Spring and National Water Fountain Day!

Hello, Spring! I have so missed you. I have missed the pretty green grass. The birds chirping around my pink flowering weeping cherry tree. The warmth on my skin and the nice breeze through my hair. The ability to send my children outside to have as much fun in the sun as they can stand! Maybe Spring was just waiting on Easter to pass? Whatever the reason, I am glad it's here! Things I am ready to accomplish now that Spring is here:

•  I am ready to paint my living room/kitchen area. It's an open floor plan. Which I love since  I am constantly in the kitchen cooking, cleaning, teaching....this works great for our family to be able to be together. What I'm not to fond of is the basic beige of  color on my walls. So, I'm(by I mean we...me and the husband) are going to paint an accent wall in red and the other walls in a yellow color. Kind of like the color of butter. It's going to be pretty and full of color to help lighten things up! Now, that we can open windows and not die of  paint fume inhalation, we can do just that.
• I can't wait to plant my garden! We are doing raised beds again this year and I can't wait to harvest our crops. 
• This school year is almost over. The kids are ready for a break and so am I. Summer fun in the water is coming our way. Even if it is from the garden sprinkler!
• To plant our grapes that my father in law brought to us. We have enough to make a small vineyard. I see lots of grape jelly being made in my future. 
• To be able to play outside with the kids. Yesterday was so beautiful that we played hopscotch and rode bikes for a while. 
• To possibly {try} camping. 
• To absolutely go fishing. Everyone in my family loves to fish. I'm not sure how my Sweetie Pie is going to handle touching a fish since she hates to get dirty. That's why I know it's going to be fun.

Things I could probably live without but I'll try {NOT} to complain about:

• Allergies. Pollen is what makes all my flowers happy. It makes my head wish it were buried in the flower garden. I'm trying to be positive. 
• I think the sun makes my kids a little crazy right before bedtime. Last night, as they were brushing their teeth, I hear, "It's National Water Fountain Day!" In the two minutes all 3 kids were in the bathroom they managed to fill a sandwich bag(that smuggled peeps into their rooms and was never thrown away)with water. The water was then "sprung" out like a water fountain. All over the bathroom. And the carpet outside the bathroom. National Water Fountain Day has for ever been canceled. Too much celebration caused the kids to be sent to bed 20 minutes early. {Wait a minute...maybe we will celebrate Water Fountain Day every day....}

Ok, so that's the only two things I could live without. I hope you are all enjoying your Spring weather. I know I certainly am! (Minus pollen and water fountain's!) I'll post some really cute Easter pics later. Until then......Happy National Water Fountain Day! 

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Long time no blog part #...

Ok, I lost count. I'm not really sure what part number this should be. I do know however that I have missed it. I just haven't had, or perhaps made, the time to stop and blog. I feel that I've been busy. Not the kind of busy that makes you want to curl up in a ball in a locked closet and cry. But the joyful kind. Busy but content. Does that even make sense to anyone but me? Anyway, as normal the house is semi-cleaned, the laundry 99%(ok, 89%) done, and the kids are as messy and as happy as ever. We are currently in the steady cycle of night shift with my husband's work. Which means being quite is harder than most days. I did however successfully clean/helped clean the kids bedrooms today. My sweetie hasn't waken yet, so I will deem this a successful mission! Wait...some one is jumping on the bed while someone else is banging on the window to get the dog's attention.....Ok, I'm back. See, so hard to be quite.

*not my picture*
Do you think I could hang my kids from the line like this?
I kid...I kid...maybe...

We are anxiously awaiting spring. It is weird to me that Daylight Savings time is this weekend. Why is it so early this year? I am ready for longer days if it means the kids can get outside more and run out their built up winter energy. I am beyond ready to get my hands in some soil! I need to plant something and watch it grow. I also need sunshine. I feel as though I look like a ghost. I need Vitamin C. Not to mention I need lots and lots of sunshine so I can hang out my clothes on the line.  I'm beginning to think I'm old fashioned. I'm not against it. Simplifying my life? I say bring it on! Also, my  Sweetie Pie asks me on a daily basis if it is time to go swimming yet. When I tell her sweet summer loving self, "No, not yet." She says, "Ok, well how about the sprinkler." She's persistent!  :)

