Caden / Coldness & Procrastination / Colorado Dreaming

 Caden, 7, sweet little man... the only boy in this house.  He is by far the easiest of my kids in many ways other than being heavy as lead.  He is thick and stocky and has been breaking my back since he was a baby.  Well, not really... I haven't carried him for a long time.  He is simply too heavy and has been since he was probably about three years old.  

This is how he dresses EVERY.DAY.OF.HIS.LIFE... no joking... minus the hat.  If he could get away with wearing a three piece suit and tie everyday, he would... even Summer.  I don't let him.  It's either this or his red bandana cowboy shirt and boots.. or his pirate clothes... or his knight costume.  He likes to look good and many things about him remind me of my daddy.  He looks like him and makes many of the same expressions... rough skin... thick as leather fingernails... and a little bit vain.  It makes me laugh a bit.  

He is tenderhearted and quite wimpy.  If he thinks he is going to have to take a spanking for punishment you can bet he is going to work himself into such a fit that most of the time we can't bear to spank him.  The girls are not this way.  He nearly hyperventilates.  He cries when someone else gets in trouble and he is seriously afraid of any pain.  Trying to get a sticker out of his foot is like holding down an octopus.  Just yesterday he swallowed one of his own teethe because we could not get him to pull it and it finally fell out while he was easting.  We are still begging him to pull the other tooth that is barely dangly in his mouth (Wimp!)  When he was about two he had to have a particle removed from his eye and it took five adults to hold him down.  He's incredibly strong like his daddy.  

With four sisters he has spent many days in princess clothes and getting his nails done (Daddy put an end to that.), but he is all boy.  One minute he is a ninja or has one of his sisters in a headlock or wrestling on the trampoline.  He is drawn to all things boyish.  The very first time he went outside with his B.B. Gun he came back with a dead bird.  I was horrified, yet had to tell him awesome it was.  He shot that thing out of a tree!!  At 7 years old he did that without ever having practice.  

He is a charmer, too.  He has all the ladies and girls "oooo"-ing and "ahhh"-ing at him since birth.  He is a hunk of cuteness!

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Coldness and procrastination... these are the two things on my mind.  I have so much to do, but it is so cold I just want to sit here near the fire and chill out.  I should be organizing and cleaning while I can... or, at the very least, cooking for dinner.  

In Texas we just don't do cold well.  It is very humid, so the cold here is bitterly wet.  And today it is raining and cold.  It has been a drizzle of rain all day.  I wish the temp would just drop another 10-15 degrees and it would snow, but alas... this is Texas... Southeast Texas.  It is not likely we will get snow.  One can dream.  And I have been dreaming....

This time of year I always get a little fever... not a temperature fever, but "Colorado Dreaming" fever.  I want to go to Colorado so bad this year I, but it just can't be done.  I want to feel the snow, see my kids amazement of it all, sled down a hill, drink hot chocolate with frozen fingers, and all that fun stuff.  I am dealing with it, though.  In fact, I am loaning out our snow stuff at Christmastime.  At least, someone will get to go to snow and that family has never been... ever.  That brings me joy!  

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So, I guess I can't procrastinate for too long.  We have family coming in this week and I have dinner to cook for tonight.  I am thinking of a soup of some sort, but I have chicken breast out and thawed.  Usually, I would go in the direction of gumbo, but I think I will make a chicken and rice soup with fresh bread.  If I am going to cook dinner and do some more cleaning/organizing I better get on it.  So, here I go.....

What I Did This Morning!

I have been getting a lot done.  Most people would not want to post about the disaster around their house, but it is part of my "real" life.  Since we started our homeschooling journey a couple of years ago maintaining the clutter and cleaning has taken a backseat on the journey.  We still try not to be too terribly awful, but with six people in the house it does not take much for the disaster to take over.  And so it is a gradual process to find the house underneath it all.  ;) 

It is those little things... you know the mail is delivered and you stick it in a pile.  As the month goes you realize you have a three inch pile and at our house payday is once a month, so I handle that area of life only once a month.  That means that all the junk mail is there in that stack, if I have not removed it as the mail comes in.  Don't get me wrong... I skim through the mail to see if there is anything important in there that I need to see immediately and deal with.  If time permits I weed out the junk mail and trash it, but everything else stays in the pile.  And so it is with many things that come into the home.  There are the Sunday School papers and Wednesday church class papers.  Of course, the kids come home with many works of art and you just can't chunk them in the garbage as your child is handing them over to you.  You have to hang on to it awhile, then slip it into "file 13" (a.k.a. garbage can).  There are the special projects we start that simple take up room like the Pioneer wagon we are building.... verrryyyyy sloooooowwwlly.... over the course of the last three months.  There's the stack of coupons that get accumulated by the bread basket.  And some how there is all the stuff that ends up in the bread basket that is not in anyway related to bread.  Clutter!  It just accumulates.  Awww.... and I have to mention the refrigerator.  It is the place the kids want to display their artwork even though we have other designated places in the house.  And it is the place that a new snapshot of photo from a friend lands.  Every so often I ambush it and wipe it out and discover there is in fact a refrigerator underneath it all.  Today was that day.  Now I have to clean the outer surface because you really just do not realize how grimey it gets even under the pretty little photos. 

So, this is how our "relaxing" Spring Break has gone so far....

