Boobs and Brain Damage

So I wanted to post this quickly before I forget: the kids have been playing outside all afternoon since getting home from school. Emma ran in a few minutes ago and told me she had brain damage:-) She said that Caleb had kicked her in her headfore and damaged her brain! What an imagination she has. She ran back out and came in a few minutes later and said, " 100+100 is 0--see, I have brain damage!"

Jake came in a little while after that holding 2 bouncy balls up to his chest, yelling, "I has boos, I has boos!" Never a dull moment in the Dunlap house! Hope everyone is enjoying their week!

Spring Break Pt. 2

So things have been going well with the kids at Dale and Marie's--I called to talk to them last night and they were both telling me different activities and things that had been going on. Marie and I decided not to drive to Louisiana this week. I am disappointed but know that the kids would be too tired to try it--hopefully we can go in the summer for longer. As I'm talking with Emma, she suddenly asked me how baby Clayton was doing. I told her I wasn't with him, I was with Jake. So she says," How is Jake Renessa?" The child had been talking to me for at least 5 minutes. I swear she has blonde roots.

Jake has been really into singing at the piano. He gets his play microphone and starts banging on the keys and singing High School Musical and songs from church--really too cute.

Shon told me today that a friend of his that he works with lost their baby last month--she was stillborn. What a tragedy--it made me really thankful for my children being healthy--even though some days I wonder what I was thinking having 3, I can't imagine them not being here. I hope I never have to.

Well, Jake has been down for a long nap, and he'll never go back to bed tonight if I don't get him up. I'll try to post pictures soon--I have some good blackmail material on my phone for when Jake gets older. It involves him, a tiara, and his sister's purple princess dress;-)

Spring Break!

Spring Break is officially here! I am excited because my oldest 2 are spending the weekend with my in-laws:-) I literally am so excited to have a break from the arguing and back and forth between the 2 of them. I have been trying a new concept lately with discipline--it's a book called 1-2-3 Magic. Basically you count the behavior you want stopped (like whining, arguing, fighting, etc) and you reward behaviors you want them to start (keeping their rooms clean, putting away clothes, unloading the dishwasher, etc.) I now only ask them to have their rooms cleaned on Wednesday night and Sunday nights before bed. If they comply the receive their full allowance--$3 for Caleb and $2 for Emma. If it's not clean then I take money off--same with their chores. It has really been working well except for this week--I think the time change also threw them off because they are more tired and cranky. I am hoping this break allows us to catch up on some sleep:-)

Shon is still traveling every week, Monday through Thursday. Caleb has started baseball--it's a lot more than I bargained for. With tball he had 1 practice and 1 game a week. With baseball it is 2 practices a week for 1 1/2 hours each, and the games are here or possibly away. It's really hard to do with the other 2 having no one to stay with, but we'll get through it. Emma's ballet recital is next month, and she has been so cute going around singing El Shaddai. She and Jake have been singing at our piano a lot lately--they love to belt out any song from High School Musical, although today Emma busted out with some Beyonce--Single Ladies. Too funny:-)

Not much else I can think of right now--I will try to be more consistent. Both Caleb and Emma had to take a round of antibiotics this month--Emma for a deep cough that wouldn't go away and Caleb had strep last Saturday. Hopefully everyone else will stay well!

Long while

So it has been too long since I have posted, but so much has been going on. We survived the ice storm of '09--our power went out Tuesday afternoon around 2 pm. The kids tried to nap but were unable to, save Jake. We turned on the fireplace and were plenty warm for awhile. My friend Jen called and she and her husband and 3 kids were our and checking out the damage--they offered for us to stay with them, and we took them up on it. Shon was out of town, and I wasn't really sure what I would do with 3 kids without anything electronic to entertain them:-) I really only thought we would be there for 24-48 hours max, so I packed a few changes of clothes and we were on our way.

