Back Home: August 2007

Thursday, August 30, 2007

You Drive Me Crazy, Oooh Oooh!

When we Reber girls were growing up there were many "sayings" my mom would say over and over again. Bless her heart! Among the most heart wrenching were:

"You girls treat me like a door mat!"

"You girls walk all over me!"

AND

"You girls are going to put me in the nut house."

I will admit after all these years that the "rug and walking all over me sayings" went in one ear and out the other. But, the nut house saying really did get to me.

When mom would say "You girls are going to put me in the nut house," I remember thinking, "Can that happen? Can we really be so annoying and disobedient that she ends up in some mental hospital or nut house?" And worse yet, "What would Daddy do?"

So today, when my sweet children were driving me up the wall, I looked at them and said, "You two are going to put me in a nut house." Their response was quite different than mine when I was their age. They both looked at each other and started laughing, then Dan Dan said, "a nut house, that's good."

One thing is for sure, I am reaping what I sowed.

Here are my 2 fruit cakes! They are the fruit, I supply the nuts!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Sorry for the MIA

Okay. I'm back. Sorry girls but this past week has been a a killer (no pun/punt???intended...see below). I have been one busy mom. Although I do have a husband and my children do have a father, he is at work a lot so it is just me and my sweet children. When I was pregnant with Margaux and when Danny would touch my belly, I would say,"Don't be afraid baby, it's not a stranger, it's your daddy."

Anyway, I have been one busy mom. The day after my last post, Grandma Roberts died...get it?????? So up we went to Southwest Georgia for a quick 2 days....very HOT 2 days.

So hot that at the funeral, I was sitting in front of the casket, at the grave site, holding a sleeping Margaux, with SWEAT rolling and rolling and rolling down my back.

So hot that the AC was not even cooling off the truck, and since my brother in law came with us, I got demoted from the front passenger seat all the way to the back, between my oldest two children..... the hottest most miserable place to sit for 7 1/2 hours!

Not to mention, so hot, and trying to breastfeed Margaux discreetly so my brother in law wouldn't see my "ladies." It may have scared him, since his wife is a sweet size 2 and I am a solid 10 with 2 solid 36 DD ladies.

Anyway, we got home late Wednesday night and it has just been one thing after another: cleaning, laundry, fixing food, cleaning, fixing food, laundry....oh, the pool turned GREEN while we were gone, so I had that to deal with too.

Let's see, we are still potty training Harry Jack. Hopefully he will not be going to college in Pull-up's. Ummm......We started solids for Margaux this week, and to my dismay, the "explosive, runny, coming out of the diaper, all over her clothes poo poo" she was having for the past 5 months, are still occurring....in solid form.

So, I just put Harry Jack to bed for a nap, and put both Maddie and Danny in their rooms to read and do school work.......yes, I am homeschooling too...another story for another time. Currently I am balancing my lap top on my right hip as I lay down in my bed to feed Margaux. I am hen pecking the computer keys with one hand, determined to accomplish this post.

Sadly, my post is almost complete and I am struggling. Although this bed feels great and a nap would be ever so pleasing to my tired body, I need to get up, get in the kitchen and do more cleaning, laundry, and picking up before nap time is over and I am back on call. Dan Dan has been begging me to load more songs on his shuffle and Maddie has been begging me to list more AG books, of hers, on eBay.

I keep telling myself that this hectic life I lead is just temporary. And, I beg God to please make it all worth it in the long run. By the way, I have now switched to my left hip.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

National Geographic on Our Own Front Porch

Ever since we moved here to wonderful southwest Florida we have had a plethora of wildlife on our front porch. As common as deer are in old Virginie and Carolina, alligator and other various wildlife are common here.

The other day the children were yelling at us to come to the front door, as there were 3 storks (or cranes) standing on the porch, looking in the windows. It was unreal. As soon as we opened the door, the storks backed up a little. Dan Dan ran to get some bread (banana bread that I had just made) and tossed some out to the storks to eat. It was cool.

