Note to self: If I ever take a short sabbatical to lesson at a lesson plan at a coffee shop, do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink caffiene. I am sitting here with hours ahead of me. Asher has the children and all should be peaceful but I feel so anxious that I cannot concentrate on my work. AGGHH! I just realized that I have drunk too coffees and that is why I feel like climbing the walls. Caffiene is great for me when I have physical work to do, but not so great for mental work.



This morning Asher agreed to let me have some time alone with the laptop to do neccessary lesson planning, so I took it and went to Starbucks. I knew that they had Wi-Fi. The first Starbucks was too small, so I proceeded to the next one on down the road. It looked like it had a nice setup so I proceede to buy a latte and muffin because even though I was not hungry I was grateful for the warm place to work. I got all set up when I realized that is cost $9.99 for 24 hours of internet access which I could use for up to 120 days. That is cheese! I already spent 6 something on food and now I have to pay ten dollars more.



So I packed up my stuff and left. I called my friend Ricky from co-op because she volunteers to work at a coffee shop in Valley Brook. It is really more of a ministry than anything else. She told me that they did have free Wi-Fi, so I headed on over there.

I felt like I need to be polite, so I bought another coffee. Big Mistake!

This is a really cool coffee shop though. I highly recommend it. They have games for people to play if they just want to hang out. Comfy, worn furniture and a very modern, cozy look. The people that work her are all doing it for free so they definitely want to be here and they are very nice.

Gotta get back to work!

Here Caylee with her group of friends at Co-op. The only one missing is Natalie.

Last time we were at Classical I happened to walk in as Bethany was doing her art project so I snapped a few pictures. She is making an angel for her placemat that she will use every week at lunchtime for that month. I think it is a neat idea. They do lots of neat things with the kids. I am glad that Macy and Bethany are in Mother's Day Out and where they are doing crafts, learning colors and numbers and such.

I just recently emptied my camera so I have a bunch of random pictures to share.


Here is Caylee and Natalie at dance. They love their dance teacher, Miss Sarah. She is such a sweet and bubbly young lady.


Caylee had some technical issues with her shoes. We found out that day that she is now too big for those shoes. So after class we went and got her some new ones.

We have a pecan tree in our backyard! Okay, technically the trunk is in the neighbor's yard, but the branches overhang into our yard. So according to zoning laws that makes them belong to us.

We have had these seed pods that the girls have been collecting during their playtime all summer and fall. They informed me that they were alligator eggs for a while, but when they found a stray kitten in the back yard suddenly the seeds became kitten eggs. (Yes, they do know where kittens come from.)

So I have had annoying brown seed pods hanging around the house because as much I clean them up and take them outside, inevitably one of the little ones will bring a new batch back in. Well, tonight I was looking at them and thought they looked an awful lot like pecan shells, so I decided to crack one open. The girls and I were delighted to find a delectable treat. Actually, they weren't that good. The one that I tried was bitter, but I am sure they will taste delicious mixed in other foods. Don't worry Michelle, I am not going to try to slay you with my cooking.

Does anyone know how to store them so they will not spoil? Some of the ones that the girls have saved look a little funky.

We are now 6 days into this power outage and STILL no power. The temperature at our house has been about an average whopping 30 degrees. So obviously we cannot stay there with our babies. I am so grateful to have someplace to stay. I have discovered just how nice it is to be warm.



Our power went out at 10:00 Sunday night. Asher and I were attempting to watch a movie when all of a sudden the house went dark. Our power goes off every summer and winter. It goes off anywhere from a couple of minutes to a few hours. We have never gotten to the point where we felt like we had to leave the house. We have contemplated it a few times, but it seems like when we have just decided that the temperature is getting too much for our kiddos to handle it comes back on. One summer the power went off about 11:30 p.m. and a bunch of our neighbors all came out to see if there was anything to see. So we just stood there and chatted in the humid night air. We agreed that we need to find other reasons to all together than a power outage.

So when the power went off Sunday night I was not too particularly worried. I figured that we would wait a couple of hours and if it did not come on we would leave. After waiting awhile Asher and I decided to go to bed. I was awoken sometime about 4 or 5 o'clock. I am not sure because the digitals were not working and it was too dark to see the analog. It was becoming quite chilly in our house. I knew if I awoke the children at that point they probably would have not gone back to sleep so I made sure all of them were well covered. In the morning I called my mom to let her know that we were all coming over for a short visit, but she informed me that she did not have power either and she was wondering where she was going to go. So, I called Tegan. Tegan had previously offered to let us stay with her if we needed, which I thought would be fun, but much too crowded. So we all got our stuff together, enough for a least a couple of days, which I thought would be more than enough. Then we trooped on over to Tegan's house. We were joined by Joe and Michelle who were staying at Thomas's apartment because not only did their power go out, but a tree had fallen and ripped out their power box and it took siding with it.

