Julie’s Journal

Tonight I gave up the opportunity to watch TV with Sam.  I wanted to do something creative…but, lacking the energy…opted for an hour surfing the internet, looking at cool blogs of people who do creative stuff.  I have a ton of ideas swarming through my head right now.  Chances are I will do nothing about them, because life allows little time for creativity on most days.  This week is pretty laid back, though…until Friday.  So I might get to make something.

Oh, actually today I did make something.  I mentioned we were getting interviewed for the paper.  That went well, I thought.  I seriously thought I was going to go crazy this morning though.  I, of course, being the stellar housewife that I am, waited until 9:30 this morning to start cleaning my house.  The guy from the paper…he was to arrive at noon.  And, of course, I had the two LEAST helpful kids here with me the entire morning.  Actually, I should say that Karson did do about 5 things that I asked him too.  Which was big for him…especially considering that he ended the day with a fever of 102.

I picked fresh flowers from the yard and made a fun & colorful arrangement for the buffet.  At about 10 minutes to 12, I finally felt the house was clean enough for a guest, and got busy with lunch.  I got this fabulous recipe from a friend of ours and (thankfully) had purchased all the ingredients the night before.  It was actually pretty easy to make…and quick.  OK…it would have been quicker had I been able to find my CAN OPENER!…but I improvised and got the beans, corn and oranges out of the cans.   I made a black bean and corn chicken salad which we ate with Tostitos Scoops and pita bread, fruit salad and some yummy raspberry bars…from a box.   It was a nice light lunch…and even the kids liked it.  (OK actually only half of the kids liked it).  And Sam was happy and that made me happy.  So it was a good lunch. I’m probably going to make some more tomorrow…just need some more chicken.  If I do, I’ll post pictures and a recipe.

Then I took a nap (after the guy left) and when I got up, my parents came over  They were back in town to look at a couple more houses.  I fed them leftovers from lunch, which they loved.  Later after Sam came home, I went to look at a house they were looking at for the second time.  It’s really cute, great location, I can really see them in that house.  Of course, i haven’t seen any of the other houses they’ve looked at…so…I don’t know what they will decide and they are kind of in a crunch for time since they have accepted the offer on their home in South Bend.  I am excited, though.  They have never lived close by the entire time we have been married…so I am looking forward to it!  Plus, if they buy the house I saw tonight, the kids could ride the bus to their house, it’s right near their school.  Not that they would do that often, but it would be a cool thing!

We just got back from family camp at Somerset Beach Campground.  We were there for the past week.  I love family camp.  It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with friends we don’t see so often.  It’s a time for the kids to spend with their friends.  They develop some great friendships and make new friends, too.  It’s almost always a time of spiritual growth for me, too.

This year the theme was “passing the torch” and instead of one special speaker for the week, there were several retired pastors/superintendents who gave the messages for the evening services.  I have to admit, being in the younger generation (I know, I’m not so young anymore…), I was not terribly excited about hearing these guys…but seriously, they had great messages, wise words, and amazing stories to share with us!  I got so much out of their talks.  Also, in the morning bible study we heard Pastor Larry Cranston.  He is a great teacher and spoke one day on dealing with conflict and another day on forgiveness.  Great, great teaching on those two days.  I need to get the recordings of those two bible studies so I can remember everything he said.  I mean I took notes, but he covered so much!  Good stuff.  I am thankful I had the opportunity to hear him.

We spent every afternoon at the beach of Mission Lake.  Got a lot of sun, but came home with great tans!  Karson really improved his swimming skills and can actually stay under water for about 10 sec. without even holding his nose!  Jasmin enjoyed the water.  She was either throwing mud or filling any container she could find with water and dumping it on the sand.  Why she enjoyed that so much, i will never know…but she is 2.  She did float around in her floaty a lot, too.  Savannah loved riding the paddle boats and swimming out to the raft with her friends.  And Savannah and Max really enjoyed playing carpet ball which apparently is a big hit at the beach.

I did not take many pictures of camping.  We were pretty busy, and most of our down time, I was cleaning up after four kids who were also just as busy!  Our camper was a wreck most of the time…but we had fun.

