Asher's new commander just called from the AEGD residancy program at Shepherd. He sounds so nice. I think Asher will enjoy working with him. Will Robinson said that the commander is what makes the program a good experience or not. He was surprised that Asher has a family, especially such a large one. He said that they normally just have a bunch of single guys. He seemed impressed that we have already been down to Shepherd and have made arrangements to move there. He was calling to ask Asher to move down there before he goes to AL and was pleasantly surprised that we already have it all arranged and are second on the list for housing. It seems like Asher is getting off on the right foot and I am glad for that.

The commander said there is going to be a picnic Aug. 8 for all the new people and we are invited too. That sounds like fun. I am already planning on bringing bubbles, frisbees, balls and such for the kids to play with. I bet that they will get some adults to join with them also.

I am getting excited to see what our new life is going to be like.

Does anyone have any suggestions about flies in the trash can? Last year we had a ton of flies from our trash which would make their way into our house. I thought it was because I was using the cheapy, clear janitorial trashbags. This year I have changed to the thick black bags that sinch up at the top, but I am starting to notice that the problem is ongoing. Last week I noticed that there were a bunch of maggots left after the garbage man emptied our trash can. I didn't want to use bleach because I didn't want it to make a mark on the lawn, but I sprayed out the garbage can till it was spotless on the inside. I was hoping that would take care of it, but this morning I noticed that there are maggots along the sides all the way up to the top.

Is this normal? It is so ucky. My stomach turns everytime I take out the trash.

I was thinking it might be from all the poopy diapers that we have. Bethany still wears diapers part of the day (like anytime we go anywhere) and of course Sery is still in diapers.

So from my own brainstorming I have decided that there are two possible causes. I either need to get trash bags that tie at the top so it will close tighter or if that is not it, deal with it until my kids are all potty-trained.

Please let me know if anyone has anymore ideas.

This was the last time we saw Kyle as a single man. He is so great with kids.

Yesterday we went ice blocking with some friends from dental school. It was pretty fun. It was nice to see the other wives again.
For those who don't know what ice blocking is, which I didn't before I met the Albistons, you take a tub of water and freeze it with a rope in it. Then, Wa-la, you have your very own block of ice to careen down your chosen hill. We were at some park in Yukon, I didn't know what it is called. There is this huge hill there that is used for sledding in the snow. Well, it is perfect for ice blocking also.







Valina brought snow cones. The kids really enjoyed that. Especially Asher. (Yes, I am including him with the kids.) He worked at a snow cone stand in high school and developed a passion for a really good snow cone.

Almost right after we first arrived Caylee lost another tooth. We have to leave the window open so the tooth fairy can come in.


I was surprised at how much Caylee loved riding the ice. She spent nearly all her time on the slope. She even missed dinner because she did not want to stop. We let her grab something before we left though.

Traipsing up that hill lugging a block of ice was not easy work. I did it for one of the other girls right before I took this picture and it was hard.


Here are the guys just hanging out. Asher and his friends have gotten pretty close. They have spent a lot of time together for the last four years. I know that Asher will miss them.

Sery found a stray block of ice. Yummy!




This was neat. Someone brought a kite and let the kids play with it. They all took turns holding the string. This kite was much easier to fly than the one that we tried at the church.





Bethany couldn't slide down on ice so she used her bottom instead.




I was trying to get a picture of Asher and the girls but I couldn't get the girls to stay still at the same time. I thought this was a nice view from the mountain.





Someone had an idea to get a picture of all the mommies with babies because we all had at least one. Then we decided to get a picture of the guys. And then a picture of the kids.

It was funny because while the ladies were lined up the guys were lined up on the other side with cameras. Then we traded. Then the parents were lined up taking picture of the children.


I don't think I got a very good picture of the children. Hopefully someone else did and will email it out.

Yesterday was a great day. I worked really hard to go out my way to please Asher. He did not have any idea of what I was doing, but things were very pleasant around our house. We did not have anything to do yesterday morning so the girls and I cleaned our house until it was spic and span. Asher even helped because he did not know what I was doing for him. I think the biggest change was that I did not nag him about anything and I was nice even when he got extremely frustrated because Macy peed on his side of the bed, again.

