A Free Day

Yesterday was the boys first day at their homeschool co-op classes. The three older boys go for "extra" classes like art, drama and science experiments (which, for the record, I am NOT going to do with them. I will pay someone else to dissect things with the kids to further their education (???) but I am not capable of doing that at home). They go once a week on Mondays.

I was a nervous wreck.

I am not a "drop my kids off and drive away singing" type of mom. How many years has it been since I only had one kid to care for....ALL day long? What do moms of one kid DO all day?????? I can conjure up images in my mind of when I had only one child....nope. Can't. It was to long ago.

But yesterday I had a glimpse into that past life. I only had Presley from 8:30 a.m. till 3:15 p.m....and he had the nerve to NAP for 3 1/2 hours of that time! Gee, there is only so much I can do for a day by myself. Until nap time he did follow me around wining and hanging on my leg till I would pick him up....poor kid was bored out of his mind with no siblings here. Gee....where are my 3 babysitters?! (totally kidding....)

After the house was sparkling clean from top to bottom I basically sat. I called friends to stay busy. I turned on the stereo to interfere with the images in my head of my poor, defenseless kids (well, not Kell) in this huge church all alone...being bullied...being indoctrinated by government officials (okay, I am going to far...but unfortunately I have a vivid imagination).

Needless to say, I was glad when the time came to pick them up.

And they had a good time. Tarin hated it, Kell enjoyed it and Ethan loved it. So far, so normal.

Next week??? I fear the only thing that will ease my troubled mind and release the grip of bordom that was upon me is.......................................Shopping :)

Tarin...again

Wheelies.

He is trying to "pop a wheelie". He just learned to ride a bike and now he is attempting to "throw a trick".
Nice.

Tarin on His Bike

Below are some pictures of Tarin on his newly training-wheel free bike. He is SO excited!!!





Tarin riding his bike with the pack of kids....he does very well, and is even racing. Oh yippie.

My Tarin

Josiah on the phone with me while I was in Ohio:


Tiff: "Hey Babe, what's going on?"


Josiah: "Not much. Just working. The kids are playing outside."


Tiff: "Oh what fun." (sarcasm) "So we are planning to...."


Josiah: "Oh my word!" (actually, I say oh my word, but he said something to that effect to convey amazement) "Tarin is riding a bike!"



Tiff: "What? He can't ride a bike, honey. It must be Kell."



Josiah: "Tiff, I am standing here looking out the window and Tarin is riding up and down the street on a neighbors bike with no training wheels!"



Tiff: "Is he wearing a helmet?!!!!"




Josiah: "Tiff, I had no idea he could ride a bike! He taught himself! Wow!"




Tiff: "Go put a helmet on him!!!"




Josiah: "Wow, that is amazing."




Tiff: "HELMET!!!!!"



So we now apparently have another kid riding with no training wheels. It took us (and my dad) MONTHS to teach Ethan to ride a bike (several years ago) and we have been trying to teach Kell since Christmas (he just -a week ago- got enough nerve to do it) and here is my Tarin-Bo-Barin, teaching himself with little effort. Can you say "gonna support us in our old age by playing a professional sport?!" Yeah Baby.

pictures

I have been getting some negative chatter about the current lack of pictures on this blog of my offspring. Sorry!!!!! Usually I am a picture freak, but it seems that the past few months have gotten away from me and I have taken far less pictures than normal. Below are a few random shots from yesterday and today....and Josiah and I at the Shakespeare Festival in Boulder!!! It was awesome. I am much more cultured than I thought I was.






The outdoor Shakespeare Festival....called Shakespeare Under the Stars. It was fantastic! Very romantic and very entertaining. We saw, "The Tempest"...which can be pretty heavy, but it was done very well with quite a bit of humor. We cannot wait to go again next summer.











Yesterday the kids and I went swimming with Dawn, Maiza and Bella. Here the kids are going from the outdoor pool to the indoor pool and waterslides....and being silly.






My angelic little Presley. Actually, he is not being quite as angelic lately.........he can be an ornery little cuss sometimes.







Maiza and Tarin :)










Ethan, Kellen and Tarin today playing "Uncle Barnabey" in our living room. (no idea what Uncle Barnabey is...they make up all sorts of games).

