Easy Math Lesson

Flu Bug x Seven Murrays = No dressing up and going to Party On The Block :o(

This is the first time, since we have been parents, that we haven't dressed the kids up in Mama-made costumes and headed out for the wholesome fun of a church carnival on reformation day. I don't know who was more bummed, the kids or Nathan and I.







Remember that post about flexibility from a few weeks ago?Yesterday was just that, a day to teach flexibility and dealing with a little dissappointment.





Instead of moping about not being able to go to the carnival, we turned the day into a GREAT day of fun and rest for our family. Since we decided on Thursday that we weren't going, we had the kids decorate a suggestion box and each put one or two ideas of what we could do instead here at home. Nathan and I went through the box on Friday night and picked at least one from everyone. Here is how we filled our grand day:

-Doughnuts for breakfast (Supposed to be Daylight, but they had a sign the said, "Closed due to illness". I guess this flu math is much more widespread than just seven. Dunkin' Donuts had to suffice)


-Movie Rental#1 (Inkheart- Really good movie by the way for family movie night!)


-Board Games (We had a photo-finish round of CandyLand. We have to use ChutesNLadders pieces, so that all seven of us can play. Haha!)




-Baking (We made some banana muffins for Sunday's breakfast.)






-Watched the GA/FL football game






-Hamburgers/Hotdogs for dinner at a laundry basket picnic.




-Movie Rental #2 (Hotel For Dogs- Eh...it was alright. Wouldn't have spent more than $1)


-Candy Treasure Hunt (the kids favorite part!)




-BEDTIME!

Don't you wish you were here with us, well, MINUS the flu?

On the bright side

I have been in bed since about 30 seconds after I hit "publish" on that last post. I needed to get out and be upright for a little while or I will NEVER sleep tonight. SO, I thought I would catch you all up on what I have been doing in my blogging absence. I have been doing this:

and this:

and this:

OH! Remember all of the bellyachin' I did about not getting to buy the kids' school portraits, which my sweet Mom and Mom-in-law ended up buying. Well, I needed to get some sample shots for a few big projects I have coming up and I did this also:


I have had such a great time doing portrait sessions again. The best part has, by far, been getting to share it with Nathan again. It is where we met. It is a mutual passion that the Lord used to bring us together in the first place and it has been so much fun to have him with me at a session. He sees things the same way I do and we just have such a great time when we are working together.
Also, I have been working on our company site: Kariseen Images . I am not a graphic designer and I am trying to actually MAKE money in this business vs. spend it, so I utilize as much of my paid-for site features and combined them with some free Internet services. It isn't perfect, but I am proud of it.

I have also been studying the book of Acts with a GREAT group of ladies- going through it verse by verse (expository) and learning SO MUCH about those early church days. (People throw that word around so carelessly.) God is showing me so much through His Word and it has become a Tuesday night tradition for the kids to ask me what I learned in Bible Study and I spend a few minutes at dinner telling them where we are "in the story". It is great!

Nathan just fixed me a big bowl of my favorite soup, so I am going to gobble it up and then try to get some sleep- praying that this flu will go away. It is the PITS.

So now you know why I haven't bee blogging so much. On the bright side :o)

We're a Siiick........Howwwwwwwse.

(did you get that musical reference? HeeHee)

All of the kids stayed home from school on Monday. Even though only MaryEvelyn and Annagail were sick, I wanted to give it another 24 hours before I sent the school kids in to possibly spread the germ to the masses. 24 hours passed. Still, MaryEvelyn was the only school-aged child affected. On Tuesday, Coop and Graycie headed to school. Meanwhile, I started to feel crummy.

Yesterday, while I began my spiral into the flu, MaryEvelyn seemed to be embarqing on her last day of being stuck at home. This morning however, not only did I wake up feeling the full brunt of this flu, not only was MaryEvelyn still running a fever (!!!), but GRAYCEN was burning up the ear thermometer also!

So, I currently have all four of my girls piled up on various couches and recliners, with their bed pillows and rolls of toilet paper at their disposal (can you IMAGINE what boxes of Kleenex would run us?!?!?! I'm just sayin'...) They are watching a little Boomerang cartoons and I am drinking some chamomile with honey.

This too shall pass. I am calling the Doc just to check and make sure I'm not missing something, but I am sure it is just the flu- regular or swine, it is one of them and there isn't much we can do about it other than treat the symptoms.

Nathan is on his way home, so I will be piling up under my covers with my own roll of tp and riding this out myself. I have to finish the kids' Fall Festival costumes before Saturday, so I hope this passes quickly. The Pirates of M cannot be under dressed!

If this flu keeps taking out the Pirates one by one, I don't guess it will matter what the outfits look like, right?

When MaryEvelyn starts running a fever, I know I am in for a long week.

MaryEvelyn NEVER gets sick. She is a very healthy and strong child and has only actually thrown up, MAYBE, twice in her life. SO, I was a bit concerned when she started getting the chills and running a high fever yesterday. Since then, Annagail has started running a fever.