• Saturday I spent the day cleaning CONSTANTLY, but I will say this.  That is the only day I am going to spend like that.  It was ultraproductive; however, with less than two weeks until my due date I just think it is not the way I should spend my days.  It was an extreme day of THIRTEEN HOURS of straight cleaning.  I only stopped to eat meals and it is the first time in weeks that I have not gone outside to even check on the bunnies (the kids and hubby did, though).  And being that I have had some sinus issues you would think it would have been way too hard on me, but fortunately this pregnancy has been kind to my energy level.  Still I do not want to spend all my time cleaning and not enjoying.  Note:  This was our one hour focus day for the three bathrooms... we went over that time because let's just say an adult male member of the family is very slow at cleaning and became quite obsessive.
• Sunday... ahhhhh, a day of rest.  Not completely, but I did only do a small amount of projects and our one hour focus day room was the living room.  I purposely assigned this one to Sunday because we had little to do in there and I thought we could do it in half the time allotted.  But did I mention that adult member of the family that is very slow at cleaning?  Well, let's just say in my preggo state I can work circles around "someone" and I had most of it done in 30 minutes while he was dusting approximately eight shelves.... I think he finished in about an hour and a half.  And so, later that evening I decided to go ahead and do the dining room by myself even though it was the one hour focus room assigned for Monday.
• With Mondays focus room done that means that today I can busy myself with various little projects adn trust me there are plenty of those around here to keep a girl busy. 

But what I really want to tell that I did today was...... drumroll, please..... SLEEP !!!  I do not sleep well in all my roundness and this baby is all in my pelvis, so I have a lot of hip pain when I sleep.  About every hour I awake hurting on one side and roll very awkwardly to the other side heaving my body/belly with all my might.  ;)  And then there is my squished bladder.  It seems this little miss is only requiring it to fill to one ounce or so at a time, so that keeps me up even if the hip pain does not.  As of last Wednesday I had a sinus/head cold set in that makes it impossible to breath... as if my lungs were not already restricted.  :)  Truly I awaken about every hour, but generally I am fortunate that I fall back to sleep quickly.  So, I am missing out on sleep, but still getting enough overall.  This sinus thing had my throat sore last night, so around 3:AM I got up and had some hot chocolate and did some reading for about and hour.  I went back to bed and sleep until daylight o'clock (whatever time that was) and got up.  I went to lay on the couch and read another birth book ("Silent Knife").  After awhile everyone in the house was awake and migrated to that very room to watch some cartoons.  As I lay there I started to doze off, so I looked around and all were entertained and Daddy was there... soooooo... I WENT BACK TO BED !!!  I still awoke periodically and did my whole flipping thing, but would doze back off and I did this until..... drumroll, please..... about 10:AM !!!!  This is huge because I am one of those "get up with the sunshine" kind of people and our whole household is that way.  My husband was not, but he has had to adjust due to little faces coming in the room and putting their little faces in his and saying, "It's morning time Daddy!" or "Wake up Daddy!" (in ultra cheerful little morning people voices).  Sleep... it really is great! 

Frugal Series: Hotels

I haven't done a post in a while on being frugal, so I am thinking that after vacation would be a great time to post about hotels. Now let me explain the difference in being cheap and being frugal in regards to hotels.

Cheap is what we look for when we are just needing a place to pull into around midnight, pass out, and get back on the road the next morning in a hurry. The price can go as low as your imagination allows as long as it is a clean place. In this circumstance I highly recommend that you ask to see the room BEFORE reserving it for the night, if you should find a room for say... $39 or such. Believe it or not there are some decent ones, BUT we typically go the frugal route. Mostly, because it is too hard to find a room that is cheap and clean.

Frugal is when the price may be higher than we want to really spend, but the extras offset the higher cost. For use this means usually paying $60 - $100 a night (usually on the $70 - $80 range). What we look for are hotels that have breakfast included. For our family we would easily spend $20+ if we had to eat out for breakfast the next morning. We also like to have a room with a microwave. We always travel with a cooler, but a mini-fridge is a nice bonus, too. A microwave is great for travel meals. What I mean by "travel meals" are things that our family does not eat a lot of on a normal basis, but can be made quickly, heated up easily, or eaten cold. A few examples are: canned soup, ramen noodles, popcorn, pre-cooked items from home (bbq sausage, etc.), canned veggies, sandwich items, oatmeal, etc.. Another option that is a money saver, but I confess I have not done is to go to a nearby store and buy frozen dinners to heat in the microwave. I am not a fan of these, but sometimes the kids think it is ultra-cool.... for now anyway. Probably twice in my kids existence we have purchased Kid Cuisine meals and they are cheap and highly appealing to children. They get to pick out their own meal complete with dessert, so it is a great way to make eating frugal fun.

The point is it needs to be a great place to stay that caters to families. Last winter the kids and I went with my husband on a short business trip. We stayed in a Hilton in downtown Houston. The staff was so "uppity"... you know... "snobby". Obviously, they are accustomed to serving clients that are there on business, but acted like the kids were a foreign species. We walked up to a pastry counter and, as kids will do, mine put there hands on the glass and peered in. They were in sheer delight and awe until the lady behind the counter asked them to not touch. Seriously, I know they probably left a handprint or two, but what kid would not touch the glass. Rude... rude is the word and disrespectful of children. I felt like my kids could not speak while we were there. That is just not the type of place I want my children in. Also, there were no microwaves and no breakfast included. There was a mini-fridge and it was stocked with drinks and snacks, but the prices were outlandish.

This past weekend I had to choose between the convenience of being on-sight at the THSC Conference hotel or staying at a more family friendly hotel down the road. I am so glad that we chose to stay off-sight at The Best Western Woodlands. They had a nice warm pool outside. I say this because many of the more expensive hotels we have stayed in have indoor pools, but are often chilly. We appreciated the warmth. We had a microwave in our room and a mini-fridge. Our room had free Wi-Fi internet, iron and ironing board, blow dryer, tissues, coffee and coffeemaker, soap dispenser, as well, as soap and shampoo dispensers in the shower. There was nothing missing that we could have needed. The breakfast included homemade Texas shaped waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, various jellies, plain and blueberry bagels, toast, danishes, mixed tropical fruit, four cereal choices, 2% and whole milk, orange and apple juice. On one of the days the sausage and gravy were replaced with hashbrowns and grits to give some variety. If you did not have your own computer the hotel also provided one in the lobby for their guests. The staff was friendly and always nice to our children. And this is our experience at all such similar hotels. Two other hotels we stayed in this Summer were equally as great, so I want to mention them, also. The Holiday Inn Express and The Hamilton Inn.... these two were a little more upscale having all white super soft bedding and choices of soft and firm pillows, but the hospitality and family friendly atmosphere was there.

