Ready for the pot!

New Blog

Due to Blogger not letting me post pictures and just driving me crazy on a whole, I've started a new blog with wordpress.com. The address is greenebeans.wordpress.com hope to see ya there.

Finally!

Today, for the first time in Caleb's whole six years of life I had to loosen his pants adjusters. Can you believe it??? He came down stairs, and couldn't get his pants buttoned! It is such an unusual happening!!!! He is up to 37.5 pounds as of one day this week, of course he was fully clothes with three shirts on and shoes, but hey, he has been 35 pounds for the last year. I think all this cooking I've been doing the last 3 months has been good for him. Jonathan is really growing right now too! He is getting taller, and bulking out. Finally! I'm not sure how much he weighs, he doesn't share as easily as Caleb. Yesterday, Bryan was down at Rex visiting a lady from church and he had Caleb with him. He stopped by the labor and delivery. He wanted to show Caleb the nursery, well because of restictions you can't see the babies or go back into the l&d. Bryan talked the nurse and she slipped Caleb back to see the babies. Sad, there were no babies in the nursery. Funny thing is she made Bryan stay out so he couldn't go back with them, but Caleb was extremely excited. I just wish there were some babies in the nursery. Things are so different now than when I've had the others. Back then, they wore bracelets that would go off if you took them out of the room, I wonder what it will be like this time. I'm hoping to call today and get me and Leah a tour. The men are going on a father/son retreat tonight and that would give us something to do. Well, better go for now, the washer needs downy and if I don't go now, I'll forget.

Amazing

Hello everyone, I bet y'all thought I had fallen off the planet. I'm having issues with blogger which makes me wonder if this will actually post. I'll try it and see what happens. Well, we have been super busy... Seth and Caleb had their birthdays. I now have two in the double digits! Their choice of cake was peanut butter pie. Sooo, we had peanut butter pie on the 22nd and on the 30th. We have had so many sweets in the house it isn't even funny which is why I've put on soooo much weight. Next, the ladies at church gave me a baby shower. Wow, I received a lot of stuff. It has been so fun going through it all and putting it away. Now, I just have to get this little girl here. Although, I still have this sick feeling it will be a boy. Not because of gender, but because EVERYTHING I have is PINK. Won't that just be interesting. The kids are getting more excited everyday! Caleb continues to talk about feeding her. I'm just hoping he doesn't decide to feed her his pb&j. I can just see him trying. I'm 36 weeks today and counting. My next dr appt. is on Friday, and I'm soooo tempted to see if she will induce. I guess I'll see how much pain I'm in when I go on Friday. On the eighth, I turned a year older. Wasn't too bad, although I woke up depressed. I'm always depressed on my birthday, don't ask me why I just am. One of these days, I'm going to have a CLEAN house on my birthday, and then maybe I won't be so depressed. You guess??? Amazing at what we let get us down. Anyway, the ladies from church took me to a late breakfast at the Old English Tea Room over in Wake Forest. It is such a quaint environment, even if the food was terrible, which it isn't, it would be fun. I had my first scone which was full of chocolate chips, (did I mention extra pounds??)and some cinnamon tea. Wow, they had some type of cream cheese yummieness you could spread on it, good good! I'm looking forward to taking Leah there sometime soon. Believe me, if there is yummy food, Leah will like it!!! It will be a good time of girl talk! She is growing up so much! It is amazing how much she understands about this new little one coming, and nobody had told her what will happen. I guess the Lord just puts this kind of stuff in girls. Well, I guess I have rambled long enough, maybe I can get my blogger fixed and won't have such a time posting. If I can't get this resolved, I'm going to start a different blog and shut this one down. I'll try to leave the new address if that does happen. Have a good night!!!

PRO AND CON
You can raise a crop of babies on almost any land;
In fact, you need a little grit, and just a little sand.
And lots of love and laughter, to make them grow up strong,
Yet folks with lots of babies somehow seem to get along.