Tegan was really great to let us stay with her at her house. I know that it was hard for her because she has lots of breakables in her apartment. She has quite a few bookshelves with knickknacks all over them. Not only that but the apartment has only two bedrooms. Bethany kept getting into everything because she is just at the age where she likes to explore and find out how everything works. But that is why Tegan was so great. I knew she was having a hard time but she was so gracious and kept giving and giving. She hardly sat down. She was always right on top of it if she felt like we had a need. I think that Tegan will make an excellent nurse because she is so kind.

After the second day staying at Tegan's I started to have an allergic reaction to her two cats. I have never had any sort of reaction to cats but I have also never had that much exposure at one time to them. I slept on a mattress on the living room floor where the cats spend much of their time. (They spend time on the floor not the mattress.) Tegan had vacuumed before we went bed but it was too no avail.


That second day I was attempting to do school with my older girls, but it was proving to be difficult because I felt so overwhelmingly tired. I was ignoring it and pushing through when all of a sudden I noticed that I throat was closing up and it was getting difficult to breath. I took a decongestant/antihistamine hoping it would go away, but it did not. By that time my parent's power had come back on and so Asher and I made the decision to move our family.

I am actually glad that I had that reaction to Tegan's cats. I started getting a tightness in my chest when I was pregnant with Serenity. I talked to my doctor about it and she sent me to a cardiologist. I got to wear a heart monitor and I had an ultrasound. The heart monitor did not find anything, but the ultrasound found that I had a minor leakage. Apparently this is not uncommon for pregnant women and not really a big deal. Since I did not know what was going on with my heart I felt that maybe the occasional tightness I was feeling was caused by some issue my heart was having.

When I was at Tegan's I realized that the tightness is actually allergy-induced asthma. So that means if I keep exercising than it will go away. This is a big relief to me because I was a bit concerned about having a heart condition later on in my life. There are no heart problems in my family but heart failure is the leading cause of death for women in this country.

Yesterday I went to see Grandma Ann with my girls. I have been checking up on her to see if she has been alright. Yesterday she did not answer the door so I went to the neighbor's house to inform her that I could raise Grandma Ann. The neighbor told me that Grandma Ann's son had visited the previous day and had probably taken her home. ( This neighbor just lives a few houses away from me but nobody can remember their names because they usually keep to themselves.) While I was over there Kevin, another neighbor who has a 4 year old girl that my children like to play with, came over and told us about how he had started a fire in his house. He has a wood stove that he has been using to keep warm. Well, I guess that he was pouring a can of kerosene on the wood and there was a little tea light candle next to the stove and he accidentally got some kerosene on it. The fire somehow got to the floor and he was surrounded by flames. He was trying to beat the flames out the whole time he was frenzied thinking of his family. He knew that if the can of kerosene caught on fire it would be worse so he threw it in the back yard and caught the back yard on fire. He said that he found a carpet and was beating the flames out when he realized that he himself was on fire. He was able to find a blanket and put himself out. The way he was describing it, it sounded like something in a movie. It was awful. I think he is going to be alright though. He said that his burns are mostly second degree with some first degree. I feel so bad for him. I wonder if there is a way my family can help them. Kevin said that they are staying with his wife's aunt now and she has her power on.

Besides Kevin and Grandma Ann there are at least three other neighbors that are living on our part of the street that I know about that are staying in their house with no power. The people on our street are a hardy bunch.

I will have more later. I have quite a few pictures on my camera but I can't download them until I get my power back on my computer.

I LOVE CO-OP!

We had our orientation meeting last night and it there was such a sweet spirit. There is something so special about co-op ladies.

When I first walked in I was glad to be there because this is the third year that I have been part of the group. It was nice to not feel like the new person and be able to look around tenderly at the other ladies and love them because I know what terrific ladies they are. It was also great that my friend Valerie and my neighbor Kara were there.

Then as the meeting progressed I realized that my happiness was much more than just from being part of the group. The Spirit of God was in that room. One thing I love about co-op is that the ladies are not focused on the things of this world. They all just love Jesus and truly want His will for their lives. That is so rare and it just shines because it is like finding a diamond in the rough.