There are so many great hotels that are like this. Comfort Suites, Days Inn, and many others should get a mention. Make sure on your next trip you consider all these factors. The ONLY drawback for our family was having to commute daily to our conference. We were two overpasses away... a mere 15 minutes including parking the car in the free parking garage at the conference site. Not only do I feel we were good stewards of our money with this choice, but our kids experienced a good family friendly staff at our hotel.

Stuffing Six Into A Hotel Room With Two Beds

We are back from the THSC Homeschool and Family Conference and mostly unpacked. Oh yeah... I remembered what I was missing in the packing... and before we left. Yeah! It was a sleeping bag. When you have four kids and two adults to stuff in a room you have to have some extra bedding or two rooms. Since my children are so young there is no way we are opting for the extra room option. Even if we had two adjoining rooms I would not be able to rest with the possibility that one of them could just wonder out of the room. What we do for now is usually create some bedding or use a sleeping bag on the floor for my three year old. But you have to make it feel special! So this time I moved a chair out of the corner and put a sleeping bag folded into fourths in the corner. I then moved the chair back up to it to enclose it in like his own little room and told him he had his own little "man cave". He loved it and thought he had the most special bed in room! I soon realized that his corner bed was beside a nightstand that made it even more cave-like. He truly thought this was the coolest bed ever and would beg to stay in there. After awakening one night and getting in bed with us he soon realized he was not in his "man cave" and cried to go back there where he promptly fell right back to sleep.

Normally, we put Sahara in the bed with us. This time the room had a little bench seat in the foyer of the room. So, we moved our bed over a few inches and slid the bench in like a co-sleeper. We pushed the bed up firmly and used an extra blanket from the hotel room closet for more padding. It made the perfect little bed for her. The first night she crawled off the end and went walking and I awoke in horror to her screaming and looking for us. I retrieved her quickly and cuddled her into our bed and she fell right back to sleep. On the second night I just pulled her into bed with us from the beginning, but to my amazement on the third night she slept in her little bed ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously, you have to know that this is a girl that is quite use to her place cuddled alongside her Momma in bed. She must have been exhausted! Hmmmm.... I guess a day a waterpark, followed by three days at conference, ending with a evening concert will do that to a girl. ;)

Anyway, I just accidentally "published" this unfinished post, so I will quickly rap this up. The older girls (six and nine) shared a bed and me and my husband shared a bed. Of course, part of the time we shared our bed with the kids, but hey... we had some moments with only three or two of us in the bed.

Hmmmm.... What Am I Forgetting?

Well, the packing is done and we will head out tomorrow morning to the THSC Conference. We are packing SUPER light for this trip and it has me thinking, "What am I forgetting?" Seriously, I have:

• one small suitcase with all the kids nightclothes & underwear/diapers (I like having all the bedtime routine stuff together
• one small plastic tote with all the personal hygeine items for us all
• one small suitcase with Sahara & Caden's clothing.... five outfits each
• one small suitcase with Sierra & Savannah's clothing ... five outfits each
• a duffle bag style suitcase for me... I like the big pockets in each end & side for seperating personal items... like make-up (argghhhh)
• another duffle bage style suitcase for my husband
• one computer case with my laptop & the mini laptop inside... yes, both will be stuffed in the single size laptop bage ;)
• one battery/electricity operated cooler..... because we got tired of buying ice & throwing away food on our five week vacation.
• a couple of very small beach totes for our waterpark venture
• A mesh tote bag with all our swimsuits
• Two small individual baby backpacks for the two little ones.... includes daily supply of diapers/undies, emergency clothes for Caden, tiny toys, Fun Pad & crayons. I will also be adding Dum-Dum suckers & Smarties, as well, as raisins, etc. for moments of desperation to quiet them if necessary. ;)
• The stroller.... is still up for debate whether to bring it. I am leaning toward doing it. I think it will be a bad move if we do not. Hmmmm...
• Okay, I think I need to add my purse.... and a box of "stuff" for my older two kiddos (books, coloring, small toys, etc.).... and some food is on board.

Okay.... okay. I am off to bed. That helps to clear my mind. And there is always a Wal-Mart/etc. right around the corner, right?!

THSC Conference

We are getting packed up for the THSC State Convention and Family Conference. We just got in and haven't even finished all the unpacking! Wow! This is pretty crazy. I think it would have been easier to go straight from our other vacation to the Conference, but my husband wanted to travel via our family van. We had a great trip with our bus, but we have spent the last five weeks in it and everyone is ready to travel in the van. The funny thing is after we get on the road they are going to remember how tightly we all have to be in the family van and they may be wishing we were back in the freshly cleaned up bus! Ha!

We are really looking forward to conference. My two older kids are ready to be spies on a mission for God and my two little ones are ready to crawl all over us while we are attempting to listen to the workshop speakers. You just never know what it will turn out like when you take your little ones. I have to get them a little activity pack prepared before we go. At the conference we usually split up and my husband takes one and I take the other. It is yet to be determined who will take which one. Last year I took Sahara, since I had to do her nursings. This year she may tag with Daddy and switch it up a bit. She is quite a handful, though.... I might take her to avoid Daddy having an anxiety attack! ;) I am also especially looking forward to seeing the Saturday night program with The Redhead Express. I know my whole family will enjoy that I think it will be quite inspiring for my older two who are interested in learning to play fiddle.

Anyway, I better get off here and pack. If we left right now we would only have nightclothes and underwear for the kids. That is just not gonna work! Let me know if YOU are going to the conference, also.

