Catching up....

Yeah, so I'm still not back in the groove of blogging yet, but I'm working on it.

Six weeks of school knocked out already. Benjamin is off on yet another ridiculously far away soccer trip today. Kaitlyn has auditioned for and thinks she will be on the LMS media team (they do a morning news report over the closed circuit tv system at the school). Shelby had a field trip to the Agrirama on Friday. Emma is trying her best to convince us she needs to stay at K-4 all day long. I asked her what they did in the afternoons and all she said was that they took great naps.

Let's see...GIGS is history for this year. Glad that Jared and Nicole got to come down for that weekend. Benjamin and I met Jared and Nicole for a ball game last Saturday. It may have been at Turner Field, but we went to a Cardinals game. That was the first time I had seen the Cards play since when? 86? 85? Somewhere in there? Thanks, Jared and Nicole, for that wonderful birthday present.

I am finally over my cold. I didn't realize how sick I was until I started getting well. Maybe that will be it for this year (lol). At least no one else has come down with it yet, anyway.

Supper is ready. Got to go for now.

Yeah, yeah. So it's been a year since I last blogged. Well, I'm back.

We just returned from our annual summer pilgrimage to Missouri. It would not be fair to call it a vacation, for that might imply we rested and were relieved of stress, etc. Going back home is always a whirlwind trip, but this one especially so because of its shortness. We left last Wednesday after making the decision to go on Monday evening. Let me just give some miscellaneous notes regarding the trip. That might be simpler.

• My cousin Jason was in the hospital in West Plains. He is doing a little better, but he is still up there as of right now.
• Brianne and Brendan were there. Kaitlyn spent the whole time with Brianne, Emma spent the whole time with Brendan. They had a blast.
• Grandma LoLo whacked herself in the head with a 1x6.
• Ear drops in eyes? FYI to all, Poison Control Hotline # is 1-800-222-1222.
• Seed ticks. And bigger mosquitoes.
• Cardinals baseball.
• The second hardest rainstorm I have ever been in on the way up, 2 hours of pre-dawn lightning on the way back.
• Benjamin driving 142. Need I say more? (Well, probably for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about.)
• Emma finally went potty, ending a string of non-travel bathroom breaks which lasted nearly a year. Last October when the girls and I went up for the Dellhalf meeting, we stopped in the McDonald's in Opelika, which had an auto-flushing toilet. Emma is terrified of auto-flushing toilets, and therefore refused to go the rest of the way up there (another 10 hours or so). On the way home, she didn't go at all. Up there and back in November, she held it. Up there last Wednesday, same story. We were getting ready to stop for lunch (in Opelika, coincidentally) on the way home on Monday, and Emma "offered" to go potty. "I'll go potty if we stop at a restaurant." OK. Who can blame her for not wanting to go in a gas station? I pulled into Chic-fil-a and she said, "No, a restaurant that doesn't have fries." She associates the auto-flushing toilets with fast food restaurants. So, we went TO Longhorn and she went AT Longhorn.
• Speaking of which, the McDonald's in Alexander City, AL. Don't go there.
• I left the power cord for my computer at home. Not fun.

Well, you get the general idea. A typical trip. Thanks to Ron for teaching for me last Wednesday, Jim Gore, Jr. for teaching for me Sunday morning, and to Jim Lee for taking care of the preaching on Sunday. And thanks to Brandsville for letting me preach up there on Sunday morning.

On tap for the rest of this week: VBS at Lake Park and painting the bathroom(s). Next week: cleaning up paint.

An Ode to Silence

For the briefest of moments this afternoon I panicked. There was no sound of running or playing, laughter or fighting, television or radio. As a matter of fact, there was no sound at all, save the soft humming of the refrigerator, the rhythmic tick-tock of Grandmother's clock on the wall, and a faint rumble of thunder in the distance. I quickly regained my senses, however, and had the sudden, strong urge to cry out, "GOD BLESS THIS FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!"

Benjamin Update

Benjamin in the news again....

http://lowndescounty.ga.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/whatsnew/default.php?sectiondetailid=1499&id=1602&viewType=detail&PHPSESSID=c9bfbd620996c1752722e4527e7fd83a

Monthly Update (or so it feels)

A friend asked this week why I hadn't blogged in a while, and I replied that I had nothing to say.  (Aren't you proud of me, Lindsay? See http://lindsayandwillis.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-need-less-of-that.html)

Let's just start the rundown with Stacy.  She finished finals about a week ago, and has another couple of weeks until her summer class starts.  However, any free time she might have had is been rapidly eaten up with the end-of-school rigamorale, and plus, she's been working ridiculously long hours trying to get through the end of the school year at GCS.