Valerie made a comment that this the the "prayenist" group of ladies that she has ever met. I have a feeling that may be the reason that God's Spirit was dwelling with us. Something was started at the retreat and that feeling has not left. I don't think I have ever seen a group of ladies pray like they did at the retreat. They didn't have to. We could have just gone and had a great time of fellowship. But one thing that was mentioned last night is that they feel it is important to be intentional in our relationship with Jesus. We need to be purposeful in making a place for His presence. I am not charismatic but I do agree that it is needed. If we don't, we end up just traveling through life doing our own little thing and not experiencing His awesome power or the fullness of His plan for our life. I am just so encouraged every time that I go there.

Stephanie T. and I had some neat fellowship together because we are going through a similar situation. It was great to be open and totally honest about concerns we were having. She is such a great encourager and it was heartening to know that my situation is not unique.

We all really did have a great time last night. I am so sorry Michelle that you were not able to make it to the meeting. Hopefully there will be another time that you can join us soon.

Good News! Bethany did not have the rotavirus! I think I was pulling a Michelle and being a bit over dramatic. ;)

When the nurse called back she did not seem to overly concerned and just told me to keep up with the fliuds and then put her on the BRAT diet. I think the fact that she did not have fever and had only had been sick for three days showed the nurse there was no cause for alarm. I am just not used to my kids getting sick this much. It seems like my kids are getting sick much more and they are staying sick longer than before. I was thinking about it and it might be because I breastfeed Caylee and Natalie longer than the other children. Caylee was breastfeed for 10 months and Natalie for 6 months. I have a very good immune system and I think I was able to pass that on to them through nursing. It was hard for me to nurse and got more difficult with each baby. The three little ones were not nursed much past three months. I noticed a big difference with Macy. Caylee rarely got sick and it seemed like Macy was always sick when she was a baby. I still think my kids all have pretty good immune systems but I guess I am just going to have to get used to dealing with this stuff.

By the way, I think Bethany had the flu. This weekend Asher and Serenity got it too. Serenity is finally feeling better, but I think she still feels a little weak. She is not quite as active as she is normally. I have to admit it was nice to let everything go and just sit and snuggle with her this weekend.

We were planning on taking family pictures this weekend but Asher was in so much pain there was not way we could, so hopefully we can get that done before it gets too cold. Next year Asher is planning on getting the flu shot so he doesn't have to go throught that again.

Bethany has been sick for a few days now. At first we were thinking it was something minor because she was vomiting small amounts after she was eating and she had some diarrhea. Well, now she just seems to be getting worse. She won't eat anything but she will drink her Powerade, Thank God. ( I mean that literally.) I was thinking about it this morning and I realized it might be the dreaded rotavirus. I had a friend whose little boy went to daycare and got it and had to be hospitalized. The doctor told her that if she had not brought him in when she did he could have died from dehydration. Those little guys get dehydrated so easily.

I researched rotavirus on the internet and it said the incubation period is two days. The symptoms include severe diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and fever. The only way to truly tell is from a stool sample.

The incubation period seems about right for Bethany because she went to Mother's Day Out (she and Macy are in MDO while the older kids do Classical Conversations) on Thursday and she got sick on Saturday. She does have severe diarrhea, vomiting, possibly some nausea but no fever.

I called the doctor today, so we will have to see what her nurse says.

Here are more pictures with Natalie. All I have left to do is Bethany. Hopefully it will warm up again. Natalie was freezing while we were out in the open. It was a wonderful day, except when the wind was blowing.

We went back to the park again on Satuday. This time we went to a slightly different part then we have been at before because I wanted some different scenery. I took two children with me because I wanted to take Caylee so I could get a shot of her with her two top missing teeth. I think it is so adorable. I love how kids talk when their teeth are missing. Actually it is not that much different, but if I listen close I can hear a little lisp.

I put most of these pictures in sepia because I have a plan to put them on the wall that way. I want to put them all in matching white/offwhite frames with white/offwhite matting. I haven't decided which ones I am going to put up yet. I am going to decide that when I have them all complete.

I have been meaning to take "professional" pictures of my children for a while now. We have stopped going to the studios because I don't like having to deal with the people that work there. I have noticed that they are not very patient with my children, especially when I bring in more than two at a time. Oh my goodness, could you imagine if I brought all my children in. Some are more patient than others and Sears is definitely better than JCPenny, but they all have a small time limit for each appointment and I feel like we get hurried through so they can make the next appointment.

There was one time that I went to Sears during the day and there was nobody booked after me. It was right after Bethany was born and the lady spent extra time getting the shots perfect. She was great. If I could have that type of experience every time than we would be regular customers again. But since there is no guarantee of that we will stick to the park. Not to mention how much cheaper it is.

I think I will go back and re-do Sery's pics because her pants kept bunching up around her diaper. Honest, she had a clean diaper on, but her pants were too big and made her diaper look like a 5 pounder. Also, Caylee has been fascinated with my camera so I was letting her take pictures with it but I guess she touched the lens and made it dirty. Ergh!