Another recent encounter with wildlife was last weekend when Danny and his father went to Tampa for a Buc's game. About 10:00 that night I had put the children to bed and crossed back to the other side of the house to go to our room. It was dark in the house, but I had the outside lights on. As I walked past the front door I saw this "black" movement on the front porch. It freaked me out and I jumped. As I regained myself I looked out the front windows to see a FAMILY of raccoons on the porch. There was a big raccoon and FIVE babies. It made me a little scared, I don't know why?????? So I ran to the alarm to arm it, as if raccoons can brake into the house. Then I called Danny to tell him, but of course he didn't answer due to the loudness of the football game he was at. So, I just watched the coons for awhile. I tried to scare them away by banging on the window, but they could have cared less.

Anyway, we do see lots of wildlife here. We see alligator all the time. Anyhooo........did someone say hooo???? Yes, we see owl's here too! Oh, and nasty snakes. Which brings me to one last story.

Two weeks ago, I was at the store grocery shopping and Danny called me. He and the children were outside in the yard playing. Danny said he was on the phone talking to someone when Harry Jack came in the garage and said something to him and then ran to jump up on the side rail of the Jeep. When Danny got off the phone he asked Harry Jack what he wanted and Harry Jack said, "Look Daddy, snake." And there it lay, a black snake curled up in the corner of our GARAGE!!!!!!!

Below are a few pictures of the storks that came to visit us. Danny told me that he was relieved that these storks were not baring babies.

Monday, August 13, 2007

I did the Dew

Sadly, this is what is left of my weekend with the Mt. Dew cake. I made it Saturday night, to be eaten on Sunday. Well, lets just say that about 1:00 this morning, the cake "hit" me. I felt so sick.

You see, in a very odd sort of way, I had to eat all the cake I wanted before I went bed, because the weekend would then be officially over and I would have to start eating well again.

Needless to say, I am eating well again. I loved that cake so much that it made me sick. I promised God that I would not do that AGAIN!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

My Skateboarder

In all my thoughts and dreams of being a mom, I never thought I would have a little boy who loved to skateboard. My Dan Dan loves it! He wakes up in the morning and the first thing he talks about is skateboarding.

Every day he asks Danny if he can take him to the skate park when he gets home from work. He has a Christian skate board DVD that he watches many times each day. He has these little 4 inch skateboards that he plays with, seriously all day. In the past he would bring these little skateboards with him to breakfast, lunch and dinner, until we made a rule, "NO SKATEBOARDING DURING MEALS."

He makes ramps that he rides, (with his fingers), these little skate boards up and down. His little fingers work so hard making these little skate boards do tricks and jumps. I should put a dime in a jar for each time he says, "hey mom, watch this." By the end of the day I would have enough money to take myself to Starbucks and buy a latte, and a molasses cookie to go with it.

He is so obsessed with skateboarding that when we go to Target, or Marshall's or Dillard's, he instantly asks to go to the boy's section to look for Tshirt's for skateboarding.

He loves to wear Van's. I thought only Ellen wore Van's. I never thought I would learn the brand names that skateboarders wear like "quick silver" and "ecko," but I have. I never thought I would learn skateboarder lingo like "ollie and grind," but I have. I never thought my son would be so into something that I really didn't like, but he is.

Dan Dan LOVES skateboarding......and that is good, because he is the cutest little skateboarder.

"Focus Dan Dan. Just keep your eye on the ramp."

For those of you who have never been to a skate park,

skate parks look very much like the inside of an empty

swimming pool. We just found a new skate park about

25 minutes from our house, right on the beach. It is much

cleaner with cleaner kids (for lack of better word) too.

The roles have reversed. Finally, Maddie is trying to be

like Dan Dan. She is seriously fighting the urge to have

fun or be a "girlie girl."

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Typo--is that how you spell it????

Sorry for the typo in my title below. I am holding a baby and typing with one hand.....I know, I am talented! Wow, 3 posts today!

