Unplugged

I guess Someone knew I needed a vacation from "technology" ...

Our cabin here has NO wireless internet connection.

I can only access the internet at the "Club House" on the property.

In retrospect, it is probably for the best ... I had envisioned myself basking in blogs and facebook while on vacation without feeling guilty that I was neglecting some housework or other ... but apparently, I'm supposed to just enjoy READING, journaling, and spending a lot of time with my precious FAMILY!

We are having a wonderful time - the cabin & surrounding area are so beautiful!

Today we spent the whole day doing whatever our family wanted to do - sleeping in, a little walk, playing in a creek, swimming, eating lunch out, and relaxing!  (and Dan cooked supper!!)

I love the "first" day of vacation (which technically this is even though we spent 2 nights w/ Dan's brother and celebrating his parents' 50th anniversary over the weekend).

This is OUR first day in our little cabin in the woods - and we have the whole week ahead of us!  I hope the days won't pass by too fast - but I know I'll be savoring EACH AND EVERY MOMENT!

An Ode to Vacation!

Do you need a vacation?! I sure do!  And I know my husband needs one - whether he will admit it or not.
We've had some pretty amazing vacations in our 17 1/2 years of marriage (Sunday will be our official 1/2 year anniversary!) ... most courtesy of the US Army!

We've seen America from California to Texas to Virginia.  West Coast to East Coast!

We've been to some pretty amazing parts of Europe. 

But that all seems like a past life.  In many ways it was.  It was a life of just making a living and of doing what pleased ourselves - while throwing a few nods God's way because we were Christians.  Not that having a secular job or a successful career is by any means wrong ... I don't mean that AT ALL ... but it was wrong for us in some ways.  We always knew we were preparing to move on into a ministry - we just didn't know we'd move into it so soon - and now that we are in a ministry, we may one day move back into secular jobs again some day. 

In our current life - in which we are (I am) sadly still entirely too self-focused sometimes! - vacations are not about the destination any more.  They are about rest, family, and re-focusing. It's ok because we are now older & more tired, our (older) children are in school routines ... and well, honestly, we can't afford anything else.  But as the Bible teaches, we are to be content with what we have - and even so, we still have SO MUCH!!! 

I am thankful I have learned to be grateful for LITTLE THINGS ... for simple pleasures that I would have ignored when we had more time & more money.  Today I am thankful for the upcoming 7 whole days that we will be away from home!!  In the last 5 years, we have had "vacations" - but for the most part, we'd only be gone for 3-5 days so Dan could get back to his duties at church ... and even, for example, when we had a week long rental of a time share like when Miriam was born, Dan came home twice to check on our pets and to re-stock stuff since we were only 60 miles from home.  I'm not complaining about any of this - I'm just saying how thankful I am to finally have an opportunity to GO AWAY & STAY away this upcoming week.  We have arranged for our pets to be cared for - and we have ZERO reason to come home again (even though we'll only be 120 miles away.  We can't seem to get out of the state of Missouri these days!!). 

I don't know why I feel the need to write all this out - other than to remind myself how THANKFUL I am for this blessing of a much needed rest after a busy school year - and an on-going-ly busy summer at our church as they prepare for the next school year and undergo much construction and building improvements.  And I've been "busy" with babysittting this summer - though the kids I watch are SO GOOD, what you call "easy keepers"! 

So, tomorrow we celebrate my in-law's 50th anniversary with Dan's siblings who are traveling in from far away places like Connecticut and Montana and Georgia ... and as of Sunday, our family will be checking into a cabin in the Missouri Ozarks ... and staying there.  Lord willing.  For a whole week!  Dan's 2 brothers' families will also be around, but hopefully we will have a lot of "down time" to just re-connect as a family of 5 - to enjoy being with each other without distractions - to get on each other's nerves just enough to be glad to go home again when it is all over.  :)   So, Aloha and Bon Voyage to us ... we're going on VACATION. 

PS  Our cabin has - of course - wireless internet so I will not be taking a vacation from technology!  :) 

Mug Shots

Miriam Hutch. 

Alias:  MiMi

Female

6 months old

weight:  16 lbs. 10 oz

height:  25 1/2 inches

hair:  barely there

eyes:  huge

distinguishing marks:  round head, squishy cheeks, roly-poly legs.