Bed time was hard almost every night.  We usually did something with friends or family every night after the service and were out till way past dark.  And usually that involved some kind of sugary snack…root beer floats, ice cream cones, s’mores…it wasn’t easy to get 4 kids to sleep after that…and it was late when we started to get ready for bed anyway!  The first night Jasmin didn’t go to sleep till 12:30 am…she was laughing, turning on lights and getting out of bed.  I was exhausted by the time she settled down!

Something that was different this year, was my parents were around for pretty much the whole week.  The didn’t camp there, but stayed at our house in Jackson instead.  They spent some time meeting with someone at a bank they are getting their new house financed at, and looking at houses.  While they were here, they accepted an offer on their house. Pretty amazing thing (these days) that they had an offer just a few days after they listed it!  We are pretty excited!  Looks like they have closing scheduled for August 20th or somewhere around that.  Now we just need to find a house around here.  They found one they like, but aren’t totally sure they are going to make an offer on it.  We may go look at it with them later this week.   And the time that they weren’t busy meeting with their agent, they were out at camp with us.  We enjoyed having them around.  I know the kids loved it!

But camp is over.  We have great memories, lots of dirty laundry and a camper that needs to get cleaned out.  I have a lot to do tomorrow and Monday, because on Tuesday we are going to be interviewed by the CitPat at our house.  We will have Pirate Island at the Jackson County Fair in a few weeks and they want to do a story on our family, I guess.  THAT should be interesting!

Sometimes it’s frustrating being the mom.  Not that I don’t love my kids…I can’t imagine life without them.  But it’s just not easy and is often frustrating. Things are going better, I think, with behavior with Savannah, Max and Karson.  So I am glad about that, though they all have their moments…and Savannah has been so moody lately.  Not sure what that’s all about.

I am getting geared up for camping next week.  I will be camping with all the kids.  Sam will still be working and will come join us in the evenings when he can.  I’ve done it before…but I’ve always had my friend Cary around to help out.  It was a team effort.  She also camps with her kids and Chuck comes out at night if he can.  The first year we camped at Somerset for family camp, Sam and I borrowed my mom and dad’s fifth wheel. Savannah was 4, Max was just 2 and Karson was 10 months old.  Sam spent more time out there that year, but since it was our first year, we didn’t have an electric site…it was kind of crazy camping in that big fancy fifth wheel with no electricity!  Cary brought her kids out that year every day, I think.  So did my sister Cyndi.  And we planned meals together and hung out every day.  So the next year (we still did not have a camper), I suggested we do it again.  I made arrangements to borrow a friend’s camper…and it worked out great.  The camper was perfect for all 7 of us. Crowded, but it worked.  And as the kids got older, it got easier.  We did the same thing the next year.  Then we got our own camper.  We had just purchased it…and were still getting used to it.  It was really crowded with all 7 of us…and I was pregnant…and there was a gas leak.  That year of family camp wasn’t the greatest, but we still enjoyed it.  Cary didn’t come out to camp till like Tuesday or something. The next Spring we sold the Prowler and bought the Sportsmen.  Definitely the upgrade.  It was perfect for our family with 4 bunks in the back, the queen size bed in the front and a slide in the living area.  We LOVE this camper.

Cary stayed with us one more year in the Sportsmen…but then last year, we couldn’t make it to family camp because we were doing the Pirate Show in Charlotte at the Eaton County Fair.  I was sad, because I just love going to family camp.  The kids love it, too.  It was hard for me to give it up.  Cary got a site and put their tent on it and stayed in the tent all week. We got to go visit a couple of evenings when our shows ended early.  I missed camp.  I haven’t talked to Cary about doing meals together this year…but I’ll probably give her a call.

Things will be a little different this year.  We won’t be staying together…and my mom and dad are going to be around all week.  They are actually staying at our house and driving out when they want.  I think they are also hoping to do some house hunting while they are here, too. It will be fun having them around.  They won’t spend all their time with us, because my sister & her family are camping out there too.  I’m sure we’ll be hanging out together a lot.