A productive journey....

My trip to Ohio was just Flammtastic :)

I arrived on Saturday evening. Melissa was several days "overdue" with her baby, and since no signs of labor were happening, we just hung out. Her mom was there from Florida...and had been there for 10 days! She was flying home on Monday a.m. so we were praying that this baby would arrive before then. Well, after lots of walking and massing of pressure points....nothing. Nada. Zippo. No bebe.
Monday morning arrived, and Lynda (Melissa's mom) departed in sad spirits. She had to be at work on Tuesday a.m. and she had already extended her trip. We were all bummed.
That evening, Melissa and Kambra (a dear neighbor and friend of Melissa's) went to the Cheesecake Factory for desert. Nothing like sugar to heal a wounded heart! It worked like a charm :) Tuesday morning (the day I was flying home!) I awoke to Melissa telling me that it was time. TIME! We flew into action. Jim (her dear hubby) set up the birthing pool and got things ready. Melissa was contracting regularly, but not in any discomfort....yet. We put everyone on alert for "the call" that it was time to come over. Lynda, Melissa's mom, was devastated. Finally she decided to tell her boss that babies and family are more important....and she jumped a flight back to Ohio!!! She had been home less than 24 hours. I do not blame her in the least.
So....labor intensified a bit by the early afternoon. At around 1:30 p.m. we called the midwives to tell them to mosey on over. The contractions were spaced out a bit, but the actual contraction had gotten much longer (over 1 minute in duration) and Melissa was saying they were strong.
The midwives arrived at around 2 p.m.
A bout 2-3 contractions later, we were in business. Melissa was no longer talking to us and being jovial (she had been in great spirits the whole day). Instead she was leaning on Jim and trying hard to relax through the contraction.
3 contractions later, while standing in the kitchen (she had been walking around) she said she felt like pushing.
WHAT?!
Okay! Let's have a baby!!!
We threw her in the birthpool and called in the kids. (Deacon, 5, had been at a neighbors playing and Maddie, 2, had been napping).
17 minutes later, we watched as Melissa expertly gave birth to her 3rd baby!!! Deacon and Maddie were right there in the thick of it, watching the birth. Deacon had a big job...to announce the sex of the baby!!! He was very excited to say, "It's a girl!!!!"
52 minutes after the midwives arrived.
20 minutes before her moms plane landed in Ohio.
1 hour and 15 minutes before I had to be at the airport for my flight.

Praise the Lord, He is so gracious. The birth went so well....the baby was extremely healthy (10-10 APGAR) and Melissa needed no repairs of any kind. The baby, Sophia, was born inside her bag of water! The waters never broke and so she was born still inside. This is a fairly rare occurrence and they baby is considered to be very good luck (and even psychic to some) when this happens. It also eases the birth for the mom....so all around, a good thing. :)

Below are some of the birth pictures. Not to worry....I left the graphic ones out.









Melissa and I (and the baby!) two days before the birth.














Her kids, Deacon and Maddie.










In labor, resting on her bed.













In the birthing tub. One of the midwives was helping until Jim got in the pool.




















I was the vidoeographer and kid-helper. Deac was SO EXCITED but Maddie was just wondering why we awoke her from her slumber. :)

Melissa announced that she felt the baby and was about to give birth. Deacon turned to Maddie and said, "Maddie! Guess what?!....."
(at this point everyone in the room was going, "Aaaawwww" cause he was going to tell his sister what was about to happen....)

Deac "Tomorrow I have baseball!!!"

Even Melissa laughed at that one.







She is here! Welcome little Sophia!










We love you....











The happy family. Well, except Maddie. She looks a tad irritated.









Daddy and his new little girl.

Did I mention she weighed 9.4 pounds?! :)

Bye!!!

I'm off to Ohio
I'm off to Ohio
Hi-Ho the dairy-O
I'm off to Ohio!!!!

My cousin Melissa is due to birth her #3 baby any second, so I am off for the weekend to see what I can do to help. Pray that a terrorist does not blow up my plane! :) And if I die, someone PLEASE come cook for my hubby/kids. They will starve...or attempt to live on Take 'N Bake pizza. Yuck.