Speaking of this sweet girl. I just enrolled her in Kindergarten. How in the world did that happen? She is super excited to learn how to read. She knows all the letter sounds and when she is helped can sound out small words with no issues. She loves it when Sweet Pea helps her out. Until, Sweet Pea corrects her when she doesn't "need" help. Then we have all kinds of attitudes. We are going to home school again this year. We all have really enjoyed the freedom we have with home schooling. We can do the work in the mornings, in the afternoons, or at night. This works out rather well when Daddy is on night shift. We get to eat a big lunch with him and spend time with him during the day. At night, after he leaves, we do our school work. The way his schedule falls, if they were in public school, the kids would never get to see their Daddy. This makes me happy that we can bend our schedules and still be a family together. :)

*not my image*

Speaking of family time, we are about to have a lot more of it. We made the decision to be a....Duh, duh, duh....Cable/dish free family for a while. Maybe forever. Who knows? We had cut back on our TV viewing time. Especially when doing school work. Starting next year, we will be adding Sweetie Pie to the home school mix as well as The Boy with some pre-K work. So, that would be even more time with the TV off. Not to mention, the ridiculous  amount of what we call "non-view-able" shows. We have no desire to watch shows with nude people, extreme foul language, or an obscene amount of violence and gore. Even the news is depressing and almost unviewable. I have no desire to watch that mess and I absolutely have no desire for my children to walk in and see or hear it. Sometimes, we were more concerned with our shows than spending time with our kids. The only "family" shows that were ever on, were on the Disney channel. Turns out we get all of those shows on Netflix. We are keeping our extremely inexpensive Netflix and got rid of Dish all together. The few shows we do watch are on the networks website for free the next day. The news is also on the internet...for free. So we were actually paying for nothing. So here's to saving money and bringing the family closer together! We are currently on day 3. We have yet to kill each other or have withdrawals  Mostly.( Ok, I kind of miss HGTV.)  It's also not as loud as has been known to get around here. That's a plus! (Oh, how I wish House Hunters was on Netflix!) Ok, I'll  survive. I think. Maybe

Micah and I were talking and decided that the Fowler Family are officially Conservative Hippies!  Hanging out my clothes, eating things that we grow, no cable, home school, saving money, me being a homemaker,  anti-big government, loving God and life....Yup, Conservative Hippie.  I think I'll take it!


It's almost the weekend, chin up! Happy Thursday!








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Just a portion of my crazy week....

I must say that I am always happy when Friday rolls around. This year I'm even more excited because my wonderful husband is off on Fridays. That makes me super happy! It's been a busy week. Last week I had the wonderful privilege of doing this:

What exactly is this? Well this is about 1/4 of my son's toy cars. I got to wash them! Why? Well, apparently, he needed to pee-pee and the bathroom, that's exactly 7 steps down the hall, was just too far away. So he decided to pee on his cars and the car holder. Yup. That smelled lovely. So, after a long soak in a bleach, soap, and hot water sink, they are now back to being carpet mines.{carpet mines: small weapons, aka toys, that are placed on the carpet where hard working responsible adults step on them, barefooted, quickly losing their religion and the feeling in their foot. May also cause one to hop on uninjured foot, causing one to not pay attention and step on another carpet mine. Note: This will bring tears to your eyes while children look at you as though you have lost your mind.}

One of our dear little pets, Corndog, brought home a nice little treat yesterday. Only, it was an entire fried chicken breast. I feel the need to mention, our Corndog is a weeny dog. He is small. The chicken breast he brought home, and into my house by the way, was two times bigger than his head! We were just minding our own business, doing school work, and we hear him crying outside. I told Sweet Pea to let him in. Upon entering I see this monstrous something in his mouth. I'm thinking, what in the world is that? Sweet Pea was laughing so hard, she couldn't form a sentence. All I got was.... Corndog...something....I....don't know...So, I run and chase after him and alas find out it is a fried chicken breast. I start telling him to let go. He doesn't listen. He's worse than the kids. I try to pull it out of his jaws, I only remove half of the chicken. I have to pop him on his little nose 2 or 3 times to get him to drop the rest. He follows me to the trash can and starts crying. I mean, he is moaning. He is a sad puppy. He finds Sweetie Pie and jumps up on her knees and starts crying. Like he's tattling on me. He was mad the rest of the day. He didn't even curl up by my legs after the kids went to sleep. I have no idea where he got it. I'm sure there is a doberman somewhere with a chicken wing saying, "What the what?" 

This past week my entire hall was filled with baby dolls. From one end to the other. Sweetie Pie decided she would line them up and take a tally. She even had a notebook and pencil. She was calling roll and taking names! Her brother was "helping" her. By helping I mean he was made to help. She put him to work lining up baby dolls. I wish I had a picture, I didn't think of it until after the fact. 

