I promise I will update more this weekend, probably on Monday, but I wanted to post this back to school picture before I forgot! Here are my beauties on the first day of 2nd, 6th, and 9th grade. The Bartholomew's have taken over Kirksville schools this year as we are in every school!!

Kids are back.

Monday, I had my kids back. It was soooo nice! We took the day, and played, and ran errands. A funny thing happened on the way home from picking up Andrew from the pool, and I wanted to share before I forgot. Andrew had gone swimming with a friend, so it was just the girls and I most of the afternoon. We decided to go up to school for a little while to work. As we were leaving, we picked up Andrew. On the way home, I remembered we needed to drop off a library book Rachel had, so I turned my left turn signal on. Jessy, being the observant girl she is, asked why we were turning left. I told her we needed to get the book back, and she said,"no, Mom, we already took it back....on the way to school. Don't you remember?" Here's the thing....I have an ok memory. I forget things when I'm shopping, I sometimes forget why I went into a room, but when I'm driving? I'm pretty good. I knew we hadn't dropped the book off! I told her I knew we hadn't. She said, and Rachel chimed in, "Yes, we had!" Ok, at this point, I thought, well, maybe we did! So I put my right turn signal on. (We were at a red light). Then I said, No, I know we didn't. Nice try, girls. (turn signal left again) "Yes, we did!" (right turn signal...maybe we did?!?!) Giggle giggle from the back. Rachel holds up the book!! GRRRR!!!! By this time, the light had changed and I was in the process of turning. So, we had to turn around to go back to the library. I'm sure the person across the way at the light wondered what the heck we were doing! (Sorry Josh!) Stupid mom moment at it's best!!! :) We laughed ALL the way home!

Andrew had a sports physical on Monday too. He has been eating like crazy lately, and I knew he was growing. I was VERY surprised, though, to find out he is now 5 feet 1 1/2 inches!! The kid is one 1 inch shorter than Jessy!! And, the doctor is pretty sure he's ready to start another growth spurt! She guessed he's got another foot left to grow. Andrew, of course, was thrilled. "I'm going to be 6 feet?!?!?!" The doctor then said, "You come from big people?" LOL, um, no. But the more I thought about it, although Tim and I are not "big people", we both have tall uncles, and apparently my bio-dad was very tall. Who'd of thunk it? I come from big people! Anyway, Andrew is in the 90% for his height. Crazy! Although, again, as I think about it, he was also in the 90% when he was born for both height and weight (at 9 pounds!) I guess I breed big people. Ha!

Let's see, what else? Right now, they are putting a new roof on my house. Although we didn't have much damage when the tornado came through, the insurance company decided we need one. So, I am listening to the banging and pounding of a roof being torn off! It drove the dog absolutely crazy the first hour, she's gotten used to it!

Oh, and I painted my front door Sunday and put up a window box. I LOVE it. Here are pictures. What do you think? Oh, my plan is to put another window box on the front window, and one on Jessy's window. However, I have to buy the boxes at Lowe's, so it'll be a few weeks before that gets done. Andrew really thinks I need more red to make it match, so I think I'll paint the window boxes next summer, but I am having trouble finding a red spray paint that matches the red paint on the door.


So, I think that is all. I'm off to school for about an hours worth of work, and then tomorrow we leave for a whirlwind vacation of time with my family, a day with Tim's family, and a trip up north, as well as dropping the big kids off at the camp they look forward to all year long! :) I'm not willing to think about what happens after that.

Till next time!

Hmmmm, staying positive without the chaos?

My kids are gone. They are with their dad for the next two weeks. Nope, not happy about this, not happy at all. But I am going to stay positive. I am going to do the best I can to enjoy this time.
So, I decided (after one and a half days on the couch), that I needed a purpose for my alone times. I do have tasks in mind...things that I'd like to get done, but eh. I don't really care if I get the storage room clean. Yes, it needs to be done, but if I don't have some sort of structure, it won't get done! I know this about me.
After much consideration and praying, I decided to do something I've meant to do for awhile. I signed up to volunteer at the Lifeline pregnancy center. Since I was only 18 when I was pregnant with Jessy, I used their services (or something similar). I want to give back. I want to use this time of being alone to give back to those who helped me get started. Granted, I had it better than a lot of pregnant 18 year olds. I had graduated, and I had a boyfriend that wanted to marry me. Should I have married him? Well, that is a question for another day!!!
I start tomorrow morning at 9am. I now have a reason to get up in the morning...a reason to get out of bed. I'm going to make this time positive.
Because, that's what Jesus would do, right?

Till next time.

~Missy

Family Fun

It's been such a busy summer already! In June, I taught summer school, so we weren't able to do a lot. Then the last weekend in June, I had my class reunion. Great times! I really enjoyed myself, and I think the kids had fun too. I like being able to juggle both kid time and mommy time, although I feel guilty taking mommy time when I have the kids. That weekend, though, it balanced out I think pretty well.

This weekend was the first weekend I've had to just enjoy my kids. And enjoy them I did. We went home for the 4th of July and spent the weekend with my friend and her family, as we have done for several years now. On Friday, we went to the waterpark. It was a blast! I was a little worried because I'm not a huge water slide person and also because it was rather chilly that day (I think it may have touched 80 degrees), but it turned out to be a perfect day. The lines were short, the water cold, but not cold enough air temp that we couldn't have fun. I didn't bring my camera (boo, me!) but you'll have to take my word for it that a good time was had by all. And Andrew and I only got a little sunburnt!