Next, Benjamin.  He went to the Georgia FFA Convention a couple of weeks ago, where he won 5th in the junior woodworking project in state (1st in area).  That, of course, has him all pumped up about FFA.  We attended the chapter banquet with him last week, where he received his Discovery Degree, then went to the LMS awards night this past Thursday, where he received the "Outstanding Agriscience Student of the Year" for the eighth grade.  He also finally managed to destroy the phone he got for Christmas, but is too busy playing on his iPod Touch to really notice.

Then, there is Kaitlyn.  Kaitlyn won the DARE speech/essay competition for her class, and so she got to read it for the DARE graduation.  She did a wonderful job, not that I expected anything less.  You can tell that school is almost over for the year because all of them (but especially Kaitlyn) have turned into very grumpy wild animals in the mornings.  Thankfully, only 5 days left for me to have to rouse them from their slumber.  Some mornings, I fear for my life.  She did very well on her CRCT scores, missing the elusive "E" in math by a mere 5 points.

Shelby.  Shelby also got her CRCT scores back.  She got an "E" in everything but one subject (can't remember which), which she only missed by 4 points.  Her math score, wow, it was impressive.  She got to go on a field trip to the Okefenokee week before last, where she said she has never seen so many gators in her life.  She was sick last Monday and missed getting to see Mrs. Norris, who dropped in for a visit.  Understandably, she was very upset.  Incidentally, she and Kaitlyn are both running fevers today, which I'm just pretty tired of.

Emma.  Emma's third birthday is less than a month away now, and like all 3 of her older siblings, she shows no interest at all in learning to use the potty.  (LOL.  That makes it sound like they still don't use the potty.  They do, but none of them started until after they turned 3.)  She's just too busy for such trivialities.  I've been trying to bribe her with M&M's, but no luck.  Stacy said she would give her a puppy, then I think she realized what she had said and has since been silent.  Emma has been pretty rough on the puppy she has here lately.  Poor Bindy.  Yesterday, when Shelby's fever was approaching freakishly high levels once again, she was seen to put her hand on Bindy's forehead and say, "Oh, no.  She has a fever.  We need to go to Doc's."  Yeah, that's just what Doc needs.

Speaking of Dr. McNeal.  Before we went to Orlando last month, I was heard to say that I dreaded boarding Bindy because I would have to listen to Doc complain about how fat she is.  Well, thank you, Shelby, for running to her and telling her that at church the very next Sunday.  And yes, I had to listen to that and much, much more.  (She was only 7 pounds overweight this time...what's the big deal?  That's only 1/5 her body weight.)  Anyway, Emma and I had to stop back in a couple of weeks later, and the girls at the office just had to take her back to show her all of the various animals that were there for a visit.  Doc offers Emma a sucker, then tells her to get some for her brother and sisters.  Emma reaches into the drawer and grabs a big handful, and I tell her to put them all back but four.  Doc insists she needs much more than that.  "Oh, take more than that, it won't hurt them."  Poor Doc.  I lit into her.  She's got my dog on a diet of one little teeny tiny cup of food per day trying to take some weight off of her, and then she's trying to fatten my kids up!  Go figure.

Well, I guess I'm last.  It's spring project time at our house.  I finished up my quarter teaching at GSOP, so finally had a little slack time.  The bed situation at our house was untenable, so we decided to move the girls' trundle bed into Emma's room and put a bunk bed in their room.  This story really has three facets, so let me handle them in order.

First, the removal of Emma's crib.  It was all I could do not to cry.  That crib has been in almost constant use since 1995.  First Benjamin, then he moved into a "big kid" bed so we could put Kaitlyn in it.  Shelby remained in the bassonet for a while, then she moved into it.  It was in constant use from 95-03, and I'm pretty sure someone borrowed it between 03 and 06, but I can't remember whom.  It was sad to take it down for the final time, but Lord willing, it will have some grandkids in it one of these days.

Second, dad isn't here.  Seems like nearly every spring we have a project going on, and nearly every spring dad shows up in time to help with it.  But their schedule has prevented them this year.  That's OK, dad, I'm sure we can find something for you to do when you do make it down.

Third, the actual bunk bed.  We looked at a bunch of different ones and decided exactly what we wanted.  We also decided that we did not really want to pay what they wanted for them.  So, you guessed it, I'm building a set.  The lumber has been purchased and we've begun working it (thanks, Mr. Ron, for the use of the planer, joiner, and table saw), but not very quickly.  Lots of sanding to be done, and too many evening activities going on right now.  I will post a picture of the finished product, but not one of what it is supposed to look like, because odds are, they're not going to match (please don't tell Stacy I said that).  Meanwhile, the girls are relegated to sleeping on an air mattress in their floor.  We did get their room painted, etc., etc.  (If you knew just how much I hate painting, it would begin to give you an idea of just how much I love my wife.)  So their room is ready, I just need a couple of days where I can get out there and finish prepping the lumber.