Unintentional Blog Abandonment ;)

Wow! I can not believe it has been so long since my last post. It happened like this... I was busy packing and preparing for a long vacation. I thought that once we got on the road I would be posting to my blog some, but I did not realize that having an internet connection in State Parks would be such an issue. It makes sense that you go camping to "get away from it all", but somehow I just did not think of that. My only other option was to borrow my husbands iBaby (iPhone) and ... well..... I think calling it his iBaby sums it up. Let's just say that some people have a hard time letting go of their iPhone even for brief periods of time.

This is going to be a short post. I mainly wanted to let anyone that is still out there following this blog know that I am still here and have not abandoned this blog. Also, I hope to see some of you at the Texas Homeschool Coalition Convention at The Woodlands, Texas this coming week. At some point I hope to share with you all some of our Summer ventures. We have been everywhere! Or, at least, it seems we have been everywhere. I'll tell you this much now. We went through eight states starting in Texas and up to Michigan and back down to Texas in a big loop. We camped mostly and we had a variety of experiences on this trip. I can't wait to share some of with you. I'M STILL HERE! .... now I have to go read YOUR blogs that I have missed reading....

I'm Dreaming Of.....

SNO CONES!!

...but believ it or not, these are cupcakes. I was looking for a sno cone graphic and came to this site. And no, I do not normally post about things like this, but I am captivated by the ice.... no, I mean icing... or is it ice.... I am sooooo confused, yet my mouth is watering looking at these! LOL!

Anyway, I was thinking since we have a house full of sickly ones with fever that I might load them all up tomorrow for a trip to the snow cone stand in the next town. They could use some time out of this house even if it is just for a ride in the car. Can't wait to surprise them!!

What's your favorite flavor?

Ours is Ice Cream with Cream.... YUM!!!

Spring Break Fever!

I thought I would share a little run-down of our Spring Break with you! Cody arrived home from work on Friday and we were so ready for Spring Break. We were excited at the prospect and had a plan to go camping at some point, but no definite plans for our NINE DAYS. Yipppeeee! As a last minute thing, Cody and Savannah were asked to take part in some preparations for our church VBS program on Monday through Wednesday. We had checked the weather forecast and it showed rain, so it all sounded like a it would be a great plan to do our usual weekend thing (Saturday hang out at home, Sunday church & maybe visit friends), then spend the first part of the week preparing for a simple camping trip to be taken at the end of the week. This would allow Cody and Savannah to do their VBS things.

Here's how it has played out so far...... Friday we just hung out around here and even had some movie time while I started doing laundry catch-up. Saturday was pretty much the same with some organization projects thrown in and a grocery trip to Wal-Mart. Sunday we got up and went to church, then came home. Cody had the itch to do some visiting with friends, so he called his sister... no go. I called a friend... no go. We decided that hanging out at home would be fine aand it is a good thing we did.... sometime that afternoon we realized Sierra was quite warm and this is where it all began....

Sunday = Sierra fever
Monday = Sierra fever, Cody & Savannah at church some
Tuesday = Sierra fever, Cody & Savannah at church some
Wednesday = Sierra fever, Cody & Savannah at church some
Thursday = Sierra's fever SEEMED better & since cabin fever was hitting us all hard we decided to venture out two blocks to the theater for a movie. For the record I did think this was a bad idea, but I caved under pressure. Came back home. Noticed Sierra was really hot. Checked her temp = 103.2 . Touch a couple other foreheads and thought they seemed warm, too. Caden's temp = 102.6; Sahara's temp = 102.6 ; check Savannah "just in case" = 100.4 !!! Yep! We have Spring Fever at our house.... only I don't think this is what that phrase usually implies! ;)
Note: I am leaving out all the details of the nighttime duties involved with Sierra's fever this week. ;)
Friday - Sunday = So, guess what our plans are now? Na-da, nothing, zilche.... just taking care of my feverish bunch. I was so excited that Cody would get to go to a co-op session for Friday... not now! Okay, so God is teaching me something here. I know He is. I'm listening God... You have my attention.

Really.... my family has battled illness since we began homeschooling. I thought this would not be a problem once we switched to homeschooling, but I was so wrong. Actually, I came to the realization about a month back that God is "growing me".... I think God is letting us experience this to show me a valuable lesson (and, of course, not to just torture me). I can just kind of hear him asking me, "Okay, Shannon when all is well and perfect can you do this? What if there are hard times? Do YOU have a plan? Or do you want to follow MY plan? Oh yeah, YOU have a new schedule and plan for what YOU think YOU WANT to do? Okay, what if the two babies are sick and screaming while you try to follow YOUR plan? What if one of the older ones is sick and throwing up... Can you do it? Is YOUR plan working for you?...etc." I really think God is trying to teach me and in a major cram session, I might add. I am listening and I am learning so much, but unfortunately I do not learn as quickly as some might. ;) I learn to follow HIS plan and within a few days I am back to MY plan... never mind the fact that MINE does not work out. I guess, it is just familiar territory and His plan is new territory for me. I do not intentionally ditch HIS plan. I even like HIS plans better. I am learning... ever so slowly... and He is speaking to me... I've got to do more than listen, though. I have to be obedient and trust in HIS plan.

And by the way, the Bible study I have been attending is really tying in with this perfectly! Amazing how God puts us where we need to be! Thank you God for being patient with me.

Frugal Series, Part 7: The Bus

A [fuzzy] peek inside the bus (taken with a hubby's iPhone). Pardon the pic quality, but this pic will give you an idea of what the inside is like. Both sides have 8 seats like this and then, 5 in the rear... pure openness... Hallelujah! At the front I plan to put up a guard/gate of some sort, so the kids cannot enter the driver area while we are going down the road and will keep them away from the door area (even though they can't get out). I like safety!

Hmmmm... I am not sure how frugal buying a bus is, but long term I believe it is. You have to have "vision" for the future to see how some things really are frugal when they may not seem so at first glimpse. I say this because dipping into our emergency funds is may not be the best thing we could have done... The verdict is still out on that and only time will tell if it turns out fine. I am confident it will because I believe God has and always will provide for our real needs.