Overall I do like how they came out. I feel like I achieved my overall goal which was to get a few pictures to display. Really I just need one to go on the wall by the front door with my other girls.

Here is a little update on everyone.

I have been feeling great! I am not sure exactly from what but I have been drinking more water and eating healthy thanks to great encouragement from my fitness class. I have also picked back up the routine a taking prenatal vitamins. I suspect that I have been a bit anemic and prenatal vitamins are loaded with iron (so is leafy green vegetables). So I am not sure where it is coming from but I am not complaining. My attitude is so much better towards my children. For a while I was just being so short tempered and crabby with them. I felt bad because they do not deserve that, but it just kept happening. Now my house is so happy. Everything just seems to be going smoother in the mornings. We actually get chores and school done and have free time in the afternoon. We still have areas to work on but I know we can tackle them now.

Asher has been pretty stressed to say the least. It seems like the last month it was just getting more and more stressful. I was really starting to worry about Asher. He is having to deal with so much at school. He says that his class is getting the short end of the stick in just about every area. The school has finally realized that there are things wrong with the system so they are changing the system, starting with the next lower class. The stress has not gone away,but Asher is dealing with it better now. I thinking to a couple of his classmates has helped. After their stress management class he was talking to Allen, the class president, and John, a brainiac, and they said they were having the same symptoms. They were all experiencing back pain, headaches, crankiness and the blues. Somebody brought it up and Asher was surprised to find out that it was a common experience.

Asher has tomorrow off and is looking forward to watching to OU/Texas game this Saturday.

Caylee is just growing more and more responsible every day. She has been surprising me by taking initiative so often to get things ready that she knows I need. For instance yesterday she knew Sery was hungry but I was busy giving the little ones a bath, so she went and mixed up some baby cereal with applesauce for me. I had not shown her how to do it, she just figured it out the proportions from watching me. It was so funny, when her daddy came home and confirmed that is was the right consistency, she immediately declared herself the best baby cereal maker in the whole world. Caylee may be quiet in public, but that girl definitely does not lack confidence. Caylee is doing very well in her Classical program. She memorizes very well and is having no problem downloading huge amounts of information into her brain. I don't tell her this, but she knows the curriculum better than I do.

Caylee's best friend is still Katy who lives across the street. She loves Zoe allot, but Caylee and Katy are sisters of the heart. The other day I heard them talking how much they loved each other. Katy told Caylee that they would always be best friends. Caylee reminded her that we are moving next year, but Katy told her that they would always be friends in their hearts. It was so sweet that I almost cried.


Natalie is still as fun and sparkly as ever. When she smiles the whole world lights up. I think the thing that she likes the most about herself is her freckles because so many people comment on how cute they are. I think that Natalie has ADD and possibly even ADHD. She is so squirmy and bouncy all the time. She has a hard time paying attention to her teacher in class, whether it is me or Mrs. Dawson. I am going to try to read more books to her to help her attention span grow.

Natalie does not seem to have a best, best friend yet, but she has Anna, Kendra and Jayden whom she loves so much.

Macy is getting so big. Still as mischievous as ever. I thought it was getting better for awhile, but I think Bethany encourages her old ways. Last week she cut her hair by herself. She had these beautiful long bangs that were past her chin, but now they are only half an inch long. I keep a thick headband over her bangs when we are in public so nobody can really tell. The most horrible part for me is that she did it three weeks ago and she is going to be a flower girl in a wedding next week.

Today Bethany's Mother's Day Out teacher told me that she had a very good day in class. Apparently she is starting to feel more comfortable there and she is showing more of her personality. I guess the teachers got to see how feisty she because she did not think the sippy cup they were offering her was her cup so she would vehemently protest anytime it was offered, but she kept chasing after another child thinking he had her sippy. Then out on the playground she kept going on the big slide by herself. She about scared the teachers to death because of her lack of fear. She is a very tough little girl. She is the toughest so far. She will fall down and smack herself and just get up and play. I think my younger children are hardy because my parenting style has changed. When they get hurt I don't run to them anymore. In fact I make them get up and come to me even if they are crying. I know it sounds a little mean, but none of my children are crybabies.

Sery is getting so big too. She just turned seven months.She is not quite crawling yet, but is just about there. She is quiet verbally, but takes an active interest in everything around her. If she has a toy she just goes crazy. Her sisters are favorite playmates. She laughs hysterically when they play peek-a-boo with her. She loves her daddy. She gets so excited when he gets home. She has two teeth that are just about ready to pop through. Not looking forward to that, but hopefully it won't to traumatic.

