Get out of my dirt!!!

Seriously??? I am no Dog Whisperer or anything but I am soooo convinced that there is something bred deep within dogs, dating back to ancient times I'm sure, that says "when you see broom in hand, walk wherever they walk".....

I have got to have the 3 laziest dogs in the world.....even as I type I look over at 2 freakishly large poodles and one little neurotic Schnauzer laying around this room in what looks to be a coma! But this morning as I am sweeping all 500 of my sweepable floors in this house, it was almost as if they had a plan they were setting into motion....to see who could walk right through "my dirt" (that's what my grandma always called it) the most! Well have a plan of my own that I'm about to set into motion....put their annoying rumps outside while I mop!

Nick and Bo

Sylba

On a side note:

Thank you Jesus for giving me Fall Break just in the nick of time...... :-)

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

RV

We had a wonderful time on the Lake for 5 days.....all went well short of wearing a little "grey" water once ..and having to fish toilet paper out of the toilet with a plastic fork (sorry, it is just a reflex to put it in the toilet!). We spent a lot of quality time together reconnecting with one another.....we are now on the lookout for one of our own...yep, we liked it that much! I'm too exhausted to tell all about it this time......and if I wait till I feel like it, I'll never post so I am just gonna let the pics tell the story.....enjoy!

Our humble abode...

Adam at sunrise

Puzzle time....I was a bit over ambitious...550 pieces

Dad and Mag

Bike rides....our favorite part

Aidan playing bean bag toss

Fishin'


Hot delicious "shmose" - Buzz Lightyear


Renting an RV and spending 5 days alone with your family....PRICELESS!

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

Not Me! Monday

I most certainly did NOT go camping on a Monday and come back wearing the same shirt Friday! That would be gross and I would simply never let myself go like that! (although if by chance I did ever decide to do such a thing, I would feel totally better about it after seeing a shirt in a camping store this weekend that read "Same shirt, Different Day"....but of course I read it and thought "eewww...who would do such a thing?" :-)

Nor did I take a bike ride while the kids were fishing with dad and NOT wear my helmet because I didn't want to mess up my hair.....that would make me a big fat hypocrite! ( I did shower....I just DID NOT keep putting the same shirt back on to keep the laundry to a minimum)

I did not wake up freezing every night in the RV and tell myself that somehow devouring an entire Hershey bar would warm me up.....

I didn't forget that we couldn't put our toilet paper in the RV toilet (it wasn't the biodegradable kind) only to have to fish it out with a plastic fork....serioulsy that is disgusting!

When I got home from camping, I DID NOT throw everything I would need for Gatlinburg into laundry baskets because I was too lazy to put it in suitcases.

I did not sit in a line at Starbucks for 5 whole minutes ,just staring & waiting for someone to take my order, only to realize that I was simply parked in front of one of their advertisement signs....the "place your order" thingy was about 15 feet up.....I am convinced they were laughing at me!

I did not manage to eat an entire bag of trail mix in 2 days all by myself...

I did not drink way too much coffee for breakfast, get on a one way, one lane, site seeing Parkway, and have to pee behind a historical cabin....

It most certainly was NOT me that put my folded up "wet" paper in my jean pocket because I felt way too guilty about throwing tissue under the historical little cabin in the woods (like other excessive coffee drinkers obviously had) ...I am seriously starting to wonder what type of person would actually do this....

I did not gun my car at the red light coming home because the lane was about to end and the little lady next to me just "looked" like she would go too slow for me....I mean really, what kind of discriminating person would do that???

And I know for sure.....without a doubt.....that it simply could NOT have been me that stepped on the scale this morning to see a 5 pound gain in one week!!!!






"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

There's no place like home!

"heels clicking".....my word, what a week for a homebody like myself! I have spent 5 days "roughing it" in a 30 ft. RVwith the husband and our 3 amazing kiddos (having an absolute blast and eating my weight in smores might I add).....and the past 2 days trying not to slide off of a mountainside and running from hungry twinkie jonesin' bears in Gatlingburg!.....did I mention that I was locked up in a cabin with 4 other females in my immediate family??? Mom, sister, aunt, and cousin....now that I am thinking about it, could the bears have really been that bad??? Estrogen X 5???? Hungry bears???? Hmmmm.......