My son has started calling the potty the "Oval Office". I completely blame this on that Clorox commercial with all the different names for a toilet. I also blame this on my husband.  He finds it hilarious. Why is toilet humor so funny to males?  He says, "I'm going to have some fun in the Oval Office!" "I'm going to poop in the Oval Office!" SIGH. That child is only 4. Dear Lord, please help me. He is not even a teenager yet. P.S. Why are boys so gross?

So, as you can see it's been busy. This is only a portion of my week. It snowed yesterday! I have pictures I'll post later. It was a fun day. We only get one snow day a year. We had to go out in it! 

I hope ya'll have a good weekend! I hope I have a weekend that doesn't include oval offices or chicken breast. 

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A recap of the new year...thus, far....

It has been a glorious new year! I know, it's only day 4 of 365 days but, it's still good! I've been out of the Facebook loop for about 5 days. I must say it feels nice, to not be at the computer every few hours just scrolling up and down. I feel much more relaxed. I still occasionally fight an urge to go "check Facebook, real fast"(like, that's ever possible!) but I have been strong and I have stayed away. I find I spend more time with the kids when I am away from FB. Which, is slightly awkward to admit. I should always make time to build the Joker's layer with my boy and congratulate my girls on what amazingly stable Lincoln log buildings they have made. And yet, in the past, it would be, "I will in a minute" or "In just a little while". How disrespectful I have been. I'm glad I decided to take a break. I realized just how much it had control over the little things. The little things that will not always be around.


I finally finished the The Inheritance Cycle. It's a really great set of books(4) that has everything fantasy you could want: dwarfs , all kinds of strange creatures,  elves, and the best part of all dragons. I never thought I would love this genre of books but alas, it's one of my favorites. Thanks to my husband! It really left me wanting more. If you ever have the chance to read it, you should totally pick it up! Now, I'm just trying to figure out what to read next. I always have that problem!

We woke up to 27 degree weather this morning. That's cold. This would normally not really be that big of a deal but today it is. I parked in the front of the house. Instead of the garage. I promised I would take the kids to Wal-mart(which by the way, I am certain is one of the entrances into Hades) to spend their gift card they got for Christmas. I'm waiting until after lunch so that  no one is Hangry (angry because they are hungry). Pray for me.

I am ready for Spring. We've been getting planting magazines in the mail almost every day since Christmas. We've made a list of everything we want to plant. It makes me so excited! The kids are by far warm weather kids. They love to be on their bikes, running around outside, playing sports, and chasing the dogs everywhere. I like winter a lot. But, I am also looking forward to warmer weather. :)



My brother, sister in love, and Micah and I decided to get my parents a picture of all their grand babies for Christmas. We decided to do one really big picture and then an album of all the other pictures. This was 100% easier said than done. We had two cameras, about 30-40 minutes and four grand kids. We needed just one picture where everyone was looking at the camera and smiling. And that my friends was exactly what we got. One picture out of all the pictures we took. My sister in love captured the one picture with her extremely nice, extremely fast camera. I think the more kids we add to the family, we're going to need an even faster camera. Here are some of the "outtakes" from my camera! Enjoy!

Only the boys are looking at the camera.

Ok, no one is looking at the camera, they're throwing leaves. 

Yeah, the falling leaves were much more entertaining than two mommy's taking pictures.

I love the looks on all of their faces in this one! They all crack me up! 

I think they are getting slightly disgusted. 

The boys have the exact same look as each other. So do the girls! lol! 

Did I mention, we had to keep this a surprise from my parents for a month. We had to be all Mission: Impossible with it. They were surprised and happy. I hope to get more Christmas pictures loaded from my camera to the computer then to the blog, soon. I hope. I must leave now, my son just said, "I'm going to go kick some honey buns " Well, that wasn't as nice as telling his sisters he loved them because they "had big hearts and are nice!" like he did the other night. At least they haven't offered to "Let's make over brother! That's a great idea!"  Happy first week of 2013!



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The New Year!

It has been a long 2 weeks. In both good and not so good ways. The bad first. The kids have been sick with, as the doctor said, something "viral". Fevers of 104, snot, coughing, more snot. For something that was viral it certainly feels flu like. The kids were just lethargic and doing all they could to try and play. This is completely out of character for all of my kids. We had to miss all of our family get together's. We were all sad about it. We were able to go to my parents house(just around the corner) on Christmas night. The good news is, we were all in the house together. Yes, we were all getting a tad stuffed up. But, there was a lot of snuggling going on with the kids. Lots of time playing and be thankful for what was in front of us. We were really able to soak up the finally days of Christmas 2012. We watched Christmas movies, ate popcorn, and laughed. Even though they felt awful, they still gave us plenty of laughs. Unfortunately, they have passed their cold on to the parents. This is not nice. I think we need to re-think the whole "sharing" thing for New Years.  Which brings me to the coming New Year.

