Update

I need to do a book review, but I thought I'd do a quick update first. Although actually, you'll read this last after the book review. Which needs to be because the book review needs to be on the top. Which is about how well my brain has been working lately. Slightly below the working level of my computer which works fine unless we want to send or receive e-mail messages, and then it jams up and goes into hyper slow mode, til we shut it down (which takes awhile) and restart it. Are we talking about my brain or computer? I forget already.

Last Friday night we went to an Awesome production of Frog and Toad!! It was excellent!!! The whole family went, plus 2 kids had friends with, and G & G W's went, and Papa K went. A crew! Darling was a bit of a project while watching it, but thankfully I had about 3 sticks of PEZ in her bag that she went through.

Friday night and Saturday morning we finished Duke's Derby car. His original plan didn't work, so we had to come up with plan B - An aquarium car. It was a hit at the Saturday morning derby, which was fun for him. Middle kids don't get to have tons of attention very often. Here are pictures from the Awana Float-a-Boat and Derby. Dh didn't spend much time this year with aligning the wheels, so they weren't quite as fast, but the kids had fun, and they still have the cars and boat for a memory. :-)

Dessert being the wind behind his sail:

Dessert and his patriotic boat:

Duke's Aquarium Car with a live Driver!:

A close up of the driver :-)

Deer's Button Car:

Deer's Driver interview:

Saturday afternoon I caught up on laundry and kitchen cleaning. Boy, can 9+ people make a mess in 24 hours. Whew! Then Dh and I went to drop off Dime at a friend's house, Drum at Papa K's to work, and planned to look for some lost paperwork, which turned out to be back at home. Oh well. It was nice to get to talk with no interruptions.

We had alot to talk about, because my Dh told me he got laid off his job on Friday. Oh, brother, or bother, or bummer. He's 450 on the union list - not likely to be going back to that job. Dh's looking for work out of state or a different job, or anything that pays enough to live where we are. What are we going to do? I don't know. Sometimes this week it feels like I got hit in the stomach, othertimes I feel just fine because I know God still cares for us, and I'm grateful for the most important things in my life - Him and family. I know there are so many other families out there who need jobs, and want jobs to support their families, so I feel almost guilty for just wanting a job for us so we can keep living like "normal." I hate other people knowing he is out of job, because I want to be the one blessing others, not feeling like I'm needy. I hate the feeling like others are critiquing what I'm buying or wearing or doing or spending money on. Besides these frustrations, our washer has been spilling gallons of water occasionally (it doesn't stop filling), and I am missing an important piece of mail that I might have lost or might never have received, and Darling has been sick and not sleeping well (but we got an antibiotic yesterday, so hopefully that will be turning around soon), I still can't kneel on my knee-cap, no push-ups (Dr. says - when I was there with Darling - might be patella fracture or bone bruise - not much can do - should heal in 9 mo. to year). Not really major issues when I think of others who deal with death of a family member, and huge marital problems, etc.

Last night we had our end of the year speech party. Which the kids enjoyed immensely. Dot did a musical slide show presentation. It was a hit! She is always coming up with some interesting learning project she does on her own. ie-let's figure out how to make a mini-movie (pictures and video clips set to music.) Her wireless thingy broke last week, so they are sending a replacement, but until then we had to get creative to figure out how to get the pictures from off the e-mail and web and onto her computer. But!! Due to amazing technology and a friend's suggestion - she and I did it!! with the aid of a flash-drive. I am still amazed at her techno, computer knowledge. Great job, Dot!!

I better get that book review up, and then get to my long list for today. I took Darling up the hill to Grandma's for a break (for me), so I better get this done soon, so I can get to my laundry and cranky washing machine (don't tell it I said that, I don't need it doing anything else!!), and school with the darling children (did I really type "darling", maybe I should use "daring" or "dish-washing".)