I don't say they are useful, quite, as cars and pigs and such,
But they're a grand crop in themselves, and worth ten times as much.
So don't forget the babies when you're planning for your farm -
A few about you underfoot won't do a bit of harm.


And when your hair is growing gray and years are growing long,
Your heart, instead of drying up, will hold a merry song,
For babies have a way with them of growing strong and tall
And make such dandy leaning posts as life's spring turns to fall!

Busy Times

So, okay, it's been a while, things have been busy here. We had a Bible Conference over in Chapel Hill week before last. Bryan preached three or four times along with Pastor Brandenburg from Ca, and Bobby Mitchel Jr from Maine. Over all it was a great week, lots of traveling considering it is an hours drive one way, but well worth the drive. We were able to fellowship with friends we hadn't seen in a while. We even had a service in one of the oldest churches in the US. Only it isn't called a church, it is a meeting house. Rayanna and her family drove down and were here for Friday night and part of the day Saturday. Jonathan was able to play in the orchestra on Sunday and he really enjoyed it. I think it has rejuvinated his love for music. He practices more now than ever. Revival at Lighthouse started last night, Jonathan and Leah played revive us again on the violin and trumpet. It is amazing how nervous I get when they play. I can't imagine the nerves they must suffer when they get up in front of people. Seth is working on a new piece, it is absolutely beautiful. Jonathan also plays with Bro. Francis on Thursday night, it is a beautiful piece and if I could record it somehow I would post it. My camera died on me so there is no way to post pictures anymore. A most depressing state I'm in! School is going good, it won't be long and I'll be fixing report cards. Time flies when you are having fun! Baby Tabitha is growing, at this pace if she continues on I'll have no clothes that fit and I'll be reduced to wearing "Moo Moo's" as Mrs. Morgan calls them. She is still very active. I'm working on her a little hat right now, it is sooooo cute and soft. I hope I'm not disappointed, I have this picture of her in my head of the way she is going to look, and I can't seem to shake it. She will probably be born and look nothing like I've pictured. I'm really looking forward to Nov. this year! Not my favorite time of year normally, but this time, I'm looking for relief. Seth and Caleb's birthdays are coming up, I'll have two in the double digits. Wow! When did I get so old??? Last night before church, I told Caleb to put on his belt, he said "oh Mom, do I have to these pants are already so tight!" I laughed my head off, he has never had that problem before. I guess I'll be taking the waist out of those pants before he wears them again. (I have to take up all of his pants before he can wear them!) Okay, enough ramblings for now, I must get these kids doing their school work, or we will be going until church tonight!

Cosmetics

As most of us know, ladies must have lots of cosmetics. Well, one little lady sometimes has trouble keeping one little brother out of her cosmetics. For some unknown reason he likes to eat them. Strange Child! Anyway, we think we may have fixed the problem. Doubt it, but hey we can try. Leah has been wanting to learn to sew, so today she had her first real sewing lesson. I didn't get any pictures of her sewing, I was paying to much attention to my fingers. Here is her finished project, it will be hung on the wall in her room.

Crayon Roll and Purse

These days are restless days! I spend too much time online while working with the munchkins in school. If I'm not in the school room, neither are they. Anyway, I ran across a blog that had these crayon rolls a lady had made. (Caleb is forever busting the bottom of his crayon box out, and then there are crayons all over the floor.) So, I thought I would give them a try. That got the creative juices flowing, and I made me a purse. Hopefully, when Leah comes home she can pick out some material and we will work on her a purse! Now, I HAVE to go study for my class. Pray that this stuff will stick in my head. So far, most of it has gone OVER my head!

