It's Wednesday. I've just realized that Ian's birthday is coming up very soon, and I have a lot of planning to do for it and our church's VBS (which I am helping with) is the week before. His birthday is on the 13th, Friday (hey, freaky!!) and we will have the party on Saturday the 14th. Are you reading this Misty?? Super Hero birthday party for Ian on July 14th, 11-1, lunch provided. Josiah is officially invited. Actually, we are going to do real invitations here sometime, so he will get one in the mail.

And now for the last chapter in the on-going saga of the coffee splashed keyboard. So Nate had gotten a new keyboard and installed it, but no dice....well, last night he searched online for about 2 hours and found a way to undo the fn key!!! The man is a genius!! So now, I can actually type. Notice I did not say spell or use proper grammar, but at least I can type now! Yay!!!

I went and ran a bunch of errands today, wal-mart, target, michaels, bread store, returned some videos, etc. I am working on some intensive "store training" with my children. I know, some people would say "They're just little kids, let them be kids, loosen up!" But I do not agree. I think that when you are in a store it is a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about what a very wise woman calls "the preciousness of others." As in, we don't yell, scream, touch things, fool around, etc. in a store, not only because it would be disobedient, but because it would be inconsiderate to the other people in the store. I believe you do not act in a store the same way you do when you are horsing around at home with your siblings. And believe me, they do plenty of that. So, we are working on it. And I am trying to stick to my guns. Today the kids lost a trip to the playground because they weren't behaving. Grace especially is really testing her limits. Recently, when told to do something, she has started saying "So want toooooo." in a whiny voice, which means "I don't want to." So not only is she whining-the cardinal sin around here- but she is also basically saying "I have a good reason for disobeying... it's because I don't feel like it." Gee how I love the terrific two's!!!!! All Nate sees of her is her curled up in our bed some mornings, and more infrequently, her carrying around "Papa" her pink puppy, getting ready for bed at night. On Sundays when he is home, we are at church, then eating, then kids are napping, so he gets about 4 hours a week, seriously, to actually interact with her, or any of the kids for that matter. I don't think he believes me that she is bratty at all. Little does he know.......

On another note, George has been extremely respectful and obedient and some things that we have been working and working on have finally become routine for him. We are reading The Hobbit at night together, which we both love. I have such fond memories of my father reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to us as children and The Hobbit was the first real book I read as a child, I remember trying so hard to learn how to read, just so I could read it for myself. We are at chapter VIII, "Flies and Spiders" which of course is a fabulous chapter, in which Bilbo really distinguishes himself, names his sword and there are a lot of really silly songs. We are just at the part where they are hauling the boat across the black enchanted stream in the middle of Mirkwood, and I told George that tonight we would find out who falls in the stream and what happens to them. I love to see his eyes shining when I tell him something like that. I think his favorite part so far has been the trolls. You should have heard him and Ian guffawing, laughing so hard at me doing the cockney voices of the trolls threatening to "squash them into jelly!" Of course, it has become a common phrase now in their play acting. I love it.

Claire is so close to starting to speak. She has started mimicking mouth movements and Nate and I are in a race to see whose name she will say first. ALL my kids so far have said Dada first and I am determined that she will say Mama first. Of course the kids are all trying to get her to say their names. It's so cute to hear Grace say "Come on, Cweery, Cweery, say Gwaaaaaaace!"

Well, I must away ere break of day to ebay...I have several things to look for there. Have a happy Wednesday!!!!

I broke down and went to see Dr. Boddy yesterday morning, courtesy of a dear sweet friends insistence and the fact that same friend watched all my children for me. Unfortunately, I've been drinking so much water lately that they couldn't test my pee in the cup since it was so diluted. **I FAILED MY URINE TEST, BWAHAHAHA!!!** Please pardon my lame attempt at humor......So, I had to not eat any breakfast and go this morning to get blood drawn. The results of the myriad of tests he wanted done should be done by the end of the week. On a happy note, I am actually feeling much better today, an maybe I'm on the upswing of things finally.

Nate decided to finally replace the keyboard in the laptop, which I did not think necessary since we can hook the other one up to it and it works fine, but whatever, it's his machine. So he spent $30 on ebay and installed it last night, and guess what??? It still doesn't work. Let me show you. I'll write this sentence on this keyboard, typing normally.....'33 wr5te th5s sentence 6n th5s 2eyb6ard ty-5ng n6r0a33y. See?? You have to type like a one handed pirate for it to work...okay, the reason I say pirate is because I automatically lean towards the side I am having to hold down the function key, and kind of screw my mouth to the side...Remember "Hook", when Peter (Banning) Pan first gets back to Neverland and Julia Roberts Tink is in his hat telling him how to look like a pirate.....it makes me think of that. Anyway, oh well, I suppose I can hook the other keyboard up if I wish, although I should be getting my new modem in the mail soon, so I may not be using the laptop anymore at all anyway.

