Golden Birthday

This little guy turned 12 yesterday. Can you say spoiled? He loves to burrow in warm laundry so the dryer ran almost constantly as the kids kept him well supplied with warm beach towels. 

The blue penguin he's snuggling is his newest addition to his collection of friends. This one has an empty water bottle on the inside so he can crunch on it. The kids put treats inside it so he's really lovin' it. 

Birthday dinner was a fresh lamb and veggie medley and homemade peanut butter banana ice cream. For the birthday boy, that is. Us humans stuck to turkey burgers, rosemary garlic potatoes, and s'more ice cream cake~ yum! 

Happy birthday to the most loved Hosmer in Hosmerville!!!

On The Road Again

One of the things I was most looking forward to this summer was getting back on a regular running schedule.

The RunKeeper app is one of my absolute favorite apps to use. Call me a geek, but I love seeing my route & other info after a run and tracking my progress. 

My little running buddy got out with me on National Running Day. I had so much fun with her. 

I think I'll be sharing the road more often...

Obligated

I've lost my blogging mojo. It's been over a year since I last posted. No inspiration. No desire to write. And now I finally drag myself over to Hosmerville....

My password wouldn't work. The format looks different. I feel like I just walked "the blogger's walk of shame". Guilty. 

I've gone this long without posting, why bother? But now that life has settled down a bit and I have the whole summer stretched out before me maybe I can start again.

Now where's the "post" button...

Award Recap

The kids and I did their "special boxes" today. I save the best and most memorable trinkets, papers, art work, and certificates and keep them in Rubbermaid containers for each of the kids, aka "special boxes". I used to drive myself nuts with the random piles I'd create as I set school work aside to later put in their boxes which are stored under their beds. It's much easier to move piles to and fro as I needed counter or table space for other projects than to just pull the boxes out and deposit special items as they came around. 

In my mind, at least.

About a year ago I hit upon a system in which I stash all said specialties in an empty kitchen drawer until drawer gets so full that I can't close it. Then I'll pull out all 3 boxes and the kids will reminisce as I transfer stuff from drawer to box, using my beloved Sharpie to mark the dates and translate kindergarten scrawl. I know, I know. I'm a little OCD about said system, but it works. 

So humor me.

Anyways, the end of the school year last week also meant the influx of all classroom related papers, projects, and paper mache (not really, but I was going for alliteration and needed another "P" word). I planned an "organize special boxes" into our 2013 Hosmerville Summer o' Fun knowing:

1. I haven't added to these boxes since we moved nearly 10 months ago &
2. That when the kids came home those last few days that their backpacks would be full~to~bursting. 

Today was that day.

We sat down and went through a school year's worth of goodies (but not before having to pull out treasures from years' past and then pile them NOT IN ORDER!) *ahem* OCD mom attempted the "it's chill" mom mindset for oh, all of about 5 minutes before she couldn't handle her carefully chronologically ordered special boxes being reduced to piles of  8 and 6 1/2 years of chaos. (You can guess which of the kiddos were reliving the good ol' days of their childhoods with me.)

With the End of the Year Awards Ceremony still at the front of my mom brain, I'm jotting down the awards my prodigies offspring received. For years~down~the~road~reference only, of course. And definitely not so this momma can brag;)

Austin:

• Principal's List: All A's
• Star Reader 
• 4th Grade Obedience Award (based on Hebrews 13:17)

Audrey:

• A/B Honor Roll
• Silliest Robot (in the robot building contest)
• Rising Reader
• Super Reader
• 2nd Grade Faith Award (based on Hebrews 11:1)
• Perfect Attendance for the ENTIRE school year

Lexi:

• Principal's List: All A's
• 1st Grade Obedience Award (based on Hebrews 13:17)
• Perfect Attendance for the ENTIRE school year

The girls were overlooked for their perfect attendance during the awards ceremony but when their report cards came and I saw the mistake we stopped by the office and they were sweet enough to double check their records and print off certificates.

And now that the special boxes are back in birth~through~respective~ages order and my kitchen drawer is clutter free, I'm breathing easy again.

Road Trip

With the promise of salt water taffy and all things sugar, Tom and I managed to lure the kids out of the house for a quick road trip to Jefferson, TX. We checked out a few antique stores before making our way to the Jefferson General Store. The kids were like kids in a candy store. Literally. We browsed for a bit with the kids in awe over candy cigarettes (with the boxes saying "just like dad!"), the enormous jaw breakers, and the bacon flavored everything. We bought ice cream cones from the counter and then huddled under the awning while waiting for a brief thunder shower to pass. 

Our impromptu trip into Texas was ill~timed as all the other little shops along the main streets of Jefferson had shut down while we were wandering around in the general store. With the three kids crammed in the back of the Challenger and all of them claiming boredness and starvation, the Mean Parents, aka Tom and I, thought it would be the perfect time to extend our road trip and check out Carthage. Shortly after we moved to Shreveport, I rented had rented "Bernie" from Redbox. It was only after Tom and I started watching it did we realize that the movie was based on a true story out of Carthage, TX.  After a quick drive around the historic town square, it was evident that downtown Carthage was not the place to be on a Saturday nite. Alas, our excursion yielded no Jack Black or Matthew McConaughey sightings either.

With the A Team threatening eminent demise if they didn't eat Right.That.Very.Minute. we grabbed a table at the Jalapeno Tree. The complimentary chips and salsa and serve~yourself soft serve ice cream would've been good enough for me, but my kids wanted "real food" (as opposed to fake? I dunno.). The food was some of the best Mexican I've ever had. But I gotta admit, the pictures Tom snapped with his phone while we were waiting for our table are even better. Fun times in East Texas, for sure!