No one had eaten supper so on the way to Rogers, we decided to stop at McDonalds. We were literally there for 1 1/2 hours! It took about 30 minutes to get our food, and Jen, who ordered right behind me, had to wait forever for hers. It turns out the 1 person working the register lost their order--it was not much fun! We finally made it to their house, and I was really glad for heat and electricity! We ended up staying with them through Friday! It was crazy in the house with 6 kids 7 and under, but we made it work. Mike and Jen were wonderful, and the kids were well behaved up until the last day:-) Shon was diverted flying home Thursday night and ended up in Tulsa--he drove home early Friday morning rather than wait on the plane. He was feeling really ill with a sinus infection so we decided to drive to Lepanto where Shon's parents live and stay there until our power was back on or until the kids had to go back to school, whichever came first. We ended up coming back home Monday morning:-) We had to throw out all of our food, which was quite depressing, but it is nice having a clean refrigerator:-)

We had an uneventful few weeks after that, and were able to enjoy Valentine's day with my parents, sister and Josh. We went to Caleb's Upward basketball game, where he scored his first basket. Then we went and ate lunch at Red Robin (yummy). We went to Target after eating and Christy and Josh let the kids each buy a toy for their birthdays. The had fun looking through EVERYTHING before picking something out. Josh and dad were at the Razorback game, so we came back to the house and played for a little bit. Then we went to Catfish Hole and ate supper, and they had to leave. It was fun to spend time with them.

Caleb will be starting baseball soon, and finishing up basketball this Saturday. Emma will be done with ballet in April, and has decided she wants to play soccer--we'll see if this lasts:-) Hope everyone is doing well--sorry for not commenting lately--I do read your blogs though!

Carolynn

Go to this site now!

So I saw this site on another blog and am just overwhelmed and in tears--God is so good! Please go check out www.iamsecond.com --you will be blessed! Just be sure to take some Kleenex with you! Click on any of the pictures for different and powerful testimonies about putting Christ first in your life--just what I was needing today:-) I hope it encourages you as it did me.

Yesterday

So I went back over my post from yesterday, and needed to clarify something for myself. I don't mean that I am expecting Obama to fail--far from it. I am praying for him and his family during this transition--especially his sweet girls. I can't imagine how this new life will be for them, but am thankful that they seem to have a mom that puts their needs first. Still, it can't be easy to have to go to school having big men with dark jackets and ear pieces following you around:-) My point of my post yesterday (and today) is that I wish the majority of the American people were not pinning their hopes and dreams on one man. The only "man" who deserves that honor is Jesus Christ. I know people are anxious for change, but that can come in many forms, and not all of them are positive. So, while I didn't' vote for Obama, I will support him as best I can since he is our president. On a different note, Emma and I were talking yesterday about the events of the day, and she mentioned watching Obama on tv. She was telling me he was the 45th president, then she asked how many of them had been boys. I told her so far all of them had. She looked at me and said, "Well that just isn't fair--they should let a girl be president. Why don't you work at being president mommy?" I told her I had enough to do here:-) So then she told me she was going to work on it herself. She also told me she was happy that "Mark Obama" was now the president:-) Never dull with her around! I still need to post birthday pics, but am really tired this am. If anyone has any suggestions for how to keep Jake in his bed, I would love to hear them. I am thinking I will try a baby gate for his door as my next option. I am just really tired of being awakened at 3 am every night:-( Hope you all have a great day!

Historic Day

So I know I need to post about Jake's birthday party, and I will, but I wanted to put down my thoughts about today first. I do understand that this is an historic date in our country's history. And I am praying for the president as he transitions into this role. However, I don't like how every media outlet and a lot of people are looking at him like he is the messiah come to fix every problem of every person. That's a lot of pressure for one person. I do hope he lives up to the promises of his campaign, but I don't feel like he is going to solve all of my problems. Jesus doesn't promise that all of my problems will be solved (far from it!) , but He does want me to rely on Him and Him alone for my happiness. I guess I just wanted to write how I was feeling--I truly hope I don't offend anyone--but I probably won't be watching much of the coverage today because I am a little sickened by how ingratiating everyone in the media seems to be. When you are put up on a pedestal, it is just a further fall when something happens to knock you off of it. I promise to try and post a more upbeat post about Jake's birthday party later!