Announcing.....

Dummm-Da-Da-Duuummmmmm

*drum roll please*



.....out of 300+ triathlon racers.....

Josiah came in at an over all place of 81st

and

Jon came in at an overall place of 84th

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In their age group (20-29) they were:

Josiah 14th
Jon 15th

How awesome is that? Neither of them have ever done a triathlon before and they did FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woo-Hoo!!

I, for one, am severely impressed.



Too bad next year they will be mortifyingly crushed by their wives :)

Noelle and I are gonna kick some rear....Yeah Baby.

"weee are the champions, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. no time for looooossssers cause we are the champions.....overourhusbandsinthetriathlon."

...i can't breathe....

the testosterone in this house is smothering me.......

living with triathletes.

4 sons and 1 friend (another boy).

that "ricky bobby" movie.

weird grunting and loud burping.

5 days with a house full of 8 guys.

help.

someone FEMALE please come visit me so we can go SHOPPING and get a PEDICURE and talk about our CYCLES...and i do not mean a bicycle.

My Athlete :)

Josiah raced in his first Triathlon today!!! His friends Jon and Nate raced as well, but they were all in different heats. Over 300 people did this race here in Highlands Ranch...and hopefully soon we will see what Josiah's place was. They do know the first 10 placers....congrats to Nate for 2nd!!! Jon and Josiah are just glad they finished their first Triathlon...and they are hoping they did not get place #299 and #298 :)

Worth It...????

Making $142.12 doing a garage sale.

Just enough money to pay for the door the kids put a whole through while we were having the garage sale.

Wanna Join The Club???

Interested in joining the club..."Had a garage sale with 13 kids at your home alll day long unsupervised"....??????????????
Well, I joined.
Yeah.
Oh. My. Word.

Reason #374 I do Not Let my Kid "Cry It Out"

Presley is 2 1/2 years old. He sleeps just fine almost every night, with no issues.
Last night we went to a birthday party and the kids all got worn out...they were exhausted. I put them all down to bed and proceeded to do laundry. Presley and Ethan kept playing instead of sleeping, so I put Pres in our bed to sleep. Typically if he is in our bed he goes right to sleep, no problem. But last night he was crying and crying and he kept saying," dinosaur bite me!!!!" and pointing to nothing. I tried and tried to reassure him that there were no dinos in the house, but he was terrified. Now, a typical CIO person might have suggested that he just did not want to go to sleep so he was stalling by creating a diversion....and I should just walk out of the room and let him cry. Uuummm, thanks but no thanks. I do not let my kids cry it out. Parenting does not end at night....there are no "parenting hours". Some say that if the kid crosses that time then they need to just learn to get over it on their own. Not me.
So I went in there...again...and decided to lay down with him to help calm him down and help him get to sleep....the laundry could wait, this is my baby. I laid on the bed with him and starting singing his favorite song...and he kept crying. That is not normal. He was really scared. I held him in my arms and he was STILL terrified! What was the deal? As I was trying to calm him down I glanced at the ceiling....and there, in the middle of my ceiling, was a HUGE shadow that looked, no kidding, just like a dinosaur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the reflection of what Josiah was watching downstairs on TV. Little Presley had been staring at this "dino" and was scared he was about to be dinner!
So what if I had let him cry? What if I thought he was "disobeying" by not going to sleep and I ignored his cries for me? Poor kid would be warped. He would not trust that his mommy would be there for him and comfort him when he was scared. Doesn't our Heavenly Father come to us at any time/hour when we are hurting, scared or just lonely? Does He not comfort us...even if we just want His presence? I take that as an example and do the same with my little ones...and teach them that when I am not there, their Savior is there and He will be their comfort.

A Day That Will Go Down in History.....

Welcome to the world of Josiah and Tiffany....10 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today is our 10th wedding anniversary, and in honor of such a magnificent day in history, let us take a walk down memory lane....



May 1996. The top picture was us when we graduated from High School. We got to "walk" at church with the other seniors even though we were homeschooled...which kinda was dumb to me.....I had graduated a few months before (took the GED) and felt far above all the other idiot seniors. I know...how awful. I am still ashamed.