The big kids spent a lot of the day off with my friend's kids, and I went down quite a few slides with Rachel. We also did a couple with everyone. I can't even describe the happiness I felt!! There is nothing like watching your kids have fun to know you are blessed! That, and Rachel said to me SEVERAL times, "Mom, you're the best mom ever. This is so much fun. Thank you." Melt my heart!

Later that night, we went to a baseball game. (Minor league, I think). The Waterloo Bucks played okay, and managed to pull off a win in overtime with a stunning score. Again, so much fun. My kids LOVE all sports, and so to be able to watch their faces was priceless. Here are a couple pictures.

There were fireworks after the game, too. Gotta love it!!

The next day, Saturday, was the 4th. We went shopping for awhile in the afternoon (after sleeping in most of the morning). It was so nice to shop at a mall. Although, it also makes me realize yet again why I can't afford to move back home!

We then joined our friends for a bbq (mmmm, steak.....) and then off to see the fireworks. I love these people, and I love my kids. The 4th is my all time favorite holiday, so I was a happy camper all weekend long. (oh, and I didn't even have to camp! That makes me a very very happy camper, ha!) Thanks friends, for the great time!

Today, I'm sad because my kids have left to spend 2 weeks with Tim's family. But you know what? It's okay. Their dad may not like me much, but at least he doesn't beat his kids. I'm so thankful that I don't have to worry about their physical safety while they are gone. (Except for the usual parent worries about car crashes and roller coaster failures, that is!)

Until next time!

~Missy, a very thankful mom

My Parenting Goals

On a forum I read regularly, there was recently a post about parenting goals. It was a very thought provoking thread, and really made me think about what my parenting goals are for my kids. After all, parenting is the most important job I'll ever have, and every other job I've ever had I've had some kind of goal, so why shouldn't I do the same for helping my kids develop into functional members of society (which by the way, is my ultimate goal!!) Plus, a few recent events with the x, as well as with a beloved member of society's death, I have really been pondering this! So, here's my list. And yes, I expect to revise and revisit it often! Please comment and tell me what your goals are, or what I'm missing. Lord knows I'm not perfect, and I don't come close to teaching all of these!

I hope and pray that my kids are...

*moral, faith-filled, and full of integrity
~this includes having a spirit of prayerfullness and being able to find joy

*well mannered and considerate of others
~including being able to accept and recognize their own mistakes and/or accept others apologies
~compassionate and empathetic
~respectful of others


*good work ethic, and be well educated (not necessarily a formal education, although I'll push for that!)
~respectful of commitments to others
EDITED to add ~able to hold a stable job and have financial peace

*able to make healthy and logical decisions - by definition this would be without emotions, although I think emotions have to play some part!

*able to enjoy many different facets of life -fine arts, sports, travel, just to name a few

*able to love and be loved

*able to find good in all adversity

*happy



So what did I miss? As a single parent, I'd love any input you could give to help me do better at my most important job!!

Next list....what I want for my students!


~Missy

Teamwork

Just a quick picture I took before the kids left last week. They DO work together sometimes!! :) This was emptying the grass catcher on the lawn mower.

My week with Rachel

Hello from the HOT state of Missouri! :) Temperatures yesterday reached 102 (based on the bank signs), and the heat index had to be at least 10 degrees hotter! Andrew had a ball game last night, and we were soooooo thankful it was the late game. When his game started at 8:00, it was still HOT and sticky!

Last week, Tim had his 1st vacation with the kids. I would like to say it was a long, lonely week, but I would be lying. Because Rachel has choosen to be in summer school (she's really motivated to get the $100 for perfect attendence!), she stayed home with me while the big kids went with their dad to visit Grandpa and Grandma. So, Rachel and I had some awesome girl time.

I knew without the big kids, she would get bored pretty quickly, so I kept her busy! We went to the movie "UP" (cute show) one night. Then we went to a friend's house one night for burgers on the grill. They had a Wii Fit, and Rachel had a blast doing yoga (her new favorite activity, again, thanks to summer school) with my friend's son (who happens to be Jessy's age!) But I think they both enjoyed the company, and I loved having girl time with Julie! Let's see....we also went to the pool a couple times, and on Thursday, Rachel and I hosted book club. She tried to convince the group we should read Junie B. Jones as our next book, but that was vetoed by the majority ;) One of our group members, Amanda, just had a baby, and brought her, so we got to cuddle her as well. Rachel loves a good snuggle with a baby! Friday we had an at home movie night, and Saturday she spent a lot of time playing with the neighbor, and they came over to our house to play board games as well. Then Sunday, she joined Andrew at their dad's house for Father's Day. It was a fun week.

Jessy has had a busy week as well. She went with her dad to G&G's, then got home Saturday night late. She had to be at church at 5:45 on Sunday morning to go on a mission trip with the high school youth group. So, Jessy is now in Oklahoma, working hard! I talked to her briefly last night, and it sounds like she is having fun.

When she gets back on Friday, we will leave for Iowa. This weekend is Sturgis Falls, and my 15 year class reunion. I can't wait to see everyone I went to school with! I'll try to get lots of pictures to post.

Have a great week, and I'll try to post pictures soon!