I love the beginning of a new year. A new year, a new start. A time of refreshing and starting over. Every year, I feel as if there is a "theme" to the coming year.(Is this weird, or do other people do this? Maybe?) Sometimes it's peace, joy, change. This year I really feel there are two themes The first is simplicity. Going back to the basics. The time before so much Internet, so much TV. Just being in the moment with the people you love. My husband and I recently went out to eat. As we sat and watched everyone around us, we noticed an almost unnatural attachment people had to their phones. It was as if their smart phone was permanently attached to their hands. The kids got the board game Operation for Christmas. The game even has a "Texting Thumb". Then we realized that only a few months ago that was us. We had a smart phone and an I-pod touch. We were constantly looking down and never looking up. We answered each other in mumbles and "uh-huhs". There but not present. This really confirmed Simplicity for me. We no longer have smart phones, only the basic *gasp* cell phone and dare I say it...land line. We have no laptop or i-Pad. We have a plain desktop and a Kindle reader. Then I realized how, even though I don't have a device at hands length anymore, I still spend more time than I should on-line. I am on Facebook or Pinterest a lot. There are games to play and people to "observe" on Facebook. I never have enough time to get the things done, I need to get done. Hmmm...wonder why? I am taking a break for a while from the Facebook world starting the New Year. A new year, a new start. I have 4 very special people in my life that need my attention more than the dramatic people on Facebook that I may see once a year. Maybe. (Some I haven't seen in years.) My family are the ones that need my observation. Our kids are the ones who need our attention. I don't want my kids to be unable to be sociable in any situation. Walking around with technology in their hands and sending messages, will cause them to not know how to interact in "real" life. So, all that to say, it's time for me to step back and be in the moment. Be on social networks three times less than I was. And I'm ok with that.

The second "theme" for this year is Trust. It's something everyone has issues with in one form or another. This is really spiritual thing for me. I want to get closer to my Savior. I love the song that says, I am a friend of God, he calls me friend. Then I thought about it. He knows everything about me, as a best friend should. Yet, what do I really know about him? Do I know all there is to know about him. Yes, I am aware that it will take a life time to know our Lord. Probably, eternity. But, I want to not only try but succeed in knowing all I can about him. When you have a close friend, you have to be able to put all of your trust in them. I feel there is going to be a lot of growing and stretching this year. It's the growing and stretching that makes us who we are. I'm going to trust that God is going to take care of us every day. That he will be our provider and friend. That if we put our trust in him and him alone, he will not let us down. So, I'm going to trust in him and let him be my everything. 

There are exciting things going on with the Fowler's. I'm excited! As always, I'll keep you posted! Hopefully, I will have Christmas pics up soon. Perhaps, by Easter? ;) Now, I have to go be in that moment I was speaking of. My son is trying to stick a Handy Manny sticker on the dog while telling his sister the dog doesn't like her. And that the dog said it not him.



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Happiness is...

What is happiness? A few definitions of happiness is :: a state of well-being and contentment : Joy and

a pleasurable or satisfying experience

There are many things that make me happy. There are also some things that make me unhappy. I'll give you a few examples. (NOTE: This isn't all that make me a happy just a few things!)

HAPPY                                                                   

1. A clean house
2. Clean laundry 
3. DVR
4. Sparkling grape juice
5. Shoes that I bought on sale @ Kohl's (A pair of Dana Buchman dress shoes for $20 originally    $69.99..OH YEAH!)
6. Naps
7. Children who behave
8. My husband being off work for a week! 
9. Christmas
10. Healthy family      
11. Books
12. The bible(I love how I learn something new every time I read it!)

Some things that make me not so happy:

1. A bed room that has been destroyed exactly 2.4 minutes after I walk out of a clean room. How do they do that? Really? It's one of life's mysteries. 
2. Laundry....let's just not go there.
3. Cleaning up rice from a homemade rice sock(you know the kind you warm up in the microwave to put on sore muscles?) My Sweetie Pie and the Boy, decided one would bite a hole in said sock and they would collectively spread contents around Sweetie's Pie room. I should have known something was going on when I heard no arguing for 5 minutes! Did I mention, the parents of above mentioned children found it at bedtime, when trying to tuck said children into bed. 
4. Cinnamon that has been spilled in the kitchen floor and rolled around in by a 4 year old little boy. {Thank God, he didn't get sick from inhaling it!} I was on the computer for 3 minutes and he attacks. 
5. I don't like that the awesome deal I got on my shoes is still not here yet! *said, weepy* They should be here by December 24. At least that's what the tracking info said. I'm trying so hard to be patient I really am. ;)
6. Not being able to take naps. Sometimes you just need a nap. 
7. Children who fight and argue and tattle every 2 minutes. Literally. (It could be worse, I do realize that. But I could so go without it for say 20 minutes.)
8. Tissue fights. I don't like tissue fights. My son likes tissue fights. In which he takes as many tissues out at a time he can without getting caught. This is why I hide my good Puffs tissues. 

