Something Was Lost in the Translation

Steve was away for the week.  I was tired of eating chicken patties, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot dogs, and cereal.  It was time for a home-cooked meal.  Around our house, spaghetti with breadsticks counts as a homecooked meal under certain circumstances:  nothing else is in the house, mom is too tired to really cook, we are short on time.  Today was a day for all three!

As the kids and I sat eating and enjoying our meal, Bethlee begins her running commentary:  "Did you know that a long time ago, the Indians introduced us to spaghetti, and we've been eating it ever since!"  Trey, being the older, wiser history student that he is takes it upon himself to correct her. "We didn't get spaghetti from the Indians, Bethlee, we got it from the Italics!" And some people might wonder why I'm not too quick to point out that we are a home school family!

And finally, the tandem questions of the week submitted to me by Bethlee as we drive to church:  "Mom, how many eyelashes do we have on just one eye?" and, "Do we have the same amount of eyelashes on each eye?"  Well, what do you think I said? What would you say?  Would you want your 8-year-old to find out you don't know the answers to everything?

One day I'm going to tally the questions that are asked of me.  That might be an idea for a later blog!

Coming Soon: National Von Bokern's Thanksgiving Vacation

I'm sure there is/was something of importance and/or interest that I was going to type here.  However, those thoughts are long gone.  Just imagine 2 adults and seven kids trying to travel just a short 250 miles.  Yep, it was everything you can dream up and more.  One thing happened that we didn't even tell our family . . . we locked ourselves out of the suburban at McD's in Evansville. But, it added no time to our trip since we had to take everyone to the bathroom, order, go back in line to get what we forgot, take another bathroom break, load everyone in the car, and still mange to leave Bryce's shoes behind. By the time we accomplished this in just two short hours, the locksmith had come and gone!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I have much to be thankful for!

socks + carpeted stairs + silky PJ pants = death!

Just for the sake of your imagination, I'll give you just a few words and let your mind do the rest.  Trip, slip, slide, thump, thump, oooooohhhh, sound of nails as they dig into carpet (unsuccesfully),  thump, thump thump, bump, bump, bump (in rapid succession).  More groaning . . . Trey who was at the bottom of the stairs:  "Mom? . .  Mom?  Mom, are you alright?" Me:  "Don't talk to me Trey, I think I might cry!"  Which hurt worse, my pride or my backside?  Do the colors black and blue when used together mean anything to you?  And for those of you who know me, I did laugh because it is just too funny when someone falls down the stairs!

I'm Not Sure I Wanna Know

When I woke up this morning, there it was. Just inches from my mouth.  One cricket leg.  Yes, just one lonely leg.  What happened to the rest of Jiminy?  Well, I'm not sure I wanna know.  But my kids did tell me at the dinner table tonight that the average person eats 8 spiders in his sleep during his lifetime.  A cricket is much bigger than a spider.  Maybe I've reached my quota of insect ingestion for my lifetime?  I'm not sure I wanna know . . .

I'm Not Crying Over Spilled Milk!

Remember in that first blog that I told you that you would laugh, cry, and be glad you don't live here?  Take your pick of one or more of the above.  I had just gone grocery shopping and asked Bethlee if she would please carry down the gallon of milk and put it in the refridgerator in the basement.  (OK, I know you know the rest of the story, but humor me and please continue reading.)  At the bottom of the stairs, yes, she dropped the gallon of milk whereupon contact of the plastic milk jug to the laminate flooring caused the jug to split open thus spilling milk on the floor.   I don't know if you have ever spilled a gallon of anything, but a gallon of milk on a laminate floor will spread waaaayyy out.  (Sidenote:  whenever there is any emergency in our family, we all start yelling, "Red Alert, Red Alert!")  I was in the kitchen when I heard the emergency signal sounding from Steve and several children.  Thump, thump, thump!  Up the stairs they came yelling for towels as quickly as I could.  So, I did what any sound thinking homemaker would do, I grabbed the load of clean towels out of the dryer so they could mop up the mess.  (And when I wash towels, I don't wash one or two, I wash ten or twelve.)  The mess was promptly cleaned up and I put the towels back into the washer and started the load again.  So, I'm not crying over spilled milk, I'm crying over never-ending laundry, I'm laughing because it IS funny, and I live here because my mother won't let me come live with her!

Makes Scents (Sense) to Me!

Recently one morning I had gotten out of the shower after having used Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Body Wash and Lotion.  I was sitting on my bed giving Eden her bottle.  As the kids awake it is their custom to join me in my bed.  Bethlee (7) came down, snuggled in the bed and said, "Someone in this room smells like a candle!"  Nothing comforts me on a dark, gloomy day like a glowing, scented candle.  "Thank you very much; I'll take that as my compliment for the day!"  I hope as a mother, I can comfort my kids in their dark and gloomy days. And I hope I can shine in my home and in the world as a light of Jesus' love.  2 Corinthians 2:15 "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish."

Relatively Related?

I think from time-to-time I will post pictures and thoughts about relatives so the many people who follow this blog can get to know me.  The first relative I'd like to blog about is my sister-in-law's husband, Nathan. I have to begin first by saying that Nathan is NOT my brother-in-law.  He could only be my brother-in-law if I had a sister, and I do not, or if Steve had a brother which he does not.  I could refer to him as my father-in-law's son-in-law or my sister-in-law's sister's husband, but that might get too confusing.  I could simply say he is my kids' uncle, but that does not display the close relationship I share with this distant relative of mine.  We technically are not relatives, we are just thrown together in this mix by marrying two siblings.  (Which means when all the sibling start arguing about who had it worst growing up, we just look at each other across the room and roll our eyes!)  So that is what he  is not.  However, Nathan IS several things:  he's a Godly Christian, he's a great husband to my sister-in-law, he's a hard worker, he's calm, cool, and collected most of the time, he's willing to let Laura keep my 7 kids, and he's what every woman would want in a man who's married to her sister-in-law--He's a handyman!  He knows how to do just about anything around the house.  So in his "spare" time, he's been a really big help to us!  Thanks, Nathan, for all the work you've done around my house!  Of all the prospects Laura could have chosen, I'm glad she chose you!  I'm glad we are in the same family!