Roll making 'venture

A couple of weeks ago, I got this craving, and surprisingly I haven't had too many cravings this time. (Hubby would disagree!) Anyway, I was craving Maw Yates' yeast rolls. Well, the only person I know that makes these rolls is Becky, and she is only 31/2 hours away, and these rolls are not just something you whip up. Having good intentions I bought the ingredients about a month ago, and they have just sat in the pantry. I'm not a baker! Tuesday, the cravings got the best of me. I got out my recipe, that I had thanks to Becky, and got to work. Caleb once again was my helper as Leah was busy with violin practice. This is one complex recipe, you have to scald milk, melt your shortening on the stove, then it has to be refrigerated overnight. Much to one little boy's dismay. (Crazy kid actually licked the beaters!) Yesterday morning, I was greeted with the wonderful smell of yeasty bread when I opened the fridge. (Good thing too, I would have forgotten!) While the kids were gone to the nursing home I started the kneading and rolling out process. Well, I have decided if I'm going to make these again, I'm going to have to start lifting weights. And I've also figured out why they used BIG rolling pins and not the little ones from pampered chef! I get them cut out, brushed with butter, pinched closed, and the waiting game started again. Now, they must rise again. I finally got impatient with the first batch and we had them for lunch. Needless to say, they are better after they rise, but the first batch was yummy. The kids loved them, Leah especially. I'm hoping this is a tradition I can pass on to her and she can pass on to her kids. While doing all this I couldn't help think of a special lady. She fixed these rolls for every family gathering. She fixed them for our rehearsal dinner. (I can't imagine how many recipes she had to fix for that one.) And I can remember her sending extra ones with Jan when they would come visit us. She was one special lady! I wish I had thought of doing this sooner, maybe she could have given me some tips. Thanks so much Maw Yates, we love and miss you!

Dare Devils

Saturday was cleaning day around here! We actually got a lot done! Amazing! Anyway, by the evening the kids were all ready to skip ship and so they went out to play. (I think I've finally found a way to make them go outside without having to MAKE them go out. But SHHHHH don't tell them!) Well, as I was walking through the house putting away laundry, I saw my little dare devil shimmying up the basketball pole. I walked out to where he was, and the first thing he said was "Did I scare ya, Mom?". Well, I wasn't scared, this was a minor incident. He tells me he was wanting to hang from the rim. Now, you may ask, "Why would a five year old want to hang from a basketball rim?" This is my answer....
Jonathan wants to be Kobe Bryant!!

Yeah!

Hey, I hope this works. I've been trying to get this thing on here all day! I'm just sooo dumb when it comes to this blogging stuff. Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out!

ADD

As most of you know Caleb is a very active little boy! Understatement! If he were in a public school, they would label him as ADD and want to put him on drugs. Really, he is a very bright little boy who has endless energy. He is doing very good in school, he can read and loves to be challenged in everything except penmanship. Not his favorite subject! Since he is soooo active I'm trying to come up with ways to keep him occupied, and hopefully we can channel all this energy into something good. Here is my latest project for him. Peach cobbler, Yum!! This next one is when he gets all of his energy out!

Baby Bump 251/2 weeks

Okay, It has taken me almost 2 weeks to post these, but here are the latest baby bump pictures. No laughing please, and Laura I DO have a bump! (More like a mound right now!)

Explanations

Okay, here goes, since I've been pregnant, the kids have had some doozie questions. I have given them very vague answers, so it has just brought on more questions. On the way home from lessons tonight I started listening to their conversation they were having in the back seat. (I often tune out their conversations!) Anyway, they were talking about when the penguins brought the baby. I said, "What?". Jonathan speaks up and says, "oh, not the penguins those long legged birds!" "The stork?" I replied. "Yeah, that's it!" was their reply. How storks got turned into penguins I'll never know, but it made me chuckle!

Everything went good!

Sorry, I didn't get back on here yesterday. Me and the couch had a 2 hour appointment! Little Miss Tabitha had me up most of the night on Tuesday so by the time school was out I was wiped out! She is sooo active! We started school at 8am and took one 15 min. break and amazingly we were finished by lunch. It won't be that way every day as the boys videos will get more involved, but it was a good first day. Caleb and Leah have enough seatwork to keep them busy while I'm helping the other one. Pray that God will give me the endurance to be able to keep up with everything. I have less than fourteen weeks to go before the baby is due and I'm hoping to get as much done as possible.

