the other day, I saw a bear, a great big bear, a way out there…

Lists are our friends.

1. Andy’s parents and sister came for a visit this week, and we had a blast. I definitely hit the jackpot when it comes to in-laws. And I’m not just saying that because they read my blog. I really, truly mean it. Love them!
   
   

   It was more difficult than it should have been to take this photo - lol.

   

   I had to use the flash to get a semi-decent shot. Ideally, I'd have taken this photo during daylight when everyone was all fixed up (note the freshly bathed, pajama'd three in front), but alas, I forgot to even touch my camera during their whole visit until the last possible second).

2. Darby got baptized on Sunday morning (and Andy’s family was here to see – so cool)!  So proud of her that she genuinely wants to follow Jesus. 
   
   

   Darby was too short to see much during the actual baptism, but I managed to take her photo just after.

   

   Getting her baptism certificate (I was using Andy's point&shoot camera and I have no idea how to work that thing - lol)

3. Jarvis had his first (soccer) scrimmage with another team last night and he did great. Looking forward to his games, which start in about three weeks.
4. Have I mentioned our school plans on my blog? If not, fyi (and for prosperity’s sake), we are homeschooling all the kids this year. That’ll be 5 kids. Homeschooled. Grades K, 4, 7, 9, and 12.  Once we start, if you don’t hear from me for a while, check in and make sure I’m still alive and sane, would you?   Seriously though - I’m looking forward to it. We aren’t ‘officially’ starting for a couple more weeks-ish, but are doing some things to prepare such as diagnostic testing (starting today). 
5. I went to Darby and Jarvis’ old schools yesterday to withdraw them (school started today — what? you don’t wait until the last possible minute to do things? whatever.), and my decision was just completely confirmed.  Ahhhh… feels good to be doing the right thing for your family. 
6. And please don’t take that last sentence to mean that I think everyone should homeschool. I definitely do not feel that way.  But I do know that this is the right thing for OUR family right now. 
7. I caught the Dojo Sensei in Mousehunt a few days ago. Exciting, right?
8. As you know, my iPhone got wet.  So sad.  I did manage to get it working again, but the LCD screen is all smeared and ruined. I can only barely see 1/2 the screen, and when I try to turn it on, I can’t slide the bar to get to the main menu.  So it’s useless to me.  It’s okay, you can cry too.
9. Since I don’t have a few hundred dollars set aside for replacing phones, Andrew found his 5 year old Motorola Razr L7.  We charged it, and lo and behold it works. So, I have a phone now, which is nice.  The downside is that I have to pay the iPhone $30 monthly fee until April, when my contract ends, and it’ll probably be April before I can afford another iPhone.  Oh well.  At least I can check my yahoo mail on the Razr, and set alarms on the calendar.  I’m just happy to be able to talk and text again – not that I talk/text often, but it’s nice to have the option.
10. Note to self: record Brittany playing the piano and post it. She totally rocks.
11. (disclaimer: this point includes the words ‘breast’ and ‘mastitis’… move on to the next point if you aren’t interested)… A few weeks ago, I cut down on the amount of times per day that Paige nursed, thinking that I’d wean her by 18 months.  She got down to nursing 3 or 4 times a day (at bed time, nap time, sometimes in the morning, and sometimes if she woke up in the middle of the night).  Well, then she started teething again (and no, those eye teeth haven’t poked through yet), and she wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME.  So I accomodated her since it seemed to comfort her, and my milk supply went up again.  Then, one day, about a week and a half ago, she refused to nurse.  Ever again.  She went from getting my milk supply WAY up to absolutely nothing.  With no warning whatsoever.  It was so weird. Anyway, so that led to mastitis in BOTH breasts (fun for me), which I quickly nipped in the bud with garlic, but because of the process of going cold turkey on the breastfeeding, it was kind of a long week or so.  I did pump a few times for relief, but I’ve never had much luck with pumping (and I hate doing it).  I’m finally feeling ‘normal’ and my energy is starting to return.  Thankfully.
12. I made some barbecue chicken when Andy’s family was here that turned out really great, if I do say so myself.  I’ve been struggling trying to find a barbecue sauce that we all like that is 1. gluten-free, 2. chemical-free, and 3. corn-free. Corn-free is nearly impossible to find.  The last barbecue chicken I had made was kind of gross – dry and the sauce not tasty (an organic Annie’s sauce – I do not recommend).  And of course, we had company when I made it (so sorry Pastor Josh and Trisha! I’ll make a better main course next time!  Not that you read my blog, but just in case… I really can make chicken taste good. lol).  Anyway… the homemade barbecue sauce had rave reviews, it cooked well with the chicken, which came out really moist and wonderful, and of course, I have no idea how I made it.  I did write down all the ingredients I used, but amounts?  Who knows?  I just threw stuff in there until it smelled right.  If I can replicate it, I’ll share the recipe. 
13. Speaking of corn-free… have you seen King Corn?  We watched that the other day.  Other food documentaries I’ve watched lately are Food, Inc. and The Beautiful Truth.  I recommend them all (and they can all be found on netflix’s instant play list).  Watch them, make changes, and stop killing yourself by ingesting poison.  When we’re all old and I am clear-headed and healthy (because hopefully I made my changes before it was too late – my health is slowly but surely improving), and when you have Alzheimer’s because you thought I was nuts for eating organic and not using harsh chemicals in my home?  I’ll say “I told you so!” and you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about because the dementia will be so bad, but I’ll say it anyway and you’ll say “who are you again?” and the nurse will come wipe your drool and wheel you away and I’ll go for a jog.
14. Yes, the correct spelling of ‘BBQ’ or ‘barbeque’ is actually ‘barbecue’.  In case you are judging my spelling of the word in point number 12.  Not that I’m ever very aware of grammar on my blog, but misspelled words is a pet peeve of mine.  Fragments and run-on sentences are okay though.  Unless I’m writing a book – in that case, I’d be more careful with my grammar.  Believe it or not, I do understand proper grammar.  I really am qualified to teach it to my children. 
15. That last point was FULL of terrible grammar.
16. Did I blog about Josh’s visit last week?  I think I just posted a few photos from our trip to the capitol (in the things-I-love post).  Well, Josh visited last week and we had a great visit.  Jacob thinks Uncle Josh hung the moon and gets a little hyper excited when Josh is around.  What can you do?  He’s four.
    
    

    Britta and Josh imitating Justice on the bench. lol

17. Darby and Paige wore matching dresses to church on Sunday – and of course, these were the only two photos that I got.  I’ll have to make them wear them again and take some real photos. Darby was the one that picked out their clothes, so don’t be all “why are you forcing your children to match” on me – it was HER idea!  (dresses are complements of our good friend Robyn who passes her girls’ clothes down to my girls).
    
    

    Paige is tugging at her face in the one on the right, which explains why her eye looks all wonky. lol