I have tons and tons of pics to share from both getaways but right now I am super duper pooped! Remind me to tell you about our "dumping" experience (straight out of the movie RV) I totally self-prophesy this stuff I tell you! Sort of like the time we were sitting at the beach and I randomly spout out, "I wonder what you would do if you really did see a shark out there?".....yep....you guessed it.....an hour later, bullshark... 10 ft out in water! I really should keep my mouth shut....

And I will be sure to tell you about being held up in a cabin by humanized bears for 2 days.....

Anyhoo, kids survived my absence (all teeth and bones still in tact!), Adam practically bought a new truck in my absence (and is well on his way now to an RV to pull behind this new 4 wheeled, 1/2 ton, friend he found......and one of my freakishly large poodles decided to get "stomach issues" just in time to welcome me home tonight....wasn't that nice?

Ahhh....there's no place like home!


"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

A fabulously fun weekend!

Friday.....we woke up to the day of six.....six fingers when asked how old, six candles on the cake, six years of Aidans life, six presents to commemerate each....(yes I know....we go overboard)

First he was greeted by a Star Wars missile gun thingy on the back of the toilet....then he walked thru the garage right past the new football on the mower (we eventually had to point that one out to him after the third time of walking by it).....next, he went to the cabinet to get his Monopoly game out and what to his wondering eyes appeared???? A Star Wars Monopoly in the place of his old....then after the dinner of his choice (with no arm twisting by mom I promise) at PF Changs (I totally think I ate 6 banana spring rolls in his honor) , we gave him his big present of a new Nintendo DS....Mag and Tyler got him a game to go with it. All in all a fun fun day totally catered to Aidan....whoo hoo six!

The gang and Chang

photography by Mag...she'll throw in cutting off of head free of charge!

my little "noodles"

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Saturday.... PARTY DAY!!! We had a hoot at Kids Party Jumps with all of our friends and all of Aidans little "peeps!" We bounced our buns off!!! Some of us more graceful than others! The kids had their faces painted by a super nice lady we booked.....Aidan of course being the super neurotic kid that he is, was washing his off within 10 minutes..I was surprised to see it last that long...he cannot keep his hands away from his eyes so it was killing him....then we ate pizza, and King Fu Panda cake.....(yes, I was still eating "in honor")

And see if you can recognize one "not so little" kid in one of the pics...... :-)

The 10 minute Spiderman

Seriously....are there really any words???

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

Happy 6th Birthday Aidan!!!

My little guy...

Gosh Aidan, how would I ever be able to put into words what you mean to us??? They just couldn't do justice to the sweet amazing little firecracker that you are....are rolled into one. If I could turn back the time, I would once again feel the flutter of your little movements as you grew in my tummy.....and the not so little movements (I think you liked hockey before birth even!) I felt once you were ready to make your debute into this world...I just knew you were a girl...sorry buddy! ...if only I could turn back the time.....I'd once again hear the precious grunts as you drank your bottle, or the way you hummed yourself to sleep.....and I would still be trying to shove your little Fred Flinstone feet into any shoes that would fit!....and if I could turn back time, you would still need me to rock you to sleep....and your pudgy little arms would just once more greet my waist saying "Ona hoju momma"....but I can't turn back time, and you are growing more even as I write this.....I can only thank my precious Jesus for the gift of you and hang on for dear life to the memories of you and the future with you.....only He could have known that you were the missing piece to our little family....only He could have made you to be so tender, yet so tough.....so sweet, yet so tenacious.....and only He could have known that we were obviously missing out on the funny side of life (you are such a little nut!)....and so you came...all 8 lbs 3 &1/2 oz....22 inches of you....at 8:22 pm, you came in, and life was never to be the same.... thank you for making us smile little guy...may He use you in a mighty way in your years to come....we love you!!!

"But I will be Faithful in small things.....not neglecting what's right in my hand.....and whatever I do....may it always bring glory to You"

Paper or Plastic???

So I have been on here now for over an hour.....the intention? To post about our Field Trip today.....what happened? I have been distracted reading this amazing blog..http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ ....I am so gonna steal some of this ladies ideas....I could just read and read all night!