Matt Lowman (leader of the Edmond Bible Study) told me that we need to take more pictures of our group. So here is one of the guys group. We are missing a few guys because they are TDY. Their names are from left, Jason (the new guy), Jake, Thomas, Asher and Mike.
I loved this. Friday I put Sery on the bed after she woke up. I wanted to show the girls that she is starting to crawl. What did she do? She scooted right up to Michelle rested her head right up against Michelle's pregnant belly and proceeded to suck her thumb and clutch Michelle's shirt with her other hand. I think they have become sweet friends because Michelle is usually the one who takes care of her if I can't. We were joking that Sery was coming over snuggling with her future husband, Joshy. (The one hidden in the tummy.)

Our girls have finally noticed that our family is different from other families. I knew this day was coming but I thought that it would be a few more years. Yesterday we were all in the bathroom while I was fixing hair and Natalie said to my, "Why is our family so different from the Wynn family(our neighbors)?" We have been having discussions about modesty and they are noticing that not all families have the same strict rules as we do. So we talked about that for awhile and we discussed why it is important to be modest no matter what other people are doing. Even if it was everyone we know, than the girls still need to protect their bodies because their bodies are for their husbands.

Then Caylee told me that she wants to go live in the Wynn family. She thought it would be fun to be in their family. I did not mind that she was thinking that because I feel like it is a normal part of development for a child to see things that are different in other families and want to experience those things for themselves. I just mentioned all the people in our life that would miss her because she would not be in our family anymore. Like both sets of grandparents, friends a bible study, homeschool friends, Grandma Ann, Mrs. Jones and more. After that she decided that our family was not so bad.

I thought the discussion was taken care of but I told Asher about it after dinner and he wanted to talk about it further with Caylee. We asked her questions about her thoughts on the conversation earlier and she told us. We let her know that she can answer honestly and we will not be mad at her sincere feelings. I feel like we were creating a safe place for her to be able to come and discuss anything that is in her heart.

Her wanting to live in another family did not seem to be an issue because she truly does love our family. I think it was more of a passing fancy. The issue that Asher was more concerned about addressing was modesty. He realizes that protecting her purity is his job and he takes that job seriously. He told her that it is his job to protect her physically, emotionally and sexually. Of course she didn't know what sexually was but he told her that he would explain that more when when she got older. He told her that pretty soon she was going to start liking boys a lot and they were going to start liking her a lot. But there are only two men that should be in her heart that she needs to think about. Her future husband and her daddy. She does not have her future husband yet so right now so if she ever feels like she needs some luvin' she should come to her daddy. And he will give her mushy kisses on the cheek and and big squeezy hugs. She really liked that and promised that she would.

I am so glad that Asher is taking on the job of protecting the girls' purity and it makes me love him all the more when I see him give the girls heart to hearts.

The first few times this happened I thought that Sery grabbed my hair on accident while she was sucking her thumb. But last night she was doing it and I realized it was on purpose. I took my hair away from her and she would grab it again and stick her thumb in her mouth. She doesn't like to suck on my hair, she just likes to hold it while she is sucking her thumb. She loves my hair. She loves to play with it and feel it in her hands. Many times when I am holding her she will have her thumb in her mouth with one hand and the other hand will be clinging to my hair. She is so sweet.

This week and next, Asher is doing his externship at a dental office. We happen to have a friend who Asher knows from his time in the military that is letting Asher do his externship there. It is great because Brian is letting Asher pretend like he is a full fledged dentist. He does not have to get everthing checked off, he does not have to clean up after himself, his equipment is ready and available and he does not have mounds of paperwork to do.

I am so happy because Asher really loves dentistry. He told me that he gets satisfaction from having someone with a delinquint tooth come in and he can fix it up as good as new in about 30 minutes (depending on the problem). He has been coming home pumped every night because he is so excited about getting a taste of what the rest of his life is going to be like. I really am happy for him. All this hard work and sacrifice are finally starting to pay off.

Another one of Caylee's tricks.


After we went to the pool we all went to Braum's and had hamburgers and ice cream. Caylee and Natalie both shared a cup of strawberry ice cream, I shared my peanut butter cup with Macy, Mom also shared her ice cream with Macy and Asher shared his chocolate with Bethany. I don't feel too guilty if we just have one scoop and then share it. We had a wonderful lunch. Bethany was calm and did not make any of her normal ruckus. All of the other children are well behaved when we go out to eat but Bethany usually screams trys to grab anything around her. It has been because of her age but now she is getting older and we are expecting more out of her. It was nice to be able to just sit and visit with my parents.