Cholosterol and Teeth

So you are probably wondering what this, my second post for today, is about. Well, yesterday I went to the Dr. because I have a sinus infection. While I was there, with all four of my children, (9,6,2,and 5 months...... in which one was only wearing a diaper....... due to the major poo poo she did in her car seat on the way to the Dr........ and the poo poo was EVERYWHERE....... and I forgot to pack another outfit in the diaper bag......a situation my sweet husband will probably never have to experience).......anyway, the Dr. wanted me to come back next week to take my blood to check my cholesterol. I said, "Are you kidding? Take it now I can't bring all these children back here!"

Well, the results are in. I have high cholesterol!!!!!! My HDL is at 238 and should be lower then 200. My LDL is 150 and should be lower then 130. I know that one of them is a good cholesterol, but it really doesn't matter since both are high.

My Dr. said that he was going to send me some diets in the mail. Embarrassing! Now I really feel old.

I just want to shout out to my sista's to get your cholesterol checked. We Reber's know how to eat and cook. You may have high cholesterol too, and your hubby's.

Okay, nowthe teeth. Margaux has TWO teeth! I am shocked.

Nursing + baby teeth= OUCH!!!!!

Currently......

Alright, for lack of any better post for today, I just thought I would share with you a little of what goes on around my house. It is HOT here so we are staying in today. It is so hot the the children don't even want to go outside and swim. I am currently doing laundry, as seen in photo. Notice my laptop is out and ready for business.

Oh, and those of you with babies, notice Margaux in the Bumbo. If you don't have one, get one! It's the best. (Target $39.99).

Thanks to the ministry life, Danny gets off early on Thursday's and he has Friday's off. I live for Thursday afternoon's.

Thursday's are like Friday's for me. It is even better in the Fall, when Grey's Anatomy is on and we get to sit on the sofa together, after the children are in bed and watch it. Although, I must say that I am getting a little irritated with the Grey's story line. Also, I must say that Danny is really not a big Grey's fan. He just watches it with me to be nice.....if you know what I mean. His show is Boston Legal, which is slightly "cleaner" for lack of better word, then Grey's. I like that too.

Anyway, I am going to try to post some pictures of what the children are currently doing. I still have to figure out how to do that after I write a post.

Have a happy Thursday (Friday)!

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Date

Danny and Maddie finally returned home after a long day. I asked Maddie how her date was and she said it was great! I asked her how the man in the casket looked at the funeral and she said, "dead!"

It's Monday!

Due to my two baby sisters encouraging me to unveil my new blog site, I had to hurry up and complete it. As if I have nothing else to do today.

I feel pressure! I feel like I am in a competition....like when you're at a creative memories party and you are quietly trying to compete with your friend in doing the better page.

Anyway, my blog spot is what it is. Is that what it is called, "a blog spot?" This is new territory for me. I am not used to opening myself like this. I feel vulnerable, but on the other hand, this is a good way to let family and friends see what is going on in our life and see pictures of our sweet children.

Today.....Monday. Today is an abnormal day. Danny had to attend a funeral in Brandon, Florida. It is about 2 hours from here, right above Tampa. He asked me last night if I wanted to go with him to the funeral. I laughed and said, "with 4 children?" So I suggested he take Maddie and make a "date" out of the funeral. He did. He just called and said that they were eating lunch at Smokey Bones. Yum!

So today is abnormal since I only have the boys and Margaux home with me. Things are a little quieter. I spent the morning listing some things on ebay for Maddie. She spent all her money last week and realized that her purchases were really not a good choice, so she is on a quest to get money via ebay. I am wondering who will be first in my family to go to my ebay account to see what I am selling. Hmmmm... Mom, then Donna, then Dolly??? Dayna and Dawn will tie, or not go there at all.

Well, Harry Jack just wokeup. Gotta go. Let me know if you want a link to your blog on my site. And, those of you who do not have a blog, start one. It is overwhelming at first, but it gives you a great feeling of accomplishment when it is unveiled.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Okay, I'm a Blogger

I have sat at my dining room table for three hours now, trying to figure out this page. In trying to express how I feel about my accomplishment in getting this far on my new blog page, I will say what Bob Wiley, in the movie "What About Bob?" would say, "I blog! I'm baby stepping!" Nonetheless......I'm a blogger!