Anyhoo, back to the field trip....today, after our regular schoolwork, we drove down to Nashville to visit the Recycle Center of Davidson County....I know I know, sounds super boring! I thought so too....in fact I almost talked myself out of going a few times but I am really glad that I didn't. It was very educational and the kids had a blast playing a game of "try to figure out what this used to be".....and it reminded me of how we used to be so faithful to recycle when we lived in PA....where did our loyalty to "green" come from? Obviously it just came from the fact that a truck came around and picked it up curbside for us because once we moved here to TN, we have not recycled one iota (is that really a word??? I'm thinking probably not) of anything!

So it got me to thinking of just how many water bottles we go through in a week.....at least 24 and usually more.....we get the Sunday paper and just toss it! When did we get so lazy???

So my friend was telling me that there is a recycle pick up in our city, it just costs $11 a month....I'm thinking, I'm in! Now, I can throw it out curbside again and not feel guilty about trashing the Earth! Wrong! I go to the website and it says "no longer taking new customers"....WHAT??? So what do I do now with all of this "green" guilt I have????? And lets not even mention the "speech" I gave my kids on the way home about "doing our small part"....Are you telling me that I will now have to collect all this crap and then make a trip to somewhere ( I don't even know yet where) to dump it just to save face with my kids????? Yep! That is exactly what I am gonna have to do! Because my kids seriously have elephant DNA mixed in there somewhere....they don't forget ANYTHING you tell them! Plus how can I deprive my sweet Aidan of the joy of seeing that his empty yogurt cups can someday become his toothbrush??? (That just tickled the snot out of that kid!) He and Mag really got into it today....Aidan, who is not usually very prone to approach and talk to other adults, was all over the recycle lady asking her about the things he was finding on his list....he was fascinated!

And Maggie was too.....in fact I could barely get her to be still long enough to snap a picture of her! Notice the silver purse to the right of her??? Can you guess what that is made of? You guessed it, soda can tabs!

I wasn't able to get a shot of Tyler on the hunt mostly because he was feeling quite puny during the whole trip....I am almost certain he has had a migraine type headache all day....pray for him if you think to....he was still hurting as we went to bed tonight!

But I was able to catch (ok, force) a shot of the three of them standing in front of some neat, well, recylced stuff.....oh, and check out Tyler's clip board....an old computer board! To wrap up the tour, the lady told the kids to look at their pencils they had been using....they were made of recycled newspaper! It was very neat to see the colorful print of ink where it had been sharpened!

Had church tonight.....ate way too much Papa Johns pizza....and those darn oatmeal cookies are evil I tell you! The kids had a blast as usual and learned a new memory verse.....

This was Aidans version as he practiced it today...."Malachi 3:10....Bring in the whole tithe to the schoolhouse....Pahhhh! That kid is a nut! Of course the correct word was storehouse.....and of course he was dead serious so I almost busted holding back my laughter!

Read some of our Missionary book for bedtime.....I am sitting at the foot of Aidans bed as I type this looking around at my 3 little angels sleeping....don't ask why they are all piled into Aidans room....the smallest of all bedrooms.....it does make my heart swell to see them gravitate towards each other still in this big house.

"Thank you Lord for giving them the gift of each other!"

Oh yeah, we did do one more thing today.....we went and bought Aidan his birthday presents for his 6th birthday on Friday.....got everything he had said he would want.....down to the last little detail....only to have him come home tonight and tell us he had changed his mind! Note to self: Enforce some type of Statute of Limitations on birthday requests...

Time to go sort stuff....plastic, paper.....

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

Ice Cream, Gold Belts, and Nothing at the Pumps

Got Milk???

Yesterday we visisted the Purity Dairy Plant in Nashville....the kids had a blast, ate way too much ice cream at 10 in the morning, and learned lots of neat stuff about how it gets to the stores we buy it in......we got to watch through a window as the ice cream was dropped into the containers and packaged. It was a sad reality to me that we could not "tour" the plant where it is made because of 9/11....the FDA no longer will allow them to have unauthorized people where the products are made.....isn't that sad???? What is this world coming to that we would have to worry about someone anthraxing our Nutty Buddy's????? Afterwards, we stopped into Publix and let the kids pick a Purity product (we actually never buy that brand...too expensive!) but to bring the experience full circle we made an exception.....their choice? Nutty Buddys! And yes, I had one!

The fam....and a really big plastic cow

Maggie really liked the free scooper!

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Karate Kids...