As I am typing this I am thinking of a huge list of things to do tomorrow. Besides cleaning and packing the camper…I have phone calls to make, menus to plan, shopping!

Speaking of shopping – something I spend very little time doing for myself…I scooted out at 8:30 tonight so I could see if I could find a pair of capris to replace the ones that I just noticed a hole in.  Of course, I couldn’t find anything in that amount of time.  I know, wrong time of the year to be looking for capris but I was hoping for a sale or something.  Not one pair in my size in the store I went to.  So I went to Kohl’s because they close at 10…and all I could find were 2 pair of jeans that looked horrid on me.   I did find some flip flops for a good price, though…and that was another thing on my mental list.

It’s frustrating trying to shop.  It takes time, and I don’t have it.  I know I am not very fashionable…but I have to settle for clothes that are affordable and convenient (shopping for clothes at Walmart & Meijer).  I absolutely can not shop for clothes for myself with my 4 kids with me.  I really can’t even do it with one.  I’ve tried it, it doesn’t work.  So I am giving up on the capris…I think I might try to sew up the hole.  It will be noticeable if someone looks, but I am hoping no one will be looking there. So I will just be happy with my 2 pairs of shorts, my capris with a bleach stai, my capris with the hole and a pair of jeans.  It’ll work.  I’ll make it work…and we will have a blast!

We drove home from our vacation today.  We had spent the last 4 days in Shipshewana.  Sam and Savannah sold magic at the flea market.  We all stayed at the Farmstead Inn across the street.  We had a great time.  Grandma and Grandpa (my mom and dad) spent the first two days with us.  The kids loved that.  We played in the pool a lot…it was so hot!

The kids loved looking for frogs in the nearby pond and we did walk around in the flea market a little.  It was kind of hard to do that with the kids.  They just don’t enjoy that kind of thing.

We also tried to find a geocache that was nearby…but we never could find it.  Here is Savannah looking for it.  We were kind of sad that we couldn’t find it.  We think maybe it had been removed or something.

On Tuesday, I took the kids down to South Bend to see Grandma and Grandpa.  It was fun to see their house and all the work they have done on it.  It looks really nice.  They have been working so hard.  The boys had fun playing with some new “squirt guns” that they had found at the flea market.

We also took the kids to the park, but it was so hot.  This is really a funny picture.  Max was really, really hot – I think a little overheated.  Jasmin was “starvin, mom” (of course) and Karson was feeling really sick…from the heat and he had been on the merry-go-round.  Not a good combination, because after that we went to Steak and Shake…we were thinking the Shakes sounded fabulous after being out in the hot sun…and he got sick at the restaurant.  I felt so bad for him.  I am glad my dad was there to take him to the bathroom.  (Also, secretly, glad I didn’t have to see that before I ate lunch!)

So anyway…today, we packed up after breakfast and went to the flea market.  Mainly, Savannah had wanted to get her best friend a gift for her birthday (whose party she went to tonight) and I wanted to buy some beads for my bracelet.

Sam got me this bracelet for Christmas.  I told him it would be a good gift that I would really love because he could buy me charms for different occasions to add to it.  So I got the bracelet…and one really awesome bead.  I had no idea they were so expensive, and neither did he.  When we were down in Shipshe at Spring Break, he picked up a couple of beads…but today, I bought some more.  They were very inexpensive, imitation Pandora beads, I know, but I like them just as much.  I found one that was a sign language hand saying “I love  you” and crystal looking one.  It’s really pretty.  I also got a couple of the ones that you clip on, so the beads don’t slide all around.  AND Max wanted to buy me one…he bought the one that says “mom” with his own money!  Cutie.  I love that one a lot.  So when we got home tonight, I had to get all my beads on my bracelet and I drew a picture of them.

Yesterday we spent the day at Somerset beach Campground with some friends.  It was a lot of fun and the kids really loved playing with each other. We went down to the beach for some fun and because the kids wanted to swim.  They had a great time.  I got way too much sun.