WANTED for being dangerously adorable

MiMi Speaks: What I Have Learned in 6 Months

Welcome to another edition of MiMi Speaks...

Where the baby sets the record straight!

So, I've been on this earth for six months tomorrow.

Mom says that she will be so busy the next 2 days that I'd better tell you all about my latest accomplishments now or else it may not happen.

She's a crazy lady - somehow she has about 10 appointments planned in the next two days (play date lunch, basketball camp for my brother, dentist for my sister, hair appointments, baby music & piano lessons, and other appointments plus plan for a vacation).

But enough about my mom's life ... here's what I'm doing:

I'd say my biggest accomplishment at 6 months is sitting up all by my little lone self.  I still lose my balance occasionally and topple over - probably due to the top heaviness of my gi-nor-mous head!

I love to squeal.  I don't love rice cereal. 

I love watered down apple juice.  I don't love finding myself alone. 

I love my jumperoo.  I don't love being laid down on the floor. 

 I love holding toys and putting them in my mouth.  I don't love when someone takes something away from me. 

 I love music.  I don't love startling noises. 

I love warm bath water.  I don't love cold pool water. 

I love my mommy, my daddy, my big brother, my big sister, and my cats.

I don't love the noisy, hyper dog.

I love my "aunties", my nursery workers, and Anna's friends who play house with me!
I don't love rice cereal - oh, wait, I said that already.  But I meant it.

A Little Bit of Nothingness

The above picture has nothing to do with anything I want to write today ... however, it was kind of cute.  This is the first (and so far only) time our cat Ella has crawled into bed with Miriam ... Apparently, it wasn't as comfy as the cat hoped because she hasn't tried that again.

So, it's summer ... and we've been busier than ever (or at least I have been!).  Blogging hasn't been on my mind because my life isn't worth writing about right now and I haven't had any deep thoughts about anything except how to finish up my to-do list.  I've been working on ordering next school year's curriculum for our school (which already has its highest enrollment yet!!) and getting ready to close out our church's financial fiscal year at the end of June - along with keeping up with the house, laundry, meals, and a few additional children around.  I guess that is life -and being busy is normal - as is being TIRED!! :) 

We did have a fun time at a Miz-zur-ah "beach" on Friday with a friend and her children.  We drove to a recreational area nearby to explore their swim area on the Little Piney Creek.  The kids had fun catching crawdads - and I even got up the courage to hold one.  They remind me a little of cockroaches, and I can't imagine boiling and eating one!!  Yikes!

We came home warmed by the sun, itchy from the bug bites, and with sand in our leftover picnic lunch food.

Now that's an ideal summer day!

Somebody's Been Sitting on MY Bed ...

Look who's sittin' pretty!

Miss MiMi has been able to sit up now - though she's still working on the whole balance thing.  She is most secure sitting on my bed, surrounded by pillows and her new (to her) toys that someone recently donated to us!

Yesterday we ended up having a "day off" from babysitting, which would have been restful for us all except that Anna had an allergic reaction to Triaminic cold medicine and got sick at 4:30 a.m.  She went back to sleep - but I never did ...

It did not deter us from continuing our plans to have friends over for lunch though!

Anna felt much better after resting, even the sore throat for which I'd given her the medicine was pretty much gone -

and so we made American Girl chicken salad sandwiches from this book:

Anna had already baked an angel food cake, which we had with strawberries and whipped cream ... and my guests brought the most gorgeous HYDRANGEAS from their own bushes for our table.

  The girls had fun playing - and we moms had a nice time talking.  I'm not really a social person by nature, but it was a nice reminder that we need fellowship sometimes!  And I don't often open my home to people because of my various angsts (it's too small, it's not as clean as I want it to be, it's not always organized like I want, etc), but that all doesn't matter really.  True friends don't come over to inspect the organization of your home, they just come to enjoy the company.  

Later we had our piano lessons, and our teacher showed us her new web-site which features Miss MiMi (we are the first picture on the slide show - and there is another pic of Miriam later on)!  :)   We have been helping her with video'ing a baby music class for her new musical endeavors to start on-line music classes and an internet music store.  How exciting.  Miriam also has a link on the teacher's twitter account, but we haven't figured that all out yet ... a little too high tech for me! 