The next picture was us at our Prom. We created our own Prom since, again, we were SO not interested in the "real schools" Prom. Don't we look adorable?! :)
I was 17 and Josiah was 18....and this was 3 months before we got married.













On to wedding showers.....we had about 17. They were WAY fun and we got so many wonderful gifts! Gee, don't we look like kids? Ummm, that is because we were!!! Ha!









Our wedding!!! Now, you might be wondering about the poor photo quality of these wedding pictures. Well, here's the scoop:
We had a sweet friend take the pictures and he took several hundred. In all the commotion after the wedding (while we were on our honeymoon) the pictures and negatives got THROWN AWAY. Yep. All of them. The only surviving pictures we have are ones we had photocopied....hence the poor quality. Josiah and I had concluded that one day when we have more expendable cash (and assuming by then we are still in our right mind and able to walk without a cane) we will get married again...have a BIG party...and get our pictures taken by a professional who we can sue if the negatives get lost. :)
Kinda hard to sue your own flesh and blood.










Our wedding....with my parents and his parents.

















Our honeymoon. Humm......why do we not have more pictures from our honeymoon? Well....................................here's that story:
We went to a cabin on lake blue Ridge for our honeymoon. It was SO beautiful! However, 2 days into the honeymoon our car broke down. Yeah. Like, we had to stop every other mile and fill the something-or-other with water so the engine would not explode. So we ended up cutting our honeymoon short so we could drive home and let my Daddy fix the car. It was quite expensive. So the other pictures from that glorious week are mostly of Josiah working on the car...and the car smoking....
Now I am beggining to see why everyone made bets on how long we would actually stay married...our luck was not so hot at first!!!



















Aaaahhh....our very first house! A week after the wedding we moved to Travelers Rest, South Carolina (near Greenville). This is a 200 year old farm house on 40 acres that had been restored sometime in the 40's-50's. Despite the bitter cold and flaming heat, it was an adorable house that we really enjoyed. My friend Aran (in this picture) and her mom drove up there with my mom while we were on our honeymoon and fixed up everything for us! They put up all the gifts and got all the furniture ready (both pieces) so when we got there everything was ready. What sweeties!!!!! :)

Birthday

In honor and in joyful celebration of the month of my birth, I will be receiving gifts from August 1st through the 31st.

Just FYI to aid you in your gift giving...I like very shiny things...such as jewelry and cars (Cadillac Escalade or GMC Yukon), vacations in the Caribbean, loooong massages at a Spa, and anything purchased from J Crew, the Gap, Banana Republic, REI (for the outdoors woman in me), or Nordstrom's.
The gift amount will solely depend on you, however, anything less than $50 should be considered "sweet" and should be accompanied by a larger more expensive gift.

Please keep in mind that August is also our 10th anniversary month, and in observance, we will also be receiving gifts throughout the month. Feel free to combine the birthday and anniversary gifts into one package (for cheaper shipping), HOWEVER, please note what gift is for Tiffany and what gift is for Tiffany AND Josiah.

I (we) thank you in advance for your generosity.

Jennifer Ewing

Two days ago I got a call from a friend...one of "those" calls that kinda changes your perspective on life in general.
A mutual friend of ours, Jimmy, has been searching for his mom (and a large search party of friends and family and his dad, brother and sister). She vanished on Tuesday afternoon while bike riding in a "safe" area. They had been searching for her all through the night, to no avail. They had found her van parked right where it should be...but no mom (her name is Jenny).
On Wednesday morning her body was found. Battered. Raped. Beat to death.
This mom was a homeschooling mom of 3 grown kids. She loved the Lord with all her heart and all that she did was to serve Him. She was an avid bicyclist...riding 50 miles 4 times a week on this same trail. She was in excellent shape, especially for a 54 year old mom. She had fought back....and fought very hard. Before she died she left some obvious wounds and trauma on her attacker.

Her attacker? A 40-something year old man from Dallas, Georgia. He has been a felon since 1980 when he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping. Since then there has been a string of criminal activity by this man until in 1991 he was convicted of assault and rape. He then spend 10 years in prison (10 years! That's all???????) and got out in 2001. He is on 10 years probation at the moment. He is the prime suspect in the brutal killing of Jennifer Ewing.

