The School Area ! !!

I have been talking with God about how I need help in my basement. I have been feeling overwhelmed. The last couple of weeks I have been hard at work. A lot has happened over the last year. The summer got away from me and well this summer brought in more of a mess. School starts Wednesday. I have been plodding along and it was beginning to look like things were not going to get completely finished. Especially, since I am guilted by family into taking the kids to watch things get blown up on Saturday. That will be another post.
I mentioned way back in March we were putting in cabinets and counters. I never did post pictures because things just scattered all over the place.
Dear sweet friend, Robyn asked if I would like her to come over tonight. She did !! She came over. She wouldn't let me quit when I got overwhelmed. She forced me to let go of things that were good ideas, but the reality is I won't ever get too them. Honesty, it is a wonderful thing even if it isn't what we want to hear. She wouldn't let me quit even when the cabinets spilled their contents all over and it looked worse than when we started.
There are still things to do in our school area....
However, I am soo excited. After 4 hours of work this is what our school area looks like...



What isn't shown are the two work tables we completely cleared off. I have a SMALL stack to take upstairs to put in the car. CDS for listening to and work pages for Daddy's Buddy during church. Another pile of things to take and make copies! I finally have it all in one spot, so hopefully I can make one trip and be done!
Thank you Lord for good friends who are willing to help. For good friends who prefer to clean up someone else's mess and hold them accountable. Oh by the way, the post it notes are to help us remember the new 'homes' for our stuff!

Favorite Mental Snapshots

Cause the camera is not always nearby and sometimes if you get the camera out it ruins the moment. So you just take it all in and try to commit it to memory.
Yesterday, I had two of those moments with Hockey Player.

The first was listening to him in the back of the suburban teaching Daddy's Buddy how to tie his shoes. He was teaching him to make bunny ears...one bigger than the other....one goes through the hole...

The second was when I walked into the family room to see Flutter Nutter curled up next to him in the recliner sleeping. When I went to pick up Flutter Nutter he laid his head on Hockey Player's shoulder. Hockey Player, cause I was standing there, tried to make it look like he was just tolerating his little brother...but I think otherwise.

Hockey Player is an amazing Big Brother. God has gifted him with a very sweet and gentle spirit. As I write that, I see such contrasts...sweet, gentle spirit and Hockey... Nothing too sweet or gentle about hockey! LOL ! More like loud, rough and stinky locker rooms. All the same, he is an amazing young man and big brother!

Sleepwalking can be sooo expensive!

Fun Mom sleep walks. She talks in her sleep. That is fun to listen to, maybe that is why we call her the Fun Mom? Nah, she gets to do the fun stuff with the younger kids while I get the Mom work done around here.
Back on topic,
So this morning she tells me..."I can't find my retainer. I had it in my mouth when I went to bed. I know I was sleepwalking last night cause I trashed my bed and the covers were all over. I had to completely make the bed this morning."
In all my motherly wisdom I asked her, "Did you check the covers?"
"Yes" (said with big sigh and exasperation with mom...she is smart enough to know to do that...
Did you check...
your purse?
the bathroom?
retainer case?
Tons of running around to do and appointments. Phone calls to the orthodontist. We will have to make a decision. It takes a week to make a new retainer and she can only go about a week before her teeth move too much! So taking turns with everyone who is at home at any given time searching the house for the retainer...
Never turns up!
I make the call and order the new retainer. We over calculated this year for medical expenses, so we aren't stressing. We have some flex money that we might lose at the end of the year...now that is something we are trying to make sure doesn't happen.
She finally goes to bed and there is a loud exclamation.
She found it, smack dab in the middle of the bed. The SAME bed she remade. The SAME bed I asked her to check and she told me she had checked. AH! well....
She feels bad, very bad and asks me if I will at least try and call the orthodontist to see if we can cancel the order.
My new motherly wisdom.... Mom should strip and remake the bed herself!

Favorite Quoteables

This one is courtesy of the Fun Mom!
Our church is having their big garage sale this week. Youth and parents work to earn credits...money to be put towards church activities. We did this last year and it paid for half her camp this year! So today was our first work day. We had a 2 hour shift. Hefting heavy boxes from here to there. Out of trucks to one spot and then to another. After 2 1/2 hours, my back was starting to hurt...we stayed past the 2 hour mark cause she begged me to stay longer. I just couldn't lift anymore.

"I like working" "It makes me happy!" she said with a big smile and bouncy ponytail!

So I left her for another couple of hours. But, she "likes working, it makes her happy!" How come I don't hear that in reference to laundry and dishes? What about weeding? Cause she was out in the heat carrying boxes in. Does this mean she likes to weed, or would like to mow grass? She doesn't seem to think so.... But she likes to work and makes her happy, and makes her ponytail bounce! **Big Sigh**

We'll see if she is saying that later this week. We have at least 2 more shifts to work!