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Survival

Summer break is 6.5 school days away. But who's counting? I have been pulling together summer activities, events, and schedules in an attempt to organize the highly anticipated upcoming summer season.

Summer in Louisiana will be new to us. Well, mostly. We rolled into town mid~August last year and got a taste of a high humidity/high heat Louisiana summer. Or maybe that was just the sweat pouring down our faces. Whatever.

At any rate, my summer mission is "keep~the~kids~busy~yet~cool~so~we~don't~veg~in~front~of~the~tv/ Ipad~all~summer~long~all~while~staying~within~strict~budget~confinements". Missions this big and cost sensitive require intense planning and preparation. And this mom is determined that all of the "2013 Hosmerville Summer Fun" not break the piggy bank. Lucky me, tuition down South is paid in 10 monthly installments so I have 2 months' worth of tuition money to work with. Some mom at the school must've realized that not having to pay tuition over the summer months equaled more money in the budget to spend on summer fun. Smart mom. 

Looking at the vast offering of summer camps (art, drama, music, dance, sports, barrel racing and calf roping~ whaaaaa?!?!) I quickly realized that even with 2 months of tuition funds to work with, my kids would be home bound, or at least not camp bound, for the entire summer. *sigh* Time to get creative. *SIGH*

Who am I kidding??? Creative to me is defined as "get~on~Pinterest~ASAP" and "when~all~else~fails~give~a~shout~out~to~all~your~facebook~mom~peeps~and~beg~for~ideas".

So, after much googling and link clicking and pinterest browsing, and facebook soliciting, I have pulled together a "game plan" for the entire 76 days of summer break. From "school gets out" to "school begins".

For the first time in, like, forever the certified teacher in me has taken over and I have written my days out in a loose lesson plan style (no objectives {unless I could throw in a generic "the student Hosmers WILL have fun}, no transitions, no evaluations.... it is summer after all;) And I am so confident stupid that all projects, activities, and events will be executed perfectly according to schedule that I wrote my plans in ink.

Here's to the start of a really great summer 2013!

Order Up!

Audrey and Lexi were playing dolls yesterday and came out of their room requesting marshmallows. They claimed their dolls were "hungry". I directed them to the pantry, where for once I had exactly what they wanted.

A short while later, it became apparent that "snack time" had morphed into "let's~mix~these~marshmallows~up~with~water~and~make~a~big~mess time". I caught on and nixed the experiment before it turned into "mom~cleans~gooey~marshmallow~out~of~the~carpet time". 

The girls took their concoction to the table. Audrey tasted it and pronounced it, "Good!" (with just a bit of surprise in her voice). She offered me my own dish, but I politely declined. She turned to me and said, "I can make four things now." Ticking off on her fingers she counted:

1. eggs
2. bread (aka toast)
3. ummm, ummm..... {so I suggested, "pbj?" } Yeah, pbj!
4. thinking for quite awhile, she finally said, "Those things that look like donuts except they're not..." {hmmm, searching my mind... bagels?} Yeah, bagels!
5. and don't forget marshmallow goo. So actually, five things my little chef is proficient in making.

A short~order cook is born. I'll let her make dinner tonite set the table tonite.

It's A God Thing

This month has been ridiculously hard, financially speaking. It's the first month we have been supporting house (in Michigan) and home (in Louisiana). From the beginning, the numbers didn't add up. And it's been scary.

I looked at our monthly budget and the needs of my family. And they didn't add up. I'm not talking a dollar here, 10 bucks there, tweak, twist, turn and.... voila! the budget is balanced. Nope, not even close. From my human perspective, meeting the most basic needs of my family without going into debt looked impossible. I was going to need a God~sized miracle to get through the month and stay "in the black". 

I said, "Well, there's this need...". And God said, "Done." I said, "... and there's Austin's birthday, I'd like to make it special". And God said, "Provided for". And I said, "But what about....?".  And God said, "Trust Me".

And I am only sharing something so personal because I HAVE to testify, I HAVE to give thanks, I HAVE to proclaim God's goodness and faithfulness. Because, you see, it's only the 22nd of the month, yet God has provided so abundantly that ALL of my family's needs (and some wants) have been met NOT ONLY for the month of February BUT ALSO for the month of March!!! 

Jaw dropping. Head shaking amazement. Speechless (almost;).

Can I get a "Hallelujah! Praise God! Amen! Amen! AMEN!!!"?

"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full- pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap..." Luke 6:38

Put A Lock On It

I'm pretty sure I know why all those antique wardrobes and armoires had those pretty locks on their doors and drawers. It must've been women who owned these pieces of furniture. And these women must've had daughters. 

I was rushing out the door the other day and went to grab my Old Navy zip up jacket. It's gray, multi~colored flower pattern goes with just about anything when I'm going for the "sporty" look. 

I searched the laundry room (spot #1 for outerwear I am currently rotating through). Nope. Nada. 

I dashed to the hall closet (spot #2 for outerwear when I have enough ambition to actually hang it back up after wearing). Nope. Nada. 

I didn't have time to look further so I grabbed a different jacket and ran out the door. 

Several days later, me and my crew were headed out, yet again, and I glanced up to see Audrey walk through the kitchen with MY Old Navy jacket on! I said, "I've been looking everywhere for that jacket!" She replied casually, "Oh, I've had it in my room."

 And so it begins.