Well, for someone who didn't have anything to say, I think I've probably said too much already.

Another Wild Weekend

Grandma Lolo, would you believe we carried the camera all the way to South Florida and back and never took it out of the bag?  (She's wanting pictures.)

This was an Emma weekend.  The rest of them stayed with James and Lori.  I understand there were some toothbrush issues, but other than that, everything went well with them.

We went with the GCS chorus to Stuart, FL so they could sing.  We were "invited" to go along several months ago because they knew that Terry and I were good friends.  Deland asked us if we wanted to ride the bus with the kids.  Umm, let me think about that...no.  We ended up driving Jim Lee's truck down there with the risers in the back.  That was great for Emma.  Her carseat went in the back seat in the middle.  She could see everything and was so excited.  All the way down there she kept exclaiming: "There's the bus!  Follow the bus!"  She also thought it was great when Stacy would recline her seat.  She kept pinching Stacy on the shoulder with her toes, then emitting the most evil little laugh.  And, come to think about it, she spent a lot of time in conversation with her toes on the way.  Hmmm.  Perhaps the evil little laugh came from the toes?

We got to Stuart and even though she (probably; with kids, who knows?) did not remember Britt Hunter, they took off together, and the two of them had a wonderful time.  We spent the night with Terry and Teri.  Emma loved their dog Chloe.  After church she kept asking if we could go back to Teri's house.  Teri knows how to spoil two-year olds.

On the way home, after the bus broke down, Jim decided he wanted to drive his own truck home from Lake City (can you believe the nerve of that guy?).  Emma thought that was great, too.  I'm pretty sure Jim knows how to spoil two-year olds, as well.  Anyway, we did have some issues with that, because for some reason, she insisted on calling him "Jim" as opposed to "Mr. Jim."  I don't know what was up with that.

It was a great trip, but we were all a little bit tuckered yesterday.  Hopefully, today we can begin to bounce back.

Spring Break Recap

Kids always think Spring Break is such fun, especially when an extra day is tacked on.  Yes, the elusive "100 Year Flood" struck Lowndes County, providing a bonus day to their break.  Never mind what that extra day does to a parent's nerves....  Actually, it wasn't too bad.  Everyone was well (yay) and well behaved.  We never reached the point of running them all out of the house just for a moment of silence.

On Thursday, we loaded up for Orlando and Lads to Leaders.  It was a good convention, much better than last year, at least for us.  Last year was just utter chaos.  We literally pulled up in time for Friday night's big gathering last year.  Going down on Thursday made a huge difference.  The kids all did their speeches and song leading, and they all did very well.  Congrats to Benjamin on his second place speech.  As far as good times go, though, the high points of the trip was also the simplest.  On Thursday night we loaded up and went to Olive Garden with Ryan, Nikki, and Carla (and all the kids).  Olive Garden was horrible, but the 2 1/2 hour ordeal was worth getting to spend some quality time with our good friends.  Then, in the mornings, several of us guys met and drank coffee.  I can't remember who all participated in that, but I know that at one point or another, Clark, Mark, Jubie, Ryan, Charlie Copeland, and Mike Johnson showed up.  Throw in a couple of quick trips to Sea World on Thursday and Saturday afternoons, and all in all, not a bad little trip.

That is not to say, however, that it was not without its difficulties.  Emma ran a fever all night Thursday, then had quite the upset little tummy.  And it stayed upset until this past Wednesday morning.  I had a touch of the bug on Friday, Stacy on Saturday and Sunday, Shelby on Sunday night, and now Benjamin.  Of all of us though, Benjamin has been by far the most affected.  It is no fun to be sick, but especially on your birthday!  He did, however, get what he wanted for his birthday.

This week has been filled with the usual craziness.  We just started getting Emma better, then Benjamin gets it.  I've been doing (or at least trying to do) a lot of catch-up work.  Last night was week 5 of this quarter at Georgia School of Preaching, and on that subject, let me a quick shout out to Paul Copeland for teaching for me last week.  And getting ready to head back to Florida.  This ought to be an interesting trip.

One more note to add.  We now have a refrigerator raider.  Four kids, and we finally got a refrigerator raider.  I haven't managed to get a picture of her yet, but she just opens that door up and gets whatever she wants.  I will keep working to capture that.