2 By 2

The underlying theme of my zoo animal pictures seemed to be pairs:

Mr. and Mrs. Lion

2 elephant friends (?) - not sure what gender these big un's are...

Do you see the 2 cheetahs?

and 2 playful otters (or as my friend's 4 year old called them:  "fish monkeys"):

Summer Time Fun Continues...

What do you get when you take this many kids to the zoo?

You get the GROUP RATE at the entrance!!  Saved us $2/child per ticket!!  :)

Mr. Peacock greeted us ... Show off!

We went to the Dickerson Zoo in Springfield, Missouri with friends.  It is a lovely small zoo and houses all the essential zoo animals (elephants, lions, giraffes, monkeys, and gaggles of Canadian geese).

Catching Up

Whew - we've had some pretty full, busy days lately!  I'll give just a little re-cap since the sordid details aren't all that interesting ... and I'll intersperse pictures of Miss MiMi to keep your attention!  ;)

We've been busy with a house full of kids that I am babysitting this summer - and a few other friends of my kids who have come by as well.

My kids are loving all the playmates since we lead pretty solitary social lives, especially during the school year because we just stay so very busy.

Miriam is loving the attention and the action as well!

Yesterday we had 3 girls total in the house - ages 9, 10, and 11.

They are so fun to listen to while they play!

Their game was "World War II", which Anna says is her favorite war - not so much because of the battles, she says, but because of the sad stories of the concentration camps and the devastation of war zones (she seems to thrive on drama and tragedy!).

And so the girls played WWII, and the scenarios they came up with were really rather intriguing:  things like playing that they were part-Jewish and in a concentration camp - but then they found out that one of the guards was their brother-in-law (not sure how exactly that pans out but you don't ask questions when they play these games!) who helps them escape.

They also use Miriam as their baby whom they must care for under the most dire of war-like circumstances.

Today is the only day this week that we don't have extra kids at the house, so I had to drag my own kids on errands.  Actually, I am so thankful to have them along as they are a HUGE help with Miriam and carrying things for me!

We hit Walmart today - and I used my handy-dandy coupons to score a few deals like:

67 cents for KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce

86 cents for Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

Lysol wipes for $1.50 each container

Pantene products (my favorite) for $2.50 each

an a/c filter for $6.88 instead of $8.88 regular price

June is month 3 of our cash-only envelope system!

May was ok ... again, we were bailed out by a few unexpected blessings -

and God continues to provide for those things that come up that we haven't thought to  budget for.

In June and July, I will hopefully bring in a few supplemental dollars by baby-sitting.

The only other option we'd have is to give up more things like basic cable tv service or the internet ... but I'm just not willing to do that yet.  I realize there are other smaller changes we could make as well - like buying NO soda or generic soda (and I, for one, love my occasional Coke and Diet Coke - especially with $5 for a 24 pack at Walmart right now) or junk food (and again, I don't think chocolate or brownies are so bad - in moderation!!  And my husband feels the same way about his potato chips & tortillas with salsa).

I still think our grocery bill is where we spend the most money - right now we are aiming at $300 a month for food - but it doesn't seem to be enough.   Somewhere I read you should figure $25 per person per week for groceries, which for us would be $400/month (not counting Miriam), which seems more reasonable for our family.

So, we're still working on tweaking things.  I will say that I recently lost my debit card (probably by an ATM machine, getting our cash allotment)

- and I haven't missed it one bit.  I did report it lost and should have a replacement soon.

So, for a used-to-be spoiled girl, who used to live on over twice what we are making now, I think I am making great (albeit slow) strides!

The Food Critic

Thank you for joining us for another episode of MiMi Speaks ...

where the baby sets the record straight. 

Today's Topic:  Baby Food

specifically Rice Cereal

So, today they put this big ol' bowl of stuff in front of me and expected me to eat it.

The doctor had already said that I should be 6 months old to get this stuff - she did NOT recommend this one bit - see, she knows what's good for me ... and this ain't it.

