since I haven't heard anything from my realtor, I'm assuming the agent decided against it. That's all the activity thus far, so we'll probably reduce the price at the end of this month.

It's pool season again, so we've been three times so far. The first time I refused to get in all the way, because I prefer the air temperature to match the water temperature. It's a good thing it's Florida, and that often happens! We went today, and Abigail is now out of her inner tube and in a floatation vest. She still swallows way more water than I would like her to, but she's improving. Cora is gaining confidence re-learning skills from last year, and after all the trouble to actually get Shiloh to take off her vest, you would think now that she was born in the water. (No, I'm not that weird and all natural, although I know someone who is! :) ). Her latest feat is to tread water. She looks a little funny while she's doing it, but it's effective. Jackson's just a happy boy in his baby inner-tube, and his favorite thing is to try to lean wwwaaaaayyyy over and put his face in the water. Yeah, that's a good idea. Twice he ended up snorting water, but he kept trying anyway because his sisters kept laughing. The need to impress women starts very early.

I went to the housing office today on base to sign some paperwork in order to go to a briefing to receive a pack-out date for moving. Because, of course, they can't give you the pack-out date on the FIRST visit; that would be too easy and non-bureaucratic. Thankfully and mercifully, we were out of there in thirty minutes flat, and the briefing was scheduled for the 18th, which means Daniel gets to go instead of me with the four children. I told a friend of mine that I was going to let the children run wild in the office (and my mom suggested letting them look grubby and sticky, too) so that the people working there would shout, "just give that lady a pack-out date - just make her go away!" But I didn't have to put my evil plan into action. Too bad. Abigail could have had some fun.

And so life goes on, and we're in The Waiting Place right now (ever read Oh, the Places You'll Go!) where it seems like we're waiting on the Lord for pretty much everything...for our house to sell, for Daniel to return home (VERY SOON!!!!), for a place to live in North Carolina, for a pack-out date, for moving, for settling in, and for bringing our children home from Haiti. This too shall pass, however, and I'll be so thankful when it does.

I'm Still Here

Yep, I'm still here, but not much is going on. We've had our house on the market almost two weeks, and we've had one showing. We were supposed to have two on Tuesday, but they both canceled. AFTER I cleaned the whole house and mowed the yard, of course. :) So the market has just about come to a standstill. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Honestly, I think I should be more worried than I am, but...I'm just not. The Lord will bring a buyer in His timing, and in the meantime, I like relaxing more than I thought I would be while selling a house. :) I would be relaxing even more if my DVD player worked and I could watch "Wives and Daughters" for the sixth time. Thanks, Tullys, for getting me hooked. :)

We're finishing up our school year, which is a wonderful feeling. Cora has finished her core curriculum, but we're continuing with reading and math. I think I might go ahead and start her math for next year since it's already arrived. I love the smell of new curriculum! :) Shiloh has to finish up her phonics program. I figure she probably doesn't need it, but it never hurts to reinforce the foundation. She will have her portfolio evaluation on May 1st or 2nd to determine if she's passed the 1st grade. We're doing some math review, and I'm so relieved to see how far she's come in a year. Abigail is eager to start school, but I don't know if it's better to wait and start her with Adah when Adah arrives home, or to go ahead and get her going. I'm still thinking on that.

Jackson, my child prodigy, is singing the ABCs and counting to 20. Ha! Fooled you. Are you kidding? This is the child who didn't walk until he was 15 months old. He's barely speaking 15 words, much less counting to 20. :) But he's a very smiley boy, and that makes up for his lack of motivation. :) He's also pretty cute when he roars like a lion.

Well, back to the nice, quiet life. I think I'll make myself some vanilla almond tea and read my "Southern Lady" magazine. I need to take advantage of the calm before the storm!

A benign photo

I thought this one would be okay to post, and it didn't hurt that I thought it was too adorable not to share.

Just a boy and his dog surveying their territory (which is not much to look at in Florida, but just wait until they get to our land in Tennessee!)

Love to all!

An English lesson and a Medical lesson

These two lessons come from my most linguistically interesting child, Cora. She is the one who will ask me, "Mommy, how have you been doing thus far this morning?" Thus far? Mom and I suspect she's a 50 year-old British lady stuck in a 5 year-old body. Anyway, I've been trying to break her of the habit of saying, "I amn't doing that" instead of saying "I'm not doing that." And then I started to think, "Well, why don't we say amn't if we say 'don't'?" Who the heck thought up the English language???

Secondly, Cora was Dr. Houseworth this afternoon in our household, and apparently Shiloh needed an operation. So, putting her stethoscope around her neck, she proceeded to tell Shiloh, "Lie down on the couch. You need a caesar section." Okay, so that's PARTLY correct (and still Latin), but she left out one of the more crucial parts. It's a surgical procedure, not a salad. So I don't think I'll be trusting her with anything more than a band-aid, or, as she calls it - because she's a 50 year-old British woman in a 5 year-old body - a "plaster."