We chose not to finance the bus. My husband said that we would not buy if we were going to finance it. If you have been following my blog I have recently posted about how we are attempting to get debt-free. The only thing we have left is our mortgage and we are working on paying that off as early as possible. One rule of thumb that I am following is to put back three months worth of paychecks into a savings as and emergency fund in the event it is needed. I had just recently reached that goal along with having some other pre-planned annual expense money set aside, also. The goal is to NOT touch that money... Ooops!

So, how is spending part of that money "frugal"... well, I am so thrilled you want to know. It is because we will not be throwing money away on finance charges and interest!!! In the event we have an actual emergency we could simply sell the bus (I don't think we will need to resort to that) or finance that "emergency" or form another strategy to deal with that issue. I'm only going to hash out that issue if I have to..... so, let's assume it will not happen. ;)

And the information everyone seems to be interested in is.... Just how much did we pay for the bus? Was it a bargain? Well, it's like I told my husband.... if I don't think it is a bargain then you know I wouldn't buy it! He knows all to well how true that is. These buses sell for $50, 000 and up when they are new. I am not sure really, but they are not cheap and I have not been able to find a "bargain" on one in the last few months of searching. We bought this used bus from a church that had it on a dealership lot. They were asking $7,900 for it. Now, I am not one to try to bargain with a church, BUT my husband did NOT want to buy it. So, he says to me, "If they will take $6, 500 we will do it... no, no... if they will take $6,000 we will do it." So, I called the man and told him that I was uncomfortable asking, but that my husband said we would do it for $6,000... to which he said he thought his church would go down to $6, 500, but he would ask if they would go lower. He would have to call me back... during this time I looked at my husband and asked if he was really serious, because if he was not he was wasting our time and this man's time and they were obviously willing to negotiate down to what we were willing to pay. In fact, they were needing to get rid of it due to health problems of their current driver and no one else wanted to be the new driver. So, the man calls back and says his church said they would sell for ....... $6,250 and we could take it home that day... on a Sunday (Lord forgive us for dealing on a Sunday, but we had to get back to Texas). In the blink of an eye we swapped some information, signed a few quick papers and we were outta there with a bus!!! It went so smooth and easy! I think God sent us there the day we first saw it... because that town was not even in our plan to go through. I think God greatly honors that I will wait for his blessings. I am not always patient, but I will wait and we get blessed double from my point of view.

So, since I shared all my financial details here I have a question, too. Do you think it was a bargain? It does have 103,000 mile on it, but it is in great condition. It's a 1994, but has been well taken care of... No, it's not all shiney in and out, but it satisfies us and we are happy with the imperfections because they are minor things to us, like the dirver's set needs a seat cover and there are some discoloration to the plastic from aging (yellowing of the white interior) and one of the headlights could use a fix-up. The heat is superb in it and it runs great and everything in it is "clean-able". I am going to have to spend close to $100 to add another stripe where the church name is all the way down the side (not shown in photo because I blocked it out). And I plan to add seatbelts to it, also (for some of the seats, at least).

We are also loving it already. We drove it around town to "check it out" a bit more. And last night we drove it to the relatives, because they all wanted to see what kind of bus the crazies had bought. To their surprise they loved it and this weekend we are going to incorporate it into my nieces thirteen birthday celebration. She wants to take all her friends for a ride because she thought it was way cool that her craZy aunt and uncle have a shuttle bus!! Ha! Who knew buying a bus could make us "cool" with the younger crowd! LOL!!

In reality this bus could be used as an investment, although we purchased it for our personal fun for travel. Apparently, there is a whole market for a sort of limo-bus service for proms, wedding party transport, and other groups and my husband already has a CDL license, if he needed it to chaffeur such events. So, you see this really could be a frugal purchase!!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not...

He LOVES me!
...and he thinks I'm C~R~A~Z~Y !!!
...yet, he's crazy enough to go with my crazy ideas...
...and just look at the "souvenir" we picked up on vacation

...and No, it's not a motorhome.

It's a bus.... Yeah, that's what I said...

a BUS !!!

.... and the kids are so thrilled to have their very own

"school bus"! (not quite a big yellow dawg, but they think it is).

Tonight we went for a drive and they were counting all the seats!

So funny! It has TWENTY-ONE seats! LOL!!!

So, guess what everyone is asking us???!!!

I bet some of you know... are we planning to have that many kids?!! HA!

... the answer to that one....

(drumroll, please)

NO! and NO WAY ! and triple NO WAY !!! ;) LOL!

I don't think we are quite that c~r~a~z~y, just yet.

Although, just for the record I do ADMIRE those of you who have that goal and working on it.

So, the deal is I have been looking around for a small motorhome, so it would be easier to travel. The thing is that I have done some motorhome travel with my parents in three different motorhomes and it is just not completely my thing. I pretty much like that you can get up and walk around in motorhomes and go to the restroom. I don't like falling into counters and cabinets and hitting my head on cabinet doors and trying to microwave things going down the road ... and I have no interest in dealing with septic systems and such (although I would if necessary). Anywhoo!... I wanted one of these motorhomes that is the size of a large van, but they are all cabinets, bathroom, sink, stove, bed and not enough seating for all of us. We need SEATS!! Not 21 of them, but we need SOME seats and I like the idea of having the flexibility of taking more than just our family. That would just not be an option in one of those mini-motorhomes. In my search I started seeing these buses. I know it is strange, but I also noticed that some of the larger families use them (much larger than I aspire to be... wink-wink). Still I did not like the rows of seats, so I was not sold on that idea either... UNTIL I saw some that have the seating along the perimeters of the bus!!! How perfect!... I mean, in my crazy mind. To me that was the perfect solution. So, in this bus there is a driver seat and in addition to that EIGHT seats along EACH side and FIVE seats along the back. That leaves the rest all open room and that is a space about 4 foot wide and who knows how long! I am c~r~a~z~y ELATED!!!

