Mama On The Move

Katie was able to do something really exciting and unique! She was able to go on a homeschool field trip to go  indoor skydiving! She got flipped over at one point and wound up on her back on the floor!  But the instructor flipped her back over and she kept right on going! It was very exciting to watch!  I wish I could have done it as well, but it was a special price for the kids because we had a group rate.     Some kids paid extra and got to spin up high into the overhead tube with the instructor! I was shaking when Katie got done!  I'm not sure if it was from nervousness or excitement! Because it was a school group, they taught the kids about the science behind the wind tunnel and terminal velocity and such.  They threw different sized balls into the tunnel to see which ones went higher and which ones stayed low.  They even squirted water out of a water bottle and it stayed in individual drops that floated around in the wind tunnel! The instructo

Once again, it's hard to believe..... My youngest, my little peanut, my smidgen of a girl.... Keeps growing..... Without my permission..... And now she is 15!   I just can't believe it. I know I say that every time one of my kids has a birthday, but it's really true. Katie has the unfortunate reality that her birthday is in September.  We often move in the summer.   This is not the first birthday where we've moved to a new area and she hasn't known enough people to have a party. THIS year however, we happened to move to a place where she does know someone.  A friend from Hawaii who lives here now.  We had her whole family over for dinner.  We gave Katie a messenger bag which is modeled after Kaylee's coveralls.  I took her shopping and let her pick out a dress.  It's very twirly!  We took her out to lunch.  Ben ordered a drink which came in a "girly" glass. Then back home

Emily is home for the weekend and we're making Stroganoff.  I always have to buy dairy-free sour cream when Emily is here due to her dairy allergy. Since we are new in town, I wasn't sure where I could find some so we've went hunting this weekend.  I usually can find it at Whole Foods but we don't live near one of those any more.  We tried Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Martins, Walmart, Fresh Market and Farmer's Fresh Market - and came up with nothing.  Zip.  Nada. Usually the organic/organic type stores have it so I was really surprised that the two fresh market places didn't have anything . I stopped an employee and asked if they had dairy-free sour cream. "No, sorry," he told me.  "It really isn't cost efficient to carry things we don't have a lot of demand for." And yet they were selling tubs of rendered duck fat .

We're doing the "church search" at our new home in our new town in our new state. One church that we went to also had a youth group that Emily and Katie decided to try.  Emily was really too old to go, but she knew Katie would appreciate having her there for moral support. The youth leader gave the girls a bag with items to welcome them.  It included info about the church and youth group as well as a small box of Russell Stover chocolates. Another kid brazenly walked up to Emily and said, "Can I have your candy?" "No," Emily responded. "But thank you for asking!" Emily said later she wished she'd though to say, "No, but you can watch me eat it!"

We had an electrician and the owner of the house we live in come over today to fix a couple of things. The puppies greeted them with great enthusiasm - jumping up on them, barking like crazy.  I'm having a hard time trying to teach them to behave!  Ringo sniffed them and followed them about the house.  The electrician thought Ringo didn't like him because the hair on his back was standing up.  I told him it's always like that and Ringo liked him just fine. After they left, I asked Katie to walk the puppies.  I was surprised Ringo didn't come surging forward to go out as well.  Usually if anyone walks the puppies, he thinks he needs to go too. I started looking around for him and couldn't find him.  I called upstairs to Ben to see if Ringo was up there with him.  I thought he said yes and I continued fixing dinner. When dinner was ready, Ben came downstairs and said, "Where did you find Ringo?" "I thought you said he was upstairs with you,&qu