There are several things I would actually like to do seperate posts about, but I don't feel like it today, so I will say goodbye.....Hmm, now that I am back in the blogging world, I may just change my blog so it looks a little cuter. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!!

It is 2:35, the kids are all sleeping, and I would love to be sleeping as well. I was just trying in vain to look for a flattering swim suit online since my husband, the King of Honesty, told me last night that I looked like "an old grandma" in the suit I found. At least he didn't actually use the words "neon sausage". although he may have been thinking them! Anyway, so now I have to take that suit back and try to find something else that a. does not disappear when I put it on, and b. does not make me look like I just stepped off the Mayflower. The problem is that in stores, those are about your only options, super tiny string bikini that you could accidentaly swallow or frumpy spandex support garment. Anyway.... I had to call in sick to my lunch at Misty's since my fever returned and I was sick to my stomach this morning. AARGHHH!!! I emailed my Dr. and asked if he could write me a Rx for antibiotics, since it seems I do have the beginnings of a kidney infection. And I HATE antibiotics, for all their overusedness and catch-all cure conotation, but I suppose there are times when they are warranted. I haven't taken any since two years ago when I had the other kidney infection. Hopefully I won't have to go pee in a cup for him, and he'll just write the Rx anyway. It's just a huge pain to haul my four kids into a doctors office 45 minutes away, and then have them get sick from hanging out in germ-infested surroundings. I just won't do it!!! So, Dr. Bod will just have to write it. Maybe if I call him and ask really nicely, he will. We'll see. Kohl's is having great sales tommorow and Saturday on shorts and summer clothes and I just might go, since I am still very low on summer clothes that fit and have 1 pair of shorts, which aren't very flattering at all, and I have checked and checked the consignment stores and Goodwill and am having no luck. I hate to buy new when I can usually get things so much cheaper used, but oh well. Okay, I am falling asleep typing, I'd better take advantage of the half hour I have left me while the kids will probably still sleep and lay down for a bit. I've got to go to the chiropractor at 5:45 and I just might take Brandy to the humane society on the way. Yes, I think I have finally exhausted all hope of a nice family adopting her, after putting ads on two websites and posters up in the Brown's Pools stores for a few weeks now. We just can't take care of her anymore, she is getting hardly any attention, and hopefully if she in the shelter, she will be adopted soon. I am riddled with guilt over doing this, but I don't know what else to do. If you read this, just pray someone will call me and say "Hey, I'd love to have that beautiful dog you have, and I will give her a great home and she'll be so happy and you won't have to worry about her anymore!!"

So, I've decided to start blogging again. I don't really have a great reason for starting again, other than I just feel like it is time. There was a long time where the thought of it just didn't "jive" with me right, and I knew it would be wasted time trying to convey anything, when my heart wasn't in it. Not that my blog has ever been anything super special or deep or anything like that, I just didn't have any creative energy left over, nor even any will to record my day to day. I think the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Claire were just very taxing- mentally, emotionally, and certainly physically. Then the delivery and even harder recovery time was one of the hardest times I have ever been through. I have noticed a trend with myself....it's as if when I am going through something hard I just fight so fiercely to pretend everything is okay and I just need to buck up and be tough, and it's only when I am on the other side of it and am doing better that I realize how bad it had been. Anyway, all of that to say that I am doing well now, we are finding a new normal...(as much as the chaotic environment of 4 extremely rambuncious children can ever BE normal, heh.), and I feel the time has come for me to be able to blog a bit once more. (Man, that sure was a lot of words just to say "Here I am again.")