This means that I do not have to bend over the back of my van seat with a headrest pertruding into my abdomen as we go down the road trying desperately to reach all four children to hand out drinks and snacks while meanwhile my husband hits a pothole or swerves while he is daydreaming in his posh little driver's seat and wondering why on earth I could be screaming in pain as my feet fly in the air and fall into the space between the two front seats!!! Yippppeee! I'll miss that you know! ;)

There is no plan to "convert' this into a sort of motorhome, but one of the great things I like about this bus is that when we are going on long trips we can just grab the mattress off one of the kids beds and put it on the floor in the back! When we are done it can just go back in the house. Another thing I LOVE about it is that there is no carpet in it. That means it will be easy to clean and there will be no worries of staining... and we can just enjoy it worry free. I can't wait to take a vacation!! Whoo-hooo... now I have to start planning.

Frugal Series, Part 6: Vacations

I was planning to post a humorous account of past frugal vacations, but that might be a book all by itself. ;) Since we just went on a short little road trip vacation I thought I would share my favorite frugal tips. I must admit we are NOT being our usual frugal selves on this trip. There are times when we do a lot of picnics (or eating sandwiches as we ride). This time we are making the eating out portion of the trip one of "activities". So, here are my tips for when we are being frugal:

Lodging

1. Look for a hotel based on cleanliness above all things. With that being the first priority all other things can be overlooked. Generally, we are not too picky, but if you are you might be surprised to find that you can find a great room at a bargain price. Search our newly built or newly renovated hotels. A few years ago we took a group family (3 families total)trip to Silverton, Colorado. Two of the families stayed in a little cabins for about $70 a night (and they were well worth it), but we opted to stay in the newly built little motel across the street for $50!!! In the cabins they had kitchenettes, but we had a microwave ane I rationalized that we could just eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches and midrowaveable meals for lunch, and spend our $20 savings on eating out (at that time there were only four of us).



2. Stay at places that offer a FREE breakfast... and I am NOT talking about a danish or donut. Many motels and hotels offer a free breakfast with a good variety of healthy filling choices with your stay. You might pay a little more for the room, but you save in SEVERAL ways. You save money from not having to eat out breakfast for a family. You save time, energy, and grocery expense bringing and preparing your own breakfast. Many five star hotels are fabulous and frilly, but I have to say I would trade them anyday for a more family friendly environment. For instance, during the homeschool conference we attended in August we opted to stay at a cheaper motel a mile from the conference hotel. Yes, it would have been convenient to stay on-site for access to the conference, but where we stayed our breakfast was provided with a nice dining area to enjoy it in outside our room. We also had a microwave in our room for easy meals or snacks (popcorn, ramen noodles, can soup, or warming meals) and a mini-fridge for food (of course, we always bring a cooler, too). Usually, rooms can be booked for $50-80 depending upon location. Places like Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, etc. are the ones to look for.


3. Use Priceline, Orbitz, etc. to search for a hotel/motel and read the RATINGS and COMMENTS. Sometimes you can get a great bargain from booking through these sites, but always cross search the hotels actual site. Sometimes it is just as cheap or you can join special rewards programs for free to save money or get a free night.


4. If you are going to a conference you must compare the "conference rate" to the hotels regular rate. Often the "conference rate is MORE. If that is the case simply book your room without mentioning the conference. If you are asked if you are attending a special event just state that you are vacationing or something of that sort.

Dining Out

1. Know your bargain options for eating!!! That is the biggest thing. Know the specials and dollar deals for the chain restaurants. Examples are: Jack-In-The-Box has Chicken sandwiches and burgers for $1, as well as, other options. Wendy's has a great $1 menu including bacon cheesburgers and chicken nuggets. Burger King has Whopper Jr. for $1, etc... Subway's $5 foot longs are a great option. Little Ceasar's always has Hot-N-Ready pizzas for $5 each. McDonald's has a little known secret... 10 piece chicken nuggets are a little over $5 a pack, but for about 50 CENTS more you can order a 20 piece (TWENTY!!) For a "classier" restaraunt my BEST and FAV tip is Johnny Carino's on MONDAY nights. The have a special that you can order the Grandissimo portion for the price of a regular entree. We go there and order Chicken Parmesan Grandissimo plus 3 salads (99 cents each) with water to drink and it comes with all their fabulous bread you want. It feeds us all and we sometimes take how leftovers and all for under $20, plus we leave a tip. Also, most restaurants run their best specials on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Tuesday the slowest day of the week for them, so you see a lot of "kids eat free" specials on Tuesdays.


2. Skip the "meal deals" and drink drinks from your cooler or order water which is much healthier. Totally skip the kid's meals (unless you find a special price).


3. Check the hotel phone book for a "coupon section" and use those! That IS what the coupons were meant for... to be used.


4. Pack snacks and a cooler with drinks and EASY foods. I always pack drinks, milk, lunch meats, weiners, jelly, mustard, mayo, favorite snack crackers and chips, animal cookies, and bread. I sometimes pack gogurts, pudding packs, fruit cups, cereal bars, cereal, fruit. Remember the little things like a knife, can opener, plastic ware, disposable bowls and plates, sippy cups, napkins. Along the trip I save my extra napkins an ketchup, etc. more because of the convenience size during travel. Don't forget the fun extras like hot cocoa and marsmallows (big & little).

Route

1. Choose the less popular destinations. If you want to simply go play in the snow, but do not want to ski... then avoid ski resort areas or choose a nearby town... or a smaller ski resort area. If you are a beginner skier try out something like Wolf Creek Ski Area as opposed to Aspen. Avoid the most popular destination locations unless you are wanting that experience... like DisneyWorld... in that case the only way you are going to get DisneyWorld is at DisneyWorld. ;)


2. Be willing to drive a little. You might have to pay $100 a night to be right at your destination, but if you are five minutes away you might pay $75.