But nooooooooooo, my mom thinks I'm ready.  She's totally going AMA (that's "against medical advice" for you non-Medical-Transcription-Students out there).   After all, I'm just 5 months and 2 weeks old ...

Mom thinks just because I want the food that's on HER spoon and what's in HER cup that I will settle for this white, runny whatever-it-is.

I mean, sheesh, what can I say about that mom of mine...she doesn't get it.

This is NOT what I want - I want what is in HER cup and on HER spoon -

Not this bland, runny, tasteless white stuff.

I'm so not impressed with Mom's culinary skills at this point.

Not impressed one bit.

This spoon, however, it's pretty cool.

Yea, I like the spoon ...

that tasteless, runny white stuff - not so much.

Day-O! Day-ay-ay-O!

Daylight come and me wan' go home.

For some very bizarre reason, the following pictures make me want to sing the Banana Boat Song!

I guess it's because Miriam now has her very own banana boat - of sorts.

Yep, I scored this luxury sailing vessel at Dollar General for all of $6.

It's SO adorable!  I'd like to have one in adult size ... in which to float all my troubles away.

Now Miss M can keep up with her fish-like siblings,

or she can sing the banana boat song as she floats around in pure bliss:

"A beautiful bunch a' ripe banana!

Daylight come and me wan' go home.

Hide the deadly black tarantula!

Daylight come and me wan' go home."

(I never knew the lyrics were quite so scarey)

"Come Mister tally man, tally me banana!

Daylight come and me wan' go home."

In the Good Ol' Summer Time

So, summer hasn't really officially started yet ... the first day of summer is June 21, I think ... but as per the unspoken rule, Memorial Day marks "the first day of the summer season".  For us, it was the first day of the first week of SUMMER BREAK from school.  Hallelujah! 

In celebration (and because my father had generously given some $ for our kids), we purchased a POOL!  Now, in the past, we've had pools ... mostly "kiddie pool" type things that the kids could barely wade in once they got to be older than 7 years!  But this year, we had enough money to get a 12 foot by almost-3 foot pool.  The only issue was that it had to be set up on a perfectly flat, grassy surface.  We own 1.5 acres ... and you'd think on 1.5 acres, you could find 12 sq. feet of flat ground.  Well, not hardly in this section of Mizz-ur-ah!  Seriously,  we had several failed attempts at setting up the pool in sections where just a foot or so of the ground was sloped - and that meant DISASTER (and much water wasted!).

Finally my son and I got down on our haunches and scanned the entire yard for a flat spot.  In the front yard, the back yard, the sides ... and we finally figured out an area to hopefully be able to set up this pool.  And sure enough, with some finagling, WE DID IT!  Let summer begin!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame! Or Don't ...

Our first glimpse of that famous St. Louis landmark - the Arch, "Gateway to the West" ... and if you look in the front, right corner of the picture you can see another landmark - of my husband's family - the ever-handy compass that sits on the dashboard of every vehicle of anyone over age 60 on his side (we sort of bought for a really cheap price inherited Dan's Grandpa's 1996 Buick).  These Iowa folks (maybe Melanie can understand this?) don't talk plain ol' "right" and "left" but talk about "South", "North", "East", and "West" ... as well as "Northeast", "Southwest", etc.  Sadly, I never learned to read the sun very well since I didn't grow up in the desert plains or on an Iowa farm.  When I am told to put something in the southwest corner of the house, I am at a complete loss.  I did learn that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West ... and that the sun is pretty much at a straight-up point at "high noon" ... but good grief, just tell me "right" or "left" since that only leaves me with 2 options instead of 200 directional compass point positions to choose from. 

Ok, sorry.  Where was I? Oh yeah, we were entering St. Louis...on Tuesday late afternoon...when we got our first glimpse of our goal:  Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.

We had found really inexpensive tickets on-line ... and for the first time in a year or more, we were soooo excited to get to see a game live & in person (isn't that the same thing - LIVE? & IN PERSON?).

