My crazy last 2 weeks!

The Wednesday before Christmas, I tried to burn out house down.  Yes, that's right. I did.  I put a candle on top of Sara's tv cabinet and it set a plastic box that was up there on fire.  The smoke alarm went off, the house filled with smoke, the entire house semlled like burnt plastic.  I got the fire out and waited for hubby to get home the next morning.  He just looked at her room and said we had a lot of work to do. And yes, we did!!

The top photo is her ceiling right above where her cabinet was. The bottom picture is the wall behind the cabinet. I had to strip the wall border off her walls before I could clean them with special cleaners.   I don't now what was worse...the burned parts or the smoke damage.

We cleared out her room of everything but her dresser and loft bed. Hubby scraped off the popcorn ceiling and put Kilz on the 2 walls that had been painted blue and went halfway down the other 2 walls that were painted pink. I put Kilz on the parts of the walls that the roller couldn't get to.

Yesterday he rolled the new poprn on her ceiling and made sure it was ready to be painted.  I put tape on the floor so when I painted her baseboards I didn't get paint on the hardwood.

I painted her entire room today and the 4 closet doors.  I was able to put her bed and tv cabinet back in their places. I still need to get her bed made and the rest of the stuff back in, but the hard parts are done. 

I will never buy another candle.  I will stick with my Scentsy warmers. I wanted to repaint her room and cover up the blue walls but certainly not like this!! 

So there is my story!

School's Out For Summer!! Let the fun begin!!!

The school year has come to an end here. Making a list of things to do with the kids!! I know they love to play outside, except when it hits 90 degrees. Though I do say to go play in the sprinkler or in the little plastic pool! Sara and Joseph love to run through the sprinkler while it's watering the grass or sit in their pool in the driveway.

I know we will do a lot of camping this year. I love the outdoors and love to pull our pop-up camper up to Heber Springs or Choctaw and spend 3 or 4 days just sitting outdoors. Even when it's 80 degrees outside, there is nothing like getting up and building campfire. Its just natural when camping. We take the kids to the lake and let them swim and swim and swim until they can't swim anymore!! Just being outdoors away from electronics, and phones, and the tv and just spending time together as a family. There's nothing else like it.

We always plan a trip to Texas to see hubby's family. Hoping to plan that for the end of July because my very best friend is expecting a little girl and I would love to be there afterwards to get my baby fix!! :D I am hoping we can visit Galveston this year...has been so long since we have been and we have never taken Joseph. The hurricane came through a few years ago and we haven't been back. Would love to take some pictures of his first time at the beach and what his reaction is to the ocean and the sand.

What makes a friend?

What is a friend? That's my question today. What is a real friend to you?

16 already??

Can't believe this weekend is already here. I remember looking at my newborn son and just wondering what was going to happen in his life, what excitements we were going to go through, the pain, heartache, you name it. And now this time has come and my "baby" is turning 16. In just 2 short years, he will be graduating from high school and looking at colleges and leaving home. Where has the time gone? He has been a joy to have, a pain in the neck sometimes, all around a great kid. He's learned a lot about being a kid and I sure have learned a lot about being a mother. And I'm learning with each child that I have had. Each child is different, in the way they talk, act, learn, understand....have to treat them all different but love them all the same.

He's come a long way in 9 years!!

Today, Jacob turns 9! I still remember when he was born. Was an interesting day. Was going to be a sad day, as it was the day that Curtis' brother was going to be buried. Curtis' brother and dad had come up from Texas for the funeral. Little did they know that they would be attending a birth instead. But I think they would have preferred the delivery over the funeral. Welcoming a new life into the world on a sad day was a good thing for them all.

Contractions started the night before. I knew what they were and Curtis' dad was sitting with me watching tv. He could tell something was going on but I didn't let him. I mean, it was #3. How fast could this one come?? HAHA Drove to get pizza counting the minutes between contractions. FIL and BIL went back to campsite that night to get some rest and to greet the next day. Called them about 5 in the morning and said we were heading to the hospital and if they wanted to meet us up there. It might have been earlier, but with 9 years going by, kind of hard to remember.....LOL

They both came up to the hospital. Curtis and his brother left the room to go outside and smoke while their dad sat in the room with me. Let me tell you, was quite an experience having my FIL in the delivery room. He was really quiet...just sat in a corner on the far end of the room...LOL Almost like hwasn't there. Curtis and his brother showed back up and his brother planted himself on one side of my bed watching the monitor. And everytime it showed that a contraction was coming, he would let me know. As if I couldn't already tell!!!!! I guess he was trying to help by getting my mind off of the actual contractions. And it did help...he had me laughing and it was something I could remember through the years.