Camping

1. Stay in National Forests for FREE... if you are willing to rough it!


2. Choose "Primitive Camping" in a State Park or RV Park... again, only if you are willing to rough it!


3. Choose non-chain locations to save money. Typically, KOA campgrounds (etc.) or much higher than individually owned non-franchise campgrounds.

***And do not make any large purchases... uh-hem... like a BUS when you are on a frugal vacation... LOL! See my next post dedicated to the bus purchase and how that is actually frugal, too!***

Let It Snow!

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful,

but the snow is so delightful..."

We were in Houston when it began to snow and Houston is just not the place you want to be if you have to be on the freeways with the possibility of "black ice" (icy roads). With careful consideration we decide to head home much sooner than planned. We drove through the snow, then out of the snow, and then the snow came to us about ten minutes before we got home.

In the spirit of posting about holiday traditions and to go along with my Frugal Series I thought I would post a recent picture of our home. And this is an extremely rare site to see our home with snow falling! Yippee!! Being that our home was built in approximately 1905 I have always wanted to hang simple green wreaths from the windows with red ribbons, so last year I added these to our holiday decor. The top window is missing it's wreath, but it is waiting patiently inside the window [sigh]. Don't you love those little details that get forgotten?! :) If you look close you can see our tree glowing in the back window. We have a traditional GREEN tree with white lights and it is decorated with an assortment of holiday ornaments. Every year my mother buys the kids a special ornament and we hang the breakables on the upper limbs and the nonbreakables on the lower limbs. I also usually buy the kids an ornament or get a family ornament when we have a new addition, but I have done neither this year... and I may not. That is okay because my mother is doing that tradition, too. I don't think the kids will mind if I take the easy road this year. ;) Each year my husband and I (or just me) get the tree up and check the lights (when I feel like venting I will give that topic it's own post... ahem), then the kids help put the ornaments on. If it is cold we have a fire going, possibly have some hot chocolate and/or roast marshmallows in the fireplace... this can vary year to year... we just take it as it comes and do what we feel we can manage. Another fabulously tacky thing I started last year was add SILVER TINSEL all over our tree. My husband was less than excited until he saw the lights come on and the whole tree looked as if it had twinkle lights on it. Now if I can get my hands on that tacky angel hair... hmmm... do you remember that stuff? It makes the lights "glow" and is beautiful with multi-colored lights. Ahhhh... the memories. We did some weird things with our tree as a kid. Back to the topic at hand and maybe I will post about our tree as a child later. I have quite a bit of Christmas decor now, but I put less of it out as time goes by. I tend to favor the more simple things now like green garlands over the interior windows and wreaths throughout the house... faux holly on the lights (another frugal thing we did was replace our candleabra lights with flourescent a few years back... so tacky, but frugal... we say they look like "running lights" on a boat.. it took awhile, but you get used to the strange look... I think..) Hmmmm... funny how doing this post and reflecting on our traditions in our home has made me want to get the rest up.... THANKS TARA & ROSSIE (and others). I needed that! I need to go get all my garlands put up... I have lots! Our icicle lights are not up either... the lights are my favorite thing!!

This funky action shot is Savannah and Sierra building a snowman by the side of the freeway.... sad little snowman, but the kids were thrilled. I convinced my husband to stop and let the kids play awhile just in case we did not get any snow at home. I sat in the van mostly with Sahara while Cody froze outside with the other three kiddos... LOL!

At home we got out our snow wear and this is Caden making a snow angel. I love how they look so cute stuffed in their snowbibs and coats. We are Texans at heart, but hit the road to Colorado every chance we get (hence the snow wear). I would love to live in the valley in Colorado... maybe one day we might.

Conferences Is Over!

We are still in Houston at the SETHSA Conference, but it is over! Whew! No one mentions how tiring it is. I heard all about how it can be life changing and refrshing, but not about the exhausting part.

I have to say that I did enjoy it in the end, but it started out as kind of a let down to me. OOOOhhhh... did I say that?! I am being totally honest here, so I hope I do not step on anyone's toes. The first two workshops I went in were just not worth my time and it is sad to say, but it seems that much like the public school system we are so desperate to gain knowledge and encouragement that we will take anything we can get. I have never mentioned on my blog that I used to work for Region 5 Education Service Center in Texas in the Special Education & Pre-School department. I used to put together Conferences and Workshops for the public school system. Ok....Ok... yeah... my husband and I are a strange pair for homeschooling.... a public school teacher and an ex-ESC employee. Given my experience I know good speakers are few and far between. I think I thought that it would be different and better in the homeschooling world! And much to my suprise there were actually Presenters that were public school teachers who had never homeschooled. On day two for the first workshop I chose I got one of those.... Do I have to tell you how fast I walked out of that workshop! And after some thought I realized why the Presenters name was so familiar to me... I think the ESC had used her for workshops. Her information was good and useful and I will keep the handout, but I didn't come here for something I can get in a handout. I am way to informed for that. I want to hear from someone that can speak about the experiences I am going through! I am not writing this to focus on the negative side, but I think it has to be said that as homeschoolers we need to expect more! Make sure that when you got to Conference this summer or in the future that you GET what YOU go for! Keep your focus on what you want to attain and search it out... and don't be afraid to POLITELY walk out and look elsewhere. And on that note... I do not want this to turn into a rant so off of that and on with other things.