Sadly, one of our persons (Andrew) had been struggling with a 102-103 degree fever since Monday.  But he wasn't about to give up this chance to see the CARDINALS. We dosed Andrew up with Motrin - and in the air conditioned car, he was just fine, right as rain (another Iowa saying??!  cause those folks sure do talk about the weather A LOT!!).  :)

Once we got to the game (game time: 7:15 p.m. CST), we realized WHY the seats we got were so cheap inexpensive:  because the SUN was shining directly onto that section of the stadium (it must been on the EAST?! side??!) as it set.  It was BLAZINGLY HOT!!  And when you already are fighting a fever of 102-103 degrees .. well let's just say it was a wee bit uncomfortable.  Ok, let's say, A LOT uncomfortable.

Andrew, the baby, and I hung out in the corridor of the stadium for a while since we got there about an hour early ... and tried to cool down.  At this point, all medication had lost its effects and Andrew was MISERABLE :(  I was about to shell out $5 for a tiny bottle of water when one of the ushers from the party suites, which were sitting outside of, came by and inquired about Andrew's condition.  He was nice enough to bring us 2 cups of ice water in neat little Cardinals cups (FREE souvenirs!!).

After a while, we tried to sit in our seats, shielding our eyes while we watched the opening pitch ... but Andrew continued to feel horrible.  So, we again went to sit in the shade ... and another usher mentioned that there was an aide station on the first level if we needed it.

After a while, I decided we needed it!  I took Andrew down - and the nice lady there gave him some packs of ice to cool him down.  Also the next dose of medicine was starting to kick in - and the sun was finally going down!  So we went back up to our seats just as someone hit a home run in the 3rd inning ...

Don't we look like we're having a blast?!  Miriam took all the craziness in stride - the crowd around us, the LOUD music that sporadically blasted through the speakers, the heat, drinking from a bottle, the spontaneous cheering and then the quiet again.  She did fine - even took a little nap - until about 10 p.m. when she was probably thinking that we would NEVER leave this wild and crazy place.  That was about when she quit smiling. 

At this point, thankfully, Andrew was smiling - and feeling MUCH better (and had been since the visit to the aide station). 

Anna was neither impressed nor disappointed with the whole thing.  She did like the stadium bathroom - and we visited it probably 3 or 4 times total during the 3 and 3/4 hours we were there at the game. 

Fun times, fun times.

HEY- but at least we won ... almost.  The final score was 8-9 - win for the Cincinnati Reds.

Good grief, Charlie Brown!

Memories of 4th Grade

This post is kind of like an "Anna Speaks" entry.

I was cleaning out her backpack and wanted to capture the essence of the 4th grader that she was.

The notebook:  it is VERY important that it be decorated just right ... using stickers, markers, hi-lighters, and pretty writing

(done by Mom because Anna thinks I have the "prettiest hand-writing" she's ever seen - she hasn't seen much!):

Fun Art Work:

And of course, SCHOOL WORK.  These are Anna's most recent Bible class notes:

You can see why she thinks my handwriting is so nice!  ha ha!

and why Penmanship was the one grade that kept her from getting all A's this school year!  (She can write nicely in cursive; however, she just has no interest in doing so!)

Go Cardinals!

I'm so excited!

I'm going to my FIRST St. Louis Cardinals game tonight!

Go Cardinals - Beat those Reds (again) and clench the #1 spot in the League!

School's Out!

Last Friday was the kids' last day of school!!  I don't know who was happier - them or me?!

I'm so glad that they will get the whole summer off this year - no summer school for any of us.

I can't wait to sleep in a little, play outside a lot, and enjoy hot, lazy summer days.

We will also be baby-sitting some friends' children this summer a few days a week, but that will be easy -

more kids for mine to play with so they don't get bored.

The school year ended well for my kids.

Anna completed 4th grade.  She made the A honor roll and had the top Spelling grade in the class:

Andrew completed 6th grade & is on to Junior High next school year!!

He squeaked out the B Honor Roll (not sure if he was going to make it, but he worked hard the last quarter to get some low grades up); he also got the top History grade (which was a blessing after last year's disappointment).  He was given the Citizenship Award for his class ... I think I'm more proud (and more thankful) for the fact that he was recognized for good character rather than grades.  He's had the same teacher for the last 2 years - and she has done so much to encourage his interest in History (his favorite subject) and to do better in Spelling & Language (where he struggles). 

We've been very blessed to have so many wonderful teachers at our school!