Later that evening we went to eat at Dennys…kids are free on Sat. night.  Jasmin  was very tired because she hadn’t had a nap all day and dinner was not a pleasant experience.  Her booster seat slid off the chair and she hit her head on the legs of the table beside us and when she started screaming, I took her out to the car.  When we got home, we put her to bed and then I took Savannah, Max and Karson to the fireworks at Cascades.  Archers found us and watched fireworks with us.  It was fun.  The traffic wasn’t fun, but I just tried not to be impatient.  We didn’t get home till midnight almost.

One of the things I love about our house is the awesome enclosed porch we have.  It’s really like an additional room.  In the old days (when the kids were younger) we would have it set up as a play room from about March to early November.  We put their play kitchen and toys out there.  It kept them out of our living area and they loved playing out there on sunshiny days with all the windows…it’s almost like you are outside – but cleaner!

Now the kids have different toys.  Toys with a lot of pieces…that are small and have to have a way to be organized.  The kids also like to have access to craft supplies, a place to read and then there’s the fact that I have a huge range of toys…since we have a 2 year old, 6 year old, 8 year old and a 10 year old.  The porch has been stacked with stuff that we wanted to get rid of…school stuff…extra furniture.  It’s just basically been a huge mess for like a year.  We cleared a lot of stuff off this Spring when we did the Mom to Mom sale…but it still needed to be cleaned and organized and things needed to be gotten rid of.  I should have taken a picture of what it looked like before I started working on it this week…but I didn’t think of that till today.

So here’s what we have…

This is looking toward the south end of the porch (right side of the house).  Jasmin has a little area where her toys are stored in the Dora toy organizer that our neighbor gave us.  Her toys aren’t really organized because she has a lot of little things she likes to play with…so we just keep them in the bins and when she wants a toy she knows where her stuff is.  The chair is a super comfy chair that is broken…the foot does go out when you recline, but it’s been sat on and is bent…and today with a lot of effort, I jammed it back in so you can actually get in and out of it with out killing yourself!  And the side table matches one in our living room.  We’d like to replace these…we’ve had them for a long time…but since we are still using one, we are making use of this one on the porch.  The easel is one I had bought for my classroom, it’s a little messed up, but Jasmin loves to draw on it.

As I was cleaning and sorting this week, my goal was to get all the LEGOs out of the boys’ room.  We accomplished that yesterday in the four hours that we I spent cleaning their room.  If they had actually helped, it probably would have gone a lot faster…and there was a lunch and a diaper change in that four hours!  Anyway, we removed every single LEGO piece from that room and ended up with 4 containers plus (all the stuff they had built that they didn’t want to take apart yet).  We do have many LEGOs downstairs in the play room, but in the summer, the playroom of choice is the porch (now that it is clean).  So I decided we had to have a way to organize the LEGOs…and we drove to Big Lots to see what we could find. We found this 7 drawer plastic storage bin for 17.00. We decided it would be great with the different size drawers.  Then I had found as I was cleaning two containers from IKEA that had never been used that were perfect for all the tiny pieces.  The boys are very excited to have all their LEGOs organized…Now if we can just get them to put them away and keep them organized…we might have a lot less sore feet around here!

The other half of our porch still has some things we are storing…I have about 4 boxes of school stuff that I will take back with me in the fall.  And there is a project I started and haven’t finished and some extra chairs…but for the most part it’s pretty much cleaned off.  We have a table and a dresser filled with books and art materials.  I have also set up the top for easy access to paper, markers, stencils, crayons, etc. for the kids when they want to do something crafty.I feel great that I got this accomplished today, though there is so much more to do around here.  But we are all excited about having this extra room to play this summer.

Parenting is hard.  It’s complicated.  It’s unpredictable.  I have been challenged in the past 2 weeks.  We anticipate summer vacation, but once it’s here…we have a lot of adjusting to do.  Our kids spend about 4 hours on school nights with us.  On weekends we often go do something together, but it’s very laid back, usually.  When we are done with school…it’s a whole different thing.  Now I am spending 12-14 hours a day with them (most days).  I’m primarily the one who maintains the home, disciplines the kids, motivates them to do chores, school work, exercise, encourages them to get along, sets the boundaries, feeds them, plans activities, etc.  All of this is an adjustment for them…but it’s an adjustment for me, too.  Not to mention the fact that our kids went from spending about 4 hours together a day to 14 hours!  They are getting used to each other again too.