Today's the day!

Yep, today we start another year of school! Right now, the kids are in Bible class with Mr. Howle. He is such a good teacher! He gets right down on the kids level to where even Caleb can understand. Jonathan and Seth are on videos this year. So, I'm hoping to have a easy year, if you can call homeschooling four kids and having newborn easy. I'm excited, I think I'll be able to spend more time working with Caleb and Leah on things we have skipped this year. The first few weeks are nothing but review so I'm going to use this time to work on different things. If everything goes good, I'm hoping to be done teaching by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Last year we went until 4:30 almost every day. It was some really long days. Well, I must go now they are finished with Bible for the day. I'll try to post later on how it went.

Happenings

Well, this week has been weird. Part of the time, I've been bored others have been busy. Started the week by trying to rid my kitchen of ants. I had to throw a whole box of cereal away because of ants. I was not happy! So, I took everything out of the pantry, shelves and all, washed everything down with bleach, painted and put everything back. Guess what! No ants! Yeah, now I'm happy! Wednesday was spent trying to recover from my painting venture. Thursday, I learned how to give a yard a grass transplant. Interesting, and I learned what exercises I need to do to shed some pounds after this little one is born! Last night we were able to have a family night, it is the first one we have had in quite a while. It was so much fun! On the way home, I ended up slap happy. I think that was the first time I've been slap happy in years. It felt sooo good just to laugh uncontrollably! The kids asked their dad, what is wrong with mommy? I must not laugh enough for them! Today, we went to the kids exchange down in Raleigh. It is a HUGE consignment sale of kids stuff. They had everything you could possibly want or need for kids all ages. I got Tabitha a couple little dresses and gowns. I had forgotten how fun it is to dress a baby girl. Even Jonathan got in on picking out stuff. I did notice that Seth didn't pick anything out. (He has always hated the color pink!) It was crazy, we waited in line to get in, then waited for over an hour to check out! The whole day, Tabitha was very still and quiet, and since we have been home she hasn't quit moving. Not even for five minutes. She has had the hickups at least twice. What am I going to do with her after she is born?? Jonathan's dvd's are on the way for school and Leah and Caleb's books have also been shipped. I'm hoping to start the week of the 4th. Hopefully, I'll be ready by then! Oh, and I now have friends on facebook. I have no idea how to work the thing or how I'll have time to keep up with it, but it has been nice to reconnect with all the different "kids" we have worked with in different ministries. They have all grown up so much, it is amazing how much time has passed. Well, I must run, I sent the kids to bed, but I doubt very seriously they have actually made their way there. Oh, and a praise, Bryan got our lawn mower ready. I guess we won't need that goat after all!

A Blonde Moment

If any of you know Leah, you know she often times has moments where she just doesn't think. Tonight at supper time we were talking about different musical instruments. Bryan told Leah she should learn to play the french horn. She looked confused then said "BEEP!" She thought he was talking about a car horn. Poor child, her roots will forever tell on her!

Baby News

Hi, there isn't a whole lot going on with the baby other than she seems to have great endurance when it comes to exercise. She exercises hours everyday! I just know when she is born she will be in great shape! Her poor mother will not, I guess that will come afterwards! Anyway, we have finally picked a name for our little bundle. We have been going back and forth with names since I found out I was pregnant. One day this week her daddy came running upstairs all excited and said I have a name! He had been reading his Bible, like all good preachers should, and came across the name Tabitha. He said, "it was like the Lord told me, Tabitha should be her name!" So, we are naming her Tabitha after a lady who was known for her work for the Lord, and Joy for all the joy she will bring us in the years to come! Tabitha Joy Greene, it has a nice ring to it!