Needless to say, the kids and I are on lock down. Nathan went to church solo this morning, because he was filling in for our ABF teacher (who was at home sick also!) and he needed to cover the 3 year old Sunday school class that we teach together. Again tonight he headed off to church alone. I feel awful, because it is AWANA store night. The children were so upset that they couldn't go spend their well-earned AWANA-bucks. Nathan and I usually serve in AWANA together- something that I did at first to fill a need but have grown to love doing, so I feel bad that he doesn't have my help tonight also.

Before the illnesses hit yesterday, I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend and then I packed up all the spring/summer clothes for storage- replacing them with the fall/winter clothes. It is a HUGE undertaking and I have many people that ask me "How do you do keep all of that organized with so many children?". SO, I am going to post my "how-to" tips and tricks later. I have been using this method for five years now and it is a proven method for me. Maybe it will work for you too!

Now, I am off to make some homemade macNcheese for the kids. I am hoping that making some good, old-fashioned, mama-love comfort food will lift their spirits!

12:19 am

It is already tomorrow, but I have a minute while the cupcakes are cooling, so I figured I had no excuse for NOT checking in-HA!

Is it really just Monday?!?!?!?

Nathan and I enjoyed a wonderfully long weekend away and alone. It was a great weekend and we spent almost nothing. We almost went to a movie until I realized that it has been FAR too long since we went to a movie and I couldn't bare to spend the money. Instead we found the nearest Red Box and rented FOUR movies. We slept until 10 or 11 everyday and we ate a late breakfast at the "Awful Waffle"-- a place that we spent many a sleepless study night while we were dating. We ordered soup, salad, and breadsticks TO GO from Olive Garden and just hung out together. It was SUCH a great time. We laughed for hours and slept for hours. Thank you to my in-laws for taking SUCH good care of our kids while we were gone. They got all of the big kids to school on Friday and even supervised Saturday morning chores. The kids were happy to see us, but also sad for their own weekend to end!

So today is Monday and after we got the 3 big kids to school we:
-worked out at the gym.
-did lunch parent duty.
-took a card around for MaryEvelyn's class to sign.
-took the two youngest Murrays to the Chik for lunch.
-picked up Cooper early due to a "headache" that vanished as soon as he got in the car.
-paid a few bills
-afternoon carpool.
-supervised homework.
-washed a load of laundry.
-baked home made lasagna.
-modified and prepared my parent order forms for a new preschool portrait date (to be delivered tomorrow)
-baked cupcakes for MaryEvelyn's class for tomorrow.

As soon as the cupcakes cool enough to be stored, I am headed to bed, so that I can:

-read over my Bible Study text again.
-ice the cupcakes
-rearrange the kids' planned uniforms for the week due to a weather change.
-make breakfast.
-and pack lunches (Xs 7)

before we head out to start our TUESDAY. It is a good thing we had this past weekend to rest up!

Have a Super day!

Swagbucks

If you are like me and use the internet as your yellow pages, encyclopedia, research assistant, marketing consultant, etc. Then you will want to go here:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/thebusymama

and sign up for swagbucks.

I am not a swagbucks hunter, although I hear that there are many extra swagbucks to be found. However, I figure that if I am going to use a search engine anyway I might as well use one that will award me with a gift card eventually. There are many other ways to earn swagbucks, including trading in old video games and cell phones to their go green program.

So, that is my plug for the month. Go check it out!

I love my church.

I do. I love it.



I love that the most people there treat you like they have known you their whole lives.

I love that the sermons are REAL. I love that they are Scripture driven, not catchy-title supported. I love that I learn something about God and about His church every week. (hint: it isn't always an "atta boy!")

I love that there is accountability there. You come and call yourself a Christ Follower. We will expect you to behave like one, according to God's Word.

I love that with most of my friends, I can say "You offended me brother." and they can say it to me, because there is true love there. Then, we can mend broken fellowship and (catch this!) GROW CLOSER TO THE LORD together. (for the record: I don't say it all that often, but I feel like I could if I needed to.)

I love that people serve other people-not just brothers and sisters that are active in our church, but the people there reach out, way out into the community and world. They serve in love as Christ did.

I love that our church PURPOSES to raise Godly men. I am not talking about the little tykes, although they look out for them also. I am referring to the prayerful consideration and mentoring of men that are going out to plant churches. These men don't just get a high five and a pat on the back. They get time, learning alongside our elders and ministers. It is a beautiful practice and I know it makes the WORLD of difference in the lives of these men, their families, and to the churches they will serve.

I love my church. I do. I love it.

I get defensive when people talk so ugly about "the church", because in doing so they tear down all the good, all the love that MY church has built. I realize that some groups of people do a lot of harm in the name of religion, but nothing gets me angrier than when people use the term "the church" in a negative way, because they are assuming they can speak for ALL churches. They can't.

Do you love your church? Please don't tell me about your great music. We have that also and it is fantastic, but it doesn't a church define. Tell me about the people. Tell me about the faith that you see LIVED out. Tell me about the love that is there that loves at all times. Tell me about your church. Do you love your church?