 Well, at least the good outweighs the bad. I really am blessed. If we make it to Christmas without 2.3 million time outs and my sanity left in tack at least 10%, we'll be doing well. Here's to hope! Without it, I would join the natives and roll in some cinnamon and have tissue fights while dancing in dry rice. Don't be jealous!                                                    




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Let's Play Catch Up, Shall We?

It has been busy, as usual. Sometimes, after a very long day, all I want to do is sit down and make some room on my DVR.  And I'm talking no kids interrupting or whining or crying or putting their sister in a choke hold. Do you know what I'm talking about? I know you do! So lets play catch up. I have a few minutes while the kids are watching Good Luck Charlie. Thank you Lord for Disney. I'm not ashamed to admit I let the kids watch TV. Especially when I need a minute to catch up on the ole blog. Or Pinterest.

• Sweetie Pie turned 5. My boy turned 4. Oh my gosh! When did that happen? Since turning 4, my boy has decided he should grow a beard. A big beard. Like his Paw-paw. Then he said he needs to shave it like Daddy. Yeah, could you not go and be that old yet? Please, and Thank You! Sweetie Pie has just piled on the sassy since turning 5. Seeing as she is no longer 4, like her brother. They've also been trying to drive me crazy by trying their best to make the other get in trouble. It's never ending. Not that I really want it any other way. 
• The husband and I are now the leaders of the Preschool class at church. Yay! That's right ages 3,4 and 5 are now being lead my the Fowler's! It's fun. They never run out of amazing hilarious things to say. Much like our own home. I found myself in a deep discussion with a 3 year old about how Jesus was much better than Santa. He didn't give up and I did, when I realized I was actually arguing with a three year old. Great things are happening! That you can be sure! :)
• We made a 4 and 1/2 hour trip to see family for Thanksgiving. It was a nice drive until my boy decided to bounce of the car walls. It was fun. Really, it was. Ok, it was slight torture. None of the cousins went to sleep until around 12:30 or 1:00 in the morning. The good news is, the boy only made an appearance in his underwear once. That was the afternoon before we left. It meant we stayed too long, he became too comfortable. I made a permanent note to self on that one. Son becomes comfortable= Pants come off. 
• We are having a family gathering at our house again this year for Christmas! Lets pray we don't have a repeat of last year. Griswold, Fowler...it's all the same really!  haha! That was a nervous laugh by the way. 
• We have a bad case of musical beds going on. The boy was in all 4 beds in the course of an hour every night this week. I was finally to the point of, just lay down and go to sleep. I don't care if it's on the roof. Especially when Parenthood is on. I love this show. It's a night time soap opera. It's awesome. Next week looks like a tear jerker. Is anyone else {slightly}addicted to this show?
• Speaking of shows, we got a DVR. Have I mentioned that before? I don't remember. It's awesome. No commercials. Pause button when you have to go potty.(I just said potty. Hi, I'm Jessica. I'm a mom. In case the potty comment didn't give that away...) Or if one son is pulling hair, literally, out of his sister's head. Yeah, a parent had to invent DVR. 
• We have our tree up! Yay for Christmas time! We celebrate all month long. It's one of my favorite holidays! The girls are going to be in a Christmas play at church. It's going to be so awesome! I'm excited for them! 
• Next week we're going to see the Nutcracker Ballet! I am so excited! Probably even more than my girls are! Eeck! 
• I totally won the entire Friends series on Blu-ray a few weeks ago. It came yesterday. I can't wait to be able to sit for a few minutes so I can start watching it from the beginning!  
• I think that pretty much sums it up. Let's see all of that on top of cleaning, cooking, schooling, saying no 5.2 billion times a day, church. Yeah, I think that may be it. Of course, I'll update if there is more. Until then, I'll try to survive the night. Thank God, the kids don't know where the duck tape is. One day, they may just try to duck tape me to a chair. Not that I would complain...that bad! Happy Thursday...hang on, tomorrow is Friday...you're almost there! :) 

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