Last night we attended Karate graduation for all three of the kids.....they were each becoming Gold Belts! Whooo Hooo! We are so proud of them....this has been something they have each just devoured in interest and in goal setting. As Mr. Deaton (owner and founder....and 8th degree Black Belt) talked to the audience, I was so blessed to hear him speak so openly about being a Christian! We knew he was, but it was so refreshing to see someone sit in a crowd of people with diverse backgrounds and I'm sure beliefs, and so boldly proclaim his Heavenly Father! Next goal....to become orange belts within 8 weeks! Here they are with David Deaton after graduation....come on, sing it with me...."I am a man, who will fight for your honor"....

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No Gas

After a Graduation Celebration at El Rey (our favorite Mexican), we were on our way home and experienced the creepiest thing......ALL of the gas stations on our ENTIRE way home were COMPLETELY out of ALL gas except diesel!!! Hurricane Ike was about to hit land in Texas and already we were seeing the effects of it here in Tennessee! Thank goodness Adam thought to fill up while out yesterday!

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

To perm or not to perm???.....I now know the answer!!!

Wow....is there really anything worse than thinking you hated your hair only to "fix" it another way and then realize that you now REALLY hate your hair!?!? And by "fix" I mean royally mess up!!! So I was told this summer about a new perm that was not supposed to be like the old perms....you know the kind.....if you missed getting one in the 80's, I'm sure you didn't come through the 90's unscathed!

Anyhoo, I have let my hair grow ALL summer long just to do this "beach perm" all the while having this beautiful image of the outcome in my mind......big mistake! The outcome??.....think "Annie" meets "Barbara Streisand".....yeah, it's that bad! And to make matters worse, I totally see myself in my senior pictures when I pass a mirror! Who in their right mind would want to make themselves resemble the 90's???? Oh well, nothing I can do now but see if I can learn to like it right? Except maybe wear leg warmers, carry around a Trapper Keeper, and start listening to New Kids on the Block again..... Maybe I will get the nerve to post a nice photo of the new fro..I mean "do".....and then again, maybe not!

In other big news in our house, Adam and I attended our first class at the karate studio the kids attend. This would probably be a good time to shamelessly plug the fact that all three of my kiddos will be graduating tomorrow night from White belts to Gold! Yay!!! I am super proud of all three of them and I am absolutely loving the way they are setting goals for themselves and striving to attain them. Aren't they cute??? Ok, back to blood sweat and tears.....I was so stinkin nervous to attend my "Exec-u-fit" class (cardio kickboxing mixed with karate) and I think Adam was a wee bit nervous about his karate class as well......but of course he wouldn't have said if he was. :-) Tyler loved being on the same mat with his dad and being a belt above him.....tee hee hee....can't you just hear him snickering about kicking his dads rear????

How was the class you ask??? I seriously thought I was having a heart attack!!! And I had a side stitch and a cramp in my backside! Pathetic, I agree! Then as I am leaving my class, I stopped to ask my sensei how many calories on average that class would burn.....he laughed and proceeded to tell me that a "typical" class would burn tons....then he says, "I was just messin around with you guys tonight since you are new"...WHAT???? I hope they have a difibrilator on the premises!!!! All in all I walked away feeling pretty proud....I made it the whole 90 minutes and didn't miss a beat (did you pick up on the fact that although about to kill over on the floor, I kept going? Is that endurance or ignorance???)....plus it just kinda felt good to put on boxing gloves and hit stuff! :-) And I felt better when Adam said he thought he was having a coronary next door in his class too .... is it as pathetic as it sounds that I was glad that he was having a heart attack too just so I don't feel alone in my non fit state of being?

Off to bed....field trip in the morning!

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"

Second Chance Blogger....

Welcome to the "official" McManus Family Blog!

Ok, so this is not my first attempt at blogging......I confess that I am blogger dropout! I started a blog at another site earlier in the year as a way of sharing our homeschool adventures, and learned quickly (when there were 4 months between my posts) that I am blog "neglegent." This time I am setting out to share any and every aspect of our lives with all of you that are brave enough to keep reading! Especially loved ones and friends that we no longer share a zip code with. And of course there is the fact that I am a perfectionist, and cannot stand to think that I have "failed" at anything (especially when it seems all of America can do it), so I am shamelessly just determined to "do this!" So, without further ado.....welcome to our life...."McManus, Party of Five"......hang out with us, have a cup of coffee with us, laugh with us, cry with us, pray for us......live life with us......

"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"