I know it sounds from my writings that the atmosphere around my house has been very hostile lately. That is not so. I have just noticed that Asher and I have gotten a bit terse when we have gotten frustrated with each other lately. That worries me whenever that happens because of my previous relationships before Asher. It seemed like with almost every one that it was always better in the beginning before we had ever had any real arguments. The level of respect desinigrated because of how we talked to each other. (Relationships are not usually real mature in high school.) From those experiences I learned that protecting the level of respect and friendship is vital to a relationship.


I think as women we don't realize or we forget how much power in the atmosphere of our relationship. We are natural responders to our husbands. That is how God made us. They initiate and we respond. That is how God made us. So when our husbands are feeling a bit grumpy it seems innate to react back to them. It is truly amazing to see how fast a husband will turn around and start acting in a Godly fashion if he sees his wife doing it first.

This is a good principle for husbands who are already saved, too. (1 Peter 3:1+2) Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.

Last night Asher and I had an argument. It was not a horrible argument. I was just a small one where I wanted to address an issue and he did want to choose that moment to talk about it. I was fuming mad. I was saying things like, "I am sick and tired of this," and "I deserve better than this" to myself.

I am reading a book on prayer right now. Since the girls were in bed and that is the time that I read or do other things to relax, I opened up my book. The book is about praying the attributes of God to become closer to Him. As I turned to the current chapter I saw it was entitled, "Awesome God." I am not sure what it was but those words struck conviction in my heart. Suddenly, God spoke to me. "You spend a lot of time trying to fix Asher's faults but not too much trying to fix your own." It was clear and very accurate.

Asher is a sweet guy. My favorite things about him is that he is funny, hard working, snugly, loves his girls, loyal, passionate, desires God's will for his life, patient with me and full of wisdom. Those are some great qualities. Yes, Asher is not perfect(despite what I thought when we first married). He is human just like anyone else and he has faults. I can be really hard on him sometimes. I don't give him much fudge room. He knows the things he needs to fix and he is sincerely working on them.

One of the things that I love about him is that he hardly ever mentions my faults. Trust me, I have plenty. But to hear him talk you wouldn't ever think much about them.

I know that one of the best ways to help Asher is to be the best wife I can be. If he sees me doing everything I can to please him he will be inspired to do the same for me. I would much rather inspire my husband into certain behaviors rather than try to nag him into those behaviors. I think it is time to change my mode of operation. Well, I am off to clean the kitchen. It pleases Asher when it is sparkly. =)

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

This is what Asher and I do after the kiddos are tucked snugly in bed. :)

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There is a reality to my situation. The reality is that I have five children ages 7 and under. So I have realized that because of this reality I cannot maintain a sparkly house all by myself. My realtor told me that she wants to see my house sparkle before she puts it on the market. I purposely chose a realtor who is a "shark" as my mom would call her. She is highly ambitious and a go-getter. She set a high price for my house but in turn she is expecting a lot out of me. At first I was real gung-ho and I knew it was going to be tough, but I was going to make cleaning and prepping the house my first priority. Now reality has set in though. I have five children, the majority being still small, I am a slow cleaner, and my husband (the fast cleaner) is getting ready to graduate from dental school, so he has not been around much to help me. He has not gotten home before nine this week and one night it was midnight. So Asher is stressed worrying about whether or not he will graduate on time (I am sure he will, most dental students go through this), and I was overly anxious about getting my house ready to sell.

I was completely wearing myself out trying to get as much done as possible in a very short amount of time. I was grouchy with my children and our diet was suffering horribly. I did not want to make a mess in my kitchen or reserve the time it would take to make something healthy so I was resorting to eating out almost every day. Then I asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" Answer, to possibly have a buyer before we move. I decided that it is not worth it. Judy, my realtor mentioned in passing that the first little while that a house first comes on the market is the most important. So I want those few days to be when our house is empty. That we can paint with the furniture gone and we can have the new carpet already installed. When I was looking at houses I looked a quite a few of them and only one had the furniture still inside. So I am sure it will be fine. One other reason that I wanted to put it on the market early was because somebody told me that houses sell faster when the furniture is still there because it makes it easier for buyers to envision their own stuff in the house. But I will have to have buyers with creativity and vision.