This week has been a difficult one.  I have wanted to give up.  I feel totally inadequate.  Some days are better than others of course, but there are days when I just wonder what I am I doing wrong.  I can’t believe my kids could be so selfish, so unforgiving, so impatient, so inconsiderate…I could go on.

Today, I stumbled across a link on a blog I visit regularly.  It’s Kids of Integrity. There are 16 different lessons. I am very excited about the quality of the lessons and the great ideas to teach my kids these character traits.  This is really lacking in our family.  I mean, I think we kind of just expect our kids to learn these things at church…but we aren’t really “teaching” them.  So I am going to make the effort to begin these lessons with our kids this summer.  We are going to start with generosity.

I had this pair of jeans

that were too short on Jasmin.  They fit her in the waist, but are way too short to wear. And I had this shirt.  It was an old shirt of Savannah’s that I really loved.  I saved it for Jasmin.  And yesterday I found it sitting in a bin in a closet and thought, hey…I could use that shirt to fix up these pants so Jasmin can still wear them.  Here is the shirt.

Cute, right?  And the thing I love most is the crocheted border and the cute little flowers.  So I cut them off and made these adorable shorts.

Now Jazzy has a new pair of shorts to wear this summer and aren’t they so cute?  I even had a couple of flowers left and sewed them on the back pocket.

I was hoping I would have something important to blog about.  It’s just not coming to me.  The last 2 days have not been real eventful.  The kids have been having a great time at Kidz Kamp.   It’s been nice having a quiet house for a good chunk of the day.  Jasmin is really fun when it’s just me and her.  Monday, we hung out and I cleaned during her nap.  Today we actually dropped her off at the babysitters and Sam and I went out for our anniversary (which was Saturday).  We went to Gaucho…it was a delicious lunch.  We didn’t eat anything the rest of the day…except till about a half hour ago when I made an egg sandwich.  By the time we got home, it was just about time to go get the kids from Kidz Kamp, so I didn’t get much done today except some laundry and the dishes.  We’ve been making plans for this weekend and thinking about getting ready for Family Camp. I am so excited about that.  We missed it last year.  So…anyway, not much news to tell, maybe tomorrow will be different.

Not much went on here today.  We got up and went to church this morning.  Apparently the service was a funeral??? but I didn’t get to hear it. I might listen to it from the website, because now I am curious to know what it was about.  I worked in the 2 and 3 yr old nursery this morning.  It was fun I guess.  I kind of like seeing how Jasmin interacts with other kids her age.

We had hot dogs for lunch.  I took the kids over to a friend’s house to play this afternoon.  It rained most of the afternoon. Sam, Jasmin and I took a nap.  We made the kids do their homework when they got home, ordered pizza and I think we sent them to bed after that.  It was not really a fun day.  The kids had fun with their friends.  It was not fun to me.

I am in a yucky mood.  I am feeling discouraged and like giving up on trying to do whatever it is I am trying to do. I wanted every day this summer to be an adventure.  I have tried to make a schedule, which has been a challenge to try to keep.  I have created a chore system which we did nothing with for the entire weekend! We bought workbooks for the kids to help them to review what they learned last year and get ready for the fall…and we are already behind.  More than all that…I want to make memories with my kids.  I have a lot of ideas I want to try…but everything is such a challenge.  There is always at least one kid who doesn’t want to do it, they are constantly fighting…or else they are pushing each others’ buttons on purpose.  It’s so mean. Why do kids have to be like that? I know they are still getting used to being around each other 24/7, but I am so frustrated that I apparently don’t know how to deal with them and help them to get along with each other.  And on top of all that…my house is in worse shape than it is when I am working.  Life is just not easy today.  So I am glad that today is almost over.  Maybe tomorrow I can have a better attitude and make it a better day.