This change is also facilitated by the fact that I finally figured out how to hook up the wireless keyboard to the laptop, so now I can actually type!!!! How Now Brown Cow...instead of having to hold down the "fn" key to use half the keyboard, never being able to use the Enter key, ??????? key or the Backspace key. Yup, that is annoying. "Gee, Charity", you ask, "why did you have to do all that???????" Well, I'll tell you, it was because my perfectionistic, super careful, non-clumsy husband and I went out to a coffee shop with wifi while I was pregnant. We brought the laptop to look at baby names online. We got coffee. And Nathan said to me, (the non-perfectionistic, ditzy and clumsy one) "Now make sure you don't spill YOUR coffee on MY laptop!" And then, guess what happenend!!!!!!! NO, you're wrong, I didn't spill any.....Immediately upon uttering those words, he dumped half his cup of coffee all over the keyboard!!! And I did not laugh, I mean, well, I was totally laughing inside, but I didn't want the other half of the coffee to be on me. So, needless to say, it just doesn't work very well. But that is no longer an issue, Praise the Lord!!!

So, what shall I actually blog about today??? Well, I could talk about the kids, of course, as they are the consuming factor in my day. The fact that George is getting impatient with me to hurry up and order his school books, that Ian is still having trouble keeping his underwear dry, but is making some leaps in communicating emotional things through words instead of just screaming, that Grace has been somehow ending up on Nate's pillow at 5 every morning now all week and she does NOT go back to sleep, that Claire is getting humungous, like her little five-month-old, almost-out-of-a-size-2-shoe-feet are already sticking out over the end of her infant car seat. That's a very quick summary of the kids for this moment.

And Nate is plugging away at the busy season, working a ton of hours and keeping his head above water only just. I tell you, that man is amazing. He is the one that all the disgruntled customers call, the one who always picks up the slack at the stores, the one who stays late, who runs to customers houses "on his way home" and just does an amazing job at all the myriad of responsibilities he has to do. Then he comes home and I see the canker sores in his mouth, the cracked and bloody skin on his feet, the dark circles under his eyes......and the huge smile on his face. He thrives on it, in a funny sort of way, and I am trying my best to be his best support when he is home. I know he just craves time with the kids and hates that he is missing out on so much, but we both know he is where the Lord wants him to be, and he is doing it heartily.

Then there's me. I don't know what to say about me. I went to the chiropractor this morning, for this annoying recurring pinched nerve in my shoulder, and Dr. Rob said he really wanted me to come back tommorow too, because my neck was so incredibly tight from being so out of alignment. And I will. I just get used to doing things a bit compromised and don't notice until I am better, how worse I was....you know, it's just like I was saying before. The whole frog in boiling water thing. Anway, speaking of that, I am feeling a ton better today after slowly beginning on a kidney infection that I have finally warded off with great amounts of Cran-Flush from North American Herb and Spice, cranberry fruit capsules, tons of water and my vitamins, which I had been failing to take for quite a while. When I get sick like that, it's like there is just this black hole of unconsciousness inside me just sucking the vitality out of me, and I have to struggle just to be able to think clearly enough to make the decisions I need to to get better. But I did, and I am getting better now, although I do desperately need to get started making my good bread again. I think I am just going to have to break down and buy a mixer thing. With my shoulder out half the time now, I just can't knead bread dough.

Well, I did something excuciatingly painful today, okay, not actually physically painful. I went bathing suit shopping. I can almost hear the "Oh, you poor thing"'s now. Now bathing suit shopping isn't fun at any time. (unless you are like a super toned size 2, I suppose, I wouldn't know.) But, when you are 20 lbs over what you should be, and you've had four kids in five years (You want to guess at the state of my stomach muscles?!?!?) then it is especially yucky. But, I did actually find one, and had to about pull my hair out to convince myself that spending $35 dollars on something that makes me look like a neon sausage is actually worth it. I haven't taken the tags of yet, though, we'll see what Nate says.

Well, look, I have already written a bunch. I will try to do some more tommorow, and who knows, it might even be interesting then. By the way, if anyone actually read this, please leave me a comment, I'd love it!!! Have a great day!

Thankyou, Misty for reminding me of this, and so giving a small reminder of the amazing ray of sunlight that was Nattie. **Dance with the angels, Nattie** So, here are my things I am thankful for today, on this gray Friday afternoon...... 1. Thunder is rumbling outside, and we ae so thirsting for rain 2. My Gracie's blonde hair curling up in the humidity 3. Claire Bear is crawling around my bedroom floor, giggling at her toys. 4. The look of concentration on George's face as he plays way old school Zelda. 5. Ian's ketchupy smiles 6. Sweet friends to visit with this morning. 7. I am mad at Nathan....okay, I am slightly miffed at him, and he knows it, and the happy thing about this is that we can make up tonight. 8. A dear friend from Maine may be coming to visit me soon. 9. I have a large chocolate stash in my closet 10. And finally, there are only 28 more hours til Nathan is off.