When I walked out of that workshop I meet two amazing ladies in the hallway. I did not initially realize that they had also walked out of the same workshop. We began talking and I got more from talking to them than they will ever realize. We exchanged names and email addresses and I so look forward to contacting them in the future! I also met another lady that just moved to Houston from Oklahoma and immediately noticed some common ground. I only wish I was nearby to offer her some support.... maybe through email will be enough. I can't imagine being a newbie homeschooler and new to the area, also. I think I can put her in touch with some people or just be a friend and that is all great. We exchanged email, also. My husband met some guys, but of course God will have to work a miracle because men do not exchange contact info. ;) It did my husband good to talk with some guys involved in homeschooling. Of course, now my husband is more aware of the nerdiness factor for male homeschoolers and we will be on a mission to make sure my son who is surrounded by girls will not be a "weirdo" (husband's qoute). Uh-hem.... I am totally on board with that, too. It is a great thing to be a Jesus Freak, homeschooling, individually different, and kind young man, but you can do it and look good at the same time.... ya know! My goal is not to raise a total "momma's boy", but rather to raise a man that can lead his home when the time comes. I challenge you as mothers to do the same. They are with us so much that this will need extra emphasis and even so much that I am going to have Man School for my Caden. Watch for coming blogisodes of Man School coming soon! LOL! ;)

What was good at the conference? Seeing other homeschoolers, being able to look through the materials on display, and the freedom to drag your kids along through it all without concern for what they SEE or that they are a bother to others. What I mean by that is that is nice to be around people that enjoy being around kids! The speakers that I saw that were good were Charlene Notgrass and Rosie Watson. And I will go into that more in a future post, but for now I "should be" packing, so I have to keep it short. The speaker that I saw that was GREAT was David Hazell. He is the co-founder and co-writer of the My Father's World Curriculum. Once I skeptically wandered into "a guy's perspective" workshop I went to all his workshops from then out! I did not expect it!!! I totally got more out of one hour with him that I got out of the entire conference. Awesome! I will blog about it all later.... gotta run before they kick us out of this place!! Hehehehe!!

Yearly Schedules

In our short homeschooling journey I have been pondering schedules lately... not just the day to day rituals, but rather the Yearly Schedules. I think this is pretty radical for a newbie homeschooler, but I am thinking of schooling year round. My thoughts on this are:

• We could avoid the Summer Memory Loss Syndrome and avoid so much focus on reteaching those "lost" skills.
• We could feel free to take days or weeks off at leisure throughout the year without worrying about "getting behind". On days we have appointments we could just take the whole day off without concern and enjoy or venture out if the house. I could call a cleaning week break... or day.
• When we hit the "blahs" we could have a "holiday" and address the issue causing the "blahs" and start again refreshed.
• I still would seperate school years sometime in the Summer with a one-two week Summer Break.
• I am thinking of using the whole month of December to focus on mostly "Other" activities. At our house that is stuff other than the 3R's. Maybe do the 3R's one or two days a week during that time to keep it fresh.
• I have heard of people doing 6 weeks on and 1 week off, etc. Those intrigue me, but with a toddler and baby in tow I like the idea of waking up one morning and looking at the chaos and saying, "No school today. We are going to focus on ______ today." If someone is sick, we can have the flexibility to deal with those issues.
• ...and on and on and on.... :)

For all my loyal commenters out there what Yearly Schedule do you follow? What makes it work for your life? Do you like flexibility or structured? Or both combined? Do you have any tips for my Random Yearly Schedule?

I have to say that I am a person who desires structure; however, as God has blessed me with children I have had to be willing to change a lot. Since we began homeschooling I have struggled with my desire to be structured, but be flexible. We drop everything for "company". I want my kids to value relationships and not have their head in academics all day, but how do you do that and stay on track with academics. I think the key for us will be to spread out the academics year round.

As I Was Saying.... Crazy Texas Weather

As an update to my previous weather post about our crazy weather.... It is with very little suprise to me that it now cold, wet, sloshy, rainy, and just down right dreary! A cold front moved in on Wednesday night and it has been continually drizzling rain. I don't mind cold and I love the rain, but not like this. It makes me sad for those of you that have this weather all the time. God bless you!!! But here is the funny thing about Texas... Come Monday (when my husband is back to work and his Spring Break is over) the temperature will be back to the sunny 7o's that we had for the first half of the week!! C~r~a~z~y~!

Is it really a BREAK ?!

Well, I mentioned that my husband is a teacher, so we will be following the local school calendar for our homeschooling for the most part. It is Spring Break......, but is it really a break!? Come on now... you know what I mean, surely! We all have such high hopes of accomplishment and relaxation during what is "supposed to be" a break. Take a day like today. We slept in until 8:am because the clock in the bedroom did not get reset. I was trying to let everyone rest up for our busy day. The problem with sleeping in is that we had doctor appointments starting at 10:am and needed to allow 40 minutes to get there... So, that gives us just over an hour to get six people dressed, fed, and packed up for an all dayer (new word)!

Anyway, so today Sahara had a follow-up appointment for an ear infection at 10:am and Savannah had a check-up at 10:40 ... both at the same office, but seeing different doctors. Afterwards, we went to Office Depot, Goodwill, had a picnic and play time at the park, hung out for a while at Barnes & Noble, picked up a gift at Lifeway Christian Bookstore, proceeded to the mall where we quickly hit about three of our fav stores, ran (yes, I do mean RAN) through the mall to get back to our car (that would be our exercise for the day.. HA!), loaded all kids in the car to change into gymnastics leotards, went to gymnastics (hubby went in, I stayed with two exhausted sleeping babies in the van), went to Wal-Mart for groceries for tomorrows day trip, came home to a quicky meal, bathed two of the four children, put all kids to bed, now I am blogging and hubby in shower (my turn next for the shower).... I won't even go into to what still has to be done to prepare for tomorrow..... going to the BEACH!!

That's right just another relaxing day at the beach tomorrow!!! You think? When pigs fly!! Actually we are looking forward to it, but for many more reasons than one might expect. You see we live in the path of Hurricane Ike and we have been very anxious to get down to the coast to check out the damage. We also plan on having some fun with our family while educating our children about hurricanes and compassion, etc. I will do a follow-up post. I expect a very emotional day and I can't wait to share it here on my "little blog".