Jacob is now 9 and such a sweet boy. Doing well in 3rd grade...making lots of friends. Has a best friend named James who is over almost everyday. They are inseparable. It is so nice that he has a friend like that. They both enjoy the same things, sleepovers at each other's houses, birthday parties, etc. I still can't believe that he is 9 already and next year will be hitting the Double Digits!!! Oh my goodness!!! Can we count the gray hairs on my head??? LOL

I am looking forward to many more years with Jacob. I know he brings such joy and laughter to this household. I expect more joy and laughter throughout the years to come!

Wow! Time does fly!

Wow! It's been a long time since I have logged in. You would think I had a lot of say with my busy household but sometimes it's hard to just sit down and write anything or catch my breath. Always going and going and going...never seems to stop.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Hubby's brother & wife, sister & hubby came up and we flew in his Grandma from California the day before they all showed up. Was a nice surprise to have his siblings come into the house and see his Grandma. We hadn't seen her in over a year so was great! The guys hung out that Saturday installing an air conditioner/heater in the boys' room and spent Sunday golfing. The ladies and I spent Saturday cooking the dinner so we could have our Thanksgiving with all of them.

Sunday we had Robert's 15th birthday. Gosh, I feel old with a child that age!!! He had quite a few friends attend which was nice. Even had a raccoon climb our small flimsy tree and hang there for a while. My friend and I sprayed him with the water hose and she kept spraying as I swayed the tree. Our dog was sitting at the bottom of the tree just waiting for it to drop!! That raccoon left the tree and landed at my feet and I tried my hardest to climb that tree to get away from it! Would have been great if someone had remembered a video camera...haha

Now we are getting ready for Christmas. My favorite time of the year. Not just because of the birth of Christ but love to see my childrens' faces that morning as they come in and see their gifts and stockings. With 5 kids, we have had to limit our spending on them and just try to get things that we know they will use and not just play with for 5 minutes and then get stuck in a box. With some advice from my dad I did our front yard in christmas lights and decorations. Looks great!!

Havent decided what resolutions I will make for the New Year. Always make some and then never follow through so hoping this year I can come up with some that I will be able to keep.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Joseph's First ER Visit

So I know this blog is about 4 days late but we have been busy this week...school, hubby working, life, ect. Legitimate excuses, you know!!

So Monday started out BORING!!!! Kids went off to school, I started my usual routine..dishes, laundry, floors, picking up after kids, etc. Same thing I do everyday, people....clean my house!! Anyways.......Cassandra and kids came by for a visit. And things were normal...kids fighting over toys, Laila driving her mommy crazy, etc etc. Had a great visit....when it was time for them to leave, we all went outside. Joseph got the skateboard and was "riding" it on the sidewalk in front of the house. Now our sidewalk is the rocks that are imbedded in concrete...not loose rocks. Very pointy and hard to walk on. My feet can only handle walking on it for so long....the kids dont care! So Joseph was tryin to get it to move down the sidewalk...well it only went so far and then stopped.....didn't stop Joseph from moving. He kept going forward!! Get the picture??

Bam!!!! Down he went face first into the sidewalk. At first I thought maybe he had just hit his nose pretty hard and that was it. Until I got closer and there was blood!!!! Now I hate the sight of blood and needles and all things gory. But I have 5 kids and have been through this A LOT!!! Cassandra just couldn't understand why I was soo calm...I said "after 5 kids, its routine around here"...hehe. I picked poor Joseph up and ran into the house and put a wet rag on his forehead THAT WOULDN'T STOP BLEEDING!!! Ran and woke up hubby...an EMT you know! He looked at it and calmly said "it'll be ok, needs a couple of stitches but we can put a butterfly bandage on it for now".

Now the mother inside of me wanted to rush to ER to get stitches but he said to wait till the boys got home from school (an hour later) and then we would all go. Since he works at ACH and had to work that night, we would all just go in together. So I waited. Boys got home, Joseph had pulled off the bandaids, I stuck new ones on, hubby got up and said that Joseph would be ok, just leave bandaid on. I said "are you sure"? After asking several times, he said just to take him in. After 3 hours total in ER at ACH, they came in, put numbing medicine on it (which Joseph proceeded to pull off!! ),cleaned it out, and glued it togehter. I am not a big fan of glue...I wish they had stitched it. He has banged it so much since that night that it started bleeding again. At that point I said screw it, it'll be fine....LOL He will have a scar but so do his brothers.

As hubby says, "he wouldn't be a Venable without an ER visit". So true in our case!!! ALL the kids have visited the ER for one thing or another in the last 12 years. Sooo exciting in our household!!!!