What is this man doing on the streets???????????????????????????????????? What is wrong with the judge (a woman) that only gave him 10 years in prison after a lifetime of criminal activity and rape?

Let me say this loud and clear.....rapists, molesters, etc CANNOT BE REFORMED BACK TO CIVIL LIFE. Even if they could possibly be reformed...why take the chance? Why let them aout and see who can be good and who cannot? How many girls, ladies, boys, men have been murdered at the hands of a "reformed" predator? When is the madness going to end??

For now, my friend from long ago (high school days) and his dad, brother and sister are living a horrible nightmare. Please pray for their family...that the Lord will bring peace through the horrible storm...and they can rejoice that their wife/mom is sitting at the Savior's feet, praising Him name.

Thursday

Yesterday the kids and I met some friends at the Denver History Museum! My sweet friend Karen and her 4 GIRLS and my 4 BOYS all had a blast! :)




Karis, Kailyn, Ethan, Kellen, Karena and Tarin.....



"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

W H A T ??????????????????????????????

I had to re-read my computer screen...Andrea Yates was just found NOT GUILTY by a Houston jury. You all know Andrea, right? The lady that drowned her 5 children in a bathtub? Who chased them around the house to catch them...who scratched up their bodies as she was holding them down and they fought back? Yeah. Her. Not guilty. By reason of insanity. I will tell you who is insane...the jury. The lawyer that got her off. The "doctor" that testified as to her mental illness. I am very upset. What is going on in the world? She killed her kids! I do not care who was inside of her telling her to do it (she says it was Satan). She is responsible for her actions. I guess all these years I am trying to teach my kids about personal responsibility no matter what others do is a waste of time...I should be teaching them how to act crazy so if they get caught breaking the law nothing will happen to them.

Oh....flashback to the O.J. trial. I do not know why I am so shocked.

Zojirushi Bread Maker for Sale

As you may have heard, my mom and dad are moving out here soon...and they are selling their beautiful house as well as some odds and ends. One thing that ANY mom needs is a way to make fresh home made bread with whole grain flour. This Zojirushi Bread maker is perfect for making whole grain bread!!! It can accommodate whole wheat flour unlike most bread makers. It makes one large loaf at a time and is very simple to use. See this link for more information:
http://www.breadbeckers.com/zojirushi.htm

Brand new they cost $199 plus shipping...but my mom is selling hers for $125 plus shipping! Call Ann White at 678-481-3434 for more information.

Sunday....

Sunday was a nice day....and unfortunately, I have ZERO pictures to share! I know...I am a bum...that is the whole point of a blog. However, in my defense, I did not know I was going to such a great place.

The day started with me keeping nursery at church and Josiah staying home with the boys. I came home to a clean house! :) We then went over for a nice lunch at Noy and Dawn's house (my sweet cousins). After pizza and strawberry shortcakes we came home. Josiah went to do some training for his triathlon in August and I put Pres down for a nap. I then got a call from my friend Karen...she wants me to accompany her out somewhere...a surprise!!! I LOVE surprises, so as soon as Josiah got home I left for her house. She took me to a hiking trail I have never seen and we hiked up several miles to this GORGEOUS spot overlooking the city and all the mountains! The sun was setting...it was glorious. I was totally bummed I did not have a camera...but rest assured...I will go there again!!! On the hike down we encountered some mountain bikers we had passed earlier. This time they stopped to chat...which was fine, until we realized they were TOTALLY hitting on us (well, duh, who can blame them...). They were from England so they had that fabulous accent. :) Karen quickly mentioned our 8 KIDS waiting for us at home (my 4 boys and her 4 girls). Suddenly the guys had to be somewhere...fast. It was hysterical!!! A nice and badly needed ego boost for us both.
We then went to Wild Oats, got some dinner and headed back to her house for a movie. She has a home theater (and I mean a REAL theater) in her basement. So we relaxed on the massive leather chairs and watched "The Greatest Game Ever Played"....which happened to be a cute movie!
All in all.....I had a blast. It was a great time to relax, hang out with a friend, and glory in God's beautiful creation.
Pictures....next time :)