Today was the first day that I have had the idea of waiting solidly in place and it has been so much more peaceful. I have a better attitude and I can focus on being kind to my children and having consistent discipline with Bethany.

The great thing though is that I have gotten alot of my work already out of the way.

Easter!

This year for Easter we went to Kyle and Betsy's house for our celebrations. Betsy spent the whole morning, starting at 4:30 a.m., cooking for us. It was spectacular. There was mashed potatoes, ham, cheese noodles, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole and that is not even half of it. Michelle cooked and my mom brought stuff too so let's just say there was plenty of food. I brought easter eggs filled with trail mix and pistachio nuts. I started that last year and I love the new tradition because I don't care how much of it that they eat. With sugar I have to monitor that they don't eat too much because they will eat all they can and get a tummy ache, but with nuts they stop when they are pleasantly satisfied and they don't feel deprived.

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures inside but as soon as the egg hunt started I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

The girls love the egg hunt. It is one tradition that I always did every year and we have never missed it either.

I love that face.

I realize now that I mostly followed my little ones around because they are so cute when they are small. Plus I have pictures of my older ones at Easter, but this was Bethany's first real hunt.

This was Kyle helping Bethany.

Papa and Caylee are searching for eggs.

What a sweet doggy. That is Becket (or maybe Emma), Joe and Michelle's dogs.

How sweet!

After the hunt the guys and Betsy took turns tossing the ball around. They started to get a little rowdy though as you can see in the picture down below. It looks like all three guys are trying to catch the same ball but actually Asher is trying to knock it out of their hands. Good times, good times.

So Asher and I were on our way to Witchita Falls for a quick visit when we stopped in back of this truck. Is it just us or is this a really bad business slogan? Service Unexcelled. That could be taken in a way that is positive but it also sounds to us like they have never excelled themselves. What do you think?

March 15 some of the guys from Bible study came over to help Asher fix the fence. I was so glad that got done. There has been a tree pushing in down for probably about a year and I kept telling Asher but let's just say it was not a his biggest priority. Well, we had a fairly big storm with strong winds and our poor little fence was no match for it. It stayed there on the ground until it finally got warm enough for Asher to go out and fix it. While Asher and Mike were out buying some fence panels Joe and Jake helped Caylee learn another lesson on batting. This time she did much better and she practiced enough to where she could hit most of the balls. Those guys are so patient. They are going to make great dads.


Sorry this is such a bad picture. It is the only one I took of all the guys so I just decided to post it anyway. We had a lunch break I went to Taco Bell and got a massive amount of soft tacos. That is what they wanted and it was easier than taking seperate orders.

My mom is helping me out with school so I get to spend more time with my little ones doing preschool. Macy is getting very good at her shapes and colors. She is also getting pretty good at recognizing numbers and letters when she sees them written. She is coming along so well. I think this was the day that my van was in the shop getting a check-up so I stayed a home with the little ones while my mom took the girls to her house to do school. That was really nice because I got to spend all morning playing with them without distractions or feeling like I was supposed to be doing something else. I tend to have the problem that every time I sit down to relax or play with the children I feel like I have something more productive that I could be doing. That is why I don't blog very much.

March 1 we decided to have a family expedition. We all voyaged on over to a back field on the campus of First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, the church we used to attend. I knew about this field from Caylee's soccer days. There are no immediate tall surrounding structures so the wind is quite blustery. I figured it would be the perfect spot and it was. It took Asher a few minutes to figure out the mechanics of this particular kite, but he had it up and going in no time.

















It was hard to tell for a while who was having more fun with the kite, Asher or the girls.


Caylee is helping while Daddy straightens out the kite.

Now it is Caylee's turn.



We had an unofficial school lesson on aerodynamics. The kids were learning science and had no idea.



Natalie asked if she could take pictures while I was flying the kite and I granted permission so we get to see a little of the world through her eyes.









There was a lot of dirt and grass pictures.

I thought this one was creative.













Even Macy got a turn. Asher can be a bit over dramatic at times. After kite flying we all went to Braums and had a light lunch with ice cream. We really try to limit sugar for our children so this was a rare family treat. I do think we appreciate it more since it does not happen that often.